| Devotion to Our Lady |
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DAILY THOUGHTS FOR
THE MONTH OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
Double Day Article : Friday August 30th & Saturday August 31st
Article 17
What to Get for Our Lady on Her Birthday (September 8th)
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 17
What to Get for Our Lady on Her Birthday (September 8th)
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
No “Last-Minute Shopping” for Our Lady
On September 8th, we celebrate Our Lady’s birthday—the most important birthday in history, after that of Our Lord Jesus Christ (December 25th). Are you preparing for that “second-greatest-birthday-in-the-history-of-the-world”? Were you even aware that is coming up and is only 9 days away? A lot of people tend to be “last-minute” people―they leave everything to the “last-minute” thinking that they can still do a “good job” in “the blink of an eye” or “in a jiffy”! This is often seen to be case in the proverbial case―but true case―of the “Last Minute Christmas Shopper.” When you really stop and think about what is involved in “last-minute-shopping” and what it reveals―you have to admit that the message it sends is one of “Right now, I have much more important things to do than shop for this-or-that, or so-and-so!” In other words, you have put whoever or whatever you have to shop for, way down the list of your priorities―you want to do other things first before tackling the shopping business.
Just Another Old Day!
What does Our Lady’s birthday mean to you? Will it be “just another day” that will passed doing “the same old things” with little or nothing to make that day special and important? Will everyone just “go their own way” doing the weekend things they like to do? Providentially, God has seen to it that this year Our Lady Our Lady’s birthday falls on a SUNDAY! A day when the vast majority of people do not have to work, a day that should already by a “religious day” since it is “The Lord’s Day.” It is also “a day of rest”―a day when many things are set aside. Therefore, God’s providence has already done most of the work for you this year―by seeing to it that the birthday of His Most Holy Mother falls on a day (Sunday) when you should have more time to honor her than if was some weekday and workday!
Raw-Deal Meal
Sometimes, even our earthly mothers get a “raw-deal” on their birthdays! O yes, sure, they get a birthday card, perhaps some flowers, an extra kiss and a hug, perhaps they are taken out for a meal―but often they end up cooking their own meal, looking after guests, doing the house-cleaning before the birthday and the clean-up after the birthday. Often the family and guests have more of a fun time than the beleaguered mother! Her birthday ends up being like a few fish thrown to the dolphin in the pool to the keep the dolphin happy! What scraps will we be throwing at Our Lady on her birthday?
Masterpiece Ignored
Will that day be an important day for you? Does Our Lady really matter to you? How important is she to you? Is she a central part of your life? Is she like “family”, or is she merely a “visitor”? St. Louis de Montfort says that she is God’s masterpiece― “Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High … where God dwells more magnificently and more divinely than in any other place in the universe, … where there are beauties and treasures unspeakable. She is the magnificence of the Most High” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §5 & §6). If an artist paints a masterpiece and you ignore it, think little of it, are indifferent to it―then what an insult that is to the artist! Now when that “artist” is God―the insult becomes an infinite insult to God, because God is infinite!
It is highly likely that in most homes, Our Lady’s birthday will fare no better than Our Lord’s birthday fares at Christmas. It is sad to think that in most homes, Our Lady’s birthday, just like Christmas, will see less prayer and spiritual reading than usual—whereas the opposite should be the norm. How many homes will pray MORE on Our Lady’s birthay? For the 2% to 4% of Catholic American households who are thought to pray the Rosary daily―will they manage a full 15 decade Rosary, or at least another 5 decades on top of the norm? Of the 25% or so Catholics who are Sunday regulars at Mass, how many will carry the religious ceremonies and spirit home with them and inject it into the festivities that should be there on Our Lady’s birthday? There are many, many way we can sanctify Our Lady’s birthday —and we will look at these ways during the remaining days—but how many will have the courage to run the gauntlet of human respect and insist upon them with family, relatives and visitors? Yes, we should “lay on a spread”―that is to say, have something special on the food and drink menu for Our Lady’s birthday―but even that is done, unfortunately and sadly, the food, the drink, the entertainment, etc., will take precedence in most homes—and we are forced to ask the thorny question: “Whose birthday is it anyway?”
The Lady’s Lament
We would do well to DAILY ponder the following lament of Our Lady at La Salette: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda Our Lady said something similar: “I will also promise them my continual and efficacious intercession with my most holy Son, if they do not displease me! For this purpose thou shouldst exhort them to continual love and devotion toward me, engrafting it in their hearts; in being thus faithful they will attain all that thou wishest for them, and much more―for I will obtain it for them.”
Displeasing Our Lady
How do we “displease” Our Lady? By ignoring her words, by ignoring her commands, by ignoring her suggestions, by ignoring her messages. A child who acts in this manner cannot honestly say that it loves its mother. Obedience is an effect of love. Acting promptly is an effect of the presence of love.
The bottom line in the spiritual life is LOVE. Devotion is a child of love. St. Francis de Sales, in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life, writes: “Devotion consists in a high degree of real love … In fact, all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God, though not always of the same kind. In so far as divine love enriches us―it is called GRACE, which makes us pleasing to God. In so far as it gives us the strength to do good―it is called CHARITY. But when it grows to such a degree of perfection that it makes us not only to do good, but rather moves us to do it carefully, frequently and promptly―it is called DEVOTION … In short, devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly; and, just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God's Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them readily and diligently. Therefore, we cannot call him, who neglects to observe all God’s Commandments, either good or devout, because in order to be good, a man must be filled with love, and, to be devout, he must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love … The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame―love being a spiritual fire, which becomes devotion when it is fanned into a flame―and what devotion adds to the fire of love, is that flame which makes love become eager, energetic and diligent, not merely in obeying God's Commandments, but in fulfilling His Divine Counsels and inspirations” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 1).
Likewise, therefore, the obedience in keeping the Commandments is also a child of love― “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). What is true of Our Lord is equally true of Our Lady. If we truly love her, we will keep her words, we will do what she says.
No Real Love―No Real Devotion
If there is little or no love, there cannot possibly be any devotion―or at least no true devotion―since, as St. Francis de Sales says: “Devotion consists in a high degree of real love ... all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God [or in this case, Our Lady]―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God” [or Our Lady]. Faulty, or fake and false devotions are “ten-a-penny” and make-up the vast majority of “made-up” or “make-up” cosmetic devotion that hides the ugliness underneath. St. Louis de Montfort speaks of those false devotions to Our Lady―in his True Devotion to Mary―listing them as seven in number: (1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees. All of these are faulty, false or fake. They are not true devotions for they come not from a true love of Mary, but from a love of self. Hence their love is not fervent, but lukewarm. Let us not be of those whom Our Lord condemns, saying: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).
You can imagine the pain a mother feels when her children―even though they turn up at her birthday―nevertheless are glib, insincere, superficial and hypocritical in the “lip-service-only” congratulations on her birthday and likewise with their protestations of “I love you, mom!” It is merely the “politically correct” thing to say and do―without there being any real heart and sincerity behind what they are saying and doing. The mother knows that and she feels the pain in her motherly sensitivity but does not show it due to her heroic stoicity or stoicism. They say that the more perfect a person is, then the more sensitive they are―thus, Our Lord, who was the most perfect of all, was also the most sensitive of all. Our Lady comes second in perfection and sensitivity. Like her Son, she keenly and deeply feels our inconsideration to her, our neglect of her, our indifference towards her, our lack of real love and devotion in her regard. Is it not the time to put that right? Is it not time to try and give her what she deserves?
Time to Turn to Mary
In the same book, Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales makes a timely encouragement, as we approach the birthday of Our Lady, to devotedly turn to her AT ALL TIMES and in ALL OUR NEEDS: “With a special love, give honor, reverence and respect to the holy and glorious Virgin Mary. As the Mother of Jesus, our Brother, she is truly our mother. Let us therefore turn to her for help. We are her little children, so let us, with complete confidence, throw ourselves in her arms. At every moment, in every circumstance, let us call to this loving mother. Let us ask earnestly for her motherly love. With our hearts full of a true filial love for her, let us strive to imitate her virtues.”
In the case of a good person, it is only natural for a child to imitate the virtues of its mother―a bad child will imitate the vices of its mother. If you have ever read The Mystical City of God, by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, you will have noted that Our Lady continually insists that her example be imitated. The proverb― “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” ― means that a person imitates someone else because they admire that person or value what that person is doing. Another version adds a phrase at the end of that proverb, saying: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness!” ― and that sums up our self and Our Lady ― we are mediocrity personified and she is greatness personified. Much as Christ became man to make us like unto God―Our Lady wants to raise us out of our mediocrity and make us holy and acceptable to God. She was born to bring God to man―on this her upcoming birthday―let her be truly born in your life and soul, so that she can bring you to God.
What to Do and How to Prepare
► The first thing to do is to CONCRETELY, DEFINITELY, IRREVOCABLY, UNCHANGINGLY and ABSOLUTELY SET ASIDE SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH FOR OUR LADY. It is the birthday of the Mother of God. It is the birthday of your spiritual mother. It is the birthday of her who has said: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
► The second thing to do is to tell everyone that everyone is staying at home (and perhaps invite other relatives and friends―as you would for any family member’s birthday―for Mary is “family” is she not? You hope to part of her “family” in Heaven, don’t you?). Make the phone calls, send the texts and e-mails THIS WEEKEND. Commit yourself! It is the best way to guarantee that it will happen―because other people have been told about and will expect it to happen.
► The third thing to do is to create some kind of loose schedule for Sunday, September 8th. Be “loose” and plan more generally than specifically―because you may get a better idea on what to actually do on the day as a result of who will accept and who refuses your invitation. Then you can plan more specifically based upon what you know of the persons who will be accept your invitation and will attend Our Lady’s birthday party.
► The fourth thing to do is to invite everyone to PREPARE SPIRITUALLY for Our Lady’s birthday. You could send out the link to the NOVENA IN PREPARATION FOR OUR LADY’S NATIVITY [click here]―if it is started today, then you get a full nine days up to and including Our Lady’s birthday. Or you could send out some other prayers that last a lesser time―for example a TRIDUUM OF PRAYERS (which means “prayers for three days”), or ask them to pray an extra Rosary in her honor; or pray the LITANY OF LORETO (the Litany of Our Lady); or some other prayers. The whole point is to PLACE THE SPIRITUAL ABOVE THE MATERIAL PREPARATIONS―for the spiritual is more important than the material, just as the soul is more important than the body, and the life and welfare of the soul is more important than the life and welfare of the body. Thus, both Our Lady and all the participants will appreciate and enjoy her birthday all the more if they will have prepared spiritually and prepared for a prolonged period of time. It will mean that you are honoring her more with your heart than your lips, more with your prayers than your belly.
► The fifth thing to do is to plan a balanced schedule for the day―and, as said above, make it general plan, much like giving “chapter headings” for what will take place, rather than listing things in “fine details”. With it being a Sunday, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass ends up, fortunately, being a “Shotgun-Mass”―meaning everyone is obliged to and bound to attend it. However, you could ask that everyone makes an Act of Consecration to Our Lady at some point during Mass―it could be before Mass, during Mass at the Offertory, or after the Consecration, or after Holy Communion, or after Mass at Our Lady’s side altar, statue or image―or, even better, multiple times: meaning before, during and after Mass―just as you would probably say “Happy Birthday” to somebody several times on the day of their birthday.
► The sixth thing to do would be ask everyone to make their Holy Communion, on September 8th, in honor of Our Lady. Later this coming week, we will publish potential texts and examples of what to do and say during such a Holy Communion.
► The seventh thing to do is to prepare the “soil” of your mind and soul for Our Lady by “weeding-out” the world and “planting seeds” of Our Lady throughout this entire week that leads up to her birthday on Sunday, September 8th. You can do this in many different ways. First of all add some short little prayers to Our Lady onto your usual devotions and prayers. It might be the recitation of the Angelus (morning, noon and evening), or perhaps the Memorare prayer (Remember O most loving Virgin Mary, that never was it know that anyone who had recourse to …etc.), or it could be the daily singing of some hymn to Our Lady, etc. Another way to “plant seeds” of Our Lady would be to make a daily reading from anyone of the countless books that there are in print about Mary―many of which are available for free online; or take various extracts for your reading from other internet resources; or you could focus on the chief virtues of Our Lady, as listed by St. Louis de Montfort in his True Devotion to Mary: “particularly her profound humility, her lively Faith, her blind obedience, her continual prayer, her universal mortification, her divine purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelic sweetness and her divine wisdom. These are the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin” (True Devotion to Mary, §108). If you need help with this latter option, this website will give you some daily assistance, in the days that follow, by providing you with meditative material and spiritual readings on those then chief virtues.
► The eighth thing to do is to focus on imitating the chief virtues of Our Lady, as listed by St. Louis de Montfort in his True Devotion to Mary: “particularly her profound humility, her lively Faith, her blind obedience, her continual prayer, her universal mortification, her divine purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelic sweetness and her divine wisdom. These are the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin” (True Devotion to Mary, §108). You could divide up the chief ten virtues among family members―keeping the allocated virtue throughout the whole build-up to Our Lady’s birthday. Or you could pick “a virtue per day” if you wish. If you need help with these options, this website will give you some daily assistance, in the days that follow, by providing you with meditative material and spiritual readings on those then chief virtues as well as ideas on how to practice those virtues in multiple scenarios.
► The ninth thing to do is to focus on the chief apparitions of Our Lady as we lead up to her birthday. A suggestion―and it merely a suggestion, for you can do as you like, change the order or even ignore the idea―would be:
Sunday, September 1st: Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico) 1531
Monday, September 2nd: Our Lady of Good Success (Quito, Ecuador) late 1500s and early 1600s
Tuesday, September 3rd: Rue de Bac 1830 (Paris, France) the Miraculous Medal apparitions
Wednesday, September 3th: La Salette (France) 1846
Thursday,September 5th: Lourdes (France) 1858
Friday, September 6th: Fatima (Portugal) 1917
Saturday, September 7th: Akita (Japan) 1973
► The tenth thing to do is to prepare a little altar or oratory (place of prayer) for Our Lady’s birthday. It does not have to be an entire room, any dignified part of a room is acceptable if a separate exclusive room is not available. Decorate it with the best things that you have―cloth to cover the table; your best or favorite statue or image of Our Lady placed on it; candles and flowers to surround it; perhaps even have votive lights burning before it throughout the entire period, day and night, leading up to Our Lady’s birthday. As regards prayer―ensure that some prayers are guaranteed to be said before your little shrine or altar to Our Lady each and every day. Similarly, a little shrine could erected in your garden in readiness for her birthday.
► The eleventh thing to do is to gradually finalize the actual schedule you will use on Our Lady’s birthday. Here is an example of what you could do―but your own imagination and ingenuity will most likely better these very basic ideas:
(1) Start the day of Sunday, September 8th, with a decent amount of FAMILY PRAYER before going to Sunday Mass―even if, or especially if, your family is not accustomed to saying morning prayers together as a family. This morning prayer session could include (a) the Daily Morning Offering, (b) an Act of Consecration to Our Lady, (c) at least one decade of the Rosary, but preferably all five decades of the Joyful Mysteries, for, on this day, you should aim at praying all 15 decades of the Rosary (or an extra 15 decades on top of the Rosaries you would normally pray) in honor of Our Lady and as present to her―otherwise you would not be giving her anything more than on every usual day, (d) make a short reading of one or a few paragraphs from anyone of the many books available on Our Lady, (e) follow the reading with the recitation or singing of the first Angelus of the day―morning, noon and evening―use bells if you have them, which are sounded during the invocations that precede each of the three Hail Marys, (f) finish with a hymn to Our Lady. All of this should take no more than around 30 minutes―give or take a few minutes.
(2) On the way to church for Sunday Mass, refrain from any worldly, trivial or vain talk and discussions, but sanctify the drive by either prayers being recited or someone reading something from a book on Our Lady―or even both. Alternatively, or additionally, you could have an informal discussion about Our Lady―which, if you have read a passage from a book, could be based upon that reading. The possibilities are really endless and go well beyond these meager suggestions.
(3) Arrange to do something special at church for Our Lady―either before, during or after Mass. You could recite, once more, your Act of Consecration to Our Lady as a family at her side altar. Or you could suggest that every family member write his or her own special prayer to Our Lady for her birthday―and then each of you could silently recite that personal prayer to Our Lady, either before, during or after Mass. Receive and offer your Holy Communions in honor of Our Lady. If the parish priest agrees and allows you, then you have a mini-hymn singing session to honor Our Lady after Mass. Or, even more daringly, get the priest to agree to Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in honor of Our Lady, or even a little procession in her honor―though you might have to pay in advance for getting the priest’s agreement by doing lots of penance, fasting and praying beforehand.
(4) On the way home from Sunday Mass, perhaps there is a little shrine of Our Lady’s that you could visit on her birthday. If not, then perhaps there is a church somewhere nearby that is dedicated to Our Lady―meaning that it has Our Lady’s name or one of her many titles incorporated in the name of the church, e.g. Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Immaculate Conception, Queen of Angels, Queen of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima, etc. Make a short stop there and recite some prayers or sing some hymns in her honor―this could be an opportunity for praying the next 5 decades of the Rosary―-the Sorrowful Mysteries―or you could pray them later.
(5) Upon arriving home, it will probably be not too far from midday―which would allow you to pray the midday Angelus. Use the bells once again as you did during the morning Angelus. Remind everyone that this is Our Lady’s birthday and the focus is on her today. As a sacrifice for her, you could and should postpone all worldly activities for this one day―such as avoid watching worldly TV shows, listening to worldly music, going out to participate in worldly activities, etc.
(6) At some point you will have to eat lunch or dinner―make it a real banquet in honor of Our Lady. There are many possibilities by way of menus that could reflect a profound and beautiful symbolism of Our Lady, while also being delicious in the process. More on that later. Hopefully, without promising anything, the website might be able to present with a whole menu consisting of many courses, all of them symbolizing and reflecting Our Lady in some way―together with a print-out explanation of how and why the ingredients are symbolic of Our Lady. This is a mammoth task―thus no promises are made. Even if an entire multi-course menu might not be completed in time for Sunday―meaning designed and published several days before her birthday to allow for purchase of items and preparation of food―then at least some recipes will be available in good time.
(7) Get everyone involved in some way for preparing for an afternoon or evening with Our Lady. This coming week could be used productively in preparing a little family concert in her honor during her birthday. The concert could include hymns, songs, poetry, musical instruments (solo or as a group) or even recitations (speeches) about Our Lady’s miracles, interventions, apparitions, etc., or little thumbnail talks about certain saints who had a great devotion to Our Lady, recounting and relating how they showed their devotion to her.
(8) The concert could be followed by watching a movie about Our Lady. There are several available out there―but you need to plan early and act quickly to secure or rent one―unless you already have those movies in your library or possession.
(9) After the movie you could recite the remaining five EXTRA decades of the Rosary―the Glorious Mysteries―which should be additional to the decades you are accustomed to praying each day―otherwise where is the special present for Our Lady?). After the Rosary, you could recite or sing the evening Angelus―once again using bells in the manner described above.
(10) The evening meal could again contain foods that are symbolic of Our Lady―and this symbolism should be explained to those present at the meal, for they would otherwise be clueless and ignorant of the spiritual aspect of the meal.
(11) Finally, before retiring for the night, the night prayers (if you are used to saying them as a family) should have a very definite Marian flavor injected into them―to distinguish them and raise them a notch above the night prayers you are accustomed to praying. To finish night prayers, another short and inspiring reading from a book on Our Lady would be ideal as a last thought of the day. If you are accustomed to reading bedtime stories to the young ones before turning out the light, make sure you have a wonderful story based on Our Lady prepared.
All of the above constitutes the EXTERNAL ASPECTS of what is meant by TRUE DEVOTION to Our Lady, but these are mere pieces of firewood that need an interior flame of love to really set alight a true fire of devotion―for someone could perform all the above exteriorly or externally while having no real interior love or devotion while doing so. If you think the above is overwhelming, then realize that the word DEVOTION is a word that indicated a HIGH DEGREE of love and attention, as indicated above by St. Francis de Sales in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life, in which he speaks of and describes TRUE DEVOTION as follows:
“Devotion consists in a high degree of real love … In fact, all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God, though not always of the same kind. In so far as divine love enriches us―it is called GRACE, which makes us pleasing to God. In so far as it gives us the strength to do good―it is called CHARITY. But when it grows to such a degree of perfection that it makes us not only to do good, but rather moves us to do it carefully, frequently and promptly―it is called DEVOTION … In short, devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly; and, just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God’s Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them readily and diligently. Therefore, we cannot call him, who neglects to observe all God’s Commandments, either good or devout, because in order to be good, a man must be filled with love, and, to be devout, he must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love … The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame―love being a spiritual fire, which becomes devotion when it is fanned into a flame―and what devotion adds to the fire of love, is that flame which makes love become eager, energetic and diligent, not merely in obeying God’s Commandments, but in fulfilling His Divine Counsels and inspirations” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 1).
On September 8th, we celebrate Our Lady’s birthday—the most important birthday in history, after that of Our Lord Jesus Christ (December 25th). Are you preparing for that “second-greatest-birthday-in-the-history-of-the-world”? Were you even aware that is coming up and is only 9 days away? A lot of people tend to be “last-minute” people―they leave everything to the “last-minute” thinking that they can still do a “good job” in “the blink of an eye” or “in a jiffy”! This is often seen to be case in the proverbial case―but true case―of the “Last Minute Christmas Shopper.” When you really stop and think about what is involved in “last-minute-shopping” and what it reveals―you have to admit that the message it sends is one of “Right now, I have much more important things to do than shop for this-or-that, or so-and-so!” In other words, you have put whoever or whatever you have to shop for, way down the list of your priorities―you want to do other things first before tackling the shopping business.
Just Another Old Day!
What does Our Lady’s birthday mean to you? Will it be “just another day” that will passed doing “the same old things” with little or nothing to make that day special and important? Will everyone just “go their own way” doing the weekend things they like to do? Providentially, God has seen to it that this year Our Lady Our Lady’s birthday falls on a SUNDAY! A day when the vast majority of people do not have to work, a day that should already by a “religious day” since it is “The Lord’s Day.” It is also “a day of rest”―a day when many things are set aside. Therefore, God’s providence has already done most of the work for you this year―by seeing to it that the birthday of His Most Holy Mother falls on a day (Sunday) when you should have more time to honor her than if was some weekday and workday!
Raw-Deal Meal
Sometimes, even our earthly mothers get a “raw-deal” on their birthdays! O yes, sure, they get a birthday card, perhaps some flowers, an extra kiss and a hug, perhaps they are taken out for a meal―but often they end up cooking their own meal, looking after guests, doing the house-cleaning before the birthday and the clean-up after the birthday. Often the family and guests have more of a fun time than the beleaguered mother! Her birthday ends up being like a few fish thrown to the dolphin in the pool to the keep the dolphin happy! What scraps will we be throwing at Our Lady on her birthday?
Masterpiece Ignored
Will that day be an important day for you? Does Our Lady really matter to you? How important is she to you? Is she a central part of your life? Is she like “family”, or is she merely a “visitor”? St. Louis de Montfort says that she is God’s masterpiece― “Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High … where God dwells more magnificently and more divinely than in any other place in the universe, … where there are beauties and treasures unspeakable. She is the magnificence of the Most High” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §5 & §6). If an artist paints a masterpiece and you ignore it, think little of it, are indifferent to it―then what an insult that is to the artist! Now when that “artist” is God―the insult becomes an infinite insult to God, because God is infinite!
It is highly likely that in most homes, Our Lady’s birthday will fare no better than Our Lord’s birthday fares at Christmas. It is sad to think that in most homes, Our Lady’s birthday, just like Christmas, will see less prayer and spiritual reading than usual—whereas the opposite should be the norm. How many homes will pray MORE on Our Lady’s birthay? For the 2% to 4% of Catholic American households who are thought to pray the Rosary daily―will they manage a full 15 decade Rosary, or at least another 5 decades on top of the norm? Of the 25% or so Catholics who are Sunday regulars at Mass, how many will carry the religious ceremonies and spirit home with them and inject it into the festivities that should be there on Our Lady’s birthday? There are many, many way we can sanctify Our Lady’s birthday —and we will look at these ways during the remaining days—but how many will have the courage to run the gauntlet of human respect and insist upon them with family, relatives and visitors? Yes, we should “lay on a spread”―that is to say, have something special on the food and drink menu for Our Lady’s birthday―but even that is done, unfortunately and sadly, the food, the drink, the entertainment, etc., will take precedence in most homes—and we are forced to ask the thorny question: “Whose birthday is it anyway?”
The Lady’s Lament
We would do well to DAILY ponder the following lament of Our Lady at La Salette: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda Our Lady said something similar: “I will also promise them my continual and efficacious intercession with my most holy Son, if they do not displease me! For this purpose thou shouldst exhort them to continual love and devotion toward me, engrafting it in their hearts; in being thus faithful they will attain all that thou wishest for them, and much more―for I will obtain it for them.”
Displeasing Our Lady
How do we “displease” Our Lady? By ignoring her words, by ignoring her commands, by ignoring her suggestions, by ignoring her messages. A child who acts in this manner cannot honestly say that it loves its mother. Obedience is an effect of love. Acting promptly is an effect of the presence of love.
The bottom line in the spiritual life is LOVE. Devotion is a child of love. St. Francis de Sales, in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life, writes: “Devotion consists in a high degree of real love … In fact, all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God, though not always of the same kind. In so far as divine love enriches us―it is called GRACE, which makes us pleasing to God. In so far as it gives us the strength to do good―it is called CHARITY. But when it grows to such a degree of perfection that it makes us not only to do good, but rather moves us to do it carefully, frequently and promptly―it is called DEVOTION … In short, devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly; and, just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God's Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them readily and diligently. Therefore, we cannot call him, who neglects to observe all God’s Commandments, either good or devout, because in order to be good, a man must be filled with love, and, to be devout, he must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love … The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame―love being a spiritual fire, which becomes devotion when it is fanned into a flame―and what devotion adds to the fire of love, is that flame which makes love become eager, energetic and diligent, not merely in obeying God's Commandments, but in fulfilling His Divine Counsels and inspirations” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 1).
Likewise, therefore, the obedience in keeping the Commandments is also a child of love― “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). What is true of Our Lord is equally true of Our Lady. If we truly love her, we will keep her words, we will do what she says.
No Real Love―No Real Devotion
If there is little or no love, there cannot possibly be any devotion―or at least no true devotion―since, as St. Francis de Sales says: “Devotion consists in a high degree of real love ... all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God [or in this case, Our Lady]―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God” [or Our Lady]. Faulty, or fake and false devotions are “ten-a-penny” and make-up the vast majority of “made-up” or “make-up” cosmetic devotion that hides the ugliness underneath. St. Louis de Montfort speaks of those false devotions to Our Lady―in his True Devotion to Mary―listing them as seven in number: (1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees. All of these are faulty, false or fake. They are not true devotions for they come not from a true love of Mary, but from a love of self. Hence their love is not fervent, but lukewarm. Let us not be of those whom Our Lord condemns, saying: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).
You can imagine the pain a mother feels when her children―even though they turn up at her birthday―nevertheless are glib, insincere, superficial and hypocritical in the “lip-service-only” congratulations on her birthday and likewise with their protestations of “I love you, mom!” It is merely the “politically correct” thing to say and do―without there being any real heart and sincerity behind what they are saying and doing. The mother knows that and she feels the pain in her motherly sensitivity but does not show it due to her heroic stoicity or stoicism. They say that the more perfect a person is, then the more sensitive they are―thus, Our Lord, who was the most perfect of all, was also the most sensitive of all. Our Lady comes second in perfection and sensitivity. Like her Son, she keenly and deeply feels our inconsideration to her, our neglect of her, our indifference towards her, our lack of real love and devotion in her regard. Is it not the time to put that right? Is it not time to try and give her what she deserves?
Time to Turn to Mary
In the same book, Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales makes a timely encouragement, as we approach the birthday of Our Lady, to devotedly turn to her AT ALL TIMES and in ALL OUR NEEDS: “With a special love, give honor, reverence and respect to the holy and glorious Virgin Mary. As the Mother of Jesus, our Brother, she is truly our mother. Let us therefore turn to her for help. We are her little children, so let us, with complete confidence, throw ourselves in her arms. At every moment, in every circumstance, let us call to this loving mother. Let us ask earnestly for her motherly love. With our hearts full of a true filial love for her, let us strive to imitate her virtues.”
In the case of a good person, it is only natural for a child to imitate the virtues of its mother―a bad child will imitate the vices of its mother. If you have ever read The Mystical City of God, by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, you will have noted that Our Lady continually insists that her example be imitated. The proverb― “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” ― means that a person imitates someone else because they admire that person or value what that person is doing. Another version adds a phrase at the end of that proverb, saying: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness!” ― and that sums up our self and Our Lady ― we are mediocrity personified and she is greatness personified. Much as Christ became man to make us like unto God―Our Lady wants to raise us out of our mediocrity and make us holy and acceptable to God. She was born to bring God to man―on this her upcoming birthday―let her be truly born in your life and soul, so that she can bring you to God.
What to Do and How to Prepare
► The first thing to do is to CONCRETELY, DEFINITELY, IRREVOCABLY, UNCHANGINGLY and ABSOLUTELY SET ASIDE SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH FOR OUR LADY. It is the birthday of the Mother of God. It is the birthday of your spiritual mother. It is the birthday of her who has said: “I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
► The second thing to do is to tell everyone that everyone is staying at home (and perhaps invite other relatives and friends―as you would for any family member’s birthday―for Mary is “family” is she not? You hope to part of her “family” in Heaven, don’t you?). Make the phone calls, send the texts and e-mails THIS WEEKEND. Commit yourself! It is the best way to guarantee that it will happen―because other people have been told about and will expect it to happen.
► The third thing to do is to create some kind of loose schedule for Sunday, September 8th. Be “loose” and plan more generally than specifically―because you may get a better idea on what to actually do on the day as a result of who will accept and who refuses your invitation. Then you can plan more specifically based upon what you know of the persons who will be accept your invitation and will attend Our Lady’s birthday party.
► The fourth thing to do is to invite everyone to PREPARE SPIRITUALLY for Our Lady’s birthday. You could send out the link to the NOVENA IN PREPARATION FOR OUR LADY’S NATIVITY [click here]―if it is started today, then you get a full nine days up to and including Our Lady’s birthday. Or you could send out some other prayers that last a lesser time―for example a TRIDUUM OF PRAYERS (which means “prayers for three days”), or ask them to pray an extra Rosary in her honor; or pray the LITANY OF LORETO (the Litany of Our Lady); or some other prayers. The whole point is to PLACE THE SPIRITUAL ABOVE THE MATERIAL PREPARATIONS―for the spiritual is more important than the material, just as the soul is more important than the body, and the life and welfare of the soul is more important than the life and welfare of the body. Thus, both Our Lady and all the participants will appreciate and enjoy her birthday all the more if they will have prepared spiritually and prepared for a prolonged period of time. It will mean that you are honoring her more with your heart than your lips, more with your prayers than your belly.
► The fifth thing to do is to plan a balanced schedule for the day―and, as said above, make it general plan, much like giving “chapter headings” for what will take place, rather than listing things in “fine details”. With it being a Sunday, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass ends up, fortunately, being a “Shotgun-Mass”―meaning everyone is obliged to and bound to attend it. However, you could ask that everyone makes an Act of Consecration to Our Lady at some point during Mass―it could be before Mass, during Mass at the Offertory, or after the Consecration, or after Holy Communion, or after Mass at Our Lady’s side altar, statue or image―or, even better, multiple times: meaning before, during and after Mass―just as you would probably say “Happy Birthday” to somebody several times on the day of their birthday.
► The sixth thing to do would be ask everyone to make their Holy Communion, on September 8th, in honor of Our Lady. Later this coming week, we will publish potential texts and examples of what to do and say during such a Holy Communion.
► The seventh thing to do is to prepare the “soil” of your mind and soul for Our Lady by “weeding-out” the world and “planting seeds” of Our Lady throughout this entire week that leads up to her birthday on Sunday, September 8th. You can do this in many different ways. First of all add some short little prayers to Our Lady onto your usual devotions and prayers. It might be the recitation of the Angelus (morning, noon and evening), or perhaps the Memorare prayer (Remember O most loving Virgin Mary, that never was it know that anyone who had recourse to …etc.), or it could be the daily singing of some hymn to Our Lady, etc. Another way to “plant seeds” of Our Lady would be to make a daily reading from anyone of the countless books that there are in print about Mary―many of which are available for free online; or take various extracts for your reading from other internet resources; or you could focus on the chief virtues of Our Lady, as listed by St. Louis de Montfort in his True Devotion to Mary: “particularly her profound humility, her lively Faith, her blind obedience, her continual prayer, her universal mortification, her divine purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelic sweetness and her divine wisdom. These are the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin” (True Devotion to Mary, §108). If you need help with this latter option, this website will give you some daily assistance, in the days that follow, by providing you with meditative material and spiritual readings on those then chief virtues.
► The eighth thing to do is to focus on imitating the chief virtues of Our Lady, as listed by St. Louis de Montfort in his True Devotion to Mary: “particularly her profound humility, her lively Faith, her blind obedience, her continual prayer, her universal mortification, her divine purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelic sweetness and her divine wisdom. These are the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin” (True Devotion to Mary, §108). You could divide up the chief ten virtues among family members―keeping the allocated virtue throughout the whole build-up to Our Lady’s birthday. Or you could pick “a virtue per day” if you wish. If you need help with these options, this website will give you some daily assistance, in the days that follow, by providing you with meditative material and spiritual readings on those then chief virtues as well as ideas on how to practice those virtues in multiple scenarios.
► The ninth thing to do is to focus on the chief apparitions of Our Lady as we lead up to her birthday. A suggestion―and it merely a suggestion, for you can do as you like, change the order or even ignore the idea―would be:
Sunday, September 1st: Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico) 1531
Monday, September 2nd: Our Lady of Good Success (Quito, Ecuador) late 1500s and early 1600s
Tuesday, September 3rd: Rue de Bac 1830 (Paris, France) the Miraculous Medal apparitions
Wednesday, September 3th: La Salette (France) 1846
Thursday,September 5th: Lourdes (France) 1858
Friday, September 6th: Fatima (Portugal) 1917
Saturday, September 7th: Akita (Japan) 1973
► The tenth thing to do is to prepare a little altar or oratory (place of prayer) for Our Lady’s birthday. It does not have to be an entire room, any dignified part of a room is acceptable if a separate exclusive room is not available. Decorate it with the best things that you have―cloth to cover the table; your best or favorite statue or image of Our Lady placed on it; candles and flowers to surround it; perhaps even have votive lights burning before it throughout the entire period, day and night, leading up to Our Lady’s birthday. As regards prayer―ensure that some prayers are guaranteed to be said before your little shrine or altar to Our Lady each and every day. Similarly, a little shrine could erected in your garden in readiness for her birthday.
► The eleventh thing to do is to gradually finalize the actual schedule you will use on Our Lady’s birthday. Here is an example of what you could do―but your own imagination and ingenuity will most likely better these very basic ideas:
(1) Start the day of Sunday, September 8th, with a decent amount of FAMILY PRAYER before going to Sunday Mass―even if, or especially if, your family is not accustomed to saying morning prayers together as a family. This morning prayer session could include (a) the Daily Morning Offering, (b) an Act of Consecration to Our Lady, (c) at least one decade of the Rosary, but preferably all five decades of the Joyful Mysteries, for, on this day, you should aim at praying all 15 decades of the Rosary (or an extra 15 decades on top of the Rosaries you would normally pray) in honor of Our Lady and as present to her―otherwise you would not be giving her anything more than on every usual day, (d) make a short reading of one or a few paragraphs from anyone of the many books available on Our Lady, (e) follow the reading with the recitation or singing of the first Angelus of the day―morning, noon and evening―use bells if you have them, which are sounded during the invocations that precede each of the three Hail Marys, (f) finish with a hymn to Our Lady. All of this should take no more than around 30 minutes―give or take a few minutes.
(2) On the way to church for Sunday Mass, refrain from any worldly, trivial or vain talk and discussions, but sanctify the drive by either prayers being recited or someone reading something from a book on Our Lady―or even both. Alternatively, or additionally, you could have an informal discussion about Our Lady―which, if you have read a passage from a book, could be based upon that reading. The possibilities are really endless and go well beyond these meager suggestions.
(3) Arrange to do something special at church for Our Lady―either before, during or after Mass. You could recite, once more, your Act of Consecration to Our Lady as a family at her side altar. Or you could suggest that every family member write his or her own special prayer to Our Lady for her birthday―and then each of you could silently recite that personal prayer to Our Lady, either before, during or after Mass. Receive and offer your Holy Communions in honor of Our Lady. If the parish priest agrees and allows you, then you have a mini-hymn singing session to honor Our Lady after Mass. Or, even more daringly, get the priest to agree to Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in honor of Our Lady, or even a little procession in her honor―though you might have to pay in advance for getting the priest’s agreement by doing lots of penance, fasting and praying beforehand.
(4) On the way home from Sunday Mass, perhaps there is a little shrine of Our Lady’s that you could visit on her birthday. If not, then perhaps there is a church somewhere nearby that is dedicated to Our Lady―meaning that it has Our Lady’s name or one of her many titles incorporated in the name of the church, e.g. Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Immaculate Conception, Queen of Angels, Queen of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima, etc. Make a short stop there and recite some prayers or sing some hymns in her honor―this could be an opportunity for praying the next 5 decades of the Rosary―-the Sorrowful Mysteries―or you could pray them later.
(5) Upon arriving home, it will probably be not too far from midday―which would allow you to pray the midday Angelus. Use the bells once again as you did during the morning Angelus. Remind everyone that this is Our Lady’s birthday and the focus is on her today. As a sacrifice for her, you could and should postpone all worldly activities for this one day―such as avoid watching worldly TV shows, listening to worldly music, going out to participate in worldly activities, etc.
(6) At some point you will have to eat lunch or dinner―make it a real banquet in honor of Our Lady. There are many possibilities by way of menus that could reflect a profound and beautiful symbolism of Our Lady, while also being delicious in the process. More on that later. Hopefully, without promising anything, the website might be able to present with a whole menu consisting of many courses, all of them symbolizing and reflecting Our Lady in some way―together with a print-out explanation of how and why the ingredients are symbolic of Our Lady. This is a mammoth task―thus no promises are made. Even if an entire multi-course menu might not be completed in time for Sunday―meaning designed and published several days before her birthday to allow for purchase of items and preparation of food―then at least some recipes will be available in good time.
(7) Get everyone involved in some way for preparing for an afternoon or evening with Our Lady. This coming week could be used productively in preparing a little family concert in her honor during her birthday. The concert could include hymns, songs, poetry, musical instruments (solo or as a group) or even recitations (speeches) about Our Lady’s miracles, interventions, apparitions, etc., or little thumbnail talks about certain saints who had a great devotion to Our Lady, recounting and relating how they showed their devotion to her.
(8) The concert could be followed by watching a movie about Our Lady. There are several available out there―but you need to plan early and act quickly to secure or rent one―unless you already have those movies in your library or possession.
(9) After the movie you could recite the remaining five EXTRA decades of the Rosary―the Glorious Mysteries―which should be additional to the decades you are accustomed to praying each day―otherwise where is the special present for Our Lady?). After the Rosary, you could recite or sing the evening Angelus―once again using bells in the manner described above.
(10) The evening meal could again contain foods that are symbolic of Our Lady―and this symbolism should be explained to those present at the meal, for they would otherwise be clueless and ignorant of the spiritual aspect of the meal.
(11) Finally, before retiring for the night, the night prayers (if you are used to saying them as a family) should have a very definite Marian flavor injected into them―to distinguish them and raise them a notch above the night prayers you are accustomed to praying. To finish night prayers, another short and inspiring reading from a book on Our Lady would be ideal as a last thought of the day. If you are accustomed to reading bedtime stories to the young ones before turning out the light, make sure you have a wonderful story based on Our Lady prepared.
All of the above constitutes the EXTERNAL ASPECTS of what is meant by TRUE DEVOTION to Our Lady, but these are mere pieces of firewood that need an interior flame of love to really set alight a true fire of devotion―for someone could perform all the above exteriorly or externally while having no real interior love or devotion while doing so. If you think the above is overwhelming, then realize that the word DEVOTION is a word that indicated a HIGH DEGREE of love and attention, as indicated above by St. Francis de Sales in his book, Introduction to the Devout Life, in which he speaks of and describes TRUE DEVOTION as follows:
“Devotion consists in a high degree of real love … In fact, all true and living devotion presupposes the love of God―and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God, though not always of the same kind. In so far as divine love enriches us―it is called GRACE, which makes us pleasing to God. In so far as it gives us the strength to do good―it is called CHARITY. But when it grows to such a degree of perfection that it makes us not only to do good, but rather moves us to do it carefully, frequently and promptly―it is called DEVOTION … In short, devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly; and, just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God’s Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them readily and diligently. Therefore, we cannot call him, who neglects to observe all God’s Commandments, either good or devout, because in order to be good, a man must be filled with love, and, to be devout, he must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love … The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame―love being a spiritual fire, which becomes devotion when it is fanned into a flame―and what devotion adds to the fire of love, is that flame which makes love become eager, energetic and diligent, not merely in obeying God’s Commandments, but in fulfilling His Divine Counsels and inspirations” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 1).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Wednesday August 28th & Thursday August 29th
Article 16
An Adult Devotion! Not For "Big-Babies"!
Article 16
An Adult Devotion! Not For "Big-Babies"!
“Grown-Ups” and “Big-Babies”
Children can’t wait to “grow-up” and adults often act like “big-babies”―it is one of the paradoxes of life, where children hanker after adulthood and adults hanker after their childhood! The adults who are “big-babies” could argue―by twisting the meaning of Our Lord’s words―that we meant to be “big-babies” so to speak: “And Jesus said: ‘Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 18:4). Our Lord, of course, is not advocating that adults act immaturely as children do, but He is telling adults to have the humble dependence that a child has on its parents, and to have that same humble dependence on God the Father, in place of the spirit of independence and self-sufficiency that plagues most souls and nations today.
An even greater mess occurs when not only do children want to be adults and adults want to be like children―but when boys want to be girls and girls want to be boys and some don’t know what they are! You could say that the world is growing into a gigantic and catastrophic “identity crisis” which is a perversion of the way that God wanted things to be. It brings to mind the perversion of Sodom and Gomorrha―and that did not end well, with fire and brimstone raining down from Heaven and destroying them all. Fairy tale? Legend? Scaremongery? Well―just live a little longer and find out for yourself if Our Lady’s warnings for our day are fairy tales, legends or scaremongery―for she has clearly warned, as Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima and Akita, that:
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption ... Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … It will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them … Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities … Nations will be annihilated … Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful.” Who wants to watch scary movies when you will soon be able to actually live through one! Virtual reality shows will having nothing on this one! The punishment of Sodom and Gomorrha will be a mere side-show compared to the one that is coming―a mere “trailer” for “movie” to come―except that it won’t be a movie and it won’t be a time for “big-babies”!
We Know the Antidote―But Don’t Dote On It
Of course, we all know the antidote but refuse to dote on it. The antidote is devotion―devotion to Our Lady in general and devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart in particular―but who the hell cares? Well, Hell cares! Hell cares so much to the point that it has almost extinguished all fiery devotion to ashes, or at least has left it in some places are mere smoldering embers giving off some lukewarm heat and some faint barely visible wisps of smoke rising heavenwards.
Devotion Reduced to Ashes―Time to Rise From the Ashes
Yes, devotion to Our Lady is largely ignored and in ashes. As Fr. Faber so correctly writes in his Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary: “Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. Mary is not half enough preached. It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers. It is always a slave of human respect and carnal prudence. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no Faith in itself. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines.”
We need to rise―like the proverbial phoenix―from the ashes. The phrase―“rise like a phoenix from the ashes”―is based on a story that goes back thousands of years. The expression is a simile, which means it is a phrase used in a sentence that is a comparison of one thing with something else using the word like or the word as. A simile may compare two things with qualities that do not seem related, though there must be some similarity that is either real or symbolic.
“To rise like a phoenix from the ashes” means to emerge from a catastrophe in a state of being that is stronger, wiser, and more powerful. An example of “rising like a phoenix from the ashes” is someone who opens a new, successful business after his previous business has failed. Another example would be someone resolutely and bravely building a new house after his previous house has been destroyed by a tornado. The phoenix bird is a mythical bird from Greek mythology. It was a feathered creature of great size with talons and wings, its plumage radiant and beautiful. The phoenix lived for 500 years before it built its own funeral pyre, burst into flame, and died, consumed in its own fiery inferno. Soon after, the mythical creature rose out of the ashes, in a transformation from death to life. Christianity adopted the depiction of the phoenix rising from the ashes as a symbol of rebirth and eternal life―beginning with Christ Himself through His death and seeming failure, followed by His successful resurrection from that death. The phrase “rise like a phoenix from the ashes” is often shortened to “rise like a phoenix”, or even “rise from the ashes.”
The Church Will Rise From Its Ashes
This is exactly what Our Lady says will happen―after we have duly punished and flattened to the ground: “In order to free men from bondage to these heresies, those―whom the merciful love of my Most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration―will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God. To test this Faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed … There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph. The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom … Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!
“God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!
“And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Families Rising From the Ashes
If the Church will be reduced to apparent ashes―then that means that most families will be reduced to ashes. In fact, most families have been reduced to ashes already! From what Holy Scripture, Our Lord, Our Lady and many of the saints say―it has always been the case, as most families go from being reduced to ashes by the fires of worldliness and sin, to the eternal fires of Hell where they will continue to burn. It is a truth that should not shock us―though it should sadden us. Our Lord Himself warned: “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Our Lord forewarned the critical state families would find themselves in―with some family members choosing to follow Him and His teaching, while other family members would resist Him and His teachings: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:34-37).
“Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:51-53).
“Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:34-37).
“And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death!” (Mark 13:12). “And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death!” (Luke 21:16).
Why will all this happen? Because of a lack of devotion to God in general and to Our Lady in particular―for, as she has said, only she can help us now: “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
Yet, we have plugged our ears and blinded our minds to these truths. How true are the words of God for our times: “The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together … They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways!” (Psalm 13:1-3).
Time to Start Rising From the Ashes
In case the discouraging thoughts of impossibility―Satan’s favorite “trump card”―should paralyze our efforts before we even start, let us remember some incredible examples of “the phoenix rising from its ashes” in the personages of some big sinners who became great saints―one of which we celebrate today, on August 28th, being St. Augustine. For those discouraged about achieving sanctity, there can be no better thing than to read and study the lives of the great sinners who became great saints. They are walking proof of the words of God in Holy Scripture, Who said: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). Let us look at some big sinners “rising out of the ashes” of sin―for the greatest sinners can become the greatest saints. Or, more precisely, the greatest sinners MUST become the greatest saints—so that their great debt for sin can be paid-off by their great penances and virtues of holiness.
► St. Mary Magdalen: Possessed by Seven Devils & Adulteress
Around the time of Our Lord, we think of St. Mary Magdalen, who was possessed by seven devils and caught in adultery. The notion of Mary Magdalene being a repentant sinner, can be traced at least as far back as St. Ephraim the Syrian, in the fourth century, and became the generally accepted view in Western Christianity after the homily of Pope Gregory I (“Gregory the Great”) in about 591. We would find it difficult to find a greater sinner than Mary Magdalen. She was possessed by seven devils and her life of sin was no secret, but well-known by the community. Yet after all that, Holy Scripture tells us: “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). It does not say: “Jesus loved Martha and Lazarus, and only tolerated or put up with Mary.” No! St. John says “Jesus loved … Mary!” The New Testament God is no different from the Old Testament God: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23). “Go then and learn what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill” (Matthew 9:12). She ended up being tremendously devoted to both Our Lord and Our Lady.
► St. Dismas: Robber & Thief
St. Dismas isn’t a saint in the usual or strict sense—for he was never canonized by the Church—but rather a saint by local tradition instead. As the story goes, Dismas asked for Jesus Christ to remember him while he was being crucified next to him. A clue to his past lies in Dismas’ patronage, for he is the patron saint of reformed thieves. Tradition has it that he was converted on Calvary by the prayers of Our Lady.
► St. Callixtus: Thief & Embezzler
St. Callixtus of Rome lived a life of many sins before being taken under the wing of Victor I, a second century pope. Callixtus was a Roman slave whose petty theft and reckless investments resulted in being sentenced to forced labor in the mines of Sardinia. He embezzled money and started a public riot, amongst other criminal affairs, but left that all behind early in the third century when he reformed. Released from the mines by a general pardon, he returned to Rome where Pope St. Victor I gradually brought him to repentance. . He was ordained a priest, served as administrator of one of the catacombs, and ultimately Callixtus went on to become a pope himself, but died a martyr shortly thereafter. His Roman catacombs can be toured today.
► St. Hippolytus: Heretic & First Antipope
Hippolytus was an arrogant, unforgiving man who believed that Christians guilty of mortal sin should be expelled from the Church and never readmitted. In his pride, Hippolytus permitted his followers to elect him as the Church’s first anti-pope. Inspired by the true pope’s holiness, Hippolytus eventually repented of his own sin and was reconciled to the Catholic Church.
► St. Mary of Egypt: Seductress & Whore
At age 12 Mary (344-421) ran away from home to Alexandria, the most exciting city in the Roman Empire. She became an accomplished seductress, who took special pleasure in corrupting innocent young men. Mary was an expert seductress who ensnared any man who caught her eye. Once, on a whim, she joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. By the time the ship reached its destination, Mary had seduced the entire crew and all of the pilgrims. She traveled to Jerusalem where a supernatural force prevented her from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. In Jerusalem she realized the enormity of her sins Filled with remorse, Mary sought the Mother of God’s intercession and made a good confession. In penance, Mary lived out her conversion as a hermit, alone in the Jordanian desert.
► St. Augustine: Fornicator and Worldling
Augustine was son of Patricius, a well-to-do pagan, whose ideal of life was to get the most out of it he could, without being too particular as to the means. Patricius, at the age of forty, had married Monica, a girl of seventeen, a Christian on both her father’s and her mother’s side. This marriage alone would seem to imply a certain laxity of Faith in the family; the fact that Monica owed most of her religious and moral training to an old nurse confirms it. Three children were born to them, Augustine the first, but none of them were baptized. Augustine grew up among pagan children, apparently in a pagan school, and his morals from the first were no better than theirs. He could steal, he could cheat, he could lie with the best of them; to do these things cleverly and successfully was a mark of talent rather than of vice. Patricius saw that Augustine had an excellent mind and a wonderful disposition for learning, and with a view to his future preferment, spared nothing to breed him up a scholar. He was sent to Madaura, a prosperous city thirty miles away.
Here he was his own master; the longing he had always had to do just what he liked, without hindrance from anyone, was allowed free scope. He fell also into vanity, pleasing himself with the pride of surpassing his companions at play, and loving to have his ears scratched with vain praises. A worse curiosity drew him to the dangerous entertainments of those who were older—public shows, plays, and other diversions of the theatre. The most fatal sin was the vice of impurity, into which he fell in the sixteenth year of his age. He was led into this by reading impure plays in Terence, by sloth, by frequenting stage entertainments, and by bad company and example. The consequences were inevitable. Augustine came home from Madaura addicted to the lowest vices. His father who looked upon the same excess as a proof of manhood. The next step in Augustine’s career was to Carthage― the center of learning and pleasure in North Africa, and Augustine craved for both. There he lived, from the age of seventeen, learning and loving as he wished, for there was no one to check or guide him. “I went to Carthage,” he wrote later, “where shameful love bubbled round me like boiling oil.” Augustine plunged himself headlong into the filth of impurity. At about the age of 17, Augustine began an affair with a young woman in Carthage. Though his mother wanted him to marry a person of his class, the woman remained his lover for over fifteen years and gave birth to his son Adeodatus (372–388). In 385, Augustine ended his relationship with his lover in order to prepare himself to marry a ten-year-old heiress. He had to wait for two years because the legal age of marriage for women was twelve. By the time he was able to marry her, however, he had decided instead to become a priest.
► St. Moses the Black: Cut-throat & Gang Leader
Moses was chief of a violent gang of bandits. Fleeing from law enforcement, he took refuge in a monastery. Moses was inspired by the monk’s example and converted. He took a vow never to raise his hand against another human being, even in self-defense. After years of overcoming temptation, Moses was killed by Berber raiders.
► St. Pelagia: Dancer & Courtesan
The beautiful, teenage Saint Pelagia would have been every parent’s nightmare. As legend has it, she was a dancer and courtesan (prostitute) by her early teens. Pelagia’s conversion occurred all of a sudden, following a chance encounter with Saint Nonnus, the bishop of Edessa. The young girl was baptized, gave away her possessions to the poor and lived as a hermit for the rest of her life.
► St. Olga: Murderess
When a neighboring tribe assassinated her husband, Olga (c.879-969), princess of Kiev, went to war. Olga slaughtered her husband’s murderer and she massacred virtually the entire tribe; the few who did survive, she sold into slavery. Years later, while in Constantinople, to make an alliance with the emperor, Olga visited a church, encountered the splendor and beauty of Christianity and was in awe of the magnificence of the liturgy. She took instruction, was baptized and returned to Kiev, zealous to convert her people. Olga tried very hard to convert her people, but hardly anyone would listen to her. Even her family rejected Christianity. Olga died believing that as a missionary, she was a failure. Yet, she planted a seed of Faith which flourished. Today, Catholic and Orthodox Christians of Russia and Ukraine hail her as “Equal to the Apostles.”
► St. Vladimir: Murderer and Rapist
Olga’s grandson Vladimir (956-1015) became prince of Kiev by murdering his older half-brother. Then he raped his sister-in-law and added her to his harem of several hundred women. He built a new temple to all the gods; and sacrificed a father and his son to the false gods. When the emperor at Constantinople sought his help in putting down a rebellion, Vladimir demanded as his reward the emperor’s sister as his wife (actually, the unhappy woman would be Vladimir’s eighth wife). The emperor countered that Vladimir must convert to Christianity. In order to marry the emperor’s sister, Vladimir accepted Christian baptism. Everyone suspected that once he was back in Kiev, Vladimir would return to his old ways, but the grace of baptism changed him. His zeal for the Faith knew no limits and his efforts helped spread Christianity across Russia and Ukraine. He dismissed his extra wives and his harem, tore down the pagan temple, and launched a vigorous campaign to convert his people. The Faith his grandmother, Olga (see above) planted flourished under Vladimir.
► St. Margaret of Cortona: Rich Man’s Mistress
Margaret was only twelve when she became Arsenio’s mistress. After years of cohabitation, she realized her sins when she discovered Arsenio’s murdered corpse. Full of the grace of conversion and determined to start a new life, she went to Cortona where the Franciscans ministered to penitent sinners. There, Margaret pursued a life of prayer, penance, and good works.
► St. Angela of Foligno: Worldly and Flirtatious
Angela was beautiful, wealthy, and vain. As a rich man’s wife she wallowed in luxury. Her passions were expensive clothes and flashy jewels, extravagant meals and rare wines. She dressed and acted in ways that would provoke envy among women and sexual desire among men. When she was not indulging herself, she spent hours gossiping with her friends and maligning her neighbors. In her autobiography Angela discloses that in 1285 she did something so bad that for the first time in her life she began to live in fear of Hell. Her biographers speculate that Angela committed adultery, and given the intensity of her guilt and shame that seems likely. Near de spair, she prayed to St. Francis of Assisi to help her. As Angela prayed the saint appeared to her. “Sister,” St. Francis said, “if you would have asked me sooner I would have complied with your request sooner. Nonetheless, your request is granted.” That same day Angela offered a sincere confession to a priest. As she stepped from the shadowy interior of the church into the bright sunlight of the piazza, Angela resolved to begin a new life. She sold her fine clothes and jewels to relieve the suffering of Foligno’s poor. After the death of her husband, she gave away all her wealth, associated herself with the Franciscans, and with a handful of other holy women dedicated herself to tending the poor and the sick. Blessed Angela’s life teaches us a timeless lesson about our weakness and God’s mercy. All that he requires is that we repent and make a sincere effort to do better in the future.
► St. Thomas Becket: Rich and Cruel
As chancellor of England under Henry II, Thomas Becket (1118-1170) became obscenely wealthy. His wardrobe was larger and more expensive than the king’s. He even had his own private navy. In spite of all his wealth, Becket was cold-hearted and never gave anything to the poor. All that changed after Becket was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury. He gave away all his possessions. He welcomed the poor at his table. And he became a champion of the independence of the Church, for which he was murdered in his own cathedral by four of King Henry’s knights.
► St. Philip Howard: Playboy and Gambler
Son of one of the wealthiest noble families in England, Philip Howard (1557-1595) could afford any pleasure he liked — and he liked them all. At court he was a notorious playboy, gambler and fop. He ran up enormous debts, then sold off his wife’s property to settle them. On one occasion he said publicly that he did not really consider himself to be married. In 1581, he joined other members of the court at the Tower of London, to see a debate between several Anglican ministers and a prisoner, the Jesuit priest, St. Edmund Campion. Although the ministers were armed with books and assistants, Father Campion was alone and had only his memory to rely on, yet he did so well in the debate, that the government canceled the debate before a verdict could be given. Inspired by Father Campion, Howard reconciled with his wife, and they both returned to the Catholic Faith. When they tried to leave the country secretly for the Continent of Europe, where they could practice Catholicism freely, they were stopped and Howard was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He died there 10 years later.
► St. Camillus of Lellis: Drinker, Gambler & Whore-Lover
Camillus de Lellis was born in Italy in the middle of the 16th century. A hot-tempered, troublesome child, he joined the army when he was 16, though his aggressive behavior only grew after that. Camillus was a mercenary soldier with all the worst habits— drinking, gambling, swearing, chasing prostitutes. Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor. Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor.
Rising From Ashes of Sin Through Grace and Mary
These sinners “rose from the ashes” and got to Heaven, but they had to make themselves acceptable first! Who knows how much time they may have spent in Purgatory in addition to having suffered for their sins AFTER conversion. With God nothing is impossible—unless we stubbornly resist and reject His graces that move us to change! And there we have that key word―GRACE. Without God’s grace we can do nothing! That means NOTHING! What part of the word NOTHING do you not understand? Utter, total, inescapable dependence―even for those who hate God, for: “Your Father, Who is in Heaven, maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:45).
That grace of conversion―and any and every grace―God has chosen to give to us through Mary, whom the Church calls the “Mediatrix of All Grace”―meaning that all graces that are given to mankind pass through her hands, so to speak. If we have a problem with that, then our theology is weak and faulty―as Fr. Faber says of the minds of those who contest and dispute Mary’s role in our salvation: “Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy.”
As St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church and teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish!” Another Doctor of the Church, St. Bonaventure, adds: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins!” St. Ignatius of Antioch, a Father of the Church and a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
This is echoed by Our Lady’s words to St. Bridget of Sweden: “Do not forget me! For I am forgotten and ignored by many! I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed (by which is meant the damned in Hell), is so entirely cast off by God that he may not return and enjoy His mercy if he invokes my aid. Therefore he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
St. Alphonsus then writes: “St. Bernard says: ‘O Lady, thou dost abhor no sinner, however abandoned and vile he may be, when he has recourse to thee; if he asks thy help, thou wilt extend thy kind hand to draw him from the depths of despair.’ [St. Alphonsus then adds] O ever blessed and thanked be our God, O most amiable Mary, who made thee so merciful and kind towards the most miserable sinners. Oh, wretched are those who do not love thee, and who, having it in their power to seek help of thee, do not trust in thee! He who does not implore the aid of Mary is lost―but who has ever been lost that had recourse to her?” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Glories of Mary).
The Master Devotee Explains the Masterpiece
St. Louis de Montfort explains it thus:
“The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say ‘not in the same measure,’ because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God. I explain―
(1) Mary alone found grace with God for herself and for every individual person (Luke 1:30). No patriarch nor prophet nor any other holy person of the Old Law could manage to find this grace;
(2) It was Mary who gave existence and life to the author of all grace and, because of this, she is called the “Mother of Grace.”
(3) God the Father, from Whom, as from its essential source, every perfect gift and every grace come down to us (James 1:17), gave her every grace when He gave her His Son.
(4) God chose her to be the treasurer, the administrator and the dispenser of all His graces, so that all His graces and gifts pass through her hands. Such is the power that she has received from Him that, according to St. Bernardine, she gives the graces of the eternal Father, the virtues of Jesus Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost to whom she wills, as and when she wills, and as much as she wills.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §5 to §10).
In his book, True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis further explains:
“Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High … Mary, being a mere creature that has come from the hands of the Most High, is in comparison with His Infinite Majesty less than an atom; or rather, she is nothing at all, because only He is “He who is” (Exodus 3:14). Therefore, that grand Lord never had, and has not now, any absolute need of the holy Virgin for the accomplishment of His will and for the manifestation of His glory. He has but to will in order to do everything. Nevertheless, God having willed to start and to complete His greatest works through the most holy Virgin ever since He created her—we may well think He will not change His conduct in the eternal ages; for He is God, and He changes not, either in His sentiments or in His conduct. It was only through Mary that God the Father gave His Only begotten to the world. Whatever sighs the patriarchs may have sent forth, whatever prayers the prophets and the saints of the Old Law may have offered up to obtain this treasure for full four thousand years, it was only Mary who merited it and found grace before God (Luke 1:30) by the force of her prayers and the eminence of her virtues.
“The Son of God became man for our salvation; but it was in Mary and by Mary. God the Holy Ghost formed Jesus Christ in Mary; but it was only after having asked her consent. If we examine closely the rest of our Blessed Lord’s life, we shall see that it was His will to begin His miracles by Mary. He sanctified St. John in the womb of his mother, St. Elizabeth, but it was by Mary’s word. No sooner had she spoken than John was sanctified; and this was His first miracle of grace. At the marriage of Cana He changed the water into wine, but it was at Mary’s humble prayer; and this was His first miracle of nature. He began and continued His miracles by Mary, and He will continue them to the end of ages by Mary. God the Father made an assemblage of all the waters and He named it the sea (mare). He made an assemblage of all His graces and he called it “Mary” (in Latin: “Maria”, which is another Latin word for “sea” ). This great God has a most rich treasury in which He has laid up all that He has of beauty and splendor, of rarity and preciousness, including even His own Son―and this immense treasury is none other than Mary, whom the saints have named the Treasure of the Lord, out of whose plenitude all men are made rich. God the Son has communicated to His Mother all that He acquired by His life and His death, His infinite merits and His admirable virtues; and He has made her the treasurer of all that His Father gave Him for His inheritance. It is by her that He applies His merits to His members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces. She is His mysterious canal; she is His aqueduct, through which He makes His mercies flow gently and abundantly.
“To Mary, His faithful spouse, God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the will of God, who has willed that we should have everything through Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §5 to §25).
St. Louis then sums up, saying: “After that, we must cry out with the saints―De Maria numquam satis—[meaning]―Of Mary there is never enough! We have not yet praised, exalted, honored, loved and served Mary as we ought. She deserves still more praise, still more respect, still more love, and still more service. After that, we must cry out with the Apostle [St. Paul], ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor man’s heart comprehended’ (1 Corinthians 2:9) the beauties, the grandeurs, the excellences of Mary—the miracle of the miracles of grace” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §10 to §12).
To which can be added the words of Fr. Faber:
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one. Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor … Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no Faith in itself. Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized. Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background. Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines.
“Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother. I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion De Montfort. Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ. Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior―her dearest and most blessed Son!” (Fr. Frederick Faber, Preface in his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary).
But Where’s the List of Things to Do?
“Okay! Okay! Okay!” you say, “But where is the list of the things that we have to do for a devotion to Mary?” The answer to your question is a four-letter-word. It is LOVE. Do whatever you want, but do it with love. The Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine of Hippo, in his homily on the First Epistle of St. John (chapter 4, verses 4 to 12), writes: “Once for all, then, a short precept is given you: ‘LOVE, AND DO WHAT YOU WILL’― whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good.”
St. Paul paints a picture of the contrary, saying that whatever we do WITHOUT LOVE is totally useless and profitless from a spiritual supernatural perspective: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
That is why ONE SINGLE ACT OF PERFECT LOVE TOWARDS GOD can wipe away―not only the guilt of decades of mortal and venial sin―but it will also wipe away ALL THE TEMPORAL PUNISHMENT DUE TO THOSE SINS UP TO THAT POINT IN TIME, which would have to paid by suffering and penance in this life, or in the next―whether in Purgatory or, God forbid, in Hell. Hence Our Lord could say of Mary Magdalen: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47)―which is also echoed elsewhere in both the Old and New Testaments: “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). “Charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). We may have sinned beyond all measure―yet we should not lose hope or confidence in obtaining mercy and forgiveness. St. Augustine tells us that “The measure of love is to love without measure”―hence, if have unfortunately sinned without measure, we should now love without measure.
Increase the Quality Before the Quantity
Sadly, the modern consumer world has made us think more in terms of quantity than quality―because the world churns out cheap goods by the million and quality goods by the dozen. We think “more is better”―but that is not the case if all those “more” things are of cheap quality. Math tells us that, just as 1 + 1 = 2; likewise, cheap + cheap = two cheap or too cheap. Listening to a bad joke twice does not make it good. Taking an additional sip of a bad wine does not make it good. Our Lord says: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16-20). Likewise, a badly said Rosary will not bear good fruit; nor will a well said Rosary bear bad fruit.
St. Louis de Montfort, in another of his books, The Secret of the Rosary, writes: “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary [no longer true in our day and age]. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should! To say the Holy Rosary with advantage, one must be in a state of grace [and therefore in charity], or at least be fully determined to give up sin―for all our theology teaches us that good works and prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin [which is an absence of charity]. The stronger our Faith is, the more merit our Rosary will have. This Faith must be lively and informed by charity [meaning “penetrated by” or “steeped in” charity]. In order to pray well, it is not enough to express our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary―but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart [which is the voice of love] than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: “Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently” (Jeremias 48:10).
“Our Lady said to Blessed Alan de la Roche in a vision: ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation … We must not only say the Rosary with our lips in honor of Jesus and Mary, but also meditate [with our heart = love] upon the sacred mysteries while we are saying it … A Christian who does not meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary is very ungrateful [= lacking love] to Our Lord and shows how little he cares for [= little love for] all that our divine Savior has suffered to save the world!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary). The words of St. Augustine could be fittingly added here: “Christ is not valued at all, unless he is valued above all.” The same is true with regard to Our Lady.
The Exterior or External Elements of a Devotion to Our Lady
Let us then look at the exterior aspects and the interior aspects of devotion―the quantity and quality of what should be done―the various different exercises or actions that are a necessary part of our devotion and the manner, or fervor in which we should carry them out. In other words―the body and soul of our devotion to Mary. Just as the body must be exercised and fed healthy foods, likewise the soul should be exercised and fed healthy foods. What are those foods? What are those exercises? That is what we will not look at. THE KEY POINT TO REMEMBER IS THAT IT IS NOT SO MUCH WHAT WE DO OR HOW MUCH WE DO THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR―BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO WORK UPON IS THE LOVE THAT WE DO IT WITH.
● Make a Morning Offering through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
● Make a Morning Meditation (or at some other point during the day) on something related to Our Lady.
● Pray Morning Angelus, Midday Angelus and Evening Angelus (if possible with family).
● Daily Mass and Holy Communion (if possible)―especially all the main feast days of Our Lady
● Visit to the Blessed Sacrament as often as possible throughout the week―even it means a slight detour when driving somewhere else. The visit does not have to be long―it’s the thought that counts. If physical visits are not possible, then make a spiritual visit to the church from wherever you are―home, work, school, etc.
● Pray the 15 decades of the Rosary daily (preferably with the mysteries being meditated and not merely said without meditations). Do not be afraid of praying and meditating only one decade at a time―this will prevent super-long meditated Rosaries of 5 decades in one session.
● Make a daily Examination of Conscience; and perhaps add a brief “Examen” (check-up) of your predominant fault several times a day.
● Do some daily spiritual reading on the mechanics of the Spiritual Life and its various stages, its growth, different virtues, practices, pitfalls, temptations, etc.
● Do some daily reading specifically on Our Lady from one of the many books available.
● Read a short daily extract from St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary or The Secret of Mary (to keep the idea of what a true devotion consists of before your eyes)
● Practice a daily variation in other prayers to Mary (there are hundreds of prayers to be found)
● Make good use of statues and images of Our Lady―perhaps making a little altar to her in the home or classroom; and a shrine in the garden.
● Organize Our Lady study sessions―these could be among family members only, or for an extended group. Once a week or once every other week would be an ideal frequency.
● Propagate and distribute Rosaries, Scapulars, Miraculous Medals, Marian literature, etc.
● Make sure to have many Marian conversations at home―which will make Our Lady a central part of family life.
● Recall, read about or talk about Marian miracles―monthly, or weekly, or daily.
● Follow her feast days and prepare something for her feast days―honoring her in both a spiritual and material way.
● Organize or go to processions in her honor.
● Have Masses offered in her honor
● Make pilgrimages to her shrines (or at least make a pilgrimage in spirit―a spiritual pilgrimage―by reading about her shrines).
● Compose prayers in her honor.
● Compose hymns in her honor.
● Draw or paint pictures in her honor.
● Write and/or distribute flyers or pamphlets about her.
● Spread the True Devotion Consecration by St. Louis de Montfort.
● Spread other Marian devotions.
● Create a Marian Cookery Book―using the symbolism of foods to reflect Our Lady and her virtues.
As always, the above exercises are a mere TIP OF THE ICEBERG of possible exercises. The Holy Ghost working upon your creative imagination will suggest countless more ways in which to exercise, grow and perfect you devotion to Our Lady.
► St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion To Mary, gives the following lists:
● There are several INTERIOR PRACTICES of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Here are the principal ones:
(1) to honor her as the worthy Mother of God, with the worship of hyperdulia; that is to say, to esteem her and honor her above all the other saints, as the masterpiece of grace, and the first after Jesus Christ, true God and true Man;
(2) to meditate on her virtues, her privileges and her actions;
(3) to contemplate her grandeurs;
(4) to make acts of love, of praise, of gratitude to her;
(5) to invoke her cordially;
(6) to offer ourselves to her and unite ourselves with her;
(7) to do all our actions with the view of pleasing her;
(8) to begin, to continue and to finish all our actions by her, in her, with her and for her, in order that we may do them by Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ, with Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ, our Last End. We will presently explain this last practice.6
● True devotion to Our Lady also has several EXTERIOR PRACTICES, of which the following are the principal ones:
(1) to enroll ourselves in her confraternities and enter her congregations;
(2) to join the religious orders instituted in her honor;
(3) to proclaim her praises;
(4) to give alms, to fast and to undergo outward and inward mortifications in her honor;
(5) to wear her liveries, such as the Rosary, the Scapular or the little chain;
(6) to recite with attention, devotion and modesty the holy Rosary, composed of fifteen decades of Hail Mary’s in honor of the fifteen principal mysteries of Jesus Christ; or five decades. We may also say a chaplet of six or seven decades in honor of the years which we believe Our Lady lived on Earth; or the Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin, composed of three Our Fathers and twelve Hail Mary’s, in honor of her crown of twelve stars or privileges; or the Office of Our Lady, so universally received and recited in the Church; or the little Psalter of the hHoly Virgin, which St. Bonaventure composed in her honor; or fourteen Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s in honor of her fourteen joys; or some other prayers, hymns and canticles of the Church, such as the Salve Regina, the Alma, the Ave Regina Coelorum, or the Regina Coeli, according to the different seasons; or the Ave Maris Stella, the O Gloriosa Domina, the Magnificat, or some other practices of devotion, of which books are full;
(7) to sing, or have sung, spiritual canticles in her honor;
(8) to make a number of genuflections or reverences, while saying, for example, every morning, sixty or a hundred times, Ave Maria, Virgo Fidelis (“Hail Mary, Faithful Virgin”), to obtain from God through her the grace to be faithful to the graces of God during the day; and then again in the evening, Ave Maria, Mater Misericordiae (“Hail Mary, Mother of Mercy”) to ask pardon of God through her for the sins that we have committed during the day;
(9) to take care of her confraternities, to adorn her altars, to crown and ornament her images;
(10) to carry her images, or to have them carried, in procession, and to carry a picture or an image of her about our own persons, as a mighty arm against the evil spirit;
(11) to have copies of her name or picture made and placed in churches, or in houses, or on the gates and entrances into cities, churches and houses;
(12) to special and solemn consecrate ourselves to her in manner.
There are NUMEROUS OTHER PRACTICES of true devotion toward the Blessed Virgin, which the Holy Ghost has inspired in saintly souls and which are very sanctifying; they can be read at length in the Paradise Opened to Philagius of Father Barry, the Jesuit, in which he has collected a great number of devotions which the saints have practiced in honor of Our Lady—devotions which serve marvelously to sanctify our souls, provided they are performed as they ought to be, that is to say:
(1) with a good and pure intention to please God only, to unite ourselves to Jesus Christ as to our Last End, and to edify our neighbor;
(2) with attention and without voluntary distraction;
(3) with devotion, equally avoiding precipitation and negligence;
(4) with modesty, and a respectful and edifying posture of the body.
Children can’t wait to “grow-up” and adults often act like “big-babies”―it is one of the paradoxes of life, where children hanker after adulthood and adults hanker after their childhood! The adults who are “big-babies” could argue―by twisting the meaning of Our Lord’s words―that we meant to be “big-babies” so to speak: “And Jesus said: ‘Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 18:4). Our Lord, of course, is not advocating that adults act immaturely as children do, but He is telling adults to have the humble dependence that a child has on its parents, and to have that same humble dependence on God the Father, in place of the spirit of independence and self-sufficiency that plagues most souls and nations today.
An even greater mess occurs when not only do children want to be adults and adults want to be like children―but when boys want to be girls and girls want to be boys and some don’t know what they are! You could say that the world is growing into a gigantic and catastrophic “identity crisis” which is a perversion of the way that God wanted things to be. It brings to mind the perversion of Sodom and Gomorrha―and that did not end well, with fire and brimstone raining down from Heaven and destroying them all. Fairy tale? Legend? Scaremongery? Well―just live a little longer and find out for yourself if Our Lady’s warnings for our day are fairy tales, legends or scaremongery―for she has clearly warned, as Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima and Akita, that:
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption ... Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … It will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them … Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities … Nations will be annihilated … Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful.” Who wants to watch scary movies when you will soon be able to actually live through one! Virtual reality shows will having nothing on this one! The punishment of Sodom and Gomorrha will be a mere side-show compared to the one that is coming―a mere “trailer” for “movie” to come―except that it won’t be a movie and it won’t be a time for “big-babies”!
We Know the Antidote―But Don’t Dote On It
Of course, we all know the antidote but refuse to dote on it. The antidote is devotion―devotion to Our Lady in general and devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart in particular―but who the hell cares? Well, Hell cares! Hell cares so much to the point that it has almost extinguished all fiery devotion to ashes, or at least has left it in some places are mere smoldering embers giving off some lukewarm heat and some faint barely visible wisps of smoke rising heavenwards.
Devotion Reduced to Ashes―Time to Rise From the Ashes
Yes, devotion to Our Lady is largely ignored and in ashes. As Fr. Faber so correctly writes in his Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary: “Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. Mary is not half enough preached. It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers. It is always a slave of human respect and carnal prudence. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no Faith in itself. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines.”
We need to rise―like the proverbial phoenix―from the ashes. The phrase―“rise like a phoenix from the ashes”―is based on a story that goes back thousands of years. The expression is a simile, which means it is a phrase used in a sentence that is a comparison of one thing with something else using the word like or the word as. A simile may compare two things with qualities that do not seem related, though there must be some similarity that is either real or symbolic.
“To rise like a phoenix from the ashes” means to emerge from a catastrophe in a state of being that is stronger, wiser, and more powerful. An example of “rising like a phoenix from the ashes” is someone who opens a new, successful business after his previous business has failed. Another example would be someone resolutely and bravely building a new house after his previous house has been destroyed by a tornado. The phoenix bird is a mythical bird from Greek mythology. It was a feathered creature of great size with talons and wings, its plumage radiant and beautiful. The phoenix lived for 500 years before it built its own funeral pyre, burst into flame, and died, consumed in its own fiery inferno. Soon after, the mythical creature rose out of the ashes, in a transformation from death to life. Christianity adopted the depiction of the phoenix rising from the ashes as a symbol of rebirth and eternal life―beginning with Christ Himself through His death and seeming failure, followed by His successful resurrection from that death. The phrase “rise like a phoenix from the ashes” is often shortened to “rise like a phoenix”, or even “rise from the ashes.”
The Church Will Rise From Its Ashes
This is exactly what Our Lady says will happen―after we have duly punished and flattened to the ground: “In order to free men from bondage to these heresies, those―whom the merciful love of my Most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration―will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God. To test this Faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed … There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph. The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom … Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!
“God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!
“And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Families Rising From the Ashes
If the Church will be reduced to apparent ashes―then that means that most families will be reduced to ashes. In fact, most families have been reduced to ashes already! From what Holy Scripture, Our Lord, Our Lady and many of the saints say―it has always been the case, as most families go from being reduced to ashes by the fires of worldliness and sin, to the eternal fires of Hell where they will continue to burn. It is a truth that should not shock us―though it should sadden us. Our Lord Himself warned: “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Our Lord forewarned the critical state families would find themselves in―with some family members choosing to follow Him and His teaching, while other family members would resist Him and His teachings: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:34-37).
“Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:51-53).
“Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:34-37).
“And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death!” (Mark 13:12). “And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death!” (Luke 21:16).
Why will all this happen? Because of a lack of devotion to God in general and to Our Lady in particular―for, as she has said, only she can help us now: “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
Yet, we have plugged our ears and blinded our minds to these truths. How true are the words of God for our times: “The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together … They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways!” (Psalm 13:1-3).
Time to Start Rising From the Ashes
In case the discouraging thoughts of impossibility―Satan’s favorite “trump card”―should paralyze our efforts before we even start, let us remember some incredible examples of “the phoenix rising from its ashes” in the personages of some big sinners who became great saints―one of which we celebrate today, on August 28th, being St. Augustine. For those discouraged about achieving sanctity, there can be no better thing than to read and study the lives of the great sinners who became great saints. They are walking proof of the words of God in Holy Scripture, Who said: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). Let us look at some big sinners “rising out of the ashes” of sin―for the greatest sinners can become the greatest saints. Or, more precisely, the greatest sinners MUST become the greatest saints—so that their great debt for sin can be paid-off by their great penances and virtues of holiness.
► St. Mary Magdalen: Possessed by Seven Devils & Adulteress
Around the time of Our Lord, we think of St. Mary Magdalen, who was possessed by seven devils and caught in adultery. The notion of Mary Magdalene being a repentant sinner, can be traced at least as far back as St. Ephraim the Syrian, in the fourth century, and became the generally accepted view in Western Christianity after the homily of Pope Gregory I (“Gregory the Great”) in about 591. We would find it difficult to find a greater sinner than Mary Magdalen. She was possessed by seven devils and her life of sin was no secret, but well-known by the community. Yet after all that, Holy Scripture tells us: “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). It does not say: “Jesus loved Martha and Lazarus, and only tolerated or put up with Mary.” No! St. John says “Jesus loved … Mary!” The New Testament God is no different from the Old Testament God: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23). “Go then and learn what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill” (Matthew 9:12). She ended up being tremendously devoted to both Our Lord and Our Lady.
► St. Dismas: Robber & Thief
St. Dismas isn’t a saint in the usual or strict sense—for he was never canonized by the Church—but rather a saint by local tradition instead. As the story goes, Dismas asked for Jesus Christ to remember him while he was being crucified next to him. A clue to his past lies in Dismas’ patronage, for he is the patron saint of reformed thieves. Tradition has it that he was converted on Calvary by the prayers of Our Lady.
► St. Callixtus: Thief & Embezzler
St. Callixtus of Rome lived a life of many sins before being taken under the wing of Victor I, a second century pope. Callixtus was a Roman slave whose petty theft and reckless investments resulted in being sentenced to forced labor in the mines of Sardinia. He embezzled money and started a public riot, amongst other criminal affairs, but left that all behind early in the third century when he reformed. Released from the mines by a general pardon, he returned to Rome where Pope St. Victor I gradually brought him to repentance. . He was ordained a priest, served as administrator of one of the catacombs, and ultimately Callixtus went on to become a pope himself, but died a martyr shortly thereafter. His Roman catacombs can be toured today.
► St. Hippolytus: Heretic & First Antipope
Hippolytus was an arrogant, unforgiving man who believed that Christians guilty of mortal sin should be expelled from the Church and never readmitted. In his pride, Hippolytus permitted his followers to elect him as the Church’s first anti-pope. Inspired by the true pope’s holiness, Hippolytus eventually repented of his own sin and was reconciled to the Catholic Church.
► St. Mary of Egypt: Seductress & Whore
At age 12 Mary (344-421) ran away from home to Alexandria, the most exciting city in the Roman Empire. She became an accomplished seductress, who took special pleasure in corrupting innocent young men. Mary was an expert seductress who ensnared any man who caught her eye. Once, on a whim, she joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. By the time the ship reached its destination, Mary had seduced the entire crew and all of the pilgrims. She traveled to Jerusalem where a supernatural force prevented her from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. In Jerusalem she realized the enormity of her sins Filled with remorse, Mary sought the Mother of God’s intercession and made a good confession. In penance, Mary lived out her conversion as a hermit, alone in the Jordanian desert.
► St. Augustine: Fornicator and Worldling
Augustine was son of Patricius, a well-to-do pagan, whose ideal of life was to get the most out of it he could, without being too particular as to the means. Patricius, at the age of forty, had married Monica, a girl of seventeen, a Christian on both her father’s and her mother’s side. This marriage alone would seem to imply a certain laxity of Faith in the family; the fact that Monica owed most of her religious and moral training to an old nurse confirms it. Three children were born to them, Augustine the first, but none of them were baptized. Augustine grew up among pagan children, apparently in a pagan school, and his morals from the first were no better than theirs. He could steal, he could cheat, he could lie with the best of them; to do these things cleverly and successfully was a mark of talent rather than of vice. Patricius saw that Augustine had an excellent mind and a wonderful disposition for learning, and with a view to his future preferment, spared nothing to breed him up a scholar. He was sent to Madaura, a prosperous city thirty miles away.
Here he was his own master; the longing he had always had to do just what he liked, without hindrance from anyone, was allowed free scope. He fell also into vanity, pleasing himself with the pride of surpassing his companions at play, and loving to have his ears scratched with vain praises. A worse curiosity drew him to the dangerous entertainments of those who were older—public shows, plays, and other diversions of the theatre. The most fatal sin was the vice of impurity, into which he fell in the sixteenth year of his age. He was led into this by reading impure plays in Terence, by sloth, by frequenting stage entertainments, and by bad company and example. The consequences were inevitable. Augustine came home from Madaura addicted to the lowest vices. His father who looked upon the same excess as a proof of manhood. The next step in Augustine’s career was to Carthage― the center of learning and pleasure in North Africa, and Augustine craved for both. There he lived, from the age of seventeen, learning and loving as he wished, for there was no one to check or guide him. “I went to Carthage,” he wrote later, “where shameful love bubbled round me like boiling oil.” Augustine plunged himself headlong into the filth of impurity. At about the age of 17, Augustine began an affair with a young woman in Carthage. Though his mother wanted him to marry a person of his class, the woman remained his lover for over fifteen years and gave birth to his son Adeodatus (372–388). In 385, Augustine ended his relationship with his lover in order to prepare himself to marry a ten-year-old heiress. He had to wait for two years because the legal age of marriage for women was twelve. By the time he was able to marry her, however, he had decided instead to become a priest.
► St. Moses the Black: Cut-throat & Gang Leader
Moses was chief of a violent gang of bandits. Fleeing from law enforcement, he took refuge in a monastery. Moses was inspired by the monk’s example and converted. He took a vow never to raise his hand against another human being, even in self-defense. After years of overcoming temptation, Moses was killed by Berber raiders.
► St. Pelagia: Dancer & Courtesan
The beautiful, teenage Saint Pelagia would have been every parent’s nightmare. As legend has it, she was a dancer and courtesan (prostitute) by her early teens. Pelagia’s conversion occurred all of a sudden, following a chance encounter with Saint Nonnus, the bishop of Edessa. The young girl was baptized, gave away her possessions to the poor and lived as a hermit for the rest of her life.
► St. Olga: Murderess
When a neighboring tribe assassinated her husband, Olga (c.879-969), princess of Kiev, went to war. Olga slaughtered her husband’s murderer and she massacred virtually the entire tribe; the few who did survive, she sold into slavery. Years later, while in Constantinople, to make an alliance with the emperor, Olga visited a church, encountered the splendor and beauty of Christianity and was in awe of the magnificence of the liturgy. She took instruction, was baptized and returned to Kiev, zealous to convert her people. Olga tried very hard to convert her people, but hardly anyone would listen to her. Even her family rejected Christianity. Olga died believing that as a missionary, she was a failure. Yet, she planted a seed of Faith which flourished. Today, Catholic and Orthodox Christians of Russia and Ukraine hail her as “Equal to the Apostles.”
► St. Vladimir: Murderer and Rapist
Olga’s grandson Vladimir (956-1015) became prince of Kiev by murdering his older half-brother. Then he raped his sister-in-law and added her to his harem of several hundred women. He built a new temple to all the gods; and sacrificed a father and his son to the false gods. When the emperor at Constantinople sought his help in putting down a rebellion, Vladimir demanded as his reward the emperor’s sister as his wife (actually, the unhappy woman would be Vladimir’s eighth wife). The emperor countered that Vladimir must convert to Christianity. In order to marry the emperor’s sister, Vladimir accepted Christian baptism. Everyone suspected that once he was back in Kiev, Vladimir would return to his old ways, but the grace of baptism changed him. His zeal for the Faith knew no limits and his efforts helped spread Christianity across Russia and Ukraine. He dismissed his extra wives and his harem, tore down the pagan temple, and launched a vigorous campaign to convert his people. The Faith his grandmother, Olga (see above) planted flourished under Vladimir.
► St. Margaret of Cortona: Rich Man’s Mistress
Margaret was only twelve when she became Arsenio’s mistress. After years of cohabitation, she realized her sins when she discovered Arsenio’s murdered corpse. Full of the grace of conversion and determined to start a new life, she went to Cortona where the Franciscans ministered to penitent sinners. There, Margaret pursued a life of prayer, penance, and good works.
► St. Angela of Foligno: Worldly and Flirtatious
Angela was beautiful, wealthy, and vain. As a rich man’s wife she wallowed in luxury. Her passions were expensive clothes and flashy jewels, extravagant meals and rare wines. She dressed and acted in ways that would provoke envy among women and sexual desire among men. When she was not indulging herself, she spent hours gossiping with her friends and maligning her neighbors. In her autobiography Angela discloses that in 1285 she did something so bad that for the first time in her life she began to live in fear of Hell. Her biographers speculate that Angela committed adultery, and given the intensity of her guilt and shame that seems likely. Near de spair, she prayed to St. Francis of Assisi to help her. As Angela prayed the saint appeared to her. “Sister,” St. Francis said, “if you would have asked me sooner I would have complied with your request sooner. Nonetheless, your request is granted.” That same day Angela offered a sincere confession to a priest. As she stepped from the shadowy interior of the church into the bright sunlight of the piazza, Angela resolved to begin a new life. She sold her fine clothes and jewels to relieve the suffering of Foligno’s poor. After the death of her husband, she gave away all her wealth, associated herself with the Franciscans, and with a handful of other holy women dedicated herself to tending the poor and the sick. Blessed Angela’s life teaches us a timeless lesson about our weakness and God’s mercy. All that he requires is that we repent and make a sincere effort to do better in the future.
► St. Thomas Becket: Rich and Cruel
As chancellor of England under Henry II, Thomas Becket (1118-1170) became obscenely wealthy. His wardrobe was larger and more expensive than the king’s. He even had his own private navy. In spite of all his wealth, Becket was cold-hearted and never gave anything to the poor. All that changed after Becket was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury. He gave away all his possessions. He welcomed the poor at his table. And he became a champion of the independence of the Church, for which he was murdered in his own cathedral by four of King Henry’s knights.
► St. Philip Howard: Playboy and Gambler
Son of one of the wealthiest noble families in England, Philip Howard (1557-1595) could afford any pleasure he liked — and he liked them all. At court he was a notorious playboy, gambler and fop. He ran up enormous debts, then sold off his wife’s property to settle them. On one occasion he said publicly that he did not really consider himself to be married. In 1581, he joined other members of the court at the Tower of London, to see a debate between several Anglican ministers and a prisoner, the Jesuit priest, St. Edmund Campion. Although the ministers were armed with books and assistants, Father Campion was alone and had only his memory to rely on, yet he did so well in the debate, that the government canceled the debate before a verdict could be given. Inspired by Father Campion, Howard reconciled with his wife, and they both returned to the Catholic Faith. When they tried to leave the country secretly for the Continent of Europe, where they could practice Catholicism freely, they were stopped and Howard was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He died there 10 years later.
► St. Camillus of Lellis: Drinker, Gambler & Whore-Lover
Camillus de Lellis was born in Italy in the middle of the 16th century. A hot-tempered, troublesome child, he joined the army when he was 16, though his aggressive behavior only grew after that. Camillus was a mercenary soldier with all the worst habits— drinking, gambling, swearing, chasing prostitutes. Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor. Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor.
Rising From Ashes of Sin Through Grace and Mary
These sinners “rose from the ashes” and got to Heaven, but they had to make themselves acceptable first! Who knows how much time they may have spent in Purgatory in addition to having suffered for their sins AFTER conversion. With God nothing is impossible—unless we stubbornly resist and reject His graces that move us to change! And there we have that key word―GRACE. Without God’s grace we can do nothing! That means NOTHING! What part of the word NOTHING do you not understand? Utter, total, inescapable dependence―even for those who hate God, for: “Your Father, Who is in Heaven, maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust!” (Matthew 5:45).
That grace of conversion―and any and every grace―God has chosen to give to us through Mary, whom the Church calls the “Mediatrix of All Grace”―meaning that all graces that are given to mankind pass through her hands, so to speak. If we have a problem with that, then our theology is weak and faulty―as Fr. Faber says of the minds of those who contest and dispute Mary’s role in our salvation: “Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy.”
As St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church and teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish!” Another Doctor of the Church, St. Bonaventure, adds: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins!” St. Ignatius of Antioch, a Father of the Church and a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
This is echoed by Our Lady’s words to St. Bridget of Sweden: “Do not forget me! For I am forgotten and ignored by many! I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed (by which is meant the damned in Hell), is so entirely cast off by God that he may not return and enjoy His mercy if he invokes my aid. Therefore he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
St. Alphonsus then writes: “St. Bernard says: ‘O Lady, thou dost abhor no sinner, however abandoned and vile he may be, when he has recourse to thee; if he asks thy help, thou wilt extend thy kind hand to draw him from the depths of despair.’ [St. Alphonsus then adds] O ever blessed and thanked be our God, O most amiable Mary, who made thee so merciful and kind towards the most miserable sinners. Oh, wretched are those who do not love thee, and who, having it in their power to seek help of thee, do not trust in thee! He who does not implore the aid of Mary is lost―but who has ever been lost that had recourse to her?” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Glories of Mary).
The Master Devotee Explains the Masterpiece
St. Louis de Montfort explains it thus:
“The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say ‘not in the same measure,’ because God does not give His graces in equal measure to everyone (Romans 12:6), although in His infinite goodness He always gives sufficient grace to each. It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God. I explain―
(1) Mary alone found grace with God for herself and for every individual person (Luke 1:30). No patriarch nor prophet nor any other holy person of the Old Law could manage to find this grace;
(2) It was Mary who gave existence and life to the author of all grace and, because of this, she is called the “Mother of Grace.”
(3) God the Father, from Whom, as from its essential source, every perfect gift and every grace come down to us (James 1:17), gave her every grace when He gave her His Son.
(4) God chose her to be the treasurer, the administrator and the dispenser of all His graces, so that all His graces and gifts pass through her hands. Such is the power that she has received from Him that, according to St. Bernardine, she gives the graces of the eternal Father, the virtues of Jesus Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost to whom she wills, as and when she wills, and as much as she wills.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §5 to §10).
In his book, True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis further explains:
“Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High … Mary, being a mere creature that has come from the hands of the Most High, is in comparison with His Infinite Majesty less than an atom; or rather, she is nothing at all, because only He is “He who is” (Exodus 3:14). Therefore, that grand Lord never had, and has not now, any absolute need of the holy Virgin for the accomplishment of His will and for the manifestation of His glory. He has but to will in order to do everything. Nevertheless, God having willed to start and to complete His greatest works through the most holy Virgin ever since He created her—we may well think He will not change His conduct in the eternal ages; for He is God, and He changes not, either in His sentiments or in His conduct. It was only through Mary that God the Father gave His Only begotten to the world. Whatever sighs the patriarchs may have sent forth, whatever prayers the prophets and the saints of the Old Law may have offered up to obtain this treasure for full four thousand years, it was only Mary who merited it and found grace before God (Luke 1:30) by the force of her prayers and the eminence of her virtues.
“The Son of God became man for our salvation; but it was in Mary and by Mary. God the Holy Ghost formed Jesus Christ in Mary; but it was only after having asked her consent. If we examine closely the rest of our Blessed Lord’s life, we shall see that it was His will to begin His miracles by Mary. He sanctified St. John in the womb of his mother, St. Elizabeth, but it was by Mary’s word. No sooner had she spoken than John was sanctified; and this was His first miracle of grace. At the marriage of Cana He changed the water into wine, but it was at Mary’s humble prayer; and this was His first miracle of nature. He began and continued His miracles by Mary, and He will continue them to the end of ages by Mary. God the Father made an assemblage of all the waters and He named it the sea (mare). He made an assemblage of all His graces and he called it “Mary” (in Latin: “Maria”, which is another Latin word for “sea” ). This great God has a most rich treasury in which He has laid up all that He has of beauty and splendor, of rarity and preciousness, including even His own Son―and this immense treasury is none other than Mary, whom the saints have named the Treasure of the Lord, out of whose plenitude all men are made rich. God the Son has communicated to His Mother all that He acquired by His life and His death, His infinite merits and His admirable virtues; and He has made her the treasurer of all that His Father gave Him for His inheritance. It is by her that He applies His merits to His members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces. She is His mysterious canal; she is His aqueduct, through which He makes His mercies flow gently and abundantly.
“To Mary, His faithful spouse, God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the will of God, who has willed that we should have everything through Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §5 to §25).
St. Louis then sums up, saying: “After that, we must cry out with the saints―De Maria numquam satis—[meaning]―Of Mary there is never enough! We have not yet praised, exalted, honored, loved and served Mary as we ought. She deserves still more praise, still more respect, still more love, and still more service. After that, we must cry out with the Apostle [St. Paul], ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor man’s heart comprehended’ (1 Corinthians 2:9) the beauties, the grandeurs, the excellences of Mary—the miracle of the miracles of grace” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §10 to §12).
To which can be added the words of Fr. Faber:
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one. Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor … Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no Faith in itself. Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized. Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background. Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines.
“Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother. I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion De Montfort. Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ. Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior―her dearest and most blessed Son!” (Fr. Frederick Faber, Preface in his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary).
But Where’s the List of Things to Do?
“Okay! Okay! Okay!” you say, “But where is the list of the things that we have to do for a devotion to Mary?” The answer to your question is a four-letter-word. It is LOVE. Do whatever you want, but do it with love. The Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine of Hippo, in his homily on the First Epistle of St. John (chapter 4, verses 4 to 12), writes: “Once for all, then, a short precept is given you: ‘LOVE, AND DO WHAT YOU WILL’― whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good.”
St. Paul paints a picture of the contrary, saying that whatever we do WITHOUT LOVE is totally useless and profitless from a spiritual supernatural perspective: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
That is why ONE SINGLE ACT OF PERFECT LOVE TOWARDS GOD can wipe away―not only the guilt of decades of mortal and venial sin―but it will also wipe away ALL THE TEMPORAL PUNISHMENT DUE TO THOSE SINS UP TO THAT POINT IN TIME, which would have to paid by suffering and penance in this life, or in the next―whether in Purgatory or, God forbid, in Hell. Hence Our Lord could say of Mary Magdalen: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47)―which is also echoed elsewhere in both the Old and New Testaments: “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). “Charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). We may have sinned beyond all measure―yet we should not lose hope or confidence in obtaining mercy and forgiveness. St. Augustine tells us that “The measure of love is to love without measure”―hence, if have unfortunately sinned without measure, we should now love without measure.
Increase the Quality Before the Quantity
Sadly, the modern consumer world has made us think more in terms of quantity than quality―because the world churns out cheap goods by the million and quality goods by the dozen. We think “more is better”―but that is not the case if all those “more” things are of cheap quality. Math tells us that, just as 1 + 1 = 2; likewise, cheap + cheap = two cheap or too cheap. Listening to a bad joke twice does not make it good. Taking an additional sip of a bad wine does not make it good. Our Lord says: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16-20). Likewise, a badly said Rosary will not bear good fruit; nor will a well said Rosary bear bad fruit.
St. Louis de Montfort, in another of his books, The Secret of the Rosary, writes: “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary [no longer true in our day and age]. Why is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as they should! To say the Holy Rosary with advantage, one must be in a state of grace [and therefore in charity], or at least be fully determined to give up sin―for all our theology teaches us that good works and prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin [which is an absence of charity]. The stronger our Faith is, the more merit our Rosary will have. This Faith must be lively and informed by charity [meaning “penetrated by” or “steeped in” charity]. In order to pray well, it is not enough to express our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary―but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart [which is the voice of love] than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin. People who do that forfeit God’s blessing, which is changed into a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: “Cursed be the one who does God’s work negligently” (Jeremias 48:10).
“Our Lady said to Blessed Alan de la Roche in a vision: ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation … We must not only say the Rosary with our lips in honor of Jesus and Mary, but also meditate [with our heart = love] upon the sacred mysteries while we are saying it … A Christian who does not meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary is very ungrateful [= lacking love] to Our Lord and shows how little he cares for [= little love for] all that our divine Savior has suffered to save the world!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary). The words of St. Augustine could be fittingly added here: “Christ is not valued at all, unless he is valued above all.” The same is true with regard to Our Lady.
The Exterior or External Elements of a Devotion to Our Lady
Let us then look at the exterior aspects and the interior aspects of devotion―the quantity and quality of what should be done―the various different exercises or actions that are a necessary part of our devotion and the manner, or fervor in which we should carry them out. In other words―the body and soul of our devotion to Mary. Just as the body must be exercised and fed healthy foods, likewise the soul should be exercised and fed healthy foods. What are those foods? What are those exercises? That is what we will not look at. THE KEY POINT TO REMEMBER IS THAT IT IS NOT SO MUCH WHAT WE DO OR HOW MUCH WE DO THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR―BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO WORK UPON IS THE LOVE THAT WE DO IT WITH.
● Make a Morning Offering through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
● Make a Morning Meditation (or at some other point during the day) on something related to Our Lady.
● Pray Morning Angelus, Midday Angelus and Evening Angelus (if possible with family).
● Daily Mass and Holy Communion (if possible)―especially all the main feast days of Our Lady
● Visit to the Blessed Sacrament as often as possible throughout the week―even it means a slight detour when driving somewhere else. The visit does not have to be long―it’s the thought that counts. If physical visits are not possible, then make a spiritual visit to the church from wherever you are―home, work, school, etc.
● Pray the 15 decades of the Rosary daily (preferably with the mysteries being meditated and not merely said without meditations). Do not be afraid of praying and meditating only one decade at a time―this will prevent super-long meditated Rosaries of 5 decades in one session.
● Make a daily Examination of Conscience; and perhaps add a brief “Examen” (check-up) of your predominant fault several times a day.
● Do some daily spiritual reading on the mechanics of the Spiritual Life and its various stages, its growth, different virtues, practices, pitfalls, temptations, etc.
● Do some daily reading specifically on Our Lady from one of the many books available.
● Read a short daily extract from St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary or The Secret of Mary (to keep the idea of what a true devotion consists of before your eyes)
● Practice a daily variation in other prayers to Mary (there are hundreds of prayers to be found)
● Make good use of statues and images of Our Lady―perhaps making a little altar to her in the home or classroom; and a shrine in the garden.
● Organize Our Lady study sessions―these could be among family members only, or for an extended group. Once a week or once every other week would be an ideal frequency.
● Propagate and distribute Rosaries, Scapulars, Miraculous Medals, Marian literature, etc.
● Make sure to have many Marian conversations at home―which will make Our Lady a central part of family life.
● Recall, read about or talk about Marian miracles―monthly, or weekly, or daily.
● Follow her feast days and prepare something for her feast days―honoring her in both a spiritual and material way.
● Organize or go to processions in her honor.
● Have Masses offered in her honor
● Make pilgrimages to her shrines (or at least make a pilgrimage in spirit―a spiritual pilgrimage―by reading about her shrines).
● Compose prayers in her honor.
● Compose hymns in her honor.
● Draw or paint pictures in her honor.
● Write and/or distribute flyers or pamphlets about her.
● Spread the True Devotion Consecration by St. Louis de Montfort.
● Spread other Marian devotions.
● Create a Marian Cookery Book―using the symbolism of foods to reflect Our Lady and her virtues.
As always, the above exercises are a mere TIP OF THE ICEBERG of possible exercises. The Holy Ghost working upon your creative imagination will suggest countless more ways in which to exercise, grow and perfect you devotion to Our Lady.
► St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion To Mary, gives the following lists:
● There are several INTERIOR PRACTICES of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Here are the principal ones:
(1) to honor her as the worthy Mother of God, with the worship of hyperdulia; that is to say, to esteem her and honor her above all the other saints, as the masterpiece of grace, and the first after Jesus Christ, true God and true Man;
(2) to meditate on her virtues, her privileges and her actions;
(3) to contemplate her grandeurs;
(4) to make acts of love, of praise, of gratitude to her;
(5) to invoke her cordially;
(6) to offer ourselves to her and unite ourselves with her;
(7) to do all our actions with the view of pleasing her;
(8) to begin, to continue and to finish all our actions by her, in her, with her and for her, in order that we may do them by Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ, with Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ, our Last End. We will presently explain this last practice.6
● True devotion to Our Lady also has several EXTERIOR PRACTICES, of which the following are the principal ones:
(1) to enroll ourselves in her confraternities and enter her congregations;
(2) to join the religious orders instituted in her honor;
(3) to proclaim her praises;
(4) to give alms, to fast and to undergo outward and inward mortifications in her honor;
(5) to wear her liveries, such as the Rosary, the Scapular or the little chain;
(6) to recite with attention, devotion and modesty the holy Rosary, composed of fifteen decades of Hail Mary’s in honor of the fifteen principal mysteries of Jesus Christ; or five decades. We may also say a chaplet of six or seven decades in honor of the years which we believe Our Lady lived on Earth; or the Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin, composed of three Our Fathers and twelve Hail Mary’s, in honor of her crown of twelve stars or privileges; or the Office of Our Lady, so universally received and recited in the Church; or the little Psalter of the hHoly Virgin, which St. Bonaventure composed in her honor; or fourteen Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s in honor of her fourteen joys; or some other prayers, hymns and canticles of the Church, such as the Salve Regina, the Alma, the Ave Regina Coelorum, or the Regina Coeli, according to the different seasons; or the Ave Maris Stella, the O Gloriosa Domina, the Magnificat, or some other practices of devotion, of which books are full;
(7) to sing, or have sung, spiritual canticles in her honor;
(8) to make a number of genuflections or reverences, while saying, for example, every morning, sixty or a hundred times, Ave Maria, Virgo Fidelis (“Hail Mary, Faithful Virgin”), to obtain from God through her the grace to be faithful to the graces of God during the day; and then again in the evening, Ave Maria, Mater Misericordiae (“Hail Mary, Mother of Mercy”) to ask pardon of God through her for the sins that we have committed during the day;
(9) to take care of her confraternities, to adorn her altars, to crown and ornament her images;
(10) to carry her images, or to have them carried, in procession, and to carry a picture or an image of her about our own persons, as a mighty arm against the evil spirit;
(11) to have copies of her name or picture made and placed in churches, or in houses, or on the gates and entrances into cities, churches and houses;
(12) to special and solemn consecrate ourselves to her in manner.
There are NUMEROUS OTHER PRACTICES of true devotion toward the Blessed Virgin, which the Holy Ghost has inspired in saintly souls and which are very sanctifying; they can be read at length in the Paradise Opened to Philagius of Father Barry, the Jesuit, in which he has collected a great number of devotions which the saints have practiced in honor of Our Lady—devotions which serve marvelously to sanctify our souls, provided they are performed as they ought to be, that is to say:
(1) with a good and pure intention to please God only, to unite ourselves to Jesus Christ as to our Last End, and to edify our neighbor;
(2) with attention and without voluntary distraction;
(3) with devotion, equally avoiding precipitation and negligence;
(4) with modesty, and a respectful and edifying posture of the body.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Monday August 26th & Tuesday August 27th
Article 15
The Whole Caboodle! Here is Your Devotion Toolbox!
Article 15
The Whole Caboodle! Here is Your Devotion Toolbox!
All You Can Eat! And It’s Entirely Free!
Imagine walking past a top-class restaurant and seeing a sign at its entrance saying: “Walk Right In! Eat All You Want! All You Can Eat For Free! At No Cost To You!” Most people would not think twice about entering that restaurant and “tucking-in” or “gorging” themselves on whatever they could find. They would eat more that would usually eat―because it is being given away for free. Even if there was a charge of $1 for the deal, most people would snap-it-up immediately.
Now, as you well know, Our Lord said to the devil: “It is written, that Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God!” (Luke 4:4) … “It is written, ‘Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!’” (Matthew 4:4). Our Lord is here referring to Old Testament Scriptures, where Moses reminds the Israelites of God’s “All You Can Eat” service during their 40 years of wandering in the desert, when God miraculously fed them for free with manna that fell from Heaven: “He afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for thy food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew―to show that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
In a certain sense, the same “All You Can Eat” offer is being made by Our Lady’s top class restaurant ―Devotion to Mary. Everything is “laid-on-plate” for you! You are almost “spoon-fed”! It costs you nothing but the time it takes to “eat” what she has to offer―and the menu is so varied, it would take you days to read through it! Yet, very strangely, Our Lady’s restaurant is almost deserted! Most of the tables and chairs are unoccupied. The parking lot is almost empty.
Yet across the road, Satan’s Sinburger Eatery and Drive-Thru is thriving like you could never imagine! Satan is offering everything for free and no cost to the customer―at least not for now―it is a case of “Eat All You Want And Pay Later!” Satan’s parking lot is jam-packed, there are long-lines at the door waiting for a vacant table, the Drive-Thru is like a long-winding snake or serpent, stretching back out of the parking-lot with its tail several miles down the road! Every item on the menu is smeared with Satan’s Sinful Sauce―a very addictive concoction made up of special Satanic blend of the Seven Deadly Sins―and everything is freshly baked, roasted, toasted, seared and sizzled, smoked and barbecued on Satan’s Fires of Hell. The crowds can’t get enough of it and keep coming back for more―hence Satan’s Sinburger Eatery and Drive-Thru is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, each and every year―it will only close at the End of the World, when Christ will come to audit and settle accounts.
The Devotion Supermarket―The Whole Caboodle
However, if we do not want to eat at Our Lady’s restaurant―and quite frankly, Satan’s Sinburger Eatery is not an option―then we should at least shop for our spiritual food at Our Lady’s Devotion Supermarket. Most of foods are free―or very reasonably priced―and almost all of them have an eternal shelf-life or longevity, for they never spoil, rot, grow stale or moldy. Once you have them―they keep forever and a little goes a long, long way!
To begin with, let us just do a “devotion dump” of everything there is―or at least a large number of things. Afterwards, you can pick and choose what you want―much like shopping in a supermarket, where you see absolutely everything put on display in dozens of aisles, from which you take what you need or want. So, though the list may seem overwhelming, it is not expected―as in the supermarket―that you ‘buy’ everything. However, the richer a person is, the more they are inclined to buy. Similarly, the “richer” we are in Charity, the more we will be inclined to do―as the passage from The Imitation of Christ indicated in the previous article: “Love … makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it bears a burden without being weighted and renders sweet all that is bitter. Love of Jesus [Mary] spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect ... Love often knows no limits but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much where he who does not love fails and falls!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 5).
A Word of Warning!
Nobody can ever give you complete list of devotional practices in relation to Our Lady! If anyone pretends to do so, then they are insanely proud or just plain insane! Not that the list is infinite―only God is infinite―but try counting all the grains of sand on all the shores and sea beds of the world and you’ll get the idea! There are a certain number of kinds of foods in the world―but the way each person uses, combines and prepares those foods makes the possible variations and combinations uncountable. Similarly with vocabulary―there are only so many words in any language―yet no two people say the identical same things all day long and all year long! You should look upon, approach and use the following VERY LIMITED LIST of devotional practices with that in mind.
The following list―for the sake of sanity―HAS to be short and limited, but its purpose is not be totally inclusive, but to be indicative and suggestive and hopefully inspiring of further ideas that should spring to mind in reading through it. It is like giving you a list of words and allowing you to combine them as you wish and in a manner than meets and satisfies your daily schedule, environment, temperament, and even more importantly, THE CURRENT LEVEL OF YOUR DEVOTION (or lack of it). A weak person cannot lift heavy weights, nor will a strong person gain much satisfaction or benefit from lifting light weights. As our devotion grows―so should our devotional “workload” or “lifting-weight” grow with it. Some of the following suggestions will seem impossible to the devotionally weak―and others will seem ridiculously easy and insignificant to the devotionally strong.
Horses for Courses―Gauge the Age
Start small and build up your devotional workload as you grow stronger. Nobody can possibly imagine or dream of doing all these things―just as nobody can possibly imagine and cream of eating all the things they see in a supermarket―yet they still go into the supermarket, they still shop there, and they do not feel overwhelmed because they are not expected to buy everything, use everything and consume everything! The same applies to the following list.
The list will begin with devotional items and practices for BABIES & INFANTS, it will then pass onto devotional items and practices for CHILDREN, and will finally cover devotional items and practices for ADOLESCENTS & ADULTS. As they say in philosophy― “The greater contains the lesser!” ― meaning that adults can easily practice some of those things that are listed for babies, infants and children, but as philosophical axiom states: “One cannot give what one has not got!” ― which in this case means that a young child does not have the strength, endurance, knowledge and prudence of an adult and obviously cannot be expected to practice the harder aspects of devotion until they naturally increase in strength, endurance, knowledge and prudence. However, having said that, look at what the three children of Fatima―Lucia (aged 10), Francisco (aged 9) and Jacinta (aged 7) achieved! They managed to more than many adults have ever done!
This Week's Special Offers From The Devotion Supermarket
► The Baby Department
Our Lady’s Devotion Supermarket has “food” not only for adults―but also for babies and children. Just as in our physical life we are never too young to consume food and drink―likewise in the spiritual life nobody is ever too young to be fed the food and drink of devotion to Our Lady. A baby relies on its mother from the very beginning―if that is true in physical life, we must also make it to be true in the baby’s spiritual life. Even babies can be “fed” some very basic, easily “digestible” spiritual devotional food―however, it takes a DEVOTED parent to even think of doing so and it takes DEVOTION to keep doing so!
You might be surprised or shocked at the thought of teaching babies, or introducing babies to certain devotional practices in relation to Our Lady (and Our Lord for that matter). If that is the case, then you are forgetting that a baby is beginning to learn things from the very first moment of its existence! To simplify matters―and especially since babies are more passive (meaning they have things done to them) as opposed to being active (doing things for themselves), it obviously stands to reason that any introduction to a devotion to Our Lady will be more passive (the parent doing devotional things to the baby) rather than active (the baby doing those things for itself)―however, babies are quick to notice things and to copy things, so this valuable time in their lives should not be wasted. The principle or thought might have escaped you―but babies, like all humans, have been gifted with the FIVE SENSES―they see, they hear, they touch, they taste and they smell. It is important to channel the seeds of devotion through ALL THESE FIVE CHANNELS, so that religiosity―without them understanding anything about it―becomes a familiar, daily, frequent and inseparable part of their little incipient lives. Hence, you have to intelligent and creative about the way that you use relgion, its words, its signs, its sounds, its objects, etc., in channeling them into the baby's mind, heart and soul through its five external senses.
CONSECRATING THE BABY TO OUR LADY―If the priest who baptized your baby was “worth his salt”, then he will have consecrated your baby to Our Lady immediately after the baptism. This was―and still SHOULD be, but isn’t―the recommended (though not obligatory) practice before the Church hit the proverbial ceiling-fan after the Second Vatican Council. If your baby was not consecrated to Our Lady (and your child is still a baby―we speak of physical age and not maturity), then you should either approach the priest to see if he would formally do so, or, if he refuses or you think it highly unlikely that he would agree, then simply do the act of consecration yourself. Which act of consecration? There are many to found online―even in the Novenas to Our Lady on this website [look under “Prayers” and then “Novenas”]―just simply take the “best of” or the most appropriate parts or wording from those various consecrations and create your own personalized consecration for your baby. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you repeat the prayer of consecration over the baby at regular intervals―monthly, weekly or even daily.
THE USE OF SACRAMENTALS―The Church has given us Sacramentals (these are not to be confused with the Seven Sacraments) as a source and means of obtaining God’s grace. The long list of Sacramentals includes things like the the ritual blessing of objects (statues, pictures, Rosaries, Scapulars, medals, water, foods, vehicles, houses, etc.). Some of those blessed objects then, in turn, become Sacramentals for us―such as holy water, Rosaries, Scapulars and medals. All of this is a clue and indicator as to their possible use in the daily life of the developing, “grabbing-everything”, “putting-everything-in-the-mouth”, ever curious, all noticing baby.
Another Sacramental that is often overlooked and forgotten is the making of the SIGN OF THE CROSS―which was performed over your baby many times during the ceremony of Baptism. Many of the mothers of future saints―from the very first days of the baby’s life outside the womb― would take the baby’s tiny hand and make the baby trace the Sign of the Cross upon itself. This would not be an occasional practice, but it would be done many times a day―especially when the rest of the family would make the Sign of Cross before and after family prayers, before and after family meals, etc. In this way, a grace-attracting, grace-giving Sacramental is being ingrained into the baby’s daily routine. The Sign of the Cross could be made before and after breast-feeding; before and after diaper changes; whenever the baby awakes from sleep, or is put to sleep; when the baby starts crying, etc. Yet as often as possible, the making of the Sign of the Cross should be accompanied with something that visually brings Our Lord or Our Lady to mind―such as showing them a crucifix, statue or picture.
Likewise with the use of HOLY WATER―the baby could be made to dip its hand in the Holy Water before making the Sign of the Cross. The baby could be sprinkled with Holy Water at certain times throughout the day―though, as with the Sign of the Cross, the sprinkling should somehow be associated with Our Lord or Our Lady, which can be done by pointing to a crucifix, statue or picture of Them.
This brings us to the frequent use of CRUCIFIXES, STATUES & PICTURES of especially Our Lord and Our Lady―whom the baby should come to recognize and call by name, Jesus or Mary, just as much as the baby recognizes and calls its parents by the name of “momma” and “dada”―although in a baby dialect that may or may not sound like the real thing! It is important not to confuse the baby with many different images of Our Lord and Our Lady―otherwise it will start to call everyone “Jesus” or “Mary”! Introduce other images of Jesus and Mary once the baby is comfortable with the originals. Show the baby how to kiss the crucifix, statue or image―and say out loud: “Jesus I love you!” or “Mary I love you!” During the course of the day, often point out the crucifix on the wall and speak out the Name “Jesus” when you do. The same for statues and pictures. Have a statue next to you when you breast-feed, diaper change, etc. Or do these things near to where the crucifix, statue or picture is normally kept. You can also make a regular visit to the statue or image at Our Lady’s altar after each and every Mass―thus accustoming the baby to regularly seeing that image of statue of Our Lady. All in all, the purpose or goal is to let the baby see that Our Lord and Our Lady are really and truly part of your family, and thereby making the baby feel comfortable and home in their presence. You should also have the baby, as it becomes an infant, place flowers before the images and statues of Our Lord and Our Lady in your home or garden. All of this is gradually preparing the child's soul for a future more mature relationship with Jesus and Mary.
ROSARY BEADS, SCAPULARS & MEDALS should also be introduced in these early years―with obvious vigilance that they are not left unattended with things like medals―which they can easily put into the mouth and swallow! But partial exposure while supervised is recommended―teaching the baby to reverence them as much as is possible for a baby, teaching the baby to kiss the crucifix, scapular or medal. Enrollment in the Brown Scapular usually was done at the time of child’s First Holy Communion―though the child could be enrolled at an earlier age. However, it is not a bad thing―even advisable seeing the state of the world today―to have a baby wear certain blessed medals, such as the Miraculous Medal or the St. Benedict Medal. Some parents―especially when the child is still a baby, prefer to attach these medals to clothing rather than have a chain around the baby’s neck. The Miraculous Medal also has a ritual of enrollment in addition to its blessing―this could be done already at this stage or the child could be enrolled when they are older―but the Miraculous Medal should be word in either case.
The repeated use of SHORT PRAYERS or ONE-LINERS is also recommended―especially making sure that those prayers or one-liners contain the words Jesus and Mary.
Similar to the uses of spoken prayers or vocal prayers is the use of HYMNS or CANTICLES or little extracts of the sung parts of the MASS, such as the Kyrie Eleison, or opening lines of Gloria in Excelsis Deo, or Sanctus, or Agnus Dei―things that already accustom and familiarize the baby to what it will later hear during Mass―which will then make the baby more comfortable and accepting of those new surroundings. Why sing silly secular songs to the baby when there is a whole gamut of beautiful, soothing, spiritual melodies that we can draw from. If you do not possess a sweet, soothing singing voice―or cannot keep to the melody without going “flat” or “sharp” and are likely to “butcher” the beauty of the hymn, then play a CD, DVD or tape of some hymns or even Gregorian Chant in the background, or while putting the baby to sleep, or even whilst it sleeps.
If we are talking about audio electronics―then let us take the short step over to visual electronics, where there is a large religious source to be found in DVDs and VIDEO TAPES. Why sit a baby in front of a screen showing Disney characters when more would be done for the baby’s soul by exposing it to religious characters? Though, by comparison to the secular material out there, religious material is miniscule―nevertheless there is enough of it to use OCCASIONALLY to channel religious content into the baby’s soul by one of its five senses―namely, vision. The baby cannot understand Disney yet, but Disney it is forced to watch―so why not give it some healthier “food” instead of “junk food” that will be or no help to its growth in a knowledge, love and service of God?
You could write a whole book on this topic of babies and religion, but that is not the purpose of this article. Hopefully this mere “tip of an iceberg” triggers you creativity and imagination―for those who still have babies or grandparents who still have to deal with babies―to dig deeper and come up with your own modifications and derivations to the little that has already been said. However, link the above to some kind of living reality, let us take a page out of Fr. François Trochu’s biography of St. John Vianney and you will see some of the above “theory” put into “practice” in very earliest days of St. John Vianney’s life.
The Baby and Infant John Vianney
“Soon [the baby] John began to notice things. His mother took pleasure in pointing out to him the crucifix and the pious pictures … When the little arms became strong enough to move with some ease, she guided the tiny hand from the forehead to the breast, and from the breast to the shoulders [thus making the Sign of the Cross]. The child soon grew into the habit of doing this, so that one day―he was then about fifteen months old―his mother, having forgotten to help him to make the Sign of the Cross before giving him his food, the little one refused to open his mouth, at the same time vigorously shaking his head. Marie Vianney guessed what he meant, and, as soon as she had helped the tiny hand, the pursed-up lips opened spontaneously.
“His was one of those dispositions that are easily directed towards God. From the age of eighteen months, when the family met for night prayers, he would, of his own accord, kneel down with them―maybe merely from natural imitativeness―and he knew quite well how to join his little hands in prayer. Prayers ended, his pious mother put him to bed, and, before a final embrace, she bent over him, talking to him of Jesus, of Mary, of his Guardian Angel. In this way did the fond mother lull the child to sleep … John hardly ever left his mother’s side, busy as she was; on her part, she began the task of her little son’s education whilst doing her housework, teaching him in a manner that could be readily grasped by his childish mind. In this way she taught him the “Our Father” and the “Hail Mary” together with some elementary notions of God and of the soul … The little one, who was very wide awake for his age, would himself ask naive questions. What interested him most was the sweet mystery of Our Lord’s birth at Bethlehem and the story of the manger and the shepherds. These familiar talks were sometimes prolonged far into the night. For the sake of hearing the story of the Bible, John was willing to sit up late with his mother and Catherine―the most devout of his sisters.
“The boy had a Rosary which he greatly prized. Gothon, his sister, who was eighteen months younger, took a fancy to her brother’s beads, and, of course, wished to get possession of them. It came to a scene between brother and sister; there was screaming, stamping of feet, and even a preliminary skirmish, when suddenly, full of grief, the poor child ran to his mother. Gently, but firmly, she bade him give the beads to Gothon “Yes, my darling, give them to her for love of the good God.” John, though bathed in tears, immediately surrendered his precious Rosary. For a child of four this was surely no mean sacrifice! Instead of petting and fondling the child with a view to drying his tears, his mother gave him a small wooden statue of Our Lady.
“The rude [meaning “very basic”] image had long stood on the mantelpiece of the kitchen chimney, and the little one had often wished to possess it. At last it was his, really his! What joy! “Oh how I loved that statue!” he confessed seventy years later; “neither by day nor by night would I be parted from it. I should not have slept had I not had it beside me in my little bed . . . the Blessed Virgin was the object of my earliest affections; I loved her even before I knew her.”
“Some of his contemporaries, his sister Marguerite in particular, have related how, at the first sound of the Angelus, he was on his knees before anybody else. At other times he might be found in a corner of the house kneeling before the image of our Lady, which he had placed on a chair. Children do not fall victims to the foolish disease called human respect. Wherever he happened to be, whether at home, in the garden, in the street, John, following the example of his mother, was in the habit of “blessing the hour”―that is, so soon as he heard the clock strike the each hour of the day―he would cross himself and recite a “Hail Mary,” ending with another sign of the cross.
“Some women of the neighborhood, hearing the [four-year-old] child praying aloud, said to his parents: “He knows his litanies well. You will have to make him either a priest or a Brother.”
“Marie Vianney may not have had any inkling of the wonderful future of her favorite child; none the less, the beauty of his soul was precious in her eyes, and she spared no pains to keep from him the very shadow of sin: “See, my little John,” she used to say, “if your brothers and sisters were to offend the good God, it would indeed cause me much pain, but I should be far sorrier were you to offend Him.”
“Her little John was no ordinary child. Even before the powers of his mind had reached their full development, the privileged child of grace had made the first step out of the common way, for this seems to be the true explanation of the following occurrence.
“One evening―he was then about four years old―John left the house unnoticed. As soon as his mother became aware of his absence, she called to him by his name―but no answer came. With ever-increasing anxiety she looked for him in the yard, behind the straw rick and the piles of timber. The little one was not to be found. Yet he never failed to answer the very first call. As she proceeded in the direction of the stable, where he might be hiding, the distracted mother suddenly remembered with horror that deep pond full of murky water, from which the cattle were wont to drink! But what was her surprise when she beheld the spectacle that now presented itself to her eyes? There, in a corner of the stable, among the cattle peacefully chewing the cud, was her boy on his knees, praying with folded hands before his little statue of Our Lady. In an instant she had caught him in her arms, and, pressing him to her heart: “Oh my darling, you were here!” she cried, in a flood of tears. “Why hide yourself when you want to pray? You know we all say our prayers together!” The child, unable to think of anything but his mother’s grief, exclaimed: “Forgive me, mamma, I did not think! I will not do it again!”
“Mrs. Vianney was a woman of “eminent piety.” If at all possible, she would go to daily Mass. Catherine, her eldest daughter, accompanied her as a rule, but soon her favorite companion came to be the little four-year-old, whose precocious piety caused him to relish the things of God. Whenever the bells of the church nearby, announced that Mass was about to be said, John entreated his mother to let him go with her. The request was granted. She placed him before her in the family pew, and explained to him what the priest was doing at the altar. The child soon developed a love for the sacred ceremonies. However, his attention was divided: the embroidered vestment of the celebrant entranced him, whilst he was wholly overcome with admiration for the red cassock and white surplice of the altar boy. He, too, would have liked to serve at the altar, but how could his frail arms lift that heavy Missal? From time to time he turned to his mother; it was an inspiration merely to see her so absorbed in prayer, and as it were transfigured by an interior fire.
“In subsequent years, when people congratulated him on his early love for prayer and the Church, he used to say with many tears: “After God, I owe it to my mother; she was so good! Virtue passes readily from the heart of a mother into that of her children. A child that has the happiness of having a good mother, should never look at her or think of her without tears!” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
Warnings From Scripture and Our Lady
The above theory and practice show and prove the point that used to be made by the Jesuits―when they were still in a healthy spiritual state, now no longer―that if they could educate a child before and up to the ages of 7 or 8 years-old, then they could almost guarantee the future salvation of that child. Holy Scripture s peaks of the same principle, saying: “It is a proverb: ‘A young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it!’” (Proverbs 22:6). “As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be!” (Deuternonomy 33:25). Too many parents spiritually waste the time of their babies and infants―time lost may never be regained and may even end up with not only being “time lost” but also a soul lost! “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord” (Isaias 54:13). “These words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart: And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). “From thy infancy thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which can instruct thee to salvation!” (2 Timothy 3:15).
As Our Lady instructed the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Parents are naturally bound to instruct their children, from their infancy, in this knowledge of God and to direct them with solicitous care, so that they may at once see their ultimate end, and seek it … They should with great watchfulness withdraw them from the childishness and puerile trickishness―to which depraved nature will incline them if left without direction. If the fathers and mothers would be solicitous to prevent these vanities and perverted habits of their children, and would instruct them, from their infancy, in the knowledge of their God and Creator, then they would afterwards easily accustom them to know and adore Him … The proper education and instruction of children will do much toward making them more free and habituated to the practice of virtue, since thus they will be accustomed to follow the sure and safe guiding star of reason from its first dawn …
“I wish to warn thee of the cunning of Satan for the destruction of these works of the Lord. From the very moment in which mortals begin to have the use of their reason, each one of them is followed by many watchful and relentless demons. For as soon as the souls are in a position to raise their thoughts to the knowledge of their God and commence the practice of the virtues infused by Baptism, these demons, with incredible fury and astuteness, seek to root out the divine seed; and if they cannot succeed in this, they try to hinder its growth, and prevent it from bringing forth fruit by engaging men in vicious, useless, or trifling things. Thus they divert their thoughts from the Faith and from the pursuit of virtues, leading them to forget that they are Christians and diverting their attention from the knowledge of God. Moreover the same enemy instills into the parents a base neglectfulness and carnal love for their offspring; and he incites the teachers to carelessness, so that the children find no support against evil in their education, but become depraved and spoiled by many bad habits, losing sight of virtue and of their good inclinations and going the way of perdition. That those who walk in the way of salvation are the smaller number, is due to the vice and depraved habits imbibed in youth and nourished in childhood. For that saying of Deuteronomy is very true: “As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be” (Deuteronomy 33:25).
“Hence the demons gain courage and increase their tyrannical influence over souls in the early years of man’s life, hoping that they will be able to induce men to commit so much the greater and the more frequent sins in later years, the more they have succeeded in drawing them into small and insignificant faults in their childhood. By these they draw them on to a state of blind presumption; for with each sin the soul loses more and more the power of resistance, subjects itself to the demon, and falls under the sway of its tyrannical enemies. The miserable yoke of wickedness is more and more firmly fastened upon it; the same is trodden underfoot by its own iniquity and urged onward under the sway of the devil from one precipice to another, from abyss to abyss (Psalm 41:8): a chastisement merited by all those, that allow themselves to be overcome by evildoing in the beginning. By these means Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls and continues so to hurl them every day” (Taken from The Mystical City of God).
Therefore, if you have babies or infants in your care, take heed and put into practice the points made above. It is never too early a time to sow seeds of devotion to Our Lady in the soul of a child. Woe to those who neglect to do so―for, in place of the potential tree of devotion, they will instead soon find the weeds and thorns of the world, which will soon begin to gradually but relentlessly choke all spirituality from the soul and replace it with worldliness.
This Week's Special Offers From The Devotion Supermarket
► The Childhood Department
If you have done the shopping in the “Baby Department” early and in good time, and put your purchases to good use by planting the seeds of devotion in the soul of during the baby and infancy stage, then the childhood period should go more smoothly―for you will have limited the weeds of worldliness and will have already instilled a respectful and reverential attitude to the things of God from the very earliest years. If not, then you have work to do―weeding to do―planting to do. If the child has grown thus far on “junk food” then you can imagine how difficult it is wean such a child from “junk food” and have it accept “healthy food”!
Up to this point―during babyhood and infancy―the child’s exposure and growth in devotion to Our Lady has been “passive” (meaning that more has to be done for the child because the child can do very little for its own devotional growth). You could, broadly-speaking, call it “spoon-fed devotion”, where everything is presented to the child and the child simply slurps it in and swallows it. The older the child becomes, the more it becomes “active” while still remaining to a large degree “passive” too. In fact, the “active” (I do it) and “passive” (someone does it to me) stages are ever-present, even in adulthood―but in babyhood the “active” is almost at zero level, while the “passive” is almost 100%. As the baby passes through infancy and into childhood, the “active” part of its life increases―not only year by year, but week by week. Once the child is able to do certain things by itself and for itself; once the child’s reasoning and comprehension starts to develop, then the ways and methods of inspiring and cultivating a devotion to Our Lord and Our Lady allow for a much broader and much more mature approach. It is similar to the nutrition given to the child. As a baby, solids were extremely limited and most foods were in the form of liquids or reduced from solids to liquids. Once the child develops teeth and is able to chew, then solids are introduced on a regular basis. Similarly, when the child’s mind or intellect develops “intellectual teeth” that enable it to “intellectually chew things over”, then a whole new broad spectrum of materials come into play for furthering and deepening the child’s religious devotion.
However, since the mind is still immature and in its formative stages, the intellectual material has to be prudently simplified or “watered” down―much as in France, for example, children of a certain age would be allowed to drink a LITTLE wine at certain meals together with their parents, but the wine would be watered-down, that is to say, mixed with a large amount of water. As one long-time deceased bishop used to say, “It is much harder to teach the Faith to little children than older children or adults―because you have to have a mind that can simplify what is often complicated and present it in a way that us understandable without having sacrificed, discarded or modified that which is essential.”
Don’t Waste Time―Wait and It’s Too Late!
Generally speaking, once a child begins to understand and reason, then it of the utmost importance to seek and try ensure that this early development of the child is good and holy, that is godly and God-centered rather than worldly and fun-centered. As you probably know by experience―with your own children or by observing the children of others―this is far easier said than it is done! In fact, the rate of failure in this matter far surpasses the few meager successes that can be found scattered around only here or there. This brings to mind St. Louis de Montfort’s lament in his Letter to the Friends of the Cross, where he writes:
“A Friend of the Cross is one chosen by God from among ten thousand who have reason and sense for their only guide. He is truly divine, raised above reason and thoroughly opposed to the things of sense, for he lives in the light of true faith and burns with love for the Cross … Do you really know the voice of God and grace from the voice of the world and human nature? Do you distinctly hear the voice of God, our kind Father, pronouncing His threefold curse upon everyone who follows the world in its concupiscence: “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the Earth” (Apocalypse 8:13) … Dear Brethren, these are the two groups that appear before you each day, the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. On the right is our loving Savior’s group is barefooted, thorn-crowned, robed in His blood and weighted with a heavy cross. There is ONLY A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE WHO FOLLOW HIM, but they are the bravest of the brave. To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, WHICH IS FAR SUPERIOR IN NUMBER, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver … To the right, THE LITTLE FLOCK that follows Jesus can speak only of tears, penance, prayer and contempt for worldly things ... Worldlings, on the contrary, rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!’ they shout, “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us, God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves; we shall not be damned for that; away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross).
So What’s on Offer? ― What Can You Use and Do?
At this point―as with adulthood―as they say, “The sky’s the limit!” … “You are spoilt for choice!” Yet there is still enormous failure despite the resources and choices. As the proverbial saying goes: “You can lead a horse to water―but you cannot make it drink!” There are mountains of materials available to help kindle the bonfire of devotion―especially in this day and age, with the universal availability of many inexpensive books, internet resources that cost nothing but the time to research them, and the wide variety of self-education channels that are available besides books and internet, such as DVDs, CDs, video tapes, audio tapes, interactive media, etc.
So Many Resources―But So Much Failure!
Yet those devotional bonfires are not burning―especially among children―for statistics show that MOST CATHOLIC CHILDREN end up leaving the Faith entirely, or at least cease practicing it regularly, by the time they leave high school, college or university―OVER 90%. Something has gone wrong somewhere―and it is in childhood that the seeds of that apostasy or falling-away have been sown. Such things do not happen overnight―the child has been gradually “falling-out-of-love” with the Faith for a long, long time beforehand. The problem is essentially and basically this―a lack of TRUE and DEEP knowledge of Faith, a lack of TRUE devotion and TRUE spirituality on the part of parents (and teachers and priests) has, like a virus, spread to and contaminated the children―“Behold, everyone that useth a common proverb, shall use this against thee, saying: ‘As the mother was, so also is her daughter!’” (Ezechiel 16:44).
Furthermore, what God said in the Old Testament, is today 10 times more applicable than it was back then: “The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together … They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways!” (Psalm 13:1-3). Most are infected by the world because they have become disaffected with religion―the world has become their religion. Both children and parents gorge themselves on the world for hours every day―God receives mere scraps of time by comparison. A half-hearted, half-knowledgeable and dispirited Christianity―much like a half-hearted and dispirited team―can never and will never be victorious. That is why, speaking of the so-called “End Times”―which Our Lady told Lucia of Fatima, are our times―Our Lord laments: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Moreover, will He find Faith in the children of today?
Our Lady of Good Success already warned us: ““From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement.”
Are We Fighting a Losing Battle?
With most souls ending up in Hell; with most children leaving the Faith or ceasing to regularly practice the Faith; with attendance at Holy Mass on Sundays continually dropping universally―one has to ask the question: “Are we fighting a losing battle?” Yet that is perhaps the wrong way to phrase the question! We should be asking: “Why are we losing this battle?” More precisely, “Why are we losing a battle that we should be winning!” For as Holy Scripture says: “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31) … “The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you, as He did in Egypt in the sight of all!” (Deuteronomy 1:30). “The Lord your God Himself will fight for you, as He hath promised!” (Josue 23:10). “Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “Our God will fight for us!” (2 Esdras 4:20). “Because the Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “Be of good courage and let us fight for the city of our God: and the Lord will do what is good in his sight!” (2 Kings 10:12).
So why are we losing the battle? Why are we losing our children in the battle? Why are our children losing their Faith? Or are in the process of losing their Faith? The answer is quite simply the same answer that St. Augustine (feast day August 28th) gave to the question: “Why are our prayers not answered by God?” He gives three chief reasons: (1) because we pray for what is bad, (2) we pray badly, and (3) we are bad. In our case, we are losing the battle for similar reasons: (1) because we are fighting over the wrong things, (2) we are fighting in the wrong or bad way, using the wrong weapons, and (3) we are bad and therefore unworthy of God fighting for us.
Sole Solution to the Soul-ution
Yes―we have countless books on the Faith in general and devotion to Our Lady in particular. Yes―we have religion and catechism taught in Catholics schools and on Sundays in Catholic parishes. Yes―there are even religious movies and documentaries available for viewing. Yes―countless sermons have been heard on Sundays. Yes―families have some form of religious customs and spiritual exercises that they adhere to in their homes. Yet, as Fr. Frederick Faber writes in his Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary. Ponder these words carefully and resolve to do something about them―too much is at stake by neglecting to do so!
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one. Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no Faith in itself. Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized. Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines. Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother. I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion De Montfort. Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul [and the souls of his children], will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ. Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! [and how different would our children be!]. Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we [and our children] be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!” (Fr. Frederick Faber writes in his Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary).
Spiritual Thermodynamics & Spiritual Entropy
You have to be totally convinced of that―otherwise your life will not show it, and your children will not know it, and your children will not accept it or practice it. That is the reason why today’s children are so irreligious and so worldly―it is primarily because of their parents, who have no devotion, or have a fake or faulty devotion in the first place; and secondarily because of their teachers, who likewise have no devotion, or have a fake or faulty devotion; and thirdly, because of the priests and religious in their lives who have no devotion, or have a fake or faulty devotion. As the axiom goes: “You cannot give what you do not have!” Likewise, in the science of physics, there is an axiom called “The Second Law of Thermodynamics”, sometimes known as “The Law of Entropy” or, more simplistically, “The Law of Decay.”
The word “thermodynamics” comes from two root words: “thermo”― meaning heat, and “dynamic”― meaning power. Thus, the Laws of Thermodynamics are the Laws of “Heat Power.” Why are we talking about this obscure thing in the first place? Well, “Heat Power” brings to mind the idea of “Devotion Power” or “The Power of Devotion”―which, actually, comes down to the “The Power of Love” or “The Power of Charity”―and do we not relate the ideas of “love” and “charity” with the idea of “heat”? Yes, we do! We speak of “a burning love” and “a fiery love” ― we even pray to the Holy Ghost: “Enkindle in our hearts the fire of Thy love!”
“The Second Law of Thermodynamics” refers to the tendency for everything in nature to move towards and reach its most disorderly state. In other words, it is all about “things winding down”, or “things decaying or deteriorating”, or “things becoming increasingly disordered and less ordered.” The implications of “The Second Law of Thermodynamics” are considerable. Like a wind-up clock, the universe is winding down, as if at one point it was fully wound up and has been winding down ever since. The question is who wound up the clock? God, of course. God put total order in the universe―and man, through sin, has put disorder (that is to say, chaos) into the universe. Each sin that is committed, increases the disorder and chaos in the universe and decreases the order within the universe. Through the domino effect of disordered sin, or sinful chaos, the universe has been winding down. Even man, because of sin, was doomed to “wind-down” to eventual death.
This is where the other word used above―“entropy”― comes into play. “Entropy” is defined as unusable energy within a closed or isolated system―such as the universe for example. Put more simply, “entropy” measures disorder or chaos or decay within things or systems. As usable energy decreases and unusable energy increases, “entropy” is said to increase. To better understand that, think in terms of water temperature―as water grows more cold, it automatically becomes less hot. Or think of it in health terms―as someone becomes more sick, they become less healthy. Spiritually, when someone becomes more sinful, they become less virtuous; as they become more ignorant, they become less knowledgeable; as they become more lukewarm, then become less fervent. In simple terms, the less entropy (disorder or chaos or decay) that is present in any system, means that there is more order present within the system. On the other hand, the more entropy (disorder or chaos or decay) there is, the less order there is to be found. Entropy is a measure of disorder, chaos, decay or deterioration within any closed system.
The universe is constantly losing usable energy and never gaining. In simple terms, you see this in our human bodies deteriorating or winding-down and becoming weaker and more sick with increasing age. Cars do not get better with age, but gradually “wind-down” by having all kinds of mechanical failures and break down with time―unless there is some outside human intervention in the form of car maintenance and repair. Likewise, building do not improve with age, but “wind-down”―unless there is some outside human intervention in the form of building maintenance and repair. The same applies to the whole universe. We logically conclude the universe is not eternal. The universe had a finite beginning ― the moment at which it was at “zero entropy” (meaning that it was in most ordered possible state, with no disorder or chaos present).
Everything is winding down―and we even see that with our Faith, which will wind down to the point that Our Lord spoke of, when He said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Everything will consequently and inescapably wind down―unless there is an external intervention from somewhere―which is the intervention of God, His Providence and His Grace. This will help you to better understand the famous quote―which actually implicitly embodies “The Second Law of Thermodynamics”―found in the Soul of the Apostolate, by the Trappist monk, Jean-Baptiste Chautard: “A holy priest makes a fervent people; a fervent priest a pious people; a pious priest a fairly good people; a fairly good priest, a godless people.” Which you could expand to read as follows: “A saintly priest will produce a holy parish. Whereas a holy priest will only produce a fervent parish. A fervent priest will merely produce a good parish; while a good priest will produce a lukewarm parish. However, a lukewarm priest will produce a parish of devils.” The same applies in relation to parents (priest) and their children (parish), as well as teachers and their students.
Devotional Entropy
Applying all of the above to the question and matter at hand―namely, planting, enkindling, growing and perfecting devotion to Our Lady in children―it should have struck you by now that unless there is some outside intervention upon the children, then what little (if any) devotion they have will inevitably “wind-down”, deteriorate and decay. Who hasn’t seen countless such cases where a child, who perhaps had a sincere devotion to prayer at the age of 4 or 5, grew up to almost lose that prayerfulness by the end of their teen years? Sadly, the cases are countless! What went wrong? In most cases the “outside intervention” was either totally lacking, or infrequently shown, or was of very poor quality.
Most priests, parents and teachers have accustomed themselves to “run of the fumes” of devotion, as their “gas-tank” of devotion is almost always invariably “empty”. They rarely stop by the various “gas-stations” of devotion―and whenever they do, they put in too little “gas of devotion.” Thus they never ever go very far along the spiritual road to Heaven, preferring the short distances of worldly travel. Thus they have little “gas of devotion” to spare to give to their parishioners, children or students.
Furthermore, the quality of “gas” that they have is of the “cheap” kind―which does much harm to their “spiritual engine”, the soul, clogging it up and causing continual misfiring and loss of pulling-power. They barely crawl along when they should be speeding along! Such a “vehicle” inspires little confidence in their children, who prefer the more attractive worldly models they see zooming around everywhere.
Here is Your List―A Case of Love or Lose
As already stated earlier―the list of possibilities wherewith children can be helped to grow in a devotion to Our Lady is truly limitless―for, as they say: “There are nine ways to skin a cat!” but there are nine-million ways in which to sow and grow a devotion to Our Lady. It is not so much what you choose to do, or how many things you choose to try―what really matters and what truly strikes a chord in the mind and heart of the child is seeing a sincere love in you, who are the “Sower of the Seed.” If there is no real spark of love or devotion in you towards Our Lady―then don’t even dream of your child getting one! It is not what you do, but the love and devotion that you do it with that really counts. It is for this reason that the Legion of Mary Handbook states:
“The materialistic systems profess the love and service of man. They have preached a hollow gospel of fraternity. Millions have believed that gospel. In its name, they deserted a religion which they thought to be inert, and they submitted enthusiastically to despotisms. They were convinced that their new leaders loved them best; so they followed them, and now they are trying ardently to induce all mankind to join them. They seem to be in the ascendant. And yet the position is not a hopeless one. There is a way of bringing back to Faith those determined millions, and of saving countless other millions. That hope lies in the application of a great principle which rules the world, and which the Saint of Ars, John Vianney, has stated thus: “The world belongs to him who loves it most, and who proves that love!” Those millions will never listen to the enunciation of the truths of Faith. But they cannot help seeing, and being moved by a real Faith which operates through a real heroic love for all men. Convince them that the Church loves them most, and they will turn their back on those who rule them now. They will return to Faith in spite of everything. They will even lay down their lives for that Faith. No common love can conquer men thus! Neither will it be accomplished by a mediocre Catholicism, which can hardly preserve itself. It can be done by a Catholicism which loves Christ its Lord with all its heart, and then sees Him and loves Him in all men of whatsoever description. But this supreme charity of Christ must be practiced on such a scale that they, who look on, are driven to admit that it is indeed a characteristic of the Church, and not merely the acts of some sublime members of the Church. Therefore, it must be exhibited in the lives of the general body of the laity” (Legion of Mary Handbook, §159).
For Younger Children
► READING―Reading the lives of child saints―especially those in whose lives Mary played a major role. Hence you have wonderful examples given to children by the three seers of Fatima: Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta. Their lives should not only by “dryly” read, but their lives should also be part of a regular discussion and debate in family or at school. There are MANY books available that deal with Fatima and the three children―and their age range (10 years old, 9 years old and 7 years old) is ideal for children below the age of adolescence. Other such saints include St. Bernadette of Lourdes; Melanie and Maximin at La Salette.
Sadly, there are VERY FEW books out there that simplify St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary in a style and simplicity that easily “digested” by children. There is a book entitled Leading Little Ones to Mary, which decent though it is, still does little by way of faithfully and simply reflecting the key concepts of St. Louis. Perhaps with time such a book will appear. However, the simplification of St. Louis de Montfort’s short booklet, The Secret of Mary, should not be too difficult for most parents and teachers. Another good book, that is very understandable for the child’s mind, is St. Louis de Montfort’s The Secret of the Rosary. There are of course many more books out there. Whichever you choose, you should aim at short daily readings, and also have a variety of books to read from―so that it is not the same book every single day until it is completed. In fact, if you keep the reading short―a few paragraphs or one long paragraph―then there is nothing to stop you from reading from different books, several times a day, for two or three minutes at a time. Especially important is reading to children LAST THING AT NIGHT before they go bed or to sleep. This helps to partially clear all other useless and vain thoughts from the mind and leaves (hopefully) a spiritual or religious thought in their mind before they fall asleep.
However, regardless of what you read and how often you read―if you yourself have little or no real devotion to Our Lady, then that will very quickly be picked up by the child, who will sooner or later see the hypocrisy in it, of which we are all guilty of in more than one way―in effect saying: “Do not do as I do, but do as I say!”―this could well repel the child from embracing a true devotion to Our Lady and being content with a false or faulty one instead.
► PRAYING―Even though spiritual reading is already a prayer―for, as St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God” in any way whatsoever―vocal prayers are of great importance, for they are, in a sense, a direct communication or conversation with God, Our Lord, Our Lady, the angels and the saints. Moreover, Our Lady came at Fatima to insist upon the vocal prayer of the Holy Rosary, saying that, not only should it be prayed every day, but adding―both at Fatima and Akita―that we should pray the Rosary a lot: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!” Furthermore, Our Lady does not just address herself to adults (Akita), but also to young children (Fatima)―thus the daily Rosary is a daily requirement for children too. Additionally, 9-year-old Francisco was told that one daily Rosary was insufficient for him and that he would have to pray many Rosaries―which he humbly did.
Nevertheless, it has to be admitted that the Rosary, not only can be, but will be boring to every child―unless you do something to “pep” it up, to “spice” it up, to “flavor” it―just as you do with the food that you eat. You do buy a piece of meat and just slam it on the plate of your child without first seasoning and cooking it! Well, if Jesus says: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4)―then your Rosary is the “bread of the word of God” and you must prepare it before you eat it and feed it to others. In fact, what better incentive is there to begin meditating the Rosary yourself―for your food becomes the food your children―much like a mother eats and drinks herself, and then breast-feeds her babies.
A word of caution, though, has to be given. With young children, avoid falling into the two extremes of meditation―(1) avoid making the meditation TOO SHORT, which would be like a few drops or rain in a drought, and (2) avoid making the meditation TOO LONG and perhaps even avoid meditating every single mystery, which would then make the whole 5-decade Rosary too long for a young child. Either divide your 5-decade Rosary into 5 periods of the day (which can be difficult on school days, but ideal if you home-school), or pick one “juicy” mystery that is easy to meditate and give it “center-stage” and all the “spotlights” during the 5-decade family Rosary. For children, the use of pictures or imagery or even a short clip from a religious movie (with caution for it could distract instead of inspire) is highly recommended―for this is akin to spicing, seasoning and flavoring your food, except here you flavor and season the 15-course meal of the Holy Rosary.
Another way is too pick one mystery as the focal point of the whole day―asking everyone to think about it during the day, while at work or at school, and then, before the family Rosary in the evening, sit down and have “meditative discussion” about who has uncovered what points or treasures during the day. These are just “sparking suggestions” that could and should “spark” a whole bunch of “offshoot ideas” on how to best make the Rosary come alive and be made interesting, informative and life-changing for you and your child or student.
As for other prayers―as St. Augustine says, practice the liberty of the children of God. Approach prayer as you would food―eat healthily, meaning say prayers that will feed the needs of your life and avoid prayers that mean nothing to you and do not dovetail with your circumstances, hopes, needs, problems or tribulations. Also, as with food, eating a little but often throughout the day, is better than eating everything in one single meal. Thirdly, give the children something of what they like―but also give them some “greens” and things they might not like, but which will do them a lot of good. Do not feed them sugar all the time, but sparingly―for as they say, “Bitter is better” and we get to Heaven through the Cross and not through Comfort.
► THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS AND THE HOLY EUCHARIST―Finally, a word on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as part of devotion to Our Lady. The Blessed Virgin Mary was stood at the foot of the Cross as her Son dies upon it. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a perpetual re-presentation or re-enactment of the bloody Sacrifice of Calvary in a mystical and unbloody manner upon our altars. It is the greatest treasure that we have in the spiritual treasure chest of prayers―after which come The Divine Office (the Breviary) which is the Public Prayer of Christ and His Church, and then comes the Holy Rosary. If your children or students have little or no love for the Mass, then whose fault is that? It is to a large degree your fault as a parent or as a teacher. If you are meant to educate Christ’s little ones― “Jesus said to them: ‘Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to Me―for the Kingdom of Heaven is for such!’” (Matthew 19:14)―then you can bet your life on the fact that Christ wants them to know and love His greatest gift to them: the sacrifice of Himself on the Cross upon Calvary, and upon the altars of the Catholic Church. Your job is to see to it that those “little children” truly know and love that Holy Sacrifice. However, yet again, you cannot give what you have not got! You cannot “wax lyrical” with praise for the Mass if you yourself barely love it and rarely attend it. Furthermore, you have to be ready to “comply” with your child’s wishes (if they ever occur) to go and attend an extra Mass outside of the customary Sunday Mass―that will put you and your values under scrutiny! What excuse will you have in saying: “No, we can’t! Because we have to … [go somewhere else, do something else]” What is more important than the Mass? You risk having your false sense of values exposed by your child!
The “offshoot” or “product” or “consequence” of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the Holy Eucharist―which comes into being during the consecration of the Mass. The Holy Eucharist remains after Mass is over by what we call the “Real Presence” of Jesus with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Just like the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Holy Eucharist in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar is the greatest thing we have this side of Heaven. We all know that in theory―or we should know that. Yet what happens in practice? Does our practice live up to the theory? If it is the greatest thing we have this side of Heaven, why is it the greatest negligence this side of Heaven? Why are the churches empty? They are empty because our minds and hearts are empty! We never read about the Mass or the Blessed Sacrament―either privately or as a family. We never talk about the Mass or Blessed Sacrament in family―but we talk about everything else that is of lesser importance. We know little or nothing about the history of the Mass or the prayers of the Mass or the Blessed Sacrament―that is why we talk so little of the Mass or the Blessed Sacrament. If you do not have a great, fervent love for the Holy Mass and the Blessed Sacrament―do you think God will wave a magic wand and magically give such a love to your children or students? As the Church teaches― “God does not do the extraordinary when the ordinary suffices”―and, ordinarily, your efforts and teaching should suffice―but they will not suffice if they are insufficient! As one venerable bishop used to say: “The whole Faith can be taught from the vantage point of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, or even from the vantage point of Our Lady”―but who is there that does that?
► SPIRITUAL CONVERSATIONS―Such spiritual conversations are an informal and sometimes extremely powerful way of both ‘praying’ (raising the mind and heart to God) and allow for more flexibility and ingenuity in penetrating, detoxifying and influencing the child’s naturally worldly mind. Parents and teachers grossly neglect such opportunities for furthering the growth of Faith and devotion. For Holy Scripture commands: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). God and links to God can be found in every single thing that exists in this world―but you have to have a mind that can ssee those links―and that only comes with the practice of constantly looking for those links―but THEY ARE THERE! “But all men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God: and who by these good things that are seen, could not understand Him that is, neither by attending to the works have acknowledged Who was the workman” (Wisdom 13:1). However, once again, you cannot just “turn-it-on-at-the-flick-of-a-switch”―such spiritual conversations can only sound sincere if they are coming from a mind that is striving to live in the presence of God continually―which, sad to say, is rare today, as most people live continually in the presence of their smartphone, tablet, laptop or TV screen. “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak” (1 John 4:5).
► SPIRITUAL LISTENING―Just as one measly multi-vitamin pill, taken once a week, is unlikely to overcome a disease―likewise, one “multi-vitamin sermon” on Sunday is not going to detoxify anyone from sinfulness and worldliness. The Sunday sermon is an “off-the-peg” piece of “spiritual clothing” that vainly hopes to be a perfect “fit” for everyone in sitting and yawning in the pews. It is not going to happen! Yes―some things are “universal” in that they apply to everybody―but everybody is also different with different weaknesses and failings. “Tailor-made” is always better than “off-the-peg”―and it is parents and teachers who see the child at close quarters―they have, so to speak, a better “measurement” of the child or student.
This leads to two points―the first one is that the parent or teacher should be spending time in researching spiritual materials that are a “perfect-fit” for each child―and then, once having made a “suit of clothes” from all these pieces, they should―week-in-and-week-out―deliver what they discover to the child by personally talking to, encouraging, warning, reprimanding or praising, and guiding that child. Not to do so is to ill-equip a child or student for what will then be an extremely difficult and dangerous, if not impossible journey to Heaven. Yes―if you have brought a child into this world, then you have brought a child into this world to know, love and serve God and to finally attain God in Heaven. Who is going to do that if not you? You do this on a material and physical level―feeding, clothing, sheltering, teaching and protecting your child! Why is it not done with even greater zeal and effect on the spiritual level―which is the more important level? The same applies to teachers! Why are you a Catholic teacher? For the money? For the praise? For the fun of fit? A teacher is a “stand-in” for THE TEACHER―Jesus Christ. Why is Jesus Christ (and Our Lady and everything else that pertains to the Faith) so low and so neglected on the list of things that you have to do? It is an enormous privilege to be called into the ranks of Catholic Teachers―who could be said to be, in a loose sense, “The (Lay) Apostles of Our Lord.” And what did Our Lord command His Apostles to do? “Going therefore, teach ye all nations … Teaching them to observe ALL THINGS whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).
“All things” is not “some things” or “the things that interest you” or “the things that you prefer” or “the things you think they will like”, etc. What part of ALL is it that you do not understand? That is why Our Lady of Fatima gave both “sugar and spice”―she told the children they would go to Heaven, yet she showed them a vision of Hell―of which Sr. Lucia of Fatima said that they would have died on the spot seeing it, had not the grace of God kept them alive! Just think about that for a minute! She showed a life-threatening vision of Hell to a 10-year-old, a 9-year-old and a 7-year-old! If she did that in America today, parents would sue Our Lady for emotional cruelty to their children! Who is there that speaks about Hell today? It is almost a taboo subject, a “hate-crime”, an act of “terrorism”. Yet Hell is part and parcel of the “ALL THINGS” that Our Lord commanded MUST be taught, not just all children, but to all nations.
All the other things that are usually mentioned as a part of devotion to Our Lady―this or that prayer; this or that novena; this or that Rosary (regular Rosary or Seven Sorrows Rosary); this or that image and statue; this or that medal; this or that book; this or that pilgrimage; this or that spiritual exercise, procession, etc. ― and the particular list would number thousands ― all depends ultimately on having the “spark” of devotion in our souls. It is like a bonfire―you can bring all the wood that you can find, you can make it the largest bonfire the world has ever seen, you can stack the wood a mile-high―but if you cannot create a spark to light it, then it is useless. The spark must come from somewhere. The odds are that the fire of your devotion is deficient, insufficient to light a bonfire of devotion in others. So before you try heal others―heal yourself: “Physician, heal thyself!” (Luke 4:23). “My son, in thy sickness neglect not thyself, but pray to the Lord, and he shall heal thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 38:9).
Providential Feasts and Examples
Providentially, at this moment in time, August 27th, we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph Calasanctius―whose life dovetails with the subject we are addressing, namely, the instruction and education of children. While he was still a child he used to call his companions together and teach them the mysteries of the Faith and prayers. He became a priest because of a vow he had taken, and he consequently led a life of great austerity, chastising his body with vigils and fasting, and spending day and night in prayer and the contemplation of heavenly things―which is exactly what has been recommended above to one degree or another. When he had received from God the commission to devote himself to the education and formation of boys―especially poor boys―in the knowledge and love of God, he founded the Order of the Poor Regular Clerks of the Pious Schools of the Mother of God, who took, as their special work, the task of teaching boys. Because of this work, he underwent innumerable labors and hardships with an invincible spirit. The Collect or Prayer for the August 27th feast of St. Joseph Calasanctius, is especially appropriate for this topic: “O God, Who wast pleased to provide a new help for thy Church by raising up Thy holy Confessor Joseph to train up the young in the spirit of understanding and godliness, we beseech thee for his sake, and by his prayers, to grant us the grace always so to work and so to teach, that we may finally attain unto Thy everlasting joy.”
You may think all this is impossible! You may think it is too late to change your children or repair the damage caused by your negligence and ignorance. Well think again! Think of St. Augustine (feast day August 28th) who was wayward form his childhood, yet who not only converted, not only became a priest, not only became a bishop, not only became a saint, but also entered the saintly ranks of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church! What is impossible with men is possible with God. Our Lady said to Archangel Gabriel: “‘How shall this be done, because I know not man?’ And the angel answering, said to her: ‘No word shall be impossible with God!’” (Luke 1:34-37). “And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:26). “And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!” (Matthew 21:22).
Imagine walking past a top-class restaurant and seeing a sign at its entrance saying: “Walk Right In! Eat All You Want! All You Can Eat For Free! At No Cost To You!” Most people would not think twice about entering that restaurant and “tucking-in” or “gorging” themselves on whatever they could find. They would eat more that would usually eat―because it is being given away for free. Even if there was a charge of $1 for the deal, most people would snap-it-up immediately.
Now, as you well know, Our Lord said to the devil: “It is written, that Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God!” (Luke 4:4) … “It is written, ‘Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!’” (Matthew 4:4). Our Lord is here referring to Old Testament Scriptures, where Moses reminds the Israelites of God’s “All You Can Eat” service during their 40 years of wandering in the desert, when God miraculously fed them for free with manna that fell from Heaven: “He afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for thy food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew―to show that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
In a certain sense, the same “All You Can Eat” offer is being made by Our Lady’s top class restaurant ―Devotion to Mary. Everything is “laid-on-plate” for you! You are almost “spoon-fed”! It costs you nothing but the time it takes to “eat” what she has to offer―and the menu is so varied, it would take you days to read through it! Yet, very strangely, Our Lady’s restaurant is almost deserted! Most of the tables and chairs are unoccupied. The parking lot is almost empty.
Yet across the road, Satan’s Sinburger Eatery and Drive-Thru is thriving like you could never imagine! Satan is offering everything for free and no cost to the customer―at least not for now―it is a case of “Eat All You Want And Pay Later!” Satan’s parking lot is jam-packed, there are long-lines at the door waiting for a vacant table, the Drive-Thru is like a long-winding snake or serpent, stretching back out of the parking-lot with its tail several miles down the road! Every item on the menu is smeared with Satan’s Sinful Sauce―a very addictive concoction made up of special Satanic blend of the Seven Deadly Sins―and everything is freshly baked, roasted, toasted, seared and sizzled, smoked and barbecued on Satan’s Fires of Hell. The crowds can’t get enough of it and keep coming back for more―hence Satan’s Sinburger Eatery and Drive-Thru is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, each and every year―it will only close at the End of the World, when Christ will come to audit and settle accounts.
The Devotion Supermarket―The Whole Caboodle
However, if we do not want to eat at Our Lady’s restaurant―and quite frankly, Satan’s Sinburger Eatery is not an option―then we should at least shop for our spiritual food at Our Lady’s Devotion Supermarket. Most of foods are free―or very reasonably priced―and almost all of them have an eternal shelf-life or longevity, for they never spoil, rot, grow stale or moldy. Once you have them―they keep forever and a little goes a long, long way!
To begin with, let us just do a “devotion dump” of everything there is―or at least a large number of things. Afterwards, you can pick and choose what you want―much like shopping in a supermarket, where you see absolutely everything put on display in dozens of aisles, from which you take what you need or want. So, though the list may seem overwhelming, it is not expected―as in the supermarket―that you ‘buy’ everything. However, the richer a person is, the more they are inclined to buy. Similarly, the “richer” we are in Charity, the more we will be inclined to do―as the passage from The Imitation of Christ indicated in the previous article: “Love … makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it bears a burden without being weighted and renders sweet all that is bitter. Love of Jesus [Mary] spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect ... Love often knows no limits but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much where he who does not love fails and falls!” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 5).
A Word of Warning!
Nobody can ever give you complete list of devotional practices in relation to Our Lady! If anyone pretends to do so, then they are insanely proud or just plain insane! Not that the list is infinite―only God is infinite―but try counting all the grains of sand on all the shores and sea beds of the world and you’ll get the idea! There are a certain number of kinds of foods in the world―but the way each person uses, combines and prepares those foods makes the possible variations and combinations uncountable. Similarly with vocabulary―there are only so many words in any language―yet no two people say the identical same things all day long and all year long! You should look upon, approach and use the following VERY LIMITED LIST of devotional practices with that in mind.
The following list―for the sake of sanity―HAS to be short and limited, but its purpose is not be totally inclusive, but to be indicative and suggestive and hopefully inspiring of further ideas that should spring to mind in reading through it. It is like giving you a list of words and allowing you to combine them as you wish and in a manner than meets and satisfies your daily schedule, environment, temperament, and even more importantly, THE CURRENT LEVEL OF YOUR DEVOTION (or lack of it). A weak person cannot lift heavy weights, nor will a strong person gain much satisfaction or benefit from lifting light weights. As our devotion grows―so should our devotional “workload” or “lifting-weight” grow with it. Some of the following suggestions will seem impossible to the devotionally weak―and others will seem ridiculously easy and insignificant to the devotionally strong.
Horses for Courses―Gauge the Age
Start small and build up your devotional workload as you grow stronger. Nobody can possibly imagine or dream of doing all these things―just as nobody can possibly imagine and cream of eating all the things they see in a supermarket―yet they still go into the supermarket, they still shop there, and they do not feel overwhelmed because they are not expected to buy everything, use everything and consume everything! The same applies to the following list.
The list will begin with devotional items and practices for BABIES & INFANTS, it will then pass onto devotional items and practices for CHILDREN, and will finally cover devotional items and practices for ADOLESCENTS & ADULTS. As they say in philosophy― “The greater contains the lesser!” ― meaning that adults can easily practice some of those things that are listed for babies, infants and children, but as philosophical axiom states: “One cannot give what one has not got!” ― which in this case means that a young child does not have the strength, endurance, knowledge and prudence of an adult and obviously cannot be expected to practice the harder aspects of devotion until they naturally increase in strength, endurance, knowledge and prudence. However, having said that, look at what the three children of Fatima―Lucia (aged 10), Francisco (aged 9) and Jacinta (aged 7) achieved! They managed to more than many adults have ever done!
This Week's Special Offers From The Devotion Supermarket
► The Baby Department
Our Lady’s Devotion Supermarket has “food” not only for adults―but also for babies and children. Just as in our physical life we are never too young to consume food and drink―likewise in the spiritual life nobody is ever too young to be fed the food and drink of devotion to Our Lady. A baby relies on its mother from the very beginning―if that is true in physical life, we must also make it to be true in the baby’s spiritual life. Even babies can be “fed” some very basic, easily “digestible” spiritual devotional food―however, it takes a DEVOTED parent to even think of doing so and it takes DEVOTION to keep doing so!
You might be surprised or shocked at the thought of teaching babies, or introducing babies to certain devotional practices in relation to Our Lady (and Our Lord for that matter). If that is the case, then you are forgetting that a baby is beginning to learn things from the very first moment of its existence! To simplify matters―and especially since babies are more passive (meaning they have things done to them) as opposed to being active (doing things for themselves), it obviously stands to reason that any introduction to a devotion to Our Lady will be more passive (the parent doing devotional things to the baby) rather than active (the baby doing those things for itself)―however, babies are quick to notice things and to copy things, so this valuable time in their lives should not be wasted. The principle or thought might have escaped you―but babies, like all humans, have been gifted with the FIVE SENSES―they see, they hear, they touch, they taste and they smell. It is important to channel the seeds of devotion through ALL THESE FIVE CHANNELS, so that religiosity―without them understanding anything about it―becomes a familiar, daily, frequent and inseparable part of their little incipient lives. Hence, you have to intelligent and creative about the way that you use relgion, its words, its signs, its sounds, its objects, etc., in channeling them into the baby's mind, heart and soul through its five external senses.
CONSECRATING THE BABY TO OUR LADY―If the priest who baptized your baby was “worth his salt”, then he will have consecrated your baby to Our Lady immediately after the baptism. This was―and still SHOULD be, but isn’t―the recommended (though not obligatory) practice before the Church hit the proverbial ceiling-fan after the Second Vatican Council. If your baby was not consecrated to Our Lady (and your child is still a baby―we speak of physical age and not maturity), then you should either approach the priest to see if he would formally do so, or, if he refuses or you think it highly unlikely that he would agree, then simply do the act of consecration yourself. Which act of consecration? There are many to found online―even in the Novenas to Our Lady on this website [look under “Prayers” and then “Novenas”]―just simply take the “best of” or the most appropriate parts or wording from those various consecrations and create your own personalized consecration for your baby. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you repeat the prayer of consecration over the baby at regular intervals―monthly, weekly or even daily.
THE USE OF SACRAMENTALS―The Church has given us Sacramentals (these are not to be confused with the Seven Sacraments) as a source and means of obtaining God’s grace. The long list of Sacramentals includes things like the the ritual blessing of objects (statues, pictures, Rosaries, Scapulars, medals, water, foods, vehicles, houses, etc.). Some of those blessed objects then, in turn, become Sacramentals for us―such as holy water, Rosaries, Scapulars and medals. All of this is a clue and indicator as to their possible use in the daily life of the developing, “grabbing-everything”, “putting-everything-in-the-mouth”, ever curious, all noticing baby.
Another Sacramental that is often overlooked and forgotten is the making of the SIGN OF THE CROSS―which was performed over your baby many times during the ceremony of Baptism. Many of the mothers of future saints―from the very first days of the baby’s life outside the womb― would take the baby’s tiny hand and make the baby trace the Sign of the Cross upon itself. This would not be an occasional practice, but it would be done many times a day―especially when the rest of the family would make the Sign of Cross before and after family prayers, before and after family meals, etc. In this way, a grace-attracting, grace-giving Sacramental is being ingrained into the baby’s daily routine. The Sign of the Cross could be made before and after breast-feeding; before and after diaper changes; whenever the baby awakes from sleep, or is put to sleep; when the baby starts crying, etc. Yet as often as possible, the making of the Sign of the Cross should be accompanied with something that visually brings Our Lord or Our Lady to mind―such as showing them a crucifix, statue or picture.
Likewise with the use of HOLY WATER―the baby could be made to dip its hand in the Holy Water before making the Sign of the Cross. The baby could be sprinkled with Holy Water at certain times throughout the day―though, as with the Sign of the Cross, the sprinkling should somehow be associated with Our Lord or Our Lady, which can be done by pointing to a crucifix, statue or picture of Them.
This brings us to the frequent use of CRUCIFIXES, STATUES & PICTURES of especially Our Lord and Our Lady―whom the baby should come to recognize and call by name, Jesus or Mary, just as much as the baby recognizes and calls its parents by the name of “momma” and “dada”―although in a baby dialect that may or may not sound like the real thing! It is important not to confuse the baby with many different images of Our Lord and Our Lady―otherwise it will start to call everyone “Jesus” or “Mary”! Introduce other images of Jesus and Mary once the baby is comfortable with the originals. Show the baby how to kiss the crucifix, statue or image―and say out loud: “Jesus I love you!” or “Mary I love you!” During the course of the day, often point out the crucifix on the wall and speak out the Name “Jesus” when you do. The same for statues and pictures. Have a statue next to you when you breast-feed, diaper change, etc. Or do these things near to where the crucifix, statue or picture is normally kept. You can also make a regular visit to the statue or image at Our Lady’s altar after each and every Mass―thus accustoming the baby to regularly seeing that image of statue of Our Lady. All in all, the purpose or goal is to let the baby see that Our Lord and Our Lady are really and truly part of your family, and thereby making the baby feel comfortable and home in their presence. You should also have the baby, as it becomes an infant, place flowers before the images and statues of Our Lord and Our Lady in your home or garden. All of this is gradually preparing the child's soul for a future more mature relationship with Jesus and Mary.
ROSARY BEADS, SCAPULARS & MEDALS should also be introduced in these early years―with obvious vigilance that they are not left unattended with things like medals―which they can easily put into the mouth and swallow! But partial exposure while supervised is recommended―teaching the baby to reverence them as much as is possible for a baby, teaching the baby to kiss the crucifix, scapular or medal. Enrollment in the Brown Scapular usually was done at the time of child’s First Holy Communion―though the child could be enrolled at an earlier age. However, it is not a bad thing―even advisable seeing the state of the world today―to have a baby wear certain blessed medals, such as the Miraculous Medal or the St. Benedict Medal. Some parents―especially when the child is still a baby, prefer to attach these medals to clothing rather than have a chain around the baby’s neck. The Miraculous Medal also has a ritual of enrollment in addition to its blessing―this could be done already at this stage or the child could be enrolled when they are older―but the Miraculous Medal should be word in either case.
The repeated use of SHORT PRAYERS or ONE-LINERS is also recommended―especially making sure that those prayers or one-liners contain the words Jesus and Mary.
Similar to the uses of spoken prayers or vocal prayers is the use of HYMNS or CANTICLES or little extracts of the sung parts of the MASS, such as the Kyrie Eleison, or opening lines of Gloria in Excelsis Deo, or Sanctus, or Agnus Dei―things that already accustom and familiarize the baby to what it will later hear during Mass―which will then make the baby more comfortable and accepting of those new surroundings. Why sing silly secular songs to the baby when there is a whole gamut of beautiful, soothing, spiritual melodies that we can draw from. If you do not possess a sweet, soothing singing voice―or cannot keep to the melody without going “flat” or “sharp” and are likely to “butcher” the beauty of the hymn, then play a CD, DVD or tape of some hymns or even Gregorian Chant in the background, or while putting the baby to sleep, or even whilst it sleeps.
If we are talking about audio electronics―then let us take the short step over to visual electronics, where there is a large religious source to be found in DVDs and VIDEO TAPES. Why sit a baby in front of a screen showing Disney characters when more would be done for the baby’s soul by exposing it to religious characters? Though, by comparison to the secular material out there, religious material is miniscule―nevertheless there is enough of it to use OCCASIONALLY to channel religious content into the baby’s soul by one of its five senses―namely, vision. The baby cannot understand Disney yet, but Disney it is forced to watch―so why not give it some healthier “food” instead of “junk food” that will be or no help to its growth in a knowledge, love and service of God?
You could write a whole book on this topic of babies and religion, but that is not the purpose of this article. Hopefully this mere “tip of an iceberg” triggers you creativity and imagination―for those who still have babies or grandparents who still have to deal with babies―to dig deeper and come up with your own modifications and derivations to the little that has already been said. However, link the above to some kind of living reality, let us take a page out of Fr. François Trochu’s biography of St. John Vianney and you will see some of the above “theory” put into “practice” in very earliest days of St. John Vianney’s life.
The Baby and Infant John Vianney
“Soon [the baby] John began to notice things. His mother took pleasure in pointing out to him the crucifix and the pious pictures … When the little arms became strong enough to move with some ease, she guided the tiny hand from the forehead to the breast, and from the breast to the shoulders [thus making the Sign of the Cross]. The child soon grew into the habit of doing this, so that one day―he was then about fifteen months old―his mother, having forgotten to help him to make the Sign of the Cross before giving him his food, the little one refused to open his mouth, at the same time vigorously shaking his head. Marie Vianney guessed what he meant, and, as soon as she had helped the tiny hand, the pursed-up lips opened spontaneously.
“His was one of those dispositions that are easily directed towards God. From the age of eighteen months, when the family met for night prayers, he would, of his own accord, kneel down with them―maybe merely from natural imitativeness―and he knew quite well how to join his little hands in prayer. Prayers ended, his pious mother put him to bed, and, before a final embrace, she bent over him, talking to him of Jesus, of Mary, of his Guardian Angel. In this way did the fond mother lull the child to sleep … John hardly ever left his mother’s side, busy as she was; on her part, she began the task of her little son’s education whilst doing her housework, teaching him in a manner that could be readily grasped by his childish mind. In this way she taught him the “Our Father” and the “Hail Mary” together with some elementary notions of God and of the soul … The little one, who was very wide awake for his age, would himself ask naive questions. What interested him most was the sweet mystery of Our Lord’s birth at Bethlehem and the story of the manger and the shepherds. These familiar talks were sometimes prolonged far into the night. For the sake of hearing the story of the Bible, John was willing to sit up late with his mother and Catherine―the most devout of his sisters.
“The boy had a Rosary which he greatly prized. Gothon, his sister, who was eighteen months younger, took a fancy to her brother’s beads, and, of course, wished to get possession of them. It came to a scene between brother and sister; there was screaming, stamping of feet, and even a preliminary skirmish, when suddenly, full of grief, the poor child ran to his mother. Gently, but firmly, she bade him give the beads to Gothon “Yes, my darling, give them to her for love of the good God.” John, though bathed in tears, immediately surrendered his precious Rosary. For a child of four this was surely no mean sacrifice! Instead of petting and fondling the child with a view to drying his tears, his mother gave him a small wooden statue of Our Lady.
“The rude [meaning “very basic”] image had long stood on the mantelpiece of the kitchen chimney, and the little one had often wished to possess it. At last it was his, really his! What joy! “Oh how I loved that statue!” he confessed seventy years later; “neither by day nor by night would I be parted from it. I should not have slept had I not had it beside me in my little bed . . . the Blessed Virgin was the object of my earliest affections; I loved her even before I knew her.”
“Some of his contemporaries, his sister Marguerite in particular, have related how, at the first sound of the Angelus, he was on his knees before anybody else. At other times he might be found in a corner of the house kneeling before the image of our Lady, which he had placed on a chair. Children do not fall victims to the foolish disease called human respect. Wherever he happened to be, whether at home, in the garden, in the street, John, following the example of his mother, was in the habit of “blessing the hour”―that is, so soon as he heard the clock strike the each hour of the day―he would cross himself and recite a “Hail Mary,” ending with another sign of the cross.
“Some women of the neighborhood, hearing the [four-year-old] child praying aloud, said to his parents: “He knows his litanies well. You will have to make him either a priest or a Brother.”
“Marie Vianney may not have had any inkling of the wonderful future of her favorite child; none the less, the beauty of his soul was precious in her eyes, and she spared no pains to keep from him the very shadow of sin: “See, my little John,” she used to say, “if your brothers and sisters were to offend the good God, it would indeed cause me much pain, but I should be far sorrier were you to offend Him.”
“Her little John was no ordinary child. Even before the powers of his mind had reached their full development, the privileged child of grace had made the first step out of the common way, for this seems to be the true explanation of the following occurrence.
“One evening―he was then about four years old―John left the house unnoticed. As soon as his mother became aware of his absence, she called to him by his name―but no answer came. With ever-increasing anxiety she looked for him in the yard, behind the straw rick and the piles of timber. The little one was not to be found. Yet he never failed to answer the very first call. As she proceeded in the direction of the stable, where he might be hiding, the distracted mother suddenly remembered with horror that deep pond full of murky water, from which the cattle were wont to drink! But what was her surprise when she beheld the spectacle that now presented itself to her eyes? There, in a corner of the stable, among the cattle peacefully chewing the cud, was her boy on his knees, praying with folded hands before his little statue of Our Lady. In an instant she had caught him in her arms, and, pressing him to her heart: “Oh my darling, you were here!” she cried, in a flood of tears. “Why hide yourself when you want to pray? You know we all say our prayers together!” The child, unable to think of anything but his mother’s grief, exclaimed: “Forgive me, mamma, I did not think! I will not do it again!”
“Mrs. Vianney was a woman of “eminent piety.” If at all possible, she would go to daily Mass. Catherine, her eldest daughter, accompanied her as a rule, but soon her favorite companion came to be the little four-year-old, whose precocious piety caused him to relish the things of God. Whenever the bells of the church nearby, announced that Mass was about to be said, John entreated his mother to let him go with her. The request was granted. She placed him before her in the family pew, and explained to him what the priest was doing at the altar. The child soon developed a love for the sacred ceremonies. However, his attention was divided: the embroidered vestment of the celebrant entranced him, whilst he was wholly overcome with admiration for the red cassock and white surplice of the altar boy. He, too, would have liked to serve at the altar, but how could his frail arms lift that heavy Missal? From time to time he turned to his mother; it was an inspiration merely to see her so absorbed in prayer, and as it were transfigured by an interior fire.
“In subsequent years, when people congratulated him on his early love for prayer and the Church, he used to say with many tears: “After God, I owe it to my mother; she was so good! Virtue passes readily from the heart of a mother into that of her children. A child that has the happiness of having a good mother, should never look at her or think of her without tears!” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
Warnings From Scripture and Our Lady
The above theory and practice show and prove the point that used to be made by the Jesuits―when they were still in a healthy spiritual state, now no longer―that if they could educate a child before and up to the ages of 7 or 8 years-old, then they could almost guarantee the future salvation of that child. Holy Scripture s peaks of the same principle, saying: “It is a proverb: ‘A young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it!’” (Proverbs 22:6). “As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be!” (Deuternonomy 33:25). Too many parents spiritually waste the time of their babies and infants―time lost may never be regained and may even end up with not only being “time lost” but also a soul lost! “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord” (Isaias 54:13). “These words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart: And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). “From thy infancy thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which can instruct thee to salvation!” (2 Timothy 3:15).
As Our Lady instructed the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Parents are naturally bound to instruct their children, from their infancy, in this knowledge of God and to direct them with solicitous care, so that they may at once see their ultimate end, and seek it … They should with great watchfulness withdraw them from the childishness and puerile trickishness―to which depraved nature will incline them if left without direction. If the fathers and mothers would be solicitous to prevent these vanities and perverted habits of their children, and would instruct them, from their infancy, in the knowledge of their God and Creator, then they would afterwards easily accustom them to know and adore Him … The proper education and instruction of children will do much toward making them more free and habituated to the practice of virtue, since thus they will be accustomed to follow the sure and safe guiding star of reason from its first dawn …
“I wish to warn thee of the cunning of Satan for the destruction of these works of the Lord. From the very moment in which mortals begin to have the use of their reason, each one of them is followed by many watchful and relentless demons. For as soon as the souls are in a position to raise their thoughts to the knowledge of their God and commence the practice of the virtues infused by Baptism, these demons, with incredible fury and astuteness, seek to root out the divine seed; and if they cannot succeed in this, they try to hinder its growth, and prevent it from bringing forth fruit by engaging men in vicious, useless, or trifling things. Thus they divert their thoughts from the Faith and from the pursuit of virtues, leading them to forget that they are Christians and diverting their attention from the knowledge of God. Moreover the same enemy instills into the parents a base neglectfulness and carnal love for their offspring; and he incites the teachers to carelessness, so that the children find no support against evil in their education, but become depraved and spoiled by many bad habits, losing sight of virtue and of their good inclinations and going the way of perdition. That those who walk in the way of salvation are the smaller number, is due to the vice and depraved habits imbibed in youth and nourished in childhood. For that saying of Deuteronomy is very true: “As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be” (Deuteronomy 33:25).
“Hence the demons gain courage and increase their tyrannical influence over souls in the early years of man’s life, hoping that they will be able to induce men to commit so much the greater and the more frequent sins in later years, the more they have succeeded in drawing them into small and insignificant faults in their childhood. By these they draw them on to a state of blind presumption; for with each sin the soul loses more and more the power of resistance, subjects itself to the demon, and falls under the sway of its tyrannical enemies. The miserable yoke of wickedness is more and more firmly fastened upon it; the same is trodden underfoot by its own iniquity and urged onward under the sway of the devil from one precipice to another, from abyss to abyss (Psalm 41:8): a chastisement merited by all those, that allow themselves to be overcome by evildoing in the beginning. By these means Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls and continues so to hurl them every day” (Taken from The Mystical City of God).
Therefore, if you have babies or infants in your care, take heed and put into practice the points made above. It is never too early a time to sow seeds of devotion to Our Lady in the soul of a child. Woe to those who neglect to do so―for, in place of the potential tree of devotion, they will instead soon find the weeds and thorns of the world, which will soon begin to gradually but relentlessly choke all spirituality from the soul and replace it with worldliness.
This Week's Special Offers From The Devotion Supermarket
► The Childhood Department
If you have done the shopping in the “Baby Department” early and in good time, and put your purchases to good use by planting the seeds of devotion in the soul of during the baby and infancy stage, then the childhood period should go more smoothly―for you will have limited the weeds of worldliness and will have already instilled a respectful and reverential attitude to the things of God from the very earliest years. If not, then you have work to do―weeding to do―planting to do. If the child has grown thus far on “junk food” then you can imagine how difficult it is wean such a child from “junk food” and have it accept “healthy food”!
Up to this point―during babyhood and infancy―the child’s exposure and growth in devotion to Our Lady has been “passive” (meaning that more has to be done for the child because the child can do very little for its own devotional growth). You could, broadly-speaking, call it “spoon-fed devotion”, where everything is presented to the child and the child simply slurps it in and swallows it. The older the child becomes, the more it becomes “active” while still remaining to a large degree “passive” too. In fact, the “active” (I do it) and “passive” (someone does it to me) stages are ever-present, even in adulthood―but in babyhood the “active” is almost at zero level, while the “passive” is almost 100%. As the baby passes through infancy and into childhood, the “active” part of its life increases―not only year by year, but week by week. Once the child is able to do certain things by itself and for itself; once the child’s reasoning and comprehension starts to develop, then the ways and methods of inspiring and cultivating a devotion to Our Lord and Our Lady allow for a much broader and much more mature approach. It is similar to the nutrition given to the child. As a baby, solids were extremely limited and most foods were in the form of liquids or reduced from solids to liquids. Once the child develops teeth and is able to chew, then solids are introduced on a regular basis. Similarly, when the child’s mind or intellect develops “intellectual teeth” that enable it to “intellectually chew things over”, then a whole new broad spectrum of materials come into play for furthering and deepening the child’s religious devotion.
However, since the mind is still immature and in its formative stages, the intellectual material has to be prudently simplified or “watered” down―much as in France, for example, children of a certain age would be allowed to drink a LITTLE wine at certain meals together with their parents, but the wine would be watered-down, that is to say, mixed with a large amount of water. As one long-time deceased bishop used to say, “It is much harder to teach the Faith to little children than older children or adults―because you have to have a mind that can simplify what is often complicated and present it in a way that us understandable without having sacrificed, discarded or modified that which is essential.”
Don’t Waste Time―Wait and It’s Too Late!
Generally speaking, once a child begins to understand and reason, then it of the utmost importance to seek and try ensure that this early development of the child is good and holy, that is godly and God-centered rather than worldly and fun-centered. As you probably know by experience―with your own children or by observing the children of others―this is far easier said than it is done! In fact, the rate of failure in this matter far surpasses the few meager successes that can be found scattered around only here or there. This brings to mind St. Louis de Montfort’s lament in his Letter to the Friends of the Cross, where he writes:
“A Friend of the Cross is one chosen by God from among ten thousand who have reason and sense for their only guide. He is truly divine, raised above reason and thoroughly opposed to the things of sense, for he lives in the light of true faith and burns with love for the Cross … Do you really know the voice of God and grace from the voice of the world and human nature? Do you distinctly hear the voice of God, our kind Father, pronouncing His threefold curse upon everyone who follows the world in its concupiscence: “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the Earth” (Apocalypse 8:13) … Dear Brethren, these are the two groups that appear before you each day, the followers of Christ and the followers of the world. On the right is our loving Savior’s group is barefooted, thorn-crowned, robed in His blood and weighted with a heavy cross. There is ONLY A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE WHO FOLLOW HIM, but they are the bravest of the brave. To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, WHICH IS FAR SUPERIOR IN NUMBER, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver … To the right, THE LITTLE FLOCK that follows Jesus can speak only of tears, penance, prayer and contempt for worldly things ... Worldlings, on the contrary, rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. ‘Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!’ they shout, “Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us, God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves; we shall not be damned for that; away with scruples; we shall not die!’ And so they continue” (St. Louis de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross).
So What’s on Offer? ― What Can You Use and Do?
At this point―as with adulthood―as they say, “The sky’s the limit!” … “You are spoilt for choice!” Yet there is still enormous failure despite the resources and choices. As the proverbial saying goes: “You can lead a horse to water―but you cannot make it drink!” There are mountains of materials available to help kindle the bonfire of devotion―especially in this day and age, with the universal availability of many inexpensive books, internet resources that cost nothing but the time to research them, and the wide variety of self-education channels that are available besides books and internet, such as DVDs, CDs, video tapes, audio tapes, interactive media, etc.
So Many Resources―But So Much Failure!
Yet those devotional bonfires are not burning―especially among children―for statistics show that MOST CATHOLIC CHILDREN end up leaving the Faith entirely, or at least cease practicing it regularly, by the time they leave high school, college or university―OVER 90%. Something has gone wrong somewhere―and it is in childhood that the seeds of that apostasy or falling-away have been sown. Such things do not happen overnight―the child has been gradually “falling-out-of-love” with the Faith for a long, long time beforehand. The problem is essentially and basically this―a lack of TRUE and DEEP knowledge of Faith, a lack of TRUE devotion and TRUE spirituality on the part of parents (and teachers and priests) has, like a virus, spread to and contaminated the children―“Behold, everyone that useth a common proverb, shall use this against thee, saying: ‘As the mother was, so also is her daughter!’” (Ezechiel 16:44).
Furthermore, what God said in the Old Testament, is today 10 times more applicable than it was back then: “The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together … They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways!” (Psalm 13:1-3). Most are infected by the world because they have become disaffected with religion―the world has become their religion. Both children and parents gorge themselves on the world for hours every day―God receives mere scraps of time by comparison. A half-hearted, half-knowledgeable and dispirited Christianity―much like a half-hearted and dispirited team―can never and will never be victorious. That is why, speaking of the so-called “End Times”―which Our Lady told Lucia of Fatima, are our times―Our Lord laments: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Moreover, will He find Faith in the children of today?
Our Lady of Good Success already warned us: ““From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement.”
Are We Fighting a Losing Battle?
With most souls ending up in Hell; with most children leaving the Faith or ceasing to regularly practice the Faith; with attendance at Holy Mass on Sundays continually dropping universally―one has to ask the question: “Are we fighting a losing battle?” Yet that is perhaps the wrong way to phrase the question! We should be asking: “Why are we losing this battle?” More precisely, “Why are we losing a battle that we should be winning!” For as Holy Scripture says: “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31) … “The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you, as He did in Egypt in the sight of all!” (Deuteronomy 1:30). “The Lord your God Himself will fight for you, as He hath promised!” (Josue 23:10). “Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you!” (Deuteronomy 3:22). “Our God will fight for us!” (2 Esdras 4:20). “Because the Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger” (Deuteronomy 20:4). “Be of good courage and let us fight for the city of our God: and the Lord will do what is good in his sight!” (2 Kings 10:12).
So why are we losing the battle? Why are we losing our children in the battle? Why are our children losing their Faith? Or are in the process of losing their Faith? The answer is quite simply the same answer that St. Augustine (feast day August 28th) gave to the question: “Why are our prayers not answered by God?” He gives three chief reasons: (1) because we pray for what is bad, (2) we pray badly, and (3) we are bad. In our case, we are losing the battle for similar reasons: (1) because we are fighting over the wrong things, (2) we are fighting in the wrong or bad way, using the wrong weapons, and (3) we are bad and therefore unworthy of God fighting for us.
Sole Solution to the Soul-ution
Yes―we have countless books on the Faith in general and devotion to Our Lady in particular. Yes―we have religion and catechism taught in Catholics schools and on Sundays in Catholic parishes. Yes―there are even religious movies and documentaries available for viewing. Yes―countless sermons have been heard on Sundays. Yes―families have some form of religious customs and spiritual exercises that they adhere to in their homes. Yet, as Fr. Frederick Faber writes in his Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary. Ponder these words carefully and resolve to do something about them―too much is at stake by neglecting to do so!
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one. Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no Faith in itself. Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized. Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines. Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother. I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion De Montfort. Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul [and the souls of his children], will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ. Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! [and how different would our children be!]. Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we [and our children] be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!” (Fr. Frederick Faber writes in his Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary).
Spiritual Thermodynamics & Spiritual Entropy
You have to be totally convinced of that―otherwise your life will not show it, and your children will not know it, and your children will not accept it or practice it. That is the reason why today’s children are so irreligious and so worldly―it is primarily because of their parents, who have no devotion, or have a fake or faulty devotion in the first place; and secondarily because of their teachers, who likewise have no devotion, or have a fake or faulty devotion; and thirdly, because of the priests and religious in their lives who have no devotion, or have a fake or faulty devotion. As the axiom goes: “You cannot give what you do not have!” Likewise, in the science of physics, there is an axiom called “The Second Law of Thermodynamics”, sometimes known as “The Law of Entropy” or, more simplistically, “The Law of Decay.”
The word “thermodynamics” comes from two root words: “thermo”― meaning heat, and “dynamic”― meaning power. Thus, the Laws of Thermodynamics are the Laws of “Heat Power.” Why are we talking about this obscure thing in the first place? Well, “Heat Power” brings to mind the idea of “Devotion Power” or “The Power of Devotion”―which, actually, comes down to the “The Power of Love” or “The Power of Charity”―and do we not relate the ideas of “love” and “charity” with the idea of “heat”? Yes, we do! We speak of “a burning love” and “a fiery love” ― we even pray to the Holy Ghost: “Enkindle in our hearts the fire of Thy love!”
“The Second Law of Thermodynamics” refers to the tendency for everything in nature to move towards and reach its most disorderly state. In other words, it is all about “things winding down”, or “things decaying or deteriorating”, or “things becoming increasingly disordered and less ordered.” The implications of “The Second Law of Thermodynamics” are considerable. Like a wind-up clock, the universe is winding down, as if at one point it was fully wound up and has been winding down ever since. The question is who wound up the clock? God, of course. God put total order in the universe―and man, through sin, has put disorder (that is to say, chaos) into the universe. Each sin that is committed, increases the disorder and chaos in the universe and decreases the order within the universe. Through the domino effect of disordered sin, or sinful chaos, the universe has been winding down. Even man, because of sin, was doomed to “wind-down” to eventual death.
This is where the other word used above―“entropy”― comes into play. “Entropy” is defined as unusable energy within a closed or isolated system―such as the universe for example. Put more simply, “entropy” measures disorder or chaos or decay within things or systems. As usable energy decreases and unusable energy increases, “entropy” is said to increase. To better understand that, think in terms of water temperature―as water grows more cold, it automatically becomes less hot. Or think of it in health terms―as someone becomes more sick, they become less healthy. Spiritually, when someone becomes more sinful, they become less virtuous; as they become more ignorant, they become less knowledgeable; as they become more lukewarm, then become less fervent. In simple terms, the less entropy (disorder or chaos or decay) that is present in any system, means that there is more order present within the system. On the other hand, the more entropy (disorder or chaos or decay) there is, the less order there is to be found. Entropy is a measure of disorder, chaos, decay or deterioration within any closed system.
The universe is constantly losing usable energy and never gaining. In simple terms, you see this in our human bodies deteriorating or winding-down and becoming weaker and more sick with increasing age. Cars do not get better with age, but gradually “wind-down” by having all kinds of mechanical failures and break down with time―unless there is some outside human intervention in the form of car maintenance and repair. Likewise, building do not improve with age, but “wind-down”―unless there is some outside human intervention in the form of building maintenance and repair. The same applies to the whole universe. We logically conclude the universe is not eternal. The universe had a finite beginning ― the moment at which it was at “zero entropy” (meaning that it was in most ordered possible state, with no disorder or chaos present).
Everything is winding down―and we even see that with our Faith, which will wind down to the point that Our Lord spoke of, when He said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Everything will consequently and inescapably wind down―unless there is an external intervention from somewhere―which is the intervention of God, His Providence and His Grace. This will help you to better understand the famous quote―which actually implicitly embodies “The Second Law of Thermodynamics”―found in the Soul of the Apostolate, by the Trappist monk, Jean-Baptiste Chautard: “A holy priest makes a fervent people; a fervent priest a pious people; a pious priest a fairly good people; a fairly good priest, a godless people.” Which you could expand to read as follows: “A saintly priest will produce a holy parish. Whereas a holy priest will only produce a fervent parish. A fervent priest will merely produce a good parish; while a good priest will produce a lukewarm parish. However, a lukewarm priest will produce a parish of devils.” The same applies in relation to parents (priest) and their children (parish), as well as teachers and their students.
Devotional Entropy
Applying all of the above to the question and matter at hand―namely, planting, enkindling, growing and perfecting devotion to Our Lady in children―it should have struck you by now that unless there is some outside intervention upon the children, then what little (if any) devotion they have will inevitably “wind-down”, deteriorate and decay. Who hasn’t seen countless such cases where a child, who perhaps had a sincere devotion to prayer at the age of 4 or 5, grew up to almost lose that prayerfulness by the end of their teen years? Sadly, the cases are countless! What went wrong? In most cases the “outside intervention” was either totally lacking, or infrequently shown, or was of very poor quality.
Most priests, parents and teachers have accustomed themselves to “run of the fumes” of devotion, as their “gas-tank” of devotion is almost always invariably “empty”. They rarely stop by the various “gas-stations” of devotion―and whenever they do, they put in too little “gas of devotion.” Thus they never ever go very far along the spiritual road to Heaven, preferring the short distances of worldly travel. Thus they have little “gas of devotion” to spare to give to their parishioners, children or students.
Furthermore, the quality of “gas” that they have is of the “cheap” kind―which does much harm to their “spiritual engine”, the soul, clogging it up and causing continual misfiring and loss of pulling-power. They barely crawl along when they should be speeding along! Such a “vehicle” inspires little confidence in their children, who prefer the more attractive worldly models they see zooming around everywhere.
Here is Your List―A Case of Love or Lose
As already stated earlier―the list of possibilities wherewith children can be helped to grow in a devotion to Our Lady is truly limitless―for, as they say: “There are nine ways to skin a cat!” but there are nine-million ways in which to sow and grow a devotion to Our Lady. It is not so much what you choose to do, or how many things you choose to try―what really matters and what truly strikes a chord in the mind and heart of the child is seeing a sincere love in you, who are the “Sower of the Seed.” If there is no real spark of love or devotion in you towards Our Lady―then don’t even dream of your child getting one! It is not what you do, but the love and devotion that you do it with that really counts. It is for this reason that the Legion of Mary Handbook states:
“The materialistic systems profess the love and service of man. They have preached a hollow gospel of fraternity. Millions have believed that gospel. In its name, they deserted a religion which they thought to be inert, and they submitted enthusiastically to despotisms. They were convinced that their new leaders loved them best; so they followed them, and now they are trying ardently to induce all mankind to join them. They seem to be in the ascendant. And yet the position is not a hopeless one. There is a way of bringing back to Faith those determined millions, and of saving countless other millions. That hope lies in the application of a great principle which rules the world, and which the Saint of Ars, John Vianney, has stated thus: “The world belongs to him who loves it most, and who proves that love!” Those millions will never listen to the enunciation of the truths of Faith. But they cannot help seeing, and being moved by a real Faith which operates through a real heroic love for all men. Convince them that the Church loves them most, and they will turn their back on those who rule them now. They will return to Faith in spite of everything. They will even lay down their lives for that Faith. No common love can conquer men thus! Neither will it be accomplished by a mediocre Catholicism, which can hardly preserve itself. It can be done by a Catholicism which loves Christ its Lord with all its heart, and then sees Him and loves Him in all men of whatsoever description. But this supreme charity of Christ must be practiced on such a scale that they, who look on, are driven to admit that it is indeed a characteristic of the Church, and not merely the acts of some sublime members of the Church. Therefore, it must be exhibited in the lives of the general body of the laity” (Legion of Mary Handbook, §159).
For Younger Children
► READING―Reading the lives of child saints―especially those in whose lives Mary played a major role. Hence you have wonderful examples given to children by the three seers of Fatima: Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta. Their lives should not only by “dryly” read, but their lives should also be part of a regular discussion and debate in family or at school. There are MANY books available that deal with Fatima and the three children―and their age range (10 years old, 9 years old and 7 years old) is ideal for children below the age of adolescence. Other such saints include St. Bernadette of Lourdes; Melanie and Maximin at La Salette.
Sadly, there are VERY FEW books out there that simplify St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary in a style and simplicity that easily “digested” by children. There is a book entitled Leading Little Ones to Mary, which decent though it is, still does little by way of faithfully and simply reflecting the key concepts of St. Louis. Perhaps with time such a book will appear. However, the simplification of St. Louis de Montfort’s short booklet, The Secret of Mary, should not be too difficult for most parents and teachers. Another good book, that is very understandable for the child’s mind, is St. Louis de Montfort’s The Secret of the Rosary. There are of course many more books out there. Whichever you choose, you should aim at short daily readings, and also have a variety of books to read from―so that it is not the same book every single day until it is completed. In fact, if you keep the reading short―a few paragraphs or one long paragraph―then there is nothing to stop you from reading from different books, several times a day, for two or three minutes at a time. Especially important is reading to children LAST THING AT NIGHT before they go bed or to sleep. This helps to partially clear all other useless and vain thoughts from the mind and leaves (hopefully) a spiritual or religious thought in their mind before they fall asleep.
However, regardless of what you read and how often you read―if you yourself have little or no real devotion to Our Lady, then that will very quickly be picked up by the child, who will sooner or later see the hypocrisy in it, of which we are all guilty of in more than one way―in effect saying: “Do not do as I do, but do as I say!”―this could well repel the child from embracing a true devotion to Our Lady and being content with a false or faulty one instead.
► PRAYING―Even though spiritual reading is already a prayer―for, as St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God” in any way whatsoever―vocal prayers are of great importance, for they are, in a sense, a direct communication or conversation with God, Our Lord, Our Lady, the angels and the saints. Moreover, Our Lady came at Fatima to insist upon the vocal prayer of the Holy Rosary, saying that, not only should it be prayed every day, but adding―both at Fatima and Akita―that we should pray the Rosary a lot: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!” Furthermore, Our Lady does not just address herself to adults (Akita), but also to young children (Fatima)―thus the daily Rosary is a daily requirement for children too. Additionally, 9-year-old Francisco was told that one daily Rosary was insufficient for him and that he would have to pray many Rosaries―which he humbly did.
Nevertheless, it has to be admitted that the Rosary, not only can be, but will be boring to every child―unless you do something to “pep” it up, to “spice” it up, to “flavor” it―just as you do with the food that you eat. You do buy a piece of meat and just slam it on the plate of your child without first seasoning and cooking it! Well, if Jesus says: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4)―then your Rosary is the “bread of the word of God” and you must prepare it before you eat it and feed it to others. In fact, what better incentive is there to begin meditating the Rosary yourself―for your food becomes the food your children―much like a mother eats and drinks herself, and then breast-feeds her babies.
A word of caution, though, has to be given. With young children, avoid falling into the two extremes of meditation―(1) avoid making the meditation TOO SHORT, which would be like a few drops or rain in a drought, and (2) avoid making the meditation TOO LONG and perhaps even avoid meditating every single mystery, which would then make the whole 5-decade Rosary too long for a young child. Either divide your 5-decade Rosary into 5 periods of the day (which can be difficult on school days, but ideal if you home-school), or pick one “juicy” mystery that is easy to meditate and give it “center-stage” and all the “spotlights” during the 5-decade family Rosary. For children, the use of pictures or imagery or even a short clip from a religious movie (with caution for it could distract instead of inspire) is highly recommended―for this is akin to spicing, seasoning and flavoring your food, except here you flavor and season the 15-course meal of the Holy Rosary.
Another way is too pick one mystery as the focal point of the whole day―asking everyone to think about it during the day, while at work or at school, and then, before the family Rosary in the evening, sit down and have “meditative discussion” about who has uncovered what points or treasures during the day. These are just “sparking suggestions” that could and should “spark” a whole bunch of “offshoot ideas” on how to best make the Rosary come alive and be made interesting, informative and life-changing for you and your child or student.
As for other prayers―as St. Augustine says, practice the liberty of the children of God. Approach prayer as you would food―eat healthily, meaning say prayers that will feed the needs of your life and avoid prayers that mean nothing to you and do not dovetail with your circumstances, hopes, needs, problems or tribulations. Also, as with food, eating a little but often throughout the day, is better than eating everything in one single meal. Thirdly, give the children something of what they like―but also give them some “greens” and things they might not like, but which will do them a lot of good. Do not feed them sugar all the time, but sparingly―for as they say, “Bitter is better” and we get to Heaven through the Cross and not through Comfort.
► THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS AND THE HOLY EUCHARIST―Finally, a word on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as part of devotion to Our Lady. The Blessed Virgin Mary was stood at the foot of the Cross as her Son dies upon it. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a perpetual re-presentation or re-enactment of the bloody Sacrifice of Calvary in a mystical and unbloody manner upon our altars. It is the greatest treasure that we have in the spiritual treasure chest of prayers―after which come The Divine Office (the Breviary) which is the Public Prayer of Christ and His Church, and then comes the Holy Rosary. If your children or students have little or no love for the Mass, then whose fault is that? It is to a large degree your fault as a parent or as a teacher. If you are meant to educate Christ’s little ones― “Jesus said to them: ‘Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to Me―for the Kingdom of Heaven is for such!’” (Matthew 19:14)―then you can bet your life on the fact that Christ wants them to know and love His greatest gift to them: the sacrifice of Himself on the Cross upon Calvary, and upon the altars of the Catholic Church. Your job is to see to it that those “little children” truly know and love that Holy Sacrifice. However, yet again, you cannot give what you have not got! You cannot “wax lyrical” with praise for the Mass if you yourself barely love it and rarely attend it. Furthermore, you have to be ready to “comply” with your child’s wishes (if they ever occur) to go and attend an extra Mass outside of the customary Sunday Mass―that will put you and your values under scrutiny! What excuse will you have in saying: “No, we can’t! Because we have to … [go somewhere else, do something else]” What is more important than the Mass? You risk having your false sense of values exposed by your child!
The “offshoot” or “product” or “consequence” of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the Holy Eucharist―which comes into being during the consecration of the Mass. The Holy Eucharist remains after Mass is over by what we call the “Real Presence” of Jesus with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Just like the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Holy Eucharist in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar is the greatest thing we have this side of Heaven. We all know that in theory―or we should know that. Yet what happens in practice? Does our practice live up to the theory? If it is the greatest thing we have this side of Heaven, why is it the greatest negligence this side of Heaven? Why are the churches empty? They are empty because our minds and hearts are empty! We never read about the Mass or the Blessed Sacrament―either privately or as a family. We never talk about the Mass or Blessed Sacrament in family―but we talk about everything else that is of lesser importance. We know little or nothing about the history of the Mass or the prayers of the Mass or the Blessed Sacrament―that is why we talk so little of the Mass or the Blessed Sacrament. If you do not have a great, fervent love for the Holy Mass and the Blessed Sacrament―do you think God will wave a magic wand and magically give such a love to your children or students? As the Church teaches― “God does not do the extraordinary when the ordinary suffices”―and, ordinarily, your efforts and teaching should suffice―but they will not suffice if they are insufficient! As one venerable bishop used to say: “The whole Faith can be taught from the vantage point of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, or even from the vantage point of Our Lady”―but who is there that does that?
► SPIRITUAL CONVERSATIONS―Such spiritual conversations are an informal and sometimes extremely powerful way of both ‘praying’ (raising the mind and heart to God) and allow for more flexibility and ingenuity in penetrating, detoxifying and influencing the child’s naturally worldly mind. Parents and teachers grossly neglect such opportunities for furthering the growth of Faith and devotion. For Holy Scripture commands: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). God and links to God can be found in every single thing that exists in this world―but you have to have a mind that can ssee those links―and that only comes with the practice of constantly looking for those links―but THEY ARE THERE! “But all men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God: and who by these good things that are seen, could not understand Him that is, neither by attending to the works have acknowledged Who was the workman” (Wisdom 13:1). However, once again, you cannot just “turn-it-on-at-the-flick-of-a-switch”―such spiritual conversations can only sound sincere if they are coming from a mind that is striving to live in the presence of God continually―which, sad to say, is rare today, as most people live continually in the presence of their smartphone, tablet, laptop or TV screen. “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak” (1 John 4:5).
► SPIRITUAL LISTENING―Just as one measly multi-vitamin pill, taken once a week, is unlikely to overcome a disease―likewise, one “multi-vitamin sermon” on Sunday is not going to detoxify anyone from sinfulness and worldliness. The Sunday sermon is an “off-the-peg” piece of “spiritual clothing” that vainly hopes to be a perfect “fit” for everyone in sitting and yawning in the pews. It is not going to happen! Yes―some things are “universal” in that they apply to everybody―but everybody is also different with different weaknesses and failings. “Tailor-made” is always better than “off-the-peg”―and it is parents and teachers who see the child at close quarters―they have, so to speak, a better “measurement” of the child or student.
This leads to two points―the first one is that the parent or teacher should be spending time in researching spiritual materials that are a “perfect-fit” for each child―and then, once having made a “suit of clothes” from all these pieces, they should―week-in-and-week-out―deliver what they discover to the child by personally talking to, encouraging, warning, reprimanding or praising, and guiding that child. Not to do so is to ill-equip a child or student for what will then be an extremely difficult and dangerous, if not impossible journey to Heaven. Yes―if you have brought a child into this world, then you have brought a child into this world to know, love and serve God and to finally attain God in Heaven. Who is going to do that if not you? You do this on a material and physical level―feeding, clothing, sheltering, teaching and protecting your child! Why is it not done with even greater zeal and effect on the spiritual level―which is the more important level? The same applies to teachers! Why are you a Catholic teacher? For the money? For the praise? For the fun of fit? A teacher is a “stand-in” for THE TEACHER―Jesus Christ. Why is Jesus Christ (and Our Lady and everything else that pertains to the Faith) so low and so neglected on the list of things that you have to do? It is an enormous privilege to be called into the ranks of Catholic Teachers―who could be said to be, in a loose sense, “The (Lay) Apostles of Our Lord.” And what did Our Lord command His Apostles to do? “Going therefore, teach ye all nations … Teaching them to observe ALL THINGS whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).
“All things” is not “some things” or “the things that interest you” or “the things that you prefer” or “the things you think they will like”, etc. What part of ALL is it that you do not understand? That is why Our Lady of Fatima gave both “sugar and spice”―she told the children they would go to Heaven, yet she showed them a vision of Hell―of which Sr. Lucia of Fatima said that they would have died on the spot seeing it, had not the grace of God kept them alive! Just think about that for a minute! She showed a life-threatening vision of Hell to a 10-year-old, a 9-year-old and a 7-year-old! If she did that in America today, parents would sue Our Lady for emotional cruelty to their children! Who is there that speaks about Hell today? It is almost a taboo subject, a “hate-crime”, an act of “terrorism”. Yet Hell is part and parcel of the “ALL THINGS” that Our Lord commanded MUST be taught, not just all children, but to all nations.
All the other things that are usually mentioned as a part of devotion to Our Lady―this or that prayer; this or that novena; this or that Rosary (regular Rosary or Seven Sorrows Rosary); this or that image and statue; this or that medal; this or that book; this or that pilgrimage; this or that spiritual exercise, procession, etc. ― and the particular list would number thousands ― all depends ultimately on having the “spark” of devotion in our souls. It is like a bonfire―you can bring all the wood that you can find, you can make it the largest bonfire the world has ever seen, you can stack the wood a mile-high―but if you cannot create a spark to light it, then it is useless. The spark must come from somewhere. The odds are that the fire of your devotion is deficient, insufficient to light a bonfire of devotion in others. So before you try heal others―heal yourself: “Physician, heal thyself!” (Luke 4:23). “My son, in thy sickness neglect not thyself, but pray to the Lord, and he shall heal thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 38:9).
Providential Feasts and Examples
Providentially, at this moment in time, August 27th, we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph Calasanctius―whose life dovetails with the subject we are addressing, namely, the instruction and education of children. While he was still a child he used to call his companions together and teach them the mysteries of the Faith and prayers. He became a priest because of a vow he had taken, and he consequently led a life of great austerity, chastising his body with vigils and fasting, and spending day and night in prayer and the contemplation of heavenly things―which is exactly what has been recommended above to one degree or another. When he had received from God the commission to devote himself to the education and formation of boys―especially poor boys―in the knowledge and love of God, he founded the Order of the Poor Regular Clerks of the Pious Schools of the Mother of God, who took, as their special work, the task of teaching boys. Because of this work, he underwent innumerable labors and hardships with an invincible spirit. The Collect or Prayer for the August 27th feast of St. Joseph Calasanctius, is especially appropriate for this topic: “O God, Who wast pleased to provide a new help for thy Church by raising up Thy holy Confessor Joseph to train up the young in the spirit of understanding and godliness, we beseech thee for his sake, and by his prayers, to grant us the grace always so to work and so to teach, that we may finally attain unto Thy everlasting joy.”
You may think all this is impossible! You may think it is too late to change your children or repair the damage caused by your negligence and ignorance. Well think again! Think of St. Augustine (feast day August 28th) who was wayward form his childhood, yet who not only converted, not only became a priest, not only became a bishop, not only became a saint, but also entered the saintly ranks of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church! What is impossible with men is possible with God. Our Lady said to Archangel Gabriel: “‘How shall this be done, because I know not man?’ And the angel answering, said to her: ‘No word shall be impossible with God!’” (Luke 1:34-37). “And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:26). “And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive!” (Matthew 21:22).
Sunday August 25th
Article 14
How To Build a Soul-Saving Devotion!
Article 14
How To Build a Soul-Saving Devotion!
Without This―You’re Going Nowhere But Hell!
What is Hell? The theologians of the Church define Hell as the absence of God―while Heaven is the presence of God. What is God? Holy Scripture tells us that “God is Charity” (1 John 4:8). Therefore, the absence of God is the absence of Charity or Love―and what is the absence of Love or Charity? What is the opposite of Love? It is hatred. Hence the absence of God in Hell automatically entails the presence of hatred.
You could also argue that “Hell on Earth” is the absence of God in the soul. God lives in the soul by Sanctifying Grace (the soil for all virtue) and Charity is the God living and growing in the soul through Sanctifying Grace. When Mortal Sin drives God out of the soul―we have “Hell on Earth”, even though we might not feel the pain due to intoxication of the Mortal Sin or many Mortal Sins committed.
Devotion―whether to God, Our Lord, Our Lady or the angels and saints―requires the state of Sanctifying Grace and the presence of the supernatural virtue of Charity for devotion to exist and deserve the name of “devotion.”
Sanctifying Grace and Charity
Does the loss of Sanctifying Grace bring with it the loss of the supernatural and theological virtue of Charity? Because Charity is infused into the soul at Baptism, along with Sanctifying Grace, it is often identified with the state of grace (being in possession of Sanctifying Grace). The theological virtue of Charity is inseparably connected with Sanctifying Grace. Theological Love or Charity is substantially identical with Sanctifying Grace, or at least inseparable from it, and hence both are gained and lost together, they stand and fall together. This is an article of Faith. To lose Sanctifying Grace, therefore, is to lose theological Love or Charity. Though they are not identical, nevertheless, it is clear that both Charity and Sanctifying Grace must stand or fall together, hence the expressions “to fall from grace” and “to lose charity” are equivalent.
A person who has lost the supernatural virtue of Charity has lost the state of grace―even though he may still possess the virtues of Hope and Faith. It is also an article of faith (Council of Trent, Sess. VI, can. xxviii, cap. xv) that theological Faith may survive the commission of mortal sin, and can be extinguished only by its diametrical opposite, namely, infidelity. It may be regarded as a matter of Church teaching that the theological virtue of Hope also survives Mortal Sin, unless this Hope should be utterly killed by its extreme opposite, namely the sin of despair, though probably it is not destroyed by it second opposite, the sin of presumption.
Mortal Sin is essentially a hatred of God and God Commandments― “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10).
Thus, since hatred is the opposite of love or charity, Mortal Sin drives out Charity from the soul, together with its roots or soil―which is Sanctifying Grace. Thus, a person in a state of Mortal Sin still has knowledge of God; the person can still speak about God; do good things and even be helpful and naturally charitable to other people―but all this is SUPERNATURALLY useless, and will receive no heavenly reward, and, if the person dies in that state of Mortal Sin―which is an abiding enmity with God, an implicit or even explicit hatred of God―then there is no entry into Heaven (the home of love), but a banishment to Hell (the home of hatred).
Grace is increased as charity increases, and vice versa. Every increase or decrease of Sanctifying Grace must also entail a corresponding increase or decrease of the supernatural and theological virtue of Charity. Furthermore, the degree of heavenly glory enjoyed by a soul after this life, will be in proportion with the measure of Charity which the soul possessed at death. For grace and glory bear a proportional relation to each other―like a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, grace is turned into glory in Heaven.
Measured and Judged on Our Charity
Since “God is Charity” (1 John 4:8), Charity must be the greatest virtue and the Love of God must be the first and foremost focus of Charity. This is confirmed by Our Lord: “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment!’” (Matthew 22:37-38). Holy Scripture confirms this elsewhere: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing! … And, now, there remain Faith, Hope, and Charity, these three―but the greatest of these is Charity” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 13).
Thus we see that regardless of what magnificent things we may know, say, do or achieve―all of them are rendered useless, profitless, empty and shallow if they are not animated and driven by Charity―a love of God. Charity is not a human virtue, nor a natural virtue, it is not human love, but it is the supernatural virtue, infused into the soul at Baptism, by which we first and foremost love God above all things for His own sake, and then secondarily, love our neighbor as ourselves as part of our love of God and because of God, because our neighbor’s soul was made by God and made in the image and likeness of God. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbor as thyself ... This do, and thou shalt live!” (Luke 10:27-28).
Devotion Needs Grace and Charity to Live
A person who is in a state of mortal sin, may well seem to be pious, devout, charitable, knowledgeable, zealous, etc. ― but in God’s eyes all those things are supernaturally DEAD, even though they seem alive to everyone who witnesses them. From a distance, a corpse and a sleeping person seem to be alike―but the likeness is only on the exterior, for interiorly, the soul, which is the principle and cause of life for the body, has left the corpse, but is still present in the sleeping person.
Thus it is with devotion. Exteriorly, a person may seem to be , devout, charitable, knowledgeable, zealous, etc., but this devotion, though seemingly alive naturally, is dead supernaturally and will not be counted as devotion by God. The problem today―and perhaps throughout all past ages―is that we focus more (or only) on the externals and disregard the interior. To attempt to try a build a devotion to Our Lady on externals alone, is to fail before you start. St. Louis de Montfort tells us that what gives “life” to devotion is the INTERIOR and not the EXTERIOR. Not that externals are to be ignored and neglected. For we ourselves are a mixture of BODY (externals) and SOUL (interior), but a body without a soul is merely a corpse. St. Louis de Montfort says much the same for the Holy Rosary: “The Rosary―said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation―would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation.”
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart (or Our Lady) Must Come From the Heart
The previous two articles have discussed the THEORY and the PRACTICE of DEVOTION TO OUR LADY. The Apostle of Devotion to Our Lady―St. Louis de Montfort―tells us that the key or the essential aspect of devotion to Our Lady is its interior aspect: “Now, as the kingdom of Jesus Christ consists principally in the heart or the interior of man—according to the words, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21)—in like manner the kingdom of our Blessed Lady is principally in the interior of man; that is to say, his soul. And it is principally in souls that she is more glorified with her Son than in all visible creatures, and so we can call her, as the saints do, the Queen of All Hearts … God wishes that His holy Mother should be at present more known, more loved, more honored than she has ever been. This, no doubt, will take place if the predestinate enter (by the grace and light of the Holy Ghost), into the interior and perfect practice which I will disclose to them … External devotees are persons who make all devotion to our Blessed Lady consist in outward practices. They have no taste except for the exterior side of this devotion, because they have no interior spirit of their own. They will say quantities of Rosaries with the greatest haste; they will hear many Masses distractedly; they will go, without devotion, to processions; they will enroll themselves in all her confraternities—without amending their lives, without doing any violence to their passions, or without imitating the virtues of that most holy Virgin. They have no love but for the sensible [exterior or external] part of devotion, without having any relish for its [interior] solidity ...
“We must, in a few words, give the characteristics of true devotion. It must be: (1) interior, (2) tender, meaning confident, (3) holy, (4) constant, and (5) disinterested.
(1) INTERIOR―True devotion to Our Lady is interior; that is, it comes from the mind and the heart. It flows from the esteem we have for her, the high idea we have formed of her greatness, and the love which we have for her.
(2) CONFIDENT―It is full of confidence in her, like a child’s confidence in his loving mother. This confidence makes the soul have recourse to her in all its bodily and mental necessities, with much simplicity, trust and tenderness. It implores the aid of its good Mother at all times, in all places and above all things: in its doubts, that it may be enlightened; in its wanderings, that it may be brought into the right path; in its temptations, that it may be supported; in its weaknesses, that it may be strengthened; in its falls, that it may be lifted up; in its discouragements, that it may be cheered; in its scruples, that they may be taken away; in the crosses, toils and disappointments of life, that it may be consoled under them. In a word, in all the evils of body and mind, the soul ordinarily has recourse to Mary, without fear of annoying her or displeasing Jesus Christ.
(3) HOLY―True devotion to Our Lady is holy; that is to say, it leads the soul to avoid sin and to imitate the virtues of the Blessed Virgin, particularly her profound humility, her lively Faith, her blind obedience, her continual prayer, her universal mortification, her divine purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelic sweetness and her divine wisdom. These are the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin.
(4) CONSTANT―True devotion to Our Lady is constant. It confirms the soul in good, and does not let it easily abandon its spiritual exercises. It makes it courageous in opposing the world in its fashions and maxims, the flesh in its weariness and passions, and the devil in his temptations; so that a person truly devout to our Blessed Lady is neither changeable, irritable, scrupulous nor timid. It is not that such a person does not fall, or change sometimes in the sensible feeling of devotion. But when he falls, he rises again by stretching out his hand to his good Mother. When he loses the taste and relish of devotion, he does not become disturbed because of that; for the just and faithful client of Mary lives by the Faith (Hebrews 10:38) of Jesus and Mary, and not by natural sentiment.
(5) DISINTERESTED―Lastly, true devotion to Our Lady is disinterested; that is to say, it inspires the soul not to seek itself, but only God, and God in His holy Mother. A true client of Mary does not serve that august Queen from a spirit of lucre and interest, nor for his own good, whether temporal or eternal, corporal or spiritual, but exclusively because she deserves to be served, and God alone in her. He does not love Mary just because she obtains favors for him, or because he hopes she will, but solely because she is so worthy of love. It is on this account that he loves and serves her as faithfully in his disgusts and dryness as in his sweetness and sensible fervor. He loves her as much on Calvary as at the marriage of Cana. Oh, how agreeable and precious in the eyes of God and of His holy Mother is such a client of our Blessed Lady, who has no self-seeking in his service of her! But in these days how rare is such a sight!” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §105 to §110).
Creating a Body and Soul―Or Putting Life into a Corpse
God created both the body and soul of Adam and Eve and launched them into the world. Our Lord also raised dead bodies to life by restoring to those bodies the live-giving soul that had departed. Similarly with ourselves―perhaps we never had a devotion to Our Lady to being with and so we are in need of both the body and soul of such a devotion. Or perhaps we once had a devotion to Our Lady, but which has since ‘died’ over the years and is now soulless, standing in need of a resurrection. God wants life, not death: “For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:32). “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die?” (Ezechiel 33:11). Our Lord says: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10)―but there are not many takers of the offer, which is why Our Lord adds: “And you will not come to Me that you may have life!” (John 5:40).
Your dying or dead devotion can and must be resurrected or rejuvenated. You need a living devotion like you need the air you breathe―it needs to be there constantly, every minute, every second of the day. Only such a devotion is truly worthy of the name “devotion”―all other forms of ‘devotion’ are merely corpses or inferior stages leading to a full-bloodied, mature, true devotion―much like babies, infants, children and teenagers are not adults, but are gradually growing and developing into eventual adults.
Known by the Exterior
God knows us perfectly and entirely as we really are and not what we SEEM to be like: “For the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the thoughts of minds” (1 Paralipomenon 28:9). Other people judge us by appearances―is why we are often so superficial and focus more on appearances and worry about how others will see us, and how we appear to others: “For man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). Our Lord says: “Judge not according to the appearance!” (John 7:24). Nevertheless, Jesus adds: “So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:16). Holy Scripture, though, adds a warning: “Do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ!” (Galatians 1:10). We need external works, but they must be done from the right interior motives―the glory of God and not a glorification of one’s own reputation and standing. “The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then will he render to every man according to his works!” (Matthew 16:27). “I am the Lord who search the heart and tests the minds―Who give to everyone according to his way, and according to the fruit of his works” (Jeremias 17:10). It is our words and actions, our body size, body shape and body features, our tone and pitch of voice, our clothing and accessories, our works and achievements, etc. that make us known and recognizable to others. People see all our exterior manifestations and try to work out, guess, know and understand our interior thoughts and attitudes from them. Furthermore, a dead man cannot speak, walk, build, make or achieve anything―a dead man is a mere corpse without a soul. It is the soul that gives life, energy, direction and purpose.
Similarly, we can have a multitude of exterior pieces or parts of what we call “devotion”―say Rosaries, attend Masses, have lots of Scapulars and other sacramentals, read many spiritual books, have many statues and pictures of Our Lord, Our Lady and the angels and saints, have many religious books on our shelves, distribute many religious flyers, pamphlets, books and handouts―all of these are EXTERNAL manifestations of a possible presence of devotion in our lives. However, TRUE DEVOTION is the soul behind all these things and this TRUE DEVOTION, as St. Louis de Montfort says above, is an INTERIOR thing that uses all these other EXTERNAL objects and things to practice its devotion. Thus you can have a TRUE DEVOTION without necessarily having all those externals or practicing all those externals, but you CANNOT HAVE A TRUE DEVOTION WITH THE EXTERNALS ALONE, without the INTERIOR devotion in the soul animating them and using them.
It is similar to what St. Thomas Aquinas says about CONTEMPLATION (which is interior) and ACTION (which is exterior). St. Thomas says that of the two, contemplation is superior and action is inferior―much like the soul is superior and the body is inferior. Yet, what can make contemplation even more perfect is the putting into practice by actions the things that you have contemplated. Hence, Holy Scripture, in the same vein, adds: “Receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves! … Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’― show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God! Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead!” (James 1:21-22; 2:17-26).
Thus―even though theoretically we can have an INTERIOR DEVOTION to Our Lady without external words, works and actions―the interior devotion is perfected by the practice of many kinds of external manifestations of our interior devotion. As Jesus says, God expects to see fruit―and lots of it! “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away―and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit!” (John 15:1-3).
Stoking-Up the Fires of Devotion
Yet those external practices―without any interior devotion―would be like a body without a soul, in other words, a corpse. Therefore, at all times, the interior devotion must be given primary attention, it must be always ‘stoked-up’ and receive a continual stream of new ‘coals’ upon its fire, to prevent that interior fire of devotion going-out and being extinguished. Jesus speaks of this fire when He says: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth! And what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49)―which is why we pray to the Holy Ghost: “Come O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in us the fire of Thy love!” It the fire of that love produces devotion and drives devotion along energetically and constantly―for devotion is a HIGH degree of love, it is an INTENSE love. In The Imitation of Christ we find a chapter entitled “The Wonderful Effect of Divine Love” (Book 3, Chapter 5)―which is, in effect, a perfect description and definition of devotion. As you read this passage, in your mind simply substitute the word DEVOTION for the word LOVE:
“Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it bears a burden without being weighted and renders sweet all that is bitter. Love of Jesus {Mary] spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect. Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. Love wishes to be free and estranged from all worldly affections, lest its inward sight be obstructed, lest it be entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity. Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger or higher or wider; nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller, and nothing better in Heaven or on earth, for love is born of God and cannot rest except in God, Who is above all created things. One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free, not bound. He gives all for all and possesses all in all, because he rests in the one sovereign Good, Who is above all things, and from Whom every good flows and proceeds. He does not look to the gift but turns himself above all gifts to the Giver. Love often knows no limits but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much where he who does not love fails and falls. Love is watchful. Sleeping, it does not slumber. Wearied, it is not tired. Pressed, it is not straitened. Alarmed, it is not confused, but like a living flame, a burning torch, it forces its way upward and passes unharmed through every obstacle. Love is swift, sincere, kind, pleasant, and delightful. Love is strong, patient and faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and manly. Love is never self-seeking, for in whatever a person seeks himself there he falls from love. If a man loves, he will know the sound of this voice.”
After that beautiful spiritual passage, it would almost seem to be banal and crude to post the definition of “devotion” as listed in various dictionaries―but to show you how well the above passage brings to life the dry definition, here, once again, is the compilation of various definitions from several dictionaries. The dictionaries define “devotion” as “strong love, deep loyalty, or great enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause; religious fervor; the fact or state of being ardently dedicated and loyal; profound dedication; consecration; earnest attachment to a cause, person, or thing; the strong love that you show when you pay a lot of attention to someone or something; the loyalty that you show towards a person, job etc, especially by working hard for the person, or cause, or thing; ardent, often selfless affection and dedication, as to a person or principle.”
Thus a TRUE DEVOTION will not be able to keep its devotion “under-wraps” and “locked-up” in the confines of the soul. It will wish to burst forth and manifest that true devotion in a variety of ways―not for the motive of self-glorification, nor the motive of being noticed (though unavoidably it will be noticed)―but simply out of natural and supernatural exuberance of love and devotion. Let us now look at the many external/exterior ways that we can manifest our devotion to Our Lady―always remembering that IT IS NOT WHAT OR HOW MUCH WE DO THAT MATTERS, BUT THE DEGREE AND INTENSITY AND PURITY OF LOVE THAT WE DO IT WITH―which is why it is said that one single sigh of Mary’s is worth more than all the combined prayers and sacrifices of the angels and saints.
What is Hell? The theologians of the Church define Hell as the absence of God―while Heaven is the presence of God. What is God? Holy Scripture tells us that “God is Charity” (1 John 4:8). Therefore, the absence of God is the absence of Charity or Love―and what is the absence of Love or Charity? What is the opposite of Love? It is hatred. Hence the absence of God in Hell automatically entails the presence of hatred.
You could also argue that “Hell on Earth” is the absence of God in the soul. God lives in the soul by Sanctifying Grace (the soil for all virtue) and Charity is the God living and growing in the soul through Sanctifying Grace. When Mortal Sin drives God out of the soul―we have “Hell on Earth”, even though we might not feel the pain due to intoxication of the Mortal Sin or many Mortal Sins committed.
Devotion―whether to God, Our Lord, Our Lady or the angels and saints―requires the state of Sanctifying Grace and the presence of the supernatural virtue of Charity for devotion to exist and deserve the name of “devotion.”
Sanctifying Grace and Charity
Does the loss of Sanctifying Grace bring with it the loss of the supernatural and theological virtue of Charity? Because Charity is infused into the soul at Baptism, along with Sanctifying Grace, it is often identified with the state of grace (being in possession of Sanctifying Grace). The theological virtue of Charity is inseparably connected with Sanctifying Grace. Theological Love or Charity is substantially identical with Sanctifying Grace, or at least inseparable from it, and hence both are gained and lost together, they stand and fall together. This is an article of Faith. To lose Sanctifying Grace, therefore, is to lose theological Love or Charity. Though they are not identical, nevertheless, it is clear that both Charity and Sanctifying Grace must stand or fall together, hence the expressions “to fall from grace” and “to lose charity” are equivalent.
A person who has lost the supernatural virtue of Charity has lost the state of grace―even though he may still possess the virtues of Hope and Faith. It is also an article of faith (Council of Trent, Sess. VI, can. xxviii, cap. xv) that theological Faith may survive the commission of mortal sin, and can be extinguished only by its diametrical opposite, namely, infidelity. It may be regarded as a matter of Church teaching that the theological virtue of Hope also survives Mortal Sin, unless this Hope should be utterly killed by its extreme opposite, namely the sin of despair, though probably it is not destroyed by it second opposite, the sin of presumption.
Mortal Sin is essentially a hatred of God and God Commandments― “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10).
Thus, since hatred is the opposite of love or charity, Mortal Sin drives out Charity from the soul, together with its roots or soil―which is Sanctifying Grace. Thus, a person in a state of Mortal Sin still has knowledge of God; the person can still speak about God; do good things and even be helpful and naturally charitable to other people―but all this is SUPERNATURALLY useless, and will receive no heavenly reward, and, if the person dies in that state of Mortal Sin―which is an abiding enmity with God, an implicit or even explicit hatred of God―then there is no entry into Heaven (the home of love), but a banishment to Hell (the home of hatred).
Grace is increased as charity increases, and vice versa. Every increase or decrease of Sanctifying Grace must also entail a corresponding increase or decrease of the supernatural and theological virtue of Charity. Furthermore, the degree of heavenly glory enjoyed by a soul after this life, will be in proportion with the measure of Charity which the soul possessed at death. For grace and glory bear a proportional relation to each other―like a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, grace is turned into glory in Heaven.
Measured and Judged on Our Charity
Since “God is Charity” (1 John 4:8), Charity must be the greatest virtue and the Love of God must be the first and foremost focus of Charity. This is confirmed by Our Lord: “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment!’” (Matthew 22:37-38). Holy Scripture confirms this elsewhere: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing! … And, now, there remain Faith, Hope, and Charity, these three―but the greatest of these is Charity” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 13).
Thus we see that regardless of what magnificent things we may know, say, do or achieve―all of them are rendered useless, profitless, empty and shallow if they are not animated and driven by Charity―a love of God. Charity is not a human virtue, nor a natural virtue, it is not human love, but it is the supernatural virtue, infused into the soul at Baptism, by which we first and foremost love God above all things for His own sake, and then secondarily, love our neighbor as ourselves as part of our love of God and because of God, because our neighbor’s soul was made by God and made in the image and likeness of God. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbor as thyself ... This do, and thou shalt live!” (Luke 10:27-28).
Devotion Needs Grace and Charity to Live
A person who is in a state of mortal sin, may well seem to be pious, devout, charitable, knowledgeable, zealous, etc. ― but in God’s eyes all those things are supernaturally DEAD, even though they seem alive to everyone who witnesses them. From a distance, a corpse and a sleeping person seem to be alike―but the likeness is only on the exterior, for interiorly, the soul, which is the principle and cause of life for the body, has left the corpse, but is still present in the sleeping person.
Thus it is with devotion. Exteriorly, a person may seem to be , devout, charitable, knowledgeable, zealous, etc., but this devotion, though seemingly alive naturally, is dead supernaturally and will not be counted as devotion by God. The problem today―and perhaps throughout all past ages―is that we focus more (or only) on the externals and disregard the interior. To attempt to try a build a devotion to Our Lady on externals alone, is to fail before you start. St. Louis de Montfort tells us that what gives “life” to devotion is the INTERIOR and not the EXTERIOR. Not that externals are to be ignored and neglected. For we ourselves are a mixture of BODY (externals) and SOUL (interior), but a body without a soul is merely a corpse. St. Louis de Montfort says much the same for the Holy Rosary: “The Rosary―said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation―would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation.”
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart (or Our Lady) Must Come From the Heart
The previous two articles have discussed the THEORY and the PRACTICE of DEVOTION TO OUR LADY. The Apostle of Devotion to Our Lady―St. Louis de Montfort―tells us that the key or the essential aspect of devotion to Our Lady is its interior aspect: “Now, as the kingdom of Jesus Christ consists principally in the heart or the interior of man—according to the words, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21)—in like manner the kingdom of our Blessed Lady is principally in the interior of man; that is to say, his soul. And it is principally in souls that she is more glorified with her Son than in all visible creatures, and so we can call her, as the saints do, the Queen of All Hearts … God wishes that His holy Mother should be at present more known, more loved, more honored than she has ever been. This, no doubt, will take place if the predestinate enter (by the grace and light of the Holy Ghost), into the interior and perfect practice which I will disclose to them … External devotees are persons who make all devotion to our Blessed Lady consist in outward practices. They have no taste except for the exterior side of this devotion, because they have no interior spirit of their own. They will say quantities of Rosaries with the greatest haste; they will hear many Masses distractedly; they will go, without devotion, to processions; they will enroll themselves in all her confraternities—without amending their lives, without doing any violence to their passions, or without imitating the virtues of that most holy Virgin. They have no love but for the sensible [exterior or external] part of devotion, without having any relish for its [interior] solidity ...
“We must, in a few words, give the characteristics of true devotion. It must be: (1) interior, (2) tender, meaning confident, (3) holy, (4) constant, and (5) disinterested.
(1) INTERIOR―True devotion to Our Lady is interior; that is, it comes from the mind and the heart. It flows from the esteem we have for her, the high idea we have formed of her greatness, and the love which we have for her.
(2) CONFIDENT―It is full of confidence in her, like a child’s confidence in his loving mother. This confidence makes the soul have recourse to her in all its bodily and mental necessities, with much simplicity, trust and tenderness. It implores the aid of its good Mother at all times, in all places and above all things: in its doubts, that it may be enlightened; in its wanderings, that it may be brought into the right path; in its temptations, that it may be supported; in its weaknesses, that it may be strengthened; in its falls, that it may be lifted up; in its discouragements, that it may be cheered; in its scruples, that they may be taken away; in the crosses, toils and disappointments of life, that it may be consoled under them. In a word, in all the evils of body and mind, the soul ordinarily has recourse to Mary, without fear of annoying her or displeasing Jesus Christ.
(3) HOLY―True devotion to Our Lady is holy; that is to say, it leads the soul to avoid sin and to imitate the virtues of the Blessed Virgin, particularly her profound humility, her lively Faith, her blind obedience, her continual prayer, her universal mortification, her divine purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelic sweetness and her divine wisdom. These are the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin.
(4) CONSTANT―True devotion to Our Lady is constant. It confirms the soul in good, and does not let it easily abandon its spiritual exercises. It makes it courageous in opposing the world in its fashions and maxims, the flesh in its weariness and passions, and the devil in his temptations; so that a person truly devout to our Blessed Lady is neither changeable, irritable, scrupulous nor timid. It is not that such a person does not fall, or change sometimes in the sensible feeling of devotion. But when he falls, he rises again by stretching out his hand to his good Mother. When he loses the taste and relish of devotion, he does not become disturbed because of that; for the just and faithful client of Mary lives by the Faith (Hebrews 10:38) of Jesus and Mary, and not by natural sentiment.
(5) DISINTERESTED―Lastly, true devotion to Our Lady is disinterested; that is to say, it inspires the soul not to seek itself, but only God, and God in His holy Mother. A true client of Mary does not serve that august Queen from a spirit of lucre and interest, nor for his own good, whether temporal or eternal, corporal or spiritual, but exclusively because she deserves to be served, and God alone in her. He does not love Mary just because she obtains favors for him, or because he hopes she will, but solely because she is so worthy of love. It is on this account that he loves and serves her as faithfully in his disgusts and dryness as in his sweetness and sensible fervor. He loves her as much on Calvary as at the marriage of Cana. Oh, how agreeable and precious in the eyes of God and of His holy Mother is such a client of our Blessed Lady, who has no self-seeking in his service of her! But in these days how rare is such a sight!” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §105 to §110).
Creating a Body and Soul―Or Putting Life into a Corpse
God created both the body and soul of Adam and Eve and launched them into the world. Our Lord also raised dead bodies to life by restoring to those bodies the live-giving soul that had departed. Similarly with ourselves―perhaps we never had a devotion to Our Lady to being with and so we are in need of both the body and soul of such a devotion. Or perhaps we once had a devotion to Our Lady, but which has since ‘died’ over the years and is now soulless, standing in need of a resurrection. God wants life, not death: “For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:32). “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die?” (Ezechiel 33:11). Our Lord says: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!” (John 10:10)―but there are not many takers of the offer, which is why Our Lord adds: “And you will not come to Me that you may have life!” (John 5:40).
Your dying or dead devotion can and must be resurrected or rejuvenated. You need a living devotion like you need the air you breathe―it needs to be there constantly, every minute, every second of the day. Only such a devotion is truly worthy of the name “devotion”―all other forms of ‘devotion’ are merely corpses or inferior stages leading to a full-bloodied, mature, true devotion―much like babies, infants, children and teenagers are not adults, but are gradually growing and developing into eventual adults.
Known by the Exterior
God knows us perfectly and entirely as we really are and not what we SEEM to be like: “For the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the thoughts of minds” (1 Paralipomenon 28:9). Other people judge us by appearances―is why we are often so superficial and focus more on appearances and worry about how others will see us, and how we appear to others: “For man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). Our Lord says: “Judge not according to the appearance!” (John 7:24). Nevertheless, Jesus adds: “So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:16). Holy Scripture, though, adds a warning: “Do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ!” (Galatians 1:10). We need external works, but they must be done from the right interior motives―the glory of God and not a glorification of one’s own reputation and standing. “The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then will he render to every man according to his works!” (Matthew 16:27). “I am the Lord who search the heart and tests the minds―Who give to everyone according to his way, and according to the fruit of his works” (Jeremias 17:10). It is our words and actions, our body size, body shape and body features, our tone and pitch of voice, our clothing and accessories, our works and achievements, etc. that make us known and recognizable to others. People see all our exterior manifestations and try to work out, guess, know and understand our interior thoughts and attitudes from them. Furthermore, a dead man cannot speak, walk, build, make or achieve anything―a dead man is a mere corpse without a soul. It is the soul that gives life, energy, direction and purpose.
Similarly, we can have a multitude of exterior pieces or parts of what we call “devotion”―say Rosaries, attend Masses, have lots of Scapulars and other sacramentals, read many spiritual books, have many statues and pictures of Our Lord, Our Lady and the angels and saints, have many religious books on our shelves, distribute many religious flyers, pamphlets, books and handouts―all of these are EXTERNAL manifestations of a possible presence of devotion in our lives. However, TRUE DEVOTION is the soul behind all these things and this TRUE DEVOTION, as St. Louis de Montfort says above, is an INTERIOR thing that uses all these other EXTERNAL objects and things to practice its devotion. Thus you can have a TRUE DEVOTION without necessarily having all those externals or practicing all those externals, but you CANNOT HAVE A TRUE DEVOTION WITH THE EXTERNALS ALONE, without the INTERIOR devotion in the soul animating them and using them.
It is similar to what St. Thomas Aquinas says about CONTEMPLATION (which is interior) and ACTION (which is exterior). St. Thomas says that of the two, contemplation is superior and action is inferior―much like the soul is superior and the body is inferior. Yet, what can make contemplation even more perfect is the putting into practice by actions the things that you have contemplated. Hence, Holy Scripture, in the same vein, adds: “Receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves! … Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’― show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God! Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead!” (James 1:21-22; 2:17-26).
Thus―even though theoretically we can have an INTERIOR DEVOTION to Our Lady without external words, works and actions―the interior devotion is perfected by the practice of many kinds of external manifestations of our interior devotion. As Jesus says, God expects to see fruit―and lots of it! “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away―and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit!” (John 15:1-3).
Stoking-Up the Fires of Devotion
Yet those external practices―without any interior devotion―would be like a body without a soul, in other words, a corpse. Therefore, at all times, the interior devotion must be given primary attention, it must be always ‘stoked-up’ and receive a continual stream of new ‘coals’ upon its fire, to prevent that interior fire of devotion going-out and being extinguished. Jesus speaks of this fire when He says: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth! And what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49)―which is why we pray to the Holy Ghost: “Come O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in us the fire of Thy love!” It the fire of that love produces devotion and drives devotion along energetically and constantly―for devotion is a HIGH degree of love, it is an INTENSE love. In The Imitation of Christ we find a chapter entitled “The Wonderful Effect of Divine Love” (Book 3, Chapter 5)―which is, in effect, a perfect description and definition of devotion. As you read this passage, in your mind simply substitute the word DEVOTION for the word LOVE:
“Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it bears a burden without being weighted and renders sweet all that is bitter. Love of Jesus {Mary] spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect. Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. Love wishes to be free and estranged from all worldly affections, lest its inward sight be obstructed, lest it be entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity. Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger or higher or wider; nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller, and nothing better in Heaven or on earth, for love is born of God and cannot rest except in God, Who is above all created things. One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free, not bound. He gives all for all and possesses all in all, because he rests in the one sovereign Good, Who is above all things, and from Whom every good flows and proceeds. He does not look to the gift but turns himself above all gifts to the Giver. Love often knows no limits but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much where he who does not love fails and falls. Love is watchful. Sleeping, it does not slumber. Wearied, it is not tired. Pressed, it is not straitened. Alarmed, it is not confused, but like a living flame, a burning torch, it forces its way upward and passes unharmed through every obstacle. Love is swift, sincere, kind, pleasant, and delightful. Love is strong, patient and faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and manly. Love is never self-seeking, for in whatever a person seeks himself there he falls from love. If a man loves, he will know the sound of this voice.”
After that beautiful spiritual passage, it would almost seem to be banal and crude to post the definition of “devotion” as listed in various dictionaries―but to show you how well the above passage brings to life the dry definition, here, once again, is the compilation of various definitions from several dictionaries. The dictionaries define “devotion” as “strong love, deep loyalty, or great enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause; religious fervor; the fact or state of being ardently dedicated and loyal; profound dedication; consecration; earnest attachment to a cause, person, or thing; the strong love that you show when you pay a lot of attention to someone or something; the loyalty that you show towards a person, job etc, especially by working hard for the person, or cause, or thing; ardent, often selfless affection and dedication, as to a person or principle.”
Thus a TRUE DEVOTION will not be able to keep its devotion “under-wraps” and “locked-up” in the confines of the soul. It will wish to burst forth and manifest that true devotion in a variety of ways―not for the motive of self-glorification, nor the motive of being noticed (though unavoidably it will be noticed)―but simply out of natural and supernatural exuberance of love and devotion. Let us now look at the many external/exterior ways that we can manifest our devotion to Our Lady―always remembering that IT IS NOT WHAT OR HOW MUCH WE DO THAT MATTERS, BUT THE DEGREE AND INTENSITY AND PURITY OF LOVE THAT WE DO IT WITH―which is why it is said that one single sigh of Mary’s is worth more than all the combined prayers and sacrifices of the angels and saints.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Friday August 23rd & Saturday August 24th
Article 13
Put Your Heart Into It!
Part 2 : The Practical Side to Devotion to Our Lady and Its Growth
Article 13
Put Your Heart Into It!
Part 2 : The Practical Side to Devotion to Our Lady and Its Growth
After Talking the Talk, You Must Walk the Walk!
Talk is easy. Talk is cheap! It’s the walk that ultimately matters. Not that there should be no talk―before action or practice, there must always be theory. We think before we speak. We plan before we act. Yet it is pointless knowing how to save your soul and get to Heaven if you do not put into practice what you know. Heaven’s “entrance exam” is not so much on theory, but on practice. If you knew how to get to Heaven, but failed to put that knowledge to good use by putting it into practice, then, as Our Lord says, “that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47).
As Holy Scripture says: “Receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls! But be ye DOERS OF THE WORD, and NOT HEARERS ONLY, deceiving your own selves! For if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a mirror. For he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was!” (James 1:21-24).
Concerning Our Lady’s Fatima message―about praying the Rosary and establishing a devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary throughout the whole world―we have mainly be HEARERS of the word, and NOT DOERS of the word. We have all heard of what she said―but we have done little or nothing about it. Sr. Lucia of Fatima said: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). This chastisement would not happen if we were all DOERS of the word and not HEARERS ONLY.
Don’t Bury Your Talent―Use It
As in the Parable of the Talents, we have all been given a certain amount of graces (talents, if you like) with which to work and produce a profit (the salvation of our souls and the souls of others)―some are given more graces (talents) because God expects more from them (a higher degree of sanctity), others are given less. Yet everyone has been given a sufficient amount for their salvation. If we―like the man who received one talent―bury in the earth (by worldliness, earthly concerns) our ‘talent’, then the same fate awaits us as is seen in this Parable:
“For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
IAre we that unprofitable servant? t was at our Baptism that God placed in our souls the talents necessary for our salvation. Most have not used them as God wanted―that is why is most are damned. Devotion to Our Lady is a talent God is giving to everyone, as revealed by Our Lady of Fatima― Jesus wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!”
Use It―Or Lose It!
Devotion to Our Lady is a most precious ‘talent’―but we must, as they say, USE IT OR LOSE IT―meaning , use devotion to Our Lady to save your soul, or risk losing your soul. As Our Lady of Fatima said: “Jesus wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it!” It takes an extremely brave person―or an absolute stupid idiot―to ignore, disregard and refuse to put into practice what Our Lady requests or commands. As St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church and teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.” Another Doctor of the Church, St. Bonaventure, adds: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins. St. Ignatius of Antioch, a Father of the Church and a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
This is echoed by Our Lady’s words to St. Bridget of Sweden: “Do not forget me! For I am forgotten and ignored by many! I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed (by which is meant the damned in Hell), is so entirely cast off by God that he may not return and enjoy His mercy if he invokes my aid. Therefore he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
St. Alphonsus then writes: “St. Bernard says: ‘O Lady, thou dost abhor no sinner, however abandoned and vile he may be, when he has recourse to thee; if he asks thy help, thou wilt extend thy kind hand to draw him from the depths of despair.’ [St. Alphonsus then adds] O ever blessed and thanked be our God, O most amiable Mary, who made thee so merciful and kind towards the most miserable sinners. Oh, wretched are those who do not love thee, and who, having it in their power to seek help of thee, do not trust in thee! He who does not implore the aid of Mary is lost―but who has ever been lost that had recourse to her?” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Glories of Mary).
Down to the “Nitty-Gritty”
Let us now get down to the “nitty-gritty” or the “nuts-and-bolts” of what a devotion to Our Lady must look like and what has to be done. This, of course, cannot be dealt with extensively and fully in a single article―it would require several books to be written, each book dealing with one of the several degrees of devotion that St. Louis de Montfort speaks about: “As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §119). To cover all the “steps” or degrees of devotion to Mary is such a great and complicated task, that it brings to mind the closing words of the Gospel of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist in speaking about Our Lord’s life: “There are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25). Perhaps, at some future date, God-willing, a series of pages on this website could be consecrated to dealing with and guiding souls through the various degrees of increasing intensity in a devotion to Our Lady. Nevertheless―in the meantime―let us at least give a summary, or a kind of table of contents, or “big-picture” view of what those stages look like, without actually descending into the details that are so essential for practicing a “True” Devotion to Mary.
Before Beginning―Look at the End!
St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that the end comes before the beginning! Huh? Yes, by that St. Thomas means that before you start anything, you need to know where you are going, your need to know the target, the destination, the goal, the end has to be in sight. Before you start building a house, you must have the end in sight―which means the end product must have already been designed and already put into place by means of architectural drawings or “blueprints”. Before you start coaching a sports team, you need to have the end in your mind on the style of play and the tactics that will be used―then you work on reaching that goal or end by various coaching methods. An artist will first make sketches of his proposed painting or sculpture before starting work on it. The requirements for becoming a doctor in the U.S. may vary by specialty―but, in general, doctors need to complete a 4-year undergraduate degree program, spend 4 years in medical school, and then complete 3-7 years of residency training before they are eligible for medical licensing―budding doctors need to know what kind of training they are expected to undergo and pass. Holy Scripture also refers to the end coming first, when it says: “For which of you, having a mind to build a tower, doth not first sit down, and reckon the charges that are necessary, whether he have wherewithal to finish it―lest, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that see it begin to mock him, saying: ‘This man began to build, and was not able to finish!’” (Luke 14:28-30).
Take Devotion Seriously―Or End Up in Serious Trouble
THE VERY FIRST THING WE MUST CHANGE IN PRACTICE IS THE WAY WE THINK! Whether you are aware of it or not; whether you have forgotten it or not; whether you like it or not―you are SOLDIER OF CHRIST by virtue of the Sacrament of Confirmation that you have received. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and you must either fight or be killed. Most do not want to fight this spiritual warfare―hence most are killed in warfare and consequently damned. “Fight the good fight of faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
By opting to follow Our Lady, by devotion to Mary, you, the Soldier of Christ, are choosing to fight for Christ in the regiment of Our Lady. Her soldiers are elite soldiers―they are the equivalent of the United States Army Special Forces (Green Berets); or the United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land Teams (commonly known as Navy SEALs)― the U.S. Navy SEALs are an elite unit, more exclusive and harder to be admitted to than the U.S. Marines. In the UK, you have the elite British Army’s Special Air Service (SAS); the British Commandos which evolved into the SAS after the Second World War. Our Lady is the greatest and best person God ever created―so it is only fitting that her soldiers have the desire to be the greatest and best soldiers within the Catholic Church. The demands are great, but the rewards are even greater. Do not insult Our Lady by enlisting with the intention of doing little or nothing for her on the field of battle! That is the overriding and underlying thought that should govern all of us in our devotion to Our Lady. It is not a joke―it is a serious business―the business of saving our souls and saving many other souls in this field of battle.
There is No Middle Path―No Neutrality
Perhaps it is oversimplifying things, but essentially there are only two kinds of persons―WINNERS and LOSERS. The winners go to Heaven―the losers go to Hell. There is NO IN-BETWEEN, there are NO SPECTATORS―everyone finds themselves on the battlefield and we either side and fight with Christ, or we decide not to fight and side with Satan (either implicitly or explicitly). Our Lord Himself says: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-34). “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30).
The problem with most people is that they do not see themselves as being in middle of a battle; they do not see the world as their enemy; their end or goal or target is not primarily to save their souls and get to Heaven, but to have a pleasant life here on Earth. They fight more for money and possessions than they fight for salvation and souls. Is it really surprising that most souls are lost? Unless you change your attitude from the very beginning, you will inevitably be a casualty on the battlefield―either seriously wounded (Purgatory) or even killed (Hell). Most are killed. The fight for salvation is violent―“The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12)―and that is why Our Lord speaks, not of entertainment, nor comforts, nor pleasures, nor fun and games, but He speaks only of the Cross: “And Jesus said to ALL: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). How many priests REGUALRLY drill home that message to their parishioners? How many parents drill home those truths to their children on a REGULAR basis? How many teachers REGUALRLY teach those truths to the students? Is it really surprising that most souls are lost?
Our Lady’s Ways and Thoughts Are Not Our Ways and Thoughts
Our Lady, in speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, essentially reiterates the same message: “To be allowed to suffer for one’s sins, is not only a mercy, but is demanded by justice. Behold, however, the great insanity of the children of Adam nowadays, in desiring and seeking after advantages, benefits, and favors agreeable to their senses, and in sleeplessly striving to turn away from themselves all that which is painful, or includes any hardship or trouble. It would be to their greatest benefit to seek tribulations diligently, even when unmerited, yet they strive by all means to avoid them, even when merited, and even though they cannot be happy and blessed without having undergone such sufferings. If gold is untouched by the heat of the furnace, or the iron is not grated by the file, or the grain is not crushed by the grinding stone or flail, or the grapes are not crushed by the winepress, then they are all useless and will not attain the end for which they are created. Why, then, will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? If they were incapable and unworthy of attaining to the crown and reward of the infinite and eternal Good when innocent, how can they attain it, when they are in darkness or error and in disgrace through sin before the Almighty? In addition to this, the sons of perdition are exerting all their powers to remain unworthy and hostile to God and in evading crosses and afflictions―which are the paths left open for returning to God! … The signs of His friendship, are no other than the tribulations and trials of suffering …
“By such standards, my daughter, must thou measure the value of suffering, which the worldly will not understand. Since they are unworthy of heavenly knowledge, they despise it in proportion to their ignorance … My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wishest to be our disciple enter into this school, in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights. With this wisdom, the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the bleary-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur … The greatest wisdom for souls consists in the knowledge of the cross, in the love of sufferings, and in putting this knowledge into practice by bearing afflictions with patience. If the condition of mortals were not so low, they would covet sufferings!”
It is Our Lady who speaks those words! If we profess (or pretend) to be devoted to Our Lady, then we should also accept, believe, hold on to and love all that she says―don’t you think? The bottom line to all this is that our ideas of devotion to Our Lady are not her ideas of what devotion is all about―much like God says in Holy Scripture: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). “And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore: Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? … And you say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ I will judge every one of you according to his ways!” (Ezechiel 18:25, 29; 33:20).
An Overview of the Steps or Degrees of Devotion to Our Lady
St. Louis de Montfort―the Apostle of True Devotion to Our Lady―gives us that brief overview of devotion to Our Lady with its varying degrees--without, unfortunately, elaborating on them: “Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?”
We see here FOUR steps or degrees mentioned―with the initial state, where souls “stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further” not even being counted as an “official” or “bona-fide” step or degree. Shockingly and sadly, St. Louis affirms that the greater number of souls, who think they are “devoted” to Our Lady, are not really devoted at all! These, in his book True Devotion to Mary, he classifies among the “False Devotees” who practice a “False Devotion” to Our Lady (cf. True Devotion to Mary, §90 to §104). That most souls “devotees” are not really devotees at all, is not surprising, since Fr. Faber is of the opinion that most souls are lukewarm, and Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange is of the opinion that most souls are not even beginners in the spiritual life! While those who are beginners, mistakenly and proudly imagine themselves to be at a much higher level than they actually are! O how we deceive ourselves! All of this stresses the grave and indispensable need for us to change the way we are accustomed to thinking and seeing things―and to see things, not our way, but Heaven’s way. This is very clearly seen in the way that the U.S. Marine Corps treats its new recruits―they have to change the way the recruits think and see things, otherwise they will never achieve the levels required to qualify and graduate as a Marine.
Jon Davis―a Marine sergeant, Iraq veteran, and weapons instructor―explains: “The most important single thing to know about boot camp is that it is 100% designed to reprogram children and civilians into warriors … Some of the ways that this is done is through a series of extremely well-planned and timed events that, by themselves, are meaningless, but when strategically combined together will change a person … The newly arrived recruits find themselves being yelled at before they ever set foot off the bus. Within 5 minutes of arrival, 200+ individuals with no group training at all, have been trained by drill instructions on how to: listen and learn while at boot camp, respond to instruction, stand in formation, and move as a unit … This is just the first five minutes. There are three more months of this … Individuality is repressed―as they will spend the next three months dressed the same, act the same, and look the same ... Now we move on to something else very important and why I say that it is “psychological” retraining. You go through the next few days running from place to place, doing this, that, this, that and you won’t even realize ... you haven’t slept in three days. Yeah, you will go about three days without sleep upon arrival. The whole time you are completely exhausted while running on adrenaline and hearing over and over, that you are inferior. Inferior to real Marines, which you aren’t yet. You aren’t thinking about it, but it is sinking in. You are completely tired and these things build up. Without realizing it, you start to believe that that which is being told to you is true, that there is a weakness in you and that you are less than perfect. In your current state, you believe them and that you must change to be good enough. There are many habits that kids and civilians possess, that have to be unlearned … Boot camp, and particularly that of the Marines, is made to psychologically change a child into someone capable of performing under combat situations. In most cases, it is intended to take from them the aspects of their civilian lives―that only make life harder for them in the military and sometimes get them killed―to be no longer part of the calculation. The yelling, the sleep deprivation, and being cut-off from friends and family, are all part of the process of becoming a warrior. Normal people can’t do the things warriors are asked to do. They can’t imagine it and shouldn’t be forced to. But there are those that do. For these people though, there must be a transition from “civilian” to “warrior.” Boot camp is the means of that evolution, and every part of it is necessary.”
The U.S. Marines website comments: “On these proving grounds, we reveal who has the fight in them to continue when others quit. To dig even deeper when there’s nothing left to give. To prove the fighting spirit running through them will outlast the physical, mental and moral battles in front of them. For 13 weeks, these are the battles that must be won. Face your fears. Or live in fear. Marines confront theirs head on, enduring what scares them—until it doesn’t. Recruits who board our bus step into the unknown where they are given a quick introduction to fear at one of two Marine Corps Recruit Depots at Parris Island, SC, or San Diego, CA. Fear of the unfamiliar is the first of many fears they must battle. Throughout recruit training, the sense of doubt that exists inside every recruit is quickly replaced with a sense of urgency. There’s no time to hesitate, and there’s no time for second-guessing. Recruits must win in the midst of doubt, as this Nation cannot afford to place its trust in those who doubt themselves. What you’re really made of can only be revealed at the brink of exhaustion. Marine Recruit Training will take you there. Only those who possess the never-quit spirit required of every Marine will find the strength they never knew they had, the will power they never knew they needed, and the commitment to find that second wind even when it hurts to breathe to overcome the Marine boot camp requirements. Recruit training is filled with intense stress born from profound friction. Alongside this stress will be the pressure of proving to your Drill Instructors that you are fit to continue. Those who prevail over every physical and mental battle will have developed an instinctual response—to meet heightened stress with the focus to win. The road to becoming a Marine is filled with obstacles. Recruits will not only battle external forces, they will battle forces within themselves to test their mental and physical limits. Only those with the fighting spirit rise above the chaos and overcome fear, doubt, exhaustion, will earn the honor of defending this nation as a United States Marine.”
Devotion is Demanding
The requirements of Christ and Our Lady are no less stringent and demanding than the requirements for entry into the Marines or any other elite fighting unit in this world. You need to remember Our Lord’s complaint against His followers when He said: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8)―meaning that we have much to learn from the worldly folk in the way that they dedicate, commit, pursue and attain their worldly goals and ambitions―if only the “children of light” would show as much zeal for the spiritual things as the worldly show for material things. Our Lord’s words, concerning His zealous enemies, the Scribes and Pharisees― “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20)―could fittingly be changed to: “Unless you zeal and efforts exceed those of the Marines (or Navy Seals, or Green Berets, or SAS, etc.), you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” Once again―it has to be stressed that “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and you must “Fight the good fight of faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12), for “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). We cannot be minimalists in our devotion. We cannot procrastinate. We cannot calculate. We cannot negotiate. We cannot exaggerate. We cannot manipulate.
That is why the Church on Earth is called “THE CHURCH MILITANT”―militant is an adjective that is defined by dictionaries as “engaged in warfare or combat; aggressively active; combative and aggressive in support of a religious, political or social cause, and typically favoring extreme, violent, or confrontational methods.” We have ceased to think in this way―that is why, before we any further practical steps, we must change the way we think and start to think the way the God and the Church of old would have us think! That is of utmost importance―for even if we exert much effort, enterprise and zeal, it will be useless if we are going in the wrong direction, following erroneous principles. Devotion needs direction―a correct direction―otherwise it becomes a dangerous destructive and diabolically disorientated devotion.
Devotion to Our Lady is automatically and inescapably a devotion to the battle. She herself said at La Salette: “I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Thus we need to always remember that by being members of the Church Militant, we are engaged in a perpetual warfare―sometimes visible, sometimes invisible; sometimes with the devil, at other times with the world; and always with ourselves and within ourselves. “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated me before you” (John 15:18) … “It hateth Me because I give testimony of it that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:7). “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12).
The Weapons for the Fight
Since, according to St. Louis de Montfort, there are four degrees in devotion to Mary, this means that there has to be a progressive growth in devotion with passing time. These different degrees of devotion must also obviously entail a variety of weapons for the combat which change as we advance from one degree to another. This change is not only limited to the type of weapon used, but also to the level of skill and efficiency with which we use those weapons. The basic weapons were already outlined by Our Lord when He said of the devil: “This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting!” (Mark 9:28). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times” (Luke 21:36). That is basic military weaponry issued by Heaven―prayer and fasting, or, if you want, “prayer and sacrifice” or “prayer and mortification”. Our Lady of Fatima still required the use of these basic weapons almost 2,000 years later at Fatima in 1917, when she said: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you? … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … Pray the Rosary every day! … Continue to pray the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners! … etc.”
Yet the weapon of penance (or sacrifice, or mortification) includes a wide variety of types of weapon. It also includes a wide variety of different skill levels in using those weapons. Some will use them well, others will use them clumsily. The same has to be said of prayer―some will pray well, others badly. So even though the weapon might be powerful in itself―ultimately, it is only as good as the person using it. Children will have a different level of prayer to that of adults. The lukewarm will pray less effectively than the fervent. Those who have read about and studied the spiritual life will, most likely, be better in employing spiritual weapons than the ignorant. Priests and religious should fare better than the laity―though that is not always the case, sadly. There are an infinite number of other circumstances that will have a bearing on how well we use those basic weapons. Thus in one and the same family, there will be multiple levels of spirituality. You must be careful to maintain and increase your own and each other’s levels without falling into the grave error of catering to “the lowest common denominator” and reducing all levels to cater for the lowest level. You are only as good or strong as your weakest link―therefore the weakest link should be raised in its levels, rather than reducing the higher levels down to the level of the weakest link. For example, just because the “weakest link” cannot endure a Rosary being lengthened in time by the inclusion of meditations on the mysteries, this is no reason for abandoning the meditation of them just to please the “weakest link”. If necessary, divide the 5 decades of the Rosary into 2 or 3 or 4 or even 5 separate sessions―and include the meditation in that way. The same goes for all other spiritual exercises.
The Degrees of Devotion Linked to the Three Stages of the Spiritual Life
God cannot contradict Himself. Truth can only be one. The stages or steps or degrees of devotion to Our Lady cannot be opposed to or differ from the general steps or stages by which we progress through the spiritual life. For centuries, the saints and masters of the spiritual life have basically―with slight modifications on the part of one person or another―that there are THREE chief stages to the spiritual life, each of which is further subdivided. The American school system of 12 Grades (plus kindergarten) divided amongst the THREE more general divisions of LOWER SCHOOL, MIDDLE SCHOOL and HIGH SCHOOL, is a perfect analogical fit to the THREE WAYS or STAGES of the spiritual life―which are called: (1) The Way of Beginners; (2) The Way of the Proficient, and (3) The Way of the Perfect.
Other authors prefer to call “The Way of Beginners” by another name―“The Purgative Way”―which indicates that Beginners must be primarily concerned with purging themselves of attachment to sin and purging their soul of the debt for past sins by the practice of penance. They then call “The Way of the Proficient” by the name “The Illuminative Way”―which indicates the illuminative or enlightening effect of God starting to work upon the purged soul, revealing to the soul lights of which it was previously unworthy of, due to its attachment to sin. They then call “The Way of the Perfect” by the name “The Unitive Way”―signifying that the soul finally arrives are true and sincere union with God, having totally detached itself from the wiles of the devil, the addiction to sin, the pull of temptations, the attachment to the world, the flesh and one’s own pride and self-will.
This is a mere “thumb-nail” sketch of the Three Ways of the Spiritual Life―which you can find more fully and beautifully explained in Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange’s two-volumed work, entitled The Three Ages of the Spiritual Life (which can also be found online as a PDF document) and also Fr. Adolphe Tanquerey’s book The Spiritual Life. There are other works too that give a full and comprehensive overview of the “Three Ways”―which are obligatory and inescapable stages that every single soul must pass through if they wish to get to Heaven. Few people desire to read and familiarize themselves with the path to Heaven―it is surprising then that most souls are lost?
Here is another brief overview of “The Three Ways” by the famous Benedictine monk, Dom Chautard, from his book The Soul of the Apostolate―which, incidentally, was one of Pope St. Pius X’s favorite bedside books that he would read daily.
The Stages of the Spiritual Life That Lead From Sin to Sanctity
1. HARDENED IN SIN (NOT EVEN A BEGINNER IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE).
► MORTAL SIN: Stubborn persistence in sin, either out of ignorance or because of a maliciously warped conscience.
► VENIAL SIN: Many. Complete acceptance of this sin. Not even thought of as a sin.
► PRAYER: Deliberate refusal to have any recourse to God.
2. SURFACE CHRISTIANITY (NOT EVEN A BEGINNER IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE).
► MORTAL SIN: Considered as a trifling evil, easily forgiven. The soul easily gives way and commits mortal sin at almost every possible occasion or temptation. Confession almost without contrition.
► VENIAL SIN: Many. Complete acceptance of this sin. Not even thought of as a sin.
► PRAYER: Mechanical; either inattention, or always dictated by temporal interest―such souls enter into themselves rarely and superficially.
3. MEDIOCRE PIETY (NOT EVEN A BEGINNER IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE).
► MORTAL SIN: Weak resistance. Hardly ever avoids occasions but seriously regrets having sinned and makes good confessions.
► VENIAL SIN: Complete acceptance of this sin, which is considered as insignificant. Hence tepidity of the will. Does nothing whatever to prevent venial sin, or to root it out, or to find it out, when it is concealed.
► PRAYER: From time to time, prays well. Momentary fits of fervor.
4. INTERMITTENT PIETY (THE FIRST WAY―THE WAY OF BEGINNERS―THE PURGATIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Loyal resistance. Habitually avoids occasions. Deep regrets if there is a fall into mortal sin. Does penance to make reparation.
► VENIAL SIN: Sometimes deliberate. Puts up weak fight. Sorrow only superficial. Makes particular examination of conscience, but without any method or coherence.
► PRAYER: Not firmly resolved to remain faithful to meditation. Gives it up as soon as dryness is felt or as soon as there is business to attend to.
5. SUSTAINED PIETY (THE FIRST WAY―THE WAY OF BEGINNERS―THE PURGATIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Never. At most, very rare, when taken suddenly and violently by surprise. And then, often it is to be doubted if the sin is mortal. It is followed by ardent compunction and penance.
► VENIAL SIN: Vigilant in avoiding and fighting it. Rarely deliberate. Keen sorrow, but does little by way of reparation. Consistent “particular examen”―which is an examination of conscience that focuses on one’s most frequent sins and particular faults―but as yet aiming only at avoidance of deliberate venial sin.
► IMPERFECTIONS: The soul either avoids uncovering them so as not to have to fight them, or else easily excuses them. Approves the thought of renouncing them, and would like to do so, but makes little effort in that direction.
► PRAYER: Always faithful to prayer, no matter what happens. Often affective. Alternating consolations and dryness, the latter endured with considerable hardship.
6. FERVOR (THE SECOND WAY―THE WAY OF PROFICIENTS―THE ILLUMINATIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never deliberate. By surprise, sometimes, or with imperfect advertence. Keenly regretted, and serious reparation made.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Wants nothing to do with them. Watches over them, fights them with courage, in order to be more pleasing to God. Sometimes accepted, however, but regretted at once. Frequent acts of renunciation. Particular examen (see #5 above for explanation) aims at perfection in a particular virtue.
► PRAYER: Mental prayer gladly prolonged. Prayer on the affective side, or even prayer of simplicity. Alternation between powerful consolations and fierce trials.
7. RELATIVE PERFECTION (THE SECOND WAY―THE WAY OF PROFICIENTS―THE ILLUMINATIVE WAY)
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Guards against them energetically and with much love of God. They only happen with half‑advertence.
► PRAYER: Habitual life of prayer even when occupied in external works. Thirst for self‑renunciation, annihilation, detachment, and divine love. Hunger for the Eucharist, and for heaven. Graces of infused prayer, of different degrees. Often, passive purification.
8. HEROIC PERFECTION (THE THIRD WAY―THE WAY OF THE PERFECT―THE UNITIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Nothing but the first impulse.
► PRAYER: Supernatural graces of contemplation, sometimes accompanied by extraordinary phenomena. Pronounced passive purifications. Contempt of self to the point of complete self-forgetfulness. Prefers suffering to joys.
9. COMPLETE PERFECTION OR COMPLETE SANCTITY (THE THIRD WAY―THE WAY OF THE PERFECT―THE UNITIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Hardly apparent.
► PRAYER: Usually, transforming union. Spiritual marriage. Purifications by love. Ardent thirst for sufferings and humiliations. (Few and far between are the souls that belong to the last two, even to the last three categories).
Deciphering St. Louis de Montfort’s Four Steps or Stages in Devotion to Our Lady
Since St. Louis de Montfort has not formally, clearly and explicitly elaborated on what he actually and precisely means by the four steps of devotion in the following phrase and only paragraph that deals with those steps in all of his writings―we are left with the task of deciphering and deducting what each of those steps might contain. Since God, His revelation and teachings, and the teachings of the Faith cannot contradict each other―this means that the answer to the question of what each step of devotion contains, must be found in what already has been revealed and accepted in other areas of Church teaching. Hence the allusion and brief description of the “Three Ways” or “Three Stages” or “Three Ages” of the interior or spiritual life―for devotion is part and parcel of the spiritual life.
To be indifferent to these things; to neglect to study these things; to “blow-off” the importance of such things; to refuse to consider these things is both an insult to God and His Church―who places them at our disposal as a road map to Heaven―and it also runs the risk of incurring eternal damnation as both a punishment and a consequence for having refused to consider, study, learn and remember the map to Heaven that God in His kindness has given us. As Jesus says: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
There can be no excuse for ignoring or refusing this Road Map to Heaven under the pretext of it being too difficult to understand (it is not at all difficult), or by thinking that it is only meant for mystics (it is meant for everyone―saint and sinner alike), or by saying that it is unobtainable or cannot be found (“Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you” For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened!” ― Luke 11:9-10). We study, learn, remember and put into practice far more complicated concepts and information in our earthly, material, worldly lives―computers, car mechanics, DIY projects, cooking, first aid, etc. If our minds can embrace earthly complexities, then they can also embrace heavenly ones. “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8)―meaning that the worldly put in far more thought and effort into their worldliness than the children of God put into their spiritual life and the seeking and obtaining of salvation.
Linking “Three Ways” to “The Four Steps”
Now we come to the interesting―yet difficult―part of linking the “Three Ways of the Spiritual Life” (as sketched-out above) to the mysterious “Four Steps of Devotion to Mary” mentioned by St. Louis de Montfort. As was said earlier, there can be no contradiction in the things of God. Since devotion to Mary is an element or part of the spiritual life, therefore there has to be some kind of “dove-tailing” or compatible connection between “The Three Ways” and the “The Four Steps”. The passage in question, where St. Louis speaks of “The Four Steps”, reads as follows: “As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §119).
Before even mentioning the Four Steps, St. Louis gives a general indication as to the level of spirituality present in those souls who are not even on the First Step of devotion. He writes: “Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step.” The words―“Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further”―are easily linked to those who are not even beginners in the spiritual, that is to say those who have not yet entered “The Way of Beginners” (also known as “The Purgative Way” or “The First Way”)―and St. Louis says that these ‘devotees’ of Our Lady “will be the greatest number”, that is to say the vast majority of those who claim to have a devotion to Our Lady. These souls are OUTSIDE THE WAY OF BEGINEERS because, as St. Louis says, they “will stop at what is exterior” but the spiritual life is primarily all about the interior―thus it is also called “The Interior Life”―as St. Louis also states: “the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form.”
These “exterior devotees” or “superficial devotees” of Our Lady correspond to Dom Chautard’s Levels #2 & #3 ― that is to say #2 SURFACE CHRISTIANITY and #3 MEDIOCRE PIETY (as shown in the chart above). Those who are merely living a “SURFACE CHRISTIANITY” consider Mortal Sin as an easily forgivable trifle which they regularly confess almost without contrition; whose prayers are routine, mechanical, full of distractions and inattention, on “auto-pilot” so to speak, and who rarely enter into themselves to focus, learn, study and practice a true interior spiritual life. Thus, whatever prayers they say, end up being “wide of mark” or “missing the target” and are therefore very limited in what obtain. Those “second-rate” prayers are usually motivated by seeking temporal things, cures from illnesses, help in troubles, and protection in danger―hence they are mainly self-centered prayers and minimally God-centered prayers or Our Lady-centered prayers―they seek to obtain things from God (or Our Lady). rather than give glory to God (or Our Lady). Whereas those in the next group, “MEDIOCRE PIETY”, show a weak resistance to Mortal Sin, hardly ever avoiding its occasions, but who, nevertheless, seriously regret having sinned and make good confessions. Yet they are deeply immersed in Venial Sin, thinking little of it, hence their tepidity of the will. As for prayer, from time to time, they pray well, but they are like a misfiring engine, with momentary fits of fervor.
St. Louis then speaks of The Four Steps of Devotion to Our Lady―but, unfortunately and sadly, he gives no description of the first three steps and only mentions them by name― Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance [to the fourth step and final step] as to make this devotion his habitual state?” Since St. Louis gives us the short phrase “Lastly, who will advance so as to make this devotion his habitual state”―which, by the use of the word “lastly” meaning “finally”, seems to indicate an arrival at some kind of destination―as in “we finally arrived”―and it seems to suggest some kind of “perfection” or “peak” or “pinnacle”. In comparing it to “The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life”―the point of arrival, the “perfection” or “peak” or “pinnacle” of the spiritual life is found in “The Third Way”, which is “The Way of Perfection”, also called “The Unitive Way.” So, taking St. Louis’ phrase― “Lastly, who will so advance [to the fourth step and final step] as to make this devotion his habitual state?” ― we have to take this and compare it to the various descriptions listed by Dom Chautard above. The key word here is “habitual” and that seems to point to Dom Chautard’s Levels #7, #8 and #9, , which are described as follows and both include the idea of having "finally" arrived or "at last" having arrived at some kind of PERFECTION:
#7. RELATIVE PERFECTION (THE SECOND WAY―THE WAY OF PROFICIENTS―THE ILLUMINATIVE WAY)
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Guards against them energetically and with much love of God. They only happen with half‑advertence.
► PRAYER: Habitual life of prayer even when occupied in external works. Thirst for self‑renunciation, annihilation, detachment, and divine love. Hunger for the Eucharist, and for heaven. Graces of infused prayer, of different degrees. Often, passive purification.
#8. HEROIC PERFECTION (THE THIRD WAY―THE WAY OF THE PERFECT―THE UNITIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Nothing but the first impulse.
► PRAYER: Supernatural graces of contemplation, sometimes accompanied by extraordinary phenomena. Pronounced passive purifications. Contempt of self to the point of complete self-forgetfulness. Prefers suffering to joys.
9. COMPLETE PERFECTION or COMPLETE SANCTITY (THE THIRD WAY―THE WAY OF THE PERFECT―THE UNITIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Hardly apparent.
► PRAYER: Usually, transforming union. Spiritual marriage. Purifications by love. Ardent thirst for sufferings and humiliations. (Few and far between are the souls that belong to the last two, even to the last three categories).
Thus, we have now accounted for or eliminated THE FIRST THREE STAGES, Levels #1, #2 and #3, of Dom Chautard’s above list of 9 levels, ranging from sin to sanctity, as being insufficient and lacking in quality to be equated with St. Louis de Montfort’s FIRST STEP in devotion to Our Lady.
Furthermore, we have accounted for and associated THE LAST THREE STAGES, Levels #7, #8 and #9, of Dom Chautard’s list of 9 levels, ranging from sin to sanctity, as being of a sufficiently high level as to be equated with St. Louis de Montfort’s LAST STEP or FOURTH STEP in devotion to Our Lady.
By the process of elimination, that leaves THE REMAINING THREE STAGES, Levels #4, #5 and #6, of Dom Chautard’s list of 9 levels, ranging from sin to sanctity, to fill the FIRST THREE STEPS of St. Louis de Montfort’s levels in devotion to Our Lady. Hence Dom Chautard’s Level #4 would be the equivalent of St. Louis’ FIRST STEP. Dom Chautard’s Level #5 would be the equivalent of St. Louis’ SECOND STEP. Dom Chautard’s Level #6 would be the equivalent of St. Louis’ THIRD STEP. All of this is appropriate and fitting for the first three steps of devotion to Our Lady, for Dom Chautard’s Level #4 is called “INTERMITTENT PIETY” which is understandable for the FIRST STEPS in devotion. Dom Chautard’s Level #4 is called “SUSTAINED PIETY” which indicates a growth in devotion. Dom Chautard’s Level #5 is called “FERVOR” which is appropriate to describe St. Louis’ THIRD STEP which has not yet quite reached the perfection of the FOURTH and FINAL STEP.
Thus, St. Louis de Montfort's phrase―“As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §119)―can be arguably and debatably clarified in the following way:
FIRST STEP OF DEVOTION TO OUR LADY (Dom Chautard’s Level #4)
► MORTAL SIN: Loyal resistance. Habitually avoids occasions. Deep regrets if there is a fall into mortal sin. Does penance to make reparation.
► VENIAL SIN: Sometimes deliberate. Puts up weak fight. Sorrow only superficial. Makes particular examination of conscience, but without any method or coherence.
► PRAYER: Not firmly resolved to remain faithful to meditation. Gives it up as soon as dryness is felt or as soon as there is business to attend to.
SECOND STEP OF DEVOTION TO OUR LADY (Dom Chautard’s Level #5)
► MORTAL SIN: Never. At most, very rare, when taken suddenly and violently by surprise. And then, often it is to be doubted if the sin is mortal. It is followed by ardent compunction and penance.
► VENIAL SIN: Vigilant in avoiding and fighting it. Rarely deliberate. Keen sorrow, but does little by way of reparation. Consistent “particular examen”―which is an examination of conscience that focuses on one’s most frequent sins and particular faults―but as yet aiming only at avoidance of deliberate venial sin.
► IMPERFECTIONS: The soul either avoids uncovering them so as not to have to fight them, or else easily excuses them. Approves the thought of renouncing them, and would like to do so, but makes little effort in that direction.
► PRAYER: Always faithful to prayer, no matter what happens. Often affective. Alternating consolations and dryness, the latter endured with considerable hardship.
THIRD STEP OF DEVOTION TO OUR LADY (Dom Chautard’s Level #6)
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never deliberate. By surprise, sometimes, or with imperfect advertence. Keenly regretted, and serious reparation made.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Wants nothing to do with them. Watches over them, fights them with courage, in order to be more pleasing to God. Sometimes accepted, however, but regretted at once. Frequent acts of renunciation. Particular examen (see #5 above for explanation) aims at perfection in a particular virtue.
► PRAYER: Mental prayer gladly prolonged. Prayer on the affective side, or even prayer of simplicity. Alternation between powerful consolations and fierce trials.
FOURTH STEP OF DEVOTION TO OUR LADY (Dom Chautard’s Levels #7, #8, #9)
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Guards against them energetically and with much love of God. They only happen with half‑advertence and are gradually eliminated totally.
► PRAYER: Habitual life of prayer even when occupied in external works. Thirst for self‑renunciation, annihilation, detachment, and divine love. Hunger for the Eucharist, and for heaven. Graces of infused prayer, of different degrees. Often, passive purifications that keep increasing in intensity. Contempt of self to the point of complete self-forgetfulness. Prefers suffering to joys, eventually leading to an ardent thirst for sufferings and humiliations.
In the next article, we shall look at how we grow from the lowest level of devotion to the highest, linking a whole variety of external or exterior practices that can serve as an aid to increasing the crucial interior devotion which is what really classifies any devotion as a “true” devotion and removes it from the category of a “false” devotion or “half-baked” devotion.
Talk is easy. Talk is cheap! It’s the walk that ultimately matters. Not that there should be no talk―before action or practice, there must always be theory. We think before we speak. We plan before we act. Yet it is pointless knowing how to save your soul and get to Heaven if you do not put into practice what you know. Heaven’s “entrance exam” is not so much on theory, but on practice. If you knew how to get to Heaven, but failed to put that knowledge to good use by putting it into practice, then, as Our Lord says, “that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes!” (Luke 12:47).
As Holy Scripture says: “Receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls! But be ye DOERS OF THE WORD, and NOT HEARERS ONLY, deceiving your own selves! For if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a mirror. For he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was!” (James 1:21-24).
Concerning Our Lady’s Fatima message―about praying the Rosary and establishing a devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary throughout the whole world―we have mainly be HEARERS of the word, and NOT DOERS of the word. We have all heard of what she said―but we have done little or nothing about it. Sr. Lucia of Fatima said: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). This chastisement would not happen if we were all DOERS of the word and not HEARERS ONLY.
Don’t Bury Your Talent―Use It
As in the Parable of the Talents, we have all been given a certain amount of graces (talents, if you like) with which to work and produce a profit (the salvation of our souls and the souls of others)―some are given more graces (talents) because God expects more from them (a higher degree of sanctity), others are given less. Yet everyone has been given a sufficient amount for their salvation. If we―like the man who received one talent―bury in the earth (by worldliness, earthly concerns) our ‘talent’, then the same fate awaits us as is seen in this Parable:
“For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
IAre we that unprofitable servant? t was at our Baptism that God placed in our souls the talents necessary for our salvation. Most have not used them as God wanted―that is why is most are damned. Devotion to Our Lady is a talent God is giving to everyone, as revealed by Our Lady of Fatima― Jesus wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!”
Use It―Or Lose It!
Devotion to Our Lady is a most precious ‘talent’―but we must, as they say, USE IT OR LOSE IT―meaning , use devotion to Our Lady to save your soul, or risk losing your soul. As Our Lady of Fatima said: “Jesus wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it!” It takes an extremely brave person―or an absolute stupid idiot―to ignore, disregard and refuse to put into practice what Our Lady requests or commands. As St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church and teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.” Another Doctor of the Church, St. Bonaventure, adds: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins. St. Ignatius of Antioch, a Father of the Church and a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
This is echoed by Our Lady’s words to St. Bridget of Sweden: “Do not forget me! For I am forgotten and ignored by many! I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed (by which is meant the damned in Hell), is so entirely cast off by God that he may not return and enjoy His mercy if he invokes my aid. Therefore he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.” (quoted by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary).
St. Alphonsus then writes: “St. Bernard says: ‘O Lady, thou dost abhor no sinner, however abandoned and vile he may be, when he has recourse to thee; if he asks thy help, thou wilt extend thy kind hand to draw him from the depths of despair.’ [St. Alphonsus then adds] O ever blessed and thanked be our God, O most amiable Mary, who made thee so merciful and kind towards the most miserable sinners. Oh, wretched are those who do not love thee, and who, having it in their power to seek help of thee, do not trust in thee! He who does not implore the aid of Mary is lost―but who has ever been lost that had recourse to her?” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Glories of Mary).
Down to the “Nitty-Gritty”
Let us now get down to the “nitty-gritty” or the “nuts-and-bolts” of what a devotion to Our Lady must look like and what has to be done. This, of course, cannot be dealt with extensively and fully in a single article―it would require several books to be written, each book dealing with one of the several degrees of devotion that St. Louis de Montfort speaks about: “As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §119). To cover all the “steps” or degrees of devotion to Mary is such a great and complicated task, that it brings to mind the closing words of the Gospel of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist in speaking about Our Lord’s life: “There are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25). Perhaps, at some future date, God-willing, a series of pages on this website could be consecrated to dealing with and guiding souls through the various degrees of increasing intensity in a devotion to Our Lady. Nevertheless―in the meantime―let us at least give a summary, or a kind of table of contents, or “big-picture” view of what those stages look like, without actually descending into the details that are so essential for practicing a “True” Devotion to Mary.
Before Beginning―Look at the End!
St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that the end comes before the beginning! Huh? Yes, by that St. Thomas means that before you start anything, you need to know where you are going, your need to know the target, the destination, the goal, the end has to be in sight. Before you start building a house, you must have the end in sight―which means the end product must have already been designed and already put into place by means of architectural drawings or “blueprints”. Before you start coaching a sports team, you need to have the end in your mind on the style of play and the tactics that will be used―then you work on reaching that goal or end by various coaching methods. An artist will first make sketches of his proposed painting or sculpture before starting work on it. The requirements for becoming a doctor in the U.S. may vary by specialty―but, in general, doctors need to complete a 4-year undergraduate degree program, spend 4 years in medical school, and then complete 3-7 years of residency training before they are eligible for medical licensing―budding doctors need to know what kind of training they are expected to undergo and pass. Holy Scripture also refers to the end coming first, when it says: “For which of you, having a mind to build a tower, doth not first sit down, and reckon the charges that are necessary, whether he have wherewithal to finish it―lest, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that see it begin to mock him, saying: ‘This man began to build, and was not able to finish!’” (Luke 14:28-30).
Take Devotion Seriously―Or End Up in Serious Trouble
THE VERY FIRST THING WE MUST CHANGE IN PRACTICE IS THE WAY WE THINK! Whether you are aware of it or not; whether you have forgotten it or not; whether you like it or not―you are SOLDIER OF CHRIST by virtue of the Sacrament of Confirmation that you have received. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and you must either fight or be killed. Most do not want to fight this spiritual warfare―hence most are killed in warfare and consequently damned. “Fight the good fight of faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
By opting to follow Our Lady, by devotion to Mary, you, the Soldier of Christ, are choosing to fight for Christ in the regiment of Our Lady. Her soldiers are elite soldiers―they are the equivalent of the United States Army Special Forces (Green Berets); or the United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land Teams (commonly known as Navy SEALs)― the U.S. Navy SEALs are an elite unit, more exclusive and harder to be admitted to than the U.S. Marines. In the UK, you have the elite British Army’s Special Air Service (SAS); the British Commandos which evolved into the SAS after the Second World War. Our Lady is the greatest and best person God ever created―so it is only fitting that her soldiers have the desire to be the greatest and best soldiers within the Catholic Church. The demands are great, but the rewards are even greater. Do not insult Our Lady by enlisting with the intention of doing little or nothing for her on the field of battle! That is the overriding and underlying thought that should govern all of us in our devotion to Our Lady. It is not a joke―it is a serious business―the business of saving our souls and saving many other souls in this field of battle.
There is No Middle Path―No Neutrality
Perhaps it is oversimplifying things, but essentially there are only two kinds of persons―WINNERS and LOSERS. The winners go to Heaven―the losers go to Hell. There is NO IN-BETWEEN, there are NO SPECTATORS―everyone finds themselves on the battlefield and we either side and fight with Christ, or we decide not to fight and side with Satan (either implicitly or explicitly). Our Lord Himself says: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-34). “He that is not with Me, is against Me―and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30).
The problem with most people is that they do not see themselves as being in middle of a battle; they do not see the world as their enemy; their end or goal or target is not primarily to save their souls and get to Heaven, but to have a pleasant life here on Earth. They fight more for money and possessions than they fight for salvation and souls. Is it really surprising that most souls are lost? Unless you change your attitude from the very beginning, you will inevitably be a casualty on the battlefield―either seriously wounded (Purgatory) or even killed (Hell). Most are killed. The fight for salvation is violent―“The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12)―and that is why Our Lord speaks, not of entertainment, nor comforts, nor pleasures, nor fun and games, but He speaks only of the Cross: “And Jesus said to ALL: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). How many priests REGUALRLY drill home that message to their parishioners? How many parents drill home those truths to their children on a REGULAR basis? How many teachers REGUALRLY teach those truths to the students? Is it really surprising that most souls are lost?
Our Lady’s Ways and Thoughts Are Not Our Ways and Thoughts
Our Lady, in speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, essentially reiterates the same message: “To be allowed to suffer for one’s sins, is not only a mercy, but is demanded by justice. Behold, however, the great insanity of the children of Adam nowadays, in desiring and seeking after advantages, benefits, and favors agreeable to their senses, and in sleeplessly striving to turn away from themselves all that which is painful, or includes any hardship or trouble. It would be to their greatest benefit to seek tribulations diligently, even when unmerited, yet they strive by all means to avoid them, even when merited, and even though they cannot be happy and blessed without having undergone such sufferings. If gold is untouched by the heat of the furnace, or the iron is not grated by the file, or the grain is not crushed by the grinding stone or flail, or the grapes are not crushed by the winepress, then they are all useless and will not attain the end for which they are created. Why, then, will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? If they were incapable and unworthy of attaining to the crown and reward of the infinite and eternal Good when innocent, how can they attain it, when they are in darkness or error and in disgrace through sin before the Almighty? In addition to this, the sons of perdition are exerting all their powers to remain unworthy and hostile to God and in evading crosses and afflictions―which are the paths left open for returning to God! … The signs of His friendship, are no other than the tribulations and trials of suffering …
“By such standards, my daughter, must thou measure the value of suffering, which the worldly will not understand. Since they are unworthy of heavenly knowledge, they despise it in proportion to their ignorance … My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wishest to be our disciple enter into this school, in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights. With this wisdom, the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the bleary-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur … The greatest wisdom for souls consists in the knowledge of the cross, in the love of sufferings, and in putting this knowledge into practice by bearing afflictions with patience. If the condition of mortals were not so low, they would covet sufferings!”
It is Our Lady who speaks those words! If we profess (or pretend) to be devoted to Our Lady, then we should also accept, believe, hold on to and love all that she says―don’t you think? The bottom line to all this is that our ideas of devotion to Our Lady are not her ideas of what devotion is all about―much like God says in Holy Scripture: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). “And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore: Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? … And you say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ I will judge every one of you according to his ways!” (Ezechiel 18:25, 29; 33:20).
An Overview of the Steps or Degrees of Devotion to Our Lady
St. Louis de Montfort―the Apostle of True Devotion to Our Lady―gives us that brief overview of devotion to Our Lady with its varying degrees--without, unfortunately, elaborating on them: “Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?”
We see here FOUR steps or degrees mentioned―with the initial state, where souls “stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further” not even being counted as an “official” or “bona-fide” step or degree. Shockingly and sadly, St. Louis affirms that the greater number of souls, who think they are “devoted” to Our Lady, are not really devoted at all! These, in his book True Devotion to Mary, he classifies among the “False Devotees” who practice a “False Devotion” to Our Lady (cf. True Devotion to Mary, §90 to §104). That most souls “devotees” are not really devotees at all, is not surprising, since Fr. Faber is of the opinion that most souls are lukewarm, and Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange is of the opinion that most souls are not even beginners in the spiritual life! While those who are beginners, mistakenly and proudly imagine themselves to be at a much higher level than they actually are! O how we deceive ourselves! All of this stresses the grave and indispensable need for us to change the way we are accustomed to thinking and seeing things―and to see things, not our way, but Heaven’s way. This is very clearly seen in the way that the U.S. Marine Corps treats its new recruits―they have to change the way the recruits think and see things, otherwise they will never achieve the levels required to qualify and graduate as a Marine.
Jon Davis―a Marine sergeant, Iraq veteran, and weapons instructor―explains: “The most important single thing to know about boot camp is that it is 100% designed to reprogram children and civilians into warriors … Some of the ways that this is done is through a series of extremely well-planned and timed events that, by themselves, are meaningless, but when strategically combined together will change a person … The newly arrived recruits find themselves being yelled at before they ever set foot off the bus. Within 5 minutes of arrival, 200+ individuals with no group training at all, have been trained by drill instructions on how to: listen and learn while at boot camp, respond to instruction, stand in formation, and move as a unit … This is just the first five minutes. There are three more months of this … Individuality is repressed―as they will spend the next three months dressed the same, act the same, and look the same ... Now we move on to something else very important and why I say that it is “psychological” retraining. You go through the next few days running from place to place, doing this, that, this, that and you won’t even realize ... you haven’t slept in three days. Yeah, you will go about three days without sleep upon arrival. The whole time you are completely exhausted while running on adrenaline and hearing over and over, that you are inferior. Inferior to real Marines, which you aren’t yet. You aren’t thinking about it, but it is sinking in. You are completely tired and these things build up. Without realizing it, you start to believe that that which is being told to you is true, that there is a weakness in you and that you are less than perfect. In your current state, you believe them and that you must change to be good enough. There are many habits that kids and civilians possess, that have to be unlearned … Boot camp, and particularly that of the Marines, is made to psychologically change a child into someone capable of performing under combat situations. In most cases, it is intended to take from them the aspects of their civilian lives―that only make life harder for them in the military and sometimes get them killed―to be no longer part of the calculation. The yelling, the sleep deprivation, and being cut-off from friends and family, are all part of the process of becoming a warrior. Normal people can’t do the things warriors are asked to do. They can’t imagine it and shouldn’t be forced to. But there are those that do. For these people though, there must be a transition from “civilian” to “warrior.” Boot camp is the means of that evolution, and every part of it is necessary.”
The U.S. Marines website comments: “On these proving grounds, we reveal who has the fight in them to continue when others quit. To dig even deeper when there’s nothing left to give. To prove the fighting spirit running through them will outlast the physical, mental and moral battles in front of them. For 13 weeks, these are the battles that must be won. Face your fears. Or live in fear. Marines confront theirs head on, enduring what scares them—until it doesn’t. Recruits who board our bus step into the unknown where they are given a quick introduction to fear at one of two Marine Corps Recruit Depots at Parris Island, SC, or San Diego, CA. Fear of the unfamiliar is the first of many fears they must battle. Throughout recruit training, the sense of doubt that exists inside every recruit is quickly replaced with a sense of urgency. There’s no time to hesitate, and there’s no time for second-guessing. Recruits must win in the midst of doubt, as this Nation cannot afford to place its trust in those who doubt themselves. What you’re really made of can only be revealed at the brink of exhaustion. Marine Recruit Training will take you there. Only those who possess the never-quit spirit required of every Marine will find the strength they never knew they had, the will power they never knew they needed, and the commitment to find that second wind even when it hurts to breathe to overcome the Marine boot camp requirements. Recruit training is filled with intense stress born from profound friction. Alongside this stress will be the pressure of proving to your Drill Instructors that you are fit to continue. Those who prevail over every physical and mental battle will have developed an instinctual response—to meet heightened stress with the focus to win. The road to becoming a Marine is filled with obstacles. Recruits will not only battle external forces, they will battle forces within themselves to test their mental and physical limits. Only those with the fighting spirit rise above the chaos and overcome fear, doubt, exhaustion, will earn the honor of defending this nation as a United States Marine.”
Devotion is Demanding
The requirements of Christ and Our Lady are no less stringent and demanding than the requirements for entry into the Marines or any other elite fighting unit in this world. You need to remember Our Lord’s complaint against His followers when He said: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8)―meaning that we have much to learn from the worldly folk in the way that they dedicate, commit, pursue and attain their worldly goals and ambitions―if only the “children of light” would show as much zeal for the spiritual things as the worldly show for material things. Our Lord’s words, concerning His zealous enemies, the Scribes and Pharisees― “I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20)―could fittingly be changed to: “Unless you zeal and efforts exceed those of the Marines (or Navy Seals, or Green Berets, or SAS, etc.), you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” Once again―it has to be stressed that “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1) and you must “Fight the good fight of faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12), for “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). We cannot be minimalists in our devotion. We cannot procrastinate. We cannot calculate. We cannot negotiate. We cannot exaggerate. We cannot manipulate.
That is why the Church on Earth is called “THE CHURCH MILITANT”―militant is an adjective that is defined by dictionaries as “engaged in warfare or combat; aggressively active; combative and aggressive in support of a religious, political or social cause, and typically favoring extreme, violent, or confrontational methods.” We have ceased to think in this way―that is why, before we any further practical steps, we must change the way we think and start to think the way the God and the Church of old would have us think! That is of utmost importance―for even if we exert much effort, enterprise and zeal, it will be useless if we are going in the wrong direction, following erroneous principles. Devotion needs direction―a correct direction―otherwise it becomes a dangerous destructive and diabolically disorientated devotion.
Devotion to Our Lady is automatically and inescapably a devotion to the battle. She herself said at La Salette: “I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!”
Thus we need to always remember that by being members of the Church Militant, we are engaged in a perpetual warfare―sometimes visible, sometimes invisible; sometimes with the devil, at other times with the world; and always with ourselves and within ourselves. “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated me before you” (John 15:18) … “It hateth Me because I give testimony of it that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:7). “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12).
The Weapons for the Fight
Since, according to St. Louis de Montfort, there are four degrees in devotion to Mary, this means that there has to be a progressive growth in devotion with passing time. These different degrees of devotion must also obviously entail a variety of weapons for the combat which change as we advance from one degree to another. This change is not only limited to the type of weapon used, but also to the level of skill and efficiency with which we use those weapons. The basic weapons were already outlined by Our Lord when He said of the devil: “This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting!” (Mark 9:28). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times” (Luke 21:36). That is basic military weaponry issued by Heaven―prayer and fasting, or, if you want, “prayer and sacrifice” or “prayer and mortification”. Our Lady of Fatima still required the use of these basic weapons almost 2,000 years later at Fatima in 1917, when she said: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you? … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … Pray the Rosary every day! … Continue to pray the Rosary every day! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners! … etc.”
Yet the weapon of penance (or sacrifice, or mortification) includes a wide variety of types of weapon. It also includes a wide variety of different skill levels in using those weapons. Some will use them well, others will use them clumsily. The same has to be said of prayer―some will pray well, others badly. So even though the weapon might be powerful in itself―ultimately, it is only as good as the person using it. Children will have a different level of prayer to that of adults. The lukewarm will pray less effectively than the fervent. Those who have read about and studied the spiritual life will, most likely, be better in employing spiritual weapons than the ignorant. Priests and religious should fare better than the laity―though that is not always the case, sadly. There are an infinite number of other circumstances that will have a bearing on how well we use those basic weapons. Thus in one and the same family, there will be multiple levels of spirituality. You must be careful to maintain and increase your own and each other’s levels without falling into the grave error of catering to “the lowest common denominator” and reducing all levels to cater for the lowest level. You are only as good or strong as your weakest link―therefore the weakest link should be raised in its levels, rather than reducing the higher levels down to the level of the weakest link. For example, just because the “weakest link” cannot endure a Rosary being lengthened in time by the inclusion of meditations on the mysteries, this is no reason for abandoning the meditation of them just to please the “weakest link”. If necessary, divide the 5 decades of the Rosary into 2 or 3 or 4 or even 5 separate sessions―and include the meditation in that way. The same goes for all other spiritual exercises.
The Degrees of Devotion Linked to the Three Stages of the Spiritual Life
God cannot contradict Himself. Truth can only be one. The stages or steps or degrees of devotion to Our Lady cannot be opposed to or differ from the general steps or stages by which we progress through the spiritual life. For centuries, the saints and masters of the spiritual life have basically―with slight modifications on the part of one person or another―that there are THREE chief stages to the spiritual life, each of which is further subdivided. The American school system of 12 Grades (plus kindergarten) divided amongst the THREE more general divisions of LOWER SCHOOL, MIDDLE SCHOOL and HIGH SCHOOL, is a perfect analogical fit to the THREE WAYS or STAGES of the spiritual life―which are called: (1) The Way of Beginners; (2) The Way of the Proficient, and (3) The Way of the Perfect.
Other authors prefer to call “The Way of Beginners” by another name―“The Purgative Way”―which indicates that Beginners must be primarily concerned with purging themselves of attachment to sin and purging their soul of the debt for past sins by the practice of penance. They then call “The Way of the Proficient” by the name “The Illuminative Way”―which indicates the illuminative or enlightening effect of God starting to work upon the purged soul, revealing to the soul lights of which it was previously unworthy of, due to its attachment to sin. They then call “The Way of the Perfect” by the name “The Unitive Way”―signifying that the soul finally arrives are true and sincere union with God, having totally detached itself from the wiles of the devil, the addiction to sin, the pull of temptations, the attachment to the world, the flesh and one’s own pride and self-will.
This is a mere “thumb-nail” sketch of the Three Ways of the Spiritual Life―which you can find more fully and beautifully explained in Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange’s two-volumed work, entitled The Three Ages of the Spiritual Life (which can also be found online as a PDF document) and also Fr. Adolphe Tanquerey’s book The Spiritual Life. There are other works too that give a full and comprehensive overview of the “Three Ways”―which are obligatory and inescapable stages that every single soul must pass through if they wish to get to Heaven. Few people desire to read and familiarize themselves with the path to Heaven―it is surprising then that most souls are lost?
Here is another brief overview of “The Three Ways” by the famous Benedictine monk, Dom Chautard, from his book The Soul of the Apostolate―which, incidentally, was one of Pope St. Pius X’s favorite bedside books that he would read daily.
The Stages of the Spiritual Life That Lead From Sin to Sanctity
1. HARDENED IN SIN (NOT EVEN A BEGINNER IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE).
► MORTAL SIN: Stubborn persistence in sin, either out of ignorance or because of a maliciously warped conscience.
► VENIAL SIN: Many. Complete acceptance of this sin. Not even thought of as a sin.
► PRAYER: Deliberate refusal to have any recourse to God.
2. SURFACE CHRISTIANITY (NOT EVEN A BEGINNER IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE).
► MORTAL SIN: Considered as a trifling evil, easily forgiven. The soul easily gives way and commits mortal sin at almost every possible occasion or temptation. Confession almost without contrition.
► VENIAL SIN: Many. Complete acceptance of this sin. Not even thought of as a sin.
► PRAYER: Mechanical; either inattention, or always dictated by temporal interest―such souls enter into themselves rarely and superficially.
3. MEDIOCRE PIETY (NOT EVEN A BEGINNER IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE).
► MORTAL SIN: Weak resistance. Hardly ever avoids occasions but seriously regrets having sinned and makes good confessions.
► VENIAL SIN: Complete acceptance of this sin, which is considered as insignificant. Hence tepidity of the will. Does nothing whatever to prevent venial sin, or to root it out, or to find it out, when it is concealed.
► PRAYER: From time to time, prays well. Momentary fits of fervor.
4. INTERMITTENT PIETY (THE FIRST WAY―THE WAY OF BEGINNERS―THE PURGATIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Loyal resistance. Habitually avoids occasions. Deep regrets if there is a fall into mortal sin. Does penance to make reparation.
► VENIAL SIN: Sometimes deliberate. Puts up weak fight. Sorrow only superficial. Makes particular examination of conscience, but without any method or coherence.
► PRAYER: Not firmly resolved to remain faithful to meditation. Gives it up as soon as dryness is felt or as soon as there is business to attend to.
5. SUSTAINED PIETY (THE FIRST WAY―THE WAY OF BEGINNERS―THE PURGATIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Never. At most, very rare, when taken suddenly and violently by surprise. And then, often it is to be doubted if the sin is mortal. It is followed by ardent compunction and penance.
► VENIAL SIN: Vigilant in avoiding and fighting it. Rarely deliberate. Keen sorrow, but does little by way of reparation. Consistent “particular examen”―which is an examination of conscience that focuses on one’s most frequent sins and particular faults―but as yet aiming only at avoidance of deliberate venial sin.
► IMPERFECTIONS: The soul either avoids uncovering them so as not to have to fight them, or else easily excuses them. Approves the thought of renouncing them, and would like to do so, but makes little effort in that direction.
► PRAYER: Always faithful to prayer, no matter what happens. Often affective. Alternating consolations and dryness, the latter endured with considerable hardship.
6. FERVOR (THE SECOND WAY―THE WAY OF PROFICIENTS―THE ILLUMINATIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never deliberate. By surprise, sometimes, or with imperfect advertence. Keenly regretted, and serious reparation made.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Wants nothing to do with them. Watches over them, fights them with courage, in order to be more pleasing to God. Sometimes accepted, however, but regretted at once. Frequent acts of renunciation. Particular examen (see #5 above for explanation) aims at perfection in a particular virtue.
► PRAYER: Mental prayer gladly prolonged. Prayer on the affective side, or even prayer of simplicity. Alternation between powerful consolations and fierce trials.
7. RELATIVE PERFECTION (THE SECOND WAY―THE WAY OF PROFICIENTS―THE ILLUMINATIVE WAY)
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Guards against them energetically and with much love of God. They only happen with half‑advertence.
► PRAYER: Habitual life of prayer even when occupied in external works. Thirst for self‑renunciation, annihilation, detachment, and divine love. Hunger for the Eucharist, and for heaven. Graces of infused prayer, of different degrees. Often, passive purification.
8. HEROIC PERFECTION (THE THIRD WAY―THE WAY OF THE PERFECT―THE UNITIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Nothing but the first impulse.
► PRAYER: Supernatural graces of contemplation, sometimes accompanied by extraordinary phenomena. Pronounced passive purifications. Contempt of self to the point of complete self-forgetfulness. Prefers suffering to joys.
9. COMPLETE PERFECTION OR COMPLETE SANCTITY (THE THIRD WAY―THE WAY OF THE PERFECT―THE UNITIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Hardly apparent.
► PRAYER: Usually, transforming union. Spiritual marriage. Purifications by love. Ardent thirst for sufferings and humiliations. (Few and far between are the souls that belong to the last two, even to the last three categories).
Deciphering St. Louis de Montfort’s Four Steps or Stages in Devotion to Our Lady
Since St. Louis de Montfort has not formally, clearly and explicitly elaborated on what he actually and precisely means by the four steps of devotion in the following phrase and only paragraph that deals with those steps in all of his writings―we are left with the task of deciphering and deducting what each of those steps might contain. Since God, His revelation and teachings, and the teachings of the Faith cannot contradict each other―this means that the answer to the question of what each step of devotion contains, must be found in what already has been revealed and accepted in other areas of Church teaching. Hence the allusion and brief description of the “Three Ways” or “Three Stages” or “Three Ages” of the interior or spiritual life―for devotion is part and parcel of the spiritual life.
To be indifferent to these things; to neglect to study these things; to “blow-off” the importance of such things; to refuse to consider these things is both an insult to God and His Church―who places them at our disposal as a road map to Heaven―and it also runs the risk of incurring eternal damnation as both a punishment and a consequence for having refused to consider, study, learn and remember the map to Heaven that God in His kindness has given us. As Jesus says: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
There can be no excuse for ignoring or refusing this Road Map to Heaven under the pretext of it being too difficult to understand (it is not at all difficult), or by thinking that it is only meant for mystics (it is meant for everyone―saint and sinner alike), or by saying that it is unobtainable or cannot be found (“Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you” For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened!” ― Luke 11:9-10). We study, learn, remember and put into practice far more complicated concepts and information in our earthly, material, worldly lives―computers, car mechanics, DIY projects, cooking, first aid, etc. If our minds can embrace earthly complexities, then they can also embrace heavenly ones. “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8)―meaning that the worldly put in far more thought and effort into their worldliness than the children of God put into their spiritual life and the seeking and obtaining of salvation.
Linking “Three Ways” to “The Four Steps”
Now we come to the interesting―yet difficult―part of linking the “Three Ways of the Spiritual Life” (as sketched-out above) to the mysterious “Four Steps of Devotion to Mary” mentioned by St. Louis de Montfort. As was said earlier, there can be no contradiction in the things of God. Since devotion to Mary is an element or part of the spiritual life, therefore there has to be some kind of “dove-tailing” or compatible connection between “The Three Ways” and the “The Four Steps”. The passage in question, where St. Louis speaks of “The Four Steps”, reads as follows: “As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §119).
Before even mentioning the Four Steps, St. Louis gives a general indication as to the level of spirituality present in those souls who are not even on the First Step of devotion. He writes: “Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step.” The words―“Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further”―are easily linked to those who are not even beginners in the spiritual, that is to say those who have not yet entered “The Way of Beginners” (also known as “The Purgative Way” or “The First Way”)―and St. Louis says that these ‘devotees’ of Our Lady “will be the greatest number”, that is to say the vast majority of those who claim to have a devotion to Our Lady. These souls are OUTSIDE THE WAY OF BEGINEERS because, as St. Louis says, they “will stop at what is exterior” but the spiritual life is primarily all about the interior―thus it is also called “The Interior Life”―as St. Louis also states: “the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form.”
These “exterior devotees” or “superficial devotees” of Our Lady correspond to Dom Chautard’s Levels #2 & #3 ― that is to say #2 SURFACE CHRISTIANITY and #3 MEDIOCRE PIETY (as shown in the chart above). Those who are merely living a “SURFACE CHRISTIANITY” consider Mortal Sin as an easily forgivable trifle which they regularly confess almost without contrition; whose prayers are routine, mechanical, full of distractions and inattention, on “auto-pilot” so to speak, and who rarely enter into themselves to focus, learn, study and practice a true interior spiritual life. Thus, whatever prayers they say, end up being “wide of mark” or “missing the target” and are therefore very limited in what obtain. Those “second-rate” prayers are usually motivated by seeking temporal things, cures from illnesses, help in troubles, and protection in danger―hence they are mainly self-centered prayers and minimally God-centered prayers or Our Lady-centered prayers―they seek to obtain things from God (or Our Lady). rather than give glory to God (or Our Lady). Whereas those in the next group, “MEDIOCRE PIETY”, show a weak resistance to Mortal Sin, hardly ever avoiding its occasions, but who, nevertheless, seriously regret having sinned and make good confessions. Yet they are deeply immersed in Venial Sin, thinking little of it, hence their tepidity of the will. As for prayer, from time to time, they pray well, but they are like a misfiring engine, with momentary fits of fervor.
St. Louis then speaks of The Four Steps of Devotion to Our Lady―but, unfortunately and sadly, he gives no description of the first three steps and only mentions them by name― Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance [to the fourth step and final step] as to make this devotion his habitual state?” Since St. Louis gives us the short phrase “Lastly, who will advance so as to make this devotion his habitual state”―which, by the use of the word “lastly” meaning “finally”, seems to indicate an arrival at some kind of destination―as in “we finally arrived”―and it seems to suggest some kind of “perfection” or “peak” or “pinnacle”. In comparing it to “The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life”―the point of arrival, the “perfection” or “peak” or “pinnacle” of the spiritual life is found in “The Third Way”, which is “The Way of Perfection”, also called “The Unitive Way.” So, taking St. Louis’ phrase― “Lastly, who will so advance [to the fourth step and final step] as to make this devotion his habitual state?” ― we have to take this and compare it to the various descriptions listed by Dom Chautard above. The key word here is “habitual” and that seems to point to Dom Chautard’s Levels #7, #8 and #9, , which are described as follows and both include the idea of having "finally" arrived or "at last" having arrived at some kind of PERFECTION:
#7. RELATIVE PERFECTION (THE SECOND WAY―THE WAY OF PROFICIENTS―THE ILLUMINATIVE WAY)
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Guards against them energetically and with much love of God. They only happen with half‑advertence.
► PRAYER: Habitual life of prayer even when occupied in external works. Thirst for self‑renunciation, annihilation, detachment, and divine love. Hunger for the Eucharist, and for heaven. Graces of infused prayer, of different degrees. Often, passive purification.
#8. HEROIC PERFECTION (THE THIRD WAY―THE WAY OF THE PERFECT―THE UNITIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Nothing but the first impulse.
► PRAYER: Supernatural graces of contemplation, sometimes accompanied by extraordinary phenomena. Pronounced passive purifications. Contempt of self to the point of complete self-forgetfulness. Prefers suffering to joys.
9. COMPLETE PERFECTION or COMPLETE SANCTITY (THE THIRD WAY―THE WAY OF THE PERFECT―THE UNITIVE WAY).
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Hardly apparent.
► PRAYER: Usually, transforming union. Spiritual marriage. Purifications by love. Ardent thirst for sufferings and humiliations. (Few and far between are the souls that belong to the last two, even to the last three categories).
Thus, we have now accounted for or eliminated THE FIRST THREE STAGES, Levels #1, #2 and #3, of Dom Chautard’s above list of 9 levels, ranging from sin to sanctity, as being insufficient and lacking in quality to be equated with St. Louis de Montfort’s FIRST STEP in devotion to Our Lady.
Furthermore, we have accounted for and associated THE LAST THREE STAGES, Levels #7, #8 and #9, of Dom Chautard’s list of 9 levels, ranging from sin to sanctity, as being of a sufficiently high level as to be equated with St. Louis de Montfort’s LAST STEP or FOURTH STEP in devotion to Our Lady.
By the process of elimination, that leaves THE REMAINING THREE STAGES, Levels #4, #5 and #6, of Dom Chautard’s list of 9 levels, ranging from sin to sanctity, to fill the FIRST THREE STEPS of St. Louis de Montfort’s levels in devotion to Our Lady. Hence Dom Chautard’s Level #4 would be the equivalent of St. Louis’ FIRST STEP. Dom Chautard’s Level #5 would be the equivalent of St. Louis’ SECOND STEP. Dom Chautard’s Level #6 would be the equivalent of St. Louis’ THIRD STEP. All of this is appropriate and fitting for the first three steps of devotion to Our Lady, for Dom Chautard’s Level #4 is called “INTERMITTENT PIETY” which is understandable for the FIRST STEPS in devotion. Dom Chautard’s Level #4 is called “SUSTAINED PIETY” which indicates a growth in devotion. Dom Chautard’s Level #5 is called “FERVOR” which is appropriate to describe St. Louis’ THIRD STEP which has not yet quite reached the perfection of the FOURTH and FINAL STEP.
Thus, St. Louis de Montfort's phrase―“As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §119)―can be arguably and debatably clarified in the following way:
FIRST STEP OF DEVOTION TO OUR LADY (Dom Chautard’s Level #4)
► MORTAL SIN: Loyal resistance. Habitually avoids occasions. Deep regrets if there is a fall into mortal sin. Does penance to make reparation.
► VENIAL SIN: Sometimes deliberate. Puts up weak fight. Sorrow only superficial. Makes particular examination of conscience, but without any method or coherence.
► PRAYER: Not firmly resolved to remain faithful to meditation. Gives it up as soon as dryness is felt or as soon as there is business to attend to.
SECOND STEP OF DEVOTION TO OUR LADY (Dom Chautard’s Level #5)
► MORTAL SIN: Never. At most, very rare, when taken suddenly and violently by surprise. And then, often it is to be doubted if the sin is mortal. It is followed by ardent compunction and penance.
► VENIAL SIN: Vigilant in avoiding and fighting it. Rarely deliberate. Keen sorrow, but does little by way of reparation. Consistent “particular examen”―which is an examination of conscience that focuses on one’s most frequent sins and particular faults―but as yet aiming only at avoidance of deliberate venial sin.
► IMPERFECTIONS: The soul either avoids uncovering them so as not to have to fight them, or else easily excuses them. Approves the thought of renouncing them, and would like to do so, but makes little effort in that direction.
► PRAYER: Always faithful to prayer, no matter what happens. Often affective. Alternating consolations and dryness, the latter endured with considerable hardship.
THIRD STEP OF DEVOTION TO OUR LADY (Dom Chautard’s Level #6)
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never deliberate. By surprise, sometimes, or with imperfect advertence. Keenly regretted, and serious reparation made.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Wants nothing to do with them. Watches over them, fights them with courage, in order to be more pleasing to God. Sometimes accepted, however, but regretted at once. Frequent acts of renunciation. Particular examen (see #5 above for explanation) aims at perfection in a particular virtue.
► PRAYER: Mental prayer gladly prolonged. Prayer on the affective side, or even prayer of simplicity. Alternation between powerful consolations and fierce trials.
FOURTH STEP OF DEVOTION TO OUR LADY (Dom Chautard’s Levels #7, #8, #9)
► MORTAL SIN: Never.
► VENIAL SIN: Never.
► IMPERFECTIONS: Guards against them energetically and with much love of God. They only happen with half‑advertence and are gradually eliminated totally.
► PRAYER: Habitual life of prayer even when occupied in external works. Thirst for self‑renunciation, annihilation, detachment, and divine love. Hunger for the Eucharist, and for heaven. Graces of infused prayer, of different degrees. Often, passive purifications that keep increasing in intensity. Contempt of self to the point of complete self-forgetfulness. Prefers suffering to joys, eventually leading to an ardent thirst for sufferings and humiliations.
In the next article, we shall look at how we grow from the lowest level of devotion to the highest, linking a whole variety of external or exterior practices that can serve as an aid to increasing the crucial interior devotion which is what really classifies any devotion as a “true” devotion and removes it from the category of a “false” devotion or “half-baked” devotion.
Thursday August 22nd
Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Article 12
Put Your Heart Into It!
Part 1 : The Theory Behind Devotion to Our Lady
The next article will be deal with the practical side
Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Article 12
Put Your Heart Into It!
Part 1 : The Theory Behind Devotion to Our Lady
The next article will be deal with the practical side
Come On! Enough’s Enough! Time to Get Going!
Come on! Let’s be honest! What we call our “devotion” to Our Lady is really a half-hearted effort at best! Are you really going to insist that your “devotion” to Mary is the best you can offer? Are you saying that it cannot be improved? Are you insisting that it is firing on all cylinders and is “maxed-out” at 100%? Fr. Faber’s words, in his Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, pretty much hit the nail on the head, and nail us to the floor without any excuse. We face so many problems, setbacks, sufferings and failures in our lives―yet the medicine or remedy stares us in the face and we ignore it, or take too little of it. As Faber says: “What is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is always invoking human respect [afraid of what other will think or say] … wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary so that even Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls, which might be saints, wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized! Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines!”
We should read that passage EVERY SINGLE DAY before or after we make our Morning Offering. For the uninitiated―the Morning Offering is not the early morning cup of coffee, or even breakfast―the Morning Offering is the prayer which we recite daily upon rising, offering all that we think, say or do, to God through the Sorrowful and Immaculate of Mary. Reading the above passage of Fr. Faber’s can be much like a “pep-talk”, an encouragement, a reminder or even a slap in face (now that will wake you up!) that sets a goal before us and points us in the direction in which we ought to go. You can, of course, choose any other passage or reading―but the main thing is that each day we arise ready for combat; ready to fight for a greater, better, more consistent, more fervent, more sincere, more powerful, more noble devotion to the wonderful Mother of God.
Our Lady Deserves It!
Have no doubts about it―Our Lady is interceding, praying, working for your salvation (and everyone’s salvation) in such an intense, fervent and consistent manner that we could not possibly imagine. She deserves some kind of recompense or payment for her unremitting efforts, don’t you think? At La Salette, Our Lady said: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this CONTINUALLY! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
Neglect of Devotion Leads to Damnation
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady said: “I am the most pure Mother and that I receive with maternal affection all those who, FERVENTLY AND DEVOUTLY, desire to be my children and servants in the Lord. By the love which He has given me, I shall embrace them with open arms and shall be their Intercessor and Advocate … God, in His kindness, wishes to offer this opportune remedy to men, in order that all of them may seek help and eternal salvation through my intercession … . In the beatific vision, I pray without ceasing for the salvation of my clients … It should teach them to seek my most kind and powerful intercession and to fear the judgments of the Most High; for in this lies an efficacious means of salvation … One of the reasons why men should call me Mother of Mercy, is the knowledge of my loving desire, that all be filled with the flood of grace and taste the sweetness of the Lord, as I myself. I call and invite all to come with me to the fountain of the Divinity. Let the most poor and afflicted approach, for, if they respond and follow me, I will offer them my protection and help, and I will intercede for them with my Son … If they obey me in this I offer them my protection, and I will constitute myself their Mother, to be their help and defense. And I will also promise them my continual and efficacious intercession with my most holy Son―if they do not displease me.
“For this purpose you should exhort them to a CONTINUAL LOVE AND DEVOTION TOWARD ME, engrafting it in their hearts! … Let therefore mortals beware, lest I, in the Day of Judgment, most justly refuse my intercession to those, who have foolishly despised and forgotten so many and so great favors and blessings, the results of the divine love of my Son and my own! What answer, what excuse or evasion shall those then bring forward, who have been so well informed, so much admonished and enlightened by the truth? How can these ungrateful and pertinacious mortals expect mercy of the most just and righteous God, when He has given them sufficient and opportune time, invited them so often, called them, waited and worked for them, and conferred upon them immense blessings, while they abused and wasted all of them in the pursuit of vanity? Fear this, the greatest of all blindnesses.
“What then are the thoughts of the angels and saints, and what are my thoughts in beholding this world and all the faithful in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness, when they have the Passion and Death of my divine Son before their eyes, and when they have me, for their Mother and Intercessor and His most pure life and mine for an example? I tell thee truly, only my intercession and the merits of His Son, which I offer to the eternal Father, can delay the punishment and placate His wrath, can retard the destruction of the world and the severe chastisement of the children of the Church, who know His will and fail to fulfill it. But I am much incensed to find so few who condole with me and try to console my Son in His sorrows. This hardness of heart will cause great confusion to them on the Day of Judgment; since they will then see, with irreparable sorrow, not only that they were ungrateful, but also inhuman and cruel toward my divine Son, toward me and toward themselves.
“All these blessings I procure for Christians from Heaven in our times; and if not all experience them, it is not because I do not solicit them, but because there are very few of the faithful who call to me WITH ALL THEIR HEART and who dispose themselves toward meriting and reaping the fruit of my maternal love. I would defend them all from the dragon, if all would call upon me and if all would fear the pernicious deceits of the devil, by which they are ensnared and entrapped to eternal damnation. In order that all may wake up to this frightful danger, I now give them this new reminder. I assure thee, that all those, who damn themselves―after the death of my Son and in spite of the benefits and favors procured by my intercession―will suffer greater torments in Hell than those who were lost before His coming and before I was in the world. Thus, those who from now on understand these mysteries and despise them to their loss, shall be subject to new and greater punishments … All those DEVOTED to me, who should call upon me at the hour of death, constituting me as their Advocate in memory of my desiring to imitate my Son in death and my happy Assumption into Heaven, shall be under my special protection in that hour, shall have me as a defense against the demons, as a help and protection, and shall be presented by me before the tribunal of His mercy and there experience my intercession ... The Most High still wishes to give generously of His infinite treasures and resolves to favor those who know how to gain my intercession before God. This is the secure way and the powerful means of advancing the Church, of improving the Catholic reigns, of spreading the Faith, of furthering the welfare of families and of states, of bringing the souls to grace and to the friendship of God.
“How much my intercession and the power I have in Heaven is worth has never been hidden in the Church, for I have demonstrated my ability to save all by so many thousands of miracles, prodigies and favors operated on behalf of those DEVOTED to me. With those who have called upon me in their needs I have always shown myself generous, and the Lord has shown Himself generous to them on my account. Yet, though many are the souls whom I have helped, they are few in comparison with those, whom I could and am willing to help.”
Need More References?
Just in case you need to see some more references before making up your mind to enter into Our Lady’s FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT, instead of remaining a mere PART-TIME EMPLOYEE, here are the testimonies of some great saints―some of them are even Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation.
● ST. ALBERT THE GREAT (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
● ST. BONAVENTURE (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
● ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
● ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
● ST. ANSELM (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
● ST. ANTONINE is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
Troubleshooting, Repairing, Improving Our Devotion
You may want to take some notes or copy and paste what is about to written. Without being overly dramatic about it, it may make a massive difference to your chances of salvation and avoidance of damnation. Not having come across anything as detailed and comprehensive elsewhere―either in books or online―it is a safe bet to say that you will not find something like this anywhere else―or only after many hours of fruitless searching―and that is very, very sad. For, in a certain sense, Heaven has placed salvation on a plate for us, but we stubbornly refuse to eat from that plate. We want cookies, cakes, chocolates and ice-cream, but not the healthy (eternal) life-giving fare that Heaven has served-up.
PART ONE ― THE THEORY
Firstly, Be Honest About Your Devotion―Or Lack Of It
When you are sick―and our devotion is most certainly sick, or, at least, not very fit and healthy―you go to a doctor. You diagnosis (what’s wrong with you) and prognosis (prediction of the probable outcome of a disease or disorder) largely depends upon your honesty with regard to your symptoms―meaning, that you should tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The clearer the picture that can be obtained of your disease, the more favorable will be the probable outcome of the treatment. If you PRETEND or LIE about aspects of your disease, then you severely risk and jeopardize the hopes of a cure. We live in a cosmetic world, a “make-believe” world, a superficial world that is paranoid about façades and appearances and not too concerned about what lies behind that façade. We show one face in public―at work, at school, in the parish, socially―and there is another face that is kept out of sight in the secrecy of the home. Being brutally honest with yourself may be painful now―but it could well avoid far greater pains in Purgatory, or, God forbid, in Hell. When buying a building, the state of the foundations is of equal or even greater importance than how nice and beautiful the house appears to be. Our Lord hints at that when He says:
“Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27).
With that said―let us now refresh our minds over that nebulous (vague, hazy, unclear) word called “devotion.” There is little point in talking about “devotion” if we do not know what it really means, or only have vague nebulous idea of its meaning! The dictionaries define “devotion” as “strong love, deep loyalty, or great enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause; religious fervor; the fact or state of being ardently dedicated and loyal; profound dedication; consecration; earnest attachment to a cause, person, or thing; the strong love that you show when you pay a lot of attention to someone or something; the loyalty that you show towards a person, job etc, especially by working hard for the person, or cause, or thing; ardent, often selfless affection and dedication, as to a person or principle.”
These are just some of the many varied definitions given by dictionaries. Does that sound like you? Is that how your relationship to God, or Our Lord, or Our Lady could be described? Of course not! There are many other things in your life that receive more devotion (more time, more thought and more effort) than Our Lady! You might, of course, be better than some people, but there will be many people who are better than you―which means there is not only room for improvement, but also a need for improvement. The further away you can move from the cliff-edge that falls into Hell, the better will be your chances of avoiding damnation and obtaining salvation. A brutal and honest appraisal of your current position is crucial to that. We all have a tendency to make mountains out of molehills when it comes to the deficiencies and failings of others―but we make molehills out of mountains when it comes to our own deficiencies and failures. It is not for nothing that St. Ignatius of Loyola insists, in his Spiritual Exercises, that we must know ourselves―saying, as many before and after him have said: “Know thyself!”
Growing Your Devotion, Growing in Devotion
If you think your “devotion” to Our Lady is sufficient and not deficient―then you should be encouraged to go and take another look! Take off those rose-tinted glasses, remove the smoke-and-mirrors, and look more closely! The following words of Our Lord shed a little light on the matter: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which we ought to do!’” Luke 17:10). Also, His words at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:1-2). God is never satisfied―He is always seeking more fruit, seeking more improvement, seeking more growth.
In this life, we never stop growing (or decreasing) in devotion, grace and sanctity―until the day we die. In our growth in devotion, grace and holiness, there is no “finishing-line” after a certain number of laps, or miles, or years―like the age of retirement is the “finishing-line” for a person’s working-life. Likewise, there is nobody who can say that they have reached peak―like climbing Mount Everest―for everyone is capable of growth while they live, even Our Lady, though “full of grace” at the Annunciation, never ceased to grow in devotion, grace and holiness throughout her whole life. At each stage of her life she “full of grace”―but since as she grew, her devotion, grace and holiness grew along with her―being a “greater fullness” with each passing day, week, month and year. It is even said of Our Lord: “And the Child grew and waxed strong, full of wisdom; and the grace of God was in Him … And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men” (Luke 2:40, 52). To “advance” in age, wisdom and grace, means to “grow” in age, wisdom and grace―our devotion should advance and grown with age.
Understanding the Growing Process
Nothing is mechanical about devotion. It all has to be willed, deliberately undertaken, and developed. The grace to be devoted is most certainly available and ever present, but its development depends on how generously you respond to it — on how much you want to respond to it. Yet, having said that, the process by which you sow or plant your devotion and then nurture and grow it, is not a haphazard, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants process, but a logical process that follows certain supernatural and spiritual rules. Anyone can plant a seed―but the successful outcome of it growing into a plant or a tree is greatly enhanced by some basic knowledge of gardening or horticulture.
Where does devotion come from? Well, if devotion is―as defined above―“strong love; deep loyalty; earnest attachment to a cause, person, or thing; great enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause; religious fervor; profound dedication; selfless affection”―then how does all that arise? It is no rocket-science, but common sense that tells us that we cannot love what we do not know; and that we cannot be attached to a person, thing or cause if we nothing about that person, thing or cause; and that there can be no profound dedication to an unknown person, thing or cause. Therefore, KNOWLEDGE MUST COME FIRST.
This is common sense, for when we speak of a person who is dedicated to gardening, or cooking, or DIY projects, or in following a sports team, or a sport, or a musical band, or a TV show, or fashion, or whatever it may be―it invariably and automatically means that they KNOW A LOT about the topic. You cannot love what you do not know! This is why St. Thérèse of Lisieux (of the Infant Jesus, a.k.a. The Little Flower) used to say that Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known. Fire needs a fuel for it to burn―devotion needs knowledge for its fuel. If your car has no gasoline―no matter how good a car it is, it is going nowhere until you supply it with gasoline. Likewise, your devotion is going nowhere without supplying it with the fuel of knowledge about the thing you are supposed to be devoted to! Hence, what St. Thérèse of Lisieux says of Jesus, can also be said of our devotion to Our Lady―Mary is so little loved, because she is so little known. We read so little about her, we talk so little about her, we think so little about her―it is hardly surprising that our devotion’s gas tank is empty!
Planting the Seeds of Devotion
Our Lord would often use agricultural and horticultural analogies to make a point. He speaks of good trees and bad trees; fig trees; vines and vineyards; various kinds of seeds―wheat, cockle, mustard seeds; fruits and harvests, etc. For the purpose of our devotion, let us begin with sowing of the seed. Our Lord speaks of the Word of God as being a seed. The Word of God gives knowledge of God, without which there can be no hope in God, nor love of God. The same is true of devotion to Mary―without words about Mary there can no knowledge of Mary, and, consequently, there can be no hope in Mary, nor love and devotion towards Mary.
This is why St. Louis de Montfort―in speaking of True Devotion to Mary―calls this devotion a “Tree of Life”, adding that “Jesus is everywhere and always the Fruit and the Son of Mary; and Mary is everywhere the veritable tree who bears the Fruit of life, and the true Mother who produces it.” He goes on to say: “the Holy Ghost compares us to (1) trees planted along the waters of grace, in the field of the Church, who ought to bring forth their fruit in their seasons; (2) to the branches of a vine of which Jesus Christ is the stock, and which must yield good grapes; (3) to a good land of which God is the Husbandman, in which the seed multiplies itself and brings forth thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold … One reason why so few souls come to the fullness of the age of Jesus Christ is that Mary is not sufficiently formed in their hearts. He who wishes to have the fruit well-ripened and well-formed must have the tree that produces it―he who wishes to have the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, must have the tree of life, which is Mary … If Mary, who is the tree of life, is well cultivated in our soul by fidelity to the practices of this devotion, she will bear her fruit in her own time, and her fruit is none other than Jesus Christ.”
St. Louis de Montfort continues: “How many devout souls do I see who seek Jesus Christ, some by one way or by one practice, and others by other ways and other practices; and oftentimes, after they have toiled much throughout the night, they say, ‘We have toiled all night, and have taken nothing!’ (Luke 5:5). We may say to them: ‘You have labored much and gained little’―Jesus is yet feeble in you! But by that immaculate way of Mary and that divine practice which I am teaching, we toil during the day, we toil in a holy place, we toil but little.”
Planting is Pointless Without Weeding
If you want to plant, you must first dig and prepare the soil by clearing the soil of large rocks and roots; remove the remnants of vegetable and other roots and vines; dig out any large perennial weeds. The same is true for planting the seeds of a devotion to Mary―you must remove such things that are incompatible with a devotion, which in simple terms means removing the worldly elements from your life and rocks of mortal sin and stones of venial sin, the weeds of various vices and bad habits you may have contracted over the years; and the perennial weeds of worldly television, worldly internet, worldly social media, worldly music, worldly fashions, worldly occupations, etc. Tough? Yes! But not as tough as having to spend time in the fires of Purgatory or, God forbid, Hell.
This weeding-out the world from the garden of our soul has been sufficiently well commanded in Holy Scripture: “He that received the seed [the words of God] among thorns, is he that heareth the word [of God], and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word [of God], and he becometh fruitless!” (Matthew 13:22). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Many try to plant the seeds of a devotion to Mary, without sufficiently weeding-out the world from their soul―thus, what Our Lord says above, inevitably happens: “He that received the seed [of devotion to Mary] among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word [of God], and he becometh fruitless!” (Matthew 13:22). St. Louis de Montfort also alludes to this when he writes: “As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §119). You could look at that passage as being varying degrees of weeding-out the world―from partial weeding all the way through varying degrees to a total weeding-out. Unless your heart is totally in Heaven, you risk not getting there―as Jesus says: “For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:21-24).
Don’t Presume Anything!
The above quote of St. Louis de Montfort― “Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?”―is eerily akin to the quotes from Holy Scripture, which say: “Many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16) and “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23) ― “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Thus we see that merely having the made the True Devotion Consecration to Mary is no guarantee of salvation, unless we not only plant the seed of the True Devotion―which St. Louis says is the point at which most people stop―but then we tend to, nurture, grow and render fruitful that tree of devotion―which, St. Louis indicates, is something that very few people actually do. That is the great danger―to start and not to finish. To think that planting is enough, without making the efforts to grow to maturity and perfection what we have planted. That is like a soul that thinks it enough to be merely baptized and goes no further. Or like the soul that merely learns a little of the Faith in religion classes while still at school, but neglects to continue studying the Faith once they have graduated. “Many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16) or many are called―like the Israelites in Egypt who were called to the Promised Land during the Exodus under Moses―but few make it―for only two families out of the original millions who had left Egypt, actually entered the Promised Land, the rest of the Israelites who entered were born on the way during the 40 years of wandering in desert which was imposed as a punishment by God for their refusal to enter the Promised Land at the first time of asking. Don’t forget that they were God’s very own CHOSEN PEOPLE―yet, as St. Paul writes: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea: And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. BUT WITH MOST OF THEM GOD WAS NOT WELL PLEASED―for they were overthrown in the desert!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5). “With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12).
Summary of the Theoretical Section
We have, in the above paragraphs, seen the need for a brutal honesty as regards the level of our devotion to Our Lady-stating that it is, most probably, a long way from being what Heaven expects it to be. We have also seen the inescapable and necessary link between Our Lady and salvation. It is not that she is the only path to salvation―for there is no salvation without Jesus Christ, Who is our Savior―but Mary is the path to Jesus Christ, the best, the most influential and most efficacious means of securing Christ’s favor and mercy. We have also looked at the meaning of the word “devotion” and seen that it a “cut-above-the-average”, a very high level of dedication, commitment, loyalty, enthusiasm, energy and love―meaning that it is not easily acquired. We also saw that devotion first requires knowledge―for we cannot love what we do not know, and we will not be devoted to what we do not love. Thus, devotion is a growth process, that begins with the planting of the seeds of knowledge, which should sprout into shoots of love and grow into a solid tree of devotion. We also saw, according to St. Louis de Montfort, that there are degrees of devotion―he lists four, without really describing them in any detail―but he does say that most people will not pass beyond the first degree, which is that of making the True Devotion Consecration to Mary―which they shelve with an attitude of “been there, seen it, done it.” This is largely insufficient, but he says very few enter the other three levels of devotion. We must see the devotion as a progressive growth―if or once we stop growing, then we compromise, risk and endanger our salvation.
In Part Two of this article, we shall deal with the practical aspects of devotion to Our Lady and trace a course from the planting of the initial seed of devotion to its higher levels―the stages that St. Louis says hardly anyone enters or attains.
Come on! Let’s be honest! What we call our “devotion” to Our Lady is really a half-hearted effort at best! Are you really going to insist that your “devotion” to Mary is the best you can offer? Are you saying that it cannot be improved? Are you insisting that it is firing on all cylinders and is “maxed-out” at 100%? Fr. Faber’s words, in his Preface to his translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, pretty much hit the nail on the head, and nail us to the floor without any excuse. We face so many problems, setbacks, sufferings and failures in our lives―yet the medicine or remedy stares us in the face and we ignore it, or take too little of it. As Faber says: “What is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is always invoking human respect [afraid of what other will think or say] … wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary so that even Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls, which might be saints, wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized! Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines!”
We should read that passage EVERY SINGLE DAY before or after we make our Morning Offering. For the uninitiated―the Morning Offering is not the early morning cup of coffee, or even breakfast―the Morning Offering is the prayer which we recite daily upon rising, offering all that we think, say or do, to God through the Sorrowful and Immaculate of Mary. Reading the above passage of Fr. Faber’s can be much like a “pep-talk”, an encouragement, a reminder or even a slap in face (now that will wake you up!) that sets a goal before us and points us in the direction in which we ought to go. You can, of course, choose any other passage or reading―but the main thing is that each day we arise ready for combat; ready to fight for a greater, better, more consistent, more fervent, more sincere, more powerful, more noble devotion to the wonderful Mother of God.
Our Lady Deserves It!
Have no doubts about it―Our Lady is interceding, praying, working for your salvation (and everyone’s salvation) in such an intense, fervent and consistent manner that we could not possibly imagine. She deserves some kind of recompense or payment for her unremitting efforts, don’t you think? At La Salette, Our Lady said: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this CONTINUALLY! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
Neglect of Devotion Leads to Damnation
To the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady said: “I am the most pure Mother and that I receive with maternal affection all those who, FERVENTLY AND DEVOUTLY, desire to be my children and servants in the Lord. By the love which He has given me, I shall embrace them with open arms and shall be their Intercessor and Advocate … God, in His kindness, wishes to offer this opportune remedy to men, in order that all of them may seek help and eternal salvation through my intercession … . In the beatific vision, I pray without ceasing for the salvation of my clients … It should teach them to seek my most kind and powerful intercession and to fear the judgments of the Most High; for in this lies an efficacious means of salvation … One of the reasons why men should call me Mother of Mercy, is the knowledge of my loving desire, that all be filled with the flood of grace and taste the sweetness of the Lord, as I myself. I call and invite all to come with me to the fountain of the Divinity. Let the most poor and afflicted approach, for, if they respond and follow me, I will offer them my protection and help, and I will intercede for them with my Son … If they obey me in this I offer them my protection, and I will constitute myself their Mother, to be their help and defense. And I will also promise them my continual and efficacious intercession with my most holy Son―if they do not displease me.
“For this purpose you should exhort them to a CONTINUAL LOVE AND DEVOTION TOWARD ME, engrafting it in their hearts! … Let therefore mortals beware, lest I, in the Day of Judgment, most justly refuse my intercession to those, who have foolishly despised and forgotten so many and so great favors and blessings, the results of the divine love of my Son and my own! What answer, what excuse or evasion shall those then bring forward, who have been so well informed, so much admonished and enlightened by the truth? How can these ungrateful and pertinacious mortals expect mercy of the most just and righteous God, when He has given them sufficient and opportune time, invited them so often, called them, waited and worked for them, and conferred upon them immense blessings, while they abused and wasted all of them in the pursuit of vanity? Fear this, the greatest of all blindnesses.
“What then are the thoughts of the angels and saints, and what are my thoughts in beholding this world and all the faithful in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness, when they have the Passion and Death of my divine Son before their eyes, and when they have me, for their Mother and Intercessor and His most pure life and mine for an example? I tell thee truly, only my intercession and the merits of His Son, which I offer to the eternal Father, can delay the punishment and placate His wrath, can retard the destruction of the world and the severe chastisement of the children of the Church, who know His will and fail to fulfill it. But I am much incensed to find so few who condole with me and try to console my Son in His sorrows. This hardness of heart will cause great confusion to them on the Day of Judgment; since they will then see, with irreparable sorrow, not only that they were ungrateful, but also inhuman and cruel toward my divine Son, toward me and toward themselves.
“All these blessings I procure for Christians from Heaven in our times; and if not all experience them, it is not because I do not solicit them, but because there are very few of the faithful who call to me WITH ALL THEIR HEART and who dispose themselves toward meriting and reaping the fruit of my maternal love. I would defend them all from the dragon, if all would call upon me and if all would fear the pernicious deceits of the devil, by which they are ensnared and entrapped to eternal damnation. In order that all may wake up to this frightful danger, I now give them this new reminder. I assure thee, that all those, who damn themselves―after the death of my Son and in spite of the benefits and favors procured by my intercession―will suffer greater torments in Hell than those who were lost before His coming and before I was in the world. Thus, those who from now on understand these mysteries and despise them to their loss, shall be subject to new and greater punishments … All those DEVOTED to me, who should call upon me at the hour of death, constituting me as their Advocate in memory of my desiring to imitate my Son in death and my happy Assumption into Heaven, shall be under my special protection in that hour, shall have me as a defense against the demons, as a help and protection, and shall be presented by me before the tribunal of His mercy and there experience my intercession ... The Most High still wishes to give generously of His infinite treasures and resolves to favor those who know how to gain my intercession before God. This is the secure way and the powerful means of advancing the Church, of improving the Catholic reigns, of spreading the Faith, of furthering the welfare of families and of states, of bringing the souls to grace and to the friendship of God.
“How much my intercession and the power I have in Heaven is worth has never been hidden in the Church, for I have demonstrated my ability to save all by so many thousands of miracles, prodigies and favors operated on behalf of those DEVOTED to me. With those who have called upon me in their needs I have always shown myself generous, and the Lord has shown Himself generous to them on my account. Yet, though many are the souls whom I have helped, they are few in comparison with those, whom I could and am willing to help.”
Need More References?
Just in case you need to see some more references before making up your mind to enter into Our Lady’s FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT, instead of remaining a mere PART-TIME EMPLOYEE, here are the testimonies of some great saints―some of them are even Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Our Blessed Mother holds such a place in the economy of our redemption that some do not hesitate to state that devotion to her is a necessary condition of salvation.
● ST. ALBERT THE GREAT (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.”
● ST. BONAVENTURE (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.”
● ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
● ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection.”
● ST. ANSELM (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”
● ST. ANTONINE is of the same opinion. He says: “As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified.”
Troubleshooting, Repairing, Improving Our Devotion
You may want to take some notes or copy and paste what is about to written. Without being overly dramatic about it, it may make a massive difference to your chances of salvation and avoidance of damnation. Not having come across anything as detailed and comprehensive elsewhere―either in books or online―it is a safe bet to say that you will not find something like this anywhere else―or only after many hours of fruitless searching―and that is very, very sad. For, in a certain sense, Heaven has placed salvation on a plate for us, but we stubbornly refuse to eat from that plate. We want cookies, cakes, chocolates and ice-cream, but not the healthy (eternal) life-giving fare that Heaven has served-up.
PART ONE ― THE THEORY
Firstly, Be Honest About Your Devotion―Or Lack Of It
When you are sick―and our devotion is most certainly sick, or, at least, not very fit and healthy―you go to a doctor. You diagnosis (what’s wrong with you) and prognosis (prediction of the probable outcome of a disease or disorder) largely depends upon your honesty with regard to your symptoms―meaning, that you should tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The clearer the picture that can be obtained of your disease, the more favorable will be the probable outcome of the treatment. If you PRETEND or LIE about aspects of your disease, then you severely risk and jeopardize the hopes of a cure. We live in a cosmetic world, a “make-believe” world, a superficial world that is paranoid about façades and appearances and not too concerned about what lies behind that façade. We show one face in public―at work, at school, in the parish, socially―and there is another face that is kept out of sight in the secrecy of the home. Being brutally honest with yourself may be painful now―but it could well avoid far greater pains in Purgatory, or, God forbid, in Hell. When buying a building, the state of the foundations is of equal or even greater importance than how nice and beautiful the house appears to be. Our Lord hints at that when He says:
“Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27).
With that said―let us now refresh our minds over that nebulous (vague, hazy, unclear) word called “devotion.” There is little point in talking about “devotion” if we do not know what it really means, or only have vague nebulous idea of its meaning! The dictionaries define “devotion” as “strong love, deep loyalty, or great enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause; religious fervor; the fact or state of being ardently dedicated and loyal; profound dedication; consecration; earnest attachment to a cause, person, or thing; the strong love that you show when you pay a lot of attention to someone or something; the loyalty that you show towards a person, job etc, especially by working hard for the person, or cause, or thing; ardent, often selfless affection and dedication, as to a person or principle.”
These are just some of the many varied definitions given by dictionaries. Does that sound like you? Is that how your relationship to God, or Our Lord, or Our Lady could be described? Of course not! There are many other things in your life that receive more devotion (more time, more thought and more effort) than Our Lady! You might, of course, be better than some people, but there will be many people who are better than you―which means there is not only room for improvement, but also a need for improvement. The further away you can move from the cliff-edge that falls into Hell, the better will be your chances of avoiding damnation and obtaining salvation. A brutal and honest appraisal of your current position is crucial to that. We all have a tendency to make mountains out of molehills when it comes to the deficiencies and failings of others―but we make molehills out of mountains when it comes to our own deficiencies and failures. It is not for nothing that St. Ignatius of Loyola insists, in his Spiritual Exercises, that we must know ourselves―saying, as many before and after him have said: “Know thyself!”
Growing Your Devotion, Growing in Devotion
If you think your “devotion” to Our Lady is sufficient and not deficient―then you should be encouraged to go and take another look! Take off those rose-tinted glasses, remove the smoke-and-mirrors, and look more closely! The following words of Our Lord shed a little light on the matter: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which we ought to do!’” Luke 17:10). Also, His words at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:1-2). God is never satisfied―He is always seeking more fruit, seeking more improvement, seeking more growth.
In this life, we never stop growing (or decreasing) in devotion, grace and sanctity―until the day we die. In our growth in devotion, grace and holiness, there is no “finishing-line” after a certain number of laps, or miles, or years―like the age of retirement is the “finishing-line” for a person’s working-life. Likewise, there is nobody who can say that they have reached peak―like climbing Mount Everest―for everyone is capable of growth while they live, even Our Lady, though “full of grace” at the Annunciation, never ceased to grow in devotion, grace and holiness throughout her whole life. At each stage of her life she “full of grace”―but since as she grew, her devotion, grace and holiness grew along with her―being a “greater fullness” with each passing day, week, month and year. It is even said of Our Lord: “And the Child grew and waxed strong, full of wisdom; and the grace of God was in Him … And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men” (Luke 2:40, 52). To “advance” in age, wisdom and grace, means to “grow” in age, wisdom and grace―our devotion should advance and grown with age.
Understanding the Growing Process
Nothing is mechanical about devotion. It all has to be willed, deliberately undertaken, and developed. The grace to be devoted is most certainly available and ever present, but its development depends on how generously you respond to it — on how much you want to respond to it. Yet, having said that, the process by which you sow or plant your devotion and then nurture and grow it, is not a haphazard, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants process, but a logical process that follows certain supernatural and spiritual rules. Anyone can plant a seed―but the successful outcome of it growing into a plant or a tree is greatly enhanced by some basic knowledge of gardening or horticulture.
Where does devotion come from? Well, if devotion is―as defined above―“strong love; deep loyalty; earnest attachment to a cause, person, or thing; great enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause; religious fervor; profound dedication; selfless affection”―then how does all that arise? It is no rocket-science, but common sense that tells us that we cannot love what we do not know; and that we cannot be attached to a person, thing or cause if we nothing about that person, thing or cause; and that there can be no profound dedication to an unknown person, thing or cause. Therefore, KNOWLEDGE MUST COME FIRST.
This is common sense, for when we speak of a person who is dedicated to gardening, or cooking, or DIY projects, or in following a sports team, or a sport, or a musical band, or a TV show, or fashion, or whatever it may be―it invariably and automatically means that they KNOW A LOT about the topic. You cannot love what you do not know! This is why St. Thérèse of Lisieux (of the Infant Jesus, a.k.a. The Little Flower) used to say that Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known. Fire needs a fuel for it to burn―devotion needs knowledge for its fuel. If your car has no gasoline―no matter how good a car it is, it is going nowhere until you supply it with gasoline. Likewise, your devotion is going nowhere without supplying it with the fuel of knowledge about the thing you are supposed to be devoted to! Hence, what St. Thérèse of Lisieux says of Jesus, can also be said of our devotion to Our Lady―Mary is so little loved, because she is so little known. We read so little about her, we talk so little about her, we think so little about her―it is hardly surprising that our devotion’s gas tank is empty!
Planting the Seeds of Devotion
Our Lord would often use agricultural and horticultural analogies to make a point. He speaks of good trees and bad trees; fig trees; vines and vineyards; various kinds of seeds―wheat, cockle, mustard seeds; fruits and harvests, etc. For the purpose of our devotion, let us begin with sowing of the seed. Our Lord speaks of the Word of God as being a seed. The Word of God gives knowledge of God, without which there can be no hope in God, nor love of God. The same is true of devotion to Mary―without words about Mary there can no knowledge of Mary, and, consequently, there can be no hope in Mary, nor love and devotion towards Mary.
This is why St. Louis de Montfort―in speaking of True Devotion to Mary―calls this devotion a “Tree of Life”, adding that “Jesus is everywhere and always the Fruit and the Son of Mary; and Mary is everywhere the veritable tree who bears the Fruit of life, and the true Mother who produces it.” He goes on to say: “the Holy Ghost compares us to (1) trees planted along the waters of grace, in the field of the Church, who ought to bring forth their fruit in their seasons; (2) to the branches of a vine of which Jesus Christ is the stock, and which must yield good grapes; (3) to a good land of which God is the Husbandman, in which the seed multiplies itself and brings forth thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold … One reason why so few souls come to the fullness of the age of Jesus Christ is that Mary is not sufficiently formed in their hearts. He who wishes to have the fruit well-ripened and well-formed must have the tree that produces it―he who wishes to have the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, must have the tree of life, which is Mary … If Mary, who is the tree of life, is well cultivated in our soul by fidelity to the practices of this devotion, she will bear her fruit in her own time, and her fruit is none other than Jesus Christ.”
St. Louis de Montfort continues: “How many devout souls do I see who seek Jesus Christ, some by one way or by one practice, and others by other ways and other practices; and oftentimes, after they have toiled much throughout the night, they say, ‘We have toiled all night, and have taken nothing!’ (Luke 5:5). We may say to them: ‘You have labored much and gained little’―Jesus is yet feeble in you! But by that immaculate way of Mary and that divine practice which I am teaching, we toil during the day, we toil in a holy place, we toil but little.”
Planting is Pointless Without Weeding
If you want to plant, you must first dig and prepare the soil by clearing the soil of large rocks and roots; remove the remnants of vegetable and other roots and vines; dig out any large perennial weeds. The same is true for planting the seeds of a devotion to Mary―you must remove such things that are incompatible with a devotion, which in simple terms means removing the worldly elements from your life and rocks of mortal sin and stones of venial sin, the weeds of various vices and bad habits you may have contracted over the years; and the perennial weeds of worldly television, worldly internet, worldly social media, worldly music, worldly fashions, worldly occupations, etc. Tough? Yes! But not as tough as having to spend time in the fires of Purgatory or, God forbid, Hell.
This weeding-out the world from the garden of our soul has been sufficiently well commanded in Holy Scripture: “He that received the seed [the words of God] among thorns, is he that heareth the word [of God], and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word [of God], and he becometh fruitless!” (Matthew 13:22). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Many try to plant the seeds of a devotion to Mary, without sufficiently weeding-out the world from their soul―thus, what Our Lord says above, inevitably happens: “He that received the seed [of devotion to Mary] among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word [of God], and he becometh fruitless!” (Matthew 13:22). St. Louis de Montfort also alludes to this when he writes: “As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §119). You could look at that passage as being varying degrees of weeding-out the world―from partial weeding all the way through varying degrees to a total weeding-out. Unless your heart is totally in Heaven, you risk not getting there―as Jesus says: “For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:21-24).
Don’t Presume Anything!
The above quote of St. Louis de Montfort― “Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state?”―is eerily akin to the quotes from Holy Scripture, which say: “Many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16) and “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23) ― “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Thus we see that merely having the made the True Devotion Consecration to Mary is no guarantee of salvation, unless we not only plant the seed of the True Devotion―which St. Louis says is the point at which most people stop―but then we tend to, nurture, grow and render fruitful that tree of devotion―which, St. Louis indicates, is something that very few people actually do. That is the great danger―to start and not to finish. To think that planting is enough, without making the efforts to grow to maturity and perfection what we have planted. That is like a soul that thinks it enough to be merely baptized and goes no further. Or like the soul that merely learns a little of the Faith in religion classes while still at school, but neglects to continue studying the Faith once they have graduated. “Many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16) or many are called―like the Israelites in Egypt who were called to the Promised Land during the Exodus under Moses―but few make it―for only two families out of the original millions who had left Egypt, actually entered the Promised Land, the rest of the Israelites who entered were born on the way during the 40 years of wandering in desert which was imposed as a punishment by God for their refusal to enter the Promised Land at the first time of asking. Don’t forget that they were God’s very own CHOSEN PEOPLE―yet, as St. Paul writes: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea: And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. BUT WITH MOST OF THEM GOD WAS NOT WELL PLEASED―for they were overthrown in the desert!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5). “With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12).
Summary of the Theoretical Section
We have, in the above paragraphs, seen the need for a brutal honesty as regards the level of our devotion to Our Lady-stating that it is, most probably, a long way from being what Heaven expects it to be. We have also seen the inescapable and necessary link between Our Lady and salvation. It is not that she is the only path to salvation―for there is no salvation without Jesus Christ, Who is our Savior―but Mary is the path to Jesus Christ, the best, the most influential and most efficacious means of securing Christ’s favor and mercy. We have also looked at the meaning of the word “devotion” and seen that it a “cut-above-the-average”, a very high level of dedication, commitment, loyalty, enthusiasm, energy and love―meaning that it is not easily acquired. We also saw that devotion first requires knowledge―for we cannot love what we do not know, and we will not be devoted to what we do not love. Thus, devotion is a growth process, that begins with the planting of the seeds of knowledge, which should sprout into shoots of love and grow into a solid tree of devotion. We also saw, according to St. Louis de Montfort, that there are degrees of devotion―he lists four, without really describing them in any detail―but he does say that most people will not pass beyond the first degree, which is that of making the True Devotion Consecration to Mary―which they shelve with an attitude of “been there, seen it, done it.” This is largely insufficient, but he says very few enter the other three levels of devotion. We must see the devotion as a progressive growth―if or once we stop growing, then we compromise, risk and endanger our salvation.
In Part Two of this article, we shall deal with the practical aspects of devotion to Our Lady and trace a course from the planting of the initial seed of devotion to its higher levels―the stages that St. Louis says hardly anyone enters or attains.
Wednesday August 21st
Article 11
Shocking Hearts Back to Life!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 11
Shocking Hearts Back to Life!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Doctor! Doctor! Please Tell I’m Okay!
People do not want to be sick. They are downright terrified of some diseases―such as the many various forms of cancer―for they look upon those diseases as a “death sentence.” There are other diseases―such as many various forms of paralysis―that they regard as “sentences to life imprisonment” since they are confined and restricted in their movements.
There are some persons who, out of fear of finding out that they have such a disease, refuse or delay in going to see a doctor―for the doctor might just confirm their worst fears. Others who do go to the doctor, might hide some of their symptoms or even lie about their intensity or frequency, in the crazy hope that the doctor might diagnose them with a lesser disease or ailment―as though, by magic, the disease will change from one kind to another kind just because the doctor said so!
Some persons nervously say to the doctor: “Doctor! Doctor! Please tell me it’s nothing serious!” Well, if you are begging him to tell you that―and especially because you politely add the word “please”―the doctor COULD comply with your wishes and hopes and tell that it is nothing serious, just to please you! But he would be lying to you―he would simply be telling you what you want to hear and refrain from telling you the truth.
Fr. Faber, in his book, Growth in Holiness, writing of the lukewarm souls―which he thinks is the state of most Catholic souls in the world―says that we “shut our eyes and have them always shut, that we may not see what we would like to hide … In the first place conscience becomes untrue. The body does not move firmly and in a straight line in the dark. So the conscience also must see in order to keep its balance. But if we falsify the truth and still believe the falsified ‘truth’, what is the consequence but error and corruption everywhere? If the light that is in us be darkness, says Our Lord, how great is that darkness! So first there comes a false conscience … This leads us with uncommon tact to avoid anything which will restore animation to the conscience. This makes us think that it would be best to remain under chloroform for life. It makes us shrink from anything like vigorous spiritual direction. We suspect we shall be awakened, and driven, and made too good. Discretion― that is, the discretion of the blind conscience―tells us this shrinking is wisdom and sagacity. We must, it says, be moderate in everything―but of all things amazingly moderate in the love of God? So in hearing sermons, reading books, cultivating acquaintances, patronizing works of mercy―it draws back from everything that is likely to come too near, or hit too hard.”
St. John Vianney says something similar in one of his sermons: “But we shall proceed further and you will see the embarrassment of these poor people who want to follow the world without — outwardly at any rate — leaving God. Here is Easter approaching. They must go to Confession. It is not, of course, that they want to go or that they feel any urge or need to receive the Sacrament of Penance. They would be only too pleased if Easter came around about once every thirty years. But their parents still retain the exterior practice of religion. They will be happy if their children go to the altar, and they keep urging them, then, to go to Confession. In this, of course, they make a mistake. If only they would just pray for them and not torment them into committing sacrileges. So to rid themselves of the importunity of their parents, to keep up appearances, these people will get together to find out who is the best confessor to try for absolution for the first or second time. “Where shall we go?” says one: “It is of no use going to our parish priest; he is too strict. We will have to try to find So-and-So. He let this one and that one go through, and they are worse than we are. We have done no more harm than they have!” That is how many of these poor blind people behave. “Father,” they will say to the priest, “I am going to Confession to you because our parish priest is too demanding. He wants to make us promise things which we cannot hold to! He would have us all saints, and that is not possible in the world. He would want us never to go to dances, nor to frequent taverns or amusements. If someone has a bad habit, he will not give Absolution until the habit has been given up completely. If we had to do all that we should never make our Easter duty at all. My parents, who are very religious, are always after me to make my Easter duty. I will do all I can. But no one can say that he will never return to these amusements, since he never knows when he is going to encounter them.”
“Ah!” says the confessor, quite deceived by this sincere sounding talk, “I think your parish priest is perhaps a little demanding. Make your act of contrition, and I will give you Absolution. Try to be good now!”
That is to say: Bow your head; you are going to trample in the adorable Blood of Jesus Christ; you are going to sell your God like Judas sold Him to His executioners, and tomorrow you will go to Holy Communion, where you will proceed to crucify Him! What horror! What abomination! Go on, vile Judas, go to the holy table, go and give death to your God and your Savior! Let your conscience cry out, only try to stifle its remorse as much as you can! But I am going too far, my brethren. Let us leave these poor blind creatures in their gloom.” (St. John Vianney, Sermons).
What St. John Vianney says above is just as true today―people will seek out, if possible, the “easiest” or “less strict” or “easy-going” priest for Confession―especially for the really big sins. They want the “least demanding” priest who will “understand” them and “excuse them” and give them the “least penance” and who will not demand that the stop sinning, and stop putting themselves in occasions of sin. The world is full of people who are ready to tell you what you want to hear and who avoid the truth. We, too, prefer to hear lies in the form of flattery, rather than be told the truth. It is an age-old problem. We like to think we are what we are not―we hate to be told what we are really like. That is the whole principle behind the cosmetics industry―making people look what they really are not like, papering over the cracks and making something look more beautiful and attractive than what it really is like in nature. The same is true for our spiritual life. Many people will practice cosmetics in Confession―putting ‘make-up’ over their sins and making them look less ugly than what they really are. Likewise with our devotion or virtues―we put on ‘make-up’ to enhance the appearance, trying to make the mediocre into the magnificent.
Blind to the Truth―Believing and Living a Lie
We even see it shown in Fairy Tales―as in the case of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, otherwise known as “The King With No Clothes” or “The Invisible Suit of Clothes”―written by Hans Christian Andersen―where the emperor or king refuses to accept reality and believes and lives a lie. This Fairy Tale of old is a reality at present. It is well worth posting the entire story, for, in reality, we can our present day situation shine out from it. If your mind is sharp enough and you can do some mental-gymnastics, then you will easily transform the secular elements of this Fairy Tale with spiritual elements―such as seeing in the “suit of clothes” things like a devotion to Mary, or sanctifying grace, or charity, etc.
The Emperor’s New Clothes―The King With No Clothes―The Invisible Suit of Clothes
Many years ago there was an Emperor so exceedingly fond of new clothes that he spent all his money on being well dressed. He cared nothing about reviewing his soldiers, going to the theatre, or going for a ride in his carriage, except to show off his new clothes. He had a coat for every hour of the day, and instead of saying, as one might, about any other ruler, “The King’s in council,” here they always said. “The Emperor’s in his dressing room.”
In the great city where he lived, life was always joyful and entertaining. Every day many strangers came to town, and among them one day came two swindlers. They let it be known they were weavers, and they said they could weave the most magnificent fabrics imaginable. Not only were their colors and patterns uncommonly fine, but clothes made of this cloth had a wonderful way of becoming invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office, or who was unusually stupid.
“Those would be just the clothes for me,” thought the Emperor. “If I wore them I would be able to discover which men in my empire are unfit for their posts. And I could tell the wise men from the fools. Yes, I certainly must get some of the stuff woven for me right away.” He paid the two swindlers a large sum of money to start work at once.
They set up two looms and pretended to weave, though there was nothing on the looms. All the finest silk and the purest old thread which they demanded went into their traveling bags, while they worked the empty looms far into the night.
“I’d like to know how those weavers are getting on with the cloth,” the Emperor thought, but he felt slightly uncomfortable when he remembered that those who were unfit for their position would not be able to see the fabric. It couldn’t have been that he doubted himself, yet he thought he’d rather send someone else to see how things were going. The whole town knew about the cloth’s peculiar power, and all were impatient to find out how stupid their neighbors were.
“I’ll send my honest old minister to the weavers,” the Emperor decided. “He’ll be the best one to tell me how the material looks, for he’s a sensible man and no one does his duty better.”
So the honest old minister went to the room where the two swindlers sat working away at their empty looms.
“Heaven help me!” he thought as his eyes flew wide open, “I can’t see anything at all!” But he did not say so.
Both the swindlers begged him to be so kind as to come near to approve the excellent pattern, the beautiful colors. They pointed to the empty looms, and the poor old minister stared as hard as he dared. He couldn’t see anything, because there was nothing to see. “Heaven have mercy!” he thought. “Can it be that I’m a fool? I’d have never guessed it, and not a soul must know. Am I unfit to be the minister? It would never do to let on that I can’t see the cloth.”
“Don’t hesitate to tell us what you think of it,” said one of the weavers.
“Oh, it’s beautiful! It’s enchanting!” The old minister peered through his spectacles. “Such a pattern, what colors! I’ll be sure to tell the Emperor how delighted I am with it.”
“We’re pleased to hear that!” the swindlers said. They proceeded to name all the colors and to explain the intricate pattern. The old minister paid the closest attention, so that he could tell it all to the Emperor. And so he did.
The swindlers at once asked for more money, more silk and gold thread, to get on with the weaving. But it all went into their pockets. Not a thread went into the looms, though they worked at their weaving as hard as ever.
The Emperor presently sent another trustworthy official to see how the work progressed and how soon it would be ready. The same thing happened to him that had happened to the minister. He looked and he looked, but as there was nothing to see in the looms he couldn’t see anything.
“Isn’t it a beautiful piece of goods?” the swindlers asked him, as they displayed and described their imaginary pattern.
“I know I’m not stupid,” the man thought, “so it must be that I’m unworthy of my good office. That’s strange. I mustn’t let anyone find it out, though.” So he praised the material he did not see. He declared he was delighted with the beautiful colors and the exquisite pattern. To the Emperor he said, “It held me spellbound!”
All the town was talking of this splendid cloth, and the Emperor wanted to see it for himself while it was still in the looms. Attended by a band of chosen men, among whom were his two old trusted officials―the ones who had been to the weavers―he set out to see the two swindlers. He found them weaving with might and main, but without a thread in their looms.
“Magnificent!” said the two officials already duped. “Just look, Your Majesty, what colors! What a design!” They pointed to the empty looms, each supposing that the others could see the stuff.
“What’s this?” thought the Emperor. “I can’t see anything. This is terrible! Am I a fool? Am I unfit to be the Emperor? What a thing to happen to me of all people!” … “Oh! It’s very pretty!” he said. “It has my highest approval!” And he nodded approbation at the empty loom. Nothing could make him say that he couldn’t see anything.
His whole retinue stared and stared. One saw no more than another, but they all joined the Emperor in exclaiming, “Oh! It’s very pretty!” and they advised him to wear clothes made of this wonderful cloth especially for the great procession he was soon to lead. “Magnificent! Excellent! Unsurpassed!” were words bandied from mouth to mouth, and everyone did his best to seem well pleased. The Emperor gave each of the swindlers a cross to wear in his buttonhole, and the title of “Sir Weaver.”
Before the procession the swindlers sat up all night and burned more than six candles, to show how busy they were finishing the Emperor’s new clothes. They pretended to take the cloth off the loom. They made cuts in the air with huge scissors. And at last they said, “Now the Emperor’s new clothes are ready for him!”
Then the Emperor himself came with his noblest noblemen, and the swindlers each raised an arm as if they were holding something. They said, “These are the trousers, here’s the coat, and this is the mantle,” naming each garment. “All of them are as light as a spider web. One would almost think he had nothing on, but that’s what makes them so fine.”
“Exactly!” all the noblemen agreed, though they could see nothing, for there was nothing to see.
“If Your Imperial Majesty will condescend to take your clothes off,” said the swindlers, “we will help you on with your new ones here in front of the long mirror.”
The Emperor undressed, and the swindlers pretended to put his new clothes on him, one garment after another. They took him around the waist and seemed to be fastening something ―that was his train―as the Emperor turned round and round before the looking glass.
“How well Your Majesty’s new clothes look! Aren’t they becoming!” He heard on all sides, “That pattern, so perfect! Those colors, so suitable! It is a magnificent outfit.”
Then the minister of public processions announced: “Your Majesty’s canopy is waiting outside!”
“Well, I’m supposed to be ready,” the Emperor said, and turned again for one last look in the mirror. “It is a remarkable fit, isn’t it?” He seemed to regard his costume with the greatest interest.
The noblemen who were to carry his train stooped low and reached for the floor as if they were picking up his mantle. Then they pretended to lift and hold it high. They didn’t dare admit they had nothing to hold.
So off went the Emperor in procession under his splendid canopy. Everyone in the streets and the windows said, “Oh, how fine are the Emperor’s new clothes! Don’t they fit him to perfection? And see his long train!” Nobody would confess that he couldn’t see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position, or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success.
“But he hasn’t got anything on!” a little child said.
“Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?” said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, “He hasn’t anything on! A child says he hasn’t anything on!”
“But he HASN’T got anything on!” the whole town cried out at last.
The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, “This procession has got to go on!” So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn’t there at all.
Applying the above Fairy Tale to the spiritual life, in like manner, there are so many persons who imagine they are clothed with sanctifying grace, clothed with many ‘virtues’, that they are in God’s ‘good books’, that they are ‘good’ Catholics, that they have a great devotion to Mary, that they are very charitable, that they pray sufficiently well, that they are definitely on the road to Heaven, etc. ― but the reality is that in many cases they are NAKED! As Holy Scripture says―with words that are perfect fit, or a perfect suit of clothes for the above Fairy Tale, but which are not a “Fairy Tale” but a “Faith Truth”― “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and BLIND, and NAKED! I counsel thee to buy of Me gold, fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest BE CLOTHED IN WHITE GARMENTS, AND THAT THE SHAME OF THY NAKEDNESS MAY NOT APPEAR; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou MAYEST SEE. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-29).
See the Truth―Don't Believe the Devilish Dream Doctor
Better we see our true state of soul now, than live a dream and have to wake up to reality when we die! The devil, the father of lies, is the “wicked weaver” who has woven a web of lies―and a world wide web of largely electronic lies and surveillance―that has us living in an illusion, a dream, a virtual reality that is far from reality. The devil will always tell us we are spiritually healthy when we are spiritually sick. He will tell us that we are in a state of grace when we are in a state of mortal sin. He will tell us that this or that mortal sin is only venial, and that this or that venial sin is not even a sin at tall, at worst, it is only an imperfection. He will tell that our devotion to Our Lady is good enough, when in fact it is lukewarm and often false―full of self-interest, presumption, half-heartedness, inconsistency and perhaps even hypocrisy. He will tell us we have nothing to worry about―when in actual fact we have lots to worry about. He tells that our few minutes of time donated to God is more than sufficient―when it is grossly insufficient. And so on and so forth. The devil is the Doctor of Lies, who will tell his sick patients (stooges) all they want to hear but will not tell them the truth. That is how and why devotion to Our Lady is so feeble and poor―as Fr. Faber writes:
But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized! Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines!”
Honest Appraisal―Shocking Truth
We have been offered the remedy or the medicine for our age―but we refuse to take it. At best, we might take a bit of it for a little while―but we are not taking the remedy or medicine in the recommended dosage. That is why the world is as sick as it is―that is why we are as weak as we are! Our Lady complained of this to Sr. Lucia of Fatima, who later, in an interview with Fr. Fuentes on December 26th, 1957, revealed that “the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
While there SHOULD BE―throughout not just the Catholic world, but the ENTIRE world―an IMMENSE INCREASE in devotion to Our Lady, and, as Fr. Faber says, “nothing short of an immense one!”, instead, there is an IMMENSE DECREASE in devotion to Our Lady. In all honesty, what most people think is a “devotion” on their part, is what God calls “neither cold, nor hot, and because thou art lukewarm, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Shocking words for a shocking state! Yes, things are in a shocking state when only around 2% of American Catholics say the Rosary daily when Our Lady has repeatedly said at Fatima and Akita: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary … Say the Rosary every day … Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … He must say many Rosaries! … Continue to pray the Rosary every day … Recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary … etc. Sister Lucia of Fatima adds: “Our Lady told me―as well as my cousins―that God is giving two last remedies to the world: (1) the Holy Rosary and (2) devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
On Our Lady appeared to Sr. Lucia in the convent she had entered on December 10th, 1925, and said: “See, my daughter, my Heart encircled by thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Do you, at least, strive to console me. Tell them that I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, in order to make reparation to me, on the First Saturday of five successive months, go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour, meditating on the ... mysteries of the Rosary.”
How much First Saturday devotions do you see being promoted, organized and attended in the modern-day parishes today? There is a shocking and sickening silence in many parishes―which reflects what Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima!” What should be a universal and almost obligatory devotion and exercise, is left to personal whims and wishes of whoever happens to be the parish priest at the time―with the result that the First Saturday devotions are increasingly falling by the wayside just as souls are increasingly falling into Hell.
Time To Wake-Up
Perhaps we need a vision of Hell to shock us―like a person whose heart has stopped, needs an electric shock to shock them back to life. We need a helluva shock, a shock of Hell, to shock our dying or dead spiritual life back into action! Many of the saints have seen visions of Hell, many have been taken in spirit to Hell or Purgatory―and, for all of them, it has been a profitable experience. In Fr. Schouppe’s book, Purgatory Explained, we read St. Bede’s account of one such person in England, who lived around the time St. Bede and in the area Bede lived. Here is the chapter from that book:
If the pain of loss [of God] makes but a feeble impression upon us, it is far different with the pain of sense; the torment of fire, the torture of a sharp and intense cold, affrights our sensibility. This is why Divine Mercy, wishing to excite a holy fear in our souls, speaks but little of the pain of loss, but we are continually shown the fire, the cold, and other torments, which constitute the pain of sense.
This is what we see in the Gospel, and in particular revelations, by which God is pleased to manifest to His servants from time to time the mysteries of the other life. Let us mention one of these revelations. In the first place, let us see what the pious and learned Cardinal Bellarmine quotes from the Venerable Bede. England has been witness in our own days, writes Bede, to a singular prodigy, which may be compared to the miracles of the first ages of the Church.
To excite the living to fear the death of the soul, God permitted that a man, after having slept the sleep of death, should return to life and reveal what he had seen in the other world. The frightful, unheard-of details which he relates, and his life of extraordinary penance, which corresponded with his words, produced a lively impression throughout the country. I will now resume the principal circumstances of this history.
There was in Northumberland a man named Drithelm, who, with his family, led a most Christian life. He fell sick, and his malady increasing day by day, he was soon reduced to extremity, and died, to the great desolation and grief of his wife and children. The latter passed the night in tears by the remains, but the following day, before his interment, they saw him suddenly return to life, arise, and place himself in a sitting posture. At this sight they were seized with such fear that they all took to flight, with the exception of the wife, who, trembling, remained alone with her risen husband.
He reassured her immediately: “Fear not,” he said; “it is God who restores to me my life; He wishes to show in my person a man raised from the dead. I have yet long to live upon Earth, but my new life will be very different from the one I led heretofore.” Then he arose full of health, went straight to the chapel or church of the place, and there remained long in prayer. He returned home only to take leave of those who had been dear to him upon Earth, to whom he declared that he would live only to prepare himself for death, and advised them to do likewise. Then, having divided his property into three parts, he gave one to his children, another to his wife, and reserved the third part to give in alms. When he had distributed all to the poor, and had reduced himself to extreme indigence, he went and knocked at the door of a monastery, and begged the Abbot to receive him as a penitent Religious, who would be a servant to all the others.
The Abbot gave him a retired cell, which he occupied for the rest of his life. Three exercises divided his time prayer, the hardest labor, and extraordinary penances. The most rigorous fasts he accounted as nothing. In winter he was seen to plunge himself into frozen water, and remain there for hours and hours in prayer, whilst he recited the whole Psalter of David. The mortified life of Drithelm, his downcast eyes, even his features, indicated a soul struck with fear of the judgments of God. He kept a perpetual silence, but on being pressed to relate, for the edification of others, what God had manifested to him after his death, he thus described his vision:
“On leaving my body, I was received by a benevolent person, who took me under his guidance. His face was brilliant, and he appeared surrounded with light. He arrived at a large deep valley of immense extent, all fire on one side, all ice and snow on the other; on the one hand braziers and caldrons of flame, on the other the most intense cold and the blast of a glacial wind. This mysterious valley was filled with innumerable souls, which, tossed as by a furious tempest, threw themselves from one side to the other. When they could no longer endure the violence of the fire, they sought relief amidst the ice and snow; but finding only a new torture, they cast themselves again into the midst of the flames. I contemplated in a stupor these continual vicissitudes of horrible torments, and as far as my sight could extend, I saw nothing but a multitude of souls which suffered with out ever having repose. Their very aspect inspired me with fear. I thought at first that I saw Hell; but my guide, who walked before me, turned to me and said, No; this is not, as you think, the Hell of the reprobate. Do you know, he continued, what place this is? No, I answered. Know, he resumed, that this valley, where you see so much fire and so much ice, is the place where the souls of those are punished who, during life, have neglected to confess their sins, and who have deferred their conversion to the end. Thanks to a special mercy of God, they have had the happiness of sincerely repenting before death, of confessing and detesting their sins. This is why they are not damned, and on the great day of judgment will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Several of them will obtain their deliverance before that time, by the merits of prayers, alms, and fasts, offered in their favor by the living, and especially in virtue of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for their relief.“
Such was the recital of Drithelm. When asked why he so rudely treated his body, why he plunged himself into frozen water, he replied that he had seen other torments, and cold of another kind. If his brethren expressed astonishment that he could endure these extraordinary austerities, “I have seen,” said he, “penances still more astonishing.” To the day when it pleased God to call him to Himself, he ceased not to afflict his body, and although broken down with age, he would accept no alleviation.
This event produced a deep sensation in England; a great number of sinners, touched by the words of Drithelm, and struck by the austerity of his life, became sincerely converted. This fact, adds St. Robert Cardinal Bellarmine, appears to me of incontestable truth, since, besides being conformable to the words of Holy Scripture, “Let him pass from the snow waters to excessive heat” (Job 29:19) Venerable Bede relates it as a recent and well-known event. More than this, it was followed by the conversion of a great number of sinners, the sign of the work of God, who is accustomed to work prodigies in order to produce fruit in souls.
END OF THE ACCOUNT FROM FR. SCHOUPPE’S BOOK, PURGATORY EXPLAINED.
Don’t Be Presumptuous
If you need a shock―then here it is! Do not presume that you are automatically headed for Heaven! “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). If you don’t want to fight for Heaven, then you won’t get to Heaven. “With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12).
What Will You Do? Will You Resurrect Your Dead or Dying Devotion?
The words of Fr. Faber in the 1850s are even more applicable in our day: “Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother! I cannot think of a higher work, or a broader vocation, for anyone, than the simple spreading of this peculiar Devotion [to Mary] of the Venerable Louis Grignion de Montfort! Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ! Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!”
In the next article―on the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, August 22nd―we shall look at some concrete and very practical ways of improving, or resurrecting, or even planting seeds for the first time for a true and fruitful devotion to Our Lady.
People do not want to be sick. They are downright terrified of some diseases―such as the many various forms of cancer―for they look upon those diseases as a “death sentence.” There are other diseases―such as many various forms of paralysis―that they regard as “sentences to life imprisonment” since they are confined and restricted in their movements.
There are some persons who, out of fear of finding out that they have such a disease, refuse or delay in going to see a doctor―for the doctor might just confirm their worst fears. Others who do go to the doctor, might hide some of their symptoms or even lie about their intensity or frequency, in the crazy hope that the doctor might diagnose them with a lesser disease or ailment―as though, by magic, the disease will change from one kind to another kind just because the doctor said so!
Some persons nervously say to the doctor: “Doctor! Doctor! Please tell me it’s nothing serious!” Well, if you are begging him to tell you that―and especially because you politely add the word “please”―the doctor COULD comply with your wishes and hopes and tell that it is nothing serious, just to please you! But he would be lying to you―he would simply be telling you what you want to hear and refrain from telling you the truth.
Fr. Faber, in his book, Growth in Holiness, writing of the lukewarm souls―which he thinks is the state of most Catholic souls in the world―says that we “shut our eyes and have them always shut, that we may not see what we would like to hide … In the first place conscience becomes untrue. The body does not move firmly and in a straight line in the dark. So the conscience also must see in order to keep its balance. But if we falsify the truth and still believe the falsified ‘truth’, what is the consequence but error and corruption everywhere? If the light that is in us be darkness, says Our Lord, how great is that darkness! So first there comes a false conscience … This leads us with uncommon tact to avoid anything which will restore animation to the conscience. This makes us think that it would be best to remain under chloroform for life. It makes us shrink from anything like vigorous spiritual direction. We suspect we shall be awakened, and driven, and made too good. Discretion― that is, the discretion of the blind conscience―tells us this shrinking is wisdom and sagacity. We must, it says, be moderate in everything―but of all things amazingly moderate in the love of God? So in hearing sermons, reading books, cultivating acquaintances, patronizing works of mercy―it draws back from everything that is likely to come too near, or hit too hard.”
St. John Vianney says something similar in one of his sermons: “But we shall proceed further and you will see the embarrassment of these poor people who want to follow the world without — outwardly at any rate — leaving God. Here is Easter approaching. They must go to Confession. It is not, of course, that they want to go or that they feel any urge or need to receive the Sacrament of Penance. They would be only too pleased if Easter came around about once every thirty years. But their parents still retain the exterior practice of religion. They will be happy if their children go to the altar, and they keep urging them, then, to go to Confession. In this, of course, they make a mistake. If only they would just pray for them and not torment them into committing sacrileges. So to rid themselves of the importunity of their parents, to keep up appearances, these people will get together to find out who is the best confessor to try for absolution for the first or second time. “Where shall we go?” says one: “It is of no use going to our parish priest; he is too strict. We will have to try to find So-and-So. He let this one and that one go through, and they are worse than we are. We have done no more harm than they have!” That is how many of these poor blind people behave. “Father,” they will say to the priest, “I am going to Confession to you because our parish priest is too demanding. He wants to make us promise things which we cannot hold to! He would have us all saints, and that is not possible in the world. He would want us never to go to dances, nor to frequent taverns or amusements. If someone has a bad habit, he will not give Absolution until the habit has been given up completely. If we had to do all that we should never make our Easter duty at all. My parents, who are very religious, are always after me to make my Easter duty. I will do all I can. But no one can say that he will never return to these amusements, since he never knows when he is going to encounter them.”
“Ah!” says the confessor, quite deceived by this sincere sounding talk, “I think your parish priest is perhaps a little demanding. Make your act of contrition, and I will give you Absolution. Try to be good now!”
That is to say: Bow your head; you are going to trample in the adorable Blood of Jesus Christ; you are going to sell your God like Judas sold Him to His executioners, and tomorrow you will go to Holy Communion, where you will proceed to crucify Him! What horror! What abomination! Go on, vile Judas, go to the holy table, go and give death to your God and your Savior! Let your conscience cry out, only try to stifle its remorse as much as you can! But I am going too far, my brethren. Let us leave these poor blind creatures in their gloom.” (St. John Vianney, Sermons).
What St. John Vianney says above is just as true today―people will seek out, if possible, the “easiest” or “less strict” or “easy-going” priest for Confession―especially for the really big sins. They want the “least demanding” priest who will “understand” them and “excuse them” and give them the “least penance” and who will not demand that the stop sinning, and stop putting themselves in occasions of sin. The world is full of people who are ready to tell you what you want to hear and who avoid the truth. We, too, prefer to hear lies in the form of flattery, rather than be told the truth. It is an age-old problem. We like to think we are what we are not―we hate to be told what we are really like. That is the whole principle behind the cosmetics industry―making people look what they really are not like, papering over the cracks and making something look more beautiful and attractive than what it really is like in nature. The same is true for our spiritual life. Many people will practice cosmetics in Confession―putting ‘make-up’ over their sins and making them look less ugly than what they really are. Likewise with our devotion or virtues―we put on ‘make-up’ to enhance the appearance, trying to make the mediocre into the magnificent.
Blind to the Truth―Believing and Living a Lie
We even see it shown in Fairy Tales―as in the case of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, otherwise known as “The King With No Clothes” or “The Invisible Suit of Clothes”―written by Hans Christian Andersen―where the emperor or king refuses to accept reality and believes and lives a lie. This Fairy Tale of old is a reality at present. It is well worth posting the entire story, for, in reality, we can our present day situation shine out from it. If your mind is sharp enough and you can do some mental-gymnastics, then you will easily transform the secular elements of this Fairy Tale with spiritual elements―such as seeing in the “suit of clothes” things like a devotion to Mary, or sanctifying grace, or charity, etc.
The Emperor’s New Clothes―The King With No Clothes―The Invisible Suit of Clothes
Many years ago there was an Emperor so exceedingly fond of new clothes that he spent all his money on being well dressed. He cared nothing about reviewing his soldiers, going to the theatre, or going for a ride in his carriage, except to show off his new clothes. He had a coat for every hour of the day, and instead of saying, as one might, about any other ruler, “The King’s in council,” here they always said. “The Emperor’s in his dressing room.”
In the great city where he lived, life was always joyful and entertaining. Every day many strangers came to town, and among them one day came two swindlers. They let it be known they were weavers, and they said they could weave the most magnificent fabrics imaginable. Not only were their colors and patterns uncommonly fine, but clothes made of this cloth had a wonderful way of becoming invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office, or who was unusually stupid.
“Those would be just the clothes for me,” thought the Emperor. “If I wore them I would be able to discover which men in my empire are unfit for their posts. And I could tell the wise men from the fools. Yes, I certainly must get some of the stuff woven for me right away.” He paid the two swindlers a large sum of money to start work at once.
They set up two looms and pretended to weave, though there was nothing on the looms. All the finest silk and the purest old thread which they demanded went into their traveling bags, while they worked the empty looms far into the night.
“I’d like to know how those weavers are getting on with the cloth,” the Emperor thought, but he felt slightly uncomfortable when he remembered that those who were unfit for their position would not be able to see the fabric. It couldn’t have been that he doubted himself, yet he thought he’d rather send someone else to see how things were going. The whole town knew about the cloth’s peculiar power, and all were impatient to find out how stupid their neighbors were.
“I’ll send my honest old minister to the weavers,” the Emperor decided. “He’ll be the best one to tell me how the material looks, for he’s a sensible man and no one does his duty better.”
So the honest old minister went to the room where the two swindlers sat working away at their empty looms.
“Heaven help me!” he thought as his eyes flew wide open, “I can’t see anything at all!” But he did not say so.
Both the swindlers begged him to be so kind as to come near to approve the excellent pattern, the beautiful colors. They pointed to the empty looms, and the poor old minister stared as hard as he dared. He couldn’t see anything, because there was nothing to see. “Heaven have mercy!” he thought. “Can it be that I’m a fool? I’d have never guessed it, and not a soul must know. Am I unfit to be the minister? It would never do to let on that I can’t see the cloth.”
“Don’t hesitate to tell us what you think of it,” said one of the weavers.
“Oh, it’s beautiful! It’s enchanting!” The old minister peered through his spectacles. “Such a pattern, what colors! I’ll be sure to tell the Emperor how delighted I am with it.”
“We’re pleased to hear that!” the swindlers said. They proceeded to name all the colors and to explain the intricate pattern. The old minister paid the closest attention, so that he could tell it all to the Emperor. And so he did.
The swindlers at once asked for more money, more silk and gold thread, to get on with the weaving. But it all went into their pockets. Not a thread went into the looms, though they worked at their weaving as hard as ever.
The Emperor presently sent another trustworthy official to see how the work progressed and how soon it would be ready. The same thing happened to him that had happened to the minister. He looked and he looked, but as there was nothing to see in the looms he couldn’t see anything.
“Isn’t it a beautiful piece of goods?” the swindlers asked him, as they displayed and described their imaginary pattern.
“I know I’m not stupid,” the man thought, “so it must be that I’m unworthy of my good office. That’s strange. I mustn’t let anyone find it out, though.” So he praised the material he did not see. He declared he was delighted with the beautiful colors and the exquisite pattern. To the Emperor he said, “It held me spellbound!”
All the town was talking of this splendid cloth, and the Emperor wanted to see it for himself while it was still in the looms. Attended by a band of chosen men, among whom were his two old trusted officials―the ones who had been to the weavers―he set out to see the two swindlers. He found them weaving with might and main, but without a thread in their looms.
“Magnificent!” said the two officials already duped. “Just look, Your Majesty, what colors! What a design!” They pointed to the empty looms, each supposing that the others could see the stuff.
“What’s this?” thought the Emperor. “I can’t see anything. This is terrible! Am I a fool? Am I unfit to be the Emperor? What a thing to happen to me of all people!” … “Oh! It’s very pretty!” he said. “It has my highest approval!” And he nodded approbation at the empty loom. Nothing could make him say that he couldn’t see anything.
His whole retinue stared and stared. One saw no more than another, but they all joined the Emperor in exclaiming, “Oh! It’s very pretty!” and they advised him to wear clothes made of this wonderful cloth especially for the great procession he was soon to lead. “Magnificent! Excellent! Unsurpassed!” were words bandied from mouth to mouth, and everyone did his best to seem well pleased. The Emperor gave each of the swindlers a cross to wear in his buttonhole, and the title of “Sir Weaver.”
Before the procession the swindlers sat up all night and burned more than six candles, to show how busy they were finishing the Emperor’s new clothes. They pretended to take the cloth off the loom. They made cuts in the air with huge scissors. And at last they said, “Now the Emperor’s new clothes are ready for him!”
Then the Emperor himself came with his noblest noblemen, and the swindlers each raised an arm as if they were holding something. They said, “These are the trousers, here’s the coat, and this is the mantle,” naming each garment. “All of them are as light as a spider web. One would almost think he had nothing on, but that’s what makes them so fine.”
“Exactly!” all the noblemen agreed, though they could see nothing, for there was nothing to see.
“If Your Imperial Majesty will condescend to take your clothes off,” said the swindlers, “we will help you on with your new ones here in front of the long mirror.”
The Emperor undressed, and the swindlers pretended to put his new clothes on him, one garment after another. They took him around the waist and seemed to be fastening something ―that was his train―as the Emperor turned round and round before the looking glass.
“How well Your Majesty’s new clothes look! Aren’t they becoming!” He heard on all sides, “That pattern, so perfect! Those colors, so suitable! It is a magnificent outfit.”
Then the minister of public processions announced: “Your Majesty’s canopy is waiting outside!”
“Well, I’m supposed to be ready,” the Emperor said, and turned again for one last look in the mirror. “It is a remarkable fit, isn’t it?” He seemed to regard his costume with the greatest interest.
The noblemen who were to carry his train stooped low and reached for the floor as if they were picking up his mantle. Then they pretended to lift and hold it high. They didn’t dare admit they had nothing to hold.
So off went the Emperor in procession under his splendid canopy. Everyone in the streets and the windows said, “Oh, how fine are the Emperor’s new clothes! Don’t they fit him to perfection? And see his long train!” Nobody would confess that he couldn’t see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position, or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success.
“But he hasn’t got anything on!” a little child said.
“Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?” said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, “He hasn’t anything on! A child says he hasn’t anything on!”
“But he HASN’T got anything on!” the whole town cried out at last.
The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, “This procession has got to go on!” So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn’t there at all.
Applying the above Fairy Tale to the spiritual life, in like manner, there are so many persons who imagine they are clothed with sanctifying grace, clothed with many ‘virtues’, that they are in God’s ‘good books’, that they are ‘good’ Catholics, that they have a great devotion to Mary, that they are very charitable, that they pray sufficiently well, that they are definitely on the road to Heaven, etc. ― but the reality is that in many cases they are NAKED! As Holy Scripture says―with words that are perfect fit, or a perfect suit of clothes for the above Fairy Tale, but which are not a “Fairy Tale” but a “Faith Truth”― “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot! But, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth! Because thou sayest: ‘I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and BLIND, and NAKED! I counsel thee to buy of Me gold, fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest BE CLOTHED IN WHITE GARMENTS, AND THAT THE SHAME OF THY NAKEDNESS MAY NOT APPEAR; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou MAYEST SEE. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:15-29).
See the Truth―Don't Believe the Devilish Dream Doctor
Better we see our true state of soul now, than live a dream and have to wake up to reality when we die! The devil, the father of lies, is the “wicked weaver” who has woven a web of lies―and a world wide web of largely electronic lies and surveillance―that has us living in an illusion, a dream, a virtual reality that is far from reality. The devil will always tell us we are spiritually healthy when we are spiritually sick. He will tell us that we are in a state of grace when we are in a state of mortal sin. He will tell us that this or that mortal sin is only venial, and that this or that venial sin is not even a sin at tall, at worst, it is only an imperfection. He will tell that our devotion to Our Lady is good enough, when in fact it is lukewarm and often false―full of self-interest, presumption, half-heartedness, inconsistency and perhaps even hypocrisy. He will tell us we have nothing to worry about―when in actual fact we have lots to worry about. He tells that our few minutes of time donated to God is more than sufficient―when it is grossly insufficient. And so on and so forth. The devil is the Doctor of Lies, who will tell his sick patients (stooges) all they want to hear but will not tell them the truth. That is how and why devotion to Our Lady is so feeble and poor―as Fr. Faber writes:
But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized! Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines!”
Honest Appraisal―Shocking Truth
We have been offered the remedy or the medicine for our age―but we refuse to take it. At best, we might take a bit of it for a little while―but we are not taking the remedy or medicine in the recommended dosage. That is why the world is as sick as it is―that is why we are as weak as we are! Our Lady complained of this to Sr. Lucia of Fatima, who later, in an interview with Fr. Fuentes on December 26th, 1957, revealed that “the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
While there SHOULD BE―throughout not just the Catholic world, but the ENTIRE world―an IMMENSE INCREASE in devotion to Our Lady, and, as Fr. Faber says, “nothing short of an immense one!”, instead, there is an IMMENSE DECREASE in devotion to Our Lady. In all honesty, what most people think is a “devotion” on their part, is what God calls “neither cold, nor hot, and because thou art lukewarm, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Shocking words for a shocking state! Yes, things are in a shocking state when only around 2% of American Catholics say the Rosary daily when Our Lady has repeatedly said at Fatima and Akita: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary … Say the Rosary every day … Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … He must say many Rosaries! … Continue to pray the Rosary every day … Recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary … etc. Sister Lucia of Fatima adds: “Our Lady told me―as well as my cousins―that God is giving two last remedies to the world: (1) the Holy Rosary and (2) devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
On Our Lady appeared to Sr. Lucia in the convent she had entered on December 10th, 1925, and said: “See, my daughter, my Heart encircled by thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Do you, at least, strive to console me. Tell them that I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, in order to make reparation to me, on the First Saturday of five successive months, go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour, meditating on the ... mysteries of the Rosary.”
How much First Saturday devotions do you see being promoted, organized and attended in the modern-day parishes today? There is a shocking and sickening silence in many parishes―which reflects what Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima!” What should be a universal and almost obligatory devotion and exercise, is left to personal whims and wishes of whoever happens to be the parish priest at the time―with the result that the First Saturday devotions are increasingly falling by the wayside just as souls are increasingly falling into Hell.
Time To Wake-Up
Perhaps we need a vision of Hell to shock us―like a person whose heart has stopped, needs an electric shock to shock them back to life. We need a helluva shock, a shock of Hell, to shock our dying or dead spiritual life back into action! Many of the saints have seen visions of Hell, many have been taken in spirit to Hell or Purgatory―and, for all of them, it has been a profitable experience. In Fr. Schouppe’s book, Purgatory Explained, we read St. Bede’s account of one such person in England, who lived around the time St. Bede and in the area Bede lived. Here is the chapter from that book:
If the pain of loss [of God] makes but a feeble impression upon us, it is far different with the pain of sense; the torment of fire, the torture of a sharp and intense cold, affrights our sensibility. This is why Divine Mercy, wishing to excite a holy fear in our souls, speaks but little of the pain of loss, but we are continually shown the fire, the cold, and other torments, which constitute the pain of sense.
This is what we see in the Gospel, and in particular revelations, by which God is pleased to manifest to His servants from time to time the mysteries of the other life. Let us mention one of these revelations. In the first place, let us see what the pious and learned Cardinal Bellarmine quotes from the Venerable Bede. England has been witness in our own days, writes Bede, to a singular prodigy, which may be compared to the miracles of the first ages of the Church.
To excite the living to fear the death of the soul, God permitted that a man, after having slept the sleep of death, should return to life and reveal what he had seen in the other world. The frightful, unheard-of details which he relates, and his life of extraordinary penance, which corresponded with his words, produced a lively impression throughout the country. I will now resume the principal circumstances of this history.
There was in Northumberland a man named Drithelm, who, with his family, led a most Christian life. He fell sick, and his malady increasing day by day, he was soon reduced to extremity, and died, to the great desolation and grief of his wife and children. The latter passed the night in tears by the remains, but the following day, before his interment, they saw him suddenly return to life, arise, and place himself in a sitting posture. At this sight they were seized with such fear that they all took to flight, with the exception of the wife, who, trembling, remained alone with her risen husband.
He reassured her immediately: “Fear not,” he said; “it is God who restores to me my life; He wishes to show in my person a man raised from the dead. I have yet long to live upon Earth, but my new life will be very different from the one I led heretofore.” Then he arose full of health, went straight to the chapel or church of the place, and there remained long in prayer. He returned home only to take leave of those who had been dear to him upon Earth, to whom he declared that he would live only to prepare himself for death, and advised them to do likewise. Then, having divided his property into three parts, he gave one to his children, another to his wife, and reserved the third part to give in alms. When he had distributed all to the poor, and had reduced himself to extreme indigence, he went and knocked at the door of a monastery, and begged the Abbot to receive him as a penitent Religious, who would be a servant to all the others.
The Abbot gave him a retired cell, which he occupied for the rest of his life. Three exercises divided his time prayer, the hardest labor, and extraordinary penances. The most rigorous fasts he accounted as nothing. In winter he was seen to plunge himself into frozen water, and remain there for hours and hours in prayer, whilst he recited the whole Psalter of David. The mortified life of Drithelm, his downcast eyes, even his features, indicated a soul struck with fear of the judgments of God. He kept a perpetual silence, but on being pressed to relate, for the edification of others, what God had manifested to him after his death, he thus described his vision:
“On leaving my body, I was received by a benevolent person, who took me under his guidance. His face was brilliant, and he appeared surrounded with light. He arrived at a large deep valley of immense extent, all fire on one side, all ice and snow on the other; on the one hand braziers and caldrons of flame, on the other the most intense cold and the blast of a glacial wind. This mysterious valley was filled with innumerable souls, which, tossed as by a furious tempest, threw themselves from one side to the other. When they could no longer endure the violence of the fire, they sought relief amidst the ice and snow; but finding only a new torture, they cast themselves again into the midst of the flames. I contemplated in a stupor these continual vicissitudes of horrible torments, and as far as my sight could extend, I saw nothing but a multitude of souls which suffered with out ever having repose. Their very aspect inspired me with fear. I thought at first that I saw Hell; but my guide, who walked before me, turned to me and said, No; this is not, as you think, the Hell of the reprobate. Do you know, he continued, what place this is? No, I answered. Know, he resumed, that this valley, where you see so much fire and so much ice, is the place where the souls of those are punished who, during life, have neglected to confess their sins, and who have deferred their conversion to the end. Thanks to a special mercy of God, they have had the happiness of sincerely repenting before death, of confessing and detesting their sins. This is why they are not damned, and on the great day of judgment will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Several of them will obtain their deliverance before that time, by the merits of prayers, alms, and fasts, offered in their favor by the living, and especially in virtue of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for their relief.“
Such was the recital of Drithelm. When asked why he so rudely treated his body, why he plunged himself into frozen water, he replied that he had seen other torments, and cold of another kind. If his brethren expressed astonishment that he could endure these extraordinary austerities, “I have seen,” said he, “penances still more astonishing.” To the day when it pleased God to call him to Himself, he ceased not to afflict his body, and although broken down with age, he would accept no alleviation.
This event produced a deep sensation in England; a great number of sinners, touched by the words of Drithelm, and struck by the austerity of his life, became sincerely converted. This fact, adds St. Robert Cardinal Bellarmine, appears to me of incontestable truth, since, besides being conformable to the words of Holy Scripture, “Let him pass from the snow waters to excessive heat” (Job 29:19) Venerable Bede relates it as a recent and well-known event. More than this, it was followed by the conversion of a great number of sinners, the sign of the work of God, who is accustomed to work prodigies in order to produce fruit in souls.
END OF THE ACCOUNT FROM FR. SCHOUPPE’S BOOK, PURGATORY EXPLAINED.
Don’t Be Presumptuous
If you need a shock―then here it is! Do not presume that you are automatically headed for Heaven! “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). If you don’t want to fight for Heaven, then you won’t get to Heaven. “With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12).
What Will You Do? Will You Resurrect Your Dead or Dying Devotion?
The words of Fr. Faber in the 1850s are even more applicable in our day: “Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother! I cannot think of a higher work, or a broader vocation, for anyone, than the simple spreading of this peculiar Devotion [to Mary] of the Venerable Louis Grignion de Montfort! Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ! Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!”
In the next article―on the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, August 22nd―we shall look at some concrete and very practical ways of improving, or resurrecting, or even planting seeds for the first time for a true and fruitful devotion to Our Lady.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Monday August 19th & Tuesday August 20th
Article 10
Spread Devotion! Not Gossip!
Article 10
Spread Devotion! Not Gossip!
You Are What You Think! You Are What You Spread!
As they say, “Tell me who your friends and I will tell what you are!” The same is said of food: “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are―healthy or unhealthy!” The same is true of most things, especially with reading, listening, watching, thinking, speaking and doing. Tell me what you read, watch and listen to―and I will tell you what you are.
We can judge ourselves by our thoughts and what preoccupies them―our thoughts are seeds that sprout into words and actions. Thus we can be judged by our words and our actions―since they reveal our thoughts to some extent―but our words and actions are only the tip of the massive iceberg of our thoughts, which greatly outnumber whatever we say or do.
Those six items―reading, listening, watching, thinking, speaking and doing―can, like most things, be good or evil. We know what they should be―Holy Scripture tells us so―“Turn away from evil and do good!” (Psalm 33:15) … “Decline from evil and do good!” (Psalm 36:27). “Seek ye good, and not evil, that you may live!” (Amos 5:14). “Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good” (Romans 12:21).
Furthermore, Our Lord adds: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:17-20). What Our Lord says of things in general, could also be applied to the tongue in particular: “A good tongue brings forth good speech, and an evil tongue brings forth evil speech. A good tongue cannot bring forth evil speech, nor can an evil tongue bring forth good speech. Every tongue that does not bring forth good speech shall be torn-out and shall be cast into the fire! Wherefore, by their tongues you shall know them!”
“The mouth defileth a man .. what cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man … The things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart, and those things defile a man. For from the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies. These are the things that defile a man” (Matthew 15:11, 18-20).
In this sense―taking all of the above―we could invoke the popular phrase: “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil!” For, as Jesus says: “A good man out of a good treasure bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of an evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Matthew 12:35).
The Tongues Terrible Training Ground
Today, more than ever, the tongue travels unhindered. The internet and social media―through the use of smartphones, tablets, laptops and the seemingly antiquated desktop computers―has granted the tongue a passport to the whole wide world on the world wide web (www). Sadly, instead of www standing for world wide web, it could arguably said to stand for “Woe! Woe! Woe!” Turn the www upside down, and you get mmm―which could be said to stand for a “morally miserable market”! The world wide web has become a wicked word web for most people―where they can either read or post words that will come back to haunt and damn them on Judgment Day.
Just as it is with our own ratio of thoughts to words, there are more people on the world wide web (or wicked word web) who are content to simply read without posting anything, or posting very little in comparison to what they read. The tip of the iceberg is the posting, the majority of the vast iceberg lies underwater as thoughts hidden in mind of the readers of those posts. There are more DOPs than WOPs―more “drinkers of poison” than “writers of poison”―yet the vast majority of content is poisoned. A glass of water is considered poisoned even if there is one drop of poison with a whole glassful of water. A person is considered as being sick if only one part of the body is sick. Hence the wise Latin phrase that says: “Bonum ex integra causa; malum ex quocumque defectu.” Literally (and confusingly) this means “a good (thing) comes from an integral cause, a bad (thing) comes from any defect whatever.” The Catholic Encyclopedia gives a more “user-friendly” translation: “An action is good when good in every respect; it is wrong when wrong in any respect.” Which could be made even more “friendly” by padding-it-out a little more and saying: “An action is good when it is good in every way; but it becomes wrong or bad when it is wrong or bad in any way whatsoever.” Thus, the devil, in order to make us sin, will gladly state or admit to 9 truths just so that he can slip in one single lie and have us believe it and swallow it. For the modern-day attitude is one of: “Hey! There’s only one little thing wrong with it! Everything else is fine! It must be good!” Yet God will not look upon our lives in the same way―everything will be microscopically analyzed and even the slightest blemish (if uncorrected and unpaid for during our life on Earth) will prevent our entrance into Heaven and will consign us to either Hell or Purgatory―depending on how serious a blemish it is. Perfection is the requirement for Heaven.
Looking at even Catholic websites and blogs, there is far greater proportion of negative posting when compared to positive posting. Far more criticism than praise; far more warmongering than peacemaking; far more focus on vice and sin than on virtue; far more rash judging than favorable judging; far more talk of evil than of good; far more trigger-happy jumping to conclusions than a careful research and inquiry into all available evidence; far more fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants superficiality than any kind of real depth. All of this leads to the inevitable consequence of becoming like the things you read―much as they say: “You are what you eat!” If you constantly eat junk food, you junk your health! If you constantly read junk, you junk your mind and your soul. If you constantly listen to and read superficial things, you become superficial―a person with no real depth, no real knowledge except superficial knowledge, no real intelligence except a superficial intelligence. This is why today’s youth (and young adults) cannot spell correctly, cannot think deeply, cannot problem solve and cannot have an in-depth critical conversation about anything of value. They have been raised on the mundane commercial sound bites of television, internet and social media outlets, that they repeat in parrot-like fashion to show that they are in vogue with the latest verbal fashions. Text messages, with their countless word abbreviations, have butchered all sense of correct spelling―which indirectly leads to a decimation of any depth in communication.
Going Downhill Easier Than Going Uphill
We find walking downhill far easier than climbing uphill. No exercise is easier than exercise. In a certain sense―due to the effects of Original Sin―it is easier to sin than it is to practice virtue―just observe little children and the point is easily proved. Avoiding study and learning is easier than pursuing study and learning. It is far easier and quicker to knock-down something than to build the same thing. You can spend hours writing an article or an essay, but it only takes a few seconds to rip it up or delete it. Businesses that took years to build, can be ruined in very little time. Years of growth in virtue and grace can be destroyed by one single mortal sin, which closes the door of Heaven unless repented, confessed and repaired. Hours of safe driving can be ruined by dozing-off at the wheel for just a few seconds. The same is true of the Faith―you can believe 99% of all the dogmas of the Church, but just disbelieve one single dogma and you are Hell bound.
With all that said―nobody could realistically argue against the fact that it is far easier to get to Hell than it is to get to Heaven. Most people treat Heaven like a welfare state―in the sense that they expect heavenly handouts without having to any labor or show any effort on their own part. You can see this attitude at most modern-day Catholic funerals, where the deceased is the “toast” of the party and is said to be “up there, looking happily down on us!”
Yet Our Lord has already dispelled such a stupid notion when “a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Our Lady has given us more of the same! Speaking of our times, she states that “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France).
Too Busy Doing The Wrong Things
Why has this all come about? Why is it still growing in gravity and intensity? It is basically because we are too busy doing the wrong things. We are like the marathon runner who is running like crazy―but running in the wrong direction. We are expending much energy and time―but on the wrong things. We are like a rifle marksman who keeps hitting the bulls-eye―but it is the wrong target. We are so concerned and addicted to the negative―that we neglect the positive. We are like the fireman who arrives at a house fire and runs around everywhere shouting at the top of his voice: “Look! There’s a fire over there! Look! There’s a house burning down! Look at that fire!”―instead of doing his job and putting out the fire. Or the doctor in the Emergency Room who keeps shouting at the drunk who crashed his car and is dying―criticizing, chastising and condemning his stupidity for driving while drunk―when he should trying to save his life through his medical expertise.
You see that same attitude with many Catholics today when faced with the terrible crisis in the Church (and the world). These are Catholics who, like the fireman, have access to a spiritual fire-hosepipe―or like the doctor, have spiritual medical expertise. They could help alleviate the crisis a little, but they are too busy pouring more gasoline on the fire rather than trying to put out the fire. It is as if they thought that throwing gasoline on the fire is like throwing water on a fire! The devil is always on hand, with a Hell Gas Station found on every street corner, to give anyone and everyone plenty of gasoline free of charge! This is natural and typical for Satan and the devils―for the name “Satan” is derived from the Hebrew verb “Satan”, which means “to oppose” and so from it comes the general meaning of “adversary.” The word “Devil” comes from the way the wicked spirit goes about his work. It comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate.” That is exactly what Satan and the other devils want us to do―to oppose each other, to become adversaries to each, to accuse each other and calumniate each other. Their preferred way to bring about large scale damnation is to divide and conquer―and they have been and still are very successful with these tactics.
Yes―Pope Francis is a major source of consternation to serious and faithful Catholics! Yes―the sexual abuse crisis is revolting! Yes―homosexuality is an ever increasing problem for the Church! Yes―sexual immorality has spiraled out of control amongst Catholics (and the rest of the world)! Yes―less and less Catholics are regularly practicing their Faith! These are merely fractional tips of an overwhelming iceberg of sin that is floating on the ever receding waters of the Faith. Never mind the contentious “global warming” issue―we have a more serious issue of “global sinning”! Back in 1973―the same year that abortion was beginning to take off in the USA with Roe vs. Wade―Our Lady of Akita warned: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.” That is a very scary thought―especially since it comes from the Mother of Mercy herself!
Rotten and Right Remedies
Despite the evils in the Church, despite the evils in the world―Christ has come to seek and save, not to push the heads of sinners underwater: “For God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). If Pope Francis is a sinner―then Christ came to save him! If priests are pedophiles or homosexuals or impure in any way―then Christ came to save them! He has come to save the apostates, the adulterers, the murderers, the abortionists, the possessed, the molesters, the Satanists, the pagans, the Jews, the atheists, the agnostics, the skeptics, the Modernists, the Liberals, or anyone else you would like to add to that list!
Yet Christ will not accept them as they are―they need to change, they need to repent, they need to make reparation, they need to leave their errors and deviancy behind―as Christ emphatically said to the woman caught in adultery: “Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!” (John 8:11) and to the paralytic that had suffered for 38 years, whom He had cured, Jesus said: “Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). “Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 18:3).
Thus, if the sinner does not wish to change and desires to continue sinning, then the words of Holy Scripture are equally emphatic: “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the Kingdom of God? Do not err! Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God!” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
What will convert the sinner? Attacks? Threats? Ridicule? Ostracization? Imprisonment? Death penalty? All of these things may have some part to play in a conversion―but they do not of themselves convert anyone. Conversion is a grace of God’s and it has to be begged for, paid for and earned to some degree. This is whole point of Our Lady’s messages at Quito, La Salette, Fatima and Akita―where she speaks of the part we have to play in bringing about the conversion of sinners. What are the remedies or instruments that will do this? We all know, don’t we? They are prayer and penance! These are remedies that should be used, but are not used―or, at least, not used in sufficiency. Our Lady repeatedly asks for them, commands them, speaks of them:
“The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!”
“The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray for sinners … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners … Penance! Penance! Penance! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent! … Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Akita).
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the Key Remedy
All of the above mentioned things―praying the Rosary, making sacrifices, performing penances, enduring sufferings―are all contained, or should be contained, within the sphere of devotion to Our Lady. At Fatima, Our Lady stated that God wished to establish IN THE WHOLE WORLD devotion to her Immaculate Heart and if this done, then many souls would be saved―meaning it is a remedy for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of souls. Part of the prayer that the Angel of Portugal taught the three children of Fatima, includes the phrase: “… through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.” Our Lady herself said: “Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it!” (Our Lady of Fatima, June 1917). “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917).
St. Louis on the Need for Devotion to Mary
This key role of Our Lady was already expressed before the 1917 apparitions at Fatima. St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, expresses the necessity of Mary’s role in the “Latter Days”:
“At the end of the world and indeed presently, the Most High with His holy Mother has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity as much as the cedars of Lebanon outgrow the little shrubs. These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection, so that they shall fight with one hand and build with the other. With the one hand they shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries and the sinners with their impieties. With the other hand they shall build (2 Esdras 4:7) the temple of the true Solomon and the mystical city of God, that is to say, the most holy Virgin, called by the Fathers the “Temple of Solomon” and the “City of God.” By their words and their examples they shall draw the whole world to true devotion to Mary. This shall bring upon them many enemies, but shall also bring many victories and much glory for God alone.
“It is necessary, then, for the greater knowledge and glory of the Most Holy Trinity, that Mary should be more than ever known. Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, in might and in grace, in these latter times: in mercy, to bring back and lovingly receive the poor strayed sinners who shall be converted and shall return to the Catholic Church; in might, against the enemies of God, idolaters, schismatics, Mahometans, Jews and souls hardened in impiety, who shall rise in terrible revolt against God to seduce all those who shall oppose them and to make them fall by promises and threats; and finally, she must shine forth in grace, in order to animate and sustain the valiant soldiers and faithful servants of Jesus Christ, who shall battle for His interests. And lastly, Mary must be terrible to the devil and his crew, as an army ranged in battle, principally in these latter times, because the devil, knowing that he has but little time, and now less than ever, to destroy souls, will every day redouble his efforts and his combats. He will presently raise up cruel persecutions and will put terrible snares before the faithful servants and true children of Mary, whom it gives him more trouble to conquer than it does to conquer others.
“The power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph.
“In a word, God wishes that His holy Mother should be at present more known, more loved, more honored than she has ever been. This, no doubt, will take place if the predestinate enter, with the grace and light of the Holy Ghost, into the interior and perfect practice which I will disclose to them shortly. Then they will see clearly, as far as Faith allows, that beautiful Star of the Sea. They will arrive happily in harbor, following its guidance, in spite of the tempests and the pirates. They will know the grandeurs of that Queen, and will consecrate themselves entirely to her service as subjects and slaves of love. They will experience her sweetness and her maternal goodness, and they will love her tenderly like well-beloved children. They will know the mercies of which she is full, and the need they have of her help; and they will have recourse to her in all things, as to their dear advocate and Mediatrix with Jesus Christ. They will know what is the surest, the easiest, the shortest and the most perfect means of going to Jesus Christ; and they will give themselves to Mary, body and soul, without reserve, that they may thus belong entirely to Jesus Christ.
“But who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. They shall be “like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful” Mary to pierce her enemies. (Psalm 126:4). They shall be the sons of Levi, well purified by the fire of great tribulation, and closely adhering to God (1 Corinthians 6:17), who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body. They shall be everywhere the good odor of Jesus Christ to the poor and to the little, while at the same time, they shall be an odor of death to the great, to the rich and to the proud worldlings.
“They shall be clouds thundering and flying through the air at the least breath of the Holy Ghost; who, detaching themselves from everything and troubling themselves about nothing, shall shower forth the rain of the Word of God and of life eternal. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through, for life or for death, with their two-edged sword of the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17), all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High. They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord of Hosts shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. They shall sleep without gold or silver, and, what is more, without care, in the midst of the other priests, ecclesiastics, and clerics (Psalm 67:14); and yet they shall have the silvered wings of the dove to go, with the pure intention of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, wheresoever the Holy Ghost shall call them. Nor shall they leave behind them, in the places where they have preached, anything but the gold of charity, which is the fulfillment of the whole law. (Romans 13:10).
“In a word, we know that they shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior. These are the great men who are to come; but Mary is the one who, by order of the Most High, shall fashion them for the purpose of extending His empire over that of the impious, the idolaters and the Mahometans. But when and how shall this be? God alone knows. As for us, we have but to hold our tongues, to pray, to sigh and to wait: “With expectation I have waited.” (Psalm 39:2).” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
Fr. Faber on the Remedy of Mary for Our Times
Fr. Frederick Faber, in his personal translation from the original French of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, states in his preface the following:
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized!
“Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother! I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion de Montfort! Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ! Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!”
So What Will You Do About It?
As one current-day exorcist says, the goal of the devil is obviously to pull you away from God and drag you into Hell. Yet the devil knows that this is almost impossible to achieve immediately, especially in the case of those who practice their Faith in all sincerity. So, says the exorcist, the devil initially needs to wean you off God little by little―and he does this by distracting you away from the more important (good) things, and gets you to focus on less important (good) things. The crucial thing for any soul is grace―the more grace we have, the stronger we are; the less grace we have, the weaker we are. Prayer and sacrifice (penance and mortification) are among the chief sources of grace outside of the Sacraments. Thus, the devil wants to distract us from praying, but he can only achieve this if he offers something to us that we think is equally good―or even better―than prayer. Prayer maintains our spiritual immune system―prayer less, and that immune system weakens and becomes susceptible to temptation and sin (little ones at first, then gradually greater ones). Hence we need to pray―not just occasionally, or for a few minutes a day.
Yet the average American Christian devotes an average of only 10 minutes per day to religious activities. Compare that measly minimal of 10 God minutes per day to the American average of 40 minutes of daily personal grooming, or 5 hours of daily leisure time, or around 3 hours of watching TV daily. Since 2000, the weekly average for time spent online has risen from 9 hours per week in 2000, to 24 hours per week in 2018. The smartphone (which includes internet and social media) has those aged 15 to 24 on average spend four hours a day on the phone, compared with 2 hours 50 minutes for all adults.
God gets an average of 10 minutes per day! Do you call that devotion? Do you call that a fitting response to God’s command to “love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength!” (Mark 12:30)? Is a mere 10 minutes―or even half-an-hour―a fulfilling of the command to “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God!” (Matthew 6:33). Is a mere 10 minutes―or even half-an-hour―a fulfillment of the command: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1). “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). “I desire therefore that men pray in every place!” (1 Timothy 2:8). “I will praise Thy Name continually” (Ecclesiasticus 51:15). “We will give ourselves continually to prayer” (Acts 6:4). “Prayer was made without ceasing” (Acts 12:5). “By all prayer and supplication praying at all time” (Ephesians 6:18). “The continual prayer of a just man availeth much” (James 5:16).
St. Augustine tells us that “As our body cannot live without nourishment, so our soul cannot spiritually be kept alive without prayer.” St. John Chrysostom says “It is simply impossible to lead, without the aid of prayer, a virtuous life.” St. Alphonsus Liguori says that “He who prays most receives most.”
The Angel of Portugal, at Fatima, even told little children to pray much—they were busy playing and he rebuked them, telling them to cease playing and pray without ceasing: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High” (Angel of Portugal, Fatima, summer of 1916). Our Lady reiterated this during her apparitions at Fatima, in 1917: “Pray! Pray very much!” At Akita in 1973, Our Lady echoes this: “Continue to pray very much...very much! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary.”
Turning Things Around―Otherwise Known as “Conversion”
There needs to be a massive turn-around―that is to say, a massive conversion―on the part of almost everybody. This is hardly “new news” or “rocket-science”―since we know that most souls end up being lost (or “damned” if you prefer that damned word). What is astounding is that nobody seems to acknowledge or admit to a need for conversion! Everyone is very comfortable at the level at which they find themselves―whether lukewarm, or in mortal sin, or having totally ceased to practice the Faith, or even in full blown apostasy! The parable of the Pharisee and Publican springs to mind: “The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican” Luke 18:11). In case you are tempted to think like the Pharisee―saying to yourself: “I am not like the rest of men!”―you ought to seriously ponder the words: “And that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48).
If you pride yourself on being a “Traditional” Catholic or a “Conservative” Catholic, boasting that you are “not like the rest of men”―especially not like those Modernists, Liberals, Protestants, Pagans and Atheists―then tremble in your boots, for you therefore are that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given [YOU], of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much [YOU], of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48).
A Little Bit of Humble Honesty (or Honest Humility) Could Take You Far
We find it very, very hard to be honest regarding ourselves―whereas we find it relatively easy to be brutally honest when speaking about other people. Our Lord speaks of this in his “Plank and Splinter” analogy: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the beam in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5).
We are more likely to play “The Blame Game”―like Adam and Eve―whereby we “pass the buck” (or pass the blame) onto someone or something else, rather than squarely accepting responsibility and accountability. Instead we others responsible and accountable. This is, of course, part of the package that we all inherit with Original Sin.
Unless you do not understand the English language very well, or your vocabulary is limited and a dictionary is out of reach (or you do not even know what a dictionary is)―then you would have to honestly and humbly admit that you do not really have a devotion towards God, Our Lady, prayer, or any other aspect of the spiritual life. You might have the seed of a devotion―but that is far from being a tree of devotion that proves itself by its many fruits. You might SAY the Rosary, but you probably don’t PRAY the Rosary. You might announce the Mystery before SAYING the decade, but you do not MEDITATE the mystery―yet at the end of the Rosary, after the Hail Holy Queen, you always say: “… Grant that by MEDITATING on these mysteries of the most Holy Rosary … we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise …”―but we never really MEDITATE them, yet we say this prayer every single day! As Our Lord said of the Jews: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). As regard the very few in number who still SAY their Rosary (or even several Rosaries) daily, most of them would have to admit that their minds and hearts are far from meditating what they announce and say with their lips. In some cases, they are no better than ‘human parrots’―for even a parrot could be trained to say the Hail Mary―and furthermore, a parrot never sins, but humans do!
Looking in the Mirror of Devotion
Hence, in all honesty, we should acknowledge that the above quoted words of St. Louis de Montfort and Fr. Frederick Faber are greatly applicable to ourselves and our spiritual attitude and approach to things. First of all, taking the words of St. Louis de Montfort―Do we seek to be those “great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity as much as the cedars of Lebanon outgrow the little shrubs. These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady” ? Are we, “illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit” ? ―or do we rarely read about her and study her words? Do we “fight with one hand and build with the other” ? Or are we sighting among ourselves and knocking each other down? Do we fit the description of those who, “By their words and their examples they shall draw the whole world to true devotion to Mary” ? Or are we devoted to other, lesser, more worldly things and by our example we lead other to embrace worldliness and neglect devotion to Our Lady?
Are we among those who think and believe “that Mary should be more than ever known; [that] Mary must shine forth more than ever … in these latter times” ? If so, what are we doing about it? What proof do we have by way of actions and deeds to support our thoughts and beliefs? Are we “her humble slaves and her poor children … little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body” ?
“God wishes that His holy Mother should be at present more known, more loved, more honored than she has ever been!”―but what are we doing to promote and achieve this desire of God’s? Are we “the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. Like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful Mary to pierce her enemies” ? Are we amongst those “who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body; who, detaching themselves from everything and troubling themselves about nothing, shall shower forth the rain of the Word of God” ? Do we “thunder against sin; storm against the world; strike the devil and his crew … with the two-edged sword of the Word of God” ?
Are we “the true apostles of the latter times, [who] sleep without gold or silver, and without care, in the midst of the others; … true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be!” ? Are we among those who “shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. [Who] shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior” ?
Does the Mirror of Devotion Reflect a False Devotion?
St. Louis de Montfort, before painting a picture of what a true devotion consists of, firstly paints a picture (or seven pictures) of what a false devotion is. Being brutally honest, we would have to admit that we are wounded in one or several ways by these false devotions. St. Louis enumerates the seven false devotions thus: (1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees.
St. Louis then writes: “Today, more than ever, we must take pains in choosing true devotion to our Blessed Lady, because, more than ever before, there are false devotions to our Blessed Lady which are easily mistaken for true ones. The devil, like a false coiner and a subtle and experienced sharper, has already deceived and destroyed so many souls by a false devotion to the Blessed Virgin that he makes a daily use of his diabolical experience to plunge many others by this same way into everlasting perdition; amusing them, lulling them to sleep in sin, under the pretext of some prayers badly said or of some outward practices which he inspires. As a false coiner does not ordinarily counterfeit anything but gold or silver, and very rarely other metals, because they are not worth the trouble, so the evil spirit does not for the most part counterfeit other devotions, but only those to Jesus and Mary—devotion to Holy Communion and to our Blessed Lady—because they are among other devotions what gold and silver are among other metals. It is then very important to recognize, first of all, false devotions to our Blessed Lady, in order to avoid them.”
● CRITICAL DEVOTEES―The critical devotees are, for the most part, proud scholars, rash and self-sufficient spirits, who have at heart some devotion to the holy Virgin, but who criticize nearly all the practices of devotion which simple people pay simply and holily to their good Mother― because these practices do not fall in with their own humor and fancy. They call in doubt all the miracles and pious stories recorded by authors worthy of Faith, or drawn from the chronicles of religious orders: narratives which testify to us the mercies and the power of the most holy Virgin. They cannot see, without uneasiness, simple and humble people on their knees before an altar or an image of Our Lady, sometimes at the corner of a street, in order to pray to God there. They say that, for their part, they are not fond of these external devotions, and that they are not so credulous as to believe so many tales and stories that are told about Our Lady. These kinds of false devotees and of proud and worldly people are greatly to be feared. They do an infinite wrong to devotion to Our Lady.
● SCRUPUPLOUS DEVOTEES―The scrupulous devotees are those who fear to dishonor the Son by honoring the Mother, to abase the one in elevating the other. They cannot bear that we should attribute to Our Lady the most just praise which the holy Fathers of the Church have given her. It is all they can do to endure that there should be more people before the altar of the Blessed Virgin than before the Blessed Sacrament—as if the one were contrary to the other, as if those who prayed to our Blessed Lady did not pray to Jesus Christ through her. They are unwilling that we should speak so often of Our Lady and address her so frequently. Here are some of their favorite sayings: “Why so many Rosaries, so many confraternities and so many external devotions to the Blessed Virgin? There is much ignorance in all this. It makes a mockery of our religion! We must have recourse to Jesus Christ; He is our only Mediator. We must preach Jesus Christ; this is the solid devotion.” What they say is in a certain sense true, but in the application they make of it, namely, to hinder devotion to our Blessed Lady, very dangerous; and it is, under pretext of a greater good, a subtle snare of the evil one. For the more we honor the Blessed Virgin, the more we honor Jesus Christ, because we honor Mary only that we may the more perfectly honor Jesus, since we go to her only as the way by which we are to find the end we are seeking, which is Jesus.
● EXTERNAL DEVOTEES―External devotees are persons who make all devotion to our Blessed Lady consist in outward practices only. They have no taste except for the exterior of this devotion, because they have no interior spirit of their own. They will say quantities of Rosaries with the greatest speed; they will hear many Masses distractedly; they will go, without devotion, to processions; they will enroll themselves in all her confraternities—but without amending their lives, without doing any violence to their passions, or without imitating the virtues of that most holy Virgin. They have no love but for the sensible [feelings] part of devotion, without having any relish for its [theological] solidity. If they have no sensible sweetness [sweet feelings] from their practices, they think they are doing nothing; they get all out of joint, throw everything up, or do everything at random. The world is full of these exterior devotees.
● PRESUMPTUOUS DEVOTEES―Presumptuous devotees are sinners abandoned to their passions, or lovers of the world, who under the fair name of Christians and clients of our Blessed Lady conceal pride, avarice, impurity, drunkenness, anger, swearing, detraction, injustice or some other sin. They sleep in peace in the midst of their bad habits, without doing any violence to themselves to correct their faults, under the pretext that they are devout to the Blessed Virgin. They promise themselves that God will pardon them; that they will not be allowed to die without confession; and that they will not be lost eternally because they say the Rosary, because they fast on Saturdays, because they belong to the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, or wear the Scapular, or are enrolled in other congregations, or they wear the little habit or little chain of Our Lady. They say that God is good and merciful; that He has not made us to condemn us everlastingly; that no man is without sin; that they shall not die without confession; that one good act of contrition at the hour of death is enough; that they are devout to Our Lady, wear the Scapular, say daily, without fail and without vanity, seven Our Fathers and seven Hail Mary’s in her honor; and that they sometimes say the Rosary and the Divine Office of Our Lady, besides fasting and other things. To give authority to all this, and to blind themselves still further, they quote certain stories which they have heard or read—it does not matter to them whether they be true or false—relating how people have died in mortal sin without confession, and then, because in their lifetime they sometimes said some prayers or went through some practices of devotion to Our Lady, how they have been raised to life again in order to go to confession; or their soul has been miraculously retained in their bodies till confession; or through the clemency of the Blessed Virgin they have obtained from God, at the moment of death, contrition and pardon of their sins, and so have been saved; and that they themselves expect similar favors. Nothing in Christianity is more detestable than this diabolical presumption. For how can we truly say that we love and honor our Blessed Lady when by our sins we are pitilessly piercing, wounding, crucifying and outraging Jesus Christ, her Son?
● INCONSTANT DEVOTEES―The inconstant devotees are those who are devout to our Blessed Lady by fits and starts. Sometimes they are fervent and sometimes lukewarm. Sometimes they seem ready to do anything for her, and then a little afterward, they are not like the same people. They begin by taking up all the devotions to her, and enrolling themselves in the confraternities; and then they do not practice the rules with fidelity. They change like the moon; they are changeable and unworthy to be reckoned among the servants of that faithful. It were better for such persons not to burden themselves with so many prayers and practices, but to choose a few and fulfill them with faithfulness and love, in spite of the world, the devil and the flesh.
● HYPOCRITICAL DEVOTEES―We have still to mention the false devotees to our Blessed Lady who are the hypocritical devotees, who cloak their sins and sinful habits with her mantle, in order to be taken by men for what they are not. [These are very much like the PRESUMPTUOUS DEVOTEES mentioned above―this is why St. Louis writes so little about them].
● INTERESTED DEVOTEES―There are also the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to gain some lawsuit, or to avoid some danger, or to be cured of some illness, or for some other similar necessity, without which they would forget her altogether. All these are false devotees, pleasing neither to God nor to His holy Mother.
Get Yourself a Life! Get Yourself a Devotion!
Or do we waste most of our day and our time on secondary and tertiary things, whilst neglecting the primary things? Our Lord clearly commands: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God!” (Matthew 6:33). The primary thing―the first and greatest commandment―is “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-38). That is what DEVOTION is―a wholehearted focus and service of God and Heaven, and all that it entails, including the love and service of the Blessed Virgin Mary!
Dictionaries define “devotion” as “strong love, deep loyalty, or great enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause; religious fervor; the fact or state of being ardently dedicated and loyal; profound dedication; consecration; earnest attachment to a cause, person, or thing; the strong love that you show when you pay a lot of attention to someone or something; the loyalty that you show towards a person, job etc, especially by working hard for the person, or cause, or thing; ardent, often selfless affection and dedication, as to a person or principle.” These are just some of the many varied definitions given by dictionaries. Does that sound like you? Is that how your relationship to God, or Our Lord, or Our Lady could be described? Does that describe a 10-minute, or 30-minute, or 60-minute prayer life that is more SAID than PRAYED?
Mother Evicted―Mother of No Fixed Abode!
We approach now the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary―originally and traditionally celebrated on August 22nd, until the modern Church evicted the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary from its “home” on May 31st, and placed the Queenship of Mary into the “home” of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on August 22nd. This, in turn, evicted of the Immaculate Heart of Mary from her home on August 22nd―she was not even given a proper “home”―but was allocated a moveable “home” by becoming a “floating feast” of “no fixed abode” or no fixed date, being given the slot of the Saturday, immediately after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart Jesus. This means in practice that the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is now held on the third Saturday after Pentecost (the feast of Pentecost also varies in its date from year to year, being calculated as 50 days after the feast of another moveable feast, namely Easter). So much for having and showing a devotion to the Immaculate Heart! She now has no “fixed abode” and has to find a different day or home every year! Lucky are they who follow the Extraordinary Rite or the Traditional Latin Rite of for the Sacrifice of the Mass―for in that calendar, the feast remains on August 22nd!
This “eviction” of the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is emblematic or symbolic of the “eviction” of Our Lady from the hearts of Catholics today. Devotion to her is a “floating devotion” of no “fixed rate”―as St. Louis de Montfort says, in speaking above of the false devotions and false devotees of Our Lady―there is nothing fixed or constant in their devotion. St. Louis says they “have recourse to Our Lady only to gain some lawsuit, or to avoid some danger, or to be cured of some illness, or for some other similar necessity, without which they would forget her altogether.” They “do everything at random” … They are “inconstant devotees” … “who are devout to our Blessed Lady by fits and starts. Sometimes they are fervent and sometimes lukewarm. Sometimes they seem ready to do anything for her, and then a little afterward, they are not like the same people. They begin by taking up all the devotions to her, and enrolling themselves in the confraternities; and then they do not practice the rules with fidelity. They change like the moon; they are changeable and unworthy to be reckoned among the servants of that faithful.”
Death of Devotion Leads to Death of Soul
Fr. Faber wrote in the 1850s “But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself!” (Fr. Faber, Preface to his personal translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary).
If Fr. Faber could write that in the 1850s, then how much more true and how much worse is not the situation today? This present-day dwindling, decaying, dying devotion to Our Lady has for its consequence the dwindling, decaying and dying hopes of salvation for so many souls, who, as Our Lady revealed at Fatima, are being damned. That dwindling, decaying and dying devotion needs a defibrillator delivering a dose of electric current to the heart! Our shocking devotion to Mary needs a shock to bring it back to life! As we are fast approaching the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (August 22nd), let us see what kind of defibrillator we can find and how we can use it, in order to rejuvenate our dwindling, decaying, dying devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary―which is of the utmost importance and necessity, as Our Lady herself revealed at Fatima: Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it!” (Our Lady of Fatima, June 1917). “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). If you wish to obtain a greater hope and certitude of salvation―for yourself and your nearest and dearest―then you need to listen to and put into practice those requests or commands!
However, to avoid fooling yourself (and others), you need to review and absorb what the word “devotion” really means! Dictionaries define “devotion” as “strong love, deep loyalty, or great enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause; religious fervor; the fact or state of being ardently dedicated and loyal; profound dedication; consecration; earnest attachment to a cause, person, or thing; the strong love that you show when you pay a lot of attention to someone or something; the loyalty that you show towards a person, job etc, especially by working hard for the person, or cause, or thing; ardent, often selfless affection and dedication, as to a person or principle.” These are just some of the many varied definitions given by dictionaries. Does that sound like you?
As they say, “Tell me who your friends and I will tell what you are!” The same is said of food: “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are―healthy or unhealthy!” The same is true of most things, especially with reading, listening, watching, thinking, speaking and doing. Tell me what you read, watch and listen to―and I will tell you what you are.
We can judge ourselves by our thoughts and what preoccupies them―our thoughts are seeds that sprout into words and actions. Thus we can be judged by our words and our actions―since they reveal our thoughts to some extent―but our words and actions are only the tip of the massive iceberg of our thoughts, which greatly outnumber whatever we say or do.
Those six items―reading, listening, watching, thinking, speaking and doing―can, like most things, be good or evil. We know what they should be―Holy Scripture tells us so―“Turn away from evil and do good!” (Psalm 33:15) … “Decline from evil and do good!” (Psalm 36:27). “Seek ye good, and not evil, that you may live!” (Amos 5:14). “Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good” (Romans 12:21).
Furthermore, Our Lord adds: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:17-20). What Our Lord says of things in general, could also be applied to the tongue in particular: “A good tongue brings forth good speech, and an evil tongue brings forth evil speech. A good tongue cannot bring forth evil speech, nor can an evil tongue bring forth good speech. Every tongue that does not bring forth good speech shall be torn-out and shall be cast into the fire! Wherefore, by their tongues you shall know them!”
“The mouth defileth a man .. what cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man … The things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart, and those things defile a man. For from the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies. These are the things that defile a man” (Matthew 15:11, 18-20).
In this sense―taking all of the above―we could invoke the popular phrase: “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil!” For, as Jesus says: “A good man out of a good treasure bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of an evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Matthew 12:35).
The Tongues Terrible Training Ground
Today, more than ever, the tongue travels unhindered. The internet and social media―through the use of smartphones, tablets, laptops and the seemingly antiquated desktop computers―has granted the tongue a passport to the whole wide world on the world wide web (www). Sadly, instead of www standing for world wide web, it could arguably said to stand for “Woe! Woe! Woe!” Turn the www upside down, and you get mmm―which could be said to stand for a “morally miserable market”! The world wide web has become a wicked word web for most people―where they can either read or post words that will come back to haunt and damn them on Judgment Day.
Just as it is with our own ratio of thoughts to words, there are more people on the world wide web (or wicked word web) who are content to simply read without posting anything, or posting very little in comparison to what they read. The tip of the iceberg is the posting, the majority of the vast iceberg lies underwater as thoughts hidden in mind of the readers of those posts. There are more DOPs than WOPs―more “drinkers of poison” than “writers of poison”―yet the vast majority of content is poisoned. A glass of water is considered poisoned even if there is one drop of poison with a whole glassful of water. A person is considered as being sick if only one part of the body is sick. Hence the wise Latin phrase that says: “Bonum ex integra causa; malum ex quocumque defectu.” Literally (and confusingly) this means “a good (thing) comes from an integral cause, a bad (thing) comes from any defect whatever.” The Catholic Encyclopedia gives a more “user-friendly” translation: “An action is good when good in every respect; it is wrong when wrong in any respect.” Which could be made even more “friendly” by padding-it-out a little more and saying: “An action is good when it is good in every way; but it becomes wrong or bad when it is wrong or bad in any way whatsoever.” Thus, the devil, in order to make us sin, will gladly state or admit to 9 truths just so that he can slip in one single lie and have us believe it and swallow it. For the modern-day attitude is one of: “Hey! There’s only one little thing wrong with it! Everything else is fine! It must be good!” Yet God will not look upon our lives in the same way―everything will be microscopically analyzed and even the slightest blemish (if uncorrected and unpaid for during our life on Earth) will prevent our entrance into Heaven and will consign us to either Hell or Purgatory―depending on how serious a blemish it is. Perfection is the requirement for Heaven.
Looking at even Catholic websites and blogs, there is far greater proportion of negative posting when compared to positive posting. Far more criticism than praise; far more warmongering than peacemaking; far more focus on vice and sin than on virtue; far more rash judging than favorable judging; far more talk of evil than of good; far more trigger-happy jumping to conclusions than a careful research and inquiry into all available evidence; far more fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants superficiality than any kind of real depth. All of this leads to the inevitable consequence of becoming like the things you read―much as they say: “You are what you eat!” If you constantly eat junk food, you junk your health! If you constantly read junk, you junk your mind and your soul. If you constantly listen to and read superficial things, you become superficial―a person with no real depth, no real knowledge except superficial knowledge, no real intelligence except a superficial intelligence. This is why today’s youth (and young adults) cannot spell correctly, cannot think deeply, cannot problem solve and cannot have an in-depth critical conversation about anything of value. They have been raised on the mundane commercial sound bites of television, internet and social media outlets, that they repeat in parrot-like fashion to show that they are in vogue with the latest verbal fashions. Text messages, with their countless word abbreviations, have butchered all sense of correct spelling―which indirectly leads to a decimation of any depth in communication.
Going Downhill Easier Than Going Uphill
We find walking downhill far easier than climbing uphill. No exercise is easier than exercise. In a certain sense―due to the effects of Original Sin―it is easier to sin than it is to practice virtue―just observe little children and the point is easily proved. Avoiding study and learning is easier than pursuing study and learning. It is far easier and quicker to knock-down something than to build the same thing. You can spend hours writing an article or an essay, but it only takes a few seconds to rip it up or delete it. Businesses that took years to build, can be ruined in very little time. Years of growth in virtue and grace can be destroyed by one single mortal sin, which closes the door of Heaven unless repented, confessed and repaired. Hours of safe driving can be ruined by dozing-off at the wheel for just a few seconds. The same is true of the Faith―you can believe 99% of all the dogmas of the Church, but just disbelieve one single dogma and you are Hell bound.
With all that said―nobody could realistically argue against the fact that it is far easier to get to Hell than it is to get to Heaven. Most people treat Heaven like a welfare state―in the sense that they expect heavenly handouts without having to any labor or show any effort on their own part. You can see this attitude at most modern-day Catholic funerals, where the deceased is the “toast” of the party and is said to be “up there, looking happily down on us!”
Yet Our Lord has already dispelled such a stupid notion when “a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Our Lady has given us more of the same! Speaking of our times, she states that “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France).
Too Busy Doing The Wrong Things
Why has this all come about? Why is it still growing in gravity and intensity? It is basically because we are too busy doing the wrong things. We are like the marathon runner who is running like crazy―but running in the wrong direction. We are expending much energy and time―but on the wrong things. We are like a rifle marksman who keeps hitting the bulls-eye―but it is the wrong target. We are so concerned and addicted to the negative―that we neglect the positive. We are like the fireman who arrives at a house fire and runs around everywhere shouting at the top of his voice: “Look! There’s a fire over there! Look! There’s a house burning down! Look at that fire!”―instead of doing his job and putting out the fire. Or the doctor in the Emergency Room who keeps shouting at the drunk who crashed his car and is dying―criticizing, chastising and condemning his stupidity for driving while drunk―when he should trying to save his life through his medical expertise.
You see that same attitude with many Catholics today when faced with the terrible crisis in the Church (and the world). These are Catholics who, like the fireman, have access to a spiritual fire-hosepipe―or like the doctor, have spiritual medical expertise. They could help alleviate the crisis a little, but they are too busy pouring more gasoline on the fire rather than trying to put out the fire. It is as if they thought that throwing gasoline on the fire is like throwing water on a fire! The devil is always on hand, with a Hell Gas Station found on every street corner, to give anyone and everyone plenty of gasoline free of charge! This is natural and typical for Satan and the devils―for the name “Satan” is derived from the Hebrew verb “Satan”, which means “to oppose” and so from it comes the general meaning of “adversary.” The word “Devil” comes from the way the wicked spirit goes about his work. It comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate.” That is exactly what Satan and the other devils want us to do―to oppose each other, to become adversaries to each, to accuse each other and calumniate each other. Their preferred way to bring about large scale damnation is to divide and conquer―and they have been and still are very successful with these tactics.
Yes―Pope Francis is a major source of consternation to serious and faithful Catholics! Yes―the sexual abuse crisis is revolting! Yes―homosexuality is an ever increasing problem for the Church! Yes―sexual immorality has spiraled out of control amongst Catholics (and the rest of the world)! Yes―less and less Catholics are regularly practicing their Faith! These are merely fractional tips of an overwhelming iceberg of sin that is floating on the ever receding waters of the Faith. Never mind the contentious “global warming” issue―we have a more serious issue of “global sinning”! Back in 1973―the same year that abortion was beginning to take off in the USA with Roe vs. Wade―Our Lady of Akita warned: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.” That is a very scary thought―especially since it comes from the Mother of Mercy herself!
Rotten and Right Remedies
Despite the evils in the Church, despite the evils in the world―Christ has come to seek and save, not to push the heads of sinners underwater: “For God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). If Pope Francis is a sinner―then Christ came to save him! If priests are pedophiles or homosexuals or impure in any way―then Christ came to save them! He has come to save the apostates, the adulterers, the murderers, the abortionists, the possessed, the molesters, the Satanists, the pagans, the Jews, the atheists, the agnostics, the skeptics, the Modernists, the Liberals, or anyone else you would like to add to that list!
Yet Christ will not accept them as they are―they need to change, they need to repent, they need to make reparation, they need to leave their errors and deviancy behind―as Christ emphatically said to the woman caught in adultery: “Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!” (John 8:11) and to the paralytic that had suffered for 38 years, whom He had cured, Jesus said: “Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). “Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 18:3).
Thus, if the sinner does not wish to change and desires to continue sinning, then the words of Holy Scripture are equally emphatic: “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the Kingdom of God? Do not err! Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God!” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
What will convert the sinner? Attacks? Threats? Ridicule? Ostracization? Imprisonment? Death penalty? All of these things may have some part to play in a conversion―but they do not of themselves convert anyone. Conversion is a grace of God’s and it has to be begged for, paid for and earned to some degree. This is whole point of Our Lady’s messages at Quito, La Salette, Fatima and Akita―where she speaks of the part we have to play in bringing about the conversion of sinners. What are the remedies or instruments that will do this? We all know, don’t we? They are prayer and penance! These are remedies that should be used, but are not used―or, at least, not used in sufficiency. Our Lady repeatedly asks for them, commands them, speaks of them:
“The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!”
“The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Pray for sinners … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners … Penance! Penance! Penance! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent! … Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Akita).
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the Key Remedy
All of the above mentioned things―praying the Rosary, making sacrifices, performing penances, enduring sufferings―are all contained, or should be contained, within the sphere of devotion to Our Lady. At Fatima, Our Lady stated that God wished to establish IN THE WHOLE WORLD devotion to her Immaculate Heart and if this done, then many souls would be saved―meaning it is a remedy for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of souls. Part of the prayer that the Angel of Portugal taught the three children of Fatima, includes the phrase: “… through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.” Our Lady herself said: “Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it!” (Our Lady of Fatima, June 1917). “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917).
St. Louis on the Need for Devotion to Mary
This key role of Our Lady was already expressed before the 1917 apparitions at Fatima. St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, expresses the necessity of Mary’s role in the “Latter Days”:
“At the end of the world and indeed presently, the Most High with His holy Mother has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity as much as the cedars of Lebanon outgrow the little shrubs. These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection, so that they shall fight with one hand and build with the other. With the one hand they shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries and the sinners with their impieties. With the other hand they shall build (2 Esdras 4:7) the temple of the true Solomon and the mystical city of God, that is to say, the most holy Virgin, called by the Fathers the “Temple of Solomon” and the “City of God.” By their words and their examples they shall draw the whole world to true devotion to Mary. This shall bring upon them many enemies, but shall also bring many victories and much glory for God alone.
“It is necessary, then, for the greater knowledge and glory of the Most Holy Trinity, that Mary should be more than ever known. Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, in might and in grace, in these latter times: in mercy, to bring back and lovingly receive the poor strayed sinners who shall be converted and shall return to the Catholic Church; in might, against the enemies of God, idolaters, schismatics, Mahometans, Jews and souls hardened in impiety, who shall rise in terrible revolt against God to seduce all those who shall oppose them and to make them fall by promises and threats; and finally, she must shine forth in grace, in order to animate and sustain the valiant soldiers and faithful servants of Jesus Christ, who shall battle for His interests. And lastly, Mary must be terrible to the devil and his crew, as an army ranged in battle, principally in these latter times, because the devil, knowing that he has but little time, and now less than ever, to destroy souls, will every day redouble his efforts and his combats. He will presently raise up cruel persecutions and will put terrible snares before the faithful servants and true children of Mary, whom it gives him more trouble to conquer than it does to conquer others.
“The power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God’s assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph.
“In a word, God wishes that His holy Mother should be at present more known, more loved, more honored than she has ever been. This, no doubt, will take place if the predestinate enter, with the grace and light of the Holy Ghost, into the interior and perfect practice which I will disclose to them shortly. Then they will see clearly, as far as Faith allows, that beautiful Star of the Sea. They will arrive happily in harbor, following its guidance, in spite of the tempests and the pirates. They will know the grandeurs of that Queen, and will consecrate themselves entirely to her service as subjects and slaves of love. They will experience her sweetness and her maternal goodness, and they will love her tenderly like well-beloved children. They will know the mercies of which she is full, and the need they have of her help; and they will have recourse to her in all things, as to their dear advocate and Mediatrix with Jesus Christ. They will know what is the surest, the easiest, the shortest and the most perfect means of going to Jesus Christ; and they will give themselves to Mary, body and soul, without reserve, that they may thus belong entirely to Jesus Christ.
“But who shall those servants, slaves and children of Mary be? They shall be the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. They shall be “like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful” Mary to pierce her enemies. (Psalm 126:4). They shall be the sons of Levi, well purified by the fire of great tribulation, and closely adhering to God (1 Corinthians 6:17), who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body. They shall be everywhere the good odor of Jesus Christ to the poor and to the little, while at the same time, they shall be an odor of death to the great, to the rich and to the proud worldlings.
“They shall be clouds thundering and flying through the air at the least breath of the Holy Ghost; who, detaching themselves from everything and troubling themselves about nothing, shall shower forth the rain of the Word of God and of life eternal. They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through, for life or for death, with their two-edged sword of the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17), all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High. They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord of Hosts shall give the word and the might to work marvels and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies. They shall sleep without gold or silver, and, what is more, without care, in the midst of the other priests, ecclesiastics, and clerics (Psalm 67:14); and yet they shall have the silvered wings of the dove to go, with the pure intention of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, wheresoever the Holy Ghost shall call them. Nor shall they leave behind them, in the places where they have preached, anything but the gold of charity, which is the fulfillment of the whole law. (Romans 13:10).
“In a word, we know that they shall be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be. They shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. They shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior. These are the great men who are to come; but Mary is the one who, by order of the Most High, shall fashion them for the purpose of extending His empire over that of the impious, the idolaters and the Mahometans. But when and how shall this be? God alone knows. As for us, we have but to hold our tongues, to pray, to sigh and to wait: “With expectation I have waited.” (Psalm 39:2).” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
Fr. Faber on the Remedy of Mary for Our Times
Fr. Frederick Faber, in his personal translation from the original French of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, states in his preface the following:
“All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
“But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized!
“Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother! I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion de Montfort! Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ! Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!”
So What Will You Do About It?
As one current-day exorcist says, the goal of the devil is obviously to pull you away from God and drag you into Hell. Yet the devil knows that this is almost impossible to achieve immediately, especially in the case of those who practice their Faith in all sincerity. So, says the exorcist, the devil initially needs to wean you off God little by little―and he does this by distracting you away from the more important (good) things, and gets you to focus on less important (good) things. The crucial thing for any soul is grace―the more grace we have, the stronger we are; the less grace we have, the weaker we are. Prayer and sacrifice (penance and mortification) are among the chief sources of grace outside of the Sacraments. Thus, the devil wants to distract us from praying, but he can only achieve this if he offers something to us that we think is equally good―or even better―than prayer. Prayer maintains our spiritual immune system―prayer less, and that immune system weakens and becomes susceptible to temptation and sin (little ones at first, then gradually greater ones). Hence we need to pray―not just occasionally, or for a few minutes a day.
Yet the average American Christian devotes an average of only 10 minutes per day to religious activities. Compare that measly minimal of 10 God minutes per day to the American average of 40 minutes of daily personal grooming, or 5 hours of daily leisure time, or around 3 hours of watching TV daily. Since 2000, the weekly average for time spent online has risen from 9 hours per week in 2000, to 24 hours per week in 2018. The smartphone (which includes internet and social media) has those aged 15 to 24 on average spend four hours a day on the phone, compared with 2 hours 50 minutes for all adults.
God gets an average of 10 minutes per day! Do you call that devotion? Do you call that a fitting response to God’s command to “love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength!” (Mark 12:30)? Is a mere 10 minutes―or even half-an-hour―a fulfilling of the command to “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God!” (Matthew 6:33). Is a mere 10 minutes―or even half-an-hour―a fulfillment of the command: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1). “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). “I desire therefore that men pray in every place!” (1 Timothy 2:8). “I will praise Thy Name continually” (Ecclesiasticus 51:15). “We will give ourselves continually to prayer” (Acts 6:4). “Prayer was made without ceasing” (Acts 12:5). “By all prayer and supplication praying at all time” (Ephesians 6:18). “The continual prayer of a just man availeth much” (James 5:16).
St. Augustine tells us that “As our body cannot live without nourishment, so our soul cannot spiritually be kept alive without prayer.” St. John Chrysostom says “It is simply impossible to lead, without the aid of prayer, a virtuous life.” St. Alphonsus Liguori says that “He who prays most receives most.”
The Angel of Portugal, at Fatima, even told little children to pray much—they were busy playing and he rebuked them, telling them to cease playing and pray without ceasing: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High” (Angel of Portugal, Fatima, summer of 1916). Our Lady reiterated this during her apparitions at Fatima, in 1917: “Pray! Pray very much!” At Akita in 1973, Our Lady echoes this: “Continue to pray very much...very much! … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary.”
Turning Things Around―Otherwise Known as “Conversion”
There needs to be a massive turn-around―that is to say, a massive conversion―on the part of almost everybody. This is hardly “new news” or “rocket-science”―since we know that most souls end up being lost (or “damned” if you prefer that damned word). What is astounding is that nobody seems to acknowledge or admit to a need for conversion! Everyone is very comfortable at the level at which they find themselves―whether lukewarm, or in mortal sin, or having totally ceased to practice the Faith, or even in full blown apostasy! The parable of the Pharisee and Publican springs to mind: “The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: ‘O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men―extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican” Luke 18:11). In case you are tempted to think like the Pharisee―saying to yourself: “I am not like the rest of men!”―you ought to seriously ponder the words: “And that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48).
If you pride yourself on being a “Traditional” Catholic or a “Conservative” Catholic, boasting that you are “not like the rest of men”―especially not like those Modernists, Liberals, Protestants, Pagans and Atheists―then tremble in your boots, for you therefore are that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given [YOU], of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much [YOU], of him they will demand the more!” (Luke 12:47-48).
A Little Bit of Humble Honesty (or Honest Humility) Could Take You Far
We find it very, very hard to be honest regarding ourselves―whereas we find it relatively easy to be brutally honest when speaking about other people. Our Lord speaks of this in his “Plank and Splinter” analogy: “Why seest thou the splinter that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the splinter out of thy eye!’ ― and behold there is a plank in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the beam in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5).
We are more likely to play “The Blame Game”―like Adam and Eve―whereby we “pass the buck” (or pass the blame) onto someone or something else, rather than squarely accepting responsibility and accountability. Instead we others responsible and accountable. This is, of course, part of the package that we all inherit with Original Sin.
Unless you do not understand the English language very well, or your vocabulary is limited and a dictionary is out of reach (or you do not even know what a dictionary is)―then you would have to honestly and humbly admit that you do not really have a devotion towards God, Our Lady, prayer, or any other aspect of the spiritual life. You might have the seed of a devotion―but that is far from being a tree of devotion that proves itself by its many fruits. You might SAY the Rosary, but you probably don’t PRAY the Rosary. You might announce the Mystery before SAYING the decade, but you do not MEDITATE the mystery―yet at the end of the Rosary, after the Hail Holy Queen, you always say: “… Grant that by MEDITATING on these mysteries of the most Holy Rosary … we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise …”―but we never really MEDITATE them, yet we say this prayer every single day! As Our Lord said of the Jews: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). As regard the very few in number who still SAY their Rosary (or even several Rosaries) daily, most of them would have to admit that their minds and hearts are far from meditating what they announce and say with their lips. In some cases, they are no better than ‘human parrots’―for even a parrot could be trained to say the Hail Mary―and furthermore, a parrot never sins, but humans do!
Looking in the Mirror of Devotion
Hence, in all honesty, we should acknowledge that the above quoted words of St. Louis de Montfort and Fr. Frederick Faber are greatly applicable to ourselves and our spiritual attitude and approach to things. First of all, taking the words of St. Louis de Montfort―Do we seek to be those “great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity as much as the cedars of Lebanon outgrow the little shrubs. These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady” ? Are we, “illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit” ? ―or do we rarely read about her and study her words? Do we “fight with one hand and build with the other” ? Or are we sighting among ourselves and knocking each other down? Do we fit the description of those who, “By their words and their examples they shall draw the whole world to true devotion to Mary” ? Or are we devoted to other, lesser, more worldly things and by our example we lead other to embrace worldliness and neglect devotion to Our Lady?
Are we among those who think and believe “that Mary should be more than ever known; [that] Mary must shine forth more than ever … in these latter times” ? If so, what are we doing about it? What proof do we have by way of actions and deeds to support our thoughts and beliefs? Are we “her humble slaves and her poor children … little and poor in the world’s esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body” ?
“God wishes that His holy Mother should be at present more known, more loved, more honored than she has ever been!”―but what are we doing to promote and achieve this desire of God’s? Are we “the ministers of the Lord who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere. Like sharp arrows in the hand of the powerful Mary to pierce her enemies” ? Are we amongst those “who shall carry the gold of love in their heart, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their body; who, detaching themselves from everything and troubling themselves about nothing, shall shower forth the rain of the Word of God” ? Do we “thunder against sin; storm against the world; strike the devil and his crew … with the two-edged sword of the Word of God” ?
Are we “the true apostles of the latter times, [who] sleep without gold or silver, and without care, in the midst of the others; … true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility, contempt of the world, charity; teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world; troubling themselves about nothing; not accepting persons; sparing, fearing and listening to no mortal, however influential he may be!” ? Are we among those who “shall have in their mouths the two-edged sword of the Word of God. [Who] shall carry on their shoulders the bloody standard of the Cross, the Crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left, the sacred Names of Jesus and Mary in their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behavior” ?
Does the Mirror of Devotion Reflect a False Devotion?
St. Louis de Montfort, before painting a picture of what a true devotion consists of, firstly paints a picture (or seven pictures) of what a false devotion is. Being brutally honest, we would have to admit that we are wounded in one or several ways by these false devotions. St. Louis enumerates the seven false devotions thus: (1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; (7) the interested devotees.
St. Louis then writes: “Today, more than ever, we must take pains in choosing true devotion to our Blessed Lady, because, more than ever before, there are false devotions to our Blessed Lady which are easily mistaken for true ones. The devil, like a false coiner and a subtle and experienced sharper, has already deceived and destroyed so many souls by a false devotion to the Blessed Virgin that he makes a daily use of his diabolical experience to plunge many others by this same way into everlasting perdition; amusing them, lulling them to sleep in sin, under the pretext of some prayers badly said or of some outward practices which he inspires. As a false coiner does not ordinarily counterfeit anything but gold or silver, and very rarely other metals, because they are not worth the trouble, so the evil spirit does not for the most part counterfeit other devotions, but only those to Jesus and Mary—devotion to Holy Communion and to our Blessed Lady—because they are among other devotions what gold and silver are among other metals. It is then very important to recognize, first of all, false devotions to our Blessed Lady, in order to avoid them.”
● CRITICAL DEVOTEES―The critical devotees are, for the most part, proud scholars, rash and self-sufficient spirits, who have at heart some devotion to the holy Virgin, but who criticize nearly all the practices of devotion which simple people pay simply and holily to their good Mother― because these practices do not fall in with their own humor and fancy. They call in doubt all the miracles and pious stories recorded by authors worthy of Faith, or drawn from the chronicles of religious orders: narratives which testify to us the mercies and the power of the most holy Virgin. They cannot see, without uneasiness, simple and humble people on their knees before an altar or an image of Our Lady, sometimes at the corner of a street, in order to pray to God there. They say that, for their part, they are not fond of these external devotions, and that they are not so credulous as to believe so many tales and stories that are told about Our Lady. These kinds of false devotees and of proud and worldly people are greatly to be feared. They do an infinite wrong to devotion to Our Lady.
● SCRUPUPLOUS DEVOTEES―The scrupulous devotees are those who fear to dishonor the Son by honoring the Mother, to abase the one in elevating the other. They cannot bear that we should attribute to Our Lady the most just praise which the holy Fathers of the Church have given her. It is all they can do to endure that there should be more people before the altar of the Blessed Virgin than before the Blessed Sacrament—as if the one were contrary to the other, as if those who prayed to our Blessed Lady did not pray to Jesus Christ through her. They are unwilling that we should speak so often of Our Lady and address her so frequently. Here are some of their favorite sayings: “Why so many Rosaries, so many confraternities and so many external devotions to the Blessed Virgin? There is much ignorance in all this. It makes a mockery of our religion! We must have recourse to Jesus Christ; He is our only Mediator. We must preach Jesus Christ; this is the solid devotion.” What they say is in a certain sense true, but in the application they make of it, namely, to hinder devotion to our Blessed Lady, very dangerous; and it is, under pretext of a greater good, a subtle snare of the evil one. For the more we honor the Blessed Virgin, the more we honor Jesus Christ, because we honor Mary only that we may the more perfectly honor Jesus, since we go to her only as the way by which we are to find the end we are seeking, which is Jesus.
● EXTERNAL DEVOTEES―External devotees are persons who make all devotion to our Blessed Lady consist in outward practices only. They have no taste except for the exterior of this devotion, because they have no interior spirit of their own. They will say quantities of Rosaries with the greatest speed; they will hear many Masses distractedly; they will go, without devotion, to processions; they will enroll themselves in all her confraternities—but without amending their lives, without doing any violence to their passions, or without imitating the virtues of that most holy Virgin. They have no love but for the sensible [feelings] part of devotion, without having any relish for its [theological] solidity. If they have no sensible sweetness [sweet feelings] from their practices, they think they are doing nothing; they get all out of joint, throw everything up, or do everything at random. The world is full of these exterior devotees.
● PRESUMPTUOUS DEVOTEES―Presumptuous devotees are sinners abandoned to their passions, or lovers of the world, who under the fair name of Christians and clients of our Blessed Lady conceal pride, avarice, impurity, drunkenness, anger, swearing, detraction, injustice or some other sin. They sleep in peace in the midst of their bad habits, without doing any violence to themselves to correct their faults, under the pretext that they are devout to the Blessed Virgin. They promise themselves that God will pardon them; that they will not be allowed to die without confession; and that they will not be lost eternally because they say the Rosary, because they fast on Saturdays, because they belong to the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, or wear the Scapular, or are enrolled in other congregations, or they wear the little habit or little chain of Our Lady. They say that God is good and merciful; that He has not made us to condemn us everlastingly; that no man is without sin; that they shall not die without confession; that one good act of contrition at the hour of death is enough; that they are devout to Our Lady, wear the Scapular, say daily, without fail and without vanity, seven Our Fathers and seven Hail Mary’s in her honor; and that they sometimes say the Rosary and the Divine Office of Our Lady, besides fasting and other things. To give authority to all this, and to blind themselves still further, they quote certain stories which they have heard or read—it does not matter to them whether they be true or false—relating how people have died in mortal sin without confession, and then, because in their lifetime they sometimes said some prayers or went through some practices of devotion to Our Lady, how they have been raised to life again in order to go to confession; or their soul has been miraculously retained in their bodies till confession; or through the clemency of the Blessed Virgin they have obtained from God, at the moment of death, contrition and pardon of their sins, and so have been saved; and that they themselves expect similar favors. Nothing in Christianity is more detestable than this diabolical presumption. For how can we truly say that we love and honor our Blessed Lady when by our sins we are pitilessly piercing, wounding, crucifying and outraging Jesus Christ, her Son?
● INCONSTANT DEVOTEES―The inconstant devotees are those who are devout to our Blessed Lady by fits and starts. Sometimes they are fervent and sometimes lukewarm. Sometimes they seem ready to do anything for her, and then a little afterward, they are not like the same people. They begin by taking up all the devotions to her, and enrolling themselves in the confraternities; and then they do not practice the rules with fidelity. They change like the moon; they are changeable and unworthy to be reckoned among the servants of that faithful. It were better for such persons not to burden themselves with so many prayers and practices, but to choose a few and fulfill them with faithfulness and love, in spite of the world, the devil and the flesh.
● HYPOCRITICAL DEVOTEES―We have still to mention the false devotees to our Blessed Lady who are the hypocritical devotees, who cloak their sins and sinful habits with her mantle, in order to be taken by men for what they are not. [These are very much like the PRESUMPTUOUS DEVOTEES mentioned above―this is why St. Louis writes so little about them].
● INTERESTED DEVOTEES―There are also the interested devotees, who have recourse to Our Lady only to gain some lawsuit, or to avoid some danger, or to be cured of some illness, or for some other similar necessity, without which they would forget her altogether. All these are false devotees, pleasing neither to God nor to His holy Mother.
Get Yourself a Life! Get Yourself a Devotion!
Or do we waste most of our day and our time on secondary and tertiary things, whilst neglecting the primary things? Our Lord clearly commands: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God!” (Matthew 6:33). The primary thing―the first and greatest commandment―is “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-38). That is what DEVOTION is―a wholehearted focus and service of God and Heaven, and all that it entails, including the love and service of the Blessed Virgin Mary!
Dictionaries define “devotion” as “strong love, deep loyalty, or great enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause; religious fervor; the fact or state of being ardently dedicated and loyal; profound dedication; consecration; earnest attachment to a cause, person, or thing; the strong love that you show when you pay a lot of attention to someone or something; the loyalty that you show towards a person, job etc, especially by working hard for the person, or cause, or thing; ardent, often selfless affection and dedication, as to a person or principle.” These are just some of the many varied definitions given by dictionaries. Does that sound like you? Is that how your relationship to God, or Our Lord, or Our Lady could be described? Does that describe a 10-minute, or 30-minute, or 60-minute prayer life that is more SAID than PRAYED?
Mother Evicted―Mother of No Fixed Abode!
We approach now the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary―originally and traditionally celebrated on August 22nd, until the modern Church evicted the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary from its “home” on May 31st, and placed the Queenship of Mary into the “home” of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on August 22nd. This, in turn, evicted of the Immaculate Heart of Mary from her home on August 22nd―she was not even given a proper “home”―but was allocated a moveable “home” by becoming a “floating feast” of “no fixed abode” or no fixed date, being given the slot of the Saturday, immediately after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart Jesus. This means in practice that the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is now held on the third Saturday after Pentecost (the feast of Pentecost also varies in its date from year to year, being calculated as 50 days after the feast of another moveable feast, namely Easter). So much for having and showing a devotion to the Immaculate Heart! She now has no “fixed abode” and has to find a different day or home every year! Lucky are they who follow the Extraordinary Rite or the Traditional Latin Rite of for the Sacrifice of the Mass―for in that calendar, the feast remains on August 22nd!
This “eviction” of the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is emblematic or symbolic of the “eviction” of Our Lady from the hearts of Catholics today. Devotion to her is a “floating devotion” of no “fixed rate”―as St. Louis de Montfort says, in speaking above of the false devotions and false devotees of Our Lady―there is nothing fixed or constant in their devotion. St. Louis says they “have recourse to Our Lady only to gain some lawsuit, or to avoid some danger, or to be cured of some illness, or for some other similar necessity, without which they would forget her altogether.” They “do everything at random” … They are “inconstant devotees” … “who are devout to our Blessed Lady by fits and starts. Sometimes they are fervent and sometimes lukewarm. Sometimes they seem ready to do anything for her, and then a little afterward, they are not like the same people. They begin by taking up all the devotions to her, and enrolling themselves in the confraternities; and then they do not practice the rules with fidelity. They change like the moon; they are changeable and unworthy to be reckoned among the servants of that faithful.”
Death of Devotion Leads to Death of Soul
Fr. Faber wrote in the 1850s “But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one! Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy! It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself!” (Fr. Faber, Preface to his personal translation of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary).
If Fr. Faber could write that in the 1850s, then how much more true and how much worse is not the situation today? This present-day dwindling, decaying, dying devotion to Our Lady has for its consequence the dwindling, decaying and dying hopes of salvation for so many souls, who, as Our Lady revealed at Fatima, are being damned. That dwindling, decaying and dying devotion needs a defibrillator delivering a dose of electric current to the heart! Our shocking devotion to Mary needs a shock to bring it back to life! As we are fast approaching the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (August 22nd), let us see what kind of defibrillator we can find and how we can use it, in order to rejuvenate our dwindling, decaying, dying devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary―which is of the utmost importance and necessity, as Our Lady herself revealed at Fatima: Jesus wants to use you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it!” (Our Lady of Fatima, June 1917). “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). If you wish to obtain a greater hope and certitude of salvation―for yourself and your nearest and dearest―then you need to listen to and put into practice those requests or commands!
However, to avoid fooling yourself (and others), you need to review and absorb what the word “devotion” really means! Dictionaries define “devotion” as “strong love, deep loyalty, or great enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause; religious fervor; the fact or state of being ardently dedicated and loyal; profound dedication; consecration; earnest attachment to a cause, person, or thing; the strong love that you show when you pay a lot of attention to someone or something; the loyalty that you show towards a person, job etc, especially by working hard for the person, or cause, or thing; ardent, often selfless affection and dedication, as to a person or principle.” These are just some of the many varied definitions given by dictionaries. Does that sound like you?
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Saturday August 17th & Sunday August 18th
Article 9
Caught Between a Rock and Heart Place!
Article 9
Caught Between a Rock and Heart Place!
Rock and Heart
Huh? Rock and Heart? What craziness is this? Well, not so crazy as you might think! For one―rocks don’t have hearts, they are inanimate, they don’t have feelings do they? We say: “His heart is as hard as a rock!” So rocks can symbolize hard-hearted persons. I n this sense, we could say that most of the world has hearts as hard as a rock, or hearts of stone, because they have little or no love for Christ and His Laws, little or no love for the Faith, little or no love for His Sacrifice on Calvary that is renewed in every valid Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world: “And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former prophets: so a great indignation came from the Lord of hosts” Zacharias 7:12). God would like to change these persons― “I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26)―but there are “no takers”, they prefer their hearts of stone to what God would give them!
Solid as a Rock, Water Trickling Off a Rock
However, we also have the expression “As solid as a rock!” or “As immovable as a rock!” St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, writes: “Every building which is not built on that firm rock is founded upon the moving sand, and sooner or later infallibly will fall … The more, then, that you gain the favor of that august Princess and faithful Virgin, the more will you act by pure Faith; a pure Faith which will make you care hardly at all about sensible consolations and extraordinary favors; a lively Faith animated by charity, which will enable you to perform all your actions from the motive of pure love; a Faith firm and immovable as a rock, through which you will rest quiet and constant in the midst of storms and hurricanes!”
Our Lady gave us the Word of God―“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us!” (John 1:1, 14). At the marriage feast at Cana, she says of this “Word of God”― “Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye!” (John 2:5). Our Lord―the Word of God Himself―says of His Word: “Every one therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock! And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27). Do you let the words of God bounce off your stony heart like raindrops off a stone?
A Rock of Faith
Holy Scripture speaks of “everlasting foundations upon a solid rock” (Ecclesiasticus 26:24), “a rock above a plain” (Jeremias 21:13), “a rock that standeth-out in a desert land” Isaias 32:2)―which we can see realized in the foundation of the Catholic Church by Christ, when He says to St. Peter: “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it!” (Matthew 16:18). We find safety in buildings built from rocks and stones, than if they were built with sticks and straws. The Church is a “Rock of Faith” for us, which will shelter us from attacks of the devil and the world. “He hath exalted me upon a rock! And now He hath lifted up my head above my enemies” (Psalm 26:6). “He set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps!” (Psalm 39:3). “When my heart was in anguish, Thou hast exalted me on a rock!” (Psalm 60:3). “Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock” (Jeremias 48:28). The teachings of the Church are rocks of truth, which we can and must use to build the edifice of the temple of God that we should all be: “Know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own? … Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are!” (1 Corinthians 6:19; 3:16-17).
Crushed-Hearts, Rock-Crushed
We speak of hearts suffering in a certain ways―such as broken hearts, or worse still, shattered hearts, or even worse, crushed hearts. What must the heart of the damned feel like? Crushed beyond our wildest imagination! Crushed beyond description! “The Son of man shall send his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all scandals, and them that work iniquity. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 13:41-42). “The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 8:12). “And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:30).
On the other hand, “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit” (Psalm 33:19). The word “contrite” or “contrition” comes from the Latin verb “contere” and its past tense, “contritus”, meaning “to grind or crush to pieces.” Jesus is the “corner-stone” of our Faith―if we reject His teachings or commands, then the words that Jesus spoke to the Scribes and Pharisees, will also be applied to us one day, if we do not crush our own hearts through a sincere contrition for our past sins: “Jesus saith to them: ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? … Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder!’ And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they knew that he spoke of them” (Matthew 21:42-45).
Hearts are crushed when they fail to obtain what their hearts were set on obtaining. Hardly anybody sets their heart on Hell―most people imagine some other alternative outcome to their lives. They are then “crushed” to find out after death that they are Hell-bound! They failed to learn and obey ALL of Christ’s teachings and commandments and therefore they fail to obtain what Christ promises His faithful followers―eternal love, peace, bliss, happiness and joy in Heaven. Instead they inherit eternal hatred, anguish, despair, sorrow, torture and pain in Hell. There cannot possibly be a greater heart-breaking, heart-shattering, heart-crushing moment than to hear Our Lord say: “I never knew you! Depart from me, you that work iniquity! … Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels! … Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished!” (Matthew 7:23; 25:41; Mark 9:43).
Hiding Under A Rock ― Hiding In Rocky Caves
When we are afraid, we flee and hide. When we are courageous, we stand our ground and fight. “The Philistines were assembled to fight against Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and a multitude of people besides, like the sand on the sea shore for number. And when the men of Israel saw that they were straitened―for the people were distressed―and they hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in dens, and in pits” (1 Kings 13:5-6).
Young children are much the same when they are afraid―they hide in the “cave” of their room and will not come out; or even bury themselves in the “cave” or “pit” of their beds underneath the blankets. Similarly, we “bury” our sins so deep that we hope that they will be forgotten. We hide our mortal sins in the “cave” of the confessional and deep within the “cave” of our conscience, thinking and hoping that nobody, not even the priest, will find them―but that only makes matters worse through a sacrilegious confession. Just as Adam and Eve tried to hide their new found nakedness behind a crudely assembled apron of leaves, we try to hide our guilt behind the “leaves” of excuses―and we blame others, just as Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.
Just as Adam and Eve feared encountering God after they had sinned and hid themselves from His sight, Isaias warns everyone of the “Day of the Lord” and foretells that―like Adam and Eve, after they had sinned―mankind will seek to flee from the face of the Lord and hide wherever he can: “Enter thou into the rock, and hide thee in the pit from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of His majesty! The lofty eyes and the haughtiness of men shall be made to stoop: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Because the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the elevated hills. And upon every high tower and every fenced wall. And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And idols shall be utterly destroyed. And they shall go into the holes of rocks, and into the caves of the Earth from the face of the fear of the Lord and the glory of His majesty, when He shall rise up to strike the Earth. In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold―which he had made for himself―to adore, moles and bats. And he shall go into the clefts of rocks, and into the holes of stones, from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of His majesty, when He shall rise up to strike the Earth!” (Isaias 2:10-21).
The Rocks or Building Blocks of Knowledge
Our five senses are the rocks or foundations of all our knowledge. As philosophy says: “Nihil est in intellectu quod non prius fuerit in sensu”― which is Latin for “There is nothing in the understanding that was not earlier in the senses”, or, in other words, all our knowledge initially comes through the avenues of the five senses―our ability to see, hear, touch, taste and smell. Of course, once certain knowledge comes into the soul (mind, intellect) then we can work on it, dissect it, analyze it, categorize it abstractly and intellectually, but it initially comes to us in a manner that can be perceived by the senses. It is much like food―we first eat the food and then the powers of the body begin to work on the food, breaking it down, allocating it, assimilating and absorbing what can be absorbed by the cells and excreting what cannot be used. Hence, the correct use of our senses is of primary importance, just as our selection of food is of primary importance―for we can either bring health or disease to the body through what we eat. Likewise, we can bring health or disease to the soul by what we allow the soul (mind, intellect) to eat. As Our Lord said: “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God!” (Luke 4:4). “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4).
We read of the triple temptation of Our Lord by the devil, after Jesus had fasted and prayed for forty days and nights in the desert. The basic or essential form of temptation has not changed since the time of Adam and Eve and since the time of Christ’s temptation in the desert. The devil―who is pride itself―used pride is at the root of all temptation and sin (small wonder that we have “Pride Days” and “Pride Parades” in our days): “His heart is departed from Him that made him―for pride is the beginning of all sin! He that holdeth it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end!” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Pride takes many forms and shapes―it is the chameleon of sins―always changing colors and tones to hide itself and seamlessly fit with its surroundings. We can be too proud to admit our faults, sins and mistakes; we can be too proud to accept blame and blame other persons, things or circumstances instead; we can over inflate our knowledge or skills by pretending to know or be able to do more than we actually do know or can do; we can be critical of others so as avoid having ourselves criticized―using the principle of “strike first before you are struck” or “attack is the best form of defense”; similarly, we can reveal the faults, failings and sins of others to avoid and deflect any analysis of ourselves and our own faults, failings and sins; we can exaggerate the faults, failings and sins of others while exaggerating our skills, work and achievements; the list is literally endless because, just as no two persons are alike and do not have the identical fingerprints (or at least 1 in 64 million), DNA, etc., likewise no two acts of pride are alike.
The DNA of Sin
Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Likewise, we could say the DNA OF SIN is the same for everyone―it is basically PRIDE: “Pride is the beginning of all sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus―just a pride is located the nucleus of a person, that is to say, the soul. The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). Arbitrarily and arguably, you could say that the DNA of Sin (Pride) has four bases: (1) self-will; (2) disobedience; (3) doubt, and (4) presumption. DNA bases pair up with each other, A with T and C with G, to form units called base pairs. Similarly, you could say that self-will pairs up with disobedience, while doubt pairs up with presumption. Let us explain.
Self-will was the cause of Satan’s sin. Self-will was the cause of Eve’s sin. Self-will must come before disobedience. Disobedience is a child of self-will. Likewise, doubt plays a major role in sin. Satan first of all made Eve doubt that she would really die for eating the “forbidden fruit”―following quickly upon doubt is the “flip-side-of-the-same-coin”―namely, presumption. If Eve doubted that she would die, then she presumed that she would live and that there would be no bad consequences for her actions.
If there was no SELF-WILL (I want to do what I want to do and nobody is going to tell me what to do), then there would be no DISOBEDIENCE! Pretty logical, huh? Similarly, once we begin to DOUBT that a certain lifestyle or certain actions will lead to damnation, once we begin to doubt the seriousness and gravity of sin, once we begin to doubt the degree of punishment that will be inflicted for sin, then we start to PRESUME that we will somehow manage to be saved no matter what we do! Thus people freely sin and disobey God because they have pridefully made themselves “like unto God” by personally judging and deciding what is good and what evil for them. Thus what is good is for others might not be good for me; and what is evil for others might not be evil for me!
The devil makes you doubt that you will go to Hell and makes you presume that you will go to Heaven (even though it might mean a short summer vacation in the tropics of Purgatory). This blend of doubt and presumption is the silky, slippery oily concoction that greases the path and allows your self-will, your self-seeking and self-gratification, to slide effortlessly and smoothly into disobedience of God’s law and into the cavity of sin.
Our Lady of the Mountains
Our Lady has a close connection to mountains, rocks and caves―more so than you would at first imagine! Speaking of Mount Ephraim, Pope St. Gregory the Great says: “The name of this mountain can be taken to designate the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. She is a mountain in as much as, among chosen creatures, the dignity of her calling was above that of any others. Surely Mary was the highest of mountains, was she not, when she heaped up merits beyond all the choirs of Angels, to the very throne of God, that she might be worthy to conceive the eternal Word? It was this mountain whose supreme dignity Isaias was prophesying when he said: ‘In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain.’ Mary was indeed the highest mountain, since her summit gleamed above those of all the Saints!” (Pope St. Gregory I, Commentary on the First Book of Kings, chapter 1, cf. reading from the Divine Office for Our Lady on Saturdays).
In his homily on the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Germain, Patriarch of Constantinople, says: “Hail, O rich and shady Mountain of God, whereon pastured the True Lamb, Who hath taken away our sins and infirmities (cf. Habacuc 3:3; Isaias 53:4; John 1:29), mountain, from which hath been cut, without hands, that Stone [Jesus Christ] which hath smitten the altars of the idols, and become the head-stone of the corner, marvelous in our eyes!” (cf. Daniel 2:34; Psalm 117:22-23).
It was in a ‘cave’―the womb―of that Mountain of Mary that Our Lord took shelter for nine months, before she gave birth to Him into another cave―the shepherds cave or stable in Bethlehem―before finally laying Him in yet another cave―the cave that would serve as His tomb after His crucifixion and death on Mount Calvary.
Shrines to Our Lady of the Mountain(s)
On November 26th, the feast of Our Lady of the Mountains, is celebrated locally San Luca in Calabria, in Southern Italy. It is a feast that goes back to the year 1500. It centers around the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Polsi, or Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Polsi―Our Lady of the Mountain. Until recently the sanctuary could only be reached on foot because of the rugged terrain and its location at the bottom of a gorge―which is fittingly symbolic of mankind being called away from the broad wide road that leads to the gorge of perdition―Hell―to take, instead, the rugged, narrow way of the Cross up the Mountain of God. It is known that the site of Our Lady of the Mountain has been inhabited since pre-Roman times, as there were Hellenic (Greek) settlers there, who worshiped the false god Persephone. Basilian monks had founded a hermitage there in the 7th century honoring the Blessed Mother, which was replaced by a Catholic church around the year 1500. During the period from spring to October, the area around the sacred shrine comes alive with a considerable number of pilgrims from all over the provinces of Calabria and neighboring provinces.
Another shrine to Our Lady of the Mountain originated in Colombia, in the same century as the Italian shrine and feast day to Our Lady of the Mountain had started in Italy. In the South American country of Colombia, in the region of the Cauca Valley, where the city of Guadalajara de Buga is located, there was found a naturally formed statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that was venerated by the local pagan aborigines before its discovery by the Spaniards, who called her simply as “The Queen of the Mountain” or “Our Lady of Queremal”, which had appeared miraculously next to a waterfall. Today that waterfall is called “The Mantle of the Virgin” and is found in the middle of the mountain peaks of the western Andes, surrounded by dense tropical vegetation. The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, holding the baby Jesus, is about 3 feet in height and the Virgin is holding, in one of her hands, a fruit that looks like a pomegranate, which is a symbol of the name originally given by the Spaniards to the country, then called the New Kingdom of Grenada. Nevertheless, other people believe it is not really a pomegranate, but a blossom of a flower of Quereme (translated as “love me”), that is only typical of those mountains.
It is claimed that the statue appeared miraculously in the 1570s, ‘carved’ as it were by a natural formation of the elements in white Quartz stone, at the most Western Colombian Andes, called The Choco mountain range, close to the Pacific. Today the original white solid rock material is, in its front, is covered by pain by colonial artists, that was applied by artists trying to give to the image a more Spanish colonial look. Around 1580, this statue of the Blessed Virgin was brought from its original apparition place, the Queremal valley, where she was venerated as the Queen of the Mountain, to Santiago de Cali by the priest Fr. Miguel de Soto, who decided to travel to the area to confirm the miracle, but also alarmed by the possibility that the native aborigines would be taken part in a pagan cult praising to an idol. The colonial chronicles say that amazingly the image disappeared from the Church twice, and appeared again back in the same original place, in the middle of the mountains, where it was originally found, which was more than 35 miles to the west. This miraculous moving of the statue caused great perplexity among the people, and great confusion among the clergy and religious. Finally, the Mother Superior of the convent that was hosting the image, had a vision in her dream, in which she was told that the Lady wanted to have her own chapel, decorated with figures of Aborigines and native plants, and that the statue should remain in Cali. As soon as the chapel was finished the Virgin was again moved to there from the mountains and she never returned to the mountains. The original region where this Marian miracle took place is known as “El Queremal” ( meaning the “Love me field”), from the name of endemic flowers found there, called “Quereme” (which translates as “love me”) is still considered as a sanctuary by the peasants and over there she is still known as “The Lady of the Mountain”.
Huh? Rock and Heart? What craziness is this? Well, not so crazy as you might think! For one―rocks don’t have hearts, they are inanimate, they don’t have feelings do they? We say: “His heart is as hard as a rock!” So rocks can symbolize hard-hearted persons. I n this sense, we could say that most of the world has hearts as hard as a rock, or hearts of stone, because they have little or no love for Christ and His Laws, little or no love for the Faith, little or no love for His Sacrifice on Calvary that is renewed in every valid Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world: “And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former prophets: so a great indignation came from the Lord of hosts” Zacharias 7:12). God would like to change these persons― “I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26)―but there are “no takers”, they prefer their hearts of stone to what God would give them!
Solid as a Rock, Water Trickling Off a Rock
However, we also have the expression “As solid as a rock!” or “As immovable as a rock!” St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, writes: “Every building which is not built on that firm rock is founded upon the moving sand, and sooner or later infallibly will fall … The more, then, that you gain the favor of that august Princess and faithful Virgin, the more will you act by pure Faith; a pure Faith which will make you care hardly at all about sensible consolations and extraordinary favors; a lively Faith animated by charity, which will enable you to perform all your actions from the motive of pure love; a Faith firm and immovable as a rock, through which you will rest quiet and constant in the midst of storms and hurricanes!”
Our Lady gave us the Word of God―“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us!” (John 1:1, 14). At the marriage feast at Cana, she says of this “Word of God”― “Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye!” (John 2:5). Our Lord―the Word of God Himself―says of His Word: “Every one therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock! And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27). Do you let the words of God bounce off your stony heart like raindrops off a stone?
A Rock of Faith
Holy Scripture speaks of “everlasting foundations upon a solid rock” (Ecclesiasticus 26:24), “a rock above a plain” (Jeremias 21:13), “a rock that standeth-out in a desert land” Isaias 32:2)―which we can see realized in the foundation of the Catholic Church by Christ, when He says to St. Peter: “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it!” (Matthew 16:18). We find safety in buildings built from rocks and stones, than if they were built with sticks and straws. The Church is a “Rock of Faith” for us, which will shelter us from attacks of the devil and the world. “He hath exalted me upon a rock! And now He hath lifted up my head above my enemies” (Psalm 26:6). “He set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps!” (Psalm 39:3). “When my heart was in anguish, Thou hast exalted me on a rock!” (Psalm 60:3). “Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock” (Jeremias 48:28). The teachings of the Church are rocks of truth, which we can and must use to build the edifice of the temple of God that we should all be: “Know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own? … Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are!” (1 Corinthians 6:19; 3:16-17).
Crushed-Hearts, Rock-Crushed
We speak of hearts suffering in a certain ways―such as broken hearts, or worse still, shattered hearts, or even worse, crushed hearts. What must the heart of the damned feel like? Crushed beyond our wildest imagination! Crushed beyond description! “The Son of man shall send his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all scandals, and them that work iniquity. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 13:41-42). “The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 8:12). “And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 25:30).
On the other hand, “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit” (Psalm 33:19). The word “contrite” or “contrition” comes from the Latin verb “contere” and its past tense, “contritus”, meaning “to grind or crush to pieces.” Jesus is the “corner-stone” of our Faith―if we reject His teachings or commands, then the words that Jesus spoke to the Scribes and Pharisees, will also be applied to us one day, if we do not crush our own hearts through a sincere contrition for our past sins: “Jesus saith to them: ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? … Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder!’ And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they knew that he spoke of them” (Matthew 21:42-45).
Hearts are crushed when they fail to obtain what their hearts were set on obtaining. Hardly anybody sets their heart on Hell―most people imagine some other alternative outcome to their lives. They are then “crushed” to find out after death that they are Hell-bound! They failed to learn and obey ALL of Christ’s teachings and commandments and therefore they fail to obtain what Christ promises His faithful followers―eternal love, peace, bliss, happiness and joy in Heaven. Instead they inherit eternal hatred, anguish, despair, sorrow, torture and pain in Hell. There cannot possibly be a greater heart-breaking, heart-shattering, heart-crushing moment than to hear Our Lord say: “I never knew you! Depart from me, you that work iniquity! … Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels! … Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished!” (Matthew 7:23; 25:41; Mark 9:43).
Hiding Under A Rock ― Hiding In Rocky Caves
When we are afraid, we flee and hide. When we are courageous, we stand our ground and fight. “The Philistines were assembled to fight against Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and a multitude of people besides, like the sand on the sea shore for number. And when the men of Israel saw that they were straitened―for the people were distressed―and they hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in dens, and in pits” (1 Kings 13:5-6).
Young children are much the same when they are afraid―they hide in the “cave” of their room and will not come out; or even bury themselves in the “cave” or “pit” of their beds underneath the blankets. Similarly, we “bury” our sins so deep that we hope that they will be forgotten. We hide our mortal sins in the “cave” of the confessional and deep within the “cave” of our conscience, thinking and hoping that nobody, not even the priest, will find them―but that only makes matters worse through a sacrilegious confession. Just as Adam and Eve tried to hide their new found nakedness behind a crudely assembled apron of leaves, we try to hide our guilt behind the “leaves” of excuses―and we blame others, just as Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.
Just as Adam and Eve feared encountering God after they had sinned and hid themselves from His sight, Isaias warns everyone of the “Day of the Lord” and foretells that―like Adam and Eve, after they had sinned―mankind will seek to flee from the face of the Lord and hide wherever he can: “Enter thou into the rock, and hide thee in the pit from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of His majesty! The lofty eyes and the haughtiness of men shall be made to stoop: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Because the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the elevated hills. And upon every high tower and every fenced wall. And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And idols shall be utterly destroyed. And they shall go into the holes of rocks, and into the caves of the Earth from the face of the fear of the Lord and the glory of His majesty, when He shall rise up to strike the Earth. In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold―which he had made for himself―to adore, moles and bats. And he shall go into the clefts of rocks, and into the holes of stones, from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of His majesty, when He shall rise up to strike the Earth!” (Isaias 2:10-21).
The Rocks or Building Blocks of Knowledge
Our five senses are the rocks or foundations of all our knowledge. As philosophy says: “Nihil est in intellectu quod non prius fuerit in sensu”― which is Latin for “There is nothing in the understanding that was not earlier in the senses”, or, in other words, all our knowledge initially comes through the avenues of the five senses―our ability to see, hear, touch, taste and smell. Of course, once certain knowledge comes into the soul (mind, intellect) then we can work on it, dissect it, analyze it, categorize it abstractly and intellectually, but it initially comes to us in a manner that can be perceived by the senses. It is much like food―we first eat the food and then the powers of the body begin to work on the food, breaking it down, allocating it, assimilating and absorbing what can be absorbed by the cells and excreting what cannot be used. Hence, the correct use of our senses is of primary importance, just as our selection of food is of primary importance―for we can either bring health or disease to the body through what we eat. Likewise, we can bring health or disease to the soul by what we allow the soul (mind, intellect) to eat. As Our Lord said: “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God!” (Luke 4:4). “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4).
We read of the triple temptation of Our Lord by the devil, after Jesus had fasted and prayed for forty days and nights in the desert. The basic or essential form of temptation has not changed since the time of Adam and Eve and since the time of Christ’s temptation in the desert. The devil―who is pride itself―used pride is at the root of all temptation and sin (small wonder that we have “Pride Days” and “Pride Parades” in our days): “His heart is departed from Him that made him―for pride is the beginning of all sin! He that holdeth it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end!” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Pride takes many forms and shapes―it is the chameleon of sins―always changing colors and tones to hide itself and seamlessly fit with its surroundings. We can be too proud to admit our faults, sins and mistakes; we can be too proud to accept blame and blame other persons, things or circumstances instead; we can over inflate our knowledge or skills by pretending to know or be able to do more than we actually do know or can do; we can be critical of others so as avoid having ourselves criticized―using the principle of “strike first before you are struck” or “attack is the best form of defense”; similarly, we can reveal the faults, failings and sins of others to avoid and deflect any analysis of ourselves and our own faults, failings and sins; we can exaggerate the faults, failings and sins of others while exaggerating our skills, work and achievements; the list is literally endless because, just as no two persons are alike and do not have the identical fingerprints (or at least 1 in 64 million), DNA, etc., likewise no two acts of pride are alike.
The DNA of Sin
Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Likewise, we could say the DNA OF SIN is the same for everyone―it is basically PRIDE: “Pride is the beginning of all sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus―just a pride is located the nucleus of a person, that is to say, the soul. The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). Arbitrarily and arguably, you could say that the DNA of Sin (Pride) has four bases: (1) self-will; (2) disobedience; (3) doubt, and (4) presumption. DNA bases pair up with each other, A with T and C with G, to form units called base pairs. Similarly, you could say that self-will pairs up with disobedience, while doubt pairs up with presumption. Let us explain.
Self-will was the cause of Satan’s sin. Self-will was the cause of Eve’s sin. Self-will must come before disobedience. Disobedience is a child of self-will. Likewise, doubt plays a major role in sin. Satan first of all made Eve doubt that she would really die for eating the “forbidden fruit”―following quickly upon doubt is the “flip-side-of-the-same-coin”―namely, presumption. If Eve doubted that she would die, then she presumed that she would live and that there would be no bad consequences for her actions.
If there was no SELF-WILL (I want to do what I want to do and nobody is going to tell me what to do), then there would be no DISOBEDIENCE! Pretty logical, huh? Similarly, once we begin to DOUBT that a certain lifestyle or certain actions will lead to damnation, once we begin to doubt the seriousness and gravity of sin, once we begin to doubt the degree of punishment that will be inflicted for sin, then we start to PRESUME that we will somehow manage to be saved no matter what we do! Thus people freely sin and disobey God because they have pridefully made themselves “like unto God” by personally judging and deciding what is good and what evil for them. Thus what is good is for others might not be good for me; and what is evil for others might not be evil for me!
The devil makes you doubt that you will go to Hell and makes you presume that you will go to Heaven (even though it might mean a short summer vacation in the tropics of Purgatory). This blend of doubt and presumption is the silky, slippery oily concoction that greases the path and allows your self-will, your self-seeking and self-gratification, to slide effortlessly and smoothly into disobedience of God’s law and into the cavity of sin.
Our Lady of the Mountains
Our Lady has a close connection to mountains, rocks and caves―more so than you would at first imagine! Speaking of Mount Ephraim, Pope St. Gregory the Great says: “The name of this mountain can be taken to designate the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. She is a mountain in as much as, among chosen creatures, the dignity of her calling was above that of any others. Surely Mary was the highest of mountains, was she not, when she heaped up merits beyond all the choirs of Angels, to the very throne of God, that she might be worthy to conceive the eternal Word? It was this mountain whose supreme dignity Isaias was prophesying when he said: ‘In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain.’ Mary was indeed the highest mountain, since her summit gleamed above those of all the Saints!” (Pope St. Gregory I, Commentary on the First Book of Kings, chapter 1, cf. reading from the Divine Office for Our Lady on Saturdays).
In his homily on the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Germain, Patriarch of Constantinople, says: “Hail, O rich and shady Mountain of God, whereon pastured the True Lamb, Who hath taken away our sins and infirmities (cf. Habacuc 3:3; Isaias 53:4; John 1:29), mountain, from which hath been cut, without hands, that Stone [Jesus Christ] which hath smitten the altars of the idols, and become the head-stone of the corner, marvelous in our eyes!” (cf. Daniel 2:34; Psalm 117:22-23).
It was in a ‘cave’―the womb―of that Mountain of Mary that Our Lord took shelter for nine months, before she gave birth to Him into another cave―the shepherds cave or stable in Bethlehem―before finally laying Him in yet another cave―the cave that would serve as His tomb after His crucifixion and death on Mount Calvary.
Shrines to Our Lady of the Mountain(s)
On November 26th, the feast of Our Lady of the Mountains, is celebrated locally San Luca in Calabria, in Southern Italy. It is a feast that goes back to the year 1500. It centers around the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Polsi, or Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Polsi―Our Lady of the Mountain. Until recently the sanctuary could only be reached on foot because of the rugged terrain and its location at the bottom of a gorge―which is fittingly symbolic of mankind being called away from the broad wide road that leads to the gorge of perdition―Hell―to take, instead, the rugged, narrow way of the Cross up the Mountain of God. It is known that the site of Our Lady of the Mountain has been inhabited since pre-Roman times, as there were Hellenic (Greek) settlers there, who worshiped the false god Persephone. Basilian monks had founded a hermitage there in the 7th century honoring the Blessed Mother, which was replaced by a Catholic church around the year 1500. During the period from spring to October, the area around the sacred shrine comes alive with a considerable number of pilgrims from all over the provinces of Calabria and neighboring provinces.
Another shrine to Our Lady of the Mountain originated in Colombia, in the same century as the Italian shrine and feast day to Our Lady of the Mountain had started in Italy. In the South American country of Colombia, in the region of the Cauca Valley, where the city of Guadalajara de Buga is located, there was found a naturally formed statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that was venerated by the local pagan aborigines before its discovery by the Spaniards, who called her simply as “The Queen of the Mountain” or “Our Lady of Queremal”, which had appeared miraculously next to a waterfall. Today that waterfall is called “The Mantle of the Virgin” and is found in the middle of the mountain peaks of the western Andes, surrounded by dense tropical vegetation. The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, holding the baby Jesus, is about 3 feet in height and the Virgin is holding, in one of her hands, a fruit that looks like a pomegranate, which is a symbol of the name originally given by the Spaniards to the country, then called the New Kingdom of Grenada. Nevertheless, other people believe it is not really a pomegranate, but a blossom of a flower of Quereme (translated as “love me”), that is only typical of those mountains.
It is claimed that the statue appeared miraculously in the 1570s, ‘carved’ as it were by a natural formation of the elements in white Quartz stone, at the most Western Colombian Andes, called The Choco mountain range, close to the Pacific. Today the original white solid rock material is, in its front, is covered by pain by colonial artists, that was applied by artists trying to give to the image a more Spanish colonial look. Around 1580, this statue of the Blessed Virgin was brought from its original apparition place, the Queremal valley, where she was venerated as the Queen of the Mountain, to Santiago de Cali by the priest Fr. Miguel de Soto, who decided to travel to the area to confirm the miracle, but also alarmed by the possibility that the native aborigines would be taken part in a pagan cult praising to an idol. The colonial chronicles say that amazingly the image disappeared from the Church twice, and appeared again back in the same original place, in the middle of the mountains, where it was originally found, which was more than 35 miles to the west. This miraculous moving of the statue caused great perplexity among the people, and great confusion among the clergy and religious. Finally, the Mother Superior of the convent that was hosting the image, had a vision in her dream, in which she was told that the Lady wanted to have her own chapel, decorated with figures of Aborigines and native plants, and that the statue should remain in Cali. As soon as the chapel was finished the Virgin was again moved to there from the mountains and she never returned to the mountains. The original region where this Marian miracle took place is known as “El Queremal” ( meaning the “Love me field”), from the name of endemic flowers found there, called “Quereme” (which translates as “love me”) is still considered as a sanctuary by the peasants and over there she is still known as “The Lady of the Mountain”.
BELOW: Bob O'Bill (1933 - 2016)
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Our Lady of the Rockies
When you travel though Butte, in the USA state of Montana (there’s that mountain connection again) it pays to look upward where two freeways — Interstate 15 and Interstate 90 ― intersect with each other. Looming approximately 3,000 feet above the city on its east ridge is a magnificent 90-foot statue of Mary, the Mother of God and Our Lord Jesus Christ. This magnificent, head-to-toe 90-foot statue (providentially overlooking Interstate 90 highway) is called Our Lady of the Rockies and is America’s second-tallest woman, behind the head-to-toe 111-foot Statue of Liberty. The 2014 completed monument of the mythical horse Pegasus killing a dragon in Florida stand at 100 feet. It is the largest Madonna in North America and the fourth-tallest statue of the Virgin Mary in the world. Worldwide, Wikipedia ranks Our Lady as the 73rd highest statue and about 40 feet shorter than the very famous 130-foot-high Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “Our Lady” sits atop the 8,510-foot elevation Saddle Rock Peak, in the northern Rocky Mountains, overlooking Butte, Montana, though undoubtedly many motorists and passers-by never notice her―and isn’t that the truth about most people’s attitude to Our Lady in general? Our Lady of the Rockies is hard to see at times―especially when you are focused on where you are going and what you are doing in the worldly valley below. It is easier to see at night, when the statue is lit-up and therefore stands out more clearly amidst the surrounding blackness―once again, isn’t it true that we look for Our Lady in the dark night moments of our lives, and not during the bright sunny enjoyable days? Our Lady of the Rockies is only a faint white nub among the massive peaks of the Rocky Mountains, but if you take some time to get a little closer (and we should all get closer to the Mother of God―for only she can help us now, as she herself said), you will learn that, not only is the statue impressively tall, but it also has a touching story to go along with it. The city of Butte began as a humble silver mining camp until in 1880, the discovery of rich underground copper veins, coincided with the beginnings of electrification and the America’s massive appetite for telephone wire and electrical conductors. Butte outgrew its boundaries overnight, as miners and laborers flocked to the town from all over the globe, including England, Italy, Slovakia, China, and especially Catholic Ireland. Butte’s economy soared and skyrocketed. Not only did the networks of long tunnels grow beneath ground, but above ground the city also flourished by giving birth to diverse ethnic neighborhoods, beautiful architecture, and a sophisticated arts scene. What was once a collection of tents around a muddy creek ballooned to a population of 90,000, at one point becoming the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco. It was easily the world’s top copper producer, and it was said that there more Irishman in Butte than in Ireland. Butte’s riches were also spiritual. Since a large majority of the miners were from Italy, Germany, and Ireland, Catholicism also thrived. Complete with baptismal picnics, Eucharistic processions, St. Patrick’s Day revelry, and Irish wakes, Catholicism was woven into everyday life in Butte. The city once boasted ten Catholic churches, seven parishes, nine Catholic schools, and was known across the state as a lush fountain for religious vocations. Sadly the source of Butte’s material prosperity ran dry. As the demand for copper lessened and the mining industry expanded internationally, the mines and Butte’s economy took a terrifying nose-dive. By 1975 nearly all the mines were closed, leaving the community reeling. With the loss of thousands of mining jobs, the industry which had historically created millionaires and high-paying labor positions mostly vanished. What was once America’s boomtown had now shrunk to a population below 40,000 souls. Locals feared Butte would become a ghost town. A long-time electrician in one of Butte’s surface pits, Bob O’Bill, had suffered a setback of another kind. In 1979 his wife was seriously ill with cancer and was fighting for her life. A devout Catholic, Bob promised God he would erect a life-sized statue of the Virgin Mary if his wife recovered. He thought maybe it would even be placed in a city park. Miraculously, Mrs. O’Bill made a complete recovery. Bob was at work in the pit when he told his mining buddies about his plans to make good on his promise and build a small statue to Mary. The miners–haul drivers, electricians, iron workers, and explosives experts–surprised Bob by saying, “That’s not good enough for your wife’s healing. This statue has to be the tallest in the country and visible for all to see!” Thus began the plan to put Mary on the mountain. Joe McCarthy and Bill Dorr pushed Bob O’Bill to have an even-bigger statue built. Later, a collaboration with Joe Roberts got the ball rolling. With the help of many others, the Madonna upgraded to a massive community project. The project to build the statue began on December 29th, 1979. Plans began to snowball and area engineers were soon picking out a suitable spot. But while the plans got much bigger, so too did the budget. It started with an initial pot of $2,000. Of course, none of it would have been possible without some help, and Bob O’Bill was very lucky on this front. A friend named Joe Roberts donated a plot of land on the mountain― the 8,500-foot Saddle Rock high on the Continental Divide. Another friend, Laurien Eugene Riehl, engineered the design of the statue―a crucial element, since it needed to be able to withstand the strong winds up on the peak. Still others were needed to help blast a road up the mountain. The Anaconda Co. donated $250,000 worth of heavy equipment, which kept a small group of men and boys busy for years punching a road up to Saddle Rock. The 12-mile dirt road to the mountainous perch, which crosses the continental divide seven times, had to be cut. In 1980 a volunteer crew began bulldozing a road up the steep mountain ridges, sometimes advancing only twelve feet a day, often facing treacherous conditions, the elements, and mechanical failures of outdated equipment. Funds were raised through various projects. At that time, residents seemed to realize this thing might actually get built. Facing grim futures because of the closure of the local mines, the number of volunteers expanded and somehow donations picked up. By 1981, after two long years, the extremely dangerous and rough path was completed, and the access road to the mountainous perch was complete, slowed only by the occasional need to host fundraisers to pay for more diesel fuel and new parts for the machinery. But in 1981, they still had to build the statue. The staff of Roberts Rocky Mountain Equipment designed and created it, and grade-school educated welder Leroy Lee took the lead. Leroy Lee was a minimally educated man with only a grade school education and no design experience, yet he was to lead a team of volunteer welders and steel workers—often working nights and weekends—to assemble Our Lady in a local heavy equipment yard. “I didn’t have a clue how to make a 90-foot statue,” Lee said. “But there seemed to be all these little miracles along the way that got it done!” Lee’s ingenious design required construction of three gigantic segments. Made of 16-gauage steel, the statue was originally planned to be 120-feet high, but the Federal Aviation Administration required an approved, blinking light on top for anything over 90 feet in height. Hence, it was shortened, though its hands and head are larger than they should be — in line with its original 30-foot taller height. The base of the statue was poured with 400 tons of concrete in September of 1985. On December 17th, 1985, a Nevada Air National Guard team, supported by the Montana National Guard, and the U.S. Army Reserve from Butte, began lifting the statue in four sections with a CHAR Sikorsky Sky Crane, finally placing Our Lady’s head on top of the other three pieces on December 20th, 1985―while thousands watched. Each 20-ton segment was airlifted by a heavy-lift National Guard helicopter, maneuvering past jagged peaks and swirling winds. At one point the helicopter was thrown by a gust over the side of the mountain to the horror of onlookers, workers, and news camera operators. Instead of dropping the load, the pilot fought to regain control against all odds. On December 20th, 1985, when the final segment—the strong, reassuring head of Our Lady—was lifted into place, the entire town was at a standstill, nervously watching. When they saw their completed project, the town erupted into cheers. Sirens, church bells, and horns could be heard echoing throughout the valley. Six years of hard work had brought a struggling community together. Their dream had become a towering reality, a gift for generations to come, Butte natives and travelers alike. The fruits have been immeasurable. Though the mines never re-opened to their former capacity, Butte’s economy and spirits vastly improved during construction and the years immediately following: jobs increased, several business started and reopened, while the last brothel (one of the country’s few remaining) finally closed its doors. Bob O’Bill, a devout Catholic, lived to see all this happen―eventually dying in 2016, aged 83. His once-cancer-ridden wife still lives to this day! Today, Our Lady of the Rockies stands a source of pride for Butte and a beacon for all who travel by on Interstate 90 and for all who see her. During the day she watches diligently over the valley, while at night she is illuminated in votive memory for the city’s deceased. She is a testament to the city’s spirit, a resilient, can-do attitude and unshakeable faith that through her Son all things are possible. She is, in short, a symbolic icon that heralds the future Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary against all the odds―at a time when, as predicted by Our Lady of Good Success, of La Salette and Fatima: “The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay! … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals ... Every type of vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent! … People will believe that all is lost ... The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” |
Rock ‘n’ Roll or Rock ‘n’ Soul?
Today, we could say that there is a “Battle of Rocks”―meaning a battle between Christ and the Rock on which He has built His Church, against the devil and the world, which is epitomized by what we today know as “Rock ‘n’ Roll”. The world is either “rocking” to one or the other! The “lyrics” of Christ’s “Rock” and the Satan’s “Rock” are diametrically opposed. We choose one or the other. When you examine the words (or lyrics) of most “Rock ‘n’ Roll” songs, then you can clearly see that in one way or another, to one degree or another, they are opposed to and contradict the words (or ‘lyrics’) of Christ―they are, essentially, anti-Christ.
Our Lord has clearly told us that we must listen to and put into practice His words: “Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock! And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27).
Rock ‘n’ Roll is merely the tip of the iceberg―or just one piece of jigsaw puzzle―of worldliness; and, in turn, worldliness is just the tip of the iceberg of Satan’s bag of tricks that he uses to obtain the damnation of souls. Yet, having said that, it can be clearly seen that Rock ‘n’ Roll ―and especially its ‘children’ or ‘family’, such as Heavy Metal Music, that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s―the era of the Vatican Council, no less! The heavy metal rock bands gradually increased Satanic innuendos in both the name of the rock band, in the way they dressed, the symbols the used and in the lyrics that they sang. In 1968, three of the genre's most famous pioneers, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple were founded―and some of the band members were followers of Satanism. Later came the band called Alice Cooper―who were named after a witch. During the mid-1970s, Judas Priest furthered the cause together with a bunch of similar heavy metal bands. Today, the music has further evolved into blatant Satanism and blasphemy against God, Christ, Our Lady and the saints. Now we have the so-called “thrash metal” bands, “black metal” bands, “death metal” bands and “Satanic metal” bands―which leave little to the imagination―with many of their members being actual practicing Satanists.
It doesn’t matter if you listen to Rock ‘n’ Roll or not; or Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal or Satanic Metal music or not. They are merely representative and symbolic of the worldwide hold that Satan now has on most souls. Some are tied down by heavy chains―others are tied by light cotton threads. Nevertheless, Satan has control of most things today―media, television, radio, internet, smartphones, artificial intelligence, entertainment, music, art, culture, drugs and drink, fashions, etc. Catholics have been tangled-up in one or more of these things for a long time now! Don’t forget that the followers of the initial Rock ‘n’ Roll of the 1960s are now over 60 years old, or even 70 years old! Anyone younger has been born into the Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal or Satanic Metal music era.
It is only a solidly practiced Christianity―a solid Catholicity―that can even hope to “stem the tide” of this evil, let alone trying to “turn the tide” of evil. Yet most Catholics have jumped-off the “Rock of the Church” or “Rock of the Faith” and now find themselves wallowing in the quagmire and quicksands of the world, gradually sinking deeper and deeper into them, until they sink into the depths of evil and Hell. Thus do most souls end up in Hell―as is taught by Our Lord, Our Lady, many Saints and most respectable theologians.
We sorely and desperately need to find a rock in this quagmire or quicksand in which we find ourselves―something solid beneath our feet to stop us sinking further and deeper. That rock is of course the Faith, that rock is Christ, that rock is the Blessed Virgin Mary. As St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, writes: “Every building which is not built on that firm rock is founded upon the moving sand, and sooner or later infallibly will fall … The more, then, that you gain the favor of that august Princess and faithful Virgin, the more will you act by pure Faith; a Faith firm and immovable as a rock, through which you will rest quiet and constant in the midst of storms and hurricanes!”
Hence Our Lady says: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). Let us start ‘singing’ the ‘lyrics’ of the Rosary assiduously, fervently, constantly―by ‘singing the lyrics’ is meant, of course, meditating its mysteries. When we merely SAY the Rosary, it is like humming or whistling a song without singing its words or lyrics. However, when we PRAY and MEDITATE the mysteries of the Rosary, it is like singing the melody of song together with its words. That makes a song more beautiful―and that makes the Rosary more powerful. Of the very few Catholics who regularly SAY the Rosary EACH DAY (or even several times a day), there are EVEN FEWER numbers who actually PRAY and MEDITATE the mysteries of the Rosary. Thus, they are like people who take food for strength and nourishment, but never chew the food before swallowing it―therefore, the nourishment the body gets from the food is minimal, since the food has not been properly chewed, broken down and correctly prepared for a healthy digestion of it.
Today, we could say that there is a “Battle of Rocks”―meaning a battle between Christ and the Rock on which He has built His Church, against the devil and the world, which is epitomized by what we today know as “Rock ‘n’ Roll”. The world is either “rocking” to one or the other! The “lyrics” of Christ’s “Rock” and the Satan’s “Rock” are diametrically opposed. We choose one or the other. When you examine the words (or lyrics) of most “Rock ‘n’ Roll” songs, then you can clearly see that in one way or another, to one degree or another, they are opposed to and contradict the words (or ‘lyrics’) of Christ―they are, essentially, anti-Christ.
Our Lord has clearly told us that we must listen to and put into practice His words: “Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock! And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:24-27).
Rock ‘n’ Roll is merely the tip of the iceberg―or just one piece of jigsaw puzzle―of worldliness; and, in turn, worldliness is just the tip of the iceberg of Satan’s bag of tricks that he uses to obtain the damnation of souls. Yet, having said that, it can be clearly seen that Rock ‘n’ Roll ―and especially its ‘children’ or ‘family’, such as Heavy Metal Music, that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s―the era of the Vatican Council, no less! The heavy metal rock bands gradually increased Satanic innuendos in both the name of the rock band, in the way they dressed, the symbols the used and in the lyrics that they sang. In 1968, three of the genre's most famous pioneers, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple were founded―and some of the band members were followers of Satanism. Later came the band called Alice Cooper―who were named after a witch. During the mid-1970s, Judas Priest furthered the cause together with a bunch of similar heavy metal bands. Today, the music has further evolved into blatant Satanism and blasphemy against God, Christ, Our Lady and the saints. Now we have the so-called “thrash metal” bands, “black metal” bands, “death metal” bands and “Satanic metal” bands―which leave little to the imagination―with many of their members being actual practicing Satanists.
It doesn’t matter if you listen to Rock ‘n’ Roll or not; or Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal or Satanic Metal music or not. They are merely representative and symbolic of the worldwide hold that Satan now has on most souls. Some are tied down by heavy chains―others are tied by light cotton threads. Nevertheless, Satan has control of most things today―media, television, radio, internet, smartphones, artificial intelligence, entertainment, music, art, culture, drugs and drink, fashions, etc. Catholics have been tangled-up in one or more of these things for a long time now! Don’t forget that the followers of the initial Rock ‘n’ Roll of the 1960s are now over 60 years old, or even 70 years old! Anyone younger has been born into the Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal or Satanic Metal music era.
It is only a solidly practiced Christianity―a solid Catholicity―that can even hope to “stem the tide” of this evil, let alone trying to “turn the tide” of evil. Yet most Catholics have jumped-off the “Rock of the Church” or “Rock of the Faith” and now find themselves wallowing in the quagmire and quicksands of the world, gradually sinking deeper and deeper into them, until they sink into the depths of evil and Hell. Thus do most souls end up in Hell―as is taught by Our Lord, Our Lady, many Saints and most respectable theologians.
We sorely and desperately need to find a rock in this quagmire or quicksand in which we find ourselves―something solid beneath our feet to stop us sinking further and deeper. That rock is of course the Faith, that rock is Christ, that rock is the Blessed Virgin Mary. As St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, writes: “Every building which is not built on that firm rock is founded upon the moving sand, and sooner or later infallibly will fall … The more, then, that you gain the favor of that august Princess and faithful Virgin, the more will you act by pure Faith; a Faith firm and immovable as a rock, through which you will rest quiet and constant in the midst of storms and hurricanes!”
Hence Our Lady says: “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917). Let us start ‘singing’ the ‘lyrics’ of the Rosary assiduously, fervently, constantly―by ‘singing the lyrics’ is meant, of course, meditating its mysteries. When we merely SAY the Rosary, it is like humming or whistling a song without singing its words or lyrics. However, when we PRAY and MEDITATE the mysteries of the Rosary, it is like singing the melody of song together with its words. That makes a song more beautiful―and that makes the Rosary more powerful. Of the very few Catholics who regularly SAY the Rosary EACH DAY (or even several times a day), there are EVEN FEWER numbers who actually PRAY and MEDITATE the mysteries of the Rosary. Thus, they are like people who take food for strength and nourishment, but never chew the food before swallowing it―therefore, the nourishment the body gets from the food is minimal, since the food has not been properly chewed, broken down and correctly prepared for a healthy digestion of it.
Thursday August 15th : Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven & Friday August 16th
Article 8
Home Sweet Home!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 8
Home Sweet Home!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Home is Where the Heart Is!
You have, of course, heard of the proverbial saying: “Home is where the heart is!”―meaning that your home will always be the place for which you feel the deepest affection, no matter where you are. This is why Our Lord says: ““Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal! But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal! For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
You may feel at home in this world, but this world is not your home! You are a pilgrim in this world, who should be journeying to another destination. This world is merely a place of exile―for because of Adam and Eve, Original Sin and our personal sins, we have all been exiled from Heaven. Yet Heaven is our home, which we have to fight to reach by escaping the imprisonment of this land of exile: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Invitations and Destinations
“God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “God our Savior wills to have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:3-4). You are invited to Heaven! That is your expected destination! This reminds us of the parable of those who were invited to the wedding banquet, but excused themselves and turned-down the invitation because they were too preoccupied with persons, places and things:
“A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: ‘I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come!’ And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame!’ [for they have nothing by way of possessions to distract and preoccupy them]. And the servant said: ‘Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room!’ And the Lord said to the servant: ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. But I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste of my supper!’” (Luke 14:16-24). Yes―“Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
The Blessed Virgin Mary, whom today we contemplate as being assumed body and soul into Heaven, reminds us very definitely that our permanent dwelling-place is not on Earth, but in Heaven, where she, with her divine Son, has proceeded in preceding us, and where They await us! Will we end up there? Heaven is everyone’s invitation―but Heaven will not be everyone’s destination. “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). If we let ourselves be primarily preoccupied with the persons, places and things of this world, then we risk losing our invitation and risk incurring damnation. In order to attain Heaven, we are told to detach ourselves from this world.
The Incompatibility of Godliness with Worldiness
You have read this many times before and you will read it many times again―because it is crucial tenet and condition for salvation: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24).
“He that received the seed [of the Word of God] among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit.” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15). “Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:23).
To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19).
“If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Today’s Feast Points the Way to Heaven
Heaven is the dominant thought in today’s liturgy. “O Almighty, everlasting God, Who took up, body and soul, the immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Your Son, into heavenly glory, grant, we beseech You, that, always devoting ourselves to heavenly things, we may be found worthy to share in her glory” (Collect).
The feast of the Assumption is a strong appeal to us to live “always devoting ourselves to heavenly things,” and not to allow ourselves to be carried away by the pleasures and of the world. It is not as though our soul was created to serve God and our body was created to enjoy earthly things. We are meant to serve God, not only with our soul, but also our body. Not only was our soul created for Heaven, but also our body―which, after the resurrection of all the dead, if are saved, will be welcomed into our heavenly home and admitted to a participation in the glory of the soul which, already in Heaven after death, awaits its reunion with the body.
Today we contemplate in Mary, our Mother, reflecting upon the though that what has been wholly realized in her, will be realized for us too, as well as for all the saints, but only at the end of time. After her death, she entered into Heaven with both body and soul. This privilege was very fitting for her, the all-pure, the all-holy one, whose body was never touched by even the faintest shadow of sin, but was always the temple of the Holy Ghost, and the immaculate tabernacle of the Son of God. It is a reminder to us to ennoble our whole life, not only that of the spirit, but also that of the body with its senses, elevating it to the heights of the celestial life which awaits us. “O Mother of God and of men,” exclaims Venerable Pope Pius XII in his beautiful prayer for the Assumption, “we beg you to purify our senses, so that we may begin to enjoy God here on Earth and Him alone, in the beauty of creatures.”
Advice From a Successful Guide
Since we are celebrating Our Lady’s assumption into Heaven, we do well to carefully reflect upon the words Our Lady spoke the Venerable Mary of Agreda, regarding on how we ought live in this place of exile―the world. Apart from God Himself―Father, Son and Holy Ghost―there is no better guide on how to climb and reach the difficult summit of the mountain of God, which, of course, is Heaven. She has successfully negotiated and traversed the many snares and pitfalls that the world and the devil places in the path of those wishing to reach that summit. Our Lady says:
Always Focus on the Goal of Your Pilgrimage on Earth
“I wish thee to proceed on thy pilgrimage like one, who has already arrived at the journey’s end, keeping thy gaze continually on the source of all glory. Remember that the journey―from the mortal to the eternal life―is long, painful and dangerous: long, because it takes up the whole life, painful, on account of the hardships, dangerous, on account of human frailty and the astuteness of the enemies. In addition to this the time is short, the end uncertain, being either very happy or most unfortunate, while the termination and destination, of one as well as the other, is irrevocable.
Recognize the Dangers of the Flesh and the World
“Ever since the sin of Adam, the animal and earthly life of man is burdensome for all those that subject themselves to it―the chains of the passions are strong, the war against the lower nature continual; sensible pleasures are always present and easily fascinate the faculties of man, while that which is noble, as well as its immediate consequences, is often hidden from the gaze. All this fills the pilgrimage of life with hazardous dangers and difficulties. Among all these dangers and difficulties not the least are those of the flesh; for its human weakness, always present and always active, withdraws many from grace.
“Die to all that is earthly, sacrifice, in the consciousness of God’s presence, all thy sensitive appetites, fulfill none of their impulses, nor ever satisfy thy own will outside of the narrow limits of obedience. Live as if thou wert a pilgrim and stranger in this world! Be poor, mortified, laborious, loving the hardship connected with temporal things, without expecting alleviation or enjoyment―as one who is absent from her home and her country, enlisted to work and battle against powerful foes.
Know Your Faith So Your Faith May Guide You
“Faith teaches the sure way of eternal salvation, Faith is the light that shines in the darkness of this mortal life and pilgrimage; it leads men securely to the possession of the fatherland to which they are wayfaring. If they do not allow it to die out by infidelity and sinfulness.
“Since the flesh is the center of weakness and danger, it is fitting that thou carefully resist thy natural likings, and, through them, the temptations of the demons. Raise thyself above thyself, and seek a dwelling far above all that is earthly―in order that thou mayest live under the shadow of Him, Whom thou desirest and in His protection thou shalt enjoy tranquility and true refreshment. Deliver thyself over with thy whole heart to His chaste and holy love, without attending to any creatures, except in so far as they may help and oblige thee to love and serve thy Creator; in all other respects abhor them.”
Everyone is Capable of Going to Either Hell or Heaven
“Keep in mind, that all the living are born destined for death―but ignorant of the time allowed them. However, they know for certain that the length of life is short and that eternity is without end, and that it is only in this short life that they can harvest what will yield life or death eternal. In this dangerous pilgrimage of life, God has ordained that no one shall know for certain whether he is worthy of His love or hate. My absolute security from sin was hidden from me. I saw that, as far as depended on me alone, I could fall into, and that it was the divine will that preserved me from sin. Thus God reserved to Himself His knowledge of my security from sin, and left me in worry and holy fear of sinning during my pilgrimage on Earth. From the instant of my Conception until my death, I never lost this fear, but, on the contrary, grew in it as life flowed on.”
Master the Science of Suffering
“My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wishest to be our disciple, you must enter into this school, in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights. With this wisdom, the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the bleary-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur. Thou must choose for thyself the better part of being among the lowly and the forgotten ones of this world. I was Mother of the God-man Himself, yet I was little known and my Son very much despised by men. If this doctrine were not most valuable and secure, then We would not have taught it by word and example. This is the light, which shines in the darkness―loved by the elect and abhorred by the reprobate.
“Study that divine science, which neither flesh nor blood can teach thee. For the world does not know, nor does it merit to know, this science. This philosophy consists in recognizing and loving the happy lot of the poor, the humble, the afflicted, the despised, and those unknown among the children of vanity. This school my most holy and loving Son established in His Church, when He proclaimed and set up the eight beatitudes (Matthew 5:2-10). Afterwards, when He Himself assumed all the sufferings of His Passion, He became for us a Teacher, who practices what He teaches, as thou hast seen. Nevertheless, although this is set before the eyes of the Catholics, and can be plainly read by them in this book of life during their whole earthly pilgrimage, there are but few and scattered souls who enter into this school and study this book, while countless are the wayward and foolish, who ignore this science in their unwillingness to be taught.
Do Not Become Attached to the World―Detach Yourself
“Lamentable and inexcusable is the ignorance of men in so knowingly forgetting the eternal glory, which God has prepared for those who dispose themselves to merit it. I wish that thou bitterly bewail and deplore this pernicious forgetfulness; for there is no doubt, that whoever willfully forgets the eternal glory and happiness is in evident danger of losing it. No one is free from this guilt, not only because men do not apply much labor or effort in seeking and retaining the remembrance of this happiness; but they labor with all their powers in things that make them forget the end for which they were created. Undoubtedly this forgetfulness arises from their entangling themselves in the pride of life, the covetousness of the eyes, and the desires of the flesh (John 2:16); for employing therein all the forces and faculties of their soul during the whole time of their life, they have no leisure, care or attention for the thoughts of eternal happiness. All abhor poverty and thirst after riches, none of them being willing to recognize their emptiness. Infinite is the number of those who are carried away by their anger and vengeance, despising meekness. Few deplore their real miseries and most struggle merely for earthly consolations; scarcely any love justice, or loyally pursue it in their dealings with the neighbors. Mercy is almost extinct, purity of heart is sullied and infringed upon, peace is constrained. None grant pardon, none wish to suffer for justice’s sake, not even the least of the many torments and pains, which they have so justly merited.
The Assumption Bi-Focal
The feast of the Assumption should cause us to focus on two things at the same time―Death and Heaven. We were born to die―and we were made for Heaven. The trouble is that most people do not want to die―and most people do not go to Heaven! That is not how it is supposed to be―but that is what we have made it to be! Adam and Eve were not meant to die―but, since they sinned, the warning of God had to come into effect: “Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat―but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 2:16). Eat they did and die they did―and we have inherited that death through Original Sin: “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). Even Christ and Our Lady died―though they were sinless and not deserving of death. It is not death that is the most frightening thing―it is what happens after death that is the most frightening! For after death comes the allocation to our final eternal destination―Heaven or Hell. Everyone was made for Heaven―most end up in Hell! Why? Is that what God wants? No! God wants to save everyone―“God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “God our Savior wills to have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:3-4)―yet not everyone is saved because not everyone agrees to abide by the terms that God issues with the opportunity of salvation.
Afraid of Death
Part of the mystery of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven is death. Before being assumed into Heaven, most theologians agree on the fact that Our Lady died. Death is something most people fear—in fact, trillions of dollars are spent worldwide trying to stave-off death. Fear of death is only natural—for God originally did not make us to die. Even in Our Lords’ time, people were begging Him to ward-off death from their beloved ones: “The ruler saith to Him: ‘Lord, come down before my son die!’” (John 4:49). Martha lamented to Our Lord: “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died!” (John 11:21).
Death Has To Be!
However, death had to be! Death came as a punishment for sin: “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “Sin hath reigned to death” (Romans 5:21). “By one man’s offence death reigned” (Romans 5:17).
Fear the Death of Sin
The thought of this should engrave in our hearts and minds the seriousness of sin—which, alas, is a notion that has been lost by most people today. “All iniquity is sin. And there is a sin unto death” (1 John 5:17). Mortal Sin is spiritual death—a death that fits us, not for assumption in Heaven, but for descent to Hell. This is death we should fear above all! However, look at today’s Catholics, we must almost imagine that the modern Catholics are like Martin Luther, the Catholic who became Protestant, who wrote in a letter to Philip Melanchton: “Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly!”—for today’s Catholic seems to say: “Sin! What’s the big deal? That’s what confession is for!” In other words, sin and sin boldly, for you can always go to the ‘spiritual car-wash’ in confession at the weekend! Yet, sadly, most Catholics don’t even go to confession anymore! “What fruit therefore had you then in those things, of which you are now ashamed? For the end of them is death!” (Romans 6:21).
We Are Born to Die
We are all born with this Original Sin of Adam—and so we are all born to die. Death is a punishment for sin and without death we cannot have life. Our Lord puts it this way: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). We must imitate Our Lord by ‘swallowing death’ so to speak: “Jesus Christ, Who is on the right hand of God, swallowing down death, that we might be made heirs of life everlasting” (1 Peter 3:21-22). This is what Our Lady did—she “swallowed death” even though, being without sin, she strictly speaking did not have to swallow that bitter pill before being assumed into Heaven. She could have been taken into Heaven without suffering death.
Fear Not Death, But Hell
Our Lord tells us not to fear death, even violent death at the hands others. He even forecasts violent deaths for some of his followers: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9). “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12). “And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death” (Luke 21:16). “Yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God” (John 16:2). He tells that we should not fear this: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28).
Death to Self—Death to the World
To live for Christ, to get to Heaven, we must first die to self and die to the world. “For the law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath delivered me from the law of sin and of death … “For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life” (Romans 8:2; 8:6).
“Walk not as also the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts ... Put off, according to former conversation, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:17-18; 4:22-24). “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above … Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth … Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols. For which things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of unbelief, in which you also walked some time, when you lived in them. But now put you also all away: anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. Lie not one to another: stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new” (Colossians 3:1-10). “(Romans 6:11).
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ: knowing that Christ rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over Him. So do you also reckon, that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:6-11).
“They that are Christ’s, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25). “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live” (Romans 8:12-13). “So do you also reckon, that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of iniquity unto sin; but present yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead” (Romans 6:11-13).
Death—Where is Thy Sting? Where is Thy Victory?
“The dead shall rise again incorruptible: and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption; and this mortal must put on immortality. And when this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?’ Now the sting of death is sin: and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:52-57). “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away” (Apocalypse 21:4).
“He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). “For we are the good odor of Christ unto God, to them that are saved and to them that perish. To the one, indeed, the odor of death unto death: but, to the others, the odor of life unto life” (2 Corinthians 2:15-16).
Death is Our Gateway to Heaven
The way to look upon death is to see it not as a negative, but as a positive. If we do not die, we cannot go to Heaven―except for those who will be living at the very last moment of the world’s existence, for everyone else before that moment in time, death is the normal gateway to Heaven. Why fear death? Death is feared primarily by sinners on account of their sins and their having to account for those sins before God’s Judgment Seat. If we have lived well and holily, death should not be as fearsome as we instinctively make it out to be.
St. Rose of Viterbo said: “Live so as not to fear death. For those who live well in the world, death is not frightening, but sweet and precious!”
St. Clare, when on her deathbed, said to herself: “Go forth in peace, for you have followed the good road. Go forth without fear; for He that created you has sanctified you, has always protected you, and loves you as a mother. Blessed be Thou, O God, for having created me!”
St. Augustine of Hippo said: “Christ’s martyrs feared neither death nor pain. He triumphed in them who lived in them; and they, who lived not for themselves but for Him, found in death itself the way to life.”
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, quotes St. Augustine as saying that while we are in this world, we are, so to speak, in the womb of Mary, until the day of our death, when she gives birth to us into Heaven: “St. Augustine, surpassing himself, and going beyond all I have yet said, affirms that all the predestinate, in order to be conformed to the image of the Son of God, are in this world hidden in the womb of the most holy Virgin, where they are guarded, nourished, brought up and made to grow by that good Mother until she has brought them forth to glory after death, which is properly the day of their birth, as the Church calls the death of the just.”
St. John Vianney states: “If we were required to die twice, we could jettison one death. But man dies once only, and upon this death depends his eternity. Where the tree falls, there it shall lie. If, at the hour of death, someone is living in bad habit, the poor soul will fall on the side of Hell. If, on the other hand, he is in the state of grace, it will take the road for Heaven. Oh, happy road! You must either suffer in this life, or give up the hope of seeing God in Heaven. Sufferings and persecutions are of the greatest avail to us, because we can find therein a very efficient means to make atonement for our sins, since we are bound to suffer for them either in this world or in the next!”
St. Peter of Alcantara adds: “And what can one say of the other blessings of Heaven [besides living with God]? There will be health, and no sickness; liberty, and no servitude; beauty, and no ugliness; immortality, and no decay; abundance, and no want; repose, and no cares; security, and no dread; knowledge, and no error; satiety, and no feelings of revulsion; joy, and no sorrow; honor, and no contention.”
St. Thomas More adds some more: “Earth hath no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal!” Which is echoed by Our Lady’s admission to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, saying that in Heaven “I forgot the bitterness and labors I had suffered; for the great joy drove out pain” … “My life was a continual suffering; but, when I came to my reward, all of it seemed as nothing, and I forgot it as if it had not occurred!”
St. Ignatius of Antioch points us in the right direction: “No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the Earth. He who died in place of us, is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes, is my one desire”
Yet we are so forgetful and neglectful of keeping a focus on those last moments of life, which the Church has called “The Four Last Things”―namely, Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. To the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady revealed that “Hence the demons gain courage and increase their tyrannical influence over souls in the early years of man’s life, hoping that they will be able to induce men to commit so much the greater and the more frequent sins in later years, the more they have succeeded in drawing them into small and insignificant faults in their childhood. By these they draw them on to a state of blind presumption; for, with each sin, the soul loses more and more the power of resistance, subjects itself to the demon, and falls under the sway of its tyrannical enemies. By these means Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls and continues so to hurl them every day, spreading among men forgetfulness of death, judgment, Heaven and Hell.”
You have, of course, heard of the proverbial saying: “Home is where the heart is!”―meaning that your home will always be the place for which you feel the deepest affection, no matter where you are. This is why Our Lord says: ““Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal! But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal! For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
You may feel at home in this world, but this world is not your home! You are a pilgrim in this world, who should be journeying to another destination. This world is merely a place of exile―for because of Adam and Eve, Original Sin and our personal sins, we have all been exiled from Heaven. Yet Heaven is our home, which we have to fight to reach by escaping the imprisonment of this land of exile: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Invitations and Destinations
“God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “God our Savior wills to have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:3-4). You are invited to Heaven! That is your expected destination! This reminds us of the parable of those who were invited to the wedding banquet, but excused themselves and turned-down the invitation because they were too preoccupied with persons, places and things:
“A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: ‘I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them! I pray thee, hold me excused!’ And another said: ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come!’ And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame!’ [for they have nothing by way of possessions to distract and preoccupy them]. And the servant said: ‘Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room!’ And the Lord said to the servant: ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. But I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste of my supper!’” (Luke 14:16-24). Yes―“Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14).
The Blessed Virgin Mary, whom today we contemplate as being assumed body and soul into Heaven, reminds us very definitely that our permanent dwelling-place is not on Earth, but in Heaven, where she, with her divine Son, has proceeded in preceding us, and where They await us! Will we end up there? Heaven is everyone’s invitation―but Heaven will not be everyone’s destination. “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). If we let ourselves be primarily preoccupied with the persons, places and things of this world, then we risk losing our invitation and risk incurring damnation. In order to attain Heaven, we are told to detach ourselves from this world.
The Incompatibility of Godliness with Worldiness
You have read this many times before and you will read it many times again―because it is crucial tenet and condition for salvation: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24).
“He that received the seed [of the Word of God] among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit.” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15). “Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 19:23).
To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19).
“If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Today’s Feast Points the Way to Heaven
Heaven is the dominant thought in today’s liturgy. “O Almighty, everlasting God, Who took up, body and soul, the immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Your Son, into heavenly glory, grant, we beseech You, that, always devoting ourselves to heavenly things, we may be found worthy to share in her glory” (Collect).
The feast of the Assumption is a strong appeal to us to live “always devoting ourselves to heavenly things,” and not to allow ourselves to be carried away by the pleasures and of the world. It is not as though our soul was created to serve God and our body was created to enjoy earthly things. We are meant to serve God, not only with our soul, but also our body. Not only was our soul created for Heaven, but also our body―which, after the resurrection of all the dead, if are saved, will be welcomed into our heavenly home and admitted to a participation in the glory of the soul which, already in Heaven after death, awaits its reunion with the body.
Today we contemplate in Mary, our Mother, reflecting upon the though that what has been wholly realized in her, will be realized for us too, as well as for all the saints, but only at the end of time. After her death, she entered into Heaven with both body and soul. This privilege was very fitting for her, the all-pure, the all-holy one, whose body was never touched by even the faintest shadow of sin, but was always the temple of the Holy Ghost, and the immaculate tabernacle of the Son of God. It is a reminder to us to ennoble our whole life, not only that of the spirit, but also that of the body with its senses, elevating it to the heights of the celestial life which awaits us. “O Mother of God and of men,” exclaims Venerable Pope Pius XII in his beautiful prayer for the Assumption, “we beg you to purify our senses, so that we may begin to enjoy God here on Earth and Him alone, in the beauty of creatures.”
Advice From a Successful Guide
Since we are celebrating Our Lady’s assumption into Heaven, we do well to carefully reflect upon the words Our Lady spoke the Venerable Mary of Agreda, regarding on how we ought live in this place of exile―the world. Apart from God Himself―Father, Son and Holy Ghost―there is no better guide on how to climb and reach the difficult summit of the mountain of God, which, of course, is Heaven. She has successfully negotiated and traversed the many snares and pitfalls that the world and the devil places in the path of those wishing to reach that summit. Our Lady says:
Always Focus on the Goal of Your Pilgrimage on Earth
“I wish thee to proceed on thy pilgrimage like one, who has already arrived at the journey’s end, keeping thy gaze continually on the source of all glory. Remember that the journey―from the mortal to the eternal life―is long, painful and dangerous: long, because it takes up the whole life, painful, on account of the hardships, dangerous, on account of human frailty and the astuteness of the enemies. In addition to this the time is short, the end uncertain, being either very happy or most unfortunate, while the termination and destination, of one as well as the other, is irrevocable.
Recognize the Dangers of the Flesh and the World
“Ever since the sin of Adam, the animal and earthly life of man is burdensome for all those that subject themselves to it―the chains of the passions are strong, the war against the lower nature continual; sensible pleasures are always present and easily fascinate the faculties of man, while that which is noble, as well as its immediate consequences, is often hidden from the gaze. All this fills the pilgrimage of life with hazardous dangers and difficulties. Among all these dangers and difficulties not the least are those of the flesh; for its human weakness, always present and always active, withdraws many from grace.
“Die to all that is earthly, sacrifice, in the consciousness of God’s presence, all thy sensitive appetites, fulfill none of their impulses, nor ever satisfy thy own will outside of the narrow limits of obedience. Live as if thou wert a pilgrim and stranger in this world! Be poor, mortified, laborious, loving the hardship connected with temporal things, without expecting alleviation or enjoyment―as one who is absent from her home and her country, enlisted to work and battle against powerful foes.
Know Your Faith So Your Faith May Guide You
“Faith teaches the sure way of eternal salvation, Faith is the light that shines in the darkness of this mortal life and pilgrimage; it leads men securely to the possession of the fatherland to which they are wayfaring. If they do not allow it to die out by infidelity and sinfulness.
“Since the flesh is the center of weakness and danger, it is fitting that thou carefully resist thy natural likings, and, through them, the temptations of the demons. Raise thyself above thyself, and seek a dwelling far above all that is earthly―in order that thou mayest live under the shadow of Him, Whom thou desirest and in His protection thou shalt enjoy tranquility and true refreshment. Deliver thyself over with thy whole heart to His chaste and holy love, without attending to any creatures, except in so far as they may help and oblige thee to love and serve thy Creator; in all other respects abhor them.”
Everyone is Capable of Going to Either Hell or Heaven
“Keep in mind, that all the living are born destined for death―but ignorant of the time allowed them. However, they know for certain that the length of life is short and that eternity is without end, and that it is only in this short life that they can harvest what will yield life or death eternal. In this dangerous pilgrimage of life, God has ordained that no one shall know for certain whether he is worthy of His love or hate. My absolute security from sin was hidden from me. I saw that, as far as depended on me alone, I could fall into, and that it was the divine will that preserved me from sin. Thus God reserved to Himself His knowledge of my security from sin, and left me in worry and holy fear of sinning during my pilgrimage on Earth. From the instant of my Conception until my death, I never lost this fear, but, on the contrary, grew in it as life flowed on.”
Master the Science of Suffering
“My most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wishest to be our disciple, you must enter into this school, in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights. With this wisdom, the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the bleary-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur. Thou must choose for thyself the better part of being among the lowly and the forgotten ones of this world. I was Mother of the God-man Himself, yet I was little known and my Son very much despised by men. If this doctrine were not most valuable and secure, then We would not have taught it by word and example. This is the light, which shines in the darkness―loved by the elect and abhorred by the reprobate.
“Study that divine science, which neither flesh nor blood can teach thee. For the world does not know, nor does it merit to know, this science. This philosophy consists in recognizing and loving the happy lot of the poor, the humble, the afflicted, the despised, and those unknown among the children of vanity. This school my most holy and loving Son established in His Church, when He proclaimed and set up the eight beatitudes (Matthew 5:2-10). Afterwards, when He Himself assumed all the sufferings of His Passion, He became for us a Teacher, who practices what He teaches, as thou hast seen. Nevertheless, although this is set before the eyes of the Catholics, and can be plainly read by them in this book of life during their whole earthly pilgrimage, there are but few and scattered souls who enter into this school and study this book, while countless are the wayward and foolish, who ignore this science in their unwillingness to be taught.
Do Not Become Attached to the World―Detach Yourself
“Lamentable and inexcusable is the ignorance of men in so knowingly forgetting the eternal glory, which God has prepared for those who dispose themselves to merit it. I wish that thou bitterly bewail and deplore this pernicious forgetfulness; for there is no doubt, that whoever willfully forgets the eternal glory and happiness is in evident danger of losing it. No one is free from this guilt, not only because men do not apply much labor or effort in seeking and retaining the remembrance of this happiness; but they labor with all their powers in things that make them forget the end for which they were created. Undoubtedly this forgetfulness arises from their entangling themselves in the pride of life, the covetousness of the eyes, and the desires of the flesh (John 2:16); for employing therein all the forces and faculties of their soul during the whole time of their life, they have no leisure, care or attention for the thoughts of eternal happiness. All abhor poverty and thirst after riches, none of them being willing to recognize their emptiness. Infinite is the number of those who are carried away by their anger and vengeance, despising meekness. Few deplore their real miseries and most struggle merely for earthly consolations; scarcely any love justice, or loyally pursue it in their dealings with the neighbors. Mercy is almost extinct, purity of heart is sullied and infringed upon, peace is constrained. None grant pardon, none wish to suffer for justice’s sake, not even the least of the many torments and pains, which they have so justly merited.
The Assumption Bi-Focal
The feast of the Assumption should cause us to focus on two things at the same time―Death and Heaven. We were born to die―and we were made for Heaven. The trouble is that most people do not want to die―and most people do not go to Heaven! That is not how it is supposed to be―but that is what we have made it to be! Adam and Eve were not meant to die―but, since they sinned, the warning of God had to come into effect: “Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat―but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!” (Genesis 2:16). Eat they did and die they did―and we have inherited that death through Original Sin: “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 5:12). Even Christ and Our Lady died―though they were sinless and not deserving of death. It is not death that is the most frightening thing―it is what happens after death that is the most frightening! For after death comes the allocation to our final eternal destination―Heaven or Hell. Everyone was made for Heaven―most end up in Hell! Why? Is that what God wants? No! God wants to save everyone―“God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “God our Savior wills to have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:3-4)―yet not everyone is saved because not everyone agrees to abide by the terms that God issues with the opportunity of salvation.
Afraid of Death
Part of the mystery of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven is death. Before being assumed into Heaven, most theologians agree on the fact that Our Lady died. Death is something most people fear—in fact, trillions of dollars are spent worldwide trying to stave-off death. Fear of death is only natural—for God originally did not make us to die. Even in Our Lords’ time, people were begging Him to ward-off death from their beloved ones: “The ruler saith to Him: ‘Lord, come down before my son die!’” (John 4:49). Martha lamented to Our Lord: “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died!” (John 11:21).
Death Has To Be!
However, death had to be! Death came as a punishment for sin: “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “Sin hath reigned to death” (Romans 5:21). “By one man’s offence death reigned” (Romans 5:17).
Fear the Death of Sin
The thought of this should engrave in our hearts and minds the seriousness of sin—which, alas, is a notion that has been lost by most people today. “All iniquity is sin. And there is a sin unto death” (1 John 5:17). Mortal Sin is spiritual death—a death that fits us, not for assumption in Heaven, but for descent to Hell. This is death we should fear above all! However, look at today’s Catholics, we must almost imagine that the modern Catholics are like Martin Luther, the Catholic who became Protestant, who wrote in a letter to Philip Melanchton: “Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly!”—for today’s Catholic seems to say: “Sin! What’s the big deal? That’s what confession is for!” In other words, sin and sin boldly, for you can always go to the ‘spiritual car-wash’ in confession at the weekend! Yet, sadly, most Catholics don’t even go to confession anymore! “What fruit therefore had you then in those things, of which you are now ashamed? For the end of them is death!” (Romans 6:21).
We Are Born to Die
We are all born with this Original Sin of Adam—and so we are all born to die. Death is a punishment for sin and without death we cannot have life. Our Lord puts it this way: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). We must imitate Our Lord by ‘swallowing death’ so to speak: “Jesus Christ, Who is on the right hand of God, swallowing down death, that we might be made heirs of life everlasting” (1 Peter 3:21-22). This is what Our Lady did—she “swallowed death” even though, being without sin, she strictly speaking did not have to swallow that bitter pill before being assumed into Heaven. She could have been taken into Heaven without suffering death.
Fear Not Death, But Hell
Our Lord tells us not to fear death, even violent death at the hands others. He even forecasts violent deaths for some of his followers: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9). “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12). “And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death” (Luke 21:16). “Yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God” (John 16:2). He tells that we should not fear this: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matthew 10:28).
Death to Self—Death to the World
To live for Christ, to get to Heaven, we must first die to self and die to the world. “For the law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath delivered me from the law of sin and of death … “For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life” (Romans 8:2; 8:6).
“Walk not as also the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts ... Put off, according to former conversation, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:17-18; 4:22-24). “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above … Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth … Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols. For which things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of unbelief, in which you also walked some time, when you lived in them. But now put you also all away: anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. Lie not one to another: stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new” (Colossians 3:1-10). “(Romans 6:11).
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ: knowing that Christ rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over Him. So do you also reckon, that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:6-11).
“They that are Christ’s, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25). “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live” (Romans 8:12-13). “So do you also reckon, that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of iniquity unto sin; but present yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead” (Romans 6:11-13).
Death—Where is Thy Sting? Where is Thy Victory?
“The dead shall rise again incorruptible: and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption; and this mortal must put on immortality. And when this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?’ Now the sting of death is sin: and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:52-57). “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away” (Apocalypse 21:4).
“He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). “For we are the good odor of Christ unto God, to them that are saved and to them that perish. To the one, indeed, the odor of death unto death: but, to the others, the odor of life unto life” (2 Corinthians 2:15-16).
Death is Our Gateway to Heaven
The way to look upon death is to see it not as a negative, but as a positive. If we do not die, we cannot go to Heaven―except for those who will be living at the very last moment of the world’s existence, for everyone else before that moment in time, death is the normal gateway to Heaven. Why fear death? Death is feared primarily by sinners on account of their sins and their having to account for those sins before God’s Judgment Seat. If we have lived well and holily, death should not be as fearsome as we instinctively make it out to be.
St. Rose of Viterbo said: “Live so as not to fear death. For those who live well in the world, death is not frightening, but sweet and precious!”
St. Clare, when on her deathbed, said to herself: “Go forth in peace, for you have followed the good road. Go forth without fear; for He that created you has sanctified you, has always protected you, and loves you as a mother. Blessed be Thou, O God, for having created me!”
St. Augustine of Hippo said: “Christ’s martyrs feared neither death nor pain. He triumphed in them who lived in them; and they, who lived not for themselves but for Him, found in death itself the way to life.”
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, quotes St. Augustine as saying that while we are in this world, we are, so to speak, in the womb of Mary, until the day of our death, when she gives birth to us into Heaven: “St. Augustine, surpassing himself, and going beyond all I have yet said, affirms that all the predestinate, in order to be conformed to the image of the Son of God, are in this world hidden in the womb of the most holy Virgin, where they are guarded, nourished, brought up and made to grow by that good Mother until she has brought them forth to glory after death, which is properly the day of their birth, as the Church calls the death of the just.”
St. John Vianney states: “If we were required to die twice, we could jettison one death. But man dies once only, and upon this death depends his eternity. Where the tree falls, there it shall lie. If, at the hour of death, someone is living in bad habit, the poor soul will fall on the side of Hell. If, on the other hand, he is in the state of grace, it will take the road for Heaven. Oh, happy road! You must either suffer in this life, or give up the hope of seeing God in Heaven. Sufferings and persecutions are of the greatest avail to us, because we can find therein a very efficient means to make atonement for our sins, since we are bound to suffer for them either in this world or in the next!”
St. Peter of Alcantara adds: “And what can one say of the other blessings of Heaven [besides living with God]? There will be health, and no sickness; liberty, and no servitude; beauty, and no ugliness; immortality, and no decay; abundance, and no want; repose, and no cares; security, and no dread; knowledge, and no error; satiety, and no feelings of revulsion; joy, and no sorrow; honor, and no contention.”
St. Thomas More adds some more: “Earth hath no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal!” Which is echoed by Our Lady’s admission to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, saying that in Heaven “I forgot the bitterness and labors I had suffered; for the great joy drove out pain” … “My life was a continual suffering; but, when I came to my reward, all of it seemed as nothing, and I forgot it as if it had not occurred!”
St. Ignatius of Antioch points us in the right direction: “No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the Earth. He who died in place of us, is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes, is my one desire”
Yet we are so forgetful and neglectful of keeping a focus on those last moments of life, which the Church has called “The Four Last Things”―namely, Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. To the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady revealed that “Hence the demons gain courage and increase their tyrannical influence over souls in the early years of man’s life, hoping that they will be able to induce men to commit so much the greater and the more frequent sins in later years, the more they have succeeded in drawing them into small and insignificant faults in their childhood. By these they draw them on to a state of blind presumption; for, with each sin, the soul loses more and more the power of resistance, subjects itself to the demon, and falls under the sway of its tyrannical enemies. By these means Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls and continues so to hurl them every day, spreading among men forgetfulness of death, judgment, Heaven and Hell.”
Wednesday August 14th
Article 7
Heavens Above! What's All This?
Article 7
Heavens Above! What's All This?
Is Our Lady’s Assumption the Cause of Your Presumption
What strange ‘pieces of work’ we really are! We think little of Heaven―yet we expect to get there! We think little of Hell―yet we think we’ll avoid it. We think little of death―as though we are immune to it! We think little of our Final Judgment―as though it will never happen!
This leads to our praying very little―but expecting a lot! Doing very little penance―but expecting that it will pay for a lot! Giving God little time―but expecting that He will freely give us an eternity! Spending most of our lives pursuing worldly things―but expecting to be rewarded with heavenly things! What strange ‘pieces of work’ we really are!
As we approach this feast of the Assumption, let it be perhaps the day that dispels our presumption. In the supernatural ‘economy’ and spiritual ‘politics’ of God, there is nothing that is entirely free―everything has to be paid for, either by ourselves, or by somebody else on our behalf. If we have not paid the price of our ticket by the time we die, then, if we managed to avoid Hell, we shall be cast into Purgatory, where we shall have to make up the shortfall and pay the full price―to which we can apply Our Lord’s words: “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing!” (Matthew 5:26).
It’s a case of getting what you pay for―there are no “giveaways” or “freebies” or “bargain-basement” with Heaven. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Many Are Guilty of Presumption
Perhaps most Catholics are guilty of a false assumption and a presumption regarding their own ‘assumption’ into Heaven after death! If you will please excuse the ‘French’―but, “Who the hell thinks they’re heading for Hell these days?” With the modern-day theological angle being preached by the Liberal, Modernist Church―judging by the funeral Masses in white, not black, and no longer hearing that terrible four-letter-word “HELL”―there is a tendency to falsely imagine that everyone is going to Heaven. As though God would be guilty of a “HATE-CRIME” if He would send any soul to Hell! In fact, the modern world tends to look upon those who hate sin and speak out against sin, as being worthy of Hell. Even the Liberals and Modernists within the Catholic Church seem to have a similar attitude―making true Catholics apologize for “hatefully” criticizing sin and sinners!
They seem to deftly used their scriptural-scissors to cut-out from Holy Scripture such quotes as: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Let them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14). And as Jesus says: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
The Assumption Misassumption
The Assumption is a “happy-ending” to Our Lady’s life. After having lived out her life on Earth, she is taken up into eternal happiness of Heaven. However, her “happy-ending” does not guarantee “happy-endings” for everyone! Most “endings” are not “happy” but “unhappy” or downright “miserable”! When you stop to think about it―really think about and not just superficially gloss over it―Our Lady’s “happy-ending” was due to her “miserable life”. The problem for most people is that they want happiness in this life and also the happiness of Heaven! It doesn’t work that way! Just think back to the words Our Lady herself said to St. Bernadette of Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” Happiness comes at a price―and that price is, so to speak, miserable!
Our Lord pretty much says the same thing―doesn’t He? “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:38-39). As regards the rich young man, “Jesus saith to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ (Matthew 19:21-24).
Heaven is not Cheap! But We Are!
For Heaven’s sake―realize that Heaven is not cheap and that the paltry, pitiful, parsimonious payment most people offer God in exchange for a passport to Heaven, is nothing short of being outrageously and obnoxiously offensive! Cheap people―cheapskates―will always try buy Heaven “on the cheap”, which is an insult to God and what He offers. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament passages affirm and confirm the magnificence of Heaven: “From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears, and the eye hath not seen, O God, besides Thee, what things Thou hast prepared for them that wait for Thee!” (Isaias 64:4). This is echoed in the New Testament also: “But, as it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
“They shall no more hunger nor thirst, neither shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat … and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Apocalypse 7:15-17). “He shall cast death down headlong for ever: and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of His people He shall take away from off the whole Earth” (Isaias 25:8). “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away … I saw Heaven … and the light thereof was like to a precious stone, as to the jasper stone, even as crystal ... And the building of the wall thereof was of jasper stone: but the city itself pure gold, like to clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper: the second, sapphire: the third, a chalcedony: the fourth, an emerald: the fifth, sardonyx: the sixth, sardius: the seventh, chrysolite: the eighth, beryl: the ninth, a topaz: the tenth, a chrysoprasus: the eleventh, a jacinth: the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, one to each: and every several gate was of one several pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass … There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb” (Apocalypse 21:4; 11, 18-21, 27). “For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20)―and don’t forget that the Scribes and the Pharisees, for all their hypocrisy, were extremely law-abiding folk! “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone―which is the second death!” (Apocalypse 21:8).
“In the midst of the street thereof, and on both sides of the river, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruits every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Apocalypse 22:2). Our present world is riddled with sickness and disease―thus the description of the tree of life in Apocalypse 22:2 is a beautiful reminder that there will be no more suffering, nor pain, nor disease in Heaven. In this world, we vainly seek happiness, which, like a wisp of smoke, is quickly gone―often leaving traces of unhappiness. Yet in Heaven our natural desire for happiness will be more than satisfied and it will remain with us for ETERNITY! And we are offering HOW MUCH for all that? Cheapskates that we all are―is it surprising that God rejects most bids (but the devil gladly accepts them)?
“Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth! For you are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God! Therefore mortify your members which are upon the Earth―from fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols” (Colossians 3:1-5). That sounds like hard work! Yet, did not Our Lord say: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) and does not St. Paul add: “Be not wearied, fainting in your minds! For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:3-4). “Do penance―for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). “There shall be joy in Heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance!’” (Luke 15:7). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride: but His eyes are upon his ways!” (Job 24:23). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance” (Matthew 3:8).
Our Lady Speaks of Her Death and Assumption
In her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady speaks thus of her death and consequent assumption into Heaven:
“The Lord offered me the choice of entering into beatific vision either with or without passing through the portals of death. If I had preferred not to die, the Most High would have conceded this favor, because sin had no part in me, and hence also not its punishment, which is death. The same would also have been the case with my divine Son―and with a even greater right and merit―if He had not taken upon Himself the satisfaction of the divine justice for men through His Passion and Death. Hence I chose death freely―in order to imitate and follow Him, as also I did during His grievous passion. Since I had seen my Son and true God die, I would not have satisfied the love of Him if I had refused death, and I would have left a great gap in my conformity to and my imitation of my Lord … Hence my choosing to die was so pleasing to Him to such an extent, that, in return, He immediately conceded to me a singular favor for the benefit of the children of the Church. It was this―that all those devoted to me, who should call upon me at the hour of death, taking me as their Advocate in memory of my desiring to imitate Him in death, these souls shall be under my special protection in that hour of their death, and shall have me as a defense against the demons, as a help and protection, and shall be presented by me before the tribunal of His mercy and there experience my intercession. In consequence, the Lord gave me a new power and commission and He promised to confer great helps of His grace for a good death and for a purer life, on all those who, in veneration of this mystery of my precious death, should invoke my aid.
“Since death follows upon life and ordinarily corresponds with it―therefore, the surest pledge of a good death is a good life; a life in which the heart is freed and detached from earthly love. For this it is which, in that last hour of life, afflicts and oppresses the soul and which is like a heavy chain restraining its liberty and preventing it from rising above the things loved in this world. How greatly do mortals misunderstand this truth, and how far they err from it in their actions! The Lord gives them life in order that they may free themselves from the effects of Original Sin, so as to be unhampered by them at the hour of their death―and the ignorant and miserable children of Adam spend all their life in loading upon themselves new burdens and fetters, so that they die captives of their passions and in the tyranny of their hellish foes. I had no share in Original Sin and none of its effects had any power over my faculties; nevertheless I lived in the greatest discipline, in poverty and detached from earthly things, most perfect and holy; and this holy freedom I did indeed experience at the hour of my death.
Our Lady Wants Us to Die to Worldly Things
“In commemorating my natural death and my burial, I wish that thou also die and be buried to all worldly thing. It is a foul offense in any Christian, if, after dying to sin and after being reborn in Christ by Baptism, knowing that the Lord died for him, he returns again to the same faults; and this will be a still greater wickedness in those souls, who are called by special grace to be the most dear friends of the Lord, as is the case with those, who for that very purpose dedicate and consecrate themselves to His closer service in religion, each one according to His condition and state. In these souls the vices of the world cause horror in Heaven itself, because the pride, the presumption, the haughtiness, the want of mortification, the anger, the covetousness, the conscious impurities and other wickedness in such souls force the Lord and the saints to withdraw from the sight of their monstrous distortion and rouse them to greater wrath and offense than the same sins in other souls. Therefore the Lord repudiates many who un-righteously bear the name of being His spouses and leaves them to their own bad counsels, because they have so disloyally broken the fidelity promised to God and to me in their vocation and profession.
“Die to the visible things, so that thy body be buried in thy self-knowledge and self-abasement, while thy soul sinks into the being of God … Do not allege ignorance, pusillanimity, or weakness, nor much less, fear … If thou dost not succeed in dying to all things, besides that thy path will be sown with thorns, thou shalt not reach the perfection thou desirest, nor the state to which the Lord calls thee … If the world will not forget thee, do thou forget it; if it will not leave thee alone, remember that thou hast forsaken it, and that I have separated thee from it. If it follow thee, fly; if it flatter thee, despise it; if it show contempt to thee, suffer it; and if it seek thee, let it not find thee, except in so far as will be to the glory of the Most High. But as regards all the rest, thou must not any more bear it in mind, than the living remember the dead. Forget it just as the dead forget the living, and I desire that thou have no more dealings and conversations with this world, than the dead have with the living … Consider what persecutions the devil has roused against thee in secret, coming from the world and its inhabitants, under various different pretexts and appearances. If God has permitted them for the purpose of trying thee take it as a lesson and a warning. Remember that great is the treasure which thou carriest in a fragile vessel (2 Corinthians 2:7), and that all Hell conspires and rises up against thee. Thou livest surrounded and assailed by astute enemies.
Our Lady Laments the Ignorance and Indifference of Mankind
“Lamentable and inexcusable is the ignorance of men in so knowingly forgetting the eternal glory, which God has prepared for those who dispose themselves to merit it. I wish that thou bitterly bewail and deplore this pernicious forgetfulness; for there is no doubt, that whoever willfully forgets the eternal glory and happiness is in evident danger of losing it. No one is free from this guilt, not only because men do not apply much labor or effort in seeking and retaining the remembrance of this happiness; but they labor with all their powers in things that make them forget the end for which they were created. Undoubtedly this forgetfulness arises from their entangling themselves in the pride of life, the covetousness of the eyes, and the desires of the flesh (John 2:16); for employing therein all the forces and faculties of their soul during the whole time of their life, they have no leisure, care or attention for the thoughts of eternal happiness. Let men acknowledge and confess, whether this recollection of Heaven costs them more labor than to follow their blind passions, seeking after honors, possessions or the transitory pleasures, all of which have an end with this life, and which, after much striving and labor, many men do not, and can never attain.
“How much easier is it for mortals to avoid such perversity―especially for the children of the Church―since they have at hand the easy means of Faith and Hope for attaining the truth! Even if to gain eternal happiness were as difficult to obtain as honors and riches and other apparent advantages, it would be very foolish to labor as much for the false as for the true advantages―to labor for an eternal punishment as for eternal glory. This abominable is foolishness! How many unhappy seek eternal death in exchange for a short and vain honor, vengeance and other most vile advantages, while they do not think anything of or care for eternal life―like irrational animals. It would be a blessing for them if, like animals, they could end their existence altogether with the temporal death; but as the most of them act against justice, and others, who still seek to be just, live in forgetfulness of their true and final end, the ones as well as the others incur the eternal death (Hell).
“This is a sorrow beyond all sorrows, and a misfortune without equal and without remedy. I assure thee that, if men would not make themselves so unworthy of it, my charity would urge me to send forth a voice, through the whole world exclaiming: “Mortal and deceived men, what are you doing? For what purpose are you living? Do you realize what it is to see God face to face, and to participate in His eternal glory and share His company? Of what are you thinking? Who has thus disturbed and fascinated your judgment? What will you seek, if once you have lost this true blessing and happiness, since there is no other? The labor is short, the reward is infinite glory, and the punishment is eternal!”
Our Lady Encourages a Change of Attitude
“I am trying to excite in thee, seek to labor assiduously in order to evade the danger. A living example thou hast in my life―which was a continual suffering. But when I came to my reward―all of it seemed as nothing, and I forgot it as if it had not occurred. Resolve to follow me in my labor; and let nothing seem to thee difficult or hard, or bitter, even to passing through fire and sword. At the same time I wish thee to be free from another error, that of men who say: “Let us merely secure salvation! Greater or less glory does not matter! We shall all be together in that life!” By this false principle, eternal life is NOT made secure, but rather put at hazard―since it arises from great foolishness and a lack of divine love. Whoever seeks to make such a bargain with God― offends Him and tempts Him to permit such souls to live in a continued danger of damnation. Human weakness always tends to do less good than it desires to do―and when this desire is small, then it will execute very little, and hence risks losing all.
“He who contents himself with the mediocre or lowest in virtue, always leaves―in his will and in his inclinations―an opening for earthly affections and love of the passing things. Such an opening is contrary to divine love and therefore unavoidably causes the loss of the divine love and the ascendency of earthly affections. When the creature resolves to love God from all its heart and with all its powers―as God has commanded―then God overlooks its human defects and shortcomings, and is pleased with their resolve to reap the highest rewards. But to despise them or willfully undervalue them, shows not the love of children or of true friends, but the base fear of slaves, who are content to live and be let alone.
“If anything could lessen the enjoyment of the highest happiness and glory which I possess, and if, in it, I could be capable of any sorrow, then, without a doubt, I would be grieved to see the Holy Church and the rest of the world in its present state of labor, despite men knowing me to be their Mother, Advocate and Protectress in Heaven, ready to guide and assist them to eternal life. In this state of affairs, when the Almighty has granted me so many privileges and powers for the benefit of mortals, it is a great cause of sorrow to me to see mortals force me to remain idle, and that, for a lack of calling upon me, so many souls should be lost. But if I cannot experience grief now, I may justly complain of men, that they load themselves with eternal damnation and refuse me the glory of saving their souls.
“The degree of my intercession and the power I have in Heaven has never been hidden in the Church, for I have demonstrated my ability to save all by so many thousands of miracles, prodigies and favors operated in behalf of those devoted to me. With those who have called upon me in their needs I have always shown myself generous, and the Lord has shown Himself generous to them on my account. Yet, though many are the souls whom I have helped, they are very few when compared to those, whom I could and am willing to help, but who never ask for my help!” (Words of Our Lady spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The Mystical City of God ).
What strange ‘pieces of work’ we really are! We think little of Heaven―yet we expect to get there! We think little of Hell―yet we think we’ll avoid it. We think little of death―as though we are immune to it! We think little of our Final Judgment―as though it will never happen!
This leads to our praying very little―but expecting a lot! Doing very little penance―but expecting that it will pay for a lot! Giving God little time―but expecting that He will freely give us an eternity! Spending most of our lives pursuing worldly things―but expecting to be rewarded with heavenly things! What strange ‘pieces of work’ we really are!
As we approach this feast of the Assumption, let it be perhaps the day that dispels our presumption. In the supernatural ‘economy’ and spiritual ‘politics’ of God, there is nothing that is entirely free―everything has to be paid for, either by ourselves, or by somebody else on our behalf. If we have not paid the price of our ticket by the time we die, then, if we managed to avoid Hell, we shall be cast into Purgatory, where we shall have to make up the shortfall and pay the full price―to which we can apply Our Lord’s words: “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing!” (Matthew 5:26).
It’s a case of getting what you pay for―there are no “giveaways” or “freebies” or “bargain-basement” with Heaven. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Many Are Guilty of Presumption
Perhaps most Catholics are guilty of a false assumption and a presumption regarding their own ‘assumption’ into Heaven after death! If you will please excuse the ‘French’―but, “Who the hell thinks they’re heading for Hell these days?” With the modern-day theological angle being preached by the Liberal, Modernist Church―judging by the funeral Masses in white, not black, and no longer hearing that terrible four-letter-word “HELL”―there is a tendency to falsely imagine that everyone is going to Heaven. As though God would be guilty of a “HATE-CRIME” if He would send any soul to Hell! In fact, the modern world tends to look upon those who hate sin and speak out against sin, as being worthy of Hell. Even the Liberals and Modernists within the Catholic Church seem to have a similar attitude―making true Catholics apologize for “hatefully” criticizing sin and sinners!
They seem to deftly used their scriptural-scissors to cut-out from Holy Scripture such quotes as: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). “Let them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14). And as Jesus says: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
The Assumption Misassumption
The Assumption is a “happy-ending” to Our Lady’s life. After having lived out her life on Earth, she is taken up into eternal happiness of Heaven. However, her “happy-ending” does not guarantee “happy-endings” for everyone! Most “endings” are not “happy” but “unhappy” or downright “miserable”! When you stop to think about it―really think about and not just superficially gloss over it―Our Lady’s “happy-ending” was due to her “miserable life”. The problem for most people is that they want happiness in this life and also the happiness of Heaven! It doesn’t work that way! Just think back to the words Our Lady herself said to St. Bernadette of Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” Happiness comes at a price―and that price is, so to speak, miserable!
Our Lord pretty much says the same thing―doesn’t He? “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “And He [Jesus] said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:38-39). As regards the rich young man, “Jesus saith to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ (Matthew 19:21-24).
Heaven is not Cheap! But We Are!
For Heaven’s sake―realize that Heaven is not cheap and that the paltry, pitiful, parsimonious payment most people offer God in exchange for a passport to Heaven, is nothing short of being outrageously and obnoxiously offensive! Cheap people―cheapskates―will always try buy Heaven “on the cheap”, which is an insult to God and what He offers. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament passages affirm and confirm the magnificence of Heaven: “From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears, and the eye hath not seen, O God, besides Thee, what things Thou hast prepared for them that wait for Thee!” (Isaias 64:4). This is echoed in the New Testament also: “But, as it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
“They shall no more hunger nor thirst, neither shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat … and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Apocalypse 7:15-17). “He shall cast death down headlong for ever: and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of His people He shall take away from off the whole Earth” (Isaias 25:8). “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away … I saw Heaven … and the light thereof was like to a precious stone, as to the jasper stone, even as crystal ... And the building of the wall thereof was of jasper stone: but the city itself pure gold, like to clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper: the second, sapphire: the third, a chalcedony: the fourth, an emerald: the fifth, sardonyx: the sixth, sardius: the seventh, chrysolite: the eighth, beryl: the ninth, a topaz: the tenth, a chrysoprasus: the eleventh, a jacinth: the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, one to each: and every several gate was of one several pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass … There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb” (Apocalypse 21:4; 11, 18-21, 27). “For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20)―and don’t forget that the Scribes and the Pharisees, for all their hypocrisy, were extremely law-abiding folk! “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone―which is the second death!” (Apocalypse 21:8).
“In the midst of the street thereof, and on both sides of the river, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruits every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Apocalypse 22:2). Our present world is riddled with sickness and disease―thus the description of the tree of life in Apocalypse 22:2 is a beautiful reminder that there will be no more suffering, nor pain, nor disease in Heaven. In this world, we vainly seek happiness, which, like a wisp of smoke, is quickly gone―often leaving traces of unhappiness. Yet in Heaven our natural desire for happiness will be more than satisfied and it will remain with us for ETERNITY! And we are offering HOW MUCH for all that? Cheapskates that we all are―is it surprising that God rejects most bids (but the devil gladly accepts them)?
“Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God! Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth! For you are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God! Therefore mortify your members which are upon the Earth―from fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols” (Colossians 3:1-5). That sounds like hard work! Yet, did not Our Lord say: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) and does not St. Paul add: “Be not wearied, fainting in your minds! For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:3-4). “Do penance―for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). “There shall be joy in Heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance!’” (Luke 15:7). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride: but His eyes are upon his ways!” (Job 24:23). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance” (Matthew 3:8).
Our Lady Speaks of Her Death and Assumption
In her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lady speaks thus of her death and consequent assumption into Heaven:
“The Lord offered me the choice of entering into beatific vision either with or without passing through the portals of death. If I had preferred not to die, the Most High would have conceded this favor, because sin had no part in me, and hence also not its punishment, which is death. The same would also have been the case with my divine Son―and with a even greater right and merit―if He had not taken upon Himself the satisfaction of the divine justice for men through His Passion and Death. Hence I chose death freely―in order to imitate and follow Him, as also I did during His grievous passion. Since I had seen my Son and true God die, I would not have satisfied the love of Him if I had refused death, and I would have left a great gap in my conformity to and my imitation of my Lord … Hence my choosing to die was so pleasing to Him to such an extent, that, in return, He immediately conceded to me a singular favor for the benefit of the children of the Church. It was this―that all those devoted to me, who should call upon me at the hour of death, taking me as their Advocate in memory of my desiring to imitate Him in death, these souls shall be under my special protection in that hour of their death, and shall have me as a defense against the demons, as a help and protection, and shall be presented by me before the tribunal of His mercy and there experience my intercession. In consequence, the Lord gave me a new power and commission and He promised to confer great helps of His grace for a good death and for a purer life, on all those who, in veneration of this mystery of my precious death, should invoke my aid.
“Since death follows upon life and ordinarily corresponds with it―therefore, the surest pledge of a good death is a good life; a life in which the heart is freed and detached from earthly love. For this it is which, in that last hour of life, afflicts and oppresses the soul and which is like a heavy chain restraining its liberty and preventing it from rising above the things loved in this world. How greatly do mortals misunderstand this truth, and how far they err from it in their actions! The Lord gives them life in order that they may free themselves from the effects of Original Sin, so as to be unhampered by them at the hour of their death―and the ignorant and miserable children of Adam spend all their life in loading upon themselves new burdens and fetters, so that they die captives of their passions and in the tyranny of their hellish foes. I had no share in Original Sin and none of its effects had any power over my faculties; nevertheless I lived in the greatest discipline, in poverty and detached from earthly things, most perfect and holy; and this holy freedom I did indeed experience at the hour of my death.
Our Lady Wants Us to Die to Worldly Things
“In commemorating my natural death and my burial, I wish that thou also die and be buried to all worldly thing. It is a foul offense in any Christian, if, after dying to sin and after being reborn in Christ by Baptism, knowing that the Lord died for him, he returns again to the same faults; and this will be a still greater wickedness in those souls, who are called by special grace to be the most dear friends of the Lord, as is the case with those, who for that very purpose dedicate and consecrate themselves to His closer service in religion, each one according to His condition and state. In these souls the vices of the world cause horror in Heaven itself, because the pride, the presumption, the haughtiness, the want of mortification, the anger, the covetousness, the conscious impurities and other wickedness in such souls force the Lord and the saints to withdraw from the sight of their monstrous distortion and rouse them to greater wrath and offense than the same sins in other souls. Therefore the Lord repudiates many who un-righteously bear the name of being His spouses and leaves them to their own bad counsels, because they have so disloyally broken the fidelity promised to God and to me in their vocation and profession.
“Die to the visible things, so that thy body be buried in thy self-knowledge and self-abasement, while thy soul sinks into the being of God … Do not allege ignorance, pusillanimity, or weakness, nor much less, fear … If thou dost not succeed in dying to all things, besides that thy path will be sown with thorns, thou shalt not reach the perfection thou desirest, nor the state to which the Lord calls thee … If the world will not forget thee, do thou forget it; if it will not leave thee alone, remember that thou hast forsaken it, and that I have separated thee from it. If it follow thee, fly; if it flatter thee, despise it; if it show contempt to thee, suffer it; and if it seek thee, let it not find thee, except in so far as will be to the glory of the Most High. But as regards all the rest, thou must not any more bear it in mind, than the living remember the dead. Forget it just as the dead forget the living, and I desire that thou have no more dealings and conversations with this world, than the dead have with the living … Consider what persecutions the devil has roused against thee in secret, coming from the world and its inhabitants, under various different pretexts and appearances. If God has permitted them for the purpose of trying thee take it as a lesson and a warning. Remember that great is the treasure which thou carriest in a fragile vessel (2 Corinthians 2:7), and that all Hell conspires and rises up against thee. Thou livest surrounded and assailed by astute enemies.
Our Lady Laments the Ignorance and Indifference of Mankind
“Lamentable and inexcusable is the ignorance of men in so knowingly forgetting the eternal glory, which God has prepared for those who dispose themselves to merit it. I wish that thou bitterly bewail and deplore this pernicious forgetfulness; for there is no doubt, that whoever willfully forgets the eternal glory and happiness is in evident danger of losing it. No one is free from this guilt, not only because men do not apply much labor or effort in seeking and retaining the remembrance of this happiness; but they labor with all their powers in things that make them forget the end for which they were created. Undoubtedly this forgetfulness arises from their entangling themselves in the pride of life, the covetousness of the eyes, and the desires of the flesh (John 2:16); for employing therein all the forces and faculties of their soul during the whole time of their life, they have no leisure, care or attention for the thoughts of eternal happiness. Let men acknowledge and confess, whether this recollection of Heaven costs them more labor than to follow their blind passions, seeking after honors, possessions or the transitory pleasures, all of which have an end with this life, and which, after much striving and labor, many men do not, and can never attain.
“How much easier is it for mortals to avoid such perversity―especially for the children of the Church―since they have at hand the easy means of Faith and Hope for attaining the truth! Even if to gain eternal happiness were as difficult to obtain as honors and riches and other apparent advantages, it would be very foolish to labor as much for the false as for the true advantages―to labor for an eternal punishment as for eternal glory. This abominable is foolishness! How many unhappy seek eternal death in exchange for a short and vain honor, vengeance and other most vile advantages, while they do not think anything of or care for eternal life―like irrational animals. It would be a blessing for them if, like animals, they could end their existence altogether with the temporal death; but as the most of them act against justice, and others, who still seek to be just, live in forgetfulness of their true and final end, the ones as well as the others incur the eternal death (Hell).
“This is a sorrow beyond all sorrows, and a misfortune without equal and without remedy. I assure thee that, if men would not make themselves so unworthy of it, my charity would urge me to send forth a voice, through the whole world exclaiming: “Mortal and deceived men, what are you doing? For what purpose are you living? Do you realize what it is to see God face to face, and to participate in His eternal glory and share His company? Of what are you thinking? Who has thus disturbed and fascinated your judgment? What will you seek, if once you have lost this true blessing and happiness, since there is no other? The labor is short, the reward is infinite glory, and the punishment is eternal!”
Our Lady Encourages a Change of Attitude
“I am trying to excite in thee, seek to labor assiduously in order to evade the danger. A living example thou hast in my life―which was a continual suffering. But when I came to my reward―all of it seemed as nothing, and I forgot it as if it had not occurred. Resolve to follow me in my labor; and let nothing seem to thee difficult or hard, or bitter, even to passing through fire and sword. At the same time I wish thee to be free from another error, that of men who say: “Let us merely secure salvation! Greater or less glory does not matter! We shall all be together in that life!” By this false principle, eternal life is NOT made secure, but rather put at hazard―since it arises from great foolishness and a lack of divine love. Whoever seeks to make such a bargain with God― offends Him and tempts Him to permit such souls to live in a continued danger of damnation. Human weakness always tends to do less good than it desires to do―and when this desire is small, then it will execute very little, and hence risks losing all.
“He who contents himself with the mediocre or lowest in virtue, always leaves―in his will and in his inclinations―an opening for earthly affections and love of the passing things. Such an opening is contrary to divine love and therefore unavoidably causes the loss of the divine love and the ascendency of earthly affections. When the creature resolves to love God from all its heart and with all its powers―as God has commanded―then God overlooks its human defects and shortcomings, and is pleased with their resolve to reap the highest rewards. But to despise them or willfully undervalue them, shows not the love of children or of true friends, but the base fear of slaves, who are content to live and be let alone.
“If anything could lessen the enjoyment of the highest happiness and glory which I possess, and if, in it, I could be capable of any sorrow, then, without a doubt, I would be grieved to see the Holy Church and the rest of the world in its present state of labor, despite men knowing me to be their Mother, Advocate and Protectress in Heaven, ready to guide and assist them to eternal life. In this state of affairs, when the Almighty has granted me so many privileges and powers for the benefit of mortals, it is a great cause of sorrow to me to see mortals force me to remain idle, and that, for a lack of calling upon me, so many souls should be lost. But if I cannot experience grief now, I may justly complain of men, that they load themselves with eternal damnation and refuse me the glory of saving their souls.
“The degree of my intercession and the power I have in Heaven has never been hidden in the Church, for I have demonstrated my ability to save all by so many thousands of miracles, prodigies and favors operated in behalf of those devoted to me. With those who have called upon me in their needs I have always shown myself generous, and the Lord has shown Himself generous to them on my account. Yet, though many are the souls whom I have helped, they are very few when compared to those, whom I could and am willing to help, but who never ask for my help!” (Words of Our Lady spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, taken from The Mystical City of God ).
Tuesday August 13th
Article 6
"Vianney Month" Begs For A "Vianney Fest"!
PART FIVE : THE SOUL-PIERCING WORDS OF ST. JOHN VIANNEY
Article 6
"Vianney Month" Begs For A "Vianney Fest"!
PART FIVE : THE SOUL-PIERCING WORDS OF ST. JOHN VIANNEY
Christ is the Word of God in the Flesh
St. John the Apostle and Evangelist―in both his Gospel and in the Book of the Apocalypse (which John wrote)―speaks of Christ being the “Word of God” being incarnated in the flesh.
The very first words of St. John’s Gospel speak of Christ the Word of God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light [the Word of God] shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it [the Word of God] … He [the Word of God] was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His Name … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth!” (John 1:1-14).
The Word of God is a Sharp Two-Edged Sword
In the Book of the Apocalypse, John describes his vision of Christ, the Word of God, thus: “I saw Heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and with justice doth He judge and fight. And His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many diadems, and He had a name written, which no man knoweth but Himself. And He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His Name is called, ‘THE WORD OF GOD.’ And the armies, that are in Heaven, followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth proceedeth A SHARP TWO-EDGED SWORD; that with it He may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty. And He hath on His garment, and on His thigh written: ‘King of Kings’, and ‘Lord of Lords’” (Apocalypse 19:11-16).
St. John Vianney―a Sharp Two-Edged Sword of God’s Word
This vision that St. John had of Christ―the Word of God, the sharp two-edged sword, striking nations and ruling with a rod of iron―is echoed and found in the life of St. John Vianney, who strictly ruled his parish with the sharp two-edged sword of the word of God which he preached relentlessly and unflinchingly―despite the indifference, mockery, insults and anger manifested by his parishioners when faced by that sharp two-edged sword of the word of God.
In this, he resembled the Apostles of Our Lord, who placed the preaching of the word of God on the same level as prayer and way above all their other labors and daily tasks―so much so that they deliberately refused to perform certain lesser tasks which would take away time from preaching the word of God.
“Then the Twelve [Apostles], calling together the multitude of the disciples, said: ‘It is not reasonable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, seek ye out, from among yourselves, seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word [of God]!’ And the saying was liked by all the multitude” (Acts 6:2-5).
Sowing the Seed of the Word of God
For, as Jesus Himself had said, the word of God was like seed that had to be sown throughout the world: “Now the parable [of the Sower of the Seed and the Cockle and the Wheat] is this: ‘The seed is the word of God’” (Luke 8:11) … “He that soweth the good seed, is the Son of man [the Word of God]. And the field, is the world. And the good seed are the children of the kingdom. And the cockle, are the children of the wicked on” (Matthew 13:37-38).
“The sower went out to sow his seed. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
“And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and bring forth fruit in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
The Word of God is a Measuring-Stick and Litmus-Test
Just as they say: “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you what you are!” or “You can tell what a person is like by the friends that they keep!”―similarly, you could say: “Tell me what you like to read and I will tell you what kind of a person you are!” Our Lord Himself said: “It is written, that man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God!” (Luke 4:4). Do we hunger for the ‘bread’ of the word of God? If not, then we have no part with Jesus, Who, when told that His mother and brethren were standing outside waiting for Him: “Jesus, answering, said to them: ‘My mother and my brethren are they who hear the word of God, and do it! … Blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it!” (Luke 8:21; 11:28). At the Last Supper, He would say: “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make our abode with him. He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words. And the word which you have heard, is not Mine; but the Father’s, Who sent Me” (John 14:23-24). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:14).
Sadly, however, the words of the world compete with the word of God―and many there are who prefer the words of the world! Just look at the thousands of worldly words that most people consume by watching TV, browsing social media or other internet websites, or reading worldly newspapers and magazines, etc., etc. Then compare that to the very few words (or perhaps even none) that a person consumes from daily reading the Bible or some other spiritual book or website. The difference is enormous! It is like a worldly ocean placed alongside a mere glass of water!
How can someone say that they love God if they do not love to read the words of God? Holy Scripture itself tells us of the importance of the word of God: “Every word of God is fire tried: He is a shield to them that hope in Him” (Proverbs 30:5). “Take unto you the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God!” (Ephesians 6:17). “For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart!” (Hebrews 4:12). “The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom” (Ecclesiasticus 1:5). “All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice” (2 Timothy 3:16). “The word of God is not chained” (2 Timothy 2:9). “Speak the word of God without fear!” (Philippians 1:14).
The Word of God Needs a Mouthpiece or Spokesman
“Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved! But how then shall they call upon Him, in Whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him, of Whom they have not even heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher? And how shall someone preach unless they be sent, as it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things!’ But all do not obey the Gospel. For Isaias saith: ‘Lord, who hath believed our report?’ Faith, then, cometh by hearing; and hearing cometh by the word of Christ!” (Romans 10:13-17).
St. John Vianney was sent to Ars to preach the word of God―and preach he did! Not half-heartedly, not lukewarmly, not briefly, not obeying political correctness, not by avoiding unpleasant issues, not by sugar-coating what he had to say―but in a manner that truly matched what was often said of him: “A lamb in the confessional―but a lion in the pulpit!” Vianney was the Sower of the Seed of the word of God for barren, unfruitful, impenetrable hard, baked soil of Ars. Of him could be said: “You are strong and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2:14). Like it is said of the Apostles, Vianney “went about preaching the word of God” (Acts 8:4) … He “spoke the word of God with confidence” (Acts 4:31) … “The whole city almost came together, to hear the word of God” (Acts 13:44). “The multitudes pressed upon Him to hear the word of God” (Luke 5:1). “So mightily grew the word of God” (Acts 19:20).
The Word of God Will Be Opposed
We would be fools to expect that if we speak the word of God to others, then they will lap it up with pleasure and will beg for more! As St. John says of the Word of God Himself―Our Lord Jesus Christ―“He was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:10-11). Our Lord, the Word of God, adds: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
St. John Vianney most certainly found opposition to what he had to say! His biographers write:
“The priest was not hated; but there was no real piety … The field entrusted to Fr. Vianney was a barren one, and though he was not slow in discovering the wheat, it seemed so choked by the cockle that he took alarm … It is from this point of view that we must judge both the preaching and the line of conduct adopted by Fr. Vianney during these opening years of his pastoral office. He spoke for the benefit of Ars; he thundered against the abuses that were rampant at Ars … He made some sad discoveries. A number of his parishioners were ignorant of the most elementary notions of the catechism. This was especially true of those who had grown up during the Revolution―that is, the young men and women between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. It was they who were the chief causes of scandal. Some of them went so far as to boast of their conduct, openly asserting that they saw no harm in their dances, their profanation of the Sunday and other disorders … Fr. Vianney was well aware that the most formidable obstacle, that lay in his way, was the inertness of a population who did not wish to be disturbed in their bad habits of life. Those who were faithful in attending Sunday Mass, would go on doing so, but the priest must not ask them for anything more. He, however, would not leave them undisturbed in their sluggish tranquility. Conscious of his responsibility towards his flock, he was fully resolved to give them no peace until the day when abuses should have vanished from the parish. He would indeed pray and do penance, but he would likewise speak and act” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
“When Sunday morning came, there was the audience to face. With the exception of the pew reserved for the people of the chateau, which was occupied by Mademoiselle d'Ars, the congregation was made up of peasants. These watched him with the eyes of a lynx, prepared to scoff on the slightest pretext. Many of them, especially among the young people, would have preferred to be elsewhere … Fr. Vianney's only thought was of the salvation of these poor souls. He knew that in the pulpit a priest fulfils one of the most important duties of his sacred office. This conviction fired his zeal and gave him courage … Each Sunday he preached, and every one of his sermons lasted an hour ... His exhortations were delivered in a guttural voice, though the high-pitched note predominated … Mademoiselle d'Ars said one day: “Why do you speak so loudly when you preach?” Another also asked: “Why is it that you speak so softly when you pray and so loudly when you preach?” Fr. Vianney humorously answered―but many a true word is said in jest―“The reason is that when I preach I speak to people who are either deaf or asleep, but when I pray, I speak to the good God who is not deaf!” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
If You Don’t Fight―You Cannot Win! Vianney Fought!
“What formed the subject matter of the sermons of this holy man who knew none of the arts of human eloquence? He spoke for the benefit of his flock alone, and he did so with great clearness, directness, and without a shadow of flattery. Some of his sayings strike us as very harsh indeed, but in those first years he struck hard to the end that the shaft might penetrate. At times his manner was calm, gentle, appealing, for he was not only an apostle out to convert, he was likewise a shepherd and a father. Among the audience there were necessarily hearts that sought comfort or needed encouragement … The greater part of the congregation manifested a nonchalance or indifference to his preaching, that clearly betrayed their lack of interest―there was much whispering and much coarse and noisy yawning. Late-comers banged the door; people in a hurry left in the middle of Mass; the young people looked about in every direction, to see how this person or that was dressed. The children were no better―laughing and nudging each other! (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
“The souls of this people were truly of the hardness of the rock. Such a soil could only be broken up by hard blows. Hence when he reproached them with their lack of Faith, Fr. Vianney spoke their own language and used the expressions current among them. His language was at times so forcible, that only the ardor of his zeal can explain or excuse it. He was unsparing in his criticisms, which were often expressed in realistic and even crude phraseology. His rebukes and corrections were sharp, direct, and personal. “Rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the Faith” was St Paul’s command in his Epistle to Titus (1:13). At the beginning of his ministry, Fr. Vianney took this counsel literally. It must be owned that, though he strove to repress it, his caustic, mocking temperament showed itself occasionally, for he had not as yet acquired perfect meekness” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
He had good reason to do so―for then, as we also see today―most people would not even go to Sunday Mass. “In 1818, during the first weeks of Fr. Vianney's ministry at Ars, the tiny village church may have appeared tolerably full on the Sunday, and it may be that this fooled the new parish priest, for a time at least, giving him a pleasing delusion as to the real state of religion among his people. But with the return of warmer weather he was sadly disillusioned. By midsummer Fr. Vianney made the painful observation that the humble nave of his church remained almost empty. Scarcely any men or youths were now to be seen, and the number even of women worshippers was greatly diminished. Where were the absentees? There were those in the parish who, instead of going to Mass, would go to the house of a neighbor to drink a bottle of wine; others would spend the hour of divine service at play, or at one of the four taverns in Ars (a village of only 200 persons), or in working, traveling, or dancing―people who live as if they were certain they had no soul to save. After discussing business, sales and markets, they would indulge in drink until complete intoxication was reached. The young men and young women, who could think of nothing but of pleasure and amusement, and also grown-up men and women, nay, even old folk, would group themselves under the walnut-trees of the village. There, in close proximity to the cemetery, they danced to the shrill accompaniment of a fiddle. Far into Sunday night the air was filled with snatches of songs and coarse jokes interspersed with loud guffaws and blasphemies. These disorders would be renewed each Sunday, week after week, until the autumn, when they would become even graver around the time of the feast of St. Sixtus, the patron saint of Ars, when the annual fair would be held, with booths and rustic bands of music. Worse still, Ars was famous for its gaiety, hence dancers of both sexes flocked to it from all the neighboring villages” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
“Here, under his very eyes, were a thousand occasions of sin. Could he tolerate such a state of things? It was his duty to save these souls, to avenge the honor of God. Blasphemies, profanation of the Sunday, dances and gatherings at taverns, excursions and meetings in private houses at night, immodest songs and conversations ―all these evils must be lumped together in a common reprobation. He would fight all these enemies in a sustained frontal attack. During long years, acting on the counsels of St Paul, he was “instant in season, out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2) he “reproved, entreated, rebuked,” in the pulpit, in the confessional, when visiting the people on the occasion of chance meetings, “in season and out of season.” Nothing stopped him!” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
The War Against Taverns and Drinkers
“What likelihood was there that the Lord’s Say should be kept holy so long as the tavern competed with the house of God? The Curé d'Ars felt that if he succeeded in emptying the tavern he would fill the church. In the eighteenth century a tavern was seen as an evil place―this was also Fr. Vianney's opinion. Was it not in those houses that dancers congregated and men forgot their duty? He tackled this enemy from the outset, nor did a holy indignation allow him to mince his words. In order to strike all the harder, Fr. Vianney made his own the phraseology of St. John Climacus, who had said: “The tavern is the devil’s own shop―the school where Hell sells its dogmas, the market where souls are bartered, the place where families are broken up, where health is undermined, where quarrels are started and murders committed.”
“Drunkards, it may be imagined, were not spared. Trembling with a holy indignation, Fr. Vianney reproached them for degrading themselves below the lowest of the beasts. If the patrons of the tavern received such treatment, how did the hosts fare? Two bars had been opened in the very center of the village. These were the object of a particularly violent attack on the part of Fr. Vianney. Little did he care whether or not the tenants of these booths enjoyed much prestige among the villagers; he fought them fearlessly and unsparingly.
He would say: “The innkeepers steal the bread of a poor woman and her children by selling wine to drunkards who spend on Sunday what they have earned during the week. If he wishes to escape eternal damnation a priest may not and cannot absolve innkeepers who, either at night or during church hours, serve those drunkards with wine. Ah, the innkeepers! The devil does not trouble them much! On the contrary, he despises them and spits upon them!”
“No doubt such strong language made a deeper impression on the faithful who heard it than upon the innkeepers themselves, for, obviously, these were not often seen in church. All the same, the preacher won his point, for the number of those who patronized the local inns became increasingly smaller. One innkeeper complained to the Fr. Vianney that this meant his ruin. Fr. Vianney gave the man money and persuaded on him to close his establishment. Eventually the man became a most excellent Christian. For a time his partner continued to brave the anathemas of the parish priest, but in the end he, too, yielded, closed the tavern, and took up another occupation. In this way did Fr. Vianney bring about the removal of both taverns from the neighborhood of the church. Two others, which stood in more remote parts of the village, were eventually compelled to close their doors also. But when money is at stake men are obstinate. Seven taverns were opened in succession; their owners were obliged, one, another, to retire from the business. A saint's curse lay upon them. He had prophesied: “You shall see!! You shall see! Those who open an inn in this parish shall be ruined!” The struggle against the profanation of the Sunday exacted eight years of ceaseless efforts, and even so Fr. Vianney’s success was not complete!” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
EXTRACTS FROM THE SERMONS OF ST. JOHN VIANNEY
Let us now pass to the actual sermons of St. John Vianney. For those who are interested, there is a 282 page book available entitled The Sermons of the Curé of Ars. It is well worth purchasing and reading. Since St. John Vianney was addressing a lukewarm and largely ignorant parish, the vocabulary is simple and striking. Here are a few extracts from those 282 pages of spiritual manna. His words are just applicable to our current lukewarm and ignorant age, as they were in his own time.
SERMON EXTRACTS: The Dreadful State of the Lukewarm Soul
Since Ars was incredibly lukewarm, Fr. Vianney would often be tackling the problem of lukewarmness. He would not mince or soften his words, but would “call it as he saw it”. Here are some extracts on that distasteful, yet very common problem. St. John Vianney states:
In speaking to you today, my dear brethren, of the dreadful state of the lukewarm soul, my purpose is not to paint for you a terrifying and despairing picture of the soul which is living in mortal sin, without even having the wish to escape from this condition. That poor unfortunate creature can but look forward to the wrath of God in the next life! Alas! These sinners hear me; they know well of whom I am speaking at this very moment! We will go no further, for all that I would wish to say would only serve to harden them more.
In speaking to you, my brethren, of the lukewarm soul, I do not wish, either, to speak of those who make neither their Easter duty nor their annual Confession. They know very well that in spite of all their prayers and their other good works they will be lost. Let us leave them in their blindness, since they want to remain that way!
Nor do I understand, brethren, by the lukewarm soul, that soul who would like to be worldly, without ceasing to be a child of God. You will see such a one at one moment prostrate before God, his Savior and his Master, and the next moment similarly prostrate before the world, his idol. Poor blind creature, who gives one hand to God and the other to the world, so that he can call both to his aid, and promise his heart to each in turn! He loves God, or rather, he would like to love Him, but he would also like to please the world. Then, weary of wanting to give his allegiance to both, he ends by giving it to the world alone. I am going to show you this so clearly that perhaps many among you will be hurt by it. But that will matter little to me, for I am always going to tell you what I ought to tell you, and then you will do what you wish about it....
I would say further, my brethren, that whoever wants to please both the world and God leads one of the most unhappy of lives. Here is someone who gives himself up to the pleasures of the world, or develops some evil habit. Yet he is quite happy to be seen by the good people who know nothing about his evil life and among whom he would like to arouse good opinions about himself. In front of devout people he talks about religion. When he is with those who have no religion, he will talk only about the pleasures of the world. But we shall proceed further and you will see the embarrassment of these poor people who want to follow the world without — outwardly at any rate — leaving God. Here is Easter approaching. They must go to Confession. It is not, of course, that they want to go, or that they feel any urge or need to receive the Sacrament of Penance. They would be only too pleased if Easter came around about once every thirty years. But their parents still retain the exterior practice of religion. They will be happy if their children go to the altar, and they keep urging them, then, to go to Confession. In this, of course, they make a mistake. If only they would just pray for them and not torment them into committing sacrileges. So to rid themselves of the importunity of their parents, to keep up appearances, these people will get together to find out who is the best confessor to try for absolution for the first or second time. One day I went to see a girl who was pretty careless. She told me that she was not going back to Confession to the priests who were so easy and who, in making it seem as if they wanted to save you, pushed you into Hell.
That is how many of these poor blind people behave. “Father,” they will say to the priest, “I am going to Confession to you because our parish priest is too demanding! He wants to make us promise things which we cannot hold to! He would have us all saints, and that is not possible in the world! He would want us never to go to dances, nor to frequent taverns or amusements. If someone has a bad habit, he will not give absolution until the habit has been given up completely!”
“Ah!” says the confessor, quite deceived by this sincere sounding talk, “I think your parish priest is perhaps a little demanding! Make your act of contrition, and I will give you absolution. Try to be good now.” That is to say: Bow your head; you are going to trample in the adorable Blood of Jesus Christ; you are going to sell your God like Judas sold Him to His executioners, and tomorrow you will go to Holy Communion, where you will proceed to crucify Him. What horror! What abomination! Go on, vile Judas, go to the holy table, go and give death to your God and your Savior! Let your conscience cry out, only try to stifle its remorse as much as you can.... But I am going too far, my brethren. Let us leave these poor blind creatures in their gloom.
I think, brethren, that you would like to know what is the state of the lukewarm soul. Well, this is it. A lukewarm soul is not yet quite dead in the eyes of God because the faith, the hope, and the charity which are its spiritual life are not altogether extinct. But it is a faith without zeal, a hope without resolution, a charity without ardor .... Nothing touches this soul: it hears the word of God, yes, that is true; but often it just bores it. Its possessor hears it with difficulty, more or less by habit, like someone who thinks that he knows enough about it and does enough of what he should. Any prayers which are a bit long are distasteful to him. This soul is so full of whatever it has just been doing or what it is going to do next, its boredom is so great, that this poor unfortunate thing is almost in agony. It is still alive, but it is not capable of doing anything to gain Heaven ... For the last twenty years this soul has been filled with good intentions without doing anything at all to correct its habits. It is like someone who is envious of anyone who is on top of the world but who would not deign to lift a foot to try to get there himself. It would not, however, wish to renounce eternal blessings for those of the world. Yet it does not wish either to leave the world or to go to Heaven, and if it can just manage to pass its time without crosses or difficulties, it would never ask to leave this world at all. If you hear someone with such a soul say that life is long and pretty miserable, that is only when everything is not going in accordance with his desires.
If I wanted to paint you an exact picture, my brethren, of the state of a soul which lives in tepidity, I should tell you that it is like a tortoise or a snail. It moves only by dragging itself along the ground, and one can see it getting from place to place with great difficulty. The love of God, which it feels deep down in itself, is like a tiny spark of fire hidden under a heap of ashes. The lukewarm soul comes to the point of being completely indifferent to its own loss. It has nothing left but a love without tenderness, without action, and without energy which sustains it with difficulty in all that is essential for salvation. But for all other means of Grace, it looks upon them as nothing or almost nothing. Alas, my brethren, this poor soul in its tepidity is like someone between two bouts of sleep. It would like to act, but its will has become so softened that it lacks either the force or the courage to accomplish its wishes.
It is true that a Christian who lives in tepidity still regularly ― in appearance at least ― fulfills his duties. He will indeed get down on his knees every morning to say his prayers. He will go to the Sacraments every year at Easter and even several times during the course of the twelve months. But in all of this there will be such a distaste, so much slackness and so much indifference, so little preparation, so little change in his way of life, that it is easy to see that he is only fulfilling his duties from habit and routine .... because this is a feast of the Church and he is in the habit of carrying them out at such a time. His Confessions and his Communions are not sacrilegious, if you like, but they are Confessions and Communions which bear no fruit ― which, far from making him more perfect and more pleasing to God, only make him more unworthy. As for his prayers, God alone knows what ― without, of course, any preparation ― he makes of these.
In the morning, it is not God who occupies his thoughts, nor the salvation of his poor soul; he is quite taken up with thoughts of work. His mind is so wrapped up in the things of earth that the thought of God has no place in it. To say his prayers, he gets down on his knees, undoubtedly, but he does not know what he wants to ask God, nor what he needs, nor even before whom he is kneeling. His careless demeanor shows this very clearly. You can see that this lukewarm soul has no difficulty, on the slightest pretext, in talking during the course of his prayers. For no reason at all, he will abandon his prayers, partly at least, thinking that he will finish them in another moment. Does he want to offer his day to God, to say his Grace? He does all that, but often without thinking of the one who is addressed. He will not even stop working. Distractions during prayer are not exactly deliberate. People would rather not have them, but because it is necessary to go to so much trouble and expend so much energy to get rid of them, they let them alone and allow them to come as they will.
A lukewarm soul will go to Confession regularly, and even quite frequently. But what kind of Confessions are they? No preparation, no desire to correct faults, or, at the least, a desire so feeble and so small that the slightest difficulty will put a stop to it altogether. The Confessions of such a person are merely repetitions of old ones, which would be a happy state of affairs indeed if there were nothing to add to them. Twenty years ago he was accusing himself of the same things he confesses today, and if he goes to Confession for the next twenty years, he will say the same things. A lukewarm soul will not, if you like, commit the big sins. But some slander or back-biting, a lie, a feeling of hatred, of dislike, of jealousy, a slight touch of deceit or double-dealing ― these count for nothing with it.
Fast days are reduced to practically nothing, either by advancing the time of the main meal or, under the pretext that Heaven was never taken by famine, by making the collation so abundant that it amounts to a full meal. When he performs good or beneficial actions, his intentions are often very mixed ― sometimes it is to please someone, sometimes it is out of compassion, and sometimes it is just to please the world. With such people everything that is not a really serious sin is good enough. They like doing good, being faithful, but they wish that it did not cost them anything or, at least, that it cost very little. They would like to visit the sick, indeed, but it would be more convenient if the sick would come to them. They have something to give away in alms, they know quite well that a certain person has need of help, but they wait until she comes to ask them instead of anticipating her, which would make the kindness so very much more meritorious. We will even say, my brethren, that the person who leads a lukewarm life does not fail to do plenty of good works, to frequent the Sacraments, to assist regularly at all church services, but in all of this one sees only a weak, languishing faith, hope which the slightest trial will upset, a love of God and of neighbor which is without warmth or pleasure. Everything that such a person does is not entirely lost, but it is very nearly so.
See, before God, my brethren, on what side you are. On the side of the sinners, who have abandoned everything and plunge themselves into sin without remorse? On the side of the just souls, who seek but God alone? Or are you of the number of these slack, tepid, and indifferent souls such as we have just been depicting for you? Down which road are you travelling? Who can dare assure himself that he is neither a great sinner nor a tepid soul but that he is one of the elect? Alas, my brethren, how many seem to be good Christians in the eyes of the world who are really tepid souls in the eyes of God, Who knows our inmost hearts .... Let us ask God with all our hearts, if we are in this state, to give us the grace to get out of it, so that we may take the route that all the saints have taken and arrive at the happiness that they are enjoying. That is what I desire for you!
SERMON EXTRACTS: Have You Religion In Your Heart?
Alas, my dear brethren, what have we become since our conversion? Instead of always going forward and increasing in holiness, what laziness and what indifference we display! God cannot endure this perpetual inconstancy with which we pass from virtue to vice and from vice to virtue. Tell me, my children, is not this the very pattern of the way you live? Are your poor lives anything other than a succession of good deeds and bad deeds? Is it not true that you go to Confession and the very next day you fall again ― or perhaps the very same day? .... How can this be, unless the religion you have is unreal, a religion of habit, a religion of long-standing custom, and not a religion rooted in the heart? Carry on, my friend; you are only a waverer! Carry on, my poor man; in everything you do, you are just a hypocrite and nothing else! God has not the first place in your heart―that is reserved for the world and the devil.
How many people there are, my dear children, who seem to love God in real earnest for a little while, and then abandon Him? What do you find, then, so hard and so unpleasant in the service of God, that it has repelled you so strangely and caused you to change over to the side of the world? Yet, at the time when God showed you the state of your soul, you actually wept for it and realized how much you had been mistaken in your lives. If you have persevered so little, the reason for this misfortune is that the devil must have been greatly grieved to have lost you, because he has done so much to get you back. He hopes now to keep you altogether. How many apostates there are, indeed, who have renounced their religion and who are Christians in name only!
But, you will say to me, how can we know that we have religion in our hearts― this religion which is consistent? My dear brethren, this is how―listen well and you will understand if you have religion as God wants you to have it, in order to lead you to Heaven. If a person has true virtue, nothing whatever can change him; he is like a rock in the midst of a tempestuous sea. If anyone scorns you, or calumniates you, if someone mocks you, or calls you a hypocrite, or a sanctimonious fraud―none of this will have the least effect upon your peace of soul. You will love him just as much as you loved him when he was saying good things about you. You will not fail to do him a good turn and to help him, even if he speaks badly of your assistance. You will say your prayers, go to Confession, to Holy Communion, you will go to Mass, all according to your general custom.
To help you to understand this better, I will give you an example. It is related that in a certain parish there was a young man who was a model of virtue. He went to Mass almost every day and to Holy Communion often. It happened that another was jealous of the esteem in which this young man was held, and one day, when they were both in the company of a neighbor, who possessed a lovely gold snuffbox, the jealous one took it from its owner’s pocket and placed it, unobserved, in the pocket of the young man. After he had done this, without pretending anything, he asked to see the snuffbox. The owner expected to find it in his pocket and was astonished when he discovered that it was missing. No one was allowed to leave the room until everyone had been searched, and the snuffbox was found, of course, on the young man who was a model of goodness. Naturally, everyone immediately called him a thief and attacked his religious professions, denouncing him as a hypocrite and a sanctimonious fraud. He could not defend himself, since the box had been found in his pocket. He said nothing. He suffered it all as something which had come from the hand of God. When he was walking along the street, when he was coming from the church, or from Mass or Holy Communion, everyone who saw him jeered at him and called him a hypocrite, a fraud, a thief.
This went on for quite a long time, but in spite of it, he continued with all of his religious exercises, his Confessions, his Communions, and all of his prayers, just as if everyone were treating him with the utmost respect. After some years, the man who had been the cause of it all fell ill. To those who were with him he confessed that he had been the origin of all the evil things which had been said about this young man―who was a saint―and that through jealousy of him, so that he might destroy his good name, he himself had put the snuffbox in the young man’s pocket.
There, my brethren, is a religion which is true, which has taken root in the soul. Tell me, if all of those poor Christians who make profession of religion were subjected to such trials, would they imitate this young man? Ah, my dear brethren, what murmurings there would be, what bitterness, what thoughts of revenge, of slander, of calumny, even perhaps of going to law. They would storm against religion; they would scorn and jeer at it and say nothing but ill of it; they would not be able to say their prayers anymore; they would not be able to go to Mass; they would not know what more to do or to say to justify themselves; they would collect every item of harm that this or that person had done, tell it to others, repeat it to everyone who knew them, in order to make them out as liars and calumniators.
What is the reason for this conduct, my dear brethren? Surely it is that our religion is only one of whim, of long-standing habit and routine, and, if we were to put it more forcefully, because we are hypocrites who serve God just as long as everything is going according to our wishes. Alas, my dear brethren, all of these virtues which we observe in a great many apparent Christians are but like the flowers of spring, which one gust of hot wind can wither.
SERMON EXTRACTS: They Are For The World
One section of people―and perhaps it is the largest section―are everywhere wholly wrapped up in the things of this world. And, of this large number, there are those who are content to have suppressed all feeling of religion, all thought of another life, who have done everything in their power to efface the terrible thought of the judgment which one day they will have to undergo.
But, you will say to me, who are these people who are partly on God’s side and partly on the side of the world? Well, my dear children, let me describe them. I will compare them (if I may dare to make use of the term) to dogs who will run to the first person who calls them. You may follow them from the morning to the evening, from the beginning of the year to the end.
These people look upon Sunday as merely a day for rest and amusement. They stay in bed longer than on weekdays, and instead of giving themselves to God with all their hearts, they do not even think of Him. Some of them will be thinking of their amusements, others of people they expect to meet, still others of the sales they are about to make or the money they will be spending or receiving. With great difficulty they will manage the Sign of the Cross in some fashion or another.
Because they will be going to church later, they will omit their prayers altogether, saying: “Oh, I’ll have plenty of time to say them before Mass.” They always have something to do before setting out for Mass, and although they have been planning to say their prayers before setting out, they are barely in time for the beginning of the Mass itself. If they meet a friend along the road, it is no trouble to them to bring him back home and put off the Mass until a later hour.
But since they still want to appear Christian, they will go to Mass sometime later, though it will be with infinite boredom and reluctance. The thought in their minds will be: “Oh, Lord, will this ever be over!” You will see them in church, especially during the instruction, looking around from one side to the other, asking the person next to them for the time, and so on.
More of them yawn and stretch and turn the pages of their prayer book, as if they were examining it in order to see whether the printer had made any mistakes. There are others, and you can see them sleeping as soundly, as if they were in a comfortable bed. The first thought that comes to them, when they awake, is not that they have been profaning so holy a place, but: “Oh, Lord, this will never be over.... I’m not coming back any more!” And finally there are those to whom the word of God (which has converted so many sinners) is actually nauseating.
They are obliged to go out, they say, to get a breath of air or else they would die. You will see them, distressed and miserable, during the services. But no sooner is the service over (and often even before the priest has actually left the altar) than they will be pressing around the door, from which the first of the congregation are streaming out, and you will notice that all the joy, which they had lost during the service, has come back again.
They are so tired that often they have not the “strength” to come back to the evening service. If you were to ask them why they were not coming to this, they would tell you: “Ah, we would have to be all the day in the church. We have other things to do.”
For such people there is no question of instruction, nor of the Rosary, nor of evening prayers. They look upon all these things as of no consequence. If you asked them what had been said during the instruction, they would say: “He did too much shouting.... He bored us to death.... I can’t remember anything else about it.... If it hadn’t been so long, it might have been easier to remember some of it.... That is just what keeps the world away from religious services ― they are too long.” It is quite right to say “the world” because these people belong to the camp of “the worldly,” although they do not know it.
But now we shall try to make them understand things a little better (at least if they want to). But, being deaf and blind (as they are), it is very difficult to make them understand the words of life or to comprehend their own unhappy state.
To begin with, they never make the Sign of the Cross before a meal, or say Grace afterwards, nor do they recite the Angelus. If, as a result of some old habit or training, they still observe these practices and you should happen to see the manner in which they carry them out, you would feel sick: the women will simultaneously be getting on with their work, or calling to their children or members of the household; the men will be turning a hat or a cap around in their hands as if searching for holes.
They think as much about God as if they really believed that He did not exist at all, and that they were doing all this for a joke. They have no scruples about buying or selling on the holy day of Sunday, even though they know, or at least they should know, that dealing on a reasonably big scale on a Sunday, when there is no necessity for it, is a mortal sin. Such people regard all such facts as trifles. They will go into a parish on a holy day to hire laborers, and if you told them they were doing wrong, they would reply: “We must go when we can find them there.” They have no problem, either, about paying their taxes on a Sunday, because during the week they might have to go a little further and take a few moments longer to complete the job.
“Ah,” you will say to me, “we wouldn’t think much of all that.” You would not think much of all that, my dear people, and I am not at all surprised, because you are worldly. You would like to be followers of God and at the same time to satisfy the standards of the world. Do you realize, my children, who these people are? They are the people who have not entirely lost the Faith and to whom there still remains some attachment to the service of God, the people who do not want to give up all religious practices, for indeed, they themselves find fault with those who do not go often to the services, but they have not enough courage to break with the world and to turn to God’s side.
They do not wish to be damned, but neither do they wish to inconvenience themselves too much. They hope that they will be saved without having to do too much violence to themselves. They have the idea that God, being so good, did not create them for perdition and that He will pardon them in spite of everything; that the time will come when they will turn over to God; that they will correct their faults and abandon all their bad habits. If, in moments of reflection, they pass their petty lives before their eyes, they will lament for their faults, and sometimes they will even weep for them....
What a very tragic life such people lead, my children, who want to follow the ways of the world without ceasing to be the children of God. Let us go on a little further and you will be able to understand this a little more clearly and to see for yourselves how stupid indeed such a life can be. At one moment you will hear the people who lead it praying or making an act of contrition, and the next moment you will hear them, if something is not going the way they want it, swearing or maybe even using the holy name of God.
This morning you may have seen them at Mass, singing or listening to the praises of God, and on the very same day you will hear them giving vent to the most scandalous utterances. They will dip their hands in holy water and ask God to purify them from their sins; a little later they will be using those very hands in an impure way upon themselves or upon others. The same eyes which this morning had the great happiness of contemplating Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament will, during the course of the day, willingly rest with pleasure upon the most immodest objects.
Yesterday you saw a certain man doing an act of charity or a service for a neighbor; today he will be doing his best to cheat that neighbor if he can profit thereby. A moment ago this mother desired all sorts of blessings for her children, and now, because they are annoying her, she will shower all sorts of curses upon them: she wishes she might never see them again, that she was miles away from them, and ends up by consigning them to the Devil to rid herself of them!
At one moment she sends her children to Mass or Confession; at another, she will be sending them to the dance or, at least, she will pretend not to know that they are there or forbid them to go with a laugh which is tantamount to permission to go. At one time she will be telling her daughter to be reserved and not to mix with bad companions, and at another she will allow her to pass whole hours with young men without saying a word. It’s no use, my poor mother, you are on the side of the world! You think yourself to be on God’s side by reason of some exterior show of religion which you make. You are mistaken; you belong to that number of whom Jesus Christ has said: “Woe to the world....”
You see these people who think they are following God but who are really living up to the maxims of the world. They have no scruples about taking from their neighbor wood or fruit or a thousand and one other things. Whenever they are flattered for what they do for religion, they derive quite a lot of pleasure from their actions. They will be quite keen then and will be delighted to give good advice to others. But let them be subjected to any contempt or calumny and you will see them become discouraged and distressed because they have been treated in this way. Yesterday they wanted only to do good to anyone who did them harm, but today they can hardly tolerate such people, and often they cannot even endure to see them or to speak to them.
Poor worldlings! How unhappy you are! Go on with your daily round; you have nothing to hope for, but Hell! Some would like to go to the Sacraments at least once a year, but for that, it is necessary to find an easygoing confessor. They would like .... if only — and there is the whole problem.
If they find a confessor who sees that their dispositions are not good and he refuses them absolution, then you will then find them thundering against him, justifying themselves for all they are worth for having tried and failed to obtain the Sacrament. They will speak evil about him. They know very well why they have been refused and left in their sinful state, but, as they know, too, the confessor can do nothing to grant them what they want, so they get satisfaction by saying anything they wish.
Carry on, children of this world, carry on with your daily round; you will see a day you never wished to see! It would seem then that we must divide our hearts in two! But no, my friends, that is not the case; all for God or all for the world. You would like to frequent the Sacraments? Very well, then, give up the dances and the cabarets and the unseemly amusements. Today you have sufficient grace to come here and present yourselves at the tribunal of Penance, to kneel before the Holy Table, to partake of the Bread of the Angels.
In three or four weeks, maybe less, you will be seen passing your night among drunken men, and what is more, you will be seen indulging in the most horrible acts of impurity. Carry on, children of this world; you will soon be in Hell! They will teach you there what you should have done to get to Heaven, which you have lost entirely through your own fault.... Woe betide you, children of this world! Carry on; follow your master as you have done up to the present! Very soon you will see clearly that you have been mistaken in following his ways. But will that make you any wiser? No, my children, it will not. If someone cheats us once, we say: “We will not trust him anymore ― and with good reason.”
The world cheats us continually and yet we love it. “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world,” St. John warns us. Ah, my dear children, if we gave some thought to what the world really is, we should pass all our lives in bidding it farewell. When one reaches the age of fifteen years, one has said farewell to the pastimes of childhood; one has come to look upon them as trifling and ephemeral, as one would the actions of children building houses of cards or sand castles. At thirty, one has begun to put behind one the consuming pleasures of passionate youth. What gave such intense pleasure in younger days is already beginning to weary. Let us go further, my dear children, and say that every day we are bidding farewell to the world.
We are like travelers who enjoy the beauty of the countryside through which they are passing. No sooner do they see it than it is time for them to leave it behind. It is exactly the same with the pleasures and the good things to which we become so attached. Then we arrive at the edge of eternity, which engulfs all these things in its abyss.
It is then, my dear brethren, that the world will disappear forever from our eyes and that we shall recognize our folly in having been so attached to it. And all that has been said to us about sin! .... Then we shall say: It was all true. Alas, I lived only for the world, I sought nothing but the world in all I did, and now the pleasures and the joys of the world are not for me any longer! They are all slipping away from me ― this world which I have loved so well, these joys, these pleasures which have so fully occupied my heart and my soul! What a despairing thought for him who has lost sight of God and of the salvation of his soul!
St. John the Apostle and Evangelist―in both his Gospel and in the Book of the Apocalypse (which John wrote)―speaks of Christ being the “Word of God” being incarnated in the flesh.
The very first words of St. John’s Gospel speak of Christ the Word of God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light [the Word of God] shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it [the Word of God] … He [the Word of God] was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His Name … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth!” (John 1:1-14).
The Word of God is a Sharp Two-Edged Sword
In the Book of the Apocalypse, John describes his vision of Christ, the Word of God, thus: “I saw Heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and with justice doth He judge and fight. And His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many diadems, and He had a name written, which no man knoweth but Himself. And He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His Name is called, ‘THE WORD OF GOD.’ And the armies, that are in Heaven, followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth proceedeth A SHARP TWO-EDGED SWORD; that with it He may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty. And He hath on His garment, and on His thigh written: ‘King of Kings’, and ‘Lord of Lords’” (Apocalypse 19:11-16).
St. John Vianney―a Sharp Two-Edged Sword of God’s Word
This vision that St. John had of Christ―the Word of God, the sharp two-edged sword, striking nations and ruling with a rod of iron―is echoed and found in the life of St. John Vianney, who strictly ruled his parish with the sharp two-edged sword of the word of God which he preached relentlessly and unflinchingly―despite the indifference, mockery, insults and anger manifested by his parishioners when faced by that sharp two-edged sword of the word of God.
In this, he resembled the Apostles of Our Lord, who placed the preaching of the word of God on the same level as prayer and way above all their other labors and daily tasks―so much so that they deliberately refused to perform certain lesser tasks which would take away time from preaching the word of God.
“Then the Twelve [Apostles], calling together the multitude of the disciples, said: ‘It is not reasonable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, seek ye out, from among yourselves, seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word [of God]!’ And the saying was liked by all the multitude” (Acts 6:2-5).
Sowing the Seed of the Word of God
For, as Jesus Himself had said, the word of God was like seed that had to be sown throughout the world: “Now the parable [of the Sower of the Seed and the Cockle and the Wheat] is this: ‘The seed is the word of God’” (Luke 8:11) … “He that soweth the good seed, is the Son of man [the Word of God]. And the field, is the world. And the good seed are the children of the kingdom. And the cockle, are the children of the wicked on” (Matthew 13:37-38).
“The sower went out to sow his seed. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
“And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and bring forth fruit in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
The Word of God is a Measuring-Stick and Litmus-Test
Just as they say: “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you what you are!” or “You can tell what a person is like by the friends that they keep!”―similarly, you could say: “Tell me what you like to read and I will tell you what kind of a person you are!” Our Lord Himself said: “It is written, that man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God!” (Luke 4:4). Do we hunger for the ‘bread’ of the word of God? If not, then we have no part with Jesus, Who, when told that His mother and brethren were standing outside waiting for Him: “Jesus, answering, said to them: ‘My mother and my brethren are they who hear the word of God, and do it! … Blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it!” (Luke 8:21; 11:28). At the Last Supper, He would say: “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make our abode with him. He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words. And the word which you have heard, is not Mine; but the Father’s, Who sent Me” (John 14:23-24). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you!” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:14).
Sadly, however, the words of the world compete with the word of God―and many there are who prefer the words of the world! Just look at the thousands of worldly words that most people consume by watching TV, browsing social media or other internet websites, or reading worldly newspapers and magazines, etc., etc. Then compare that to the very few words (or perhaps even none) that a person consumes from daily reading the Bible or some other spiritual book or website. The difference is enormous! It is like a worldly ocean placed alongside a mere glass of water!
How can someone say that they love God if they do not love to read the words of God? Holy Scripture itself tells us of the importance of the word of God: “Every word of God is fire tried: He is a shield to them that hope in Him” (Proverbs 30:5). “Take unto you the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God!” (Ephesians 6:17). “For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart!” (Hebrews 4:12). “The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom” (Ecclesiasticus 1:5). “All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice” (2 Timothy 3:16). “The word of God is not chained” (2 Timothy 2:9). “Speak the word of God without fear!” (Philippians 1:14).
The Word of God Needs a Mouthpiece or Spokesman
“Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved! But how then shall they call upon Him, in Whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him, of Whom they have not even heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher? And how shall someone preach unless they be sent, as it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things!’ But all do not obey the Gospel. For Isaias saith: ‘Lord, who hath believed our report?’ Faith, then, cometh by hearing; and hearing cometh by the word of Christ!” (Romans 10:13-17).
St. John Vianney was sent to Ars to preach the word of God―and preach he did! Not half-heartedly, not lukewarmly, not briefly, not obeying political correctness, not by avoiding unpleasant issues, not by sugar-coating what he had to say―but in a manner that truly matched what was often said of him: “A lamb in the confessional―but a lion in the pulpit!” Vianney was the Sower of the Seed of the word of God for barren, unfruitful, impenetrable hard, baked soil of Ars. Of him could be said: “You are strong and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2:14). Like it is said of the Apostles, Vianney “went about preaching the word of God” (Acts 8:4) … He “spoke the word of God with confidence” (Acts 4:31) … “The whole city almost came together, to hear the word of God” (Acts 13:44). “The multitudes pressed upon Him to hear the word of God” (Luke 5:1). “So mightily grew the word of God” (Acts 19:20).
The Word of God Will Be Opposed
We would be fools to expect that if we speak the word of God to others, then they will lap it up with pleasure and will beg for more! As St. John says of the Word of God Himself―Our Lord Jesus Christ―“He was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:10-11). Our Lord, the Word of God, adds: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
St. John Vianney most certainly found opposition to what he had to say! His biographers write:
“The priest was not hated; but there was no real piety … The field entrusted to Fr. Vianney was a barren one, and though he was not slow in discovering the wheat, it seemed so choked by the cockle that he took alarm … It is from this point of view that we must judge both the preaching and the line of conduct adopted by Fr. Vianney during these opening years of his pastoral office. He spoke for the benefit of Ars; he thundered against the abuses that were rampant at Ars … He made some sad discoveries. A number of his parishioners were ignorant of the most elementary notions of the catechism. This was especially true of those who had grown up during the Revolution―that is, the young men and women between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. It was they who were the chief causes of scandal. Some of them went so far as to boast of their conduct, openly asserting that they saw no harm in their dances, their profanation of the Sunday and other disorders … Fr. Vianney was well aware that the most formidable obstacle, that lay in his way, was the inertness of a population who did not wish to be disturbed in their bad habits of life. Those who were faithful in attending Sunday Mass, would go on doing so, but the priest must not ask them for anything more. He, however, would not leave them undisturbed in their sluggish tranquility. Conscious of his responsibility towards his flock, he was fully resolved to give them no peace until the day when abuses should have vanished from the parish. He would indeed pray and do penance, but he would likewise speak and act” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
“When Sunday morning came, there was the audience to face. With the exception of the pew reserved for the people of the chateau, which was occupied by Mademoiselle d'Ars, the congregation was made up of peasants. These watched him with the eyes of a lynx, prepared to scoff on the slightest pretext. Many of them, especially among the young people, would have preferred to be elsewhere … Fr. Vianney's only thought was of the salvation of these poor souls. He knew that in the pulpit a priest fulfils one of the most important duties of his sacred office. This conviction fired his zeal and gave him courage … Each Sunday he preached, and every one of his sermons lasted an hour ... His exhortations were delivered in a guttural voice, though the high-pitched note predominated … Mademoiselle d'Ars said one day: “Why do you speak so loudly when you preach?” Another also asked: “Why is it that you speak so softly when you pray and so loudly when you preach?” Fr. Vianney humorously answered―but many a true word is said in jest―“The reason is that when I preach I speak to people who are either deaf or asleep, but when I pray, I speak to the good God who is not deaf!” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
If You Don’t Fight―You Cannot Win! Vianney Fought!
“What formed the subject matter of the sermons of this holy man who knew none of the arts of human eloquence? He spoke for the benefit of his flock alone, and he did so with great clearness, directness, and without a shadow of flattery. Some of his sayings strike us as very harsh indeed, but in those first years he struck hard to the end that the shaft might penetrate. At times his manner was calm, gentle, appealing, for he was not only an apostle out to convert, he was likewise a shepherd and a father. Among the audience there were necessarily hearts that sought comfort or needed encouragement … The greater part of the congregation manifested a nonchalance or indifference to his preaching, that clearly betrayed their lack of interest―there was much whispering and much coarse and noisy yawning. Late-comers banged the door; people in a hurry left in the middle of Mass; the young people looked about in every direction, to see how this person or that was dressed. The children were no better―laughing and nudging each other! (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
“The souls of this people were truly of the hardness of the rock. Such a soil could only be broken up by hard blows. Hence when he reproached them with their lack of Faith, Fr. Vianney spoke their own language and used the expressions current among them. His language was at times so forcible, that only the ardor of his zeal can explain or excuse it. He was unsparing in his criticisms, which were often expressed in realistic and even crude phraseology. His rebukes and corrections were sharp, direct, and personal. “Rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the Faith” was St Paul’s command in his Epistle to Titus (1:13). At the beginning of his ministry, Fr. Vianney took this counsel literally. It must be owned that, though he strove to repress it, his caustic, mocking temperament showed itself occasionally, for he had not as yet acquired perfect meekness” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
He had good reason to do so―for then, as we also see today―most people would not even go to Sunday Mass. “In 1818, during the first weeks of Fr. Vianney's ministry at Ars, the tiny village church may have appeared tolerably full on the Sunday, and it may be that this fooled the new parish priest, for a time at least, giving him a pleasing delusion as to the real state of religion among his people. But with the return of warmer weather he was sadly disillusioned. By midsummer Fr. Vianney made the painful observation that the humble nave of his church remained almost empty. Scarcely any men or youths were now to be seen, and the number even of women worshippers was greatly diminished. Where were the absentees? There were those in the parish who, instead of going to Mass, would go to the house of a neighbor to drink a bottle of wine; others would spend the hour of divine service at play, or at one of the four taverns in Ars (a village of only 200 persons), or in working, traveling, or dancing―people who live as if they were certain they had no soul to save. After discussing business, sales and markets, they would indulge in drink until complete intoxication was reached. The young men and young women, who could think of nothing but of pleasure and amusement, and also grown-up men and women, nay, even old folk, would group themselves under the walnut-trees of the village. There, in close proximity to the cemetery, they danced to the shrill accompaniment of a fiddle. Far into Sunday night the air was filled with snatches of songs and coarse jokes interspersed with loud guffaws and blasphemies. These disorders would be renewed each Sunday, week after week, until the autumn, when they would become even graver around the time of the feast of St. Sixtus, the patron saint of Ars, when the annual fair would be held, with booths and rustic bands of music. Worse still, Ars was famous for its gaiety, hence dancers of both sexes flocked to it from all the neighboring villages” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
“Here, under his very eyes, were a thousand occasions of sin. Could he tolerate such a state of things? It was his duty to save these souls, to avenge the honor of God. Blasphemies, profanation of the Sunday, dances and gatherings at taverns, excursions and meetings in private houses at night, immodest songs and conversations ―all these evils must be lumped together in a common reprobation. He would fight all these enemies in a sustained frontal attack. During long years, acting on the counsels of St Paul, he was “instant in season, out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2) he “reproved, entreated, rebuked,” in the pulpit, in the confessional, when visiting the people on the occasion of chance meetings, “in season and out of season.” Nothing stopped him!” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
The War Against Taverns and Drinkers
“What likelihood was there that the Lord’s Say should be kept holy so long as the tavern competed with the house of God? The Curé d'Ars felt that if he succeeded in emptying the tavern he would fill the church. In the eighteenth century a tavern was seen as an evil place―this was also Fr. Vianney's opinion. Was it not in those houses that dancers congregated and men forgot their duty? He tackled this enemy from the outset, nor did a holy indignation allow him to mince his words. In order to strike all the harder, Fr. Vianney made his own the phraseology of St. John Climacus, who had said: “The tavern is the devil’s own shop―the school where Hell sells its dogmas, the market where souls are bartered, the place where families are broken up, where health is undermined, where quarrels are started and murders committed.”
“Drunkards, it may be imagined, were not spared. Trembling with a holy indignation, Fr. Vianney reproached them for degrading themselves below the lowest of the beasts. If the patrons of the tavern received such treatment, how did the hosts fare? Two bars had been opened in the very center of the village. These were the object of a particularly violent attack on the part of Fr. Vianney. Little did he care whether or not the tenants of these booths enjoyed much prestige among the villagers; he fought them fearlessly and unsparingly.
He would say: “The innkeepers steal the bread of a poor woman and her children by selling wine to drunkards who spend on Sunday what they have earned during the week. If he wishes to escape eternal damnation a priest may not and cannot absolve innkeepers who, either at night or during church hours, serve those drunkards with wine. Ah, the innkeepers! The devil does not trouble them much! On the contrary, he despises them and spits upon them!”
“No doubt such strong language made a deeper impression on the faithful who heard it than upon the innkeepers themselves, for, obviously, these were not often seen in church. All the same, the preacher won his point, for the number of those who patronized the local inns became increasingly smaller. One innkeeper complained to the Fr. Vianney that this meant his ruin. Fr. Vianney gave the man money and persuaded on him to close his establishment. Eventually the man became a most excellent Christian. For a time his partner continued to brave the anathemas of the parish priest, but in the end he, too, yielded, closed the tavern, and took up another occupation. In this way did Fr. Vianney bring about the removal of both taverns from the neighborhood of the church. Two others, which stood in more remote parts of the village, were eventually compelled to close their doors also. But when money is at stake men are obstinate. Seven taverns were opened in succession; their owners were obliged, one, another, to retire from the business. A saint's curse lay upon them. He had prophesied: “You shall see!! You shall see! Those who open an inn in this parish shall be ruined!” The struggle against the profanation of the Sunday exacted eight years of ceaseless efforts, and even so Fr. Vianney’s success was not complete!” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
EXTRACTS FROM THE SERMONS OF ST. JOHN VIANNEY
Let us now pass to the actual sermons of St. John Vianney. For those who are interested, there is a 282 page book available entitled The Sermons of the Curé of Ars. It is well worth purchasing and reading. Since St. John Vianney was addressing a lukewarm and largely ignorant parish, the vocabulary is simple and striking. Here are a few extracts from those 282 pages of spiritual manna. His words are just applicable to our current lukewarm and ignorant age, as they were in his own time.
SERMON EXTRACTS: The Dreadful State of the Lukewarm Soul
Since Ars was incredibly lukewarm, Fr. Vianney would often be tackling the problem of lukewarmness. He would not mince or soften his words, but would “call it as he saw it”. Here are some extracts on that distasteful, yet very common problem. St. John Vianney states:
In speaking to you today, my dear brethren, of the dreadful state of the lukewarm soul, my purpose is not to paint for you a terrifying and despairing picture of the soul which is living in mortal sin, without even having the wish to escape from this condition. That poor unfortunate creature can but look forward to the wrath of God in the next life! Alas! These sinners hear me; they know well of whom I am speaking at this very moment! We will go no further, for all that I would wish to say would only serve to harden them more.
In speaking to you, my brethren, of the lukewarm soul, I do not wish, either, to speak of those who make neither their Easter duty nor their annual Confession. They know very well that in spite of all their prayers and their other good works they will be lost. Let us leave them in their blindness, since they want to remain that way!
Nor do I understand, brethren, by the lukewarm soul, that soul who would like to be worldly, without ceasing to be a child of God. You will see such a one at one moment prostrate before God, his Savior and his Master, and the next moment similarly prostrate before the world, his idol. Poor blind creature, who gives one hand to God and the other to the world, so that he can call both to his aid, and promise his heart to each in turn! He loves God, or rather, he would like to love Him, but he would also like to please the world. Then, weary of wanting to give his allegiance to both, he ends by giving it to the world alone. I am going to show you this so clearly that perhaps many among you will be hurt by it. But that will matter little to me, for I am always going to tell you what I ought to tell you, and then you will do what you wish about it....
I would say further, my brethren, that whoever wants to please both the world and God leads one of the most unhappy of lives. Here is someone who gives himself up to the pleasures of the world, or develops some evil habit. Yet he is quite happy to be seen by the good people who know nothing about his evil life and among whom he would like to arouse good opinions about himself. In front of devout people he talks about religion. When he is with those who have no religion, he will talk only about the pleasures of the world. But we shall proceed further and you will see the embarrassment of these poor people who want to follow the world without — outwardly at any rate — leaving God. Here is Easter approaching. They must go to Confession. It is not, of course, that they want to go, or that they feel any urge or need to receive the Sacrament of Penance. They would be only too pleased if Easter came around about once every thirty years. But their parents still retain the exterior practice of religion. They will be happy if their children go to the altar, and they keep urging them, then, to go to Confession. In this, of course, they make a mistake. If only they would just pray for them and not torment them into committing sacrileges. So to rid themselves of the importunity of their parents, to keep up appearances, these people will get together to find out who is the best confessor to try for absolution for the first or second time. One day I went to see a girl who was pretty careless. She told me that she was not going back to Confession to the priests who were so easy and who, in making it seem as if they wanted to save you, pushed you into Hell.
That is how many of these poor blind people behave. “Father,” they will say to the priest, “I am going to Confession to you because our parish priest is too demanding! He wants to make us promise things which we cannot hold to! He would have us all saints, and that is not possible in the world! He would want us never to go to dances, nor to frequent taverns or amusements. If someone has a bad habit, he will not give absolution until the habit has been given up completely!”
“Ah!” says the confessor, quite deceived by this sincere sounding talk, “I think your parish priest is perhaps a little demanding! Make your act of contrition, and I will give you absolution. Try to be good now.” That is to say: Bow your head; you are going to trample in the adorable Blood of Jesus Christ; you are going to sell your God like Judas sold Him to His executioners, and tomorrow you will go to Holy Communion, where you will proceed to crucify Him. What horror! What abomination! Go on, vile Judas, go to the holy table, go and give death to your God and your Savior! Let your conscience cry out, only try to stifle its remorse as much as you can.... But I am going too far, my brethren. Let us leave these poor blind creatures in their gloom.
I think, brethren, that you would like to know what is the state of the lukewarm soul. Well, this is it. A lukewarm soul is not yet quite dead in the eyes of God because the faith, the hope, and the charity which are its spiritual life are not altogether extinct. But it is a faith without zeal, a hope without resolution, a charity without ardor .... Nothing touches this soul: it hears the word of God, yes, that is true; but often it just bores it. Its possessor hears it with difficulty, more or less by habit, like someone who thinks that he knows enough about it and does enough of what he should. Any prayers which are a bit long are distasteful to him. This soul is so full of whatever it has just been doing or what it is going to do next, its boredom is so great, that this poor unfortunate thing is almost in agony. It is still alive, but it is not capable of doing anything to gain Heaven ... For the last twenty years this soul has been filled with good intentions without doing anything at all to correct its habits. It is like someone who is envious of anyone who is on top of the world but who would not deign to lift a foot to try to get there himself. It would not, however, wish to renounce eternal blessings for those of the world. Yet it does not wish either to leave the world or to go to Heaven, and if it can just manage to pass its time without crosses or difficulties, it would never ask to leave this world at all. If you hear someone with such a soul say that life is long and pretty miserable, that is only when everything is not going in accordance with his desires.
If I wanted to paint you an exact picture, my brethren, of the state of a soul which lives in tepidity, I should tell you that it is like a tortoise or a snail. It moves only by dragging itself along the ground, and one can see it getting from place to place with great difficulty. The love of God, which it feels deep down in itself, is like a tiny spark of fire hidden under a heap of ashes. The lukewarm soul comes to the point of being completely indifferent to its own loss. It has nothing left but a love without tenderness, without action, and without energy which sustains it with difficulty in all that is essential for salvation. But for all other means of Grace, it looks upon them as nothing or almost nothing. Alas, my brethren, this poor soul in its tepidity is like someone between two bouts of sleep. It would like to act, but its will has become so softened that it lacks either the force or the courage to accomplish its wishes.
It is true that a Christian who lives in tepidity still regularly ― in appearance at least ― fulfills his duties. He will indeed get down on his knees every morning to say his prayers. He will go to the Sacraments every year at Easter and even several times during the course of the twelve months. But in all of this there will be such a distaste, so much slackness and so much indifference, so little preparation, so little change in his way of life, that it is easy to see that he is only fulfilling his duties from habit and routine .... because this is a feast of the Church and he is in the habit of carrying them out at such a time. His Confessions and his Communions are not sacrilegious, if you like, but they are Confessions and Communions which bear no fruit ― which, far from making him more perfect and more pleasing to God, only make him more unworthy. As for his prayers, God alone knows what ― without, of course, any preparation ― he makes of these.
In the morning, it is not God who occupies his thoughts, nor the salvation of his poor soul; he is quite taken up with thoughts of work. His mind is so wrapped up in the things of earth that the thought of God has no place in it. To say his prayers, he gets down on his knees, undoubtedly, but he does not know what he wants to ask God, nor what he needs, nor even before whom he is kneeling. His careless demeanor shows this very clearly. You can see that this lukewarm soul has no difficulty, on the slightest pretext, in talking during the course of his prayers. For no reason at all, he will abandon his prayers, partly at least, thinking that he will finish them in another moment. Does he want to offer his day to God, to say his Grace? He does all that, but often without thinking of the one who is addressed. He will not even stop working. Distractions during prayer are not exactly deliberate. People would rather not have them, but because it is necessary to go to so much trouble and expend so much energy to get rid of them, they let them alone and allow them to come as they will.
A lukewarm soul will go to Confession regularly, and even quite frequently. But what kind of Confessions are they? No preparation, no desire to correct faults, or, at the least, a desire so feeble and so small that the slightest difficulty will put a stop to it altogether. The Confessions of such a person are merely repetitions of old ones, which would be a happy state of affairs indeed if there were nothing to add to them. Twenty years ago he was accusing himself of the same things he confesses today, and if he goes to Confession for the next twenty years, he will say the same things. A lukewarm soul will not, if you like, commit the big sins. But some slander or back-biting, a lie, a feeling of hatred, of dislike, of jealousy, a slight touch of deceit or double-dealing ― these count for nothing with it.
Fast days are reduced to practically nothing, either by advancing the time of the main meal or, under the pretext that Heaven was never taken by famine, by making the collation so abundant that it amounts to a full meal. When he performs good or beneficial actions, his intentions are often very mixed ― sometimes it is to please someone, sometimes it is out of compassion, and sometimes it is just to please the world. With such people everything that is not a really serious sin is good enough. They like doing good, being faithful, but they wish that it did not cost them anything or, at least, that it cost very little. They would like to visit the sick, indeed, but it would be more convenient if the sick would come to them. They have something to give away in alms, they know quite well that a certain person has need of help, but they wait until she comes to ask them instead of anticipating her, which would make the kindness so very much more meritorious. We will even say, my brethren, that the person who leads a lukewarm life does not fail to do plenty of good works, to frequent the Sacraments, to assist regularly at all church services, but in all of this one sees only a weak, languishing faith, hope which the slightest trial will upset, a love of God and of neighbor which is without warmth or pleasure. Everything that such a person does is not entirely lost, but it is very nearly so.
See, before God, my brethren, on what side you are. On the side of the sinners, who have abandoned everything and plunge themselves into sin without remorse? On the side of the just souls, who seek but God alone? Or are you of the number of these slack, tepid, and indifferent souls such as we have just been depicting for you? Down which road are you travelling? Who can dare assure himself that he is neither a great sinner nor a tepid soul but that he is one of the elect? Alas, my brethren, how many seem to be good Christians in the eyes of the world who are really tepid souls in the eyes of God, Who knows our inmost hearts .... Let us ask God with all our hearts, if we are in this state, to give us the grace to get out of it, so that we may take the route that all the saints have taken and arrive at the happiness that they are enjoying. That is what I desire for you!
SERMON EXTRACTS: Have You Religion In Your Heart?
Alas, my dear brethren, what have we become since our conversion? Instead of always going forward and increasing in holiness, what laziness and what indifference we display! God cannot endure this perpetual inconstancy with which we pass from virtue to vice and from vice to virtue. Tell me, my children, is not this the very pattern of the way you live? Are your poor lives anything other than a succession of good deeds and bad deeds? Is it not true that you go to Confession and the very next day you fall again ― or perhaps the very same day? .... How can this be, unless the religion you have is unreal, a religion of habit, a religion of long-standing custom, and not a religion rooted in the heart? Carry on, my friend; you are only a waverer! Carry on, my poor man; in everything you do, you are just a hypocrite and nothing else! God has not the first place in your heart―that is reserved for the world and the devil.
How many people there are, my dear children, who seem to love God in real earnest for a little while, and then abandon Him? What do you find, then, so hard and so unpleasant in the service of God, that it has repelled you so strangely and caused you to change over to the side of the world? Yet, at the time when God showed you the state of your soul, you actually wept for it and realized how much you had been mistaken in your lives. If you have persevered so little, the reason for this misfortune is that the devil must have been greatly grieved to have lost you, because he has done so much to get you back. He hopes now to keep you altogether. How many apostates there are, indeed, who have renounced their religion and who are Christians in name only!
But, you will say to me, how can we know that we have religion in our hearts― this religion which is consistent? My dear brethren, this is how―listen well and you will understand if you have religion as God wants you to have it, in order to lead you to Heaven. If a person has true virtue, nothing whatever can change him; he is like a rock in the midst of a tempestuous sea. If anyone scorns you, or calumniates you, if someone mocks you, or calls you a hypocrite, or a sanctimonious fraud―none of this will have the least effect upon your peace of soul. You will love him just as much as you loved him when he was saying good things about you. You will not fail to do him a good turn and to help him, even if he speaks badly of your assistance. You will say your prayers, go to Confession, to Holy Communion, you will go to Mass, all according to your general custom.
To help you to understand this better, I will give you an example. It is related that in a certain parish there was a young man who was a model of virtue. He went to Mass almost every day and to Holy Communion often. It happened that another was jealous of the esteem in which this young man was held, and one day, when they were both in the company of a neighbor, who possessed a lovely gold snuffbox, the jealous one took it from its owner’s pocket and placed it, unobserved, in the pocket of the young man. After he had done this, without pretending anything, he asked to see the snuffbox. The owner expected to find it in his pocket and was astonished when he discovered that it was missing. No one was allowed to leave the room until everyone had been searched, and the snuffbox was found, of course, on the young man who was a model of goodness. Naturally, everyone immediately called him a thief and attacked his religious professions, denouncing him as a hypocrite and a sanctimonious fraud. He could not defend himself, since the box had been found in his pocket. He said nothing. He suffered it all as something which had come from the hand of God. When he was walking along the street, when he was coming from the church, or from Mass or Holy Communion, everyone who saw him jeered at him and called him a hypocrite, a fraud, a thief.
This went on for quite a long time, but in spite of it, he continued with all of his religious exercises, his Confessions, his Communions, and all of his prayers, just as if everyone were treating him with the utmost respect. After some years, the man who had been the cause of it all fell ill. To those who were with him he confessed that he had been the origin of all the evil things which had been said about this young man―who was a saint―and that through jealousy of him, so that he might destroy his good name, he himself had put the snuffbox in the young man’s pocket.
There, my brethren, is a religion which is true, which has taken root in the soul. Tell me, if all of those poor Christians who make profession of religion were subjected to such trials, would they imitate this young man? Ah, my dear brethren, what murmurings there would be, what bitterness, what thoughts of revenge, of slander, of calumny, even perhaps of going to law. They would storm against religion; they would scorn and jeer at it and say nothing but ill of it; they would not be able to say their prayers anymore; they would not be able to go to Mass; they would not know what more to do or to say to justify themselves; they would collect every item of harm that this or that person had done, tell it to others, repeat it to everyone who knew them, in order to make them out as liars and calumniators.
What is the reason for this conduct, my dear brethren? Surely it is that our religion is only one of whim, of long-standing habit and routine, and, if we were to put it more forcefully, because we are hypocrites who serve God just as long as everything is going according to our wishes. Alas, my dear brethren, all of these virtues which we observe in a great many apparent Christians are but like the flowers of spring, which one gust of hot wind can wither.
SERMON EXTRACTS: They Are For The World
One section of people―and perhaps it is the largest section―are everywhere wholly wrapped up in the things of this world. And, of this large number, there are those who are content to have suppressed all feeling of religion, all thought of another life, who have done everything in their power to efface the terrible thought of the judgment which one day they will have to undergo.
But, you will say to me, who are these people who are partly on God’s side and partly on the side of the world? Well, my dear children, let me describe them. I will compare them (if I may dare to make use of the term) to dogs who will run to the first person who calls them. You may follow them from the morning to the evening, from the beginning of the year to the end.
These people look upon Sunday as merely a day for rest and amusement. They stay in bed longer than on weekdays, and instead of giving themselves to God with all their hearts, they do not even think of Him. Some of them will be thinking of their amusements, others of people they expect to meet, still others of the sales they are about to make or the money they will be spending or receiving. With great difficulty they will manage the Sign of the Cross in some fashion or another.
Because they will be going to church later, they will omit their prayers altogether, saying: “Oh, I’ll have plenty of time to say them before Mass.” They always have something to do before setting out for Mass, and although they have been planning to say their prayers before setting out, they are barely in time for the beginning of the Mass itself. If they meet a friend along the road, it is no trouble to them to bring him back home and put off the Mass until a later hour.
But since they still want to appear Christian, they will go to Mass sometime later, though it will be with infinite boredom and reluctance. The thought in their minds will be: “Oh, Lord, will this ever be over!” You will see them in church, especially during the instruction, looking around from one side to the other, asking the person next to them for the time, and so on.
More of them yawn and stretch and turn the pages of their prayer book, as if they were examining it in order to see whether the printer had made any mistakes. There are others, and you can see them sleeping as soundly, as if they were in a comfortable bed. The first thought that comes to them, when they awake, is not that they have been profaning so holy a place, but: “Oh, Lord, this will never be over.... I’m not coming back any more!” And finally there are those to whom the word of God (which has converted so many sinners) is actually nauseating.
They are obliged to go out, they say, to get a breath of air or else they would die. You will see them, distressed and miserable, during the services. But no sooner is the service over (and often even before the priest has actually left the altar) than they will be pressing around the door, from which the first of the congregation are streaming out, and you will notice that all the joy, which they had lost during the service, has come back again.
They are so tired that often they have not the “strength” to come back to the evening service. If you were to ask them why they were not coming to this, they would tell you: “Ah, we would have to be all the day in the church. We have other things to do.”
For such people there is no question of instruction, nor of the Rosary, nor of evening prayers. They look upon all these things as of no consequence. If you asked them what had been said during the instruction, they would say: “He did too much shouting.... He bored us to death.... I can’t remember anything else about it.... If it hadn’t been so long, it might have been easier to remember some of it.... That is just what keeps the world away from religious services ― they are too long.” It is quite right to say “the world” because these people belong to the camp of “the worldly,” although they do not know it.
But now we shall try to make them understand things a little better (at least if they want to). But, being deaf and blind (as they are), it is very difficult to make them understand the words of life or to comprehend their own unhappy state.
To begin with, they never make the Sign of the Cross before a meal, or say Grace afterwards, nor do they recite the Angelus. If, as a result of some old habit or training, they still observe these practices and you should happen to see the manner in which they carry them out, you would feel sick: the women will simultaneously be getting on with their work, or calling to their children or members of the household; the men will be turning a hat or a cap around in their hands as if searching for holes.
They think as much about God as if they really believed that He did not exist at all, and that they were doing all this for a joke. They have no scruples about buying or selling on the holy day of Sunday, even though they know, or at least they should know, that dealing on a reasonably big scale on a Sunday, when there is no necessity for it, is a mortal sin. Such people regard all such facts as trifles. They will go into a parish on a holy day to hire laborers, and if you told them they were doing wrong, they would reply: “We must go when we can find them there.” They have no problem, either, about paying their taxes on a Sunday, because during the week they might have to go a little further and take a few moments longer to complete the job.
“Ah,” you will say to me, “we wouldn’t think much of all that.” You would not think much of all that, my dear people, and I am not at all surprised, because you are worldly. You would like to be followers of God and at the same time to satisfy the standards of the world. Do you realize, my children, who these people are? They are the people who have not entirely lost the Faith and to whom there still remains some attachment to the service of God, the people who do not want to give up all religious practices, for indeed, they themselves find fault with those who do not go often to the services, but they have not enough courage to break with the world and to turn to God’s side.
They do not wish to be damned, but neither do they wish to inconvenience themselves too much. They hope that they will be saved without having to do too much violence to themselves. They have the idea that God, being so good, did not create them for perdition and that He will pardon them in spite of everything; that the time will come when they will turn over to God; that they will correct their faults and abandon all their bad habits. If, in moments of reflection, they pass their petty lives before their eyes, they will lament for their faults, and sometimes they will even weep for them....
What a very tragic life such people lead, my children, who want to follow the ways of the world without ceasing to be the children of God. Let us go on a little further and you will be able to understand this a little more clearly and to see for yourselves how stupid indeed such a life can be. At one moment you will hear the people who lead it praying or making an act of contrition, and the next moment you will hear them, if something is not going the way they want it, swearing or maybe even using the holy name of God.
This morning you may have seen them at Mass, singing or listening to the praises of God, and on the very same day you will hear them giving vent to the most scandalous utterances. They will dip their hands in holy water and ask God to purify them from their sins; a little later they will be using those very hands in an impure way upon themselves or upon others. The same eyes which this morning had the great happiness of contemplating Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament will, during the course of the day, willingly rest with pleasure upon the most immodest objects.
Yesterday you saw a certain man doing an act of charity or a service for a neighbor; today he will be doing his best to cheat that neighbor if he can profit thereby. A moment ago this mother desired all sorts of blessings for her children, and now, because they are annoying her, she will shower all sorts of curses upon them: she wishes she might never see them again, that she was miles away from them, and ends up by consigning them to the Devil to rid herself of them!
At one moment she sends her children to Mass or Confession; at another, she will be sending them to the dance or, at least, she will pretend not to know that they are there or forbid them to go with a laugh which is tantamount to permission to go. At one time she will be telling her daughter to be reserved and not to mix with bad companions, and at another she will allow her to pass whole hours with young men without saying a word. It’s no use, my poor mother, you are on the side of the world! You think yourself to be on God’s side by reason of some exterior show of religion which you make. You are mistaken; you belong to that number of whom Jesus Christ has said: “Woe to the world....”
You see these people who think they are following God but who are really living up to the maxims of the world. They have no scruples about taking from their neighbor wood or fruit or a thousand and one other things. Whenever they are flattered for what they do for religion, they derive quite a lot of pleasure from their actions. They will be quite keen then and will be delighted to give good advice to others. But let them be subjected to any contempt or calumny and you will see them become discouraged and distressed because they have been treated in this way. Yesterday they wanted only to do good to anyone who did them harm, but today they can hardly tolerate such people, and often they cannot even endure to see them or to speak to them.
Poor worldlings! How unhappy you are! Go on with your daily round; you have nothing to hope for, but Hell! Some would like to go to the Sacraments at least once a year, but for that, it is necessary to find an easygoing confessor. They would like .... if only — and there is the whole problem.
If they find a confessor who sees that their dispositions are not good and he refuses them absolution, then you will then find them thundering against him, justifying themselves for all they are worth for having tried and failed to obtain the Sacrament. They will speak evil about him. They know very well why they have been refused and left in their sinful state, but, as they know, too, the confessor can do nothing to grant them what they want, so they get satisfaction by saying anything they wish.
Carry on, children of this world, carry on with your daily round; you will see a day you never wished to see! It would seem then that we must divide our hearts in two! But no, my friends, that is not the case; all for God or all for the world. You would like to frequent the Sacraments? Very well, then, give up the dances and the cabarets and the unseemly amusements. Today you have sufficient grace to come here and present yourselves at the tribunal of Penance, to kneel before the Holy Table, to partake of the Bread of the Angels.
In three or four weeks, maybe less, you will be seen passing your night among drunken men, and what is more, you will be seen indulging in the most horrible acts of impurity. Carry on, children of this world; you will soon be in Hell! They will teach you there what you should have done to get to Heaven, which you have lost entirely through your own fault.... Woe betide you, children of this world! Carry on; follow your master as you have done up to the present! Very soon you will see clearly that you have been mistaken in following his ways. But will that make you any wiser? No, my children, it will not. If someone cheats us once, we say: “We will not trust him anymore ― and with good reason.”
The world cheats us continually and yet we love it. “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world,” St. John warns us. Ah, my dear children, if we gave some thought to what the world really is, we should pass all our lives in bidding it farewell. When one reaches the age of fifteen years, one has said farewell to the pastimes of childhood; one has come to look upon them as trifling and ephemeral, as one would the actions of children building houses of cards or sand castles. At thirty, one has begun to put behind one the consuming pleasures of passionate youth. What gave such intense pleasure in younger days is already beginning to weary. Let us go further, my dear children, and say that every day we are bidding farewell to the world.
We are like travelers who enjoy the beauty of the countryside through which they are passing. No sooner do they see it than it is time for them to leave it behind. It is exactly the same with the pleasures and the good things to which we become so attached. Then we arrive at the edge of eternity, which engulfs all these things in its abyss.
It is then, my dear brethren, that the world will disappear forever from our eyes and that we shall recognize our folly in having been so attached to it. And all that has been said to us about sin! .... Then we shall say: It was all true. Alas, I lived only for the world, I sought nothing but the world in all I did, and now the pleasures and the joys of the world are not for me any longer! They are all slipping away from me ― this world which I have loved so well, these joys, these pleasures which have so fully occupied my heart and my soul! What a despairing thought for him who has lost sight of God and of the salvation of his soul!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Sunday August 11th & Monday August 12th
Article 5
"Vianney Month" Begs For A "Vianney Fest"!
PART FOUR : THE VIANNEY WAY OF WINNING SOULS FOR GOD
Article 5
"Vianney Month" Begs For A "Vianney Fest"!
PART FOUR : THE VIANNEY WAY OF WINNING SOULS FOR GOD
The Ars of Yesterday is the World of Today
At the very outset of this mini-series of articles on St. John Vianney, it was said that he was a man and a saint for our times. This is true because the problems that he encountered in his day are the same problems that we are encountering today―only “ten-times-over” as they say. Or perhaps hundreds of times more! The life of St. John Vianney is arguably a microcosm of the macrocosm that everyone in the world faces today. The French Revolution was a microcosm of the worldwide revolution we are experiencing in our times. The suppression of religion by force in his day is a microcosm of the suppression of religion by guile that we see today. The schism of the Church in France (with some accepting the revolutionary government and its laws, while others rejected them) is a forerunner of the current evolving schism within the Church at the present moment with the unfaithful, one-world-order compliant, Liberal and Modernist Church complying with worldly and political views and attitudes. The driving of the Church underground by the revolutionary government, leading to secret Masses and hidden priests is gradually approaching a repetition by the slowly but surely “turning-and-tightening-of-the-screws” financially, politically and morally by the passing of laws that shackle and chain those who wish to remain faithful to the Church of all time―the Church that never changes.
This leads us to the parish of Ars―to which St. John Vianney was eventually appointed and in which he served out the remainder of his days on Earth, from 1818 to 1859. The morose and depressing picture that Fr. François Trochu paints of Ars, in his biography of St. John Vianney, is symbolic of the state of the Catholic world and the Catholic Church today. Here are a few choice excerpts from his description of Ars at the time Vianney was appointed to be its parish priest, and which perfectly symbolizes and reflects our state today―comments will be added in parentheses as we go along:
A Depressing Picture of Ars
“Ars apparently dates from a remote antiquity [just like the Catholic Faith]. Until quite recently a druidical stone was still to be seen at no great distance from the village [the pagan world never far from influencing the Church). Ars is situated some 20 miles from Lyons, on the plateau of La Dombes. Whereas other parts of the region are hilly and wooded, La Dombes is a plain of clay soil and stagnant waters [the Catholic Church today has become ‘plain’, fragile like clay and wallowing in stagnant ‘waters’ or stagnant grace, meaning there is little flow of grace, and little growth in grace]. There are no forests, but only a few copses of birches and oaks; the edges of the roads and fields are marked by slender elms ; alders, hazels, and willows line the river banks [there is no longer a ‘forest’ of Catholics, since most have fallen away or are dying spiritually―there are only a few trees, here and there, that are healthy and still stand and grow in the Faith].
“In this year of grace, 1818 [when Vianney came to Ars], the village wore a sad and wretched aspect. All there was to be seen were some forty low houses, built of clay and scattered amid the orchards; halfway up one side of the valley stood a church, if one could grace with such a name a yellowish structure pierced by quite common windows and the sadly cracked bell.” [Today, the Catholic Church―if one could call it a church―is yellow and jaundiced. It is ‘yellow’ in the sense of being cowardly in face of the God’s enemy, the world. It is ‘jaundiced’ in the sense of being infected by the world. Jaundice arises due to a malfunction of the liver. The liver's main job is to filter the blood coming from the digestive tract―what we eat and swallow from the outside world―before passing what is good to the rest of the body and . The liver also detoxifies chemicals and metabolizes drugs. As it does so, the liver secretes bile that ends up back in the intestines for eventual excretion. When the liver (Faith) fails to filter what comes into the body, toxins and chemicals bypass the filter and contaminate the body. With regard to the “sadly cracked bell” of the church of Ars, it can be said that the bell is both a signal and an alarm. Today, the alarm bells of the Church are ‘cracked’ and malfunctioning just like the ‘liver’ or filtering system of the Church. Hence toxins and chemicals―infiltrators and false doctrines―have entered the Church with no bells ringing out in alarm].
“In accordance with ancient custom, the dead were buried by the side of the sacred edifice. Behind the apse was a small square planted with twenty-two splendid walnut-trees [walnut trees and hardwood trees and the nuts of black walnut trees―black being the color of the clergy―are among the hardest nuts to crack. However, today, the clergy has allowed itself to be cracked very easily―and, as Pope Paul VI said, the smoke of Satan has entered the Church through some crack]. Hard by the church stood the presbytery, which was no better than a peasant's house [The priest lives in the presbytery and the priest should be at a level that is above that of the common people. In Ars, the presbytery was no different to a peasant’s house―symbolizing the fact that the priest of today have lost all sense of their true vocation are have fallen to the spiritual level of the common people]. In front of it lay a small yard a few square feet in size [symbolizing the reduced ‘territory’ or influence of the Church, which is becoming less and less with each year].
“At the bottom of the valley―and almost lost among the tall trees that surrounded it―stood the chateau of Les Garets d’Ars. The house dated from the eleventh century [the 11th to 13th centuries saw Christendom at its peak]. At one time it had been a feudal manor, flanked by a tower, surrounded by a moat and crowned with battlements [symbolic of the City of God]. These warlike features were now things of the past [The warlike “Militant Church” of old, no longer fights the battles of Faith today]. Now the chateau was nothing more than a spacious country house, peaceful and melancholy, with barely a memory of the hunting expeditions and other merry diversions of the days of old [Today the Church is also like a spacious country house, with barely a memory of true purpose in the world, more concerned with merriment than spiritual matters]. As a result of bad roads, Ars seemed, as it were, lost in an inaccessible wilderness [All roads, as they say, lead to Rome. Today, those roads are bad roads―either constructed with bad doctrine, or constructed with worldly materials. Thus today’s theological roads are what Christ called the “broad way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13). Today, the Church follows the worldly road more than it follows Christ’s narrow path]. In the fullest sense of the word, it was but a hole [The gaping hole in Faith and Morals leads many today into the pit of Hell. The lack of good teaching and lack of discipline has blinded most members of the Church, to whom the words of Our Lord can be applied: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). Thus, today, rather than saving souls, the Church has become a hole through souls fall into Hell]. Its inhabitants hardly ever left Ars, Nature having made them stay-at-homes [The inhabitants of today’s Church hardly ever leave their homes to go to church―for the natural attractions of the world, especially modern technology, have changed them into “stay-at-homes”].
Just like the Catholic Church as a whole, Ars had seen its own “ups-and-downs” over the years before Fr. Vianney arrived in 1818. As his biographer, Fr. François Trochu, writes of Ars that in more fervent days, prior to the French Revolution of 1789, “in 1724, the faithful at first requested and ended by compelling the parish priest of Ars to establish in their church the confraternities of the Blessed Sacrament, the Rosary, and the Scapular. On the first Sunday of the month the good people came together to make a meditation on death. The feast of the Sacred Heart, recently established in the diocese of Lyons, was kept with great devotion. On June 24th, 1734, the entire parish, with its priest at its head, journeyed the 20 miles to Lyons in order to gain the Indulgence of the Jubilee of St John the Baptist. In fact, processions and pilgrimages were very popular. The people visited neighboring parishes on certain feast days. However, the parish priests were not without anxiety about the effect of these incursions upon their neighbors' parishes; they even made their misgivings known to the archbishop. These religious festivals tended to become profane―for there was much feasting, games, and dancing.
“In 1788―a year before the French Revolution―Fr. Etienne Saunter was appointed parish priest of Ars. But in 1791 he took the oath of allegiance to the new revolutionary government prescribed by the Constituent Assembly of France. Though he had taken the civil oath, Fr. Saunier was later arrested, but was soon set free when, to save his life, the unhappy man gave up the priesthood. In October, 1793, the apostate priest reappeared in the capacity of a merchant in the village where he had held the office of parish priest. The humble sanctuary in which he had said Mass, had now become a club where the free-thinkers of the district held their worldly meetings. The assemblies of the “decadi” likewise took place within its walls. The “decadi” were the naturalistic, patriotic religious cults, concocted during the French Revolution as a substitute for Christianity.
“In the meantime, under various disguises, a few faithful priests remained in the district. There is every likelihood that all these priests celebrated Mass and administered the Sacraments in Ars. Unfortunately these confessors of the Faith could only pay flying visits to Ars, at prearranged times and for the benefit of but small groups. The bulk of the population knew nothing of their comings and goings. When, in 1801, the Church of France entered upon the task of restoration, the parish of Ars, as regards Faith and Morals, was in a state of total disintegration.
“Many of the inhabitants were pagans in practice, and if all Faith had not vanished, very little was left. There was a good deal of ‘laisser-aller’ (just letting things go) in the parish, says a well-informed witness, and even a measure of carelessness and indifference. But I do not think there were disorders of an outstanding nature at Ars. The most deplorable aspect of the situation was simply the forgetfulness of religious practices. People felt no scruple in missing Mass from the most trivial motives. Unnecessary work was done on Sunday, especially during harvest time. Adults, youths, and even children had contracted the execrable habit of blaspheming. Ars possessed four taverns where the heads of families squandered their substance. On Sunday and Monday nights especially the peace of the village was disturbed by the rowdyism of drunken men. The young women were passionately addicted to dancing. Social gatherings, protracted far into the night, gave occasion to manifold and grievous evils. As if this were not enough, the people were exceedingly ignorant in all that concerned religion. The children stayed away from the Catechism instructions; only a minority could read; there was no regular teaching ; at an early age they were forced to work in the fields and in the summer every day was spent in this way.
“This is not a pretty picture. But, after all, Ars was neither better nor worse than the neighboring villages. The priest was not hated; a remnant of religion had weathered the storm, but there was no real piety. To get an idea of the condition of Ars at that time we need but to read the sermons of its Curé; most of those which we still possess date from the early years of his ministry. In them we see a picture of the mentality of those country folk in whose estimation the things of this world held the foremost place.” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
So what’s new? “There is nothing new under the sun”, as they say! The basic worldly attitude that ruled Ars is the same basic attitude that rules most Catholics today. The “branches and leaves” may be different, but the “roots and trunks” are the same. Original Sin is at the root of all this and worldliness is its trunk―over the years more and more branches of worldliness have appeared and in our day, helped by the “sap” of modern technology, the tree of worldliness is in full bloom.
More Cockle Than Wheat Faces Vianney
“The field in which Vianney was appointed to work, did not exclusively yield cockle. A few truly Christian families were yet to be found at Ars. But the field entrusted to Fr. Vianney was a barren one, and, though he was not slow in discovering the wheat, it seemed so choked by the cockle that he was alarmed. He saw miseries which other eyes might have failed to detect. However, instead of wasting time in idle regrets, he set to work. He did not pretend to convert the world; the field he was meant to till was the tiny village that God had entrusted to him.
“It is from this point of view that we must judge both the preaching and the line of conduct adopted by Fr. Vianney during these opening years of his pastoral office. He spoke for the benefit of Ars; he thundered against the abuses that were rampart at Ars. He knew that though abuses and vices assume ever-varying shapes, they remain essentially the same. Hence he was not on the look-out for new remedies, but contented himself with adopting those that have been tested and proved by preceding ages. His program―which he had pondered before the tabernacle―was that of every pastor who has at heart the welfare of souls. He resolved to get into touch with the people as early as possible; to make sure of the cooperation of those families who enjoyed general respect; to make the good ones even more perfect; to bring back the indifferent; to convert open and public evil-doers; above all, to persevere in prayer to God, from Whom all blessings flow; to sanctify himself so as to be able to sanctify others, and by his sacrifices and penances to offer expiation for the sins of those who refused to do penance for themselves. How weak and helpless he felt when he considered the magnitude of his task! But his soul was filled with a divine energy, and God makes choice of the helplessness of the lowly ones to crush the power of human pride. A holy priest is able to achieve great results with means that would seem wholly inadequate.” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
Vianney Gets Working
The new Curé d'Ars was not so naive as to imagine that his mere presence would effectively suppress the disorders rampant in the parish. His zeal for the salvation of souls was impatient of delay. He was anxious to secure an immediate ascendency over those rough villagers in whose hearts there was less malice than ignorance. In this respect, alas, he made some sad discoveries. A number of his parishioners were ignorant of the most elementary notions of the catechism. This was especially true of those who had grown up during the Revolution-that is, the young men and women between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. It was they who were the chief causes of scandal. Some of them went so far as to boast of their conduct, openly asserting that they saw no harm in their dances, their profanation of the Sunday and other disorders. How were these wandering sheep to be brought back to the fold? The new pastor was painfully aware of his helplessness; he did not lose heart, however-God and time would work for him.
The Conversion of Ars―Prayer and Penance! Are You Surprised?
To his love for God and for souls, the Curé d'Ars united what has been aptly called “the instinct of conquest”. Where others might have had too much leisure, he spent, from the very outset, laborious days filled with prayer and penance. Long before dawn, whilst Ars was still in deep sleep, Fr. Vianney, lantern in hand, passed from his house into the church. He was going to his post of intercessor for the people. He went straight up to the sanctuary, where he prostrated himself on the ground. There he poured out his heart, full of ardent desires, and heavy with many sorrows. During these silent hours of the night he prayed aloud that the Lord would show pity to pastor and flock alike.
“My God,” he pleaded, “grant me the conversion of my parish; I am willing to suffer all my life whatsoever it may please thee to lay upon me; yes, even for a hundred years am I prepared to endure the sharpest pains, only let my people be converted.” And he bathed the pavement with his tears. At break of day he was still at his post. This could be seen by the light which shone through the windows.
The hours of the morning were spent in a similar manner, unless duty summoned him elsewhere. For a sick-call there was no need to go to the presbytery-people knew where to find him. There were days when he only left the church after the evening Angelus. In the afternoon, whether there were visits to pay or not, he would go out into the open air for exercise. He took advantage of these walks to pray even more, or to pray his breviary. Occasionally he would stop to exchange a few words with the laborers, or, Rosary in hand, he would wander along the sunken roads or seek seclusion in the underwood. His was the soul of a mystic, thirsting for solitude and peace.
To prayer the Curé d'Ars joined penance. The desire he had to spend his life alone in his presbytery was without doubt so that his terrifying austerities might remain his own secret. He was convinced God would forgive sinners more readily if someone paid the ransom of their sins! To save souls the price must be paid! He would pay that price!
Shortly after his arrival at Ars, Fr. Vianney gave his own mattress to some destitute person. Two others, which he had not as yet given away, remained on the chairs in the spare room. What need was there even of a bed? For several weeks he was content to stretch himself upon a bundles of sticks on the floor in one of the lower rooms. Both the pavement and the walls were damp. He very soon contracted that facial neuralgia, which was to be his torment for fifteen years. But instead of returning to his bedroom, he went to sleep in the attic. As long as he slept in the attic he lay down on the bare boards, a log of wood doing duty as a pillow.
More often than not, before retiring to this primitive resting place, he subjected his body to a yet more severe punishment. Armed with a discipline (a scourge or whip), the effectiveness of which had been increased by attaching sharp iron points to the thongs of the whip, he mercilessly struck his “corpse,” “this old Adam,” as he used to call his poor body. On certain nights a woman of Lyons, who lodged with Mother Renard, heard him thus punishing himself for the space of an hour or more; now and again he would pause for a moment, only to resume with renewed energy. “When is he going to stop?” the compassionate neighbors would say. He made his own instruments of penance, or, at least, he repaired and improved them. The person who cleaned his room in the morning used to find, under the furniture, fragments of chains, small keys, and bits of iron or lead, which had come off his scourges. A courge lasted him only around fifteen days. “It was pitiful to see the left sleeve of his shirt all cut up and dyed with blood,” says Catherine Lassagne.
He apparently fainted more than once, when he would lie, covered with blood, against the wall. In a corner of his room, hidden by the curtain that hangs from the tester of the bed, the yellow plastering is bespattered with drops of blood which are still discernible. Three large stains give fairly distinct impressions of a shoulder, and from these dark patches thin streaks have trickled down to the pavement. Other stains show impressions of fingers and the palm of a hand. The saint left these marks upon the wall when leaning against it for support, or in an endeavor to rise from the floor when he had swooned.
His meals were never at regular intervals. During the first years of his ministry, however, his penances exceeded all bounds. This first period of his work at Ars was assuredly the most austere of his whole life. At that time he lived practically alone, and he took full advantage of his independence. Sometimes he would let two, or even three, days go by without touching any food.
At other times Fr. Vianney himself cooked, in his famous saucepan, enough potatoes to last him a whole week. When they were boiled he put them in a kind of iron basket, which he suspended from the wall. When he felt the pangs of hunger he took out one or two―to eat three or more would have been, according to him, “solely for the pleasure of eating.” He ate them cold, even when, towards the end of the week, they were covered with a musty down. At other times he cooked an egg on the hot cinders, or baked a few indigestible matefaims (matafans) made of flour mixed with salt and water and baked. He lived on this diet from 1818 until 1827, that is, until the Providence of Ars came to be established, when he went there to take his meals. “How happy I was,” he jokingly remarked, “when I lived all by myself. If I needed food, I baked three matefaims. Whilst eating the first, I made the second, which I ate whilst preparing the third. The last was eaten whilst I saw to my frying pan and the fire. I concluded with a glass of water, and a meal like this served me for several days.”
Twenty years after his appointment to Ars, on October 14th, 1839, he betrayed the secret of his first conquests in a confidential conversation with Fr. Tailhades, then a young priest of Montpellier, who was spending a few weeks with him in order to complete his training for an apostolic career: “My friend, the devil is not greatly afraid of the discipline and other instruments of penance. That which beats him is the curtailment of one's food, drink and sleep. There is nothing the devil fears more, consequently, nothing is more pleasing to God. Oh I how often have I experienced it! Whilst I was alone-and I was alone during eight or nine years, and therefore quite free to yield to my attraction-it happened at times that I refrained from food for entire days. On those occasions I obtained, both for myself and for others, whatsoever I asked of Almighty God. Now things are not quite the same. I cannot do without food for so long a time―if I attempt it, I lose the power even of speech. But how happy I was whilst I lived alone!”
Later on he called these excesses his “youthful follies.” Happy they who need repent of none other ! He went so far as to agree, rather vaguely, that then he overstepped the limits of prudence : “When one is young,” he said to a priest, “one is apt to be indiscreet.”
What About You?
Why have so many people fallen into lukewarmness, or fallen into sin, or fallen away from regularly practicing the Faith, or even fallen away from the Faith? The bottom line answer is simply down to a lack of prayer and penance on their behalf by parents, spouses, children, relatives or friends (or priests and religious). We can talk and complain and criticize and threaten until we are “blue in the face” or “until the cows come home”―all of that is purely naturalistic and humanistic, relying on human powers, efforts, skills and tactics. What is invariably missing is the supernatural element. Or, as moderns say: “Don’t just talk the talk―walk the walk!”
Parents will complain and excuse themselves over their lukewarm, sinful, partially practicing or even fallen-away children, saying: “I kept telling them again and again―but they just wouldn’t listen!” Telling them, warning them, encouraging them, criticizing them, correcting them and punishing them is fine―but if you neglect serious prayer and penance, your efforts are going nowhere! That is why Our Lady of Fatima demanded prayers and sacrifices for the conversion of sinners and to stop the enormous amount of souls that are daily lost to Hell.
Why do we do so little praying and perform so few penances? It is because we think little of sin! We think sin is a trivial thing―easily forgiven, cheaply paid for by the few Hail Marys the priest gives us a penance in Confession! Sin is not cheap! As the catechism tells us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). St. John Vianney understood the gravity and price of sin―and, since the sinners under his care were not paying the price, he undertook it upon himself to barter with God for their souls by paying on their behalf―at least partially paying, of not totally. Once we lose the sense of the gravity and the price of sin, we will also lose the souls entrusted to our care. All the recent popes―Traditional, Liberal and Modernist―have bewailed the fact that modern society has lost the sense of sin―and consequently they see little need for prayer and penance. To them, God is an all-accommodating, all-forgiving, all-forgetting push-over of a sugar-Daddy, who wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone send a soul to Hell!
Your children (or spouse, or parents, or relatives, or friends, etc) would be far better people and far more likely of being saved if you were seriously, strenuously and solidly praying for them night and day, and doing serious penances or making serious sacrifices for them. The reason that most families are in a mess is simply down to a lack of sufficient prayer and penance. Souls are not cheap! Sin is not cheap! Heaven is not cheap! It’s just us who are ‘cheap’ in our attitude to all these things.
Religious Ignorance is an Ever-Present Weed
Way back in biblical times, we see God complaining about the lack of interest and degree of ignorance of things divine: “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house: who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” Ezechiel 12:2). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). Our Lord came into this world to instruct us in spiritual matters―He “was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it ... He was the true light, that enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:4-11). Which is why Our Lord says: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
In 1905, in his encyclical on religious ignorance, Pope St. Pius X wrote: “We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and, as it were, infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in ignorance of things divine … It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation … We refer not only to the masses or to those in the lower walks of life … but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world, but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there. They rarely give thought to God, or to the teachings of the Faith of Christ … We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.” Hence, this holy pope, in the same encyclical, commanded: “On every Sunday and holy day, with no exception, throughout the year, all parish priests and in general all those having the care of souls, shall instruct the boys and girls, for the space of an hour from the text of the Catechism on those things they must believe and do in order to attain salvation.” When did you last recall receiving a full hour's-worth of catechetical instruction on every Sunday and holy day of obligation?
In October of 2012, in addressing 20,000 persons in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict XVI said that the ignorance of the Faith puts Christians at risk of following a “do-it-yourself” religion―how very true! In December of 2012, in speaking to the bishops of France, Pope Benedict added that the ignorance of the content of the Faith is one of the most serious problems of our time and is an obstacle for the mission of the Church. If you were to closely question most Catholics today, many of them believe things the Church has never taught, and many disbelieve certain things that the Church actually does teach! As St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Even the modern day catechism quotes St. Jerome’s phrase: “The Church forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, §133).
The Biblical or Scriptural knowledge of most Catholics is truly abysmal! A Pew Research survey, carried out in 2010, revealed that:
● Only 42% of Catholics (4 out of 10) were able to name Genesis as the first book of the Bible (compared to 71% of atheists and agnostics, 85% of Mormons, 76% of Protestants and 65% of Jews).
● Just 33% of Catholics (1 out of 3) could name the four Gospels―Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (compared to 39% of atheists and agnostics, 73% of Mormons, 57% of Protestants and 17% of Jews).
● Only 54% of Catholics (around 1 in 2) could name Bethlehem as Jesus’ native place (bested again by 70% of atheists and agnostics, 78% of Protestants, 83% of Mormons and 61% of Jews).
● Just 57% (around 1 in 2) of Catholics knew that the Golden Rule wasn’t one of the Ten Commandments (which compared to 62% of atheists and agnostics, 56% of Protestants, 81% of Muslims, 62% of Jews).
● Only 25% of Catholics (1 out of 4) could identify the sufferings of Job (in comparison with 42% of atheists, 70% of Mormons, 48% of Protestants and 47% of Jews).
● Just 65% of Catholics (around 6 out of 10) correctly identified Moses as the leader of the Exodus (which was still far less than the 87% of atheists and agnostics, 92% of Mormons, 74% of Protestants and 90% of Jews).
● Only 55% of Catholics (around 1 in 2) identified Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac (compared to 68% of atheists and agnostics, 87% of Mormons, 63% of Protestants and 83% of Jews).
A survey conducted in 2007 for the Iona Institute, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland, and the Evangelical Alliance of Northern Ireland uncovered a lack of religious knowledge among both Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. It found that Catholics in Northern Ireland show the same level of religious knowledge as those in the south. Overall, only 42% (4 out of 10) of the poll respondents (Catholic and Protestant) knew that there are four Gospels, and just 54% (around 1 in 2) could name the persons of the Trinity. The survey uncovered a striking decline in religious knowledge among younger respondents. Catholics scored substantially higher results, however, only (1 out of 5) 21% of those Catholics aged 16-24 knew the number of the Gospels, and only 33% (1 out of 3) could identify the persons of the Trinity. This indicates that the Christian Faith is becoming less meaningful to those under twenty-five years of age and the idea that Christianity is being transmitted through the culture from one generation to the next is invalid.
The above questions are not “rocket-science” but simple fundamental things that even a Catholic child should know. We are not even talking about the finer points of theology or apologetics or morality that should be mastered in such a time as this, where apostasy, doubt, questioning and ridicule of the teachings of the Faith is increasing daily! Most wrong living is a result of wrong thinking. When our thinking goes, our behavior doesn’t lag far behind. And when our behavior slips, our minds begin to slip as well. If we truly love God, religious study will become a joy. We will eagerly study, filling our minds with His inspired words; and we will also want to read the insights of others about God and the Faith, which is why being a diligent student also usually means reading other books. Is it possible to be a faithful Christian and not be a diligent student? No. People need to get over their distaste of disciplined study. We have many ways to “study”―especially in these days of modern technology with countless materials available on the internet and an abundance of relatively inexpensive books, so we have less excuse to remain ignorant than ever before in the history of the Church. That’s not hyperbole; it’s simple fact.
Ignorance is No Excuse
“Ignorance is bliss” as they say, but ignorance is no excuse. In the Court of Law there is a legal principle which states: “Ignorantia Juris Non Excusat” which means “Ignorance of the law does not excuse!” ― which, more precisely, means that in civil law you are not excused from obeying the law just because you might be ignorant of the law. The same applies to the Faith for someone who is already a Christian. You might protest and claim to be excused on the grounds of “invincible ignorance”―but invincible ignorance is an ignorance that cannot be removed, or it si an ignorance about something which the person is in no way expected to know, such as a parent being ignorant about how to do brain surgery―whereas your ignorance of the Faith is something that you are EXPECTED TO KNOW and it is an ignorance that CAN be removed by reading and studying the Faith from easily found books and online sources. For what kind of a Christian is someone who desires to be a Christian but desires to know nothing about Christianity? Just as you cannot expect to obtain a driver’s license without knowing how to operate a car and knowing the basic laws concerning driving on the road!
Vianney Tackles Religious Ignorance
Religious ignorance was also a major problem encountered by Fr. Vianney in his little parish of Ars. He was well aware that the most formidable obstacle that lay in his way was the inertness of a population that did not wish to be disturbed in its habits of life. He had been received in every house, and those who were faithful in attending Sunday Mass would go on doing so, but, in their minds, he must not ask for more from them. Fr. Vianney, however, had other ideas and he would not leave them undisturbed in their sluggish tranquility and lukewarmness. Conscious of his responsibility towards his flock, he was fully resolved to give them no peace until the day when abuses should have vanished from the parish. He would indeed pray and do penance, but he would likewise speak and act. His first objective was the sanctification of the Lord’s Day, since there can be no Christian life without it. The house of God was deserted ; the faithful must be brought back, to it, and to this end it must be rendered more attractive.
Poor Parish―Materially, Spiritually and in Knowledge
The parish church of Ars was poor on the inside and on the outside. The building consisted of a plain nave―12 yards long (35 feet) and just over 5 yards wide (16 feet)―terminating in a small apse, just large enough to receive the church’s one altar. The vestments were poor and threadbare and few in number, so that they could add no beauty to the sacred ceremonies. Fr. Vianney put a lot of effort into trying beautify the poor church of Ars. But even poorer was knowledge of Faith in his parishioners. The great misfortune of those poor people was their ignorance of religion and the indifference that resulted therefrom. They were by no means unbelievers, for they had preserved a remnant of faith. Their parish priest, severe but cleat slighted, saw in their ignorance more than a mere deficiency ―he thought it a sin. “We are convinced,” he declared from the pulpit, “that this sin alone causes the loss of more souls than all the other sins together, because he who is ignorant does not realize the harm he does by his sin, not the great good he thus forfeits.” Hence the holy passion with which he began to instruct them. In days gone by―before becoming a priest―Vianney had tilled the soil in the sweat of his brow, but that heavy manual labor was a recreation in comparison with the unheard of task that he now set himself.
Serious Instruction of Children
His first care was the instruction of the youth of the village. The children of Ars were employed in the fields from an early age. They no sooner reached the age of six or seven than they were made to tend the sheep and cattle. At the age of twelve a boy had to help his father at seed and harvest time. Agricultural laborers were scarce in La Dombes. Very few children could read. They attended catechism lessons only during the winter months, nor did they take much interest in them since they had not been able to learn the text. Not infrequently they missed Mass on Sunday. If on that day they were not sent into the fields-this did occur!- there was work to be done about the house. At an early age evil associations and ignorance of religion caused them to contract bad habits. Thus, degraded and unable to lift their heads towards Heaven, a great many of these poor children lived and grew up as if they had no immortal soul. Their First Communion was nothing more than an insignificant incident in their lives.
Fr. Vianney undertook the task of gathering together these unhappy children as early as six o’clock every weekday morning, from the feast of All Saints until the date fixed for their first Communion. On Sunday, there was a catechism class before Vespers, at about one o’clock in the afternoon In order to draw the little people to church, Fr. Vianney had recourse to all manner of pious expedients. He would tell the children that whoever arrived first in church would be given a religious picture. In order to secure this prize, during the summer months, some children arrived before four o’clock in the morning―two hours early! Fr. Vianney only stopped catechizing in person on the day an assistant-priest was given to him―that is, in 1845, 26 years after he had first arrived in Ars as its parish priest. During the space of six years he carried out single-handed all the obligations of the sacred ministry.
In order to rouse the attention of the little ones, he would begin with some impressive story, which was so touching that the listeners were usually moved to tears. After the lesson he gave a short explanation, one that was easy to understand and full of unction. He required strict attention, kept the children well in hand, and at times inflicted slight punishments. One lady would later describe him as going to and fro among them, frequently giving little slaps―not hard ones, he was so gentle―to the little ones who would not keep quiet.
But his chief object was to encourage them, and by his gentleness to inspire them with a love for God and the Faith which includes perfect reverence. He wanted them to carry a Rosary on their persons, and he always had several in his pockets for the benefit of those who had lost theirs.
The man of God never wearied of repeating the same thing again and again. Thanks to his heroic zeal, the children of Ars came to know their catechism better than any others in the district. Later on, the priests who succeeded Fr. Vianney as parish priests of Ars, were frequently astonished and edified at the knowledge of their religion displayed by quite simple people to whom they were giving the last Sacraments. The fact was that from their childhood upwards these good people had had the privilege of being taught by Fr. Vianney.
It must be owned, nevertheless, that all did not equally benefit by these lessons. The holy Curé exacted a faithful word for word recitation of the text. This was too much for some rebellious memories. Yielding to scruples―which may possibly be excused by the excessive rigorism of certain moralists who were his predecessors as well as his contemporaries― Fr. Vianney imposed on some young people several years of supplementary catechism lessons, thus putting off their first Communion in a way that seems almost incredible. Some made their first Communion when they were over sixteen years of and to the ardor of his zeal.
Fiery Instruction of Adults
Fr. Vianney burned with an even more fiery zeal for the instruction of the adult population of his parish. He installed himself in the sacristy. Opening as it did on the Sanctuary, he would be laboring under the very eye of the divine Master. The vestment press became his writing table. He made a study of the Lives of the Saints, the Catechism of the Council of Trent, the Dictionary of Theology by Fr. Bergier, the spiritual treatises of Alphonsus Rodriguez, and books containing the sermons of the famous theologians of that time―Le Jeune, Joly, and Bonnardel. The only respite from these feverish labors was an occasional glance at the tabernacle. He sought inspiration at the foot of the altar. Kneeling on its step, he pondered what he had read, visualizing at the same time the poor people whom he had to evangelize. Before the Master, who knew how to utter the most sublime truths in such wise that fishermen, field laborers, and shepherds were able to grasp them, he pleaded with tears that he would suggest also to him the thoughts and accents that would convert his parish. Returning once more to the sacristy, he began to write, in a standing position, as became one who was prepared to do battle for the truth of which he wished to be the champion. His pen ran rapidly over the paper, so that at times he covered as many as ten large sheets with his fine, sloping handwriting. Occasionally he worked for seven hours on end and far into the night. His manuscripts show hardly any erasures. Unfinished sentences bear witness to his haste and to the ardor of his zeal. Time was precious-he felt he must get on at all costs.
But the hour came when the manuscript had to be committed to memory. This proved the hardest part of his task. His memory was never retentive, and yet it was necessary that he should assimilate some thirty to forty pages written at one sitting, and showing no apparent division into paragraphs. The night of Saturday to Sunday was spent in reciting his discourse aloud. From the road that skirts the cemetery belated passers-by could hear him reciting his sermon of the following morning. When sleep could be denied no longer, he sat down on the bare floor and, leaning his shoulders against the oaken credence table, he would doze for a few minutes. Surely those terrible hours were among the most meritorious and most heart-stirring of his whole life!
When morning came there was the audience to face. With the exception of the pew reserved for the people of the local chateau, which was occupied by Mademoiselle d’Ars, the congregation was made up of peasants. These watched him with the eyes of a lynx, prepared to scoff on the slightest pretext. Many of them, especially among the young people, would have preferred to be elsewhere.
Fr. Vianney’s only thought was of the salvation of these poor souls. He knew that in the pulpit a priest fulfils one of the most important duties of his sacred office. This conviction fired his zeal and gave him courage. His head often ached sorely from the exertions of the previous night. Eleven o’clock was about to strike; he was still fasting, and he had eaten nothing since Saturday midday. On Sunday he sang Mass and preached, and, to fill up the measure, every one of his sermons lasted an hour.
His exhortations were delivered in a guttural voice, though the high-pitched note predominated; but both voice and gesture remained natural. Mademoiselle d’Ars, seeing his great exertion in the pulpit, was greatly concerned about him. In her anxiety she said one day: “Why do you speak so loudly when you preach? Do take some care of yourself!” Another asked: “Father, why is it that you speak so softly when you pray and so loudly when you preach?” Fr. Vianney’s humorous, quick-witted reply was: “The reason is that when I preach I speak to people who are either deaf or asleep, but when I pray, I speak to the good God who is not deaf!” Is it to be wondered at that his memory, thus overtaxed, should at times have failed him altogether? In the pulpit, he sometimes got so lost that he had to come down without finishing his discourse. A humiliation like this, in front of his congregation, whom he had just severely rebuked, far from disconcerting him, only added fuel to his zeal. When Sunday came round once more he went up into the pulpit as if nothing had happened. All the same, he fully realized that such failures tended to undermine his prestige as parish priest. So he prayed, and got others to pray. In the end his memory became less weak, and he even felt that he could, on occasion, add a few impromptu words without losing track of his thoughts and the sermon.
The Battle Against Mockery and Indifference
What formed the subject matter of the sermons of this holy man, who knew none of the arts of human eloquence? He spoke for the benefit of his flock alone, and he did so with great clearness, directness, and without a shadow of flattery. Some of his sayings struck them as very harsh indeed, but in those first years he struck hard to the end that the shaft might penetrate. At times his manner was calm, gentle, appealing―for he was not only an apostle out to convert, he was also a shepherd and a father. Among the audience there were necessarily hearts that sought comfort, wills that needed encouragement.
Unfortunately, the greater part of the congregation put on an air of indifference to what he was saying, which was clearly designed to show their lack of interest; there was much whispering and much coarse and noisy yawning during his sermons. Late-comers banged the door; people in a hurry left in the middle of Mass; the young people looked about in every direction, to see how this person or that was dressed. The children were no better―they would laugh at Fr. Vianney, and nudge each other! The souls of this people were truly of the hardness of the rock. Such a soil could only be broken up by hard blows. Hence when he reproached them with their lack of faith,
Fr. Vianney spoke their own language and used the expressions current among them. His language was at times so forcible that only the ardor of his zeal can explain or excuse it. At the risk of publicly inflicting mortification on some of the inhabitants of Ars, he was unsparing in his criticisms, which were often expressed in realistic and even crude phraseology. His corrections were sharp, direct, and personal. “Rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the Faith,” was St. Paul’s instruction to Titus―which is what Fr. Vianney did.
At the beginning of his ministry Fr. Vianney took this counsel literally. It must be owned that, though he strove to repress it, his caustic, mocking temperament showed itself occasionally―for he had not as yet acquired perfect meekness. Nor was he as yet matured by experience. Strict with himself to a heroic degree, he was liable to be exacting with others also. Above all else it is necessary to plant. In conformity with the decrees of the Council of Trent, which lay on pastors the duty of frequently explaining the solemn rites of the Mass, the Curé d’Ars strove to instill into the minds of those parishioners who still practiced their Faith, a real love and understanding of the sacred ceremonies. He explained in turn the nature, the necessity, the value, and the fruits of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The leading idea of his whole priestly career was to detach souls from earthly preoccupations and to draw them to the altar of God.
But there were those in the parish who, instead of going to Mass, go to the house of a neighbor to drink a bottle of wine; those who, without scruple, upon meeting a friend on the road, would ask him into their house and to put off Mass until another day; or those who spend the hour of divine service at play, at the tavern, of in working, traveling, or dancing, people who live as if they were certain they had no soul to save.
All these the Curé threatened with punishment in another world: “You poor people, how wretched you are! Pursue your preferred way! Go on! But all you may expect is Hell! It is clear that sinners nearly always perish miserably. Faith dies in their hearts, and their worldly substance decays, so that they are doubly miserable.”
Unfortunately the preacher, who was well aware of it, spoke for the benefit of people who were absent, and only addressed the walls. Nevertheless, despite so much indifference, on certain great feasts the whole village still went to church. This was the result of a custom that had come down from a more religious age. The new parish priest took the fullest advantage of those occasions to vigorously preach against vices that were playing havoc with souls. Thus on the feast of the Ascension he attacked all the vices together. His sermon on the feast of Corpus Christi opens with a full frontal attack against sinners “who drag about with them, wherever they go, their fetters and their Hell.” Then he gave an abrupt pause, after which he added: “No, my brethren, let us go no further; the thought would fill us with despair, and such language ill becomes a day like this. Let us leave those wretches in their gloom, since they love darkness; and since they do not wish to be saved, we must leave them to incur damnation!”
The battle was launched. The Curé d’Ars was determined, if God granted him life, not to lay down his arms until he had won a complete victory.
At the very outset of this mini-series of articles on St. John Vianney, it was said that he was a man and a saint for our times. This is true because the problems that he encountered in his day are the same problems that we are encountering today―only “ten-times-over” as they say. Or perhaps hundreds of times more! The life of St. John Vianney is arguably a microcosm of the macrocosm that everyone in the world faces today. The French Revolution was a microcosm of the worldwide revolution we are experiencing in our times. The suppression of religion by force in his day is a microcosm of the suppression of religion by guile that we see today. The schism of the Church in France (with some accepting the revolutionary government and its laws, while others rejected them) is a forerunner of the current evolving schism within the Church at the present moment with the unfaithful, one-world-order compliant, Liberal and Modernist Church complying with worldly and political views and attitudes. The driving of the Church underground by the revolutionary government, leading to secret Masses and hidden priests is gradually approaching a repetition by the slowly but surely “turning-and-tightening-of-the-screws” financially, politically and morally by the passing of laws that shackle and chain those who wish to remain faithful to the Church of all time―the Church that never changes.
This leads us to the parish of Ars―to which St. John Vianney was eventually appointed and in which he served out the remainder of his days on Earth, from 1818 to 1859. The morose and depressing picture that Fr. François Trochu paints of Ars, in his biography of St. John Vianney, is symbolic of the state of the Catholic world and the Catholic Church today. Here are a few choice excerpts from his description of Ars at the time Vianney was appointed to be its parish priest, and which perfectly symbolizes and reflects our state today―comments will be added in parentheses as we go along:
A Depressing Picture of Ars
“Ars apparently dates from a remote antiquity [just like the Catholic Faith]. Until quite recently a druidical stone was still to be seen at no great distance from the village [the pagan world never far from influencing the Church). Ars is situated some 20 miles from Lyons, on the plateau of La Dombes. Whereas other parts of the region are hilly and wooded, La Dombes is a plain of clay soil and stagnant waters [the Catholic Church today has become ‘plain’, fragile like clay and wallowing in stagnant ‘waters’ or stagnant grace, meaning there is little flow of grace, and little growth in grace]. There are no forests, but only a few copses of birches and oaks; the edges of the roads and fields are marked by slender elms ; alders, hazels, and willows line the river banks [there is no longer a ‘forest’ of Catholics, since most have fallen away or are dying spiritually―there are only a few trees, here and there, that are healthy and still stand and grow in the Faith].
“In this year of grace, 1818 [when Vianney came to Ars], the village wore a sad and wretched aspect. All there was to be seen were some forty low houses, built of clay and scattered amid the orchards; halfway up one side of the valley stood a church, if one could grace with such a name a yellowish structure pierced by quite common windows and the sadly cracked bell.” [Today, the Catholic Church―if one could call it a church―is yellow and jaundiced. It is ‘yellow’ in the sense of being cowardly in face of the God’s enemy, the world. It is ‘jaundiced’ in the sense of being infected by the world. Jaundice arises due to a malfunction of the liver. The liver's main job is to filter the blood coming from the digestive tract―what we eat and swallow from the outside world―before passing what is good to the rest of the body and . The liver also detoxifies chemicals and metabolizes drugs. As it does so, the liver secretes bile that ends up back in the intestines for eventual excretion. When the liver (Faith) fails to filter what comes into the body, toxins and chemicals bypass the filter and contaminate the body. With regard to the “sadly cracked bell” of the church of Ars, it can be said that the bell is both a signal and an alarm. Today, the alarm bells of the Church are ‘cracked’ and malfunctioning just like the ‘liver’ or filtering system of the Church. Hence toxins and chemicals―infiltrators and false doctrines―have entered the Church with no bells ringing out in alarm].
“In accordance with ancient custom, the dead were buried by the side of the sacred edifice. Behind the apse was a small square planted with twenty-two splendid walnut-trees [walnut trees and hardwood trees and the nuts of black walnut trees―black being the color of the clergy―are among the hardest nuts to crack. However, today, the clergy has allowed itself to be cracked very easily―and, as Pope Paul VI said, the smoke of Satan has entered the Church through some crack]. Hard by the church stood the presbytery, which was no better than a peasant's house [The priest lives in the presbytery and the priest should be at a level that is above that of the common people. In Ars, the presbytery was no different to a peasant’s house―symbolizing the fact that the priest of today have lost all sense of their true vocation are have fallen to the spiritual level of the common people]. In front of it lay a small yard a few square feet in size [symbolizing the reduced ‘territory’ or influence of the Church, which is becoming less and less with each year].
“At the bottom of the valley―and almost lost among the tall trees that surrounded it―stood the chateau of Les Garets d’Ars. The house dated from the eleventh century [the 11th to 13th centuries saw Christendom at its peak]. At one time it had been a feudal manor, flanked by a tower, surrounded by a moat and crowned with battlements [symbolic of the City of God]. These warlike features were now things of the past [The warlike “Militant Church” of old, no longer fights the battles of Faith today]. Now the chateau was nothing more than a spacious country house, peaceful and melancholy, with barely a memory of the hunting expeditions and other merry diversions of the days of old [Today the Church is also like a spacious country house, with barely a memory of true purpose in the world, more concerned with merriment than spiritual matters]. As a result of bad roads, Ars seemed, as it were, lost in an inaccessible wilderness [All roads, as they say, lead to Rome. Today, those roads are bad roads―either constructed with bad doctrine, or constructed with worldly materials. Thus today’s theological roads are what Christ called the “broad way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13). Today, the Church follows the worldly road more than it follows Christ’s narrow path]. In the fullest sense of the word, it was but a hole [The gaping hole in Faith and Morals leads many today into the pit of Hell. The lack of good teaching and lack of discipline has blinded most members of the Church, to whom the words of Our Lord can be applied: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). Thus, today, rather than saving souls, the Church has become a hole through souls fall into Hell]. Its inhabitants hardly ever left Ars, Nature having made them stay-at-homes [The inhabitants of today’s Church hardly ever leave their homes to go to church―for the natural attractions of the world, especially modern technology, have changed them into “stay-at-homes”].
Just like the Catholic Church as a whole, Ars had seen its own “ups-and-downs” over the years before Fr. Vianney arrived in 1818. As his biographer, Fr. François Trochu, writes of Ars that in more fervent days, prior to the French Revolution of 1789, “in 1724, the faithful at first requested and ended by compelling the parish priest of Ars to establish in their church the confraternities of the Blessed Sacrament, the Rosary, and the Scapular. On the first Sunday of the month the good people came together to make a meditation on death. The feast of the Sacred Heart, recently established in the diocese of Lyons, was kept with great devotion. On June 24th, 1734, the entire parish, with its priest at its head, journeyed the 20 miles to Lyons in order to gain the Indulgence of the Jubilee of St John the Baptist. In fact, processions and pilgrimages were very popular. The people visited neighboring parishes on certain feast days. However, the parish priests were not without anxiety about the effect of these incursions upon their neighbors' parishes; they even made their misgivings known to the archbishop. These religious festivals tended to become profane―for there was much feasting, games, and dancing.
“In 1788―a year before the French Revolution―Fr. Etienne Saunter was appointed parish priest of Ars. But in 1791 he took the oath of allegiance to the new revolutionary government prescribed by the Constituent Assembly of France. Though he had taken the civil oath, Fr. Saunier was later arrested, but was soon set free when, to save his life, the unhappy man gave up the priesthood. In October, 1793, the apostate priest reappeared in the capacity of a merchant in the village where he had held the office of parish priest. The humble sanctuary in which he had said Mass, had now become a club where the free-thinkers of the district held their worldly meetings. The assemblies of the “decadi” likewise took place within its walls. The “decadi” were the naturalistic, patriotic religious cults, concocted during the French Revolution as a substitute for Christianity.
“In the meantime, under various disguises, a few faithful priests remained in the district. There is every likelihood that all these priests celebrated Mass and administered the Sacraments in Ars. Unfortunately these confessors of the Faith could only pay flying visits to Ars, at prearranged times and for the benefit of but small groups. The bulk of the population knew nothing of their comings and goings. When, in 1801, the Church of France entered upon the task of restoration, the parish of Ars, as regards Faith and Morals, was in a state of total disintegration.
“Many of the inhabitants were pagans in practice, and if all Faith had not vanished, very little was left. There was a good deal of ‘laisser-aller’ (just letting things go) in the parish, says a well-informed witness, and even a measure of carelessness and indifference. But I do not think there were disorders of an outstanding nature at Ars. The most deplorable aspect of the situation was simply the forgetfulness of religious practices. People felt no scruple in missing Mass from the most trivial motives. Unnecessary work was done on Sunday, especially during harvest time. Adults, youths, and even children had contracted the execrable habit of blaspheming. Ars possessed four taverns where the heads of families squandered their substance. On Sunday and Monday nights especially the peace of the village was disturbed by the rowdyism of drunken men. The young women were passionately addicted to dancing. Social gatherings, protracted far into the night, gave occasion to manifold and grievous evils. As if this were not enough, the people were exceedingly ignorant in all that concerned religion. The children stayed away from the Catechism instructions; only a minority could read; there was no regular teaching ; at an early age they were forced to work in the fields and in the summer every day was spent in this way.
“This is not a pretty picture. But, after all, Ars was neither better nor worse than the neighboring villages. The priest was not hated; a remnant of religion had weathered the storm, but there was no real piety. To get an idea of the condition of Ars at that time we need but to read the sermons of its Curé; most of those which we still possess date from the early years of his ministry. In them we see a picture of the mentality of those country folk in whose estimation the things of this world held the foremost place.” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
So what’s new? “There is nothing new under the sun”, as they say! The basic worldly attitude that ruled Ars is the same basic attitude that rules most Catholics today. The “branches and leaves” may be different, but the “roots and trunks” are the same. Original Sin is at the root of all this and worldliness is its trunk―over the years more and more branches of worldliness have appeared and in our day, helped by the “sap” of modern technology, the tree of worldliness is in full bloom.
More Cockle Than Wheat Faces Vianney
“The field in which Vianney was appointed to work, did not exclusively yield cockle. A few truly Christian families were yet to be found at Ars. But the field entrusted to Fr. Vianney was a barren one, and, though he was not slow in discovering the wheat, it seemed so choked by the cockle that he was alarmed. He saw miseries which other eyes might have failed to detect. However, instead of wasting time in idle regrets, he set to work. He did not pretend to convert the world; the field he was meant to till was the tiny village that God had entrusted to him.
“It is from this point of view that we must judge both the preaching and the line of conduct adopted by Fr. Vianney during these opening years of his pastoral office. He spoke for the benefit of Ars; he thundered against the abuses that were rampart at Ars. He knew that though abuses and vices assume ever-varying shapes, they remain essentially the same. Hence he was not on the look-out for new remedies, but contented himself with adopting those that have been tested and proved by preceding ages. His program―which he had pondered before the tabernacle―was that of every pastor who has at heart the welfare of souls. He resolved to get into touch with the people as early as possible; to make sure of the cooperation of those families who enjoyed general respect; to make the good ones even more perfect; to bring back the indifferent; to convert open and public evil-doers; above all, to persevere in prayer to God, from Whom all blessings flow; to sanctify himself so as to be able to sanctify others, and by his sacrifices and penances to offer expiation for the sins of those who refused to do penance for themselves. How weak and helpless he felt when he considered the magnitude of his task! But his soul was filled with a divine energy, and God makes choice of the helplessness of the lowly ones to crush the power of human pride. A holy priest is able to achieve great results with means that would seem wholly inadequate.” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
Vianney Gets Working
The new Curé d'Ars was not so naive as to imagine that his mere presence would effectively suppress the disorders rampant in the parish. His zeal for the salvation of souls was impatient of delay. He was anxious to secure an immediate ascendency over those rough villagers in whose hearts there was less malice than ignorance. In this respect, alas, he made some sad discoveries. A number of his parishioners were ignorant of the most elementary notions of the catechism. This was especially true of those who had grown up during the Revolution-that is, the young men and women between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. It was they who were the chief causes of scandal. Some of them went so far as to boast of their conduct, openly asserting that they saw no harm in their dances, their profanation of the Sunday and other disorders. How were these wandering sheep to be brought back to the fold? The new pastor was painfully aware of his helplessness; he did not lose heart, however-God and time would work for him.
The Conversion of Ars―Prayer and Penance! Are You Surprised?
To his love for God and for souls, the Curé d'Ars united what has been aptly called “the instinct of conquest”. Where others might have had too much leisure, he spent, from the very outset, laborious days filled with prayer and penance. Long before dawn, whilst Ars was still in deep sleep, Fr. Vianney, lantern in hand, passed from his house into the church. He was going to his post of intercessor for the people. He went straight up to the sanctuary, where he prostrated himself on the ground. There he poured out his heart, full of ardent desires, and heavy with many sorrows. During these silent hours of the night he prayed aloud that the Lord would show pity to pastor and flock alike.
“My God,” he pleaded, “grant me the conversion of my parish; I am willing to suffer all my life whatsoever it may please thee to lay upon me; yes, even for a hundred years am I prepared to endure the sharpest pains, only let my people be converted.” And he bathed the pavement with his tears. At break of day he was still at his post. This could be seen by the light which shone through the windows.
The hours of the morning were spent in a similar manner, unless duty summoned him elsewhere. For a sick-call there was no need to go to the presbytery-people knew where to find him. There were days when he only left the church after the evening Angelus. In the afternoon, whether there were visits to pay or not, he would go out into the open air for exercise. He took advantage of these walks to pray even more, or to pray his breviary. Occasionally he would stop to exchange a few words with the laborers, or, Rosary in hand, he would wander along the sunken roads or seek seclusion in the underwood. His was the soul of a mystic, thirsting for solitude and peace.
To prayer the Curé d'Ars joined penance. The desire he had to spend his life alone in his presbytery was without doubt so that his terrifying austerities might remain his own secret. He was convinced God would forgive sinners more readily if someone paid the ransom of their sins! To save souls the price must be paid! He would pay that price!
Shortly after his arrival at Ars, Fr. Vianney gave his own mattress to some destitute person. Two others, which he had not as yet given away, remained on the chairs in the spare room. What need was there even of a bed? For several weeks he was content to stretch himself upon a bundles of sticks on the floor in one of the lower rooms. Both the pavement and the walls were damp. He very soon contracted that facial neuralgia, which was to be his torment for fifteen years. But instead of returning to his bedroom, he went to sleep in the attic. As long as he slept in the attic he lay down on the bare boards, a log of wood doing duty as a pillow.
More often than not, before retiring to this primitive resting place, he subjected his body to a yet more severe punishment. Armed with a discipline (a scourge or whip), the effectiveness of which had been increased by attaching sharp iron points to the thongs of the whip, he mercilessly struck his “corpse,” “this old Adam,” as he used to call his poor body. On certain nights a woman of Lyons, who lodged with Mother Renard, heard him thus punishing himself for the space of an hour or more; now and again he would pause for a moment, only to resume with renewed energy. “When is he going to stop?” the compassionate neighbors would say. He made his own instruments of penance, or, at least, he repaired and improved them. The person who cleaned his room in the morning used to find, under the furniture, fragments of chains, small keys, and bits of iron or lead, which had come off his scourges. A courge lasted him only around fifteen days. “It was pitiful to see the left sleeve of his shirt all cut up and dyed with blood,” says Catherine Lassagne.
He apparently fainted more than once, when he would lie, covered with blood, against the wall. In a corner of his room, hidden by the curtain that hangs from the tester of the bed, the yellow plastering is bespattered with drops of blood which are still discernible. Three large stains give fairly distinct impressions of a shoulder, and from these dark patches thin streaks have trickled down to the pavement. Other stains show impressions of fingers and the palm of a hand. The saint left these marks upon the wall when leaning against it for support, or in an endeavor to rise from the floor when he had swooned.
His meals were never at regular intervals. During the first years of his ministry, however, his penances exceeded all bounds. This first period of his work at Ars was assuredly the most austere of his whole life. At that time he lived practically alone, and he took full advantage of his independence. Sometimes he would let two, or even three, days go by without touching any food.
At other times Fr. Vianney himself cooked, in his famous saucepan, enough potatoes to last him a whole week. When they were boiled he put them in a kind of iron basket, which he suspended from the wall. When he felt the pangs of hunger he took out one or two―to eat three or more would have been, according to him, “solely for the pleasure of eating.” He ate them cold, even when, towards the end of the week, they were covered with a musty down. At other times he cooked an egg on the hot cinders, or baked a few indigestible matefaims (matafans) made of flour mixed with salt and water and baked. He lived on this diet from 1818 until 1827, that is, until the Providence of Ars came to be established, when he went there to take his meals. “How happy I was,” he jokingly remarked, “when I lived all by myself. If I needed food, I baked three matefaims. Whilst eating the first, I made the second, which I ate whilst preparing the third. The last was eaten whilst I saw to my frying pan and the fire. I concluded with a glass of water, and a meal like this served me for several days.”
Twenty years after his appointment to Ars, on October 14th, 1839, he betrayed the secret of his first conquests in a confidential conversation with Fr. Tailhades, then a young priest of Montpellier, who was spending a few weeks with him in order to complete his training for an apostolic career: “My friend, the devil is not greatly afraid of the discipline and other instruments of penance. That which beats him is the curtailment of one's food, drink and sleep. There is nothing the devil fears more, consequently, nothing is more pleasing to God. Oh I how often have I experienced it! Whilst I was alone-and I was alone during eight or nine years, and therefore quite free to yield to my attraction-it happened at times that I refrained from food for entire days. On those occasions I obtained, both for myself and for others, whatsoever I asked of Almighty God. Now things are not quite the same. I cannot do without food for so long a time―if I attempt it, I lose the power even of speech. But how happy I was whilst I lived alone!”
Later on he called these excesses his “youthful follies.” Happy they who need repent of none other ! He went so far as to agree, rather vaguely, that then he overstepped the limits of prudence : “When one is young,” he said to a priest, “one is apt to be indiscreet.”
What About You?
Why have so many people fallen into lukewarmness, or fallen into sin, or fallen away from regularly practicing the Faith, or even fallen away from the Faith? The bottom line answer is simply down to a lack of prayer and penance on their behalf by parents, spouses, children, relatives or friends (or priests and religious). We can talk and complain and criticize and threaten until we are “blue in the face” or “until the cows come home”―all of that is purely naturalistic and humanistic, relying on human powers, efforts, skills and tactics. What is invariably missing is the supernatural element. Or, as moderns say: “Don’t just talk the talk―walk the walk!”
Parents will complain and excuse themselves over their lukewarm, sinful, partially practicing or even fallen-away children, saying: “I kept telling them again and again―but they just wouldn’t listen!” Telling them, warning them, encouraging them, criticizing them, correcting them and punishing them is fine―but if you neglect serious prayer and penance, your efforts are going nowhere! That is why Our Lady of Fatima demanded prayers and sacrifices for the conversion of sinners and to stop the enormous amount of souls that are daily lost to Hell.
Why do we do so little praying and perform so few penances? It is because we think little of sin! We think sin is a trivial thing―easily forgiven, cheaply paid for by the few Hail Marys the priest gives us a penance in Confession! Sin is not cheap! As the catechism tells us: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD). St. John Vianney understood the gravity and price of sin―and, since the sinners under his care were not paying the price, he undertook it upon himself to barter with God for their souls by paying on their behalf―at least partially paying, of not totally. Once we lose the sense of the gravity and the price of sin, we will also lose the souls entrusted to our care. All the recent popes―Traditional, Liberal and Modernist―have bewailed the fact that modern society has lost the sense of sin―and consequently they see little need for prayer and penance. To them, God is an all-accommodating, all-forgiving, all-forgetting push-over of a sugar-Daddy, who wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone send a soul to Hell!
Your children (or spouse, or parents, or relatives, or friends, etc) would be far better people and far more likely of being saved if you were seriously, strenuously and solidly praying for them night and day, and doing serious penances or making serious sacrifices for them. The reason that most families are in a mess is simply down to a lack of sufficient prayer and penance. Souls are not cheap! Sin is not cheap! Heaven is not cheap! It’s just us who are ‘cheap’ in our attitude to all these things.
Religious Ignorance is an Ever-Present Weed
Way back in biblical times, we see God complaining about the lack of interest and degree of ignorance of things divine: “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house: who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” Ezechiel 12:2). “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). Our Lord came into this world to instruct us in spiritual matters―He “was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it ... He was the true light, that enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:4-11). Which is why Our Lord says: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
In 1905, in his encyclical on religious ignorance, Pope St. Pius X wrote: “We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and, as it were, infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in ignorance of things divine … It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation … We refer not only to the masses or to those in the lower walks of life … but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world, but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there. They rarely give thought to God, or to the teachings of the Faith of Christ … We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.” Hence, this holy pope, in the same encyclical, commanded: “On every Sunday and holy day, with no exception, throughout the year, all parish priests and in general all those having the care of souls, shall instruct the boys and girls, for the space of an hour from the text of the Catechism on those things they must believe and do in order to attain salvation.” When did you last recall receiving a full hour's-worth of catechetical instruction on every Sunday and holy day of obligation?
In October of 2012, in addressing 20,000 persons in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict XVI said that the ignorance of the Faith puts Christians at risk of following a “do-it-yourself” religion―how very true! In December of 2012, in speaking to the bishops of France, Pope Benedict added that the ignorance of the content of the Faith is one of the most serious problems of our time and is an obstacle for the mission of the Church. If you were to closely question most Catholics today, many of them believe things the Church has never taught, and many disbelieve certain things that the Church actually does teach! As St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Even the modern day catechism quotes St. Jerome’s phrase: “The Church forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, §133).
The Biblical or Scriptural knowledge of most Catholics is truly abysmal! A Pew Research survey, carried out in 2010, revealed that:
● Only 42% of Catholics (4 out of 10) were able to name Genesis as the first book of the Bible (compared to 71% of atheists and agnostics, 85% of Mormons, 76% of Protestants and 65% of Jews).
● Just 33% of Catholics (1 out of 3) could name the four Gospels―Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (compared to 39% of atheists and agnostics, 73% of Mormons, 57% of Protestants and 17% of Jews).
● Only 54% of Catholics (around 1 in 2) could name Bethlehem as Jesus’ native place (bested again by 70% of atheists and agnostics, 78% of Protestants, 83% of Mormons and 61% of Jews).
● Just 57% (around 1 in 2) of Catholics knew that the Golden Rule wasn’t one of the Ten Commandments (which compared to 62% of atheists and agnostics, 56% of Protestants, 81% of Muslims, 62% of Jews).
● Only 25% of Catholics (1 out of 4) could identify the sufferings of Job (in comparison with 42% of atheists, 70% of Mormons, 48% of Protestants and 47% of Jews).
● Just 65% of Catholics (around 6 out of 10) correctly identified Moses as the leader of the Exodus (which was still far less than the 87% of atheists and agnostics, 92% of Mormons, 74% of Protestants and 90% of Jews).
● Only 55% of Catholics (around 1 in 2) identified Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac (compared to 68% of atheists and agnostics, 87% of Mormons, 63% of Protestants and 83% of Jews).
A survey conducted in 2007 for the Iona Institute, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland, and the Evangelical Alliance of Northern Ireland uncovered a lack of religious knowledge among both Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. It found that Catholics in Northern Ireland show the same level of religious knowledge as those in the south. Overall, only 42% (4 out of 10) of the poll respondents (Catholic and Protestant) knew that there are four Gospels, and just 54% (around 1 in 2) could name the persons of the Trinity. The survey uncovered a striking decline in religious knowledge among younger respondents. Catholics scored substantially higher results, however, only (1 out of 5) 21% of those Catholics aged 16-24 knew the number of the Gospels, and only 33% (1 out of 3) could identify the persons of the Trinity. This indicates that the Christian Faith is becoming less meaningful to those under twenty-five years of age and the idea that Christianity is being transmitted through the culture from one generation to the next is invalid.
The above questions are not “rocket-science” but simple fundamental things that even a Catholic child should know. We are not even talking about the finer points of theology or apologetics or morality that should be mastered in such a time as this, where apostasy, doubt, questioning and ridicule of the teachings of the Faith is increasing daily! Most wrong living is a result of wrong thinking. When our thinking goes, our behavior doesn’t lag far behind. And when our behavior slips, our minds begin to slip as well. If we truly love God, religious study will become a joy. We will eagerly study, filling our minds with His inspired words; and we will also want to read the insights of others about God and the Faith, which is why being a diligent student also usually means reading other books. Is it possible to be a faithful Christian and not be a diligent student? No. People need to get over their distaste of disciplined study. We have many ways to “study”―especially in these days of modern technology with countless materials available on the internet and an abundance of relatively inexpensive books, so we have less excuse to remain ignorant than ever before in the history of the Church. That’s not hyperbole; it’s simple fact.
Ignorance is No Excuse
“Ignorance is bliss” as they say, but ignorance is no excuse. In the Court of Law there is a legal principle which states: “Ignorantia Juris Non Excusat” which means “Ignorance of the law does not excuse!” ― which, more precisely, means that in civil law you are not excused from obeying the law just because you might be ignorant of the law. The same applies to the Faith for someone who is already a Christian. You might protest and claim to be excused on the grounds of “invincible ignorance”―but invincible ignorance is an ignorance that cannot be removed, or it si an ignorance about something which the person is in no way expected to know, such as a parent being ignorant about how to do brain surgery―whereas your ignorance of the Faith is something that you are EXPECTED TO KNOW and it is an ignorance that CAN be removed by reading and studying the Faith from easily found books and online sources. For what kind of a Christian is someone who desires to be a Christian but desires to know nothing about Christianity? Just as you cannot expect to obtain a driver’s license without knowing how to operate a car and knowing the basic laws concerning driving on the road!
Vianney Tackles Religious Ignorance
Religious ignorance was also a major problem encountered by Fr. Vianney in his little parish of Ars. He was well aware that the most formidable obstacle that lay in his way was the inertness of a population that did not wish to be disturbed in its habits of life. He had been received in every house, and those who were faithful in attending Sunday Mass would go on doing so, but, in their minds, he must not ask for more from them. Fr. Vianney, however, had other ideas and he would not leave them undisturbed in their sluggish tranquility and lukewarmness. Conscious of his responsibility towards his flock, he was fully resolved to give them no peace until the day when abuses should have vanished from the parish. He would indeed pray and do penance, but he would likewise speak and act. His first objective was the sanctification of the Lord’s Day, since there can be no Christian life without it. The house of God was deserted ; the faithful must be brought back, to it, and to this end it must be rendered more attractive.
Poor Parish―Materially, Spiritually and in Knowledge
The parish church of Ars was poor on the inside and on the outside. The building consisted of a plain nave―12 yards long (35 feet) and just over 5 yards wide (16 feet)―terminating in a small apse, just large enough to receive the church’s one altar. The vestments were poor and threadbare and few in number, so that they could add no beauty to the sacred ceremonies. Fr. Vianney put a lot of effort into trying beautify the poor church of Ars. But even poorer was knowledge of Faith in his parishioners. The great misfortune of those poor people was their ignorance of religion and the indifference that resulted therefrom. They were by no means unbelievers, for they had preserved a remnant of faith. Their parish priest, severe but cleat slighted, saw in their ignorance more than a mere deficiency ―he thought it a sin. “We are convinced,” he declared from the pulpit, “that this sin alone causes the loss of more souls than all the other sins together, because he who is ignorant does not realize the harm he does by his sin, not the great good he thus forfeits.” Hence the holy passion with which he began to instruct them. In days gone by―before becoming a priest―Vianney had tilled the soil in the sweat of his brow, but that heavy manual labor was a recreation in comparison with the unheard of task that he now set himself.
Serious Instruction of Children
His first care was the instruction of the youth of the village. The children of Ars were employed in the fields from an early age. They no sooner reached the age of six or seven than they were made to tend the sheep and cattle. At the age of twelve a boy had to help his father at seed and harvest time. Agricultural laborers were scarce in La Dombes. Very few children could read. They attended catechism lessons only during the winter months, nor did they take much interest in them since they had not been able to learn the text. Not infrequently they missed Mass on Sunday. If on that day they were not sent into the fields-this did occur!- there was work to be done about the house. At an early age evil associations and ignorance of religion caused them to contract bad habits. Thus, degraded and unable to lift their heads towards Heaven, a great many of these poor children lived and grew up as if they had no immortal soul. Their First Communion was nothing more than an insignificant incident in their lives.
Fr. Vianney undertook the task of gathering together these unhappy children as early as six o’clock every weekday morning, from the feast of All Saints until the date fixed for their first Communion. On Sunday, there was a catechism class before Vespers, at about one o’clock in the afternoon In order to draw the little people to church, Fr. Vianney had recourse to all manner of pious expedients. He would tell the children that whoever arrived first in church would be given a religious picture. In order to secure this prize, during the summer months, some children arrived before four o’clock in the morning―two hours early! Fr. Vianney only stopped catechizing in person on the day an assistant-priest was given to him―that is, in 1845, 26 years after he had first arrived in Ars as its parish priest. During the space of six years he carried out single-handed all the obligations of the sacred ministry.
In order to rouse the attention of the little ones, he would begin with some impressive story, which was so touching that the listeners were usually moved to tears. After the lesson he gave a short explanation, one that was easy to understand and full of unction. He required strict attention, kept the children well in hand, and at times inflicted slight punishments. One lady would later describe him as going to and fro among them, frequently giving little slaps―not hard ones, he was so gentle―to the little ones who would not keep quiet.
But his chief object was to encourage them, and by his gentleness to inspire them with a love for God and the Faith which includes perfect reverence. He wanted them to carry a Rosary on their persons, and he always had several in his pockets for the benefit of those who had lost theirs.
The man of God never wearied of repeating the same thing again and again. Thanks to his heroic zeal, the children of Ars came to know their catechism better than any others in the district. Later on, the priests who succeeded Fr. Vianney as parish priests of Ars, were frequently astonished and edified at the knowledge of their religion displayed by quite simple people to whom they were giving the last Sacraments. The fact was that from their childhood upwards these good people had had the privilege of being taught by Fr. Vianney.
It must be owned, nevertheless, that all did not equally benefit by these lessons. The holy Curé exacted a faithful word for word recitation of the text. This was too much for some rebellious memories. Yielding to scruples―which may possibly be excused by the excessive rigorism of certain moralists who were his predecessors as well as his contemporaries― Fr. Vianney imposed on some young people several years of supplementary catechism lessons, thus putting off their first Communion in a way that seems almost incredible. Some made their first Communion when they were over sixteen years of and to the ardor of his zeal.
Fiery Instruction of Adults
Fr. Vianney burned with an even more fiery zeal for the instruction of the adult population of his parish. He installed himself in the sacristy. Opening as it did on the Sanctuary, he would be laboring under the very eye of the divine Master. The vestment press became his writing table. He made a study of the Lives of the Saints, the Catechism of the Council of Trent, the Dictionary of Theology by Fr. Bergier, the spiritual treatises of Alphonsus Rodriguez, and books containing the sermons of the famous theologians of that time―Le Jeune, Joly, and Bonnardel. The only respite from these feverish labors was an occasional glance at the tabernacle. He sought inspiration at the foot of the altar. Kneeling on its step, he pondered what he had read, visualizing at the same time the poor people whom he had to evangelize. Before the Master, who knew how to utter the most sublime truths in such wise that fishermen, field laborers, and shepherds were able to grasp them, he pleaded with tears that he would suggest also to him the thoughts and accents that would convert his parish. Returning once more to the sacristy, he began to write, in a standing position, as became one who was prepared to do battle for the truth of which he wished to be the champion. His pen ran rapidly over the paper, so that at times he covered as many as ten large sheets with his fine, sloping handwriting. Occasionally he worked for seven hours on end and far into the night. His manuscripts show hardly any erasures. Unfinished sentences bear witness to his haste and to the ardor of his zeal. Time was precious-he felt he must get on at all costs.
But the hour came when the manuscript had to be committed to memory. This proved the hardest part of his task. His memory was never retentive, and yet it was necessary that he should assimilate some thirty to forty pages written at one sitting, and showing no apparent division into paragraphs. The night of Saturday to Sunday was spent in reciting his discourse aloud. From the road that skirts the cemetery belated passers-by could hear him reciting his sermon of the following morning. When sleep could be denied no longer, he sat down on the bare floor and, leaning his shoulders against the oaken credence table, he would doze for a few minutes. Surely those terrible hours were among the most meritorious and most heart-stirring of his whole life!
When morning came there was the audience to face. With the exception of the pew reserved for the people of the local chateau, which was occupied by Mademoiselle d’Ars, the congregation was made up of peasants. These watched him with the eyes of a lynx, prepared to scoff on the slightest pretext. Many of them, especially among the young people, would have preferred to be elsewhere.
Fr. Vianney’s only thought was of the salvation of these poor souls. He knew that in the pulpit a priest fulfils one of the most important duties of his sacred office. This conviction fired his zeal and gave him courage. His head often ached sorely from the exertions of the previous night. Eleven o’clock was about to strike; he was still fasting, and he had eaten nothing since Saturday midday. On Sunday he sang Mass and preached, and, to fill up the measure, every one of his sermons lasted an hour.
His exhortations were delivered in a guttural voice, though the high-pitched note predominated; but both voice and gesture remained natural. Mademoiselle d’Ars, seeing his great exertion in the pulpit, was greatly concerned about him. In her anxiety she said one day: “Why do you speak so loudly when you preach? Do take some care of yourself!” Another asked: “Father, why is it that you speak so softly when you pray and so loudly when you preach?” Fr. Vianney’s humorous, quick-witted reply was: “The reason is that when I preach I speak to people who are either deaf or asleep, but when I pray, I speak to the good God who is not deaf!” Is it to be wondered at that his memory, thus overtaxed, should at times have failed him altogether? In the pulpit, he sometimes got so lost that he had to come down without finishing his discourse. A humiliation like this, in front of his congregation, whom he had just severely rebuked, far from disconcerting him, only added fuel to his zeal. When Sunday came round once more he went up into the pulpit as if nothing had happened. All the same, he fully realized that such failures tended to undermine his prestige as parish priest. So he prayed, and got others to pray. In the end his memory became less weak, and he even felt that he could, on occasion, add a few impromptu words without losing track of his thoughts and the sermon.
The Battle Against Mockery and Indifference
What formed the subject matter of the sermons of this holy man, who knew none of the arts of human eloquence? He spoke for the benefit of his flock alone, and he did so with great clearness, directness, and without a shadow of flattery. Some of his sayings struck them as very harsh indeed, but in those first years he struck hard to the end that the shaft might penetrate. At times his manner was calm, gentle, appealing―for he was not only an apostle out to convert, he was also a shepherd and a father. Among the audience there were necessarily hearts that sought comfort, wills that needed encouragement.
Unfortunately, the greater part of the congregation put on an air of indifference to what he was saying, which was clearly designed to show their lack of interest; there was much whispering and much coarse and noisy yawning during his sermons. Late-comers banged the door; people in a hurry left in the middle of Mass; the young people looked about in every direction, to see how this person or that was dressed. The children were no better―they would laugh at Fr. Vianney, and nudge each other! The souls of this people were truly of the hardness of the rock. Such a soil could only be broken up by hard blows. Hence when he reproached them with their lack of faith,
Fr. Vianney spoke their own language and used the expressions current among them. His language was at times so forcible that only the ardor of his zeal can explain or excuse it. At the risk of publicly inflicting mortification on some of the inhabitants of Ars, he was unsparing in his criticisms, which were often expressed in realistic and even crude phraseology. His corrections were sharp, direct, and personal. “Rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the Faith,” was St. Paul’s instruction to Titus―which is what Fr. Vianney did.
At the beginning of his ministry Fr. Vianney took this counsel literally. It must be owned that, though he strove to repress it, his caustic, mocking temperament showed itself occasionally―for he had not as yet acquired perfect meekness. Nor was he as yet matured by experience. Strict with himself to a heroic degree, he was liable to be exacting with others also. Above all else it is necessary to plant. In conformity with the decrees of the Council of Trent, which lay on pastors the duty of frequently explaining the solemn rites of the Mass, the Curé d’Ars strove to instill into the minds of those parishioners who still practiced their Faith, a real love and understanding of the sacred ceremonies. He explained in turn the nature, the necessity, the value, and the fruits of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The leading idea of his whole priestly career was to detach souls from earthly preoccupations and to draw them to the altar of God.
But there were those in the parish who, instead of going to Mass, go to the house of a neighbor to drink a bottle of wine; those who, without scruple, upon meeting a friend on the road, would ask him into their house and to put off Mass until another day; or those who spend the hour of divine service at play, at the tavern, of in working, traveling, or dancing, people who live as if they were certain they had no soul to save.
All these the Curé threatened with punishment in another world: “You poor people, how wretched you are! Pursue your preferred way! Go on! But all you may expect is Hell! It is clear that sinners nearly always perish miserably. Faith dies in their hearts, and their worldly substance decays, so that they are doubly miserable.”
Unfortunately the preacher, who was well aware of it, spoke for the benefit of people who were absent, and only addressed the walls. Nevertheless, despite so much indifference, on certain great feasts the whole village still went to church. This was the result of a custom that had come down from a more religious age. The new parish priest took the fullest advantage of those occasions to vigorously preach against vices that were playing havoc with souls. Thus on the feast of the Ascension he attacked all the vices together. His sermon on the feast of Corpus Christi opens with a full frontal attack against sinners “who drag about with them, wherever they go, their fetters and their Hell.” Then he gave an abrupt pause, after which he added: “No, my brethren, let us go no further; the thought would fill us with despair, and such language ill becomes a day like this. Let us leave those wretches in their gloom, since they love darkness; and since they do not wish to be saved, we must leave them to incur damnation!”
The battle was launched. The Curé d’Ars was determined, if God granted him life, not to lay down his arms until he had won a complete victory.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE: Friday August 9th & Saturday August 10th
Article 4
"Vianney Month" Begs For A "Vianney Fest"!
PART THREE : ATTACKED FROM ALL SIDES!
Article 4
"Vianney Month" Begs For A "Vianney Fest"!
PART THREE : ATTACKED FROM ALL SIDES!
God’s Ways Are Not Smooth Ways!
In case you are living in an illusion, it is necessary to point out that God’s ways are rarely smooth ways! God Himself says: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). Holy Scripture itself warns: “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1), further adding: “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth: and, as a father in the son, He pleaseth Himself!” (Proverbs 3:12). “As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace: so the Lord trieth the hearts!” (Proverbs 17:3) … “For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:5). Which is why Our Lord says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
That is the exact approach that God took with St. John Mary Vianney―or Jean-Marie Vianney, as he was actually called in his native French language. His path to God and his path to sanctity was not the smooth road, but the way of the cross, the way of difficulties, setbacks, failures, opposition, ridicule, scorn, and whatever other pebbles, rocks and thorns the Lord would choose to place in his path. John Vianney would endure many of these crosses for the rest of his life―but, as always, God is always seeking to bring good out of evil, profit from loss, success from apparent failure―and this would be true in the case of St. John Vianney. It is also true in our case―if we wish to become saints―the path will not be smooth, but rugged. Let us not forget, too, that it is ONLY saints that go to Heaven―the rest will have to burn somewhere, either for a long time (Purgatory) or eternally (Hell)―so if sanctity is not at the top of your “To Do List”, then you may want to have a rethink on that point!
In the “Cross-Hairs” of the Devil’s Hellish Rifle
There was no doubting the desire for sanctity on the part of Jean-Marie Vianney―his whole life revolved around God, the Faith and the Church. All who knew him could not deny his constant growth in sanctity. As one of his biographers, Fr. Trochu, writes: “Though he had grown since the day of his first Communion, the people soon discovered that the youth of twenty retained the simplicity and innocence which they had admired in the child. This is not to say he was perfect, but he already gave indications of the lofty heights to which he would one day attain.”
Such a person cannot avoid attracting the attention of the devil―who absolutely detests sanctity, for sanctity weakens the devil’s power over a soul and causes many or most of his wiles and temptations to come to nothing. A desire for sanctity is a declaration of war on the devil and leads to increased action by the devil on the soul that desires sanctity. So―you may think―is it better and safer not to desire sanctity? By no means―for it is only saints that go to Heaven! Give up on sanctity and one could say that you already have one foot in Hell, or Purgatory at the very best!
The devil―as we shall see―would truly declare war on Jean-Marie Vianney. From the very first days of Jean-Marie’s pursuance of a vocation to the priesthood, the devil would place obstacle after obstacle in his way, enlisting as many unwitting persons and subtly trying to influence them in whatever way possible to hinder the fruition of Jean-Marie Vianney’s vocation to the priesthood. Vianney would perpetually be in ‘cross-hairs’ of Satan’s Snipers.
Late in His Vocation―Poor in His Studies
You would have thought that if God wanted Jean-Marie Vianney to be a priest, then He would have paved the way for his vocation to the priesthood and made the path smooth and easy! Think again! “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). Holy Scripture itself warns: “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1), further adding: “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth: and, as a father in the son, He pleaseth Himself!” (Proverbs 3:12). “As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace: so the Lord trieth the hearts!” (Proverbs 17:3).
He had now entered upon his ecclesiastical studies. Henceforth his mornings and evenings were spent at the presbytery. Mademoiselle Bailey―a former religious nun until the revolutionary persecution disbanded Religious Orders―welcomed him on the threshold of her priestly brother’s presbytery that also served as a small seminary. Though clothed in lay clothes, she still retained the gentle ways of Sister Marie Joseph Dorothee―which had been her religious name. Her brother, Fr. Charles Bailey, had the reputation of being a good theologian. He had repeatedly declined the chair of moral theology at the Major Seminary of Lyons. Despite a certain sternness in manner and speech, his eyes showed a kindly disposition, so that Jean-Marie soon felt quite at ease in the priest’s house.
But the Latin grammar proved far more forbidding and foreboding than the teacher. The young student was lively enough in conversation―his manner of speech was characterized by quick, witty comments or replies. It was a pleasure to listen to him. But intellectual pursuits rather bewildered him, and he seemed to become helpless as soon as he took a pen or a book in his hand. Through no fault of his own, due to the unavoidable circumstances of the French Revolution and its aftermath, which saw the closure of most schools because they were run by priests or religious, his intellect had been permitted to lie fallow and unexercised for far too long. In learning and education, the basics are always a matter of memory. Whilst in physical labor his spade always shone and was never rusty, thanks to constant handling and use, his memory had become very rusty and cumbersome. He had forgotten most of the notions of grammar which he had assimilated in his local village school of citizen Dumas, and it seemed a desperate undertaking to tackle Latin syntax, when he was ignorant of the grammar of his own native French tongue.
With us, today, it is quite the reverse to what we see in Vianney―we are much more focused on secular education than religious education. We know the grammar of our native language well enough, much better than Vianney knew the grammar of his own language―but our religious knowledge is the opposite of Vianney’s―it is abysmal and superficial. Just as Vianney had forgotten much of the grammar of his early years of education, we have forgotten much of the catechism from our childhood. We are quite the opposite of Vianney. He was quite ignorant in secular knowledge and much more knowledgeable in religious matters. We are quite ignorant in religious matters and much more knowledgeable in secular things. Which does God prefer? That is not such a hard question!
Dumb and a Laughing Stock
The younger well-bred children though laughed in their sleeves on hearing the much older and bigger Vianney blundering through lessons which they had learned and retained with the greatest ease. Fr. Balley was not in a laughing mood. Would that youth, so sound in his judgment and so sincere in his piety, stumble at the, very first difficulty? Here was a task more arduous than work in the vineyard. Evening after evening, by the light of a small lamp, this beginner of twenty would resolutely bend over his book. At the end of his task he beggedt the Holy Ghost to fix the words in his poor head. Alas I on the following day they were all gone! He tried his hand at childish translations from the Selected Stories of the Old Testament, a book which at that time was the classic for beginners.
Fr. Deschamps―who had been a fellow student of Vianney’s―in later years relates how he used to help Vianney find the words in the dictionary and to somehow make tolerable translations. Similar assistance was rendered by Mathias Loras, the most intelligent among the pupils of Fr. Bailey―Loras would later become a missionary in the United States, and eventually Bishop of Dubuque. However, Mathias Loras was of a nervous and excitable temperament. One day his patience with the much older Vianney was exhausted by the sheer incapacity of the big young man, and Loras boxed his ears in the presence of all the others. Jean-Marie was also excitable, but he knelt down before the boy of twelve who had treated him so outrageously and humbly asked his forgiveness. Mathias had a golden heart. Suddenly he felt smitten with grief and apologized profusely. This incident marked the beginning of a long-lasting friendship.
During several months the progress made by Jean-Marie was practically zero. Yet his application was amazingly persistent in that he never gave up―no matter how many times he failed or how much humiliation he received. In addition he prayed and fasted. With time, this took its tool and his outward appearance ended by betraying the fact that he was underfed and exhausted. Fr. Bailey who, austere himself, was not aware of anything amiss. If his strength was to be maintained Jean-Marie needed a good deal of food, yet he observed a rigorous fast. Finally, M. Bailey spoke to him: “See, my child, we must indeed pray much and do penance, but it is likewise a duty to take food and not to ruin one’s health!”
Dumb and Discouraged
The devil―who will seek to profit from the slightest thing―was not far away with his subtle tricks, suggestions and machinations. A spiritual crisis was now arising, the outcome of which could hold serious consequences. The devil swooped down upon him with the temptation of an intense disgust for that vocation which he had so eagerly desired. His mind wandered back to the fireside at his home in Dardilly; the familiar fields and the labours in which his youthful vigour had achieved far easier success in physical labor. “I want to return home!” he sadly admitted to Fr. Batley―who was not less grieved. The keen eye of the old priest had detected the secret sorrow of his beloved pupil and the temptation that he was experiencing. Realizing the value of the soul entrusted to his care, he asked Vianney: “What are you doing, my poor child? You seek to hide your trouble? Do you not know that your father is only too anxious to have you at home? When he sees you so depressed, he will keep you at home. That will be the end of your plans; it will be the end also of the priesthood and work for souls!”
Jean-Marie Vianney was struck by those words. Not to labor for souls! Oh no, surely God would not permit that! The thought of the priesthood, the altar, the salvation of sinners, the plentiful harvest, and the small number of laborers―-that was enough to bring to a head a very dangerous phase. Henceforth the evil spirit of discouragement could no longer exercise its fatal influence. Yet for all that, the ever abiding problem and obstacle remained―his memory was just as unresponsive and unretentive as always! By his own admission, he was unable to lodge anything in his bad head.
God has the Answers―If We Would Only Seriously Turn to Him
What seems to be impossible for us, is not impossible with God. “With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26). Realizing that his vocation was at stake and being anxious to obtain the speedy help of Heaven, he decided upon a heroic enterprise to seek the solution. In exchange for the help that he was begging from God, he made a vow to go on foot, to the sanctuary of La Louvesc where the shrine of St Francis Regis, begging his bread both on the outward and the homeward journey. This was no short trip! The distance between Ecully and La Louvesc was about 60 miles. Despite being strong and active, Jean-Marie overlook the possibility that his healthy appearance would prove the occasion of suspicion and annoyance during this pilgrimage. One day, after Mass and Communion, he set out on his errand, a stick in one hand, a Rosary in the other. He walked for a long time until hunger and thirst compelled him to give in, when he sat down on the threshold of a house by the roadside. Imagine the suspicion caused to the householder! What could be the design of this vagabond? While pretending a holiness, was he not secretely planning mischief? And what a cock-and-bull story he told! A pilgrimage for help in his studies! The shrine of St Francis Regis! Who would be fool enough to believe such tales? In the guise of a pilgrim was he not in reality a deserter from obligatory military service? It is no surprise that our pilgrim was driven away from the houses of farmers and called a parasite, a lazy slob, a glutton, etc. He was even threatened with the gendarmes (the French police).
Jean-Marie proceeded on his journey, eating wayside herbs and grasses and drinking from the wayside brook until he was almost from hunger and exhaustion. He knew he could hold out no longer, so he took courage and entered a house. He hoped the woman of the house would give him something to eat. She shut the door in his face. The following night he failed to secure a lodging, so that he had to spend the night in the open. Fortunately, he came across kindlier people, who supplied him with odd pieces of bread. On this meager fare he travelled over almost impossible roads. He felt exhausted but happy when he finally reached the celebrated sanctuary of La Louvesc amid the mountains of the Vivarais, at an altitude of 3,000 feet above sea level. The only thought of our pilgrim, on entering the village, was to prostrate himself at the shrine and to tell the saint of the motive of his journey-namely, the grace to learn enough Latin to enable him to study and pass his theology. He obtained that grace even though it was doled out very sparingly and in a measure that was only just sufficient. God has his own plans for every soul, and he wished to test the Faith of his servant so as to prepare him for even greater struggles in the future.
He visited the places sanctified by the presence of St Regis. Jean-Marie went to confession and Communion. He confided to the Jesuit who heard him what difficulties he had experienced on the way by reason of the vow to beg his food. Should he risk a repetition of these trials, rejection and insults that he had experienced on his way to the shrines? The confessor was not of opinion that he should do so and changed his vow by laying upon him the duty of giving instead of receiving alms.
He made the return journey on foot, paying for his food and lodging. He bestowed alms on all who appealed to his charity. This mode of traveling gave him such pleasure that later on he declared: “I have experienced the truth of the saying of Holy Scripture: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive!’” And he added: “I should never advise anyone to take a vow to beg!” The trials and tribulations to which he was subjected gave him a first-hand knowledge of the wretched lot of the poor and the destitute and served to increase the compassion he felt towards beggars and tramps.
Fr. Bailey had accompanied his pupil in spirit, and on his return he received him with open arms. From this time onward his progress was such as at least to prevent a feeling of discouragement. School books no longer filled him with dismay. For being less thankless, his toil became more fruitful. He felt that the path to the priesthood was being smoothed for him. Fr. Bailey, likewise, was less fearful of the future. The dearest hope of the priest was one day to assist his big pupil at the altar of God.
One Obstacle Removed―Another Arises!
Just as Jean-Marie was making progress and nearing the end of his course in the little local seminary of Fr. Bailey, Napoleon Bonaparte was carrying the French Revolution outside the border of France into the rest of Europe. For this purpose Napoleon had decided to call into the army additional soldiers by obligatory conscription―with over 80,000 young men being called-up for military service. The parish priest of Ecully had secured the insertion of his pupil’s name in the list of those who were to be exempted from military service. The law only excepted clerics in major Orders (meaning subdeacons, deacons and priests)―hence, the exception of the seminarians of Lyons was due to a special favor and was merely a temporary concession on the part of the Emperor.
The privilege exempting ecclesiastical students of the diocese of Lyons from military service had not been revoked, hence the summons, of Jean-Marie Vianney and three other seminarians to the army, came as a great surprise. What had happened? Maybe Fr. Bailey had judged it unnecessary that year to remind the authorities at the Archbishop’s house that young Vianney was pursuing his studies; perhaps the vicar-general forgot to register him among the students of the seminary; the fact remained that Vianney was informed that he was destined for the army in Spain and must join without delay the drafts then at the depot of Bayonne (a city near the Spanish border). The document summoning him to the army was forwarded from Dardilly to Ecully. Ft. Bailey was staggered by the suddenness of the blow, and hastened to Lyons to explain the situation. The recruiting authorities refused to seriously consider Vianney as a seminarian, since he was ‘over-aged’, lodging with a farmer’s family and taking lessons at a mere village presbytery. In addition, his name was not found on the official list submitted by the authorities of the diocese of Lyon.
There was nothing else to do but to obey. But how devastating was this latest trial! Jean-Marie would soon be twenty-four, though in his studies he had reached no higher standard than that of a boy of fifteen. What prospect had he of ever becoming a priest? Surely this was the end of his hopes!
According to the law,-it was possible to secure exemption by providing a substitute. Jean-Marie besought his father to pay for such a substitute, this being the only means by which he might proceed with his studies. Matthieu Vianney, who had given but a grudging consent to his son’s vocation, at first refused. Had he not already bought out his eldest son Francois? Impossible to do the same for Jean-Marie. But the farmer’s heart was moved by his son’s grief and the mother’s tears. Putting together what ready money he possessed, he walked the five miles which separated Dardilly from Lyons in order to look for a substitute. A certain young man agreed to the bargain for the sum of 3,000 francs, a gratuity of 200 francs, and part of his outfit. However, two or three days later the youth deposited the sack and the 200 francs which he had received on the doorstep of the Vianneys. So Jean-Marie was compelled to obey orders.
On October 26th, he entered one of the military depots of Lyons. Though he saw but little of life in barracks, he kept no pleasant memories of it, for he was much shocked by the bad conduct and the blasphemies of his companions. His ceaseless application to study and his penances had undermined his health. So sudden a change in his mode of life could only increase the slow fever which had been sapping his strength.
Falling ill, the soldier was admitted to a hospital and, after his respite, he returned to fight in Spain, where he fell ill again. Finally, recuperated, yet still weak, he was ready to march with his fellow soldiers. Before departing, John Vianney stopped into a local church to pray. Lost in prayer and not feeling constrained by the army’s schedule, Vianney was left behind as the troops marched onward. Between the illness and losing track of time in prayer, Vianney could not catch up to his comrades as he set out early the next day. He was exhausted and never saw the soldiers again.
Seminarian Turned Soldier Turned Deserter
The soldier-turned-deserter found refuge with a family in Les Noes where he would spend almost the entire next year hiding from authorities eager to punish with severe penalty. As a way to appease the officials, Francis, John’s younger brother, would take his place in the army. This was the last time the Vianney family would see their youngest son as Francis would never return home from the war.
While living in Les Noes, John made many friends and earned the trust of the people. He would speak of God’s love and the importance of prayer. They would buy him books so he could at least continue some of his studies.
By 1810, Napoleon married Marie-Louise of Austria. He then decreed that anyone considered a deserter would not be punished and may come out from exile. The people of Les Noes would miss their dear friend and, as a farewell gift, they bought him his first cassock, a black robe that was required seminary attire.
With a brother having never returned home from the army and his mother having died in February, 1811, Vianney’s heart was heavy, but he resumed his preparations for the seminary under the guidance of Father Balley in Ecully, serving as the priest’s groundskeeper and sacristan.
While in major seminary, he struggled with Latin and barely endured his examinations. In addition to the academic pressures, Vianney was significantly older than his peers and many of them found his academic performance and simple disposition cause for ridicule. Again and again, seminary faculty would question his abilities for they saw him as “too backwards.” In spite of these things and always haunted with the threat of dismissal, Vianney refused to give up!
Better Late Than Never―You Are a Priest Forever
After a long journey with significant hardships, Father John Vianney, at age 29, was ordained to the priesthood on August 13, 1815. His first assignment was to serve as Curate (assistant) to his dear friend and mentor, Father Balley, who never gave up on his young priest. For two years the priests enjoyed working side by side as they served the parishioners of Ecully, France. In 1817, however, Father Balley became gravely ill and died shortly after. The bright joy found in priestly service was severely dimmed as the young curate grieved the loss of the holy priest who was so instrumental in Vianney’s vocation. But, being a faithful priest, he continued his work and ministry.
In 1818, after a difficult year with the new pastor, Father Vianney was transferred by the bishop to a small village named Ars. The bishop informed his priest that the people of Ars were not interested in religion. It is believed as few as 230 individuals lived in Ars at that time with far fewer identifying themselves as practicing Catholics. With this news, the priest accepted his next and final assignment. He was determined to love these people and lead them to God.
I Will Show You the Way to Heaven!
As he made his way down a country road on a wet, bone-chilling February day in 1818, Fr. Jean-Marie Vianney was traveling to his new assignment in Ars, France. Encountering Anthony Givre, a young shepherd boy, the priest asked him for directions. The boy obliged and the grateful traveler declared, “Anthony, you have shown me the way to Ars. I will show you the way to Heaven!” Upon coming to the boundary of the parish territory, the new pastor knelt down and prayed asking the Lord to bless him as he assumed his responsibilities. With that he arose and entered into a community that he would transform and, in turn, would change him forever.
Love and prayer were Jean-Marie Vianney’s guiding principles as a priest and as a man. He knew this assignment was not an easy one. The first step in reaching out to the people, he thought, was to meet them where they were and to bring them along to something greater. He wanted them to encounter our Lord who loved them and desired that they share in His divine life. This priest would be the herald of such an important message.
Living in a small farming town, Vianney understood that manual labor was intense and necessary. He even tolerated a certain amount of work performed on Sunday since animals needed daily care. The new pastor appreciated their interest in celebrations and parties for the Curate himself saw life as a blessing and that it should be enjoyed. He even appreciated the fruits of creation, indulging in the occasional glass of wine. But anything in excess is not good for the soul and, to be sure, laboring at the expense of missing Holy Mass on Sundays was inexcusable. The gentle pastor knew he could not dictate commandments or chastise with a harsh tone.
As the son of a farmer, he understood these people. He reached out to them, talking about farms and the needs that accompany this way of life. He encouraged them in what was truly good. He built relationships with them. The priest lovingly challenged them in many ways. Over time, they would invite him to their homes to share a meal. Eventually, attendance increased at Mass and the Sacrament of Reconciliation found a restored place in the people’s hearts. Most of his success was during the winter when activity and work was minimal.
But spring and summer would appear to present new challenges. Farm life took priority over Sunday Mass, drinking increased, and spiritual indifference blossomed. The holy priest knew he must do something – many things – to help his flock.
With the challenges confronting Fr. Vianney, he began to address one issue after another. He convinced the farm owners that Mass and rest must be the priority on Sundays. Instead of careless parties he would initiate simple parish festivals and solemn processions throughout the year. Virtues increased while debauchery decreased. Catechism classes for both children and adults were offered and well attended. His homilies were straight to the point and he used the saints as living examples. His emphasis was always on God’s gift of love and mercy. In order to remind the people of the need to pray without ceasing, the pastor of Ars built a tower and bell to ring across the farmland. The priest’s approach was making a difference, and eventually, people from all over the region were attending Mass in Ars or waiting in line to have him hear their confessions.
Over time, the small country church needed to be expanded. With aid from others, Fr. Vianney built a number of side chapels to the main church. This provided much needed room for his growing congregation, but it also served as a way to honor the Blessed Mother and other saints whom he employed as the models for his ministry. Over the years of his pastorate, the church was modified to accommodate a chapel for Mary, the first addition in order that all be “welcomed by the ‘Lady of the House.’” Because he saw how priestly ministry means revealing Christ to all, he had a particular devotion to Saint John the Baptist who declared, as revealed in sacred scripture, “Behold the Lamb of God.” For Vianney this was exactly what priestly ministry is all about: revealing the loving Heart of Christ. With the need for two more chapels, Fr. Vianney dedicated these in honor of Saint Philomena, whom he admired as the “Ambassador to the Good Father” and to the Holy Angels who are the protectors of the Lord’s message.
In 1824 the pastor established a school for girls. He named it Providence House. Always in debt, there were times he desperately sought people’s help to feed the children. With their help, and divine assistance, the house provided shelter and love for the young women who had no other place to call home. A miracle is said to have taken place at this site when one night Fr. Vianney prayed that the empty cupboards be filled with food for the children. He awoke the next morning to find that the entire attic was overflowing with grain for bread! This is just one account of many miracles attributed to him.
As his ministry expanded and his fame grew, people from all over France sought him out. In fact, his popularity grew so much that the rail system had to issue special roundtrip tickets in order to accommodate the crowds; also this was due to the fact that a pilgrim to Ars was not sure when he or she would be returning to go home. For hours, even days, a person would wait in line for confession. By 1855 it was reported that nearly twenty thousand people would seek his spiritual counsel, annually.
There were also healings from physical illness, especially of children. Whether experiencing the priest’s spiritual wisdom or miraculous abilities, everyone knew they experienced the love of Jesus through this holy man.
Holy Mass and the Sacrament of Penance consumed most of the priest’s day, sometimes as much as 16 or 18 hours. But when there is pure zeal for the Lord, what things cannot be accomplished? Vianney knew success comes when all things are entrusted solely to the Lord.
Saints Will Suffer
His success, however, was not always met with admiration or appreciation. This included some citizens who felt his influence on the community was too much, and even neighboring priests began to complain that their own parishioners were coming to him instead of them. But his humility did not allow him to worry about such matters. And, if anyone were to question his qualifications, he would most likely be the first to do so. There is a story of how some clergy delivered to the Bishop a petition complaining of Fr. Vianney’s work. When news of this reached him, he himself requested to sign it! He genuinely believed the message he once preached to a brother priest being persecuted by others: “Let them say all they have to say. When they have said all they have to say, there will be no more to be said and they will be silent.”
In addition to the frequent objections and persecutions from those who rejected his pastoral work in Ars, including some of his fellow clergy, Fr. Jean-Marie Vianney would experience great trials that tested his moral strength, his priestly ministry, and his spiritual core. He discovered that suffering was essential to obtain Heaven.
Spiritual trials would often plague him as he struggled to remain faithful to a life of prayer. “I am sad and at times I’m sick of prayer,” he once confided to a friend. This dryness never prevented his own faithful response as he relied on the grace of the Lord. Perhaps this even made him more credible to the thousands of people who sought out his spiritual wisdom.
Another kind of suffering occurred when the pastor of souls would prepare to receive truly repentant sinners for confession. It became a growing occurrence as the priest’s house experienced strange noises, flying objects, piercing sounds, and rattling walls. But this did not deter Fr. Vianney. He would ride out the night and await the dawn to resume the Lord’s work.
While Fr. Vianney cherished purity and strived for spiritual perfection, he realized that no one is immune to temptations. Suffering with temptation was, he insisted, opportunity to do good for others. As he once preached On Temptations, Vianney stated, “Offer your temptations for the conversion of sinners. When the devil sees you doing this, he is beside himself with rage and makes off, because then the temptation is turned against himself.” He continued, “we must watch over our mind, our heart and our senses, for these are the gates by which the devil enters in.”
Pastoral life would also take a toll on his spiritual, emotional, and physical health. Due to the many strains and burdens of his ministry, along with growing demands imposed upon him, there were three different occasions when he wanted to leave the parish. Each time he wanted to leave, many people convinced their pastor to remain. After the third and final time, he never attempted to leave again. He would surrender this desire to the Lord. In fact, his bishop asked that he never attend gatherings outside the parish because of the pilgrims who needed him in Ars. Out of love for the people, Fr. Vianney accepted his captivity.
It is said that when one embraces virtue, opportunities to practice it will abound. This was Jean-Marie Vianney’s experience and it was another form of suffering. One occasion speaks well of this kind of suffering when suddenly, in 1847, after establishing and maintaining Providence House as a school for girls for almost two decades, the saintly founder was informed by his bishop that a community of Sisters would take over its administration. To be sure, this created shock and disappointment and the temptation for any person may have been to demonstrate great displeasure with one’s superior. Fr. Vianney, however, simply obeyed and extended his cooperation with the transition.
For those seeking humility, even the best of intentions on the part of others can cause a soul to suffer. Fr. Vianney was a simple priest and he wanted no attention. The crowds of visitors to his parish in Ars, the accolades of civil and ecclesial authorities, and the attention from the press understandably subjected the pastor to much stress. All he wanted was to serve the Lord by bringing souls to Him. So, when his bishop wished to bestow the honorary title of Canon with a special cape (referred to as the cappa magna) or when civil authorities desired to award him with a medal of the Legion of Honor, the poor priest was beside himself. He was unsuccessful in his attempts to refuse such honors but, in the end, he got his revenge. The cappa magna is very valuable, so it is was not a surprise to his contemporaries when Fr. Vianney sold it and gave the money to the poor.
Suffering comes in various forms but all suffering has one thing in common, according to the Curé of Ars. Suffering is the opportunity to obtain heaven for others by offering one’s own afflictions. In his reflections, On Suffering, he writes:
“The reward is so great for such a little effort. What have we to bear? Some humiliations, losses, sickness, sharp words? But they will not kill us! The martyrs suffered much more than that…Or temptations? But, by confidence in God and distrust of ourselves, we can overcome them.”
This may be a bit far-reaching for our contemporary society which insists on personal victimhood, ridiculous litigation, and painkillers for every little thing that causes discomfort or affliction.
A Good and Faithful Servant Is Called Home
The years of faithful ministry had passed and a well-seasoned priest in the remote village of Ars, France, had brought the Good News to thousands. As though walking the very steps of Jean-Francois Regis who did the very same thing for the people of La Louvesc and whose life once encouraged the young Vianney to persevere with priesthood, the 73-year-old cleric had arrived at the end of his own ministry.
In the last days of July 1859, signs that Fr. Jean-Marie Baptiste Vianney was soon leaving his beloved people became evident as he attempted to maintain his rigorous schedule. Barely eating and struggling to breathe in the summer heat, the pastor heard his last confessions on July 29th. This, of course, was after hearing them for 16 hours. That night he had a priest called in for Extreme Unction. Four days would pass and a community waited in disbelief that their Curé, their beloved pastor, was leaving them. When the bishop received news that Fr. Vianney was dying, he interrupted an official ceremony in order to be at the Curate’s bedside.
With the consolation of the sacraments, surrounded by people who loved him, the simple parish priest who arrived in 1818 asking a young shepherd boy where Ars was located and who, at three different times attempted to leave this small village during the 40 years of his tenure, was finally going to have his wish. He was leaving and, this time, he would not return.
At 2 a.m. on August 4, 1859, the Lord called his faithful servant home. His work on earth was finished, and it was time for him to rest from his labors.
For nearly ten days and nights, people lined the streets waiting patiently to pay their respects to this priest who lived tirelessly for the salvation of souls. The bishop presided over his funeral with 300 hundred priests and more than 6, 000 people in attendance. The tolling of the bells throughout the region was merely another outward expression of their gratitude, as well as their grief.
A Saint’s Work is Never Finished
Although the primary mission of the Curé of Ars was the direction of souls, he is known for so many other gifts and graces. A holy priest who lived solely for others is what gives Jean-Marie Vianney, to this very day, great renown and fame.
People continued to make pilgrimages to Ars seeking intercession from a priest who they were certain had found favor with God. By 1862, a pilgrimage church was built by one of his converts, and the bishop ordered that the old church be maintained. The bishop also directed that the intact remains of the Curé remain in sight for visitors to honor.
In 1925, after the process of inquiry was completed, Pope Pius XI canonized Saint Jean-Marie Vianney. Four miracles were recorded: (1) how he obtained money and goods for his charities; (2) his ability to know the past and the future; (3) his healing of the sick; and (4) the miracle of his own life from self-mortification to the exemplary practice of all the virtues.
In case you are living in an illusion, it is necessary to point out that God’s ways are rarely smooth ways! God Himself says: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). Holy Scripture itself warns: “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1), further adding: “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth: and, as a father in the son, He pleaseth Himself!” (Proverbs 3:12). “As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace: so the Lord trieth the hearts!” (Proverbs 17:3) … “For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:5). Which is why Our Lord says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
That is the exact approach that God took with St. John Mary Vianney―or Jean-Marie Vianney, as he was actually called in his native French language. His path to God and his path to sanctity was not the smooth road, but the way of the cross, the way of difficulties, setbacks, failures, opposition, ridicule, scorn, and whatever other pebbles, rocks and thorns the Lord would choose to place in his path. John Vianney would endure many of these crosses for the rest of his life―but, as always, God is always seeking to bring good out of evil, profit from loss, success from apparent failure―and this would be true in the case of St. John Vianney. It is also true in our case―if we wish to become saints―the path will not be smooth, but rugged. Let us not forget, too, that it is ONLY saints that go to Heaven―the rest will have to burn somewhere, either for a long time (Purgatory) or eternally (Hell)―so if sanctity is not at the top of your “To Do List”, then you may want to have a rethink on that point!
In the “Cross-Hairs” of the Devil’s Hellish Rifle
There was no doubting the desire for sanctity on the part of Jean-Marie Vianney―his whole life revolved around God, the Faith and the Church. All who knew him could not deny his constant growth in sanctity. As one of his biographers, Fr. Trochu, writes: “Though he had grown since the day of his first Communion, the people soon discovered that the youth of twenty retained the simplicity and innocence which they had admired in the child. This is not to say he was perfect, but he already gave indications of the lofty heights to which he would one day attain.”
Such a person cannot avoid attracting the attention of the devil―who absolutely detests sanctity, for sanctity weakens the devil’s power over a soul and causes many or most of his wiles and temptations to come to nothing. A desire for sanctity is a declaration of war on the devil and leads to increased action by the devil on the soul that desires sanctity. So―you may think―is it better and safer not to desire sanctity? By no means―for it is only saints that go to Heaven! Give up on sanctity and one could say that you already have one foot in Hell, or Purgatory at the very best!
The devil―as we shall see―would truly declare war on Jean-Marie Vianney. From the very first days of Jean-Marie’s pursuance of a vocation to the priesthood, the devil would place obstacle after obstacle in his way, enlisting as many unwitting persons and subtly trying to influence them in whatever way possible to hinder the fruition of Jean-Marie Vianney’s vocation to the priesthood. Vianney would perpetually be in ‘cross-hairs’ of Satan’s Snipers.
Late in His Vocation―Poor in His Studies
You would have thought that if God wanted Jean-Marie Vianney to be a priest, then He would have paved the way for his vocation to the priesthood and made the path smooth and easy! Think again! “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). Holy Scripture itself warns: “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1), further adding: “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth: and, as a father in the son, He pleaseth Himself!” (Proverbs 3:12). “As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace: so the Lord trieth the hearts!” (Proverbs 17:3).
He had now entered upon his ecclesiastical studies. Henceforth his mornings and evenings were spent at the presbytery. Mademoiselle Bailey―a former religious nun until the revolutionary persecution disbanded Religious Orders―welcomed him on the threshold of her priestly brother’s presbytery that also served as a small seminary. Though clothed in lay clothes, she still retained the gentle ways of Sister Marie Joseph Dorothee―which had been her religious name. Her brother, Fr. Charles Bailey, had the reputation of being a good theologian. He had repeatedly declined the chair of moral theology at the Major Seminary of Lyons. Despite a certain sternness in manner and speech, his eyes showed a kindly disposition, so that Jean-Marie soon felt quite at ease in the priest’s house.
But the Latin grammar proved far more forbidding and foreboding than the teacher. The young student was lively enough in conversation―his manner of speech was characterized by quick, witty comments or replies. It was a pleasure to listen to him. But intellectual pursuits rather bewildered him, and he seemed to become helpless as soon as he took a pen or a book in his hand. Through no fault of his own, due to the unavoidable circumstances of the French Revolution and its aftermath, which saw the closure of most schools because they were run by priests or religious, his intellect had been permitted to lie fallow and unexercised for far too long. In learning and education, the basics are always a matter of memory. Whilst in physical labor his spade always shone and was never rusty, thanks to constant handling and use, his memory had become very rusty and cumbersome. He had forgotten most of the notions of grammar which he had assimilated in his local village school of citizen Dumas, and it seemed a desperate undertaking to tackle Latin syntax, when he was ignorant of the grammar of his own native French tongue.
With us, today, it is quite the reverse to what we see in Vianney―we are much more focused on secular education than religious education. We know the grammar of our native language well enough, much better than Vianney knew the grammar of his own language―but our religious knowledge is the opposite of Vianney’s―it is abysmal and superficial. Just as Vianney had forgotten much of the grammar of his early years of education, we have forgotten much of the catechism from our childhood. We are quite the opposite of Vianney. He was quite ignorant in secular knowledge and much more knowledgeable in religious matters. We are quite ignorant in religious matters and much more knowledgeable in secular things. Which does God prefer? That is not such a hard question!
Dumb and a Laughing Stock
The younger well-bred children though laughed in their sleeves on hearing the much older and bigger Vianney blundering through lessons which they had learned and retained with the greatest ease. Fr. Balley was not in a laughing mood. Would that youth, so sound in his judgment and so sincere in his piety, stumble at the, very first difficulty? Here was a task more arduous than work in the vineyard. Evening after evening, by the light of a small lamp, this beginner of twenty would resolutely bend over his book. At the end of his task he beggedt the Holy Ghost to fix the words in his poor head. Alas I on the following day they were all gone! He tried his hand at childish translations from the Selected Stories of the Old Testament, a book which at that time was the classic for beginners.
Fr. Deschamps―who had been a fellow student of Vianney’s―in later years relates how he used to help Vianney find the words in the dictionary and to somehow make tolerable translations. Similar assistance was rendered by Mathias Loras, the most intelligent among the pupils of Fr. Bailey―Loras would later become a missionary in the United States, and eventually Bishop of Dubuque. However, Mathias Loras was of a nervous and excitable temperament. One day his patience with the much older Vianney was exhausted by the sheer incapacity of the big young man, and Loras boxed his ears in the presence of all the others. Jean-Marie was also excitable, but he knelt down before the boy of twelve who had treated him so outrageously and humbly asked his forgiveness. Mathias had a golden heart. Suddenly he felt smitten with grief and apologized profusely. This incident marked the beginning of a long-lasting friendship.
During several months the progress made by Jean-Marie was practically zero. Yet his application was amazingly persistent in that he never gave up―no matter how many times he failed or how much humiliation he received. In addition he prayed and fasted. With time, this took its tool and his outward appearance ended by betraying the fact that he was underfed and exhausted. Fr. Bailey who, austere himself, was not aware of anything amiss. If his strength was to be maintained Jean-Marie needed a good deal of food, yet he observed a rigorous fast. Finally, M. Bailey spoke to him: “See, my child, we must indeed pray much and do penance, but it is likewise a duty to take food and not to ruin one’s health!”
Dumb and Discouraged
The devil―who will seek to profit from the slightest thing―was not far away with his subtle tricks, suggestions and machinations. A spiritual crisis was now arising, the outcome of which could hold serious consequences. The devil swooped down upon him with the temptation of an intense disgust for that vocation which he had so eagerly desired. His mind wandered back to the fireside at his home in Dardilly; the familiar fields and the labours in which his youthful vigour had achieved far easier success in physical labor. “I want to return home!” he sadly admitted to Fr. Batley―who was not less grieved. The keen eye of the old priest had detected the secret sorrow of his beloved pupil and the temptation that he was experiencing. Realizing the value of the soul entrusted to his care, he asked Vianney: “What are you doing, my poor child? You seek to hide your trouble? Do you not know that your father is only too anxious to have you at home? When he sees you so depressed, he will keep you at home. That will be the end of your plans; it will be the end also of the priesthood and work for souls!”
Jean-Marie Vianney was struck by those words. Not to labor for souls! Oh no, surely God would not permit that! The thought of the priesthood, the altar, the salvation of sinners, the plentiful harvest, and the small number of laborers―-that was enough to bring to a head a very dangerous phase. Henceforth the evil spirit of discouragement could no longer exercise its fatal influence. Yet for all that, the ever abiding problem and obstacle remained―his memory was just as unresponsive and unretentive as always! By his own admission, he was unable to lodge anything in his bad head.
God has the Answers―If We Would Only Seriously Turn to Him
What seems to be impossible for us, is not impossible with God. “With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26). Realizing that his vocation was at stake and being anxious to obtain the speedy help of Heaven, he decided upon a heroic enterprise to seek the solution. In exchange for the help that he was begging from God, he made a vow to go on foot, to the sanctuary of La Louvesc where the shrine of St Francis Regis, begging his bread both on the outward and the homeward journey. This was no short trip! The distance between Ecully and La Louvesc was about 60 miles. Despite being strong and active, Jean-Marie overlook the possibility that his healthy appearance would prove the occasion of suspicion and annoyance during this pilgrimage. One day, after Mass and Communion, he set out on his errand, a stick in one hand, a Rosary in the other. He walked for a long time until hunger and thirst compelled him to give in, when he sat down on the threshold of a house by the roadside. Imagine the suspicion caused to the householder! What could be the design of this vagabond? While pretending a holiness, was he not secretely planning mischief? And what a cock-and-bull story he told! A pilgrimage for help in his studies! The shrine of St Francis Regis! Who would be fool enough to believe such tales? In the guise of a pilgrim was he not in reality a deserter from obligatory military service? It is no surprise that our pilgrim was driven away from the houses of farmers and called a parasite, a lazy slob, a glutton, etc. He was even threatened with the gendarmes (the French police).
Jean-Marie proceeded on his journey, eating wayside herbs and grasses and drinking from the wayside brook until he was almost from hunger and exhaustion. He knew he could hold out no longer, so he took courage and entered a house. He hoped the woman of the house would give him something to eat. She shut the door in his face. The following night he failed to secure a lodging, so that he had to spend the night in the open. Fortunately, he came across kindlier people, who supplied him with odd pieces of bread. On this meager fare he travelled over almost impossible roads. He felt exhausted but happy when he finally reached the celebrated sanctuary of La Louvesc amid the mountains of the Vivarais, at an altitude of 3,000 feet above sea level. The only thought of our pilgrim, on entering the village, was to prostrate himself at the shrine and to tell the saint of the motive of his journey-namely, the grace to learn enough Latin to enable him to study and pass his theology. He obtained that grace even though it was doled out very sparingly and in a measure that was only just sufficient. God has his own plans for every soul, and he wished to test the Faith of his servant so as to prepare him for even greater struggles in the future.
He visited the places sanctified by the presence of St Regis. Jean-Marie went to confession and Communion. He confided to the Jesuit who heard him what difficulties he had experienced on the way by reason of the vow to beg his food. Should he risk a repetition of these trials, rejection and insults that he had experienced on his way to the shrines? The confessor was not of opinion that he should do so and changed his vow by laying upon him the duty of giving instead of receiving alms.
He made the return journey on foot, paying for his food and lodging. He bestowed alms on all who appealed to his charity. This mode of traveling gave him such pleasure that later on he declared: “I have experienced the truth of the saying of Holy Scripture: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive!’” And he added: “I should never advise anyone to take a vow to beg!” The trials and tribulations to which he was subjected gave him a first-hand knowledge of the wretched lot of the poor and the destitute and served to increase the compassion he felt towards beggars and tramps.
Fr. Bailey had accompanied his pupil in spirit, and on his return he received him with open arms. From this time onward his progress was such as at least to prevent a feeling of discouragement. School books no longer filled him with dismay. For being less thankless, his toil became more fruitful. He felt that the path to the priesthood was being smoothed for him. Fr. Bailey, likewise, was less fearful of the future. The dearest hope of the priest was one day to assist his big pupil at the altar of God.
One Obstacle Removed―Another Arises!
Just as Jean-Marie was making progress and nearing the end of his course in the little local seminary of Fr. Bailey, Napoleon Bonaparte was carrying the French Revolution outside the border of France into the rest of Europe. For this purpose Napoleon had decided to call into the army additional soldiers by obligatory conscription―with over 80,000 young men being called-up for military service. The parish priest of Ecully had secured the insertion of his pupil’s name in the list of those who were to be exempted from military service. The law only excepted clerics in major Orders (meaning subdeacons, deacons and priests)―hence, the exception of the seminarians of Lyons was due to a special favor and was merely a temporary concession on the part of the Emperor.
The privilege exempting ecclesiastical students of the diocese of Lyons from military service had not been revoked, hence the summons, of Jean-Marie Vianney and three other seminarians to the army, came as a great surprise. What had happened? Maybe Fr. Bailey had judged it unnecessary that year to remind the authorities at the Archbishop’s house that young Vianney was pursuing his studies; perhaps the vicar-general forgot to register him among the students of the seminary; the fact remained that Vianney was informed that he was destined for the army in Spain and must join without delay the drafts then at the depot of Bayonne (a city near the Spanish border). The document summoning him to the army was forwarded from Dardilly to Ecully. Ft. Bailey was staggered by the suddenness of the blow, and hastened to Lyons to explain the situation. The recruiting authorities refused to seriously consider Vianney as a seminarian, since he was ‘over-aged’, lodging with a farmer’s family and taking lessons at a mere village presbytery. In addition, his name was not found on the official list submitted by the authorities of the diocese of Lyon.
There was nothing else to do but to obey. But how devastating was this latest trial! Jean-Marie would soon be twenty-four, though in his studies he had reached no higher standard than that of a boy of fifteen. What prospect had he of ever becoming a priest? Surely this was the end of his hopes!
According to the law,-it was possible to secure exemption by providing a substitute. Jean-Marie besought his father to pay for such a substitute, this being the only means by which he might proceed with his studies. Matthieu Vianney, who had given but a grudging consent to his son’s vocation, at first refused. Had he not already bought out his eldest son Francois? Impossible to do the same for Jean-Marie. But the farmer’s heart was moved by his son’s grief and the mother’s tears. Putting together what ready money he possessed, he walked the five miles which separated Dardilly from Lyons in order to look for a substitute. A certain young man agreed to the bargain for the sum of 3,000 francs, a gratuity of 200 francs, and part of his outfit. However, two or three days later the youth deposited the sack and the 200 francs which he had received on the doorstep of the Vianneys. So Jean-Marie was compelled to obey orders.
On October 26th, he entered one of the military depots of Lyons. Though he saw but little of life in barracks, he kept no pleasant memories of it, for he was much shocked by the bad conduct and the blasphemies of his companions. His ceaseless application to study and his penances had undermined his health. So sudden a change in his mode of life could only increase the slow fever which had been sapping his strength.
Falling ill, the soldier was admitted to a hospital and, after his respite, he returned to fight in Spain, where he fell ill again. Finally, recuperated, yet still weak, he was ready to march with his fellow soldiers. Before departing, John Vianney stopped into a local church to pray. Lost in prayer and not feeling constrained by the army’s schedule, Vianney was left behind as the troops marched onward. Between the illness and losing track of time in prayer, Vianney could not catch up to his comrades as he set out early the next day. He was exhausted and never saw the soldiers again.
Seminarian Turned Soldier Turned Deserter
The soldier-turned-deserter found refuge with a family in Les Noes where he would spend almost the entire next year hiding from authorities eager to punish with severe penalty. As a way to appease the officials, Francis, John’s younger brother, would take his place in the army. This was the last time the Vianney family would see their youngest son as Francis would never return home from the war.
While living in Les Noes, John made many friends and earned the trust of the people. He would speak of God’s love and the importance of prayer. They would buy him books so he could at least continue some of his studies.
By 1810, Napoleon married Marie-Louise of Austria. He then decreed that anyone considered a deserter would not be punished and may come out from exile. The people of Les Noes would miss their dear friend and, as a farewell gift, they bought him his first cassock, a black robe that was required seminary attire.
With a brother having never returned home from the army and his mother having died in February, 1811, Vianney’s heart was heavy, but he resumed his preparations for the seminary under the guidance of Father Balley in Ecully, serving as the priest’s groundskeeper and sacristan.
While in major seminary, he struggled with Latin and barely endured his examinations. In addition to the academic pressures, Vianney was significantly older than his peers and many of them found his academic performance and simple disposition cause for ridicule. Again and again, seminary faculty would question his abilities for they saw him as “too backwards.” In spite of these things and always haunted with the threat of dismissal, Vianney refused to give up!
Better Late Than Never―You Are a Priest Forever
After a long journey with significant hardships, Father John Vianney, at age 29, was ordained to the priesthood on August 13, 1815. His first assignment was to serve as Curate (assistant) to his dear friend and mentor, Father Balley, who never gave up on his young priest. For two years the priests enjoyed working side by side as they served the parishioners of Ecully, France. In 1817, however, Father Balley became gravely ill and died shortly after. The bright joy found in priestly service was severely dimmed as the young curate grieved the loss of the holy priest who was so instrumental in Vianney’s vocation. But, being a faithful priest, he continued his work and ministry.
In 1818, after a difficult year with the new pastor, Father Vianney was transferred by the bishop to a small village named Ars. The bishop informed his priest that the people of Ars were not interested in religion. It is believed as few as 230 individuals lived in Ars at that time with far fewer identifying themselves as practicing Catholics. With this news, the priest accepted his next and final assignment. He was determined to love these people and lead them to God.
I Will Show You the Way to Heaven!
As he made his way down a country road on a wet, bone-chilling February day in 1818, Fr. Jean-Marie Vianney was traveling to his new assignment in Ars, France. Encountering Anthony Givre, a young shepherd boy, the priest asked him for directions. The boy obliged and the grateful traveler declared, “Anthony, you have shown me the way to Ars. I will show you the way to Heaven!” Upon coming to the boundary of the parish territory, the new pastor knelt down and prayed asking the Lord to bless him as he assumed his responsibilities. With that he arose and entered into a community that he would transform and, in turn, would change him forever.
Love and prayer were Jean-Marie Vianney’s guiding principles as a priest and as a man. He knew this assignment was not an easy one. The first step in reaching out to the people, he thought, was to meet them where they were and to bring them along to something greater. He wanted them to encounter our Lord who loved them and desired that they share in His divine life. This priest would be the herald of such an important message.
Living in a small farming town, Vianney understood that manual labor was intense and necessary. He even tolerated a certain amount of work performed on Sunday since animals needed daily care. The new pastor appreciated their interest in celebrations and parties for the Curate himself saw life as a blessing and that it should be enjoyed. He even appreciated the fruits of creation, indulging in the occasional glass of wine. But anything in excess is not good for the soul and, to be sure, laboring at the expense of missing Holy Mass on Sundays was inexcusable. The gentle pastor knew he could not dictate commandments or chastise with a harsh tone.
As the son of a farmer, he understood these people. He reached out to them, talking about farms and the needs that accompany this way of life. He encouraged them in what was truly good. He built relationships with them. The priest lovingly challenged them in many ways. Over time, they would invite him to their homes to share a meal. Eventually, attendance increased at Mass and the Sacrament of Reconciliation found a restored place in the people’s hearts. Most of his success was during the winter when activity and work was minimal.
But spring and summer would appear to present new challenges. Farm life took priority over Sunday Mass, drinking increased, and spiritual indifference blossomed. The holy priest knew he must do something – many things – to help his flock.
With the challenges confronting Fr. Vianney, he began to address one issue after another. He convinced the farm owners that Mass and rest must be the priority on Sundays. Instead of careless parties he would initiate simple parish festivals and solemn processions throughout the year. Virtues increased while debauchery decreased. Catechism classes for both children and adults were offered and well attended. His homilies were straight to the point and he used the saints as living examples. His emphasis was always on God’s gift of love and mercy. In order to remind the people of the need to pray without ceasing, the pastor of Ars built a tower and bell to ring across the farmland. The priest’s approach was making a difference, and eventually, people from all over the region were attending Mass in Ars or waiting in line to have him hear their confessions.
Over time, the small country church needed to be expanded. With aid from others, Fr. Vianney built a number of side chapels to the main church. This provided much needed room for his growing congregation, but it also served as a way to honor the Blessed Mother and other saints whom he employed as the models for his ministry. Over the years of his pastorate, the church was modified to accommodate a chapel for Mary, the first addition in order that all be “welcomed by the ‘Lady of the House.’” Because he saw how priestly ministry means revealing Christ to all, he had a particular devotion to Saint John the Baptist who declared, as revealed in sacred scripture, “Behold the Lamb of God.” For Vianney this was exactly what priestly ministry is all about: revealing the loving Heart of Christ. With the need for two more chapels, Fr. Vianney dedicated these in honor of Saint Philomena, whom he admired as the “Ambassador to the Good Father” and to the Holy Angels who are the protectors of the Lord’s message.
In 1824 the pastor established a school for girls. He named it Providence House. Always in debt, there were times he desperately sought people’s help to feed the children. With their help, and divine assistance, the house provided shelter and love for the young women who had no other place to call home. A miracle is said to have taken place at this site when one night Fr. Vianney prayed that the empty cupboards be filled with food for the children. He awoke the next morning to find that the entire attic was overflowing with grain for bread! This is just one account of many miracles attributed to him.
As his ministry expanded and his fame grew, people from all over France sought him out. In fact, his popularity grew so much that the rail system had to issue special roundtrip tickets in order to accommodate the crowds; also this was due to the fact that a pilgrim to Ars was not sure when he or she would be returning to go home. For hours, even days, a person would wait in line for confession. By 1855 it was reported that nearly twenty thousand people would seek his spiritual counsel, annually.
There were also healings from physical illness, especially of children. Whether experiencing the priest’s spiritual wisdom or miraculous abilities, everyone knew they experienced the love of Jesus through this holy man.
Holy Mass and the Sacrament of Penance consumed most of the priest’s day, sometimes as much as 16 or 18 hours. But when there is pure zeal for the Lord, what things cannot be accomplished? Vianney knew success comes when all things are entrusted solely to the Lord.
Saints Will Suffer
His success, however, was not always met with admiration or appreciation. This included some citizens who felt his influence on the community was too much, and even neighboring priests began to complain that their own parishioners were coming to him instead of them. But his humility did not allow him to worry about such matters. And, if anyone were to question his qualifications, he would most likely be the first to do so. There is a story of how some clergy delivered to the Bishop a petition complaining of Fr. Vianney’s work. When news of this reached him, he himself requested to sign it! He genuinely believed the message he once preached to a brother priest being persecuted by others: “Let them say all they have to say. When they have said all they have to say, there will be no more to be said and they will be silent.”
In addition to the frequent objections and persecutions from those who rejected his pastoral work in Ars, including some of his fellow clergy, Fr. Jean-Marie Vianney would experience great trials that tested his moral strength, his priestly ministry, and his spiritual core. He discovered that suffering was essential to obtain Heaven.
Spiritual trials would often plague him as he struggled to remain faithful to a life of prayer. “I am sad and at times I’m sick of prayer,” he once confided to a friend. This dryness never prevented his own faithful response as he relied on the grace of the Lord. Perhaps this even made him more credible to the thousands of people who sought out his spiritual wisdom.
Another kind of suffering occurred when the pastor of souls would prepare to receive truly repentant sinners for confession. It became a growing occurrence as the priest’s house experienced strange noises, flying objects, piercing sounds, and rattling walls. But this did not deter Fr. Vianney. He would ride out the night and await the dawn to resume the Lord’s work.
While Fr. Vianney cherished purity and strived for spiritual perfection, he realized that no one is immune to temptations. Suffering with temptation was, he insisted, opportunity to do good for others. As he once preached On Temptations, Vianney stated, “Offer your temptations for the conversion of sinners. When the devil sees you doing this, he is beside himself with rage and makes off, because then the temptation is turned against himself.” He continued, “we must watch over our mind, our heart and our senses, for these are the gates by which the devil enters in.”
Pastoral life would also take a toll on his spiritual, emotional, and physical health. Due to the many strains and burdens of his ministry, along with growing demands imposed upon him, there were three different occasions when he wanted to leave the parish. Each time he wanted to leave, many people convinced their pastor to remain. After the third and final time, he never attempted to leave again. He would surrender this desire to the Lord. In fact, his bishop asked that he never attend gatherings outside the parish because of the pilgrims who needed him in Ars. Out of love for the people, Fr. Vianney accepted his captivity.
It is said that when one embraces virtue, opportunities to practice it will abound. This was Jean-Marie Vianney’s experience and it was another form of suffering. One occasion speaks well of this kind of suffering when suddenly, in 1847, after establishing and maintaining Providence House as a school for girls for almost two decades, the saintly founder was informed by his bishop that a community of Sisters would take over its administration. To be sure, this created shock and disappointment and the temptation for any person may have been to demonstrate great displeasure with one’s superior. Fr. Vianney, however, simply obeyed and extended his cooperation with the transition.
For those seeking humility, even the best of intentions on the part of others can cause a soul to suffer. Fr. Vianney was a simple priest and he wanted no attention. The crowds of visitors to his parish in Ars, the accolades of civil and ecclesial authorities, and the attention from the press understandably subjected the pastor to much stress. All he wanted was to serve the Lord by bringing souls to Him. So, when his bishop wished to bestow the honorary title of Canon with a special cape (referred to as the cappa magna) or when civil authorities desired to award him with a medal of the Legion of Honor, the poor priest was beside himself. He was unsuccessful in his attempts to refuse such honors but, in the end, he got his revenge. The cappa magna is very valuable, so it is was not a surprise to his contemporaries when Fr. Vianney sold it and gave the money to the poor.
Suffering comes in various forms but all suffering has one thing in common, according to the Curé of Ars. Suffering is the opportunity to obtain heaven for others by offering one’s own afflictions. In his reflections, On Suffering, he writes:
“The reward is so great for such a little effort. What have we to bear? Some humiliations, losses, sickness, sharp words? But they will not kill us! The martyrs suffered much more than that…Or temptations? But, by confidence in God and distrust of ourselves, we can overcome them.”
This may be a bit far-reaching for our contemporary society which insists on personal victimhood, ridiculous litigation, and painkillers for every little thing that causes discomfort or affliction.
A Good and Faithful Servant Is Called Home
The years of faithful ministry had passed and a well-seasoned priest in the remote village of Ars, France, had brought the Good News to thousands. As though walking the very steps of Jean-Francois Regis who did the very same thing for the people of La Louvesc and whose life once encouraged the young Vianney to persevere with priesthood, the 73-year-old cleric had arrived at the end of his own ministry.
In the last days of July 1859, signs that Fr. Jean-Marie Baptiste Vianney was soon leaving his beloved people became evident as he attempted to maintain his rigorous schedule. Barely eating and struggling to breathe in the summer heat, the pastor heard his last confessions on July 29th. This, of course, was after hearing them for 16 hours. That night he had a priest called in for Extreme Unction. Four days would pass and a community waited in disbelief that their Curé, their beloved pastor, was leaving them. When the bishop received news that Fr. Vianney was dying, he interrupted an official ceremony in order to be at the Curate’s bedside.
With the consolation of the sacraments, surrounded by people who loved him, the simple parish priest who arrived in 1818 asking a young shepherd boy where Ars was located and who, at three different times attempted to leave this small village during the 40 years of his tenure, was finally going to have his wish. He was leaving and, this time, he would not return.
At 2 a.m. on August 4, 1859, the Lord called his faithful servant home. His work on earth was finished, and it was time for him to rest from his labors.
For nearly ten days and nights, people lined the streets waiting patiently to pay their respects to this priest who lived tirelessly for the salvation of souls. The bishop presided over his funeral with 300 hundred priests and more than 6, 000 people in attendance. The tolling of the bells throughout the region was merely another outward expression of their gratitude, as well as their grief.
A Saint’s Work is Never Finished
Although the primary mission of the Curé of Ars was the direction of souls, he is known for so many other gifts and graces. A holy priest who lived solely for others is what gives Jean-Marie Vianney, to this very day, great renown and fame.
People continued to make pilgrimages to Ars seeking intercession from a priest who they were certain had found favor with God. By 1862, a pilgrimage church was built by one of his converts, and the bishop ordered that the old church be maintained. The bishop also directed that the intact remains of the Curé remain in sight for visitors to honor.
In 1925, after the process of inquiry was completed, Pope Pius XI canonized Saint Jean-Marie Vianney. Four miracles were recorded: (1) how he obtained money and goods for his charities; (2) his ability to know the past and the future; (3) his healing of the sick; and (4) the miracle of his own life from self-mortification to the exemplary practice of all the virtues.
Thursday August 8th : Feast of St. John Vianney
Article 3
"Vianney Month" Begs For A "Vianney Fest"!
PART TWO : TOIL AND TROUBLE―LAMBS AMONG WOLVES!
Article 3
"Vianney Month" Begs For A "Vianney Fest"!
PART TWO : TOIL AND TROUBLE―LAMBS AMONG WOLVES!
From Home to School―From Safety to Danger
Parents can give their child the best possible religious and virtuous training at home prior to the child’s school years, but when the child leaves home for its first day of many a long year under the tutelage of schools, then the child enters a battlefield and war for the Faith. Parents could well say to their children―not just on the first day of school, but on every day of the child’s school life―the very same words that Our Lord addressed to His Apostles and disciples when He sent them out from the safety of His company to preach in the world: “Go! Behold I send you as lambs among wolves!” (Luke 10:3). Parents could add the words of Holy Scripture, saying: “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
No Guarantees!
The world is sown with both wheat and cockle. Nobody is guaranteed a good and successful crop―and, likewise, nobody is guaranteed salvation! As Scripture warns: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). That is why Our Lord says that few are saved: “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). Most parents run and raise their families as if “Many are called and all are chosen!” In other words, most parents are guilty of the sin of presumption―they presume that they and their children will be saved, without taking much care to ensure that this will actually be the case! They―stupidly or ignorantly―pay no attention to the words of Our Lord, Who warns:
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Our Lord spoke often in such a manner. Holy Scripture relates of an instance where this frightening message really “got to” a man, and he nervously questioned Our Lord on the matter: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Waste of Time!
How many parents drill home this truth to their children―not just once, but repeatedly, over and over again, year after year? Salvation is the most important issue facing each and every soul―yet we spend more time thinking over worldly and earthly matters than we dedicate to reflecting upon heavenly and eternal matters: such as our salvation! What a waste of time to spend most of our time on things that will ultimately end in some years―and to neglect time in working for a time that will never end―our eternity and our salvation! As Jesus says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” Matthew 16:26). Is that how we think? Is that how we talk? Is that how we live? If not―then our children will not live for that either!
The Example of Little John Vianney
We can do no better than quote the passage from Fr. Trochu’s biography of St. John Vianney, where he outlines the behavior, piety and attitude of a 7-year-old John Vianney:
“In 1793, little Jean-Marie attained his seventh year. He was then big enough to make himself useful. His principal task was to tend the flocks … Twice daily he drove out the donkey, the cows, and the sheep to graze, leading by the hand his little sister Gothon, On reaching the meadow, brother and sister, obedient to their mother's advice, went down upon their knees in order to dedicate to God the task they were about to perform. After that they gave their undivided attention to the flock, careful lest the cows damage the crops of the neighbors. Gothon loved to spend the time talking to her brother, who had a gift for story-telling. Jean-Marie told her stories out of the Old and New Testament; he also taught her her prayers and gave her various spiritual counsels …
“In a hollow of the trunk Jean-Marie sometimes placed his little statue, and after surrounding it with moss, branches of trees and flowers, he knelt down to say his Rosary. At other times he erected a kind of shrine for his statue. With clay from the river bank he constructed little chapels or molded statues of saints and priests. In this way he made a statue of the Blessed Virgin, which was judged quite good; in fact, his father had it hardened in the oven, and it was long kept at the house of the Vianneys. As soon as the altar was ready, he and Gothon, with vague memories of processions and festivals now suppressed by the revolutionary government, sang together what bits of religious canticles they could remember.
“Other young shepherds tended their flocks in the same district, and not all of them were suitable companions for well brought-up children. Some of these occasionally passed over to the Vianneys’ meadow to look at the shrine. Jean-Marie replied to their questions without either embarrassment or annoyance. But how was it that these children, who were of the same age as our saint, were yet ignorant of the meaning of those images? Alas! Less devout and attentive, they had already forgotten the beautiful ceremonies of Sundays and holidays. Little Vianney became the teacher of these poor children. He constituted himself their catechist … The ‘congregation’ of children being somewhat restless, the sermon had of necessity to be short. He organized processions. Thus it came about that, whilst throughout France religious ceremonies were being suppressed, a band of children were walking in procession behind a cross formed of two sticks. The Rosary was recited, and childish hymns were sung ... Apart from these pious games, the little preacher did not much like the companionship of other children. Their rough and noisy games, and at times their language, were distasteful to him. However, to please them, he occasionally agreed to play with them.” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
Vianney Goes to School
Jean-Marie Vianney was not by any means a dull boy, but it must be confessed that when he reached his ninth year, apart from religious subjects, he was almost wholly lacking in human learning. His older sister had taught him to read and write, and he could spell the words contained in a Prayer-Book, but for all that it was high time he went to school. Unfortunately his home town could no longer boast of a school. A law that the revolutionary government had passed in 1793, ruled that on reaching their sixth, or, at latest, their eighth year, all children should attend the public schools for three consecutive years―parents were threatened with a fine equal to a quarter of the taxes paid by them. All children were to receive an identical and compulsory non-religious and secular education. No one was to be permitted to teach unless he had taken the oath and secured a certificate of what in the revolutionary jargon was called “civism”―which was basically an oath of allegiance to the secular anti-Catholic state. The office of schoolmaster could not be exercised by a priest nor a former member of a religious congregation. Everywhere there was a lack of these anti-religious teachers. Thus it came to pass that, on the death of the worthy Catholic man who had kept the small school of Dardilly, the school was closed for good.
Later, however, revolutionary government abolished the “Oath of Civism”―previously required from teachers―and extended to all citizens the right to teach. As a consequence, a man named Dumas re-opened the school at Dardilly (the home town of Jean-Marie Vianney). During the long winter evenings Jean-Marie could be seen learning his catechism or teaching it to his younger sister Gothon, or reading aloud the lives of the saints―during which he would be devoutly listened to both by his parents and their guests, the poor. Not all men are equal―despite what the revolution says―and not all men are saints! Not all children were as well-behaved and studious as Jean-Marie Vianney. Mr. Dumas, the teacher, was constantly rebuking many of the other children for lacking in the virtues manifested by Jean-Marie. The little Vianney shows us that if we are serious about our Faith and our love for God, then no matter how bad the soil may be in which we have been planted, nor how much cockle we are surrounded with, we can still overcome those obstacles and become saints.
The church, alas, remained closed. At the death of the rabid revolutionary Robespierre, hope momentarily revived, for the persecution became less violent. Nevertheless, even though some churches were allowed to be reopened, a new decree declared that no one could exercise any religious functions in whatever churches might be reopened, unless he had previously made an act of submission to the laws of the Republic―which was basically anti-Catholic. The former parish priest of Dardilly, Fr. Rey, did not reappear, and no one, from among the priests who had refused the oath, presented himself to claim back his local church. The Vianneys, who would in any case have refused to acknowledge a priest who had complied with the anti-Catholic decree, continued to attend secret Masses in private houses. France was now a missionary country―in some respects she was even worse off than that.
The revolutionary takeover of France has been replicated in many others countries since then―it is coming to the USA also. As Sr. Lucia revealed, the USA will be overrun by Communism/Socialism. Other prophecies speak of a revolution in the USA which will lead to a second civil war. St. John Vianney―and many other like him in those terrible times―shows us that sanctity and godliness is possible in a godless and sinful environment―but you have to want it, you have to pursue it and you have to suffer for it! Do we want it? Will we actively pursue it? Are we ready to suffer for it? As Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Are you preparing your family for sanctity and suffering? Or are you letting your family drift into worldliness, comfort and pleasure-seeking?
First Confession and First Communion
The diocesan bishop, Msgr. de Marbeuf, had left the country due to the persecution and arrests of the clergy, but Fr. Linsolas, his Vicar-General, disguised and in hiding, would not leave his post. He divided the diocese into groups of parishes, each group being entrusted to missionary priests who were in their turn assisted by lay catechists. All these priests lived in separate houses, nor did they dress as priests, and, by way of additional precaution, they took up some trade, even though they may not have been keen in its pursuit. Of the priests that served the Vianney parish, one priest acted as a carpenter and another priest as a cook. Moreover, they only went out at nightfall and avoided the highway when going to the house which had been selected for the celebration of Mass. It was to one of these priests that Jean-Marie made his first Confession at the age of eleven. In the two years that followed in preparation for his First Holy Communion, young Vianney seemed totally absorbed in God. He was forever at his prayers (like children today are forever on their smartphones or in front of some screen or another), and he seemed to have no taste for anything else.
Time for Work! Time to Pray!
The time was now come when Jean-Marie was considered fit for heavy work, for the flocks could be tended by the younger Vianney children, while Jean-Marie could assist his father, his eldest brother, and the farm laborer. According to the season, he tilled the ground, loosened the earth round the vine, gathered the nuts and apples, dug trenches, pruned trees, etc. The cattle had to be taken care of whilst in the stable. Then there was the haymaking and harvesting, the gathering of the grapes, and the labor of the wine-press. For Jean-Marie all these were actions of importance, inasmuch as he was wont to offer them to God. In later years, he gave away the secret of his inner life during those youthful years. In one of his catechisms he says : “O what a beautiful thing it is to do all things in union with the good God! Courage, my soul, if you work with God; you shall, indeed, do the work, but he will bless it; you shall walk and he will bless your steps. Everything shall be taken count of, the forgoing of a look, of some gratification―all shall be recorded. There are people who make profits out of everything―even the winter. If it is cold they offer their little sufferings to God. O what a beautiful thing it is to offer oneself, each morning, as a victim to God!” In this manner Jean-Marie sanctified himself whilst at work in the field or in the house. The supernatural world was ever present to him, but for all that he was neither a slacker nor a dreamer, his being a healthy and active temperament.
We are here talking about an eleven-year-old boy! What do the eleven-year-olds of today do by comparison? For today’s eleven-year-olds it all play and little work! They watch TV, many of them now have their own smartphones―across Europe, about 46% of children 9 to 16 own a smartphone; in the USA about 45% of US children aged 10 to 12 had their own smartphone. Who wants to work when you play with your smartphone? The average age for a child getting their first smartphone is now 10.3 years. 39% of children get a social media account at 11.4 years. 11% got a social media account when they were younger than 10. A study shows that by age 12, a full 50% of children have social media. For 8- to 12-year-olds, the average time spent using screen media every day was 4 hours and 36 minutes, according to a 2015 Common Sense Media report. Tablets have surged from 26% to 55% usage as kids’ device of choice during car rides. Smartphones trail at 45% (up from 39% in 2012). 64% of children have access to the Internet via their own laptop or tablet, compared to just 42% in 2012
The two Vianney brothers, the elder Francois and Jean-Marie, worked side by side in the fields. They went forward in silence, like two Trappists. Lest he should inconvenience his brother, Jean-Marie prayed silently. When, however, he found himself alone in the fields, he gave full vent to his prayers, saying them at the top of his voice. He remained true to the habit formed in childhood, of “blessing the hour,” but to the “Hail Mary”―which he was accustomed to say as the village clock struck and sounded out each hour of the day, he now added more prayers. After the midday meal, when all were laying down to rest, Jean-Marie stretched himself on the grass like the others, but, whilst pretending to sleep, he gave himself up to fervent prayer.
At nightfall those workers who lived in the same quarter often returned home together forming merry groups. There was much talk, snatches of songs, and at times, much to the distress of Jean-Marie, rough jokes would be exchanged. At this hour of the day, when even nature seems to recollect herself, he felt the need of solitude and silence. Resolutely he would walk behind the others, absorbed in prayer and fingering his beads―his lips moved constantly. Some of his fellow-laborers would turn round to contemplate so good and pious a boy; others, infected by the spirit of the times, made fun of his piety. “Francois!” they jeered, “Aren’t you going to mumble prayers with Jean-Marie?” Francois resented these taunts of which his brother was the victim, but he only blushed and made no reply. However, Jean-Marie soon reduced the scoffers to silence. He was very observant; the defects of others did not escape him, and his witty and pointed replies could be both swift and very much to the point. But he chose to keep silence and to go on with his Rosary : after a while the foolish young men felt uncomfortable and were glad to change the subject. No doubt it was these same companions who deemed it funny to hide Jean-Marie’s tools. It would seem that this feeble joke was frequently repeated. The patience of the meekest would have been sorely tried, but Jean-Marie was apparently incapable of resentment. With a smile on his lips he would look in the hedge for his shovel or his hoe, and, having found it, he quietly proceeded with his task.
The Resurrection of the Church in France
In the meantime a new day was dawning for the Church of France. The first Consul (the leader of the revolutionary government) was keen on re-establishing order in the country by the restoration of internal peace. He had the wisdom to understand that unless he took account of religion, his work would not last. A concordat (agreement) was negotiated with the Pope. This famous document was signed at Paris, July 16th, 1801, ratified in Rome on August 15th and on April 5th, 1802, it became law in France. Who could describe the emotion of the people of Paris when in the early dawn of April 18th the great bell of Notre-Dame, which had been dumb during ten long years, filled the sky with its song of victory, proclaiming at one and the same time the feast of Easter and the resurrection of the Catholic Church in France.
The Vianneys, and Jean-Marie in particular, shed tears of joy on learning the glorious news. Exile having robbed him of neither his lawful title of parish priest nor of the affection of his flock, Fr. Jacques Rey had returned from exile to Dardilly a few months earlier. As early as the spring of 1802 the feasts of the Church―which were but a vague memory for Jean-Marie―once again began to be observed with all the pomp that had characterized them prior to the revolutionary storm. When the feast of Corpus Christi came round, Jean-Marie plucked the roses on the garden hedge and scattered their petals along the road, and helped his brothers and sisters to weave garlands of box and holly. His whole being exulted as the church doors opened wide and the monstrance shed its golden rays upon the praying multitude amid the strains of hymns to the Blessed Sacrament. Henceforth, whenever it was possible, Jean-Marie tried to visit the church before going to work, for he needed courage―the day was so long and the toil was hard!
A Thirst For God
In the summer months, when it was day before the Angelus, advantage must be taken of the additional hour of light, hence the time of early Mass would find Jean-Marie already in the fields. The devout youth never shirked work under pretence of piety, his religion made him obedient, and he was wholly free from scrupulosity. So he united himself with the priest from afar by saying five Our Fathers and five Hail Marys, and his keen longing for the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ filled his heart with heavenly sweetness. Times there were, however, when he experienced an irresistible attraction to the church; this happened especially on certain afternoons when the chiming of the bell announced that there would be Benediction. His father was a victim to rheumatism, so, in order to secure permission to run to church, Jean-Marie would say: “Father, let me off for half an hour and I'll pray that you may be freed from your pain.”
Even during the years of persecution, when the decadi was the legal day of rest, the Vianneys had not ceased to sanctify the Lord’s day. During the night of Saturday to Sunday they assisted at the Mass of some hunted faithful priest, the remainder of the day being spent in prayer, holy reading and in visiting friends and relations. The restoration of public worship entailed but little change in their mode of life, except, of course, that their piety benefited immensely by the general revival of religion, and the example of their own son must have proved a great incentive to perfection.
On Sunday Jean-Marie was soon ready for church. He remained in the house of God for as long a time as possible, gazing intently upon the tabernacle, kneeling in adoration like one of the angels that worship there and proving a source of edification to all who beheld him. As he advanced in piety, Jean-Marie's thirst for religious knowledge increased. Unfortunately, with the exception of Sunday, the only time he could give to study was a few moments at night. Above his bed in the stable was a small shelf, still to be seen, on which he kept his devotional books. In the unsteady light of a candle made of resin he would read from one of his books, selecting at one time the Gospels, at another the Imitation. Francois, his elder brother, who occupied the same bed, would have preferred to sleep.
For some time he bore with his younger brother, but in the end he informed their mother, who wisely forbade Jean-Marie to prolong his reading and commanded him to take the rest he needed. He obeyed without a murmur, but whilst Francois slept, Jean-Marie lay awake for many an hour of the silent night, thinking of God and his own future career.
The Desire for the Priesthood Grows
What were his thoughts? Deep down in his soul he heard an echo of the voice which once on the shore of the lake of Galilee called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow Jesus. Jean-Marie wished to become a priest. This secret longing was the explanation of his holy life. But how is such an ambition to be realized? He is nearly seventeen years old, his elementary studies are quite inadequate, yet he must needs learn Latin. And what will his people say when he declares his secret? Where his mother is concerned, he feels easy enough-she will gladly give her favorite child to the Lord. But his father? He is indeed given to works of charity, but his piety is more pedestrian, for his mind is absorbed by the rough labour of the fields. Conscription is about to claim Francois unless he is bought out of the army, and Catherine is engaged to be married and must be provided with a dowry. Thus the outlook for Jean-Marie is none too bright. Yet there are souls to be saved! So many parishes are without priests; so many children are deprived of all religious teaching and of the Sacraments. Is so rich a harvest to be lost for the lack of laborers? It is well worth his while to face every difficulty, to master every obstacle.
His mother and then his aunt received his earliest confidences. From the first he stated the true motive of his vocation: “If I were a priest I should gain many souls to God!” In this quarter his intention was approved without discussion or argument; all he did was to throw himself into the arms of his mother who wept happy tears. The rugged father would prove more difficult. Jean-Marie appears to have hesitated before revealing his secret. Encouraged by his mother, he at last took heart and spoke to his father whilst they were both resting after their work. Jean-Marie’s forebodings proved only too well-founded. Matthieu Vianney remained inflexible in his refusal. He had just paid the dowry of Catherine, recently married to Mr. Melin of Ecully, and had bought Francois out of the army―for Francois had drawn an unlucky number in the military service lottery and a substitute had to be found―surely it would spell ruin if he were now asked to pay for the education of Jean-Marie! Was there anything so precarious as a priest’s life? And who would undertake the education of a youth of eighteen? Was there a chance that he would succeed? Silence was the only answer of the disappointed youth.
Matthieu Vianney related to his wife the confidences that had passed between him and his son and his own decision. The good woman pleaded in vain that the best and most hard working of their children was concerned―her very arguments served to defeat the object she had at heart. Jean-Marie was a reliable and experienced worker―it was an additional reason that he should stay at home. Besides, Matthieu was ageing; was he to engage yet another farm hand? Good man as he was, he could not see his way to surrender his treasure even to God. The struggle was long and obstinate and lasted for close on two years.
Bearing the Pain in Silence
Jean-Marie kept silence, but his face betrayed his thoughts. His exemplary conduct might have convinced the obstinate father that here he was confronted with an irresistible vocation which would never capitulate, the more so that the young man had the approval of his confessor. It is probable that Jean-Marie confided to Fr. Rey both his longing and his disappointment. Unfortunately during the years of exile that venerable priest had contracted several painful infirmities. At the beginning of 1803 the ecclesiastical authority had indeed confirmed his title as parish priest of Dardilly, but within a few months he sent in his resignation and retired to Lyons. Fr. Jacques Tournier replaced him on July 7th, but it took time before he became acquainted with the Vianney family. However, God was not unmindful of his lowly and generous servant. He was even then preparing the way by which he was to reach both the priesthood and the heights of sanctity.
God Never Abandons His Beloved
Once the chains and shackles were removed from Church in France, Cardinal Fesch entrusted Bishop de Merinville with the duty of reorganizing the diocese of Lyons. Thus, at the same time that the once exiled Fr. Rey was re-appointed
to parish in Dardilly, another priest, Fr. Charles Bailey, was named parish priest of the nearby parish Ecully. On his appointment to Ecully, Fr. Bailey’s first care was to uncover any potential ecclesiastical vocations. The husband of Catherine Vianney (Jean-Marie’s older sister), himself an excellent Catholic, mentioned this fact to his youthful brother-in-law, Jean-Marie. Fr. Bailey was no stranger to Jean-Marie, since he had assisted at the faithful priest’s secret Masses during the French Revolution’s “Reign of Terror”.
Jean-Marie's hopes quickened when he heard of the existence of the small presbytery school. Was not this a favorable occasion for a supreme effort to win over his father? His mother, who had never failed to encourage her son's vocation, once more undertook to plead on his behalf. She pointed out to her husband that there was no question of sending their boy to a distant seminary. He would remain close at hand, at Ecully, where he had made his first Communion, and where he would lodge with the Humberts. The outlay would not be considerable; Jean Marie would go to M. Bailey for lessons only; he would have his board as well as his lodging with his Aunt Marguerite. After all, what else did their boy seek but to do the will of God? Matthieu Vianney’s resistance was at an end. “Since the boy has set his heart on this thing,” he said, “we cannot oppose him any longer!”
On hearing the good news, Jean-Marie urged his mother to call on Fr. Bailey without further delay. Therefore Marie Vianney, accompanied by her sister Marguerite Humbert, presented herself at the presbytery of Ecully. Tall and slender, Fr. Bailey looked imposing, almost awe-inspiring. Taking their courage in both hands, the two women stated the purpose of their visit. No doubt they explained how the youth came to hear the divine call. They spoke of his ever increasing piety and his exemplary conduct. Fr. Bailey listened but would not commit himself. The two women insisted.
“No, I cannot, I cannot!” the priest declared.
The first interview had proved a failure. The messengers communicated the sad news to Catherine’s husband. At their request Mr. Melin undertook to plead once more with Fr. Bailey, only to be met with another refusal.
“But,” said Mr. Melin, “you should at least consent to interview my brother-in-law. I am sure you will accept him as soon as you see him.”
“Very well, let him come!” said the priest reluctantly.
Thus it came about that, accompanied by his mother, the lowly field laborer presented himself before him who was destined to introduce him into the vineyard of the Lord. The austere M. Bailey closely scrutinized the nineteen-year-old Young man, who looked so pale and lean, but also so earnest and recollected. He made him talk, and found him well informed in religious subjects, and the frank and open countenance of the young man, decided the priest to admit him among his pupils. Turning to Jean-Marie, the priest said in a very kindly voice: “Do not worry, my friend; if need be I will sacrifice myself for your sake!”
Parents can give their child the best possible religious and virtuous training at home prior to the child’s school years, but when the child leaves home for its first day of many a long year under the tutelage of schools, then the child enters a battlefield and war for the Faith. Parents could well say to their children―not just on the first day of school, but on every day of the child’s school life―the very same words that Our Lord addressed to His Apostles and disciples when He sent them out from the safety of His company to preach in the world: “Go! Behold I send you as lambs among wolves!” (Luke 10:3). Parents could add the words of Holy Scripture, saying: “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
No Guarantees!
The world is sown with both wheat and cockle. Nobody is guaranteed a good and successful crop―and, likewise, nobody is guaranteed salvation! As Scripture warns: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). That is why Our Lord says that few are saved: “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). Most parents run and raise their families as if “Many are called and all are chosen!” In other words, most parents are guilty of the sin of presumption―they presume that they and their children will be saved, without taking much care to ensure that this will actually be the case! They―stupidly or ignorantly―pay no attention to the words of Our Lord, Who warns:
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Our Lord spoke often in such a manner. Holy Scripture relates of an instance where this frightening message really “got to” a man, and he nervously questioned Our Lord on the matter: “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
Waste of Time!
How many parents drill home this truth to their children―not just once, but repeatedly, over and over again, year after year? Salvation is the most important issue facing each and every soul―yet we spend more time thinking over worldly and earthly matters than we dedicate to reflecting upon heavenly and eternal matters: such as our salvation! What a waste of time to spend most of our time on things that will ultimately end in some years―and to neglect time in working for a time that will never end―our eternity and our salvation! As Jesus says: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” Matthew 16:26). Is that how we think? Is that how we talk? Is that how we live? If not―then our children will not live for that either!
The Example of Little John Vianney
We can do no better than quote the passage from Fr. Trochu’s biography of St. John Vianney, where he outlines the behavior, piety and attitude of a 7-year-old John Vianney:
“In 1793, little Jean-Marie attained his seventh year. He was then big enough to make himself useful. His principal task was to tend the flocks … Twice daily he drove out the donkey, the cows, and the sheep to graze, leading by the hand his little sister Gothon, On reaching the meadow, brother and sister, obedient to their mother's advice, went down upon their knees in order to dedicate to God the task they were about to perform. After that they gave their undivided attention to the flock, careful lest the cows damage the crops of the neighbors. Gothon loved to spend the time talking to her brother, who had a gift for story-telling. Jean-Marie told her stories out of the Old and New Testament; he also taught her her prayers and gave her various spiritual counsels …
“In a hollow of the trunk Jean-Marie sometimes placed his little statue, and after surrounding it with moss, branches of trees and flowers, he knelt down to say his Rosary. At other times he erected a kind of shrine for his statue. With clay from the river bank he constructed little chapels or molded statues of saints and priests. In this way he made a statue of the Blessed Virgin, which was judged quite good; in fact, his father had it hardened in the oven, and it was long kept at the house of the Vianneys. As soon as the altar was ready, he and Gothon, with vague memories of processions and festivals now suppressed by the revolutionary government, sang together what bits of religious canticles they could remember.
“Other young shepherds tended their flocks in the same district, and not all of them were suitable companions for well brought-up children. Some of these occasionally passed over to the Vianneys’ meadow to look at the shrine. Jean-Marie replied to their questions without either embarrassment or annoyance. But how was it that these children, who were of the same age as our saint, were yet ignorant of the meaning of those images? Alas! Less devout and attentive, they had already forgotten the beautiful ceremonies of Sundays and holidays. Little Vianney became the teacher of these poor children. He constituted himself their catechist … The ‘congregation’ of children being somewhat restless, the sermon had of necessity to be short. He organized processions. Thus it came about that, whilst throughout France religious ceremonies were being suppressed, a band of children were walking in procession behind a cross formed of two sticks. The Rosary was recited, and childish hymns were sung ... Apart from these pious games, the little preacher did not much like the companionship of other children. Their rough and noisy games, and at times their language, were distasteful to him. However, to please them, he occasionally agreed to play with them.” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
Vianney Goes to School
Jean-Marie Vianney was not by any means a dull boy, but it must be confessed that when he reached his ninth year, apart from religious subjects, he was almost wholly lacking in human learning. His older sister had taught him to read and write, and he could spell the words contained in a Prayer-Book, but for all that it was high time he went to school. Unfortunately his home town could no longer boast of a school. A law that the revolutionary government had passed in 1793, ruled that on reaching their sixth, or, at latest, their eighth year, all children should attend the public schools for three consecutive years―parents were threatened with a fine equal to a quarter of the taxes paid by them. All children were to receive an identical and compulsory non-religious and secular education. No one was to be permitted to teach unless he had taken the oath and secured a certificate of what in the revolutionary jargon was called “civism”―which was basically an oath of allegiance to the secular anti-Catholic state. The office of schoolmaster could not be exercised by a priest nor a former member of a religious congregation. Everywhere there was a lack of these anti-religious teachers. Thus it came to pass that, on the death of the worthy Catholic man who had kept the small school of Dardilly, the school was closed for good.
Later, however, revolutionary government abolished the “Oath of Civism”―previously required from teachers―and extended to all citizens the right to teach. As a consequence, a man named Dumas re-opened the school at Dardilly (the home town of Jean-Marie Vianney). During the long winter evenings Jean-Marie could be seen learning his catechism or teaching it to his younger sister Gothon, or reading aloud the lives of the saints―during which he would be devoutly listened to both by his parents and their guests, the poor. Not all men are equal―despite what the revolution says―and not all men are saints! Not all children were as well-behaved and studious as Jean-Marie Vianney. Mr. Dumas, the teacher, was constantly rebuking many of the other children for lacking in the virtues manifested by Jean-Marie. The little Vianney shows us that if we are serious about our Faith and our love for God, then no matter how bad the soil may be in which we have been planted, nor how much cockle we are surrounded with, we can still overcome those obstacles and become saints.
The church, alas, remained closed. At the death of the rabid revolutionary Robespierre, hope momentarily revived, for the persecution became less violent. Nevertheless, even though some churches were allowed to be reopened, a new decree declared that no one could exercise any religious functions in whatever churches might be reopened, unless he had previously made an act of submission to the laws of the Republic―which was basically anti-Catholic. The former parish priest of Dardilly, Fr. Rey, did not reappear, and no one, from among the priests who had refused the oath, presented himself to claim back his local church. The Vianneys, who would in any case have refused to acknowledge a priest who had complied with the anti-Catholic decree, continued to attend secret Masses in private houses. France was now a missionary country―in some respects she was even worse off than that.
The revolutionary takeover of France has been replicated in many others countries since then―it is coming to the USA also. As Sr. Lucia revealed, the USA will be overrun by Communism/Socialism. Other prophecies speak of a revolution in the USA which will lead to a second civil war. St. John Vianney―and many other like him in those terrible times―shows us that sanctity and godliness is possible in a godless and sinful environment―but you have to want it, you have to pursue it and you have to suffer for it! Do we want it? Will we actively pursue it? Are we ready to suffer for it? As Our Lord said: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Are you preparing your family for sanctity and suffering? Or are you letting your family drift into worldliness, comfort and pleasure-seeking?
First Confession and First Communion
The diocesan bishop, Msgr. de Marbeuf, had left the country due to the persecution and arrests of the clergy, but Fr. Linsolas, his Vicar-General, disguised and in hiding, would not leave his post. He divided the diocese into groups of parishes, each group being entrusted to missionary priests who were in their turn assisted by lay catechists. All these priests lived in separate houses, nor did they dress as priests, and, by way of additional precaution, they took up some trade, even though they may not have been keen in its pursuit. Of the priests that served the Vianney parish, one priest acted as a carpenter and another priest as a cook. Moreover, they only went out at nightfall and avoided the highway when going to the house which had been selected for the celebration of Mass. It was to one of these priests that Jean-Marie made his first Confession at the age of eleven. In the two years that followed in preparation for his First Holy Communion, young Vianney seemed totally absorbed in God. He was forever at his prayers (like children today are forever on their smartphones or in front of some screen or another), and he seemed to have no taste for anything else.
Time for Work! Time to Pray!
The time was now come when Jean-Marie was considered fit for heavy work, for the flocks could be tended by the younger Vianney children, while Jean-Marie could assist his father, his eldest brother, and the farm laborer. According to the season, he tilled the ground, loosened the earth round the vine, gathered the nuts and apples, dug trenches, pruned trees, etc. The cattle had to be taken care of whilst in the stable. Then there was the haymaking and harvesting, the gathering of the grapes, and the labor of the wine-press. For Jean-Marie all these were actions of importance, inasmuch as he was wont to offer them to God. In later years, he gave away the secret of his inner life during those youthful years. In one of his catechisms he says : “O what a beautiful thing it is to do all things in union with the good God! Courage, my soul, if you work with God; you shall, indeed, do the work, but he will bless it; you shall walk and he will bless your steps. Everything shall be taken count of, the forgoing of a look, of some gratification―all shall be recorded. There are people who make profits out of everything―even the winter. If it is cold they offer their little sufferings to God. O what a beautiful thing it is to offer oneself, each morning, as a victim to God!” In this manner Jean-Marie sanctified himself whilst at work in the field or in the house. The supernatural world was ever present to him, but for all that he was neither a slacker nor a dreamer, his being a healthy and active temperament.
We are here talking about an eleven-year-old boy! What do the eleven-year-olds of today do by comparison? For today’s eleven-year-olds it all play and little work! They watch TV, many of them now have their own smartphones―across Europe, about 46% of children 9 to 16 own a smartphone; in the USA about 45% of US children aged 10 to 12 had their own smartphone. Who wants to work when you play with your smartphone? The average age for a child getting their first smartphone is now 10.3 years. 39% of children get a social media account at 11.4 years. 11% got a social media account when they were younger than 10. A study shows that by age 12, a full 50% of children have social media. For 8- to 12-year-olds, the average time spent using screen media every day was 4 hours and 36 minutes, according to a 2015 Common Sense Media report. Tablets have surged from 26% to 55% usage as kids’ device of choice during car rides. Smartphones trail at 45% (up from 39% in 2012). 64% of children have access to the Internet via their own laptop or tablet, compared to just 42% in 2012
The two Vianney brothers, the elder Francois and Jean-Marie, worked side by side in the fields. They went forward in silence, like two Trappists. Lest he should inconvenience his brother, Jean-Marie prayed silently. When, however, he found himself alone in the fields, he gave full vent to his prayers, saying them at the top of his voice. He remained true to the habit formed in childhood, of “blessing the hour,” but to the “Hail Mary”―which he was accustomed to say as the village clock struck and sounded out each hour of the day, he now added more prayers. After the midday meal, when all were laying down to rest, Jean-Marie stretched himself on the grass like the others, but, whilst pretending to sleep, he gave himself up to fervent prayer.
At nightfall those workers who lived in the same quarter often returned home together forming merry groups. There was much talk, snatches of songs, and at times, much to the distress of Jean-Marie, rough jokes would be exchanged. At this hour of the day, when even nature seems to recollect herself, he felt the need of solitude and silence. Resolutely he would walk behind the others, absorbed in prayer and fingering his beads―his lips moved constantly. Some of his fellow-laborers would turn round to contemplate so good and pious a boy; others, infected by the spirit of the times, made fun of his piety. “Francois!” they jeered, “Aren’t you going to mumble prayers with Jean-Marie?” Francois resented these taunts of which his brother was the victim, but he only blushed and made no reply. However, Jean-Marie soon reduced the scoffers to silence. He was very observant; the defects of others did not escape him, and his witty and pointed replies could be both swift and very much to the point. But he chose to keep silence and to go on with his Rosary : after a while the foolish young men felt uncomfortable and were glad to change the subject. No doubt it was these same companions who deemed it funny to hide Jean-Marie’s tools. It would seem that this feeble joke was frequently repeated. The patience of the meekest would have been sorely tried, but Jean-Marie was apparently incapable of resentment. With a smile on his lips he would look in the hedge for his shovel or his hoe, and, having found it, he quietly proceeded with his task.
The Resurrection of the Church in France
In the meantime a new day was dawning for the Church of France. The first Consul (the leader of the revolutionary government) was keen on re-establishing order in the country by the restoration of internal peace. He had the wisdom to understand that unless he took account of religion, his work would not last. A concordat (agreement) was negotiated with the Pope. This famous document was signed at Paris, July 16th, 1801, ratified in Rome on August 15th and on April 5th, 1802, it became law in France. Who could describe the emotion of the people of Paris when in the early dawn of April 18th the great bell of Notre-Dame, which had been dumb during ten long years, filled the sky with its song of victory, proclaiming at one and the same time the feast of Easter and the resurrection of the Catholic Church in France.
The Vianneys, and Jean-Marie in particular, shed tears of joy on learning the glorious news. Exile having robbed him of neither his lawful title of parish priest nor of the affection of his flock, Fr. Jacques Rey had returned from exile to Dardilly a few months earlier. As early as the spring of 1802 the feasts of the Church―which were but a vague memory for Jean-Marie―once again began to be observed with all the pomp that had characterized them prior to the revolutionary storm. When the feast of Corpus Christi came round, Jean-Marie plucked the roses on the garden hedge and scattered their petals along the road, and helped his brothers and sisters to weave garlands of box and holly. His whole being exulted as the church doors opened wide and the monstrance shed its golden rays upon the praying multitude amid the strains of hymns to the Blessed Sacrament. Henceforth, whenever it was possible, Jean-Marie tried to visit the church before going to work, for he needed courage―the day was so long and the toil was hard!
A Thirst For God
In the summer months, when it was day before the Angelus, advantage must be taken of the additional hour of light, hence the time of early Mass would find Jean-Marie already in the fields. The devout youth never shirked work under pretence of piety, his religion made him obedient, and he was wholly free from scrupulosity. So he united himself with the priest from afar by saying five Our Fathers and five Hail Marys, and his keen longing for the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ filled his heart with heavenly sweetness. Times there were, however, when he experienced an irresistible attraction to the church; this happened especially on certain afternoons when the chiming of the bell announced that there would be Benediction. His father was a victim to rheumatism, so, in order to secure permission to run to church, Jean-Marie would say: “Father, let me off for half an hour and I'll pray that you may be freed from your pain.”
Even during the years of persecution, when the decadi was the legal day of rest, the Vianneys had not ceased to sanctify the Lord’s day. During the night of Saturday to Sunday they assisted at the Mass of some hunted faithful priest, the remainder of the day being spent in prayer, holy reading and in visiting friends and relations. The restoration of public worship entailed but little change in their mode of life, except, of course, that their piety benefited immensely by the general revival of religion, and the example of their own son must have proved a great incentive to perfection.
On Sunday Jean-Marie was soon ready for church. He remained in the house of God for as long a time as possible, gazing intently upon the tabernacle, kneeling in adoration like one of the angels that worship there and proving a source of edification to all who beheld him. As he advanced in piety, Jean-Marie's thirst for religious knowledge increased. Unfortunately, with the exception of Sunday, the only time he could give to study was a few moments at night. Above his bed in the stable was a small shelf, still to be seen, on which he kept his devotional books. In the unsteady light of a candle made of resin he would read from one of his books, selecting at one time the Gospels, at another the Imitation. Francois, his elder brother, who occupied the same bed, would have preferred to sleep.
For some time he bore with his younger brother, but in the end he informed their mother, who wisely forbade Jean-Marie to prolong his reading and commanded him to take the rest he needed. He obeyed without a murmur, but whilst Francois slept, Jean-Marie lay awake for many an hour of the silent night, thinking of God and his own future career.
The Desire for the Priesthood Grows
What were his thoughts? Deep down in his soul he heard an echo of the voice which once on the shore of the lake of Galilee called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow Jesus. Jean-Marie wished to become a priest. This secret longing was the explanation of his holy life. But how is such an ambition to be realized? He is nearly seventeen years old, his elementary studies are quite inadequate, yet he must needs learn Latin. And what will his people say when he declares his secret? Where his mother is concerned, he feels easy enough-she will gladly give her favorite child to the Lord. But his father? He is indeed given to works of charity, but his piety is more pedestrian, for his mind is absorbed by the rough labour of the fields. Conscription is about to claim Francois unless he is bought out of the army, and Catherine is engaged to be married and must be provided with a dowry. Thus the outlook for Jean-Marie is none too bright. Yet there are souls to be saved! So many parishes are without priests; so many children are deprived of all religious teaching and of the Sacraments. Is so rich a harvest to be lost for the lack of laborers? It is well worth his while to face every difficulty, to master every obstacle.
His mother and then his aunt received his earliest confidences. From the first he stated the true motive of his vocation: “If I were a priest I should gain many souls to God!” In this quarter his intention was approved without discussion or argument; all he did was to throw himself into the arms of his mother who wept happy tears. The rugged father would prove more difficult. Jean-Marie appears to have hesitated before revealing his secret. Encouraged by his mother, he at last took heart and spoke to his father whilst they were both resting after their work. Jean-Marie’s forebodings proved only too well-founded. Matthieu Vianney remained inflexible in his refusal. He had just paid the dowry of Catherine, recently married to Mr. Melin of Ecully, and had bought Francois out of the army―for Francois had drawn an unlucky number in the military service lottery and a substitute had to be found―surely it would spell ruin if he were now asked to pay for the education of Jean-Marie! Was there anything so precarious as a priest’s life? And who would undertake the education of a youth of eighteen? Was there a chance that he would succeed? Silence was the only answer of the disappointed youth.
Matthieu Vianney related to his wife the confidences that had passed between him and his son and his own decision. The good woman pleaded in vain that the best and most hard working of their children was concerned―her very arguments served to defeat the object she had at heart. Jean-Marie was a reliable and experienced worker―it was an additional reason that he should stay at home. Besides, Matthieu was ageing; was he to engage yet another farm hand? Good man as he was, he could not see his way to surrender his treasure even to God. The struggle was long and obstinate and lasted for close on two years.
Bearing the Pain in Silence
Jean-Marie kept silence, but his face betrayed his thoughts. His exemplary conduct might have convinced the obstinate father that here he was confronted with an irresistible vocation which would never capitulate, the more so that the young man had the approval of his confessor. It is probable that Jean-Marie confided to Fr. Rey both his longing and his disappointment. Unfortunately during the years of exile that venerable priest had contracted several painful infirmities. At the beginning of 1803 the ecclesiastical authority had indeed confirmed his title as parish priest of Dardilly, but within a few months he sent in his resignation and retired to Lyons. Fr. Jacques Tournier replaced him on July 7th, but it took time before he became acquainted with the Vianney family. However, God was not unmindful of his lowly and generous servant. He was even then preparing the way by which he was to reach both the priesthood and the heights of sanctity.
God Never Abandons His Beloved
Once the chains and shackles were removed from Church in France, Cardinal Fesch entrusted Bishop de Merinville with the duty of reorganizing the diocese of Lyons. Thus, at the same time that the once exiled Fr. Rey was re-appointed
to parish in Dardilly, another priest, Fr. Charles Bailey, was named parish priest of the nearby parish Ecully. On his appointment to Ecully, Fr. Bailey’s first care was to uncover any potential ecclesiastical vocations. The husband of Catherine Vianney (Jean-Marie’s older sister), himself an excellent Catholic, mentioned this fact to his youthful brother-in-law, Jean-Marie. Fr. Bailey was no stranger to Jean-Marie, since he had assisted at the faithful priest’s secret Masses during the French Revolution’s “Reign of Terror”.
Jean-Marie's hopes quickened when he heard of the existence of the small presbytery school. Was not this a favorable occasion for a supreme effort to win over his father? His mother, who had never failed to encourage her son's vocation, once more undertook to plead on his behalf. She pointed out to her husband that there was no question of sending their boy to a distant seminary. He would remain close at hand, at Ecully, where he had made his first Communion, and where he would lodge with the Humberts. The outlay would not be considerable; Jean Marie would go to M. Bailey for lessons only; he would have his board as well as his lodging with his Aunt Marguerite. After all, what else did their boy seek but to do the will of God? Matthieu Vianney’s resistance was at an end. “Since the boy has set his heart on this thing,” he said, “we cannot oppose him any longer!”
On hearing the good news, Jean-Marie urged his mother to call on Fr. Bailey without further delay. Therefore Marie Vianney, accompanied by her sister Marguerite Humbert, presented herself at the presbytery of Ecully. Tall and slender, Fr. Bailey looked imposing, almost awe-inspiring. Taking their courage in both hands, the two women stated the purpose of their visit. No doubt they explained how the youth came to hear the divine call. They spoke of his ever increasing piety and his exemplary conduct. Fr. Bailey listened but would not commit himself. The two women insisted.
“No, I cannot, I cannot!” the priest declared.
The first interview had proved a failure. The messengers communicated the sad news to Catherine’s husband. At their request Mr. Melin undertook to plead once more with Fr. Bailey, only to be met with another refusal.
“But,” said Mr. Melin, “you should at least consent to interview my brother-in-law. I am sure you will accept him as soon as you see him.”
“Very well, let him come!” said the priest reluctantly.
Thus it came about that, accompanied by his mother, the lowly field laborer presented himself before him who was destined to introduce him into the vineyard of the Lord. The austere M. Bailey closely scrutinized the nineteen-year-old Young man, who looked so pale and lean, but also so earnest and recollected. He made him talk, and found him well informed in religious subjects, and the frank and open countenance of the young man, decided the priest to admit him among his pupils. Turning to Jean-Marie, the priest said in a very kindly voice: “Do not worry, my friend; if need be I will sacrifice myself for your sake!”
Wednesday August 7th
Article 2
"Vianney Month" Begs For A "Vianney Fest"!
PART ONE : IT ALL STARTS AT HOME! IT ALL STARTS WITH PARENTS!
Article 2
"Vianney Month" Begs For A "Vianney Fest"!
PART ONE : IT ALL STARTS AT HOME! IT ALL STARTS WITH PARENTS!
Vianney Month? Vianney Fest?
Your initial reaction is likely to be: “What’s all this “Vianney Month” and “Vianney Fest” stuff? I’ve never heard of such a thing before! Is this some kind of gimmick?” Not really―it’s just that we’ve become minimalists in so many things and areas that anything out of the ordinary raises eyebrows. In bygone times, not only Church feasts, but also secular events, would be celebrated for several days. Hence we have the so-called “Octaves” of a feast, which meant that the feast day would be commemorated each day up to the eighth day after the feast. The only surviving “Octaves” in the currently liturgical calendar (Extraordinary Rite) are the Christmas Octave, the Octave of Easter and the Octave of Pentecost. In the secular domain, it was common to have wedding feasts that lasted several days. The same was true of funerals―where the wake would last several days and likewise for the post-funeral grieving.
So what has this got to do with St. John Vianney? Well, St. John Vianney was a great saint―some argue that he was the first secular or diocesan priest to be canonized, and he was also raised to the level of being given the title of Patron Saints of Diocesan Priests. This has an increased importance today―since we are experiencing a severe crisis among the clergy in our days, which in turn produces a crisis of Faith among the faithful. Furthermore, as for August being called “Vianney Month”―this has reference to the fact August plays a major part in St. John Vianney’s life. He was ordained a priest on August 12th 1815 and died on August 4th 1859. His feast was traditionally celebrated on August 8th (and still is celebrated on that day by those adhering to the Traditional Latin Rite or “Extraordinary Rite” as it now called), but the feast day has been changed and transferred by the modern Church to St. John Vianney’s date of death, which is August 4th. Nevertheless, whichever way you look at it, or whichever calendar you follow, August could be said to be “Vianney Month.” If we can―very broadly―call August “Vianney Month”, then it is also fitting that we have a “Vianney Fest” that goes beyond the limits of being confined to just one single day of celebration! So let the “Fest” begin! If this website had not suffered a temporary setback of being inaccessible for editing and posting new materials from August 2nd to August 5th, the “Vianney Fest” could have spanned the two current dates assigned for his feast day (August 4th and August 8th), ending on the anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood (August 12th)―thus giving a “Novena Celebration” (nine days of celebration). However, “better late than never”―as they say―and “half-a-loaf is better than none”! So here we go!
St. John Vianney―A Man of Our Times
If St. John Vianney was born in 1786 and died in 1859, then how on earth can be called a “Man of Our Times”? It is not the date of his birth or his death that makes him a man of our times, but the things that he experiences, underwent, faced and suffered that makes him a man of our times. His life―in its own way―is uncannily similar to our life today.
For those who think that sanctity is impossible in the times in which we now live, St. John Vianney is a clear proof to the contrary! He was born in terrible revolutionary times that saw the slaughter of thousands of Catholics―priests, religious and laity, among whom were the martyred and guillotined Carmelite Sisters of Compiègne [read about them here]―during the Reign of Terror which arose out of the French Revolution of 1789.
The French Revolution―Ultimately a Revolution Against God
St. John Vianney, as a boy, had to live in and suffer the consequences of a quasi-schismatic partially Catholic France―which had been dechristianized as a result of the French Revolution and a number of separate policies conducted by various governments of post-revolutionary France, between the start of the French Revolution in 1789 and the Concordat of 1801. The goal of the revolutionary campaign ranged from the public reclamation of the massive amounts of land, power, and money held by the Catholic Church in France, to the termination of Catholic religious practice and of the religion itself. What little John Vianney had to live through―who was three-years-old at the outbreak of the French Revolution and fifteen-years-old when things began to quieten down―is in one sense far, far more harmful to the Faith than what we are currently experiencing.
In August 1789, the Revolutionary State cancelled the taxing power of the Church and furthermore declared that all Church property in France belonged to the nation. Confiscations of Church property were ordered and Church properties were sold at public auction.
Fidelity to God Replaced by Fidelity to the State
In July 1790, the Revolutionary National Constituent Assembly published the Civil Constitution of the Clergy that stripped clerics of their special rights — the clergy were to be made employees of the state; they were to be elected by their parish or bishopric, and the number of bishoprics in France was to be reduced —all priests and bishops were required to swear an oath of fidelity to the new revolutionary order or face dismissal, deportation or death.
French priests had to receive Papal approval to sign such an oath, and Pope Pius VI spent almost eight months deliberating on the issue. In April of 1791, the Pope denounced the Revolutionary Constitution, resulting in a split in the French Catholic Church. Over fifty percent became abjuring priests (“jurors”) who obeyed the revolutionary government and its commands and requirements from the priests―there priest were also known as “constitutional clergy” because they accepted the revolutionary constitution. The faithful Catholic priests―the non-juring priests―were known as the “refractory clergy”.
In September 1792, the new revolutionary government legalized divorce―contrary to Catholic doctrine. At the same time, the State took control of the birth, death, and marriage registers away from the Church. An ever-increasing view that the Church was a counter-revolutionary force exacerbated the social and economic grievances and violence erupted in towns and cities across France.
Imprisonment, Exile, Torture and Massacre of Clergy and Religious
The French Revolution began with attacks on Church corruption (does that sound familiar?) and the wealth of the higher clergy. This evolved into the “Reign of Terror”―a two-year period that became violent than anything seen in modern European history. The new revolutionary authorities suppressed the Church, abolished the Catholic monarchy, nationalized Church property, exiled 30,000 priests and killed hundreds more.
In Paris, over a forty-eight-hour period beginning on September 2nd, 1792, as one new revolutionary ruling party was replaced by another, thus creating chaos, three Church bishops and more than two hundred priests were massacred by angry mobs―which came to be known as “The September Massacres”. Faithful priests, who would not conform to the new revolutionary commands and policies, were among those drowned, during mass executions, for treason. Priests and nuns were among the mass executions at Lyons, for advocating and practicing separatism from the revolutionary government. Hundreds more priests were imprisoned and made to suffer in abominable conditions in the port of Rochefort. Anti-Church laws were passed by the revolutionary national government, as well as by département councils (local government) throughout the country. Many of the acts of dechristianization in 1793 were motivated by the seizure of Church gold and silver to finance the war effort.
Abolishing the Catholic Religion
In November of 1793, the département council of Indre-et-Loire abolished the word dimanche (the French name for Sunday). The Catholic Gregorian calendar, an instrument decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, was replaced by the French Republican Calendar which abolished the Sabbath (Sunday), the feasts of any and all saints, and any references to the Church. They replaced the Catholic religious calendar with a Calendar of the Revolution, which abolished the reckoning or ordering of years from the time of Christ (e.g. 1789 AD or Anno Domini―meaning “in the year of the Lord”) and “started from scratch” by taking the the date of the French Revolution and calling it Year One. The feasts of the saints were replaced with Festivals of Liberty, Reason and the Supreme Being and such like secular and pagan feasts. The worship of God was replaced with the vague deistic Cult of the Supreme Being and the atheistic Cult of Reason, with the revolutionary government briefly mandating observance of the former in April 1794.
God’s Seven-Day-Week Replaced With a Ten-Day-Week
The seven-day-week became a ten-day-week instead. It soon became clear, however, that nine consecutive days of work were too much, and that international relations could not be carried out without reverting to the Gregorian system, which was still in use everywhere outside of France. Consequently, the Gregorian Calendar was restored in 1795.
Wiping-Out All Mention and Memory of Anything Religious
Anti-clerical parades were held, and the Archbishop of Paris, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel, was forced to resign his duties and made to replace his miter (the bishop’s pointed cap) with the red “Cap of Liberty.” Street and place names, that had any kind of religious connotation, were changed. Thus, the town of St. Tropez was renamed Héraclée. Religious holidays were banned and replaced with holidays to celebrate the harvest and other non-religious symbols. Many churches were converted into “temples of reason,” in which Deistic services were held. Local people often resisted this dechristianization and members of the clergy, who had resigned rather than give in to these revolutionary demands, were asked and even forced by any remaining faithful Catholic laity to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass again.
Six-Steps-Backward followed by One-Step-Forward
By early 1795―six years after the outbreak of the 1789 French Revolution―a slight return to some form of religion-based faith was beginning to take shape and a law, passed in February 1795, legalized public worship, although with strict limitations. The ringing of church bells, religious processions and displays of the Christian cross were still forbidden. As late as 1799―ten years after the start of the revolution―priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies. Persecution only worsened after the French Revolutionary army, which was conquering Europe, captured Rome in early 1798, and declared a new Roman Republic, imprisoning Pope Pius VI, who would die in captivity in Valence, France in 1799. However, after Napoleon seized control of the government in late 1799, France entered into year-long negotiations with new Pope Pius VII, resulting in the Concordat of 1801 between Revolutionary France and the Vatican. This Concordat formally ended the dechristianization period and established the rules for a relationship between the Catholic Church and the French Revolutionary State. The Concordat of 1801 endured for more than a century until it was ended by the government of the Third Republic of France, which established a policy of laïcité (secularism) on December 11th, 1905.
Secularism―the “Soft Revolution”
Laïcité is a French concept of secularism. It discourages the involvement of any and all religious parties in government affairs, especially a religious influence in the determination of state policies and laws; it also forbids government involvement in religious affairs, and especially prohibits government influence in the determination of religion. However, laïcité doesn't automatically give a right to the free exercise of religion.
Proponents assert the French state secularism is based on respect for freedom of thought and freedom of religion. Thus the absence of a state religion, and the subsequent separation of the State and Church, is considered by proponents to be a prerequisite for such freedom of thought. Laïcité or secularism relies on the division between private life (to which religion is relegated) and the public sphere, in which each individual should appear as a simple citizen equal to all other citizens, devoid of ethnic, religious or other particularities. However, the public life is held to be more important than the private life, thus the State is more important than the Church, and the State can therefore, through its laws and policies, control the Church. This is a total reversal of the truth and policy required by God, whereby the Church dictates morality and policy to the State according to the laws and policies of God―or the Divine Law.
Welcome to the World, John Vianney
It was in this kind of environment that John Vianney was born―in 1786―on the brink and cusp of the 1789 French Revolution. It was amidst the above mentioned turmoil, oppression, persecution, confusion and division that he lived his childhood and adolescence. Our days―though they are bad―seem like a picnic or “a piece of cake” compared to the environment into which God’s Providence pitched the future saint. Yet saint he became―despite all the evil circumstances, all the odds stacked against the Faith and true faithful, all the threats against those who wished to preserve their Faith and all the attempts at destroying that Faith. If saints could grow in such a terrible, poisoned soil back then―it means that saints can also grow in our present terrible and poisoned soil also.
It All Starts At Home!
The Church teaches that parents are the primary and most important educators of their children. Today, many parents shirk or pass-on that responsibility to others―day-care establishments, nannies, schools, etc. Furthermore, the most important aspect of education is religious education―teaching children to know, love and serve God; teaching them to put God above all other things and to love Him above all other things and to “obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). This is exactly what the godly and faithful Catholic parents of John Vianney did―despite the terrible, atheistic, secular and anti-religious laws and sentiments that were being planted and sprouted all around them. Here are just a few extracts from Fr. François Trochu’s book, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney. Note that “Jean” is French for “John” and should not be mistaken for the English girl’s name “Jean”. The translator of Fr. Trochu’s book has kept the original French spelling of “Jean” for what we would translate as “John”―thus this same custom has been kept in all the quotes from his book. When you see the word “Jean”―think “John”. At least you will be able to brag that you now know at least one word of French!
“Soon―as the last comer and apparently a favorite from the Start―Jean [John] began to notice things. His mother took pleasure in pointing out to him the crucifix and the pious pictures … When the little arms became strong enough to move with some ease, she guided the tiny hand from the forehead to the breast, and from the breast to the shoulders [thus making the Sign of the Cross]. The child soon grew into the habit of doing this, so that one day―he was then about fifteen months old―his mother, having forgotten to help him to make the Sign of the Cross before giving him his food, the little one refused to open his mouth, at the same time vigorously shaking his head. Marie Vianney guessed what he meant, and, as soon as she had helped the tiny hand, the pursed-up lips opened spontaneously.
“His was one of those dispositions that are easily directed towards God. From the age of eighteen months, when the family met for night prayers, he would, of his own accord, kneel down with them―maybe merely from natural imitativeness―and he knew quite well how to join his little hands in prayer. Prayers ended, his pious mother put him to bed, and, before a final embrace, she bent over him, talking to him of Jesus, of Mary, of his Guardian Angel. In this way did the fond mother lull the child to sleep … Jean-Marie hardly ever left his mother’s side, busy as she was; on her part, she began the task of her little son’s education whilst doing her housework, teaching him in a manner that could be readily grasped by his childish mind. In this way she taught him the “Our Father” and the “Hail Mary” together with some elementary notions of God and of the soul … The little one, who was very wide awake for his age, would himself ask naive questions. What interested him most was the sweet mystery of Our Lord’s birth at Bethlehem and the story of the manger and the shepherds. These familiar talks were sometimes prolonged far into the night. For the sake of hearing the story of the Bible, Jean-Marie was willing to sit up late with his mother and Catherine, the most devout of his sisters.
“The boy had a Rosary which he greatly prized. Gothon, his sister, who was eighteen months younger, took a fancy to her brother’s beads, and, of course, wished to get possession of them. It came to a scene between brother and sister; there was screaming, stamping of feet, and even a preliminary skirmish, when suddenly, full of grief, the poor child ran to his mother. Gently, but firmly, she bade him give the beads to Gothon “Yes, my darling, give them to her for love of the good God.” Jean-Marie, though bathed in tears, immediately surrendered his precious Rosary. For a child of four this was surely no mean sacrifice! Instead of petting and fondling the child with a view to drying his tears, his mother gave him a small wooden statue of our Lady.
“The rude [meaning “very basic”] image had long stood on the mantelpiece of the kitchen chimney, and the little one had often wished to possess it. At last it was his, really his! What joy! “Oh how I loved that statue!” he confessed seventy years later; “neither by day nor by night would I be parted from it. I should not have slept had I not had it beside me in my little bed . . . the Blessed Virgin was the object of my earliest affections; I loved her even before I knew her.”
“Some of his contemporaries, his sister Marguerite in particular, have related how, at the first sound of the Angelus, he was on his knees before anybody else. At other times he might be found in a corner of the house kneeling before the image of our Lady, which he had placed on a chair. Children do not fall victims to the foolish disease called human respect. Wherever he happened to be, whether at home, in the garden, in the street, Jean-Marie, following the example of his mother, was in the habit of “blessing the hour”―that is, so soon as he heard the clock strike the each hour of the day―he would cross himself and recite a “Hail Mary,” ending with another sign of the cross
“Some women of the neighborhood, hearing the [four-year-old] child praying aloud, said to his parents: “He knows his litanies well. You will have to make him either a priest or a Brother.”
“Marie Vianney may not have had any inkling of the wonderful future of her favorite child; none the less, the beauty of his soul was precious in her eyes, and she spared no pains to keep from him the very shadow of sin : “See, my little Jean,” she used to say, “if your brothers and sisters were to offend the good God, it would indeed cause me much pain, but I should be far sorrier were you to offend Him.”
“Her Jean-Marie was no ordinary child. Even before the powers of his mind had reached their full development, the privileged child of grace had made the first step out of the common way, for this seems to be the true explanation of the following occurrence.
“One evening―he was then about four years old―Jean-Marie left the house unnoticed. As soon as his mother became aware of his absence, she called to him by his name―but no answer came. With ever-increasing anxiety she looked for him in the yard, behind the straw rick and the piles of timber. The little one was not to be found. Yet he never failed to answer the very first call. As she proceeded in the direction of the stable, where he might be hiding, the distracted mother suddenly remembered with horror that deep pond full of murky water, from which the cattle were wont to drink! But what was her surprise when she beheld the spectacle that now presented itself to her eyes? There, in a corner of the stable, among the cattle peacefully chewing the cud, was her boy on his knees, praying with folded hands before his little statue of our Lady. In an instant she had caught him in her arms, and, pressing him to her heart: “Oh my darling, you were here!” she cried, in a flood of tears. “Why hide yourself when you want to pray? You know we all say our prayers together!” The child, unable to think of anything but his mother’s grief, exclaimed: “Forgive me, mamma, I did not think! I will not do it again!”
Holy Parents Produce Holy Children―Worldly Parents Produce Worldly Children
“Mrs. Vianney was a woman of “eminent piety.” If at all possible, she would go to daily Mass. Catherine, her eldest daughter, accompanied her as a rule, but soon her favorite companion came to be the little four-year-old, whose precocious piety caused him to relish the things of God. Whenever the bells of the church nearby, announced that Mass was about to be said, Jean-Marie entreated his mother to let him go with her.
“The request was granted. She placed him before her in the family pew, and explained to him what the priest was doing at the altar. The child soon developed a love for the sacred ceremonies. However, his attention was divided: the embroidered vestment of the celebrant entranced him, whilst he was wholly overcome with admiration for the red cassock and white surplice of the altar boy. He, too, would have liked to serve at the altar, but how could his frail arms lift that heavy Missal? From time to time he turned to his mother; it was an inspiration merely to see her so absorbed in prayer, and as it were transfigured by an interior fire.
“In subsequent years, when people congratulated him on his early love for prayer and the Church, he used to say with many tears: “After God, I owe it to my mother; she was so good! Virtue passes readily from the heart of a mother into that of her children. A child that has the happiness of having a good mother, should never look at her or think of her without tears.”
“Whilst these homely scenes were being enacted in a small and obscure hamlet, events of an appalling nature had taken place in France” [meaning the French Revolution and its terrible aftermath]. (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
Doing God’s Work
“In 1793, little Jean-Marie attained his seventh year. He was then big enough to make himself useful. His principal task was to tend the flocks … Twice daily he drove out the donkey, the cows, and the sheep to graze, leading by the hand his little sister Gothon, On reaching the meadow, brother and sister, obedient to their mother's advice, went down upon their knees in order to dedicate to God the task they were about to perform. After that they gave their undivided attention to the flock, careful lest the cows damage the crops of the neighbors. Gothon loved to spend the time talking to her brother, who had a gift for story-telling. Jean-Marie told her stories out of the Old and New Testament; he also taught her her prayers and gave her various spiritual counsels …
“In a hollow of the trunk Jean-Marie sometimes placed his little statue, and after surrounding it with moss, branches of trees and flowers, he knelt down to say his Rosary. At other times he erected a kind of shrine for his statue. With clay from the river bank he constructed little chapels or molded statues of saints and priests. In this way he made a statue of the Blessed Virgin, which was judged quite good; in fact, his father had it hardened in the oven, and it was long kept at the house of the Vianneys. As soon as the altar was ready, he and Gothon, with vague memories of processions and festivals now suppressed by the revolutionary government, sang together what bits of religious canticles they could remember.
“Other young shepherds tended their flocks in the same district, and not all of them were suitable companions for well brought-up children. Some of these occasionally passed over to the Vianneys’ meadow to look at the shrine. Jean-Marie replied to their questions without either embarrassment or annoyance. But how was it that these children, who were of the same age as our saint, were yet ignorant of the meaning of those images? Alas! Less devout and attentive, they had already forgotten the beautiful ceremonies of Sundays and holidays. Little Vianney became the teacher of these poor children. He constituted himself their catechist … The ‘congregation’ of children being somewhat restless, the sermon had of necessity to be short. He organized processions. Thus it came about that, whilst throughout France religious ceremonies were being suppressed, a band of children were walking in procession behind a cross formed of two sticks. The Rosary was recited, and childish hymns were sung ... Apart from these pious games, the little preacher did not much like the companionship of other children. Their rough and noisy games, and at times their language, were distasteful to him. However, to please them, he occasionally agreed to play with them.” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
Storm Clouds Gather
“In January, 1791, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy [swearing allegiance to the new revolutionary government] began to be enforced in the province of Lyons. Jean-Marie had not yet completed his fifth year. Fr. Jacques Rey, the parish priest of Dardilly during the past thirty-nine years, was weak enough to take the schismatical oath. However, if we may believe local traditions, enlightened by the example of his curate and the neighboring clergy―who refused the oath―he soon came to understand and disavow his fault. He continued for a time to reside in his parish, saying Mass in a private house. Eventually he retired to Lyons, and from there he went to Italy.
“The disappearance of Fr. Rey did not pass unnoticed, yet Dardilly was not as much upset as might have been expected. The church remained open because another cure was sent by the new bishop of Lyons, Fr. Lamourette, a friend of the revolutionary Mirabeau, who, without any brief from Rome, had been installed by the Constituent Assembly, in succession to the venerable Bishop de Marbeuf. The new parish priest, like the new bishop, had duly taken the oath. But how were the good folk of Dardilly to suspect that the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, of which, perhaps, they did not so much as know the name, would lead to schism and heresy? There was no outward change in the ceremonies and customs with which they had so long been familiar. For a time, at least, these simple people did not scruple to assist at the Mass of the juror-priest. Matthieu Vianney and his family acted thus in all good faith.
“After a while, however, their eyes were opened to realities. Though barely twelve years old at the time, Catherine, the eldest of the girls, was the first to scent danger. In the pulpit the new pastor did not speak quite like Fr. Rey, nor on the same topics. His sermons were interlarded with the words “citizen”, “civism”, and “constitution”. He so far forgot himself as to criticize his fellow priest predecessors. The congregation was more promiscuous and scantier than before: persons who were noted for their fervor were no longer seen in church―where did they go to Mass on Sundays?―others, on the contrary, were there and occupied the best seats, who previously had hardly ever darkened the threshold of the sacred church building. Catherine felt anxious, and she confided her secret fears to her mother.
“In the meantime, a relative, living at Ecully, paid a visit to the Vianneys. “What are you doing?” she exclaimed on hearing that they attended the Mass of a priest who had sworn allegiance to the Consitution; “all good priests have refused the oath [of allegiance to the new revolutionary government], and in consequence are being hunted and persecuted and driven into exile! Happily, at Ecully, we still have some good priests. It is to these you must go! By taking the oath your new parish priest has separated himself from the Catholic Church; he is not your true shepherd and you cannot make yourselves his abettors!”
“This staggering revelation drove Mrs. Vianney almost frantic. She did not hesitate to speak to the unfortunate priest, reproaching him with having severed himself from the true Church. When she reminded him of the saying of the Gospel, that the branch that is cut off from the vine shall be cast into the fire, the priest owned up to the truth of her words: “True, madam, the vine is better than the branch!”
“Marie Vianney must have informed her family of the state of affairs, because we are told that little Jean-Marie showed his horror of sin from the day when he began to avoid the juror-priest. From that moment the Vianneys ceased to attend the parish church, though it held for them so many tender associations―since within its walls the parents had been married and the children baptized. In point of fact, the sacred building was soon closed altogether.
“A cruel persecution was now raging. Priests who had refused the oath ran the risk of arrest and execution, without the possibility of an appeal-within twenty-four hours. A reward of 100 livres [French currency: today, it is francs] was paid to anyone denouncing the proscribed, whereas deportation was the punishment of all persons harboring a priest. Such were some of the enactments of laws passed on April 24th, September 17th, and October 20th, 1793. Notwithstanding these terrible threats, a few faithful priests were still moving about in the district of Dardilly, and, one after another, found shelter in the home of the Vianneys. On occasion they even said Mass there. Only a miracle preserved the good farmer from paying with his head for his holy daring, for he did not escape the suspicions of the Jacobins [revolutionaries]. However, the greater number of these confessors of the Faith found an asylum either in Lyons itself, or in the outskirts of the city.
“On certain days trusty messengers would arrive from Ecully and call on Catholic households. They brought information of the secret spot where, on the following night, the Holy Mysteries would be celebrated. As soon as darkness fell, the Vianneys set out in deepest silence. In his happiness at being allowed to accompany his parents, Jean-Marie stepped out bravely. His brothers and sisters grumbled at times, thinking the distance too great―then their mother would say: “Can you not be like Jean-Marie, who is always the keenest of all?”
“When they reached the appointed place they were led into a barn or some retired room, where hardly a light was allowed. They saw, kneeling at a plain table, a tired-looking stranger of gentle appearance. The stranger met the newcomers with outstretched hand. Then, in the farthest corner of the room, behind an improvised partition, the good priest, speaking in whispers, exercised his ministry of counsel, comfort, and pardon. Sometimes he would also have to bless marriages. And then followed the Mass―the Mass so keenly longed for by young and old.
“The priest placed on the table the altar stone he had brought, the Missal, the chalice, and several small altar breads, for tonight he would not be the only communicant. Quickly he donned the sacred vestments, faded and crumpled in consequence of much hasty folding. Amid deep silence he began the prayers of the Liturgy: Introibo ad altare Dei. What fervor there was in his voice―what recollection, what emotion in the congregation! Sobs mingled with the prayers. It was like being at Mass in the Roman Catacombs, before arrest and martyrdom.
“These were unforgettable moments for little Vianney, moments of deepest emotion. Kneeling between his mother and his sister, he prayed like an angel, mingling his tears with the sobs of the others. Though unable to understand everything, he listened with the utmost gravity to the exhortations of the proscribed man, who, for love of souls, daily risked his life. Maybe it was during these nocturnal gatherings that he felt the first call to the priesthood.
“The year 1793 saw the reign of Terror. At Lyons blood flowed in torrents; in the Place des Terreaux the guillotine did its hideous work without interruption. The proconsul Chalier had the names of twenty thousand persons on his lists of proscription. A rising of the populace, led by de Precy, brought the tyrant himself to the scaffold. The hopes of Catholics were reviving when an army of the Convention, under Couthon and Dubois-Crancé, laid siege to the city. From August 8th until October 9th de Precy offered a bold resistance, but famine compelled him at last to surrender.
“Events such as these were beyond the understanding of a boy of seven. From his father’s fields he listened to the noise of battle. Dubois- Crancé was encamped round Limonest, a few miles to the north of Dardilly, so that the soldiers of the Revolution were often seen in the village. And yet the continued silence of the bells was much more distressing to the pious boy, than the sounds of battle. The church remained closed. Men had been sent from Lyons to destroy the wayside shrines, so that only the pedestals of the crosses remained. Even at home crucifixes, statues, and other pious objects had to be carefully hidden. Alone the sanctuary of loyal hearts remained inviolable. Jean-Marie, however, clung to his statuette of Our Lady; he treasured it more than ever, and when he went into the fields he invariably carried it in a pocket of his coat.” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
Where Have All The Children Gone?
Although―here and there, like a grain of sand on the seashore―there may be one or two souls that have the mentality and attitude of St. John Vianney when he was still a child, such souls are few and far between. Instead of a statue of Our Lady in the pocket and Rosary in the hand, young children―even aged 7 or 8 and under―are more likely to have a smartphone in the pocket or in the hand. Yet St. John Vianney, as a child, had all the odds stacked against him―with the revolutionary government seeking to annihilate all traces and practices of religion with France―yet the Vianney family remained resolute and faithful. Today’s children are not even―or barely―persecuted for their Faith, yet they are readily and willingly giving up its practice in face of the ‘soft persecution’ of worldliness and entertainment! O what a web they weave―and the ‘web’ will be both their idol and downfall.
Yet what can be said of those parents who have allowed their children to be seduced by the world? What will their judgment be like? Our Lord said: “Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to Me―for the Kingdom of Heaven is for such!” (Matthew 19:14). But the children are no longer coming or going to Christ―there are far more interesting things for them to go to! The parents weakly, lamely, half-heartedly, insufficiently and ineffectively make minimal efforts to prevent the “worldlification” of their children. They feel powerless and hopeless in doing anything about it! Yet, for the grace of God, nothing is impossible: “With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26)―but the parents barely pray for the preservation of the Faith of their children, and most of them most certainly never have a regular series of Masses offered for the preservation of the Faith of their children. The remedy is within their reach―but they do not take it, or they use in sparingly and insufficiently.
Hence it is that the current statistics show that over 90% of children fall away from the regular practice of their Faith once they finish higher education, or leave school, or leave home. Thus the parents have been a “scandal” to their children. Now before you jump up in alarm, indignation and protest over the use of the word “scandal”―understand that the word “scandal” has a deeper meaning than the presently used and understood superficial meaning, which is often closely associated with sexual matters (because the world is so sex-obsessed these days). The word “scandal” comes from the Greek and also Latin noun scandalum and means “a stumbling block; a trap; something that causes moral stumbling.” Thus, parents who neglect to teach the Faith at home, who do not live spiritual lives within the home, who do not speak of the many different aspects of the Faith at home, who do not visibly and tangibly make God the obvious focal point of their lives in the home―such parents are a “stumbling-block” or “scandal” for their children, of whom Our Lord says: “He that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in Me―it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea! Woe to the world because of scandals! For it must needs be that scandals come―but, nevertheless, woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh!” (Matthew 18:6-7).
Hence it is that most souls are lost―because they were both a “scandal” (stumbling-block) to themselves and their children. Sanctity does not begin in the church, nor the school―but, as you have seen above, sanctity begins in the home from the very earliest months of a child’s existence. If the parents are not totally focused on God, then neither will their children be totally focused on God―for, as the philosophical axiom says: “Something cannot give what it has not got!” If you care little for salvation, but a lot about the things of this world―then your children will grow up likewise: “Everyone that useth a common proverb, shall use this against thee, saying: ‘As the mother was, so also is her daughter!’” (Ezechiel 16:44).
Your initial reaction is likely to be: “What’s all this “Vianney Month” and “Vianney Fest” stuff? I’ve never heard of such a thing before! Is this some kind of gimmick?” Not really―it’s just that we’ve become minimalists in so many things and areas that anything out of the ordinary raises eyebrows. In bygone times, not only Church feasts, but also secular events, would be celebrated for several days. Hence we have the so-called “Octaves” of a feast, which meant that the feast day would be commemorated each day up to the eighth day after the feast. The only surviving “Octaves” in the currently liturgical calendar (Extraordinary Rite) are the Christmas Octave, the Octave of Easter and the Octave of Pentecost. In the secular domain, it was common to have wedding feasts that lasted several days. The same was true of funerals―where the wake would last several days and likewise for the post-funeral grieving.
So what has this got to do with St. John Vianney? Well, St. John Vianney was a great saint―some argue that he was the first secular or diocesan priest to be canonized, and he was also raised to the level of being given the title of Patron Saints of Diocesan Priests. This has an increased importance today―since we are experiencing a severe crisis among the clergy in our days, which in turn produces a crisis of Faith among the faithful. Furthermore, as for August being called “Vianney Month”―this has reference to the fact August plays a major part in St. John Vianney’s life. He was ordained a priest on August 12th 1815 and died on August 4th 1859. His feast was traditionally celebrated on August 8th (and still is celebrated on that day by those adhering to the Traditional Latin Rite or “Extraordinary Rite” as it now called), but the feast day has been changed and transferred by the modern Church to St. John Vianney’s date of death, which is August 4th. Nevertheless, whichever way you look at it, or whichever calendar you follow, August could be said to be “Vianney Month.” If we can―very broadly―call August “Vianney Month”, then it is also fitting that we have a “Vianney Fest” that goes beyond the limits of being confined to just one single day of celebration! So let the “Fest” begin! If this website had not suffered a temporary setback of being inaccessible for editing and posting new materials from August 2nd to August 5th, the “Vianney Fest” could have spanned the two current dates assigned for his feast day (August 4th and August 8th), ending on the anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood (August 12th)―thus giving a “Novena Celebration” (nine days of celebration). However, “better late than never”―as they say―and “half-a-loaf is better than none”! So here we go!
St. John Vianney―A Man of Our Times
If St. John Vianney was born in 1786 and died in 1859, then how on earth can be called a “Man of Our Times”? It is not the date of his birth or his death that makes him a man of our times, but the things that he experiences, underwent, faced and suffered that makes him a man of our times. His life―in its own way―is uncannily similar to our life today.
For those who think that sanctity is impossible in the times in which we now live, St. John Vianney is a clear proof to the contrary! He was born in terrible revolutionary times that saw the slaughter of thousands of Catholics―priests, religious and laity, among whom were the martyred and guillotined Carmelite Sisters of Compiègne [read about them here]―during the Reign of Terror which arose out of the French Revolution of 1789.
The French Revolution―Ultimately a Revolution Against God
St. John Vianney, as a boy, had to live in and suffer the consequences of a quasi-schismatic partially Catholic France―which had been dechristianized as a result of the French Revolution and a number of separate policies conducted by various governments of post-revolutionary France, between the start of the French Revolution in 1789 and the Concordat of 1801. The goal of the revolutionary campaign ranged from the public reclamation of the massive amounts of land, power, and money held by the Catholic Church in France, to the termination of Catholic religious practice and of the religion itself. What little John Vianney had to live through―who was three-years-old at the outbreak of the French Revolution and fifteen-years-old when things began to quieten down―is in one sense far, far more harmful to the Faith than what we are currently experiencing.
In August 1789, the Revolutionary State cancelled the taxing power of the Church and furthermore declared that all Church property in France belonged to the nation. Confiscations of Church property were ordered and Church properties were sold at public auction.
Fidelity to God Replaced by Fidelity to the State
In July 1790, the Revolutionary National Constituent Assembly published the Civil Constitution of the Clergy that stripped clerics of their special rights — the clergy were to be made employees of the state; they were to be elected by their parish or bishopric, and the number of bishoprics in France was to be reduced —all priests and bishops were required to swear an oath of fidelity to the new revolutionary order or face dismissal, deportation or death.
French priests had to receive Papal approval to sign such an oath, and Pope Pius VI spent almost eight months deliberating on the issue. In April of 1791, the Pope denounced the Revolutionary Constitution, resulting in a split in the French Catholic Church. Over fifty percent became abjuring priests (“jurors”) who obeyed the revolutionary government and its commands and requirements from the priests―there priest were also known as “constitutional clergy” because they accepted the revolutionary constitution. The faithful Catholic priests―the non-juring priests―were known as the “refractory clergy”.
In September 1792, the new revolutionary government legalized divorce―contrary to Catholic doctrine. At the same time, the State took control of the birth, death, and marriage registers away from the Church. An ever-increasing view that the Church was a counter-revolutionary force exacerbated the social and economic grievances and violence erupted in towns and cities across France.
Imprisonment, Exile, Torture and Massacre of Clergy and Religious
The French Revolution began with attacks on Church corruption (does that sound familiar?) and the wealth of the higher clergy. This evolved into the “Reign of Terror”―a two-year period that became violent than anything seen in modern European history. The new revolutionary authorities suppressed the Church, abolished the Catholic monarchy, nationalized Church property, exiled 30,000 priests and killed hundreds more.
In Paris, over a forty-eight-hour period beginning on September 2nd, 1792, as one new revolutionary ruling party was replaced by another, thus creating chaos, three Church bishops and more than two hundred priests were massacred by angry mobs―which came to be known as “The September Massacres”. Faithful priests, who would not conform to the new revolutionary commands and policies, were among those drowned, during mass executions, for treason. Priests and nuns were among the mass executions at Lyons, for advocating and practicing separatism from the revolutionary government. Hundreds more priests were imprisoned and made to suffer in abominable conditions in the port of Rochefort. Anti-Church laws were passed by the revolutionary national government, as well as by département councils (local government) throughout the country. Many of the acts of dechristianization in 1793 were motivated by the seizure of Church gold and silver to finance the war effort.
Abolishing the Catholic Religion
In November of 1793, the département council of Indre-et-Loire abolished the word dimanche (the French name for Sunday). The Catholic Gregorian calendar, an instrument decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, was replaced by the French Republican Calendar which abolished the Sabbath (Sunday), the feasts of any and all saints, and any references to the Church. They replaced the Catholic religious calendar with a Calendar of the Revolution, which abolished the reckoning or ordering of years from the time of Christ (e.g. 1789 AD or Anno Domini―meaning “in the year of the Lord”) and “started from scratch” by taking the the date of the French Revolution and calling it Year One. The feasts of the saints were replaced with Festivals of Liberty, Reason and the Supreme Being and such like secular and pagan feasts. The worship of God was replaced with the vague deistic Cult of the Supreme Being and the atheistic Cult of Reason, with the revolutionary government briefly mandating observance of the former in April 1794.
God’s Seven-Day-Week Replaced With a Ten-Day-Week
The seven-day-week became a ten-day-week instead. It soon became clear, however, that nine consecutive days of work were too much, and that international relations could not be carried out without reverting to the Gregorian system, which was still in use everywhere outside of France. Consequently, the Gregorian Calendar was restored in 1795.
Wiping-Out All Mention and Memory of Anything Religious
Anti-clerical parades were held, and the Archbishop of Paris, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel, was forced to resign his duties and made to replace his miter (the bishop’s pointed cap) with the red “Cap of Liberty.” Street and place names, that had any kind of religious connotation, were changed. Thus, the town of St. Tropez was renamed Héraclée. Religious holidays were banned and replaced with holidays to celebrate the harvest and other non-religious symbols. Many churches were converted into “temples of reason,” in which Deistic services were held. Local people often resisted this dechristianization and members of the clergy, who had resigned rather than give in to these revolutionary demands, were asked and even forced by any remaining faithful Catholic laity to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass again.
Six-Steps-Backward followed by One-Step-Forward
By early 1795―six years after the outbreak of the 1789 French Revolution―a slight return to some form of religion-based faith was beginning to take shape and a law, passed in February 1795, legalized public worship, although with strict limitations. The ringing of church bells, religious processions and displays of the Christian cross were still forbidden. As late as 1799―ten years after the start of the revolution―priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies. Persecution only worsened after the French Revolutionary army, which was conquering Europe, captured Rome in early 1798, and declared a new Roman Republic, imprisoning Pope Pius VI, who would die in captivity in Valence, France in 1799. However, after Napoleon seized control of the government in late 1799, France entered into year-long negotiations with new Pope Pius VII, resulting in the Concordat of 1801 between Revolutionary France and the Vatican. This Concordat formally ended the dechristianization period and established the rules for a relationship between the Catholic Church and the French Revolutionary State. The Concordat of 1801 endured for more than a century until it was ended by the government of the Third Republic of France, which established a policy of laïcité (secularism) on December 11th, 1905.
Secularism―the “Soft Revolution”
Laïcité is a French concept of secularism. It discourages the involvement of any and all religious parties in government affairs, especially a religious influence in the determination of state policies and laws; it also forbids government involvement in religious affairs, and especially prohibits government influence in the determination of religion. However, laïcité doesn't automatically give a right to the free exercise of religion.
Proponents assert the French state secularism is based on respect for freedom of thought and freedom of religion. Thus the absence of a state religion, and the subsequent separation of the State and Church, is considered by proponents to be a prerequisite for such freedom of thought. Laïcité or secularism relies on the division between private life (to which religion is relegated) and the public sphere, in which each individual should appear as a simple citizen equal to all other citizens, devoid of ethnic, religious or other particularities. However, the public life is held to be more important than the private life, thus the State is more important than the Church, and the State can therefore, through its laws and policies, control the Church. This is a total reversal of the truth and policy required by God, whereby the Church dictates morality and policy to the State according to the laws and policies of God―or the Divine Law.
Welcome to the World, John Vianney
It was in this kind of environment that John Vianney was born―in 1786―on the brink and cusp of the 1789 French Revolution. It was amidst the above mentioned turmoil, oppression, persecution, confusion and division that he lived his childhood and adolescence. Our days―though they are bad―seem like a picnic or “a piece of cake” compared to the environment into which God’s Providence pitched the future saint. Yet saint he became―despite all the evil circumstances, all the odds stacked against the Faith and true faithful, all the threats against those who wished to preserve their Faith and all the attempts at destroying that Faith. If saints could grow in such a terrible, poisoned soil back then―it means that saints can also grow in our present terrible and poisoned soil also.
It All Starts At Home!
The Church teaches that parents are the primary and most important educators of their children. Today, many parents shirk or pass-on that responsibility to others―day-care establishments, nannies, schools, etc. Furthermore, the most important aspect of education is religious education―teaching children to know, love and serve God; teaching them to put God above all other things and to love Him above all other things and to “obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). This is exactly what the godly and faithful Catholic parents of John Vianney did―despite the terrible, atheistic, secular and anti-religious laws and sentiments that were being planted and sprouted all around them. Here are just a few extracts from Fr. François Trochu’s book, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney. Note that “Jean” is French for “John” and should not be mistaken for the English girl’s name “Jean”. The translator of Fr. Trochu’s book has kept the original French spelling of “Jean” for what we would translate as “John”―thus this same custom has been kept in all the quotes from his book. When you see the word “Jean”―think “John”. At least you will be able to brag that you now know at least one word of French!
“Soon―as the last comer and apparently a favorite from the Start―Jean [John] began to notice things. His mother took pleasure in pointing out to him the crucifix and the pious pictures … When the little arms became strong enough to move with some ease, she guided the tiny hand from the forehead to the breast, and from the breast to the shoulders [thus making the Sign of the Cross]. The child soon grew into the habit of doing this, so that one day―he was then about fifteen months old―his mother, having forgotten to help him to make the Sign of the Cross before giving him his food, the little one refused to open his mouth, at the same time vigorously shaking his head. Marie Vianney guessed what he meant, and, as soon as she had helped the tiny hand, the pursed-up lips opened spontaneously.
“His was one of those dispositions that are easily directed towards God. From the age of eighteen months, when the family met for night prayers, he would, of his own accord, kneel down with them―maybe merely from natural imitativeness―and he knew quite well how to join his little hands in prayer. Prayers ended, his pious mother put him to bed, and, before a final embrace, she bent over him, talking to him of Jesus, of Mary, of his Guardian Angel. In this way did the fond mother lull the child to sleep … Jean-Marie hardly ever left his mother’s side, busy as she was; on her part, she began the task of her little son’s education whilst doing her housework, teaching him in a manner that could be readily grasped by his childish mind. In this way she taught him the “Our Father” and the “Hail Mary” together with some elementary notions of God and of the soul … The little one, who was very wide awake for his age, would himself ask naive questions. What interested him most was the sweet mystery of Our Lord’s birth at Bethlehem and the story of the manger and the shepherds. These familiar talks were sometimes prolonged far into the night. For the sake of hearing the story of the Bible, Jean-Marie was willing to sit up late with his mother and Catherine, the most devout of his sisters.
“The boy had a Rosary which he greatly prized. Gothon, his sister, who was eighteen months younger, took a fancy to her brother’s beads, and, of course, wished to get possession of them. It came to a scene between brother and sister; there was screaming, stamping of feet, and even a preliminary skirmish, when suddenly, full of grief, the poor child ran to his mother. Gently, but firmly, she bade him give the beads to Gothon “Yes, my darling, give them to her for love of the good God.” Jean-Marie, though bathed in tears, immediately surrendered his precious Rosary. For a child of four this was surely no mean sacrifice! Instead of petting and fondling the child with a view to drying his tears, his mother gave him a small wooden statue of our Lady.
“The rude [meaning “very basic”] image had long stood on the mantelpiece of the kitchen chimney, and the little one had often wished to possess it. At last it was his, really his! What joy! “Oh how I loved that statue!” he confessed seventy years later; “neither by day nor by night would I be parted from it. I should not have slept had I not had it beside me in my little bed . . . the Blessed Virgin was the object of my earliest affections; I loved her even before I knew her.”
“Some of his contemporaries, his sister Marguerite in particular, have related how, at the first sound of the Angelus, he was on his knees before anybody else. At other times he might be found in a corner of the house kneeling before the image of our Lady, which he had placed on a chair. Children do not fall victims to the foolish disease called human respect. Wherever he happened to be, whether at home, in the garden, in the street, Jean-Marie, following the example of his mother, was in the habit of “blessing the hour”―that is, so soon as he heard the clock strike the each hour of the day―he would cross himself and recite a “Hail Mary,” ending with another sign of the cross
“Some women of the neighborhood, hearing the [four-year-old] child praying aloud, said to his parents: “He knows his litanies well. You will have to make him either a priest or a Brother.”
“Marie Vianney may not have had any inkling of the wonderful future of her favorite child; none the less, the beauty of his soul was precious in her eyes, and she spared no pains to keep from him the very shadow of sin : “See, my little Jean,” she used to say, “if your brothers and sisters were to offend the good God, it would indeed cause me much pain, but I should be far sorrier were you to offend Him.”
“Her Jean-Marie was no ordinary child. Even before the powers of his mind had reached their full development, the privileged child of grace had made the first step out of the common way, for this seems to be the true explanation of the following occurrence.
“One evening―he was then about four years old―Jean-Marie left the house unnoticed. As soon as his mother became aware of his absence, she called to him by his name―but no answer came. With ever-increasing anxiety she looked for him in the yard, behind the straw rick and the piles of timber. The little one was not to be found. Yet he never failed to answer the very first call. As she proceeded in the direction of the stable, where he might be hiding, the distracted mother suddenly remembered with horror that deep pond full of murky water, from which the cattle were wont to drink! But what was her surprise when she beheld the spectacle that now presented itself to her eyes? There, in a corner of the stable, among the cattle peacefully chewing the cud, was her boy on his knees, praying with folded hands before his little statue of our Lady. In an instant she had caught him in her arms, and, pressing him to her heart: “Oh my darling, you were here!” she cried, in a flood of tears. “Why hide yourself when you want to pray? You know we all say our prayers together!” The child, unable to think of anything but his mother’s grief, exclaimed: “Forgive me, mamma, I did not think! I will not do it again!”
Holy Parents Produce Holy Children―Worldly Parents Produce Worldly Children
“Mrs. Vianney was a woman of “eminent piety.” If at all possible, she would go to daily Mass. Catherine, her eldest daughter, accompanied her as a rule, but soon her favorite companion came to be the little four-year-old, whose precocious piety caused him to relish the things of God. Whenever the bells of the church nearby, announced that Mass was about to be said, Jean-Marie entreated his mother to let him go with her.
“The request was granted. She placed him before her in the family pew, and explained to him what the priest was doing at the altar. The child soon developed a love for the sacred ceremonies. However, his attention was divided: the embroidered vestment of the celebrant entranced him, whilst he was wholly overcome with admiration for the red cassock and white surplice of the altar boy. He, too, would have liked to serve at the altar, but how could his frail arms lift that heavy Missal? From time to time he turned to his mother; it was an inspiration merely to see her so absorbed in prayer, and as it were transfigured by an interior fire.
“In subsequent years, when people congratulated him on his early love for prayer and the Church, he used to say with many tears: “After God, I owe it to my mother; she was so good! Virtue passes readily from the heart of a mother into that of her children. A child that has the happiness of having a good mother, should never look at her or think of her without tears.”
“Whilst these homely scenes were being enacted in a small and obscure hamlet, events of an appalling nature had taken place in France” [meaning the French Revolution and its terrible aftermath]. (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
Doing God’s Work
“In 1793, little Jean-Marie attained his seventh year. He was then big enough to make himself useful. His principal task was to tend the flocks … Twice daily he drove out the donkey, the cows, and the sheep to graze, leading by the hand his little sister Gothon, On reaching the meadow, brother and sister, obedient to their mother's advice, went down upon their knees in order to dedicate to God the task they were about to perform. After that they gave their undivided attention to the flock, careful lest the cows damage the crops of the neighbors. Gothon loved to spend the time talking to her brother, who had a gift for story-telling. Jean-Marie told her stories out of the Old and New Testament; he also taught her her prayers and gave her various spiritual counsels …
“In a hollow of the trunk Jean-Marie sometimes placed his little statue, and after surrounding it with moss, branches of trees and flowers, he knelt down to say his Rosary. At other times he erected a kind of shrine for his statue. With clay from the river bank he constructed little chapels or molded statues of saints and priests. In this way he made a statue of the Blessed Virgin, which was judged quite good; in fact, his father had it hardened in the oven, and it was long kept at the house of the Vianneys. As soon as the altar was ready, he and Gothon, with vague memories of processions and festivals now suppressed by the revolutionary government, sang together what bits of religious canticles they could remember.
“Other young shepherds tended their flocks in the same district, and not all of them were suitable companions for well brought-up children. Some of these occasionally passed over to the Vianneys’ meadow to look at the shrine. Jean-Marie replied to their questions without either embarrassment or annoyance. But how was it that these children, who were of the same age as our saint, were yet ignorant of the meaning of those images? Alas! Less devout and attentive, they had already forgotten the beautiful ceremonies of Sundays and holidays. Little Vianney became the teacher of these poor children. He constituted himself their catechist … The ‘congregation’ of children being somewhat restless, the sermon had of necessity to be short. He organized processions. Thus it came about that, whilst throughout France religious ceremonies were being suppressed, a band of children were walking in procession behind a cross formed of two sticks. The Rosary was recited, and childish hymns were sung ... Apart from these pious games, the little preacher did not much like the companionship of other children. Their rough and noisy games, and at times their language, were distasteful to him. However, to please them, he occasionally agreed to play with them.” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
Storm Clouds Gather
“In January, 1791, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy [swearing allegiance to the new revolutionary government] began to be enforced in the province of Lyons. Jean-Marie had not yet completed his fifth year. Fr. Jacques Rey, the parish priest of Dardilly during the past thirty-nine years, was weak enough to take the schismatical oath. However, if we may believe local traditions, enlightened by the example of his curate and the neighboring clergy―who refused the oath―he soon came to understand and disavow his fault. He continued for a time to reside in his parish, saying Mass in a private house. Eventually he retired to Lyons, and from there he went to Italy.
“The disappearance of Fr. Rey did not pass unnoticed, yet Dardilly was not as much upset as might have been expected. The church remained open because another cure was sent by the new bishop of Lyons, Fr. Lamourette, a friend of the revolutionary Mirabeau, who, without any brief from Rome, had been installed by the Constituent Assembly, in succession to the venerable Bishop de Marbeuf. The new parish priest, like the new bishop, had duly taken the oath. But how were the good folk of Dardilly to suspect that the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, of which, perhaps, they did not so much as know the name, would lead to schism and heresy? There was no outward change in the ceremonies and customs with which they had so long been familiar. For a time, at least, these simple people did not scruple to assist at the Mass of the juror-priest. Matthieu Vianney and his family acted thus in all good faith.
“After a while, however, their eyes were opened to realities. Though barely twelve years old at the time, Catherine, the eldest of the girls, was the first to scent danger. In the pulpit the new pastor did not speak quite like Fr. Rey, nor on the same topics. His sermons were interlarded with the words “citizen”, “civism”, and “constitution”. He so far forgot himself as to criticize his fellow priest predecessors. The congregation was more promiscuous and scantier than before: persons who were noted for their fervor were no longer seen in church―where did they go to Mass on Sundays?―others, on the contrary, were there and occupied the best seats, who previously had hardly ever darkened the threshold of the sacred church building. Catherine felt anxious, and she confided her secret fears to her mother.
“In the meantime, a relative, living at Ecully, paid a visit to the Vianneys. “What are you doing?” she exclaimed on hearing that they attended the Mass of a priest who had sworn allegiance to the Consitution; “all good priests have refused the oath [of allegiance to the new revolutionary government], and in consequence are being hunted and persecuted and driven into exile! Happily, at Ecully, we still have some good priests. It is to these you must go! By taking the oath your new parish priest has separated himself from the Catholic Church; he is not your true shepherd and you cannot make yourselves his abettors!”
“This staggering revelation drove Mrs. Vianney almost frantic. She did not hesitate to speak to the unfortunate priest, reproaching him with having severed himself from the true Church. When she reminded him of the saying of the Gospel, that the branch that is cut off from the vine shall be cast into the fire, the priest owned up to the truth of her words: “True, madam, the vine is better than the branch!”
“Marie Vianney must have informed her family of the state of affairs, because we are told that little Jean-Marie showed his horror of sin from the day when he began to avoid the juror-priest. From that moment the Vianneys ceased to attend the parish church, though it held for them so many tender associations―since within its walls the parents had been married and the children baptized. In point of fact, the sacred building was soon closed altogether.
“A cruel persecution was now raging. Priests who had refused the oath ran the risk of arrest and execution, without the possibility of an appeal-within twenty-four hours. A reward of 100 livres [French currency: today, it is francs] was paid to anyone denouncing the proscribed, whereas deportation was the punishment of all persons harboring a priest. Such were some of the enactments of laws passed on April 24th, September 17th, and October 20th, 1793. Notwithstanding these terrible threats, a few faithful priests were still moving about in the district of Dardilly, and, one after another, found shelter in the home of the Vianneys. On occasion they even said Mass there. Only a miracle preserved the good farmer from paying with his head for his holy daring, for he did not escape the suspicions of the Jacobins [revolutionaries]. However, the greater number of these confessors of the Faith found an asylum either in Lyons itself, or in the outskirts of the city.
“On certain days trusty messengers would arrive from Ecully and call on Catholic households. They brought information of the secret spot where, on the following night, the Holy Mysteries would be celebrated. As soon as darkness fell, the Vianneys set out in deepest silence. In his happiness at being allowed to accompany his parents, Jean-Marie stepped out bravely. His brothers and sisters grumbled at times, thinking the distance too great―then their mother would say: “Can you not be like Jean-Marie, who is always the keenest of all?”
“When they reached the appointed place they were led into a barn or some retired room, where hardly a light was allowed. They saw, kneeling at a plain table, a tired-looking stranger of gentle appearance. The stranger met the newcomers with outstretched hand. Then, in the farthest corner of the room, behind an improvised partition, the good priest, speaking in whispers, exercised his ministry of counsel, comfort, and pardon. Sometimes he would also have to bless marriages. And then followed the Mass―the Mass so keenly longed for by young and old.
“The priest placed on the table the altar stone he had brought, the Missal, the chalice, and several small altar breads, for tonight he would not be the only communicant. Quickly he donned the sacred vestments, faded and crumpled in consequence of much hasty folding. Amid deep silence he began the prayers of the Liturgy: Introibo ad altare Dei. What fervor there was in his voice―what recollection, what emotion in the congregation! Sobs mingled with the prayers. It was like being at Mass in the Roman Catacombs, before arrest and martyrdom.
“These were unforgettable moments for little Vianney, moments of deepest emotion. Kneeling between his mother and his sister, he prayed like an angel, mingling his tears with the sobs of the others. Though unable to understand everything, he listened with the utmost gravity to the exhortations of the proscribed man, who, for love of souls, daily risked his life. Maybe it was during these nocturnal gatherings that he felt the first call to the priesthood.
“The year 1793 saw the reign of Terror. At Lyons blood flowed in torrents; in the Place des Terreaux the guillotine did its hideous work without interruption. The proconsul Chalier had the names of twenty thousand persons on his lists of proscription. A rising of the populace, led by de Precy, brought the tyrant himself to the scaffold. The hopes of Catholics were reviving when an army of the Convention, under Couthon and Dubois-Crancé, laid siege to the city. From August 8th until October 9th de Precy offered a bold resistance, but famine compelled him at last to surrender.
“Events such as these were beyond the understanding of a boy of seven. From his father’s fields he listened to the noise of battle. Dubois- Crancé was encamped round Limonest, a few miles to the north of Dardilly, so that the soldiers of the Revolution were often seen in the village. And yet the continued silence of the bells was much more distressing to the pious boy, than the sounds of battle. The church remained closed. Men had been sent from Lyons to destroy the wayside shrines, so that only the pedestals of the crosses remained. Even at home crucifixes, statues, and other pious objects had to be carefully hidden. Alone the sanctuary of loyal hearts remained inviolable. Jean-Marie, however, clung to his statuette of Our Lady; he treasured it more than ever, and when he went into the fields he invariably carried it in a pocket of his coat.” (Fr. François Trochu, The Curé D’Ars, St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney).
Where Have All The Children Gone?
Although―here and there, like a grain of sand on the seashore―there may be one or two souls that have the mentality and attitude of St. John Vianney when he was still a child, such souls are few and far between. Instead of a statue of Our Lady in the pocket and Rosary in the hand, young children―even aged 7 or 8 and under―are more likely to have a smartphone in the pocket or in the hand. Yet St. John Vianney, as a child, had all the odds stacked against him―with the revolutionary government seeking to annihilate all traces and practices of religion with France―yet the Vianney family remained resolute and faithful. Today’s children are not even―or barely―persecuted for their Faith, yet they are readily and willingly giving up its practice in face of the ‘soft persecution’ of worldliness and entertainment! O what a web they weave―and the ‘web’ will be both their idol and downfall.
Yet what can be said of those parents who have allowed their children to be seduced by the world? What will their judgment be like? Our Lord said: “Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to Me―for the Kingdom of Heaven is for such!” (Matthew 19:14). But the children are no longer coming or going to Christ―there are far more interesting things for them to go to! The parents weakly, lamely, half-heartedly, insufficiently and ineffectively make minimal efforts to prevent the “worldlification” of their children. They feel powerless and hopeless in doing anything about it! Yet, for the grace of God, nothing is impossible: “With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26)―but the parents barely pray for the preservation of the Faith of their children, and most of them most certainly never have a regular series of Masses offered for the preservation of the Faith of their children. The remedy is within their reach―but they do not take it, or they use in sparingly and insufficiently.
Hence it is that the current statistics show that over 90% of children fall away from the regular practice of their Faith once they finish higher education, or leave school, or leave home. Thus the parents have been a “scandal” to their children. Now before you jump up in alarm, indignation and protest over the use of the word “scandal”―understand that the word “scandal” has a deeper meaning than the presently used and understood superficial meaning, which is often closely associated with sexual matters (because the world is so sex-obsessed these days). The word “scandal” comes from the Greek and also Latin noun scandalum and means “a stumbling block; a trap; something that causes moral stumbling.” Thus, parents who neglect to teach the Faith at home, who do not live spiritual lives within the home, who do not speak of the many different aspects of the Faith at home, who do not visibly and tangibly make God the obvious focal point of their lives in the home―such parents are a “stumbling-block” or “scandal” for their children, of whom Our Lord says: “He that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in Me―it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea! Woe to the world because of scandals! For it must needs be that scandals come―but, nevertheless, woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh!” (Matthew 18:6-7).
Hence it is that most souls are lost―because they were both a “scandal” (stumbling-block) to themselves and their children. Sanctity does not begin in the church, nor the school―but, as you have seen above, sanctity begins in the home from the very earliest months of a child’s existence. If the parents are not totally focused on God, then neither will their children be totally focused on God―for, as the philosophical axiom says: “Something cannot give what it has not got!” If you care little for salvation, but a lot about the things of this world―then your children will grow up likewise: “Everyone that useth a common proverb, shall use this against thee, saying: ‘As the mother was, so also is her daughter!’” (Ezechiel 16:44).
Tuesday August 6th : Feast of the Transfiguration
Article 1
Transfiguration? Transubstantiation?―More To It Than First Meets The Eye!
Article 1
Transfiguration? Transubstantiation?―More To It Than First Meets The Eye!
The Gospel on the Transfiguration
“And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain, apart by themselves, to pray. And whilst He prayed, the shape of His countenance was altered, His face did shine as the sun: and His garments became white as snow—white and glittering. And there appeared to them Elias with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. And they spoke of His decease that He should accomplish in Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep. And waking, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him. And Peter said to Jesus: ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here! If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles (tents), one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias!’ And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him!’ And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face, and were very much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them: and said to them: ‘Arise, and fear not!’ And they lifting up their eyes and immediately looking about, they saw no man any more, but Jesus only with them. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: ‘Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead!’” (Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:1–8, Luke 9:28–36).
Ancient Gospel
This Gospel has been associated with Lent for many centuries, and serves very well to express the positive side of Lent and to prepare us for the celebration of the Easter mystery. The Transfiguration is the heart of the Mass texts for today, and supplies the main lesson. Whereas the Gospel for last Sunday emphasized more the negative aspect of Lent, the Gospel for today tends to stress the positive purpose of this season. Transfiguration is grace, moral perfection, and glory. This is the aim of Lent.
What’s It Doing Here?
The Gospel which we have just heard may come as a surprise to us at this time. The one appointed for the previous Sunday (the First Sunday of Lent), seemed most fitting for Lent, portraying as it did Christ doing penance by fasting for forty days, and Christ engaged in combat with the devil. The Gospel for today would seem more suitable for a season of rejoicing, than for the austere time of Lent. Still, we must remember that Lent should not be regarded merely as a sorrowful time of penance, dying to self, and consciousness of sin, since it is also a time of grace: “Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation.” The purpose of Lent is to fill us with grace and to transfigure us for a new life in the celebration of the Easter mystery, whereby we celebrate our having died to sin having risen with Christ to a new life that leaves sin behind.
Progression of Lent
Thus we might say that the Gospel readings appointed for the first two Sundays form the two extreme boundaries of the Lenten season. With Christ, the Man of penance and the warrior, we desire to do penance and to battle against our lower nature defiled by Original Sin. With the glorified Christ, we long to have part in His transfiguration, when the feast of Easter arrives and the end of our life arrives. The Church sets before our eyes the aim of Lent. On Septuagesima Sunday the Church led us into the stadium of the spiritual life, where we were to enter the race and join in the combat to gain the spiritual victory. Today the Church shows us the prize of that victory, which is not a corruptible crown, nor a silver trophy, but the transfiguration or transformation of our souls—the changing of the sinner into the saint. Our Lord shows Peter, James and John the glory that awaits them too, if they are faithful to His teachings.
The Time and Place of the Transfiguration
The Transfiguration takes place towards the end of Jesus’ ministry in the province of Galilee. The Gospel says “After six days,” (Luke reckons “about eight days”) that is to say six days after St. Peter had made his inspired profession of Faith in the divinity of Christ--“Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God”—at Caesarea Philippi, which is around 50 miles north of Mount Thabor (Matthew 16:13-20) and Christ, in turn, had promised Peter the Primacy of His Church—“Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church.” Here the transfiguration, which the Gospel of the Second Sunday of Lent commemorates, took place.
Mount Thabor is a cone-like hill rising 1,850 feet above sea level around 10 miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee and around 8 miles from Our Lord’s home in Nazareth. From the fourth century onward, Thabor has been identified as the “high mountain apart” (Luke: “the mountain,” as if there were only the one).
Some modern authors prefer the much more impressive, snow-crested Mount Hermon, 9,383 feet above sea level and twelve miles north-east of Caesarea Philippi, as the mountain in question. However, it would surely not have taken Jesus and His band of Apostles, a total of six days to cover the twelve miles between the two places; moreover, when He came down from the mountain He was surrounded by a crowd of Jews seeking cures, a circumstance hardly likely to occur in the pagan country that surrounded Mount Hermon.
God Has His Favorites
Our Lord is preparing to make the last journey to Jerusalem which will lead to His Passion and Death. He has been telling His Apostles of the fate that awaits Him in Jerusalem. This, naturally, caused much despondency among the Apostles. It was while they were in this mood of depression that He took His most trusted and beloved disciples—Peter, James, and John—to the top of a high mountain to pray. Only three of the twelve Apostles were privileged to witness the happenings on Mount Thabor, and they were the same three who, more than any of the others, had been singled out for His special friendship— they would also be the witnesses of the cure of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37) and the same three would witness His Agony in the Garden a short time later. Peter was the Leader appointed by Him; John was the Beloved Disciple; and James would be the first to die for Him.
As the evening comes upon them, Jesus is absorbed in prayer, while His disciples lie down at some distance and fall asleep—same old story: Jesus prays, His followers merely sleep! Jesus pours out His soul in communion with His heavenly Father, offering to Him with joyful heart His approaching suffering, and commending to Him all those who will have a share in the Redemption.
He Was Transfigured Before Them
As He is engaged in fervent prayer, Jesus took on or manifested a new appearance. The splendor of His divinity breaks through the cloak of His humanity, and His countenance begins to shine like the sun and His garments become white as snow. Since Christ continually possessed the beatific vision, His body should, at all times, have been radiant and shining like the glorified bodies of the saints will be in Heaven, but Christ kept this effect of the beatific vision hidden, as it would have hindered His mission among mortals. It was only here on Mount Thabor, for a brief moment, that He allowed His divinity to shine forth and illumine His body and even His garments.
St. Matthew remarks that His face “shone as the sun” while His garments became “white as snow,” and St .Mark declares that no fuller (= launderer) on Earth could make them any whiter. St. Luke notes that Jesus’ face was changed as He prayed: “His face shone as the sun and His garments became white as snow.” Prayer nearly always alters the human countenance. “Light” is widely employed as the symbol of the divine presence.
Unlike Moses, who came down from another high mountain (Sinai), with his face glowing and reflecting the majesty and glory of God (Exodus 34:29), this radiance on Thabor was proper to Christ. Theologically it is explained as being an overflow of the glory, which inundated His soul, by reason of His constant vision of the face of God. By a special divine dispensation, however, this overflow was not allowed to glorify His body and make it incapable of suffering.
Moses and Elias
The Apostles are awakened by the divine light which envelops Him, and they behold the wonderful spectacle. Two men, Moses and Elias, come to Jesus and are transported in glory with Him. They converse with Jesus about His approaching suffering and death. Moses and Elias had been the molders of the Jewish nation and were two of the greatest landmarks in Hebrew history. The three chosen Apostles saw these representatives of the Law and of the Prophets conversing deferentially with Jesus, which shows that between the Old and New Testaments there is perfect harmony and continuity.
Scandalized at Christ’s Idea of a Kingdom
Prior to the Transfiguration, Our Lord had told His Apostles that He must soon go up to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of the Elders, the Scribes, and the Chief Priests, a suffering which will end in death, but that He would rise again the third day. This announcement greatly depressed the Apostles. They still hoped that He would establish an earthly kingdom, that He would use His great powers to subdue all His enemies, and that He would reign triumphant in this world.
Talking About Suffering and Death
St. Luke tells us the Apostles gazed in amazement when they saw and heard Moses and Elias speaking with Jesus, not of heavenly mysteries, but of His death as a man in Jerusalem: “And they spoke of His decease that He should accomplish in Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). There was a certain fittingness in this, as both of them had known much suffering in life at the hands of their own people.
Perhaps the Apostles recognized Moses and Elias from traditional descriptions of them, or Christ may have addressed each by his name, or else it was revealed to them who these two were. Their presence on this occasion of Christ’s manifestation of His glory, was a further proof, for the Apostles, that Christ was the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. Moses the Lawgiver and Elias the principal of the Prophets were the representatives of the Old Testament.
Wrong Idea of the Messias
Although the Apostles willingly accepted Christ as the Messias, they found it hard to accept a Messias who should suffer and die, despite the fact that this had been foretold in the prophecies; the presence of Moses and Elias speaking with Christ of His sufferings and death soon to take place in Jerusalem should remove these doubts. Christ, in the very act of revealing to them a little of His heavenly glory, reminds them that He hid that glory and came on Earth to suffer and die that mankind might share in His glory.
Later on, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Christ Himself expounded this truth: “O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things before entering into His glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things referring to Himself” (Luke 24:25-27).
Impulsive Peter
One can easily imagine how thrilled Peter was at what was going on before his very eyes. Peter, all excited and beside himself with wonder and admiration at the beauty of the vision he was seeing, said: “Lord it is good for us to be here, if thou wilt (that is, if you allow us) let us set up three tents, for you, for Moses and for Elias” meaning by this tents made out of branches. Peter’s one thought, in his excitement, was that this vision should last forever, hence the tents.
But as St. Luke and St. Mark add in their Gospels “he knew not what he was saying.” The truth of the matter is that Peter probably did not realize fully what he was saying—being an outgoing personality, he simply had to say something. His remark suggests, however, that the incident took place at some time during the day and not at night — one does not set up tents during the night. He may have thought that Jesus was about to begin His glorious mission (Peter did not always understand the lesson of the Cross), but the incongruity of his suggestion is obvious, for Jesus was not in the habit of seeking such shelter for sleep, nor was it at all likely that Moses and Elias could have been persuaded to prolong their stay on that account.
The Bright Cloud & the Voice of God
As Peter was still speaking a bright cloud overshadowed them, and hid Jesus and Moses and Elias from the Apostles’ eyes. In the Old Testament a cloud was always the symbol of the presence of the divine majesty. God spoke to the people in the desert from a cloud (Exodus 16:10); He gave the Ten Commandments to Moses from a cloud (Exodus 19:16). He manifested His presence in the newly built Temple of Solomon in a cloud which “filled the house of the Lord” (3 Kings 8:10). A voice then spoke from the cloud, saying: “This is My beloved Son . . . hear Him!” A bright cloud is a favorite Old Testament symbol of God’s loving presence (cf. Exodus 16:10; 19:9; 24:15; 33:9, etc.).
The same voice from Heaven had made the same proclamation on the occasion of Our Lord’s baptism. The voice of the Father, repeated to the three Apostles the same words He had uttered at Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:17), adding the admonition “Hear Him” in the present imperative, indicating that one should pay Him a continuing attention. It is at this moment that Jesus has finished His Galilean ministry and has begun to speak of His sufferings (Matthew 16:21 ff); it was fitting, therefore, that God should consecrate Him in an extraordinary way as His Son, Whom they should all obey.
Struck by Fear
The disciples fell on their faces: In fear and adoration, they realized their own sinfulness and feared to be so near the sinless majesty of God. Whenever the supernatural makes itself felt in the natural order, men are at first frightened and troubled, and under such circumstances it has always seemed to them, and rightly, only proper to adopt an attitude of adoration and humility, of prostration upon the Earth. There is nothing demeaning about this; it is merely the normal reaction of religious men realizing their unworthiness to be in God’s presence.
Do Not Be Afraid
Moses and Elias had disappeared along with the cloud, but Jesus remained. He always remains—the bridge between God and man. With the vision having ended, Christ raised up the three frightened Apostles and dispelled their fear. He was their mediator between them and God, He was the bridge that spanned the gulf between sinful human nature and the sublime majesty of God for He was both God and man.
Tell No One
Jesus commanded silence upon His three chosen witnesses--“Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead!”—knowing well that a knowledge of His Transfiguration would have aroused an excitement difficult to control both among His other disciples and among the people, who would rise up against the Roman authorities and openly proclaim Him King, if they really knew He was the promised Messias. The people’s idea of the Messias was that He would be their temporal ruler, their political, rather than their spiritual, Redeemer. He had chosen well; the three kept the secret faithfully until after the resurrection, when they divulged it to the others (2 Peter 1:10-18).
Privileged Apostles
What an honor and what a privilege for Peter, James, and John to have been given even a brief glimpse of the glory of Christ, the God Incarnate. This privilege they never forgot. “We saw His glory,” St. John says in his Gospel, written about sixty years later, and in his Epistles he also refers to this privilege (see 1 John 1:1). And St. Peter, writing from his prison in Rome, to the Churches of Asia Minor, about thirty years later, refers to this great privilege: “For we were not following fictitious tales when we made known to you the power and coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eye witnesses of His grandeur. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when from out the majestic glory a voice came down to Him, speaking thus: ‘This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.’ And this voice we ourselves heard, borne from Heaven, when we were with Him on the holy mount” (2 Peter 1:16-18).
We Are Privileged Too
Yes, the Apostles were privileged, but we, too, are sharers in their privilege. We too have incontrovertible proofs of the glorious divinity of Christ, in the Gospel narratives and in the twenty centuries of history of the Church, which He founded. Were He not divine, that Church would long since have tottered and crumbled under the assaults from without and human weakness from within. But Christ is God and the Church has His divine protection and assistance. Therefore it will go on till the end of time to continue His work of redemption as He promised—even though it may be greatly reduced in size as foretold by Our Lady, and in recent years stated by Pope Benedict XVI.
Let us thank our divine Lord today, for giving this consoling and strengthening vision of His divinity to His Apostles, and through them, to us. It was for them, and it is for us a guarantee and a foretaste of the joys, that will be ours for all eternity, if we only persevere in our struggles against the world, the flesh, and the devil. This struggle is not easy on weak human nature, but our loving Savior is ever beside us, ready to “raise us up and tell us not to fear” if we would only turn to Him. When we are tempted to despair—about ourselves or others—and to give way under the weight of the cross, that lies so heavily on our shoulders, let us think of Mount Thabor and the glorified Jesus, Who faced His own cross so cheerfully for our sakes, and who now looks down from Heaven on us encouraging us and promising us eternal bliss in His company if only we will persevere.
What is the message of this Gospel?
In the first place it reveals Christ in His transfiguration. The Church is greatly concerned to point out to us again and again that Christ is true God and true man. The Transfiguration lets us glimpse the fact that Christ is the Son of God. From all eternity He is seated on the throne of divine majesty, God of God, light of light, the reflection of the glory of God and the likeness of His majesty.
The Transfiguration did not occur in public, but on a solitary mountain in an atmosphere of prayer, recollection, mortification. God can thunder forth in the midst of a multitude, but His voice is usually a whisper, and one must be still to hear it.
In order to redeem mankind, He assumed the mantle of a slave, our human nature. This, of course, cast an outward veil over His divinity, although it by no means annihilated it. He remained, even on Earth, the ever-lasting Son of God. And even on the cross, where He cries out in abandonment: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me,” His divinity never forsakes Him.
At the present moment, in the Transfiguration, Jesus allows His disciples a momentary preview of His glorified body. With the resurrection, however, the time of humiliation came to an end; and, at the ascension into Heaven, the transfiguration of His human nature becomes a permanent state. In the splendor of the Transfiguration, He will appear on Earth once more, with great power and majesty, when He comes to judge.
Eucharistic ‘Transfiguration’
But even now Christ comes to us on Earth in transfigured form. Of course we do not see Him with our bodily eyes. But we do see Him in the members of His Mystical Body, in the little child, in the poor, in the priest, in our neighbor; moreover, we see Him especially in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity under the appearances of bread and wine. With the eyes of Faith we must recognize Him as the transfigured Lord when in the Eucharist He offers up His Body and His Blood in the continuation of the Passion—that He was discussing with Moses and Elias—in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Eucharist is our food and nourishment for the life of grace. That which the Gospel portrays today, is the real picture of Christ.
Jesus Wants to ‘Transfigure’ or Transform Our Souls
The Gospel shows us something more. We see a circle of men around Christ — Moses, Elias, Peter, James, and John — who are the representatives of both the Old and New Covenants. They, too, are included in the Transfiguration. They testify to the fact that Christ wishes to lead all men to sanctity and glorification—which is the reason why He came upon Earth. He wills not only to free men from sin, but to have them participate in His holiness and His eternal splendor, through grace here on Earth, through glory in the next life.
Grace Perfects, Transforms or ‘Transfigures’
What is grace? It is not merely a benign recognition of men by God; it is an elevation of the soul, a transfiguration of the soul. As St. Thomas Aquinas tells us: “Grace perfects nature.” Just as the sun shines down on the world, not only to give warmth and light, but also to transform the Earth from the barrenness of winter into a paradise of precious flowers and fruits, so too does the grace of God stream down on men, in order to transform their souls. St. Peter says that, by grace, man is made a partaker of the divine nature. The man of grace is therefore one whose soul has been transformed.
Of course, such transfiguration of man is not visible during His life on Earth, any more than Christ’s divinity was manifest during His earthly sojourn. St. Paul has said that our life of grace is hidden with Christ in God. Nevertheless, the soul of the man in grace is truly transfigured, and if one were able to see this with bodily eyes, the soul would resemble Christ as He appeared on Mount Thabor.
Holiness is Your Vocation and God’s Will for You
The transformation of the soul is in continual progress, and attains perfection only in the life of Heaven. A Christian’s vocation in this world is to be, for example, a parent, a worker, a student, but his real vocation is to grow to maturity and holiness in the life of grace. Woe betide him if at the hour of death he is like the man in the Gospel, who wanted to build a tower, but had to stop when the work was only half-done, because he was unable to complete it. How many men will be found to resemble an unfinished tower when death overtakes them!
Now, in regard to the question of who does the work on the structure of our soul, the answer is that God is the builder, but we have to be His apprentices. Without our cooperation God will never bring the work to completion. In the first place God does the work. “Unless the Lord build the house, the builders labor in vain.” God has to come to us with His first inspiration of grace.
Before we were born God already looked down in favor on us and watched over us. After we were born we were taken to be baptized, and from that moment our soul began to shine with the splendor of God’s grace. As we continued through life, our nature tainted by Original Sin oftentimes overshadowed our soul with dark clouds.
Yet the sacrament of penance was there to remove the shadows over and over again. But the ripening of the life of grace is accomplished mainly through the Eucharist. The flesh of the transfigured God-Man brings the life of the soul to perfection. Still we must serve as apprentices to the divine Builder. It is not enough that we simply use the means given by God, such as the sacraments of penance and the Eucharist; but we are expected to work along on building-up the spiritual life.
What Can We Do?
Sanctify Sunday
(a) First there is Sunday which is truly a day of sanctification. Six days are for our ordinary work; one day is appointed for the work on our souls. On this one day we are to build up the tabernacle of the spiritual life. Hence we must have the highest regard for Sunday. This is symbolized by Our Lord going off alone, with His three disciples, up the mountain (of God) to pray. He separated Himself from the world. We cannot be content to keep the Lord’s Day by assisting at one short Mass, and then feel satisfied that we have done our duty, and decide that the rest of the day belongs to us. It is true that we have this day to ourselves more than the other days of the week, but it is ours not only for the recreation of the body but more especially for the transformation of the soul. The entire day should be devoted to the things of God. “This is the day of the Lord!”
Nowadays, Sundays are increasingly desecrated. In bygone times, Sunday was still kept holy. People used go to church in their “Sunday-best” clothes, and a blessed peace reigned, especially in the countryside (or the ‘boonies’) a symbol of one’s interior transfiguration. The high point of Sunday was a Mass celebrated with all possible solemnity and with a sermon. All parts of the Mass aimed at the elevation of the soul: the prayer service at the beginning; the word of God in the Epistle, Gospel, and sermon; the Offertory, at which point in the Mass we offered our souls to God; the Consecration, when we were transfigured along with the gifts of bread and wine; the Communion, when grace was poured out on the soul. Even bodily rest from servile work was a foretaste of heavenly glory. But a Sunday badly spent by a Christian brings spiritual desolation in its wake.
Daily Mass
(b) Yet the work of spiritual growth must be extended to the weekdays, for which purpose there is daily Mass, or at the very least a fervent morning and night prayer.
Seek After Holiness
(c) Let us not forget that holiness is something interior, and usually remains hidden from the sight of men. We should not imagine that progress in sanctity is taking place only when we experience the delight of exalted feelings. On the contrary, the soul is oftentimes more pleasing to God when it seems to be utterly forsaken by Him, and is cast down by suffering and sorrow. Was not the soul of Christ glorified when He cried out from the cross: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Suffering, temptation, abandonment do not lessen the loveliness of the soul, any more than thorns detract from the beauty of a rose.
Practice Chastity and Justice
(d) We have to help along in the important work of growing in holiness. We must strive to model our lives on the life of Christ, to increase in virtue, to suppress sin and our evil passions. The Epistle for today tells us that God wills our sanctification, and then it mentions two virtues by which we grow in sanctity, namely, chastity and justice. Both of these virtues cause men to shine forth transfigured. “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” And the virtue of justice in a man is recognized for its worth even by the world. A life’s task lies before us — to develop a genuine Christian personality.
A Time to Grow—Grow in Holiness
Now we can understand how fitting it is that the Gospel of the Transfiguration is appointed for use during Lent. Lent is the principal time for man to change his ways and to work out his sanctification. As we have repeated over and over, Lent is a period not only for the negative task of waging battle against our lower nature and making expiation for sin. Lent is also — and indeed primarily — a time for growth in grace and holiness.
When Easter comes, the whole Mystical Body of Christ is to shine forth in newness of life and Easter glory. The Gospel for today is truly a symbol of the Easter mystery. The risen Christ will appear in all His glory, surrounded by the Church, His Mystical Body. During this time of Lent, Mother Church is busy with the work of purifying her children and adorning them with the life of grace.
Therefore, let us use this precious time of grace. Assist at daily Mass, receive the sacraments, read and listen to the word of God, keep the fast, practice other works of mortification, be fervent in prayer, and give alms generously. If we do these things, then at Easter time our souls will be resplendent in the light of the Transfiguration. During Lent the seed must be sown in tears on the acre of our soul, so that at Easter we may reap with joy the harvest of holiness and glory.
“And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain, apart by themselves, to pray. And whilst He prayed, the shape of His countenance was altered, His face did shine as the sun: and His garments became white as snow—white and glittering. And there appeared to them Elias with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. And they spoke of His decease that He should accomplish in Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep. And waking, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him. And Peter said to Jesus: ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here! If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles (tents), one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias!’ And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him!’ And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face, and were very much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them: and said to them: ‘Arise, and fear not!’ And they lifting up their eyes and immediately looking about, they saw no man any more, but Jesus only with them. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: ‘Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead!’” (Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:1–8, Luke 9:28–36).
Ancient Gospel
This Gospel has been associated with Lent for many centuries, and serves very well to express the positive side of Lent and to prepare us for the celebration of the Easter mystery. The Transfiguration is the heart of the Mass texts for today, and supplies the main lesson. Whereas the Gospel for last Sunday emphasized more the negative aspect of Lent, the Gospel for today tends to stress the positive purpose of this season. Transfiguration is grace, moral perfection, and glory. This is the aim of Lent.
What’s It Doing Here?
The Gospel which we have just heard may come as a surprise to us at this time. The one appointed for the previous Sunday (the First Sunday of Lent), seemed most fitting for Lent, portraying as it did Christ doing penance by fasting for forty days, and Christ engaged in combat with the devil. The Gospel for today would seem more suitable for a season of rejoicing, than for the austere time of Lent. Still, we must remember that Lent should not be regarded merely as a sorrowful time of penance, dying to self, and consciousness of sin, since it is also a time of grace: “Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation.” The purpose of Lent is to fill us with grace and to transfigure us for a new life in the celebration of the Easter mystery, whereby we celebrate our having died to sin having risen with Christ to a new life that leaves sin behind.
Progression of Lent
Thus we might say that the Gospel readings appointed for the first two Sundays form the two extreme boundaries of the Lenten season. With Christ, the Man of penance and the warrior, we desire to do penance and to battle against our lower nature defiled by Original Sin. With the glorified Christ, we long to have part in His transfiguration, when the feast of Easter arrives and the end of our life arrives. The Church sets before our eyes the aim of Lent. On Septuagesima Sunday the Church led us into the stadium of the spiritual life, where we were to enter the race and join in the combat to gain the spiritual victory. Today the Church shows us the prize of that victory, which is not a corruptible crown, nor a silver trophy, but the transfiguration or transformation of our souls—the changing of the sinner into the saint. Our Lord shows Peter, James and John the glory that awaits them too, if they are faithful to His teachings.
The Time and Place of the Transfiguration
The Transfiguration takes place towards the end of Jesus’ ministry in the province of Galilee. The Gospel says “After six days,” (Luke reckons “about eight days”) that is to say six days after St. Peter had made his inspired profession of Faith in the divinity of Christ--“Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God”—at Caesarea Philippi, which is around 50 miles north of Mount Thabor (Matthew 16:13-20) and Christ, in turn, had promised Peter the Primacy of His Church—“Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church.” Here the transfiguration, which the Gospel of the Second Sunday of Lent commemorates, took place.
Mount Thabor is a cone-like hill rising 1,850 feet above sea level around 10 miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee and around 8 miles from Our Lord’s home in Nazareth. From the fourth century onward, Thabor has been identified as the “high mountain apart” (Luke: “the mountain,” as if there were only the one).
Some modern authors prefer the much more impressive, snow-crested Mount Hermon, 9,383 feet above sea level and twelve miles north-east of Caesarea Philippi, as the mountain in question. However, it would surely not have taken Jesus and His band of Apostles, a total of six days to cover the twelve miles between the two places; moreover, when He came down from the mountain He was surrounded by a crowd of Jews seeking cures, a circumstance hardly likely to occur in the pagan country that surrounded Mount Hermon.
God Has His Favorites
Our Lord is preparing to make the last journey to Jerusalem which will lead to His Passion and Death. He has been telling His Apostles of the fate that awaits Him in Jerusalem. This, naturally, caused much despondency among the Apostles. It was while they were in this mood of depression that He took His most trusted and beloved disciples—Peter, James, and John—to the top of a high mountain to pray. Only three of the twelve Apostles were privileged to witness the happenings on Mount Thabor, and they were the same three who, more than any of the others, had been singled out for His special friendship— they would also be the witnesses of the cure of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37) and the same three would witness His Agony in the Garden a short time later. Peter was the Leader appointed by Him; John was the Beloved Disciple; and James would be the first to die for Him.
As the evening comes upon them, Jesus is absorbed in prayer, while His disciples lie down at some distance and fall asleep—same old story: Jesus prays, His followers merely sleep! Jesus pours out His soul in communion with His heavenly Father, offering to Him with joyful heart His approaching suffering, and commending to Him all those who will have a share in the Redemption.
He Was Transfigured Before Them
As He is engaged in fervent prayer, Jesus took on or manifested a new appearance. The splendor of His divinity breaks through the cloak of His humanity, and His countenance begins to shine like the sun and His garments become white as snow. Since Christ continually possessed the beatific vision, His body should, at all times, have been radiant and shining like the glorified bodies of the saints will be in Heaven, but Christ kept this effect of the beatific vision hidden, as it would have hindered His mission among mortals. It was only here on Mount Thabor, for a brief moment, that He allowed His divinity to shine forth and illumine His body and even His garments.
St. Matthew remarks that His face “shone as the sun” while His garments became “white as snow,” and St .Mark declares that no fuller (= launderer) on Earth could make them any whiter. St. Luke notes that Jesus’ face was changed as He prayed: “His face shone as the sun and His garments became white as snow.” Prayer nearly always alters the human countenance. “Light” is widely employed as the symbol of the divine presence.
Unlike Moses, who came down from another high mountain (Sinai), with his face glowing and reflecting the majesty and glory of God (Exodus 34:29), this radiance on Thabor was proper to Christ. Theologically it is explained as being an overflow of the glory, which inundated His soul, by reason of His constant vision of the face of God. By a special divine dispensation, however, this overflow was not allowed to glorify His body and make it incapable of suffering.
Moses and Elias
The Apostles are awakened by the divine light which envelops Him, and they behold the wonderful spectacle. Two men, Moses and Elias, come to Jesus and are transported in glory with Him. They converse with Jesus about His approaching suffering and death. Moses and Elias had been the molders of the Jewish nation and were two of the greatest landmarks in Hebrew history. The three chosen Apostles saw these representatives of the Law and of the Prophets conversing deferentially with Jesus, which shows that between the Old and New Testaments there is perfect harmony and continuity.
Scandalized at Christ’s Idea of a Kingdom
Prior to the Transfiguration, Our Lord had told His Apostles that He must soon go up to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of the Elders, the Scribes, and the Chief Priests, a suffering which will end in death, but that He would rise again the third day. This announcement greatly depressed the Apostles. They still hoped that He would establish an earthly kingdom, that He would use His great powers to subdue all His enemies, and that He would reign triumphant in this world.
Talking About Suffering and Death
St. Luke tells us the Apostles gazed in amazement when they saw and heard Moses and Elias speaking with Jesus, not of heavenly mysteries, but of His death as a man in Jerusalem: “And they spoke of His decease that He should accomplish in Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). There was a certain fittingness in this, as both of them had known much suffering in life at the hands of their own people.
Perhaps the Apostles recognized Moses and Elias from traditional descriptions of them, or Christ may have addressed each by his name, or else it was revealed to them who these two were. Their presence on this occasion of Christ’s manifestation of His glory, was a further proof, for the Apostles, that Christ was the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. Moses the Lawgiver and Elias the principal of the Prophets were the representatives of the Old Testament.
Wrong Idea of the Messias
Although the Apostles willingly accepted Christ as the Messias, they found it hard to accept a Messias who should suffer and die, despite the fact that this had been foretold in the prophecies; the presence of Moses and Elias speaking with Christ of His sufferings and death soon to take place in Jerusalem should remove these doubts. Christ, in the very act of revealing to them a little of His heavenly glory, reminds them that He hid that glory and came on Earth to suffer and die that mankind might share in His glory.
Later on, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Christ Himself expounded this truth: “O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things before entering into His glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things referring to Himself” (Luke 24:25-27).
Impulsive Peter
One can easily imagine how thrilled Peter was at what was going on before his very eyes. Peter, all excited and beside himself with wonder and admiration at the beauty of the vision he was seeing, said: “Lord it is good for us to be here, if thou wilt (that is, if you allow us) let us set up three tents, for you, for Moses and for Elias” meaning by this tents made out of branches. Peter’s one thought, in his excitement, was that this vision should last forever, hence the tents.
But as St. Luke and St. Mark add in their Gospels “he knew not what he was saying.” The truth of the matter is that Peter probably did not realize fully what he was saying—being an outgoing personality, he simply had to say something. His remark suggests, however, that the incident took place at some time during the day and not at night — one does not set up tents during the night. He may have thought that Jesus was about to begin His glorious mission (Peter did not always understand the lesson of the Cross), but the incongruity of his suggestion is obvious, for Jesus was not in the habit of seeking such shelter for sleep, nor was it at all likely that Moses and Elias could have been persuaded to prolong their stay on that account.
The Bright Cloud & the Voice of God
As Peter was still speaking a bright cloud overshadowed them, and hid Jesus and Moses and Elias from the Apostles’ eyes. In the Old Testament a cloud was always the symbol of the presence of the divine majesty. God spoke to the people in the desert from a cloud (Exodus 16:10); He gave the Ten Commandments to Moses from a cloud (Exodus 19:16). He manifested His presence in the newly built Temple of Solomon in a cloud which “filled the house of the Lord” (3 Kings 8:10). A voice then spoke from the cloud, saying: “This is My beloved Son . . . hear Him!” A bright cloud is a favorite Old Testament symbol of God’s loving presence (cf. Exodus 16:10; 19:9; 24:15; 33:9, etc.).
The same voice from Heaven had made the same proclamation on the occasion of Our Lord’s baptism. The voice of the Father, repeated to the three Apostles the same words He had uttered at Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:17), adding the admonition “Hear Him” in the present imperative, indicating that one should pay Him a continuing attention. It is at this moment that Jesus has finished His Galilean ministry and has begun to speak of His sufferings (Matthew 16:21 ff); it was fitting, therefore, that God should consecrate Him in an extraordinary way as His Son, Whom they should all obey.
Struck by Fear
The disciples fell on their faces: In fear and adoration, they realized their own sinfulness and feared to be so near the sinless majesty of God. Whenever the supernatural makes itself felt in the natural order, men are at first frightened and troubled, and under such circumstances it has always seemed to them, and rightly, only proper to adopt an attitude of adoration and humility, of prostration upon the Earth. There is nothing demeaning about this; it is merely the normal reaction of religious men realizing their unworthiness to be in God’s presence.
Do Not Be Afraid
Moses and Elias had disappeared along with the cloud, but Jesus remained. He always remains—the bridge between God and man. With the vision having ended, Christ raised up the three frightened Apostles and dispelled their fear. He was their mediator between them and God, He was the bridge that spanned the gulf between sinful human nature and the sublime majesty of God for He was both God and man.
Tell No One
Jesus commanded silence upon His three chosen witnesses--“Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead!”—knowing well that a knowledge of His Transfiguration would have aroused an excitement difficult to control both among His other disciples and among the people, who would rise up against the Roman authorities and openly proclaim Him King, if they really knew He was the promised Messias. The people’s idea of the Messias was that He would be their temporal ruler, their political, rather than their spiritual, Redeemer. He had chosen well; the three kept the secret faithfully until after the resurrection, when they divulged it to the others (2 Peter 1:10-18).
Privileged Apostles
What an honor and what a privilege for Peter, James, and John to have been given even a brief glimpse of the glory of Christ, the God Incarnate. This privilege they never forgot. “We saw His glory,” St. John says in his Gospel, written about sixty years later, and in his Epistles he also refers to this privilege (see 1 John 1:1). And St. Peter, writing from his prison in Rome, to the Churches of Asia Minor, about thirty years later, refers to this great privilege: “For we were not following fictitious tales when we made known to you the power and coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eye witnesses of His grandeur. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when from out the majestic glory a voice came down to Him, speaking thus: ‘This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.’ And this voice we ourselves heard, borne from Heaven, when we were with Him on the holy mount” (2 Peter 1:16-18).
We Are Privileged Too
Yes, the Apostles were privileged, but we, too, are sharers in their privilege. We too have incontrovertible proofs of the glorious divinity of Christ, in the Gospel narratives and in the twenty centuries of history of the Church, which He founded. Were He not divine, that Church would long since have tottered and crumbled under the assaults from without and human weakness from within. But Christ is God and the Church has His divine protection and assistance. Therefore it will go on till the end of time to continue His work of redemption as He promised—even though it may be greatly reduced in size as foretold by Our Lady, and in recent years stated by Pope Benedict XVI.
Let us thank our divine Lord today, for giving this consoling and strengthening vision of His divinity to His Apostles, and through them, to us. It was for them, and it is for us a guarantee and a foretaste of the joys, that will be ours for all eternity, if we only persevere in our struggles against the world, the flesh, and the devil. This struggle is not easy on weak human nature, but our loving Savior is ever beside us, ready to “raise us up and tell us not to fear” if we would only turn to Him. When we are tempted to despair—about ourselves or others—and to give way under the weight of the cross, that lies so heavily on our shoulders, let us think of Mount Thabor and the glorified Jesus, Who faced His own cross so cheerfully for our sakes, and who now looks down from Heaven on us encouraging us and promising us eternal bliss in His company if only we will persevere.
What is the message of this Gospel?
In the first place it reveals Christ in His transfiguration. The Church is greatly concerned to point out to us again and again that Christ is true God and true man. The Transfiguration lets us glimpse the fact that Christ is the Son of God. From all eternity He is seated on the throne of divine majesty, God of God, light of light, the reflection of the glory of God and the likeness of His majesty.
The Transfiguration did not occur in public, but on a solitary mountain in an atmosphere of prayer, recollection, mortification. God can thunder forth in the midst of a multitude, but His voice is usually a whisper, and one must be still to hear it.
In order to redeem mankind, He assumed the mantle of a slave, our human nature. This, of course, cast an outward veil over His divinity, although it by no means annihilated it. He remained, even on Earth, the ever-lasting Son of God. And even on the cross, where He cries out in abandonment: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me,” His divinity never forsakes Him.
At the present moment, in the Transfiguration, Jesus allows His disciples a momentary preview of His glorified body. With the resurrection, however, the time of humiliation came to an end; and, at the ascension into Heaven, the transfiguration of His human nature becomes a permanent state. In the splendor of the Transfiguration, He will appear on Earth once more, with great power and majesty, when He comes to judge.
Eucharistic ‘Transfiguration’
But even now Christ comes to us on Earth in transfigured form. Of course we do not see Him with our bodily eyes. But we do see Him in the members of His Mystical Body, in the little child, in the poor, in the priest, in our neighbor; moreover, we see Him especially in the Holy Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity under the appearances of bread and wine. With the eyes of Faith we must recognize Him as the transfigured Lord when in the Eucharist He offers up His Body and His Blood in the continuation of the Passion—that He was discussing with Moses and Elias—in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Eucharist is our food and nourishment for the life of grace. That which the Gospel portrays today, is the real picture of Christ.
Jesus Wants to ‘Transfigure’ or Transform Our Souls
The Gospel shows us something more. We see a circle of men around Christ — Moses, Elias, Peter, James, and John — who are the representatives of both the Old and New Covenants. They, too, are included in the Transfiguration. They testify to the fact that Christ wishes to lead all men to sanctity and glorification—which is the reason why He came upon Earth. He wills not only to free men from sin, but to have them participate in His holiness and His eternal splendor, through grace here on Earth, through glory in the next life.
Grace Perfects, Transforms or ‘Transfigures’
What is grace? It is not merely a benign recognition of men by God; it is an elevation of the soul, a transfiguration of the soul. As St. Thomas Aquinas tells us: “Grace perfects nature.” Just as the sun shines down on the world, not only to give warmth and light, but also to transform the Earth from the barrenness of winter into a paradise of precious flowers and fruits, so too does the grace of God stream down on men, in order to transform their souls. St. Peter says that, by grace, man is made a partaker of the divine nature. The man of grace is therefore one whose soul has been transformed.
Of course, such transfiguration of man is not visible during His life on Earth, any more than Christ’s divinity was manifest during His earthly sojourn. St. Paul has said that our life of grace is hidden with Christ in God. Nevertheless, the soul of the man in grace is truly transfigured, and if one were able to see this with bodily eyes, the soul would resemble Christ as He appeared on Mount Thabor.
Holiness is Your Vocation and God’s Will for You
The transformation of the soul is in continual progress, and attains perfection only in the life of Heaven. A Christian’s vocation in this world is to be, for example, a parent, a worker, a student, but his real vocation is to grow to maturity and holiness in the life of grace. Woe betide him if at the hour of death he is like the man in the Gospel, who wanted to build a tower, but had to stop when the work was only half-done, because he was unable to complete it. How many men will be found to resemble an unfinished tower when death overtakes them!
Now, in regard to the question of who does the work on the structure of our soul, the answer is that God is the builder, but we have to be His apprentices. Without our cooperation God will never bring the work to completion. In the first place God does the work. “Unless the Lord build the house, the builders labor in vain.” God has to come to us with His first inspiration of grace.
Before we were born God already looked down in favor on us and watched over us. After we were born we were taken to be baptized, and from that moment our soul began to shine with the splendor of God’s grace. As we continued through life, our nature tainted by Original Sin oftentimes overshadowed our soul with dark clouds.
Yet the sacrament of penance was there to remove the shadows over and over again. But the ripening of the life of grace is accomplished mainly through the Eucharist. The flesh of the transfigured God-Man brings the life of the soul to perfection. Still we must serve as apprentices to the divine Builder. It is not enough that we simply use the means given by God, such as the sacraments of penance and the Eucharist; but we are expected to work along on building-up the spiritual life.
What Can We Do?
Sanctify Sunday
(a) First there is Sunday which is truly a day of sanctification. Six days are for our ordinary work; one day is appointed for the work on our souls. On this one day we are to build up the tabernacle of the spiritual life. Hence we must have the highest regard for Sunday. This is symbolized by Our Lord going off alone, with His three disciples, up the mountain (of God) to pray. He separated Himself from the world. We cannot be content to keep the Lord’s Day by assisting at one short Mass, and then feel satisfied that we have done our duty, and decide that the rest of the day belongs to us. It is true that we have this day to ourselves more than the other days of the week, but it is ours not only for the recreation of the body but more especially for the transformation of the soul. The entire day should be devoted to the things of God. “This is the day of the Lord!”
Nowadays, Sundays are increasingly desecrated. In bygone times, Sunday was still kept holy. People used go to church in their “Sunday-best” clothes, and a blessed peace reigned, especially in the countryside (or the ‘boonies’) a symbol of one’s interior transfiguration. The high point of Sunday was a Mass celebrated with all possible solemnity and with a sermon. All parts of the Mass aimed at the elevation of the soul: the prayer service at the beginning; the word of God in the Epistle, Gospel, and sermon; the Offertory, at which point in the Mass we offered our souls to God; the Consecration, when we were transfigured along with the gifts of bread and wine; the Communion, when grace was poured out on the soul. Even bodily rest from servile work was a foretaste of heavenly glory. But a Sunday badly spent by a Christian brings spiritual desolation in its wake.
Daily Mass
(b) Yet the work of spiritual growth must be extended to the weekdays, for which purpose there is daily Mass, or at the very least a fervent morning and night prayer.
Seek After Holiness
(c) Let us not forget that holiness is something interior, and usually remains hidden from the sight of men. We should not imagine that progress in sanctity is taking place only when we experience the delight of exalted feelings. On the contrary, the soul is oftentimes more pleasing to God when it seems to be utterly forsaken by Him, and is cast down by suffering and sorrow. Was not the soul of Christ glorified when He cried out from the cross: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Suffering, temptation, abandonment do not lessen the loveliness of the soul, any more than thorns detract from the beauty of a rose.
Practice Chastity and Justice
(d) We have to help along in the important work of growing in holiness. We must strive to model our lives on the life of Christ, to increase in virtue, to suppress sin and our evil passions. The Epistle for today tells us that God wills our sanctification, and then it mentions two virtues by which we grow in sanctity, namely, chastity and justice. Both of these virtues cause men to shine forth transfigured. “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” And the virtue of justice in a man is recognized for its worth even by the world. A life’s task lies before us — to develop a genuine Christian personality.
A Time to Grow—Grow in Holiness
Now we can understand how fitting it is that the Gospel of the Transfiguration is appointed for use during Lent. Lent is the principal time for man to change his ways and to work out his sanctification. As we have repeated over and over, Lent is a period not only for the negative task of waging battle against our lower nature and making expiation for sin. Lent is also — and indeed primarily — a time for growth in grace and holiness.
When Easter comes, the whole Mystical Body of Christ is to shine forth in newness of life and Easter glory. The Gospel for today is truly a symbol of the Easter mystery. The risen Christ will appear in all His glory, surrounded by the Church, His Mystical Body. During this time of Lent, Mother Church is busy with the work of purifying her children and adorning them with the life of grace.
Therefore, let us use this precious time of grace. Assist at daily Mass, receive the sacraments, read and listen to the word of God, keep the fast, practice other works of mortification, be fervent in prayer, and give alms generously. If we do these things, then at Easter time our souls will be resplendent in the light of the Transfiguration. During Lent the seed must be sown in tears on the acre of our soul, so that at Easter we may reap with joy the harvest of holiness and glory.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Wednesday July 31st, Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola & Thursday August 1st
Article 15
St. Ignatius―an Example and a Saint for Today
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Article 15
St. Ignatius―an Example and a Saint for Today
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Ignatius―Modern Day Lifesytle in Late Middle-Ages
There are some saints that modern-man can hardly relate to―and there are others that reflect some elements of modern-man’s life. St. Ignatius of Loyola (feast day July 31st) is one of those saints that are able to “speak to” and relate to the experiences and circumstances of modern-day persons.
St. Ignatius came from a family of minor nobility in Spain’s northern Basque region. One thing to know about Ignatius is that he was far from saintly during much of his young adult life. He was vain, with dreams of personal honor and fame. He gambled and was not above sword fighting.
St. Ignatius Loyola was born in 1491, one of 13 children of a family of minor nobility in northern Spain―today, you could possibly compare the “minor nobility” with our “middle-classes”. Our Saint was named “Inigo” in baptism, after Saint Enecus (Innicas), a Benedictine abbot from the not far distant Ona. His earlier letters are signed “Inigo,” without any surname; but in later years, when residing in Rome, he fell in with the fashion of the day, and Latinized his name, taking the form “Ignatius.”
Ignatius Rejects a Vocation in Preference for the World
At an early age he was ordained a cleric, but was afterwards released from his obligations―though when or why is no longer known. You could compare that to a Catholic child today being enrolled in a Catholic school, but then falls-away from regular religious practice. As a young man Ignatius Loyola was inflamed by the ideals of courtly love and knighthood and dreamed of doing great deeds―not too different from today’s youth, who dream of wealth, riches, fame and getting as much enjoyment out of life as possible.
He was brought up in the household of Juan Velasquez de Cuellar, treasurer of the kingdom of Castile, and a mayor to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. In the service of this noble and wealthy lord, he presumably visited the Spanish court from time to time, though it is not accurate to say that he was ever in the royal service of the king and queen.
Worldly Court Life
This time of service in the court of a great noble―which lasted till about 1517, when he was twenty-five years of age―covers the period of his education and was typically worldly with “just a pinch” of religion thrown in. Only a small amount of learning considered as being necessary in that day and age for the “profession of arms” (being a soldier), to which Inigo aspired. At the end of the fifteenth century (1400s), before schools were common, boys at home and pages at court were placed under some gentleman tutor, who would see to it that they learned to read and write, and knew such hymns and Latin prayers as would enable them to attend becomingly the longish services then in fashion. This would have been the basic education that Inigo acquired in youth. As a result, He loved to read the Romanceros of his day, which, in a way, correspond with the novels of our day. Especially was he fond of Amadis de Gaula, The Chronicle of the Cid, and the books of Caballeria. From these he learned to love the code of chivalry with enthusiasm, “to dread a stain more than a wound.” To win worldly glory as a knight became to him the only object worth living for―just as most of today’s Catholics live for worldly glory and pleasure.
As a member of the Velazquez household, he was frequently at court and developed a taste for all it presented, especially the ladies. He was much addicted to gambling, very contentious, and not above engaging in swordplay on occasion. For a number of years he went about in the dress of a fighting man, wearing a coat of mail and breastplate, and carrying a sword and other sorts of arms. In fact in a dispute between the Loyola family and another family, Ignatius and his brother plus some relatives ambushed at night some clerics who were members of the other family. Ignatius had to flee the town. When finally brought to justice he claimed clerical immunity using the defense that he had received the tonsure as a boy, and was therefore exempt from civil prosecution. The defense was specious because Ignatius had for years gone about in the dress of a fighting man, wearing a coat of mail and breastplate, and carrying a sword and other sorts of arms - certainly not the garb normally worn by a cleric. The case dragged on for weeks, but the Loyolas were apparently powerful. Probably through the influence of higher-ups, the case against Ignatius was dropped. Ignatius’ secretary wrote of the future saint: “Although attached to his Faith, he did not live his life in conformity with it, nor did he avoid sin in his early years. He was particularly given to gambling, female matters, as well as to brawling and the exercise of arms”―just like most people today!
Joins the Military
In 1517, his feudal patron, the great noble, Velasquez, died, and Ignatius became a soldier under the Duke of Najera. He joined the army at seventeen, and according to one biographer, he strutted about ”with his cape slinging open to reveal his tight-fitting hose and boots; a sword and dagger at his waist.” According to another he was “a fancy dresser, an expert dancer, a womanizer, sensitive to insult, and a rough punkish swordsman who used his privileged status to escape prosecution for violent crimes committed with his priest brother at carnival time.” Upon encountering a Moor who denied the divinity of Jesus, he challenged him to a duel to the death, and ran him through with his sword. He dueled many other men as well.
The French, who by then had invaded parts of Spain and had captured the town of Navarre, were waging war on the northern boundaries of Castille (Northern Spain), and in this campaign Ignatius saw some service, though with few chances of distinguishing himself in battle. But he did well as a leader of men, and once restored discipline in a mutinous battalion under difficult circumstances. The later episode of the defense of Pampeluna, in which Inigo was seriously wounded, is really the chief event in Inigo’s short military career, which was the occasion of his conversion.
A Worldly Soldier―Not a Soldier of Christ
That word indicates that Ignatius, living in castle and camp, had lapsed from the Christ-likeness of childhood. In fact, though details are lacking, the evidence now seems sufficient to say that his virtue had, during this period, suffered some eclipse. In later life he would accuse himself in general terms of having been a very great sinner, but in the absence of particulars, one cannot know how great a sinner he actually was.
Often something may be gathered concerning a young man’s character, if one knows the young lady of his choice. But while Ignatius was not unwilling to say some strong things about his past peccadilloes, he would never say anything directly about his lady. Her name remains a secret; but he owned that he would often dream of her by the hour, and make elaborate plans for her service and entertainment. By what means he would journey to the land where she lived, what mottoes, what words he would speak, what deeds of arms he would accomplish in her service! And he was so obsessed with this idea that he did not heed the quasi-impossibility of executing it. For this lady was not one of the lesser nobility―no countess, nor duchess, but of an estate higher than any of these. Visionary and impracticable this lover may be, but his dreams reflect no discredit on his youthful heart.
Eventually he found himself―at the age of 30, in May of 1521―as an officer defending the fortress of the town of Pamplona against the French, who claimed the territory as their own against Spain. The Spaniards were terribly outnumbered and the commander of the Spanish forces wanted to surrender, but Ignatius convinced him to fight on for the honor of Spain, if not for victory. During the battle a cannon ball struck Ignatius, wounding one leg and breaking the other. Because they admired his courage, the French soldiers carried him back to recuperate at his home, the castle of Loyola, rather than to prison. The broken leg was not properly set and did not heal, so it was necessary to break it again and reset it, all without anesthesia. Ignatius grew worse and was finally told by the doctors that he should prepare for death.
On the feast of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29th), he took an unexpected turn for the better. The leg healed, but when it did the bone protruded below the knee. The bone protruded in a way that would show through the tight hose that a courtier wore, “so much as to be something ugly” as he lamented. This was unacceptable to Ignatius, who considered it a fate worse than death not to be able to wear the long, tight-fitting boots and hose of the courtier. Therefore Ignatius, in his vanity, ordered the doctors to saw off the offending knob of bone and to lengthen the leg by systematic stretching. Again, all of this was done without anesthesia. Unfortunately, this was not a successful procedure. All his life he walked with a limp because one leg was shorter than the other.
No Pain, No Gain
Such was Ignatius the sinner. No imitator of Christ in this, however like to numberless other human souls. Christ alone was not only free from all stain, but set apart to take away the sins of the whole world. In doing this it is His wont to work with human agents; to use sinful men, in order to accomplish salvation from sin. He threw down Saul, in order to raise up Paul. Nothing predisposes us sinners more to accept an apostle, than to know that he is full of personal sympathy for sinners, that he knows our case intimately, and by experience. We cannot question that Ignatius knew the world, its pleasures, its fascinations, its glamour everyone sees that he knew, even by bitter experience, the dark mysteries of sin.
Let us see how Providence will deal with this strong and daring man, whom the world had already claimed as its own. Providence does not shy away from using strong-arm methods in making sinners change track. Much as was the case with St. Paul of Tarsus―whom God threw off his horse and blinded him―God acted in a similar way with Ignatius. Instead of blinding him, Providence rips through the calf of his leg with a cannonball. Somehow we seem to listen better when God strikes us hard―which will be case in forthcoming chastisement, when three-quarters of the world’s population will perish and the survivors will be forced to live in abject poverty and misery for several years before God restores some kind of normality. It is through moments of pain that God can gain souls again. We see this same truth manifest itself time and time again in Bible history.
Whenever the Chosen People were severely punished for wandering away from God into worldliness, they came to their senses and came back to God. Somehow, the soft, loving, paternal, kindly words of God seem to wash-off us like “water off a duck’s back”―we pay little attention to them, much like a child ignores the commands of a parent when they are being calmly and kindly told what to do. They will only jump into action when the parents become threatening or punitive. In the proverbial “carrot and stick”, it is usually the carrot that fails to produce results even though it is taken and eaten! Mostly, when God gave the Chosen people the carrot (the “soft” approach), they ignored Him and carried on in their wayward ways. It was only when God pulled-out, brandished and used the stick, that the Chosen People toed-the-line and did what He wanted them to do! God will use the same tactics on individuals, families, groups, or even nations. A reading of chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus clearly exposes God’s “manifesto.”
God Tenderizes and Softens-Up the ‘Meat’
Once Ignatius had been “shot-down” by God’s cannonball―for, ultimately, God is behind everything that happens in this world, by either wanting it to happen or allowing it to happen―he was ready to be “softened-up” and made to be “spiritually malleable”―more ready to do God’s will than follow his own worldly human will. During the long weeks of his recuperation from the wound in his leg from the cannonball, he was extremely bored and asked for some romance novels to pass the time. Luckily there were none in the castle of Loyola, but there was a copy of the life of Christ and a book on the saints. Desperate, Ignatius began to read them. The more he read, the more he considered the exploits of the saints worth imitating.
However, at the same time, he continued to have daydreams of fame and glory, along with fantasies of winning the love of a certain noble lady of the court, with whom he was in love. The identity of this lady has never been discovered, but she seems to have been of royal blood. He noticed, however, that after reading and thinking of the saints and Christ he was at peace and satisfied. Yet when he finished his long daydreams of his noble lady, he would feel restless and unsatisfied. He did not consider, nor did he stop to examine this difference, until one day his eyes were partially opened and he began to wonder at this difference and to reflect upon it. From experience, he knew that some thoughts left him sad, while others made him happy, and little by little he came to perceive the different spirits that were moving him. Gradually, he began to reflect on these experiences; he noticed what was going on within him. Both kinds of daydreams engaged him completely, but after the romantic chivalry dreaming was over, he felt empty and dissatisfied, whereas after the spiritual dreaming ended, he still felt a deep peace, a quiet happiness. This experience the beginning of his conversion―this was the quiet and hidden work of grace in his soul. For this to happen, it was important that Ignatius be forcibly removed from the lifestyle, environment and circumstances that he had chosen for himself―only the cannonball wound or some similar tragedy would do the trick.
The same is true for our lives―we cannot really, sincerely, honestly say that our currently lifestyle, preoccupations, social circle, daily routine, hobbies and pastimes are the result of God’s direct will for us―it is, more likely than not, something of our own personal choosing and preference, the product of our own self-will. It has to be―for why else would most souls end up being damned if they spent their whole time doing God’s will? This is so common a thing that Our Lord addresses it in the Gospel: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Ignatius Turns Around
Not only was this experience the beginning of his conversion, it was also the beginning of spiritual discernment, or discernment of spirits, which is associated with Ignatius and described in his Spiritual Exercises. The Exercises recognize that not only the intellect, but also the emotions and feelings can help us to come to a knowledge of the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Eventually, completely converted from his old desires and plans of romance and worldly conquests, and recovered from his wounds enough to travel, he left the castle in March of 1522.
He had decided that he wanted to go to Jerusalem to live where our Lord had spent his life on earth. As a first step he began his journey to Barcelona. He first proceeded to the Benedictine shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, made a general confession, and knelt all night in vigil before Our Lady’s altar, following the rites of chivalry. He left his sword and knife at the altar, went out and gave away all his fine clothes to a poor man, and dressed himself in rough clothes with sandals and a staff.
The Experience of Manresa
He continued towards Barcelona but stopped along the river Cardoner at a town called Manresa. He stayed in a cave outside the town, intending to linger only a few days, but he remained for ten months. He spent hours each day in prayer and also worked in a hospice. It was while here that the ideas for what are now known as the Spiritual Exercises began to take shape. It was also on the banks of this river that he had a vision which is regarded as the most significant in his life. The vision was more of an enlightenment, about which he later said that he learned more on that one occasion that he did in the rest of his life. Ignatius never revealed exactly what the vision was, but it seems to have been an encounter with God as He really is so that all creation was seen in a new light and acquired a new meaning and relevance, and experience that enabled Ignatius to find God in all things. This grace, finding God in all things, is one of the central characteristics of Jesuit spirituality.
Ignatius himself never wrote in the rules of the Jesuits that there should be any fixed time for prayer. Actually, by finding God in all things, all times are times of prayer. He did not, of course, exclude formal prayer, but he differed from other founders regarding the imposition of definite times or duration of prayer. One of the reasons some opposed the formation of the Society of Jesus was that Ignatius proposed doing away with the chanting of the Divine Office in choir. This was a radical departure from custom, because until this time, every religious order was held to the recitation of the office in common. For Ignatius, such recitation meant that the type of activity envisioned for the Society would be hindered.
He finally arrived at Barcelona, took a boat to Italy, and ended up in Rome where he met Pope Adrian VI and requested permission to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Once he arrived in the Holy Land he wanted to remain, but was told by the Franciscan superior who had authority over Catholics there that the situation was too dangerous. (At the time, the Turks were the rulers of the Holy Land.) The superior ordered Ignatius to leave. He refused, but when threatened with excommunication, he obediently departed.
The Return to School
By now he was 33 years old and determined to study for the priesthood. However, he was ignorant of Latin, a necessary preliminary to university studies in those days. So he started back to school studying Latin grammar with young boys in a school in Barcelona. After two years he moved on to the University of Alcala. There his zeal got him in trouble, a problem that continued throughout his life. He would gather students and adults to explain the Gospels to them and teach them how to pray. His efforts attracted the attention of the Inquisition and he was thrown into jail for 42 days. When he was released he was told to avoid teaching others. (In the eyes of Inquisitors, anyone who was teaching and was not ordained was suspect.)
Because he could not live without helping souls, Ignatius moved on to the University of Salamanca. There, within two weeks, the Dominicans had thrown him back into prison again. Though they could find no heresy in what he taught, he was told that he could only teach children and then only simple religious truths. Once more he took to the road, this time for Paris.
At the University of Paris he began school again, studying Latin grammar and literature, philosophy, and theology. It was also in Paris that he began sharing a room with Francis Xavier and Peter Faber. He greatly influenced a few other fellow students directing them all at one time or another in what we now call the Spiritual Exercises. Eventually six of them plus Ignatius decided to take vows of chastity and poverty and to go to the Holy Land. If going to the Holy Land became impossible, they would go to Rome and place themselves at the disposal of the Pope for whatever he would want them to do. They did not think of doing this as a religious order or congregation, but as individual priests. For a year they waited, however no ship was able to take them to the Holy Land because of the conflict between the Christians and Muslims. It was during this time of waiting that Ignatius was ordained a priest, but he did not say Mass for another year. It is thought that he wanted to say his first Mass in Jerusalem in the land where Jesus himself had lived.
The Company of Jesus
Ignatius, along with two of his companions, Peter Faber and James Lainez, decided to go to Rome and place themselves at the disposal of the Pope. It was a few miles outside of the city that Ignatius had the second most significant of his mystical experiences. At a chapel at La Storta where they had stopped to pray, God the Father told Ignatius, “I will be favorable to you in Rome” and that he would place him (Ignatius) with His Son. Ignatius did not know what this experience meant, for it could mean persecution as well as success since Jesus experienced both.
When they met with the Pope, he very happily put them to work teaching scripture and theology and preaching. It was here on Christmas morning, 1538, that Ignatius celebrated his first Mass at the church of St. Mary Major in the Chapel of the Manger. It was thought this chapel had the actual manger of Bethlehem, so, if Ignatius was not going to be able to say his first Mass at Jesus’ birthplace in the Holy Land, then this would be the best substitute.
During the Lent of 1539, Ignatius asked all of his companions to come to Rome to discuss their future. They had never thought of founding a religious order, but now that going to Jerusalem was out, they had to think about their future--whether they would spend it together. After many weeks of prayer and discussion, they decided to form a community, with the Pope’s approval, in which they would vow obedience to a superior general who would hold office for life. They would place themselves at the disposal of the Holy Father to travel wherever he should wish to send them for whatever duties. A vow to this effect was added to the ordinary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Formal approval of this new order was given by Pope Paul III the following year on September 27, 1540. Since they had referred to themselves as the Company of Jesus (in Latin Societas Jesu), in English their order became known as the Society of Jesus. Ignatius was elected on the first ballot of the group to be the superior, but he begged them to reconsider, pray and vote again a few days later. The second ballot came out as the first, unanimous for Ignatius, except for his own vote. He was still reluctant to accept, but his Franciscan confessor told him it was God’s will, so he acquiesced. On the Friday of Easter week, April 22, 1541, at the Church of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, the friends pronounced their vows in the newly formed Order.
The Years As Superior General
Ignatius, whose love it was to be actively involved in teaching catechism to children, directing adults in the Spiritual Exercises, and working among the poor and in hospitals, would for the most part sacrifice this love for the next fifteen years. From his election as superior general until his death he would work out of two small rooms, his bedroom and next to it his office, directing this new society throughout the world. He would spend years composing the Constitutions of the Society and would write thousands of letters to all corners of the globe to his fellow Jesuits dealing with the affairs of the Society and to lay men and women directing them in the spiritual life. From his tiny quarters in Rome he would live to see in his lifetime the Society of Jesus grow from eight to a thousand members. The Jesuits would found colleges and houses all over Europe and as far away as Brazil and Japan. Some of the original companions were to become the Pope’s theologians at the Council of Trent, an event which played an important role in the Catholic Counter Reformation.
The Jesuits and Schools
Perhaps the work of the Society of Jesus begun by Ignatius that is best known is that of education. It is interesting that he had no intention of including teaching among the Jesuits’ works at the beginning. As already mentioned, the purpose of the first members was to be at the disposal of the Pope to go where they would be most needed. Before 1548 Ignatius had opened schools in Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and India. These schools, however, were intended primarily for the education of the new young Jesuit recruits. Ten such colleges built within six years indicated the rapid growth of the Jesuits. But in 1548 at the request of the magistrates of Messina in Sicily, Ignatius sent five men to open a school for lay as well as Jesuit students. It soon became clear by requests from rulers, bishops and cities for schools that this work was truly one of the most effective ways to correct ignorance and corruption among the clergy and the faithful, to stem the decline of the Church in the face of the Reformation, and to fulfill the motto of the Society of Jesus, “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam,”--to the greater glory of God.
This was clearly in keeping with one of Ignatius’ first principles in choosing apostolates: all other things being equal, choose those apostolates that will influence those who have the most influence on others. Maybe the best expression of this idea was in a letter he wrote about the founding of colleges in December of 1551:
From among those who are now merely students, in time some will depart to play diverse roles--one to preach and carry on the care of souls, another to government of the land and the administration of justice, and others to other callings. Finally, since young boys become grown men, their good education in life and doctrine will be beneficial to many others, with the fruit expanding more widely every day. From then on, Ignatius helped to establish Jesuit schools and universities all over Europe and the world.
Ignatius the Person
It is probably true that the picture of Ignatius that most people have is that of a soldier: stern, iron-willed, practical, showing little emotion -- not a very attractive or warm personality. Yet if this picture is exact, it is hard to see how he could have had such a strong influence on those who knew him. Luis Goncalves de Camara, one of his closest associates wrote,
“Ignatius was always rather inclined toward love; moreover, he seemed all love, and because of that he was universally loved by all. There was no one in the Society who did not have much great love for him and did not consider himself much loved by him. We regard a number of saints as great mystics but never think of Ignatius as one of them. We have recounted a few of the many visions and mystical experiences in his life. His holiness, however, did not consist in such, but in the great love that directed his life to do everything A.M.D.G., for the greater glory of God.”
Last Illness
Ever since his student days in Paris, Ignatius had suffered from stomach ailments and they became increasingly troublesome in Rome. In the summer of 1556 his health grew worse, but his physician thought he would survive this summer as he had done others. Ignatius, however, thought that the end was near. On the afternoon of July 30th he asked Polanco, his secretary, to go and get the Pope’s blessing for him, suggesting by this to Polanco that he was dying. Polanco, however, trusted the physician more than Ignatius and told him he had a lot of letters to write and mail that day. He would go for the Pope’s blessing the next day. Shortly after midnight Ignatius took a turn for the worse. Polanco rushed off to the Vatican to get the papal blessing, but it was too late. The former worldly courtier and soldier who had turned his gaze to another court and a different type of battle had rendered his soul into the hands of God. Ignatius was beatified on July 27th, 1609 and canonized by Pope Gregory XV on March 12th, 1622 together with St. Francis Xavier. Ignatius’ feast day is celebrated by the universal Church and the Jesuits on July 31st, the day he died
There are some saints that modern-man can hardly relate to―and there are others that reflect some elements of modern-man’s life. St. Ignatius of Loyola (feast day July 31st) is one of those saints that are able to “speak to” and relate to the experiences and circumstances of modern-day persons.
St. Ignatius came from a family of minor nobility in Spain’s northern Basque region. One thing to know about Ignatius is that he was far from saintly during much of his young adult life. He was vain, with dreams of personal honor and fame. He gambled and was not above sword fighting.
St. Ignatius Loyola was born in 1491, one of 13 children of a family of minor nobility in northern Spain―today, you could possibly compare the “minor nobility” with our “middle-classes”. Our Saint was named “Inigo” in baptism, after Saint Enecus (Innicas), a Benedictine abbot from the not far distant Ona. His earlier letters are signed “Inigo,” without any surname; but in later years, when residing in Rome, he fell in with the fashion of the day, and Latinized his name, taking the form “Ignatius.”
Ignatius Rejects a Vocation in Preference for the World
At an early age he was ordained a cleric, but was afterwards released from his obligations―though when or why is no longer known. You could compare that to a Catholic child today being enrolled in a Catholic school, but then falls-away from regular religious practice. As a young man Ignatius Loyola was inflamed by the ideals of courtly love and knighthood and dreamed of doing great deeds―not too different from today’s youth, who dream of wealth, riches, fame and getting as much enjoyment out of life as possible.
He was brought up in the household of Juan Velasquez de Cuellar, treasurer of the kingdom of Castile, and a mayor to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. In the service of this noble and wealthy lord, he presumably visited the Spanish court from time to time, though it is not accurate to say that he was ever in the royal service of the king and queen.
Worldly Court Life
This time of service in the court of a great noble―which lasted till about 1517, when he was twenty-five years of age―covers the period of his education and was typically worldly with “just a pinch” of religion thrown in. Only a small amount of learning considered as being necessary in that day and age for the “profession of arms” (being a soldier), to which Inigo aspired. At the end of the fifteenth century (1400s), before schools were common, boys at home and pages at court were placed under some gentleman tutor, who would see to it that they learned to read and write, and knew such hymns and Latin prayers as would enable them to attend becomingly the longish services then in fashion. This would have been the basic education that Inigo acquired in youth. As a result, He loved to read the Romanceros of his day, which, in a way, correspond with the novels of our day. Especially was he fond of Amadis de Gaula, The Chronicle of the Cid, and the books of Caballeria. From these he learned to love the code of chivalry with enthusiasm, “to dread a stain more than a wound.” To win worldly glory as a knight became to him the only object worth living for―just as most of today’s Catholics live for worldly glory and pleasure.
As a member of the Velazquez household, he was frequently at court and developed a taste for all it presented, especially the ladies. He was much addicted to gambling, very contentious, and not above engaging in swordplay on occasion. For a number of years he went about in the dress of a fighting man, wearing a coat of mail and breastplate, and carrying a sword and other sorts of arms. In fact in a dispute between the Loyola family and another family, Ignatius and his brother plus some relatives ambushed at night some clerics who were members of the other family. Ignatius had to flee the town. When finally brought to justice he claimed clerical immunity using the defense that he had received the tonsure as a boy, and was therefore exempt from civil prosecution. The defense was specious because Ignatius had for years gone about in the dress of a fighting man, wearing a coat of mail and breastplate, and carrying a sword and other sorts of arms - certainly not the garb normally worn by a cleric. The case dragged on for weeks, but the Loyolas were apparently powerful. Probably through the influence of higher-ups, the case against Ignatius was dropped. Ignatius’ secretary wrote of the future saint: “Although attached to his Faith, he did not live his life in conformity with it, nor did he avoid sin in his early years. He was particularly given to gambling, female matters, as well as to brawling and the exercise of arms”―just like most people today!
Joins the Military
In 1517, his feudal patron, the great noble, Velasquez, died, and Ignatius became a soldier under the Duke of Najera. He joined the army at seventeen, and according to one biographer, he strutted about ”with his cape slinging open to reveal his tight-fitting hose and boots; a sword and dagger at his waist.” According to another he was “a fancy dresser, an expert dancer, a womanizer, sensitive to insult, and a rough punkish swordsman who used his privileged status to escape prosecution for violent crimes committed with his priest brother at carnival time.” Upon encountering a Moor who denied the divinity of Jesus, he challenged him to a duel to the death, and ran him through with his sword. He dueled many other men as well.
The French, who by then had invaded parts of Spain and had captured the town of Navarre, were waging war on the northern boundaries of Castille (Northern Spain), and in this campaign Ignatius saw some service, though with few chances of distinguishing himself in battle. But he did well as a leader of men, and once restored discipline in a mutinous battalion under difficult circumstances. The later episode of the defense of Pampeluna, in which Inigo was seriously wounded, is really the chief event in Inigo’s short military career, which was the occasion of his conversion.
A Worldly Soldier―Not a Soldier of Christ
That word indicates that Ignatius, living in castle and camp, had lapsed from the Christ-likeness of childhood. In fact, though details are lacking, the evidence now seems sufficient to say that his virtue had, during this period, suffered some eclipse. In later life he would accuse himself in general terms of having been a very great sinner, but in the absence of particulars, one cannot know how great a sinner he actually was.
Often something may be gathered concerning a young man’s character, if one knows the young lady of his choice. But while Ignatius was not unwilling to say some strong things about his past peccadilloes, he would never say anything directly about his lady. Her name remains a secret; but he owned that he would often dream of her by the hour, and make elaborate plans for her service and entertainment. By what means he would journey to the land where she lived, what mottoes, what words he would speak, what deeds of arms he would accomplish in her service! And he was so obsessed with this idea that he did not heed the quasi-impossibility of executing it. For this lady was not one of the lesser nobility―no countess, nor duchess, but of an estate higher than any of these. Visionary and impracticable this lover may be, but his dreams reflect no discredit on his youthful heart.
Eventually he found himself―at the age of 30, in May of 1521―as an officer defending the fortress of the town of Pamplona against the French, who claimed the territory as their own against Spain. The Spaniards were terribly outnumbered and the commander of the Spanish forces wanted to surrender, but Ignatius convinced him to fight on for the honor of Spain, if not for victory. During the battle a cannon ball struck Ignatius, wounding one leg and breaking the other. Because they admired his courage, the French soldiers carried him back to recuperate at his home, the castle of Loyola, rather than to prison. The broken leg was not properly set and did not heal, so it was necessary to break it again and reset it, all without anesthesia. Ignatius grew worse and was finally told by the doctors that he should prepare for death.
On the feast of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29th), he took an unexpected turn for the better. The leg healed, but when it did the bone protruded below the knee. The bone protruded in a way that would show through the tight hose that a courtier wore, “so much as to be something ugly” as he lamented. This was unacceptable to Ignatius, who considered it a fate worse than death not to be able to wear the long, tight-fitting boots and hose of the courtier. Therefore Ignatius, in his vanity, ordered the doctors to saw off the offending knob of bone and to lengthen the leg by systematic stretching. Again, all of this was done without anesthesia. Unfortunately, this was not a successful procedure. All his life he walked with a limp because one leg was shorter than the other.
No Pain, No Gain
Such was Ignatius the sinner. No imitator of Christ in this, however like to numberless other human souls. Christ alone was not only free from all stain, but set apart to take away the sins of the whole world. In doing this it is His wont to work with human agents; to use sinful men, in order to accomplish salvation from sin. He threw down Saul, in order to raise up Paul. Nothing predisposes us sinners more to accept an apostle, than to know that he is full of personal sympathy for sinners, that he knows our case intimately, and by experience. We cannot question that Ignatius knew the world, its pleasures, its fascinations, its glamour everyone sees that he knew, even by bitter experience, the dark mysteries of sin.
Let us see how Providence will deal with this strong and daring man, whom the world had already claimed as its own. Providence does not shy away from using strong-arm methods in making sinners change track. Much as was the case with St. Paul of Tarsus―whom God threw off his horse and blinded him―God acted in a similar way with Ignatius. Instead of blinding him, Providence rips through the calf of his leg with a cannonball. Somehow we seem to listen better when God strikes us hard―which will be case in forthcoming chastisement, when three-quarters of the world’s population will perish and the survivors will be forced to live in abject poverty and misery for several years before God restores some kind of normality. It is through moments of pain that God can gain souls again. We see this same truth manifest itself time and time again in Bible history.
Whenever the Chosen People were severely punished for wandering away from God into worldliness, they came to their senses and came back to God. Somehow, the soft, loving, paternal, kindly words of God seem to wash-off us like “water off a duck’s back”―we pay little attention to them, much like a child ignores the commands of a parent when they are being calmly and kindly told what to do. They will only jump into action when the parents become threatening or punitive. In the proverbial “carrot and stick”, it is usually the carrot that fails to produce results even though it is taken and eaten! Mostly, when God gave the Chosen people the carrot (the “soft” approach), they ignored Him and carried on in their wayward ways. It was only when God pulled-out, brandished and used the stick, that the Chosen People toed-the-line and did what He wanted them to do! God will use the same tactics on individuals, families, groups, or even nations. A reading of chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus clearly exposes God’s “manifesto.”
God Tenderizes and Softens-Up the ‘Meat’
Once Ignatius had been “shot-down” by God’s cannonball―for, ultimately, God is behind everything that happens in this world, by either wanting it to happen or allowing it to happen―he was ready to be “softened-up” and made to be “spiritually malleable”―more ready to do God’s will than follow his own worldly human will. During the long weeks of his recuperation from the wound in his leg from the cannonball, he was extremely bored and asked for some romance novels to pass the time. Luckily there were none in the castle of Loyola, but there was a copy of the life of Christ and a book on the saints. Desperate, Ignatius began to read them. The more he read, the more he considered the exploits of the saints worth imitating.
However, at the same time, he continued to have daydreams of fame and glory, along with fantasies of winning the love of a certain noble lady of the court, with whom he was in love. The identity of this lady has never been discovered, but she seems to have been of royal blood. He noticed, however, that after reading and thinking of the saints and Christ he was at peace and satisfied. Yet when he finished his long daydreams of his noble lady, he would feel restless and unsatisfied. He did not consider, nor did he stop to examine this difference, until one day his eyes were partially opened and he began to wonder at this difference and to reflect upon it. From experience, he knew that some thoughts left him sad, while others made him happy, and little by little he came to perceive the different spirits that were moving him. Gradually, he began to reflect on these experiences; he noticed what was going on within him. Both kinds of daydreams engaged him completely, but after the romantic chivalry dreaming was over, he felt empty and dissatisfied, whereas after the spiritual dreaming ended, he still felt a deep peace, a quiet happiness. This experience the beginning of his conversion―this was the quiet and hidden work of grace in his soul. For this to happen, it was important that Ignatius be forcibly removed from the lifestyle, environment and circumstances that he had chosen for himself―only the cannonball wound or some similar tragedy would do the trick.
The same is true for our lives―we cannot really, sincerely, honestly say that our currently lifestyle, preoccupations, social circle, daily routine, hobbies and pastimes are the result of God’s direct will for us―it is, more likely than not, something of our own personal choosing and preference, the product of our own self-will. It has to be―for why else would most souls end up being damned if they spent their whole time doing God’s will? This is so common a thing that Our Lord addresses it in the Gospel: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Ignatius Turns Around
Not only was this experience the beginning of his conversion, it was also the beginning of spiritual discernment, or discernment of spirits, which is associated with Ignatius and described in his Spiritual Exercises. The Exercises recognize that not only the intellect, but also the emotions and feelings can help us to come to a knowledge of the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Eventually, completely converted from his old desires and plans of romance and worldly conquests, and recovered from his wounds enough to travel, he left the castle in March of 1522.
He had decided that he wanted to go to Jerusalem to live where our Lord had spent his life on earth. As a first step he began his journey to Barcelona. He first proceeded to the Benedictine shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, made a general confession, and knelt all night in vigil before Our Lady’s altar, following the rites of chivalry. He left his sword and knife at the altar, went out and gave away all his fine clothes to a poor man, and dressed himself in rough clothes with sandals and a staff.
The Experience of Manresa
He continued towards Barcelona but stopped along the river Cardoner at a town called Manresa. He stayed in a cave outside the town, intending to linger only a few days, but he remained for ten months. He spent hours each day in prayer and also worked in a hospice. It was while here that the ideas for what are now known as the Spiritual Exercises began to take shape. It was also on the banks of this river that he had a vision which is regarded as the most significant in his life. The vision was more of an enlightenment, about which he later said that he learned more on that one occasion that he did in the rest of his life. Ignatius never revealed exactly what the vision was, but it seems to have been an encounter with God as He really is so that all creation was seen in a new light and acquired a new meaning and relevance, and experience that enabled Ignatius to find God in all things. This grace, finding God in all things, is one of the central characteristics of Jesuit spirituality.
Ignatius himself never wrote in the rules of the Jesuits that there should be any fixed time for prayer. Actually, by finding God in all things, all times are times of prayer. He did not, of course, exclude formal prayer, but he differed from other founders regarding the imposition of definite times or duration of prayer. One of the reasons some opposed the formation of the Society of Jesus was that Ignatius proposed doing away with the chanting of the Divine Office in choir. This was a radical departure from custom, because until this time, every religious order was held to the recitation of the office in common. For Ignatius, such recitation meant that the type of activity envisioned for the Society would be hindered.
He finally arrived at Barcelona, took a boat to Italy, and ended up in Rome where he met Pope Adrian VI and requested permission to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Once he arrived in the Holy Land he wanted to remain, but was told by the Franciscan superior who had authority over Catholics there that the situation was too dangerous. (At the time, the Turks were the rulers of the Holy Land.) The superior ordered Ignatius to leave. He refused, but when threatened with excommunication, he obediently departed.
The Return to School
By now he was 33 years old and determined to study for the priesthood. However, he was ignorant of Latin, a necessary preliminary to university studies in those days. So he started back to school studying Latin grammar with young boys in a school in Barcelona. After two years he moved on to the University of Alcala. There his zeal got him in trouble, a problem that continued throughout his life. He would gather students and adults to explain the Gospels to them and teach them how to pray. His efforts attracted the attention of the Inquisition and he was thrown into jail for 42 days. When he was released he was told to avoid teaching others. (In the eyes of Inquisitors, anyone who was teaching and was not ordained was suspect.)
Because he could not live without helping souls, Ignatius moved on to the University of Salamanca. There, within two weeks, the Dominicans had thrown him back into prison again. Though they could find no heresy in what he taught, he was told that he could only teach children and then only simple religious truths. Once more he took to the road, this time for Paris.
At the University of Paris he began school again, studying Latin grammar and literature, philosophy, and theology. It was also in Paris that he began sharing a room with Francis Xavier and Peter Faber. He greatly influenced a few other fellow students directing them all at one time or another in what we now call the Spiritual Exercises. Eventually six of them plus Ignatius decided to take vows of chastity and poverty and to go to the Holy Land. If going to the Holy Land became impossible, they would go to Rome and place themselves at the disposal of the Pope for whatever he would want them to do. They did not think of doing this as a religious order or congregation, but as individual priests. For a year they waited, however no ship was able to take them to the Holy Land because of the conflict between the Christians and Muslims. It was during this time of waiting that Ignatius was ordained a priest, but he did not say Mass for another year. It is thought that he wanted to say his first Mass in Jerusalem in the land where Jesus himself had lived.
The Company of Jesus
Ignatius, along with two of his companions, Peter Faber and James Lainez, decided to go to Rome and place themselves at the disposal of the Pope. It was a few miles outside of the city that Ignatius had the second most significant of his mystical experiences. At a chapel at La Storta where they had stopped to pray, God the Father told Ignatius, “I will be favorable to you in Rome” and that he would place him (Ignatius) with His Son. Ignatius did not know what this experience meant, for it could mean persecution as well as success since Jesus experienced both.
When they met with the Pope, he very happily put them to work teaching scripture and theology and preaching. It was here on Christmas morning, 1538, that Ignatius celebrated his first Mass at the church of St. Mary Major in the Chapel of the Manger. It was thought this chapel had the actual manger of Bethlehem, so, if Ignatius was not going to be able to say his first Mass at Jesus’ birthplace in the Holy Land, then this would be the best substitute.
During the Lent of 1539, Ignatius asked all of his companions to come to Rome to discuss their future. They had never thought of founding a religious order, but now that going to Jerusalem was out, they had to think about their future--whether they would spend it together. After many weeks of prayer and discussion, they decided to form a community, with the Pope’s approval, in which they would vow obedience to a superior general who would hold office for life. They would place themselves at the disposal of the Holy Father to travel wherever he should wish to send them for whatever duties. A vow to this effect was added to the ordinary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Formal approval of this new order was given by Pope Paul III the following year on September 27, 1540. Since they had referred to themselves as the Company of Jesus (in Latin Societas Jesu), in English their order became known as the Society of Jesus. Ignatius was elected on the first ballot of the group to be the superior, but he begged them to reconsider, pray and vote again a few days later. The second ballot came out as the first, unanimous for Ignatius, except for his own vote. He was still reluctant to accept, but his Franciscan confessor told him it was God’s will, so he acquiesced. On the Friday of Easter week, April 22, 1541, at the Church of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, the friends pronounced their vows in the newly formed Order.
The Years As Superior General
Ignatius, whose love it was to be actively involved in teaching catechism to children, directing adults in the Spiritual Exercises, and working among the poor and in hospitals, would for the most part sacrifice this love for the next fifteen years. From his election as superior general until his death he would work out of two small rooms, his bedroom and next to it his office, directing this new society throughout the world. He would spend years composing the Constitutions of the Society and would write thousands of letters to all corners of the globe to his fellow Jesuits dealing with the affairs of the Society and to lay men and women directing them in the spiritual life. From his tiny quarters in Rome he would live to see in his lifetime the Society of Jesus grow from eight to a thousand members. The Jesuits would found colleges and houses all over Europe and as far away as Brazil and Japan. Some of the original companions were to become the Pope’s theologians at the Council of Trent, an event which played an important role in the Catholic Counter Reformation.
The Jesuits and Schools
Perhaps the work of the Society of Jesus begun by Ignatius that is best known is that of education. It is interesting that he had no intention of including teaching among the Jesuits’ works at the beginning. As already mentioned, the purpose of the first members was to be at the disposal of the Pope to go where they would be most needed. Before 1548 Ignatius had opened schools in Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and India. These schools, however, were intended primarily for the education of the new young Jesuit recruits. Ten such colleges built within six years indicated the rapid growth of the Jesuits. But in 1548 at the request of the magistrates of Messina in Sicily, Ignatius sent five men to open a school for lay as well as Jesuit students. It soon became clear by requests from rulers, bishops and cities for schools that this work was truly one of the most effective ways to correct ignorance and corruption among the clergy and the faithful, to stem the decline of the Church in the face of the Reformation, and to fulfill the motto of the Society of Jesus, “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam,”--to the greater glory of God.
This was clearly in keeping with one of Ignatius’ first principles in choosing apostolates: all other things being equal, choose those apostolates that will influence those who have the most influence on others. Maybe the best expression of this idea was in a letter he wrote about the founding of colleges in December of 1551:
From among those who are now merely students, in time some will depart to play diverse roles--one to preach and carry on the care of souls, another to government of the land and the administration of justice, and others to other callings. Finally, since young boys become grown men, their good education in life and doctrine will be beneficial to many others, with the fruit expanding more widely every day. From then on, Ignatius helped to establish Jesuit schools and universities all over Europe and the world.
Ignatius the Person
It is probably true that the picture of Ignatius that most people have is that of a soldier: stern, iron-willed, practical, showing little emotion -- not a very attractive or warm personality. Yet if this picture is exact, it is hard to see how he could have had such a strong influence on those who knew him. Luis Goncalves de Camara, one of his closest associates wrote,
“Ignatius was always rather inclined toward love; moreover, he seemed all love, and because of that he was universally loved by all. There was no one in the Society who did not have much great love for him and did not consider himself much loved by him. We regard a number of saints as great mystics but never think of Ignatius as one of them. We have recounted a few of the many visions and mystical experiences in his life. His holiness, however, did not consist in such, but in the great love that directed his life to do everything A.M.D.G., for the greater glory of God.”
Last Illness
Ever since his student days in Paris, Ignatius had suffered from stomach ailments and they became increasingly troublesome in Rome. In the summer of 1556 his health grew worse, but his physician thought he would survive this summer as he had done others. Ignatius, however, thought that the end was near. On the afternoon of July 30th he asked Polanco, his secretary, to go and get the Pope’s blessing for him, suggesting by this to Polanco that he was dying. Polanco, however, trusted the physician more than Ignatius and told him he had a lot of letters to write and mail that day. He would go for the Pope’s blessing the next day. Shortly after midnight Ignatius took a turn for the worse. Polanco rushed off to the Vatican to get the papal blessing, but it was too late. The former worldly courtier and soldier who had turned his gaze to another court and a different type of battle had rendered his soul into the hands of God. Ignatius was beatified on July 27th, 1609 and canonized by Pope Gregory XV on March 12th, 1622 together with St. Francis Xavier. Ignatius’ feast day is celebrated by the universal Church and the Jesuits on July 31st, the day he died
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Monday July 29th & Tuesday July 30th
Article 14
Busy! Busy! Too Busy! Learn From Martha's Mistake!
July is also the month of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Here are some links to help you learn of her and honor her.
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Article 14
Busy! Busy! Too Busy! Learn From Martha's Mistake!
July is also the month of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Here are some links to help you learn of her and honor her.
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
O Martha! Martha!
Martha is a saint! Yet she is a “chided saint”―a “rebuked saint”―a “criticized saint”―a “corrected saint” who heeded the correction and corrected her ways! Martha was the sister of Mary Magdalen―another saint who was no saint until Our Lord cast the seven demons out of her and brought her into His service. We have come to look upon Martha as the “active” sister and Mary as the “passive sister”―some compare Martha as being a symbol of the Active Religious Orders, who go into the world to preach Christ and the Faith to others; whereas Mary is seen to be a symbol of the Contemplative Religious Orders, who are cloistered behind the convent or monastery walls, leading lives of prayer, penance, and contemplation.
The passage where Jesus rebukes Martha for her excessive material concerns is as follows: “Jesus entered into a certain town and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord’s feet and heard His word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her, therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord, answering, said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
O Modern Man! Busy! Busy! Busy! But With the Wrong Things!
What follows is a very simple, yet profound and face-slapping, assessment of that Scriptural passage rebuking Martha. It comes from the pen of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange (1877–1964), a French theologian who is regarded as being one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century. He taught at the Dominican Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, also known as the Angelicum, in Rome, from 1909 to 1960. There he wrote his great masterpiece, The Three Ages of the Interior Life. He was also an advisor to the Holy Office (Vatican) and was commonly held to be the anonymous ‘ghost writer’ for Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Humani Generis in 1950. Here is the commentary of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange on the so-called “Rebuke of Busy Martha” as found in the aforementioned work, The Three Ages of the Interior Life.
Who Are You Talking With?
“As everyone can easily understand, the interior life is an elevated form of intimate conversation which everyone has with himself as soon as he is alone, even in the tumult of a great city. From the moment he ceases to converse with his fellow men, man converses interiorly with himself about what preoccupies him most. This conversation varies greatly according to the different ages of life; that of an old man is not that of a youth. It also varies greatly according as a man is good or bad.
“As soon as a man seriously seeks truth and goodness, this intimate conversation with himself tends to become conversation with God. Little by little, instead of seeking himself in everything, instead of tending more or less consciously to make himself a center, man tends to seek God in everything, and to substitute for his egoism, a love of God and of souls in Him. This constitutes the interior life. No sincere man will have any difficulty in recognizing it. The one thing necessary which Jesus spoke of, to Martha and Mary (Luke 10:41), consists in hearing the word of God and living by it.
The Interior Life is the Most Important of All Lives
“The interior life thus conceived is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be, in certain respects, the search for the true and the good, in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
The Interior or Spiritual Life is the One Thing Necessary
“This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called ‘the one thing necessary’, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. This last must not be too widely separated from progressive sanctification, for it is the very way of salvation. There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death, or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin—though it should be venial—must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God; see Him as He sees Himself; and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified.
“The interior life of a just man who tends toward God and who already lives by Him is indeed the one thing necessary. To be a saint, neither intellectual culture nor great exterior activity is a requisite; it suffices that we live profoundly by God. This truth is evident in the saints of the early Church; several of those saints were poor people, even slaves. It is evident also in St. Francis, St. Benedict Joseph Labre, in the Curé of Ars, and many others. They all had a deep understanding of these words of our Savior: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). If people sacrifice so many things to save the life of the body, which must ultimately die, what should we not sacrifice to save the life of our soul, which is to last forever? Ought not man to love his soul more than his body? “Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” Our Lord adds in Matthew 16:26. “One thing is necessary,” He tells us in Luke 10:41.
“Jesus entered into a certain town and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who, sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy with much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her, therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
To save our soul, one thing alone is necessary―to hear the word of God and to live by it. Therein lies the best part, which will not be taken away from a faithful soul, even though it should lose everything else.
Even More Important For Our Day
“What we have just said is true at all times; but the question of the interior life is being more sharply raised today than in several periods less troubled than ours. The explanation of this interest lies in the fact that many men have separated themselves from God and tried to organize intellectual and social life without Him. The great problems that have always preoccupied humanity have taken on a new and sometimes tragic aspect. To wish to get along without God—the first Cause and last End—leads to an abyss; not only to nothingness, but also to physical and moral wretchedness that is worse than nothingness. Likewise, great problems grow exasperatingly serious, and man must finally perceive that all these problems ultimately lead to the fundamental religious problem; in other words, he will finally have to declare himself entirely for God or against Him. This is in its essence the problem of the interior life. Christ Himself says: “He that is not with Me is against Me!” (Matthew 12:30).
The “Religion” of Science
“The great modern scientific and social tendencies—in the midst of the conflicts that arise among them and in spite of the opposition of those who represent them—converge in this way, whether one wills it or not, toward the fundamental question of the intimate relations of man with God. This point is reached after many deviations. When man will no longer fulfill his great religious duties toward God—who created him and who is his last End—he makes a religion for himself, since he absolutely cannot get along without religion. To replace the superior ideal which he has abandoned, man may, for example, place his religion in science, or in the cult of social justice, or in some human ideal, which finally he considers in a religious manner and even in a mystical manner. Thus he turns away from supreme reality, and there arises a vast number of problems that will be solved only if he returns to the fundamental problem of the intimate relations of the soul with God.
“It has often been remarked that today science pretends to be a religion. Likewise Socialism and Communism claim to be a code of ethics and present themselves under the guise of a feverish cult of justice—thereby trying to captivate hearts and minds. As a matter of fact, the modern scholar seems to have a scrupulous devotion to the scientific method. He cultivates it to such a degree that he often seems to prefer the method of research to the truth. If he bestowed equally serious care on his interior life, he would quickly reach sanctity. Often, however, this religion of science is directed toward the apotheosis of man (the glorification of man), rather than toward the love of God. As much must be said of social activity, particularly under the form it assumes in Socialism and Communism. It is inspired by a mysticism which purposes a transfiguration of man, while, at times, it denies, in the most absolute manner, the rights of God.
Whose Side Are You On?
“This is simply a reiteration of the statement that the religious problem of the relations of man with God is at the basis of every great problem. We must declare ourselves for or against Him; indifference is no longer possible, as our times show in a striking manner. The present world-wide economic crisis demonstrates what men can do when they seek to get along without God. Without God, the seriousness of life gets out of focus.
Modern Man’s Way is a Dead End
“If religion is no longer a grave matter, but something to smile at, then the serious element in life must be sought elsewhere. Some place it, or pretend to place it, in science or in social activity; they devote the selves religiously to the search for scientific truth or to the establishment of justice between classes or peoples. After a while they are forced to perceive that they have ended in fearful disorder and that the relations between individuals and nations become more and more difficult, if not impossible. As St. Augustine and St. Thomas (Summa Theoligica, Ia IIae, q.28, a.4 ad 2um; IIIa, q.23, art.1 ad 3um) have said, it is evident that the same material goods, as opposed to those of the spirit, cannot at one and the same time belong integrally to several persons. The same house, the same land, cannot simultaneously belong wholly to several men, nor the same territory to several nations. As a result, interests conflict when man feverishly makes these lesser goods his last end.
“St. Augustine, on the other hand, insists on the fact that the same spiritual goods can belong simultaneously and integrally to all and to each individual in particular. Without doing harm to another, we can fully possess the same truth, the same virtue, the same God. This is why Our Lord says to us: “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God and His justice; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Failure to hearken to this lesson, is to work at one’s destruction and to verify once more the words of the Psalmist: “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it” (Psalm 126:1).
You Are Either With God or Against God―No Spectators Allowed
“If the serious element in life is out of focus, if it no longer is concerned with our duties toward God, but with the scientific and social activities of man; if man continually seeks himself instead of God, his last End, then events are not slow in showing him that he has taken an impossible way, which leads not only to nothingness, but to unbearable disorder and misery. We must again and again revert to Christ’s words: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth” (Matthew 12:30). The facts confirm this declaration.
“We conclude, logically, that religion can give an efficacious and truly realistic answer to the great modern problems only if it is a religion that is profoundly lived, not simply a superficial and cheap religion, made up of some vocal prayers and some ceremonies, in which religious art has more place than true piety. As a matter of fact, no religion that is profoundly lived is without an interior life, without that intimate and frequent conversation which we have, not only with ourselves, but with God.
“The last encyclicals of Pope Pius XI make this clear. To respond to what is good in the general aspirations of nations, aspirations to justice and charity among individuals, classes, and peoples, the Holy Father wrote the encyclicals on Christ the King, on His sanctifying influence in all His Mystical Body, on the family, on the sanctity of Christian marriage, on social questions, on the necessity of reparation, and on the missions. In all these encyclicals he deals with the reign of Christ over all humanity. The logical conclusion to be drawn is that religion—the interior life—must be profound, must be a true life of union with God if it is to keep the pre-eminence that it should have over scientific and social activities. This is a manifest necessity.” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Martha is a saint! Yet she is a “chided saint”―a “rebuked saint”―a “criticized saint”―a “corrected saint” who heeded the correction and corrected her ways! Martha was the sister of Mary Magdalen―another saint who was no saint until Our Lord cast the seven demons out of her and brought her into His service. We have come to look upon Martha as the “active” sister and Mary as the “passive sister”―some compare Martha as being a symbol of the Active Religious Orders, who go into the world to preach Christ and the Faith to others; whereas Mary is seen to be a symbol of the Contemplative Religious Orders, who are cloistered behind the convent or monastery walls, leading lives of prayer, penance, and contemplation.
The passage where Jesus rebukes Martha for her excessive material concerns is as follows: “Jesus entered into a certain town and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord’s feet and heard His word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her, therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord, answering, said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
O Modern Man! Busy! Busy! Busy! But With the Wrong Things!
What follows is a very simple, yet profound and face-slapping, assessment of that Scriptural passage rebuking Martha. It comes from the pen of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange (1877–1964), a French theologian who is regarded as being one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century. He taught at the Dominican Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, also known as the Angelicum, in Rome, from 1909 to 1960. There he wrote his great masterpiece, The Three Ages of the Interior Life. He was also an advisor to the Holy Office (Vatican) and was commonly held to be the anonymous ‘ghost writer’ for Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Humani Generis in 1950. Here is the commentary of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange on the so-called “Rebuke of Busy Martha” as found in the aforementioned work, The Three Ages of the Interior Life.
Who Are You Talking With?
“As everyone can easily understand, the interior life is an elevated form of intimate conversation which everyone has with himself as soon as he is alone, even in the tumult of a great city. From the moment he ceases to converse with his fellow men, man converses interiorly with himself about what preoccupies him most. This conversation varies greatly according to the different ages of life; that of an old man is not that of a youth. It also varies greatly according as a man is good or bad.
“As soon as a man seriously seeks truth and goodness, this intimate conversation with himself tends to become conversation with God. Little by little, instead of seeking himself in everything, instead of tending more or less consciously to make himself a center, man tends to seek God in everything, and to substitute for his egoism, a love of God and of souls in Him. This constitutes the interior life. No sincere man will have any difficulty in recognizing it. The one thing necessary which Jesus spoke of, to Martha and Mary (Luke 10:41), consists in hearing the word of God and living by it.
The Interior Life is the Most Important of All Lives
“The interior life thus conceived is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be, in certain respects, the search for the true and the good, in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
The Interior or Spiritual Life is the One Thing Necessary
“This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called ‘the one thing necessary’, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. This last must not be too widely separated from progressive sanctification, for it is the very way of salvation. There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death, or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin—though it should be venial—must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God; see Him as He sees Himself; and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified.
“The interior life of a just man who tends toward God and who already lives by Him is indeed the one thing necessary. To be a saint, neither intellectual culture nor great exterior activity is a requisite; it suffices that we live profoundly by God. This truth is evident in the saints of the early Church; several of those saints were poor people, even slaves. It is evident also in St. Francis, St. Benedict Joseph Labre, in the Curé of Ars, and many others. They all had a deep understanding of these words of our Savior: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). If people sacrifice so many things to save the life of the body, which must ultimately die, what should we not sacrifice to save the life of our soul, which is to last forever? Ought not man to love his soul more than his body? “Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” Our Lord adds in Matthew 16:26. “One thing is necessary,” He tells us in Luke 10:41.
“Jesus entered into a certain town and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who, sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy with much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her, therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
To save our soul, one thing alone is necessary―to hear the word of God and to live by it. Therein lies the best part, which will not be taken away from a faithful soul, even though it should lose everything else.
Even More Important For Our Day
“What we have just said is true at all times; but the question of the interior life is being more sharply raised today than in several periods less troubled than ours. The explanation of this interest lies in the fact that many men have separated themselves from God and tried to organize intellectual and social life without Him. The great problems that have always preoccupied humanity have taken on a new and sometimes tragic aspect. To wish to get along without God—the first Cause and last End—leads to an abyss; not only to nothingness, but also to physical and moral wretchedness that is worse than nothingness. Likewise, great problems grow exasperatingly serious, and man must finally perceive that all these problems ultimately lead to the fundamental religious problem; in other words, he will finally have to declare himself entirely for God or against Him. This is in its essence the problem of the interior life. Christ Himself says: “He that is not with Me is against Me!” (Matthew 12:30).
The “Religion” of Science
“The great modern scientific and social tendencies—in the midst of the conflicts that arise among them and in spite of the opposition of those who represent them—converge in this way, whether one wills it or not, toward the fundamental question of the intimate relations of man with God. This point is reached after many deviations. When man will no longer fulfill his great religious duties toward God—who created him and who is his last End—he makes a religion for himself, since he absolutely cannot get along without religion. To replace the superior ideal which he has abandoned, man may, for example, place his religion in science, or in the cult of social justice, or in some human ideal, which finally he considers in a religious manner and even in a mystical manner. Thus he turns away from supreme reality, and there arises a vast number of problems that will be solved only if he returns to the fundamental problem of the intimate relations of the soul with God.
“It has often been remarked that today science pretends to be a religion. Likewise Socialism and Communism claim to be a code of ethics and present themselves under the guise of a feverish cult of justice—thereby trying to captivate hearts and minds. As a matter of fact, the modern scholar seems to have a scrupulous devotion to the scientific method. He cultivates it to such a degree that he often seems to prefer the method of research to the truth. If he bestowed equally serious care on his interior life, he would quickly reach sanctity. Often, however, this religion of science is directed toward the apotheosis of man (the glorification of man), rather than toward the love of God. As much must be said of social activity, particularly under the form it assumes in Socialism and Communism. It is inspired by a mysticism which purposes a transfiguration of man, while, at times, it denies, in the most absolute manner, the rights of God.
Whose Side Are You On?
“This is simply a reiteration of the statement that the religious problem of the relations of man with God is at the basis of every great problem. We must declare ourselves for or against Him; indifference is no longer possible, as our times show in a striking manner. The present world-wide economic crisis demonstrates what men can do when they seek to get along without God. Without God, the seriousness of life gets out of focus.
Modern Man’s Way is a Dead End
“If religion is no longer a grave matter, but something to smile at, then the serious element in life must be sought elsewhere. Some place it, or pretend to place it, in science or in social activity; they devote the selves religiously to the search for scientific truth or to the establishment of justice between classes or peoples. After a while they are forced to perceive that they have ended in fearful disorder and that the relations between individuals and nations become more and more difficult, if not impossible. As St. Augustine and St. Thomas (Summa Theoligica, Ia IIae, q.28, a.4 ad 2um; IIIa, q.23, art.1 ad 3um) have said, it is evident that the same material goods, as opposed to those of the spirit, cannot at one and the same time belong integrally to several persons. The same house, the same land, cannot simultaneously belong wholly to several men, nor the same territory to several nations. As a result, interests conflict when man feverishly makes these lesser goods his last end.
“St. Augustine, on the other hand, insists on the fact that the same spiritual goods can belong simultaneously and integrally to all and to each individual in particular. Without doing harm to another, we can fully possess the same truth, the same virtue, the same God. This is why Our Lord says to us: “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God and His justice; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Failure to hearken to this lesson, is to work at one’s destruction and to verify once more the words of the Psalmist: “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it” (Psalm 126:1).
You Are Either With God or Against God―No Spectators Allowed
“If the serious element in life is out of focus, if it no longer is concerned with our duties toward God, but with the scientific and social activities of man; if man continually seeks himself instead of God, his last End, then events are not slow in showing him that he has taken an impossible way, which leads not only to nothingness, but to unbearable disorder and misery. We must again and again revert to Christ’s words: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth” (Matthew 12:30). The facts confirm this declaration.
“We conclude, logically, that religion can give an efficacious and truly realistic answer to the great modern problems only if it is a religion that is profoundly lived, not simply a superficial and cheap religion, made up of some vocal prayers and some ceremonies, in which religious art has more place than true piety. As a matter of fact, no religion that is profoundly lived is without an interior life, without that intimate and frequent conversation which we have, not only with ourselves, but with God.
“The last encyclicals of Pope Pius XI make this clear. To respond to what is good in the general aspirations of nations, aspirations to justice and charity among individuals, classes, and peoples, the Holy Father wrote the encyclicals on Christ the King, on His sanctifying influence in all His Mystical Body, on the family, on the sanctity of Christian marriage, on social questions, on the necessity of reparation, and on the missions. In all these encyclicals he deals with the reign of Christ over all humanity. The logical conclusion to be drawn is that religion—the interior life—must be profound, must be a true life of union with God if it is to keep the pre-eminence that it should have over scientific and social activities. This is a manifest necessity.” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE : Friday July 26th, Saturday July 27th & Sunday July 28th
Article 13
Confused? You Are Meant to Be Confused!
July is also the month of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Here are some links to help you learn of her and honor her.
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Article 13
Confused? You Are Meant to Be Confused!
July is also the month of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Here are some links to help you learn of her and honor her.
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Little Book―Massive Influence
The Art of War, by the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, is an ancient Chinese military treatise roughly dating from the 5th century BC. The work is comprised on 13 short chapters, each chapter being dedicated to a specific aspect of warfare and its strategy and tactics. The Art of War remains, to this day, the most influential text in East Asian on strategic warfare and has had a major influence upon both Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy and beyond.
The United States Army lists The Art of War as one example of a book that may be kept at a military unit's library. The Art of War is listed on the Marine Corps Professional Reading Program. It is recommended reading for all United States Military Intelligence personnel. According to some authors, the strategy of deception from The Art of War was studied and widely used by the KGB. The Art of War has also found into way into many fields other than the military―for some of its strategies deal with fighting wars without actually having to do battle―giving tips and tactics on how to confuse, fool and outthink the opponent, to the point where a physical battle is no longer necessary. For this reason, it has been applied in various training guides for many competitive endeavors that do not involve actual combat. Many business books used the principles found in The Art of War in office politics and corporate business strategy. Many Japanese companies make the book required reading for their key executives. The book is also popular among Western business circles. Many entrepreneurs and corporate executives have turned to it for inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive business situations. The book has also been applied to the field of education
Confused? It’s Part of the Plan!
“The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent” (Sun Tzu, The Art of War).
Confusion can be a confusing word―even though it seems straightforward! Confusion is far from being straightforward―for if it was straightforward, it would not be confusing! Confusion is defined as: “lack of understanding; an uncertainty; a situation in which people do not understand what is happening, what they should do or who someone or something is; a situation, often with a lot of activity and noise, in which people do not know what to do; a situation in which things are messy, badly organized, or not clear; a situation in which you mistake one person or thing for another. Synonyms of confusions are: uncertainty, lack of certainty, unsureness, indecision, hesitation, hesitancy, skepticism, doubt, ignorance, ambiguity”
The suitcase of confusion contains many disguises―such as misinterpretation, exaggeration, falsification, distortion, contradiction, false accusation, ambiguity, vagueness, euphemism, skepticism, doubt, lack of clarity, lack of transparency, disguised, etc.
The world―do not even try to deny the fact―is our enemy. There can be no confusion on this point. Scripture repeatedly and clearly tells us this: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). The world is our enemy and we should be at enmity with the world. To try and free and convert those enslaved to the world is fine―but to make peace with the world, to accept the world, to follow the world is not fine, but suicidal. The world belongs to its prince―the devil―and he uses the world in his attempts to damn you. How does he pull you into the world? By causing confusion. By causing confusion as to the level of danger. This tactic of confusion was used on Eve―when the devil took what God had said and twisted it, distorted it, altered it, changed it and gave it a nuanced, different meaning.
“The serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die.’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death. For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.’ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat.” (Genesis 3:16). The mind of Eve was confused―she was getting two different stories―one from God and one from the devil. This confusion of mind led to a weakening of her resolve and will. She believed the truth to be a lie―and she believed the lie was the truth.
Confusing Tactics of the Devil
Understanding the subtle, confusing, distracting tactics of the enemy is of prime importance in both physical and spiritual warfare. Fr. Louis Cameli’s 2011 book, The Devil You Don’t Know, outlines some of the chief methods of Satan’s attacks―of which deception and confusion are major ingredients. The book is divided into four main categories of how the devil works: Deception, Division, Distraction and Discouragement. Basically, all of these create confusion. When you are deceived you are confused; when you are divided you are confused as to who is whose side; when you are distracted you are confused as to the order of importance of things; when you are discouraged you are confused as whether or not to continue.
(1) DECEPTION ― Our Lord calls the devil a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44)―and lies create confusion about the truth. Since the time the devil confused the gullible Eve concerning the truth of God’s words and warning, he has never stopped (and rarely failed) in repeating the same tactic on mankind―who seem to have inherited Eve’s gullibility along with Original Sin. We fall for the many false and empty promises. In our confusion, we think that the false promise is the best road to follow, imagining we will somehow be happier and more fulfilled if we sin, denying aspects of the truth. We human beings remain very gullible, we seem to love empty promises and put all sorts of false hopes of them.
These devilish lying cosmetics are also used by the devil to deceive and confuse us by suggesting many complex arguments and debates in our thought patterns, seeking to plaster his cosmetics lies over fundamental truths―to make us question, then doubt and perhaps even finally reject those truths. Our minds tend be “loophole minds” ― always seeking a “loophole” that will let us get away with sin with some kind of cosmeticized or rationalized excuse. So we, like Eve, enter into conversation with the invisible devil and his endless complications, by asking “But what if this? …. What about that….??!” With devil’s help, we begin to imagine all kinds of possible difficulties, exceptions, or potential sob stories, to avoid insisting that we or others behave well and live according to the truth.
Another ploy by which the devil confuses and deceives us is “word-smithing” or the use of euphemisms (making bad things sound good). And thus the dismemberment and murder of a child through abortion becomes “reproductive freedom” or “Choice.” Sodomy is called “gay” (a word which used to mean “happy”). The light of our Faith and ancientits wisdom is labeled as being “darkness” and “ignorance.” Fornication is called “cohabitation.” And the redefinition of marriage as it is been known for some 5,000 years, is labeled “marriage freedom.” In this way, by redefining, rewording, understating or exaggerating, through misrepresentation and falsification, what is good ends up being called bad, and what is bad ends up being called good. Virtue becomes a vice and vice becomes a virtue. Confusing? Yes―deliberately so!
Another avenue to confusion used by the devil is that of information overload. Today, many equate information with truth―which is not true. Data manipulation is a well practiced art. Limited and selective use of data can create a picture that is far from the truth. Sometimes what you do not say is more important than what you say. The news media, andother sources of information, sometimes have more of a massive effect in what they do not report than in what they report.
(2) DIVISION ― “Divide and Conquer” was not just a principle of the Romans―it is the perennial tactic of Satan. One of Jesus’ final prayers for us was that we would be one (John 17:22). He prayed this, at the Last Supper just before he went out to suffer and die for us. As such, he highlights that a chief aspect of his work on the Cross is to overcome the divisions intensified by Satan. Some argue that the Greek root of the word “diabolical” (diabolein) means to cut, tear, or divide. Christ seeks unity―the devil seeks disunity. He seeks to divide us from God; to cause division in the Church; to cause division among nations; to cause division within parishes and schools; to cause division among family and friends.
Nobody is exempt from these dividing drives of the devil. Every human being can testify to experiencing drives that are contrary― some noble, creative, and edifying; others base, sinful, and destructive. We frequently struggle with these and feel torn apart. St. Paul speaks of this: “For that which I do, I understand not. For I do not that good which I want; but the evil which I hate, that I do!” (Romans 7:15). This Satanic onslaught on our interior unity, spills over into our exterior life. Satan brings to mind thoughts of anger, past hurts, resentments, fears, misunderstandings, greed, pride, and arrogance of others. We fall out of love with our nearest and dearest and seek consolations elsewhere. Hence people divorce spouses, leave parishes, leave places of employment, etc., always imagining that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. In these and other ways, the devil seeks to divide and conquer―all the time hiding himself behind the cosmetic huan activity. The best tactic of the devil is to make people either disbelieve in his existence, or downplay his involvement, or totally forget about him.
(3) DIVERSION ― To be diverted is to be turned away from what is our primary goal or task. Call is distraction if you want. God wants us to focus on loving Him and attaining Heaven. The devil would be a fool to try to make us focus on loving him and getting to Hell―so he masks himself and Hell with what is more loveable, which is the world, of which he the prince. He seeks to make the world more and more lovable―which is easy today in a world flooded with technology.
Most Catholics today―if not in theory, then most certainly in practice―would have to admit that they love the things of the world more than God. As proof―just look at the many hours spent each day on the smartphone, cellphone, laptop, tablet, computer, television, radio, social media, etc. and compare that to the minutes spent with God! There is no argument over that! It is no contest! The world wins hands-down!
Besides the distractions or diversions of modern technology, there are also the interior distractions or diversions of all our worries, fears, anxieties, dreads, etc. If we would only be equally anxious, worried and fearful about the one thing that really matters―our final judgment by God―then by now we would perhaps be the living saints that God expected us to be and created us to be! Whatever the kind of distraction or diversion that comes our way, the bottom line is that the devil wants us to focus on lesser things to avoid focusing on greater things. We must force ourselves to focus on what matters most, and decisively refuse to be diverted to lesser things.
(4) DISCOURAGEMENT ― Discouragement is the devil’s “trump card” or master-stroke. Whereas the other things mentioned above may slow us down on the way to Heaven, discouragement seeks to make us stop altogether, to come to a total standstill, to “give-up” or surrender. However, giving-up on God is tough one for the devil to pull off―thus he discourages on many lesser things first. He makes become discouraged with family members and friends; discouraged with priest and parishioners and teachers; discouraged with the Pope and bishops; discouraged with the Church as a whole. The devil also discourages us through simple things like fatigue, the personal failings that we all experience, setbacks, and other obstacles that are common to our human condition, and common to living in a fallen world with limited resources. All these are stepping-stones to a discouragement with God―which may start out at being disappointed that God did not answer this or that prayer; or allowed this or that thing to happen to us; or took way this or that person from us; or removed our health, wealth, happiness, etc. In all these ways to devil seeks to discourage us, to make us want, at some level, to give up. Only a properly developed sense of humility―which the proud Satan detests―can save us from these discouraging works of Satan.
The Mechanics of Confusion
It is an obvious tactic of warfare―confuse the enemy so they do not know which way to turn and will not expect what you do next. When a person is confused, they hesitate, wondering what will happen and what they should do. In war, hesitation can be fatal when it hands the enemy the initiative, giving them first strike or the choice of the next move. Hesitation by officers has a devastating amongst conscripts who assume that if officers are not sure what is going on then their doom is assured. Confusion invades when you expect a particular thing to happen and then something else happens instead. This also includes nothing happening, when, for example, an attack was expected and never materializes. Confusion may also be created by acting unpredictably. The enemy will always be trying to second-guess you, typically by studying your past moves. If you deliberately break past patterns, then their predictions will be wrong and their counter-moves will be become counter-productive.
A drowning person will clutch at a straw. So push them under water (submerge them in confusion) then offer a straw. Repeating patterns of events help us predict and feel a good sense of control about the world. When patterns are are disrupted, then we become uncertain. One of the deep needs we have is to be able to understand the world around us. If we understand, then we can predict what will happen and hence control our environment and stay safe. When we cannot make sense of our experiences, we feel confused and scared and seek a way of getting out of the cognitive deep water in which we find ourselves. When we predict an outcome, we set up expectation. When the expectation does not meet what was predicted, we are surprised and confused and have to stop to figure out what is going on. Increasing stress leads to a point when we go from seeking the best solution to the problem at hand, to seeking any solution just to reduce the stress.
Confusion is used in many persuasion techniques as a way of destabilizing the other person. Just as a drowning man will clutch at a straw, so also will a confused person grab at any idea you offer them in the hope that it will help them crawl out the sea of confusion in which they are wallowing. The most common way of confusing someone is simply to overload them. Just keep giving them things until they crack. It is especially effective if what you are saying is of interest and makes them think and want to respond. Overload is multiplied when what is being communicated is complex or difficult to understand. This effectively shortens the time to the point where the other person becomes overloaded and needs to stop and process the information given to them. There are many written and unwritten rules of conversation and interpersonal communication. People expect you to follow those rules. If you break them, they will quickly become confused.
As one saying―attributed to Harry Truman, A. C. Wilson, Adolph Hitler, Richard H. Leask, and others―puts it: “If you can’t convince them, confuse them!” A later saying elaborates on this: “If you can’t convince them, confuse them! If you can’t confuse them, scare them!”
It is interesting to read the section on Tactics in the Communist Manual of Mau Tse-tung. Time and time again the idea of spreading confusion emerges: “confuse the enemy’s eyes and ears … creating confusion … confuse his judgment … so that the enemy's reaction is confused … harass him and cause confusion … precipitate him into a state of complete confusion … increase their confusion and fear … bring about a situation of extreme confusion.”
Can You See The Confusion?
You have―quite possibly―heard of the line “Water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink!”, which comes from Samuel T. Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In the poem, the line actually reads as: “Water, water everywhere, / Nor any drop to drink”. The speaker―a sailor on a becalmed ship that is stuck floating in the ocean and going nowhere because there is no wind to drive the sails of the ship―is ironically surrounded by water that his parched lips cannot drink, because it is sea water and thus salt water, which, if drunk, will prove to be fatal to the body―to get rid of all the excess salt taken in by drinking sea water, you have to urinate more water than the sea water you drank. Eventually, you die of dehydration as you become thirstier and thirstier despite drinking more and more sea water.
The same line―“Water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink!”―could be applied to confusion―“Confusion, confusion everywhere, not allowing you to think!” Today―especially thanks to modern technology and communications―everyone is floating on a sea of confusion into which flow the rivers of information overload, misrepresentation, exaggeration, ambiguation, insinuation, alteration, falsification, simulation, false accusation, calumniation, detraction, character assassination, misinformation.
Information Overload Begets Confusion
Information―both true and false―comes at us from all sides: television, internet, newspapers, hearsay, gossip, etc. We are bombarded by so much information that our minds can only take a certain amount before they ‘short-circuit’ and switch-off. When you are faced with so much information, you neither have the time nor the inclination to go into any serious depth―you always remain on the surface, knowing a little about a lot and knowing a lot about very few things. This makes you become superficial―living on the surface of the news, surfing the news, surfing the internet and failing to do any deep-sea diving, deep research, as you are accustomed to and happy with short sound-bytes and short articles that have little depth. Thus we become the proverbial “jack of all trades and master of none”―knowing what appears on the surface, but failing to know what lingers underneath the surface. This is the recipe for both confusion and disaster.
From Overload to Confusion and onto Indifference
One of the first social scientists to notice the negative effects of information overload was the sociologist Georg Simmel (1858–1918), who hypothesized that the overload of sensations in the modern urban world caused city dwellers to become jaded and interfered with their ability to react to new situations. The social psychologist Stanley Milgram (1933–1984) later used the concept of information overload to explain “bystander behavior”―which means that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present. The greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that one of them will help. Several factors contribute to the “bystander effect”, including ambiguity, group mentality, and diffusion of responsibility that promotes a mutual denial of a situation’s severity.
This “bystander behavior” is typical of the Catholic faced with the severity of the crisis in the Church and phenomenal loss of souls―the “group mentality” of passive observation promotes an indifference or even an absolute refusal to do anything about it. Call them “couch-potato Catholics” or “spectator Catholics” or “bleacher Catholics” or whatever else―they just watch and do nothing, much like the priest and Levi in the parable of Good Samaritan, who see the man lying by the roadside―beaten, stripped and robbed―and merely pass on by. They were too concerned about other things in their daily lives, far more than the plight of the victim by the roadside. That is how we are―the news on social media or the internet is far more important than any news from Heaven; the fact of fishes being occasionally washed up onto the beach in thousands, or birds occasionally falling out of the sky in their hundreds and thousands, are of more interest to us than the thousands of souls falling into Hell, not occasionally, but every single day―for, on average, 150,000 people die daily and, as Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints and theologians tells us, most of those souls are lost―they go to Hell. Yet who really cares? We care more about the mundane things than those things! Information overload leaves little room for spiritual considerations―we are so caught up with mundane news, mundane facts, mundane activities, mundane events, that we are pretty much oblivious to things concerning salvation―whether for ourselves or for others.
This “bystander behavior” is typical of the Catholic faced with the severity of the crisis in the Church and phenomenal loss of souls―the “group mentality” of passive observation promotes an indifference or even an absolute refusal to do anything about it. Call them “couch-potato Catholics” or “spectator Catholics” or “bleacher Catholics” or whatever else―they just watch and do nothing, much like the priest and Levi in the parable of Good Samaritan, who see the man lying by the roadside―beaten, stripped and robbed―and merely pass on by. They were too concerned about other things in their daily lives, far more than the plight of the victim by the roadside. That is how we are―the news on social media or the internet is far more important than any news from Heaven; the fact of fishes being occasionally washed up onto the beach in thousands, or birds occasionally falling out of the sky in their hundreds and thousands, are of more interest to us than the thousands of souls falling into Hell, not occasionally, but every single day―for, on average, 150,000 people die daily and, as Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints and theologians tells us, most of those souls are lost―they go to Hell. Yet who really cares? We care more about the mundane things than those things! Information overload leaves little room for spiritual considerations―we are so caught up with mundane news, mundane facts, mundane activities, mundane events, that we are pretty much oblivious to things concerning salvation―whether for ourselves or for others.
In the book The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload, by Daniel Levitin, the author points out that: “The most successful members of society—from successful artists, athletes, and warriors, to business executives and highly credentialed professionals—have learned to maximize their creativity, and efficiency, by organizing their lives so that they spend less time on the mundane things in life.”
In the second half of the 20th century, advances in computer and information technology led to the creation of the Internet―which began to really spread in the mid-1990s. Through the medium of the internet―which is accessible 24 hours a day through the smartphone, tablet or laptop―information overload is experienced as distracting and unmanageable information such as email spam, email notifications, instant messages, Tweets and Facebook updates, etc. A 2012 survey by McKinsey Global Institute found that the average worker spends 28% of work time managing email. The recent advent of “Social Media” has resulted in a “social information overload” which occurs through sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Business researcher, Peter Gordon Roetzel, in a 2018 literature review, stated that information overload has become like a human virus and addiction—which spreads through social media and news networks, leading to what could be called an “information gluttony” or “infoholism”. In recent years, the term “information overload” has evolved into phrases such as “information glut”, “data smog”, and “data glut.”
People have a limited ability to retain information, which worsens when the amount of information increases. Regardless of whether the information is truly important or merely trivial―there is just too much information being thrown at us for us to properly evaluate, understand and verify it. It is almost like a quiz-game, where you are only given 10 seconds to answer a question before the next one is thrown at you―much like being on an “information treadmill” from which you just can’t seem to get off. This eventually begets a mere superficial grasp of things―“skin deep”―which does not really satisfy the soul, yet, like the chemical MSG in food, leaves you craving more and more of junk food! Not being “up-to-date” with what is going on is frowned upon, whereas those who are always able to spout out the latest news and gossip, are looked upon favorably―just like in the old days, if you didn’t smoke, drink and swear, you were not looked upon as being a normal person.
Just as “Too much work makes Jack a dull boy”, likewise “Too much information makes a soul dull,” numb, dumb and indifferent. However, information published online is not always be reliable―due to the lack of authority-approval or a compulsory accuracy check before publication. Internet information lacks credibility because the internet search engines do not have the abilities to filter, manage and distinguish between information and misinformation, fact and fiction, truth and lies.
Causing Catastrophic Confusion in the Church
There can be no doubt whatsoever that most Catholics today are confused―or, even worse, are dumb. Just as you could debate on which comes first―the chicken or the egg―likewise you could debate if Catholics are confused because they are dumb, or do they become dumb through being confused? Whichever side you take, you still cannot dispute that Catholics are either confused, or are dumb, or are confused and dumb. Just look at the statistics concerning present-day beliefs of modern Catholics and you will have to admit that those statistics confirm the confusion and dumbness of Catholics.
As regards moral teaching, 57% of Catholics reject the Church’s teaching forbidding same-sex marriage and are strongly in favor of such unions. Only 34% strongly oppose such unions with 9% saying they don’t know what to think. Of the 57% of Catholics in favor of same-sex marriages, the vast majority (85%) are under the age of 65―which means they fall into the age group who reached maturity (18 years old) at the time or after the time the revolutionary Second Vatican Council began in 1962―meaning that they have taken on board the relaxations, dispensations, modifications and more worldly and Protestant-like directions that came in the wake of the Council.
As regards the dogma of the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, after a 2010 Pew Forum study found that 45 percent of Catholics didn't know the Catholic Church's teaching on the Real Presence, a new study finds the number to actually be over 50%. About half of those polled (52%) say, incorrectly, that Catholicism teaches that the bread and wine used for Communion are only symbols of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Only four-in-ten people correctly answer that, according to the Catholic Church, the bread and wine actually become the Body and blood of Jesus. And 17% had no idea that the Church actually teaches that this is true.
These are just two points of many, many more similar examples of the confusion or dumbness that reigns in the minds of the Catholics today. As human beings, they advance in knowledge from year to year in earthly, material, physical, medical, financial, political matters―but as regards spiritual matters, most of them not only DO NOT ADVANCE, but they actually REGRESS in their knowledge, by forgetting the simple, child’s level teachings they received in school or catechism classes.
How Did This All Happen?
But where does all this confusion and dumbness come from? We know―be it chicken or egg―they both ultimately come from God the Creator. What is ultimately behind this current confusion and dumbness of Catholics?
On June 30th, 1968, at the close of the Year of Faith and less than three years after the close of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI made a profession of the Catholic Faith, in the presence of all the bishops in Rome and hundreds of thousands of the faithful. In his introductory remarks, he put Catholics on guard against attacks on Catholic doctrine which, he said, “give rise, as we regretfully see today, to trouble and confusion in many faithful souls.”
The successor of Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, less than thirteen years later, on February 6th, 1981, said the same thing: “Christians today, in large part, feel lost, perplexed, confused, and even deceived.” The pope then summarized the underlying causes of the trouble as follows: “We see spread abroad ideas contrary to the truth which God has revealed and which the Church has always taught. Real heresies have appeared in dogma and moral theology, stirring doubt, confusion, rebellion. Even the liturgy has been harmed. Christians have been plunged into an intellectual and moral illuminism, a sociological Christianity, without clear dogma or objective morality.”
Pope John Paul II’s successor, Pope Benedict XVI, in speaking to young pilgrims on July 13th, 2008, said: “Many people today … are perplexed by the questions that present themselves ever more urgently in a confusing world, and they are often uncertain which way to turn for answers. They see poverty and injustice and they long to find solutions. They are challenged by the arguments of those who deny the existence of God and they wonder how to respond... Where can we look for answers?”
The Catholic news agency, Crux, in an article about Pope Benedict and Pope Francis, mentions that Benedict wanted Jorge Bergoglio (the future Pope Francis) as his sight-hand-man as Secretary of State: “I know Pope Paul VI suffered much due to the corruption in the Holy See,” Father Fernando Miguens told Crux in Buenos Aires. “I know John Paul II suffered due to it too, but he decided that mission would be his priority. Poor Benedict tried to face it, and to do so, he approached Bergoglio to appoint him as his Secretary of State, but Jorge told him ‘No!’” Miguens said.
The successor of Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, could be said to be the patron ‘saint’ of confusion. He is able to both seeds of wheat and cockle at the same time. If Our Lord related the Parable of the Sower of the Seed, today He would have to add another parable about Francis―called the Parable of the Sower of Confusion. With Pope Francis the turmoil and confusion in the Roman Catholic Church has reached a further disruption point.
In 2017, Capuchin Fr. Thomas Weinandy resigned as a consultant to the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine, stating in a public letter criticizing Pope Francis, that the Pope was to blame for creating “chronic confusion” among faithful Catholics. Weinandy was just one of many blaming Francis for increasing confusion among Catholics. In September of 2016, a small group of theologians and pastors had issued a “filial correction” to Francis. Before them, there were the so-called “four dubia cardinals”, who repeatedly asked Francis to clarify teaching his teachings in the 2016 apostolic exhortation on family and marriage, Amoris Laetitia, parts of which they claim are not in accord with the constant teaching and practice of the Church. One of those four cardinals, Raymond Burke, granted numerous media interviews saying he was planning to issue a fraternal correction of the pope if the Holy Father refuses to respond to the dubia (doubts about his teaching). In an interview with the National Catholic Register, Cardinal Burke said that those questioning Francis, only do so for the good of the church, the papacy and the individual souls of the faithful, adding that this “weighs very heavily on my heart … a great deal of confusion, also people feeling that the Church is not a secure point of reference.” In another interview, on April 4th, 2018, with the Italian news group La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, Cardinal Burke said: “The confusion and division in the Church, on the fundamental and most important issues ― marriage and the family, the sacraments and the right disposition to receive them, the intrinsically evil acts, eternal life and the Last Things ― are becoming more widespread. And the Pope not only refuses to clarify things by announcing the constant doctrine and sound discipline of the Church, a responsibility that is inherent in his ministry as the Successor of St. Peter, but he is also increasing the confusion!”
At the beginning of February of 2019 two independent, but influential, texts were widely circulated expressing strong criticism against Pope Francis. In Europe, the German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former Prefect for Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a Manifesto of Faith that raised serious concerns over the downplaying of Catholic identity under Pope Francis’ reign and suggested corrections to it. In the USA, the widely-acclaimed journal First Things posted an article by R.R. Reno whose devastating thesis is evident from its title: “A Failing Papacy”. Both attacks were from highly respected Catholic sources and show that the “Annus Horribilis” (Terrible Year) of Rome is getting even worse. On both sides of the Atlantic, Pope Francis is under fire.
Returning from his papal visit to Romania (May 2019), Pope Francis, speaking of the Holy Eucharist, told reporters during another of his famous (or infamous) airplane conferences, that since “there is already Christian unity,” there is no need for the faithful to “wait for the theologians to come to agreement on the Eucharist.” Progressive Catholics have latched onto this as being evidence for the pope’s intention to grant full Eucharistic communion to non-Catholics. As the liberal priest Father Thomas Reese later suggested, removing the barriers that surround reception of the Eucharist is part of Pope Francis’s broader insistence that “facts are more important than ideas.” What “facts” justify reversing the Magisterial opposition to intercommunion with schismatics?
This type of suggestive imprecision and confusing speech is not unusual for Francis. He has made a habit of using airplane press events to make what often amount to freewheeling, controversial claims about matters of Catholic Faith and morality. The press corps will latch on to one or more of the pope’s remarks that appear to suggest a papal willingness to change a particular Church teaching, even though the pope has never explicitly said so. These statements, inasmuch as they appear to challenge settled matters of Church teaching, have left the faithful to confusingly wrestle with an endless series of questions about the truthfulness of dogma and the difference between discipline and doctrine.
We naturally ask, therefore, what brought on this state of things? For every effect there is a cause. Has Faith been weakened by a disappearance of generosity of soul, by a taste for enjoyment, an attraction to the pleasures of life and the manifold distractions which the modern world offers? These cannot be the real reasons, because they have always been with us in one way or another. The rapid decline in religious practice comes rather from the new spirit which has been introduced into the Church and which has cast suspicion over all past teachings and life of the Church. All this was based on the unchangeable Faith of the Church, handed down by catechisms which were recognized by all bishops. The Faith was based on certitudes. The certitudes have been overturned and confusion has resulted.
The Cockle Was Sown a Long Time Ago
In philosophy we speak of all kinds of causes, some of which are: (1) remote or distant causes, (2) immediate or proximate causes, (3) efficient causes, (4) instrumental causes and other kinds of causes. For our purposes, let us focus on these four and leave the ‘others’ aside.
The remote or distant cause is one that lays some way back in the domino-effect of causes. One of the remote causes of the steak on your plate is actual birth of the animal you are about to eat a piece of―in between him and your dinner plate, there are a lot of other intermediate (in-between) causes that allow the steak to arrive on your plate: such as the farmer raising the animal; the abattoir or slaughterhouse that kills the animal; the primary butchering (skinning, removal of unwanted parts, etc.) of the animal; the grading of the animal meat; the secondary butchering (cutting into smaller pieces) of the animal; the packaging and storing of these cuts of meat; the transportation to stores of the meat; the local storage and sale of meat; and finally the purchase, cooking and eating of the meat. The distant causes gradually become less and less distant, and evolve into the immediate causes (causes that immediately or almost immediately precede the eating of the meat)―meaning the sale of the meat and the cooking of the meat.
To transfer this to the current crisis of the Church today, it can be said that the distant cause goes as far back as Satan and the other fallen angels rebelling against God―which triggered a falling “domino-effect” of causes all through time, with Even and then Adam being the next “dominoes” to fall, then the envious and murderous Cain, and so on through all time up to our present day.
The immediate or proximate (meaning “closer to our time”) causes could be said to begin with the humanistic spirit that arose prior to the Renaissance Period () which was engendered during and brought a collapse to the Middle Ages, which were, relatively speaking, a period where Christianity reigned (hence called “Christendom”―as in the “Christ’s Kingdom”). This humanistic spirit was a subtle and implicit rebellion against the divine spirit of Christendom. It began to show more interest in the things of man, rather than the things of God―which gradually led to the glorification of man, which gradually replaced the glorification of God. The “aiders-and-abettors” of humanism were its “children” and “grandchildren” of Rationalism, Liberalism, Materialism, Hedonism (pleasure-seeking), Utilitarianism (judging things by their usefulness and not by their morality―hence, if it’s useful, it must be good), Socialism, Communism and the “latest-kid-on-the-block” which is Modernism (which Pope St. Pius X calls the “synthesis of all heresies” in the sense that it has all the “bad traits” and “bad habits” of all the “isms” that came before it.
The Confusing Mask of Modernism
The next three paragraphs―quotes from Pope St. Pius X―need to be read slowly and carefully. Why? Because we have all been dumbed-down and are comparatively very ignorant about things that were better understood 100 years ago. Let us blame the concepts used as being incomprehensible―let us instead blame ourselves for lacking comprehension. Someone learning to write or drive, writes and drives slowly―likewise, when starting to exercise our powers of thought, we need to go slowly at first, for the ideas will simply not penetrate, nor will they we grasped and understood if we go too quickly, or if we refuse to read and re-read and read once again what we at first find difficult. As the famous and popular saying goes: “Know your enemy!” We cannot fight Modernism unless we understand Modernism―and Modernism has been deliberately created to be incomprehensible, obscure, ambiguous, obtuse, etc. If you let your “dumbed-down” mind capitulate in face of Modernism’s deliberately difficult ideas, then your Faith will be the next to capitulate due to lack of understanding on how to fight Modernism. In a fight or flight, fight or flee situation―here we have to stand our ground and fight and not flee due to our ignorance. The initial pain of the intellectual difficulty, will lead to gain of intellectual muscle if we wrestle with the concepts. No pain, no gain! So read slowly, think carefully, read again and re-read if necessary. It will be similar to physical rehabilitation after a serious injury―except in this case, it is more of an intellectual rehabilitation after the serious injury of “intellectual paralysis” or an “intellectual stroke.”
Over 100 years ago, in 1907, Pope St. Pius X already fired a warning flare with his encyclical against Modernism, entitled Pascendi Domenici Gregis, in which he pointed out the confusion that Modernism generates: “Modernists place the foundation of religious philosophy in that doctrine which is usually called ‘Agnosticism’ (which is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable). According to this teaching human reason is confined entirely within the field of phenomena (a fact, occurrence, or circumstance that can be observed or is observable), that is to say, to things that are perceptible to the senses … it has no right and no power to transgress these limits. Hence it is incapable of lifting itself up to God, and of recognizing His existence, even by means of visible things. From this it is inferred that God can never be the direct object of science, and that, as regards history, He must not be considered as an historical subject … It is a fixed and established principle among them that both science and history must be atheistic: and within their boundaries there is room for nothing but phenomena; God and all that is divine are utterly excluded … Religion, whether natural or supernatural, must, like every other fact, admit of some explanation. But when Natural theology has been destroyed, the road to revelation closed through the rejection of the arguments of credibility, and all external revelation absolutely denied, it is clear that this explanation will be sought in vain outside man himself. It must, therefore, be looked for within man; and since religion is a form of life, the explanation must certainly be found within the life of man. Hence the principle of religious immanence is formulated. Moreover, the first actuation, so to say, of every vital phenomenon, and religion, as has been said, belongs to this category, is due to a certain necessity or impulsion; but it has its origin, speaking more particularly of life, in a movement of the heart, which movement is called a sentiment. Therefore, since God is the object of religion, we must conclude that faith, which is the basis and the foundation of all religion, consists in a sentiment which originates from a need of the divine ... This need of the divine, which man experiences within himself, grows up into a religion … Science and history, they say, are confined within two limits, the one external, namely, the visible world, the other internal, which is consciousness. When one or other of these boundaries has been reached, there can be no further progress, for beyond is the unknowable …
“Modernism finds in this sentiment [feeling], not only Faith, but with and in that Faith (as they understand ‘Faith’), they say, abides also revelation. For what more can one require for revelation? Is not that religious sentiment which is perceptible in the consciousness revelation, or at least the beginning of revelation? Nay, is not God Himself, as He manifests Himself to the soul, indistinctly it is true, in this same religious sense, revelation? … In that religious sentiment [feeling], God presents Himself to man, but in a manner so confused and indistinct that He can hardly be perceived by the believer. It is therefore necessary that a ray of light should be cast upon this religious sentiment [feeling], so that God may be clearly distinguished and set apart from it. This is the task of the intellect, whose office it is to reflect and to analyze, and transform into mental pictures the vital phenomena which arise within him, and then expresses them in words … and produces a work resembling that of a painter who restores and gives new life to a picture that has perished with age … If these [expressions of personal religious sentiment] finally receive the approval of the supreme magisterium of the Church, they then constitute dogma. Thus, We have reached one of the principal points in the Modernists' system, namely the origin and the nature of dogma … Hence it is quite impossible to maintain that they [dogmas] express absolute truth: for, in so far as they are symbols, they are the images of truth, and so must be adapted to the religious sentiment of man; and as instruments, they [dogmas] are the vehicles of truth, and must therefore, in their turn, be adapted to man in his relation to the religious sentiment ... He who believes, may pass through different phases. Consequently, dogmas must also be subject to these changes [of feelings and sentiments], and are, therefore, liable to change.
“Thus the way is open to the intrinsic evolution of dogma … Dogma is not only able, but ought to evolve and to be changed. This is strongly affirmed by the Modernists, and as clearly flows from their principles … Blind that they are, and leaders of the blind, inflated with a boastful science, they have reached that pitch of folly where they pervert the eternal concept of truth and the true nature of the religious sentiment; with that new system of theirs they are seen to be under the sway of a blind and unchecked passion for novelty, thinking not at all of finding some solid foundation of truth, but despising the holy and apostolic traditions, they embrace other vain, futile, uncertain doctrines, condemned by the Church, on which, in the height of their vanity, they think they can rest and maintain truth itself … The way is opened wide for atheism ... Given this doctrine of ‘experience’ united with the other doctrine of ‘symbolism’, every religion, even that of paganism, must be held to be true. For what is to prevent such ‘experiences’ from being found within every religion? In fact, because they are to be found, is claimed by not just a few. And with what right will Modernists deny the truth of an ‘experience’ affirmed by a follower of Islam? With what right can they claim true ‘experiences’ for Catholics alone? Indeed Modernists do not deny, but actually admit―some confusedly, others in the most open manner―that all religions are true. That they cannot feel otherwise is clear. For on what ground, according to their theories, could falsity be predicated of any religion whatsoever?” To read more of the encyclical, with come added explanations and commentary, click here.
Phew! Wow! Gasp!
Tough going, eh? Well, think of the raw-recruits at a US Marine “Boot-Camp”! They also find it “as tough as Hell” when they first start out―which is why the first week of “Boot Camp” is also called “Hell Week”!
What you have read above, of the quotes of Pope St. Pius X, are a mere fraction of his encyclical against Modernism―and the Pope makes no apologies for being “long-winded”, for he writes in the same encyclical: “It may be, Venerable Brethren, that some may think We have dwelt too long on this exposition of the doctrines of the Modernists. But it was necessary, both in order to refute their customary charge that We do not understand their ideas, and to show that their system does not consist in scattered and unconnected theories but in a perfectly organized body, of which all the parts are solidly joined so that it is not possible to admit one, without admitting all. Can anybody who takes a survey of the whole system be surprised that We should define it as the “synthesis of all heresies”? if someone were to attempt the task of collecting together all the errors, that have been broached against the Faith, and to concentrate the sap and substance of them all into one, then he could not better succeed than the Modernists have done. Nay, they have done more than this, for their system intends the destruction, not of the Catholic religion alone, but of all religion. With good reason do the rationalists applaud them, for the most sincere and the frankest among the rationalists warmly welcome the modernists as their most valuable allies.”
Let us try and simplify the above paragraphs―though understand this: that simplification risks losing some of the substance and runs the risk of misrepresentation of the original thought.
Writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Arthur Vermeersch describes modernism thus: “In general we may say that modernism aims at that radical transformation of human thought in relation to God, man, the world, and life, here and hereafter, which was prepared by Humanism and eighteenth-century philosophy, and solemnly promulgated at the French Revolution.” The movement was influenced by Protestant theologians and clergy, starting in the mid-19th century. Modernism attempts to reconcile Catholicism with modern culture; specifically an understanding of Scripture in light of scientific advances in archeology, philology, the historical-critical method and other new developments of the 19th and 20th centuries. Thus the authority of the Faith is no longer God, but science and all the other branches of knowledge.
In simplistic terms, what the Pope is saying that Modernists seek to change the manner in which we approach and understand our religion. Instead of taking God’s word on authority, they say that God is basically unknowable in anything and everything that cannot be observed or measured or understood by the five senses. We are certain of our own existence and actions and words―because they can be witnessed, recorded, observed, heard, seen, etc. Yet many if not most or even all of God’s actions cannot be witnessed, recorded, observed, heard, seen, etc. Therefore they are uncertain, though they may be true, there remains a doubt and an uncertainty over them―which is what Agnosticism professes. In place of this ‘uncertain’ God, let us place the certitude of man. Thus, say the Modernists, religion is something that certainly comes from inside of man, religion is born from the feeling of a need for the divine that germinates and grows within man. Religion is more of a feeling (sentiment) than a fact―and as feelings change all the time, religion can change also. This is where we find ourselves today―where man no longer changes his life to fit with the commandments of a God-given religion; but man, nowadays, changes the commandments of his “home-grown” religion to fit-in with his ever-changing feelings and ever-changing feelings (attitudes) of the world around him. At one time we may feel divorce, cohabitation, contraception, abortion, homosexuality, adultery, fornication, masturbation, pornography, euthanasia, etc. are wrong―but then feelings and attitudes change and so the morality of these things also changes from being evil to being good.
God Uncrowned―Man and Satan Enthroned
Whether you see it or not; admit it or not; like it or not―we are living in the age of the “Glorification of Man” and the “Dethronement of God”―which, in turn, will gradually lead to the “Enthronement of Satan.” The controversial and enigmatic Fr. Malachi Martin had first made reference to a diabolic rite held in Rome in his 1990 non-fiction best-seller about geopolitics and the Vatican, The Keys of This Blood, in which he wrote:
“Most frighteningly for [Pope] John Paul [II], he had come up against the irremovable presence of a malign strength in his own Vatican and in certain bishops’ chanceries. It was what knowledgeable Churchmen called the ‘superforce.’ Rumors, always difficult to verify, tied its installation to the beginning of Pope Paul VI’s reign in 1963. Indeed Paul had alluded somberly to ‘the smoke of Satan which has entered the Sanctuary’. . . an oblique reference to an enthronement ceremony by Satanists in the Vatican. Besides, the incidence of Satanic pedophilia—rites and practices— was already documented among certain bishops and priests as widely dispersed as Turin, in Italy, and South Carolina, in the United States. The cultic acts of Satanic pedophilia are considered by professionals to be the culmination of the Fallen Archangel’s rites” (Fr. Malachi Martin, The Keys of This Blood, p. 632).
He revealed much more about this alleged ritual in one of his last works, Windswept House: A Vatican Novel (1996). In this story, he vividly described a ceremony called “The Enthronement of the Fallen Archangel Lucifer” supposedly held in St. Paul’s Chapel in the Vatican, but linked with concurrent satanic rites here in the USA, on June 29th, 1963, barely a week after the election of Paul VI. “Suddenly it became unarguable that now during this papacy, the Roman Catholic organization carried a permanent presence of clerics who worshipped Satan and liked it; of bishops and priests who sodomized boys and each other; of nuns who performed the “Black Rites” of Wicca, and who lived in lesbian relationships . . . every day, including Sundays and Holy Days, acts of heresy and blasphemy and outrage and indifference were committed and permitted at holy Altars by men who had been called to be priests. Sacrilegious actions and rites were not only performed on Christ’s Altars, but had the connivance or at least the tacit permission of certain Cardinals, archbishops, and bishops. . . In total number they were a minority—anything from one to ten percent of Church personnel. But of that minority, many occupied astoundingly high positions or rank.... The facts that brought the Pope to a new level of suffering were mainly two: The systematic organizational links—the network, in other words that had been established between certain clerical homosexual groups and Satanist covens. And the inordinate power and influence of that network” (Fr. Malachi Martin, Windswept House: A Vatican Novel, pp. 492-3).
But … In the End …
Good triumphs in the end―but at what cost? What are the consequences and costs of our indifference, lukewarmness, worldliness, and lack of cooperation with Our Lady’s demands at her most recent apparitions? The damage would have been less if we would have done more and done it earlier! The invasion of evil within the Church could have been stopped or would have been limited if we would only have listened to and fulfilled Our Lady’s counsels, requests and demands. As Our Lady says, at Quito, La Salette, Fatima and Akita: “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession ... Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Combination of quotes from Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima and Akita).
The Art of War, by the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, is an ancient Chinese military treatise roughly dating from the 5th century BC. The work is comprised on 13 short chapters, each chapter being dedicated to a specific aspect of warfare and its strategy and tactics. The Art of War remains, to this day, the most influential text in East Asian on strategic warfare and has had a major influence upon both Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy and beyond.
The United States Army lists The Art of War as one example of a book that may be kept at a military unit's library. The Art of War is listed on the Marine Corps Professional Reading Program. It is recommended reading for all United States Military Intelligence personnel. According to some authors, the strategy of deception from The Art of War was studied and widely used by the KGB. The Art of War has also found into way into many fields other than the military―for some of its strategies deal with fighting wars without actually having to do battle―giving tips and tactics on how to confuse, fool and outthink the opponent, to the point where a physical battle is no longer necessary. For this reason, it has been applied in various training guides for many competitive endeavors that do not involve actual combat. Many business books used the principles found in The Art of War in office politics and corporate business strategy. Many Japanese companies make the book required reading for their key executives. The book is also popular among Western business circles. Many entrepreneurs and corporate executives have turned to it for inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive business situations. The book has also been applied to the field of education
Confused? It’s Part of the Plan!
“The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent” (Sun Tzu, The Art of War).
Confusion can be a confusing word―even though it seems straightforward! Confusion is far from being straightforward―for if it was straightforward, it would not be confusing! Confusion is defined as: “lack of understanding; an uncertainty; a situation in which people do not understand what is happening, what they should do or who someone or something is; a situation, often with a lot of activity and noise, in which people do not know what to do; a situation in which things are messy, badly organized, or not clear; a situation in which you mistake one person or thing for another. Synonyms of confusions are: uncertainty, lack of certainty, unsureness, indecision, hesitation, hesitancy, skepticism, doubt, ignorance, ambiguity”
The suitcase of confusion contains many disguises―such as misinterpretation, exaggeration, falsification, distortion, contradiction, false accusation, ambiguity, vagueness, euphemism, skepticism, doubt, lack of clarity, lack of transparency, disguised, etc.
The world―do not even try to deny the fact―is our enemy. There can be no confusion on this point. Scripture repeatedly and clearly tells us this: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). The world is our enemy and we should be at enmity with the world. To try and free and convert those enslaved to the world is fine―but to make peace with the world, to accept the world, to follow the world is not fine, but suicidal. The world belongs to its prince―the devil―and he uses the world in his attempts to damn you. How does he pull you into the world? By causing confusion. By causing confusion as to the level of danger. This tactic of confusion was used on Eve―when the devil took what God had said and twisted it, distorted it, altered it, changed it and gave it a nuanced, different meaning.
“The serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die.’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death. For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.’ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat.” (Genesis 3:16). The mind of Eve was confused―she was getting two different stories―one from God and one from the devil. This confusion of mind led to a weakening of her resolve and will. She believed the truth to be a lie―and she believed the lie was the truth.
Confusing Tactics of the Devil
Understanding the subtle, confusing, distracting tactics of the enemy is of prime importance in both physical and spiritual warfare. Fr. Louis Cameli’s 2011 book, The Devil You Don’t Know, outlines some of the chief methods of Satan’s attacks―of which deception and confusion are major ingredients. The book is divided into four main categories of how the devil works: Deception, Division, Distraction and Discouragement. Basically, all of these create confusion. When you are deceived you are confused; when you are divided you are confused as to who is whose side; when you are distracted you are confused as to the order of importance of things; when you are discouraged you are confused as whether or not to continue.
(1) DECEPTION ― Our Lord calls the devil a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44)―and lies create confusion about the truth. Since the time the devil confused the gullible Eve concerning the truth of God’s words and warning, he has never stopped (and rarely failed) in repeating the same tactic on mankind―who seem to have inherited Eve’s gullibility along with Original Sin. We fall for the many false and empty promises. In our confusion, we think that the false promise is the best road to follow, imagining we will somehow be happier and more fulfilled if we sin, denying aspects of the truth. We human beings remain very gullible, we seem to love empty promises and put all sorts of false hopes of them.
These devilish lying cosmetics are also used by the devil to deceive and confuse us by suggesting many complex arguments and debates in our thought patterns, seeking to plaster his cosmetics lies over fundamental truths―to make us question, then doubt and perhaps even finally reject those truths. Our minds tend be “loophole minds” ― always seeking a “loophole” that will let us get away with sin with some kind of cosmeticized or rationalized excuse. So we, like Eve, enter into conversation with the invisible devil and his endless complications, by asking “But what if this? …. What about that….??!” With devil’s help, we begin to imagine all kinds of possible difficulties, exceptions, or potential sob stories, to avoid insisting that we or others behave well and live according to the truth.
Another ploy by which the devil confuses and deceives us is “word-smithing” or the use of euphemisms (making bad things sound good). And thus the dismemberment and murder of a child through abortion becomes “reproductive freedom” or “Choice.” Sodomy is called “gay” (a word which used to mean “happy”). The light of our Faith and ancientits wisdom is labeled as being “darkness” and “ignorance.” Fornication is called “cohabitation.” And the redefinition of marriage as it is been known for some 5,000 years, is labeled “marriage freedom.” In this way, by redefining, rewording, understating or exaggerating, through misrepresentation and falsification, what is good ends up being called bad, and what is bad ends up being called good. Virtue becomes a vice and vice becomes a virtue. Confusing? Yes―deliberately so!
Another avenue to confusion used by the devil is that of information overload. Today, many equate information with truth―which is not true. Data manipulation is a well practiced art. Limited and selective use of data can create a picture that is far from the truth. Sometimes what you do not say is more important than what you say. The news media, andother sources of information, sometimes have more of a massive effect in what they do not report than in what they report.
(2) DIVISION ― “Divide and Conquer” was not just a principle of the Romans―it is the perennial tactic of Satan. One of Jesus’ final prayers for us was that we would be one (John 17:22). He prayed this, at the Last Supper just before he went out to suffer and die for us. As such, he highlights that a chief aspect of his work on the Cross is to overcome the divisions intensified by Satan. Some argue that the Greek root of the word “diabolical” (diabolein) means to cut, tear, or divide. Christ seeks unity―the devil seeks disunity. He seeks to divide us from God; to cause division in the Church; to cause division among nations; to cause division within parishes and schools; to cause division among family and friends.
Nobody is exempt from these dividing drives of the devil. Every human being can testify to experiencing drives that are contrary― some noble, creative, and edifying; others base, sinful, and destructive. We frequently struggle with these and feel torn apart. St. Paul speaks of this: “For that which I do, I understand not. For I do not that good which I want; but the evil which I hate, that I do!” (Romans 7:15). This Satanic onslaught on our interior unity, spills over into our exterior life. Satan brings to mind thoughts of anger, past hurts, resentments, fears, misunderstandings, greed, pride, and arrogance of others. We fall out of love with our nearest and dearest and seek consolations elsewhere. Hence people divorce spouses, leave parishes, leave places of employment, etc., always imagining that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. In these and other ways, the devil seeks to divide and conquer―all the time hiding himself behind the cosmetic huan activity. The best tactic of the devil is to make people either disbelieve in his existence, or downplay his involvement, or totally forget about him.
(3) DIVERSION ― To be diverted is to be turned away from what is our primary goal or task. Call is distraction if you want. God wants us to focus on loving Him and attaining Heaven. The devil would be a fool to try to make us focus on loving him and getting to Hell―so he masks himself and Hell with what is more loveable, which is the world, of which he the prince. He seeks to make the world more and more lovable―which is easy today in a world flooded with technology.
Most Catholics today―if not in theory, then most certainly in practice―would have to admit that they love the things of the world more than God. As proof―just look at the many hours spent each day on the smartphone, cellphone, laptop, tablet, computer, television, radio, social media, etc. and compare that to the minutes spent with God! There is no argument over that! It is no contest! The world wins hands-down!
Besides the distractions or diversions of modern technology, there are also the interior distractions or diversions of all our worries, fears, anxieties, dreads, etc. If we would only be equally anxious, worried and fearful about the one thing that really matters―our final judgment by God―then by now we would perhaps be the living saints that God expected us to be and created us to be! Whatever the kind of distraction or diversion that comes our way, the bottom line is that the devil wants us to focus on lesser things to avoid focusing on greater things. We must force ourselves to focus on what matters most, and decisively refuse to be diverted to lesser things.
(4) DISCOURAGEMENT ― Discouragement is the devil’s “trump card” or master-stroke. Whereas the other things mentioned above may slow us down on the way to Heaven, discouragement seeks to make us stop altogether, to come to a total standstill, to “give-up” or surrender. However, giving-up on God is tough one for the devil to pull off―thus he discourages on many lesser things first. He makes become discouraged with family members and friends; discouraged with priest and parishioners and teachers; discouraged with the Pope and bishops; discouraged with the Church as a whole. The devil also discourages us through simple things like fatigue, the personal failings that we all experience, setbacks, and other obstacles that are common to our human condition, and common to living in a fallen world with limited resources. All these are stepping-stones to a discouragement with God―which may start out at being disappointed that God did not answer this or that prayer; or allowed this or that thing to happen to us; or took way this or that person from us; or removed our health, wealth, happiness, etc. In all these ways to devil seeks to discourage us, to make us want, at some level, to give up. Only a properly developed sense of humility―which the proud Satan detests―can save us from these discouraging works of Satan.
The Mechanics of Confusion
It is an obvious tactic of warfare―confuse the enemy so they do not know which way to turn and will not expect what you do next. When a person is confused, they hesitate, wondering what will happen and what they should do. In war, hesitation can be fatal when it hands the enemy the initiative, giving them first strike or the choice of the next move. Hesitation by officers has a devastating amongst conscripts who assume that if officers are not sure what is going on then their doom is assured. Confusion invades when you expect a particular thing to happen and then something else happens instead. This also includes nothing happening, when, for example, an attack was expected and never materializes. Confusion may also be created by acting unpredictably. The enemy will always be trying to second-guess you, typically by studying your past moves. If you deliberately break past patterns, then their predictions will be wrong and their counter-moves will be become counter-productive.
A drowning person will clutch at a straw. So push them under water (submerge them in confusion) then offer a straw. Repeating patterns of events help us predict and feel a good sense of control about the world. When patterns are are disrupted, then we become uncertain. One of the deep needs we have is to be able to understand the world around us. If we understand, then we can predict what will happen and hence control our environment and stay safe. When we cannot make sense of our experiences, we feel confused and scared and seek a way of getting out of the cognitive deep water in which we find ourselves. When we predict an outcome, we set up expectation. When the expectation does not meet what was predicted, we are surprised and confused and have to stop to figure out what is going on. Increasing stress leads to a point when we go from seeking the best solution to the problem at hand, to seeking any solution just to reduce the stress.
Confusion is used in many persuasion techniques as a way of destabilizing the other person. Just as a drowning man will clutch at a straw, so also will a confused person grab at any idea you offer them in the hope that it will help them crawl out the sea of confusion in which they are wallowing. The most common way of confusing someone is simply to overload them. Just keep giving them things until they crack. It is especially effective if what you are saying is of interest and makes them think and want to respond. Overload is multiplied when what is being communicated is complex or difficult to understand. This effectively shortens the time to the point where the other person becomes overloaded and needs to stop and process the information given to them. There are many written and unwritten rules of conversation and interpersonal communication. People expect you to follow those rules. If you break them, they will quickly become confused.
As one saying―attributed to Harry Truman, A. C. Wilson, Adolph Hitler, Richard H. Leask, and others―puts it: “If you can’t convince them, confuse them!” A later saying elaborates on this: “If you can’t convince them, confuse them! If you can’t confuse them, scare them!”
It is interesting to read the section on Tactics in the Communist Manual of Mau Tse-tung. Time and time again the idea of spreading confusion emerges: “confuse the enemy’s eyes and ears … creating confusion … confuse his judgment … so that the enemy's reaction is confused … harass him and cause confusion … precipitate him into a state of complete confusion … increase their confusion and fear … bring about a situation of extreme confusion.”
Can You See The Confusion?
You have―quite possibly―heard of the line “Water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink!”, which comes from Samuel T. Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In the poem, the line actually reads as: “Water, water everywhere, / Nor any drop to drink”. The speaker―a sailor on a becalmed ship that is stuck floating in the ocean and going nowhere because there is no wind to drive the sails of the ship―is ironically surrounded by water that his parched lips cannot drink, because it is sea water and thus salt water, which, if drunk, will prove to be fatal to the body―to get rid of all the excess salt taken in by drinking sea water, you have to urinate more water than the sea water you drank. Eventually, you die of dehydration as you become thirstier and thirstier despite drinking more and more sea water.
The same line―“Water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink!”―could be applied to confusion―“Confusion, confusion everywhere, not allowing you to think!” Today―especially thanks to modern technology and communications―everyone is floating on a sea of confusion into which flow the rivers of information overload, misrepresentation, exaggeration, ambiguation, insinuation, alteration, falsification, simulation, false accusation, calumniation, detraction, character assassination, misinformation.
Information Overload Begets Confusion
Information―both true and false―comes at us from all sides: television, internet, newspapers, hearsay, gossip, etc. We are bombarded by so much information that our minds can only take a certain amount before they ‘short-circuit’ and switch-off. When you are faced with so much information, you neither have the time nor the inclination to go into any serious depth―you always remain on the surface, knowing a little about a lot and knowing a lot about very few things. This makes you become superficial―living on the surface of the news, surfing the news, surfing the internet and failing to do any deep-sea diving, deep research, as you are accustomed to and happy with short sound-bytes and short articles that have little depth. Thus we become the proverbial “jack of all trades and master of none”―knowing what appears on the surface, but failing to know what lingers underneath the surface. This is the recipe for both confusion and disaster.
From Overload to Confusion and onto Indifference
One of the first social scientists to notice the negative effects of information overload was the sociologist Georg Simmel (1858–1918), who hypothesized that the overload of sensations in the modern urban world caused city dwellers to become jaded and interfered with their ability to react to new situations. The social psychologist Stanley Milgram (1933–1984) later used the concept of information overload to explain “bystander behavior”―which means that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present. The greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that one of them will help. Several factors contribute to the “bystander effect”, including ambiguity, group mentality, and diffusion of responsibility that promotes a mutual denial of a situation’s severity.
This “bystander behavior” is typical of the Catholic faced with the severity of the crisis in the Church and phenomenal loss of souls―the “group mentality” of passive observation promotes an indifference or even an absolute refusal to do anything about it. Call them “couch-potato Catholics” or “spectator Catholics” or “bleacher Catholics” or whatever else―they just watch and do nothing, much like the priest and Levi in the parable of Good Samaritan, who see the man lying by the roadside―beaten, stripped and robbed―and merely pass on by. They were too concerned about other things in their daily lives, far more than the plight of the victim by the roadside. That is how we are―the news on social media or the internet is far more important than any news from Heaven; the fact of fishes being occasionally washed up onto the beach in thousands, or birds occasionally falling out of the sky in their hundreds and thousands, are of more interest to us than the thousands of souls falling into Hell, not occasionally, but every single day―for, on average, 150,000 people die daily and, as Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints and theologians tells us, most of those souls are lost―they go to Hell. Yet who really cares? We care more about the mundane things than those things! Information overload leaves little room for spiritual considerations―we are so caught up with mundane news, mundane facts, mundane activities, mundane events, that we are pretty much oblivious to things concerning salvation―whether for ourselves or for others.
This “bystander behavior” is typical of the Catholic faced with the severity of the crisis in the Church and phenomenal loss of souls―the “group mentality” of passive observation promotes an indifference or even an absolute refusal to do anything about it. Call them “couch-potato Catholics” or “spectator Catholics” or “bleacher Catholics” or whatever else―they just watch and do nothing, much like the priest and Levi in the parable of Good Samaritan, who see the man lying by the roadside―beaten, stripped and robbed―and merely pass on by. They were too concerned about other things in their daily lives, far more than the plight of the victim by the roadside. That is how we are―the news on social media or the internet is far more important than any news from Heaven; the fact of fishes being occasionally washed up onto the beach in thousands, or birds occasionally falling out of the sky in their hundreds and thousands, are of more interest to us than the thousands of souls falling into Hell, not occasionally, but every single day―for, on average, 150,000 people die daily and, as Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints and theologians tells us, most of those souls are lost―they go to Hell. Yet who really cares? We care more about the mundane things than those things! Information overload leaves little room for spiritual considerations―we are so caught up with mundane news, mundane facts, mundane activities, mundane events, that we are pretty much oblivious to things concerning salvation―whether for ourselves or for others.
In the book The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload, by Daniel Levitin, the author points out that: “The most successful members of society—from successful artists, athletes, and warriors, to business executives and highly credentialed professionals—have learned to maximize their creativity, and efficiency, by organizing their lives so that they spend less time on the mundane things in life.”
In the second half of the 20th century, advances in computer and information technology led to the creation of the Internet―which began to really spread in the mid-1990s. Through the medium of the internet―which is accessible 24 hours a day through the smartphone, tablet or laptop―information overload is experienced as distracting and unmanageable information such as email spam, email notifications, instant messages, Tweets and Facebook updates, etc. A 2012 survey by McKinsey Global Institute found that the average worker spends 28% of work time managing email. The recent advent of “Social Media” has resulted in a “social information overload” which occurs through sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Business researcher, Peter Gordon Roetzel, in a 2018 literature review, stated that information overload has become like a human virus and addiction—which spreads through social media and news networks, leading to what could be called an “information gluttony” or “infoholism”. In recent years, the term “information overload” has evolved into phrases such as “information glut”, “data smog”, and “data glut.”
People have a limited ability to retain information, which worsens when the amount of information increases. Regardless of whether the information is truly important or merely trivial―there is just too much information being thrown at us for us to properly evaluate, understand and verify it. It is almost like a quiz-game, where you are only given 10 seconds to answer a question before the next one is thrown at you―much like being on an “information treadmill” from which you just can’t seem to get off. This eventually begets a mere superficial grasp of things―“skin deep”―which does not really satisfy the soul, yet, like the chemical MSG in food, leaves you craving more and more of junk food! Not being “up-to-date” with what is going on is frowned upon, whereas those who are always able to spout out the latest news and gossip, are looked upon favorably―just like in the old days, if you didn’t smoke, drink and swear, you were not looked upon as being a normal person.
Just as “Too much work makes Jack a dull boy”, likewise “Too much information makes a soul dull,” numb, dumb and indifferent. However, information published online is not always be reliable―due to the lack of authority-approval or a compulsory accuracy check before publication. Internet information lacks credibility because the internet search engines do not have the abilities to filter, manage and distinguish between information and misinformation, fact and fiction, truth and lies.
Causing Catastrophic Confusion in the Church
There can be no doubt whatsoever that most Catholics today are confused―or, even worse, are dumb. Just as you could debate on which comes first―the chicken or the egg―likewise you could debate if Catholics are confused because they are dumb, or do they become dumb through being confused? Whichever side you take, you still cannot dispute that Catholics are either confused, or are dumb, or are confused and dumb. Just look at the statistics concerning present-day beliefs of modern Catholics and you will have to admit that those statistics confirm the confusion and dumbness of Catholics.
As regards moral teaching, 57% of Catholics reject the Church’s teaching forbidding same-sex marriage and are strongly in favor of such unions. Only 34% strongly oppose such unions with 9% saying they don’t know what to think. Of the 57% of Catholics in favor of same-sex marriages, the vast majority (85%) are under the age of 65―which means they fall into the age group who reached maturity (18 years old) at the time or after the time the revolutionary Second Vatican Council began in 1962―meaning that they have taken on board the relaxations, dispensations, modifications and more worldly and Protestant-like directions that came in the wake of the Council.
As regards the dogma of the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, after a 2010 Pew Forum study found that 45 percent of Catholics didn't know the Catholic Church's teaching on the Real Presence, a new study finds the number to actually be over 50%. About half of those polled (52%) say, incorrectly, that Catholicism teaches that the bread and wine used for Communion are only symbols of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Only four-in-ten people correctly answer that, according to the Catholic Church, the bread and wine actually become the Body and blood of Jesus. And 17% had no idea that the Church actually teaches that this is true.
These are just two points of many, many more similar examples of the confusion or dumbness that reigns in the minds of the Catholics today. As human beings, they advance in knowledge from year to year in earthly, material, physical, medical, financial, political matters―but as regards spiritual matters, most of them not only DO NOT ADVANCE, but they actually REGRESS in their knowledge, by forgetting the simple, child’s level teachings they received in school or catechism classes.
How Did This All Happen?
But where does all this confusion and dumbness come from? We know―be it chicken or egg―they both ultimately come from God the Creator. What is ultimately behind this current confusion and dumbness of Catholics?
On June 30th, 1968, at the close of the Year of Faith and less than three years after the close of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI made a profession of the Catholic Faith, in the presence of all the bishops in Rome and hundreds of thousands of the faithful. In his introductory remarks, he put Catholics on guard against attacks on Catholic doctrine which, he said, “give rise, as we regretfully see today, to trouble and confusion in many faithful souls.”
The successor of Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, less than thirteen years later, on February 6th, 1981, said the same thing: “Christians today, in large part, feel lost, perplexed, confused, and even deceived.” The pope then summarized the underlying causes of the trouble as follows: “We see spread abroad ideas contrary to the truth which God has revealed and which the Church has always taught. Real heresies have appeared in dogma and moral theology, stirring doubt, confusion, rebellion. Even the liturgy has been harmed. Christians have been plunged into an intellectual and moral illuminism, a sociological Christianity, without clear dogma or objective morality.”
Pope John Paul II’s successor, Pope Benedict XVI, in speaking to young pilgrims on July 13th, 2008, said: “Many people today … are perplexed by the questions that present themselves ever more urgently in a confusing world, and they are often uncertain which way to turn for answers. They see poverty and injustice and they long to find solutions. They are challenged by the arguments of those who deny the existence of God and they wonder how to respond... Where can we look for answers?”
The Catholic news agency, Crux, in an article about Pope Benedict and Pope Francis, mentions that Benedict wanted Jorge Bergoglio (the future Pope Francis) as his sight-hand-man as Secretary of State: “I know Pope Paul VI suffered much due to the corruption in the Holy See,” Father Fernando Miguens told Crux in Buenos Aires. “I know John Paul II suffered due to it too, but he decided that mission would be his priority. Poor Benedict tried to face it, and to do so, he approached Bergoglio to appoint him as his Secretary of State, but Jorge told him ‘No!’” Miguens said.
The successor of Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, could be said to be the patron ‘saint’ of confusion. He is able to both seeds of wheat and cockle at the same time. If Our Lord related the Parable of the Sower of the Seed, today He would have to add another parable about Francis―called the Parable of the Sower of Confusion. With Pope Francis the turmoil and confusion in the Roman Catholic Church has reached a further disruption point.
In 2017, Capuchin Fr. Thomas Weinandy resigned as a consultant to the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine, stating in a public letter criticizing Pope Francis, that the Pope was to blame for creating “chronic confusion” among faithful Catholics. Weinandy was just one of many blaming Francis for increasing confusion among Catholics. In September of 2016, a small group of theologians and pastors had issued a “filial correction” to Francis. Before them, there were the so-called “four dubia cardinals”, who repeatedly asked Francis to clarify teaching his teachings in the 2016 apostolic exhortation on family and marriage, Amoris Laetitia, parts of which they claim are not in accord with the constant teaching and practice of the Church. One of those four cardinals, Raymond Burke, granted numerous media interviews saying he was planning to issue a fraternal correction of the pope if the Holy Father refuses to respond to the dubia (doubts about his teaching). In an interview with the National Catholic Register, Cardinal Burke said that those questioning Francis, only do so for the good of the church, the papacy and the individual souls of the faithful, adding that this “weighs very heavily on my heart … a great deal of confusion, also people feeling that the Church is not a secure point of reference.” In another interview, on April 4th, 2018, with the Italian news group La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, Cardinal Burke said: “The confusion and division in the Church, on the fundamental and most important issues ― marriage and the family, the sacraments and the right disposition to receive them, the intrinsically evil acts, eternal life and the Last Things ― are becoming more widespread. And the Pope not only refuses to clarify things by announcing the constant doctrine and sound discipline of the Church, a responsibility that is inherent in his ministry as the Successor of St. Peter, but he is also increasing the confusion!”
At the beginning of February of 2019 two independent, but influential, texts were widely circulated expressing strong criticism against Pope Francis. In Europe, the German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former Prefect for Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a Manifesto of Faith that raised serious concerns over the downplaying of Catholic identity under Pope Francis’ reign and suggested corrections to it. In the USA, the widely-acclaimed journal First Things posted an article by R.R. Reno whose devastating thesis is evident from its title: “A Failing Papacy”. Both attacks were from highly respected Catholic sources and show that the “Annus Horribilis” (Terrible Year) of Rome is getting even worse. On both sides of the Atlantic, Pope Francis is under fire.
Returning from his papal visit to Romania (May 2019), Pope Francis, speaking of the Holy Eucharist, told reporters during another of his famous (or infamous) airplane conferences, that since “there is already Christian unity,” there is no need for the faithful to “wait for the theologians to come to agreement on the Eucharist.” Progressive Catholics have latched onto this as being evidence for the pope’s intention to grant full Eucharistic communion to non-Catholics. As the liberal priest Father Thomas Reese later suggested, removing the barriers that surround reception of the Eucharist is part of Pope Francis’s broader insistence that “facts are more important than ideas.” What “facts” justify reversing the Magisterial opposition to intercommunion with schismatics?
This type of suggestive imprecision and confusing speech is not unusual for Francis. He has made a habit of using airplane press events to make what often amount to freewheeling, controversial claims about matters of Catholic Faith and morality. The press corps will latch on to one or more of the pope’s remarks that appear to suggest a papal willingness to change a particular Church teaching, even though the pope has never explicitly said so. These statements, inasmuch as they appear to challenge settled matters of Church teaching, have left the faithful to confusingly wrestle with an endless series of questions about the truthfulness of dogma and the difference between discipline and doctrine.
We naturally ask, therefore, what brought on this state of things? For every effect there is a cause. Has Faith been weakened by a disappearance of generosity of soul, by a taste for enjoyment, an attraction to the pleasures of life and the manifold distractions which the modern world offers? These cannot be the real reasons, because they have always been with us in one way or another. The rapid decline in religious practice comes rather from the new spirit which has been introduced into the Church and which has cast suspicion over all past teachings and life of the Church. All this was based on the unchangeable Faith of the Church, handed down by catechisms which were recognized by all bishops. The Faith was based on certitudes. The certitudes have been overturned and confusion has resulted.
The Cockle Was Sown a Long Time Ago
In philosophy we speak of all kinds of causes, some of which are: (1) remote or distant causes, (2) immediate or proximate causes, (3) efficient causes, (4) instrumental causes and other kinds of causes. For our purposes, let us focus on these four and leave the ‘others’ aside.
The remote or distant cause is one that lays some way back in the domino-effect of causes. One of the remote causes of the steak on your plate is actual birth of the animal you are about to eat a piece of―in between him and your dinner plate, there are a lot of other intermediate (in-between) causes that allow the steak to arrive on your plate: such as the farmer raising the animal; the abattoir or slaughterhouse that kills the animal; the primary butchering (skinning, removal of unwanted parts, etc.) of the animal; the grading of the animal meat; the secondary butchering (cutting into smaller pieces) of the animal; the packaging and storing of these cuts of meat; the transportation to stores of the meat; the local storage and sale of meat; and finally the purchase, cooking and eating of the meat. The distant causes gradually become less and less distant, and evolve into the immediate causes (causes that immediately or almost immediately precede the eating of the meat)―meaning the sale of the meat and the cooking of the meat.
To transfer this to the current crisis of the Church today, it can be said that the distant cause goes as far back as Satan and the other fallen angels rebelling against God―which triggered a falling “domino-effect” of causes all through time, with Even and then Adam being the next “dominoes” to fall, then the envious and murderous Cain, and so on through all time up to our present day.
The immediate or proximate (meaning “closer to our time”) causes could be said to begin with the humanistic spirit that arose prior to the Renaissance Period () which was engendered during and brought a collapse to the Middle Ages, which were, relatively speaking, a period where Christianity reigned (hence called “Christendom”―as in the “Christ’s Kingdom”). This humanistic spirit was a subtle and implicit rebellion against the divine spirit of Christendom. It began to show more interest in the things of man, rather than the things of God―which gradually led to the glorification of man, which gradually replaced the glorification of God. The “aiders-and-abettors” of humanism were its “children” and “grandchildren” of Rationalism, Liberalism, Materialism, Hedonism (pleasure-seeking), Utilitarianism (judging things by their usefulness and not by their morality―hence, if it’s useful, it must be good), Socialism, Communism and the “latest-kid-on-the-block” which is Modernism (which Pope St. Pius X calls the “synthesis of all heresies” in the sense that it has all the “bad traits” and “bad habits” of all the “isms” that came before it.
The Confusing Mask of Modernism
The next three paragraphs―quotes from Pope St. Pius X―need to be read slowly and carefully. Why? Because we have all been dumbed-down and are comparatively very ignorant about things that were better understood 100 years ago. Let us blame the concepts used as being incomprehensible―let us instead blame ourselves for lacking comprehension. Someone learning to write or drive, writes and drives slowly―likewise, when starting to exercise our powers of thought, we need to go slowly at first, for the ideas will simply not penetrate, nor will they we grasped and understood if we go too quickly, or if we refuse to read and re-read and read once again what we at first find difficult. As the famous and popular saying goes: “Know your enemy!” We cannot fight Modernism unless we understand Modernism―and Modernism has been deliberately created to be incomprehensible, obscure, ambiguous, obtuse, etc. If you let your “dumbed-down” mind capitulate in face of Modernism’s deliberately difficult ideas, then your Faith will be the next to capitulate due to lack of understanding on how to fight Modernism. In a fight or flight, fight or flee situation―here we have to stand our ground and fight and not flee due to our ignorance. The initial pain of the intellectual difficulty, will lead to gain of intellectual muscle if we wrestle with the concepts. No pain, no gain! So read slowly, think carefully, read again and re-read if necessary. It will be similar to physical rehabilitation after a serious injury―except in this case, it is more of an intellectual rehabilitation after the serious injury of “intellectual paralysis” or an “intellectual stroke.”
Over 100 years ago, in 1907, Pope St. Pius X already fired a warning flare with his encyclical against Modernism, entitled Pascendi Domenici Gregis, in which he pointed out the confusion that Modernism generates: “Modernists place the foundation of religious philosophy in that doctrine which is usually called ‘Agnosticism’ (which is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable). According to this teaching human reason is confined entirely within the field of phenomena (a fact, occurrence, or circumstance that can be observed or is observable), that is to say, to things that are perceptible to the senses … it has no right and no power to transgress these limits. Hence it is incapable of lifting itself up to God, and of recognizing His existence, even by means of visible things. From this it is inferred that God can never be the direct object of science, and that, as regards history, He must not be considered as an historical subject … It is a fixed and established principle among them that both science and history must be atheistic: and within their boundaries there is room for nothing but phenomena; God and all that is divine are utterly excluded … Religion, whether natural or supernatural, must, like every other fact, admit of some explanation. But when Natural theology has been destroyed, the road to revelation closed through the rejection of the arguments of credibility, and all external revelation absolutely denied, it is clear that this explanation will be sought in vain outside man himself. It must, therefore, be looked for within man; and since religion is a form of life, the explanation must certainly be found within the life of man. Hence the principle of religious immanence is formulated. Moreover, the first actuation, so to say, of every vital phenomenon, and religion, as has been said, belongs to this category, is due to a certain necessity or impulsion; but it has its origin, speaking more particularly of life, in a movement of the heart, which movement is called a sentiment. Therefore, since God is the object of religion, we must conclude that faith, which is the basis and the foundation of all religion, consists in a sentiment which originates from a need of the divine ... This need of the divine, which man experiences within himself, grows up into a religion … Science and history, they say, are confined within two limits, the one external, namely, the visible world, the other internal, which is consciousness. When one or other of these boundaries has been reached, there can be no further progress, for beyond is the unknowable …
“Modernism finds in this sentiment [feeling], not only Faith, but with and in that Faith (as they understand ‘Faith’), they say, abides also revelation. For what more can one require for revelation? Is not that religious sentiment which is perceptible in the consciousness revelation, or at least the beginning of revelation? Nay, is not God Himself, as He manifests Himself to the soul, indistinctly it is true, in this same religious sense, revelation? … In that religious sentiment [feeling], God presents Himself to man, but in a manner so confused and indistinct that He can hardly be perceived by the believer. It is therefore necessary that a ray of light should be cast upon this religious sentiment [feeling], so that God may be clearly distinguished and set apart from it. This is the task of the intellect, whose office it is to reflect and to analyze, and transform into mental pictures the vital phenomena which arise within him, and then expresses them in words … and produces a work resembling that of a painter who restores and gives new life to a picture that has perished with age … If these [expressions of personal religious sentiment] finally receive the approval of the supreme magisterium of the Church, they then constitute dogma. Thus, We have reached one of the principal points in the Modernists' system, namely the origin and the nature of dogma … Hence it is quite impossible to maintain that they [dogmas] express absolute truth: for, in so far as they are symbols, they are the images of truth, and so must be adapted to the religious sentiment of man; and as instruments, they [dogmas] are the vehicles of truth, and must therefore, in their turn, be adapted to man in his relation to the religious sentiment ... He who believes, may pass through different phases. Consequently, dogmas must also be subject to these changes [of feelings and sentiments], and are, therefore, liable to change.
“Thus the way is open to the intrinsic evolution of dogma … Dogma is not only able, but ought to evolve and to be changed. This is strongly affirmed by the Modernists, and as clearly flows from their principles … Blind that they are, and leaders of the blind, inflated with a boastful science, they have reached that pitch of folly where they pervert the eternal concept of truth and the true nature of the religious sentiment; with that new system of theirs they are seen to be under the sway of a blind and unchecked passion for novelty, thinking not at all of finding some solid foundation of truth, but despising the holy and apostolic traditions, they embrace other vain, futile, uncertain doctrines, condemned by the Church, on which, in the height of their vanity, they think they can rest and maintain truth itself … The way is opened wide for atheism ... Given this doctrine of ‘experience’ united with the other doctrine of ‘symbolism’, every religion, even that of paganism, must be held to be true. For what is to prevent such ‘experiences’ from being found within every religion? In fact, because they are to be found, is claimed by not just a few. And with what right will Modernists deny the truth of an ‘experience’ affirmed by a follower of Islam? With what right can they claim true ‘experiences’ for Catholics alone? Indeed Modernists do not deny, but actually admit―some confusedly, others in the most open manner―that all religions are true. That they cannot feel otherwise is clear. For on what ground, according to their theories, could falsity be predicated of any religion whatsoever?” To read more of the encyclical, with come added explanations and commentary, click here.
Phew! Wow! Gasp!
Tough going, eh? Well, think of the raw-recruits at a US Marine “Boot-Camp”! They also find it “as tough as Hell” when they first start out―which is why the first week of “Boot Camp” is also called “Hell Week”!
What you have read above, of the quotes of Pope St. Pius X, are a mere fraction of his encyclical against Modernism―and the Pope makes no apologies for being “long-winded”, for he writes in the same encyclical: “It may be, Venerable Brethren, that some may think We have dwelt too long on this exposition of the doctrines of the Modernists. But it was necessary, both in order to refute their customary charge that We do not understand their ideas, and to show that their system does not consist in scattered and unconnected theories but in a perfectly organized body, of which all the parts are solidly joined so that it is not possible to admit one, without admitting all. Can anybody who takes a survey of the whole system be surprised that We should define it as the “synthesis of all heresies”? if someone were to attempt the task of collecting together all the errors, that have been broached against the Faith, and to concentrate the sap and substance of them all into one, then he could not better succeed than the Modernists have done. Nay, they have done more than this, for their system intends the destruction, not of the Catholic religion alone, but of all religion. With good reason do the rationalists applaud them, for the most sincere and the frankest among the rationalists warmly welcome the modernists as their most valuable allies.”
Let us try and simplify the above paragraphs―though understand this: that simplification risks losing some of the substance and runs the risk of misrepresentation of the original thought.
Writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Arthur Vermeersch describes modernism thus: “In general we may say that modernism aims at that radical transformation of human thought in relation to God, man, the world, and life, here and hereafter, which was prepared by Humanism and eighteenth-century philosophy, and solemnly promulgated at the French Revolution.” The movement was influenced by Protestant theologians and clergy, starting in the mid-19th century. Modernism attempts to reconcile Catholicism with modern culture; specifically an understanding of Scripture in light of scientific advances in archeology, philology, the historical-critical method and other new developments of the 19th and 20th centuries. Thus the authority of the Faith is no longer God, but science and all the other branches of knowledge.
In simplistic terms, what the Pope is saying that Modernists seek to change the manner in which we approach and understand our religion. Instead of taking God’s word on authority, they say that God is basically unknowable in anything and everything that cannot be observed or measured or understood by the five senses. We are certain of our own existence and actions and words―because they can be witnessed, recorded, observed, heard, seen, etc. Yet many if not most or even all of God’s actions cannot be witnessed, recorded, observed, heard, seen, etc. Therefore they are uncertain, though they may be true, there remains a doubt and an uncertainty over them―which is what Agnosticism professes. In place of this ‘uncertain’ God, let us place the certitude of man. Thus, say the Modernists, religion is something that certainly comes from inside of man, religion is born from the feeling of a need for the divine that germinates and grows within man. Religion is more of a feeling (sentiment) than a fact―and as feelings change all the time, religion can change also. This is where we find ourselves today―where man no longer changes his life to fit with the commandments of a God-given religion; but man, nowadays, changes the commandments of his “home-grown” religion to fit-in with his ever-changing feelings and ever-changing feelings (attitudes) of the world around him. At one time we may feel divorce, cohabitation, contraception, abortion, homosexuality, adultery, fornication, masturbation, pornography, euthanasia, etc. are wrong―but then feelings and attitudes change and so the morality of these things also changes from being evil to being good.
God Uncrowned―Man and Satan Enthroned
Whether you see it or not; admit it or not; like it or not―we are living in the age of the “Glorification of Man” and the “Dethronement of God”―which, in turn, will gradually lead to the “Enthronement of Satan.” The controversial and enigmatic Fr. Malachi Martin had first made reference to a diabolic rite held in Rome in his 1990 non-fiction best-seller about geopolitics and the Vatican, The Keys of This Blood, in which he wrote:
“Most frighteningly for [Pope] John Paul [II], he had come up against the irremovable presence of a malign strength in his own Vatican and in certain bishops’ chanceries. It was what knowledgeable Churchmen called the ‘superforce.’ Rumors, always difficult to verify, tied its installation to the beginning of Pope Paul VI’s reign in 1963. Indeed Paul had alluded somberly to ‘the smoke of Satan which has entered the Sanctuary’. . . an oblique reference to an enthronement ceremony by Satanists in the Vatican. Besides, the incidence of Satanic pedophilia—rites and practices— was already documented among certain bishops and priests as widely dispersed as Turin, in Italy, and South Carolina, in the United States. The cultic acts of Satanic pedophilia are considered by professionals to be the culmination of the Fallen Archangel’s rites” (Fr. Malachi Martin, The Keys of This Blood, p. 632).
He revealed much more about this alleged ritual in one of his last works, Windswept House: A Vatican Novel (1996). In this story, he vividly described a ceremony called “The Enthronement of the Fallen Archangel Lucifer” supposedly held in St. Paul’s Chapel in the Vatican, but linked with concurrent satanic rites here in the USA, on June 29th, 1963, barely a week after the election of Paul VI. “Suddenly it became unarguable that now during this papacy, the Roman Catholic organization carried a permanent presence of clerics who worshipped Satan and liked it; of bishops and priests who sodomized boys and each other; of nuns who performed the “Black Rites” of Wicca, and who lived in lesbian relationships . . . every day, including Sundays and Holy Days, acts of heresy and blasphemy and outrage and indifference were committed and permitted at holy Altars by men who had been called to be priests. Sacrilegious actions and rites were not only performed on Christ’s Altars, but had the connivance or at least the tacit permission of certain Cardinals, archbishops, and bishops. . . In total number they were a minority—anything from one to ten percent of Church personnel. But of that minority, many occupied astoundingly high positions or rank.... The facts that brought the Pope to a new level of suffering were mainly two: The systematic organizational links—the network, in other words that had been established between certain clerical homosexual groups and Satanist covens. And the inordinate power and influence of that network” (Fr. Malachi Martin, Windswept House: A Vatican Novel, pp. 492-3).
But … In the End …
Good triumphs in the end―but at what cost? What are the consequences and costs of our indifference, lukewarmness, worldliness, and lack of cooperation with Our Lady’s demands at her most recent apparitions? The damage would have been less if we would have done more and done it earlier! The invasion of evil within the Church could have been stopped or would have been limited if we would only have listened to and fulfilled Our Lady’s counsels, requests and demands. As Our Lady says, at Quito, La Salette, Fatima and Akita: “Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession ... Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!” (Combination of quotes from Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima and Akita).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Wednesday July 24th & Thursday July 25th
Article 12
Heaven a Haven of Sinners?
July is also the month of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Here are some links to help you learn of her and honor her.
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Article 12
Heaven a Haven of Sinners?
July is also the month of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Here are some links to help you learn of her and honor her.
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
What the Hell Are They Doing Here?
If you were to wander into Heaven, you might be forgiven for thinking of some of the people you would find there: “What the Hell are they doing here? How the Hell did they get into Heaven?” For those discouraged about achieving sanctity, there can be no better thing than to read and study the lives of the great sinners who became great saints. They are walking proof of the words of God in Holy Scripture, Who said: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18).
Around the time of Our Lord, we think of St. Mary Magdalen, who was possessed by seven devils and caught in adultery. Then there is St. Dismas, the Good Thief on the cross, who, by his sufferings and sorrow for sin, steals Heaven with his dying breath. There too, on Calvary, in the Roman legionary, St. Longinus, who pierces Our Lord’s heart with his spear, and ends up being pierced with sorrow in his own heart—finally converting, leaving the military and becoming a saint. Then there is St. Paul the persecutor and killer of Christians, who converts and becomes a pillar of the Faith and paying for his sins through a lifetime of suffering.
A little later in time, as the Church grows, we have St. Callixtus of Rome, who had a very sinful life before being taken under the wing of Victor I, a second century pope. He embezzled money and started a public riot, amongst other criminal affairs, but left that all behind early in the third century, when he reformed. Callixtus went on to become a pope himself, and died a martyr shortly thereafter, thereby sufficiently paying his debts for sin.
St. Mary of Egypt (c.344-c.421), at the age of 12, ran away from home to Alexandria, the most ‘exciting’ city in the Roman Empire. She became an accomplished seductress and prostitute, who took special pleasure in corrupting innocent young men. Once, on a whim, she joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. By the time the ship reached its destination, Mary had seduced the entire crew and all of the pilgrims. In Jerusalem she realized the enormity of her sins, when a supernatural force prevented her from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Filled with remorse, Mary sought the Mother of God’s intercession and made a good confession. In penance, Mary then spent the rest of her life as a hermit, alone in the Jordanian desert.
The beautiful, teenage St. Pelagia would have been every parent’s nightmare. As legend has it, she was a dancer and prostittue by her early teens. Pelagia’s conversion occurred all of a sudden, following a chance encounter with Saint Nonnus, the bishop of Edessa. The young girl was baptized, gave away her possessions to the poor and lived as a hermit for the rest of her life.
Another sinner turned saint was St. Olga (879-969). When a neighboring tribe assassinated her husband, St. Olga, princess of Kiev, went to war. Olga slaughtered her husband’s murderer and almost all of his people. In vengeance, she massacred virtually the entire tribe; the few who did survive she sold into slavery. Years later, while in Constantinople to make an alliance with the emperor, Olga visited a church and was in awe of the magnificence of the liturgy. She took instruction, was baptized and returned to Kiev as a Christian, zealous to convert her people. Olga tried to convert her people, but hardly anyone would listen to her―even her family rejected Christianity. Olga died believing that as a missionary, she was a failure. Yet, she planted a seed of Faith which flourished. Today, Catholic and Orthodox Christians of Russia and Ukraine hail her as “Equal to the Apostles.”
Heaven’s Surprise
I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash!
There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in Hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, “What’s the deal?
I would love to hear your take!”
“How’d all these sinners get up here?
God must’ve made a mistake!”
‘And why’s everyone so quiet, so somber?”
“Give me a clue!’
“My Friend,” He said, “They’re all in shock!”
“They never thought they’d be seeing you!”
Museum or Hospital?
As St. Augustine says: “The Church is not a museum of saints, but a hospital of sinners … There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future” (St. Augustine of Hippo, Doctor of the Church—sinners need a good doctor!).
Saints can seem remote and distant, close to God, but far from people. But they’re more like us than we give them credit for. Their lives were like ours, full of dilemmas and struggles, with bad choices as well as good. But their goodness won out in the end, as ours can. Interest in angels is quite popular at the moment, but it is the saints who are really like us in both their strengths and frailties. They came to Heaven’s Hospital wounded by sin, and they found a cure—sometimes a painful cure—in Christ’s care.
Sneaky Sinners Who Sneaked Into Heaven (or Who Changed and Became Saints)
► St. Dismas: Robber & Thief
St. Dismas isn’t a saint in the usual or strict sense—for he was never canonized by the Church—but rather a saint by local tradition instead. As the story goes, Dismas asked for Jesus Christ to remember him while he was being crucified next to him. A clue to his past lies in Dismas’ patronage, for he is the patron saint of reformed thieves.
► St. Callixtus: Thief & Embezzler
St. Callixtus of Rome lived a life of many sins before being taken under the wing of Victor I, a second century pope. Callixtus was a Roman slave whose petty theft and reckless investments resulted in being sentenced to forced labor in the mines of Sardinia. He embezzled money and started a public riot, amongst other criminal affairs, but left that all behind early in the third century when he reformed.
Released from the mines by a general pardon, he returned to Rome where Pope St. Victor I gradually brought him to repentance. . He was ordained a priest, served as administrator of one of the catacombs, and ultimately Callixtus went on to become a pope himself, but died a martyr shortly thereafter. His Roman catacombs can be toured today.
► St. Hippolytus: Heretic & First Antipope
Hippolytus was an arrogant, unforgiving man who believed that Christians guilty of mortal sin should be expelled from the Church and never readmitted. In his pride, Hippolytus permitted his followers to elect him as the Church’s first anti-pope. Inspired by the true pope’s holiness, Hippolytus eventually repented of his own sin and was reconciled to the Catholic Church.
► St. Mary of Egypt: Seductress & Whore
At age 12 Mary (344-421) ran away from home to Alexandria, the most exciting city in the Roman Empire. She became an accomplished seductress, who took special pleasure in corrupting innocent young men. Mary was an expert seductress who ensnared any man who caught her eye. Once, on a whim, she joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. By the time the ship reached its destination, Mary had seduced the entire crew and all of the pilgrims. She traveled to Jerusalem where a supernatural force prevented her from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. In Jerusalem she realized the enormity of her sins Filled with remorse, Mary sought the Mother of God’s intercession and made a good confession. In penance, Mary lived out her conversion as a hermit, alone in the Jordanian desert.
► St. Moses the Black: Cut-throat & Gang Leader
Moses was chief of a violent gang of bandits. Fleeing from law enforcement, he took refuge in a monastery. Moses was inspired by the monk’s example and converted. He took a vow never to raise his hand against another human being, even in self-defense. After years of overcoming temptation, Moses was killed by Berber raiders.
► St. Pelagia: Dancer & Courtesan
The beautiful, teenage Saint Pelagia would have been every parent’s nightmare. As legend has it, she was a dancer and courtesan (prostitute) by her early teens. Pelagia’s conversion occurred all of a sudden, following a chance encounter with Saint Nonnus, the bishop of Edessa. The young girl was baptized, gave away her possessions to the poor and lived as a hermit for the rest of her life.
► St. Olga: Murderess
When a neighboring tribe assassinated her husband, Olga (c.879-969), princess of Kiev, went to war. Olga slaughtered her husband’s murderer and she massacred virtually the entire tribe; the few who did survive, she sold into slavery.
Years later, while in Constantinople, to make an alliance with the emperor, Olga visited a church, encountered the splendor and beauty of Christianity and was in awe of the magnificence of the liturgy. She took instruction, was baptized and returned to Kiev, zealous to convert her people. Olga tried very hard to convert her people, but hardly anyone would listen to her. Even her family rejected Christianity.
Olga died believing that as a missionary, she was a failure. Yet, she planted a seed of Faith which flourished. Today, Catholic and Orthodox Christians of Russia and Ukraine hail her as “Equal to the Apostles.”
► St. Vladimir: Murderer and Rapist
Olga’s grandson Vladimir (956-1015) became prince of Kiev by murdering his older half-brother. Then he raped his sister-in-law and added her to his harem of several hundred women.
He built a new temple to all the gods; and sacrificed a father and his son to the false gods. When the emperor at Constantinople sought his help in putting down a rebellion, Vladimir demanded as his reward the emperor’s sister as his wife (actually, the unhappy woman would be Vladimir’s eighth wife). The emperor countered that Vladimir must convert to Christianity. In order to marry the emperor’s sister, Vladimir accepted Christian baptism.
Everyone suspected that once he was back in Kiev, Vladimir would return to his old ways, but the grace of baptism changed him. His zeal for the Faith knew no limits and his efforts helped spread Christianity across Russia and Ukraine. He dismissed his extra wives and his harem, tore down the pagan temple, and launched a vigorous campaign to convert his people. The Faith his grandmother, Olga (see above) planted flourished under Vladimir.
► St. Margaret of Cortona: Rich Man’s Mistress
Margaret was only twelve when she became Arsenio’s mistress. After years of cohabitation, she realized her sins when she discovered Arsenio’s murdered corpse. Full of the grace of conversion and determined to start a new life, she went to Cortona where the Franciscans ministered to penitent sinners. There, Margaret pursued a life of prayer, penance, and good works.
► St. Angela of Foligno: Worldly and Flirtatious
Angela was beautiful, wealthy, and vain. As a rich man’s wife she wallowed in luxury. Her passions were expensive clothes and flashy jewels, extravagant meals and rare wines. She dressed and acted in ways that would provoke envy among women and sexual desire among men.
When she was not indulging herself, she spent hours gossiping with her friends and maligning her neighbors. In her autobiography Angela discloses that in 1285 she did something so bad that for the first time in her life she began to live in fear of Hell. Her biographers speculate that Angela committed adultery, and given the intensity of her guilt and shame that seems likely.
Near despair, she prayed to St. Francis of Assisi to help her. As Angela prayed the saint appeared to her. “Sister,” St. Francis said, “if you would have asked me sooner I would have complied with your request sooner. Nonetheless, your request is granted.” That same day Angela offered a sincere confession to a priest.
As she stepped from the shadowy interior of the church into the bright sunlight of the piazza, Angela resolved to begin a new life. She sold her fine clothes and jewels to relieve the suffering of Foligno’s poor. After the death of her husband, she gave away all her wealth, associated herself with the Franciscans, and with a handful of other holy women dedicated herself to tending the poor and the sick.
Blessed Angela’s life teaches us a timeless lesson about our weakness and God’s mercy. All that he requires is that we repent and make a sincere effort to do better in the future.
► St. Thomas Becket: Rich and Cruel
As chancellor of England under Henry II, Thomas Becket (1118-1170) became obscenely wealthy. His wardrobe was larger and more expensive than the king’s. He even had his own private navy. In spite of all his wealth, Becket was cold-hearted and never gave anything to the poor. All that changed after Becket was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury. He gave away all his possessions. He welcomed the poor at his table. And he became a champion of the independence of the Church, for which he was murdered in his own cathedral by four of King Henry’s knights.
► St. Philip Howard: Playboy and Gambler
Son of one of the wealthiest noble families in England, Philip Howard (1557-1595) could afford any pleasure he liked — and he liked them all. At court he was a notorious playboy, gambler and fop. He ran up enormous debts, then sold off his wife’s property to settle them. On one occasion he said publicly that he did not really consider himself to be married. In 1581, he joined other members of the court at the Tower of London, to see a debate between several Anglican ministers and a prisoner, the Jesuit priest, St. Edmund Campion. Although the ministers were armed with books and assistants, Father Campion was alone and had only his memory to rely on, yet he did so well in the debate, that the government canceled the debate before a verdict could be given. Inspired by Father Campion, Howard reconciled with his wife, and they both returned to the Catholic Faith. When they tried to leave the country secretly for the Continent of Europe, where they could practice Catholicism freely, they were stopped and Howard was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He died there 10 years later.
► St. Camillus of Lellis: Drinker, Gambler & Whore-Lover
Camillus de Lellis was born in Italy in the middle of the 16th century. A hot-tempered, troublesome child, he joined the army when he was 16, though his aggressive behavior only grew after that. Camillus was a mercenary soldier with all the worst habits— drinking, gambling, swearing, chasing prostitutes. Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor.
These sinners got to Heaven, but they had to make themselves acceptable first! Who knows how much time they may have spent in Purgatory in addition to having suffered for their sins after conversion. With God nothing is impossible—unless we stubbornly resist and reject His graces that move us to change!
Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor.
These sinners got to Heaven, but they had to make themselves acceptable first! Who knows how much time they may have spent in Purgatory in addition to having suffered for their sins after conversion. With God nothing is impossible—unless we stubbornly resist and reject His graces that move us to change!
You’d Better Believe It and Want It!
Let it be said and let it be understood and let it be believed and let it be desired: God expects you to be a saint and Our Lady will help you be a saint! Don’t question it and don’t doubt it! It is not, as you may think, an act of pride to want and expect to be a saint—it is an act of insanity not to do so! What’s the alternative to not wanting to and actually becoming a saint in this life? It is either Hell or Purgatory! Either way, it is insanity! Why pay a thousand times more or pay eternally for what could have been bought at a fraction of the effort and pain here below? You are expected to be a saint. Are you a sinner? You can be a saint! Are you depressed and discourages by your sins? You must become a saint! Only saints go to Heaven!
Even the Saints Were Worldly and Sinful
This does not mean that it is acceptable to be worldly and sinful, but it is an encouragement for us—for if they were once worldly and sinful like we are, then we can also be as saintly as they were! Not just can be, but MUST be! The problem is that most people say that if the saints were worldly, then we can be and remain worldly! This is the blindness of the worldly and the lukewarm, who twist truth to make excuses for their tepidity and sinfulness.
There have been many saints who were sinners, but that does not mean we have a license to sin. The saints have been punished for their sins—make no mistake about that! Ponder these words of the Sacred Heart spoken to St. Margaret Mary: “I cannot bear tepid and cowardly souls, and, if I am gentle in bearing with thy weakness, I shall not be less severe and exact in correcting and punishing thy infidelities!”
All the Apostles suffered intensely after Our Lord ascended into Heaven—they were all martyred, except St. John, though they tried to boil him alive! St. Paul, for persecuting Christians, suffered greatly afterwards—Our Lord had forewarned this: “For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake” (Acts 9:16).
If we want to imitate the saints in sin, then we must also take on board their sufferings for sin! Read the lives of those saints or soon to be canonized saints: Mary Magdalen, Dismas the Thief, Augustine of Hippo, Hippolytus, Callixtus, Camillus, Moses the Black, Mary of Egypt, Olga of Kiev, Vladimir of Kiev, Margaret of Cortona, Angela of Foligno, Pelagia, Thomas Becket, Philip Howard, John of God, Matthew Talbot and many others. If we want to sin as they did, are we prepared to pay the price that they paid?
It’s the First Step That Counts―the First Step is Always the Hardest
Mary Magdalen shows the path and steps to Heaven that are possible for all sinners―humility, repentance, contrition, compunction, renouncement of all worldly thing, a great love of God and penance. If Mary Magdalen was possessed by seven devils, then these are the seven steps back to God. Yet, as they say, “The first step is the hardest!” Why so? Because the first step is that of humility―which is the exact opposite of what led us into sin and what keeps us in sin―which is, of course, PRIDE. The spiritual writers tell us that pride is the last thing to collapse in the spiritual warfare we must all wage in our quest for Heaven.
Once we, through our pride, have turned away from God and walked off the narrow path that leads to Heaven, in preference for the broad, wide, easy, gratifying road that leads to sin and Hell―then, in order to make an “about-face” or a “U-Turn” back towards God, we must first “swallow our pride” and “eat some humble-pie.” The proud person will be full of excuses and finger-pointing―the humble person will have no excuses and will point the finger at himself. That―in this proud and boastful world―is very hard to do. Yet there can be no conversion without humility―just as there is no sin that is not based on pride.
► STEP 1―HUMILITY: What do we have that we have not received from God? Nothing―except our own sins! The only “self-made” work, the only “I did it by myself!” product, the only “man-made or made by me” thing that we can boast of is sin. And what a production-line we have! What a massive output we produce! Our factory of sin produces more sins that we can handle! “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights!” (James 1:17). “For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). “What glory is it committing sin?” (1 Peter 2:20). “Let us humble our souls before Him, and continuing in an humble spirit, in His service!” (Judith 8:16). “The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God … Humble thyself to God” (Ecclesiasticus 3:20; 12:19). Our Lord Himself says: “Learn of Me, because I am meek, and humble of heart―and you shall find rest to your souls!” (Matthew 11:29). Our Lord further shows the opposing fruits of pride and humility in the following parable:
“And to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, Jesus spoke also this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men! Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner!” I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalts himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbles himself, shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
Another parable further illustrates the power of and the need for humility: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father: ‘Father, give me the portion of substance that falleth to me!’ And he divided unto them his substance. And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country: and there wasted his substance, living riotously. And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him. And returning to himself, he said: ‘How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger? I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee! I am not worthy to be called thy son! Make me as one of thy hired servants!”’ And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee! I am not now worthy to be called thy son!’ And the father said to his servants: ‘Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet! And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry! Because this my son was dead, and is come to life again―was lost, and is found!’ And they began to be merry” (Luke 15:11-24).
Without that first step of humility and a humble recognition that, ultimately, it is YOU that is blameworthy and guilty of sin, then nothing can happen. Humility has to be the spark, the first step, the digging deep in the soil (“humus”) of self to find and remove the rocks, roots and weeds of sin.
► STEP 2―REPENTANCE: The parable of the Prodigal Son shows us how humiliations lead to humility and also how that humility should lead to repentance: “The younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country: and there wasted his substance, living riotously. And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him [one humiliation after another]. And returning to himself [the humiliations take effect], he said: ‘How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger? I will arise, and will go to my father [humility sprouts], and say to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee! I am not worthy to be called thy son! [humility leads to repentance] Make me as one of thy hired servants!’” Repentance is a humble acknowledgment or admission that we have done wrong, that we wish that we had not done that wrong. It is the precursor of contrition. It needs contrition to perfect it. Remember that Judas ‘repented’ but without contrition.
► STEP 3―CONTRITION: Interior repentance has been called by theologians “contrition”. It is defined explicitly by the Council of Trent (Sess. XIV, ch. iv de Contritione): “a sorrow of soul and a hatred of sin committed, with a firm purpose of not sinning in the future”. The word contrition itself in a moral sense is not of frequent occurrence in Scripture (cf. Psalm 50:19). Etymologically it implies a breaking of something that has become hardened. St. Thomas Aquinas explains its particular use: “Since it is requisite for the remission of sin that a man cast away entirely the liking for sin which implies a sort of continuity and solidity in his mind, the act which obtains forgiveness is termed by a figure of speech ‘contrition’“ (In Lib. Sent. IV, dist. xvii; cf. Supplem. III, Q. i, a. 1). This sorrow of soul is not merely intellectual or speculative sorrow for the wrong that has been done, nor is it a mere remorse of conscience, or simply a resolve to amend; it is a real pain and bitterness of soul together with a hatred and horror for sin committed; and this hatred for sin leads to the resolve to sin no more. The early Christian writers in speaking of the nature of contrition sometimes insist on the feeling of sorrow, sometimes on the detestation of the wrong committed (St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom). Nearly all the medieval theologians hold that contrition is based principally on the detestation of sin. This detestation presupposes a knowledge of the heinousness of sin, and this knowledge begets sorrow and pain of soul. “A sin is committed by the consent, so it is blotted out by the dissent of the rational will; hence contrition is essentially sorrow. But it should be noted that sorrow has a twofold signification--dissent of the will and the consequent feeling; the former is of the essence of contrition, the latter is its effect” (St. Bonaventure).
► STEP 4―COMPUNCTION: Very simply stated, compunction is an abiding sorrow for sin, a permanent sorrow for one’s past sins, that thereby keeps contrition ‘alive’ and thus guarantees and perfects both our repentance and our humility. Tradition tells us that the cheeks of St. Peter were ‘furrowed’ by the ever present tears he shed over his past failings and betrayal of Christ. It is said that after his conversion, Saint Ignatius of Loyola could not stop weeping. He shed tears all the time. This is so much the case that only through the gift of tears do we really understand the spiritual exercises that he proposed. Saint Teresa of Ávila also recommends this way of tears. In them is found a mysterious consolation that only God’s presence can give. For great mystics like Saint Teresa of Ávila or Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the heart-piercing awareness of the Lord’s presence that they sought by faith often caused them to weep — both exteriorly and interiorly. Compunction, in fact, means to be pierced to the heart. These tears, whether physical or spiritual, make the virtues of our spiritual life grow and flourish. Teresa of Ávila described this kind of devotion as water for the flower garden of our hearts, the place where Christian virtues are meant to flourish.
Compunction is like a perpetual reminder or “pricking” of conscience associated with some sinful act. Give yourself to this compunction of heart. Make a firm decision of amendment, say an act of contrition or simply tell God in your own words your understanding of the wrongness of your action. Yes, we must trust in God’s mercy but we must temper our trust with fear of God’s judgment. It is often related to this generation how previous generations focused far too much on God’s fearful judgment, instilling the fear of Hell as a means to teach and instruct others to strive for virtue. It would seem, that in these present modern times, the pendulum has swung to an over-emphasis on God’s mercy. Yes, Our Lord is merciful, but He is equally just. This equates to a balance that is oft missing in our understanding of sin and our way of living. If we trust in God’s mercy―to the point that we blindly believe we can do anything, even the worst of sins and He’ll just happily invite us to Heaven after death―then this is a grave misunderstanding of God. If we follow our hearts blindly and without proper formation according to God’s ways ― ignoring the pricking action of compunction―we run a grave risk of joining the many who enter upon the wide road that leads to destruction and Hell. Thomas à Kempis, in his book The Imitation of Christ, has a whole chapter dedicated to compunction―and is well worth the read. Here are just a few extracts:
“If thou wouldst make any progress, keep thyself in the fear of God, and be not too free; curb all thy senses under discipline, and give not thyself up to foolish mirth. Give thyself to compunction of heart, and thou shalt find devotion. Compunction opens the way to much good, which dissipation tends to lose quickly ... Through levity of heart and neglect of our defects we feel not the sorrows of the soul; and we often vainly laugh when in all reason we should weep ... Happy is the man that can cast away all the hindrance of distraction, and recollect himself in the unity of holy compunction ... If thou canst let men alone, they will let thee alone to do whatever thou hast to do. Busy not thyself in matters which belong to others; and entangle not thyself in the affairs of the great. Have always an eye upon thyself in the first place, and admonish thyself preferably to all thy dearest friends ... Oftentimes it is better and safer for a man not to have many consolations in this life, especially such as are according to the flesh. Still, that we have not Divine comfort is our own fault, because we seek not compunction of heart, and do not wholly renounce vain and outward satisfactions. Know that thou art unworthy of heavenly consolation, but rather deservest much tribulation. When a man hath perfect compunction, then the whole world is to him burdensome and distasteful. A good man findeth abundant matter for sorrow and tears ... And the more strictly he doth consider himself, the greater is his sorrow. The subjects of just sorrow and interior compunction are our sins and vices, in which we are so enrapt, that we are seldom able to fix our mind on heavenly things ... Didst thou also well ponder in thy heart the future pains of Hell or Purgatory, methinks thou wouldst bear willingly labor and sorrow, and fear no kind of austerity. But because these things reach not the heart, and we still love flattering pleasure, therefore we remain cold and very slothful ... Pray, therefore, humbly to the Lord, to give unto thee the spirit of compunction; and say with the Prophet: ‘Feed me, O Lord, with, the food of tears, and give me to drink the tears in measure!’” (Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 21: “Of Compunction Of Heart”). Some translations use the words “sorrow of heart” for the word compunction.
► STEP 5―RENOUNCEMENT OF ALL WORDLY THINGS: The world is the devil’s princedom―he is the ruler of the world with his spirit of worldliness. Worldliness begets sinfulness and sinfulness leads to Hell. This is why Our Lord and Holy Scripture are so brutal in their condemnation of the world and worldliness―warning us of the dire consequences for dallying with and befriending the world. That is our problem―we do not want to detach ourselves from the world―we want both the world and Heaven, which is tantamount to saying that we want to friends with both the devil and God!
“The devil took Him [Jesus] up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written, “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”‘ Then the devil left Him” (Matthew 4:8-11).
Our Lord Himself tells us: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
This is why Holy Scripture adds: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Go now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are moth-eaten! Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
Which is why St. Paul says what we ought to say: “God forbid that I should glory in anything, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14).
► STEP 6―GREAT LOVE OF GOD: Make no mistake about it―God should be the greatest love in your life! God should be the primary love of your life! If you have little love for God, then you have little chance of salvation―because salvation means the forgiveness of all our sins, and Jesus said of Mary Magdalen: “Many sins are forgiven her, for she has loved MUCH” (Luke 7:47). For some crazy reason, we willingly and readily dispense ourselves from the supreme Commandment of God―as three of the four Evangelists testify: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment! And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these!” (Mark 12:30-31) … “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbour as thyself!” (Luke 10:27). “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets!’” (Matthew 2:37-40).
Jesus later adds: ““If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10).
Can’t be any clearer than that, huh? Yet it is equally clear that most souls refuse to love God in this manner―that is why most souls are lost! “This people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me [and say they love Me], but their heart is far from Me!” (Isaias 29:13). “‘Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth [loveth] Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me’” (Mark 7:6). “Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-8).
► STEP 7―PENANCE: The ultimate proof of love is suffering and not mere words: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)―and what better friend do we have than Our Lord Jesus Christ? But, as Our Lord says: ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14). What does Our Lord command? Well, besides the carrying of the cross and the keeping of the commandments, Our Lord commands that we do penance for the times we have not carried the cross and have not kept the commandments! “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:5). However, in place of penance, we want pleasure―and most of our life is an endless pursuit of more and more penance! It will not end well!
At Lourdes, Our Lady emphatically stated three times: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” At Fatima, Our Lady came asking for many penances and sacrifices: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Our Lady of Fatima, August 1917). Alas, rather than pray very much, we play very much!
These are the Seven Steps (an purely arbitrary number) that will help us correct our ways, change our direction, and head for Heaven―so that one day, like all the other aforementioned great sinners, we might scrape into eternal bliss and shock everyone else who is there!
Heaven’s Surprise
I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash!
There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in Hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, “What’s the deal?
I would love to hear your take!”
“How’d all these sinners get up here?
God must’ve made a mistake!”
‘And why’s everyone so quiet, so somber?”
“Give me a clue!’
“My Friend,” He said, “They’re all in shock!”
“They never thought they’d be seeing you!”
If you were to wander into Heaven, you might be forgiven for thinking of some of the people you would find there: “What the Hell are they doing here? How the Hell did they get into Heaven?” For those discouraged about achieving sanctity, there can be no better thing than to read and study the lives of the great sinners who became great saints. They are walking proof of the words of God in Holy Scripture, Who said: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18).
Around the time of Our Lord, we think of St. Mary Magdalen, who was possessed by seven devils and caught in adultery. Then there is St. Dismas, the Good Thief on the cross, who, by his sufferings and sorrow for sin, steals Heaven with his dying breath. There too, on Calvary, in the Roman legionary, St. Longinus, who pierces Our Lord’s heart with his spear, and ends up being pierced with sorrow in his own heart—finally converting, leaving the military and becoming a saint. Then there is St. Paul the persecutor and killer of Christians, who converts and becomes a pillar of the Faith and paying for his sins through a lifetime of suffering.
A little later in time, as the Church grows, we have St. Callixtus of Rome, who had a very sinful life before being taken under the wing of Victor I, a second century pope. He embezzled money and started a public riot, amongst other criminal affairs, but left that all behind early in the third century, when he reformed. Callixtus went on to become a pope himself, and died a martyr shortly thereafter, thereby sufficiently paying his debts for sin.
St. Mary of Egypt (c.344-c.421), at the age of 12, ran away from home to Alexandria, the most ‘exciting’ city in the Roman Empire. She became an accomplished seductress and prostitute, who took special pleasure in corrupting innocent young men. Once, on a whim, she joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. By the time the ship reached its destination, Mary had seduced the entire crew and all of the pilgrims. In Jerusalem she realized the enormity of her sins, when a supernatural force prevented her from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Filled with remorse, Mary sought the Mother of God’s intercession and made a good confession. In penance, Mary then spent the rest of her life as a hermit, alone in the Jordanian desert.
The beautiful, teenage St. Pelagia would have been every parent’s nightmare. As legend has it, she was a dancer and prostittue by her early teens. Pelagia’s conversion occurred all of a sudden, following a chance encounter with Saint Nonnus, the bishop of Edessa. The young girl was baptized, gave away her possessions to the poor and lived as a hermit for the rest of her life.
Another sinner turned saint was St. Olga (879-969). When a neighboring tribe assassinated her husband, St. Olga, princess of Kiev, went to war. Olga slaughtered her husband’s murderer and almost all of his people. In vengeance, she massacred virtually the entire tribe; the few who did survive she sold into slavery. Years later, while in Constantinople to make an alliance with the emperor, Olga visited a church and was in awe of the magnificence of the liturgy. She took instruction, was baptized and returned to Kiev as a Christian, zealous to convert her people. Olga tried to convert her people, but hardly anyone would listen to her―even her family rejected Christianity. Olga died believing that as a missionary, she was a failure. Yet, she planted a seed of Faith which flourished. Today, Catholic and Orthodox Christians of Russia and Ukraine hail her as “Equal to the Apostles.”
Heaven’s Surprise
I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash!
There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in Hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, “What’s the deal?
I would love to hear your take!”
“How’d all these sinners get up here?
God must’ve made a mistake!”
‘And why’s everyone so quiet, so somber?”
“Give me a clue!’
“My Friend,” He said, “They’re all in shock!”
“They never thought they’d be seeing you!”
Museum or Hospital?
As St. Augustine says: “The Church is not a museum of saints, but a hospital of sinners … There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future” (St. Augustine of Hippo, Doctor of the Church—sinners need a good doctor!).
Saints can seem remote and distant, close to God, but far from people. But they’re more like us than we give them credit for. Their lives were like ours, full of dilemmas and struggles, with bad choices as well as good. But their goodness won out in the end, as ours can. Interest in angels is quite popular at the moment, but it is the saints who are really like us in both their strengths and frailties. They came to Heaven’s Hospital wounded by sin, and they found a cure—sometimes a painful cure—in Christ’s care.
Sneaky Sinners Who Sneaked Into Heaven (or Who Changed and Became Saints)
► St. Dismas: Robber & Thief
St. Dismas isn’t a saint in the usual or strict sense—for he was never canonized by the Church—but rather a saint by local tradition instead. As the story goes, Dismas asked for Jesus Christ to remember him while he was being crucified next to him. A clue to his past lies in Dismas’ patronage, for he is the patron saint of reformed thieves.
► St. Callixtus: Thief & Embezzler
St. Callixtus of Rome lived a life of many sins before being taken under the wing of Victor I, a second century pope. Callixtus was a Roman slave whose petty theft and reckless investments resulted in being sentenced to forced labor in the mines of Sardinia. He embezzled money and started a public riot, amongst other criminal affairs, but left that all behind early in the third century when he reformed.
Released from the mines by a general pardon, he returned to Rome where Pope St. Victor I gradually brought him to repentance. . He was ordained a priest, served as administrator of one of the catacombs, and ultimately Callixtus went on to become a pope himself, but died a martyr shortly thereafter. His Roman catacombs can be toured today.
► St. Hippolytus: Heretic & First Antipope
Hippolytus was an arrogant, unforgiving man who believed that Christians guilty of mortal sin should be expelled from the Church and never readmitted. In his pride, Hippolytus permitted his followers to elect him as the Church’s first anti-pope. Inspired by the true pope’s holiness, Hippolytus eventually repented of his own sin and was reconciled to the Catholic Church.
► St. Mary of Egypt: Seductress & Whore
At age 12 Mary (344-421) ran away from home to Alexandria, the most exciting city in the Roman Empire. She became an accomplished seductress, who took special pleasure in corrupting innocent young men. Mary was an expert seductress who ensnared any man who caught her eye. Once, on a whim, she joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. By the time the ship reached its destination, Mary had seduced the entire crew and all of the pilgrims. She traveled to Jerusalem where a supernatural force prevented her from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. In Jerusalem she realized the enormity of her sins Filled with remorse, Mary sought the Mother of God’s intercession and made a good confession. In penance, Mary lived out her conversion as a hermit, alone in the Jordanian desert.
► St. Moses the Black: Cut-throat & Gang Leader
Moses was chief of a violent gang of bandits. Fleeing from law enforcement, he took refuge in a monastery. Moses was inspired by the monk’s example and converted. He took a vow never to raise his hand against another human being, even in self-defense. After years of overcoming temptation, Moses was killed by Berber raiders.
► St. Pelagia: Dancer & Courtesan
The beautiful, teenage Saint Pelagia would have been every parent’s nightmare. As legend has it, she was a dancer and courtesan (prostitute) by her early teens. Pelagia’s conversion occurred all of a sudden, following a chance encounter with Saint Nonnus, the bishop of Edessa. The young girl was baptized, gave away her possessions to the poor and lived as a hermit for the rest of her life.
► St. Olga: Murderess
When a neighboring tribe assassinated her husband, Olga (c.879-969), princess of Kiev, went to war. Olga slaughtered her husband’s murderer and she massacred virtually the entire tribe; the few who did survive, she sold into slavery.
Years later, while in Constantinople, to make an alliance with the emperor, Olga visited a church, encountered the splendor and beauty of Christianity and was in awe of the magnificence of the liturgy. She took instruction, was baptized and returned to Kiev, zealous to convert her people. Olga tried very hard to convert her people, but hardly anyone would listen to her. Even her family rejected Christianity.
Olga died believing that as a missionary, she was a failure. Yet, she planted a seed of Faith which flourished. Today, Catholic and Orthodox Christians of Russia and Ukraine hail her as “Equal to the Apostles.”
► St. Vladimir: Murderer and Rapist
Olga’s grandson Vladimir (956-1015) became prince of Kiev by murdering his older half-brother. Then he raped his sister-in-law and added her to his harem of several hundred women.
He built a new temple to all the gods; and sacrificed a father and his son to the false gods. When the emperor at Constantinople sought his help in putting down a rebellion, Vladimir demanded as his reward the emperor’s sister as his wife (actually, the unhappy woman would be Vladimir’s eighth wife). The emperor countered that Vladimir must convert to Christianity. In order to marry the emperor’s sister, Vladimir accepted Christian baptism.
Everyone suspected that once he was back in Kiev, Vladimir would return to his old ways, but the grace of baptism changed him. His zeal for the Faith knew no limits and his efforts helped spread Christianity across Russia and Ukraine. He dismissed his extra wives and his harem, tore down the pagan temple, and launched a vigorous campaign to convert his people. The Faith his grandmother, Olga (see above) planted flourished under Vladimir.
► St. Margaret of Cortona: Rich Man’s Mistress
Margaret was only twelve when she became Arsenio’s mistress. After years of cohabitation, she realized her sins when she discovered Arsenio’s murdered corpse. Full of the grace of conversion and determined to start a new life, she went to Cortona where the Franciscans ministered to penitent sinners. There, Margaret pursued a life of prayer, penance, and good works.
► St. Angela of Foligno: Worldly and Flirtatious
Angela was beautiful, wealthy, and vain. As a rich man’s wife she wallowed in luxury. Her passions were expensive clothes and flashy jewels, extravagant meals and rare wines. She dressed and acted in ways that would provoke envy among women and sexual desire among men.
When she was not indulging herself, she spent hours gossiping with her friends and maligning her neighbors. In her autobiography Angela discloses that in 1285 she did something so bad that for the first time in her life she began to live in fear of Hell. Her biographers speculate that Angela committed adultery, and given the intensity of her guilt and shame that seems likely.
Near despair, she prayed to St. Francis of Assisi to help her. As Angela prayed the saint appeared to her. “Sister,” St. Francis said, “if you would have asked me sooner I would have complied with your request sooner. Nonetheless, your request is granted.” That same day Angela offered a sincere confession to a priest.
As she stepped from the shadowy interior of the church into the bright sunlight of the piazza, Angela resolved to begin a new life. She sold her fine clothes and jewels to relieve the suffering of Foligno’s poor. After the death of her husband, she gave away all her wealth, associated herself with the Franciscans, and with a handful of other holy women dedicated herself to tending the poor and the sick.
Blessed Angela’s life teaches us a timeless lesson about our weakness and God’s mercy. All that he requires is that we repent and make a sincere effort to do better in the future.
► St. Thomas Becket: Rich and Cruel
As chancellor of England under Henry II, Thomas Becket (1118-1170) became obscenely wealthy. His wardrobe was larger and more expensive than the king’s. He even had his own private navy. In spite of all his wealth, Becket was cold-hearted and never gave anything to the poor. All that changed after Becket was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury. He gave away all his possessions. He welcomed the poor at his table. And he became a champion of the independence of the Church, for which he was murdered in his own cathedral by four of King Henry’s knights.
► St. Philip Howard: Playboy and Gambler
Son of one of the wealthiest noble families in England, Philip Howard (1557-1595) could afford any pleasure he liked — and he liked them all. At court he was a notorious playboy, gambler and fop. He ran up enormous debts, then sold off his wife’s property to settle them. On one occasion he said publicly that he did not really consider himself to be married. In 1581, he joined other members of the court at the Tower of London, to see a debate between several Anglican ministers and a prisoner, the Jesuit priest, St. Edmund Campion. Although the ministers were armed with books and assistants, Father Campion was alone and had only his memory to rely on, yet he did so well in the debate, that the government canceled the debate before a verdict could be given. Inspired by Father Campion, Howard reconciled with his wife, and they both returned to the Catholic Faith. When they tried to leave the country secretly for the Continent of Europe, where they could practice Catholicism freely, they were stopped and Howard was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He died there 10 years later.
► St. Camillus of Lellis: Drinker, Gambler & Whore-Lover
Camillus de Lellis was born in Italy in the middle of the 16th century. A hot-tempered, troublesome child, he joined the army when he was 16, though his aggressive behavior only grew after that. Camillus was a mercenary soldier with all the worst habits— drinking, gambling, swearing, chasing prostitutes. Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor.
These sinners got to Heaven, but they had to make themselves acceptable first! Who knows how much time they may have spent in Purgatory in addition to having suffered for their sins after conversion. With God nothing is impossible—unless we stubbornly resist and reject His graces that move us to change!
Years of sinful acts followed before his wholehearted reform in 1575. When his father called for a priest on his deathbed, Camillus began to rethink his life. Guided by St. Philip Neri, his spiritual director, Camillus turned away from sin, dedicated himself to the sick, and formed a religious congregation for nursing the poor.
These sinners got to Heaven, but they had to make themselves acceptable first! Who knows how much time they may have spent in Purgatory in addition to having suffered for their sins after conversion. With God nothing is impossible—unless we stubbornly resist and reject His graces that move us to change!
You’d Better Believe It and Want It!
Let it be said and let it be understood and let it be believed and let it be desired: God expects you to be a saint and Our Lady will help you be a saint! Don’t question it and don’t doubt it! It is not, as you may think, an act of pride to want and expect to be a saint—it is an act of insanity not to do so! What’s the alternative to not wanting to and actually becoming a saint in this life? It is either Hell or Purgatory! Either way, it is insanity! Why pay a thousand times more or pay eternally for what could have been bought at a fraction of the effort and pain here below? You are expected to be a saint. Are you a sinner? You can be a saint! Are you depressed and discourages by your sins? You must become a saint! Only saints go to Heaven!
Even the Saints Were Worldly and Sinful
This does not mean that it is acceptable to be worldly and sinful, but it is an encouragement for us—for if they were once worldly and sinful like we are, then we can also be as saintly as they were! Not just can be, but MUST be! The problem is that most people say that if the saints were worldly, then we can be and remain worldly! This is the blindness of the worldly and the lukewarm, who twist truth to make excuses for their tepidity and sinfulness.
There have been many saints who were sinners, but that does not mean we have a license to sin. The saints have been punished for their sins—make no mistake about that! Ponder these words of the Sacred Heart spoken to St. Margaret Mary: “I cannot bear tepid and cowardly souls, and, if I am gentle in bearing with thy weakness, I shall not be less severe and exact in correcting and punishing thy infidelities!”
All the Apostles suffered intensely after Our Lord ascended into Heaven—they were all martyred, except St. John, though they tried to boil him alive! St. Paul, for persecuting Christians, suffered greatly afterwards—Our Lord had forewarned this: “For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake” (Acts 9:16).
If we want to imitate the saints in sin, then we must also take on board their sufferings for sin! Read the lives of those saints or soon to be canonized saints: Mary Magdalen, Dismas the Thief, Augustine of Hippo, Hippolytus, Callixtus, Camillus, Moses the Black, Mary of Egypt, Olga of Kiev, Vladimir of Kiev, Margaret of Cortona, Angela of Foligno, Pelagia, Thomas Becket, Philip Howard, John of God, Matthew Talbot and many others. If we want to sin as they did, are we prepared to pay the price that they paid?
It’s the First Step That Counts―the First Step is Always the Hardest
Mary Magdalen shows the path and steps to Heaven that are possible for all sinners―humility, repentance, contrition, compunction, renouncement of all worldly thing, a great love of God and penance. If Mary Magdalen was possessed by seven devils, then these are the seven steps back to God. Yet, as they say, “The first step is the hardest!” Why so? Because the first step is that of humility―which is the exact opposite of what led us into sin and what keeps us in sin―which is, of course, PRIDE. The spiritual writers tell us that pride is the last thing to collapse in the spiritual warfare we must all wage in our quest for Heaven.
Once we, through our pride, have turned away from God and walked off the narrow path that leads to Heaven, in preference for the broad, wide, easy, gratifying road that leads to sin and Hell―then, in order to make an “about-face” or a “U-Turn” back towards God, we must first “swallow our pride” and “eat some humble-pie.” The proud person will be full of excuses and finger-pointing―the humble person will have no excuses and will point the finger at himself. That―in this proud and boastful world―is very hard to do. Yet there can be no conversion without humility―just as there is no sin that is not based on pride.
► STEP 1―HUMILITY: What do we have that we have not received from God? Nothing―except our own sins! The only “self-made” work, the only “I did it by myself!” product, the only “man-made or made by me” thing that we can boast of is sin. And what a production-line we have! What a massive output we produce! Our factory of sin produces more sins that we can handle! “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights!” (James 1:17). “For who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). “What glory is it committing sin?” (1 Peter 2:20). “Let us humble our souls before Him, and continuing in an humble spirit, in His service!” (Judith 8:16). “The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God … Humble thyself to God” (Ecclesiasticus 3:20; 12:19). Our Lord Himself says: “Learn of Me, because I am meek, and humble of heart―and you shall find rest to your souls!” (Matthew 11:29). Our Lord further shows the opposing fruits of pride and humility in the following parable:
“And to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others, Jesus spoke also this parable: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men! Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican! I fast twice in a week! I give tithes of all that I possess!” And the Publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards Heaven; but struck his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner!” I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because everyone that exalts himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbles himself, shall be exalted!’” (Luke 18:9-14).
Another parable further illustrates the power of and the need for humility: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father: ‘Father, give me the portion of substance that falleth to me!’ And he divided unto them his substance. And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country: and there wasted his substance, living riotously. And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him. And returning to himself, he said: ‘How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger? I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee! I am not worthy to be called thy son! Make me as one of thy hired servants!”’ And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee! I am not now worthy to be called thy son!’ And the father said to his servants: ‘Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet! And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry! Because this my son was dead, and is come to life again―was lost, and is found!’ And they began to be merry” (Luke 15:11-24).
Without that first step of humility and a humble recognition that, ultimately, it is YOU that is blameworthy and guilty of sin, then nothing can happen. Humility has to be the spark, the first step, the digging deep in the soil (“humus”) of self to find and remove the rocks, roots and weeds of sin.
► STEP 2―REPENTANCE: The parable of the Prodigal Son shows us how humiliations lead to humility and also how that humility should lead to repentance: “The younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country: and there wasted his substance, living riotously. And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him [one humiliation after another]. And returning to himself [the humiliations take effect], he said: ‘How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger? I will arise, and will go to my father [humility sprouts], and say to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee! I am not worthy to be called thy son! [humility leads to repentance] Make me as one of thy hired servants!’” Repentance is a humble acknowledgment or admission that we have done wrong, that we wish that we had not done that wrong. It is the precursor of contrition. It needs contrition to perfect it. Remember that Judas ‘repented’ but without contrition.
► STEP 3―CONTRITION: Interior repentance has been called by theologians “contrition”. It is defined explicitly by the Council of Trent (Sess. XIV, ch. iv de Contritione): “a sorrow of soul and a hatred of sin committed, with a firm purpose of not sinning in the future”. The word contrition itself in a moral sense is not of frequent occurrence in Scripture (cf. Psalm 50:19). Etymologically it implies a breaking of something that has become hardened. St. Thomas Aquinas explains its particular use: “Since it is requisite for the remission of sin that a man cast away entirely the liking for sin which implies a sort of continuity and solidity in his mind, the act which obtains forgiveness is termed by a figure of speech ‘contrition’“ (In Lib. Sent. IV, dist. xvii; cf. Supplem. III, Q. i, a. 1). This sorrow of soul is not merely intellectual or speculative sorrow for the wrong that has been done, nor is it a mere remorse of conscience, or simply a resolve to amend; it is a real pain and bitterness of soul together with a hatred and horror for sin committed; and this hatred for sin leads to the resolve to sin no more. The early Christian writers in speaking of the nature of contrition sometimes insist on the feeling of sorrow, sometimes on the detestation of the wrong committed (St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom). Nearly all the medieval theologians hold that contrition is based principally on the detestation of sin. This detestation presupposes a knowledge of the heinousness of sin, and this knowledge begets sorrow and pain of soul. “A sin is committed by the consent, so it is blotted out by the dissent of the rational will; hence contrition is essentially sorrow. But it should be noted that sorrow has a twofold signification--dissent of the will and the consequent feeling; the former is of the essence of contrition, the latter is its effect” (St. Bonaventure).
► STEP 4―COMPUNCTION: Very simply stated, compunction is an abiding sorrow for sin, a permanent sorrow for one’s past sins, that thereby keeps contrition ‘alive’ and thus guarantees and perfects both our repentance and our humility. Tradition tells us that the cheeks of St. Peter were ‘furrowed’ by the ever present tears he shed over his past failings and betrayal of Christ. It is said that after his conversion, Saint Ignatius of Loyola could not stop weeping. He shed tears all the time. This is so much the case that only through the gift of tears do we really understand the spiritual exercises that he proposed. Saint Teresa of Ávila also recommends this way of tears. In them is found a mysterious consolation that only God’s presence can give. For great mystics like Saint Teresa of Ávila or Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the heart-piercing awareness of the Lord’s presence that they sought by faith often caused them to weep — both exteriorly and interiorly. Compunction, in fact, means to be pierced to the heart. These tears, whether physical or spiritual, make the virtues of our spiritual life grow and flourish. Teresa of Ávila described this kind of devotion as water for the flower garden of our hearts, the place where Christian virtues are meant to flourish.
Compunction is like a perpetual reminder or “pricking” of conscience associated with some sinful act. Give yourself to this compunction of heart. Make a firm decision of amendment, say an act of contrition or simply tell God in your own words your understanding of the wrongness of your action. Yes, we must trust in God’s mercy but we must temper our trust with fear of God’s judgment. It is often related to this generation how previous generations focused far too much on God’s fearful judgment, instilling the fear of Hell as a means to teach and instruct others to strive for virtue. It would seem, that in these present modern times, the pendulum has swung to an over-emphasis on God’s mercy. Yes, Our Lord is merciful, but He is equally just. This equates to a balance that is oft missing in our understanding of sin and our way of living. If we trust in God’s mercy―to the point that we blindly believe we can do anything, even the worst of sins and He’ll just happily invite us to Heaven after death―then this is a grave misunderstanding of God. If we follow our hearts blindly and without proper formation according to God’s ways ― ignoring the pricking action of compunction―we run a grave risk of joining the many who enter upon the wide road that leads to destruction and Hell. Thomas à Kempis, in his book The Imitation of Christ, has a whole chapter dedicated to compunction―and is well worth the read. Here are just a few extracts:
“If thou wouldst make any progress, keep thyself in the fear of God, and be not too free; curb all thy senses under discipline, and give not thyself up to foolish mirth. Give thyself to compunction of heart, and thou shalt find devotion. Compunction opens the way to much good, which dissipation tends to lose quickly ... Through levity of heart and neglect of our defects we feel not the sorrows of the soul; and we often vainly laugh when in all reason we should weep ... Happy is the man that can cast away all the hindrance of distraction, and recollect himself in the unity of holy compunction ... If thou canst let men alone, they will let thee alone to do whatever thou hast to do. Busy not thyself in matters which belong to others; and entangle not thyself in the affairs of the great. Have always an eye upon thyself in the first place, and admonish thyself preferably to all thy dearest friends ... Oftentimes it is better and safer for a man not to have many consolations in this life, especially such as are according to the flesh. Still, that we have not Divine comfort is our own fault, because we seek not compunction of heart, and do not wholly renounce vain and outward satisfactions. Know that thou art unworthy of heavenly consolation, but rather deservest much tribulation. When a man hath perfect compunction, then the whole world is to him burdensome and distasteful. A good man findeth abundant matter for sorrow and tears ... And the more strictly he doth consider himself, the greater is his sorrow. The subjects of just sorrow and interior compunction are our sins and vices, in which we are so enrapt, that we are seldom able to fix our mind on heavenly things ... Didst thou also well ponder in thy heart the future pains of Hell or Purgatory, methinks thou wouldst bear willingly labor and sorrow, and fear no kind of austerity. But because these things reach not the heart, and we still love flattering pleasure, therefore we remain cold and very slothful ... Pray, therefore, humbly to the Lord, to give unto thee the spirit of compunction; and say with the Prophet: ‘Feed me, O Lord, with, the food of tears, and give me to drink the tears in measure!’” (Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 21: “Of Compunction Of Heart”). Some translations use the words “sorrow of heart” for the word compunction.
► STEP 5―RENOUNCEMENT OF ALL WORDLY THINGS: The world is the devil’s princedom―he is the ruler of the world with his spirit of worldliness. Worldliness begets sinfulness and sinfulness leads to Hell. This is why Our Lord and Holy Scripture are so brutal in their condemnation of the world and worldliness―warning us of the dire consequences for dallying with and befriending the world. That is our problem―we do not want to detach ourselves from the world―we want both the world and Heaven, which is tantamount to saying that we want to friends with both the devil and God!
“The devil took Him [Jesus] up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written, “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”‘ Then the devil left Him” (Matthew 4:8-11).
Our Lord Himself tells us: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
This is why Holy Scripture adds: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Go now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are moth-eaten! Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
Which is why St. Paul says what we ought to say: “God forbid that I should glory in anything, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!” (Galatians 6:14).
► STEP 6―GREAT LOVE OF GOD: Make no mistake about it―God should be the greatest love in your life! God should be the primary love of your life! If you have little love for God, then you have little chance of salvation―because salvation means the forgiveness of all our sins, and Jesus said of Mary Magdalen: “Many sins are forgiven her, for she has loved MUCH” (Luke 7:47). For some crazy reason, we willingly and readily dispense ourselves from the supreme Commandment of God―as three of the four Evangelists testify: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment! And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these!” (Mark 12:30-31) … “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbour as thyself!” (Luke 10:27). “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets!’” (Matthew 2:37-40).
Jesus later adds: ““If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10).
Can’t be any clearer than that, huh? Yet it is equally clear that most souls refuse to love God in this manner―that is why most souls are lost! “This people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me [and say they love Me], but their heart is far from Me!” (Isaias 29:13). “‘Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth [loveth] Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me’” (Mark 7:6). “Well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men!’” (Matthew 15:7-8).
► STEP 7―PENANCE: The ultimate proof of love is suffering and not mere words: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)―and what better friend do we have than Our Lord Jesus Christ? But, as Our Lord says: ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14). What does Our Lord command? Well, besides the carrying of the cross and the keeping of the commandments, Our Lord commands that we do penance for the times we have not carried the cross and have not kept the commandments! “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:5). However, in place of penance, we want pleasure―and most of our life is an endless pursuit of more and more penance! It will not end well!
At Lourdes, Our Lady emphatically stated three times: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” At Fatima, Our Lady came asking for many penances and sacrifices: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Our Lady of Fatima, August 1917). Alas, rather than pray very much, we play very much!
These are the Seven Steps (an purely arbitrary number) that will help us correct our ways, change our direction, and head for Heaven―so that one day, like all the other aforementioned great sinners, we might scrape into eternal bliss and shock everyone else who is there!
Heaven’s Surprise
I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash!
There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in Hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, “What’s the deal?
I would love to hear your take!”
“How’d all these sinners get up here?
God must’ve made a mistake!”
‘And why’s everyone so quiet, so somber?”
“Give me a clue!’
“My Friend,” He said, “They’re all in shock!”
“They never thought they’d be seeing you!”
DOUBLE DAY ARTILCE : Monday July 22nd Feast of St. Mary Magdalen & Tuesday July 23rd
Article 11
Can You Relate to Mary Magdalen?
July is also the month of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Here are some links to help you learn of her and honor her.
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Article 11
Can You Relate to Mary Magdalen?
July is also the month of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Here are some links to help you learn of her and honor her.
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
The Sinner’s Saint
There are very few names of saints that immediately evoke the notion of “sinner” once their name is mentioned―Mary Magdalen is one of those saints. Even the word “Magdalen” (or as some spell it “Magdalene”) has now a place in all dictionaries as meaning: “a reformed prostitute” and “a home for reformed prostitutes.” There are a few saints who are likely to evoke the idea of “sinner”―such as St. Dismas the Good Thief; St. Paul of Tarsus; St. Augustine of Hippo; St. Pelagia; St. Mary of Egypt and others―but nobody comes anywhere near the worldwide awareness that surrounds St. Mary Magdalen. We know far more about the misdeeds of the other sinners, than we know about Mary Magdalen, and yet, somehow, she seems to come “top of the charts” with regard to sinners who repented and became great saints.
For a more in-depth look at Mary Magdalen’s life you can read about her on another page [click here] ― this article will instead focus not so much on her life, but in our relation to her and her life. For never has the world been as impure as it is today―whether in thought, word or deed―and never has the world been more under the influence of the devil by the progressive and deepening means of (1) temptation; (2) infestation; (3) oppression; (4) obsession; and (5) possession. The latter―possession―is rare, but it is on the increase. Why mention this? Well, if you recall, Mary Magdalen was possessed by seven devils―as Holy Scripture reports: “But He [Jesus], rising early the first day of the week, appeared first to Mary Magdalen, out of whom he had cast seven devils” (Mark 16:9) … “And certain women, who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities; Mary who is called Magdalen, out of whom seven devils were gone forth” (Luke 8:2).
The Saint for Our Days
There is no shock or disbelieve among Catholics when told that impurity in all its many forms―thoughts, words, actions, magazines, books, images, websites, movies, television, etc. ― is a ubiquitous iniquitous sin: it has penetrated almost everywhere. Yet few Americans noticed that in the last few U.S. censuses, witchcraft had become the fourth largest religion in the United States. As shocking as that may be, Satanism has become just as popular. So says Zachary King, one of the most renowned former Satanists, who converted to the Catholic Church, in an interview he gave to Crusade Magazine.
Mary Magdalen was both impure and possessed―thus, more than anyone else, she is, loosely speaking, the saint for our present day―having overcome both problems. She was worldly, she was materialistic, she was impure―her life was filled with all the allurements that the prince of this world, the devil, could offer at that time―so immersed was she in sin and wantonness, that she was possessed by seven devils. Pope St. Gregory the Great says: “And what is typified by seven devils, if not all the vices? For since all time is counted by periods of seven days, by the number seven, completeness is rightly represented. Mary then had seven devils, because she was full of all the vices.”
A Sinner’s Saint Giving Hope to Sinners
No doubt there are people living today who are worse that Mary Magdalen―yet the fact that Mary Magdalen became a saint, gives every one of us great hope! It is said in Holy Scripture: “Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). He loved her before she converted―otherwise she could not have converted, for as Jesus says elsewhere: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). It is because He loved her (not her sins, but her soul which He had created), that He delivered her from the seven devils: “Mary Magdalen, out of whom He had cast seven devils” (Mark 16:9). He loved her after her conversion and deliverance. He loved her before she even loved Him. He loved her while she still implicitly hated Him. What great compassion! What great charity! What great mercy!--and to a great sinner! “At what, then, do we marvel, my brethren? That Mary came, or that the Lord received her? “Received her,” shall I say, or not rather, “drew her?” But it is better to say: “both drew her and received her.” For, in His mercy, He drew her inwardly, and, in His meekness, He received her outwardly” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, Homily 33 on the Gospels).
What Holy Scripture says, can be applied to Mary Magdalen, as well as to ourselves: “And you, when you were dead in your offences, and sins, wherein, in time past, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now worketh on the children of unbelief―in which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ, by Whose grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus. That He might show, in the ages to come, the abundant riches of His grace, in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you are saved through Faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God!” (Ephesians 2:1-8).
Our relationship with God, here below, rests upon the three theological virtues―Faith, Hope and Charity. In this incident with Mary Magdalen, we see all three combine together to create this beautiful scene and wonderful result. Here we see that many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. Yet that love followed on the heels of Mary’s Faith (in knowing who Jesus was and what He was capable of doing) and Mary’s Hope (whereby she had confidence that Jesus might use His power to show her mercy). In the Scripture account an effect sometimes seems attributed to one only cause, when there are divers other concurring dispositions; for the sins of this woman, in this verse, are said to be forgiven ”because she hath loved much”, but Christ also tells her: ”Thy Faith hath made thee safe.” Here “Faith” can be seen in a twofold way: “Faith” in the form of belief in Christ’s Power and “Faith” in the form of confidence that He will use that power upon her. She would not have entered the banquet if she had no belief that Our Lord could grant her what she wanted and if she had not hope of receiving what she wanted from Jesus. Hence in a true conversion, as we see in this case, there are joined together Faith, Hope, Love, sorrow for sin, and other virtuous dispositions.
Lost Something? Lost the Sense of Sin!
The problem with modern Catholics is that they are one-sided―and usually sugar-coated. As one pope after another, since Pope Pius XII (1937-1958) has lamented―Catholics have lost the sense of sin: “The greatest sin today is that men have lost the sense of sin.” (Pope Pius XII).
Since the fall of Adam and Eve, human nature has been wounded. The consequence of Original Sin is a weak mind, a weak will and powerful passions. In such an environment, if healing and strengthening grace is not sought and used, then sin becomes pretty easy and pretty sweet. At first, of course, sin is bitter—much like certain bitter foods and drinks that we have all experienced; but, if repeatedly tasted and drunk, then the soul starts to get used to that bitterness, and, strangely enough, that bitterness starts to seem less bitter and more sweet. For bitter food and drink, we say it is “an acquired taste”; and similarly, over time, we can acquire a taste for the bitterness of sin. For some it becomes ‘sweet’, for others only ‘bitter-sweet’, but as with chronic illness, you get so used to its presence that you almost don’t feel the illness or the pain anymore.
Of course, as with the gradual introduction to bitter or spicy foods, it happens little by little; hardly any bitterness or spice is added at first, then it is gradually increased in proportion to the person’s tolerance of it. This is how the devil and world (and we ourselves, sadly) approaches what we could call “sin-exposure.” Start out with getting the soul to tolerate teeny-weeny, hardly-a-sin-at-all, venial sins; and then, once resistance is overcome and toleration replaces it, gradually “turn up the heat”, but only ever so gently!
“It’s only a Venial Sin!”
This is why the spiritual masters warn us strongly against venial sin, and scold those who have the idiotic attitude of saying: “Aw, it’s only a venial sin, for goodness sakes! I won’t go to Hell for that!” Every mortal sinner has passed by paths of venial sin―sugar-coated venial sin―a sugar-coating with a very bitter center! The spiritual masters point out that venial sin is a gradually weakening of the spiritual immune system, and this sets-up the soul for ever more frequent and serious venial sins, till, at last, the teeniest-weeniest mortal sin no longer looks, feels and tastes like a mortal sin at all, but seems to be a serious venial sin, and no more!
The Price of Sin
“The Son of man is come to save that which was lost!” (Matthew 18:11). How will He save? He will save in two ways, or in a way that consists of two parts.
Firstly, “the Son of man is come to save that which was lost” (Matthew 18:11) by paying the price of sin by being tortured and killed for our sins-—“the wages [or price] of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and “by the offence of one [the Original Sin of Adam], many died” (Romans 5:15) and “Christ also died for our sins” (1 Peter 3:18) in order to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21), “Who His own Self bore our sins in His body upon the tree: that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice: and by Whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24)—and to open to us the possibility of also reaching Heaven. This shows us that death is the price of sin. Adam and Eve were sentenced to death because of one sin-—“Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death” (Genesis 2:16-17). Eve ate and gave to Adam to ear and so “from the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). That death sentence applies to all human beings for all time. “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:4). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
Secondly, “the Son of man is come to save that which was lost” by calling us to co-pay for our sins, by doing penance for sin. Sin is not an inconsequential ‘freebie’ that we can commit with impunity and without consequences. You sin. You pay—or, more precisely, you co-pay. You don’t want to co-pay, then you don’t go to Heaven. Even the precursor of Jesus—St. John the Baptist—laid down the foundations for penance, saying: “In those days cometh John the Baptist, preaching in the desert of Judea, and saying: ‘Do penance: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! … Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:1-2, 8). When Our Lord appeared, He would confirm this, saying: “I came to call sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ … Then He began to rebuke the cities wherein were done the most of His miracles, because they had not done penance, saying: ‘Woe to thee, Corozain! Woe to thee, Bethsaida! For if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes! … No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!’” (Matthew 4:17; 11:20-21; Luke 13:3). Christ would die for our sins, but He still demands that we co-pay with Him. If we don’t and won’t, then we “shall all likewise perish!”
Jesus and Mary Magdalen―Justice and Mercy—Punishment and Compassion
There is beautiful verse from the Psalms that deserves much reflection and meditation: “Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed” (Psalm 84:11). Justice and Mercy go hand-in-hand with God. There is never a time when He puts aside His justice, and never a time when He does not show His mercy. We could say that they are the flip sides of the same coin. Even those souls who have been sent to Hell by His justice, still feel His mercy in Hell, where nobody is punished as much as they deserve to be punished. As a side note: the whole idea of Hell seems to be a grave injustice to modern men, who, according to the Pope Pius XII, have lost all sense of sin: “The greatest sin today is that men have lost the sense of sin.” Therefore , for them, there should only be one side to the coin—the side of mercy, or even mercy on both sides of the coin!
But let us get back to the phrase “Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed” (Psalm 84:11). We all want mercy because we all need mercy-—“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8), “For all have sinned, and do need the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). God will give us His grace to leave sin behind-—“Where sin abounded, grace did more abound” (Romans 5:20)—and God prefers to show more of His mercy, than His justice. But woe to them that abuse the mercy of God and presumptuously abuse it—“Add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5).
Even though Christ pleaded with His Father for forgiveness for those who were crucifying Him—“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34)—nevertheless, even though the Father might perhaps have forgiven them, Jerusalem was still punished and razed to the ground. Over a million men, women, children and babies were slaughtered by the Romans in 70 AD—as Jesus had foretold.
When the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus―and some of the Fathers of the Church think that this woman was Mary Magdalen―to see what Jesus would say and do, He told them: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” (John 8:7). They reluctantly and sheepishly withdrew and went away. Our Lord said to the woman: “Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee? Who said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more!” (John 8:10-11). In the Old Testament it says: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18)―that is what Jesus puts into practice here―but take note of the command: “Go, and now sin no more!”
A similar mercy and comment was given to the man whom Our Lord healed by the pool—who had been sick for 38 years: “Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the Temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14). Which is echoed by the Old Testament verse: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5)―which is exactly what Mary Magdalen did―she continually wept for her sins and sought to pay for them.
If we were TRULY contrite for our sins, then our sentiments would be like those found in Holy Scripture: “Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 50:4) … “that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer” (Romans 6:6).
Modern man is not fearful about past forgiven sins and readily adds sin upon sin, as he passes in and out of the confessional like a revolving door! “And they added yet more sin against Him: they provoked the most High to wrath!” (Psalm 77:17). “For if we sin willfully, after having the knowledge of the truth, there is left no sacrifice for sins, only a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume the sinner. [In the Old Testament we see that] a man making void the law of Moses, dieth without any mercy under two or three witnesses! How much more, do you think he deserveth worse punishments, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the blood of the testament worthless, and hath offered an affront to the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said: Vengeance belongeth to me, and I will repay. And again: The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!” (Hebrews 10:20-31).
If We Refuse To Pay, God Will Make Us Pay
The Book of Leviticus gives us a clear picture of God’s attitude to sin and a lack of contrition and penance. Some may say that this the old-fashioned God of the Old Testament, but God never changes-—“with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17)―and His attitude is always the same. The reason why some generations and people are punished more and others less, is down to the degree of sorrow they have for sin and the penance they do for their sins. In the Book of Leviticus, God covers both scenarios—what He will do if we obey Him, and what He will do if we disobey Him.
“I am the Lord your God: you shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing … Keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord. If you walk in My precepts and keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you [and then God proceeds to list the many blessings He will give to those who obey Him] ... But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise my laws, and contemn my judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by me, and to make void my covenant, then I will also do these things to you …
“I will quickly visit you with poverty … You shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you … I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness … I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins … I will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant ... I will send the pestilence in the midst of you … I will go against you with fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins … You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My Soul shall abhor you … I will bring your cities to be a wilderness … and I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it … and I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed … You shall perish among the Gentiles … And if anyone remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own sins―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed against Me and walked contrary unto Me! … Then shall they pray for their sins and I will remember My covenant [here mercy is shown after justice] … But they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be totally consumed, and I should make void my covenant with them ... I will remember My former covenant. I am the Lord!” (Leviticus 26:11-45).
JAM in Everyone’s Life
Be assured that everyone’s life in a JAM situation. There is nothing but JAM—and never will be otherwise. Of course, we speak of justice and mercy—JAM! That is how God will act with all of us—except that at times there will be more justice than mercy, and, at other times, more mercy than justice. It all depends upon how much we are co-operating and how much we are co-paying. The following passage alludes to this:
“My children, know ye that no one has hoped in the Lord and has been confounded. For who has continued in His commandments, and has been forsaken? Or who has called upon Him, and He despised him? For God is compassionate and merciful, and will forgive sins in the day of tribulation: and He is a protector to all that seek Him in truth. Woe to them that are of a double heart and to wicked lips, and to the hands that do evil, and to the sinner that goes on the Earth two ways. Woe to them that are fainthearted, who believe not God: and therefore they shall not be protected by Him. Woe to them that have lost patience, and that have forsaken the right ways, and have gone aside into crooked ways. And what will they do, when the Lord shall begin to examine? They that fear the Lord, will not be incredulous to His word: and they that love Him, will keep His way. They that fear the Lord, will seek after the things that are well pleasing to Him: and they that love Him, shall be filled with His law. They that fear the Lord, will prepare their hearts, and in his sight will sanctify their souls. They that fear the Lord, keep his Commandments, and will have patience even until his visitation, saying: ‘If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men!’ For according to His greatness, so also is His mercy with Him!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:11-23).
How To Get Out Of A JAM
Nobody likes the justice part of the JAM, but we all love and desire the mercy part. How do we get more of the mercy and less of the justice? By doing penance of our own accord—rather than waiting for God to step-in and inflict penances on us because we are not paying on time or in any way at all. It is similar to, or a microcosm of the macrocosm of Purgatory—a foretaste if you like. Why do souls end up in the horrendous and torturous fires of Purgatory? They end up there because they neglected to do penance on Earth. Likewise, even while we are still living on Earth, if we neglect to do penance of our own volition or choosing, then God will inflict far heavier penances on us, already here below.
The Need For Penance
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book The Spiritual Life, writes: “Penance is, after prayer, the most effective means for cleansing the soul of past faults and even for guarding it against future ones … We can, by penance, atone for our faults ... For the sinner, penance is an act of justice; for having offended God and violated God’s rights, he is bound to make reparation for the outrage. This he does through penance … It is admitted on all hands that no one can afford at any time to put out of his life the spirit of penance … The purification of the soul, through the practice of penance and mortification, should never cease … Through penance our first parents regained grace … The firm determination to atone for sin and to reform our lives will follow: (1) to atone by acts of penance, which we take care to impose upon ourselves in order to deaden in us the love of pleasure, the source of bur sins; (2) to reform our lives by determining the means we shall employ, in order to lessen the number of our faults ...
“Among Beginners in the spiritual life, there are those who have a heavy burden of sin to expiate; others there are who never lost their baptismal innocence. It is evident, all things being equal in other respects, that the former must undergo a longer course of penance than the latter … Beginners must be on their guard against relapses and, in order to avoid them, they must undergo a long and rigorous penance in proportion to the number and gravity of their faults. Some of them, soon forgetting their past, want to enter forthwith into the path of love ... To love God is, indeed, an excellent thing, but that we do not attain to a pure and effective love, except trough self-abnegation and penance … Such presumption [to love without doing penance] is frequently followed by a withdrawal of sensible consolations, by discouragement and fresh falls. Others give themselves without discretion to bodily mortifications, take therein a vain complacency, impair their health, and then, under pretense of taking proper care of it, fall into a state of relaxation … They have little realized the need of frequent prayer, of rigorous penance, or mortification … Thus beginners must, assuredly, exercise themselves especially in the virtue of penance …
“Mortification assumes different names according to the point of view from which we consider it. It is called ‘penance’ when it prompts us to atone for our past faults; it is ‘mortification’, properly so called, when it sets upon the love of pleasure, in order to reduce the number of faults in the present and obviate their recurrence in the future; it is called ‘warfare against the capital sins’, when it combats those deep-rooted tendencies that incline us toward sin, and ‘warfare against temptation’, when, practiced by way of resistance to the onslaughts of our spiritual enemies.
“It will be easy and practical to propose Jesus as the model for true penitents; Jesus condemning Himself to a life of poverty; of obedience and of toil that He might be unto us an example; Jesus, doing penance for us in the desert, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in His cruel passion; Jesus dying for us upon the Cross” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life).
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, in his Three Ages of the Interior Life, writes: “Since penance is necessary to every Christian, how can the necessity of mortification be denied? Such a denial would be an utter disregard of the gravity of sin and its consequences. He who is opposed to mortification comes, little by little, to drink of iniquity as if it were water; he reaches the point where he calls what is often truly venial sin, an imperfection; and what is a mortal sin, a human weakness ... The Blessed Virgin declared at Lourdes: ‘Pray and do penance!’ … In a spirit of penance, we must mortify ourselves to expiate past sin, that has already been forgiven, and to help us avoid sin in the future. The virtue of penance leads us, in fact, not only to hatred of sin, as an offense against God, but, still more, to reparation. For this last, to stop sinning is not sufficient; a satisfaction must be offered to divine justice, for every sin merits a punishment …
“We may cite the case of St. Catherine of Genoa, who from the age of thirteen was drawn by God to prayer and made great progress in it; after five years of suffering, she abandoned the interior life, and for the next five years led a completely exterior life. However, one day when, on the advice of her sister, she was going to confession, she experienced with anguish the profound void in her soul; the desire of God revived in her. In an instant she was taken back by God in the strongest, most imperious manner and, after fourteen years of great penance, she received assurance that she had fully satisfied divine justice.
“On the other hand, some authors have insisted on the exercise of the virtue of penance, on the interior and exterior acts of worship and those of fraternal charity, to the point of not recognizing in a sufficiently practical way the superiority of the love of God … The eyes that gaze openly upon divine things are those employed in the loving and penetrating contemplation of revealed mysteries, a contemplation superior to the exterior practices of penance and also to simple study. It is the contemplation which, together with profound love of God and neighbor, should be the soul of the apostolate” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Mary Magdalen's Life of Love and Penance
Yes―we all know that Jesus said of Mary Magdalen: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47)―but Mary did not, on that account, excuse herself from doing penance. If it is true that Mary loved much, then it is equally true that love knows no limits. Mary’s love for Christ overflowed into a love of penance.
Tradition tells us that at one point, after the ascension of Our Lord into Heaven, the Christians were cruelly persecuted, and the Jews were determined to no longer suffer the brother of St. Magdalen, Lazarus, living in Jerusalem, because he was a living testimony to the divinity of Christ―having been raised from the dead by Christ. Hence they placed him, his two sisters, Magdalen and Martha, a servant of theirs, named Marcella, and Maximin, one of the 72 disciples of Christ, in a boat, without rudder, sail, or boatman, took them far from the land into the high sea, and left them, being quite certain that the waves would soon swallow the boat and all its occupants. But God led them safely to France, and they landed at Marseilles amid a crowd of heathens who had come to the shore.
This miraculous voyage prepared the hearts of the heathen inhabitants to receive the true Faith. Lazarus, who had been consecrated bishop by the Apostles, made his episcopal See in the same city where they had landed. Maximin, as priest, chose the city of Aix as his residence. Martha slowly gathered a great many women around her, and having instructed them in the Christian Faith, led a retired, pious, almost a religious life with them, while Magdalen converted a great many by her teachings and her holy life.
In the course of time, however, she retired into a desert, far from any habitations of men, and made her abode in the dark cavern of a mountain. There she dwelt during 30 years, leading a most severe life, occupied in praying, contemplating the divine mysteries, and the bitter Passion and death of our Savior. She repented daily, with floods of tears, of the iniquities of her former days, although she had heard from the lips of Christ that they were forgiven. In one word, her life was much more that of an angel, than that of a human being.
Hence we may well believe, what many relate of her, that she was frequently visited by angels, who provided her with food and even raised her into Heaven at times, to hear the seraphic choir sing the praises of the Most High. Before her death, she was carried by two spirits of light into a little church two miles from her dwelling, where, having received from the hands of St. Maximin the Bread of the angels, she, soon afterwards, gave her soul into the keeping of Him Whom she had so fervently loved while upon Earth.
The cavern in the mountain where the great penitent so long dwelt, as well as the little church which contains her relics, arc renowned for the many miracles wrought there. The most illustrious, however, was the Saint herself, who from so great a sinner became so great a penitent and so fervent a lover of Christ. The holy fathers can hardly find words of praise enough, not only for her heroic conversion, but also for her generous, faithful, and fervent love towards her Savior. And who can sufficiently admire the austere penance, lasting for 30 years, which she underwent in the cavern, although she knew that her sins were entirely forgiven?
There are very few names of saints that immediately evoke the notion of “sinner” once their name is mentioned―Mary Magdalen is one of those saints. Even the word “Magdalen” (or as some spell it “Magdalene”) has now a place in all dictionaries as meaning: “a reformed prostitute” and “a home for reformed prostitutes.” There are a few saints who are likely to evoke the idea of “sinner”―such as St. Dismas the Good Thief; St. Paul of Tarsus; St. Augustine of Hippo; St. Pelagia; St. Mary of Egypt and others―but nobody comes anywhere near the worldwide awareness that surrounds St. Mary Magdalen. We know far more about the misdeeds of the other sinners, than we know about Mary Magdalen, and yet, somehow, she seems to come “top of the charts” with regard to sinners who repented and became great saints.
For a more in-depth look at Mary Magdalen’s life you can read about her on another page [click here] ― this article will instead focus not so much on her life, but in our relation to her and her life. For never has the world been as impure as it is today―whether in thought, word or deed―and never has the world been more under the influence of the devil by the progressive and deepening means of (1) temptation; (2) infestation; (3) oppression; (4) obsession; and (5) possession. The latter―possession―is rare, but it is on the increase. Why mention this? Well, if you recall, Mary Magdalen was possessed by seven devils―as Holy Scripture reports: “But He [Jesus], rising early the first day of the week, appeared first to Mary Magdalen, out of whom he had cast seven devils” (Mark 16:9) … “And certain women, who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities; Mary who is called Magdalen, out of whom seven devils were gone forth” (Luke 8:2).
The Saint for Our Days
There is no shock or disbelieve among Catholics when told that impurity in all its many forms―thoughts, words, actions, magazines, books, images, websites, movies, television, etc. ― is a ubiquitous iniquitous sin: it has penetrated almost everywhere. Yet few Americans noticed that in the last few U.S. censuses, witchcraft had become the fourth largest religion in the United States. As shocking as that may be, Satanism has become just as popular. So says Zachary King, one of the most renowned former Satanists, who converted to the Catholic Church, in an interview he gave to Crusade Magazine.
Mary Magdalen was both impure and possessed―thus, more than anyone else, she is, loosely speaking, the saint for our present day―having overcome both problems. She was worldly, she was materialistic, she was impure―her life was filled with all the allurements that the prince of this world, the devil, could offer at that time―so immersed was she in sin and wantonness, that she was possessed by seven devils. Pope St. Gregory the Great says: “And what is typified by seven devils, if not all the vices? For since all time is counted by periods of seven days, by the number seven, completeness is rightly represented. Mary then had seven devils, because she was full of all the vices.”
A Sinner’s Saint Giving Hope to Sinners
No doubt there are people living today who are worse that Mary Magdalen―yet the fact that Mary Magdalen became a saint, gives every one of us great hope! It is said in Holy Scripture: “Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). He loved her before she converted―otherwise she could not have converted, for as Jesus says elsewhere: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). It is because He loved her (not her sins, but her soul which He had created), that He delivered her from the seven devils: “Mary Magdalen, out of whom He had cast seven devils” (Mark 16:9). He loved her after her conversion and deliverance. He loved her before she even loved Him. He loved her while she still implicitly hated Him. What great compassion! What great charity! What great mercy!--and to a great sinner! “At what, then, do we marvel, my brethren? That Mary came, or that the Lord received her? “Received her,” shall I say, or not rather, “drew her?” But it is better to say: “both drew her and received her.” For, in His mercy, He drew her inwardly, and, in His meekness, He received her outwardly” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, Homily 33 on the Gospels).
What Holy Scripture says, can be applied to Mary Magdalen, as well as to ourselves: “And you, when you were dead in your offences, and sins, wherein, in time past, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now worketh on the children of unbelief―in which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ, by Whose grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus. That He might show, in the ages to come, the abundant riches of His grace, in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you are saved through Faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God!” (Ephesians 2:1-8).
Our relationship with God, here below, rests upon the three theological virtues―Faith, Hope and Charity. In this incident with Mary Magdalen, we see all three combine together to create this beautiful scene and wonderful result. Here we see that many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. Yet that love followed on the heels of Mary’s Faith (in knowing who Jesus was and what He was capable of doing) and Mary’s Hope (whereby she had confidence that Jesus might use His power to show her mercy). In the Scripture account an effect sometimes seems attributed to one only cause, when there are divers other concurring dispositions; for the sins of this woman, in this verse, are said to be forgiven ”because she hath loved much”, but Christ also tells her: ”Thy Faith hath made thee safe.” Here “Faith” can be seen in a twofold way: “Faith” in the form of belief in Christ’s Power and “Faith” in the form of confidence that He will use that power upon her. She would not have entered the banquet if she had no belief that Our Lord could grant her what she wanted and if she had not hope of receiving what she wanted from Jesus. Hence in a true conversion, as we see in this case, there are joined together Faith, Hope, Love, sorrow for sin, and other virtuous dispositions.
Lost Something? Lost the Sense of Sin!
The problem with modern Catholics is that they are one-sided―and usually sugar-coated. As one pope after another, since Pope Pius XII (1937-1958) has lamented―Catholics have lost the sense of sin: “The greatest sin today is that men have lost the sense of sin.” (Pope Pius XII).
Since the fall of Adam and Eve, human nature has been wounded. The consequence of Original Sin is a weak mind, a weak will and powerful passions. In such an environment, if healing and strengthening grace is not sought and used, then sin becomes pretty easy and pretty sweet. At first, of course, sin is bitter—much like certain bitter foods and drinks that we have all experienced; but, if repeatedly tasted and drunk, then the soul starts to get used to that bitterness, and, strangely enough, that bitterness starts to seem less bitter and more sweet. For bitter food and drink, we say it is “an acquired taste”; and similarly, over time, we can acquire a taste for the bitterness of sin. For some it becomes ‘sweet’, for others only ‘bitter-sweet’, but as with chronic illness, you get so used to its presence that you almost don’t feel the illness or the pain anymore.
Of course, as with the gradual introduction to bitter or spicy foods, it happens little by little; hardly any bitterness or spice is added at first, then it is gradually increased in proportion to the person’s tolerance of it. This is how the devil and world (and we ourselves, sadly) approaches what we could call “sin-exposure.” Start out with getting the soul to tolerate teeny-weeny, hardly-a-sin-at-all, venial sins; and then, once resistance is overcome and toleration replaces it, gradually “turn up the heat”, but only ever so gently!
“It’s only a Venial Sin!”
This is why the spiritual masters warn us strongly against venial sin, and scold those who have the idiotic attitude of saying: “Aw, it’s only a venial sin, for goodness sakes! I won’t go to Hell for that!” Every mortal sinner has passed by paths of venial sin―sugar-coated venial sin―a sugar-coating with a very bitter center! The spiritual masters point out that venial sin is a gradually weakening of the spiritual immune system, and this sets-up the soul for ever more frequent and serious venial sins, till, at last, the teeniest-weeniest mortal sin no longer looks, feels and tastes like a mortal sin at all, but seems to be a serious venial sin, and no more!
The Price of Sin
“The Son of man is come to save that which was lost!” (Matthew 18:11). How will He save? He will save in two ways, or in a way that consists of two parts.
Firstly, “the Son of man is come to save that which was lost” (Matthew 18:11) by paying the price of sin by being tortured and killed for our sins-—“the wages [or price] of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and “by the offence of one [the Original Sin of Adam], many died” (Romans 5:15) and “Christ also died for our sins” (1 Peter 3:18) in order to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21), “Who His own Self bore our sins in His body upon the tree: that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice: and by Whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24)—and to open to us the possibility of also reaching Heaven. This shows us that death is the price of sin. Adam and Eve were sentenced to death because of one sin-—“Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death” (Genesis 2:16-17). Eve ate and gave to Adam to ear and so “from the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die” (Ecclesiasticus 25:33). That death sentence applies to all human beings for all time. “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:4). “Every man shall die for his own sin!” (2 Paralipomenon 25:4).
Secondly, “the Son of man is come to save that which was lost” by calling us to co-pay for our sins, by doing penance for sin. Sin is not an inconsequential ‘freebie’ that we can commit with impunity and without consequences. You sin. You pay—or, more precisely, you co-pay. You don’t want to co-pay, then you don’t go to Heaven. Even the precursor of Jesus—St. John the Baptist—laid down the foundations for penance, saying: “In those days cometh John the Baptist, preaching in the desert of Judea, and saying: ‘Do penance: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! … Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:1-2, 8). When Our Lord appeared, He would confirm this, saying: “I came to call sinners to penance” (Luke 5:32). “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ … Then He began to rebuke the cities wherein were done the most of His miracles, because they had not done penance, saying: ‘Woe to thee, Corozain! Woe to thee, Bethsaida! For if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes! … No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!’” (Matthew 4:17; 11:20-21; Luke 13:3). Christ would die for our sins, but He still demands that we co-pay with Him. If we don’t and won’t, then we “shall all likewise perish!”
Jesus and Mary Magdalen―Justice and Mercy—Punishment and Compassion
There is beautiful verse from the Psalms that deserves much reflection and meditation: “Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed” (Psalm 84:11). Justice and Mercy go hand-in-hand with God. There is never a time when He puts aside His justice, and never a time when He does not show His mercy. We could say that they are the flip sides of the same coin. Even those souls who have been sent to Hell by His justice, still feel His mercy in Hell, where nobody is punished as much as they deserve to be punished. As a side note: the whole idea of Hell seems to be a grave injustice to modern men, who, according to the Pope Pius XII, have lost all sense of sin: “The greatest sin today is that men have lost the sense of sin.” Therefore , for them, there should only be one side to the coin—the side of mercy, or even mercy on both sides of the coin!
But let us get back to the phrase “Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed” (Psalm 84:11). We all want mercy because we all need mercy-—“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8), “For all have sinned, and do need the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). God will give us His grace to leave sin behind-—“Where sin abounded, grace did more abound” (Romans 5:20)—and God prefers to show more of His mercy, than His justice. But woe to them that abuse the mercy of God and presumptuously abuse it—“Add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5).
Even though Christ pleaded with His Father for forgiveness for those who were crucifying Him—“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34)—nevertheless, even though the Father might perhaps have forgiven them, Jerusalem was still punished and razed to the ground. Over a million men, women, children and babies were slaughtered by the Romans in 70 AD—as Jesus had foretold.
When the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus―and some of the Fathers of the Church think that this woman was Mary Magdalen―to see what Jesus would say and do, He told them: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” (John 8:7). They reluctantly and sheepishly withdrew and went away. Our Lord said to the woman: “Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee? Who said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more!” (John 8:10-11). In the Old Testament it says: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18)―that is what Jesus puts into practice here―but take note of the command: “Go, and now sin no more!”
A similar mercy and comment was given to the man whom Our Lord healed by the pool—who had been sick for 38 years: “Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the Temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14). Which is echoed by the Old Testament verse: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5)―which is exactly what Mary Magdalen did―she continually wept for her sins and sought to pay for them.
If we were TRULY contrite for our sins, then our sentiments would be like those found in Holy Scripture: “Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 50:4) … “that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer” (Romans 6:6).
Modern man is not fearful about past forgiven sins and readily adds sin upon sin, as he passes in and out of the confessional like a revolving door! “And they added yet more sin against Him: they provoked the most High to wrath!” (Psalm 77:17). “For if we sin willfully, after having the knowledge of the truth, there is left no sacrifice for sins, only a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume the sinner. [In the Old Testament we see that] a man making void the law of Moses, dieth without any mercy under two or three witnesses! How much more, do you think he deserveth worse punishments, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the blood of the testament worthless, and hath offered an affront to the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said: Vengeance belongeth to me, and I will repay. And again: The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!” (Hebrews 10:20-31).
If We Refuse To Pay, God Will Make Us Pay
The Book of Leviticus gives us a clear picture of God’s attitude to sin and a lack of contrition and penance. Some may say that this the old-fashioned God of the Old Testament, but God never changes-—“with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17)―and His attitude is always the same. The reason why some generations and people are punished more and others less, is down to the degree of sorrow they have for sin and the penance they do for their sins. In the Book of Leviticus, God covers both scenarios—what He will do if we obey Him, and what He will do if we disobey Him.
“I am the Lord your God: you shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing … Keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord. If you walk in My precepts and keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you [and then God proceeds to list the many blessings He will give to those who obey Him] ... But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise my laws, and contemn my judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by me, and to make void my covenant, then I will also do these things to you …
“I will quickly visit you with poverty … You shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you … I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness … I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins … I will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant ... I will send the pestilence in the midst of you … I will go against you with fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins … You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My Soul shall abhor you … I will bring your cities to be a wilderness … and I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it … and I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed … You shall perish among the Gentiles … And if anyone remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own sins―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed against Me and walked contrary unto Me! … Then shall they pray for their sins and I will remember My covenant [here mercy is shown after justice] … But they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be totally consumed, and I should make void my covenant with them ... I will remember My former covenant. I am the Lord!” (Leviticus 26:11-45).
JAM in Everyone’s Life
Be assured that everyone’s life in a JAM situation. There is nothing but JAM—and never will be otherwise. Of course, we speak of justice and mercy—JAM! That is how God will act with all of us—except that at times there will be more justice than mercy, and, at other times, more mercy than justice. It all depends upon how much we are co-operating and how much we are co-paying. The following passage alludes to this:
“My children, know ye that no one has hoped in the Lord and has been confounded. For who has continued in His commandments, and has been forsaken? Or who has called upon Him, and He despised him? For God is compassionate and merciful, and will forgive sins in the day of tribulation: and He is a protector to all that seek Him in truth. Woe to them that are of a double heart and to wicked lips, and to the hands that do evil, and to the sinner that goes on the Earth two ways. Woe to them that are fainthearted, who believe not God: and therefore they shall not be protected by Him. Woe to them that have lost patience, and that have forsaken the right ways, and have gone aside into crooked ways. And what will they do, when the Lord shall begin to examine? They that fear the Lord, will not be incredulous to His word: and they that love Him, will keep His way. They that fear the Lord, will seek after the things that are well pleasing to Him: and they that love Him, shall be filled with His law. They that fear the Lord, will prepare their hearts, and in his sight will sanctify their souls. They that fear the Lord, keep his Commandments, and will have patience even until his visitation, saying: ‘If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men!’ For according to His greatness, so also is His mercy with Him!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:11-23).
How To Get Out Of A JAM
Nobody likes the justice part of the JAM, but we all love and desire the mercy part. How do we get more of the mercy and less of the justice? By doing penance of our own accord—rather than waiting for God to step-in and inflict penances on us because we are not paying on time or in any way at all. It is similar to, or a microcosm of the macrocosm of Purgatory—a foretaste if you like. Why do souls end up in the horrendous and torturous fires of Purgatory? They end up there because they neglected to do penance on Earth. Likewise, even while we are still living on Earth, if we neglect to do penance of our own volition or choosing, then God will inflict far heavier penances on us, already here below.
The Need For Penance
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book The Spiritual Life, writes: “Penance is, after prayer, the most effective means for cleansing the soul of past faults and even for guarding it against future ones … We can, by penance, atone for our faults ... For the sinner, penance is an act of justice; for having offended God and violated God’s rights, he is bound to make reparation for the outrage. This he does through penance … It is admitted on all hands that no one can afford at any time to put out of his life the spirit of penance … The purification of the soul, through the practice of penance and mortification, should never cease … Through penance our first parents regained grace … The firm determination to atone for sin and to reform our lives will follow: (1) to atone by acts of penance, which we take care to impose upon ourselves in order to deaden in us the love of pleasure, the source of bur sins; (2) to reform our lives by determining the means we shall employ, in order to lessen the number of our faults ...
“Among Beginners in the spiritual life, there are those who have a heavy burden of sin to expiate; others there are who never lost their baptismal innocence. It is evident, all things being equal in other respects, that the former must undergo a longer course of penance than the latter … Beginners must be on their guard against relapses and, in order to avoid them, they must undergo a long and rigorous penance in proportion to the number and gravity of their faults. Some of them, soon forgetting their past, want to enter forthwith into the path of love ... To love God is, indeed, an excellent thing, but that we do not attain to a pure and effective love, except trough self-abnegation and penance … Such presumption [to love without doing penance] is frequently followed by a withdrawal of sensible consolations, by discouragement and fresh falls. Others give themselves without discretion to bodily mortifications, take therein a vain complacency, impair their health, and then, under pretense of taking proper care of it, fall into a state of relaxation … They have little realized the need of frequent prayer, of rigorous penance, or mortification … Thus beginners must, assuredly, exercise themselves especially in the virtue of penance …
“Mortification assumes different names according to the point of view from which we consider it. It is called ‘penance’ when it prompts us to atone for our past faults; it is ‘mortification’, properly so called, when it sets upon the love of pleasure, in order to reduce the number of faults in the present and obviate their recurrence in the future; it is called ‘warfare against the capital sins’, when it combats those deep-rooted tendencies that incline us toward sin, and ‘warfare against temptation’, when, practiced by way of resistance to the onslaughts of our spiritual enemies.
“It will be easy and practical to propose Jesus as the model for true penitents; Jesus condemning Himself to a life of poverty; of obedience and of toil that He might be unto us an example; Jesus, doing penance for us in the desert, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in His cruel passion; Jesus dying for us upon the Cross” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life).
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, in his Three Ages of the Interior Life, writes: “Since penance is necessary to every Christian, how can the necessity of mortification be denied? Such a denial would be an utter disregard of the gravity of sin and its consequences. He who is opposed to mortification comes, little by little, to drink of iniquity as if it were water; he reaches the point where he calls what is often truly venial sin, an imperfection; and what is a mortal sin, a human weakness ... The Blessed Virgin declared at Lourdes: ‘Pray and do penance!’ … In a spirit of penance, we must mortify ourselves to expiate past sin, that has already been forgiven, and to help us avoid sin in the future. The virtue of penance leads us, in fact, not only to hatred of sin, as an offense against God, but, still more, to reparation. For this last, to stop sinning is not sufficient; a satisfaction must be offered to divine justice, for every sin merits a punishment …
“We may cite the case of St. Catherine of Genoa, who from the age of thirteen was drawn by God to prayer and made great progress in it; after five years of suffering, she abandoned the interior life, and for the next five years led a completely exterior life. However, one day when, on the advice of her sister, she was going to confession, she experienced with anguish the profound void in her soul; the desire of God revived in her. In an instant she was taken back by God in the strongest, most imperious manner and, after fourteen years of great penance, she received assurance that she had fully satisfied divine justice.
“On the other hand, some authors have insisted on the exercise of the virtue of penance, on the interior and exterior acts of worship and those of fraternal charity, to the point of not recognizing in a sufficiently practical way the superiority of the love of God … The eyes that gaze openly upon divine things are those employed in the loving and penetrating contemplation of revealed mysteries, a contemplation superior to the exterior practices of penance and also to simple study. It is the contemplation which, together with profound love of God and neighbor, should be the soul of the apostolate” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Mary Magdalen's Life of Love and Penance
Yes―we all know that Jesus said of Mary Magdalen: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47)―but Mary did not, on that account, excuse herself from doing penance. If it is true that Mary loved much, then it is equally true that love knows no limits. Mary’s love for Christ overflowed into a love of penance.
Tradition tells us that at one point, after the ascension of Our Lord into Heaven, the Christians were cruelly persecuted, and the Jews were determined to no longer suffer the brother of St. Magdalen, Lazarus, living in Jerusalem, because he was a living testimony to the divinity of Christ―having been raised from the dead by Christ. Hence they placed him, his two sisters, Magdalen and Martha, a servant of theirs, named Marcella, and Maximin, one of the 72 disciples of Christ, in a boat, without rudder, sail, or boatman, took them far from the land into the high sea, and left them, being quite certain that the waves would soon swallow the boat and all its occupants. But God led them safely to France, and they landed at Marseilles amid a crowd of heathens who had come to the shore.
This miraculous voyage prepared the hearts of the heathen inhabitants to receive the true Faith. Lazarus, who had been consecrated bishop by the Apostles, made his episcopal See in the same city where they had landed. Maximin, as priest, chose the city of Aix as his residence. Martha slowly gathered a great many women around her, and having instructed them in the Christian Faith, led a retired, pious, almost a religious life with them, while Magdalen converted a great many by her teachings and her holy life.
In the course of time, however, she retired into a desert, far from any habitations of men, and made her abode in the dark cavern of a mountain. There she dwelt during 30 years, leading a most severe life, occupied in praying, contemplating the divine mysteries, and the bitter Passion and death of our Savior. She repented daily, with floods of tears, of the iniquities of her former days, although she had heard from the lips of Christ that they were forgiven. In one word, her life was much more that of an angel, than that of a human being.
Hence we may well believe, what many relate of her, that she was frequently visited by angels, who provided her with food and even raised her into Heaven at times, to hear the seraphic choir sing the praises of the Most High. Before her death, she was carried by two spirits of light into a little church two miles from her dwelling, where, having received from the hands of St. Maximin the Bread of the angels, she, soon afterwards, gave her soul into the keeping of Him Whom she had so fervently loved while upon Earth.
The cavern in the mountain where the great penitent so long dwelt, as well as the little church which contains her relics, arc renowned for the many miracles wrought there. The most illustrious, however, was the Saint herself, who from so great a sinner became so great a penitent and so fervent a lover of Christ. The holy fathers can hardly find words of praise enough, not only for her heroic conversion, but also for her generous, faithful, and fervent love towards her Savior. And who can sufficiently admire the austere penance, lasting for 30 years, which she underwent in the cavern, although she knew that her sins were entirely forgiven?
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Saturday July 20th & Sunday July 21st
Article 10
Can You Take The Heat?
July is also the month of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Here are some links to help you learn of her and honor her.
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Article 10
Can You Take The Heat?
July is also the month of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Here are some links to help you learn of her and honor her.
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
When It Rains, It Pours―When It Shines, It Scorches!
The June 2019 European heat wave was a period of unusually hot weather affecting southwestern to central Europe, starting in late June and resulting in the hottest June ever recorded in Europe. According to meteorologists, it was caused by high pressure and winds from the Sahara Desert affecting large parts of the continent. It resulted in record-breaking temperatures for the month of June at many locations. France experienced temperatures in excess of 113°F (45°C) for the first time in recorded history. A national all-time record high temperature of 114.8°F (46.0°C) occurred on June 28th in Vérargues, in the south of France.
Europe’s heat wave comes on the back of other unusual temperatures elsewhere in the world during the same month of June, 2019, even including the Arctic. Temperatures in Greenland surged as much as 40°F above the norm for this time of year, causing the largest ice melt on record for this time of year. A heat wave in India this month has already killed dozens. Europe is also not a region known for especially high temperatures, so many parts of the continent lack the resources to cope. Many buildings don’t have air conditioning and aren’t designed with passive cooling in mind. In Germany, as few as 2% (1 in 50) of homes are air conditioned. But it’s not necessarily how high temperatures rise that makes them so dangerous; it’s how different they are from what’s normal. That’s why heat waves can kill people in cool climates. People in sunny southern Spain can readily cope with triple-digit temperatures―but 90°F days, in cooler northern Germany, can send people to the hospital.
Just when you think you’ve “weathered” it―along comes another scorcher! After a brief break from the horrendous European heat wave last month (June), weather forecasters estimate that temperatures are likely to soar once again next week (late July) in areas including France, Germany, Austria, the UK, Norway, the Netherlands Spain, and Portugal. The French Meteorological Office (the national weather agency) said, on July 17th, that Europe could be heading towards a second heat wave―but those forecasts are not yet certain.
In the North America, similar heat waves have hit and still are hitting the vast majority of the USA and Canada. Extremely hot weather has started to hit over two-thirds of the United States, with temperatures set to peak over the weekend. The heat wave is affecting around 200 million people in major cities like New York, Washington and Boston in the East Coast, as well as the Midwest region. The heat wave covers an area stretching from the Central Plains of Colorado and Kansas, to the Great Lakes in the north-east. Temperatures are expected to range from the mid-90s°F to the triple digits, with the heat index making it feel as hot as 100°F to 115°F. On July 19th, 2019, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a portion of Interstate 229 buckled from high temperatures and heat indexes. The temperature in Sioux Falls was 93°F with a heat index of 107 °F when the buckle was reported Friday afternoon. Hartford, Connecticut real feel was 110°F; with an actual high of 95°F; Washington, D.C. real feel was 108°F; with an actual high of 97 °F; Kansas City, Missouri real feel was 109°F with an actual high of 98°F; Boston real feel was 107°F; with an actual high of 97°F; Chicago real feel was 107°F; with an actual high of 95°F. Baltimore logged a heat index of 122°F early Saturday evening (July 20th). Record high temperatures have already been recorded at New York City's JFK Airport, Long Island's MacArthur Airport, Atlantic City, Blacksburg, Virginia; and Millinocket in northern Maine. Heat indexes in parts of Minnesota made temperatures feel as hot as 116°F. These cities are just a representative handful of locations experiencing a heat index in the triple digits, including cities in the Midwest and East Coast. This has come on the heels of an earlier heat wave, where Alaska, which partially enters the Arctic Circle, suffered record high temperatures of over 90°F.
On top of the heat come the storms! Several rounds of severe storms across the Midwest and Great Lakes have knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people and caused widespread damage. There were over 430,000 customers without power Sunday morning (July 21st) across Wisconsin and Michigan. There were more than 240 storm reports just from Saturday (July 20th), and more than 450 storm reports between Friday (July 19th) and Saturday (July 20th). Winds gusted from 70 to 80 mph and brought down numerous tree limbs, and thousands of power lines from South Dakota to Minnesota, and in Wisconsin and Michigan, while also bringing heavy rain, and even hail stones. Cooler weather on Monday and Tuesday will also bring severe storms and heavy rain that could cause flash flooding and produce damaging winds, the National Weather Service (NWS) warned. Inland, strong wind and rain were expected to persist in the Midwest, and a cold front stretching between the Central Plains and the Great Lakes region was forecast to move south. The cold front was expected to carry showers and thunderstorms, which could lead to heavy rainfall and flash flooding in the Midwest.
Hot as Hell?
Both news media and individuals have been uttering analogous quips such as: “It’s as hot as Hell!” … “Hell weekend” … “Hell comes to town!” … “Hell on Earth!” … etc. The human body is very sensitive to heat. We can only take a limited range of temperatures, outside of which we run the risk of dying very quickly. Here are some ‘thumbnail sketches’ of what we can endure—short term and long term. “Short term” typically means a few minutes, because most people can survive even extremes for a few seconds. “Long term” means hours and possibly a day or two. Many people would die before reaching these numbers; they're half-decent estimates of what a healthy person could survive.
Dry air survival: only short term survival is possible at 248+°F (120+°C), or long term at 158+°F (70+°C) with access to water at cooler temperatures.
Tropical air: short term survival in tropical air at 140°F (60+°C), or long term survival at 117°F (47°C) .
Humid air: short term survival is possible in a humid air at 118°F (48°C), or long term survival at 95°F (35°C).
Water: only short term survival without water is possible at 115°F (46°C), or long term survival at 106°F (41°C).
This is an interesting question, and it depends largely on the humidity and time of exposure. Our cells start to die between 106 degrees to 113°F (41 degrees to 45°C), but we can survive much higher air temperatures: a healthy person could make a day trip to Death Valley on one of its hottest days—131°F (55°C) ― and, so long as he avoided dehydration, would probably not die. In fact, he'd probably be safe as long as he had access to water, preferably stored at a temperature lower than 131°F (55°C), because the water would actually be painfully hot to the touch at that point.
What about air temperature? Well, people can survive dry air temperatures well over 248°F (120°C) in the short term. Such levels are achieved in saunas, although most people find it uncomfortable, and the sport of "competitive sauna" is actually quite dangerous, even though people aren't exposed to the 230°F (110°C) heat for more than a few minutes. Higher temperatures probably up to 570°F (300°C) are survivable for short bursts (like, measured in seconds) or with protective clothing but, again, no one would consider that sustainable.
With humid air, the limits are much lower. You can withstand 113°F (45°C) at 100% humidity in the short term (steam room), although you wouldn't last a night in there, but around 122°F (50°C) it becomes acutely fatal (or, at least, dangerous enough that people who expose themselves to such environments are protected), because the water vapor can condense in your lungs. The upper limit on steam room temperatures seems to be about 118°F (48°C), so that's a good working short-term maximum for saturated air. The good news is that you'll virtually never see a dewpoint temperature (i.e. the temperature at which relative humidity would be 100%) over 86°F (30°C) in the wild. 122°F (50°C) and 100% humidity just never occur together (above ground) in a natural setting.
More interesting is the question of what climactic temperatures are sustainable on the scale of hours or days. With enough water, you'd survive 24 hours of exposure to 113°F (45°C) air temperatures ― I still wouldn't recommend it ― but not the 176°F (80°C) of a sauna. For water, we assume that body temperature will reach the environmental temperature and get an upper bound of about 104-105°F (40-41°C). You'd be miserable as hell after 24 hours in a 102°F (39°C) hot tub, but you probably wouldn't die.
In Hell or Purgatory We Will Burn But Will Not Die
St. Augustine believes that even though the souls in Purgatory will be saved, no doubt, after the trial of fire, but that trial will be terrible, that torment of Purgatory will be far more intolerable than all the most excruciating sufferings in this world. St. Thomas goes even further; he maintains that the least pain of Purgatory surpasses all the sufferings of this life, whatsoever they may be. The author of the “Imitation of Christ” explains this doctrine by a practical and striking sentence. Speaking in general of the sufferings of the other life, he says: “There, one hour of torment will be more terrible than a hundred years of rigorous penance done her.”
St. Augustine writes that “the pain of fire will be more grievous to him who shall be saved by fire than anything that man can suffer in this life” (In Psalm 37, P.L. XXXVI, 397.)
St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica, Supplement q. 2, a. 1, re-echoes this teaching: “The least pain of Purgatory is greater than the greatest sufferings of this life. For the more ardently one desires a thing, the greater is the suffering caused by the lack of it. And since the regretful desire with which the holy souls hunger after the supreme Good is most ardent . . . it follows that the suffering arising from this delay (in attaining it) is most intense. Similarly . . . since the whole sensitiveness of the body is rooted in the soul, it follows that a more poignant affliction results from any suffering that directly affects the soul.”
St. Bonaventure writes: “According to the indisputable assertion of the Master of the Sentences (Peter Lombard) and the holy Doctors, even though the reason may not be evident, the sufferings of Purgatory are more severe than any temporal pain endured by the soul during its union with the body.” Thus the slightest suffering in Purgatory will be greater than the most severe punishment inflicted for it on Earth.
If you read Fr. Schouppe’s book, Purgatory Explained, you will read some very sobering passages about Purgatory. One of the things he points out is the fact that the fires of Purgatory are the same fires as those of Hell. The same fire, says Pope St. Gregory the Great, torments the damned and purifies the elect. “Almost all theologians,” says the cardinal, St. Robert Bellarmine, “teach that the damned in Hell and the souls in Purgatory suffer the action of the same fire.” It must be held as certain, writes St. Robert Bellarmine, that there is no proportion between the sufferings of this life and those of Purgatory. St. Catherine of Genoa, in her book on Purgatory, writes: “As to the suffering, it is equal to that of Hell.”
God Wants You to Burn on Earth--Not Hell Nor Purgatory!
The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary show fire bursting forth from their Hearts! Our Lord said to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men … not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must needs spread them abroad … Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love.” He then speaks of giving her [and us] “a little spark of Its most ardent flames, to serve you as a heart and to consume you up to your last moment!”
That is how our hearts should be―on fire with a love of God: “My heart grew hot within me: and, in my meditation, a fire shall flame out” (Psalm 38:4). “And they said one to the other: ‘Was not our heart burning within us, whilst He [Jesus] spoke in this way, and opened to us the Scriptures?’” (Luke 24:32).
Burn With Love Now―Rather Than Burn With Hatred Later
Our Lord said that He came to cast fire on Earth: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). Each time we say the prayer to the Holy Ghost, we ask Him to “enkindle in us the fire” of His love. That fire within us must be kindled and it must burn brightly—either in this world, or in Purgatory―otherwise we will burn with hatred in Hell―but burn we must, we were made to burn, to burn with love for God, or we will burn with a love for sin. We can only enter Heaven with a raging fire of love in our hearts! Let us pray for the grace to suffer lovingly and joyfully here below, and that fire will not have to be kindled within us in Purgatory.
Sadly, Purgatory is NOT empty. In fact, the common opinion among theologians is that MOST SOULS, of the few that end up going to Heaven, have to pass through the fires of Purgatory. As Scripture says: “There shall not enter into it any thing defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie …” (Apocalypse 21:27). The poor souls in Purgatory could have avoided those fires if they had only taken their life, their spiritual life, much more seriously. Grace and sanctity was not at the top of their shopping-list, nor did they ask Our Lady for the graces they would have needed to avoid being sent to Purgatory.
If we fail to “fire-up” our hearts with a love of God and continue to sin and show indifference, then, as Our Lady of Akita warned, “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
However, before we get carried-away by exaggerated thoughts of “feeling-sorry-for-myself” doom and gloom, let us also remember that joyful and positive outlook of the souls in Purgatory. Another Doctor of the Church, St. Francis de Sales, renowned for his calming and soothing words, says:
“We may draw from the thought of Purgatory more consolation than apprehension. The greater part of those who dread Purgatory so much think more of their own interests than of the interests of God’s glory; this proceeds from the fact that they think only of the sufferings without considering the peace and happiness which are there enjoyed by the holy souls. It is true that the torments are so great that the most acute sufferings of this life bear no comparison to them; but the interior satisfaction which is there enjoyed is such that no prosperity nor contentment upon Earth can equal it.
“The souls are in a continual union with God. They are perfectly resigned to His will, or rather their will is so transformed into that of God, that they cannot will but what God wills; so that if Paradise were to be opened to them, they would precipitate themselves into Hell, rather than appear before God with the stains with which they see themselves disfigured. They purify themselves willingly and lovingly, because such is the Divine good pleasure. They wish to be there in the state wherein God pleases, and as long as it shall please Him. They cannot sin, nor can they experience the least movement of impatience, nor commit the slightest imperfection. They love God more than they love themselves, and more than all things else; they love Him with a perfect, pure, and disinterested love. They are consoled by angels. They are assured of their eternal salvation, and filled with a hope that can never be disappointed in its expectations. Their bitterest anguish is soothed by a certain profound peace. It is a species of Hell as regards the suffering; it is a Paradise as regards the delight infused into their hearts by charity—Charity, stronger than death and more powerful than Hell; Charity, whose lamps are all fire and flame. Happy state! More desirable than appalling, since its flames are flames of love and charity.” (The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, chapter 9).
Such are the teachings of the Saints and the Doctors of Church, from which it follows that, if the pains of Purgatory are rigorous, they are not without consolation. When imposing His cross upon us in this life, God pours upon it the sweetness of His grace, and in purifying the souls in Purgatory like gold in the crucible, He soothes their flames by ineffable consolations.
We must not lose sight of this consoling element, this bright side of the often gloomy picture which we are going to examine. This, as you can see, is the balance between the Justice and Mercy of God—Whose wisdom can do no wrong, nor can He deceive or be deceived. Let us also not deceive ourselves on the probable punishment due to our sins—whether here on Earth (if we are wise to “take the heat” here below) or in Purgatory (if we are foolish enough to refuse paying while still on Earth).
Turning-Up the Heat
Let’s face it―God requires a very high temperature in our souls. You could say that our souls are meant to be “ovens of love.” In fact, the word “oven” is almost identical to the word “love”―both having the letters “O-V-E” with them. Holy Scripture loosely alludes to this when it says: ”As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace: so the Lord trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3)―which fits perfectly with Our Lord’s words: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). To which Scripture adds: “He knoweth my way, and has tried me as gold that passeth through the fire!” (Job 23:10) … “For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:5) … “I will bring them through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined: and I will try them as gold is tried” (Zacharias 13:9)―gold, of course, being a symbol of charity―for as gold is the most precious metal, likewise charity is the most precious virtue. “I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear” (Apocalypse 3:18).
Dead Man Experiences the Heat Wave of Purgatory and Comes Back to Tell-The-Tale
There was in Northumberland (northern England) a man named Drithelm, who, with his family, led a most Christian life. He fell sick, and his malady increasing day by day, he was soon reduced to extremity, and died, to the great desolation and grief of his wife and children. The latter passed the night in tears by the remains, but the following day, before his interment, they saw him suddenly return to life, arise, and place himself in a sitting posture. At this sight they were seized with such fear that they all took to flight, with the exception of the wife, who, trembling, remained alone with her risen husband. He reassured her immediately:
“Fear not,” he said; “it is God who restores to me my life; He wishes to show in my person a man raised from the dead. I have yet long to live upon Earth, but my new life will be very different from the one I led heretofore.”
A Changed Man
Then he arose full of health, went straight to the chapel or church of the place, and there remained long in prayer. He returned home only to take leave of those who had been dear to him upon Earth, to whom he declared that he would live only to prepare himself for death, and advised them to do likewise. Then, having divided his property into three parts, he gave one to his children, another to his wife, and reserved the third part to give in alms.
When he had distributed all to the poor, and had reduced himself to extreme indigence, he went and knocked at the door of a monastery, and begged the Abbot to receive him as a penitent Religious, who would be a servant to all the others.
Dies to the World
The Abbot gave him a retired cell, which he occupied for the rest of his life. Three exercises divided his time — prayer; the hardest labor; and extraordinary penances. The most rigorous fasts he accounted as nothing. In winter he was seen to plunge himself into frozen water, and remain there for hours and hours in prayer, whilst he recited the entire 150 Psalms from the Psalter of David.
The mortified life of Drithelm, his downcast eyes, even his features, indicated a soul struck with fear of the judgments of God. He kept a perpetual silence, but on being pressed to relate, for the edification of others, what God had manifested to him after his death, he thus described his vision:
Drithelm’s Account of What Happened After His Death
On leaving my body, I was received by a benevolent person, who took me under his guidance. His face was brilliant, and he appeared surrounded with light. He arrived at a large deep valley of immense extent, all fire on one side, all ice and snow on the other; on the one hand braziers and cauldrons of flame, on the other the most intense cold and the blast of a glacial wind.
This mysterious valley was filled with innumerable souls, which, tossed as by a furious tempest, threw themselves from one side to the other. When they could no longer endure the violence of the fire, they sought relief amidst the ice and snow; but finding only a new torture, they cast themselves again into the midst of the flames.
I contemplated in a stupor these continual vicissitudes of horrible torments, and as far as my sight could extend, I saw nothing but a multitude of souls which suffered without ever having repose. Their very aspect inspired me with fear. I thought at first that I saw Hell; but my guide, who walked before me, turned to me and said:
“No; this is not, as you think, the Hell of the reprobate. Do you know,” he continued, “what place this is?”
“No,” I answered.
“Know,” he resumed, “that this valley, where you see so much fire and so much ice, is the place where the souls of those are punished who, during life, have neglected to confess their sins, and who have deferred their conversion to the end. Thanks to a special mercy of God, they have had the happiness of sincerely repenting before death, of confessing and detesting their sins. This is why they are not damned, and on the great Day of Judgment will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Several of them will obtain their deliverance before that time, by the merits of prayers, alms, and fasts, offered in their favor by the living, and especially in virtue of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for their relief.”
Drithhelm Turns Up the Heat by a Life of Severe Penance
Such was the recital of Drithelm. When asked why he so rudely treated his body, why he plunged himself into frozen water, he replied that he had seen other torments, and cold of another kind.
If his brethren expressed astonishment that he could endure these extraordinary austerities, “I have seen,” said he, “penances still more astonishing.” To the day when it pleased God to call him to Himself, he ceased not to afflict his body, and although broken down with age, he would accept no alleviation.
This event produced a deep sensation in England; a great number of sinners, touched by the words of Drithelm, and struck by the austerity of his life, became sincerely converted.
This fact, adds Bellarmine, appears to me of incontestable truth, since, besides being conformable to the words of Holy Scripture, “Let him pass from the snow waters to excessive heat” (Job 24:19). The Venerable St. Bede relates it as a recent and well-known event. More than this, it was followed by the conversion of a great number of sinners, the sign of the work of God, who is accustomed to work prodigies in order to produce fruit in souls.
Moral of the Story
Here ends the account of Drithelm’s life as related by St. Robert Bellarmine and the Venerable St. Bede. We can all relate to Drithelm somewhat, and we could all do with re-adjusting our sense of values regarding the after-life and the great seriousness with which we should be trying to pursue our goal of salvation. Drithelm was probably like most people today, living a life that he thought was ‘good’—which it may have been in his own eyes, but “not good enough” in the eyes of God, Whose ways and judgments are not the ways and judgments of men.
This month of the Precious Blood gives us the example of the degree of love with which we should “burn”― “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) … “God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son” (John 3:16) … “The Son of God loved me and delivered Himself for me!” (Galatians 2:20) … “He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed!” (Isaias 53:5) … “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world!” Galatians 1:4). Let us use this month of the Precious Blood as reminder of His love for us and as a springboard to spark (re-ignite) our love for God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Let us use this month as a wake-up call to changing and improving our own lives, so that we become holy in this life, rather than in the fires of Purgatory after this short life is over. Drithelm—pray for us!
A Change of Heart
God will always help anybody improve—whether it be someone who has sinned a lot, or someone who has sinned little. The one thing that God will not do, is “lower the bar” for entry into Heaven. What is the “going-rate” or “minimum-price” for a ticket to Heaven? “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). “What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways, and love Him, and serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12). ”Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind!” (Luke 10:27). “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment!’” (Matthew 22:37-38).
God does not change, nor does truth change, nor do the requirements for Heaven change. God could well ask us: “Is thy heart right as My Heart is with thy heart?” (4 Kings 10:15). “Woe to them that are of a double heart and to the sinner that goeth on the Earth two ways!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:14). “A heart that goeth two ways shall not have success!” (Ecclesiasticus 3:28). “Set not thy heart upon unjust possessions!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:1). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21). “Follow not the desires of thy heart!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:2). “For from the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “This people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!” (Isaias 29:13). “In the perverseness of their heart, they have gone after strange gods to serve them and to adore them … whose heart departeth from the Lord” (Jeremias 13:10; 17:5). “Return to Him, and obey His commandments with all thy heart, and with all thy soul!” (Deuteronomy 30:2). “If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to My Name, saith the Lord of hosts: I will send poverty upon you, and will curse your blessings, yea I will curse them, because you have not laid it to heart!” (Malachias 2:2).
Time for a New Heart and a Hot Heart
“Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart” (Ezechiel 18:31). “Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning” (Joel 2:12). “I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26).
There are two chief ways to enkindle in your heart the fire of love―one way is by the frequent reception of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus in Holy Communion (and on days when you cannot make it to Mass, then make a spiritual Communion at least once, if not several times, each day). There is nothing more powerful and nothing more efficacious than the presence of God Himself in the Holy Eucharist―for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and God is in the Holy Eucharist―therefore charity is present in the Holy Eucharist―limitless, inexhaustible charity.
The other way, is by MEDITATING the mysteries of the Holy Rosary. St. Louis de Montfort tells that MEDITATING the Rosary can set our hearts on fire with love: “The Rosary, recited with the meditation of the mysteries, brings about the following marvelous results: … [one of which is] … It sets us on fire with the love of Our Lord” (The Secret of the Rosary, “Twenty-Seventh Rose”). They are fifteen flaming torches to guide our steps throughout this earthly life; fifteen shining mirrors to help us to know Jesus and Mary, to know ourselves and to light the fire of their love in our hearts” (The Secret of the Rosary, “Twenty-First-Rose”).
So crank-up the heat in that “hot-air-balloon” that is your soul. Without that heat your balloon―like a chicken―will barely get off the ground of this Earth, never mind imagining flying high through the sky to Heaven!
The June 2019 European heat wave was a period of unusually hot weather affecting southwestern to central Europe, starting in late June and resulting in the hottest June ever recorded in Europe. According to meteorologists, it was caused by high pressure and winds from the Sahara Desert affecting large parts of the continent. It resulted in record-breaking temperatures for the month of June at many locations. France experienced temperatures in excess of 113°F (45°C) for the first time in recorded history. A national all-time record high temperature of 114.8°F (46.0°C) occurred on June 28th in Vérargues, in the south of France.
Europe’s heat wave comes on the back of other unusual temperatures elsewhere in the world during the same month of June, 2019, even including the Arctic. Temperatures in Greenland surged as much as 40°F above the norm for this time of year, causing the largest ice melt on record for this time of year. A heat wave in India this month has already killed dozens. Europe is also not a region known for especially high temperatures, so many parts of the continent lack the resources to cope. Many buildings don’t have air conditioning and aren’t designed with passive cooling in mind. In Germany, as few as 2% (1 in 50) of homes are air conditioned. But it’s not necessarily how high temperatures rise that makes them so dangerous; it’s how different they are from what’s normal. That’s why heat waves can kill people in cool climates. People in sunny southern Spain can readily cope with triple-digit temperatures―but 90°F days, in cooler northern Germany, can send people to the hospital.
Just when you think you’ve “weathered” it―along comes another scorcher! After a brief break from the horrendous European heat wave last month (June), weather forecasters estimate that temperatures are likely to soar once again next week (late July) in areas including France, Germany, Austria, the UK, Norway, the Netherlands Spain, and Portugal. The French Meteorological Office (the national weather agency) said, on July 17th, that Europe could be heading towards a second heat wave―but those forecasts are not yet certain.
In the North America, similar heat waves have hit and still are hitting the vast majority of the USA and Canada. Extremely hot weather has started to hit over two-thirds of the United States, with temperatures set to peak over the weekend. The heat wave is affecting around 200 million people in major cities like New York, Washington and Boston in the East Coast, as well as the Midwest region. The heat wave covers an area stretching from the Central Plains of Colorado and Kansas, to the Great Lakes in the north-east. Temperatures are expected to range from the mid-90s°F to the triple digits, with the heat index making it feel as hot as 100°F to 115°F. On July 19th, 2019, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a portion of Interstate 229 buckled from high temperatures and heat indexes. The temperature in Sioux Falls was 93°F with a heat index of 107 °F when the buckle was reported Friday afternoon. Hartford, Connecticut real feel was 110°F; with an actual high of 95°F; Washington, D.C. real feel was 108°F; with an actual high of 97 °F; Kansas City, Missouri real feel was 109°F with an actual high of 98°F; Boston real feel was 107°F; with an actual high of 97°F; Chicago real feel was 107°F; with an actual high of 95°F. Baltimore logged a heat index of 122°F early Saturday evening (July 20th). Record high temperatures have already been recorded at New York City's JFK Airport, Long Island's MacArthur Airport, Atlantic City, Blacksburg, Virginia; and Millinocket in northern Maine. Heat indexes in parts of Minnesota made temperatures feel as hot as 116°F. These cities are just a representative handful of locations experiencing a heat index in the triple digits, including cities in the Midwest and East Coast. This has come on the heels of an earlier heat wave, where Alaska, which partially enters the Arctic Circle, suffered record high temperatures of over 90°F.
On top of the heat come the storms! Several rounds of severe storms across the Midwest and Great Lakes have knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people and caused widespread damage. There were over 430,000 customers without power Sunday morning (July 21st) across Wisconsin and Michigan. There were more than 240 storm reports just from Saturday (July 20th), and more than 450 storm reports between Friday (July 19th) and Saturday (July 20th). Winds gusted from 70 to 80 mph and brought down numerous tree limbs, and thousands of power lines from South Dakota to Minnesota, and in Wisconsin and Michigan, while also bringing heavy rain, and even hail stones. Cooler weather on Monday and Tuesday will also bring severe storms and heavy rain that could cause flash flooding and produce damaging winds, the National Weather Service (NWS) warned. Inland, strong wind and rain were expected to persist in the Midwest, and a cold front stretching between the Central Plains and the Great Lakes region was forecast to move south. The cold front was expected to carry showers and thunderstorms, which could lead to heavy rainfall and flash flooding in the Midwest.
Hot as Hell?
Both news media and individuals have been uttering analogous quips such as: “It’s as hot as Hell!” … “Hell weekend” … “Hell comes to town!” … “Hell on Earth!” … etc. The human body is very sensitive to heat. We can only take a limited range of temperatures, outside of which we run the risk of dying very quickly. Here are some ‘thumbnail sketches’ of what we can endure—short term and long term. “Short term” typically means a few minutes, because most people can survive even extremes for a few seconds. “Long term” means hours and possibly a day or two. Many people would die before reaching these numbers; they're half-decent estimates of what a healthy person could survive.
Dry air survival: only short term survival is possible at 248+°F (120+°C), or long term at 158+°F (70+°C) with access to water at cooler temperatures.
Tropical air: short term survival in tropical air at 140°F (60+°C), or long term survival at 117°F (47°C) .
Humid air: short term survival is possible in a humid air at 118°F (48°C), or long term survival at 95°F (35°C).
Water: only short term survival without water is possible at 115°F (46°C), or long term survival at 106°F (41°C).
This is an interesting question, and it depends largely on the humidity and time of exposure. Our cells start to die between 106 degrees to 113°F (41 degrees to 45°C), but we can survive much higher air temperatures: a healthy person could make a day trip to Death Valley on one of its hottest days—131°F (55°C) ― and, so long as he avoided dehydration, would probably not die. In fact, he'd probably be safe as long as he had access to water, preferably stored at a temperature lower than 131°F (55°C), because the water would actually be painfully hot to the touch at that point.
What about air temperature? Well, people can survive dry air temperatures well over 248°F (120°C) in the short term. Such levels are achieved in saunas, although most people find it uncomfortable, and the sport of "competitive sauna" is actually quite dangerous, even though people aren't exposed to the 230°F (110°C) heat for more than a few minutes. Higher temperatures probably up to 570°F (300°C) are survivable for short bursts (like, measured in seconds) or with protective clothing but, again, no one would consider that sustainable.
With humid air, the limits are much lower. You can withstand 113°F (45°C) at 100% humidity in the short term (steam room), although you wouldn't last a night in there, but around 122°F (50°C) it becomes acutely fatal (or, at least, dangerous enough that people who expose themselves to such environments are protected), because the water vapor can condense in your lungs. The upper limit on steam room temperatures seems to be about 118°F (48°C), so that's a good working short-term maximum for saturated air. The good news is that you'll virtually never see a dewpoint temperature (i.e. the temperature at which relative humidity would be 100%) over 86°F (30°C) in the wild. 122°F (50°C) and 100% humidity just never occur together (above ground) in a natural setting.
More interesting is the question of what climactic temperatures are sustainable on the scale of hours or days. With enough water, you'd survive 24 hours of exposure to 113°F (45°C) air temperatures ― I still wouldn't recommend it ― but not the 176°F (80°C) of a sauna. For water, we assume that body temperature will reach the environmental temperature and get an upper bound of about 104-105°F (40-41°C). You'd be miserable as hell after 24 hours in a 102°F (39°C) hot tub, but you probably wouldn't die.
In Hell or Purgatory We Will Burn But Will Not Die
St. Augustine believes that even though the souls in Purgatory will be saved, no doubt, after the trial of fire, but that trial will be terrible, that torment of Purgatory will be far more intolerable than all the most excruciating sufferings in this world. St. Thomas goes even further; he maintains that the least pain of Purgatory surpasses all the sufferings of this life, whatsoever they may be. The author of the “Imitation of Christ” explains this doctrine by a practical and striking sentence. Speaking in general of the sufferings of the other life, he says: “There, one hour of torment will be more terrible than a hundred years of rigorous penance done her.”
St. Augustine writes that “the pain of fire will be more grievous to him who shall be saved by fire than anything that man can suffer in this life” (In Psalm 37, P.L. XXXVI, 397.)
St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica, Supplement q. 2, a. 1, re-echoes this teaching: “The least pain of Purgatory is greater than the greatest sufferings of this life. For the more ardently one desires a thing, the greater is the suffering caused by the lack of it. And since the regretful desire with which the holy souls hunger after the supreme Good is most ardent . . . it follows that the suffering arising from this delay (in attaining it) is most intense. Similarly . . . since the whole sensitiveness of the body is rooted in the soul, it follows that a more poignant affliction results from any suffering that directly affects the soul.”
St. Bonaventure writes: “According to the indisputable assertion of the Master of the Sentences (Peter Lombard) and the holy Doctors, even though the reason may not be evident, the sufferings of Purgatory are more severe than any temporal pain endured by the soul during its union with the body.” Thus the slightest suffering in Purgatory will be greater than the most severe punishment inflicted for it on Earth.
If you read Fr. Schouppe’s book, Purgatory Explained, you will read some very sobering passages about Purgatory. One of the things he points out is the fact that the fires of Purgatory are the same fires as those of Hell. The same fire, says Pope St. Gregory the Great, torments the damned and purifies the elect. “Almost all theologians,” says the cardinal, St. Robert Bellarmine, “teach that the damned in Hell and the souls in Purgatory suffer the action of the same fire.” It must be held as certain, writes St. Robert Bellarmine, that there is no proportion between the sufferings of this life and those of Purgatory. St. Catherine of Genoa, in her book on Purgatory, writes: “As to the suffering, it is equal to that of Hell.”
God Wants You to Burn on Earth--Not Hell Nor Purgatory!
The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary show fire bursting forth from their Hearts! Our Lord said to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men … not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must needs spread them abroad … Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive from the greater part of men nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love.” He then speaks of giving her [and us] “a little spark of Its most ardent flames, to serve you as a heart and to consume you up to your last moment!”
That is how our hearts should be―on fire with a love of God: “My heart grew hot within me: and, in my meditation, a fire shall flame out” (Psalm 38:4). “And they said one to the other: ‘Was not our heart burning within us, whilst He [Jesus] spoke in this way, and opened to us the Scriptures?’” (Luke 24:32).
Burn With Love Now―Rather Than Burn With Hatred Later
Our Lord said that He came to cast fire on Earth: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). Each time we say the prayer to the Holy Ghost, we ask Him to “enkindle in us the fire” of His love. That fire within us must be kindled and it must burn brightly—either in this world, or in Purgatory―otherwise we will burn with hatred in Hell―but burn we must, we were made to burn, to burn with love for God, or we will burn with a love for sin. We can only enter Heaven with a raging fire of love in our hearts! Let us pray for the grace to suffer lovingly and joyfully here below, and that fire will not have to be kindled within us in Purgatory.
Sadly, Purgatory is NOT empty. In fact, the common opinion among theologians is that MOST SOULS, of the few that end up going to Heaven, have to pass through the fires of Purgatory. As Scripture says: “There shall not enter into it any thing defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie …” (Apocalypse 21:27). The poor souls in Purgatory could have avoided those fires if they had only taken their life, their spiritual life, much more seriously. Grace and sanctity was not at the top of their shopping-list, nor did they ask Our Lady for the graces they would have needed to avoid being sent to Purgatory.
If we fail to “fire-up” our hearts with a love of God and continue to sin and show indifference, then, as Our Lady of Akita warned, “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
However, before we get carried-away by exaggerated thoughts of “feeling-sorry-for-myself” doom and gloom, let us also remember that joyful and positive outlook of the souls in Purgatory. Another Doctor of the Church, St. Francis de Sales, renowned for his calming and soothing words, says:
“We may draw from the thought of Purgatory more consolation than apprehension. The greater part of those who dread Purgatory so much think more of their own interests than of the interests of God’s glory; this proceeds from the fact that they think only of the sufferings without considering the peace and happiness which are there enjoyed by the holy souls. It is true that the torments are so great that the most acute sufferings of this life bear no comparison to them; but the interior satisfaction which is there enjoyed is such that no prosperity nor contentment upon Earth can equal it.
“The souls are in a continual union with God. They are perfectly resigned to His will, or rather their will is so transformed into that of God, that they cannot will but what God wills; so that if Paradise were to be opened to them, they would precipitate themselves into Hell, rather than appear before God with the stains with which they see themselves disfigured. They purify themselves willingly and lovingly, because such is the Divine good pleasure. They wish to be there in the state wherein God pleases, and as long as it shall please Him. They cannot sin, nor can they experience the least movement of impatience, nor commit the slightest imperfection. They love God more than they love themselves, and more than all things else; they love Him with a perfect, pure, and disinterested love. They are consoled by angels. They are assured of their eternal salvation, and filled with a hope that can never be disappointed in its expectations. Their bitterest anguish is soothed by a certain profound peace. It is a species of Hell as regards the suffering; it is a Paradise as regards the delight infused into their hearts by charity—Charity, stronger than death and more powerful than Hell; Charity, whose lamps are all fire and flame. Happy state! More desirable than appalling, since its flames are flames of love and charity.” (The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, chapter 9).
Such are the teachings of the Saints and the Doctors of Church, from which it follows that, if the pains of Purgatory are rigorous, they are not without consolation. When imposing His cross upon us in this life, God pours upon it the sweetness of His grace, and in purifying the souls in Purgatory like gold in the crucible, He soothes their flames by ineffable consolations.
We must not lose sight of this consoling element, this bright side of the often gloomy picture which we are going to examine. This, as you can see, is the balance between the Justice and Mercy of God—Whose wisdom can do no wrong, nor can He deceive or be deceived. Let us also not deceive ourselves on the probable punishment due to our sins—whether here on Earth (if we are wise to “take the heat” here below) or in Purgatory (if we are foolish enough to refuse paying while still on Earth).
Turning-Up the Heat
Let’s face it―God requires a very high temperature in our souls. You could say that our souls are meant to be “ovens of love.” In fact, the word “oven” is almost identical to the word “love”―both having the letters “O-V-E” with them. Holy Scripture loosely alludes to this when it says: ”As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace: so the Lord trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3)―which fits perfectly with Our Lord’s words: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). To which Scripture adds: “He knoweth my way, and has tried me as gold that passeth through the fire!” (Job 23:10) … “For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:5) … “I will bring them through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined: and I will try them as gold is tried” (Zacharias 13:9)―gold, of course, being a symbol of charity―for as gold is the most precious metal, likewise charity is the most precious virtue. “I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear” (Apocalypse 3:18).
Dead Man Experiences the Heat Wave of Purgatory and Comes Back to Tell-The-Tale
There was in Northumberland (northern England) a man named Drithelm, who, with his family, led a most Christian life. He fell sick, and his malady increasing day by day, he was soon reduced to extremity, and died, to the great desolation and grief of his wife and children. The latter passed the night in tears by the remains, but the following day, before his interment, they saw him suddenly return to life, arise, and place himself in a sitting posture. At this sight they were seized with such fear that they all took to flight, with the exception of the wife, who, trembling, remained alone with her risen husband. He reassured her immediately:
“Fear not,” he said; “it is God who restores to me my life; He wishes to show in my person a man raised from the dead. I have yet long to live upon Earth, but my new life will be very different from the one I led heretofore.”
A Changed Man
Then he arose full of health, went straight to the chapel or church of the place, and there remained long in prayer. He returned home only to take leave of those who had been dear to him upon Earth, to whom he declared that he would live only to prepare himself for death, and advised them to do likewise. Then, having divided his property into three parts, he gave one to his children, another to his wife, and reserved the third part to give in alms.
When he had distributed all to the poor, and had reduced himself to extreme indigence, he went and knocked at the door of a monastery, and begged the Abbot to receive him as a penitent Religious, who would be a servant to all the others.
Dies to the World
The Abbot gave him a retired cell, which he occupied for the rest of his life. Three exercises divided his time — prayer; the hardest labor; and extraordinary penances. The most rigorous fasts he accounted as nothing. In winter he was seen to plunge himself into frozen water, and remain there for hours and hours in prayer, whilst he recited the entire 150 Psalms from the Psalter of David.
The mortified life of Drithelm, his downcast eyes, even his features, indicated a soul struck with fear of the judgments of God. He kept a perpetual silence, but on being pressed to relate, for the edification of others, what God had manifested to him after his death, he thus described his vision:
Drithelm’s Account of What Happened After His Death
On leaving my body, I was received by a benevolent person, who took me under his guidance. His face was brilliant, and he appeared surrounded with light. He arrived at a large deep valley of immense extent, all fire on one side, all ice and snow on the other; on the one hand braziers and cauldrons of flame, on the other the most intense cold and the blast of a glacial wind.
This mysterious valley was filled with innumerable souls, which, tossed as by a furious tempest, threw themselves from one side to the other. When they could no longer endure the violence of the fire, they sought relief amidst the ice and snow; but finding only a new torture, they cast themselves again into the midst of the flames.
I contemplated in a stupor these continual vicissitudes of horrible torments, and as far as my sight could extend, I saw nothing but a multitude of souls which suffered without ever having repose. Their very aspect inspired me with fear. I thought at first that I saw Hell; but my guide, who walked before me, turned to me and said:
“No; this is not, as you think, the Hell of the reprobate. Do you know,” he continued, “what place this is?”
“No,” I answered.
“Know,” he resumed, “that this valley, where you see so much fire and so much ice, is the place where the souls of those are punished who, during life, have neglected to confess their sins, and who have deferred their conversion to the end. Thanks to a special mercy of God, they have had the happiness of sincerely repenting before death, of confessing and detesting their sins. This is why they are not damned, and on the great Day of Judgment will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Several of them will obtain their deliverance before that time, by the merits of prayers, alms, and fasts, offered in their favor by the living, and especially in virtue of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for their relief.”
Drithhelm Turns Up the Heat by a Life of Severe Penance
Such was the recital of Drithelm. When asked why he so rudely treated his body, why he plunged himself into frozen water, he replied that he had seen other torments, and cold of another kind.
If his brethren expressed astonishment that he could endure these extraordinary austerities, “I have seen,” said he, “penances still more astonishing.” To the day when it pleased God to call him to Himself, he ceased not to afflict his body, and although broken down with age, he would accept no alleviation.
This event produced a deep sensation in England; a great number of sinners, touched by the words of Drithelm, and struck by the austerity of his life, became sincerely converted.
This fact, adds Bellarmine, appears to me of incontestable truth, since, besides being conformable to the words of Holy Scripture, “Let him pass from the snow waters to excessive heat” (Job 24:19). The Venerable St. Bede relates it as a recent and well-known event. More than this, it was followed by the conversion of a great number of sinners, the sign of the work of God, who is accustomed to work prodigies in order to produce fruit in souls.
Moral of the Story
Here ends the account of Drithelm’s life as related by St. Robert Bellarmine and the Venerable St. Bede. We can all relate to Drithelm somewhat, and we could all do with re-adjusting our sense of values regarding the after-life and the great seriousness with which we should be trying to pursue our goal of salvation. Drithelm was probably like most people today, living a life that he thought was ‘good’—which it may have been in his own eyes, but “not good enough” in the eyes of God, Whose ways and judgments are not the ways and judgments of men.
This month of the Precious Blood gives us the example of the degree of love with which we should “burn”― “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) … “God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son” (John 3:16) … “The Son of God loved me and delivered Himself for me!” (Galatians 2:20) … “He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed!” (Isaias 53:5) … “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world!” Galatians 1:4). Let us use this month of the Precious Blood as reminder of His love for us and as a springboard to spark (re-ignite) our love for God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Let us use this month as a wake-up call to changing and improving our own lives, so that we become holy in this life, rather than in the fires of Purgatory after this short life is over. Drithelm—pray for us!
A Change of Heart
God will always help anybody improve—whether it be someone who has sinned a lot, or someone who has sinned little. The one thing that God will not do, is “lower the bar” for entry into Heaven. What is the “going-rate” or “minimum-price” for a ticket to Heaven? “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). “What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways, and love Him, and serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12). ”Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind!” (Luke 10:27). “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment!’” (Matthew 22:37-38).
God does not change, nor does truth change, nor do the requirements for Heaven change. God could well ask us: “Is thy heart right as My Heart is with thy heart?” (4 Kings 10:15). “Woe to them that are of a double heart and to the sinner that goeth on the Earth two ways!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:14). “A heart that goeth two ways shall not have success!” (Ecclesiasticus 3:28). “Set not thy heart upon unjust possessions!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:1). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21). “Follow not the desires of thy heart!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:2). “For from the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “This people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!” (Isaias 29:13). “In the perverseness of their heart, they have gone after strange gods to serve them and to adore them … whose heart departeth from the Lord” (Jeremias 13:10; 17:5). “Return to Him, and obey His commandments with all thy heart, and with all thy soul!” (Deuteronomy 30:2). “If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to My Name, saith the Lord of hosts: I will send poverty upon you, and will curse your blessings, yea I will curse them, because you have not laid it to heart!” (Malachias 2:2).
Time for a New Heart and a Hot Heart
“Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart” (Ezechiel 18:31). “Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning” (Joel 2:12). “I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26).
There are two chief ways to enkindle in your heart the fire of love―one way is by the frequent reception of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus in Holy Communion (and on days when you cannot make it to Mass, then make a spiritual Communion at least once, if not several times, each day). There is nothing more powerful and nothing more efficacious than the presence of God Himself in the Holy Eucharist―for “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and God is in the Holy Eucharist―therefore charity is present in the Holy Eucharist―limitless, inexhaustible charity.
The other way, is by MEDITATING the mysteries of the Holy Rosary. St. Louis de Montfort tells that MEDITATING the Rosary can set our hearts on fire with love: “The Rosary, recited with the meditation of the mysteries, brings about the following marvelous results: … [one of which is] … It sets us on fire with the love of Our Lord” (The Secret of the Rosary, “Twenty-Seventh Rose”). They are fifteen flaming torches to guide our steps throughout this earthly life; fifteen shining mirrors to help us to know Jesus and Mary, to know ourselves and to light the fire of their love in our hearts” (The Secret of the Rosary, “Twenty-First-Rose”).
So crank-up the heat in that “hot-air-balloon” that is your soul. Without that heat your balloon―like a chicken―will barely get off the ground of this Earth, never mind imagining flying high through the sky to Heaven!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Thursday July 18th & Friday July 19th
Article 9
O Dear! O Dear! O Dear!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
July is also the month of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Here are some links to help you learn of her and honor her.
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Article 9
O Dear! O Dear! O Dear!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
July is also the month of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Here are some links to help you learn of her and honor her.
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Clueless about Death and Dying
In this month of the Precious Blood and Brown Scapular, it is appropriate to reflect a little on death and dying―for the Precious Blood is essentially all about Christ laying down His life for us by shedding His Blood, and the Brown Scapular also speaks of death in the sense that its promise speaks of a person dying clothed with the Scapular. Benjamin Franklin famously quipped that the only certainties in life are death and taxes. Today, most people could justifiably add, “and I don’t understand either of them.”
A recent United Kingdom poll by the Academy of Medical Sciences showed that the majority of people are clueless about the realities of death and dying―and that is merely from a merely secular, non-religious, natural, physical point of view. Around 6 in 10 respondents admitted they knew little or nothing about what happens in the final hours before death. Professor Robert Lechler, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said: “It is both striking and worrying that six in ten people feel they know very little or nothing about what happens to a person at the end of life, despite half of people having been with someone when they died. Not knowing what may happen to a loved one as they die, can exacerbate fears at the hardest times of our life.” Furthermore, and surprisingly, 50% of those who admitted ignorance, also said that they had been present with someone in their last moments of life! The Academy of Medical Sciences stated that many people avoid talking about death and dying because the subjects have almost become taboo subjects in Western society. In fact, 35% of the people, questioned in the survey, refused to answer any questions.
The survey uncovered that only 42% of respondents said they turn to friends or family for information about death and end-of-life care, while just 22% said they would most likely ask medical professionals for information. Roughly the same percentage (20%) of people said they get their information on death from documentaries, and 16% said they get their information from fictionalized TV shows and films. Professor Lesly Fallowfield of the Academy of Medical Sciences member and professor at the University of Sussex, said in the statement. “TV and films rarely ever depict ‘normal’ deaths. For many individuals, death is a gentle, peaceful and pain-free event. Although grieving the loss of loved ones can be a difficult process, some people do speak about their loved one’s death as having been a positive experience. We need to demystify death and talk about it more.” The Academy launched a national awareness campaign on the subject of death and dying, in order to try and educate people more on these matters.
If people are so clueless about just the natural, physical, biological side of death―how much more ignorant are they on the spiritual, supernatural and religious aspect of death and dying? How well prepared are they? Do they ever think about it and make early, timely and careful plans for it? It seems as this is just as taboo a subject religiously as it is secularly! This is, no doubt, down to the fact that death and what follows is such a scary, uncertain, frightening phenomenon―for nobody has personal experience of it and nobody (or few) have come back to tell us about it!
Cluelessness in Small Things Leads to Cluelessness in Big Things
Our Lord says: “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater!” (Luke 16:10). Conversely, you could say that he who is clueless about little things will end up being clueless about great things. Dumbness usually starts during childhood, when a child prefers other things to study and learning―that bad habit merely grows and is applied to many more things in life. “It is a proverb: A young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). You could also apply the following words of Scripture: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). If you plant seeds of study, you will reap a tree of knowledge―but if you plant seeds of frivolity and fun, you will reap cluelessness.
Nobody can know everything, yet there are some things that are elementary and everyone should strive to know them. For instance, knowing how to read, write and speak correctly. Let us not forget that Our Lady told Lucia of Fatima to learn how to read and write correctly. Today, even though a greater percentage of the world is literate (which means being able to read and write)―the level of reading and writing is very poor overall. This is why the media (TV, internet, news channels, etc.) deliberately keep their vocabulary down to a child’s level―aiming somewhere between 5th and 8th Grade for the mostpart, except for specialized reports. That is why words are short and sentences are short. Long gone are the sentences that could contain upwards of 40 or 50 words―as in the Victorian era. Modern technology―such as texting―now sees short words reduced even further to mere letters standing for a word―as IMHO (in my humble opinion), or W2W4 (what to watch for), or ?4U (I have a question for you), or @TEOTD (At the end of the day), etc. Soon, perhaps, it will all be reduced to mere grunts and groans. While we may be becoming more “intechligent”―at the same time we are becoming less intelligent―technology (artificial intelligence) is taking over our intelligence.
How Dumb Can You Get?
Here is selection of prime examples of the latest depths of “dumbness” or cluelessness into which modern man has fallen―you could almost apply to them the words of Our Lord, when He said: “Leave them alone: they are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
An after-dinner-speaker, who charges high fees for appearances, habitually starts many of his talks with the opening line of “You are all hopelessly clueless!” When members of the audience were asked if they felt insulted, most replied along the lines of “Well, it’s not really me he’s dissing, but the losers sitting next to me.” No one, it seems, thinks of themselves as clueless, but everyone around them falls short in the “clued-in” department. One could only imagine what would happen if the speaker took things one step further, and, instead of addressing the people generally, he would say: “You are all hopelessly clueless! I know you all believe what I just said doesn’t apply to each of you personally―but it does! You!” ― he’d say pointing at some hapless lady in the front row ― “and you and you and you” ― pointing at others in the audience ― “you are all mind-numbingly clueless!”
The following facts and figures come from a variety of different articles that show―to a greater or lesser degree―the cluelessness of many people in the modern world of today.
According to a survey, 21% (around 1 in 5) believe that a U.F.O. landed in Roswell, New Mexico, nearly seven decades ago and that the federal government hushed it up.
Also 14% (3 in 20) believe in Bigfoot―human-like giants, ape-like creatures, roughly 9 feet tall, with enormous footprints― as large as 24 inches (60 cm) long and 8 inches―for which the creatures are named.
According to another survey, about 65% percent of Americans can’t name a single Supreme Court justice.
Polls over the last few years have variously shown that about 30% (around 1 in 3) couldn’t name the vice president, about 35% (around 1 in 3) couldn’t assign the proper century to the American Revolution and 6% (around 1 in 17) couldn’t circle the date for Independence Day on a calendar.
Most Americans would flunk the citizenship test that immigrants must pass―they mostly gloss over their ignorance or deny it.
In 2014, PoliTech, a student group at Texas Tech University, went around campus and asked three questions: “Who won the Civil War?”, “Who is our vice president?” and “Who did we gain our independence from?” The university students’ answers ranged from a guessed questioning “the South?” for the first question to “I have no idea” for all three of them. University education is classified as “higher education”―then what the heck is the level of the “lower educated”?
This lack of knowledge in American history is not limited to college students. Studies over the years show Americans of all ages fail to answer the most simple of questions. A 2008 study by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which surveyed more than 2,500 Americans, found that only half of adults in the country could name the three branches of government.
Seventeen years ago, in a 2002 National Geographic Society survey, Americans took second to last place. They averaged a slim 23 out of 56 questions. The survey interviewed 3,250 young adults, aged 18 to 24, in nine countries―the United States, Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Great Britain and Japan. Americans’ dismal performance was not that different from responses by young people in eight other nations, especially Canada and Britain, and was slightly better than last-ranked Mexico, the survey found. Young adults in Sweden, Germany and Italy ranked highest, answering about 70 percent of questions correctly, followed in descending order by France, Japan and Britain. Young Canadians, Americans and Mexicans gave the right answer on fewer than half the questions, the survey found.
20% (1 in 5) of young Americans couldn’t find the United States on a blank map, according to a similar survey by NGS. Fortunately, Americans have found a compass to point them in the right direction. As of 2002, the statistic dropped to 10% (1 in 10).
More young Americans are familiar with the island on TV’s "Survivor" than with Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq or Israel, a National Geographic survey has reported. In the aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the “Twin Towers”, only 17% (around 1 in 6) of U.S. young people could find Afghanistan on a world map, though it had been in the news almost constantly since the attacks. Just one in every seven young Americans could locate Iraq or Iran on a map of the Middle East and Asia.
Israel was tough for Americans to find -- only 14% (around 1 in 7) could locate it on a regional map -- though the worldwide response was not much better. In no country, among the nine countries surveyed, could more than half of young adults locate it. The average was less than 25% (1 in 4).
Worldwide, only three in 10 young people could find the Pacific Ocean, which covers 33% of the Earth. Seven in 10 Americans could correctly locate it. By contrast, 34% (almost 4 in 10) of young Americans knew that the island used for the last season of the television show "Survivor" was in the South Pacific.
Many young Americans had an exaggerated image of America’s population, with 30% estimating the U.S. population to be 1 billion to 2 billion, or roughly one-seventh to almost one-third of the world’s population.
More Cluelessness
A TV talk show took to the streets to interview the average man and woman on the street. One was asked: “Can you name a country that begins with the letter ‘U’?” What does the man say? “Yugoslavia!” By the way―in case you didn’t notice when just reading his answer to the question―Yugoslavia does not begin with the letter ‘U’ but with the letter ‘Y’! Talk about clueless! Other people who were asked the same question, came up with answers like “Utopia” and “Utah”. When the host of the talk show drops the bomb on what the simplest answer is―everyone finally feels at least a little stupid for their answers―because the “United States of America” does begin with the letter ‘U’. Of course, there’s also Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates―but hey “USA! USA!”―it’s on the end of your nose and underneath your feet!
In the same street interviews, a young woman from Arkansas was asked how many oceans there are. The answer, to start, is four. Historically anyway. The Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic. Though the United States has decreed that there is a fifth ocean called the Southern Ocean―which starts from the coast of Antarctica. But that’s not the important thing here. No, the main point here is that the woman states she’s only ever been to one ocean. Do you know which it was? It was the Pacific Ocean―when she went to Florida!!! Now, perhaps you’re aware of this, but Florida is on the exact opposite side of the U.S. from the Pacific Ocean, and borders onto the Atlantic Ocean!!
Another person was asked where the Berlin Wall was. Now, in case any of you are dumb enough to catch that―it’s in BERLIN! Duh? The interviewer actually tells the man where the wall is. The man remained completely silent for a significant amount of time. When he did answer―he says Israel!
A lady was asked how many Great Lakes there are. One cannot begin to understand how she came up with this answer, but this young lady decided that there are about 100 Great Lakes. Now, there are thousands of lakes in the world, but the talk show host was probably referring to the lakes in North America known as The Great Lakes. When asked to name even one of the apparently 100 lakes, all she could say was “The Great Lake”. In case you didn’t know, there are only five Great Lakes. Michigan, Erie, Huron, Ontario, and Superior. That’s a much smaller number than this girl gave.
Every American reader is (or should be) aware that the “D.C.” in Washington D.C. stands for ‘District of Columbia’. Obviously you all know that. Right? You must. Because it’s pretty important to know that your own capital isn’t even a state! But this woman, who was hanging out at the boardwalk somewhere on the coast, figures that it stands for Dominican Republic. Now, that’s a whole other country! Perhaps you don’t know this―but Republic doesn’t start with the letter “C”. So it’s very confusing as to how she came up with this answer. Someone else gave an even stranger answer to this question.
Who knew that South Korea was so small in comparison to North Korea!? How so? Well, it’s because a man, asked to show South Korea on a blank map, points at the little island of Tasmania (South of Australia) and calls it South Korea. And what country did he flag as North Korea? Australia! AUSTRALIA! That’s not only a country―it’s its own continent! How could you possibly mess that up? To be fair, the man holding up the map, had purposely labeled Australia as North Korea―but who was stupid enough to actually think that was true. It’s amazing and depressing to know that there are people who will look at a map, see the name, and just assume it’s right.
Another woman was asked about what countries make up the United Kingdom. She’s also asked what currency is used there. She could answer either of these questions. What is the answer? England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales (and a couple of scattered commonwealths and colonies that aren’t technically a part of the kingdom). And what’s the currency? Well, I guess she’s not historically wrong, but she states “Queen Elizabeth’s money”―whereas it is the British Pound or Pound Sterling.
The next question seems to have a pretty clear answer―right? Where is the Panama Canal? Well, a good guess is that it might be in a place like Panama, right? Wrong apparently. One young man does start off almost right. He asks if it’s in a place called Panama―but then he immediately stops himself, says no, and then states that it’s actually in the USA! He should have gone with his first instinct. Then he claims that the canal is named after some guy named Panama. He’s also asked where the Canal goes from. His answer is amazing. Remember, this is a kid who said that the Panama Canal is in the United States. So he says that the canal goes from Panama to France! I guess he forgot about the Atlantic Ocean between the U.S. and France.
The next question is probably the most ignorant answer in the entire article. This guy here is definitely old enough to have heard at some point that the United States dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. It’s what ended Japan’s part in the Second World War, after the Germans surrendered. Nuking thousands of people is pretty significant. And this guy says that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are well known for “Judo-wrestling”! First of all, Judo-wrestling isn’t a thing at all! He probably means SUMO wrestling. Judo is its own martial art.
Another question was: “Can you name just one country in Europe?” Like...France, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania and all the others that make up the 44 countries of Europe. This woman could not name a single one. She just gave up. She didn’t give a single guess!
Another TV talk show host revealed just how clueless many Americans are when it comes to the rest of the world. He sent one of the show’s producers out onto the streets of Los Angeles armed with a world map, a pointer and a simple question for passers-by: Name and identify any country on the map. Not a specific country, mind you. Literally any country whatsoever. The results are truly shocking: Time and again, everyday Americans faltered at this basic test. Some at least displayed some degree of geographical knowledge, identifying continents like Africa or Asia before being reminded that those are not, in fact, countries. “Who on earth knows stuff like that?” one woman complained when asked to name and identify a single country in Africa. One man took a shot at identifying “Greenland or Iceland or something” — only to be told it was the US state of Alaska. Then there was the cheerful young woman who couldn’t even identify America on a map, pointing instead to Russia. “Can you name any country in Europe?” the producer asked her. “Is this one Europe?” she asked, pointing to Australia and then Africa. “Did you go to high school? Did you go to college?” the producer asked. “Yeah … that’s the sad part!” she replied with a shrug.
From Secular Cluelessness to Religious Cluelessness
No doubt someone will conduct another survey on the general religious knowledge of Americans to update a survey done in 2010. The survey was a first-time study of its type. In that particular survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, it was discovered that atheists, agnostics and Jews knew more about religion in general, than those who are active, practicing Christians. Among Christians, only Mormons scored nearly as many correct answers.
The 2010 U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey, by the Pew Forum, on Religion & Public Life asked about U.S. laws affecting religion and about key figures and beliefs of major religions. Of those surveyed, at least two-thirds knew that public school teachers cannot legally lead a class in prayer; that Mother Teresa was Catholic; that Moses was the Bible figure who led the Exodus from Egypt; that Jesus was born in Bethlehem; and that most people in Pakistan are Muslim.
However, less than 50% answered correctly that only Protestants, not Catholics, teach that salvation comes through faith alone; or that public school teachers are legally permitted to read from the Bible in class but only as an example of literature and not in order to teach religion.
Pew Forum’s senior researcher, Gregory Smith, said: “The survey clearly demonstrates that there is an awful lot of important stuff people are ignorant about!” In a panel discussion, Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for the “NewsHour” on PBS, pointed out the hypocrisy of people being ready to go to war demanding the posting of the Ten Commandments, yet they themselves don’t even know all the Ten Commandments.
White Catholics scored about the same as the national population as a whole on the 32-question survey, getting an average of half the questions right. Hispanic Catholics came in at the bottom of the breakouts by faith group, averaging 11.6 correct answers. Atheists and agnostics averaged 20.9 correct answers, Jews averaged 20.5 correct and Mormons averaged 20.3 correct. White evangelical Protestants averaged 17.6 correct answers, white mainline Protestants scored 15.8 correct, those with no particular religious affiliation got 15.2 correct and black Protestants averaged 13.4 right answers.
Catholics did badly on a key question of Catholic theology, however. Only 55% could correctly state the Church teaching on transubstantiation―which means that the bread and wine used during Holy Mass, become the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ during the consecration. About 40% of all faiths got that question right.
Likewise, Catholics performed badly on the seven questions about the Bible, averaging 3.8 correct. Only 42% knew that Genesis was the first book of the Bible; only 55% knew that it was Abraham who was asked by God to sacrifice his son; and a meager 33% could name Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as the four authors of the Gospels; and only 25% identified Job as the character who remained faithful despite great trials.
About half of Protestants (53%) cannot correctly identify Martin Luther as the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation, which made their religion a separate branch of Christianity. Roughly four-in-ten Jews (43%) do not recognize that Maimonides, one of the most venerated rabbis in history, was Jewish.
In addition, fewer than half of Americans (47%) know that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist. Fewer than four-in-ten (38%) correctly associate Vishnu and Shiva with Hinduism. And only about a quarter of all Americans (27%) correctly answer that most people in Indonesia – the country with the world’s largest Muslim population – are Muslims.
Pew Forum’s senior researcher, Gregory Smith, said the No. 1 predictor of how well people did on the study was their level of education, with college graduates and those with higher degrees averaging more than 20 of the 32 questions right. Those who took some kind of a religious studies course in college did the best, averaging 22.1 questions right. On the other hand, having attended a religious school as a child seems to have had less of an impact on someone scoring well, than that they were in a private school at all. Graduates of private religious schools averaged 17.8 correct answers, compared with 18.5 correct answers for graduates of private nonreligious schools and 15.5 correct for graduates of public schools.
In this month of the Precious Blood and Brown Scapular, it is appropriate to reflect a little on death and dying―for the Precious Blood is essentially all about Christ laying down His life for us by shedding His Blood, and the Brown Scapular also speaks of death in the sense that its promise speaks of a person dying clothed with the Scapular. Benjamin Franklin famously quipped that the only certainties in life are death and taxes. Today, most people could justifiably add, “and I don’t understand either of them.”
A recent United Kingdom poll by the Academy of Medical Sciences showed that the majority of people are clueless about the realities of death and dying―and that is merely from a merely secular, non-religious, natural, physical point of view. Around 6 in 10 respondents admitted they knew little or nothing about what happens in the final hours before death. Professor Robert Lechler, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said: “It is both striking and worrying that six in ten people feel they know very little or nothing about what happens to a person at the end of life, despite half of people having been with someone when they died. Not knowing what may happen to a loved one as they die, can exacerbate fears at the hardest times of our life.” Furthermore, and surprisingly, 50% of those who admitted ignorance, also said that they had been present with someone in their last moments of life! The Academy of Medical Sciences stated that many people avoid talking about death and dying because the subjects have almost become taboo subjects in Western society. In fact, 35% of the people, questioned in the survey, refused to answer any questions.
The survey uncovered that only 42% of respondents said they turn to friends or family for information about death and end-of-life care, while just 22% said they would most likely ask medical professionals for information. Roughly the same percentage (20%) of people said they get their information on death from documentaries, and 16% said they get their information from fictionalized TV shows and films. Professor Lesly Fallowfield of the Academy of Medical Sciences member and professor at the University of Sussex, said in the statement. “TV and films rarely ever depict ‘normal’ deaths. For many individuals, death is a gentle, peaceful and pain-free event. Although grieving the loss of loved ones can be a difficult process, some people do speak about their loved one’s death as having been a positive experience. We need to demystify death and talk about it more.” The Academy launched a national awareness campaign on the subject of death and dying, in order to try and educate people more on these matters.
If people are so clueless about just the natural, physical, biological side of death―how much more ignorant are they on the spiritual, supernatural and religious aspect of death and dying? How well prepared are they? Do they ever think about it and make early, timely and careful plans for it? It seems as this is just as taboo a subject religiously as it is secularly! This is, no doubt, down to the fact that death and what follows is such a scary, uncertain, frightening phenomenon―for nobody has personal experience of it and nobody (or few) have come back to tell us about it!
Cluelessness in Small Things Leads to Cluelessness in Big Things
Our Lord says: “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater!” (Luke 16:10). Conversely, you could say that he who is clueless about little things will end up being clueless about great things. Dumbness usually starts during childhood, when a child prefers other things to study and learning―that bad habit merely grows and is applied to many more things in life. “It is a proverb: A young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). You could also apply the following words of Scripture: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). If you plant seeds of study, you will reap a tree of knowledge―but if you plant seeds of frivolity and fun, you will reap cluelessness.
Nobody can know everything, yet there are some things that are elementary and everyone should strive to know them. For instance, knowing how to read, write and speak correctly. Let us not forget that Our Lady told Lucia of Fatima to learn how to read and write correctly. Today, even though a greater percentage of the world is literate (which means being able to read and write)―the level of reading and writing is very poor overall. This is why the media (TV, internet, news channels, etc.) deliberately keep their vocabulary down to a child’s level―aiming somewhere between 5th and 8th Grade for the mostpart, except for specialized reports. That is why words are short and sentences are short. Long gone are the sentences that could contain upwards of 40 or 50 words―as in the Victorian era. Modern technology―such as texting―now sees short words reduced even further to mere letters standing for a word―as IMHO (in my humble opinion), or W2W4 (what to watch for), or ?4U (I have a question for you), or @TEOTD (At the end of the day), etc. Soon, perhaps, it will all be reduced to mere grunts and groans. While we may be becoming more “intechligent”―at the same time we are becoming less intelligent―technology (artificial intelligence) is taking over our intelligence.
How Dumb Can You Get?
Here is selection of prime examples of the latest depths of “dumbness” or cluelessness into which modern man has fallen―you could almost apply to them the words of Our Lord, when He said: “Leave them alone: they are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
An after-dinner-speaker, who charges high fees for appearances, habitually starts many of his talks with the opening line of “You are all hopelessly clueless!” When members of the audience were asked if they felt insulted, most replied along the lines of “Well, it’s not really me he’s dissing, but the losers sitting next to me.” No one, it seems, thinks of themselves as clueless, but everyone around them falls short in the “clued-in” department. One could only imagine what would happen if the speaker took things one step further, and, instead of addressing the people generally, he would say: “You are all hopelessly clueless! I know you all believe what I just said doesn’t apply to each of you personally―but it does! You!” ― he’d say pointing at some hapless lady in the front row ― “and you and you and you” ― pointing at others in the audience ― “you are all mind-numbingly clueless!”
The following facts and figures come from a variety of different articles that show―to a greater or lesser degree―the cluelessness of many people in the modern world of today.
According to a survey, 21% (around 1 in 5) believe that a U.F.O. landed in Roswell, New Mexico, nearly seven decades ago and that the federal government hushed it up.
Also 14% (3 in 20) believe in Bigfoot―human-like giants, ape-like creatures, roughly 9 feet tall, with enormous footprints― as large as 24 inches (60 cm) long and 8 inches―for which the creatures are named.
According to another survey, about 65% percent of Americans can’t name a single Supreme Court justice.
Polls over the last few years have variously shown that about 30% (around 1 in 3) couldn’t name the vice president, about 35% (around 1 in 3) couldn’t assign the proper century to the American Revolution and 6% (around 1 in 17) couldn’t circle the date for Independence Day on a calendar.
Most Americans would flunk the citizenship test that immigrants must pass―they mostly gloss over their ignorance or deny it.
In 2014, PoliTech, a student group at Texas Tech University, went around campus and asked three questions: “Who won the Civil War?”, “Who is our vice president?” and “Who did we gain our independence from?” The university students’ answers ranged from a guessed questioning “the South?” for the first question to “I have no idea” for all three of them. University education is classified as “higher education”―then what the heck is the level of the “lower educated”?
This lack of knowledge in American history is not limited to college students. Studies over the years show Americans of all ages fail to answer the most simple of questions. A 2008 study by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which surveyed more than 2,500 Americans, found that only half of adults in the country could name the three branches of government.
Seventeen years ago, in a 2002 National Geographic Society survey, Americans took second to last place. They averaged a slim 23 out of 56 questions. The survey interviewed 3,250 young adults, aged 18 to 24, in nine countries―the United States, Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Great Britain and Japan. Americans’ dismal performance was not that different from responses by young people in eight other nations, especially Canada and Britain, and was slightly better than last-ranked Mexico, the survey found. Young adults in Sweden, Germany and Italy ranked highest, answering about 70 percent of questions correctly, followed in descending order by France, Japan and Britain. Young Canadians, Americans and Mexicans gave the right answer on fewer than half the questions, the survey found.
20% (1 in 5) of young Americans couldn’t find the United States on a blank map, according to a similar survey by NGS. Fortunately, Americans have found a compass to point them in the right direction. As of 2002, the statistic dropped to 10% (1 in 10).
More young Americans are familiar with the island on TV’s "Survivor" than with Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq or Israel, a National Geographic survey has reported. In the aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the “Twin Towers”, only 17% (around 1 in 6) of U.S. young people could find Afghanistan on a world map, though it had been in the news almost constantly since the attacks. Just one in every seven young Americans could locate Iraq or Iran on a map of the Middle East and Asia.
Israel was tough for Americans to find -- only 14% (around 1 in 7) could locate it on a regional map -- though the worldwide response was not much better. In no country, among the nine countries surveyed, could more than half of young adults locate it. The average was less than 25% (1 in 4).
Worldwide, only three in 10 young people could find the Pacific Ocean, which covers 33% of the Earth. Seven in 10 Americans could correctly locate it. By contrast, 34% (almost 4 in 10) of young Americans knew that the island used for the last season of the television show "Survivor" was in the South Pacific.
Many young Americans had an exaggerated image of America’s population, with 30% estimating the U.S. population to be 1 billion to 2 billion, or roughly one-seventh to almost one-third of the world’s population.
More Cluelessness
A TV talk show took to the streets to interview the average man and woman on the street. One was asked: “Can you name a country that begins with the letter ‘U’?” What does the man say? “Yugoslavia!” By the way―in case you didn’t notice when just reading his answer to the question―Yugoslavia does not begin with the letter ‘U’ but with the letter ‘Y’! Talk about clueless! Other people who were asked the same question, came up with answers like “Utopia” and “Utah”. When the host of the talk show drops the bomb on what the simplest answer is―everyone finally feels at least a little stupid for their answers―because the “United States of America” does begin with the letter ‘U’. Of course, there’s also Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates―but hey “USA! USA!”―it’s on the end of your nose and underneath your feet!
In the same street interviews, a young woman from Arkansas was asked how many oceans there are. The answer, to start, is four. Historically anyway. The Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic. Though the United States has decreed that there is a fifth ocean called the Southern Ocean―which starts from the coast of Antarctica. But that’s not the important thing here. No, the main point here is that the woman states she’s only ever been to one ocean. Do you know which it was? It was the Pacific Ocean―when she went to Florida!!! Now, perhaps you’re aware of this, but Florida is on the exact opposite side of the U.S. from the Pacific Ocean, and borders onto the Atlantic Ocean!!
Another person was asked where the Berlin Wall was. Now, in case any of you are dumb enough to catch that―it’s in BERLIN! Duh? The interviewer actually tells the man where the wall is. The man remained completely silent for a significant amount of time. When he did answer―he says Israel!
A lady was asked how many Great Lakes there are. One cannot begin to understand how she came up with this answer, but this young lady decided that there are about 100 Great Lakes. Now, there are thousands of lakes in the world, but the talk show host was probably referring to the lakes in North America known as The Great Lakes. When asked to name even one of the apparently 100 lakes, all she could say was “The Great Lake”. In case you didn’t know, there are only five Great Lakes. Michigan, Erie, Huron, Ontario, and Superior. That’s a much smaller number than this girl gave.
Every American reader is (or should be) aware that the “D.C.” in Washington D.C. stands for ‘District of Columbia’. Obviously you all know that. Right? You must. Because it’s pretty important to know that your own capital isn’t even a state! But this woman, who was hanging out at the boardwalk somewhere on the coast, figures that it stands for Dominican Republic. Now, that’s a whole other country! Perhaps you don’t know this―but Republic doesn’t start with the letter “C”. So it’s very confusing as to how she came up with this answer. Someone else gave an even stranger answer to this question.
Who knew that South Korea was so small in comparison to North Korea!? How so? Well, it’s because a man, asked to show South Korea on a blank map, points at the little island of Tasmania (South of Australia) and calls it South Korea. And what country did he flag as North Korea? Australia! AUSTRALIA! That’s not only a country―it’s its own continent! How could you possibly mess that up? To be fair, the man holding up the map, had purposely labeled Australia as North Korea―but who was stupid enough to actually think that was true. It’s amazing and depressing to know that there are people who will look at a map, see the name, and just assume it’s right.
Another woman was asked about what countries make up the United Kingdom. She’s also asked what currency is used there. She could answer either of these questions. What is the answer? England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales (and a couple of scattered commonwealths and colonies that aren’t technically a part of the kingdom). And what’s the currency? Well, I guess she’s not historically wrong, but she states “Queen Elizabeth’s money”―whereas it is the British Pound or Pound Sterling.
The next question seems to have a pretty clear answer―right? Where is the Panama Canal? Well, a good guess is that it might be in a place like Panama, right? Wrong apparently. One young man does start off almost right. He asks if it’s in a place called Panama―but then he immediately stops himself, says no, and then states that it’s actually in the USA! He should have gone with his first instinct. Then he claims that the canal is named after some guy named Panama. He’s also asked where the Canal goes from. His answer is amazing. Remember, this is a kid who said that the Panama Canal is in the United States. So he says that the canal goes from Panama to France! I guess he forgot about the Atlantic Ocean between the U.S. and France.
The next question is probably the most ignorant answer in the entire article. This guy here is definitely old enough to have heard at some point that the United States dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. It’s what ended Japan’s part in the Second World War, after the Germans surrendered. Nuking thousands of people is pretty significant. And this guy says that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are well known for “Judo-wrestling”! First of all, Judo-wrestling isn’t a thing at all! He probably means SUMO wrestling. Judo is its own martial art.
Another question was: “Can you name just one country in Europe?” Like...France, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania and all the others that make up the 44 countries of Europe. This woman could not name a single one. She just gave up. She didn’t give a single guess!
Another TV talk show host revealed just how clueless many Americans are when it comes to the rest of the world. He sent one of the show’s producers out onto the streets of Los Angeles armed with a world map, a pointer and a simple question for passers-by: Name and identify any country on the map. Not a specific country, mind you. Literally any country whatsoever. The results are truly shocking: Time and again, everyday Americans faltered at this basic test. Some at least displayed some degree of geographical knowledge, identifying continents like Africa or Asia before being reminded that those are not, in fact, countries. “Who on earth knows stuff like that?” one woman complained when asked to name and identify a single country in Africa. One man took a shot at identifying “Greenland or Iceland or something” — only to be told it was the US state of Alaska. Then there was the cheerful young woman who couldn’t even identify America on a map, pointing instead to Russia. “Can you name any country in Europe?” the producer asked her. “Is this one Europe?” she asked, pointing to Australia and then Africa. “Did you go to high school? Did you go to college?” the producer asked. “Yeah … that’s the sad part!” she replied with a shrug.
From Secular Cluelessness to Religious Cluelessness
No doubt someone will conduct another survey on the general religious knowledge of Americans to update a survey done in 2010. The survey was a first-time study of its type. In that particular survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, it was discovered that atheists, agnostics and Jews knew more about religion in general, than those who are active, practicing Christians. Among Christians, only Mormons scored nearly as many correct answers.
The 2010 U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey, by the Pew Forum, on Religion & Public Life asked about U.S. laws affecting religion and about key figures and beliefs of major religions. Of those surveyed, at least two-thirds knew that public school teachers cannot legally lead a class in prayer; that Mother Teresa was Catholic; that Moses was the Bible figure who led the Exodus from Egypt; that Jesus was born in Bethlehem; and that most people in Pakistan are Muslim.
However, less than 50% answered correctly that only Protestants, not Catholics, teach that salvation comes through faith alone; or that public school teachers are legally permitted to read from the Bible in class but only as an example of literature and not in order to teach religion.
Pew Forum’s senior researcher, Gregory Smith, said: “The survey clearly demonstrates that there is an awful lot of important stuff people are ignorant about!” In a panel discussion, Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for the “NewsHour” on PBS, pointed out the hypocrisy of people being ready to go to war demanding the posting of the Ten Commandments, yet they themselves don’t even know all the Ten Commandments.
White Catholics scored about the same as the national population as a whole on the 32-question survey, getting an average of half the questions right. Hispanic Catholics came in at the bottom of the breakouts by faith group, averaging 11.6 correct answers. Atheists and agnostics averaged 20.9 correct answers, Jews averaged 20.5 correct and Mormons averaged 20.3 correct. White evangelical Protestants averaged 17.6 correct answers, white mainline Protestants scored 15.8 correct, those with no particular religious affiliation got 15.2 correct and black Protestants averaged 13.4 right answers.
Catholics did badly on a key question of Catholic theology, however. Only 55% could correctly state the Church teaching on transubstantiation―which means that the bread and wine used during Holy Mass, become the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ during the consecration. About 40% of all faiths got that question right.
Likewise, Catholics performed badly on the seven questions about the Bible, averaging 3.8 correct. Only 42% knew that Genesis was the first book of the Bible; only 55% knew that it was Abraham who was asked by God to sacrifice his son; and a meager 33% could name Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as the four authors of the Gospels; and only 25% identified Job as the character who remained faithful despite great trials.
About half of Protestants (53%) cannot correctly identify Martin Luther as the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation, which made their religion a separate branch of Christianity. Roughly four-in-ten Jews (43%) do not recognize that Maimonides, one of the most venerated rabbis in history, was Jewish.
In addition, fewer than half of Americans (47%) know that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist. Fewer than four-in-ten (38%) correctly associate Vishnu and Shiva with Hinduism. And only about a quarter of all Americans (27%) correctly answer that most people in Indonesia – the country with the world’s largest Muslim population – are Muslims.
Pew Forum’s senior researcher, Gregory Smith, said the No. 1 predictor of how well people did on the study was their level of education, with college graduates and those with higher degrees averaging more than 20 of the 32 questions right. Those who took some kind of a religious studies course in college did the best, averaging 22.1 questions right. On the other hand, having attended a religious school as a child seems to have had less of an impact on someone scoring well, than that they were in a private school at all. Graduates of private religious schools averaged 17.8 correct answers, compared with 18.5 correct answers for graduates of private nonreligious schools and 15.5 correct for graduates of public schools.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Tuesday July 16th : Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel & Wednesday July 17th
Article 8
Our Lady of Mount Carmel―Forgotten by Most, Abused by Many
We have completed a 'novena' preparing for the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Let us do her the honor of focusing on this great, but terribly underestimated and underrated feast!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Here are some other links to make these nine days thoroughly Marian in preparation
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Article 8
Our Lady of Mount Carmel―Forgotten by Most, Abused by Many
We have completed a 'novena' preparing for the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Let us do her the honor of focusing on this great, but terribly underestimated and underrated feast!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Here are some other links to make these nine days thoroughly Marian in preparation
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Our Lady of Complaints
When the merciful, compassionate, sweet and loving Mother of God complains, we had better sit-up and pay attention! In the previous article, the complaint of Our Lady of La Salette was mentioned, whereby she said: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
As the Fathers of the Church say―Our Lady is woman of few words. Hence, each and every word she utters is not only important and necessary, but of great consequences―either for better or worse. Yet, as is often the case with wayard children, good advice “goes in one ear and out the other ear.” It would seem that most Catholics are wayward children, for, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima states: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Such indifference is astounding―especially in view of what Our Lady offers to do for us―as manifested by her words to St. Bridget of Sweden and related by St. Alphonsus Liguori in his book, The Glories of Mary :
Our Lady said: ”I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the gate of entrance for sinners to God! Neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion―for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, is so entirely cast off by God that he may not return and enjoy His mercy if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them. Therefore he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.”
To Get God’s Help―Help Yourself!
She “so earnestly desires to help sinners” ― but we won’t help ourselves! As the saying goes: “God helps those who help themselves!” Well then, the same must be true of Our Lady ― “Our Lady helps those who help themselves!” Yet just as God will not twist anyone’s arm in order to save them (or rarely will He do that), likewise, Our Lady will not twist anyone’s arm either ― that is the mystery of “free-will” that God has given to us, for us to use or abuse. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, God could save man without man’s cooperation, but God will not not save man without man’s cooperation. In a certain sense, that is what Holy Scripture says in a roundabout, slightly different way, when it says: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
If You Love Me―Listen to Me!
Our Lady could well say to us what Our Lord said to His Apostles at the Last Supper: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10).
If we love Our Lady, we would be avidly researching all possible sources to find and collect as much as possible of what she has said. Yet most people are content with a few “two-bit” phrases from here and there. They are really not that interested in what she has said and what she has to say and what she thinks―most are interested in more immediate, more personal, more earthly things than to lose time over what the Queen of Heaven thinks! Yet, if you want to save your soul, there is no better school in which to learn than in the school of Mary. Here are just a few words spoken by the Queen of Heaven:
Raise Your Soul to Heavenly Things
“With the help of the Almighty’s grace, thou canst rise above thyself and make thyself a daughter of Heaven, whence all grace comes. In order that thou mayest attain thereto, let thy habitation continue to be in the higher regions, keeping thy mind fixed in the knowledge of the immutable Being and perfections of God, and never allowing thy attention to be drawn away to another even otherwise necessary object. With this continual presence and memory of God’s greatness, thou wilt dispose thyself for the influx of the Holy Spirit and His gifts in closest friendship and communication with the Lord. Seek to mortify the inferior part of thy being, the seat of the evil inclinations and passions. Die to all that is earthly, sacrifice, in the consciousness of God’s presence, all thy sensitive appetites, fulfill none of their impulses, nor ever satisfy thy own will outside of the narrow limits of obedience. Do not leave the secret refuge of interior recollection. Purify thy soul by many acts of sorrow for having offended Him, magnify and praise Him with a most ardent love. Seek Him, and rest not until thou hast found Him.”
Trust and Obey Mary if You Want Her to Look After You
“Look upon me with loving affection as thy Mother, thy refuge and thy help; trust thyself to my devoted love, and remember, that my desire for thy greater good urges me to teach thee the means of obtaining great blessings and favors of divine grace at the most generous hands of God. Do not make thyself unfit for them, nor hinder them by thy timidity. And if thou wishest to induce me to love thee as my much beloved child, rouse thyself to a fulfillment of what I tell thee and manifest to thee. Toward this direct thy careful efforts, resting satisfied only when thou hast labored hard to put my teachings into practice.”
“If they obey me in this, I offer them my protection, and I will constitute myself their Mother, their help and defense in the same way as I am thine, and I will also promise them my continual and efficacious intercession with my most holy Son, if they do not displease me. For this purpose thou shouldst exhort them to continual love and devotion toward me, engrafting it in their hearts … I remind and exhort thee to forget all that is of Earth and lose it out of thy sight; that thou seek nothing, or engage thyself with nothing except what can help thee to withdraw and detach thee from the world and its inhabitants; so that, with a heart freed from all terrestrial affection, thou dispose thyself to celebrate in it the mysteries of the poverty, humility and divine love of the incarnate God.”
“One of the reasons why men should call me Mother of Mercy, is the knowledge of my loving desire, that all be gratified with the flood of grace and taste the sweetness of the Lord]. I call and invite all to come with me to the fountain of the Divinity. Let the most poor and afflicted approach, for if they respond and follow me, I will offer them my protection and help, and I will intercede for them with my Son and obtain for them the hidden manna, which will give to them nourishment and life. Deny thyself and put off all the works of human weakness, and, by the true light contemplate and study thyself in this mirror of the works of my Son and my own, in order to arrive at that beauty, which the highest King seeks in thee.”
God’s Help is Conditional Upon Our Cooperation
“The inspirations and enlightenments are usually sent by God to creatures in a certain order. At first some are sent to incite the soul to practice some of the virtues ― if the soul corresponds, the Most High sends other and greater ones in order to move the soul to greater perfection in virtue ― and thus, profiting from previous graces, the soul is disposed for still others, receiving ever greater helps and securing an increase of the favors of the Lord according as it corresponds to them. Thou wilt therefore understand two things: first, how great a damage it is to neglect the exercise of any virtue and not to practice perfection according to the dictates of the divine inspirations; secondly, how often God would give great assistance to the souls, if they would begin to correspond to the smaller ones; since He is as it were in expectation and hope that they will prepare for His greater ones. For He wishes to deal with the soul according to His just judgments. But because they overlook this orderly manner of proceeding in His invitations, He suspends the flow of His divine gifts and He refuses to the souls, what was intended for them if they had not placed an obstacle, allowing them to fall from one abyss to the other.”
The Cunning of Satan at the Start of Our Lives
“The cunning of Satan for the destruction of these works of the Lord. From the very moment in which mortals begin to have the use of their reason, each one of them is followed by many watchful and relentless demons. For as soon as the souls are in a position to raise their thoughts to the knowledge of their God and commence the practice of the virtues infused by Baptism, these demons, with incredible fury and astuteness, seek to root out the divine seed; and if they cannot succeed in this, they try to hinder its growth, and prevent it from bringing forth fruit by engaging men in vicious, useless, or trifling things. Thus they divert their thoughts from Faith and Hope, and from the pursuit of other virtues, leading them to forget that they are Christians and diverting their attention from the knowledge of God and from the mysteries of the Redemption and of life eternal. Moreover the same enemy instills, into the parents, a base neglectfulness and carnal love for their offspring; and he incites the teachers to carelessness, so that the children find no support against evil in their education, but become depraved and spoiled by many bad habits, losing sight of virtue and of their good inclinations and going the way of perdition.
“But the most kind Lord does not forget them in this danger and He renews in them His holy inspirations and special helps. He supplies them with the holy teachings of the Church by His preachers and ministers. He holds out to them the aid of the Sacraments and many other inducements to keep them on the path of life. That those who walk in the way of salvation are the smaller number, is due to the vice and depraved habits imbibed in youth and nourished in childhood. For that saying of Deuteronomy is very true: “As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be” (Deuteronomy 33:25). Hence the demons gain courage and increase their tyrannical influence over souls in the early years of man’s life, hoping that they will be able to induce men to commit so much the greater and the more frequent sins in later years, the more they have succeeded in drawing them into small and insignificant faults in their childhood. By these they draw them on to a state of blind presumption; for with each sin the soul loses more and more the power of resistance, subjects itself to the demon, and falls under the sway of its tyrannical enemies. The miserable yoke of wickedness is more and more firmly fastened upon it; the same is trodden underfoot by its own iniquity and urged onward under the sway of the devil from one precipice to another, from abyss to abyss (Psalm 41:8): a chastisement merited by all those, that allow themselves to be overcome by evildoing in the beginning. By these means Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls and continues so to hurl them every day.”
The Cunning of Satan at the End of Our Lives
“Those who are at the point of death, incur the most incredible and dangerous attacks from the demons, as well as from their own frailty and from the creatures around them. That hour is the great trial of life, upon which depends the last sentence of eternal death or eternal life, of eternal suffering or eternal glory. When Lucifer and his satellites of darkness perceive, by the course of natural events, that anyone falls a prey to a dangerous and mortal disease, they immediately prepare to assail the poor and unbewaring soul with all their malice and astuteness, in order to vanquish them, if possible, by various temptations. Whenever they see an opening for attacking the souls, they try to supply in fury and malice the shortness of time. At such times they gather like bloodthirsty wolves and search out the natural and acquired failings in his nature, taking into account his inclinations, habits and customs, and where his passions cause him greater weakness, in order to direct toward this part the strongest battery and engines of war.”
“Those that have a disorderly love of earthly life, they persuade that there is not such great danger and they prevent others from undeceiving them. Those that have been negligent in the reception of the Sacraments, they try to make still more careless and they place obstacles and difficulties in the way in order that they may die without them, or in order that they may receive them without fruit and with a bad disposition. Others they fill with false suggestions and shame in order that they may not confess their sins and open their conscience. Others they confuse and try to prevent from making proper restitution and thus unburdening their consciences. Others, who love vanity, they entangle, even at that last hour, in many vain and proud desires with regard to what is to be done for them after death. Those that have been avaricious or sensual, they seek to excite violently toward what they loved so blindly during life. In short, of all the bad habits and customs this cruel enemy avails himself, in order to fill their minds with images of creatures and draw them away from their salvation, or make them incapable of it. All the sinful actions and vicious habits of their previous life have become, as it were, pledges in the hands of the common enemy, for the possession of the sinner and weapons for assault and battery in this tremendous hour of death. Every appetite, which has been inordinately indulged, is an avenue or bypath by which he enters into the citadel of the soul. Once in, he breathes forth his pestilential fumes, and raises the clouds of darkness, his proper work, so that the soul may not give heed to the divine inspirations, have no true sorrow for its sins, and do no penance for its wicked life.”
“Generally these enemies cause a great damage to the souls in that hour by exciting the vain hope of a longer life and being able to execute later on what God suggests to them by means of the holy angels. Giving way to this deceit, they find themselves afterwards betrayed and lost. Just as great is the danger of those who have shown little esteem for the saving graces of the Sacraments: for this contempt is very offensive to the Lord and to the saints, and divine justice is wont to punish it by leaving these souls to their own wicked counsels. This leads them to great neglect in profiting by this help. Thus they are themselves forsaken by the Lord in their last hour, in which they expected to provide for their salvation. There are few among the just whom this ancient serpent does not furiously attack in their last agony. And if Satan boasts of having ruined even saints at such times, what hope have the wicked, the negligent and sinful, who have spent their whole lives in making themselves unworthy of divine favor and grace, and who are devoid of meritorious works to offset the assaults of their enemies?”
Preparing for Death with More than Just the Scapular
“Hence thou wilt understand the great danger in the hour of death, when both the good works and the bad will begin to show their effects. I will not tell thee how many are thus lost, in order that thy sincere love of God may not cause thee to die of sorrow at this loss. But the general rule is: a good life gives hope of a good end; all other reliance is doubtful, and salvation resting upon it is very rare and merely accidental. The best precaution is to take a good start from afar; and therefore I admonish thee, that, at the dawning of each day, when thou lookest upon the light, thou seriously consider whether it may not be the last of thy life, and, if it should be the last (for thou dost not know), that thou place thy soul in such a state as to be able to meet death with a smiling face. Do not delay even for one instant sorrow for thy sins and a firm purpose of confessing them as soon as thou findest thyself guilty of any and of amending the least of thy imperfections. In all this be so careful that thou leave not upon thy conscience the smallest defect without being sorry for it and without cleansing thyself by the blood of my most holy Son. Place thyself in such a condition that thou art ready to appear before the just Judge, who is to examine and judge thy least thoughts and all thy movements.”
“In order that thou mayest help those who are in danger of death, thou shouldst give to others the same counsels that I have now given thee. Exhort them to lead a careful life in order to secure a happy death. Moreover, say some prayers for this intention every day of thy life, fervently asking the Almighty to disperse the deceits of the devils, to destroy the snares prepared against those who are in the throes of death, and that His right hand confound all the demons. Know that I have directed my prayers to that end for mortals and in this I wish thee to imitate me. That thou mayest help them so much the more, I wish thee to order and command the demons to depart from the sick and stop their persecutions; and thou canst very efficaciously use this power, even when thou art absent from the sick, for thou art to command them in the Name of the Lord, and thou art to compel them to obey thee for His greater honor and glory.”
“When thy own are in danger of death do thou instruct them in what they are to do. Admonish them and help them to receive the holy Sacraments, and see that they receive them frequently during life in preparation for a good end. Seek to encourage and console them, speaking to them of the things of God and His mysteries contained in the Holy Scriptures. Exhort them to awaken their good intentions and desires and to prepare themselves to receive the light and the graces of the Most High. Excite them to hope, strengthen them against temptations and teach them how they are to resist and overcome them, seeking to uncover them before they themselves manifest them to thee. The Almighty will give thee an understanding of them so that thou mayest apply the right medicine to each; for the infirmities of the soul are hard to diagnose and cure.”
The above quotes of Our Lady were taken from her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, as recorded in the The Mystical City of God.
When the merciful, compassionate, sweet and loving Mother of God complains, we had better sit-up and pay attention! In the previous article, the complaint of Our Lady of La Salette was mentioned, whereby she said: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
As the Fathers of the Church say―Our Lady is woman of few words. Hence, each and every word she utters is not only important and necessary, but of great consequences―either for better or worse. Yet, as is often the case with wayard children, good advice “goes in one ear and out the other ear.” It would seem that most Catholics are wayward children, for, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima states: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Such indifference is astounding―especially in view of what Our Lady offers to do for us―as manifested by her words to St. Bridget of Sweden and related by St. Alphonsus Liguori in his book, The Glories of Mary :
Our Lady said: ”I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the gate of entrance for sinners to God! Neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion―for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, is so entirely cast off by God that he may not return and enjoy His mercy if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them. Therefore he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.”
To Get God’s Help―Help Yourself!
She “so earnestly desires to help sinners” ― but we won’t help ourselves! As the saying goes: “God helps those who help themselves!” Well then, the same must be true of Our Lady ― “Our Lady helps those who help themselves!” Yet just as God will not twist anyone’s arm in order to save them (or rarely will He do that), likewise, Our Lady will not twist anyone’s arm either ― that is the mystery of “free-will” that God has given to us, for us to use or abuse. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, God could save man without man’s cooperation, but God will not not save man without man’s cooperation. In a certain sense, that is what Holy Scripture says in a roundabout, slightly different way, when it says: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
If You Love Me―Listen to Me!
Our Lady could well say to us what Our Lord said to His Apostles at the Last Supper: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10).
If we love Our Lady, we would be avidly researching all possible sources to find and collect as much as possible of what she has said. Yet most people are content with a few “two-bit” phrases from here and there. They are really not that interested in what she has said and what she has to say and what she thinks―most are interested in more immediate, more personal, more earthly things than to lose time over what the Queen of Heaven thinks! Yet, if you want to save your soul, there is no better school in which to learn than in the school of Mary. Here are just a few words spoken by the Queen of Heaven:
Raise Your Soul to Heavenly Things
“With the help of the Almighty’s grace, thou canst rise above thyself and make thyself a daughter of Heaven, whence all grace comes. In order that thou mayest attain thereto, let thy habitation continue to be in the higher regions, keeping thy mind fixed in the knowledge of the immutable Being and perfections of God, and never allowing thy attention to be drawn away to another even otherwise necessary object. With this continual presence and memory of God’s greatness, thou wilt dispose thyself for the influx of the Holy Spirit and His gifts in closest friendship and communication with the Lord. Seek to mortify the inferior part of thy being, the seat of the evil inclinations and passions. Die to all that is earthly, sacrifice, in the consciousness of God’s presence, all thy sensitive appetites, fulfill none of their impulses, nor ever satisfy thy own will outside of the narrow limits of obedience. Do not leave the secret refuge of interior recollection. Purify thy soul by many acts of sorrow for having offended Him, magnify and praise Him with a most ardent love. Seek Him, and rest not until thou hast found Him.”
Trust and Obey Mary if You Want Her to Look After You
“Look upon me with loving affection as thy Mother, thy refuge and thy help; trust thyself to my devoted love, and remember, that my desire for thy greater good urges me to teach thee the means of obtaining great blessings and favors of divine grace at the most generous hands of God. Do not make thyself unfit for them, nor hinder them by thy timidity. And if thou wishest to induce me to love thee as my much beloved child, rouse thyself to a fulfillment of what I tell thee and manifest to thee. Toward this direct thy careful efforts, resting satisfied only when thou hast labored hard to put my teachings into practice.”
“If they obey me in this, I offer them my protection, and I will constitute myself their Mother, their help and defense in the same way as I am thine, and I will also promise them my continual and efficacious intercession with my most holy Son, if they do not displease me. For this purpose thou shouldst exhort them to continual love and devotion toward me, engrafting it in their hearts … I remind and exhort thee to forget all that is of Earth and lose it out of thy sight; that thou seek nothing, or engage thyself with nothing except what can help thee to withdraw and detach thee from the world and its inhabitants; so that, with a heart freed from all terrestrial affection, thou dispose thyself to celebrate in it the mysteries of the poverty, humility and divine love of the incarnate God.”
“One of the reasons why men should call me Mother of Mercy, is the knowledge of my loving desire, that all be gratified with the flood of grace and taste the sweetness of the Lord]. I call and invite all to come with me to the fountain of the Divinity. Let the most poor and afflicted approach, for if they respond and follow me, I will offer them my protection and help, and I will intercede for them with my Son and obtain for them the hidden manna, which will give to them nourishment and life. Deny thyself and put off all the works of human weakness, and, by the true light contemplate and study thyself in this mirror of the works of my Son and my own, in order to arrive at that beauty, which the highest King seeks in thee.”
God’s Help is Conditional Upon Our Cooperation
“The inspirations and enlightenments are usually sent by God to creatures in a certain order. At first some are sent to incite the soul to practice some of the virtues ― if the soul corresponds, the Most High sends other and greater ones in order to move the soul to greater perfection in virtue ― and thus, profiting from previous graces, the soul is disposed for still others, receiving ever greater helps and securing an increase of the favors of the Lord according as it corresponds to them. Thou wilt therefore understand two things: first, how great a damage it is to neglect the exercise of any virtue and not to practice perfection according to the dictates of the divine inspirations; secondly, how often God would give great assistance to the souls, if they would begin to correspond to the smaller ones; since He is as it were in expectation and hope that they will prepare for His greater ones. For He wishes to deal with the soul according to His just judgments. But because they overlook this orderly manner of proceeding in His invitations, He suspends the flow of His divine gifts and He refuses to the souls, what was intended for them if they had not placed an obstacle, allowing them to fall from one abyss to the other.”
The Cunning of Satan at the Start of Our Lives
“The cunning of Satan for the destruction of these works of the Lord. From the very moment in which mortals begin to have the use of their reason, each one of them is followed by many watchful and relentless demons. For as soon as the souls are in a position to raise their thoughts to the knowledge of their God and commence the practice of the virtues infused by Baptism, these demons, with incredible fury and astuteness, seek to root out the divine seed; and if they cannot succeed in this, they try to hinder its growth, and prevent it from bringing forth fruit by engaging men in vicious, useless, or trifling things. Thus they divert their thoughts from Faith and Hope, and from the pursuit of other virtues, leading them to forget that they are Christians and diverting their attention from the knowledge of God and from the mysteries of the Redemption and of life eternal. Moreover the same enemy instills, into the parents, a base neglectfulness and carnal love for their offspring; and he incites the teachers to carelessness, so that the children find no support against evil in their education, but become depraved and spoiled by many bad habits, losing sight of virtue and of their good inclinations and going the way of perdition.
“But the most kind Lord does not forget them in this danger and He renews in them His holy inspirations and special helps. He supplies them with the holy teachings of the Church by His preachers and ministers. He holds out to them the aid of the Sacraments and many other inducements to keep them on the path of life. That those who walk in the way of salvation are the smaller number, is due to the vice and depraved habits imbibed in youth and nourished in childhood. For that saying of Deuteronomy is very true: “As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be” (Deuteronomy 33:25). Hence the demons gain courage and increase their tyrannical influence over souls in the early years of man’s life, hoping that they will be able to induce men to commit so much the greater and the more frequent sins in later years, the more they have succeeded in drawing them into small and insignificant faults in their childhood. By these they draw them on to a state of blind presumption; for with each sin the soul loses more and more the power of resistance, subjects itself to the demon, and falls under the sway of its tyrannical enemies. The miserable yoke of wickedness is more and more firmly fastened upon it; the same is trodden underfoot by its own iniquity and urged onward under the sway of the devil from one precipice to another, from abyss to abyss (Psalm 41:8): a chastisement merited by all those, that allow themselves to be overcome by evildoing in the beginning. By these means Lucifer has hurled into Hell so great a number of souls and continues so to hurl them every day.”
The Cunning of Satan at the End of Our Lives
“Those who are at the point of death, incur the most incredible and dangerous attacks from the demons, as well as from their own frailty and from the creatures around them. That hour is the great trial of life, upon which depends the last sentence of eternal death or eternal life, of eternal suffering or eternal glory. When Lucifer and his satellites of darkness perceive, by the course of natural events, that anyone falls a prey to a dangerous and mortal disease, they immediately prepare to assail the poor and unbewaring soul with all their malice and astuteness, in order to vanquish them, if possible, by various temptations. Whenever they see an opening for attacking the souls, they try to supply in fury and malice the shortness of time. At such times they gather like bloodthirsty wolves and search out the natural and acquired failings in his nature, taking into account his inclinations, habits and customs, and where his passions cause him greater weakness, in order to direct toward this part the strongest battery and engines of war.”
“Those that have a disorderly love of earthly life, they persuade that there is not such great danger and they prevent others from undeceiving them. Those that have been negligent in the reception of the Sacraments, they try to make still more careless and they place obstacles and difficulties in the way in order that they may die without them, or in order that they may receive them without fruit and with a bad disposition. Others they fill with false suggestions and shame in order that they may not confess their sins and open their conscience. Others they confuse and try to prevent from making proper restitution and thus unburdening their consciences. Others, who love vanity, they entangle, even at that last hour, in many vain and proud desires with regard to what is to be done for them after death. Those that have been avaricious or sensual, they seek to excite violently toward what they loved so blindly during life. In short, of all the bad habits and customs this cruel enemy avails himself, in order to fill their minds with images of creatures and draw them away from their salvation, or make them incapable of it. All the sinful actions and vicious habits of their previous life have become, as it were, pledges in the hands of the common enemy, for the possession of the sinner and weapons for assault and battery in this tremendous hour of death. Every appetite, which has been inordinately indulged, is an avenue or bypath by which he enters into the citadel of the soul. Once in, he breathes forth his pestilential fumes, and raises the clouds of darkness, his proper work, so that the soul may not give heed to the divine inspirations, have no true sorrow for its sins, and do no penance for its wicked life.”
“Generally these enemies cause a great damage to the souls in that hour by exciting the vain hope of a longer life and being able to execute later on what God suggests to them by means of the holy angels. Giving way to this deceit, they find themselves afterwards betrayed and lost. Just as great is the danger of those who have shown little esteem for the saving graces of the Sacraments: for this contempt is very offensive to the Lord and to the saints, and divine justice is wont to punish it by leaving these souls to their own wicked counsels. This leads them to great neglect in profiting by this help. Thus they are themselves forsaken by the Lord in their last hour, in which they expected to provide for their salvation. There are few among the just whom this ancient serpent does not furiously attack in their last agony. And if Satan boasts of having ruined even saints at such times, what hope have the wicked, the negligent and sinful, who have spent their whole lives in making themselves unworthy of divine favor and grace, and who are devoid of meritorious works to offset the assaults of their enemies?”
Preparing for Death with More than Just the Scapular
“Hence thou wilt understand the great danger in the hour of death, when both the good works and the bad will begin to show their effects. I will not tell thee how many are thus lost, in order that thy sincere love of God may not cause thee to die of sorrow at this loss. But the general rule is: a good life gives hope of a good end; all other reliance is doubtful, and salvation resting upon it is very rare and merely accidental. The best precaution is to take a good start from afar; and therefore I admonish thee, that, at the dawning of each day, when thou lookest upon the light, thou seriously consider whether it may not be the last of thy life, and, if it should be the last (for thou dost not know), that thou place thy soul in such a state as to be able to meet death with a smiling face. Do not delay even for one instant sorrow for thy sins and a firm purpose of confessing them as soon as thou findest thyself guilty of any and of amending the least of thy imperfections. In all this be so careful that thou leave not upon thy conscience the smallest defect without being sorry for it and without cleansing thyself by the blood of my most holy Son. Place thyself in such a condition that thou art ready to appear before the just Judge, who is to examine and judge thy least thoughts and all thy movements.”
“In order that thou mayest help those who are in danger of death, thou shouldst give to others the same counsels that I have now given thee. Exhort them to lead a careful life in order to secure a happy death. Moreover, say some prayers for this intention every day of thy life, fervently asking the Almighty to disperse the deceits of the devils, to destroy the snares prepared against those who are in the throes of death, and that His right hand confound all the demons. Know that I have directed my prayers to that end for mortals and in this I wish thee to imitate me. That thou mayest help them so much the more, I wish thee to order and command the demons to depart from the sick and stop their persecutions; and thou canst very efficaciously use this power, even when thou art absent from the sick, for thou art to command them in the Name of the Lord, and thou art to compel them to obey thee for His greater honor and glory.”
“When thy own are in danger of death do thou instruct them in what they are to do. Admonish them and help them to receive the holy Sacraments, and see that they receive them frequently during life in preparation for a good end. Seek to encourage and console them, speaking to them of the things of God and His mysteries contained in the Holy Scriptures. Exhort them to awaken their good intentions and desires and to prepare themselves to receive the light and the graces of the Most High. Excite them to hope, strengthen them against temptations and teach them how they are to resist and overcome them, seeking to uncover them before they themselves manifest them to thee. The Almighty will give thee an understanding of them so that thou mayest apply the right medicine to each; for the infirmities of the soul are hard to diagnose and cure.”
The above quotes of Our Lady were taken from her revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, as recorded in the The Mystical City of God.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Sunday July 14th & Monday July 15th
Article 7
Salvation Guaranteed! At a Price!
We enter a 'novena' of day before the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Let us do her the honor of focusing on this great, but terribly underestimated and underrated feast!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Here are some other links to make these nine days thoroughly Marian in preparation
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Article 7
Salvation Guaranteed! At a Price!
We enter a 'novena' of day before the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Let us do her the honor of focusing on this great, but terribly underestimated and underrated feast!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Here are some other links to make these nine days thoroughly Marian in preparation
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
What Everyone Wants―But Few Obtain!
What is it that you want from life? What are you greatest or prime goals in life? What is it that you secretly “pine” for? What is at the top of your “shopping list” or “wish list”? What is it that preoccupies your thoughts for the vast majority of time? The answer should be simple, but mankind makes it complicated! What on earth could anyone want more than salvation? Salvation should be at the top of everyone’s shopping list” or “wish list”―but, alas, the vast majority of mankind rarely or never think of salvation―and, if they rarely or never, think of it, then it is as sure as Hell that they do very little or nothing to obtain it.
“When push comes to shove”, most people (if not all people) would like to saved. Nothing strange about that―because even God wants all persons to be saved: “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “He was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His Name” (John 1:9-12).
Want Salvation? Work for Salvation!
There are certain things that God gives us for free. He freely creates our soul at our conception by our parents. He freely gives everyone the chance to be baptized and freely pours into baptized souls His sanctifying grace, the Theological and Cardinal Virtues, and the seeds of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. He freely gives each soul sufficient Actual Grace so that they may come to the knowledge of the truth, embrace it and save their souls. Yet most souls―even though God wants to save them―will not be saved, because they are not willing to “put in a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay”―or, more truly, a fair life’s work for a fair life’s pay. They want to be paid, but without putting in the work. For some unknown reason, they expect to get to Heaven without doing anything about it! They feel entitled to Heaven like a Social Security handout or benefit. They are either ignorant, forgetful or deliberately choose to ignore Holy Scripture and Our Lord’s words, where it is clearly stated:
“With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” to Heaven (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Our Lady Wants the Salvation of Everyone―But Few Work At It
We read in St. Alphonsus Liguori’s book, The Glories of Mary, an account where the Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget: ”I am,” she said to her, ”the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore” she added, ”who is not entirely accursed” (by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned), ”is so entirely cast off by God that he may not return and enjoy His mercy if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then she concluded by saying: ”Therefore he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.”
The “bottom-line” of all of Our Lady’s major apparitions since Quito in Ecuador as Our Lady of Good Success, has been the “bottom-line” of salvation, or the saving of souls. She expresses anguish at the few number of those who listen to and carry out her requests. The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a means of salvation that she offers us, like a lifeline thrown to someone drowning in the sea. At Fatima, during her sixth and final apparition on October 13th, 1917, Our Lady held her Scapular out to the world, as she disappeared into the skies. Lucia explained that Our Lady did so because ”she wants everyone to wear it.” Yet Sr. Lucia also adds: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Whose Fault Is It?
If we end up being damned, then it damned well will be our own fault―it will not be due to the lack of effort on the side of Our Lady, but due to the lack of effort on our part. As Our Lady said at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Why is it that we make little effort to be amongst the few that are saved? There are several chief reasons, some of which Our Lady indicates during the course of her apparitions: “Neglect of prayer and penance … No more generous souls … The true Faith forgotten … Rome will lose the Faith … Universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … Love of money, love of honors and pleasures … The love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement … Evil books … etc.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“[From] the 20th century, there will be many who will not believe … Heresies will be propagated ... As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals ... [only a] small number of souls will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … Especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption ... Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … [and those corrupted children grow into corrupted adults] … Woe to the children of these times! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Hearts are inflated with pride, pretending to know what they do not, or self-satisfied with empty knowledge … Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, many will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast ... Many people will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
The Bottom-Line is We Want Salvation at Bottom-Prices!
The real-life incident concerning the rich young man who wanted to be saved and yet wanted to be rich, is the epitome of modern-day man’s dilemma―he wants to enjoy the world and still go to Heaven; he wants the fruits of this world and fruits of Heaven. The lesson of the rich young man should puncture this idealistic balloon―but, sadly, it does not.
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
We want to hold onto and cling to all that we have, we even try an acquire many things that we do not have, and we make great sacrifices to obtain these things―but when it comes to Heaven and our salvation, by comparison, they scarcely enter our minds and we barely make any real efforts to secure them. It is as though we regarded Heaven and salvation like a Social Security benefit, a free handout.
When you think of what Heaven must be, what the perks must be, what the duration must be―it is absolute insanity, on our part, to make the low bids that we offer God for a piece of His eternal ‘Real Estate’!!!
What is it that you want from life? What are you greatest or prime goals in life? What is it that you secretly “pine” for? What is at the top of your “shopping list” or “wish list”? What is it that preoccupies your thoughts for the vast majority of time? The answer should be simple, but mankind makes it complicated! What on earth could anyone want more than salvation? Salvation should be at the top of everyone’s shopping list” or “wish list”―but, alas, the vast majority of mankind rarely or never think of salvation―and, if they rarely or never, think of it, then it is as sure as Hell that they do very little or nothing to obtain it.
“When push comes to shove”, most people (if not all people) would like to saved. Nothing strange about that―because even God wants all persons to be saved: “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “He was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His Name” (John 1:9-12).
Want Salvation? Work for Salvation!
There are certain things that God gives us for free. He freely creates our soul at our conception by our parents. He freely gives everyone the chance to be baptized and freely pours into baptized souls His sanctifying grace, the Theological and Cardinal Virtues, and the seeds of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. He freely gives each soul sufficient Actual Grace so that they may come to the knowledge of the truth, embrace it and save their souls. Yet most souls―even though God wants to save them―will not be saved, because they are not willing to “put in a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay”―or, more truly, a fair life’s work for a fair life’s pay. They want to be paid, but without putting in the work. For some unknown reason, they expect to get to Heaven without doing anything about it! They feel entitled to Heaven like a Social Security handout or benefit. They are either ignorant, forgetful or deliberately choose to ignore Holy Scripture and Our Lord’s words, where it is clearly stated:
“With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” to Heaven (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
Our Lady Wants the Salvation of Everyone―But Few Work At It
We read in St. Alphonsus Liguori’s book, The Glories of Mary, an account where the Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget: ”I am,” she said to her, ”the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore” she added, ”who is not entirely accursed” (by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned), ”is so entirely cast off by God that he may not return and enjoy His mercy if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then she concluded by saying: ”Therefore he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.”
The “bottom-line” of all of Our Lady’s major apparitions since Quito in Ecuador as Our Lady of Good Success, has been the “bottom-line” of salvation, or the saving of souls. She expresses anguish at the few number of those who listen to and carry out her requests. The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a means of salvation that she offers us, like a lifeline thrown to someone drowning in the sea. At Fatima, during her sixth and final apparition on October 13th, 1917, Our Lady held her Scapular out to the world, as she disappeared into the skies. Lucia explained that Our Lady did so because ”she wants everyone to wear it.” Yet Sr. Lucia also adds: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Whose Fault Is It?
If we end up being damned, then it damned well will be our own fault―it will not be due to the lack of effort on the side of Our Lady, but due to the lack of effort on our part. As Our Lady said at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Why is it that we make little effort to be amongst the few that are saved? There are several chief reasons, some of which Our Lady indicates during the course of her apparitions: “Neglect of prayer and penance … No more generous souls … The true Faith forgotten … Rome will lose the Faith … Universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … Love of money, love of honors and pleasures … The love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement … Evil books … etc.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“[From] the 20th century, there will be many who will not believe … Heresies will be propagated ... As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals ... [only a] small number of souls will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … Especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption ... Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … [and those corrupted children grow into corrupted adults] … Woe to the children of these times! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Hearts are inflated with pride, pretending to know what they do not, or self-satisfied with empty knowledge … Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, many will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast ... Many people will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
The Bottom-Line is We Want Salvation at Bottom-Prices!
The real-life incident concerning the rich young man who wanted to be saved and yet wanted to be rich, is the epitome of modern-day man’s dilemma―he wants to enjoy the world and still go to Heaven; he wants the fruits of this world and fruits of Heaven. The lesson of the rich young man should puncture this idealistic balloon―but, sadly, it does not.
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
We want to hold onto and cling to all that we have, we even try an acquire many things that we do not have, and we make great sacrifices to obtain these things―but when it comes to Heaven and our salvation, by comparison, they scarcely enter our minds and we barely make any real efforts to secure them. It is as though we regarded Heaven and salvation like a Social Security benefit, a free handout.
When you think of what Heaven must be, what the perks must be, what the duration must be―it is absolute insanity, on our part, to make the low bids that we offer God for a piece of His eternal ‘Real Estate’!!!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Friday July 12th & Saturday July 13th
Article 6
Do You Just Wear Your Scapular? Or Do You Live It?
We enter a 'novena' of day before the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Let us do her the honor of focusing on this great, but terribly underestimated and underrated feast!
Here are some other links to make these nine days thoroughly Marian in preparation
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Article 6
Do You Just Wear Your Scapular? Or Do You Live It?
We enter a 'novena' of day before the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Let us do her the honor of focusing on this great, but terribly underestimated and underrated feast!
Here are some other links to make these nine days thoroughly Marian in preparation
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Surface Catholics and Deep Catholics
What is on the surface does not always indicate what is found underneath the surface. Appearances deceive. Meat may look to be cooked from the outside, but on the inside the temperature may still be way below what is expected. Most people look to be healthy on the outside, but many of them carry ailments, illnesses and diseases that are not visible to the human eye. A car may look good on the outside, but have many hidden mechanical problems within. We know that to be saved we have to be within the Catholic Faith―as the axiom states: “Outside of the Church there is no salvation”―yet not all Catholics within the Church will be saved, but most will be lost, because, even though on the outside they look like Catholics, deep within their souls there are ‘mechanical’ problems, their ‘temperature’ is way below what is expected, they are carrying various ‘ailments, illnesses and diseases’ that are varying levels of sin―from the tiniest venial sin to the worst mortal sin. The same is true for Scapular wearers―on the surface, they wear the Scapular, but the Scapular has not penetrated their hearts and their minds and their lives. It is as though their soul is soil baked-hard by sun of this world, and trodden-down by the worldly. The water of grace cannot penetrate beneath the surface.
Much More Than a Piece of Wool
Who would have thought, looking at the two large bombs that were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6th, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9th, 1945), towards the end of the Second World War, would have such a massive impact? In Hiroshima, one single atomic bomb wiped-out 90% of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and destroyed a third of the city, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in a radio address on August 15th, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb.”
Yet four Jesuit priests, living just 8 blocks, from ground zero miraculously survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima. Everyone else, within a radius of roughly 1 mile, was reportedly killed instantly, and those outside the range died of radiation within days. However, the only physical harm to Fr. Schiffer was that he could feel a few pieces of glass in the back of his neck. The priests have been examined over 200 times by scientists. Each time the priests repeated the same explanation for their survival: “We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima.” Part of the Fatima message included the Brown Scapular―Our Lady showed herself as Our Lady of Mount Carmel during last of the six apparitions (October 13th 1917) and silently she held out the Scapular. Sister Lucia of Fatima is on record as saying
that the Blessed Mother wants everyone to wear it, adding: “The Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable.” It would be unthinkable to assume that those four Jesuit priest did not wear the Scapular if they were “living the message of Fatima.” In fact, as stated in the previous article, the combination of the Rosary and the Scapular, can be seen as an attack and a defense mechanism, whereby we attack with the Rosary and are defended and protected by the Scapular―like sword and shield, or lance and shield, or sword and armor.
Protection is Not Free and Easy
In this age of “free and easy”―we must remember that Heaven is not cheap and getting to Heaven is not easy! The fact that most souls are lost [read more here] should be enough to dispel the “free and easy” mentality from our minds. It is not for nothing that Our Lord warns in Holy Scripture warns: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:23-24). Yet Our Lady of Mount Carmel offers us her Scapular as a means of salvation―she offers us a chance to become one of the minority, to one of the few who are saved! Do you think it is an offer that is totally free and easy? Think again!
Fr. Killan Lynch, O.Carm., the former Superior General of the Religious Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel from 1947 to 1959 (a.k.a. the Carmelites), writes in his 7th centenary booklet on the Scapular: “One must see the Scapular Devotion [as] based on the spiritual Motherhood of Mary in the setting of Carmelite history. The total dedication of the Order to her, made the Scapular a Sign of Consecration to her. And, what more fitting sign could one find of her spiritual motherhood than a garment. When she brought forth her Firstborn, she wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and it was she who wove the seamless Garment by which He was known. The Carmelite Habit has always drawn minds and hearts to her and been a Sign of her loving protection.” In other words, we enter into Our Lady’s family―and just as they say “When in Rome, do as the Romans do!” Likewise, when we enter Our Lady’s family, we should as she does―which is a tall order and difficult deed, but isn’t salvation and the obtaining of Heaven a tall order and a difficult deed? She promises to protect us, but we must act like her children!
Fr. Kilian Lynch continues: “The two essential elements of the Scapular Devotion [are] Consecration to Mary in Carmel and participation in the spiritual life of the Order … To know the spiritual value of the Scapular, one must see it not only in its historical setting, but also in the light of the Marian life of the Order to which it belongs. When isolated from the inner life of Carmel, the Scapular loses much of its spiritual significance, for it is much more than a sacramental of the Church. This is exactly what has happened today. Millions are enrolled in it and wear it without ever knowing what it should mean to them in their daily lives … the faithful should recognize it as the traditional sign of a life lived in, through, and with Mary … It is evident that the Blessed Mother wishes to call our attention to the Scapular, for Lucy—who later became a religious sister, Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart—assures us that when Our Lady appeared to her at Fatima, she wore, on one occasion, the Carmelite Habit and held the Scapular in her hand. Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart (Lucia of Fatima) also tells us that Mary was never so beautiful as she was on that occasion. This latest expression of love, for the Habit of Carmel, should focus the attention of the faithful upon it and bring all true lovers of Mary to wear it worthily … The spiritual alliance of the Scapular puts our lives and our souls in the safe keeping of Our Lady. Her overshadowing love draws us into her bosom and we find protection from all our enemies in her invincible strength … The place of our adoption is Carmel which is totally dedicated to her. It is a Land of great spiritual riches, a home where the prayers and good works of each are the spiritual inheritance of all. It is the glorious privilege of lay people to become a part of this spiritual family … The special adoption by which, as the Preface of the Scapular Mass says, we became "the sons of her choice" is the foundation of all the spiritual value the Scapular possesses” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947-1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
The Scapular is Not a Free Gift―It is a Contract with Our Lady
“The modern form of devotion to Mary is Consecration. Pius XII consecrated the entire world to her Immaculate Heart and, by word and example, he has encouraged this form of devotion to her. In his letter, commemorating the Seventh Centenary of the Brown Scapular, he asked all the branches of the Carmelite Order to see in it a sign of their Consecration to Mary. Strictly speaking, it is not correct to say that this form of Marian devotion is new, except in the sense that emphasis has been put on it in our day. As a matter of fact, devotion in the old and true sense of the term always meant Consecration, that is complete surrender of oneself … One might ask: ‘What does Consecration mean?’ For our present purpose, it simply means making a thing sacred by surrendering it to God. The man becomes a priest by being taken from among men, and dedicated to the service of God; the cup becomes the chalice by being withdrawn from profane use, and given over exclusively to the service of the altar; the place is made sacred by being reserved for divine worship. From the moment of Consecration, the person, thing or place belongs to God in a special way. And since God became man through Mary, and deigned to make her His partner in the Redemption, we may offer all to God through her.
“As St. Louis de Montfort puts it: ‘The most perfect Consecration to Jesus is nothing else but a perfect and entire Consecration of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin’ … Consecration, however, should mean more than a formula that is soon forgotten. What we pledge to Mary, is not just the moment, or even the day of our Consecration, but our whole life. We give her all that we are and all that we have, in time and in eternity, to become her property, if one could use the word. Consecration is total surrender, a complete giving up of oneself to her. The Scapular should be a constant reminder that we belong to her at all times and in all places, and that she has a right to all our service. It is so easy to forget, that we need to be constantly reminded of what we are, and of the change that has taken place in our lives as a result of our Consecration … The fringes of the Brown Scapular are there, round our necks, to make us always mindful of the sweet yoke of Mary we have taken upon ourselves. Consecration, therefore, is more than outward conformity to certain practices of devotion; it involves the whole of our life, more especially the mind and the heart.
“Let us not think for one moment that a consecrated life, after the example of Christ and His Holy Mother, is too much to ask of us! … Consecration to Mary brings an added burden to our shoulders; but where there is true love, it is a glorious privilege to serve. The proud boast of St. Paul was that he was the servant of Jesus Christ; and he challenged any power to separate him from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus. Our proud boast should be that we belong, in a special way, to Mary and that the service of our entire life, is all too small a return for what she has done for us. What keeps us back, sometimes, from making a complete surrender of ourselves, is our ignorance of the true purpose of life. We were not made for ourselves, but for God, and we can achieve true greatness and nobility only by living for God. Experience shows that human life must be given to someone, or to something, and that if we do not offer it to God, it becomes the slave of some low passion. ‘The men of the world,’ says St. Ambrose, ‘have as many masters as they have passions. Immodesty comes and says to them, you are mine, because you covet sensual pleasures. Covetousness says, you are mine; for the gold and silver you possess are the price of your liberty. All the vices come and say, you are mine.’ Every man, born into this world, serves some master and offers his life on some altar. And if our master is not God, it is bound to be some low passion that makes us its slave!” (Fr. Killan Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947-1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
To Belong to Mary, Through the Scapular, Means to Acquire and Manifest Her Spirit
“To become ‘hers’ in action or in deeds, as well as in name, we must first of all strive to cultivate her spirit, for it is the spirit, and not the letter, that vivifies and gives meaning to our life. ‘If any man,’ says St. Paul, ‘have not the spirit of Christ, he is not His’ (Romans 8:9). The same applies to Mary: if we have not her spirit in us, we have no part with her and our Consecration to her loses its meaning. We should all take to heart the counsel of the Venerable Michael of St. Augustine: ‘May Mary’s spirit be in us all, that, by that spirit, we may live!’ There is no need to say that the spirit is the deepest force in us; for not only is it rooted in the soul, but it bends all the powers of the soul in a certain direction and makes them means to an end. It governs mind and heart, and, through them, becomes life and action, If, therefore, the spirit of Mary is in us, it gives a new meaning to life and converts all we do into the service of her and of her Divine Son. It lifts us above the passing things of time, lending vision, beauty and eternal value to even the smallest actions. It gives light to our minds and makes her beautiful ways ours. The spirit that rejoiced only in God is sure to transform our heart, bringing us to love what she loved and to hate what she hated. Consecration puts a seal upon the heart, but, if the spirit of Mary is not in it, it is not clean, and the seal will soon be broken. The clean, unspotted heart is the only one that is worthy of the Immaculate: it is created in us by living in her spirit, day by day.
“The Scapular should be a constant reminder of the obligations we have taken upon ourselves. Its wearer is doubly clothed; for at Baptism he is clothed with the white robe of baptismal innocence, which he is commanded to carry, unspotted, to the white Throne of God, and, at the time of his investiture in the Scapular, he receives the brown robe of Mary, which reminds him of his obligation to clothe himself with the virtues of the Blessed Mother. If Christ, says St. Bernard, is our garment, He should be visible in our person. And if Mary is our garment, she too should be visible in our person and we should reveal her virtues in our conduct. No one should ever see the Scapular without seeing something of Our Lady in its wearer. The consecrated life should always bear the good fruit of love, charity, kindness, meekness, gentleness and prayerfulness; it should be the bearer of Christ to others” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
The Popes on the Scapular
Pius XI and Pius XII have urged those wearing the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to be especially attentive in their personal lives to the requirements of true Marian devotion. They point out that the Scapular is not a unilateral (one-sided) contract, whereby Our Lady promises to help us―but it a bilateral (two-sided) contract, whereby we are obligated to do certain things for Our Lady and her honor.
POPE PIUS XI wrote: “... although it is very true that the Blessed Virgin loves all who love her, nevertheless those who wish to have the Blessed Mother as a helper in [the hour of] death, must in life merit such signal favor by abstaining from sin and laboring in her honor.”
POPE PIUS XII stressed the spiritual importance of the Scapular devotion: “We are not here concerned with a light or passing matter, but with the obtaining of eternal life itself, which is the substance of the promise of the most Blessed Virgin, which has been handed down to us. We are concerned, namely, with that which is of supreme importance to all and with the manner of achieving it safely ... But not for this reason may they, who wear the Scapular, think that they can gain eternal salvation while remaining slothful and negligent of spirit, for the Apostle warns us: ‘In fear and trembling shall you work out your salvation!’ (Philippians 2:12).”
POPE PIUS XII likewise emphasized the value of the Scapular devotion for society itself: “There is no one, who is not aware, how greatly a love for the Blessed Virgin Mother of God contributes to the enlivening of the Catholic Faith and to the raising of the moral standard. These effects are especially secured by means of those devotions which, more than others, are seen to enlighten the mind with celestial doctrine and to excite souls to the practice of the Christian life. In the first rank of the most favored of these devotions, must be placed that of the holy Carmelite Scapular—a devotion which, adapted to the minds of all by its very simplicity, has become so universally widespread among the faithful and has produced so many and such salutary fruits.”
Therefore, let us not imagine that the Scapular is endowed with some kind of omnipotent absolute supernatural power, which will save us no matter what we do or how much we sin! We do well to prudently reflect upon what St. Alphonsus says about devotion to Mary in general: “When we declare that it is impossible for a servant of Mary to be lost, we do not mean those who by their own devotion to Mary think themselves warranted to sin freely. We state that these reckless people, because of their presumption, deserve to be treated with rigor and not with kindness. We speak here of the servants of Mary who, to the fidelity with which they honor and invoke Her, join the desire to amend their lives. I hold it morally impossible that these be lost.”
Other Testimonies Against Abusing the Scapular
In the Catholic magazine and review, The Month (London, England, 1886, Vol. 57, May to August), there is a very interesting and scholarly article on the Brown Scapular, within which you will find the following passages:
The Brown Scapular “may even generate a false presumption, and encourage the sinner in false hopes and most dangerous expectations of a help from Mary that she has never promised to give. The sinner may persuade himself that he is safe of his salvation if he only wears to the last this magical Scapular, and may this put off repentance until too late, on the grounds that his Scapular will prevent his falling into the fires of Hell. The general tendency of this article is ot crush, or at least to discountenance, this “idol” of confidence in the Brown Scapular. It would have us throw to the winds the idea that we may rest assured of the salvation of those who die with the Scapular around their necks. The words of Bossuet are quoted to this effect, in which Bossuet takes care to add that Mary will be our Mother “if we live in Our Lord Jesus Christ”―the truth of which is undeniable, but in which we read, between the lines, that Scapular or no Scapular, Mary will not answer for the safety of the [deliberate and obstinate] sinner. Pope Benedict XIV () is also quoted as admitting that too many persons abuse these symbols, or badges, by a misplaced confidence in them.
“Now, it is perfectly true that such an abuse of the Brown Scapular is theoretically possible―and, in the controversy with various heretics, Catholic writers are careful to point out that unless in the heart of the dying sinner there is present the love of God and contrition for sin, nothing in the world can save his soul. If a Catholic continues to remain in a state of mortal sin up to the moment when his soul leave his body, to Hell he must go―Scapular or no Scapular. If he has not made that act of submission to God and aversion from sin―which is the condition of eternal salvation―the Scapular will not act as a charm. On the contrary, the very graces the Scapular carries would only increase his damnation, by reason of his greater guilt in rejecting them. We must be very explicit on this point, or else we would justly lay ourselves open to the accusation of what would really be a most degrading and demoralizing superstition. To suppose that anything can avail to deliver us from Hell except the love of God and Faith in Jesus Christ, would be a most abominable and damnable doctrine. We must not allow any mistakes on this point.
“But this is not the point at issue. The question is not whether a Catholic wearing the Scapular and dying in sin, would lose his soul. Everyone must admit that he would. The real question is whether any Catholic, who wears the Scapular up to the point of death, does actually die in a state of mortal sin. This is the real meaning of Our Lady’s promise―that everyone who dies with this Scapular upon him, shall previously obtain from God the grace of contrition; that his devotion to the Holy Mother of God, evidenced in his wearing of her badge and livery, shall earn for him such good dispositions at the hour of his death, that, in virtue of them, through the merits of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he shall be received into the Kingdom of Heaven [either immediately, or after passing through Purgatory].
“It may be objected that this, too, is a demoralizing doctrine, in that it encourages men to remain in sin because, indeed, by wearing the Scapular, they can ensure their conversion before their death! They can indulge in every possible vice and yet need not fear, since saving grace can be obtained, and Heaven can be purchased by the very simple device of putting on a little bit of brown stuff, in honor of the Mother of God, before they die!
“We answer to this, that is equally demoralizing to teach the sinner that everyone, who makes a genuine act of contrition at the last moment of his life, will certainly enjoy the eternal bliss of Heaven, whatever may have been the abomination of his past life. Yet every Catholic knows full well [or should do] that is true. For the simple reason that Catholics know that a just God watches over us, and that he who abuses the mercy of God, by continuing in sin, will fail in the end of obtaining that necessary true contrition. If a man trusts to a death-bed repentance, and avails himself of it to go on sinning, the death-bed repentance will probably never take place. The sinner will be struck-down all of a sudden. He will have no time for repentance―or else delirium or insensibility will creep over him before the arrival of the priest―or it may be that he will, in punishment for his presumption, have lost the power of making an act of contrition at all―or, even if he makes one, some subsequent later temptation will overcome him, and the devil will regain his victim before the last moment comes.
“Now it just the same with anyone who should abuse the privilege of the Scapular. If God has granted this privilege to Mary, He will not allow His Holy Mother to be insulted by her Scapular being made an excuse for sin. To trust presumptuously to the Scapular, is no less dangerous that to trust presumptuously to a death-bed repentance. The Scapular, in which the sinner trusts, will somehow disappear or be taken away. The strings will break and he will lose it, and will not take the trouble to provide himself with another, or will not be able to get another in time. Very often, he will himself tear it off, under the influence of an evil conscience and a heart hardened against God [and from inspirations of the devil]. Somehow or other, when the hour of death arrives, it will be gone. [Personal experience has seen the Scapular very frequently removed by nursing staff in hospitals and nursing homes, during the course of administering one procedure or another]. The vanished Scapular will be, ultimately through his own fault, the just punishment for continuance in sin. One of the strongest practical arguments in favor of the privilege attached to it, is that a continuance in sin almost always carries with it the voluntary or involuntary abandonment of the Scapular. A person may be bad, but not so bad as to insult the Holy Mother of God by wearing her uniform while he is outraging her Divine Son. More often, the indifference to holy things, which is one of the effects of sin, will make him careless, and, one day, he will forget or neglect to put the Scapular back on, after it has been taken off. Somehow or other, and many readers, from their own knowledge, will confirm the truth of what I am saying, that the abandonment of the Scapular is one of the most certain signs which accompanies willful persistency in wrong-doing and determined resistance to the grace of God.
“All of this does not prove that we must believe in the efficacy of the Scapular; it only proves that we may believe in it with the most implicit confidence, without laying ourselves open to the charge of superstition, or of encouraging a dangerous abuse. But it proves more than this―it proves that there is a certain connection between the presence of grace in the soul and the wearing of the Scapular, and between the loss of grace [prolonged loss of grace] and the loss of the Scapular. This at least points to the further conclusion that, he who wears it to the end, will either retain or recover the grace of God before he dies―and, again, this confirms the fact of the apparition in which Our Lady gave us the Scapular and of the promise she made” (Fr. R.F. Clarke, “The Brown Scapular”, The Month (London, England, 1886, Vol. 57, May to August).
What is on the surface does not always indicate what is found underneath the surface. Appearances deceive. Meat may look to be cooked from the outside, but on the inside the temperature may still be way below what is expected. Most people look to be healthy on the outside, but many of them carry ailments, illnesses and diseases that are not visible to the human eye. A car may look good on the outside, but have many hidden mechanical problems within. We know that to be saved we have to be within the Catholic Faith―as the axiom states: “Outside of the Church there is no salvation”―yet not all Catholics within the Church will be saved, but most will be lost, because, even though on the outside they look like Catholics, deep within their souls there are ‘mechanical’ problems, their ‘temperature’ is way below what is expected, they are carrying various ‘ailments, illnesses and diseases’ that are varying levels of sin―from the tiniest venial sin to the worst mortal sin. The same is true for Scapular wearers―on the surface, they wear the Scapular, but the Scapular has not penetrated their hearts and their minds and their lives. It is as though their soul is soil baked-hard by sun of this world, and trodden-down by the worldly. The water of grace cannot penetrate beneath the surface.
Much More Than a Piece of Wool
Who would have thought, looking at the two large bombs that were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6th, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9th, 1945), towards the end of the Second World War, would have such a massive impact? In Hiroshima, one single atomic bomb wiped-out 90% of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and destroyed a third of the city, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in a radio address on August 15th, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb.”
Yet four Jesuit priests, living just 8 blocks, from ground zero miraculously survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima. Everyone else, within a radius of roughly 1 mile, was reportedly killed instantly, and those outside the range died of radiation within days. However, the only physical harm to Fr. Schiffer was that he could feel a few pieces of glass in the back of his neck. The priests have been examined over 200 times by scientists. Each time the priests repeated the same explanation for their survival: “We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima.” Part of the Fatima message included the Brown Scapular―Our Lady showed herself as Our Lady of Mount Carmel during last of the six apparitions (October 13th 1917) and silently she held out the Scapular. Sister Lucia of Fatima is on record as saying
that the Blessed Mother wants everyone to wear it, adding: “The Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable.” It would be unthinkable to assume that those four Jesuit priest did not wear the Scapular if they were “living the message of Fatima.” In fact, as stated in the previous article, the combination of the Rosary and the Scapular, can be seen as an attack and a defense mechanism, whereby we attack with the Rosary and are defended and protected by the Scapular―like sword and shield, or lance and shield, or sword and armor.
Protection is Not Free and Easy
In this age of “free and easy”―we must remember that Heaven is not cheap and getting to Heaven is not easy! The fact that most souls are lost [read more here] should be enough to dispel the “free and easy” mentality from our minds. It is not for nothing that Our Lord warns in Holy Scripture warns: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “For many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:23-24). Yet Our Lady of Mount Carmel offers us her Scapular as a means of salvation―she offers us a chance to become one of the minority, to one of the few who are saved! Do you think it is an offer that is totally free and easy? Think again!
Fr. Killan Lynch, O.Carm., the former Superior General of the Religious Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel from 1947 to 1959 (a.k.a. the Carmelites), writes in his 7th centenary booklet on the Scapular: “One must see the Scapular Devotion [as] based on the spiritual Motherhood of Mary in the setting of Carmelite history. The total dedication of the Order to her, made the Scapular a Sign of Consecration to her. And, what more fitting sign could one find of her spiritual motherhood than a garment. When she brought forth her Firstborn, she wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and it was she who wove the seamless Garment by which He was known. The Carmelite Habit has always drawn minds and hearts to her and been a Sign of her loving protection.” In other words, we enter into Our Lady’s family―and just as they say “When in Rome, do as the Romans do!” Likewise, when we enter Our Lady’s family, we should as she does―which is a tall order and difficult deed, but isn’t salvation and the obtaining of Heaven a tall order and a difficult deed? She promises to protect us, but we must act like her children!
Fr. Kilian Lynch continues: “The two essential elements of the Scapular Devotion [are] Consecration to Mary in Carmel and participation in the spiritual life of the Order … To know the spiritual value of the Scapular, one must see it not only in its historical setting, but also in the light of the Marian life of the Order to which it belongs. When isolated from the inner life of Carmel, the Scapular loses much of its spiritual significance, for it is much more than a sacramental of the Church. This is exactly what has happened today. Millions are enrolled in it and wear it without ever knowing what it should mean to them in their daily lives … the faithful should recognize it as the traditional sign of a life lived in, through, and with Mary … It is evident that the Blessed Mother wishes to call our attention to the Scapular, for Lucy—who later became a religious sister, Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart—assures us that when Our Lady appeared to her at Fatima, she wore, on one occasion, the Carmelite Habit and held the Scapular in her hand. Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart (Lucia of Fatima) also tells us that Mary was never so beautiful as she was on that occasion. This latest expression of love, for the Habit of Carmel, should focus the attention of the faithful upon it and bring all true lovers of Mary to wear it worthily … The spiritual alliance of the Scapular puts our lives and our souls in the safe keeping of Our Lady. Her overshadowing love draws us into her bosom and we find protection from all our enemies in her invincible strength … The place of our adoption is Carmel which is totally dedicated to her. It is a Land of great spiritual riches, a home where the prayers and good works of each are the spiritual inheritance of all. It is the glorious privilege of lay people to become a part of this spiritual family … The special adoption by which, as the Preface of the Scapular Mass says, we became "the sons of her choice" is the foundation of all the spiritual value the Scapular possesses” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947-1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
The Scapular is Not a Free Gift―It is a Contract with Our Lady
“The modern form of devotion to Mary is Consecration. Pius XII consecrated the entire world to her Immaculate Heart and, by word and example, he has encouraged this form of devotion to her. In his letter, commemorating the Seventh Centenary of the Brown Scapular, he asked all the branches of the Carmelite Order to see in it a sign of their Consecration to Mary. Strictly speaking, it is not correct to say that this form of Marian devotion is new, except in the sense that emphasis has been put on it in our day. As a matter of fact, devotion in the old and true sense of the term always meant Consecration, that is complete surrender of oneself … One might ask: ‘What does Consecration mean?’ For our present purpose, it simply means making a thing sacred by surrendering it to God. The man becomes a priest by being taken from among men, and dedicated to the service of God; the cup becomes the chalice by being withdrawn from profane use, and given over exclusively to the service of the altar; the place is made sacred by being reserved for divine worship. From the moment of Consecration, the person, thing or place belongs to God in a special way. And since God became man through Mary, and deigned to make her His partner in the Redemption, we may offer all to God through her.
“As St. Louis de Montfort puts it: ‘The most perfect Consecration to Jesus is nothing else but a perfect and entire Consecration of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin’ … Consecration, however, should mean more than a formula that is soon forgotten. What we pledge to Mary, is not just the moment, or even the day of our Consecration, but our whole life. We give her all that we are and all that we have, in time and in eternity, to become her property, if one could use the word. Consecration is total surrender, a complete giving up of oneself to her. The Scapular should be a constant reminder that we belong to her at all times and in all places, and that she has a right to all our service. It is so easy to forget, that we need to be constantly reminded of what we are, and of the change that has taken place in our lives as a result of our Consecration … The fringes of the Brown Scapular are there, round our necks, to make us always mindful of the sweet yoke of Mary we have taken upon ourselves. Consecration, therefore, is more than outward conformity to certain practices of devotion; it involves the whole of our life, more especially the mind and the heart.
“Let us not think for one moment that a consecrated life, after the example of Christ and His Holy Mother, is too much to ask of us! … Consecration to Mary brings an added burden to our shoulders; but where there is true love, it is a glorious privilege to serve. The proud boast of St. Paul was that he was the servant of Jesus Christ; and he challenged any power to separate him from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus. Our proud boast should be that we belong, in a special way, to Mary and that the service of our entire life, is all too small a return for what she has done for us. What keeps us back, sometimes, from making a complete surrender of ourselves, is our ignorance of the true purpose of life. We were not made for ourselves, but for God, and we can achieve true greatness and nobility only by living for God. Experience shows that human life must be given to someone, or to something, and that if we do not offer it to God, it becomes the slave of some low passion. ‘The men of the world,’ says St. Ambrose, ‘have as many masters as they have passions. Immodesty comes and says to them, you are mine, because you covet sensual pleasures. Covetousness says, you are mine; for the gold and silver you possess are the price of your liberty. All the vices come and say, you are mine.’ Every man, born into this world, serves some master and offers his life on some altar. And if our master is not God, it is bound to be some low passion that makes us its slave!” (Fr. Killan Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947-1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
To Belong to Mary, Through the Scapular, Means to Acquire and Manifest Her Spirit
“To become ‘hers’ in action or in deeds, as well as in name, we must first of all strive to cultivate her spirit, for it is the spirit, and not the letter, that vivifies and gives meaning to our life. ‘If any man,’ says St. Paul, ‘have not the spirit of Christ, he is not His’ (Romans 8:9). The same applies to Mary: if we have not her spirit in us, we have no part with her and our Consecration to her loses its meaning. We should all take to heart the counsel of the Venerable Michael of St. Augustine: ‘May Mary’s spirit be in us all, that, by that spirit, we may live!’ There is no need to say that the spirit is the deepest force in us; for not only is it rooted in the soul, but it bends all the powers of the soul in a certain direction and makes them means to an end. It governs mind and heart, and, through them, becomes life and action, If, therefore, the spirit of Mary is in us, it gives a new meaning to life and converts all we do into the service of her and of her Divine Son. It lifts us above the passing things of time, lending vision, beauty and eternal value to even the smallest actions. It gives light to our minds and makes her beautiful ways ours. The spirit that rejoiced only in God is sure to transform our heart, bringing us to love what she loved and to hate what she hated. Consecration puts a seal upon the heart, but, if the spirit of Mary is not in it, it is not clean, and the seal will soon be broken. The clean, unspotted heart is the only one that is worthy of the Immaculate: it is created in us by living in her spirit, day by day.
“The Scapular should be a constant reminder of the obligations we have taken upon ourselves. Its wearer is doubly clothed; for at Baptism he is clothed with the white robe of baptismal innocence, which he is commanded to carry, unspotted, to the white Throne of God, and, at the time of his investiture in the Scapular, he receives the brown robe of Mary, which reminds him of his obligation to clothe himself with the virtues of the Blessed Mother. If Christ, says St. Bernard, is our garment, He should be visible in our person. And if Mary is our garment, she too should be visible in our person and we should reveal her virtues in our conduct. No one should ever see the Scapular without seeing something of Our Lady in its wearer. The consecrated life should always bear the good fruit of love, charity, kindness, meekness, gentleness and prayerfulness; it should be the bearer of Christ to others” (Fr. Kilian Lynch, O.Carm., former Superior General of the Carmelites, 1947–1959, The Scapular of Carmel).
The Popes on the Scapular
Pius XI and Pius XII have urged those wearing the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to be especially attentive in their personal lives to the requirements of true Marian devotion. They point out that the Scapular is not a unilateral (one-sided) contract, whereby Our Lady promises to help us―but it a bilateral (two-sided) contract, whereby we are obligated to do certain things for Our Lady and her honor.
POPE PIUS XI wrote: “... although it is very true that the Blessed Virgin loves all who love her, nevertheless those who wish to have the Blessed Mother as a helper in [the hour of] death, must in life merit such signal favor by abstaining from sin and laboring in her honor.”
POPE PIUS XII stressed the spiritual importance of the Scapular devotion: “We are not here concerned with a light or passing matter, but with the obtaining of eternal life itself, which is the substance of the promise of the most Blessed Virgin, which has been handed down to us. We are concerned, namely, with that which is of supreme importance to all and with the manner of achieving it safely ... But not for this reason may they, who wear the Scapular, think that they can gain eternal salvation while remaining slothful and negligent of spirit, for the Apostle warns us: ‘In fear and trembling shall you work out your salvation!’ (Philippians 2:12).”
POPE PIUS XII likewise emphasized the value of the Scapular devotion for society itself: “There is no one, who is not aware, how greatly a love for the Blessed Virgin Mother of God contributes to the enlivening of the Catholic Faith and to the raising of the moral standard. These effects are especially secured by means of those devotions which, more than others, are seen to enlighten the mind with celestial doctrine and to excite souls to the practice of the Christian life. In the first rank of the most favored of these devotions, must be placed that of the holy Carmelite Scapular—a devotion which, adapted to the minds of all by its very simplicity, has become so universally widespread among the faithful and has produced so many and such salutary fruits.”
Therefore, let us not imagine that the Scapular is endowed with some kind of omnipotent absolute supernatural power, which will save us no matter what we do or how much we sin! We do well to prudently reflect upon what St. Alphonsus says about devotion to Mary in general: “When we declare that it is impossible for a servant of Mary to be lost, we do not mean those who by their own devotion to Mary think themselves warranted to sin freely. We state that these reckless people, because of their presumption, deserve to be treated with rigor and not with kindness. We speak here of the servants of Mary who, to the fidelity with which they honor and invoke Her, join the desire to amend their lives. I hold it morally impossible that these be lost.”
Other Testimonies Against Abusing the Scapular
In the Catholic magazine and review, The Month (London, England, 1886, Vol. 57, May to August), there is a very interesting and scholarly article on the Brown Scapular, within which you will find the following passages:
The Brown Scapular “may even generate a false presumption, and encourage the sinner in false hopes and most dangerous expectations of a help from Mary that she has never promised to give. The sinner may persuade himself that he is safe of his salvation if he only wears to the last this magical Scapular, and may this put off repentance until too late, on the grounds that his Scapular will prevent his falling into the fires of Hell. The general tendency of this article is ot crush, or at least to discountenance, this “idol” of confidence in the Brown Scapular. It would have us throw to the winds the idea that we may rest assured of the salvation of those who die with the Scapular around their necks. The words of Bossuet are quoted to this effect, in which Bossuet takes care to add that Mary will be our Mother “if we live in Our Lord Jesus Christ”―the truth of which is undeniable, but in which we read, between the lines, that Scapular or no Scapular, Mary will not answer for the safety of the [deliberate and obstinate] sinner. Pope Benedict XIV () is also quoted as admitting that too many persons abuse these symbols, or badges, by a misplaced confidence in them.
“Now, it is perfectly true that such an abuse of the Brown Scapular is theoretically possible―and, in the controversy with various heretics, Catholic writers are careful to point out that unless in the heart of the dying sinner there is present the love of God and contrition for sin, nothing in the world can save his soul. If a Catholic continues to remain in a state of mortal sin up to the moment when his soul leave his body, to Hell he must go―Scapular or no Scapular. If he has not made that act of submission to God and aversion from sin―which is the condition of eternal salvation―the Scapular will not act as a charm. On the contrary, the very graces the Scapular carries would only increase his damnation, by reason of his greater guilt in rejecting them. We must be very explicit on this point, or else we would justly lay ourselves open to the accusation of what would really be a most degrading and demoralizing superstition. To suppose that anything can avail to deliver us from Hell except the love of God and Faith in Jesus Christ, would be a most abominable and damnable doctrine. We must not allow any mistakes on this point.
“But this is not the point at issue. The question is not whether a Catholic wearing the Scapular and dying in sin, would lose his soul. Everyone must admit that he would. The real question is whether any Catholic, who wears the Scapular up to the point of death, does actually die in a state of mortal sin. This is the real meaning of Our Lady’s promise―that everyone who dies with this Scapular upon him, shall previously obtain from God the grace of contrition; that his devotion to the Holy Mother of God, evidenced in his wearing of her badge and livery, shall earn for him such good dispositions at the hour of his death, that, in virtue of them, through the merits of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he shall be received into the Kingdom of Heaven [either immediately, or after passing through Purgatory].
“It may be objected that this, too, is a demoralizing doctrine, in that it encourages men to remain in sin because, indeed, by wearing the Scapular, they can ensure their conversion before their death! They can indulge in every possible vice and yet need not fear, since saving grace can be obtained, and Heaven can be purchased by the very simple device of putting on a little bit of brown stuff, in honor of the Mother of God, before they die!
“We answer to this, that is equally demoralizing to teach the sinner that everyone, who makes a genuine act of contrition at the last moment of his life, will certainly enjoy the eternal bliss of Heaven, whatever may have been the abomination of his past life. Yet every Catholic knows full well [or should do] that is true. For the simple reason that Catholics know that a just God watches over us, and that he who abuses the mercy of God, by continuing in sin, will fail in the end of obtaining that necessary true contrition. If a man trusts to a death-bed repentance, and avails himself of it to go on sinning, the death-bed repentance will probably never take place. The sinner will be struck-down all of a sudden. He will have no time for repentance―or else delirium or insensibility will creep over him before the arrival of the priest―or it may be that he will, in punishment for his presumption, have lost the power of making an act of contrition at all―or, even if he makes one, some subsequent later temptation will overcome him, and the devil will regain his victim before the last moment comes.
“Now it just the same with anyone who should abuse the privilege of the Scapular. If God has granted this privilege to Mary, He will not allow His Holy Mother to be insulted by her Scapular being made an excuse for sin. To trust presumptuously to the Scapular, is no less dangerous that to trust presumptuously to a death-bed repentance. The Scapular, in which the sinner trusts, will somehow disappear or be taken away. The strings will break and he will lose it, and will not take the trouble to provide himself with another, or will not be able to get another in time. Very often, he will himself tear it off, under the influence of an evil conscience and a heart hardened against God [and from inspirations of the devil]. Somehow or other, when the hour of death arrives, it will be gone. [Personal experience has seen the Scapular very frequently removed by nursing staff in hospitals and nursing homes, during the course of administering one procedure or another]. The vanished Scapular will be, ultimately through his own fault, the just punishment for continuance in sin. One of the strongest practical arguments in favor of the privilege attached to it, is that a continuance in sin almost always carries with it the voluntary or involuntary abandonment of the Scapular. A person may be bad, but not so bad as to insult the Holy Mother of God by wearing her uniform while he is outraging her Divine Son. More often, the indifference to holy things, which is one of the effects of sin, will make him careless, and, one day, he will forget or neglect to put the Scapular back on, after it has been taken off. Somehow or other, and many readers, from their own knowledge, will confirm the truth of what I am saying, that the abandonment of the Scapular is one of the most certain signs which accompanies willful persistency in wrong-doing and determined resistance to the grace of God.
“All of this does not prove that we must believe in the efficacy of the Scapular; it only proves that we may believe in it with the most implicit confidence, without laying ourselves open to the charge of superstition, or of encouraging a dangerous abuse. But it proves more than this―it proves that there is a certain connection between the presence of grace in the soul and the wearing of the Scapular, and between the loss of grace [prolonged loss of grace] and the loss of the Scapular. This at least points to the further conclusion that, he who wears it to the end, will either retain or recover the grace of God before he dies―and, again, this confirms the fact of the apparition in which Our Lady gave us the Scapular and of the promise she made” (Fr. R.F. Clarke, “The Brown Scapular”, The Month (London, England, 1886, Vol. 57, May to August).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Wednesday July 10th & Thursday July 11th
Article 5
How the Scapular and Rosary Work Together!
We enter a 'novena' of day before the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Let us do her the honor of focusing on this great, but terribly underestimated and underrated feast!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Here are some other links to make these nine days thoroughly Marian in preparation
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Article 5
How the Scapular and Rosary Work Together!
We enter a 'novena' of day before the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Let us do her the honor of focusing on this great, but terribly underestimated and underrated feast!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Here are some other links to make these nine days thoroughly Marian in preparation
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
The Synergy of the Scapular and the Rosary
It’s a word that is heard fairly frequently ― “SYNERGY” ― but what does it mean? “Synergy” may seem to be a modern word, but it is first recorded in the English language in 1632, but its roots go back to the Latin word “synergia”, which in turn owes it origins to the earlier Greek word “synergos” meaning “working together.” A dictionary definition will tell that “synergy is the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects”, or as another dictionary defines it, “synergy is the combined power of a group of things when they are working together that is greater than the total power achieved by each working separately”, or a similar definition puts it this way: “synergy is a state in which two or more things work together in a particularly fruitful way that produces an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects.” An old saying ― “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” ― expresses the basic meaning of synergy. In exaggeratedly simplistic terms, you could that “synergy” does not add one element to another, but multiplies them―so instead of making 3+3=6 by using the principle of addition, synergy makes it 3x3=9 by the principle of multiplication. For those who have less of an abstract mind and need things “in concrete”, you could say that synergy is result of two persons working together to bake 30 loaves of bread an hour, whereas if they were working alone, each person would only produce 5 loaves an hour, giving a total of 10 loaves when added to the other person’s output, which is 20 loaves less than what they produce working together. They say that garlic and onions have synergistic effect, multiplying each other’s effects―that is why the Israelites, during the Exodus, were hankering for the onions and garlic they had enjoyed in Egypt!
This is also applicable to the Rosary and the Scapular (or the Scapular and the Rosary). Each has benefits of its own, but when harnessed together, they enhance each other’s benefits. St. Dominic’s prophecy speaks of Our Lady saving the world through the Rosary AND the Scapular―even though, technically speaking, she could so with either of them. Sr. Lucia of Fatima stated that “The Rosary and the Scapular are inseparable!” So what is it about the Scapular and the Rosary that make them inseparable combatants―perhaps akin to “a bow and arrow”, or “a sword and shield”, or “a rifle and bullets”, etc. ― a devil defeating ‘dynamic-duo’ or triumphant terrible-twins, both being born of Mary―as St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Mary must be terrible to the devil and his crew, as an army ranged in battle, principally in these latter times … The most terrible of all the enemies which God has set up against the devil is His holy Mother Mary … He has inspired her with so much hatred against that cursed enemy of God, with so much ingenuity in unveiling the malice of that ancient serpent, with so much power to conquer, to overthrow and to crush that proud, impious rebel, that he fears her not only more than all angels and men, but in a sense more than God Himself” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
Why Both the Scapular and the Rosary?
There are many analogies or similitudes that could be used to show the importance of the Scapular and the Rosary being harnessed together in our battle for the Faith against the devil, the world and our flesh with its concupsicences. One that is particularly effective and true is that of the shield and the sword―the Scapular being the shield and the Rosary being the sword. “The shield of thy help, and the sword of thy glory!” Thy enemies shall deny thee, and thou shalt tread upon their necks!” (Deuteronomy 33:29). “Take hold of arms and shield: and rise up to help me!” (Psalms 34:2). “Prepare ye the shield and buckler (a small round shield), and go forth to battle!” (Jeremias 46:3). This can explained thus:
In 1950, in preparation for the Seventh Centenary of the institution of the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (1251), the then Superior General of the Order, Father Kilian Lynch, wrote a booklet explaining the meaning of the Brown Scapular, showing it to be a sign of the pact between the Mother of God and God’s devout children. Mary pledges to protect them ― hence the Scapular is like a shield, it defends. As Holy Scripture says: “In all things taking the shield [scapular] of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one” (Ephesians 6:16). “Thou hast given me the shield of my salvation!” (2 Kings 22:36).
Safety in the Desert, Safety on the Mountain
In ancient times, to build a city on a mountain or a hill was regarded as being more secure than building in the valley. It is easier to defend against an enemy coming up the mountain side―which limits the number of sides from which the enemy can attack, there is a greater field of vision for surveillance, and a height advantage in combat―than defending all four sides in the valley. “And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them” (1 Kings 17:3). “David abode in the desert in strongholds, and he remained in a mountain of the desert of Ziph” (1 Kings 23:14).
By the same token, the mountain is also a symbol of God and the desert is also a symbol of God, in the sense of leaving the world for the desert (God): “Moses came to the mountain of God, Horeb. And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush … And He said to him: ‘When thou shalt have brought My people out of Egypt, thou shalt offer sacrifice to God upon this mountain.” (Exodus 3:1-2, 12). “And the Lord said to Aaron: Go into the desert to meet Moses. And he went forth to meet him in the mountain of God” (Exodus 4:27). “And Jethro, the kinsman of Moses, came to Moses into the desert, where he was camped by the mountain of God” (Exodus 18:5). “And Moses went up to God: and the Lord called unto him from the mountain” (Exodus 19:3). “Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord?” (Psalm 23:3). “David was come to the top of the mountain, where he was about to adore the Lord” (2 Kings 15:32). “And God brought them into the mountain of His sanctuary―the mountain which His right hand had purchased” (Psalm 77:54). “A mountain in which God is well pleased to dwell” (Psalm 67:17). “The mountain of God is a fat mountain” (Psalm 67:16). “Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain” (Psalm 47:2).
Mary is where God is―on the mountain―especially on Mount Carmel. Where Mary is―on Mount Carmel―there too are her servants―the hermits of Mount Carmel, who evolved into the Carmelite Order, or the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In ancient Canaanite culture, high places were frequently considered to be sacred, and Mount Carmel appears to have been no exception; King Thutmose III lists a holy headland among his Canaanite territories, and if this equates to Carmel, as Egyptologists such as Maspero believe, then it would indicate that the mountain headland was considered sacred from at least the 15th century BC. According to the Books of Kings, there was an altar to Yahweh on the mountain, which had fallen into ruin by the time of Achab, but Elias built a new one. Iamblichus describes Pythagoras visiting the mountain on account of its reputation for sacredness, stating that it was the most holy of all mountains, and access was forbidden to many, while Tacitus states that there was an oracle situated there, which Vespasian visited for a consultation; Tacitus states that there was an altar there, but without any image upon it, and without a temple around it.
The Power of the Carmelites on Carmel―Separated from the World
Though hermits existed on Mount Carmel long before written historical accounts recorded their existence, surviving historical records only go back to the 12th and 13th centuries. The Carmelites of that time must be located in the context of the lay hermit movements that arose in Europe during the late 12th and early 13th centuries. These movements of lay persons becoming hermits, which were typified by the disciples of St. Francis of Assisi and by the various hermit groups of central Italy, that were later united in 1256 to form the Augustinian Hermits, were a product of the great 12th century renewal of the Church called the Vita Apostolica (the Apostolic Life) movement, in which devout men and women strove to live in imitation of Christ and his twelve apostles. Central to this way of life was a radical poverty in which the hermit imitated the Apostles, who were sent out to preach with no bag, no spare tunic, no walking stick (Matthew 10:10).
Although the lay hermits were essentially contemplative, their life cannot be separated from a mission of witnessing to the Gospel by both deeds and words. The medieval imagination did not separate or create an opposition between the apostolic and contemplative life; the overflow of prayer was seen to be apostolic preaching. In fact, the great St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that, if one compares contemplation with the active life, contemplation is superior to the active life; but, there is something more perfect than contemplation, and that is putting into practice what one has contemplated. That brief statement has endless consequences―the contemplation of the hermit or cloistered religious, is superior to the activity of the missionary or the active religious orders who teach, preach and give missions; yet even superior to that is to contemplate and then put into practice that contemplation. The Religious Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, or the Scapular, represents the contemplative hermit or religious monk or nuns. The Rosary represents the active religious monks and nuns. Yet the Rosary is incredibly more powerful if it not just said, but also meditated as well as being said―that could be said to be “praying” the Rosary instead of merely “saying” the Rosary.
The Scapular Enhances the Rosary
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book Secret of the Rosary, writes: “The Rosary is made up of two things: mental prayer and vocal prayer. In the Rosary mental prayer is none other than meditation of the chief mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ and of his blessed Mother. Vocal prayer consists in saying fifteen decades of the Hail Mary, each decade headed by an Our Father, while at the same time meditating on and contemplating the fifteen principal virtues which Jesus and Mary practiced in the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary … Our Lady taught Saint Dominic this excellent method of praying and ordered him to preach it far and wide so as to reawaken the fervor of Christians and to revive in their hearts a love for our Blessed Lord. She also taught it to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision, “When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.” For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other devotions.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary).
It is interesting how the sisters Mary and Martha represent the contemplative and active religious orders―Mary being the contemplative and Mary being the active. That meditation or contemplation is “the best part” is seen in the Gospel account where Our Lord answers Martha’s complaint about Mary, her sister, seemingly doing nothing by merely sitting at Lord’s feet contemplating His words, while Martha was active and busy around the house: “Jesus entered into a certain town: and a certain woman named Martha, received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord's feet, heard his word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42). The best part of the Rosary is the silent interior MEDITATION and CONTEMPLATION and NOT the ACTIVE EXTERNAL AUDIBLE RECITATION of the prayers of the Rosary. Thus, the Scapular (a symbol of contemplation) enhances the Rosary (a symbol of active life).
The devil knows the power of meditation and contemplation―that is why he makes sure that almost everybody merely says the Rosary, but never or rarely MEDITATE the Rosary. He would prefer it if you would never say the Rosary at all―which, by and large, he has succeeded in achieving―but if he cannot prevent you from “saying” it, he sure are hell will pull out all the stops to prevent you from “praying” it or MEDITATING it. Thus, in a sense, he exchanges your rifle and bullets for a water pistol.
The Example of Carmelite Hermits is Valid Today
Today, in order to survive and keep the Faith, the Catholic must live like a hermit―in spirit all of the time and physcialy and socially as much as is possible. You cannot keep clothes in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke; you cannot spend much time chopping onions without your hands taking on the smell of onions (and reducing you to tears!). Who says so? Holy Scripture says so! “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
Our problem is that we do not want to be ‘hermits’―neither in spirit nor reality―separated from the world, because we like much of the world, we are attached to the world, we seek and look for any old excuse that avoids having to separate ourselves from the world! We protest: “It’s not normal!” … “It’s not healthy!” … “It’s not possible!” … “It’s extreme!” … “It’s fanatical!” … “It’s radical!” Granted that we must exist in the world and exist among the worldly (the high-risk damned), but that does rule out, as the famous axiom says, “Live in the world, but apart from the world!” We protest there must be an error in the translation or a typo, and prefer to read it as: “Live in the world and be a part of the world!” Ha! Ha! Ha! Good try! But it won’t bear much weight with Christ, Who said: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
The hermits’ zeal to imitate the poverty of Christ, led them to a spirituality, by which they approached the Divine Mystery through the humanity of Christ, a feature that has always remained central in the Carmelite tradition. The life of a hermit, a life of solitude away from the world, was by no means a new phenomenon in the Middle Ages. We can cast a glance 900 years or so before the 1200s to the time of the Desert Fathers, who lived in the deserts of Egypt. These were Christians who, during the persecution in the mid-third century, sought refuge in the desert to escape torture and death. According to St. Jerome, this was the case with Paul the Hermit, who of necessity fled to the desert to save his life, then remained there, even when the persecution stopped, for reasons of virtue. But most of the refugees were able to return to their villages after the persecution ended. During this era, the Egyptians converted en masse to Christianity and, for Christians nourished by the Bible, the desert could appear less fearsome and even, to a certain extent, attractive. “Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way of evil men please thee. Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it” (Proverbs 4:14-15). Sadly, that advice is disregarded and rejected today. Catholics think they can have one foot in the world and the other foot in Heaven―but when you try to live your life like that, one foot may well be in the world, but the other foot is in Hell. “He that loveth danger shall perish in it!” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27).
Heaven Needs Modern-Day Hermits
Sounds a little radical, huh? Hermits today! Who the hell needs hermits? Who the hell wants to be a hermit? Well, Hell as sure hell doesn’t want hermits! He knows the damage done by hermits! The Carmelites began as hermits―and they are regarded as the most powerful Religious Order in the world! The fact that most souls are damned is largely related to the above quoted commands of Holy Scripture, which can never be repeated too often: “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
To that we can add: “I wrote to you in an epistle, not to keep company with fornicators. I mean not with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or the extortioners, or the servers of idols; otherwise you must needs go out of this world. But now I have written to you, not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat” (1 Corinthians 5:9-11). Instead, we compromise and refuse to take the harder approach and exchange it for a soft approach―which undoubtedly sometimes is necessary―but sometimes does not mean all the time, and most people take the softer approach all the time. If we take the softer approach with others, then, consequently, we must supply the hard approach by being very tough on ourselves on behalf of the sinner we are being soft with―this means doing SERIOUS penances and saying MANY prayers for their conversion―which is what none of the “soft-approach” Catholics will do, they are equally soft on themselves. Thus the sinner remains a sinner and the Catholic “fireman” sins by negligence too―a LOSE-LOSE situation, comfortable maybe, but ultimately piles up a not-so-comfortable judgment.
Wild and Wooly Catholics
One would like to say that “of the many Catholics who wear the Scapular…”―but one really has to wonder “How many Catholics actually do wear the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel?” Perhaps the sentence should begin with “of the few Catholics who still wear the Scapular…” ― for just as “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14), many are called to wear the Scapular, but few choose to do so. If only 2% (2 out 100 Catholics) pray the Rosary daily―then somehow you think that the figure of 2% is likely to be also linked to the Scapular, except much lower than 2%. That, of course, depends upon which group of Catholics you belong to―Traditional, Conservative, Middle-of-the-road, Liberal, Modernist, or rarely practicing, or even fallen-away Catholics. The former will show a higher percentage, the latter a much lower percentage.
So how many of the few Catholics, who still wear a Brown Scapular, actually understand what it is that they are wearing, what it should mean to them, what their obligations should be, etc. ― apart from the almost ‘superstitious’ approach of wearing the Scapular like the proverbial “Lucky Rabbit’s Foot” that is supposed to bring you good luck? Such Catholics are akin to those whom Our Lord addresses thus: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6) ― in other words, Our Lady of Mount Carmel could say, “This people honors me by wearing the Scapular around the neck, but the Scapular is far from their heart!”
What Should Wearing the Scapular Mean?
There is more to the Scapular than most Catholics think. The Scapular can be an incredible source and magnet for grace―but only if it is used correctly―and it can only be used correctly if it is understood correctly. Most Catholics merely get enrolled in the Scapular for selfish reasons―they want to avoid Hell, but, sadly, they do not want to avoid the world! The next article will deal more with “living the Scapular” as opposed to merely “wearing the Scapular.”
It’s a word that is heard fairly frequently ― “SYNERGY” ― but what does it mean? “Synergy” may seem to be a modern word, but it is first recorded in the English language in 1632, but its roots go back to the Latin word “synergia”, which in turn owes it origins to the earlier Greek word “synergos” meaning “working together.” A dictionary definition will tell that “synergy is the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects”, or as another dictionary defines it, “synergy is the combined power of a group of things when they are working together that is greater than the total power achieved by each working separately”, or a similar definition puts it this way: “synergy is a state in which two or more things work together in a particularly fruitful way that produces an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects.” An old saying ― “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” ― expresses the basic meaning of synergy. In exaggeratedly simplistic terms, you could that “synergy” does not add one element to another, but multiplies them―so instead of making 3+3=6 by using the principle of addition, synergy makes it 3x3=9 by the principle of multiplication. For those who have less of an abstract mind and need things “in concrete”, you could say that synergy is result of two persons working together to bake 30 loaves of bread an hour, whereas if they were working alone, each person would only produce 5 loaves an hour, giving a total of 10 loaves when added to the other person’s output, which is 20 loaves less than what they produce working together. They say that garlic and onions have synergistic effect, multiplying each other’s effects―that is why the Israelites, during the Exodus, were hankering for the onions and garlic they had enjoyed in Egypt!
This is also applicable to the Rosary and the Scapular (or the Scapular and the Rosary). Each has benefits of its own, but when harnessed together, they enhance each other’s benefits. St. Dominic’s prophecy speaks of Our Lady saving the world through the Rosary AND the Scapular―even though, technically speaking, she could so with either of them. Sr. Lucia of Fatima stated that “The Rosary and the Scapular are inseparable!” So what is it about the Scapular and the Rosary that make them inseparable combatants―perhaps akin to “a bow and arrow”, or “a sword and shield”, or “a rifle and bullets”, etc. ― a devil defeating ‘dynamic-duo’ or triumphant terrible-twins, both being born of Mary―as St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Mary must be terrible to the devil and his crew, as an army ranged in battle, principally in these latter times … The most terrible of all the enemies which God has set up against the devil is His holy Mother Mary … He has inspired her with so much hatred against that cursed enemy of God, with so much ingenuity in unveiling the malice of that ancient serpent, with so much power to conquer, to overthrow and to crush that proud, impious rebel, that he fears her not only more than all angels and men, but in a sense more than God Himself” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
Why Both the Scapular and the Rosary?
There are many analogies or similitudes that could be used to show the importance of the Scapular and the Rosary being harnessed together in our battle for the Faith against the devil, the world and our flesh with its concupsicences. One that is particularly effective and true is that of the shield and the sword―the Scapular being the shield and the Rosary being the sword. “The shield of thy help, and the sword of thy glory!” Thy enemies shall deny thee, and thou shalt tread upon their necks!” (Deuteronomy 33:29). “Take hold of arms and shield: and rise up to help me!” (Psalms 34:2). “Prepare ye the shield and buckler (a small round shield), and go forth to battle!” (Jeremias 46:3). This can explained thus:
In 1950, in preparation for the Seventh Centenary of the institution of the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (1251), the then Superior General of the Order, Father Kilian Lynch, wrote a booklet explaining the meaning of the Brown Scapular, showing it to be a sign of the pact between the Mother of God and God’s devout children. Mary pledges to protect them ― hence the Scapular is like a shield, it defends. As Holy Scripture says: “In all things taking the shield [scapular] of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one” (Ephesians 6:16). “Thou hast given me the shield of my salvation!” (2 Kings 22:36).
Safety in the Desert, Safety on the Mountain
In ancient times, to build a city on a mountain or a hill was regarded as being more secure than building in the valley. It is easier to defend against an enemy coming up the mountain side―which limits the number of sides from which the enemy can attack, there is a greater field of vision for surveillance, and a height advantage in combat―than defending all four sides in the valley. “And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them” (1 Kings 17:3). “David abode in the desert in strongholds, and he remained in a mountain of the desert of Ziph” (1 Kings 23:14).
By the same token, the mountain is also a symbol of God and the desert is also a symbol of God, in the sense of leaving the world for the desert (God): “Moses came to the mountain of God, Horeb. And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush … And He said to him: ‘When thou shalt have brought My people out of Egypt, thou shalt offer sacrifice to God upon this mountain.” (Exodus 3:1-2, 12). “And the Lord said to Aaron: Go into the desert to meet Moses. And he went forth to meet him in the mountain of God” (Exodus 4:27). “And Jethro, the kinsman of Moses, came to Moses into the desert, where he was camped by the mountain of God” (Exodus 18:5). “And Moses went up to God: and the Lord called unto him from the mountain” (Exodus 19:3). “Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord?” (Psalm 23:3). “David was come to the top of the mountain, where he was about to adore the Lord” (2 Kings 15:32). “And God brought them into the mountain of His sanctuary―the mountain which His right hand had purchased” (Psalm 77:54). “A mountain in which God is well pleased to dwell” (Psalm 67:17). “The mountain of God is a fat mountain” (Psalm 67:16). “Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain” (Psalm 47:2).
Mary is where God is―on the mountain―especially on Mount Carmel. Where Mary is―on Mount Carmel―there too are her servants―the hermits of Mount Carmel, who evolved into the Carmelite Order, or the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In ancient Canaanite culture, high places were frequently considered to be sacred, and Mount Carmel appears to have been no exception; King Thutmose III lists a holy headland among his Canaanite territories, and if this equates to Carmel, as Egyptologists such as Maspero believe, then it would indicate that the mountain headland was considered sacred from at least the 15th century BC. According to the Books of Kings, there was an altar to Yahweh on the mountain, which had fallen into ruin by the time of Achab, but Elias built a new one. Iamblichus describes Pythagoras visiting the mountain on account of its reputation for sacredness, stating that it was the most holy of all mountains, and access was forbidden to many, while Tacitus states that there was an oracle situated there, which Vespasian visited for a consultation; Tacitus states that there was an altar there, but without any image upon it, and without a temple around it.
The Power of the Carmelites on Carmel―Separated from the World
Though hermits existed on Mount Carmel long before written historical accounts recorded their existence, surviving historical records only go back to the 12th and 13th centuries. The Carmelites of that time must be located in the context of the lay hermit movements that arose in Europe during the late 12th and early 13th centuries. These movements of lay persons becoming hermits, which were typified by the disciples of St. Francis of Assisi and by the various hermit groups of central Italy, that were later united in 1256 to form the Augustinian Hermits, were a product of the great 12th century renewal of the Church called the Vita Apostolica (the Apostolic Life) movement, in which devout men and women strove to live in imitation of Christ and his twelve apostles. Central to this way of life was a radical poverty in which the hermit imitated the Apostles, who were sent out to preach with no bag, no spare tunic, no walking stick (Matthew 10:10).
Although the lay hermits were essentially contemplative, their life cannot be separated from a mission of witnessing to the Gospel by both deeds and words. The medieval imagination did not separate or create an opposition between the apostolic and contemplative life; the overflow of prayer was seen to be apostolic preaching. In fact, the great St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that, if one compares contemplation with the active life, contemplation is superior to the active life; but, there is something more perfect than contemplation, and that is putting into practice what one has contemplated. That brief statement has endless consequences―the contemplation of the hermit or cloistered religious, is superior to the activity of the missionary or the active religious orders who teach, preach and give missions; yet even superior to that is to contemplate and then put into practice that contemplation. The Religious Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, or the Scapular, represents the contemplative hermit or religious monk or nuns. The Rosary represents the active religious monks and nuns. Yet the Rosary is incredibly more powerful if it not just said, but also meditated as well as being said―that could be said to be “praying” the Rosary instead of merely “saying” the Rosary.
The Scapular Enhances the Rosary
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book Secret of the Rosary, writes: “The Rosary is made up of two things: mental prayer and vocal prayer. In the Rosary mental prayer is none other than meditation of the chief mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ and of his blessed Mother. Vocal prayer consists in saying fifteen decades of the Hail Mary, each decade headed by an Our Father, while at the same time meditating on and contemplating the fifteen principal virtues which Jesus and Mary practiced in the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary … Our Lady taught Saint Dominic this excellent method of praying and ordered him to preach it far and wide so as to reawaken the fervor of Christians and to revive in their hearts a love for our Blessed Lord. She also taught it to Blessed Alan de la Roche and said to him in a vision, “When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.” For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other devotions.” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary).
It is interesting how the sisters Mary and Martha represent the contemplative and active religious orders―Mary being the contemplative and Mary being the active. That meditation or contemplation is “the best part” is seen in the Gospel account where Our Lord answers Martha’s complaint about Mary, her sister, seemingly doing nothing by merely sitting at Lord’s feet contemplating His words, while Martha was active and busy around the house: “Jesus entered into a certain town: and a certain woman named Martha, received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord's feet, heard his word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42). The best part of the Rosary is the silent interior MEDITATION and CONTEMPLATION and NOT the ACTIVE EXTERNAL AUDIBLE RECITATION of the prayers of the Rosary. Thus, the Scapular (a symbol of contemplation) enhances the Rosary (a symbol of active life).
The devil knows the power of meditation and contemplation―that is why he makes sure that almost everybody merely says the Rosary, but never or rarely MEDITATE the Rosary. He would prefer it if you would never say the Rosary at all―which, by and large, he has succeeded in achieving―but if he cannot prevent you from “saying” it, he sure are hell will pull out all the stops to prevent you from “praying” it or MEDITATING it. Thus, in a sense, he exchanges your rifle and bullets for a water pistol.
The Example of Carmelite Hermits is Valid Today
Today, in order to survive and keep the Faith, the Catholic must live like a hermit―in spirit all of the time and physcialy and socially as much as is possible. You cannot keep clothes in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke; you cannot spend much time chopping onions without your hands taking on the smell of onions (and reducing you to tears!). Who says so? Holy Scripture says so! “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
Our problem is that we do not want to be ‘hermits’―neither in spirit nor reality―separated from the world, because we like much of the world, we are attached to the world, we seek and look for any old excuse that avoids having to separate ourselves from the world! We protest: “It’s not normal!” … “It’s not healthy!” … “It’s not possible!” … “It’s extreme!” … “It’s fanatical!” … “It’s radical!” Granted that we must exist in the world and exist among the worldly (the high-risk damned), but that does rule out, as the famous axiom says, “Live in the world, but apart from the world!” We protest there must be an error in the translation or a typo, and prefer to read it as: “Live in the world and be a part of the world!” Ha! Ha! Ha! Good try! But it won’t bear much weight with Christ, Who said: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
The hermits’ zeal to imitate the poverty of Christ, led them to a spirituality, by which they approached the Divine Mystery through the humanity of Christ, a feature that has always remained central in the Carmelite tradition. The life of a hermit, a life of solitude away from the world, was by no means a new phenomenon in the Middle Ages. We can cast a glance 900 years or so before the 1200s to the time of the Desert Fathers, who lived in the deserts of Egypt. These were Christians who, during the persecution in the mid-third century, sought refuge in the desert to escape torture and death. According to St. Jerome, this was the case with Paul the Hermit, who of necessity fled to the desert to save his life, then remained there, even when the persecution stopped, for reasons of virtue. But most of the refugees were able to return to their villages after the persecution ended. During this era, the Egyptians converted en masse to Christianity and, for Christians nourished by the Bible, the desert could appear less fearsome and even, to a certain extent, attractive. “Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way of evil men please thee. Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it” (Proverbs 4:14-15). Sadly, that advice is disregarded and rejected today. Catholics think they can have one foot in the world and the other foot in Heaven―but when you try to live your life like that, one foot may well be in the world, but the other foot is in Hell. “He that loveth danger shall perish in it!” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27).
Heaven Needs Modern-Day Hermits
Sounds a little radical, huh? Hermits today! Who the hell needs hermits? Who the hell wants to be a hermit? Well, Hell as sure hell doesn’t want hermits! He knows the damage done by hermits! The Carmelites began as hermits―and they are regarded as the most powerful Religious Order in the world! The fact that most souls are damned is largely related to the above quoted commands of Holy Scripture, which can never be repeated too often: “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
To that we can add: “I wrote to you in an epistle, not to keep company with fornicators. I mean not with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or the extortioners, or the servers of idols; otherwise you must needs go out of this world. But now I have written to you, not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat” (1 Corinthians 5:9-11). Instead, we compromise and refuse to take the harder approach and exchange it for a soft approach―which undoubtedly sometimes is necessary―but sometimes does not mean all the time, and most people take the softer approach all the time. If we take the softer approach with others, then, consequently, we must supply the hard approach by being very tough on ourselves on behalf of the sinner we are being soft with―this means doing SERIOUS penances and saying MANY prayers for their conversion―which is what none of the “soft-approach” Catholics will do, they are equally soft on themselves. Thus the sinner remains a sinner and the Catholic “fireman” sins by negligence too―a LOSE-LOSE situation, comfortable maybe, but ultimately piles up a not-so-comfortable judgment.
Wild and Wooly Catholics
One would like to say that “of the many Catholics who wear the Scapular…”―but one really has to wonder “How many Catholics actually do wear the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel?” Perhaps the sentence should begin with “of the few Catholics who still wear the Scapular…” ― for just as “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14), many are called to wear the Scapular, but few choose to do so. If only 2% (2 out 100 Catholics) pray the Rosary daily―then somehow you think that the figure of 2% is likely to be also linked to the Scapular, except much lower than 2%. That, of course, depends upon which group of Catholics you belong to―Traditional, Conservative, Middle-of-the-road, Liberal, Modernist, or rarely practicing, or even fallen-away Catholics. The former will show a higher percentage, the latter a much lower percentage.
So how many of the few Catholics, who still wear a Brown Scapular, actually understand what it is that they are wearing, what it should mean to them, what their obligations should be, etc. ― apart from the almost ‘superstitious’ approach of wearing the Scapular like the proverbial “Lucky Rabbit’s Foot” that is supposed to bring you good luck? Such Catholics are akin to those whom Our Lord addresses thus: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6) ― in other words, Our Lady of Mount Carmel could say, “This people honors me by wearing the Scapular around the neck, but the Scapular is far from their heart!”
What Should Wearing the Scapular Mean?
There is more to the Scapular than most Catholics think. The Scapular can be an incredible source and magnet for grace―but only if it is used correctly―and it can only be used correctly if it is understood correctly. Most Catholics merely get enrolled in the Scapular for selfish reasons―they want to avoid Hell, but, sadly, they do not want to avoid the world! The next article will deal more with “living the Scapular” as opposed to merely “wearing the Scapular.”
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE : Sunday July 7th & Monday July 8th & Tuesday July 9th
Article 4
Don't Forget Mount Carmel! Don't Forget the Scapular!
We enter a 'novena' of day before the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Let us do her the honor of focusing on this great, but terribly underestimated and underrated feast!
Here are some other links to make these nine days thoroughly Marian in preparation
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
Article 4
Don't Forget Mount Carmel! Don't Forget the Scapular!
We enter a 'novena' of day before the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Let us do her the honor of focusing on this great, but terribly underestimated and underrated feast!
Here are some other links to make these nine days thoroughly Marian in preparation
| The Brown Scapular by Fr. Kilian Lynch O. Carm., former Superior General |
| Brown Scapular Blessing & Enrollment Prayers | Brown Scapular Frequently Asked Questions |
| Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| Brown Scapular Miracles | Shrine of Mount Carmel |
SENSATIONAL NEWS! Our Lady Will Save the World Through the Rosary and Scapular!
Apocalyptic messages, apocalyptic prophecies, cataclysmic events and horrific stories get all the attention. Every newspaper will lead with the most sensational story. Every newscast will begin with the most sensational event or occurrence. It is usually the sensational that is the opening topic of a conversation― “Hey! You’ll never guess what just happened!” … “Hey! Listen to this! You’ll never believe what I found out!” … “Hey! Guess what! In your wildest dreams you would never have imagined that … (this and this happened or so and so did that, etc.)” The sensational attracts! We are drawn to the sensational. We love the sensational. It piques our interest. It triggers our curiosity. It is almost addictive. There are people who live for the sensational, who scour the internet for the sensational. It is usually the sensational headlines that get read first.
The same is true with Heaven. Our Lady, in all her major apparitions, does come with a message about trivial things, but with warnings about apocalyptic, cataclysmic, horrific events and occurrences. She may add some other lesser information, but that is not the main purpose of her visit nor the main topic of her message. If the secular news media are short of a sensational headline or two, they could no better than turn to Our Lady and report what she has said! In fact, what she has said is so sensational that it is rare or impossible to recall a news headline as sensational as Our Lady’s ‘headlines’. The news media makes mountains out of molehills, when Our Lady has already supplied tons of mountains that cannot be built any higher, nor do they require any “spin” or embellishment. Just as “truth is stranger than fiction”, you could also say “truth is more terrifying than fiction”―you could not make-up (as the media often does) something more brutally honest and brutally terrifying as what Our Lady has told us. The news media is always reporting wars and rumors of potential wars―which is what Our Lord prophesied they would: “And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6) … “And when you shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, fear ye not. For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet” (Mark 13:7)―yet the media is often wrong and sounds many a false alarm. Yet when did the secular media ever report what Our Lady predicted? Her heavenly news is not “fake news”, not mere speculation, not guesswork, not mere sensationalization for the sake of it―but her news is “real news”, honestly reported, without any embellishment or “spin”.
What could be more sensational than a World War? What could be more sensational than many nations being wiped off the face of the earth? What could be more sensational than fire falling from Heaven? What could be more sensational than three-quarters of the world’s population being killed? What could be more sensational than an almost total destruction of and defection from the Church, to the point where evil seems to rule throughout the whole world and all being seemingly lost? What could be more sensational than a miraculous recovery by a Church hanging and clinging to God by a mere thread and being weighed down by an immense and universal mass of evil―like a mere thread of cotton or a fishing line having to hold the Earth suspended above the pit of Hell? If you want sensational news―then there you have it! Ready made! Just report it! Real news “off-the-shelf”―off the shelf of Heaven.
They sure as Hell report impending natural disasters―such as tornadoes and hurricanes―bombarding and covering all the possible media outlets. The news bulletins of the potential tornado or hurricane or severe storm are announced on television, often interrupting the current TV show or program; your smartphone gets an emergency message with shrill sounds to attract your attention; the websites and radio stations report the forthcoming potential tornado or hurricane or severe storm. Their will, at times, be mandatory evacuations ordered by local authorities! Yet what is a mere tornado or hurricane or severe storm compared to the ‘weather forecast’ announced by Our Lady―those tornadoes or hurricanes or severe storms are like a grain of sand on the seashore compared to what Our Lady announces! Yet some of those warnings of tornadoes, hurricanes or severe storms turn-out to be false alarms as they subside before reaching land or lose force before reaching the towns and cities in their path―but whether they will ACTUALLY happen or POTENTIALLY happen, they are nevertheless reported and broadcast as top priority news. What Our Lady is forecasting is extremely likely to ACTUALLY happen―though all prophecies of that kind are “conditional prophecies”, meaning that if we fulfill the conditions laid down by Heaven, then we can avoid the disasters from happening.
Breaking News! Heart-Breaking News!
Other sensational headlines are often “heartbreaking” headlines with heartbreaking stories―loss of life, loss of loved ones, loss of all one’s possessions, loss of livelihood, etc. Well, Our Lady’s news is the most heartbreaking of heartbreaking headlines and news! Yet nobody wants to report it―nobody really wants to hear it! Everyone would prefer a doctored, sanitized, filtered, neutered and sugared version of her news.
We all know―ad nauseam―the chief elements of the news that Our Lady has announced over the last 400 years or so, at Quito (in the 1600s), La Salette (1846), Fatima (1917) and Akita (1973)―it is much like announcing the start of a potential hurricane off the coast of Africa heading for the USA (Quito 1600s), and giving further updates as the potential hurricane crossed the Atlantic Ocean towards the shores of the USA (La Salette 1846), then a more precise update as it approaches those shores (Fatima 1917) and finally the last-minute updates as the hurricane is about to pass from the ocean onto the land (Akita 1973). Just as the chief elements or characteristics of the approaching hurricane are announced again and again, so too must Our Lady’s updates be announced again and again. Nobody likes hearing about the approaching hurricane and nobody likes hearing about God’s approaching ‘hurricane’ or chastisement―but both the natural and supernatural hurricanes need announcing and must be announced and it would be sinful not to announce one or the other.
More often than not, natural disasters caused by tornadoes, hurricanes and severe storms, rarely have a happy ending―whereas God’s tornado or hurricane will have a happy ending, which will be the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the destruction of man-made independence, and the restoration of a dependence on God through the universal reign of Christ the King in the Social Kingship of Christ throughout the entire world. However, before the cure, comes the surgery; before the happy-ending, comes the not-so-happy destruction of much of what man has made to be his idol. Thus, it is not out of place to mention a brief litany of the chief characteristics of Our Lady’s ‘weather forecast’ for the world. If these words wash off you, like water over a duck’s back―then you are in a dangerous, pitiable state of indifference, which probably also implies and perhaps proves that you are doing little or nothing to try and avoid, or at least mitigate (soften) the tornado or hurricane that is approaching. Before we eventually deal with Mount Carmel and the Scapular, here are those “litmus test” statements or words by Our Lady, which will either drive you to your knees, or drive you off to the TV, the fridge, the smartphone, etc. The following is a mere excerpt from Our Lady’s full messages at Quito as Our Lady of Good Success (1600s), as Our Lady of La Salette (1846), Our Lady of Fatima (1917) and Our Lady of Akita (1973). Put together, like a jigsaw, they are sensational, apocalyptic, cataclysmic and horrific―but they need to said again and again, until the penny drops and we really start to do something about it―as Holy Scripture says: “Preach the word! Be insistent in season, out of season! Reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine! For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:2-4). “Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their wicked doings and their sins!” Isaias 58:1).
Our Lady Says― “I Have Some Bad News and Some Good News!”
The proverbial doctor jokes have the doctor saying to the patient: “I have some bad news and some good news―which do you want to hear first?” Well, Our Lady has some bad news and some good news too! Let us get the bad news out of the way first, so that we can afterwards end on a good note! Here is the above-mentioned summary of her ‘hurricane’ or ‘tornado’ warnings:
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again!
Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways.
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The seasons will be altered, the Earth, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc ... Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Why will all this happen? As Our Lady says, all this will PRIMARILY come about because of sin. However, SECONDARILY, it will happen because we have been indifferent and negligent in the use of the remedies that could have prevented, converted or at least heavily applied the brakes to the runaway-train careering down the tracks towards Hell. At La Salette (1846) she complained that the people of God had neglected prayer and penance. At Fatima she asked for much prayer and sacrifices to save the many souls being damned to Hell. At Akita (1973) she expressed her heartbreak at the many souls being damned, asking for much prayer and penance/sacrifice, saying that the approaching calamities could be prevented by “beloved souls, who console Him, forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger.” Yet one very justifiably guesses that this has not been done―just as Sr. Lucia of Fatima, sixteen years earlier in 1957, complained that Our Lady’s messages were being ignored: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). We get what we pray for―we don’t get what we don’t pray for―and we will “get it” (punishment) from God for not praying what we should have been praying for!
The Good News!
God―being omnipotent (all-powerful)―is always seeking to bring good out of evil. Thus, He will bring good out of the evil that world has perpetrated. Evil can never triumph over good in the long run―evil will eventually be defeated, if not in this life, then in Hell. Sin is the greatest evil in the world―and therefore we have all committed the greatest evil in world, the only difference is in number and degree―yet as God says in Holy Scripture:
“The soul that sinneth, the same shall die! … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live! Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: in the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die! And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? For when the just turneth himself away from his justice, and committeth iniquity, he shall die therein: in the injustice that he hath wrought he shall die! And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment, and justice: he shall save his soul alive! Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die! And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse? Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die, O house of Israel? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
This is what Our Lady has been trying to impress upon―to drive into our thick skulls―in all her apparitions. Her messages are but an echo of the above Scriptural passage.
Transition from Bad and Evil to Good and Holy
The cure of diseases is rarely instantaneous―it is usually a progressive thing. In holistic medicine, they say that once treatment starts, symptoms become worse before they begin to improve and disappear. This is exactly how God will transform the world, heal it of its evils, and bring about the health of holiness. Our Lady, in her apparitions, explains the process thus:
“The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession ... Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! …
“God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!
“And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Other Prophecies on the Great Victory
► Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), in a vision, granted to her by God, on October 22nd, 1822, saw the battle and the victory that would come in the future. She recalls: “Very evil times are coming! The non-Catholics will mislead many! They will use every possible means to entice them from the Church, and great disturbances and confusion will result. I had then another vision in which I saw the King’s daughter armed for the struggle. She was armed singularly, but significantly, with helmet, shield, and coat of mail, and the soldiers were like those of our own day. Multitudes contributed to her armor and weapons with prayers, good works, all sorts of labors and self-victories which passed from hand to hand up to Heaven where each was wrought, according to its kind, into a piece of armor for the virgin warrior. The perfect adjustment of the various pieces was most remarkable, as also their wonderful signification. She was armed from head to foot. I knew many of those who contributed the armor, and I saw with surprise that whole institutions and great and learned people furnished nothing. The contribution was made chiefly by the poor and lowly. And now I saw the battle. The enemies’ ranks were by far the more numerous; but the little body of the faithful cut down whole rows of them. The armed virgin stood off on a hill. I ran to her, pleading for my country and those other places for which I had to pray. I saw the battle also. The enemies were far more numerous, but the small army of the faithful cut down whole rows of enemy soldiers. During the battle, the Blessed Virgin stood on a hill, wearing a suit armor. The battle was terrible; only a few fighters for the just cause survived, but the victory was theirs…”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich adds further details from another vision: “When the Church had been for the most part destroyed [by the secret sect Freemasons], and when only the sanctuary and altar were still standing, I saw the wreckers enter the Church with the Beast. There they met a Woman of noble carriage who seemed to be with child because she walked slowly. At this sight, the enemies were terrorized, and the Beast could not take but another step forward. It projected its neck towards the Woman as if to devour her, but the Woman turned about and bowed down [towards the altar], her head touching the ground. Thereupon, I saw the Beast taking to flight towards the sea again, and the enemies were fleeing in the greatest confusion …. Then, I saw in the great distance great legion approaching. In the foreground I saw a man on a white horse. Prisoners were set free and joined them. All enemies were pursued. That part of the Church which had been destroyed was promptly fenced in with light timber so that the Divine office might be celebrated as it should. Then, from all over the world came priests and laymen and they rebuilt the stone walls, since the wreckers had been unable to move the heavy foundation stones. And then I saw that the Church was being promptly rebuilt and she was more magnificent than ever before …”
► Sister Jeanne le Royer (1732-1789), a Poor Clare of Fougeres in France, whose religious name was Sister of the Nativity, was granted many revelations by God about the future of the Church. In one of them, she relates: “I saw in the light of the Lord that the Faith and our holy Religion would become weaker in almost every Christian kingdom. God has permitted that they should be chastised by the wicked, in order to awaken them from their apathy. And after the justice of God has been satisfied, He will pour out an abundance of graces on His Church, and He will spread the Faith and restore the discipline of the Church in those countries where it had become tepid and lax. I saw, in God, that our Mother, Holy Church, will spread in many countries and will produce her fruits in abundance to compensate for the outrages she will have suffered from the impiety and the persecutions of her enemies. I saw that the poor people, weary of the arduous labors and trials, that God sent to them, shall then be thrilled with a joy that God will infuse in their good hearts. The Church will become by her Faith and by her love, more fervent and more flourishing than ever. Our good Mother the Church will witness many amazing things, even on the part of her former persecutors, for they will come forward and throw themselves at her feet, acknowledge her, and implore pardon from God and from her for all the crimes and outrages that they had perpetrated against her. She will no longer regard them as her enemies, but she will instead welcome them as her own children. Now all the true penitents will flow from all sides to the Church, which will receive them into her bosom. The entire community of the faithful will pour out their hearts in hymns of penance and thanksgiving to the glory of the Lord. I see in God a great power, led by the Holy Ghost, which will restore order through a second upheaval. I see in God a large assembly of pastors who will uphold the rights of the Church and of her Head. They will restore the former disciplines. I see, in particular, two servants of the Lord who will distinguish themselves in this glorious struggle and who, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, will fill with ardent zeal the hearts of this illustrious assembly. “All the false cults will be abolished; all the abuses of the Revolution will be destroyed and the altars of the true God restored. The former practices will be put into force again, and our religion at least in some respects — will flourish more than ever.”
Where Does Mount Carmel Come Into Play?
"Hey! Come on! Get to the point! This article is supposed to be about Mount Carmel and we haven't even got there yet!" Calm down! Hold on to your Scapular! This is where things get interesting! In the above prophecies, did you notice the part that spoke of “the King’s daughter armed for the struggle” … “with helmet, shield, and coat of mail” and “the armed virgin stood off on a hill.” … “During the battle, the Blessed Virgin stood on a hill, wearing a suit armor.”
“The Blessed Virgin Stood on a Hill”, not Mountain
Though it is called a mountain, Mount Carmel doesn’t come anywhere near the highest mountains in the world―the top 100 mountains range from 23,684 feet to Mount Everest’s 29,029 feet. Thus, compared to mountains like Everest―over 16 times its size―Mount Carmel is more of a hill than a mountain. If you like, it is a “little mountain”, or a “humble mountain”, the “least of mountains”―chosen by God, just as He chose the “little” town of Bethlehem for His Son’s birth, when the mighty, majestic, magnificent Jerusalem was only about 5 or 6 miles away. Mount Carmel, as befits the humility of Our Lady, is only a humble 1,791 feet. To help you imagine Mount Carmel’s height of 1,791 feet, it may help to know that of the now-fallen New York City “Twin-Towers”, the tallest of the two towers (One World Center Tower) was almost identical in height at 1,792 feet (the other was 1,776 feet). The Sears Tower in Chicago (now renamed the Willis Tower) stands at 1,729 feet. In Europe, Russia’s Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg stands at 1,516 feet; the Eifel Tower in Paris, France, stands at 1,063 feet―a little over half the height of Mount Carmel. In London, England, the Shard Tower stands at 1,020 feet.
Apocalyptic messages, apocalyptic prophecies, cataclysmic events and horrific stories get all the attention. Every newspaper will lead with the most sensational story. Every newscast will begin with the most sensational event or occurrence. It is usually the sensational that is the opening topic of a conversation― “Hey! You’ll never guess what just happened!” … “Hey! Listen to this! You’ll never believe what I found out!” … “Hey! Guess what! In your wildest dreams you would never have imagined that … (this and this happened or so and so did that, etc.)” The sensational attracts! We are drawn to the sensational. We love the sensational. It piques our interest. It triggers our curiosity. It is almost addictive. There are people who live for the sensational, who scour the internet for the sensational. It is usually the sensational headlines that get read first.
The same is true with Heaven. Our Lady, in all her major apparitions, does come with a message about trivial things, but with warnings about apocalyptic, cataclysmic, horrific events and occurrences. She may add some other lesser information, but that is not the main purpose of her visit nor the main topic of her message. If the secular news media are short of a sensational headline or two, they could no better than turn to Our Lady and report what she has said! In fact, what she has said is so sensational that it is rare or impossible to recall a news headline as sensational as Our Lady’s ‘headlines’. The news media makes mountains out of molehills, when Our Lady has already supplied tons of mountains that cannot be built any higher, nor do they require any “spin” or embellishment. Just as “truth is stranger than fiction”, you could also say “truth is more terrifying than fiction”―you could not make-up (as the media often does) something more brutally honest and brutally terrifying as what Our Lady has told us. The news media is always reporting wars and rumors of potential wars―which is what Our Lord prophesied they would: “And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6) … “And when you shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, fear ye not. For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet” (Mark 13:7)―yet the media is often wrong and sounds many a false alarm. Yet when did the secular media ever report what Our Lady predicted? Her heavenly news is not “fake news”, not mere speculation, not guesswork, not mere sensationalization for the sake of it―but her news is “real news”, honestly reported, without any embellishment or “spin”.
What could be more sensational than a World War? What could be more sensational than many nations being wiped off the face of the earth? What could be more sensational than fire falling from Heaven? What could be more sensational than three-quarters of the world’s population being killed? What could be more sensational than an almost total destruction of and defection from the Church, to the point where evil seems to rule throughout the whole world and all being seemingly lost? What could be more sensational than a miraculous recovery by a Church hanging and clinging to God by a mere thread and being weighed down by an immense and universal mass of evil―like a mere thread of cotton or a fishing line having to hold the Earth suspended above the pit of Hell? If you want sensational news―then there you have it! Ready made! Just report it! Real news “off-the-shelf”―off the shelf of Heaven.
They sure as Hell report impending natural disasters―such as tornadoes and hurricanes―bombarding and covering all the possible media outlets. The news bulletins of the potential tornado or hurricane or severe storm are announced on television, often interrupting the current TV show or program; your smartphone gets an emergency message with shrill sounds to attract your attention; the websites and radio stations report the forthcoming potential tornado or hurricane or severe storm. Their will, at times, be mandatory evacuations ordered by local authorities! Yet what is a mere tornado or hurricane or severe storm compared to the ‘weather forecast’ announced by Our Lady―those tornadoes or hurricanes or severe storms are like a grain of sand on the seashore compared to what Our Lady announces! Yet some of those warnings of tornadoes, hurricanes or severe storms turn-out to be false alarms as they subside before reaching land or lose force before reaching the towns and cities in their path―but whether they will ACTUALLY happen or POTENTIALLY happen, they are nevertheless reported and broadcast as top priority news. What Our Lady is forecasting is extremely likely to ACTUALLY happen―though all prophecies of that kind are “conditional prophecies”, meaning that if we fulfill the conditions laid down by Heaven, then we can avoid the disasters from happening.
Breaking News! Heart-Breaking News!
Other sensational headlines are often “heartbreaking” headlines with heartbreaking stories―loss of life, loss of loved ones, loss of all one’s possessions, loss of livelihood, etc. Well, Our Lady’s news is the most heartbreaking of heartbreaking headlines and news! Yet nobody wants to report it―nobody really wants to hear it! Everyone would prefer a doctored, sanitized, filtered, neutered and sugared version of her news.
We all know―ad nauseam―the chief elements of the news that Our Lady has announced over the last 400 years or so, at Quito (in the 1600s), La Salette (1846), Fatima (1917) and Akita (1973)―it is much like announcing the start of a potential hurricane off the coast of Africa heading for the USA (Quito 1600s), and giving further updates as the potential hurricane crossed the Atlantic Ocean towards the shores of the USA (La Salette 1846), then a more precise update as it approaches those shores (Fatima 1917) and finally the last-minute updates as the hurricane is about to pass from the ocean onto the land (Akita 1973). Just as the chief elements or characteristics of the approaching hurricane are announced again and again, so too must Our Lady’s updates be announced again and again. Nobody likes hearing about the approaching hurricane and nobody likes hearing about God’s approaching ‘hurricane’ or chastisement―but both the natural and supernatural hurricanes need announcing and must be announced and it would be sinful not to announce one or the other.
More often than not, natural disasters caused by tornadoes, hurricanes and severe storms, rarely have a happy ending―whereas God’s tornado or hurricane will have a happy ending, which will be the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the destruction of man-made independence, and the restoration of a dependence on God through the universal reign of Christ the King in the Social Kingship of Christ throughout the entire world. However, before the cure, comes the surgery; before the happy-ending, comes the not-so-happy destruction of much of what man has made to be his idol. Thus, it is not out of place to mention a brief litany of the chief characteristics of Our Lady’s ‘weather forecast’ for the world. If these words wash off you, like water over a duck’s back―then you are in a dangerous, pitiable state of indifference, which probably also implies and perhaps proves that you are doing little or nothing to try and avoid, or at least mitigate (soften) the tornado or hurricane that is approaching. Before we eventually deal with Mount Carmel and the Scapular, here are those “litmus test” statements or words by Our Lady, which will either drive you to your knees, or drive you off to the TV, the fridge, the smartphone, etc. The following is a mere excerpt from Our Lady’s full messages at Quito as Our Lady of Good Success (1600s), as Our Lady of La Salette (1846), Our Lady of Fatima (1917) and Our Lady of Akita (1973). Put together, like a jigsaw, they are sensational, apocalyptic, cataclysmic and horrific―but they need to said again and again, until the penny drops and we really start to do something about it―as Holy Scripture says: “Preach the word! Be insistent in season, out of season! Reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine! For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:2-4). “Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their wicked doings and their sins!” Isaias 58:1).
Our Lady Says― “I Have Some Bad News and Some Good News!”
The proverbial doctor jokes have the doctor saying to the patient: “I have some bad news and some good news―which do you want to hear first?” Well, Our Lady has some bad news and some good news too! Let us get the bad news out of the way first, so that we can afterwards end on a good note! Here is the above-mentioned summary of her ‘hurricane’ or ‘tornado’ warnings:
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.
“From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family ... They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again!
Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways.
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The seasons will be altered, the Earth, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc ... Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Why will all this happen? As Our Lady says, all this will PRIMARILY come about because of sin. However, SECONDARILY, it will happen because we have been indifferent and negligent in the use of the remedies that could have prevented, converted or at least heavily applied the brakes to the runaway-train careering down the tracks towards Hell. At La Salette (1846) she complained that the people of God had neglected prayer and penance. At Fatima she asked for much prayer and sacrifices to save the many souls being damned to Hell. At Akita (1973) she expressed her heartbreak at the many souls being damned, asking for much prayer and penance/sacrifice, saying that the approaching calamities could be prevented by “beloved souls, who console Him, forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger.” Yet one very justifiably guesses that this has not been done―just as Sr. Lucia of Fatima, sixteen years earlier in 1957, complained that Our Lady’s messages were being ignored: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). We get what we pray for―we don’t get what we don’t pray for―and we will “get it” (punishment) from God for not praying what we should have been praying for!
The Good News!
God―being omnipotent (all-powerful)―is always seeking to bring good out of evil. Thus, He will bring good out of the evil that world has perpetrated. Evil can never triumph over good in the long run―evil will eventually be defeated, if not in this life, then in Hell. Sin is the greatest evil in the world―and therefore we have all committed the greatest evil in world, the only difference is in number and degree―yet as God says in Holy Scripture:
“The soul that sinneth, the same shall die! … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live! Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: in the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die! And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? For when the just turneth himself away from his justice, and committeth iniquity, he shall die therein: in the injustice that he hath wrought he shall die! And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment, and justice: he shall save his soul alive! Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die! And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse? Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die, O house of Israel? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32).
This is what Our Lady has been trying to impress upon―to drive into our thick skulls―in all her apparitions. Her messages are but an echo of the above Scriptural passage.
Transition from Bad and Evil to Good and Holy
The cure of diseases is rarely instantaneous―it is usually a progressive thing. In holistic medicine, they say that once treatment starts, symptoms become worse before they begin to improve and disappear. This is exactly how God will transform the world, heal it of its evils, and bring about the health of holiness. Our Lady, in her apparitions, explains the process thus:
“The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession ... Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! …
“God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!
“And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Other Prophecies on the Great Victory
► Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), in a vision, granted to her by God, on October 22nd, 1822, saw the battle and the victory that would come in the future. She recalls: “Very evil times are coming! The non-Catholics will mislead many! They will use every possible means to entice them from the Church, and great disturbances and confusion will result. I had then another vision in which I saw the King’s daughter armed for the struggle. She was armed singularly, but significantly, with helmet, shield, and coat of mail, and the soldiers were like those of our own day. Multitudes contributed to her armor and weapons with prayers, good works, all sorts of labors and self-victories which passed from hand to hand up to Heaven where each was wrought, according to its kind, into a piece of armor for the virgin warrior. The perfect adjustment of the various pieces was most remarkable, as also their wonderful signification. She was armed from head to foot. I knew many of those who contributed the armor, and I saw with surprise that whole institutions and great and learned people furnished nothing. The contribution was made chiefly by the poor and lowly. And now I saw the battle. The enemies’ ranks were by far the more numerous; but the little body of the faithful cut down whole rows of them. The armed virgin stood off on a hill. I ran to her, pleading for my country and those other places for which I had to pray. I saw the battle also. The enemies were far more numerous, but the small army of the faithful cut down whole rows of enemy soldiers. During the battle, the Blessed Virgin stood on a hill, wearing a suit armor. The battle was terrible; only a few fighters for the just cause survived, but the victory was theirs…”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich adds further details from another vision: “When the Church had been for the most part destroyed [by the secret sect Freemasons], and when only the sanctuary and altar were still standing, I saw the wreckers enter the Church with the Beast. There they met a Woman of noble carriage who seemed to be with child because she walked slowly. At this sight, the enemies were terrorized, and the Beast could not take but another step forward. It projected its neck towards the Woman as if to devour her, but the Woman turned about and bowed down [towards the altar], her head touching the ground. Thereupon, I saw the Beast taking to flight towards the sea again, and the enemies were fleeing in the greatest confusion …. Then, I saw in the great distance great legion approaching. In the foreground I saw a man on a white horse. Prisoners were set free and joined them. All enemies were pursued. That part of the Church which had been destroyed was promptly fenced in with light timber so that the Divine office might be celebrated as it should. Then, from all over the world came priests and laymen and they rebuilt the stone walls, since the wreckers had been unable to move the heavy foundation stones. And then I saw that the Church was being promptly rebuilt and she was more magnificent than ever before …”
► Sister Jeanne le Royer (1732-1789), a Poor Clare of Fougeres in France, whose religious name was Sister of the Nativity, was granted many revelations by God about the future of the Church. In one of them, she relates: “I saw in the light of the Lord that the Faith and our holy Religion would become weaker in almost every Christian kingdom. God has permitted that they should be chastised by the wicked, in order to awaken them from their apathy. And after the justice of God has been satisfied, He will pour out an abundance of graces on His Church, and He will spread the Faith and restore the discipline of the Church in those countries where it had become tepid and lax. I saw, in God, that our Mother, Holy Church, will spread in many countries and will produce her fruits in abundance to compensate for the outrages she will have suffered from the impiety and the persecutions of her enemies. I saw that the poor people, weary of the arduous labors and trials, that God sent to them, shall then be thrilled with a joy that God will infuse in their good hearts. The Church will become by her Faith and by her love, more fervent and more flourishing than ever. Our good Mother the Church will witness many amazing things, even on the part of her former persecutors, for they will come forward and throw themselves at her feet, acknowledge her, and implore pardon from God and from her for all the crimes and outrages that they had perpetrated against her. She will no longer regard them as her enemies, but she will instead welcome them as her own children. Now all the true penitents will flow from all sides to the Church, which will receive them into her bosom. The entire community of the faithful will pour out their hearts in hymns of penance and thanksgiving to the glory of the Lord. I see in God a great power, led by the Holy Ghost, which will restore order through a second upheaval. I see in God a large assembly of pastors who will uphold the rights of the Church and of her Head. They will restore the former disciplines. I see, in particular, two servants of the Lord who will distinguish themselves in this glorious struggle and who, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, will fill with ardent zeal the hearts of this illustrious assembly. “All the false cults will be abolished; all the abuses of the Revolution will be destroyed and the altars of the true God restored. The former practices will be put into force again, and our religion at least in some respects — will flourish more than ever.”
Where Does Mount Carmel Come Into Play?
"Hey! Come on! Get to the point! This article is supposed to be about Mount Carmel and we haven't even got there yet!" Calm down! Hold on to your Scapular! This is where things get interesting! In the above prophecies, did you notice the part that spoke of “the King’s daughter armed for the struggle” … “with helmet, shield, and coat of mail” and “the armed virgin stood off on a hill.” … “During the battle, the Blessed Virgin stood on a hill, wearing a suit armor.”
“The Blessed Virgin Stood on a Hill”, not Mountain
Though it is called a mountain, Mount Carmel doesn’t come anywhere near the highest mountains in the world―the top 100 mountains range from 23,684 feet to Mount Everest’s 29,029 feet. Thus, compared to mountains like Everest―over 16 times its size―Mount Carmel is more of a hill than a mountain. If you like, it is a “little mountain”, or a “humble mountain”, the “least of mountains”―chosen by God, just as He chose the “little” town of Bethlehem for His Son’s birth, when the mighty, majestic, magnificent Jerusalem was only about 5 or 6 miles away. Mount Carmel, as befits the humility of Our Lady, is only a humble 1,791 feet. To help you imagine Mount Carmel’s height of 1,791 feet, it may help to know that of the now-fallen New York City “Twin-Towers”, the tallest of the two towers (One World Center Tower) was almost identical in height at 1,792 feet (the other was 1,776 feet). The Sears Tower in Chicago (now renamed the Willis Tower) stands at 1,729 feet. In Europe, Russia’s Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg stands at 1,516 feet; the Eifel Tower in Paris, France, stands at 1,063 feet―a little over half the height of Mount Carmel. In London, England, the Shard Tower stands at 1,020 feet.
Mount Carmel―the David among the Goliaths of Mountains
Looking at Mount Carmel in relation to the highest mountains in each continent, you can clearly see that Mount Carmel is a “Little David” among Goliaths. It is dwarfed by all the great mountains of the world. It is a little humble mountain compared to them. “Little David” came from the “Little Town of Bethlehem” of which the prophet Micheas said: “And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda―out of thee shall he come forth unto Me that is to be the ruler in Israel” (Micheas 5:2). It would be “Little Bethlehem that God would choose as the birthplace for His Only-begotten Son―Our Lord Jesus Christ―“Doth not the scripture say that ‘Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem the town where David was?” (John 7:42). And Christ, after fleeing as a baby to His exile in Egypt, would return to live in Nazareth, from where he would daily see Mount Carmel in the distance―around 10 miles away as the crow flies. It was also on Mount Carmel that the prophet Elias fought his own battle against the “Goliath” of 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah―talk about being outnumbered!
Looking at Mount Carmel in relation to the highest mountains in each continent, you can clearly see that Mount Carmel is a “Little David” among Goliaths. It is dwarfed by all the great mountains of the world. It is a little humble mountain compared to them. “Little David” came from the “Little Town of Bethlehem” of which the prophet Micheas said: “And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda―out of thee shall he come forth unto Me that is to be the ruler in Israel” (Micheas 5:2). It would be “Little Bethlehem that God would choose as the birthplace for His Only-begotten Son―Our Lord Jesus Christ―“Doth not the scripture say that ‘Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem the town where David was?” (John 7:42). And Christ, after fleeing as a baby to His exile in Egypt, would return to live in Nazareth, from where he would daily see Mount Carmel in the distance―around 10 miles away as the crow flies. It was also on Mount Carmel that the prophet Elias fought his own battle against the “Goliath” of 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah―talk about being outnumbered!
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“David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Juda, whose name was Isai” (1 Kings 17:12). “Now the Philistines were gathering together their troops to battle … and Saul, and the children of Israel, being gathered together came to the valley of Terebinth, and they set the army in array to fight against the Philistines … And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a man named Goliath, of Geth, whose height was six cubits and a span [1 cubit - 18 inches; so he was 9 feet 6 inches tall]. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail with scales, and the weight of his coat of mail was five thousand sicles of brass [around 125 lbs]. And he had greaves of brass on his legs, and a buckler of brass covered his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred sicles of iron [around 15 lbs], and his armor-bearer went before him.
“And standing, he cried out to the bands of Israel and said to them: ‘Why are you come out prepared to fight? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose out a man of you, and let him come down and fight hand to hand! If he is able to fight with me and kills me, then we will be servants to you! But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be servants and shall serve us! Give me a man, and let him fight with me hand to hand!’ “And Saul, and all the Israelites, hearing these words of the Philistine, were dismayed, and greatly afraid. Now the Philistine came out morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. [Meanwhile, back in Bethlehem] Isai said to David his son: ‘Take food for thy brothers and run to the camp of thy brothers. Go see thy brothers, if they are well!’ David, therefore, arose in the morning, and went away loaded as Isai had commanded him. And he came to the place of Magala, and to the army, which was going out to fight, and shouted for the battle. And as David talked with them, Goliath the Philistine, showed himself and he spoke according to the same words, and David heard them. And all the Israelites, when they saw Goliath, fled from his face, fearing him exceedingly. And David spoke to the men that stood by him, saying: ‘Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the words which David spoke were heard, and repeated before Saul. “And when David was brought to Saul, he said to him: ‘Let not any man’s heart be dismayed in him: I, thy servant, will go, and will fight against the Philistine!’ And Saul said to David: ‘Thou art not able to withstand this Philistine, nor to fight against him―for thou art but a boy, but he is a warrior from his youth!’ And David said to Saul: ‘Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, or a bear, and took a ram out of the midst of the flock. And I pursued after them, and struck them, and delivered it out of their mouth: and they rose up against me, and I caught them by the throat, and I strangled and killed them. For I, thy servant, have killed both a lion and a bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be also as one of them. I will go now, and take away the reproach of the people: for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, who hath dared to curse the army of the living God? The Lord who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine!’ “And Saul said to David: ‘Go, and the Lord be with thee!’ And Saul clothed David with his garments, and put a helmet of brass upon his head, and armed him with a coat of chain-mail. And David, having girded his sword upon his armor, began to try if he could walk in armor: for he was not accustomed to it. And David said to Saul: ‘I cannot like this, for I am not used to it!’ And he laid aside the sword and armor. And he took his staff, which he had always in his hands: and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them into the shepherd’s pouch, which he had with him, and he took a sling in his hand, and went forth against the Philistine. “And the Philistine came forward, and drew nearer to David, and his armor-bearer before him. And when the Philistine looked, and beheld David, he despised him. And the Philistine said to David: ‘Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with a staff?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And he said to David: ‘Come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the birds of the air, and to the beasts of the earth!’ And David said to the Philistine: ‘Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield―but I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which thou hast defied. This day, and the Lord will deliver thee into my hand, and I will slay thee, and take away thy head from thee: and, this day, I will give the carcasses of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air, and to the beasts of the earth: that all the Earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know, that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear―for it is His battle, and He will deliver you into our hands!’ “And when the Philistine arose and was coming, and drew closer to meet David, David made haste, and ran to the fight to meet the Philistine. And he put his hand into his scrip, and took a stone, and cast it with the sling, and fetching it about struck the Philistine in the forehead: and the stone was fixed in his forehead, and he fell on his face upon the earth. And David prevailed over the Philistine, with a sling and a stone, and he struck, and slew the Philistine. And, as David had no sword in his hand, he ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath, and slew him, and cut off his head. And the Philistines seeing that their champion was dead, fled away!” (1 Kings 18:1-51). The fight between David and Goliath the Philistine is symbolic of the fight that the Church has on Her hands today―with the Philistines being the world in general. The hatred and the odds are incredibly stacked against the Church ―and just as there were “no-takers” amongst the Israelites in “taking-on” Goliath in combat, likewise there are few Catholics who want to fight the world. The few who do wish to fight and the fewer still who go beyond mere talking and do some actual fighting―are, like Saul and the Israelites, relying on the wrong means or weapons. You Can Keep Your Worldly Weapons―David Has a Better Idea As God said to Isaias: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). Saul’s thoughts and ways of how to overcome Goliath were not David’s thoughts and ways of overcoming Goliath. Saul’s principal thoughts and ways were on a solely or primarily on a human and material level. David’s thoughts and ways were primarily on a supernatural and divine level. David threw-off the armor and weapons that Saul wished to give him. Instead―in what everyone thought was sheer insanity―he chose to go into the fight armed with only a sling and five pebbles. It was not that David put his trust in the sling and pebbles―but his trust was in God, knowing that “with men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26). Even though the fight with Goliath took place some distance south of Mount Carmel, we can see a remote link to Mount Carmel and Our Lady, in the fact that Goliath represents the devil and Our Lady and her children shall crush his head as God promises in Genesis―“I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel” (Genesis 3:15)―and David struck a well-aimed a blow at the head of Goliath. Furthermore, have you ever considered that the Brown Scapular looks somewhat like a “double-barreled-sling”―as shown by the images to the left. The pebbles resemble the beads of the Rosary. Yet, as any sling-shot marksman will tell you, it takes hours and hours, weeks and months of practice to perfect marksmanship with a sling. This is symbolic and also true of the beads of the Rosary, or the prayers of the Rosary. Many of our prayers are well-wide of the target. We pray (or say) much, but get very little. St. Louis de Montfort explains it thus: “Even if you have to fight distractions all through your whole Rosary, be sure to fight well, arms in hand: that is to say, do not stop saying your Rosary even if it is difficult to say and you have no sensible devotion. It is a terrible battle, but one that is profitable to the faithful soul. If you put down your arms, that is, if you give up the Rosary, you will be admitting defeat and then the devil, having got what he wanted, will leave you in peace, and on the Day of Judgment will taunt you because of your faithlessness and lack of courage … Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. "The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary). As St. Louis de Montfort says elsewhere in the same book, that a “A single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and fifty said badly ... Rosary, well said, is more meritorious for the soul than any other prayer. But it is also the hardest prayer to say well and to persevere in, owing especially to the distractions which almost inevitably attend the constant repetition of the same words.” Yet, it must never be forgotten that “practice makes perfect.” |
The World Will Be Saved by the Rosary and the Scapular
One day, in the early part of the thirteenth century, St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Angelus the Carmelite accidentally met on a street corner in Rome (a chapel still stands at the spot to commemorate this event). The pages of an ancient history of the Carmelite Order (written in mediaeval Latin by a forgotten writer named Ventimiglia, the author of this book) give the account of the meeting as follows:
Three famous men of God met on a street corner in Rome. They were Friar Dominic, busy gathering recruits to a new Religious Order of Preachers; Brother Francis, the friend of birds and beasts and especially dear to the poor; and Angelus, who had been invited to Rome from Mount Carmel, in Palestine, because of his fame as a preacher.
At their chance meeting, by the light of the Holy Ghost, each of the three men recognized each other, and, in the course of their conversation (as recorded by various followers who were present), they made prophecies to each other. Saint Angelus foretold the stigmata of Saint Francis, and Saint Dominic said:
“One day, Brother Angelus, to your Order of Carmel the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will give a devotion to be known as the Brown Scapular, and to my Order of Preachers she will give a devotion to be known as the Rosary. And one day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, she will save the world.”
Sister Lucia of Fatima said that “The Rosary and the Scapular are inseparable!”―much like a sling and shot are inseparable. Concerning the Rosary in particular, Sr. Lucia said: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary—to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”
One day, in the early part of the thirteenth century, St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Angelus the Carmelite accidentally met on a street corner in Rome (a chapel still stands at the spot to commemorate this event). The pages of an ancient history of the Carmelite Order (written in mediaeval Latin by a forgotten writer named Ventimiglia, the author of this book) give the account of the meeting as follows:
Three famous men of God met on a street corner in Rome. They were Friar Dominic, busy gathering recruits to a new Religious Order of Preachers; Brother Francis, the friend of birds and beasts and especially dear to the poor; and Angelus, who had been invited to Rome from Mount Carmel, in Palestine, because of his fame as a preacher.
At their chance meeting, by the light of the Holy Ghost, each of the three men recognized each other, and, in the course of their conversation (as recorded by various followers who were present), they made prophecies to each other. Saint Angelus foretold the stigmata of Saint Francis, and Saint Dominic said:
“One day, Brother Angelus, to your Order of Carmel the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will give a devotion to be known as the Brown Scapular, and to my Order of Preachers she will give a devotion to be known as the Rosary. And one day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, she will save the world.”
Sister Lucia of Fatima said that “The Rosary and the Scapular are inseparable!”―much like a sling and shot are inseparable. Concerning the Rosary in particular, Sr. Lucia said: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary—to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Friday July 5th & Saturday July 6th
Article 3
Today is "Dependence Day"! Hey, Why Not?
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Article 3
Today is "Dependence Day"! Hey, Why Not?
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What Goes Up, Must Come Down!
Modern-man’s obsession with “independence” blinds him to his overwhelming “dependence”! It is a little like the drunk staggering and saying: “You am I telling drunk not am I”―in sober language that would be: “I am telling you I am not drunk!” People imagine they have independence, when it actually dependence that rules most of their lives. Owning your home is the so-called the American dream? Well dream on, baby! Do you really own your home in the first place?
Owning something means possessing something that no one has the right to take away. If I go to the store and buy a coat, I own it. No one can come and take that coat from me without stealing it. That is not how it works with your home. It can legally be taken from you in many ways. The term “homeowner” is merely false advertising and manipulative inflation of pride― “You are now a proud homeowner!” Most folk take out a mortgage in order to buy their home. However, until you pay-off that mortgage, it is the bank that is the owner of your property. If you haven’t fully paid for something, can you say you own it? If you stop paying that mortgage, you will quickly find out who owns your property! But everyone puts down 3-5% of the cost of a home and call themselves homeowners. That kind of statement is around 15 years, 30 years, or maybe even 50 years premature―until you pay off your mortgage. Are you then, finally, a homeowner? Are you finally “free and clear”? Don’t count your chickens before they hatch! You are not the owner! Why not? Read the next paragraph!
Property Taxes (Independence?)
Regardless whether you totally paid for your home in cash, or took out a mortgage, you still owe property taxes each year. Property taxes are essentially an annual fee on your house. What is the name given to an arrangement where you pay monthly payment to live somewhere? Rent! What do you call an annual payment to live somewhere? Rent! Like it or not, admit or not, you are always renting your home from the government. Try not paying those property taxes and see what they do to you and your home! Your home won’t be your home for much longer! The taxing authority will file a tax lien on your property and you could lose it in a tax sale―if the outstanding amount is not paid. Unlike most forms of debt, property taxes do not have a payoff amount. You can’t make a lump-sum payment to pay off your property taxes for the rest of your life. They must be paid each and every year. On top of that, the property taxes will most likely go up each year. Just like rents.
Other Liens (Independence?)
There are other types of liens that can be filed on property, such as HOA (Homeowners Association) and water/utility liens. People who purchased their home entirely with cash can lose it by not paying their homeowner’s association (HOA) fees. There are many HOA (Homeowners Association) foreclosures seen at auctions. There are also instances of people losing their homes due to water bills. A couple hundred dollar water bill balloons into a several thousand dollar lien after interest, an insurmountable cost for some.
Code Violations (Independence?)
If you truly own something, you should be able to do with it as you please. You may buy a a piece on furniture and throw in the bonfire, or chop it up for firewood, or do whatever else you want with it. But if part of my house is falling apart or the grass grows too long, you can be cited for a code violation. These violations accrue daily until they are resolved. If you want to make changes to your house, you often need a permit. With so many restrictions about what you can and cannot do with your home, is that a sign of true ownership?
Eminent Domain (Independence?)
Even if you follow all the rules and pay all your bills, there are still ways your home can be taken away from you. What if all of a sudden the government decides to build a highway right where your house is located? Suddenly you may be forced to sell your home ― and probably under its market value.
When is a Homeowner Not a Homeowner
If you’re not a “homeowner,” what are you? You are a mere renter and you will always be a renter unless you live in one of these 18 countries without property taxes―EUROPE: Croatia, Malta, Liechtenstein, Monaco; CARIBBEAN: Cayman Islands, Dominica, Turks and Caicos Islands; OCEANIA: Cook Islands, Fiji; INDIAN OCEAN: Seychelles, Sri Lanka; MIDDLE EAST: Bahrein, Israel, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
At the same time, as a so-called “homeowner”, you are more than a standard renter, as you do have financial interest in the property and responsibilities towards the property that a renter does not have. Rather than a “homeowner” you are merely a “titleholder”. The title of the property is in your name. But no one wants to use that term―because there is more chance in getting you to tie yourself down as slave (independent, huh?) to a 15, 20, 25 or 30 year mortgage if you can be called (and believe that you are) a “homeowner”. Why would you pay $500,000 for something they don’t actually own? How could you convince someone to part with $500,000 to be a mere renting “titleholder”? The term “homeowner” will never leave our vocabulary, because it will be perpetuated by those who make money from of its use. Additionally, we will perpetuate it ourselves. A little white lie we tell ourselves so we feel the pride of “ownership.”
Libertarians are the consummate “independents” ―they believe that on every issue you have the right to decide for yourself what’s best for you and to act on that belief, so long as you simply respect the right of other people to do the same . Even the Libertarian, Harry Browne, in his book How I Found Freedom In an Unfree World, writes of homeowners and property taxes: “[The government] gives you the one-sided choice of paying property taxes or losing your property. So, as economist F. A. Harper has pointed out, you don’t actually own anything; you rent from the government. Sales between individuals are only exchanges of the privilege of renting property from the government. He who doesn't pay the annual rental is forcibly evicted from his property. Property taxes are a reality of life for almost every property owner in the world. In the Land of the Free, some homeowners pay five figure sums every year to live in modest homes in places like New York and Southern California. Heck, people in New York are paying tens of thousands of dollars each year just to live in their own homes. Going as far back as ancient Egypt, these mandatory tithes to the government are proof that you don’t really OWN your home or land. Rather, you are indebted to the government for the use of that land and, consequently, must pay. Unlike many private sector services, you can’t simply buy a ‘lifetime membership’ for annual multiple and call it a day. You must pay property taxes by the due date each and every year — and not a moment too soon.” (Harry Browne, in his book How I Found Freedom In an Unfree World, p.94).
The Illusion of Independence―Independence is Wishful Thinking
It can look as though we are somewhat independent if we shut out God from the equation―but to do so is dishonest, illogical, and just plain stupid. In reality, there is no such thing as independence―it is a whimsical creation of the mind that has been cemented in vocabulary and ideology of mankind. The only one who is independent is God! To want to be independent is to want to take God’s place―to shove Him out of the picture, steal what He has made, and appropriate it to ourselves.
Can you name one single country in the world which, having declared its independence from whoever or whatever, has actually become more godly, more religious, more moral, more God-centered in its laws by aligning civil law with Divine Law? Has not independence from whoever or whatever led to independence from morality? Take a look at the “big-boys” of independence. Where has England ended-up on the godly, religious, moral, God-centered thermometer ever since King Henry VIII declared independence for the English Catholic Church from Rome? The temperature has consistently gone down and down. Where has the USA ended-up on the godly, religious, moral, God-centered thermometer ever since the Declaration of Independence? Likewise the temperature has consistently gone down. Both countries have degenerated religiously and morally, while those who still adhere to the Faith, have such heretical and immoral viewpoints that they are Catholic or Christian is name only. How can a Catholic pretend to be a Catholic in their views when those views accept contraception, cohabitation, fornication, masturbation, same-sex relationships, same-sex ‘marriages’, divorce, remarriage after divorce, abortion, etc.? That is independence gone wild!
Yet all the while―in their independent minds―they ignore and abuse their dependency on God in living in God’s apartment (Earth), breathing God’s air, drinking God’s water, eating God’s food, tapping into God’s natural resources, etc., without paying their rent or mortgage (adoration of God) nor keeping the rules of the house (the Commandments of God). They have appropriated all that is God’s to themselves! All of this is amply illustrated in one of Our Lord’s parables: “‘Hear ye another parable. There was a man an householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen; and went into a strange country. And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits thereof. And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants more than the former; and they did to them in like manner. And last of all he sent to them his son, saying: They will reverence my son. But the husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves: “This is the heir! Come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance!” And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen?’ They say to him: ‘He will bring those evil men to an evil end; and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, that shall render him the fruit in due season!’” (Matthew 21:33-41).
Our Lady’s prophetic warnings at Quito, La Salette, Fatima and Akita only serve to emphasize the truth that the independent God will no longer tolerate our prideful behavior at playing at being independent, when we should be dependent: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! ... The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance! … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! [independence from God] … God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family [division because of independence and everyone wanting things to be done their way] ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God [independence from God] … Then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His [independent] enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God [man will become dependent upon God]. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity [not independence] among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Our Lady Speaks on Independence and Dependence
It is well worth examining some statements that Our Lady made to the Venerable Mary of Agreda on the subject of independence and dependence. In a nutshell, Our Lady says that we must independent of the world―that is to say, not depend upon the world―so that we can depend upon God. She adds that we should not seek to follow and do our own will independently of God, but should seek God’s will in all things―even if it is unpleasant. Here are some quotes of Our Lady from The Mystical City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda (the “thees”, “thous” and “thines” with reference to us, have been changed into “you” and “your” for easier reading and comprehension.
“With the rebellion of Lucifer and his demons in Heaven have commenced the battles between the kingdom of light and that of darkness, between Jerusalem and Babylon; and these battles will not cease to the end of the world ... Just as in the present condition of man, nothing is more repulsive to his nature than the subjection of one’s will to that of another, so nothing is more necessary than this subjection for the bending of that stiff-necked pride, which the demon seeks to stir up in all the children of Adam. Hence the enemies labor sleeplessly to induce men to follow their own judgment and will [independence]. Thereby the devils gain many triumphs and lead many souls into diverse roads of destruction; for in all states and conditions of life the demon seeks to instill this poison into mortals, secretly soliciting them to follow their own judgment and refuse to obey the laws and the will of their superiors, but rather to despise and rebel against it, perverting the order of divine Providence for the well-ordering of all things. And because men overthrow this government of the Lord, the world is filled with confusion and darkness, created things are thrown out of order and subjected to opposite force without regard or attention to God and His laws … Merely because God has given men freedom of will, either to follow their Master or not, to show themselves thankful or not―they side with Lucifer and serve him freely, permit him to enter the house of God and His temple, that he may tyrannically confuse and profane it and draw after him the greater part of the world to his eternal torments.”
“Just as God is the beginning and origin of all the being and faculties of creatures, so also, according to right reason, He is to be their sole last end; for if man has received all from God without meriting it, then he likewise owes all to Him Who has given it freely. And if men have received all from God, in order to produce results, then all the results belong to the Creator and not to the creatures … This debt is manifest and common to all men, if they would only direct their attention toward it … Without their merit God called such persons to His holy Faith, giving them knowledge of the certain truth; justifying them in Baptism, putting at their disposal the Sacraments, the ministers, the teachings and enlightenments of eternal life. He placed them upon the sure path, granted them His assistance, pardoned them their sins, raised them from their falls, waited for their repentance, invited them by His mercy, and rewarded them with a generous hand. He defended them through His holy angels, gave them Himself as a pledge and as a nourishment of eternal life ; and thus He accumulated so many blessings upon them, that they are without measure or number, and that not a day nor an hour passes without increasing their indebtedness. Tell me then, daughter, what thanks are due to His so generous and fatherly kindness? The root of this most dreadful ingratitude in men is the boundless desire and covetousness for the temporal, apparent and transitory goods. From this insatiable thirst grows their unthankfulness; for as they hanker so much after the temporal goods, they undervalue what they receive and give thanks neither for them nor for the spiritual goods; and thus they are most ungrateful as well for the ones as the others.”
“Seek also to guard yourself from another very common mistake―namely that by which men, instead of acknowledging that all the goods of body and soul belong to the Lord, nevertheless appropriate all of them to themselves and consider them so much their own, that they not only refuse to offer them freely to their Creator, but even, if at any time they must part with them; lament and are aggrieved over their loss, as if they had been injured or as if God had treated them unjustly … Hence they dare not only condemn the rulings of divine Providence and lose the merit of sacrificing what is the Lord’s, but they wish to have it understood, that they esteem the possession of these transitory goods as their highest aim, and that, if they were permitted, they would live many ages content with these apparent and perishing things.”
“The cause of God remains neglected and without a champion. His possessions―which are the souls―are left without increase; everybody looks only after their own interest and preservation. Truth is obscured, flattery raises its voice, avarice is unbridled, the Blood of Christ is trodden under foot, the fruits of the Redemption are held in contempt; no one wishes to risk his own comfort or interest in order to save what has cost the Savior His Blood and life. Even the friends of God are influenced by the evils; for they do not make use of their charity and its holy liberty as they ought; and most of them allow themselves to be overcome by their cowardice and content themselves with working for themselves alone, forsaking the common cause of the souls of others.
“As soon as you begin to do anything of your own choice, it will not be true that you are seeking solely the will of the Lord. The instrument has no motion or action except that imparted to it by the worker holding the instrument; and if the instrument had its own will, it would be able to resist and act contrary to the will of the one using it. The same holds true between God and the soul―for, if a soul entertains any desire of its own independently of God, it will work against the pleasure of the Lord. Since God keeps inviolate the freedom of action that He has conceded to man, consequently God will permit this freedom of action to lead man astray, as soon as man decides to act for himself, without any reference to the direction and will of his Maker … I do not wish thee to follow the teachings of those who seek liberty and license.”
“You should neither admit of any movement, thought, desire of your own, nor fulfill your own will in anything independently of the will and direction of him who has charge of your soul―for him the Lord sends to you, just as He sent Ananias to Saint Paul ... Cut short therefore all your personal reflections and self-reliance and remember, that, even if you should have the wisdom of the most learned, the counsel of the most prudent, and the natural intelligence of the angels, you could, with all this, know how to execute His will far less perfectly than by resigning and leaving all to His divine pleasure. He alone knows what is suitable for you and He seeks it with an eternal love; He chose the ways in which you would walk and governs you in them. Permit yourself to be guided by His divine light … Never show any grievance or sign of being displeased toward thy superiors, for this is a very ugly spirit and such liberty will destroy all the merit of thy obedience.”
Independence Detoxification and a Return to Dependence
You could loosely compare independence to street drugs―it gives you a high, it makes you addicted, but in the end it only brings misery. We could look at the parable of Prodigal Son in the light of dependence becoming independence, then leading to misery and finally leading back to dependence:
“A certain man had two sons―and the younger of them said to his father: ‘Father, give me the portion of substance that falleth to me!’ And he divided unto them his substance. And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country, and there wasted his substance, living riotously. And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine. And he would wanted to fill his belly with the husks the swine did eat; but no man gave unto him. And returning to himself, he said: ‘How many hired servants in my father’s house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger? I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: “Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee! I am not worthy to be called thy son! Make me as one of thy hired servants!”’ And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee! I am not now worthy to be called thy son!’ And the father said to his servants: ‘Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him! And put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet! And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry! Because this my son was dead, and is come to life again! He was lost, and is found!’” (Luke 15:11-24).
Pride leads to independence and independence increases pride. Whereas humility leads to dependence and dependence increases humility. St. Peter states: “God resisteth the proud, but to the humble he giveth grace” (1 Peter 5:5). St. James repeats the same message: “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Our Lady, in her Magnificat, also says: “He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart! He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble!” (Luke 1:51-52). In the Psalms we read of the independent kings and princes who rebel against God: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ, saying: ‘Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us!’ He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall he speak to them in His anger, and trouble them in His rage!” (Psalm 2:2-5).
The only way to Heaven is the humble road of dependence―not the proud road of independence. We should in the reality of dependence, rather than glorying in the mirage of independence. As St. Louis de Montfort says, we are slaves of Mary and through her we are slaves of Christ. Let it be that way! Let us not stray from that narrow path onto the broad and wide road that leads to independence and destruction:
“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets [of independence], who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves! By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them! [What are the fruits of independence? They are not godly!]. Not every one that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name? And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And everyone that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:13-27).
Modern-man’s obsession with “independence” blinds him to his overwhelming “dependence”! It is a little like the drunk staggering and saying: “You am I telling drunk not am I”―in sober language that would be: “I am telling you I am not drunk!” People imagine they have independence, when it actually dependence that rules most of their lives. Owning your home is the so-called the American dream? Well dream on, baby! Do you really own your home in the first place?
Owning something means possessing something that no one has the right to take away. If I go to the store and buy a coat, I own it. No one can come and take that coat from me without stealing it. That is not how it works with your home. It can legally be taken from you in many ways. The term “homeowner” is merely false advertising and manipulative inflation of pride― “You are now a proud homeowner!” Most folk take out a mortgage in order to buy their home. However, until you pay-off that mortgage, it is the bank that is the owner of your property. If you haven’t fully paid for something, can you say you own it? If you stop paying that mortgage, you will quickly find out who owns your property! But everyone puts down 3-5% of the cost of a home and call themselves homeowners. That kind of statement is around 15 years, 30 years, or maybe even 50 years premature―until you pay off your mortgage. Are you then, finally, a homeowner? Are you finally “free and clear”? Don’t count your chickens before they hatch! You are not the owner! Why not? Read the next paragraph!
Property Taxes (Independence?)
Regardless whether you totally paid for your home in cash, or took out a mortgage, you still owe property taxes each year. Property taxes are essentially an annual fee on your house. What is the name given to an arrangement where you pay monthly payment to live somewhere? Rent! What do you call an annual payment to live somewhere? Rent! Like it or not, admit or not, you are always renting your home from the government. Try not paying those property taxes and see what they do to you and your home! Your home won’t be your home for much longer! The taxing authority will file a tax lien on your property and you could lose it in a tax sale―if the outstanding amount is not paid. Unlike most forms of debt, property taxes do not have a payoff amount. You can’t make a lump-sum payment to pay off your property taxes for the rest of your life. They must be paid each and every year. On top of that, the property taxes will most likely go up each year. Just like rents.
Other Liens (Independence?)
There are other types of liens that can be filed on property, such as HOA (Homeowners Association) and water/utility liens. People who purchased their home entirely with cash can lose it by not paying their homeowner’s association (HOA) fees. There are many HOA (Homeowners Association) foreclosures seen at auctions. There are also instances of people losing their homes due to water bills. A couple hundred dollar water bill balloons into a several thousand dollar lien after interest, an insurmountable cost for some.
Code Violations (Independence?)
If you truly own something, you should be able to do with it as you please. You may buy a a piece on furniture and throw in the bonfire, or chop it up for firewood, or do whatever else you want with it. But if part of my house is falling apart or the grass grows too long, you can be cited for a code violation. These violations accrue daily until they are resolved. If you want to make changes to your house, you often need a permit. With so many restrictions about what you can and cannot do with your home, is that a sign of true ownership?
Eminent Domain (Independence?)
Even if you follow all the rules and pay all your bills, there are still ways your home can be taken away from you. What if all of a sudden the government decides to build a highway right where your house is located? Suddenly you may be forced to sell your home ― and probably under its market value.
When is a Homeowner Not a Homeowner
If you’re not a “homeowner,” what are you? You are a mere renter and you will always be a renter unless you live in one of these 18 countries without property taxes―EUROPE: Croatia, Malta, Liechtenstein, Monaco; CARIBBEAN: Cayman Islands, Dominica, Turks and Caicos Islands; OCEANIA: Cook Islands, Fiji; INDIAN OCEAN: Seychelles, Sri Lanka; MIDDLE EAST: Bahrein, Israel, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
At the same time, as a so-called “homeowner”, you are more than a standard renter, as you do have financial interest in the property and responsibilities towards the property that a renter does not have. Rather than a “homeowner” you are merely a “titleholder”. The title of the property is in your name. But no one wants to use that term―because there is more chance in getting you to tie yourself down as slave (independent, huh?) to a 15, 20, 25 or 30 year mortgage if you can be called (and believe that you are) a “homeowner”. Why would you pay $500,000 for something they don’t actually own? How could you convince someone to part with $500,000 to be a mere renting “titleholder”? The term “homeowner” will never leave our vocabulary, because it will be perpetuated by those who make money from of its use. Additionally, we will perpetuate it ourselves. A little white lie we tell ourselves so we feel the pride of “ownership.”
Libertarians are the consummate “independents” ―they believe that on every issue you have the right to decide for yourself what’s best for you and to act on that belief, so long as you simply respect the right of other people to do the same . Even the Libertarian, Harry Browne, in his book How I Found Freedom In an Unfree World, writes of homeowners and property taxes: “[The government] gives you the one-sided choice of paying property taxes or losing your property. So, as economist F. A. Harper has pointed out, you don’t actually own anything; you rent from the government. Sales between individuals are only exchanges of the privilege of renting property from the government. He who doesn't pay the annual rental is forcibly evicted from his property. Property taxes are a reality of life for almost every property owner in the world. In the Land of the Free, some homeowners pay five figure sums every year to live in modest homes in places like New York and Southern California. Heck, people in New York are paying tens of thousands of dollars each year just to live in their own homes. Going as far back as ancient Egypt, these mandatory tithes to the government are proof that you don’t really OWN your home or land. Rather, you are indebted to the government for the use of that land and, consequently, must pay. Unlike many private sector services, you can’t simply buy a ‘lifetime membership’ for annual multiple and call it a day. You must pay property taxes by the due date each and every year — and not a moment too soon.” (Harry Browne, in his book How I Found Freedom In an Unfree World, p.94).
The Illusion of Independence―Independence is Wishful Thinking
It can look as though we are somewhat independent if we shut out God from the equation―but to do so is dishonest, illogical, and just plain stupid. In reality, there is no such thing as independence―it is a whimsical creation of the mind that has been cemented in vocabulary and ideology of mankind. The only one who is independent is God! To want to be independent is to want to take God’s place―to shove Him out of the picture, steal what He has made, and appropriate it to ourselves.
Can you name one single country in the world which, having declared its independence from whoever or whatever, has actually become more godly, more religious, more moral, more God-centered in its laws by aligning civil law with Divine Law? Has not independence from whoever or whatever led to independence from morality? Take a look at the “big-boys” of independence. Where has England ended-up on the godly, religious, moral, God-centered thermometer ever since King Henry VIII declared independence for the English Catholic Church from Rome? The temperature has consistently gone down and down. Where has the USA ended-up on the godly, religious, moral, God-centered thermometer ever since the Declaration of Independence? Likewise the temperature has consistently gone down. Both countries have degenerated religiously and morally, while those who still adhere to the Faith, have such heretical and immoral viewpoints that they are Catholic or Christian is name only. How can a Catholic pretend to be a Catholic in their views when those views accept contraception, cohabitation, fornication, masturbation, same-sex relationships, same-sex ‘marriages’, divorce, remarriage after divorce, abortion, etc.? That is independence gone wild!
Yet all the while―in their independent minds―they ignore and abuse their dependency on God in living in God’s apartment (Earth), breathing God’s air, drinking God’s water, eating God’s food, tapping into God’s natural resources, etc., without paying their rent or mortgage (adoration of God) nor keeping the rules of the house (the Commandments of God). They have appropriated all that is God’s to themselves! All of this is amply illustrated in one of Our Lord’s parables: “‘Hear ye another parable. There was a man an householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen; and went into a strange country. And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits thereof. And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants more than the former; and they did to them in like manner. And last of all he sent to them his son, saying: They will reverence my son. But the husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves: “This is the heir! Come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance!” And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen?’ They say to him: ‘He will bring those evil men to an evil end; and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, that shall render him the fruit in due season!’” (Matthew 21:33-41).
Our Lady’s prophetic warnings at Quito, La Salette, Fatima and Akita only serve to emphasize the truth that the independent God will no longer tolerate our prideful behavior at playing at being independent, when we should be dependent: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! ... The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance! … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! [independence from God] … God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family [division because of independence and everyone wanting things to be done their way] ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God [independence from God] … Then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His [independent] enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God [man will become dependent upon God]. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity [not independence] among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Our Lady Speaks on Independence and Dependence
It is well worth examining some statements that Our Lady made to the Venerable Mary of Agreda on the subject of independence and dependence. In a nutshell, Our Lady says that we must independent of the world―that is to say, not depend upon the world―so that we can depend upon God. She adds that we should not seek to follow and do our own will independently of God, but should seek God’s will in all things―even if it is unpleasant. Here are some quotes of Our Lady from The Mystical City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda (the “thees”, “thous” and “thines” with reference to us, have been changed into “you” and “your” for easier reading and comprehension.
“With the rebellion of Lucifer and his demons in Heaven have commenced the battles between the kingdom of light and that of darkness, between Jerusalem and Babylon; and these battles will not cease to the end of the world ... Just as in the present condition of man, nothing is more repulsive to his nature than the subjection of one’s will to that of another, so nothing is more necessary than this subjection for the bending of that stiff-necked pride, which the demon seeks to stir up in all the children of Adam. Hence the enemies labor sleeplessly to induce men to follow their own judgment and will [independence]. Thereby the devils gain many triumphs and lead many souls into diverse roads of destruction; for in all states and conditions of life the demon seeks to instill this poison into mortals, secretly soliciting them to follow their own judgment and refuse to obey the laws and the will of their superiors, but rather to despise and rebel against it, perverting the order of divine Providence for the well-ordering of all things. And because men overthrow this government of the Lord, the world is filled with confusion and darkness, created things are thrown out of order and subjected to opposite force without regard or attention to God and His laws … Merely because God has given men freedom of will, either to follow their Master or not, to show themselves thankful or not―they side with Lucifer and serve him freely, permit him to enter the house of God and His temple, that he may tyrannically confuse and profane it and draw after him the greater part of the world to his eternal torments.”
“Just as God is the beginning and origin of all the being and faculties of creatures, so also, according to right reason, He is to be their sole last end; for if man has received all from God without meriting it, then he likewise owes all to Him Who has given it freely. And if men have received all from God, in order to produce results, then all the results belong to the Creator and not to the creatures … This debt is manifest and common to all men, if they would only direct their attention toward it … Without their merit God called such persons to His holy Faith, giving them knowledge of the certain truth; justifying them in Baptism, putting at their disposal the Sacraments, the ministers, the teachings and enlightenments of eternal life. He placed them upon the sure path, granted them His assistance, pardoned them their sins, raised them from their falls, waited for their repentance, invited them by His mercy, and rewarded them with a generous hand. He defended them through His holy angels, gave them Himself as a pledge and as a nourishment of eternal life ; and thus He accumulated so many blessings upon them, that they are without measure or number, and that not a day nor an hour passes without increasing their indebtedness. Tell me then, daughter, what thanks are due to His so generous and fatherly kindness? The root of this most dreadful ingratitude in men is the boundless desire and covetousness for the temporal, apparent and transitory goods. From this insatiable thirst grows their unthankfulness; for as they hanker so much after the temporal goods, they undervalue what they receive and give thanks neither for them nor for the spiritual goods; and thus they are most ungrateful as well for the ones as the others.”
“Seek also to guard yourself from another very common mistake―namely that by which men, instead of acknowledging that all the goods of body and soul belong to the Lord, nevertheless appropriate all of them to themselves and consider them so much their own, that they not only refuse to offer them freely to their Creator, but even, if at any time they must part with them; lament and are aggrieved over their loss, as if they had been injured or as if God had treated them unjustly … Hence they dare not only condemn the rulings of divine Providence and lose the merit of sacrificing what is the Lord’s, but they wish to have it understood, that they esteem the possession of these transitory goods as their highest aim, and that, if they were permitted, they would live many ages content with these apparent and perishing things.”
“The cause of God remains neglected and without a champion. His possessions―which are the souls―are left without increase; everybody looks only after their own interest and preservation. Truth is obscured, flattery raises its voice, avarice is unbridled, the Blood of Christ is trodden under foot, the fruits of the Redemption are held in contempt; no one wishes to risk his own comfort or interest in order to save what has cost the Savior His Blood and life. Even the friends of God are influenced by the evils; for they do not make use of their charity and its holy liberty as they ought; and most of them allow themselves to be overcome by their cowardice and content themselves with working for themselves alone, forsaking the common cause of the souls of others.
“As soon as you begin to do anything of your own choice, it will not be true that you are seeking solely the will of the Lord. The instrument has no motion or action except that imparted to it by the worker holding the instrument; and if the instrument had its own will, it would be able to resist and act contrary to the will of the one using it. The same holds true between God and the soul―for, if a soul entertains any desire of its own independently of God, it will work against the pleasure of the Lord. Since God keeps inviolate the freedom of action that He has conceded to man, consequently God will permit this freedom of action to lead man astray, as soon as man decides to act for himself, without any reference to the direction and will of his Maker … I do not wish thee to follow the teachings of those who seek liberty and license.”
“You should neither admit of any movement, thought, desire of your own, nor fulfill your own will in anything independently of the will and direction of him who has charge of your soul―for him the Lord sends to you, just as He sent Ananias to Saint Paul ... Cut short therefore all your personal reflections and self-reliance and remember, that, even if you should have the wisdom of the most learned, the counsel of the most prudent, and the natural intelligence of the angels, you could, with all this, know how to execute His will far less perfectly than by resigning and leaving all to His divine pleasure. He alone knows what is suitable for you and He seeks it with an eternal love; He chose the ways in which you would walk and governs you in them. Permit yourself to be guided by His divine light … Never show any grievance or sign of being displeased toward thy superiors, for this is a very ugly spirit and such liberty will destroy all the merit of thy obedience.”
Independence Detoxification and a Return to Dependence
You could loosely compare independence to street drugs―it gives you a high, it makes you addicted, but in the end it only brings misery. We could look at the parable of Prodigal Son in the light of dependence becoming independence, then leading to misery and finally leading back to dependence:
“A certain man had two sons―and the younger of them said to his father: ‘Father, give me the portion of substance that falleth to me!’ And he divided unto them his substance. And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country, and there wasted his substance, living riotously. And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine. And he would wanted to fill his belly with the husks the swine did eat; but no man gave unto him. And returning to himself, he said: ‘How many hired servants in my father’s house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger? I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: “Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee! I am not worthy to be called thy son! Make me as one of thy hired servants!”’ And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee! I am not now worthy to be called thy son!’ And the father said to his servants: ‘Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him! And put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet! And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry! Because this my son was dead, and is come to life again! He was lost, and is found!’” (Luke 15:11-24).
Pride leads to independence and independence increases pride. Whereas humility leads to dependence and dependence increases humility. St. Peter states: “God resisteth the proud, but to the humble he giveth grace” (1 Peter 5:5). St. James repeats the same message: “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Our Lady, in her Magnificat, also says: “He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart! He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble!” (Luke 1:51-52). In the Psalms we read of the independent kings and princes who rebel against God: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ, saying: ‘Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us!’ He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall he speak to them in His anger, and trouble them in His rage!” (Psalm 2:2-5).
The only way to Heaven is the humble road of dependence―not the proud road of independence. We should in the reality of dependence, rather than glorying in the mirage of independence. As St. Louis de Montfort says, we are slaves of Mary and through her we are slaves of Christ. Let it be that way! Let us not stray from that narrow path onto the broad and wide road that leads to independence and destruction:
“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets [of independence], who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves! By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them! [What are the fruits of independence? They are not godly!]. Not every one that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name? And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And everyone that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:13-27).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Wednesday July 3rd & Thursday July 4th
Article 2
Dependence or Independence? That is the Question!
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to be dependent or independent?
(My, my, my! What a mess!)
Article 2
Dependence or Independence? That is the Question!
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to be dependent or independent?
(My, my, my! What a mess!)
Independence Revisited!
July―from a worldwide secular perspective―could be called “Independence Month.” There are several nations that ‘celebrate’ their independence during this month in one way or another. Every American, of course, knows that July 4th in America’s Independence Day—or perhaps the modern “dumbing-down” has been so successful that perhaps not all Americans are aware of the fact! Yet what most Americans do not realize is that July is choc-full of days of independence! The American Day of Independence of July 4th, is just one of twenty-two Days of Independence celebrated in the month of July.
On July 1st, Canada celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1867.
On July 1st, Burundi, in Africa, celebrates its independence from Belgium in 1962.
On July 1st, Rwanda, in Africa, celebrates its independence from Belgium in 1962.
On July 3rd, Belarus celebrates its independence from the occupying German forces in 1944.
On July 4th, the United States celebrates its independence from Great Britain in 1776.
On July 5th, Venezuela celebrates its independence from Spain in 1811.
On July 5th, Algeria celebrates its independence from France in 1962.
On July 5th, Cape Verde celebrates its independence from Portugal in 1975.
On July 6th, Argentina celebrates its independence from Spain in 1816.
On July 6th, Malawi, in Africa, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.
On July 7th, the Solomon Islands celebrate independence from the United Kingdom in 1978.
On July 7th, South Sudan celebrates independence from Sudan in 2011.
On July 10th, the Bahamas celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1973.
On July 12th, São Tomé and Príncipe, Africa, celebrates its independence from Portugal in 1975.
On July 12th, Kiribati, in Micronesia, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1979.
On July 14th, France celebrates Bastille Day and its revolutionary independence from the French monarchy in 1790.
On July 17th, Slovakia celebrates its independence from the Czechs in 1992.
On July 19th, Belgium celebrates its independence from the Netherlands in 1931.
On July 26th, Liberia celebrates its independence from American colonization in 1847.
On July 26th, Maldives, in Asia, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1965.
On July 28th, Peru celebrates its independence from Spain in 1821.
On July 30th, Vanuata, South Pacific, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom and France in 1980.
Post-Revolutionary Independence
All-in-all, throughout the world in modern times (in the post-Revolutionary period following the American and French Revolutions and the advent and triumph of Liberalism) there have been around 170 declarations of independence, with 57 of them being independence from the United Kingdom. It is peculiarly providential that after England’s King Henry VIII (1491-1547) rebelled and separated himself and his country from the religious jurisdiction of the Catholic Church and the Pope in Rome, making himself the head of the church in England, the same fate later befell England as one country after another separated themselves from the massive English Empire throughout the world—that included, among others, America, Canada, Australia, India and large sections of Africa.
It brings to mind the fact that once Adam and Eve declared independence from God, then, as a punishment, all of nature rebelled against Adam and Eve, and was not a favorable and kind to them as the natural world was before their Original Sin. Just as nature―which was below or inferior―rebelled against the rebels Adam and Eve, so have many nations, who have rebelled and declared independence for one reason or another, have found that they, in turn, suffered rebellion from others. Yet Adam and Eve’s independence from God was not even the first declaration of independence! The first declaration of independence came from Satan, with his famous cry: “Non serviam!” ― “I will not serve!” The result was Hell! Likewise, the modern-day format of independence has followed the satanic suit and the result is the hell that we see around us―mainly due to the spirit of independence―more precisely, an independence from the laws and ways of God.
Modern-Day Independence is Independence From God
Let us not be fooled by the false mask of independence that is being worn in this post-revolutionary world, which cloaks a satanic independence behind the smiling Liberal mask of ‘benevolent’ independence. Yet, because most people have been dumbed-down and know very little history, they are duped by the Liberal mask of independence into believing the falsehoods of modern-day independence worshippers. The ultimate goal behind the revolutionary dream of independence is an independence from God—which is what makes it satanic, for Satan’s cry was: “Non serviam!”—meaning: “I will not serve!” Satan made the first declaration of independence and he has been encouraging his brand of independence ever since that time. His first recruits were the fallen angels; his next recruits were Adam and Eve; and since that Original Sin (or Original Declaration of Independence) he has sold his brand of independence to billions of duped humans, who, by buying into his independence are now slaves in Hell. By blindfolding them with his blindfold of independence, and making them blindly follow his brand of independence, he has led them to the pit of Hell. As Our Lord said: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). You could rephrase that to read: “Leave them alone, let them be independent! They are independent and leaders of the independent! And if the independent lead the others to independence, they will both fall into the pit!”
By Their Independent Fruits You Shall Know Them
As Our Lord said: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Every one therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:14-27).
The truly Catholic life is one of DEPENDENCE and NOT INDEPENDENCE. The false Catholic life, the Liberal Catholic life, is one of INDEPENDENCE and NOT DEPENDENCE. By their fruits you shall know them. The way of DEPENDENCE ON GOD is straight and narrow, and few there are that find it, and even fewer are they that take it. The road of INDEPENDENCE FROM GOD is broad and wide, and many there are who find themselves upon it. Beware of the false prophets of Liberalism and Independence, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly are ravening wolves. The very first temptation offered by the ‘independent’ Satan ― “I will not serve!” ― was a temptation for independence:
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ [the questioning of legitimate authority]. And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’” (Genesis 3:1-5). The enticement and allure to independence: “in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods”―in other words: “Disobey! Break away! You will see things differently! You don’t have to accept someone else’s point of view or authority! Be your own ruler! Be a law unto yourself! Don’t obey the laws of others―make your own laws!”
The Family of Independence
This independence of thought also shows itself through Naturalism and Humanism, which turns it back on the supernatural and the spiritual, and focuses on the world, nature and humanity, rather than Heaven, grace and the Divinity. This leads us to treasure the natural above the supernatural, things above grace, man above God.
It begets its children of Materialism (greed for things), Rationalism (think what you want in the Natural sphere—nobody tells me what to believe), Modernism (think what you want in the domain of Faith—nobody tells me what to believe about God) and Liberalism (do what you want in the Natural and Religious spheres—nobody tells me what to do, I will do what I want). This is the foundation for all the modern day Revolutions.
It also filters down into the family setting, where independence creeps into family life: the husband becomes more independent from outside authorities, the wife becomes more independent from her husband, the children become more independent from their parents—authority is accepted only if the subordinate agrees with the authority, otherwise there arises a spirit of independence, disobedience and rebellion.
The Illusion of Independence
The Illusion of Independence is exactly what it sounds like: it’s the false belief that we are, can be, or should be completely independent―even though it’s total and utter absurdity. Independence is celebrated everywhere; it is lifted up as a model and an ideal of how we should try to be, and so, of course, we all scramble to identify as being independent. Yet it is dangerous to believe we’re all independent and dangerous to seek to be independent. It’s really, really dangerous, and for several reasons.
The Shame and Danger of Independence
As they say, “If you do not know your history, then you will be forced to learn it by repeating the mistakes of history!” Most people DO NOT know their history―and so are sucked-into a superficial, sugared, suppressed, sentimentalized, sanitized, slanted and subversive version of history. A little history can save a lot of trouble. A little truth can avoid a lot of error! So here goes…
(1) Tracing independence back to its roots, we find that it is born of the devil, with his cry of “I will not serve!” Do we really want to have those kind of ‘family’ connections? Let us take to mind the words of Scripture: “Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know thou, and see that it is an evil thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God. Thou hast broken My yoke, thou hast burst My bands, and thou saidst: ‘I will not serve!’” (Jeremias 2:19-20). “So shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 8:20).
(2) Adam and Eve chose the route of independence from God and thereby walked into the clutches of punishment and death. A fault and punishment that was repeated and received many times throughout history, as is clearly and frequently shown in Holy Scripture—proving, beyond doubt, that independence from God doesn’t pay!
(3) The Israelites, from the time of Moses, were a theocracy (theos is Greek for God, -cracy comes from the Greek kratos meaning “a rule, a regime”—meaning that they were ruled, guided and provided for by God. But then they wanted independence from God—they no longer wanted to be a theocracy, but a monarchy, whereby they would be ruled by a human king and not a divine God! “All the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel and they said to him: ‘Make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have!’ And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: Give us a king, to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Listen to the voice of the people! They have not rejected thee, but Me, that I should not reign over them!’” (1 Kings 8:4-7).
(4) The Jews rejected the Kingship of Christ to their folly and destruction, crying out to Pilate, when he asked them what he should with their King: “The chief priests answered: ‘We have no king but Caesar!’” (John 19:15).
Their desired king—Caesar—sent his son Titus, in 70 AD, as prophesied by Christ, to raze Jerusalem to the ground and slaughter all its inhabitants (over 1 million), because they rebelled against their own acknowledged “We have no king but Caesar!”—and sought independence from the Roman Emperor! An expensive price to pay for rejecting the Kingship of Christ in favor of the worldly kingship of Caesar—yet an even worse carnage awaits the world today for the same fault!
(5) Another theocracy (meaning God is king or ruler) was that of the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, which consisted of German-speaking peoples and Northern Italy. The Holy Roman Empire began in 800 AD, with the papal crowning of Charlemagne as emperor. The rulers of the Holy Roman Empire saw themselves as overseeing a theocracy (God’s kingdom) in the sense that the power of the government was welded or joined to that of the Roman Catholic Church—a union of Church and State, like a marriage between husband and wife. After Charlemagne died in 814, the imperial crown was disputed among the various Carolingian rulers of Western Francia and Eastern Francia, with first the western king (Charles the Bald) and then the eastern (Charles the Fat) attaining the prize. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian (Charlemagne’s) Empire broke apart (independence), and was never restored. Around 900, autonomous (‘independent’) dukedoms or duchies re-emerged in East Francia―such as Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony, and Lotharingia. According to Regino of Prüm, the independent parts of the realm “spewed forth kinglets,” and each independent part elected its own little kinglet “from its own bowels.” After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, but not in the now ‘independent’ Francia.
East Francia did not turn to the Carolingian ruler of West Francia to take over the realm, but instead elected one of the dukes, Conrad of Franconia, as king of the Eastern Franks (independence). On his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony. Eventually Otto I became the Holy Roman Emperor. Otto I continued the work of unifying all German tribes into a single kingdom and greatly expanded the king’s powers, at the expense of the aristocracy, who found their powers reduced. Through strategic marriages and personal appointments, Otto installed members of his family in the kingdom’s most important duchies or dukedoms (independence and self-interest and self-advantage go hand-in-hand). Otto transformed the Roman Catholic Church in Germany, so as to benefit himself and to strengthen the royal office, subjecting the clergy to his personal control (a form of independence from the Church and God for sake of personal advantage). Otto’s later years were marked by conflicts with the papacy (independence) and struggles to stabilize his rule over Italy (others try to secure independence from Otto’s rule). Eventually, the Holy Roman Empire was divided into dozens—eventually hundreds—of individual independent entities governed by kings, dukes, counts, bishops, abbots, and other rulers, collectively known as princes, who governed their land independently from the emperor, whose power was severely restricted by these various local leaders. Such are the fruits of mankind’s ceaseless struggle at securing increasing independence from God’s rule and God’s laws!
Science is Now Independent of God
Science today is the new god, having sought to replace the one true God in Heaven. It rises higher and higher each year with its achievements, and puts down more and more ‘alleged’ miracles of God. It increasingly dismisses much of what God has done as being mere fiction, exaggeration, imagination and legend. In its pride, science professes to know the age of the universe, it pretends that it can know what happened in the universe millions, or billions of years ago―according to the ‘gospel of science.’ Until recently, astronomers estimated that the (so-called) Big Bang occurred between 12 and 14 billion years ago―what’s a mere difference of only 2,000,000,000 (2,000 million) between friends? No big deal for “Big Bang” theorists! To put this in perspective, the Solar System is thought to be 4.5 billion years old and humans have existed for only a few million years―what’s a “few million” years between friends, who cares about exactness in science?
Yet science is normally proud of its “religious” adherence to exactness―it looks upon exactness as being one its “scientific commandments”―it proudly proclaims that it is exact to the “nth degree”! Yet these exacting sciences, just “turn-off” exactness when they feel like it! All of this is―do you not think?―very vague and presumptuous! The scientific theories have varied greatly over the last 200 years―and at every stage, with every age, every theory was deemed to be THE truth and almost everyone bowed-down before the god of science, saying “Credo” ― “I believe!” With intelligences and thought processes like that, maybe they did evolve out of monkeys! But in the end, God will laugh at them, as the following encounter with God and a scientist portrays:
God was sitting in Heaven one day, when a scientist shouted up to Him: “Hey, God! We don’t need You anymore. Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing – in other words, we can now do what you did in the beginning.”
“Oh, is that so? Explain…” replies God.
“Yep! Sure is!” says the scientist, “We’ve now finally figured out how to take dirt and form it into the likeness of You and breathe life into it, thus creating man!”
“Well, that’s very interesting… show Me!”
So the scientist bends down to the Earth, digs up a wheelbarrow full of soil and starts to mold the soil into the shape of a man.
“No, no, no…! Nooooo you don’t!” interrupts God, “Put that soil down! Put it down right now! That’s my soil! I made it! You go make and get your own dirt!”
Hmmm! Who needs who? Who’s independent of who?
We’re not independent. We are part of a larger system—many larger systems, in fact—that constantly impact our lives and the choices we make. And behind all those systems is Christ the King—who clearly told us: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Original (Independence) Sin
We have become increasingly independent, especially since the revolutions of independence in Europe and the Americas, beginning in the late 18th century and never having stopped since. The tendency for independence, that is a part of the package of Original Sin, is fed even more independence by the media and society. They make out independence to be a badge of honor that everyone should strive to obtain. Yet it flies and lies in the face of Jesus, Who said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Like Adam and Eve, we want to be our own gods—defining what is good and evil; choosing to do what we want, even if it is forbidden by God. We do not like to be told what to do—yet God is constantly telling us what to do: through His Church; our lawful superiors both at home and at work. When we think that our idea of things is better or more practical than God’s, then we have a problem—for ideas have consequences; and bad ideas have bad consequences!
“If thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and do what is right before Him, and obey His commandments, and keep all His precepts [A GOOD IDEA, huh?), none of the evils that I laid upon Egypt, will I bring upon thee: for I am the Lord thy healer” (Exodus 15:26). “But if you will not yet for all this obey Me [A BAD IDEA]: then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins” (Leviticus 26:18).
Liberalism is independence and independence is Liberalism, or freedom from restraint—a freedom to think, believe, say and do what one likes. “It is the declaration of … the absolute independence of the individual and the social reason, [In other words, the opinion of society, or a group, or an individual, takes precedence over Church teaching]. In short it sets itself up as the measure and rule of Faith … It denies everything which it itself does not proclaim. It negates everything which it itself does not affirm. Such is the general negation uttered by Liberalism … Liberalism, in the order of action, is license; recognizing no principle or rule beyond itself” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 2).
“From the Baptized or even priestly Liberal, who boasts his breadth of mind in his easy toleration of error, to the avowed atheist, who hurls his open defiance against God, the difference is only one of degree. One simply stands on a higher rung of the same ladder than the other. Their common criterion is “liberality” and “independence of mind;” the degree of application will be measured by the individual disposition: … self-interest with one, temperament with another, education impeding a third … human respect may moderate another … family or school … Sometimes Liberalism stalks along in the careless trappings of an easygoing good nature, or a simplicity of character, which invites our affection and allays our suspicion. Its very candor in this guise is an aggression difficult to resist. It does not appear responsible and excites our compassion before it has awakened our aversion. We seem to forgive it before we accuse it. But all the greater is the danger when it appears least possible.” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 4).
“Liberalism is a world complete in itself … It is the world of Lucifer, disguised in our times under the name of Liberalism, in radical opposition and in perpetual warfare against that society composed of the Children of God, the Church of Jesus Christ … Liberalism strikes at the very foundations of Faith … It is the declaration of … the absolute independence of the individual and the social reason, [In other words, the opinion of society, or a group, or an individual, takes precedence over Church teaching]. In short it sets itself up as the measure and rule of Faith … It denies everything which it itself does not proclaim. It negates everything which it itself does not affirm. Such is the general negation uttered by Liberalism … Liberalism, in the order of action, is license; recognizing no principle or rule beyond itself.” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 2).
We see this “Do-As-You-Wantness” at all levels of society: Church, Politics, Finance, Legislation, Education, Social, Familial and Individual. Everyone has fostered an area of life where they decide what is right or wrong, what they feel okay about doing and what they won’t do—irrespective of what God, Church, Government, Society or Family say about it. All of this comes down to pride—which Holy Scripture says is the beginning of all sin (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, quotes Bossuet: “Pride, is a profound depravity; it is the worship of self; man becomes his own god through excessive self-love. Forgetful that God is his first beginning and his last end, he overrates himself; he considers himself the sovereign lord and master of those qualities, real or imaginary, which he possesses, without referring them to God. From this arises that spirit of independence, of self-sufficiency … (Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, §204).
Believe What You Want!
Hence, in the Church, in the domain of thought and belief, we see the majority of the laity no longer believing in the Real Presence, no longer believing that you have to go to Mass every Sunday, no longer believing that contraception is wrong, no longer believing that divorce and remarriage is wrong, no longer believing certain sexual behaviors to be wrong, etc. –and yet they still believe themselves to be “Catholics in good standing”!
Act As You Want!
This attitude of believe what you want, spills over into the domain of act as you want. People will come to church dress as they like—which is increasingly immodest dress. They will assist at Mass as they like—which is increasingly distracted and poor assistance. They will observe the Commandments of God and the Church to the degree that they like—which is less and less. They will mix with whomever they like—disregarding the fact the worldliness of these people may well be a danger to the Faith and salvation.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of behavior. It is the modern spirit of independence that is the soul of this kind of behavior, one which has as its motto: “Who are you to tell me what to do?” You see and hear it at home, at school, at work, in the parish, in politics, in finance, and in the general culture of society. “Do not interfere with the sinner! He has his rights! He is independent! We must respect that!” is the general theme of the Rights of Man. No coercion must exercised on wrong doers. Often, the victim even becomes the guilty party!
Sailing Wherever You Want or Sailing Where God Wants?
On the devil’s ship, SSS Seduction, you are totally independent and can do what you want and sail where you want! This is the way of modern independence! We think for ourselves! We accept only what we want to accept. We decide for ourselves! We act by ourselves! Only when things fail, do we go to God—and then we run out of patience with Him when He won’t give us what we tell Him to give us, in the time limit that we set for Him to answer our prayers! O what a mess we are! Rowing round and round frustratingly in circles, unwilling to unfurl our sails to allow God to blow us in the direction HE WANTS.
The, ship, SSS Seduction, sails on the seas of independence and is filled with empty, transitory pleasures that the devil promises will lead to true happiness and eternal independence—but those lies cover the reality of the destination of true and eternal sorrows and eternal slavery. Whereas on the Christ’s ship, the Ark of the Church, we sail where are told to sail, we are promised storms, temporary and painful sorrows that Our Lord says will lead to eternal joy and freedom. On the former ship, we can play now and pay later—on the latter ship, we labor now and rejoice later. The choice is one of instant gratification or eternal gratification; temporary pain or eternal pain; short-lived joy or eternal joy, independence and disobedience or dependence and obedience.
July―from a worldwide secular perspective―could be called “Independence Month.” There are several nations that ‘celebrate’ their independence during this month in one way or another. Every American, of course, knows that July 4th in America’s Independence Day—or perhaps the modern “dumbing-down” has been so successful that perhaps not all Americans are aware of the fact! Yet what most Americans do not realize is that July is choc-full of days of independence! The American Day of Independence of July 4th, is just one of twenty-two Days of Independence celebrated in the month of July.
On July 1st, Canada celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1867.
On July 1st, Burundi, in Africa, celebrates its independence from Belgium in 1962.
On July 1st, Rwanda, in Africa, celebrates its independence from Belgium in 1962.
On July 3rd, Belarus celebrates its independence from the occupying German forces in 1944.
On July 4th, the United States celebrates its independence from Great Britain in 1776.
On July 5th, Venezuela celebrates its independence from Spain in 1811.
On July 5th, Algeria celebrates its independence from France in 1962.
On July 5th, Cape Verde celebrates its independence from Portugal in 1975.
On July 6th, Argentina celebrates its independence from Spain in 1816.
On July 6th, Malawi, in Africa, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.
On July 7th, the Solomon Islands celebrate independence from the United Kingdom in 1978.
On July 7th, South Sudan celebrates independence from Sudan in 2011.
On July 10th, the Bahamas celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1973.
On July 12th, São Tomé and Príncipe, Africa, celebrates its independence from Portugal in 1975.
On July 12th, Kiribati, in Micronesia, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1979.
On July 14th, France celebrates Bastille Day and its revolutionary independence from the French monarchy in 1790.
On July 17th, Slovakia celebrates its independence from the Czechs in 1992.
On July 19th, Belgium celebrates its independence from the Netherlands in 1931.
On July 26th, Liberia celebrates its independence from American colonization in 1847.
On July 26th, Maldives, in Asia, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom in 1965.
On July 28th, Peru celebrates its independence from Spain in 1821.
On July 30th, Vanuata, South Pacific, celebrates its independence from the United Kingdom and France in 1980.
Post-Revolutionary Independence
All-in-all, throughout the world in modern times (in the post-Revolutionary period following the American and French Revolutions and the advent and triumph of Liberalism) there have been around 170 declarations of independence, with 57 of them being independence from the United Kingdom. It is peculiarly providential that after England’s King Henry VIII (1491-1547) rebelled and separated himself and his country from the religious jurisdiction of the Catholic Church and the Pope in Rome, making himself the head of the church in England, the same fate later befell England as one country after another separated themselves from the massive English Empire throughout the world—that included, among others, America, Canada, Australia, India and large sections of Africa.
It brings to mind the fact that once Adam and Eve declared independence from God, then, as a punishment, all of nature rebelled against Adam and Eve, and was not a favorable and kind to them as the natural world was before their Original Sin. Just as nature―which was below or inferior―rebelled against the rebels Adam and Eve, so have many nations, who have rebelled and declared independence for one reason or another, have found that they, in turn, suffered rebellion from others. Yet Adam and Eve’s independence from God was not even the first declaration of independence! The first declaration of independence came from Satan, with his famous cry: “Non serviam!” ― “I will not serve!” The result was Hell! Likewise, the modern-day format of independence has followed the satanic suit and the result is the hell that we see around us―mainly due to the spirit of independence―more precisely, an independence from the laws and ways of God.
Modern-Day Independence is Independence From God
Let us not be fooled by the false mask of independence that is being worn in this post-revolutionary world, which cloaks a satanic independence behind the smiling Liberal mask of ‘benevolent’ independence. Yet, because most people have been dumbed-down and know very little history, they are duped by the Liberal mask of independence into believing the falsehoods of modern-day independence worshippers. The ultimate goal behind the revolutionary dream of independence is an independence from God—which is what makes it satanic, for Satan’s cry was: “Non serviam!”—meaning: “I will not serve!” Satan made the first declaration of independence and he has been encouraging his brand of independence ever since that time. His first recruits were the fallen angels; his next recruits were Adam and Eve; and since that Original Sin (or Original Declaration of Independence) he has sold his brand of independence to billions of duped humans, who, by buying into his independence are now slaves in Hell. By blindfolding them with his blindfold of independence, and making them blindly follow his brand of independence, he has led them to the pit of Hell. As Our Lord said: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). You could rephrase that to read: “Leave them alone, let them be independent! They are independent and leaders of the independent! And if the independent lead the others to independence, they will both fall into the pit!”
By Their Independent Fruits You Shall Know Them
As Our Lord said: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate! For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Every one therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:14-27).
The truly Catholic life is one of DEPENDENCE and NOT INDEPENDENCE. The false Catholic life, the Liberal Catholic life, is one of INDEPENDENCE and NOT DEPENDENCE. By their fruits you shall know them. The way of DEPENDENCE ON GOD is straight and narrow, and few there are that find it, and even fewer are they that take it. The road of INDEPENDENCE FROM GOD is broad and wide, and many there are who find themselves upon it. Beware of the false prophets of Liberalism and Independence, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly are ravening wolves. The very first temptation offered by the ‘independent’ Satan ― “I will not serve!” ― was a temptation for independence:
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ [the questioning of legitimate authority]. And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’” (Genesis 3:1-5). The enticement and allure to independence: “in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods”―in other words: “Disobey! Break away! You will see things differently! You don’t have to accept someone else’s point of view or authority! Be your own ruler! Be a law unto yourself! Don’t obey the laws of others―make your own laws!”
The Family of Independence
This independence of thought also shows itself through Naturalism and Humanism, which turns it back on the supernatural and the spiritual, and focuses on the world, nature and humanity, rather than Heaven, grace and the Divinity. This leads us to treasure the natural above the supernatural, things above grace, man above God.
It begets its children of Materialism (greed for things), Rationalism (think what you want in the Natural sphere—nobody tells me what to believe), Modernism (think what you want in the domain of Faith—nobody tells me what to believe about God) and Liberalism (do what you want in the Natural and Religious spheres—nobody tells me what to do, I will do what I want). This is the foundation for all the modern day Revolutions.
It also filters down into the family setting, where independence creeps into family life: the husband becomes more independent from outside authorities, the wife becomes more independent from her husband, the children become more independent from their parents—authority is accepted only if the subordinate agrees with the authority, otherwise there arises a spirit of independence, disobedience and rebellion.
The Illusion of Independence
The Illusion of Independence is exactly what it sounds like: it’s the false belief that we are, can be, or should be completely independent―even though it’s total and utter absurdity. Independence is celebrated everywhere; it is lifted up as a model and an ideal of how we should try to be, and so, of course, we all scramble to identify as being independent. Yet it is dangerous to believe we’re all independent and dangerous to seek to be independent. It’s really, really dangerous, and for several reasons.
The Shame and Danger of Independence
As they say, “If you do not know your history, then you will be forced to learn it by repeating the mistakes of history!” Most people DO NOT know their history―and so are sucked-into a superficial, sugared, suppressed, sentimentalized, sanitized, slanted and subversive version of history. A little history can save a lot of trouble. A little truth can avoid a lot of error! So here goes…
(1) Tracing independence back to its roots, we find that it is born of the devil, with his cry of “I will not serve!” Do we really want to have those kind of ‘family’ connections? Let us take to mind the words of Scripture: “Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know thou, and see that it is an evil thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God. Thou hast broken My yoke, thou hast burst My bands, and thou saidst: ‘I will not serve!’” (Jeremias 2:19-20). “So shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 8:20).
(2) Adam and Eve chose the route of independence from God and thereby walked into the clutches of punishment and death. A fault and punishment that was repeated and received many times throughout history, as is clearly and frequently shown in Holy Scripture—proving, beyond doubt, that independence from God doesn’t pay!
(3) The Israelites, from the time of Moses, were a theocracy (theos is Greek for God, -cracy comes from the Greek kratos meaning “a rule, a regime”—meaning that they were ruled, guided and provided for by God. But then they wanted independence from God—they no longer wanted to be a theocracy, but a monarchy, whereby they would be ruled by a human king and not a divine God! “All the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel and they said to him: ‘Make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have!’ And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: Give us a king, to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Listen to the voice of the people! They have not rejected thee, but Me, that I should not reign over them!’” (1 Kings 8:4-7).
(4) The Jews rejected the Kingship of Christ to their folly and destruction, crying out to Pilate, when he asked them what he should with their King: “The chief priests answered: ‘We have no king but Caesar!’” (John 19:15).
Their desired king—Caesar—sent his son Titus, in 70 AD, as prophesied by Christ, to raze Jerusalem to the ground and slaughter all its inhabitants (over 1 million), because they rebelled against their own acknowledged “We have no king but Caesar!”—and sought independence from the Roman Emperor! An expensive price to pay for rejecting the Kingship of Christ in favor of the worldly kingship of Caesar—yet an even worse carnage awaits the world today for the same fault!
(5) Another theocracy (meaning God is king or ruler) was that of the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, which consisted of German-speaking peoples and Northern Italy. The Holy Roman Empire began in 800 AD, with the papal crowning of Charlemagne as emperor. The rulers of the Holy Roman Empire saw themselves as overseeing a theocracy (God’s kingdom) in the sense that the power of the government was welded or joined to that of the Roman Catholic Church—a union of Church and State, like a marriage between husband and wife. After Charlemagne died in 814, the imperial crown was disputed among the various Carolingian rulers of Western Francia and Eastern Francia, with first the western king (Charles the Bald) and then the eastern (Charles the Fat) attaining the prize. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian (Charlemagne’s) Empire broke apart (independence), and was never restored. Around 900, autonomous (‘independent’) dukedoms or duchies re-emerged in East Francia―such as Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony, and Lotharingia. According to Regino of Prüm, the independent parts of the realm “spewed forth kinglets,” and each independent part elected its own little kinglet “from its own bowels.” After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, but not in the now ‘independent’ Francia.
East Francia did not turn to the Carolingian ruler of West Francia to take over the realm, but instead elected one of the dukes, Conrad of Franconia, as king of the Eastern Franks (independence). On his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony. Eventually Otto I became the Holy Roman Emperor. Otto I continued the work of unifying all German tribes into a single kingdom and greatly expanded the king’s powers, at the expense of the aristocracy, who found their powers reduced. Through strategic marriages and personal appointments, Otto installed members of his family in the kingdom’s most important duchies or dukedoms (independence and self-interest and self-advantage go hand-in-hand). Otto transformed the Roman Catholic Church in Germany, so as to benefit himself and to strengthen the royal office, subjecting the clergy to his personal control (a form of independence from the Church and God for sake of personal advantage). Otto’s later years were marked by conflicts with the papacy (independence) and struggles to stabilize his rule over Italy (others try to secure independence from Otto’s rule). Eventually, the Holy Roman Empire was divided into dozens—eventually hundreds—of individual independent entities governed by kings, dukes, counts, bishops, abbots, and other rulers, collectively known as princes, who governed their land independently from the emperor, whose power was severely restricted by these various local leaders. Such are the fruits of mankind’s ceaseless struggle at securing increasing independence from God’s rule and God’s laws!
Science is Now Independent of God
Science today is the new god, having sought to replace the one true God in Heaven. It rises higher and higher each year with its achievements, and puts down more and more ‘alleged’ miracles of God. It increasingly dismisses much of what God has done as being mere fiction, exaggeration, imagination and legend. In its pride, science professes to know the age of the universe, it pretends that it can know what happened in the universe millions, or billions of years ago―according to the ‘gospel of science.’ Until recently, astronomers estimated that the (so-called) Big Bang occurred between 12 and 14 billion years ago―what’s a mere difference of only 2,000,000,000 (2,000 million) between friends? No big deal for “Big Bang” theorists! To put this in perspective, the Solar System is thought to be 4.5 billion years old and humans have existed for only a few million years―what’s a “few million” years between friends, who cares about exactness in science?
Yet science is normally proud of its “religious” adherence to exactness―it looks upon exactness as being one its “scientific commandments”―it proudly proclaims that it is exact to the “nth degree”! Yet these exacting sciences, just “turn-off” exactness when they feel like it! All of this is―do you not think?―very vague and presumptuous! The scientific theories have varied greatly over the last 200 years―and at every stage, with every age, every theory was deemed to be THE truth and almost everyone bowed-down before the god of science, saying “Credo” ― “I believe!” With intelligences and thought processes like that, maybe they did evolve out of monkeys! But in the end, God will laugh at them, as the following encounter with God and a scientist portrays:
God was sitting in Heaven one day, when a scientist shouted up to Him: “Hey, God! We don’t need You anymore. Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing – in other words, we can now do what you did in the beginning.”
“Oh, is that so? Explain…” replies God.
“Yep! Sure is!” says the scientist, “We’ve now finally figured out how to take dirt and form it into the likeness of You and breathe life into it, thus creating man!”
“Well, that’s very interesting… show Me!”
So the scientist bends down to the Earth, digs up a wheelbarrow full of soil and starts to mold the soil into the shape of a man.
“No, no, no…! Nooooo you don’t!” interrupts God, “Put that soil down! Put it down right now! That’s my soil! I made it! You go make and get your own dirt!”
Hmmm! Who needs who? Who’s independent of who?
We’re not independent. We are part of a larger system—many larger systems, in fact—that constantly impact our lives and the choices we make. And behind all those systems is Christ the King—who clearly told us: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Original (Independence) Sin
We have become increasingly independent, especially since the revolutions of independence in Europe and the Americas, beginning in the late 18th century and never having stopped since. The tendency for independence, that is a part of the package of Original Sin, is fed even more independence by the media and society. They make out independence to be a badge of honor that everyone should strive to obtain. Yet it flies and lies in the face of Jesus, Who said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5).
Like Adam and Eve, we want to be our own gods—defining what is good and evil; choosing to do what we want, even if it is forbidden by God. We do not like to be told what to do—yet God is constantly telling us what to do: through His Church; our lawful superiors both at home and at work. When we think that our idea of things is better or more practical than God’s, then we have a problem—for ideas have consequences; and bad ideas have bad consequences!
“If thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and do what is right before Him, and obey His commandments, and keep all His precepts [A GOOD IDEA, huh?), none of the evils that I laid upon Egypt, will I bring upon thee: for I am the Lord thy healer” (Exodus 15:26). “But if you will not yet for all this obey Me [A BAD IDEA]: then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins” (Leviticus 26:18).
Liberalism is independence and independence is Liberalism, or freedom from restraint—a freedom to think, believe, say and do what one likes. “It is the declaration of … the absolute independence of the individual and the social reason, [In other words, the opinion of society, or a group, or an individual, takes precedence over Church teaching]. In short it sets itself up as the measure and rule of Faith … It denies everything which it itself does not proclaim. It negates everything which it itself does not affirm. Such is the general negation uttered by Liberalism … Liberalism, in the order of action, is license; recognizing no principle or rule beyond itself” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 2).
“From the Baptized or even priestly Liberal, who boasts his breadth of mind in his easy toleration of error, to the avowed atheist, who hurls his open defiance against God, the difference is only one of degree. One simply stands on a higher rung of the same ladder than the other. Their common criterion is “liberality” and “independence of mind;” the degree of application will be measured by the individual disposition: … self-interest with one, temperament with another, education impeding a third … human respect may moderate another … family or school … Sometimes Liberalism stalks along in the careless trappings of an easygoing good nature, or a simplicity of character, which invites our affection and allays our suspicion. Its very candor in this guise is an aggression difficult to resist. It does not appear responsible and excites our compassion before it has awakened our aversion. We seem to forgive it before we accuse it. But all the greater is the danger when it appears least possible.” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 4).
“Liberalism is a world complete in itself … It is the world of Lucifer, disguised in our times under the name of Liberalism, in radical opposition and in perpetual warfare against that society composed of the Children of God, the Church of Jesus Christ … Liberalism strikes at the very foundations of Faith … It is the declaration of … the absolute independence of the individual and the social reason, [In other words, the opinion of society, or a group, or an individual, takes precedence over Church teaching]. In short it sets itself up as the measure and rule of Faith … It denies everything which it itself does not proclaim. It negates everything which it itself does not affirm. Such is the general negation uttered by Liberalism … Liberalism, in the order of action, is license; recognizing no principle or rule beyond itself.” (Fr. Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 2).
We see this “Do-As-You-Wantness” at all levels of society: Church, Politics, Finance, Legislation, Education, Social, Familial and Individual. Everyone has fostered an area of life where they decide what is right or wrong, what they feel okay about doing and what they won’t do—irrespective of what God, Church, Government, Society or Family say about it. All of this comes down to pride—which Holy Scripture says is the beginning of all sin (Ecclesiasticus 10:15). Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, quotes Bossuet: “Pride, is a profound depravity; it is the worship of self; man becomes his own god through excessive self-love. Forgetful that God is his first beginning and his last end, he overrates himself; he considers himself the sovereign lord and master of those qualities, real or imaginary, which he possesses, without referring them to God. From this arises that spirit of independence, of self-sufficiency … (Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, §204).
Believe What You Want!
Hence, in the Church, in the domain of thought and belief, we see the majority of the laity no longer believing in the Real Presence, no longer believing that you have to go to Mass every Sunday, no longer believing that contraception is wrong, no longer believing that divorce and remarriage is wrong, no longer believing certain sexual behaviors to be wrong, etc. –and yet they still believe themselves to be “Catholics in good standing”!
Act As You Want!
This attitude of believe what you want, spills over into the domain of act as you want. People will come to church dress as they like—which is increasingly immodest dress. They will assist at Mass as they like—which is increasingly distracted and poor assistance. They will observe the Commandments of God and the Church to the degree that they like—which is less and less. They will mix with whomever they like—disregarding the fact the worldliness of these people may well be a danger to the Faith and salvation.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of behavior. It is the modern spirit of independence that is the soul of this kind of behavior, one which has as its motto: “Who are you to tell me what to do?” You see and hear it at home, at school, at work, in the parish, in politics, in finance, and in the general culture of society. “Do not interfere with the sinner! He has his rights! He is independent! We must respect that!” is the general theme of the Rights of Man. No coercion must exercised on wrong doers. Often, the victim even becomes the guilty party!
Sailing Wherever You Want or Sailing Where God Wants?
On the devil’s ship, SSS Seduction, you are totally independent and can do what you want and sail where you want! This is the way of modern independence! We think for ourselves! We accept only what we want to accept. We decide for ourselves! We act by ourselves! Only when things fail, do we go to God—and then we run out of patience with Him when He won’t give us what we tell Him to give us, in the time limit that we set for Him to answer our prayers! O what a mess we are! Rowing round and round frustratingly in circles, unwilling to unfurl our sails to allow God to blow us in the direction HE WANTS.
The, ship, SSS Seduction, sails on the seas of independence and is filled with empty, transitory pleasures that the devil promises will lead to true happiness and eternal independence—but those lies cover the reality of the destination of true and eternal sorrows and eternal slavery. Whereas on the Christ’s ship, the Ark of the Church, we sail where are told to sail, we are promised storms, temporary and painful sorrows that Our Lord says will lead to eternal joy and freedom. On the former ship, we can play now and pay later—on the latter ship, we labor now and rejoice later. The choice is one of instant gratification or eternal gratification; temporary pain or eternal pain; short-lived joy or eternal joy, independence and disobedience or dependence and obedience.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Monday July 1st & Tuesday July 2nd
July 1st : THE FEAST OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
July 2nd : THE FEAST OF OUR LADY'S VISITATION TO ST. ELIZABETH
Article 1
How to Make a Bloody Month a Holy Month
July 1st : THE FEAST OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
July 2nd : THE FEAST OF OUR LADY'S VISITATION TO ST. ELIZABETH
Article 1
How to Make a Bloody Month a Holy Month
Don’t Spill or Waster the Blood!
We have now entered a ‘bloody’ month―the month of the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. As the heart pumps out blood, so does the month of the Sacred Heart ‘pump-out’ the month of the Precious Blood―or you could say, as blood flows from the heart, so too does the month of the Precious Blood flow out of the month of the Sacred Heart. Both heart and blood are most precious―we need both of them for sustaining life―and that is even more true of our spiritual life.
We Read Without Reading, We See Without Seeing, We Know Without Knowing
Have you ever walked by, or driven by, some place day after day without ever noticing many things about it. For example, on your usual drive to work, school, store or church, there must a thousand things that have always been there on either side of the road, most of which you are totally oblivious to―even though you may have driven along that road thousands of times. Similarly, we may listen to a lecture or conference and fail to pick up many points that are being made and forget most of what we have heard―to the point that if someone quotes something from that conference, we are convinced that it was never said, because it wasn’t picked up by our radar. Place 30 or 40 objects on a tray and let someone look at them for a minute―and you will find that even though they might have “driven” their eyes over everything, they did not really notice everything, or only so slightly that it vanished from their memory once their eyes moved onto something else.
Sadly, that is how we are with God! We have “driven” through a prayer―for example the Hail Mary or Our Father―tens of thousands of times, yet the depth of our knowledge of the prayer is so flimsy, we would find difficulty in writing a couple of pages about the prayer, or even a few paragraphs! Likewise with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―we may have attended thousands of Masses, but might find enormous difficulty in writing only a thousand measly words on the Mass (which would be just under three times the 380 words of this article thus far).
We may read an article or a book―and, within a short period of time we have forgotten what we read and don't even realize that we missed many things while reading! Similarly, when we do read something, we usually fail to go any deeper into what we read―we do not check its veracity (truthfulness), nor do we look up any words that are a bit obtuse (hard to understand), nor do we search for further explanations that could clarify our understanding of what we read―we prefer “ready-cut”, “ready-cooked”, “bite-sized” pieces of information that require little “chewing” by our minds and are “easy to swallow”. That, in a nutshell, is what superficiality is all about! We see only the surface of things and do not want or cannot be bothered to look any deeper. It is this kind of mentality that Our Lord condemns when He says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me!’” (Mark 7:6).
This same superficiality leads to false religions being propagated, bad advice being accepted, bad decisions being made, health being lost, money being misspent, time being wasted, etc. Oftentimes it is because of a lack of deeper thought, further study, painstaking research, seeking prudent counseling, etc. Ironically, it should be lost on us that since we live on the surface of the Earth, we also live on the surface things in our minds. That is how the word “superficial” is defined in a dictionary: (1) existing or occurring at or on the surface―as in “the building suffered only superficial damage” or “his face was blotched with superficial burns”; (2) situated or occurring on the skin or immediately beneath it―as in “the superficial muscle groups”; (3) appearing to be true or real, only until examined more closely or more deeply―as in “the resemblance between the breeds is superficial.” The dictionary gives some synonyms (similar words) of superficial as being “surface, exterior, external, outer, outside, outermost, peripheral.”
Hence, that superficiality―by not digging deeper―believes all that it hears, accepts all it reads on the internet, does not question anything, blindly follows the crowd or popular opinion, etc. We all know where the crowd is heading―or we should know! Our Lord told us: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves!” (Matthew 7:13-15).
Modern Day Riding Hoods
To those ravening wolves we react like modern-day “Little Red Riding Hoods” seeing the wolf who has gobbled up grandma and is in bed, waiting for Little Red Riding Hood, posing as grandma, having dabbed some of Granny's perfume behind his pointy ears, wearing her nightgown and nightcap, with the sheets pulled up to cover his nose. As the story continues:
A few minutes later, Red Riding Hood knocked on the door.
The wolf jumped into bed and pulled the covers over his nose. “Who is it?” he called in a cackly voice.
“It's me, Little Red Riding Hood.”
“Oh how lovely! Do come in, my dear,” croaked the wolf.
When Little Red Riding Hood entered the little cottage, she could scarcely recognize her Grandmother.
“Grandmother! Your voice sounds so odd. Is something the matter?” she asked.
“Oh, I just have touch of a cold,” squeaked the wolf adding a cough at the end to prove the point.
“But Grandmother! What big ears you have,” said Little Red Riding Hood as she edged closer to the bed.
“The better to hear you with, my dear,” replied the wolf.
“But Grandmother! What big eyes you have,” said Little Red Riding Hood.
“The better to see you with, my dear,” replied the wolf.
“But Grandmother! What big teeth you have,” said Little Red Riding Hood her voice quivering slightly.
“The better to eat you with, my dear,” roared the wolf and he leapt out of the bed and began to chase the little girl.
Which is why our first shepherd, St. Peter, warns: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). But we are NOT STRONG IN FAITH―we barely know our Faith, our knowledge is superficial. Thus we are easy prey for the ravaging errors of Liberalism, Modernism, Rationalism, Protestantism, Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, Materialism, etc. It seems as though Our Lord has shed His Blood in vain.
Which is why our first shepherd, St. Peter, warns: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). But we are NOT STRONG IN FAITH―we barely know our Faith, our knowledge is superficial. Thus we are easy prey for the ravaging errors of Liberalism, Modernism, Rationalism, Protestantism, Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, Materialism, etc. It seems as though Our Lord has shed His Blood in vain. The devil is dressed in sheep’s clothing like the wolf was dressed in grandma’s clothing. That clothing is the world, behind which lurks the devil. He knows we won’t love him, but he knows that he make us love what he creates―the allurements of the world, and, today especially, the allurement of technology―which is bait that that most souls have taken.
Smoke and Alarms
This dangerous truth has to be repeated loudly, clearly, continually―like a smoke detector will continue it shrill signal until the smoke has disappeared―in today’s case, the smoke of Satan―which Pope Paul VI said, on several occasions, had entered the Church: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, later said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world! This opening up to the world (the devil in reality) has wounded the very Heart of the Church and the Precious Blood has been spilled and wasted.
Sound the Alarm
Some alarms keep sounding―other alarms quit sounding the alarm after a short period of time. The same is true for human alarms. Some people sound the alarm once, twice or a few times―and, if nobody listens, they give up, shut up, and put up with whatever is going on. Holy Scripture calls for nothing else than a perpetual alarm: “Preach the word: be insistant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2). Likewise, Our Lord―Who tells us to ignore human respect and instead of worrying what our fellow humans might think, He says we should worry what God thinks: “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33). “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
We live in a time of indifference to God. Yet Our Lady is indifferent to our indifference! She comes again and again―sound the alarm. Each time the alarm gets ‘louder’ as the crisis point gets nearer. She does not “give-up, shut-up and put-up”―but she tells it as it is. That is what we should be doing―even it means losing popularity, acceptance, esteem, etc. We are here not to please people, but to please God―even at the cost of blood!
Let us remember the Catholics of old and let us remember the admonition of St. Paul: “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:4). Sin is our greatest enemy. The Catechism tells us that sin is the greatest evil in the world—even "itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny" venial sins! That is why St. Dominic Savio took, as one of his four resolutions at the time of his First Holy Communion, the resolution to avoid sin—he wrote down on paper the pledge: “Death rather than sin!” That is the attitude of a true Soldier for Christ.
Anemic Human Respect
Anemia is a condition in which you don't have enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen to the body's tissues. Having anemia may make you feel tired and weak. Most of us suffer from “spiritual anemia”―whereby we don’t have enough spiritual blood (grace) to carry adequate strength to the soul in order to resist the bugs and viruses and illnesses with which the world bombards our soul. This leaves us feeling spiritual weak in face of the world, and so we succumb to that disease of anemic human respect―we worry what others will think, say or do if show any resistance to their worldliness and religious indifference and lukewarmness.
Example of Anemic Human Respect in Men
A man goes up to a group of other men who are gossiping and also speaking inappropriately about certain women in the office. Perhaps he knows that their disparaging comments about the boss are unfair or even untrue. He knows too that speaking of the women in the office using crude sexual imagery and lustful references is wrong. But, because he has walked up to this group and wants to “fit in” he joins the conversation as contributes to what he knows is wrong. He laughs at off color jokes and makes no attempt to steer the conversation in more appropriate directions. He does this because he fears rejection and is more anxious as to what his co-workers think of him than what God thinks. He fears man more than God. That God is displeased with his actions is less of a fear and grief than that any of these men should be displeased.
Example of Anemic Human Respect in Women
A young woman knows that sex before marriage is wrong and that this displeases God. However, she has dated a number of men now and has slept with most of them. She does this partly because she fears rejection. Perhaps if she does not give way to the desires of the young men she dates they will reject her and she will be alone. She thinks that a woman “has to do this” in order to be popular and desirable. She fears man more than God. What human beings think is more important to her than what God thinks. She may well minimize the displeasure of God by saying. “Oh well, God understands” but at the same time she maximizes possible displeasure of weak and fallible human beings by thinking that displeasing them would lead to catastrophe. She respects, that is, fears man more than God.
Example of Anemic Human Respect in Pastors
A pastor of a parish has a mandate from God and the Church to preach the whole counsel of God. But over the years he has struggled to preach the hard things. After all teaching on things like abortion, fornication, divorce, contraception, homosexuality, euthanasia, Capital Punishment, and so forth, causes some people to be upset. He fears this anger, he fears offending people, he fears being misunderstood. Once, when he spoke about abortion, (because the Bishop said he had to) three parishioners came up to him and told him he should not bring politics into the pulpit. Once, early in his priesthood, he had mentioned divorce since the gospel was about that. A woman came up to him after Mass and said that she was divorced and felt hurt and “excluded” by his mentioning that divorce was problematic. Experiences like these have led the priest to “play it safe.” He always finds joke to start the homily and people love it (him). He chooses to preach only in abstractions and generalities. It is enough to exhort people to be a little more kind, a little more generous, but specificity he avoids. He does this because he fears man more than God. That God might be displeased that his people are not hearing the truth on the important moral issues of the day, or receiving proper instruction in the disciplines of discipleship is a vague and distant fear to this priest. But one person raising an eyebrow at what he says is enough to ruin his whole week. Thus he goes silent as a prophet and becomes a people-pleaser instead. He respects, he fears man more than God. This is the sin of human respect.
Example of Anemic Human Respect in Parents
A parent knows somehow that she is to raise her children in the fear of the Lord and train them in godly ways. But Oh, the protests when she tells them to clean their room or to go to bed, or to do their homework. It is just such a hassle to endure their anger and disappointment. Then too she remembers how stern her parents were and how she had vowed she would be nicer to her children. So, little by little, she lets her authority erode and the kids more often get their way. Her husband too is not a strong disciplinarian and he too wants to be thought of as a “cool” dad by his kids and his kids’ friends. Thus, God’s insistence on prayer, discipline and respect for elders, gives way to what the kids want. The oldest, a teenager, doesn’t even want to go to Church any more. But after all, “You can’t force religion on kids” they think. Here too, the parents fear their children more than God. They have greater respect for their children than for God.
Example of Anemic Human Respect in Children
In one sense, children are more susceptible to human respect than any adult. For one, they see the failures and hypocrisies of their parents and relatives, but have to “toe-the-line”, be “politically correct”, and must “shut-up and put-up” with them. This already sows the seed of human respect and a fear of going against the grain, from a very young age. Amongst their peers and at school, the roots of this human respect are deepened and strengthened based on a desire for acceptance by one’s peers and fellow students. Thus many things will be done or not done―depending upon the customs, preferences, habits and lifestyles of the other members of the ‘pack’ or group. Salvation is compromised from the very earliest age! Few―or almost non-existent―are children in the mold of little St. Dominic Savio, of whom St. John Bosco writes in his biography of Dominic, who was a student in Don Bosco’s school. Here are St. John Bosco’s words:
Dominic Savio Ignores Human Respect
“Day by day the child’s piety increased, and from the time that he was four years of age, there was no need to remind him of his prayers, whether morning or evening or at meals, or at the time of the Angelus; in fact he would even remind others, should they appear to forget them. One day some distraction occurred as they were sitting down to dinner, and grace before meals was forgotten; but little Dominic was too attentive: ‘Father!’ he said, ‘We have not yet asked God’s blessing on our food!’ and he straightway made the Sign of the Cross and began the usual prayer. At another time a stranger was staying in the house, and he sat down to his meal without any act of religion. Dominic did not like to speak of it openly, yet he was too much moved to remain at the table, and went to one of his quiet corners. When he was questioned about this unusual proceeding by his parents, he replied: ‘I could not remain at table with one who eats like an animal, without a thought of God!’” (St. John Bosco, The Life of Dominic Savio, chapter 1).
“He had a particular horror of anything in the nature of blasphemy or taking the name of God in vain; in fact, it worked upon him to such a degree that his health was quite affected by it. If he heard any words of that nature, as he passed along the streets, he would look down as though in sorrow, and make some pious ejaculation. A companion had often noticed him raise his cap and utter a few words of prayer when these blasphemies had been uttered. On another occasion, as he returned from school to the Oratory, he heard an elderly man utter some very blasphemous words. Dominic shuddered, and immediately offered up his pious ejaculation is reparation. But he was satisfied neither, nor disposed to let it pass.
Summoning all his courage, and not at all affected by human respect, he went up to the man and asked him to direct him to the Oratory. The boy’s gentle manner immediately softened the man’s anger, and he replied, very affably: “No, I am sorry, I don’t know where it is.”
“Then there is another favor you can do me,” said Dominic.
“Oh, what is it?”
The boy then came nearer and said in a low voice, only audible to the man in question: “It would be a great pleasure to me, if, when you are angry again, you would use words that are not blasphemous.”
The man was naturally astonished at such a request from a boy, but there was something of admiration in his surprise; he replied: “Well done, you are right, it is a very bad habit, that I am determined to overcome.” (St. John Bosco, The Life of Dominic Savio, chapter 10).
“But Dominic’s manner with young offenders was different. He once heard two little boys quarrelling at their games outside the house, and one of them in his boyish anger used the Holy Name. Dominic was pained, as he always was when this occurred, so he stepped between the two boys and made them patch up their quarrel. Then he turned to the one that he had heard utter the name of God and said to him: “Come with me, there is something to be done, with which you will be pleased.” He took him off to a nearby church, and both went up to the altar. There he made the boy kneel down and ask pardon for his profane use of the Holy Name. The boy did not know the act of contrition, so Dominic made him say it after him, and added to it some pious ejaculations, to atone for the irreverence offered to God.” (St. John Bosco, The Life of Dominic Savio, chapter 10).
Dominic Derails a Bloody Duel
In chapter 8 of St. John Bosco’s book, The Life of Dominic Savio, we read:
Dominic’s life gives us an incident full of heroism, and which is the more remarkable when his youth is taken into consideration, for he was only fourteen when he came to the Oratory. The occurrence in question concerns two of his school fellows, between whom a fierce quarrel had arisen, on account of some remarks on a point of family honor. The quarrel proceeded from the exchanging of insults to the giving of blows and stone throwing. Dominic came to hear of this quarrel, but he saw the difficulty of trying to interfere, for both boys were older and bigger than he was. However he found means for approaching each in turn, urged them to give up their hatred, and pointed out that anger and revenge were against the commandments of God; he wrote to each of them, threatening to acquaint their parents and their master, but the headstrong boys were not to be influenced; their minds had become so embittered that all entreaties were in vain. Apart from the risk of bodily injury to themselves, Dominic was most concerned with the offence against God, and he was eager to find some means of effectually interfering, but was perplexed as to the manner of doing so.
He then seemed to have an inspiration. He waited for the boys after school, and contriving to speak to each alone, he said: “Since you will persist in this insane and sinful quarrel I ask you to accept one condition.” Each agreed, provided it did not interfere with their challenge of a fight with stones, and indulged in some very unbecoming language in reference to his enemy. The very language was enough to make Savio shudder, but desirous of preventing a greater evil he said:
“The condition I wish to impose does not interfere with the challenge!”
“Then what is it?” “I shall not tell you till you meet for the duel.”
They thought he was making game of them, but Savio insisted that he was quite serious and that he would be on the scene. Neither could conjecture what his plan was.
The place for the fight was a lonely spot outside the town. The boys, getting more and more incensed, were almost going to fight on the way, but Dominic managed to prevent them. The scene of action was reached, and the boys took up their positions at a little distance from each other, and had by them the stones they were to hurl. Now was Dominic’s time for mediation. He stepped in the middle and said:
“Before you commence to fight you must fulfill the condition you agreed upon.”
So saying he drew out of his coat pocket a crucifix and held it up in the air. “I desire,” he said, “that each of you should look on this crucifix, and then if you will throw, you must throw the stone at me and say:
“Our Savior died pardoning his very persecutioners; I, a sinner, am about to offend Him by an act of open revenge.”
Having said this, he threw himself on his knees before the one who seemed most enraged, and said: “Throw your stone at me; let me have the first blow.”
A shiver seemed to go through the boy thus addressed. “No,” he exclaimed, “I can’t do that! I am not as mean as that! I have nothing against you!”
On hearing this Dominic turned to the other boy, who had been watching in amazement, and made the same proposal to him. He too refused such a cowardly act.
Then Dominic got up and said, with great earnestness: “You are both ashamed to commit this act of brutality against me; and yet you would commit it against God and lose your soul by grievous sin.” And he held up the crucifix again.
This proved too much for the two boys; they were moved by his true Christian charity and his courage. One of them confessed that he felt a cold shiver, and felt thoroughly ashamed that he had forced a friend of Savio’s character to take such extreme measures. Wishing to make him some amends, he forgave entirely the boy with whom he had quarreled and promised to go to Confession at once. Thus Dominic secured a victory for charity and taught the boys a lesson. Is it too striking an act of courage to recommend for example to young school boys? This incident would have remained a profound secret, had it not been related by both boys who were the partners to the challenge.
It will be gathered from this incident that Dominic had gained great influence over his companions, but he often had to put up with annoyance from some who tried to draw him into undesirable practices. On one occasion in fact he had almost consented to go off with some boys, who wished him to join them at play instead of going to school, but the arguments against it arose so vividly before him, that he not only rejected the proposal for himself, but convinced the others that it would be wrong, and made them go with him to school. (St. John Bosco, The Life of Dominic Savio, chapter 8).
The Sin of Human Respect is Bleeding the Faith to Death
The “Sin of Human Respect” ― by either commission or omission ― is a sin that is deeply enrooted in our Original Sin wounded human nature. Arguably, it is perhaps the most common umbrella of sin, under which many different species of sin can hide, reproduce and grow. Human respect leads to many other sins. Many people are desperate for attention, respect, approval, praise and acceptance from their fellow human beings. Almost everyone even the religiously inclined people and devout souls, struggle to be more concerned with what God thinks, or if God approves, than the easier option of pleasing fellow human beings.
Human respect is like the weeds and thorns in Our Lord’s parable of the Sower and the Seed, which choke the Word of God and make it fruitless: “The seed is the word of God … Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns growing up with it, choked it … He that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word [of God], and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless … That which fell among thorns, are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit. … The thorns grew up and choked them” (Matthew 13:3-23; Luke 8:5-15). When we worry about worldly customs, worldly opinions, worldly attitudes, worldly thoughts, worldly attitudes, worldly judgments, etc. ―we let these ‘thorns’ and ‘weeds’ choke our Faith and our devotion and prevent the raising of our minds and hearts to God and seeking to please Him by doing His will.
St. John the Baptist―Anti-Human Respect Patron Saint
You could call St. Dominic Savio the Anti-Human Respect Patron Saint for Children―whereas St. John the Baptist could well be called the “Anti-Human Respect Patron Saint for Adults.” On this July 2nd feast of the Visitation by the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Elizabeth, it is appropriate to recall St. John the Baptist, who preferred to risk and lay down his life rather than fall into the cozy trap of human respect with regard to King Herod. In fact, it is Herod who falls into the rap of human respect, while John fell into Herod’s prison because of his refusal to practice human respect.
Already from his childhood, St. John the Baptist―born into the respected family of a priest and naturally expected to follow in the his father’s, Zachary’s, footsteps to the priesthood, as was the Jewish custom―chose instead a lifestyle that totally disregarded any and all human respect―that is to say, totally disregarded what other might say or think. From his childhood, he foregoes any traditional learning and preparation for the priesthood, and goes, instead, to the ‘school’ of the desert, the ‘school’ of solitude, and lives, for the most part―apart from later day preaching―the life of a hermit, separated for much of the time from normal society life.
Even before John was born, the Angel Gabriel foretold to Zachary his future father: “Fear not, Zachary, for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John! And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice in his nativity. For he shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink: and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And he shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias; that he may turn the hearts of the fathers unto the children, and the incredulous to the wisdom of the just, to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people!” (Luke 1:13-17).
Of course, we know Zachary doubted Gabriel’s prophecy and was struck dumb as a punishment―only to have the punishment lifted by regaining his power of speech at the birth of John―at which time Zachary himself prophesied of his own son, saying: “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest! For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways! To give knowledge of salvation to His people, unto the remission of their sins―through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us! To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death; to direct our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:76-79).
Word spread rapidly concerning the miraculous recovery of speech by Zachary and other wonderful things connected with John’s birth. His father Zachary and his mother Elizabeth were too prominently placed for that event to be easily forgotten. Moreover, the behavior of John himself kept it well before them. From the very first, he had lived his life aloof from the world and ‘normal’ society life: “And the child grew, and was strengthened in spirit; and was in the deserts until the day of his manifestation to Israel” (Luke 1:80).
He was not the ‘normal’ society type or figure, as Holy Scripture clearly points out: “And in those days cometh John the Baptist preaching in the desert of Judea, and saying: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! For this is he that was spoken of by Isaias the prophet, saying: “A voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths!”’ And the same John had his garment of camels’ hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins: and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the country about Jordan. And were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. And seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them [without any human respect]: ‘Ye brood of vipers! Who hath shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance! And think not to say within yourselves: ‘We have Abraham for our father!’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham out of these stones! For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees! Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!” (Matthew 3:1-10).
Our Lord Himself, would later speak to the crowds of John the Baptist, saying: “Now when John had heard in prison [after Herod arrested him] of the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, he said to Him: ‘Art Thou He that art to come, or look we for another?’ And Jesus making answer said to them: ‘Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them! And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in Me!’ And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings! But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea I tell you, and more than a prophet! For this is he of whom it is written: “Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee!” Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist! Yet he that is the lesser in the Kingdom of Heaven, is greater than he! And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:2-12).
A Good Form of Respect and a Bad Form of Respect
Respecting others even when they disagree with us is the virtue of tolerance. But letting our desire for their esteem make us affirm what is against God’s law is immoral. This is the sin of human respect which inverts the moral order, placing the approval of others before the approval by God. We all instinctively desire to be accepted and recognized and not to be rejected or marginalized. St. Thomas Aquinas states that every person naturally desires to be recognized as having worth (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q.129, art.1). No one wishes to be marginalized or dismissed―either by those around them or by society at large. For this reason, all of us will always face the temptation of giving in to human respect.
At the same time when 80% of Americans no longer wear the cloak of organized religion―many may still believe in a God, but it is a god of their own making and choosing. Those who still profess the true Faith, often find themselves unwelcome, ridiculed or ostracized in public life. In such a pagan environment, surrendering to the prevailing cultural trends is fast becoming more attractive than resistance. Believers face the temptation of going along with things―that in their the privacy of their own minds and hearts, they neither condone nor believe―merely in order to be accepted by society at large.
Living together as husband and wife without being married, same-sex partnerships, transgenderism, contraception, abortions, in-vitro fertilization, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, drug use, alcohol abuse, pornography, immodesty, impure talk, blasphemy―all of these have gained acceptance in our society. Our post-Christian culture has rejected, both God’s Law and the Natural Law as a way to judge the morality of these choices. Instead, society has made the individual the sole judge of his or her own morality. Thus, those who still adhere to the Divine Commandments and the Natural Law, find themselves in a particularly difficult situation.
In our fragmented and changing society―those who stridently oppose Christian morality as well as those who do not practice the Faith―all are too eager to dismiss anything that contradicts their own conduct or opinions. In such circumstances, when we do not clearly stand-up for truth and goodness―out of a fear of hurting someone’s feelings, losing popularity or being rejected―then we commit the sin of human respect. It is always wrong to support, condone or promote a moral evil either by word or by silence.
John the Non-Respecter and Blood-Letter versus Herod the Respecter and Blood-Shedder
This brings us to Herod Antipas and St. John the Baptist. John saw that Herod was living in sin with the wife of the brother of Herod. John did not fall the temptation of safety by keeping his mouth shut! He publicly spoke out against the false ‘marriage’ between Herod and his brother’s wife. For his troubles, John would be imprisoned and later beheaded. He would be beheaded because Herod would fall for the sin of human respect which John did not fall for.
At a feast celebrating his birthday, Herod had been so pleased by the seductive dancing of Salome, that he swore to give her anything that she desired, even up to half his kingdom. When she demanded the head of John the Baptist on a platter, his conscience stood in right judgment and condemned such an act. But, out of fear that his court and guests would think less of him as a man of power and authority―since he had given his word that he would whatever Salome requested, he gave in to her evil request. Human respect dictated the sentence. John the Baptist was beheaded. Herod sinned gravely.
Whether the individual be a parent, relative, teacher, friend or even a priest, anyone who refuses to do the right thing or to speak the truth for fear of what others may think, that individual sadly repeats the sin of Herod. In an attempt to avoid the derision or rejection of others, such a person lose the approval of God. However, when anyone resists the temptation of human respect, they are increasingly freed from the shackles of narcissism (self-centeredness, self-preoccupation, self-interest, self-love) and pride.
God Can Be Known and Wants to Be Known Through Things He Created
We have now entered a ‘bloody’ month―the month of the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. As the heart pumps out blood, so does the month of the Sacred Heart ‘pump-out’ the month of the Precious Blood―or you could say, as blood flows from the heart, so too does the month of the Precious Blood flow out of the month of the Sacred Heart. Both heart and blood are most precious―we need both of them for sustaining life―and that is even more true of our spiritual life.
We Read Without Reading, We See Without Seeing, We Know Without Knowing
Have you ever walked by, or driven by, some place day after day without ever noticing many things about it. For example, on your usual drive to work, school, store or church, there must a thousand things that have always been there on either side of the road, most of which you are totally oblivious to―even though you may have driven along that road thousands of times. Similarly, we may listen to a lecture or conference and fail to pick up many points that are being made and forget most of what we have heard―to the point that if someone quotes something from that conference, we are convinced that it was never said, because it wasn’t picked up by our radar. Place 30 or 40 objects on a tray and let someone look at them for a minute―and you will find that even though they might have “driven” their eyes over everything, they did not really notice everything, or only so slightly that it vanished from their memory once their eyes moved onto something else.
Sadly, that is how we are with God! We have “driven” through a prayer―for example the Hail Mary or Our Father―tens of thousands of times, yet the depth of our knowledge of the prayer is so flimsy, we would find difficulty in writing a couple of pages about the prayer, or even a few paragraphs! Likewise with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―we may have attended thousands of Masses, but might find enormous difficulty in writing only a thousand measly words on the Mass (which would be just under three times the 380 words of this article thus far).
We may read an article or a book―and, within a short period of time we have forgotten what we read and don't even realize that we missed many things while reading! Similarly, when we do read something, we usually fail to go any deeper into what we read―we do not check its veracity (truthfulness), nor do we look up any words that are a bit obtuse (hard to understand), nor do we search for further explanations that could clarify our understanding of what we read―we prefer “ready-cut”, “ready-cooked”, “bite-sized” pieces of information that require little “chewing” by our minds and are “easy to swallow”. That, in a nutshell, is what superficiality is all about! We see only the surface of things and do not want or cannot be bothered to look any deeper. It is this kind of mentality that Our Lord condemns when He says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me!’” (Mark 7:6).
This same superficiality leads to false religions being propagated, bad advice being accepted, bad decisions being made, health being lost, money being misspent, time being wasted, etc. Oftentimes it is because of a lack of deeper thought, further study, painstaking research, seeking prudent counseling, etc. Ironically, it should be lost on us that since we live on the surface of the Earth, we also live on the surface things in our minds. That is how the word “superficial” is defined in a dictionary: (1) existing or occurring at or on the surface―as in “the building suffered only superficial damage” or “his face was blotched with superficial burns”; (2) situated or occurring on the skin or immediately beneath it―as in “the superficial muscle groups”; (3) appearing to be true or real, only until examined more closely or more deeply―as in “the resemblance between the breeds is superficial.” The dictionary gives some synonyms (similar words) of superficial as being “surface, exterior, external, outer, outside, outermost, peripheral.”
Hence, that superficiality―by not digging deeper―believes all that it hears, accepts all it reads on the internet, does not question anything, blindly follows the crowd or popular opinion, etc. We all know where the crowd is heading―or we should know! Our Lord told us: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves!” (Matthew 7:13-15).
Modern Day Riding Hoods
To those ravening wolves we react like modern-day “Little Red Riding Hoods” seeing the wolf who has gobbled up grandma and is in bed, waiting for Little Red Riding Hood, posing as grandma, having dabbed some of Granny's perfume behind his pointy ears, wearing her nightgown and nightcap, with the sheets pulled up to cover his nose. As the story continues:
A few minutes later, Red Riding Hood knocked on the door.
The wolf jumped into bed and pulled the covers over his nose. “Who is it?” he called in a cackly voice.
“It's me, Little Red Riding Hood.”
“Oh how lovely! Do come in, my dear,” croaked the wolf.
When Little Red Riding Hood entered the little cottage, she could scarcely recognize her Grandmother.
“Grandmother! Your voice sounds so odd. Is something the matter?” she asked.
“Oh, I just have touch of a cold,” squeaked the wolf adding a cough at the end to prove the point.
“But Grandmother! What big ears you have,” said Little Red Riding Hood as she edged closer to the bed.
“The better to hear you with, my dear,” replied the wolf.
“But Grandmother! What big eyes you have,” said Little Red Riding Hood.
“The better to see you with, my dear,” replied the wolf.
“But Grandmother! What big teeth you have,” said Little Red Riding Hood her voice quivering slightly.
“The better to eat you with, my dear,” roared the wolf and he leapt out of the bed and began to chase the little girl.
Which is why our first shepherd, St. Peter, warns: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). But we are NOT STRONG IN FAITH―we barely know our Faith, our knowledge is superficial. Thus we are easy prey for the ravaging errors of Liberalism, Modernism, Rationalism, Protestantism, Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, Materialism, etc. It seems as though Our Lord has shed His Blood in vain.
Which is why our first shepherd, St. Peter, warns: “Be sober and watch! Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). But we are NOT STRONG IN FAITH―we barely know our Faith, our knowledge is superficial. Thus we are easy prey for the ravaging errors of Liberalism, Modernism, Rationalism, Protestantism, Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, Materialism, etc. It seems as though Our Lord has shed His Blood in vain. The devil is dressed in sheep’s clothing like the wolf was dressed in grandma’s clothing. That clothing is the world, behind which lurks the devil. He knows we won’t love him, but he knows that he make us love what he creates―the allurements of the world, and, today especially, the allurement of technology―which is bait that that most souls have taken.
Smoke and Alarms
This dangerous truth has to be repeated loudly, clearly, continually―like a smoke detector will continue it shrill signal until the smoke has disappeared―in today’s case, the smoke of Satan―which Pope Paul VI said, on several occasions, had entered the Church: “We believed that after the [Second Vatican] Council would come a day of sunshine in the history of the Church. But instead there has come a day of clouds and storms, and of darkness ... And how did this come about? We will confide to you … that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the Devil. … It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God.” (Pope Paul VI, Address On the Occasion of the Ninth Anniversary of His Election, June 29th, 1972).
Some months later, on November 15th of 1972, at a General Audience, Pope Paul VI added: “What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil … Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Or the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and figures in His teaching? (Matthew 12:43) And how could we forget that Christ, referring three times to the Devil as His adversary, describes him as ‘the prince of this world’?” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, later said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world! This opening up to the world (the devil in reality) has wounded the very Heart of the Church and the Precious Blood has been spilled and wasted.
Sound the Alarm
Some alarms keep sounding―other alarms quit sounding the alarm after a short period of time. The same is true for human alarms. Some people sound the alarm once, twice or a few times―and, if nobody listens, they give up, shut up, and put up with whatever is going on. Holy Scripture calls for nothing else than a perpetual alarm: “Preach the word: be insistant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2). Likewise, Our Lord―Who tells us to ignore human respect and instead of worrying what our fellow humans might think, He says we should worry what God thinks: “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33). “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear! Fear ye Him, Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
We live in a time of indifference to God. Yet Our Lady is indifferent to our indifference! She comes again and again―sound the alarm. Each time the alarm gets ‘louder’ as the crisis point gets nearer. She does not “give-up, shut-up and put-up”―but she tells it as it is. That is what we should be doing―even it means losing popularity, acceptance, esteem, etc. We are here not to please people, but to please God―even at the cost of blood!
Let us remember the Catholics of old and let us remember the admonition of St. Paul: “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:4). Sin is our greatest enemy. The Catechism tells us that sin is the greatest evil in the world—even "itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny" venial sins! That is why St. Dominic Savio took, as one of his four resolutions at the time of his First Holy Communion, the resolution to avoid sin—he wrote down on paper the pledge: “Death rather than sin!” That is the attitude of a true Soldier for Christ.
Anemic Human Respect
Anemia is a condition in which you don't have enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen to the body's tissues. Having anemia may make you feel tired and weak. Most of us suffer from “spiritual anemia”―whereby we don’t have enough spiritual blood (grace) to carry adequate strength to the soul in order to resist the bugs and viruses and illnesses with which the world bombards our soul. This leaves us feeling spiritual weak in face of the world, and so we succumb to that disease of anemic human respect―we worry what others will think, say or do if show any resistance to their worldliness and religious indifference and lukewarmness.
Example of Anemic Human Respect in Men
A man goes up to a group of other men who are gossiping and also speaking inappropriately about certain women in the office. Perhaps he knows that their disparaging comments about the boss are unfair or even untrue. He knows too that speaking of the women in the office using crude sexual imagery and lustful references is wrong. But, because he has walked up to this group and wants to “fit in” he joins the conversation as contributes to what he knows is wrong. He laughs at off color jokes and makes no attempt to steer the conversation in more appropriate directions. He does this because he fears rejection and is more anxious as to what his co-workers think of him than what God thinks. He fears man more than God. That God is displeased with his actions is less of a fear and grief than that any of these men should be displeased.
Example of Anemic Human Respect in Women
A young woman knows that sex before marriage is wrong and that this displeases God. However, she has dated a number of men now and has slept with most of them. She does this partly because she fears rejection. Perhaps if she does not give way to the desires of the young men she dates they will reject her and she will be alone. She thinks that a woman “has to do this” in order to be popular and desirable. She fears man more than God. What human beings think is more important to her than what God thinks. She may well minimize the displeasure of God by saying. “Oh well, God understands” but at the same time she maximizes possible displeasure of weak and fallible human beings by thinking that displeasing them would lead to catastrophe. She respects, that is, fears man more than God.
Example of Anemic Human Respect in Pastors
A pastor of a parish has a mandate from God and the Church to preach the whole counsel of God. But over the years he has struggled to preach the hard things. After all teaching on things like abortion, fornication, divorce, contraception, homosexuality, euthanasia, Capital Punishment, and so forth, causes some people to be upset. He fears this anger, he fears offending people, he fears being misunderstood. Once, when he spoke about abortion, (because the Bishop said he had to) three parishioners came up to him and told him he should not bring politics into the pulpit. Once, early in his priesthood, he had mentioned divorce since the gospel was about that. A woman came up to him after Mass and said that she was divorced and felt hurt and “excluded” by his mentioning that divorce was problematic. Experiences like these have led the priest to “play it safe.” He always finds joke to start the homily and people love it (him). He chooses to preach only in abstractions and generalities. It is enough to exhort people to be a little more kind, a little more generous, but specificity he avoids. He does this because he fears man more than God. That God might be displeased that his people are not hearing the truth on the important moral issues of the day, or receiving proper instruction in the disciplines of discipleship is a vague and distant fear to this priest. But one person raising an eyebrow at what he says is enough to ruin his whole week. Thus he goes silent as a prophet and becomes a people-pleaser instead. He respects, he fears man more than God. This is the sin of human respect.
Example of Anemic Human Respect in Parents
A parent knows somehow that she is to raise her children in the fear of the Lord and train them in godly ways. But Oh, the protests when she tells them to clean their room or to go to bed, or to do their homework. It is just such a hassle to endure their anger and disappointment. Then too she remembers how stern her parents were and how she had vowed she would be nicer to her children. So, little by little, she lets her authority erode and the kids more often get their way. Her husband too is not a strong disciplinarian and he too wants to be thought of as a “cool” dad by his kids and his kids’ friends. Thus, God’s insistence on prayer, discipline and respect for elders, gives way to what the kids want. The oldest, a teenager, doesn’t even want to go to Church any more. But after all, “You can’t force religion on kids” they think. Here too, the parents fear their children more than God. They have greater respect for their children than for God.
Example of Anemic Human Respect in Children
In one sense, children are more susceptible to human respect than any adult. For one, they see the failures and hypocrisies of their parents and relatives, but have to “toe-the-line”, be “politically correct”, and must “shut-up and put-up” with them. This already sows the seed of human respect and a fear of going against the grain, from a very young age. Amongst their peers and at school, the roots of this human respect are deepened and strengthened based on a desire for acceptance by one’s peers and fellow students. Thus many things will be done or not done―depending upon the customs, preferences, habits and lifestyles of the other members of the ‘pack’ or group. Salvation is compromised from the very earliest age! Few―or almost non-existent―are children in the mold of little St. Dominic Savio, of whom St. John Bosco writes in his biography of Dominic, who was a student in Don Bosco’s school. Here are St. John Bosco’s words:
Dominic Savio Ignores Human Respect
“Day by day the child’s piety increased, and from the time that he was four years of age, there was no need to remind him of his prayers, whether morning or evening or at meals, or at the time of the Angelus; in fact he would even remind others, should they appear to forget them. One day some distraction occurred as they were sitting down to dinner, and grace before meals was forgotten; but little Dominic was too attentive: ‘Father!’ he said, ‘We have not yet asked God’s blessing on our food!’ and he straightway made the Sign of the Cross and began the usual prayer. At another time a stranger was staying in the house, and he sat down to his meal without any act of religion. Dominic did not like to speak of it openly, yet he was too much moved to remain at the table, and went to one of his quiet corners. When he was questioned about this unusual proceeding by his parents, he replied: ‘I could not remain at table with one who eats like an animal, without a thought of God!’” (St. John Bosco, The Life of Dominic Savio, chapter 1).
“He had a particular horror of anything in the nature of blasphemy or taking the name of God in vain; in fact, it worked upon him to such a degree that his health was quite affected by it. If he heard any words of that nature, as he passed along the streets, he would look down as though in sorrow, and make some pious ejaculation. A companion had often noticed him raise his cap and utter a few words of prayer when these blasphemies had been uttered. On another occasion, as he returned from school to the Oratory, he heard an elderly man utter some very blasphemous words. Dominic shuddered, and immediately offered up his pious ejaculation is reparation. But he was satisfied neither, nor disposed to let it pass.
Summoning all his courage, and not at all affected by human respect, he went up to the man and asked him to direct him to the Oratory. The boy’s gentle manner immediately softened the man’s anger, and he replied, very affably: “No, I am sorry, I don’t know where it is.”
“Then there is another favor you can do me,” said Dominic.
“Oh, what is it?”
The boy then came nearer and said in a low voice, only audible to the man in question: “It would be a great pleasure to me, if, when you are angry again, you would use words that are not blasphemous.”
The man was naturally astonished at such a request from a boy, but there was something of admiration in his surprise; he replied: “Well done, you are right, it is a very bad habit, that I am determined to overcome.” (St. John Bosco, The Life of Dominic Savio, chapter 10).
“But Dominic’s manner with young offenders was different. He once heard two little boys quarrelling at their games outside the house, and one of them in his boyish anger used the Holy Name. Dominic was pained, as he always was when this occurred, so he stepped between the two boys and made them patch up their quarrel. Then he turned to the one that he had heard utter the name of God and said to him: “Come with me, there is something to be done, with which you will be pleased.” He took him off to a nearby church, and both went up to the altar. There he made the boy kneel down and ask pardon for his profane use of the Holy Name. The boy did not know the act of contrition, so Dominic made him say it after him, and added to it some pious ejaculations, to atone for the irreverence offered to God.” (St. John Bosco, The Life of Dominic Savio, chapter 10).
Dominic Derails a Bloody Duel
In chapter 8 of St. John Bosco’s book, The Life of Dominic Savio, we read:
Dominic’s life gives us an incident full of heroism, and which is the more remarkable when his youth is taken into consideration, for he was only fourteen when he came to the Oratory. The occurrence in question concerns two of his school fellows, between whom a fierce quarrel had arisen, on account of some remarks on a point of family honor. The quarrel proceeded from the exchanging of insults to the giving of blows and stone throwing. Dominic came to hear of this quarrel, but he saw the difficulty of trying to interfere, for both boys were older and bigger than he was. However he found means for approaching each in turn, urged them to give up their hatred, and pointed out that anger and revenge were against the commandments of God; he wrote to each of them, threatening to acquaint their parents and their master, but the headstrong boys were not to be influenced; their minds had become so embittered that all entreaties were in vain. Apart from the risk of bodily injury to themselves, Dominic was most concerned with the offence against God, and he was eager to find some means of effectually interfering, but was perplexed as to the manner of doing so.
He then seemed to have an inspiration. He waited for the boys after school, and contriving to speak to each alone, he said: “Since you will persist in this insane and sinful quarrel I ask you to accept one condition.” Each agreed, provided it did not interfere with their challenge of a fight with stones, and indulged in some very unbecoming language in reference to his enemy. The very language was enough to make Savio shudder, but desirous of preventing a greater evil he said:
“The condition I wish to impose does not interfere with the challenge!”
“Then what is it?” “I shall not tell you till you meet for the duel.”
They thought he was making game of them, but Savio insisted that he was quite serious and that he would be on the scene. Neither could conjecture what his plan was.
The place for the fight was a lonely spot outside the town. The boys, getting more and more incensed, were almost going to fight on the way, but Dominic managed to prevent them. The scene of action was reached, and the boys took up their positions at a little distance from each other, and had by them the stones they were to hurl. Now was Dominic’s time for mediation. He stepped in the middle and said:
“Before you commence to fight you must fulfill the condition you agreed upon.”
So saying he drew out of his coat pocket a crucifix and held it up in the air. “I desire,” he said, “that each of you should look on this crucifix, and then if you will throw, you must throw the stone at me and say:
“Our Savior died pardoning his very persecutioners; I, a sinner, am about to offend Him by an act of open revenge.”
Having said this, he threw himself on his knees before the one who seemed most enraged, and said: “Throw your stone at me; let me have the first blow.”
A shiver seemed to go through the boy thus addressed. “No,” he exclaimed, “I can’t do that! I am not as mean as that! I have nothing against you!”
On hearing this Dominic turned to the other boy, who had been watching in amazement, and made the same proposal to him. He too refused such a cowardly act.
Then Dominic got up and said, with great earnestness: “You are both ashamed to commit this act of brutality against me; and yet you would commit it against God and lose your soul by grievous sin.” And he held up the crucifix again.
This proved too much for the two boys; they were moved by his true Christian charity and his courage. One of them confessed that he felt a cold shiver, and felt thoroughly ashamed that he had forced a friend of Savio’s character to take such extreme measures. Wishing to make him some amends, he forgave entirely the boy with whom he had quarreled and promised to go to Confession at once. Thus Dominic secured a victory for charity and taught the boys a lesson. Is it too striking an act of courage to recommend for example to young school boys? This incident would have remained a profound secret, had it not been related by both boys who were the partners to the challenge.
It will be gathered from this incident that Dominic had gained great influence over his companions, but he often had to put up with annoyance from some who tried to draw him into undesirable practices. On one occasion in fact he had almost consented to go off with some boys, who wished him to join them at play instead of going to school, but the arguments against it arose so vividly before him, that he not only rejected the proposal for himself, but convinced the others that it would be wrong, and made them go with him to school. (St. John Bosco, The Life of Dominic Savio, chapter 8).
The Sin of Human Respect is Bleeding the Faith to Death
The “Sin of Human Respect” ― by either commission or omission ― is a sin that is deeply enrooted in our Original Sin wounded human nature. Arguably, it is perhaps the most common umbrella of sin, under which many different species of sin can hide, reproduce and grow. Human respect leads to many other sins. Many people are desperate for attention, respect, approval, praise and acceptance from their fellow human beings. Almost everyone even the religiously inclined people and devout souls, struggle to be more concerned with what God thinks, or if God approves, than the easier option of pleasing fellow human beings.
Human respect is like the weeds and thorns in Our Lord’s parable of the Sower and the Seed, which choke the Word of God and make it fruitless: “The seed is the word of God … Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns growing up with it, choked it … He that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word [of God], and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless … That which fell among thorns, are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit. … The thorns grew up and choked them” (Matthew 13:3-23; Luke 8:5-15). When we worry about worldly customs, worldly opinions, worldly attitudes, worldly thoughts, worldly attitudes, worldly judgments, etc. ―we let these ‘thorns’ and ‘weeds’ choke our Faith and our devotion and prevent the raising of our minds and hearts to God and seeking to please Him by doing His will.
St. John the Baptist―Anti-Human Respect Patron Saint
You could call St. Dominic Savio the Anti-Human Respect Patron Saint for Children―whereas St. John the Baptist could well be called the “Anti-Human Respect Patron Saint for Adults.” On this July 2nd feast of the Visitation by the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Elizabeth, it is appropriate to recall St. John the Baptist, who preferred to risk and lay down his life rather than fall into the cozy trap of human respect with regard to King Herod. In fact, it is Herod who falls into the rap of human respect, while John fell into Herod’s prison because of his refusal to practice human respect.
Already from his childhood, St. John the Baptist―born into the respected family of a priest and naturally expected to follow in the his father’s, Zachary’s, footsteps to the priesthood, as was the Jewish custom―chose instead a lifestyle that totally disregarded any and all human respect―that is to say, totally disregarded what other might say or think. From his childhood, he foregoes any traditional learning and preparation for the priesthood, and goes, instead, to the ‘school’ of the desert, the ‘school’ of solitude, and lives, for the most part―apart from later day preaching―the life of a hermit, separated for much of the time from normal society life.
Even before John was born, the Angel Gabriel foretold to Zachary his future father: “Fear not, Zachary, for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John! And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice in his nativity. For he shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink: and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And he shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias; that he may turn the hearts of the fathers unto the children, and the incredulous to the wisdom of the just, to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people!” (Luke 1:13-17).
Of course, we know Zachary doubted Gabriel’s prophecy and was struck dumb as a punishment―only to have the punishment lifted by regaining his power of speech at the birth of John―at which time Zachary himself prophesied of his own son, saying: “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest! For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways! To give knowledge of salvation to His people, unto the remission of their sins―through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us! To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death; to direct our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:76-79).
Word spread rapidly concerning the miraculous recovery of speech by Zachary and other wonderful things connected with John’s birth. His father Zachary and his mother Elizabeth were too prominently placed for that event to be easily forgotten. Moreover, the behavior of John himself kept it well before them. From the very first, he had lived his life aloof from the world and ‘normal’ society life: “And the child grew, and was strengthened in spirit; and was in the deserts until the day of his manifestation to Israel” (Luke 1:80).
He was not the ‘normal’ society type or figure, as Holy Scripture clearly points out: “And in those days cometh John the Baptist preaching in the desert of Judea, and saying: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! For this is he that was spoken of by Isaias the prophet, saying: “A voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths!”’ And the same John had his garment of camels’ hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins: and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the country about Jordan. And were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. And seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them [without any human respect]: ‘Ye brood of vipers! Who hath shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance! And think not to say within yourselves: ‘We have Abraham for our father!’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham out of these stones! For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees! Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!” (Matthew 3:1-10).
Our Lord Himself, would later speak to the crowds of John the Baptist, saying: “Now when John had heard in prison [after Herod arrested him] of the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, he said to Him: ‘Art Thou He that art to come, or look we for another?’ And Jesus making answer said to them: ‘Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them! And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in Me!’ And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings! But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea I tell you, and more than a prophet! For this is he of whom it is written: “Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee!” Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist! Yet he that is the lesser in the Kingdom of Heaven, is greater than he! And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:2-12).
A Good Form of Respect and a Bad Form of Respect
Respecting others even when they disagree with us is the virtue of tolerance. But letting our desire for their esteem make us affirm what is against God’s law is immoral. This is the sin of human respect which inverts the moral order, placing the approval of others before the approval by God. We all instinctively desire to be accepted and recognized and not to be rejected or marginalized. St. Thomas Aquinas states that every person naturally desires to be recognized as having worth (Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q.129, art.1). No one wishes to be marginalized or dismissed―either by those around them or by society at large. For this reason, all of us will always face the temptation of giving in to human respect.
At the same time when 80% of Americans no longer wear the cloak of organized religion―many may still believe in a God, but it is a god of their own making and choosing. Those who still profess the true Faith, often find themselves unwelcome, ridiculed or ostracized in public life. In such a pagan environment, surrendering to the prevailing cultural trends is fast becoming more attractive than resistance. Believers face the temptation of going along with things―that in their the privacy of their own minds and hearts, they neither condone nor believe―merely in order to be accepted by society at large.
Living together as husband and wife without being married, same-sex partnerships, transgenderism, contraception, abortions, in-vitro fertilization, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, drug use, alcohol abuse, pornography, immodesty, impure talk, blasphemy―all of these have gained acceptance in our society. Our post-Christian culture has rejected, both God’s Law and the Natural Law as a way to judge the morality of these choices. Instead, society has made the individual the sole judge of his or her own morality. Thus, those who still adhere to the Divine Commandments and the Natural Law, find themselves in a particularly difficult situation.
In our fragmented and changing society―those who stridently oppose Christian morality as well as those who do not practice the Faith―all are too eager to dismiss anything that contradicts their own conduct or opinions. In such circumstances, when we do not clearly stand-up for truth and goodness―out of a fear of hurting someone’s feelings, losing popularity or being rejected―then we commit the sin of human respect. It is always wrong to support, condone or promote a moral evil either by word or by silence.
John the Non-Respecter and Blood-Letter versus Herod the Respecter and Blood-Shedder
This brings us to Herod Antipas and St. John the Baptist. John saw that Herod was living in sin with the wife of the brother of Herod. John did not fall the temptation of safety by keeping his mouth shut! He publicly spoke out against the false ‘marriage’ between Herod and his brother’s wife. For his troubles, John would be imprisoned and later beheaded. He would be beheaded because Herod would fall for the sin of human respect which John did not fall for.
At a feast celebrating his birthday, Herod had been so pleased by the seductive dancing of Salome, that he swore to give her anything that she desired, even up to half his kingdom. When she demanded the head of John the Baptist on a platter, his conscience stood in right judgment and condemned such an act. But, out of fear that his court and guests would think less of him as a man of power and authority―since he had given his word that he would whatever Salome requested, he gave in to her evil request. Human respect dictated the sentence. John the Baptist was beheaded. Herod sinned gravely.
Whether the individual be a parent, relative, teacher, friend or even a priest, anyone who refuses to do the right thing or to speak the truth for fear of what others may think, that individual sadly repeats the sin of Herod. In an attempt to avoid the derision or rejection of others, such a person lose the approval of God. However, when anyone resists the temptation of human respect, they are increasingly freed from the shackles of narcissism (self-centeredness, self-preoccupation, self-interest, self-love) and pride.
God Can Be Known and Wants to Be Known Through Things He Created
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR
THE MONTH OF THE SACRED HEART
Sunday June 30th
Article 16
Will It All End With June?
This article is still to be finished. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 16
Will It All End With June?
This article is still to be finished. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
From June to July―From Saul to Paul―Sinner to Saint
It is uncanny how Divine Providence guides the Church in what She does. March is mainly the month of Lent and labor, which also sees the planting of the Seed of God in Mary’s womb―March is also a time when certain robust hardy vegetables can be planted outdoors. April is usually the month of Our Lord being ‘planted’ in the tomb and also the month of the Resurrection. April sees not only the planting of less hardy and more fragile items in soil, but also sees seeds sprout, leaves bud and some autumn or fall planted flowers blossom and bloom―such as daffodils, tulips, bluebells, cherry blossoms, magnolias, peonies, etc. “April showers bring May flowers.” May is the month of Mary and usually the month of the Ascension―which reminds of “may flowers” that blossom and bloom, growing and straining upwards, heavenwards, looking up to the sun for the graces of its sunlight. Mary leads to Christ and the Month of Mary leads into the Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In many areas the milder warmth of May gives way to the more intense heat of June―and Our Lord has shown us how much His Sacred Heart burns with love for us and how much He wants us to imitate that June weather and burn with love for Him. Then as July flows out of June, so too does the Month of the Precious Blood (July) flow out of the Month of the Sacred Heart (June), as blood flows from the heart. Blood flows through the arteries and veins more easily in warm temperatures, whereas cold weather can impact how blood flows around one’s body, narrowing the arteries and veins, which can raise the risk of a heart attack. High temperatures cause more blood flow to the skin, which may require the heart to beat faster and harder―which, symbolically, can mean our love is heating up and our heart is beating faster with our love of Our Lord.
The end of June―the 30th of June―is also the day when the Church commemorates the one-time persecutor of the Church, Saul, who became a pillar and saint of the Church as St. Paul. By Our Lord’s direct and miraculous intervention, Saul is thrown off his horse and blinded―symbolic of how pride (sitting on a high horse) blinds us to Christ and His teaching. Our Lord converts Him and Saul has a change of heart―which we commemorate at the end of the Month of the Sacred Heart―and the grace of God (you could say grace is the ‘blood’ of God that flows within our souls) begins to flow in the soul of Saul and the seeds of sanctity are planted, will sprout and will bloom in the future St. Paul, who will then shed his blood as a martyr for Christ, whereas as a sinner he sought to shed the blood of Christians. Hence the appropriateness of the Church’s commemoration of St. Paul at the end of the Month of the Sacred Heart (commemorating Saul’s change of heart) and on the cusp of the Month of the Precious Blood (for St. Paul will shed his blood for Christ).
Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer?
Though most people love it, hot initially slows your body down. The hotter the temperature, the more energy the body requires to keep itself cool. Therefore, the things that were easy in cooler temperatures―like walking long distances, mowing the lawn, doing yard work, etc. ― take more effort. It is much the same when God tries to increase the temperature of love in our hearts―the initial response is one of: “This is too hard! This is too demanding!”
Yet there is some good news! It is that the body can quickly adapt to the increased heat relatively quickly. Santiago Lorenzo, a physiologist teaching medicine at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Bradenton, Florida, says: “Even within one or two sessions [of heat exercise], the body is already adapting. Then the more that you do it, the better you start feeling.” The science behind that statement is that after only a day or two in the heat, we start producing more plasma, which is the blood’s liquid part. Research shows that our bodies produce around 13% more plasma once the body fully adjusts to the heat, which means that larger quantities of blood circulate through the body. The knock-on effect is that more oxygen is brought by the blood to the muscles (giving them more energy), and the greater blood flow also helps regulates body temperature: The increased blood flow to the skin helps you cool down.
The same is true for the soul. When God increases the heat on our soul―by more tribulations, more responsibilities, more demands, more sufferings, more stress, etc. ― it forces our soul to work harder and in working harder it produces (receives) more grace. It that extra grace that gives us spiritual energy and our can soul then pump harder and pump that spiritual energy into all that we do.
In both cases―physically with regards to blood, and spiritually with regards to grace (spiritual blood)―there is more profit in facing the heat and working through it, than simply falling to the ground and doing nothing but sitting and sweating. Our Lord expects us to pick up and carry our cross in the heat―not fall under it and just lie there motionless complaining about the heat. Heat there has to be―for Our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth! And what will I ? But that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49). To which St. Peter says: “Dearly beloved, think not strange the burning heat, which is to try you, as if some new thing happened to you!” (1 Peter 4:12) “Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!’” (Matthew 16:24). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” (2 Timothy 2:3-4).
It is uncanny how Divine Providence guides the Church in what She does. March is mainly the month of Lent and labor, which also sees the planting of the Seed of God in Mary’s womb―March is also a time when certain robust hardy vegetables can be planted outdoors. April is usually the month of Our Lord being ‘planted’ in the tomb and also the month of the Resurrection. April sees not only the planting of less hardy and more fragile items in soil, but also sees seeds sprout, leaves bud and some autumn or fall planted flowers blossom and bloom―such as daffodils, tulips, bluebells, cherry blossoms, magnolias, peonies, etc. “April showers bring May flowers.” May is the month of Mary and usually the month of the Ascension―which reminds of “may flowers” that blossom and bloom, growing and straining upwards, heavenwards, looking up to the sun for the graces of its sunlight. Mary leads to Christ and the Month of Mary leads into the Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In many areas the milder warmth of May gives way to the more intense heat of June―and Our Lord has shown us how much His Sacred Heart burns with love for us and how much He wants us to imitate that June weather and burn with love for Him. Then as July flows out of June, so too does the Month of the Precious Blood (July) flow out of the Month of the Sacred Heart (June), as blood flows from the heart. Blood flows through the arteries and veins more easily in warm temperatures, whereas cold weather can impact how blood flows around one’s body, narrowing the arteries and veins, which can raise the risk of a heart attack. High temperatures cause more blood flow to the skin, which may require the heart to beat faster and harder―which, symbolically, can mean our love is heating up and our heart is beating faster with our love of Our Lord.
The end of June―the 30th of June―is also the day when the Church commemorates the one-time persecutor of the Church, Saul, who became a pillar and saint of the Church as St. Paul. By Our Lord’s direct and miraculous intervention, Saul is thrown off his horse and blinded―symbolic of how pride (sitting on a high horse) blinds us to Christ and His teaching. Our Lord converts Him and Saul has a change of heart―which we commemorate at the end of the Month of the Sacred Heart―and the grace of God (you could say grace is the ‘blood’ of God that flows within our souls) begins to flow in the soul of Saul and the seeds of sanctity are planted, will sprout and will bloom in the future St. Paul, who will then shed his blood as a martyr for Christ, whereas as a sinner he sought to shed the blood of Christians. Hence the appropriateness of the Church’s commemoration of St. Paul at the end of the Month of the Sacred Heart (commemorating Saul’s change of heart) and on the cusp of the Month of the Precious Blood (for St. Paul will shed his blood for Christ).
Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer?
Though most people love it, hot initially slows your body down. The hotter the temperature, the more energy the body requires to keep itself cool. Therefore, the things that were easy in cooler temperatures―like walking long distances, mowing the lawn, doing yard work, etc. ― take more effort. It is much the same when God tries to increase the temperature of love in our hearts―the initial response is one of: “This is too hard! This is too demanding!”
Yet there is some good news! It is that the body can quickly adapt to the increased heat relatively quickly. Santiago Lorenzo, a physiologist teaching medicine at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Bradenton, Florida, says: “Even within one or two sessions [of heat exercise], the body is already adapting. Then the more that you do it, the better you start feeling.” The science behind that statement is that after only a day or two in the heat, we start producing more plasma, which is the blood’s liquid part. Research shows that our bodies produce around 13% more plasma once the body fully adjusts to the heat, which means that larger quantities of blood circulate through the body. The knock-on effect is that more oxygen is brought by the blood to the muscles (giving them more energy), and the greater blood flow also helps regulates body temperature: The increased blood flow to the skin helps you cool down.
The same is true for the soul. When God increases the heat on our soul―by more tribulations, more responsibilities, more demands, more sufferings, more stress, etc. ― it forces our soul to work harder and in working harder it produces (receives) more grace. It that extra grace that gives us spiritual energy and our can soul then pump harder and pump that spiritual energy into all that we do.
In both cases―physically with regards to blood, and spiritually with regards to grace (spiritual blood)―there is more profit in facing the heat and working through it, than simply falling to the ground and doing nothing but sitting and sweating. Our Lord expects us to pick up and carry our cross in the heat―not fall under it and just lie there motionless complaining about the heat. Heat there has to be―for Our Lord said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth! And what will I ? But that it be kindled!” (Luke 12:49). To which St. Peter says: “Dearly beloved, think not strange the burning heat, which is to try you, as if some new thing happened to you!” (1 Peter 4:12) “Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!’” (Matthew 16:24). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus! No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular businesses; that he may please Him to whom He hath engaged himself” (2 Timothy 2:3-4).
FEAST OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
Friday June 28th continued into Saturday June 29th
Article 15
Take This to Heart! It's Time for a Change of Heart!
Friday June 28th continued into Saturday June 29th
Article 15
Take This to Heart! It's Time for a Change of Heart!
Blowing-Off God
In His four apparitions to St. Margaret Mary in the space of little over 18 months (December 27th, 1673 to June16th, 1675), the Sacred Heart of Jesus showed flames shooting out of His Heart, of which He said: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, and, not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must spread them abroad and manifest Itself to men, that they may be enriched with Its precious treasures, which contain the sanctifying and salutary graces that are necessary to hold them back from the abyss of ruin … Behold this Heart which has so loved men, that It spared nothing―even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive, from the greater part of men, nothing but ingratitude―by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love … This is more grievous to Me than all that I endured in My Passion! If they would only give Me some return of love, I should not reckon all that I have done for them, and I would do yet more if possible. But they have only coldness and contempt for all My endeavors to do them good!”
Our Lord is God and God is love― “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) ― and “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins … "Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:10, 19). What was the result of this? St. John already stated in his Gospel what the Sacred Heart would complain about over 1600 years later: “All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … That was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:3-11).
Shortly before appearing to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the late 1600’s, Our Lord had also appeared several times―with Our Lady of Good Success―to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, in the later 1500s and early 1600s, in her convent at Quito, in Ecuador, during which Our Lord complained the ingratitude and betrayal of religious souls, so dear to His Heart, would compel Him: “to let My Justice fall upon My beloved cloisters ― and even over cities ― when those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them, even more than for the rest of the faithful! Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My own example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My Sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, Quito in Ecuador).
One would have hoped that things would have improved in light of the revelations of the Sacred Heart in the 1600s―but mankind has a way of “blowing-off” God regardless of what He says! St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), also known as “The Little Flower” and St. Therese of the Infant Jesus, would complain that Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known. Not long after, Our Lord began appearing to Sr. Josefa Menendez (1890-1923). On the 4th of July, 1920, Josefa writes: “I saw before me the Adorable Heart. It was pierced through with a large thorn, which caused much blood to flow. O my Jesus! Who is wounding Thee so? ... Is it I? ... Jesus replied: ‘That large nail is the coldness of My Religious!’ On the 6th of July, while I was at prayer, He again showed me His Heart; It was transpierced by six thorns. He made me understand that those six thorns are six souls that are offending Him in a particular way. He said: ‘These are the thorns I ask you to draw out by your love and desires.’” On the 18th of July, showed her His Heart transpierced by the six thorns, and repeated the same words: “Josefa, remove these thorns from My Heart!” On the 17th of August 1920, Our Lord said: “If you love Me, Josefa, remove this thorn!” Later that year, on the 4th of October, 1920, Our Lord, in showing Josefa His Wounded Heart, said: “Look at the state to which unfaithful souls have reduced My Heart. They do not know how much I love them, and that is why they forsake Me!” On the 21st of October, 1920, Our Lord said: “Josefa! All I ask of souls is their love, but they give Me only ingratitude! I should like to fill their souls with grace, but they pierce My Heart through and through. I call them and they turn away from Me! ... If you accept, I will give you charge of souls, and by your sacrifices and love, you will win them for Me!” Later Jesus complains: “! If only they knew My Heart . . . mankind is ignorant of Its mercy and goodness! That is My greatest sorrow!” (March 22nd, 2921). A few months later, He said: “I want them to return to Me. I want them to burn with love, while I am consumed for them with sorrowful love … If souls only understood how ardently I desire to communicate Myself to them! But how few do understand . . . and how deeply this wounds My Heart!” (July 29th, 1921). In a future apparition He would say: “Help Me! Help Me to make My love for men known, for I come to tell them that in vain will they seek happiness apart from Me, for they will not find it!” (June 13th, 1923).
Heartbreaking words on each occasion from the 1600s to the 1920s! Is anyone heartbroken?
The Sacred Heart Has Competition
Have we had an explosion of love towards the Sacred Heart of Jesus since He spoke those words in the 1920’s? It needs no rocket-scientist or a genius to give the answer to that question! Rather than an explosion of love, there has been an explosion of indifference and neglect, as false idols came on the scene― on August 31st, 1920, the first known radio news program was broadcast in Detroit, Michigan. In 1922 regular wireless broadcasts for entertainment began in the UK. The world’s first electronic television was created in 1927. The first image ever transmitted by television was a simple line. Later, its inventor, Farnsworth, would famously transmit a dollar sign using his television. In 1946, just after the Second World War, only 6 station are on-air―3 in New York City, 1 in Chicago, 1 in Philadelphia and 1 in Schenectady, NY. As late as 1947, only a few thousand Americans owned televisions. On May 25th, 1953, the first public television station in the U.S., broadcasted its first program. By 1960 television was capturing and enslaving the United States. In 1960 the average daily household radio listening had dropped to less than two hours; while TV viewing had climbed to more than five hours per day and would continue to increase annually. Between 1960 and 1965, the average number of daily viewing hours went up 23 minutes per TV household, the biggest jump in any five-year period since 1950. At the movie theaters, weekly attendance plunged from 44 million in 1965 to 17.5 million by the end of the decade.
On August 6th, 1991, the internet or the World Wide Web opened to the public. There was no fanfare in the global press. In fact, most people around the world didn’t even know what the Internet was. The first internet image was only uploaded in 1992. In 1993, it was announced that the World Wide Web was free for everyone to use and develop, with no fees payable – a key factor in the transformational impact and enslavement it would soon have on the world. By 1995, it is estimated that around 16 million people all over the world were using the internet to some degree―but spending nowhere near the time spent online today.
The mobile web, also known as mobile internet, on a cell phone was commercially offered in 1994 in the USA, priced $900 (equivalent to $1,500 today) and only 2,000 phones were manufactured―but internet features were limited. You could send email (and faxes!), sketch on its touchscreen with the included stylus, and consult the calendar, world time clock, and address book. But you couldn’t surf the web. Finland upgraded in 1996―but it was still really primitive by today’s standards, a kind of “cave-man technology.” n 2002, the first phones with built-in cameras became publicly available. In 2003, the 3G standard started to be adopted worldwide, kicking off the age of mobile internet and paving the way for the rise of smartphones. In 2003 BlackBerry cell-phones were the first to offer a full web browser. In January 2007, Apple launched its first iPhone―its revolutionary features allowed users to command the device using only their fingers on a touch screen, and a 3½ inch screen for watching movies and television. In 2008, the first Android phone turned up. In 2009 4G power connection arrived and WhatsApp also launched that year, letting customers send and receive calls and messages via the internet and now has 1.2 billion users sending more than 10 billion messages a day. Which makes it 50% more popular than traditional texting. In January 2014, mobile internet use exceeded desktop use in the United States. The mobile revolution meant that computers in the form of smartphones and tablets became something many people used, took with them everywhere, communicated with them, used them for photographs and videos, which they could instantly share, or use to shop or seek information “on the move”―and using them socially―as is social media―as opposed to items on a desk computer at home or at work. From the time the internet became available to the general public―and especially since the internet was available through the phone― the number of internet users exploded immediately.
By December, 1996, it had risen to 36 million; by December, 1997 it was 70 million; by 1998 it was 147 million; by 1999 it was 248 million; by 2000 it was 361 million; by 2001 it was 513 million; by 2002 it was 587 million; 2003 it was 719 million; by 2004 it was 817 million; by 2005 it was 1,018 million; by 2006 it was 1,093 million; by 2007 it was 1,319 million; by 2008 it was 1,574 million; by 2009 it was 1,802 million; by 2010 it was 1,971 million; by 2011 it was 2,267 million; by 2012 it was 2,497 million; by 2013 it was 2,802 million; by 2014 it was 3,079 million; by 2015 it was 3,366 million; by 2016 it was 3,696 million; by 2017 it was 4,156 million; by 2018 it was 4,313 million.
All in all, in 2018, on average, American adults spent over 11 hours per day listening to, watching, reading or generally interacting with media. This―and the above statistics of “converts” to the internet―should be the kind of statistics we read in relation to the number of converts coming in to the Catholic Church, or the numbers of souls who begin to pray and meditate all 15 Mysteries of the Rosary, or the numbers of those starting to practice the Nine First Fridays of the Month Devotion to the Sacred Heart―but, sadly, that is not the case. All in all, that is twelvefold increase in internet users in only 23 years―whereas the numbers of souls “online” or “connected to” the Sacred Heart and the Catholic Faith has been tumbling over those same years―from a 75% regular attendance (“connection”) rate in 1957 falling to around a 20% attendance by 2019, with some countries having numbers as low as 2% to 5% of their Catholic population regularly attending Mass on Sundays. What Our Lord said to Josefa Menendez in 1921, is what He would say today as we approach 2021: “I want them to return to Me. I want them to burn with love, while I am consumed for them with sorrowful love … If souls only understood how ardently I desire to communicate Myself to them! But how few do understand . . . and how deeply this wounds My Heart!” (July 29th, 1921).
To Love is Tough!
It's hard to love. These days it doesn't seem to come naturally any more—if it ever did. One act of perfect love of God can wipe away all the guilt and debt of temporal punishment due to sin—no matter how much one has sinned! Yet that act of perfect love, though not impossible, is not easy. We love the persons, places and things of this world more than we love God—or at least our love for them is more vehement than is our love of God. As Our Lord warned us, towards the End Times, evil would be so rampant that charity would grow cold.
The following words―taken from the Church’s Liturgy (the reading from Matins for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus)―are the words spoken and written by St. Bonaventure. These words, for the modern internet absorbed mind of today, are like being drenched by freezing ice-cold water, or like being hit with a sledgehammer, or like having your eyes torn out―what St. Bonaventure recommends seems like torture to the media obsessed mind of today:
“We are now come to the sweet Heart of Jesus, and―because it is good for us to be here―let us not too soon turn away therefrom [to the internet or media]. O how good and joyful a thing it is to dwell in this Heart [No! No! I want my internet instead!]. What a good treasure, what a precious pearl, is thy Heart, O most excellent Jesus, which we have found hidden in the pit, which hath been dug in this field, namely, in thy body. Who would cast away such a pearl [for the internet and the media]? Nay, rather, for this same I would give all my pearls [my website browsings and social media haunts]. I will sell all my thoughts and affections [give up my media addiction], and buy the same for myself [get smart and get myself a real smartphone―which is prayer and meditation], turning all my thoughts to the Heart of the good Jesus, and without fail it will support me. Therefore, o most sweet Jesus, finding this Heart that is Thine and mine, I will pray to thee, my God: admit my prayers into the shrine of being heard: and draw me even more altogether into Thy Heart [and away from the internet and media] … Who would not love that Heart so wounded? Who would not, in return, love One Who is so loving? Who would not embrace One so chaste? Wherefore let us―who are in the flesh―love in return, as much as we can, Him who so loveth, embrace our wounded One, Whose hands and feet, side and Heart, have been pierced by wicked people; and let us pray that He may deign to bind our hearts, still hard and impenitent, with the chain of His love, and wound them with the dart of His love!”
“Ugh! Yuck! Gross!” says the modern mind, “All of that sounds so soppy, sentimental, slushy and mushy! Give me the internet any day, rather than all that soppy, sentimental, spiritual slush and mush!” Such people can spends hours―eleven hours daily on average―on one kind of media or another: TV, computer, internet, tablet, smartphone, radio, etc., but Our Lord’s pleading words fall on deaf ears and hard hearts: “What? Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). “Sleepest thou? Couldst thou not watch one hour?” (Mark 14:37). The three favored Apostles―Peter, James and John―were all drowsy in the Garden of Gethsemane and their drowsiness led them to “lose their connection” with Christ through prayer. For us, instead of drowsiness, it is “browsiness” as we prefer to browse the internet rather than “browse” through spiritual reading and prayer, which is our true and only “wireless connection” to the Sacred Heart and Heaven.
Almost everyone today has lost that “connection”―which they find too slow and boring―much preferring the 3G, 4G and 5G connections of the world. 3G, 4G and 5G are networks that connect your phone to the internet. The “G” in each stands for “generation”. So 4G means “fourth generation”, 5G stands for “fifth generation”. Each generation gets faster and faster in running way from God into the clutches of the world and its prince―the devil. 4G made mobile internet speeds as much as 500 times faster than 3G and allowed support for HD TV on mobile, high–quality video calls, and fast mobile browsing. The development of 4G was a massive feat for mobile technology, especially for the evolution of smartphones and tablets. 5G is widely believed to be smarter, faster and more efficient than 4G. It promises mobile data speeds that far outstrip the fastest home broadband network currently available to consumers. With speeds of up to 100 gigabits per second, 5G is set to be as much as 100 times faster than 4G. As an object falls, its speed increases because it's being pulled on by gravity. Likewise, “falling-souls” prefer this increase in speed as they are being pulled by the gravity of the world and its prince―the devil―and thus, ultimately by the “gravity of Hell”.
What Can A Parent Do? What Can Anyone Do?
It may be a controversial statement, but here goes anyway! We are all addicts! We were all made to be addicts! We have to be addicts! We can only be addicts! We will only be saved if live and act like addicts!
Shocking, huh? But true if you really think about it! The Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition for the verb “addict” reads as follows: “to devote or surrender (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively.” The Cambridge Dictionary definition for the noun “an addict” is “a person who is unable to stop doing or using something.” The Oxford Dictionary defines “an addict” as: “a person who is very interested in something and spends a lot of their free time on it.” The Cambridge Dictionary definition for “addiction” is “the need or strong desire to do or to have something, or a very strong liking for something.” It is only recently―and wrongly―that the words “addict” and “addiction” have been applied to negative things, to wrongdoing, to things like overuse of alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, etc. Addiction is also applicable to good things―and it is this sense that the above claim is made: “We are all addicts! We were all made to be addicts! We have to be addicts! We can only be addicts! We will only be saved if live and act like addicts!”
Taking the words “addict” and “addiction”―being understood as already defined above―“to devote or surrender (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively” … “a person who is unable to stop doing or using something” … “a person who is very interested in something and spends a lot of their free time on it”―how else can you explain the following commands of God and Our Lord: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind” (Luke 10:27) … “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:37). “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all whatever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven―and come follow Me!” (Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22) … “And they [Peter and Andrew] immediately leaving their nets, followed Him … And they [James and John] forthwith left their nets and father, and followed Him” (Matthew 4:20-22) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1). In addition to those words of Our Lord, Holy Scripture adds: “Give thanks to God without ceasing! … Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians ; 2:13; 5:17) … “Prayer was made without ceasing by the Church” (Acts 12:5) … “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do―do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31) … “And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations!” Philippians 2:14) … “All should everywhere do penance” (Acts 17:30), and many more such commands! If this is not a command to and addiction and to obsession, then what on earth is? God―through Holy Scripture―is commanding an addiction to Him, an obsession about Him. Yet God never commands the impossible―therefore He must have made us capable of addiction. The problem is that we use this “gift” and “capability” in a bad way, by being addicted to the wrong things, instead of being addicted to God.
How Do You Solve the Problem?
So to the question― “What can I do to change (myself, my spouse, family, children, students, etc.”―well, as the saying goes: “A problem well-stated is half-solved” ― which firstly requires understanding the problem before you state or define the problem. “Given one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution” (Albert Einstein, 1879-1955). It's far much easier to suggest sudden superficial solutions when you don't know too much about the problem. Here, then, are six steps you can take to help you see, state and define a problem―in this case, a spiritual problem―so its solutions become clearer:
PROBLEM SOLVING: (1) State the problem in a sentence.
A single sentence forces you to extract the main problem from potentially more complex situations. A problem is not a positive, but a negative, otherwise it would not be a problem. So we first of all need to admit to, own up to, be honest and state the negative situation we find ourselves in. Avoiding a problem doesn't solve it. As they say in Alcoholics Anonymous―the alcoholic is going nowhere, except down, if he/she will not admit that they actually are an alcoholic! An example of a negative problem statement is: “We are not spiritual enough!” or “We do not take our spiritual life (or God) seriously enough!” or “We don’t give God enough time!” or “We don’t show enough devotion to the Sacred Heart (and/or the Immaculate Heart, etc.).” Be careful to try and state the ultimate problem―the problem that seems to cause or be behind all your other problems―that is the one you will want to change. You have be a “Detective of Problems”―whereby you follow the links and leads, jumping from one problem to another problem, until to find the “Who Dunnit” Problem. As one philosopher said: “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” However, “The significant problems we face today, cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at, when we created them” (Albert Einstein, 1879-1955)―unless we change our way of thinking and seeing things, we may not see the problems as they really are and will not come up with an effective solution.
For example, you may think the problem is― “We don’t pray enough!”―but if you dig deeper, you will find you don’t pray enough because you simply don’t love enough! Yet that, in itself, is not the ultimate problem―because you cannot love what you do not know! Therefore not praying enough because you don’t love enough, leads you to a lack of knowledge. But there again, dig deeper, why do not know enough? You do not know enough because you spend little or not enough time getting to know what you should know―namely, God, Our Lord, Our Lady, the Faith, the Catechism, the history of the Church, the ways of the spiritual life, etc. Yet, you can dig further, and you will see that you study, learn and know so little, because you devote far, far too much time to secondary, unimportant, trivial, non-essential things―they may be more exciting but they will not save your soul! As Our Lord said: “For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” (Mark 8:36) … “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). This leads to the ultimate question, the question of all questions―if you “pardon the French”― “Where on earth, or where in the heavens, or where on hell do you want to go? Heaven or Hell?” Ultimately, it is that simple! Just, as they say, “All roads lead to Rome”, so too do all your thoughts, words, actions, activities, pastimes, hobbies, occupations―they are either leading you to Heaven or away from Heaven, they are leading you to Hell or away from Hell. It is all in your hands―as you sow, so shall you reap. You, or your spouse, or you family and children need to think about that, reflect on that, and then make a family statement as to where they want go―Heaven or Hell.
As Henry Ford (1863 - 1947), the founder of the Ford Motor Company, once said: “Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.” It doesn't matter how strong your opinions are. If you don't use your God-given power for making positive changes, you are, indeed, part of the problem. Yet you will not solve your problem by continuing to think the same way that got you into the problem. There will be no change in how you act until there is a change in the way you think. The biggest problem in the world could have been solved when it was small. If you want to go to Hell―then go to Hell! Just keep on doing what the world does―for, as Our Lord said, most souls are damned [read more here if you don’t believe it]. If you want to go to Heaven, then you have to take the means to get to Heaven―and the means of getting to Heaven have been clearly stated:
► Means to Salvation #1―Love God with your whole heart, above all other things―that means more than TV, more than the internet, more than the social media, more than friends and socializing, more than sports and entertainment, more than music and art, more than anything you might do―even more than parents and family: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:37). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
► Means to Salvation #2―Devotion to Our Lady. A little bit like the question― “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” ― we can likewise ask: “What comes first, devotion to Our Lady or devotion to Our Lord?” To give you the answer in a nutshell―or an egg―it is devotion to Our Lady. If the “egg” answer does not satisfy you, then go read St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary to get the fuller, rounder “chicken” answer. But, as St. Louis explains, if Christ chose to come to us through the Blessed Virgin Mary―when He could have just as easily appeared out of nowhere, without needing a Mother, or passing through a womb―then it is to show us that Christ wants us to go to Him through the same channel―the Blessed Virgin Mary. If you want to truly find Christ, you must first find Mary―for where Mary is, there too is Christ: “And entering into the house, they found the Child with Mary His Mother, and, falling down, they adored Him” (Matthew 2:11). The topic of this paragraph deserves to be a fifteen-volume book―let it suffice to quote from the Preface of Fr. Frederick William Faber’s personal translation from the original French of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, in which he speaks of the need for a much greater devotion to Mary:
“Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized! Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother! … Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!”
On what level is you devotion to Mary to be found? Is it lukewarm, haphazard, stop-start, superficial, lip-prayer level, half-hearted, distracted, etc. If so―then that is not good enough for the Queen of Heaven! As St. Louis de Montfort writes: “We must cry out with the saints: ‘ De Maria numquam satis.’ —‘Of Mary there is never enough.’ We have not yet praised, exalted, honored, loved and served Mary as we ought. She deserves still more praise, still more respect, still more love, and still more service.” St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.” St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.” St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.” If only people gave as much time and interest to Our Lady as they do their smartphones, social media, internet, TV and the million other things that take up the hours of their day―then salvation would be guaranteed!
► Means to Salvation #3―Prayer and Penance. To keep the list shorter, both prayer and penance have been listed under one heading―but isn’t that what Our Lady did at her apparitions, mentioning them in the same breath: “Offer your sacrifices and prayers to shorten the duration of this terrible catastrophe” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “The leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven … who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! ” (Our Lady of La Salette) … “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Our Lady of Fatima) … “Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger” (Our Lady of Akita) … “Offer unceasingly prayers and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High” (Angel at Fatima) … “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Sure―all this is just Private Revelation―but did not Christ say: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1)? Did not “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: ‘Do penance, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 4:17). “I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:5). What is the level of prayer and penance in your home, in your life? Are the hours spent watching and listening to the various media outlets a penance? More likely those hours a pleasure! If it is all about pleasure and not penance, all about pleasure and not prayer―then there is a massive problem!
► Means to Salvation #4―The Holy Eucharist. In the Holy Eucharist we have multiple devotions―(1) devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which gives us the Holy Eucharist in the first place; (2) devotion to Holy Communion, which usually comes to us within the context of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; (3) devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, which is, so to speak, a heavenly “left-over” from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; and (4) devotion to the Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus present in the Holy Eucharist [read more here about the Heart of Jesus present in the Host].
O how confused and terrified we shall be on the Day of Judgment, when we shall realize that we have forsaken Christ present among us in the Holy Eucharist, by the hours we spent indulging ourselves in other occupations and entertainments! When shall see that our visits to websites and social media sites and stores and stadiums vastly outnumber our visits to church for Mass or visits to the Blessed Sacrament. O how we will tremble when God shall count the hours we wasted on our idols and show the meager hours spent with Him! We will be speechless and without excuse! Better solve this problem now than let it fester and grow into an eternal problem in the pit of problems! You want to be saved through the smartphone, saved through the tablet, saved by the internet? You have a problem and you need to solve it soon!
► Means to Salvation #5―Charity. Without charity you cannot be saved! Simple as that! “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), but if you love the world, then you have no real charity or God in your soul: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that “charity is necessary for salvation … it is necessary to have charity to be saved” (Quaest. Disp. De Veritate, q. 10, art. 10)―which is Holy Scripture indicates: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Which is why we are told: “Above all things have charity, which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:12-14).
Today, we live in a predominantly uncharitable world that pretends a ‘charity’ that most certainly is not the charity of God. The charity of God has cooled, become lukewarm and has given way to a counterfeit charity: “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
The above 5 points are the chief points―though not only points―where modern man has a problem today.
So coming back to the above necessity of stating the problem in a sentence―it is this: “We have lost our love and devotion for God, the Holy Eucharist and Our Lady which is meant to be shown by the practice of prayer and penance in a spirit of true charity.” That is the problem in one sentence―simplistic perhaps―but absolutely true and totally dangerous, for it bears upon the most important elements of our Faith. Instead, we have found a love and devotion for the world and all the world offers us, to such a degree that it far exceeds the love and devotion we should have towards God and the other things mentioned.
PROBLEM SOLVING: (2) Make the Negative Problem Statement into a Positive Solution Seeking Question.
Once you―as an individual or as a family―have established the chief underlying spiritual problem that is undermining you, you must then turn the “negative problem statement” into a “positive question seeking a solution”, which then opens the mind to looking for, discussing possibilities and finding a solution. For example: “How can we stop the slide and increase our devotion to God, Our Lord, Our Lady, etc.?” Admitting the problem is only the beginning of the journey on the long, difficult road of solutions. It is like admitting your sins in confession―that is all well and good, it is absolutely necessary―but there is also the problem of amending your life and making reparation for your sins―for it is only through these things that we eventually arrive at the solution for those sins―by not only admitting them, but changing our lives by a firm purpose of amendment, and paying in some way for the damage those sins have committed.
Once you―as an individual or as a family―have established the chief underlying spiritual problem that is undermining you, you must then turn the “negative problem statement” into a “positive question seeking a solution”, which then opens the mind to looking for, discussing possibilities and finding a solution. For example: “How can we stop the slide and increase our devotion to God, Our Lord, Our Lady, etc.?” Admitting the problem is only the beginning of the journey on the long, difficult road of solutions. It is like admitting your sins in confession―that is all well and good, it is absolutely necessary―but there is also the problem of amending your life and making reparation for your sins―for it is only through these things that we eventually arrive at the solution for those sins―by not only admitting them, but changing our lives by a firm purpose of amendment, and paying in some way for the damage those sins have committed.
This problem solving step is merely a transitional step towards the next one―which will germinate and expand upon the “positive solution seeking question.”
PROBLEM SOLVING: (3) Restate the question in different ways―five, ten, twenty, etc.
If you spin the question from a variety of perspectives, you’ll construct new questions that may provide intriguing answers. For instance, try asking: “How could we increase our devotion in a month?” “How could we increase it in a week?” “How could we increase it in each day?” “What should we stop doing that might hinder our devotional increase?” “What areas of devotion need the most attention?” “What are each family member’s weakest points?” What are each family member’s strongest points?” “At what pace should we try to introduce changes?” “What goals should we set ourselves?” “What sanctions, punishments, fines, etc., could we impose for failing to achieve those goals or for actions that go contrary to those goals?”
PROBLEM SOLVING: (4) Fault-Find, Criticize, and Knock Your Questions.
Whatever questions you have come up with―do what St. Thomas Aquinas does in his Summa Theologica―produce objections and criticisms, pointing out why this or that should not be done, or why it fail, or why such and such idea is flawed, exaggerated, too demanding, impossible, etc. Or even take the angle that the ideas are not demanding enough, too easy, requiring too little change, etc.
You might ask, “Why do we need to increase our devotion/prayers/sacrifices/penances/spiritual exercises at all?” “Why not a 5% increase? A 500% increase? A 5,000% increase?”
PROBLEM SOLVING: (5) Debating and Replying to the Objections. Deciding upon your new problem-solving question.
Based on the thinking you’ve already done, this step may not even be necessary. Often, when you look at your situation from enough angles, solutions pop up without much more effort. When all angles, pros and cons, risks and rewards, etc., have been deeply discussed and debated, everyone should start to sense―with the aid of God’s grace―the line of action that should and needs to be taken.
Based on the thinking you’ve already done, this step may not even be necessary. Often, when you look at your situation from enough angles, solutions pop up without much more effort. When all angles, pros and cons, risks and rewards, etc., have been deeply discussed and debated, everyone should start to sense―with the aid of God’s grace―the line of action that should and needs to be taken.
Before we can solve a problem, we need to know exactly what the problem is, and we should put a good amount of thinking and resources into understanding it. And because today’s problems are so complex, we know they can’t be solved by being broken down into specific components.
The Problem of “The Mess”
The American organizational theorist, consultant, and Management Science Professor, Russell Ackoff (1919-2009) gave on of the most compelling metaphors for complex problems when he called them “messes”. How many times has it been said: “This project is a total mess!” Countless times. However, the word “mess” means many things to many people so it can end up having a vague meaning without much context. Ackoff defined it as follows:
“Managers are not confronted with problems that are independent of each other, but with dynamic situations that consist of complex systems of changing problems that interact with each other. I call such situations messes. Problems are abstractions extracted from messes by analysis; they are to messes as atoms are to tables and chairs.”
Most families―from one perspective or another―fall into that category of being “a mess.” Lack of serious attention, lack of serious and continual planning, lack of correction, lack of seeking and applying correct remedies, lack of reliance on God and grace―a lack of one thing or another―has led the family into a spiritual mess, or a financial mess, or moral mess, or a social mess, or an intellectual mess, or an unskilled mess. And each mess, like a bad apple, messes up those around it―to some degree or another.
The only real means to achieve a shared understanding of a problem is through meaningful, sincere and honest family dialogue―which is most are afraid to do. The elephant is in the room―yet nobody talks about it and pretend it is not there. Problems need addressing―like weeds in a garden―or they will grow. Unfortunately, in this day and age where time spent talking is seen as money (or fun time) lost, and since a naïve simplicity reigns, then time spent on understanding problems is viewed as time wasted. To quote Albert Einstein once again: “Given one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution.” Elsewhere, Einstein adds: “Everything Should Be Made as Simple as Possible, But Not Simpler”
The Problem of “The Family Mess”
What is applicable to the business world, is also applicable to the family and the family business of saving their souls. Many families are losing graces like business is losing money. Families need better management. Management demands ACTION, not just endless talk and mutual analysis. This does not mean that you act without thinking and talking about the actions. Talk and analysis are absolutely necessary―and, as Einstein points out, lots of talk and analysis is necessary―but it must end with ACTION. Some people smugly feel the problem has been solved by talking about it, analyzing it, apportioning blame, and vaguely wishing for a better future―which is like planning a meal, cooking the meal, and then throwing it into the trash can without finally eating the meal. Sometimes meetings that involve debate and discussion are seen as “just talk”. This is understandable considering the number of meaningless meetings most people experience, but debate and discussion are necessary to create a shared understanding of a problem. Einstein’s time-split of 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution is merely a metaphorical statement―what he is saying there must a lot of discussion, analysis, the consideration of many possible causes and influences, before finally trying to find the best solution to the problem. What you sow is what you reap. Families can spends hours talking trivia, trash, junk and piffling trifles―but they spend very little time on talking about serious subjects―and the salvation of their souls is the most serious of all subjects and least talked about of all subjects―it is almost taboo.
Usually, not enough time is spent discussing or understanding the problem in relation to the tons of time spent on solutions. Perhaps only a few minutes of an hour-long meeting about a problem will be spent understanding the problem. As one leading business entrepreneur once said: “It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem.” What happens when we don’t truly and deeply understand the problem? When the problem is not well understood, “solutions” only create new problems. In fact, there’s no guarantee the solutions will address the ROOT of the problem at all. On the other hand, the more we understand the problem, the more likely we understand the root cause and can create countermeasures so the problem can be rectified and hopefully won’t recur.
It is NOT a partial understanding of the problem, but a THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING of the problem, is the first step of any problem-solving. The second step is defining how you measure success. After all, you would like to know if your solution is actually solving the problem. Goals must be realistic and those goals must be staggered and divided into progressive steps. The book by John Buchan, Thirty-Nine-Steps, is a novel about an ordinary man who puts his country's interests before his own safety―just as each family member must put the common good of the family above their own individual and personal good. The book, Thirty-Nine-Steps, led to a stage-lay and eventually a movie of the same name. The Legion of Mary also used that title of the book in advocating the progressive steps to success in Legion work―something which can be of help to any family, just as the Legion of Mary is a ‘family’ of Mary. Here is an extract from the Legion of Mary Handbook to inspire and help you make the changes you need to make:
“ ‘Every impossibility is divisible into thirty‑nine steps of which each step is possible’ C declares a Legionary slogan, with seeming self‑contradiction. Yet that idea is supremely sensible! It forms the groundwork of achievement. It summarizes the philosophy of success. For if the mind is stunned by the contemplation of the apparently impossible, then the body will relax into a sympathetic inactivity. In such circumstances every difficulty is plainly an impossibility. When faced with such ― says that wise slogan ― divide it up; divide and conquer. You cannot at one bound ascend to the top of a house, but you can get there by the stairway ― a step at a time. Similarly, in the teeth of your difficulty, take one step. There is no need yet to worry about the next step, so concentrate on that first one. When taken, a second step will immediately or soon suggest itself. Take it and a third will show ― and then another. And after a series of them ― perhaps not the full thirty‑nine steps of the slogan, which only has in mind the play of that name ― one finds that one has passed through the portals of the impossible and entered into very promising land. Observe: the stress is set on action. No matter what may be the degree of the difficulty, a step must be taken. Of course, the step should be as effective as it can be. But if an effective step is not in view, then we must take a less effective one. And if the latter be not available, then some active gesture (i.e., not merely a prayer) must be made which, though of no apparent practical value, at least tends towards or has some relation to the objective.” (Legion of Mary Handbook).
Enter EMMA
It is at this point that EMMA makes an entrance! EMMA―if you remember―stands for Ejaculations, Mottos, Mantras, Aspirations. As already stated, many―if not most―military units, universities, schools, business organizations, sports teams, not to mention kings, princes, and bishops have a motto, slogan, saying or mantra that encapsulates and promotes the ideals of each particular group, entity or person.
Furthermore, teachers, military drill instructors, sports coaches, etc., will have lots of “one-liner” reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. that they use in teaching, drilling, training, forming those entrusted to the care and tutelage. Some drill-instructors will have their trainee-soldiers shout out in unison these slogans or mottos while doing a drill.
Since success is as much a matter of mind as well as body, these instructors know the value of creating the right psychology among their recruits. These mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. go a long way towards creating and maintaining the right psychology that is required for success and victory. The enemy knows this too! That is why, if you remember an earlier article, the Communists spend more time on psychological warfare than they spend on physical warfare―and the first tactic they use is DEMORALIZATION.
Just as the body needs vitamins and trace minerals for optimal health, so too does the soul need inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. for its own optimal health and as a fortifier against temptations and a preventative against sin.
Each person or family needs to stock-up with these inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. ― just as they would stock-up with herbs, spices and condiments to add to whatever cooking problem or project faces them each day. It is not that they will use each and every herb, spice and condiment each and every at each and every meal―but they are on hand to be used when necessary to make a bland meal better. Likewise inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. can make a bland family better, a mediocre family better, a lukewarm family more fervent.
As one encyclopedia states: “The terms ‘herb’ and ‘spice’ describe plants or parts of plants used for medicine, cooking, and pleasure all over the world. These plants number in the thousands and come from almost every plant family known. This makes it almost impossible to generalize about their uses and properties.” Likewise, inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. come, not only in the thousands or tens of thousands―but literally in their millions. Too many to list and too pointless to list―because the needs and problems of each individual and family are so different. However, there is no better “store” or “apothecary” in which shop around for them than the Bible or Holy Scripture―for each and every on its ‘shelves’ has been made by God―and the Word of God is a powerful force. The snag is that you need to put down your smarpthone, turn off your TV, walk away from your computer and pick up the Bible for a change―you could, of course, search the Bible for your own personal , inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc., on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, computer or smart TV.
Once you have found your inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. ― and the potential list never ends as new problems arise―then you need to copy and paste those quotes and print them out in some attractive and useable format, or even have a sheet of paper, front and back, with one or two columns, listing all the key quotes you want to use, which you can then fold-up and carry around with you in your pocket, purse or wallet. If done on the computer, this makes it easy to modify the list―adding, deleting, rephrasing, modifying whichever quote requires it.
Do not rule out other sources―spiritual authors, moral theologians, popes, saints, etc. ―even pagan philosophers or the guy on the street if what they say is good, wholesome and applicable. All these inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. are your mental toolbox with which you feel more comfortable and more confident in tackling whatever problem Divine Providence places or allows to be placed in your path on your thorn-strewn, rocky road to Heaven.
In His four apparitions to St. Margaret Mary in the space of little over 18 months (December 27th, 1673 to June16th, 1675), the Sacred Heart of Jesus showed flames shooting out of His Heart, of which He said: “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love for men, and, not being able any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must spread them abroad and manifest Itself to men, that they may be enriched with Its precious treasures, which contain the sanctifying and salutary graces that are necessary to hold them back from the abyss of ruin … Behold this Heart which has so loved men, that It spared nothing―even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive, from the greater part of men, nothing but ingratitude―by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges and coldness with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of Love … This is more grievous to Me than all that I endured in My Passion! If they would only give Me some return of love, I should not reckon all that I have done for them, and I would do yet more if possible. But they have only coldness and contempt for all My endeavors to do them good!”
Our Lord is God and God is love― “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) ― and “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins … "Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:10, 19). What was the result of this? St. John already stated in his Gospel what the Sacred Heart would complain about over 1600 years later: “All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … That was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:3-11).
Shortly before appearing to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the late 1600’s, Our Lord had also appeared several times―with Our Lady of Good Success―to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, in the later 1500s and early 1600s, in her convent at Quito, in Ecuador, during which Our Lord complained the ingratitude and betrayal of religious souls, so dear to His Heart, would compel Him: “to let My Justice fall upon My beloved cloisters ― and even over cities ― when those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them, even more than for the rest of the faithful! Alas! If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My own example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My Sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, Quito in Ecuador).
One would have hoped that things would have improved in light of the revelations of the Sacred Heart in the 1600s―but mankind has a way of “blowing-off” God regardless of what He says! St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), also known as “The Little Flower” and St. Therese of the Infant Jesus, would complain that Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known. Not long after, Our Lord began appearing to Sr. Josefa Menendez (1890-1923). On the 4th of July, 1920, Josefa writes: “I saw before me the Adorable Heart. It was pierced through with a large thorn, which caused much blood to flow. O my Jesus! Who is wounding Thee so? ... Is it I? ... Jesus replied: ‘That large nail is the coldness of My Religious!’ On the 6th of July, while I was at prayer, He again showed me His Heart; It was transpierced by six thorns. He made me understand that those six thorns are six souls that are offending Him in a particular way. He said: ‘These are the thorns I ask you to draw out by your love and desires.’” On the 18th of July, showed her His Heart transpierced by the six thorns, and repeated the same words: “Josefa, remove these thorns from My Heart!” On the 17th of August 1920, Our Lord said: “If you love Me, Josefa, remove this thorn!” Later that year, on the 4th of October, 1920, Our Lord, in showing Josefa His Wounded Heart, said: “Look at the state to which unfaithful souls have reduced My Heart. They do not know how much I love them, and that is why they forsake Me!” On the 21st of October, 1920, Our Lord said: “Josefa! All I ask of souls is their love, but they give Me only ingratitude! I should like to fill their souls with grace, but they pierce My Heart through and through. I call them and they turn away from Me! ... If you accept, I will give you charge of souls, and by your sacrifices and love, you will win them for Me!” Later Jesus complains: “! If only they knew My Heart . . . mankind is ignorant of Its mercy and goodness! That is My greatest sorrow!” (March 22nd, 2921). A few months later, He said: “I want them to return to Me. I want them to burn with love, while I am consumed for them with sorrowful love … If souls only understood how ardently I desire to communicate Myself to them! But how few do understand . . . and how deeply this wounds My Heart!” (July 29th, 1921). In a future apparition He would say: “Help Me! Help Me to make My love for men known, for I come to tell them that in vain will they seek happiness apart from Me, for they will not find it!” (June 13th, 1923).
Heartbreaking words on each occasion from the 1600s to the 1920s! Is anyone heartbroken?
The Sacred Heart Has Competition
Have we had an explosion of love towards the Sacred Heart of Jesus since He spoke those words in the 1920’s? It needs no rocket-scientist or a genius to give the answer to that question! Rather than an explosion of love, there has been an explosion of indifference and neglect, as false idols came on the scene― on August 31st, 1920, the first known radio news program was broadcast in Detroit, Michigan. In 1922 regular wireless broadcasts for entertainment began in the UK. The world’s first electronic television was created in 1927. The first image ever transmitted by television was a simple line. Later, its inventor, Farnsworth, would famously transmit a dollar sign using his television. In 1946, just after the Second World War, only 6 station are on-air―3 in New York City, 1 in Chicago, 1 in Philadelphia and 1 in Schenectady, NY. As late as 1947, only a few thousand Americans owned televisions. On May 25th, 1953, the first public television station in the U.S., broadcasted its first program. By 1960 television was capturing and enslaving the United States. In 1960 the average daily household radio listening had dropped to less than two hours; while TV viewing had climbed to more than five hours per day and would continue to increase annually. Between 1960 and 1965, the average number of daily viewing hours went up 23 minutes per TV household, the biggest jump in any five-year period since 1950. At the movie theaters, weekly attendance plunged from 44 million in 1965 to 17.5 million by the end of the decade.
On August 6th, 1991, the internet or the World Wide Web opened to the public. There was no fanfare in the global press. In fact, most people around the world didn’t even know what the Internet was. The first internet image was only uploaded in 1992. In 1993, it was announced that the World Wide Web was free for everyone to use and develop, with no fees payable – a key factor in the transformational impact and enslavement it would soon have on the world. By 1995, it is estimated that around 16 million people all over the world were using the internet to some degree―but spending nowhere near the time spent online today.
The mobile web, also known as mobile internet, on a cell phone was commercially offered in 1994 in the USA, priced $900 (equivalent to $1,500 today) and only 2,000 phones were manufactured―but internet features were limited. You could send email (and faxes!), sketch on its touchscreen with the included stylus, and consult the calendar, world time clock, and address book. But you couldn’t surf the web. Finland upgraded in 1996―but it was still really primitive by today’s standards, a kind of “cave-man technology.” n 2002, the first phones with built-in cameras became publicly available. In 2003, the 3G standard started to be adopted worldwide, kicking off the age of mobile internet and paving the way for the rise of smartphones. In 2003 BlackBerry cell-phones were the first to offer a full web browser. In January 2007, Apple launched its first iPhone―its revolutionary features allowed users to command the device using only their fingers on a touch screen, and a 3½ inch screen for watching movies and television. In 2008, the first Android phone turned up. In 2009 4G power connection arrived and WhatsApp also launched that year, letting customers send and receive calls and messages via the internet and now has 1.2 billion users sending more than 10 billion messages a day. Which makes it 50% more popular than traditional texting. In January 2014, mobile internet use exceeded desktop use in the United States. The mobile revolution meant that computers in the form of smartphones and tablets became something many people used, took with them everywhere, communicated with them, used them for photographs and videos, which they could instantly share, or use to shop or seek information “on the move”―and using them socially―as is social media―as opposed to items on a desk computer at home or at work. From the time the internet became available to the general public―and especially since the internet was available through the phone― the number of internet users exploded immediately.
By December, 1996, it had risen to 36 million; by December, 1997 it was 70 million; by 1998 it was 147 million; by 1999 it was 248 million; by 2000 it was 361 million; by 2001 it was 513 million; by 2002 it was 587 million; 2003 it was 719 million; by 2004 it was 817 million; by 2005 it was 1,018 million; by 2006 it was 1,093 million; by 2007 it was 1,319 million; by 2008 it was 1,574 million; by 2009 it was 1,802 million; by 2010 it was 1,971 million; by 2011 it was 2,267 million; by 2012 it was 2,497 million; by 2013 it was 2,802 million; by 2014 it was 3,079 million; by 2015 it was 3,366 million; by 2016 it was 3,696 million; by 2017 it was 4,156 million; by 2018 it was 4,313 million.
All in all, in 2018, on average, American adults spent over 11 hours per day listening to, watching, reading or generally interacting with media. This―and the above statistics of “converts” to the internet―should be the kind of statistics we read in relation to the number of converts coming in to the Catholic Church, or the numbers of souls who begin to pray and meditate all 15 Mysteries of the Rosary, or the numbers of those starting to practice the Nine First Fridays of the Month Devotion to the Sacred Heart―but, sadly, that is not the case. All in all, that is twelvefold increase in internet users in only 23 years―whereas the numbers of souls “online” or “connected to” the Sacred Heart and the Catholic Faith has been tumbling over those same years―from a 75% regular attendance (“connection”) rate in 1957 falling to around a 20% attendance by 2019, with some countries having numbers as low as 2% to 5% of their Catholic population regularly attending Mass on Sundays. What Our Lord said to Josefa Menendez in 1921, is what He would say today as we approach 2021: “I want them to return to Me. I want them to burn with love, while I am consumed for them with sorrowful love … If souls only understood how ardently I desire to communicate Myself to them! But how few do understand . . . and how deeply this wounds My Heart!” (July 29th, 1921).
To Love is Tough!
It's hard to love. These days it doesn't seem to come naturally any more—if it ever did. One act of perfect love of God can wipe away all the guilt and debt of temporal punishment due to sin—no matter how much one has sinned! Yet that act of perfect love, though not impossible, is not easy. We love the persons, places and things of this world more than we love God—or at least our love for them is more vehement than is our love of God. As Our Lord warned us, towards the End Times, evil would be so rampant that charity would grow cold.
The following words―taken from the Church’s Liturgy (the reading from Matins for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus)―are the words spoken and written by St. Bonaventure. These words, for the modern internet absorbed mind of today, are like being drenched by freezing ice-cold water, or like being hit with a sledgehammer, or like having your eyes torn out―what St. Bonaventure recommends seems like torture to the media obsessed mind of today:
“We are now come to the sweet Heart of Jesus, and―because it is good for us to be here―let us not too soon turn away therefrom [to the internet or media]. O how good and joyful a thing it is to dwell in this Heart [No! No! I want my internet instead!]. What a good treasure, what a precious pearl, is thy Heart, O most excellent Jesus, which we have found hidden in the pit, which hath been dug in this field, namely, in thy body. Who would cast away such a pearl [for the internet and the media]? Nay, rather, for this same I would give all my pearls [my website browsings and social media haunts]. I will sell all my thoughts and affections [give up my media addiction], and buy the same for myself [get smart and get myself a real smartphone―which is prayer and meditation], turning all my thoughts to the Heart of the good Jesus, and without fail it will support me. Therefore, o most sweet Jesus, finding this Heart that is Thine and mine, I will pray to thee, my God: admit my prayers into the shrine of being heard: and draw me even more altogether into Thy Heart [and away from the internet and media] … Who would not love that Heart so wounded? Who would not, in return, love One Who is so loving? Who would not embrace One so chaste? Wherefore let us―who are in the flesh―love in return, as much as we can, Him who so loveth, embrace our wounded One, Whose hands and feet, side and Heart, have been pierced by wicked people; and let us pray that He may deign to bind our hearts, still hard and impenitent, with the chain of His love, and wound them with the dart of His love!”
“Ugh! Yuck! Gross!” says the modern mind, “All of that sounds so soppy, sentimental, slushy and mushy! Give me the internet any day, rather than all that soppy, sentimental, spiritual slush and mush!” Such people can spends hours―eleven hours daily on average―on one kind of media or another: TV, computer, internet, tablet, smartphone, radio, etc., but Our Lord’s pleading words fall on deaf ears and hard hearts: “What? Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). “Sleepest thou? Couldst thou not watch one hour?” (Mark 14:37). The three favored Apostles―Peter, James and John―were all drowsy in the Garden of Gethsemane and their drowsiness led them to “lose their connection” with Christ through prayer. For us, instead of drowsiness, it is “browsiness” as we prefer to browse the internet rather than “browse” through spiritual reading and prayer, which is our true and only “wireless connection” to the Sacred Heart and Heaven.
Almost everyone today has lost that “connection”―which they find too slow and boring―much preferring the 3G, 4G and 5G connections of the world. 3G, 4G and 5G are networks that connect your phone to the internet. The “G” in each stands for “generation”. So 4G means “fourth generation”, 5G stands for “fifth generation”. Each generation gets faster and faster in running way from God into the clutches of the world and its prince―the devil. 4G made mobile internet speeds as much as 500 times faster than 3G and allowed support for HD TV on mobile, high–quality video calls, and fast mobile browsing. The development of 4G was a massive feat for mobile technology, especially for the evolution of smartphones and tablets. 5G is widely believed to be smarter, faster and more efficient than 4G. It promises mobile data speeds that far outstrip the fastest home broadband network currently available to consumers. With speeds of up to 100 gigabits per second, 5G is set to be as much as 100 times faster than 4G. As an object falls, its speed increases because it's being pulled on by gravity. Likewise, “falling-souls” prefer this increase in speed as they are being pulled by the gravity of the world and its prince―the devil―and thus, ultimately by the “gravity of Hell”.
What Can A Parent Do? What Can Anyone Do?
It may be a controversial statement, but here goes anyway! We are all addicts! We were all made to be addicts! We have to be addicts! We can only be addicts! We will only be saved if live and act like addicts!
Shocking, huh? But true if you really think about it! The Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition for the verb “addict” reads as follows: “to devote or surrender (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively.” The Cambridge Dictionary definition for the noun “an addict” is “a person who is unable to stop doing or using something.” The Oxford Dictionary defines “an addict” as: “a person who is very interested in something and spends a lot of their free time on it.” The Cambridge Dictionary definition for “addiction” is “the need or strong desire to do or to have something, or a very strong liking for something.” It is only recently―and wrongly―that the words “addict” and “addiction” have been applied to negative things, to wrongdoing, to things like overuse of alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, etc. Addiction is also applicable to good things―and it is this sense that the above claim is made: “We are all addicts! We were all made to be addicts! We have to be addicts! We can only be addicts! We will only be saved if live and act like addicts!”
Taking the words “addict” and “addiction”―being understood as already defined above―“to devote or surrender (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively” … “a person who is unable to stop doing or using something” … “a person who is very interested in something and spends a lot of their free time on it”―how else can you explain the following commands of God and Our Lord: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind” (Luke 10:27) … “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:37). “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all whatever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven―and come follow Me!” (Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22) … “And they [Peter and Andrew] immediately leaving their nets, followed Him … And they [James and John] forthwith left their nets and father, and followed Him” (Matthew 4:20-22) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1). In addition to those words of Our Lord, Holy Scripture adds: “Give thanks to God without ceasing! … Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians ; 2:13; 5:17) … “Prayer was made without ceasing by the Church” (Acts 12:5) … “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do―do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31) … “And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations!” Philippians 2:14) … “All should everywhere do penance” (Acts 17:30), and many more such commands! If this is not a command to and addiction and to obsession, then what on earth is? God―through Holy Scripture―is commanding an addiction to Him, an obsession about Him. Yet God never commands the impossible―therefore He must have made us capable of addiction. The problem is that we use this “gift” and “capability” in a bad way, by being addicted to the wrong things, instead of being addicted to God.
How Do You Solve the Problem?
So to the question― “What can I do to change (myself, my spouse, family, children, students, etc.”―well, as the saying goes: “A problem well-stated is half-solved” ― which firstly requires understanding the problem before you state or define the problem. “Given one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution” (Albert Einstein, 1879-1955). It's far much easier to suggest sudden superficial solutions when you don't know too much about the problem. Here, then, are six steps you can take to help you see, state and define a problem―in this case, a spiritual problem―so its solutions become clearer:
PROBLEM SOLVING: (1) State the problem in a sentence.
A single sentence forces you to extract the main problem from potentially more complex situations. A problem is not a positive, but a negative, otherwise it would not be a problem. So we first of all need to admit to, own up to, be honest and state the negative situation we find ourselves in. Avoiding a problem doesn't solve it. As they say in Alcoholics Anonymous―the alcoholic is going nowhere, except down, if he/she will not admit that they actually are an alcoholic! An example of a negative problem statement is: “We are not spiritual enough!” or “We do not take our spiritual life (or God) seriously enough!” or “We don’t give God enough time!” or “We don’t show enough devotion to the Sacred Heart (and/or the Immaculate Heart, etc.).” Be careful to try and state the ultimate problem―the problem that seems to cause or be behind all your other problems―that is the one you will want to change. You have be a “Detective of Problems”―whereby you follow the links and leads, jumping from one problem to another problem, until to find the “Who Dunnit” Problem. As one philosopher said: “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” However, “The significant problems we face today, cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at, when we created them” (Albert Einstein, 1879-1955)―unless we change our way of thinking and seeing things, we may not see the problems as they really are and will not come up with an effective solution.
For example, you may think the problem is― “We don’t pray enough!”―but if you dig deeper, you will find you don’t pray enough because you simply don’t love enough! Yet that, in itself, is not the ultimate problem―because you cannot love what you do not know! Therefore not praying enough because you don’t love enough, leads you to a lack of knowledge. But there again, dig deeper, why do not know enough? You do not know enough because you spend little or not enough time getting to know what you should know―namely, God, Our Lord, Our Lady, the Faith, the Catechism, the history of the Church, the ways of the spiritual life, etc. Yet, you can dig further, and you will see that you study, learn and know so little, because you devote far, far too much time to secondary, unimportant, trivial, non-essential things―they may be more exciting but they will not save your soul! As Our Lord said: “For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” (Mark 8:36) … “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). This leads to the ultimate question, the question of all questions―if you “pardon the French”― “Where on earth, or where in the heavens, or where on hell do you want to go? Heaven or Hell?” Ultimately, it is that simple! Just, as they say, “All roads lead to Rome”, so too do all your thoughts, words, actions, activities, pastimes, hobbies, occupations―they are either leading you to Heaven or away from Heaven, they are leading you to Hell or away from Hell. It is all in your hands―as you sow, so shall you reap. You, or your spouse, or you family and children need to think about that, reflect on that, and then make a family statement as to where they want go―Heaven or Hell.
As Henry Ford (1863 - 1947), the founder of the Ford Motor Company, once said: “Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.” It doesn't matter how strong your opinions are. If you don't use your God-given power for making positive changes, you are, indeed, part of the problem. Yet you will not solve your problem by continuing to think the same way that got you into the problem. There will be no change in how you act until there is a change in the way you think. The biggest problem in the world could have been solved when it was small. If you want to go to Hell―then go to Hell! Just keep on doing what the world does―for, as Our Lord said, most souls are damned [read more here if you don’t believe it]. If you want to go to Heaven, then you have to take the means to get to Heaven―and the means of getting to Heaven have been clearly stated:
► Means to Salvation #1―Love God with your whole heart, above all other things―that means more than TV, more than the internet, more than the social media, more than friends and socializing, more than sports and entertainment, more than music and art, more than anything you might do―even more than parents and family: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:37). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
► Means to Salvation #2―Devotion to Our Lady. A little bit like the question― “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” ― we can likewise ask: “What comes first, devotion to Our Lady or devotion to Our Lord?” To give you the answer in a nutshell―or an egg―it is devotion to Our Lady. If the “egg” answer does not satisfy you, then go read St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary to get the fuller, rounder “chicken” answer. But, as St. Louis explains, if Christ chose to come to us through the Blessed Virgin Mary―when He could have just as easily appeared out of nowhere, without needing a Mother, or passing through a womb―then it is to show us that Christ wants us to go to Him through the same channel―the Blessed Virgin Mary. If you want to truly find Christ, you must first find Mary―for where Mary is, there too is Christ: “And entering into the house, they found the Child with Mary His Mother, and, falling down, they adored Him” (Matthew 2:11). The topic of this paragraph deserves to be a fifteen-volume book―let it suffice to quote from the Preface of Fr. Frederick William Faber’s personal translation from the original French of St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, in which he speaks of the need for a much greater devotion to Mary:
“Mary is not half enough preached! Devotion to her is low and thin and poor! Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy! It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be! It has no faith in itself! Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized! Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background! Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them! It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines! Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother! … Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our Faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Savior, her dearest and most blessed Son!”
On what level is you devotion to Mary to be found? Is it lukewarm, haphazard, stop-start, superficial, lip-prayer level, half-hearted, distracted, etc. If so―then that is not good enough for the Queen of Heaven! As St. Louis de Montfort writes: “We must cry out with the saints: ‘ De Maria numquam satis.’ —‘Of Mary there is never enough.’ We have not yet praised, exalted, honored, loved and served Mary as we ought. She deserves still more praise, still more respect, still more love, and still more service.” St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: “They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish.” St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.” St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.” If only people gave as much time and interest to Our Lady as they do their smartphones, social media, internet, TV and the million other things that take up the hours of their day―then salvation would be guaranteed!
► Means to Salvation #3―Prayer and Penance. To keep the list shorter, both prayer and penance have been listed under one heading―but isn’t that what Our Lady did at her apparitions, mentioning them in the same breath: “Offer your sacrifices and prayers to shorten the duration of this terrible catastrophe” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “The leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven … who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! ” (Our Lady of La Salette) … “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” (Our Lady of Fatima) … “Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger” (Our Lady of Akita) … “Offer unceasingly prayers and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High” (Angel at Fatima) … “Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957). Sure―all this is just Private Revelation―but did not Christ say: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1)? Did not “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: ‘Do penance, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 4:17). “I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:5). What is the level of prayer and penance in your home, in your life? Are the hours spent watching and listening to the various media outlets a penance? More likely those hours a pleasure! If it is all about pleasure and not penance, all about pleasure and not prayer―then there is a massive problem!
► Means to Salvation #4―The Holy Eucharist. In the Holy Eucharist we have multiple devotions―(1) devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which gives us the Holy Eucharist in the first place; (2) devotion to Holy Communion, which usually comes to us within the context of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; (3) devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, which is, so to speak, a heavenly “left-over” from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; and (4) devotion to the Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus present in the Holy Eucharist [read more here about the Heart of Jesus present in the Host].
O how confused and terrified we shall be on the Day of Judgment, when we shall realize that we have forsaken Christ present among us in the Holy Eucharist, by the hours we spent indulging ourselves in other occupations and entertainments! When shall see that our visits to websites and social media sites and stores and stadiums vastly outnumber our visits to church for Mass or visits to the Blessed Sacrament. O how we will tremble when God shall count the hours we wasted on our idols and show the meager hours spent with Him! We will be speechless and without excuse! Better solve this problem now than let it fester and grow into an eternal problem in the pit of problems! You want to be saved through the smartphone, saved through the tablet, saved by the internet? You have a problem and you need to solve it soon!
► Means to Salvation #5―Charity. Without charity you cannot be saved! Simple as that! “God is charity” (1 John 4:8), but if you love the world, then you have no real charity or God in your soul: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that “charity is necessary for salvation … it is necessary to have charity to be saved” (Quaest. Disp. De Veritate, q. 10, art. 10)―which is Holy Scripture indicates: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Which is why we are told: “Above all things have charity, which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:12-14).
Today, we live in a predominantly uncharitable world that pretends a ‘charity’ that most certainly is not the charity of God. The charity of God has cooled, become lukewarm and has given way to a counterfeit charity: “Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
The above 5 points are the chief points―though not only points―where modern man has a problem today.
So coming back to the above necessity of stating the problem in a sentence―it is this: “We have lost our love and devotion for God, the Holy Eucharist and Our Lady which is meant to be shown by the practice of prayer and penance in a spirit of true charity.” That is the problem in one sentence―simplistic perhaps―but absolutely true and totally dangerous, for it bears upon the most important elements of our Faith. Instead, we have found a love and devotion for the world and all the world offers us, to such a degree that it far exceeds the love and devotion we should have towards God and the other things mentioned.
PROBLEM SOLVING: (2) Make the Negative Problem Statement into a Positive Solution Seeking Question.
Once you―as an individual or as a family―have established the chief underlying spiritual problem that is undermining you, you must then turn the “negative problem statement” into a “positive question seeking a solution”, which then opens the mind to looking for, discussing possibilities and finding a solution. For example: “How can we stop the slide and increase our devotion to God, Our Lord, Our Lady, etc.?” Admitting the problem is only the beginning of the journey on the long, difficult road of solutions. It is like admitting your sins in confession―that is all well and good, it is absolutely necessary―but there is also the problem of amending your life and making reparation for your sins―for it is only through these things that we eventually arrive at the solution for those sins―by not only admitting them, but changing our lives by a firm purpose of amendment, and paying in some way for the damage those sins have committed.
Once you―as an individual or as a family―have established the chief underlying spiritual problem that is undermining you, you must then turn the “negative problem statement” into a “positive question seeking a solution”, which then opens the mind to looking for, discussing possibilities and finding a solution. For example: “How can we stop the slide and increase our devotion to God, Our Lord, Our Lady, etc.?” Admitting the problem is only the beginning of the journey on the long, difficult road of solutions. It is like admitting your sins in confession―that is all well and good, it is absolutely necessary―but there is also the problem of amending your life and making reparation for your sins―for it is only through these things that we eventually arrive at the solution for those sins―by not only admitting them, but changing our lives by a firm purpose of amendment, and paying in some way for the damage those sins have committed.
This problem solving step is merely a transitional step towards the next one―which will germinate and expand upon the “positive solution seeking question.”
PROBLEM SOLVING: (3) Restate the question in different ways―five, ten, twenty, etc.
If you spin the question from a variety of perspectives, you’ll construct new questions that may provide intriguing answers. For instance, try asking: “How could we increase our devotion in a month?” “How could we increase it in a week?” “How could we increase it in each day?” “What should we stop doing that might hinder our devotional increase?” “What areas of devotion need the most attention?” “What are each family member’s weakest points?” What are each family member’s strongest points?” “At what pace should we try to introduce changes?” “What goals should we set ourselves?” “What sanctions, punishments, fines, etc., could we impose for failing to achieve those goals or for actions that go contrary to those goals?”
PROBLEM SOLVING: (4) Fault-Find, Criticize, and Knock Your Questions.
Whatever questions you have come up with―do what St. Thomas Aquinas does in his Summa Theologica―produce objections and criticisms, pointing out why this or that should not be done, or why it fail, or why such and such idea is flawed, exaggerated, too demanding, impossible, etc. Or even take the angle that the ideas are not demanding enough, too easy, requiring too little change, etc.
You might ask, “Why do we need to increase our devotion/prayers/sacrifices/penances/spiritual exercises at all?” “Why not a 5% increase? A 500% increase? A 5,000% increase?”
PROBLEM SOLVING: (5) Debating and Replying to the Objections. Deciding upon your new problem-solving question.
Based on the thinking you’ve already done, this step may not even be necessary. Often, when you look at your situation from enough angles, solutions pop up without much more effort. When all angles, pros and cons, risks and rewards, etc., have been deeply discussed and debated, everyone should start to sense―with the aid of God’s grace―the line of action that should and needs to be taken.
Based on the thinking you’ve already done, this step may not even be necessary. Often, when you look at your situation from enough angles, solutions pop up without much more effort. When all angles, pros and cons, risks and rewards, etc., have been deeply discussed and debated, everyone should start to sense―with the aid of God’s grace―the line of action that should and needs to be taken.
Before we can solve a problem, we need to know exactly what the problem is, and we should put a good amount of thinking and resources into understanding it. And because today’s problems are so complex, we know they can’t be solved by being broken down into specific components.
The Problem of “The Mess”
The American organizational theorist, consultant, and Management Science Professor, Russell Ackoff (1919-2009) gave on of the most compelling metaphors for complex problems when he called them “messes”. How many times has it been said: “This project is a total mess!” Countless times. However, the word “mess” means many things to many people so it can end up having a vague meaning without much context. Ackoff defined it as follows:
“Managers are not confronted with problems that are independent of each other, but with dynamic situations that consist of complex systems of changing problems that interact with each other. I call such situations messes. Problems are abstractions extracted from messes by analysis; they are to messes as atoms are to tables and chairs.”
Most families―from one perspective or another―fall into that category of being “a mess.” Lack of serious attention, lack of serious and continual planning, lack of correction, lack of seeking and applying correct remedies, lack of reliance on God and grace―a lack of one thing or another―has led the family into a spiritual mess, or a financial mess, or moral mess, or a social mess, or an intellectual mess, or an unskilled mess. And each mess, like a bad apple, messes up those around it―to some degree or another.
The only real means to achieve a shared understanding of a problem is through meaningful, sincere and honest family dialogue―which is most are afraid to do. The elephant is in the room―yet nobody talks about it and pretend it is not there. Problems need addressing―like weeds in a garden―or they will grow. Unfortunately, in this day and age where time spent talking is seen as money (or fun time) lost, and since a naïve simplicity reigns, then time spent on understanding problems is viewed as time wasted. To quote Albert Einstein once again: “Given one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution.” Elsewhere, Einstein adds: “Everything Should Be Made as Simple as Possible, But Not Simpler”
The Problem of “The Family Mess”
What is applicable to the business world, is also applicable to the family and the family business of saving their souls. Many families are losing graces like business is losing money. Families need better management. Management demands ACTION, not just endless talk and mutual analysis. This does not mean that you act without thinking and talking about the actions. Talk and analysis are absolutely necessary―and, as Einstein points out, lots of talk and analysis is necessary―but it must end with ACTION. Some people smugly feel the problem has been solved by talking about it, analyzing it, apportioning blame, and vaguely wishing for a better future―which is like planning a meal, cooking the meal, and then throwing it into the trash can without finally eating the meal. Sometimes meetings that involve debate and discussion are seen as “just talk”. This is understandable considering the number of meaningless meetings most people experience, but debate and discussion are necessary to create a shared understanding of a problem. Einstein’s time-split of 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution is merely a metaphorical statement―what he is saying there must a lot of discussion, analysis, the consideration of many possible causes and influences, before finally trying to find the best solution to the problem. What you sow is what you reap. Families can spends hours talking trivia, trash, junk and piffling trifles―but they spend very little time on talking about serious subjects―and the salvation of their souls is the most serious of all subjects and least talked about of all subjects―it is almost taboo.
Usually, not enough time is spent discussing or understanding the problem in relation to the tons of time spent on solutions. Perhaps only a few minutes of an hour-long meeting about a problem will be spent understanding the problem. As one leading business entrepreneur once said: “It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem.” What happens when we don’t truly and deeply understand the problem? When the problem is not well understood, “solutions” only create new problems. In fact, there’s no guarantee the solutions will address the ROOT of the problem at all. On the other hand, the more we understand the problem, the more likely we understand the root cause and can create countermeasures so the problem can be rectified and hopefully won’t recur.
It is NOT a partial understanding of the problem, but a THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING of the problem, is the first step of any problem-solving. The second step is defining how you measure success. After all, you would like to know if your solution is actually solving the problem. Goals must be realistic and those goals must be staggered and divided into progressive steps. The book by John Buchan, Thirty-Nine-Steps, is a novel about an ordinary man who puts his country's interests before his own safety―just as each family member must put the common good of the family above their own individual and personal good. The book, Thirty-Nine-Steps, led to a stage-lay and eventually a movie of the same name. The Legion of Mary also used that title of the book in advocating the progressive steps to success in Legion work―something which can be of help to any family, just as the Legion of Mary is a ‘family’ of Mary. Here is an extract from the Legion of Mary Handbook to inspire and help you make the changes you need to make:
“ ‘Every impossibility is divisible into thirty‑nine steps of which each step is possible’ C declares a Legionary slogan, with seeming self‑contradiction. Yet that idea is supremely sensible! It forms the groundwork of achievement. It summarizes the philosophy of success. For if the mind is stunned by the contemplation of the apparently impossible, then the body will relax into a sympathetic inactivity. In such circumstances every difficulty is plainly an impossibility. When faced with such ― says that wise slogan ― divide it up; divide and conquer. You cannot at one bound ascend to the top of a house, but you can get there by the stairway ― a step at a time. Similarly, in the teeth of your difficulty, take one step. There is no need yet to worry about the next step, so concentrate on that first one. When taken, a second step will immediately or soon suggest itself. Take it and a third will show ― and then another. And after a series of them ― perhaps not the full thirty‑nine steps of the slogan, which only has in mind the play of that name ― one finds that one has passed through the portals of the impossible and entered into very promising land. Observe: the stress is set on action. No matter what may be the degree of the difficulty, a step must be taken. Of course, the step should be as effective as it can be. But if an effective step is not in view, then we must take a less effective one. And if the latter be not available, then some active gesture (i.e., not merely a prayer) must be made which, though of no apparent practical value, at least tends towards or has some relation to the objective.” (Legion of Mary Handbook).
Enter EMMA
It is at this point that EMMA makes an entrance! EMMA―if you remember―stands for Ejaculations, Mottos, Mantras, Aspirations. As already stated, many―if not most―military units, universities, schools, business organizations, sports teams, not to mention kings, princes, and bishops have a motto, slogan, saying or mantra that encapsulates and promotes the ideals of each particular group, entity or person.
Furthermore, teachers, military drill instructors, sports coaches, etc., will have lots of “one-liner” reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. that they use in teaching, drilling, training, forming those entrusted to the care and tutelage. Some drill-instructors will have their trainee-soldiers shout out in unison these slogans or mottos while doing a drill.
Since success is as much a matter of mind as well as body, these instructors know the value of creating the right psychology among their recruits. These mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. go a long way towards creating and maintaining the right psychology that is required for success and victory. The enemy knows this too! That is why, if you remember an earlier article, the Communists spend more time on psychological warfare than they spend on physical warfare―and the first tactic they use is DEMORALIZATION.
Just as the body needs vitamins and trace minerals for optimal health, so too does the soul need inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. for its own optimal health and as a fortifier against temptations and a preventative against sin.
Each person or family needs to stock-up with these inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. ― just as they would stock-up with herbs, spices and condiments to add to whatever cooking problem or project faces them each day. It is not that they will use each and every herb, spice and condiment each and every at each and every meal―but they are on hand to be used when necessary to make a bland meal better. Likewise inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. can make a bland family better, a mediocre family better, a lukewarm family more fervent.
As one encyclopedia states: “The terms ‘herb’ and ‘spice’ describe plants or parts of plants used for medicine, cooking, and pleasure all over the world. These plants number in the thousands and come from almost every plant family known. This makes it almost impossible to generalize about their uses and properties.” Likewise, inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. come, not only in the thousands or tens of thousands―but literally in their millions. Too many to list and too pointless to list―because the needs and problems of each individual and family are so different. However, there is no better “store” or “apothecary” in which shop around for them than the Bible or Holy Scripture―for each and every on its ‘shelves’ has been made by God―and the Word of God is a powerful force. The snag is that you need to put down your smarpthone, turn off your TV, walk away from your computer and pick up the Bible for a change―you could, of course, search the Bible for your own personal , inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc., on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, computer or smart TV.
Once you have found your inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. ― and the potential list never ends as new problems arise―then you need to copy and paste those quotes and print them out in some attractive and useable format, or even have a sheet of paper, front and back, with one or two columns, listing all the key quotes you want to use, which you can then fold-up and carry around with you in your pocket, purse or wallet. If done on the computer, this makes it easy to modify the list―adding, deleting, rephrasing, modifying whichever quote requires it.
Do not rule out other sources―spiritual authors, moral theologians, popes, saints, etc. ―even pagan philosophers or the guy on the street if what they say is good, wholesome and applicable. All these inspirational mottos, slogans, mantras, one-liners, reminders, instructions, ‘butt-kickers’, put-downs, ‘pick-me-ups’, ‘head-patters’, etc. are your mental toolbox with which you feel more comfortable and more confident in tackling whatever problem Divine Providence places or allows to be placed in your path on your thorn-strewn, rocky road to Heaven.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Wednesday June 26th & Thursday June 27th
Article 14
Little Things Can Bring Big Changes! Need a Change?
Article 14
Little Things Can Bring Big Changes! Need a Change?
Little Leads to Big, Small Becomes Great
The first step in constructing a bridge, over the Niagara Falls Gorge, was made by a 15-year-old American named Homan Walsh. On January 30th, 1848, Homan flew a kite he named Union from one side of the gorge to the other. The Niagara Gorge is 800 feet across and up to 200 feet deep with the Lower Niagara River flowing below. The main mode of transportation was a boat that ferried traffic at the base of the falls where the water is calmer. A local Canadian ironworker created a competition with a cash prize to the first boy who could fly a kite from one bank to the other―from Canada to the USA. As you would imagine, there was a massive response from American and Canadian boys―all of them wanting the fame of “bridging the gap” between Canada and the USA and obtaining the cash prize that went with it―the American boy, Homan Walsh, was also there with his little kite.
Nevertheless, as with most things in life, it was easier said than done. Walsh sailed across the Niagara to Canada by ferry and then had to two miles to the narrowest part of the gorge. His first attempt resulted in failure―even though he managed to maneuver his kite across the gorge, a sudden gust of wind created a force on the kite than snapped the string―but the falling kite landed on the American side of the gorge―almost, but not quite a successful flight. After being stranded in Canada for eight days due to the river being iced-up which stopped all ferries from sailing. Finally, after crossing back to the USA and recovering his kite, Homan Walsh went back to the Canadian side, to practice the motto: “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again!”
This time he did succeed and someone on the American side, caught the kite and tied a thicker string to Homan Walsh’s original light string―which Homan then pulled back across to the Canadian side. They then tied-off the thicker string and attached a thin rope which was pulled back the American side. The process was repeated with an even thicker rope, then ever increasing thicknesses of wire cables, and eventually a steel cable, which crossed the expanse and was strong enough to support workers, tools, and materials. Finally, a sturdy bridge, over which trains and trucks could easily pass, was completed. Ultimately, that kite string led to the first suspension bridge across the Niagara Gorge. And it all began with string.
We need to follow a similar process in bridging the gap between Heaven and Earth! The way to do it is to start small.
Sowing Little Seeds
Our Lord says: “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater” (Luke 16:10). He also speaks of the little mustard seed, saying: “To what shall we liken the Kingdom of God? Or to shall we compare it? The kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field― which when it is sown in the earth, is the least of all seeds that are in the earth; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and dwell in the branches and under the shadow thereof!” (Matthew 13:31-32; Mark 4:30-32). Similarly, “The bee is small among flying things, but her fruit hath the chiefest sweetness” (Ecclesiasticus 11:3). Coming back to the subject of the little mustard seed, Jesus elsewhere states: “Amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19). Taking the seed idea even further―or planting it deeper, or letting it sprout―we have Our Lord telling the parable of the Sower of the Seed, in which He explains that the “seed” is the “word of God.”
“The sower went out to sow his seed. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
“And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and bring forth fruit in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
What Jesus is trying to teach us is the fact that sowing good seeds is not always easy―for it is frustrating to see much seed wasted and unfruitful―but the few seeds that do produce fruit more than make up for the losses.
Sowing Seed Daily
The sower of the seed must have sowed thousands and thousands of seeds in the course of his day’s work. Not all of them came to fruition―for many were wasted, destroyed, died or were taken away by the birds. Yet he sowed seed nevertheless―fully knowing the probable results. The few seeds that would produce fruit were well worth the effort and more than made up for the losses. In a modern setting, telemarketing (phone sales) is very similar―the professional telemarketers will tell you that only around 1 sale is finalized per 500 calls or emails―each call or email is short and sweet, it is like a seed that is planted―but not all sprout and take root and bear fruit! Each day the telemarketer makes dozens of calls (plants dozens of seeds) knowing that very few will bear fruit―but the work is still done, regardless. It is much the same with God’s heavenly telemarketing business with His seeds of inspirations―each day God sends out trillions of inspirations and sows them in every soul in this world. Yet God knows that most of those seeds of inspiration will be wasted, will not sprout, will not take root and will bear no fruit―yet He continues to sow the seed daily.
When we sow good things in life the end result will be good things. An example is the corn seed. One corn seed will produce a stalk and then usually three to four ears of corn with approximately 200 seeds per ear which translates into six to eight hundred seeds from one planted seed. If these 600 to 800 seeds were planted again, they would potentially produce 120,000 to 160,000 seeds―that is from 1 seed to 160,000 seeds in two sowings or two seasons! Sowing little good things has the potential for great results. Each seed of every species has great potential when it is planted. Why not start today planting good seeds in your life. Seeds of devotion to God, love of God, obedience to God, love of neighbor, etc. can produce more seeds within its own scope and range. For example, the ‘seed’ of charity contains and produces many forms of charity―charity or love of God, of self, of soul, of body, of family, relatives, neighbors, parishioners, work colleagues, Church as a whole, your country, city, community, etc. All these come from the maternal seed of charity. St. Paul also paints a pretty broad picture of charity and puts it this way: “Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not; dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious; seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger; thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity; but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things; believeth all things; hopeth all things; endureth all things. Charity never falleth away―whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
Seeds of Thought, Word and Action
Little things matter―as Our Lord says: “I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!” (Matthew 12:36). “He that despiseth small things, shall fall by little and little” Ecclesiasticus 19:1). “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater!” (Luke 16:10). “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence [prison] till thou repay the last farthing [of your debt]!” (Matthew 5:26). “One jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18). “The Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then will He render to every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27). “Who will render to every man according to his works” (Romans 2:6). “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to his works!” (Apocalypse 22:12). “Say not: ‘I shall be hidden from God!’” (Ecclesiasticus 16:16). “He revealeth deep and hidden things, and knoweth what is in darkness: and light is with Him!” (Daniel 2:22). “For there is not anything secret that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden, that shall not be known and come abroad!” (Luke 8:17). “O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my offences are not hidden from thee!” (Psalm 68:6).
The tiniest, smallest, seemingly insignificant thoughts, word and deeds that we produce, will all be given either a reward or a punishment once we have been judged. God will not miss “one iota or tittle” in our lives. We will be amazed by the rewards given to the tiniest thoughts, words and actions―and we will be stupefied by the just punishments given out for the same.
Legendary basketball coach, John Wooden, used to say: “Little things make big things happen.” World-class athletes live by that mantra every day. They know that you play like you practice. The same is true for all of us. The seemingly mundane choices we make each day determine our path, and that path determines our destination. Want to get to Heaven? Handle the little things well and with integrity.
Often it is the little, unnoticed, insignificant things in our life that can end up being the most costly, most consuming, most damaging elements of our life. Some little things can take up a lot of time and energy. Take the brain, for example―whether you have a big-brain or are pea-brained―your brain on average weighs a mere 3 pounds, while you might weigh 160, or 180, or 200, or 240, or even 300 pounds! Your brain is anywhere from 1% to 2% of your body weight, yet it uses a massive 20% of the oxygen that you inhale. It is well established that the brain uses more energy than any other human organ, accounting for up to 20% of the body’s total haul.
Similarly, it is often some little sin― like gossip, complaining, criticizing, fault-finding, time-wasting, hasty distracted praying, etc.―that, once it is sown, begins to sprout and spread deep roots in our souls. They spread and grow into bitterness, self-righteousness, despair, anger, hatred, lukewarmness, indifference and even sacrilege. Little distractions that we consider to have no impact on our life, slowly draw us deeper into sin―they weaken our prayers, weaken our relationship, weaken the graces we get, weaken our resistance to temptations, and inhibits our growth in Faith and devotion. Those little temptations and little sins can take us down a destructive road. For most of us, it is not the big sins or temptations that pull us away from Christ. Rather, it's all the little bad choices we make throughout our day. They slowly build up, like spiritual plaque, into towering giants of bad habits, sins and idols that block the pipeline through which God’s pumps his graces to us. The little things and little sins in our life can grow and spread like a weed in our heart, wrapping itself ever tighter, choking out our spiritual zeal and spiritual joy.
As You Sow, So Shall You Reap
You will reap what you sow―Scripture tells us that on several occasions: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting … In doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing” (Galatians 6:8-9). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6). “Sow not evils and thou shalt not reap them sevenfold!” (Ecclesiasticus 7:3). “He that soweth iniquity shall reap evils” (Proverbs 22:8).
So―if you pardon the pun―so we come back to “the seed” which can be “the Word of God” or “the word of the world.” You buy and sow the seed you choose―you will reap what you have sown. The more we sow the Word of God, the more likely we are to have some good fruit from it. The more we sow the word of the world, the more like we are to reap its evil fruit! Yes, evil fruit! Did not Our Lord say the devil was the prince of the world and the works of the world were evil? “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). The only way to go is with sowing the Words of God and not the weeds of the world.
“In the morning sow thy seed, and, in the evening, let not thy hand cease! For thou knowest not which may rather spring up―this or that―and, if both together, it shall be the better!” (Ecclesiastes 11:6). In other words, start sowing the seed of the Word of God in your soul from morning to night―the seed of the Word of God is, like all seeds, small, short, brief, concise, or, what the Church has traditionally called EJACULATORY PRAYER―a short burst of words or a phrase that is over in a few seconds, but which can be repeated over and over again throughout the day. It need not be one single phrase, you could vary it to suit the occasion, need, problem or event. These short prayers will spring naturally to our hearts if we live in the awareness that we are constantly, unfailingly in the presence of God. He is near us, speaking to our hearts and minds by His inspirations that come in the form of actual graces, and we should speak back. Our words can be as simple as any greeting we would make to a parent, child, spouse, or sibling with whom we are in the same room. We need to be convinced that God is always near us. Sadly, most people live as though God was a million miles away! They forget that He is continually by our side!
In the long tradition of the Church, various names have been given to these short prayers — our little hellos — that we speak to Our Lord throughout the day. They are called aspirations, or ejaculatory prayers (from the Latin for bursting forth), or as well, “arrow” prayers. This last title was used by St. Padre Pio when he described these short, spontaneous prayers. He said they are like “arrows that wound God’s heart.” Furthermore, St. Padre Pio insisted that these “arrow prayers” have a special power in bringing down God’s grace upon us. Writing in December of 1914, Padre Pio said that it was not exaggerated to affirm that God is obliged to answer these prayers. He wrote: “… this word is not at all exaggerated in this case … I urge you continually to renew the right intention you had at the beginning and to recite ejaculatory prayers from time to time. Those prayers are like arrows that wound God’s heart and oblige Him — and I tell you this word is not at all exaggerated in this case — ‘oblige Him’ ― to grant you His graces and His help in everything.”
In a sense, the little one-liners, ejaculations, short-phrases, arrow-prayers, mottos or call them what you will―can “coach” us through the day, “encourage” us in different circumstances, “remind” us of essentials, “give” us courage, “comfort” our anxieties or fears, “maintain” our zeal, “deepen” our contrition, “enkindle” our love, “calm” our anger, and host of other things that invariably and regularly crop up in our spiritual life.
But Do Not Sow Without Mary
The daily “seeds” of needs that we sow by prayer, will always be changing―but the “Seed Sower” we use must never change. Just a gardener can sow seed by hand or use a mechanical seed sower, seed planter or seed drill―we can sow (pray) by ourselves, or we can use Our Lady―God’s Heaven-sent “Seed-Sower and Seed Grower”. But before we address and look at Mary’s role―let us analogously take a look at seed-sowing and compare to sowing seed in the spiritual life.
In older methods of planting seeds (praying), a field is initially prepared with a plow to a series of straight-line cuts known as furrows. The field is then seeded by throwing the seeds over the field―also called manual broadcasting. The disadvantage is that seeds may not be sown to the right depth, nor the proper distance from one another―which, as you will see below, is also a problem for our prayer life. Seeds landing in furrows have better protection from the elements―and natural erosion or manual raking will cover them, while leaving some exposed. The result is a field planted roughly in rows, but having a large number of plants outside the furrow lanes. Seeds landing outside the furrows will grow less than plants sown in the furrow, since they are too shallow on the soil―shallow prayers, poorly ‘planted’, and distractedly ‘thrown about’. Because of this, they are lost to the elements. The many seeds on the surface are vulnerable to being eaten by birds, or carried away on the wind―as we see in Our Lord’s parable. Surface seeds usually never germinate at all, or germinate prematurely, only to be killed by frost. This results in considerable wastage of seeds. Less obvious are the effects of over-seeding (cramming all your prayers into one single part of the day); all crops grow best at a certain density, which varies depending on the soil and weather conditions. Additional seeding above this will actually reduce crop yields (too much prayer crammed into a small period of time is counter-productive), in spite of more plants being sown, as there will be competition among the plants for the minerals, water, and the soil available. Another reason is that the mineral resources of the soil will also deplete at a much faster rate, thereby directly affecting the growth of the plants.
A mechanical device―the seed drill is an invention which gives farmers much greater control over the depth that the seed is planted and the ability to cover the seeds without back-tracking (makes your prayers more efficient and fruitful, without you having to back-track and repeat badly said prayers). The seed drill sows the seeds for crops through a tube, by positioning them in the soil and burying them to a specific depth (making your prayers less superficial). This ensures that seeds will be distributed evenly (spreading your prayers evenly throughout the day). The seed drill allows farmers to sow seeds in well-spaced rows, at their proper specific depths, and at their proper specific seed rate, ensuring that the seeds are covered by soil (prayers distributed evenly, said with right depth of devotion, and covered by the soil of sacrifice). This saves them from being eaten by birds and animals, or being dried up due to exposure to sun―as in Our Lord’s parable. With seed drill machines, seeds are distributed in rows. This allows plants to get sufficient sunlight, nutrients, and water from the soil. Before the introduction of the seed drill, most seeds were planted by hand [manual broadcasting], an imprecise and wasteful process with a poor distribution of seeds and low productivity. Use of a seed drill can improve the ratio of crop yield (seeds harvested per seed planted) by as much as eight or nine times. The use of seed drill saves time and labor. The result is an increased rate of germination, and a much-improved crop yield (up to eight times or nine times). The result was that farmers were able to use less seed and at the same time experience larger yields than under the broadcast methods (less prayers in quantity, increased in quality, bringing better results than the previous ton of unfruitful prayers).
Before the operation of the seed drill, the ground must be plowed and harrowed―which is akin to preparation for prayer. The plow digs up the earth (gets rid of earthly and worldly thoughts and distractions) and the harrow or smoothes the soil and breaks up any clumps (brings a spiritual calm to the soul before praying by eliminating clumps of agitation and distraction). The drill (the spiritual exercise) must then be set for the size of the seed used (the type of prayer being said and the needs being addressed). Afterwards, the grain (the grains of prayer―for example the Hail Marys in the Rosary and accompanying meditative thoughts) is put in the hopper on top, which then follows along behind the drill, while it spaces and plants the seed. This system is still used today but has been modified and updated such that a farmer can plant many rows of seed at the same time. A seed drill can be pulled across the field using bullocks or a tractor. Seeds sown using a seed drill are distributed evenly and placed at the correct depth in the soil.
Our Lady of the Seeds
Likewise we can sow on our own “seed”, or we can use Our Lady―our Heaven-sent “Seed Sower.” In fact, the Maronite Catholic Church (remember St. Charbal Maklouf, also spelt Charbel Makhlouf) has a feast for Our Lady of the Seeds on January 15th. In addition, there is an important monastery of the Chaldean Catholic Church in modern day Iraq, dedicated to Our Lady of the Seeds. You could say that Our Lady was the “good soil” that received the “Seed” or the “Word of God made Flesh” ― the fruit of her womb―and she brought forth fruit, not just “thirtyfold” or “sixtyfold” or a “hundredfold”― but “millionfold” and “billionfold.”
St. Louis de Montfort writes: “divine grace is the seed of glory” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §207). Elsewhere, he says: “It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace [seed] needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace [seed] from God!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §6). He points out that “God the Father made an assemblage of all His graces [seeds] and he called it Mary. This great God has a most rich treasury, in which He has laid up all that He has of beauty and splendor, of rarity and preciousness, and this immense treasury is none other than Mary, whom the saints have named the Treasure of the Lord, out of whose plenitude all men are made rich. God the Son has communicated to His Mother all that He acquired by His life and His death … It is by her that He applies His merits to His members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces. She is His mysterious canal; she is His aqueduct, through which He makes His mercies flow gently and abundantly. To Mary, His faithful spouse, God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the will of God, who has willed that we should have everything through Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §23-§25).
He then adds: “Devotion to the most holy Virgin Mary is necessary to all men simply for working out their salvation … I do not think anyone can acquire an intimate union with Our Lord without a very great union with the most holy Virgin and a great dependence on her assistance. It is Mary alone who has found grace before God (Luke 1:30) without the aid of any other mere creature; it is only through her that all those, who have since found grace before God, have found it at all; and it is only through her that all those, who shall come afterward, shall find it. She was full of grace when she was greeted by the Archangel Gabriel (Luke 1:28), and she was super-abundantly filled with grace by the Holy Ghost when He covered her with His unspeakable shadow (Luke 1:35); and she has so augmented this double plenitude [of grace] from day to day and from moment to moment that she has reached a point of grace immense and inconceivable—in such a way that the Most High has made her the sole treasurer of His treasures and the sole dispenser of His graces―to ennoble, to exalt and to enrich whom she wishes; to give entry to whom she wills into the narrow way of Heaven; to bring whom she wills, and in spite of all obstacles, through the narrow gate of life” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §43-§44).
Once again, if “divine grace is the seed of glory” and if God has made Mary “an assemblage of all His graces [seeds]” and “it is by her that Christ distributes His graces [seeds]” and the Holy Ghost “has chosen her to be the dispenser of all His graces [seeds]”―then it is obvious that Mary is indispensable, not only to acquire the best quality of seed (grace), but that she is also the “Seed-Sower” or “Seed-Drill” that we need for an effectual and profitable sowing and growing of those seeds (graces). For Our Lady―who herself produced the highest quality of Fruit (Christ) from the Seed of the Holy Ghost in her womb―knows what it takes to make what is merely human into something divine. She will transform whatever we ‘plant’ into worthy offerings to God―as St. Louis points out:
“She purifies them of all the stain of self-love, and of that imperceptible attachment to created things―which slips unnoticed into our best actions. As soon as they are in her most pure and fruitful hands, those same hands―which have never been sullied or idle and which purify whatever they touch―take away, from the offerings which we give her, all that was spoiled or imperfect about it. She embellishes our works, adorning them with her own merits and virtues. It is as if a peasant, wishing to gain the friendship and benevolence of the king, went to the queen and presented her with a fruit which was his whole revenue, in order that she might present it to the king. The queen, having accepted the poor little offering from the peasant, would place the fruit on a large and beautiful dish of gold, and so, on the peasant’s behalf, would present it to the king. Then the fruit―however unworthy in itself to be a king’s present―would become worthy of his majesty, because of the dish of gold on which it rested and the person who presented it” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §146-§147). That, in essence, is what Our Lady is trying to tell us in her modern-day apparitions, when she says: “The righteous will suffer greatly. Prayers, penances and tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will plead for my help and intercession” (Our Lady of Good Success).… “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917) … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
One Seed Drill is the Rosary
St. Louis speaks of the Rosary as being a mystical rose tree: “I do not think you will mind my giving you this little mystical rose tree which comes straight from Heaven and which is to be planted in the garden of your soul! … Please do not scorn this beautiful and heavenly tree, but plant it with your own hands in the garden of your soul, by making the resolution to say your Rosary every day. By saying it daily and by doing good works you will be tending your tree, watering it, hoeing the earth around it. Eventually you will see that this little seed which I have given you, and which seems so small now, will grow into a tree so great that the birds of Heaven, that is, predestinate and contemplative souls, will dwell in it and make their nests there. Its shade will shelter them from the scorching heat of the sun and its height will keep them safe from the wild beasts on the ground. And best of all, they will feed upon the tree’s fruit, which is none other than our adorable Jesus” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §5-§6).
Many people “say” the Rosary―but how many “pray” the Rosary or “meditate” the Rosary? The Rosary could be compared to the “seed-drill” or “seed-planter” or “seed-sower”―but if there is no seed placed in these machines, then you are sowing nothing but “hot-air”! The devil loves to see thousands of Catholics in the field of Faith going up and down the field with empty “seed-drills,” “seed-planters” or “seed-sowers.”
“One of the beads of your Rosary may seem to you to be such a tiny thing. But if you only knew how precious this bead is! This wonderful bud will open out into a gorgeous rose―if you say your Hail Mary really well! … The Hail Mary is a blessed dew that falls from Heaven upon the souls of the predestinate. It gives them a marvelous spiritual fertility so that they can grow in all virtues. The more the garden of the soul is watered by this prayer, the more enlightened in mind we become, the more zealous in heart, the stronger against all our enemies!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §7, §51).
Say and Sow the Rosary Properly
St. Louis de Montfort recalls the words that Our Lady addressed to Blessed Alan de la Roche in a vision: “ ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other devotions” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §7, §61).
“It is a great mistake to think that only priests and religious, and those who have withdrawn from the turmoil of the world, are supposed to meditate upon the truths of our Faith and the mysteries of the life of Christ. If priests and religious have an obligation to meditate on the great truths of our holy religion, in order to live up to their vocation worthily, the same obligation is just as much incumbent on the laity, because of the fact that every day they meet with spiritual dangers which might cause them to lose their souls. Therefore they should arm themselves with the frequent meditation on the life, virtues, and sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which are presented to us in the fifteen mysteries of the Holy Rosary!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §74).
“We must not only say the Rosary with our lips in honor of Jesus and Mary, but also meditate upon the sacred mysteries while we are saying it … A Christian who does not meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary is very ungrateful to Our Lord and shows how little he cares for all that our divine Savior has suffered to save the world. This attitude seems to show that he knows little or nothing of the life of Jesus Christ, and that he has never taken the trouble to find out what He has done and what He went through in order to save us. A Christian of that kind ought to fear that, not having known Jesus Christ or having put Him out of his mind, Jesus will reject him on the Day of Judgment with the reproach: ‘I tell you solemnly, I do not know you!’” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §67, §70).
“Of course, you cannot say your Rosary without having a few involuntary distractions [just as some seed is inevitably wasted during and after sowing]; it is even difficult to say a Hail Mary without your imagination troubling you a little, for it is never still; but you can say it without voluntary distractions, and you must take all sorts of precautions to lessen involuntary distractions and to control your imagination … Our imagination, which is hardly still a minute, makes our task harder, and then of course there is the devil who never tires of trying to distract us and keep us from praying [just like the enemy sowing cockle among the wheat in Our Lord’s parable]. To what ends does not the evil one go against us while we are engaged in saying our Rosary against him?!! Remember that at your left hand is the devil, ready to pounce on every Hail Mary [seed] that comes his way and to write it down in his book of death, if they are not said [sowed] with attention, devotion, and reverence” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §120).
“Being human, we easily become tired and slipshod, but the devil makes these difficulties worse when we are saying the Rosary. Before we even begin, he makes us feel bored, distracted, or exhausted; and when we have started praying, he oppresses us from all sides, and when after much difficulty and many distractions, we have finished, he whispers to us, ‘ What you have just said is worthless. It is useless for you to say the Rosary. You had better get on with other things. It is only a waste of time to pray without paying attention to what you are saying; half‑an‑hour’s meditation, or some spiritual reading would be much better. Tomorrow, when you are not feeling so sluggish, you’ll pray better―leave the rest of your Rosary till then!’ By tricks of this kind the devil gets us to give up the Rosary altogether or to say it less often, and we keep putting it off or change to some other devotion” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §120).
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before. I beg you to restrain your natural precipitation when saying your Rosary, and make some pauses in the middle of the Our Father and Hail Mary, and a smaller one after the words of the Our Father and Hail Mary which I have marked with a cross, as follows below. At first, you may find it difficult to make these pauses because of your bad habit of saying prayers in a hurry; but a decade said recollectedly in this way will be worth more than thousands of Rosaries said in a hurry, without pausing or reflecting” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §126-§127).
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, + hallowed by Thy Name, + Thy kingdom come, + Thy will be done + on Earth as it is in Heaven. + Give us this day + our daily bread, + and forgive us our trespasses + as we forgive those who trespass against us, + and lead us not into temptation, + but deliver us from evil. + Amen.
Hail, Mary, full of grace, + the Lord is with thee, + blessed art thou among women, + and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. + Holy Mary, Mother of God, + pray for us sinners, now + and at the hour of our death. + Amen.
Glory be to the Father + and to the Son + and to the Holy Ghost, + as it was in the beginning, + is now and ever shall be, + world without end. + Amen. (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §127).
Once again, it is the MEDITATION that is the SOUL of the Rosary―it is the MEDITATION that gives LIFE to the Rosary. Even though, as Our Lady said above, the prayers of the Rosary are excellent in themselves, she also stressed that there was an immense difference between merely saying and meditating the Rosary. The devil knows this―and that is one reason why, first of all, only 2% (2 out of 100) American Catholics say the Rosary daily, and, secondly, it perhaps only 1 in a thousand or ten-thousand that actually MEDITATE the Rosary. Most don’t even know how to meditate! Sad, but true. Much like is said about salvation― “Live like the few if you wish to be saved with the few!” The same should be said of the Rosary― “Pray like the few if you wish to be saved with the few!” But we just don’t seem to get it―do we? We still carry on with our bad habits of praying―as listed above by St. Louis de Montfort!
Transform Your Prayer Life With EMMA
EMMA is good one to recruit in order to add some pep to your prayer life! Who or what is EMMA? EMMA stands for Ejaculations, Mottos, Mantras, and Aspirations. EMMA might not be a full-fledged meditation, but it can at least be a spark for, or the beginning of the path to, the meditation that Our Lady and Heaven want from us. Yet, just as in the creation of any spark, there has to be the necessary friction that creates the spark, so too, in this case, the friction will be the irritation at having to spend more time in prayer and having to do some thinking and researching, so as to add something to the typically glib, slick, roll-off-the-lip, straight-out-of-the-bag, microwaved, mini-bite-sized, fast-track, over-in-a-few-minutes, pray-as-you-work (or watch TV), busy-mom, or busy-dad, or busy-kid prayers that we usually serve God when He stops by our “drive-thru-spiritual-café.” Yes, we all know that Christ said: “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4)―but the ‘bread’ that we are serving is “fast-food”―quickly made, quickly served and quickly eaten.
Life With EMMA
Life with EMMA can be quite demanding―EMMA wants attention almost all day long! EMMA sticks her nose into everything we think, say and do! St. Paul must have had EMMA in mind when he said: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)―he may as well have said: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, you will have to do it with EMMA!” EMMA can be very trying and exasperating at times, but, if you persevere with EMMA, you will grow to love EMMA and find that EMMA has brought a lot improvements and benefits to your life―even though EMMA gets into everything all the time and everywhere!
You will have to be quite innovative to get the best out of EMMA, but you most certainly won’t regret having tried! There is no set, automatic, robotic way of communicating with EMMA―simply because EMMA is not robotic or automatic. In fact EMMA hates things that robotic, automatic, always the same, without imagination, without invention, without innovation, with much thought! That is no bad thing, though! For Heaven hates all that too! EMMA will eventually get you into Heaven’s “good books”―EMMA might even get you into Heaven itself, if you stick with EMMA!
For EMMA, “variety is the spice of life”―just as variety is the spice of Heaven. Our Lord hinted that He disliked the typically glib, slick, roll-off-the-lip, straight-out-of-the-bag, microwaved, mini-bite-sized, fast-track, over-in-a-few-minutes, pray-as-you-work kind of prayers when He said: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8) … “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6)―which is the very same thing that His Father said to Isaias in the Old Testament: “And the Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Isaias 29:13). “When they fast I will not hear their prayers: and if they offer holocausts and victims, I will not receive them! For I will consume them by the sword, and by famine, and by the pestilence!” (Jeremias 14:12).
EMMA is not looking for long, drawn-out, complicated conversations; but EMMA needs constant attention; EMMA requires sincerity; EMMA demands perseverance, EMMA insists on honesty. So how do you talk with EMMA? Well everyone will have a widely different approach to EMMA, because everyone’s life is greatly different to the thousands of lives surrounding them. Each person has their own particular needs, characteristics, occupations, weaknesses, habits, interests, responsibilities, etc. But you had better pay attention to EMMA from the very first minute you rise to when your eyes close down at the end of day and you drift into sleep. Nothing is as demanding as EMMA, yet nothing is as rewarding as EMMA. Take EMMA on board and you will how on earth you ever managed without EMMA in the past! In fact EMMA will change your heart! And with tomorrow being the feast of the Sacred Heart―there is no better time to recruit and bring EMMA on board than on the feast of the Sacred Heart. For the Sacred Heart and EMMA get on like a house on fire! Stay tuned! EMMA is about make her appearance!
The first step in constructing a bridge, over the Niagara Falls Gorge, was made by a 15-year-old American named Homan Walsh. On January 30th, 1848, Homan flew a kite he named Union from one side of the gorge to the other. The Niagara Gorge is 800 feet across and up to 200 feet deep with the Lower Niagara River flowing below. The main mode of transportation was a boat that ferried traffic at the base of the falls where the water is calmer. A local Canadian ironworker created a competition with a cash prize to the first boy who could fly a kite from one bank to the other―from Canada to the USA. As you would imagine, there was a massive response from American and Canadian boys―all of them wanting the fame of “bridging the gap” between Canada and the USA and obtaining the cash prize that went with it―the American boy, Homan Walsh, was also there with his little kite.
Nevertheless, as with most things in life, it was easier said than done. Walsh sailed across the Niagara to Canada by ferry and then had to two miles to the narrowest part of the gorge. His first attempt resulted in failure―even though he managed to maneuver his kite across the gorge, a sudden gust of wind created a force on the kite than snapped the string―but the falling kite landed on the American side of the gorge―almost, but not quite a successful flight. After being stranded in Canada for eight days due to the river being iced-up which stopped all ferries from sailing. Finally, after crossing back to the USA and recovering his kite, Homan Walsh went back to the Canadian side, to practice the motto: “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again!”
This time he did succeed and someone on the American side, caught the kite and tied a thicker string to Homan Walsh’s original light string―which Homan then pulled back across to the Canadian side. They then tied-off the thicker string and attached a thin rope which was pulled back the American side. The process was repeated with an even thicker rope, then ever increasing thicknesses of wire cables, and eventually a steel cable, which crossed the expanse and was strong enough to support workers, tools, and materials. Finally, a sturdy bridge, over which trains and trucks could easily pass, was completed. Ultimately, that kite string led to the first suspension bridge across the Niagara Gorge. And it all began with string.
We need to follow a similar process in bridging the gap between Heaven and Earth! The way to do it is to start small.
Sowing Little Seeds
Our Lord says: “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater” (Luke 16:10). He also speaks of the little mustard seed, saying: “To what shall we liken the Kingdom of God? Or to shall we compare it? The kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field― which when it is sown in the earth, is the least of all seeds that are in the earth; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and dwell in the branches and under the shadow thereof!” (Matthew 13:31-32; Mark 4:30-32). Similarly, “The bee is small among flying things, but her fruit hath the chiefest sweetness” (Ecclesiasticus 11:3). Coming back to the subject of the little mustard seed, Jesus elsewhere states: “Amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you!” (Matthew 17:19). Taking the seed idea even further―or planting it deeper, or letting it sprout―we have Our Lord telling the parable of the Sower of the Seed, in which He explains that the “seed” is the “word of God.”
“The sower went out to sow his seed. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
“And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and bring forth fruit in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
What Jesus is trying to teach us is the fact that sowing good seeds is not always easy―for it is frustrating to see much seed wasted and unfruitful―but the few seeds that do produce fruit more than make up for the losses.
Sowing Seed Daily
The sower of the seed must have sowed thousands and thousands of seeds in the course of his day’s work. Not all of them came to fruition―for many were wasted, destroyed, died or were taken away by the birds. Yet he sowed seed nevertheless―fully knowing the probable results. The few seeds that would produce fruit were well worth the effort and more than made up for the losses. In a modern setting, telemarketing (phone sales) is very similar―the professional telemarketers will tell you that only around 1 sale is finalized per 500 calls or emails―each call or email is short and sweet, it is like a seed that is planted―but not all sprout and take root and bear fruit! Each day the telemarketer makes dozens of calls (plants dozens of seeds) knowing that very few will bear fruit―but the work is still done, regardless. It is much the same with God’s heavenly telemarketing business with His seeds of inspirations―each day God sends out trillions of inspirations and sows them in every soul in this world. Yet God knows that most of those seeds of inspiration will be wasted, will not sprout, will not take root and will bear no fruit―yet He continues to sow the seed daily.
When we sow good things in life the end result will be good things. An example is the corn seed. One corn seed will produce a stalk and then usually three to four ears of corn with approximately 200 seeds per ear which translates into six to eight hundred seeds from one planted seed. If these 600 to 800 seeds were planted again, they would potentially produce 120,000 to 160,000 seeds―that is from 1 seed to 160,000 seeds in two sowings or two seasons! Sowing little good things has the potential for great results. Each seed of every species has great potential when it is planted. Why not start today planting good seeds in your life. Seeds of devotion to God, love of God, obedience to God, love of neighbor, etc. can produce more seeds within its own scope and range. For example, the ‘seed’ of charity contains and produces many forms of charity―charity or love of God, of self, of soul, of body, of family, relatives, neighbors, parishioners, work colleagues, Church as a whole, your country, city, community, etc. All these come from the maternal seed of charity. St. Paul also paints a pretty broad picture of charity and puts it this way: “Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not; dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious; seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger; thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity; but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things; believeth all things; hopeth all things; endureth all things. Charity never falleth away―whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
Seeds of Thought, Word and Action
Little things matter―as Our Lord says: “I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!” (Matthew 12:36). “He that despiseth small things, shall fall by little and little” Ecclesiasticus 19:1). “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater!” (Luke 16:10). “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence [prison] till thou repay the last farthing [of your debt]!” (Matthew 5:26). “One jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18). “The Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then will He render to every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27). “Who will render to every man according to his works” (Romans 2:6). “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to his works!” (Apocalypse 22:12). “Say not: ‘I shall be hidden from God!’” (Ecclesiasticus 16:16). “He revealeth deep and hidden things, and knoweth what is in darkness: and light is with Him!” (Daniel 2:22). “For there is not anything secret that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden, that shall not be known and come abroad!” (Luke 8:17). “O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my offences are not hidden from thee!” (Psalm 68:6).
The tiniest, smallest, seemingly insignificant thoughts, word and deeds that we produce, will all be given either a reward or a punishment once we have been judged. God will not miss “one iota or tittle” in our lives. We will be amazed by the rewards given to the tiniest thoughts, words and actions―and we will be stupefied by the just punishments given out for the same.
Legendary basketball coach, John Wooden, used to say: “Little things make big things happen.” World-class athletes live by that mantra every day. They know that you play like you practice. The same is true for all of us. The seemingly mundane choices we make each day determine our path, and that path determines our destination. Want to get to Heaven? Handle the little things well and with integrity.
Often it is the little, unnoticed, insignificant things in our life that can end up being the most costly, most consuming, most damaging elements of our life. Some little things can take up a lot of time and energy. Take the brain, for example―whether you have a big-brain or are pea-brained―your brain on average weighs a mere 3 pounds, while you might weigh 160, or 180, or 200, or 240, or even 300 pounds! Your brain is anywhere from 1% to 2% of your body weight, yet it uses a massive 20% of the oxygen that you inhale. It is well established that the brain uses more energy than any other human organ, accounting for up to 20% of the body’s total haul.
Similarly, it is often some little sin― like gossip, complaining, criticizing, fault-finding, time-wasting, hasty distracted praying, etc.―that, once it is sown, begins to sprout and spread deep roots in our souls. They spread and grow into bitterness, self-righteousness, despair, anger, hatred, lukewarmness, indifference and even sacrilege. Little distractions that we consider to have no impact on our life, slowly draw us deeper into sin―they weaken our prayers, weaken our relationship, weaken the graces we get, weaken our resistance to temptations, and inhibits our growth in Faith and devotion. Those little temptations and little sins can take us down a destructive road. For most of us, it is not the big sins or temptations that pull us away from Christ. Rather, it's all the little bad choices we make throughout our day. They slowly build up, like spiritual plaque, into towering giants of bad habits, sins and idols that block the pipeline through which God’s pumps his graces to us. The little things and little sins in our life can grow and spread like a weed in our heart, wrapping itself ever tighter, choking out our spiritual zeal and spiritual joy.
As You Sow, So Shall You Reap
You will reap what you sow―Scripture tells us that on several occasions: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting … In doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing” (Galatians 6:8-9). “He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6). “Sow not evils and thou shalt not reap them sevenfold!” (Ecclesiasticus 7:3). “He that soweth iniquity shall reap evils” (Proverbs 22:8).
So―if you pardon the pun―so we come back to “the seed” which can be “the Word of God” or “the word of the world.” You buy and sow the seed you choose―you will reap what you have sown. The more we sow the Word of God, the more likely we are to have some good fruit from it. The more we sow the word of the world, the more like we are to reap its evil fruit! Yes, evil fruit! Did not Our Lord say the devil was the prince of the world and the works of the world were evil? “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). The only way to go is with sowing the Words of God and not the weeds of the world.
“In the morning sow thy seed, and, in the evening, let not thy hand cease! For thou knowest not which may rather spring up―this or that―and, if both together, it shall be the better!” (Ecclesiastes 11:6). In other words, start sowing the seed of the Word of God in your soul from morning to night―the seed of the Word of God is, like all seeds, small, short, brief, concise, or, what the Church has traditionally called EJACULATORY PRAYER―a short burst of words or a phrase that is over in a few seconds, but which can be repeated over and over again throughout the day. It need not be one single phrase, you could vary it to suit the occasion, need, problem or event. These short prayers will spring naturally to our hearts if we live in the awareness that we are constantly, unfailingly in the presence of God. He is near us, speaking to our hearts and minds by His inspirations that come in the form of actual graces, and we should speak back. Our words can be as simple as any greeting we would make to a parent, child, spouse, or sibling with whom we are in the same room. We need to be convinced that God is always near us. Sadly, most people live as though God was a million miles away! They forget that He is continually by our side!
In the long tradition of the Church, various names have been given to these short prayers — our little hellos — that we speak to Our Lord throughout the day. They are called aspirations, or ejaculatory prayers (from the Latin for bursting forth), or as well, “arrow” prayers. This last title was used by St. Padre Pio when he described these short, spontaneous prayers. He said they are like “arrows that wound God’s heart.” Furthermore, St. Padre Pio insisted that these “arrow prayers” have a special power in bringing down God’s grace upon us. Writing in December of 1914, Padre Pio said that it was not exaggerated to affirm that God is obliged to answer these prayers. He wrote: “… this word is not at all exaggerated in this case … I urge you continually to renew the right intention you had at the beginning and to recite ejaculatory prayers from time to time. Those prayers are like arrows that wound God’s heart and oblige Him — and I tell you this word is not at all exaggerated in this case — ‘oblige Him’ ― to grant you His graces and His help in everything.”
In a sense, the little one-liners, ejaculations, short-phrases, arrow-prayers, mottos or call them what you will―can “coach” us through the day, “encourage” us in different circumstances, “remind” us of essentials, “give” us courage, “comfort” our anxieties or fears, “maintain” our zeal, “deepen” our contrition, “enkindle” our love, “calm” our anger, and host of other things that invariably and regularly crop up in our spiritual life.
But Do Not Sow Without Mary
The daily “seeds” of needs that we sow by prayer, will always be changing―but the “Seed Sower” we use must never change. Just a gardener can sow seed by hand or use a mechanical seed sower, seed planter or seed drill―we can sow (pray) by ourselves, or we can use Our Lady―God’s Heaven-sent “Seed-Sower and Seed Grower”. But before we address and look at Mary’s role―let us analogously take a look at seed-sowing and compare to sowing seed in the spiritual life.
In older methods of planting seeds (praying), a field is initially prepared with a plow to a series of straight-line cuts known as furrows. The field is then seeded by throwing the seeds over the field―also called manual broadcasting. The disadvantage is that seeds may not be sown to the right depth, nor the proper distance from one another―which, as you will see below, is also a problem for our prayer life. Seeds landing in furrows have better protection from the elements―and natural erosion or manual raking will cover them, while leaving some exposed. The result is a field planted roughly in rows, but having a large number of plants outside the furrow lanes. Seeds landing outside the furrows will grow less than plants sown in the furrow, since they are too shallow on the soil―shallow prayers, poorly ‘planted’, and distractedly ‘thrown about’. Because of this, they are lost to the elements. The many seeds on the surface are vulnerable to being eaten by birds, or carried away on the wind―as we see in Our Lord’s parable. Surface seeds usually never germinate at all, or germinate prematurely, only to be killed by frost. This results in considerable wastage of seeds. Less obvious are the effects of over-seeding (cramming all your prayers into one single part of the day); all crops grow best at a certain density, which varies depending on the soil and weather conditions. Additional seeding above this will actually reduce crop yields (too much prayer crammed into a small period of time is counter-productive), in spite of more plants being sown, as there will be competition among the plants for the minerals, water, and the soil available. Another reason is that the mineral resources of the soil will also deplete at a much faster rate, thereby directly affecting the growth of the plants.
A mechanical device―the seed drill is an invention which gives farmers much greater control over the depth that the seed is planted and the ability to cover the seeds without back-tracking (makes your prayers more efficient and fruitful, without you having to back-track and repeat badly said prayers). The seed drill sows the seeds for crops through a tube, by positioning them in the soil and burying them to a specific depth (making your prayers less superficial). This ensures that seeds will be distributed evenly (spreading your prayers evenly throughout the day). The seed drill allows farmers to sow seeds in well-spaced rows, at their proper specific depths, and at their proper specific seed rate, ensuring that the seeds are covered by soil (prayers distributed evenly, said with right depth of devotion, and covered by the soil of sacrifice). This saves them from being eaten by birds and animals, or being dried up due to exposure to sun―as in Our Lord’s parable. With seed drill machines, seeds are distributed in rows. This allows plants to get sufficient sunlight, nutrients, and water from the soil. Before the introduction of the seed drill, most seeds were planted by hand [manual broadcasting], an imprecise and wasteful process with a poor distribution of seeds and low productivity. Use of a seed drill can improve the ratio of crop yield (seeds harvested per seed planted) by as much as eight or nine times. The use of seed drill saves time and labor. The result is an increased rate of germination, and a much-improved crop yield (up to eight times or nine times). The result was that farmers were able to use less seed and at the same time experience larger yields than under the broadcast methods (less prayers in quantity, increased in quality, bringing better results than the previous ton of unfruitful prayers).
Before the operation of the seed drill, the ground must be plowed and harrowed―which is akin to preparation for prayer. The plow digs up the earth (gets rid of earthly and worldly thoughts and distractions) and the harrow or smoothes the soil and breaks up any clumps (brings a spiritual calm to the soul before praying by eliminating clumps of agitation and distraction). The drill (the spiritual exercise) must then be set for the size of the seed used (the type of prayer being said and the needs being addressed). Afterwards, the grain (the grains of prayer―for example the Hail Marys in the Rosary and accompanying meditative thoughts) is put in the hopper on top, which then follows along behind the drill, while it spaces and plants the seed. This system is still used today but has been modified and updated such that a farmer can plant many rows of seed at the same time. A seed drill can be pulled across the field using bullocks or a tractor. Seeds sown using a seed drill are distributed evenly and placed at the correct depth in the soil.
Our Lady of the Seeds
Likewise we can sow on our own “seed”, or we can use Our Lady―our Heaven-sent “Seed Sower.” In fact, the Maronite Catholic Church (remember St. Charbal Maklouf, also spelt Charbel Makhlouf) has a feast for Our Lady of the Seeds on January 15th. In addition, there is an important monastery of the Chaldean Catholic Church in modern day Iraq, dedicated to Our Lady of the Seeds. You could say that Our Lady was the “good soil” that received the “Seed” or the “Word of God made Flesh” ― the fruit of her womb―and she brought forth fruit, not just “thirtyfold” or “sixtyfold” or a “hundredfold”― but “millionfold” and “billionfold.”
St. Louis de Montfort writes: “divine grace is the seed of glory” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §207). Elsewhere, he says: “It all comes to this, then. We must discover a simple means to obtain from God the grace [seed] needed to become holy. It is precisely this I wish to teach you. My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace [seed] from God!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, §6). He points out that “God the Father made an assemblage of all His graces [seeds] and he called it Mary. This great God has a most rich treasury, in which He has laid up all that He has of beauty and splendor, of rarity and preciousness, and this immense treasury is none other than Mary, whom the saints have named the Treasure of the Lord, out of whose plenitude all men are made rich. God the Son has communicated to His Mother all that He acquired by His life and His death … It is by her that He applies His merits to His members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces. She is His mysterious canal; she is His aqueduct, through which He makes His mercies flow gently and abundantly. To Mary, His faithful spouse, God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the will of God, who has willed that we should have everything through Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §23-§25).
He then adds: “Devotion to the most holy Virgin Mary is necessary to all men simply for working out their salvation … I do not think anyone can acquire an intimate union with Our Lord without a very great union with the most holy Virgin and a great dependence on her assistance. It is Mary alone who has found grace before God (Luke 1:30) without the aid of any other mere creature; it is only through her that all those, who have since found grace before God, have found it at all; and it is only through her that all those, who shall come afterward, shall find it. She was full of grace when she was greeted by the Archangel Gabriel (Luke 1:28), and she was super-abundantly filled with grace by the Holy Ghost when He covered her with His unspeakable shadow (Luke 1:35); and she has so augmented this double plenitude [of grace] from day to day and from moment to moment that she has reached a point of grace immense and inconceivable—in such a way that the Most High has made her the sole treasurer of His treasures and the sole dispenser of His graces―to ennoble, to exalt and to enrich whom she wishes; to give entry to whom she wills into the narrow way of Heaven; to bring whom she wills, and in spite of all obstacles, through the narrow gate of life” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §43-§44).
Once again, if “divine grace is the seed of glory” and if God has made Mary “an assemblage of all His graces [seeds]” and “it is by her that Christ distributes His graces [seeds]” and the Holy Ghost “has chosen her to be the dispenser of all His graces [seeds]”―then it is obvious that Mary is indispensable, not only to acquire the best quality of seed (grace), but that she is also the “Seed-Sower” or “Seed-Drill” that we need for an effectual and profitable sowing and growing of those seeds (graces). For Our Lady―who herself produced the highest quality of Fruit (Christ) from the Seed of the Holy Ghost in her womb―knows what it takes to make what is merely human into something divine. She will transform whatever we ‘plant’ into worthy offerings to God―as St. Louis points out:
“She purifies them of all the stain of self-love, and of that imperceptible attachment to created things―which slips unnoticed into our best actions. As soon as they are in her most pure and fruitful hands, those same hands―which have never been sullied or idle and which purify whatever they touch―take away, from the offerings which we give her, all that was spoiled or imperfect about it. She embellishes our works, adorning them with her own merits and virtues. It is as if a peasant, wishing to gain the friendship and benevolence of the king, went to the queen and presented her with a fruit which was his whole revenue, in order that she might present it to the king. The queen, having accepted the poor little offering from the peasant, would place the fruit on a large and beautiful dish of gold, and so, on the peasant’s behalf, would present it to the king. Then the fruit―however unworthy in itself to be a king’s present―would become worthy of his majesty, because of the dish of gold on which it rested and the person who presented it” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §146-§147). That, in essence, is what Our Lady is trying to tell us in her modern-day apparitions, when she says: “The righteous will suffer greatly. Prayers, penances and tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will plead for my help and intercession” (Our Lady of Good Success).… “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 1917) … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
One Seed Drill is the Rosary
St. Louis speaks of the Rosary as being a mystical rose tree: “I do not think you will mind my giving you this little mystical rose tree which comes straight from Heaven and which is to be planted in the garden of your soul! … Please do not scorn this beautiful and heavenly tree, but plant it with your own hands in the garden of your soul, by making the resolution to say your Rosary every day. By saying it daily and by doing good works you will be tending your tree, watering it, hoeing the earth around it. Eventually you will see that this little seed which I have given you, and which seems so small now, will grow into a tree so great that the birds of Heaven, that is, predestinate and contemplative souls, will dwell in it and make their nests there. Its shade will shelter them from the scorching heat of the sun and its height will keep them safe from the wild beasts on the ground. And best of all, they will feed upon the tree’s fruit, which is none other than our adorable Jesus” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §5-§6).
Many people “say” the Rosary―but how many “pray” the Rosary or “meditate” the Rosary? The Rosary could be compared to the “seed-drill” or “seed-planter” or “seed-sower”―but if there is no seed placed in these machines, then you are sowing nothing but “hot-air”! The devil loves to see thousands of Catholics in the field of Faith going up and down the field with empty “seed-drills,” “seed-planters” or “seed-sowers.”
“One of the beads of your Rosary may seem to you to be such a tiny thing. But if you only knew how precious this bead is! This wonderful bud will open out into a gorgeous rose―if you say your Hail Mary really well! … The Hail Mary is a blessed dew that falls from Heaven upon the souls of the predestinate. It gives them a marvelous spiritual fertility so that they can grow in all virtues. The more the garden of the soul is watered by this prayer, the more enlightened in mind we become, the more zealous in heart, the stronger against all our enemies!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §7, §51).
Say and Sow the Rosary Properly
St. Louis de Montfort recalls the words that Our Lady addressed to Blessed Alan de la Roche in a vision: “ ‘When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.’ For the Rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form, which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other devotions” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §7, §61).
“It is a great mistake to think that only priests and religious, and those who have withdrawn from the turmoil of the world, are supposed to meditate upon the truths of our Faith and the mysteries of the life of Christ. If priests and religious have an obligation to meditate on the great truths of our holy religion, in order to live up to their vocation worthily, the same obligation is just as much incumbent on the laity, because of the fact that every day they meet with spiritual dangers which might cause them to lose their souls. Therefore they should arm themselves with the frequent meditation on the life, virtues, and sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which are presented to us in the fifteen mysteries of the Holy Rosary!” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §74).
“We must not only say the Rosary with our lips in honor of Jesus and Mary, but also meditate upon the sacred mysteries while we are saying it … A Christian who does not meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary is very ungrateful to Our Lord and shows how little he cares for all that our divine Savior has suffered to save the world. This attitude seems to show that he knows little or nothing of the life of Jesus Christ, and that he has never taken the trouble to find out what He has done and what He went through in order to save us. A Christian of that kind ought to fear that, not having known Jesus Christ or having put Him out of his mind, Jesus will reject him on the Day of Judgment with the reproach: ‘I tell you solemnly, I do not know you!’” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §67, §70).
“Of course, you cannot say your Rosary without having a few involuntary distractions [just as some seed is inevitably wasted during and after sowing]; it is even difficult to say a Hail Mary without your imagination troubling you a little, for it is never still; but you can say it without voluntary distractions, and you must take all sorts of precautions to lessen involuntary distractions and to control your imagination … Our imagination, which is hardly still a minute, makes our task harder, and then of course there is the devil who never tires of trying to distract us and keep us from praying [just like the enemy sowing cockle among the wheat in Our Lord’s parable]. To what ends does not the evil one go against us while we are engaged in saying our Rosary against him?!! Remember that at your left hand is the devil, ready to pounce on every Hail Mary [seed] that comes his way and to write it down in his book of death, if they are not said [sowed] with attention, devotion, and reverence” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §120).
“Being human, we easily become tired and slipshod, but the devil makes these difficulties worse when we are saying the Rosary. Before we even begin, he makes us feel bored, distracted, or exhausted; and when we have started praying, he oppresses us from all sides, and when after much difficulty and many distractions, we have finished, he whispers to us, ‘ What you have just said is worthless. It is useless for you to say the Rosary. You had better get on with other things. It is only a waste of time to pray without paying attention to what you are saying; half‑an‑hour’s meditation, or some spiritual reading would be much better. Tomorrow, when you are not feeling so sluggish, you’ll pray better―leave the rest of your Rosary till then!’ By tricks of this kind the devil gets us to give up the Rosary altogether or to say it less often, and we keep putting it off or change to some other devotion” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §120).
“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before. I beg you to restrain your natural precipitation when saying your Rosary, and make some pauses in the middle of the Our Father and Hail Mary, and a smaller one after the words of the Our Father and Hail Mary which I have marked with a cross, as follows below. At first, you may find it difficult to make these pauses because of your bad habit of saying prayers in a hurry; but a decade said recollectedly in this way will be worth more than thousands of Rosaries said in a hurry, without pausing or reflecting” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §126-§127).
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, + hallowed by Thy Name, + Thy kingdom come, + Thy will be done + on Earth as it is in Heaven. + Give us this day + our daily bread, + and forgive us our trespasses + as we forgive those who trespass against us, + and lead us not into temptation, + but deliver us from evil. + Amen.
Hail, Mary, full of grace, + the Lord is with thee, + blessed art thou among women, + and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. + Holy Mary, Mother of God, + pray for us sinners, now + and at the hour of our death. + Amen.
Glory be to the Father + and to the Son + and to the Holy Ghost, + as it was in the beginning, + is now and ever shall be, + world without end. + Amen. (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, §127).
Once again, it is the MEDITATION that is the SOUL of the Rosary―it is the MEDITATION that gives LIFE to the Rosary. Even though, as Our Lady said above, the prayers of the Rosary are excellent in themselves, she also stressed that there was an immense difference between merely saying and meditating the Rosary. The devil knows this―and that is one reason why, first of all, only 2% (2 out of 100) American Catholics say the Rosary daily, and, secondly, it perhaps only 1 in a thousand or ten-thousand that actually MEDITATE the Rosary. Most don’t even know how to meditate! Sad, but true. Much like is said about salvation― “Live like the few if you wish to be saved with the few!” The same should be said of the Rosary― “Pray like the few if you wish to be saved with the few!” But we just don’t seem to get it―do we? We still carry on with our bad habits of praying―as listed above by St. Louis de Montfort!
Transform Your Prayer Life With EMMA
EMMA is good one to recruit in order to add some pep to your prayer life! Who or what is EMMA? EMMA stands for Ejaculations, Mottos, Mantras, and Aspirations. EMMA might not be a full-fledged meditation, but it can at least be a spark for, or the beginning of the path to, the meditation that Our Lady and Heaven want from us. Yet, just as in the creation of any spark, there has to be the necessary friction that creates the spark, so too, in this case, the friction will be the irritation at having to spend more time in prayer and having to do some thinking and researching, so as to add something to the typically glib, slick, roll-off-the-lip, straight-out-of-the-bag, microwaved, mini-bite-sized, fast-track, over-in-a-few-minutes, pray-as-you-work (or watch TV), busy-mom, or busy-dad, or busy-kid prayers that we usually serve God when He stops by our “drive-thru-spiritual-café.” Yes, we all know that Christ said: “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4)―but the ‘bread’ that we are serving is “fast-food”―quickly made, quickly served and quickly eaten.
Life With EMMA
Life with EMMA can be quite demanding―EMMA wants attention almost all day long! EMMA sticks her nose into everything we think, say and do! St. Paul must have had EMMA in mind when he said: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)―he may as well have said: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, you will have to do it with EMMA!” EMMA can be very trying and exasperating at times, but, if you persevere with EMMA, you will grow to love EMMA and find that EMMA has brought a lot improvements and benefits to your life―even though EMMA gets into everything all the time and everywhere!
You will have to be quite innovative to get the best out of EMMA, but you most certainly won’t regret having tried! There is no set, automatic, robotic way of communicating with EMMA―simply because EMMA is not robotic or automatic. In fact EMMA hates things that robotic, automatic, always the same, without imagination, without invention, without innovation, with much thought! That is no bad thing, though! For Heaven hates all that too! EMMA will eventually get you into Heaven’s “good books”―EMMA might even get you into Heaven itself, if you stick with EMMA!
For EMMA, “variety is the spice of life”―just as variety is the spice of Heaven. Our Lord hinted that He disliked the typically glib, slick, roll-off-the-lip, straight-out-of-the-bag, microwaved, mini-bite-sized, fast-track, over-in-a-few-minutes, pray-as-you-work kind of prayers when He said: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8) … “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6)―which is the very same thing that His Father said to Isaias in the Old Testament: “And the Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Isaias 29:13). “When they fast I will not hear their prayers: and if they offer holocausts and victims, I will not receive them! For I will consume them by the sword, and by famine, and by the pestilence!” (Jeremias 14:12).
EMMA is not looking for long, drawn-out, complicated conversations; but EMMA needs constant attention; EMMA requires sincerity; EMMA demands perseverance, EMMA insists on honesty. So how do you talk with EMMA? Well everyone will have a widely different approach to EMMA, because everyone’s life is greatly different to the thousands of lives surrounding them. Each person has their own particular needs, characteristics, occupations, weaknesses, habits, interests, responsibilities, etc. But you had better pay attention to EMMA from the very first minute you rise to when your eyes close down at the end of day and you drift into sleep. Nothing is as demanding as EMMA, yet nothing is as rewarding as EMMA. Take EMMA on board and you will how on earth you ever managed without EMMA in the past! In fact EMMA will change your heart! And with tomorrow being the feast of the Sacred Heart―there is no better time to recruit and bring EMMA on board than on the feast of the Sacred Heart. For the Sacred Heart and EMMA get on like a house on fire! Stay tuned! EMMA is about make her appearance!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Monday June 24th & Tuesday June 25th
Article 13
Try This! It Really Works!
Article 13
Try This! It Really Works!
Simplicity’s Simply Superior
Simple, but powerful! When we look at how God works, it can be generally said that God acts simply, but powerfully. The magnificent act of Creation could not have been simpler—God simply said a few words and it happened! Not much fuss, just simple and powerful. “And God said: ‘Be light made!’ And light was made.” (Genesis 1:3) and so on throughout the remaining days of Creation. God simply said, and it happened.
Throughout the Old Testament we see God’s simple, yet powerful, way of acting. He has Moses simply lift up his road and the Red Sea divides into two parts: “Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand over the sea, and divide it: that the children of Israel may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground!” (Exodus 14:16). Later, God has Moses strike a rock in the desert with his rod, and, miraculously, water flows forth: “Behold I will stand there before thee, upon the rock Horeb: and thou shalt strike the rock, and water shall come out of it that the people may drink!” (Exodus 17:6).
God’s prophets also followed the same pattern. The Prophet Elias “stretched, and measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said: ‘O Lord my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech thee, return into his body!’ And the Lord heard the voice of Elias: and the soul of the child returned into him, and he revived.” (3 Kings 21-22).
The Prophet Eliseus tells Naaman the leper, to simply wash seven times in the Jordan. Naaman thought this was ridiculously simplistic and was about to go home, until his servant persuaded him to try it—and lo and behold, he was cured (4 Kings 1-14).
David―a mere boy with a simple sling shot and one pebble―kills Goliath, whom the weapons and soldiers of the Israelites had failed to defeat.
Our Lord’s Miracles were Simple but Powerful
We see God the Son act in the same simple, but powerful way, in the miracles that he performed. Not much fuss, just simple actions or simple commands:
► The leper said: “‘Lord, if thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.’ And Jesus stretching forth His hand, touched him, saying: ‘I will, be thou made clean!’ And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:2-3). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying, and sick of a fever: and He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and ministered to them.” (Matthew 8:14-15). Simple, but powerful!
► “And behold they brought to Him one sick of the palsy, lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their Faith, … said: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!’ And he arose, and went into his house.” (Matthew 9:2-7). Simple, but powerful!
► “Jesus said: ‘Give place, for the girl is not dead, but sleepeth!’ And they laughed Him to scorn. And when the multitude was put forth, He went in, and took her by the hand. And the maid arose.” (Matthew 9:24-25). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when He was come to the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus saith to them, ‘Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?’ They say to him, ‘Yea, Lord!’ Then He touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your Faith, be it done unto you!’ And their eyes were opened.” (Matthew 9:28-30). Simple, but powerful!
► “They besought Jesus that they might touch but the hem of His garment. And as many as touched, were made whole.” (Matthew 14:36). Simple, but powerful!
► “And taking the seven loaves and the fishes, and giving thanks, He brake, and gave to His disciples, and the disciples to the people. And they did all eat, and had their fill. And they took up seven baskets full, of what remained of the fragments. And they that did eat, were four thousand men, beside children and women.” (Matthew 15:26:38). Simple, but powerful!
► “Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour.” (Matthew 17:17). Simple, but powerful!
► “And behold two blind men, sitting by the way side, cried out, saying: O Lord, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us .... And Jesus stood, and called them, and said: ‘What will ye that I do to you?’ They say to Him: ‘Lord, that our eyes be opened!’ And Jesus having compassion on them, touched their eyes. And immediately they saw, and followed Him.” (Matthew 20:20-34). Simple, but powerful!
► “And Jesus entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand ... He saith to the man: ‘Stretch forth thy hand!’ And he stretched it forth: and his hand was restored unto him.” (Mark 3:1-5). Simple, but powerful!
► “As Jesus was in the ship: and there were other ships with Him. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that the ship was filled. And He was sleeping; and they awake Him, and say to Him: ‘Master, doth it not concern Thee that we perish?’ And rising up, He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: Peace, be still. And the wind ceased: and there was made a great calm.” (Mark 4:36-39). Simple, but powerful!
► “And whithersoever he entered, into towns or into villages or cities, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch but the hem of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole.” (Mark 6:56). Simple, but powerful!
► “And they bring to him one deaf and dumb; and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him. And taking him from the multitude apart, He put His fingers into his ears, and spitting, He touched his tongue: and looking up to Heaven, He groaned, and said to him: ‘Ephpheta!’ which is, ‘Be thou opened!’ And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right.” (Mark 7:32-35). Simple, but powerful!
► “Bartimeus the blind man, began to cry out: ‘Jesus son of David, have mercy on me!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’ And the blind man said to Him: ‘Rabboni, that I may see!’ And Jesus saith to him: ‘Go thy way, thy Faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed Him in the way.” (Mark 10:47-52). Simple, but powerful!
► “When Jesus had said these things, He cried with a loud voice: ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he, that had been dead, came forth, bound feet and hands with winding bands; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them: ‘Loose him, and let him go!’” (John 11:43:44). Simple, but powerful!
With God, Simply Nothing is Impossible
With God nothing is impossible! As the Archangel Gabriel said to Mary, at the Annunciation: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). Which was later echoed by Jesus, when He said: “With God all things are possible!” Matthew 19:26). With God, the impossible is simply possible—because God is God, and whatever He wants, happens!
Our Lord would later repeat that truth when speaking of the difficulty of salvation: “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:23-26).
The Power of the Simple Word of God
We forget or underestimate the power of the word of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God!” (John 1:1). “His word is full of power” (Ecclesiastes 8:4). “By the word of the Lord the Heavens were established; and all the power of them by the spirit of His mouth!” (Psalm 32:6). “O Lord God! Behold Thou hast made Heaven and Earth by thy great power, and no word shall be hard to Thee!” (Jeremias 32:17). When Jesus cast ot a devil by mere words, “there came fear upon all, and they talked among themselves, saying: ‘What word is this, for with authority and power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they go out?’” (Luke 4:36)―which is still true today, for it is power of the word of God that drives the devil out of souls in exorcisms performed by mere priests. St. Paul speaks of God “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).
St. Peter has faith in the power of God’s word: “And Simon answering said to Jesus: ‘Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken nothing! But, at Thy word, I will let down the net!” (Luke 5:5) ― and a miraculous catch of fish was the result.
The Roman centurion, seeking a cure for his servant, does not ask that Jesus come down to his house, but has faith in the mere word of Jesus: “The servant of a certain centurion, who was dear to him, being sick, was ready to die. And when he had heard of Jesus, he sent unto Him the ancients of the Jews, desiring Jesus to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought Him earnestly, saying to Him: ‘He is worthy that Thou shouldest do this for him! For he loveth our nation; and he hath built us a synagogue!’ And Jesus went with them. And when He was now not far from the house, the centurion sent his friends to Him, saying: ‘Lord, trouble not Thyself! For I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof. For which reason neither did I think myself worthy to come to Thee; but say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers: and I say to one, “Go!” and he goes; and to another, “Come!” and he comes; and to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it!’ Which Jesus hearing, marvelled: and, turning about to the multitude that followed Him, He said: ‘Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith, not even in Israel!’” (Luke 7:2-9).
God’s Powerful Modern-Day Simplicity
This same simplicity, seen in a few simple words, yet powerful words, carries over into our day and age.
At Baptism, can we fully grasp the incredible things that happen at the simple, but powerful, words: “I baptize thee, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” while simple water is simply poured on the one being baptized? Miracles of grace suddenly take place! The baptized has Original Sin and all their personal sins removed; grace is poured into the soul; the Gifts of the Holy Ghost are planted within the soul; the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity come into the soul; the person becomes an adopted child of God and an heir to the kingdom of Heaven! Simple words and actions, but an awesome and powerful result!
The same can be said of the Sacrament of Confession. Even though the priest may say additional prayers while giving absolution from sin, the key words are: “I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen” while making a sign of the cross over the penitent. The worst crimes, the most shameful sins, no matter how many times committed, can be forgiven and forgotten by God using those simple words and actions.
When there is an impossibility to get to Confession, in such a case it is possible (though not guaranteed) that one short true act of perfect contrition can remove all guilt of sin and restore grace to the soul (provided one intends to confess those sins at the soonest possible time). Note, that we say TRUE and PERFECT act of contrition! This is sorrow that is based upon a true love of God, not a fear of His punishments. It is amazing what God will do when He sees that we TRULY mean those words: “I am sorry!” “I love you!”
The same applies to the Consecration at Mass, when God, using the ministry of His servants, the priests, changes mere bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of His Only-Begotten Son. What brings about such an awesome miracle? Again, like the Sacrament of Confession, even though more words are used, the essential words are the simple ones of “This is My Body” and “This is My Blood.” Simple words, beautiful result! Simply beautiful! Simply powerful!
The Modern-Day Power of God’s Word in Exorcisms
When we think of exorcisms, we tend to imagine a priest loaded with blessed crucifixes, holy water and relics of the saints. These things are, of course powerful and necessary tools as part of the exorcism process. However, this can distract us from the true and real and ultimate power behind the exorcism―which is the WORD OF GOD. At the heart of the formal Rite of Exorcism are the officially sanctioned prayers of the Church along with selected Scriptures, which are the words of God. These words remind the demons of the authority of God―the demon or demons eventually depart because GOD SAYS SO! The words of exorcism are SPOKEN IN THE NAME OF GOD―as can be seen from these few extracts from the Rite of Exorcism:
“Begone and stay far from this creature of God. For it is He who commands you, He who flung you headlong from the heights of Heaven into the depths of Hell. It is He who commands you! … Graciously grant, O Lord, as we call on Thy Holy Name, that the evil spirit may retreat in terror and defeat … It is God + Himself who commands you; the majestic Christ + who commands you. God the Father + commands you; God the Son + commands you; God the Holy + Spirit commands you … The Word made flesh + commands you; the Virgin's Son + commands you; Jesus + of Nazareth commands you … It is He who casts you out … It is He who repels you … It is He who expels you, He who has prepared everlasting hellfire for you and your angels, from whose mouth shall come a sharp sword, who is coming to judge both the living and the dead and the world by fire.”
This imagery of the sword and the word (notice how the word “sword” contains the word “word”) is also seen in the battle of St. Michael the Archangel with Satan. St. Michael holds a sword, ready to deliver the death blow as he stands over the fallen demon. Of course, St. Michael doesn’t wield a real sword―for a physical, material sword cannot harm a spiritual being. Angels and demons are real, but, as spiritual beings, they are not affected by physical attacks―in the case of Holy Water, it is not the physical, material water that repels devils, but the invisible immaterial supernatural power attached to the water through a proper blessing given to water. The sword that St. Michael wields is the sword of the truth of God’s Word, of which Scripture says:
“Take unto you the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).
“For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
“And He [Jesus] was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called, THE WORD OF GOD … And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two edged sword; that with it he may strike the nations ... and He hath on His garment, and on His thigh written: ‘King of Kings, and Lord of Lords!’” (Apocalypse 19:13-16).
“And I saw the beast, and the kings of the Earth, and their armies make war with Him that sat upon the horse … And the beast was taken and … cast alive into the pool of fire, burning with brimstone, and the rest were slain by the sword of Him that sitteth upon the horse, which proceedeth out of His mouth!” (Apocalypse 19:19-21).
“To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of the One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword: ‘Some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth!’” (Apocalypse 2:12, 15-16).
In the Rite of Exorcism, the words of God are to have prominence. Ideally, every exorcism has two priests, one of whom continuously reads the rite while the other uses sacramentals and briefly engages the demons to gain necessary information (e.g., names, how they entered, when they will leave) and tries to find weak points. While the use of sacramentals such as holy water, the touch of a stole, or relics torment the demons, almost every exorcist agrees that the greatest power of the Rite of Exorcism is to be found in the Church approved words of the prayers and words of God from Scripture. In fact, sometimes demons show exaggerated pain in response to lesser things so as to distract from the reading of the rite.
The words of the rite have the effect of shining the light of truth on demons and reminding them of their ultimate destiny. All of this is painful to the demons. Ultimately, the demons are commanded to depart, to flee and give way to God in the power of God’s Name, by power of the Holy Trinity and by the power of Christ. All these words and many more shine the light of truth on the demons and cause them pain. It is the Word, the prayer of the Church, that ultimately defeats Satan and all the other demons. This teaching on exorcism is an important lesson for all of us. The truest battleground for all of us is our mind; the battle is one of thoughts. We will either dwell in God’s truth and study His Word or be lost in Satan’s lies. We must learn to fight every temptation with the sword of God’s Word. We must test every thought we have to see if it conforms to God’s Word. We must decide either to believe God or Satan. The sword of God’s Word can drive out every temptation, fear, sorrow, and depression. The more we grow in God’s Word the less authority and influence Satan can have in our lives.
Where Is All This Leading To?
Now what has this long-winded, interminably dragging, endless introduction got to do with the title of this article―”Try This! It Really Works”? Well, simply this―if you are going to “buy-into” something, or purchase something, or try something, then you want to be sure that it works, that it will work for you and that is worth the time and investment. All of the above shows the power of the word of God, it shows that the word of God works, that it has worked for many people and that it can work for you too! The purpose of these endless examples of divine doings, has been to establish and explain the principle (which is not just a rare occurrence) of how God usually works with mankind. It is quite simple and quite powerful at the same time.
Underused, Refused and Abused
We are all woefully and pitifully guilty of underusing―and even refusing or abusing―the word of God. If, anything, the word of God and the Name of God sees more abuse than good use. Blasphemy and the use of God’s Name in vain is more common that using the words of God and the Name of God for good. The word of God is a source of grace―as we see in the wording of the Sacraments, which take their words from Holy Scripture: baptizing in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Ghost; or, This is My Body, This is My Blood; etc.
Sacramentals are also a source of grace―though not in the same ways as Sacraments. There are many different sacramentals―far more in number than the limited seven Sacraments. Prayer is just one of many different kinds of sacramentals―and, what is prayer? As the catechism and many saints and theologians tell us: “Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God.” Prayer takes many formats―the Divine Office, the Divine Liturgy, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the prayers begging God’s blessings in the Roman Ritual, the Holy Rosary, countless novenas and other prayers, meditation is also a prayer, contemplation too, likewise is spiritual reading.
Thus, Holy Scripture―which furnishes many of these types of prayer with their content―can be said to be a “prayer that surpasses most prayers” and that is why the reading of Holy Scripture is given a plenary indulgence if it read for more than 30 minutes―and, in case you didn’t know, indulgences are sacramentals too! The Handbook of Indulgences states, “A partial indulgence is granted the Christian faithful who read sacred Scripture with the veneration due God’s word and as a form of spiritual reading. The indulgence will be a plenary one when such reading is for at least one-half hour.” Keep in mind that there are several requirements for acquiring a plenary indulgence. The Apostolic Constitution on Indulgences explains: “To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfill three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent. If this disposition is in any way less than complete, or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be only partial.”
So is the Bible a Sacramental?
Individual unblessed (not-blessed) copies of the Bible ARE NOT sacramentals of themselves. Apart from prayer (which is not an object but a spiritual invisible thing) all objects need to be blessed for them to become sacramentals. A Rosary, or Scapular, or Medal, or Statue, or Crucifix, or water that has not been blessed is NOT a sacramental. A copy of the Bible could be blessed and become a sacramental, in the same way as other things. The Bible is not referred to as the “Holy” Bible because a priest has blessed it and made it to be a blessed object, thus a sacramental. The word “Bible” comes from the Greek word “Biblia”, which is the plural for book, therefore meaning “books”―for the Bible is a compilation of many books, or a mini-library of books. However, we call it the Holy Bible, not because it was blessed and sprinkled with Holy Water, but because it is filled with holiness, or rather the Holy Words of God and counsels on how become holy. The Bible’s holiness derives from the message it contains, not from any blessing that has been pronounced on it. Thus, unless it has been blessed by a priest, the Bible is merely a book, but also much, much more than a book.
An unblessed Bible, with its words and messages, is not a sacramental, but, in one sense, it is much more than that. It is a foundational pillar of the Church―for all the other sacramentals, such as the Roman Ritual with its blessings and ceremonies, the Roman Missal, many different prayers (for prayer is a sacramental too) owe their origins and much of their content to the Bible. Scripture is, in this sense, profoundly sacramental―for it has provided the ‘food’ and ‘clothing’ for the many different forms of sacramentals that have come after Holy Scripture. Holy Scripture is the “Grand Patriarch” or “Grand Matriarch” of them all. While the Word of God is not a Sacrament or even a sacramental in the strict sense, its proclamation in the liturgy and all other aspects of the Church has a special and unmatched authority and power.
Powerful Mottos From Holy Scripture For All Circumstances of Life
So very few people “tap-into” the power of Holy Scripture for the countless different circumstances and situations that they find themselves in daily. They are neglecting a great power that could transform their lives, transform their attitude, transform their approach to things, and transform the results that they are getting (or, most likely, failing to get). All it takes is a little “gold-mining” in the streams and seams of Holy Scripture―the nuggets that you will discover could totally change your life. So let us now get down to the “nitty-gritty” part of “panning” and “digging”!
Major Monumental Mottos
Mottos can be nuggets of gold. Yet not all mottos are made equal! You could say that some mottos have a major monumental meaning, whereas others can be meaningful but minor. What qualifies as being major and monumental? Obviously that which majorly impacts your salvation and helps avoid your damnation. One key phrase from Holy Scripture―which is short and sweet―is: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24)―of if you want the longer version: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). The motto you could make from that could be: “It’s God or mammon! You can’t have both!” or “I will love God and hate mammon, or love mammon and hate God!”
If you are thick-skinned and need to be hit by a sledgehammer or need an electric shock to stir you, then ponder these quotes and from them create a motto for yourself: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Very closely linked to the above mottos are the words of Our Lord: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30). Your motto, based upon those words, could be: “Love God first and not just partially, but totally!” or “To be holy I must love God wholly!” If you find that you are putting worldly things before God in your life, then say to yourself: “The first will be last and the last will be first!”―which comes from “Many that are first, shall be last: and the last shall be first!” Matthew 19:30), or “God first, the world last!”
Similar to this, in bursting the bubble of worldliness and a preoccupation with earthly things, is: “What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” (Mark 8:36)―which could be rephrased for a motto as being: “Lose the world or lose your soul!” or “Have fun at what cost? The world is won but the soul is lost!” Another similar quote by Our Lord is: “Amen, I say to you: How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:16-26; Mark 10:17-27)―from which you could form a motto such as: “Material wealth leads to spiritual bankruptcy!” or “Better poor on Earth and rich in Heaven; than rich on Earth and poor in Hell!”
Staying with this God versus the world idea, you also have the Scriptural quotes: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15) and “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Be dead with Christ from the elements of this world” (Colossians 2:20). “We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). An easy motto, almost identical to an earlier one above, would be: “Love God and hate the world, or hate God and love the world!” or “Make a friend of the world and be an enemy of God!”
Avoiding the world has to be concrete and real: “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). That is what we do not want to do―go out from them and be ye separate―we love mixing with them, but, thereby, we poison our cup of salvation with the poison of damnation. We forget or find it hard to believe that the devil is the “prince of this world” and that he uses this world as poisoned bait. “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). “Jesus answered: ‘My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
It is of paramount importance that we drill into our thick skulls and hard hearts that we cannot have a dual-citizenship if we wish to reach Heaven. We cannot be citizens of this world (of which the devil is prince) and citizens of Heaven (where Christ is King). We must choose to follow one or the other. The fact that most people try to follow both, is a major contributory factor to their eventual damnation.
That Damned Motto!
It is a very damning statistic which says that most souls are damned when God wants to save everyone! Why on earth does that happen? What the hell is going on? One chief reason is down to the phrase: “Out of sight, out of mind!” meaning that something is easily forgotten or dismissed as unimportant if it is not in our direct view. This is exactly how the devil likes to work―out of sight, so he is out of our mind or thoughts, free to plot and plan our damnation without our ever giving a thought to it. Holy Scripture, on the contrary, wants us to keep the salvation-damnation issue always before our eyes:
“With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12) … “For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:16; 22:14). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). Numerous other passages could be quoted, but you get the idea.
The saints got the idea and that is why they would say things such as the following quotes reveal. Bear in mind that the following saints are just “any-old-saints”, but all of them are DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH and they SPAN ALL THE CENTURIES from the 300s to the 1800s. The bottom line is: “Few are saved! To be saved with the few, live like the few!”--as the following quotes prove:
► St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment … It is certain that few are saved” (Sermon 111; also Against Cresconius) … “If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate” (Sermon 224:1).
► St. Basil the Great (330-379), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Remember that it is not the multitude who are being saved! The great multitude of the people are carried hither and thither by winds like the waters of the sea!” (St. Basil the Great).
► St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.”
► St. Bede the Venerable (673-735), Doctor and Father of the Church: “We should not think that it is enough for salvation that we are no worse off than the mass of the careless and indifferent, or that, in our Faith, we are, like so many others, uninstructed … Christ's flock is called ‘little’ in comparison with the greater number of the reprobates!”
► St. Hilary of Poitiers (300-368), Doctor and Father of the Church: “How few the Elect are, may be understood from the multitude being cast out.”
► St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness.”
► St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church: “There are a select few who are saved” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3.) “Those who are saved are in the minority” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.8, ad.3).
► St. John of the Cross (1524-1591), Doctor of the Church: “Behold how many there are who are called, and how few who are chosen! And behold, if you have no care for yourself, your perdition is more certain than your amendment, especially since the way that leads to eternal life is so narrow.”
► St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!”
► St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church: “The common opinion is that the greater part of adults is lost … In the Great Deluge in the days of Noe, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone being saved in the Ark. In our days a deluge, not of water but of sins, continually inundates the Earth, and out of this deluge very few escape. Scarcely anyone is saved … Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost … All persons desire to be saved, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost. In fact, the Elect are much fewer than the damned, for the reprobate are much more numerous than the Elect … St. Teresa, as the Roman Rota attests, never fell into any mortal sin; but still Our Lord showed her the place prepared for her in Hell; not because she deserved Hell, but because, had she not risen from the state of lukewarmness in which she lived, she would in the end have lost the grace of God and been damned … The greater part of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God … The saved are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are: yet amongst those few I wish to be!”
This whole issue of salvation and damnation is fundamental to the Catholic spiritual life and it is of paramount importance that we have a correct understanding of it―and not rose-colored, candy-coated, selfishly-tweaked and twisted, self-imagined unrealistic idea of the truths of salvation and damnation. That is what has led to the damnation of most souls, when God wishes the salvation of all souls―but that will never happen because of man’s stubbornness, willfulness, carelessness and indifference. Without a true notion of what it takes to be saved, we will be lost with the majority. Yes, salvation is hard―it has to be if you think about the rewards you expect: eternal life, no suffering in body or mind, no threats from others, no enemies, no illness, no injuries, no anxieties, no having to pay for anything, having everything supplied, eternal joy, ceaseless love, every good craving satisfied―all this is merely the tip of the iceberg! And you want all that for free? You want all that without making serious efforts to be worthy of all that? You want to sin freely and still get all that? Well that is the attitude of most people―and it “just won’t cut it”, and they “don’t make the cut”―they are cut-off from God for eternity. That is why we must “Live like the few, to be saved with the few!” The other alternative needs to be drummed-home relentlessly, for it seems to be the preferred path of most people: “To live like the many, leads to being damned with the many!” It is an inescapable truth of Scripture: “For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:16; 22:14). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Mottos of Means and Methods
Once we have clear idea that salvation is not “a piece of cake”, or no “push-over”, but something that requires our “work with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), and that few are saved―not because of limited openings or limited places in Heaven, but because of limited interest and limited efforts here on Earth―then we have to start looking at how on earth we can become one of the few and what we must do as one of the few in order to be saved?
The means of salvation could take up a whole book―but you need something short and sweet to shake and shock you into starting your spiritual engine! St. Louis de Montfort, in his little booklet, The Secret of Mary, writes: “What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.” The means that St. Louis lists give us a framework around which we can work.
Mottos of Humility
Humility is the ESSENTIAL foundation of the spiritual life―there is nobody in Heaven who is not humble! Hell is for the proud ones and Hell is full of pride! Our Lord Himself says: “Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart!” (Matthew 11:29). Our Lord could have listed many other virtues―charitable, courageous, devout, knowledgeable, honest, zealous, etc. ―but He didn’t. He mentioned only meekness and humility. Meekness and humility are intimately connected if you really think about it! What is meekness? Meekness is the opposite of anger. There is, of course, a just anger and an unjust anger―a good anger and a bad anger. Why do people get unjustly angry? Because things do not go according to how they want them to go―things are not according THEIR liking, THEIR ideas, THEIR expectations, etc. All of this kind of anger ultimately stems from pride, which is also the opposite of humility. Thus meekness (lack of anger) and humility (lack of pride) are related. So, as a basic reminder of this, you could have a mottos such as: “As humble as Heaven or as proud as Hell!” or “Humility Helps Holiness!” or “Proud Persons Perish!” etc., etc.
There are lots of one-liner Scriptural quotes to help you acquire humility and avoid pride: “Humble thy heart and endure!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:2). “Humility goeth before glory" (Proverbs 15:33). “Humiliation followeth the proud: and glory shall uphold the humble!” (Proverbs 29:23). “Pride brings reproach! Humility brings wisdom!” (Proverbs 11:2). “The prayer of the humble and the meek hath always pleased Thee!” (Judith 9:16). “The Lord will save the humble!” (Psalm 33:19). “Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 18:4). “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled: and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted!” (Matthew 23:12). “He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble!” (Luke 1:52). “God resisteth the proud, but to the humble he giveth grace!” (1 Peter 5:5). Why not try form some mottos from these?
Simple, but powerful! When we look at how God works, it can be generally said that God acts simply, but powerfully. The magnificent act of Creation could not have been simpler—God simply said a few words and it happened! Not much fuss, just simple and powerful. “And God said: ‘Be light made!’ And light was made.” (Genesis 1:3) and so on throughout the remaining days of Creation. God simply said, and it happened.
Throughout the Old Testament we see God’s simple, yet powerful, way of acting. He has Moses simply lift up his road and the Red Sea divides into two parts: “Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand over the sea, and divide it: that the children of Israel may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground!” (Exodus 14:16). Later, God has Moses strike a rock in the desert with his rod, and, miraculously, water flows forth: “Behold I will stand there before thee, upon the rock Horeb: and thou shalt strike the rock, and water shall come out of it that the people may drink!” (Exodus 17:6).
God’s prophets also followed the same pattern. The Prophet Elias “stretched, and measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said: ‘O Lord my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech thee, return into his body!’ And the Lord heard the voice of Elias: and the soul of the child returned into him, and he revived.” (3 Kings 21-22).
The Prophet Eliseus tells Naaman the leper, to simply wash seven times in the Jordan. Naaman thought this was ridiculously simplistic and was about to go home, until his servant persuaded him to try it—and lo and behold, he was cured (4 Kings 1-14).
David―a mere boy with a simple sling shot and one pebble―kills Goliath, whom the weapons and soldiers of the Israelites had failed to defeat.
Our Lord’s Miracles were Simple but Powerful
We see God the Son act in the same simple, but powerful way, in the miracles that he performed. Not much fuss, just simple actions or simple commands:
► The leper said: “‘Lord, if thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.’ And Jesus stretching forth His hand, touched him, saying: ‘I will, be thou made clean!’ And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:2-3). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying, and sick of a fever: and He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and ministered to them.” (Matthew 8:14-15). Simple, but powerful!
► “And behold they brought to Him one sick of the palsy, lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their Faith, … said: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house!’ And he arose, and went into his house.” (Matthew 9:2-7). Simple, but powerful!
► “Jesus said: ‘Give place, for the girl is not dead, but sleepeth!’ And they laughed Him to scorn. And when the multitude was put forth, He went in, and took her by the hand. And the maid arose.” (Matthew 9:24-25). Simple, but powerful!
► “And when He was come to the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus saith to them, ‘Do you believe, that I can do this unto you?’ They say to him, ‘Yea, Lord!’ Then He touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your Faith, be it done unto you!’ And their eyes were opened.” (Matthew 9:28-30). Simple, but powerful!
► “They besought Jesus that they might touch but the hem of His garment. And as many as touched, were made whole.” (Matthew 14:36). Simple, but powerful!
► “And taking the seven loaves and the fishes, and giving thanks, He brake, and gave to His disciples, and the disciples to the people. And they did all eat, and had their fill. And they took up seven baskets full, of what remained of the fragments. And they that did eat, were four thousand men, beside children and women.” (Matthew 15:26:38). Simple, but powerful!
► “Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour.” (Matthew 17:17). Simple, but powerful!
► “And behold two blind men, sitting by the way side, cried out, saying: O Lord, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us .... And Jesus stood, and called them, and said: ‘What will ye that I do to you?’ They say to Him: ‘Lord, that our eyes be opened!’ And Jesus having compassion on them, touched their eyes. And immediately they saw, and followed Him.” (Matthew 20:20-34). Simple, but powerful!
► “And Jesus entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand ... He saith to the man: ‘Stretch forth thy hand!’ And he stretched it forth: and his hand was restored unto him.” (Mark 3:1-5). Simple, but powerful!
► “As Jesus was in the ship: and there were other ships with Him. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that the ship was filled. And He was sleeping; and they awake Him, and say to Him: ‘Master, doth it not concern Thee that we perish?’ And rising up, He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: Peace, be still. And the wind ceased: and there was made a great calm.” (Mark 4:36-39). Simple, but powerful!
► “And whithersoever he entered, into towns or into villages or cities, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch but the hem of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole.” (Mark 6:56). Simple, but powerful!
► “And they bring to him one deaf and dumb; and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him. And taking him from the multitude apart, He put His fingers into his ears, and spitting, He touched his tongue: and looking up to Heaven, He groaned, and said to him: ‘Ephpheta!’ which is, ‘Be thou opened!’ And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right.” (Mark 7:32-35). Simple, but powerful!
► “Bartimeus the blind man, began to cry out: ‘Jesus son of David, have mercy on me!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’ And the blind man said to Him: ‘Rabboni, that I may see!’ And Jesus saith to him: ‘Go thy way, thy Faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed Him in the way.” (Mark 10:47-52). Simple, but powerful!
► “When Jesus had said these things, He cried with a loud voice: ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he, that had been dead, came forth, bound feet and hands with winding bands; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them: ‘Loose him, and let him go!’” (John 11:43:44). Simple, but powerful!
With God, Simply Nothing is Impossible
With God nothing is impossible! As the Archangel Gabriel said to Mary, at the Annunciation: “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37). Which was later echoed by Jesus, when He said: “With God all things are possible!” Matthew 19:26). With God, the impossible is simply possible—because God is God, and whatever He wants, happens!
Our Lord would later repeat that truth when speaking of the difficulty of salvation: “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:23-26).
The Power of the Simple Word of God
We forget or underestimate the power of the word of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God!” (John 1:1). “His word is full of power” (Ecclesiastes 8:4). “By the word of the Lord the Heavens were established; and all the power of them by the spirit of His mouth!” (Psalm 32:6). “O Lord God! Behold Thou hast made Heaven and Earth by thy great power, and no word shall be hard to Thee!” (Jeremias 32:17). When Jesus cast ot a devil by mere words, “there came fear upon all, and they talked among themselves, saying: ‘What word is this, for with authority and power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they go out?’” (Luke 4:36)―which is still true today, for it is power of the word of God that drives the devil out of souls in exorcisms performed by mere priests. St. Paul speaks of God “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).
St. Peter has faith in the power of God’s word: “And Simon answering said to Jesus: ‘Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken nothing! But, at Thy word, I will let down the net!” (Luke 5:5) ― and a miraculous catch of fish was the result.
The Roman centurion, seeking a cure for his servant, does not ask that Jesus come down to his house, but has faith in the mere word of Jesus: “The servant of a certain centurion, who was dear to him, being sick, was ready to die. And when he had heard of Jesus, he sent unto Him the ancients of the Jews, desiring Jesus to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought Him earnestly, saying to Him: ‘He is worthy that Thou shouldest do this for him! For he loveth our nation; and he hath built us a synagogue!’ And Jesus went with them. And when He was now not far from the house, the centurion sent his friends to Him, saying: ‘Lord, trouble not Thyself! For I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof. For which reason neither did I think myself worthy to come to Thee; but say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers: and I say to one, “Go!” and he goes; and to another, “Come!” and he comes; and to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it!’ Which Jesus hearing, marvelled: and, turning about to the multitude that followed Him, He said: ‘Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith, not even in Israel!’” (Luke 7:2-9).
God’s Powerful Modern-Day Simplicity
This same simplicity, seen in a few simple words, yet powerful words, carries over into our day and age.
At Baptism, can we fully grasp the incredible things that happen at the simple, but powerful, words: “I baptize thee, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” while simple water is simply poured on the one being baptized? Miracles of grace suddenly take place! The baptized has Original Sin and all their personal sins removed; grace is poured into the soul; the Gifts of the Holy Ghost are planted within the soul; the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity come into the soul; the person becomes an adopted child of God and an heir to the kingdom of Heaven! Simple words and actions, but an awesome and powerful result!
The same can be said of the Sacrament of Confession. Even though the priest may say additional prayers while giving absolution from sin, the key words are: “I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen” while making a sign of the cross over the penitent. The worst crimes, the most shameful sins, no matter how many times committed, can be forgiven and forgotten by God using those simple words and actions.
When there is an impossibility to get to Confession, in such a case it is possible (though not guaranteed) that one short true act of perfect contrition can remove all guilt of sin and restore grace to the soul (provided one intends to confess those sins at the soonest possible time). Note, that we say TRUE and PERFECT act of contrition! This is sorrow that is based upon a true love of God, not a fear of His punishments. It is amazing what God will do when He sees that we TRULY mean those words: “I am sorry!” “I love you!”
The same applies to the Consecration at Mass, when God, using the ministry of His servants, the priests, changes mere bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of His Only-Begotten Son. What brings about such an awesome miracle? Again, like the Sacrament of Confession, even though more words are used, the essential words are the simple ones of “This is My Body” and “This is My Blood.” Simple words, beautiful result! Simply beautiful! Simply powerful!
The Modern-Day Power of God’s Word in Exorcisms
When we think of exorcisms, we tend to imagine a priest loaded with blessed crucifixes, holy water and relics of the saints. These things are, of course powerful and necessary tools as part of the exorcism process. However, this can distract us from the true and real and ultimate power behind the exorcism―which is the WORD OF GOD. At the heart of the formal Rite of Exorcism are the officially sanctioned prayers of the Church along with selected Scriptures, which are the words of God. These words remind the demons of the authority of God―the demon or demons eventually depart because GOD SAYS SO! The words of exorcism are SPOKEN IN THE NAME OF GOD―as can be seen from these few extracts from the Rite of Exorcism:
“Begone and stay far from this creature of God. For it is He who commands you, He who flung you headlong from the heights of Heaven into the depths of Hell. It is He who commands you! … Graciously grant, O Lord, as we call on Thy Holy Name, that the evil spirit may retreat in terror and defeat … It is God + Himself who commands you; the majestic Christ + who commands you. God the Father + commands you; God the Son + commands you; God the Holy + Spirit commands you … The Word made flesh + commands you; the Virgin's Son + commands you; Jesus + of Nazareth commands you … It is He who casts you out … It is He who repels you … It is He who expels you, He who has prepared everlasting hellfire for you and your angels, from whose mouth shall come a sharp sword, who is coming to judge both the living and the dead and the world by fire.”
This imagery of the sword and the word (notice how the word “sword” contains the word “word”) is also seen in the battle of St. Michael the Archangel with Satan. St. Michael holds a sword, ready to deliver the death blow as he stands over the fallen demon. Of course, St. Michael doesn’t wield a real sword―for a physical, material sword cannot harm a spiritual being. Angels and demons are real, but, as spiritual beings, they are not affected by physical attacks―in the case of Holy Water, it is not the physical, material water that repels devils, but the invisible immaterial supernatural power attached to the water through a proper blessing given to water. The sword that St. Michael wields is the sword of the truth of God’s Word, of which Scripture says:
“Take unto you the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).
“For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
“And He [Jesus] was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called, THE WORD OF GOD … And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two edged sword; that with it he may strike the nations ... and He hath on His garment, and on His thigh written: ‘King of Kings, and Lord of Lords!’” (Apocalypse 19:13-16).
“And I saw the beast, and the kings of the Earth, and their armies make war with Him that sat upon the horse … And the beast was taken and … cast alive into the pool of fire, burning with brimstone, and the rest were slain by the sword of Him that sitteth upon the horse, which proceedeth out of His mouth!” (Apocalypse 19:19-21).
“To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of the One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword: ‘Some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth!’” (Apocalypse 2:12, 15-16).
In the Rite of Exorcism, the words of God are to have prominence. Ideally, every exorcism has two priests, one of whom continuously reads the rite while the other uses sacramentals and briefly engages the demons to gain necessary information (e.g., names, how they entered, when they will leave) and tries to find weak points. While the use of sacramentals such as holy water, the touch of a stole, or relics torment the demons, almost every exorcist agrees that the greatest power of the Rite of Exorcism is to be found in the Church approved words of the prayers and words of God from Scripture. In fact, sometimes demons show exaggerated pain in response to lesser things so as to distract from the reading of the rite.
The words of the rite have the effect of shining the light of truth on demons and reminding them of their ultimate destiny. All of this is painful to the demons. Ultimately, the demons are commanded to depart, to flee and give way to God in the power of God’s Name, by power of the Holy Trinity and by the power of Christ. All these words and many more shine the light of truth on the demons and cause them pain. It is the Word, the prayer of the Church, that ultimately defeats Satan and all the other demons. This teaching on exorcism is an important lesson for all of us. The truest battleground for all of us is our mind; the battle is one of thoughts. We will either dwell in God’s truth and study His Word or be lost in Satan’s lies. We must learn to fight every temptation with the sword of God’s Word. We must test every thought we have to see if it conforms to God’s Word. We must decide either to believe God or Satan. The sword of God’s Word can drive out every temptation, fear, sorrow, and depression. The more we grow in God’s Word the less authority and influence Satan can have in our lives.
Where Is All This Leading To?
Now what has this long-winded, interminably dragging, endless introduction got to do with the title of this article―”Try This! It Really Works”? Well, simply this―if you are going to “buy-into” something, or purchase something, or try something, then you want to be sure that it works, that it will work for you and that is worth the time and investment. All of the above shows the power of the word of God, it shows that the word of God works, that it has worked for many people and that it can work for you too! The purpose of these endless examples of divine doings, has been to establish and explain the principle (which is not just a rare occurrence) of how God usually works with mankind. It is quite simple and quite powerful at the same time.
Underused, Refused and Abused
We are all woefully and pitifully guilty of underusing―and even refusing or abusing―the word of God. If, anything, the word of God and the Name of God sees more abuse than good use. Blasphemy and the use of God’s Name in vain is more common that using the words of God and the Name of God for good. The word of God is a source of grace―as we see in the wording of the Sacraments, which take their words from Holy Scripture: baptizing in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Ghost; or, This is My Body, This is My Blood; etc.
Sacramentals are also a source of grace―though not in the same ways as Sacraments. There are many different sacramentals―far more in number than the limited seven Sacraments. Prayer is just one of many different kinds of sacramentals―and, what is prayer? As the catechism and many saints and theologians tell us: “Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God.” Prayer takes many formats―the Divine Office, the Divine Liturgy, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the prayers begging God’s blessings in the Roman Ritual, the Holy Rosary, countless novenas and other prayers, meditation is also a prayer, contemplation too, likewise is spiritual reading.
Thus, Holy Scripture―which furnishes many of these types of prayer with their content―can be said to be a “prayer that surpasses most prayers” and that is why the reading of Holy Scripture is given a plenary indulgence if it read for more than 30 minutes―and, in case you didn’t know, indulgences are sacramentals too! The Handbook of Indulgences states, “A partial indulgence is granted the Christian faithful who read sacred Scripture with the veneration due God’s word and as a form of spiritual reading. The indulgence will be a plenary one when such reading is for at least one-half hour.” Keep in mind that there are several requirements for acquiring a plenary indulgence. The Apostolic Constitution on Indulgences explains: “To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfill three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent. If this disposition is in any way less than complete, or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be only partial.”
So is the Bible a Sacramental?
Individual unblessed (not-blessed) copies of the Bible ARE NOT sacramentals of themselves. Apart from prayer (which is not an object but a spiritual invisible thing) all objects need to be blessed for them to become sacramentals. A Rosary, or Scapular, or Medal, or Statue, or Crucifix, or water that has not been blessed is NOT a sacramental. A copy of the Bible could be blessed and become a sacramental, in the same way as other things. The Bible is not referred to as the “Holy” Bible because a priest has blessed it and made it to be a blessed object, thus a sacramental. The word “Bible” comes from the Greek word “Biblia”, which is the plural for book, therefore meaning “books”―for the Bible is a compilation of many books, or a mini-library of books. However, we call it the Holy Bible, not because it was blessed and sprinkled with Holy Water, but because it is filled with holiness, or rather the Holy Words of God and counsels on how become holy. The Bible’s holiness derives from the message it contains, not from any blessing that has been pronounced on it. Thus, unless it has been blessed by a priest, the Bible is merely a book, but also much, much more than a book.
An unblessed Bible, with its words and messages, is not a sacramental, but, in one sense, it is much more than that. It is a foundational pillar of the Church―for all the other sacramentals, such as the Roman Ritual with its blessings and ceremonies, the Roman Missal, many different prayers (for prayer is a sacramental too) owe their origins and much of their content to the Bible. Scripture is, in this sense, profoundly sacramental―for it has provided the ‘food’ and ‘clothing’ for the many different forms of sacramentals that have come after Holy Scripture. Holy Scripture is the “Grand Patriarch” or “Grand Matriarch” of them all. While the Word of God is not a Sacrament or even a sacramental in the strict sense, its proclamation in the liturgy and all other aspects of the Church has a special and unmatched authority and power.
Powerful Mottos From Holy Scripture For All Circumstances of Life
So very few people “tap-into” the power of Holy Scripture for the countless different circumstances and situations that they find themselves in daily. They are neglecting a great power that could transform their lives, transform their attitude, transform their approach to things, and transform the results that they are getting (or, most likely, failing to get). All it takes is a little “gold-mining” in the streams and seams of Holy Scripture―the nuggets that you will discover could totally change your life. So let us now get down to the “nitty-gritty” part of “panning” and “digging”!
Major Monumental Mottos
Mottos can be nuggets of gold. Yet not all mottos are made equal! You could say that some mottos have a major monumental meaning, whereas others can be meaningful but minor. What qualifies as being major and monumental? Obviously that which majorly impacts your salvation and helps avoid your damnation. One key phrase from Holy Scripture―which is short and sweet―is: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24)―of if you want the longer version: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). The motto you could make from that could be: “It’s God or mammon! You can’t have both!” or “I will love God and hate mammon, or love mammon and hate God!”
If you are thick-skinned and need to be hit by a sledgehammer or need an electric shock to stir you, then ponder these quotes and from them create a motto for yourself: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Very closely linked to the above mottos are the words of Our Lord: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30). Your motto, based upon those words, could be: “Love God first and not just partially, but totally!” or “To be holy I must love God wholly!” If you find that you are putting worldly things before God in your life, then say to yourself: “The first will be last and the last will be first!”―which comes from “Many that are first, shall be last: and the last shall be first!” Matthew 19:30), or “God first, the world last!”
Similar to this, in bursting the bubble of worldliness and a preoccupation with earthly things, is: “What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” (Mark 8:36)―which could be rephrased for a motto as being: “Lose the world or lose your soul!” or “Have fun at what cost? The world is won but the soul is lost!” Another similar quote by Our Lord is: “Amen, I say to you: How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 19:16-26; Mark 10:17-27)―from which you could form a motto such as: “Material wealth leads to spiritual bankruptcy!” or “Better poor on Earth and rich in Heaven; than rich on Earth and poor in Hell!”
Staying with this God versus the world idea, you also have the Scriptural quotes: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15) and “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Be dead with Christ from the elements of this world” (Colossians 2:20). “We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). An easy motto, almost identical to an earlier one above, would be: “Love God and hate the world, or hate God and love the world!” or “Make a friend of the world and be an enemy of God!”
Avoiding the world has to be concrete and real: “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). That is what we do not want to do―go out from them and be ye separate―we love mixing with them, but, thereby, we poison our cup of salvation with the poison of damnation. We forget or find it hard to believe that the devil is the “prince of this world” and that he uses this world as poisoned bait. “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). “Jesus answered: ‘My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
It is of paramount importance that we drill into our thick skulls and hard hearts that we cannot have a dual-citizenship if we wish to reach Heaven. We cannot be citizens of this world (of which the devil is prince) and citizens of Heaven (where Christ is King). We must choose to follow one or the other. The fact that most people try to follow both, is a major contributory factor to their eventual damnation.
That Damned Motto!
It is a very damning statistic which says that most souls are damned when God wants to save everyone! Why on earth does that happen? What the hell is going on? One chief reason is down to the phrase: “Out of sight, out of mind!” meaning that something is easily forgotten or dismissed as unimportant if it is not in our direct view. This is exactly how the devil likes to work―out of sight, so he is out of our mind or thoughts, free to plot and plan our damnation without our ever giving a thought to it. Holy Scripture, on the contrary, wants us to keep the salvation-damnation issue always before our eyes:
“With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12) … “For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:16; 22:14). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28). Numerous other passages could be quoted, but you get the idea.
The saints got the idea and that is why they would say things such as the following quotes reveal. Bear in mind that the following saints are just “any-old-saints”, but all of them are DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH and they SPAN ALL THE CENTURIES from the 300s to the 1800s. The bottom line is: “Few are saved! To be saved with the few, live like the few!”--as the following quotes prove:
► St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment … It is certain that few are saved” (Sermon 111; also Against Cresconius) … “If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate” (Sermon 224:1).
► St. Basil the Great (330-379), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Remember that it is not the multitude who are being saved! The great multitude of the people are carried hither and thither by winds like the waters of the sea!” (St. Basil the Great).
► St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.”
► St. Bede the Venerable (673-735), Doctor and Father of the Church: “We should not think that it is enough for salvation that we are no worse off than the mass of the careless and indifferent, or that, in our Faith, we are, like so many others, uninstructed … Christ's flock is called ‘little’ in comparison with the greater number of the reprobates!”
► St. Hilary of Poitiers (300-368), Doctor and Father of the Church: “How few the Elect are, may be understood from the multitude being cast out.”
► St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness.”
► St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church: “There are a select few who are saved” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3.) “Those who are saved are in the minority” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.8, ad.3).
► St. John of the Cross (1524-1591), Doctor of the Church: “Behold how many there are who are called, and how few who are chosen! And behold, if you have no care for yourself, your perdition is more certain than your amendment, especially since the way that leads to eternal life is so narrow.”
► St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!”
► St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church: “The common opinion is that the greater part of adults is lost … In the Great Deluge in the days of Noe, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone being saved in the Ark. In our days a deluge, not of water but of sins, continually inundates the Earth, and out of this deluge very few escape. Scarcely anyone is saved … Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost … All persons desire to be saved, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost. In fact, the Elect are much fewer than the damned, for the reprobate are much more numerous than the Elect … St. Teresa, as the Roman Rota attests, never fell into any mortal sin; but still Our Lord showed her the place prepared for her in Hell; not because she deserved Hell, but because, had she not risen from the state of lukewarmness in which she lived, she would in the end have lost the grace of God and been damned … The greater part of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God … The saved are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are: yet amongst those few I wish to be!”
This whole issue of salvation and damnation is fundamental to the Catholic spiritual life and it is of paramount importance that we have a correct understanding of it―and not rose-colored, candy-coated, selfishly-tweaked and twisted, self-imagined unrealistic idea of the truths of salvation and damnation. That is what has led to the damnation of most souls, when God wishes the salvation of all souls―but that will never happen because of man’s stubbornness, willfulness, carelessness and indifference. Without a true notion of what it takes to be saved, we will be lost with the majority. Yes, salvation is hard―it has to be if you think about the rewards you expect: eternal life, no suffering in body or mind, no threats from others, no enemies, no illness, no injuries, no anxieties, no having to pay for anything, having everything supplied, eternal joy, ceaseless love, every good craving satisfied―all this is merely the tip of the iceberg! And you want all that for free? You want all that without making serious efforts to be worthy of all that? You want to sin freely and still get all that? Well that is the attitude of most people―and it “just won’t cut it”, and they “don’t make the cut”―they are cut-off from God for eternity. That is why we must “Live like the few, to be saved with the few!” The other alternative needs to be drummed-home relentlessly, for it seems to be the preferred path of most people: “To live like the many, leads to being damned with the many!” It is an inescapable truth of Scripture: “For many are called, but few chosen!” (Matthew 20:16; 22:14). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Mottos of Means and Methods
Once we have clear idea that salvation is not “a piece of cake”, or no “push-over”, but something that requires our “work with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), and that few are saved―not because of limited openings or limited places in Heaven, but because of limited interest and limited efforts here on Earth―then we have to start looking at how on earth we can become one of the few and what we must do as one of the few in order to be saved?
The means of salvation could take up a whole book―but you need something short and sweet to shake and shock you into starting your spiritual engine! St. Louis de Montfort, in his little booklet, The Secret of Mary, writes: “What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the Gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practiced them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.” The means that St. Louis lists give us a framework around which we can work.
Mottos of Humility
Humility is the ESSENTIAL foundation of the spiritual life―there is nobody in Heaven who is not humble! Hell is for the proud ones and Hell is full of pride! Our Lord Himself says: “Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart!” (Matthew 11:29). Our Lord could have listed many other virtues―charitable, courageous, devout, knowledgeable, honest, zealous, etc. ―but He didn’t. He mentioned only meekness and humility. Meekness and humility are intimately connected if you really think about it! What is meekness? Meekness is the opposite of anger. There is, of course, a just anger and an unjust anger―a good anger and a bad anger. Why do people get unjustly angry? Because things do not go according to how they want them to go―things are not according THEIR liking, THEIR ideas, THEIR expectations, etc. All of this kind of anger ultimately stems from pride, which is also the opposite of humility. Thus meekness (lack of anger) and humility (lack of pride) are related. So, as a basic reminder of this, you could have a mottos such as: “As humble as Heaven or as proud as Hell!” or “Humility Helps Holiness!” or “Proud Persons Perish!” etc., etc.
There are lots of one-liner Scriptural quotes to help you acquire humility and avoid pride: “Humble thy heart and endure!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:2). “Humility goeth before glory" (Proverbs 15:33). “Humiliation followeth the proud: and glory shall uphold the humble!” (Proverbs 29:23). “Pride brings reproach! Humility brings wisdom!” (Proverbs 11:2). “The prayer of the humble and the meek hath always pleased Thee!” (Judith 9:16). “The Lord will save the humble!” (Psalm 33:19). “Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 18:4). “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled: and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted!” (Matthew 23:12). “He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble!” (Luke 1:52). “God resisteth the proud, but to the humble he giveth grace!” (1 Peter 5:5). Why not try form some mottos from these?
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Saturday June 22nd & Sunday June 23rd
Article 12
I DARE YOU!
"He Who Dares Wins!" or "Who Cares Who Wins?"
Article 12
I DARE YOU!
"He Who Dares Wins!" or "Who Cares Who Wins?"
What’s in a Name? What’s in a Motto?
“Who Dares, Wins” is a motto made popular by the British Special Air Service (SAS). Among the SAS themselves, it is sometimes humorously corrupted to “Who cares [who] wins?” The motto, though normally credited to the founder of the SAS, Sir David Stirling, arguably goes back to Ancient Greece, where an statement of the idea is “luck favors the daring”―a phrase used by the Ancient Greek soldier and historian Thucydides. Since that time, you will find it being used in many languages―Latin: Qui audet adipiscitur; Greek: O tolmón, niká; French: Qui ose, gagne; Italian: Chi osa, vince; Portuguese: Quem ousa, vence; German: Wer wagt, gewinnt, etc. The expression also appears in a medieval Arabic book of fairy tales. The motto has been used by twelve elite military special forces units around the world that in some way have historical ties to the British SAS (Special Air Service). In a certain sense, the word “dare” or “daring” is synonymous with the words “courage” and “fortitude”―which are, of course, related to the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that are activated within us at our Confirmation, which makes us Soldiers of Christ. In Holy Scripture, the expression “to dare”, rarely has the meaning of “to defy,” “to challenge,” or “to terrify.” It is usually found as the translation of tolmao, meaning “to manifest courage.”
Thus, “Who Dares, Wins!”, should also be the motto of Catholics―who are Soldiers of Christ, whose “life upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1), who are sent like “lambs among wolves” (Luke 10:3) to “Fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12), whilst being reminded that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) and that “whosoever will seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35).
Scripture Dares Us To…
Holy Scripture seems to throw out a dare on many occasions, daring us to follow in the footsteps of Christ, Who dared to fight, suffer and die and, so daring, He won! He paints no pretty picture of life for His followers, if they dare to follow Him! He promise no bed of roses, nor lashings of honor and glory from the world―on the contrary, He says: “If any man will [dare to] come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “If any man [dare] come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever doth not [dare not] carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:26-27). “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! And he that [dare not] taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:37-38).
Dare We Follow Jesus?
Jesus tells us not to expect love, praise and cooperation from this world, but, on the contrary, His true followers will meet with hatred, persecution and even death: “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:18-19). “Beware of men. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles! … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake: but he that shall [dare to] persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-23). “O son of man, fear not, neither be thou afraid of their words! For thou art among unbelievers and destroyers, and thou dwellest with scorpions! Fear not their words, neither be thou dismayed at their looks: for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 2:6). “I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5). “The very hairs of your head are all numbered! Fear not therefore! Every one therefore that shall [dare] confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall [dare] deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:30-36). “Whosoever will seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35).
Jesus Himself dared to suffer and die for souls―but Peter tried to dissuade from such a thing, thinking it to be folly: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter taking Jesus, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from Thee! This shall not be unto Thee! Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’ Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me! For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it! For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:21-26).
In case we might be tempted to lock those words away in the closet of the past, Our Lord re-appears in the 1600s with Our Lady of Good Success and He addresses the following chastening and critical words to all of us: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador).
Daredevils or Dare-angels
There are plenty of daredevils―or devils daring to attack the Church and the Faith―but there are few “dare-angels” who have the daring to fight back and defend the Church and the Faith. The prophet Isaias poignantly puts the following words into the mouth of the Messias, when he says: “I have trodden the wine-press alone, and there is not a man with me … blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my clothing … I looked about, and there was none to help: I sought, and there was none to give aid!” (Isaias 63:3, ). To which Scripture adds: “They compassed Me on every side, and there was no one that would help Me! I looked for the help of men, and there was none!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:10). “They have destroyed My ways, they have lain in wait against Me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help!” (Job 30:13]). “And I looked for one that would grieve together with Me―but there was none! And for one that would comfort Me―and I found none!” (Psalm 68:21).
This lethargy, indifference, detachment, distancing, not really getting involved in truly living our Faith, is extremely commonplace―which goes hand-in-hand with the fact that few souls are saved. If you won’t put your heart into running the race, you have no chance of winning the prize! “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air! But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
God seeks daring souls―Our Lord seeks daring souls―the Holy Ghost seeks to produce daring souls! Where are they? Holy Scripture points some out to us―but they have few imitators among the faithful.
● NOE ― We see the daring or courage of Noe, who, in face of ridicule, spent decades (anywhere from 30 to 70 years) building his Ark miles and miles from a source of water capable of floating it― the Ark was approximately 510 feet long, it would take nearly one and a half football fields to equal the Ark’s length. The Ark was more than 50 feet from the ground—higher than a modern four-story housel and around 70 feet to 75 feet wide which would about the width of a six-lane interstate highway (which has a standard 12 feet per lane). It was over half the length of the Titanic ― whose length was 882 feet to the Ark’s 500 feet; Titanic’s width was 92 feet compared to the Ark’s 75 feet; and the Titanic height (without the giant funnels or smoke-stacks) was 105 feet, compared to the Ark’s 50 feet. The Ark was made by Noe and sons, while over 3,000 men worked on the Titanic. Noe dared to do it and he won in the end!
● ABRAHAM ― We see the daring or courage of Abraham in leaving a comfortable existence for a “Promised Land” the whereabouts of which he was clueless. It was a courageous blind Faith in God that was behind his daring. Then, years later, when his nephew Lot and his family had been captured as a result of a battle of local kings. Incredibly, Abraham didn’t hesitate to take only 318 men to find and rescue Lot and his family. They went against four kings and their forces and won. Abraham’s Faith in God’s gave him the daring courage which resulted in success.
● MOSES ― Moses was chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. At first he was hesitant to do this. But in the end, Moses obeyed the Lord. We see the daring or courage of Moses, who risked his life in repeatedly demanding that Pharao free millions of Hebrew slaves, who were profitable and useful to the Egyptians, and let them leave Egypt for the “Promised Land.” Moses had to face opposition. He first had to face Pharao ― the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth at that time (Exodus 3:11; 5:1-2). Pharao could have had Moses slaughtered at any time. At one point Pharao threatened to kill him (Exodus 10:28). When Moses finally did lead the people out of Egypt, Pharao sent his army to pursue them (Exodus 14:9). If this were not enough, he also faced opposition from his own people (Exodus 5:20-21), from his family―Miriam and Aaron (Numbers 12:1-2), and from Core and his allies (Numbers 16:1-3).
● DAVID ― As a boy, we see David have the daring to tackle a lion and a bear in order to protect the flock of his father, which sets him up in later years to take on the mighty soldier Goliath the Philistine, when all the soldiers of Israel were afraid to engage Goliath in combat. David says to King Saul: “I thy servant have killed both a lion and a bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine [Goliath] shall be also as one of them. I will go now, and take away the reproach of the people: for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, who hath dared to curse the army of the living God?” (1 Kings 17:36).
● ELIAS ― Elias risked the wrath of the idolatrous king Achab and his wicked queen, Jezabel, repeatedly denouncing their idolatry and promotion of false gods. Elias eventually dared to challenge the powers of evil―850 false prophets: consisting of 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah― to a contest on Mount Carmel, which Elias wins by evoking a miracle from God. After having commanded the people to slaughter the 850 false prophets, Elias has to flee the murderous vengeance of Jezabel, who, having seen her idolatrous priest and prophets slaughtered, sought to kill Elias in revenge. In spite of the many miracles of Elias, the majority of the Jewish people remained as godless as before, nevertheless, Elias was always daring and vehement in his condemnation of their idolatry―whether it was king or people.
● SIDRACH, MISACH, AND ABDENAGO ― In the time of Daniel, three young men― Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago―were cast into the furnace for refusing to adore the golden statue which king Nabuchodonosor had made. When threatened with death in the furnace, they said: “Behold our God, Whom we worship, is able to save us from the furnace of burning fire, and to deliver us out of thy hands, O king! But if He will not, be it known to thee, O king, that we will not worship thy gods, nor adore the golden statue which thou hast set up!” Then was Nabuchodonosor filled with fury and he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it had been accustomed to be heated. And he commanded the strongest men that were in his army, to bind the feet of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire.
According to the king’s command, the furnace was heated exceedingly. And the flame of the fire slew those men that had cast in Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago. But Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, bound in the midst of the furnace of burning fire, walked in the midst of the flame, praising God and blessing the Lord” (Daniel 3:16-24).
● DANIEL ― Daniel was raised to a high position in the kingdom of Darius the Mede. Daniel’s jealous rivals trick Darius into issuing a decree that, for thirty days, no prayers should be addressed to any god or man, but Darius himself; and anyone breaking this law, would be thrown to the lions. Daniel continued to pray to the God of Israel, and the king, although deeply distressed, was forced by Daniel’s rivals to uphold his own law and condemn Daniel to death, for the edicts of the Medes and Persians could not be altered. Hoping for Daniel’s deliverance, Darius reluctantly had Daniel cast into the pit. At daybreak the king hurried back to the lion’s den to see the fate of his friend. The still-living Daniel replied that his God had sent an angel to close the jaws of the lions, “because I was found blameless before Him.” The king then commanded that all those who had conspired against Daniel should be thrown to the lions in his place, along with their wives and children, and then wrote to all the people of the known world, commanding that all should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.
● ESTHER ― Esther saved her people by risking death in going uninvited to the king’s court and pleading that the Jews not be killed. Esther who had been deported with her family from Jerusalem to Babylon in the time of the Great Captivity. King Assuerus of Persia, after divorcing his wife, chose Esther as his next wife on account of her beauty. Not long thereafter, Aman, a royal favorite, to whom the king had ordered that all people should bow, was infuriated that the Jew, Mardochai (Esther’s uncle) refused to prostrate himself before him. Vengefully, Amon cunningly obtained the king’s consent for a general massacre, in one single day, of all the Jews in the kingdom. Esther’s uncle, Mardochai, informed Esther of this and begged her to use her influence with the king and avert the threatening danger. At first she feared to enter the presence of the king without being summoned―for to do that was a capital offence worthy of death. But, on the constant insistence of her uncle, she finally consented after three days of fasting and prayer, during which she requested her uncle to have all the Jews in the city fast and pray. To cut a long story short (you can read it yourself in the Book of Esther, chapters 1 to 9), Esther very cleverly, over the course of two banquets, informed the king of the plot of Aman, to destroy the whole Jewish people to which she belonged, and pleaded that they should be spared. The king ordered that Aman should be hanged on the gibbet he had prepared for Mardochai, and, confiscating his property, bestowed it upon the intended victim. The Jews took a bloody revenge on their enemies and instituted the feast of Purim to celebrate in memory of the day which Aman had determined for their destruction, but which had been turned by Esther into a day of triumph. The Fathers of the Church considered Esther as a type of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
● JUDITH ― Judith rescued the Jewish people in a time of great need and despair. In Biblical account we read that Judith lives in the town of Bethulia. She was a wise and beautiful widow, who becomes incensed with her town elders when they decided to “test” God rather than “trust” Him, by deciding to capitulate and surrender to King Nabuchodonosor’s top general, if God would not save them in five days. Judith feels that giving God such a deadline is arrogant and inappropriate in the extreme. She tells the elders she has a plan, but must leave the city for it to be successful. She refuses to divulge any details, departs with her slave woman, and enters Holofernes’s camp on the pretext of providing him help to defeat her fellow Jews. Holofernes is mesmerized by her beauty and takes her into his camp and company. His lust blinds him to her deceit. When Holofernes becomes excessively drunk, Judith manages to get him alone in his tent. When he passes out, she beheads him, takes his head and steals back to Bethulia, displays the result of her intrigue, and becomes the town’s heroine. Judith is also a type or figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary who will crush the head of the devil.
● GEDEON ― Gedeon was one of Greater Judges of the Old Testament, during period when Israel was ruled by Judges. Gedeon was the fifth judge and renowned as the greatest of Israel. For seven years the apostatizing and idolatrous Israelites had been exceedingly humbled by the invading Madianites and of other Eastern tribes, who ruined their crops and destroyed their cattle, as a punishment by God. When the Israelites realized the error of their ways and cried out for help to the Lord, Gedeon was chosen and sent to deliver them. Gedeon showed his daring and courage when he was first put to the test by God, being commanded to destroy the Baal idols that his father and the community had been worshiping (Judges 6:25-27)―which resulted in the community seeking to kill Gedeon in revenge. Then he was commanded to tackle the Madianite army, which was 135,000 strong. To raise an army, Gideon had to try and enlist his tribesmen to go into battle with him. These were the men whose idols he had destroyed! Before entering battle, Gideon’s troops numbered 32,000, but God refused that number, saying that once victory was won, they would claim victory as their own glory and not attribute it to God. So, in obedience to God, Gedeon reduces the 32,000 strong army by 22,000 (Judges 7:2-3)―leaving an army of only 10,000. Again in obedience to God, he decreases the remaining 10,000 by a further 9,700, leaving him with just 300 men (verses 7-8). This was against an enemy that had an army of 135,000 men. Thus God increased the overwhelming odds of being initially outnumbered by around 4 to 1 (135,000 versus 32,000) to an even more frightening ratio of being outnumbered by 13 to 1 (135,000 versus 10,000), and then God really stacks the odds against them by terrifyingly increasing the ratio of being outnumbered by 450 to 1 (135,000 versus 300). God really tested the Faith and daring of Gedeon―and, by trusting and obeying God, Gedeon won the victory, or rather, God won the victory using Gedeon and his 300 men as his tools.
● MACHABEES ― Judea, like many of the surrounding nations, had been defeated and had fallen to the Hellenic (Greek) Empire. As the First Book of Machabees says: “In those days there went out of Israel wicked men, and they persuaded many, saying: ‘Let us go, and make a covenant with the heathens that are round about us! For since we departed from them, many evils have befallen us!’ And the word seemed good in their eyes. And some of the people determined to do this, and went to the king: and he gave them license to do after the ordinances of the heathens. And they built a place of exercise [gymnasium, where sports would take place in nudity] in Jerusalem, according to the laws of the nations. And they removed the marks of circumcision, and departed from the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the heathens, and were sold to do evil” (1 Machabees 1:12-16).
“King Antiochus set up the abominable idol of desolation [the statue of Jupiter Olympius] upon the altar of God, and they built altars throughout all the cities of Juda round about. And they burnt incense and sacrificed at the doors of the houses, and in the streets. And they cut in pieces and burnt with fire the Books of the Law of God. And every one with whom the Books of the Testament of the Lord were found, and whosoever observed the law of the Lord, they put to death, according to the edict of the king. Thus, by their power, did they deal with the people of Israel that were found in the cities, month after month. The women that circumcised their children, were slain according to the commandment of King Antiochus. And they hanged the children about their necks in all their houses: and those that had circumcised them, they put to death. And many of the people of Israel determined, with themselves, that they would not eat unclean things: and they chose rather to die than to be defiled with unclean meats. And they would not break the Holy Law of God, and they were put to death” (1 Machabees 1:57-66).
Then, after the Hellenistic King Antiochus IV issued his decrees forbidding Jewish religious practice, a rural Jewish priest from Modiin―Mathathias the Hasmonean―sparked the Machabean revolt against the Empire, by refusing to worship the Greek gods. Mathathias killed a Hellenistic Jew (a Jew who had compromised his faith and religion), who had stepped forward to take Mathathias’s place in sacrificing to an idol, as well as killing the Greek officer who was sent to enforce the sacrifice. Afterwards, he and his five sons fled to the wilderness of Judah. After the death of Mathathias, about one year later in 166 BC, his son Judas Machabeus led an army of Jewish dissidents to victory over the troops of King Antiochus in guerrilla warfare, which at first was directed against Hellenized Jews (apostate Jews), of whom there were many. The Machabees destroyed pagan altars in the villages, circumcised boys and forced Hellenized Jews into outlawry. Judas’s nickname “Machabeus,” now used in popular culture to describe the Jewish partisans as a whole, is taken from the Hebrew word for “hammer.”
The revolt itself involved many battles, in which the light, quick and mobile Machabean forces gained notoriety among the slow and bulky army of King Antiochus, and also for their use of guerrilla tactics. After the victory, the Machabees entered Jerusalem in triumph and ritually cleansed the Temple, reestablishing traditional Jewish worship there and installing Jonathan, Judas’s youngest brother, as high priest. A large Hellenist army was sent to quash the revolt, but returned to Syria on the death of Antiochus IV. Beforehand, Judas Machabeus made an agreement with Rome and became allied, tying the hands of the weaker Seleucid/Hellenistic Empire. “They trust in their weapons, and in their boldness: but we trust in the Almighty Lord, who at a beck can utterly destroy both them that come against us, and the whole world” (2 Machabees 8:18).
● THE APOSTLES ― You could say that the Apostles were cowards who became daring―or rather, daring men who dared to leave everything and follow the unknown Jesus into uncertainty, who then lost their daring when “the chips were down” and “the stakes were raised” during the Passion and Death of Our Lord when they abandoned Him, only to regain their daring and walk into the jaws of their own martyrdom. Before their acts of cowardice, Our Lord had warned them of what awaited them: “If the world hate you―know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18) … “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake!” (Matthew 10:22) … “For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake!” (Mark 13:9) … “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death―and you shall be hated by all nations for My name’s sake!” (Matthew 24:9) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it―and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35). Thus when the Apostles were later arrested and brought before the Council, “they had scourged them, and they charged them that they should not speak at all in the Name of Jesus; and they dismissed them. And they indeed went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus” (Acts 5:40-41). This is why St. Paul writes: “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution!” (2 Timothy 3:12) … “I count all things to be but loss, for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ … and may know him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death” (Philippians 3:8-10).
● CATHOLICS TODAY ― Our Lady, in her apparitions as Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima and Akita, paints a grim picture, brought about by our sins, negligence and indifference, that will require great daring and courage to meet, handle, navigate and overcome: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves [and we are NOT submitting], I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events ... Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises … The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
Our Lady calls for daring courageous souls: “I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! … I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession ... Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Need a Motto? Got a Motto? What’s Your Motto?
Sometimes, to get through difficult times, we need to latch onto a phrase, a slogan, a motto that will serve as a guide and a crutch to get us through the difficult time. The same applies if we are targeting some goal or undertaking a project―a phrase, motto, mantra or slogan can help us focus on what we are trying to achieve. On a natural, human, physical, psychological, emotional level, we often forget our noble humanistic goals—exercising for health, eating healthier, working harder, procrastinating less, etc. Our goals are often derailed by distraction, temptation, and coping with the immediate problems of the day. If this happens so often on a natural level, you can bet your bottom dollar it happens more often on a supernatural level―goals are made, resolutions are taken, targets are set―and, before you know, like a ‘house of cards’ they have all fallen down! When this happens to you―which it most certainly does―what can you do?
Religious Orders, Organizations, Nations, the Military, etc. give us a simple idea that can go a long way and achieve remarkable results. What is that? It is having a motto or mantra on hand—or rather, in mind—one that expresses, reminds, and triggers your deepest values and goals. Like a quick jolt of caffeine, a motto can get you out of your mental or spiritual doldrums and spur you on. The term “motto” can stand-in for maxim, proverb, adage, and slogan, although the shades of meaning are slightly different.
Do not underestimate the power of a good motto. By definition, a “motto” is “a short sentence or phrase, chosen as encapsulating the beliefs or ideals guiding an individual, family, or institution; a brief statement expressing a principle, a goal, or an idea; a statement chosen as a guide for one’s conduct.” Complicated ideas get lost in many words and jargon. Smple mottos can help you remember what’s really important in an instant. This is why nations, religious orders, 12-step groups, schools, the Boy Scouts, and nearly every major organization, all have mottos. A motto is usually longer than a mantra, but if you repeat a short motto over and over, it can serve as a mantra—a repeated word or phrase that can soothe or motivate you.
Some Ways a Good Motto Can Help You
A psychologist wrote an interesting piece on how to harness and tap-into the power of a motto. The following points are a summary and paraphrasing of the secular ideas put forward―later, we will adapt the principles and put them to use for the spiritual life and our quest for salvation.
(1) A motto can replace destructive thinking with healthy self-talk.
Discouragement is often our Number One enemy, a trump card that devil plays with great effect. If you are despondent and are telling yourself, “I’ll never get this done,” replace that negative thought with a motto like:
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
“I’ve done it before and I can do it again!”
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!”
If you tell yourself, “I should always take care of others before myself,” your motto could be: “Put your own oxygen mask on first!”―for if you are incapacitated or weakened, how can you be of great help to others.
(2) A motto can help you change a habit
An essential aspect of willpower is the ability to remember your long-term goal. A motto can succinctly summarize why you want to change a habit and therefore increase your willpower. Mottos like these can keep your desired habit change on track:
“Health first.”
“Exercise—stay stronger longer.”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
“He who has a why can endure any how.”
“Make the right thing to do the easy thing to do.”
“Smoke-free—a healthy me.”
(3) A personal motto can remind you of who you are and what you stand for
At a memorial service, a son described his mother’s personal motto as, “Be kind. Tell the truth. Do your best.” You can’t think of better—or briefer—words to live by. Even a pagan, like Gandhi, can provide a good motto: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Another motto could be, “Take in the good, leave the evil” to remind you that there is something good in everyone that we learn from, but we must pick-up their evil traits. What is your personal motto? If you don’t have one, consider creating one or adopting one that fits your mission in life.
(4) A motto can jog your conscience, remind you of your values, and even teach character strengths.
Sometimes―most times?--we are so focused on ourselves and what is happening to us, or how we feel, or how something will affect us, that we forget “It’s not about you right now.” Sometimes you need to take time out, take a walk, repeating the phrase, “It’s not about you,” over and over. That mantra will help you refocus on your purpose in life and that you are not the center of the world! Other mottos that can remind you of your values
“That which is hateful to you, do not do to others.”
“First things first.”
“Think before you speak.”
“Justice delayed is justice denied.”
“If the problem can be solved with money, it’s not that important.”
“Time and tide wait for no man.” (meaning: There are some things you can’t control)
(5) A motto can provide a bracing shot of inspiration.
Everyone has a different outlook on things, but here are some universal phrases of hope and inspiration.
“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
“Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.”
“One person can make a difference.”
“Keep your eyes on the prize.”
“Every day is a second chance.”
“Tomorrow is another day.”
(6) A motto can calm your mind.
Everyone can use a few healthy self-soothing techniques. Instead of turning to overeating or overdrinking, take a walk and put one of these mottos in your “thought bubble:”
“One day at a time.”
“Keep calm and carry on.”
“This too shall pass.”
“Just this.”
“Easy does it.”
“How important is it?”
(7) A motto can increase your productivity.
Reminders like the mottos below can help you think right and do right in a work situation:
“Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”
“Slow and steady wins the race.”
“Keep on keeping on.”
“No pain, no gain.”
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
“Take a break, take a breath.”
(8) A motto can give you the encouragement that will help you persist.
In hard times, keep your chin up with a motto like one of these:
“There’s always tomorrow.”
“Every cloud has a silver lining.”
“There’s no failure, only feedback.”
(9) A motto adds some pleasure, fun, and humor to life.
Even frivolous, commercial, and politically incorrect mottos can provide some joy:
“We are born dumb, naked, wet and hungry―then things get worse!”
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
“Don’t just talk the talk―walk the walk!”
“Just do it!”
“There’s no fool like an old fool.”
“Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle!”
Making Mottos More Magnificent
You can create your own mottos or adapt existing ones. It doesn’t need to be witty, just a good reminder of your value or goal:
(1) Keep it short and easy to remember.
It can even be one word: Compassion. Calm. Listen.
(2) Make it emotionally intelligent.
This simply means it will strike the right chord within you.
(3) Boost your motto’s power with a rhyme or alliteration.
If you use a rhyme, it will stick every time. Or, to be scientific about it, rhymes boost your mind’s processing fluency.
Choose a motto or two and repeat them at intervals and see if they motivate or soothe you. If not, try, try again with different mottos.
Of course, there are bad mottos, too―mottos that incite to sin and evil. There are mottos that encourage people to wage war, take drugs, have affairs, or act against their own best interests and their ultimate interest―salvation. Care must be shown in what is allowed to get inside your head.
The next article will take a look a variety of mottos that can help you in your spiritual life and on the precarious and dangerous road that leads to salvation.
“Who Dares, Wins” is a motto made popular by the British Special Air Service (SAS). Among the SAS themselves, it is sometimes humorously corrupted to “Who cares [who] wins?” The motto, though normally credited to the founder of the SAS, Sir David Stirling, arguably goes back to Ancient Greece, where an statement of the idea is “luck favors the daring”―a phrase used by the Ancient Greek soldier and historian Thucydides. Since that time, you will find it being used in many languages―Latin: Qui audet adipiscitur; Greek: O tolmón, niká; French: Qui ose, gagne; Italian: Chi osa, vince; Portuguese: Quem ousa, vence; German: Wer wagt, gewinnt, etc. The expression also appears in a medieval Arabic book of fairy tales. The motto has been used by twelve elite military special forces units around the world that in some way have historical ties to the British SAS (Special Air Service). In a certain sense, the word “dare” or “daring” is synonymous with the words “courage” and “fortitude”―which are, of course, related to the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that are activated within us at our Confirmation, which makes us Soldiers of Christ. In Holy Scripture, the expression “to dare”, rarely has the meaning of “to defy,” “to challenge,” or “to terrify.” It is usually found as the translation of tolmao, meaning “to manifest courage.”
Thus, “Who Dares, Wins!”, should also be the motto of Catholics―who are Soldiers of Christ, whose “life upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1), who are sent like “lambs among wolves” (Luke 10:3) to “Fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12), whilst being reminded that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12) and that “whosoever will seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35).
Scripture Dares Us To…
Holy Scripture seems to throw out a dare on many occasions, daring us to follow in the footsteps of Christ, Who dared to fight, suffer and die and, so daring, He won! He paints no pretty picture of life for His followers, if they dare to follow Him! He promise no bed of roses, nor lashings of honor and glory from the world―on the contrary, He says: “If any man will [dare to] come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “If any man [dare] come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever doth not [dare not] carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 14:26-27). “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! And he that [dare not] taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:37-38).
Dare We Follow Jesus?
Jesus tells us not to expect love, praise and cooperation from this world, but, on the contrary, His true followers will meet with hatred, persecution and even death: “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:18-19). “Beware of men. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles! … The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake: but he that shall [dare to] persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another!” (Matthew 10:17-23). “O son of man, fear not, neither be thou afraid of their words! For thou art among unbelievers and destroyers, and thou dwellest with scorpions! Fear not their words, neither be thou dismayed at their looks: for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 2:6). “I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5). “The very hairs of your head are all numbered! Fear not therefore! Every one therefore that shall [dare] confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall [dare] deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:30-36). “Whosoever will seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35).
Jesus Himself dared to suffer and die for souls―but Peter tried to dissuade from such a thing, thinking it to be folly: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter taking Jesus, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from Thee! This shall not be unto Thee! Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me! Because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’ Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me! For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it! For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:21-26).
In case we might be tempted to lock those words away in the closet of the past, Our Lord re-appears in the 1600s with Our Lady of Good Success and He addresses the following chastening and critical words to all of us: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador).
Daredevils or Dare-angels
There are plenty of daredevils―or devils daring to attack the Church and the Faith―but there are few “dare-angels” who have the daring to fight back and defend the Church and the Faith. The prophet Isaias poignantly puts the following words into the mouth of the Messias, when he says: “I have trodden the wine-press alone, and there is not a man with me … blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my clothing … I looked about, and there was none to help: I sought, and there was none to give aid!” (Isaias 63:3, ). To which Scripture adds: “They compassed Me on every side, and there was no one that would help Me! I looked for the help of men, and there was none!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:10). “They have destroyed My ways, they have lain in wait against Me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help!” (Job 30:13]). “And I looked for one that would grieve together with Me―but there was none! And for one that would comfort Me―and I found none!” (Psalm 68:21).
This lethargy, indifference, detachment, distancing, not really getting involved in truly living our Faith, is extremely commonplace―which goes hand-in-hand with the fact that few souls are saved. If you won’t put your heart into running the race, you have no chance of winning the prize! “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air! But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
God seeks daring souls―Our Lord seeks daring souls―the Holy Ghost seeks to produce daring souls! Where are they? Holy Scripture points some out to us―but they have few imitators among the faithful.
● NOE ― We see the daring or courage of Noe, who, in face of ridicule, spent decades (anywhere from 30 to 70 years) building his Ark miles and miles from a source of water capable of floating it― the Ark was approximately 510 feet long, it would take nearly one and a half football fields to equal the Ark’s length. The Ark was more than 50 feet from the ground—higher than a modern four-story housel and around 70 feet to 75 feet wide which would about the width of a six-lane interstate highway (which has a standard 12 feet per lane). It was over half the length of the Titanic ― whose length was 882 feet to the Ark’s 500 feet; Titanic’s width was 92 feet compared to the Ark’s 75 feet; and the Titanic height (without the giant funnels or smoke-stacks) was 105 feet, compared to the Ark’s 50 feet. The Ark was made by Noe and sons, while over 3,000 men worked on the Titanic. Noe dared to do it and he won in the end!
● ABRAHAM ― We see the daring or courage of Abraham in leaving a comfortable existence for a “Promised Land” the whereabouts of which he was clueless. It was a courageous blind Faith in God that was behind his daring. Then, years later, when his nephew Lot and his family had been captured as a result of a battle of local kings. Incredibly, Abraham didn’t hesitate to take only 318 men to find and rescue Lot and his family. They went against four kings and their forces and won. Abraham’s Faith in God’s gave him the daring courage which resulted in success.
● MOSES ― Moses was chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. At first he was hesitant to do this. But in the end, Moses obeyed the Lord. We see the daring or courage of Moses, who risked his life in repeatedly demanding that Pharao free millions of Hebrew slaves, who were profitable and useful to the Egyptians, and let them leave Egypt for the “Promised Land.” Moses had to face opposition. He first had to face Pharao ― the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth at that time (Exodus 3:11; 5:1-2). Pharao could have had Moses slaughtered at any time. At one point Pharao threatened to kill him (Exodus 10:28). When Moses finally did lead the people out of Egypt, Pharao sent his army to pursue them (Exodus 14:9). If this were not enough, he also faced opposition from his own people (Exodus 5:20-21), from his family―Miriam and Aaron (Numbers 12:1-2), and from Core and his allies (Numbers 16:1-3).
● DAVID ― As a boy, we see David have the daring to tackle a lion and a bear in order to protect the flock of his father, which sets him up in later years to take on the mighty soldier Goliath the Philistine, when all the soldiers of Israel were afraid to engage Goliath in combat. David says to King Saul: “I thy servant have killed both a lion and a bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine [Goliath] shall be also as one of them. I will go now, and take away the reproach of the people: for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, who hath dared to curse the army of the living God?” (1 Kings 17:36).
● ELIAS ― Elias risked the wrath of the idolatrous king Achab and his wicked queen, Jezabel, repeatedly denouncing their idolatry and promotion of false gods. Elias eventually dared to challenge the powers of evil―850 false prophets: consisting of 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah― to a contest on Mount Carmel, which Elias wins by evoking a miracle from God. After having commanded the people to slaughter the 850 false prophets, Elias has to flee the murderous vengeance of Jezabel, who, having seen her idolatrous priest and prophets slaughtered, sought to kill Elias in revenge. In spite of the many miracles of Elias, the majority of the Jewish people remained as godless as before, nevertheless, Elias was always daring and vehement in his condemnation of their idolatry―whether it was king or people.
● SIDRACH, MISACH, AND ABDENAGO ― In the time of Daniel, three young men― Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago―were cast into the furnace for refusing to adore the golden statue which king Nabuchodonosor had made. When threatened with death in the furnace, they said: “Behold our God, Whom we worship, is able to save us from the furnace of burning fire, and to deliver us out of thy hands, O king! But if He will not, be it known to thee, O king, that we will not worship thy gods, nor adore the golden statue which thou hast set up!” Then was Nabuchodonosor filled with fury and he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it had been accustomed to be heated. And he commanded the strongest men that were in his army, to bind the feet of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire.
According to the king’s command, the furnace was heated exceedingly. And the flame of the fire slew those men that had cast in Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago. But Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, bound in the midst of the furnace of burning fire, walked in the midst of the flame, praising God and blessing the Lord” (Daniel 3:16-24).
● DANIEL ― Daniel was raised to a high position in the kingdom of Darius the Mede. Daniel’s jealous rivals trick Darius into issuing a decree that, for thirty days, no prayers should be addressed to any god or man, but Darius himself; and anyone breaking this law, would be thrown to the lions. Daniel continued to pray to the God of Israel, and the king, although deeply distressed, was forced by Daniel’s rivals to uphold his own law and condemn Daniel to death, for the edicts of the Medes and Persians could not be altered. Hoping for Daniel’s deliverance, Darius reluctantly had Daniel cast into the pit. At daybreak the king hurried back to the lion’s den to see the fate of his friend. The still-living Daniel replied that his God had sent an angel to close the jaws of the lions, “because I was found blameless before Him.” The king then commanded that all those who had conspired against Daniel should be thrown to the lions in his place, along with their wives and children, and then wrote to all the people of the known world, commanding that all should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.
● ESTHER ― Esther saved her people by risking death in going uninvited to the king’s court and pleading that the Jews not be killed. Esther who had been deported with her family from Jerusalem to Babylon in the time of the Great Captivity. King Assuerus of Persia, after divorcing his wife, chose Esther as his next wife on account of her beauty. Not long thereafter, Aman, a royal favorite, to whom the king had ordered that all people should bow, was infuriated that the Jew, Mardochai (Esther’s uncle) refused to prostrate himself before him. Vengefully, Amon cunningly obtained the king’s consent for a general massacre, in one single day, of all the Jews in the kingdom. Esther’s uncle, Mardochai, informed Esther of this and begged her to use her influence with the king and avert the threatening danger. At first she feared to enter the presence of the king without being summoned―for to do that was a capital offence worthy of death. But, on the constant insistence of her uncle, she finally consented after three days of fasting and prayer, during which she requested her uncle to have all the Jews in the city fast and pray. To cut a long story short (you can read it yourself in the Book of Esther, chapters 1 to 9), Esther very cleverly, over the course of two banquets, informed the king of the plot of Aman, to destroy the whole Jewish people to which she belonged, and pleaded that they should be spared. The king ordered that Aman should be hanged on the gibbet he had prepared for Mardochai, and, confiscating his property, bestowed it upon the intended victim. The Jews took a bloody revenge on their enemies and instituted the feast of Purim to celebrate in memory of the day which Aman had determined for their destruction, but which had been turned by Esther into a day of triumph. The Fathers of the Church considered Esther as a type of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
● JUDITH ― Judith rescued the Jewish people in a time of great need and despair. In Biblical account we read that Judith lives in the town of Bethulia. She was a wise and beautiful widow, who becomes incensed with her town elders when they decided to “test” God rather than “trust” Him, by deciding to capitulate and surrender to King Nabuchodonosor’s top general, if God would not save them in five days. Judith feels that giving God such a deadline is arrogant and inappropriate in the extreme. She tells the elders she has a plan, but must leave the city for it to be successful. She refuses to divulge any details, departs with her slave woman, and enters Holofernes’s camp on the pretext of providing him help to defeat her fellow Jews. Holofernes is mesmerized by her beauty and takes her into his camp and company. His lust blinds him to her deceit. When Holofernes becomes excessively drunk, Judith manages to get him alone in his tent. When he passes out, she beheads him, takes his head and steals back to Bethulia, displays the result of her intrigue, and becomes the town’s heroine. Judith is also a type or figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary who will crush the head of the devil.
● GEDEON ― Gedeon was one of Greater Judges of the Old Testament, during period when Israel was ruled by Judges. Gedeon was the fifth judge and renowned as the greatest of Israel. For seven years the apostatizing and idolatrous Israelites had been exceedingly humbled by the invading Madianites and of other Eastern tribes, who ruined their crops and destroyed their cattle, as a punishment by God. When the Israelites realized the error of their ways and cried out for help to the Lord, Gedeon was chosen and sent to deliver them. Gedeon showed his daring and courage when he was first put to the test by God, being commanded to destroy the Baal idols that his father and the community had been worshiping (Judges 6:25-27)―which resulted in the community seeking to kill Gedeon in revenge. Then he was commanded to tackle the Madianite army, which was 135,000 strong. To raise an army, Gideon had to try and enlist his tribesmen to go into battle with him. These were the men whose idols he had destroyed! Before entering battle, Gideon’s troops numbered 32,000, but God refused that number, saying that once victory was won, they would claim victory as their own glory and not attribute it to God. So, in obedience to God, Gedeon reduces the 32,000 strong army by 22,000 (Judges 7:2-3)―leaving an army of only 10,000. Again in obedience to God, he decreases the remaining 10,000 by a further 9,700, leaving him with just 300 men (verses 7-8). This was against an enemy that had an army of 135,000 men. Thus God increased the overwhelming odds of being initially outnumbered by around 4 to 1 (135,000 versus 32,000) to an even more frightening ratio of being outnumbered by 13 to 1 (135,000 versus 10,000), and then God really stacks the odds against them by terrifyingly increasing the ratio of being outnumbered by 450 to 1 (135,000 versus 300). God really tested the Faith and daring of Gedeon―and, by trusting and obeying God, Gedeon won the victory, or rather, God won the victory using Gedeon and his 300 men as his tools.
● MACHABEES ― Judea, like many of the surrounding nations, had been defeated and had fallen to the Hellenic (Greek) Empire. As the First Book of Machabees says: “In those days there went out of Israel wicked men, and they persuaded many, saying: ‘Let us go, and make a covenant with the heathens that are round about us! For since we departed from them, many evils have befallen us!’ And the word seemed good in their eyes. And some of the people determined to do this, and went to the king: and he gave them license to do after the ordinances of the heathens. And they built a place of exercise [gymnasium, where sports would take place in nudity] in Jerusalem, according to the laws of the nations. And they removed the marks of circumcision, and departed from the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the heathens, and were sold to do evil” (1 Machabees 1:12-16).
“King Antiochus set up the abominable idol of desolation [the statue of Jupiter Olympius] upon the altar of God, and they built altars throughout all the cities of Juda round about. And they burnt incense and sacrificed at the doors of the houses, and in the streets. And they cut in pieces and burnt with fire the Books of the Law of God. And every one with whom the Books of the Testament of the Lord were found, and whosoever observed the law of the Lord, they put to death, according to the edict of the king. Thus, by their power, did they deal with the people of Israel that were found in the cities, month after month. The women that circumcised their children, were slain according to the commandment of King Antiochus. And they hanged the children about their necks in all their houses: and those that had circumcised them, they put to death. And many of the people of Israel determined, with themselves, that they would not eat unclean things: and they chose rather to die than to be defiled with unclean meats. And they would not break the Holy Law of God, and they were put to death” (1 Machabees 1:57-66).
Then, after the Hellenistic King Antiochus IV issued his decrees forbidding Jewish religious practice, a rural Jewish priest from Modiin―Mathathias the Hasmonean―sparked the Machabean revolt against the Empire, by refusing to worship the Greek gods. Mathathias killed a Hellenistic Jew (a Jew who had compromised his faith and religion), who had stepped forward to take Mathathias’s place in sacrificing to an idol, as well as killing the Greek officer who was sent to enforce the sacrifice. Afterwards, he and his five sons fled to the wilderness of Judah. After the death of Mathathias, about one year later in 166 BC, his son Judas Machabeus led an army of Jewish dissidents to victory over the troops of King Antiochus in guerrilla warfare, which at first was directed against Hellenized Jews (apostate Jews), of whom there were many. The Machabees destroyed pagan altars in the villages, circumcised boys and forced Hellenized Jews into outlawry. Judas’s nickname “Machabeus,” now used in popular culture to describe the Jewish partisans as a whole, is taken from the Hebrew word for “hammer.”
The revolt itself involved many battles, in which the light, quick and mobile Machabean forces gained notoriety among the slow and bulky army of King Antiochus, and also for their use of guerrilla tactics. After the victory, the Machabees entered Jerusalem in triumph and ritually cleansed the Temple, reestablishing traditional Jewish worship there and installing Jonathan, Judas’s youngest brother, as high priest. A large Hellenist army was sent to quash the revolt, but returned to Syria on the death of Antiochus IV. Beforehand, Judas Machabeus made an agreement with Rome and became allied, tying the hands of the weaker Seleucid/Hellenistic Empire. “They trust in their weapons, and in their boldness: but we trust in the Almighty Lord, who at a beck can utterly destroy both them that come against us, and the whole world” (2 Machabees 8:18).
● THE APOSTLES ― You could say that the Apostles were cowards who became daring―or rather, daring men who dared to leave everything and follow the unknown Jesus into uncertainty, who then lost their daring when “the chips were down” and “the stakes were raised” during the Passion and Death of Our Lord when they abandoned Him, only to regain their daring and walk into the jaws of their own martyrdom. Before their acts of cowardice, Our Lord had warned them of what awaited them: “If the world hate you―know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18) … “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake!” (Matthew 10:22) … “For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake!” (Mark 13:9) … “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death―and you shall be hated by all nations for My name’s sake!” (Matthew 24:9) … “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) … “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it―and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35). Thus when the Apostles were later arrested and brought before the Council, “they had scourged them, and they charged them that they should not speak at all in the Name of Jesus; and they dismissed them. And they indeed went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus” (Acts 5:40-41). This is why St. Paul writes: “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution!” (2 Timothy 3:12) … “I count all things to be but loss, for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ … and may know him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death” (Philippians 3:8-10).
● CATHOLICS TODAY ― Our Lady, in her apparitions as Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette, Fatima and Akita, paints a grim picture, brought about by our sins, negligence and indifference, that will require great daring and courage to meet, handle, navigate and overcome: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves [and we are NOT submitting], I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events ... Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises … The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!”
Our Lady calls for daring courageous souls: “I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends! … I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession ... Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Need a Motto? Got a Motto? What’s Your Motto?
Sometimes, to get through difficult times, we need to latch onto a phrase, a slogan, a motto that will serve as a guide and a crutch to get us through the difficult time. The same applies if we are targeting some goal or undertaking a project―a phrase, motto, mantra or slogan can help us focus on what we are trying to achieve. On a natural, human, physical, psychological, emotional level, we often forget our noble humanistic goals—exercising for health, eating healthier, working harder, procrastinating less, etc. Our goals are often derailed by distraction, temptation, and coping with the immediate problems of the day. If this happens so often on a natural level, you can bet your bottom dollar it happens more often on a supernatural level―goals are made, resolutions are taken, targets are set―and, before you know, like a ‘house of cards’ they have all fallen down! When this happens to you―which it most certainly does―what can you do?
Religious Orders, Organizations, Nations, the Military, etc. give us a simple idea that can go a long way and achieve remarkable results. What is that? It is having a motto or mantra on hand—or rather, in mind—one that expresses, reminds, and triggers your deepest values and goals. Like a quick jolt of caffeine, a motto can get you out of your mental or spiritual doldrums and spur you on. The term “motto” can stand-in for maxim, proverb, adage, and slogan, although the shades of meaning are slightly different.
Do not underestimate the power of a good motto. By definition, a “motto” is “a short sentence or phrase, chosen as encapsulating the beliefs or ideals guiding an individual, family, or institution; a brief statement expressing a principle, a goal, or an idea; a statement chosen as a guide for one’s conduct.” Complicated ideas get lost in many words and jargon. Smple mottos can help you remember what’s really important in an instant. This is why nations, religious orders, 12-step groups, schools, the Boy Scouts, and nearly every major organization, all have mottos. A motto is usually longer than a mantra, but if you repeat a short motto over and over, it can serve as a mantra—a repeated word or phrase that can soothe or motivate you.
Some Ways a Good Motto Can Help You
A psychologist wrote an interesting piece on how to harness and tap-into the power of a motto. The following points are a summary and paraphrasing of the secular ideas put forward―later, we will adapt the principles and put them to use for the spiritual life and our quest for salvation.
(1) A motto can replace destructive thinking with healthy self-talk.
Discouragement is often our Number One enemy, a trump card that devil plays with great effect. If you are despondent and are telling yourself, “I’ll never get this done,” replace that negative thought with a motto like:
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
“I’ve done it before and I can do it again!”
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!”
If you tell yourself, “I should always take care of others before myself,” your motto could be: “Put your own oxygen mask on first!”―for if you are incapacitated or weakened, how can you be of great help to others.
(2) A motto can help you change a habit
An essential aspect of willpower is the ability to remember your long-term goal. A motto can succinctly summarize why you want to change a habit and therefore increase your willpower. Mottos like these can keep your desired habit change on track:
“Health first.”
“Exercise—stay stronger longer.”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
“He who has a why can endure any how.”
“Make the right thing to do the easy thing to do.”
“Smoke-free—a healthy me.”
(3) A personal motto can remind you of who you are and what you stand for
At a memorial service, a son described his mother’s personal motto as, “Be kind. Tell the truth. Do your best.” You can’t think of better—or briefer—words to live by. Even a pagan, like Gandhi, can provide a good motto: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Another motto could be, “Take in the good, leave the evil” to remind you that there is something good in everyone that we learn from, but we must pick-up their evil traits. What is your personal motto? If you don’t have one, consider creating one or adopting one that fits your mission in life.
(4) A motto can jog your conscience, remind you of your values, and even teach character strengths.
Sometimes―most times?--we are so focused on ourselves and what is happening to us, or how we feel, or how something will affect us, that we forget “It’s not about you right now.” Sometimes you need to take time out, take a walk, repeating the phrase, “It’s not about you,” over and over. That mantra will help you refocus on your purpose in life and that you are not the center of the world! Other mottos that can remind you of your values
“That which is hateful to you, do not do to others.”
“First things first.”
“Think before you speak.”
“Justice delayed is justice denied.”
“If the problem can be solved with money, it’s not that important.”
“Time and tide wait for no man.” (meaning: There are some things you can’t control)
(5) A motto can provide a bracing shot of inspiration.
Everyone has a different outlook on things, but here are some universal phrases of hope and inspiration.
“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
“Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.”
“One person can make a difference.”
“Keep your eyes on the prize.”
“Every day is a second chance.”
“Tomorrow is another day.”
(6) A motto can calm your mind.
Everyone can use a few healthy self-soothing techniques. Instead of turning to overeating or overdrinking, take a walk and put one of these mottos in your “thought bubble:”
“One day at a time.”
“Keep calm and carry on.”
“This too shall pass.”
“Just this.”
“Easy does it.”
“How important is it?”
(7) A motto can increase your productivity.
Reminders like the mottos below can help you think right and do right in a work situation:
“Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”
“Slow and steady wins the race.”
“Keep on keeping on.”
“No pain, no gain.”
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
“Take a break, take a breath.”
(8) A motto can give you the encouragement that will help you persist.
In hard times, keep your chin up with a motto like one of these:
“There’s always tomorrow.”
“Every cloud has a silver lining.”
“There’s no failure, only feedback.”
(9) A motto adds some pleasure, fun, and humor to life.
Even frivolous, commercial, and politically incorrect mottos can provide some joy:
“We are born dumb, naked, wet and hungry―then things get worse!”
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
“Don’t just talk the talk―walk the walk!”
“Just do it!”
“There’s no fool like an old fool.”
“Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle!”
Making Mottos More Magnificent
You can create your own mottos or adapt existing ones. It doesn’t need to be witty, just a good reminder of your value or goal:
(1) Keep it short and easy to remember.
It can even be one word: Compassion. Calm. Listen.
(2) Make it emotionally intelligent.
This simply means it will strike the right chord within you.
(3) Boost your motto’s power with a rhyme or alliteration.
If you use a rhyme, it will stick every time. Or, to be scientific about it, rhymes boost your mind’s processing fluency.
Choose a motto or two and repeat them at intervals and see if they motivate or soothe you. If not, try, try again with different mottos.
Of course, there are bad mottos, too―mottos that incite to sin and evil. There are mottos that encourage people to wage war, take drugs, have affairs, or act against their own best interests and their ultimate interest―salvation. Care must be shown in what is allowed to get inside your head.
The next article will take a look a variety of mottos that can help you in your spiritual life and on the precarious and dangerous road that leads to salvation.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : The Feast of Corpus Christi : Thursday June 20th & Friday June 21st
Article 11
The Holy Eucharist and Devotion to Mary
The Bricks and Cement of Rebuilding the Faith and the Family!
Article 11
The Holy Eucharist and Devotion to Mary
The Bricks and Cement of Rebuilding the Faith and the Family!
More Than You Think!
Today we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ―that is the Holy Eucharist) during the month of the Sacred Heart. What most people do not realize, and what cannot be stressed too much, is the integral connection between devotion to the Holy Eucharist with devotion to the Sacred Heart. The two devotions can, in a certain sense, be said to be one and the same devotion. This is especially true is we read the account the Miracle of Lanciano, where scientific studies, over 1,200 years after the initial miracle took place, showed the Eucharistic remains to the inner wall of a human heart!
Out of Sight―Out of Mind
Many centuries had passed over the Church of Christ before there was any distinct feast of the Blessed Sacrament. When, in the 13th century, Our Lord chose that such a feast should be instituted, He had recourse by a simple vision to a simple nun to be the instrument of this devotion in His Church. St. Thomas Aquinas was living then, and so was King St. Louis, but God chose neither the learning of the one nor the royal power of the other to be the means of executing His desire.
The instrument in the hand of Divine Providence was St. Juliana of Mont Cornillon, in Belgium. She was born in 1193 at Retines near Liège. Orphaned at an early age, she was educated by the Augustinian nuns of Mont Cornillon. Here she in time made her religious profession and later became superioress. Intrigues of various kinds, several times drove her from her convent. She died on April 5th, 1258, at the House of the Cistercian nuns at Fosses, and was buried at Villiers.
Juliana, from her early youth, had a great veneration for the Blessed Sacrament, and always longed for a special feast in its honor. From the age of 16, Juliana of Liège (1193-1252), recurrently received the same vision when she knelt in prayer: A brilliant moon continually appeared before her with one small portion obscured and invisible. That Belgian canoness in the Augustinian canonry of Mont Cornillon tried in vain to chase the vision away.
Our Lord Steps In
Finally Our Lord Himself appeared to her and explained the reasons why He desired such a feast. He said it was to show that the liturgical year of the Church would remain incomplete until the Blessed Sacrament had a feast of its own, and He wished it to be instituted for the following reasons:
Firstly, in order that Catholic doctrine might receive aid from the institution of this festival at a time when the Faith of the world was growing cold and heresies were rife.
Secondly, the faithful who love and seek truth and piety could draw from this source of life new strength and vigor to walk continually in the way of virtue.
Thirdly, irreverence and sacrilegious behavior toward the Divine Majesty in the Blessed Sacrament might, by sincere and profound adoration, be rooted-out and repaired. Then He bade her to announce to the Christian world His will that this feast should be observed.
Full of fear, the canoness beseeched Our Lord to be released from the charge. Our Lord answered her that the solemn devotion, which He ordered to be observed, was to be begun by her and to be propagated by the poor and lowly.
Petrified Procrastination Postpones Propagation
Full of fear, the canoness beseeched Our Lord to be released from the charge. Our Lord answered her that the solemn devotion, which He ordered to be observed, was to be begun by her and to be propagated by the poor and lowly.
For 20 years the secret lay hidden in Juliana’s heart; she dared not reveal it to anyone, and yet an interior impulse urged her on, so that she could not forget it. So terrible was her repugnance, for the mission assigned to her, that she shed tears of blood over it.
At length she revealed the mission to her confessor, and to Robert de Thorete, then Bishop of Liège, as well as to the learned Dominican, Hugh, later cardinal legate in the Netherlands. Others were then consulted, especially Fr. Jacques Pantaléon, Archdeacon at the Cathedral of Liège who was afterwards elected Bishop of Verdun, then he became Patriarch of Jerusalem and, finally, he was elected Pontiff of Rome, being called Pope Urban IV.
Bishop Robert was favorably impressed and persuaded to initiate the feast by St. Juliana. Since bishops, at that time, had the right of introducing local feasts for their dioceses, he called a synod in 1246 and, after theological discussions, ordered the celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi to be held―within the Diocese of Liège, Belgium―in the following year. He also decreed that a local monk, named John, should compose the Liturgical Office for the occasion. The decree is preserved in Binterim (Denkwürdigkeiten, V, 1, 276), together with parts of the Office. Bishop Robert did not live to see the execution of his order, for he died 16 October, 1246; but the feast was celebrated for the first time by the canons of St. Martin at Liège.
Corpus Christi Creates Criticism and Controversy
From the time that Juliana revealed her visions about the feast, it became a public question, and men were sorely divided upon it. As her message became publicly known, she had to suffer scorn and ridicule for some years. Many canons and monks protested against the new devotion and argued that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was sufficient to commemorate the love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament ― without a special day being particularly assigned for that purpose.
Julianna prayed on as civic unrest and religious controversies raged around her; the city where she lived was lost and won in the waging Guelph/Ghibbelline struggle, sacked by a lawless army, and retaken. Three successive convents were either burned or otherwise destroyed over her head. Twice Juliana, now superior of the Convent and enforcing the strict Augustinian Rule, was forced to flee her convent.
After the second time, she found refuge in a Cistercian convent, then another, and then among the poor Beguines. From there she took up residence in the Cistercian Abbey at Salzinners, and finally at Fosses-les-Villes, where she lived in seclusion until her death. Yet no earthly troubles could make her forget the task that Our Lord had assigned her.
She died before it was accomplished throughout the whole Church―even though she had the joy of seeing it celebrated in her own diocese of Liège, in Belgium. Nevertheless, she had done enough in her lifetime to provide a spark for its execution. In her wanderings―she had met with a few men with devotion and learning to defend the feast of the Blessed Sacrament and they helped to spread the devotion, especially among the simple people.
The Miracle of Orvieto
Five years after the death of Juliana in 1258, a German priest, Peter of Prague, stopped at Bolsena in 1263, while on a pilgrimage to Rome. At that time this priest was suffering a crisis of faith, doubting that Christ was actually present in the consecrated Host. While celebrating Holy Mass above the tomb of St. Christina in the church named after this martyr, he had barely spoken the words of Consecration when blood started to seep from the consecrated Host and trickle over his hands onto the altar and the corporal.
At first the priest attempted to hide the blood, but then he interrupted the Mass and asked to be taken to the neighboring city of Orvieto, where he knew that Pope Urban IV was then visiting. The Pope listened to the priest’s account and dismissed him. He then sent emissaries for an immediate investigation. When all the facts were ascertained, he ordered the Bishop of the Diocese to bring the Host and the linen cloth (corporal) bearing the stains of blood to Orvieto. With Archbishops, Cardinals and other Church dignitaries in attendance, the Pope met the procession and, amid great pomp, had the relics placed in the Cathedral. The linen corporal bearing the spots of blood is still reverently enshrined and exhibited in the Cathedral of Orvieto.
Popes Take Over
After the death of Juliana in 1258, Pope Urban IV, who all along had been favorable towards instituting the feast of Corpus Christi, was asked to extend the devotion to the entire Church. The Eucharistic miracle of Orvieto, in 1263, was instrumental in his final decision favoring the installation of the Feast of Corpus Christi. Soon after the miracle of Orvieto Urban IV commissioned the great Dominican scholar, St. Thomas Aquinas, to compose the Proper for a Mass (readings and texts for the Mass) and Divine Office for the new feast. The splendor, depth, and devotion of the prayers and hymns that Saint Thomas wrote have enriched the liturgy with one of its most beautiful rituals. They are still in use today, admired and appreciated by people of all faiths.
One year later, on September 8th, 1264 (six years after the death of Juliana), Pope Urban IV, by means of the papal bull Transiturus de hoc mundo, established for the universal Church that festival in honor of the Holy Eucharist ― the feast of Corpus Christi. At the same time he granted many indulgences to the faithful for attendance at Mass and the Office. It was to be celebrated with great solemnity on the Thursday after Pentecost week, and indulgences were granted to all who would receive Holy Communion or attend special devotions in addition to hearing Mass.
The papal bull, Transiturus de hoc mundo, of Urban IV had no immediate effect, because he died (October 2nd, 1264) within a month of its publication (September 8th, 1264), and the immediate succeeding popes did not push the matter. However, Pope Clement V (elected pope in 1305) again took the matter in hand and, at the General Council of Vienne (1311), once more ordered the adoption of the feast. Finally, however, Pope Clement V, in 1314, renewed the decrees in a papal bull of his own, which embodied that of Urban IV. Pope John XXII, successor of Clement V, also urged its observance.
The feast began to spread quickly throughout the Latin Church. The feast had been accepted in 1306 at Cologne; Worms adopted it in 1315; Strasburg in 1316. In England it was introduced from Belgium between 1320 and 1325. Later it was also accepted by some parts of the Oriental Church (Syrians, Armenians, Copts, and Melchites). The churches of the Greeks, Ukrainians, and Russians (of the Greek Catholic Rite) do not celebrate this feast.
The triumph of the Blessed Sacrament was complete, and the devotion spread throughout the length and breadth of Europe. From that time, until after Vatican II, every church in a Catholic country―from the cathedral of a royal city down to the most modest village chapel―kept the feast on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday. The procession would issue into the streets followed by the authorities of the realm. It is the public recognition by the Catholic world of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
From Triumph to Tragedy
In the ebb and flow, ups and downs, wins and losses of the spiritual combat, the devil would strike back at this Eucharistic devotion―a most central element of spiritual life and salvation―with hundreds of years of erosion and corrosion of the devotion. Just as it took centuries for the Eucharistic devotion of Corpus Christi to cement itself in the liturgy of the Church, so too has the devil taken centuries to gradually whittle and chip away that devotion.
In a nutshell, over the centuries, the devil has chipped-away at the Holy Eucharist with several progressive tools:
Jansenism―creates infrequent reception of Christ in the Holy Eucharist through excessive feelings of unworthiness
Rationalism―creates a doubt over the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist
Modernism―creates a new doctrine and belief on the presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist
Materialism―creates an tangible, visible, enjoyable alternative to Christ in the Holy Eucharist
Hedonism (Seeking Pleasure)―creates a greater material pleasure than the ‘boring’ Holy Eucharist seems offer
Technologism―creates through technological inventions greater interest, advantages, immediate results and profit than the Holy Eucharist offers
All distractions and alternatives that seem to be more desirable, more interesting, more exciting, more profitable, more lovable, more advantageous, more satisfying and more gratifying than the Holy Eucharist―which is today proven by the number of hours people spend in front TVs, computer monitors, tablet screens and smartphones; proven by the sports temples that are filled everyday with sports worshipers; proved by the time and money spent on entertainment and pleasure-seeking; proven by the empty churches and lack of Eucharistic worship and worshipers; proven by the lack of attendance at Masses to receive the Holy Eucharist.
The Screwtape Letters and “Screwed-Up Souls”
The Screwtape Letters is a novel by C. S. Lewis, published in 1942, which, even though it is satirical and humorous― although he said it was “not fun” to write―for the content also has a deadly ring of truth to it. Lewis himself writes: “Though it was easy to twist one’s mind into the diabolical attitude, it was not fun, or not for long. The strain produced a sort of spiritual cramp. The work into which I had to project myself while I spoke through Screwtape was all dust, grit, thirst, and itch. Every trace of beauty, freshness, and geniality had to be excluded. It almost smothered me before I was done.”
The story takes the form of a series of 31 letters from a senior demon, called Screwtape (hence the title― The Screwtape Letters), to his nephew Wormwood, who is a Junior Tempter. Screwtape holds an administrative post in the bureaucracy or “Lowerarchy” of Hell (as opposed to “Hierarchy” or “Higherarchy” of Heaven), and acts as a mentor to his nephew Wormwood, an inexperienced and incompetent tempter who is just starting out is the field of temptation. The uncle demon is counseling his nephew demon, who has been charged with the responsibility of guiding a man (called “the patient”) away from “the Enemy” (meaning Jesus), toward “Our Father Below” (meaning the Devil / Satan).
In these 31 letters, which make up the book, Screwtape gives Wormwood detailed advice on various methods of undermining God’s words and of promoting an abandonment of God in “the Patient”, so that he can be successfully led to “Our Father Below” (meaning the Devil / Satan). Screwtape sprinkles the letters with his observations on human nature and on the Bible. In Screwtape’s advice, selfish gain and power are seen as the only good. After the second letter, the Patient converts to Christianity, and Wormwood is chastised by Screwtape for allowing this. After “the Patient’s” conversion to Christianity, he further irritates the devils by marrying a good Christian girl. A striking contrast in tactics emerges between Wormwood and Screwtape during the rest of the book―whereby Wormwood becomes obsessed with trying to tempt his patient into blatantly obvious wicked and deplorable sins, often recklessly, while Screwtape takes a more subtle approach, as seen in Letter XII, wherein he states: “The safest road to Hell is the gradual one ― the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” Screwtape further admonishes Wormwood to keep “the Patient” safe, in the hopes that they can compromise and destroy his Faith over a long lifetime. In Letter VIII, Screwtape explains to his protégé, Wormwood, the different goals that God and the devils have for the human race: “We want cattle who can finally become food! He wants servants who can finally become sons!” With this end in mind, Screwtape urges Wormwood in Letter VI to promote passivity and irresponsibility in the Patient: “The Enemy (God) wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them!” This, sadly, is the road that we are happily treading today―oblivious to the great dangers, or at best, perceiving those great dangers as being merely trivial dangers.
A Taste of Hell―Sugary Coating, Bitter Center
If you have not read The Screwtape Letters, then it would not be a bad idea to do so―but you should read it in conjunction with a spiritual classic on temptation, such as The Spiritual Exercises by St. Ignatius of Loyola, or a short booklet that is a very readable commentary on St. Igantius’ Spiritual Exercises, written by Fr. Ludovic-Marie Barrielle, entitled Rules for Discerning the Spirits―which distills the wisdom of the 30-day Ignatian retreat into 20 principles, so that you can discern the spiritual influences in your life that are from God from those that are from the devil. The Screwtape Letters are also a slightly humorous means of introducing children to the not so humorous reality of the mechanics of temptation, sin, damnation or salvation―depending on how we handle temptation.
However, parts can seem somewhat obscure―not because they are of themselves difficult, but because we have had our vocabulary eroded and emptied by modern day forms of communication. Hence, before ‘feeding’ the children, you may have modify parts or “cut-them-up-into-bite-size-pieces” or make them into “vocabulary smoothies” for those who have lost, or not even grown, their intellectual teeth. One way of doing this is to find an online version of The Screwtape Letters, copy and paste it into you preferred text document―Microsoft Word, Wordperfect, etc. ― and then read through it, changing and simplifying any words or phrases that you feel might be difficult for your children to understand. You may find that there is very much that needs to be modified―in that case it is recommended that you feed your children one-letter-a-week―which, in actual fact, is how the original Screwtape Letters, were fed to the public, by being published in the newspaper, one-letter-per-week. Here is the opening short chapter―as previously stated, in the form of a letter, from the devil, Uncle Screwtape (the mentor demon), to his protégé demon, Wormwood, who is just starting-out in his temptation apprenticeship.
My Dear Wormwood,
I note what you say about guiding your patient’s reading and taking care that he sees a good deal of his materialist friend. But are you not being a trifle naive. It sounds as if you supposed that argument was the way to keep him out of the Enemy’s [God’s] clutches. That might have been so if he had lived a few centuries earlier. At that time the humans still knew pretty well when a thing was proved and when it was not; and if it was proved they really believed it. They still connected thinking with doing and were prepared to alter their way of life as the result of a chain of reasoning. But what with the weekly press and other such weapons, we have largely altered that.
Your man has been accustomed, ever since he was a boy, to having a dozen incompatible philosophies dancing about together inside his head. He doesn’t think of doctrines as primarily “true” or “false, but as “academic” or “practical,” “outworn” or “contemporary,” “conventional” or “ruthless.” Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church. Don’t waste time trying to make him think that materialism is true! Make him think it is strong, or stark, or courageous; that it is the philosophy of the future. That’s the sort of thing he cares about.
The trouble about argument is that it moves the whole struggle onto the Enemy’s [God’s] own ground. He can argue too; whereas in really practical propaganda, of the kind I am suggesting, He has been shown for centuries to be greatly the inferior of Our Father Below [Satan]. By the very act of arguing, you awake the patient’s reason; and once it is awake, who can foresee the result? Even if a particular train of thought can be twisted so as to end in our favor, you will find that you have been strengthening in your patient the fatal habit of attending to universal issues and withdrawing his attention from the stream of immediate sense experiences. Your business is to fix his attention on the stream. Teach him to call it “real life” and don’t let him ask what he means by “real.”
Remember, he is not, like you, a pure spirit. Never having been a human (O that abominable advantage of the Enemy’s!) you don’t realize how enslaved they are to the pressure of the ordinary.
I once had a patient, a sound atheist, who used to read in British Museum. One day, as he sat reading, I saw a train of thought in his mind beginning to go the ‘wrong way. The Enemy, of course, was at his elbow in a moment. Before I knew where I was I saw my twenty years’ work beginning to totter. If I had lost my head and begun to attempt a defense by argument, I should have been undone.
But I was not such a fool. I struck instantly at the part of the man which I had best under my control, and suggested that it was just about time he had some lunch. The Enemy presumably made the counter suggestion (you know how one can never quite overhear what He says to them?) that this was more important than lunch. At least I think that must have been His line, for when I said, “Quite. In fact much too important to tackle at the end of a morning,” the patient brightened up considerably, and by the time I had added “Much better come back after lunch and go into it with a fresh mind,” he was already halfway to the door.
Once he was in the street the battle was won. I showed him a newsboy shouting the midday paper, and a No. 73 bus going past, and before he reached the bottom of the steps I had got into him an unalterable conviction that, whatever odd ideas might come into a man’s head when he was shut up alone with his books, a healthy dose of “real life” (by which he meant the bus and the newsboy) was enough to show him that all “that sort of thing” just couldn’t be true. He knew he’d had a narrow escape, and in later years was fond of talking about “that inarticulate sense for actuality which is our ultimate safeguard against the aberrations of mere logic.” He is now safe in Our Father’s house.
You begin to see the point? Thanks to processes which we set at work in them centuries ago, they find it all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is before their eyes. Keep pressing home on him the ordinariness of things. Above all, do not attempt to use science (I mean, the real sciences) as a defense against Christianity. They will positively encourage him to think about realities he can’t touch and see. There have been sad cases among the modern physicists. If he must dabble in science, keep him on economics and sociology; don’t let him get away from that invaluable “real life.” But the best of all is to let him read no science, but to give him a grand general idea that he knows it all and that everything he happens to have picked up in casual talk and reading is “the results of modern investigation.” Do remember you are there to fuddle him. From the way some of you young fiends talk, anyone would suppose it was our job to teach!
Your affectionate uncle,
Screwtape
That opening chapter sets the tone and reveals the basic successful demonic tactic for which most souls have fallen and for which most souls still fall―distraction from God and attraction to the world, distraction from the hereafter and attraction to the here-and-now. This is the principal cause of the damnation of so many souls―something that is attested by Our Lord, Our Lady and numerous saints―the fact being that most souls fall for the devil and fall into Hell. Salvation is possible for everyone, but not everyone wants to follow the rules and paths of salvation―God will not twist anyone’s arm, but Satan will. God gives every single soul sufficient graces and warnings to save their souls, but most souls waste, ignore or deliberately refuse to cooperate with those graces and warnings.
The Heavenail Truths versus The Screwtape Letters
Of course, The Screwtape Letters is a fictional work, but one that nevertheless expounds certain truths about the “Father of Lies.” Our Lady’s apparitions are not fictional, and they, too, convey truths―in fact they ‘nail’ the truth and ‘nail’ the truth about Satan’s antics and tactics. They also ‘nail’ mankind by chastising our indifference and negligence is corresponding with those Heaven-sent truths and doing something about it! In The Screwtape Letters, the devils Screwtape and Wormwood are plotting damnation―in what could be called The Heavenail Truths, Our Lord and Our Lady are trying to nail us down, or tie us down, to the truths that we persist in ignoring or “sweeping under the carpet.” Screwtape and Wormwood have their tactics for our salvation, whereas Our Lord and Our Lady have their tactics for our salvation. Ultimately, it depends on who we listen to and who we believe and whose advice we take.
Screwtape’s policy of leading “patients” to Hell is a patient method―as the popular saying states: “Little-by-little one goes a long way!”― even all the way to Hell. That is the preferred method of Satan. Little falls are less likely to make us take action than big falls. Like an ocean gently wafting against the shoreline and slowly eroding it, or the ever so gently increasing temperature of the water dissuades the comfortable frog from jumping out of it, or like the incremental and progressive changes in laws that have now led us to abortions and same-sex marriages, the devils prefer to follow a similar policy in damning souls. Rome wasn’t built in a day and no soul was damned in a day. The easiest way to get anyone into committing mortal sins is to get them to commit the smallest and teeniest of venial sins on a regular basis, which leads to an addiction to that sin (those sins) and thus begins to weaken our spiritual immune system and will-power in resisting sin in general. The initial ‘infiltrating’ sins are made to look so ‘tiny’ and ‘insignificant’ so as to convince you that it’s not all that important. After the first little sin in any category, it’s easier to repeat the next one in the same category―since it doesn’t matter, right? And once you’ve committed enough of the ‘little’ ones, the big ones (or the smallest of the big ones) won’t seem so bad—because the little ones basically add up to a big one, anyway, and those were okay, right? Wrong. Tiny steps toward evil are still evil. The Catechism teaches that the greatest evil in the world is sin―mortal sin being the greatest evil, and venial sin the second greatest evil. Today, since hardly anyone knows their Catechism, those truths are forgotten and ignored. If we think sin is of little consequence― “Oh, what’s the big deal? I’ll commit it and then just go and confess it!”― then it is obvious that temptations will be seen as being of even less consequence. The day when we stop letting even the little temptations bother us, is the day our final descent begins.
Nailing Down the Truth or Nailing Christ Again?
Sin can be forgiven―any kind of sin can be forgiven; any gravity of sin can be forgiven; any quantity of sin can be forgiven―as Holy Scripture says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity” (1 John 1:9) … “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18) … “Peter came unto Jesus and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times!’” (Matthew 18:21-22) … “The Lord is compassionate and merciful; longsuffering and plenteous in mercy. He will not always be angry; nor will he threaten for ever. He hath not dealt with us according to our sins: nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our iniquities from us!” (Psalm 102:8-12).
On the other hand, Our Lord, when He had forgiven the woman caught in adultery, and healed the sinful paralytic by the Pool of Bethsaida, he to one and the other to stop sinning: “Jesus said to her: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:11) … “Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14). Scripture adds: “God will surely take revenge. Say not: ‘I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me?’ For the most High is a patient rewarder. Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ For both mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:3-8). Read Leviticus 26:14-45 for further proofs. Hence Scripture warns: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
This is what Our Lady reminds us of―adding nothing new to Divine Public Revelation, but warning us of its consequences―when she says: “Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God [even lay Catholics are dedicated to God by their Baptism], who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … Holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Sin will conquer innumerable frivolous souls―who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.”
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other ... As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!” (Combination of warning from Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador; Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
The Hazy, Mazy, Lazy Way of Screwtape
These are the truths and warnings that the ‘Screwtapes’ and ‘Wormwoods’ of today wish to distract you from. Yet the truth is that we are heading towards the above mentioned cataclysms and catastrophes as surely as there is an Earth, a Hell and a Heaven. As Screwtape writes: Do not “awake the patient’s reason; for once it is awake, who can foresee the result? … As always, the first step is to keep knowledge out of his mind … Give him a grand general idea that he knows it all … Make his mind flit to and fro … Keep everything hazy in his mind … Even if a particular train of thought can be twisted so as to end in our favor, you will find that you have been strengthening in your patient the fatal habit of thinking about universal issues [or his salvation] and withdrawing his attention from the stream of immediate sense experiences. Your business is to fix his attention on the daily stream of experiences. Teach him to call it «real life» and don’t let him ask what he means by «real». Remember, he is not, like you, a pure spirit. You don’t realize how enslaved humans are to the pressure of the ordinary! … Thanks to processes which we set at work in them centuries ago, they find it all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is before their eyes. Keep pressing home on him the ordinariness of things … What he says, even on his knees, about his own sinfulness is all parrot talk. At bottom, he still believes that he has run up a very favorable credit balance in the Enemy’s ledger … Keep him in that state of mind as long as you can! … Weaken his prayers by diverting his attention from the Enemy … Let an insult, or a woman’s body, so fix his attention outwardly, that he does not reflect that «I am now entering into the state called Anger—or the state called Lust» ... We should make the patient an extreme patriot or an extreme pacifist. All extremes―except extreme devotion to the Enemy―are to be encouraged. Not always, of course, but at this period. Some ages are lukewarm and complacent, and then it is our business to soothe them yet faster asleep. Other ages, of which the present is one, are unbalanced and prone to factions, and it is our business to inflame them. Then quietly and gradually nurse him on to the stage at which the religion becomes merely part of the ‘Cause’ … Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and Sacraments and charity, he is ours!”
The Antidote, Weapons, Bricks and Cement
It is exactly that―as Screwtape says―let mankind do anything they want, even good things, as long as you can get them to neglect prayer, the Sacraments and charity. Our Lady has said that the devil has mainly succeeded in this tactic, for most souls are ignoring her warnings and instructions, failing to do what Heaven wants them to do and, instead, carrying on doing the good things they themselves prefer to do. The devil is always about doing the “lesser”―when it comes to sin, he will make us feel ‘virtuous’ if he can make us “do the lesser of two evils”―he first suggests a whopper of a sin, which he knows we will find repugnant, and then he will suggest a lesser sin, which makes us feel ‘good’ because we have committed a lesser evil―like the fraudulent vendor who asks $30,000 for a used car, knowing it will shock you, then drops his price to $20,000 which makes you feel as though you are getting a bargain, whereas it is still overpriced. Likewise, does the devil want us to “do the lesser of two goods”―if he sees that we want to pray all 15 mysteries of the Rosary, he will suggest that we give our lonely grandma a phone call instead, all in the name of charity. Or if we are inclined to pray―he will let us pray, but he will encourage us the pray the less powerful p rayer. Thus, instead of praying the Rosary, he will have us pray a novena. Instead of spiritual reading that will change our actions, he will have read something spiritual that merely titillates our mind and leaves actions aside.
In this way, the devil has succeeded in diverting and distracting us from the two ESSENTIAL weapons that Heaven has instructed that we must use in our present day warfare against our triple enemy―the devil, the world and our own flesh (passions and concupiscence). Those first and most powerful of those two weapons is THE HOLY EUCHARIST in all its forms―the Holy Sacrifice of Mass, Holy Communion, visits to the Blessed Sacrament and spiritual Communions. The second of those two weapons is DEVOTION TO OUR LADY in all its forms―praying the Holy Rosary daily and many Rosaries daily; the wearing of the Brown Scapular and other Scapulars; the wearing of the Miraculous Medal; the recitation of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the observation of her feastdays; the practice of the five First Saturdays of the Month in reparation for sin; and, above all these things, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the consecration of ourselves (as well as Russia primarily and other nations secondarily) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. All the lesser things―Rosary, Scapular, Medals, First Saturdays, etc. ― are the bricks that make up the larger temple of a true devotion to Mary.
Yet those are the very things that are neglected, forgotten, sidelined, marginalized and unpublicized. As Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Walt Disney Corporation has coined the phrase: “If you can dream it, you can do it!” ―and we have fallen for the dream! Or, rather, the devil has made us fall for that dream―much as he made Eve fall for the “Original Dream”―“In what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!” (Genesis 3:5). Since that day, generation after generation have fallen for the “Original Dream”―dreaming that we are better than we actually are; dreaming that we are doing more than most; dreaming that our sins are not that bad; dreaming that our pitiful penances have paid our debts for sin; dreaming that world is in a better state than it really is; dreaming that God will turn a blind-eye to everything because He is a loving God; dreaming that the Chastisement will not come―at least not in our lifetime; dreaming that most people will go to Heaven; dreaming this and dreaming that!
These are not the kind of dreams that Holy Scripture means, when it says: “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions” (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17). The devil is a frequent source of our unrealistic dreams and Scripture says that the “forger of dreams shall be slain―because he spoke to draw you away from the Lord your God!” (Deuteronomy 13:5). “Give no heed to your dreams which you dream!” (Jeremias 29:8). “Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities!” (Ecclesiastes 5:6). “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10) “Dreams lift up fools!” (Ecclesiasticus 34:1). “You shall not observe dreams!” (Leviticus 19:26). “For dreams have deceived many, and they have failed that put their trust in them!” (Ecclesiasticus 34:7).
Yet, to some, God actually did speak through dreams and to some God gave the power to interpret dreams. We see both the Old Testament Joseph and the New Testament Joseph having messages transmitted to them through dreams. The Old Testament Joseph had several dreams that indicated his future to him (Genesis 37), while also receiving the power to interpret the dreams of two of Pharao’s servants whilst he was in prison in Egypt. St. Joseph had the angel of God speak to him several times in his dreams, wherein he was given major instructions as to what to do and where to go and when to go. In the Old Testament Book of Daniel, we read that Daniel was the was given the power to interpret the dream of King Nabuchodonnosor of Babylon: “God gave to Daniel the understanding also of all visions and dreams” (Daniel 1:17). King Solomon was another dreamer: “The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, saying: ‘Ask what thou wilt that I should give thee!’” (3 Kings 3:5). There are more instances to be found in the Old Testament, whereas in the New Testament, besides St. Joseph’s dreams, we have St. Peter given a dream that indicates to him that the Gentiles should be accepted as converts to Christianity. The wife of Pontius Pilate received a dream that could have saved Pilate’s skin had he only listened to her: “Have thou nothing to do with that just man [Jesus]; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of Him!” (Matthew 27:19).
The Saint of Dreams
This brings us to St. John Bosco―who could be called “The Saint of Dreams”―you may have read the book entitled “Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco”, from which let us take a dream that applies to our day and age, as well to this current article―it is the dream which has come be known as “The Prophecy of the Two Columns.” Here are the pertinent extracts from that dream. On May 30th, 1862 Don Bosco at his ‘Good Night’ talk told his boys, and the young clerics he was training, about a dream he had dreamt a few nights previously. After some preliminary remarks he went on to describe what he had seen:
“Try to picture yourselves with me on the seashore, or, better still, on an outlying cliff with no other land in sight. The vast expanse of water is covered with a formidable array of ships in battle formation, prows [the front of the ship] fitted with sharp spear-like beaks capable of breaking through any defense. All are heavily armed with cannons, incendiary bombs, and firearms of all sorts ― even books ― and are heading toward one stately ship, mightier than them all [the Catholic Church]. As they try to close in, they try to ram it, set it afire, and cripple it as much as possible. This stately vessel is shielded by a flotilla escort. Winds and waves are with the enemy. In this midst of this endless sea, two solid columns, a short distance apart, soar high into the sky: one is surmounted by a statue of the Immaculate Virgin at whose feet a large inscription reads: «Help of Christians» ― the other, far loftier and sturdier, supports a [Holy Communion] Host of proportionate size and bears beneath it the inscription «Salvation of believers». The flagship commander ― the Roman Pontiff [the Pope] ― seeing the enemy’s fury and his auxiliary ships very grave predicament, summons his captains to a conference. However, as they discuss their strategy, a furious storm breaks out and they must return to their ships. When the storm abates, the Pope again summons his captains as the flagship keeps on its course. But the storm rages again. Standing at the helm, the Pope strains every muscle to steer his ship between the two columns, from whose summits hang many anchors and strong hooks linked to chains. The entire enemy fleet closes in to intercept and sink the flagship at all costs. They bombard it with everything they have: books and pamphlets, incendiary bombs, firearms, cannons. The battle rages ever more furious. Beaked prows ram the flagship again and again, but to no avail, as, unscathed and undaunted, it keeps on its course. At times a formidable ram splinters a gaping hole into its hull, but, immediately, a breeze from the two columns instantly seals the gash. Meanwhile, enemy cannons blow up, firearms and beaks fall to pieces, ships crack up and sink to the bottom. In blind fury the enemy takes to hand-to-hand combat, cursing and blaspheming. Suddenly the Pope falls, seriously wounded. He is instantly helped up but, struck down a second time, dies. A shout of victory rises from the enemy and wild rejoicing sweeps their ships. But no sooner is the Pope dead than another takes his place. The captains of the auxiliary ships elected him so quickly that the news of the Pope’s death coincides with that of his successor’s election. The enemy’s self-assurance wanes. Breaking through all resistance, the new Pope steers his ship safely between the two columns and moors it to the two columns; first to the one surmounted by the Host, and then to the other, topped by the statue of the Virgin. At this point something unexpected happens. The enemy ships panic and disperse, colliding with and scuttling each other. Some auxiliary ships which had gallantly fought alongside their flagship are the first to tie up at the two columns. Many others, which had fearfully kept far away from the fight, stand still, cautiously waiting until the wrecked enemy ships vanish under the waves. Then, they too head for the two columns, tie up at the swinging hooks, and ride safe and tranquil beside their flagship. A great calm now covers the sea.”
At this point, Don Bosco asked one of the priests present for his views. He replied that he thought that the flagship symbolized the Church headed by the Pope, with the ships representing mankind and the sea as an image of the world. The ships defending the flagship he equated with the laity and the attackers with those trying to destroy the Church, while the two columns represented devotion to Mary and the Eucharist. Don Bosco replied: “Very grave trials await the Church. What we have suffered so far is almost nothing compared to what is going to happen. The enemies of the Church are symbolized by the ships which strive their utmost to sink the flagship. Only two things can save us in such a grave hour: devotion to Mary and frequent Communion. Let us do our very best to use these two means and have others use them everywhere.” St. John Bosco was stressing the importance of devotion to Our Lady and the Blessed Sacrament.
Our Lady of Good Success on Devotion to Mary and the Holy Eucharist
This same combination―of devotion to Our Lady in one form or another, and devotion to the Holy Eucharist in one form or another―has also been the essence of many of the Marian apparitions over the last few hundred years. At Quito in Ecuador, besides saying that she would crush Satan’s proud head, during “that epoch during which there will be a great devotion to me”― she also commanded that we “clamor insistently, imploring the Celestial Father that, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood shed with such generosity and the profound bitterness and sufferings of His cruel Passion and Death, He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times” when “there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed.” Our Lord Himself added: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
Other Apparitions
► RUE DU BAC (1830) ― St. Catherine Labouré is woken by an angel and told to go the convent chapel, where Our Lady appears to her in the sanctuary of the chapel―thus in the presence of the Holy Eucharist. The second time Our Lady appeared, it was again in the present of the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel. The devotion to Our Lady came through the Miraculous Medal, which Our Lady revealed to St. Catherine Labouré, and commanded medals to be made according to design Our Lady had manifested.
►LA SALETTE, FRANCE (1846) ― Our Lady spoke about future abuses to Holy Eucharist, especially through irreverential Masses offered by the priests and the neglect of people in attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. She also pointed out her role in the triumph of the Church after terrible persecutions, murders, wars and catasptophes.
► FATIMA, PORTUGAL (9117) ― Even before Our Lady first appeared, there was apparition of the Angel of Portugal, who showed the children how to reverence, adore and pray to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Then, in her apparitions, Our Lady explicitly spoke about devotion to her―especially through the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart, saying that only she could help the world now. You could say that the Miracle of the Sun, whereby the sun was seen spinning and then falling out of the sky towards the ground, was symbolic of both the Miracle of Holy Eucharist (transubstantiation), and the fall in devotion of the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
► AKITA, JAPAN (1973) ― We take note that Sister Agnes Sasagawa, to whom Our Lady spoke, belonged to The Institute of Handmaids of the Eucharist. On several occasions Sr. Agnes encounters a bright light emanating from the tabernacle in the chapel and “spiritual beings” worshiping the Eucharist. Our Lady prays together with Sr. Agnes the Institute’s prayer to Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus: “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, truly present in Holy Eucharist, I consecrate my body and soul to be entirely one with Your Heart, being sacrificed at every instant on all the altars of the world and giving praise to the Father pleading for the coming of His Kingdom.” After this, Our Lady tells her: “Recite the prayer of the Handmaids of the Eucharist with awareness of its meaning; put it into practice!” Then Our Lady speaks of devotion to both her and her Son―especially implying it to be the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist―saying: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
Need any more be said? No! But much needs to be done to change our attitude, approach, practice and love of these two life-saving―eternal life saving―gifts that Heaven has offered as the last means of hope and salvation in these undoubtedly cataclysmic times―which not everyone sees and recognizes, because their eyes are on their screens and instead of Rosaries in their hands, they have smartphones, cookies, burgers, beers, etc.
Today we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ―that is the Holy Eucharist) during the month of the Sacred Heart. What most people do not realize, and what cannot be stressed too much, is the integral connection between devotion to the Holy Eucharist with devotion to the Sacred Heart. The two devotions can, in a certain sense, be said to be one and the same devotion. This is especially true is we read the account the Miracle of Lanciano, where scientific studies, over 1,200 years after the initial miracle took place, showed the Eucharistic remains to the inner wall of a human heart!
Out of Sight―Out of Mind
Many centuries had passed over the Church of Christ before there was any distinct feast of the Blessed Sacrament. When, in the 13th century, Our Lord chose that such a feast should be instituted, He had recourse by a simple vision to a simple nun to be the instrument of this devotion in His Church. St. Thomas Aquinas was living then, and so was King St. Louis, but God chose neither the learning of the one nor the royal power of the other to be the means of executing His desire.
The instrument in the hand of Divine Providence was St. Juliana of Mont Cornillon, in Belgium. She was born in 1193 at Retines near Liège. Orphaned at an early age, she was educated by the Augustinian nuns of Mont Cornillon. Here she in time made her religious profession and later became superioress. Intrigues of various kinds, several times drove her from her convent. She died on April 5th, 1258, at the House of the Cistercian nuns at Fosses, and was buried at Villiers.
Juliana, from her early youth, had a great veneration for the Blessed Sacrament, and always longed for a special feast in its honor. From the age of 16, Juliana of Liège (1193-1252), recurrently received the same vision when she knelt in prayer: A brilliant moon continually appeared before her with one small portion obscured and invisible. That Belgian canoness in the Augustinian canonry of Mont Cornillon tried in vain to chase the vision away.
Our Lord Steps In
Finally Our Lord Himself appeared to her and explained the reasons why He desired such a feast. He said it was to show that the liturgical year of the Church would remain incomplete until the Blessed Sacrament had a feast of its own, and He wished it to be instituted for the following reasons:
Firstly, in order that Catholic doctrine might receive aid from the institution of this festival at a time when the Faith of the world was growing cold and heresies were rife.
Secondly, the faithful who love and seek truth and piety could draw from this source of life new strength and vigor to walk continually in the way of virtue.
Thirdly, irreverence and sacrilegious behavior toward the Divine Majesty in the Blessed Sacrament might, by sincere and profound adoration, be rooted-out and repaired. Then He bade her to announce to the Christian world His will that this feast should be observed.
Full of fear, the canoness beseeched Our Lord to be released from the charge. Our Lord answered her that the solemn devotion, which He ordered to be observed, was to be begun by her and to be propagated by the poor and lowly.
Petrified Procrastination Postpones Propagation
Full of fear, the canoness beseeched Our Lord to be released from the charge. Our Lord answered her that the solemn devotion, which He ordered to be observed, was to be begun by her and to be propagated by the poor and lowly.
For 20 years the secret lay hidden in Juliana’s heart; she dared not reveal it to anyone, and yet an interior impulse urged her on, so that she could not forget it. So terrible was her repugnance, for the mission assigned to her, that she shed tears of blood over it.
At length she revealed the mission to her confessor, and to Robert de Thorete, then Bishop of Liège, as well as to the learned Dominican, Hugh, later cardinal legate in the Netherlands. Others were then consulted, especially Fr. Jacques Pantaléon, Archdeacon at the Cathedral of Liège who was afterwards elected Bishop of Verdun, then he became Patriarch of Jerusalem and, finally, he was elected Pontiff of Rome, being called Pope Urban IV.
Bishop Robert was favorably impressed and persuaded to initiate the feast by St. Juliana. Since bishops, at that time, had the right of introducing local feasts for their dioceses, he called a synod in 1246 and, after theological discussions, ordered the celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi to be held―within the Diocese of Liège, Belgium―in the following year. He also decreed that a local monk, named John, should compose the Liturgical Office for the occasion. The decree is preserved in Binterim (Denkwürdigkeiten, V, 1, 276), together with parts of the Office. Bishop Robert did not live to see the execution of his order, for he died 16 October, 1246; but the feast was celebrated for the first time by the canons of St. Martin at Liège.
Corpus Christi Creates Criticism and Controversy
From the time that Juliana revealed her visions about the feast, it became a public question, and men were sorely divided upon it. As her message became publicly known, she had to suffer scorn and ridicule for some years. Many canons and monks protested against the new devotion and argued that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was sufficient to commemorate the love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament ― without a special day being particularly assigned for that purpose.
Julianna prayed on as civic unrest and religious controversies raged around her; the city where she lived was lost and won in the waging Guelph/Ghibbelline struggle, sacked by a lawless army, and retaken. Three successive convents were either burned or otherwise destroyed over her head. Twice Juliana, now superior of the Convent and enforcing the strict Augustinian Rule, was forced to flee her convent.
After the second time, she found refuge in a Cistercian convent, then another, and then among the poor Beguines. From there she took up residence in the Cistercian Abbey at Salzinners, and finally at Fosses-les-Villes, where she lived in seclusion until her death. Yet no earthly troubles could make her forget the task that Our Lord had assigned her.
She died before it was accomplished throughout the whole Church―even though she had the joy of seeing it celebrated in her own diocese of Liège, in Belgium. Nevertheless, she had done enough in her lifetime to provide a spark for its execution. In her wanderings―she had met with a few men with devotion and learning to defend the feast of the Blessed Sacrament and they helped to spread the devotion, especially among the simple people.
The Miracle of Orvieto
Five years after the death of Juliana in 1258, a German priest, Peter of Prague, stopped at Bolsena in 1263, while on a pilgrimage to Rome. At that time this priest was suffering a crisis of faith, doubting that Christ was actually present in the consecrated Host. While celebrating Holy Mass above the tomb of St. Christina in the church named after this martyr, he had barely spoken the words of Consecration when blood started to seep from the consecrated Host and trickle over his hands onto the altar and the corporal.
At first the priest attempted to hide the blood, but then he interrupted the Mass and asked to be taken to the neighboring city of Orvieto, where he knew that Pope Urban IV was then visiting. The Pope listened to the priest’s account and dismissed him. He then sent emissaries for an immediate investigation. When all the facts were ascertained, he ordered the Bishop of the Diocese to bring the Host and the linen cloth (corporal) bearing the stains of blood to Orvieto. With Archbishops, Cardinals and other Church dignitaries in attendance, the Pope met the procession and, amid great pomp, had the relics placed in the Cathedral. The linen corporal bearing the spots of blood is still reverently enshrined and exhibited in the Cathedral of Orvieto.
Popes Take Over
After the death of Juliana in 1258, Pope Urban IV, who all along had been favorable towards instituting the feast of Corpus Christi, was asked to extend the devotion to the entire Church. The Eucharistic miracle of Orvieto, in 1263, was instrumental in his final decision favoring the installation of the Feast of Corpus Christi. Soon after the miracle of Orvieto Urban IV commissioned the great Dominican scholar, St. Thomas Aquinas, to compose the Proper for a Mass (readings and texts for the Mass) and Divine Office for the new feast. The splendor, depth, and devotion of the prayers and hymns that Saint Thomas wrote have enriched the liturgy with one of its most beautiful rituals. They are still in use today, admired and appreciated by people of all faiths.
One year later, on September 8th, 1264 (six years after the death of Juliana), Pope Urban IV, by means of the papal bull Transiturus de hoc mundo, established for the universal Church that festival in honor of the Holy Eucharist ― the feast of Corpus Christi. At the same time he granted many indulgences to the faithful for attendance at Mass and the Office. It was to be celebrated with great solemnity on the Thursday after Pentecost week, and indulgences were granted to all who would receive Holy Communion or attend special devotions in addition to hearing Mass.
The papal bull, Transiturus de hoc mundo, of Urban IV had no immediate effect, because he died (October 2nd, 1264) within a month of its publication (September 8th, 1264), and the immediate succeeding popes did not push the matter. However, Pope Clement V (elected pope in 1305) again took the matter in hand and, at the General Council of Vienne (1311), once more ordered the adoption of the feast. Finally, however, Pope Clement V, in 1314, renewed the decrees in a papal bull of his own, which embodied that of Urban IV. Pope John XXII, successor of Clement V, also urged its observance.
The feast began to spread quickly throughout the Latin Church. The feast had been accepted in 1306 at Cologne; Worms adopted it in 1315; Strasburg in 1316. In England it was introduced from Belgium between 1320 and 1325. Later it was also accepted by some parts of the Oriental Church (Syrians, Armenians, Copts, and Melchites). The churches of the Greeks, Ukrainians, and Russians (of the Greek Catholic Rite) do not celebrate this feast.
The triumph of the Blessed Sacrament was complete, and the devotion spread throughout the length and breadth of Europe. From that time, until after Vatican II, every church in a Catholic country―from the cathedral of a royal city down to the most modest village chapel―kept the feast on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday. The procession would issue into the streets followed by the authorities of the realm. It is the public recognition by the Catholic world of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
From Triumph to Tragedy
In the ebb and flow, ups and downs, wins and losses of the spiritual combat, the devil would strike back at this Eucharistic devotion―a most central element of spiritual life and salvation―with hundreds of years of erosion and corrosion of the devotion. Just as it took centuries for the Eucharistic devotion of Corpus Christi to cement itself in the liturgy of the Church, so too has the devil taken centuries to gradually whittle and chip away that devotion.
In a nutshell, over the centuries, the devil has chipped-away at the Holy Eucharist with several progressive tools:
Jansenism―creates infrequent reception of Christ in the Holy Eucharist through excessive feelings of unworthiness
Rationalism―creates a doubt over the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist
Modernism―creates a new doctrine and belief on the presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist
Materialism―creates an tangible, visible, enjoyable alternative to Christ in the Holy Eucharist
Hedonism (Seeking Pleasure)―creates a greater material pleasure than the ‘boring’ Holy Eucharist seems offer
Technologism―creates through technological inventions greater interest, advantages, immediate results and profit than the Holy Eucharist offers
All distractions and alternatives that seem to be more desirable, more interesting, more exciting, more profitable, more lovable, more advantageous, more satisfying and more gratifying than the Holy Eucharist―which is today proven by the number of hours people spend in front TVs, computer monitors, tablet screens and smartphones; proven by the sports temples that are filled everyday with sports worshipers; proved by the time and money spent on entertainment and pleasure-seeking; proven by the empty churches and lack of Eucharistic worship and worshipers; proven by the lack of attendance at Masses to receive the Holy Eucharist.
The Screwtape Letters and “Screwed-Up Souls”
The Screwtape Letters is a novel by C. S. Lewis, published in 1942, which, even though it is satirical and humorous― although he said it was “not fun” to write―for the content also has a deadly ring of truth to it. Lewis himself writes: “Though it was easy to twist one’s mind into the diabolical attitude, it was not fun, or not for long. The strain produced a sort of spiritual cramp. The work into which I had to project myself while I spoke through Screwtape was all dust, grit, thirst, and itch. Every trace of beauty, freshness, and geniality had to be excluded. It almost smothered me before I was done.”
The story takes the form of a series of 31 letters from a senior demon, called Screwtape (hence the title― The Screwtape Letters), to his nephew Wormwood, who is a Junior Tempter. Screwtape holds an administrative post in the bureaucracy or “Lowerarchy” of Hell (as opposed to “Hierarchy” or “Higherarchy” of Heaven), and acts as a mentor to his nephew Wormwood, an inexperienced and incompetent tempter who is just starting out is the field of temptation. The uncle demon is counseling his nephew demon, who has been charged with the responsibility of guiding a man (called “the patient”) away from “the Enemy” (meaning Jesus), toward “Our Father Below” (meaning the Devil / Satan).
In these 31 letters, which make up the book, Screwtape gives Wormwood detailed advice on various methods of undermining God’s words and of promoting an abandonment of God in “the Patient”, so that he can be successfully led to “Our Father Below” (meaning the Devil / Satan). Screwtape sprinkles the letters with his observations on human nature and on the Bible. In Screwtape’s advice, selfish gain and power are seen as the only good. After the second letter, the Patient converts to Christianity, and Wormwood is chastised by Screwtape for allowing this. After “the Patient’s” conversion to Christianity, he further irritates the devils by marrying a good Christian girl. A striking contrast in tactics emerges between Wormwood and Screwtape during the rest of the book―whereby Wormwood becomes obsessed with trying to tempt his patient into blatantly obvious wicked and deplorable sins, often recklessly, while Screwtape takes a more subtle approach, as seen in Letter XII, wherein he states: “The safest road to Hell is the gradual one ― the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” Screwtape further admonishes Wormwood to keep “the Patient” safe, in the hopes that they can compromise and destroy his Faith over a long lifetime. In Letter VIII, Screwtape explains to his protégé, Wormwood, the different goals that God and the devils have for the human race: “We want cattle who can finally become food! He wants servants who can finally become sons!” With this end in mind, Screwtape urges Wormwood in Letter VI to promote passivity and irresponsibility in the Patient: “The Enemy (God) wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them!” This, sadly, is the road that we are happily treading today―oblivious to the great dangers, or at best, perceiving those great dangers as being merely trivial dangers.
A Taste of Hell―Sugary Coating, Bitter Center
If you have not read The Screwtape Letters, then it would not be a bad idea to do so―but you should read it in conjunction with a spiritual classic on temptation, such as The Spiritual Exercises by St. Ignatius of Loyola, or a short booklet that is a very readable commentary on St. Igantius’ Spiritual Exercises, written by Fr. Ludovic-Marie Barrielle, entitled Rules for Discerning the Spirits―which distills the wisdom of the 30-day Ignatian retreat into 20 principles, so that you can discern the spiritual influences in your life that are from God from those that are from the devil. The Screwtape Letters are also a slightly humorous means of introducing children to the not so humorous reality of the mechanics of temptation, sin, damnation or salvation―depending on how we handle temptation.
However, parts can seem somewhat obscure―not because they are of themselves difficult, but because we have had our vocabulary eroded and emptied by modern day forms of communication. Hence, before ‘feeding’ the children, you may have modify parts or “cut-them-up-into-bite-size-pieces” or make them into “vocabulary smoothies” for those who have lost, or not even grown, their intellectual teeth. One way of doing this is to find an online version of The Screwtape Letters, copy and paste it into you preferred text document―Microsoft Word, Wordperfect, etc. ― and then read through it, changing and simplifying any words or phrases that you feel might be difficult for your children to understand. You may find that there is very much that needs to be modified―in that case it is recommended that you feed your children one-letter-a-week―which, in actual fact, is how the original Screwtape Letters, were fed to the public, by being published in the newspaper, one-letter-per-week. Here is the opening short chapter―as previously stated, in the form of a letter, from the devil, Uncle Screwtape (the mentor demon), to his protégé demon, Wormwood, who is just starting-out in his temptation apprenticeship.
My Dear Wormwood,
I note what you say about guiding your patient’s reading and taking care that he sees a good deal of his materialist friend. But are you not being a trifle naive. It sounds as if you supposed that argument was the way to keep him out of the Enemy’s [God’s] clutches. That might have been so if he had lived a few centuries earlier. At that time the humans still knew pretty well when a thing was proved and when it was not; and if it was proved they really believed it. They still connected thinking with doing and were prepared to alter their way of life as the result of a chain of reasoning. But what with the weekly press and other such weapons, we have largely altered that.
Your man has been accustomed, ever since he was a boy, to having a dozen incompatible philosophies dancing about together inside his head. He doesn’t think of doctrines as primarily “true” or “false, but as “academic” or “practical,” “outworn” or “contemporary,” “conventional” or “ruthless.” Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church. Don’t waste time trying to make him think that materialism is true! Make him think it is strong, or stark, or courageous; that it is the philosophy of the future. That’s the sort of thing he cares about.
The trouble about argument is that it moves the whole struggle onto the Enemy’s [God’s] own ground. He can argue too; whereas in really practical propaganda, of the kind I am suggesting, He has been shown for centuries to be greatly the inferior of Our Father Below [Satan]. By the very act of arguing, you awake the patient’s reason; and once it is awake, who can foresee the result? Even if a particular train of thought can be twisted so as to end in our favor, you will find that you have been strengthening in your patient the fatal habit of attending to universal issues and withdrawing his attention from the stream of immediate sense experiences. Your business is to fix his attention on the stream. Teach him to call it “real life” and don’t let him ask what he means by “real.”
Remember, he is not, like you, a pure spirit. Never having been a human (O that abominable advantage of the Enemy’s!) you don’t realize how enslaved they are to the pressure of the ordinary.
I once had a patient, a sound atheist, who used to read in British Museum. One day, as he sat reading, I saw a train of thought in his mind beginning to go the ‘wrong way. The Enemy, of course, was at his elbow in a moment. Before I knew where I was I saw my twenty years’ work beginning to totter. If I had lost my head and begun to attempt a defense by argument, I should have been undone.
But I was not such a fool. I struck instantly at the part of the man which I had best under my control, and suggested that it was just about time he had some lunch. The Enemy presumably made the counter suggestion (you know how one can never quite overhear what He says to them?) that this was more important than lunch. At least I think that must have been His line, for when I said, “Quite. In fact much too important to tackle at the end of a morning,” the patient brightened up considerably, and by the time I had added “Much better come back after lunch and go into it with a fresh mind,” he was already halfway to the door.
Once he was in the street the battle was won. I showed him a newsboy shouting the midday paper, and a No. 73 bus going past, and before he reached the bottom of the steps I had got into him an unalterable conviction that, whatever odd ideas might come into a man’s head when he was shut up alone with his books, a healthy dose of “real life” (by which he meant the bus and the newsboy) was enough to show him that all “that sort of thing” just couldn’t be true. He knew he’d had a narrow escape, and in later years was fond of talking about “that inarticulate sense for actuality which is our ultimate safeguard against the aberrations of mere logic.” He is now safe in Our Father’s house.
You begin to see the point? Thanks to processes which we set at work in them centuries ago, they find it all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is before their eyes. Keep pressing home on him the ordinariness of things. Above all, do not attempt to use science (I mean, the real sciences) as a defense against Christianity. They will positively encourage him to think about realities he can’t touch and see. There have been sad cases among the modern physicists. If he must dabble in science, keep him on economics and sociology; don’t let him get away from that invaluable “real life.” But the best of all is to let him read no science, but to give him a grand general idea that he knows it all and that everything he happens to have picked up in casual talk and reading is “the results of modern investigation.” Do remember you are there to fuddle him. From the way some of you young fiends talk, anyone would suppose it was our job to teach!
Your affectionate uncle,
Screwtape
That opening chapter sets the tone and reveals the basic successful demonic tactic for which most souls have fallen and for which most souls still fall―distraction from God and attraction to the world, distraction from the hereafter and attraction to the here-and-now. This is the principal cause of the damnation of so many souls―something that is attested by Our Lord, Our Lady and numerous saints―the fact being that most souls fall for the devil and fall into Hell. Salvation is possible for everyone, but not everyone wants to follow the rules and paths of salvation―God will not twist anyone’s arm, but Satan will. God gives every single soul sufficient graces and warnings to save their souls, but most souls waste, ignore or deliberately refuse to cooperate with those graces and warnings.
The Heavenail Truths versus The Screwtape Letters
Of course, The Screwtape Letters is a fictional work, but one that nevertheless expounds certain truths about the “Father of Lies.” Our Lady’s apparitions are not fictional, and they, too, convey truths―in fact they ‘nail’ the truth and ‘nail’ the truth about Satan’s antics and tactics. They also ‘nail’ mankind by chastising our indifference and negligence is corresponding with those Heaven-sent truths and doing something about it! In The Screwtape Letters, the devils Screwtape and Wormwood are plotting damnation―in what could be called The Heavenail Truths, Our Lord and Our Lady are trying to nail us down, or tie us down, to the truths that we persist in ignoring or “sweeping under the carpet.” Screwtape and Wormwood have their tactics for our salvation, whereas Our Lord and Our Lady have their tactics for our salvation. Ultimately, it depends on who we listen to and who we believe and whose advice we take.
Screwtape’s policy of leading “patients” to Hell is a patient method―as the popular saying states: “Little-by-little one goes a long way!”― even all the way to Hell. That is the preferred method of Satan. Little falls are less likely to make us take action than big falls. Like an ocean gently wafting against the shoreline and slowly eroding it, or the ever so gently increasing temperature of the water dissuades the comfortable frog from jumping out of it, or like the incremental and progressive changes in laws that have now led us to abortions and same-sex marriages, the devils prefer to follow a similar policy in damning souls. Rome wasn’t built in a day and no soul was damned in a day. The easiest way to get anyone into committing mortal sins is to get them to commit the smallest and teeniest of venial sins on a regular basis, which leads to an addiction to that sin (those sins) and thus begins to weaken our spiritual immune system and will-power in resisting sin in general. The initial ‘infiltrating’ sins are made to look so ‘tiny’ and ‘insignificant’ so as to convince you that it’s not all that important. After the first little sin in any category, it’s easier to repeat the next one in the same category―since it doesn’t matter, right? And once you’ve committed enough of the ‘little’ ones, the big ones (or the smallest of the big ones) won’t seem so bad—because the little ones basically add up to a big one, anyway, and those were okay, right? Wrong. Tiny steps toward evil are still evil. The Catechism teaches that the greatest evil in the world is sin―mortal sin being the greatest evil, and venial sin the second greatest evil. Today, since hardly anyone knows their Catechism, those truths are forgotten and ignored. If we think sin is of little consequence― “Oh, what’s the big deal? I’ll commit it and then just go and confess it!”― then it is obvious that temptations will be seen as being of even less consequence. The day when we stop letting even the little temptations bother us, is the day our final descent begins.
Nailing Down the Truth or Nailing Christ Again?
Sin can be forgiven―any kind of sin can be forgiven; any gravity of sin can be forgiven; any quantity of sin can be forgiven―as Holy Scripture says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity” (1 John 1:9) … “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18) … “Peter came unto Jesus and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times!’” (Matthew 18:21-22) … “The Lord is compassionate and merciful; longsuffering and plenteous in mercy. He will not always be angry; nor will he threaten for ever. He hath not dealt with us according to our sins: nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our iniquities from us!” (Psalm 102:8-12).
On the other hand, Our Lord, when He had forgiven the woman caught in adultery, and healed the sinful paralytic by the Pool of Bethsaida, he to one and the other to stop sinning: “Jesus said to her: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:11) … “Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14). Scripture adds: “God will surely take revenge. Say not: ‘I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me?’ For the most High is a patient rewarder. Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin! And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins!’ For both mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:3-8). Read Leviticus 26:14-45 for further proofs. Hence Scripture warns: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
This is what Our Lady reminds us of―adding nothing new to Divine Public Revelation, but warning us of its consequences―when she says: “Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God [even lay Catholics are dedicated to God by their Baptism], who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … Holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Sin will conquer innumerable frivolous souls―who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.”
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other ... As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!” (Combination of warning from Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador; Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
The Hazy, Mazy, Lazy Way of Screwtape
These are the truths and warnings that the ‘Screwtapes’ and ‘Wormwoods’ of today wish to distract you from. Yet the truth is that we are heading towards the above mentioned cataclysms and catastrophes as surely as there is an Earth, a Hell and a Heaven. As Screwtape writes: Do not “awake the patient’s reason; for once it is awake, who can foresee the result? … As always, the first step is to keep knowledge out of his mind … Give him a grand general idea that he knows it all … Make his mind flit to and fro … Keep everything hazy in his mind … Even if a particular train of thought can be twisted so as to end in our favor, you will find that you have been strengthening in your patient the fatal habit of thinking about universal issues [or his salvation] and withdrawing his attention from the stream of immediate sense experiences. Your business is to fix his attention on the daily stream of experiences. Teach him to call it «real life» and don’t let him ask what he means by «real». Remember, he is not, like you, a pure spirit. You don’t realize how enslaved humans are to the pressure of the ordinary! … Thanks to processes which we set at work in them centuries ago, they find it all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is before their eyes. Keep pressing home on him the ordinariness of things … What he says, even on his knees, about his own sinfulness is all parrot talk. At bottom, he still believes that he has run up a very favorable credit balance in the Enemy’s ledger … Keep him in that state of mind as long as you can! … Weaken his prayers by diverting his attention from the Enemy … Let an insult, or a woman’s body, so fix his attention outwardly, that he does not reflect that «I am now entering into the state called Anger—or the state called Lust» ... We should make the patient an extreme patriot or an extreme pacifist. All extremes―except extreme devotion to the Enemy―are to be encouraged. Not always, of course, but at this period. Some ages are lukewarm and complacent, and then it is our business to soothe them yet faster asleep. Other ages, of which the present is one, are unbalanced and prone to factions, and it is our business to inflame them. Then quietly and gradually nurse him on to the stage at which the religion becomes merely part of the ‘Cause’ … Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and Sacraments and charity, he is ours!”
The Antidote, Weapons, Bricks and Cement
It is exactly that―as Screwtape says―let mankind do anything they want, even good things, as long as you can get them to neglect prayer, the Sacraments and charity. Our Lady has said that the devil has mainly succeeded in this tactic, for most souls are ignoring her warnings and instructions, failing to do what Heaven wants them to do and, instead, carrying on doing the good things they themselves prefer to do. The devil is always about doing the “lesser”―when it comes to sin, he will make us feel ‘virtuous’ if he can make us “do the lesser of two evils”―he first suggests a whopper of a sin, which he knows we will find repugnant, and then he will suggest a lesser sin, which makes us feel ‘good’ because we have committed a lesser evil―like the fraudulent vendor who asks $30,000 for a used car, knowing it will shock you, then drops his price to $20,000 which makes you feel as though you are getting a bargain, whereas it is still overpriced. Likewise, does the devil want us to “do the lesser of two goods”―if he sees that we want to pray all 15 mysteries of the Rosary, he will suggest that we give our lonely grandma a phone call instead, all in the name of charity. Or if we are inclined to pray―he will let us pray, but he will encourage us the pray the less powerful p rayer. Thus, instead of praying the Rosary, he will have us pray a novena. Instead of spiritual reading that will change our actions, he will have read something spiritual that merely titillates our mind and leaves actions aside.
In this way, the devil has succeeded in diverting and distracting us from the two ESSENTIAL weapons that Heaven has instructed that we must use in our present day warfare against our triple enemy―the devil, the world and our own flesh (passions and concupiscence). Those first and most powerful of those two weapons is THE HOLY EUCHARIST in all its forms―the Holy Sacrifice of Mass, Holy Communion, visits to the Blessed Sacrament and spiritual Communions. The second of those two weapons is DEVOTION TO OUR LADY in all its forms―praying the Holy Rosary daily and many Rosaries daily; the wearing of the Brown Scapular and other Scapulars; the wearing of the Miraculous Medal; the recitation of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the observation of her feastdays; the practice of the five First Saturdays of the Month in reparation for sin; and, above all these things, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the consecration of ourselves (as well as Russia primarily and other nations secondarily) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. All the lesser things―Rosary, Scapular, Medals, First Saturdays, etc. ― are the bricks that make up the larger temple of a true devotion to Mary.
Yet those are the very things that are neglected, forgotten, sidelined, marginalized and unpublicized. As Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The Walt Disney Corporation has coined the phrase: “If you can dream it, you can do it!” ―and we have fallen for the dream! Or, rather, the devil has made us fall for that dream―much as he made Eve fall for the “Original Dream”―“In what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!” (Genesis 3:5). Since that day, generation after generation have fallen for the “Original Dream”―dreaming that we are better than we actually are; dreaming that we are doing more than most; dreaming that our sins are not that bad; dreaming that our pitiful penances have paid our debts for sin; dreaming that world is in a better state than it really is; dreaming that God will turn a blind-eye to everything because He is a loving God; dreaming that the Chastisement will not come―at least not in our lifetime; dreaming that most people will go to Heaven; dreaming this and dreaming that!
These are not the kind of dreams that Holy Scripture means, when it says: “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions” (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17). The devil is a frequent source of our unrealistic dreams and Scripture says that the “forger of dreams shall be slain―because he spoke to draw you away from the Lord your God!” (Deuteronomy 13:5). “Give no heed to your dreams which you dream!” (Jeremias 29:8). “Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities!” (Ecclesiastes 5:6). “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10) “Dreams lift up fools!” (Ecclesiasticus 34:1). “You shall not observe dreams!” (Leviticus 19:26). “For dreams have deceived many, and they have failed that put their trust in them!” (Ecclesiasticus 34:7).
Yet, to some, God actually did speak through dreams and to some God gave the power to interpret dreams. We see both the Old Testament Joseph and the New Testament Joseph having messages transmitted to them through dreams. The Old Testament Joseph had several dreams that indicated his future to him (Genesis 37), while also receiving the power to interpret the dreams of two of Pharao’s servants whilst he was in prison in Egypt. St. Joseph had the angel of God speak to him several times in his dreams, wherein he was given major instructions as to what to do and where to go and when to go. In the Old Testament Book of Daniel, we read that Daniel was the was given the power to interpret the dream of King Nabuchodonnosor of Babylon: “God gave to Daniel the understanding also of all visions and dreams” (Daniel 1:17). King Solomon was another dreamer: “The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, saying: ‘Ask what thou wilt that I should give thee!’” (3 Kings 3:5). There are more instances to be found in the Old Testament, whereas in the New Testament, besides St. Joseph’s dreams, we have St. Peter given a dream that indicates to him that the Gentiles should be accepted as converts to Christianity. The wife of Pontius Pilate received a dream that could have saved Pilate’s skin had he only listened to her: “Have thou nothing to do with that just man [Jesus]; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of Him!” (Matthew 27:19).
The Saint of Dreams
This brings us to St. John Bosco―who could be called “The Saint of Dreams”―you may have read the book entitled “Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco”, from which let us take a dream that applies to our day and age, as well to this current article―it is the dream which has come be known as “The Prophecy of the Two Columns.” Here are the pertinent extracts from that dream. On May 30th, 1862 Don Bosco at his ‘Good Night’ talk told his boys, and the young clerics he was training, about a dream he had dreamt a few nights previously. After some preliminary remarks he went on to describe what he had seen:
“Try to picture yourselves with me on the seashore, or, better still, on an outlying cliff with no other land in sight. The vast expanse of water is covered with a formidable array of ships in battle formation, prows [the front of the ship] fitted with sharp spear-like beaks capable of breaking through any defense. All are heavily armed with cannons, incendiary bombs, and firearms of all sorts ― even books ― and are heading toward one stately ship, mightier than them all [the Catholic Church]. As they try to close in, they try to ram it, set it afire, and cripple it as much as possible. This stately vessel is shielded by a flotilla escort. Winds and waves are with the enemy. In this midst of this endless sea, two solid columns, a short distance apart, soar high into the sky: one is surmounted by a statue of the Immaculate Virgin at whose feet a large inscription reads: «Help of Christians» ― the other, far loftier and sturdier, supports a [Holy Communion] Host of proportionate size and bears beneath it the inscription «Salvation of believers». The flagship commander ― the Roman Pontiff [the Pope] ― seeing the enemy’s fury and his auxiliary ships very grave predicament, summons his captains to a conference. However, as they discuss their strategy, a furious storm breaks out and they must return to their ships. When the storm abates, the Pope again summons his captains as the flagship keeps on its course. But the storm rages again. Standing at the helm, the Pope strains every muscle to steer his ship between the two columns, from whose summits hang many anchors and strong hooks linked to chains. The entire enemy fleet closes in to intercept and sink the flagship at all costs. They bombard it with everything they have: books and pamphlets, incendiary bombs, firearms, cannons. The battle rages ever more furious. Beaked prows ram the flagship again and again, but to no avail, as, unscathed and undaunted, it keeps on its course. At times a formidable ram splinters a gaping hole into its hull, but, immediately, a breeze from the two columns instantly seals the gash. Meanwhile, enemy cannons blow up, firearms and beaks fall to pieces, ships crack up and sink to the bottom. In blind fury the enemy takes to hand-to-hand combat, cursing and blaspheming. Suddenly the Pope falls, seriously wounded. He is instantly helped up but, struck down a second time, dies. A shout of victory rises from the enemy and wild rejoicing sweeps their ships. But no sooner is the Pope dead than another takes his place. The captains of the auxiliary ships elected him so quickly that the news of the Pope’s death coincides with that of his successor’s election. The enemy’s self-assurance wanes. Breaking through all resistance, the new Pope steers his ship safely between the two columns and moors it to the two columns; first to the one surmounted by the Host, and then to the other, topped by the statue of the Virgin. At this point something unexpected happens. The enemy ships panic and disperse, colliding with and scuttling each other. Some auxiliary ships which had gallantly fought alongside their flagship are the first to tie up at the two columns. Many others, which had fearfully kept far away from the fight, stand still, cautiously waiting until the wrecked enemy ships vanish under the waves. Then, they too head for the two columns, tie up at the swinging hooks, and ride safe and tranquil beside their flagship. A great calm now covers the sea.”
At this point, Don Bosco asked one of the priests present for his views. He replied that he thought that the flagship symbolized the Church headed by the Pope, with the ships representing mankind and the sea as an image of the world. The ships defending the flagship he equated with the laity and the attackers with those trying to destroy the Church, while the two columns represented devotion to Mary and the Eucharist. Don Bosco replied: “Very grave trials await the Church. What we have suffered so far is almost nothing compared to what is going to happen. The enemies of the Church are symbolized by the ships which strive their utmost to sink the flagship. Only two things can save us in such a grave hour: devotion to Mary and frequent Communion. Let us do our very best to use these two means and have others use them everywhere.” St. John Bosco was stressing the importance of devotion to Our Lady and the Blessed Sacrament.
Our Lady of Good Success on Devotion to Mary and the Holy Eucharist
This same combination―of devotion to Our Lady in one form or another, and devotion to the Holy Eucharist in one form or another―has also been the essence of many of the Marian apparitions over the last few hundred years. At Quito in Ecuador, besides saying that she would crush Satan’s proud head, during “that epoch during which there will be a great devotion to me”― she also commanded that we “clamor insistently, imploring the Celestial Father that, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood shed with such generosity and the profound bitterness and sufferings of His cruel Passion and Death, He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times” when “there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed.” Our Lord Himself added: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
Other Apparitions
► RUE DU BAC (1830) ― St. Catherine Labouré is woken by an angel and told to go the convent chapel, where Our Lady appears to her in the sanctuary of the chapel―thus in the presence of the Holy Eucharist. The second time Our Lady appeared, it was again in the present of the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel. The devotion to Our Lady came through the Miraculous Medal, which Our Lady revealed to St. Catherine Labouré, and commanded medals to be made according to design Our Lady had manifested.
►LA SALETTE, FRANCE (1846) ― Our Lady spoke about future abuses to Holy Eucharist, especially through irreverential Masses offered by the priests and the neglect of people in attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. She also pointed out her role in the triumph of the Church after terrible persecutions, murders, wars and catasptophes.
► FATIMA, PORTUGAL (9117) ― Even before Our Lady first appeared, there was apparition of the Angel of Portugal, who showed the children how to reverence, adore and pray to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Then, in her apparitions, Our Lady explicitly spoke about devotion to her―especially through the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart, saying that only she could help the world now. You could say that the Miracle of the Sun, whereby the sun was seen spinning and then falling out of the sky towards the ground, was symbolic of both the Miracle of Holy Eucharist (transubstantiation), and the fall in devotion of the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
► AKITA, JAPAN (1973) ― We take note that Sister Agnes Sasagawa, to whom Our Lady spoke, belonged to The Institute of Handmaids of the Eucharist. On several occasions Sr. Agnes encounters a bright light emanating from the tabernacle in the chapel and “spiritual beings” worshiping the Eucharist. Our Lady prays together with Sr. Agnes the Institute’s prayer to Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus: “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, truly present in Holy Eucharist, I consecrate my body and soul to be entirely one with Your Heart, being sacrificed at every instant on all the altars of the world and giving praise to the Father pleading for the coming of His Kingdom.” After this, Our Lady tells her: “Recite the prayer of the Handmaids of the Eucharist with awareness of its meaning; put it into practice!” Then Our Lady speaks of devotion to both her and her Son―especially implying it to be the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist―saying: “The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved!”
Need any more be said? No! But much needs to be done to change our attitude, approach, practice and love of these two life-saving―eternal life saving―gifts that Heaven has offered as the last means of hope and salvation in these undoubtedly cataclysmic times―which not everyone sees and recognizes, because their eyes are on their screens and instead of Rosaries in their hands, they have smartphones, cookies, burgers, beers, etc.
Wednesday June 19th
Article 10
Rebuilding! Mission Impossible?
Article 10
Rebuilding! Mission Impossible?
You Are A House of God―A Spiritual Temple!
You are a temple to the Holy Ghost, a spiritual house, in which God wishes to dwell. This is something that is commonly forgotten or deliberately ignored and neglected. Yet, to the few that still read Holy Scriptures, it is as clear as day: “You are servants of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, in Whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord. In Whom you also are built together into an habitation of God in the Spirit!” (Ephesians 2:20-22). “Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But, if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy―which you are!” [or should be] (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). “Or know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
Building Castles of Christendom, Fortresses of the Faith
The spiritual walls of all nations―yes, all nations―have nearly crumbled, leaving but a façade or superficial exterior of former ‘Castles of Christendom’ or ‘Fortresses of the Faith’ or ‘Temples of the Trinity’. Christendom was built upon the Christ the Cornerstone― “and whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:44). Whatever we build, will be like castles on sand unless we build for the Lord and with the Lord: “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it” (Psalm 126:1). Most people build ‘nests’ for themselves and not for God―these are destined to fail and fall: “Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof” (Matthew 7:24-27). So what have we built? Is our building according to code―the code of God? Will our building stand or fall? Will it be praised by God or destroyed by God?
Leave Standing or Knock-Down? Remodel or Rebuild?
If we build according to code―the code of God―then we have little or nothing to worry about. Yet sometimes we can began to use what we have built in a not so good way. This was the case with the magnificent temple in Jerusalem―and, as consequence, God destroyed it―not once, but twice! The first time was just before the Great Babylonian Captivity (597-539 BC) as a result of the progressive falling into idolatry by the Jews. The second time was in 70 AD, which was prophesied by Jesus Himself, as a punishment for Jerusalem’s rejection and crucifixion of the Son of God.
We overtures and echoes of this destruction prior to Our Lord’s Passion when“Jesus went into the Temple of God, and cast out all those that sold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the chairs of them that sold doves, and He said to them: ‘It is written, “My House shall be called the house of prayer!” but you have made it a den of thieves!’” (Matthew 21:12-13). “Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and He found in the Temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting. And when He had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, He drove them all out of the Temple, the sheep also and the oxen. And the money of the changers, He poured out and the tables He overthrew. And to them that sold doves, He said: ‘Take these things away, and make not the House of My Father a house of traffic!’ And His disciples remembered, that it was written: “The zeal of Thy house hath eaten Me up!” The Jews, therefore, answered, and said to Him: ‘What sign dost Thou show unto us, seeing thou dost these things?’ Jesus answered, and said to them: ‘Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up!’ The Jews then said: ‘Six and forty years was this Temple in building; and wilt Thou raise it up in three days?’ But He spoke of the Temple of His Body” (John 2:13-21).
These words the Jews remembered and brought them up again at the trial of Jesus, after His arrest during the Passion, saying: “This Man said: ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God, and after three days to rebuild it!’” (Matthew 26:61). These same words were used by His enemies―the Scribes, Pharisees and Priests, on Calvary, as Jesus was dying on the cross―where they taunted Him, saying: “Vah, Thou that destroyest the Temple of God, and in three days dost rebuild it! Save thy own self! If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross!” (Matthew 27:40).
A Time to Destroy and a Time to Build
In Scripture we read the following: “All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under Heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to destroy and a time to build … A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-5).
God has no problem knocking down and destroying what has been built in His honor and for His glory―if it is being misused, disused or abused. Speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem and His Temple, God said: “After these things I will return, and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and the ruins thereof I will rebuild, and I will set it up!” (Acts 15:16).
► THE FIRST DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM was interpreted by the prophets as punishment for Israel’s sins, especially those of idolatry, sexual immorality, and murder. After the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, at the time of the Great Babylonian Captivity (597-539 BC), the Jews were eventually freed, but only a small number wanted to return to Jerusalem and began to rebuild the city and the Temple―the vast majority of Jews had grown accustomed to and loved their new-found worldliness during their captivity and refused to return and rebuild their city, their Temple, their religion and their lives: “And the children of Israel returned from captivity, and all that had separated themselves from the filthiness of the nations of the Earth, to seek the Lord the God of Israel” (1 Esdras 6:21) … “Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Juda and Benjamin, and the priests, and Levites, and every one whose spirit God had raised up, to go up to build the temple of the Lord, which was in Jerusalem” (1 Esdras 1:5) … Nehemias said: “Let us rise up, and build!” (2 Esdras 2:18). They “rose up … and began to build the temple of God in Jerusalem … to build and to repair the walls thereof … building with unpolished stones and timber” (1 Esdras 5:2-8) … and “the foundations of the temple of the Lord were laid” (1 Esdras 3:11) … They “built the wall and joined it all together unto the half thereof: and the heart of the people was excited to work … and the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and the breaches began to be closed … And they prayed to God, and set watchmen upon the wall day and night against [intruders and enemies] … Of them that built on the wall and that carried burdens, and that laded: with one of his hands he did the work, and with the other he held a sword. For every one of the builders was girded with a sword about him” (2 Esdras 4:6-9, 17-18) … “The wall was finished the five and twentieth day of the month of Elul, in two and fifty days. And it came to pass when all our enemies heard of it, that all nations which were round about us, were afraid, and were cast down within themselves, for they perceived that this work was the work of God” (2 Esdras 6:15-16).
► THE SECOND DESTRUCTION OF THE THEN REBUILT TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM, came in the year 70 AD, and was foretold by Our Lord as a consequence of Jerusalem’s rejection of Jesus: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate!’ … And when He drew near, seeing the city, He wept over it, saying: ‘If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, when thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee; and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone―because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation” (Matthew 23:37-38; Luke 19:41-44).
That prophecy came true in 70 AD, when the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem during the time of the Passover, when Jerusalem’s population swelled to many times its normal population due to the multitude of pilgrims. Over 1 million in the city and encamped around the city at the time of the siege― the Jewish historian that witnessed the siege and fall of Jerusalem, who was on the side of the Romans, Flavius Josephus, claims that 1.1 million people were killed during the siege, of which a majority were Jewish. He writes: “Most of the victims were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, butchered wherever they were caught. Round the Altar the heaps of corpses grew higher and higher, while down the Sanctuary steps poured a river of blood and the bodies of those killed at the top slithered to the bottom … Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury―for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done―[Titus] Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple.”
► THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MODERN DAY WORLD. Are the new “Chosen People”―Catholics―headed down the same destructive path today? Most certainly we are! Whereas God sent prophets to warn Israel and the Juda of the dangerous path they were treading―today, God sends the Queen of Prophets, Our Lady, to deliver the same warnings. If pay no heed to her, then our lot will the same as that of the Israelites and the Jews. History repeats itself―and if we refuse to study history and learn from the mistakes of the past, then our future will be the same as that of the past. God has no problem flicking the “mass annihilation” switch when it warrants it. If the ‘building’ is no good, then God will destroy it and rebuild. This was pretty much what God said to Moses concerning His Chosen People during the Exodus from Egypt: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Go, get thee down! Thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, hath sinned! They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst show them! And they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it, and sacrificing victims to it, have said: “These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt!”’ And again the Lord said to Moses: ‘See that this people is stiff-necked! Let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation!’” (Genesis 32:7-10). God is prepared to do the same again―knock-down and destroy what is not working and rebuild. Our Lady has made that abundantly clear at her many apparitions:
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! … Woe to the children of these times! … The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops ... The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
“The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test?” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
God Even ‘Destroys’ His Chosen Temple―Jesus―Then Rebuilds Him
The prophet Isaias speaks of the future Messias, Our Lord, as someone that God destroys because of our sins and to bring healing, or a rebuilding, through that destruction: “There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness: and we have seen Him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of Him! Despised, and the most abject of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and His look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed Him not! Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted! But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement that leads to our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed!” (Isaias 53:2-5).
Our Lord is meant to the cornerstone of our life. If we reject that cornerstone, we risk being rejected ourselves. “Jesus said to them: ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord this has been done; and it is wonderful in our eyes.” Therefore I say to you, that the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder!’” (Matthew 21:42-44).
“And have you not read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner’”
(Mark 12:10). “But he looking on them, said: ‘What is this then that is written, “The stone, which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that stone, shall be bruised: and upon whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder!”’” (Luke 20:17-18). “This is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner” (Acts 4:11).
We are called “living stones” which God wishes to use in building a temple for Himself: “Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore it is said in the Scriptures: ‘Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious. And he that shall believe in him, shall not be confounded.’ To you therefore that believe, he is honor―but to them that believe not, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of scandal, to them who stumble at the word, neither do believe it!” (1 Peter 2:5-8).
We Need Knocking-Down and Rebuilding!
There is no doubt, in view of what Holy Scripture says and in view what Our Lady forewarns―we are in a dire need of being knocked-down and rebuilt. Compare it to a major surgery―if you like―the legs and arms are gangrened and need to be amputated, and we need the prosthetics of God. In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from Ancient Greek prosthesis, meaning “addition, application, attachment”). A prosthetic implant is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth. Prostheses are intended to restore the normal functions of the missing body part.
We are not functioning as we ought to function. We are not God-centered as we ought to be. We are man-centered. Pleasure-centered. Self-centered. Thus Scripture says: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God, They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways! There is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalm 13:1-3).
Since Our Lady says that our times are worse than those at the time of Noe, then the words God spoke back then are all more applicable today: “And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, It repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth Me that I have made them! And the Earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity. And when God had seen that the Earth was corrupted―for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the Earth―He said to Noe: ‘The end of all flesh is come before Me, the Earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the Earth! Make thee an ark of timber planks … Behold I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the Earth, to destroy all flesh under Heaven. All things that are in the Earth shall be consumed. And I will establish My covenant with thee, and thou shalt enter into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and the wives of thy sons with thee!’” (Genesis 6:5-18). God would destroy and rebuild. This has been His policy time and time again. When ‘surgery’ needs to be done―God is not afraid to do it. We should have the same attitude towards ourselves―and God knows how much we all need surgery, or even total destruction followed by a resurrection.
“Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit―and why will you die?” (Ezechiel 18:31). “And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you―and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26). God is not being loved. We need a new heart and new spirit so that we can love as we are meant to love Him―with our WHOLE heart, WHOLE mind, WHOLE soul and WHOLE strength: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30).
Building a False Temple―A New Church
The Second Vatican Council―and the vast majority of families―have destroyed the Temple of God and rebuilt another temple, a man-made temple, a man-focused temple. That is what Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, St. John Bosco and many others have warned us about.
St. John Bosco says in a nutshell what Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich explains in much more detail. In the 19th century―in 1862 to be precise, exactly 100 years before the Second Vatican Council opened―St. John Bosco had a vision of an Ecumenical Council that would occur in the 20th century and which would bring chaos to the Church. “There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century, after which there will be chaos in the Church. Tranquility will not return until the Pope succeeds in anchoring the boat of Peter between the twin pillars of Eucharistic Devotion and Devotion to Our Lady.”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, relating the content of her visions, states: “I saw, were long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities. A few had only a body, with a dark cloud of fog instead of a head. Others had only a head, their bodies and hearts were like thick vapors. Some were lame; others were paralytics; others were asleep or staggering. I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound … I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors and in great distress about the Church … I saw many good pious Bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away ... Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … I saw a strange big church being built there (in Rome) against every rule … There was nothing holy in it … No angels were supervising the building operations. In that church, nothing came from high above…There was only division and chaos. It is probably a church of human creation, following the latest fashion … Everything was being done, according to human reason. I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ...
“They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights … There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed to be very successful ... I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size … I see that the false Church of darkness is making progress and I see the dreadful influence it has on the people … Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence … In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars … The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere. I now see that in this place (Rome) the (Catholic) Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy … I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. … A great devastation is now near at hand … for everyone, even ecclesiastics, are laboring to destroy (and) ruin is at hand … Many of the clergy were themselves busy at this work of destruction – none of them wishing to do it openly in front of the others …
“They built a large, singular, extravagant church which was to embrace all creeds with equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, and all denominations, a true communion of the unholy with one shepherd and one flock. There was to be a Pope, a salaried Pope, without possessions. All was made ready, many things finished; but, in place of an altar, were only abomination and desolation. Such was the new church to be, and it was for it that he had set fire to the old one; but God had otherwise designs! … Then I saw before me the Heavenly Spouse, and He said that the Church would seem to be in complete decline. But She would rise again―even if there remained but one Catholic―the Church would conquer again … All must be rebuilt soon … Then, from all over the world, came priests and laymen and they rebuilt the stone walls, since the wreckers had been unable to move the heavy foundation stones. And then I saw that the Church was being promptly rebuilt and She was more magnificent than ever before!”
Rebuilding the True Temple―the True Church
Both Church and Family need to be rebuilt. As the Third Secret of Fatima allegedly warns, there will be a massive destruction that comes to the Church from within, and as Sr. Lucia later warns, the devil’s final battle with God will be over the Family, which the devil will seek to destroy―since it is the basic building-block of both Church and Society. Just about every family has been wounded if not destroyed―with traditional family values and God’s laws regarding marriage and the family, being increasingly thrown on the scrap-heap. In most cases, it is not a case of ‘remodeling’ but more a case of ‘rebuilding’―for the foundations have been hit and cracked.
How do you rebuild? As St. John Bosco stated: “Tranquility [normalcy] will not return until the Pope succeeds in anchoring the boat of Peter between the twin pillars of Eucharistic Devotion and Devotion to Our Lady.” Providentially, we are currently on the cusp of the Feast of Corpus Christi (Thursday, June 20th this year) and on the Octave of Corpus Christi, we have the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help! Let us then take a serious theoretical and practical look at how things can be rebuilt―for if we neglect to rebuild, then there is only one fate in store for us! We don’t want to go there!
You are a temple to the Holy Ghost, a spiritual house, in which God wishes to dwell. This is something that is commonly forgotten or deliberately ignored and neglected. Yet, to the few that still read Holy Scriptures, it is as clear as day: “You are servants of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, in Whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord. In Whom you also are built together into an habitation of God in the Spirit!” (Ephesians 2:20-22). “Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But, if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy―which you are!” [or should be] (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). “Or know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
Building Castles of Christendom, Fortresses of the Faith
The spiritual walls of all nations―yes, all nations―have nearly crumbled, leaving but a façade or superficial exterior of former ‘Castles of Christendom’ or ‘Fortresses of the Faith’ or ‘Temples of the Trinity’. Christendom was built upon the Christ the Cornerstone― “and whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:44). Whatever we build, will be like castles on sand unless we build for the Lord and with the Lord: “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it” (Psalm 126:1). Most people build ‘nests’ for themselves and not for God―these are destined to fail and fall: “Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof” (Matthew 7:24-27). So what have we built? Is our building according to code―the code of God? Will our building stand or fall? Will it be praised by God or destroyed by God?
Leave Standing or Knock-Down? Remodel or Rebuild?
If we build according to code―the code of God―then we have little or nothing to worry about. Yet sometimes we can began to use what we have built in a not so good way. This was the case with the magnificent temple in Jerusalem―and, as consequence, God destroyed it―not once, but twice! The first time was just before the Great Babylonian Captivity (597-539 BC) as a result of the progressive falling into idolatry by the Jews. The second time was in 70 AD, which was prophesied by Jesus Himself, as a punishment for Jerusalem’s rejection and crucifixion of the Son of God.
We overtures and echoes of this destruction prior to Our Lord’s Passion when“Jesus went into the Temple of God, and cast out all those that sold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the chairs of them that sold doves, and He said to them: ‘It is written, “My House shall be called the house of prayer!” but you have made it a den of thieves!’” (Matthew 21:12-13). “Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and He found in the Temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting. And when He had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, He drove them all out of the Temple, the sheep also and the oxen. And the money of the changers, He poured out and the tables He overthrew. And to them that sold doves, He said: ‘Take these things away, and make not the House of My Father a house of traffic!’ And His disciples remembered, that it was written: “The zeal of Thy house hath eaten Me up!” The Jews, therefore, answered, and said to Him: ‘What sign dost Thou show unto us, seeing thou dost these things?’ Jesus answered, and said to them: ‘Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up!’ The Jews then said: ‘Six and forty years was this Temple in building; and wilt Thou raise it up in three days?’ But He spoke of the Temple of His Body” (John 2:13-21).
These words the Jews remembered and brought them up again at the trial of Jesus, after His arrest during the Passion, saying: “This Man said: ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God, and after three days to rebuild it!’” (Matthew 26:61). These same words were used by His enemies―the Scribes, Pharisees and Priests, on Calvary, as Jesus was dying on the cross―where they taunted Him, saying: “Vah, Thou that destroyest the Temple of God, and in three days dost rebuild it! Save thy own self! If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross!” (Matthew 27:40).
A Time to Destroy and a Time to Build
In Scripture we read the following: “All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under Heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to destroy and a time to build … A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-5).
God has no problem knocking down and destroying what has been built in His honor and for His glory―if it is being misused, disused or abused. Speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem and His Temple, God said: “After these things I will return, and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and the ruins thereof I will rebuild, and I will set it up!” (Acts 15:16).
► THE FIRST DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM was interpreted by the prophets as punishment for Israel’s sins, especially those of idolatry, sexual immorality, and murder. After the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, at the time of the Great Babylonian Captivity (597-539 BC), the Jews were eventually freed, but only a small number wanted to return to Jerusalem and began to rebuild the city and the Temple―the vast majority of Jews had grown accustomed to and loved their new-found worldliness during their captivity and refused to return and rebuild their city, their Temple, their religion and their lives: “And the children of Israel returned from captivity, and all that had separated themselves from the filthiness of the nations of the Earth, to seek the Lord the God of Israel” (1 Esdras 6:21) … “Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Juda and Benjamin, and the priests, and Levites, and every one whose spirit God had raised up, to go up to build the temple of the Lord, which was in Jerusalem” (1 Esdras 1:5) … Nehemias said: “Let us rise up, and build!” (2 Esdras 2:18). They “rose up … and began to build the temple of God in Jerusalem … to build and to repair the walls thereof … building with unpolished stones and timber” (1 Esdras 5:2-8) … and “the foundations of the temple of the Lord were laid” (1 Esdras 3:11) … They “built the wall and joined it all together unto the half thereof: and the heart of the people was excited to work … and the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and the breaches began to be closed … And they prayed to God, and set watchmen upon the wall day and night against [intruders and enemies] … Of them that built on the wall and that carried burdens, and that laded: with one of his hands he did the work, and with the other he held a sword. For every one of the builders was girded with a sword about him” (2 Esdras 4:6-9, 17-18) … “The wall was finished the five and twentieth day of the month of Elul, in two and fifty days. And it came to pass when all our enemies heard of it, that all nations which were round about us, were afraid, and were cast down within themselves, for they perceived that this work was the work of God” (2 Esdras 6:15-16).
► THE SECOND DESTRUCTION OF THE THEN REBUILT TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM, came in the year 70 AD, and was foretold by Our Lord as a consequence of Jerusalem’s rejection of Jesus: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate!’ … And when He drew near, seeing the city, He wept over it, saying: ‘If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, when thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee; and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone―because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation” (Matthew 23:37-38; Luke 19:41-44).
That prophecy came true in 70 AD, when the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem during the time of the Passover, when Jerusalem’s population swelled to many times its normal population due to the multitude of pilgrims. Over 1 million in the city and encamped around the city at the time of the siege― the Jewish historian that witnessed the siege and fall of Jerusalem, who was on the side of the Romans, Flavius Josephus, claims that 1.1 million people were killed during the siege, of which a majority were Jewish. He writes: “Most of the victims were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, butchered wherever they were caught. Round the Altar the heaps of corpses grew higher and higher, while down the Sanctuary steps poured a river of blood and the bodies of those killed at the top slithered to the bottom … Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury―for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done―[Titus] Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple.”
► THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MODERN DAY WORLD. Are the new “Chosen People”―Catholics―headed down the same destructive path today? Most certainly we are! Whereas God sent prophets to warn Israel and the Juda of the dangerous path they were treading―today, God sends the Queen of Prophets, Our Lady, to deliver the same warnings. If pay no heed to her, then our lot will the same as that of the Israelites and the Jews. History repeats itself―and if we refuse to study history and learn from the mistakes of the past, then our future will be the same as that of the past. God has no problem flicking the “mass annihilation” switch when it warrants it. If the ‘building’ is no good, then God will destroy it and rebuild. This was pretty much what God said to Moses concerning His Chosen People during the Exodus from Egypt: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Go, get thee down! Thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, hath sinned! They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst show them! And they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it, and sacrificing victims to it, have said: “These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt!”’ And again the Lord said to Moses: ‘See that this people is stiff-necked! Let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation!’” (Genesis 32:7-10). God is prepared to do the same again―knock-down and destroy what is not working and rebuild. Our Lady has made that abundantly clear at her many apparitions:
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! … Woe to the children of these times! … The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God, who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops ... The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
“The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test?” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
God Even ‘Destroys’ His Chosen Temple―Jesus―Then Rebuilds Him
The prophet Isaias speaks of the future Messias, Our Lord, as someone that God destroys because of our sins and to bring healing, or a rebuilding, through that destruction: “There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness: and we have seen Him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of Him! Despised, and the most abject of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and His look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed Him not! Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted! But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement that leads to our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed!” (Isaias 53:2-5).
Our Lord is meant to the cornerstone of our life. If we reject that cornerstone, we risk being rejected ourselves. “Jesus said to them: ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord this has been done; and it is wonderful in our eyes.” Therefore I say to you, that the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder!’” (Matthew 21:42-44).
“And have you not read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner’”
(Mark 12:10). “But he looking on them, said: ‘What is this then that is written, “The stone, which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that stone, shall be bruised: and upon whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder!”’” (Luke 20:17-18). “This is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner” (Acts 4:11).
We are called “living stones” which God wishes to use in building a temple for Himself: “Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore it is said in the Scriptures: ‘Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious. And he that shall believe in him, shall not be confounded.’ To you therefore that believe, he is honor―but to them that believe not, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of scandal, to them who stumble at the word, neither do believe it!” (1 Peter 2:5-8).
We Need Knocking-Down and Rebuilding!
There is no doubt, in view of what Holy Scripture says and in view what Our Lady forewarns―we are in a dire need of being knocked-down and rebuilt. Compare it to a major surgery―if you like―the legs and arms are gangrened and need to be amputated, and we need the prosthetics of God. In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from Ancient Greek prosthesis, meaning “addition, application, attachment”). A prosthetic implant is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth. Prostheses are intended to restore the normal functions of the missing body part.
We are not functioning as we ought to function. We are not God-centered as we ought to be. We are man-centered. Pleasure-centered. Self-centered. Thus Scripture says: “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God, They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they acted deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways! There is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalm 13:1-3).
Since Our Lady says that our times are worse than those at the time of Noe, then the words God spoke back then are all more applicable today: “And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, It repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth Me that I have made them! And the Earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity. And when God had seen that the Earth was corrupted―for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the Earth―He said to Noe: ‘The end of all flesh is come before Me, the Earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the Earth! Make thee an ark of timber planks … Behold I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the Earth, to destroy all flesh under Heaven. All things that are in the Earth shall be consumed. And I will establish My covenant with thee, and thou shalt enter into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and the wives of thy sons with thee!’” (Genesis 6:5-18). God would destroy and rebuild. This has been His policy time and time again. When ‘surgery’ needs to be done―God is not afraid to do it. We should have the same attitude towards ourselves―and God knows how much we all need surgery, or even total destruction followed by a resurrection.
“Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit―and why will you die?” (Ezechiel 18:31). “And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you―and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh!” (Ezechiel 36:26). God is not being loved. We need a new heart and new spirit so that we can love as we are meant to love Him―with our WHOLE heart, WHOLE mind, WHOLE soul and WHOLE strength: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30).
Building a False Temple―A New Church
The Second Vatican Council―and the vast majority of families―have destroyed the Temple of God and rebuilt another temple, a man-made temple, a man-focused temple. That is what Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, St. John Bosco and many others have warned us about.
St. John Bosco says in a nutshell what Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich explains in much more detail. In the 19th century―in 1862 to be precise, exactly 100 years before the Second Vatican Council opened―St. John Bosco had a vision of an Ecumenical Council that would occur in the 20th century and which would bring chaos to the Church. “There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century, after which there will be chaos in the Church. Tranquility will not return until the Pope succeeds in anchoring the boat of Peter between the twin pillars of Eucharistic Devotion and Devotion to Our Lady.”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, relating the content of her visions, states: “I saw, were long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities. A few had only a body, with a dark cloud of fog instead of a head. Others had only a head, their bodies and hearts were like thick vapors. Some were lame; others were paralytics; others were asleep or staggering. I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound … I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors and in great distress about the Church … I saw many good pious Bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … The Church is completely isolated and as if completely deserted. It seems that everyone is running away ... Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church … I saw a strange big church being built there (in Rome) against every rule … There was nothing holy in it … No angels were supervising the building operations. In that church, nothing came from high above…There was only division and chaos. It is probably a church of human creation, following the latest fashion … Everything was being done, according to human reason. I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions ...
“They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights … There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed to be very successful ... I saw how harmful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size … I see that the false Church of darkness is making progress and I see the dreadful influence it has on the people … Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence … In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars … The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere. I now see that in this place (Rome) the (Catholic) Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for destruction, even the clergy … I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. … A great devastation is now near at hand … for everyone, even ecclesiastics, are laboring to destroy (and) ruin is at hand … Many of the clergy were themselves busy at this work of destruction – none of them wishing to do it openly in front of the others …
“They built a large, singular, extravagant church which was to embrace all creeds with equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, and all denominations, a true communion of the unholy with one shepherd and one flock. There was to be a Pope, a salaried Pope, without possessions. All was made ready, many things finished; but, in place of an altar, were only abomination and desolation. Such was the new church to be, and it was for it that he had set fire to the old one; but God had otherwise designs! … Then I saw before me the Heavenly Spouse, and He said that the Church would seem to be in complete decline. But She would rise again―even if there remained but one Catholic―the Church would conquer again … All must be rebuilt soon … Then, from all over the world, came priests and laymen and they rebuilt the stone walls, since the wreckers had been unable to move the heavy foundation stones. And then I saw that the Church was being promptly rebuilt and She was more magnificent than ever before!”
Rebuilding the True Temple―the True Church
Both Church and Family need to be rebuilt. As the Third Secret of Fatima allegedly warns, there will be a massive destruction that comes to the Church from within, and as Sr. Lucia later warns, the devil’s final battle with God will be over the Family, which the devil will seek to destroy―since it is the basic building-block of both Church and Society. Just about every family has been wounded if not destroyed―with traditional family values and God’s laws regarding marriage and the family, being increasingly thrown on the scrap-heap. In most cases, it is not a case of ‘remodeling’ but more a case of ‘rebuilding’―for the foundations have been hit and cracked.
How do you rebuild? As St. John Bosco stated: “Tranquility [normalcy] will not return until the Pope succeeds in anchoring the boat of Peter between the twin pillars of Eucharistic Devotion and Devotion to Our Lady.” Providentially, we are currently on the cusp of the Feast of Corpus Christi (Thursday, June 20th this year) and on the Octave of Corpus Christi, we have the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help! Let us then take a serious theoretical and practical look at how things can be rebuilt―for if we neglect to rebuild, then there is only one fate in store for us! We don’t want to go there!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Monday June 17th & Tuesday June 18th
Article 9
Has Your Family Had Its Vatican II Moment?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 9
Has Your Family Had Its Vatican II Moment?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Is Your Family Pregnant With Vatican II?
Huh? Family pregnant? Vatican II? What kind of crazy talk is this? Hold on to your crosiers and hang on to your miters! This is no crazy talk, but talk impregnated with non-childish, serious, life-threatening consequences! Don’t abort the article, nor prevent its conception! Many a serious word is said in jest―but since this is no jest, its serious words are more serious than you think!
Pregnant With Faith―Born Again into the Faith
Faith and pregnancy―is there a link? Well of course there is! Do we not call the Catholic Church by the title “Bride of Christ” and “Holy Mother Church”? Do we not call Our Lady by the title “Mother of the Church”? What is a “bride”? Someone who marries in order to have children. What is a mother? A mother is someone who conceives and gives birth to a child―without pregnancy and birth, she cannot be a mother. We are called “the children of Holy Mother Church”―because we have been conceived and born into the Faith by Baptism. We are called “children of Mary” by the fact that we are ‘born’ into the Church, of which she is the Mother.
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, quotes St. Augustine as saying that while we are in this life, we are, as it were, in the womb of Mary, until she gives birth to us into the eternal life and joys of Heaven: “St. Augustine, surpassing himself, and going beyond all I have yet said, affirms that all the predestinate, in order to be conformed to the image of the Son of God, are in this world hidden in the womb of the most holy Virgin, where they are guarded, nourished, brought up and made to grow by that good Mother until she has brought them forth to glory after death, which is properly the day of their birth, as the Church calls the death of the just.”
As St. Louis says elsewhere in his book: “God the Father wishes to have children by Mary till the consummation of the world … Just as in the natural and corporal generation of children there are a father and a mother, so in the supernatural and spiritual generation there are a Father, who is God, and a Mother, who is Mary. All the true children of God, the predestinate, have God for their Father and Mary for their Mother. He who has not Mary for his Mother has not God for his Father … God the Son wishes to form Himself, and, so to speak, to incarnate Himself in His members every day, by His dear Mother … God the Holy Ghost wishes to form the elect for Himself in her and by her … The first man that is born in Mary is the Man-God, Jesus Christ; the second is a mere man, the child of God and Mary by adoption. If Jesus Christ―the Head of men―is born in her, then the predestinate, who are the members of that Head, ought also to be born in her by a necessary consequence.”
Our Lord Himself speaks of our need to be “born again” in a spiritual sense, by the Sacrament of Baptism, when He says to Nicodemus: “Jesus said to him: ‘Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God!’ Nicodemus said to Him: ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born again?’ Jesus answered: ‘Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God! That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit. Wonder not, that I said to thee, you must be born again!’” (John 3:3-7).
Contraceptive and Abortifacient World
Faith gives life―or, more correctly, Faith gives eternal life! If we have been beneficiaries of the traditional rite of Baptism, then, the priest will have questioned us at the start of the ceremony, asking: “What are you asking of God’s Church?” And we―or our godparents if we were babies―replied: “Faith!” The priest then asked: “What does Faith hold out to you?” and we replied: “Everlasting life!” The priest then laid down the conditions that would have to met if he was to impart the supernatural-life-giving and eternal life bestowing Sacrament of Baptism, saying: “If, then, you wish to inherit everlasting life, keep the commandments; love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” The world is an enemy of the Faith―the world, you could say, is a spiritual contraceptive and a spiritual abortifacient. That is why we are told to separate ourselves from the world:
“Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). “The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word of God, and it is made fruitless” (Mark 4:19). “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Be dead with Christ from the elements of this world” (Colossians 2:20).
Children of the Church
Now for a short boring bit! Though your boredom will be short-lived compared to boredom of wading through lots of research to verify and come up with these boring facts! Though they are interesting in their consequences. Skip the paragraph if you are sleepy, lukewarm, dumbed-down or not interested in matters of the Faith. Though, you could always offer your excruciating boredom as a sacrifice for a potential last-minute conversion or contrition for one of the souls who have or will die today―around 9 people every 5 seconds, or 105 people per minute, or 6,316 each hour, or 151,600 each day―most of whom, according to Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints, will lose their souls and be damned. Okay, here we go! Take a big yawn before you start so as to get some extra oxygen into your brain via your blood! You can look upon and classify the “children of the Church” in many different ways. Just as the Israelites had a three-caste system―Cohanim (high priests from the tribe of Levi who had to be directly descended from Aaron), Levites (also from the trine of Levi, but not descended from Aaron, who were assistants to high priests), and Israelites (the rest of the 11 tribes)―so too does Holy Mother Church have a triple-caste system: the clergy, the religious and the laity―or, you could also divide it thus: (1) CARDINALS AND BISHOPS, who are directly descended from the Apostles―which is similar to the high-priests from the tribe of Levi directly descended from Aaron; (2) REGULAR PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS who are included in a broad category of “clergy and religious” and are separated from the laity for divine worship, but who lack the full priestly powers held by bishops―which is similar to the Levites, who were from the ‘religious’ tribe of Levi, but not directly descended from Aaron; and (3) LAITY, who have not been called to the official capacity of being a minister of God in the service of God in the clerical or religious life―which is similar to the remaining 11 out of 12 tribes of Israel, to whom God did not give the vocation of divine worship in an official capacity as ministers of God. Each of these three castes produce their own ‘children’―some producing children in the flesh (as with married couples) and the clerical and religious castes producing spiritual children by vocations to the priestly or religious life.
Whose Seed Has Impregnated the Church Today? Whose Children Are We Conceiving?
Semen―sperm―seed―it is all one and same thing at the end of the day, whether in plants, animals or mankind. Our Lord, in His parable of the Sower of the Seed, speaks of the “seed” as being the Word of God that should be impregnating us and bring forth much fruit. He also alludes to the ‘semen-like’ sap that produces fruit on trees―in this case, the vine.
“I am the true vine … Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, my Father will take away! And every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit! … Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine―you are the branches! He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit! For without Me you can do nothing!” (John 15:1-5).
“Behold the sower went forth to sow his seed. And whilst he soweth some seed fell by the way side, and the birds of the air came and ate them up. And other seeds fell upon stony ground, where they had not much earth: and they sprung up immediately, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up they were scorched: and because they had not root, they withered away. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up and choked them. And other seed fell upon good ground: and they brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold … Hear you therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower ... When any one heareth the Word of the Kingdom, and understands it not, there cometh the wicked one, and catches away that which was sown in his heart: this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon stony ground, is he that heareth the Word, and immediately receiveth it with joy. Yet hath he not root in himself, but is only for a time: and when there arises tribulation and persecution, because of the Word, he is presently scandalized. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the Word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the Word, and he becometh fruitless. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the Word, and understands, and bears fruit, and yields the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23).
In modern terms, you could, broadly speaking, categorize the Word of God in the above parable, in terms of onanism or masturbation (deliberately wasting the seed), contraception (preventing the seed from sprouting) and abortion (destroying the sprouted seed). That is our modern plague―both on the physical and spiritual levels. The physical obsession with sexual pleasures (in thought or action), blinds us to the spiritual pleasures of God and the Faith. That is the unanimous diagnosis and opinion of all the spiritual authors. Thus the spiritual seeds that God tries to sow are either wasted, neutralized, or destroyed. Rather than receiving the seed of the Word of God and allowing it to impregnate our minds, hearts and souls―we prefer to commit adultery with the world and allows the world to impregnate us with its seed of worldliness, pleasures, entertainment, indulgence and ultimately sinfulness. The result is that―even though we were ‘married’ to God by our Baptism―we have fornicated with the world and we are pregnant with the spirit of that world. The ‘child’ or ‘fruit of our womb’ (soul) is not the child of God, but the child of our partner in adultery―the world and its prince. That is why St. James calls us adulterers―two-timing God by loving the world when we should be loving God with our WHOLE heart, mind, soul and strength: “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
Spirit of Vatican II and Adultery
What do you know of Vatican II or the Second Vatican Council? Most people know diddly-squat (slang for a small or worthless amount). If there is one thing all Catholics know―then it is the fact that they know very little! Sad, but true! Nobody’s fault but their own―they merely prefer to learn more about worldly things than religious things! That’s the trend―always has been! Ask a Catholic to name the dates for the Second Vatican Council and 99% will struggle―especially those born during or after the Council (1962-1965). Some might get close and guess the 1960s or 1970s―but few will give you the correct time span. If you were to a step further and ask them some other simple questions such as: “Where was the Council held?” or “Who presided over the Council?” or “How many separate sessions did the Council take over those years?” or “What was the purpose of the Council?” or “How many documents did the Council produce?” or “Name just one document that came out of the Council”―then they would be speechless, stumped and stupefied. You might―if you’re lucky―get one correct answer to those questions. Yet, in the modern Church, Vatican II is touted as the best thing since the invention of sliced-bread! It is praised to high-heaven―yet few know anything about it! Consequently, as the saying goes: “If you do not know your history, then you will be condemned to learn it by repeating its mistakes.” That is what is currently going―and has been going on―in most families ever since the Council ended in on December 8th, 1965.
You could―without exaggeration―compare the Second Vatican Council with adultery. The Catholic Church―the Bride of Christ―did not actually “divorce” Christ, nor did She separate from Christ, but she “mixed” and “slept” with His enemies. Who are the enemies of Christ? His enemies are twofold―secular and spiritual.
Adultery With Christ’s Secular Enemies
The secular enemy is the world and its prince, the devil, with its worldliness (ungodliness). Our Lord has made that abundantly clear―there is no love lost between Him and the world, and there can be no love for the world by the Church. The Church must, like Christ, try to save the world from itself and its prince―the devil. The Church is not to cavort and copulate with the world under the pretences of a false love. Christ came into the world to save the world from the world. He has compassion on the world: “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17), but Christ did not immerse Himself into the spirit of the world. In fact He spoke out against the world: “And He said to them: ‘You are from beneath, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). “My kingdom is not of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “The world hateth Me … because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:7). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you … If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). Thus, Holy Scripture adds elsewhere: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Adultery With Christ’s Spiritual Enemies
The spiritual enemies are all the false religions―who obviously deny what Christ has said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!” (John 14:6). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other Name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12). “For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils!” (Psalm 95:5). “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). Yet the Second Vatican Council did not “go out from among them” (the false religions), but instead threw the doors and windows of the Church open to them and went out among them! That, of course, is spiritual adultery―and it has been the behavior of the Church ever since! That spirit―of spiritual adultery―has infected countless families, who now witness to the exodus from the Faith of one child after another.
Vatican II―Failed Business
Our Lord complained that “the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8). The children of this world put more effort into and make great profits in their business ventures. When the young St. Dominic Savio first arrived at St. John Bosco’s school, he noticed a sign on the wall in Don Bosco’s office, which said: “Da mihi animas, cetera toll”―which Don Bosco explained to Dominic as meaning: “Give me souls and take away the rest.” Dominic reflected for a moment and then said: “I understand! Here you do business―not with money―but with souls! I hope that my soul will have its share in this business!”
The Church also has a sign―it is found in Canon Law (canon 1752)―that says: “Salus animarum supemus lex esto” ― meaning: “The supreme law must be the salvation of souls!” Just as Dominic Savio took the priest’s (Don Bosco’s) motto to heart and made it his own, likewise, every family should take that phrase of the Church’s Canon Law to heart and make it the supreme law within each family: “The supreme law must be the salvation of souls!” That is what should be the ultimate, supreme focus of every Catholic family (but isn’t)! It is not money, or entertainment, or socializing, or fun, or sports, or hobbies, or anything else that comes “top of the list” in family priorities―but the salvation of the souls of the family. But that means―as philosophy so truly yet brutally says―that he who desires a goal, a target, an end, must necessarily and inescapably also desire the means to securing that goal, target, or end. If you desire health, you must work at obtaining health―it will not come automatically by itself just because you desire it. If you desire knowledge or good grades at school, then you must work and study those things in which you want to increase or perfect your knowledge―it will not come automatically by itself just because you desire it. If you desire wealth, then you must work hard at obtaining it―it will not come automatically by itself just because you desire it. The same is true for salvation, you must work hard at it, remembering that “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16) and that “wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). This is why Scripture says: “with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). Families need to have a “spring-cleaning” of their values and re-order them, placing the salvation of souls as the blatant, brash, bold banner and motto under which the family operates―so that anything that does not help or promote the salvation of souls, is thrown into the trash can.
Looking at the Second Vatican Council from the perspective of Our Lord’s “the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” comment, let us picture the Church as a business―as one of the biggest and oldest corporations in the world. In fact, the oldest corporation in the world that has seen the rise and fall of countless similar corporations over the last 2,000 years. It has had over 250 presidents (popes) and hundreds of thousands of board members (cardinals and bishops), and millions of employees (priests, monks, brothers, sisters and nuns). The business has had its “ups-and-downs” but by 1962 (Vatican II) had reached a targeted customer base of 600 million potential customers (Catholics worldwide) of whom 75% were regular weekly customers. The customers were for the most part satisfied and in no way found the business lacking in the way of customer service and business policy.
However, a new president (John XXIII) is elected who is dissatisfied with the traditional and successful business model. He wants to expand the customer base to include the whole world — and without any compelling warrant or reason decides to change the business model dramatically so that it will be appealing to the rest of the world (non-Catholics). So the president convokes an Extraordinary General Meeting (Ecumenical Council) at the headquarters (Vatican) and puts forward an agenda that falsely paints a picture of the relatively successful corporation (the Catholic Church) as being a failing business model, that is in dire need of reform, restructuring, remodeling and refurbishing. This brought about much debate and argument among the board members (cardinals and bishops) at the Extraordinary General Meeting (Second Vatican Council)―which stalled and restarted and stretched-out over four periods lasting over 3 years. Finally, all the managers and the employees (priests, monks, brothers, sisters and nuns) are told — despite the lack of clear evidence — that the business is failing and could prosper more if a whole host of changes and new policies were to be introduced. In actual fact, business had been good, the customers were mainly happy, and the employees as well, but the presidents (John XXIII and then Paul VI―for John died during the General Meeting) and a handful of likeminded board members (cardinals and bishops) wished to change, not only the model, but the also the universally admired architecture of its thousands of stores (cathedrals and churches) throughout the world, as well as dramatically simplifying the interiors to resemble those of its less successful competitors — and, what is more, they totally changed the business language itself (Latin to local languages)— so that these formerly unifying features were to be discarded in favor of disunity.
Shortly after the worldwide introduction of all these changes, this once constantly growing business (growing in both targeted customers (baptized Catholics) and regular customers (regular Sunday Mass attendees), started losing tens of thousands of managers (priests) and hundreds of thousands of employees (monks, brothers, sisters and nuns). Ever more critically, the regular customer base (regular Sunday Mass attendees), once in the area of 75%, quickly fell to 40%, and then plummeted to less than 25% ― with some national branches reporting as little as 2% of customers regularly frequenting their stores. Soon local stores were closing by the thousands, in some localities stores merged in order to try and stop the leaking, outflowing of customers from the ‘burst pipe.’
To add to the woes of this disastrous downward spiral, the corporation is hit, in successive years, with over $3 billion dollars of loss in the way of lawsuits due to unethical malpractice in the use and abuse of customers—resulting in incessant litigation and law suits. To pay for their negligence — or rather, to pay the lawyers and the victims for the negligence of the managers — the corporation must sell off large portions of its portfolio and close many, many of its stores. The customers are fewer and fewer, and what is more, there are few employees to be had as a result of the magnitude of the scandal. The schools of management (seminaries) must, of course, close also, for there are no more recruits (seminarians) for the positions which themselves are fewer and fewer. Is that a successful business venture? No! It is a clear business failure! Yet that same failure has been “bought-into” by the customers, and that same “failed business plan” has been adopted, purchased and put into action in the families of most of the customers. The inevitable result is that the families are failing in the same way as the corporation is failing. Yet, just as in Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” also known as “The King With No Clothes” or “The Invisible Suit of Clothes”―everyone is shouting out how wonderful Vatican II was, how beautiful it was, how successful it was―when, in reality, the Church has been stripped almost naked of her original suit of clothes, which were the clergy and the regularly attending faithful.
Spirit of Vatican II in the Family
The desire of Pope John XXIII, in his 1959 announcement of his convocation of the Second Vatican Council, in order to “open the windows” of the nearly 2,000-year-old Church and let some of the modern world’s “fresh air” inside―has been carried by winds of the world into almost every family. Just as the “fresh-air” (or stench) and ‘vermin’, ‘bugs’ and ‘insects’ penetrated the Church after the opening of those doors and windows, so too have they penetrated the Catholic family as it happily opened its doors and windows to the world around them. Not that most families needed any encouragement―for the wounds of Original Sin make everyone more susceptible to joining the crowds on the broad, wide road that goes downhill, than taking the narrow straight path that leads uphill. The laity will always drag themselves along one or two steps behind the clergy―much like the Protestant Church is always behind the Catholic Church. When the Catholic Church is strong, the Protestants are stronger―when the Church grows weak, the Protestants grow proportionately weaker. This brings to mind the famous phrase of French origins concerning the priest and his parish, which can also be applied to parents and their families ― “A saintly priest (or parent) produces a holy parish (family). A holy priest (or parent) produces a fervent parish (family). A fervent priest (or parent) produces a good parish (family). A good priest (or parent) produces a lukewarm parish (family). A lukewarm priest (or parent) produces a parish (family) of devils.”
The Mechanics of Destruction
If we are alert and attentive and active, we can, to some extent limit the damage that is done to the family―but it requires a sincere desire on the part of all the family members to put it into practice―for, as the saying goes, “You are only as strong as your weakest link!” We are all weak―but who is the weakest of all in your family? The father? Mother? A certain child? As St. Ignatius of Loyola says in his Rules for the Spiritual Exercise and Discernment of Spirits―the devil, like any army general, will attack you at your weakest point―whether it is you as an individual, or your family as a whole. So what is YOUR weakest link and what is YOUR FAMILY’S weakest link?
Prior to the Second Vatican Council, the devil―in using the infiltration of Freemasonry and Communism into the Church―succeeded in creating multiple weak links for future exploitation. As the multiple Communist and Masonic defectors have testified, many of the infiltrators had reached very prominent positions within the Church―cardinals, bishops, priests, rectors of seminaries, etc. Since the Church is predominantly all about Faith and Morals―these infiltrators were focused on corrupting Faith and Morals―and they have succeeded greatly. Previous articles have listed the goals of the enemy with regard to overcoming the Church and the Western civilization―your memory can be refreshed by scanning through some earlier articles―suffice it here to say that the general goal is no longer one of military invasion, but one of ideological invasion. They know that they will have more success by attacking you from within, than attacking you from the outside. So rather than invade your country, they first of all want to invade your mind. Modern technology makes it easy. Our strength is God and the grace He gives us―for grace perfects and strengthens our human nature. Without that grace―like Samson with his hair cut-off―we lose our strength and are weak and little able to resist the onslaught of worldliness by the prince of this world.
Hence, the prince of this world, as many an exorcist has testified, primarily seeks to distract us from God and pull us away from the sources of grace―namely, a serious prayer life, frequent attendance at Mass, frequent reception of Holy Communion, frequent Confession, spiritual exercises such as meditation, spiritual reading, examination of conscience, mortification, sacrifices and penance, etc. He has largely succeeded in this―for only 1 in 5 Catholics regularly attend Mass at least once a week; hardly anyone goes to Confession (and bad Confessions are not uncommon according to St. Alphonsus Liguori), only 2 in 100 Catholics in the USA pray the Rosary daily (and then you must ask “How well to they pray (or just say) it?”, spiritual reading is an even greater rarity and meditation is almost an extinct species and lost skill. The hours that could and should be spent on spiritual things in this pretty-obvious-or-get-your-eyesight-checked crisis of the Church, have been handed over to secular, entertaining, fun things instead. The family prefers to participate in socials or sports rather than assist at Mass. They prefer to sit for hours in front of ‘tabernacle’ of the TV rather than the tabernacle in the Church. They prefer “surfing” the social media or internet to spiritual reading and meditation. Like Vatican II, they have opened the windows and doors of their souls to let in the ‘fresh-air’ of the world―except, just as in chemical warfare, that ‘fresh-air’ is the carrier of deadly poisons and gasses.
Little-By-Little the Spirit Seeps-In
Let’s face it―ultimately, “when push comes to shove”, you are either FOR Vatican II or you are AGAINST Vatican II. It is much like Our Lord said: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30) and “He that is not against you, is for you!” (Mark 9:39)―there is no middle ground between right and wrong, truth and error, sin and virtue―it is either one or the other. There is no neutrality―there is Heaven and there is Hell―there is no third option for spectators or neutrals.
When the former Russian KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov defected to the West, he revealed, among many other things, the 4 stages of Communist subversion of any nation, state, group or organization―all of which are inevitably made up of families. The family is the base unit or building block of society. Ideological subversion, Bezmenov said, is a long-term process involving four stages: (1) demoralization, (2) destabilization, (3) crisis and (4) normalization.
Bezmenov explains the KGB's activities are less about espionage in the classic James Bond sense (only 15%), and more concerned with "Ideological Subversion" (85%) which is used to secretly undermine the American government through psychological warfare and getting into controlling the minds and thoughts of Americans. Key to this program is to change the perception of reality using subtle and hidden brainwashing techniques over an extended period of time. As I've written in the past, people act on their perceptions of reality, regardless if it is correct or fallacious. They are not so much concerned with facts as they are in perspectives and self interests. By controlling the perceptions of people, they become more prone to make erroneous conclusions thereby simplifying the manipulation of the masses. The objective of the KGB program, therefore, is to program people into dismissing true facts as fallacious even in spite of the obvious.
As Bezmenov explains in an interview, there are four steps to transform the thinking and behavior of the population:
(1) Demoralization ― this is a process which can take about 15-30 years to perform (a generation). During this stage, the moral fiber and integrity of the country is put into question, thereby creating doubt in the minds of the people. To do so, manipulation of the media and academia is required to influence young people. As the younger generation embraces new values, such as Marxism and Leninism, the older generation slowly loses control simply through attrition. Again, true facts no longer matter during this stage, but rather creating perceptions are of paramount importance.
(2) Destabilization ― the purpose of this step is to change the status quo, particularly the country's economy, foreign relations, and defense systems. The intent is to create a massive government permeating society and becoming intrusive in the lives of its citizens. This can take from two to five years to perform, again with the active support of academia pushing youth in this direction. Here, entitlements and benefits are promised to the populace to encourage their support. Basically, they are bribing the people to accept their programs.
Bezmenov claims after this stage is completed, the naive college professors are no longer needed and since they will undoubtedly protest government policies when they discover the truth, they will be disposed of quickly. He cites examples of this occurring in Nicaragua, Grenada, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
(3) Crisis ― this is a major step lasting up to six weeks and involves a revolutionary change of power. This is where a cataclysmic event upsets and divides the country thereby creating panic among the citizens. Recent examples include the 2011 upheavals in the Middle East, most notably Egypt and Libya. To Americans, symptoms would include circumventing the Constitution and altering the checks and balances of government, and possibly imposing martial law.
(4) Normalization ― the final stage is where the populace finally acquiesces and begins to assimilate communism. This can take up to two decades to complete.
The “Little-By-Little” Steps of Demoralization
First of all, understand that word “demoralize.” For many folk, their understanding of “to demoralize” stops at the basic surface definition of “to cause someone to lose confidence or hope; to make someone dispirited, depressed, etc.” This is true, but there is also a more essential and core definition or meaning to the word “demoralize”―and that is “to cause someone to turn aside or away from what is good or true or morally right; to corrupt the morals of someone.” As you know, you can watch a child all day and not see the child grow, just as you can watch a plant, or grass, all day and not see it grow―but these things are growing, yet because they grow so slowly, our human eye cannot perceive it. But go away for a month or several months and look again, and you will see the difference.
Whether you take Communists, Freemasons, or any other evil group, subversion is ultimately a battle between God and Satan and their respective recruits―between the promoter of goodness and the promoter of evil. The devil is constantly seeking to subvert your family―whether you know or not, see it or not, believe it or not, admit it or not. The fact that he does his work slowly, subtly and secretly means that he is less likely to be uncovered, opposed and overcome. This is how profound and harmful changes are advanced in our culture. If the goal were to undermine cultural institutions, the process for getting from Unthinkable to Policy would follow these five easy steps:
► Step #1: From Unthinkable to Radical--The first step is the easiest—get someone to talk about what is unthinkable, disgusting, deviant, sinful, criminal, etc. It is akin to “dipping-your-toe-in-the-water” without actually “taking the plunge.” This is how the ultimate legalization of divorce, contraception, abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriages, marijuana use, etc. all got approved. You can condemn these things initially―that is no problem, it is even expected―but what you need to do is get people to at least talk about it before they condemn it, to listen to the arguments in favor of these things before they condemn them. In this way, you get “a foot in the door” and even though you may not be able to open the door, those who reject those things will not be able to close the door either! First step to success achieved! What was unthinkable and unacceptable, is now on the way to becoming seen as something radical―which is a slight step forward.
► Step #2: From Radical to Acceptable--This shift requires the creation and employment of euphemism (“euphemism” means a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something shocking, scandalous, sinful, unpleasant or embarrassing). Want to kill a child exiting the womb? Call it “dilation and extraction” and infanticide becomes a medical procedure. Want to commit adultery? Call it “playing around.” Want to include sodomitic unions under the banner of “marriage”? Redefine the word “marriage” to mean the state-endorsed copulation of any two(?) people who want to share a bed and a tax form. Want to condone homosexuality? Call it being “gay.” All those are examples of euphemisms. Be sure to say it is all about “love”—in our culture, “love” excuses everything.
There will naturally be a few holdouts, of course, but those who reject the shift from Radical to Acceptable can be shamed into approving. All that is required is to deploy a stingingly suitable insult. The words “bigot” or “homophobic” or “extremist” or “hate-crime”, for instance, are more effective than a baseball bat at beating the young into submission. There are few core beliefs they won’t change to avoid being called one or more of these names. The disapproval of their Creator (God) is unfortunate; but enduring the disfavor of their peers is unimaginable and intolerable.
► Step #3: From Acceptable to Sensible--There is nothing more sensible than to submit to one’s god. And while Americans may profess to worship Allah, Jehovah, or Jesus― most worship an “American Idol” ― which is themselves (or ourselves). That is why social Libertarianism―meaning somebody who believes in the principle that people should have complete freedom of thought and action―has become our country’s fastest-growing cult. It has tapped into this self-idolatry by preaching a gospel of the Individual. It’s a comforting, pragmatic and accepting message. One of its chief promoters and evangelists is the blasphemous ‘Catholic’ renegade singer Lady Gaga, who, in a recent song entitled “Born This Way” sings: “It doesn’t matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M / Just put your paws up / ’Cause you were born this way, baby!” The percussion-backed chorus, sings: “I’m beautiful in my way, ‘cause God makes no mistakes; I’m on the right track, baby, I was born this way!” After the chorus Lady Gaga chants the line “Don't be a drag! Just be a queen!”―which, of course, refers to homosexual tendencies. All of which is music to ears of the pervert―for if the pervert was “born that way” then the pervert is “normal” and normal people should be given full social acceptance. “Born This Way” has sold over 8.2 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time.
► Step #4: From Sensible to Popular--This step merely requires personalizing the issue. Do you know someone who is LGBT? Divorced? Had an abortion? Sure you do―they are in your family, in your school, at your church. Do you hate them? If not, then how can you still disapprove of their actions? (Note: Be sure to talk fast so that no one follows the logic). As it says in the Good Book (or maybe in a Lady Gaga song), judge not lest God judge you for judging. You want people to like you, don’t you? Then express popular approval for what your cultural betters (e.g., people on reality TV) believe should be popularly approved. Then you’ll be popular and it won’t be necessary to call you a bigot, homophobic, extremist or a perpetrator of a hate-crime.
► Step #5: From Popular to Policy--Run a survey. Commission a public opinion poll. Show it to a politician. Get it published in the media. They’ll do the rest. Of course not everyone in society will agree with every step along the way, but that won’t stop an issue from sliding into policy. All it requires is for a majority of the people who find the issue unacceptable to do nothing at all. Almost every culturally corrosive policy—from abortion to no-fault divorce to gay marriage—has come about in America this way. Christians who find such issues “unacceptable”, nevertheless tacitly accept this social-libertarian shift by their refusal to speak out and take action. As Our Lady of Akita said: “Those who should speak will remain silent!”
What is true on a large scale―within a city, state or country―is also true within the family. The above “little-by-little” steps will be taken by one or more members of the family. The survey or Gallup Poll will consists of the opinions of other relatives, friends, families and neighbors―all of which will pressurize you into “little-by-little” concessions. But, as the full version of the saying states: “Little by little one goes far!” As far as Hell? You know the answer to that!
Once you know how the enemy works, then half of the problem is solved. The other half of the problem is doing something about it. What can you do? Well, Our Lord gives us a clue when He says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). What is essentially a supernatural battle, will not be won with natural means. That means you need to use your supernatural weapons! Time to put other things away and get those weapons and wipe-off the cobwebs from them and get them oiled.
Huh? Family pregnant? Vatican II? What kind of crazy talk is this? Hold on to your crosiers and hang on to your miters! This is no crazy talk, but talk impregnated with non-childish, serious, life-threatening consequences! Don’t abort the article, nor prevent its conception! Many a serious word is said in jest―but since this is no jest, its serious words are more serious than you think!
Pregnant With Faith―Born Again into the Faith
Faith and pregnancy―is there a link? Well of course there is! Do we not call the Catholic Church by the title “Bride of Christ” and “Holy Mother Church”? Do we not call Our Lady by the title “Mother of the Church”? What is a “bride”? Someone who marries in order to have children. What is a mother? A mother is someone who conceives and gives birth to a child―without pregnancy and birth, she cannot be a mother. We are called “the children of Holy Mother Church”―because we have been conceived and born into the Faith by Baptism. We are called “children of Mary” by the fact that we are ‘born’ into the Church, of which she is the Mother.
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book True Devotion to Mary, quotes St. Augustine as saying that while we are in this life, we are, as it were, in the womb of Mary, until she gives birth to us into the eternal life and joys of Heaven: “St. Augustine, surpassing himself, and going beyond all I have yet said, affirms that all the predestinate, in order to be conformed to the image of the Son of God, are in this world hidden in the womb of the most holy Virgin, where they are guarded, nourished, brought up and made to grow by that good Mother until she has brought them forth to glory after death, which is properly the day of their birth, as the Church calls the death of the just.”
As St. Louis says elsewhere in his book: “God the Father wishes to have children by Mary till the consummation of the world … Just as in the natural and corporal generation of children there are a father and a mother, so in the supernatural and spiritual generation there are a Father, who is God, and a Mother, who is Mary. All the true children of God, the predestinate, have God for their Father and Mary for their Mother. He who has not Mary for his Mother has not God for his Father … God the Son wishes to form Himself, and, so to speak, to incarnate Himself in His members every day, by His dear Mother … God the Holy Ghost wishes to form the elect for Himself in her and by her … The first man that is born in Mary is the Man-God, Jesus Christ; the second is a mere man, the child of God and Mary by adoption. If Jesus Christ―the Head of men―is born in her, then the predestinate, who are the members of that Head, ought also to be born in her by a necessary consequence.”
Our Lord Himself speaks of our need to be “born again” in a spiritual sense, by the Sacrament of Baptism, when He says to Nicodemus: “Jesus said to him: ‘Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God!’ Nicodemus said to Him: ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born again?’ Jesus answered: ‘Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God! That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit. Wonder not, that I said to thee, you must be born again!’” (John 3:3-7).
Contraceptive and Abortifacient World
Faith gives life―or, more correctly, Faith gives eternal life! If we have been beneficiaries of the traditional rite of Baptism, then, the priest will have questioned us at the start of the ceremony, asking: “What are you asking of God’s Church?” And we―or our godparents if we were babies―replied: “Faith!” The priest then asked: “What does Faith hold out to you?” and we replied: “Everlasting life!” The priest then laid down the conditions that would have to met if he was to impart the supernatural-life-giving and eternal life bestowing Sacrament of Baptism, saying: “If, then, you wish to inherit everlasting life, keep the commandments; love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” The world is an enemy of the Faith―the world, you could say, is a spiritual contraceptive and a spiritual abortifacient. That is why we are told to separate ourselves from the world:
“Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). “The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word of God, and it is made fruitless” (Mark 4:19). “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Be dead with Christ from the elements of this world” (Colossians 2:20).
Children of the Church
Now for a short boring bit! Though your boredom will be short-lived compared to boredom of wading through lots of research to verify and come up with these boring facts! Though they are interesting in their consequences. Skip the paragraph if you are sleepy, lukewarm, dumbed-down or not interested in matters of the Faith. Though, you could always offer your excruciating boredom as a sacrifice for a potential last-minute conversion or contrition for one of the souls who have or will die today―around 9 people every 5 seconds, or 105 people per minute, or 6,316 each hour, or 151,600 each day―most of whom, according to Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints, will lose their souls and be damned. Okay, here we go! Take a big yawn before you start so as to get some extra oxygen into your brain via your blood! You can look upon and classify the “children of the Church” in many different ways. Just as the Israelites had a three-caste system―Cohanim (high priests from the tribe of Levi who had to be directly descended from Aaron), Levites (also from the trine of Levi, but not descended from Aaron, who were assistants to high priests), and Israelites (the rest of the 11 tribes)―so too does Holy Mother Church have a triple-caste system: the clergy, the religious and the laity―or, you could also divide it thus: (1) CARDINALS AND BISHOPS, who are directly descended from the Apostles―which is similar to the high-priests from the tribe of Levi directly descended from Aaron; (2) REGULAR PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS who are included in a broad category of “clergy and religious” and are separated from the laity for divine worship, but who lack the full priestly powers held by bishops―which is similar to the Levites, who were from the ‘religious’ tribe of Levi, but not directly descended from Aaron; and (3) LAITY, who have not been called to the official capacity of being a minister of God in the service of God in the clerical or religious life―which is similar to the remaining 11 out of 12 tribes of Israel, to whom God did not give the vocation of divine worship in an official capacity as ministers of God. Each of these three castes produce their own ‘children’―some producing children in the flesh (as with married couples) and the clerical and religious castes producing spiritual children by vocations to the priestly or religious life.
Whose Seed Has Impregnated the Church Today? Whose Children Are We Conceiving?
Semen―sperm―seed―it is all one and same thing at the end of the day, whether in plants, animals or mankind. Our Lord, in His parable of the Sower of the Seed, speaks of the “seed” as being the Word of God that should be impregnating us and bring forth much fruit. He also alludes to the ‘semen-like’ sap that produces fruit on trees―in this case, the vine.
“I am the true vine … Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, my Father will take away! And every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit! … Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine―you are the branches! He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit! For without Me you can do nothing!” (John 15:1-5).
“Behold the sower went forth to sow his seed. And whilst he soweth some seed fell by the way side, and the birds of the air came and ate them up. And other seeds fell upon stony ground, where they had not much earth: and they sprung up immediately, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up they were scorched: and because they had not root, they withered away. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up and choked them. And other seed fell upon good ground: and they brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold … Hear you therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower ... When any one heareth the Word of the Kingdom, and understands it not, there cometh the wicked one, and catches away that which was sown in his heart: this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon stony ground, is he that heareth the Word, and immediately receiveth it with joy. Yet hath he not root in himself, but is only for a time: and when there arises tribulation and persecution, because of the Word, he is presently scandalized. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the Word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the Word, and he becometh fruitless. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the Word, and understands, and bears fruit, and yields the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23).
In modern terms, you could, broadly speaking, categorize the Word of God in the above parable, in terms of onanism or masturbation (deliberately wasting the seed), contraception (preventing the seed from sprouting) and abortion (destroying the sprouted seed). That is our modern plague―both on the physical and spiritual levels. The physical obsession with sexual pleasures (in thought or action), blinds us to the spiritual pleasures of God and the Faith. That is the unanimous diagnosis and opinion of all the spiritual authors. Thus the spiritual seeds that God tries to sow are either wasted, neutralized, or destroyed. Rather than receiving the seed of the Word of God and allowing it to impregnate our minds, hearts and souls―we prefer to commit adultery with the world and allows the world to impregnate us with its seed of worldliness, pleasures, entertainment, indulgence and ultimately sinfulness. The result is that―even though we were ‘married’ to God by our Baptism―we have fornicated with the world and we are pregnant with the spirit of that world. The ‘child’ or ‘fruit of our womb’ (soul) is not the child of God, but the child of our partner in adultery―the world and its prince. That is why St. James calls us adulterers―two-timing God by loving the world when we should be loving God with our WHOLE heart, mind, soul and strength: “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
Spirit of Vatican II and Adultery
What do you know of Vatican II or the Second Vatican Council? Most people know diddly-squat (slang for a small or worthless amount). If there is one thing all Catholics know―then it is the fact that they know very little! Sad, but true! Nobody’s fault but their own―they merely prefer to learn more about worldly things than religious things! That’s the trend―always has been! Ask a Catholic to name the dates for the Second Vatican Council and 99% will struggle―especially those born during or after the Council (1962-1965). Some might get close and guess the 1960s or 1970s―but few will give you the correct time span. If you were to a step further and ask them some other simple questions such as: “Where was the Council held?” or “Who presided over the Council?” or “How many separate sessions did the Council take over those years?” or “What was the purpose of the Council?” or “How many documents did the Council produce?” or “Name just one document that came out of the Council”―then they would be speechless, stumped and stupefied. You might―if you’re lucky―get one correct answer to those questions. Yet, in the modern Church, Vatican II is touted as the best thing since the invention of sliced-bread! It is praised to high-heaven―yet few know anything about it! Consequently, as the saying goes: “If you do not know your history, then you will be condemned to learn it by repeating its mistakes.” That is what is currently going―and has been going on―in most families ever since the Council ended in on December 8th, 1965.
You could―without exaggeration―compare the Second Vatican Council with adultery. The Catholic Church―the Bride of Christ―did not actually “divorce” Christ, nor did She separate from Christ, but she “mixed” and “slept” with His enemies. Who are the enemies of Christ? His enemies are twofold―secular and spiritual.
Adultery With Christ’s Secular Enemies
The secular enemy is the world and its prince, the devil, with its worldliness (ungodliness). Our Lord has made that abundantly clear―there is no love lost between Him and the world, and there can be no love for the world by the Church. The Church must, like Christ, try to save the world from itself and its prince―the devil. The Church is not to cavort and copulate with the world under the pretences of a false love. Christ came into the world to save the world from the world. He has compassion on the world: “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17), but Christ did not immerse Himself into the spirit of the world. In fact He spoke out against the world: “And He said to them: ‘You are from beneath, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). “My kingdom is not of this world … My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “The world hateth Me … because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:7). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you … If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). Thus, Holy Scripture adds elsewhere: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
Adultery With Christ’s Spiritual Enemies
The spiritual enemies are all the false religions―who obviously deny what Christ has said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me!” (John 14:6). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other Name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12). “For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils!” (Psalm 95:5). “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). Yet the Second Vatican Council did not “go out from among them” (the false religions), but instead threw the doors and windows of the Church open to them and went out among them! That, of course, is spiritual adultery―and it has been the behavior of the Church ever since! That spirit―of spiritual adultery―has infected countless families, who now witness to the exodus from the Faith of one child after another.
Vatican II―Failed Business
Our Lord complained that “the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8). The children of this world put more effort into and make great profits in their business ventures. When the young St. Dominic Savio first arrived at St. John Bosco’s school, he noticed a sign on the wall in Don Bosco’s office, which said: “Da mihi animas, cetera toll”―which Don Bosco explained to Dominic as meaning: “Give me souls and take away the rest.” Dominic reflected for a moment and then said: “I understand! Here you do business―not with money―but with souls! I hope that my soul will have its share in this business!”
The Church also has a sign―it is found in Canon Law (canon 1752)―that says: “Salus animarum supemus lex esto” ― meaning: “The supreme law must be the salvation of souls!” Just as Dominic Savio took the priest’s (Don Bosco’s) motto to heart and made it his own, likewise, every family should take that phrase of the Church’s Canon Law to heart and make it the supreme law within each family: “The supreme law must be the salvation of souls!” That is what should be the ultimate, supreme focus of every Catholic family (but isn’t)! It is not money, or entertainment, or socializing, or fun, or sports, or hobbies, or anything else that comes “top of the list” in family priorities―but the salvation of the souls of the family. But that means―as philosophy so truly yet brutally says―that he who desires a goal, a target, an end, must necessarily and inescapably also desire the means to securing that goal, target, or end. If you desire health, you must work at obtaining health―it will not come automatically by itself just because you desire it. If you desire knowledge or good grades at school, then you must work and study those things in which you want to increase or perfect your knowledge―it will not come automatically by itself just because you desire it. If you desire wealth, then you must work hard at obtaining it―it will not come automatically by itself just because you desire it. The same is true for salvation, you must work hard at it, remembering that “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16) and that “wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). This is why Scripture says: “with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). Families need to have a “spring-cleaning” of their values and re-order them, placing the salvation of souls as the blatant, brash, bold banner and motto under which the family operates―so that anything that does not help or promote the salvation of souls, is thrown into the trash can.
Looking at the Second Vatican Council from the perspective of Our Lord’s “the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” comment, let us picture the Church as a business―as one of the biggest and oldest corporations in the world. In fact, the oldest corporation in the world that has seen the rise and fall of countless similar corporations over the last 2,000 years. It has had over 250 presidents (popes) and hundreds of thousands of board members (cardinals and bishops), and millions of employees (priests, monks, brothers, sisters and nuns). The business has had its “ups-and-downs” but by 1962 (Vatican II) had reached a targeted customer base of 600 million potential customers (Catholics worldwide) of whom 75% were regular weekly customers. The customers were for the most part satisfied and in no way found the business lacking in the way of customer service and business policy.
However, a new president (John XXIII) is elected who is dissatisfied with the traditional and successful business model. He wants to expand the customer base to include the whole world — and without any compelling warrant or reason decides to change the business model dramatically so that it will be appealing to the rest of the world (non-Catholics). So the president convokes an Extraordinary General Meeting (Ecumenical Council) at the headquarters (Vatican) and puts forward an agenda that falsely paints a picture of the relatively successful corporation (the Catholic Church) as being a failing business model, that is in dire need of reform, restructuring, remodeling and refurbishing. This brought about much debate and argument among the board members (cardinals and bishops) at the Extraordinary General Meeting (Second Vatican Council)―which stalled and restarted and stretched-out over four periods lasting over 3 years. Finally, all the managers and the employees (priests, monks, brothers, sisters and nuns) are told — despite the lack of clear evidence — that the business is failing and could prosper more if a whole host of changes and new policies were to be introduced. In actual fact, business had been good, the customers were mainly happy, and the employees as well, but the presidents (John XXIII and then Paul VI―for John died during the General Meeting) and a handful of likeminded board members (cardinals and bishops) wished to change, not only the model, but the also the universally admired architecture of its thousands of stores (cathedrals and churches) throughout the world, as well as dramatically simplifying the interiors to resemble those of its less successful competitors — and, what is more, they totally changed the business language itself (Latin to local languages)— so that these formerly unifying features were to be discarded in favor of disunity.
Shortly after the worldwide introduction of all these changes, this once constantly growing business (growing in both targeted customers (baptized Catholics) and regular customers (regular Sunday Mass attendees), started losing tens of thousands of managers (priests) and hundreds of thousands of employees (monks, brothers, sisters and nuns). Ever more critically, the regular customer base (regular Sunday Mass attendees), once in the area of 75%, quickly fell to 40%, and then plummeted to less than 25% ― with some national branches reporting as little as 2% of customers regularly frequenting their stores. Soon local stores were closing by the thousands, in some localities stores merged in order to try and stop the leaking, outflowing of customers from the ‘burst pipe.’
To add to the woes of this disastrous downward spiral, the corporation is hit, in successive years, with over $3 billion dollars of loss in the way of lawsuits due to unethical malpractice in the use and abuse of customers—resulting in incessant litigation and law suits. To pay for their negligence — or rather, to pay the lawyers and the victims for the negligence of the managers — the corporation must sell off large portions of its portfolio and close many, many of its stores. The customers are fewer and fewer, and what is more, there are few employees to be had as a result of the magnitude of the scandal. The schools of management (seminaries) must, of course, close also, for there are no more recruits (seminarians) for the positions which themselves are fewer and fewer. Is that a successful business venture? No! It is a clear business failure! Yet that same failure has been “bought-into” by the customers, and that same “failed business plan” has been adopted, purchased and put into action in the families of most of the customers. The inevitable result is that the families are failing in the same way as the corporation is failing. Yet, just as in Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” also known as “The King With No Clothes” or “The Invisible Suit of Clothes”―everyone is shouting out how wonderful Vatican II was, how beautiful it was, how successful it was―when, in reality, the Church has been stripped almost naked of her original suit of clothes, which were the clergy and the regularly attending faithful.
Spirit of Vatican II in the Family
The desire of Pope John XXIII, in his 1959 announcement of his convocation of the Second Vatican Council, in order to “open the windows” of the nearly 2,000-year-old Church and let some of the modern world’s “fresh air” inside―has been carried by winds of the world into almost every family. Just as the “fresh-air” (or stench) and ‘vermin’, ‘bugs’ and ‘insects’ penetrated the Church after the opening of those doors and windows, so too have they penetrated the Catholic family as it happily opened its doors and windows to the world around them. Not that most families needed any encouragement―for the wounds of Original Sin make everyone more susceptible to joining the crowds on the broad, wide road that goes downhill, than taking the narrow straight path that leads uphill. The laity will always drag themselves along one or two steps behind the clergy―much like the Protestant Church is always behind the Catholic Church. When the Catholic Church is strong, the Protestants are stronger―when the Church grows weak, the Protestants grow proportionately weaker. This brings to mind the famous phrase of French origins concerning the priest and his parish, which can also be applied to parents and their families ― “A saintly priest (or parent) produces a holy parish (family). A holy priest (or parent) produces a fervent parish (family). A fervent priest (or parent) produces a good parish (family). A good priest (or parent) produces a lukewarm parish (family). A lukewarm priest (or parent) produces a parish (family) of devils.”
The Mechanics of Destruction
If we are alert and attentive and active, we can, to some extent limit the damage that is done to the family―but it requires a sincere desire on the part of all the family members to put it into practice―for, as the saying goes, “You are only as strong as your weakest link!” We are all weak―but who is the weakest of all in your family? The father? Mother? A certain child? As St. Ignatius of Loyola says in his Rules for the Spiritual Exercise and Discernment of Spirits―the devil, like any army general, will attack you at your weakest point―whether it is you as an individual, or your family as a whole. So what is YOUR weakest link and what is YOUR FAMILY’S weakest link?
Prior to the Second Vatican Council, the devil―in using the infiltration of Freemasonry and Communism into the Church―succeeded in creating multiple weak links for future exploitation. As the multiple Communist and Masonic defectors have testified, many of the infiltrators had reached very prominent positions within the Church―cardinals, bishops, priests, rectors of seminaries, etc. Since the Church is predominantly all about Faith and Morals―these infiltrators were focused on corrupting Faith and Morals―and they have succeeded greatly. Previous articles have listed the goals of the enemy with regard to overcoming the Church and the Western civilization―your memory can be refreshed by scanning through some earlier articles―suffice it here to say that the general goal is no longer one of military invasion, but one of ideological invasion. They know that they will have more success by attacking you from within, than attacking you from the outside. So rather than invade your country, they first of all want to invade your mind. Modern technology makes it easy. Our strength is God and the grace He gives us―for grace perfects and strengthens our human nature. Without that grace―like Samson with his hair cut-off―we lose our strength and are weak and little able to resist the onslaught of worldliness by the prince of this world.
Hence, the prince of this world, as many an exorcist has testified, primarily seeks to distract us from God and pull us away from the sources of grace―namely, a serious prayer life, frequent attendance at Mass, frequent reception of Holy Communion, frequent Confession, spiritual exercises such as meditation, spiritual reading, examination of conscience, mortification, sacrifices and penance, etc. He has largely succeeded in this―for only 1 in 5 Catholics regularly attend Mass at least once a week; hardly anyone goes to Confession (and bad Confessions are not uncommon according to St. Alphonsus Liguori), only 2 in 100 Catholics in the USA pray the Rosary daily (and then you must ask “How well to they pray (or just say) it?”, spiritual reading is an even greater rarity and meditation is almost an extinct species and lost skill. The hours that could and should be spent on spiritual things in this pretty-obvious-or-get-your-eyesight-checked crisis of the Church, have been handed over to secular, entertaining, fun things instead. The family prefers to participate in socials or sports rather than assist at Mass. They prefer to sit for hours in front of ‘tabernacle’ of the TV rather than the tabernacle in the Church. They prefer “surfing” the social media or internet to spiritual reading and meditation. Like Vatican II, they have opened the windows and doors of their souls to let in the ‘fresh-air’ of the world―except, just as in chemical warfare, that ‘fresh-air’ is the carrier of deadly poisons and gasses.
Little-By-Little the Spirit Seeps-In
Let’s face it―ultimately, “when push comes to shove”, you are either FOR Vatican II or you are AGAINST Vatican II. It is much like Our Lord said: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30) and “He that is not against you, is for you!” (Mark 9:39)―there is no middle ground between right and wrong, truth and error, sin and virtue―it is either one or the other. There is no neutrality―there is Heaven and there is Hell―there is no third option for spectators or neutrals.
When the former Russian KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov defected to the West, he revealed, among many other things, the 4 stages of Communist subversion of any nation, state, group or organization―all of which are inevitably made up of families. The family is the base unit or building block of society. Ideological subversion, Bezmenov said, is a long-term process involving four stages: (1) demoralization, (2) destabilization, (3) crisis and (4) normalization.
Bezmenov explains the KGB's activities are less about espionage in the classic James Bond sense (only 15%), and more concerned with "Ideological Subversion" (85%) which is used to secretly undermine the American government through psychological warfare and getting into controlling the minds and thoughts of Americans. Key to this program is to change the perception of reality using subtle and hidden brainwashing techniques over an extended period of time. As I've written in the past, people act on their perceptions of reality, regardless if it is correct or fallacious. They are not so much concerned with facts as they are in perspectives and self interests. By controlling the perceptions of people, they become more prone to make erroneous conclusions thereby simplifying the manipulation of the masses. The objective of the KGB program, therefore, is to program people into dismissing true facts as fallacious even in spite of the obvious.
As Bezmenov explains in an interview, there are four steps to transform the thinking and behavior of the population:
(1) Demoralization ― this is a process which can take about 15-30 years to perform (a generation). During this stage, the moral fiber and integrity of the country is put into question, thereby creating doubt in the minds of the people. To do so, manipulation of the media and academia is required to influence young people. As the younger generation embraces new values, such as Marxism and Leninism, the older generation slowly loses control simply through attrition. Again, true facts no longer matter during this stage, but rather creating perceptions are of paramount importance.
(2) Destabilization ― the purpose of this step is to change the status quo, particularly the country's economy, foreign relations, and defense systems. The intent is to create a massive government permeating society and becoming intrusive in the lives of its citizens. This can take from two to five years to perform, again with the active support of academia pushing youth in this direction. Here, entitlements and benefits are promised to the populace to encourage their support. Basically, they are bribing the people to accept their programs.
Bezmenov claims after this stage is completed, the naive college professors are no longer needed and since they will undoubtedly protest government policies when they discover the truth, they will be disposed of quickly. He cites examples of this occurring in Nicaragua, Grenada, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
(3) Crisis ― this is a major step lasting up to six weeks and involves a revolutionary change of power. This is where a cataclysmic event upsets and divides the country thereby creating panic among the citizens. Recent examples include the 2011 upheavals in the Middle East, most notably Egypt and Libya. To Americans, symptoms would include circumventing the Constitution and altering the checks and balances of government, and possibly imposing martial law.
(4) Normalization ― the final stage is where the populace finally acquiesces and begins to assimilate communism. This can take up to two decades to complete.
The “Little-By-Little” Steps of Demoralization
First of all, understand that word “demoralize.” For many folk, their understanding of “to demoralize” stops at the basic surface definition of “to cause someone to lose confidence or hope; to make someone dispirited, depressed, etc.” This is true, but there is also a more essential and core definition or meaning to the word “demoralize”―and that is “to cause someone to turn aside or away from what is good or true or morally right; to corrupt the morals of someone.” As you know, you can watch a child all day and not see the child grow, just as you can watch a plant, or grass, all day and not see it grow―but these things are growing, yet because they grow so slowly, our human eye cannot perceive it. But go away for a month or several months and look again, and you will see the difference.
Whether you take Communists, Freemasons, or any other evil group, subversion is ultimately a battle between God and Satan and their respective recruits―between the promoter of goodness and the promoter of evil. The devil is constantly seeking to subvert your family―whether you know or not, see it or not, believe it or not, admit it or not. The fact that he does his work slowly, subtly and secretly means that he is less likely to be uncovered, opposed and overcome. This is how profound and harmful changes are advanced in our culture. If the goal were to undermine cultural institutions, the process for getting from Unthinkable to Policy would follow these five easy steps:
► Step #1: From Unthinkable to Radical--The first step is the easiest—get someone to talk about what is unthinkable, disgusting, deviant, sinful, criminal, etc. It is akin to “dipping-your-toe-in-the-water” without actually “taking the plunge.” This is how the ultimate legalization of divorce, contraception, abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriages, marijuana use, etc. all got approved. You can condemn these things initially―that is no problem, it is even expected―but what you need to do is get people to at least talk about it before they condemn it, to listen to the arguments in favor of these things before they condemn them. In this way, you get “a foot in the door” and even though you may not be able to open the door, those who reject those things will not be able to close the door either! First step to success achieved! What was unthinkable and unacceptable, is now on the way to becoming seen as something radical―which is a slight step forward.
► Step #2: From Radical to Acceptable--This shift requires the creation and employment of euphemism (“euphemism” means a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something shocking, scandalous, sinful, unpleasant or embarrassing). Want to kill a child exiting the womb? Call it “dilation and extraction” and infanticide becomes a medical procedure. Want to commit adultery? Call it “playing around.” Want to include sodomitic unions under the banner of “marriage”? Redefine the word “marriage” to mean the state-endorsed copulation of any two(?) people who want to share a bed and a tax form. Want to condone homosexuality? Call it being “gay.” All those are examples of euphemisms. Be sure to say it is all about “love”—in our culture, “love” excuses everything.
There will naturally be a few holdouts, of course, but those who reject the shift from Radical to Acceptable can be shamed into approving. All that is required is to deploy a stingingly suitable insult. The words “bigot” or “homophobic” or “extremist” or “hate-crime”, for instance, are more effective than a baseball bat at beating the young into submission. There are few core beliefs they won’t change to avoid being called one or more of these names. The disapproval of their Creator (God) is unfortunate; but enduring the disfavor of their peers is unimaginable and intolerable.
► Step #3: From Acceptable to Sensible--There is nothing more sensible than to submit to one’s god. And while Americans may profess to worship Allah, Jehovah, or Jesus― most worship an “American Idol” ― which is themselves (or ourselves). That is why social Libertarianism―meaning somebody who believes in the principle that people should have complete freedom of thought and action―has become our country’s fastest-growing cult. It has tapped into this self-idolatry by preaching a gospel of the Individual. It’s a comforting, pragmatic and accepting message. One of its chief promoters and evangelists is the blasphemous ‘Catholic’ renegade singer Lady Gaga, who, in a recent song entitled “Born This Way” sings: “It doesn’t matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M / Just put your paws up / ’Cause you were born this way, baby!” The percussion-backed chorus, sings: “I’m beautiful in my way, ‘cause God makes no mistakes; I’m on the right track, baby, I was born this way!” After the chorus Lady Gaga chants the line “Don't be a drag! Just be a queen!”―which, of course, refers to homosexual tendencies. All of which is music to ears of the pervert―for if the pervert was “born that way” then the pervert is “normal” and normal people should be given full social acceptance. “Born This Way” has sold over 8.2 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time.
► Step #4: From Sensible to Popular--This step merely requires personalizing the issue. Do you know someone who is LGBT? Divorced? Had an abortion? Sure you do―they are in your family, in your school, at your church. Do you hate them? If not, then how can you still disapprove of their actions? (Note: Be sure to talk fast so that no one follows the logic). As it says in the Good Book (or maybe in a Lady Gaga song), judge not lest God judge you for judging. You want people to like you, don’t you? Then express popular approval for what your cultural betters (e.g., people on reality TV) believe should be popularly approved. Then you’ll be popular and it won’t be necessary to call you a bigot, homophobic, extremist or a perpetrator of a hate-crime.
► Step #5: From Popular to Policy--Run a survey. Commission a public opinion poll. Show it to a politician. Get it published in the media. They’ll do the rest. Of course not everyone in society will agree with every step along the way, but that won’t stop an issue from sliding into policy. All it requires is for a majority of the people who find the issue unacceptable to do nothing at all. Almost every culturally corrosive policy—from abortion to no-fault divorce to gay marriage—has come about in America this way. Christians who find such issues “unacceptable”, nevertheless tacitly accept this social-libertarian shift by their refusal to speak out and take action. As Our Lady of Akita said: “Those who should speak will remain silent!”
What is true on a large scale―within a city, state or country―is also true within the family. The above “little-by-little” steps will be taken by one or more members of the family. The survey or Gallup Poll will consists of the opinions of other relatives, friends, families and neighbors―all of which will pressurize you into “little-by-little” concessions. But, as the full version of the saying states: “Little by little one goes far!” As far as Hell? You know the answer to that!
Once you know how the enemy works, then half of the problem is solved. The other half of the problem is doing something about it. What can you do? Well, Our Lord gives us a clue when He says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). What is essentially a supernatural battle, will not be won with natural means. That means you need to use your supernatural weapons! Time to put other things away and get those weapons and wipe-off the cobwebs from them and get them oiled.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Saturday June 15th & Sunday June 16th
Article 8
Modern Satanic Attacks on the Family! Yes, Your Family Too!
Article 8
Modern Satanic Attacks on the Family! Yes, Your Family Too!
Modern Attacks Don’t Seem Like Attacks!
Have you ever had someone say something that sounds “nice” or “complimentary” about you―only to later realize it as a “barbed” comment, a disguised attack, a subtle blow, a double-meaning, an ambiguity, an innuendo. The best attacks are those that do not look like attacks. There are many such instances in ancient and recent history. Ships and planes flying or showing false flags or markings; military boats disguised as fishing boats; the enemy wearing your country’s military uniform; etc. The same applies for infiltration techniques, where the infiltrator hides among those infiltrated by pretending to be “one of them.” Everybody has been infiltrated by somebody at one time or another―especially in military wars and even financial wars.
Computer attacks follow the same path― in computers and computer networks an attack is any attempt to expose, alter, disable, destroy, steal or gain unauthorized access to or make unauthorized use of an asset―but to do so, the attacker does not “fly a flag” that warns you that he is about to attack you! There are many subtle, insidious ways in which he can do so―most of them seemingly harmless to the unsuspecting victim. Most viruses, Trojan horses, and worms are activated when you open an attachment, or click a link contained in an email message. If your email client allows scripting, then it is possible to get a virus by simply opening a message. It's best to limit what HTML is available in your email messages. The safest way to view email messages is in plain text. Even you friends―if in reality they are not really your friends―can attack and gain control of your computer by sending you a link, or an attachment, that has a virus inserted into it. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
Attacks Under the Guise of Good
Attacks are most effective when they come “under the guise of good”―disguised as something good or harmless. This is how the world operates and the world and the spirit of the world―which is nothing else than the spirit of devil clothed in nice clothes―and the world and its spirit are categorically opposed to the God and the spirit of God. The world baits us with an apparent good, an immediate benefit or pleasure, an immediate advantage or convenience, etc. Websites use things that are called “clickbait”― clickbait is a form of false advertisement, which uses hyperlink text or a thumbnail link, that is designed to attract attention and entice users to follow that link and read, view, or listen to the linked piece of online content. Clicking on it can also open the door to a virus being installed on your computer.
Coincidence or not, the Hebrew alphabet equivalent of our “w” is the letter “vav” or “waw”―and the numerical value of “vav” is 6. So the English “www” (which stands for “world-wide-web) transliterated into Hebrew is "vav vav vav", which numerically is 666. When you read that stats that tell you that over 30% of data that is transmitted on the world-wide-web is of pornographic content, that says a lot about the world-wide-web! Some web, huh? Whatever may be true or not, what is true is that most people are caught in that web―a world-wide-web with world-wide-spirit that is an extremely worldly spirit and who is ultimately behind that worldly spirit, but the spirit who is called the “prince of this world!” If Our Lord said that He would make the Peter and the Apostles into fishers of men, then the devil had fished most of those folk into the net of the internet―and they are just loving it!
We Can Live Without God―But Not Without the Internet
Most people can live without God in their lives―but very few can imagine living without the internet in their lives! Polls around the world show that in most of the large countries―USA, China, Russia, India, Germany, UK, Spain, France, etc. ―more than two thirds of people say that cannot imagine living without the internet. This number will only increase as technology increases―such as “Artificial Intelligence”―to the point where almost everyone will be enjoyable addicted and dependent upon the world-wide-web and the internet. In a broad sense―rather than a strict theological sense―you could say that the world is possessed by the internet. Yet the internet is possessed by the spirit of the world―and the spirit of the world is ultimately the spirit of the prince of this world―the devil.
Thus, like it or not, believe it or not, admit it or not―the world is possessed by the devil in the wide and broad sense of the word―but “wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13). The quote “The devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8), could be rephrased to read as: ““The devil, within the internet, goeth about the world-wide-web seeking whom he may devour”―and he devours most souls! “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). The world-wide-web, the internet, social media et al, might be useful, but they are dangerous― “and he that loveth danger shall perish in it!” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27). The world is an enemy of God and the world-wide-web and the internet, with its millions of worldly websites accessible to anyone who wants to go there, is a door or a window that leads into the house and halls of the enemy.
More Worshipers on Websites Than in Churches
With numbers rounded-off, there are an estimated 37 million church buildings in the world with 34,000 different Christian denominations. Yet the internet boasts far more worldly worshiping churches with an estimated 2,000 million (2 billion) websites in the world. As for regular worshipers―there are an estimated 2,400 million Christians by name in the world, of which only an estimated 16% (384 million) go to church regularly each Sunday. Whereas when it comes to the ‘Church of the Internet’, over 77% or 3,157 million out of the 4,100 million internet users go to ‘worship’ in their internet churches (websites) EVERY SINGLE DAY, never mind once a week! In North America, 88% of all people use the internet. On a worldwide scale, God only gets 16% of all religions to worship regularly, whereas the god of the internet gets 77% to ‘worship’ regularly―and 26% of them ‘worship’ ALMOST CONSTANTLY EACH DAY! Whereas 43% go to ‘worship’ on the internet SEVERAL TIMES A DAY!
In the USA, time spent surfing the web while at home, jumped from 9.4 hours a week in 2000 to 23.6 hours a week in 2017. Internet usage has surged significantly with the addition of smartphones. For example, since 2010, the percentage of people who use their phones for the internet has jumped from 23% to 84%. The ratio of people who have a smartphone even jumped from 21% to 79% in the same amount of time. Overall, 77% of Americans go online on a daily basis. That figure includes the 26% who go online almost constantly, as well as 43% who say they go online several times a day and 8% who go online about once a day. Some 11% go online several times a week or less often, while 11% of adults say they do not use the internet at all.
There are over 4 million blog posts are published on the Internet every single day―but how many posts are about God? Most of these people are undoubtedly ‘possessed’ by the internet, ‘possessed’ by the spirit of the internet, which is largely the spirit of the world. The world takes up most of their time―God, by comparison, if He is lucky, gets some scraps thrown at Him. There are over 4 million blog posts are published on the Internet every single day―but how many prayers are said every single day? Most of these people are undoubtedly ‘possessed’ by the internet, ‘possessed’ by the spirit of the internet, which is largely the spirit of the world. The world takes up most of their time―God, by comparison, if He is lucky, gets some scraps thrown at Him.
There is a video entitled 40 Million Minutes made in and which powerfully demonstrates the following facts:
● The average person lives 77 years. That equates to 28,000 days, 670,000 hours, or 40 million minutes.
● The average person spends 24 minutes a day getting dressed. That equals 13 hours a month, 7 days a year, or 1 year in a lifetime.
● The average person spends 40 minutes a day on the phone. That factors out to 20 hours a month, 10 days a year, or 2 years in a lifetime.
● The average person spends 1 hour a day in the bathroom, morning, night and at various times during the day. This amounts to 30 hours a month, 15 days a year, and 3 years in a lifetime.
● The average person spends 3 hours a day watching television. That's 90 hours a month, 45 days a year, and 9 years in a lifetime.
● Then the video presents this riveting fact. The average Christian spends less than 10 minutes a day in prayer―with most falling in the range anywhere from 2 minutes to 17 minutes a day. That equates to less than 6 hours a month, 3 days a year, and 7 months in a lifetime.
● The video ends with this line: “You do the math.”
Compared with weekly worship attendance, daily prayer is somewhat more common around the world. In the average country among the 105 countries that were surveyed, about half of adults (49%) say they pray every day, including majorities in sub-Saharan Africa (75%), the Middle East and North Africa (70%) and Latin America (62%). Prayer frequency varies widely across Asia. Fully 96% of Afghans and 87% of Iranians ― both overwhelmingly Muslim populations ― report praying daily, reflecting a global pattern of high levels of prayer in Muslim-majority countries (prayer is one of the Five Pillars of Islam). Daily prayer is also very common in Hindu-majority India, where 75% pray daily, but it is much less common in some other parts of Asia, such as Vietnam (14%) and China (1%). Low levels of prayer can also be found across Europe, where, in the average country, fewer than one-in-four respondents pray daily. In North America, meanwhile, Canadian respondents are less than half as likely as their U.S. counterparts to pray daily (25% vs. 55%).
Prayer Time of Catholic Priests in USA
Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti (born 1951), an American Catholic priest, author, educator, licensed psychologist and expert on psychological and spiritual wellness issues for Catholic priests, conducted an extensive survey of 2,441 priests (from twenty-two dioceses), on many different aspects and topics of the priestly life. As regards their prayer life, he found that:
● 19% of priests (around 1 in 5) said they are praying fifteen minutes or less a day;
● 49% (around 1 in 2) pray thirty minutes or less a day.
● 32% (around 1 in 3) said they do not pray most, or all, of the Liturgy of the Hours daily―which binds under pain of mortal sin.
Prayer Time of Protestant Pastors in USA
A similar survey of Protestant pastors, found that those who…
● Pray over 3 hours a day = 3%
● Pray over 2 hours a day = 17%
● Pray over 1 hours a day = 29%
● Pray over 1/2 hour a day = 26%
● Pray less than ½ hour a day = 19%
● Pray less than 15 minutes a day = 6%
All in all, look at it from whichever perspective you want, it seems that “we are losing it” and that Our Lord’s words have a ring of inevitability to them: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Right now, the answer would see to be: “No! But He would find a helluva lot of smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, MP3 players!” St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, sealing of Our Lord curing the fever of St. Peter’s mother-in-law, says: “This woman, the mother-in-law of Simon [Peter] and Andrew, was a type of our nature, stricken down with the great fever of sin, and burning with unlawful lusts after various objects. Nor would I say that the passion which rageth in the mind is a lesser fire than that fever which burneth the body. Covetousness, and lust, and uncleanness, and vain desires, and strivings, and anger―these be our fevers!” (St. Ambrose, Homilies Book 4, On Luke Chapter 4, Ember Saturday of Pentecost). Today, he would write: “The internet, social media and all the devices that give us access these things―these are our fever! The spirit of the world is our fever!” The world, for the most part, has lost the spirit of God and has embraced the spirit of the world―something which God says in totally unacceptable to Him. There are sufficiently numerous Scriptural quotes that verify that:
“We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19). “Use this world, as if you used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Corinthians 7:31). “The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Have you ever had someone say something that sounds “nice” or “complimentary” about you―only to later realize it as a “barbed” comment, a disguised attack, a subtle blow, a double-meaning, an ambiguity, an innuendo. The best attacks are those that do not look like attacks. There are many such instances in ancient and recent history. Ships and planes flying or showing false flags or markings; military boats disguised as fishing boats; the enemy wearing your country’s military uniform; etc. The same applies for infiltration techniques, where the infiltrator hides among those infiltrated by pretending to be “one of them.” Everybody has been infiltrated by somebody at one time or another―especially in military wars and even financial wars.
Computer attacks follow the same path― in computers and computer networks an attack is any attempt to expose, alter, disable, destroy, steal or gain unauthorized access to or make unauthorized use of an asset―but to do so, the attacker does not “fly a flag” that warns you that he is about to attack you! There are many subtle, insidious ways in which he can do so―most of them seemingly harmless to the unsuspecting victim. Most viruses, Trojan horses, and worms are activated when you open an attachment, or click a link contained in an email message. If your email client allows scripting, then it is possible to get a virus by simply opening a message. It's best to limit what HTML is available in your email messages. The safest way to view email messages is in plain text. Even you friends―if in reality they are not really your friends―can attack and gain control of your computer by sending you a link, or an attachment, that has a virus inserted into it. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
Attacks Under the Guise of Good
Attacks are most effective when they come “under the guise of good”―disguised as something good or harmless. This is how the world operates and the world and the spirit of the world―which is nothing else than the spirit of devil clothed in nice clothes―and the world and its spirit are categorically opposed to the God and the spirit of God. The world baits us with an apparent good, an immediate benefit or pleasure, an immediate advantage or convenience, etc. Websites use things that are called “clickbait”― clickbait is a form of false advertisement, which uses hyperlink text or a thumbnail link, that is designed to attract attention and entice users to follow that link and read, view, or listen to the linked piece of online content. Clicking on it can also open the door to a virus being installed on your computer.
Coincidence or not, the Hebrew alphabet equivalent of our “w” is the letter “vav” or “waw”―and the numerical value of “vav” is 6. So the English “www” (which stands for “world-wide-web) transliterated into Hebrew is "vav vav vav", which numerically is 666. When you read that stats that tell you that over 30% of data that is transmitted on the world-wide-web is of pornographic content, that says a lot about the world-wide-web! Some web, huh? Whatever may be true or not, what is true is that most people are caught in that web―a world-wide-web with world-wide-spirit that is an extremely worldly spirit and who is ultimately behind that worldly spirit, but the spirit who is called the “prince of this world!” If Our Lord said that He would make the Peter and the Apostles into fishers of men, then the devil had fished most of those folk into the net of the internet―and they are just loving it!
We Can Live Without God―But Not Without the Internet
Most people can live without God in their lives―but very few can imagine living without the internet in their lives! Polls around the world show that in most of the large countries―USA, China, Russia, India, Germany, UK, Spain, France, etc. ―more than two thirds of people say that cannot imagine living without the internet. This number will only increase as technology increases―such as “Artificial Intelligence”―to the point where almost everyone will be enjoyable addicted and dependent upon the world-wide-web and the internet. In a broad sense―rather than a strict theological sense―you could say that the world is possessed by the internet. Yet the internet is possessed by the spirit of the world―and the spirit of the world is ultimately the spirit of the prince of this world―the devil.
Thus, like it or not, believe it or not, admit it or not―the world is possessed by the devil in the wide and broad sense of the word―but “wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13). The quote “The devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8), could be rephrased to read as: ““The devil, within the internet, goeth about the world-wide-web seeking whom he may devour”―and he devours most souls! “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24). The world-wide-web, the internet, social media et al, might be useful, but they are dangerous― “and he that loveth danger shall perish in it!” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27). The world is an enemy of God and the world-wide-web and the internet, with its millions of worldly websites accessible to anyone who wants to go there, is a door or a window that leads into the house and halls of the enemy.
More Worshipers on Websites Than in Churches
With numbers rounded-off, there are an estimated 37 million church buildings in the world with 34,000 different Christian denominations. Yet the internet boasts far more worldly worshiping churches with an estimated 2,000 million (2 billion) websites in the world. As for regular worshipers―there are an estimated 2,400 million Christians by name in the world, of which only an estimated 16% (384 million) go to church regularly each Sunday. Whereas when it comes to the ‘Church of the Internet’, over 77% or 3,157 million out of the 4,100 million internet users go to ‘worship’ in their internet churches (websites) EVERY SINGLE DAY, never mind once a week! In North America, 88% of all people use the internet. On a worldwide scale, God only gets 16% of all religions to worship regularly, whereas the god of the internet gets 77% to ‘worship’ regularly―and 26% of them ‘worship’ ALMOST CONSTANTLY EACH DAY! Whereas 43% go to ‘worship’ on the internet SEVERAL TIMES A DAY!
In the USA, time spent surfing the web while at home, jumped from 9.4 hours a week in 2000 to 23.6 hours a week in 2017. Internet usage has surged significantly with the addition of smartphones. For example, since 2010, the percentage of people who use their phones for the internet has jumped from 23% to 84%. The ratio of people who have a smartphone even jumped from 21% to 79% in the same amount of time. Overall, 77% of Americans go online on a daily basis. That figure includes the 26% who go online almost constantly, as well as 43% who say they go online several times a day and 8% who go online about once a day. Some 11% go online several times a week or less often, while 11% of adults say they do not use the internet at all.
There are over 4 million blog posts are published on the Internet every single day―but how many posts are about God? Most of these people are undoubtedly ‘possessed’ by the internet, ‘possessed’ by the spirit of the internet, which is largely the spirit of the world. The world takes up most of their time―God, by comparison, if He is lucky, gets some scraps thrown at Him. There are over 4 million blog posts are published on the Internet every single day―but how many prayers are said every single day? Most of these people are undoubtedly ‘possessed’ by the internet, ‘possessed’ by the spirit of the internet, which is largely the spirit of the world. The world takes up most of their time―God, by comparison, if He is lucky, gets some scraps thrown at Him.
There is a video entitled 40 Million Minutes made in and which powerfully demonstrates the following facts:
● The average person lives 77 years. That equates to 28,000 days, 670,000 hours, or 40 million minutes.
● The average person spends 24 minutes a day getting dressed. That equals 13 hours a month, 7 days a year, or 1 year in a lifetime.
● The average person spends 40 minutes a day on the phone. That factors out to 20 hours a month, 10 days a year, or 2 years in a lifetime.
● The average person spends 1 hour a day in the bathroom, morning, night and at various times during the day. This amounts to 30 hours a month, 15 days a year, and 3 years in a lifetime.
● The average person spends 3 hours a day watching television. That's 90 hours a month, 45 days a year, and 9 years in a lifetime.
● Then the video presents this riveting fact. The average Christian spends less than 10 minutes a day in prayer―with most falling in the range anywhere from 2 minutes to 17 minutes a day. That equates to less than 6 hours a month, 3 days a year, and 7 months in a lifetime.
● The video ends with this line: “You do the math.”
Compared with weekly worship attendance, daily prayer is somewhat more common around the world. In the average country among the 105 countries that were surveyed, about half of adults (49%) say they pray every day, including majorities in sub-Saharan Africa (75%), the Middle East and North Africa (70%) and Latin America (62%). Prayer frequency varies widely across Asia. Fully 96% of Afghans and 87% of Iranians ― both overwhelmingly Muslim populations ― report praying daily, reflecting a global pattern of high levels of prayer in Muslim-majority countries (prayer is one of the Five Pillars of Islam). Daily prayer is also very common in Hindu-majority India, where 75% pray daily, but it is much less common in some other parts of Asia, such as Vietnam (14%) and China (1%). Low levels of prayer can also be found across Europe, where, in the average country, fewer than one-in-four respondents pray daily. In North America, meanwhile, Canadian respondents are less than half as likely as their U.S. counterparts to pray daily (25% vs. 55%).
Prayer Time of Catholic Priests in USA
Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti (born 1951), an American Catholic priest, author, educator, licensed psychologist and expert on psychological and spiritual wellness issues for Catholic priests, conducted an extensive survey of 2,441 priests (from twenty-two dioceses), on many different aspects and topics of the priestly life. As regards their prayer life, he found that:
● 19% of priests (around 1 in 5) said they are praying fifteen minutes or less a day;
● 49% (around 1 in 2) pray thirty minutes or less a day.
● 32% (around 1 in 3) said they do not pray most, or all, of the Liturgy of the Hours daily―which binds under pain of mortal sin.
Prayer Time of Protestant Pastors in USA
A similar survey of Protestant pastors, found that those who…
● Pray over 3 hours a day = 3%
● Pray over 2 hours a day = 17%
● Pray over 1 hours a day = 29%
● Pray over 1/2 hour a day = 26%
● Pray less than ½ hour a day = 19%
● Pray less than 15 minutes a day = 6%
All in all, look at it from whichever perspective you want, it seems that “we are losing it” and that Our Lord’s words have a ring of inevitability to them: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Right now, the answer would see to be: “No! But He would find a helluva lot of smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, MP3 players!” St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, sealing of Our Lord curing the fever of St. Peter’s mother-in-law, says: “This woman, the mother-in-law of Simon [Peter] and Andrew, was a type of our nature, stricken down with the great fever of sin, and burning with unlawful lusts after various objects. Nor would I say that the passion which rageth in the mind is a lesser fire than that fever which burneth the body. Covetousness, and lust, and uncleanness, and vain desires, and strivings, and anger―these be our fevers!” (St. Ambrose, Homilies Book 4, On Luke Chapter 4, Ember Saturday of Pentecost). Today, he would write: “The internet, social media and all the devices that give us access these things―these are our fever! The spirit of the world is our fever!” The world, for the most part, has lost the spirit of God and has embraced the spirit of the world―something which God says in totally unacceptable to Him. There are sufficiently numerous Scriptural quotes that verify that:
“We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19). “Use this world, as if you used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Corinthians 7:31). “The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
THE STATS BELOW ARE FOR ALL RELIGIONS AND NOT JUST CATHOLICS
THE STATS BELOW ARE FOR THE "WORSHIPERS" OF THE INTERNET
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Is the Enemy Your Friend? Is Your Friend Your Enemy?
God has fallen down the charts from being Number 1 to being Number-Who-Knows-What! The command ― “thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength!” (Mark 12:30) has lost its appeal and, instead, most people “love the world their god, with their whole heart, whole soul, whole mind and whole strength!” Never mind the lame excuses, the hollow arguments, the false reasoning, the hypocritical lip-service that speaks only of theory but has no practice―God has been relegated, politely by some, aggressively by others, to a “bit-part-role” or a “part-time” slot. All the protestations, explanations and rationalizations are mere smoke-and-mirrors disguising the fact that we no longer have time for God, or little time for God. We are aghast at such a command as “Pray without ceasing … pray always and faint not!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17], Luke 18:1)―but we have no problem “browsing without ceasing” and “posting always and fainting not!” How many parents can say of the teenage children (or older) that they spend more time in prayer and spiritual exercises than they spend on the smartphone, tablet, laptop, or TV? Few and far between! The screen of the smartphone, or tablet, laptop or TV could be compared to Lewis Carroll’s two fantasy novels, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) a young girl named Alice falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar creatures. In Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (also known as Alice through the Looking-Glass or simply Through the Looking-Glass), is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, where Alice again enters a fantastical world, this time by climbing through a mirror into the world that she can see beyond it. There she finds that, just like a reflection, everything is reversed, including logic. Likewise, the devil is always seeking to reverse the principles, truths and teachings of God―the spirit of the world is a classic example of this reversal of God’s laws and principles. |
Killing You Sweetly―Killing You Softly
Today’s “wonderland” (internet, social media, etc.) and “looking glass” (the screen of the smarptphone, tablet, laptop, computer, or TV) has removed countless souls from the true reality of life and has them living a virtual reality, a false reality, a dream life, an electronic life that is far removed and distant from God, the Faith and objectivity. What’s at the end of your nose (the screen) matters more than what’s at the end of life (the Final Judgment). The “here-and-now” becomes more important than the “here-after”―relaxation, communication, excitation, stimulation, intoxication, fornication and gratification become more important than meditation, contemplation, expiation, mortification, purgation, purification and sanctification. Is it not true that the vast majority of children, teens, youth and young adults prefer the former to the latter, that they far more versed and knowledgeable of the former rather than the latter, that they indulge immeasurably more in the former than the latter? The former is sweeter, but the latter is bitter―but because of their “sweet tooth” they fail to see that “bitter is better”―as with foods. The “sweet” things in life are usually more of an enemy to you than the “bitter” things in life! The Cross of Christ is bitter, but it leads to a better life―it leads to Heaven, whereas most of the sweet things in life will lead you to the fires Hell, or, if you are very lucky, to the fires of Purgatory. Yet we continue to feed―nay, we continue to ram―sweet things down the throats of our children and charges, thus, indirectly, creating an aversion to the Cross in their spiritual tastebuds.
In September 2013, a bombshell report from Credit Suisse’s Research Institute brought into sharp focus the staggering health consequences of sugar on the health of Americans. The group revealed that approximately “30%–40% of healthcare expenditures in the USA go to help address issues that are closely tied to the excess consumption of sugar.” The figures suggest that our national addiction to sugar runs us an incredible $1 trillion in healthcare costs each year. The Credit Suisse report highlighted several health conditions including coronary heart diseases, type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which numerous studies have linked to excessive sugar intake. Dr. Robert Lustig, an endocrinologist from California, who gained national attention after a lecture he gave, entitled Sugar: The Bitter Truth, went viral in 2009. Dr. Lustig’s research has investigated the connection between sugar consumption and the poor health of the American people. He published twelve articles in peer-reviewed journals identifying sugar as a major factor in the epidemic of degenerative disease that now afflicts America. The data compiled by Dr. Lustig clearly show how excessive sugar consumption plays a key role in the development of many types of cancer, obesity, type II diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. His research has led him to conclude that 75% of all diseases in America today are brought on by the American lifestyle and are entirely preventable.
Sugar Sweet Social Media
What is true physically, is also true spiritually. The internet―the chief ‘sugar’ and ‘sweetness’ for modern man―is one of the “new kids on the block”, barely out of its teens. In 1991, after decades of research, trial and error, the World Wide Web to the public―yet it was still in its infancy. In 1985, during the experimentation and development stages, there were only 2,000 computers connected to the “net”, but by 1993 this had already risen to 2 million. The number of websites had reached 600. Today, as of January 2019, there were over 1,950 million (1.94 billion) websites on the internet, but only 25% (488 million out of 1,950 million) are active (actually being visited). As for “surfers”―the internet has over 4,100 million (4.1 billion) users worldwide (out of a world population of 7.7 billion or 7,700 million)―which means that 53% of the world’s population uses the internet (or are caught in the net). Of that total of 4,100 million internet users, over 3,400 million (3.4 billion) people use social media each month—which is 82% of all internet users and 44% percent of the total global population. On average, global internet users spend some 136 (2 hours 16 minutes) minutes per day surfing social networks (social media).
Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, according to the BBC news, pornography accounts for around 37% of the data (or pages viewable) on the internet, even though the number of pornographic websites is 4%―which is much like 20% of the world’s population owning 80% of the world’s wealth.
Social media has a similar addiction. There will be an estimated 2.77 billion social media users in 2019. Worldwide over 3.4 billion (3,400 million) people (out of a world population of 7.7 billion or 7,700 million) use social media each month—which is 44% percent of the total global population. In the United States, there are 230 million monthly active social media users, 71% percent of the total population.
● As of September 2018, Facebook had 2.27 billion monthly active users.
● As of June 2018, Instagram had 1 billion monthly active users.
● As of September 2018, Twitter had 326 million monthly active users.
● LinkedIn had 260 million monthly active users.
Today’s “wonderland” (internet, social media, etc.) and “looking glass” (the screen of the smarptphone, tablet, laptop, computer, or TV) has removed countless souls from the true reality of life and has them living a virtual reality, a false reality, a dream life, an electronic life that is far removed and distant from God, the Faith and objectivity. What’s at the end of your nose (the screen) matters more than what’s at the end of life (the Final Judgment). The “here-and-now” becomes more important than the “here-after”―relaxation, communication, excitation, stimulation, intoxication, fornication and gratification become more important than meditation, contemplation, expiation, mortification, purgation, purification and sanctification. Is it not true that the vast majority of children, teens, youth and young adults prefer the former to the latter, that they far more versed and knowledgeable of the former rather than the latter, that they indulge immeasurably more in the former than the latter? The former is sweeter, but the latter is bitter―but because of their “sweet tooth” they fail to see that “bitter is better”―as with foods. The “sweet” things in life are usually more of an enemy to you than the “bitter” things in life! The Cross of Christ is bitter, but it leads to a better life―it leads to Heaven, whereas most of the sweet things in life will lead you to the fires Hell, or, if you are very lucky, to the fires of Purgatory. Yet we continue to feed―nay, we continue to ram―sweet things down the throats of our children and charges, thus, indirectly, creating an aversion to the Cross in their spiritual tastebuds.
In September 2013, a bombshell report from Credit Suisse’s Research Institute brought into sharp focus the staggering health consequences of sugar on the health of Americans. The group revealed that approximately “30%–40% of healthcare expenditures in the USA go to help address issues that are closely tied to the excess consumption of sugar.” The figures suggest that our national addiction to sugar runs us an incredible $1 trillion in healthcare costs each year. The Credit Suisse report highlighted several health conditions including coronary heart diseases, type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which numerous studies have linked to excessive sugar intake. Dr. Robert Lustig, an endocrinologist from California, who gained national attention after a lecture he gave, entitled Sugar: The Bitter Truth, went viral in 2009. Dr. Lustig’s research has investigated the connection between sugar consumption and the poor health of the American people. He published twelve articles in peer-reviewed journals identifying sugar as a major factor in the epidemic of degenerative disease that now afflicts America. The data compiled by Dr. Lustig clearly show how excessive sugar consumption plays a key role in the development of many types of cancer, obesity, type II diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. His research has led him to conclude that 75% of all diseases in America today are brought on by the American lifestyle and are entirely preventable.
Sugar Sweet Social Media
What is true physically, is also true spiritually. The internet―the chief ‘sugar’ and ‘sweetness’ for modern man―is one of the “new kids on the block”, barely out of its teens. In 1991, after decades of research, trial and error, the World Wide Web to the public―yet it was still in its infancy. In 1985, during the experimentation and development stages, there were only 2,000 computers connected to the “net”, but by 1993 this had already risen to 2 million. The number of websites had reached 600. Today, as of January 2019, there were over 1,950 million (1.94 billion) websites on the internet, but only 25% (488 million out of 1,950 million) are active (actually being visited). As for “surfers”―the internet has over 4,100 million (4.1 billion) users worldwide (out of a world population of 7.7 billion or 7,700 million)―which means that 53% of the world’s population uses the internet (or are caught in the net). Of that total of 4,100 million internet users, over 3,400 million (3.4 billion) people use social media each month—which is 82% of all internet users and 44% percent of the total global population. On average, global internet users spend some 136 (2 hours 16 minutes) minutes per day surfing social networks (social media).
Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, according to the BBC news, pornography accounts for around 37% of the data (or pages viewable) on the internet, even though the number of pornographic websites is 4%―which is much like 20% of the world’s population owning 80% of the world’s wealth.
Social media has a similar addiction. There will be an estimated 2.77 billion social media users in 2019. Worldwide over 3.4 billion (3,400 million) people (out of a world population of 7.7 billion or 7,700 million) use social media each month—which is 44% percent of the total global population. In the United States, there are 230 million monthly active social media users, 71% percent of the total population.
● As of September 2018, Facebook had 2.27 billion monthly active users.
● As of June 2018, Instagram had 1 billion monthly active users.
● As of September 2018, Twitter had 326 million monthly active users.
● LinkedIn had 260 million monthly active users.
Woe to the Children!
As Our Lady of Quito said, speaking of our times: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children!”
Back in 2014, across Europe, around 80% of children owned either a mobile phone or a smartphone; 46% owned a smartphone and 33% a mobile phone. About 46% of European children aged 9 to 16 owned a smartphone. About 45% of US children aged 10 to 12 had their own smartphone. 42% of US children 8 and younger now have their own tablet devices. In South Korea, about 72% of children owned a smartphone by ages 11 to 12, and they would spend up to 5.4 hours a day on them. About four out of five, or 81%, of secondary school students in South Africa own or have access to a mobile phone, and about 31% have their own social network page. In Australia, in one year alone, the number of 9 to 10 year olds owning a smartphone rose from 31% to 43%.
The Mark of the Beast?
These levels of penetration are proof that social media usage is on the rise all around the world, and well on its way to total saturation. Has this something to do with the biblical “mark of the beast”? Only time will tell―but it rapidly getting to the point that these electronic devices will be the only means by which we buy and sell in the future―especially in view of the gradual global project of phasing-out real money or cash. As the Apocalypse tells us: “And he seduced them that dwell on the Earth … And he shall make all, both little and great, rich and poor, freemen and bondmen, to have a character in their right hand, or on their foreheads [it is thought that the chip will replace the smartphone for internet access]. And that no man might buy or sell, except he that hath the character, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name [79% of U.S. consumers shop online, up from just 22% back in 2000. The UK has the highest online retail sales as percentage of total retail sales―18%, almost 1 in 5. The USA’s shows 14%]. Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast. For it is the number of a man: and the number of him is six hundred sixty-six” (Apocalypse 13:14-18).
Making and Taking Phone Calls In Your Head? That’s Smarter Than a Smartphone!
Social media hasn’t maxed out its potential audience, and people will keep on converting along with the growth of smartphone ownership and Internet access―especially with the advent of the recently launched “AI” or “Artificial Intelligence” that is being placed on electronic devices. Many people are connected to their phones 24 hours a day, so why not make tomorrow’s phone such that it will be embedded in your body? We have already got that kind of technology built into our watches, shirts and shoes. So why not have a phone implanted into your head, hand or arm? It may sound like science fiction, but it is really just the next logical step. At least, that’s the thinking of influential industry leaders, who were surveyed by the World Economic Forum, a group of the world’s most powerful leaders and tycoons, who met in January of 2016, in Davos, Switzerland. The survey gives a glimpse into their vision of the future and where society is headed. These technology moguls and gurus believe we are entering a time of momentous changes thanks to advancements in software. That includes artificial intelligence, Internet-connected devices, 3D printing and, yes, phones in our heads. Erik Brynjolfsson, director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy at the Sloan School of Management, said in the report: “Now comes the second Machine Age, computers and other digital advances are doing for mental power―the ability to use our brains to understand and shape our environments―what the steam engine and its descendants did for muscle power.” Experts say embeddable “phones” or devices that are implanted in the body that use wireless technology could be commercially available by 2023. The technology is there―the only problem is persuading (or legally forcing) people to accept it.
The Flip Side or Dark Side of Electronic Devices
It used to be “conspiracy theorists” who would talk about electronic surveillance and then find themselves laughed to scorn by those who professed themselves as being “normal” and not deranged conspiracy theorists. Today, many “normal” non-conspiratorially inclined folk are saying that we are under electronic surveillance―and those “normal” folk include national news agencies and renowned business organizations.
The Australian national news broadcasting corporation, ABC, in a March 8th, 2017, article entitled “Ways Your Technology Is Already Spying On You”, states: “It's been revealed the CIA has a range of hacking tools to break into phones, apps and other devices … Former CIA chief technical officer, Gus Hunt, said they could collect a lot of information from your Fitbit, Garmin and Apple Watch. What they discovered is simply by looking at the data they can find out with pretty good accuracy what your gender is, whether you're tall or short, whether you're heavy or you're light, but what's really intriguing is you can be 100 per cent identified by simply your gait [the way you walk]” ― [not even mentioning the potential surveillance from your laptop, tablet and smartphone or any other electronic device you may have in your home or your possession].
The article goes on to speak of the social media giant Facebook: “On Facebook, any pages you click out to or like, are tracked and monitored. Many people also claim when you’re scrolling, the microphone is on and listening. Which could explain why you notice advertisements for things you've just been talking about.” The article then relates an attempted denial on the part of Facebook, claiming that it wasn't doing this―the statement said: “We only access your microphone if you have given our app permission and if you are actively using a specific feature that requires audio. This might include recording a video or using an optional feature we introduced two years ago to include music or other audio in your status updates.” Furthermore, it is known that Facebook uses facial recognition technology, which can be avoided by not being in any photo that is posted on Facebook. There is a viral photo of Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook creator, with tape over his laptop camera and microphone. If the creator of Facebook is taking such precautions, what does that say to the rest of the world?
The article further mentioned an Australian man from Melbourne being blackmailed after having been filmed in a compromising position. The article concludes with references to smart televisions and smart toys, stating: “Just like your laptop, your smart television also has a microphone and some have a camera. When Samsung released its new smart televisions last year, it warned customers not to discuss sensitive information in front of it. The policy advised customers to ‘ be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of voice recognition.’ ” (ABC Australia, article entitled “Ways Your Technology Is Already Spying On You”, March 8th, 2017).
These electronic devices are almost playing at being God―watching, listening and following our every word and action. The devil has done his work well and has caught most folk in his web―world-wide-web―and in the net of his internet!
Another reputable―non-conspiracy theorist―outlet, Forbes.com, also has an October 9th, 2018, article on electronic surveillance, entitled: “Will Governments Turn Our Smart Devices Into A Massive Surveillance Network?” in which it states: “When Amazon announced its internet-connected Amazon Key camera last year, it declined to answer questions regarding how it would respond to law enforcement requests ordering it to remotely turn on units so that they could be used as government surveillance devices. When Facebook announced its Portal camera in October 2018, it raised similar questions about how government could misuse the system, which the company confirmed, noting that it would cooperate with a court order to use the device for surveillance. As we increasingly stuff our homes full of state-of-the-art internet-connected surveillance equipment, should Silicon Valley build protections into the devices against government misuse? … Instead of hiding from the devices, we ensure they have the best possible vantage point from which to observe our every move and hear our every word. Artificial Intelligence can now unceasingly monitor their microphones and cameras 24 hours 7 days a week, or stream them live anywhere in the world.
“Most importantly, the devices today are operated by private global companies that can do as they please with our data, commercializing it for profit or making it available to governments upon request … The devices have become so integrated into our lives that we often forget just how much information they are collecting about us … The biggest threat, however, lies not in how companies can sell us ads, but rather how their data could be misused by governments, especially repressive regimes that could use them as back-doors to conduct mass surveillance on a planetary scale. Facebook’s recent security breach offers little confidence that it is investing sufficiently in security to ensure that its new Portal device does not have unintended vulnerabilities that could be exploited by remote attackers. This goes doubly for the myriad camera and microphone-equipped internet-connected devices we let into our homes each day, from obscure third-party companies that may have little interest or experience with security. The biggest threat to privacy from smart devices, however, comes from how governments will eventually wake up to their immense potential. Whether nation state actors like NSA find remote vulnerabilities that allow them to turn on vulnerable devices’ microphones and cameras at will or whether governments simply go through their legal systems, using court orders to force companies to hand over the controls to law enforcement and intelligence services, we can rest assured that it is only a matter of time before government agents are on the other end listening to and watching us. Government court orders are perhaps the most dangerous of all threats, since even the most secure and hardened device can do nothing to stop an intelligence agency armed with a court order from forcing its manufacturer from turning it into a remote microphone or using its metadata to understand a target’s contacts … Most importantly, we are trusting that governments will resist the temptation to turn this massive army of telescreens into the world’s greatest in-home surveillance network. More likely, they already have.”
The Internet―the Vatican II of the Family
Without a doubt the advent of the internet is the aggiornamento of the home, just as the Second Vatican Council was the aggiornamento of the Church. The Italian word “aggiornamento” means “bringing up to date, a modernization” and was one of the key words used during the Second Vatican Council―both by bishops and the clergy attending the sessions, and by the media and Vaticanologists covering it. It was used to mean throwing open the doors of the Church in a desire to dialogue with the outside world.
Pope John XXIII, in June 1961, in an address to a group of Blessed Sacrament Fathers, said of the upcoming Second Vatican Council: “The ecumenical council will reach out and embrace under the widespread wings of the Catholic Church the entire heredity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Its principal task will be concerned with the condition and modernization (aggiornamento) of the Church after 20 centuries of life.”
Bishop Basil Butler (1902-1986), who was present at the Second Vatican Council, wrote: “It seems likely that Vatican II will be known in the future as the Aggiornamento Council. Aggiornamento was in fact the task proposed to it by John XXIII. What is aggiornamento? I am no expert in Italian, but I believe the word means, etymologically, «A bringing up to date.» The Church was to be brought up to date.”
If you are not very well informed about the Second Vatican Council, then let it be said (for now) that is was a very revolutionary, radical Council (this was admitted by some of of the Liberals and Modernists who participated) that produced cleverly ambiguous documents that could have a double interpretation―one traditional, the other modernist. Some modernist interpreters of Vatican II took renewal or aggiornamento to be a matter of the Church’s adaptation or accommodation to the standards of the modern world—in short, “catching up” with the times, “going with the flow”, adapting to the modern world. It was meant to be an opening of the doors and windows of the Church to the world outside. The result was not the crazily hoped for result of the world converting to the Church, but, on the contrary, the results saw the Church being converted by the world and converted to the world. The world did not come through those opened doors and windows―but many of the clergy and laity happily ran out of the Church and plunged themselves deep into the world.
Likewise, today, Catholic families have―in imitation of the Church (whether they know it or not, or are aware of it or not) have followed a program of modernization of their Catholic family. The results have been just as catastrophic as those of the Second Vatican Council. The screens of the televisions, computer monitors, laptops, tablets and smartphones are the doors and windows through which the Faith of families has escaped and the doors and windows through which the world has invaded families.
As Our Lady of Quito said, speaking of our times: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children!”
Back in 2014, across Europe, around 80% of children owned either a mobile phone or a smartphone; 46% owned a smartphone and 33% a mobile phone. About 46% of European children aged 9 to 16 owned a smartphone. About 45% of US children aged 10 to 12 had their own smartphone. 42% of US children 8 and younger now have their own tablet devices. In South Korea, about 72% of children owned a smartphone by ages 11 to 12, and they would spend up to 5.4 hours a day on them. About four out of five, or 81%, of secondary school students in South Africa own or have access to a mobile phone, and about 31% have their own social network page. In Australia, in one year alone, the number of 9 to 10 year olds owning a smartphone rose from 31% to 43%.
The Mark of the Beast?
These levels of penetration are proof that social media usage is on the rise all around the world, and well on its way to total saturation. Has this something to do with the biblical “mark of the beast”? Only time will tell―but it rapidly getting to the point that these electronic devices will be the only means by which we buy and sell in the future―especially in view of the gradual global project of phasing-out real money or cash. As the Apocalypse tells us: “And he seduced them that dwell on the Earth … And he shall make all, both little and great, rich and poor, freemen and bondmen, to have a character in their right hand, or on their foreheads [it is thought that the chip will replace the smartphone for internet access]. And that no man might buy or sell, except he that hath the character, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name [79% of U.S. consumers shop online, up from just 22% back in 2000. The UK has the highest online retail sales as percentage of total retail sales―18%, almost 1 in 5. The USA’s shows 14%]. Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast. For it is the number of a man: and the number of him is six hundred sixty-six” (Apocalypse 13:14-18).
Making and Taking Phone Calls In Your Head? That’s Smarter Than a Smartphone!
Social media hasn’t maxed out its potential audience, and people will keep on converting along with the growth of smartphone ownership and Internet access―especially with the advent of the recently launched “AI” or “Artificial Intelligence” that is being placed on electronic devices. Many people are connected to their phones 24 hours a day, so why not make tomorrow’s phone such that it will be embedded in your body? We have already got that kind of technology built into our watches, shirts and shoes. So why not have a phone implanted into your head, hand or arm? It may sound like science fiction, but it is really just the next logical step. At least, that’s the thinking of influential industry leaders, who were surveyed by the World Economic Forum, a group of the world’s most powerful leaders and tycoons, who met in January of 2016, in Davos, Switzerland. The survey gives a glimpse into their vision of the future and where society is headed. These technology moguls and gurus believe we are entering a time of momentous changes thanks to advancements in software. That includes artificial intelligence, Internet-connected devices, 3D printing and, yes, phones in our heads. Erik Brynjolfsson, director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy at the Sloan School of Management, said in the report: “Now comes the second Machine Age, computers and other digital advances are doing for mental power―the ability to use our brains to understand and shape our environments―what the steam engine and its descendants did for muscle power.” Experts say embeddable “phones” or devices that are implanted in the body that use wireless technology could be commercially available by 2023. The technology is there―the only problem is persuading (or legally forcing) people to accept it.
The Flip Side or Dark Side of Electronic Devices
It used to be “conspiracy theorists” who would talk about electronic surveillance and then find themselves laughed to scorn by those who professed themselves as being “normal” and not deranged conspiracy theorists. Today, many “normal” non-conspiratorially inclined folk are saying that we are under electronic surveillance―and those “normal” folk include national news agencies and renowned business organizations.
The Australian national news broadcasting corporation, ABC, in a March 8th, 2017, article entitled “Ways Your Technology Is Already Spying On You”, states: “It's been revealed the CIA has a range of hacking tools to break into phones, apps and other devices … Former CIA chief technical officer, Gus Hunt, said they could collect a lot of information from your Fitbit, Garmin and Apple Watch. What they discovered is simply by looking at the data they can find out with pretty good accuracy what your gender is, whether you're tall or short, whether you're heavy or you're light, but what's really intriguing is you can be 100 per cent identified by simply your gait [the way you walk]” ― [not even mentioning the potential surveillance from your laptop, tablet and smartphone or any other electronic device you may have in your home or your possession].
The article goes on to speak of the social media giant Facebook: “On Facebook, any pages you click out to or like, are tracked and monitored. Many people also claim when you’re scrolling, the microphone is on and listening. Which could explain why you notice advertisements for things you've just been talking about.” The article then relates an attempted denial on the part of Facebook, claiming that it wasn't doing this―the statement said: “We only access your microphone if you have given our app permission and if you are actively using a specific feature that requires audio. This might include recording a video or using an optional feature we introduced two years ago to include music or other audio in your status updates.” Furthermore, it is known that Facebook uses facial recognition technology, which can be avoided by not being in any photo that is posted on Facebook. There is a viral photo of Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook creator, with tape over his laptop camera and microphone. If the creator of Facebook is taking such precautions, what does that say to the rest of the world?
The article further mentioned an Australian man from Melbourne being blackmailed after having been filmed in a compromising position. The article concludes with references to smart televisions and smart toys, stating: “Just like your laptop, your smart television also has a microphone and some have a camera. When Samsung released its new smart televisions last year, it warned customers not to discuss sensitive information in front of it. The policy advised customers to ‘ be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of voice recognition.’ ” (ABC Australia, article entitled “Ways Your Technology Is Already Spying On You”, March 8th, 2017).
These electronic devices are almost playing at being God―watching, listening and following our every word and action. The devil has done his work well and has caught most folk in his web―world-wide-web―and in the net of his internet!
Another reputable―non-conspiracy theorist―outlet, Forbes.com, also has an October 9th, 2018, article on electronic surveillance, entitled: “Will Governments Turn Our Smart Devices Into A Massive Surveillance Network?” in which it states: “When Amazon announced its internet-connected Amazon Key camera last year, it declined to answer questions regarding how it would respond to law enforcement requests ordering it to remotely turn on units so that they could be used as government surveillance devices. When Facebook announced its Portal camera in October 2018, it raised similar questions about how government could misuse the system, which the company confirmed, noting that it would cooperate with a court order to use the device for surveillance. As we increasingly stuff our homes full of state-of-the-art internet-connected surveillance equipment, should Silicon Valley build protections into the devices against government misuse? … Instead of hiding from the devices, we ensure they have the best possible vantage point from which to observe our every move and hear our every word. Artificial Intelligence can now unceasingly monitor their microphones and cameras 24 hours 7 days a week, or stream them live anywhere in the world.
“Most importantly, the devices today are operated by private global companies that can do as they please with our data, commercializing it for profit or making it available to governments upon request … The devices have become so integrated into our lives that we often forget just how much information they are collecting about us … The biggest threat, however, lies not in how companies can sell us ads, but rather how their data could be misused by governments, especially repressive regimes that could use them as back-doors to conduct mass surveillance on a planetary scale. Facebook’s recent security breach offers little confidence that it is investing sufficiently in security to ensure that its new Portal device does not have unintended vulnerabilities that could be exploited by remote attackers. This goes doubly for the myriad camera and microphone-equipped internet-connected devices we let into our homes each day, from obscure third-party companies that may have little interest or experience with security. The biggest threat to privacy from smart devices, however, comes from how governments will eventually wake up to their immense potential. Whether nation state actors like NSA find remote vulnerabilities that allow them to turn on vulnerable devices’ microphones and cameras at will or whether governments simply go through their legal systems, using court orders to force companies to hand over the controls to law enforcement and intelligence services, we can rest assured that it is only a matter of time before government agents are on the other end listening to and watching us. Government court orders are perhaps the most dangerous of all threats, since even the most secure and hardened device can do nothing to stop an intelligence agency armed with a court order from forcing its manufacturer from turning it into a remote microphone or using its metadata to understand a target’s contacts … Most importantly, we are trusting that governments will resist the temptation to turn this massive army of telescreens into the world’s greatest in-home surveillance network. More likely, they already have.”
The Internet―the Vatican II of the Family
Without a doubt the advent of the internet is the aggiornamento of the home, just as the Second Vatican Council was the aggiornamento of the Church. The Italian word “aggiornamento” means “bringing up to date, a modernization” and was one of the key words used during the Second Vatican Council―both by bishops and the clergy attending the sessions, and by the media and Vaticanologists covering it. It was used to mean throwing open the doors of the Church in a desire to dialogue with the outside world.
Pope John XXIII, in June 1961, in an address to a group of Blessed Sacrament Fathers, said of the upcoming Second Vatican Council: “The ecumenical council will reach out and embrace under the widespread wings of the Catholic Church the entire heredity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Its principal task will be concerned with the condition and modernization (aggiornamento) of the Church after 20 centuries of life.”
Bishop Basil Butler (1902-1986), who was present at the Second Vatican Council, wrote: “It seems likely that Vatican II will be known in the future as the Aggiornamento Council. Aggiornamento was in fact the task proposed to it by John XXIII. What is aggiornamento? I am no expert in Italian, but I believe the word means, etymologically, «A bringing up to date.» The Church was to be brought up to date.”
If you are not very well informed about the Second Vatican Council, then let it be said (for now) that is was a very revolutionary, radical Council (this was admitted by some of of the Liberals and Modernists who participated) that produced cleverly ambiguous documents that could have a double interpretation―one traditional, the other modernist. Some modernist interpreters of Vatican II took renewal or aggiornamento to be a matter of the Church’s adaptation or accommodation to the standards of the modern world—in short, “catching up” with the times, “going with the flow”, adapting to the modern world. It was meant to be an opening of the doors and windows of the Church to the world outside. The result was not the crazily hoped for result of the world converting to the Church, but, on the contrary, the results saw the Church being converted by the world and converted to the world. The world did not come through those opened doors and windows―but many of the clergy and laity happily ran out of the Church and plunged themselves deep into the world.
Likewise, today, Catholic families have―in imitation of the Church (whether they know it or not, or are aware of it or not) have followed a program of modernization of their Catholic family. The results have been just as catastrophic as those of the Second Vatican Council. The screens of the televisions, computer monitors, laptops, tablets and smartphones are the doors and windows through which the Faith of families has escaped and the doors and windows through which the world has invaded families.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Thursday June 13th & Friday June 14th
Article 7
The Catholic Ghost Town with Burning Churches!
Article 7
The Catholic Ghost Town with Burning Churches!
Week of the Holy Ghost & Ghost Towns
In this Octave of Pentecost, or “Week of the Holy Ghost”, it would be appropriate to speak of “Ghost Towns.” Just as you can call a glass that contains 50% water both “half-full” and “half-empty”―likewise you could call today’s Church (or local churches) as being “half-full” or “half-empty.” Yet the fact is that our churches are emptying. The Church should be a “Holy Ghost Town” where the Holy Ghost dwells, but the Church is fast becoming the other kind of “Ghost Town”―one which is becoming increasingly emptied of its inhabitants. Perhaps your own family has already become, or is fast becoming, a “Catholic Ghost Town”―whereby increasing numbers are leaning away from the Faith, not practicing the Faith, or have left the Faith. Recent research, studies and surveys show that over 90% of Catholic youth will no longer practice the Faith on a regular basis by the time they leave college (or high school, if they don’t pursue college education).
Nearly half of the “cradle Catholics” are gone by age eighteen. 80% (8 out of 10) are gone by age twenty-three. When a person walks away from the Church, that person usually leaves when it is young. Dynamic Catholic states that 85% of Catholic young adults (17 out of 20) stop practicing their Faith in college―most of them within their first year of leaving home. Curtis Martin, the founder of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) thinks that 85% is conservative, and that the Catholic Church is losing more than 90% of Catholic young people by the end of their college years. This data isn’t new―it has been the case year after year after year. At least three-quarters (75%) of people raised Catholic, say they attended Mass at least once a week as children, including those who later left the Catholic Church. But those who have become unaffiliated, exhibit a sharp decline in Mass attendance through their lifetime: 74% attended regularly as children, 44% did so as teens and only 2% do so as adults.
Dictionaries will define a “ghost town” as an abandoned village, town, or city, usually one that contains substantial visible remains. A town often becomes a “ghost town” because the economic activity that once supported it, has now failed, or it becomes a “ghost town” due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, prolonged droughts, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, pollution, or nuclear disasters. The term can sometimes refer to cities, towns, and neighborhoods that are still populated, but significantly less so than in past years; for example, those affected by high levels of unemployment and dereliction.
The above definition and description presents no difficulty when applied to the Church and the Faith. The Church can become a “Ghost Town” when for one reason or another―or through a combination of reasons―persons no longer show an interest, nor any concern, nor any devotion, nor any attachment to the Church and Her teachings, laws and practices. The causes could be internal, external or both. The result is a gradual ‘depopulation’ of the Church. Many will still call themselves “Catholic”―but will not believe all Catholic teachings, nor obey all Catholic laws, nor observe all Catholic practices and customs. All of this is a progressive disease that gradually leads down the slippery slope to apostasy, and from there further down the slippery slope to Hell. Such a diagnosis would be instantly rejected by those who are on that slippery slope―but Scripture is adamant:
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27). Since most houses are built on sand―when that storm comes, be it a storm of temptation, worldliness, persecution, etc., those houses fall and we are left with a ghost town.
Prophecy of a Catholic Ghost Town
If you are a prophecy aficionado (devotee), then you will be well aware of the many prophecies that paint a ghostly picture for the Faith in the “last days” or end times”―and, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons. The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The “last times of the world” that Sr. Lucia speaks of, are closely entwined with the so-called “Third Secret of Fatima” as well as the many prophecies, made over many centuries, by many saints, blesseds, venerables and other holy persons within the Church. The so-called “Third Secret of Fatima” was the third and final part of the full prophetic Secret, in three parts, which Our Lady revealed to three children at Fatima on July 13th, 1917. The first and second parts of the Secret―namely, the vision of Hell and the warning about the rise of Communist Russia―were publicly revealed with the publication of Sr. Lucia’s memoirs in the 1940s [read here]. The final part of the revelation remains in the possession of the Vatican and has not yet been correctly and fully disclosed to the world. In fact, it is widely believed that the Vatican has two versions of the Third Secret under lock and key―(1) the original one and (2) a doctored version, that has been sanitized, modified and sterilized. The doctored, modified, sanitized and sterilized version was revealed for public consumption in the year 2000―but very quickly this version was picked-to-pieces and discredited by most of the Fatima experts in the world.
Our Lady had commanded Sr. Lucia to write down on paper the Third Secret of Fatima and to entrust it to her bishop and, through him, to Pope Pius XII. At the same time, Our Lady also insisted that this part of the Secret was to be revealed to the faithful throughout the world no later than 1960. Lucia hesitated, and it was under the direct order of her bishop that Sr. Lucia finally wrote down the third part of the Secret on January 2nd, 1944. However, upon learning that her bishop was unwilling to open the envelope containing the Secret, Sr. Lucia made him promise that the Third Secret would be opened and read to the world upon her death, or in 1960, whichever would happen first. If her bishop died first, it was agreed that the Secret would be confided to the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon. Despite this agreement, the Secret was, in fact, delivered to the Vatican where it has remained undisclosed to the public―except for the disclosure of doctored, sanitized and modified version in 2000.
Haunting Words from Church Officials
The first pope to read the Third Secret of Fatima was not Pope Pius XII―during whose reign Lucia had written down the Secret―but it was his successor, Pope John XXIII.
► CARDINAL SILVIO ODDI (1910-2001), who had been had been the secretary of Archbishop Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli — later Pope John XXIII — When Roncalli served as the apostolic nuncio in Paris, insistently tried to get Pope John XXIII to publish the Third Secret of Fatima. As the British newspaper The Telegraph reported upon his death:
“In yet another unguarded interview, published in 1990, Cardinal Oddi spoke about his relationship with John XXIII. In the early 1960s, when acting as his secretary, he told the Pope: «Most Holy Father, there is one thing for which I cannot forgive you!» The Pope, surprised, asked what it was. Oddi replied that he had not revealed the Third Secret of Fatima, conveyed to three Portuguese children by the Virgin Mary in 1917, which had been scheduled for release in 1960.” Pope John XXIII replied: “Let’s not talk about it!” Cardinal Oddi revealed to the pope that he had already given over a hundred sermons and speeches on the subject. To which the Pope retorted: “I told you not to mention it!”
In another outspoken interview in 1990, Cardinal Oddi said: “I believe I knew John XXIII quite well, since I spent a number of years at his side when he was at the nunciature in Paris. If the Secret had concerned realities consoling for the Church like the conversion of Russia or the religious rebirth of eastern Europe, I believe that he would have brought pressure to bear to make the Secret public. Due to his temperament, he did not hesitate to communicate joyful things. But when I asked him during an audience why in 1960, when the obligation to keep the Secret had come to an end, he had not made public the last part of the message of Fatima, he responded with a weary sigh. He then said: «Don’t bring that subject up with me, please!»” Later, in that same interview, Cardinal Oddi explains his own theory concerning the content of the Third Secret of Fatima:
“What is it that happened in 1960, that might have been seen in connection with the Secret of Fatima? The most important event is without a doubt the launching of the preparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore I would not be surprised if the Secret had something to do with the convocation of Vatican II … From the attitude Pope John showed during our conversation, I deduced ― but it is only an hypothesis ― that the Secret might contain a part that could have a rather unpleasant ring to it. John XXIII had convened the Council with the precise intention of directing the forces of the Church toward the solution of the problems that concern all of humanity, beginning from within. That is, he intended the work to begin with the evangelical perfection pursued by consecrated persons … But we all know that many sad things have taken place … I am thinking, for example, of the number of priests who have abandoned the priesthood―it is said that there have been 80,000. But one only has to recall the anguish with which the Holy Father, Paul VI, in 1968 cried out against the “auto-demolition” taking place in the Church [to include the “smoke of Satan has entered into the Church” quote]. I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church: grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself … If we consider the grave crisis we have lived through since the Council, the signs that this prophecy has been fulfilled do not seem to be lacking!”
To to Italian journalist Lucio Brunelli, in an interview conducted for the Italian journal, Il Sabato, Cardinal Oddi said: “It [the Third Secret] has nothing to do with Gorbachev. The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against apostasy in the Church!”
Those words of Cardinal Oddi have been collaborated, substantiated and demonstrated to be true by many other high ranking members of the clergy.
In a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, who was the personal papal theologian to Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II, revealed: “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
Sister Lucia’s nephew, Father Jose dos Santos Valinho. He related his opinion of the contents of the Third Secret in a book by Renzo and Roberto Allegri entitled Reportage su Fatima (Milan 2000), which was published — providentially enough — very shortly before the disclosure of the vision purported to be the Third Secret and the publication of booklet entitled The Message of Fatima by Cardinal Ratzinger and Archbishop Bertone. Father Valinho stated:
“I believe that (third) part of the secret concerns the Church from within, perhaps doctrinal difficulties, a crisis of unity, rebellion. The last sentence my aunt wrote, which precedes the part that is still unknown, says, ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’ … Therefore, people elsewhere in the Church might waver on dogma. But this is just speculation.”5
On February 14th, 2003 Father Valinho also spoke about the Third Secret on the program ENIGMA. It was transmitted prime time, nationwide on RAI, the national television network of Italy. Father Valinho stated on this occasion:
“I believe that there is a connection between that which is announced in the first part of the Secret, which concerns wars and sufferings which would be everywhere, and the second part which concerns the persecutions and a type of breakdown of the Faith. Because where the ellipsis (the three dots, “…”) was placed, it means “Here is the third part, which is not revealed” and then the conclusion: “In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.” This suggests to me that there is a relationship between Faith and the third part of the Secret. Therefore, it is something that relates to the Church. It is some kind of universal crisis which affects the whole Church and all of humanity.”
► POPE PIUS XII (while still a Cardinal)
Cardinal Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, said while still a cardinal: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul…. I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject her ornaments and make her feel remorse for her historical past. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’” Cardinal Pacelli said this in 1931. He became Pope Pius XII in 1939.
► POPE PAUL VI
Pope Paul VI said: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977. Pope Paul was dead 10 months later).
► POPE BENEDICT XVI (while still Cardinal Ratzinger)
Cardinal Ratzinger said: “Yes, I have read [the Third Secret]. [It refers to] a radical call to conversion; the absolute seriousness of history; the dangers which threaten the Faith and the life of the Christian and therefore (the life) of the world” (Jesus magazine, November 11th, 1984).
► FR. J. SCHWEIGLE (Pope Pius XII’s interviewer of Sr. Lucia)
Fr. J. Schweigle said: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’” (The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. III, p. 74). Pope Pius XII personally sent Fr. Schweigle to interview Sr. Lucia about the Third Secret in 1952.
► FR. J. ALONSO (the Church’s official archivist of Fatima 1965—1981)
Fr. J. Alonso said: “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … then it can be clearly deduced, from this, that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure, or even lost altogether…. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
► CARDINAL OTTAVIANI
Cardinal Ottaviani said: “The message was not to be opened before 1960. I asked Sister Lucia, ‘Why this date?’ She answered, ‘Because then it will be clearer.’” Cardinal Ottaviani was the head of the Holy Office. He interviewed Sister Lucia in 1955.
► CARDINAL CIAPPI
Cardinal Ciappi, in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria. Cardinal Ciappi was the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
► SISTER LUCIA OF FATIMA
Sister Lucia, in an interview with Fr. Augustine Fuentes, said: “Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that most offends God and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus, the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way, the devil will succeed in leaving souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them …. That which afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus is the fall of religious and priestly souls. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to Hell… The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence …. Father, let us not wait for an appeal to come from Rome, on behalf of the Holy Father, calling on the whole world to do penance; nor let us wait for it to come from our bishops in their dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No. Our Lord has already made frequent use of these means and the world took no notice. That is why each of us must now begin his own spiritual reform. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also every soul that God has placed on his path.” (Fr. Augustine Fuentes interviewed Sr. Lucia on December 26, 1957).
Sister Lucia, in a letter to Fr. Umberto Pasquale, who was very devoted to the cause of Fatima, wrote: “The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommended recitation of the Rosary with such insistence. And since the Rosary is, after the Holy Eucharistic liturgy, the prayer most apt for preserving Faith in souls, the devil has unchained his struggles against it. Unfortunately, we see the disasters he has caused.”
Second Vatican Council Ghost Town Haunted by Ghosts
We are all led by a spirit or spirits―no spirit, no life. Our soul is a spirit and, without the soul, the body is dead. Yet even though our soul is our main guiding spirit, we can be guided by other spirits too―the souls or spirits of our family, relatives, friends, teachers, acquaintances, employers, employees, strangers, the media, etc. Since we are made to be social creatures―as God said of Adam: “It is not good for man to be alone! Let Us make him a help like unto himself!” (Genesis 2:18)―and we are helped in life, for better or for worse, by the help, advice and guidance of others, other “kindred spirits” as the saying goes. Hence there are leaders and there are followers. Ultimately, at the end of the day, the two leaders are God and Satan―and humanity is caught in a tug-of-war between them. Even Our Lord was not exempt from this tug-of-war: “Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1). “The Spirit drove Him out into the desert. And He was in the desert forty days and forty nights, and was tempted by Satan; and He was with beasts, and the angels ministered to Him” (Mark 1:12-13). What Our Lord went through, we have to go through. There is no exemption from temptation, there is no exemption from the test or exam of temptation, and there is no exemption from this warfare― “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1)―in which “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” 1 Peter 5:8) and in which “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” Ephesians 6:12).
Devil’s Final Battle
It is in this warfare against the devil that everyone must fight, or be conquered if they choose not to fight. Sr. Lucia of Fatima speaks of “the devil’s final battle” and says that it will be essentially be against “marriage and the family.”
In an interview with Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, Sr. Lucia warned: “Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:
The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground.
The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.
And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
After Pope John Paul asked Monsignor (later Cardinal) Carlo Caffarra (1938-2017) to begin a new Pontifical Institute for studies on marriage and the family, Caffarra wrote to Sister Lucia, simply requesting her prayers for this venture. He was surprised at receiving a very long letter with her signature, in which Lucia had written: “The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid, because anyone who works for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be contended and opposed in every way, for this is the decisive issue.” And then Lucia concluded: “however, Our Lady has already crushed its head.”
Amongst the Liberals and Modernists cardinals, bishops and priests that infect the Church today, Cardinal Caffarra was one of the few lights in the present darkness, being less infected than the others. The Cardinal died recently, in 2017, and a priest, who assisted the Cardinal in his last days, spoke the Cardinal’s distress over the disasters that he sees and endures in the Church every day, mentioning some incidents to him. The dying cardinal burst into tears, saying: “The Lord will not abandon His Church. There were twelve apostles, so the Lord will start again with a few. Imagine the suffering of Saint Athanasius, who was left alone to defend the truth for the love of Christ, of the Church and of men. We must have faith, hope and fortitude.” The priest who assisted the Cardinal in his last days said: “The cardinal was very sorrowful, but he conveyed to me so much courage and love for the Church. He was comforted by the prophetic words which he had received years ago from Sister Lucia of Fatima, in that letter in which she said to him that ‘the final battle between God and Satan will be about marriage and the family.’”
Just in case you are tempted to bury your head in the sand, or switch into virtual reality mode, or retreat into a Disneyland version of the Faith―let the penny drop, let reality sink-in, and realize that “the final battle between God and Satan will be about marriage and the family” automatically includes your marriage and your family! Just as there is nobody who is exempt from temptation and just as we are all sinners―it stands to reason that we will all be part of this “final battle between God and Satan” upon “marriage and the family”―for, even if we are not married, we are all part of a family. The devil wants to possess marriage, he wants to possess the family―and he will being to achieve that possession by introducing, little by little, more and more, the spirit of the world (which is essentially and ultimately the spirit of the devil) into each and every marriage and family. Looking at the world today, it seems as though he has most marriages and most families in his grasp―and to the few that are resisting, he nevertheless has his foot in the door with some aspects of worldliness being accepted even by those who are resisting.
The Spirit of Our Times
St. Mark gives us several accounts of souls tormented or possessed by evil spirits―something which is on the increase today. Though relatively few souls might be possessed by the devil, many souls are oppressed and obsessed by the devil. For the spirit of the world is essentially the spirit of the devil―since the devil is the prince of the world, as Jesus Himself says: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing!” (John 14:30) “The prince of this world is already judged” (John 16:11). “Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31). It is now, in our days, that we need Our Lord to again cast out the prince of this world, whose spirit has possessed and created the spirit of the world, which has captivated so many souls today. These poor souls are not led by the spirit of God, but by the spirit of the devil, disguised and wrapped-up in the fancy coverings of the spirit of the world. “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God―that we may know the things that are given us from God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). “Woe to the foolish that follow their own spirit, and see nothing!” (Ezechiel 13:3). “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
This is exactly what Our Lady foretold: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops .... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
When Our Lord speaks of there being no Faith on Earth when He returns― “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)―He is thereby implying that there will be another spirit that will have replaced the spirit of Faith. That other spirit will be the spirit of the world―a child of the spirit of the devil. That spirit was unchained with the Second Vatican Council―which is what the Third Secret of Fatima is thought to mention―and the infiltration of the Church to the highest positions―which is what Our Lady also mentions: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.” (Akita) … “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell.” (La Salette).
Taking On the Spirit of These Angels of Hell
We do well to re-read the accounts of demonic possession in the time of Our Lord, for demonic activity can only be on the increase in this “final battle between God and Satan” upon “marriage and the family.” Pope Paul VI, more than once, spoke of the smoke of Satan having entered the Church. Pope Paul VI complained that after the Second Vatican Council, that “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God” (June 29th, 1972). A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
The recently deceased (2016) famous exorcist of Rome, Father Gabriele Amorth, in an interview with the magazine 30 Days, in June 2000, also said: “The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Perhaps … a large number of exorcists might succeed in chasing out the legions of demons that have installed themselves in the Vatican.” When Fr. Amorth says “Satan has entered everywhere”, he means everywhere―your family included! Obviously you won’t see him wearing a red catsuit, with tail attached and pitchfork in hand―but you will see him in the worldliness that has crept into your family in one way or another, in one form or another, through one family member or another. This is his modern method of possession―or, more correctly speaking―obsession. He seeks to make each and every family more and more obsessed with the world, the spirit of the world, with worldliness. That is how he controls most people today.
Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world!
“And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying: ‘What have we to do with Thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come to destroy us? I know who Thou art―the Holy One of God!’ And Jesus threatened him, saying: ‘Speak no more, and go out of the man!’ And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying out with a loud voice, went out of him” (Mark 1:23-26).
“There met Him [Jesus], out of the monuments, a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling in the tombs, and no man now could bind him, not even with chains. For having been often bound with fetters and chains, he had burst the chains, and broken the fetters in pieces, and no one could tame him. And he was always day and night in the monuments and in the mountains, crying and cutting himself with stones. And seeing Jesus afar off, he ran and adored him. And crying with a loud voice, he said: ‘What have I to do with thee, Jesus the Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God that Thou torment me not!’ For He said unto him: ‘Go out of the man, thou unclean spirit!’ And Jesus asked him: ‘What is thy name?’ And he saith to Him: ‘My name is Legion, for we are many [devils in the man]!’ And he besought Jesus much, that He would not drive him away out of the country. And there was there near the mountain a great herd of swine, feeding. And the [evil] spirits besought Him, saying: ‘Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them!’ And Jesus immediately gave them permission. And the unclean spirits, going out of the man, entered into the swine―and the herd, with great violence, was carried headlong into the sea, being about two thousand, and were drowned in the sea. And they that fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the fields. And they went out to see what was done: And they came to Jesus, and they see him that was troubled with the devil, sitting, clothed, and well in his wits, and they were afraid. And they, that had seen it, told them in what manner he had been dealt with who had the devil; and concerning the swine. And they began to pray Jesus that He would depart from their coasts. And when He went up into the ship, he that had been troubled with the devil, began to beseech Jesus that he might be with Him. And Jesus admitted him not onto the ship, but said to him: ‘Go into thy house to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had mercy on thee!’ And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him―and all men wondered” (Mark 5:2-20).
“He went into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon: and a woman, as soon as she heard of Him, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, came in and fell down at His feet. The woman was a Gentile, a Syrophenician born. And she besought Him that He would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. Who said to her: ‘Suffer first the children to be filled! For it is not good to take the bread of the children, and cast it to the dogs!’ But she answered and said to Him: ‘Yea, Lord! But even the whelps also eat under the table of the crumbs of the children!’ And He said to her: ‘For this saying―go thy way! The devil is gone out of thy daughter!’ And when she was come into her house, she found the girl lying upon the bed, and that the devil was gone out” (Mark 7:24-30).
And Jesus said: “When an unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith: ‘I will return into my house from whence I came out!’ And coming he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is made worse than the first. So shall it be also to this wicked generation!” (Matthew 12:43-45).
Burning Down the Church Underground
The fate of an Ukranian Church in the little town of Centralia, now a ghost town, in Pennsylvannia, USA, in a way epitomizes what is happening to the Catholic Church as a whole today. The town of Centralia had more than a thousand people in 400 to 500 houses living there in 1962―coincidentally the year the Second Vatican Council began―today only six people live there! Once, there were homes and gardens. Now there are weeds. In 1962 it was a thriving coal-mining town. Today it is a ghost town―left to die―but its last remaining church is thriving. In Pennsylvania's coal-mining mountains, there is an empty grid where a town once lived. The roads remain on Google Maps, they have names like Railway Avenue and Apple Alley ― but on the ground, they are ghost streets. Nameless. Silent. Stripped bare. Anonymous, in every sense. Yet on the horizon, there stand a white church amid black trees. Its congregation no longer lives in town, but the church still stands and is still frequented, but only by a few.
What happened to Centralia? More or less the same thing that has been happening to the Catholic Church. On May 27th, 1962 (the same year that the Second Vatican Council opened), a fire spread from a surface mine to underground seams, and kept burning. Nobody is quite sure how the fire started, but more than $7m was spent trying to stop the fire―without success. Though the town was able to extinguish the fire above ground, a much bigger inferno burned underneath, and it eventually spread its way under Centralia's town center. “Through a monumental series of blunders and inadequate attention over the years, it got to the size underground where it basically destroyed the town of Centralia and everybody had to move,” said Davod Dekok, a Pennsylvania historian. In 1983, the US Congress approved a $42m package to relocate the residents. Some locals think the fire is either out, or no longer poses a danger today. The state says the fire could burn for more than 100 years. By the 1980s, Centralia was fading from the map, like a photo developing in reverse. When the fire started, there were five churches in the town. One by one, they disappeared. In 1986, the Ukrainian church ― built in 1911 ― almost followed. “It was on its last breath,” says Father Michael Hutsko, the pastor. “The church would have been knocked down, and all that would have remained was the cemetery.” But, as the state oversaw the clearance of Centralia, Archbishop Stephen Sulyk ordered a survey under the hillside church. “So they drilled, and they found solid rock [rather than coal],” says Father Hutsko, “That's so scriptural! ‘You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church!’” The building was saved, and with the help of a small number of families, the church kept watching over Centralia. Its congregation has left town, but Centralia's Ukrainian Catholic Church wasn’t going anywhere. The Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church continues to stand on its solid rock foundation as a symbol of resilience and steadfastness.
Similarly, in the Catholic Church, “the final battle between God and Satan will be about marriage and the family” and Satan, as is his preference to work out of sight and therefore out of mind, has been burning the foundations of the Catholic Church since 1962―the year the Second Vatican Council opened its deliberations. Just as in the case of Centralia, the numbers and the resolve of Catholics has been whittled down as attempts to put out the Satanic fires of Vatican II have failed. Yet, just as the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church continues to stand in Centralia on its solid rock foundation as a symbol of resilience and steadfastness, so too will the Catholic Church survive this current underground fire―for as Our Lady promised, “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.” In the meantime, however, as Our Lady also said at Quito (Our Lady of Good Success): “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs. There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration.”
What Our Lady foretold, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed and confirmed not too long ago, when he said: “The Church will become small and will have to start afresh, more or less, from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices She built in prosperity. As the number of Her adherents diminishes ... She will lose many of Her social privileges ... As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of Her individual members …. It will be hard-going for the Church … It will make Her poor and cause Her to become the Church of the meek ... The process will be long and wearisome ... But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church ... It seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of Faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power, to the extent that She was until recently; but She will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man’s home, where he will find life and hope beyond death” (Benedict XVI, from his book Faith and the Future).
In this Octave of Pentecost, or “Week of the Holy Ghost”, it would be appropriate to speak of “Ghost Towns.” Just as you can call a glass that contains 50% water both “half-full” and “half-empty”―likewise you could call today’s Church (or local churches) as being “half-full” or “half-empty.” Yet the fact is that our churches are emptying. The Church should be a “Holy Ghost Town” where the Holy Ghost dwells, but the Church is fast becoming the other kind of “Ghost Town”―one which is becoming increasingly emptied of its inhabitants. Perhaps your own family has already become, or is fast becoming, a “Catholic Ghost Town”―whereby increasing numbers are leaning away from the Faith, not practicing the Faith, or have left the Faith. Recent research, studies and surveys show that over 90% of Catholic youth will no longer practice the Faith on a regular basis by the time they leave college (or high school, if they don’t pursue college education).
Nearly half of the “cradle Catholics” are gone by age eighteen. 80% (8 out of 10) are gone by age twenty-three. When a person walks away from the Church, that person usually leaves when it is young. Dynamic Catholic states that 85% of Catholic young adults (17 out of 20) stop practicing their Faith in college―most of them within their first year of leaving home. Curtis Martin, the founder of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) thinks that 85% is conservative, and that the Catholic Church is losing more than 90% of Catholic young people by the end of their college years. This data isn’t new―it has been the case year after year after year. At least three-quarters (75%) of people raised Catholic, say they attended Mass at least once a week as children, including those who later left the Catholic Church. But those who have become unaffiliated, exhibit a sharp decline in Mass attendance through their lifetime: 74% attended regularly as children, 44% did so as teens and only 2% do so as adults.
Dictionaries will define a “ghost town” as an abandoned village, town, or city, usually one that contains substantial visible remains. A town often becomes a “ghost town” because the economic activity that once supported it, has now failed, or it becomes a “ghost town” due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, prolonged droughts, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, pollution, or nuclear disasters. The term can sometimes refer to cities, towns, and neighborhoods that are still populated, but significantly less so than in past years; for example, those affected by high levels of unemployment and dereliction.
The above definition and description presents no difficulty when applied to the Church and the Faith. The Church can become a “Ghost Town” when for one reason or another―or through a combination of reasons―persons no longer show an interest, nor any concern, nor any devotion, nor any attachment to the Church and Her teachings, laws and practices. The causes could be internal, external or both. The result is a gradual ‘depopulation’ of the Church. Many will still call themselves “Catholic”―but will not believe all Catholic teachings, nor obey all Catholic laws, nor observe all Catholic practices and customs. All of this is a progressive disease that gradually leads down the slippery slope to apostasy, and from there further down the slippery slope to Hell. Such a diagnosis would be instantly rejected by those who are on that slippery slope―but Scripture is adamant:
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27). Since most houses are built on sand―when that storm comes, be it a storm of temptation, worldliness, persecution, etc., those houses fall and we are left with a ghost town.
Prophecy of a Catholic Ghost Town
If you are a prophecy aficionado (devotee), then you will be well aware of the many prophecies that paint a ghostly picture for the Faith in the “last days” or end times”―and, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed: “The Blessed Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons. The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground. The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others. And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
The “last times of the world” that Sr. Lucia speaks of, are closely entwined with the so-called “Third Secret of Fatima” as well as the many prophecies, made over many centuries, by many saints, blesseds, venerables and other holy persons within the Church. The so-called “Third Secret of Fatima” was the third and final part of the full prophetic Secret, in three parts, which Our Lady revealed to three children at Fatima on July 13th, 1917. The first and second parts of the Secret―namely, the vision of Hell and the warning about the rise of Communist Russia―were publicly revealed with the publication of Sr. Lucia’s memoirs in the 1940s [read here]. The final part of the revelation remains in the possession of the Vatican and has not yet been correctly and fully disclosed to the world. In fact, it is widely believed that the Vatican has two versions of the Third Secret under lock and key―(1) the original one and (2) a doctored version, that has been sanitized, modified and sterilized. The doctored, modified, sanitized and sterilized version was revealed for public consumption in the year 2000―but very quickly this version was picked-to-pieces and discredited by most of the Fatima experts in the world.
Our Lady had commanded Sr. Lucia to write down on paper the Third Secret of Fatima and to entrust it to her bishop and, through him, to Pope Pius XII. At the same time, Our Lady also insisted that this part of the Secret was to be revealed to the faithful throughout the world no later than 1960. Lucia hesitated, and it was under the direct order of her bishop that Sr. Lucia finally wrote down the third part of the Secret on January 2nd, 1944. However, upon learning that her bishop was unwilling to open the envelope containing the Secret, Sr. Lucia made him promise that the Third Secret would be opened and read to the world upon her death, or in 1960, whichever would happen first. If her bishop died first, it was agreed that the Secret would be confided to the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon. Despite this agreement, the Secret was, in fact, delivered to the Vatican where it has remained undisclosed to the public―except for the disclosure of doctored, sanitized and modified version in 2000.
Haunting Words from Church Officials
The first pope to read the Third Secret of Fatima was not Pope Pius XII―during whose reign Lucia had written down the Secret―but it was his successor, Pope John XXIII.
► CARDINAL SILVIO ODDI (1910-2001), who had been had been the secretary of Archbishop Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli — later Pope John XXIII — When Roncalli served as the apostolic nuncio in Paris, insistently tried to get Pope John XXIII to publish the Third Secret of Fatima. As the British newspaper The Telegraph reported upon his death:
“In yet another unguarded interview, published in 1990, Cardinal Oddi spoke about his relationship with John XXIII. In the early 1960s, when acting as his secretary, he told the Pope: «Most Holy Father, there is one thing for which I cannot forgive you!» The Pope, surprised, asked what it was. Oddi replied that he had not revealed the Third Secret of Fatima, conveyed to three Portuguese children by the Virgin Mary in 1917, which had been scheduled for release in 1960.” Pope John XXIII replied: “Let’s not talk about it!” Cardinal Oddi revealed to the pope that he had already given over a hundred sermons and speeches on the subject. To which the Pope retorted: “I told you not to mention it!”
In another outspoken interview in 1990, Cardinal Oddi said: “I believe I knew John XXIII quite well, since I spent a number of years at his side when he was at the nunciature in Paris. If the Secret had concerned realities consoling for the Church like the conversion of Russia or the religious rebirth of eastern Europe, I believe that he would have brought pressure to bear to make the Secret public. Due to his temperament, he did not hesitate to communicate joyful things. But when I asked him during an audience why in 1960, when the obligation to keep the Secret had come to an end, he had not made public the last part of the message of Fatima, he responded with a weary sigh. He then said: «Don’t bring that subject up with me, please!»” Later, in that same interview, Cardinal Oddi explains his own theory concerning the content of the Third Secret of Fatima:
“What is it that happened in 1960, that might have been seen in connection with the Secret of Fatima? The most important event is without a doubt the launching of the preparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore I would not be surprised if the Secret had something to do with the convocation of Vatican II … From the attitude Pope John showed during our conversation, I deduced ― but it is only an hypothesis ― that the Secret might contain a part that could have a rather unpleasant ring to it. John XXIII had convened the Council with the precise intention of directing the forces of the Church toward the solution of the problems that concern all of humanity, beginning from within. That is, he intended the work to begin with the evangelical perfection pursued by consecrated persons … But we all know that many sad things have taken place … I am thinking, for example, of the number of priests who have abandoned the priesthood―it is said that there have been 80,000. But one only has to recall the anguish with which the Holy Father, Paul VI, in 1968 cried out against the “auto-demolition” taking place in the Church [to include the “smoke of Satan has entered into the Church” quote]. I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church: grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself … If we consider the grave crisis we have lived through since the Council, the signs that this prophecy has been fulfilled do not seem to be lacking!”
To to Italian journalist Lucio Brunelli, in an interview conducted for the Italian journal, Il Sabato, Cardinal Oddi said: “It [the Third Secret] has nothing to do with Gorbachev. The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against apostasy in the Church!”
Those words of Cardinal Oddi have been collaborated, substantiated and demonstrated to be true by many other high ranking members of the clergy.
In a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, who was the personal papal theologian to Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II, revealed: “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
Sister Lucia’s nephew, Father Jose dos Santos Valinho. He related his opinion of the contents of the Third Secret in a book by Renzo and Roberto Allegri entitled Reportage su Fatima (Milan 2000), which was published — providentially enough — very shortly before the disclosure of the vision purported to be the Third Secret and the publication of booklet entitled The Message of Fatima by Cardinal Ratzinger and Archbishop Bertone. Father Valinho stated:
“I believe that (third) part of the secret concerns the Church from within, perhaps doctrinal difficulties, a crisis of unity, rebellion. The last sentence my aunt wrote, which precedes the part that is still unknown, says, ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’ … Therefore, people elsewhere in the Church might waver on dogma. But this is just speculation.”5
On February 14th, 2003 Father Valinho also spoke about the Third Secret on the program ENIGMA. It was transmitted prime time, nationwide on RAI, the national television network of Italy. Father Valinho stated on this occasion:
“I believe that there is a connection between that which is announced in the first part of the Secret, which concerns wars and sufferings which would be everywhere, and the second part which concerns the persecutions and a type of breakdown of the Faith. Because where the ellipsis (the three dots, “…”) was placed, it means “Here is the third part, which is not revealed” and then the conclusion: “In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.” This suggests to me that there is a relationship between Faith and the third part of the Secret. Therefore, it is something that relates to the Church. It is some kind of universal crisis which affects the whole Church and all of humanity.”
► POPE PIUS XII (while still a Cardinal)
Cardinal Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, said while still a cardinal: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul…. I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject her ornaments and make her feel remorse for her historical past. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, ‘Where have they taken Him?’” Cardinal Pacelli said this in 1931. He became Pope Pius XII in 1939.
► POPE PAUL VI
Pope Paul VI said: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977. Pope Paul was dead 10 months later).
► POPE BENEDICT XVI (while still Cardinal Ratzinger)
Cardinal Ratzinger said: “Yes, I have read [the Third Secret]. [It refers to] a radical call to conversion; the absolute seriousness of history; the dangers which threaten the Faith and the life of the Christian and therefore (the life) of the world” (Jesus magazine, November 11th, 1984).
► FR. J. SCHWEIGLE (Pope Pius XII’s interviewer of Sr. Lucia)
Fr. J. Schweigle said: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved’” (The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. III, p. 74). Pope Pius XII personally sent Fr. Schweigle to interview Sr. Lucia about the Third Secret in 1952.
► FR. J. ALONSO (the Church’s official archivist of Fatima 1965—1981)
Fr. J. Alonso said: “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … then it can be clearly deduced, from this, that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure, or even lost altogether…. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church.”
► CARDINAL OTTAVIANI
Cardinal Ottaviani said: “The message was not to be opened before 1960. I asked Sister Lucia, ‘Why this date?’ She answered, ‘Because then it will be clearer.’” Cardinal Ottaviani was the head of the Holy Office. He interviewed Sister Lucia in 1955.
► CARDINAL CIAPPI
Cardinal Ciappi, in a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria. Cardinal Ciappi was the Papal Theologian of Pope John Paul II, said: “In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
► SISTER LUCIA OF FATIMA
Sister Lucia, in an interview with Fr. Augustine Fuentes, said: “Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that most offends God and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus, the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way, the devil will succeed in leaving souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them …. That which afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus is the fall of religious and priestly souls. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to Hell… The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence …. Father, let us not wait for an appeal to come from Rome, on behalf of the Holy Father, calling on the whole world to do penance; nor let us wait for it to come from our bishops in their dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No. Our Lord has already made frequent use of these means and the world took no notice. That is why each of us must now begin his own spiritual reform. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also every soul that God has placed on his path.” (Fr. Augustine Fuentes interviewed Sr. Lucia on December 26, 1957).
Sister Lucia, in a letter to Fr. Umberto Pasquale, who was very devoted to the cause of Fatima, wrote: “The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommended recitation of the Rosary with such insistence. And since the Rosary is, after the Holy Eucharistic liturgy, the prayer most apt for preserving Faith in souls, the devil has unchained his struggles against it. Unfortunately, we see the disasters he has caused.”
Second Vatican Council Ghost Town Haunted by Ghosts
We are all led by a spirit or spirits―no spirit, no life. Our soul is a spirit and, without the soul, the body is dead. Yet even though our soul is our main guiding spirit, we can be guided by other spirits too―the souls or spirits of our family, relatives, friends, teachers, acquaintances, employers, employees, strangers, the media, etc. Since we are made to be social creatures―as God said of Adam: “It is not good for man to be alone! Let Us make him a help like unto himself!” (Genesis 2:18)―and we are helped in life, for better or for worse, by the help, advice and guidance of others, other “kindred spirits” as the saying goes. Hence there are leaders and there are followers. Ultimately, at the end of the day, the two leaders are God and Satan―and humanity is caught in a tug-of-war between them. Even Our Lord was not exempt from this tug-of-war: “Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1). “The Spirit drove Him out into the desert. And He was in the desert forty days and forty nights, and was tempted by Satan; and He was with beasts, and the angels ministered to Him” (Mark 1:12-13). What Our Lord went through, we have to go through. There is no exemption from temptation, there is no exemption from the test or exam of temptation, and there is no exemption from this warfare― “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1)―in which “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour!” 1 Peter 5:8) and in which “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places” Ephesians 6:12).
Devil’s Final Battle
It is in this warfare against the devil that everyone must fight, or be conquered if they choose not to fight. Sr. Lucia of Fatima speaks of “the devil’s final battle” and says that it will be essentially be against “marriage and the family.”
In an interview with Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, Sr. Lucia warned: “Father, the Blessed Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last times of the world, but I understood this for three reasons:
The first is because she told me that the Devil is engaging in a battle with the Virgin, a decisive battle. It is a final battle where one party will be victorious and the other will suffer defeat. So, from now on, we are either with God or we are with the Devil; there is no middle ground.
The second reason is because she told me, as well as my cousins, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, being the last remedies, that is to say, they are the final ones, means that there will be no others.
And the third, because in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
After Pope John Paul asked Monsignor (later Cardinal) Carlo Caffarra (1938-2017) to begin a new Pontifical Institute for studies on marriage and the family, Caffarra wrote to Sister Lucia, simply requesting her prayers for this venture. He was surprised at receiving a very long letter with her signature, in which Lucia had written: “The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid, because anyone who works for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be contended and opposed in every way, for this is the decisive issue.” And then Lucia concluded: “however, Our Lady has already crushed its head.”
Amongst the Liberals and Modernists cardinals, bishops and priests that infect the Church today, Cardinal Caffarra was one of the few lights in the present darkness, being less infected than the others. The Cardinal died recently, in 2017, and a priest, who assisted the Cardinal in his last days, spoke the Cardinal’s distress over the disasters that he sees and endures in the Church every day, mentioning some incidents to him. The dying cardinal burst into tears, saying: “The Lord will not abandon His Church. There were twelve apostles, so the Lord will start again with a few. Imagine the suffering of Saint Athanasius, who was left alone to defend the truth for the love of Christ, of the Church and of men. We must have faith, hope and fortitude.” The priest who assisted the Cardinal in his last days said: “The cardinal was very sorrowful, but he conveyed to me so much courage and love for the Church. He was comforted by the prophetic words which he had received years ago from Sister Lucia of Fatima, in that letter in which she said to him that ‘the final battle between God and Satan will be about marriage and the family.’”
Just in case you are tempted to bury your head in the sand, or switch into virtual reality mode, or retreat into a Disneyland version of the Faith―let the penny drop, let reality sink-in, and realize that “the final battle between God and Satan will be about marriage and the family” automatically includes your marriage and your family! Just as there is nobody who is exempt from temptation and just as we are all sinners―it stands to reason that we will all be part of this “final battle between God and Satan” upon “marriage and the family”―for, even if we are not married, we are all part of a family. The devil wants to possess marriage, he wants to possess the family―and he will being to achieve that possession by introducing, little by little, more and more, the spirit of the world (which is essentially and ultimately the spirit of the devil) into each and every marriage and family. Looking at the world today, it seems as though he has most marriages and most families in his grasp―and to the few that are resisting, he nevertheless has his foot in the door with some aspects of worldliness being accepted even by those who are resisting.
The Spirit of Our Times
St. Mark gives us several accounts of souls tormented or possessed by evil spirits―something which is on the increase today. Though relatively few souls might be possessed by the devil, many souls are oppressed and obsessed by the devil. For the spirit of the world is essentially the spirit of the devil―since the devil is the prince of the world, as Jesus Himself says: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing!” (John 14:30) “The prince of this world is already judged” (John 16:11). “Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31). It is now, in our days, that we need Our Lord to again cast out the prince of this world, whose spirit has possessed and created the spirit of the world, which has captivated so many souls today. These poor souls are not led by the spirit of God, but by the spirit of the devil, disguised and wrapped-up in the fancy coverings of the spirit of the world. “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God―that we may know the things that are given us from God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). “Woe to the foolish that follow their own spirit, and see nothing!” (Ezechiel 13:3). “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
This is exactly what Our Lady foretold: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops .... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
When Our Lord speaks of there being no Faith on Earth when He returns― “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)―He is thereby implying that there will be another spirit that will have replaced the spirit of Faith. That other spirit will be the spirit of the world―a child of the spirit of the devil. That spirit was unchained with the Second Vatican Council―which is what the Third Secret of Fatima is thought to mention―and the infiltration of the Church to the highest positions―which is what Our Lady also mentions: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.” (Akita) … “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell.” (La Salette).
Taking On the Spirit of These Angels of Hell
We do well to re-read the accounts of demonic possession in the time of Our Lord, for demonic activity can only be on the increase in this “final battle between God and Satan” upon “marriage and the family.” Pope Paul VI, more than once, spoke of the smoke of Satan having entered the Church. Pope Paul VI complained that after the Second Vatican Council, that “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God” (June 29th, 1972). A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
The recently deceased (2016) famous exorcist of Rome, Father Gabriele Amorth, in an interview with the magazine 30 Days, in June 2000, also said: “The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Perhaps … a large number of exorcists might succeed in chasing out the legions of demons that have installed themselves in the Vatican.” When Fr. Amorth says “Satan has entered everywhere”, he means everywhere―your family included! Obviously you won’t see him wearing a red catsuit, with tail attached and pitchfork in hand―but you will see him in the worldliness that has crept into your family in one way or another, in one form or another, through one family member or another. This is his modern method of possession―or, more correctly speaking―obsession. He seeks to make each and every family more and more obsessed with the world, the spirit of the world, with worldliness. That is how he controls most people today.
Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, said: “We have now absorbed into Church teaching, and the Church has opened herself up to, principles which are not hers, but which come from modern society.” Elsewhere he said that with Vatican II, the principles of 1789 [the French Revolution] had entered the Church. Unfortunately, the opening of the windows of the Church to the world, has let worldliness into the Church, while many of the Catholics jumped out of the windows and joined the world!
“And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying: ‘What have we to do with Thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come to destroy us? I know who Thou art―the Holy One of God!’ And Jesus threatened him, saying: ‘Speak no more, and go out of the man!’ And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying out with a loud voice, went out of him” (Mark 1:23-26).
“There met Him [Jesus], out of the monuments, a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling in the tombs, and no man now could bind him, not even with chains. For having been often bound with fetters and chains, he had burst the chains, and broken the fetters in pieces, and no one could tame him. And he was always day and night in the monuments and in the mountains, crying and cutting himself with stones. And seeing Jesus afar off, he ran and adored him. And crying with a loud voice, he said: ‘What have I to do with thee, Jesus the Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God that Thou torment me not!’ For He said unto him: ‘Go out of the man, thou unclean spirit!’ And Jesus asked him: ‘What is thy name?’ And he saith to Him: ‘My name is Legion, for we are many [devils in the man]!’ And he besought Jesus much, that He would not drive him away out of the country. And there was there near the mountain a great herd of swine, feeding. And the [evil] spirits besought Him, saying: ‘Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them!’ And Jesus immediately gave them permission. And the unclean spirits, going out of the man, entered into the swine―and the herd, with great violence, was carried headlong into the sea, being about two thousand, and were drowned in the sea. And they that fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the fields. And they went out to see what was done: And they came to Jesus, and they see him that was troubled with the devil, sitting, clothed, and well in his wits, and they were afraid. And they, that had seen it, told them in what manner he had been dealt with who had the devil; and concerning the swine. And they began to pray Jesus that He would depart from their coasts. And when He went up into the ship, he that had been troubled with the devil, began to beseech Jesus that he might be with Him. And Jesus admitted him not onto the ship, but said to him: ‘Go into thy house to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had mercy on thee!’ And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him―and all men wondered” (Mark 5:2-20).
“He went into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon: and a woman, as soon as she heard of Him, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, came in and fell down at His feet. The woman was a Gentile, a Syrophenician born. And she besought Him that He would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. Who said to her: ‘Suffer first the children to be filled! For it is not good to take the bread of the children, and cast it to the dogs!’ But she answered and said to Him: ‘Yea, Lord! But even the whelps also eat under the table of the crumbs of the children!’ And He said to her: ‘For this saying―go thy way! The devil is gone out of thy daughter!’ And when she was come into her house, she found the girl lying upon the bed, and that the devil was gone out” (Mark 7:24-30).
And Jesus said: “When an unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith: ‘I will return into my house from whence I came out!’ And coming he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is made worse than the first. So shall it be also to this wicked generation!” (Matthew 12:43-45).
Burning Down the Church Underground
The fate of an Ukranian Church in the little town of Centralia, now a ghost town, in Pennsylvannia, USA, in a way epitomizes what is happening to the Catholic Church as a whole today. The town of Centralia had more than a thousand people in 400 to 500 houses living there in 1962―coincidentally the year the Second Vatican Council began―today only six people live there! Once, there were homes and gardens. Now there are weeds. In 1962 it was a thriving coal-mining town. Today it is a ghost town―left to die―but its last remaining church is thriving. In Pennsylvania's coal-mining mountains, there is an empty grid where a town once lived. The roads remain on Google Maps, they have names like Railway Avenue and Apple Alley ― but on the ground, they are ghost streets. Nameless. Silent. Stripped bare. Anonymous, in every sense. Yet on the horizon, there stand a white church amid black trees. Its congregation no longer lives in town, but the church still stands and is still frequented, but only by a few.
What happened to Centralia? More or less the same thing that has been happening to the Catholic Church. On May 27th, 1962 (the same year that the Second Vatican Council opened), a fire spread from a surface mine to underground seams, and kept burning. Nobody is quite sure how the fire started, but more than $7m was spent trying to stop the fire―without success. Though the town was able to extinguish the fire above ground, a much bigger inferno burned underneath, and it eventually spread its way under Centralia's town center. “Through a monumental series of blunders and inadequate attention over the years, it got to the size underground where it basically destroyed the town of Centralia and everybody had to move,” said Davod Dekok, a Pennsylvania historian. In 1983, the US Congress approved a $42m package to relocate the residents. Some locals think the fire is either out, or no longer poses a danger today. The state says the fire could burn for more than 100 years. By the 1980s, Centralia was fading from the map, like a photo developing in reverse. When the fire started, there were five churches in the town. One by one, they disappeared. In 1986, the Ukrainian church ― built in 1911 ― almost followed. “It was on its last breath,” says Father Michael Hutsko, the pastor. “The church would have been knocked down, and all that would have remained was the cemetery.” But, as the state oversaw the clearance of Centralia, Archbishop Stephen Sulyk ordered a survey under the hillside church. “So they drilled, and they found solid rock [rather than coal],” says Father Hutsko, “That's so scriptural! ‘You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church!’” The building was saved, and with the help of a small number of families, the church kept watching over Centralia. Its congregation has left town, but Centralia's Ukrainian Catholic Church wasn’t going anywhere. The Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church continues to stand on its solid rock foundation as a symbol of resilience and steadfastness.
Similarly, in the Catholic Church, “the final battle between God and Satan will be about marriage and the family” and Satan, as is his preference to work out of sight and therefore out of mind, has been burning the foundations of the Catholic Church since 1962―the year the Second Vatican Council opened its deliberations. Just as in the case of Centralia, the numbers and the resolve of Catholics has been whittled down as attempts to put out the Satanic fires of Vatican II have failed. Yet, just as the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church continues to stand in Centralia on its solid rock foundation as a symbol of resilience and steadfastness, so too will the Catholic Church survive this current underground fire―for as Our Lady promised, “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.” In the meantime, however, as Our Lady also said at Quito (Our Lady of Good Success): “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs. There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration.”
What Our Lady foretold, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed and confirmed not too long ago, when he said: “The Church will become small and will have to start afresh, more or less, from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices She built in prosperity. As the number of Her adherents diminishes ... She will lose many of Her social privileges ... As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of Her individual members …. It will be hard-going for the Church … It will make Her poor and cause Her to become the Church of the meek ... The process will be long and wearisome ... But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church ... It seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of Faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power, to the extent that She was until recently; but She will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man’s home, where he will find life and hope beyond death” (Benedict XVI, from his book Faith and the Future).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Tuesday June 11th & Wednesday June 12th
Article 6
The Holy Ghost Needs Real Soldiers, Not Play Soldiers!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 6
The Holy Ghost Needs Real Soldiers, Not Play Soldiers!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Fighting Fire With Fire
Can you really fight fire with fire? The phrase goes back at least as far as 1597, when William Shakespeare, in his play The Life and Death of King John, wrote: “Be stirring as the time! Be fire with fire! Threaten the threatener and outface the brow of bragging horror!” In other words, match aggression with aggression. Meet violence with violence. For, as Our Lord says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). We don’t like such fiery talk, but Our Lord says: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me! And he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me! He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it!” (Luke 12:49-53; Matthew 10:34-39).
There are basically two fires competing for this world―the fire of love for “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and the fires of hatred or the fires of Hell. In a sense, one fire is fighting the other fire. Can you fight fire with fire? Think about it for a second! A fire needs oxygen and fuel, such as leaves and vegetation, to continue raging. Rob the fire of either source of nourishment and you squelch the chemical reaction that produces it. When faced with an oil-well fire, firefighters have been known to remove the oxygen from the equation by detonating a little dynamite. The fiery blast from the dynamite eats up all the local oxygen, leaving nothing to keep the oil-well fire going. When an entire forest is ablaze, however, a different tactic is in order. Firefighters remove the fuel―and what better way to quickly remove combustible underbrush than to carefully set it on fire and destroy it before the forest fire gets a hold of it? In pondering a fire's hunger and growth, it's easy to think of it as some form of organism―like a rat infestation. In addition to putting out poison, major metropolitan areas encourage residents to help combat rodent infestations through anti-litter campaigns. You don't want rats in your home? Then don't litter the streets with a buffet of fast-food garbage. Likewise, you can help prevent the spread of forest fires by keeping less fuel sitting around. Around the home, this strategy often means keeping your property free of vegetation that could act as fuel. If you're managing a farm, forest or grassland, it often pays to conduct a controlled burn. In this scenario, wildlife managers set fire to an area under controlled conditions, burning fuel that could potentially feed a future wildfire. The burn creates a manmade firebreak, or gap, in combustible material to contain spreading wildfires.
Burning the Fuel of Worldliness
Too much worldly stuff provides the devil with excellent fuel for his “fires of Hell.” We need to burn that garbage before the rats of this world surround us and live-off us and our worldliness. Hence the Catholic spirit of abstinence, fasting, sacrifices, mortification, alms giving, temperance, etc. These are the good fires that burn up the trash and garbage that can inflame our souls with the fires of Hell.
We have to get out of our hypnotic state that imagines that life is meant to be enjoyed and we are here to have fun—each in his or her own way! “Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12), for “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and this fight is not a virtual fight; it is not a fight in the imagination; nor a fight that existed in the past but no longer today; nor a fight that some but not all are involved in—it is a perennial fight, a universal fight, an apocalyptic fight! Your salvation rests upon whether or not you fight, whether or not you compromise, whether or not you surrender to the enemy. Just as Our Lord was asked: “And who is my neighbor?” — you may well ask: “And who is my enemy?” Let Holy Scripture answer you:
The Enemy: World, Flesh, Devil
The enemy is the world, the flesh and the devil. “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “The whole world is seated in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:19).
Kindling Fires
Yet today, Catholics have no problem loving the world, they have no problem pampering their flesh and they are increasingly accepting the ‘doctrines’ of the devil―contraception, abortion, cohabitation, divorce and remarriage, same sex-unions, etc. Our Lord came to set the Earth on fire: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). In our prayers to the Holy Ghost, we ask for this fire to be kindled within us: “Come O Holy Ghost and enkindle in us the fire of Thy love!” Is the Holy Ghost failing to “enkindle in us the fire of His love” or is that the wood is no longer suitable for burning?
Bad Wood for Burning
Coated, painted, or pressure-treated wood can release toxic or harmful chemicals into the air, likewise Catholics who are coated by the world, ‘painted’ with worldliness and have been pressured by the world, are likely to produce a toxic spirituality. Green Wood―a freshly cut down living tree―is not the best material for the fire. The timber needs to age or “season” for a minimum of six to nine months before burning. Similarly Catholics need to “dry-out” from the “sap” of the world. Freshly cut wood, called green wood, is loaded with sap (mostly water) and needs to dry out first. It’s hard to light and once you get it going, it burns very efficiently and smokes horribly―you can draw your own spiritual analogies. “Green” Catholics or Catholics saturated by the world are difficult to motivate and hard to “light” or get them going in spiritual exercises―and when they do start, they smoke (complain) horribly! If you’re unsure if the wood is green, check the bark―firmly attached bark, that’s still sticky with sap when you nick it, is a bad sign. Likewise, a Catholic oozing worldliness is a bad sign.
There is also a danger in burning non-local wood. If you live in, or are visiting an area currently affected by invasive wood pests―even if the firewood was cut or stored more than a few miles away, you should leave the firewood where it is and keep looking. Firewood that travels too far is the number one way that invasive insects and diseases rapidly spread. Though the pests travel slowly on their own, moving an infected log can put new forests at risk and undermine conservation efforts. Millions of trees and thousands of acres of forest have been seriously damaged or even killed by these non-native pests. Similarly, Catholics should avoid invasive Faith pests―which would be non-Catholics, fallen-away Catholics, lukewarm Catholics.
Soft wood, from trees like pines, firs, or cypress, burns fast, leaves few coals, and makes a lot of smoke that can coat your chimney with soot (not a safe thing in the long run). Seasoned softwood is okay for outdoor fires, but you may want to avoid it if a fireplace is involved or you want a long-lasting fire or coals to cook over. Similarly, “soft” Catholics burn out quickly, are not long-lasting and put out a lot of smoke (complaints). Not the best thing to be around. Hard wood, though it may take longer to get started, lasts a long time―which is what a Catholic should be all about!
Poisonous woods are toxic. Care should be taken to avoid burning any wood covered with vines. Burning poison ivy, poison sumac, poison oak, or pretty much anything else with “poison” in the name releases the irritant oil urushiol into the smoke. Breathing it in can cause lung irritation and severe allergic respiratory problems. Burning salt-saturated driftwood (from the sea) is also a bad idea, as it can release toxic or harmful chemicals when burned. Obviously, poisonous woods are synonymous with bad Catholics―those who are covered with sin. They are toxic to your life.
All of this can be related to and compared with Our Lord’s words about wood and trees. “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away! And every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit! As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine―you are the branches! He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit! For without Me you can do nothing! If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!” (John 15:1-6).
Like Fire and Wood
It will help us to understand this doctrine if we recall a comparison used by St. John of the Cross to explain something similar: A piece of wood is thrown into the fire. The fire envelops, penetrates, possesses it. To the wood, being possessed by the fire and burning are the same thing. But at first the wood is not wholly burned because the fire has not penetrated it completely. Penetration and possession come about little by little as the wood burns, until, perfectly penetrated by the fire, it is converted into it and burns with the same fire and has all the characteristics of fire.
The Holy Ghost is rightly called fire, living fountain, Charity, because He is Love. The spiritual life is nothing else but the penetration of the soul by that divine fire. The Holy Ghost possesses the soul and the soul burns, that is, it loves. Charity is the intimate fire that burns the soul, but the Holy Ghost, quite as intimately present in the soul, is both the cause of that fire and its glorious end.
Our ‘Green Wood’ Needs Perfecting
At first the soul does not burn totally, because it needs to be purified, in order that the divine fire may perfectly penetrate and possess it. Little by little the divine penetration is effected and the soul gradually burns more thoroughly, more profoundly. The divine penetration becomes so perfect, the spiritual combustion so complete, that the soul is “deified”; one might say that it is changed into fire, into love. It may be said to burn with the fire of God, and to love with the Holy Ghost, for the divine Spirit moves it to love so intimately and fully that, in all truth, this love is attributed to the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of God loves in the soul, and the soul loves with that Holy Ghost. As the wood, when perfectly penetrated by the fire, takes on the very character of fire, so the soul that loves with the love of the Holy Ghost participates in the divine characteristics of eternal Love.
Get Used to Being Burnt―You Were to Burn
Everyone was made to burn―we will burn forever and the fire will never go out. We will either burn forever in Hell in hatred, or we will burn forever in Heaven in love, and most of those who end up burning forever in Heaven in love, first have to burn in Purgatory in regret for not having burned enough in love while still on Earth. Even in this world everyone is burning―some burn with love of the world, others burn with love of the Faith and God; some burn with hatred of God and His Church and all things to do with God, others burn with hatred for sin and all that in this world can lead to sin.
“Command the children of Israel that they bring thee the purest oil of the olives, and a lamp that may burn always” (Exodus 27:20) … “Thou shalt make also an altar to burn incense, of setim wood … And Aaron shall burn sweet smelling incense upon it … he shall burn an everlasting incense before the Lord” (Exodus 30:1, 7-8) … “And the fire on the altar shall always burn, and the priest shall feed it, putting wood on it every day in the morning, and laying on the holocaust, shall burn thereupon the peace offerings” (Leviticus 6:12).
As for the world and worldliness, it should be burnt, so to speak, for it endangers our holiness and salvation―and the words God addressed to His Chosen People of old, are just as applicable today to His “Chosen People”―the Church: “When the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which thou art going in to possess, and shall have destroyed many nations before thee, the Hethite, and the Gergezite, and the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, seven nations much more numerous than thou art, and stronger than thou. And the Lord thy God shall have delivered them to thee, thou shalt utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no league with them, nor show mercy to them! Neither shalt thou make marriages with them! Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for thy son! For she will turn away thy son from following Me, that he may rather serve strange gods, and the wrath of the Lord will be kindled, and will quickly destroy thee. But thus rather shall you deal with them: Destroy their altars, and break their statues, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven things! Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee, to be His peculiar people of all peoples that are upon the Earth!” (Deuteronomy 7:1-6).
Fire and War
There is close connection between fire and war―even before the days when guns and cannons were invented which led to the phenomenon and terminology of firearms, firing-guns and gunfire. In ancient times fire was used as a weapon of destruction. The destruction of enemy possessions and territory was a fundamental strategy of war, serving the dual purpose of punishment and deprivation of resources. Until the 5th century BC, the Greeks had little expertise in siege warfare and mainly relied on a strategy of devastation to draw the enemy out―they destroyed crops, trees and houses. Centuries later, the Byzantines still recommended this strategy, even though they had developed siege technology. Fire was the easiest way of harrying and destroying territories, and could be done easily and quickly by small forces. Early “thermal weapons” were devices or substances used in warfare during the classical and medieval periods (approximately from the 8th century BC until the mid-16th century AD) which used heat or burning action to destroy or damage enemy personnel, fortifications or territories. Fire and incendiary weapons were used against enemy structures and territory, as well as personnel, sometimes on a massive scale. At the simplest level, fire itself was used as a weapon to cause large-scale destruction. Large tracts of land, towns and villages were frequently ignited as part of a scorched earth strategy. It was frequently used against siege engines and wooden structures.
Incendiary weapons could be used to set fire to towns and fortifications, and a wide range of thermal weapons were used against enemy personnel. The simplest and most common thermal projectiles were boiling water and hot sand―which required fire to heat them―which could then be poured over attacking personnel. Other anti-personnel weapons included the use of hot pitch, oil, resin, animal fat and other similar compounds―all of which required fire to heat them. Smoke was used to confuse or drive off attackers―where there is smoke, there is fire. Substances such as quicklime and sulfur could be toxic and blinding.
Various throwing machines were in use throughout the classical and medieval periods. Incendiary devices were frequently used as projectiles during warfare, particularly during sieges and naval battles. Generally referred to as “artillery”, these engines could hurl, fire or shoot missiles and most could be used or adapted for throwing thermal weapons, by attacking and defending forces. Some substances were boiled or heated to inflict damage by scalding or burning. Other substances relied on their chemical properties to inflict burns or damage. These weapons or devices could be used by individuals, manipulated by war machines, or utilized as army strategy. Barrels, fire pots and other breakable containers of pitch, Greek fire, and other incendiary mixtures could be thrown; other machines fired arrows and bolts, which could be ignited, or adapted to carry flammable mixtures. From the 12th century, Muslims in Syria were using clay and glass grenades for fire weapons, thrown by machines.
Incendiary mixtures, such as the petroleum-based Greek fire, could be launched by throwing machines or administered through a siphon. Sulfur- and oil-soaked materials were sometimes ignited and thrown at the enemy, or attached to spears, arrow and bolts and fired by hand or machine. Some siege techniques—such as mining and boring—relied on combustibles and fire to complete the collapse of walls and structures.
Some armies developed specialized “fire-troops.” By 837, many Muslim armies had groups of “naffatin” (fire-archers), and when the Mamluk Sultanate raised a fleet for an attack on Cyprus they had “nafata”, or fire-troops. Towards the latter part of the period, gunpowder was invented, which increased the sophistication of the weapons, starting with fire-lances, which led to the eventual development of the cannon and other firearms. Development of the early weapons has continued ever since, with modern war weapons such as napalm, flame throwers, and other explosives having direct roots in the original early thermal weapons. Fire-raising and other destructive strategies can still be seen in modern strategic bombing.
Time For Fireworks!
Prophecies for our times speak of two kinds of fire falling from the skies―a man-made fire will come first, which will then be “trumped” by God sending His own fire from Heaven.
Just a few extracts of Our Lady’s warnings from Quito, La Salette, Fatima and Akita are enough to terrify us even more than the globalists terrify us: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it ... Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime ...
“Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government will see a cruel persecution … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... The impious will rage a cruel war … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings …
“There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed ... There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases .... The earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds in addition to the plague and famine, which will be widespread .... There will be a series of wars … Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling ... Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy …
“There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries ... Water and fire will give the earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains and cities … Water and fire will purge the earth and consume all the works of man’s pride … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes ... It will rain with a fearful hail of animals … People will believe that all is lost ... It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. ... The fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities ... Various nations will be annihilated … All the universe will be struck with terror … The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment. Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test?”
Why? Oh, Why?
Why all this carnage? Our Lady replies: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth” (La Salette) … “God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes—by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” (Fatima) … “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity” (Akita).
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! ... Yada! Yada! Yada! ... Blah! Blah! Blah!
We have heard all this before! We have read it all before! This is nothing new! Yet, on December 26th, 1957, Sister Lucia spoke to Fr. Augustine Fuentes, a Mexican priest, which Fr. Fuentes reports thus: “The first thing she (Lucia) said to me (Fr Fuentes) was: ‘Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.’”
Therefore you must “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables! But be thou vigilant, labor in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy ministry!” (2 Timothy 4:2). “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me!” (Luke 10:16).
For the Last Time!—We’re in the Last Times!—Last Time You Paid No Attention!
Sister Lucia also said the following to Fr. Augustine Fuentes: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God or we belong to the demon; there is no middle ground.”
“The devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. The devil knows what it is that most offends God and which, in a short space of time, will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.”
In 1970, Sister Lucia wrote to a priest nephew of hers, Fr. Jose Valinho: “I see by your letter that you are disturbed by the confusion of our time. It is sad indeed that so many persons let themselves be dominated by the diabolical wave, which is sweeping the world, and that they are blinded, to the point of being incapable of seeing error!”
In her 1957 conversation with Fr. Fuentes, Sister Lucia said: “Father, we should not wait for an appeal to the world to come from Rome on the part of the Holy Father, to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call from our bishops in our dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already, very often, used these means and the world has not paid attention. That is why now it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform ourselves spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also the souls that God has placed on our path.”
“Father, the Most Holy Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times, but she made me understand this for three reasons:
► The first reason is as follows: The devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin, and a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat.
► The second reason is as follows: She said to my cousins as well as to myself, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are the last two remedies, which signify that there will be no others.
► The third reason is as follows: God, before He is about to chastise, exhausts all other remedies.”
It’s Now Time For…
Well, that Nice Guy, Who loves us all and wouldn’t hurt a fly, happened to wipe out millions of Israelites during the Exodus―because they paid little attention to Him and were always complaining! That Nice Guy, Who loves us all and wouldn’t hurt a fly, happened to wipe out all the inhabitants of the Earth with the Great Flood―except for 8 persons and an ark full of animals. That Nice Guy, Who loves us all and wouldn’t hurt a fly, also happened to wipe Jerusalem off the map and throw His Chosen People into years of Babylonian Captivity. That Nice Guy, Who loves us all and wouldn’t hurt a fly, also arranged for the total destruction of Jerusalem with all its inflated seasonal Passover population of over 1 million people in the year 70 AD, because they had rejected and crucified His Nice Son, Who happened to prophesy that all this would happen and that not stone would be left upon a stone! Chosen People or not― “with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert” (1 Corinthians 10:5). Is it any better today? It is worse today than it ever was! Our Lady has spoken of our times being worse than those in the time of Noe and the Great Flood―consequently, she has said that punishment that is pending, will also be worse than that of the Great Flood.
To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind: only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
At Akita, around 17 years later (in 1973), Our Lady warned: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!”
Soldiers of Christ and Light of the World?
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men. You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house” (Matthew 5:13-16). Today, there are few “salty Catholics” to be found―most of them have become “soft Catholics” or “sweet Catholics” or “sugary Catholics” or “mammonized Catholics”―who love the world more than God (if not in theory, then most definitely in practice―which can be seen by the hours and hours they give to the world in relation to the few minutes they give to God).
The Soldiers of Christ have become Suckers for the World! They have laid down their arms and picked up their smartphones. Instead of meditating 5 decades of the Rosary―they meditate the internet with their latest 5G smartphones. “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4) becomes “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word he can read on the internet.” Instead of following Christ―they follow friends on social media. Instead of reading the texts of the Bible all day long, they send texts all day long. Instead of fighting those who have no time for God and His Church, they spend their time delighting in those who have no time for God and His Church. Nobody wants to be a saint―they just want to be quaint. Nobody wants to be hated for Christ’ sake―they want to be loved for their own sake. The words of Scripture are truer than ever before:
“The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth [texts, e-mails, posts] is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalm 13:1-3).
It’s Just Not Fair!!!
The problem is that, once you start to let your light shine, there are plenty of people (not to mention the devil) who want to put out that light! It’s as though the world loves the sinner, but hates the saint! If we try too hard to be good, and become good, then we are target to be attacked and destroyed. It’s not fair, is it? It’s downright disgusting! Yep! But Our Lord never promised that the world would be fair to us, did He?
Scandalous Scriptures
“But Jesus, knowing in Himself, that His disciples murmured at this, said to them: ‘Doth this scandalize you?’” ((John 6:62). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you” (John 15:18). “They hated Me without cause.” (John 15:25). “Remember My word that I said to you: ‘The servant is not greater than his master.’ If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. But all these things they will do to you for My Name’s sake: because they know not Him who sent Me” (John 15:18-21). “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved” (Matthew 10:22).
And If That Wasn’t Enough…
Wow! That is a pretty tough advertising campaign! And then He has to go and add things that that make it even tougher! “Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39). Whew! But there is even more!
Want Some More?
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another” (Matthew 24:9-10). “And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death” (Luke 21:16). “The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death” (Matthew 10:21). Mark repeats the same in His Gospel: “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12). “Behold I have told it to you, beforehand” (Matthew 24:25).
Is There A Bright Side?
“Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake: Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).
A Fake World—A False Peace—Fake Soldiers
For all the talk about “Human Rights”, “The Rights of Man”, “Brotherhood of Nations”, “Freedom of Religion”, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”, etc., there has never been as much persecution and martyrdom as we have seen in the 20th century and which has now spilled-over into the 21st century. It fits perfectly with the prophecies of Our Lady that were made well in advance of those centuries.
The “Age of Martyrs” is the term of art for the earliest years of Christian history, but statistics show (both Catholic and non-Catholic evaluations and as Pope Francis remarked several times in his homilies after his election, as well as this year, “the age of martyrs is not yet over; even today we can say, in truth, that the Church has more martyrs now than during the first centuries.” More Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined. Here is just a small sampling of the persecution that is going on worldwide, and is accelerating and increasing:
● About 170,000 Christians are martyred for their faith each year (over 400 per day).
● Currently over 200 million Christians are being persecuted worldwide.
● Christians are persecuted in 131 of the world's 193 countries [Pew Forum study].
● North Korea: in 2014 it continues to be the worst country in the world for persecution.
● Nigeria: In 2010 Christians suffered terror from Muslim extremists. Whole villages are massacred.
● Iran: Its parliament believes Muslims who change their faith should be put to death.
● India: up to 70,000 in Orissa have been forced to flee their homes in riots against Christians.
● Indonesia: Between 2000-2002 Muslims slaughtered 10,000 Christians.
● Iraq: half of Iraq's Christians have fled the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
● Egypt: Under Islamist pressure, Coptic Christians are being forced from their homes.
● Syria: By 2012, most of the 80,000 Christians in Homs had been 'cleansed' from their homes.
● Europe: persecution is coming in by stealth through EU (European Union) equality directives.
In its ultimate form, persecution results in martyrdom. A martyr is one who, without seeking their own death or any harm to others, is murdered or put to death for their religious faith. The word ‘martyr’ comes from the Greek word translated “witness”. Such extreme witness is always positive in that it leads to church growth. As Tertullian [a theologian in the early Christian church] said: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
United Nations Human Rights Declaration
Today we have the noble declaration of human rights enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Despite Article 18, there are severe human rights violations in many countries. Christians are persecuted across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, most of Asia (including China) and now Europe (via the European Union). Iran is one of the world’s most repressive states, and those who offend the Sharia law, may be publicly flogged, or even executed by hanging in the streets. In 2008 over 200 million Christians around the world were in danger of being tortured, persecuted, or killed for their Faith. Yet nobody wants to fight! Catholics will read about it and do nothing about it! Back to their entertainment they go!
Why?
The simple answer to the question, “Why does our good God allow all this?” is simply sin! As Our Lady said at Fatima, wars are a punishment for sin. The worldwide explosion of sin and faithlessness has been foretold both by the Bible and Our Lady’s prophecies.
In Holy Scripture Our Lord shows that Jerusalem’s rejection of Him, would be severely punished: “You shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army … For these are the days of vengeance, that all things may be fulfilled, that are written ... for there shall be great wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword; and shall be led away captives into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles” (Luke 21:20-24). Why? Because of sin. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked” (Galatinas 6:7). “Sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:15). “According to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, and revelation of the just judgment of God” (Romans 2:5).
This is exactly what Our Lady foretold would happen at her apparition at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it … “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door … Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ...
“Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... Religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... They will abolish civil rights as well as ecclesiastical, all order and all justice would be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension would be seen, without love for country or family ... All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principal, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... “France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
We therefore see the terrible consequences of the ever escalating sins of the world. We were asked to do something to counter-balance this by Our Lady of Fatima, who asked for many Rosaries and sacrifices, and the five First Saturday devotions of reparation to the her Immaculate Heart. Yet most good souls, if they are not part of the deluge of sin, are too busy with their own ‘good’ preoccupations, and so Our Lady’s requests go, for the most part, unanswered—the few that do comply with her requests are a mere few drops of water against the tsunami of sin. That is why God has to release an unprecedented chastisement upon the world, for when the world is faced with what, Our Lady says, has never been seen before, then some of them will, in fear, be brought to their knees and their senses. It seems that this is only way in which we will listen and obey!
Can you really fight fire with fire? The phrase goes back at least as far as 1597, when William Shakespeare, in his play The Life and Death of King John, wrote: “Be stirring as the time! Be fire with fire! Threaten the threatener and outface the brow of bragging horror!” In other words, match aggression with aggression. Meet violence with violence. For, as Our Lord says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). We don’t like such fiery talk, but Our Lord says: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? … Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me! And he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me! He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it!” (Luke 12:49-53; Matthew 10:34-39).
There are basically two fires competing for this world―the fire of love for “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and the fires of hatred or the fires of Hell. In a sense, one fire is fighting the other fire. Can you fight fire with fire? Think about it for a second! A fire needs oxygen and fuel, such as leaves and vegetation, to continue raging. Rob the fire of either source of nourishment and you squelch the chemical reaction that produces it. When faced with an oil-well fire, firefighters have been known to remove the oxygen from the equation by detonating a little dynamite. The fiery blast from the dynamite eats up all the local oxygen, leaving nothing to keep the oil-well fire going. When an entire forest is ablaze, however, a different tactic is in order. Firefighters remove the fuel―and what better way to quickly remove combustible underbrush than to carefully set it on fire and destroy it before the forest fire gets a hold of it? In pondering a fire's hunger and growth, it's easy to think of it as some form of organism―like a rat infestation. In addition to putting out poison, major metropolitan areas encourage residents to help combat rodent infestations through anti-litter campaigns. You don't want rats in your home? Then don't litter the streets with a buffet of fast-food garbage. Likewise, you can help prevent the spread of forest fires by keeping less fuel sitting around. Around the home, this strategy often means keeping your property free of vegetation that could act as fuel. If you're managing a farm, forest or grassland, it often pays to conduct a controlled burn. In this scenario, wildlife managers set fire to an area under controlled conditions, burning fuel that could potentially feed a future wildfire. The burn creates a manmade firebreak, or gap, in combustible material to contain spreading wildfires.
Burning the Fuel of Worldliness
Too much worldly stuff provides the devil with excellent fuel for his “fires of Hell.” We need to burn that garbage before the rats of this world surround us and live-off us and our worldliness. Hence the Catholic spirit of abstinence, fasting, sacrifices, mortification, alms giving, temperance, etc. These are the good fires that burn up the trash and garbage that can inflame our souls with the fires of Hell.
We have to get out of our hypnotic state that imagines that life is meant to be enjoyed and we are here to have fun—each in his or her own way! “Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12), for “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and this fight is not a virtual fight; it is not a fight in the imagination; nor a fight that existed in the past but no longer today; nor a fight that some but not all are involved in—it is a perennial fight, a universal fight, an apocalyptic fight! Your salvation rests upon whether or not you fight, whether or not you compromise, whether or not you surrender to the enemy. Just as Our Lord was asked: “And who is my neighbor?” — you may well ask: “And who is my enemy?” Let Holy Scripture answer you:
The Enemy: World, Flesh, Devil
The enemy is the world, the flesh and the devil. “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “The whole world is seated in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:19).
Kindling Fires
Yet today, Catholics have no problem loving the world, they have no problem pampering their flesh and they are increasingly accepting the ‘doctrines’ of the devil―contraception, abortion, cohabitation, divorce and remarriage, same sex-unions, etc. Our Lord came to set the Earth on fire: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). In our prayers to the Holy Ghost, we ask for this fire to be kindled within us: “Come O Holy Ghost and enkindle in us the fire of Thy love!” Is the Holy Ghost failing to “enkindle in us the fire of His love” or is that the wood is no longer suitable for burning?
Bad Wood for Burning
Coated, painted, or pressure-treated wood can release toxic or harmful chemicals into the air, likewise Catholics who are coated by the world, ‘painted’ with worldliness and have been pressured by the world, are likely to produce a toxic spirituality. Green Wood―a freshly cut down living tree―is not the best material for the fire. The timber needs to age or “season” for a minimum of six to nine months before burning. Similarly Catholics need to “dry-out” from the “sap” of the world. Freshly cut wood, called green wood, is loaded with sap (mostly water) and needs to dry out first. It’s hard to light and once you get it going, it burns very efficiently and smokes horribly―you can draw your own spiritual analogies. “Green” Catholics or Catholics saturated by the world are difficult to motivate and hard to “light” or get them going in spiritual exercises―and when they do start, they smoke (complain) horribly! If you’re unsure if the wood is green, check the bark―firmly attached bark, that’s still sticky with sap when you nick it, is a bad sign. Likewise, a Catholic oozing worldliness is a bad sign.
There is also a danger in burning non-local wood. If you live in, or are visiting an area currently affected by invasive wood pests―even if the firewood was cut or stored more than a few miles away, you should leave the firewood where it is and keep looking. Firewood that travels too far is the number one way that invasive insects and diseases rapidly spread. Though the pests travel slowly on their own, moving an infected log can put new forests at risk and undermine conservation efforts. Millions of trees and thousands of acres of forest have been seriously damaged or even killed by these non-native pests. Similarly, Catholics should avoid invasive Faith pests―which would be non-Catholics, fallen-away Catholics, lukewarm Catholics.
Soft wood, from trees like pines, firs, or cypress, burns fast, leaves few coals, and makes a lot of smoke that can coat your chimney with soot (not a safe thing in the long run). Seasoned softwood is okay for outdoor fires, but you may want to avoid it if a fireplace is involved or you want a long-lasting fire or coals to cook over. Similarly, “soft” Catholics burn out quickly, are not long-lasting and put out a lot of smoke (complaints). Not the best thing to be around. Hard wood, though it may take longer to get started, lasts a long time―which is what a Catholic should be all about!
Poisonous woods are toxic. Care should be taken to avoid burning any wood covered with vines. Burning poison ivy, poison sumac, poison oak, or pretty much anything else with “poison” in the name releases the irritant oil urushiol into the smoke. Breathing it in can cause lung irritation and severe allergic respiratory problems. Burning salt-saturated driftwood (from the sea) is also a bad idea, as it can release toxic or harmful chemicals when burned. Obviously, poisonous woods are synonymous with bad Catholics―those who are covered with sin. They are toxic to your life.
All of this can be related to and compared with Our Lord’s words about wood and trees. “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away! And every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit! As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine―you are the branches! He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit! For without Me you can do nothing! If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!” (John 15:1-6).
Like Fire and Wood
It will help us to understand this doctrine if we recall a comparison used by St. John of the Cross to explain something similar: A piece of wood is thrown into the fire. The fire envelops, penetrates, possesses it. To the wood, being possessed by the fire and burning are the same thing. But at first the wood is not wholly burned because the fire has not penetrated it completely. Penetration and possession come about little by little as the wood burns, until, perfectly penetrated by the fire, it is converted into it and burns with the same fire and has all the characteristics of fire.
The Holy Ghost is rightly called fire, living fountain, Charity, because He is Love. The spiritual life is nothing else but the penetration of the soul by that divine fire. The Holy Ghost possesses the soul and the soul burns, that is, it loves. Charity is the intimate fire that burns the soul, but the Holy Ghost, quite as intimately present in the soul, is both the cause of that fire and its glorious end.
Our ‘Green Wood’ Needs Perfecting
At first the soul does not burn totally, because it needs to be purified, in order that the divine fire may perfectly penetrate and possess it. Little by little the divine penetration is effected and the soul gradually burns more thoroughly, more profoundly. The divine penetration becomes so perfect, the spiritual combustion so complete, that the soul is “deified”; one might say that it is changed into fire, into love. It may be said to burn with the fire of God, and to love with the Holy Ghost, for the divine Spirit moves it to love so intimately and fully that, in all truth, this love is attributed to the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of God loves in the soul, and the soul loves with that Holy Ghost. As the wood, when perfectly penetrated by the fire, takes on the very character of fire, so the soul that loves with the love of the Holy Ghost participates in the divine characteristics of eternal Love.
Get Used to Being Burnt―You Were to Burn
Everyone was made to burn―we will burn forever and the fire will never go out. We will either burn forever in Hell in hatred, or we will burn forever in Heaven in love, and most of those who end up burning forever in Heaven in love, first have to burn in Purgatory in regret for not having burned enough in love while still on Earth. Even in this world everyone is burning―some burn with love of the world, others burn with love of the Faith and God; some burn with hatred of God and His Church and all things to do with God, others burn with hatred for sin and all that in this world can lead to sin.
“Command the children of Israel that they bring thee the purest oil of the olives, and a lamp that may burn always” (Exodus 27:20) … “Thou shalt make also an altar to burn incense, of setim wood … And Aaron shall burn sweet smelling incense upon it … he shall burn an everlasting incense before the Lord” (Exodus 30:1, 7-8) … “And the fire on the altar shall always burn, and the priest shall feed it, putting wood on it every day in the morning, and laying on the holocaust, shall burn thereupon the peace offerings” (Leviticus 6:12).
As for the world and worldliness, it should be burnt, so to speak, for it endangers our holiness and salvation―and the words God addressed to His Chosen People of old, are just as applicable today to His “Chosen People”―the Church: “When the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which thou art going in to possess, and shall have destroyed many nations before thee, the Hethite, and the Gergezite, and the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, seven nations much more numerous than thou art, and stronger than thou. And the Lord thy God shall have delivered them to thee, thou shalt utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no league with them, nor show mercy to them! Neither shalt thou make marriages with them! Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for thy son! For she will turn away thy son from following Me, that he may rather serve strange gods, and the wrath of the Lord will be kindled, and will quickly destroy thee. But thus rather shall you deal with them: Destroy their altars, and break their statues, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven things! Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee, to be His peculiar people of all peoples that are upon the Earth!” (Deuteronomy 7:1-6).
Fire and War
There is close connection between fire and war―even before the days when guns and cannons were invented which led to the phenomenon and terminology of firearms, firing-guns and gunfire. In ancient times fire was used as a weapon of destruction. The destruction of enemy possessions and territory was a fundamental strategy of war, serving the dual purpose of punishment and deprivation of resources. Until the 5th century BC, the Greeks had little expertise in siege warfare and mainly relied on a strategy of devastation to draw the enemy out―they destroyed crops, trees and houses. Centuries later, the Byzantines still recommended this strategy, even though they had developed siege technology. Fire was the easiest way of harrying and destroying territories, and could be done easily and quickly by small forces. Early “thermal weapons” were devices or substances used in warfare during the classical and medieval periods (approximately from the 8th century BC until the mid-16th century AD) which used heat or burning action to destroy or damage enemy personnel, fortifications or territories. Fire and incendiary weapons were used against enemy structures and territory, as well as personnel, sometimes on a massive scale. At the simplest level, fire itself was used as a weapon to cause large-scale destruction. Large tracts of land, towns and villages were frequently ignited as part of a scorched earth strategy. It was frequently used against siege engines and wooden structures.
Incendiary weapons could be used to set fire to towns and fortifications, and a wide range of thermal weapons were used against enemy personnel. The simplest and most common thermal projectiles were boiling water and hot sand―which required fire to heat them―which could then be poured over attacking personnel. Other anti-personnel weapons included the use of hot pitch, oil, resin, animal fat and other similar compounds―all of which required fire to heat them. Smoke was used to confuse or drive off attackers―where there is smoke, there is fire. Substances such as quicklime and sulfur could be toxic and blinding.
Various throwing machines were in use throughout the classical and medieval periods. Incendiary devices were frequently used as projectiles during warfare, particularly during sieges and naval battles. Generally referred to as “artillery”, these engines could hurl, fire or shoot missiles and most could be used or adapted for throwing thermal weapons, by attacking and defending forces. Some substances were boiled or heated to inflict damage by scalding or burning. Other substances relied on their chemical properties to inflict burns or damage. These weapons or devices could be used by individuals, manipulated by war machines, or utilized as army strategy. Barrels, fire pots and other breakable containers of pitch, Greek fire, and other incendiary mixtures could be thrown; other machines fired arrows and bolts, which could be ignited, or adapted to carry flammable mixtures. From the 12th century, Muslims in Syria were using clay and glass grenades for fire weapons, thrown by machines.
Incendiary mixtures, such as the petroleum-based Greek fire, could be launched by throwing machines or administered through a siphon. Sulfur- and oil-soaked materials were sometimes ignited and thrown at the enemy, or attached to spears, arrow and bolts and fired by hand or machine. Some siege techniques—such as mining and boring—relied on combustibles and fire to complete the collapse of walls and structures.
Some armies developed specialized “fire-troops.” By 837, many Muslim armies had groups of “naffatin” (fire-archers), and when the Mamluk Sultanate raised a fleet for an attack on Cyprus they had “nafata”, or fire-troops. Towards the latter part of the period, gunpowder was invented, which increased the sophistication of the weapons, starting with fire-lances, which led to the eventual development of the cannon and other firearms. Development of the early weapons has continued ever since, with modern war weapons such as napalm, flame throwers, and other explosives having direct roots in the original early thermal weapons. Fire-raising and other destructive strategies can still be seen in modern strategic bombing.
Time For Fireworks!
Prophecies for our times speak of two kinds of fire falling from the skies―a man-made fire will come first, which will then be “trumped” by God sending His own fire from Heaven.
Just a few extracts of Our Lady’s warnings from Quito, La Salette, Fatima and Akita are enough to terrify us even more than the globalists terrify us: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it ... Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime ...
“Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government will see a cruel persecution … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... The impious will rage a cruel war … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings …
“There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed ... There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases .... The earth will be struck by calamities of all kinds in addition to the plague and famine, which will be widespread .... There will be a series of wars … Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling ... Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy …
“There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries ... Water and fire will give the earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains and cities … Water and fire will purge the earth and consume all the works of man’s pride … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes ... It will rain with a fearful hail of animals … People will believe that all is lost ... It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. ... The fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities ... Various nations will be annihilated … All the universe will be struck with terror … The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment. Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test?”
Why? Oh, Why?
Why all this carnage? Our Lady replies: “The sins of men are the cause of all the troubles on this Earth” (La Salette) … “God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes—by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended!” (Fatima) … “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity” (Akita).
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! ... Yada! Yada! Yada! ... Blah! Blah! Blah!
We have heard all this before! We have read it all before! This is nothing new! Yet, on December 26th, 1957, Sister Lucia spoke to Fr. Augustine Fuentes, a Mexican priest, which Fr. Fuentes reports thus: “The first thing she (Lucia) said to me (Fr Fuentes) was: ‘Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.’”
Therefore you must “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables! But be thou vigilant, labor in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy ministry!” (2 Timothy 4:2). “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me!” (Luke 10:16).
For the Last Time!—We’re in the Last Times!—Last Time You Paid No Attention!
Sister Lucia also said the following to Fr. Augustine Fuentes: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God or we belong to the demon; there is no middle ground.”
“The devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. The devil knows what it is that most offends God and which, in a short space of time, will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.”
In 1970, Sister Lucia wrote to a priest nephew of hers, Fr. Jose Valinho: “I see by your letter that you are disturbed by the confusion of our time. It is sad indeed that so many persons let themselves be dominated by the diabolical wave, which is sweeping the world, and that they are blinded, to the point of being incapable of seeing error!”
In her 1957 conversation with Fr. Fuentes, Sister Lucia said: “Father, we should not wait for an appeal to the world to come from Rome on the part of the Holy Father, to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call from our bishops in our dioceses, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already, very often, used these means and the world has not paid attention. That is why now it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform ourselves spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul, but also the souls that God has placed on our path.”
“Father, the Most Holy Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times, but she made me understand this for three reasons:
► The first reason is as follows: The devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin, and a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat.
► The second reason is as follows: She said to my cousins as well as to myself, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are the last two remedies, which signify that there will be no others.
► The third reason is as follows: God, before He is about to chastise, exhausts all other remedies.”
It’s Now Time For…
Well, that Nice Guy, Who loves us all and wouldn’t hurt a fly, happened to wipe out millions of Israelites during the Exodus―because they paid little attention to Him and were always complaining! That Nice Guy, Who loves us all and wouldn’t hurt a fly, happened to wipe out all the inhabitants of the Earth with the Great Flood―except for 8 persons and an ark full of animals. That Nice Guy, Who loves us all and wouldn’t hurt a fly, also happened to wipe Jerusalem off the map and throw His Chosen People into years of Babylonian Captivity. That Nice Guy, Who loves us all and wouldn’t hurt a fly, also arranged for the total destruction of Jerusalem with all its inflated seasonal Passover population of over 1 million people in the year 70 AD, because they had rejected and crucified His Nice Son, Who happened to prophesy that all this would happen and that not stone would be left upon a stone! Chosen People or not― “with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert” (1 Corinthians 10:5). Is it any better today? It is worse today than it ever was! Our Lady has spoken of our times being worse than those in the time of Noe and the Great Flood―consequently, she has said that punishment that is pending, will also be worse than that of the Great Flood.
To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind: only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
At Akita, around 17 years later (in 1973), Our Lady warned: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness!”
Soldiers of Christ and Light of the World?
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men. You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house” (Matthew 5:13-16). Today, there are few “salty Catholics” to be found―most of them have become “soft Catholics” or “sweet Catholics” or “sugary Catholics” or “mammonized Catholics”―who love the world more than God (if not in theory, then most definitely in practice―which can be seen by the hours and hours they give to the world in relation to the few minutes they give to God).
The Soldiers of Christ have become Suckers for the World! They have laid down their arms and picked up their smartphones. Instead of meditating 5 decades of the Rosary―they meditate the internet with their latest 5G smartphones. “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4) becomes “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word he can read on the internet.” Instead of following Christ―they follow friends on social media. Instead of reading the texts of the Bible all day long, they send texts all day long. Instead of fighting those who have no time for God and His Church, they spend their time delighting in those who have no time for God and His Church. Nobody wants to be a saint―they just want to be quaint. Nobody wants to be hated for Christ’ sake―they want to be loved for their own sake. The words of Scripture are truer than ever before:
“The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good―no, not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth [texts, e-mails, posts] is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalm 13:1-3).
It’s Just Not Fair!!!
The problem is that, once you start to let your light shine, there are plenty of people (not to mention the devil) who want to put out that light! It’s as though the world loves the sinner, but hates the saint! If we try too hard to be good, and become good, then we are target to be attacked and destroyed. It’s not fair, is it? It’s downright disgusting! Yep! But Our Lord never promised that the world would be fair to us, did He?
Scandalous Scriptures
“But Jesus, knowing in Himself, that His disciples murmured at this, said to them: ‘Doth this scandalize you?’” ((John 6:62). “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you” (John 15:18). “They hated Me without cause.” (John 15:25). “Remember My word that I said to you: ‘The servant is not greater than his master.’ If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. But all these things they will do to you for My Name’s sake: because they know not Him who sent Me” (John 15:18-21). “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved” (Matthew 10:22).
And If That Wasn’t Enough…
Wow! That is a pretty tough advertising campaign! And then He has to go and add things that that make it even tougher! “Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39). Whew! But there is even more!
Want Some More?
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another” (Matthew 24:9-10). “And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death” (Luke 21:16). “The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death” (Matthew 10:21). Mark repeats the same in His Gospel: “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12). “Behold I have told it to you, beforehand” (Matthew 24:25).
Is There A Bright Side?
“Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake: Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).
A Fake World—A False Peace—Fake Soldiers
For all the talk about “Human Rights”, “The Rights of Man”, “Brotherhood of Nations”, “Freedom of Religion”, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”, etc., there has never been as much persecution and martyrdom as we have seen in the 20th century and which has now spilled-over into the 21st century. It fits perfectly with the prophecies of Our Lady that were made well in advance of those centuries.
The “Age of Martyrs” is the term of art for the earliest years of Christian history, but statistics show (both Catholic and non-Catholic evaluations and as Pope Francis remarked several times in his homilies after his election, as well as this year, “the age of martyrs is not yet over; even today we can say, in truth, that the Church has more martyrs now than during the first centuries.” More Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined. Here is just a small sampling of the persecution that is going on worldwide, and is accelerating and increasing:
● About 170,000 Christians are martyred for their faith each year (over 400 per day).
● Currently over 200 million Christians are being persecuted worldwide.
● Christians are persecuted in 131 of the world's 193 countries [Pew Forum study].
● North Korea: in 2014 it continues to be the worst country in the world for persecution.
● Nigeria: In 2010 Christians suffered terror from Muslim extremists. Whole villages are massacred.
● Iran: Its parliament believes Muslims who change their faith should be put to death.
● India: up to 70,000 in Orissa have been forced to flee their homes in riots against Christians.
● Indonesia: Between 2000-2002 Muslims slaughtered 10,000 Christians.
● Iraq: half of Iraq's Christians have fled the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
● Egypt: Under Islamist pressure, Coptic Christians are being forced from their homes.
● Syria: By 2012, most of the 80,000 Christians in Homs had been 'cleansed' from their homes.
● Europe: persecution is coming in by stealth through EU (European Union) equality directives.
In its ultimate form, persecution results in martyrdom. A martyr is one who, without seeking their own death or any harm to others, is murdered or put to death for their religious faith. The word ‘martyr’ comes from the Greek word translated “witness”. Such extreme witness is always positive in that it leads to church growth. As Tertullian [a theologian in the early Christian church] said: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
United Nations Human Rights Declaration
Today we have the noble declaration of human rights enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Despite Article 18, there are severe human rights violations in many countries. Christians are persecuted across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, most of Asia (including China) and now Europe (via the European Union). Iran is one of the world’s most repressive states, and those who offend the Sharia law, may be publicly flogged, or even executed by hanging in the streets. In 2008 over 200 million Christians around the world were in danger of being tortured, persecuted, or killed for their Faith. Yet nobody wants to fight! Catholics will read about it and do nothing about it! Back to their entertainment they go!
Why?
The simple answer to the question, “Why does our good God allow all this?” is simply sin! As Our Lady said at Fatima, wars are a punishment for sin. The worldwide explosion of sin and faithlessness has been foretold both by the Bible and Our Lady’s prophecies.
In Holy Scripture Our Lord shows that Jerusalem’s rejection of Him, would be severely punished: “You shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army … For these are the days of vengeance, that all things may be fulfilled, that are written ... for there shall be great wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword; and shall be led away captives into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles” (Luke 21:20-24). Why? Because of sin. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked” (Galatinas 6:7). “Sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:15). “According to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, and revelation of the just judgment of God” (Romans 2:5).
This is exactly what Our Lady foretold would happen at her apparition at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it … “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door … Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ...
“Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God ... Religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... They will abolish civil rights as well as ecclesiastical, all order and all justice would be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension would be seen, without love for country or family ... All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principal, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... “France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
We therefore see the terrible consequences of the ever escalating sins of the world. We were asked to do something to counter-balance this by Our Lady of Fatima, who asked for many Rosaries and sacrifices, and the five First Saturday devotions of reparation to the her Immaculate Heart. Yet most good souls, if they are not part of the deluge of sin, are too busy with their own ‘good’ preoccupations, and so Our Lady’s requests go, for the most part, unanswered—the few that do comply with her requests are a mere few drops of water against the tsunami of sin. That is why God has to release an unprecedented chastisement upon the world, for when the world is faced with what, Our Lady says, has never been seen before, then some of them will, in fear, be brought to their knees and their senses. It seems that this is only way in which we will listen and obey!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Sunday June 9th & Monday June 10th
Article 5
Come O Holy Ghost! Convict the World of Sin!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 5
Come O Holy Ghost! Convict the World of Sin!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Convicting the World
“I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever. The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him: but you shall know Him; because He shall abide with you, and shall be in you ... When the Paraclete cometh, Whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, Who proceedeth from the Father, He shall give testimony of Me … It is expedient to you that I go! For if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He is come, He will convict the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment. Of sin―because they believed not in Me. And of justice―because I go to the Father; and you shall see Me no longer. And of judgment―because the prince of this world is already judged!” (John 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:7-11).
Do Not Doubt the Fair Justice of God
Right now, the world is casting stones at the Church, because members of the clergy and members of religious orders have been caught committing sexual sins. Those sins will be justly punished by God―make no mistake about it―either in this world or in the next, regardless of whether they are closer to God by vocation or not. God will reward everyone down to the tiniest good thought, word or action―and God will punish everyone for even the tiniest sinful thought, word, action, omission or neglect―regardless of who you are: Catholic or non-Catholic; Jew, Protestant, pagan or atheist. “God is not a respecter of persons!” (Acts 10:34).
This is further emphasized thus: “We know that, according to truth, the judgment of God is against them that do such [sinful] things ... Do thou despise the riches of God’s goodness, patience and longsuffering? Do you not know that the kindness of God leads thee to penance? But, according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, in the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God, Who will render to every man according to his works. To them indeed, who, according to patience in good works, seek glory and honor, incorruption and eternal life! But to them that are contentious and who obey not the truth, but give credit to iniquity, to them there will be wrath and indignation. Tribulation and anguish shall fall upon every soul of man that worketh evil―of the Jew first, and also of the Greek. But glory, and honor, and peace to everyone that worketh good―to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For there is no respect of persons with God. For whosoever have sinned without the law, shall perish without the law; and whosoever have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers [or talkers] of the law are just before God, but it is the doers of the law that shall be justified. (Romans 2:1-13).
The More You Have Been Given, The More Strictly You Will Be Judged
Christians will be judged more severely than pagans and atheists. Catholics will be judged more severely than Protestants. Traditional Catholics and Conservative Catholics will be judged more severely than Modernist and Liberal Catholics. All of this is simply and justly based upon the principle: “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48).
St. Thomas Aquinas states that: “A sin is deemed so much the more grievous as the sinner is held to be a more excellent person....Firstly, because a more excellent person, e.g., one who excels in knowledge and virtue, can more easily resist sin; hence Our Lord said (Luke 12:47) that the «servant who knew the will of his lord...and did it not...shall be beaten with many stripes.» Secondly, on account of ingratitude, because every good in which a man excels, is a gift of God, to Whom man is ungrateful when he sins: and in this respect any excellence, even in temporal goods, aggravates a sin, according to Wisdom 6:7: «The mighty shall be mightily tormented.» Thirdly, on account of the sinful act being specially inconsistent with the excellence of the person sinning: for instance, if a prince were to violate justice, whereas he is set up as the guardian of justice, or if a priest were to be a fornicator, whereas he has taken the vow of chastity. Fourthly, on account of the example or scandal; because, as Gregory says (Pastor. i, 2): «Sin becomes much more scandalous, when the sinner is honored for his position»” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Ia IIae, Q.73, A.10). Thus Christians are in a more honorable position than pagans and atheists; among Christians, Catholics are in a more honorable position than Protestants; among Catholics, traditional and conservative Catholics are in a more honorable position than Liberal and Modernist Catholics; and the clergy and religious orders are in a more honorable position than the laity.
Do Not Play the Judge―For Your Judgment Will Be Stricter
Everyone likes to be a mini-judge, a mini-juror, a mini-god―yet Holy Scripture warns us against that: “Let not many seek to become teachers [talkers, bloggers, posters, gossipers, etc.], my brothers, for you know that those who teach [talk, blog, post, gossip, etc.] will be judged with greater strictness. We all sin in many ways. Anyone who sins, in things they say, is a perfect person” (James 3:1-2).
“Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again!” (Matthew 7:1-2). St. Luke has a similar passage: “Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37).
“And the Lord said: “I judge not according to the look of man―for man seeth only those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart!’” (1 Kings 16:7). “To me it is a very small thing to be judged by you, or by man's day; but neither do I judge my own self. For I am not conscious to myself of any thing, yet am I not hereby justified; but He that judgeth me, is the Lord! Therefore judge not before the time! Until the Lord come, Who, both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise from God!” (1 Corinthians 4:3-5).
What Do You Know?
Playing at being God has certain drawbacks and dangers! First of all, we are not omniscient―meaning that we do not know everything. We do not know the heart and mind of the person we are judging; nor do we fully know the circumstances of what we judging; nor do we know the degree of deliberateness in the sin committed; nor do we know if there were any excusing factors; nor do we know if the sin or sins have been confessed; nor do we know if the confession was a good confession or bad confession; nor do we know the degree of sorrow in the heart of the sinner we are judging; nor do we know the amount of penance done by the sinner; nor do we know if the sinner has had perfect contrition for his or her sins―on which count, if they have perfect contrition, then not only has God forgiven the sins but God has also removed all the temporal punishment due to those sins in this world and in Purgatory or Hell, and, if that person were to die right now, they would go straight to Heaven (like the Good Thief on Calvary) regardless of what sins they had committed in the past and regardless of what we think of them. If we did not know these things, it shows we do not know our theology―which makes it all the more dangerous and stupid and rash for us to enter into judgment of another person’s sins!
Do Some Navel Gazing Instead!
Instead of focusing on the sins of others―it is better and more profitable to focus on your own sins. That is the advice that Our Lord Himself gives us:
“Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged! And with what measure you mete [dish-out to others], it shall be measured to you again. And why seest thou the mote [speck of sawdust or splinter] that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the beam [plank or log] that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the mote[speck of sawdust or splinter] out of thy eye!’ and behold a beam [plank or log] is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the beam [plank] in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote [speck of sawdust or splinter] out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:1-5).
St. Luke has a similar passage: “Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven! Give, and it shall be given to you―good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom! For with the same measure that you shall mete withal [dish-out to others], it shall be measured to you again!’ And why seest thou the mote [speck of sawdust or splinter] in thy brother’s eye―but the beam [plank or log] that is in thy own eye thou considerest not? Or how canst thou say to thy brother: ‘Brother, let me pull the mote out of thy eye!’―when thou thyself seest not the beam in thy own eye?’ Hypocrite! Cast first the beam [plank or log] out of thy own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to take out the mote [speck of sawdust or splinter] from thy brother’s eye!’” (Luke 6:37–42).
Hence, “A man shall know the wound of his own heart” (3 Kings 8:38).
The Pot Calling the Kettle Black
“The pot calling the kettle black” is a proverbial idiom that may be of Spanish origin of which English versions began to appear in the first half of the 17th century. This is a very appropriate analogy―since today, the world is trying to (and succeeding in) legalizing the drug “pot”―also known by the name “cannabis”, also known as “marijuana.” The origin of the word “pot” has nothing to do with the kitchen cooking item. The word “pot” came into use in America in the late 1930s. It is a shortening of the Spanish potiguaya or potaguaya that came from potación de guaya, a wine or brandy in which marijuana buds have been steeped. The word literally means “the drink of grief”―which is appropriate since it bring even more grief to those who use it to escape their grief!
The idiom―“the pot calling the kettle black”―is used in the sense of a person being is guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another and is thus an example of psychological projection. “The pot calling the kettle black” is a response often given when someone criticizes another for a fault they also have themselves. The first person who is recorded as using the phrase in English was William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, in his Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693:
“If thou hast not conquer’d thy self in that which is thy own particular Weakness, thou hast no Title to Virtue, tho’ thou art free of other Men’s. For a Covetous Man to inveigh against Prodigality, an Atheist against Idolatry, a Tyrant against Rebellion, or a Lyer against Forgery, and a Drunkard against Intemperance, is for the Pot to call the Kettle black.”
“The pot calling the kettle black” is one of a number of proverbial sayings that should guard us against hypocrisy and complacency. The context of Penn’s use of the expression is one which is similar to Our Lord’s words concerning the woman caught in adultery: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” (John 8:7). Holy Scripture also adds: “Wherefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou dost the same things which thou judgest … And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them who do such things, and dost the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” (Romans 2:1-3).
Today, we clearly see “the pot [the world] calling the kettle [the Church] black”―yet the world is even more black than the Church! Talking of “pot” and the world’s legalization of the drug, imagine what an outcry there would be if priests, monks, brothers, sisters and nuns were found to smoking “pot”! Yet the State (governments) are legalizing “pot” more and more! Currently, Canada and Uruguay have fully legalized “pot” or marijuana, while 10 states and the District of Columbia in the USA have also legalized it. The future consequences are obvious―the legalization will follow the same gradual acceptance as did contraception, divorce, same-sex marriages and abortion.
The Priests Who Have Blackened the Church by Sexual Abuse
The authorities estimate that worldwide, one in five women and one in 13 men report having been sexually abused as a child. The ratio of men to women is almost 1 to 1―giving almost equal numbers of men and women. Currently, as of June 2019, it is estimated that there are 3,900,000,000 (3.9 billion) males in the world and 3,800,000,000 (3.82 billion) females. That would mean that according to estimates by the authorities, around 300,000,000 (300 million) males have been or will be sexually abused as children, and 294,000,000 females have been or will be sexually abused as children. That is an awful lot of sexually abusing that has been and will be done― 594,000,000 (594 million) people for 412,000 priests, which is far too much handle. That would mean each priest―if each and every priest was a sexual abuser of children―would have to be sexually abusing 1,440 different children. Or if they were only abusing Catholics―who number 1,400,000,000 (1.4 billion) worldwide―then the estimated abuse figures of 1 in 13 males and 1 in 5 women, would mean that approximately 54,000,000 Catholic boys and 140,000,000 Catholic girls, or a total of 194,000,0000 Catholic children have been or are being abused by 412,000 priests―which means that each and every priest would be abusing 470 different Catholic children.
However, the researchers at bishopaccountability.org estimate that a anywhere from 5% to 10% of priests have been or are sexual abusers of children―which would mean that 194,000,000 (194 million) Catholic children have been abused by 20,600 priests (if it is 5% of priests) making it 9,400 different Catholic children per priest, or if 10% of priests are abusers, then that makes it 4,700 different Catholic children per priest. If we are talking of the total estimated number of sexually abused children (Catholics and non-Catholics), which is 300,000,000 abused children, then if 10% of priests sexually abuse, then each priest would be responsible for abusing over 7,000 children, or if 5% of priests are abusers, then each priest would be responsible for abusing over 7,000 children―which is obviously impossible and unbelievable.
Though it is undoubtedly true that priests―and also a lesser number of monks, brothers, sisters and nuns―have been sexually abusing children, it is also undoubtedly true that the number of children sexually abused by clergy and religious, is a FRACTION of the total number of children who suffer sexual abuse throughout the world. As Dr. Thomas G. Plante Ph.D., professor at Santa Clara University and adjunct clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, and author of 3 books on the sexual abuse crisis, writes:
“No empirical data exists that suggests that Catholic clerics sexually abuse minors at a level higher than clerics from other religious traditions or from other groups of men who have ready access and power over children (e.g., school teachers, coaches). The best available data reports that 4 percent of Catholic priests sexually violated a minor child during the last half of the 20th century with the peak level of abuse being in the 1970s and dropping off dramatically by the early 1980s. And in the recent Pennsylvania grand jury report only two cases were reported in the past dozen years that were already known and dealt with by authorities (thus the grand jury report is about historical issues and not about current problems of active clerical abuse now). Putting clergy abuse in context, research from the US Department of Education found that about 5% to 7% percent of public school teachers engaged in similar sexually abusive behavior with their students during a similar time frame. While no comprehensive studies have been conducted with most other religious traditions, a small scale study that I was involved with found that 4% of Anglican priests had violated minors in western Canada and many reports have mentioned that clerical abuse of minors is common with other religious leaders and clerics as well. Let me be clear. All child abuse is horrific and abuse perpetrated by clerics, both within and outside of the Catholic Church, is especially awful since we hold these individuals to a much higher standard of behavior and trust. And in the eyes of a child and others, clerics are representatives of the divine, the most holy, and of God. The spiritual damage adds to the psychological and physical damage suffered by the victims. But to assume that clerical abuse is more frequent with Catholic clergy compared to other clerics or other men who work with youth is simply not based on sound science or quality research data to date.” (Dr. Thomas G. Plante Ph.D., article “Separating Facts About Clergy Abuse From Fiction”, website Psychology Today, August 23rd, 2018).
Boy Scouts of America Sex-Abuse Scandal
Child sexual abuse has been prevalent in the Boys Scouts of America. Lately, a multitude of reports and probes have shown that the Boy Scouts of America had kept confidential files on suspected sexual abusers among its ranks. In 2012, those newly opened files showed that authorities ― from police chiefs, prosecutors, pastors and local Boy Scouts leaders ― had shielded scoutmasters and others accused of molesting children. The files included thousands of cases of child sex crimes among scouting ranks spanning decades. Under a court order, the Boy Scouts of America had to make public more than 1,200 files on suspected sexual molesters. The order lifted the veil on decades of alleged abuse identifying hundreds of suspected abusers from all over the country. Among the names of predators were doctors, lawyers, politicians and policemen. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why do we not see multiple newspaper articles constantly highlighting and condemning the practice? Why have those names of sexually abusing doctors, lawyers, politicians and policemen not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
Jehovah's Witnesses Sex-Abuse Scandals
Leaked internal documents in 2018 exposed a Jehovah's Witnesses church child sex crimes roster. The documents showed that the Jehovah's Witnesses discouraged victims of sexual abuse from reporting the abuse. The documents outline the efforts by the church to cover up the scandal and keep it from the “worldly court of law.” Since the news broke, hundreds of church members have come forward with their own accounts of abuse. Attorneys believe there are thousands of victims involved. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why do we not see multiple newspaper articles constantly highlighting and condemning the practice? Why have those names of sexually abusing Jehovah's Witnesses not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
Southern Baptists Sex-Abuse
A survey by the Journal of Pastoral Care in 1993 found that 14% of Southern Baptist ministers said they had engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior. By 2000, a report to the Baptist General Convention found the incidence of sexual abuse by clergy had increased much more than the 14% mentioned above and had reached “horrific proportions.” Victims have derided church leadership for protecting predators and covering up crimes. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why do we not see multiple newspaper articles constantly highlighting and condemning the practice? Why have those names of sexually abusing pastors not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
Millions of School-Children Abused by Teachers
Schools are supposed to be a safe environment for children, but they can actually be one of the most dangerous places for children with regards to sexual abuse. A study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education found that up to 7% percent of all middle and high school students were the targets of physical sexual abuse by teachers, coaches and other adults working in the school system. That statistic puts the number of young teens sexually abused by teachers and other school adults in the millions. A 2015 report found that just under 500 educators were arrested in connection to child sex crimes. 3.5 million students (grades 8th-11th) reported having had physical sexual contact from an adult (most often a teacher or coach). 4.5 million children reported being shown pornography or being subjected to sexually explicit language or exhibitionism. According to a report by The Washington Post, 35% of educators convicted or accused of sexual misconduct with children had used social media to gain access to their victims. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why do we not see multiple newspaper articles constantly highlighting and condemning the practice? Why have those names of sexually abusing teachers not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
Ultra-Orthodox Jew Child Sex-Abuse
The New York community of ultra-Orthodox Jews asks Jews, who know of any child sexual abuse, to consult a rabbi instead of going to police with evidence of the child sexual abuse. Similar cases have sprung in other cities, including Baltimore and Miami, involving allegations of sexual misconduct by orthodox Jewish leaders. The case involving Rabbi Shmuel Krawatsky, formerly of the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School in Baltimore, involves the alleged abuse of at least three boys at a summer camp. According to a report by The Jewish Week, the rabbi, who was naked and alone in a pool changing room with two alleged victims, touched the boys inappropriately before asking them to touch his "private parts" in exchange for $100." The report also states that the rabbi threatened the young boys not to tell their parents. Given the faith's shroud of secrecy there is no hard data regarding the number of potential abuse victims in the Orthodox Jewish community. Experts estimate that there could be thousands of victims dating back decades. The Jewish principle of mesirah forbids reporting a Jewish practitioner to secular authorities. Issues are supposed to be handled internally within the greater faith community. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why have those names of sexually abusing doctors, lawyers, politicians and policemen not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
Internal Family Sex-Abuse of Children
Incest―which is sexual activity between a child or adolescent and a related adult―is known as child incestuous abuse, and has been identified as the most widespread form of child sexual abuse. The most-often reported form of incest is father–daughter and stepfather–daughter incest, with most of the remaining reports consisting of mother/stepmother–daughter/son incest. Father–son incest is reported less often; however it is not known if the actual prevalence is less or it is under-reported by a greater margin. Similarly, some argue that sibling incest may be as common, or more common, than other types of incest: Goldman and Goldman reported that 57% of incest involved siblings; Finkelhor reported that over 90% of family incest (in a conventional husband-wife marriage) involved siblings; while Cawson and other researchers show that sibling incest was reported twice as often as incest perpetrated by fathers/stepfathers. One researcher stated that more than 70% of abusers are immediate family members or someone very close to the family. Another researcher stated that about 30% of all perpetrators of sexual abuse are related to their victim, 60% of the perpetrators are family acquaintances, like a neighbor, babysitter or friend. Prevalence of parental child sexual abuse is difficult to assess due to secrecy and privacy; some estimates state that 20 million Americans have been victimized by parental incest as children. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why have those names of sexually abusing parents not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing the names of abusing priest? If 20 million children have been sexually abused by parents, why are there so few court cases and convictions?
Sexual Assault in the U.S. Military
Sexual assault in the Military is alarmingly common. In 2014, there were at least 20,300 members of the military who were sexually assaulted. Reporting sexual assault in the military is also low, with 85% of victims not reporting them in 2014―therefore the true figure for 2014 is likely to be around 135,000 sexual assaults. Moreover, retaliation for reporting is common. More than 60% of military women who reported their sexual assaults were found to have experienced retaliation. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why do we not see multiple newspaper articles constantly highlighting and condemning the practice? Why have the names of those soldiers not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
U.S. Prison Rape
A 2011 United States Department of Justice report on Prison Rape stated that “in 2008 there were at least 69,800 inmates who were raped under conditions involving force or threat of force, and more than 216,600 total victims of sexual abuse, in America’s prisons, jails, and juvenile detention centers … Insufficient research has been conducted and insufficient data reported on the extent of prison rape. However, experts have conservatively estimated that (around 1 in 8) at least 13% of the inmates in the United States have been sexually assaulted in prison. Many inmates have suffered repeated sexual assaults. Under this estimate, nearly 200,000 inmates now incarcerated have been or will be the victims of prison rape. The total number of inmates who have been sexually assaulted in the past 20 years likely exceeds 1,000,000 (1 million)” (see document here: https://ojp.gov/programs/pdfs/prea_nprm_iria.pdf). This is a government document that states this―it is not some wild exaggerated accusation from outside the authorities. Note that it says that the number of 1 million is a conservative estimate―meaning it is on the low side and that it probably is much higher than 1 million! In jail or prison, 60% of all sexual violence against inmates is perpetrated by the institution’s staff. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why have those names of sexually abusing prison guards and staff not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
Worldwide Rape Sexual Abuse
Rape is a severely under-reported crime with surveys showing dark figures of up to 91.6% of rapes going unreported. The list does not include the estimated rape statistics of the countries, per year, such as South Africa having 500,000 rapes per year, China having 31,833 rapes a year, Egypt having more than 200,000 rapes a year, and the United Kingdom at 85,000 rapes a year. Here in the United States, in five women will be raped in her lifetime and in the US there is a reported rape every 6.2 minutes (which is also around 85,000 per year)―and that is only rapes that are REPORTED―over 90% are estimated to go UNREPORTED. That would make the above totals as follows (figures have been rounded-off):
● CHINA almost 320,000 rapes per year―that is 876 per day, or 36 per hour, or 1 every 2 minutes) but with only 32,000 ―which translates to 87 reported per day, or 3 reported every 2 hours.
● UNITED STATES around 850,000 rapes per year―that is 2,330 per day, or 97 per hour, or 3 every 2 minutes) but with only 85,000 reported―which translates to 232 reported per day, or 10 reported per hour, or 1 reported every 6 minutes.
● UNITED KINGDOM around 850,000 rapes per year―that is 2,330 per day, or 97 per hour, or 3 every 2 minutes) but with only 85,000 reported―which translates to 232 reported per day, or 10 reported per hour, or 1 reported every 6 minutes.
● EGYPT around 2,000,000 (2 million) rapes per year―that is 5,500 per day, or 228 per hour, or 4 every minute) but with only 200,000 reported―which translates to 547 reported per day, or 22 reported per hour, or 1 reported every 3 minutes.
● SOUTH AFRICA around 5,000,000 (5 million) rapes per year―that is 13,700 per day, or 570 per hour, or 10 every minute) with only 500,000 reported―which translates to 1,370 reported per day, or 57 reported per hour, or 1 reported every minute.
A Strange Lopsided Media Attack Mainly on the Catholic Church
Media criticism in its coverage of child sex-abuse, has shown an excessive and disproportionate focus being placed on Catholic incidences of abuse. The media deliberately chooses to ignore that equal or greater levels of child sexual abuse in other religious groups, or in secular contexts, such as the US public school system, or the Boy Scouts, or in the family (the family setting has the greatest number of abuses) and these have been either totally ignored, or given minimal coverage by mainstream media.
Commentator Tom Hoopes wrote that “during the first half of 2002, the 61 largest newspapers in California ran nearly 2,000 stories about sexual abuse in Catholic institutions, mostly concerning past allegations. During the same period, those newspapers ran four stories about the federal government’s discovery of the much larger — and ongoing — abuse scandal in public schools.” (CBS News, “Has Media Ignored Sex Abuse in School?” August 24th, 2006).
David F. Pierre is USA’s leading observer of the media’s coverage of the Catholic Church abuse narrative. Dave is the author of three critically acclaimed books, (1) Double Standard: Abuse Scandals and the Attack on the Catholic Church, (2) Catholic Priests Falsely Accused: The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories, and (3) Sins of the Press: The Untold Story of The Boston Globe’s Reporting on Sex Abuse in the Catholic Church.
In the latter book, Sins of the Press: The Untold Story of The Boston Globe’s Reporting on Sex Abuse in the Catholic Church, Daid Pierre blows the lid off the Boston Globe’s 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting about sex abuse and the Catholic Church. While the Boston Globe would want you believe that its paper’s reporting was a carefully impartial chronicle of abuse and cover-ups by Church officials, David Pierre’s eye-opening and meticulously researched book uncovers something entirely different. He exposes:
• How the Boston Globe has routinely celebrated child molesters in its pages over the years;
• How the Boston Globe frequently promoted an author who supported incest between fathers and daughters;
• Extensive and undeniable proof that the Boston Globe’s reporting was the final layer or icing-on-the-cake of a relentless, decades-long attack against the Catholic Church;
• How the Boston Globe has deliberately dismissed and mitigated vile abuse and cover-ups in other institutions;
• How the Boston Globe flagrantly misled its readers about the Church’s response to abuse complaints;
• How the Boston Globe was flat-out erroneous in its reporting;
• How the Boston Globe assisted the foundation of the notorious pedophile group NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association).
Comparatively Small Percentage of Catholic Sexual Abuse Gets the Biggest Percentage of Attention! Why?
By reading and listening to the media, you can mistakenly be left feeling that they chief and largest group of sexual abusers of children are the clergy and the religious of the Catholic Church. Just as they say, in economics, that 20% of the world’s population owns 80% of the world’s wealth―you could also say that the Catholic minority amongst sexual abusers gets the majority of the attention, wrath and condemnation. Any and all sexual abuse is mortally sinful and ultimately deserving of Hell―unless those abusers, Catholic or not, use the means that God has mercifully given them to still save their poor and wretched souls. Yet the troubling and mysterious factor has to be the strange phenomenon that the sexual abusers within the Catholic Church―who are a minority in comparison to amount of sexual abuse that goes on in the world―are on the receiving end of the heaviest attacks and condemnations! Why?
It is extremely difficult to get total worldwide concrete figures on the number of children who are sexually abused each year. Hours and hours of research have failed to unearth firm and clear statistics on the matter. You can try yourself and see if you fare any better. The general problems in finding clear figures are down to the fact that (1) over 90% of sexual abuse cases are not reported, (2) only the ‘developed’ countries tend to keep records of such reports and the outcome of investigations, (3) there is a large divide in opinion between the enemies of the Church (who say that only 2% of accusations turn out to be false) and supporters of the Church (who say that anywhere from 20% to 50% of accusations are false). According to estimates from UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund), in just one year alone (2014) over 120 million children under the age of 18 were sexually abused (from groping to rape).
It’s Rainning Stats and Logs
RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization and is in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country. It carefully logs and analyzes the hundreds of thousands of accusations of sexual abuse in the USA and classifies them as substantiated or unsubstantiated. Some accusations are true, others are not, the rest remain in the foggy, gray, unknown zone. RAINN tells us that child sexual abuse Is a widespread problem and that in 2016 alone, Child Protective Services agencies substantiated, or found strong evidence to indicate that, 57,329 children were victims of sexual abuse.
Child Protective Services (CPS), report that out of the yearly 63,000 average of sexual abuse cases that are substantiated, or in which there is found strong evidence of sexual abuse, the perpetrator of the sexual abuse was most often the parent.
● 80% of perpetrators were a parent;
● 6% were other relatives;
● 5% were "other" (in a wide category ranging from siblings to strangers);
● 4% were unmarried partners of a parent.
What was the survivor doing when the crime occurred? RAINN’s research tells us that:
● 48% were sleeping, or performing another activity at home
● 29% were traveling to and from work or school, or traveling to shop or run errands
● 12% were working
● 7% were attending school
● 5% were doing an unknown or other activity
What Percentage of Sexual Abuse Cases Are Perpetrated by Catholic Clergy?
The media will refuse to give you the stats of how the Catholic Clergy sexual abuse crimes and sins compare to the other cases of child sex abuse in the world. It is not in their interests to do so, for it is not advantageous for them to do so! So let us calculate those percentages or numbers ourselves if the media refuses to do so.
As an average, over the last 60 years, there have been just over 400,000 priests worldwide in the Catholics Church and around 50,000 of those have served in the USA. The USA Catholic Church is estimated as being perhaps the most frequent abuser of children―with estimated figures of guilty clergy ranging from 1% (1 in a 100) to 4% (4 in 100, or 1 in 25). The USA Catholic Church received around 11,000 allegations of sexual abuse for a 52 year period (1950-2002)―which averages out at around 211 allegations per year.
Taking into account that studies suggest that only about 12% (1 in 8) to 30% (3 in 10) child sexual abuse cases are reported, then, taking the worst case scenario (of only 1 in 8 being reported), that would potentially make the clergy sexual abuse actual allegations of 11,000 over 52 years (211 per year), rise to 88,000 over 52 years (1,690 per year). In the USA, the average number of priests for that 52 year period would be around 50,000 priests―this gives a hypothetical worst-case sexual abuse figure of an annual average of 1,690 abuses per 50,000 priests.
If you apply that ratio (of 1,690 cases of abuse per each 50,000 group of priests) to the entire total of priests in the Catholic Church―which is just over 400,000 or 8 x 50,000―then you would get an annual average sexual abuse rate of 13,520 cases each year (8 x 1,690) out of an estimated 120 million cases of sexually abused children each year (UNICEF estimate)―which turns out to be 1 case of Catholic clergy sexual abuse in every 9,000 sexual abuse cases! One-nine-thousandth! Yet the Catholic share of one-nine-thousandth (1/9000) gets far, far, far more stick, flak and venom from the media than the other 8,999 case put together. Why? All those sexual abuse cases are acts of evil―whether Catholic or non-Catholic―but why does a very tiny minority get the majority of the coverage, wrath, vitriol, denunciation and condemnation? Nobody is saying that there should be no anger, denunciation and condemnation of the sin―but where is the proportionate anger, denunciation and condemnation with regard to the other 8,999 cases out of 9,000?
Once again, as already stated above―“during the first half of 2002, the 61 largest newspapers in California ran nearly 2,000 stories about sexual abuse in Catholic institutions, mostly concerning past allegations. During the same period, those newspapers ran four stories about the federal government’s discovery of the much larger — and ongoing — abuse scandal in public schools.” (CBS News, “Has Media Ignored Sex Abuse in School?” August 24th, 2006). Why?
Nobody is asking those questions and they need to be asked. Once we allow ourselves to be dumbed-down, and are perfectly happy with superficial, doctored, bite-sized, sugar-coated, melt-in-your-mouth-before-it-gets-to-your-brain, sensationalist half-truths or twisted-truths, that we have lost the ability to analyze and merely swallow whole―then we allow ourselves to be fed whatever the enemies of the Church wish to feed us, because we are incapable of any kind of deeper thinking, careful analysis, based on widespread research.
Hellish Hypocrisy of the World
We come back to the proverb of “The pot calling the kettle black”―used in the sense of someone being guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another, and which is a psychological projection of faults, or a deliberate tactic to attack another person and condemn them for the very fault that you have. This is exactly what the world is doing in relation to the Catholic Church as regards the sexual abuse crisis. But Holy Scripture has words for the world’s hypocrisy: “Wherefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou dost the same things which thou judgest … And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them who do such things, and dost the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” (Romans 2:1-3).
Objectively Speaking―What is Worse? Sexual Abuse or Murder?
Not all sins are of the same gravity―some are more serious than others. All mortal sin is deserving of Hell―unless a person repents in the manner required by God―but not all mortal sin is equal in gravity. Different mortal sins―even though they all lead to Hell―will be punished differently in Hell. So, think about it―what is more grave, what is more serious―sexual abuse or murder? The answer should be pretty obvious, but it is obviously forgotten amidst the ranting and raving against the Catholic Church today. Even the worldly, neo-pagan, God-rejecting or even God-hating crowd has to admit that murder is more serious than sexual abuse―even though they are both serious (mortal sins in Catholic terminology) and both will take a soul to Hell. Yet, even in this world, you can clearly see that the penalties imposed on those who sexually abuse another person and those who murder another person, are very much different. There is no death penalty for sexual abuse, but there is a death penalty for murder.
Each and every year, from 2010 to 2014, an estimated 56 million induced abortions were performed worldwide. Those numbers can even shock our modern day conscienceless Liberals―so the media aborts the hard-hitting truth and anesthetizes the reader with a chloroformed, sanitized, sugar-coated, less-shocking way of announcing the murder of 56 million babies. Instead, the media says: “Globally from 2010 through 2014, 35 abortions were performed per 1,000 women of reproductive age, down from 40 abortions per 1,000 women.” How sweet! How nice! How gentle! 35 per 1,000 is bite-sized and sugar-coated and far easier to swallow that 56 million!
As already stated above, according to estimates from UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund), in just one year alone (2014) over 120 million children under the age of 18 were sexually abused (from groping to rape). Yet each and every year, from 2010 to 2014, an estimated 56 million induced abortions were performed worldwide―that is 56 million murdered babies compared to 120 million sexually abused children. Which is worse? Yes, both are mortal sins and both are deserving of Hell―but which will be punished more heavily in Hell? Sexual abuse in not legalized (yet??), but murder of babies is legalized in most countries. This murder of babies (abortion) of 56 million babies each year from 2010 to 2014 is not just a five-year-glitch! Since Roe versus Wade in 1973, there have been over 1,538,000,000 (over 1,538 million) murders of babies worldwide. The USA, since Roe versus Wade, has murdered over 61 million of them.
Estimated abortions per year by region (millions):
Region 1990-94 1995-99 2000-04 2005-09 2010-14
AFRICA 4.6 million 5.4 million 6.2 million 7.0 million 8.3 million
ASIA 31.5 million 30.7 million 30.8 million 32.7 million 35.8 million
LATIN AMERICA 4.4 million 4.9 million 5.4 million 6.1 million 6.5 million
NORTHERN AMERICA 1.6 million 1.5 million 1.4 million 1.3 million 1.2 million
EUROPE 8.2 million 7.1 million 6.0 million 5.2 million 4.4 million
If some of the above numbers make it seem as though abortions are decreasing in some continents―stop and think again! You may or may not be aware of the new type of contraceptive pill that is on the market―popularly called “the morning after pill”―and also an “abortion pill” (RU486) which basically means that you take the pill after you “conceive” and get rid of the pregnancy with the pill! Easy, huh? No messy abortions! Though makers say that these pills do not cause abortions (deliberately induced miscarriages), some scientists have refuted these claims are untrue and that some “morning after pills” are actually abortifacients. What these pills do is cause an "imperceptible” abortion or deliberately induced miscarriage, that then removes the woman from the abortion statistics list―making it look as though less abortions are being performed, whereas this is not the case―for the “morning after pill” or “RU486” pill is basically a do-it-yourself abortion method, a less gruesome way to get rid of the baby.
If the Catholic Church is apologizing for a multitude of things these days―then perhaps most of the governments of the world and the legislators in those governments should take leaf out of the Catholic book and start apologizing for billions of babies they have killed over the last 40 years or so― there have been over 1,538,000,000 (over 1,538 million or 1.5 billion) murders of babies worldwide since 1980. Why are they not apologizing? Why are they not in prison serving life-sentences?
Does the World Need Something to Apologize For?
To the list of things they should be apologizing for, they could also add another kind of sexual abuse―the abuse of contraception, which abuses the purpose of sex as deemed by God―which is the creation of children, not the prevention of their creation. How many billions of souls have they prevented from coming into this world? One has to shudder at the potential total. Someone will have to answer for that sooner or later!
If they want something else to apologize for―then they could apologize for allowing the internet into their countries uncontrolled―which has led to the point where 30% of data sent across the internet today is pornography. The governments and other private companies most certainly have the technology and “know-how” to prevent that tidal wave of pornography, but they will not do so. Thus, they are enablers―and just as guilty as the drug cartel people and drug traffickers who supply people with drugs―for they enable people to sin sexually at least with their eyes and in their thoughts―thus, you could call it sex-abuse of another kind! With 73% of men and 37% of women watching pornography, someone is going to have to answer for this before God.
Is it surprising that, even before internet came on the scene in mid-1990s, Our Lady had already said to Blessed Elena Aiello, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, back in 1956 (when television was pretty scarce, never mind the internet or smartphones, tablets or laptops)― “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind: only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
If the world wants something more to apologize for―then it could apologize for perverting children by subjecting them to sex-education as early as 4th and 5th Grade (9-year-olds and 10-year-olds). In the USA, decisions about sex education are made at the state and local level — no federal laws dictate what sex education should look like, or how it should be taught in schools. Out of 50 states in the USA, 24 states and the District of Columbia require public schools teach sex education. 33 states and the District of Columbia require students receive instruction about HIV/AIDS. Yet God is banned from these sex-educating schools! In the United States, school prayer, if organized by the school, is largely banned from public elementary, middle and high schools by a series of Supreme Court decisions since 1962―just when Vatican II was getting going (1962-1965). The Constitutional basis for this prohibition is the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which requires that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...”
Since 1962, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that prayers in public schools are unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is also ruled that so-called “voluntary” school prayers are also unconstitutional, because they force some students to be outsiders to the main group, and because they subject dissenters to intense peer group pressure―all of is a reflection and imitation of the attitude as the Freemasons― as a requirement of membership in Freemasonry, every candidate must state that he has a personal belief in God, but every Freemason is encouraged to worship in his own way, according to his private beliefs and convictions. What he believes and how he worships are his own business. Thus you can see that it is the identical viewpoint to that which is held, promoted and enforced in public schools and is a separation of Church and State, or, more correctly, an independence of State from the Church which leads to a reversal of roles where the State dictates to the Church its humanistic opinions and laws, rather than have the Church dictate to the State the opinions and laws of God. Out with God―in with sex! Sex brings more pleasure than God―so God’s gotta go! Our Lady said that the sins that damn the greatest number of souls these days―she said this at Fatima back in 1917, over 100 years ago―are sexual sins, whether in thought, word or deed. So much for sex-education! Teach and help the kids damn themselves!
Now consider all the above in the light of the Communist (Freemason supported) agenda for the world in general and the USA in particular.
How a House of Representatives Committee described Communism
Communism is a worldwide political organization advocating:
(1) Hatred of God and all forms of religion
(2) Destruction of private property and inheritance
(3) Absolute social and racial equality and promotion of class hatred
(4) Revolution propaganda stirring up strikes, riots, sabotage, bloodshed and civil war
(5) Destruction of all forms of representative and democratic government, including civil liberties such freedom of speech assembly and trial by jury
(6) Ultimate and final objective is by means of world revolution to establish the dictatorship of the so-called proletariat into a one world union―( which is the nowadays labeled “New World Order”) (Bush)
Communist Rules for Revolution
● Corrupt the young, get them away from religions, get them interested in sex make them superficial and destroy their ruggedness
● Get control of all means of publicity, get the minds of people off their government by making them focus on athletics, sexy books and plays and trivialities.
● Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial matters of absolutely no importance
● Destroy the people’s faith in their natural leaders by holding them up to contempt and ridicule
● Always preach true democracy, but seize all power as quickly and as ruthlessly as possible
● By encouraging government extravagance destroy its credit produce fear of inflation, rising prices and create a general discontent.
● Promote unnecessary strikes in vital industries, encourage civil disorders, foster civil disorders, foster a lenient and soft attitude on the part of government to such things
● By specious argument cause the breakdown of old moral virtues of such as honesty and sobriety.
Part of Stalin's Plan for Communist Destruction of USA
Plan passed by Joseph Stalin to various district organizers of Communism in helping America self-destruct:
(1) In Faith: by philosophy, mysticism, the development of Liberal cults, and the furtherance of atheism, discredit all Christian creeds―today we see that accomplished. We have the New Age movement, the occult being accepted as a religion, popular in the bookstores, taught in the public schools, occult movies, occult videos, occult websites.
(2) In Morals: corrupt morality by promoting and propagating promiscuity, encourage promiscuity in schools and colleges, introduce ‘companionship marriage’ ideas (living together in sin), advocate legalized abortions, contraception, destroy the family, abolish inheritance, Today we see the fruits― sex education in schools, cohabitation, free contraception, homosexuality, lesbianism, legalized same-sex marriages, legalized abortions, divorce when it convenient, etc.
Infiltration Admitted by Bella Dodd
Dr. Bella Visono Dodd (1904–1969) was a member of the Communist Party of America in the 1930s and 1940s, who later became a vocal anti-Communist. After her defection from the Communist Party in 1949, she testified that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radical Communists to enter Roman Catholic Seminaries. In her public affidavit, among other things, Dr. Bella V. Dodd stated:
“In the late 1920s and 1930s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... I, myself, put some 1,200 men in Catholic seminaries … In the 1930s we put 1,100 men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops”
A dozen years before the Second Vatican Council, she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church”--which is true, for if you are old enough to remember the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church, then you have to admit that things have been changed drastically.
Yuri Bezmenov, Russian KGB Defector
Yuri Bezmenov (1939-1993―only 54 years old at death!), a disillusioned Soviet KGB agent, defected to North America while stationed in India. His goal was to save the West from Soviet subversion by publicizing KGB tactics and goals. While he received some attention in the Western press, his warnings have mostly gone unheeded while much of what he predicted has come true. Russian Communists have become masters of deception, mind control, and subversion.
Yuri Bezmenov states: ”The real driving force of this war of aggression is IDEOLOGY — something you cannot eat, wear or store for a “rainy day”. An integral part of this war of ideology is IDEOLOGICAL SUBVERSION — the process of changing the perception of reality in the minds of millions of peoples all over the world.”
“Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. There is no art higher than to destroy your enemy without a fight ― by SUBVERTING anything of value in enemy’s country.”
“The main principle of ideological subversion is TURNING A STRONGER FORCE AGAINST ITSELF. Just like in the Japanese martial arts: you do not stop the blow of a heavier more powerful enemy with an equally forceful blow. You may simply hurt your hand. Instead you catch the striking fist with your hand and PULL the enemy in the direction of his blow until he crashes into a wall or any other heavy object in his way.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Bezmenov then goes on to state some of the basic rules for revolution:
1 . Corrupt the young, get them interested in sex, take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled.
2. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial issues of no importance.
3. Destroy people’s faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt, ridicule and disgrace.
Demoralized and enfeebled ‘masses’ tend to grab the ‘easiest’ short-cut solution to social ills and Socialism seems to them to be the best answer.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Bezmenov explaining that the demoralization process in the US had already been completed to a degree beyond the wildest dreams of the top leadership in the Kremlin. “This process was done by Americans to Americans, thanks to a lack of morals. Most of the people educated in the 1960s, are now the “intellectuals” that are occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, mass media and the education system. You are stuck with them,” Bezmenov points out.
The Cultural Revolution of the West
The 1960s, a watershed moment of modern history, saw an unprecedented counterculture movement sweeping from East to West. In contrast to the Cultural Revolution of the Chinese communists, the Western counterculture movement appeared to have multiple focuses, or rather to lack any focus. Over the decade from the 1960s to the 1970s, the mostly young participants of the counterculture movement were motivated by various pursuits. Some opposed the Vietnam War, some fought for civil rights, some advocated for feminism and denounced patriarchy, some strove for homosexual rights. Topping this off was a dazzling spectacle of movements against tradition and authority that advocated sexual freedom, hedonism, narcotics, and rock music. The goal of this Western Cultural Revolution is to destroy the upright Christian civilization and its traditional culture. While apparently disordered and chaotic, this international cultural shift stems from communism. After the youth of the 1960s ended their activist lifestyle, they entered universities and research institutes, completed their master’s degrees and doctorates, and entered the mainstream of American society. They brought the Marxist worldview and its values into education, media, politics, and business, furthering a nonviolent revolution across the country. Since the 1980s, the left has largely taken over and established strongholds in the mainstream media, academia, and Hollywood.
For most people, all of this is hard to digest―they are used to digesting cookies, candies, donuts, ice-cream, burgers and beer! The digestive juices of their stomach work 24/7 (24 hours a day, seven days a week)―but their intellectual juices have dried up and to them even the Catechism feels and tastes as tough as beef-jerky or dried-meat. Hence we are where we are―with dumbed-down parents and teachers producing even dumber children and students. Which is why Pope St. Pius X―writing in 1905, in days when minds were stronger in many ways than today―laments over the state of ignorance among Christians:
“The enemy has, indeed, long been prowling about the fold and attacking it with such subtle cunning, now, more than ever before … We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and sickness of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found, above all, in ignorance of things divine … It is a common complaint―unfortunately too well founded―that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation. Not only those in the lower walks of life ― but especially those who do not lack culture or talents and are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world, but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there … They have no conception of the malice and baseness of sin; hence they show no anxiety to avoid sin or to renounce it. And so they arrive at life's end in such a condition that, … Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: « We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect. » There is, then, no reason for wonder that the corruption of morals and depravity of life is already so great, and ever increasingly greater―not only among uncivilized peoples but even in those very nations that are called Christian” (Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical Acerbo Nimis, 1905).
“I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever. The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him: but you shall know Him; because He shall abide with you, and shall be in you ... When the Paraclete cometh, Whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, Who proceedeth from the Father, He shall give testimony of Me … It is expedient to you that I go! For if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He is come, He will convict the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment. Of sin―because they believed not in Me. And of justice―because I go to the Father; and you shall see Me no longer. And of judgment―because the prince of this world is already judged!” (John 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:7-11).
Do Not Doubt the Fair Justice of God
Right now, the world is casting stones at the Church, because members of the clergy and members of religious orders have been caught committing sexual sins. Those sins will be justly punished by God―make no mistake about it―either in this world or in the next, regardless of whether they are closer to God by vocation or not. God will reward everyone down to the tiniest good thought, word or action―and God will punish everyone for even the tiniest sinful thought, word, action, omission or neglect―regardless of who you are: Catholic or non-Catholic; Jew, Protestant, pagan or atheist. “God is not a respecter of persons!” (Acts 10:34).
This is further emphasized thus: “We know that, according to truth, the judgment of God is against them that do such [sinful] things ... Do thou despise the riches of God’s goodness, patience and longsuffering? Do you not know that the kindness of God leads thee to penance? But, according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, in the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God, Who will render to every man according to his works. To them indeed, who, according to patience in good works, seek glory and honor, incorruption and eternal life! But to them that are contentious and who obey not the truth, but give credit to iniquity, to them there will be wrath and indignation. Tribulation and anguish shall fall upon every soul of man that worketh evil―of the Jew first, and also of the Greek. But glory, and honor, and peace to everyone that worketh good―to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For there is no respect of persons with God. For whosoever have sinned without the law, shall perish without the law; and whosoever have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers [or talkers] of the law are just before God, but it is the doers of the law that shall be justified. (Romans 2:1-13).
The More You Have Been Given, The More Strictly You Will Be Judged
Christians will be judged more severely than pagans and atheists. Catholics will be judged more severely than Protestants. Traditional Catholics and Conservative Catholics will be judged more severely than Modernist and Liberal Catholics. All of this is simply and justly based upon the principle: “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48).
St. Thomas Aquinas states that: “A sin is deemed so much the more grievous as the sinner is held to be a more excellent person....Firstly, because a more excellent person, e.g., one who excels in knowledge and virtue, can more easily resist sin; hence Our Lord said (Luke 12:47) that the «servant who knew the will of his lord...and did it not...shall be beaten with many stripes.» Secondly, on account of ingratitude, because every good in which a man excels, is a gift of God, to Whom man is ungrateful when he sins: and in this respect any excellence, even in temporal goods, aggravates a sin, according to Wisdom 6:7: «The mighty shall be mightily tormented.» Thirdly, on account of the sinful act being specially inconsistent with the excellence of the person sinning: for instance, if a prince were to violate justice, whereas he is set up as the guardian of justice, or if a priest were to be a fornicator, whereas he has taken the vow of chastity. Fourthly, on account of the example or scandal; because, as Gregory says (Pastor. i, 2): «Sin becomes much more scandalous, when the sinner is honored for his position»” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Ia IIae, Q.73, A.10). Thus Christians are in a more honorable position than pagans and atheists; among Christians, Catholics are in a more honorable position than Protestants; among Catholics, traditional and conservative Catholics are in a more honorable position than Liberal and Modernist Catholics; and the clergy and religious orders are in a more honorable position than the laity.
Do Not Play the Judge―For Your Judgment Will Be Stricter
Everyone likes to be a mini-judge, a mini-juror, a mini-god―yet Holy Scripture warns us against that: “Let not many seek to become teachers [talkers, bloggers, posters, gossipers, etc.], my brothers, for you know that those who teach [talk, blog, post, gossip, etc.] will be judged with greater strictness. We all sin in many ways. Anyone who sins, in things they say, is a perfect person” (James 3:1-2).
“Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again!” (Matthew 7:1-2). St. Luke has a similar passage: “Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven!” (Luke 6:37).
“And the Lord said: “I judge not according to the look of man―for man seeth only those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart!’” (1 Kings 16:7). “To me it is a very small thing to be judged by you, or by man's day; but neither do I judge my own self. For I am not conscious to myself of any thing, yet am I not hereby justified; but He that judgeth me, is the Lord! Therefore judge not before the time! Until the Lord come, Who, both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise from God!” (1 Corinthians 4:3-5).
What Do You Know?
Playing at being God has certain drawbacks and dangers! First of all, we are not omniscient―meaning that we do not know everything. We do not know the heart and mind of the person we are judging; nor do we fully know the circumstances of what we judging; nor do we know the degree of deliberateness in the sin committed; nor do we know if there were any excusing factors; nor do we know if the sin or sins have been confessed; nor do we know if the confession was a good confession or bad confession; nor do we know the degree of sorrow in the heart of the sinner we are judging; nor do we know the amount of penance done by the sinner; nor do we know if the sinner has had perfect contrition for his or her sins―on which count, if they have perfect contrition, then not only has God forgiven the sins but God has also removed all the temporal punishment due to those sins in this world and in Purgatory or Hell, and, if that person were to die right now, they would go straight to Heaven (like the Good Thief on Calvary) regardless of what sins they had committed in the past and regardless of what we think of them. If we did not know these things, it shows we do not know our theology―which makes it all the more dangerous and stupid and rash for us to enter into judgment of another person’s sins!
Do Some Navel Gazing Instead!
Instead of focusing on the sins of others―it is better and more profitable to focus on your own sins. That is the advice that Our Lord Himself gives us:
“Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged! And with what measure you mete [dish-out to others], it shall be measured to you again. And why seest thou the mote [speck of sawdust or splinter] that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the beam [plank or log] that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the mote[speck of sawdust or splinter] out of thy eye!’ and behold a beam [plank or log] is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the beam [plank] in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote [speck of sawdust or splinter] out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:1-5).
St. Luke has a similar passage: “Judge not, and you shall not be judged! Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned! Forgive, and you shall be forgiven! Give, and it shall be given to you―good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom! For with the same measure that you shall mete withal [dish-out to others], it shall be measured to you again!’ And why seest thou the mote [speck of sawdust or splinter] in thy brother’s eye―but the beam [plank or log] that is in thy own eye thou considerest not? Or how canst thou say to thy brother: ‘Brother, let me pull the mote out of thy eye!’―when thou thyself seest not the beam in thy own eye?’ Hypocrite! Cast first the beam [plank or log] out of thy own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to take out the mote [speck of sawdust or splinter] from thy brother’s eye!’” (Luke 6:37–42).
Hence, “A man shall know the wound of his own heart” (3 Kings 8:38).
The Pot Calling the Kettle Black
“The pot calling the kettle black” is a proverbial idiom that may be of Spanish origin of which English versions began to appear in the first half of the 17th century. This is a very appropriate analogy―since today, the world is trying to (and succeeding in) legalizing the drug “pot”―also known by the name “cannabis”, also known as “marijuana.” The origin of the word “pot” has nothing to do with the kitchen cooking item. The word “pot” came into use in America in the late 1930s. It is a shortening of the Spanish potiguaya or potaguaya that came from potación de guaya, a wine or brandy in which marijuana buds have been steeped. The word literally means “the drink of grief”―which is appropriate since it bring even more grief to those who use it to escape their grief!
The idiom―“the pot calling the kettle black”―is used in the sense of a person being is guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another and is thus an example of psychological projection. “The pot calling the kettle black” is a response often given when someone criticizes another for a fault they also have themselves. The first person who is recorded as using the phrase in English was William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, in his Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693:
“If thou hast not conquer’d thy self in that which is thy own particular Weakness, thou hast no Title to Virtue, tho’ thou art free of other Men’s. For a Covetous Man to inveigh against Prodigality, an Atheist against Idolatry, a Tyrant against Rebellion, or a Lyer against Forgery, and a Drunkard against Intemperance, is for the Pot to call the Kettle black.”
“The pot calling the kettle black” is one of a number of proverbial sayings that should guard us against hypocrisy and complacency. The context of Penn’s use of the expression is one which is similar to Our Lord’s words concerning the woman caught in adultery: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” (John 8:7). Holy Scripture also adds: “Wherefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou dost the same things which thou judgest … And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them who do such things, and dost the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” (Romans 2:1-3).
Today, we clearly see “the pot [the world] calling the kettle [the Church] black”―yet the world is even more black than the Church! Talking of “pot” and the world’s legalization of the drug, imagine what an outcry there would be if priests, monks, brothers, sisters and nuns were found to smoking “pot”! Yet the State (governments) are legalizing “pot” more and more! Currently, Canada and Uruguay have fully legalized “pot” or marijuana, while 10 states and the District of Columbia in the USA have also legalized it. The future consequences are obvious―the legalization will follow the same gradual acceptance as did contraception, divorce, same-sex marriages and abortion.
The Priests Who Have Blackened the Church by Sexual Abuse
The authorities estimate that worldwide, one in five women and one in 13 men report having been sexually abused as a child. The ratio of men to women is almost 1 to 1―giving almost equal numbers of men and women. Currently, as of June 2019, it is estimated that there are 3,900,000,000 (3.9 billion) males in the world and 3,800,000,000 (3.82 billion) females. That would mean that according to estimates by the authorities, around 300,000,000 (300 million) males have been or will be sexually abused as children, and 294,000,000 females have been or will be sexually abused as children. That is an awful lot of sexually abusing that has been and will be done― 594,000,000 (594 million) people for 412,000 priests, which is far too much handle. That would mean each priest―if each and every priest was a sexual abuser of children―would have to be sexually abusing 1,440 different children. Or if they were only abusing Catholics―who number 1,400,000,000 (1.4 billion) worldwide―then the estimated abuse figures of 1 in 13 males and 1 in 5 women, would mean that approximately 54,000,000 Catholic boys and 140,000,000 Catholic girls, or a total of 194,000,0000 Catholic children have been or are being abused by 412,000 priests―which means that each and every priest would be abusing 470 different Catholic children.
However, the researchers at bishopaccountability.org estimate that a anywhere from 5% to 10% of priests have been or are sexual abusers of children―which would mean that 194,000,000 (194 million) Catholic children have been abused by 20,600 priests (if it is 5% of priests) making it 9,400 different Catholic children per priest, or if 10% of priests are abusers, then that makes it 4,700 different Catholic children per priest. If we are talking of the total estimated number of sexually abused children (Catholics and non-Catholics), which is 300,000,000 abused children, then if 10% of priests sexually abuse, then each priest would be responsible for abusing over 7,000 children, or if 5% of priests are abusers, then each priest would be responsible for abusing over 7,000 children―which is obviously impossible and unbelievable.
Though it is undoubtedly true that priests―and also a lesser number of monks, brothers, sisters and nuns―have been sexually abusing children, it is also undoubtedly true that the number of children sexually abused by clergy and religious, is a FRACTION of the total number of children who suffer sexual abuse throughout the world. As Dr. Thomas G. Plante Ph.D., professor at Santa Clara University and adjunct clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, and author of 3 books on the sexual abuse crisis, writes:
“No empirical data exists that suggests that Catholic clerics sexually abuse minors at a level higher than clerics from other religious traditions or from other groups of men who have ready access and power over children (e.g., school teachers, coaches). The best available data reports that 4 percent of Catholic priests sexually violated a minor child during the last half of the 20th century with the peak level of abuse being in the 1970s and dropping off dramatically by the early 1980s. And in the recent Pennsylvania grand jury report only two cases were reported in the past dozen years that were already known and dealt with by authorities (thus the grand jury report is about historical issues and not about current problems of active clerical abuse now). Putting clergy abuse in context, research from the US Department of Education found that about 5% to 7% percent of public school teachers engaged in similar sexually abusive behavior with their students during a similar time frame. While no comprehensive studies have been conducted with most other religious traditions, a small scale study that I was involved with found that 4% of Anglican priests had violated minors in western Canada and many reports have mentioned that clerical abuse of minors is common with other religious leaders and clerics as well. Let me be clear. All child abuse is horrific and abuse perpetrated by clerics, both within and outside of the Catholic Church, is especially awful since we hold these individuals to a much higher standard of behavior and trust. And in the eyes of a child and others, clerics are representatives of the divine, the most holy, and of God. The spiritual damage adds to the psychological and physical damage suffered by the victims. But to assume that clerical abuse is more frequent with Catholic clergy compared to other clerics or other men who work with youth is simply not based on sound science or quality research data to date.” (Dr. Thomas G. Plante Ph.D., article “Separating Facts About Clergy Abuse From Fiction”, website Psychology Today, August 23rd, 2018).
Boy Scouts of America Sex-Abuse Scandal
Child sexual abuse has been prevalent in the Boys Scouts of America. Lately, a multitude of reports and probes have shown that the Boy Scouts of America had kept confidential files on suspected sexual abusers among its ranks. In 2012, those newly opened files showed that authorities ― from police chiefs, prosecutors, pastors and local Boy Scouts leaders ― had shielded scoutmasters and others accused of molesting children. The files included thousands of cases of child sex crimes among scouting ranks spanning decades. Under a court order, the Boy Scouts of America had to make public more than 1,200 files on suspected sexual molesters. The order lifted the veil on decades of alleged abuse identifying hundreds of suspected abusers from all over the country. Among the names of predators were doctors, lawyers, politicians and policemen. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why do we not see multiple newspaper articles constantly highlighting and condemning the practice? Why have those names of sexually abusing doctors, lawyers, politicians and policemen not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
Jehovah's Witnesses Sex-Abuse Scandals
Leaked internal documents in 2018 exposed a Jehovah's Witnesses church child sex crimes roster. The documents showed that the Jehovah's Witnesses discouraged victims of sexual abuse from reporting the abuse. The documents outline the efforts by the church to cover up the scandal and keep it from the “worldly court of law.” Since the news broke, hundreds of church members have come forward with their own accounts of abuse. Attorneys believe there are thousands of victims involved. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why do we not see multiple newspaper articles constantly highlighting and condemning the practice? Why have those names of sexually abusing Jehovah's Witnesses not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
Southern Baptists Sex-Abuse
A survey by the Journal of Pastoral Care in 1993 found that 14% of Southern Baptist ministers said they had engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior. By 2000, a report to the Baptist General Convention found the incidence of sexual abuse by clergy had increased much more than the 14% mentioned above and had reached “horrific proportions.” Victims have derided church leadership for protecting predators and covering up crimes. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why do we not see multiple newspaper articles constantly highlighting and condemning the practice? Why have those names of sexually abusing pastors not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
Millions of School-Children Abused by Teachers
Schools are supposed to be a safe environment for children, but they can actually be one of the most dangerous places for children with regards to sexual abuse. A study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education found that up to 7% percent of all middle and high school students were the targets of physical sexual abuse by teachers, coaches and other adults working in the school system. That statistic puts the number of young teens sexually abused by teachers and other school adults in the millions. A 2015 report found that just under 500 educators were arrested in connection to child sex crimes. 3.5 million students (grades 8th-11th) reported having had physical sexual contact from an adult (most often a teacher or coach). 4.5 million children reported being shown pornography or being subjected to sexually explicit language or exhibitionism. According to a report by The Washington Post, 35% of educators convicted or accused of sexual misconduct with children had used social media to gain access to their victims. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why do we not see multiple newspaper articles constantly highlighting and condemning the practice? Why have those names of sexually abusing teachers not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
Ultra-Orthodox Jew Child Sex-Abuse
The New York community of ultra-Orthodox Jews asks Jews, who know of any child sexual abuse, to consult a rabbi instead of going to police with evidence of the child sexual abuse. Similar cases have sprung in other cities, including Baltimore and Miami, involving allegations of sexual misconduct by orthodox Jewish leaders. The case involving Rabbi Shmuel Krawatsky, formerly of the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School in Baltimore, involves the alleged abuse of at least three boys at a summer camp. According to a report by The Jewish Week, the rabbi, who was naked and alone in a pool changing room with two alleged victims, touched the boys inappropriately before asking them to touch his "private parts" in exchange for $100." The report also states that the rabbi threatened the young boys not to tell their parents. Given the faith's shroud of secrecy there is no hard data regarding the number of potential abuse victims in the Orthodox Jewish community. Experts estimate that there could be thousands of victims dating back decades. The Jewish principle of mesirah forbids reporting a Jewish practitioner to secular authorities. Issues are supposed to be handled internally within the greater faith community. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why have those names of sexually abusing doctors, lawyers, politicians and policemen not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
Internal Family Sex-Abuse of Children
Incest―which is sexual activity between a child or adolescent and a related adult―is known as child incestuous abuse, and has been identified as the most widespread form of child sexual abuse. The most-often reported form of incest is father–daughter and stepfather–daughter incest, with most of the remaining reports consisting of mother/stepmother–daughter/son incest. Father–son incest is reported less often; however it is not known if the actual prevalence is less or it is under-reported by a greater margin. Similarly, some argue that sibling incest may be as common, or more common, than other types of incest: Goldman and Goldman reported that 57% of incest involved siblings; Finkelhor reported that over 90% of family incest (in a conventional husband-wife marriage) involved siblings; while Cawson and other researchers show that sibling incest was reported twice as often as incest perpetrated by fathers/stepfathers. One researcher stated that more than 70% of abusers are immediate family members or someone very close to the family. Another researcher stated that about 30% of all perpetrators of sexual abuse are related to their victim, 60% of the perpetrators are family acquaintances, like a neighbor, babysitter or friend. Prevalence of parental child sexual abuse is difficult to assess due to secrecy and privacy; some estimates state that 20 million Americans have been victimized by parental incest as children. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why have those names of sexually abusing parents not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing the names of abusing priest? If 20 million children have been sexually abused by parents, why are there so few court cases and convictions?
Sexual Assault in the U.S. Military
Sexual assault in the Military is alarmingly common. In 2014, there were at least 20,300 members of the military who were sexually assaulted. Reporting sexual assault in the military is also low, with 85% of victims not reporting them in 2014―therefore the true figure for 2014 is likely to be around 135,000 sexual assaults. Moreover, retaliation for reporting is common. More than 60% of military women who reported their sexual assaults were found to have experienced retaliation. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why do we not see multiple newspaper articles constantly highlighting and condemning the practice? Why have the names of those soldiers not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
U.S. Prison Rape
A 2011 United States Department of Justice report on Prison Rape stated that “in 2008 there were at least 69,800 inmates who were raped under conditions involving force or threat of force, and more than 216,600 total victims of sexual abuse, in America’s prisons, jails, and juvenile detention centers … Insufficient research has been conducted and insufficient data reported on the extent of prison rape. However, experts have conservatively estimated that (around 1 in 8) at least 13% of the inmates in the United States have been sexually assaulted in prison. Many inmates have suffered repeated sexual assaults. Under this estimate, nearly 200,000 inmates now incarcerated have been or will be the victims of prison rape. The total number of inmates who have been sexually assaulted in the past 20 years likely exceeds 1,000,000 (1 million)” (see document here: https://ojp.gov/programs/pdfs/prea_nprm_iria.pdf). This is a government document that states this―it is not some wild exaggerated accusation from outside the authorities. Note that it says that the number of 1 million is a conservative estimate―meaning it is on the low side and that it probably is much higher than 1 million! In jail or prison, 60% of all sexual violence against inmates is perpetrated by the institution’s staff. Why has there not been a public outrage and media onslaught like the one shown to the Catholic Church. Why have those names of sexually abusing prison guards and staff not been published just as the Catholic Church has been intimidated into publishing? Why have billions of dollars not been paid out in compensation and settlement as in the case of the Catholic Church?
Worldwide Rape Sexual Abuse
Rape is a severely under-reported crime with surveys showing dark figures of up to 91.6% of rapes going unreported. The list does not include the estimated rape statistics of the countries, per year, such as South Africa having 500,000 rapes per year, China having 31,833 rapes a year, Egypt having more than 200,000 rapes a year, and the United Kingdom at 85,000 rapes a year. Here in the United States, in five women will be raped in her lifetime and in the US there is a reported rape every 6.2 minutes (which is also around 85,000 per year)―and that is only rapes that are REPORTED―over 90% are estimated to go UNREPORTED. That would make the above totals as follows (figures have been rounded-off):
● CHINA almost 320,000 rapes per year―that is 876 per day, or 36 per hour, or 1 every 2 minutes) but with only 32,000 ―which translates to 87 reported per day, or 3 reported every 2 hours.
● UNITED STATES around 850,000 rapes per year―that is 2,330 per day, or 97 per hour, or 3 every 2 minutes) but with only 85,000 reported―which translates to 232 reported per day, or 10 reported per hour, or 1 reported every 6 minutes.
● UNITED KINGDOM around 850,000 rapes per year―that is 2,330 per day, or 97 per hour, or 3 every 2 minutes) but with only 85,000 reported―which translates to 232 reported per day, or 10 reported per hour, or 1 reported every 6 minutes.
● EGYPT around 2,000,000 (2 million) rapes per year―that is 5,500 per day, or 228 per hour, or 4 every minute) but with only 200,000 reported―which translates to 547 reported per day, or 22 reported per hour, or 1 reported every 3 minutes.
● SOUTH AFRICA around 5,000,000 (5 million) rapes per year―that is 13,700 per day, or 570 per hour, or 10 every minute) with only 500,000 reported―which translates to 1,370 reported per day, or 57 reported per hour, or 1 reported every minute.
A Strange Lopsided Media Attack Mainly on the Catholic Church
Media criticism in its coverage of child sex-abuse, has shown an excessive and disproportionate focus being placed on Catholic incidences of abuse. The media deliberately chooses to ignore that equal or greater levels of child sexual abuse in other religious groups, or in secular contexts, such as the US public school system, or the Boy Scouts, or in the family (the family setting has the greatest number of abuses) and these have been either totally ignored, or given minimal coverage by mainstream media.
Commentator Tom Hoopes wrote that “during the first half of 2002, the 61 largest newspapers in California ran nearly 2,000 stories about sexual abuse in Catholic institutions, mostly concerning past allegations. During the same period, those newspapers ran four stories about the federal government’s discovery of the much larger — and ongoing — abuse scandal in public schools.” (CBS News, “Has Media Ignored Sex Abuse in School?” August 24th, 2006).
David F. Pierre is USA’s leading observer of the media’s coverage of the Catholic Church abuse narrative. Dave is the author of three critically acclaimed books, (1) Double Standard: Abuse Scandals and the Attack on the Catholic Church, (2) Catholic Priests Falsely Accused: The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories, and (3) Sins of the Press: The Untold Story of The Boston Globe’s Reporting on Sex Abuse in the Catholic Church.
In the latter book, Sins of the Press: The Untold Story of The Boston Globe’s Reporting on Sex Abuse in the Catholic Church, Daid Pierre blows the lid off the Boston Globe’s 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting about sex abuse and the Catholic Church. While the Boston Globe would want you believe that its paper’s reporting was a carefully impartial chronicle of abuse and cover-ups by Church officials, David Pierre’s eye-opening and meticulously researched book uncovers something entirely different. He exposes:
• How the Boston Globe has routinely celebrated child molesters in its pages over the years;
• How the Boston Globe frequently promoted an author who supported incest between fathers and daughters;
• Extensive and undeniable proof that the Boston Globe’s reporting was the final layer or icing-on-the-cake of a relentless, decades-long attack against the Catholic Church;
• How the Boston Globe has deliberately dismissed and mitigated vile abuse and cover-ups in other institutions;
• How the Boston Globe flagrantly misled its readers about the Church’s response to abuse complaints;
• How the Boston Globe was flat-out erroneous in its reporting;
• How the Boston Globe assisted the foundation of the notorious pedophile group NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association).
Comparatively Small Percentage of Catholic Sexual Abuse Gets the Biggest Percentage of Attention! Why?
By reading and listening to the media, you can mistakenly be left feeling that they chief and largest group of sexual abusers of children are the clergy and the religious of the Catholic Church. Just as they say, in economics, that 20% of the world’s population owns 80% of the world’s wealth―you could also say that the Catholic minority amongst sexual abusers gets the majority of the attention, wrath and condemnation. Any and all sexual abuse is mortally sinful and ultimately deserving of Hell―unless those abusers, Catholic or not, use the means that God has mercifully given them to still save their poor and wretched souls. Yet the troubling and mysterious factor has to be the strange phenomenon that the sexual abusers within the Catholic Church―who are a minority in comparison to amount of sexual abuse that goes on in the world―are on the receiving end of the heaviest attacks and condemnations! Why?
It is extremely difficult to get total worldwide concrete figures on the number of children who are sexually abused each year. Hours and hours of research have failed to unearth firm and clear statistics on the matter. You can try yourself and see if you fare any better. The general problems in finding clear figures are down to the fact that (1) over 90% of sexual abuse cases are not reported, (2) only the ‘developed’ countries tend to keep records of such reports and the outcome of investigations, (3) there is a large divide in opinion between the enemies of the Church (who say that only 2% of accusations turn out to be false) and supporters of the Church (who say that anywhere from 20% to 50% of accusations are false). According to estimates from UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund), in just one year alone (2014) over 120 million children under the age of 18 were sexually abused (from groping to rape).
It’s Rainning Stats and Logs
RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization and is in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country. It carefully logs and analyzes the hundreds of thousands of accusations of sexual abuse in the USA and classifies them as substantiated or unsubstantiated. Some accusations are true, others are not, the rest remain in the foggy, gray, unknown zone. RAINN tells us that child sexual abuse Is a widespread problem and that in 2016 alone, Child Protective Services agencies substantiated, or found strong evidence to indicate that, 57,329 children were victims of sexual abuse.
Child Protective Services (CPS), report that out of the yearly 63,000 average of sexual abuse cases that are substantiated, or in which there is found strong evidence of sexual abuse, the perpetrator of the sexual abuse was most often the parent.
● 80% of perpetrators were a parent;
● 6% were other relatives;
● 5% were "other" (in a wide category ranging from siblings to strangers);
● 4% were unmarried partners of a parent.
What was the survivor doing when the crime occurred? RAINN’s research tells us that:
● 48% were sleeping, or performing another activity at home
● 29% were traveling to and from work or school, or traveling to shop or run errands
● 12% were working
● 7% were attending school
● 5% were doing an unknown or other activity
What Percentage of Sexual Abuse Cases Are Perpetrated by Catholic Clergy?
The media will refuse to give you the stats of how the Catholic Clergy sexual abuse crimes and sins compare to the other cases of child sex abuse in the world. It is not in their interests to do so, for it is not advantageous for them to do so! So let us calculate those percentages or numbers ourselves if the media refuses to do so.
As an average, over the last 60 years, there have been just over 400,000 priests worldwide in the Catholics Church and around 50,000 of those have served in the USA. The USA Catholic Church is estimated as being perhaps the most frequent abuser of children―with estimated figures of guilty clergy ranging from 1% (1 in a 100) to 4% (4 in 100, or 1 in 25). The USA Catholic Church received around 11,000 allegations of sexual abuse for a 52 year period (1950-2002)―which averages out at around 211 allegations per year.
Taking into account that studies suggest that only about 12% (1 in 8) to 30% (3 in 10) child sexual abuse cases are reported, then, taking the worst case scenario (of only 1 in 8 being reported), that would potentially make the clergy sexual abuse actual allegations of 11,000 over 52 years (211 per year), rise to 88,000 over 52 years (1,690 per year). In the USA, the average number of priests for that 52 year period would be around 50,000 priests―this gives a hypothetical worst-case sexual abuse figure of an annual average of 1,690 abuses per 50,000 priests.
If you apply that ratio (of 1,690 cases of abuse per each 50,000 group of priests) to the entire total of priests in the Catholic Church―which is just over 400,000 or 8 x 50,000―then you would get an annual average sexual abuse rate of 13,520 cases each year (8 x 1,690) out of an estimated 120 million cases of sexually abused children each year (UNICEF estimate)―which turns out to be 1 case of Catholic clergy sexual abuse in every 9,000 sexual abuse cases! One-nine-thousandth! Yet the Catholic share of one-nine-thousandth (1/9000) gets far, far, far more stick, flak and venom from the media than the other 8,999 case put together. Why? All those sexual abuse cases are acts of evil―whether Catholic or non-Catholic―but why does a very tiny minority get the majority of the coverage, wrath, vitriol, denunciation and condemnation? Nobody is saying that there should be no anger, denunciation and condemnation of the sin―but where is the proportionate anger, denunciation and condemnation with regard to the other 8,999 cases out of 9,000?
Once again, as already stated above―“during the first half of 2002, the 61 largest newspapers in California ran nearly 2,000 stories about sexual abuse in Catholic institutions, mostly concerning past allegations. During the same period, those newspapers ran four stories about the federal government’s discovery of the much larger — and ongoing — abuse scandal in public schools.” (CBS News, “Has Media Ignored Sex Abuse in School?” August 24th, 2006). Why?
Nobody is asking those questions and they need to be asked. Once we allow ourselves to be dumbed-down, and are perfectly happy with superficial, doctored, bite-sized, sugar-coated, melt-in-your-mouth-before-it-gets-to-your-brain, sensationalist half-truths or twisted-truths, that we have lost the ability to analyze and merely swallow whole―then we allow ourselves to be fed whatever the enemies of the Church wish to feed us, because we are incapable of any kind of deeper thinking, careful analysis, based on widespread research.
Hellish Hypocrisy of the World
We come back to the proverb of “The pot calling the kettle black”―used in the sense of someone being guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another, and which is a psychological projection of faults, or a deliberate tactic to attack another person and condemn them for the very fault that you have. This is exactly what the world is doing in relation to the Catholic Church as regards the sexual abuse crisis. But Holy Scripture has words for the world’s hypocrisy: “Wherefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou dost the same things which thou judgest … And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them who do such things, and dost the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” (Romans 2:1-3).
Objectively Speaking―What is Worse? Sexual Abuse or Murder?
Not all sins are of the same gravity―some are more serious than others. All mortal sin is deserving of Hell―unless a person repents in the manner required by God―but not all mortal sin is equal in gravity. Different mortal sins―even though they all lead to Hell―will be punished differently in Hell. So, think about it―what is more grave, what is more serious―sexual abuse or murder? The answer should be pretty obvious, but it is obviously forgotten amidst the ranting and raving against the Catholic Church today. Even the worldly, neo-pagan, God-rejecting or even God-hating crowd has to admit that murder is more serious than sexual abuse―even though they are both serious (mortal sins in Catholic terminology) and both will take a soul to Hell. Yet, even in this world, you can clearly see that the penalties imposed on those who sexually abuse another person and those who murder another person, are very much different. There is no death penalty for sexual abuse, but there is a death penalty for murder.
Each and every year, from 2010 to 2014, an estimated 56 million induced abortions were performed worldwide. Those numbers can even shock our modern day conscienceless Liberals―so the media aborts the hard-hitting truth and anesthetizes the reader with a chloroformed, sanitized, sugar-coated, less-shocking way of announcing the murder of 56 million babies. Instead, the media says: “Globally from 2010 through 2014, 35 abortions were performed per 1,000 women of reproductive age, down from 40 abortions per 1,000 women.” How sweet! How nice! How gentle! 35 per 1,000 is bite-sized and sugar-coated and far easier to swallow that 56 million!
As already stated above, according to estimates from UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund), in just one year alone (2014) over 120 million children under the age of 18 were sexually abused (from groping to rape). Yet each and every year, from 2010 to 2014, an estimated 56 million induced abortions were performed worldwide―that is 56 million murdered babies compared to 120 million sexually abused children. Which is worse? Yes, both are mortal sins and both are deserving of Hell―but which will be punished more heavily in Hell? Sexual abuse in not legalized (yet??), but murder of babies is legalized in most countries. This murder of babies (abortion) of 56 million babies each year from 2010 to 2014 is not just a five-year-glitch! Since Roe versus Wade in 1973, there have been over 1,538,000,000 (over 1,538 million) murders of babies worldwide. The USA, since Roe versus Wade, has murdered over 61 million of them.
Estimated abortions per year by region (millions):
Region 1990-94 1995-99 2000-04 2005-09 2010-14
AFRICA 4.6 million 5.4 million 6.2 million 7.0 million 8.3 million
ASIA 31.5 million 30.7 million 30.8 million 32.7 million 35.8 million
LATIN AMERICA 4.4 million 4.9 million 5.4 million 6.1 million 6.5 million
NORTHERN AMERICA 1.6 million 1.5 million 1.4 million 1.3 million 1.2 million
EUROPE 8.2 million 7.1 million 6.0 million 5.2 million 4.4 million
If some of the above numbers make it seem as though abortions are decreasing in some continents―stop and think again! You may or may not be aware of the new type of contraceptive pill that is on the market―popularly called “the morning after pill”―and also an “abortion pill” (RU486) which basically means that you take the pill after you “conceive” and get rid of the pregnancy with the pill! Easy, huh? No messy abortions! Though makers say that these pills do not cause abortions (deliberately induced miscarriages), some scientists have refuted these claims are untrue and that some “morning after pills” are actually abortifacients. What these pills do is cause an "imperceptible” abortion or deliberately induced miscarriage, that then removes the woman from the abortion statistics list―making it look as though less abortions are being performed, whereas this is not the case―for the “morning after pill” or “RU486” pill is basically a do-it-yourself abortion method, a less gruesome way to get rid of the baby.
If the Catholic Church is apologizing for a multitude of things these days―then perhaps most of the governments of the world and the legislators in those governments should take leaf out of the Catholic book and start apologizing for billions of babies they have killed over the last 40 years or so― there have been over 1,538,000,000 (over 1,538 million or 1.5 billion) murders of babies worldwide since 1980. Why are they not apologizing? Why are they not in prison serving life-sentences?
Does the World Need Something to Apologize For?
To the list of things they should be apologizing for, they could also add another kind of sexual abuse―the abuse of contraception, which abuses the purpose of sex as deemed by God―which is the creation of children, not the prevention of their creation. How many billions of souls have they prevented from coming into this world? One has to shudder at the potential total. Someone will have to answer for that sooner or later!
If they want something else to apologize for―then they could apologize for allowing the internet into their countries uncontrolled―which has led to the point where 30% of data sent across the internet today is pornography. The governments and other private companies most certainly have the technology and “know-how” to prevent that tidal wave of pornography, but they will not do so. Thus, they are enablers―and just as guilty as the drug cartel people and drug traffickers who supply people with drugs―for they enable people to sin sexually at least with their eyes and in their thoughts―thus, you could call it sex-abuse of another kind! With 73% of men and 37% of women watching pornography, someone is going to have to answer for this before God.
Is it surprising that, even before internet came on the scene in mid-1990s, Our Lady had already said to Blessed Elena Aiello, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, back in 1956 (when television was pretty scarce, never mind the internet or smartphones, tablets or laptops)― “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind: only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
If the world wants something more to apologize for―then it could apologize for perverting children by subjecting them to sex-education as early as 4th and 5th Grade (9-year-olds and 10-year-olds). In the USA, decisions about sex education are made at the state and local level — no federal laws dictate what sex education should look like, or how it should be taught in schools. Out of 50 states in the USA, 24 states and the District of Columbia require public schools teach sex education. 33 states and the District of Columbia require students receive instruction about HIV/AIDS. Yet God is banned from these sex-educating schools! In the United States, school prayer, if organized by the school, is largely banned from public elementary, middle and high schools by a series of Supreme Court decisions since 1962―just when Vatican II was getting going (1962-1965). The Constitutional basis for this prohibition is the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which requires that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...”
Since 1962, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that prayers in public schools are unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is also ruled that so-called “voluntary” school prayers are also unconstitutional, because they force some students to be outsiders to the main group, and because they subject dissenters to intense peer group pressure―all of is a reflection and imitation of the attitude as the Freemasons― as a requirement of membership in Freemasonry, every candidate must state that he has a personal belief in God, but every Freemason is encouraged to worship in his own way, according to his private beliefs and convictions. What he believes and how he worships are his own business. Thus you can see that it is the identical viewpoint to that which is held, promoted and enforced in public schools and is a separation of Church and State, or, more correctly, an independence of State from the Church which leads to a reversal of roles where the State dictates to the Church its humanistic opinions and laws, rather than have the Church dictate to the State the opinions and laws of God. Out with God―in with sex! Sex brings more pleasure than God―so God’s gotta go! Our Lady said that the sins that damn the greatest number of souls these days―she said this at Fatima back in 1917, over 100 years ago―are sexual sins, whether in thought, word or deed. So much for sex-education! Teach and help the kids damn themselves!
Now consider all the above in the light of the Communist (Freemason supported) agenda for the world in general and the USA in particular.
How a House of Representatives Committee described Communism
Communism is a worldwide political organization advocating:
(1) Hatred of God and all forms of religion
(2) Destruction of private property and inheritance
(3) Absolute social and racial equality and promotion of class hatred
(4) Revolution propaganda stirring up strikes, riots, sabotage, bloodshed and civil war
(5) Destruction of all forms of representative and democratic government, including civil liberties such freedom of speech assembly and trial by jury
(6) Ultimate and final objective is by means of world revolution to establish the dictatorship of the so-called proletariat into a one world union―( which is the nowadays labeled “New World Order”) (Bush)
Communist Rules for Revolution
● Corrupt the young, get them away from religions, get them interested in sex make them superficial and destroy their ruggedness
● Get control of all means of publicity, get the minds of people off their government by making them focus on athletics, sexy books and plays and trivialities.
● Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial matters of absolutely no importance
● Destroy the people’s faith in their natural leaders by holding them up to contempt and ridicule
● Always preach true democracy, but seize all power as quickly and as ruthlessly as possible
● By encouraging government extravagance destroy its credit produce fear of inflation, rising prices and create a general discontent.
● Promote unnecessary strikes in vital industries, encourage civil disorders, foster civil disorders, foster a lenient and soft attitude on the part of government to such things
● By specious argument cause the breakdown of old moral virtues of such as honesty and sobriety.
Part of Stalin's Plan for Communist Destruction of USA
Plan passed by Joseph Stalin to various district organizers of Communism in helping America self-destruct:
(1) In Faith: by philosophy, mysticism, the development of Liberal cults, and the furtherance of atheism, discredit all Christian creeds―today we see that accomplished. We have the New Age movement, the occult being accepted as a religion, popular in the bookstores, taught in the public schools, occult movies, occult videos, occult websites.
(2) In Morals: corrupt morality by promoting and propagating promiscuity, encourage promiscuity in schools and colleges, introduce ‘companionship marriage’ ideas (living together in sin), advocate legalized abortions, contraception, destroy the family, abolish inheritance, Today we see the fruits― sex education in schools, cohabitation, free contraception, homosexuality, lesbianism, legalized same-sex marriages, legalized abortions, divorce when it convenient, etc.
Infiltration Admitted by Bella Dodd
Dr. Bella Visono Dodd (1904–1969) was a member of the Communist Party of America in the 1930s and 1940s, who later became a vocal anti-Communist. After her defection from the Communist Party in 1949, she testified that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radical Communists to enter Roman Catholic Seminaries. In her public affidavit, among other things, Dr. Bella V. Dodd stated:
“In the late 1920s and 1930s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... I, myself, put some 1,200 men in Catholic seminaries … In the 1930s we put 1,100 men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops”
A dozen years before the Second Vatican Council, she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church”--which is true, for if you are old enough to remember the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church, then you have to admit that things have been changed drastically.
Yuri Bezmenov, Russian KGB Defector
Yuri Bezmenov (1939-1993―only 54 years old at death!), a disillusioned Soviet KGB agent, defected to North America while stationed in India. His goal was to save the West from Soviet subversion by publicizing KGB tactics and goals. While he received some attention in the Western press, his warnings have mostly gone unheeded while much of what he predicted has come true. Russian Communists have become masters of deception, mind control, and subversion.
Yuri Bezmenov states: ”The real driving force of this war of aggression is IDEOLOGY — something you cannot eat, wear or store for a “rainy day”. An integral part of this war of ideology is IDEOLOGICAL SUBVERSION — the process of changing the perception of reality in the minds of millions of peoples all over the world.”
“Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. There is no art higher than to destroy your enemy without a fight ― by SUBVERTING anything of value in enemy’s country.”
“The main principle of ideological subversion is TURNING A STRONGER FORCE AGAINST ITSELF. Just like in the Japanese martial arts: you do not stop the blow of a heavier more powerful enemy with an equally forceful blow. You may simply hurt your hand. Instead you catch the striking fist with your hand and PULL the enemy in the direction of his blow until he crashes into a wall or any other heavy object in his way.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Bezmenov then goes on to state some of the basic rules for revolution:
1 . Corrupt the young, get them interested in sex, take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled.
2. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial issues of no importance.
3. Destroy people’s faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt, ridicule and disgrace.
Demoralized and enfeebled ‘masses’ tend to grab the ‘easiest’ short-cut solution to social ills and Socialism seems to them to be the best answer.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Bezmenov explaining that the demoralization process in the US had already been completed to a degree beyond the wildest dreams of the top leadership in the Kremlin. “This process was done by Americans to Americans, thanks to a lack of morals. Most of the people educated in the 1960s, are now the “intellectuals” that are occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, mass media and the education system. You are stuck with them,” Bezmenov points out.
The Cultural Revolution of the West
The 1960s, a watershed moment of modern history, saw an unprecedented counterculture movement sweeping from East to West. In contrast to the Cultural Revolution of the Chinese communists, the Western counterculture movement appeared to have multiple focuses, or rather to lack any focus. Over the decade from the 1960s to the 1970s, the mostly young participants of the counterculture movement were motivated by various pursuits. Some opposed the Vietnam War, some fought for civil rights, some advocated for feminism and denounced patriarchy, some strove for homosexual rights. Topping this off was a dazzling spectacle of movements against tradition and authority that advocated sexual freedom, hedonism, narcotics, and rock music. The goal of this Western Cultural Revolution is to destroy the upright Christian civilization and its traditional culture. While apparently disordered and chaotic, this international cultural shift stems from communism. After the youth of the 1960s ended their activist lifestyle, they entered universities and research institutes, completed their master’s degrees and doctorates, and entered the mainstream of American society. They brought the Marxist worldview and its values into education, media, politics, and business, furthering a nonviolent revolution across the country. Since the 1980s, the left has largely taken over and established strongholds in the mainstream media, academia, and Hollywood.
For most people, all of this is hard to digest―they are used to digesting cookies, candies, donuts, ice-cream, burgers and beer! The digestive juices of their stomach work 24/7 (24 hours a day, seven days a week)―but their intellectual juices have dried up and to them even the Catechism feels and tastes as tough as beef-jerky or dried-meat. Hence we are where we are―with dumbed-down parents and teachers producing even dumber children and students. Which is why Pope St. Pius X―writing in 1905, in days when minds were stronger in many ways than today―laments over the state of ignorance among Christians:
“The enemy has, indeed, long been prowling about the fold and attacking it with such subtle cunning, now, more than ever before … We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and sickness of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found, above all, in ignorance of things divine … It is a common complaint―unfortunately too well founded―that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation. Not only those in the lower walks of life ― but especially those who do not lack culture or talents and are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world, but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there … They have no conception of the malice and baseness of sin; hence they show no anxiety to avoid sin or to renounce it. And so they arrive at life's end in such a condition that, … Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: « We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect. » There is, then, no reason for wonder that the corruption of morals and depravity of life is already so great, and ever increasingly greater―not only among uncivilized peoples but even in those very nations that are called Christian” (Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical Acerbo Nimis, 1905).
Saturday June 8th
Article 4
THE CHURCH IN COURT! THE CHURCH ON TRIAL!
What are the charges? What is the plea? Is She guilty or not guilty?
Article 4
THE CHURCH IN COURT! THE CHURCH ON TRIAL!
What are the charges? What is the plea? Is She guilty or not guilty?
Church on Trial
We shall place the Church “in the dock” or the “witness stand” and place her on trial. Is the Church guilty on all the charges listed against her? If so, how guilty is she? If not, then what is the truth of the matter. We will look at the witnesses brought by the prosecution. We will cross-examine them. We will look at the witnesses for the defense and cross examine them too. What is the truth? Are we getting, seeing, hearing the truth? Or are getting, seeing, hearing partial truths, half-truths, twisted-truths, exaggerated truths, made-up truths? This is something that every Catholic should be able to do in these times of unprecedented attacks on the Church―not only from those outside the Church, but also from the Church’s very own members. So what happens in a court trial? Here is a brief overview:
● Opening statements. The prosecution and then the defense make opening statements to the judge or jury. These statements provide an outline of the case that each side expects to prove. Because neither side wants to look foolish to the jury, the attorneys are careful to promise only what they think they can deliver. In some cases, the defense attorney reserves opening statement until the beginning of the defense case. The lawyer may even choose not to give an opening statement, perhaps to emphasize to the jury that it’s the prosecution’s burden to do the convincing.
● Prosecution case-in-chief. The prosecution presents its main case through direct examination of prosecution witnesses.
● Cross-examination. The defense may cross-examine the prosecution witnesses.
● Prosecution rests its case. The prosecution finishes presenting its case.
● Motion to dismiss the case (optional). The defense may move to dismiss the charges if it thinks that the prosecution has failed to produce enough evidence—even if the jury believes the evidence—to support a guilty verdict.
● Denial of motion to dismiss the case. Almost always, the judge denies the defense motion to dismiss the case.
● Defense case-in-chief. The defense presents its main case through direct examination of defense witnesses.
● Cross-examination. The prosecutor cross-examines the defense witnesses.
● Defense rests its case. The defense finishes presenting its case.
● Prosecution rebuttal. The prosecutor offers evidence to refute the defense case.
● Settling on jury instructions. The prosecution and defense get together with the judge and determine a final set of instructions that the judge will give the jury.
● Prosecution closing argument. The prosecution makes its closing argument, summarizing the evidence as the prosecution sees it and explaining why the jury should render a guilty verdict.
● Defense closing argument. The defense’s counterpart to the prosecutor’s closing argument. The lawyer explains why the jury should render a “not guilty” verdict—or at least a guilty verdict on only a lesser charge.
● Prosecution rebuttal. The prosecution has the last word, if it chooses to take it, and again argues that the jury has credible evidence that supports a finding of guilty.
● Jury instructions. The judge instructs the jury about what law to apply to the case and how to carry out its duties.
● Jury deliberations. The jury deliberates and tries to reach a verdict. Usually, juries must be unanimous in their verdict. If less than the requisite number of jurors agrees on a verdict, the jury is “hung” and the case may be retried.
A List of Charges Against the Catholic Church
Arraignment is a formal reading of a criminal charging document in the presence of the defendant to inform the defendant of the charges against the defendant. In response to arraignment, the accused is expected to enter a plea of “guilty” or “not guilty.”
What, then, are the charges against the Catholic Church? The charges are many and varied―they are current and they also bear upon the past. The past accusations seem to be very tame compared to those of today. In the old days, the attacks against the Church would mainly come from outside the Church―from non-Catholics or fallen-away or apostatized Catholics. Some of those complaints would be as follows:
1. Catholics are not “Christians”
2. Catholics worship Mary and the Saints
3. Catholics worship the Pope
4. The Church opposes science
5. Catholics worship statues
6. Catholics don’t believe the Bible, They believe in man-made traditions
7. Catholics can sin as much as they want and they just go to Confession
8. The Catholic Church is all about making money
9. Catholics believe they can earn Heaven through works and by buying indulgences
10. The Church tortured and killed millions in the Inquisition
11. Catholics changed the Bible
12. Constantine founded the Catholic Church to control the Roman Empire
Today, the enemies of the Church have found a new stick with which to beat the life out of the Church―that ‘stick’ is the ‘stick’ of sex and they are sticking to it and sticking it to the Church. Not that the Church is blameless on the matter, but, as we shall see, things are not entirely what they appear to be from the outside. Nevertheless, if the ‘stick’ does its job, then ‘stick’ with it―which is what they are doing. It is said that the world is obsessed with sex today, that they are “sex-mad” and that people have a “one-track-mind” which is focused on sex. The same is true for the attack of the enemies upon the Church―they have a “one-track-mind” and use a “one-track-attack”―sex, sex, and more sex. Bishops and priests sexually abuse children and nuns. Nuns, Sisters, Monks and Brothers sexually abuse the children they teach. Homosexuality and lesbianism is prevalent among the clergy and religious. Where did this sudden explosion of sex-obsession come from? Well, it has always been a weakness for mankind―whether it be laity, clergy or religious―but in recent decades, for a variety of reasons coming from a variety of causes, you can use the proverbial much-used and over-used expression, and attribute this explosion to the so-called “Sex Revolution” of the 1960s. However, things are not quite as the general mainstream media like to paint it! More on that towards the end of this article―or perhaps in the following one. The mainstream media counts on people being dumbed-down and reluctant to do their own research―and they are correct on both counts. That is why they can be fed almost anything and they will trustingly, unquestioningly, naively and unsuspectingly “lap it all up.”
Psyched Into Change!
Nowadays, the chief accusations against the Church revolve around sex. In the 10 years after the Second Vatican Council, 100,000 men left the priesthood worldwide and many of them married. Nuns and Sisters also left in droves. The clergy and religious of the Church were permeated with a “new atmosphere” which was triggered by the Second Vatican Council’s desire to “update”, to “get in tune” with the world and to open the Church’s doors and windows to the world. The problem was that the world did not jump into the Church through those opened doors and windows, but the clergy, the religious and the laity jumped out of those windows and doors and joined the world!
Dr. William Coulson, a Catholic, was a disciple of the influential Protestant American psychologist Dr. Carl Rogers. In 1964 he became chief of staff at Dr. Carl Rogers’ Western Behavioral Sciences Institute in La Jolla, California, where, he says, as the resident Catholic, it became his task to “gather a cadre of facilitators to invade the Immaculate Heart of Mary community” of nuns―and later another two dozen other religious orders, among them the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of Providence, and the Jesuits. It was only in 1971 that he began to “back away” from his belief in psychotherapy, when its destructive effects on the religious orders―and on the Church and society in general―became apparent to him. Having abandoned his once-lucrative practice, Dr. Coulson now devotes his life to lecturing to Catholic and Protestant groups on the dangers of psychotherapy.
The Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was founded in Spain in 1848. Twenty-three years later, at the invitation of the bishop of California, 10 sisters came to the United States. Initially, the nuns worked with the poor, but pivoted later to education. In 1886 they began teaching in Los Angeles. Over the next several decades, they staffed Catholic schools, started a convent, and founded a high school and a college. In 1924, the order separated from Spain. The women renamed themselves the California Institute of the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The “new” order flourished: By the 1960s, it had 600 members, most of whom were teachers. And by 1967 almost 200 sisters worked in Los Angeles’ Catholic schools. More served in their own order’s educational institutions. Led by broad-minded mother superiors, their order and their college were intellectually rigorous and open to diverse perspectives. They welcomed female speakers such as social activist Dorothy Day to campus as well as Protestant, Jewish and even Hindu religious leaders.
Dr. Coulson explains the damage that he and other psychologists to the Church in general and the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary community in particular:
Psychological Destruction
“I went to Notre Dame in the late ‘50s, for a doctorate in philosophy … Notre Dame was Catholic! I got a good education in Thomistic philosophy … and wrote my dissertation on Dr. Carl Rogers’ theory of human nature. There was an interesting controversy at the time, about whether Rogers, who was probably the most prominent American psychologist of his day, believed that every man is totally good … At the University of Chicago, where Rogers had done his most significant work, he had found that young people he was counseling didn’t really need him to give them answers―that they had answers within them … Rogers wouldn’t be so directive as to say, “Use your own convictions about ethical law.” Rather, he would say, “I guess I get the feeling that what you are saying is....” As a practicing Catholic layman, I thought that was pretty holy: that God was available to every person who had a decent upbringing, that he could self-consult, as it were, and hear God speaking to him … I joined Rogers in his study of non-directive psychotherapy with normal people. We had the idea that if it was good for neurotics, it would be good for normals. Well, the normal people of Wisconsin proved how normal they were by opting out as soon as they knew what it was we wanted. Nobody wanted any part of it. So we went to California. That was my first mistake, looking for normal people in California. But we found the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the IHMs. They agreed to let us come into their schools and work with their normal faculty, and with their normal students, and influence the development of normal Catholic family life. It was a disaster.
There’s a tragic book called Lesbian Nuns, Breaking Silence, which documents part of our effect on the IHMs and other religious orders that engaged in similar experiments, in what we called “sensitivity” or “encounter.” In a chapter of Lesbian Nuns, one former Immaculate Heart nun describes the summer of 1966, when we did the pilot study in her order. The IHMs had some 60 schools when we started; at the end, they had one. There were some 615 nuns when we began. Within a year after our first interventions, 300 of them were petitioning Rome to get out of their vows. They did not want to be under anyone’s authority, except the authority of their imperial inner selves. Sister Mary Benjamin got involved with us in the summer of ‘66, and became the victim of a lesbian seduction. An older nun in the group, “freeing herself to be more expressive of who she really was internally,” decided that she wanted to make love with Sister Mary Benjamin. Well, Sister Mary Benjamin engaged in this; and then she was stricken with guilt, and wondered, to quote from her book, “Was I doing something wrong, was I doing something terrible? I talked to a priest!” Unfortunately, we had talked to him first. “I talked to a priest,” she says, “who refused to pass judgment on my actions. He said it was up to me to decide if they were right or wrong. He opened a door, and I walked through the door, realizing I was on my own.” The priest got confused about his role as a confessor. He thought it was personal, and he consulted himself and said, “I can’t pass judgment on you.” But that’s not what confession is. It is not about the priest as a person, making a decision for the client; rather it’s what God says. In fact, God has already judged on this matter. You are quite right to feel guilty about it. “Go thou and sin no more.” Instead he said she should decide.
The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary were pretty progressive, but some of the leadership was a little bit nervous about the secular psychologist from La Jolla coming in; and so I met with the whole community, some 600 nuns gathered in the Immaculate Heart High School gymnasium, in Hollywood, on an April day in 1967. We’ve already done the pilot study, we told them. Now we want to get everybody in the system involved in non-directive self-exploration. We call it encounter groups, but if that name doesn’t please you, we’ll call it something else. We’ll call it the person group. So they went along with us, and they trusted us, and that is partly my responsibility, because they thought, “These people wouldn’t hurt us: the project coordinator is a Catholic.” Rogers, however, was the principal investigator. He was the brains behind the project, and he was probably anti-Catholic; at the time I didn’t recognize it because I probably was, too. We both had a bias against hierarchy. I was flush with Vatican II, and I thought, “I am the Church; I am as Catholic as the Pope. Didn’t Pope John XXIII want us to open the windows and let in the fresh air? Here we come!” And we did, and within a year those nuns wanted out of their vows. In the summer of ‘67 the IHMs were having their chapter. They had been called, as all religious orders were, to reevaluate their mode of living, and to bring it more in line with the charisms of their founder. So they were ready for us. They were ready for an intensive look at themselves with the help of humanistic psychologists. We overcame their traditions, we overcame their Faith.
Father Elwood Kaiser, a Paulist priest, wrote a book last year [1993] called Hollywood Priest. He’s got a chapter in there about his romantic involvement with one of our nuns, with one of the Immaculate Heart of Mary sisters. Father Kaiser explains that as “Genevieve”―as he calls her―got in the spirit of Rogerian non-directive encounter, she propositioned him sexually. He refused her, because he didn’t see how he could have something going with her and still be a good priest; but then she got sexually involved with her Rogerian therapist. We were referring the nuns, who opened up too much in our encounter groups, to therapists who were on the periphery. This male therapist got her involved in sex games, in therapy. Dr. Rogers didn’t get people involved in sex games, but he couldn’t prevent his followers from doing it, because all he could say was, “Well, I don’t do that.” Then his followers would say, “Well, of course you don’t do that, because you grew up in an earlier era; but we do, and it’s marvelous: you have set us free to be ourselves and not carbon copies of you.” It took about a year and a half to destroy this Immaculate Heart order. How many are left? There are some retired nuns, who are living in the mother house in Hollywood; then there is a small group of radical feminists, who run a center for feminist theology in a storefront in Hollywood, but they’re not a canonical group, and there are a few of them in Wichita. There may be a couple of dozen left all together, apart from whom, kaput, they’re gone! Our grant had been for three years, but we called off the study after two, because we were alarmed about the results. We thought we could make the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary better than they were; and we destroyed them.
We did similar programs for the Jesuits, for the Franciscans, for the Sisters of Providence, of Charity, and the Mercy Sisters. We did dozens of Catholic religious organizations, because as you recall, in the excitement following Vatican II, everybody wanted to update, everybody wanted to renew; and we offered a way for people to renew, without having to bother to study. We said, we’ll help you look within. After all, is not God in your heart? Is it not sufficient to be yourself, and wouldn’t that make you a good Catholic? And if it doesn’t, then perhaps you shouldn’t have been a Catholic in the first place. Well, after a while there weren’t many Catholics left. We provoked an epidemic of sexual misconduct among clergy and therapists. actually we started with the Jesuits before we started with the nuns. We did our first Jesuit workshop in ‘65. Rogers got two honorary doctorates from Jesuit universities. They thought we were saviors. In ‘67 the Jesuits had a big conference at Santa Clara, and there was a lot of talk about the “Third Way” [Dr. Rogers’ way] among the Jesuits. The first two ways are faithful marriage and faithful celibacy. But now there was this more humane way, a more human way―all too human as I see it today! The idea was that priests could date. One priest, for example, defined his celibacy for me as, “It means I don’t have to marry the girl.” A good book to read on this whole question is Fr. Joseph Becker’s The Reformed Jesuits. It reviews the collapse of Jesuit training between 1965 and 1975. Jesuit formation virtually fell apart; and Father Becker knows the influence of the Rogerians pretty well. He cites a number of Jesuit novice masters who claimed that the authority for what they did―and didn’t do―was Dr. Carl Rogers. Later on when the Jesuits gave Dr. Rogers those honorary doctorates, I think that they wanted to credit him with his influence on the Jesuit way of life. Humanistic psychotherapy, the kind that has virtually taken over the Church in America, and dominates so many forms of aberrant education like sex education, and drug education, holds that the most important source of authority is within you, that you must listen to yourself. Rogers put it this way: “I’m too religious to have a religion,” by which I think he meant, “I’m more religious than you are because I don’t go to church, I don’t feel obliged, I don’t follow a creed, I make my own.” Today’s young Catholics don’t have the advantage of having learned how to work the equipment. They don’t know how to pray the Rosary. If they went to a Latin Mass they wouldn’t know how to turn the pages in the missal. They don’t understand that lists of mortal and venial sins are serious, and not to be made fun of.
False Gods in the Church
Today, the focus has shifted and keeps in tune with and aligned to the hyper-sexed obsession of the modern age, in which the god of sex is highest god of all―thus sexual sins are seen to the gravest sins of all or even no sin at all. As one pope after another―since Pope Pius XII in the post-war years―has lamented: the world, including Catholics, have lost the sense of sin. As Our Lady warned― “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals” (Our Lady of Good Success & La Salette). Today, we can clearly see extinguishing of the Faith and that division in the Church―among clergy, among the religious, and among families. God is being forgotten and false gods replace Him. As a whole, the god of sex has replaced the One True God as being the focal point of mankind.
Unfortunately, the modern person of our age picks and chooses what is to be classified as a sin against the god of sex and what is not a sin against the god of sex. Therefore things like impure thoughts, impure images, pornography, oral sex, anal sex, cohabitation, fornication, masturbation, contraceptive sex, deviant sex, adulterous sex, homosexuality, lesbianism, sexting on their smartphones; and taking and sending impure images of themselves to others, etc. are all acceptable and permissible if one personally chooses to practice them. In all these things, each person absolves themselves from any guilt, hang-up, or stigma and happily indulges in whichever pleasure they desire―for nobody is going to convince them that these pleasures are sinful, least of all that old-fashioned, dogmatic, hard-hearted, inflexible, rigorist, unreasonable Church. Nobody is going to tell them what to do! They, like Adam and Eve, want to be their own judges of what is right and wrong, good and bad, permissible and forbidden! However, even though they are very generous and liberal towards themselves in practicing the above listed sins (that they no longer consider as being sinful), others are not on the receiving end of such generous dispensations.
Pornography Replaces Theology
A psychologist who deals with sexual disorders, reveals that 30% of all data that is sent on the internet is pornography. 70% of men watch porn on the internet and 30% of women watch porn. The total combined views that porn sites get are 10 times more than Netflix.com, 4 times more that Amazon.com, and 3 times more that Twitter.com―in fact, combine Netflix, Amazon and Twitter together and they only have 65% of the visits that the porn sites get. As for individual sites, excluding search engine sites (which get the most visits) there is one porn site that is #4 in the world, with only Wikipedia, Amazon and Netflix ranking above it. For the year 2017, that site claimed 28.5 billion total visits. That’s 81 million a day, almost 4 million an hour, 56,000 a minute, or almost 1,000 per second.
No surprises there―Our Lady already warned us of this: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere [internet through the air or atmosphere by wireless radio waves = permeate the atmosphere] during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … and the priests have become cesspools of impurity ... Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like … Without virginity, it will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them … The loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette and Akita).
Thus the ‘liberated’ persons today hold views and practice such views as accepting contraception, participating in impure actions before they are married, watching impure material, having same-sex relations, dabbling with adultery, dressing immodestly and provocatively, etc., while condemning bishops, priests, religious monks, brothers, nuns and sisters for doing the same! They become like the crooked cop who busts drug dealers and then confiscates their drugs so he can sell them later. They put on an indignation at the sins of those Church members, while committing some of the very same sins themselves. Both the laity and the clergy are hypocritical in following such a lifestyle―and that lifestyle has brought upon the Church―not always by its own fault, as we shall see―the ignominy, shame, shock and scandal that is now being witnessed by the so-called “clergy sex-abuse scandals.” The modern world is hyper-sexed, over-sexed, sex-obsessed and so they have happily become obsessed with seeing the scandal among the clergy. For is the clergy indulge in such things, then all more reason and right there is for them to indulge in it too! Just like the guy at a party who sees the priest drink one or two beers, means that the guy can drink eight or ten beers!
Sexual Revolution and Satan’s Revolution
Everyone likes to see a definite and concrete start-date or point of departure or beginning. Thus the next day begins at midnight. Legal maturity begins at 18 or 21 years of age―depending where you live. We count our age in years from the day that we started life outside our mother’s womb. Similarly and arguably, you could place the beginning of the American “Sexual Revolution” in the year 1961, which was the year the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the United States gave its approval to the first birth-control pill. If you dispute that date, you cannot dispute the fact that the 1960s―whichever year within the ‘60s you choose to pick―was the decade of the “Sexual Revolution.” Anyone born after 1954 will have been too young to fully grasp and understand what was really happening in the moral field. Yet every revolution is the child of an earlier revolution―as common sense and the laws of causality dictate (every effect has a cause―and that cause is, in turn, an effect of an earlier cause). Thus you are an “effect” who has been “caused” by your parents―and your parents, in turn, are “effects” of earlier “causes”, who were their parents and your grandparents. Ultimately we trace ourselves back to Adam and Eve as regards parentage―for we call them “Our First Parents” and we speak of “the sin of our first parents” which was “Original Sin”, the stain or wound of which we are all born.
The Church and the Fathers of the Church teach us that Original Sin was a twofold sin―a sin of pride and a sin of disobedience. Yet even their Original Sin was an effect of a cause―that cause being Satan, the Original Revolutionary, to whom the Church attributes the words: “Non serviam!” meaning “I will not serve!”―the typical and common cry of a revolutionary. In the Latin Vulgate, God speaks to the Jews through His prophet Jeremias: “And thou saidst: ‘I will not serve!’” (Jeremias 2:20), thus expressing their rejection of God. The words became a general expression of the basic manner of rejecting God, such that it would apply to the fall of Lucifer. The words have thus been attributed to Lucifer himself and every revolutionary and revolution born of Lucifer―from the rebellion of Adam and Eve, down to each sin committed each day today. Sin and all the fads of this worldly world are basically a rebellion or revolution against God and God’s order. Sin is revolution. Revolution creates an enmity. That is why Holy Scripture says that God and the world―as in the sense of a worldly world―are two irreconcilables: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
Our Lady Speaks of Worldwide Revolution Against God and the Church
Our Lady refers to this ‘family-tree’ or ‘child of the revolution’ when she says: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals [sexual revolution and other revolutions], for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women.
The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church. The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish.
“The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.”
Our Lady Paints a Picture of the Sexual Revolution
Let us take the above words of Our Lady and distill them down still further to get a ‘concentrate’ upon which we can concentrate more clearly. The following ‘distilled’ words paint a clear picture―directly and indirectly―of the current Sexual Revolution that we have been living through for the last 50 years or thereabouts: “Passions will erupt … Total corruption of morals … Do away with every religious principle … Make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... Homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension … Without love for country or family … Divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women ... The spirit of impurity will permeate the atmosphere … Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty ... There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Corrupted priests will scandalize the Christian people … An apparent triumph of Satan … By their wicked lives, irreverence, impiety, love of money, love of honors and pleasures, priests have become cesspools of impurity … Convents are grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] … A great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion … There will even be bishops ... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith … Lucifer and demons, will put an end to Faith, little by little … People will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell ... Everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... As true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.”
Add to this the words spoken by Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind: only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
We shall place the Church “in the dock” or the “witness stand” and place her on trial. Is the Church guilty on all the charges listed against her? If so, how guilty is she? If not, then what is the truth of the matter. We will look at the witnesses brought by the prosecution. We will cross-examine them. We will look at the witnesses for the defense and cross examine them too. What is the truth? Are we getting, seeing, hearing the truth? Or are getting, seeing, hearing partial truths, half-truths, twisted-truths, exaggerated truths, made-up truths? This is something that every Catholic should be able to do in these times of unprecedented attacks on the Church―not only from those outside the Church, but also from the Church’s very own members. So what happens in a court trial? Here is a brief overview:
● Opening statements. The prosecution and then the defense make opening statements to the judge or jury. These statements provide an outline of the case that each side expects to prove. Because neither side wants to look foolish to the jury, the attorneys are careful to promise only what they think they can deliver. In some cases, the defense attorney reserves opening statement until the beginning of the defense case. The lawyer may even choose not to give an opening statement, perhaps to emphasize to the jury that it’s the prosecution’s burden to do the convincing.
● Prosecution case-in-chief. The prosecution presents its main case through direct examination of prosecution witnesses.
● Cross-examination. The defense may cross-examine the prosecution witnesses.
● Prosecution rests its case. The prosecution finishes presenting its case.
● Motion to dismiss the case (optional). The defense may move to dismiss the charges if it thinks that the prosecution has failed to produce enough evidence—even if the jury believes the evidence—to support a guilty verdict.
● Denial of motion to dismiss the case. Almost always, the judge denies the defense motion to dismiss the case.
● Defense case-in-chief. The defense presents its main case through direct examination of defense witnesses.
● Cross-examination. The prosecutor cross-examines the defense witnesses.
● Defense rests its case. The defense finishes presenting its case.
● Prosecution rebuttal. The prosecutor offers evidence to refute the defense case.
● Settling on jury instructions. The prosecution and defense get together with the judge and determine a final set of instructions that the judge will give the jury.
● Prosecution closing argument. The prosecution makes its closing argument, summarizing the evidence as the prosecution sees it and explaining why the jury should render a guilty verdict.
● Defense closing argument. The defense’s counterpart to the prosecutor’s closing argument. The lawyer explains why the jury should render a “not guilty” verdict—or at least a guilty verdict on only a lesser charge.
● Prosecution rebuttal. The prosecution has the last word, if it chooses to take it, and again argues that the jury has credible evidence that supports a finding of guilty.
● Jury instructions. The judge instructs the jury about what law to apply to the case and how to carry out its duties.
● Jury deliberations. The jury deliberates and tries to reach a verdict. Usually, juries must be unanimous in their verdict. If less than the requisite number of jurors agrees on a verdict, the jury is “hung” and the case may be retried.
A List of Charges Against the Catholic Church
Arraignment is a formal reading of a criminal charging document in the presence of the defendant to inform the defendant of the charges against the defendant. In response to arraignment, the accused is expected to enter a plea of “guilty” or “not guilty.”
What, then, are the charges against the Catholic Church? The charges are many and varied―they are current and they also bear upon the past. The past accusations seem to be very tame compared to those of today. In the old days, the attacks against the Church would mainly come from outside the Church―from non-Catholics or fallen-away or apostatized Catholics. Some of those complaints would be as follows:
1. Catholics are not “Christians”
2. Catholics worship Mary and the Saints
3. Catholics worship the Pope
4. The Church opposes science
5. Catholics worship statues
6. Catholics don’t believe the Bible, They believe in man-made traditions
7. Catholics can sin as much as they want and they just go to Confession
8. The Catholic Church is all about making money
9. Catholics believe they can earn Heaven through works and by buying indulgences
10. The Church tortured and killed millions in the Inquisition
11. Catholics changed the Bible
12. Constantine founded the Catholic Church to control the Roman Empire
Today, the enemies of the Church have found a new stick with which to beat the life out of the Church―that ‘stick’ is the ‘stick’ of sex and they are sticking to it and sticking it to the Church. Not that the Church is blameless on the matter, but, as we shall see, things are not entirely what they appear to be from the outside. Nevertheless, if the ‘stick’ does its job, then ‘stick’ with it―which is what they are doing. It is said that the world is obsessed with sex today, that they are “sex-mad” and that people have a “one-track-mind” which is focused on sex. The same is true for the attack of the enemies upon the Church―they have a “one-track-mind” and use a “one-track-attack”―sex, sex, and more sex. Bishops and priests sexually abuse children and nuns. Nuns, Sisters, Monks and Brothers sexually abuse the children they teach. Homosexuality and lesbianism is prevalent among the clergy and religious. Where did this sudden explosion of sex-obsession come from? Well, it has always been a weakness for mankind―whether it be laity, clergy or religious―but in recent decades, for a variety of reasons coming from a variety of causes, you can use the proverbial much-used and over-used expression, and attribute this explosion to the so-called “Sex Revolution” of the 1960s. However, things are not quite as the general mainstream media like to paint it! More on that towards the end of this article―or perhaps in the following one. The mainstream media counts on people being dumbed-down and reluctant to do their own research―and they are correct on both counts. That is why they can be fed almost anything and they will trustingly, unquestioningly, naively and unsuspectingly “lap it all up.”
Psyched Into Change!
Nowadays, the chief accusations against the Church revolve around sex. In the 10 years after the Second Vatican Council, 100,000 men left the priesthood worldwide and many of them married. Nuns and Sisters also left in droves. The clergy and religious of the Church were permeated with a “new atmosphere” which was triggered by the Second Vatican Council’s desire to “update”, to “get in tune” with the world and to open the Church’s doors and windows to the world. The problem was that the world did not jump into the Church through those opened doors and windows, but the clergy, the religious and the laity jumped out of those windows and doors and joined the world!
Dr. William Coulson, a Catholic, was a disciple of the influential Protestant American psychologist Dr. Carl Rogers. In 1964 he became chief of staff at Dr. Carl Rogers’ Western Behavioral Sciences Institute in La Jolla, California, where, he says, as the resident Catholic, it became his task to “gather a cadre of facilitators to invade the Immaculate Heart of Mary community” of nuns―and later another two dozen other religious orders, among them the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of Providence, and the Jesuits. It was only in 1971 that he began to “back away” from his belief in psychotherapy, when its destructive effects on the religious orders―and on the Church and society in general―became apparent to him. Having abandoned his once-lucrative practice, Dr. Coulson now devotes his life to lecturing to Catholic and Protestant groups on the dangers of psychotherapy.
The Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was founded in Spain in 1848. Twenty-three years later, at the invitation of the bishop of California, 10 sisters came to the United States. Initially, the nuns worked with the poor, but pivoted later to education. In 1886 they began teaching in Los Angeles. Over the next several decades, they staffed Catholic schools, started a convent, and founded a high school and a college. In 1924, the order separated from Spain. The women renamed themselves the California Institute of the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The “new” order flourished: By the 1960s, it had 600 members, most of whom were teachers. And by 1967 almost 200 sisters worked in Los Angeles’ Catholic schools. More served in their own order’s educational institutions. Led by broad-minded mother superiors, their order and their college were intellectually rigorous and open to diverse perspectives. They welcomed female speakers such as social activist Dorothy Day to campus as well as Protestant, Jewish and even Hindu religious leaders.
Dr. Coulson explains the damage that he and other psychologists to the Church in general and the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary community in particular:
Psychological Destruction
“I went to Notre Dame in the late ‘50s, for a doctorate in philosophy … Notre Dame was Catholic! I got a good education in Thomistic philosophy … and wrote my dissertation on Dr. Carl Rogers’ theory of human nature. There was an interesting controversy at the time, about whether Rogers, who was probably the most prominent American psychologist of his day, believed that every man is totally good … At the University of Chicago, where Rogers had done his most significant work, he had found that young people he was counseling didn’t really need him to give them answers―that they had answers within them … Rogers wouldn’t be so directive as to say, “Use your own convictions about ethical law.” Rather, he would say, “I guess I get the feeling that what you are saying is....” As a practicing Catholic layman, I thought that was pretty holy: that God was available to every person who had a decent upbringing, that he could self-consult, as it were, and hear God speaking to him … I joined Rogers in his study of non-directive psychotherapy with normal people. We had the idea that if it was good for neurotics, it would be good for normals. Well, the normal people of Wisconsin proved how normal they were by opting out as soon as they knew what it was we wanted. Nobody wanted any part of it. So we went to California. That was my first mistake, looking for normal people in California. But we found the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the IHMs. They agreed to let us come into their schools and work with their normal faculty, and with their normal students, and influence the development of normal Catholic family life. It was a disaster.
There’s a tragic book called Lesbian Nuns, Breaking Silence, which documents part of our effect on the IHMs and other religious orders that engaged in similar experiments, in what we called “sensitivity” or “encounter.” In a chapter of Lesbian Nuns, one former Immaculate Heart nun describes the summer of 1966, when we did the pilot study in her order. The IHMs had some 60 schools when we started; at the end, they had one. There were some 615 nuns when we began. Within a year after our first interventions, 300 of them were petitioning Rome to get out of their vows. They did not want to be under anyone’s authority, except the authority of their imperial inner selves. Sister Mary Benjamin got involved with us in the summer of ‘66, and became the victim of a lesbian seduction. An older nun in the group, “freeing herself to be more expressive of who she really was internally,” decided that she wanted to make love with Sister Mary Benjamin. Well, Sister Mary Benjamin engaged in this; and then she was stricken with guilt, and wondered, to quote from her book, “Was I doing something wrong, was I doing something terrible? I talked to a priest!” Unfortunately, we had talked to him first. “I talked to a priest,” she says, “who refused to pass judgment on my actions. He said it was up to me to decide if they were right or wrong. He opened a door, and I walked through the door, realizing I was on my own.” The priest got confused about his role as a confessor. He thought it was personal, and he consulted himself and said, “I can’t pass judgment on you.” But that’s not what confession is. It is not about the priest as a person, making a decision for the client; rather it’s what God says. In fact, God has already judged on this matter. You are quite right to feel guilty about it. “Go thou and sin no more.” Instead he said she should decide.
The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary were pretty progressive, but some of the leadership was a little bit nervous about the secular psychologist from La Jolla coming in; and so I met with the whole community, some 600 nuns gathered in the Immaculate Heart High School gymnasium, in Hollywood, on an April day in 1967. We’ve already done the pilot study, we told them. Now we want to get everybody in the system involved in non-directive self-exploration. We call it encounter groups, but if that name doesn’t please you, we’ll call it something else. We’ll call it the person group. So they went along with us, and they trusted us, and that is partly my responsibility, because they thought, “These people wouldn’t hurt us: the project coordinator is a Catholic.” Rogers, however, was the principal investigator. He was the brains behind the project, and he was probably anti-Catholic; at the time I didn’t recognize it because I probably was, too. We both had a bias against hierarchy. I was flush with Vatican II, and I thought, “I am the Church; I am as Catholic as the Pope. Didn’t Pope John XXIII want us to open the windows and let in the fresh air? Here we come!” And we did, and within a year those nuns wanted out of their vows. In the summer of ‘67 the IHMs were having their chapter. They had been called, as all religious orders were, to reevaluate their mode of living, and to bring it more in line with the charisms of their founder. So they were ready for us. They were ready for an intensive look at themselves with the help of humanistic psychologists. We overcame their traditions, we overcame their Faith.
Father Elwood Kaiser, a Paulist priest, wrote a book last year [1993] called Hollywood Priest. He’s got a chapter in there about his romantic involvement with one of our nuns, with one of the Immaculate Heart of Mary sisters. Father Kaiser explains that as “Genevieve”―as he calls her―got in the spirit of Rogerian non-directive encounter, she propositioned him sexually. He refused her, because he didn’t see how he could have something going with her and still be a good priest; but then she got sexually involved with her Rogerian therapist. We were referring the nuns, who opened up too much in our encounter groups, to therapists who were on the periphery. This male therapist got her involved in sex games, in therapy. Dr. Rogers didn’t get people involved in sex games, but he couldn’t prevent his followers from doing it, because all he could say was, “Well, I don’t do that.” Then his followers would say, “Well, of course you don’t do that, because you grew up in an earlier era; but we do, and it’s marvelous: you have set us free to be ourselves and not carbon copies of you.” It took about a year and a half to destroy this Immaculate Heart order. How many are left? There are some retired nuns, who are living in the mother house in Hollywood; then there is a small group of radical feminists, who run a center for feminist theology in a storefront in Hollywood, but they’re not a canonical group, and there are a few of them in Wichita. There may be a couple of dozen left all together, apart from whom, kaput, they’re gone! Our grant had been for three years, but we called off the study after two, because we were alarmed about the results. We thought we could make the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary better than they were; and we destroyed them.
We did similar programs for the Jesuits, for the Franciscans, for the Sisters of Providence, of Charity, and the Mercy Sisters. We did dozens of Catholic religious organizations, because as you recall, in the excitement following Vatican II, everybody wanted to update, everybody wanted to renew; and we offered a way for people to renew, without having to bother to study. We said, we’ll help you look within. After all, is not God in your heart? Is it not sufficient to be yourself, and wouldn’t that make you a good Catholic? And if it doesn’t, then perhaps you shouldn’t have been a Catholic in the first place. Well, after a while there weren’t many Catholics left. We provoked an epidemic of sexual misconduct among clergy and therapists. actually we started with the Jesuits before we started with the nuns. We did our first Jesuit workshop in ‘65. Rogers got two honorary doctorates from Jesuit universities. They thought we were saviors. In ‘67 the Jesuits had a big conference at Santa Clara, and there was a lot of talk about the “Third Way” [Dr. Rogers’ way] among the Jesuits. The first two ways are faithful marriage and faithful celibacy. But now there was this more humane way, a more human way―all too human as I see it today! The idea was that priests could date. One priest, for example, defined his celibacy for me as, “It means I don’t have to marry the girl.” A good book to read on this whole question is Fr. Joseph Becker’s The Reformed Jesuits. It reviews the collapse of Jesuit training between 1965 and 1975. Jesuit formation virtually fell apart; and Father Becker knows the influence of the Rogerians pretty well. He cites a number of Jesuit novice masters who claimed that the authority for what they did―and didn’t do―was Dr. Carl Rogers. Later on when the Jesuits gave Dr. Rogers those honorary doctorates, I think that they wanted to credit him with his influence on the Jesuit way of life. Humanistic psychotherapy, the kind that has virtually taken over the Church in America, and dominates so many forms of aberrant education like sex education, and drug education, holds that the most important source of authority is within you, that you must listen to yourself. Rogers put it this way: “I’m too religious to have a religion,” by which I think he meant, “I’m more religious than you are because I don’t go to church, I don’t feel obliged, I don’t follow a creed, I make my own.” Today’s young Catholics don’t have the advantage of having learned how to work the equipment. They don’t know how to pray the Rosary. If they went to a Latin Mass they wouldn’t know how to turn the pages in the missal. They don’t understand that lists of mortal and venial sins are serious, and not to be made fun of.
False Gods in the Church
Today, the focus has shifted and keeps in tune with and aligned to the hyper-sexed obsession of the modern age, in which the god of sex is highest god of all―thus sexual sins are seen to the gravest sins of all or even no sin at all. As one pope after another―since Pope Pius XII in the post-war years―has lamented: the world, including Catholics, have lost the sense of sin. As Our Lady warned― “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals” (Our Lady of Good Success & La Salette). Today, we can clearly see extinguishing of the Faith and that division in the Church―among clergy, among the religious, and among families. God is being forgotten and false gods replace Him. As a whole, the god of sex has replaced the One True God as being the focal point of mankind.
Unfortunately, the modern person of our age picks and chooses what is to be classified as a sin against the god of sex and what is not a sin against the god of sex. Therefore things like impure thoughts, impure images, pornography, oral sex, anal sex, cohabitation, fornication, masturbation, contraceptive sex, deviant sex, adulterous sex, homosexuality, lesbianism, sexting on their smartphones; and taking and sending impure images of themselves to others, etc. are all acceptable and permissible if one personally chooses to practice them. In all these things, each person absolves themselves from any guilt, hang-up, or stigma and happily indulges in whichever pleasure they desire―for nobody is going to convince them that these pleasures are sinful, least of all that old-fashioned, dogmatic, hard-hearted, inflexible, rigorist, unreasonable Church. Nobody is going to tell them what to do! They, like Adam and Eve, want to be their own judges of what is right and wrong, good and bad, permissible and forbidden! However, even though they are very generous and liberal towards themselves in practicing the above listed sins (that they no longer consider as being sinful), others are not on the receiving end of such generous dispensations.
Pornography Replaces Theology
A psychologist who deals with sexual disorders, reveals that 30% of all data that is sent on the internet is pornography. 70% of men watch porn on the internet and 30% of women watch porn. The total combined views that porn sites get are 10 times more than Netflix.com, 4 times more that Amazon.com, and 3 times more that Twitter.com―in fact, combine Netflix, Amazon and Twitter together and they only have 65% of the visits that the porn sites get. As for individual sites, excluding search engine sites (which get the most visits) there is one porn site that is #4 in the world, with only Wikipedia, Amazon and Netflix ranking above it. For the year 2017, that site claimed 28.5 billion total visits. That’s 81 million a day, almost 4 million an hour, 56,000 a minute, or almost 1,000 per second.
No surprises there―Our Lady already warned us of this: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere [internet through the air or atmosphere by wireless radio waves = permeate the atmosphere] during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … and the priests have become cesspools of impurity ... Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like … Without virginity, it will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them … The loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette and Akita).
Thus the ‘liberated’ persons today hold views and practice such views as accepting contraception, participating in impure actions before they are married, watching impure material, having same-sex relations, dabbling with adultery, dressing immodestly and provocatively, etc., while condemning bishops, priests, religious monks, brothers, nuns and sisters for doing the same! They become like the crooked cop who busts drug dealers and then confiscates their drugs so he can sell them later. They put on an indignation at the sins of those Church members, while committing some of the very same sins themselves. Both the laity and the clergy are hypocritical in following such a lifestyle―and that lifestyle has brought upon the Church―not always by its own fault, as we shall see―the ignominy, shame, shock and scandal that is now being witnessed by the so-called “clergy sex-abuse scandals.” The modern world is hyper-sexed, over-sexed, sex-obsessed and so they have happily become obsessed with seeing the scandal among the clergy. For is the clergy indulge in such things, then all more reason and right there is for them to indulge in it too! Just like the guy at a party who sees the priest drink one or two beers, means that the guy can drink eight or ten beers!
Sexual Revolution and Satan’s Revolution
Everyone likes to see a definite and concrete start-date or point of departure or beginning. Thus the next day begins at midnight. Legal maturity begins at 18 or 21 years of age―depending where you live. We count our age in years from the day that we started life outside our mother’s womb. Similarly and arguably, you could place the beginning of the American “Sexual Revolution” in the year 1961, which was the year the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the United States gave its approval to the first birth-control pill. If you dispute that date, you cannot dispute the fact that the 1960s―whichever year within the ‘60s you choose to pick―was the decade of the “Sexual Revolution.” Anyone born after 1954 will have been too young to fully grasp and understand what was really happening in the moral field. Yet every revolution is the child of an earlier revolution―as common sense and the laws of causality dictate (every effect has a cause―and that cause is, in turn, an effect of an earlier cause). Thus you are an “effect” who has been “caused” by your parents―and your parents, in turn, are “effects” of earlier “causes”, who were their parents and your grandparents. Ultimately we trace ourselves back to Adam and Eve as regards parentage―for we call them “Our First Parents” and we speak of “the sin of our first parents” which was “Original Sin”, the stain or wound of which we are all born.
The Church and the Fathers of the Church teach us that Original Sin was a twofold sin―a sin of pride and a sin of disobedience. Yet even their Original Sin was an effect of a cause―that cause being Satan, the Original Revolutionary, to whom the Church attributes the words: “Non serviam!” meaning “I will not serve!”―the typical and common cry of a revolutionary. In the Latin Vulgate, God speaks to the Jews through His prophet Jeremias: “And thou saidst: ‘I will not serve!’” (Jeremias 2:20), thus expressing their rejection of God. The words became a general expression of the basic manner of rejecting God, such that it would apply to the fall of Lucifer. The words have thus been attributed to Lucifer himself and every revolutionary and revolution born of Lucifer―from the rebellion of Adam and Eve, down to each sin committed each day today. Sin and all the fads of this worldly world are basically a rebellion or revolution against God and God’s order. Sin is revolution. Revolution creates an enmity. That is why Holy Scripture says that God and the world―as in the sense of a worldly world―are two irreconcilables: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
Our Lady Speaks of Worldwide Revolution Against God and the Church
Our Lady refers to this ‘family-tree’ or ‘child of the revolution’ when she says: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals [sexual revolution and other revolutions], for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women.
The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church. The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish.
“The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.”
Our Lady Paints a Picture of the Sexual Revolution
Let us take the above words of Our Lady and distill them down still further to get a ‘concentrate’ upon which we can concentrate more clearly. The following ‘distilled’ words paint a clear picture―directly and indirectly―of the current Sexual Revolution that we have been living through for the last 50 years or thereabouts: “Passions will erupt … Total corruption of morals … Do away with every religious principle … Make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... Homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension … Without love for country or family … Divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women ... The spirit of impurity will permeate the atmosphere … Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty ... There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Corrupted priests will scandalize the Christian people … An apparent triumph of Satan … By their wicked lives, irreverence, impiety, love of money, love of honors and pleasures, priests have become cesspools of impurity … Convents are grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] … A great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion … There will even be bishops ... Several religious institutions will lose all Faith … Lucifer and demons, will put an end to Faith, little by little … People will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell ... Everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... As true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.”
Add to this the words spoken by Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)―mystic, stigmatic, victim soul, prophetess and foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―Our Lady, in an apparition on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956, said: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Materialism marches on ever fomenting bloody strifes and fratricidal struggles. Clear signs portend that peace is in danger. That scourge, like the shadow of a dark cloud, is now moving across mankind: only my power, as Mother of God, is preventing the outbreak of the storm. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth.”
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE : Wednesday June 5th & Thursday June 6th & Friday June 7th
Article 3
APOLOGIA FOR APOLOGIZING!
Always Apologizing! Always Agonizing! Is It A Forced Apology?
Article 3
APOLOGIA FOR APOLOGIZING!
Always Apologizing! Always Agonizing! Is It A Forced Apology?
An Outbreak of Apologies!
Most people―not being old enough to remember anything different―are unaware that the current trend of Popes constantly apologizing for the past behavior of the Catholic Church is something of a recent phenomenon―more precisely, it is a Post-Vatican II phenomenon. John Paul II, who was pope from 1979 to 2005, was the first to issue them. His successor, Benedict XVI, timidly followed that precedent; now Pope Francis continues the Church’s public apologies focusing not on historical things but claiming moral responsibility for more current events in the widespread sexual abuse crisis. What are we to think of all this? What in fact do we know of all this? If we have spent the last 40 years glued to our TVs, and (since the late 90s) to our computer screens, and (since 2010s) our smartphones―then we will be oblivious and ignorant of most if not all the apologies the Church has been rolling-off its apology-assembly-line. So what are those apologies? What are we to think of them? Who is behind them? What is the purpose of them? Let us take a closer look!
Pope John Paul II holds the bronze medal in the marathon papacy race―being in office for 9,665 days or 26 years, 5 months and 18 days (1978–2005). Of all 266 popes, only two popes have had a longer reign. The gold medalist, fittingly, is Saint Peter who reigned from 30 AD to either 64 AD or 67 AD―giving a reign of 34 or 37 years. The silver medalist is Blessed Pius IX, who reigned from 1846–1878―a total of 31 years, 7 months and 23 days, or 11,560 days.
Apologies of John Paul II
However, it would seem that Pope John Paul II holds the gold medal for the number of apologies made by a pope. Some sources state that he made well over 100 apologies during his papacy―some of them were repeated several times. During his long reign, he apologized to Protestants, Jews, Galileo, the blacks in Africa, oppressed women, people convicted by the Inquisition, Muslims killed by the Crusaders, for the sins of Catholics throughout the ages for violating the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and for showing contempt for their cultures and religious traditions, and almost everyone who had allegedly suffered anything at the hands of the Catholic Church over the years.
► Pope John Paul II apologized on behalf of Christian missionaries and pioneers to American Indians when he visited Canada in September 1984. There, in an address upon his arrival, he spoke of the European missionaries to Canada, mentioning the “faults and imperfections they had, whatever mistakes were made, together with whatever harm involuntarily resulted, they are now at pains to repair.”
► On August 13th, 1985, in Cameroon, Africa, Pope John Paul II apologized for the suffering that white Christians inflicted on black Africa over the centuries: “In the course of history, men belonging to Christian nations unfortunately have not always acted like Christians, and we beg pardon from our African brothers, who have suffered so much, for example, for the treatment of the slaves.”
► In November 1992, Pope John Paul II formally announced that the Church had been wrong and that Galileo Galilei was right concerning the theory that the earth revolved around the sun and not vice-versa.
► On March 17th, 1998, John Paul II formally apologized for the Catholic Church’s failing to take more decisive action in challenging the Nazi regime during the Second World War to stop the extermination of Jews―which the Jews say was over 6 million in number. John Paul II, in a document entitled “We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah [Holocaust]” expressed the historic declaration of repentance by the Vatican about Catholic shortcomings in dealing with the Holocaust. The document added: “We deeply regret the errors and failure of those sons and daughters of the Church … We cannot know how many Christians, in countries occupied or ruled by the Nazi powers or their allies, were horrified at the disappearance of their Jewish neighbors and yet were not strong enough to raise their voices in protest … The Church should become more fully conscious of the sinfulness of her children, recalling all those times in history when they departed from the spirit of Christ.” Cardinal Edward Cassidy, the head of the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with Jews, defended the document as a historic confession of Christianity’s failure to prevent the Holocaust. He said the paper went much further than addressing demands by some Jewish groups for an apology about the Church’s behavior during the war. “This is an act of repentance,” the Australian cardinal told reporters after the document was released. “This is more than an apology since as members of the Church we are linked to the sins as well as to the merits of all her children … We feel we have to repent. Not only for what we may have done individually, but also for those members of our Church who failed in this regard.”
► In his homily of March 12, 2000, Pope John Paul II said: “Let us forgive and ask forgiveness! While we praise God who, in his merciful love, has produced in the Church a wonderful harvest of holiness, missionary zeal, total dedication to Christ and neighbor, we cannot fail to recognize the infidelities to the Gospel committed by some of our brethren, especially during the second millennium. Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth and for the distrustful and hostile attitudes sometimes taken towards the followers of other religions. Let us confess, even more, our responsibilities as Christians for the evils of today. We must ask ourselves what our responsibilities are regarding atheism, religious indifference, secularism, ethical relativism, the violations of the right to life, disregard for the poor in many countries. We humbly ask forgiveness for the part which each of us has had in these evils by our own actions, thus helping to disfigure the face of the Church.”
There are too many to cover in this single article―as already stated, there are over 100 of them. Anyone can search online for the apologies made by Pope John Paul II and do a much deeper study. This was done for the purpose of this article and proved to be enlightening―but there is simply too much to include for the purposes of this article.
Apologies of Benedict
Compared to Pope John Paul II, his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, looks like a molehill next to a mountain with regard to the number of apologies he made as pope. Benedict, wasn’t as keen on the practice. The pope sparked controversy when, in a speech to university professors at the University of Regensburg in Germany, he quoted the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad―Islam’s founder―as “evil and inhuman.”
Muslim leaders in the Middle East reacted with hostility. Pope Benedict issued a public apology, saying: “I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims. These words were in fact a quotation from a Medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought.” Mahmoud Ashour, the former deputy of Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque, the Sunni Arab world’s most powerful institution, told Al-Arabiya TV immediately after the pope’s apology that: “It is not enough. He should apologize because he insulted the beliefs of Islam. He must apologize in a frank way and say he made a mistake.” Mohammed al-Nujeimi, a professor at the Institute of Judicial and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, also criticized the pope’s statement: “The pope does not want to apologize. He is evading apology and what he said today is a repetition of his previous statement,” he told Al-Arabiya TV.
However, in 2010, Pope Benedict issued a notable apology to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland.
Apologies of Francis
► Pope Francis has taken papal apologies to a new level. In July of 2014, in Caserta, Italy, at a meeting with Protestants, Pope Francis apologized for persecution of the Pentecostal movement by the Catholic Church: “I ask for your forgiveness for those who, calling themselves Catholic, didn’t understand we’re brothers … Back at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, I had no time for charismatics. Once, speaking about them, I said: ‘These people confuse a liturgical celebration with samba lessons!’ Now I regret it! I think that this movement does much good for the Church overall!” he said, to a standing ovation.
► In late June of 2015, Pope Francis apologized to the oldest evangelical Church― the Waldensian church, founded by Peter Waldo in the 12th century―for the Catholic Church’s persecution during the Middle Ages: “On the part of the Catholic Church, I ask your forgiveness, I ask it for the non-Christian and even inhuman attitudes and behavior that we have showed you! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us!”
► In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in a 2015 report on Canadian residential schools, stated that over 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their families and forced to attend the schools between the 1880s and the final closure in 1996, often suffering physical, sexual and psychological abuse. The Catholic Church and its affiliated organizations ran more than 70% of the 132 institutions. The Commission recommended that Pope Francis visit Canada and make a public apology for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools―but, despite the pleas of survivors and a formal request by the Canadian Prime Minister, a papal apology will not be forthcoming, said Bishop Lionel Gendron, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, for “after carefully considering the request and extensive dialogue with the Bishops of Canada, he {Francis] felt that he could not personally respond.” Bishop Gendron did not provide an explanation for the Pope’s decision, but held out the possibility of a future visit during which “an encounter with the Indigenous Peoples” would be a “top priority.” Though, strangely enough, in the same year (2015), in Bolivia (South America) Pope Francis apologized for the grave sins of colonialism against Indigenous Peoples of America in a speech to grassroots groups in Bolivia.
► In January of 2016, when announcing his visit to Sweden in October, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s Reformation, Pope Francis has called for forgiveness of Catholic wrongs, CTV News reports. “As the bishop of Rome and pastor of the Catholic Church, I would like to invoke mercy and forgiveness for the non-evangelical behavior of Catholics toward Christians of other churches,” the Pope said. “At the same time, I invite all Catholic brothers and sisters to forgive if today, or in the past, they have suffered offence by other Christians. We cannot cancel what has happened, but we don’t want to let the weight of past harm continue to pollute our relations,” he added.
► On June 26th, 2016, Pope Francis, during a press conference aboard the papal plane, said the Catholic Church owes LGBT people an apology: “I repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that they must not be discriminated against, that they must be respected and accompanied pastorally … The Church must ask forgiveness for not behaving many times ― when I say the Church, I mean Christians! The Church is holy, we are sinners!” Francis has not changed Church doctrine that calls homosexual acts sinful, but he has shown a more merciful approach to people on the margins, including gays and lesbians.
Nevertheless, they are remarks that some Catholics hailed as a breakthrough in the Church’s tone toward homosexuals. Fr. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor at large of America magazine, called the Pope’s apology to gays and lesbians “a groundbreaking moment,” adding that “While St. John Paul II apologized to several groups in 2000 ― the Jewish people, indigenous peoples, immigrants and women, among them ― no pope has ever come close to apologizing to the LGBT community. And the Pope is correct of course. First, because forgiveness is an essential part of the Christian life. And second, because no group feels more marginalized in the Church today than LGBT people.”
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic gay rights group, called the Pope’s remarks “an immense blessing of healing” adding: “No pope has said more welcoming words to LGBT people than when Pope Francis today offered his recommendation that the Church―indeed all Christians―should apologize for the harm religious traditions have caused to LGBT people. The pope’s statement was simple, yet powerful, and it fell from his lips so easily.”
► In March of 2017, Pope Francis asked Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, to forgive the Church’s role in his country’s 1994 genocide, in which 800,000 people were slaughtered in 100 days of violence. The “sins and failings of the Church and its members” had “disfigured the face” of Catholicism, he said. A Vatican statement said that the pope “implored anew God’s forgiveness for the sins and failings of the Church and its members, among whom priests, and religious men and women who succumbed to hatred and violence, betraying their own evangelical mission.”
► On April 8th, 2018, Pope Francis signed a letter addressed to all the bishops of Chile, apologizing for “grave errors” in the handling of sexual abuse cases in Chile, where he had adamantly defended a bishop accused of covering up abuse by the country’s most notorious pedophile priest. In the extraordinary letter to the bishops of Chile, published on signed on April 8th and published on April 11th, Francis invited representatives of the abuse victims to Rome so that he could personally apologize. A spokesman for the Chilean bishops’ conference said that some of the victims would go in the coming weeks, and that the pope would individually ask for their forgiveness. Francis in the letter also summoned the country’s 32 bishops to meet at the Vatican in May — an exceptionally large gathering of bishops — to discuss clerical sex abuse.
► Then on August 20th, 2018, Pope Francis issued a Letter to the People of God, wherein he addresses the sex-abuse crisis, saying: “…no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient … With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been … Prayer and penance will help. I invite the entire holy faithful People of God to a penitential exercise of prayer and fasting … It is impossible to think of a conversion of our activity as a Church that does not include the active participation of all the members of God’s People … The only way that we have to respond to this evil is to experience it as a task regarding all of us as the People of God. This will enable us to acknowledge our past sins and mistakes with a penitential openness that can allow us to be renewed from within. Without the active participation of all the Church’s members, everything being done to uproot the culture of abuse in our communities will not be successful … The penitential dimension of fasting and prayer will help us as God’s People to come before the Lord and our wounded brothers and sisters as sinners imploring forgiveness and the grace of shame and conversion … It is essential that we, as a Church, be able to acknowledge and condemn, with sorrow and shame, the atrocities perpetrated by consecrated persons, clerics, and all those entrusted with the mission of watching over and caring for those most vulnerable. Let us beg forgiveness for our own sins and the sins of others.”
► Some days later, on August 26th, 2018, during his visit to Ireland, Pope Francis apologized again during the homily at an open air Mass in front of 113,000 persons, saying: “We ask forgiveness for the abuses in Ireland, abuses of power, of conscience, and sexual abuses perpetrated by members with roles of responsibility in the Church. In a special way, we ask pardon for all the abuses committed in various types of institutions run by males or female religious and by other members of the Church, and we ask for forgiveness for those cases of manual work that so many young women and men were subjected to. We ask for forgiveness.”
► In October of 2018, at the close of the Synod of Bishops on Youth, speaking on behalf of all adult Catholics, Pope Francis asked young people for forgiveness: “Forgive us if often we have not listened to you; if, instead of opening our hearts, we have filled your ears. As Christ’s Church, we want to listen to you with love”―because young people’s lives are precious in God’s eyes and “in our eyes, too,” the pope said in his homily.
► Just this month, June 2019, while visiting the gypsy community in Romania, Pope Francis asked forgiveness on behalf of the Catholic Church for the discrimination and mistreatment that they have endured. He said his heart was “heavy,” being weighed down “by the many experiences of discrimination, segregation and mistreatment” that the Roma community, also known as gypsies, have experienced, adding: “History tells us that Christians too, including Catholics, are not strangers to such evil. I would like to ask your forgiveness for this. I ask forgiveness ― in the name of the Church and of the Lord ― and I ask forgiveness of you!”
When is an Apology Not an Apology?
When is an apology not an apology but mere empty rhetoric? It is empty and meaningless when it is not sincere, not meant, not really contrite, not regretful. That is the obvious answer. Yet an apology is also meaningless and worthless and empty when it is not coming from the culpable or guilty party. It is also pointless and unnecessary when the one who is apologizing is not guilty of the thing for which one is apologizing. It is not necessary either when one has been “set-up” or deliberately baited, provoked, or coerced, or blackmailed. As Moral Theology says, sometimes the provocateur of a sin or crime is more guilty than the perpetrator of the sin or crime. In this sense the sin of the Jews who handed over Jesus to Pilate and screamed for His Blood and death, was greater than the sin of Pilate who sentenced Jesus to death: “Jesus answered: ‘He that hath delivered Me to thee, hath the greater sin!’” (John 19:11) and when Pilate claimed innocence in sentencing Jesus to death: “And Pilate seeing that he prevailed nothing, but that rather a tumult was made; taking water washed his hands before the people, saying: ‘I am innocent of the Blood of this just Man; look you to it!’ And the whole people answering, said: ‘His blood be upon us and our children!’” (Matthew 27:24-25).
Hide from the "--Cide"
Since Christ was God and the Jewish people with their Priests, Scribes and Pharisees, cried for His Blood and death, and since they also cried out: “His blood be upon us and our children!” ― then they are guilty of Deicide―in other words, they wanted to kill God. The word “deicide” is a compound word (a word that is formed from two or more identifiable words) coming from the Latin word “Deus, Dei” meaning “God” and the Latin word “cida” meaning “slayer” from the verb “caedere” meaning “to kill, to cut down.” Hence, using the second part of the compound of Deicide, the English language has formed all kinds of “-cide” words meaning the killing of some specific thing or person. Thus we have:
“homicide” (the killing of humans or homo-sapiens, “homo” meaning “man”)
“suicide” (the killing of oneself, “sui” meaning “self”)
“patricide” (the killing of a father, “pater” meaning “father”)
“matricide” (the killing of a mother, “mater” meaning mother)
“fratricide” (the killing of a brother, “frater” meaning “brother”)
“sororicide” (the killing of a sister, “soror” meaning “sister”)
“infanticide” (the killing of an infant)
“feticide” (meaning the killing of a fetus)
“regicide” (the killing of a king, “rex, regis” meaning “king”)
“genocide” (the killing of a people, nation, etc., “gens” meaning people)
“vaticide” (the killing of a prophet)
“ecclesicide” (the killing of a church)
Or in non-human things, we have “pesticides” (that kill pests), “herbicides” (that kill grasses or weeds), “insecticides” (that kill insects), “fungicides” (that kill fungus), “spermicides” (that kill sperm or spermatozoa), “germicides” (that kill germs), etc., etc.
Whose “cide” are you on? What “cide” have you taken? What’s “cide” is in-cide of you? What’s in-cide each nation? Every unlawful thought, word or action is a wrong, a sin, even a punishable crime in some cases! Every wrong must be put right if possible, every sin must be paid for if possible, every crime must be punished if possible. Is the Catholic Church the only organization or group of people that has been and is doing wrong, committing sins and crimes? Is the Catholic Church the only body or group of people that should be apologizing? You decide! Or should that be you “deicide”? Or they “deicide”? At the end of the day, we are looking at a mass “deicide” (the killing of God) and a mass “ecclesicide” (the killing of the churches in general and the Catholic Church in particular).
Who Should Be Apologizing?
They say that the best of defense is attack. Attack someone else and you distract attention from yourself. Sometimes character assassination is more effective than physical or bodily assassination. The enemies of the Church have long since realized that bodily assassinations backfire―for they create martyrs, and the blood of the martyrs ends up being the seed of the Faith―as some of the Fathers of the Church point out. It is no surprise that the Church has been, is being and will be hated―as long as it is true to Christ. “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
The world works like the devil―which is hardly surprising, since the devil is the prince of the world: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2).
There is no doubt about it―the Catholic Church has much to apologize for, all throughout the centuries. There is nothing surprising about that―or if you are shocked by that, then you are bigoted (which means having or revealing an obstinate belief in the superiority of one’s own opinions and a prejudiced intolerance of the opinions of others). Sinners we are―all of us, without any exception bar that of Our Lady. If you don’t believe or accept that, then you don’t believe or accept Holy Scripture, which says: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).
Today, these words of Holy Scripture are more than ever appropriate and applicable: “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one. The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together―there is none that doth good, no not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Psalm 13:1-3).
These souls, of which God speaks, are not only to be found in the Catholic Church, but outside the Church too―among Protestants and pagans, atheists and agnostics, leaders and the led, everywhere. It is not only the Catholic Church that should be criticized for its failings, but the whole world―religious and non-religious, political and financial, legal and social, employers and employees―that should be criticized and held up to scrutiny. So far, the majority of the focus, the majority of dogs baying for blood, the biggest media coverage is for the Catholic Church, while a massive blind eye (bar a few exceptions) is turned towards everyone and everything else. The dogs bay for justice―but let us have a little look at justice to see if it is really being followed. For after all, “As you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner ... For with the same measure that you shall mete withal [mete withal = distribute to others], it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:31 & 38).
The Chief of Many Accusations Against the Catholic Church
The Church has been accused of, and the Church has apologized for many things. The list is so long that you wonder if it even includes shouldering the blame that your garbage was not collected on time (because one of the waste disposal men is a Catholic); or being responsible for extreme weather changes because the Church could have intervened with God and brought about a favorable climate change; or guilty of “hate crimes” for hating sin and speaking out against it; or being guilty of overpopulating the world and making it unsustainable by having too many children (which is not the case, since, on the whole, the Catholic percentage increase since 1965 is less than the overall world increase, the Protestant increase (apart from last 8 years) and below the Muslim increase.
Catholics Breeding Like Rabbits?
The World Population in 1965: 3,339,592,688 (over 3,339 million).
The World Population in 2015: 7,383,008,820 (over 7,383 million) which is an increase of 121% since 1965.
The Catholic world population in 1965: 614,115,021 (just over 614 million)
The Catholic world population in 2015: 1,299,059,000 (just over 1,299 million) ― an increase of 111% since 1965
The Protestant world population in 1965: 460,598,765 (just over 460 million)
The Protestant world population in 2010: 1,062,203,130 (just over 1,000 million) ― an increase of 130% since 1965.
Only in the last 9 years has the Protestant world population fallen (to 900,000+) ― an increase of 95% since 1965
The Muslim world population in 1965: 514,634,057 (just over 514 million)
The Muslim world population in 2015: 1,800,000,000 (just over 1,800 million) ― an increase of 250% since 1965
The Muslim increase is what the Catholic increase should be! Today’s Catholic is predominantly a Contraceptive Catholic―therefore a mortally sinful Catholic. Our Lord wanted the whole world to be Catholic―yet today’s Catholics have lost both the desire to evangelize the world and to populate the world! They prefer their mortally sinful world instead―the average size of the current generation of Catholic families (those who have reached the end of child-bearing days as of 2000-2018 with the current average age of first marriage for Catholics is 24 and child-bearing being rare in the woman’s 40s) is just two children! Barely enough to keep numbers stable, but not enough to increase the numbers of Catholics in the Church. In the ‘civilized’ and developed Western countries, it is barely two children per family, often less. God said to Adam and Eve: “God blessed them, saying: ‘Increase and multiply, and fill the Earth!’” (Genesis 1:28). It seems like Catholics have forgotten their math multiplication tables!
More Serious Accusations
The Catholic Church has been judged to have afflicted or persecuted Protestants, Jews, Galileo, the blacks in Africa, oppressed women, people convicted by the Inquisition, Muslims killed by the Crusaders, for violating the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and for showing contempt for their cultures and religious traditions, for any and all other sins of Catholics throughout the ages towards almost everyone who had allegedly suffered anything at the hands of the Catholic Church over the years. Today, to that list, are added the guilt of sexual abuse of children, the guilt of hating LGBTs by not accepting same-sex relationships and same-sex marriages and not allowing practicing LGBTs to receive Holy Communion; rigorous unchanging dogmatism on Faith and Morals in the midst of a changing world; guilty of cruelty to divorcees who wish to remarry or have remarried but are barred from Holy Communion; guilty of proselytizing (trying to convert) people to the Catholic Faith; etc., etc. ― all the way down to being guilty for the waste disposal people not emptying the trash cans on time! Is there any credibility to all this? If there is―then how much credibility is there? Is the Catholic Church “guilty as charged” or not? How much truth is there to be found in the accusations? Are the accusations all that they seem to be? Or is it a case of “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” and could there be someone using “smoke and mirrors”―which is defined as “an illusion, a deliberate and calculated deception, often in the context of politics; the obscuring or embellishing of the truth of a situation with misleading or irrelevant information; to make you believe that something is being done or is true, when it is not; distorting or blurring facts, events and figures.” The subterfuge and trickery of using “smoke and mirrors” is a “piece of cake” or “like taking candy from a baby” when you are dealing with a population that thinks and reasons logically less and less, whose knowledge of history is pretty pathetic and prehistoric, whose gullibility is their chief ability, and whose capacity to argue or debate is pretty much limited to emotional rage, elaborate exaggerations, malign misrepresentations, angry insulting words, sarcastic taunting, hyperbolic hysteria, placard-poster protests and lynch-mob mentalities.
One-Sided Evidence is No Evidence
In any trial, the court hears the evidence from the prosecution and from the defense. A one-sided trial―with evidence being allowed from only one side―is a perversion of justice. If you have ever sat-in, as an observer, in court trials, then you may well have listened to the case as presented by the prosecuting attorney and as result a result of what you have heard, you think within yourself: “The defendant (the once who is being accused) is as guilty as Hell!” But then, upon hearing the arguments put forward by the attorney for the defense, you think: “Hey! I don’t think the guy is guilty after all!”
If the defense attorney is stupid and incompetent (as sadly most Catholics are with regard to the Faith), then the defense attorney (the Catholic) will have little to say in face of all the alleged evidence and accusations. This is the case of Catholics today. They have been dumbed-down so much―they know so little about their Faith and all the rooms or compartments within the mansion of Faith (Catechism, basic simple Dogmatic Theology, basic simple Moral Theology, basic simple Apologetics, basic simple Church History, basic simple Canon Law, etc. ― all this is boring and useless in their eyes) that they are incapable of dealing, analyzing, distinguishing, penetrating, understanding, responding and rebutting the countless arguments and accusations thrown at them. They are like an 8th Grader faced by a crooked criminal lawyer. Naïve, gullible, intimidated, speechless and helpless. Hence the world―and the prince of the world, the devil―can freely trample upon everything Catholic and twist it, misrepresent it, exaggerate it, ridicule it, criticize it, condemn it and trample all over it with apparent irreverent impunity and sacrilegious scorn. The Catholic just sits there speechless, trying to rationalize that this speechlessness is some kind of heroic virtue, when in reality it is irresponsible, incriminated and impeachable ignorance. We impotently and ignorantly stand by watching our Holy Mother the Church being attacked, beaten, robbed and raped―and we do nothing much about it―we barely if ever pray to God for the Church. We are like drunkard―drunk on the world and its toys―who stands wobbling and stumbling over both words and feet, while Holy Mother Church undergoes the Passion.
As Our Lady lamented: “In this supreme moment of need of the Church, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will fall silent” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... Churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God.” (Our Lady of Akita).
Taking the Church to Court
In the next article, we shall place the Church “in the dock” or the “witness stand” and place her on trial. Is the Church guilty on all the charges listed against her? If so, how guilty is she? If not, then what is the truth of the matter. We will look at the witnesses brought by the prosecution. We will cross-examine them. We will look at the witnesses for the defense and cross examine them too. What is the truth? Are we getting, seeing, hearing the truth? Or are getting, seeing, hearing partial truths, half-truths, twisted-truths, exaggerated truths, made-up truths? This is something that every Catholic should be able to do in these times of unprecedented attacks on the Church―not only from those outside the Church, but also from the Church’s very own members.
Most people―not being old enough to remember anything different―are unaware that the current trend of Popes constantly apologizing for the past behavior of the Catholic Church is something of a recent phenomenon―more precisely, it is a Post-Vatican II phenomenon. John Paul II, who was pope from 1979 to 2005, was the first to issue them. His successor, Benedict XVI, timidly followed that precedent; now Pope Francis continues the Church’s public apologies focusing not on historical things but claiming moral responsibility for more current events in the widespread sexual abuse crisis. What are we to think of all this? What in fact do we know of all this? If we have spent the last 40 years glued to our TVs, and (since the late 90s) to our computer screens, and (since 2010s) our smartphones―then we will be oblivious and ignorant of most if not all the apologies the Church has been rolling-off its apology-assembly-line. So what are those apologies? What are we to think of them? Who is behind them? What is the purpose of them? Let us take a closer look!
Pope John Paul II holds the bronze medal in the marathon papacy race―being in office for 9,665 days or 26 years, 5 months and 18 days (1978–2005). Of all 266 popes, only two popes have had a longer reign. The gold medalist, fittingly, is Saint Peter who reigned from 30 AD to either 64 AD or 67 AD―giving a reign of 34 or 37 years. The silver medalist is Blessed Pius IX, who reigned from 1846–1878―a total of 31 years, 7 months and 23 days, or 11,560 days.
Apologies of John Paul II
However, it would seem that Pope John Paul II holds the gold medal for the number of apologies made by a pope. Some sources state that he made well over 100 apologies during his papacy―some of them were repeated several times. During his long reign, he apologized to Protestants, Jews, Galileo, the blacks in Africa, oppressed women, people convicted by the Inquisition, Muslims killed by the Crusaders, for the sins of Catholics throughout the ages for violating the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and for showing contempt for their cultures and religious traditions, and almost everyone who had allegedly suffered anything at the hands of the Catholic Church over the years.
► Pope John Paul II apologized on behalf of Christian missionaries and pioneers to American Indians when he visited Canada in September 1984. There, in an address upon his arrival, he spoke of the European missionaries to Canada, mentioning the “faults and imperfections they had, whatever mistakes were made, together with whatever harm involuntarily resulted, they are now at pains to repair.”
► On August 13th, 1985, in Cameroon, Africa, Pope John Paul II apologized for the suffering that white Christians inflicted on black Africa over the centuries: “In the course of history, men belonging to Christian nations unfortunately have not always acted like Christians, and we beg pardon from our African brothers, who have suffered so much, for example, for the treatment of the slaves.”
► In November 1992, Pope John Paul II formally announced that the Church had been wrong and that Galileo Galilei was right concerning the theory that the earth revolved around the sun and not vice-versa.
► On March 17th, 1998, John Paul II formally apologized for the Catholic Church’s failing to take more decisive action in challenging the Nazi regime during the Second World War to stop the extermination of Jews―which the Jews say was over 6 million in number. John Paul II, in a document entitled “We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah [Holocaust]” expressed the historic declaration of repentance by the Vatican about Catholic shortcomings in dealing with the Holocaust. The document added: “We deeply regret the errors and failure of those sons and daughters of the Church … We cannot know how many Christians, in countries occupied or ruled by the Nazi powers or their allies, were horrified at the disappearance of their Jewish neighbors and yet were not strong enough to raise their voices in protest … The Church should become more fully conscious of the sinfulness of her children, recalling all those times in history when they departed from the spirit of Christ.” Cardinal Edward Cassidy, the head of the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with Jews, defended the document as a historic confession of Christianity’s failure to prevent the Holocaust. He said the paper went much further than addressing demands by some Jewish groups for an apology about the Church’s behavior during the war. “This is an act of repentance,” the Australian cardinal told reporters after the document was released. “This is more than an apology since as members of the Church we are linked to the sins as well as to the merits of all her children … We feel we have to repent. Not only for what we may have done individually, but also for those members of our Church who failed in this regard.”
► In his homily of March 12, 2000, Pope John Paul II said: “Let us forgive and ask forgiveness! While we praise God who, in his merciful love, has produced in the Church a wonderful harvest of holiness, missionary zeal, total dedication to Christ and neighbor, we cannot fail to recognize the infidelities to the Gospel committed by some of our brethren, especially during the second millennium. Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth and for the distrustful and hostile attitudes sometimes taken towards the followers of other religions. Let us confess, even more, our responsibilities as Christians for the evils of today. We must ask ourselves what our responsibilities are regarding atheism, religious indifference, secularism, ethical relativism, the violations of the right to life, disregard for the poor in many countries. We humbly ask forgiveness for the part which each of us has had in these evils by our own actions, thus helping to disfigure the face of the Church.”
There are too many to cover in this single article―as already stated, there are over 100 of them. Anyone can search online for the apologies made by Pope John Paul II and do a much deeper study. This was done for the purpose of this article and proved to be enlightening―but there is simply too much to include for the purposes of this article.
Apologies of Benedict
Compared to Pope John Paul II, his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, looks like a molehill next to a mountain with regard to the number of apologies he made as pope. Benedict, wasn’t as keen on the practice. The pope sparked controversy when, in a speech to university professors at the University of Regensburg in Germany, he quoted the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad―Islam’s founder―as “evil and inhuman.”
Muslim leaders in the Middle East reacted with hostility. Pope Benedict issued a public apology, saying: “I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims. These words were in fact a quotation from a Medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought.” Mahmoud Ashour, the former deputy of Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque, the Sunni Arab world’s most powerful institution, told Al-Arabiya TV immediately after the pope’s apology that: “It is not enough. He should apologize because he insulted the beliefs of Islam. He must apologize in a frank way and say he made a mistake.” Mohammed al-Nujeimi, a professor at the Institute of Judicial and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, also criticized the pope’s statement: “The pope does not want to apologize. He is evading apology and what he said today is a repetition of his previous statement,” he told Al-Arabiya TV.
However, in 2010, Pope Benedict issued a notable apology to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland.
Apologies of Francis
► Pope Francis has taken papal apologies to a new level. In July of 2014, in Caserta, Italy, at a meeting with Protestants, Pope Francis apologized for persecution of the Pentecostal movement by the Catholic Church: “I ask for your forgiveness for those who, calling themselves Catholic, didn’t understand we’re brothers … Back at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, I had no time for charismatics. Once, speaking about them, I said: ‘These people confuse a liturgical celebration with samba lessons!’ Now I regret it! I think that this movement does much good for the Church overall!” he said, to a standing ovation.
► In late June of 2015, Pope Francis apologized to the oldest evangelical Church― the Waldensian church, founded by Peter Waldo in the 12th century―for the Catholic Church’s persecution during the Middle Ages: “On the part of the Catholic Church, I ask your forgiveness, I ask it for the non-Christian and even inhuman attitudes and behavior that we have showed you! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us!”
► In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in a 2015 report on Canadian residential schools, stated that over 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their families and forced to attend the schools between the 1880s and the final closure in 1996, often suffering physical, sexual and psychological abuse. The Catholic Church and its affiliated organizations ran more than 70% of the 132 institutions. The Commission recommended that Pope Francis visit Canada and make a public apology for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools―but, despite the pleas of survivors and a formal request by the Canadian Prime Minister, a papal apology will not be forthcoming, said Bishop Lionel Gendron, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, for “after carefully considering the request and extensive dialogue with the Bishops of Canada, he {Francis] felt that he could not personally respond.” Bishop Gendron did not provide an explanation for the Pope’s decision, but held out the possibility of a future visit during which “an encounter with the Indigenous Peoples” would be a “top priority.” Though, strangely enough, in the same year (2015), in Bolivia (South America) Pope Francis apologized for the grave sins of colonialism against Indigenous Peoples of America in a speech to grassroots groups in Bolivia.
► In January of 2016, when announcing his visit to Sweden in October, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s Reformation, Pope Francis has called for forgiveness of Catholic wrongs, CTV News reports. “As the bishop of Rome and pastor of the Catholic Church, I would like to invoke mercy and forgiveness for the non-evangelical behavior of Catholics toward Christians of other churches,” the Pope said. “At the same time, I invite all Catholic brothers and sisters to forgive if today, or in the past, they have suffered offence by other Christians. We cannot cancel what has happened, but we don’t want to let the weight of past harm continue to pollute our relations,” he added.
► On June 26th, 2016, Pope Francis, during a press conference aboard the papal plane, said the Catholic Church owes LGBT people an apology: “I repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that they must not be discriminated against, that they must be respected and accompanied pastorally … The Church must ask forgiveness for not behaving many times ― when I say the Church, I mean Christians! The Church is holy, we are sinners!” Francis has not changed Church doctrine that calls homosexual acts sinful, but he has shown a more merciful approach to people on the margins, including gays and lesbians.
Nevertheless, they are remarks that some Catholics hailed as a breakthrough in the Church’s tone toward homosexuals. Fr. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor at large of America magazine, called the Pope’s apology to gays and lesbians “a groundbreaking moment,” adding that “While St. John Paul II apologized to several groups in 2000 ― the Jewish people, indigenous peoples, immigrants and women, among them ― no pope has ever come close to apologizing to the LGBT community. And the Pope is correct of course. First, because forgiveness is an essential part of the Christian life. And second, because no group feels more marginalized in the Church today than LGBT people.”
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic gay rights group, called the Pope’s remarks “an immense blessing of healing” adding: “No pope has said more welcoming words to LGBT people than when Pope Francis today offered his recommendation that the Church―indeed all Christians―should apologize for the harm religious traditions have caused to LGBT people. The pope’s statement was simple, yet powerful, and it fell from his lips so easily.”
► In March of 2017, Pope Francis asked Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, to forgive the Church’s role in his country’s 1994 genocide, in which 800,000 people were slaughtered in 100 days of violence. The “sins and failings of the Church and its members” had “disfigured the face” of Catholicism, he said. A Vatican statement said that the pope “implored anew God’s forgiveness for the sins and failings of the Church and its members, among whom priests, and religious men and women who succumbed to hatred and violence, betraying their own evangelical mission.”
► On April 8th, 2018, Pope Francis signed a letter addressed to all the bishops of Chile, apologizing for “grave errors” in the handling of sexual abuse cases in Chile, where he had adamantly defended a bishop accused of covering up abuse by the country’s most notorious pedophile priest. In the extraordinary letter to the bishops of Chile, published on signed on April 8th and published on April 11th, Francis invited representatives of the abuse victims to Rome so that he could personally apologize. A spokesman for the Chilean bishops’ conference said that some of the victims would go in the coming weeks, and that the pope would individually ask for their forgiveness. Francis in the letter also summoned the country’s 32 bishops to meet at the Vatican in May — an exceptionally large gathering of bishops — to discuss clerical sex abuse.
► Then on August 20th, 2018, Pope Francis issued a Letter to the People of God, wherein he addresses the sex-abuse crisis, saying: “…no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient … With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been … Prayer and penance will help. I invite the entire holy faithful People of God to a penitential exercise of prayer and fasting … It is impossible to think of a conversion of our activity as a Church that does not include the active participation of all the members of God’s People … The only way that we have to respond to this evil is to experience it as a task regarding all of us as the People of God. This will enable us to acknowledge our past sins and mistakes with a penitential openness that can allow us to be renewed from within. Without the active participation of all the Church’s members, everything being done to uproot the culture of abuse in our communities will not be successful … The penitential dimension of fasting and prayer will help us as God’s People to come before the Lord and our wounded brothers and sisters as sinners imploring forgiveness and the grace of shame and conversion … It is essential that we, as a Church, be able to acknowledge and condemn, with sorrow and shame, the atrocities perpetrated by consecrated persons, clerics, and all those entrusted with the mission of watching over and caring for those most vulnerable. Let us beg forgiveness for our own sins and the sins of others.”
► Some days later, on August 26th, 2018, during his visit to Ireland, Pope Francis apologized again during the homily at an open air Mass in front of 113,000 persons, saying: “We ask forgiveness for the abuses in Ireland, abuses of power, of conscience, and sexual abuses perpetrated by members with roles of responsibility in the Church. In a special way, we ask pardon for all the abuses committed in various types of institutions run by males or female religious and by other members of the Church, and we ask for forgiveness for those cases of manual work that so many young women and men were subjected to. We ask for forgiveness.”
► In October of 2018, at the close of the Synod of Bishops on Youth, speaking on behalf of all adult Catholics, Pope Francis asked young people for forgiveness: “Forgive us if often we have not listened to you; if, instead of opening our hearts, we have filled your ears. As Christ’s Church, we want to listen to you with love”―because young people’s lives are precious in God’s eyes and “in our eyes, too,” the pope said in his homily.
► Just this month, June 2019, while visiting the gypsy community in Romania, Pope Francis asked forgiveness on behalf of the Catholic Church for the discrimination and mistreatment that they have endured. He said his heart was “heavy,” being weighed down “by the many experiences of discrimination, segregation and mistreatment” that the Roma community, also known as gypsies, have experienced, adding: “History tells us that Christians too, including Catholics, are not strangers to such evil. I would like to ask your forgiveness for this. I ask forgiveness ― in the name of the Church and of the Lord ― and I ask forgiveness of you!”
When is an Apology Not an Apology?
When is an apology not an apology but mere empty rhetoric? It is empty and meaningless when it is not sincere, not meant, not really contrite, not regretful. That is the obvious answer. Yet an apology is also meaningless and worthless and empty when it is not coming from the culpable or guilty party. It is also pointless and unnecessary when the one who is apologizing is not guilty of the thing for which one is apologizing. It is not necessary either when one has been “set-up” or deliberately baited, provoked, or coerced, or blackmailed. As Moral Theology says, sometimes the provocateur of a sin or crime is more guilty than the perpetrator of the sin or crime. In this sense the sin of the Jews who handed over Jesus to Pilate and screamed for His Blood and death, was greater than the sin of Pilate who sentenced Jesus to death: “Jesus answered: ‘He that hath delivered Me to thee, hath the greater sin!’” (John 19:11) and when Pilate claimed innocence in sentencing Jesus to death: “And Pilate seeing that he prevailed nothing, but that rather a tumult was made; taking water washed his hands before the people, saying: ‘I am innocent of the Blood of this just Man; look you to it!’ And the whole people answering, said: ‘His blood be upon us and our children!’” (Matthew 27:24-25).
Hide from the "--Cide"
Since Christ was God and the Jewish people with their Priests, Scribes and Pharisees, cried for His Blood and death, and since they also cried out: “His blood be upon us and our children!” ― then they are guilty of Deicide―in other words, they wanted to kill God. The word “deicide” is a compound word (a word that is formed from two or more identifiable words) coming from the Latin word “Deus, Dei” meaning “God” and the Latin word “cida” meaning “slayer” from the verb “caedere” meaning “to kill, to cut down.” Hence, using the second part of the compound of Deicide, the English language has formed all kinds of “-cide” words meaning the killing of some specific thing or person. Thus we have:
“homicide” (the killing of humans or homo-sapiens, “homo” meaning “man”)
“suicide” (the killing of oneself, “sui” meaning “self”)
“patricide” (the killing of a father, “pater” meaning “father”)
“matricide” (the killing of a mother, “mater” meaning mother)
“fratricide” (the killing of a brother, “frater” meaning “brother”)
“sororicide” (the killing of a sister, “soror” meaning “sister”)
“infanticide” (the killing of an infant)
“feticide” (meaning the killing of a fetus)
“regicide” (the killing of a king, “rex, regis” meaning “king”)
“genocide” (the killing of a people, nation, etc., “gens” meaning people)
“vaticide” (the killing of a prophet)
“ecclesicide” (the killing of a church)
Or in non-human things, we have “pesticides” (that kill pests), “herbicides” (that kill grasses or weeds), “insecticides” (that kill insects), “fungicides” (that kill fungus), “spermicides” (that kill sperm or spermatozoa), “germicides” (that kill germs), etc., etc.
Whose “cide” are you on? What “cide” have you taken? What’s “cide” is in-cide of you? What’s in-cide each nation? Every unlawful thought, word or action is a wrong, a sin, even a punishable crime in some cases! Every wrong must be put right if possible, every sin must be paid for if possible, every crime must be punished if possible. Is the Catholic Church the only organization or group of people that has been and is doing wrong, committing sins and crimes? Is the Catholic Church the only body or group of people that should be apologizing? You decide! Or should that be you “deicide”? Or they “deicide”? At the end of the day, we are looking at a mass “deicide” (the killing of God) and a mass “ecclesicide” (the killing of the churches in general and the Catholic Church in particular).
Who Should Be Apologizing?
They say that the best of defense is attack. Attack someone else and you distract attention from yourself. Sometimes character assassination is more effective than physical or bodily assassination. The enemies of the Church have long since realized that bodily assassinations backfire―for they create martyrs, and the blood of the martyrs ends up being the seed of the Faith―as some of the Fathers of the Church point out. It is no surprise that the Church has been, is being and will be hated―as long as it is true to Christ. “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
The world works like the devil―which is hardly surprising, since the devil is the prince of the world: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2).
There is no doubt about it―the Catholic Church has much to apologize for, all throughout the centuries. There is nothing surprising about that―or if you are shocked by that, then you are bigoted (which means having or revealing an obstinate belief in the superiority of one’s own opinions and a prejudiced intolerance of the opinions of others). Sinners we are―all of us, without any exception bar that of Our Lady. If you don’t believe or accept that, then you don’t believe or accept Holy Scripture, which says: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us! If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).
Today, these words of Holy Scripture are more than ever appropriate and applicable: “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one. The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together―there is none that doth good, no not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Psalm 13:1-3).
These souls, of which God speaks, are not only to be found in the Catholic Church, but outside the Church too―among Protestants and pagans, atheists and agnostics, leaders and the led, everywhere. It is not only the Catholic Church that should be criticized for its failings, but the whole world―religious and non-religious, political and financial, legal and social, employers and employees―that should be criticized and held up to scrutiny. So far, the majority of the focus, the majority of dogs baying for blood, the biggest media coverage is for the Catholic Church, while a massive blind eye (bar a few exceptions) is turned towards everyone and everything else. The dogs bay for justice―but let us have a little look at justice to see if it is really being followed. For after all, “As you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner ... For with the same measure that you shall mete withal [mete withal = distribute to others], it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:31 & 38).
The Chief of Many Accusations Against the Catholic Church
The Church has been accused of, and the Church has apologized for many things. The list is so long that you wonder if it even includes shouldering the blame that your garbage was not collected on time (because one of the waste disposal men is a Catholic); or being responsible for extreme weather changes because the Church could have intervened with God and brought about a favorable climate change; or guilty of “hate crimes” for hating sin and speaking out against it; or being guilty of overpopulating the world and making it unsustainable by having too many children (which is not the case, since, on the whole, the Catholic percentage increase since 1965 is less than the overall world increase, the Protestant increase (apart from last 8 years) and below the Muslim increase.
Catholics Breeding Like Rabbits?
The World Population in 1965: 3,339,592,688 (over 3,339 million).
The World Population in 2015: 7,383,008,820 (over 7,383 million) which is an increase of 121% since 1965.
The Catholic world population in 1965: 614,115,021 (just over 614 million)
The Catholic world population in 2015: 1,299,059,000 (just over 1,299 million) ― an increase of 111% since 1965
The Protestant world population in 1965: 460,598,765 (just over 460 million)
The Protestant world population in 2010: 1,062,203,130 (just over 1,000 million) ― an increase of 130% since 1965.
Only in the last 9 years has the Protestant world population fallen (to 900,000+) ― an increase of 95% since 1965
The Muslim world population in 1965: 514,634,057 (just over 514 million)
The Muslim world population in 2015: 1,800,000,000 (just over 1,800 million) ― an increase of 250% since 1965
The Muslim increase is what the Catholic increase should be! Today’s Catholic is predominantly a Contraceptive Catholic―therefore a mortally sinful Catholic. Our Lord wanted the whole world to be Catholic―yet today’s Catholics have lost both the desire to evangelize the world and to populate the world! They prefer their mortally sinful world instead―the average size of the current generation of Catholic families (those who have reached the end of child-bearing days as of 2000-2018 with the current average age of first marriage for Catholics is 24 and child-bearing being rare in the woman’s 40s) is just two children! Barely enough to keep numbers stable, but not enough to increase the numbers of Catholics in the Church. In the ‘civilized’ and developed Western countries, it is barely two children per family, often less. God said to Adam and Eve: “God blessed them, saying: ‘Increase and multiply, and fill the Earth!’” (Genesis 1:28). It seems like Catholics have forgotten their math multiplication tables!
More Serious Accusations
The Catholic Church has been judged to have afflicted or persecuted Protestants, Jews, Galileo, the blacks in Africa, oppressed women, people convicted by the Inquisition, Muslims killed by the Crusaders, for violating the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and for showing contempt for their cultures and religious traditions, for any and all other sins of Catholics throughout the ages towards almost everyone who had allegedly suffered anything at the hands of the Catholic Church over the years. Today, to that list, are added the guilt of sexual abuse of children, the guilt of hating LGBTs by not accepting same-sex relationships and same-sex marriages and not allowing practicing LGBTs to receive Holy Communion; rigorous unchanging dogmatism on Faith and Morals in the midst of a changing world; guilty of cruelty to divorcees who wish to remarry or have remarried but are barred from Holy Communion; guilty of proselytizing (trying to convert) people to the Catholic Faith; etc., etc. ― all the way down to being guilty for the waste disposal people not emptying the trash cans on time! Is there any credibility to all this? If there is―then how much credibility is there? Is the Catholic Church “guilty as charged” or not? How much truth is there to be found in the accusations? Are the accusations all that they seem to be? Or is it a case of “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” and could there be someone using “smoke and mirrors”―which is defined as “an illusion, a deliberate and calculated deception, often in the context of politics; the obscuring or embellishing of the truth of a situation with misleading or irrelevant information; to make you believe that something is being done or is true, when it is not; distorting or blurring facts, events and figures.” The subterfuge and trickery of using “smoke and mirrors” is a “piece of cake” or “like taking candy from a baby” when you are dealing with a population that thinks and reasons logically less and less, whose knowledge of history is pretty pathetic and prehistoric, whose gullibility is their chief ability, and whose capacity to argue or debate is pretty much limited to emotional rage, elaborate exaggerations, malign misrepresentations, angry insulting words, sarcastic taunting, hyperbolic hysteria, placard-poster protests and lynch-mob mentalities.
One-Sided Evidence is No Evidence
In any trial, the court hears the evidence from the prosecution and from the defense. A one-sided trial―with evidence being allowed from only one side―is a perversion of justice. If you have ever sat-in, as an observer, in court trials, then you may well have listened to the case as presented by the prosecuting attorney and as result a result of what you have heard, you think within yourself: “The defendant (the once who is being accused) is as guilty as Hell!” But then, upon hearing the arguments put forward by the attorney for the defense, you think: “Hey! I don’t think the guy is guilty after all!”
If the defense attorney is stupid and incompetent (as sadly most Catholics are with regard to the Faith), then the defense attorney (the Catholic) will have little to say in face of all the alleged evidence and accusations. This is the case of Catholics today. They have been dumbed-down so much―they know so little about their Faith and all the rooms or compartments within the mansion of Faith (Catechism, basic simple Dogmatic Theology, basic simple Moral Theology, basic simple Apologetics, basic simple Church History, basic simple Canon Law, etc. ― all this is boring and useless in their eyes) that they are incapable of dealing, analyzing, distinguishing, penetrating, understanding, responding and rebutting the countless arguments and accusations thrown at them. They are like an 8th Grader faced by a crooked criminal lawyer. Naïve, gullible, intimidated, speechless and helpless. Hence the world―and the prince of the world, the devil―can freely trample upon everything Catholic and twist it, misrepresent it, exaggerate it, ridicule it, criticize it, condemn it and trample all over it with apparent irreverent impunity and sacrilegious scorn. The Catholic just sits there speechless, trying to rationalize that this speechlessness is some kind of heroic virtue, when in reality it is irresponsible, incriminated and impeachable ignorance. We impotently and ignorantly stand by watching our Holy Mother the Church being attacked, beaten, robbed and raped―and we do nothing much about it―we barely if ever pray to God for the Church. We are like drunkard―drunk on the world and its toys―who stands wobbling and stumbling over both words and feet, while Holy Mother Church undergoes the Passion.
As Our Lady lamented: “In this supreme moment of need of the Church, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will fall silent” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... Churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God.” (Our Lady of Akita).
Taking the Church to Court
In the next article, we shall place the Church “in the dock” or the “witness stand” and place her on trial. Is the Church guilty on all the charges listed against her? If so, how guilty is she? If not, then what is the truth of the matter. We will look at the witnesses brought by the prosecution. We will cross-examine them. We will look at the witnesses for the defense and cross examine them too. What is the truth? Are we getting, seeing, hearing the truth? Or are getting, seeing, hearing partial truths, half-truths, twisted-truths, exaggerated truths, made-up truths? This is something that every Catholic should be able to do in these times of unprecedented attacks on the Church―not only from those outside the Church, but also from the Church’s very own members.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Monday June 3rd & Tuesday June 4th
Article 2
APOCALYPTIC APOPLEXY!
Today's Damned Epidemic of Spiritual Strokes and Heart Attacks!
Article 2
APOCALYPTIC APOPLEXY!
Today's Damned Epidemic of Spiritual Strokes and Heart Attacks!
What Are We Talking About?
As Voltaire, the infamous apostate pre-1789 Revolutionary France, once said: “If you wish to converse with me, define your terms!” The famous Chinese pagan philosopher, Confucius, in alleged to have said: “When words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty!” Today, the Catholic Church is becoming increasingly apostate (Voltaire) and pagan (Confucius), with Liberals and Modernists using traditional Catholic terms but giving them new meanings―and when those traditional words lose their meanings, the faithful lose their Faith, lose their liberty as children of God and become slaves of one thing or another―slaves of the world, slaves of their passions or even slaves of the devil (through mortal sin).
The title of the article is “Apocalyptic Apoplexy”―it has a certain “ring” to it, but does it “ring true”? In fact, “Apocalyptic Apoplexy” even sounds like one of those obscure, obfuscating, confusing Modernist or Liberal theological phrases―that sound intelligent and sound meaningless all at the same time. One chief reason why Modernists and Liberals get away with “theological murder” is that they bewilder people with the challenging, complex, confusing terms and phrases that they use, which are meant to make you feel so stupid and uneducated that you will want to stay out of the debate, argument or discussion―which is what they want. They want to hide their devious changes to theological truths behind a forest or jungle of dense vocabulary vegetation that is just too dense to hack through with an average mind and quickly wears-down and wears-out any attempts to do so.
So, in dealing with these revolutionary, apostate minds of Modernists and Liberals (like Voltaire), we need to “take a leaf out of Voltaire’s book”―so to speak―and define the terms “Apocalyptic” and “Apoplexy”, to see if they really make any sense and speak of a reality, or if they merely form a rhythmic, catchy, novel title, devoid of any real meaning or sense. Hopefully you will not become apoplectic (extremely enraged) in the process!
Voltaire―the Past in the Present
Before we do define those words―just as a little ‘aside’ for those who know little of history―here is a little sketch of a man from the past who is a perfect example of a man of our day. François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plume (pen-name, or pseudonym) of Voltaire (1694-1778), was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit, his criticism of Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and separation of Church and State―sounds just like a man of our days and times, huh? He was baptized Catholic, educated by the Jesuits, fell in love and had a sexual affair with a French Protestant, was imprisoned and exiled for criticizing the French government, accused the Régent, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, of incest with his daughter, which resulted in an eleven-month imprisonment in the Bastille (Paris prison).
Voltaire supported the toleration of other religions and ethnicities: “It does not require great art, or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?”―today’s Modernists, Liberals and ‘Ecumaniacs’ would heartily agree with that! In a letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, he wrote about Christianity: “Ours [i.e., the Christian religion] is assuredly the most ridiculous, the most absurd and the most bloody religion which has ever infected this world. Your Majesty will do the human race an eternal service by extirpating this infamous superstition!” Voltaire's hatred of religion increased with the passage of years. The attack, launched at first against clericalism and theocracy, ended in a furious assault upon Holy Scripture, the dogmas of the Church, and even upon the person of Jesus Christ Himself, Whom Voltaire depicted as a degenerate. His personal life was a revolving door of mistresses, paramours and long-term lovers. He carried out a famous 16-year affair with the brilliant—and very married—author and scientist Émilie du Châtelet, and later had a committed, though secretive, partnership with his own niece, Marie-Louise Mignot. The two lived as a married couple from the early 1750s until his death, and they even adopted a child in 1760, when they took in a destitute young woman named Marie- Françoise Corneille.
Voltaire Suffers a Stroke (Apoplexy)
Voltaire, died a frightening death. Here is the exact record as published at the time of his death, based on the accounts of witnesses from Voltaire’s own circle of companions: “When Voltaire felt the stroke that he realized must terminate in death, he was overpowered with remorse. He at once sent for the priest, and wanted to be ‘reconciled with the church.’ His infidel flatterers hastened to his chamber to prevent his recantation; but it was only to witness his ignominy and their own. He cursed them to their faces; and, as his distress was increased by their presence, he repeatedly and loudly exclaimed, ‘Begone! It is you that have brought me to my present condition. Leave me, I say; begone! What a wretched glory is this which you have produced to me!’
“Hoping to allay his anguish by a written recantation, he had it prepared, signed it, and saw it witnessed. But it was all unavailing. For two months he was tortured with such an agony as led him at times to gnash his teeth in impotent rage against God and man. At other times in plaintive accents, he would plead: ‘O, Christ! O, Lord Jesus!’ Then, turning his face, he would cry out: ‘I must die-abandoned of God and of men!’
“As his end drew near, his condition became so frightful that his infidel associates were afraid to approach his beside. Still they guarded the door, that others might not know how awfully an infidel was compelled to die. Even his nurse repeatedly said, ‘For all the wealth of Europe I would never wish to see another infidel die.’ It was a scene of horror that lies beyond all exaggeration. Such is the well-attested end of the one who had a natural sovereignty of intellect, excellent education, great wealth, and much earthly honor.” (Rev. S B Shaw, Dying Testimonies of Saved and Unsaved, pp. 49-50). Voltaire was, in a sense, “a man ahead of his times”―he was, in a certain sense, a man of our day. The above outlines could just as well be applied to most people today.
Apocalyptic
You could say that Voltaire was both “apoplectic” and that he died of “apoplexy.” The word “apocalyptic” is perhaps more familiar that “apoplexy”―so let “apocalyptic” be defined first. A dictionary, depending on which one you consult, will give you a definition of “apocalyptic” along the lines of: “(1) relating to, or resembling an apocalypse (a great disaster); (2) a prophetic forecasting the ultimate destiny of the world; (3) a foreboding or announcement of imminent disaster or final doom; (4) being wildly unrestrained; (5) being ultimately decisive” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).
We are certainly living in apocalyptic times! Our Lady of Fatima let Sr. Lucia know that we have entered the so-called “End-Times” or “Last-Days.” That does not mean that the end of the world is imminent, but an apostasy most certainly has been prophesied and is happening―which is apocalyptic in itself, in the sense of being “a great disaster; a prophetic forecasting the destiny of the world; a foreboding or announcement of imminent disaster.” Before the end of the world can come, the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart must first occur and then a short period of peace will follow, which will then usher in another even greater apostasy and the time of the Antichrist. Only then will the end of world occur.
Yet the current apostasy, that is rapidly growing as the Church and Faith are rapidly collapsing, is “the end of the world”, or should it be said “the end of the road” for those on the broad, wide road leads to their perdition: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). The apocalyptic times of the present moment have been amply foretold by the many warnings Our Lady has given over the last 400 years―you cannot get a more efficient “early warning system” than that! At Quito (1600s), La Salette (1846), Fatima (1917) and Akita (1973),
Our Lady paints a very apocalyptic picture for mankind! How many times must we read those warnings before the “penny drops” and our eyes are opened to the fact that we are in the midst―or at least at the outset―of the grim times of which she speaks and warns―yet we don’t really give a damn about it, we just mosey along, toddle along, slide along with smartphone in one hand and our favorite drink or food in the other hand, and plans for the weekend in mind! Such is the apocalyptic paralytic! Sometimes you have to just keep chopping away at the tree, or cutting-away at the rope until you finally “get through”! Thus we need to read her words again and again―until it touches a nerve. Her words are really apocalyptic―it is we who are paralytic and do little or nothing about the warnings. It is as though she informs us of a fire raging through the Church and the world, and we dutifully pour a glass of water on it by the meager amount of distracted prayers and complaining sacrifices we make (or if we don’t make any sacrifices, then our few drops of water come from the sacrifices God forces on us by His Providence against which we also complain). We need to give more than a glass of water―we need to get the hosepipe!
Our Apocalyptic Lady says: “During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.
“Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church.
“Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world …
“Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like.
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness …
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … The seasons will be altered, the Earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc...
“The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test?” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Apoplexy
Reading all the above may well bring about an apoplexy in some persons. Apoplexy (from Ancient Greek apoplexia, meaning “a striking away”) is bleeding within internal organs and the accompanying symptoms. For example, cerebral apoplexy is bleeding in the brain, ovarian apoplexy is bleeding in the ovaries. The term formerly referred to what is now called a “stroke.” Nowadays, health care professionals typically specify the type of apoplexy―such as cerebral, ovarian and pituitary apoplexy. From the late 14th to the late 19th century, apoplexy referred to any sudden death that began with a sudden loss of consciousness, especially one in which the victim died within a matter of seconds after losing consciousness. The word apoplexy was also sometimes used to refer to the symptom of sudden loss of consciousness immediately preceding death. Ruptured aortic aneurysms (outwardly bulging arteries), and even heart attacks and strokes were referred to as apoplexy in the past.
An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms are a result of a weakened blood vessel wall, and may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus (starting point) for clot formation (thrombosis) and embolization (embolism is the lodging of a blockage-causing piece of material inside a blood vessel).
So what could “spiritual apoplexy” be? What could “spiritual aneurysms” be? What could “spiritual thrombosis” be? What could “spiritual embolization” be?
Spiritual Apoplexy
If physical apoplexy is defined as “any sudden death that begins with a sudden loss of consciousness” (as defined from the 14th to 19th centuries) and also as “the symptom of sudden loss of consciousness immediately preceding death” (as defined from the 19th century onwards), then “spiritual apoplexy” could be defined as “the loss of consciousness of God, the Faith and the spiritual life through either venial sin (especially the sin of lukewarmness) or mortal sin.” Just as a stroke can be caused by a rupture and bleeding in the brain, similarly the soul could rupture its relationship with God through mortal sin (which results in grace ‘bleeding’ out of the soul), or through a blockage in the soul that does not allow grace to circulate sufficiently well in order to keep the soul healthy and on the narrow path to Heaven.
From that definition, you can see that the vast majority of Catholics today are “spiritually apoplectic”―which also providentially fits with the secondary meaning or definition of “apoplexy” and “apoplectic” as being “overcome with anger; extremely indignant” which can sometimes lead to a stroke or burst blood vessel. Today’s Catholics seem to be in a rage about one thing or another―sometimes justified, more often than not they are unjustified, since they are “playing God” or are questioning His Divine Providence (which could also be called Divine Punishment, or Providential Divine Punishment). It seems as though Catholics are imitating the Chosen People in the time of the Exodus from Egypt under Moses―they have become stiff-necked, murmurers, complainers, critics, idolaters, faithless worldlings. Holy Scripture describes those Israelites as being stubborn: “I know thy obstinacy, and thy most stiff neck!” (Deuteronomy 31:27).
“All the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them: ‘Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat over the flesh pots, and ate bread to the full! Why have you brought us into this desert, that you might destroy all the multitude with famine?’ … And Moses said: ‘The Lord will give you to eat, for He hath heard your murmurings, with which you have murmured against Him, for what are we? Your murmuring is not against us, but against the Lord!’” (Exodus 16:2-3).
“Then all the multitude of the children of Israel setting forward from the desert of Sin, encamped in Raphidim, where there was no water for the people to drink. And they complained to Moses, and said: ‘Give us water, that we may drink!’ And Moses answered them: ‘Why chide you with Me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?’ So the people were thirsty there for want of water, and murmured against Moses, saying: ‘Why didst thou make us go forth out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our beasts with thirst?’ And Moses called the name of that place ‘Temptation’, because the chiding of the children of Israel, and for that they tempted the Lord, saying: ‘Is the Lord amongst us or not?’” (Exodus 17:1-3).
At another time, when “Moses delayed to come down from the mount, they, gathering together against Aaron, said: ‘Arise, make us gods, that may go before us! For as to this Moses, the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has befallen him!’ And Aaron said to them: ‘Take the golden earrings from the ears of your wives, and your sons and daughters, and bring them to me!’ And when he had received them, he fashioned them and made of them a molten calf. And they said: ‘These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt!’ And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and rising in the morning, they offered holocausts, and peace victims, and the people sat down to eat, and drink, and they rose up to play. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Go, get thee back down! Thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, hath sinned! They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst show them: and they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it, and sacrificing victims to it! See that this people is stiff-necked! Let me alone, that my wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them! … And Moses returned from the mount, carrying the two tables of the testimony in his hand, written on both sides, made by the work of God: the writing also of God was graven in the tables. And Josue hearing the noise of the people shouting, said to Moses: The noise of battle is heard in the camp. And when he came nigh to the camp, he saw the calf, and the dances: and being very angry, he threw the tables out of his hand, and broke them at the foot of the mount. And laying hold of the calf which they had made, he burnt it, and beat it to powder, which he threw into water, and gave thereof to the children of Israel to drink. And he said to Aaron: ‘What has this people done to thee, that thou shouldst bring upon them a most heinous sin?’ Then standing in the gate of the camp, he said: If any man be on the Lord’s side let him join with me!’ And he said to them: ‘Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: “Put every man his sword upon his thigh: go, and return from gate to gate through the midst of the camp, and let every man kill his brother, and friend, and neighbor!”’ And the sons of Levi did according to the words of Moses, and there were slain that day about three and twenty thousand men. And returning to the Lord, Moses said: ‘I beseech thee: this people hath sinned a heinous sin, and they have made to themselves gods of gold! Either forgive them this trespass, or, if thou do not, strike me out of the book that thou hast written!’ And the Lord answered him: ‘He that hath sinned against Me, him will I strike out of my book! [Remember “apoplexy” is from the Ancient Greek apoplexia, meaning “a striking away”] I, in the day of revenge, will visit this sin also of theirs!’ The Lord therefore struck the people for the guilt on occasion of the calf which Aaron had made.” (Exodus 32:1-35).
Later, when they first arrived at the Promised Land, “All the men, whom Moses had sent to view the [Promised] Land, at their return made the whole multitude to murmur against him, speaking ill of the land, saying that it was naught” (Numbers 14:36). “How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel!” (Numbers 14:27). “There arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it He was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp” (Numbers 11:1). “They did not receive the trials with the fear of the Lord, but uttered their impatience and the reproach of their murmuring against the Lord!” (Judith 8:24).
Hence Scripture, in the New Testament, warns us: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink! But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 1:12).
Most Are Not Pleasing to God
Chosen People or not―favorites or not―the vast majority of the Israelites were not pleasing to God and were punished, if you could put it this way, by a mass or widespread “apoplexy” by being struck-down in the desert. Out of the 600,000 menfolk that originally left Egypt for the Promised Land, only 2 men (Josue and Caleb) finally entered it 40 years later. A real “apocalyptic apoplexy” for them, but also a warning of the same treatment for us―“Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 1:11-12). If “with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert”―then what must be the case with Catholics today? We are far more idolatrous than the Chosen People were; we are fornicating (or committing other sins of impurity by thought, word and deed) more than the Chosen People were; we are complaining as much if not more than they were! What is our fate? “Apocalyptic Apoplexy”? Will we be struck from the Book of Life? Our Lady warned at Akita that if sins increased in gravity and in number, then there would be no more mercy! That was in 1973! The legalized abortion was only just starting in the USA; divorce was not as rampant as it is now; cohabitation was not as prevalent as it is now; contraception was not as widespread as today; drug use and abuse was nowhere near what it is now, the list is endless!
Spiritual Aneurysms
An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Similarly, you could say that a “spiritual aneurysm” is an outward bulging of the soul towards something worldly, caused by a weak spot in the soul for some pleasure, worldly activity, worldly fashion, custom, appliance, device, etc. Each person has their own particular weaknesses and attractions―if these are not controlled, mortified and even sacrificed. This worldly ‘balloon’ or ‘bubble’―once it gets into the soul, will inflate and grow even more, hindering and even blocking the influence of God’s grace, to the point where the soul sides more with the world than with God, spends more time on the world than God, loves the world more than God, seeks the world more than God.
Just as aneurysms in the blood vessels (arteries) are a result of a weakened blood vessel wall, or may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease, likewise “spiritual aneurysms” can be the result of a weakened spiritual life in the soul, or they can be caused by the influence of worldly parents, brothers and sisters, or relatives and friends.
As Voltaire, the infamous apostate pre-1789 Revolutionary France, once said: “If you wish to converse with me, define your terms!” The famous Chinese pagan philosopher, Confucius, in alleged to have said: “When words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty!” Today, the Catholic Church is becoming increasingly apostate (Voltaire) and pagan (Confucius), with Liberals and Modernists using traditional Catholic terms but giving them new meanings―and when those traditional words lose their meanings, the faithful lose their Faith, lose their liberty as children of God and become slaves of one thing or another―slaves of the world, slaves of their passions or even slaves of the devil (through mortal sin).
The title of the article is “Apocalyptic Apoplexy”―it has a certain “ring” to it, but does it “ring true”? In fact, “Apocalyptic Apoplexy” even sounds like one of those obscure, obfuscating, confusing Modernist or Liberal theological phrases―that sound intelligent and sound meaningless all at the same time. One chief reason why Modernists and Liberals get away with “theological murder” is that they bewilder people with the challenging, complex, confusing terms and phrases that they use, which are meant to make you feel so stupid and uneducated that you will want to stay out of the debate, argument or discussion―which is what they want. They want to hide their devious changes to theological truths behind a forest or jungle of dense vocabulary vegetation that is just too dense to hack through with an average mind and quickly wears-down and wears-out any attempts to do so.
So, in dealing with these revolutionary, apostate minds of Modernists and Liberals (like Voltaire), we need to “take a leaf out of Voltaire’s book”―so to speak―and define the terms “Apocalyptic” and “Apoplexy”, to see if they really make any sense and speak of a reality, or if they merely form a rhythmic, catchy, novel title, devoid of any real meaning or sense. Hopefully you will not become apoplectic (extremely enraged) in the process!
Voltaire―the Past in the Present
Before we do define those words―just as a little ‘aside’ for those who know little of history―here is a little sketch of a man from the past who is a perfect example of a man of our day. François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plume (pen-name, or pseudonym) of Voltaire (1694-1778), was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit, his criticism of Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and separation of Church and State―sounds just like a man of our days and times, huh? He was baptized Catholic, educated by the Jesuits, fell in love and had a sexual affair with a French Protestant, was imprisoned and exiled for criticizing the French government, accused the Régent, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, of incest with his daughter, which resulted in an eleven-month imprisonment in the Bastille (Paris prison).
Voltaire supported the toleration of other religions and ethnicities: “It does not require great art, or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?”―today’s Modernists, Liberals and ‘Ecumaniacs’ would heartily agree with that! In a letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, he wrote about Christianity: “Ours [i.e., the Christian religion] is assuredly the most ridiculous, the most absurd and the most bloody religion which has ever infected this world. Your Majesty will do the human race an eternal service by extirpating this infamous superstition!” Voltaire's hatred of religion increased with the passage of years. The attack, launched at first against clericalism and theocracy, ended in a furious assault upon Holy Scripture, the dogmas of the Church, and even upon the person of Jesus Christ Himself, Whom Voltaire depicted as a degenerate. His personal life was a revolving door of mistresses, paramours and long-term lovers. He carried out a famous 16-year affair with the brilliant—and very married—author and scientist Émilie du Châtelet, and later had a committed, though secretive, partnership with his own niece, Marie-Louise Mignot. The two lived as a married couple from the early 1750s until his death, and they even adopted a child in 1760, when they took in a destitute young woman named Marie- Françoise Corneille.
Voltaire Suffers a Stroke (Apoplexy)
Voltaire, died a frightening death. Here is the exact record as published at the time of his death, based on the accounts of witnesses from Voltaire’s own circle of companions: “When Voltaire felt the stroke that he realized must terminate in death, he was overpowered with remorse. He at once sent for the priest, and wanted to be ‘reconciled with the church.’ His infidel flatterers hastened to his chamber to prevent his recantation; but it was only to witness his ignominy and their own. He cursed them to their faces; and, as his distress was increased by their presence, he repeatedly and loudly exclaimed, ‘Begone! It is you that have brought me to my present condition. Leave me, I say; begone! What a wretched glory is this which you have produced to me!’
“Hoping to allay his anguish by a written recantation, he had it prepared, signed it, and saw it witnessed. But it was all unavailing. For two months he was tortured with such an agony as led him at times to gnash his teeth in impotent rage against God and man. At other times in plaintive accents, he would plead: ‘O, Christ! O, Lord Jesus!’ Then, turning his face, he would cry out: ‘I must die-abandoned of God and of men!’
“As his end drew near, his condition became so frightful that his infidel associates were afraid to approach his beside. Still they guarded the door, that others might not know how awfully an infidel was compelled to die. Even his nurse repeatedly said, ‘For all the wealth of Europe I would never wish to see another infidel die.’ It was a scene of horror that lies beyond all exaggeration. Such is the well-attested end of the one who had a natural sovereignty of intellect, excellent education, great wealth, and much earthly honor.” (Rev. S B Shaw, Dying Testimonies of Saved and Unsaved, pp. 49-50). Voltaire was, in a sense, “a man ahead of his times”―he was, in a certain sense, a man of our day. The above outlines could just as well be applied to most people today.
Apocalyptic
You could say that Voltaire was both “apoplectic” and that he died of “apoplexy.” The word “apocalyptic” is perhaps more familiar that “apoplexy”―so let “apocalyptic” be defined first. A dictionary, depending on which one you consult, will give you a definition of “apocalyptic” along the lines of: “(1) relating to, or resembling an apocalypse (a great disaster); (2) a prophetic forecasting the ultimate destiny of the world; (3) a foreboding or announcement of imminent disaster or final doom; (4) being wildly unrestrained; (5) being ultimately decisive” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).
We are certainly living in apocalyptic times! Our Lady of Fatima let Sr. Lucia know that we have entered the so-called “End-Times” or “Last-Days.” That does not mean that the end of the world is imminent, but an apostasy most certainly has been prophesied and is happening―which is apocalyptic in itself, in the sense of being “a great disaster; a prophetic forecasting the destiny of the world; a foreboding or announcement of imminent disaster.” Before the end of the world can come, the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart must first occur and then a short period of peace will follow, which will then usher in another even greater apostasy and the time of the Antichrist. Only then will the end of world occur.
Yet the current apostasy, that is rapidly growing as the Church and Faith are rapidly collapsing, is “the end of the world”, or should it be said “the end of the road” for those on the broad, wide road leads to their perdition: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). The apocalyptic times of the present moment have been amply foretold by the many warnings Our Lady has given over the last 400 years―you cannot get a more efficient “early warning system” than that! At Quito (1600s), La Salette (1846), Fatima (1917) and Akita (1973),
Our Lady paints a very apocalyptic picture for mankind! How many times must we read those warnings before the “penny drops” and our eyes are opened to the fact that we are in the midst―or at least at the outset―of the grim times of which she speaks and warns―yet we don’t really give a damn about it, we just mosey along, toddle along, slide along with smartphone in one hand and our favorite drink or food in the other hand, and plans for the weekend in mind! Such is the apocalyptic paralytic! Sometimes you have to just keep chopping away at the tree, or cutting-away at the rope until you finally “get through”! Thus we need to read her words again and again―until it touches a nerve. Her words are really apocalyptic―it is we who are paralytic and do little or nothing about the warnings. It is as though she informs us of a fire raging through the Church and the world, and we dutifully pour a glass of water on it by the meager amount of distracted prayers and complaining sacrifices we make (or if we don’t make any sacrifices, then our few drops of water come from the sacrifices God forces on us by His Providence against which we also complain). We need to give more than a glass of water―we need to get the hosepipe!
Our Apocalyptic Lady says: “During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.
“Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church.
“Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world …
“Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like.
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness …
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … The seasons will be altered, the Earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc...
“The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test?” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Apoplexy
Reading all the above may well bring about an apoplexy in some persons. Apoplexy (from Ancient Greek apoplexia, meaning “a striking away”) is bleeding within internal organs and the accompanying symptoms. For example, cerebral apoplexy is bleeding in the brain, ovarian apoplexy is bleeding in the ovaries. The term formerly referred to what is now called a “stroke.” Nowadays, health care professionals typically specify the type of apoplexy―such as cerebral, ovarian and pituitary apoplexy. From the late 14th to the late 19th century, apoplexy referred to any sudden death that began with a sudden loss of consciousness, especially one in which the victim died within a matter of seconds after losing consciousness. The word apoplexy was also sometimes used to refer to the symptom of sudden loss of consciousness immediately preceding death. Ruptured aortic aneurysms (outwardly bulging arteries), and even heart attacks and strokes were referred to as apoplexy in the past.
An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms are a result of a weakened blood vessel wall, and may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus (starting point) for clot formation (thrombosis) and embolization (embolism is the lodging of a blockage-causing piece of material inside a blood vessel).
So what could “spiritual apoplexy” be? What could “spiritual aneurysms” be? What could “spiritual thrombosis” be? What could “spiritual embolization” be?
Spiritual Apoplexy
If physical apoplexy is defined as “any sudden death that begins with a sudden loss of consciousness” (as defined from the 14th to 19th centuries) and also as “the symptom of sudden loss of consciousness immediately preceding death” (as defined from the 19th century onwards), then “spiritual apoplexy” could be defined as “the loss of consciousness of God, the Faith and the spiritual life through either venial sin (especially the sin of lukewarmness) or mortal sin.” Just as a stroke can be caused by a rupture and bleeding in the brain, similarly the soul could rupture its relationship with God through mortal sin (which results in grace ‘bleeding’ out of the soul), or through a blockage in the soul that does not allow grace to circulate sufficiently well in order to keep the soul healthy and on the narrow path to Heaven.
From that definition, you can see that the vast majority of Catholics today are “spiritually apoplectic”―which also providentially fits with the secondary meaning or definition of “apoplexy” and “apoplectic” as being “overcome with anger; extremely indignant” which can sometimes lead to a stroke or burst blood vessel. Today’s Catholics seem to be in a rage about one thing or another―sometimes justified, more often than not they are unjustified, since they are “playing God” or are questioning His Divine Providence (which could also be called Divine Punishment, or Providential Divine Punishment). It seems as though Catholics are imitating the Chosen People in the time of the Exodus from Egypt under Moses―they have become stiff-necked, murmurers, complainers, critics, idolaters, faithless worldlings. Holy Scripture describes those Israelites as being stubborn: “I know thy obstinacy, and thy most stiff neck!” (Deuteronomy 31:27).
“All the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them: ‘Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat over the flesh pots, and ate bread to the full! Why have you brought us into this desert, that you might destroy all the multitude with famine?’ … And Moses said: ‘The Lord will give you to eat, for He hath heard your murmurings, with which you have murmured against Him, for what are we? Your murmuring is not against us, but against the Lord!’” (Exodus 16:2-3).
“Then all the multitude of the children of Israel setting forward from the desert of Sin, encamped in Raphidim, where there was no water for the people to drink. And they complained to Moses, and said: ‘Give us water, that we may drink!’ And Moses answered them: ‘Why chide you with Me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?’ So the people were thirsty there for want of water, and murmured against Moses, saying: ‘Why didst thou make us go forth out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our beasts with thirst?’ And Moses called the name of that place ‘Temptation’, because the chiding of the children of Israel, and for that they tempted the Lord, saying: ‘Is the Lord amongst us or not?’” (Exodus 17:1-3).
At another time, when “Moses delayed to come down from the mount, they, gathering together against Aaron, said: ‘Arise, make us gods, that may go before us! For as to this Moses, the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has befallen him!’ And Aaron said to them: ‘Take the golden earrings from the ears of your wives, and your sons and daughters, and bring them to me!’ And when he had received them, he fashioned them and made of them a molten calf. And they said: ‘These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt!’ And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and rising in the morning, they offered holocausts, and peace victims, and the people sat down to eat, and drink, and they rose up to play. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Go, get thee back down! Thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, hath sinned! They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst show them: and they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it, and sacrificing victims to it! See that this people is stiff-necked! Let me alone, that my wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them! … And Moses returned from the mount, carrying the two tables of the testimony in his hand, written on both sides, made by the work of God: the writing also of God was graven in the tables. And Josue hearing the noise of the people shouting, said to Moses: The noise of battle is heard in the camp. And when he came nigh to the camp, he saw the calf, and the dances: and being very angry, he threw the tables out of his hand, and broke them at the foot of the mount. And laying hold of the calf which they had made, he burnt it, and beat it to powder, which he threw into water, and gave thereof to the children of Israel to drink. And he said to Aaron: ‘What has this people done to thee, that thou shouldst bring upon them a most heinous sin?’ Then standing in the gate of the camp, he said: If any man be on the Lord’s side let him join with me!’ And he said to them: ‘Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: “Put every man his sword upon his thigh: go, and return from gate to gate through the midst of the camp, and let every man kill his brother, and friend, and neighbor!”’ And the sons of Levi did according to the words of Moses, and there were slain that day about three and twenty thousand men. And returning to the Lord, Moses said: ‘I beseech thee: this people hath sinned a heinous sin, and they have made to themselves gods of gold! Either forgive them this trespass, or, if thou do not, strike me out of the book that thou hast written!’ And the Lord answered him: ‘He that hath sinned against Me, him will I strike out of my book! [Remember “apoplexy” is from the Ancient Greek apoplexia, meaning “a striking away”] I, in the day of revenge, will visit this sin also of theirs!’ The Lord therefore struck the people for the guilt on occasion of the calf which Aaron had made.” (Exodus 32:1-35).
Later, when they first arrived at the Promised Land, “All the men, whom Moses had sent to view the [Promised] Land, at their return made the whole multitude to murmur against him, speaking ill of the land, saying that it was naught” (Numbers 14:36). “How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel!” (Numbers 14:27). “There arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it He was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp” (Numbers 11:1). “They did not receive the trials with the fear of the Lord, but uttered their impatience and the reproach of their murmuring against the Lord!” (Judith 8:24).
Hence Scripture, in the New Testament, warns us: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink! But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 1:12).
Most Are Not Pleasing to God
Chosen People or not―favorites or not―the vast majority of the Israelites were not pleasing to God and were punished, if you could put it this way, by a mass or widespread “apoplexy” by being struck-down in the desert. Out of the 600,000 menfolk that originally left Egypt for the Promised Land, only 2 men (Josue and Caleb) finally entered it 40 years later. A real “apocalyptic apoplexy” for them, but also a warning of the same treatment for us―“Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 1:11-12). If “with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert”―then what must be the case with Catholics today? We are far more idolatrous than the Chosen People were; we are fornicating (or committing other sins of impurity by thought, word and deed) more than the Chosen People were; we are complaining as much if not more than they were! What is our fate? “Apocalyptic Apoplexy”? Will we be struck from the Book of Life? Our Lady warned at Akita that if sins increased in gravity and in number, then there would be no more mercy! That was in 1973! The legalized abortion was only just starting in the USA; divorce was not as rampant as it is now; cohabitation was not as prevalent as it is now; contraception was not as widespread as today; drug use and abuse was nowhere near what it is now, the list is endless!
Spiritual Aneurysms
An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Similarly, you could say that a “spiritual aneurysm” is an outward bulging of the soul towards something worldly, caused by a weak spot in the soul for some pleasure, worldly activity, worldly fashion, custom, appliance, device, etc. Each person has their own particular weaknesses and attractions―if these are not controlled, mortified and even sacrificed. This worldly ‘balloon’ or ‘bubble’―once it gets into the soul, will inflate and grow even more, hindering and even blocking the influence of God’s grace, to the point where the soul sides more with the world than with God, spends more time on the world than God, loves the world more than God, seeks the world more than God.
Just as aneurysms in the blood vessels (arteries) are a result of a weakened blood vessel wall, or may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease, likewise “spiritual aneurysms” can be the result of a weakened spiritual life in the soul, or they can be caused by the influence of worldly parents, brothers and sisters, or relatives and friends.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Saturday June 1st & Sunday June 2nd
Article 1
The Month of Heart-Check-Ups!
Article 1
The Month of Heart-Check-Ups!
The Heart and Soul of the Matter
If Our Lord chose the image of the Sacred Heart as a symbol of His love for us, and if, as many spiritual authors suggest, devotion to the Sacred Heart is one last chief remedies that Christ offers the world in its spiritual sickness, then it is worth looking deeper into the heart to see what symbolism and teachings we can find to help us in our worldwide spiritual “congestive heart failure” that we are experiencing. The leading cause of physical death throughout the world is heart disease and strokes (which are related to the function of the heart which pumps the blood that clots and produces the stroke). You could say that the most common causes of death are heart attacks and brain attacks (which is what a stroke is essentially). Thus we have symbols of the Scriptural references to “heart” and “soul” and “mind”―as in the case of: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” Mark 12:30). Just as heart attacks and brain attacks are the most common cause of physical death―you could say that spiritual heart attacks and brain attacks are the most common cause of damnation, or loss of soul, loss of eternal life and eternal happiness.
From the Physical to the Spiritual
It is amazing how much there is to learn from heart attacks and strokes in relation to the spiritual life! Before applying it to the spiritual life, it is necessary to have a simple idea and understanding of heart attacks and strokes on the physical level. Both heart attacks and strokes concern arteries finding themselves blocked, or bursting and bleeding. A heart attack occurs when an artery supplying your heart with blood and oxygen becomes blocked by fatty deposits building up over time and forming plaques in your heart’s arteries. If a plaque ruptures, a blood clot can form and block your arteries, causing a heart attack. Likewise, a stroke is a disease that affects the arteries supplying blood to and within the brain. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts (or ruptures). When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood it needs (and the oxygen it needs that is contained within the blood), so it and brain cells die. The effects of a stroke depend on which part of the brain is injured, and how severely it is injured. Strokes may cause sudden weakness, loss of sensation, or difficulty with speaking, seeing, or walking. Since different parts of the brain control different areas and functions, it is usually the area immediately surrounding the stroke that is affected. Sometimes people with stroke have a headache, but stroke can also be completely painless.
The effects of a stroke depend on several factors, including the location of the obstruction and how much brain tissue is affected. However, because one side of the brain controls the opposite side of the body, a stroke affecting one side will result in neurological complications on the side of the body it affects. The effects of a stroke depend primarily on the location of the obstruction and the extent of brain tissue affected. If the stroke occurs toward the back of the brain, for instance, it's likely that some disability involving vision will result.
Left Brain Strokes: If the stroke occurs in the left side of the brain, the right side of the body will be affected, producing some or all of the following: (1) Paralysis on the right side of the body; (2) Speech/language problems; (3) Slow, cautious behavioral style; (4) Memory loss.
Right Brain Strokes: If the stroke occurs in the right side of the brain, the left side of the body will be affected, producing some or all of the following: (1) Paralysis on the left side of the body; (2) Vision problems; (3) Quick, inquisitive behavioral style; (4) Memory loss.
Brain Stem Stroke: When stroke occurs in the brain stem, depending on the severity of the injury, it can affect both sides of the body and may leave someone in a “locked-in” state. When a locked-in state occurs, the patient is generally unable to speak or achieve any movement below the neck.
Heart, Brain and Blood
It is fairly obvious that there can be no life without a heart and no life without a brain and no life without blood. You can survive with a deformed, defective, partially developed, tiny heart or brain―but not entirely without one. The brain stem, which sits at the bottom of the brain and connects to the spine, controls vital functions such as breathing, swallowing, digestion, eye movement and heartbeat, there can be no life without it. But the rest of the brain is obviously capable of some remarkable feats, with one part able to compensate for deficiencies in another. Similarly with the heart, which is essentially a pump for the blood―no heart, no pumping, no blood flow, no life. Where would we be without blood? That red stuff that carries vital oxygen from our lungs to our muscles, and helps move our body’s chemical waste to where it can be recycled or disposed of? Blood is vital for life in humans. Our bodies need to move oxygen from our lungs to our cells to produce energy by burning the sugars, fats and proteins we eat in a controlled way. In humans, the oxygen is moved by a fluid called blood, and the plumbing for that fluid or blood consists of our veins, arteries and capillaries. The oxygen carrier in our blood is hemoglobin. Our blood carries lots of cells and molecules that perform functions, such as fighting infection, repairing blood vessels, and transporting chemical messages, such as hormones, around the body. All these cells and molecules travel around in a straw-colored liquid called plasma. Plasma makes up more than half your blood volume, helping the cells and molecules get around, a bit like how water gets you moving on a water slide.
Blood a Symbol of Love and Life
“The life of all flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:14). “Because the life of the flesh is in the blood … I have given it to you” (Leviticus 17:11). “Live in thy blood!” (Ezechiel 16:6). Christ’s Blood is life-giving: “Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you!’” (John 6:54).
God commanded that the blood of the lamb be smeared on the doors of the homes of the Hebrews in Egypt, in order to preserve their lives: “And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ‘Llet every man take a lamb by their families and houses ... And they shall take of the blood thereof, and put it upon both the side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it ... And I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be unto you for a sign in the houses where you shall be! And I shall see the blood, and shall pass over you: and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I shall strike the land of Egypt!’ … And Moses called all the ancients of the children of Israel, and said to them: ‘Go take a lamb by your families and sacrifice it and dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that is at the door, and sprinkle the transom of the door therewith, and both the door cheeks … For the Lord will pass through striking the Egyptians: and when He shall see the blood on the transom, and on both the posts, He will pass over the door of the house, and not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses and to hurt you!’” (Exodus 12:1-23).
If the mere blood of a lamb saved the lives of the Hebrews in Egypt, how much more powerful is the Blood of Christ―as Holy Scripture points out: “If the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh, then how much more shall the Blood of Christ―Who, by the Holy Ghost, offered Himself unspotted unto God―cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14). Christ Himself, at the Last Supper, when changing the wine into His own Precious Blood, “after He had supped, said: ‘This is the chalice, the New Testament in My Blood, which shall be shed for you!” (Luke 22:20). “This is My Blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins!” (Matthew 26:28), adding “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life [shed his blood] for his friends!” (John 15:13). Hence Scripture adds that our lives [souls] shall be saved by Christ’s Blood: “He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called, the Word of God” (Apocalypse 19:13). “Christ died for us! Therefore, being now justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him!” (Romans 5:9). “Jesus Christ, Who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood!” (Apocalypse 1:5). “These that are clothed in white robes are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the Blood of the Lamb!” (Apocalypse 7:13-14).
Love to Live, Live to Love
We speak of “the spiritual life”―but what is the “spiritual life”? It is the life of God in the soul. But what is God? “God is charity!” (1 John 4:8). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins!” (1 John 4:10). Love begets life―God, Who is charity, so loved us that He sent His Love, Christ, to give life to the world by His death.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … [Christ is] the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and his own received Him not” (John 1:1-11). “They loved the glory of men more than the glory of God” (John 12:43). “They loved Him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto Him” (Psalm 77:36). “And we have known, and have believed the charity, which God hath to us. God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16) … “He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity!” (1 John 4:8). “Let us, therefore, love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19), “for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us” (Ephesians 2:4).
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament equate love with life: “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayst live” (Deuteronomy 30:6). “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbor as thyself ... This do, and thou shalt live!” (Luke 10:27-28).
Both Testaments furnish other quotes that command us to love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength” Deuteronomy 6:5). “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment!’” (Matthew 22:37-38). “From a sincere heart, love one another earnestly!” (1 Peter 1:22). “He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity” (1 John 4:8).
Sin Brings Death, Charity Brings Life
“By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:20). “You shall die in your sin!” (John 8:24). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). This should engrave in our hearts and minds the gravity of sin! The Catechism tells us that mortal and venial sin are the TWO GREATEST EVILS IN THE WORLD―“Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD)―but we have long since stopped believing that, as we pile up sin upon sin (one greatest evil after another) in our daily lives! We are drugged and intoxicated on our own self-made (or at least self-tweaked) religion of subjective personal opinions―and in our opinion, regardless of the what the Catechism may say, sin is NO LONGER the greatest evil in the world. Which is proved by the fact that over 50% of Catholics accept same-sex relationships and marriages, over 90% of Catholics of reproductive age have practiced contraception, over 80% of Catholics no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly and believe you can be a good Catholic without going to Sunday Mass; over 50% of Catholics believe abortion should be legal in all cases; and so on and so forth through all the list of sins you can possibly imagine. It is clear that sin in no longer looked upon (if it ever was) as the greatest evil on Earth. No wonder most souls are lost―today and in every age of history.
“As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die?” (Ezechiel 33:11). “If you love Me, keep My Commandments” (John 14:15). “If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live! Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:21-23). “For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation, to them that hate me, and showing mercy unto many thousands, to them that love Me, and keep My commandments!” (Deuteronomy 5:9-10). “A contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise!” (Psalm 50:19). However, a “contrite heart” and a “humbled heart”―which is such a rarity today―needs to be a healthy heart and a string heart: healed and strengthened by a love of God, rather than being weakened and diseased by an indifference to God or even a hatred of God (for sin is hatred of God and hatred of self, don’t fool yourself!). “He that loveth iniquity hateth his own soul” (Psalms 10:6)).
Strong Healthy Heart Needed For Heaven
Universally and perpetually, the heart has been associated with “love”―even Our Lord used the heart as symbol of love when He manifested His Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary. Our Lord revealed to her: “My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men, that, being unable any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its burning Charity, It must needs spread them abroad and manifest Itself to them (mankind) in order to enrich them with the precious graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them from the abyss of perdition … . If only they would make Me some return for My Love, I should think but little of all I have done for them and would wish, were it possible, to suffer still more. But the sole return they make for all My eagerness to do them good is to reject Me and treat Me with coldness … Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love; and in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this Sacrament of Love. But what I feel most keenly is that it is hearts which are consecrated to Me, that treat Me thus!”
Those words of Our Lord―lamenting the diseased hearts of men who love Him so little―were spoken WAY BACK IN THE 1670s!! Today, we far more indifferent, far more ungrateful, far more irreverent, far more lukewarm and commit far more sacrileges than 340 years ago! “Their heart was not right with Him, nor were they counted faithful” (Psalm 77:37). “Thy heart is not right in the sight of God” (Acts 8:21). “Direct thy heart into the right way!” (Jeremias 31:21). “How good is God to them that are of a right heart!” (Psalm 72:1). “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, all ye right of heart!” (Psalm 31:11). If few souls were saved even back then―when the Sacred Heart made those lamentations―how much fewer is that number today? There is so much “plaque” in our spiritual life―our “mind” and “heart”―that we risk having a spiritual heart attack or a spiritual brain attack (stroke). What is all this “plaque” that is killing us spiritually?
The “Plaque” of the Soul
Arterial Plaque (plaque in the blood and arteries) is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, waste products from cells and a clotting agent called fibrin. Similarly, “Spiritual Plaque” is made up of the devil, the world and our own passions: “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) “Overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world. “And the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof: but he that doth the will of God, lives for ever” (John 2:14-17).
The “plaque of the world” can be compared to the weeds and thorns in Our Lord’s parable of the Sower of the Seed: “Behold the sower went forth to sow. And whilst he soweth some fell by the way side, and the birds of the air came and ate them up. And other some fell upon stony ground, where they had not much earth: and they sprung up immediately, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up they were scorched: and because they had not root, they withered away. And others fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up and choked them. And others fell upon good ground: and they brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold … Hear you therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, there cometh the wicked one, and catches away that which was sown in his heart: this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon stony ground, is he that heareth the word, and immediately receiveth it with joy. Yet hath he not root in himself, but is only for a time: and when there arises tribulation and persecution because of the word, he is presently scandalized. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understands, and bears fruit, and yields the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23).
Seeds, Weeds, Thorns & Trees
The flimsy, fragile, tiny seed is meant to grow into a wooden tree that bears fruit! Talking of seeds, weeds, thorns and trees―let us look at the tree chopped-down and chopped-up (humbled) to make firewood or wood for the fire (which is a symbol of love). In a certain sense, the tree represents knowledge. We learn from trees. Once chopped-down, we can learn the age of the tree by reading the “writing” of the tree―the layered annual circles that indicate the age of the tree. This is a science called dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) and is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating the trees, this science can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmospheric conditions during different periods in history from wood. Thus we gain knowledge and learn from trees.
Furthermore, trees provide us with paper―upon which knowledge is recorded and from which books are printed and distributed to teach others in homes, schools, universities and the world at large. Thus the tree indirectly contributes to every single ‘branch’ of knowledge (pardon the pun) that exists in this world.
We learn, also, that sin and death―Original Sin―came through a tree and its fruit; and that mercy and life also came from a wooden tree, the dead wooden tree on Calvary upon which hung the dying fruit of our Redemption, Jesus Christ, through Whose death, eternal life was once again offered to sinful and ‘dead’ mankind.
Talking of thorns and trees, Our Lord even mentions thorns and uses trees as a means of teaching, when He speaks of good trees and bad trees: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire!” (Matthew 7:16-19).
At the very beginning of time―on the “Third Day” God said: “Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth. And it was so done. And the earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed each one according to its kind. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:11-12). “And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9).
Our Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
Knowledge and love are like wood and fire. There can be no fire without wood (okay, before the advent of gas and chemicals) and there can no love without knowledge. As philosophers rightly say: “You cannot love what you do not know!” Likewise, just as a good tree produces good fruit and bad tree produces bad fruit, so too does good knowledge produce a good and healthy love, but bad or evil knowledge produces love of evil or sin. “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45).
Just as Our Lord says: “By their fruits you shall know them!” ―you could equally say: “By their words you shall know them!”―for words are the fruits produced by the parents of mind and heart. “God created in them the science of the spirit, He filled their heart with wisdom, and showed them both good and evil” (Ecclesiasticus 17:6). “The heart of a man changeth his countenance, either for good, or for evil” (Ecclesiasticus 13:31). “He that is of a perverse heart, shall not find good―and he that perverteth his tongue, shall fall into evil” (Proverbs 17:20).
Coming back to the idea of just little spark or kindling wood starting a great fire, we see Holy Scripture link this to the tongue. How many great raging fires of gossip, calumny, detraction and hatred have not been started by the tongue? “In many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. He is able also with a bridle to lead about the whole body. For if we put bits into the mouths of horses, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also ships, whereas they are great, and are driven by strong winds, yet are they turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the force of the governor willeth. Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man: [8] But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be!” (James 3:2-10). Plenty of spiritual plaque is built-up and caused by the tongue.
What Wood Are You Using For Your Fire?
What’s your firewood? Twigs or logs? We need little twigs or slivers of kindling wood (light or little knowledge) to start a fire (love), but we need something more substantial like logs (deeper knowledge) if we are to keep the fire (love) burning. We start a little child’s fire of love for God with light little twigs of catechism, mere kiddie-knowledge that is easily understood, when we start a child out at school―but why have so few progressed from that light, little kiddie-knowledge of the Faith to an adult-like knowledge of the Faith―as they most certainly have in many other areas of secular knowledge? Why are they still satisfied with little “twigs” of superficial trivial knowledge in their minds rather than “logs” of serious and deep knowledge?
How on earth can Catholics pretend to love God when they spend little or no time in reading and learning about God? A sports fan knows more about his worldly team that most Catholics know about God! How can they pretend to love Him when they pray so little to Him?―or, when they do, they speak to Him far, far faster than in any conversation they have with fellow human beings―often saying a Hail Mary in one breath (or two). The only time they speak that rapidly with human beings is when they are angry about something! How can Catholics pretend to love God when they devote so little time to God? They devote five, ten, fifteen times more time to earthly interests than they do to God! No wonder the “fires of love”―that we ask the Holy Ghost to kindle in us―are nothing but a smoldering heap of hot ash (or lukewarm ash)!
Going back to the analogy of the spiritual life to the physical life as regards heart and blood― most doctors will consider chronically low blood pressure as dangerous if it causes noticeable signs and symptoms, such as:
● Dizziness or light-headedness (at the mention of having to go to confession)
● Nausea (while standing in line for confession)
● Fainting (when the priest gives the penance after confession)
● Dehydration and unusual thirst (lack of incoming grace and a great thirst for the world)
● Lack of concentration (distraction during Mass, prayers, spiritual reading)
● Blurred vision (cannot see the Faith and spiritual things clearly)
● Cold, clammy, pale skin (when it comes to going to extra Masses or praying the Rosary)
● Rapid, shallow breathing (when the family announces that everyone is going to an extra Mass that weekend)
● Fatigue (after a few Hail Marys of the Rosary, or two minutes into the Sunday sermon)
● Depression (at the mere suggestion of spiritual exercises or during spiritual conversations).
If Our Lord chose the image of the Sacred Heart as a symbol of His love for us, and if, as many spiritual authors suggest, devotion to the Sacred Heart is one last chief remedies that Christ offers the world in its spiritual sickness, then it is worth looking deeper into the heart to see what symbolism and teachings we can find to help us in our worldwide spiritual “congestive heart failure” that we are experiencing. The leading cause of physical death throughout the world is heart disease and strokes (which are related to the function of the heart which pumps the blood that clots and produces the stroke). You could say that the most common causes of death are heart attacks and brain attacks (which is what a stroke is essentially). Thus we have symbols of the Scriptural references to “heart” and “soul” and “mind”―as in the case of: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” Mark 12:30). Just as heart attacks and brain attacks are the most common cause of physical death―you could say that spiritual heart attacks and brain attacks are the most common cause of damnation, or loss of soul, loss of eternal life and eternal happiness.
From the Physical to the Spiritual
It is amazing how much there is to learn from heart attacks and strokes in relation to the spiritual life! Before applying it to the spiritual life, it is necessary to have a simple idea and understanding of heart attacks and strokes on the physical level. Both heart attacks and strokes concern arteries finding themselves blocked, or bursting and bleeding. A heart attack occurs when an artery supplying your heart with blood and oxygen becomes blocked by fatty deposits building up over time and forming plaques in your heart’s arteries. If a plaque ruptures, a blood clot can form and block your arteries, causing a heart attack. Likewise, a stroke is a disease that affects the arteries supplying blood to and within the brain. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts (or ruptures). When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood it needs (and the oxygen it needs that is contained within the blood), so it and brain cells die. The effects of a stroke depend on which part of the brain is injured, and how severely it is injured. Strokes may cause sudden weakness, loss of sensation, or difficulty with speaking, seeing, or walking. Since different parts of the brain control different areas and functions, it is usually the area immediately surrounding the stroke that is affected. Sometimes people with stroke have a headache, but stroke can also be completely painless.
The effects of a stroke depend on several factors, including the location of the obstruction and how much brain tissue is affected. However, because one side of the brain controls the opposite side of the body, a stroke affecting one side will result in neurological complications on the side of the body it affects. The effects of a stroke depend primarily on the location of the obstruction and the extent of brain tissue affected. If the stroke occurs toward the back of the brain, for instance, it's likely that some disability involving vision will result.
Left Brain Strokes: If the stroke occurs in the left side of the brain, the right side of the body will be affected, producing some or all of the following: (1) Paralysis on the right side of the body; (2) Speech/language problems; (3) Slow, cautious behavioral style; (4) Memory loss.
Right Brain Strokes: If the stroke occurs in the right side of the brain, the left side of the body will be affected, producing some or all of the following: (1) Paralysis on the left side of the body; (2) Vision problems; (3) Quick, inquisitive behavioral style; (4) Memory loss.
Brain Stem Stroke: When stroke occurs in the brain stem, depending on the severity of the injury, it can affect both sides of the body and may leave someone in a “locked-in” state. When a locked-in state occurs, the patient is generally unable to speak or achieve any movement below the neck.
Heart, Brain and Blood
It is fairly obvious that there can be no life without a heart and no life without a brain and no life without blood. You can survive with a deformed, defective, partially developed, tiny heart or brain―but not entirely without one. The brain stem, which sits at the bottom of the brain and connects to the spine, controls vital functions such as breathing, swallowing, digestion, eye movement and heartbeat, there can be no life without it. But the rest of the brain is obviously capable of some remarkable feats, with one part able to compensate for deficiencies in another. Similarly with the heart, which is essentially a pump for the blood―no heart, no pumping, no blood flow, no life. Where would we be without blood? That red stuff that carries vital oxygen from our lungs to our muscles, and helps move our body’s chemical waste to where it can be recycled or disposed of? Blood is vital for life in humans. Our bodies need to move oxygen from our lungs to our cells to produce energy by burning the sugars, fats and proteins we eat in a controlled way. In humans, the oxygen is moved by a fluid called blood, and the plumbing for that fluid or blood consists of our veins, arteries and capillaries. The oxygen carrier in our blood is hemoglobin. Our blood carries lots of cells and molecules that perform functions, such as fighting infection, repairing blood vessels, and transporting chemical messages, such as hormones, around the body. All these cells and molecules travel around in a straw-colored liquid called plasma. Plasma makes up more than half your blood volume, helping the cells and molecules get around, a bit like how water gets you moving on a water slide.
Blood a Symbol of Love and Life
“The life of all flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:14). “Because the life of the flesh is in the blood … I have given it to you” (Leviticus 17:11). “Live in thy blood!” (Ezechiel 16:6). Christ’s Blood is life-giving: “Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you!’” (John 6:54).
God commanded that the blood of the lamb be smeared on the doors of the homes of the Hebrews in Egypt, in order to preserve their lives: “And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ‘Llet every man take a lamb by their families and houses ... And they shall take of the blood thereof, and put it upon both the side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it ... And I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be unto you for a sign in the houses where you shall be! And I shall see the blood, and shall pass over you: and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I shall strike the land of Egypt!’ … And Moses called all the ancients of the children of Israel, and said to them: ‘Go take a lamb by your families and sacrifice it and dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that is at the door, and sprinkle the transom of the door therewith, and both the door cheeks … For the Lord will pass through striking the Egyptians: and when He shall see the blood on the transom, and on both the posts, He will pass over the door of the house, and not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses and to hurt you!’” (Exodus 12:1-23).
If the mere blood of a lamb saved the lives of the Hebrews in Egypt, how much more powerful is the Blood of Christ―as Holy Scripture points out: “If the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh, then how much more shall the Blood of Christ―Who, by the Holy Ghost, offered Himself unspotted unto God―cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14). Christ Himself, at the Last Supper, when changing the wine into His own Precious Blood, “after He had supped, said: ‘This is the chalice, the New Testament in My Blood, which shall be shed for you!” (Luke 22:20). “This is My Blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins!” (Matthew 26:28), adding “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life [shed his blood] for his friends!” (John 15:13). Hence Scripture adds that our lives [souls] shall be saved by Christ’s Blood: “He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called, the Word of God” (Apocalypse 19:13). “Christ died for us! Therefore, being now justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him!” (Romans 5:9). “Jesus Christ, Who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood!” (Apocalypse 1:5). “These that are clothed in white robes are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the Blood of the Lamb!” (Apocalypse 7:13-14).
Love to Live, Live to Love
We speak of “the spiritual life”―but what is the “spiritual life”? It is the life of God in the soul. But what is God? “God is charity!” (1 John 4:8). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins!” (1 John 4:10). Love begets life―God, Who is charity, so loved us that He sent His Love, Christ, to give life to the world by His death.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … [Christ is] the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and his own received Him not” (John 1:1-11). “They loved the glory of men more than the glory of God” (John 12:43). “They loved Him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto Him” (Psalm 77:36). “And we have known, and have believed the charity, which God hath to us. God is charity―and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16) … “He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity!” (1 John 4:8). “Let us, therefore, love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19), “for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us” (Ephesians 2:4).
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament equate love with life: “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayst live” (Deuteronomy 30:6). “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbor as thyself ... This do, and thou shalt live!” (Luke 10:27-28).
Both Testaments furnish other quotes that command us to love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength” Deuteronomy 6:5). “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment!’” (Matthew 22:37-38). “From a sincere heart, love one another earnestly!” (1 Peter 1:22). “He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity” (1 John 4:8).
Sin Brings Death, Charity Brings Life
“By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 6:23). “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:20). “You shall die in your sin!” (John 8:24). “Everyone shall die for his own sin!” (Deuteronomy 24:16). This should engrave in our hearts and minds the gravity of sin! The Catechism tells us that mortal and venial sin are the TWO GREATEST EVILS IN THE WORLD―“Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD)―but we have long since stopped believing that, as we pile up sin upon sin (one greatest evil after another) in our daily lives! We are drugged and intoxicated on our own self-made (or at least self-tweaked) religion of subjective personal opinions―and in our opinion, regardless of the what the Catechism may say, sin is NO LONGER the greatest evil in the world. Which is proved by the fact that over 50% of Catholics accept same-sex relationships and marriages, over 90% of Catholics of reproductive age have practiced contraception, over 80% of Catholics no longer attend Sunday Mass regularly and believe you can be a good Catholic without going to Sunday Mass; over 50% of Catholics believe abortion should be legal in all cases; and so on and so forth through all the list of sins you can possibly imagine. It is clear that sin in no longer looked upon (if it ever was) as the greatest evil on Earth. No wonder most souls are lost―today and in every age of history.
“As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die?” (Ezechiel 33:11). “If you love Me, keep My Commandments” (John 14:15). “If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done―in his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live! Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:21-23). “For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation, to them that hate me, and showing mercy unto many thousands, to them that love Me, and keep My commandments!” (Deuteronomy 5:9-10). “A contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise!” (Psalm 50:19). However, a “contrite heart” and a “humbled heart”―which is such a rarity today―needs to be a healthy heart and a string heart: healed and strengthened by a love of God, rather than being weakened and diseased by an indifference to God or even a hatred of God (for sin is hatred of God and hatred of self, don’t fool yourself!). “He that loveth iniquity hateth his own soul” (Psalms 10:6)).
Strong Healthy Heart Needed For Heaven
Universally and perpetually, the heart has been associated with “love”―even Our Lord used the heart as symbol of love when He manifested His Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary. Our Lord revealed to her: “My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men, that, being unable any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its burning Charity, It must needs spread them abroad and manifest Itself to them (mankind) in order to enrich them with the precious graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them from the abyss of perdition … . If only they would make Me some return for My Love, I should think but little of all I have done for them and would wish, were it possible, to suffer still more. But the sole return they make for all My eagerness to do them good is to reject Me and treat Me with coldness … Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love; and in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this Sacrament of Love. But what I feel most keenly is that it is hearts which are consecrated to Me, that treat Me thus!”
Those words of Our Lord―lamenting the diseased hearts of men who love Him so little―were spoken WAY BACK IN THE 1670s!! Today, we far more indifferent, far more ungrateful, far more irreverent, far more lukewarm and commit far more sacrileges than 340 years ago! “Their heart was not right with Him, nor were they counted faithful” (Psalm 77:37). “Thy heart is not right in the sight of God” (Acts 8:21). “Direct thy heart into the right way!” (Jeremias 31:21). “How good is God to them that are of a right heart!” (Psalm 72:1). “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, all ye right of heart!” (Psalm 31:11). If few souls were saved even back then―when the Sacred Heart made those lamentations―how much fewer is that number today? There is so much “plaque” in our spiritual life―our “mind” and “heart”―that we risk having a spiritual heart attack or a spiritual brain attack (stroke). What is all this “plaque” that is killing us spiritually?
The “Plaque” of the Soul
Arterial Plaque (plaque in the blood and arteries) is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, waste products from cells and a clotting agent called fibrin. Similarly, “Spiritual Plaque” is made up of the devil, the world and our own passions: “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) “Overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world. “And the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof: but he that doth the will of God, lives for ever” (John 2:14-17).
The “plaque of the world” can be compared to the weeds and thorns in Our Lord’s parable of the Sower of the Seed: “Behold the sower went forth to sow. And whilst he soweth some fell by the way side, and the birds of the air came and ate them up. And other some fell upon stony ground, where they had not much earth: and they sprung up immediately, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up they were scorched: and because they had not root, they withered away. And others fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up and choked them. And others fell upon good ground: and they brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold … Hear you therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, there cometh the wicked one, and catches away that which was sown in his heart: this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon stony ground, is he that heareth the word, and immediately receiveth it with joy. Yet hath he not root in himself, but is only for a time: and when there arises tribulation and persecution because of the word, he is presently scandalized. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understands, and bears fruit, and yields the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23).
Seeds, Weeds, Thorns & Trees
The flimsy, fragile, tiny seed is meant to grow into a wooden tree that bears fruit! Talking of seeds, weeds, thorns and trees―let us look at the tree chopped-down and chopped-up (humbled) to make firewood or wood for the fire (which is a symbol of love). In a certain sense, the tree represents knowledge. We learn from trees. Once chopped-down, we can learn the age of the tree by reading the “writing” of the tree―the layered annual circles that indicate the age of the tree. This is a science called dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) and is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating the trees, this science can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmospheric conditions during different periods in history from wood. Thus we gain knowledge and learn from trees.
Furthermore, trees provide us with paper―upon which knowledge is recorded and from which books are printed and distributed to teach others in homes, schools, universities and the world at large. Thus the tree indirectly contributes to every single ‘branch’ of knowledge (pardon the pun) that exists in this world.
We learn, also, that sin and death―Original Sin―came through a tree and its fruit; and that mercy and life also came from a wooden tree, the dead wooden tree on Calvary upon which hung the dying fruit of our Redemption, Jesus Christ, through Whose death, eternal life was once again offered to sinful and ‘dead’ mankind.
Talking of thorns and trees, Our Lord even mentions thorns and uses trees as a means of teaching, when He speaks of good trees and bad trees: “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire!” (Matthew 7:16-19).
At the very beginning of time―on the “Third Day” God said: “Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth. And it was so done. And the earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed each one according to its kind. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:11-12). “And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9).
Our Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
Knowledge and love are like wood and fire. There can be no fire without wood (okay, before the advent of gas and chemicals) and there can no love without knowledge. As philosophers rightly say: “You cannot love what you do not know!” Likewise, just as a good tree produces good fruit and bad tree produces bad fruit, so too does good knowledge produce a good and healthy love, but bad or evil knowledge produces love of evil or sin. “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45).
Just as Our Lord says: “By their fruits you shall know them!” ―you could equally say: “By their words you shall know them!”―for words are the fruits produced by the parents of mind and heart. “God created in them the science of the spirit, He filled their heart with wisdom, and showed them both good and evil” (Ecclesiasticus 17:6). “The heart of a man changeth his countenance, either for good, or for evil” (Ecclesiasticus 13:31). “He that is of a perverse heart, shall not find good―and he that perverteth his tongue, shall fall into evil” (Proverbs 17:20).
Coming back to the idea of just little spark or kindling wood starting a great fire, we see Holy Scripture link this to the tongue. How many great raging fires of gossip, calumny, detraction and hatred have not been started by the tongue? “In many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. He is able also with a bridle to lead about the whole body. For if we put bits into the mouths of horses, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also ships, whereas they are great, and are driven by strong winds, yet are they turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the force of the governor willeth. Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man: [8] But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be!” (James 3:2-10). Plenty of spiritual plaque is built-up and caused by the tongue.
What Wood Are You Using For Your Fire?
What’s your firewood? Twigs or logs? We need little twigs or slivers of kindling wood (light or little knowledge) to start a fire (love), but we need something more substantial like logs (deeper knowledge) if we are to keep the fire (love) burning. We start a little child’s fire of love for God with light little twigs of catechism, mere kiddie-knowledge that is easily understood, when we start a child out at school―but why have so few progressed from that light, little kiddie-knowledge of the Faith to an adult-like knowledge of the Faith―as they most certainly have in many other areas of secular knowledge? Why are they still satisfied with little “twigs” of superficial trivial knowledge in their minds rather than “logs” of serious and deep knowledge?
How on earth can Catholics pretend to love God when they spend little or no time in reading and learning about God? A sports fan knows more about his worldly team that most Catholics know about God! How can they pretend to love Him when they pray so little to Him?―or, when they do, they speak to Him far, far faster than in any conversation they have with fellow human beings―often saying a Hail Mary in one breath (or two). The only time they speak that rapidly with human beings is when they are angry about something! How can Catholics pretend to love God when they devote so little time to God? They devote five, ten, fifteen times more time to earthly interests than they do to God! No wonder the “fires of love”―that we ask the Holy Ghost to kindle in us―are nothing but a smoldering heap of hot ash (or lukewarm ash)!
Going back to the analogy of the spiritual life to the physical life as regards heart and blood― most doctors will consider chronically low blood pressure as dangerous if it causes noticeable signs and symptoms, such as:
● Dizziness or light-headedness (at the mention of having to go to confession)
● Nausea (while standing in line for confession)
● Fainting (when the priest gives the penance after confession)
● Dehydration and unusual thirst (lack of incoming grace and a great thirst for the world)
● Lack of concentration (distraction during Mass, prayers, spiritual reading)
● Blurred vision (cannot see the Faith and spiritual things clearly)
● Cold, clammy, pale skin (when it comes to going to extra Masses or praying the Rosary)
● Rapid, shallow breathing (when the family announces that everyone is going to an extra Mass that weekend)
● Fatigue (after a few Hail Marys of the Rosary, or two minutes into the Sunday sermon)
● Depression (at the mere suggestion of spiritual exercises or during spiritual conversations).
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE EASTER SEASON
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Wednesday May 29th & Thursday May 30th
Article 19
Have You Been Fooled? Of Course You Have!
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Article 19
Have You Been Fooled? Of Course You Have!
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LONG TERM COMMUNIST GOALS FOR THE USA THAT HAVE MOSTLY BEEN ACHIEVED
(1) U.S. acceptance of coexistence [with Communism] as the only alternative to atomic war.
(2) U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war. (3) Develop the illusion that total disarmament by the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength. (4) Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war. (5) Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites. (6) Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination. (7) Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the United Nations. (8) Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Russia’s leader Khrushchev’s promise, in 1955, to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the United Nations. (9) Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress. (10) Allow all Soviet satellite States individual representation in the United Nations. (11) Promote the United Nations as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the United Nations as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.) (12) Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party. (13) Do away with all loyalty oaths. (14) Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office. (15) Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States. (16) Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights. (17) Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for Socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks. (18) Gain control of all student newspapers. (19) Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack. (20) Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions. (21) Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures. (22) Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.” (23) Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.” (24) Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press. (25) Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV. (26) Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.” (27) Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.” (28) Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.” (29) Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. (30) Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.” (31) Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over. (32) Support any Socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture–education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc. (33) Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus. (34) Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities. (35) Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI. (36) Infiltrate and gain control of more unions. (37) Infiltrate and gain control of big business. (38) Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat]. (39) Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals. (40) Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce. (41) Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents. (42) Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use “united force“ to solve economic, political or social problems. (43) Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government. (44) Internationalize the Panama Canal. (45) Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court |
I Told You So!
We have been warned for centuries of what we are currently experiencing. Some are not even aware of what we are experiencing! They are living in a “dream world” that distracts them from reality. In addition, they have been dumbed-down by modern schools and modern media―to the point that they cannot really think to any real depth and, because they know little of history and care little for history, they fail to see that what is going on today is merely the culmination of plans that were laid down a long time ago. Let us delve back into recent history and we will see that history can well say: “I told you so! But you didn’t want to listen!” If you have any common sense, then you realize that nothing in this world is isolated―every child has parents and the child’s parents are themselves children of earlier parents. The philosophers will cause this a chain of cause and effect―every child is an effect caused by its parents, and those parents are in turn effects caused by their parents. The mess and crisis in this world today did not come about by a “Big-Bang” effect, but, like every family, can be traced back through time along the family tree with its multitude of marriages and births. All of the “-isms” have parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles and aunts. No “-ism” gave birth to itself―Rationalism, Liberalism, Materialism, Hedonism, Utilitarianism, Secularism, Protestantism, Deism, Skepticism, Agnosticism, Atheism, Scientism, Evolutionism, Immanentism, Modernism, Satanism, Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, Illuminism, and all the other “-isms”, all have a family history and a family tree and all have begotten their own children. They are all related in one way or another―either being direct descendants, or siblings, or cousins. All of these “-isms” are erroneous to a greater or lesser degree―they are riddled with untruths or lies―and, as such, they owe their existence to the “father of lies”―the devil. Satan has given birth to them at different times―but they exist for the purpose of attacking the truths of God and the vehicle of God’s truths―the Church. What Christ said to the Scribes, Pharisees and the Jews, He could just as well say of the “-isms” today: “From God I proceeded and came―for I came not of Myself, but He sent me! Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear my word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar and the father thereof!” (John 8:42-44). The Communist-Socialist Agitators and Promoters in the USA Saul Alinsky (1909-1972)―Author of Rules For Radicals Saul Alinsky Saul David Alinsky was born in 1909 in Chicago, Illinois, to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, that were strict Orthodox Jews, Saul Alinsky considered himself to be a devout Jew until the age of 12, after which time he began to fear that his parents would force him to become a rabbi. He became an agnostic (= the mind cannot know if God does or does not exist), but when asked his religion, he would always say it was Jewish. Alinsky did not join any political parties. When asked during an interview whether he ever considered becoming a Communist Party member, he replied: “Not at any time. I've never joined any organization—not even the ones I've organized myself. I prize my own independence too much. And philosophically, I could never accept any rigid dogma or ideology, whether it's Christianity or Marxism … The greatest crimes in history have been perpetrated by such religious and political and racial fanatics, from the persecutions of the Inquisition on down to Communist purges and Nazi genocide.” Shortly before his death in 1972, he discussed life after death in Playboy magazine: ALINSKY: ”If there is an afterlife, and I have anything to say about it, I will unreservedly choose to go to Hell.” PLAYBOY: “Why?” ALINSKY: “Hell would be Heaven for me! All my life I've been with the have-nots. Over here, if you're a have-not, you're short of dough. If you're a have-not in Hell, you're short of virtue. Once I get into Hell, I'll start organizing the have-nots over there.” PLAYBOY: “Why them?” ALINSKY: “They're my kind of people.” In 1969, while a political science major at Wellesley College, Hillary Clinton chose to write her senior thesis on Alinsky's work, with Alinsky himself contributing his own time to help her. Clinton described Alinksy as “that rare specimen, the successful radical.” According to Alinsky biographer Sanford Horwitt, U.S. President Barack Obama was influenced by Alinsky and followed in his footsteps as a Chicago-based community organizer. Horwitt asserted that Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign was influenced by Alinsky's teachings. Newt Gingrich repeatedly stated his opinion that Alinsky was a major influence on Obama during his 2012 presidential campaign. A 2016 documentary about Saul Alinsky ―“A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” by Richard and Stephen Payne―shows that Alinsky never admitted to being a Communist, but he never said that he wasn’t a Socialist, in fact he embraced that term, and that derives from Marxist theory. In his early life, he is very much taken with the social sciences, which remove the reality of God to deal with life in a secular way. “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” identifies three major movements of cultural Marxism that seek to infiltrate the film industry, the media, education, and all of the other different chief institutions. The first is the Frankfurt School, which was founded by German Marxists after the Russian Revolution, whose members were the initiators of what we’ve come to know as the sexual revolution. The second was the work of Italian communist Antonio Gramsci, who focused on an attack on religion and belief in God, with the goal of secularizing society. The third is Fabian Socialism, which founded the London School of Economics and was used to bring down our economic system. Some of the key quotes and recommendations from Alinksy’s book, Rules For Radicals, are: “A revolutionary organizer must shake up the prevailing patterns of their lives— agitate, create disenchantment and discontent with the current values” “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” “Keep the pressure on. Never let up. Maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.” “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.”’ “In war the ends justify almost any means.” “Any effective means is automatically judged by the opposition as being unethical.” “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” “You do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments.” The above suggestions have become common-place tactics today. The lack of Christian values is apparent in all of them. Manning Johnson― USA Communist Party District Agitation and Propaganda Director In 1953, the House Committee on Un-American Activities received the testimony of Manning Johnson, who joined the Communist Party in America in 1930, and remained in the party until 1940. Johnson held several positions while a member of the Communist Party, such as District Agitation and Propaganda Director, District Organizer of the Communist Party in Buffalo, N. Y. He was also a member of the Trade Union Commission of the Communist Party, a member of the National Negro Commission of the Communist Party, and ultimately served as a member of the National Committee of the Communist Party itself. Mr. Johnson became disillusioned with Communism and left the Communist Party in 1940. In his own words, he had decided in 1939 that he was through with Communism and that forever after he would conscientiously and vigorously oppose it, vocally and spiritually. In his testimony to the Committee on Un-American Activities, he identified the work of Communism to infiltrate religious institutions. Here are some excerpts from the testimony he gave while under oath: “Once the tactic of infiltrating religious organizations was set by the Kremlin, the actual mechanics of implementing the ‘new line’, was a question of following the general experiences of the living church movement in Russia, where the Communists discovered that the destruction of religion could proceed much faster through infiltration of the church, by Communist agents operating within the church itself. “The Communist leadership in the United States realized that the infiltration tactic in this country would have to adapt itself to American conditions and the religious makeup peculiar to this country. In the earliest stages, it was determined that, with only small forces available, it would be necessary to concentrate Communist agents in the seminaries and divinity schools. The practical conclusion, drawn by the Red leaders, was that these institutions would make it possible for a small Communist minority to influence the ideology of future clergymen, in the paths most conducive to Communist purposes. “In general, the idea was to divert the emphasis of clerical thinking from the spiritual to the material and political—by political, of course, is meant politics based on the Communist doctrine of conquest of power. Instead of emphasis towards the spiritual and matters of the soul, the new and heavy emphasis was to deal with those matters which, in the main, led toward the Communist program of ‘immediate demands.’ “The plan was to make the seminaries the neck of a funnel through which thousands of potential clergymen would issue forth, carrying with them, in varying degrees, an ideology and slant which would aid in neutralizing the anti-Communist character of the church and also to use the clergy to spearhead important Communist projects. “This policy was successful beyond even Communist expectations. The combination of Communist clergymen, clergymen with a pro-Communist ideology, plus thousands of clergymen who were sold the principle of considering Communist causes as progressive, within 20 years, furnished the Soviet apparatus with a machine which was used as a religious cover for the overall Communist operation―ranging from immediate demands to actually furnishing aid in espionage and outright treason. “In the early 1930s the Communists instructed thousands of their members to rejoin their ancestral religious groups, and to operate in cells, designed to take control of churches for Communist purposes. This method was not only propounded, but was executed with great success among large elements of American church life. Communists operating a double-pronged infiltration, both through elements of Communist-controlled clergy and Communist-controlled laymen, managed to pervert and weaken entire stratas of religious life in the United States. “Communists in churches and other religious organizations were instructed to utilize the age-old tradition, of the sanctity of the church, as a cover for their own evil deeds. Through Reds in religion, we have a true living example of the old saying: ‘The Devil doth quote the Scripture.’ The Communists learned that the clergyman, under their control, served as a useful ‘respectable face’ for most of their front activities. In this way the name of religion was used to spearhead the odious plots hatched by the agents of anti-religious Soviet Communism.” The Many Unknown Faces of Subversion KGB (the Russian Secret Police) agent Yuri Bezmenov defected from the Soviet Union and warned America that the subversion of foreign nations was so important to the KGB that most of its resources were allocated to it. “Only about 15% of time, money and manpower is spent on espionage as such,” he explained in an interview with G. Edward Griffin in 1985. “The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion or active measures.” This ideological subversion is a long-term process involving four stages: (1) demoralization, (2) destabilization, (3) crisis and (4) normalization. Over the last 70 or 80 years the progressive infiltration of America by Communism, Freemasonry and other world-elite generated organizations has slowly yet relentlessly increased to a point where they, for a long time now, are no longer afraid of being discovered and uncovered. They feel that nothing can stop them now. During that time we have been distracted and put to sleep by a whole variety of toys and trinkets―made all the more easy with rapid modern technological progress. In his book, Love Letter to America, Bezmenov states that the first stage, demoralization, takes about 15 to 20 years for a nation to be demoralized. He writes: “Why that many (or few)? Simple: this is the minimum number of years needed to ‘educate’ one generation of students in a target country (America, for example) and expose them to the ideology of the subverter.” Bezmenov warned that KGB agents, and their Socialistic ‘fellow travelers’ in America, would use abstract art, perverted music, pornographic images, homosexual rights, racist politics, pacifist foreign policy and Socialist economics to demoralize America. In practice, Communism has never been the “grassroots movement” Karl Marx predicted. It has been driven by small groups of intellectuals and elites who seize power. Hence the targeting of the American intelligentsia—present and future. Before World War ii the Communist Party in the United States was making great headway. They began infiltrating the colleges and universities. If they could not ‘convert’ professors, they worked on students who would become teachers later. Thus they were recruiting teachers to teach their doctrine all over the United States. According to a former staff director of a Senate investigations subcommittee, in the years between 1935 and 1953, the Communist Party “enlisted the support of at least 3,500 professors—many of them as dues-paying members, many others as fellow travelers, some as out-and-out espionage agents, some as adherents of the party line in varying degrees, and some as the unwitting dupes of subversion” (J. B. Matthews, “Communism and the Colleges,” American Mercury, May 1953). As for destabilization―if you cannot see that America has been destabilized today, then you are as blind as a bat! You can clearly see that destabilization in the Church and the Faith, you can see it in politics, you can see it in education, you see it in finance and the economy, you can see it in the culture and social life. This is the direction America is going. In the words of Bezmenov, “The American romance with state-run education as encouraged by KGB subverters has already produced generations of graduates who cannot spell, cannot find Nicaragua on a world map, cannot think creatively and independently. I wonder if Albert Einstein would have arrived at his theory of relativity if he had been educated in one of today’s American public schools. Most likely he would have ‘discovered’ marijuana and variant methods of sexual intercourse instead.” |
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE : Sunday May 26th & Monday May 27th & Tuesday May 28th
Article 18
Perversion in the Church! A Fruit of Our Compromise!
Article 18
Perversion in the Church! A Fruit of Our Compromise!
What’s in a Word? KISS! Keep It Simple Stupid!
Since we have, for the most part, been dumbed down and rarely rise above a 5th to 8th Grade vocabulary (which is why news is usually presented at that level of intelligence), there is no harm in being a “party-pooper” or “kill-joy” (or being a “kill-dumb-joy”) by causing a little “pain-to-the-brain” and pushing the levels a little higher. We often encounter and use words that we are only vaguely familiar with. Words are important and the understanding of words is even more important.
Modernism succeeds in the Church today because of two chief factors: (1) the fact that Catholics are less knowledgeable and intelligent than ever before as regards their Faith, which dulls or limits their understanding and (2) Modernism takes traditional Catholics words and by surrounding them with other confusing terms, adds a new meaning to the traditional word, while still allowing traditional persons to understand what they say according to the old interpretation of the word, while at the same time opening the door to a non-traditional way of interpreting what is said. This confuses or passes by the radar of dumbed-down Catholics and they think little of it, because they cannot really understand it and are too dumbed-down to get into a debate about it. Additionally, nobody likes to look stupid, and so the dumbed-down Catholics keep their mouths shut for fear of looking and sounding dumb. Hence the victory of Modernist “double-speak.” This double-meaning ploy (a kind of a “double-entendre”) is a ploy to introduce into the Faith, or rather infiltrate the Faith with non-Catholic, heretical, noxious teachings and views.
It Is What It Isn’t―It’s Not What It Seems―It’s Not What It Sounds and Looks Like
The words “double entendre” come from the French language and literally mean “double understanding” or “two ways of understanding” something. It is a figure of speech, or a particular way of wording, that is devised to be understood in two ways, having a double meaning. Typically one of the meanings is obvious, given the context, whereas the other may require more thought and is somewhat hidden or disguised.
The innuendo may convey a message that would be socially awkward, sexually suggestive, or too offensive to state directly (the Oxford English Dictionary describes a “double entendre” as being used to “convey an indelicate meaning”, whilst Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines it as “a word or phrase that may be understood in two different ways, one of which is often sexual”). A “double entendre” may exploit puns to convey the second meaning. “Double entendres” generally rely on multiple meanings of words, or different interpretations of the same primary meaning. They often exploit ambiguity and may be used to introduce it deliberately in a text. Sometimes a homophone can be used as a pun. When three or more meanings have been constructed, this is known as a “triple entendre”, etc.
Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing―Words in Sheep’s Clothing
Our Lord tells us to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves!” (Matthew 7:15). “Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves!” (Matthew 10:16). You could just as well say: “Beware of double entendres, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are like ravening wolves, that will ravage your Faith!”
This perfectly describes Modernism―it is “disguised language”―”words in sheep’s clothing”―a cleverly worded language or use of words that has “two meanings”―one traditional and the other modernist, so that the traditional folk can be duped into thinking it is still traditional, while the progressives can find in it a opening of doors to non-traditional and often heretical viewpoints. The Second Vatican Council was seen to be a master practitioner of this ambiguous, double-entendre phraseology that subsequently allowed for multiple interpretations of one single statement or teaching. Traditional theologians tell us that you cannot have a productive theological discussion with a Modernist―for the same word will have one meaning for the traditional theologian, but a different meaning for the Modernist. This is especially fatal when you enter the field of dogma or the field of morality.
We have seen the results of this repeatedly since the Second Vatican Council and it is still rearing its ugly “two-headed” face in recent papal pronouncements and documents―not least of all the infamous and highly contentious apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis, entitled Amoris Laetitia, addressing the pastoral care of families, released in April of 2016―which, very subtly with “words in sheep’s clothing” opened the door a little further to doctrinal and moral shift on the Church’s teaching on the Family and sexual morality.
The Modernist tactic of writing long encyclicals and producing long Church documents with lots of confusing, technical words, sometimes using Ancient Greek terms that mean nothing to the reader and merely bury the reader in a torrent of words―is a deliberate ploy to smuggle in new elements or change existing elements. The “posh” word for this is “to obfuscate”―which may sound a little rude, but it means “to make obscure, unclear, or unintelligible; to be evasive.” As one dictionary puts it: “Some people are experts at obfuscating the truth by being evasive, unclear, or obscure in the telling of the facts. The people who are good at obfuscating would include defense lawyers and teenagers asked about their plans for Saturday night.” It would seem that you could include the Church and the State in the same category―especially modern politicians and modernist theologians. You could call it the new science of “obfuscatology” which probably sounds more honorable than calling it lying, hiding, misleading and exaggerating. A relative or sibling of “obfuscatology” is “obscurantism” which is the practice of deliberately making things obscure, of presenting information in an imprecise and difficult manner, often designed to forestall further inquiry and understanding.
A Weak Faith is Easily Attacked and Destroyed
If you are going to try and fool somebody, it helps if they are foolish in the first place. God has built into us a natural sense of trust. Children naturally and automatically trust their parents―for better or for worse. When Protestant parents or even pagan parents teach their children errors about God, the children nevertheless lap it all up as being the truth. Like produces like, as Holy Scripture says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44), which easily leads to Our Lord’s point: “if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14)―and most do fall into the pit of Hell, by first falling into the pit of error in the Faith, or the pit of error in morals.
Already back on June 30th, 1968, at the close of the Year of Faith, Pope Paul VI, after making a profession of the Catholic Faith in the presence of all the bishops in Rome and hundreds of thousands of the faithful, then warned all those gathered against attacks on Catholic doctrine, which, he said, “give rise, as we regretfully see today, to trouble and confusion in many faithful souls.” The modern Church sadly tried to change things to accommodate the world—but it has failed miserably, as is uncontestably shown by statistics from all over the world, decade after decade. Pope Paul VI admitted that that “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God” (June 29th, 1972). Five-years later, Paul VI would say: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977). Pope Paul VI was dead 10 months later.
The same worries came up in an allocution of Pope John Paul II, on February 6th, 1981: “Christians today, in large part, feel lost, perplexed, confused, and even deceived.” The Holy Father summarized the underlying causes of the trouble as follows: “We see spread abroad ideas contrary to the truth which God has revealed and which the Church has always taught. Real heresies have appeared in dogma and moral theology, stirring doubt, confusion, rebellion. Even the liturgy has been harmed. Christians have been plunged into an intellectual and moral illuminism, a sociological Christianity, without clear dogma or objective morality.”
This confusion has only increased since those words were spoken―and increased rapidly, as is seen everywhere―in conversations, in books, in newspapers, on the internet, in social media, on radio and television broadcasts, in the behavior of Catholics, which shows up as a sharp decline in the practice of the Faith, as statistics reveal, and a general worldwide relaxation of morals.
A Weak Faith is Easily Attacked and Destroyed
If you are going to try and fool somebody, it helps if they are foolish in the first place. God has built into us a natural sense of trust. Children naturally and automatically trust their parents―for better or for worse. When Protestant parents or even pagan parents teach their children errors about God, the children nevertheless lap it all up as being the truth. Like produces like, as Holy Scripture says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44), which easily leads to Our Lord’s point: “if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14)―and most do fall into the pit of Hell, by first falling into the pit of error in the Faith, or the pit of error in morals.
Seedless, Faithless and Hopeless
You can compare this to the Parable of the Sower of the Seed, in which Jesus tells that the seed is the “Word of God.” “The sower went out to sow his seed. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
“And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and bring forth fruit in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
The Faith of some Catholics is like the seed by the wayside that was trodden-down by men and the birds of the air came and ate it up―as Our Lord explains above, they hear the Faith taught but do not understand it and the devil takes it sway from them. They cannot be bothered to labor and study the Faith to get a better understanding of it―so it is weakened and bit-by-bit is lost by them not believing this, not accepting that, etc.
Other Catholics are like stony-ground, in that their hearts are stony towards God and the Faith. Yes, they may well receive the Word of God with joy―but, like their prayers―it is quickly gone, because they are superficial and live only on the surface of the Faith, never penetrating it, never meditating it, never digging deeper. Thus the Word of God (the seed) just bounces off them.
The Faith of other Catholics is, as Our Lord says, “choked by the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life”―rather than study the Word of God and deepen their Faith, they prefer to sit and study their smartphones, their tablets, their laptops, their televisions or whatever else tickles their fancy.
Already back on June 30th, 1968, at the close of the Year of Faith, Pope Paul VI, after making a profession of the Catholic Faith in the presence of all the bishops in Rome and hundreds of thousands of the faithful, then warned all those gathered against attacks on Catholic doctrine, which, he said, “give rise, as we regretfully see today, to trouble and confusion in many faithful souls.” The modern Church sadly tried to change things to accommodate the world—but it has failed miserably, as is uncontestably shown by statistics from all over the world, decade after decade. Pope Paul VI admitted that that “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God” (June 29th, 1972). Five-years later, Paul VI would say: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977). Pope Paul VI was dead 10 months later.
The same worries came up in an allocution of Pope John Paul II, on February 6th, 1981: “Christians today, in large part, feel lost, perplexed, confused, and even deceived.” The Holy Father summarized the underlying causes of the trouble as follows: “We see spread abroad ideas contrary to the truth which God has revealed and which the Church has always taught. Real heresies have appeared in dogma and moral theology, stirring doubt, confusion, rebellion. Even the liturgy has been harmed. Christians have been plunged into an intellectual and moral illuminism, a sociological Christianity, without clear dogma or objective morality.”
This confusion has only increased since those words were spoken―and increased rapidly, as is seen everywhere―in conversations, in books, in newspapers, on the internet, in social media, on radio and television broadcasts, in the behavior of Catholics, which shows up as a sharp decline in the practice of the Faith, as statistics reveal, and a general worldwide relaxation of morals.
Cockle Among the Wheat
This should remind you of the Parable of the Wheat and Cockle: “Another parable Jesus proposed to them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven [or the Church on Earth] is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field [the truths of the Faith]. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle [errors, or sinners, or infiltrators] among the wheat [truth, or amongst the members of the Church] and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle [error and truth, the good and the sinners, grow side by side, looking alike]. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: ‘Sir! Didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?’ And he said to them: ‘An enemy hath done this!’ [the devil, Freemasonry, Communism, Modernism]. And the servants said to him: ‘Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?’ And he said: ‘No! Lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: “Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn!”’” (Matthew 13:24-30).
The Cockle Sowing Enemy
There are innumerable methods and tactics of warfare―and the devil know them all. He has been fighting a war against God even before Adam and Eve were created. His success is such that he has most of mankind in Hell. Just stop and think about that seriously for a moment. There were persons far more astute, far more knowledgeable, far better equipped than you―and many if not most of them are in Hell today! Ultimately, they did not take the battle seriously― “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39) ... “The life of man upon earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14) … “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12) … “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain! And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things― and they, indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown―but we an incorruptible one! I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty! I so fight, not as one beating the air! But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection― lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Satan’s Swarm Attack
Psychologists tell us that a normal person, when relaxed and at peace, can handle around six thoughts at the same time―hence the multi-tasking. But when under severe stress, that capacity falls to a mere one or two. Temptation is stressful―unless you are a Hell Party card carrying member. Satan knows how to turn the screws and turn up the heat. At that point our “multi-tasking” talents are collapsing. To stretch our resistance to breaking point, the devil will arrange things so that you are attacked (or distracted) on all sides. Attacking from all sides creates confusion and destabilization. Imagine the enemy attacking you from all 4 sides of your house, as well as tunneling under the house and from above by helicopter. You just cannot handle such a multiple attack because you are disorientated and confused by the all round attack―dealing with one side distracts you from the other sides. It is just too much to handle all at once.
You have a similar scenario when multiple things go wrong at the same time―the phone is ringing, someone is knocking at the door, a child is screaming in pain because of some injury, the dog has broken loose as is running down the street, someone left the faucet turned on and the kitchen sink is spilling over, and there is an electrical fire that has just started, while your spouse thinks they are having a heart attack! Overwhelming! Despairing! Frustrating! Leaves you feeling totally powerless and helpless!
Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Burnout
Burnout is now a legitimate medical diagnosis, according to the International Classification of Diseases 11th Edition, or the ICD-11, the World Health Organization’s handbook that guides medical providers in diagnosing diseases. Burnout now appears in the ICD-11’s section on problems related to employment or unemployment. According to the handbook, doctors can diagnose someone with burnout if they meet the following symptoms:
1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
2. Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
3. Reduced professional efficacy
You could just as well apply that to the Faith and the spiritual life:
1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion to the point where you do not want to pray and meditate, nor do spiritual reading, nor go to Mass or extra Masses, nor read the Bible, nor make examinations of conscience, nor go to Confession.
2. Increased mental distance from one’s Faith (or local parish), or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s Faith (or local parish, or the Church in general)
3. Reduced spiritual efficacy―all of your spiritual exercises (if they even done at all) are done at a very low level of quality, are done intermittently, half-heartedly, hurriedly and distractedly.
Burn-Out Leads to a Cop-Out
When we are “burnt-out” we are weak, tired, unfocused, dull, listless, etc. In other words, we are ripe for compromise, ripe for being conned, ripe for led astray, ripe for being fooled, ripe for being overcome, ripe for perversion. “And from your own selves shall arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:30).
Compromise is a perversion―a perversion of the truth and also a perversion of morals. Perversion originally from the Latin verb “pervertere” meaning “to overthrow, overturn,” and figuratively meaning “to corrupt, subvert, abuse,” literally meaning “to turn the wrong way, turn about,” since it is a combination of the Latin word “per” meaning “through, during, by means of, on account of, as in” and the Latin verb “vertere” meaning “to turn, turn back, be turned; convert, transform, translate; be changed.”
The French and the English drew on this Latin root and incorporated it into their own languages. Hence we see arise the 12th century Old French verb “pervertir” meaning to “pervert, undo, destroy”; and the 13th century English verb “to pervert” which means “to turn someone aside from a right religious belief to a false or erroneous one,” and the late 14th century English word “perversion” defined as “an action of turning aside from truth, corruption, distortion” (originally of religious beliefs). Hence the “pervert”, which is first seen in print the 1660s, is defined as “one who has forsaken a doctrine or system that is regarded as being true, an apostate.” The psychological sense of the word “perversion” is of later origins, from 1892, and means a “disorder of sexual behavior in which satisfaction is sought through channels other than those of normal heterosexual intercourse.” This led, from 1897, to the word “pervert” as being defined by psychology as “one who has a perversion of the sexual instinct” is attested from 1897 (Havelock Ellis), originally and especially applying to homosexuals. Today, in our sex-obsessed society, it is almost exclusively the psychological definition of the words “pervert” and “perversion” that most people recognize and are obliviously ignorant of the original earlier and much broader meaning of the words as shown above.
Subversion and Perversion is the Name of the Game
Today, in the Catholic Church (but not only in the Catholic Church, but all churches and in all States and governments) we see a perversion of truth and perversion of morals. This perversion has long since been the goal of the enemies of the Church. St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) watched Freemasons celebrate their bicentennial (200 year anniversary) in St. Peter’s Square in 1917. St. Maximilian Kolbe saw the Freemasons carrying banners bearing these words, “Satan Must Reign in the Vatican. The Pope Will Be His Slave!” It’s a jarring and shocking statement, but it is totally in keeping with the aims of Freemasonry and it bears a great deal of significance for us today. Subversion and perversion.
Albert Vassert, a former member of the French Communist Party, revealed in 1955, that Moscow had issued a 1936 order, that carefully selected members of the Communist youth enter seminaries, and, after training, receive ordination as priests. Some of these were to infiltrate religious orders, particularly the Dominicans. Subversion and perversion.
Another former Communist, Dr. Bella Dodd (1904-1969) spoke, in the early 1950’s, about the Communist infiltration of the Catholic Church in the 1930s and 1940s. Dr. Bella Dodd―an important member of the Communist Party of America, a member of the National Committee of the Communist Party, was a lawyer, teacher and activist―testified before the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee stated that “In the 1930s, we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the priesthood in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” She added that the Communist infiltration was so extensive that in the future “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.” According to the Catholic philosopher and professor Alice von Hildebrand, who later became a friend of Dodd after Dodd’s conversion to Catholicism, Dodd had told her that “when she was an active party member, she had dealt with no fewer than four cardinals within the Vatican who were working for us, [i.e. the Communist Party].” Subversion and perversion.
If you have the initiative to go beyond the mere surface of things and dig deeper, you will find that during the 1930s and 1940’s the number of cardinals was far below today’s total of 215―it was only 70 cardinals for the world! Bella Dodd’s assertion that there were “no fewer than four cardinals within the Vatican” does not rule out the probability of more Communist infiltrated cardinals throughout the rest of the world and not just in the Vatican! It is possible that as many as 10, 15 or 20 out of a total of 70 cardinals were Communist infiltrators. Subversion and perversion.
Mr. Manning Johnson, a former official of the Communist Party in America gave the following testimony in 1953 to the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee: “Once the tactic of infiltration of religious organizations was set by the Kremlin ... the Communists discovered that the destruction of religion could proceed much faster through infiltration of the Church by Communists, operating within the Church itself. The Communist leadership in the United States realized that the infiltration tactic, in this country, would have to adapt itself to American conditions and the religious make-up peculiar to this country. In the earliest stages it was determined that with only small forces available to them, it would be necessary to concentrate Communist agents in the seminaries. The practical conclusion drawn by the Red leaders was that these institutions would make it possible for a small Communist minority to influence the ideology of future clergymen in the paths conducive to Communist purposes.” Subversion and perversion.
Another former Communist and defector to the West, was Yuri Bezmenov (1939-1993), a former agent of the KGB (Russian State Security and Secret Police) who served the KGB primarily in India, where he spread Soviet propaganda and disinformation to the Western world. He eventually defected to the West in 1970. Bezmenov explains that the main effort of the KGB was not conventional intelligence at all. Only some 15% of resources were spent on James-Bond-style espionage, while 85% was devoted to a slow process called “ideological subversion” or “active measures.” The main methods used by Marxists in the West, Bezmenov explains, were to “corrupt the young, get them interested in sex, take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled [...] destroy people's faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt, ridicule and disgrace [...] cause breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, self-restraint, faith in the pledged word.” The main targets were — and remain — institutions of religious faith, education, media and culture. Subversion and perversion.
In the 1990s, a Catholic bishop alleged that there were FOUR Lodges of Freemasonry working within the Vatican, catering for the “higher clergy”―namely cardinals and bishops. Then you have the unprecedented Freemasonic joy and euphoria upon hearing that Jorge Bergoglio had been elected to the Papacy as Pope Francis (read more here). Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith, editor of the UK Catholic Herald, wrote in an article on July, 30th, 2013: “Somewhat lost among all the commentary about what the Pope had to say about homosexuality in that press conference, is his passing reference to another ‘lobby’ that may or may not be at work in the Vatican. The Pope said: “The problem is not that one has this [homosexual] tendency; no, we must be brothers, this is the first matter. There is another problem, another one― the problem is to form a lobby of those who have this [homosexual] tendency, a lobby of the greedy people, a lobby of politicians, a lobby of Masons, so many lobbies. This is the most serious problem for me.” Subversion and perversion.
Fr. Lucie-Smith, commenting on the Pope’s statement, writes: “The idea that there is a lobby (or to be more accurate, a secret society, which is what the Italians intend by their use of the word) of Masons at work in the Vatican, is an old one. At one time or another several leading persons in the Vatican have been denounced as Masons, including Cardinal Villot who was Pope Paul VI’s Secretary of State and Monsignor Annibale Bugnini, the famous liturgist [who was a key figure behind the New Mass]. When one points out that there is no shred of evidence that these men were ever Masons, the very lack of evidence is supposed to be decisive. After all, the Masons are experts at covering things up … Most English people would laugh at the idea of a Masonic mafia at work in the Vatican. I am not sure, though, that we should. Masonry is far from harmless. There is a strong belief ― on what evidence is not clear ― that Continental Masonry is markedly different from the British variety. While the British Masons are supposed to be well represented in the police and the courts, Italian Masonry is strongly identified with big business and banking, and the powerful secretive elites, that are supposed to be the ‘real’ government of the country. Masonry is also seen as strongly anti-clerical; thus a Masonic lobby in the Vatican would be opposed to virtually everything the Church stands for, and a real enemy within … If there is a masonic lobby in the Vatican, it could mean that there are Deists in the Vatican – people with a watered down version of the Church, religious indifferentists, people who no longer believe in the efficacy of the sacraments except as pieces of theatre, certainly not outward signs of inward grace … Let us hope and pray that there is no masonic lobby in the Vatican. But the very fact the Holy Father has mentioned it, makes one wonder!” (Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith, UK Catholic Herald, July, 30th, 2013). Subversion and perversion.
It is not just the Vatican that interests the enemies of the Church, but as Bezmenov said, any and all institutions of religious faith, education, media and culture. The 1,100 men that Bella Dodd and her collaborators managed to get into the priesthood, was not a one-time operation―it has been going on ever since, for those who were “smuggled-in” to infiltrate the priesthood, were very well placed to open the door to future infiltrators. Once some of these men had become bishops, or rectors of seminaries, then their influence could be widely spread because “bishops beget bishops,” and these agents would use their influence to elevate and promote clergymen who were not necessarily dedicated Communists, but who were of a Progressive, Rationalistic, Liberal and Modernist mentality, or those who were perverted in some way―such as homosexuality―and whose influence could be counted on to foster a new philosophy, a new theology and a new morality within the ranks of the clergy. Once the clergy were infected, they would pass on this infection to the laity. The whole idea was to destroy, not the institution of the Church, but rather the FAITH of the people; and even use the institution, if possible, to destroy the Faith through the promotion of a pseudo-religion, something that resembled Catholicism, but was not quite the real thing. Once the Faith was destroyed, then the dismantling of the institution would take place. Subversion and perversion.
How Can All This Happen?
All of this happens because of compromise. Once you compromise the Church with the world―as the Second Vatican Council did by its “aggiornamento” or opening the doors and windows to the world―then you dilute things, and dilution by its very nature weakens the thing that is diluted. There can be no religious ‘dilution’, there can be no “opening the doors and windows to the world” because the world is an enemy of God:
“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
“What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
We do well to recall the words of Our Lady at Akita: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres. Churches and altars will be sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.”
Once we―either the Church as a whole, or we as individuals, families, schools or parishes―compromise with the world, the we, in effect, sign our own ‘death sentence’. We dilute our Faith and our morals. The only way is down, more dilution, more compromise, more acceptance, more participation. Yet because everyone else does―we do it! “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams” (Isaias 56:10). “Let them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). It is into that “pit” that most of the Catholic world has fallen―clergy and faithful alike. Yet many of the “Pied-Pipers” that have led us into that pit, owe their existence to the insidious infiltration that produced the subversion and perversion of the Faith. As they say― “We get the leaders we deserve!” Due our general worldwide indifference to the Faith and neglect of the spiritual life, God has punished us in this way. God could have prevented it―but we provoked it.
What was true in the Old Testament, is even more true today: “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good, no not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalm 13:1-13).
Since we have, for the most part, been dumbed down and rarely rise above a 5th to 8th Grade vocabulary (which is why news is usually presented at that level of intelligence), there is no harm in being a “party-pooper” or “kill-joy” (or being a “kill-dumb-joy”) by causing a little “pain-to-the-brain” and pushing the levels a little higher. We often encounter and use words that we are only vaguely familiar with. Words are important and the understanding of words is even more important.
Modernism succeeds in the Church today because of two chief factors: (1) the fact that Catholics are less knowledgeable and intelligent than ever before as regards their Faith, which dulls or limits their understanding and (2) Modernism takes traditional Catholics words and by surrounding them with other confusing terms, adds a new meaning to the traditional word, while still allowing traditional persons to understand what they say according to the old interpretation of the word, while at the same time opening the door to a non-traditional way of interpreting what is said. This confuses or passes by the radar of dumbed-down Catholics and they think little of it, because they cannot really understand it and are too dumbed-down to get into a debate about it. Additionally, nobody likes to look stupid, and so the dumbed-down Catholics keep their mouths shut for fear of looking and sounding dumb. Hence the victory of Modernist “double-speak.” This double-meaning ploy (a kind of a “double-entendre”) is a ploy to introduce into the Faith, or rather infiltrate the Faith with non-Catholic, heretical, noxious teachings and views.
It Is What It Isn’t―It’s Not What It Seems―It’s Not What It Sounds and Looks Like
The words “double entendre” come from the French language and literally mean “double understanding” or “two ways of understanding” something. It is a figure of speech, or a particular way of wording, that is devised to be understood in two ways, having a double meaning. Typically one of the meanings is obvious, given the context, whereas the other may require more thought and is somewhat hidden or disguised.
The innuendo may convey a message that would be socially awkward, sexually suggestive, or too offensive to state directly (the Oxford English Dictionary describes a “double entendre” as being used to “convey an indelicate meaning”, whilst Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines it as “a word or phrase that may be understood in two different ways, one of which is often sexual”). A “double entendre” may exploit puns to convey the second meaning. “Double entendres” generally rely on multiple meanings of words, or different interpretations of the same primary meaning. They often exploit ambiguity and may be used to introduce it deliberately in a text. Sometimes a homophone can be used as a pun. When three or more meanings have been constructed, this is known as a “triple entendre”, etc.
Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing―Words in Sheep’s Clothing
Our Lord tells us to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves!” (Matthew 7:15). “Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves!” (Matthew 10:16). You could just as well say: “Beware of double entendres, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are like ravening wolves, that will ravage your Faith!”
This perfectly describes Modernism―it is “disguised language”―”words in sheep’s clothing”―a cleverly worded language or use of words that has “two meanings”―one traditional and the other modernist, so that the traditional folk can be duped into thinking it is still traditional, while the progressives can find in it a opening of doors to non-traditional and often heretical viewpoints. The Second Vatican Council was seen to be a master practitioner of this ambiguous, double-entendre phraseology that subsequently allowed for multiple interpretations of one single statement or teaching. Traditional theologians tell us that you cannot have a productive theological discussion with a Modernist―for the same word will have one meaning for the traditional theologian, but a different meaning for the Modernist. This is especially fatal when you enter the field of dogma or the field of morality.
We have seen the results of this repeatedly since the Second Vatican Council and it is still rearing its ugly “two-headed” face in recent papal pronouncements and documents―not least of all the infamous and highly contentious apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis, entitled Amoris Laetitia, addressing the pastoral care of families, released in April of 2016―which, very subtly with “words in sheep’s clothing” opened the door a little further to doctrinal and moral shift on the Church’s teaching on the Family and sexual morality.
The Modernist tactic of writing long encyclicals and producing long Church documents with lots of confusing, technical words, sometimes using Ancient Greek terms that mean nothing to the reader and merely bury the reader in a torrent of words―is a deliberate ploy to smuggle in new elements or change existing elements. The “posh” word for this is “to obfuscate”―which may sound a little rude, but it means “to make obscure, unclear, or unintelligible; to be evasive.” As one dictionary puts it: “Some people are experts at obfuscating the truth by being evasive, unclear, or obscure in the telling of the facts. The people who are good at obfuscating would include defense lawyers and teenagers asked about their plans for Saturday night.” It would seem that you could include the Church and the State in the same category―especially modern politicians and modernist theologians. You could call it the new science of “obfuscatology” which probably sounds more honorable than calling it lying, hiding, misleading and exaggerating. A relative or sibling of “obfuscatology” is “obscurantism” which is the practice of deliberately making things obscure, of presenting information in an imprecise and difficult manner, often designed to forestall further inquiry and understanding.
A Weak Faith is Easily Attacked and Destroyed
If you are going to try and fool somebody, it helps if they are foolish in the first place. God has built into us a natural sense of trust. Children naturally and automatically trust their parents―for better or for worse. When Protestant parents or even pagan parents teach their children errors about God, the children nevertheless lap it all up as being the truth. Like produces like, as Holy Scripture says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44), which easily leads to Our Lord’s point: “if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14)―and most do fall into the pit of Hell, by first falling into the pit of error in the Faith, or the pit of error in morals.
Already back on June 30th, 1968, at the close of the Year of Faith, Pope Paul VI, after making a profession of the Catholic Faith in the presence of all the bishops in Rome and hundreds of thousands of the faithful, then warned all those gathered against attacks on Catholic doctrine, which, he said, “give rise, as we regretfully see today, to trouble and confusion in many faithful souls.” The modern Church sadly tried to change things to accommodate the world—but it has failed miserably, as is uncontestably shown by statistics from all over the world, decade after decade. Pope Paul VI admitted that that “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God” (June 29th, 1972). Five-years later, Paul VI would say: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977). Pope Paul VI was dead 10 months later.
The same worries came up in an allocution of Pope John Paul II, on February 6th, 1981: “Christians today, in large part, feel lost, perplexed, confused, and even deceived.” The Holy Father summarized the underlying causes of the trouble as follows: “We see spread abroad ideas contrary to the truth which God has revealed and which the Church has always taught. Real heresies have appeared in dogma and moral theology, stirring doubt, confusion, rebellion. Even the liturgy has been harmed. Christians have been plunged into an intellectual and moral illuminism, a sociological Christianity, without clear dogma or objective morality.”
This confusion has only increased since those words were spoken―and increased rapidly, as is seen everywhere―in conversations, in books, in newspapers, on the internet, in social media, on radio and television broadcasts, in the behavior of Catholics, which shows up as a sharp decline in the practice of the Faith, as statistics reveal, and a general worldwide relaxation of morals.
A Weak Faith is Easily Attacked and Destroyed
If you are going to try and fool somebody, it helps if they are foolish in the first place. God has built into us a natural sense of trust. Children naturally and automatically trust their parents―for better or for worse. When Protestant parents or even pagan parents teach their children errors about God, the children nevertheless lap it all up as being the truth. Like produces like, as Holy Scripture says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44), which easily leads to Our Lord’s point: “if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14)―and most do fall into the pit of Hell, by first falling into the pit of error in the Faith, or the pit of error in morals.
Seedless, Faithless and Hopeless
You can compare this to the Parable of the Sower of the Seed, in which Jesus tells that the seed is the “Word of God.” “The sower went out to sow his seed. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
“And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and bring forth fruit in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
The Faith of some Catholics is like the seed by the wayside that was trodden-down by men and the birds of the air came and ate it up―as Our Lord explains above, they hear the Faith taught but do not understand it and the devil takes it sway from them. They cannot be bothered to labor and study the Faith to get a better understanding of it―so it is weakened and bit-by-bit is lost by them not believing this, not accepting that, etc.
Other Catholics are like stony-ground, in that their hearts are stony towards God and the Faith. Yes, they may well receive the Word of God with joy―but, like their prayers―it is quickly gone, because they are superficial and live only on the surface of the Faith, never penetrating it, never meditating it, never digging deeper. Thus the Word of God (the seed) just bounces off them.
The Faith of other Catholics is, as Our Lord says, “choked by the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life”―rather than study the Word of God and deepen their Faith, they prefer to sit and study their smartphones, their tablets, their laptops, their televisions or whatever else tickles their fancy.
Already back on June 30th, 1968, at the close of the Year of Faith, Pope Paul VI, after making a profession of the Catholic Faith in the presence of all the bishops in Rome and hundreds of thousands of the faithful, then warned all those gathered against attacks on Catholic doctrine, which, he said, “give rise, as we regretfully see today, to trouble and confusion in many faithful souls.” The modern Church sadly tried to change things to accommodate the world—but it has failed miserably, as is uncontestably shown by statistics from all over the world, decade after decade. Pope Paul VI admitted that that “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God” (June 29th, 1972). Five-years later, Paul VI would say: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977). Pope Paul VI was dead 10 months later.
The same worries came up in an allocution of Pope John Paul II, on February 6th, 1981: “Christians today, in large part, feel lost, perplexed, confused, and even deceived.” The Holy Father summarized the underlying causes of the trouble as follows: “We see spread abroad ideas contrary to the truth which God has revealed and which the Church has always taught. Real heresies have appeared in dogma and moral theology, stirring doubt, confusion, rebellion. Even the liturgy has been harmed. Christians have been plunged into an intellectual and moral illuminism, a sociological Christianity, without clear dogma or objective morality.”
This confusion has only increased since those words were spoken―and increased rapidly, as is seen everywhere―in conversations, in books, in newspapers, on the internet, in social media, on radio and television broadcasts, in the behavior of Catholics, which shows up as a sharp decline in the practice of the Faith, as statistics reveal, and a general worldwide relaxation of morals.
Cockle Among the Wheat
This should remind you of the Parable of the Wheat and Cockle: “Another parable Jesus proposed to them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven [or the Church on Earth] is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field [the truths of the Faith]. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle [errors, or sinners, or infiltrators] among the wheat [truth, or amongst the members of the Church] and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle [error and truth, the good and the sinners, grow side by side, looking alike]. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: ‘Sir! Didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?’ And he said to them: ‘An enemy hath done this!’ [the devil, Freemasonry, Communism, Modernism]. And the servants said to him: ‘Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?’ And he said: ‘No! Lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: “Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn!”’” (Matthew 13:24-30).
The Cockle Sowing Enemy
There are innumerable methods and tactics of warfare―and the devil know them all. He has been fighting a war against God even before Adam and Eve were created. His success is such that he has most of mankind in Hell. Just stop and think about that seriously for a moment. There were persons far more astute, far more knowledgeable, far better equipped than you―and many if not most of them are in Hell today! Ultimately, they did not take the battle seriously― “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:34-39) ... “The life of man upon earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14) … “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12) … “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain! And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things― and they, indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown―but we an incorruptible one! I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty! I so fight, not as one beating the air! But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection― lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Satan’s Swarm Attack
Psychologists tell us that a normal person, when relaxed and at peace, can handle around six thoughts at the same time―hence the multi-tasking. But when under severe stress, that capacity falls to a mere one or two. Temptation is stressful―unless you are a Hell Party card carrying member. Satan knows how to turn the screws and turn up the heat. At that point our “multi-tasking” talents are collapsing. To stretch our resistance to breaking point, the devil will arrange things so that you are attacked (or distracted) on all sides. Attacking from all sides creates confusion and destabilization. Imagine the enemy attacking you from all 4 sides of your house, as well as tunneling under the house and from above by helicopter. You just cannot handle such a multiple attack because you are disorientated and confused by the all round attack―dealing with one side distracts you from the other sides. It is just too much to handle all at once.
You have a similar scenario when multiple things go wrong at the same time―the phone is ringing, someone is knocking at the door, a child is screaming in pain because of some injury, the dog has broken loose as is running down the street, someone left the faucet turned on and the kitchen sink is spilling over, and there is an electrical fire that has just started, while your spouse thinks they are having a heart attack! Overwhelming! Despairing! Frustrating! Leaves you feeling totally powerless and helpless!
Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Burnout
Burnout is now a legitimate medical diagnosis, according to the International Classification of Diseases 11th Edition, or the ICD-11, the World Health Organization’s handbook that guides medical providers in diagnosing diseases. Burnout now appears in the ICD-11’s section on problems related to employment or unemployment. According to the handbook, doctors can diagnose someone with burnout if they meet the following symptoms:
1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
2. Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
3. Reduced professional efficacy
You could just as well apply that to the Faith and the spiritual life:
1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion to the point where you do not want to pray and meditate, nor do spiritual reading, nor go to Mass or extra Masses, nor read the Bible, nor make examinations of conscience, nor go to Confession.
2. Increased mental distance from one’s Faith (or local parish), or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s Faith (or local parish, or the Church in general)
3. Reduced spiritual efficacy―all of your spiritual exercises (if they even done at all) are done at a very low level of quality, are done intermittently, half-heartedly, hurriedly and distractedly.
Burn-Out Leads to a Cop-Out
When we are “burnt-out” we are weak, tired, unfocused, dull, listless, etc. In other words, we are ripe for compromise, ripe for being conned, ripe for led astray, ripe for being fooled, ripe for being overcome, ripe for perversion. “And from your own selves shall arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:30).
Compromise is a perversion―a perversion of the truth and also a perversion of morals. Perversion originally from the Latin verb “pervertere” meaning “to overthrow, overturn,” and figuratively meaning “to corrupt, subvert, abuse,” literally meaning “to turn the wrong way, turn about,” since it is a combination of the Latin word “per” meaning “through, during, by means of, on account of, as in” and the Latin verb “vertere” meaning “to turn, turn back, be turned; convert, transform, translate; be changed.”
The French and the English drew on this Latin root and incorporated it into their own languages. Hence we see arise the 12th century Old French verb “pervertir” meaning to “pervert, undo, destroy”; and the 13th century English verb “to pervert” which means “to turn someone aside from a right religious belief to a false or erroneous one,” and the late 14th century English word “perversion” defined as “an action of turning aside from truth, corruption, distortion” (originally of religious beliefs). Hence the “pervert”, which is first seen in print the 1660s, is defined as “one who has forsaken a doctrine or system that is regarded as being true, an apostate.” The psychological sense of the word “perversion” is of later origins, from 1892, and means a “disorder of sexual behavior in which satisfaction is sought through channels other than those of normal heterosexual intercourse.” This led, from 1897, to the word “pervert” as being defined by psychology as “one who has a perversion of the sexual instinct” is attested from 1897 (Havelock Ellis), originally and especially applying to homosexuals. Today, in our sex-obsessed society, it is almost exclusively the psychological definition of the words “pervert” and “perversion” that most people recognize and are obliviously ignorant of the original earlier and much broader meaning of the words as shown above.
Subversion and Perversion is the Name of the Game
Today, in the Catholic Church (but not only in the Catholic Church, but all churches and in all States and governments) we see a perversion of truth and perversion of morals. This perversion has long since been the goal of the enemies of the Church. St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) watched Freemasons celebrate their bicentennial (200 year anniversary) in St. Peter’s Square in 1917. St. Maximilian Kolbe saw the Freemasons carrying banners bearing these words, “Satan Must Reign in the Vatican. The Pope Will Be His Slave!” It’s a jarring and shocking statement, but it is totally in keeping with the aims of Freemasonry and it bears a great deal of significance for us today. Subversion and perversion.
Albert Vassert, a former member of the French Communist Party, revealed in 1955, that Moscow had issued a 1936 order, that carefully selected members of the Communist youth enter seminaries, and, after training, receive ordination as priests. Some of these were to infiltrate religious orders, particularly the Dominicans. Subversion and perversion.
Another former Communist, Dr. Bella Dodd (1904-1969) spoke, in the early 1950’s, about the Communist infiltration of the Catholic Church in the 1930s and 1940s. Dr. Bella Dodd―an important member of the Communist Party of America, a member of the National Committee of the Communist Party, was a lawyer, teacher and activist―testified before the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee stated that “In the 1930s, we put eleven hundred (1,100) men into the priesthood in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops.” She added that the Communist infiltration was so extensive that in the future “you will not recognize the Catholic Church.” According to the Catholic philosopher and professor Alice von Hildebrand, who later became a friend of Dodd after Dodd’s conversion to Catholicism, Dodd had told her that “when she was an active party member, she had dealt with no fewer than four cardinals within the Vatican who were working for us, [i.e. the Communist Party].” Subversion and perversion.
If you have the initiative to go beyond the mere surface of things and dig deeper, you will find that during the 1930s and 1940’s the number of cardinals was far below today’s total of 215―it was only 70 cardinals for the world! Bella Dodd’s assertion that there were “no fewer than four cardinals within the Vatican” does not rule out the probability of more Communist infiltrated cardinals throughout the rest of the world and not just in the Vatican! It is possible that as many as 10, 15 or 20 out of a total of 70 cardinals were Communist infiltrators. Subversion and perversion.
Mr. Manning Johnson, a former official of the Communist Party in America gave the following testimony in 1953 to the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee: “Once the tactic of infiltration of religious organizations was set by the Kremlin ... the Communists discovered that the destruction of religion could proceed much faster through infiltration of the Church by Communists, operating within the Church itself. The Communist leadership in the United States realized that the infiltration tactic, in this country, would have to adapt itself to American conditions and the religious make-up peculiar to this country. In the earliest stages it was determined that with only small forces available to them, it would be necessary to concentrate Communist agents in the seminaries. The practical conclusion drawn by the Red leaders was that these institutions would make it possible for a small Communist minority to influence the ideology of future clergymen in the paths conducive to Communist purposes.” Subversion and perversion.
Another former Communist and defector to the West, was Yuri Bezmenov (1939-1993), a former agent of the KGB (Russian State Security and Secret Police) who served the KGB primarily in India, where he spread Soviet propaganda and disinformation to the Western world. He eventually defected to the West in 1970. Bezmenov explains that the main effort of the KGB was not conventional intelligence at all. Only some 15% of resources were spent on James-Bond-style espionage, while 85% was devoted to a slow process called “ideological subversion” or “active measures.” The main methods used by Marxists in the West, Bezmenov explains, were to “corrupt the young, get them interested in sex, take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled [...] destroy people's faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt, ridicule and disgrace [...] cause breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, self-restraint, faith in the pledged word.” The main targets were — and remain — institutions of religious faith, education, media and culture. Subversion and perversion.
In the 1990s, a Catholic bishop alleged that there were FOUR Lodges of Freemasonry working within the Vatican, catering for the “higher clergy”―namely cardinals and bishops. Then you have the unprecedented Freemasonic joy and euphoria upon hearing that Jorge Bergoglio had been elected to the Papacy as Pope Francis (read more here). Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith, editor of the UK Catholic Herald, wrote in an article on July, 30th, 2013: “Somewhat lost among all the commentary about what the Pope had to say about homosexuality in that press conference, is his passing reference to another ‘lobby’ that may or may not be at work in the Vatican. The Pope said: “The problem is not that one has this [homosexual] tendency; no, we must be brothers, this is the first matter. There is another problem, another one― the problem is to form a lobby of those who have this [homosexual] tendency, a lobby of the greedy people, a lobby of politicians, a lobby of Masons, so many lobbies. This is the most serious problem for me.” Subversion and perversion.
Fr. Lucie-Smith, commenting on the Pope’s statement, writes: “The idea that there is a lobby (or to be more accurate, a secret society, which is what the Italians intend by their use of the word) of Masons at work in the Vatican, is an old one. At one time or another several leading persons in the Vatican have been denounced as Masons, including Cardinal Villot who was Pope Paul VI’s Secretary of State and Monsignor Annibale Bugnini, the famous liturgist [who was a key figure behind the New Mass]. When one points out that there is no shred of evidence that these men were ever Masons, the very lack of evidence is supposed to be decisive. After all, the Masons are experts at covering things up … Most English people would laugh at the idea of a Masonic mafia at work in the Vatican. I am not sure, though, that we should. Masonry is far from harmless. There is a strong belief ― on what evidence is not clear ― that Continental Masonry is markedly different from the British variety. While the British Masons are supposed to be well represented in the police and the courts, Italian Masonry is strongly identified with big business and banking, and the powerful secretive elites, that are supposed to be the ‘real’ government of the country. Masonry is also seen as strongly anti-clerical; thus a Masonic lobby in the Vatican would be opposed to virtually everything the Church stands for, and a real enemy within … If there is a masonic lobby in the Vatican, it could mean that there are Deists in the Vatican – people with a watered down version of the Church, religious indifferentists, people who no longer believe in the efficacy of the sacraments except as pieces of theatre, certainly not outward signs of inward grace … Let us hope and pray that there is no masonic lobby in the Vatican. But the very fact the Holy Father has mentioned it, makes one wonder!” (Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith, UK Catholic Herald, July, 30th, 2013). Subversion and perversion.
It is not just the Vatican that interests the enemies of the Church, but as Bezmenov said, any and all institutions of religious faith, education, media and culture. The 1,100 men that Bella Dodd and her collaborators managed to get into the priesthood, was not a one-time operation―it has been going on ever since, for those who were “smuggled-in” to infiltrate the priesthood, were very well placed to open the door to future infiltrators. Once some of these men had become bishops, or rectors of seminaries, then their influence could be widely spread because “bishops beget bishops,” and these agents would use their influence to elevate and promote clergymen who were not necessarily dedicated Communists, but who were of a Progressive, Rationalistic, Liberal and Modernist mentality, or those who were perverted in some way―such as homosexuality―and whose influence could be counted on to foster a new philosophy, a new theology and a new morality within the ranks of the clergy. Once the clergy were infected, they would pass on this infection to the laity. The whole idea was to destroy, not the institution of the Church, but rather the FAITH of the people; and even use the institution, if possible, to destroy the Faith through the promotion of a pseudo-religion, something that resembled Catholicism, but was not quite the real thing. Once the Faith was destroyed, then the dismantling of the institution would take place. Subversion and perversion.
How Can All This Happen?
All of this happens because of compromise. Once you compromise the Church with the world―as the Second Vatican Council did by its “aggiornamento” or opening the doors and windows to the world―then you dilute things, and dilution by its very nature weakens the thing that is diluted. There can be no religious ‘dilution’, there can be no “opening the doors and windows to the world” because the world is an enemy of God:
“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
“What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
We do well to recall the words of Our Lady at Akita: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres. Churches and altars will be sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.”
Once we―either the Church as a whole, or we as individuals, families, schools or parishes―compromise with the world, the we, in effect, sign our own ‘death sentence’. We dilute our Faith and our morals. The only way is down, more dilution, more compromise, more acceptance, more participation. Yet because everyone else does―we do it! “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams” (Isaias 56:10). “Let them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). It is into that “pit” that most of the Catholic world has fallen―clergy and faithful alike. Yet many of the “Pied-Pipers” that have led us into that pit, owe their existence to the insidious infiltration that produced the subversion and perversion of the Faith. As they say― “We get the leaders we deserve!” Due our general worldwide indifference to the Faith and neglect of the spiritual life, God has punished us in this way. God could have prevented it―but we provoked it.
What was true in the Old Testament, is even more true today: “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good, no not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalm 13:1-13).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Friday May 24th & Saturday May 25th
Article 17
May Day! May Day! Help! Help! Help! Save Our Souls!
Article 17
May Day! May Day! Help! Help! Help! Save Our Souls!
Today (May 24th) is the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians―HELP! HELP! HELP!
At the Last Supper, Our Lord warned: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). In our present day and in our present crisis, the same has to be said of Our Lady―in fact, Our Lady herself points this out to us. At Fatima she said, speaking of herself in the “third-person”― “continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 13th, 1917). While at Akita, in 1973, she repeats that brutal truth: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
Going back to the days of St. Bridget of Sweden, we encounter Our Lady telling her: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then Our Lady concluded by saying: “Therefore, he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.”
St. Bernard of Clairvaux writes: “All of you, who see yourselves amid the tides of the world, tossed by storms and tempests rather than walking on the land, do not turn your eyes away from this shining star, unless you want to be overwhelmed by the hurricane. If temptation storms, or you fall upon the rocks of tribulation, look to the star: Call upon Mary! If you are tossed by the waves of pride or ambition, detraction or envy, look to the star, call upon Mary. If anger or avarice or the desires of the flesh dash against the ship of your soul, turn your eyes to Mary. If troubled by the enormity of your crimes, ashamed of your guilty conscience, terrified by dread of the judgment, you begin to sink into the gulf of sadness or the abyss of despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in anguish, in doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let her name be even on your lips, ever in your heart; and the better to obtain the help of her prayers, imitate the example of her life. Following her, thou strayest not; invoking her, thou despairest not; thinking of her, thou wanderest not; upheld by her, thou fallest not; shielded by her, thou fearest not; guided by her, thou growest not weary; favored by her, thou reachest the goal.”
In the current mess of a crisis that we find ourselves―sinking deeper into the mire with each year―we have to cry out to Mary: "May Day! May Day! Help! Help! Help! SOS―Save Our Souls!" Or as the Apostles cried out in the little boat caught in a terrible storm on the lake, while Jesus slept through it: "Lord! Save us! We perish!"
Do We Recognize Divine Help?
As we enter the official six-month “Hurricane Season” (which is from June 1st to November 30th for the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico), it is worth retelling one of many variations of the following joke which you have no doubt heard:
A terrible storm came into a town and local officials sent out an emergency warning that the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby homes. They ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately.
A faithful Christian man heard the warning and decided to stay, saying to himself: “I will trust God and if I am in danger, then God will perform a divine miracle to save me!”
The neighbors came by his house and said to him: “We’re leaving and there is room for you in our car, please come with us!” But the man declined. “I have Faith in God that He will save me!”
As the man stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps, a man in a canoe paddled by and called to him: “Hurry-up and get into my canoe! The waters are rising quickly!” But the man again said: “No thanks, God will save me!”
The floodwaters rose higher pouring water into his living room and the man had to retreat to the second floor. A police motorboat came by and saw him at the window. “Don’t worry! We will come up and rescue you!” they shouted. But the man refused, waving them off saying: “Use your time to save someone else! I have Faith that God will save me!”
The flood waters rose higher and higher and the man had to climb up onto his rooftop.
A helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder. A rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man, “Grab my hand and I will pull you up!” But the man STILL refused, folding his arms tightly to his body. “No thank you! God will save me!”
Shortly after, the house broke up and the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned.
When he appeared before God for his final judgment, the man stood before God and asked: “I put all of my Faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”
And God said angrily: “Are you blind? I sent you a warning! I sent you a car! I sent you a canoe! I sent you a motorboat! I sent you a helicopter! What more were you looking for?”
Are We Really Seeking That Heavenly Help?
We can liken the warnings and car, canoe, motorboat and helicopter to Our Lady attempts to warn, rescue and save us―but we, obstinately, refuse to listen to the warnings and refuse to take up the means of rescue offered to us. We continue to sin despite the warnings, we refuse to do penance, we refuse to pray many Rosaries, we refuse to practice a serious devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary―all of which explains why Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed that Our Lady was sad because hardly anybody listens to and puts into practice her messages and warnings.
“The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Help in Not Unconditional
Heaven’s help is neither unconditional, nor is it free. If you want help―if you want help in saving your soul, for that is only really important thing in life―then you must pay for that help. If you want to save your life and need an ambulance―then the cost of dispatching an ambulance and its crew must be paid for, either by you or your insurance company. As the New York Times reported in an article from December of 2013, where a 23-year-old lady had broken three teeth by accidentally swimming into the side of the pool. Somebody dialed 911 calling for an ambulance. The lady accepted the ambulance ride to the hospital, nine-miles away, and, as a precaution, the paramedics fitted her with a neck-brace. A week later she received a bill for the 15-minute trip: $1,772.42. Thirty years ago ambulance rides were generally provided free of charge, underwritten by taxpayers as a municipal service, or provided by volunteers. Today, like the rest of the health care system in the United States, most ambulance services operate as businesses and contribute to America’s escalating medical bills. Often, they are a high-cost prequel to expensive emergency room visits. Yes, you get help―but at a price.
Similarly with any rescue operation, those who are being rescued must cooperate in some way with the rescuers and follow their instructions―otherwise they jeopardize the rescue attempt. God, Christ and Our Lady wish to save everyone and anyone― “Who will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4), “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23), adding that “if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die!” (Ezechiel 18:21). Yet, most souls―for one reason or another, with one excuse or another―do not cooperate with God’s “rescue operation”. They do not want God terms, but seek to dictate their own terms! Try going to bank, asking for help in buying house, and try dictating terms to them! No way! They will help you―but on their terms! Their help will cost you something!
“Ah!” You Say, “Help is Free!”
You will quote Scripture, with Our Lord saying: “And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you!” (Luke 11:9). But “asking” is already part of the price―which is why St. Teresa of Avila, commenting on that quote says that if we do not ask then we will not get, if we do not knock then no door will open to us, and if we do not seek then we will not find! Common sense, huh? Yes, but common sense is not at all very common―especially in our “welfare” minded expectations!
Do you think Heaven gives help for free? To some extent yes―in the sense that nobody is deserving of the graces and helps they get from God―as the Catechism says: “Grace is a supernatural gift of God, freely given.” God freely gave Adam and Eve the gift of immortality―but they had to pay for it through obedience to God. Christ freely died for our sins, but we have to cooperate with His grace and still “work out our salvation in fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). Grace helps us, but grace does not replace the efforts God expects us to make in cooperating with grace. Heaven’s help is usually a “quid pro quo” or “tit-for-tat” or “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” kind of deal.
Heaven's "Quid-Pro-Quo" and "Tit-For-Tat"
The Book of Leviticus clearly spells out this “quid pro quo” or “tit-for-tat” or “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” kind of deal, where God says that His help and blessings come at a price: “If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
Martha Calls For Help―And Gets None!
We are busy and we often want help! Busy, busy, busy… but busy with what? We are all busy people—busy with one thing or another, busy doing the things we like to do, busy seeking our personal advantage and benefit! Yet we are usually busy about the wrong things—the material things and not the spiritual things. Our Lord chose an event in the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary to point out this human, naturalistic anomaly: “Now it came to pass as they went, that Jesus entered into a certain town: and a certain woman named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who, sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
Martha asked Our Lord that He help her―or rather, that He command Mary to help her! Yet Our Lord refused―because Martha wanted Mary to help with material, physical things, which would mean sacrificing and turning aside from the spiritual thing that she was doing―sitting at Our Lord’s feet (seemingly doing nothing useful) and listening to His words. The spiritual must come first―and if God sees that any help given to you will be detrimental to your spiritual life, then He will not help you in the way you ask and hope. Too often, we prioritize the material over the spiritual―we ask God for thousands of things and help in hundreds of ways―but rarely does anyone ask for spiritual things above all else. They are more likely to ask for riches than sanctity, for health of body rather than health of soul―yet Our Lord has said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
God’s Covenant or Contract of Love and Help
As they say, “Love is reciprocal”―meaning that love is “a two-way-street” of “give-and-take” and not just one sided. God loves us and we have to love God―it is a case of “give-and-take”―God manifests His love for us and we must return that show of love to God. God loves us more than we could ever imagine―there is no doubt about that fact: “In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” 1 John 4:10). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “Jesus Christ hath loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Apocalypse 1:5). “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Therefore, according to the law of reciprocity (take and give in return), “Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19). “Jesus said: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind! This is the greatest and the first commandment.’” (Matthew 22:37-38). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10). That is bottom-line version of love, the starting point of love, the lowest grade of love, the beginning of love, the basement of love―keeping the Commandments and words of God. There is no point saying we love God if we regularly fail to keep His Commandments―as Our Lord Himself says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6) … “Why call you Me, «Lord! Lord!»―and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
You may have often heard of the Scriptural terms “testament” and “covenant” without really knowing what they mean. The word “testament” comes from the Latin “testamentum” and means “covenant” or “contact” or “agreement.” The synonyms for the word “covenant” are “contract, treaty, pact, accord, deal, settlement, concordat, agreement, arrangement, understanding, pledge, promise, guarantee, etc.”
Thus, you can say that the Old Testament is the “Old Covenant” or the “Old Contract” or the “Old Agreement.” The New Testament is the “New Covenant” or the “New Contract” or the “New Agreement.” An agreement or contract has to be expressed in words―either spoken or written. This is exactly what God has done―He has revealed His “contract” in Holy Scripture and Scripture also give us the terms of His contract.
An agreement or contract can be unilateral contract (one-sided―where one party dictates all the terms of the contract to the other party), or it can be a bilateral contract (two-sided―where each party contributes to the contract by making some demands of the other party and agreeing to the demands of the other party). God’s covenant with man is a unilateral contract―it is one-sided, with God dictating all of the terms of the agreement―it is, as they say, “His way or the highway!”―there is no room for arguing, debating, modifying or complaining―you either accept the contract or go to Hell.
Heck! What do you want? You want the part of the contract that promises you eternal life, no more death, no more illnesses, no more suffering, no more threats, no more fears, no more sadness, no more unhappiness, no more sorrows, no more anxieties, no more uncertainties, no more danger, no more fighting, no more persecution, no more enemies, no more ridicule, no more suspicions, no more accusations, no more hatred, no more poverty, no more deprivation, no more needs, no more evil of any kind, no more sin of any kind, no more guilt, no more vengeance, no more recrimination, no more dredging up past sins. Instead of all this you expect to be at peace with everyone, sincere friendship with everyone, never falling-out, never arguing, always loving. You expect eternal joy, eternal well-being, eternal health, eternal youth, eternal satisfaction. On top of that you expect a perfect body, a perfect mind, a perfect knowledge, a perfect understanding, a perfect wisdom―the list could go to fill book after book! You expect all this and God even offers all of this―BUT IT HIS ON HIS TERMS AND NOT YOUR TERMS! There is no use arguing, debating or complaining about the terms of the contract. No matter what God asks―or could ask―it is cheap in comparison to what He is offering.
Our Lady’s Covenant, Contract or Agreement
One would be surprised if Our Lady’s method and manner of making “contracts” or “covenants” or “agreements” differed from God’s method and manner. God’s way is her way―but, sadly, God’s way is not our way. This is something God knew and pointed out to us, when He said: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. [9] For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). If it’s a case of “God’s way or the highway”, then it is the same for Our Lady―it is Mary’s way or the highway. She was given a contract by her Son as He died on Calvary, when He said to her: “Woman, behold thy son!” All the Scripture commentators agree that those words―which at that moment referred to St. John as being the bequeathed “son” that Mary had to accept and look after―but which also symbolized mankind in general and Catholics in particular. She was contractually obliged to look after the world―which is why we call her “Queen of Heaven and Earth” and “Mother of the Church.” She has always upheld her side of the contract―which she points out to us at her apparition at La Salette, where she justly complained: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
One would be surprised if Our Lady’s method and manner of making “contracts” or “covenants” or “agreements” differed from God’s method and manner. God’s way is her way―but, sadly, God’s way is not our way. This is something God knew and pointed out to us, when He said: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. [9] For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). If it’s a case of “God’s way or the highway”, then it is the same for Our Lady―it is Mary’s way or the highway. She was given a contract by her Son as He died on Calvary, when He said to her: “Woman, behold thy son!” All the Scripture commentators agree that those words―which at that moment referred to St. John as being the bequeathed “son” that Mary had to accept and look after―but which also symbolized mankind in general and Catholics in particular. She was contractually obliged to look after the world―which is why we call her “Queen of Heaven and Earth” and “Mother of the Church.”
She has always upheld her side of the contract―which she points out to us at her apparition at La Salette in 1846, where she justly complained: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
She essentially reiterated and reminded us of the terms of the “contract” or “covenant” she was offering, when she appeared at Fatima in 1917: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort. Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary ... You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end―but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out … Know that God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated ... Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you! … Jesus wants to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God … In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended.”
Our Lady of La Salette promises her help, but only if we play our part and fight for the Faith: “I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit. Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see. For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph. This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church and this country will be finally free of his cruel tyranny.” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Our Lord and Our Lady Speak of Our Breach of Contract
To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, from 1950 to 1961, Our Lady and Our Lord again emphatically reminded us of the contract and our contractual obligations if we want Heaven’s help.
► In 1950 Our Lady warned: “Satan reigns and triumphs on Earth! See how the souls are falling into Hell. See how high the flames are, and the souls who fall into them like flakes of snow, looking like transparent embers! How many sparks! How many cries of hate, and of despair! How much pain! … See how many priestly souls are lost! … The justice of the Father requires reparation — otherwise many will be lost! … Therefore I ask prayers, penance and sacrifice, so I may act as Mediatrix for my Son in order to save souls … You must suffer for the Pope and Christ, and thus Christ will be safe on Earth; and the Pope, with his redemptive word, will, in part, save the world.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, April 7th, 1950).
► In 1954 Our Lord lamented: “Behold My child, see to what ends the sins of man have reduced Me. The world has lowered itself in overflowing corruption. The governments of the people have risen like demons incarnated, and, while they speak of peace they prepare for war with the most devastating implements to destroy peoples and nations … Numerous scandals are bringing souls to ruin―particularly through the corruption of youth. Stirred up, and unrestrained in the enjoyment of the pleasures of the world, they have degraded their souls in corruption and sin. The bad example of parents trains the family in scandal and infidelity, instead of virtue and prayer, which is almost dead on the lips of many. Stained and withered is the fountain of Faith and sanctity the home.
“The wills of men do not change. They live in their obstinacy of sin. More severe are the scourges and plagues to recall them to the way of God; but men still become furious, like wounded beasts, and harden their hearts against the Grace of God. The world is no longer worthy of pardon, but only of fire, destruction and death … There must be more prayers and penances from the souls faithful to Me, in order to appease the just wrath of God, and to temperate the just sentence of punishment, suspended on Earth by the intercession of My Beloved Mother, who is also the Mother of all men … How sad is My Heart to see that men do not convert, nor respond to so many calls of love and grief, manifested by My Beloved Mother to erring men! Roaming in darkness, they continue to live in sin, and further away from God! But the scourge of fire is near, to purify the Earth of the iniquities of the wicked. The justice of God requires reparation for the many offenses and misdeeds that cover the Earth, and which can no longer be compromised. Men are obstinate in their guilt, and do not return to God … The Church is opposed, and the priests are despised, because of the bad ones who give scandal. Help Me, by suffering, to repair for so many offenses, and thus save AT LEAST IN PART, humanity precipitated in a swamp of corruption and death … Make it known to all men that, repentant, they must return to God, and, in doing so, may hope for pardon, and be saved from the just vengeance of a scorned God!” (Our Lord to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, April 16th, 1954).
► In 1954, after Our Lord apparition, Our Lady appeared and added: “My Heart is sad for so many sufferings in an impending world in ruin. The justice of Our Father is most offended. Men live in their obstinacy of sin. The wrath of God is near. Soon the world will be afflicted with great calamities, bloody revolutions, frightful hurricanes, and the overflowing of streams and the seas. Cry out until the priests of God lend their ears to my voice, to advise men that the time is near at hand, and if men do not return to God with prayers and penances, the world will be overturned in a new and more terrible war! Arms most deadly will destroy peoples and nations! The dictators of the Earth, specimens infernal, will demolish the churches and desecrate the Holy Eucharist, and will destroy things most dear. In this impious war, much will be destroyed of that which has been built by the hands of man. Clouds with lightning flashes of fire in the sky and a tempest of fire shall fall upon the world. This terrible scourge, never before seen in the history of humanity, will last seventy hours. Godless persons will be crushed and wiped out. Many will be lost because they remain in their obstinacy of sin. Then shall be seen the power of light over the power of darkness. Be not silent, my daughter, because the hours of darkness, of abandonment, are near. I am bending over the world, holding in suspension the justice of God. Otherwise these things would already have now come to pass. Prayers and penances are necessary, because men must return to God and to my Immaculate Heart—the Mediatrix of men to God, and thus the world will, at least in part, be saved. Cry out these things to all, like the very echo of my voice. Let this be known to all, because it will help save many souls, and prevent much destruction in the Church and in the world.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, April 16th, 1954).
► In 1955 Our Lady complained of lack of cooperation on our part: “Listen attentively and make known everything that I tell thee, because men, in spite of repeated warnings, are not returning to God. They refuse grace, and are not listening to my voice. You must have no doubt about what I am making known to you, because my words are very clear, and you must transmit them to all. Dark and frightful days are approaching! Mankind is obscured by a thick fog, as a result of the many grievous sins, which are almost covering the whole Earth. Today, more than ever, men are, resisting the calls from Heaven, and are blaspheming God, while wallowing in the mire of sin ... The whole world will soon be at war, and all mankind will he plunged into sorrow, because the justice of God will not be delayed in fulfilling its course, and these events are near. Tremendous will be the upheaval of the whole world, because men — as at the time of the Deluge — have lost God’s way, and are ruled by the spirit of Satan.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, April 8th, 1955).
Our Lady continues: “Priests must unite by prayers and penance. They must hasten to spread the devotion to the Two Hearts. The hour of my triumph is close at hand. The victory will be accomplished through the love and mercy of the Heart of My Son, and of My Immaculate Heart the Mediatrix between men and God, by accepting this invitation, and by uniting their tears to those of My Sorrowful Heart, priests and religious will obtain great graces for the salvation of poor sinners. Launch forth into the world a message to make known to all that the scourge is near at hand! The justice of God is weighing upon the world. Mankind, defiled in the mire, soon will be washed in its own blood, by disease; by famine; by earthquakes; by cloudbursts, tornadoes, floods, and terrible storms; and by war. But men ignore all these warnings, and are unwilling to be convinced that tragic events are hanging over the world, and that the hours of great trials are at hand. If men do not amend their ways, a terrifying scourge of fire will come down from Heaven upon all the nations of the world, and men will be punished according to the debts contracted with Divine justice. There will be frightful moments for all, because Heaven will be joined with the Earth, and all the un-Godly people will be destroyed, some nations will be purified, while others will disappear entirely. You are to transmit these warnings to all, in order that the new generation will know that men had been warned in time to turn to God by doing penance, and thus could have avoided these punishments.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, April 8th, 1955).
► In 1956 Our Lady further warned: “The world today is honoring me, but my Motherly Heart is bleeding, because the enemy is at our doors! Men are offending God too much! If I were to show you the number of sins committed in a single day, you would die of horror and sorrow! The sins that distress God the most, are those of the souls who should perfume the air with the fragrance of their virtues. Instead, they contaminate (by their sinful lives) those who come near them. The times are grievous. The whole world is in turmoil, because it has become worse than at the time of the deluge! Everything is hanging in suspense, like a thread; when this thread breaks, the justice of God will fall like a thunderbolt and will complete its terrible course of purification. The punishment of the impious will not be delayed. That day will be most fearful in the world! The Earth will tremble, all humanity will be shaken! The wicked and the obstinate will perish in the tremendous severity of the justice of the Lord. Launch at once a message into the world, to advise men to return to God by prayers and penances, and to come with confidence to my Immaculate Heart. My intercession must be shown, because I am the Mother of God, of the just and of sinners. Through prayer and penance, my mercy will be able to hold back the hand of God’s justice.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956).
► In 1959 Our Lord again lamented: “What bitterness is poured into this Heart, pierced by many souls, who instead of loving Me with sacrifices by flight from sinful vanities of the corrupt world, commit much iniquity! Help Me to suffer by consoling My grieved Heart, and make reparation for the many sins. Oh My beloved bride, if you knew the pain that My Heart suffers from the loss of so many souls! Satan travels victorious over all the sinful Earth. I need generous souls to appease the outraged justice of the Father, because the world is headed for imminent ruin. The hours of darkness are near!” (Our Lord to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, 1959).
► At the same apparition as Our Lord, in 1959, Our Lady further warned: “This great mantle, which you see, is the expression of my mercy for covering sinners and for saving them. Men, instead, cover themselves with even more filth, and do not want to confess their real faults. Therefore, the justice of God will pass over the sinful world to purify humanity for so many sins, openly committed and hidden, especially those which corrupt youth. In order to save souls, I wish that there be propagated in the world the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mediatrix of men, devoted to the Mercy of God, and to the Queen of the Universe. The world will be once more afflicted with great calamity; with bloody revolutions; with great earthquakes; with famines; with epidemics; with fearful hurricanes; and with floods from rivers and seas. But if men do not return to God, purifying fire will fall from the Heavens, like snowstorms, on all peoples, and a great part of humanity will be destroyed! No longer do men speak according to the true spirit of the Gospel. The immorality of the times has reached a peak. But men do not listen to my motherly warnings, so the world must soon be purified. Russia will march upon all the nations of Europe, particularly Italy, and will raise her flag over the dome of St. Peter’s. Italy will be severely tried by a great revolution, and Rome will be purified in blood for its many sins, especially those of impurity! The flock is about to be dispersed and the Pope must suffer greatly. The only valid means for placating Divine Justice is to pray and do penance, returning to God with sincere sorrow for the faults committed, and then the chastisement of Divine Justice will be mitigated by mercy. Humanity will never find peace, if it does not return to my Immaculate Heart as Mother of Mercy, and Mediatrix of men; and to the Heart of my Son Jesus!” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, 1959).
► In 1960, Our Lady again warned us that through sin, we were breaching our contract with God and would have to face the consequences: “How youth lives in perdition! How many innocent souls find themselves enwrapped in a chain of scandals. The world has become as a flooded valley, overflowing with filth and mud. Some of the most difficult trials of Divine Justice are yet to come, before the deluge of fire. I, for a long time now, have advised men in many ways, but they do not listen to my maternal appeals, and they continue to walk the paths of perdition. But soon terrifying manifestations will be seen, which will make even the most obdurate sinners tremble! Great calamities will come upon the world, which will bring confusion, tears, struggles and pain. Great earthquakes will swallow up entire cities and countries, and will bring epidemics, famine, and terrible destruction especially where the sons of darkness are! In these tragic hours, the world has need of prayers and penance, because the Pope, the priests, and the Church are in danger. If we do not pray, Russia will march upon all of Europe, and particularly upon Italy, bringing much more ruin and havoc! Hence the priests must be in the front line of defense of the Church, by example and sanctity in life, for materialism is breaking forth in all nations and evil prevails over good. The rulers of the people do not understand this, because they do not have the Christian spirit; in their blindness, do not see the truth. In Italy, some leaders like rapacious wolves in sheep’s’ clothing, while calling themselves Christians — open the door to materialism, and, fostering dishonest actions, will bring Italy to ruin; but many of them, too, will fall in confusion. Propagate the devotions to my Immaculate Heart, of Mother of Mercy, Mediatrix of men, who believe in the mercy of God, and of the Queen of the Universe. I will manifest my partiality for Italy, which will be preserved from the fire, but the skies will be covered with dense darkness, and the Earth will be shaken by fearful earthquakes which will open deep abysses. Provinces and cities will be destroyed, and all will cry out that the end of the world has come! Even Rome will be punished according to justice for its many and serious sins, because here sin has reached its peak. Pray, and lose no time, lest it be too late; since dense darkness surrounds the Earth and the enemy is at the doors!” (Our Lord to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, April 15th, 1960).
► In 1960, for the second time that year, Our Lady once more warned us of the consequences of breaching our contract with God by continually sinning: “The hour of the justice of God is close, and will be terrible! Tremendous scourges are impending over the world, and various nations are struck by epidemics, famines, great earthquakes, terrific hurricanes, with overflowing rivers and seas, which bring ruin and death. If the people do not recognize in these scourges (of nature) the warnings of Divine Mercy, and do not return to God with truly Christian living, another terrible war will come from the East to the West. Russia with her secret armies will battle America and will overrun Europe. The River Rhine will be overflowing with corpses and blood. Italy, also, will be harassed by a great revolution, and the Pope will suffer terribly. Spread the devotion to my Immaculate Heart, in order that many souls maybe conquered by my love and that many sinners may return to my Maternal Heart. Do not fear, for I will accompany with my maternal protection my faithful ones, and all those who accept my urgent warnings, and they — especially by the recitations of my Rosary — will be saved. Satan goes furiously through this disordered world, and soon will show all his might. But, because of my Immaculate Heart, the triumph of Light will not delay in its triumph over the power of darkness, and the world, finally, will have tranquility and peace.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, August 22nd, 1960).
► In 1961, at her final apparition before Blessed Sister Elena Aiello’s death, Our Lady reminded us: “The scourge is near. Much is spoken of peace, but all the world will soon be at war, and the streets will be stained with blood! No gleam of light is seen in the world, because men live in the darkness of error, and the enormous weight of sin angers the justice of God. All nations will be punished, because sin has spread all over the world! Tremendous will be the punishments, because man has arrived at an insupportable contest with his God and Father, and has exasperated His infinite Goodness! Many iniquitous and wicked leaders of the people, who live and drag along with them their people outside the laws of God, clothing themselves in sheep’s clothing, while being rapacious wolves, have ruined society, stirring it up against God and His Church. How can the world be saved, from the disaster that is about to crash down upon the misleading nations, if man does not repent of his errors and failings? The only salvation is a complete repentance and return to God, and a true devotion to my Immaculate Heart, particularly in the daily recitation of my Rosary. [Today, only 2 out of every 100 Americans―2%―pray the Rosary daily!]
“My daughter, cry out loudly, and let it be known to all, that … once there was the chastisement by water, but if there is not a returning to God, there will come the chastisement by fire, which will cover the streets of the world with blood. My heart―as Mother and Mediatrix of men, being close to the mercy of God―invites the people to penance and to pardon. But they respond with a storm of hate, blasphemies and sacrilegious profanations, as if blinded by an infernal rage. I wish for prayers and penance, in order that I may again obtain mercy and salvation for many souls — otherwise they will be lost. People pay no attention to my motherly warnings, and thus the world is falling headlong evermore into an abyss of iniquity. Nations shall be convulsed by terrible disasters, causing destruction and death. Russia, spurred on by Satan, will seek to dominate the whole world and, by bloody revolutions, will propagate her false teachings throughout all the nations, especially in Italy. The Church will be persecuted and the Pope and the priests shall suffer much. Rome will not be saved, because the Italian rulers have forsaken the Divine Light and because only a few people really love the Church. But the day is not far off when all the wicked shall perish, under the tremendous blows of Divine Justice.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, March 23rd, 1961).
Akita Sees No Change in the Situation
Around 12 momentous years of upheaval pass between Our Lady’s last apparition to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello in 1961 and Our Lady’s 1973 apparition at Akita in Japan. In the intervening years, the Second Vatican Council takes place (1962-1965), Liberal and Modernism take a stranglehold on the Church, priests and religious abandon their vocations in droves, the Catholic laity begin to rebel against some of the Church’s moral constraints, the Church drastically slashes Lenten penance and penance at other times of the year (1963); vocation numbers plummet; numbers of fallen-away Catholics rise; contraception soars with the advent of the contraceptive pill (1961); the Divorce Reform Act was passed in 1969, allowing couples to divorce after they had been separated for two years; abortion becomes legalized in the USA with Roe vs. Wade (1973), television really “takes-off” in the 1960s, fashions reach highs of indecency, etc.
With all of this going on, it is no surprise that Our Lady’s message is intransigently the same: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men. As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests. The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... Churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
Hoping for Help Hypocritically Has us Helpless and Hellbound
As the philosophical axiom says: “He who desires an end (goal, target, result) must necessarily desire the means to that end (goal, target, result). Thus, if you want to be healthy, you must do the things that make you healthy―usually good food and regular sleep and exercise. If you want to be knowledgeable, then you must study and learn. If you want to be strong, you must lift weights and do resistance training. If you want to lose weight, you must exercise more and eat less of wrong foods and more of the right foods. If you do not want to take the means to your end (goal, target, result), then you will not reach your end (goal, target, result). You can have the best spiritual director, teacher, coach, instructor, doctor in the world―but that means nothing if you refuse or neglect to do what they tell you to do. They may well be willing to help you―but you must first help yourself by having the right attitude. Our Lady is willing to help us, but―as all of the above testimonies show―we are not willing to take the necessary means that would secure her help. Instead of praying more, we pray less. Instead of doing more penance, we do less―or even nothing! Instead of attending more Masses, 80% of Catholics don’t even attend Sunday Mass regularly. We can “meditate” for hours in front of our preferred screen (TV, computer, smartphone), but cannot meditate for even 15 minutes in front of the Tabernacle. We can talk for hours with friends, but rarely or never talk to our best Friends―Jesus and Mary.
The consequences are obvious―and have been repeatedly put before us by Our Lady and Our Lord in their many apparitions. The truth is, we want help at no cost to ourselves. We want salvation without exertion. We want to enjoy both Heaven and Earth. We want to serve both God and mammon. In theory we know that this is impossible―but in practice, we do otherwise. That kind of hypocrisy has helped Hell and left souls helpless. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
At the Last Supper, Our Lord warned: “Without Me―you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). In our present day and in our present crisis, the same has to be said of Our Lady―in fact, Our Lady herself points this out to us. At Fatima she said, speaking of herself in the “third-person”― “continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 13th, 1917). While at Akita, in 1973, she repeats that brutal truth: “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
Going back to the days of St. Bridget of Sweden, we encounter Our Lady telling her: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on Earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then Our Lady concluded by saying: “Therefore, he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.”
St. Bernard of Clairvaux writes: “All of you, who see yourselves amid the tides of the world, tossed by storms and tempests rather than walking on the land, do not turn your eyes away from this shining star, unless you want to be overwhelmed by the hurricane. If temptation storms, or you fall upon the rocks of tribulation, look to the star: Call upon Mary! If you are tossed by the waves of pride or ambition, detraction or envy, look to the star, call upon Mary. If anger or avarice or the desires of the flesh dash against the ship of your soul, turn your eyes to Mary. If troubled by the enormity of your crimes, ashamed of your guilty conscience, terrified by dread of the judgment, you begin to sink into the gulf of sadness or the abyss of despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in anguish, in doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let her name be even on your lips, ever in your heart; and the better to obtain the help of her prayers, imitate the example of her life. Following her, thou strayest not; invoking her, thou despairest not; thinking of her, thou wanderest not; upheld by her, thou fallest not; shielded by her, thou fearest not; guided by her, thou growest not weary; favored by her, thou reachest the goal.”
In the current mess of a crisis that we find ourselves―sinking deeper into the mire with each year―we have to cry out to Mary: "May Day! May Day! Help! Help! Help! SOS―Save Our Souls!" Or as the Apostles cried out in the little boat caught in a terrible storm on the lake, while Jesus slept through it: "Lord! Save us! We perish!"
Do We Recognize Divine Help?
As we enter the official six-month “Hurricane Season” (which is from June 1st to November 30th for the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico), it is worth retelling one of many variations of the following joke which you have no doubt heard:
A terrible storm came into a town and local officials sent out an emergency warning that the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby homes. They ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately.
A faithful Christian man heard the warning and decided to stay, saying to himself: “I will trust God and if I am in danger, then God will perform a divine miracle to save me!”
The neighbors came by his house and said to him: “We’re leaving and there is room for you in our car, please come with us!” But the man declined. “I have Faith in God that He will save me!”
As the man stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps, a man in a canoe paddled by and called to him: “Hurry-up and get into my canoe! The waters are rising quickly!” But the man again said: “No thanks, God will save me!”
The floodwaters rose higher pouring water into his living room and the man had to retreat to the second floor. A police motorboat came by and saw him at the window. “Don’t worry! We will come up and rescue you!” they shouted. But the man refused, waving them off saying: “Use your time to save someone else! I have Faith that God will save me!”
The flood waters rose higher and higher and the man had to climb up onto his rooftop.
A helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder. A rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man, “Grab my hand and I will pull you up!” But the man STILL refused, folding his arms tightly to his body. “No thank you! God will save me!”
Shortly after, the house broke up and the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned.
When he appeared before God for his final judgment, the man stood before God and asked: “I put all of my Faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”
And God said angrily: “Are you blind? I sent you a warning! I sent you a car! I sent you a canoe! I sent you a motorboat! I sent you a helicopter! What more were you looking for?”
Are We Really Seeking That Heavenly Help?
We can liken the warnings and car, canoe, motorboat and helicopter to Our Lady attempts to warn, rescue and save us―but we, obstinately, refuse to listen to the warnings and refuse to take up the means of rescue offered to us. We continue to sin despite the warnings, we refuse to do penance, we refuse to pray many Rosaries, we refuse to practice a serious devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary―all of which explains why Sister Lucia of Fatima revealed that Our Lady was sad because hardly anybody listens to and puts into practice her messages and warnings.
“The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Help in Not Unconditional
Heaven’s help is neither unconditional, nor is it free. If you want help―if you want help in saving your soul, for that is only really important thing in life―then you must pay for that help. If you want to save your life and need an ambulance―then the cost of dispatching an ambulance and its crew must be paid for, either by you or your insurance company. As the New York Times reported in an article from December of 2013, where a 23-year-old lady had broken three teeth by accidentally swimming into the side of the pool. Somebody dialed 911 calling for an ambulance. The lady accepted the ambulance ride to the hospital, nine-miles away, and, as a precaution, the paramedics fitted her with a neck-brace. A week later she received a bill for the 15-minute trip: $1,772.42. Thirty years ago ambulance rides were generally provided free of charge, underwritten by taxpayers as a municipal service, or provided by volunteers. Today, like the rest of the health care system in the United States, most ambulance services operate as businesses and contribute to America’s escalating medical bills. Often, they are a high-cost prequel to expensive emergency room visits. Yes, you get help―but at a price.
Similarly with any rescue operation, those who are being rescued must cooperate in some way with the rescuers and follow their instructions―otherwise they jeopardize the rescue attempt. God, Christ and Our Lady wish to save everyone and anyone― “Who will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4), “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23), adding that “if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die!” (Ezechiel 18:21). Yet, most souls―for one reason or another, with one excuse or another―do not cooperate with God’s “rescue operation”. They do not want God terms, but seek to dictate their own terms! Try going to bank, asking for help in buying house, and try dictating terms to them! No way! They will help you―but on their terms! Their help will cost you something!
“Ah!” You Say, “Help is Free!”
You will quote Scripture, with Our Lord saying: “And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you!” (Luke 11:9). But “asking” is already part of the price―which is why St. Teresa of Avila, commenting on that quote says that if we do not ask then we will not get, if we do not knock then no door will open to us, and if we do not seek then we will not find! Common sense, huh? Yes, but common sense is not at all very common―especially in our “welfare” minded expectations!
Do you think Heaven gives help for free? To some extent yes―in the sense that nobody is deserving of the graces and helps they get from God―as the Catechism says: “Grace is a supernatural gift of God, freely given.” God freely gave Adam and Eve the gift of immortality―but they had to pay for it through obedience to God. Christ freely died for our sins, but we have to cooperate with His grace and still “work out our salvation in fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). Grace helps us, but grace does not replace the efforts God expects us to make in cooperating with grace. Heaven’s help is usually a “quid pro quo” or “tit-for-tat” or “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” kind of deal.
Heaven's "Quid-Pro-Quo" and "Tit-For-Tat"
The Book of Leviticus clearly spells out this “quid pro quo” or “tit-for-tat” or “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” kind of deal, where God says that His help and blessings come at a price: “If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant, then …” (Leviticus 26:3-14) … then, for not “paying the price”, God says:
“I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins! And I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies! I will destroy and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate, and will receive no more your sweet odors. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own―until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins!” (Leviticus 26:16-41).
Martha Calls For Help―And Gets None!
We are busy and we often want help! Busy, busy, busy… but busy with what? We are all busy people—busy with one thing or another, busy doing the things we like to do, busy seeking our personal advantage and benefit! Yet we are usually busy about the wrong things—the material things and not the spiritual things. Our Lord chose an event in the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary to point out this human, naturalistic anomaly: “Now it came to pass as they went, that Jesus entered into a certain town: and a certain woman named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who, sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
Martha asked Our Lord that He help her―or rather, that He command Mary to help her! Yet Our Lord refused―because Martha wanted Mary to help with material, physical things, which would mean sacrificing and turning aside from the spiritual thing that she was doing―sitting at Our Lord’s feet (seemingly doing nothing useful) and listening to His words. The spiritual must come first―and if God sees that any help given to you will be detrimental to your spiritual life, then He will not help you in the way you ask and hope. Too often, we prioritize the material over the spiritual―we ask God for thousands of things and help in hundreds of ways―but rarely does anyone ask for spiritual things above all else. They are more likely to ask for riches than sanctity, for health of body rather than health of soul―yet Our Lord has said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
God’s Covenant or Contract of Love and Help
As they say, “Love is reciprocal”―meaning that love is “a two-way-street” of “give-and-take” and not just one sided. God loves us and we have to love God―it is a case of “give-and-take”―God manifests His love for us and we must return that show of love to God. God loves us more than we could ever imagine―there is no doubt about that fact: “In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” 1 John 4:10). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “Jesus Christ hath loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Apocalypse 1:5). “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Therefore, according to the law of reciprocity (take and give in return), “Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19). “Jesus said: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind! This is the greatest and the first commandment.’” (Matthew 22:37-38). “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) … “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21) … “If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (John 14:23) … “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24) ... “You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) … “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 15:10). That is bottom-line version of love, the starting point of love, the lowest grade of love, the beginning of love, the basement of love―keeping the Commandments and words of God. There is no point saying we love God if we regularly fail to keep His Commandments―as Our Lord Himself says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6) … “Why call you Me, «Lord! Lord!»―and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
You may have often heard of the Scriptural terms “testament” and “covenant” without really knowing what they mean. The word “testament” comes from the Latin “testamentum” and means “covenant” or “contact” or “agreement.” The synonyms for the word “covenant” are “contract, treaty, pact, accord, deal, settlement, concordat, agreement, arrangement, understanding, pledge, promise, guarantee, etc.”
Thus, you can say that the Old Testament is the “Old Covenant” or the “Old Contract” or the “Old Agreement.” The New Testament is the “New Covenant” or the “New Contract” or the “New Agreement.” An agreement or contract has to be expressed in words―either spoken or written. This is exactly what God has done―He has revealed His “contract” in Holy Scripture and Scripture also give us the terms of His contract.
An agreement or contract can be unilateral contract (one-sided―where one party dictates all the terms of the contract to the other party), or it can be a bilateral contract (two-sided―where each party contributes to the contract by making some demands of the other party and agreeing to the demands of the other party). God’s covenant with man is a unilateral contract―it is one-sided, with God dictating all of the terms of the agreement―it is, as they say, “His way or the highway!”―there is no room for arguing, debating, modifying or complaining―you either accept the contract or go to Hell.
Heck! What do you want? You want the part of the contract that promises you eternal life, no more death, no more illnesses, no more suffering, no more threats, no more fears, no more sadness, no more unhappiness, no more sorrows, no more anxieties, no more uncertainties, no more danger, no more fighting, no more persecution, no more enemies, no more ridicule, no more suspicions, no more accusations, no more hatred, no more poverty, no more deprivation, no more needs, no more evil of any kind, no more sin of any kind, no more guilt, no more vengeance, no more recrimination, no more dredging up past sins. Instead of all this you expect to be at peace with everyone, sincere friendship with everyone, never falling-out, never arguing, always loving. You expect eternal joy, eternal well-being, eternal health, eternal youth, eternal satisfaction. On top of that you expect a perfect body, a perfect mind, a perfect knowledge, a perfect understanding, a perfect wisdom―the list could go to fill book after book! You expect all this and God even offers all of this―BUT IT HIS ON HIS TERMS AND NOT YOUR TERMS! There is no use arguing, debating or complaining about the terms of the contract. No matter what God asks―or could ask―it is cheap in comparison to what He is offering.
Our Lady’s Covenant, Contract or Agreement
One would be surprised if Our Lady’s method and manner of making “contracts” or “covenants” or “agreements” differed from God’s method and manner. God’s way is her way―but, sadly, God’s way is not our way. This is something God knew and pointed out to us, when He said: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. [9] For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). If it’s a case of “God’s way or the highway”, then it is the same for Our Lady―it is Mary’s way or the highway. She was given a contract by her Son as He died on Calvary, when He said to her: “Woman, behold thy son!” All the Scripture commentators agree that those words―which at that moment referred to St. John as being the bequeathed “son” that Mary had to accept and look after―but which also symbolized mankind in general and Catholics in particular. She was contractually obliged to look after the world―which is why we call her “Queen of Heaven and Earth” and “Mother of the Church.” She has always upheld her side of the contract―which she points out to us at her apparition at La Salette, where she justly complained: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!”
One would be surprised if Our Lady’s method and manner of making “contracts” or “covenants” or “agreements” differed from God’s method and manner. God’s way is her way―but, sadly, God’s way is not our way. This is something God knew and pointed out to us, when He said: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. [9] For as the heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). If it’s a case of “God’s way or the highway”, then it is the same for Our Lady―it is Mary’s way or the highway. She was given a contract by her Son as He died on Calvary, when He said to her: “Woman, behold thy son!” All the Scripture commentators agree that those words―which at that moment referred to St. John as being the bequeathed “son” that Mary had to accept and look after―but which also symbolized mankind in general and Catholics in particular. She was contractually obliged to look after the world―which is why we call her “Queen of Heaven and Earth” and “Mother of the Church.”
She has always upheld her side of the contract―which she points out to us at her apparition at La Salette in 1846, where she justly complained: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
She essentially reiterated and reminded us of the terms of the “contract” or “covenant” she was offering, when she appeared at Fatima in 1917: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort. Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary ... You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end―but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out … Know that God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated ... Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world … Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you! … Jesus wants to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God … In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended.”
Our Lady of La Salette promises her help, but only if we play our part and fight for the Faith: “I make an urgent appeal to the Earth. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven; I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men; I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit. Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see. For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph. This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church and this country will be finally free of his cruel tyranny.” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Our Lord and Our Lady Speak of Our Breach of Contract
To Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, from 1950 to 1961, Our Lady and Our Lord again emphatically reminded us of the contract and our contractual obligations if we want Heaven’s help.
► In 1950 Our Lady warned: “Satan reigns and triumphs on Earth! See how the souls are falling into Hell. See how high the flames are, and the souls who fall into them like flakes of snow, looking like transparent embers! How many sparks! How many cries of hate, and of despair! How much pain! … See how many priestly souls are lost! … The justice of the Father requires reparation — otherwise many will be lost! … Therefore I ask prayers, penance and sacrifice, so I may act as Mediatrix for my Son in order to save souls … You must suffer for the Pope and Christ, and thus Christ will be safe on Earth; and the Pope, with his redemptive word, will, in part, save the world.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, April 7th, 1950).
► In 1954 Our Lord lamented: “Behold My child, see to what ends the sins of man have reduced Me. The world has lowered itself in overflowing corruption. The governments of the people have risen like demons incarnated, and, while they speak of peace they prepare for war with the most devastating implements to destroy peoples and nations … Numerous scandals are bringing souls to ruin―particularly through the corruption of youth. Stirred up, and unrestrained in the enjoyment of the pleasures of the world, they have degraded their souls in corruption and sin. The bad example of parents trains the family in scandal and infidelity, instead of virtue and prayer, which is almost dead on the lips of many. Stained and withered is the fountain of Faith and sanctity the home.
“The wills of men do not change. They live in their obstinacy of sin. More severe are the scourges and plagues to recall them to the way of God; but men still become furious, like wounded beasts, and harden their hearts against the Grace of God. The world is no longer worthy of pardon, but only of fire, destruction and death … There must be more prayers and penances from the souls faithful to Me, in order to appease the just wrath of God, and to temperate the just sentence of punishment, suspended on Earth by the intercession of My Beloved Mother, who is also the Mother of all men … How sad is My Heart to see that men do not convert, nor respond to so many calls of love and grief, manifested by My Beloved Mother to erring men! Roaming in darkness, they continue to live in sin, and further away from God! But the scourge of fire is near, to purify the Earth of the iniquities of the wicked. The justice of God requires reparation for the many offenses and misdeeds that cover the Earth, and which can no longer be compromised. Men are obstinate in their guilt, and do not return to God … The Church is opposed, and the priests are despised, because of the bad ones who give scandal. Help Me, by suffering, to repair for so many offenses, and thus save AT LEAST IN PART, humanity precipitated in a swamp of corruption and death … Make it known to all men that, repentant, they must return to God, and, in doing so, may hope for pardon, and be saved from the just vengeance of a scorned God!” (Our Lord to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, April 16th, 1954).
► In 1954, after Our Lord apparition, Our Lady appeared and added: “My Heart is sad for so many sufferings in an impending world in ruin. The justice of Our Father is most offended. Men live in their obstinacy of sin. The wrath of God is near. Soon the world will be afflicted with great calamities, bloody revolutions, frightful hurricanes, and the overflowing of streams and the seas. Cry out until the priests of God lend their ears to my voice, to advise men that the time is near at hand, and if men do not return to God with prayers and penances, the world will be overturned in a new and more terrible war! Arms most deadly will destroy peoples and nations! The dictators of the Earth, specimens infernal, will demolish the churches and desecrate the Holy Eucharist, and will destroy things most dear. In this impious war, much will be destroyed of that which has been built by the hands of man. Clouds with lightning flashes of fire in the sky and a tempest of fire shall fall upon the world. This terrible scourge, never before seen in the history of humanity, will last seventy hours. Godless persons will be crushed and wiped out. Many will be lost because they remain in their obstinacy of sin. Then shall be seen the power of light over the power of darkness. Be not silent, my daughter, because the hours of darkness, of abandonment, are near. I am bending over the world, holding in suspension the justice of God. Otherwise these things would already have now come to pass. Prayers and penances are necessary, because men must return to God and to my Immaculate Heart—the Mediatrix of men to God, and thus the world will, at least in part, be saved. Cry out these things to all, like the very echo of my voice. Let this be known to all, because it will help save many souls, and prevent much destruction in the Church and in the world.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, April 16th, 1954).
► In 1955 Our Lady complained of lack of cooperation on our part: “Listen attentively and make known everything that I tell thee, because men, in spite of repeated warnings, are not returning to God. They refuse grace, and are not listening to my voice. You must have no doubt about what I am making known to you, because my words are very clear, and you must transmit them to all. Dark and frightful days are approaching! Mankind is obscured by a thick fog, as a result of the many grievous sins, which are almost covering the whole Earth. Today, more than ever, men are, resisting the calls from Heaven, and are blaspheming God, while wallowing in the mire of sin ... The whole world will soon be at war, and all mankind will he plunged into sorrow, because the justice of God will not be delayed in fulfilling its course, and these events are near. Tremendous will be the upheaval of the whole world, because men — as at the time of the Deluge — have lost God’s way, and are ruled by the spirit of Satan.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, April 8th, 1955).
Our Lady continues: “Priests must unite by prayers and penance. They must hasten to spread the devotion to the Two Hearts. The hour of my triumph is close at hand. The victory will be accomplished through the love and mercy of the Heart of My Son, and of My Immaculate Heart the Mediatrix between men and God, by accepting this invitation, and by uniting their tears to those of My Sorrowful Heart, priests and religious will obtain great graces for the salvation of poor sinners. Launch forth into the world a message to make known to all that the scourge is near at hand! The justice of God is weighing upon the world. Mankind, defiled in the mire, soon will be washed in its own blood, by disease; by famine; by earthquakes; by cloudbursts, tornadoes, floods, and terrible storms; and by war. But men ignore all these warnings, and are unwilling to be convinced that tragic events are hanging over the world, and that the hours of great trials are at hand. If men do not amend their ways, a terrifying scourge of fire will come down from Heaven upon all the nations of the world, and men will be punished according to the debts contracted with Divine justice. There will be frightful moments for all, because Heaven will be joined with the Earth, and all the un-Godly people will be destroyed, some nations will be purified, while others will disappear entirely. You are to transmit these warnings to all, in order that the new generation will know that men had been warned in time to turn to God by doing penance, and thus could have avoided these punishments.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, April 8th, 1955).
► In 1956 Our Lady further warned: “The world today is honoring me, but my Motherly Heart is bleeding, because the enemy is at our doors! Men are offending God too much! If I were to show you the number of sins committed in a single day, you would die of horror and sorrow! The sins that distress God the most, are those of the souls who should perfume the air with the fragrance of their virtues. Instead, they contaminate (by their sinful lives) those who come near them. The times are grievous. The whole world is in turmoil, because it has become worse than at the time of the deluge! Everything is hanging in suspense, like a thread; when this thread breaks, the justice of God will fall like a thunderbolt and will complete its terrible course of purification. The punishment of the impious will not be delayed. That day will be most fearful in the world! The Earth will tremble, all humanity will be shaken! The wicked and the obstinate will perish in the tremendous severity of the justice of the Lord. Launch at once a message into the world, to advise men to return to God by prayers and penances, and to come with confidence to my Immaculate Heart. My intercession must be shown, because I am the Mother of God, of the just and of sinners. Through prayer and penance, my mercy will be able to hold back the hand of God’s justice.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1956).
► In 1959 Our Lord again lamented: “What bitterness is poured into this Heart, pierced by many souls, who instead of loving Me with sacrifices by flight from sinful vanities of the corrupt world, commit much iniquity! Help Me to suffer by consoling My grieved Heart, and make reparation for the many sins. Oh My beloved bride, if you knew the pain that My Heart suffers from the loss of so many souls! Satan travels victorious over all the sinful Earth. I need generous souls to appease the outraged justice of the Father, because the world is headed for imminent ruin. The hours of darkness are near!” (Our Lord to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, 1959).
► At the same apparition as Our Lord, in 1959, Our Lady further warned: “This great mantle, which you see, is the expression of my mercy for covering sinners and for saving them. Men, instead, cover themselves with even more filth, and do not want to confess their real faults. Therefore, the justice of God will pass over the sinful world to purify humanity for so many sins, openly committed and hidden, especially those which corrupt youth. In order to save souls, I wish that there be propagated in the world the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mediatrix of men, devoted to the Mercy of God, and to the Queen of the Universe. The world will be once more afflicted with great calamity; with bloody revolutions; with great earthquakes; with famines; with epidemics; with fearful hurricanes; and with floods from rivers and seas. But if men do not return to God, purifying fire will fall from the Heavens, like snowstorms, on all peoples, and a great part of humanity will be destroyed! No longer do men speak according to the true spirit of the Gospel. The immorality of the times has reached a peak. But men do not listen to my motherly warnings, so the world must soon be purified. Russia will march upon all the nations of Europe, particularly Italy, and will raise her flag over the dome of St. Peter’s. Italy will be severely tried by a great revolution, and Rome will be purified in blood for its many sins, especially those of impurity! The flock is about to be dispersed and the Pope must suffer greatly. The only valid means for placating Divine Justice is to pray and do penance, returning to God with sincere sorrow for the faults committed, and then the chastisement of Divine Justice will be mitigated by mercy. Humanity will never find peace, if it does not return to my Immaculate Heart as Mother of Mercy, and Mediatrix of men; and to the Heart of my Son Jesus!” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, 1959).
► In 1960, Our Lady again warned us that through sin, we were breaching our contract with God and would have to face the consequences: “How youth lives in perdition! How many innocent souls find themselves enwrapped in a chain of scandals. The world has become as a flooded valley, overflowing with filth and mud. Some of the most difficult trials of Divine Justice are yet to come, before the deluge of fire. I, for a long time now, have advised men in many ways, but they do not listen to my maternal appeals, and they continue to walk the paths of perdition. But soon terrifying manifestations will be seen, which will make even the most obdurate sinners tremble! Great calamities will come upon the world, which will bring confusion, tears, struggles and pain. Great earthquakes will swallow up entire cities and countries, and will bring epidemics, famine, and terrible destruction especially where the sons of darkness are! In these tragic hours, the world has need of prayers and penance, because the Pope, the priests, and the Church are in danger. If we do not pray, Russia will march upon all of Europe, and particularly upon Italy, bringing much more ruin and havoc! Hence the priests must be in the front line of defense of the Church, by example and sanctity in life, for materialism is breaking forth in all nations and evil prevails over good. The rulers of the people do not understand this, because they do not have the Christian spirit; in their blindness, do not see the truth. In Italy, some leaders like rapacious wolves in sheep’s’ clothing, while calling themselves Christians — open the door to materialism, and, fostering dishonest actions, will bring Italy to ruin; but many of them, too, will fall in confusion. Propagate the devotions to my Immaculate Heart, of Mother of Mercy, Mediatrix of men, who believe in the mercy of God, and of the Queen of the Universe. I will manifest my partiality for Italy, which will be preserved from the fire, but the skies will be covered with dense darkness, and the Earth will be shaken by fearful earthquakes which will open deep abysses. Provinces and cities will be destroyed, and all will cry out that the end of the world has come! Even Rome will be punished according to justice for its many and serious sins, because here sin has reached its peak. Pray, and lose no time, lest it be too late; since dense darkness surrounds the Earth and the enemy is at the doors!” (Our Lord to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, April 15th, 1960).
► In 1960, for the second time that year, Our Lady once more warned us of the consequences of breaching our contract with God by continually sinning: “The hour of the justice of God is close, and will be terrible! Tremendous scourges are impending over the world, and various nations are struck by epidemics, famines, great earthquakes, terrific hurricanes, with overflowing rivers and seas, which bring ruin and death. If the people do not recognize in these scourges (of nature) the warnings of Divine Mercy, and do not return to God with truly Christian living, another terrible war will come from the East to the West. Russia with her secret armies will battle America and will overrun Europe. The River Rhine will be overflowing with corpses and blood. Italy, also, will be harassed by a great revolution, and the Pope will suffer terribly. Spread the devotion to my Immaculate Heart, in order that many souls maybe conquered by my love and that many sinners may return to my Maternal Heart. Do not fear, for I will accompany with my maternal protection my faithful ones, and all those who accept my urgent warnings, and they — especially by the recitations of my Rosary — will be saved. Satan goes furiously through this disordered world, and soon will show all his might. But, because of my Immaculate Heart, the triumph of Light will not delay in its triumph over the power of darkness, and the world, finally, will have tranquility and peace.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, August 22nd, 1960).
► In 1961, at her final apparition before Blessed Sister Elena Aiello’s death, Our Lady reminded us: “The scourge is near. Much is spoken of peace, but all the world will soon be at war, and the streets will be stained with blood! No gleam of light is seen in the world, because men live in the darkness of error, and the enormous weight of sin angers the justice of God. All nations will be punished, because sin has spread all over the world! Tremendous will be the punishments, because man has arrived at an insupportable contest with his God and Father, and has exasperated His infinite Goodness! Many iniquitous and wicked leaders of the people, who live and drag along with them their people outside the laws of God, clothing themselves in sheep’s clothing, while being rapacious wolves, have ruined society, stirring it up against God and His Church. How can the world be saved, from the disaster that is about to crash down upon the misleading nations, if man does not repent of his errors and failings? The only salvation is a complete repentance and return to God, and a true devotion to my Immaculate Heart, particularly in the daily recitation of my Rosary. [Today, only 2 out of every 100 Americans―2%―pray the Rosary daily!]
“My daughter, cry out loudly, and let it be known to all, that … once there was the chastisement by water, but if there is not a returning to God, there will come the chastisement by fire, which will cover the streets of the world with blood. My heart―as Mother and Mediatrix of men, being close to the mercy of God―invites the people to penance and to pardon. But they respond with a storm of hate, blasphemies and sacrilegious profanations, as if blinded by an infernal rage. I wish for prayers and penance, in order that I may again obtain mercy and salvation for many souls — otherwise they will be lost. People pay no attention to my motherly warnings, and thus the world is falling headlong evermore into an abyss of iniquity. Nations shall be convulsed by terrible disasters, causing destruction and death. Russia, spurred on by Satan, will seek to dominate the whole world and, by bloody revolutions, will propagate her false teachings throughout all the nations, especially in Italy. The Church will be persecuted and the Pope and the priests shall suffer much. Rome will not be saved, because the Italian rulers have forsaken the Divine Light and because only a few people really love the Church. But the day is not far off when all the wicked shall perish, under the tremendous blows of Divine Justice.” (Our Lady to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello, Good Friday, March 23rd, 1961).
Akita Sees No Change in the Situation
Around 12 momentous years of upheaval pass between Our Lady’s last apparition to Blessed Sister Elena Aiello in 1961 and Our Lady’s 1973 apparition at Akita in Japan. In the intervening years, the Second Vatican Council takes place (1962-1965), Liberal and Modernism take a stranglehold on the Church, priests and religious abandon their vocations in droves, the Catholic laity begin to rebel against some of the Church’s moral constraints, the Church drastically slashes Lenten penance and penance at other times of the year (1963); vocation numbers plummet; numbers of fallen-away Catholics rise; contraception soars with the advent of the contraceptive pill (1961); the Divorce Reform Act was passed in 1969, allowing couples to divorce after they had been separated for two years; abortion becomes legalized in the USA with Roe vs. Wade (1973), television really “takes-off” in the 1960s, fashions reach highs of indecency, etc.
With all of this going on, it is no surprise that Our Lady’s message is intransigently the same: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men. As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests. The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... Churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
Hoping for Help Hypocritically Has us Helpless and Hellbound
As the philosophical axiom says: “He who desires an end (goal, target, result) must necessarily desire the means to that end (goal, target, result). Thus, if you want to be healthy, you must do the things that make you healthy―usually good food and regular sleep and exercise. If you want to be knowledgeable, then you must study and learn. If you want to be strong, you must lift weights and do resistance training. If you want to lose weight, you must exercise more and eat less of wrong foods and more of the right foods. If you do not want to take the means to your end (goal, target, result), then you will not reach your end (goal, target, result). You can have the best spiritual director, teacher, coach, instructor, doctor in the world―but that means nothing if you refuse or neglect to do what they tell you to do. They may well be willing to help you―but you must first help yourself by having the right attitude. Our Lady is willing to help us, but―as all of the above testimonies show―we are not willing to take the necessary means that would secure her help. Instead of praying more, we pray less. Instead of doing more penance, we do less―or even nothing! Instead of attending more Masses, 80% of Catholics don’t even attend Sunday Mass regularly. We can “meditate” for hours in front of our preferred screen (TV, computer, smartphone), but cannot meditate for even 15 minutes in front of the Tabernacle. We can talk for hours with friends, but rarely or never talk to our best Friends―Jesus and Mary.
The consequences are obvious―and have been repeatedly put before us by Our Lady and Our Lord in their many apparitions. The truth is, we want help at no cost to ourselves. We want salvation without exertion. We want to enjoy both Heaven and Earth. We want to serve both God and mammon. In theory we know that this is impossible―but in practice, we do otherwise. That kind of hypocrisy has helped Hell and left souls helpless. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE : Tuesday May 21st & Wednesday May 22nd & Thursday May 23rd
Article 16
Communism is Common, Comfortable & Catholic
Centuries of Increasing Church Infiltration, Part 2
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 16
Communism is Common, Comfortable & Catholic
Centuries of Increasing Church Infiltration, Part 2
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
“Second-Smoke” Communists and Freemasons
You don’t have to join the Freemasons to be a Freemason―and you don’t have join the Communist Party to be a Communist. As the saying goes: “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, talks like a duck―then it’s a duck!” Just as you can be a Freemason by thinking, talking and behaving like a Freemason, you can also be a Communist by the thinking, talking and behaving like a Communist. You can be a good Freemason or Communist without really knowing what you are doing or realizing that you helping the Freemasonic and Communist causes. It is, so to speak, like getting cancer of the lung from breathing-in “second-smoke” (someone else’s cigarette fumes) even though you do not smoke yourself.
Just over 100 years ago, in 1917, Our Lady appeared at Fatima warning us of the danger of Russia to the world and the errors it would spread worldwide, and in the same year, 1917, Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian government and established a Communist dictatorship. The world has never been the same since and the ‘smoke’ of Communism still wafts through the air, drifting from country to country with its toxic fumes. When Sister Lucia of Fatima was asked about this worldwide Communist threat in 1946, Lucia was emphatic that it would be worldwide and not just here and there.
Worldwide “Smoke” of Communism (and Freemasonry)
The American historian, Professor William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia in 1946―so whichever Lucia theory you ‘buy-into’, the “Two-Lucias” or simply “One Single Lucia”―in 1946 it was for certain that is was the “Real Lucia”. Dr. Walsh selected Fr. Manuel Rocha to be the interpreter for the three hour interview on the afternoon of July 15th, 1946. Fr. Rocha said that one of the questions Dr. Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia was: “In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?” Sister Lucia emphatically answerd: “Yes!” To be completely clear in his understanding on the matter, Walsh further asked: “And does this mean the United States of America too?” Lucia’s answer was again an emphatic: “Yes!” Dr. Walsh then inquired if Our Lady had specifically mentioned the United States. “She gave me a rather startled glance,” Dr. Walsh reported, “and then smiled in faint amusement, as if to suggest that perhaps the United States was not so important in the general scheme of things as I imagined, she said gently: ‘No, she never did. But I wish you would have Masses said for me in the United States.’” Walsh promised to do so.
Our Lady is pretty clear on the matter: “If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated.” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 13th, 1917) and Sister Lucia has constantly reiterated that fact, adding that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance where “annihilation” is mentioned, on July 23th, 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Brother François, Tragedy and Triumph, p. 27).
As regards Freemasonry (which, as will be shown later, played a major part in the birth of Communism), Our Lady of Good Success, when she appeared at Quito in Ecuador, also warned that the ‘smoke’ or ‘stench’ of Freemasonry would be found in all governments of the world: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … These years—during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government—will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities!” At La Salette, she adds: “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds.”
Annihilation?
What does “annihilation” mean? Going back to the Latin roots of the word, we can dismantle the word “annihilation” into three parts: “an” + “nihil” + “-ation”. The prefix― “an-“ is a later Medieval form of the Ancient Latin prefix “ad-“ which means “to”, as in annex, announce, annihilate. The word “nihil” is Latin for “nothing”―therefore, “ad” + “nihl” or “an” + “nihl” means “to nothing.” The suffix, added on at the end, “-ation” means “action, putting into action, making something happen, etc.” Thus, “annihilation” means reducing something to nothing.
What kind of annihilation―caused by Russia, but not necessarily spread by Russia alone, just like you can start a fire with a match and then watch it spread by itself―what kind of annihilation is Our Lady talking about? Well, there can be as many kinds of annihilations as there are genres or types of things. Generally speaking, there are two large umbrellas under which everything fits under―the material umbrella and the immaterial umbrella; the physical and the spiritual; the visible and the invisible; the body and the soul; things and ideas; etc.
Thus you could annihilate a body by incineration―as in cremation; or you could annihilate a city with a nuclear bomb, earthquake, tsunami, etc.; or annihilate a population through war, disease, drought, etc. you could annihilate intelligence by dumbing-down people, bad teaching, bad text books, bad curriculum, etc.; you could annihilate morals by permissiveness and allowance of immorality, immodesty, impurity, pornography, cohabitation, fornication, prostitution, homosexuality, divorce, same-sex marriages, excessive alcohol consumption, legalizing drugs, etc.; you could annihilate the Faith by giving freedom to error, heretical teachings, permitting Liberalism and Modernism to grow, allowing the Faith to be questioned, doubted, ridiculed, abused, persecuted, outlawed, crushed, etc.
All of the above are different forms of “annihilation” and can exist separately or be thrown together in one big melting pot of annihilation. Our Lady, at apparitions other than that of Fatima, supplies more clues or ‘jigsaw pieces’ that give a bigger a clearer picture of any forthcoming “annihilation.”
At Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of Good Success said: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, there will be a total corruption of morals. Often during this epoch, the enemies of Jesus Christ, instigated by the demon, will steal consecrated hosts from the churches, so that they might profane the Eucharistic Species. My Most Holy Son will see Himself cast upon the ground and trampled upon by irreverent feet … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to ensnare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent. If you were given to live in this tenebrous era, you would die of sorrow if you were to see all that I have revealed to you here!”
At La Salette, in France, Our Lady added: “The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way.
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
Popes Speak Out on This Annihilating Communist Goal
In his encyclical on Atheistic Communism, Divini Redemptoris, of March19th 1937, Pope Pius XI speaks of Communism as “This modern revolution, it may be said, has actually broken out or threatens everywhere, and it exceeds in amplitude and violence anything yet experienced in the preceding persecutions launched against the Church. This all too imminent danger is Bolshevistic and atheistic Communism, which aims at upsetting the social order and at undermining the very foundations of Christian civilization … Our Venerable Predecessor, Pius IX, of holy memory, as early as 1846 pronounced a solemn condemnation, which he confirmed in the words of the Syllabus directed against « that infamous doctrine of so-called Communism which is absolutely contrary to the natural law itself, and if once adopted would utterly destroy the rights, property and possessions of all men, and even society itself. » Later on, another of Our predecessors, the immortal Leo XIII, in his Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris, defined Communism as « the fatal plague which insinuates itself into the very marrow of human society only to bring about its ruin.» … The most persistent enemies of the Church, from Moscow, are directing the struggle against Christian civilization by their unceasing attacks in word and act.”
Pope Pius XI warns: “The Communism of today, more emphatically than similar movements in the past, conceals in itself a false messianic idea. A pseudo-ideal of justice, of equality and fraternity in labor impregnates all its doctrine and activity with a deceptive mysticism, which communicates a zealous and contagious enthusiasm to the multitudes entrapped by delusive promises … The doctrine of modern Communism, which is often concealed under the most seductive trappings, is in substance based on the … doctrine that there is in the world only one reality―matter―the blind forces of which evolve into plant, animal and man. Even human society is nothing but a phenomenon and form of matter, evolving in the same way. In such a doctrine there is no room for the idea of God; there is no difference between matter and spirit, between soul and body; there is neither survival of the soul after death nor any hope in a future life … Communism, moreover, strips man of his liberty, robs human personality of all its dignity, and removes all the moral restraints that check the eruptions of blind impulse. There is no recognition of any right of the individual in his relations to the collectivity; no natural right is accorded to human personality, which is a mere cog-wheel in the Communist system. In man's relations with other individuals, besides, Communists hold the principle of absolute equality, rejecting all hierarchy and divinely-constituted authority, including the authority of parents. What men call authority and subordination is derived from the community as its first and only font.
“Refusing to human life any sacred or spiritual character, such a doctrine logically makes of marriage and the family a purely artificial and civil institution, the outcome of a specific economic system. There exists no matrimonial bond of a legal or moral nature, that is not subject to the whim of the individual or of the collectivity (society). Naturally, therefore, the notion of an indissoluble marriage-tie is proposed. Communism is particularly characterized by the rejection of any link that binds woman to the family and the home, and her emancipation is proclaimed as a basic principle. She is withdrawn from the family and the care of her children, to be thrust instead into public life and collective production, under the same conditions as man. The care of home and children, then, falls upon the collectivity (society). Finally, the right of education is denied to parents, for it is conceived as the exclusive prerogative of the community, in whose name and by whose mandate alone, parents may exercise this right.”
What is Communism? On Your Marx, Get Set, Here We Go…!
The Communist Manifesto (originally Manifesto of the Communist Party) is an 1848 political pamphlet by the German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London just as the many European Revolutions of 1848 began to erupt (as Our Lady warned in 1846 at La Salette). The Manifesto came to be one of the world's most influential political documents.
Some key quotes from the Communist Manisfesto immediately show its destructive goal:
● “Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality.” In this, it is fully in accord and in step with Satan and with Freemasonry. Yet even “Capitalist” or “Democratic” or “Republican” America has banned religion from its public schools―where no symbols of religion are permitted, prayers are not said, but sex-education is not only allowed, but enforced; and homosexuality and transgenderism is “canonized”! Communism in Capitalist, Democratic, Republican clothing. This is not only true for America, but for most countries in the world.
● “Abolition of the family! Even the most radical flare-up at this infamous proposal of the Communists. On what foundation is the present family, the bourgeois family, based? On capital, on private gain. In its completely developed form this family exists only among the bourgeoisie. The bourgeois family will vanish as a matter of course when its complement vanishes, and both will vanish with the vanishing of capital. Do you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation of children by their parents? To this crime we plead guilty. But, you will say, we destroy the most hallowed of relations, when we replace home education by social.” Can you not see that even in “Capitalist” or “Democratic” or “Republican” America, the State is increasingly “in charge” of the education and welfare of the children―even to the point of “confiscating” children from parents for an ever-increasing list of excuses that will soon include “forcing” Christianity upon them and thereby “abusing” them?
● “In bourgeois society, therefore, the past dominates the present; in Communist society, the present dominates the past.” This is exactly what the Second Vatican Council has followed―it no longer pays much attention to Tradition and the teachings of the past Magisterium of the Church, everything seems to begin with Vatican II, like everything begins with Communism.
● “Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes, directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.” Or you could those for Christ and those against Christ―for Communism, by being atheistic, is definitely against Christ or anti-Christ.
The above quotes are from “The Communist Manifesto,” and they illustrate the true goals of communism―the destruction of the social and religious order instituted by God and through His Son Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Marxism, as the French writer Albert Camus put it, became a “horizontal religion,” replacing God with history, and eternal salvation with an earthly paradise.
Infiltration and Subversion a Major Communist Tool
Literally, book after book has been written on either the origins, foundations, principles, operational methods, goals and tactics of Communism. You could, most probably, fill dozens or even hundreds of library shelves with the books that have been published. To try and summarize Communism in one article is like trying to fit the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean into a glass. The mere research for this article has taken up dozens of hours―and the feeling is that only a few buckets of the Atlantic Ocean have been collected! Not to say that it has not been interesting―at times even fascinating―the knowledge gained is not time lost, yet only a tip―and a very small tip―of the iceberg can be shown, for, undoubtedly, very few persons would be willing to read the voluminous amount of material dredged-up by the research―even though it would do nobody any harm. Sadly, we prefer to browse, read and watch trivia (much like we prefer fast-food and junk-food), rather than spend time reading things that take longer to ‘chew’ and are harder to ‘digest’. If only thoughts could be telepathically communicated or ‘downloaded’ in seconds―but for that we have wait until we get to Heaven. Until then, let us leave that luxurious means of communication to the angels―which is how they communicate without using words.
Meaning of “Infiltrate” and “Subvert”
Let us, then, come to the point of this subsection―infiltration and subversion as tool of Communism (and just about any other world power, corporation, etc.). The verb “infiltrate” and noun “infiltration” literally mean to get into something by passing through a filter―in other words, you manage to get through the filter, or, in human terms, you manage to get through the “security screen” or “security filter” and penetrate your desired objective. The military sense of “stealthy penetration of enemy lines” dates from 1930.
The verb “subvert” and noun “subversion” come from the Latin compound of “subvertere”― “sub-” + “vertere”, where “sub” means “under” and “vertere” literally means “to turn” ― as in “convertere” “con-” being “to” and “vertere” meaning “turn” ― this we have “conversion” or a “turning to God”. In “subversion”, we have the prefix “sub” meaning “under”―which automatically makes us think of the “underworld” or “subterranean” (Latin: sub=under; terra=earth), or in “submarine” (sub=under; maria=sea). “Sub-” meaning below, makes us also think of the devil or Satan in Hell below. That fits perfectly with what subversion is―it is a deceitful, lying, crafty, insidious way of operating―which perfectly describes how the devil works: “The serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1).
Thus, infiltration and subversion can, in simplistic and broad terms, be said to be a “passing through the security filter or security screen of a body of people―a group, business, organization, church, army, state, country, etc. ― with a view to overturning it, sinking it, destroying it, etc.” Hence the dictionary will define subvert or subversion as “to overthrow (something established or existing); to cause the downfall, ruin, or destruction of; to undermine the principles of; to corrupt.” Infiltration―getting past the security―is merely a means to the ultimate goal of subversion―the overturning, corruption, downfall, destruction of what has been infiltrated.
But It Doesn’t Seem Like We’ve Been Infiltrated!
Infiltration is like a “con” (confidence trick)―the whole point is to hide the fact that something evil is going on and to win the confidence of the “mark” or target. Usually, infiltrators, of the level that we are talking about, work for “Intelligence Agencies”―which tells you something by its very title―they are intelligent, clever and crafty as to how they operate. If you read the testimonies of “con-men”―you will invariably see that they prefer a “mark” (a victim) who is not very intelligent, emotional, dumbed-down, shallow, superficial, etc. ― which accounts for most of mankind today. Some con-men enjoy pitting their wits against intelligent “marks” (victims), whose downfall will usually be their ego, their pride or their greed.
There have been many Communists of all nationalities who have confirmed that infiltration takes place and have described, in greater or lesser detail, the methods and tactics involved. Among these ‘informants’ two former Communists, ―Bella Dodd and Manning Johnson―both of whom spoke of the Communist infiltration of the Catholic Church. Dr. Bella Dodd, an important Communist party lawyer, teacher and activist, eventually converted to [or returned to] Catholicism in April of 1952, under the tutelage of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. Then you have the testimony of the English Communist, Douglas Hyde, long time London editor of the Communist Party’s newspaper, The Daily Worker.
Infiltration Admitted by Bella Dodd
Dr. Bella Visono Dodd (1904–1969) was a member of the Communist Party of America in the 1930s and 1940s, who later became a vocal anti-Communist. After her defection from the Communist Party in 1949, she testified that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radical Communists to enter Roman Catholic Seminaries. In her public affidavit, among other things, Dr. Bella V. Dodd stated:
“In the late 1920s and 1930s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... I, myself, put some 1,200 men in Catholic seminaries … In the 1930s we put 1,100 men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops”
A dozen years before the Second Vatican Council, she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church”--which is true, for if you are old enough to remember the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church, then you have to admit that things have been changed drastically.
In a lecture at Fordham University during that time, Dodd unveiled what would seem to be an uncanny prophecy of future chaos in the Church. The lecture was attended by a monk whose account of the talk is presented in Christian Order:
“I listened to that woman for four hours and she had my hair standing on end. Everything she said has been fulfilled to the letter. You would think she was the world's greatest prophet, but she was no prophet. She was merely exposing the step-by-step battle plan of Communist subversion of the Catholic Church. She explained that of all the world's religions, the Catholic Church was the only one feared by the Communists, for it was its only effective opponent. The whole idea was to destroy, not the institution of the Church, but rather the Faith of the people, and even use the institution of the Church, if possible, to destroy the Faith through the promotion of a pseudo-religion: something that resembled Catholicism, but was not the real thing. Once the Faith was destroyed, she explained that there would be a guilt complex introduced into the Church…. to label the ‘Church of the past’ as being oppressive, authoritarian, full of prejudices, arrogant in claiming to be the sole possessor of truth, and responsible for the divisions of religious bodies throughout the centuries. This would be necessary in order to shame Church leaders into an ‘openness to the world,’ and to a more flexible attitude toward all religions and philosophies. The Communists would then exploit this openness in order to undermine the Church.”
Even Fr. Gabriele Amorth, official chief exorcist of the Diocese of Rome (now retired), testifies to the existence of satanic cults, including the Clergy in Rome. In an excerpt of his “Memoirs” we read that that “even in the Vatican there are members of Satanic cults. There are priests, monsignors and even cardinals … I know from people who reported to me how they got to know this directly. It is also something, “confessed” several times by the Devil, himself, under obedience during the exorcisms.”
Do you think all these infiltrators and infiltrations have grown less in number over the years? Don’t be naïve! Do you think that the infiltrators are twiddling their thumbs, eating grapes and playing video games all day long? Get serious! What we are seeing in the Church today, is not just a plant of infiltration, but a full grown tree with innumerable branches.
"Red"-Hot Fire In The Church
A Catholic priest, Fr. Harrison, reveals a communication he had with Alice Von Hildebrand (born 1923 and still living, aged 96 years), a Catholic philosopher and theologian and a former professor, wife of the famous philosopher and theologian Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889–1977). She is still living and resides in New York. In an email to Fr. Brian Harrison, dated May 6th, 2016, she writes:
Dear Father [Harrison],
I think the following two conversations, which I recall very well from the 1960s, are of particular interest now, in these deeply troubled times, half a century later. For they apparently corroborate Cardinal Ciappi’s testimony that part of Our Lady’s Fatima secret was the shocking prediction that the great apostasy in the Church would begin “at the top.”
The first conversation was In June 1965. We were in Florence ... My husband invited a priest named Msgr. Mario Boehm, one of the top editors of L’Osservatore Romano for many years. The topic of Fatima came up.
My husband raised the question, “Why was the third secret of Fatima not revealed?” For the Holy Virgin had said it should be shared with the faithful in 1960.
Msgr. Boehm: “It was not revealed because of its content.”
My husband: “What was so fearful about it?”
Msgr. Boehm (as a well-trained Italian) did not say that he had read it, but intimated that the content was fearful: “infiltration of the Church to the very top.” It shattered us, but confirmed my husband’s fear that the way Vatican II was interpreted, was going to expose the Church to terrible dangers. Alas, this fear was well founded.
The second conversation is one with Dr. Bella Dodd, that I have already spoken about on previous occasions. She had been an ardent Communist from her student days at Hunter College – a hotbed of Communism. (That is why I was systematically persecuted there, as recounted in my book, Memoirs of a Happy Failure). Bella had sown the seeds of this diabolical philosophy at Hunter, but converted in 1952, under the guidance of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Let me repeat the conversation between her and my husband:
Dietrich von Hildebrand: “I fear the Church has been infiltrated!”
Bella Dodd: “You fear it, dear Professor; I know it! When I was an ardent Communist, I was working in close contact with four cardinals in the Vatican, working for us; and they are still very active today [in 1967].”
Dietrich von Hildebrand: “Who are they? My nephew Dieter Sattler is a German stationed at the Holy See.”
But Bella, who was under the spiritual guidance of Archbishop Sheen, declined to give him this information.
The only recourse we have now is prayer, and the firm conviction that the gates of Hell shall not prevail. St. Matthew chapter XXIV has warned us.
In union of ardent prayers.
I am, dear Father, respectfully yours in Christ,
Alice von Hildebrand
Archbishop Fulton Sheen on Communist Control
“The Antichrist will not be so called; otherwise he would have no followers. He will not wear red tights, nor vomit sulphur, nor carry a trident nor wave an arrowed tail as Mephistopheles in Faust. This masquerade has helped the Devil convince men that he does not exist. When no man recognizes, the more power he exercises. God has defined Himself as « I am Who am » and the Devil as « I am who am not. »
“Nowhere in Sacred Scripture do we find warrant for the popular myth of the Devil as a buffoon who is dressed like the first “red. » Rather is he described as an angel fallen from Heaven, as “the Prince of this world, » whose business it is to tell us that there is no other world. His logic is simple: if there is no Heaven there is no Hell; if there is no Hell, then there is no sin; if there is no sin, then there is no judge, and if there is no judgment then evil is good and good is evil. But above all these descriptions, Our Lord tells us that he will be so much like Himself that he would deceive even the elect — and certainly no devil ever seen in picture books could deceive even the elect. How will he come in this new age to win followers to his religion?
“The pre-Communist Russian belief is that he will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian; he will talk peace, prosperity and plenty not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves .... The third temptation in which Satan asked Christ to adore him and all the kingdoms of the world would be His, will become the temptation to have a new religion without a Cross, a liturgy without a world to come, a religion to destroy a religion, or a politics which is a religion — one that renders unto Caesar even the things that are God’s.
“In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell to no one: he will not believe in God. Because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect. He will set up a counter-church which will be the ape of the Church, because he, the Devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the Antichrist that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ .... But the twentieth century will join the counter-church because it claims to be infallible when its visible head speaks ex cathedra from Moscow on the subject of economics and politics, and as chief shepherd of world Communism.” (Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, in 1948, in his book Communism and the Conscience of the West, pp. 22-25).
Manning R. Johnson
Manning R. Johnson was the Communist candidate for U.S. Representative from New York 22nd District, 1935. Manning Johnson belonged to the Communist party in the 1940s and early 1950s. He subsequently left the party, wrote Color, Communism, and Common Sense, and was a government witness in the perjury trial of Harry Bridges and before the Committee on Un-American Activities. Manning Johnson belonged to the Communist party in the 1940s and early 1950s, during which time he authored the book Color, Communism and Common Sense. After leaving the Party, he testified, in 1953, before the House un-American Activities Committee regarding the Communist Agenda and the Catholic Church:
“Once the tactic of infiltration of religious organizations was set by the Kremlin ... the Communists discovered that the destruction of religion could proceed much faster through infiltration of the (Catholic) Church by Communists operating within the Church itself. The Communist leadership in the United States realized that the infiltration tactic in this country would have to adapt itself to American conditions (Europe also had its cells) and the religious make-up peculiar to this country. In the earliest stages it was determined that with only small forces available to them, it would be necessary to concentrate Communist agents in the seminaries. The practical conclusion drawn by the Red leaders was that these institutions would make it possible for a small Communist minority to influence the ideology of future clergymen in the paths conducive to Communist purposes This policy of infiltrating seminaries was successful beyond even our Communist expectations.”
Yuri Bezmenov, Russian KGB Defector
Yuri Bezmenov (1939-1993―only 54 years old at death!), a disillusioned Soviet KGB agent, defected to North America while stationed in India. His goal was to save the West from Soviet subversion by publicizing KGB tactics and goals. While he received some attention in the Western press, his warnings have mostly gone unheeded while much of what he predicted has come true. Russian Communists have become masters of deception, mind control, and subversion. If you study their more modern methods, such as reflex control, which is certainly used by Putin in his foreign policy, you’ll know that Russians have put in their dues when it comes to developing tactics to control others on a mass scale. These strategies of control were used for an extended period of time against America to make its citizens believe in a collectivist ideology that would lead to the destruction of traditional American values. Bezmenov stated that once the “hippies” in the Clinton-era were subverted with collectivism, they went on to accumulate power and institutionalize harmful policies that would transform America into a failed state that no longer posed a threat to the USSR. The USSR has of course since been ‘dissolved’―which many claim was a mere sham to create a modern-day “Wooden Horse of Troy”, but regardless of that, the subversive ideas have not stopped.
Ideology can be weaponized
Yuri Bezmenov states: “The real driving force of this war of aggression is IDEOLOGY — something you cannot eat, wear or store for a “rainy day”. An integral part of this war of ideology is IDEOLOGICAL SUBVERSION — the process of changing the perception of reality in the minds of millions of peoples all over the world.”
“Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. There is no art higher than to destroy your enemy without a fight – by SUBVERTING anything of value in enemy’s country.”
“The main principle of ideological subversion is TURNING A STRONGER FORCE AGAINST ITSELF. Just like in the Japanese martial arts: you do not stop the blow of a heavier more powerful enemy with an equally forceful blow. You may simply hurt your hand. Instead you catch the striking fist with your hand and PULL the enemy in the direction of his blow until he crashes into a wall or any other heavy object in his way.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Soviets introduced the idea of “America privilege,” a precursor to “white privilege”
“KGB influence in our media, politics and nearly every phase of our life has produced a growing conviction on the part of many Americans that we are the “bad guys” — again I have to remind you that to date, there has never been a single defection from the United States. The Soviets have produced an absolutely ludicrous global lie that people are believing — why? Because the tactics of ideological subversion work.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Why do so many people decide to sell-out their own country?
“The majority of my former colleagues are now firmly entrenched in the ‘privileged class’ and their humanistic ideals have all been traded, one by one, for small comforts such as a private car (a rare thing in the USSR), a free apartment, a country house (“dacha”), free trips abroad and freedom to socialize with foreigners, none of which would be possible or available to the average Russian worker.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
“The Rules Of Revolution”
1 . Corrupt the young, get them interested in sex, take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled.
2. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial issues of no importance.
3. Destroy people’s faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt, ridicule and disgrace.
4. Always preach democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.”
Legislating equality will destroy a free nation
“All you have to do to “screw up” the status quo of a free nation, is to borrow ONE false idea from the ideology of a communist or totalitarian government. For the sake of simplicity, I have chosen the idea of “egalitarianism”. “People born equal therefore must be equal”. Sounds great. But look at yourselves. Were you born equal? Some of you weighed 7 pounds at birth, others 6 or 5 . . . Are you NOW equal? In any way? Physically, mentally, emotionally, racially, spiritually? Some are tall and dumb, others — short, bald and clever.”
“Now, let’s figure out what will happen if we LEGISLATE EQUALITY, and make the concept of “equality” a cornerstone and pillar of socio-economical and political system. All right? You don’t have to be a great economist or sociologist to foresee that some of the people who are “less equal” would demand as much as those who are “more equal” BY LAW!”
“Aha, now you’ve got it. There will be some who get more for GIVING less and take advantage of those, who are even “less equal”, say, in the art of TAKING. And to avoid the squabble for “equal redistribution” you will have to introduce a THIRD FORCE — the State. Why? Because people were never equal, are not equal and if God wanted us to be equal He would probably have made us equal.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
How egalitarianism destroys the economy
“People who have declared themselves to be equal will inevitably come to expect more for their individual needs, which sooner or later will tragically come to conflict with the “unequal” reality. That will automatically produce discontent. Unhappy and discontent masses are less productive than those who are happy being what they are and making the best of it. Decreased productivity, as we all know, leads to such unpleasant things as inflation, unemployment and recession. These, in turn, cause social unrest and instability, both economical and political.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Subversion is hard to defeat because it’s insidious and long-term
“Most of the actions are overt, legitimate, and easily identifiable. The only trouble is — they are “stretched in time”. In other words, the process of subversion is such a long-term process that an average individual, due to the short time-span of his historical memory, is unable to perceive the process of subversion as a CONSISTENT and willful effort. That is exactly how it is intended to be: like the small hand of your watch. You know it moves, but you CAN NOT SEE it moving.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Demoralization of the masses is an important step of subversion
“The purpose of this process is to change your perception of reality to such an extent, that even despite an abundance of information and evidence about the danger of Communism, you are unable to come to sensible conclusions in your own interests and in the interests of your nation.”
“Demoralized and enfeebled ‘masses’ tend to grab the ‘easiest’ short-cut solution to social ills and socialism seems to them to be the best answer.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Subversion can happen through entertainment
“A group of rock or pop-musicians with a message of ‘social-justice’ sugar-coated in popular ‘spiritual’ tunes can be actually more helpful to the KGB than someone standing in the pulpit preaching Marxist-Leninist doctrine. The sugar-sweet messages of social equality from the crooning mouths of the entertainers is quite enough to accomplish the aims of the KGB without any overt activity on their part.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Deliberate distraction of masses with non-issues
“An issue that may benefit a few, is a non-issue—civil rights of homosexuals is not an issue; defending sexual morality is the larger, real issue.
“The main purpose of non-issues and the devastating result of their introduction is the SIDE-TRACKING of public opinion, energy (both mental and physical), money and TIME from the constructive solutions. Soviet propaganda elevated the art of infiltrating and emphasizing non-issues in American public life to the level of actual state policy.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Subversion of education
“The American romance with state-run education as encouraged by KGB subverters has already produced generations of graduates who cannot spell, cannot find Nicaragua on a world map, cannot THINK creatively and independently.”
“Dr. Shafarevich―in analyzing the ‘dead’ civilizations of Egypt, Maya, Mohenjo-Dara, Babylon, etc. ―comes to an ominous conclusion: EVERY ONE OF THESE CIVILIZATIONS DIED WHEN PEOPLE REJECTED RELIGION AND GOD, AND TRIED TO CREATE ‘SOCIAL JUSTICE’ ALONG THE SOCIALIST PRINCIPLES. Thus, Socialism, according to Shafarevich, may be a manifestation of an inborn human instinct of SELF-DESTRUCTION, if unrestrained — leading ultimately to PHYSICAL DEATH OF ALL MANKIND.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
You must love Big Brother
“In the struggle for the ‘final victory of Communism’, the goal of the subverter is to substitute, as slowly and painlessly as possible, the concept of loyalty for NATION with loyalty to the “Big Brother” welfare state, who gives everything and is able to TAKE everything, including personal freedom — from every citizen.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Prediction Regarding the U.S. Presidency
“All that will be needed is to ‘elect’ a ‘progressive thinking’ president who will be voted to power by Americans, who have been addicted to welfare and ‘security’ as defined by Soviet subverters.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Communist Goals For America
Strangely enough, uncannily, or by mere chance or coincidence―though St. Thomas Aquinas says there is no such thing as “chance”―in the very same year that Our Lady was appearing in Fatima and warning us about Russia (which at that time was absolutely no threat at all), the Bolshevik (Communist) Revolution was taking place in Russia. A further “coincidental” twist to all this was the fact that at the very same time that Pope John XXIII formally opened the Second Vatican Council on October 11th, 1962―over in America, from October 16th–28th, 1962, there was the 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union initiated by the American discovery of Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba, which came to known as the “Cuban Missile Crisis”, also known as the “October Crisis of 1962” and the “Caribbean Crisis”, or the “Missile Scare”. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.
The Naked Communist
Several years earlier, in 1958, a book appeared entitled The Naked Communist, written by the American political theorist W. Cleon Skousen, who was also a former FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) special agent in the 1940’s, leaving the FBI in 1951. The book has been reprinted many times, most recently in a 2014, and has sold over 1 million copies. The book has been highly praised by American conservatives Glenn Beck and Ben Carson, the latter of whom stated: "The Naked Communist lays out the whole progressive plan. It is unbelievable how fast it has been achieved!” In the book, Skousen lays out 45 chief objectives that Communist Russia had for the USA.
Albert Sydney Herlong Jr. (1909–1995) was an American politician from Florida, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1969 as a member of the Democratic Party. Herlong was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-First Congress and to the nine succeeding Congresses (January 1949 – January 1969). In Congress, Herlong was noted for his anti-Communist views. On January 10, 1963, at the request of constituent Patricia Nordman, Herlong read into the Congressional Record a list of 45 goals of communism from the book The Naked Communist by W. Cleon Skousen. You fill find them listed below―see how many you know to have been achieved and come to fruition.
You don’t have to join the Freemasons to be a Freemason―and you don’t have join the Communist Party to be a Communist. As the saying goes: “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, talks like a duck―then it’s a duck!” Just as you can be a Freemason by thinking, talking and behaving like a Freemason, you can also be a Communist by the thinking, talking and behaving like a Communist. You can be a good Freemason or Communist without really knowing what you are doing or realizing that you helping the Freemasonic and Communist causes. It is, so to speak, like getting cancer of the lung from breathing-in “second-smoke” (someone else’s cigarette fumes) even though you do not smoke yourself.
Just over 100 years ago, in 1917, Our Lady appeared at Fatima warning us of the danger of Russia to the world and the errors it would spread worldwide, and in the same year, 1917, Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian government and established a Communist dictatorship. The world has never been the same since and the ‘smoke’ of Communism still wafts through the air, drifting from country to country with its toxic fumes. When Sister Lucia of Fatima was asked about this worldwide Communist threat in 1946, Lucia was emphatic that it would be worldwide and not just here and there.
Worldwide “Smoke” of Communism (and Freemasonry)
The American historian, Professor William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sister Lucia in 1946―so whichever Lucia theory you ‘buy-into’, the “Two-Lucias” or simply “One Single Lucia”―in 1946 it was for certain that is was the “Real Lucia”. Dr. Walsh selected Fr. Manuel Rocha to be the interpreter for the three hour interview on the afternoon of July 15th, 1946. Fr. Rocha said that one of the questions Dr. Walsh asked him to translate to Sister Lucia was: “In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?” Sister Lucia emphatically answerd: “Yes!” To be completely clear in his understanding on the matter, Walsh further asked: “And does this mean the United States of America too?” Lucia’s answer was again an emphatic: “Yes!” Dr. Walsh then inquired if Our Lady had specifically mentioned the United States. “She gave me a rather startled glance,” Dr. Walsh reported, “and then smiled in faint amusement, as if to suggest that perhaps the United States was not so important in the general scheme of things as I imagined, she said gently: ‘No, she never did. But I wish you would have Masses said for me in the United States.’” Walsh promised to do so.
Our Lady is pretty clear on the matter: “If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated.” (Our Lady of Fatima, July 13th, 1917) and Sister Lucia has constantly reiterated that fact, adding that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance where “annihilation” is mentioned, on July 23th, 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Brother François, Tragedy and Triumph, p. 27).
As regards Freemasonry (which, as will be shown later, played a major part in the birth of Communism), Our Lady of Good Success, when she appeared at Quito in Ecuador, also warned that the ‘smoke’ or ‘stench’ of Freemasonry would be found in all governments of the world: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws … These years—during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government—will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities!” At La Salette, she adds: “All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds.”
Annihilation?
What does “annihilation” mean? Going back to the Latin roots of the word, we can dismantle the word “annihilation” into three parts: “an” + “nihil” + “-ation”. The prefix― “an-“ is a later Medieval form of the Ancient Latin prefix “ad-“ which means “to”, as in annex, announce, annihilate. The word “nihil” is Latin for “nothing”―therefore, “ad” + “nihl” or “an” + “nihl” means “to nothing.” The suffix, added on at the end, “-ation” means “action, putting into action, making something happen, etc.” Thus, “annihilation” means reducing something to nothing.
What kind of annihilation―caused by Russia, but not necessarily spread by Russia alone, just like you can start a fire with a match and then watch it spread by itself―what kind of annihilation is Our Lady talking about? Well, there can be as many kinds of annihilations as there are genres or types of things. Generally speaking, there are two large umbrellas under which everything fits under―the material umbrella and the immaterial umbrella; the physical and the spiritual; the visible and the invisible; the body and the soul; things and ideas; etc.
Thus you could annihilate a body by incineration―as in cremation; or you could annihilate a city with a nuclear bomb, earthquake, tsunami, etc.; or annihilate a population through war, disease, drought, etc. you could annihilate intelligence by dumbing-down people, bad teaching, bad text books, bad curriculum, etc.; you could annihilate morals by permissiveness and allowance of immorality, immodesty, impurity, pornography, cohabitation, fornication, prostitution, homosexuality, divorce, same-sex marriages, excessive alcohol consumption, legalizing drugs, etc.; you could annihilate the Faith by giving freedom to error, heretical teachings, permitting Liberalism and Modernism to grow, allowing the Faith to be questioned, doubted, ridiculed, abused, persecuted, outlawed, crushed, etc.
All of the above are different forms of “annihilation” and can exist separately or be thrown together in one big melting pot of annihilation. Our Lady, at apparitions other than that of Fatima, supplies more clues or ‘jigsaw pieces’ that give a bigger a clearer picture of any forthcoming “annihilation.”
At Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of Good Success said: “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, there will be a total corruption of morals. Often during this epoch, the enemies of Jesus Christ, instigated by the demon, will steal consecrated hosts from the churches, so that they might profane the Eucharistic Species. My Most Holy Son will see Himself cast upon the ground and trampled upon by irreverent feet … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to ensnare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent. If you were given to live in this tenebrous era, you would die of sorrow if you were to see all that I have revealed to you here!”
At La Salette, in France, Our Lady added: “The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way.
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
Popes Speak Out on This Annihilating Communist Goal
In his encyclical on Atheistic Communism, Divini Redemptoris, of March19th 1937, Pope Pius XI speaks of Communism as “This modern revolution, it may be said, has actually broken out or threatens everywhere, and it exceeds in amplitude and violence anything yet experienced in the preceding persecutions launched against the Church. This all too imminent danger is Bolshevistic and atheistic Communism, which aims at upsetting the social order and at undermining the very foundations of Christian civilization … Our Venerable Predecessor, Pius IX, of holy memory, as early as 1846 pronounced a solemn condemnation, which he confirmed in the words of the Syllabus directed against « that infamous doctrine of so-called Communism which is absolutely contrary to the natural law itself, and if once adopted would utterly destroy the rights, property and possessions of all men, and even society itself. » Later on, another of Our predecessors, the immortal Leo XIII, in his Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris, defined Communism as « the fatal plague which insinuates itself into the very marrow of human society only to bring about its ruin.» … The most persistent enemies of the Church, from Moscow, are directing the struggle against Christian civilization by their unceasing attacks in word and act.”
Pope Pius XI warns: “The Communism of today, more emphatically than similar movements in the past, conceals in itself a false messianic idea. A pseudo-ideal of justice, of equality and fraternity in labor impregnates all its doctrine and activity with a deceptive mysticism, which communicates a zealous and contagious enthusiasm to the multitudes entrapped by delusive promises … The doctrine of modern Communism, which is often concealed under the most seductive trappings, is in substance based on the … doctrine that there is in the world only one reality―matter―the blind forces of which evolve into plant, animal and man. Even human society is nothing but a phenomenon and form of matter, evolving in the same way. In such a doctrine there is no room for the idea of God; there is no difference between matter and spirit, between soul and body; there is neither survival of the soul after death nor any hope in a future life … Communism, moreover, strips man of his liberty, robs human personality of all its dignity, and removes all the moral restraints that check the eruptions of blind impulse. There is no recognition of any right of the individual in his relations to the collectivity; no natural right is accorded to human personality, which is a mere cog-wheel in the Communist system. In man's relations with other individuals, besides, Communists hold the principle of absolute equality, rejecting all hierarchy and divinely-constituted authority, including the authority of parents. What men call authority and subordination is derived from the community as its first and only font.
“Refusing to human life any sacred or spiritual character, such a doctrine logically makes of marriage and the family a purely artificial and civil institution, the outcome of a specific economic system. There exists no matrimonial bond of a legal or moral nature, that is not subject to the whim of the individual or of the collectivity (society). Naturally, therefore, the notion of an indissoluble marriage-tie is proposed. Communism is particularly characterized by the rejection of any link that binds woman to the family and the home, and her emancipation is proclaimed as a basic principle. She is withdrawn from the family and the care of her children, to be thrust instead into public life and collective production, under the same conditions as man. The care of home and children, then, falls upon the collectivity (society). Finally, the right of education is denied to parents, for it is conceived as the exclusive prerogative of the community, in whose name and by whose mandate alone, parents may exercise this right.”
What is Communism? On Your Marx, Get Set, Here We Go…!
The Communist Manifesto (originally Manifesto of the Communist Party) is an 1848 political pamphlet by the German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London just as the many European Revolutions of 1848 began to erupt (as Our Lady warned in 1846 at La Salette). The Manifesto came to be one of the world's most influential political documents.
Some key quotes from the Communist Manisfesto immediately show its destructive goal:
● “Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality.” In this, it is fully in accord and in step with Satan and with Freemasonry. Yet even “Capitalist” or “Democratic” or “Republican” America has banned religion from its public schools―where no symbols of religion are permitted, prayers are not said, but sex-education is not only allowed, but enforced; and homosexuality and transgenderism is “canonized”! Communism in Capitalist, Democratic, Republican clothing. This is not only true for America, but for most countries in the world.
● “Abolition of the family! Even the most radical flare-up at this infamous proposal of the Communists. On what foundation is the present family, the bourgeois family, based? On capital, on private gain. In its completely developed form this family exists only among the bourgeoisie. The bourgeois family will vanish as a matter of course when its complement vanishes, and both will vanish with the vanishing of capital. Do you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation of children by their parents? To this crime we plead guilty. But, you will say, we destroy the most hallowed of relations, when we replace home education by social.” Can you not see that even in “Capitalist” or “Democratic” or “Republican” America, the State is increasingly “in charge” of the education and welfare of the children―even to the point of “confiscating” children from parents for an ever-increasing list of excuses that will soon include “forcing” Christianity upon them and thereby “abusing” them?
● “In bourgeois society, therefore, the past dominates the present; in Communist society, the present dominates the past.” This is exactly what the Second Vatican Council has followed―it no longer pays much attention to Tradition and the teachings of the past Magisterium of the Church, everything seems to begin with Vatican II, like everything begins with Communism.
● “Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes, directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.” Or you could those for Christ and those against Christ―for Communism, by being atheistic, is definitely against Christ or anti-Christ.
The above quotes are from “The Communist Manifesto,” and they illustrate the true goals of communism―the destruction of the social and religious order instituted by God and through His Son Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Marxism, as the French writer Albert Camus put it, became a “horizontal religion,” replacing God with history, and eternal salvation with an earthly paradise.
Infiltration and Subversion a Major Communist Tool
Literally, book after book has been written on either the origins, foundations, principles, operational methods, goals and tactics of Communism. You could, most probably, fill dozens or even hundreds of library shelves with the books that have been published. To try and summarize Communism in one article is like trying to fit the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean into a glass. The mere research for this article has taken up dozens of hours―and the feeling is that only a few buckets of the Atlantic Ocean have been collected! Not to say that it has not been interesting―at times even fascinating―the knowledge gained is not time lost, yet only a tip―and a very small tip―of the iceberg can be shown, for, undoubtedly, very few persons would be willing to read the voluminous amount of material dredged-up by the research―even though it would do nobody any harm. Sadly, we prefer to browse, read and watch trivia (much like we prefer fast-food and junk-food), rather than spend time reading things that take longer to ‘chew’ and are harder to ‘digest’. If only thoughts could be telepathically communicated or ‘downloaded’ in seconds―but for that we have wait until we get to Heaven. Until then, let us leave that luxurious means of communication to the angels―which is how they communicate without using words.
Meaning of “Infiltrate” and “Subvert”
Let us, then, come to the point of this subsection―infiltration and subversion as tool of Communism (and just about any other world power, corporation, etc.). The verb “infiltrate” and noun “infiltration” literally mean to get into something by passing through a filter―in other words, you manage to get through the filter, or, in human terms, you manage to get through the “security screen” or “security filter” and penetrate your desired objective. The military sense of “stealthy penetration of enemy lines” dates from 1930.
The verb “subvert” and noun “subversion” come from the Latin compound of “subvertere”― “sub-” + “vertere”, where “sub” means “under” and “vertere” literally means “to turn” ― as in “convertere” “con-” being “to” and “vertere” meaning “turn” ― this we have “conversion” or a “turning to God”. In “subversion”, we have the prefix “sub” meaning “under”―which automatically makes us think of the “underworld” or “subterranean” (Latin: sub=under; terra=earth), or in “submarine” (sub=under; maria=sea). “Sub-” meaning below, makes us also think of the devil or Satan in Hell below. That fits perfectly with what subversion is―it is a deceitful, lying, crafty, insidious way of operating―which perfectly describes how the devil works: “The serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1).
Thus, infiltration and subversion can, in simplistic and broad terms, be said to be a “passing through the security filter or security screen of a body of people―a group, business, organization, church, army, state, country, etc. ― with a view to overturning it, sinking it, destroying it, etc.” Hence the dictionary will define subvert or subversion as “to overthrow (something established or existing); to cause the downfall, ruin, or destruction of; to undermine the principles of; to corrupt.” Infiltration―getting past the security―is merely a means to the ultimate goal of subversion―the overturning, corruption, downfall, destruction of what has been infiltrated.
But It Doesn’t Seem Like We’ve Been Infiltrated!
Infiltration is like a “con” (confidence trick)―the whole point is to hide the fact that something evil is going on and to win the confidence of the “mark” or target. Usually, infiltrators, of the level that we are talking about, work for “Intelligence Agencies”―which tells you something by its very title―they are intelligent, clever and crafty as to how they operate. If you read the testimonies of “con-men”―you will invariably see that they prefer a “mark” (a victim) who is not very intelligent, emotional, dumbed-down, shallow, superficial, etc. ― which accounts for most of mankind today. Some con-men enjoy pitting their wits against intelligent “marks” (victims), whose downfall will usually be their ego, their pride or their greed.
There have been many Communists of all nationalities who have confirmed that infiltration takes place and have described, in greater or lesser detail, the methods and tactics involved. Among these ‘informants’ two former Communists, ―Bella Dodd and Manning Johnson―both of whom spoke of the Communist infiltration of the Catholic Church. Dr. Bella Dodd, an important Communist party lawyer, teacher and activist, eventually converted to [or returned to] Catholicism in April of 1952, under the tutelage of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. Then you have the testimony of the English Communist, Douglas Hyde, long time London editor of the Communist Party’s newspaper, The Daily Worker.
Infiltration Admitted by Bella Dodd
Dr. Bella Visono Dodd (1904–1969) was a member of the Communist Party of America in the 1930s and 1940s, who later became a vocal anti-Communist. After her defection from the Communist Party in 1949, she testified that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radical Communists to enter Roman Catholic Seminaries. In her public affidavit, among other things, Dr. Bella V. Dodd stated:
“In the late 1920s and 1930s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... I, myself, put some 1,200 men in Catholic seminaries … In the 1930s we put 1,100 men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops”
A dozen years before the Second Vatican Council, she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church”--which is true, for if you are old enough to remember the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church, then you have to admit that things have been changed drastically.
In a lecture at Fordham University during that time, Dodd unveiled what would seem to be an uncanny prophecy of future chaos in the Church. The lecture was attended by a monk whose account of the talk is presented in Christian Order:
“I listened to that woman for four hours and she had my hair standing on end. Everything she said has been fulfilled to the letter. You would think she was the world's greatest prophet, but she was no prophet. She was merely exposing the step-by-step battle plan of Communist subversion of the Catholic Church. She explained that of all the world's religions, the Catholic Church was the only one feared by the Communists, for it was its only effective opponent. The whole idea was to destroy, not the institution of the Church, but rather the Faith of the people, and even use the institution of the Church, if possible, to destroy the Faith through the promotion of a pseudo-religion: something that resembled Catholicism, but was not the real thing. Once the Faith was destroyed, she explained that there would be a guilt complex introduced into the Church…. to label the ‘Church of the past’ as being oppressive, authoritarian, full of prejudices, arrogant in claiming to be the sole possessor of truth, and responsible for the divisions of religious bodies throughout the centuries. This would be necessary in order to shame Church leaders into an ‘openness to the world,’ and to a more flexible attitude toward all religions and philosophies. The Communists would then exploit this openness in order to undermine the Church.”
Even Fr. Gabriele Amorth, official chief exorcist of the Diocese of Rome (now retired), testifies to the existence of satanic cults, including the Clergy in Rome. In an excerpt of his “Memoirs” we read that that “even in the Vatican there are members of Satanic cults. There are priests, monsignors and even cardinals … I know from people who reported to me how they got to know this directly. It is also something, “confessed” several times by the Devil, himself, under obedience during the exorcisms.”
Do you think all these infiltrators and infiltrations have grown less in number over the years? Don’t be naïve! Do you think that the infiltrators are twiddling their thumbs, eating grapes and playing video games all day long? Get serious! What we are seeing in the Church today, is not just a plant of infiltration, but a full grown tree with innumerable branches.
"Red"-Hot Fire In The Church
A Catholic priest, Fr. Harrison, reveals a communication he had with Alice Von Hildebrand (born 1923 and still living, aged 96 years), a Catholic philosopher and theologian and a former professor, wife of the famous philosopher and theologian Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889–1977). She is still living and resides in New York. In an email to Fr. Brian Harrison, dated May 6th, 2016, she writes:
Dear Father [Harrison],
I think the following two conversations, which I recall very well from the 1960s, are of particular interest now, in these deeply troubled times, half a century later. For they apparently corroborate Cardinal Ciappi’s testimony that part of Our Lady’s Fatima secret was the shocking prediction that the great apostasy in the Church would begin “at the top.”
The first conversation was In June 1965. We were in Florence ... My husband invited a priest named Msgr. Mario Boehm, one of the top editors of L’Osservatore Romano for many years. The topic of Fatima came up.
My husband raised the question, “Why was the third secret of Fatima not revealed?” For the Holy Virgin had said it should be shared with the faithful in 1960.
Msgr. Boehm: “It was not revealed because of its content.”
My husband: “What was so fearful about it?”
Msgr. Boehm (as a well-trained Italian) did not say that he had read it, but intimated that the content was fearful: “infiltration of the Church to the very top.” It shattered us, but confirmed my husband’s fear that the way Vatican II was interpreted, was going to expose the Church to terrible dangers. Alas, this fear was well founded.
The second conversation is one with Dr. Bella Dodd, that I have already spoken about on previous occasions. She had been an ardent Communist from her student days at Hunter College – a hotbed of Communism. (That is why I was systematically persecuted there, as recounted in my book, Memoirs of a Happy Failure). Bella had sown the seeds of this diabolical philosophy at Hunter, but converted in 1952, under the guidance of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Let me repeat the conversation between her and my husband:
Dietrich von Hildebrand: “I fear the Church has been infiltrated!”
Bella Dodd: “You fear it, dear Professor; I know it! When I was an ardent Communist, I was working in close contact with four cardinals in the Vatican, working for us; and they are still very active today [in 1967].”
Dietrich von Hildebrand: “Who are they? My nephew Dieter Sattler is a German stationed at the Holy See.”
But Bella, who was under the spiritual guidance of Archbishop Sheen, declined to give him this information.
The only recourse we have now is prayer, and the firm conviction that the gates of Hell shall not prevail. St. Matthew chapter XXIV has warned us.
In union of ardent prayers.
I am, dear Father, respectfully yours in Christ,
Alice von Hildebrand
Archbishop Fulton Sheen on Communist Control
“The Antichrist will not be so called; otherwise he would have no followers. He will not wear red tights, nor vomit sulphur, nor carry a trident nor wave an arrowed tail as Mephistopheles in Faust. This masquerade has helped the Devil convince men that he does not exist. When no man recognizes, the more power he exercises. God has defined Himself as « I am Who am » and the Devil as « I am who am not. »
“Nowhere in Sacred Scripture do we find warrant for the popular myth of the Devil as a buffoon who is dressed like the first “red. » Rather is he described as an angel fallen from Heaven, as “the Prince of this world, » whose business it is to tell us that there is no other world. His logic is simple: if there is no Heaven there is no Hell; if there is no Hell, then there is no sin; if there is no sin, then there is no judge, and if there is no judgment then evil is good and good is evil. But above all these descriptions, Our Lord tells us that he will be so much like Himself that he would deceive even the elect — and certainly no devil ever seen in picture books could deceive even the elect. How will he come in this new age to win followers to his religion?
“The pre-Communist Russian belief is that he will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian; he will talk peace, prosperity and plenty not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves .... The third temptation in which Satan asked Christ to adore him and all the kingdoms of the world would be His, will become the temptation to have a new religion without a Cross, a liturgy without a world to come, a religion to destroy a religion, or a politics which is a religion — one that renders unto Caesar even the things that are God’s.
“In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell to no one: he will not believe in God. Because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect. He will set up a counter-church which will be the ape of the Church, because he, the Devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the Antichrist that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ .... But the twentieth century will join the counter-church because it claims to be infallible when its visible head speaks ex cathedra from Moscow on the subject of economics and politics, and as chief shepherd of world Communism.” (Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, in 1948, in his book Communism and the Conscience of the West, pp. 22-25).
Manning R. Johnson
Manning R. Johnson was the Communist candidate for U.S. Representative from New York 22nd District, 1935. Manning Johnson belonged to the Communist party in the 1940s and early 1950s. He subsequently left the party, wrote Color, Communism, and Common Sense, and was a government witness in the perjury trial of Harry Bridges and before the Committee on Un-American Activities. Manning Johnson belonged to the Communist party in the 1940s and early 1950s, during which time he authored the book Color, Communism and Common Sense. After leaving the Party, he testified, in 1953, before the House un-American Activities Committee regarding the Communist Agenda and the Catholic Church:
“Once the tactic of infiltration of religious organizations was set by the Kremlin ... the Communists discovered that the destruction of religion could proceed much faster through infiltration of the (Catholic) Church by Communists operating within the Church itself. The Communist leadership in the United States realized that the infiltration tactic in this country would have to adapt itself to American conditions (Europe also had its cells) and the religious make-up peculiar to this country. In the earliest stages it was determined that with only small forces available to them, it would be necessary to concentrate Communist agents in the seminaries. The practical conclusion drawn by the Red leaders was that these institutions would make it possible for a small Communist minority to influence the ideology of future clergymen in the paths conducive to Communist purposes This policy of infiltrating seminaries was successful beyond even our Communist expectations.”
Yuri Bezmenov, Russian KGB Defector
Yuri Bezmenov (1939-1993―only 54 years old at death!), a disillusioned Soviet KGB agent, defected to North America while stationed in India. His goal was to save the West from Soviet subversion by publicizing KGB tactics and goals. While he received some attention in the Western press, his warnings have mostly gone unheeded while much of what he predicted has come true. Russian Communists have become masters of deception, mind control, and subversion. If you study their more modern methods, such as reflex control, which is certainly used by Putin in his foreign policy, you’ll know that Russians have put in their dues when it comes to developing tactics to control others on a mass scale. These strategies of control were used for an extended period of time against America to make its citizens believe in a collectivist ideology that would lead to the destruction of traditional American values. Bezmenov stated that once the “hippies” in the Clinton-era were subverted with collectivism, they went on to accumulate power and institutionalize harmful policies that would transform America into a failed state that no longer posed a threat to the USSR. The USSR has of course since been ‘dissolved’―which many claim was a mere sham to create a modern-day “Wooden Horse of Troy”, but regardless of that, the subversive ideas have not stopped.
Ideology can be weaponized
Yuri Bezmenov states: “The real driving force of this war of aggression is IDEOLOGY — something you cannot eat, wear or store for a “rainy day”. An integral part of this war of ideology is IDEOLOGICAL SUBVERSION — the process of changing the perception of reality in the minds of millions of peoples all over the world.”
“Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. There is no art higher than to destroy your enemy without a fight – by SUBVERTING anything of value in enemy’s country.”
“The main principle of ideological subversion is TURNING A STRONGER FORCE AGAINST ITSELF. Just like in the Japanese martial arts: you do not stop the blow of a heavier more powerful enemy with an equally forceful blow. You may simply hurt your hand. Instead you catch the striking fist with your hand and PULL the enemy in the direction of his blow until he crashes into a wall or any other heavy object in his way.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Soviets introduced the idea of “America privilege,” a precursor to “white privilege”
“KGB influence in our media, politics and nearly every phase of our life has produced a growing conviction on the part of many Americans that we are the “bad guys” — again I have to remind you that to date, there has never been a single defection from the United States. The Soviets have produced an absolutely ludicrous global lie that people are believing — why? Because the tactics of ideological subversion work.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Why do so many people decide to sell-out their own country?
“The majority of my former colleagues are now firmly entrenched in the ‘privileged class’ and their humanistic ideals have all been traded, one by one, for small comforts such as a private car (a rare thing in the USSR), a free apartment, a country house (“dacha”), free trips abroad and freedom to socialize with foreigners, none of which would be possible or available to the average Russian worker.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
“The Rules Of Revolution”
1 . Corrupt the young, get them interested in sex, take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled.
2. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial issues of no importance.
3. Destroy people’s faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt, ridicule and disgrace.
4. Always preach democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.”
Legislating equality will destroy a free nation
“All you have to do to “screw up” the status quo of a free nation, is to borrow ONE false idea from the ideology of a communist or totalitarian government. For the sake of simplicity, I have chosen the idea of “egalitarianism”. “People born equal therefore must be equal”. Sounds great. But look at yourselves. Were you born equal? Some of you weighed 7 pounds at birth, others 6 or 5 . . . Are you NOW equal? In any way? Physically, mentally, emotionally, racially, spiritually? Some are tall and dumb, others — short, bald and clever.”
“Now, let’s figure out what will happen if we LEGISLATE EQUALITY, and make the concept of “equality” a cornerstone and pillar of socio-economical and political system. All right? You don’t have to be a great economist or sociologist to foresee that some of the people who are “less equal” would demand as much as those who are “more equal” BY LAW!”
“Aha, now you’ve got it. There will be some who get more for GIVING less and take advantage of those, who are even “less equal”, say, in the art of TAKING. And to avoid the squabble for “equal redistribution” you will have to introduce a THIRD FORCE — the State. Why? Because people were never equal, are not equal and if God wanted us to be equal He would probably have made us equal.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
How egalitarianism destroys the economy
“People who have declared themselves to be equal will inevitably come to expect more for their individual needs, which sooner or later will tragically come to conflict with the “unequal” reality. That will automatically produce discontent. Unhappy and discontent masses are less productive than those who are happy being what they are and making the best of it. Decreased productivity, as we all know, leads to such unpleasant things as inflation, unemployment and recession. These, in turn, cause social unrest and instability, both economical and political.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Subversion is hard to defeat because it’s insidious and long-term
“Most of the actions are overt, legitimate, and easily identifiable. The only trouble is — they are “stretched in time”. In other words, the process of subversion is such a long-term process that an average individual, due to the short time-span of his historical memory, is unable to perceive the process of subversion as a CONSISTENT and willful effort. That is exactly how it is intended to be: like the small hand of your watch. You know it moves, but you CAN NOT SEE it moving.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Demoralization of the masses is an important step of subversion
“The purpose of this process is to change your perception of reality to such an extent, that even despite an abundance of information and evidence about the danger of Communism, you are unable to come to sensible conclusions in your own interests and in the interests of your nation.”
“Demoralized and enfeebled ‘masses’ tend to grab the ‘easiest’ short-cut solution to social ills and socialism seems to them to be the best answer.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Subversion can happen through entertainment
“A group of rock or pop-musicians with a message of ‘social-justice’ sugar-coated in popular ‘spiritual’ tunes can be actually more helpful to the KGB than someone standing in the pulpit preaching Marxist-Leninist doctrine. The sugar-sweet messages of social equality from the crooning mouths of the entertainers is quite enough to accomplish the aims of the KGB without any overt activity on their part.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Deliberate distraction of masses with non-issues
“An issue that may benefit a few, is a non-issue—civil rights of homosexuals is not an issue; defending sexual morality is the larger, real issue.
“The main purpose of non-issues and the devastating result of their introduction is the SIDE-TRACKING of public opinion, energy (both mental and physical), money and TIME from the constructive solutions. Soviet propaganda elevated the art of infiltrating and emphasizing non-issues in American public life to the level of actual state policy.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Subversion of education
“The American romance with state-run education as encouraged by KGB subverters has already produced generations of graduates who cannot spell, cannot find Nicaragua on a world map, cannot THINK creatively and independently.”
“Dr. Shafarevich―in analyzing the ‘dead’ civilizations of Egypt, Maya, Mohenjo-Dara, Babylon, etc. ―comes to an ominous conclusion: EVERY ONE OF THESE CIVILIZATIONS DIED WHEN PEOPLE REJECTED RELIGION AND GOD, AND TRIED TO CREATE ‘SOCIAL JUSTICE’ ALONG THE SOCIALIST PRINCIPLES. Thus, Socialism, according to Shafarevich, may be a manifestation of an inborn human instinct of SELF-DESTRUCTION, if unrestrained — leading ultimately to PHYSICAL DEATH OF ALL MANKIND.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
You must love Big Brother
“In the struggle for the ‘final victory of Communism’, the goal of the subverter is to substitute, as slowly and painlessly as possible, the concept of loyalty for NATION with loyalty to the “Big Brother” welfare state, who gives everything and is able to TAKE everything, including personal freedom — from every citizen.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Prediction Regarding the U.S. Presidency
“All that will be needed is to ‘elect’ a ‘progressive thinking’ president who will be voted to power by Americans, who have been addicted to welfare and ‘security’ as defined by Soviet subverters.” (Yuri Bezmenov).
Communist Goals For America
Strangely enough, uncannily, or by mere chance or coincidence―though St. Thomas Aquinas says there is no such thing as “chance”―in the very same year that Our Lady was appearing in Fatima and warning us about Russia (which at that time was absolutely no threat at all), the Bolshevik (Communist) Revolution was taking place in Russia. A further “coincidental” twist to all this was the fact that at the very same time that Pope John XXIII formally opened the Second Vatican Council on October 11th, 1962―over in America, from October 16th–28th, 1962, there was the 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union initiated by the American discovery of Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba, which came to known as the “Cuban Missile Crisis”, also known as the “October Crisis of 1962” and the “Caribbean Crisis”, or the “Missile Scare”. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.
The Naked Communist
Several years earlier, in 1958, a book appeared entitled The Naked Communist, written by the American political theorist W. Cleon Skousen, who was also a former FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) special agent in the 1940’s, leaving the FBI in 1951. The book has been reprinted many times, most recently in a 2014, and has sold over 1 million copies. The book has been highly praised by American conservatives Glenn Beck and Ben Carson, the latter of whom stated: "The Naked Communist lays out the whole progressive plan. It is unbelievable how fast it has been achieved!” In the book, Skousen lays out 45 chief objectives that Communist Russia had for the USA.
Albert Sydney Herlong Jr. (1909–1995) was an American politician from Florida, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1969 as a member of the Democratic Party. Herlong was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-First Congress and to the nine succeeding Congresses (January 1949 – January 1969). In Congress, Herlong was noted for his anti-Communist views. On January 10, 1963, at the request of constituent Patricia Nordman, Herlong read into the Congressional Record a list of 45 goals of communism from the book The Naked Communist by W. Cleon Skousen. You fill find them listed below―see how many you know to have been achieved and come to fruition.
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(1) U.S. acceptance of coexistence [with Communism] as the only alternative to atomic war.
(2) U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war. (3) Develop the illusion that total disarmament by the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength. (4) Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war. (5) Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites. (6) Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination. (7) Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the United Nations. (8) Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Russia’s leader Khrushchev’s promise, in 1955, to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the United Nations. (9) Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress. (10) Allow all Soviet satellite States individual representation in the United Nations. (11) Promote the United Nations as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the United Nations as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.) (12) Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party. (13) Do away with all loyalty oaths. (14) Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office. (15) Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States. (16) Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights. (17) Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for Socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks. (18) Gain control of all student newspapers. (19) Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack. (20) Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions. (21) Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures. (22) Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.” (23) Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.” (24) Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press. |
(25) Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
(26) Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.” (27) Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.” (28) Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.” (29) Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. (30) Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.” (31) Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over. (32) Support any Socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture–education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc. (33) Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus. (34) Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities. (35) Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI. (36) Infiltrate and gain control of more unions. (37) Infiltrate and gain control of big business. (38) Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat]. (39) Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals. (40) Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce. (41) Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents. (42) Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use “united force“ to solve economic, political or social problems. (43) Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government. (44) Internationalize the Panama Canal. (45) Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court |
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Saturday May 18th & Sunday Mary 19th
Article 15
Freemason Infiltration
Centuries of Increasing Church Infiltration : Part 1
Article 15
Freemason Infiltration
Centuries of Increasing Church Infiltration : Part 1
Fake News and False Flag Ops Within the Church Under the Microscope
Having listed below some of the chief “fake news” and “false-flag operations” that involve the Catholic Church, let us go through them, one by one.
● The False Flag Op of Church Infiltration
● The Fake News surrounding of the Third Secret of Fatima
● The False Flag Op of the False Lucia of Fatima
● The Fake News of Papal Elections
● The False Flag Op of the False Pope Paul VI
● The False Flag Op of the ‘Counterfeit’ Church
● The False Flag Op of the New Mass
● The False Flag Op of Episcopal Consecrations
● The False Flag Op of Priestly Ordinations
● The False Flag Op of the New Sacraments
● The Fake News of the New Theology
● The False Flag Op of Ecumenism
● The Fake News of Universal Salvation
Incredulous of Infiltration?
What was said in the previous article is worth repeating here as we enter into this topic of infiltration. If you do not think that the Church is infiltrated, then “Goodbye and good luck!” Go back your TV set, smartphone, trivial social media and enjoy yourself while you still can! Go and create your own “virtual reality” and ignore the “real reality” that has been staring the Church in the face for around 200 years. If you do not know your history, then you will learn your history by repeating the mistakes of history. The “real reality” is that pope after pope has spoken of infiltration of one kind or another―whether political, philosophical or religious―for around 200 years and beyond, back to the Protestant Reformation [Revolution] that was sparked in 1517.
Our Lady has warned us of that infiltration for over 300 years―as Our Lady of Good Success (Quito, Ecuador in the 1600s), as Our Lady of La Salette (France in 1846) and as Our Lady of Akita (Japan in 1973): “I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights ... Russia [Communism] will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.
“The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church.
“The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. “The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette and Our Lady of Akita).
On top of that we have the enemies of the Church themselves admitting to their plans to infiltrate and subvert the Church and also reporting on their successes in achieving those plans.
Masons Under the Mat, Communists in the Closet
America went through a “Red Scare” with its “Reds Under The Bed” period after the Second World War, from around 1947 to 1957. Communism had taken over Russia in 1917―the same year Our Lady was appearing at Fatima and warning us about Russia and her errors for the future. That number “17” also plays a part―not just in Communism, but also in Freemasonry, for it was in the year 1717 that modern-day Freemasonry was born in London, England. That number “17” also appears in a striking manner in the year 1517, when on October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther defiantly nailed the door of the Wittenberg Castle church a copy of his “95 Theses” ― a list of questions and propositions for debate―which would later become the foundation of the Protestant Reformation.
A Free-For-All Freemasonry
Freemasons, Francmaçons, Libremuoratori, Freimauren, were the names given throughout Europe to the builders of the great medieval cathedrals. They belonged to Catholic guilds and were bound by strict adherence to the tenets of the Catholic faith and morality. As they traveled from country to country with different languages and customs, they developed their own set of signs, symbols and gestures as means of mutual recognition. These builders were known as “operative” masons.
In the aftermath of newly sparked Protestant Revolution―which like a forest fire was spreading throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, England, having for the most part lost the true Catholic Faith, fell foul of free-thinkers, agnostics, alchemists, “antiquarians” (those interested in pre-Christian religions), spiritualists, and Rosicrucians (a fellowship dedicated to restoring the earthly paradise through scientific advancement and occult knowledge)―all of which freely began emerge and grow by openly forming cenacles, salons, clubs and secret societies to further their aims.
With the decline of cathedral building in the aftermath of the Protestant Revolution (1517 onwards), the guilds of Masons began accepting non-masons as members to bolster their dwindling membership. Eventually, the non-masons outnumbered the Masons, and the guilds became places for the discussion of ethics and morality and the other things listed in the previous paragraph, while still retaining the secret signs, symbols and gestures of the original guild. Four such guilds merged together in 1717 in London, England, to form a unified “Grand Lodge” of Freemasons. (A "freemason" was highly skilled stonemason who enjoyed the privileges of membership in a trade guild). The Masons then spread throughout the world―arriving in continental Europe by 1721 and America by 1730. They came together to build, not cathedrals to the glory of God, but a temple dedicated to the glorification and perfection of man. Under the guise of rebuilding Solomon’s Temple, a symbol of human wisdom, these “Free builders” or “speculative” masons adopted the rituals and signs of the earlier Cathedral builders to secretly set about building a new world order, or Novus Ordo Saeculorum. This new order, according to its adepts would be based on human rights, liberty, equality, fraternity and the universal brotherhood of man.
“Filled with the spirit of Satan, who knows how to transform himself into an angel of light, Freemasonry puts forward as its pretended aim the good of humanity. Paying a lip service to the authority of law, and even to the obligations of religion, it aims (as its own statutes declare), at the destruction of civil authority and of the Christian priesthood, both of which it regards as the foes of human liberty.” (Pope Leo XIII: Parvenu a la Vingt-cinquieme annee, 1902).
Following the tendency of the day―the Protestant Revolution against the Catholic Faith and political revolution against the monarchies of Europe―supposedly free from the arbitrary dictates of “altar and throne” (Church and monarchies), Masonic lodges spread across continental Europe throughout the 18th and 19th centuries fomenting political unrest and social upheavals. The vast majority of revolutionary thinkers of the period, including Rousseau and Voltaire, were Freemasons. The lure of the lodges was that in a highly structured class system also religiously divided, they accepted men of all ranks, stations and faiths without distinction into a fraternal bond of philanthropy. Masonry presented itself as “a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.” The “Craft” was there to “make good men better” regardless of their religious or political affiliations.
Origins of Freemasonry
Monsignor George Dillon (1836-1893), in his book Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked, writes: “The Jewish connection with modern Freemasonry is an established fact everywhere manifested in its history. The Jewish formulas employed by Freemasonry, the Jewish traditions which run through its ceremonial, point to a Jewish origin, or to the work of Jewish contrivers .... Who knows but behind the Atheism and desire of gain which impels them to urge on Christians to persecute the Church and destroy it, there lies a hidden hope to reconstruct their Temple, and, in the darkest depths of secret society plotting, there lurks a deeper society still, which looks to a return to the land of Judah and to the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem?”
The Catholic historian, William Thomas Walsh (1891-1949), in the 16th chapter of his book, Philip II, entitled, “Freemasonry in the 16th Century”, shows that there was already, at that time, some sort of secret organization engaged in working for naturalism against ordered submission to Christ the King. He adds that “it is no longer debatable that, if the false leaders of the Jews did not originate the secret societies to cover their own anti-Christian activities and to influence credulous members of the Christian communities, they had a great deal to do with the business. The degrees and ritual of Freemasonry are shot through with Jewish symbolism: the candidate is going to the East, towards Jerusalem, he is going to rebuild the Temple (destroyed in fulfillment of the prophecy of Christ) ... The Grand Orient and Scottish Rite lodges, sources of so many modern revolutions, are more militant, more open and apparently more virulent than some of the others whom they are leading into a single world-organization by gradual steps.” Another author, A. Cowan, writes: “The Jews have swarmed into it (Freemasonry) from the earliest times and controlled the higher grades and councils of the ancient and accepted Scottish rite since the beginning of the nineteenth century.” (A. Cowan, The X-Rays in Freemasonry, p. 61― “A. Cowan” was a pseudonym for the Catholic author, Dr. James J. L. Ratton, 1845-1924).
The Jewish writer, Bernard Lazare, so remarkable for his hatred of Our Divine Lord and the Catholic Church, is in full agreement with William Thomas Walsh, who was a splendid Catholic. “It is certain,” writes Lazare, “that there were Jews at the cradle of Freemasonry — Kabbalistic Jews, as is proved by some of the rites that have been preserved. During the years that preceded the French Revolution, they very probably entered in greater numbers still into the councils of the society and founded secret societies themselves. There were Jews around Weishaupt, and Martinez de Pasqualis, a Jew of Portuguese origin, organized numerous groups of Illuminati in France, recruiting many adepts to whom he taught the doctrine of reintegration. The lodges founded by Martinez were mystical, whilst the other orders of Freemasonry were rather rationalist. This permits one to say that the secret societies represented the two sides of the Jewish mind: practical rationalization and pantheism.” (Bernard Lazare, L’Antisemitisme, p. 339).
The Devil You See―The Devil You Don’t See
We all know the idiom: “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t!” ― you could also say: “Better the devil you can see than the devil you don’t see!” This should remind us of the saying: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!” ― which could also be transformed to “A enemy in plain view is worth two out of sight!” Or, as another idiom says: “Our of sight, out of mind!” ― and Satan with his stooges prefer to be out sight and out of mind, so that we do not get them “in our sights” and pull the trigger. Satan and his stooges would be out of their minds not to be out of sight! You cannot shoot what you cannot see. Neither will you attack something that you do not hate or fear. As the philosophical axiom states: “No one loves what no one knows!” ― meaning that knowledge must precede love, for we cannot love what we know nothing about. Likewise, you could say: “No one hates what they know nothing about!” St. Thérèse of Lisieux complained that Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known―similarly, you could say: “The enemies of the Church are so little hated because they are little known!”
Working in Secrecy―Being Invisible to the Masses
When did you last see the devil? “Huh? Are you nuts?” you exclaim. No! When did you last see the devil at work? You haven’t even seen the devil at work once―in your whole lifetime the devil has been working on you and around you 24 hours a day and you have not even seen him once! Though the devil might be the proudest of the proud, he is not stupid. When you are fighting an enemy, you achieve more by being hidden than by being in the open. Reveal yourself and you will quickly be “out of business”! Though the devil is proud, he is not stupid and prefers to work in the shadows even though he desires glory. This has always been the policy in war, business, sports, etc. You camouflage your soldiers, you attack at night when you’re out of sight; you do not publish your research so that competitors can steal your ideas; you train behind closed doors and do not open your training sessions to anyone and everyone. Our Lord Himself, to avoid His persecutors, once said that He would not go up to Jerusalem, but then, when all of His family and friends had left for Jerusalem, Jesus went up to Jerusalem in secret: “Then Jesus said to them: ‘Go you up to this festival day, but I go not up to this festival day―because My time is not accomplished!’ When He had said these things, He Himself stayed in Galilee. But after His brethren were gone up [to Jerusalem], then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but, as it were, in secret” (John 7:8-10).
Secretly Hiding in Darkness and Silence
“All darkness is hid in his secret places” (Job 20:26). “God is not before his eyes―his ways are filthy at all times. Thy judgments are removed from his sight. For he hath said in his heart: ‘I shall not be moved from generation to generation!’ His mouth is full of cursing, and of bitterness, and of deceit. He sitteth in ambush with the rich, in private places, that he may kill the innocent. His eyes are upon the poor man: He lieth in wait in secret, like a lion in his den. He lieth in ambush that he may catch the poor man: to catch the poor, whilst he draweth him to him!” (Psalm 9:26-30). “He is become to me as a bear lying in wait―as a lion in secret places!” (Lamentations 3:10). “They have taken me―like a lion prepared for the prey; and as a young lion dwelling in secret places!” (Psalms 16:12). “Their joy was like that of him that devoureth the poor man in secret” (Habacuc 3:14).
“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For the things that are done by them in secret, it is a shame even to speak of. But all things that are reproved, are made manifest by the light; for all that is made manifest is light!” (Ephesians 5:11-13). “He shall not depart out of darkness―the flame shall dry up his branches, and he shall be taken away by the breath of his own mouth. He shall not believe―being vainly deceived by error―that he may be redeemed. Before his days be full, he shall perish and his hands shall wither away” (Job 15:30-32). “And Jesus said to them: ‘For there is nothing hid, which shall not be made manifest―neither was it made secret, but that it may come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear! Take heed what you hear!’” (Mark 4:22-24). “For there is not anything secret that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden, that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how you hear!” (Luke 8:17-18).
Freemasonry and Satan
Freemasonry is one of the secret organizations that seek to dwell, talk, operate and act in the shadows of darkness―preferring the darkness of Satan to the light of Christ. Entering into the ranks of Freemasonry means entering into the army and school of Satan. Known by many names—the Devil (Matthew 4:1), Belial (2 Corinthians 6:15), Beelzebub (Matthew 10:25), the Wicked One (Matthew 13:19), the Prince of the power of this air (Ephesians 2:2), the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), a Liar and the Father of Lies (John 8:44), the great accuser, Satan (Job 1:6)―all of these names, like jigsaw puzzle pieces, when put together, tell us what Satan is like.
Furthermore, like produces like―goats beget goats and not sheep; the sun produces heat and not cold; God only does good and nothing sinful; since God is love (1 John 4:8), Satan cannot love, only hate―all of this comes down to what Our Lord said of trees: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:15-20).
Thus, as like begets like, Satan has begotten Freemasonry. Now, the lowest grades of Freemasonry are not entirely aware of this―as it is typically and infernally, according to Satan’s style, clothed in secrecy and ambiguity―but these lowest grades of Freemasonry are nevertheless Freemasons and members of the Synagogue of Satan―just like a newly baptized person is a member of the Catholic Church. The Catholic might not be very Christ-like in the beginning, similarly the Freemason is not very Satan-like in the beginning, but, as the “starting-out” Catholic belongs to Christ though imperfectly, the “starting-out” Freemason belongs to the devil though not perfectly―but, since joining the Masons is still a mortal sin, as long as the Freemason remains within the organization, he or she is living in mortal sin, thus, in enmity to God, and thus a friend of Satan.
Papal Condemnations of Freemasonry
This is why the popes, one after another after the ‘birth’ of Freemasonry, have sought to bring its works of darkness into the light.
Pope Clement XII, in 1738―merely 21 years after the modern Freemasonry was born in London in 1717―came out strongly against the secret society of Freemasonry and any other and all other secret societies, by his Encyclical In Eminenti Apostolatus, in which he writes:
“It has come to Our ears, and common gossip has made clear, that certain Societies, Companies, Assemblies, Meetings, Congregations or Conventicles called in the popular tongue Liberi Muratori or Francs Massons [Freemasons], or by other names according to the various languages, are spreading far and wide and daily growing in strength; and men of any Religion or sect, satisfied with the appearance of natural probity, are joined together, according to their laws and the statutes laid down for them, by a strict and unbreakable bond which obliges them, both by an oath upon the Holy Bible and by a host of grievous punishment, to an inviolable silence about all that they do in secret together ... This rumor has grown to such proportions that in several countries these societies have been forbidden by the civil authorities as being against the public security, and for some time past have appeared to be prudently eliminated ... Having taken counsel among the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and with certain knowledge and mature deliberations, with the fullness of the Apostolic power, we hereby determine and have decreed that these same Societies, Companies, Assemblies, Meetings, Congregations, or Conventicles of Liberi Muratori or Francs Massons [Freemasons], or whatever other name they may go by, are to be condemned and prohibited, and, by Our present Constitution, which is valid for ever, We do condemn and prohibit them …
“Wherefore We command, most strictly and in virtue of holy obedience, all the faithful, whether clerical or lay, secular or regular, that none, under any pretext or for any reason, shall dare or presume to enter, propagate or support these aforesaid societies of Liberi Muratori or Francs Massons [Freemasons], or however else they are called, or to receive them in their houses or dwellings, or to hide them, be enrolled among them, joined to them, be present with them, give power or permission for them to meet elsewhere, to help them in any way, to give them in any way advice, encouragement or support, either openly or in secret, directly or indirectly, on their own or through others; nor are they to urge others or tell them, incite or persuade them to be enrolled in such societies or to be counted among their number, or to be present or to assist them in any way; but they must stay completely clear of such Societies, Companies, Assemblies, Meetings, Congregations or Conventicles, under pain of excommunication for all the above mentioned people, which is incurred by the very deed without any declaration being required, and from whiich no one can obtain the benefit of absolution, other than at the hour of death, except through Ourselves or the Roman Pontiff of the time.” (Pope Clement XII, In Eminenti Apostolatus).
From that time until today, here is a list of Papal Encyclicals that warn against and condemn Freemasonry:
1738: Clement XII, In Eminenti Apostolatus
1751: Benedict XIV, Providas Romanorum
1821: Pius VII, Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo
1825: Leo XII, Quo graviora
1829: Pius VIII, Traditi Humilitati
1830: Pius VIII, Litteris Altero
1832: Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos
1846: Pius IX, Qui Pluribus
1849: Pius IX, Quibus Quantisque Malis
1864: Pius IX, Quanta Cura
1865: Pius IX, Multiplices Inter
1869: Pius IX, Apostolicae Sedis Moderationi
1873: Pius IX, Etsi Multa
1882: Leo XIII, Etsi Nos
1884: Leo XIII, Humanum Genus
1887: Leo XIII, Officio Sanctissimo
1890: Leo XIII, Dall'alto dell'Apostolico Seggio
1892: Leo XIII, Custodi di Quella Fede
1892: Leo XIII, Inimica Vis
1894: Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae
1902: Leo XIII, Annum Ingressi
1906: Pius X, Vehementer
1907: Pius X, Letter to France
1910: Pius X, Letter to the French Episcopate
Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical, Humanum Genus, published in 1884, states the positions clearly:
“The race of man, after its miserable fall from God, the Creator and the Giver of heavenly gifts, «through the envy of the devil», separated into two diverse and opposite parts―one steadfastly for truth and virtue, the other for things which are contrary to virtue and to truth. The one is the kingdom of God on Earth, namely, the true Church of Jesus Christ. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader and of our first parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their own, in contempt of God, and many aims also against God….. At every period of time, each has been in conflict with the other, with a variety and multiplicity of weapons and of warfare. At this period of time, however, the partisans of evil seems to be combining together, and to be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons.” (Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical, Humanum Genus).
Several years later, Pope Leo XIII repeated his warnings, in another Encyclical, Inimica Vis, published on December 8th, 1892:
“The enemy forces, inspired by the evil spirit, ever wage war on the Christian name. They join forces in this endeavor with certain groups of men whose purpose is to subvert divinely revealed truths … Indeed, how much damage these cohorts, as it were, have inflicted on the Church is well-known. The spirit of all previous groups, hostile to Catholic institutions, has come to life again in that group called the Masonic sect, which, strong in manpower and resources, is the leader in a war against anything sacred … Our predecessors in the Roman pontificate have, in the course of a century-and-a-half, outlawed this group not once, but repeatedly. We too, have condemned it strongly to Christian people, so that they might beware of its wiles and bravely repel its impious assaults. Moreover, lest cowardice and sloth overtake us imperceptibly, We have deliberately endeavored to reveal the secrets of this pernicious sect and the means by which it labors for the destruction of the Catholic enterprise … Fearing nothing and yielding to no one, the Masonic sect proceeds with greater boldness day by day … Sufficiently weighty are the words of Our predecessor Felix III in this regard. «An error which is not resisted is approved; a truth which is not defended is suppressed .... He who does not oppose an evident crime, is open to the suspicion of secret complicity» … Our whole life is involved in a constant battle in which our salvation itself is at stake; nothing is more disgraceful for a Christian than cowardice ... In the presence of such audacious evils, it is not sufficient merely to be aware of the wiles of this vile sect: we must also war against it, using those very arms furnished by the divine Faith which once prevailed against paganism ... If the dispositions of both sides be inspected―then those who wage war on religion seem to show more energy than those who repel it. But for those who seek salvation, there can be no middle ground between laborious struggle and destruction. Therefore, in the case of the weak and sluggish, courage must be stirred up through your efforts; in the case of the strong, it must be kept active.” (Pope Leo XIII, Humanum Genus).
In an accompanying letter, addressed to the people (the above letter was addressed to the clergy), Pope Leo XIII, in his Encyclical Leo XIII, Custodi di Quella Fede, written on the same day as the above letter (December 8th, 1892), says:
“Masonry … for a long time now, has bored its way under the deceitful guise of a philanthropic society and redeemer of the people. By way of conspiracies, corruptions, and violence, it has finally come to dominate … The satanic intent of the persecutors [Freemasons] has been to substitute naturalism for Christianity, substitute the worship of reason for the worship of Faith, substitute a so-called independent morality for Catholic morality, and material progress for spiritual progress. To the holy maxims and laws of the Gospel, they have opposed laws and maxims which can be called the code of revolution. They have also opposed an atheistic doctrine and a vile realism against school, science, and the Christian arts ... If the administration of the Sacraments could not be impeded, they sought nonetheless to introduce and promote civil marriages and funerals. If they have not yet succeeded in seizing control of education and the direction of charitable institutions, they always aim with perseverance to laicize everything, which is to remove the mark of Christianity from it. If they could not silence the voice of the Catholic press, they made every effort to discredit and revile it … Proud of its successes, the sect herself has spoken out and told us all its past accomplishments and future goals …
“The road is very short from religious to social ruin. The heart of man is no longer raised to heavenly hopes and loves; capable and needing the infinite, it throws itself insatiably on the goods of this earth. Inevitably there is a perpetual struggle of avid passions to enjoy, become rich, and rise. Then we encounter a large and inexhaustible source of grudges, discords, corruptions, and crimes. In our Italy there was no lack of moral and social disorders before the present events―but what a sorrowful spectacle we see in our days! That loving respect which forms domestic harmony is substantially diminished; paternal authority is too often unrecognized by children and parents alike. Disagreements are frequent, divorce common. Civil discords and resentful anger, between the various orders, increase every day in the cities. New generations, which grew up in a spirit of misunderstood freedom, are unleashed in the cities―generations which do not respect anything from above or below. The cities teem with incitements to vice, precocious crimes, and public scandals … Finally, the general social order is undermined at its foundations. Books and journals, schools and universities, clubs and theaters, monuments and political discourse, photographs and the fine arts, everything conspires to pervert minds and corrupt hearts …
“Such are the fruits which the Masonic sect has borne … The facts say that in the plans of Masonry, the names of political independence, equality, civilization, and progress aimed to facilitate the independence of man from God … The facts say that Masonic patriotism is no less than sectarian egotism which yearns to dominate everything, particularly the modern states which unite and concentrate everything in their hands. The facts say that in the plans of Masonry, the names of political independence, equality, civilization, and progress aimed to facilitate the independence of man from God in our country. From them, license of error and vice and union of faction at the expense of other citizens have grown. The easy and delicious enjoyment of life by the world’s fortunate is nurtured in the same source. A people redeemed by Divine Blood have thus returned to divisions, corruptions, and the shames of paganism … this sect tries to overthrow the Catholic Church and to cut off its divine sources. It absolutely denies the supernatural, repudiating every revelation and all the means of salvation which revelation shows us. Through its plans and works, it bases itself solely and entirely on such a weak and corrupt nature as ours … Masonry as an enemy of God, Church, and country. Recognize it as such once and for all, and with all the weapons which reason, conscience, and Faith put in your hands, defend yourselves from such a proud foe. Let no one be taken in by its attractive appearance, or allured by its promises; do not be seduced by its enticements or frightened by its threats. Remember that Christianity and Masonry are essentially irreconcilable, such that to join one is to divorce the other … Those who have given their name to one of these societies of perdition, should know that they are strictly bound to separate themselves from it. Otherwise they must remain separated from Christian communion [excommunicated] and lose their soul now and for eternity” (Leo XIII, Encyclical, Custodi di Quella Fede).
Pope St. Pius X (1903-1914), the successor to Pope Leo XIII, gave his greater attention to Sillonisme and to Modernism, which can be said to be the fruits or offspring of efforts of Freemasonry, but, nevertheless he did not forget the destructive work of Freemasonry itself. He requested the Polish people to abstain from joining any conspiracy schemed by the malevolent Sects. Later he extended words of consolation to the faithful of France, in the following words:
“And now it is to you, Catholics of France, that We speak; may Our words reach you as a consolation in the midst of the terrible calamities through which you must pass. You are well aware of the self-assigned aim of the impious sectarians [the Freemasons], who have subjugated you under their yoke. With cynic audacity they themselves proclaimed their aim which was ‘Uproot Catholicism in France.’ They want to extirpate from your hearts, namely its last root, the Faith which covered your ancestors with glory; the Faith which brought prosperity and greatness to your Fatherland … It is this Faith which you yourselves feel has to be defended.”
Lastly, Pope St. Pius X, in the Letter to the Church of France, wrote: “It is not the Church who first raised the standard, she did so only because war had been declared against her. For the last 25 years she has only had to bear the struggle. Such is the Truth. Declarations, a thousand times published and republished in the Press, in congresses, in Masonic conventions, in the very halls of Parliament, are proof in themselves that attacks against the Church have been led progressively and systematically. Such facts cannot be denied and against them mere words cannot prevail” (Pope St. Pius X, Letter to the Church in France, January 6th, 1907).
Fundamentally just as did his predecessors, Pius X denounces the maneuvers of the Counter-Church, moreover in his Letter of condemnation of the Sillon, he deliberately designates the Masonic lodges in the following terms: “We all but too well know the dens of darkness [Freemason lodges] wherein those pernicious doctrines are elaborated ... Clear minds should not be seduced by them” (Pope St. Pius X, Letter to the French Episcopate, August 25th, 1910).
The Alta Vendita Plan for Church Destruction
In 1859, the French Cardinal, Jacques Crétineau-Joly, published Masonic documents obtained by the Vatican in his book, The Roman Church facing the Revolution. The documents came from a the majorly important lodge of Italian Freemasonry called the Alta Vendita. One of these documents became to be known as The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita. Twenty-six years later, in 1885, Msgr. George Dillon published an English translation of these documents in his book, Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked as the Secret Power Behind Communism, which is a very thorough coverage of all the chief aspects of Freemasonry and its historical evolution.
The strategy advanced in the Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita is astonishing in its audacity and cunning. From the start, the document tells of a process that will take decades to accomplish. Those who drew up the document knew that they would not see its fulfillment. They were inaugurating a work that would be carried on by succeeding generations of the initiated. “In our ranks the soldier dies and the struggle goes on.”
The Instruction called for the dissemination of Liberal ideas and axioms throughout society and within the institutions of the Catholic Church so that laity, clerics and prelates would, over the years, gradually are imbued with progressive principles.
In time, this mind-set would be so pervasive that priests would be ordained, bishops would be consecrated, and cardinals would be nominated, all of whose thinking was in step with the modern thought rooted in the French Revolution’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and other “Principles of 1789” (religious pluralism, equality of religions, separation of Church and State, etc.)
Eventually, a Pope would be elected from these ranks who would lead the Church on the path of enlightenment and renewal. It must be stressed that it was not their aim to place a Freemason on the Chair of Peter. Their goal was to effect an environment that would eventually produce a Pope and a hierarchy won over to the ideas of Liberal Catholicism, all the while believing themselves to be faithful Catholics.
These Catholic leaders, then, would no longer oppose the modern ideas of the revolution (as had been the consistent practice of the Popes from 1789 until 1958 who condemned these Liberal principles) but would amalgamate them into the Church. The end result would be a Catholic clergy and laity marching under the banner of the enlightenment all the while thinking they are marching under the banner of the Apostolic keys.
The Authenticity of the Alta Vendita Documents
The secret papers of the Alta Vendita that fell into the hands of Pope Gregory XVI embrace a period that goes from 1820 to 1846. They were published at the request of Pope Pus IX by Cretineau-Joly in his work The Roman Church and Revolution. With the brief of approbation of February 25th, 1861 which he addressed to the author, Pope Pus IX guaranteed the authenticity of these documents, but he did not allow anyone to divulge the true members of the Alta Vendita implicated in this correspondence.
The full text of the Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita is also contained in Msgr. George E. Dillon’s book, Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked. When Pope Leo was presented with a copy of Msgr. Dillon’s book, he was so impressed that he ordered an Italian version to be completed and published at his own expense. In the encyclical Humanum Genus, Leo XIII called upon Catholic leaders to “tear off the mask from Freemasonry and make plain to all what it really is.” The publication of these documents is a means of “tearing off the mask.” And if the Popes asked that these letters be published, it is because they want all Catholics to know the secret societies’ plans to subvert the Church from within ― so that Catholics would be on their guard and hopefully, prevent such a catastrophe from taking place.
The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita
What follows is not the entire Instruction, but the section that is most pertinent to our discussion. The document reads:
“Our ultimate end is that of Voltaire and the French Revolution ― the final destruction of Catholicism, and even of the Christian idea... The Pope, whoever he is, will never come to the secret societies; it is up to the secret societies to take the first step toward the Church, with the aim of conquering both of them. The task that we are going to undertake is not the work of a day, or of a month, or of a year; it may last several years, perhaps a century, but in our ranks the soldier dies and the struggle goes on. We do not intend to win the Popes to our cause, to make them neophytes of our principles, propagators of our ideas. That would be a ridiculous dream; and if events turn out in some way, if Cardinals or prelates, for example, of their own free will or by surprise, should enter into a part of our secrets, this is not at all an incentive for desiring their elevation to the See of Peter. That elevation would ruin us. Ambition alone would have led them to apostasy, the requirements of power would force them to sacrifice us. What we must ask for, what we should look for and wait for, as the Jews wait for the Messias, is a Pope according to our needs...
“With that we will march more securely towards the assault on the Church than with pamphlets of our brethren in France and even the gold of England. Do you want to know the reason for this? It is that with this, in order to shatter the high rock on which God has built His Church, we no longer need Hannibalian vinegar, or need gunpowder, or even need our arms. We have the little finger of the successor of Peter engaged in the ploy, and this little finger is as good, for this crusade, as all the Urban IIs and all the Saint Bernards in Christendom.
“We have no doubt that we will arrive at this supreme end of our efforts. But when? But how? The unknown is not yet revealed. Nevertheless, as nothing should turn us aside from the plan drawn up, and on the contrary everything should tend to this, as if as early as tomorrow success were going to crown the work that is barely sketched, we wish, in this instruction, which will remain secret for the mere initiates, to give the officials in the charge of the supreme Vente (Lodge) some advice that they should instill in all the brethren, in the form of instruction or of a memorandum.
“Now then, to assure ourselves a Pope of the required dimensions, it is a question first of shaping him... for this Pope, a generation worthy of the reign we are dreaming of. Leave old people and those of a mature age aside; go to the youth, and if it is possible, even to the children. You will contrive for yourselves, at little cost, a reputation as good Catholics and pure patriots. This reputation will put access to our doctrines into the midst of the young clergy, as well as deeply into the monasteries. In a few years, by the force of things, this young clergy will have overrun - all the functions; they will form the sovereign’s council, they will be called to choose a Pontiff who should reign. And this Pontiff, like most of his contemporaries, will be necessarily more or less imbued with the Italian and, humanitarian principles that we are going to begin to put into circulation. It is a small grain of black mustard that we are entrusting to the ground; but the sunshine of justice will develop it up to the highest power, and you will see one day what a rich harvest this small seed will produce.
“In the path that we are laying out for our brethren, there are found great obstacles to conquer, difficulties of more than one kind to master. They will triumph over them by experience and by nearsightedness; but the goal is so splendid that it is important to put all the sail to the wind in order to reach it. You want to revolutionize Italy, look for the Pope whose portrait we have just drawn. You wish to establish the reign of the chosen ones on the throne of the prostitute of Babylon; let the Clergy march under your standard, always believing that they are marching under the banner of the apostolic keys. You intend to make the last vestige of tyrants and the oppressors disappear; lay your snares (nets) like Simon Bar-Jona; lay them in the sacristies, the seminaries, and the monasteries rather than at the bottom of the sea: and if you do not hurry, we promise you a catch more miraculous than his. The fisher of fish became the fisher of men; you will bring friends around the apostolic Chair. You will have preached a resolution in tiara and in cope, marching with the cross and the banner, a revolution that will need to be only a little bit urged on to set fire to the four corners of the world.”
Steady and Constant Infiltration
According to the French historian, Bernard Faÿ (1893–1978), the 1723 Constitutions of the newly founded Freemasons, spoke of having its own Catholic religion. By the middle of the 18th century (1700s), Freemasonry was thriving in Europe. Masons were to be found in all kinds of professions. At that time there was no organized opposition by the French Catholic Church against Freemasonry. From 1788 to 1790 (the French Revolution took place in 1789), French Freemasonry flourished everywhere―in the Parliament, in the army, in the religious monasteries, in the universities and schools, and the clergy was not to be left behind! In one town, there was a Freemasonic lodge entirely composed of monks of the nearby Benedictine monastery. The Freemason lodge of Des Neuf Souers (Nine Sisters), had 13 priests, and 27 other Freemasonic lodges had priests as “Worshipful Masters.” However, the leadership and higher Masonic ranks were generally filled by higher nobility―for Freemasonry had become very popular amongst the nobility of Europe.
After the death of Pope Leo XIII, during the 1903 papal conclave, through the voice of Cardinal John Puszyna of Krakow, the aging Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria exercised the jus exclusivae [right of exclusion] for the last time in Church history, blocking the election to the papacy of Cardinal Mariano Rampolla, Pope Leo XIII’s Secretary of State. There are many theories on why Emperor Franz Joseph would have interrupted the election of Rampolla. Some allege that Rampolla was a supporter of Liberal and anti-clerical France which was opposed to Austria. Others have argued that it was because of Rampolla’s support of agitator Karl Lueger, mayor of Vienna and leader of the Christian Social Party, a thorn in Emperor Franz Joseph’s side. Some have even suggested that it was because Cardinal Rampolla denied Christian burial to Rudolph, Franz Joseph’s son, who allegedly had committed suicide under mysterious circumstances. Others suggest a less political reason for Franz Joseph’s intervention: Cardinal Rampolla was not only a Freemason, these sources allege, but also a member of Satanic OTO or Ordo Templi Orientis—an elite occult organization, whose most famous member was the notorious Satanist, Aleister Crowley. More specifically, it is alleged that Cardinal Rampolla would attend meetings of the Zurich OTO lodge, as well as meetings near the Abbey of Einsiedeln, while vacationing in Switzerland. The primary purpose of these meetings, it is alleged, was not simply to engage in bizarre Luciferian rituals, but also to shift the papal policy of Pope Leo XIII to support the Revolutionary French Third Republic. Finally, some have argued, when Cardinal Mariano Rampolla’s membership in the lodge was revealed to Pope St. Pius X, the saintly pontiff is alleged to have had the information burned, in order to avoid scandal. Whether or not Cardinal Rampolla was a member of the Satanic OTO, or any branch of Freemasonry, has yet to be definitively proved. However, there is little doubt that the cardinal supported the liberal Masonic government of France and very likely was a driving force behind Pope Leo XIII’s more conciliatory stance toward French Masonic Republicanism.
We see echoes of this in the future years, when, in Mexico, after the Freemason government had taken over the Church, they put their own men in as priests and brothers and monks. Likewise with Communism in Russia―where the KGB (Russian Secret Service) would place Communists in the seminaries and thus gain a stranglehold over the Church and the faithful. We see the same in the USA, when in the 1940s and 1950s, Communists and moral degenerates were infiltrated into the Catholic seminaries in the USA.
By the time the Second Vatican Council came around, the numbers of Freemasons in the Catholic Church had not only swelled, but had reached the highest positions in the Church. It would include the Secretary of State (the Number Two man in the Church), Prefects (heads) of various Congregations in the Roman Curia―such as the Congregations for appointing future cardinals and bishops, Congregations in charge of education and schools, Congregations in charge of Canon Law and making any changes to Church Law, Congregations for Divine Worship and Liturgy, etc. Not to mention a whole host of other cardinals, bishops, priests and abbots throughout the world. Already back in the mid-1990s, an important bishop revealed that were FOUR Freemason lodges in the Vatican that were dedicated to the HIGHER CLERGY working within the Vatican.
It has even been alleged that Pope John XXIII (Cardinal Roncalli) was a Freemason. The Portugal Daily News (November 11th, 2002), published an article in which it referred to Fátima International (FI), a historic review organization with offices in Australia, USA, Paraguay and Portugal, which had issued a press release claiming that Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, who was elected as Pope John XXlll in 1958, was a Freemason. In 1994, the Portuguese newspapers “O Dia” and “Correio de Domingo” published a summary of Fátima International’s investigations into the case, which stated that Pope John XXlll [Cardinal Roncalli] had been initiated into a secret society, the Order of Rosicrucians, whilst serving as the Vatican’s Charge d´Affairs in Paris during 1935. A spokesman for Fátima International told Portugal Daily News that Virgilio Guito, former head of the Italian Grande Oriente Masonic Lodges, in a statement published by the French newspaper 30 Days” said: “It seems that Pope John XXIII has been initiated in Paris, and participated in the works of the Lodges in Istanbul.” The spokesman said that, as leader of Italian Masonry, Virgilio Guito would be in a position to know with certainty if Angelo Roncalli had been initiated into the Order in Paris. “It would be incredibly reckless of him to make such a statement if it were not true” he said.
In 1976, the Vatican had failed to respond to the Italian journal, Burghese, which had published a list of over one hundred bishops and cardinals, who it claimed were Freemasons. The list was supposed to have been taken from the Italian Masonic Register and included the initiation dates and code names assigned to each of the clerics involved.
As Holy Scripture says or warns: “‘Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him?’ saith the Lord” (Jeremias 23:24). The so-called “Three Days of Darkness” will be fitting reward for those who love and live in darkness.
Having listed below some of the chief “fake news” and “false-flag operations” that involve the Catholic Church, let us go through them, one by one.
● The False Flag Op of Church Infiltration
● The Fake News surrounding of the Third Secret of Fatima
● The False Flag Op of the False Lucia of Fatima
● The Fake News of Papal Elections
● The False Flag Op of the False Pope Paul VI
● The False Flag Op of the ‘Counterfeit’ Church
● The False Flag Op of the New Mass
● The False Flag Op of Episcopal Consecrations
● The False Flag Op of Priestly Ordinations
● The False Flag Op of the New Sacraments
● The Fake News of the New Theology
● The False Flag Op of Ecumenism
● The Fake News of Universal Salvation
Incredulous of Infiltration?
What was said in the previous article is worth repeating here as we enter into this topic of infiltration. If you do not think that the Church is infiltrated, then “Goodbye and good luck!” Go back your TV set, smartphone, trivial social media and enjoy yourself while you still can! Go and create your own “virtual reality” and ignore the “real reality” that has been staring the Church in the face for around 200 years. If you do not know your history, then you will learn your history by repeating the mistakes of history. The “real reality” is that pope after pope has spoken of infiltration of one kind or another―whether political, philosophical or religious―for around 200 years and beyond, back to the Protestant Reformation [Revolution] that was sparked in 1517.
Our Lady has warned us of that infiltration for over 300 years―as Our Lady of Good Success (Quito, Ecuador in the 1600s), as Our Lady of La Salette (France in 1846) and as Our Lady of Akita (Japan in 1973): “I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights ... Russia [Communism] will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.
“The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church.
“The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. “The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night!” (Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette and Our Lady of Akita).
On top of that we have the enemies of the Church themselves admitting to their plans to infiltrate and subvert the Church and also reporting on their successes in achieving those plans.
Masons Under the Mat, Communists in the Closet
America went through a “Red Scare” with its “Reds Under The Bed” period after the Second World War, from around 1947 to 1957. Communism had taken over Russia in 1917―the same year Our Lady was appearing at Fatima and warning us about Russia and her errors for the future. That number “17” also plays a part―not just in Communism, but also in Freemasonry, for it was in the year 1717 that modern-day Freemasonry was born in London, England. That number “17” also appears in a striking manner in the year 1517, when on October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther defiantly nailed the door of the Wittenberg Castle church a copy of his “95 Theses” ― a list of questions and propositions for debate―which would later become the foundation of the Protestant Reformation.
A Free-For-All Freemasonry
Freemasons, Francmaçons, Libremuoratori, Freimauren, were the names given throughout Europe to the builders of the great medieval cathedrals. They belonged to Catholic guilds and were bound by strict adherence to the tenets of the Catholic faith and morality. As they traveled from country to country with different languages and customs, they developed their own set of signs, symbols and gestures as means of mutual recognition. These builders were known as “operative” masons.
In the aftermath of newly sparked Protestant Revolution―which like a forest fire was spreading throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, England, having for the most part lost the true Catholic Faith, fell foul of free-thinkers, agnostics, alchemists, “antiquarians” (those interested in pre-Christian religions), spiritualists, and Rosicrucians (a fellowship dedicated to restoring the earthly paradise through scientific advancement and occult knowledge)―all of which freely began emerge and grow by openly forming cenacles, salons, clubs and secret societies to further their aims.
With the decline of cathedral building in the aftermath of the Protestant Revolution (1517 onwards), the guilds of Masons began accepting non-masons as members to bolster their dwindling membership. Eventually, the non-masons outnumbered the Masons, and the guilds became places for the discussion of ethics and morality and the other things listed in the previous paragraph, while still retaining the secret signs, symbols and gestures of the original guild. Four such guilds merged together in 1717 in London, England, to form a unified “Grand Lodge” of Freemasons. (A "freemason" was highly skilled stonemason who enjoyed the privileges of membership in a trade guild). The Masons then spread throughout the world―arriving in continental Europe by 1721 and America by 1730. They came together to build, not cathedrals to the glory of God, but a temple dedicated to the glorification and perfection of man. Under the guise of rebuilding Solomon’s Temple, a symbol of human wisdom, these “Free builders” or “speculative” masons adopted the rituals and signs of the earlier Cathedral builders to secretly set about building a new world order, or Novus Ordo Saeculorum. This new order, according to its adepts would be based on human rights, liberty, equality, fraternity and the universal brotherhood of man.
“Filled with the spirit of Satan, who knows how to transform himself into an angel of light, Freemasonry puts forward as its pretended aim the good of humanity. Paying a lip service to the authority of law, and even to the obligations of religion, it aims (as its own statutes declare), at the destruction of civil authority and of the Christian priesthood, both of which it regards as the foes of human liberty.” (Pope Leo XIII: Parvenu a la Vingt-cinquieme annee, 1902).
Following the tendency of the day―the Protestant Revolution against the Catholic Faith and political revolution against the monarchies of Europe―supposedly free from the arbitrary dictates of “altar and throne” (Church and monarchies), Masonic lodges spread across continental Europe throughout the 18th and 19th centuries fomenting political unrest and social upheavals. The vast majority of revolutionary thinkers of the period, including Rousseau and Voltaire, were Freemasons. The lure of the lodges was that in a highly structured class system also religiously divided, they accepted men of all ranks, stations and faiths without distinction into a fraternal bond of philanthropy. Masonry presented itself as “a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.” The “Craft” was there to “make good men better” regardless of their religious or political affiliations.
Origins of Freemasonry
Monsignor George Dillon (1836-1893), in his book Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked, writes: “The Jewish connection with modern Freemasonry is an established fact everywhere manifested in its history. The Jewish formulas employed by Freemasonry, the Jewish traditions which run through its ceremonial, point to a Jewish origin, or to the work of Jewish contrivers .... Who knows but behind the Atheism and desire of gain which impels them to urge on Christians to persecute the Church and destroy it, there lies a hidden hope to reconstruct their Temple, and, in the darkest depths of secret society plotting, there lurks a deeper society still, which looks to a return to the land of Judah and to the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem?”
The Catholic historian, William Thomas Walsh (1891-1949), in the 16th chapter of his book, Philip II, entitled, “Freemasonry in the 16th Century”, shows that there was already, at that time, some sort of secret organization engaged in working for naturalism against ordered submission to Christ the King. He adds that “it is no longer debatable that, if the false leaders of the Jews did not originate the secret societies to cover their own anti-Christian activities and to influence credulous members of the Christian communities, they had a great deal to do with the business. The degrees and ritual of Freemasonry are shot through with Jewish symbolism: the candidate is going to the East, towards Jerusalem, he is going to rebuild the Temple (destroyed in fulfillment of the prophecy of Christ) ... The Grand Orient and Scottish Rite lodges, sources of so many modern revolutions, are more militant, more open and apparently more virulent than some of the others whom they are leading into a single world-organization by gradual steps.” Another author, A. Cowan, writes: “The Jews have swarmed into it (Freemasonry) from the earliest times and controlled the higher grades and councils of the ancient and accepted Scottish rite since the beginning of the nineteenth century.” (A. Cowan, The X-Rays in Freemasonry, p. 61― “A. Cowan” was a pseudonym for the Catholic author, Dr. James J. L. Ratton, 1845-1924).
The Jewish writer, Bernard Lazare, so remarkable for his hatred of Our Divine Lord and the Catholic Church, is in full agreement with William Thomas Walsh, who was a splendid Catholic. “It is certain,” writes Lazare, “that there were Jews at the cradle of Freemasonry — Kabbalistic Jews, as is proved by some of the rites that have been preserved. During the years that preceded the French Revolution, they very probably entered in greater numbers still into the councils of the society and founded secret societies themselves. There were Jews around Weishaupt, and Martinez de Pasqualis, a Jew of Portuguese origin, organized numerous groups of Illuminati in France, recruiting many adepts to whom he taught the doctrine of reintegration. The lodges founded by Martinez were mystical, whilst the other orders of Freemasonry were rather rationalist. This permits one to say that the secret societies represented the two sides of the Jewish mind: practical rationalization and pantheism.” (Bernard Lazare, L’Antisemitisme, p. 339).
The Devil You See―The Devil You Don’t See
We all know the idiom: “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t!” ― you could also say: “Better the devil you can see than the devil you don’t see!” This should remind us of the saying: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!” ― which could also be transformed to “A enemy in plain view is worth two out of sight!” Or, as another idiom says: “Our of sight, out of mind!” ― and Satan with his stooges prefer to be out sight and out of mind, so that we do not get them “in our sights” and pull the trigger. Satan and his stooges would be out of their minds not to be out of sight! You cannot shoot what you cannot see. Neither will you attack something that you do not hate or fear. As the philosophical axiom states: “No one loves what no one knows!” ― meaning that knowledge must precede love, for we cannot love what we know nothing about. Likewise, you could say: “No one hates what they know nothing about!” St. Thérèse of Lisieux complained that Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known―similarly, you could say: “The enemies of the Church are so little hated because they are little known!”
Working in Secrecy―Being Invisible to the Masses
When did you last see the devil? “Huh? Are you nuts?” you exclaim. No! When did you last see the devil at work? You haven’t even seen the devil at work once―in your whole lifetime the devil has been working on you and around you 24 hours a day and you have not even seen him once! Though the devil might be the proudest of the proud, he is not stupid. When you are fighting an enemy, you achieve more by being hidden than by being in the open. Reveal yourself and you will quickly be “out of business”! Though the devil is proud, he is not stupid and prefers to work in the shadows even though he desires glory. This has always been the policy in war, business, sports, etc. You camouflage your soldiers, you attack at night when you’re out of sight; you do not publish your research so that competitors can steal your ideas; you train behind closed doors and do not open your training sessions to anyone and everyone. Our Lord Himself, to avoid His persecutors, once said that He would not go up to Jerusalem, but then, when all of His family and friends had left for Jerusalem, Jesus went up to Jerusalem in secret: “Then Jesus said to them: ‘Go you up to this festival day, but I go not up to this festival day―because My time is not accomplished!’ When He had said these things, He Himself stayed in Galilee. But after His brethren were gone up [to Jerusalem], then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but, as it were, in secret” (John 7:8-10).
Secretly Hiding in Darkness and Silence
“All darkness is hid in his secret places” (Job 20:26). “God is not before his eyes―his ways are filthy at all times. Thy judgments are removed from his sight. For he hath said in his heart: ‘I shall not be moved from generation to generation!’ His mouth is full of cursing, and of bitterness, and of deceit. He sitteth in ambush with the rich, in private places, that he may kill the innocent. His eyes are upon the poor man: He lieth in wait in secret, like a lion in his den. He lieth in ambush that he may catch the poor man: to catch the poor, whilst he draweth him to him!” (Psalm 9:26-30). “He is become to me as a bear lying in wait―as a lion in secret places!” (Lamentations 3:10). “They have taken me―like a lion prepared for the prey; and as a young lion dwelling in secret places!” (Psalms 16:12). “Their joy was like that of him that devoureth the poor man in secret” (Habacuc 3:14).
“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For the things that are done by them in secret, it is a shame even to speak of. But all things that are reproved, are made manifest by the light; for all that is made manifest is light!” (Ephesians 5:11-13). “He shall not depart out of darkness―the flame shall dry up his branches, and he shall be taken away by the breath of his own mouth. He shall not believe―being vainly deceived by error―that he may be redeemed. Before his days be full, he shall perish and his hands shall wither away” (Job 15:30-32). “And Jesus said to them: ‘For there is nothing hid, which shall not be made manifest―neither was it made secret, but that it may come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear! Take heed what you hear!’” (Mark 4:22-24). “For there is not anything secret that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden, that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how you hear!” (Luke 8:17-18).
Freemasonry and Satan
Freemasonry is one of the secret organizations that seek to dwell, talk, operate and act in the shadows of darkness―preferring the darkness of Satan to the light of Christ. Entering into the ranks of Freemasonry means entering into the army and school of Satan. Known by many names—the Devil (Matthew 4:1), Belial (2 Corinthians 6:15), Beelzebub (Matthew 10:25), the Wicked One (Matthew 13:19), the Prince of the power of this air (Ephesians 2:2), the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), a Liar and the Father of Lies (John 8:44), the great accuser, Satan (Job 1:6)―all of these names, like jigsaw puzzle pieces, when put together, tell us what Satan is like.
Furthermore, like produces like―goats beget goats and not sheep; the sun produces heat and not cold; God only does good and nothing sinful; since God is love (1 John 4:8), Satan cannot love, only hate―all of this comes down to what Our Lord said of trees: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them!” (Matthew 7:15-20).
Thus, as like begets like, Satan has begotten Freemasonry. Now, the lowest grades of Freemasonry are not entirely aware of this―as it is typically and infernally, according to Satan’s style, clothed in secrecy and ambiguity―but these lowest grades of Freemasonry are nevertheless Freemasons and members of the Synagogue of Satan―just like a newly baptized person is a member of the Catholic Church. The Catholic might not be very Christ-like in the beginning, similarly the Freemason is not very Satan-like in the beginning, but, as the “starting-out” Catholic belongs to Christ though imperfectly, the “starting-out” Freemason belongs to the devil though not perfectly―but, since joining the Masons is still a mortal sin, as long as the Freemason remains within the organization, he or she is living in mortal sin, thus, in enmity to God, and thus a friend of Satan.
Papal Condemnations of Freemasonry
This is why the popes, one after another after the ‘birth’ of Freemasonry, have sought to bring its works of darkness into the light.
Pope Clement XII, in 1738―merely 21 years after the modern Freemasonry was born in London in 1717―came out strongly against the secret society of Freemasonry and any other and all other secret societies, by his Encyclical In Eminenti Apostolatus, in which he writes:
“It has come to Our ears, and common gossip has made clear, that certain Societies, Companies, Assemblies, Meetings, Congregations or Conventicles called in the popular tongue Liberi Muratori or Francs Massons [Freemasons], or by other names according to the various languages, are spreading far and wide and daily growing in strength; and men of any Religion or sect, satisfied with the appearance of natural probity, are joined together, according to their laws and the statutes laid down for them, by a strict and unbreakable bond which obliges them, both by an oath upon the Holy Bible and by a host of grievous punishment, to an inviolable silence about all that they do in secret together ... This rumor has grown to such proportions that in several countries these societies have been forbidden by the civil authorities as being against the public security, and for some time past have appeared to be prudently eliminated ... Having taken counsel among the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and with certain knowledge and mature deliberations, with the fullness of the Apostolic power, we hereby determine and have decreed that these same Societies, Companies, Assemblies, Meetings, Congregations, or Conventicles of Liberi Muratori or Francs Massons [Freemasons], or whatever other name they may go by, are to be condemned and prohibited, and, by Our present Constitution, which is valid for ever, We do condemn and prohibit them …
“Wherefore We command, most strictly and in virtue of holy obedience, all the faithful, whether clerical or lay, secular or regular, that none, under any pretext or for any reason, shall dare or presume to enter, propagate or support these aforesaid societies of Liberi Muratori or Francs Massons [Freemasons], or however else they are called, or to receive them in their houses or dwellings, or to hide them, be enrolled among them, joined to them, be present with them, give power or permission for them to meet elsewhere, to help them in any way, to give them in any way advice, encouragement or support, either openly or in secret, directly or indirectly, on their own or through others; nor are they to urge others or tell them, incite or persuade them to be enrolled in such societies or to be counted among their number, or to be present or to assist them in any way; but they must stay completely clear of such Societies, Companies, Assemblies, Meetings, Congregations or Conventicles, under pain of excommunication for all the above mentioned people, which is incurred by the very deed without any declaration being required, and from whiich no one can obtain the benefit of absolution, other than at the hour of death, except through Ourselves or the Roman Pontiff of the time.” (Pope Clement XII, In Eminenti Apostolatus).
From that time until today, here is a list of Papal Encyclicals that warn against and condemn Freemasonry:
1738: Clement XII, In Eminenti Apostolatus
1751: Benedict XIV, Providas Romanorum
1821: Pius VII, Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo
1825: Leo XII, Quo graviora
1829: Pius VIII, Traditi Humilitati
1830: Pius VIII, Litteris Altero
1832: Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos
1846: Pius IX, Qui Pluribus
1849: Pius IX, Quibus Quantisque Malis
1864: Pius IX, Quanta Cura
1865: Pius IX, Multiplices Inter
1869: Pius IX, Apostolicae Sedis Moderationi
1873: Pius IX, Etsi Multa
1882: Leo XIII, Etsi Nos
1884: Leo XIII, Humanum Genus
1887: Leo XIII, Officio Sanctissimo
1890: Leo XIII, Dall'alto dell'Apostolico Seggio
1892: Leo XIII, Custodi di Quella Fede
1892: Leo XIII, Inimica Vis
1894: Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae
1902: Leo XIII, Annum Ingressi
1906: Pius X, Vehementer
1907: Pius X, Letter to France
1910: Pius X, Letter to the French Episcopate
Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical, Humanum Genus, published in 1884, states the positions clearly:
“The race of man, after its miserable fall from God, the Creator and the Giver of heavenly gifts, «through the envy of the devil», separated into two diverse and opposite parts―one steadfastly for truth and virtue, the other for things which are contrary to virtue and to truth. The one is the kingdom of God on Earth, namely, the true Church of Jesus Christ. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader and of our first parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their own, in contempt of God, and many aims also against God….. At every period of time, each has been in conflict with the other, with a variety and multiplicity of weapons and of warfare. At this period of time, however, the partisans of evil seems to be combining together, and to be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons.” (Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical, Humanum Genus).
Several years later, Pope Leo XIII repeated his warnings, in another Encyclical, Inimica Vis, published on December 8th, 1892:
“The enemy forces, inspired by the evil spirit, ever wage war on the Christian name. They join forces in this endeavor with certain groups of men whose purpose is to subvert divinely revealed truths … Indeed, how much damage these cohorts, as it were, have inflicted on the Church is well-known. The spirit of all previous groups, hostile to Catholic institutions, has come to life again in that group called the Masonic sect, which, strong in manpower and resources, is the leader in a war against anything sacred … Our predecessors in the Roman pontificate have, in the course of a century-and-a-half, outlawed this group not once, but repeatedly. We too, have condemned it strongly to Christian people, so that they might beware of its wiles and bravely repel its impious assaults. Moreover, lest cowardice and sloth overtake us imperceptibly, We have deliberately endeavored to reveal the secrets of this pernicious sect and the means by which it labors for the destruction of the Catholic enterprise … Fearing nothing and yielding to no one, the Masonic sect proceeds with greater boldness day by day … Sufficiently weighty are the words of Our predecessor Felix III in this regard. «An error which is not resisted is approved; a truth which is not defended is suppressed .... He who does not oppose an evident crime, is open to the suspicion of secret complicity» … Our whole life is involved in a constant battle in which our salvation itself is at stake; nothing is more disgraceful for a Christian than cowardice ... In the presence of such audacious evils, it is not sufficient merely to be aware of the wiles of this vile sect: we must also war against it, using those very arms furnished by the divine Faith which once prevailed against paganism ... If the dispositions of both sides be inspected―then those who wage war on religion seem to show more energy than those who repel it. But for those who seek salvation, there can be no middle ground between laborious struggle and destruction. Therefore, in the case of the weak and sluggish, courage must be stirred up through your efforts; in the case of the strong, it must be kept active.” (Pope Leo XIII, Humanum Genus).
In an accompanying letter, addressed to the people (the above letter was addressed to the clergy), Pope Leo XIII, in his Encyclical Leo XIII, Custodi di Quella Fede, written on the same day as the above letter (December 8th, 1892), says:
“Masonry … for a long time now, has bored its way under the deceitful guise of a philanthropic society and redeemer of the people. By way of conspiracies, corruptions, and violence, it has finally come to dominate … The satanic intent of the persecutors [Freemasons] has been to substitute naturalism for Christianity, substitute the worship of reason for the worship of Faith, substitute a so-called independent morality for Catholic morality, and material progress for spiritual progress. To the holy maxims and laws of the Gospel, they have opposed laws and maxims which can be called the code of revolution. They have also opposed an atheistic doctrine and a vile realism against school, science, and the Christian arts ... If the administration of the Sacraments could not be impeded, they sought nonetheless to introduce and promote civil marriages and funerals. If they have not yet succeeded in seizing control of education and the direction of charitable institutions, they always aim with perseverance to laicize everything, which is to remove the mark of Christianity from it. If they could not silence the voice of the Catholic press, they made every effort to discredit and revile it … Proud of its successes, the sect herself has spoken out and told us all its past accomplishments and future goals …
“The road is very short from religious to social ruin. The heart of man is no longer raised to heavenly hopes and loves; capable and needing the infinite, it throws itself insatiably on the goods of this earth. Inevitably there is a perpetual struggle of avid passions to enjoy, become rich, and rise. Then we encounter a large and inexhaustible source of grudges, discords, corruptions, and crimes. In our Italy there was no lack of moral and social disorders before the present events―but what a sorrowful spectacle we see in our days! That loving respect which forms domestic harmony is substantially diminished; paternal authority is too often unrecognized by children and parents alike. Disagreements are frequent, divorce common. Civil discords and resentful anger, between the various orders, increase every day in the cities. New generations, which grew up in a spirit of misunderstood freedom, are unleashed in the cities―generations which do not respect anything from above or below. The cities teem with incitements to vice, precocious crimes, and public scandals … Finally, the general social order is undermined at its foundations. Books and journals, schools and universities, clubs and theaters, monuments and political discourse, photographs and the fine arts, everything conspires to pervert minds and corrupt hearts …
“Such are the fruits which the Masonic sect has borne … The facts say that in the plans of Masonry, the names of political independence, equality, civilization, and progress aimed to facilitate the independence of man from God … The facts say that Masonic patriotism is no less than sectarian egotism which yearns to dominate everything, particularly the modern states which unite and concentrate everything in their hands. The facts say that in the plans of Masonry, the names of political independence, equality, civilization, and progress aimed to facilitate the independence of man from God in our country. From them, license of error and vice and union of faction at the expense of other citizens have grown. The easy and delicious enjoyment of life by the world’s fortunate is nurtured in the same source. A people redeemed by Divine Blood have thus returned to divisions, corruptions, and the shames of paganism … this sect tries to overthrow the Catholic Church and to cut off its divine sources. It absolutely denies the supernatural, repudiating every revelation and all the means of salvation which revelation shows us. Through its plans and works, it bases itself solely and entirely on such a weak and corrupt nature as ours … Masonry as an enemy of God, Church, and country. Recognize it as such once and for all, and with all the weapons which reason, conscience, and Faith put in your hands, defend yourselves from such a proud foe. Let no one be taken in by its attractive appearance, or allured by its promises; do not be seduced by its enticements or frightened by its threats. Remember that Christianity and Masonry are essentially irreconcilable, such that to join one is to divorce the other … Those who have given their name to one of these societies of perdition, should know that they are strictly bound to separate themselves from it. Otherwise they must remain separated from Christian communion [excommunicated] and lose their soul now and for eternity” (Leo XIII, Encyclical, Custodi di Quella Fede).
Pope St. Pius X (1903-1914), the successor to Pope Leo XIII, gave his greater attention to Sillonisme and to Modernism, which can be said to be the fruits or offspring of efforts of Freemasonry, but, nevertheless he did not forget the destructive work of Freemasonry itself. He requested the Polish people to abstain from joining any conspiracy schemed by the malevolent Sects. Later he extended words of consolation to the faithful of France, in the following words:
“And now it is to you, Catholics of France, that We speak; may Our words reach you as a consolation in the midst of the terrible calamities through which you must pass. You are well aware of the self-assigned aim of the impious sectarians [the Freemasons], who have subjugated you under their yoke. With cynic audacity they themselves proclaimed their aim which was ‘Uproot Catholicism in France.’ They want to extirpate from your hearts, namely its last root, the Faith which covered your ancestors with glory; the Faith which brought prosperity and greatness to your Fatherland … It is this Faith which you yourselves feel has to be defended.”
Lastly, Pope St. Pius X, in the Letter to the Church of France, wrote: “It is not the Church who first raised the standard, she did so only because war had been declared against her. For the last 25 years she has only had to bear the struggle. Such is the Truth. Declarations, a thousand times published and republished in the Press, in congresses, in Masonic conventions, in the very halls of Parliament, are proof in themselves that attacks against the Church have been led progressively and systematically. Such facts cannot be denied and against them mere words cannot prevail” (Pope St. Pius X, Letter to the Church in France, January 6th, 1907).
Fundamentally just as did his predecessors, Pius X denounces the maneuvers of the Counter-Church, moreover in his Letter of condemnation of the Sillon, he deliberately designates the Masonic lodges in the following terms: “We all but too well know the dens of darkness [Freemason lodges] wherein those pernicious doctrines are elaborated ... Clear minds should not be seduced by them” (Pope St. Pius X, Letter to the French Episcopate, August 25th, 1910).
The Alta Vendita Plan for Church Destruction
In 1859, the French Cardinal, Jacques Crétineau-Joly, published Masonic documents obtained by the Vatican in his book, The Roman Church facing the Revolution. The documents came from a the majorly important lodge of Italian Freemasonry called the Alta Vendita. One of these documents became to be known as The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita. Twenty-six years later, in 1885, Msgr. George Dillon published an English translation of these documents in his book, Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked as the Secret Power Behind Communism, which is a very thorough coverage of all the chief aspects of Freemasonry and its historical evolution.
The strategy advanced in the Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita is astonishing in its audacity and cunning. From the start, the document tells of a process that will take decades to accomplish. Those who drew up the document knew that they would not see its fulfillment. They were inaugurating a work that would be carried on by succeeding generations of the initiated. “In our ranks the soldier dies and the struggle goes on.”
The Instruction called for the dissemination of Liberal ideas and axioms throughout society and within the institutions of the Catholic Church so that laity, clerics and prelates would, over the years, gradually are imbued with progressive principles.
In time, this mind-set would be so pervasive that priests would be ordained, bishops would be consecrated, and cardinals would be nominated, all of whose thinking was in step with the modern thought rooted in the French Revolution’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and other “Principles of 1789” (religious pluralism, equality of religions, separation of Church and State, etc.)
Eventually, a Pope would be elected from these ranks who would lead the Church on the path of enlightenment and renewal. It must be stressed that it was not their aim to place a Freemason on the Chair of Peter. Their goal was to effect an environment that would eventually produce a Pope and a hierarchy won over to the ideas of Liberal Catholicism, all the while believing themselves to be faithful Catholics.
These Catholic leaders, then, would no longer oppose the modern ideas of the revolution (as had been the consistent practice of the Popes from 1789 until 1958 who condemned these Liberal principles) but would amalgamate them into the Church. The end result would be a Catholic clergy and laity marching under the banner of the enlightenment all the while thinking they are marching under the banner of the Apostolic keys.
The Authenticity of the Alta Vendita Documents
The secret papers of the Alta Vendita that fell into the hands of Pope Gregory XVI embrace a period that goes from 1820 to 1846. They were published at the request of Pope Pus IX by Cretineau-Joly in his work The Roman Church and Revolution. With the brief of approbation of February 25th, 1861 which he addressed to the author, Pope Pus IX guaranteed the authenticity of these documents, but he did not allow anyone to divulge the true members of the Alta Vendita implicated in this correspondence.
The full text of the Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita is also contained in Msgr. George E. Dillon’s book, Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked. When Pope Leo was presented with a copy of Msgr. Dillon’s book, he was so impressed that he ordered an Italian version to be completed and published at his own expense. In the encyclical Humanum Genus, Leo XIII called upon Catholic leaders to “tear off the mask from Freemasonry and make plain to all what it really is.” The publication of these documents is a means of “tearing off the mask.” And if the Popes asked that these letters be published, it is because they want all Catholics to know the secret societies’ plans to subvert the Church from within ― so that Catholics would be on their guard and hopefully, prevent such a catastrophe from taking place.
The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita
What follows is not the entire Instruction, but the section that is most pertinent to our discussion. The document reads:
“Our ultimate end is that of Voltaire and the French Revolution ― the final destruction of Catholicism, and even of the Christian idea... The Pope, whoever he is, will never come to the secret societies; it is up to the secret societies to take the first step toward the Church, with the aim of conquering both of them. The task that we are going to undertake is not the work of a day, or of a month, or of a year; it may last several years, perhaps a century, but in our ranks the soldier dies and the struggle goes on. We do not intend to win the Popes to our cause, to make them neophytes of our principles, propagators of our ideas. That would be a ridiculous dream; and if events turn out in some way, if Cardinals or prelates, for example, of their own free will or by surprise, should enter into a part of our secrets, this is not at all an incentive for desiring their elevation to the See of Peter. That elevation would ruin us. Ambition alone would have led them to apostasy, the requirements of power would force them to sacrifice us. What we must ask for, what we should look for and wait for, as the Jews wait for the Messias, is a Pope according to our needs...
“With that we will march more securely towards the assault on the Church than with pamphlets of our brethren in France and even the gold of England. Do you want to know the reason for this? It is that with this, in order to shatter the high rock on which God has built His Church, we no longer need Hannibalian vinegar, or need gunpowder, or even need our arms. We have the little finger of the successor of Peter engaged in the ploy, and this little finger is as good, for this crusade, as all the Urban IIs and all the Saint Bernards in Christendom.
“We have no doubt that we will arrive at this supreme end of our efforts. But when? But how? The unknown is not yet revealed. Nevertheless, as nothing should turn us aside from the plan drawn up, and on the contrary everything should tend to this, as if as early as tomorrow success were going to crown the work that is barely sketched, we wish, in this instruction, which will remain secret for the mere initiates, to give the officials in the charge of the supreme Vente (Lodge) some advice that they should instill in all the brethren, in the form of instruction or of a memorandum.
“Now then, to assure ourselves a Pope of the required dimensions, it is a question first of shaping him... for this Pope, a generation worthy of the reign we are dreaming of. Leave old people and those of a mature age aside; go to the youth, and if it is possible, even to the children. You will contrive for yourselves, at little cost, a reputation as good Catholics and pure patriots. This reputation will put access to our doctrines into the midst of the young clergy, as well as deeply into the monasteries. In a few years, by the force of things, this young clergy will have overrun - all the functions; they will form the sovereign’s council, they will be called to choose a Pontiff who should reign. And this Pontiff, like most of his contemporaries, will be necessarily more or less imbued with the Italian and, humanitarian principles that we are going to begin to put into circulation. It is a small grain of black mustard that we are entrusting to the ground; but the sunshine of justice will develop it up to the highest power, and you will see one day what a rich harvest this small seed will produce.
“In the path that we are laying out for our brethren, there are found great obstacles to conquer, difficulties of more than one kind to master. They will triumph over them by experience and by nearsightedness; but the goal is so splendid that it is important to put all the sail to the wind in order to reach it. You want to revolutionize Italy, look for the Pope whose portrait we have just drawn. You wish to establish the reign of the chosen ones on the throne of the prostitute of Babylon; let the Clergy march under your standard, always believing that they are marching under the banner of the apostolic keys. You intend to make the last vestige of tyrants and the oppressors disappear; lay your snares (nets) like Simon Bar-Jona; lay them in the sacristies, the seminaries, and the monasteries rather than at the bottom of the sea: and if you do not hurry, we promise you a catch more miraculous than his. The fisher of fish became the fisher of men; you will bring friends around the apostolic Chair. You will have preached a resolution in tiara and in cope, marching with the cross and the banner, a revolution that will need to be only a little bit urged on to set fire to the four corners of the world.”
Steady and Constant Infiltration
According to the French historian, Bernard Faÿ (1893–1978), the 1723 Constitutions of the newly founded Freemasons, spoke of having its own Catholic religion. By the middle of the 18th century (1700s), Freemasonry was thriving in Europe. Masons were to be found in all kinds of professions. At that time there was no organized opposition by the French Catholic Church against Freemasonry. From 1788 to 1790 (the French Revolution took place in 1789), French Freemasonry flourished everywhere―in the Parliament, in the army, in the religious monasteries, in the universities and schools, and the clergy was not to be left behind! In one town, there was a Freemasonic lodge entirely composed of monks of the nearby Benedictine monastery. The Freemason lodge of Des Neuf Souers (Nine Sisters), had 13 priests, and 27 other Freemasonic lodges had priests as “Worshipful Masters.” However, the leadership and higher Masonic ranks were generally filled by higher nobility―for Freemasonry had become very popular amongst the nobility of Europe.
After the death of Pope Leo XIII, during the 1903 papal conclave, through the voice of Cardinal John Puszyna of Krakow, the aging Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria exercised the jus exclusivae [right of exclusion] for the last time in Church history, blocking the election to the papacy of Cardinal Mariano Rampolla, Pope Leo XIII’s Secretary of State. There are many theories on why Emperor Franz Joseph would have interrupted the election of Rampolla. Some allege that Rampolla was a supporter of Liberal and anti-clerical France which was opposed to Austria. Others have argued that it was because of Rampolla’s support of agitator Karl Lueger, mayor of Vienna and leader of the Christian Social Party, a thorn in Emperor Franz Joseph’s side. Some have even suggested that it was because Cardinal Rampolla denied Christian burial to Rudolph, Franz Joseph’s son, who allegedly had committed suicide under mysterious circumstances. Others suggest a less political reason for Franz Joseph’s intervention: Cardinal Rampolla was not only a Freemason, these sources allege, but also a member of Satanic OTO or Ordo Templi Orientis—an elite occult organization, whose most famous member was the notorious Satanist, Aleister Crowley. More specifically, it is alleged that Cardinal Rampolla would attend meetings of the Zurich OTO lodge, as well as meetings near the Abbey of Einsiedeln, while vacationing in Switzerland. The primary purpose of these meetings, it is alleged, was not simply to engage in bizarre Luciferian rituals, but also to shift the papal policy of Pope Leo XIII to support the Revolutionary French Third Republic. Finally, some have argued, when Cardinal Mariano Rampolla’s membership in the lodge was revealed to Pope St. Pius X, the saintly pontiff is alleged to have had the information burned, in order to avoid scandal. Whether or not Cardinal Rampolla was a member of the Satanic OTO, or any branch of Freemasonry, has yet to be definitively proved. However, there is little doubt that the cardinal supported the liberal Masonic government of France and very likely was a driving force behind Pope Leo XIII’s more conciliatory stance toward French Masonic Republicanism.
We see echoes of this in the future years, when, in Mexico, after the Freemason government had taken over the Church, they put their own men in as priests and brothers and monks. Likewise with Communism in Russia―where the KGB (Russian Secret Service) would place Communists in the seminaries and thus gain a stranglehold over the Church and the faithful. We see the same in the USA, when in the 1940s and 1950s, Communists and moral degenerates were infiltrated into the Catholic seminaries in the USA.
By the time the Second Vatican Council came around, the numbers of Freemasons in the Catholic Church had not only swelled, but had reached the highest positions in the Church. It would include the Secretary of State (the Number Two man in the Church), Prefects (heads) of various Congregations in the Roman Curia―such as the Congregations for appointing future cardinals and bishops, Congregations in charge of education and schools, Congregations in charge of Canon Law and making any changes to Church Law, Congregations for Divine Worship and Liturgy, etc. Not to mention a whole host of other cardinals, bishops, priests and abbots throughout the world. Already back in the mid-1990s, an important bishop revealed that were FOUR Freemason lodges in the Vatican that were dedicated to the HIGHER CLERGY working within the Vatican.
It has even been alleged that Pope John XXIII (Cardinal Roncalli) was a Freemason. The Portugal Daily News (November 11th, 2002), published an article in which it referred to Fátima International (FI), a historic review organization with offices in Australia, USA, Paraguay and Portugal, which had issued a press release claiming that Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, who was elected as Pope John XXlll in 1958, was a Freemason. In 1994, the Portuguese newspapers “O Dia” and “Correio de Domingo” published a summary of Fátima International’s investigations into the case, which stated that Pope John XXlll [Cardinal Roncalli] had been initiated into a secret society, the Order of Rosicrucians, whilst serving as the Vatican’s Charge d´Affairs in Paris during 1935. A spokesman for Fátima International told Portugal Daily News that Virgilio Guito, former head of the Italian Grande Oriente Masonic Lodges, in a statement published by the French newspaper 30 Days” said: “It seems that Pope John XXIII has been initiated in Paris, and participated in the works of the Lodges in Istanbul.” The spokesman said that, as leader of Italian Masonry, Virgilio Guito would be in a position to know with certainty if Angelo Roncalli had been initiated into the Order in Paris. “It would be incredibly reckless of him to make such a statement if it were not true” he said.
In 1976, the Vatican had failed to respond to the Italian journal, Burghese, which had published a list of over one hundred bishops and cardinals, who it claimed were Freemasons. The list was supposed to have been taken from the Italian Masonic Register and included the initiation dates and code names assigned to each of the clerics involved.
As Holy Scripture says or warns: “‘Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him?’ saith the Lord” (Jeremias 23:24). The so-called “Three Days of Darkness” will be fitting reward for those who love and live in darkness.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Thursday May 16th & Friday Mary 17th
Article 14
The Real Story of the Real Crisis
Article 14
The Real Story of the Real Crisis
The Real Crisis―The Con Con-undrum
Before we delve into “The Real Crisis”, let us first of all look at a couple things that have become very commonplace and popular on a worldwide scale. In today’s politics, there is much talk these days of “Fake News”, “False Flag Ops”, etc. With the advent of the electronic media outlets―namely, the internet―anyone can become a journalist and post articles on their own modern-day newspaper―that is to say, a blog or forum―and make up their own news. Traditionally news came from trusted sources―journalists and media outlets that are required to follow strict codes of practice. However, the internet has enabled a whole new way of publishing, sharing and consuming information and news―with very little regulation or editorial standards.
Many people now get news from social media sites and networks and it can often be difficult to tell whether stories are credible or not. Information overload and a general lack of understanding about how the internet works, has also contributed to an increase in fake news or hoax stories. Social media sites can play a big part in increasing the reach of these type of stories. Add to mix the fact that so many images can be “photoshopped” or modified by computer software programs such as Photoshop―and the possibility of backing up fake news by fake photos makes it all the more difficult to tell the fake from the true.
False Flags Ops
A “false flag op” or “false flag operation” is a covert, secret, hidden operation designed to deceive―the deception creates the appearance of a particular party, group, or nation being responsible for some activity, by disguising the actual true source of responsibility. The term “false flag” originally referred to pirate ships that flew flags of countries as a disguise, to prevent their victims from fleeing from the pirate ship or preparing for battle. Sometimes the flag would remain and the blame for the attack would be laid incorrectly on another country.
The term today extends beyond naval encounters to include countries that organize attacks on themselves and while making the attacks appear to be performed by enemy nations or terrorists―thus giving the nation that was supposedly attacked a pretext and an excuse for domestic repression and foreign military aggression. In other words, you can have a Russian soldiers dressed as American soldiers, perform an attack on another country and then place the blame at the feet of America. Or Americans doing the same thing dressed as Russians. Operations carried out during peacetime by civilian organizations, as well as covert government agencies, can (by extension) also be called false flag operations, if they seek to hide the real organization behind an operation.
Fake News
“Fake news” was not a term many people used four years ago, but it is now seen as one of the greatest threats to democracy, free debate and the Western political and social order. Fake news―also known as “junk news” or “pseudo-news”―is a type of “yellow journalism” or propaganda, that consists of little or no legitimate well-researched news, while, instead, using eye-catching headlines for increased sales.
Techniques may include deliberate disinformation; or hoaxes created to deliberately misinform or deceive readers; exaggerations of news events; scandal-mongering; or sensationalism―all of which is spread via traditional news media (print and TV and radio broadcast), or on online by internet news sites, blogs, forums and social media. Fake news is written and published usually with the intent to mislead in order to damage an agency, entity, or person, and/or gain financially or politically, often using sensationalist, dishonest, or outright fabricated headlines in order to increase readership while damaging the target. Lots of things you read online― especially in your social media feeds―may appear to be true, but often are not.
Usually, these stories are created to either influence people’s views, push a political agenda, or cause confusion, doubt, mistrust and division, while often being a profitable business for online publishers. Fake news stories can deceive people by looking like trusted websites, or using similar names and web addresses to reputable news organizations. According to Martina Chapman (Media Literacy Expert), the three chief basic and common elements to fake news―Mistrust, Misinformation and Manipulation.
Is the Catholic Church the Victim of Fake News and False Flag Ops?
This brings us to the next stage or next question―is the Catholic Church the victim of fake news and false-flag operations? You would like think and say “No!”―but that would be fake news! The Catholic Church most certainly is the victim of fake news and false flag operations―far more than you would like to think and perhaps far more than your emotions can handle! We fail to notice these things because we have been “dumbed-down” and are more a race of “feelers” rather than “thinkers”―we actually know very little but make mountains out of our molehills of knowledge. We argue with superficial clichés and picked-up phrases, rather than use deep thought-out principles. We are only able to superficially skim and scan, and cannot really read, analyze, understand, formulate concepts, define and synthesize―we possibly don’t even know what “synthesize” and those other terms mean! We are, like Our Lord says in the parable of the Sower of the Seed, without real understanding, without any real depth and too engrossed with the world:
“And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture … The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
If we have little time for the word of God, then we will have little knowledge of the word of God―which then makes us susceptible to the word of the world (or the word of the devil, for he is the prince of this world). The world sows it words in our minds and hearts, just like the cockle was sown among the wheat in Our Lord’s parable of the Cockle and the Wheat. We are spiritually drowsy and asleep, and this permits the world and the devil to sow their fake news and perform their false flag operations: “A man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: ‘Sir! Didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?’ And he said to them: ‘An enemy hath done this!’” (Matthew 13:24-28).
What Has the Enemy Done?
What has the enemy done? A helluva lot! That’s what we get for letting our spiritual and theological mind go to sleep or into hibernation! “O foolish people and without understanding: who have eyes and see not; and ears and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “Thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house: who have eyes to see and see not: and ears to hear and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “God hath given them the spirit of insensibility―eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear―until this present day!” (Romans 11:8). “The gods of this world hath blinded the minds so that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ should not shine unto them!” (2 Corinthians 4:4). We are blind to what is going on around us and within us. “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams” (Isaias 56:10). “Knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind … anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:17-18). But we have eyes mainly (or only) for the world―which has dazzled and blinded us with its gods and idols. For most, the prescription sadly is: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). A pitiful state of affairs.
Thus, while the Catholic world has been progressively drowsily nodding-off and falling asleep, the enemy has increasingly sown the cockle of erroneous ideologies (Rationalism, Liberalism, Modernism) and the sown the cockle of infiltration (Freemasons, Communists, Liberals, Modernists and even Satanists) within the Church―witnessed to by Pope Paul VI and testified to by Our Lady of Akita.
Pope Paul VI lamented that the Second Vatican Council’s “opening to the world” had already begun to cause endless calamity, that “the opening to the world became a veritable invasion of the Church by worldly thinking. We have perhaps been too weak and imprudent.” (Speech of November 23rd, 1973). Pope Paul VI admitted: “From some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God” (June 29th, 1972). A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977). When Rome’s lately deceased (2016) chief exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth was asked: “Is it really true that Paul VI said: that ‘the smoke of Satan” entered the church?’” Fr. Gabriele Amorth replied: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences.” (Taken from Fr. Amorth’s Memoirs). As Our Lady of Akita said in 1973: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops!”
Just Some of the Chief Fake News and False Flag Ops Within the Church
● The False Flag Op of Church Infiltration
● The Fake News surrounding of the Third Secret of Fatima
● The False Flag Op of the False Lucia of Fatima
● The Fake News of Papal Elections
● The False Flag Op of the False Pope Paul VI
● The False Flag Op of the ‘Counterfeit’ Church
● The False Flag Op of the New Mass
● The False Flag Op of Episcopal Consecrations
● The False Flag Op of Priestly Ordinations
● The False Flag Op of the New Sacraments
● The Fake News of the New Theology
● The False Flag Op of Ecumenism
● The Fake News of Universal Salvation
Let us now look at these points one-by-one
The False Flag Ops of Church Infiltration
Before we delve into “The Real Crisis”, let us first of all look at a couple things that have become very commonplace and popular on a worldwide scale. In today’s politics, there is much talk these days of “Fake News”, “False Flag Ops”, etc. With the advent of the electronic media outlets―namely, the internet―anyone can become a journalist and post articles on their own modern-day newspaper―that is to say, a blog or forum―and make up their own news. Traditionally news came from trusted sources―journalists and media outlets that are required to follow strict codes of practice. However, the internet has enabled a whole new way of publishing, sharing and consuming information and news―with very little regulation or editorial standards.
Many people now get news from social media sites and networks and it can often be difficult to tell whether stories are credible or not. Information overload and a general lack of understanding about how the internet works, has also contributed to an increase in fake news or hoax stories. Social media sites can play a big part in increasing the reach of these type of stories. Add to mix the fact that so many images can be “photoshopped” or modified by computer software programs such as Photoshop―and the possibility of backing up fake news by fake photos makes it all the more difficult to tell the fake from the true.
False Flags Ops
A “false flag op” or “false flag operation” is a covert, secret, hidden operation designed to deceive―the deception creates the appearance of a particular party, group, or nation being responsible for some activity, by disguising the actual true source of responsibility. The term “false flag” originally referred to pirate ships that flew flags of countries as a disguise, to prevent their victims from fleeing from the pirate ship or preparing for battle. Sometimes the flag would remain and the blame for the attack would be laid incorrectly on another country.
The term today extends beyond naval encounters to include countries that organize attacks on themselves and while making the attacks appear to be performed by enemy nations or terrorists―thus giving the nation that was supposedly attacked a pretext and an excuse for domestic repression and foreign military aggression. In other words, you can have a Russian soldiers dressed as American soldiers, perform an attack on another country and then place the blame at the feet of America. Or Americans doing the same thing dressed as Russians. Operations carried out during peacetime by civilian organizations, as well as covert government agencies, can (by extension) also be called false flag operations, if they seek to hide the real organization behind an operation.
Fake News
“Fake news” was not a term many people used four years ago, but it is now seen as one of the greatest threats to democracy, free debate and the Western political and social order. Fake news―also known as “junk news” or “pseudo-news”―is a type of “yellow journalism” or propaganda, that consists of little or no legitimate well-researched news, while, instead, using eye-catching headlines for increased sales.
Techniques may include deliberate disinformation; or hoaxes created to deliberately misinform or deceive readers; exaggerations of news events; scandal-mongering; or sensationalism―all of which is spread via traditional news media (print and TV and radio broadcast), or on online by internet news sites, blogs, forums and social media. Fake news is written and published usually with the intent to mislead in order to damage an agency, entity, or person, and/or gain financially or politically, often using sensationalist, dishonest, or outright fabricated headlines in order to increase readership while damaging the target. Lots of things you read online― especially in your social media feeds―may appear to be true, but often are not.
Usually, these stories are created to either influence people’s views, push a political agenda, or cause confusion, doubt, mistrust and division, while often being a profitable business for online publishers. Fake news stories can deceive people by looking like trusted websites, or using similar names and web addresses to reputable news organizations. According to Martina Chapman (Media Literacy Expert), the three chief basic and common elements to fake news―Mistrust, Misinformation and Manipulation.
Is the Catholic Church the Victim of Fake News and False Flag Ops?
This brings us to the next stage or next question―is the Catholic Church the victim of fake news and false-flag operations? You would like think and say “No!”―but that would be fake news! The Catholic Church most certainly is the victim of fake news and false flag operations―far more than you would like to think and perhaps far more than your emotions can handle! We fail to notice these things because we have been “dumbed-down” and are more a race of “feelers” rather than “thinkers”―we actually know very little but make mountains out of our molehills of knowledge. We argue with superficial clichés and picked-up phrases, rather than use deep thought-out principles. We are only able to superficially skim and scan, and cannot really read, analyze, understand, formulate concepts, define and synthesize―we possibly don’t even know what “synthesize” and those other terms mean! We are, like Our Lord says in the parable of the Sower of the Seed, without real understanding, without any real depth and too engrossed with the world:
“And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture … The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
If we have little time for the word of God, then we will have little knowledge of the word of God―which then makes us susceptible to the word of the world (or the word of the devil, for he is the prince of this world). The world sows it words in our minds and hearts, just like the cockle was sown among the wheat in Our Lord’s parable of the Cockle and the Wheat. We are spiritually drowsy and asleep, and this permits the world and the devil to sow their fake news and perform their false flag operations: “A man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: ‘Sir! Didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?’ And he said to them: ‘An enemy hath done this!’” (Matthew 13:24-28).
What Has the Enemy Done?
What has the enemy done? A helluva lot! That’s what we get for letting our spiritual and theological mind go to sleep or into hibernation! “O foolish people and without understanding: who have eyes and see not; and ears and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “Thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house: who have eyes to see and see not: and ears to hear and hear not―for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” (Mark 8:18). “God hath given them the spirit of insensibility―eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear―until this present day!” (Romans 11:8). “The gods of this world hath blinded the minds so that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ should not shine unto them!” (2 Corinthians 4:4). We are blind to what is going on around us and within us. “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams” (Isaias 56:10). “Knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind … anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:17-18). But we have eyes mainly (or only) for the world―which has dazzled and blinded us with its gods and idols. For most, the prescription sadly is: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). A pitiful state of affairs.
Thus, while the Catholic world has been progressively drowsily nodding-off and falling asleep, the enemy has increasingly sown the cockle of erroneous ideologies (Rationalism, Liberalism, Modernism) and the sown the cockle of infiltration (Freemasons, Communists, Liberals, Modernists and even Satanists) within the Church―witnessed to by Pope Paul VI and testified to by Our Lady of Akita.
Pope Paul VI lamented that the Second Vatican Council’s “opening to the world” had already begun to cause endless calamity, that “the opening to the world became a veritable invasion of the Church by worldly thinking. We have perhaps been too weak and imprudent.” (Speech of November 23rd, 1973). Pope Paul VI admitted: “From some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God” (June 29th, 1972). A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977). When Rome’s lately deceased (2016) chief exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth was asked: “Is it really true that Paul VI said: that ‘the smoke of Satan” entered the church?’” Fr. Gabriele Amorth replied: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences.” (Taken from Fr. Amorth’s Memoirs). As Our Lady of Akita said in 1973: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops!”
Just Some of the Chief Fake News and False Flag Ops Within the Church
● The False Flag Op of Church Infiltration
● The Fake News surrounding of the Third Secret of Fatima
● The False Flag Op of the False Lucia of Fatima
● The Fake News of Papal Elections
● The False Flag Op of the False Pope Paul VI
● The False Flag Op of the ‘Counterfeit’ Church
● The False Flag Op of the New Mass
● The False Flag Op of Episcopal Consecrations
● The False Flag Op of Priestly Ordinations
● The False Flag Op of the New Sacraments
● The Fake News of the New Theology
● The False Flag Op of Ecumenism
● The Fake News of Universal Salvation
Let us now look at these points one-by-one
The False Flag Ops of Church Infiltration
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Tuesday May 14th & Wednesday May 15th
Article 13
Have You Been Conned?
Article 13
Have You Been Conned?
CON-sidering the “Con”
The word “con” is an abbreviation of the word “confidence trick”―which is an attempt to defraud, fool or trick a person or group after first gaining their confidence, used in the classical sense of trust. Confidence tricks exploit typical human characteristics such as greed, dishonesty, vanity, opportunism, lust, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility, desperation, and naïvety. As such, there is no consistent profile of a confidence trick victim; the common factor is simply that the victim relies on the good faith of the con artist. Victims of investment scams tend to show an incautious level of greed and gullibility, and many con artists target the elderly, but even alert and educated people may be taken in by other forms of a confidence trick.
Synonyms (words having the same or almost the same meaning as another word in the same language) by which a “confidence trick” is also known, are: a con game, a con, a scam, a grift, a play, a hustle, a bunko (or bunco), a swindle, a flim-flam, a gaffle or a bamboozle. The intended victims are known as marks, suckers, stooges, mugs, rubes or gulls (from the word gullible). When accomplices are employed, they are known as shills. The words “sting”, or “close”, or “crush”, or “kill”, refer to the moment when a con artist finishes the “con”, or “scam”, or “grift” or “play” and takes the mark’s money.
As for the length of time spent on the con, they are classified into two types: short and long cons. A short con or small con is a fast swindle which takes just minutes. It typically aims to rob the victim of everything in his or her wallet, house, car, etc. It is a kind of “smash and grab” con―a one time, quick and fast con. A long con or big con (also, chiefly British English: long game) is a scam that unfolds over several days or weeks and involves a team of swindlers, as well as props, sets, extras, costumes, and scripted lines. It aims to rob the victim of huge sums of money or valuable things, often by getting him or her to empty out banking accounts and borrow from family members.
The Stages of the Con
In Confessions of a Confidence Man, Edward H. Smith lists the “six definite steps or stages of growth” of a confidence game. However, he notes that some steps may be omitted.
(1) Foundation Work―Preparations are made in advance of the game, including the hiring of any assistants required.
(2) The Approach―The victim is contacted.
(3) The Build-up―The victim is given an opportunity to profit from a scheme. The victim’s greed dishonesty, vanity, opportunism, lust, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility, or desperation is encouraged, in such a way that their rational judgment of the situation might be impaired.
(4) The Pay-off or Convincer―The victim receives a small ‘payout’―which might be money, a gift, an object, a tip, a favor, etc. ―anything that will serve as a demonstration of the scheme’s, idea’s, plan’s effectiveness. This may be a real amount of money, or faked in some way. In a gambling con, the victim is allowed to win several small bets. In a stock market con, the victim is given fake dividends.
(5) The Hurrah―A sudden crisis, or change of events, forces the victim to act immediately. This is the point at which the con succeeds or fails. This will be ‘sold’ as a “it’s now or never” situation, “if you don’t do it now, the chance will be gone forever”, etc.
(6) The In-and-In―A conspirator or “shill” (someone else who is “in on the con”, but assumes the role of an interested bystander) puts an amount of money (or whatever else is the object of the con) into the same scheme as the victim, to add an appearance of legitimacy to the scheme. This can reassure the victim, and give the con man greater control when the deal has been completed.
In addition, some confidence tricks require a “corroboration” step, particularly those involving a “rare item”. This usually includes the use of an accomplice who plays the part of an uninvolved (initially skeptical) third party, who later confirms the claims made by the con man, so as to decrease your suspicions and increase your gullibility.
The Confessions of Con-men
The most successful cons hinge on desire—what can the con artist offer the victim that will make them abandon rational thought for the promise of fantasy? The best way to discover someone’s desires: Ask. One particular retired conman writes: “Victims don’t ask a lot of questions; they answer a lot of questions. Victims don’t look for why the offer is a scam; they look for why the offer will make them money. They want you to make them feel good so they can pull the trigger. A scammer not only needs to be a master actor, but a master listener.
“Think about the first time you fell in love or a time when someone cut you off on the freeway and you were seething for hours. Were you thinking clearly? Probably not. Those who believe they’d never fall for a scam don’t realize it’s not about how smart you are; it’s about how well you control your emotions. Fraud victims are people with emotional needs, just like the rest of us. But they can’t separate out those needs when they make financial decisions. That’s what makes them vulnerable. As a master ‘closer’ of cons, I made it my first objective to get the victim ‘under the ether’, so to speak. Ether is that fuzzy state when your emotions are stirred up and yo’re so agitated that you won’t know which way is up and which is down. Once I have gotten you into this condition, it doesn’t matter how smart or dumb you are. Ether trumps intelligence every time.
“The two most powerful ways to do this are through need and greed. To find a client’s emotional need, I’ll ask a bunch of personal questions. Then I’ll throttle up the pressure by focusing on that need. “Oh, you lost your job? That’s got to be tough.” Or “So your two kids are in college and the tuition is driving you into the poorhouse.” Now the person isn’t thinking about whether the offer is a scam but instead, “Here’s a fix for my problems.”
“The ‘crush’, or the ‘kill’ — that’s what we call closing the deal — is emotionally driven. It’s not logic. If you apply logic, the answer is: “No, I am not going to send you my hard-earned money. I don’t even know who you are.” If my victims had applied logic to our deals, they would have walked away every time. The other pathway to the ether is simple greed: I just promise people they can make a ton of money.”
The Perennial Con
The world wants everyone to have a PC (personal computer) and the devil wants everyone to be PC’d (perennially conned). The first PC was pulled-off by the devil in Paradise―you could call it a PC too―the Paradise Con. It was then and there that Satan―doing business as or disguised as “The Serpent” pulled-off the first “Confidence Trick” (con) when he won the confidence of Eve and made her lose confidence in God. He tricked her into doing what she had been forbidden to do by God―and, as a result, lost a whole lot of things, which make any other confidence trick look to be “small-fry” by comparison.
Since that time, the devil has never ceased to “con” souls into sin, and through sin into Hell. Most souls are conned by Satan. In fact just about every soul has been repeatedly conned by Satan―though not everyone has ended up in Hell. Many souls are repeatedly conned by Satan multiple times a day―and they fail to see it, and thus fail to act against the con. That is why―as Our Lord, Our Lady and the Saints tell us―most souls end up being CON-demned to Hell. It should not be like that, but it is like that―because most souls “don’t give a damn” about it and end up being damned because of it! Are you being conned? You may feel CON-fident that you are not, or you may feel CON-sternated that perhaps you are! For your own soul’s sake, it is well worth CON-sidering and CON-templating the “con” a little more deeply.
God Allowed the Con
Even though God is all-knowing and all-powerful, He nevertheless allowed Satan to “con” Eve, even though He could have ‘stepped-in’ and warned her that she was being conned. He didn’t do so because the con was all about getting Eve to disobey a command that God had given―that should have been enough for Eve, she needed no extra help. In fact she stated that at the very beginning of the con: “Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!” (Genesis 3:2-3). Her problem was that she entered into a discussion with the “con-artist” or confidence trickster, and continued to dialogue when she should have “slammed the door shut” in his face.
God Continues to Allow the Con
The devil has never ceased to con mankind since that fateful day. He has conned countless souls into Hell using the same approach as he made to Eve―casting doubt on what God has said and making the disobedient act seem appealing, desirable and more or less harmless. He lied to Eve and he lies to us―Our Lord calls him a liar: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof!” (John 8:44).
In chapter 24 of St. Matthew’s Gospel, Our Lord points out that the devil’s con will go on until the end of world: “[verse 5] Many will come in My Name saying: ‘I am Christ’―and they will seduce many … [verse 11] And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many … [verse 15] When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation―which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place―he that readeth let him understand … [verses 23-26] Then if any man shall say to you: ‘Behold! Here is Christ, or there!’―do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive―if possible―even the elect. Behold I have told it to you, beforehand! If, therefore,they shall say to you: ‘Behold He is in the desert!’―go ye not out. Or ‘Behold He is in the closets!’―believe it not!” (Matthew 24:5, 11, 15, 23-25).
Taking a Look at That First Con
Perhaps you were surprised that the first ever “con” or confidence trick took place in the Garden of Eden―when Satan (the serpent) conned Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. You never thought of looking at it from the perspective of it being a “con”―but in fact EVERY temptation is a “con” whereby we are tricked into thinking that giving in to the suggestions of the temptation will bring us something good and desirable. Today we call this event the “Original Sin”―but you could just as well call it the “Original Con.” Just as Original Sin has been passed onto all the human race―you could, in a certain sense, say that the “Original Con” has also bitten or stung the whole human race. Even if we have not been conned―which is highly unlikely―we are at least susceptible and vulnerable to being conned. Having read the above material pertaining to how a con is set up and how it works, you will clearly see most of those elements in Satan’s approach to Eve.
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No! You shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:1-7).
The Church teaches us that the Original Sin of Adam and Eve was both a sin of pride and disobedience. Satan attacked on the side of emotion rather than attack the intelligence―he sells Eve on the alleged profit she would gain be eating the forbidden fruit, her emotions and feelings are stirred-up, and she falls for the “sting” or the “kill”, as was revealed by the above information from conmen: “The victim’s greed dishonesty, vanity, opportunism, lust, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility, or desperation is encouraged, in such a way that their rational judgment of the situation might be impaired … Victims don’t look for why the offer is a scam; they look for why the offer will make them money [or whatever kind of gain]. They want you to make them feel good. Fraud victims are people with emotional needs, just like the rest of us. But they can’t separate out those needs when they make decisions. That’s what makes them vulnerable. As a master ‘closer’ of cons, I made it my first objective to get the victim ‘under the ether’, so to speak. Ether is that fuzzy state when your emotions are stirred up and you’re so agitated that you won’t know which way is up and which is down. Once I have gotten you into this condition, it doesn’t matter how smart or dumb you are. Ether trumps intelligence every time. The two most powerful ways to do this are through need and greed. To find a client’s emotional need, I’ll ask a bunch of personal questions. Then I’ll throttle up the pressure by focusing on that need. “Oh, you lost your job? That’s got to be tough.” Or “So your two kids are in college and the tuition is driving you into the poorhouse.” Now the person isn’t thinking about whether the offer is a scam but instead, “Here’s a fix for my problems.” The ‘crush’, or the ‘kill’ — that’s what we call closing the deal — is emotionally driven. It’s not logic.”
Satan’s Con DNA
From that moment onwards, Satan began his universal―in all places, in all times, on all people―campaign of conning people into sin and into Hell. Furthermore, since Satan is the “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), the world is his “shill” (accomplice) in the conning process.
The next target or “mark”, or “sucker”, “stooge”, “mug”, “rube” or “gull” was Cain―the eldest son of Adam and Eve. Again, Satan played the emotional game. Cain was not giving God his best and his sacrifice to God was refused. Cain became emotional about it and Satan steps in to play on the those emotions and leads Cain into the first murder in human history: “Cain offered, of the fruits of the earth, gifts to the Lord. Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings. But to Cain and his offerings he had no respect: and Cain was exceedingly angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to him: ‘Why art thou angry? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? But if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door? But the lust thereof shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it!’ And Cain said to Abel his brother: ‘Let us go forth outside!’ And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and slew him” (Genesis 4:3-8).
Now, admittedly, there is no explicit mention of Satan in this account―but do you really think that after having successfully conned Adam and Eve, that Satan was now going to take a vacation? Heck no! Besides, it was not as though the devils were overworked and couldn’t handle conning every human being―there were not 7 billion people walking the Earth at that time―but only a handful! Most probably Satan was instrumental in Cain’s lukewarmness or whatever it was that caused God to reject his sacrifice― “to Cain and his offerings he had no respect” whereby God was criticizing his behavior― “If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? But if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?”
From there on the cons multiply and the sins of mankind multiply and the numbers falling into Hell multiply―to the point where God stepped-in and destroyed almost all of mankind with the Great Flood and started all over again, so to speak, with Noe and the families of his sons. Yet the cons and sins resurfaced, all the way down to our age, in which Our Lady of Akita says: “If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
The Con of Rebecca and Jacob
The book of Genesis records an instance of another con or confidence trick, in which Jacob deceives his father, Isaac, by pretending to be his brother, Esau. He does this so that he can inherit his father’s blessing and obtain all the ‘goodies’ and ‘privileges’ that come with it. All of this seems to happen in fulfillment of God’s plan for Israel (Jacob). Does that make it right? Here’s the story ...
Here is how the book of Genesis (chapter 25) describes the birth and early life of Jacob and his twin brother, Esau:
The children struggled together within [Rebecca]; and she said, “If it is thus, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples, born of you, shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.” When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his game; but Rebecca loved Jacob. Take note of the prophecy God made about Rebecca’s two children: “the elder [Esau] shall serve the younger [Jacob].” This will ultimately be fulfilled by God using the line of Jacob to give rise to the people of Israel (in fact, “Israel” is an alternate name that Jacob will later acquire), but how will this take place? At that moment in time, there were two obstacles preventing Jacob from fulfilling God’s prophecy: (1) As the older child, Esau has the birthright;
(2) Since Isaac favors Esau, he is likely to give Esau his dying, prophetic blessing―and all the inherited ‘goodies’ that come with the blessing.
The first obstacle is overcome when a famished Esau foolishly sells his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup (Genesis 25:29-34)―which then gives Jacob the right to his father’s blessing and inheritance. Nevertheless, Isaac was unaware of Esau having sold his right to the blessing and inheritance, which leaves the second problem. Isaac is old, blind, approaching the end of his life and is preparing to bless Esau. But Rebecca, Isaacs wife and Jacob’s mother, overheard the plan. She knows the prophecy about her two sons and fears that this will deprive her favored son, Jacob, of what God has promised him. Rather than leave this to God to sort out, Rebecca takes things into her own hands initiates a plan of deception―a con. While Esau is out hunting game for his father, Rebecca tells Jacob to get two kids (young goats) so she can make the food Isaac is expecting. Rebecca also adds another layer to the deception, to prevent Isaac from recognizing Jacob by touch or smell: She puts Esau’s best clothes on Jacob, so he will smell like him, and she covers his hands and neck with the skins of the young goats, so that he will seem hairy to the touch, like Esau.
Jacob’s ‘Sting’ or Act of Deception
Jacob then goes in to his father’s room, ready to deceive his father, and to trick his father into giving him his final blessing (Genesis 27:18-29). However, it isn’t easy! Isaac obviously recognizes Jacob’s voice, and he repeatedly expresses doubts about who is before him. Nevertheless, he falls for the con and allows his doubts to subside by the feel of his son’s hands (covered by the goat skins to make them seem hairy) and by the recognizable smell of Esau (from Esau’s clothes which Jacob is wearing). Jacob thus obtains the blessing, which includes double the amount of ‘goodies’ left to his other brothers and the prophesied gift: “Be lord over your brothers.” Both barriers to the initial prophecy have been removed, and God’s plan is on track for the line of promise to extend through Jacob’s descendants rather than Esau’s. This, however, leaves us with an important question―was this morally right? Lying is contrary to the Ten Commandments, and people in every culture have had a sense that it is wrong. But what about lying to serve God’s cause? Whatever one may think about other “hard case” situations, it’s clear that Scripture does not regard this as a situation in which lying was “okay.” Both Rebecca and Jacob will suffer because of their lie―even though Jacob was a chosen one of God.
The Vengeful 'Sting' of God on Jacob
After Isaac has blessed Jacob, Esau comes back and discovers what has happened. He is so angry, in fact, that he decides to kill Jacob as soon as their father is dead. Rebecca learns of this, and tells Jacob, to flee until his brother’s wrath dies down. Then she will send for him to come back. But that day never comes. She never sends for him. He stays away for twenty years, and she apparently dies in the meantime, because when he comes back, she is not there to greet him. In fact―unlike the other principal wives of the patriarchs―she has no death notice. She is written out of the story and dies in silence―without her favored son, Jacob, at her side. Her plot or con, thus cost her the rest of the time she would have had with him. And Jacob’s participation in the plot or con, hurts him as well. While Jacob is away, he takes a wife. He works seven years for her. But then, on the night of the marriage ceremony, his father in law pulls the same kind of trick that Jacob pulled on Isaac: Instead of giving him the promised bride―Rachel―he substitutes her older sister, Lia. Jacob then has to work seven more years in exchange for the bride he wanted. And this isn’t the only time Jacob is deceived. He will later be lied to―by his own sons―regarding a matter of utter horror―the alleged death of Jacob’s beloved son, Joseph. Genesis 37 indicates that Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son, and Jacob made him a special garment (the famed “coat of many colors”). But the favoritism did not go down well with the other brothers, and they resented Joseph, who got them in trouble with their father and also related grand dreams about them bowing down to him. So they sold him into slavery. To cover up his absence, they kill a goat, dip Joseph’s robe in the blood, and present it to his father, who naturally concludes that Joseph is dead.
As Ye Sow, So Ye Shall Reap
Notice that the means of deception are the same in both cases: (1) A slain goat―the two kids Rebecca used to fool Isaac and the goat that Joseph’s brothers killed to fool Jacob; (2) A distinctive garment―Esau’s clothes used to fool Isaac, which carry his smell and Joseph’s ornate robe brought back bloodstained to fool Jacob. This makes it unmistakable that Jacob is suffering the consequences of his own act of deception. He deceived his father, and now as a father, he is being deceived by his sons. Without saying it explicitly, the author of Genesis has put it all there for us: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8), regardless of whether he is a chosen one of God or not, favored by God or not.
We cannot know what would have happened if Rebecca and Jacob had not taken it into their hands to deceive Isaac. Presumably, the promise would have ended up being fulfilled in some other way. And a way better than the one with all the suffering that came in the wake of this event. So while God bring about his purposes despite our evil actions, that does not make them right. We cannot do evil so that ‘good’ may come out of it, and we cannot know what other, better things would have happened, if we had only done what we should have done. Fortunately, there is still mercy for us when we fail. God, of course, did not will these sins of Jacob, but He could and did draw good from evil.
The Con of King David on Urias the Hethite
The story of David and Bethsabee is one of the most dramatic accounts in the Old Testament. One night in Jerusalem, King David was walking upon his rooftop when he spotted a beautiful woman bathing nearby (2 Kings 11:2). David asked his servants about her and was told she was Bethsabee, the wife of Urias the Hethite, one of David’s mighty men (2 Kings 23:39). Despite her marital status, David summoned Bethsabee to the palace, and they slept together.
Bethsabee later discovered she was pregnant (2 Kings 11:5), and she informed David. The king’s reaction was to attempt to hide his sin. David commanded Urias to report back to him from the battlefield. Bethsabee’s husband dutifully answered David’s summons, and David sent him home, hoping that Urias would sleep with Bethsabee and thus provide a cover for the pregnancy. Instead of obeying David’s orders, Urias slept in the quarters of the palace servants, refusing to enjoy a respite with Bethsabee while his men on the battlefield were still in harm’s way (2 Kings 11:9–11). Urias did the same thing the next night as well, showing integrity in sharp contrast to David’s lack thereof.
It became apparent that David and Bethsabee’s adultery could not be covered up that way. David enacted a second, more sinister plan: he commanded his military leader, Joab, to place Urias on the front lines of battle and then to purposefully fall back from him, leaving Urias exposed to enemy attack. Joab followed the directive, and Urias was killed in battle. After her time of mourning, Bethsabee married David and gave birth to a son. “This thing, which David had done, was displeasing to the Lord” (2 Kings 11:27)
The Vengeful ‘Sting’ of God on David
When David and Bethsabee’s child was born, the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to confront David. Nathan used a parable: a rich man took a poor man’s only sheep and killed it, even though he had many flocks of his own. David, a former shepherd, was so angered by this story, which he thought was true, that he responded, “As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this is a child of death. He shall restore the ewe fourfold, because he did this thing, and had no pity.” (2 Kings 12:5–6).
Nathan then pointed to David and uttered the chilling words, “Thou art the man!” (2 Kings 12:7). David was the one guilty of this sin, and judgment would be upon his house in the form of ongoing violence. David repented (see Psalm 50), and Nathan said, “The Lord hath taken away thy sin: thou shalt not die. Nevertheless, because thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, for this thing, the child that is born to thee, shall surely die” (2 Kings 12:13–14). The child did die a week later, and David’s household experienced further hardship in later years. In total, four of David’s sons suffered untimely deaths—the “four times over” judgment David had pronounced upon himself.
In the account of David and Bethsabee, we find many lessons. Firstly, everyone’s secret sins will be found out sooner or later―if not in this life, then at the General Judgment: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). Secondly, God will forgive anyone who sincerely repents. Thirdly, each sin’s consequences remain even when the sin is forgiven―even in the case of God’s chosen ones, such as Jacob or David. Fourthly, God can work even in difficult or seemingly impossible situations. In fact, David and Bethsabee’s next son, Solomon, became the heir to the throne. Even in bad situations, God has a plan that serves His sovereign purpose, always seeking to bring good out of evil as only God can.
The Book of Cons
You could go on and on and show the various big cons and little cons found in the Bible―down to the time of Christ―which sees the murderous Herod trying to con the Three Kings into divulging the whereabouts of the new-born Christ; or the several conspiratorial Jewish priests trying to con the rest of the Sanhedrin of Christ’s guilt, by bringing in false witnesses to lie about Him, and then, after Christ’s resurrection, trying to con the people into disbelieving Christ’s resurrection by bribing the Roman soldiers to say that Christ’s followers stole His dead body while they, the Roman guards, were sleeping. Christ Himself spoke of future cons―those of the immediate future and especially the cons of the Last Days or End Times: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep” (Matthew 7:15)―which, of course, is every heresy and heretic that has existed, and “There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24).
The Era of Christian Cons
From the earliest times, heresies―which are essentially a con―have infested the Church. Today, there are between 800 and more than 900 million Protestants worldwide, among approximately 2,400 million Christians. About 20% (160 million) of the global Protestants are found in the United States, which comes at the top of the Protestant nation list.
Each and every heresy―those of the past and those of the present―is a con by Satan that plays upon the personal preferences of those wanting to be followers of Christ. There is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church―and even within the Catholic Church most souls fail to attain salvation because they allow themselves to be conned in one or more ways. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church is the vehicle chosen by Christ for taking souls to Heaven―regardless of whether or not they jump-off or stay-on-board that vehicle. If Satan cannot con somebody to enter or stay with a religion, then he has a series of cons he will use on those who are in or join the One True Religion―the Catholic Faith.
Essentially, heresy is a ride that promises what it does not deliver―it promises to lead souls to Heaven and delivers them Hell. The actual ‘drivers’ of the bus of heresy are themselves conned by Satan―and are just as shocked and amazed at finding themselves in the pit of Hell. They veered-off the straight and narrow road that leads to Heaven, and fell over the edge of the cliff into Hell.
The Era of Catholic Cons
“Cometh the Protestant―Cometh the Protestant Catholic!” As they say, “You cannot leave clothes in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke!” You can add to this “the smoke of Satan”―for Pope Paul VI would say on more than one public occasion that the “smoke of Satan” had entered the Church! Fr. Felix Salvany’s excellent book, Liberalism Is A Sin, points out (the population counts have been updated for our present day):
“Protestantism naturally begets toleration of error. Rejecting the principle of authority in religion, it has neither criterion nor definition of Faith. On the principle that every individual or sect may interpret the deposit of Revelation according to the dictates of private judgment, it gives birth to endless differences and contradictions … The individual or sect interprets as it pleases—rejecting or accepting what it chooses. This is popularly called liberty of conscience [a gross Satanic con]… As a result, we find amongst the people of this country that authoritative religion has met with utter disaster and that religious beliefs, or unbeliefs, have come to be mere matters of opinion, each one being free to make or unmake his own creed—or even accept no creed. Such is the mainspring of the heresy constantly dinned into our ears, flooding our current literature and our press. The principle ramifies in many directions, striking root into our domestic, civil, and political life, and severs the bond which binds men to God and instead seeks to build human society on the foundations of man’s absolute independence. Hence we find Liberalism laying down as the basis of its propaganda the following principles:
1. The absolute sovereignty of the individual in his entire independence of God and God’s authority.
2. The absolute sovereignty of society in its entire independence of everything which does not proceed from itself.
3. Absolute civil sovereignty in the implied right of the people to make their own laws in entire independence and utter disregard of any other criterion than the popular will expressed at the polls and in parliamentary majorities.
4. Absolute freedom of thought in politics, morals, or in religion. The unrestrained liberty of the press.
“Such are the radical principles of Liberalism. In the assumption of the absolute sovereignty of the individual, that is, his entire independence of God, we find the common source of all the others. To express them all in one term, they are―in the order of ideas―RATIONALISM, or the doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of human reason. [which leads to]: absolute freedom of worship, the supremacy of the State, secular education rejecting any connection with religion, marriage sanctioned and legitimatized by the State alone, etc.; in one word, a word which synthesizes all, we have SECULARIZATION, which denies religion any active intervention in the concerns of public and of private life, whatever they be [a gross Satanic con]. This is veritable social atheism.
“The population of this country [USA] is at present something over 325 million. [2017 census]. Of these, 70 million are Catholics, and according to their claim [2017 stats], 150 million are Protestants, leaving a population of 105 million or more who do not profess any form of Christianity at all … We live in the midst of this religious anarchy. Some [2017 stats] 255 million of our population can, in one sense or other, be considered anti-Catholic. From this mass—heretical and infidel—exhales an atmosphere filled with germs poisonous and fatal to Catholic life, if permitted to take root in the Catholic heart. The mere force of gravitation, which the larger mass ever exercises upon the smaller, is a power which the most energetic vigor alone can resist. Under this dangerous influence, a deadly inertia is apt to creep over the souls of the incautious and is only to be overcome by the liveliest exercise of Catholic Faith. To live without enervation amidst an heretical and infidel population requires a robust religious constitution. And to this danger we are daily exposed, ever coming into contact in a thousand ways, in almost every relation of life, with anti-Catholic thought and customs. But outside of this spiritual inertia, our non-Catholic surroundings—a danger rather passive than active in its influence—beget a still greater menace.
“It is natural that Protestantism and infidelity should find public expression. What our [2017 stats] 255 million non-Catholic population thinks in these matters, naturally seeks and finds open expression. They have their organs and their literature where we find their current opinions publicly uttered. Their views upon religion, morality, politics, the constitution of society are perpetually marshaled before us. In the pulpit and in the press they are reiterated day after day. In magazine and newspaper they constantly speak from every line. Our literature is permeated and saturated with non-Catholic dogmatism. On all sides do we find this opposing spirit. We cannot escape from it. It enfolds and embraces us. Its breath is perpetually in our faces. It enters in by eye and ear. From birth to death, it enslaves us in its offensive garments. It now soothes and flatters, now hates and curses, now threatens, now praises. But it is most dangerous when it comes to us under the form of “liberality.” It is especially powerful for seduction in this guise. And it is under this aspect that we wish to consider it. For it is as Liberalism that Protestantism and Infidelity make their most devastating inroads upon the domain of the Faith. Out of these non-Catholic and anti-Catholic conditions thus predominating amongst us springs this monster of our times, Liberalism! Liberalism, whether in the doctrinal or practical order, is a sin. In the doctrinal order, it is heresy, and consequently a mortal sin against Faith. In the practical order, it is a sin against the commandments of God and of the Church, for it virtually transgresses all commandments” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin).
The Cunning or Conning of Liberalism
Fr. Salvany then speaks of the Satanic cunning (or should we say “conning” instead of “cunning”) of Liberalism: “Liberalism has been condemned by the Pope in many and various documents. From these let us select a few ephithets which stigmatize it with unsparing emphasis. They will bring out in striking relief the perfidious character of this cunning heresy. In his Brief to Mgr. de Segur, the Pope calls it a “perfidious enemy”; in his allocution to the Bishop of Nevers, “the present real calamity”; in his letter to the Catholic Circle of St. Ambrose of Milan, “a compact between injustice and iniquity”; in the same document he speaks of it as “more fatal and dangerous than a declared enemy”; in his letter to the Bishop of Quimper, “a hidden poison”; in the brief to the Belgians, “a crafty and insidious error”; in another brief, to Mgr. Gaume, “a most pernicious pest.” All these documents from which we quote may be found in full in Mgr. Segur’s book, Hommage Aux Catholiques Liberaux. But Liberalism is always strategically cunning” ― which brings to mind the words of Genesis: “Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1). ” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin).
How Are Catholic Conned by Liberalism?
The explanation of the reasons why Catholics become Liberals, fits perfectly with the methods by which con-men bait their victims. Fr. Salvany explains:
“Various are the ways in which a faithful Christian is drawn into the error of Liberalism. Very often corruption of heart is a consequence of errors of the intellect, but more frequently still, errors of the intellect follow the corruption of the heart. The history of heresies [cons] very clearly shows this fact. Their beginnings nearly always present the same character, either wounded self-love, or a grievance to be avenged; or lust, or it is a bag of gold for which he sells his conscience. Error nearly always has its origin in the triple-headed monster which St. John describes and calls ―“Concupiscence of the flesh, concupiscence of the eyes, the pride of life.” Here are the sources of all error, here are the roads to Liberalism. Let us dwell on them for a moment.
(1) Men become Liberal on account of a natural desire for independence and for an easy life. Liberalism is necessarily sympathetic with the depraved nature of man, just as Catholicity is essentially opposed to it. Liberalism is freedom from control; Catholicity is the controlling of the passions. Now, fallen man, by a very natural tendency, loves a system which legitimatizes and sanctifies his pride of intellect and the license of passion. Logically then does man declare himself a Liberal when he discovers that Liberalism offers a protection for his caprices and an excuse for his indulgences.
(2) Men become Liberal by the desire for advancement in life. Liberalism is today the dominating idea; it reigns everywhere and especially in the sphere of public life. It is therefore a sure recommendation to public favor. On starting out in life, the young man looks around upon the various paths that lead to fortune, to fame, to glory, and sees that an almost indispensable condition of reaching the desired goal is, at least in our times, to become Liberal. Heroes are rare, and most young men, beginning their career, affiliate with Liberalism. It promises them the assistance of a powerful press, the recommendation of powerful protectors, the powerful influence of secret societies, the patronage of distinguished men. Liberalism, moreover, is essentially favorable to that public life which this age so ardently pursues. It holds out as tempting baits public offices, commissions, fat positions, etc., which constitute the organism of the official machine. It seems an absolute condition to progress in politics.
(3) Men become Liberal out of avarice, or the love of money. To get along in the world, to succeed in business, is always a standing temptation of Liberalism. It meets the young man at every turn. Around him in a thousand ways does he feel the secret or open hostility of the enemies of his Faith. In business life or in the professions, he is passed by, overlooked, ignored. Let him relax a little in his Faith, join a forbidden secret society, and behold, the bolts and bars are drawn; he possesses the “open sesame” to success! Then the insidious discrimination against him melts away in the fraternal embrace of the enemy, who rewards his treachery to the Faith by advancing him in a thousand ways. Such a temptation is difficult for the ambitious to withstand. Be Liberal, admit that there is no great difference between men’s creeds, that at the bottom they are really the same after all. Proclaim your breadth of mind by admitting that other religious beliefs are just as good for other people as your Faith is for you; they are, as far as they know, just as right as you are; it is largely a question of education and temperament what a man believes; and how quickly you are patted on the back as a “broad-minded” man who has escaped the narrow limitations of his creed. You will be extensively patronized, for Liberalism is very generous to a convert. “Falling down adore me, and I will give you all these things” says Satan yet to Jesus Christ in the desert.
Such are the ordinary causes of perversions to Liberalism; from these all others flow. Whoever has any experience of the world and the human heart can easily trace the others.” ” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin).
The Biggest Con is Yet to Come!
All of this is merely a gradual setting-up for what could be ranked as the “Con of Cons” or the “Trick of Tricks”! What is that? In the next article we shall look at the many ways in which you have been conned and we shall pull the veil back on the Satanic audacity that has or will pull-off the “crème-de-la-crème” of cons―in such a way that the conned will not know they have been conned. Furthermore, it is the Church herself―or rather some of the Church's leaders―who have conned Catholics multiple times over recent decades and continue to do so to this very day!
The Con of Church Infiltration
The Con of the Third Secret of Fatima
The Con of the False Lucia of Fatima
The Con of Papal Elections
The Con of the False Pope Paul VI
The Con of the ‘Counterfeit’ Church
The Con of the New Mass
The Con of Episcopal Consecrations
The Con of Priestly Ordinations
The Con of the New Sacraments
The Con of the New Theology
The Con of Ecumenism
The Con of Universal Salvation
The word “con” is an abbreviation of the word “confidence trick”―which is an attempt to defraud, fool or trick a person or group after first gaining their confidence, used in the classical sense of trust. Confidence tricks exploit typical human characteristics such as greed, dishonesty, vanity, opportunism, lust, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility, desperation, and naïvety. As such, there is no consistent profile of a confidence trick victim; the common factor is simply that the victim relies on the good faith of the con artist. Victims of investment scams tend to show an incautious level of greed and gullibility, and many con artists target the elderly, but even alert and educated people may be taken in by other forms of a confidence trick.
Synonyms (words having the same or almost the same meaning as another word in the same language) by which a “confidence trick” is also known, are: a con game, a con, a scam, a grift, a play, a hustle, a bunko (or bunco), a swindle, a flim-flam, a gaffle or a bamboozle. The intended victims are known as marks, suckers, stooges, mugs, rubes or gulls (from the word gullible). When accomplices are employed, they are known as shills. The words “sting”, or “close”, or “crush”, or “kill”, refer to the moment when a con artist finishes the “con”, or “scam”, or “grift” or “play” and takes the mark’s money.
As for the length of time spent on the con, they are classified into two types: short and long cons. A short con or small con is a fast swindle which takes just minutes. It typically aims to rob the victim of everything in his or her wallet, house, car, etc. It is a kind of “smash and grab” con―a one time, quick and fast con. A long con or big con (also, chiefly British English: long game) is a scam that unfolds over several days or weeks and involves a team of swindlers, as well as props, sets, extras, costumes, and scripted lines. It aims to rob the victim of huge sums of money or valuable things, often by getting him or her to empty out banking accounts and borrow from family members.
The Stages of the Con
In Confessions of a Confidence Man, Edward H. Smith lists the “six definite steps or stages of growth” of a confidence game. However, he notes that some steps may be omitted.
(1) Foundation Work―Preparations are made in advance of the game, including the hiring of any assistants required.
(2) The Approach―The victim is contacted.
(3) The Build-up―The victim is given an opportunity to profit from a scheme. The victim’s greed dishonesty, vanity, opportunism, lust, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility, or desperation is encouraged, in such a way that their rational judgment of the situation might be impaired.
(4) The Pay-off or Convincer―The victim receives a small ‘payout’―which might be money, a gift, an object, a tip, a favor, etc. ―anything that will serve as a demonstration of the scheme’s, idea’s, plan’s effectiveness. This may be a real amount of money, or faked in some way. In a gambling con, the victim is allowed to win several small bets. In a stock market con, the victim is given fake dividends.
(5) The Hurrah―A sudden crisis, or change of events, forces the victim to act immediately. This is the point at which the con succeeds or fails. This will be ‘sold’ as a “it’s now or never” situation, “if you don’t do it now, the chance will be gone forever”, etc.
(6) The In-and-In―A conspirator or “shill” (someone else who is “in on the con”, but assumes the role of an interested bystander) puts an amount of money (or whatever else is the object of the con) into the same scheme as the victim, to add an appearance of legitimacy to the scheme. This can reassure the victim, and give the con man greater control when the deal has been completed.
In addition, some confidence tricks require a “corroboration” step, particularly those involving a “rare item”. This usually includes the use of an accomplice who plays the part of an uninvolved (initially skeptical) third party, who later confirms the claims made by the con man, so as to decrease your suspicions and increase your gullibility.
The Confessions of Con-men
The most successful cons hinge on desire—what can the con artist offer the victim that will make them abandon rational thought for the promise of fantasy? The best way to discover someone’s desires: Ask. One particular retired conman writes: “Victims don’t ask a lot of questions; they answer a lot of questions. Victims don’t look for why the offer is a scam; they look for why the offer will make them money. They want you to make them feel good so they can pull the trigger. A scammer not only needs to be a master actor, but a master listener.
“Think about the first time you fell in love or a time when someone cut you off on the freeway and you were seething for hours. Were you thinking clearly? Probably not. Those who believe they’d never fall for a scam don’t realize it’s not about how smart you are; it’s about how well you control your emotions. Fraud victims are people with emotional needs, just like the rest of us. But they can’t separate out those needs when they make financial decisions. That’s what makes them vulnerable. As a master ‘closer’ of cons, I made it my first objective to get the victim ‘under the ether’, so to speak. Ether is that fuzzy state when your emotions are stirred up and yo’re so agitated that you won’t know which way is up and which is down. Once I have gotten you into this condition, it doesn’t matter how smart or dumb you are. Ether trumps intelligence every time.
“The two most powerful ways to do this are through need and greed. To find a client’s emotional need, I’ll ask a bunch of personal questions. Then I’ll throttle up the pressure by focusing on that need. “Oh, you lost your job? That’s got to be tough.” Or “So your two kids are in college and the tuition is driving you into the poorhouse.” Now the person isn’t thinking about whether the offer is a scam but instead, “Here’s a fix for my problems.”
“The ‘crush’, or the ‘kill’ — that’s what we call closing the deal — is emotionally driven. It’s not logic. If you apply logic, the answer is: “No, I am not going to send you my hard-earned money. I don’t even know who you are.” If my victims had applied logic to our deals, they would have walked away every time. The other pathway to the ether is simple greed: I just promise people they can make a ton of money.”
The Perennial Con
The world wants everyone to have a PC (personal computer) and the devil wants everyone to be PC’d (perennially conned). The first PC was pulled-off by the devil in Paradise―you could call it a PC too―the Paradise Con. It was then and there that Satan―doing business as or disguised as “The Serpent” pulled-off the first “Confidence Trick” (con) when he won the confidence of Eve and made her lose confidence in God. He tricked her into doing what she had been forbidden to do by God―and, as a result, lost a whole lot of things, which make any other confidence trick look to be “small-fry” by comparison.
Since that time, the devil has never ceased to “con” souls into sin, and through sin into Hell. Most souls are conned by Satan. In fact just about every soul has been repeatedly conned by Satan―though not everyone has ended up in Hell. Many souls are repeatedly conned by Satan multiple times a day―and they fail to see it, and thus fail to act against the con. That is why―as Our Lord, Our Lady and the Saints tell us―most souls end up being CON-demned to Hell. It should not be like that, but it is like that―because most souls “don’t give a damn” about it and end up being damned because of it! Are you being conned? You may feel CON-fident that you are not, or you may feel CON-sternated that perhaps you are! For your own soul’s sake, it is well worth CON-sidering and CON-templating the “con” a little more deeply.
God Allowed the Con
Even though God is all-knowing and all-powerful, He nevertheless allowed Satan to “con” Eve, even though He could have ‘stepped-in’ and warned her that she was being conned. He didn’t do so because the con was all about getting Eve to disobey a command that God had given―that should have been enough for Eve, she needed no extra help. In fact she stated that at the very beginning of the con: “Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!” (Genesis 3:2-3). Her problem was that she entered into a discussion with the “con-artist” or confidence trickster, and continued to dialogue when she should have “slammed the door shut” in his face.
God Continues to Allow the Con
The devil has never ceased to con mankind since that fateful day. He has conned countless souls into Hell using the same approach as he made to Eve―casting doubt on what God has said and making the disobedient act seem appealing, desirable and more or less harmless. He lied to Eve and he lies to us―Our Lord calls him a liar: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof!” (John 8:44).
In chapter 24 of St. Matthew’s Gospel, Our Lord points out that the devil’s con will go on until the end of world: “[verse 5] Many will come in My Name saying: ‘I am Christ’―and they will seduce many … [verse 11] And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many … [verse 15] When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation―which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place―he that readeth let him understand … [verses 23-26] Then if any man shall say to you: ‘Behold! Here is Christ, or there!’―do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive―if possible―even the elect. Behold I have told it to you, beforehand! If, therefore,they shall say to you: ‘Behold He is in the desert!’―go ye not out. Or ‘Behold He is in the closets!’―believe it not!” (Matthew 24:5, 11, 15, 23-25).
Taking a Look at That First Con
Perhaps you were surprised that the first ever “con” or confidence trick took place in the Garden of Eden―when Satan (the serpent) conned Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. You never thought of looking at it from the perspective of it being a “con”―but in fact EVERY temptation is a “con” whereby we are tricked into thinking that giving in to the suggestions of the temptation will bring us something good and desirable. Today we call this event the “Original Sin”―but you could just as well call it the “Original Con.” Just as Original Sin has been passed onto all the human race―you could, in a certain sense, say that the “Original Con” has also bitten or stung the whole human race. Even if we have not been conned―which is highly unlikely―we are at least susceptible and vulnerable to being conned. Having read the above material pertaining to how a con is set up and how it works, you will clearly see most of those elements in Satan’s approach to Eve.
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No! You shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:1-7).
The Church teaches us that the Original Sin of Adam and Eve was both a sin of pride and disobedience. Satan attacked on the side of emotion rather than attack the intelligence―he sells Eve on the alleged profit she would gain be eating the forbidden fruit, her emotions and feelings are stirred-up, and she falls for the “sting” or the “kill”, as was revealed by the above information from conmen: “The victim’s greed dishonesty, vanity, opportunism, lust, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility, or desperation is encouraged, in such a way that their rational judgment of the situation might be impaired … Victims don’t look for why the offer is a scam; they look for why the offer will make them money [or whatever kind of gain]. They want you to make them feel good. Fraud victims are people with emotional needs, just like the rest of us. But they can’t separate out those needs when they make decisions. That’s what makes them vulnerable. As a master ‘closer’ of cons, I made it my first objective to get the victim ‘under the ether’, so to speak. Ether is that fuzzy state when your emotions are stirred up and you’re so agitated that you won’t know which way is up and which is down. Once I have gotten you into this condition, it doesn’t matter how smart or dumb you are. Ether trumps intelligence every time. The two most powerful ways to do this are through need and greed. To find a client’s emotional need, I’ll ask a bunch of personal questions. Then I’ll throttle up the pressure by focusing on that need. “Oh, you lost your job? That’s got to be tough.” Or “So your two kids are in college and the tuition is driving you into the poorhouse.” Now the person isn’t thinking about whether the offer is a scam but instead, “Here’s a fix for my problems.” The ‘crush’, or the ‘kill’ — that’s what we call closing the deal — is emotionally driven. It’s not logic.”
Satan’s Con DNA
From that moment onwards, Satan began his universal―in all places, in all times, on all people―campaign of conning people into sin and into Hell. Furthermore, since Satan is the “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), the world is his “shill” (accomplice) in the conning process.
The next target or “mark”, or “sucker”, “stooge”, “mug”, “rube” or “gull” was Cain―the eldest son of Adam and Eve. Again, Satan played the emotional game. Cain was not giving God his best and his sacrifice to God was refused. Cain became emotional about it and Satan steps in to play on the those emotions and leads Cain into the first murder in human history: “Cain offered, of the fruits of the earth, gifts to the Lord. Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings. But to Cain and his offerings he had no respect: and Cain was exceedingly angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to him: ‘Why art thou angry? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? But if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door? But the lust thereof shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it!’ And Cain said to Abel his brother: ‘Let us go forth outside!’ And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and slew him” (Genesis 4:3-8).
Now, admittedly, there is no explicit mention of Satan in this account―but do you really think that after having successfully conned Adam and Eve, that Satan was now going to take a vacation? Heck no! Besides, it was not as though the devils were overworked and couldn’t handle conning every human being―there were not 7 billion people walking the Earth at that time―but only a handful! Most probably Satan was instrumental in Cain’s lukewarmness or whatever it was that caused God to reject his sacrifice― “to Cain and his offerings he had no respect” whereby God was criticizing his behavior― “If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? But if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?”
From there on the cons multiply and the sins of mankind multiply and the numbers falling into Hell multiply―to the point where God stepped-in and destroyed almost all of mankind with the Great Flood and started all over again, so to speak, with Noe and the families of his sons. Yet the cons and sins resurfaced, all the way down to our age, in which Our Lady of Akita says: “If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”
The Con of Rebecca and Jacob
The book of Genesis records an instance of another con or confidence trick, in which Jacob deceives his father, Isaac, by pretending to be his brother, Esau. He does this so that he can inherit his father’s blessing and obtain all the ‘goodies’ and ‘privileges’ that come with it. All of this seems to happen in fulfillment of God’s plan for Israel (Jacob). Does that make it right? Here’s the story ...
Here is how the book of Genesis (chapter 25) describes the birth and early life of Jacob and his twin brother, Esau:
The children struggled together within [Rebecca]; and she said, “If it is thus, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples, born of you, shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.” When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his game; but Rebecca loved Jacob. Take note of the prophecy God made about Rebecca’s two children: “the elder [Esau] shall serve the younger [Jacob].” This will ultimately be fulfilled by God using the line of Jacob to give rise to the people of Israel (in fact, “Israel” is an alternate name that Jacob will later acquire), but how will this take place? At that moment in time, there were two obstacles preventing Jacob from fulfilling God’s prophecy: (1) As the older child, Esau has the birthright;
(2) Since Isaac favors Esau, he is likely to give Esau his dying, prophetic blessing―and all the inherited ‘goodies’ that come with the blessing.
The first obstacle is overcome when a famished Esau foolishly sells his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup (Genesis 25:29-34)―which then gives Jacob the right to his father’s blessing and inheritance. Nevertheless, Isaac was unaware of Esau having sold his right to the blessing and inheritance, which leaves the second problem. Isaac is old, blind, approaching the end of his life and is preparing to bless Esau. But Rebecca, Isaacs wife and Jacob’s mother, overheard the plan. She knows the prophecy about her two sons and fears that this will deprive her favored son, Jacob, of what God has promised him. Rather than leave this to God to sort out, Rebecca takes things into her own hands initiates a plan of deception―a con. While Esau is out hunting game for his father, Rebecca tells Jacob to get two kids (young goats) so she can make the food Isaac is expecting. Rebecca also adds another layer to the deception, to prevent Isaac from recognizing Jacob by touch or smell: She puts Esau’s best clothes on Jacob, so he will smell like him, and she covers his hands and neck with the skins of the young goats, so that he will seem hairy to the touch, like Esau.
Jacob’s ‘Sting’ or Act of Deception
Jacob then goes in to his father’s room, ready to deceive his father, and to trick his father into giving him his final blessing (Genesis 27:18-29). However, it isn’t easy! Isaac obviously recognizes Jacob’s voice, and he repeatedly expresses doubts about who is before him. Nevertheless, he falls for the con and allows his doubts to subside by the feel of his son’s hands (covered by the goat skins to make them seem hairy) and by the recognizable smell of Esau (from Esau’s clothes which Jacob is wearing). Jacob thus obtains the blessing, which includes double the amount of ‘goodies’ left to his other brothers and the prophesied gift: “Be lord over your brothers.” Both barriers to the initial prophecy have been removed, and God’s plan is on track for the line of promise to extend through Jacob’s descendants rather than Esau’s. This, however, leaves us with an important question―was this morally right? Lying is contrary to the Ten Commandments, and people in every culture have had a sense that it is wrong. But what about lying to serve God’s cause? Whatever one may think about other “hard case” situations, it’s clear that Scripture does not regard this as a situation in which lying was “okay.” Both Rebecca and Jacob will suffer because of their lie―even though Jacob was a chosen one of God.
The Vengeful 'Sting' of God on Jacob
After Isaac has blessed Jacob, Esau comes back and discovers what has happened. He is so angry, in fact, that he decides to kill Jacob as soon as their father is dead. Rebecca learns of this, and tells Jacob, to flee until his brother’s wrath dies down. Then she will send for him to come back. But that day never comes. She never sends for him. He stays away for twenty years, and she apparently dies in the meantime, because when he comes back, she is not there to greet him. In fact―unlike the other principal wives of the patriarchs―she has no death notice. She is written out of the story and dies in silence―without her favored son, Jacob, at her side. Her plot or con, thus cost her the rest of the time she would have had with him. And Jacob’s participation in the plot or con, hurts him as well. While Jacob is away, he takes a wife. He works seven years for her. But then, on the night of the marriage ceremony, his father in law pulls the same kind of trick that Jacob pulled on Isaac: Instead of giving him the promised bride―Rachel―he substitutes her older sister, Lia. Jacob then has to work seven more years in exchange for the bride he wanted. And this isn’t the only time Jacob is deceived. He will later be lied to―by his own sons―regarding a matter of utter horror―the alleged death of Jacob’s beloved son, Joseph. Genesis 37 indicates that Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son, and Jacob made him a special garment (the famed “coat of many colors”). But the favoritism did not go down well with the other brothers, and they resented Joseph, who got them in trouble with their father and also related grand dreams about them bowing down to him. So they sold him into slavery. To cover up his absence, they kill a goat, dip Joseph’s robe in the blood, and present it to his father, who naturally concludes that Joseph is dead.
As Ye Sow, So Ye Shall Reap
Notice that the means of deception are the same in both cases: (1) A slain goat―the two kids Rebecca used to fool Isaac and the goat that Joseph’s brothers killed to fool Jacob; (2) A distinctive garment―Esau’s clothes used to fool Isaac, which carry his smell and Joseph’s ornate robe brought back bloodstained to fool Jacob. This makes it unmistakable that Jacob is suffering the consequences of his own act of deception. He deceived his father, and now as a father, he is being deceived by his sons. Without saying it explicitly, the author of Genesis has put it all there for us: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8), regardless of whether he is a chosen one of God or not, favored by God or not.
We cannot know what would have happened if Rebecca and Jacob had not taken it into their hands to deceive Isaac. Presumably, the promise would have ended up being fulfilled in some other way. And a way better than the one with all the suffering that came in the wake of this event. So while God bring about his purposes despite our evil actions, that does not make them right. We cannot do evil so that ‘good’ may come out of it, and we cannot know what other, better things would have happened, if we had only done what we should have done. Fortunately, there is still mercy for us when we fail. God, of course, did not will these sins of Jacob, but He could and did draw good from evil.
The Con of King David on Urias the Hethite
The story of David and Bethsabee is one of the most dramatic accounts in the Old Testament. One night in Jerusalem, King David was walking upon his rooftop when he spotted a beautiful woman bathing nearby (2 Kings 11:2). David asked his servants about her and was told she was Bethsabee, the wife of Urias the Hethite, one of David’s mighty men (2 Kings 23:39). Despite her marital status, David summoned Bethsabee to the palace, and they slept together.
Bethsabee later discovered she was pregnant (2 Kings 11:5), and she informed David. The king’s reaction was to attempt to hide his sin. David commanded Urias to report back to him from the battlefield. Bethsabee’s husband dutifully answered David’s summons, and David sent him home, hoping that Urias would sleep with Bethsabee and thus provide a cover for the pregnancy. Instead of obeying David’s orders, Urias slept in the quarters of the palace servants, refusing to enjoy a respite with Bethsabee while his men on the battlefield were still in harm’s way (2 Kings 11:9–11). Urias did the same thing the next night as well, showing integrity in sharp contrast to David’s lack thereof.
It became apparent that David and Bethsabee’s adultery could not be covered up that way. David enacted a second, more sinister plan: he commanded his military leader, Joab, to place Urias on the front lines of battle and then to purposefully fall back from him, leaving Urias exposed to enemy attack. Joab followed the directive, and Urias was killed in battle. After her time of mourning, Bethsabee married David and gave birth to a son. “This thing, which David had done, was displeasing to the Lord” (2 Kings 11:27)
The Vengeful ‘Sting’ of God on David
When David and Bethsabee’s child was born, the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to confront David. Nathan used a parable: a rich man took a poor man’s only sheep and killed it, even though he had many flocks of his own. David, a former shepherd, was so angered by this story, which he thought was true, that he responded, “As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this is a child of death. He shall restore the ewe fourfold, because he did this thing, and had no pity.” (2 Kings 12:5–6).
Nathan then pointed to David and uttered the chilling words, “Thou art the man!” (2 Kings 12:7). David was the one guilty of this sin, and judgment would be upon his house in the form of ongoing violence. David repented (see Psalm 50), and Nathan said, “The Lord hath taken away thy sin: thou shalt not die. Nevertheless, because thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, for this thing, the child that is born to thee, shall surely die” (2 Kings 12:13–14). The child did die a week later, and David’s household experienced further hardship in later years. In total, four of David’s sons suffered untimely deaths—the “four times over” judgment David had pronounced upon himself.
In the account of David and Bethsabee, we find many lessons. Firstly, everyone’s secret sins will be found out sooner or later―if not in this life, then at the General Judgment: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap!” (Galatians 6:7-8). Secondly, God will forgive anyone who sincerely repents. Thirdly, each sin’s consequences remain even when the sin is forgiven―even in the case of God’s chosen ones, such as Jacob or David. Fourthly, God can work even in difficult or seemingly impossible situations. In fact, David and Bethsabee’s next son, Solomon, became the heir to the throne. Even in bad situations, God has a plan that serves His sovereign purpose, always seeking to bring good out of evil as only God can.
The Book of Cons
You could go on and on and show the various big cons and little cons found in the Bible―down to the time of Christ―which sees the murderous Herod trying to con the Three Kings into divulging the whereabouts of the new-born Christ; or the several conspiratorial Jewish priests trying to con the rest of the Sanhedrin of Christ’s guilt, by bringing in false witnesses to lie about Him, and then, after Christ’s resurrection, trying to con the people into disbelieving Christ’s resurrection by bribing the Roman soldiers to say that Christ’s followers stole His dead body while they, the Roman guards, were sleeping. Christ Himself spoke of future cons―those of the immediate future and especially the cons of the Last Days or End Times: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep” (Matthew 7:15)―which, of course, is every heresy and heretic that has existed, and “There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24).
The Era of Christian Cons
From the earliest times, heresies―which are essentially a con―have infested the Church. Today, there are between 800 and more than 900 million Protestants worldwide, among approximately 2,400 million Christians. About 20% (160 million) of the global Protestants are found in the United States, which comes at the top of the Protestant nation list.
Each and every heresy―those of the past and those of the present―is a con by Satan that plays upon the personal preferences of those wanting to be followers of Christ. There is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church―and even within the Catholic Church most souls fail to attain salvation because they allow themselves to be conned in one or more ways. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church is the vehicle chosen by Christ for taking souls to Heaven―regardless of whether or not they jump-off or stay-on-board that vehicle. If Satan cannot con somebody to enter or stay with a religion, then he has a series of cons he will use on those who are in or join the One True Religion―the Catholic Faith.
Essentially, heresy is a ride that promises what it does not deliver―it promises to lead souls to Heaven and delivers them Hell. The actual ‘drivers’ of the bus of heresy are themselves conned by Satan―and are just as shocked and amazed at finding themselves in the pit of Hell. They veered-off the straight and narrow road that leads to Heaven, and fell over the edge of the cliff into Hell.
The Era of Catholic Cons
“Cometh the Protestant―Cometh the Protestant Catholic!” As they say, “You cannot leave clothes in a smoky room without them taking on the smell of smoke!” You can add to this “the smoke of Satan”―for Pope Paul VI would say on more than one public occasion that the “smoke of Satan” had entered the Church! Fr. Felix Salvany’s excellent book, Liberalism Is A Sin, points out (the population counts have been updated for our present day):
“Protestantism naturally begets toleration of error. Rejecting the principle of authority in religion, it has neither criterion nor definition of Faith. On the principle that every individual or sect may interpret the deposit of Revelation according to the dictates of private judgment, it gives birth to endless differences and contradictions … The individual or sect interprets as it pleases—rejecting or accepting what it chooses. This is popularly called liberty of conscience [a gross Satanic con]… As a result, we find amongst the people of this country that authoritative religion has met with utter disaster and that religious beliefs, or unbeliefs, have come to be mere matters of opinion, each one being free to make or unmake his own creed—or even accept no creed. Such is the mainspring of the heresy constantly dinned into our ears, flooding our current literature and our press. The principle ramifies in many directions, striking root into our domestic, civil, and political life, and severs the bond which binds men to God and instead seeks to build human society on the foundations of man’s absolute independence. Hence we find Liberalism laying down as the basis of its propaganda the following principles:
1. The absolute sovereignty of the individual in his entire independence of God and God’s authority.
2. The absolute sovereignty of society in its entire independence of everything which does not proceed from itself.
3. Absolute civil sovereignty in the implied right of the people to make their own laws in entire independence and utter disregard of any other criterion than the popular will expressed at the polls and in parliamentary majorities.
4. Absolute freedom of thought in politics, morals, or in religion. The unrestrained liberty of the press.
“Such are the radical principles of Liberalism. In the assumption of the absolute sovereignty of the individual, that is, his entire independence of God, we find the common source of all the others. To express them all in one term, they are―in the order of ideas―RATIONALISM, or the doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of human reason. [which leads to]: absolute freedom of worship, the supremacy of the State, secular education rejecting any connection with religion, marriage sanctioned and legitimatized by the State alone, etc.; in one word, a word which synthesizes all, we have SECULARIZATION, which denies religion any active intervention in the concerns of public and of private life, whatever they be [a gross Satanic con]. This is veritable social atheism.
“The population of this country [USA] is at present something over 325 million. [2017 census]. Of these, 70 million are Catholics, and according to their claim [2017 stats], 150 million are Protestants, leaving a population of 105 million or more who do not profess any form of Christianity at all … We live in the midst of this religious anarchy. Some [2017 stats] 255 million of our population can, in one sense or other, be considered anti-Catholic. From this mass—heretical and infidel—exhales an atmosphere filled with germs poisonous and fatal to Catholic life, if permitted to take root in the Catholic heart. The mere force of gravitation, which the larger mass ever exercises upon the smaller, is a power which the most energetic vigor alone can resist. Under this dangerous influence, a deadly inertia is apt to creep over the souls of the incautious and is only to be overcome by the liveliest exercise of Catholic Faith. To live without enervation amidst an heretical and infidel population requires a robust religious constitution. And to this danger we are daily exposed, ever coming into contact in a thousand ways, in almost every relation of life, with anti-Catholic thought and customs. But outside of this spiritual inertia, our non-Catholic surroundings—a danger rather passive than active in its influence—beget a still greater menace.
“It is natural that Protestantism and infidelity should find public expression. What our [2017 stats] 255 million non-Catholic population thinks in these matters, naturally seeks and finds open expression. They have their organs and their literature where we find their current opinions publicly uttered. Their views upon religion, morality, politics, the constitution of society are perpetually marshaled before us. In the pulpit and in the press they are reiterated day after day. In magazine and newspaper they constantly speak from every line. Our literature is permeated and saturated with non-Catholic dogmatism. On all sides do we find this opposing spirit. We cannot escape from it. It enfolds and embraces us. Its breath is perpetually in our faces. It enters in by eye and ear. From birth to death, it enslaves us in its offensive garments. It now soothes and flatters, now hates and curses, now threatens, now praises. But it is most dangerous when it comes to us under the form of “liberality.” It is especially powerful for seduction in this guise. And it is under this aspect that we wish to consider it. For it is as Liberalism that Protestantism and Infidelity make their most devastating inroads upon the domain of the Faith. Out of these non-Catholic and anti-Catholic conditions thus predominating amongst us springs this monster of our times, Liberalism! Liberalism, whether in the doctrinal or practical order, is a sin. In the doctrinal order, it is heresy, and consequently a mortal sin against Faith. In the practical order, it is a sin against the commandments of God and of the Church, for it virtually transgresses all commandments” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin).
The Cunning or Conning of Liberalism
Fr. Salvany then speaks of the Satanic cunning (or should we say “conning” instead of “cunning”) of Liberalism: “Liberalism has been condemned by the Pope in many and various documents. From these let us select a few ephithets which stigmatize it with unsparing emphasis. They will bring out in striking relief the perfidious character of this cunning heresy. In his Brief to Mgr. de Segur, the Pope calls it a “perfidious enemy”; in his allocution to the Bishop of Nevers, “the present real calamity”; in his letter to the Catholic Circle of St. Ambrose of Milan, “a compact between injustice and iniquity”; in the same document he speaks of it as “more fatal and dangerous than a declared enemy”; in his letter to the Bishop of Quimper, “a hidden poison”; in the brief to the Belgians, “a crafty and insidious error”; in another brief, to Mgr. Gaume, “a most pernicious pest.” All these documents from which we quote may be found in full in Mgr. Segur’s book, Hommage Aux Catholiques Liberaux. But Liberalism is always strategically cunning” ― which brings to mind the words of Genesis: “Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1). ” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin).
How Are Catholic Conned by Liberalism?
The explanation of the reasons why Catholics become Liberals, fits perfectly with the methods by which con-men bait their victims. Fr. Salvany explains:
“Various are the ways in which a faithful Christian is drawn into the error of Liberalism. Very often corruption of heart is a consequence of errors of the intellect, but more frequently still, errors of the intellect follow the corruption of the heart. The history of heresies [cons] very clearly shows this fact. Their beginnings nearly always present the same character, either wounded self-love, or a grievance to be avenged; or lust, or it is a bag of gold for which he sells his conscience. Error nearly always has its origin in the triple-headed monster which St. John describes and calls ―“Concupiscence of the flesh, concupiscence of the eyes, the pride of life.” Here are the sources of all error, here are the roads to Liberalism. Let us dwell on them for a moment.
(1) Men become Liberal on account of a natural desire for independence and for an easy life. Liberalism is necessarily sympathetic with the depraved nature of man, just as Catholicity is essentially opposed to it. Liberalism is freedom from control; Catholicity is the controlling of the passions. Now, fallen man, by a very natural tendency, loves a system which legitimatizes and sanctifies his pride of intellect and the license of passion. Logically then does man declare himself a Liberal when he discovers that Liberalism offers a protection for his caprices and an excuse for his indulgences.
(2) Men become Liberal by the desire for advancement in life. Liberalism is today the dominating idea; it reigns everywhere and especially in the sphere of public life. It is therefore a sure recommendation to public favor. On starting out in life, the young man looks around upon the various paths that lead to fortune, to fame, to glory, and sees that an almost indispensable condition of reaching the desired goal is, at least in our times, to become Liberal. Heroes are rare, and most young men, beginning their career, affiliate with Liberalism. It promises them the assistance of a powerful press, the recommendation of powerful protectors, the powerful influence of secret societies, the patronage of distinguished men. Liberalism, moreover, is essentially favorable to that public life which this age so ardently pursues. It holds out as tempting baits public offices, commissions, fat positions, etc., which constitute the organism of the official machine. It seems an absolute condition to progress in politics.
(3) Men become Liberal out of avarice, or the love of money. To get along in the world, to succeed in business, is always a standing temptation of Liberalism. It meets the young man at every turn. Around him in a thousand ways does he feel the secret or open hostility of the enemies of his Faith. In business life or in the professions, he is passed by, overlooked, ignored. Let him relax a little in his Faith, join a forbidden secret society, and behold, the bolts and bars are drawn; he possesses the “open sesame” to success! Then the insidious discrimination against him melts away in the fraternal embrace of the enemy, who rewards his treachery to the Faith by advancing him in a thousand ways. Such a temptation is difficult for the ambitious to withstand. Be Liberal, admit that there is no great difference between men’s creeds, that at the bottom they are really the same after all. Proclaim your breadth of mind by admitting that other religious beliefs are just as good for other people as your Faith is for you; they are, as far as they know, just as right as you are; it is largely a question of education and temperament what a man believes; and how quickly you are patted on the back as a “broad-minded” man who has escaped the narrow limitations of his creed. You will be extensively patronized, for Liberalism is very generous to a convert. “Falling down adore me, and I will give you all these things” says Satan yet to Jesus Christ in the desert.
Such are the ordinary causes of perversions to Liberalism; from these all others flow. Whoever has any experience of the world and the human heart can easily trace the others.” ” (Fr. Felix Salvany, Liberalism Is A Sin).
The Biggest Con is Yet to Come!
All of this is merely a gradual setting-up for what could be ranked as the “Con of Cons” or the “Trick of Tricks”! What is that? In the next article we shall look at the many ways in which you have been conned and we shall pull the veil back on the Satanic audacity that has or will pull-off the “crème-de-la-crème” of cons―in such a way that the conned will not know they have been conned. Furthermore, it is the Church herself―or rather some of the Church's leaders―who have conned Catholics multiple times over recent decades and continue to do so to this very day!
The Con of Church Infiltration
The Con of the Third Secret of Fatima
The Con of the False Lucia of Fatima
The Con of Papal Elections
The Con of the False Pope Paul VI
The Con of the ‘Counterfeit’ Church
The Con of the New Mass
The Con of Episcopal Consecrations
The Con of Priestly Ordinations
The Con of the New Sacraments
The Con of the New Theology
The Con of Ecumenism
The Con of Universal Salvation
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE Saturday May 11th & Sunday May 12th & Monday May 13th
Article 12
Francis' Faithful Flock? Or Francis' Faithless Fools?
Got that "sheepish" feeling?
Article 12
Francis' Faithful Flock? Or Francis' Faithless Fools?
Got that "sheepish" feeling?
Fight, Flee or Follow?
The name Francis evokes a flurry of “F” words from all quarters―depending upon what shade of Catholicism you choose to wear and in which part or suburb of “Catholic City” you choose to live in―amongst the Modernists, Liberals, Indifferents, Lukewarms, Conservatives, Traditionalists, Rigorists, Sedevacantists, etc.
The Francis feedback fosters and ferments fervent, fiery and fractious feelings. There are basically three kinds of Francis feedback feelings: (1) The Francis feel-good factor, (2) the Francis feel-bad factor, and (3) the Francis feel-nothing factor. The Modernists and Liberals generally enjoy the Francis feel-good factor; the Conservatives, Traditionalists and Sedevacantists hold more of a Francis feel-bad factor; while the Indifferent and Lukewarm are generally found to have the Francis feel-nothing factor. Yet, at this point, there are―believe it or not―even some Modernists and Liberals who are taking issue with some of the remarks, teachings and directions that Francis has been taking.
Therefore, depending on your shade, strain, or brand of Catholicism, you will see Francis as the epitome of several “F” words― Friend or Foe, Friendly or Fierce, Faultless or Faulty, Fearless or Fearful, Fastidious or a Flip-Flopper, Firm or Fluctuating, Faithful or Faithless, a Friendly Friar or Fiendish Frier, Fatherly or Frightening, Fascinating or Foreboding, etc.
His supporters will look upon him favorably as being Fatherly, Friendly, Forgiving, Funny, Faultless, Faithful, Fantastic, Fabulous, Fortitudinous, Futuristic, etc. While his opponents see him as a Failure, Frustratingly Foolish, Foolhardy, a Freethinker, Freemasonry Friendly, a Fabricator, Falsifier, Fraud, Fallacious, Froward, Furious, Frightening, etc.
What do you do? Do you fight Francis? Flee Francis? Follow Francis? Forget Francis? Or even ‘fire’ Francis? That is the dilemma that is facing the Catholic world today―and the different ‘ghettos’ or shades or flavors of Catholicism are reacting in different ways. Never before in history have we had such a public uproar, furor (furore), outcry and reaction against a pope. To a certain degree, you could imagine and expect such sentiments coming from Sedevacantists (= those who think Francis is not a real pope), but this has now spread, not only to and increasing numbers of Traditionalists and even Conservatives within the mainstream Church, but also to various Liberals and Modernists too―as is witnessed by the recent crop of condemnatory public letters with notable signatories that have included many bishops, priests, religious, professors, etc. Even respectable newspapers and Catholic universities have joined in the “Francis Flagellation Frenzy”―something that is totally new to the Catholic world, especially with regard to the heightened degrees that such opposition and public criticism have reached.
Some Frightening Francis Quotes
On December 23rd, 2016, the German national, secular, highly respected and widely read publication, Der Spiegel, published an article about the current crisis in the Church, and the escalating criticism and opposition to Pope Francis’ many proposed and actual reforms. The article ended with Der Spiegel’s reporter Italy, Walter Mayr, revealing an astounding comment that was allegedly made by Pope Francis: “In a very small circle, Pope Francis is said to have self-critically further explained himself as follows: ‘It is not to be excluded that I will enter history as the one who split the Catholic Church!’”
This worrisome, astounding yet not altogether surprising quote, immediately brings to mind another Francis quote―not a Pope Francis quote, but a St. Francis of Assisi quote. Shortly before he died in 1226, St. Francis of Assisi called together the members of his order and warned them of great tribulations that would befall the Church in the future, saying:
"The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound; the charity of many will grow cold, and the malice of the wicked will increase. The devils will have unusual power … At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate [papacy], who, by his cunning, will endeavor to draw many into error and death. Then scandals will be multiplied, our Order will be divided, and many others will be entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it. There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy, that, except those days were shortened―according to the words of the Gospel―then even the elect would be led into error, were they not specially guided, amid such great confusion, by the immense mercy of God. Then our Rule and manner of life will be violently opposed by some, and terrible trials will come upon us. Those who are found faithful will receive the crown of life; but woe to those who, trusting solely in their Order, shall fall into tepidity, for they will not be able to support the temptations permitted for the proving of the elect. Those who preserve their fervor and adhere to virtue with love and zeal for the truth, will suffer injuries and, persecutions as rebels and schismatics; for their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say they are rendering a great service to God by destroying such pestilent men from the face of the Earth. But the Lord will be the refuge of the afflicted, and will save all who trust in Him. And in order to be like their Head [Jesus Christ], these, the elect, will act with confidence, and by their death will purchase for themselves eternal life; choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear nothing, and they will prefer to perish [physically] rather than consent to falsehood and perfidy. Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it under foot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Jesus Christ will send them not a true Pastor, but a destroyer!” (Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis Of Assisi, pp. 248-250, printed in London by R. Washbourne, 1882).
Francis’ Frightening Freethinking Faithless Flip-Floppy Quotes
Coming back to our own day and reality―there are many quotes that have served as wood for the fire that is being kindled to ‘burn’ Francis at the stake as a heretic. The Francis firewood, that will fuel the fire, has been collected over the years to form quite a formidable and frightening bonfire―which, judging by current sentiments, is not far from being lit at some point in the future. Perhaps that is why Francis has hinted―on more than one occasion―that he may well ‘step-down’ and ‘resign’ or ‘retire’ in the near future―following the calamitous and ill-advised ‘resignation’ (some say it was induced by force and fear) of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who sent shockwaves through the world by announcing, on February 11th, 2013, his intention to resign from the papacy, which he carried out on February 28th of 2013, which led to election of Pope Francis on March 13th, 2013.
After Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis) replaced the resigning Pope Benedict XVI, he quickly proved himself to be a true full-blooded Liberal who places himself on both sides of an argument with vaguely worded pronouncements that are inconclusive and open-ended to contrary interpretations―which is a typical and faithful imitation of the ambiguity and impreciseness that plagued the Second Vatican Council and thus led to many abuses in its wake.
Francis has said many things since his election to the papacy on March 13th, 2013. Some things have been good and true, other things have not been good, but perplexing and even untrue. There are three chief areas or domains in which you will find most of what Pope Francis says. These are his daily “off-the-cuff” homilies at the daily Mass he offers, where certain members of the public and clergy are allowed to/invited to attend. Then we have Francis’ “off-the-cuff” in-flight press conferences whenever he flies to and from his various worldwide engagements. The third source includes the many different official events, receptions, conferences, etc. in which Francis will speak more formally, but will still include his “off-the-cuff” remarks.
These “off-the-cuff” homilies and in-flight press conferences―rather than reading from a prepared text―are actually something new. It is very informal and allows Francis to make many informal, imprecise, vague, emotional comments that he later claim to be misunderstood and misquoted. It allows him to “get away with murder” so to speak. What helps him in this, is that the Vatican staff do not give us the fully transcribed text of what Francis has said, but officially it only posts a snippet of quotes and no more. As a result, we're not getting complete transcripts of these homilies, only partial ones, such as those carried by Vatican Radio. It is not―as some argue―that Francis says too much for the Vatican staff to handle, process, edit and publish in their entirety―a professional organization could manage that easily. Rather, it is more advantageous for Francis to be able say things, communicate confusing ideas, without them being recorded and published in their entirety―thus opening himself up to analysis, criticism and potential condemnation. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI did not do this. They did not celebrate daily Mass as publicly as Pope Francis, and they did not have daily homilies published in this way. Instead, they occasionally delivered prepared homilies at public Masses on special occasions, and only these were published.
The ‘Holy Cunning” of Francis
On July 31st, 2018, Thomas Rosica, the Vatican consultant (now resigned), who is very much pro-Francis, issued a statement publicly recognizing and defending that Pope Francis “breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants” and that he rules by his own personal authority, rather than the authority of the Scripture and tradition of the Catholic Church. In his article, Fr. Rosica speaks of Francis’ “commitment to a ‘conversion’ of the papacy as well as the entire Church. It’s hard to predict what will come next. Francis is shrewd―and he has repeatedly praised the Jesuit trait of “holy cunning” ― that Christians should be ‘wise as serpents but innocent as doves,’ as Jesus put it. The pope’s openness means that not even he is sure where the spirit will lead … Pope Francis breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants because he is free from disordered attachments. Our Church has indeed entered a new phase―with the advent of this first Jesuit pope―it is openly ruled by an individual rather than by the authority of Scripture alone, or even its own dictates of tradition plus Scripture.”
Fr. Rosica’s revelation of Francis ruling as an “individual” apart from the authority of Tradition and Scripture, reminds you of a well-published Catholic author and a member of the Knights of Malta (now-suspended), H. J. A. Sire, who, in his book on Francis, entitled The Dictator Pope, depicts Francis’ rule as aloof , arrogant and autocratic, while being indifferent to Catholic doctrine. Fr. Rosica also suggest that Francis looks upon adhering to Holy Scripture and the Catholic Church’s traditional doctrines, as a “disordered attachment.”
Pope Francis has made numerous statements, both in print and in press interviews, which appear to contradict Catholic doctrine and even defined dogma, most (in)famously in his 2016 apostolic exhortation, Amoris laetitia, in which Francis appears to claim that adulterous sexual acts, within invalid second “marriages”, can be justified or excused in some circumstances. The same exhortation, Amoris laetitia, has consequently been interpreted by various cardinals and bishops as being a "green-light" to allowing adulterous couples to be given Holy Communion―which is an interpretation that contradicts the Code of Canon Law and centuries of sacramental discipline. Pope Francis has shown his support for this non-traditional, sinful interpretation by cardinals, bishops and priests.
Here, in chronological order, are some of Francis’ perplexing comments over the years―some containing an element of partial truth mixed with error, others not―which today form part of the firewood for the bonfire upon which increasing numbers of Catholics wish to see him burn. Each one is not necessarily shocking or indicting by itself, but taken as whole, then manifest a very disturbing picture.
Francis on 'Dung-Spreading' or Scandal-Mongering
► On February 2nd, 2012, Pope Francis, in an interview by the Belgian weekly magazine Tertio, called on those who use and control the media to avoid disinformation and “the sickness of coprophilia” (the eating of feces/dung) — comparing a love of and an obsession with scandal to an abnormal interest in feces. Francis said: “I believe that the media should be very clear, very transparent, and not fall prey — no offense intended, please — to the sickness of coprophilia, which is always wanting to communicate scandal, to communicate ugly things, even though they may be true … And since people have a tendency towards the sickness of coprophagia [in loving to read and hear about the dung of scandals], it can do great harm … The means of communication have their own temptations, they can be tempted by slander, and therefore used to slander people, to smear them … They can be used as means of defamation ... No-one has a right to do this! It is a sin and it is hurtful!” In essence, what he says is perfectly true―we are obsessed with scandalous news and it seems to be our staple diet. We love to see the ‘dung’ of other people’s lives on the table!
Francis' Ecumenical Propaganda
► On March 16th, 2013, speaking to an audience of media representatives, Pope Francis concluded his speech saying: “I respect your consciences and, since you are not all Catholic, I will not bless you, but pray for you in my heart!” Whatever happened to Our Lord’s command of “Teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20) and “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth him that sent Me!” (Luke 10:16), also, “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:32-36).
► On May 22nd, 2013, Pope Francis, in another unscripted “off-the-cuff” homily, stated that “the Lord has redeemed all of us―all of us―with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics! Everyone! ‘Father, even the atheists?’ Even the atheists! Everyone! … ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good―we will meet one another there.” This imprecise vague and ambiguous remark made no distinction between Christ potentially having died for everyone, but that potential not being achieved because most would reject the terms of Christ’s ‘contract’. Therefore, this vague, imprecise and ambiguous remark was widely reported, with great delight, as a papal declaration that atheists can be saved merely by doing good. This resulted in the Vatican producing a 2,300-word clarification the next day, May 23rd, insisting Francis had “no intention of provoking a theological debate on the nature of salvation.” Typical Modernist tactics of speaking out of both corners of one’s mouth and using a language or vocabulary that confuses, while lacking the necessary theological clarity, completeness and preciseness. Francis would often return to this idea of making non-Catholics feel ‘safe and sound’ in their non-Catholic position―whether it be a pagan position, Muslim, Buddhist or whatever position, or a Protestant Christian position. This was no mere slip of the tongue, but a calculated sowing of uncertainty, confusion and error―otherwise Francis would have learnt for this mistake and not repeated it so many times in the future. He is―is he not?―a grown man endowed with intelligence and memory, as well as many knowledgeable advisers.
Francis Undermining the Faith
► On June 2nd, 2013, Pope Francis, speaking about Jesus multiplying the bread and fish, down plays the miracle and says: “Here’s the miracle―that it is more a sharing than a multiplying!”―which is typical Modernist manner of discrediting the miracles that are related in the Bible.
► On June 6th, 2013, in speaking with the board of The Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women, Pope Francis again produces the customary Modernist “double-speak”, which makes it hard to point a finger, for you are left thinking―just like a person who has received a subtle insult― “Was that insult or not? Did he mean it or not? Was it a joke or an insult, or an insult disguised as a joke?” In this meeting, Pope Francis said: “There are some restorationist groups (traditionalist groups)―I know some, because it fell upon me to receive them in Buenos Aires. And [with them] one feels as if one goes back 60 years―before the Council … one feels in 1940! An anecdote, just to illustrate this―it is not to laugh at it, I took it with respect, but it concerns me! When I was elected, I received a letter from one of these groups, and they said: ‘Your Holiness, we offer you this spiritual treasure: 3,525 rosaries.’ Why don’t they just say, ‘we pray for you, we ask…’―but this thing of counting!! … And these groups return to practices and to disciplines that I once lived through ― not you, because you are not old ― to disciplines, to things that in that moment once took place, but not now, they do not exist today!”
One has to ask: “Is that an insult?” He says it is not― “it is not to laugh at it, I took it with respect” he adds. However, then he criticizes or even ridicules the fact that the number of Rosaries prayed was calculated to exactly 3,525― “but this thing of counting!!” Yet Francis is not averse to precisely counting minutes when it comes to speaking about priests giving sermons, for, on February 7th, 2018, in a homily Francis sets a precise limit to the length of sermons, saying: “Please, be brief―no more than 10 minutes, please!” Francis added, on September 15th, 2018: “A 40 minute homily? NO! The whole Mass should last about 40 minutes!” ―which provoked a loud applause from the Sicilian congregation to whom he was preaching. For the record, the homily Pope Francis gave―following his remarks about brief sermons―was 17 minutes long! Very few people do any serious spiritual reading during the week―Francis is basically saying that their spiritual “fix” for the week should be less than 10 minutes (or the equivalent of 1½ minutes a day)―yet those same people will happily drink the gospel of the world for hours on end EVERY DAY, as preached to them via the TV, movies, songs, internet via the preaching of the computer, laptop, smartphone, tablet, etc. Perhaps he should also set a maximum amount of minutes to be spent on the smartphone, or watching TV, or browsing the internet!
Francis on Homosexuality
► July 29th, 2013, when asked about gay priests, Pope Francis replies: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” You have to remember that “Modernist-Speak” or “Liberal-Speak”―especially in the style used at the Second Vatican Council and ever since then―is very cleverly concocted in a way that it can interpreted traditionally and non-traditionally (in a modernist/progressive way). It is what you could call “Double-Speak” or “Partial-Speak”―whereby what you DO NOT SAY (or deliberately leave out) is as important as what you DO SAY. For this to work, you cannot speak clearly, instead, you must speak vaguely, confusingly, leaving things ‘hanging’ or incomplete, so that the listener, so to speak, “fills in the blanks” that you have left in a way that pleases or suits the listener. Thus, when Francis says―“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”―he is vague about the person being gay: is it a practicing gay person, or merely a person with gay tendencies but who does act upon them? He has to make that clear―especially in view of the worldwide tendency to increasingly accept practicing gays―but Francis deliberately leaves that out. Thus, his words―by the listener “filling-in-the-blanks”―can mean both things, for those words can be interpreted two ways.
Clever! Typical modernist double-speak! Speak provocatively, but “never finish your sentences”―thereby giving yourself the possible excuse, if accused, of replying: “But that is not what I said! That is not what I meant!”―knowing full well that the vagueness and ambiguity would give the listener a chance to interpret it however they want. Thus some gays think Francis is “pro-gay” and some Catholics think Francis is “anti-gay.” This ambiguity―plus the fact that a very large number of Catholic clergy are gay themselves―has facilitated and led to the fact that over half of modern day Catholics are in favor of allowing and accepting openly gay members in the Church. That did not happen overnight, but is a fruit of the ambiguity and “aggiornamento” (“updating” or “modernizing”) of the Second Vatican Council by opening the windows and doors of the Church to the world in an attempt to draw closer to the world―which has led the Church further away from God. After the Council, Pope Paul VI lamented that the Second Vatican Council’s “opening to the world” had already begun to cause endless calamity, that “the opening to the world became a veritable invasion of the Church by worldly thinking. We have perhaps been too weak and imprudent.” (Speech of November 23rd, 1973). They are still on that suicidal path with Francis.
► On August 19th, 2013, in an interview with his fellow Jesuit, Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J., editor in chief of La Civiltà Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit journal, Pope Francis said: “A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: ‘Tell me―when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person. Here we enter into the mystery of the human being. In life, God accompanies persons, and we must accompany them, starting from their situation. It is necessary to accompany them with mercy. When that happens, the Holy Spirit inspires the priest to say the right thing.” Here we see, once again, the same Modernist style using a language or vocabulary that confuses, while lacking the necessary theological clarity, completeness and preciseness.
What is wrong with quoting Holy Scripture? Why doesn’t Francis let Scripture speak on his behalf? “Thou shalt not lie with man as with woman, because it is an abomination. Thou shalt not copulate with any beast, because it is a heinous crime. Defile not yourselves with any of these things … Do not any of these abominations―neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you. For all these detestable things the inhabitants of the land have done, that; were before you, and have defiled it. Beware then, lest in like manner, it vomit you also out, if you do the same things, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. Every soul that shall commit any of these abominations, shall perish from the midst of his people!” (Leviticus 18:22-29). “If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death: their blood be upon them!” (Leviticus 20:13). “Men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men, working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error. And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense … They who do such things, are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them!” (Romans 1:27-32). “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the Kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind (homosexuals) … shall possess the kingdom of God!” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
Of course God is merciful―“The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9) and “if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18)―but look at the WHOLE PICTURE and do not forget that God’s mercy is not there to be abused and mocked: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8). To the woman who was caught in adultery, Our Lord, in forgiving her, said: “Go! And now SIN NO MORE!” (John 8:11). Likewise to the paralytic whom Jesus cured, He warned him: “Behold thou art made whole! SIN NO MORE―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). That is why Holy Scripture adds: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and ADD NOT SIN UPON SIN!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). Why doesn’t Francis add that to his ‘merciful’ comments? Does He expect God to endlessly drink one chalice after another of the vomit of our sins? God is not an infinite “car-wash” for the filth of our sins―as Our Lady, the Mother of Mercy, warned at Fatima and Akita: ““Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” When has Francis said anything like that? It is no surprise that Our Lady of Akita added: “Those who should speak out will be silent!”
Don't Proselytize! With False Religions, Just Sympathize, Empathize and Legitimize!
► On October 1st, 2013, Pope Francis said: “Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us.” Francis has ‘revisited’ this condemnation of proselytization on numerous occasion since that time―causing much debate, disillusionment, discouragement and even disgust. Some understand “proselytization” in the sense of “conversion”, while others understand “proselytization” to mean “forced conversion” or “pressured conversion”―a separate article will be dedicated to these “proselytization” comments of Francis in the near future. For now, let it be said that Francis is ‘religiously’ following the lead set by the Second Vatican Council and its erroneous ideas about Ecumenism. The general policy is one of “Hey! You don’t have to convert to Catholicism! Stay in your current religion! We are all children of God and we can all find God in our own way!” This has been shown to be the attitude of the post Vatican II Church time and time again―evidence is overwhelming.
► November 24th, 2013, Pope Francis made the following comment about Muslims: “We must never forget that they profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and, together with us, they adore the one, merciful God, who will judge humanity on the last day.” This is not a “Francis invention” ― this erroneous idea was given birth at the Second Vatican Council, where, in one of its documents (Lumen Gentium) you can find almost word for word what Francis said. According to the Second Vatican Council, Muslims “adore the same God along with us.” That is what the dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium claimed on November 21st, 1964: “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us, adore the one and merciful God, Who on the last day will judge mankind” (Lumen Gentium, §16).
Scripture, however, makes the following clear and indisputable points: “Be it known to you all that the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth … is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:10-12). “Whosoever does not continue in the doctrine of Christ, does not have God” (2 John 1:9). “Without Faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). “The Holy Scriptures … can instruct thee to salvation, by the Faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).
The above quotes are merely from the first 9 months of Francis’ pontificate. As will be shown later, Francis was merely warming-up for what was to come later. He most certainly knew what he saying and doing, when, on December 23rd, 2016, according to Walter Mayr, the Rome correspondent of the German magazine Der Spiegel: “In a very small circle, Pope Francis is said to have explained himself as follows: ‘It is not to be excluded that I will enter history as the one who split the Catholic Church.’” Which brings us back full circle to the St. Francis of Assisi quote or prophecy, made shortly before he died in 1226: “The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound … At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate [papacy], who, by his cunning, will endeavor to draw many into error and death. Then scandals will be multiplied … There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy … for in those days Jesus Christ will send them not a true Pastor, but a destroyer!” (Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis Of Assisi, pp. 248-250, printed in London by R. Washbourne, 1882).
The name Francis evokes a flurry of “F” words from all quarters―depending upon what shade of Catholicism you choose to wear and in which part or suburb of “Catholic City” you choose to live in―amongst the Modernists, Liberals, Indifferents, Lukewarms, Conservatives, Traditionalists, Rigorists, Sedevacantists, etc.
The Francis feedback fosters and ferments fervent, fiery and fractious feelings. There are basically three kinds of Francis feedback feelings: (1) The Francis feel-good factor, (2) the Francis feel-bad factor, and (3) the Francis feel-nothing factor. The Modernists and Liberals generally enjoy the Francis feel-good factor; the Conservatives, Traditionalists and Sedevacantists hold more of a Francis feel-bad factor; while the Indifferent and Lukewarm are generally found to have the Francis feel-nothing factor. Yet, at this point, there are―believe it or not―even some Modernists and Liberals who are taking issue with some of the remarks, teachings and directions that Francis has been taking.
Therefore, depending on your shade, strain, or brand of Catholicism, you will see Francis as the epitome of several “F” words― Friend or Foe, Friendly or Fierce, Faultless or Faulty, Fearless or Fearful, Fastidious or a Flip-Flopper, Firm or Fluctuating, Faithful or Faithless, a Friendly Friar or Fiendish Frier, Fatherly or Frightening, Fascinating or Foreboding, etc.
His supporters will look upon him favorably as being Fatherly, Friendly, Forgiving, Funny, Faultless, Faithful, Fantastic, Fabulous, Fortitudinous, Futuristic, etc. While his opponents see him as a Failure, Frustratingly Foolish, Foolhardy, a Freethinker, Freemasonry Friendly, a Fabricator, Falsifier, Fraud, Fallacious, Froward, Furious, Frightening, etc.
What do you do? Do you fight Francis? Flee Francis? Follow Francis? Forget Francis? Or even ‘fire’ Francis? That is the dilemma that is facing the Catholic world today―and the different ‘ghettos’ or shades or flavors of Catholicism are reacting in different ways. Never before in history have we had such a public uproar, furor (furore), outcry and reaction against a pope. To a certain degree, you could imagine and expect such sentiments coming from Sedevacantists (= those who think Francis is not a real pope), but this has now spread, not only to and increasing numbers of Traditionalists and even Conservatives within the mainstream Church, but also to various Liberals and Modernists too―as is witnessed by the recent crop of condemnatory public letters with notable signatories that have included many bishops, priests, religious, professors, etc. Even respectable newspapers and Catholic universities have joined in the “Francis Flagellation Frenzy”―something that is totally new to the Catholic world, especially with regard to the heightened degrees that such opposition and public criticism have reached.
Some Frightening Francis Quotes
On December 23rd, 2016, the German national, secular, highly respected and widely read publication, Der Spiegel, published an article about the current crisis in the Church, and the escalating criticism and opposition to Pope Francis’ many proposed and actual reforms. The article ended with Der Spiegel’s reporter Italy, Walter Mayr, revealing an astounding comment that was allegedly made by Pope Francis: “In a very small circle, Pope Francis is said to have self-critically further explained himself as follows: ‘It is not to be excluded that I will enter history as the one who split the Catholic Church!’”
This worrisome, astounding yet not altogether surprising quote, immediately brings to mind another Francis quote―not a Pope Francis quote, but a St. Francis of Assisi quote. Shortly before he died in 1226, St. Francis of Assisi called together the members of his order and warned them of great tribulations that would befall the Church in the future, saying:
"The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound; the charity of many will grow cold, and the malice of the wicked will increase. The devils will have unusual power … At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate [papacy], who, by his cunning, will endeavor to draw many into error and death. Then scandals will be multiplied, our Order will be divided, and many others will be entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it. There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy, that, except those days were shortened―according to the words of the Gospel―then even the elect would be led into error, were they not specially guided, amid such great confusion, by the immense mercy of God. Then our Rule and manner of life will be violently opposed by some, and terrible trials will come upon us. Those who are found faithful will receive the crown of life; but woe to those who, trusting solely in their Order, shall fall into tepidity, for they will not be able to support the temptations permitted for the proving of the elect. Those who preserve their fervor and adhere to virtue with love and zeal for the truth, will suffer injuries and, persecutions as rebels and schismatics; for their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say they are rendering a great service to God by destroying such pestilent men from the face of the Earth. But the Lord will be the refuge of the afflicted, and will save all who trust in Him. And in order to be like their Head [Jesus Christ], these, the elect, will act with confidence, and by their death will purchase for themselves eternal life; choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear nothing, and they will prefer to perish [physically] rather than consent to falsehood and perfidy. Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it under foot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Jesus Christ will send them not a true Pastor, but a destroyer!” (Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis Of Assisi, pp. 248-250, printed in London by R. Washbourne, 1882).
Francis’ Frightening Freethinking Faithless Flip-Floppy Quotes
Coming back to our own day and reality―there are many quotes that have served as wood for the fire that is being kindled to ‘burn’ Francis at the stake as a heretic. The Francis firewood, that will fuel the fire, has been collected over the years to form quite a formidable and frightening bonfire―which, judging by current sentiments, is not far from being lit at some point in the future. Perhaps that is why Francis has hinted―on more than one occasion―that he may well ‘step-down’ and ‘resign’ or ‘retire’ in the near future―following the calamitous and ill-advised ‘resignation’ (some say it was induced by force and fear) of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who sent shockwaves through the world by announcing, on February 11th, 2013, his intention to resign from the papacy, which he carried out on February 28th of 2013, which led to election of Pope Francis on March 13th, 2013.
After Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis) replaced the resigning Pope Benedict XVI, he quickly proved himself to be a true full-blooded Liberal who places himself on both sides of an argument with vaguely worded pronouncements that are inconclusive and open-ended to contrary interpretations―which is a typical and faithful imitation of the ambiguity and impreciseness that plagued the Second Vatican Council and thus led to many abuses in its wake.
Francis has said many things since his election to the papacy on March 13th, 2013. Some things have been good and true, other things have not been good, but perplexing and even untrue. There are three chief areas or domains in which you will find most of what Pope Francis says. These are his daily “off-the-cuff” homilies at the daily Mass he offers, where certain members of the public and clergy are allowed to/invited to attend. Then we have Francis’ “off-the-cuff” in-flight press conferences whenever he flies to and from his various worldwide engagements. The third source includes the many different official events, receptions, conferences, etc. in which Francis will speak more formally, but will still include his “off-the-cuff” remarks.
These “off-the-cuff” homilies and in-flight press conferences―rather than reading from a prepared text―are actually something new. It is very informal and allows Francis to make many informal, imprecise, vague, emotional comments that he later claim to be misunderstood and misquoted. It allows him to “get away with murder” so to speak. What helps him in this, is that the Vatican staff do not give us the fully transcribed text of what Francis has said, but officially it only posts a snippet of quotes and no more. As a result, we're not getting complete transcripts of these homilies, only partial ones, such as those carried by Vatican Radio. It is not―as some argue―that Francis says too much for the Vatican staff to handle, process, edit and publish in their entirety―a professional organization could manage that easily. Rather, it is more advantageous for Francis to be able say things, communicate confusing ideas, without them being recorded and published in their entirety―thus opening himself up to analysis, criticism and potential condemnation. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI did not do this. They did not celebrate daily Mass as publicly as Pope Francis, and they did not have daily homilies published in this way. Instead, they occasionally delivered prepared homilies at public Masses on special occasions, and only these were published.
The ‘Holy Cunning” of Francis
On July 31st, 2018, Thomas Rosica, the Vatican consultant (now resigned), who is very much pro-Francis, issued a statement publicly recognizing and defending that Pope Francis “breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants” and that he rules by his own personal authority, rather than the authority of the Scripture and tradition of the Catholic Church. In his article, Fr. Rosica speaks of Francis’ “commitment to a ‘conversion’ of the papacy as well as the entire Church. It’s hard to predict what will come next. Francis is shrewd―and he has repeatedly praised the Jesuit trait of “holy cunning” ― that Christians should be ‘wise as serpents but innocent as doves,’ as Jesus put it. The pope’s openness means that not even he is sure where the spirit will lead … Pope Francis breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants because he is free from disordered attachments. Our Church has indeed entered a new phase―with the advent of this first Jesuit pope―it is openly ruled by an individual rather than by the authority of Scripture alone, or even its own dictates of tradition plus Scripture.”
Fr. Rosica’s revelation of Francis ruling as an “individual” apart from the authority of Tradition and Scripture, reminds you of a well-published Catholic author and a member of the Knights of Malta (now-suspended), H. J. A. Sire, who, in his book on Francis, entitled The Dictator Pope, depicts Francis’ rule as aloof , arrogant and autocratic, while being indifferent to Catholic doctrine. Fr. Rosica also suggest that Francis looks upon adhering to Holy Scripture and the Catholic Church’s traditional doctrines, as a “disordered attachment.”
Pope Francis has made numerous statements, both in print and in press interviews, which appear to contradict Catholic doctrine and even defined dogma, most (in)famously in his 2016 apostolic exhortation, Amoris laetitia, in which Francis appears to claim that adulterous sexual acts, within invalid second “marriages”, can be justified or excused in some circumstances. The same exhortation, Amoris laetitia, has consequently been interpreted by various cardinals and bishops as being a "green-light" to allowing adulterous couples to be given Holy Communion―which is an interpretation that contradicts the Code of Canon Law and centuries of sacramental discipline. Pope Francis has shown his support for this non-traditional, sinful interpretation by cardinals, bishops and priests.
Here, in chronological order, are some of Francis’ perplexing comments over the years―some containing an element of partial truth mixed with error, others not―which today form part of the firewood for the bonfire upon which increasing numbers of Catholics wish to see him burn. Each one is not necessarily shocking or indicting by itself, but taken as whole, then manifest a very disturbing picture.
Francis on 'Dung-Spreading' or Scandal-Mongering
► On February 2nd, 2012, Pope Francis, in an interview by the Belgian weekly magazine Tertio, called on those who use and control the media to avoid disinformation and “the sickness of coprophilia” (the eating of feces/dung) — comparing a love of and an obsession with scandal to an abnormal interest in feces. Francis said: “I believe that the media should be very clear, very transparent, and not fall prey — no offense intended, please — to the sickness of coprophilia, which is always wanting to communicate scandal, to communicate ugly things, even though they may be true … And since people have a tendency towards the sickness of coprophagia [in loving to read and hear about the dung of scandals], it can do great harm … The means of communication have their own temptations, they can be tempted by slander, and therefore used to slander people, to smear them … They can be used as means of defamation ... No-one has a right to do this! It is a sin and it is hurtful!” In essence, what he says is perfectly true―we are obsessed with scandalous news and it seems to be our staple diet. We love to see the ‘dung’ of other people’s lives on the table!
Francis' Ecumenical Propaganda
► On March 16th, 2013, speaking to an audience of media representatives, Pope Francis concluded his speech saying: “I respect your consciences and, since you are not all Catholic, I will not bless you, but pray for you in my heart!” Whatever happened to Our Lord’s command of “Teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20) and “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth him that sent Me!” (Luke 10:16), also, “Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:32-36).
► On May 22nd, 2013, Pope Francis, in another unscripted “off-the-cuff” homily, stated that “the Lord has redeemed all of us―all of us―with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics! Everyone! ‘Father, even the atheists?’ Even the atheists! Everyone! … ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good―we will meet one another there.” This imprecise vague and ambiguous remark made no distinction between Christ potentially having died for everyone, but that potential not being achieved because most would reject the terms of Christ’s ‘contract’. Therefore, this vague, imprecise and ambiguous remark was widely reported, with great delight, as a papal declaration that atheists can be saved merely by doing good. This resulted in the Vatican producing a 2,300-word clarification the next day, May 23rd, insisting Francis had “no intention of provoking a theological debate on the nature of salvation.” Typical Modernist tactics of speaking out of both corners of one’s mouth and using a language or vocabulary that confuses, while lacking the necessary theological clarity, completeness and preciseness. Francis would often return to this idea of making non-Catholics feel ‘safe and sound’ in their non-Catholic position―whether it be a pagan position, Muslim, Buddhist or whatever position, or a Protestant Christian position. This was no mere slip of the tongue, but a calculated sowing of uncertainty, confusion and error―otherwise Francis would have learnt for this mistake and not repeated it so many times in the future. He is―is he not?―a grown man endowed with intelligence and memory, as well as many knowledgeable advisers.
Francis Undermining the Faith
► On June 2nd, 2013, Pope Francis, speaking about Jesus multiplying the bread and fish, down plays the miracle and says: “Here’s the miracle―that it is more a sharing than a multiplying!”―which is typical Modernist manner of discrediting the miracles that are related in the Bible.
► On June 6th, 2013, in speaking with the board of The Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women, Pope Francis again produces the customary Modernist “double-speak”, which makes it hard to point a finger, for you are left thinking―just like a person who has received a subtle insult― “Was that insult or not? Did he mean it or not? Was it a joke or an insult, or an insult disguised as a joke?” In this meeting, Pope Francis said: “There are some restorationist groups (traditionalist groups)―I know some, because it fell upon me to receive them in Buenos Aires. And [with them] one feels as if one goes back 60 years―before the Council … one feels in 1940! An anecdote, just to illustrate this―it is not to laugh at it, I took it with respect, but it concerns me! When I was elected, I received a letter from one of these groups, and they said: ‘Your Holiness, we offer you this spiritual treasure: 3,525 rosaries.’ Why don’t they just say, ‘we pray for you, we ask…’―but this thing of counting!! … And these groups return to practices and to disciplines that I once lived through ― not you, because you are not old ― to disciplines, to things that in that moment once took place, but not now, they do not exist today!”
One has to ask: “Is that an insult?” He says it is not― “it is not to laugh at it, I took it with respect” he adds. However, then he criticizes or even ridicules the fact that the number of Rosaries prayed was calculated to exactly 3,525― “but this thing of counting!!” Yet Francis is not averse to precisely counting minutes when it comes to speaking about priests giving sermons, for, on February 7th, 2018, in a homily Francis sets a precise limit to the length of sermons, saying: “Please, be brief―no more than 10 minutes, please!” Francis added, on September 15th, 2018: “A 40 minute homily? NO! The whole Mass should last about 40 minutes!” ―which provoked a loud applause from the Sicilian congregation to whom he was preaching. For the record, the homily Pope Francis gave―following his remarks about brief sermons―was 17 minutes long! Very few people do any serious spiritual reading during the week―Francis is basically saying that their spiritual “fix” for the week should be less than 10 minutes (or the equivalent of 1½ minutes a day)―yet those same people will happily drink the gospel of the world for hours on end EVERY DAY, as preached to them via the TV, movies, songs, internet via the preaching of the computer, laptop, smartphone, tablet, etc. Perhaps he should also set a maximum amount of minutes to be spent on the smartphone, or watching TV, or browsing the internet!
Francis on Homosexuality
► July 29th, 2013, when asked about gay priests, Pope Francis replies: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” You have to remember that “Modernist-Speak” or “Liberal-Speak”―especially in the style used at the Second Vatican Council and ever since then―is very cleverly concocted in a way that it can interpreted traditionally and non-traditionally (in a modernist/progressive way). It is what you could call “Double-Speak” or “Partial-Speak”―whereby what you DO NOT SAY (or deliberately leave out) is as important as what you DO SAY. For this to work, you cannot speak clearly, instead, you must speak vaguely, confusingly, leaving things ‘hanging’ or incomplete, so that the listener, so to speak, “fills in the blanks” that you have left in a way that pleases or suits the listener. Thus, when Francis says―“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”―he is vague about the person being gay: is it a practicing gay person, or merely a person with gay tendencies but who does act upon them? He has to make that clear―especially in view of the worldwide tendency to increasingly accept practicing gays―but Francis deliberately leaves that out. Thus, his words―by the listener “filling-in-the-blanks”―can mean both things, for those words can be interpreted two ways.
Clever! Typical modernist double-speak! Speak provocatively, but “never finish your sentences”―thereby giving yourself the possible excuse, if accused, of replying: “But that is not what I said! That is not what I meant!”―knowing full well that the vagueness and ambiguity would give the listener a chance to interpret it however they want. Thus some gays think Francis is “pro-gay” and some Catholics think Francis is “anti-gay.” This ambiguity―plus the fact that a very large number of Catholic clergy are gay themselves―has facilitated and led to the fact that over half of modern day Catholics are in favor of allowing and accepting openly gay members in the Church. That did not happen overnight, but is a fruit of the ambiguity and “aggiornamento” (“updating” or “modernizing”) of the Second Vatican Council by opening the windows and doors of the Church to the world in an attempt to draw closer to the world―which has led the Church further away from God. After the Council, Pope Paul VI lamented that the Second Vatican Council’s “opening to the world” had already begun to cause endless calamity, that “the opening to the world became a veritable invasion of the Church by worldly thinking. We have perhaps been too weak and imprudent.” (Speech of November 23rd, 1973). They are still on that suicidal path with Francis.
► On August 19th, 2013, in an interview with his fellow Jesuit, Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J., editor in chief of La Civiltà Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit journal, Pope Francis said: “A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: ‘Tell me―when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person. Here we enter into the mystery of the human being. In life, God accompanies persons, and we must accompany them, starting from their situation. It is necessary to accompany them with mercy. When that happens, the Holy Spirit inspires the priest to say the right thing.” Here we see, once again, the same Modernist style using a language or vocabulary that confuses, while lacking the necessary theological clarity, completeness and preciseness.
What is wrong with quoting Holy Scripture? Why doesn’t Francis let Scripture speak on his behalf? “Thou shalt not lie with man as with woman, because it is an abomination. Thou shalt not copulate with any beast, because it is a heinous crime. Defile not yourselves with any of these things … Do not any of these abominations―neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you. For all these detestable things the inhabitants of the land have done, that; were before you, and have defiled it. Beware then, lest in like manner, it vomit you also out, if you do the same things, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. Every soul that shall commit any of these abominations, shall perish from the midst of his people!” (Leviticus 18:22-29). “If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death: their blood be upon them!” (Leviticus 20:13). “Men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men, working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error. And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense … They who do such things, are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them!” (Romans 1:27-32). “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the Kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind (homosexuals) … shall possess the kingdom of God!” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
Of course God is merciful―“The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9) and “if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18)―but look at the WHOLE PICTURE and do not forget that God’s mercy is not there to be abused and mocked: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption!” (Galatians 6:7-8). To the woman who was caught in adultery, Our Lord, in forgiving her, said: “Go! And now SIN NO MORE!” (John 8:11). Likewise to the paralytic whom Jesus cured, He warned him: “Behold thou art made whole! SIN NO MORE―lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). That is why Holy Scripture adds: “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and ADD NOT SIN UPON SIN!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). Why doesn’t Francis add that to his ‘merciful’ comments? Does He expect God to endlessly drink one chalice after another of the vomit of our sins? God is not an infinite “car-wash” for the filth of our sins―as Our Lady, the Mother of Mercy, warned at Fatima and Akita: ““Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” When has Francis said anything like that? It is no surprise that Our Lady of Akita added: “Those who should speak out will be silent!”
Don't Proselytize! With False Religions, Just Sympathize, Empathize and Legitimize!
► On October 1st, 2013, Pope Francis said: “Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us.” Francis has ‘revisited’ this condemnation of proselytization on numerous occasion since that time―causing much debate, disillusionment, discouragement and even disgust. Some understand “proselytization” in the sense of “conversion”, while others understand “proselytization” to mean “forced conversion” or “pressured conversion”―a separate article will be dedicated to these “proselytization” comments of Francis in the near future. For now, let it be said that Francis is ‘religiously’ following the lead set by the Second Vatican Council and its erroneous ideas about Ecumenism. The general policy is one of “Hey! You don’t have to convert to Catholicism! Stay in your current religion! We are all children of God and we can all find God in our own way!” This has been shown to be the attitude of the post Vatican II Church time and time again―evidence is overwhelming.
► November 24th, 2013, Pope Francis made the following comment about Muslims: “We must never forget that they profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and, together with us, they adore the one, merciful God, who will judge humanity on the last day.” This is not a “Francis invention” ― this erroneous idea was given birth at the Second Vatican Council, where, in one of its documents (Lumen Gentium) you can find almost word for word what Francis said. According to the Second Vatican Council, Muslims “adore the same God along with us.” That is what the dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium claimed on November 21st, 1964: “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us, adore the one and merciful God, Who on the last day will judge mankind” (Lumen Gentium, §16).
Scripture, however, makes the following clear and indisputable points: “Be it known to you all that the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth … is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:10-12). “Whosoever does not continue in the doctrine of Christ, does not have God” (2 John 1:9). “Without Faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). “The Holy Scriptures … can instruct thee to salvation, by the Faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).
The above quotes are merely from the first 9 months of Francis’ pontificate. As will be shown later, Francis was merely warming-up for what was to come later. He most certainly knew what he saying and doing, when, on December 23rd, 2016, according to Walter Mayr, the Rome correspondent of the German magazine Der Spiegel: “In a very small circle, Pope Francis is said to have explained himself as follows: ‘It is not to be excluded that I will enter history as the one who split the Catholic Church.’” Which brings us back full circle to the St. Francis of Assisi quote or prophecy, made shortly before he died in 1226: “The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound … At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate [papacy], who, by his cunning, will endeavor to draw many into error and death. Then scandals will be multiplied … There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy … for in those days Jesus Christ will send them not a true Pastor, but a destroyer!” (Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis Of Assisi, pp. 248-250, printed in London by R. Washbourne, 1882).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Thursday May 9th & Friday May 10th
Article 11
Christ's Sheep? Or Satan's Goats? No Cross-Breeding Allowed!
Article 11
Christ's Sheep? Or Satan's Goats? No Cross-Breeding Allowed!
Are You a Sheep or a Goat?
Our Lord seems to love using nature as a backdrop or springboard for His doctrine, teaching and preaching. He speaks of good trees and bad trees; fruitfulness and fruitlessness; vineyards, vines and branches; birds of the air and flowers of the field; wheat and cockle; grain and chaff―and, of course, in this season of the Good Shepherd, sheep and goats.
In His parable about the Sheep and the Goats, Our Lord associates the sheep with salvation and the goats with damnation.
“And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father! Possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me!’
Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee; thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the King, answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!’
“Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me! Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting!” (Matthew 25:31-46).
Our Lord seems to love using nature as a backdrop or springboard for His doctrine, teaching and preaching. He speaks of good trees and bad trees; fruitfulness and fruitlessness; vineyards, vines and branches; birds of the air and flowers of the field; wheat and cockle; grain and chaff―and, of course, in this season of the Good Shepherd, sheep and goats.
In His parable about the Sheep and the Goats, Our Lord associates the sheep with salvation and the goats with damnation.
“And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father! Possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me!’
Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee; thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the King, answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!’
“Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me! Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord! When did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting!” (Matthew 25:31-46).
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The Lamb of God
Holy Scripture calls Our Lord the “lamb of God” and Our Lord Himself speaks of His sheep (not goats): “Amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. I am the door. By Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall find pastures. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know Mine, and Mine know me. And I lay down My life for my sheep [not goats]. And other sheep I have [not goats], that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd” (John 10:7-16).
The Goat of Satan
The devil, on the other hand, makes the goat his symbol. We see this in the many Satanic drawings, paintings and statues throughout history―even to our own day, witnessed recently by the unveiling of a goat-headed statue of the devil by Satanists in Detroit in 2015. The bronze statue is nearly 9 feet tall and depicts a winged creature known as Baphomet, flanked by two smiling children. It cost over $100,000 to make and hundreds of Satanists turned out to see it unveiled.
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You see the same goat-headed figure in modern music, especially among the evolving Rock Bands, Hard Rock bands, Punk Rock bands, Heavy Metal bands and Black Metal bands and Death Metal bands. One of very first rock bands to publicly introduce Satan into their songs and album art design covers were the ROLLING STONES, who produced several LP’s (long play albums) and several singles (single tracks) with Satanic overtones. First came their LP, Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967), followed by their single Sympathy For The Devil (1969). Later came their LP, Goats Head Soup (1973) with songs like Dancing With Mr. D (Mr. D = the Devil).
Sympathy for the Devil is now the official anthem for the Church of Satan. The working title of the song was The Devil Is My Name, having earlier been called Fallen Angels. Mick Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones, sings in first person narrative as the Devil, boasting his role in each of several historical violent atrocities. The singer then ironically demands our courtesy towards him, implicitly chastising the listener for our collective culpability in the listed killings and crimes. The song came about when Jagger was given a book his then-girlfriend and pop singer Marianne Faithfull―who herself was also a witch―which written by Russian novelist Mikhail Bulgakov, entitled The Master and Margarita (written in 1939, but not published until 1967). Marianne Faithfull writes in her autobiography: “He [Jagger] devoured it in one night and spit out ‘Sympathy For the Devil.’ The book’s central character is Satan, but it has nothing to do with demonism or black magic… Mick wrote a three-minute song synthesized out of this very complex book.” With a working title of The Devil is My Name, Jagger’s song, Sympathy For the Devil was recorded by the Rolling Stones in the spring of 1968. Another band member of the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards, said in an interview with the music magazine, Rolling Stone (page 55), on May 5th, 1977: “We receive our songs by inspiration, like at a séance.”
During the 1960s and 1970s, several rock bands—namely the American COVEN and the British BLACK WIDOW—employed the imagery of Satanism and witchcraft in their work. References to Satan also appeared in the work of those rock bands which were pioneering the heavy metal music genre in Britain during the 1970s. More often than not musicians associating themselves with heavy metal music or black metal music , claimed they did not believe in legitimate Satanic ideology and often professed to being atheists, agnostics, or religious skeptics.
Formed in 1968, the rock band BLACK SABBATH made mention of Satan in their lyrics, although several of the band's members claimed they were practicing Christians. The first Black Sabbath album pictured a witch on the front, while the later album, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, features a nude satanic ritual.
Also formed in 1968, the rock band LED ZEPPELIN came to be crowned by a popular rock magazine as the most popular band in the world. Various sources estimate the group's record sales at 200 to 300 million records. Buried deep, indeed buried backwards, within the song Stairway To Heaven, is the message (which is heard if the song is played backwards) “There’s no escaping it. It’s my sweet Satan. The one will be the path who makes me sad; whose power is Satan.” Reverse the lyric “Dear lady can you hear the wind blow and did you know your stairway lies on the whispering wind” and the line “Oh, I will sing, because I live with Satan” is clearly audible. Alarming, by any measure.
The year 1968 also saw the formation of the rock band (or shock-rock band) ALICE COOPER―named after Miss Alice Cooper, a 17th century witch.
An Australian rock band, AC/DC, were formed in Sydney in 1973. The band claimed that AC/DC stood for Alternating Current/Direct Current. However, in view of the fact that the rock band produced albums and songs such as “Highway to Hell”, some observers came up with more cynical explanations for the letters AC/DC, such as “Anti Christ/Devil Child”, “After Christ/Devil Comes” or “Anti-Christ/Death to Christ.” Be that what it may―the undertones of the band were certainly Satanic.
The so-called “Satanic panic” in the media hit its peak in the 1980s, with bands like IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST, BLACK SABBATH and SLAYER being labeled as Satanic acts due to dark lyrics and artwork. Yet most of them were superficial and not real practitioners of Satanism. Real Satanic involvement would start when black metal and death metal began to surge in popularity, and musicians who practiced both philosophical and theological Satanism made their presence known. In the 1980s, greater use of Satanic imagery was made by heavy metal bands like KREATOR, SODOM, and DESTRUCTION. Bands active in the sub-genre of what is called “death metal” rock music—among them DEICIDE (which means the KILLING OF GOD), MORBID ANGEL, and ENTOMBED—also adopted Satanic imagery, combining it with other morbid and dark imagery, such as that of zombies and serial killers.
Satanism would come to be more closely associated with the subgenre of black metal, in which it was fore-grounded over the other themes that had been used in death metal. A number of black metal performers incorporated self-injury into their act, framing this as a manifestation of Satanic devotion. The first black metal band, VENOM, proclaimed themselves to be Satanists, although this was more an act of provocation than an expression of genuine devotion to the Devil. Satanic themes were also used by the black metal bands BATHORY and HELLHAMMER. However, the first black metal act to more seriously adopt Satanism was MERCYFUL FATE, whose vocalist, King Diamond, joined the Church of Satan.
Sympathy for the Devil is now the official anthem for the Church of Satan. The working title of the song was The Devil Is My Name, having earlier been called Fallen Angels. Mick Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones, sings in first person narrative as the Devil, boasting his role in each of several historical violent atrocities. The singer then ironically demands our courtesy towards him, implicitly chastising the listener for our collective culpability in the listed killings and crimes. The song came about when Jagger was given a book his then-girlfriend and pop singer Marianne Faithfull―who herself was also a witch―which written by Russian novelist Mikhail Bulgakov, entitled The Master and Margarita (written in 1939, but not published until 1967). Marianne Faithfull writes in her autobiography: “He [Jagger] devoured it in one night and spit out ‘Sympathy For the Devil.’ The book’s central character is Satan, but it has nothing to do with demonism or black magic… Mick wrote a three-minute song synthesized out of this very complex book.” With a working title of The Devil is My Name, Jagger’s song, Sympathy For the Devil was recorded by the Rolling Stones in the spring of 1968. Another band member of the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards, said in an interview with the music magazine, Rolling Stone (page 55), on May 5th, 1977: “We receive our songs by inspiration, like at a séance.”
During the 1960s and 1970s, several rock bands—namely the American COVEN and the British BLACK WIDOW—employed the imagery of Satanism and witchcraft in their work. References to Satan also appeared in the work of those rock bands which were pioneering the heavy metal music genre in Britain during the 1970s. More often than not musicians associating themselves with heavy metal music or black metal music , claimed they did not believe in legitimate Satanic ideology and often professed to being atheists, agnostics, or religious skeptics.
Formed in 1968, the rock band BLACK SABBATH made mention of Satan in their lyrics, although several of the band's members claimed they were practicing Christians. The first Black Sabbath album pictured a witch on the front, while the later album, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, features a nude satanic ritual.
Also formed in 1968, the rock band LED ZEPPELIN came to be crowned by a popular rock magazine as the most popular band in the world. Various sources estimate the group's record sales at 200 to 300 million records. Buried deep, indeed buried backwards, within the song Stairway To Heaven, is the message (which is heard if the song is played backwards) “There’s no escaping it. It’s my sweet Satan. The one will be the path who makes me sad; whose power is Satan.” Reverse the lyric “Dear lady can you hear the wind blow and did you know your stairway lies on the whispering wind” and the line “Oh, I will sing, because I live with Satan” is clearly audible. Alarming, by any measure.
The year 1968 also saw the formation of the rock band (or shock-rock band) ALICE COOPER―named after Miss Alice Cooper, a 17th century witch.
An Australian rock band, AC/DC, were formed in Sydney in 1973. The band claimed that AC/DC stood for Alternating Current/Direct Current. However, in view of the fact that the rock band produced albums and songs such as “Highway to Hell”, some observers came up with more cynical explanations for the letters AC/DC, such as “Anti Christ/Devil Child”, “After Christ/Devil Comes” or “Anti-Christ/Death to Christ.” Be that what it may―the undertones of the band were certainly Satanic.
The so-called “Satanic panic” in the media hit its peak in the 1980s, with bands like IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST, BLACK SABBATH and SLAYER being labeled as Satanic acts due to dark lyrics and artwork. Yet most of them were superficial and not real practitioners of Satanism. Real Satanic involvement would start when black metal and death metal began to surge in popularity, and musicians who practiced both philosophical and theological Satanism made their presence known. In the 1980s, greater use of Satanic imagery was made by heavy metal bands like KREATOR, SODOM, and DESTRUCTION. Bands active in the sub-genre of what is called “death metal” rock music—among them DEICIDE (which means the KILLING OF GOD), MORBID ANGEL, and ENTOMBED—also adopted Satanic imagery, combining it with other morbid and dark imagery, such as that of zombies and serial killers.
Satanism would come to be more closely associated with the subgenre of black metal, in which it was fore-grounded over the other themes that had been used in death metal. A number of black metal performers incorporated self-injury into their act, framing this as a manifestation of Satanic devotion. The first black metal band, VENOM, proclaimed themselves to be Satanists, although this was more an act of provocation than an expression of genuine devotion to the Devil. Satanic themes were also used by the black metal bands BATHORY and HELLHAMMER. However, the first black metal act to more seriously adopt Satanism was MERCYFUL FATE, whose vocalist, King Diamond, joined the Church of Satan.
BEHEMOTH
List of songs from the BEHEXEN album entitled BY THE BLESSINGS OF SATAN. The songs include: (2) The Fist of the Satanist, (4) The Celebration of christ's Fall (notice "Christ" in not capitalized), (5 Black Metal Baptism.
WATTAIN
ARCHGOAT the cover from their album LUCIFERIAN CROWN
BELPHEGOR
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Modern Day Satanic Music
Here is a list, gleaned online, that lists and describes some of the most popular and most influential Satanic music bands in the world today. As a whole, they have anywhere from a large to a huge following. Not being conversant with any of them, the order of ranking that websites have placed them in, the description and assessment given them, is reproduced here as found.
1. BEHEMOTH Hailing from Poland, BEHEMOTH was formed in 1991 and, over the years, have risen from the underground extreme metal circuit in Eastern Europe to become one of the metal world’s biggest bands, touring with bands like SLAYER, DANZIG and CANNIBAL CORPSE, with a blackened, technical death metal sound entirely their own. Until the late 1990s, the band played a traditional black metal style with heathen lyrical content, but soon changed to that of occult and thelemic themes. Merging the mysticism and image of black metal with the force, precision and brutality of death metal, the band kept to its lyrical content which explored ancient anti-Christian themes, as well as other Satanic philosophies. The band’s shows mix ritual and rage, often using incense, tribal chanting and drumming, and other esoteric elements to give their performances an atmosphere of evil and occult menace. In doing so, they've created a soundtrack to Satanism that is definitely not for the faint of heart. Some of their album titles are Satanica (1999), Thelma6 (2000), The Apostasy (2007) and The Satanist (2013). In 2018, the band released the song: “God = Dog”―may God have mercy on their souls! 2. DEICIDE This American death metal band DEICIDE was formed in 1987 in Tampa, Florida, and from the start was a musical homage to Satan, offering up a confrontational, overtly Satanic attack against Christianity with each album and live show. The band's name literally means the killing of God. Founding member, bassist and vocalist Glen Benton's throat is consistently demonic, while his lyrics are blasphemous. The band’s music pushes anti-Christian sentiments and chronicles the deeds of Satan on Earth. It is no shock that the band stirs up controversy among many fundamentalist Christian groups with albums titles like Once Upon the Cross (1995), Serpents of the Light (1997), In Torment In Hell (2001), and To Hell With God (2011) and song titles like “Kill the Christian,” “When Satan Rules His World,” “Bible Basher” and “Homage for Satan.” Early in the band's career, Deicide was hounded by Church protests, animal rights groups who alleged animal torture, and even several lawsuits alleging the music influenced suicide, crime, and even murder. After over 25 years of hellish death metal music, the band is promoting its 11th studio album, entitled In the Minds of Evil. The band DEICIDE is in the top three highest selling death metal bands of all time, (along with CANNIBAL CORPSE and MORBID ANGEL). Those who follow and adhere to this kind of music, regard DEICIDE as the American pinnacle of Satanic-themed metal. 3. BEHEXEN The Finnish black metal band BEHEXEN was formed in 1994. The music is epic and symphonic, but simultaneously brutal and raw. They perform covered in blood and corpse paint and use their music as a conduit to conjure Satan and other demons. The band’s music is blatant and literal in its promotion of Satanism and devil worship. The singer and lyricist, Hoath Torog, is an avowed Satanist and album titles like By the Blessing of Satan and My Soul for His Glory are not meant to be taken metaphorically, but literally. 4. DISSECTION A band from Sweden, DISSECTION are the real deal when it comes to truly Satanic music, with a sound full of scary, monstrous riffs, raspy vocals and blast beats, but also hints of melancholia and a medieval sense of darkness. They produced a sound that was equally maleficent and melodic. Their lead singer and songwriter, Jon Nödtveidt, was not pretending a devotion to Satan; he was a self-professed Luciferian who practiced devil worship and other occult rituals (he also served seven years in prison for murder, from 1997 to 2004). In 2006, he took his own life in an apparent Satanic rite, leaving this life for his Eternal Judgment by way of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and ending DISSECTION’s run as one of the most Satanic bands in existence. 5. WATAIN Hailing from Sweden, WATAIN came into existence just before the turn of the last century with a mission to deliver pain-inducing yet catchy melodic black metal that is spiritually based in Theistic Satanism (which, unlike other forms of Satanism, believes Satan is an actual entity, not just a symbol of a non-Christian belief system). The band’s live performances are literal rituals, in the form of a Black Mass. WATAIN concerts commonly feature incense burning, candles, fire and inverted crosses as well as animal skulls and animal blood. They will infamously be forever known for getting mainstream exposure for a performance in New York City in 2014, involving dead animal heads and ritualistic use of animal blood sprayed on the crowd. 6. DARK FUNERAL Since 1993, this Swedish Satanic black metal band has undergone many lineup changes, but the same fury, flames and relentless music have remained consistent throughout. Their sound has evolved over the years but still retains heavy doses of dark melodies embracing the Devil and death equally. They have been popular in the metal underground for decades, but are now entering the black metal scene internationally and spreading their anti-Christian message to a wider audience through songs like “Nail Them to the Cross,” “666 Voices Inside,” “Open the Gates” and “Enriched by Evil.” 7. ARCHGOAT The black metal band ARCHGOAT from Finland, are overtly Satanic in their lyrical content. Since forming in 1989, they have been hell-bent on spreading their eerie, haunting music to anyone willing to listen. Within two years of forming, ARCHGOAT decided the black metal scene had become too trendy and disbanded. But in 2004 the band resurfaced, intent on bringing their evil, blasphemous black metal music back to life. Since 2004, they have released three albums, the most recent being their 2015 The Apocalyptic Triumphator. 8. GORGOROTH Formed in Norway in the early 1990s alongside such notorious black metal bands as Mayhem and Burzum, GORGOROTH have always been among the genre's most fiercely anti-Christian bands. The band's former lead singer, Gaahl, once said in a Canadian documentary on heavy metal music that Satanism represents “freedom.” He and other members of the band have openly expressed their support for the 1990s Church burnings in Scandinavia that rocked the metal world. With nine full-length albums recorded, GORGOROTH are one of the few Norwegian black metal bands still in existence. The band have stirred controversy over the years for their live performances, which often include impaled sheep’s heads, blood-letting and mock crucifixions. 9. GOATWHORE An American black metal band from Louisiana, GOATWHORE mix elements of thrash, death metal and grind with a swampy, murky brand of caustic black metal approved by Satan himself. This music is fast, Southern sludge, punk-infused at times and just all-around evil and malevolent. The band, always relentless on record or live, features members of other groups including SOILENT GREEN, ACID BATH and CROWBAR. Known as one of the constantly traveling bands in metal, GOATWHORE are always on tour, playing shows opening for bigger bands or headlining their own gigs. With album titles like A Haunting Curse, Carving Out the Eyes of God and Vengeful Ascension, you can tell that unholiness is a recurring theme throughout the band's work. 10. BELPHEGOR The Austrian blackened death metal band, BELPHEGOR, was formed in 1991. In demonology, Belphegor is one of the Seven Princes of Hell, who helps humans sell their souls to the Devil. The band’s music is a furious firestorm of speed and aggression, all focusing on black magic, the occult, and apocalyptic and sexual themes relating to evil. The band has toured the world many times over, spreading their musical darkness with everyone from Amon Amarth to Sepultura. Their music has been banned in parts of Asia and Eastern Europe for violating some countries’ blasphemy laws. The band’s logo is two inverted crossed dripping with blood. |
BEHEMOTH
BEHEXEN album cover for BY THE BLESSING OF SATAN
WATTAIN in concert
ARCHGOAT guitarist called RITUAL BUTCHERER
GORGOROTH in concert with MOCK CRUICFIXIONS
GOATWHORE guitarist
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Just Tip of the Iceberg
The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist for Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, speaks of such things in his book An Exorcist: More Stories, in which he explains the methods used by the devil and his instruments: “Subliminal signs are transmitted at such a high pitch that we are unable to hear them. The signal is meant to disorient; at an intensity of 3,000 kilocycles per second, it acts on our unconscious, but our ears cannot capture it precisely because it is supersonic. Unbeknownst to us, the brain produces a natural drug as a result of the stimuli it receives, and it disorients us. Suddenly, we feel strange. This strange feeling induces us to seek real drugs and causes drug addicts to increase their intake” (Fr. Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist: More Stories, page 73). Recordings, that contain these signals, are often consecrated to Satan during a Black Mass before they are released to the market.
Fr. Amorth also testifies to the existence of Satanic back-masked music, saying that when played backward, the messages are always the same: “rebellion against parents, against society, against all that exists; the unleashing of all sexual instincts; and the urge to create an anarchist state with the ultimate triumph of Satan’s universal kingdom. A few songs are hymns dedicated to Satan” (Fr. Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist: More Stories, page 74). These bands do not hide their intention of luring youth to Satan with some even admitting outright that this is their mission. In an interview with the Italian magazine, 30 Giorni, Fr. Amorth said: “Satanism involves a great number of people who don’t even belong to a sect. Take satanic rock, for instance. Satanic rock preaches a terribly negative outlook, and combats the Catholic religion and all forms of social order, and teaches, instead, that everything is permissible and that the individual is god. It leads to hatred of the Church.” Asked if music can be an instrument of the devil, Fr. Amorth answers: “It is a diabolical instrument that the devil often uses and which is very efficient. Just think of heavy-metal music and satanic rock. Unfortunately, a great quantity of young people enter into Satanism through these satanic singers.” What Fr. Amorth says of witches, is also true of these Satanic musical bands: “Most witches are frauds, but I am afraid some authentic ones do exist … What we do know is that the problem is getting worse. The Devil is gaining ground. We are living in an age when Faith is diminishing. If you abandon God, the Devil will take his place.”
The above bands are just a FEW of the MANY such like bands infesting the world and corrupting souls today. We live in oblivion of such facts, cocooned in our protected, complacent, cotton-wool lined surroundings―while all of this goes on with increasing influence. It is said that before any triumph of the Church―and here we think of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary―Satanism flourishes and seems to take a hold of the world. This fits perfectly with what Our Lady has warned us of in her modern day apparitions:
“I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals …
“Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like … The devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!”
St. Padre Pio and Pope Francis
If St. Padre Pio, back in the early 1960s, was of the opinion that the devil was using the newly discovered medium of the television for his infernal purposes, and thus Padre Pio warned the souls that he was teaching, guiding and directing, not to have a television set in their homes, then what would St. Padre Pio say today with regard to incredible advances in technology that have left the TV set of Padre Pio’s day looking like a prehistoric object? Now we have something far more dangerous (and convenient and seductive), not only in our homes, but in our hands, pockets and purses. The modern day smartphone is a TV, a computer, an internet browser, a phone, a camera, a microphone and recorder, an adviser and a spy all rolled into one device!
Many will argue that, of itself, the smartphone is a neutral thing―it all depends upon what you use it for! To a certain extent that is true―but it also opens the door to a countless number of temptations and evils that almost automatically come along with it. Even if you do not want to use it in a sinful or worldly manner, it is almost impossible to remove the myriad occasions of temptation (from merely time-wasting to positively mortal sins) that present themselves. Many people will have a hard time on Judgment Day explaining why they spent anywhere from 3 to hours a day watching some kind of screen―TV, computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone or movie screen. If every idle word will be judged―then what about all that idle screen time? “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment!” (Matthew 12:36).
The More Liberal View of Pope Francis
Maybe Pope Francis heard of Padre Pio’s dislike, even detestation, for the TV―for Francis himself rejects the idea of using the Internet or TV, which, in May of 2015, he said he hasn’t watched since 1990. If a Liberal pope can do that, then should prick the consciences of many “Francis-loving” Catholics (and even the “Francis-haters”). It is not as though Francis has been altogether silent on the matter of electronic devices―TV, internet, texting, e-mailing, social-media, etc. He has regularly spoken out on those matters several times each year, during his pontificate. However, being far more Liberal than St. Padre Pio, Francis seems to take a middle-road, which merely opens the doors even wider to abuse and furthers the Satanic stranglehold on the world. Here are a few of those Conservative quotes from a Liberal pope:
► On January 24th, 2014, as part of his message for the 48th World Communications Day, Pope Francis said the following: “In a world like this, media can help us to feel closer to one another, creating a sense of unity of the human family which can in turn inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life for all. Good communication helps us to grow closer, to know one another better, and ultimately, to grow in unity ... The internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. This is something truly good, a gift from God. This is not to say that certain problems do not exist. The speed with which information is communicated exceeds our capacity for reflection and judgment, and this does not make for more balanced and proper forms of self-expression.”
► The following year, on January 23rd, 2015, as part of his message for the 49th annual World Communications Day, Pope Francis stated: “Today the modern media, which is an essential part of life for young people in particular, can be both a help and a hindrance to communication in and between families. The media can be a hindrance if they become a way to avoid listening to others, to evade physical contact, to fill up every moment of silence and rest, so that we forget that silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist. The media can help communication when they enable people to share their stories, to stay in contact with distant friends, to thank others or to seek their forgiveness, and to open the door to new encounters … The great challenge facing us today is to learn once again how to talk to one another, not simply how to generate and consume information. Information is important, but it is not enough. All too often things get simplified, different positions and viewpoints are pitted against one another, and people are invited to take sides, rather than to see things as a whole.”
► Later that same year, on June 6th, 2015, in his in-flight press conference on the return flight from Sarajevo to Rome, Franics spoke of the need for prudence in choosing what television programs to watch and how much time to spend on-line. The pontiff himself rejects the idea of using the Internet or TV, which, in May of 2015, he said he hasn’t watched since 1990: “There are two different elements here: method and content. Regarding the method or way of doing things, there is one that is bad for the soul and that is being too attached to the computer. Secondly, as regards the content, there is a lot of filth that ranges from pornography to semi-pornographic content, to programs that are empty, devoid of values; relativism and consumerism foment all this―and we know that consumerism is a cancer of society, relativism is a cancer of society.”
► On September 24th, 2015, in his World Youth Day message, Pope Francis called the Internet a “gift of God.” Yet he also warned that the abundance of data and digital stimulation, which we all consume each day, can amount to a kind of “mental pollution” that harms our relationships and shields us from the real pain and joy that comes with human interaction.
► Four months later, on January 26th, 2016, Francis said “emails, text messages, social networks and chats” can be “fully human forms of communication. It is not technology which determines whether or not communication is authentic, but rather the human heart and our capacity to use wisely the means at our disposal … Communication, wherever and however it takes place, has opened up broader horizons for many people. This is a gift of God which involves a great responsibility. I like to refer to this power of communication as ‘closeness’ … Social networks can facilitate relationships and promote the good of society, but they can also lead to further polarization and division between individuals and groups. The digital world is a public square, a meeting-place where we can either encourage or demean one another, engage in a meaningful discussion or unfair attacks The internet can be used wisely to build a society which is healthy and open to sharing, and help us to be better citizens … Access to digital networks entails a responsibility for our neighbor, whom we do not see, but who is nonetheless real and has a dignity which must be respected.”
► The following year, on March 21st, 2017, Francis warned young people about their use of social media, urging them to create their own history and reject “false” depictions of reality. “Many people say that young people are distracted and superficial. We should acknowledge our need to reflect on our lives and direct them towards the future. In the social media, we see faces of young people appearing in any number of pictures recounting more or less real events, but we don’t know how much of all this is really ‘history’, an experience that can be communicated and endowed with purpose and meaning.” Pope Francis, had earlier told youngsters not to let themselves become “couch potatoes”, also criticized reality TV shows: “Television is full of ‘reality shows’ which are not real stories, but only moments passed before a television camera by characters living from day to day, without a greater plan. Don’t let yourselves be led astray by this false image of reality! Be the protagonists of your history; decide your own future!” He had recently also spoken out about what he perceived to be an excessive use of the smartphone, in a speech delivered to students at Roma Tre University: “When there is no dialogue at home, when we are at the table and, instead of talking to each other, everyone is on their phone! … It’s the start of war, because there is no dialogue!”
Subtle Satanic Slithering
In all of this, if we are still able to reason logically and still remember something of our Faith and perhaps have even increased our meager knowledge of the Faith, refusing to fall into the “dumbed-down-designs” of the modern world, then we cannot help but see the snake sneakily slithering or the bush blatantly budging towards us. Little-by-little Lucifer lures and lassoes lukewarm leisure-loving lads and lasses into his luciferian lair. Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette warned: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement … In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost!” As one exorcist points out, the most common ruse of Satan is to simply distract souls away from God―thus, they will, over a period of time, grow weaker and weaker, and therefore more and more susceptible to further and stronger temptations.
You could quite rightly say that today’s world is highly and intensely satanic―because it is highly and intensely distracted. Let’s face it―never in the history of mankind have there been so many distractions readily, universally and cheaply available. Who is the loser? God is the loser! God requires everything, yet He gets next to nothing! It is not that we no longer believe in God (though that disease is also increasing), it just that we have no time for God! It is not as though we do not want to know God―but there are so many other, far more interesting and exciting, things to know, which take precedence on our “To Do List”.
They say it the masterstroke of a con-artist to con a person in such a way that they will never ever realize that they have been conned. Satan is such a master con-artist―Our Lord says of him: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father thereof!” (John 8:44). Holy Scripture adds: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). That is exactly what “god” of technology has done―it has distracted souls away from God and blinded their minds to the teachings of God. As Holy Scripture adds: “God looked down from Heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside [to distractions and amusements], they are become unprofitable together―there is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalm 52:3-4).
We have fallen into the same trap as the Chosen People of old, whom God led into the Promised Land, but warned them: “The Lord thy God will bring thee into a good land, of brooks and of waters, and of fountains: in the plains of which and the hills deep rivers break out; a land of wheat, and barley, and vineyards, wherein fig trees and pomegranates, and olive yards grow; a land of oil and honey. Where, without any want, thou shalt eat thy bread and enjoy abundance of all things … That when thou hast eaten, and art full, thou mayest bless the Lord thy God for the excellent land which he hath given thee. Take heed, and beware lest at any time thou forget the Lord thy God, and neglect his commandments and judgments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day! Lest, after thou hast eaten and art filled, and hast built goodly houses and dwelt in them, and shalt have herds of oxen and flocks of sheep, and plenty of gold and of silver, and of all things, and thy heart be lifted up, and thou remember not the Lord thy God … Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: ‘My own might, and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me!’ But remember the Lord thy God, that He hath given thee strength … But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them―behold, now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish” (Deuteronomy 8:7-19).
We could paraphrase the above for our own day and age, saying: “The Lord thy God will bring thee into a good land of plenty. A land of plentiful food and drink, a land of technology, of cars and planes, of TV and movies, of computers and laptops, of tablets and smartphones, of universal availability and low prices, of 24 hour entertainment, of sports and games. Take heed, and beware lest at any time thy heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God, and neglect His commandments and judgments and ceremonies! Lest after thou hast eaten and art filled, hast built goodly computers and browsed with them, and shalt have herds of devices, flocks of CDs and DVDs, and plenty of music and movies, and of all things! Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: ‘My own intelligence, my money and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me!” But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them―behold, now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish!”
Like Eve, we have fallen for the “knowledge game”―Satan lured Eve along with the false promise that her knowledge would be God-like if she would eat the fruit. Today, he uses the same bait―except that the increased knowledge does not come through a fruit, but that fruit is now a computer or tablet or smartphone (unless you use an Apple device!). Now we can be like unto God―we are omnipresent by accessing websites in any and every country we choose; we can be omniscient or all-knowing by typing a search line into Google or whichever ‘god’ (search-engine) we prefer to use; we can be omnipotent or all-powerful through our computer processor which will compute millions of possibilities and solve complex problems, or find a person, place or thing in seconds. Technology has transformed us―or transubstantiated us―from humble sheep into inquisitive goats!
Is This Getting Your Goat?
Before getting serious, let us get all the “goat” and “billygoat” jokes out of the way!
● “Doctor, doctor, I keep thinking I’m a goat … How long has this been going on? … Since I was a kid!”
● “What did the little goats say when they were caught playing a prank on the sheep? … Sorry, we were just kidding!”
● “What do you call an immature goat? … A silly billy!”
● “Why is it hard to carry on a conversation with a goat? … Because they are always butting in!”
● “Why are goats from France musical? … Because they have French horns!”
● “What kind of music do goats listen to? … Baaa-ch!”
● “What do you call an outlaw goat? … Billy the Kid!”
To get someone's goat means to annoy someone, to irritate someone or make them angry. Sometimes we have to be provoked to do something through annoyance or anger. If we are slothful, indifferent, careless, unmotivated―then if someone “gets our goat” (annoys or angers us), then we might possibly be stirred into action and do something. In a certain sense, Our Lady has been “getting our goat” for the last few hundred years―perhaps “getting our goat” is linked to her choosing to appear to shepherd children! Melanie and Maximin (La Salette), Bernadette (Lourdes), Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta (Fatima) were all shepherds.
Separating the Sheep from the Goats
In North America, the external differences between sheep and goats are easily recognizable―due to specialized breeding. Sheep are fluffy and wooly―goats are not. However, when you look back in history―and even today in parts of Asia and Africa―sheep and goats are almost identical, and only a shepherd can easily recognize the difference. Thus, when Our Lord tells the parable about the Sheep and the Goats, everyone would have understood that, on the surface, they would have looked alike, but behind outward appearances, they were very different! This is especially true of the people in the world today―externally, we all pretty much look the same, but underneath, in our souls, only Christ the Good Shepherd can spot the differences that make us to be classified among the sheep or the goats. Thus, to human eye, everything is not always what it appears to be! There are sinners posing as saints, and there are some whom we think to be sinners, but in God’s eyes some of them may be saints. For instance, take Mary Magdalen, out of whom Our Lord cast seven devils―and His own Apostle Judas!
The recently deceased (2016) chief exorcist for Rome, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, speaks of such things in his book An Exorcist: More Stories, in which he explains the methods used by the devil and his instruments: “Subliminal signs are transmitted at such a high pitch that we are unable to hear them. The signal is meant to disorient; at an intensity of 3,000 kilocycles per second, it acts on our unconscious, but our ears cannot capture it precisely because it is supersonic. Unbeknownst to us, the brain produces a natural drug as a result of the stimuli it receives, and it disorients us. Suddenly, we feel strange. This strange feeling induces us to seek real drugs and causes drug addicts to increase their intake” (Fr. Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist: More Stories, page 73). Recordings, that contain these signals, are often consecrated to Satan during a Black Mass before they are released to the market.
Fr. Amorth also testifies to the existence of Satanic back-masked music, saying that when played backward, the messages are always the same: “rebellion against parents, against society, against all that exists; the unleashing of all sexual instincts; and the urge to create an anarchist state with the ultimate triumph of Satan’s universal kingdom. A few songs are hymns dedicated to Satan” (Fr. Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcist: More Stories, page 74). These bands do not hide their intention of luring youth to Satan with some even admitting outright that this is their mission. In an interview with the Italian magazine, 30 Giorni, Fr. Amorth said: “Satanism involves a great number of people who don’t even belong to a sect. Take satanic rock, for instance. Satanic rock preaches a terribly negative outlook, and combats the Catholic religion and all forms of social order, and teaches, instead, that everything is permissible and that the individual is god. It leads to hatred of the Church.” Asked if music can be an instrument of the devil, Fr. Amorth answers: “It is a diabolical instrument that the devil often uses and which is very efficient. Just think of heavy-metal music and satanic rock. Unfortunately, a great quantity of young people enter into Satanism through these satanic singers.” What Fr. Amorth says of witches, is also true of these Satanic musical bands: “Most witches are frauds, but I am afraid some authentic ones do exist … What we do know is that the problem is getting worse. The Devil is gaining ground. We are living in an age when Faith is diminishing. If you abandon God, the Devil will take his place.”
The above bands are just a FEW of the MANY such like bands infesting the world and corrupting souls today. We live in oblivion of such facts, cocooned in our protected, complacent, cotton-wool lined surroundings―while all of this goes on with increasing influence. It is said that before any triumph of the Church―and here we think of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary―Satanism flourishes and seems to take a hold of the world. This fits perfectly with what Our Lady has warned us of in her modern day apparitions:
“I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals …
“Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like … The devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach!”
St. Padre Pio and Pope Francis
If St. Padre Pio, back in the early 1960s, was of the opinion that the devil was using the newly discovered medium of the television for his infernal purposes, and thus Padre Pio warned the souls that he was teaching, guiding and directing, not to have a television set in their homes, then what would St. Padre Pio say today with regard to incredible advances in technology that have left the TV set of Padre Pio’s day looking like a prehistoric object? Now we have something far more dangerous (and convenient and seductive), not only in our homes, but in our hands, pockets and purses. The modern day smartphone is a TV, a computer, an internet browser, a phone, a camera, a microphone and recorder, an adviser and a spy all rolled into one device!
Many will argue that, of itself, the smartphone is a neutral thing―it all depends upon what you use it for! To a certain extent that is true―but it also opens the door to a countless number of temptations and evils that almost automatically come along with it. Even if you do not want to use it in a sinful or worldly manner, it is almost impossible to remove the myriad occasions of temptation (from merely time-wasting to positively mortal sins) that present themselves. Many people will have a hard time on Judgment Day explaining why they spent anywhere from 3 to hours a day watching some kind of screen―TV, computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone or movie screen. If every idle word will be judged―then what about all that idle screen time? “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment!” (Matthew 12:36).
The More Liberal View of Pope Francis
Maybe Pope Francis heard of Padre Pio’s dislike, even detestation, for the TV―for Francis himself rejects the idea of using the Internet or TV, which, in May of 2015, he said he hasn’t watched since 1990. If a Liberal pope can do that, then should prick the consciences of many “Francis-loving” Catholics (and even the “Francis-haters”). It is not as though Francis has been altogether silent on the matter of electronic devices―TV, internet, texting, e-mailing, social-media, etc. He has regularly spoken out on those matters several times each year, during his pontificate. However, being far more Liberal than St. Padre Pio, Francis seems to take a middle-road, which merely opens the doors even wider to abuse and furthers the Satanic stranglehold on the world. Here are a few of those Conservative quotes from a Liberal pope:
► On January 24th, 2014, as part of his message for the 48th World Communications Day, Pope Francis said the following: “In a world like this, media can help us to feel closer to one another, creating a sense of unity of the human family which can in turn inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life for all. Good communication helps us to grow closer, to know one another better, and ultimately, to grow in unity ... The internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. This is something truly good, a gift from God. This is not to say that certain problems do not exist. The speed with which information is communicated exceeds our capacity for reflection and judgment, and this does not make for more balanced and proper forms of self-expression.”
► The following year, on January 23rd, 2015, as part of his message for the 49th annual World Communications Day, Pope Francis stated: “Today the modern media, which is an essential part of life for young people in particular, can be both a help and a hindrance to communication in and between families. The media can be a hindrance if they become a way to avoid listening to others, to evade physical contact, to fill up every moment of silence and rest, so that we forget that silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist. The media can help communication when they enable people to share their stories, to stay in contact with distant friends, to thank others or to seek their forgiveness, and to open the door to new encounters … The great challenge facing us today is to learn once again how to talk to one another, not simply how to generate and consume information. Information is important, but it is not enough. All too often things get simplified, different positions and viewpoints are pitted against one another, and people are invited to take sides, rather than to see things as a whole.”
► Later that same year, on June 6th, 2015, in his in-flight press conference on the return flight from Sarajevo to Rome, Franics spoke of the need for prudence in choosing what television programs to watch and how much time to spend on-line. The pontiff himself rejects the idea of using the Internet or TV, which, in May of 2015, he said he hasn’t watched since 1990: “There are two different elements here: method and content. Regarding the method or way of doing things, there is one that is bad for the soul and that is being too attached to the computer. Secondly, as regards the content, there is a lot of filth that ranges from pornography to semi-pornographic content, to programs that are empty, devoid of values; relativism and consumerism foment all this―and we know that consumerism is a cancer of society, relativism is a cancer of society.”
► On September 24th, 2015, in his World Youth Day message, Pope Francis called the Internet a “gift of God.” Yet he also warned that the abundance of data and digital stimulation, which we all consume each day, can amount to a kind of “mental pollution” that harms our relationships and shields us from the real pain and joy that comes with human interaction.
► Four months later, on January 26th, 2016, Francis said “emails, text messages, social networks and chats” can be “fully human forms of communication. It is not technology which determines whether or not communication is authentic, but rather the human heart and our capacity to use wisely the means at our disposal … Communication, wherever and however it takes place, has opened up broader horizons for many people. This is a gift of God which involves a great responsibility. I like to refer to this power of communication as ‘closeness’ … Social networks can facilitate relationships and promote the good of society, but they can also lead to further polarization and division between individuals and groups. The digital world is a public square, a meeting-place where we can either encourage or demean one another, engage in a meaningful discussion or unfair attacks The internet can be used wisely to build a society which is healthy and open to sharing, and help us to be better citizens … Access to digital networks entails a responsibility for our neighbor, whom we do not see, but who is nonetheless real and has a dignity which must be respected.”
► The following year, on March 21st, 2017, Francis warned young people about their use of social media, urging them to create their own history and reject “false” depictions of reality. “Many people say that young people are distracted and superficial. We should acknowledge our need to reflect on our lives and direct them towards the future. In the social media, we see faces of young people appearing in any number of pictures recounting more or less real events, but we don’t know how much of all this is really ‘history’, an experience that can be communicated and endowed with purpose and meaning.” Pope Francis, had earlier told youngsters not to let themselves become “couch potatoes”, also criticized reality TV shows: “Television is full of ‘reality shows’ which are not real stories, but only moments passed before a television camera by characters living from day to day, without a greater plan. Don’t let yourselves be led astray by this false image of reality! Be the protagonists of your history; decide your own future!” He had recently also spoken out about what he perceived to be an excessive use of the smartphone, in a speech delivered to students at Roma Tre University: “When there is no dialogue at home, when we are at the table and, instead of talking to each other, everyone is on their phone! … It’s the start of war, because there is no dialogue!”
Subtle Satanic Slithering
In all of this, if we are still able to reason logically and still remember something of our Faith and perhaps have even increased our meager knowledge of the Faith, refusing to fall into the “dumbed-down-designs” of the modern world, then we cannot help but see the snake sneakily slithering or the bush blatantly budging towards us. Little-by-little Lucifer lures and lassoes lukewarm leisure-loving lads and lasses into his luciferian lair. Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette warned: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement … In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost!” As one exorcist points out, the most common ruse of Satan is to simply distract souls away from God―thus, they will, over a period of time, grow weaker and weaker, and therefore more and more susceptible to further and stronger temptations.
You could quite rightly say that today’s world is highly and intensely satanic―because it is highly and intensely distracted. Let’s face it―never in the history of mankind have there been so many distractions readily, universally and cheaply available. Who is the loser? God is the loser! God requires everything, yet He gets next to nothing! It is not that we no longer believe in God (though that disease is also increasing), it just that we have no time for God! It is not as though we do not want to know God―but there are so many other, far more interesting and exciting, things to know, which take precedence on our “To Do List”.
They say it the masterstroke of a con-artist to con a person in such a way that they will never ever realize that they have been conned. Satan is such a master con-artist―Our Lord says of him: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father thereof!” (John 8:44). Holy Scripture adds: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). That is exactly what “god” of technology has done―it has distracted souls away from God and blinded their minds to the teachings of God. As Holy Scripture adds: “God looked down from Heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside [to distractions and amusements], they are become unprofitable together―there is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalm 52:3-4).
We have fallen into the same trap as the Chosen People of old, whom God led into the Promised Land, but warned them: “The Lord thy God will bring thee into a good land, of brooks and of waters, and of fountains: in the plains of which and the hills deep rivers break out; a land of wheat, and barley, and vineyards, wherein fig trees and pomegranates, and olive yards grow; a land of oil and honey. Where, without any want, thou shalt eat thy bread and enjoy abundance of all things … That when thou hast eaten, and art full, thou mayest bless the Lord thy God for the excellent land which he hath given thee. Take heed, and beware lest at any time thou forget the Lord thy God, and neglect his commandments and judgments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day! Lest, after thou hast eaten and art filled, and hast built goodly houses and dwelt in them, and shalt have herds of oxen and flocks of sheep, and plenty of gold and of silver, and of all things, and thy heart be lifted up, and thou remember not the Lord thy God … Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: ‘My own might, and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me!’ But remember the Lord thy God, that He hath given thee strength … But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them―behold, now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish” (Deuteronomy 8:7-19).
We could paraphrase the above for our own day and age, saying: “The Lord thy God will bring thee into a good land of plenty. A land of plentiful food and drink, a land of technology, of cars and planes, of TV and movies, of computers and laptops, of tablets and smartphones, of universal availability and low prices, of 24 hour entertainment, of sports and games. Take heed, and beware lest at any time thy heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God, and neglect His commandments and judgments and ceremonies! Lest after thou hast eaten and art filled, hast built goodly computers and browsed with them, and shalt have herds of devices, flocks of CDs and DVDs, and plenty of music and movies, and of all things! Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: ‘My own intelligence, my money and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me!” But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them―behold, now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish!”
Like Eve, we have fallen for the “knowledge game”―Satan lured Eve along with the false promise that her knowledge would be God-like if she would eat the fruit. Today, he uses the same bait―except that the increased knowledge does not come through a fruit, but that fruit is now a computer or tablet or smartphone (unless you use an Apple device!). Now we can be like unto God―we are omnipresent by accessing websites in any and every country we choose; we can be omniscient or all-knowing by typing a search line into Google or whichever ‘god’ (search-engine) we prefer to use; we can be omnipotent or all-powerful through our computer processor which will compute millions of possibilities and solve complex problems, or find a person, place or thing in seconds. Technology has transformed us―or transubstantiated us―from humble sheep into inquisitive goats!
Is This Getting Your Goat?
Before getting serious, let us get all the “goat” and “billygoat” jokes out of the way!
● “Doctor, doctor, I keep thinking I’m a goat … How long has this been going on? … Since I was a kid!”
● “What did the little goats say when they were caught playing a prank on the sheep? … Sorry, we were just kidding!”
● “What do you call an immature goat? … A silly billy!”
● “Why is it hard to carry on a conversation with a goat? … Because they are always butting in!”
● “Why are goats from France musical? … Because they have French horns!”
● “What kind of music do goats listen to? … Baaa-ch!”
● “What do you call an outlaw goat? … Billy the Kid!”
To get someone's goat means to annoy someone, to irritate someone or make them angry. Sometimes we have to be provoked to do something through annoyance or anger. If we are slothful, indifferent, careless, unmotivated―then if someone “gets our goat” (annoys or angers us), then we might possibly be stirred into action and do something. In a certain sense, Our Lady has been “getting our goat” for the last few hundred years―perhaps “getting our goat” is linked to her choosing to appear to shepherd children! Melanie and Maximin (La Salette), Bernadette (Lourdes), Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta (Fatima) were all shepherds.
Separating the Sheep from the Goats
In North America, the external differences between sheep and goats are easily recognizable―due to specialized breeding. Sheep are fluffy and wooly―goats are not. However, when you look back in history―and even today in parts of Asia and Africa―sheep and goats are almost identical, and only a shepherd can easily recognize the difference. Thus, when Our Lord tells the parable about the Sheep and the Goats, everyone would have understood that, on the surface, they would have looked alike, but behind outward appearances, they were very different! This is especially true of the people in the world today―externally, we all pretty much look the same, but underneath, in our souls, only Christ the Good Shepherd can spot the differences that make us to be classified among the sheep or the goats. Thus, to human eye, everything is not always what it appears to be! There are sinners posing as saints, and there are some whom we think to be sinners, but in God’s eyes some of them may be saints. For instance, take Mary Magdalen, out of whom Our Lord cast seven devils―and His own Apostle Judas!
Changed from Conforming Obedient and Humble Sheep to Independent, Disobedient and Troublesome Goats
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You can from the photos that the sheep (on the left hand side) have that natural humble, passive and obedient appearance, whereas the goats (on the right) have that mischievous, brash and independent appearance. Too many people have become like inquisitive goats, that break out of the pen and put their noses in everywhere and everything―instead of being like sheep in the sheep-pen, with their noses humbly pointing to the ground, nibbling upon the blades of grass that are the words of God in the pastures of the Bible and other spiritual books.
Because of a goat’s natural curiosity and independence, they can tend to get into more trouble than sheep. Sheep are, yes, sheepish. They have a very strong flocking instinct and become agitated when separated from their flock. However, the sheep of today are much different than sheep as they were created. They have been bred in such a way as to produce fluffier, dumber sheep―and we have become fluffy dumb Catholics. Sheep are, and have always been, defenseless and are dependent on their shepherd and sheep-dogs. Goats, on the other hand, have a reputation for being independent, opinionated and curious at best—or vulgar, dangerous and destructive at worst. Shepherds protect sheep from their environment, whereas goatherds protect the environment from their goats. So for us to be God’s sheep, we must depend on Him to defend us. If we push, take, destroy and bully, or follow our dangerous curiosity and go off on our own, down paths the shepherd or goatherd does not want us go, then we become goats. There are some breeds of sheep and goats that look very similar. One give-away to tell the difference is the tail position. A goat’s tail is frequently held up vertically (proud) while a sheep tail hangs down (humble). Sheep are technically grazers, meaning they prefer munching grass low to the ground. Goats, on the other hand, are known as browsers (internet browsers?), meaning they often choose to select leaves, shrubs, vines, and weeds, often found at the tops of plants, higher off the ground. Goats are reputed to be willing to eat almost anything, including tin cans and cardboard boxes―just as human ‘goats’ will try anything and go anywhere, even where “angels fear to tread”! |
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Another difference between goats and sheep is their flock behavior. Goats tend to be much more independent and curious than sheep, who adhere tightly to flock mentality and can appear aloof to humans. This difference often makes people assume sheep are less ‘intelligent’ than goats. The stronger flocking instinct of the sheep makes them become very agitated if they are separated from the rest of the flock. It is easier to keep sheep inside a fence than goats. Goats are naturally curious. They are agile and well known for their ability to climb and balance in precarious places. This makes them the only ruminant to regularly climb trees. Due to their agility and inquisitiveness, they are notorious for escaping their pens by testing fences and enclosures, either intentionally, or simply because they are used to climbing. If any of the fencing can be overcome, goats will almost inevitably escape. Due to their intelligence, once a goat has discovered a weakness in the fence, they will exploit it repeatedly, and other goats will observe and quickly learn the same method (just like kids in a family―if you pardon the “kid” pun! Just kidding!).
Fewer and fewer Catholics are prepared to remain within the traditional pastures into which the Church has led them―they have lost the sheep’s spirit of obedience and humility, and have transformed themselves (with the aid of the world and its prince or goatherd, the devil) into mischievous, disobedient, independent, curious goats who have climbed over the fence of the Church’s pasture and are now heading to any and every pasture they can find!
Fewer and fewer Catholics are prepared to remain within the traditional pastures into which the Church has led them―they have lost the sheep’s spirit of obedience and humility, and have transformed themselves (with the aid of the world and its prince or goatherd, the devil) into mischievous, disobedient, independent, curious goats who have climbed over the fence of the Church’s pasture and are now heading to any and every pasture they can find!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Tuesday May 7th & Wednesday May 8th
Article 10
Lost and Found? Or Just Plain Lost?
Article 10
Lost and Found? Or Just Plain Lost?
It’s All About Losses and Profits!
Strangely enough, even though the modern world and modern folk are besotted with money, financial gain, increasing profits and cutting losses―they do not carry that anxiety or obsession over into the spiritual realm. Yet, even God and Heaven are focused on profits and losses, although not material or monetary profits and losses, but spiritual profits and losses.
We see Our Lord speak about profits and losses in the Parable of the Talents: “For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $15 per ounce, that would make 1 talent worth just over $11,000, thus 5 talents would be $55,000; 2 talents would be $22,000, and 1 talent would be $11,000). And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ [Hence, produced much profit]. His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ [Hence, produced much profit]. His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ [Hence, there is no profit at all]. And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
This same idea of profits and losses is seen in Our Lord’s words at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman [farmer]. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit … In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit” (John 15:1-8).
On another occasion, Jesus “seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, He came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and He said to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matthew 21:19).
The same idea of profits and losses emerges from the Parable of the Sower of the Seed: “‘The sower went out to sow his seed. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up [and so there was no profit from the seed]. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture [and so there was no profit from the seed]. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit [produces no profit]. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit [produces profit], some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.’ And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away [no profit from receiving the seed]. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit [produces losses and no profit]. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and bring forth fruit [profit] in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (combined versions of Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
St. John the Baptist, in a similar vein, states: “Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!” (Matthew 3:10).
Are Riches Evil?
Riches, in themselves, are not necessarily wrong―provided that they be accepted in accordance with the laws of God, depending upon Divine Providence and used in a manner that pleases God. We see several notable persons in the Scriptures―God-fearing and holy persons―upon whom Divine Providence bestowed riches. Several chief names spring to mind―Abraham (Abram), Job, King David, King Solomon, Joseph of Arimathea the disciple of Jesus, etc.
● ABRAHAM: “Abram was very rich in possession of gold and silver” (Genesis 13:1-2).
● JOB: Job’s “possession was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a family exceeding great: and this man was great among all the people of the east!” (Job 1:3).
● KING DAVID: “And David died in a good age, full of days, and riches, and glory” (1 Paralipomenon 29:28).
● KING SOLOMON: “And the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, saying: ‘Ask what thou wilt that I should give thee!’ … And Solomon said: ‘Give therefore to thy servant an understanding heart, to judge thy people, and discern between good and evil!’ … And the Lord said to Solomon: ‘Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life or riches, nor the lives of thy enemies, but hast asked for thyself wisdom to discern judgment, behold, I have done for thee according to thy words, and shall give thee the things also which thou didst not ask, namely, riches and glory, as that no one hath been like thee among the kings in all days heretofore!’” (3 Kings 3:5-13).
● JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA: “There came a certain rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was a disciple of Jesus” (Matthew 27:57).
The Dangers of Riches Can Lead to a Loss of Soul
Holy Scripture laments that “All things obey money” (Ecclesiastes 10:19). Yet money is the root of many evils. “A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money … this also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 5:9). “There is not a more wicked thing than to love money―for such a one setteth even his own soul to sale!” (Ecclesiasticus 10:10). “For the desire of money is the root of all evils; by which some, through coveting, have erred from the Faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows!” (1 Timothy 6:10). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them!” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3). “Why do you spend money for that which doth not satisfy you?” (Isaias 55:2). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Our Lord clearly and brutally points out the danger of riches in parables as well in “real-life” incidents. In the parable of the Sower of the Seed, Our Lord says: “They have heard the word of God, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit ... The deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word of God, and it becometh fruitless … He heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless.” (Luke 8:14, 22; Matthew 13:22).
On another occasion, “Jesus spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:16-21).
Then we have the “real-life” incident of Jesus encountering the rich young man who wanted to save his soul. “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Hence Our Lord warns: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Thus St. James rebukes the rich, saying: “Go now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are moth-eaten! Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
The Book of Apocalypse also rebukes those who pride themselves on their riches and self-sufficiency: “Thou sayest: ‘I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ And knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold [charity], fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:17-18).
The sinner misuses riches that God may have providentially bestowed, or that they themselves may have greedily accumulated―but we should not envy the sinner and his or her riches: “Envy not the glory and riches of a sinner, for thou knowest not what his ruin shall be!” (Ecclesiasticus 9:16). “They shall leave their riches to strangers” (Psalm 48:11). “What doth it avail a fool to have riches, seeing he cannot buy wisdom? He that builds his house high, seeketh a downfall: and he that refuseth to learn, shall fall into evils! He that trusteth in his riches shall fall!” (Proverbs 17:16; 11:28). “For they that will [desire or want to] become rich, fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition” (1 Timothy 6:9).
Faith Losing-Out to Materialism―Parents and Teachers losing Children to Materialism
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21). There you have a simple, brutal, infallible “litmus test” of where you and those committed to your care, stand before God. You can add to that “litmus test” the following criteria or “measuring-stick”― “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16-20).
What kind of spiritual fruit is being produced in your DAILY life? How does that quantity compare to the quantity of material, earthly, worldly fruit that is being produced? How much time is dedicated to the spiritual in relation to the non-spiritual? How much conversation is spiritual in relation to non-spiritual? How much effort is being put into seeking and achieving holiness in relation to the efforts being put into seeking money, wealth, possessions, etc.? How much time is spent in spiritual exercises such as prayer, spiritual reading, meditation, extra Masses and Holy Communions, spiritual Communions, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, etc., in relation to time spent watching TV, browsing the internet and social media, reading secular things, visits to malls, parties, socials, sports, etc.? What sacrifices are being made for God or for the conversion of sinners, in relation to the sacrifices being made you acquire things in this life? All of this is in an infallible, uncomfortable, undesirable and unused “litmus test” that will indicate how committed you are to God in relation to how committed you are to everyday, earthly, worldly life. It is a “litmus test” or spiritual “MRI” or “X-Ray” that should be taken regularly, because, as Our Lord says:
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof” (Matthew 7:13-27). Is your spiritual life built on a rock, or is you spiritual life somewhat “rocky”? Are you on solid and safe ground, or are you on sandy and swampy ground?
Sadly, most Catholic families and most Catholics parishes and schools have “lost the plot” of why they are here on Earth! Their Faith has been derailed, diluted, diffused and destroyed. Theirs is a “hybrid Faith”―a ‘Faith’ that is a mixture of Catholicism and worldliness. They see no problem and have no qualms living a pluralistic life―which is both Catholic and worldly. Even the Liberal and Modernist popes of recent times have seen that phenomenon and lamented over it. The following warning of Holy Scripture are completely ignored―in fact, the very opposite is practiced: “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
Few Find It! Many Lose It!
As Our Lord says, “few there are that find it”―meaning, few find the narrow path that leads to Heaven. “And a certain man said to him: Lord, are they few that are saved? But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! When the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall stand outside and knock on the door, saying: “Lord! Open to us!” And he, answering, shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are!” Then there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-24; Matthew 7:13-14).
What road or path are you and your family walking? Is it the strait, narrow and unpopular path to Heaven, or is the broad, wide and popular path to Hell. If you and your life is like that of most people―then you most likely have a problem and are in some degree of danger. St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church, says: “If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate!” St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church, writes: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.” St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, adds: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness.” St. John of the Cross (1524-1591), Doctor of the Church, says: “Behold how many there are who are called, and how few who are chosen! And behold, if you have no care for yourself, your perdition is more certain than your amendment, especially since the way that leads to eternal life is so narrow.” St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church, says: “The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are―yet among those few I wish to be!”
The 'Unchosen Ones' or ‘Lost Ones’ Among the Chosen People
We are way too over-confident and complacent as regards the chances of our salvation―instead of following the advice of Holy Scripture: “with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12), we, on the contrary, are seeking salvation through laughter, fun, games and entertainment. We want our “flight to Heaven” to an entertaining one, filled with entertainment and amusements―as Our Lady of La Salette and Our Lady of Good Success predicted: “People will think of nothing but amusement ... Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost!”
Our Lord, speaking of the time of Noe and the Ark, reminded us of how few were saved―“the flood came, and took them all away.” God had no qualms about eliminating most of the human race because of sin and wiped them off the face of the Earth—“It repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:6-7).
We see the same anger in God during the Exodus from Egypt on the journey to the Promised Land: “And again the Lord said to Moses: ‘See that this people is stiff-necked! Let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation!’”(Exodus 32:9-10).
St. Paul reminds us of this in the New Testament: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea! And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ! But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5).
God was not well pleased with most of them! What a horrifying thought! They were His Chosen People—were they not? Yet He was ready to destroy them, He made them wander and die in the desert so that only two (Josue and Caleb) of the original millions who had left Egypt actually entered the Promised Land—the rest were a new generation! With most of them God was not well pleased! What, then, would God think of our ultra-sinful world today? We shiver to think!
Lost Your Way? Find the Path of God!
There is no doubt about it―and do not dare doubt it― “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Yet, “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received him not!” (John 1:10-11). For, as He said: “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” Luke 5:32). “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! … Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” Matthew 4:17; Luke 13:3). “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “God hath given him [them] time for penance, and he [they] abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23).
Our Lord—Who, in His own words, is “the way”—points out that way to us: “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Simple, clear, blunt, brutal, stark and uncompromising.
And, in case some desired or needed further clarifications, Jesus adds: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me … He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:37-39). “And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting. And many that are first, shall be last: and the last shall be first … So shall the last be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.” (Matthew 19:29-30; 20:16).
The Path of Man
But man will reply the same to God― “Your thoughts are not my thoughts, nor Your ways my ways!” Man does not like God's plan—especially modern-man, to whom so many wonderful worldly goods are available, that it almost seems like Heaven-on-Earth! “A fool shall be filled with his own ways” (Proverbs 14:14). “A double minded man is inconstant in all his ways” (James 1:8)—especially so if he seeks to serve both God and mammon!
Never before have there been so many 'goodies' and never before have they been so readily available at such an affordable price―and we are suckers for these things. Kings of old would make war upon us in order to get their hands on some of our modern-day 'goodies'—they never had horseless chariots (cars), nor planes, nor telephones, nor TV sets, nor computers, nor smartphones, not tablets, i-Pods and i-Pads, nor Electronic Assistants, nor cameras and video recorders, nor the incredibly wide selection of food and drink available to us, etc., etc. Most of us have far more possessions that these kings of old—and way far more than God Himself, in the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
Modern-man does not want much to do with “prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20), he would much more prefer to be among those who “sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” (1 Corinthians 10:7). Modern-man plans on being rich and amassing many possessions! He is more like the person in one of Our Lord’s parables, which was mentioned earlier:
“The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: ‘What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?’ And he said: ‘This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!”’ But God said to him: ‘Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?’ So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!” (Luke 12:16-21).
This makes us think of Our Lord’s warning: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13).
Strangely enough, even though the modern world and modern folk are besotted with money, financial gain, increasing profits and cutting losses―they do not carry that anxiety or obsession over into the spiritual realm. Yet, even God and Heaven are focused on profits and losses, although not material or monetary profits and losses, but spiritual profits and losses.
We see Our Lord speak about profits and losses in the Parable of the Talents: “For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices of around $15 per ounce, that would make 1 talent worth just over $11,000, thus 5 talents would be $55,000; 2 talents would be $22,000, and 1 talent would be $11,000). And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way dug into the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
“But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above!’ [Hence, produced much profit]. His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“And he also that had received the two talents came and said: ‘Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two!’ [Hence, produced much profit]. His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord!’
“But he that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ [Hence, there is no profit at all]. And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury! Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents! For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away! And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness! There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
This same idea of profits and losses is seen in Our Lord’s words at the Last Supper: “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman [farmer]. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit … In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit” (John 15:1-8).
On another occasion, Jesus “seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, He came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and He said to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matthew 21:19).
The same idea of profits and losses emerges from the Parable of the Sower of the Seed: “‘The sower went out to sow his seed. And whilst he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down by men, and the birds of the air came and ate it up [and so there was no profit from the seed]. And some seed fell upon stony ground, where it had not much depth of earth, and the seed sprouted and shot up immediately, because there was no deepness of earth. But when the sun was risen, the sprouted seed was scorched, because it had no root and no moisture [and so there was no profit from the seed]. And other seed fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up with it and choked it and it yielded no fruit [produces no profit]. And others fell upon good ground: and this seed brought forth fruit [produces profit], some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.’ And His disciples asked Him what this parable might be. To whom Jesus said: ‘The parable is this! Hear therefore the [explanation of the] parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, the devil, Satan, comes [the birds of the air] and takes the word [of God], which was sown in his heart, out of his heart―lest believing he should be saved―this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon the rock or stony ground, is he that hears the word of God, immediately receives it with joy and believes for a while. Yet he has no root in himself, but keeps the word of God only for a time. For, in time of temptation, when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word of God, he is suddenly scandalized [weakened] and he falls away [no profit from receiving the seed]. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit [produces losses and no profit]. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that hears and understands the word of God in a good and perfect heart, and bring forth fruit [profit] in patience; and the yield for one is a hundredfold, for another sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold!’” (combined versions of Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15).
St. John the Baptist, in a similar vein, states: “Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!” (Matthew 3:10).
Are Riches Evil?
Riches, in themselves, are not necessarily wrong―provided that they be accepted in accordance with the laws of God, depending upon Divine Providence and used in a manner that pleases God. We see several notable persons in the Scriptures―God-fearing and holy persons―upon whom Divine Providence bestowed riches. Several chief names spring to mind―Abraham (Abram), Job, King David, King Solomon, Joseph of Arimathea the disciple of Jesus, etc.
● ABRAHAM: “Abram was very rich in possession of gold and silver” (Genesis 13:1-2).
● JOB: Job’s “possession was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a family exceeding great: and this man was great among all the people of the east!” (Job 1:3).
● KING DAVID: “And David died in a good age, full of days, and riches, and glory” (1 Paralipomenon 29:28).
● KING SOLOMON: “And the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, saying: ‘Ask what thou wilt that I should give thee!’ … And Solomon said: ‘Give therefore to thy servant an understanding heart, to judge thy people, and discern between good and evil!’ … And the Lord said to Solomon: ‘Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life or riches, nor the lives of thy enemies, but hast asked for thyself wisdom to discern judgment, behold, I have done for thee according to thy words, and shall give thee the things also which thou didst not ask, namely, riches and glory, as that no one hath been like thee among the kings in all days heretofore!’” (3 Kings 3:5-13).
● JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA: “There came a certain rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was a disciple of Jesus” (Matthew 27:57).
The Dangers of Riches Can Lead to a Loss of Soul
Holy Scripture laments that “All things obey money” (Ecclesiastes 10:19). Yet money is the root of many evils. “A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money … this also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 5:9). “There is not a more wicked thing than to love money―for such a one setteth even his own soul to sale!” (Ecclesiasticus 10:10). “For the desire of money is the root of all evils; by which some, through coveting, have erred from the Faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows!” (1 Timothy 6:10). “For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, and perverted them!” (Ecclesiasticus 8:3). “Why do you spend money for that which doth not satisfy you?” (Isaias 55:2). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Our Lord clearly and brutally points out the danger of riches in parables as well in “real-life” incidents. In the parable of the Sower of the Seed, Our Lord says: “They have heard the word of God, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit ... The deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word of God, and it becometh fruitless … He heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless.” (Luke 8:14, 22; Matthew 13:22).
On another occasion, “Jesus spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:16-21).
Then we have the “real-life” incident of Jesus encountering the rich young man who wanted to save his soul. “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Hence Our Lord warns: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other―or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Thus St. James rebukes the rich, saying: “Go now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are moth-eaten! Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
The Book of Apocalypse also rebukes those who pride themselves on their riches and self-sufficiency: “Thou sayest: ‘I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ And knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold [charity], fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:17-18).
The sinner misuses riches that God may have providentially bestowed, or that they themselves may have greedily accumulated―but we should not envy the sinner and his or her riches: “Envy not the glory and riches of a sinner, for thou knowest not what his ruin shall be!” (Ecclesiasticus 9:16). “They shall leave their riches to strangers” (Psalm 48:11). “What doth it avail a fool to have riches, seeing he cannot buy wisdom? He that builds his house high, seeketh a downfall: and he that refuseth to learn, shall fall into evils! He that trusteth in his riches shall fall!” (Proverbs 17:16; 11:28). “For they that will [desire or want to] become rich, fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition” (1 Timothy 6:9).
Faith Losing-Out to Materialism―Parents and Teachers losing Children to Materialism
“Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21). There you have a simple, brutal, infallible “litmus test” of where you and those committed to your care, stand before God. You can add to that “litmus test” the following criteria or “measuring-stick”― “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16-20).
What kind of spiritual fruit is being produced in your DAILY life? How does that quantity compare to the quantity of material, earthly, worldly fruit that is being produced? How much time is dedicated to the spiritual in relation to the non-spiritual? How much conversation is spiritual in relation to non-spiritual? How much effort is being put into seeking and achieving holiness in relation to the efforts being put into seeking money, wealth, possessions, etc.? How much time is spent in spiritual exercises such as prayer, spiritual reading, meditation, extra Masses and Holy Communions, spiritual Communions, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, etc., in relation to time spent watching TV, browsing the internet and social media, reading secular things, visits to malls, parties, socials, sports, etc.? What sacrifices are being made for God or for the conversion of sinners, in relation to the sacrifices being made you acquire things in this life? All of this is in an infallible, uncomfortable, undesirable and unused “litmus test” that will indicate how committed you are to God in relation to how committed you are to everyday, earthly, worldly life. It is a “litmus test” or spiritual “MRI” or “X-Ray” that should be taken regularly, because, as Our Lord says:
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone, therefore, that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof” (Matthew 7:13-27). Is your spiritual life built on a rock, or is you spiritual life somewhat “rocky”? Are you on solid and safe ground, or are you on sandy and swampy ground?
Sadly, most Catholic families and most Catholics parishes and schools have “lost the plot” of why they are here on Earth! Their Faith has been derailed, diluted, diffused and destroyed. Theirs is a “hybrid Faith”―a ‘Faith’ that is a mixture of Catholicism and worldliness. They see no problem and have no qualms living a pluralistic life―which is both Catholic and worldly. Even the Liberal and Modernist popes of recent times have seen that phenomenon and lamented over it. The following warning of Holy Scripture are completely ignored―in fact, the very opposite is practiced: “What fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God! As God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
Few Find It! Many Lose It!
As Our Lord says, “few there are that find it”―meaning, few find the narrow path that leads to Heaven. “And a certain man said to him: Lord, are they few that are saved? But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! When the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall stand outside and knock on the door, saying: “Lord! Open to us!” And he, answering, shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are!” Then there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-24; Matthew 7:13-14).
What road or path are you and your family walking? Is it the strait, narrow and unpopular path to Heaven, or is the broad, wide and popular path to Hell. If you and your life is like that of most people―then you most likely have a problem and are in some degree of danger. St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church, says: “If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate!” St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church, writes: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few.” St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, adds: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness.” St. John of the Cross (1524-1591), Doctor of the Church, says: “Behold how many there are who are called, and how few who are chosen! And behold, if you have no care for yourself, your perdition is more certain than your amendment, especially since the way that leads to eternal life is so narrow.” St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church, says: “The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are―yet among those few I wish to be!”
The 'Unchosen Ones' or ‘Lost Ones’ Among the Chosen People
We are way too over-confident and complacent as regards the chances of our salvation―instead of following the advice of Holy Scripture: “with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12), we, on the contrary, are seeking salvation through laughter, fun, games and entertainment. We want our “flight to Heaven” to an entertaining one, filled with entertainment and amusements―as Our Lady of La Salette and Our Lady of Good Success predicted: “People will think of nothing but amusement ... Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost!”
Our Lord, speaking of the time of Noe and the Ark, reminded us of how few were saved―“the flood came, and took them all away.” God had no qualms about eliminating most of the human race because of sin and wiped them off the face of the Earth—“It repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:6-7).
We see the same anger in God during the Exodus from Egypt on the journey to the Promised Land: “And again the Lord said to Moses: ‘See that this people is stiff-necked! Let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation!’”(Exodus 32:9-10).
St. Paul reminds us of this in the New Testament: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea! And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ! But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5).
God was not well pleased with most of them! What a horrifying thought! They were His Chosen People—were they not? Yet He was ready to destroy them, He made them wander and die in the desert so that only two (Josue and Caleb) of the original millions who had left Egypt actually entered the Promised Land—the rest were a new generation! With most of them God was not well pleased! What, then, would God think of our ultra-sinful world today? We shiver to think!
Lost Your Way? Find the Path of God!
There is no doubt about it―and do not dare doubt it― “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Yet, “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received him not!” (John 1:10-11). For, as He said: “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” Luke 5:32). “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! … Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” Matthew 4:17; Luke 13:3). “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 22:14). “God hath given him [them] time for penance, and he [they] abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23).
Our Lord—Who, in His own words, is “the way”—points out that way to us: “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). Simple, clear, blunt, brutal, stark and uncompromising.
And, in case some desired or needed further clarifications, Jesus adds: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me … He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:37-39). “And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting. And many that are first, shall be last: and the last shall be first … So shall the last be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.” (Matthew 19:29-30; 20:16).
The Path of Man
But man will reply the same to God― “Your thoughts are not my thoughts, nor Your ways my ways!” Man does not like God's plan—especially modern-man, to whom so many wonderful worldly goods are available, that it almost seems like Heaven-on-Earth! “A fool shall be filled with his own ways” (Proverbs 14:14). “A double minded man is inconstant in all his ways” (James 1:8)—especially so if he seeks to serve both God and mammon!
Never before have there been so many 'goodies' and never before have they been so readily available at such an affordable price―and we are suckers for these things. Kings of old would make war upon us in order to get their hands on some of our modern-day 'goodies'—they never had horseless chariots (cars), nor planes, nor telephones, nor TV sets, nor computers, nor smartphones, not tablets, i-Pods and i-Pads, nor Electronic Assistants, nor cameras and video recorders, nor the incredibly wide selection of food and drink available to us, etc., etc. Most of us have far more possessions that these kings of old—and way far more than God Himself, in the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
Modern-man does not want much to do with “prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20), he would much more prefer to be among those who “sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” (1 Corinthians 10:7). Modern-man plans on being rich and amassing many possessions! He is more like the person in one of Our Lord’s parables, which was mentioned earlier:
“The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: ‘What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?’ And he said: ‘This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!”’ But God said to him: ‘Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?’ So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!” (Luke 12:16-21).
This makes us think of Our Lord’s warning: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Sunday May 5th & Monday May 6th
Article 9
Any Good Shepherds Left? Any Vocations Coming?
Article 9
Any Good Shepherds Left? Any Vocations Coming?
Lost Shepherds―Lost Sheep
“My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains―they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place! All that found them, have devoured them!” (Jeremias 50:6-7). Sadly, yet truly, those words, perhaps, never been more appropriate and applicable than to our present age.
When a worldwide average of only 20% of Catholics regularly flock to the pastures of grace (Sunday Mass) to be fed (the Holy Eucharist) by their shepherds (the priests), then to whom are those words from Jeremias better suited than to the Catholic flocks and shepherds of our day?
Through His holy prophet Ezechiel, God’s rebukes go even further: “And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds of Israel! Prophesy, and say to the shepherds: “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves! Should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? You ate the milk, and you clothed yourselves with the wool, and you killed that which was fat―but My flock you did not feed! The weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not healed, that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost―but you ruled over them with rigor, and with a high hand! And My sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd: and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. My sheep have wandered in every mountain, and in every high hill, and My flocks were scattered upon the face of the earth, and there was none that sought them, there was none, I say, that sought them!
“Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! As I live, saith the Lord God, forasmuch as My flocks have been made a spoil for others, and My sheep are become a prey to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd―for my shepherds did not seek after my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flocks! Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself come upon the shepherds, I will require My flock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease from feeding the flock any more, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more: and I will deliver My flock from their mouth, and it shall no more be meat for them.
God the Shepherd to the Rescue
“For thus saith the Lord God: ‘Behold I Myself will seek My sheep, and will visit them. As the shepherd visiteth his flock in the day when he shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit My sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and will gather them out of the countries, and will bring them to their own land: and I will feed them in the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the habitations of the land. I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures, and their pastures shall be in the high mountains of Israel: there shall they rest on the green grass, and be fed in fat pastures upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed My sheep: and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost: and that which was driven away, I will bring again: and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong I will preserve: and I will feed them in judgment!’
However, God will also judge the sheep and not just the shepherds: “‘And as for you, O my flocks, thus saith the Lord God: Behold I judge! Was it not enough for you to feed upon good pastures? But you must also tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures! And when you drank the clearest water, you troubled the rest with your feet. And My sheep were fed with that which you had trodden with your feet: and they drank what your feet had troubled. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God to you: Behold, I myself will judge between the fat cattle and the lean. Because you thrust with sides and shoulders, and struck all the weak cattle with your horns, till they were scattered abroad! I will save My flock, and it shall be no more a spoil, and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one Shepherd [Christ] over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David: He shall feed them, and He shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God: and My servant David the prince in the midst of them! I the Lord have spoken it!’” (Ezechiel 34:1-24).
Our Lord Fulfills Prophecy as the Good Shepherd
In the New Testament, we see that Our Lord calls Himself the “Good Shepherd”: “Amen, amen I say to you―He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber! But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice―and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he hath let out his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. But a stranger they follow not, but fly from him, because they know not the voice of strangers. Amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers: and the sheep heard them not. I am the door. By Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flieth: and the wolf catcheth, and scattereth the sheep―and the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling: and he hath no care for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd; and I know Mine, and Mine know Me. As the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father―and I lay down my life for My sheep. And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd!” (John 10:1-16).
Millions of Sheep―Few Shepherds
Even while Our Lord walked upon this Earth, He complained about the shortage of shepherds: “And seeing the multitudes, He had compassion on them: because they were distressed, and lying like sheep that have no shepherd. Then He saith to His disciples: ‘The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few! Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth laborers into His harvest!’” (Matthew 9:36-38). “And after these things the Lord appointed also another seventy-two―and He sent them, two and two, before His face, into every city and place where He Himself was to come. And He said to them: ‘The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few! Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He send laborers into His harvest! Go! Behold, I send you as lambs among wolves!’” (Luke 10:1-3).
What Moses begged of the Lord during the Exodus, we need to beg of God today: “May the Lord the God provide a man that may be over this multitude; and may go out and in before them, and may lead them out, or bring them in―lest the people of the Lord be as sheep without a shepherd” (Numbers 27:16-17). The prophet Micheas said: “‘I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, like sheep that have no shepherd!’ And the Lord said: ‘These have no master!’” (3 Kings 22:17). “The shepherds themselves knew no understanding: all have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last” (Isaias 56:11).
All of this is due to the negligence of the shepherds―not just the ‘shepherds’ among the clergy, but also the ‘shepherds’ of families―who are the father and the mother; as well as the ‘shepherds’ of schools―who are the principals and teachers. “Men are shepherds and their occupation is to feed their flocks” (Genesis 46:32). They will plead in vain with Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper [shepherd]?” (Genesis 4:9). Their (perhaps our) negligence should make us “howl”―as Scripture says: “Howl … for the mighty are laid waste! The voice of the howling of the shepherds―because their glory is laid waste! Thus saith the Lord my God: ‘Feed the flock of the slaughter which they, that possessed it, slew and repented not, but they sold them to become rich―and their shepherds spared them not! … A shepherd in the land who shall not visit what is forsaken, nor seek what is scattered, nor heal what is broken, nor nourish that which standeth, and he shall eat the flesh of the fat ones, and break their hoofs. O shepherd and idol, that forsaketh the flock! His arm shall quite wither away, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened!” (Zacharias 11:1-17).
“His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark! Seeing vain things! Sleeping and loving dreams!” Isaias 56:10). “The idols have spoken what was unprofitable, and the diviners have seen a lie, and the dreamers have spoken vanity―they comforted in vain! Therefore they were led away as a flock! They shall be afflicted, because they have no shepherd! My wrath is kindled against the shepherds, and I will visit upon the buck goats! For the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock!” (Zacharias 10:2-3). “My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place!” (Jeremias 50:6).
The Scattered Sheep of Today
Nowadays, 80% of the Catholic flock finds its regular pastures away from the Catholic Church. Only 20% of the flock are found to be regularly grazing in the Church’s “Sunday pasture”―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The rest prefer to be somewhere else, doing something else.
Already in the 1950s, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger―later to become Cardinal Ratzinger and then Pope Benedict XVI―wrote the essay “The new Pagans and the Church” which lamented and described what was then the relatively new phenomenon of people who felt and proclaimed they were Catholic, bit did not live and fully practice their Catholic Faith.
The Second Vatican Council was supposed to be a response to that widespread issue. Yet the way the Council chose, was not to fight the world, but to “go with the flow” and adapt to the signs of the times. It was an ‘updating’ of the Church that (vainly) claimed you could approach and mix with the world in a way that was not traditional, but while remaining well grounded in tradition. In effect, it was merely a melting-pot of diluting the Church with the world.
After the pharmaceutical blending of the Church with the world by the Second Vatican Council, religious things began to be described and valued with secular, rather than religious, criteria. The decision to climb onto the slippery slope secularism was irrevocably made―and the Church has been sliding down that secular slope ever since! Some Church leaders had some minor qualms of conscience about the direction that was being taken and tried to apply the brakes―but even if you lock the wheels by braking, you will still continue to slide down the greasy, slippery slope with you locked wheels!
Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae tried to reinforce sexual morality and guide the discussion back to religious, rather than secular, issues―but by and large it failed to stop the slide. He would be Pope for the following ten years, but never wrote another encyclical. Pope John Paul II also tried to stop the slide―but like all the other Liberal popes, hitting the brakes while at the same time pressing down on the gas pedal, is not going to do it. Pope Benedict XVI also highlighted the core issues. He delivered two important speeches on the issue: one during his 2011 trip to Germany, the other to Swiss bishops at the beginning of the Pontificate. Benedict XVI nailed the issue of a too worldly Church that needed to be less worldly. In 2011, in addressing the German Church, Benedict XVI made his call for a less worldly Church in front of the powerful Central Committee of Lay people of the Catholic Church in Germany―the ZDK. The German Cardinal Karl Lehman said he was embittered by Pope Benedict‘s speech, and the General Assembly of the German Catholic Church held after the trip took instead the progressive side an became more worldly.
Like Father, Like Son―Like Shepherds, Like Sheep
As Holy Scripture wisely says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44)―from which we no doubt get our modern day cliché: “Like father, like son!” The same can be said of the clergy and the laity. The kind of priest a parish has, is reflected in the laity. In fact, this brings to mind an age old French saying: “A saintly priest will produce a holy parish. A holy priest will produce a fervent parish. A fervent priest will produce a good parish. A good priest will produce a lukewarm parish. A lukewarm priest will produce a parish of devils.” The same is true for parents in relation to their children. Likewise, for teachers in relation to their students.
“My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains―they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place! All that found them, have devoured them!” (Jeremias 50:6-7). Sadly, yet truly, those words, perhaps, never been more appropriate and applicable than to our present age.
When a worldwide average of only 20% of Catholics regularly flock to the pastures of grace (Sunday Mass) to be fed (the Holy Eucharist) by their shepherds (the priests), then to whom are those words from Jeremias better suited than to the Catholic flocks and shepherds of our day?
Through His holy prophet Ezechiel, God’s rebukes go even further: “And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds of Israel! Prophesy, and say to the shepherds: “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves! Should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? You ate the milk, and you clothed yourselves with the wool, and you killed that which was fat―but My flock you did not feed! The weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not healed, that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost―but you ruled over them with rigor, and with a high hand! And My sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd: and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. My sheep have wandered in every mountain, and in every high hill, and My flocks were scattered upon the face of the earth, and there was none that sought them, there was none, I say, that sought them!
“Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! As I live, saith the Lord God, forasmuch as My flocks have been made a spoil for others, and My sheep are become a prey to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd―for my shepherds did not seek after my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flocks! Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself come upon the shepherds, I will require My flock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease from feeding the flock any more, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more: and I will deliver My flock from their mouth, and it shall no more be meat for them.
God the Shepherd to the Rescue
“For thus saith the Lord God: ‘Behold I Myself will seek My sheep, and will visit them. As the shepherd visiteth his flock in the day when he shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit My sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and will gather them out of the countries, and will bring them to their own land: and I will feed them in the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the habitations of the land. I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures, and their pastures shall be in the high mountains of Israel: there shall they rest on the green grass, and be fed in fat pastures upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed My sheep: and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost: and that which was driven away, I will bring again: and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong I will preserve: and I will feed them in judgment!’
However, God will also judge the sheep and not just the shepherds: “‘And as for you, O my flocks, thus saith the Lord God: Behold I judge! Was it not enough for you to feed upon good pastures? But you must also tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures! And when you drank the clearest water, you troubled the rest with your feet. And My sheep were fed with that which you had trodden with your feet: and they drank what your feet had troubled. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God to you: Behold, I myself will judge between the fat cattle and the lean. Because you thrust with sides and shoulders, and struck all the weak cattle with your horns, till they were scattered abroad! I will save My flock, and it shall be no more a spoil, and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one Shepherd [Christ] over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David: He shall feed them, and He shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God: and My servant David the prince in the midst of them! I the Lord have spoken it!’” (Ezechiel 34:1-24).
Our Lord Fulfills Prophecy as the Good Shepherd
In the New Testament, we see that Our Lord calls Himself the “Good Shepherd”: “Amen, amen I say to you―He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber! But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice―and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he hath let out his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. But a stranger they follow not, but fly from him, because they know not the voice of strangers. Amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers: and the sheep heard them not. I am the door. By Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flieth: and the wolf catcheth, and scattereth the sheep―and the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling: and he hath no care for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd; and I know Mine, and Mine know Me. As the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father―and I lay down my life for My sheep. And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd!” (John 10:1-16).
Millions of Sheep―Few Shepherds
Even while Our Lord walked upon this Earth, He complained about the shortage of shepherds: “And seeing the multitudes, He had compassion on them: because they were distressed, and lying like sheep that have no shepherd. Then He saith to His disciples: ‘The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few! Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth laborers into His harvest!’” (Matthew 9:36-38). “And after these things the Lord appointed also another seventy-two―and He sent them, two and two, before His face, into every city and place where He Himself was to come. And He said to them: ‘The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few! Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He send laborers into His harvest! Go! Behold, I send you as lambs among wolves!’” (Luke 10:1-3).
What Moses begged of the Lord during the Exodus, we need to beg of God today: “May the Lord the God provide a man that may be over this multitude; and may go out and in before them, and may lead them out, or bring them in―lest the people of the Lord be as sheep without a shepherd” (Numbers 27:16-17). The prophet Micheas said: “‘I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, like sheep that have no shepherd!’ And the Lord said: ‘These have no master!’” (3 Kings 22:17). “The shepherds themselves knew no understanding: all have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last” (Isaias 56:11).
All of this is due to the negligence of the shepherds―not just the ‘shepherds’ among the clergy, but also the ‘shepherds’ of families―who are the father and the mother; as well as the ‘shepherds’ of schools―who are the principals and teachers. “Men are shepherds and their occupation is to feed their flocks” (Genesis 46:32). They will plead in vain with Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper [shepherd]?” (Genesis 4:9). Their (perhaps our) negligence should make us “howl”―as Scripture says: “Howl … for the mighty are laid waste! The voice of the howling of the shepherds―because their glory is laid waste! Thus saith the Lord my God: ‘Feed the flock of the slaughter which they, that possessed it, slew and repented not, but they sold them to become rich―and their shepherds spared them not! … A shepherd in the land who shall not visit what is forsaken, nor seek what is scattered, nor heal what is broken, nor nourish that which standeth, and he shall eat the flesh of the fat ones, and break their hoofs. O shepherd and idol, that forsaketh the flock! His arm shall quite wither away, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened!” (Zacharias 11:1-17).
“His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant! Dumb dogs not able to bark! Seeing vain things! Sleeping and loving dreams!” Isaias 56:10). “The idols have spoken what was unprofitable, and the diviners have seen a lie, and the dreamers have spoken vanity―they comforted in vain! Therefore they were led away as a flock! They shall be afflicted, because they have no shepherd! My wrath is kindled against the shepherds, and I will visit upon the buck goats! For the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock!” (Zacharias 10:2-3). “My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place!” (Jeremias 50:6).
The Scattered Sheep of Today
Nowadays, 80% of the Catholic flock finds its regular pastures away from the Catholic Church. Only 20% of the flock are found to be regularly grazing in the Church’s “Sunday pasture”―the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The rest prefer to be somewhere else, doing something else.
Already in the 1950s, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger―later to become Cardinal Ratzinger and then Pope Benedict XVI―wrote the essay “The new Pagans and the Church” which lamented and described what was then the relatively new phenomenon of people who felt and proclaimed they were Catholic, bit did not live and fully practice their Catholic Faith.
The Second Vatican Council was supposed to be a response to that widespread issue. Yet the way the Council chose, was not to fight the world, but to “go with the flow” and adapt to the signs of the times. It was an ‘updating’ of the Church that (vainly) claimed you could approach and mix with the world in a way that was not traditional, but while remaining well grounded in tradition. In effect, it was merely a melting-pot of diluting the Church with the world.
After the pharmaceutical blending of the Church with the world by the Second Vatican Council, religious things began to be described and valued with secular, rather than religious, criteria. The decision to climb onto the slippery slope secularism was irrevocably made―and the Church has been sliding down that secular slope ever since! Some Church leaders had some minor qualms of conscience about the direction that was being taken and tried to apply the brakes―but even if you lock the wheels by braking, you will still continue to slide down the greasy, slippery slope with you locked wheels!
Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae tried to reinforce sexual morality and guide the discussion back to religious, rather than secular, issues―but by and large it failed to stop the slide. He would be Pope for the following ten years, but never wrote another encyclical. Pope John Paul II also tried to stop the slide―but like all the other Liberal popes, hitting the brakes while at the same time pressing down on the gas pedal, is not going to do it. Pope Benedict XVI also highlighted the core issues. He delivered two important speeches on the issue: one during his 2011 trip to Germany, the other to Swiss bishops at the beginning of the Pontificate. Benedict XVI nailed the issue of a too worldly Church that needed to be less worldly. In 2011, in addressing the German Church, Benedict XVI made his call for a less worldly Church in front of the powerful Central Committee of Lay people of the Catholic Church in Germany―the ZDK. The German Cardinal Karl Lehman said he was embittered by Pope Benedict‘s speech, and the General Assembly of the German Catholic Church held after the trip took instead the progressive side an became more worldly.
Like Father, Like Son―Like Shepherds, Like Sheep
As Holy Scripture wisely says: “As the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44)―from which we no doubt get our modern day cliché: “Like father, like son!” The same can be said of the clergy and the laity. The kind of priest a parish has, is reflected in the laity. In fact, this brings to mind an age old French saying: “A saintly priest will produce a holy parish. A holy priest will produce a fervent parish. A fervent priest will produce a good parish. A good priest will produce a lukewarm parish. A lukewarm priest will produce a parish of devils.” The same is true for parents in relation to their children. Likewise, for teachers in relation to their students.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Friday May 3rd & Saturday May 4th
Article 8
Are You Happy With Your Faith?
Article 8
Are You Happy With Your Faith?
Welcome to “Happy Hour”
“Happy-Hour” is a marketing term for a period of time in which a venue (such as a restaurant, bar, bowling alley, stadium, or state or county fair) offers discounts on alcoholic drinks, such as beer, wine, and cocktails. Free hors d'oeuvres, appetizers and discounted menu items are often served during “Happy-Hour”. For the worldly folk, “Happy Hour” used to be about “hitting the bars” on a Friday evening to “start off the weekend properly” (as the worldly folk see it). Bars knew this and, typically between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm, offered “Happy Hour” deals for beers on tap and other drinks. Others humorously call “Happy-Hour” the time when you wake up 1 hour before your alarm is scheduled to ring, and realize that you have one more hour of sleep left to enjoy! However, generally speaking, “Happy-Hour” has come to mean that time of day when folks hit the bars, typically on a Friday evening, to “start off the weekend properly.”
Apparently, over the last few years, restaurants decided to sink the “Happy-Hour” by making every hour of the day a “happy-hour”, by offering cut-price deals on food and drink at any time of the day or week, so it's no longer about the worldly folk letting-off a bit of steam and starting the weekend off ‘properly’ (as they like to think), but instead it's about shoving as much food and drink as you can take in your face for under $10. Cynically, some define “Happy Hour” as the time when the worst-selling and nastiest-tasting alcoholic beverages are sold for half-price to a bunch of alcoholics who are too drunk to notice. Are they really happy in their “Happy Hour”? Or do they just think they are happy, when in reality they are unhappy―and the drink hides, covers, anesthetizes their unhappiness and pretends to clothe it with happiness, albeit a fake ‘happiness’?
“Happy-Hour” at Tom’s
“What has this got to do with the Faith?” you may well ask. Well, the Faith is meant to make us happy―isn’t it? Or is it? If we are talking about “happiness”―then, during this “Happy-Hour” (the opening paragraphs of this article are being written on a Friday evening article and so the article qualifies for “Happy Hour”), let us listen to what St. Thomas Aquinas says about happiness! Since, as Our Lord said: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4) and “If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink!” (John 7:37), then let us go to St. Thomas’ restaurant and bar―the Summa Theologica―for some divine food and drink, that is not just offered at discount prices, but is absolutely FREE! What he serves is the organic truth, with nothing added. Hopefully, our “Happy-Hour” at St. Thomas’ Summa will feed our hunger and slake our thirst for happiness―or at least our understanding of it!
Happiness on the Menu!
St. Thomas tells us that only God is infinitely happy and that only God make us fully happy (Summa 1a, q.26). St. Thomas, a little further on, devotes 5 questions in his Summa Theologica in the discussion of happiness (Summa, 1a-2ae, questions 1 to 5). Here is a synopsis or summary of what he has to say:
Among all earthly creatures, man alone has been given the power of free will. What gives our human acts their essential character is the fact that they are freely chosen for a purpose―an end or a goal to be attained. The ultimate end or goal, towards which man tends in all his human acts, is his crowning good, his ultimate and perfect fulfillment―in other, more simple words, his goal is to be perfectly happy. This is his single goal or end; for man cannot possibly tend to several ultimate goals or last ends.
However, all our actions follow on from our knowledge and thoughts. If our knowledge and our ideas are poor, imprecise, flawed or erroneous, then our actions will likewise be poor, flawed, erroneous and even sinful. Even in his sinful acts, a man is seeking something good that he mistakenly thinks will bring him satisfaction and happiness, although he is perversely seeking it in the wrong place and in the wrong way. All individual choices, all separate human acts, are merely steps (real or seemingly real) towards the supreme good of perfect happiness. All men have the same last end, the same ultimate goal. This ultimate goal or end is to acquire a complete and enduring satisfaction or fulfillment―such a fulfillment is theologically called “beatitude” or commonly called “happiness”.
If It Makes You Happy―Do It! (Umm!)
However, St. Thomas continues, as we know from personal experience, all men do not agree about the precise things in which their fulfillment and ultimate happiness are to be found. Some think that happiness is to be found in money, riches, wealth and possessions. Other seek their ultimate happiness by enjoying pleasure after pleasure. Some find happiness in possessing and exercising power. Others find happiness in being praised and honored, and so on. It is as though all men were determined to reach a certain city (the City of Happiness), but were not all in agreement about the right road they must take to get there. All of this is subjective (personal opinions of individuals), but the true and objective (real) last end of man is the object which, when possessed, will give him true and unending happiness. This ultimate, infinite, all-satisfying good is God. Only God can make us truly happy―not just for a “Happy-Hour”, but for a “Happy Eternity”.
St. Thomas further points out that while all things and creatures, apart from man, are the products of God’s goodness and exist to reflect and manifest that goodness of God, those things do not seek nor can they seek to attain God― only man has that power. Therefore, man cannot expect help from the things and creatures of this world in seeking his ultimate happiness (which should be God). Hence man does not have the active concurrence of earthly creatures in his own ultimate quest of God and eternal happiness. In fact, things and creatures can actually derail and side-track man from seeking and attaining the ultimate happiness for which he has been created!
St. Thomas goes on to point out that man is manifestly made for happiness or fulfillment. Although all men do not have the correct idea of what true happiness is, and of how it is to be attained, nevertheless, all men, without exception, crave it. In the present earthly life, man may attain a degree of happiness, but cannot have perfect happiness. Man’s natural powers can bring him happiness, but not perfect happiness, because man’s nature ultimately tends to and desires the supernatural. Man’s true end is a supernatural end. Only God―seen, known and possessed in the beatific vision―can make man perfectly happy, and this beatific vision cannot be obtained in earthly life.
Some Folk Think God Does Not Want Us To Be Happy!
All of the above is well and good―but, some folk, upon reading the words of Holy Scripture and other revelations, argue that God does NOT want us to be happy here on Earth! Is that true? How true is it? Let us examine some Scriptural quotes to see what we can make of this argument.
At the Last Supper, Our Lord tells His Apostles: “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and your joy may be filled!” (John 15:11). Yet, at the very same Last Supper, Jesus seems to confuse matters when He says: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy! … So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you!” (John 16:20-22).
During His Sermon on the Mount, Our Lord tells His listeners: “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven! Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you!” He goes on to tell us to find our joy in suffering: “If one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other. And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him. And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him other two! Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away! You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!” (Matthew 5:10-12, 5:39-44).
Elsewhere, Our Lord commands us to love our neighbor: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” (Matthew 22:39), yet elsewhere He tells that He come―not to bring peace, but the sword and division within families: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies shall be they of his own household! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:34-37). Where is the joy in that?
He goes on to paint an even grimmer picture: “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:12-13). Jumping for joy, are we?
What About Mary? The “Cause of Our Joy?”
Surely there has to be some joy somewhere in religion! What about Our Lady―whom we call the “Cause of Our Joy” in the Litany of Loreto―surely she can give us some joy! Well, here is what Our Lady, the “Cause of Our Joy”, said to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but in then next!” Oh no! This is not making you happy at all, is it? Well, take a deep breath, sit down, calm down and think for a minute! Don’t just think for a minute, nor think of a minute, but think of eternity! It is eternal joys that really matter and not mere temporal (passing) joys!
The following paragraphs, spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda by the “Cause of Our Joy”, Our Lady, remind us that all that glitters is not gold, and some stones that we are tempted to throw away as being useless, are in fact gem-stones or rough diamonds! “Renew, many times, in the secret of thy heart, thy esteem for the blessing of tribulations, which the hidden providence of God dispenses for the justification of mortals. These are the judgments justified in themselves (Psalm 18:10-11) and more valuable than precious stones and gold, more sweet than the honeycomb, to those who know how to hold them in proper esteem. I wish thee to remember that to suffer and to be afflicted―with or without one’s fault―is a benefit of which one cannot be worthy, without special and great mercy of the Almighty. Moreover, to be allowed to suffer for one’s sins, is not only a mercy, but is demanded by justice! Behold, however, the great insanity of the children of Adam, nowadays, in desiring and seeking after advantages, benefits, and favors agreeable to their senses, and in sleeplessly striving to turn away from themselves, all that is painful, or includes any hardship or trouble. It would be to their greatest benefit to seek tribulations diligently, even when unmerited―yet they strive, by all means, to avoid them, even when they are merited, and even though they cannot be happy and blessed without having undergone such sufferings!” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda).
“Unless gold is untouched by the heat of the furnace, the iron grated by the file, the grain crushed by the grinding-stone or flail, the grapes crushed by the winepress―then they are all useless and will not attain the end for which they are created. Why, then, will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? If they were incapable and unworthy of attaining to the crown and reward of the infinite and eternal Good when they were still innocent, how can they attain it, when they have fallen into the darkness or error and into disgrace through sin before the Almighty? In addition to this, the sons of perdition are exerting all their powers to remain unworthy and hostile to God and in evading crosses and afflictions―which are the paths left open for returning to God―in rejecting the light of the intellect, which is the means of recognizing the deceptiveness of visible things; in refusing the nourishment of the just, which is the only means of grace, the price of glory; and, above all, in repudiating the legitimate inheritance, selected by my Son and Lord for Himself and for all His elect, since He was born and lived continually in afflictions and died upon the cross!” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda).
“By such standards, my daughter, must thou measure the value of suffering, which the worldly will not understand. Since they are unworthy of heavenly knowledge, they despise it in proportion to their ignorance. Rejoice and congratulate thyself in thy sufferings, and whenever the Almighty deigns to send thee any, hasten to meet it and welcome it as one of His blessings and pledges of His glorious love. Furnish thy heart with magnanimity and constancy, so that, when occasion of suffering is given thee, thou mayest bear it with the same calmness and even joy as all prosperous and agreeable things. Sacrifice thy heart and all thy faculties as a holocaust of patience and sing in new hymns of praise and joy the justification of the Most High, whenever, in the place of thy pilgrimage, He signalizes and distinguishes thee as His own with the signs of His friendship―which are none other than the tribulations and trials of suffering” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda).
“Take notice, my dearest, that my most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wishest to be our disciple enter into this school, in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights. With this wisdom, the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the bleary-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur. Thou must choose for thyself the better part of being among the lowly and the forgotten ones of this world. I was Mother of the God-man Himself, and, on that account, Mistress of all creation together with my Son: yet I was little known and my Son very much despised by men. If this doctrine were not most valuable and secure, We would not have taught it by word and example. This is the light, which shines in the darkness (John 1:7), loved by the elect and abhorred by the reprobate!” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda).
“Receive with joy the persecutions and calumnies of creatures, whenever thou art made partaker of such happiness. The sons of perdition, who serve vanity, are ignorant of the treasure of suffering injuries and of pardoning them, and they make a boast of vengeance, which even according to the requirements of the natural reason is reprehensible and arises from a heart brutal and beastly, rather than from a human … If the vice of revenge is so contrary even to the dictates of nature, consider, my daughter, how much it is opposed to grace and how hateful and abominable the vengeful are in the eyes of my most holy Son, who made Himself man, suffered and died for no other purpose than to forgive and to obtain the pardon of the Almighty for the injuries committed by the human race. Against this tendency of His whole life and against His whole nature and infinite bounty, vengeance is arrayed; as far as in him lies, the vindictive man destroys entirely, as well God Himself as all His works. And for this attempt he well merits, that God should destroy him with all His might. Between the person who pardons and suffers injuries, and the vindictive, there is the same difference as between the one and only heir and the deadly enemy; this one provokes all the wrath of God and the other merits and obtains all blessings; because, in this virtue, he exhibits a most perfect image of the celestial Father!” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda).
The Happy Way of the Cross Makes Most People Cross
When looking at a glass of water that contains 50% water, one can either say that the glass is HALF-FULL or HALF-EMPTY. Similarly with the cross, in whatever shape or form it comes―spiritually, mentally, physically, materially, socially, economically, financially, politically, etc. ― those who understand and love the cross, see their life as being half-filled or being increasingly filled with happiness when made to drink from the chalice of Christ’s cross; whereas those who do not understand the cross and hate it, see their life being half-empty and increasingly being emptied of happiness because of the cross.
The Imitation of Christ could express it no better than when it says the following in two magnificent chapters on the Cross of Christ―the first one entitled “Few Love the Cross of Jesus” (Book 2, chapter 11) and the second one, immediately afterwards, entitled “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross” (Book 2, chapter 12), from which these extracts are taken:
Seeking the Sweet, Not the Sour
“Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him ... On the contrary, those who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation ... What power there is in pure love for Jesus — love that is free from all self-interest and self-love! Do not those, who always seek consolation, deserve to be called mercenaries? Do not those, who always think of their own profit and gain, prove that they love themselves rather than Christ? Where can a man be found who desires to serve God for nothing? … If a man give all his wealth, it is nothing; if he do great penance, it is little; if he gain all knowledge, he is still far afield; if he have great virtue and much ardent devotion, he still lacks a great deal, and especially, the one thing that is most necessary to him. What is this one thing? That leaving all, he forsake himself, completely renounce himself, and give up all private affections. Then, when he has done all that he knows ought to be done, let him consider it as nothing, let him make little of what may be considered great; let him in all honesty call himself an unprofitable servant. For truth itself has said: ‘When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants!’” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 11: “Few Love the Cross of Jesus”).
Refusing the Cross Means Refusing Eternal Life
“To many the saying: ‘Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me!’ seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!’ Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge. Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul, nor hope of everlasting life, except in the cross. Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 12: “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
The Cross is Everywhere―Take It, or Leave It!
“Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification. Go where you will, seek what you will, you will not find a higher way, nor a less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find the cross. Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills. For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily as the man whose lot it is to suffer the like himself. The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will — above, below, without, or within — you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 12: “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
“If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one. Do you expect to escape what no mortal man can ever avoid? Which of the saints was without a cross or trial on this earth? Not even Jesus Christ, our Lord, Whose every hour on earth knew the pain of His passion. “It behooveth Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, . . . and so enter into his glory.” How is it that you look for another way than this, the royal way of the holy cross? The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself? You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides. Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 12: “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
Growing to Love the Cross Like Simon of Cyrene
“Yet such a man, though afflicted in many ways, is not without hope of consolation, because he knows that great reward is coming to him for bearing his cross. And when he carries it willingly, every pang of tribulation is changed into hope of solace from God. Besides, the more the flesh is distressed by affliction, so much the more is the spirit strengthened by inward grace. Not infrequently a man is so strengthened by his love of trials and hardship in his desire to conform to the cross of Christ, that he does not wish to be without sorrow or pain, since he believes he will be the more acceptable to God if he is able to endure more and more grievous things for His sake. It is the grace of Christ, and not the virtue of man, which can and does bring it about that, through fervor of spirit, frail flesh learns to love and to accept what it naturally hates and shuns. To carry the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and bring it to subjection, to flee honors, to endure contempt gladly, to despise self and wish to be despised, to suffer any adversity and loss, to desire no prosperous days on earth — this is not man's way! If you rely upon yourself, you can do none of these things, but if you trust in the Lord, strength will be given you from Heaven and the world and the flesh will be made subject to your word. You will not even fear your enemy, the devil, if you are armed with Faith and signed with the cross of Christ. Set yourself, then, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear bravely the cross of your Lord, Who out of love was crucified for you. Be ready to suffer many adversities and many kinds of trouble in this miserable life, for troublesome and miserable life will always be, no matter where you are; and so you will find it wherever you may hide. Thus it must be; and there is no way to evade the trials and sorrows of life but to bear them” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 12: “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
The Bitter-Sweet Drink, Whose Taste Changes From Sickly to Sweet
“Drink the chalice of the Lord with affection it you wish to be His friend and to have part with Him. Leave consolation to God; let Him do as most pleases Him. On your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider them the greatest consolation, for even though you alone were to undergo them all, the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 12: “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
How do you see and rate the above words? Do they half-fill your glass with happiness and leave you thirsting for more? Or do those words taste sour and sickly and half-empty your glass of happiness? Are you like the fickle followers of Jesus, who, when they heard Him talk about “eating His Flesh”, were shocked and scandalized― “The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: ‘How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat?’ … Many therefore of His disciples, hearing it, said: ‘This saying is hard, and who can hear it?’ But Jesus, knowing in Himself, that His disciples murmured at this, said to them: ‘Doth this scandalize you?’ … After this many of His disciples went back; and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the Twelve: ‘Will you also go away?’ And Simon Peter answered Him: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life!’” (John 6:53, 61-62, 67-69).
Cross Crossroads Choice
Let’s face it! Let’s be honest! Let us not be hypocrites! We do not like nor love the cross! We would happily do without it! The Way of the Cross is not our idea of the Way to Heaven! It is way too difficult and, we might even think, way too costly and unfair! We want to take a vehicle that would take us to Heaven, but we not want to climb aboard the cross! We want a “fun” ride to Heaven―and the cross promises no fun at all! We want to be happy and joyous during our trip to Heaven, but the cross is veritable killjoy! That pretty much ‘nails’ our thoughts about the cross and our attitude to the cross. When we see a cross on the street, coming our way, we cross over to the other side of the road. “Thanks, but no thanks!”
We cannot―just like the Jews, Greeks and Gentiles―get our heads around the cross! As St. Paul writes in Holy Scripture: “Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel―not in wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ should be made void. For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God. We preach Christ crucified―which, unto the Jews, is indeed a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles it is foolishness! But unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God!” (1 Corinthians 1:17-24). Judging by the constant levels of complaining about anything and everything that goes on in our lives and in the world, the cross is also to us a “stumbling-block” and “foolishness.” We just don’t “get it”! We merely see things naturally, but not supernaturally! “O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). We are no better than the Israelites whom God was forced to punish and slay by a forty-year death sentence of imprisonment in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. In our case, God is seeking to lead us away from the world and sin (Egypt) and we continually murmur and complain like the Israelites in the desert―because we do not like the way along which He is leading us (the way of the cross).
“And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Say therefore to them: “As I live,” saith the Lord: “According as you have spoken in My hearing, so will I do to you. In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against Me, shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up My hand to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun. But your children, of whom you said, that they should be a prey to the enemies, will I bring in: that they may see the land which you have despised. Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness. Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed in the desert!”’” (Number 14:26-33).
Ultimately, we are saying exactly what God rebukes the Israelites for saying in the Old Testament: “And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:29). “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). “Who hath been the Lord’s counselor and hath taught Him?” (Isaias 40:13). “For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor?” (Romans 11:34).
Carry Cheerfully or Chaff Complainingly
There is no escape from temptation and no escape from the cross! We can see the glass as being half-full or half-empty, but we cannot change what is in the glass and we must drink―regardless of how we see it, look upon it, or think about it. Our Lord has clearly stated that the cross can, should and would bring happiness if we would only reflect upon it and its need and purpose in our lives. We have all sinned and we all have to pay the price. “For all have sinned! … By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men … What fruit therefore had you then in those things, of which you are now ashamed? For the end of them is death! … The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 3:23; 5:12; 6:21-23). “When concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us!” (1 John 1:8).
Yes, “all have sinned” and all must die! Now, we all know that the soul, once created by God, will never die―so we speak of death metaphorically. However, we can either choose to “die” to God and live for the world and ourselves―and consequently ‘enjoy’ eternal pains as a reward in Hell. Or we can choose to “die” to the world and ourselves and live for God―and consequently enjoy eternal happiness as a reward in Heaven. “Die” we must―to which or what shall we “die”? To God, or to the world and ourselves? If we wish to follow Christ to the happy and eternal rewards of Heaven, then, as He Himself says, we must go through the pain of the cross to get to the joys of Heaven: “And Jesus said to ALL [not just some]: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). As St. Peter commands: “Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow His steps!” (1 Peter 2:21-22).
Few there are who study the road map to Heaven―which is the way of the cross. And even fewer are those who actually embark along that road after having studied it! Our Lord rose from the dead with His wounds still showing―to show us that the cross is not just necessary for a short while, but that even in joyful times (the resurrection from the dead) the cross is still a staple and a necessity. Penance and the cross is not just a Lenten thing―but a lifelong thing. Why? Because sin is not just committed during Lent, but all life long! Penances and crosses pay for those sins―all life long. If we do not want and cast-off the yolk of penance in this life, then we will find ourselves saddled with unimaginably greater penances, crosses and sufferings in either Purgatory or Hell.
Seek the Right Joys and Find True Happiness
Therefore, let us not be duped and fooled by the temporary, passing, diluted and imperfect ‘joys’ and ‘happiness’ of this world, but let us seek the eternal, lasting, undiluted and perfect joys of the next world. As Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also. No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
The history of the Israelites―covering thousands of years―show the same sad pattern. When things went well for them and they had things in abundance, then they fell away from God and began to be unfaithful―which led to God inflicting chastisements of one kind or another, to one degree or another. So much for finding ‘happiness’ in earthly things, huh? When they were punished and brought to their knees, they turned back to God, and, after a while, God blessed them again with abundance―and they again fell away from God because of the abundance of things and lack of crosses!
You can either choose to pursue worldly happiness now and then pay for them in Purgatory or Hell. Or you can forego the worldly happiness of this world in order to purchase the eternal happiness of Heaven. You cannot have both! Not even the devil can promise and deliver you both. He can guarantee worldly happiness galore, but he cannot guarantee eternal happiness―only eternal misery and pain. If you want Heaven, then you cannot have a paradise on Earth and expect to also have the Paradise of Heaven. The words of Our Lord to the rich young man are clear:
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’”
“Then Peter answering, began to say unto Him: ‘Behold we have left all things, and have followed Thee! What therefore shall we have?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of His majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel! And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and, in the world to come, shall possess life everlasting!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Words That Lead to Eternal Happiness
Those words above are the words of Christ―the words of God Himself. Let’s face it―there are very few persons who are really “in love with” the Faith. For most souls, the Faith is pain―in one or more areas. If it was their choice, they would change the Faith considerably and “update it”, making it more “user friendly” and “easy to use”. The Faith―as handed-down by Christ, the Apostles and the Popes from the time of St. Peter onwards, is seen as being as archaic, cumbersome and impractical as a typewriter of old compared to the computers of today!
Yet some things cannot and will not change! God―for one―does not change: “I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6) … “the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17). “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that He should be changed” (Numbers 23:19). “Remember your prelates who have spoken the word of God to you; whose faith follow, considering … Jesus Christ―yesterday and today―is the same for ever! Be not led away with various and strange doctrines!” (Hebrews 13:8-9).
“Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For amen I say unto you, till Heaven and Earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled! … Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity! Everyone, therefore, that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock! And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not―for it was founded on a rock! And everyone that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 5:17-18; 7:21-27).
“Happy-Hour” is a marketing term for a period of time in which a venue (such as a restaurant, bar, bowling alley, stadium, or state or county fair) offers discounts on alcoholic drinks, such as beer, wine, and cocktails. Free hors d'oeuvres, appetizers and discounted menu items are often served during “Happy-Hour”. For the worldly folk, “Happy Hour” used to be about “hitting the bars” on a Friday evening to “start off the weekend properly” (as the worldly folk see it). Bars knew this and, typically between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm, offered “Happy Hour” deals for beers on tap and other drinks. Others humorously call “Happy-Hour” the time when you wake up 1 hour before your alarm is scheduled to ring, and realize that you have one more hour of sleep left to enjoy! However, generally speaking, “Happy-Hour” has come to mean that time of day when folks hit the bars, typically on a Friday evening, to “start off the weekend properly.”
Apparently, over the last few years, restaurants decided to sink the “Happy-Hour” by making every hour of the day a “happy-hour”, by offering cut-price deals on food and drink at any time of the day or week, so it's no longer about the worldly folk letting-off a bit of steam and starting the weekend off ‘properly’ (as they like to think), but instead it's about shoving as much food and drink as you can take in your face for under $10. Cynically, some define “Happy Hour” as the time when the worst-selling and nastiest-tasting alcoholic beverages are sold for half-price to a bunch of alcoholics who are too drunk to notice. Are they really happy in their “Happy Hour”? Or do they just think they are happy, when in reality they are unhappy―and the drink hides, covers, anesthetizes their unhappiness and pretends to clothe it with happiness, albeit a fake ‘happiness’?
“Happy-Hour” at Tom’s
“What has this got to do with the Faith?” you may well ask. Well, the Faith is meant to make us happy―isn’t it? Or is it? If we are talking about “happiness”―then, during this “Happy-Hour” (the opening paragraphs of this article are being written on a Friday evening article and so the article qualifies for “Happy Hour”), let us listen to what St. Thomas Aquinas says about happiness! Since, as Our Lord said: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4) and “If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink!” (John 7:37), then let us go to St. Thomas’ restaurant and bar―the Summa Theologica―for some divine food and drink, that is not just offered at discount prices, but is absolutely FREE! What he serves is the organic truth, with nothing added. Hopefully, our “Happy-Hour” at St. Thomas’ Summa will feed our hunger and slake our thirst for happiness―or at least our understanding of it!
Happiness on the Menu!
St. Thomas tells us that only God is infinitely happy and that only God make us fully happy (Summa 1a, q.26). St. Thomas, a little further on, devotes 5 questions in his Summa Theologica in the discussion of happiness (Summa, 1a-2ae, questions 1 to 5). Here is a synopsis or summary of what he has to say:
Among all earthly creatures, man alone has been given the power of free will. What gives our human acts their essential character is the fact that they are freely chosen for a purpose―an end or a goal to be attained. The ultimate end or goal, towards which man tends in all his human acts, is his crowning good, his ultimate and perfect fulfillment―in other, more simple words, his goal is to be perfectly happy. This is his single goal or end; for man cannot possibly tend to several ultimate goals or last ends.
However, all our actions follow on from our knowledge and thoughts. If our knowledge and our ideas are poor, imprecise, flawed or erroneous, then our actions will likewise be poor, flawed, erroneous and even sinful. Even in his sinful acts, a man is seeking something good that he mistakenly thinks will bring him satisfaction and happiness, although he is perversely seeking it in the wrong place and in the wrong way. All individual choices, all separate human acts, are merely steps (real or seemingly real) towards the supreme good of perfect happiness. All men have the same last end, the same ultimate goal. This ultimate goal or end is to acquire a complete and enduring satisfaction or fulfillment―such a fulfillment is theologically called “beatitude” or commonly called “happiness”.
If It Makes You Happy―Do It! (Umm!)
However, St. Thomas continues, as we know from personal experience, all men do not agree about the precise things in which their fulfillment and ultimate happiness are to be found. Some think that happiness is to be found in money, riches, wealth and possessions. Other seek their ultimate happiness by enjoying pleasure after pleasure. Some find happiness in possessing and exercising power. Others find happiness in being praised and honored, and so on. It is as though all men were determined to reach a certain city (the City of Happiness), but were not all in agreement about the right road they must take to get there. All of this is subjective (personal opinions of individuals), but the true and objective (real) last end of man is the object which, when possessed, will give him true and unending happiness. This ultimate, infinite, all-satisfying good is God. Only God can make us truly happy―not just for a “Happy-Hour”, but for a “Happy Eternity”.
St. Thomas further points out that while all things and creatures, apart from man, are the products of God’s goodness and exist to reflect and manifest that goodness of God, those things do not seek nor can they seek to attain God― only man has that power. Therefore, man cannot expect help from the things and creatures of this world in seeking his ultimate happiness (which should be God). Hence man does not have the active concurrence of earthly creatures in his own ultimate quest of God and eternal happiness. In fact, things and creatures can actually derail and side-track man from seeking and attaining the ultimate happiness for which he has been created!
St. Thomas goes on to point out that man is manifestly made for happiness or fulfillment. Although all men do not have the correct idea of what true happiness is, and of how it is to be attained, nevertheless, all men, without exception, crave it. In the present earthly life, man may attain a degree of happiness, but cannot have perfect happiness. Man’s natural powers can bring him happiness, but not perfect happiness, because man’s nature ultimately tends to and desires the supernatural. Man’s true end is a supernatural end. Only God―seen, known and possessed in the beatific vision―can make man perfectly happy, and this beatific vision cannot be obtained in earthly life.
Some Folk Think God Does Not Want Us To Be Happy!
All of the above is well and good―but, some folk, upon reading the words of Holy Scripture and other revelations, argue that God does NOT want us to be happy here on Earth! Is that true? How true is it? Let us examine some Scriptural quotes to see what we can make of this argument.
At the Last Supper, Our Lord tells His Apostles: “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and your joy may be filled!” (John 15:11). Yet, at the very same Last Supper, Jesus seems to confuse matters when He says: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy! … So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you!” (John 16:20-22).
During His Sermon on the Mount, Our Lord tells His listeners: “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven! Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you!” He goes on to tell us to find our joy in suffering: “If one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other. And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him. And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him other two! Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away! You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you!” (Matthew 5:10-12, 5:39-44).
Elsewhere, Our Lord commands us to love our neighbor: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” (Matthew 22:39), yet elsewhere He tells that He come―not to bring peace, but the sword and division within families: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies shall be they of his own household! He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:34-37). Where is the joy in that?
He goes on to paint an even grimmer picture: “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:12-13). Jumping for joy, are we?
What About Mary? The “Cause of Our Joy?”
Surely there has to be some joy somewhere in religion! What about Our Lady―whom we call the “Cause of Our Joy” in the Litany of Loreto―surely she can give us some joy! Well, here is what Our Lady, the “Cause of Our Joy”, said to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but in then next!” Oh no! This is not making you happy at all, is it? Well, take a deep breath, sit down, calm down and think for a minute! Don’t just think for a minute, nor think of a minute, but think of eternity! It is eternal joys that really matter and not mere temporal (passing) joys!
The following paragraphs, spoken to the Venerable Mary of Agreda by the “Cause of Our Joy”, Our Lady, remind us that all that glitters is not gold, and some stones that we are tempted to throw away as being useless, are in fact gem-stones or rough diamonds! “Renew, many times, in the secret of thy heart, thy esteem for the blessing of tribulations, which the hidden providence of God dispenses for the justification of mortals. These are the judgments justified in themselves (Psalm 18:10-11) and more valuable than precious stones and gold, more sweet than the honeycomb, to those who know how to hold them in proper esteem. I wish thee to remember that to suffer and to be afflicted―with or without one’s fault―is a benefit of which one cannot be worthy, without special and great mercy of the Almighty. Moreover, to be allowed to suffer for one’s sins, is not only a mercy, but is demanded by justice! Behold, however, the great insanity of the children of Adam, nowadays, in desiring and seeking after advantages, benefits, and favors agreeable to their senses, and in sleeplessly striving to turn away from themselves, all that is painful, or includes any hardship or trouble. It would be to their greatest benefit to seek tribulations diligently, even when unmerited―yet they strive, by all means, to avoid them, even when they are merited, and even though they cannot be happy and blessed without having undergone such sufferings!” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda).
“Unless gold is untouched by the heat of the furnace, the iron grated by the file, the grain crushed by the grinding-stone or flail, the grapes crushed by the winepress―then they are all useless and will not attain the end for which they are created. Why, then, will mortals continue to deceive themselves, by expecting, in spite of their sins, to become pure and worthy of enjoying God, without the furnace or the file of sorrows? If they were incapable and unworthy of attaining to the crown and reward of the infinite and eternal Good when they were still innocent, how can they attain it, when they have fallen into the darkness or error and into disgrace through sin before the Almighty? In addition to this, the sons of perdition are exerting all their powers to remain unworthy and hostile to God and in evading crosses and afflictions―which are the paths left open for returning to God―in rejecting the light of the intellect, which is the means of recognizing the deceptiveness of visible things; in refusing the nourishment of the just, which is the only means of grace, the price of glory; and, above all, in repudiating the legitimate inheritance, selected by my Son and Lord for Himself and for all His elect, since He was born and lived continually in afflictions and died upon the cross!” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda).
“By such standards, my daughter, must thou measure the value of suffering, which the worldly will not understand. Since they are unworthy of heavenly knowledge, they despise it in proportion to their ignorance. Rejoice and congratulate thyself in thy sufferings, and whenever the Almighty deigns to send thee any, hasten to meet it and welcome it as one of His blessings and pledges of His glorious love. Furnish thy heart with magnanimity and constancy, so that, when occasion of suffering is given thee, thou mayest bear it with the same calmness and even joy as all prosperous and agreeable things. Sacrifice thy heart and all thy faculties as a holocaust of patience and sing in new hymns of praise and joy the justification of the Most High, whenever, in the place of thy pilgrimage, He signalizes and distinguishes thee as His own with the signs of His friendship―which are none other than the tribulations and trials of suffering” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda).
“Take notice, my dearest, that my most holy Son and myself are trying to find among those who have arrived at the way of the cross, some soul, whom We can instruct systematically in this divine science and whom We can withdraw from the worldly and diabolical wisdom, in which the sons of Adam, with blind stubbornness, are rejecting the salutary discipline of sufferings. If thou wishest to be our disciple enter into this school, in which alone is taught the doctrine of the cross and the manner of reaching true peace and veritable delights. With this wisdom, the earthly love of sensible pleasures and riches is not compatible; nor the vain ostentation and pomp, which fascinates the bleary-eyed worldlings, who are so covetous of passing honors, and so full of ignorant admiration for costly grandeur. Thou must choose for thyself the better part of being among the lowly and the forgotten ones of this world. I was Mother of the God-man Himself, and, on that account, Mistress of all creation together with my Son: yet I was little known and my Son very much despised by men. If this doctrine were not most valuable and secure, We would not have taught it by word and example. This is the light, which shines in the darkness (John 1:7), loved by the elect and abhorred by the reprobate!” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda).
“Receive with joy the persecutions and calumnies of creatures, whenever thou art made partaker of such happiness. The sons of perdition, who serve vanity, are ignorant of the treasure of suffering injuries and of pardoning them, and they make a boast of vengeance, which even according to the requirements of the natural reason is reprehensible and arises from a heart brutal and beastly, rather than from a human … If the vice of revenge is so contrary even to the dictates of nature, consider, my daughter, how much it is opposed to grace and how hateful and abominable the vengeful are in the eyes of my most holy Son, who made Himself man, suffered and died for no other purpose than to forgive and to obtain the pardon of the Almighty for the injuries committed by the human race. Against this tendency of His whole life and against His whole nature and infinite bounty, vengeance is arrayed; as far as in him lies, the vindictive man destroys entirely, as well God Himself as all His works. And for this attempt he well merits, that God should destroy him with all His might. Between the person who pardons and suffers injuries, and the vindictive, there is the same difference as between the one and only heir and the deadly enemy; this one provokes all the wrath of God and the other merits and obtains all blessings; because, in this virtue, he exhibits a most perfect image of the celestial Father!” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda).
The Happy Way of the Cross Makes Most People Cross
When looking at a glass of water that contains 50% water, one can either say that the glass is HALF-FULL or HALF-EMPTY. Similarly with the cross, in whatever shape or form it comes―spiritually, mentally, physically, materially, socially, economically, financially, politically, etc. ― those who understand and love the cross, see their life as being half-filled or being increasingly filled with happiness when made to drink from the chalice of Christ’s cross; whereas those who do not understand the cross and hate it, see their life being half-empty and increasingly being emptied of happiness because of the cross.
The Imitation of Christ could express it no better than when it says the following in two magnificent chapters on the Cross of Christ―the first one entitled “Few Love the Cross of Jesus” (Book 2, chapter 11) and the second one, immediately afterwards, entitled “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross” (Book 2, chapter 12), from which these extracts are taken:
Seeking the Sweet, Not the Sour
“Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him ... On the contrary, those who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation ... What power there is in pure love for Jesus — love that is free from all self-interest and self-love! Do not those, who always seek consolation, deserve to be called mercenaries? Do not those, who always think of their own profit and gain, prove that they love themselves rather than Christ? Where can a man be found who desires to serve God for nothing? … If a man give all his wealth, it is nothing; if he do great penance, it is little; if he gain all knowledge, he is still far afield; if he have great virtue and much ardent devotion, he still lacks a great deal, and especially, the one thing that is most necessary to him. What is this one thing? That leaving all, he forsake himself, completely renounce himself, and give up all private affections. Then, when he has done all that he knows ought to be done, let him consider it as nothing, let him make little of what may be considered great; let him in all honesty call himself an unprofitable servant. For truth itself has said: ‘When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants!’” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 11: “Few Love the Cross of Jesus”).
Refusing the Cross Means Refusing Eternal Life
“To many the saying: ‘Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me!’ seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!’ Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge. Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul, nor hope of everlasting life, except in the cross. Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 12: “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
The Cross is Everywhere―Take It, or Leave It!
“Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification. Go where you will, seek what you will, you will not find a higher way, nor a less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find the cross. Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills. For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily as the man whose lot it is to suffer the like himself. The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will — above, below, without, or within — you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 12: “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
“If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one. Do you expect to escape what no mortal man can ever avoid? Which of the saints was without a cross or trial on this earth? Not even Jesus Christ, our Lord, Whose every hour on earth knew the pain of His passion. “It behooveth Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, . . . and so enter into his glory.” How is it that you look for another way than this, the royal way of the holy cross? The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself? You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides. Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 12: “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
Growing to Love the Cross Like Simon of Cyrene
“Yet such a man, though afflicted in many ways, is not without hope of consolation, because he knows that great reward is coming to him for bearing his cross. And when he carries it willingly, every pang of tribulation is changed into hope of solace from God. Besides, the more the flesh is distressed by affliction, so much the more is the spirit strengthened by inward grace. Not infrequently a man is so strengthened by his love of trials and hardship in his desire to conform to the cross of Christ, that he does not wish to be without sorrow or pain, since he believes he will be the more acceptable to God if he is able to endure more and more grievous things for His sake. It is the grace of Christ, and not the virtue of man, which can and does bring it about that, through fervor of spirit, frail flesh learns to love and to accept what it naturally hates and shuns. To carry the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and bring it to subjection, to flee honors, to endure contempt gladly, to despise self and wish to be despised, to suffer any adversity and loss, to desire no prosperous days on earth — this is not man's way! If you rely upon yourself, you can do none of these things, but if you trust in the Lord, strength will be given you from Heaven and the world and the flesh will be made subject to your word. You will not even fear your enemy, the devil, if you are armed with Faith and signed with the cross of Christ. Set yourself, then, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear bravely the cross of your Lord, Who out of love was crucified for you. Be ready to suffer many adversities and many kinds of trouble in this miserable life, for troublesome and miserable life will always be, no matter where you are; and so you will find it wherever you may hide. Thus it must be; and there is no way to evade the trials and sorrows of life but to bear them” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 12: “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
The Bitter-Sweet Drink, Whose Taste Changes From Sickly to Sweet
“Drink the chalice of the Lord with affection it you wish to be His friend and to have part with Him. Leave consolation to God; let Him do as most pleases Him. On your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider them the greatest consolation, for even though you alone were to undergo them all, the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 12: “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross”).
How do you see and rate the above words? Do they half-fill your glass with happiness and leave you thirsting for more? Or do those words taste sour and sickly and half-empty your glass of happiness? Are you like the fickle followers of Jesus, who, when they heard Him talk about “eating His Flesh”, were shocked and scandalized― “The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: ‘How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat?’ … Many therefore of His disciples, hearing it, said: ‘This saying is hard, and who can hear it?’ But Jesus, knowing in Himself, that His disciples murmured at this, said to them: ‘Doth this scandalize you?’ … After this many of His disciples went back; and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the Twelve: ‘Will you also go away?’ And Simon Peter answered Him: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life!’” (John 6:53, 61-62, 67-69).
Cross Crossroads Choice
Let’s face it! Let’s be honest! Let us not be hypocrites! We do not like nor love the cross! We would happily do without it! The Way of the Cross is not our idea of the Way to Heaven! It is way too difficult and, we might even think, way too costly and unfair! We want to take a vehicle that would take us to Heaven, but we not want to climb aboard the cross! We want a “fun” ride to Heaven―and the cross promises no fun at all! We want to be happy and joyous during our trip to Heaven, but the cross is veritable killjoy! That pretty much ‘nails’ our thoughts about the cross and our attitude to the cross. When we see a cross on the street, coming our way, we cross over to the other side of the road. “Thanks, but no thanks!”
We cannot―just like the Jews, Greeks and Gentiles―get our heads around the cross! As St. Paul writes in Holy Scripture: “Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel―not in wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ should be made void. For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God. We preach Christ crucified―which, unto the Jews, is indeed a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles it is foolishness! But unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God!” (1 Corinthians 1:17-24). Judging by the constant levels of complaining about anything and everything that goes on in our lives and in the world, the cross is also to us a “stumbling-block” and “foolishness.” We just don’t “get it”! We merely see things naturally, but not supernaturally! “O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). We are no better than the Israelites whom God was forced to punish and slay by a forty-year death sentence of imprisonment in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. In our case, God is seeking to lead us away from the world and sin (Egypt) and we continually murmur and complain like the Israelites in the desert―because we do not like the way along which He is leading us (the way of the cross).
“And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Say therefore to them: “As I live,” saith the Lord: “According as you have spoken in My hearing, so will I do to you. In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against Me, shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up My hand to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun. But your children, of whom you said, that they should be a prey to the enemies, will I bring in: that they may see the land which you have despised. Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness. Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed in the desert!”’” (Number 14:26-33).
Ultimately, we are saying exactly what God rebukes the Israelites for saying in the Old Testament: “And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:29). “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). “Who hath been the Lord’s counselor and hath taught Him?” (Isaias 40:13). “For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor?” (Romans 11:34).
Carry Cheerfully or Chaff Complainingly
There is no escape from temptation and no escape from the cross! We can see the glass as being half-full or half-empty, but we cannot change what is in the glass and we must drink―regardless of how we see it, look upon it, or think about it. Our Lord has clearly stated that the cross can, should and would bring happiness if we would only reflect upon it and its need and purpose in our lives. We have all sinned and we all have to pay the price. “For all have sinned! … By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men … What fruit therefore had you then in those things, of which you are now ashamed? For the end of them is death! … The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 3:23; 5:12; 6:21-23). “When concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us!” (1 John 1:8).
Yes, “all have sinned” and all must die! Now, we all know that the soul, once created by God, will never die―so we speak of death metaphorically. However, we can either choose to “die” to God and live for the world and ourselves―and consequently ‘enjoy’ eternal pains as a reward in Hell. Or we can choose to “die” to the world and ourselves and live for God―and consequently enjoy eternal happiness as a reward in Heaven. “Die” we must―to which or what shall we “die”? To God, or to the world and ourselves? If we wish to follow Christ to the happy and eternal rewards of Heaven, then, as He Himself says, we must go through the pain of the cross to get to the joys of Heaven: “And Jesus said to ALL [not just some]: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). As St. Peter commands: “Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow His steps!” (1 Peter 2:21-22).
Few there are who study the road map to Heaven―which is the way of the cross. And even fewer are those who actually embark along that road after having studied it! Our Lord rose from the dead with His wounds still showing―to show us that the cross is not just necessary for a short while, but that even in joyful times (the resurrection from the dead) the cross is still a staple and a necessity. Penance and the cross is not just a Lenten thing―but a lifelong thing. Why? Because sin is not just committed during Lent, but all life long! Penances and crosses pay for those sins―all life long. If we do not want and cast-off the yolk of penance in this life, then we will find ourselves saddled with unimaginably greater penances, crosses and sufferings in either Purgatory or Hell.
Seek the Right Joys and Find True Happiness
Therefore, let us not be duped and fooled by the temporary, passing, diluted and imperfect ‘joys’ and ‘happiness’ of this world, but let us seek the eternal, lasting, undiluted and perfect joys of the next world. As Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also. No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
The history of the Israelites―covering thousands of years―show the same sad pattern. When things went well for them and they had things in abundance, then they fell away from God and began to be unfaithful―which led to God inflicting chastisements of one kind or another, to one degree or another. So much for finding ‘happiness’ in earthly things, huh? When they were punished and brought to their knees, they turned back to God, and, after a while, God blessed them again with abundance―and they again fell away from God because of the abundance of things and lack of crosses!
You can either choose to pursue worldly happiness now and then pay for them in Purgatory or Hell. Or you can forego the worldly happiness of this world in order to purchase the eternal happiness of Heaven. You cannot have both! Not even the devil can promise and deliver you both. He can guarantee worldly happiness galore, but he cannot guarantee eternal happiness―only eternal misery and pain. If you want Heaven, then you cannot have a paradise on Earth and expect to also have the Paradise of Heaven. The words of Our Lord to the rich young man are clear:
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’”
“Then Peter answering, began to say unto Him: ‘Behold we have left all things, and have followed Thee! What therefore shall we have?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of His majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel! And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and, in the world to come, shall possess life everlasting!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Words That Lead to Eternal Happiness
Those words above are the words of Christ―the words of God Himself. Let’s face it―there are very few persons who are really “in love with” the Faith. For most souls, the Faith is pain―in one or more areas. If it was their choice, they would change the Faith considerably and “update it”, making it more “user friendly” and “easy to use”. The Faith―as handed-down by Christ, the Apostles and the Popes from the time of St. Peter onwards, is seen as being as archaic, cumbersome and impractical as a typewriter of old compared to the computers of today!
Yet some things cannot and will not change! God―for one―does not change: “I am the Lord, and I change not!” (Malachias 3:6) … “the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17). “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that He should be changed” (Numbers 23:19). “Remember your prelates who have spoken the word of God to you; whose faith follow, considering … Jesus Christ―yesterday and today―is the same for ever! Be not led away with various and strange doctrines!” (Hebrews 13:8-9).
“Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For amen I say unto you, till Heaven and Earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled! … Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven―but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity! Everyone, therefore, that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock! And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not―for it was founded on a rock! And everyone that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand―and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 5:17-18; 7:21-27).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Wednesday May 1st & Thursday May 2nd
Article 7
Smart Technology Outsmarts the Faith!
Article 7
Smart Technology Outsmarts the Faith!
Are You Smarter Than the World? Or is the World Smarter Than You?
You either win or lose! You control or you are controlled! You are either getting holier or worldlier! You are either closer than ever to Heaven, or closer than ever to Hell! As the spiritual masters say, there is no standing still or ‘treading-water’ in the spiritual―you are either successfully swimming against the current and tide of the world, or the tide or current of the world is successfully carrying you downstream. In most cases, the world (and its prince, the devil) wins―“The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8).
Our Lord Does Not Love the World, But Wants to Save Us From This World
Our Lord has clearly stated that He is not of this world and that He is opposed to this world, even though He has come to try and save souls from this world. The world is not a friend of God, but an enemy. If we love this world; if we are friendly with this world; if we live according to the ways of this world―then we are enemies of God! Yet on this very point, most Catholics have been duped and conned by the world, and made to believe that you can love the world and love God. Holy Scripture unmistakably tells us the very opposite of that false notion: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). However, the Son of God clearly says: “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and I go to the Father!” John 16:28). “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). “I am come a light into the world; that whosoever believeth in Me, may not remain in darkness!” (John 12:46). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” John 7:7). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hatedMe before you” (John 15:18). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). To those who love the world, Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23).
You Cannot Pretend to Love God and Love the World
There are no and can be no neutrals, no spectators, no fence-sitters, no no-voters, no abstentions, no exemptions―as Our Lord says: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word of God, and it is made fruitless!” (Mark 4:19). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “He that is not with me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me! And he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me! He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it!” (Matthew 10:32-29).
Same Old Words! Same Old Story!
The reaction and response of many will be: “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I know all this! If I’ve heard it once―I’ve heard it a thousand times! That is all I ever hear! I’m sick and tired of hearing it! Do you have nothing better to say?” The answer to that is quite simple and quite brutal. When a person is sick or dying, you do not tell them they are healthy. As regards the terrible state of the world today, can you point out where Our Lady, in modern times, has appeared laughing, joking and telling us how wonderful we all are? You cannot point to such a thing, because Our Lady has not done that! Instead, that lovable Mother of God, that Mother of Mercy, that Mother of Compassion, that Refuge of Sinners has given us the same old story―time and time again. Go tell her you’ve had enough because you’ve heard it enough time and you are sick and tired of her morose, depressive, negative, doom and gloom repetitiousness! Her answer will no doubt be more of the same:
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! And all of you think little of this! I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals …
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!” etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc..
Our Lady could just as well say to us what Our Lord said to the Jews―especially the Scribes and Pharisees: “Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father thereof! But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:43-47). And our reaction is just like that of the Jews: “They took up stones, therefore, to cast at Him” (John 8:59).
Catholics No Longer Want to Hear the Truth
The responses of Catholics is stop-up their ears, tightly shut their eyes and sing “La! La! La! La! La!” as loud as possible until Our Lady has gone way again. They do not want to hear the truth―they want something more palatable than the unpalatable truth. They want a sugar-coated lie. This is exactly what Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed, though not quite in the same words, to Fr. Fuentes in 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
It’s All About Words, Truth and Lies
Our Lord, Who is the “Word of God” says that of Himself: “I am the Way and the Truth!” (John 14:6). In the opening chapter of St. John’s Gospel, we are told that Our Lord is the “Word of God” Who “was made flesh and dwelt amongst us” and that this “Word of God” was “was the light of men … the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world … The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it ... He was in the world, and the world knew him not … He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” As Jesus Himself said, two chapters later: “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil! For every one that doth evil, hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved” (John 3:19-20).
In other words, the sinner or the lukewarm person does not want to hear the truth, but seeks out someone who will give him a lie clothed in the garments of truth. Like the Jews with regard to what Jesus was teaching them, sinners and lukewarm persons say, like “many of His disciples, hearing it: ‘This saying is hard! And who can hear it?’” (John 6:61). They do not want to hear the “hard truth”, but prefer to be told the “easy lie”. They do want to be told that “narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:14), but look for a teacher or preacher who will twist the truth, change a few words, and tell them that “broad is the way that leadeth to (remove "destruction" and insert "salvation"), and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13). They seek someone who will change Our Lord’s words from “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21) into the exact opposite: “Everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” It is thus that we have arrived at a point where most priests and laity imagine that most souls are saved, as opposed to the traditional teaching that most souls are lost.
That is why Holy Scripture warns us ahead of time that “For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). There will come a time―and it is already here―when people will “put darkness for light, and light for darkness; and put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaias 5:20). Today, the darkness of sin is seen in a new light―they say it is an enlightened mind and an enlightened age that can see the benefits, correctness and fairness is allowing abortion, contraception, homosexuality, adultery, fornication, divorce and remarriage, etc. Whereas the light of God’s word is seen as coming from and leading back to the so-called awful, disgusting, repressive “Dark Ages” of Christianity and Church. To hate sin is a hate crime against humanity and the “Rights of Man”―with no regard at all for the Rights of God, nor the hatred of God. “They will not set their thoughts to return to their God―for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord” (Osee 5:4). Hence Our Lord predicted that in our days, “the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God!” (John 16:2).
How Do You Fool or Outsmart a Catholic?
How do you fool or outsmart a Catholic? Simple! Go back to the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and see how the devil fooled and outsmarted Adam and Eve! You question the truth and call it a lie. Then you tell them a lie and call it the truth! Simple as that! This has been the chief method and weapon used by the devil and his princedom (the world) from the very beginning. It is all about words! Cast doubt on the words of God and then create faith in the lies that replace God’s word.
This is exactly the ploy craftily followed by the devil in his conversation with Eve. It all starts with WORDS!
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat and that we should not touch it―lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that, in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold―and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened” (Genesis 3:1-7).
The devil and the world succeed in outsmarting Catholics in exactly the same way―it all begins with WORDS!
Pope Speaks Clearly
Here are the words of Pope Pius VI (1717-1799), on the subject of innovations in the Church―words which, in retrospect, were incredibly timely warnings of what was to come over the next 200 to 225 years. In his encyclical, Auctorem Fidei, of August 28th, 1794, Pope Pius VI warned:
“[The Ancient Doctors of the Church] knew the capacity of innovators in the art of deception. In order not to shock the ears of Catholics, they sought to hide the subtleties of their tortuous maneuvers by the use of seemingly innocuous words such as would allow them to insinuate error into souls in the most gentle manner. Once the truth had been compromised, they could, by means of slight changes or additions in phraseology, distort the confession of the Faith which is necessary for our salvation, and lead the faithful by subtle errors to their eternal damnation. This manner of dissimulation and lying is vicious, regardless of the circumstance under which it is used. Whenever it becomes necessary to expose statements which disguise some suspected error or danger under the veil of ambiguity, one must denounce the perverse meaning under which the error opposed to Catholic truth is camouflaged.”
From One Pius to Another Pius
Pope St. Pius X―known for his battles with Modernists and Modernism―wrote: “In their books one finds some things which might well be approved by a Catholic, but on turning over the page one is confronted by other things which might well have been dictated by a rationalist. When they write history they make no mention of the divinity of Christ, but when they are in the pulpit they profess it clearly! Again, when they are dealing with history they take no account of the Fathers and the Councils, but when they catechize the people, they cite them respectfully!” (Pope St. Pius X, encyclical Pascendi).
Modernists have a great distaste for clarity and so they often make use of orthodox Catholic terminology in a “foggy” way, in an ambiguous way, in order to open the doors to a possible or potential distortion of the truth of things and to plant their seeds of deception, which, when they sprout, have even deceived the greatest of intellectuals and the most devout of Catholics. Do not think that Modernists are totally modern and totally heretical! Much of what they say and write often appears as being perfectly sound, but with much ambiguity, lack of preciseness and lack of convincing clarity. A statement like “Our Faith is based upon the Resurrection of Jesus Christ” could mean His physical (Historical) Resurrection as the Church teaches, or simply a symbolic story which was invented by the first Christians to promote Faith in Christ, Who rose from the dead only in the mind of His believers.
Hence, today, for some persons the Holy Mass is the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, for others it is merely a memorial of His death, for others it is merely a commemorative meal recalling the Last Supper, for others it is a community meal. The Holy Eucharist is ambiguously referred to and imprecisely taught, so that one person can decipher it as being the Real Presence of Christ with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, whereas another person will interpret it as being a mere spiritual presence, while another looks upon it as a commemorative thing, a symbolic thing. All of this is caused by an impreciseness, an ambiguity, a vagueness, a lack of clarity in the words chosen for teaching the truths of the Faith.
The Metamorphosis of Maritain
“Huh? Metamorphosis? Maritain? Do you mean ‘Martian’?” Okay―one thing at a time! Metamorphosis is defined as “a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means; a complete or marked change in appearance, character, or condition; a complete or marked change of physical form, structure, or substance, such as the overnight metamorphosis of the pond water into ice.” Our Catholic Faith has undergone a “metamorphosis” from being a Traditional Catholic Faith into what is now a Modernist Catholic Faith. Just as in liquid water becoming solid ice―where the substance or nature of H20 (water) remains but the form or condition or quality has changed from liquid to solid―so too we have the same living breathing walking talking Catholics, but their beliefs and attitudes and morals are no longer what they once were. They have undergone a metamorphosis from being Catholics in line with the Church’s age-old traditions, to now being Catholics in line with the world’s customs and traditions of the present age.
“Okay, but who or what the heck is this ‘Maritain’ or ‘Martian’ thing or guy?” If you are into sports stars, movie stars, pop stars and so on, then you will be bored to tears to find out that Jacques Maritain (1882-1973) was a French Catholic philosopher, who was raised a Protestant, he was agnostic (somebody who believes that it is impossible to know whether or not God exists) before converting to Catholicism in 1906. He soon became a rising star in the field of Catholic traditional Catholic philosophy, writing more than 60 books; he helped to revive the study of St. Thomas Aquinas for modern times and, like most Catholics at the time, he had little love for the modern world. In 1922, in one of his books, entitled Antimoderne, Maritain attacked Liberalism, Americanism, and Modernism. He attributed these errors to the beliefs and work of “three reformers”—Martin Luther, René Descartes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau—whose work had weakened and destroyed much of the foundations of medieval Christian thought. For Maritain, the Church became modern when it renounced the goal of establishing Catholicism as the official state religion and embraced the principles of Church–state separation, religious freedom, and human rights, the seeds of which were increasingly sown in the aftermath of the infamous French Revolution of 1789.
By the 1940s, however, Maritain was singing a very different tune―which a warning and a lesson to us all, of far lesser intelligence and training than that possessed by Maritain. As they say: “There but for the grace of God go I!” Or as Holy Scripture warns: “Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Rather than trying to turn back the tide of history and “re-instate” Catholicism, Maritain now believed that Catholics had to adapt to the political changes that modernity had inaugurated. He no longer argued for re-instatement of the marriage between Church and State, but stated that the Church could no longer intervene directly in political affairs, as it had in the Middle Ages. It had to leave such work to lay Catholics and acknowledge that politics now took place in an autonomous sphere, independent of Church intervention, advice and control—one that was religiously plural, or divorced, rather than homogeneous or married. In 1942, while living in exile in America, Maritain expanded on these ideas to develop a highly-influential defense of democracy and human rights based upon the Catholic natural law tradition. By 1948 he was working on the project to draft the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As a result of these efforts, the once traditional Catholic author of Antimoderne is now largely known as a pioneer of the modern Catholic metamorphosis to modern values such as democracy, human rights, pluralism, interreligious dialogue, and anti-racism. Little by little one goes far! Far off-track! Maritain’s story is in many ways representative of what has happened to most Catholics in the 20th and 21st-centuries. Like the waters of the ocean eroding the shores of the land, Modernism has been gradually eroding the traditions of the Church and the Faith of Catholics for well over 200 years. The metamorphosis has been so gradual, most people do not even realize what has happened!
By the time of the Second Vatican Council in 1960s, the Church had fallen into the trap of feeling that it needed to “update” its teaching and embrace modern principles such as religious freedom, interreligious dialogue, and human rights. What accounts for this remarkable about-face? How did Catholics come, not just to grudgingly accept modernity, but to positively embrace it? And how did this change the way they understood the relationship between Faith and politics, Church and state?
You can look at all this from two perspectives: one perspective being that of the glass being half-empty, the other perspective is that of seeing the glass as being half-full. The chief reason is that we have been “outsmarted” by a smarter world, or, from the other perspective, you could say that we have “outdumbed” ourselves. Or, mixing the two together, you could say we are so dumb that we have let ourselves be conned by a dumb world― “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
You either win or lose! You control or you are controlled! You are either getting holier or worldlier! You are either closer than ever to Heaven, or closer than ever to Hell! As the spiritual masters say, there is no standing still or ‘treading-water’ in the spiritual―you are either successfully swimming against the current and tide of the world, or the tide or current of the world is successfully carrying you downstream. In most cases, the world (and its prince, the devil) wins―“The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8).
Our Lord Does Not Love the World, But Wants to Save Us From This World
Our Lord has clearly stated that He is not of this world and that He is opposed to this world, even though He has come to try and save souls from this world. The world is not a friend of God, but an enemy. If we love this world; if we are friendly with this world; if we live according to the ways of this world―then we are enemies of God! Yet on this very point, most Catholics have been duped and conned by the world, and made to believe that you can love the world and love God. Holy Scripture unmistakably tells us the very opposite of that false notion: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). However, the Son of God clearly says: “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and I go to the Father!” John 16:28). “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). “I am come a light into the world; that whosoever believeth in Me, may not remain in darkness!” (John 12:46). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” John 7:7). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hatedMe before you” (John 15:18). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). To those who love the world, Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23).
You Cannot Pretend to Love God and Love the World
There are no and can be no neutrals, no spectators, no fence-sitters, no no-voters, no abstentions, no exemptions―as Our Lord says: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … but lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word of God, and it is made fruitless!” (Mark 4:19). “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “He that is not with me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me! And he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me! And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me! He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it!” (Matthew 10:32-29).
Same Old Words! Same Old Story!
The reaction and response of many will be: “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I know all this! If I’ve heard it once―I’ve heard it a thousand times! That is all I ever hear! I’m sick and tired of hearing it! Do you have nothing better to say?” The answer to that is quite simple and quite brutal. When a person is sick or dying, you do not tell them they are healthy. As regards the terrible state of the world today, can you point out where Our Lady, in modern times, has appeared laughing, joking and telling us how wonderful we all are? You cannot point to such a thing, because Our Lady has not done that! Instead, that lovable Mother of God, that Mother of Mercy, that Mother of Compassion, that Refuge of Sinners has given us the same old story―time and time again. Go tell her you’ve had enough because you’ve heard it enough time and you are sick and tired of her morose, depressive, negative, doom and gloom repetitiousness! Her answer will no doubt be more of the same:
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! And all of you think little of this! I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals …
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!” etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc..
Our Lady could just as well say to us what Our Lord said to the Jews―especially the Scribes and Pharisees: “Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My word! You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own―for he is a liar, and the father thereof! But if I say the truth, you believe Me not! If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!” (John 8:43-47). And our reaction is just like that of the Jews: “They took up stones, therefore, to cast at Him” (John 8:59).
Catholics No Longer Want to Hear the Truth
The responses of Catholics is stop-up their ears, tightly shut their eyes and sing “La! La! La! La! La!” as loud as possible until Our Lady has gone way again. They do not want to hear the truth―they want something more palatable than the unpalatable truth. They want a sugar-coated lie. This is exactly what Sr. Lucia of Fatima revealed, though not quite in the same words, to Fr. Fuentes in 1957: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying mind to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
It’s All About Words, Truth and Lies
Our Lord, Who is the “Word of God” says that of Himself: “I am the Way and the Truth!” (John 14:6). In the opening chapter of St. John’s Gospel, we are told that Our Lord is the “Word of God” Who “was made flesh and dwelt amongst us” and that this “Word of God” was “was the light of men … the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world … The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it ... He was in the world, and the world knew him not … He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” As Jesus Himself said, two chapters later: “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil! For every one that doth evil, hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved” (John 3:19-20).
In other words, the sinner or the lukewarm person does not want to hear the truth, but seeks out someone who will give him a lie clothed in the garments of truth. Like the Jews with regard to what Jesus was teaching them, sinners and lukewarm persons say, like “many of His disciples, hearing it: ‘This saying is hard! And who can hear it?’” (John 6:61). They do not want to hear the “hard truth”, but prefer to be told the “easy lie”. They do want to be told that “narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:14), but look for a teacher or preacher who will twist the truth, change a few words, and tell them that “broad is the way that leadeth to (remove "destruction" and insert "salvation"), and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13). They seek someone who will change Our Lord’s words from “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:21) into the exact opposite: “Everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” It is thus that we have arrived at a point where most priests and laity imagine that most souls are saved, as opposed to the traditional teaching that most souls are lost.
That is why Holy Scripture warns us ahead of time that “For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). There will come a time―and it is already here―when people will “put darkness for light, and light for darkness; and put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaias 5:20). Today, the darkness of sin is seen in a new light―they say it is an enlightened mind and an enlightened age that can see the benefits, correctness and fairness is allowing abortion, contraception, homosexuality, adultery, fornication, divorce and remarriage, etc. Whereas the light of God’s word is seen as coming from and leading back to the so-called awful, disgusting, repressive “Dark Ages” of Christianity and Church. To hate sin is a hate crime against humanity and the “Rights of Man”―with no regard at all for the Rights of God, nor the hatred of God. “They will not set their thoughts to return to their God―for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord” (Osee 5:4). Hence Our Lord predicted that in our days, “the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God!” (John 16:2).
How Do You Fool or Outsmart a Catholic?
How do you fool or outsmart a Catholic? Simple! Go back to the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and see how the devil fooled and outsmarted Adam and Eve! You question the truth and call it a lie. Then you tell them a lie and call it the truth! Simple as that! This has been the chief method and weapon used by the devil and his princedom (the world) from the very beginning. It is all about words! Cast doubt on the words of God and then create faith in the lies that replace God’s word.
This is exactly the ploy craftily followed by the devil in his conversation with Eve. It all starts with WORDS!
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat and that we should not touch it―lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No, you shall not die the death! For God doth know that, in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold―and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened” (Genesis 3:1-7).
The devil and the world succeed in outsmarting Catholics in exactly the same way―it all begins with WORDS!
Pope Speaks Clearly
Here are the words of Pope Pius VI (1717-1799), on the subject of innovations in the Church―words which, in retrospect, were incredibly timely warnings of what was to come over the next 200 to 225 years. In his encyclical, Auctorem Fidei, of August 28th, 1794, Pope Pius VI warned:
“[The Ancient Doctors of the Church] knew the capacity of innovators in the art of deception. In order not to shock the ears of Catholics, they sought to hide the subtleties of their tortuous maneuvers by the use of seemingly innocuous words such as would allow them to insinuate error into souls in the most gentle manner. Once the truth had been compromised, they could, by means of slight changes or additions in phraseology, distort the confession of the Faith which is necessary for our salvation, and lead the faithful by subtle errors to their eternal damnation. This manner of dissimulation and lying is vicious, regardless of the circumstance under which it is used. Whenever it becomes necessary to expose statements which disguise some suspected error or danger under the veil of ambiguity, one must denounce the perverse meaning under which the error opposed to Catholic truth is camouflaged.”
From One Pius to Another Pius
Pope St. Pius X―known for his battles with Modernists and Modernism―wrote: “In their books one finds some things which might well be approved by a Catholic, but on turning over the page one is confronted by other things which might well have been dictated by a rationalist. When they write history they make no mention of the divinity of Christ, but when they are in the pulpit they profess it clearly! Again, when they are dealing with history they take no account of the Fathers and the Councils, but when they catechize the people, they cite them respectfully!” (Pope St. Pius X, encyclical Pascendi).
Modernists have a great distaste for clarity and so they often make use of orthodox Catholic terminology in a “foggy” way, in an ambiguous way, in order to open the doors to a possible or potential distortion of the truth of things and to plant their seeds of deception, which, when they sprout, have even deceived the greatest of intellectuals and the most devout of Catholics. Do not think that Modernists are totally modern and totally heretical! Much of what they say and write often appears as being perfectly sound, but with much ambiguity, lack of preciseness and lack of convincing clarity. A statement like “Our Faith is based upon the Resurrection of Jesus Christ” could mean His physical (Historical) Resurrection as the Church teaches, or simply a symbolic story which was invented by the first Christians to promote Faith in Christ, Who rose from the dead only in the mind of His believers.
Hence, today, for some persons the Holy Mass is the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, for others it is merely a memorial of His death, for others it is merely a commemorative meal recalling the Last Supper, for others it is a community meal. The Holy Eucharist is ambiguously referred to and imprecisely taught, so that one person can decipher it as being the Real Presence of Christ with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, whereas another person will interpret it as being a mere spiritual presence, while another looks upon it as a commemorative thing, a symbolic thing. All of this is caused by an impreciseness, an ambiguity, a vagueness, a lack of clarity in the words chosen for teaching the truths of the Faith.
The Metamorphosis of Maritain
“Huh? Metamorphosis? Maritain? Do you mean ‘Martian’?” Okay―one thing at a time! Metamorphosis is defined as “a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means; a complete or marked change in appearance, character, or condition; a complete or marked change of physical form, structure, or substance, such as the overnight metamorphosis of the pond water into ice.” Our Catholic Faith has undergone a “metamorphosis” from being a Traditional Catholic Faith into what is now a Modernist Catholic Faith. Just as in liquid water becoming solid ice―where the substance or nature of H20 (water) remains but the form or condition or quality has changed from liquid to solid―so too we have the same living breathing walking talking Catholics, but their beliefs and attitudes and morals are no longer what they once were. They have undergone a metamorphosis from being Catholics in line with the Church’s age-old traditions, to now being Catholics in line with the world’s customs and traditions of the present age.
“Okay, but who or what the heck is this ‘Maritain’ or ‘Martian’ thing or guy?” If you are into sports stars, movie stars, pop stars and so on, then you will be bored to tears to find out that Jacques Maritain (1882-1973) was a French Catholic philosopher, who was raised a Protestant, he was agnostic (somebody who believes that it is impossible to know whether or not God exists) before converting to Catholicism in 1906. He soon became a rising star in the field of Catholic traditional Catholic philosophy, writing more than 60 books; he helped to revive the study of St. Thomas Aquinas for modern times and, like most Catholics at the time, he had little love for the modern world. In 1922, in one of his books, entitled Antimoderne, Maritain attacked Liberalism, Americanism, and Modernism. He attributed these errors to the beliefs and work of “three reformers”—Martin Luther, René Descartes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau—whose work had weakened and destroyed much of the foundations of medieval Christian thought. For Maritain, the Church became modern when it renounced the goal of establishing Catholicism as the official state religion and embraced the principles of Church–state separation, religious freedom, and human rights, the seeds of which were increasingly sown in the aftermath of the infamous French Revolution of 1789.
By the 1940s, however, Maritain was singing a very different tune―which a warning and a lesson to us all, of far lesser intelligence and training than that possessed by Maritain. As they say: “There but for the grace of God go I!” Or as Holy Scripture warns: “Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Rather than trying to turn back the tide of history and “re-instate” Catholicism, Maritain now believed that Catholics had to adapt to the political changes that modernity had inaugurated. He no longer argued for re-instatement of the marriage between Church and State, but stated that the Church could no longer intervene directly in political affairs, as it had in the Middle Ages. It had to leave such work to lay Catholics and acknowledge that politics now took place in an autonomous sphere, independent of Church intervention, advice and control—one that was religiously plural, or divorced, rather than homogeneous or married. In 1942, while living in exile in America, Maritain expanded on these ideas to develop a highly-influential defense of democracy and human rights based upon the Catholic natural law tradition. By 1948 he was working on the project to draft the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As a result of these efforts, the once traditional Catholic author of Antimoderne is now largely known as a pioneer of the modern Catholic metamorphosis to modern values such as democracy, human rights, pluralism, interreligious dialogue, and anti-racism. Little by little one goes far! Far off-track! Maritain’s story is in many ways representative of what has happened to most Catholics in the 20th and 21st-centuries. Like the waters of the ocean eroding the shores of the land, Modernism has been gradually eroding the traditions of the Church and the Faith of Catholics for well over 200 years. The metamorphosis has been so gradual, most people do not even realize what has happened!
By the time of the Second Vatican Council in 1960s, the Church had fallen into the trap of feeling that it needed to “update” its teaching and embrace modern principles such as religious freedom, interreligious dialogue, and human rights. What accounts for this remarkable about-face? How did Catholics come, not just to grudgingly accept modernity, but to positively embrace it? And how did this change the way they understood the relationship between Faith and politics, Church and state?
You can look at all this from two perspectives: one perspective being that of the glass being half-empty, the other perspective is that of seeing the glass as being half-full. The chief reason is that we have been “outsmarted” by a smarter world, or, from the other perspective, you could say that we have “outdumbed” ourselves. Or, mixing the two together, you could say we are so dumb that we have let ourselves be conned by a dumb world― “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE Monday, April 29th & Tuesday April 30th
Article 6
A Grave Need for True Shepherds! A Grave Shortage of True Shepherds!
Article 6
A Grave Need for True Shepherds! A Grave Shortage of True Shepherds!
Today’s Crisis is Essentially a Leadership Crisis
Say or think what you will―it is incontestable that today’s present crisis in the Church, and, as a consequence, in the world also, is largely down to a crisis or failure in leadership. Not just leadership from the popes, but all the way down through the ranks―cardinals, bishops, priest, religious―to the very grass roots of parishes, schools and families. In every department―for the most part―the quality, zeal and application of leadership is pitifully woeful and negligent. To all levels―church, school and family―the condemning words of Holy Scripture can be applied: “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant―dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10). Those words are especially true for our present day and age.
The only difference is that today it is all the more easy not to bark, to see vain things, to sleep and love dreams―thanks to the advent of modern technology, which has drained the spiritual energy of so many souls and contributed to their damnation. Instead of “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice” (Luke 12:31), we seek first that latest news, gossip, posts, texts and messages on the internet, social media, e-mail, or channels. We are so addicted and glued to our smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, i-pods, mp3s and mp4s, smartwatches, etc. that we spend almost all day long in a ‘technological dream’―all of which makes us, as Scripture says, spiritually “blind … ignorant … and dumb.” Some people communicate with the electronic ‘personal assistant’ of their choice and preference―Alexa, Siri, Cortana, Bixby, Dragon, DataBot, Goodgle Assistant, Dragon, Me24, Hound, Lyra, Alice, etc. ― more than they communicate with God in prayer!
A recent BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) article―entitled “Why Plant Blindness Matters And What You Can Do About It”―pointed out that a phenomenon called “plant blindness” means tend to be blind to the plants that grown around us and under-appreciate them, with potential disastrous consequences, not only for the environment, but human health. The term “plant blindness” was coined by Elisabeth Schussler and James Wandersee, a pair of US botanists and biology educators in 1998. They described it as “the inability to see or notice the plants in one’s own environment”. We could say the same for the supernatural or the spiritual, in that there is a gross “spiritual blindness” in many people, who fail to see and recognize the supernatural ways of God working spiritually in their soul and their environment. The BBC article laments that time spent with electronic devices―such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. ― means that like ADD (attention deficit disorder), NDD (“nature deficit disorder”―the harm caused to humans by being alienated from nature) is also on the rise. You could also say that SDD (spiritual deficit disorder) is also on the rise for the same reasons―too much time given to electronic devices. The BBC article stated that with less exposure to plants, the logical consequence is “plant blindness.” As Schussler explained, “humans can only recognize (visually) what they already know.” Similarly, if they know little about the supernatural and spiritual, they will fail to recognize its workings and growth, or lack of growth and wilting-away, in the their lives and the lives of their family, relatives, friends and work colleagues―for they have become too natural and materialistic, which makes them less supernatural and spiritual. If all they know is the electronic, then they play into the hands of the demonic. Scripture says: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), while the world and its prince say: “Stay online without ceasing!”
“Sheeple” Shepherded by Artificial Shepherds
It has almost come to the point where we have become the sheep who are shepherded by the electronic world―even more so since the fairly recent advent of the so-called “Artificial Intelligence” or “AI” that is being advertized and lauded everywhere. Soon our already “Artificial Lives” will be mainly under the control of “Artificial Intelligence” on whom most of the “dumbed-down” world will rely upon for its knowledge and intelligence, with their own intellectual muscles in a state of atrophy through persistent disuse or misuse―preferring to enjoy pleasures rather than exercise the mind. Then we shall truly become weak and meek “sheeple” guided by “Artificial Shepherds.”
Dumb Sheep Who Know Not the True Shepherd
Gradually, incrementally, increasingly, imperceptibly and indifferently, Catholics have been weaned-off their True Shepherd and have become scattered and attached to one of many false shepherds―“scattered upon the hills, like sheep that have no shepherd” (3 Kings 22:17). Today’s shepherds―clergy, teachers, parents―no longer “teach and correct as a shepherd does his flock” (Ecclesiasticus 18:13). For “as the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44)―from which we get the expression “like father, like son”―so too we can say, “as the shepherd is, so shall the sheep be!” Our shepherds today are not the shepherds of Christ, but shepherds of the world (and the prince of the world, the devil). However, to avoid the shock factor of thinking we are being shepherded by the devil―the devil uses the tools of the world and its technology to achieve his purposes and to make us do his bidding. Being brainwashed by the world is the same as being brainwashed by the devil―for he is undoubtedly, as Our Lord say, the prince and ruler of this world. He is the shepherd of this world and the worldly are his sheep―and we are slowly being drawn into his flock and fold through modern technology, modern maxims and slogans, modern principles and attitudes, modern fashions and customs. What Our Lord said of some of the Jews, He could well say to most Catholics today: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do!” (John 8:44).
It is blatantly clear and obvious that most of the world does not want Christ to reign over them or to shepherd them―we see this in the world’s rejection of God’s laws and the world’s substitution of God’s law with the sinful ‘laws’ of man. “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ” (Psalm 2:2) … “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and His Christ” (Acts 4:26). The command not to kill is now replaced with the right to abort babies and practice euthanasia. The unity of marriage is now replaced by the freedom to divorce. Love of sin was said to be a hatred of God―whereas today, a hatred of sin is said to be a hate crime against human freedom. Years ago, adulterers were imprisoned, nowadays the condemnation of adultery is deemed worthy of punishment based on discrimination. Satanism was once outlawed, today it is increasingly given equal rights with Christianity and allowed to publicly open and conduct worship in temples dedicated to Satan. Thus the shepherding of Satan becomes more and more effective―more and more blatant―and the world becomes more and more indifferent to it.
Satanic Shepherds
Nowadays, Satan has not only infiltrated politics and the business world, but―as Our Lady warned and Pope Paul VI admitted and Fr. Gabriele Amorth confirmed―Satan has also infiltrated the Church and consequently, gradually, imperceptibly, directly or indirectly, he has also infiltrated the Church, its clergy, its laity, its dioceses, parishes and schools. The seeds of Satan have been planted everywhere, even if they have not everywhere come to fruition. As Our Lady of Akita said in 1973: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops!” ― which Pope Paul VI admitted: “From some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God” (June 29th, 1972). A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977). When Rome’s lately deceased (2016) chief exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth was asked: “Is it really true that Paul VI said: that ‘the smoke of Satan” entered the church?’” Fr. Gabriele Amorth replied: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences.” (Taken from Fr. Amorth’s Memoirs).
You could take that comment of Pope Paul VI, about the smoke of Satan entering the Church, and apply it to families, in the sense of the smoke of Satan entering the home through the television and internet. St. Padre Pio was reported to have said when he got his first look at the television: “The devil will be in the living room!” St. Padre Pio refused to watch television in the Sixties before he died in 1968, even though the religious orders had relaxed rules and permitted television watching on occasions―when his fellow friars tried to get him to watch television, he would vehemently resist saying: “The devil is in there!” What would he say of our modern technology today? Would we brand him as being “insane”, “crazy”, a “madman”? St. Padre Pio was most certainly disturbed and disgusted by the television. He realized it would destroy family life and told everyone not to buy one. Regarding cinema or “sin-ema” he always gave the same answer: “The devil is in it!” The American Saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821), had a vision which she could not understand in the middle 1800s: “Every American will have a black box in their home and the devil would enter.” Television was invented in 1928, almost 100 years before she made this prophetic statement which she did not fully understand.
Likening Exotic Animal Pets to Exotic Technological Pets
People love pets. You could say that the most popular pet today is a technological pet―the smartphone and its cousins, the tablet, the laptop, etc. Just as exotic pets are by their nature dangerous, so too are exotic technological pets dangerous. Exotic animals — lions, tigers, wolves, bears, reptiles, non-human primates — belong in their natural habitats and not in the hands of private individuals as “pets.” By their very nature, these animals are wild and potentially dangerous and, as such, do not adjust well to a captive environment. Every year, a variety of sources provides millions of animals to the exotic pet trade. Animals are captured from their native habitats and transported to various countries to be sold as pets. Others are surplus animals from zoos or their offspring. Backyard breeders also supply exotic animals. It is absurdly easy to obtain an exotic pet. More than 1,000 Internet sites offer to sell, give care advice, and provide chat rooms where buyers and sellers can haggle over a price.
Snakes are the most common “pet” reptiles. Snakes may be deadly, but people continue to be drawn to them — about 3% of U.S. households possess 7.3 million pet reptiles. Ironically, most domesticated snakes who have caused harm, are results of improper care. Snakes are not meant to be kept in captivity, even if they do tend to live longer than those in the wild. The most common snakes that are kept as pets are the corn snake and the ball python. Most reptile specialists would recommend them for beginners as they are generally docile, but like all snakes, venomous or not, they will turn on their owners at some point. Venomous snakes could kill you with a single bite, anti-venoms are a rare commodity for hospitals and there is most likely no anti-venom close enough to help you. Some cobras can also cause immense pain and blindness just by spitting their venom into your eyes.
Because the majority of states do not keep accurate records of exotic animals entering their state, it is impossible to determine exactly how many exotic animals are privately held as pets, but the number is estimated to be quite high. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that for every lion and tiger in a zoo, there are as many as 10 privately owned. An estimated 5,000 tigers alone are held by private individuals. The USDA estimates somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 wolf dogs being kept as domestic pets in the U.S. The most common hybrid is gray wolves crossed with Alaskan Malamutes, German Shepherds, or Siberian Huskies. Tim Harrison, has seen some pretty crazy things as a Public Safety Officer for the City of Oakwood, California, so trust him when he says that privately-owned alligators are one of the most common animal on human (and dog) attacks he’s dealt with during his career. This is probably the biggest shock, but it is legal to own a tiger. While keeping a lion is slightly more difficult, tigers are termed as exotic, so one can own one in many states. You wouldn’t think it necessary to say how dangerous it can be to keep a 700lb big cat!
It might help if we see our technological ‘pets’ in the same light as we see exotic animal pets. Like a venomous snake, looking longingly at just one immodest picture, reading just one internet or social media post that is calumnious (lies) or detraction (revealing the secret sins of others), can inject a fatal ‘venom’ into your soul and make you lose the grace of God. Yet we expose ourselves to countless such and similar things each day in the ‘exotic animal cages’ that we hold in our hands or on our laps. Furthermore, just as the exotic animal pet radically changes the normal lifestyle of the family and unnecessarily occupies hour upon hour of attention or care―so too have the ‘exotic animal cages’ (smartphone, tablet, laptop, TV, etc.) changed what was once a normal family life of interaction into a life of seclusion with one’s own preferred ‘exotic technological pet’. Research and surveys show that the average person spends around 4 to 5 hours a day with their preferred ‘exotic technological pet’ and that TV takes up on average an additional 25 to 35 hours a week―depending on the person’s age, gender, etc. Older people watch more (less than 50 hours per week), younger people less (more than 20 hours per week), both groups showing a seasonal pattern that peaks in the winter months.
Brainwashed and Programmed by Modern Technology
Already back in the prehistoric, cave-man times of technology―in 1999 (the internet, in case you did not know, or forgot, was introduced as a worldwide service for the everyday person in the year 1991)―an article appeared on the brainwashing, mind-deadening, brain-frying effects that modern technology was having upon the person using it. The author paints a picture that seems so normal to most of us:
“In the course of conceiving this paragraph, I checked my e-mail three times and fired off four responses. I took a phone call, visited a few Web sites ― simultaneously, I might add, on two computers ― and perused some posts on an online bulletin board. I snuck a peek at the latest news wires, gobbled some take-out Thai food, read a press release. I did this all while switching back and forth between two Internet radio stations, which I listened to through headphones. Some would call this multitasking; my editor would probably call it procrastination. But for others, it's a sign of the continuing demise of intelligent life on earth. Is this glut of information, technology, advertising ― omnipresent, at our fingertips, in real-time, all the time ― somehow frying our collective synapses? Instead of sparking a global renaissance of thought and culture, is the world of zippy information turning us into automatons compelled to plug in but unable to engage in complex ideas?
“Technology is making our world a better place: That's the message being drummed into our heads by countless magazine cover features, television advertisements and latest-greatest Web sites. Despite the occasional naysayer ― hysterics who believe, post-Columbine, that access to information and technology is corrupting our youth ― the consensus has been that thanks to technology we are all becoming more informed, accessible, connected. E-mail your long-lost grandma; start an e-commerce company; buy a Beanie Baby from a paraplegic in Singapore; make a friend; make a fortune ― these are the promises of technology. But some observers have begun to question that rosy picture, and are engendering a mini-backlash to our collective pro-technology brainwashing” (Janelle Brown, October 7th, 1999).
The above paragraphs were written in the prehistoric, cave-man internet days of 1999―when the ‘wheel’ had only just been invented! On August 6th, 1991, the World Wide Web went live to the world. There was no fanfare in the global press. In fact, most people around the world didn’t even know what the Internet was. From here on, things began developing rapidly for the Web. The first image was uploaded in 1992. In 1993, it was announced that the World Wide Web was free for everyone to use and develop, with no fees payable – a key factor in the transformational impact it would soon have on the world. The growth of easy-to-use Web browsers coincided with the growth of the commercial ISP business, with companies like Compuserve bringing increasing numbers of people from outside the scientific community on to the Web – and that was the start of the Web we know today. The Web has become a part of our everyday lives – something we access at home, on the move, on our phones and on TV. It’s changed the way we communicate and has been a key factor in the way the Internet has transformed the global economy and societies around the world.
The Future Web―Will You Be Caught In It?
So, where does the Web go from here? Where will it be in twenty more years? Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, an English engineer and computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web and currently a professor of computer science at the University of Oxford (England) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has a vision for the future of the World Wide Web which he calls the "Semantic Web" (could we call it the “Satanic Web”? St. Padre Pio would no doubt have his opinion on that!). Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee originally expressed his vision of the "Semantic Web" as follows:
“I have a dream for the Web [in which computers] become capable of analyzing all the data on the Web – the content, links, and transactions between people and computers. A « Semantic Web », which makes this possible, has yet to emerge, but when it does, the day-to-day mechanisms of trade, bureaucracy and our daily lives, will be handled by machines talking to machines. The « intelligent agents » [what we are now calling “Artificial Intelligence”], that people have touted for ages, will finally materialize” (Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, 1999, Weaving the Web, chapter 12).
The Semantic Web, based upon and run by “Artificial Intelligence” will see metadata―designed to be read by machines rather than humans―become a more important part of the online experience, but one that will then impact humans by instructing them, guiding them, coaching them, leading them, forming them, etc. ― much like what humans once did to the machines and computers, but now it will be in reverse, whereby the computers will program the thoughts and actions of humans due to their superior, faster, more reliable “Artificial Intelligence”―which will take on almost God-like proportions as being all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-capable, etc. And we will just love it!
Say or think what you will―it is incontestable that today’s present crisis in the Church, and, as a consequence, in the world also, is largely down to a crisis or failure in leadership. Not just leadership from the popes, but all the way down through the ranks―cardinals, bishops, priest, religious―to the very grass roots of parishes, schools and families. In every department―for the most part―the quality, zeal and application of leadership is pitifully woeful and negligent. To all levels―church, school and family―the condemning words of Holy Scripture can be applied: “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant―dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10). Those words are especially true for our present day and age.
The only difference is that today it is all the more easy not to bark, to see vain things, to sleep and love dreams―thanks to the advent of modern technology, which has drained the spiritual energy of so many souls and contributed to their damnation. Instead of “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice” (Luke 12:31), we seek first that latest news, gossip, posts, texts and messages on the internet, social media, e-mail, or channels. We are so addicted and glued to our smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, i-pods, mp3s and mp4s, smartwatches, etc. that we spend almost all day long in a ‘technological dream’―all of which makes us, as Scripture says, spiritually “blind … ignorant … and dumb.” Some people communicate with the electronic ‘personal assistant’ of their choice and preference―Alexa, Siri, Cortana, Bixby, Dragon, DataBot, Goodgle Assistant, Dragon, Me24, Hound, Lyra, Alice, etc. ― more than they communicate with God in prayer!
A recent BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) article―entitled “Why Plant Blindness Matters And What You Can Do About It”―pointed out that a phenomenon called “plant blindness” means tend to be blind to the plants that grown around us and under-appreciate them, with potential disastrous consequences, not only for the environment, but human health. The term “plant blindness” was coined by Elisabeth Schussler and James Wandersee, a pair of US botanists and biology educators in 1998. They described it as “the inability to see or notice the plants in one’s own environment”. We could say the same for the supernatural or the spiritual, in that there is a gross “spiritual blindness” in many people, who fail to see and recognize the supernatural ways of God working spiritually in their soul and their environment. The BBC article laments that time spent with electronic devices―such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. ― means that like ADD (attention deficit disorder), NDD (“nature deficit disorder”―the harm caused to humans by being alienated from nature) is also on the rise. You could also say that SDD (spiritual deficit disorder) is also on the rise for the same reasons―too much time given to electronic devices. The BBC article stated that with less exposure to plants, the logical consequence is “plant blindness.” As Schussler explained, “humans can only recognize (visually) what they already know.” Similarly, if they know little about the supernatural and spiritual, they will fail to recognize its workings and growth, or lack of growth and wilting-away, in the their lives and the lives of their family, relatives, friends and work colleagues―for they have become too natural and materialistic, which makes them less supernatural and spiritual. If all they know is the electronic, then they play into the hands of the demonic. Scripture says: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), while the world and its prince say: “Stay online without ceasing!”
“Sheeple” Shepherded by Artificial Shepherds
It has almost come to the point where we have become the sheep who are shepherded by the electronic world―even more so since the fairly recent advent of the so-called “Artificial Intelligence” or “AI” that is being advertized and lauded everywhere. Soon our already “Artificial Lives” will be mainly under the control of “Artificial Intelligence” on whom most of the “dumbed-down” world will rely upon for its knowledge and intelligence, with their own intellectual muscles in a state of atrophy through persistent disuse or misuse―preferring to enjoy pleasures rather than exercise the mind. Then we shall truly become weak and meek “sheeple” guided by “Artificial Shepherds.”
Dumb Sheep Who Know Not the True Shepherd
Gradually, incrementally, increasingly, imperceptibly and indifferently, Catholics have been weaned-off their True Shepherd and have become scattered and attached to one of many false shepherds―“scattered upon the hills, like sheep that have no shepherd” (3 Kings 22:17). Today’s shepherds―clergy, teachers, parents―no longer “teach and correct as a shepherd does his flock” (Ecclesiasticus 18:13). For “as the mother was, so also is her daughter” (Ezechiel 16:44)―from which we get the expression “like father, like son”―so too we can say, “as the shepherd is, so shall the sheep be!” Our shepherds today are not the shepherds of Christ, but shepherds of the world (and the prince of the world, the devil). However, to avoid the shock factor of thinking we are being shepherded by the devil―the devil uses the tools of the world and its technology to achieve his purposes and to make us do his bidding. Being brainwashed by the world is the same as being brainwashed by the devil―for he is undoubtedly, as Our Lord say, the prince and ruler of this world. He is the shepherd of this world and the worldly are his sheep―and we are slowly being drawn into his flock and fold through modern technology, modern maxims and slogans, modern principles and attitudes, modern fashions and customs. What Our Lord said of some of the Jews, He could well say to most Catholics today: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do!” (John 8:44).
It is blatantly clear and obvious that most of the world does not want Christ to reign over them or to shepherd them―we see this in the world’s rejection of God’s laws and the world’s substitution of God’s law with the sinful ‘laws’ of man. “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ” (Psalm 2:2) … “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and His Christ” (Acts 4:26). The command not to kill is now replaced with the right to abort babies and practice euthanasia. The unity of marriage is now replaced by the freedom to divorce. Love of sin was said to be a hatred of God―whereas today, a hatred of sin is said to be a hate crime against human freedom. Years ago, adulterers were imprisoned, nowadays the condemnation of adultery is deemed worthy of punishment based on discrimination. Satanism was once outlawed, today it is increasingly given equal rights with Christianity and allowed to publicly open and conduct worship in temples dedicated to Satan. Thus the shepherding of Satan becomes more and more effective―more and more blatant―and the world becomes more and more indifferent to it.
Satanic Shepherds
Nowadays, Satan has not only infiltrated politics and the business world, but―as Our Lady warned and Pope Paul VI admitted and Fr. Gabriele Amorth confirmed―Satan has also infiltrated the Church and consequently, gradually, imperceptibly, directly or indirectly, he has also infiltrated the Church, its clergy, its laity, its dioceses, parishes and schools. The seeds of Satan have been planted everywhere, even if they have not everywhere come to fruition. As Our Lady of Akita said in 1973: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops!” ― which Pope Paul VI admitted: “From some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God” (June 29th, 1972). A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977). When Rome’s lately deceased (2016) chief exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth was asked: “Is it really true that Paul VI said: that ‘the smoke of Satan” entered the church?’” Fr. Gabriele Amorth replied: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences.” (Taken from Fr. Amorth’s Memoirs).
You could take that comment of Pope Paul VI, about the smoke of Satan entering the Church, and apply it to families, in the sense of the smoke of Satan entering the home through the television and internet. St. Padre Pio was reported to have said when he got his first look at the television: “The devil will be in the living room!” St. Padre Pio refused to watch television in the Sixties before he died in 1968, even though the religious orders had relaxed rules and permitted television watching on occasions―when his fellow friars tried to get him to watch television, he would vehemently resist saying: “The devil is in there!” What would he say of our modern technology today? Would we brand him as being “insane”, “crazy”, a “madman”? St. Padre Pio was most certainly disturbed and disgusted by the television. He realized it would destroy family life and told everyone not to buy one. Regarding cinema or “sin-ema” he always gave the same answer: “The devil is in it!” The American Saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821), had a vision which she could not understand in the middle 1800s: “Every American will have a black box in their home and the devil would enter.” Television was invented in 1928, almost 100 years before she made this prophetic statement which she did not fully understand.
Likening Exotic Animal Pets to Exotic Technological Pets
People love pets. You could say that the most popular pet today is a technological pet―the smartphone and its cousins, the tablet, the laptop, etc. Just as exotic pets are by their nature dangerous, so too are exotic technological pets dangerous. Exotic animals — lions, tigers, wolves, bears, reptiles, non-human primates — belong in their natural habitats and not in the hands of private individuals as “pets.” By their very nature, these animals are wild and potentially dangerous and, as such, do not adjust well to a captive environment. Every year, a variety of sources provides millions of animals to the exotic pet trade. Animals are captured from their native habitats and transported to various countries to be sold as pets. Others are surplus animals from zoos or their offspring. Backyard breeders also supply exotic animals. It is absurdly easy to obtain an exotic pet. More than 1,000 Internet sites offer to sell, give care advice, and provide chat rooms where buyers and sellers can haggle over a price.
Snakes are the most common “pet” reptiles. Snakes may be deadly, but people continue to be drawn to them — about 3% of U.S. households possess 7.3 million pet reptiles. Ironically, most domesticated snakes who have caused harm, are results of improper care. Snakes are not meant to be kept in captivity, even if they do tend to live longer than those in the wild. The most common snakes that are kept as pets are the corn snake and the ball python. Most reptile specialists would recommend them for beginners as they are generally docile, but like all snakes, venomous or not, they will turn on their owners at some point. Venomous snakes could kill you with a single bite, anti-venoms are a rare commodity for hospitals and there is most likely no anti-venom close enough to help you. Some cobras can also cause immense pain and blindness just by spitting their venom into your eyes.
Because the majority of states do not keep accurate records of exotic animals entering their state, it is impossible to determine exactly how many exotic animals are privately held as pets, but the number is estimated to be quite high. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that for every lion and tiger in a zoo, there are as many as 10 privately owned. An estimated 5,000 tigers alone are held by private individuals. The USDA estimates somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 wolf dogs being kept as domestic pets in the U.S. The most common hybrid is gray wolves crossed with Alaskan Malamutes, German Shepherds, or Siberian Huskies. Tim Harrison, has seen some pretty crazy things as a Public Safety Officer for the City of Oakwood, California, so trust him when he says that privately-owned alligators are one of the most common animal on human (and dog) attacks he’s dealt with during his career. This is probably the biggest shock, but it is legal to own a tiger. While keeping a lion is slightly more difficult, tigers are termed as exotic, so one can own one in many states. You wouldn’t think it necessary to say how dangerous it can be to keep a 700lb big cat!
It might help if we see our technological ‘pets’ in the same light as we see exotic animal pets. Like a venomous snake, looking longingly at just one immodest picture, reading just one internet or social media post that is calumnious (lies) or detraction (revealing the secret sins of others), can inject a fatal ‘venom’ into your soul and make you lose the grace of God. Yet we expose ourselves to countless such and similar things each day in the ‘exotic animal cages’ that we hold in our hands or on our laps. Furthermore, just as the exotic animal pet radically changes the normal lifestyle of the family and unnecessarily occupies hour upon hour of attention or care―so too have the ‘exotic animal cages’ (smartphone, tablet, laptop, TV, etc.) changed what was once a normal family life of interaction into a life of seclusion with one’s own preferred ‘exotic technological pet’. Research and surveys show that the average person spends around 4 to 5 hours a day with their preferred ‘exotic technological pet’ and that TV takes up on average an additional 25 to 35 hours a week―depending on the person’s age, gender, etc. Older people watch more (less than 50 hours per week), younger people less (more than 20 hours per week), both groups showing a seasonal pattern that peaks in the winter months.
Brainwashed and Programmed by Modern Technology
Already back in the prehistoric, cave-man times of technology―in 1999 (the internet, in case you did not know, or forgot, was introduced as a worldwide service for the everyday person in the year 1991)―an article appeared on the brainwashing, mind-deadening, brain-frying effects that modern technology was having upon the person using it. The author paints a picture that seems so normal to most of us:
“In the course of conceiving this paragraph, I checked my e-mail three times and fired off four responses. I took a phone call, visited a few Web sites ― simultaneously, I might add, on two computers ― and perused some posts on an online bulletin board. I snuck a peek at the latest news wires, gobbled some take-out Thai food, read a press release. I did this all while switching back and forth between two Internet radio stations, which I listened to through headphones. Some would call this multitasking; my editor would probably call it procrastination. But for others, it's a sign of the continuing demise of intelligent life on earth. Is this glut of information, technology, advertising ― omnipresent, at our fingertips, in real-time, all the time ― somehow frying our collective synapses? Instead of sparking a global renaissance of thought and culture, is the world of zippy information turning us into automatons compelled to plug in but unable to engage in complex ideas?
“Technology is making our world a better place: That's the message being drummed into our heads by countless magazine cover features, television advertisements and latest-greatest Web sites. Despite the occasional naysayer ― hysterics who believe, post-Columbine, that access to information and technology is corrupting our youth ― the consensus has been that thanks to technology we are all becoming more informed, accessible, connected. E-mail your long-lost grandma; start an e-commerce company; buy a Beanie Baby from a paraplegic in Singapore; make a friend; make a fortune ― these are the promises of technology. But some observers have begun to question that rosy picture, and are engendering a mini-backlash to our collective pro-technology brainwashing” (Janelle Brown, October 7th, 1999).
The above paragraphs were written in the prehistoric, cave-man internet days of 1999―when the ‘wheel’ had only just been invented! On August 6th, 1991, the World Wide Web went live to the world. There was no fanfare in the global press. In fact, most people around the world didn’t even know what the Internet was. From here on, things began developing rapidly for the Web. The first image was uploaded in 1992. In 1993, it was announced that the World Wide Web was free for everyone to use and develop, with no fees payable – a key factor in the transformational impact it would soon have on the world. The growth of easy-to-use Web browsers coincided with the growth of the commercial ISP business, with companies like Compuserve bringing increasing numbers of people from outside the scientific community on to the Web – and that was the start of the Web we know today. The Web has become a part of our everyday lives – something we access at home, on the move, on our phones and on TV. It’s changed the way we communicate and has been a key factor in the way the Internet has transformed the global economy and societies around the world.
The Future Web―Will You Be Caught In It?
So, where does the Web go from here? Where will it be in twenty more years? Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, an English engineer and computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web and currently a professor of computer science at the University of Oxford (England) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has a vision for the future of the World Wide Web which he calls the "Semantic Web" (could we call it the “Satanic Web”? St. Padre Pio would no doubt have his opinion on that!). Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee originally expressed his vision of the "Semantic Web" as follows:
“I have a dream for the Web [in which computers] become capable of analyzing all the data on the Web – the content, links, and transactions between people and computers. A « Semantic Web », which makes this possible, has yet to emerge, but when it does, the day-to-day mechanisms of trade, bureaucracy and our daily lives, will be handled by machines talking to machines. The « intelligent agents » [what we are now calling “Artificial Intelligence”], that people have touted for ages, will finally materialize” (Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, 1999, Weaving the Web, chapter 12).
The Semantic Web, based upon and run by “Artificial Intelligence” will see metadata―designed to be read by machines rather than humans―become a more important part of the online experience, but one that will then impact humans by instructing them, guiding them, coaching them, leading them, forming them, etc. ― much like what humans once did to the machines and computers, but now it will be in reverse, whereby the computers will program the thoughts and actions of humans due to their superior, faster, more reliable “Artificial Intelligence”―which will take on almost God-like proportions as being all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-capable, etc. And we will just love it!
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The Technological Cult
Technology has truly become a cult! The American Heritage Dictionary defines “cult” this way: ● A religion or religious sect, generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner, under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. ● A system or community of religious worship and ritual. In its most basic format, a cult is simply a small, unestablished, non-mainstream religious or non-religious group that typically revolves around a single leader. Today, technology is that leader in general, and the internet is the leader in particular, via its lieutenants of the smartphone, tablet, laptop, smartwatch, electronic personal assistant, etc. The cult worshipers never miss a day of worship―from the moment they wake up in the morning to the moment they turn-off the lights at night, they are in communication with their ‘all-knowing’, ‘all-seeing’, ‘all-capable’ god. Who is God? The Internet is God! Where is God? God is at Everyone’s Fingertips! Technology―”science is a god”―has become a veritable or quasi-religion, with a truly fervent, daily and ritual observance. Today, we treat the god of technology (smartphone, tablet, laptop, smartwatch, electronic personal assistant, etc.) like we ought to be treating God Himself. We cannot bear to be separated for long from our ‘religious idol’. We could go to a daily Sacrifice of the Mass, but instead we daily sacrifice masses of time listening to, talking through or gazing at our “tabernacle in the hand” or “tabernacle on the lap”! One kind of screen or another has become our secular tabernacle that sees hundreds of more hours of adoration than the tabernacle in the church. Adults on average are now spending a staggering 9 hours 22 minutes a day looking at a screen, a third of which is spent on our phones. It is not God that guides us, but our smartphone, tablet, laptop, smartwatch, electronic personal assistant, etc. that guides us. We consult those things far more than we consult God. We rely on those things far more than we rely upon God. We seek out those things far more than we seek God. We communicate to others the latest secular news and gossip far more than we communicate to them spiritual and religious thoughts and writings. Yet somehow we persuade ourselves that we are ‘spiritual’―even though spirituality takes up less than 5% of our day! For those who wonder what 5% of a day is―it 72 minutes―which brings to mind Our Lord’s words to His sleeping Apostles during His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane: “What? Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). On an earlier occasion, “Jesus spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1), on another occasion adding: “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times” (Luke 21:36)―to which Holy Scripture adds: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Instead, we browse with ceasing, text message without ceasing, check and send emails without ceasing! The Technological Religion Yes, the internet and what it offers, has truly become a religion with more followers than the Catholic Church―in fact, most Catholics follow the internet and its teachings, more than they follow the Church and its teachings. Truly technology in general, and the internet in particular, is a cult with billions of ardent, daily, regular, multi-hour, zealous, fervent, enthusiastic worshipers. Holy Scripture speaks of praising God seven times a day―the number seven being symbolic of completeness or perfection: “Seven times a day I have given praise to Thee!” (Psalm 118:164). Yet the cult worshipers of technology give their god far more time and attention―for, on average, American consumers now check their smartphones an average of 52 times each day, according to the U.S. edition of the 2018 Global Mobile Consumer Survey from Deloitte. That's up from 47 times per day on 2018’s study―which means they are become more and more fervent, more and more ‘religious’, more and more dependent upon their god. 69% of adults and 78% of teenagers admit to checking their smartphones hourly. A Divisive Cult Furthermore, cults are known to pull persons away from and separate them from their families. This is exactly what the god or cult of technology does to family members―they live in the same house, but each of them is separated from all others as they intently and religiously worship on their own preferred electronic device― smartphone, tablet, laptop, smartwatch, electronic personal assistant, etc. As you see in the photos alongside. The god or cult of technology leaves no place alone when it comes to worship―at the dinner table, in the lounge, in the restroom or bathroom, in the bedroom, while driving, while talking to others, even in the church. In addition, this false god and cult of technology divides persons from their true family―God, our Father―Christ, our Redeeming Brother―Mary, our Mother―and the Saints, our brothers and sisters. We have no time for them! We have no taste for their company! The false values of the cult of technology are diametrically opposed to the values of our true family in Heaven. We start to dislike those true values and eagerly “buy-into” the false values taught and propagated by our false gods. Our Lord said: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also. The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome. But if thy eye be evil thy whole body shall be darksome. If then the light that is in thee, be darkness: the darkness itself how great shall it be! No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). An Addictive Cult The U.S. Census Bureau says there are just over 83 million people between the ages of 18 to 34 in the USA. Studies show the average Millennial (= someone who born between the years 1982 and 2002, hence in the 17 to 37 age range) spends 18 hours per day using a variety of digital media. And 90% of young adults use social media, which is up from a mere 12% in 2005, the Pew Research Center reports. With 5-16-year-olds now spending an average of over 6 hours a day looking at a mobile phone or screen, worrying patterns are starting to emerge between children and technology. Many parents have also report increased behavioral issues after their child has spent a long period of time on a smart device, with one dad reporting his son became almost demonic with his tech obsession. Scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health say the human brain continues to mature until age 25. Although research in brain development among Millennials is fairly new, some medical experts say the brains of people in this generation are physically developing differently, because of their almost constant interaction with technology. Technology use can affect the parts of the brain that control the core of a person’s personality, from how they work in a team, down to hand gestures and expressions. The brain develops based on how it’s used. Texting and web surfing use different parts of the brain than reading or speaking. Excessive technology usage, according to leading scientific publications, leads to an atrophy in the frontal lobe, breaking down ties between different parts of the brain. Too much technology use also shrinks the outermost part of the brain, making it more difficult to process information. In some cases, people have become clinically addicted to technology. Kimberly Young, a licensed psychologist and professor at St. Bonaventure University in New York, has studied “Internet Addiction Disorder”, or “IAD”, for the past 20 years. “We’re all a bit too connected, but we socially accept it” said Dr. Young. She has found that an Internet Addiction Disorder is just as dangerous as other drug addictions. Patients have the same poor social skills, poor grades and poor health, because they cannot control the urge to be online. Dr. Young has treated people who have developed blood clots from sitting in front of their computers for hours on end. Many of Dr. Young’s patients have chronic problems, like attention deficit disorder and obesity. They are distressed, disinterested and disengaged. Some have trouble reading traditional, paper books because they are only accustomed to reading off tablet or computer screens. |
Manipulating the Minds of the Masses
The idea and desire of a deliberate mind manipulation of the masses is nothing new. Edward Bernays, known as the “father of public relations.” was a nephew of the psychologist Sigmund Freud, who tapped-into Freud’s theories on the subconscious in order to create and unleash methods of mind control upon the modern American consumer.
Edwards Bernays’ business partner, Paul Mazur, boldly stated: “We must shift America from a needs to a desires culture! People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. We must shape a new mentality. Man’s desires must overshadow his needs.” In 1928, Edward Bernays boasted how his newly created techniques for mind manipulation had led to a small elite number of persons being able to control the minds of the American population:
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government that is the true ruling power of this country. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of … In almost every act of our daily lives … we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons … who pull the wires which control the public mind.”
In 1930, a psychologist at Harvard University called B.F. Skinner made a box and placed a hungry rat inside it. The box had a lever on one side. As the rat moved about it would accidentally knock the lever and, when it did so, a food pellet would drop into the box. After a rat had been put in the box a few times, it learned to go straight to the lever and press it: the reward reinforced the behaviour. Skinner proposed that the same principle applied to any “operant”, rat or man. He called his device the “operant conditioning chamber”. It became known as the Skinner box.
Skinner was the most prominent exponent of a school of psychology called behaviourism, the premise of which was that human behaviour is best understood as a function of incentives and rewards. Let’s not get distracted by the nebulous and impossible to observe stuff of thoughts and feelings, said the behaviourists, but focus simply on how the operant’s environment shapes what it does. Understand the box and you understand the behaviour. Design the right box and you can control behaviour.
Skinner turned out to be the last of the pure behaviorists. From the late 1950s onwards, a new generation of scholars redirected the field of psychology back towards internal mental processes, like memory and emotion. But behaviorism never went away completely, and in recent years it has re-emerged in a new form, as an applied discipline deployed by businesses and governments to influence the choices you make every day: what you buy, who you talk to, what you do at work. Its practitioners are particularly interested in how the digital interface – the box in which we spend most of our time today – can shape human decisions. Today there is a new generation of mind controllers who use technology and social media to penetrate and manipulate our minds in a way that the mind-manipulators of old would never have dreamed was even possible. The name of this young discipline is “behavior design.” Its founding father is B.J. Fogg.
A present-day Edward Bernays, named B.J. Fogg, a behavior scientist and author, is the founder and director of the Stanford Behavior Tech Lab, where he teaches students how to use technology to change people’s attitudes or behaviors. As a doctoral student at Stanford University (1993-1997), Fogg used methods from experimental psychology to demonstrate that computers can change people's thoughts and behaviors in predictable ways.
Fogg’s theories and teachings have led to many interfaces that fill our new daily routines―such as the chimes from our smartphones that attract our attention; the thumbs-up icon on our news feeds; and the “Like” and “Dislike” statistics which indicate our latest levels of popularity on our Social Media sites or websites. These functions have been called “hot triggers”―which trigger certain repetitive behavioral patterns in our subconscious. Successful apps, they teach, are those that trigger a momentary need, and then provide us with an instant solution. The instant solution sparks a chemical reaction in our bodies which releases a tiny dose of endorphins in our brains. That is what creates that feel good factor! To get more of the same “feel good” chemical, we, like rats on a wheel, reproduce the behavior that produced the chemical reaction and soon find ourselves getting addicted, by constantly going back for more of the same.
Facebook Manipulation Tricks
Facebook’s worldwide empire, of over 1.6 billion active users, has been built upon this addictive routine. Nir Eyal, who was one of Fogg’s students, reveals that Facebook’s key trigger concept is FOMO―which is an acronym meaning: Fear Of Missing Out―FOMO. Do not underestimate the power that the fear of missing out on something has over people. Youngsters are especially fearful of missing out on things that they imagine everyone else is getting or participating in.
Facebook has been researching the extent of its power over our behavior, manipulating its own users as guinea pigs. On election day in 2010, it sent “Go out and vote” reminders to more than 60 million users, causing an estimated 340,000 to vote who otherwise wouldn’t have. If it chose to send these reminders to supporters of a particular party or candidate, it could easily influence an election without anyone knowing about it. Under current law, it wouldn’t have to tell anyone what it was doing. In another experiment, which caused a public outcry, Facebook successfully manipulated the emotional state of 689,000 users by sending them either an excess of positive or negative terms in their news feeds.
The mind control doesn’t stop at social media. Psychologist Robert Epstein has unearthed the massive subliminal power of what he has called the “Search Engine Manipulation Effect”, or SEME. This SEME effect is based on the fact that when we search, we click half the time on one of the first two results produced by the search engine, and more than 90% of our clicks are on the top ten links listed on the first page. There might be thousands of other web pages containing our key words, but Google decides which ones we’re going to read. Dr. Epstein and his associate Dr. Ronald Robertson, wanted to test whether SEME could impact how people decided to vote in an election. They asked a sample of Americans to research candidates for an Australian election (to minimize preconceived notions about the candidates) using their own mock search engine, “Kadoodle.” They randomly divided the sample “voters” into three groups, and served up the same results to each group. The only difference was the ordering of the results: one group’s results favored one candidate; another group’s results favored the opposing candidate, and the third group saw results that favored neither candidate. The results were staggering. The proportion of people favoring Kadoodle’s “favored” candidate increased by 48%. Disturbingly, three quarters of the people in the manipulated groups were completely unaware of any bias in their search results. In the “neutral” control group, there was no significant shift of opinion.
Since then, they replicated these findings in larger tests conducted across the U.S. They discovered that by using simple techniques, they were able hide the manipulation so that virtually nobody was aware that the rankings they were seeing were actually biased rankings. In 2014, they took their testing to India during the election for India’s Prime Minister, where people were already very familiar with the candidates. Even so, they were able to shift the proportion of people favoring a chosen candidate by 20%, with 99.5% of people showing no awareness they were being manipulated. (Dr. Robert Epstein, 2016, The New Mind Control).
Pied-Pipers of Technology, Cultish Shepherds of Doom
These are the cultish shepherds that are gradually taking over the sheep―and they will lead the sheep, like the fairy-tale Pied Piper led the rats and children of Hamlin, to their death―except in this case, a spiritual death on Earth and an eternal ‘death’ in Hell hereafter, after drowning them in technology and the waters of the world wide web. The problem is that these “Pied-Pipers” of the 21st century play such a sweet, catchy, addictive tune and we find it ever so hard and difficult to avoid dancing along to it!
Thus, as Our Lord says: “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat [with smartphone in hand]” (Matthew 7:13). Or as St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver. The worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. «Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!» they shout, «Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that; away with scruples―we shall not die!» And so they continue” (St. Louis de Montfort. Letter to the Friends of the Cross).
The idea and desire of a deliberate mind manipulation of the masses is nothing new. Edward Bernays, known as the “father of public relations.” was a nephew of the psychologist Sigmund Freud, who tapped-into Freud’s theories on the subconscious in order to create and unleash methods of mind control upon the modern American consumer.
Edwards Bernays’ business partner, Paul Mazur, boldly stated: “We must shift America from a needs to a desires culture! People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. We must shape a new mentality. Man’s desires must overshadow his needs.” In 1928, Edward Bernays boasted how his newly created techniques for mind manipulation had led to a small elite number of persons being able to control the minds of the American population:
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government that is the true ruling power of this country. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of … In almost every act of our daily lives … we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons … who pull the wires which control the public mind.”
In 1930, a psychologist at Harvard University called B.F. Skinner made a box and placed a hungry rat inside it. The box had a lever on one side. As the rat moved about it would accidentally knock the lever and, when it did so, a food pellet would drop into the box. After a rat had been put in the box a few times, it learned to go straight to the lever and press it: the reward reinforced the behaviour. Skinner proposed that the same principle applied to any “operant”, rat or man. He called his device the “operant conditioning chamber”. It became known as the Skinner box.
Skinner was the most prominent exponent of a school of psychology called behaviourism, the premise of which was that human behaviour is best understood as a function of incentives and rewards. Let’s not get distracted by the nebulous and impossible to observe stuff of thoughts and feelings, said the behaviourists, but focus simply on how the operant’s environment shapes what it does. Understand the box and you understand the behaviour. Design the right box and you can control behaviour.
Skinner turned out to be the last of the pure behaviorists. From the late 1950s onwards, a new generation of scholars redirected the field of psychology back towards internal mental processes, like memory and emotion. But behaviorism never went away completely, and in recent years it has re-emerged in a new form, as an applied discipline deployed by businesses and governments to influence the choices you make every day: what you buy, who you talk to, what you do at work. Its practitioners are particularly interested in how the digital interface – the box in which we spend most of our time today – can shape human decisions. Today there is a new generation of mind controllers who use technology and social media to penetrate and manipulate our minds in a way that the mind-manipulators of old would never have dreamed was even possible. The name of this young discipline is “behavior design.” Its founding father is B.J. Fogg.
A present-day Edward Bernays, named B.J. Fogg, a behavior scientist and author, is the founder and director of the Stanford Behavior Tech Lab, where he teaches students how to use technology to change people’s attitudes or behaviors. As a doctoral student at Stanford University (1993-1997), Fogg used methods from experimental psychology to demonstrate that computers can change people's thoughts and behaviors in predictable ways.
Fogg’s theories and teachings have led to many interfaces that fill our new daily routines―such as the chimes from our smartphones that attract our attention; the thumbs-up icon on our news feeds; and the “Like” and “Dislike” statistics which indicate our latest levels of popularity on our Social Media sites or websites. These functions have been called “hot triggers”―which trigger certain repetitive behavioral patterns in our subconscious. Successful apps, they teach, are those that trigger a momentary need, and then provide us with an instant solution. The instant solution sparks a chemical reaction in our bodies which releases a tiny dose of endorphins in our brains. That is what creates that feel good factor! To get more of the same “feel good” chemical, we, like rats on a wheel, reproduce the behavior that produced the chemical reaction and soon find ourselves getting addicted, by constantly going back for more of the same.
Facebook Manipulation Tricks
Facebook’s worldwide empire, of over 1.6 billion active users, has been built upon this addictive routine. Nir Eyal, who was one of Fogg’s students, reveals that Facebook’s key trigger concept is FOMO―which is an acronym meaning: Fear Of Missing Out―FOMO. Do not underestimate the power that the fear of missing out on something has over people. Youngsters are especially fearful of missing out on things that they imagine everyone else is getting or participating in.
Facebook has been researching the extent of its power over our behavior, manipulating its own users as guinea pigs. On election day in 2010, it sent “Go out and vote” reminders to more than 60 million users, causing an estimated 340,000 to vote who otherwise wouldn’t have. If it chose to send these reminders to supporters of a particular party or candidate, it could easily influence an election without anyone knowing about it. Under current law, it wouldn’t have to tell anyone what it was doing. In another experiment, which caused a public outcry, Facebook successfully manipulated the emotional state of 689,000 users by sending them either an excess of positive or negative terms in their news feeds.
The mind control doesn’t stop at social media. Psychologist Robert Epstein has unearthed the massive subliminal power of what he has called the “Search Engine Manipulation Effect”, or SEME. This SEME effect is based on the fact that when we search, we click half the time on one of the first two results produced by the search engine, and more than 90% of our clicks are on the top ten links listed on the first page. There might be thousands of other web pages containing our key words, but Google decides which ones we’re going to read. Dr. Epstein and his associate Dr. Ronald Robertson, wanted to test whether SEME could impact how people decided to vote in an election. They asked a sample of Americans to research candidates for an Australian election (to minimize preconceived notions about the candidates) using their own mock search engine, “Kadoodle.” They randomly divided the sample “voters” into three groups, and served up the same results to each group. The only difference was the ordering of the results: one group’s results favored one candidate; another group’s results favored the opposing candidate, and the third group saw results that favored neither candidate. The results were staggering. The proportion of people favoring Kadoodle’s “favored” candidate increased by 48%. Disturbingly, three quarters of the people in the manipulated groups were completely unaware of any bias in their search results. In the “neutral” control group, there was no significant shift of opinion.
Since then, they replicated these findings in larger tests conducted across the U.S. They discovered that by using simple techniques, they were able hide the manipulation so that virtually nobody was aware that the rankings they were seeing were actually biased rankings. In 2014, they took their testing to India during the election for India’s Prime Minister, where people were already very familiar with the candidates. Even so, they were able to shift the proportion of people favoring a chosen candidate by 20%, with 99.5% of people showing no awareness they were being manipulated. (Dr. Robert Epstein, 2016, The New Mind Control).
Pied-Pipers of Technology, Cultish Shepherds of Doom
These are the cultish shepherds that are gradually taking over the sheep―and they will lead the sheep, like the fairy-tale Pied Piper led the rats and children of Hamlin, to their death―except in this case, a spiritual death on Earth and an eternal ‘death’ in Hell hereafter, after drowning them in technology and the waters of the world wide web. The problem is that these “Pied-Pipers” of the 21st century play such a sweet, catchy, addictive tune and we find it ever so hard and difficult to avoid dancing along to it!
Thus, as Our Lord says: “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat [with smartphone in hand]” (Matthew 7:13). Or as St. Louis de Montfort writes: “Our loving Savior’s group is to the right, scaling a narrow path made all the narrower by the world’s corruption. To the left is the world’s group, the devil’s in fact, which is far superior in number, and seemingly far more colorful and splendid in array. Fashionable folk are all in a hurry to enlist, the highways are overcrowded, although they are broad and ever broadening with the crowds that flow through in a torrent. These roads are strewn with flowers, bordered with all kinds of amusements and attractions and paved with gold and silver. The worldlings rouse one another to persist in their unscrupulous depravity. «Enjoy life, peace and pleasure!» they shout, «Enjoy life, peace and pleasure! Let us eat, let us drink, let us sing, let us dance, let us play! God is good, He did not make us to damn us! God does not forbid us to enjoy ourselves! We shall not be damned for that; away with scruples―we shall not die!» And so they continue” (St. Louis de Montfort. Letter to the Friends of the Cross).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Saturday, April 27th & Low Sunday, April 28th
Article 5
Your Universal Faith Is Universally Collapsing!
Article 5
Your Universal Faith Is Universally Collapsing!
Low Sunday & Low Levels
As we approach Low Sunday, we also approach low levels of Faith. The word “Catholic” means “Universal” and there is no doubt that the Catholic Faith has become a universally collapsing Faith. We are hitting new lows with each decade that we pass through. Just when you think things can’t get any worse―they get worse! We go from low to low―and what is perhaps even lower than low is the fact that we don’t really give a damn how low we go! As long we have a screen to watch, a beer to drink, a cookie or donut to nibble, and a smartphone in our hands―then we are happy and high, regardless of how low other things may go!
The origin of the name “Low Sunday” (the first Sunday after Easter) is uncertain, but most religious authors and commentators think that the term “Low” is intended to show the difference between the higher and greater feast of Easter Sunday, whose octave (eight days) is terminated by the lower or lesser feast of the First Sunday after Easter, which is the Octave Day of Easter, and Low Sunday was therefore considered a part of that prolonged eight-day celebration of the feast of Easter, though in a lower degree. Low Sunday’s liturgical name is (in Latin) Dominica in albis depositis (meaning “white alb or robe removal Sunday”), which owes its origin from the fact that on Low Sunday, on the octave day of Easter, that the newly baptized neophytes (literally meaning “new plants”), baptized on Easter Eve, then for the first time laid aside their white baptismal robes that they had been clothed with at their baptism at the Paschal Vigil―which was originally the only day when baptism was administered (apart from cases of danger of death).
On Low Sunday, the neophytes, the “new-seedlings” in whom the Faith was planted, would return to the bishop and offer their white garments (a symbol of purity, grace and sanctity) to their bishop―which is symbolic of appearing before God clothed in a “wedding garment” of grace through which we are allowed to enter into Heaven. This idea and symbolism is retained in the traditional form of Baptism today, whereby the priest, in clothing the baptized person (neophyte) with a white robe (adult) or a white blanket or shawl (baby) while saying the words: “Take this white robe and keep it spotless, until you arrive at the Judgment Seat of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you may be rewarded with everlasting life!”
Hitting New Lows
If only we Christians would keep our white robes spotless until we arrive at the Judgment Seat of Christ! Sadly, as is the case with most Christians, baptism is not a maintenance or growth or springboard to sanctity, but, instead, it is the beginning of a gradual slide, a progressive demise, a prolonged and steady lowering of levels, whereby the Christian grows less and less enamored with the idea of acquiring sanctity, and prefers to acquire worldliness with all that it potentially brings―money, possessions, power, honor, respect, fame, comfort, ease, pleasure, enjoyment, etc. It is in this vein that God speaks the following words of rebuke in Holy Scripture: “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first charity. Be mindful therefore from whence thou art fallen: and do penance, and do the first works. Or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou do penance … I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest: « I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing! » and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked! I counsel thee to buy of me gold, fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 2:4-5; 3:15-18).
Is Low Sunday a L.O.E. Sunday?
Huh? LOE? What is that? L.O.E. stands for “Law of Entropy”, otherwise known in physics as the “Second Law of Thermodynamics.” The Second Law of Thermodynamics is one of three Laws of Thermodynamics. As far as we can tell, these Laws are absolute. All things in the observable universe are affected by and obey the Laws of Thermodynamics. The First Law of Thermodynamics, commonly known as “the Law of Conservation of Matter”, states that matter/energy cannot be created, nor can it be destroyed―you could say it much like the soul: we cannot create a soul and we cannot destroy a soul, God created all souls and all souls will live eternally in either Heaven or Hell. The quantity of matter/energy remains the same, but its quality can change from solid to liquid to gas to plasma and back again, but the total amount of matter/energy in the universe remains constant. Likewise, our souls remain the same in quantity, but they change in quality―becoming sinful, lukewarm, fervent, holy, etc.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics is commonly known as the Law of Increased Entropy. While quantity remains the same (First Law), the quality of matter/energy, deteriorates gradually over time. How so? Usable energy is inevitably used for productivity, growth and repair. Therefore, by being used for something, usable energy is converted into unusable energy. Thus, usable energy is irretrievably lost in the form of unusable energy.
The implications of the Second Law of Thermodynamics are considerable. The universe is constantly losing usable energy and never gaining. We logically conclude the universe is not eternal. Like a wind-up clock, the universe is winding down, as if, at one point, it was fully wound-up and has been winding-down ever since.
Human & Spiritual Laws of Thermodynamics
This is true for human beings too! We eventually wind-down and die. Our zeal also winds-down. Our love winds-down. Our memory winds-down. Our strength winds-down. Our speed winds-down. Our endurance winds-down. All things wind-down unless there is an external intervention that rejuvenates. In our spiritual lives, it is the God and His grace that rejuvenates us. In the case of Moses and the Chosen People, the outside intervention was God, Who fed them and provided water for them for forty years in the desert―yet, as punishment, God let the original adult generation “wind-down” and die-off in the desert. In the case of the Machabees, they were gradually losing the ideals that initially made them rebel (rightfully). No longer was the religion the focal point of the battles and wars, but human considerations came to replace divine considerations. Man gradually took the front seat to God. The spiritual ideals and ideology gradually began to wind-down and so God wound-down His assistance also. The same is true for our spiritual lives―we reap what we sow, but any progress or improvement, or betterment can only come from an exterior intervention―as Our Lord said:
“I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine―you are the branches! He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit―for, without Me, you can do nothing! If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth” (John 15:1-6).
The Imitation of Christ, addressing Our Lord in the same vein, says: “You know the weakness and the necessity which I suffer, in what great evils and vices I am involved, how often I am depressed, tempted, defiled, and troubled. To You I come for help, to You I pray for comfort and relief. I speak to Him Who knows all things, to Whom my whole inner life is manifest, and Who alone can perfectly comfort and help me. You know what good things I am most in need of and how poor I am in virtue. Behold I stand before You, poor and naked, asking Your grace and imploring Your mercy. Feed Your hungry beggar. Inflame my coldness with the fire of Your love. Enlighten my blindness with the brightness of Your presence. Turn all earthly things to bitterness for me, all grievance and adversity to patience, all lowly creation to contempt and oblivion. Raise my heart to You in Heaven and suffer me not to wander on Earth. From this moment to all eternity, do You alone grow sweet to me, for You alone are my food and drink, my love and my joy, my sweetness and my total good. Let Your presence wholly inflame me, consume and transform me into Yourself, that I may become one spirit with You, by the grace of inward union, and by the melting power of Your ardent love. Suffer me not to go from You fasting and thirsty, but deal with me mercifully, as You have so often and so wonderfully dealt with Your saints … I pray for this, I desire this, that I may be completely united to You and may withdraw my heart from all created things, learning to relish the celestial and the eternal through Holy Communion and the frequent celebration of Mass … I will put my lips to the mouth of this heavenly stream, that from it I may receive at least some small drop to refresh my thirst and not wither away!” (Taken from The Imitation of Christ, book 4, chapters 4, 13 & 16). Such should be the sentiments of all Catholics, but, alas, how few could read, pray and mean those words in all sincerity of heart!
Heaven Admits Earth Has Hit Untold Lows
It is our nature to be optimistic―that is why there are so few people really trying to get to Heaven while all the time thinking they are bound to end up there somehow! These people have made a mockery of the words of Holy Scripture―which tell us: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12)―by quasi-changing those words in practice to: “In fun and laughter you will obtain salvation!” Heaven, however, is not laughing, nor does it find our way of life to be fun or very funny! Our Lady has revealed that we have hit untold lows in sinfulness, saying that the state of the world today is even worse than it was at the time of Deluge (Great Flood) in the time of Noe! In the 1950s, Our Lady revealed the following to the Italian mystic, Blessed Sr. Elena Aiello:
“People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth. Tragic events are in store for the future. For quite a while, and in many a way, I have warned the world. The nations rulers do indeed understand the gravity of these dangers, but they refuse to acknowledge that it is necessary for all people to practice a truly Christian life to counteract that scourge. The time is not far off now when the whole world shall be greatly disturbed. A great deal of blood of just and innocent people, as well as saintly priests, will be poured out. The Church shall suffer very much and hatred will be at its very peak. You cannot possibly imagine what is going to happen. If possible, publish this message throughout the world, and admonish all the people to do penance and to return right away to God.” (Our Lady’s words to the Italian mystic, Blessed Sr. Elena Aiello).
Falling Lower and Lower
Those words of Our Lady in the 1950s were repeated a little over 20 years later at Akita in Japan, 1973: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
Our Lady essentially said the same things and gave similar warnings at La Salette and Fatima― “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! … Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! … God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.” (La Salette).
“Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If people do not cease offending God … God will punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father … The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.” (Fatima). Regarding the annihilation of nations: it is important to note that during the Father Fuentes interview on December 26th, 1957, Sister Lucia said that Our Blessed Mother herself had told Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July of 1917, but Lucia said that Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, 1994], p. 27).
Does All This Make You Feel Low on This Low Sunday?
Hopefully all of the above testimonies puncture any inflated balloons of presumption that may be floating around in your mind, your home, your family, amongst your relatives, friends, parish, school or workplace! We need to burst these self-created and self-inflated balloons of misplaced optimism, or myopic euphoria and presumptuous self-deceiving reasoning! We are in a Hell of a mess, yet we can’t stop laughing and enjoying our pathetic plight! We live as if there was not Hell and no Heaven! Though in theory we believe differently, in practice we have sought to find our Heaven on Earth, but have only succeeded in creating a Hell on Earth.
Like the fictional well-meaning Dr. Frankenstein, we have only managed to create a monster that will come back to destroy us! We create a fake idea of Our Lady in our truth-avoiding minds that is far from what Our Lady has been like over the last 300 to 400 years. Generally speaking, Our Lady has shown very little joy, smiled little, but shown much sorrow and spoken gravely and threateningly. At La Salette she was sorrowful, sad and weeping. At Fatima she never even smiled at the little children―according to the testimony of Sr. Lucia. Yet somehow we still persist in having a fake and unrealistic notion of a “Barbie-Doll” Our Lady, with a perpetual smile chiseled onto her lips!
Heaven Wants to Show Mercy―We Do Not Give Heaven an Excuse
Both Our Lord and Our Lady want to show us mercy―but we give them little or no excuse for showing us mercy! Murderous abortions are sky-high in number, crying to Heaven for vengeance! Homosexuality, adultery, fornication, cohabitation, impurity and pornography are rampant just as Our Lady of Good Success predicted at Quito, Ecuador: “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!” The worldwide average for regular attendance at Holy Mass on Sundays is approximately only 20% (1 in 5) to 25% (1 in 4) ― with some “once-upon-a-time” powerful Catholic countries like France having an estimated 1% (1 in a 100) attendance rate in certain areas. Only 2% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily―yet Our Lady asked that we all pray the Rosary “very, very much!” It is estimated that of the 20% of Catholics that do practice their Faith regularly, only 10% of that 20% (therefore 2% of all Catholics, or 1 in 50) still go to confession. Most Catholic women have or are practicing contraception. Over half of Catholics condone same sex marriages and homosexual relations. Most Catholics cohabit before marrying. The list goes on and on―no wonder Our Lady said to Blessed Sr. Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread.”
What Should Really Make Us Feel Low!
All of this makes one think of either “seeing the glass half-full or seeing the glass half-empty.” Some get depressed at the constant rubbing of noses in Heaven’s terrible threats―of course, without doubt, those messages are threatening, frightening and depressing. Yet, like all medicine that might be painful, foul-tasting and unpleasant―it is meant to bring about a cure and lasting health.
Mankind proudly and selfishly thinks that God and mammon CAN be served at one and the same time―despite what Our Lord has said: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24).
Our Pride Needs to be Brought Low
What pathetic pride people have in trying to tell God how to run His show! God has timeless, endless and unmatched experience―He made us and He more than anybody knows “what makes us tick” and what “ticks us off”! He has His way of doing things and He tells us: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). “And you have said: The way of the Lord is not right. Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel: Is it my way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:25). We either “do it His way” or we “take the highway”―to Hell. “The sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined. But the spiritual man judgeth all things; and he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that we may instruct him?” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16). “O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it: ‘Why hast thou made me thus?’ Or hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?” (Romans 9:20-21).
Read the Book of Job from chapter 38 to chapter 42 and see how God “puts-down” Job and his secret, hidden arrogance or dissatisfaction with the way God has handled things in his life. Nowhere else in Holy Scripture do you find 5 successive chapters dealing with one long Divine “put-down” or putting of someone in their rightful (lowly) place. God basically―after reducing Job to the lowest levels materially and physically speaking (he loses his children, possessions, wealth and health), God then proceeds to destroy any subtle pride that may linger with Job―even though, on the whole, Job was a very just and godly man. Though Job accepts the afflictions that God has poured-out upon him, there is still a secret pride, perhaps a self-righteous feeling―much like the Pharisee in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, who was doing nothing wrong, but his pride in the things that he was doing correctly and his scorn for those who were sinners, was the thing that condemned the ‘good’ man,
Heaven’s Messages Are Not Popular, But Painful and Necessary
The world is so sick right now, that surgery is necessary. The sick patient does not receive the news of an amputation with any joy, but the patient knows and understands that it is a painful necessity. Today, the world neither accepts, nor wants, nor understands the need for the imminent ‘amputations’ that God will be performing all throughout the world. They have been drugged and blinded by the pleasures, comfort, conveniences and entertainment of the world―as St. Paul said above: “The sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand!”
By the above words “the sensual man”― St. Paul refers to either the person who is taken up with sensual pleasures, with carnal and worldly affections; or the persons who measures divine mysteries by natural reason, sense, and human wisdom only. Our Lady has not ceased to ‘preach’ the current unpopular, unpleasant, unwanted, unappreciated and unheeded message of our sinfulness and never-before-seen chastisements that are awaiting the whole world (both good and bad persons, laity and clergy) for a refusal to stop sinning and a refusal to perform serious works of penance. Our lovable Lady is, according to Sr. Lucia of Fatima, saddened by our refusal to listen to hear, by our “tuning-out” or “switching-off” or “stonewalling” of her messages. “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness, with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. Believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Spiritual Nagging is Necessary
Sweet, sugary, soft words have not worked and have brought about an further, ever-increasing corruption of Faith and Morals. Heaven has repeatedly ‘nagged’ us about the imminent consequences of the continuing increase in sins and their gravity. Those messages, demands and warnings must be preached―pleasant or not, liked or not― “And the Lord said: ‘Do not fear, but speak; and hold not thy peace!’” (Acts 18:9). “Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their wicked doings and their sins!” (Isaias 58:1). “Preach the word! Be insistent in season, out of season! Reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine! For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables!” (2 Timothy 4:2-4).
Sadly, however, we do cease―or never even start―to lift up our voices like a trumpet to show those around us their wicked doings and their sins! We ignore God’s words: “Do not fear, but speak and hold not they peace!” and we “shut-up and put-up” with wicked deeds and sins. We hesitate to “rock the boat” or even detest the thought of doing so―we rationalize this failure and neglect as being some kind of act of charity, whereas it is really cowardice. If we ever do say anything, it is most likely and usually to others that we say something (gossip) rather than personally and directly address the guilty party one-on-one, privately―thus again disobeying Our Lord, Who clearly said: “But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the Church. And if he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican!” (Matthew 18:15-17).
We Reject God’s Ways For Our Ways
We totally by-pass that order of correction and just simply tell anyone or everyone (whether by word or internet), without ever privately addressing the guilty party! We have become moral “bottom feeders” which is defined idiomatically as a person who swims and thrives among the unwholesome things in society; someone who takes advantage of, gossips about, or preys upon the misfortune of others. The internet forums are full of these “bottom feeders’! Unfortunately, most Catholic forums have become―or are becoming― “bottom feeder forums” that deal with scandal, salaciousness, gossip, conjectures, accusations, allegations, exaggerations, calumny, detraction, half-truths, mockery, insults and ‘self-righteous’ anger. The moderators find all kinds of excuses and rationalizations for allowing this―but the bottom line is that these kinds of things “sell newspapers” and the more “readers” their forum gets, the higher they climb in the rankings and popularity. When the moderators are “called-out” for allowing such things, they usually either delete the criticism or begin to bluster and brag, protest and palliate, scream and shout that it is “all for the sake of truth” and “all in the name of truth”―failing to realize that even detraction (the truthful revealing of another’s sins) is a sinful truthfulness. O what a judgment we prepare for ourselves! O what a judgment do these moderators prepare for themselves―all for the sake of fleeting popularity! It is on their forum and under their watch that all this takes place!
Let us have the courage and the decency to personally and privately address those who are offending God in one way or another―even if that means addressing, not only family, relatives, friends and work colleagues, but also the politicians, financiers, priests, bishops, cardinals or even the pope himself! It is not that hard to get their address, e-mail or phone number. Whether or not they read the correction, whether or not they act upon the correction―that is their concern between them and God―you will have fulfilled Christ’s command to first of all correct privately, one-to-one. That is what you will be judged upon once you die. Imagine the effect it would have upon a wayward politician, pope, bishop or priest if they were to receive thousands of corrective letters or communications! But, of course, we are too cowardly or lazy to do such a thing―we prefer to gossip among ourselves instead! Our Lord warns: “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!” (Matthew 12:36)―our gossip, mockery, accusations, allegations, slander, detraction, calumny, contumacy, etc., is a whole lot more than a mere “idle word”! All of that merely pours more gasoline on the fire―rather than puts out the fire! Do we seek to save that which is lost, or do we want to burn that which is lost? God says: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23) and Our Lord says: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10), adding: “If thy brother shall offend against thee, go and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother!” (Matthew 18:16).
“He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me!” Luke 10:16). “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved! … Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it. He that receiveth you, receiveth Me: and he that receiveth Me, receiveth him that sent Me!” (Matthew 10:22; 10:32-40).
All Talk―No Action
Human beings are usually “all talk and no action”―or at least little or no action. Since the advent and growth of the internet, the world has become more of a race of talkers than doers. You could just as easily say: “All thought and no action”―for talk always is an expression of thought. Talk is the next step after thought―talk is the communication of thought to others. “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers [or talkers] only, deceiving your own selves. For if a man be a hearer [or talker] of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a mirror. For he beheld himself and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was. But he that hath not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work; this man shall be blessed in his deed. And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain!” (James 1:22-26).
Taking it a step further, you could say: “Just words and no heart” in the sense of speaking without sincerity, speaking falsely, dissimulating ― “An enemy is known by his lips, when in his heart he entertains deceit!” (Proverbs 26:24). “An enemy speaketh sweetly with his lips, but, in his heart, he lieth in wait, to throw thee into a pit!” (Ecclesiasticus 12:15). “They have spoken vain things everyone to his neighbour: with deceitful lips, and with a double heart have they spoken” (Psalms 11:3). This is what both God the Father and Our Lord indicated concerning the Jews: “And the Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Isaias 29:13) and Our Lord later reiterated: “But Jesus, answering, said to them: ‘Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!”’” (Mark 7:6).
As they say, “talk is cheap” and, boy, do we like cheap things! Talk is the easy way out! What it amounts to, objectively speaking, is the burning-down of the Church and the needless burning of souls in Hell as a consequence. The usual attitude is one of: “It’s not my problem!”―which is akin to the vain unacceptable excuse of Cain to God, when he protested: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). Quite simply, yes we are the keepers of our “brothers” and “sisters” in this world―meaning, every human being. “You are the body of Christ, and members of member … If one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer” (1 Corinthians 12:26-27). “So we being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Romans 12:5). “You are no longer strangers and foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother, abideth in the light, and there is no scandal in him. But he that hateth his brother, is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not where he goeth; because the darkness hath blinded his eyes … Let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth … He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity … If any man say, «I love God» and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not? … He that knoweth his brother to sin, let him ask [by prayer to God], and life shall be given to him [the sinner]” (1 John 2:9-11; 3:18; 4:8, 20; 5:16).
Wrong Talk and No Action Loses Countless Souls
How many more souls would have been saved if we―instead of happily wallowing in the slime of gossip, mockery, accusations, allegations, slander, detraction, calumny, contumacy, criticism, etc. ― had turned to prayer and sacrifice instead! This is nothing other than what Our Lady and the Angel of Portugal commanded at Fatima: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” The Angel of Portugal had already rebuked the Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta for playing not praying on the occasion of his second apparition to them: “What are you doing?” he asked. “Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer unceasingly prayers and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High.” The Angel scolded them: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High!” The children (Lucia) asked: “How must we sacrifice ourselves?” The angel replied: “Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you.”
We will have to answer for, not only our idle words, but all our idle actions, our vain actions, our empty actions―all those actions that catered to worldly interests and left aside the higher, more important, and gravely consequential spiritual actions, that should have been performed first, but were never performed, for they were neglected in favor of the more entertaining and pleasurable worldly actions. Our neglect of other souls, which contributes and leads to their damnation, may well end up the cause of our own damnation. The parable of the Goats and the Sheep clearly points in that direction. The ‘goats’ are damned―not for anything that they did, but because of what they DID NOT DO! “Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me!’ Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least of My brethren, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting!” (Matthew 25:41-46).
You Have What It Takes―But Do You Use It?
“A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability … He that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, and hid his lord's money. After a long time, the lord of those servants came back, and reckoned with them … He that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with additional interest. Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away. And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
The talent referred to by Our Lord was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices, that would translate to just over $11,000 worth of silver. The ‘talent’ that we have been given is the treasure chest of the Faith and all that is in it. We are meant to use this treasure to “overcome” the world and save souls. “This is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Hath not God chosen the poor in this world, rich in Faith?” (James 2:5). This is “substance” that we have been given in this world and we are meant to show some profit―as Our Lord alludes in His words concerning the vine, the branches and fruit at the Last Supper: “Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, My Father will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit!” (John 15:2). “In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how doth the charity of God abide in him? Let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!” (1 John 3:16-18).
The Church is on fire and is burning-down! Souls are being lost to the fires of Hell like snowflakes falling in blizzard―as witnessed by some saints in visions granted to them. You have what it takes to firstly to bring the fire under control and stop it spreading, and, secondly, to put out that fire! You, by your baptism, are in possession of the fire-hosepipe of prayer, through which the waters of grace can be sprayed upon those parts of the Church that are in flames, and over those souls who have lost the grace of God and in whom the devil has enkindled the spark of the fires of Hell. Ask any fireman―a serious blaze requires serious efforts to control it and extinguish it. You cannot spray some water on it for 5 minutes and then go home to dinner and TV. Likewise, it is only serious, prolonged, well-aimed, and consistent prayer and sacrifice that will be able to have any impact on the blaze within the Church today. If you want to waste your time on earthly, material, even worldly activities while souls are being lost and Holy Mother Church burns-down, then that is your choice and that choice will be judged by God when you die, when He shows you how many souls your laziness or negligence lost. Yes, we are the keepers of our brothers and sisters―and, yes, they are in grave need for the most part. What you decide to do about it could well decide your eternity!
Yet almost everyone is caught up in the world, that it will take a true miracle of grace for any one family to turn its attitude around and start getting serious about what seriously matters―the salvation of other souls and the salvation of their own souls―which, in case you did not know, Canon Law calls the “supreme law”―lex suprema salus animarum est―meaning, “the supreme law is the salvation of souls.” If that is not your supreme goal, then you have sadly lost your sense of values somewhere along the road of this distracting world. Truly, a miracle of grace of God is needed to turn anyone around―given the state of the world today―and that miracle will only be earned by much sincere, prolonged, persevering prayer and many daily sacrifices. Most souls are not prepared to make the change―that is why most souls are sadly lost. Not because of any kind of meanness on the part of God, but because of a meanness in responding to God’s recommendations and solutions.
As we approach Low Sunday, we also approach low levels of Faith. The word “Catholic” means “Universal” and there is no doubt that the Catholic Faith has become a universally collapsing Faith. We are hitting new lows with each decade that we pass through. Just when you think things can’t get any worse―they get worse! We go from low to low―and what is perhaps even lower than low is the fact that we don’t really give a damn how low we go! As long we have a screen to watch, a beer to drink, a cookie or donut to nibble, and a smartphone in our hands―then we are happy and high, regardless of how low other things may go!
The origin of the name “Low Sunday” (the first Sunday after Easter) is uncertain, but most religious authors and commentators think that the term “Low” is intended to show the difference between the higher and greater feast of Easter Sunday, whose octave (eight days) is terminated by the lower or lesser feast of the First Sunday after Easter, which is the Octave Day of Easter, and Low Sunday was therefore considered a part of that prolonged eight-day celebration of the feast of Easter, though in a lower degree. Low Sunday’s liturgical name is (in Latin) Dominica in albis depositis (meaning “white alb or robe removal Sunday”), which owes its origin from the fact that on Low Sunday, on the octave day of Easter, that the newly baptized neophytes (literally meaning “new plants”), baptized on Easter Eve, then for the first time laid aside their white baptismal robes that they had been clothed with at their baptism at the Paschal Vigil―which was originally the only day when baptism was administered (apart from cases of danger of death).
On Low Sunday, the neophytes, the “new-seedlings” in whom the Faith was planted, would return to the bishop and offer their white garments (a symbol of purity, grace and sanctity) to their bishop―which is symbolic of appearing before God clothed in a “wedding garment” of grace through which we are allowed to enter into Heaven. This idea and symbolism is retained in the traditional form of Baptism today, whereby the priest, in clothing the baptized person (neophyte) with a white robe (adult) or a white blanket or shawl (baby) while saying the words: “Take this white robe and keep it spotless, until you arrive at the Judgment Seat of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you may be rewarded with everlasting life!”
Hitting New Lows
If only we Christians would keep our white robes spotless until we arrive at the Judgment Seat of Christ! Sadly, as is the case with most Christians, baptism is not a maintenance or growth or springboard to sanctity, but, instead, it is the beginning of a gradual slide, a progressive demise, a prolonged and steady lowering of levels, whereby the Christian grows less and less enamored with the idea of acquiring sanctity, and prefers to acquire worldliness with all that it potentially brings―money, possessions, power, honor, respect, fame, comfort, ease, pleasure, enjoyment, etc. It is in this vein that God speaks the following words of rebuke in Holy Scripture: “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first charity. Be mindful therefore from whence thou art fallen: and do penance, and do the first works. Or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou do penance … I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest: « I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing! » and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked! I counsel thee to buy of me gold, fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 2:4-5; 3:15-18).
Is Low Sunday a L.O.E. Sunday?
Huh? LOE? What is that? L.O.E. stands for “Law of Entropy”, otherwise known in physics as the “Second Law of Thermodynamics.” The Second Law of Thermodynamics is one of three Laws of Thermodynamics. As far as we can tell, these Laws are absolute. All things in the observable universe are affected by and obey the Laws of Thermodynamics. The First Law of Thermodynamics, commonly known as “the Law of Conservation of Matter”, states that matter/energy cannot be created, nor can it be destroyed―you could say it much like the soul: we cannot create a soul and we cannot destroy a soul, God created all souls and all souls will live eternally in either Heaven or Hell. The quantity of matter/energy remains the same, but its quality can change from solid to liquid to gas to plasma and back again, but the total amount of matter/energy in the universe remains constant. Likewise, our souls remain the same in quantity, but they change in quality―becoming sinful, lukewarm, fervent, holy, etc.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics is commonly known as the Law of Increased Entropy. While quantity remains the same (First Law), the quality of matter/energy, deteriorates gradually over time. How so? Usable energy is inevitably used for productivity, growth and repair. Therefore, by being used for something, usable energy is converted into unusable energy. Thus, usable energy is irretrievably lost in the form of unusable energy.
The implications of the Second Law of Thermodynamics are considerable. The universe is constantly losing usable energy and never gaining. We logically conclude the universe is not eternal. Like a wind-up clock, the universe is winding down, as if, at one point, it was fully wound-up and has been winding-down ever since.
Human & Spiritual Laws of Thermodynamics
This is true for human beings too! We eventually wind-down and die. Our zeal also winds-down. Our love winds-down. Our memory winds-down. Our strength winds-down. Our speed winds-down. Our endurance winds-down. All things wind-down unless there is an external intervention that rejuvenates. In our spiritual lives, it is the God and His grace that rejuvenates us. In the case of Moses and the Chosen People, the outside intervention was God, Who fed them and provided water for them for forty years in the desert―yet, as punishment, God let the original adult generation “wind-down” and die-off in the desert. In the case of the Machabees, they were gradually losing the ideals that initially made them rebel (rightfully). No longer was the religion the focal point of the battles and wars, but human considerations came to replace divine considerations. Man gradually took the front seat to God. The spiritual ideals and ideology gradually began to wind-down and so God wound-down His assistance also. The same is true for our spiritual lives―we reap what we sow, but any progress or improvement, or betterment can only come from an exterior intervention―as Our Lord said:
“I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine―you are the branches! He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit―for, without Me, you can do nothing! If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth” (John 15:1-6).
The Imitation of Christ, addressing Our Lord in the same vein, says: “You know the weakness and the necessity which I suffer, in what great evils and vices I am involved, how often I am depressed, tempted, defiled, and troubled. To You I come for help, to You I pray for comfort and relief. I speak to Him Who knows all things, to Whom my whole inner life is manifest, and Who alone can perfectly comfort and help me. You know what good things I am most in need of and how poor I am in virtue. Behold I stand before You, poor and naked, asking Your grace and imploring Your mercy. Feed Your hungry beggar. Inflame my coldness with the fire of Your love. Enlighten my blindness with the brightness of Your presence. Turn all earthly things to bitterness for me, all grievance and adversity to patience, all lowly creation to contempt and oblivion. Raise my heart to You in Heaven and suffer me not to wander on Earth. From this moment to all eternity, do You alone grow sweet to me, for You alone are my food and drink, my love and my joy, my sweetness and my total good. Let Your presence wholly inflame me, consume and transform me into Yourself, that I may become one spirit with You, by the grace of inward union, and by the melting power of Your ardent love. Suffer me not to go from You fasting and thirsty, but deal with me mercifully, as You have so often and so wonderfully dealt with Your saints … I pray for this, I desire this, that I may be completely united to You and may withdraw my heart from all created things, learning to relish the celestial and the eternal through Holy Communion and the frequent celebration of Mass … I will put my lips to the mouth of this heavenly stream, that from it I may receive at least some small drop to refresh my thirst and not wither away!” (Taken from The Imitation of Christ, book 4, chapters 4, 13 & 16). Such should be the sentiments of all Catholics, but, alas, how few could read, pray and mean those words in all sincerity of heart!
Heaven Admits Earth Has Hit Untold Lows
It is our nature to be optimistic―that is why there are so few people really trying to get to Heaven while all the time thinking they are bound to end up there somehow! These people have made a mockery of the words of Holy Scripture―which tell us: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12)―by quasi-changing those words in practice to: “In fun and laughter you will obtain salvation!” Heaven, however, is not laughing, nor does it find our way of life to be fun or very funny! Our Lady has revealed that we have hit untold lows in sinfulness, saying that the state of the world today is even worse than it was at the time of Deluge (Great Flood) in the time of Noe! In the 1950s, Our Lady revealed the following to the Italian mystic, Blessed Sr. Elena Aiello:
“People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth. Tragic events are in store for the future. For quite a while, and in many a way, I have warned the world. The nations rulers do indeed understand the gravity of these dangers, but they refuse to acknowledge that it is necessary for all people to practice a truly Christian life to counteract that scourge. The time is not far off now when the whole world shall be greatly disturbed. A great deal of blood of just and innocent people, as well as saintly priests, will be poured out. The Church shall suffer very much and hatred will be at its very peak. You cannot possibly imagine what is going to happen. If possible, publish this message throughout the world, and admonish all the people to do penance and to return right away to God.” (Our Lady’s words to the Italian mystic, Blessed Sr. Elena Aiello).
Falling Lower and Lower
Those words of Our Lady in the 1950s were repeated a little over 20 years later at Akita in Japan, 1973: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
Our Lady essentially said the same things and gave similar warnings at La Salette and Fatima― “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! … Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together! … God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.” (La Salette).
“Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If people do not cease offending God … God will punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father … The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.” (Fatima). Regarding the annihilation of nations: it is important to note that during the Father Fuentes interview on December 26th, 1957, Sister Lucia said that Our Blessed Mother herself had told Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July of 1917, but Lucia said that Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, 1994], p. 27).
Does All This Make You Feel Low on This Low Sunday?
Hopefully all of the above testimonies puncture any inflated balloons of presumption that may be floating around in your mind, your home, your family, amongst your relatives, friends, parish, school or workplace! We need to burst these self-created and self-inflated balloons of misplaced optimism, or myopic euphoria and presumptuous self-deceiving reasoning! We are in a Hell of a mess, yet we can’t stop laughing and enjoying our pathetic plight! We live as if there was not Hell and no Heaven! Though in theory we believe differently, in practice we have sought to find our Heaven on Earth, but have only succeeded in creating a Hell on Earth.
Like the fictional well-meaning Dr. Frankenstein, we have only managed to create a monster that will come back to destroy us! We create a fake idea of Our Lady in our truth-avoiding minds that is far from what Our Lady has been like over the last 300 to 400 years. Generally speaking, Our Lady has shown very little joy, smiled little, but shown much sorrow and spoken gravely and threateningly. At La Salette she was sorrowful, sad and weeping. At Fatima she never even smiled at the little children―according to the testimony of Sr. Lucia. Yet somehow we still persist in having a fake and unrealistic notion of a “Barbie-Doll” Our Lady, with a perpetual smile chiseled onto her lips!
Heaven Wants to Show Mercy―We Do Not Give Heaven an Excuse
Both Our Lord and Our Lady want to show us mercy―but we give them little or no excuse for showing us mercy! Murderous abortions are sky-high in number, crying to Heaven for vengeance! Homosexuality, adultery, fornication, cohabitation, impurity and pornography are rampant just as Our Lady of Good Success predicted at Quito, Ecuador: “The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!” The worldwide average for regular attendance at Holy Mass on Sundays is approximately only 20% (1 in 5) to 25% (1 in 4) ― with some “once-upon-a-time” powerful Catholic countries like France having an estimated 1% (1 in a 100) attendance rate in certain areas. Only 2% of Catholics pray the Rosary daily―yet Our Lady asked that we all pray the Rosary “very, very much!” It is estimated that of the 20% of Catholics that do practice their Faith regularly, only 10% of that 20% (therefore 2% of all Catholics, or 1 in 50) still go to confession. Most Catholic women have or are practicing contraception. Over half of Catholics condone same sex marriages and homosexual relations. Most Catholics cohabit before marrying. The list goes on and on―no wonder Our Lady said to Blessed Sr. Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. All is hanging on a slender thread.”
What Should Really Make Us Feel Low!
All of this makes one think of either “seeing the glass half-full or seeing the glass half-empty.” Some get depressed at the constant rubbing of noses in Heaven’s terrible threats―of course, without doubt, those messages are threatening, frightening and depressing. Yet, like all medicine that might be painful, foul-tasting and unpleasant―it is meant to bring about a cure and lasting health.
Mankind proudly and selfishly thinks that God and mammon CAN be served at one and the same time―despite what Our Lord has said: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24).
Our Pride Needs to be Brought Low
What pathetic pride people have in trying to tell God how to run His show! God has timeless, endless and unmatched experience―He made us and He more than anybody knows “what makes us tick” and what “ticks us off”! He has His way of doing things and He tells us: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). “And you have said: The way of the Lord is not right. Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel: Is it my way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:25). We either “do it His way” or we “take the highway”―to Hell. “The sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined. But the spiritual man judgeth all things; and he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that we may instruct him?” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16). “O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it: ‘Why hast thou made me thus?’ Or hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?” (Romans 9:20-21).
Read the Book of Job from chapter 38 to chapter 42 and see how God “puts-down” Job and his secret, hidden arrogance or dissatisfaction with the way God has handled things in his life. Nowhere else in Holy Scripture do you find 5 successive chapters dealing with one long Divine “put-down” or putting of someone in their rightful (lowly) place. God basically―after reducing Job to the lowest levels materially and physically speaking (he loses his children, possessions, wealth and health), God then proceeds to destroy any subtle pride that may linger with Job―even though, on the whole, Job was a very just and godly man. Though Job accepts the afflictions that God has poured-out upon him, there is still a secret pride, perhaps a self-righteous feeling―much like the Pharisee in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, who was doing nothing wrong, but his pride in the things that he was doing correctly and his scorn for those who were sinners, was the thing that condemned the ‘good’ man,
Heaven’s Messages Are Not Popular, But Painful and Necessary
The world is so sick right now, that surgery is necessary. The sick patient does not receive the news of an amputation with any joy, but the patient knows and understands that it is a painful necessity. Today, the world neither accepts, nor wants, nor understands the need for the imminent ‘amputations’ that God will be performing all throughout the world. They have been drugged and blinded by the pleasures, comfort, conveniences and entertainment of the world―as St. Paul said above: “The sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand!”
By the above words “the sensual man”― St. Paul refers to either the person who is taken up with sensual pleasures, with carnal and worldly affections; or the persons who measures divine mysteries by natural reason, sense, and human wisdom only. Our Lady has not ceased to ‘preach’ the current unpopular, unpleasant, unwanted, unappreciated and unheeded message of our sinfulness and never-before-seen chastisements that are awaiting the whole world (both good and bad persons, laity and clergy) for a refusal to stop sinning and a refusal to perform serious works of penance. Our lovable Lady is, according to Sr. Lucia of Fatima, saddened by our refusal to listen to hear, by our “tuning-out” or “switching-off” or “stonewalling” of her messages. “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on the road of goodness, with their life of virtue and apostolate without paying attention to this Message―they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners, the bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement about to fall upon them presently, also keep following the road of evil through sin, ignoring the Message, because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them. Believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way!” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Spiritual Nagging is Necessary
Sweet, sugary, soft words have not worked and have brought about an further, ever-increasing corruption of Faith and Morals. Heaven has repeatedly ‘nagged’ us about the imminent consequences of the continuing increase in sins and their gravity. Those messages, demands and warnings must be preached―pleasant or not, liked or not― “And the Lord said: ‘Do not fear, but speak; and hold not thy peace!’” (Acts 18:9). “Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their wicked doings and their sins!” (Isaias 58:1). “Preach the word! Be insistent in season, out of season! Reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine! For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables!” (2 Timothy 4:2-4).
Sadly, however, we do cease―or never even start―to lift up our voices like a trumpet to show those around us their wicked doings and their sins! We ignore God’s words: “Do not fear, but speak and hold not they peace!” and we “shut-up and put-up” with wicked deeds and sins. We hesitate to “rock the boat” or even detest the thought of doing so―we rationalize this failure and neglect as being some kind of act of charity, whereas it is really cowardice. If we ever do say anything, it is most likely and usually to others that we say something (gossip) rather than personally and directly address the guilty party one-on-one, privately―thus again disobeying Our Lord, Who clearly said: “But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the Church. And if he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican!” (Matthew 18:15-17).
We Reject God’s Ways For Our Ways
We totally by-pass that order of correction and just simply tell anyone or everyone (whether by word or internet), without ever privately addressing the guilty party! We have become moral “bottom feeders” which is defined idiomatically as a person who swims and thrives among the unwholesome things in society; someone who takes advantage of, gossips about, or preys upon the misfortune of others. The internet forums are full of these “bottom feeders’! Unfortunately, most Catholic forums have become―or are becoming― “bottom feeder forums” that deal with scandal, salaciousness, gossip, conjectures, accusations, allegations, exaggerations, calumny, detraction, half-truths, mockery, insults and ‘self-righteous’ anger. The moderators find all kinds of excuses and rationalizations for allowing this―but the bottom line is that these kinds of things “sell newspapers” and the more “readers” their forum gets, the higher they climb in the rankings and popularity. When the moderators are “called-out” for allowing such things, they usually either delete the criticism or begin to bluster and brag, protest and palliate, scream and shout that it is “all for the sake of truth” and “all in the name of truth”―failing to realize that even detraction (the truthful revealing of another’s sins) is a sinful truthfulness. O what a judgment we prepare for ourselves! O what a judgment do these moderators prepare for themselves―all for the sake of fleeting popularity! It is on their forum and under their watch that all this takes place!
Let us have the courage and the decency to personally and privately address those who are offending God in one way or another―even if that means addressing, not only family, relatives, friends and work colleagues, but also the politicians, financiers, priests, bishops, cardinals or even the pope himself! It is not that hard to get their address, e-mail or phone number. Whether or not they read the correction, whether or not they act upon the correction―that is their concern between them and God―you will have fulfilled Christ’s command to first of all correct privately, one-to-one. That is what you will be judged upon once you die. Imagine the effect it would have upon a wayward politician, pope, bishop or priest if they were to receive thousands of corrective letters or communications! But, of course, we are too cowardly or lazy to do such a thing―we prefer to gossip among ourselves instead! Our Lord warns: “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!” (Matthew 12:36)―our gossip, mockery, accusations, allegations, slander, detraction, calumny, contumacy, etc., is a whole lot more than a mere “idle word”! All of that merely pours more gasoline on the fire―rather than puts out the fire! Do we seek to save that which is lost, or do we want to burn that which is lost? God says: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23) and Our Lord says: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10), adding: “If thy brother shall offend against thee, go and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother!” (Matthew 18:16).
“He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me!” Luke 10:16). “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved! … Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it. He that receiveth you, receiveth Me: and he that receiveth Me, receiveth him that sent Me!” (Matthew 10:22; 10:32-40).
All Talk―No Action
Human beings are usually “all talk and no action”―or at least little or no action. Since the advent and growth of the internet, the world has become more of a race of talkers than doers. You could just as easily say: “All thought and no action”―for talk always is an expression of thought. Talk is the next step after thought―talk is the communication of thought to others. “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers [or talkers] only, deceiving your own selves. For if a man be a hearer [or talker] of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a mirror. For he beheld himself and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was. But he that hath not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work; this man shall be blessed in his deed. And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain!” (James 1:22-26).
Taking it a step further, you could say: “Just words and no heart” in the sense of speaking without sincerity, speaking falsely, dissimulating ― “An enemy is known by his lips, when in his heart he entertains deceit!” (Proverbs 26:24). “An enemy speaketh sweetly with his lips, but, in his heart, he lieth in wait, to throw thee into a pit!” (Ecclesiasticus 12:15). “They have spoken vain things everyone to his neighbour: with deceitful lips, and with a double heart have they spoken” (Psalms 11:3). This is what both God the Father and Our Lord indicated concerning the Jews: “And the Lord said: ‘Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify Me, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Isaias 29:13) and Our Lord later reiterated: “But Jesus, answering, said to them: ‘Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!”’” (Mark 7:6).
As they say, “talk is cheap” and, boy, do we like cheap things! Talk is the easy way out! What it amounts to, objectively speaking, is the burning-down of the Church and the needless burning of souls in Hell as a consequence. The usual attitude is one of: “It’s not my problem!”―which is akin to the vain unacceptable excuse of Cain to God, when he protested: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). Quite simply, yes we are the keepers of our “brothers” and “sisters” in this world―meaning, every human being. “You are the body of Christ, and members of member … If one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer” (1 Corinthians 12:26-27). “So we being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Romans 12:5). “You are no longer strangers and foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother, abideth in the light, and there is no scandal in him. But he that hateth his brother, is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not where he goeth; because the darkness hath blinded his eyes … Let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth … He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity … If any man say, «I love God» and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not? … He that knoweth his brother to sin, let him ask [by prayer to God], and life shall be given to him [the sinner]” (1 John 2:9-11; 3:18; 4:8, 20; 5:16).
Wrong Talk and No Action Loses Countless Souls
How many more souls would have been saved if we―instead of happily wallowing in the slime of gossip, mockery, accusations, allegations, slander, detraction, calumny, contumacy, criticism, etc. ― had turned to prayer and sacrifice instead! This is nothing other than what Our Lady and the Angel of Portugal commanded at Fatima: “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved! … Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort! … “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary! … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!” The Angel of Portugal had already rebuked the Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta for playing not praying on the occasion of his second apparition to them: “What are you doing?” he asked. “Pray! Pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer unceasingly prayers and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High.” The Angel scolded them: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices continually to the Most High!” The children (Lucia) asked: “How must we sacrifice ourselves?” The angel replied: “Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners. Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you.”
We will have to answer for, not only our idle words, but all our idle actions, our vain actions, our empty actions―all those actions that catered to worldly interests and left aside the higher, more important, and gravely consequential spiritual actions, that should have been performed first, but were never performed, for they were neglected in favor of the more entertaining and pleasurable worldly actions. Our neglect of other souls, which contributes and leads to their damnation, may well end up the cause of our own damnation. The parable of the Goats and the Sheep clearly points in that direction. The ‘goats’ are damned―not for anything that they did, but because of what they DID NOT DO! “Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me!’ Then they also shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least of My brethren, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting!” (Matthew 25:41-46).
You Have What It Takes―But Do You Use It?
“A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to everyone according to his proper ability … He that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, and hid his lord's money. After a long time, the lord of those servants came back, and reckoned with them … He that had received the one talent, came and said: ‘Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And being afraid I went and hid thy talent in the earth: behold here thou hast that which is thine!’ And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with additional interest. Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away. And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:14-30).
The talent referred to by Our Lord was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices, that would translate to just over $11,000 worth of silver. The ‘talent’ that we have been given is the treasure chest of the Faith and all that is in it. We are meant to use this treasure to “overcome” the world and save souls. “This is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). “Hath not God chosen the poor in this world, rich in Faith?” (James 2:5). This is “substance” that we have been given in this world and we are meant to show some profit―as Our Lord alludes in His words concerning the vine, the branches and fruit at the Last Supper: “Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, My Father will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit!” (John 15:2). “In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how doth the charity of God abide in him? Let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth!” (1 John 3:16-18).
The Church is on fire and is burning-down! Souls are being lost to the fires of Hell like snowflakes falling in blizzard―as witnessed by some saints in visions granted to them. You have what it takes to firstly to bring the fire under control and stop it spreading, and, secondly, to put out that fire! You, by your baptism, are in possession of the fire-hosepipe of prayer, through which the waters of grace can be sprayed upon those parts of the Church that are in flames, and over those souls who have lost the grace of God and in whom the devil has enkindled the spark of the fires of Hell. Ask any fireman―a serious blaze requires serious efforts to control it and extinguish it. You cannot spray some water on it for 5 minutes and then go home to dinner and TV. Likewise, it is only serious, prolonged, well-aimed, and consistent prayer and sacrifice that will be able to have any impact on the blaze within the Church today. If you want to waste your time on earthly, material, even worldly activities while souls are being lost and Holy Mother Church burns-down, then that is your choice and that choice will be judged by God when you die, when He shows you how many souls your laziness or negligence lost. Yes, we are the keepers of our brothers and sisters―and, yes, they are in grave need for the most part. What you decide to do about it could well decide your eternity!
Yet almost everyone is caught up in the world, that it will take a true miracle of grace for any one family to turn its attitude around and start getting serious about what seriously matters―the salvation of other souls and the salvation of their own souls―which, in case you did not know, Canon Law calls the “supreme law”―lex suprema salus animarum est―meaning, “the supreme law is the salvation of souls.” If that is not your supreme goal, then you have sadly lost your sense of values somewhere along the road of this distracting world. Truly, a miracle of grace of God is needed to turn anyone around―given the state of the world today―and that miracle will only be earned by much sincere, prolonged, persevering prayer and many daily sacrifices. Most souls are not prepared to make the change―that is why most souls are sadly lost. Not because of any kind of meanness on the part of God, but because of a meanness in responding to God’s recommendations and solutions.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Easter Thursday, April 25th & Friday, April 26th
Article 4
Catholicism Is Being Sucked Into a 'Black Hole'
Article 4
Catholicism Is Being Sucked Into a 'Black Hole'
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What is a Black Hole?
Before we look at Catholics in black holes, let us look at “black holes”, then “hell-holes” and then the “holes in our souls.” So first of all, welcome ye earthlings or worldlings, to the place of no return―a region in space where the gravitational pull is so strong, that not even light can escape it. This is the black hole. As an idiom or figure of speech, the term “black hole” means a place where people, things, or money, disappear without trace. Astronomically speaking, a black hole is a region of space-time exhibiting such strong gravitational effects that nothing—not even particles and electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from inside it. A black hole is a hungry beast. It swallows up everything too close, too slow, too small, or too weak to fight its gravitational force. With every planet, gas, star or bit of mass consumed, the black hole grows. The edge of a black hole, like a whirlpool in space instead of water, is the point of no return. At the edge of the black hole, light is drawn in to a black hole, never to escape. And nothing is faster than light―yet it is not fast enough to escape. Spiritual Black Holes Our Lord warns us against being spiritually blind, lest we fall into the pit― “If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14)―well, a pit is hole: “He hath opened a pit and dug it; and he is fallen into the hole he made!” (Psalms 7:16). The very words used in the term “black hole” seem to indicate a place of darkness, and darkness is exactly what Hell and the devil is all about: “He shall drive him out of light into darkness, and shall remove him out of the world! … If I wait Hell, is my house, and I have made my bed in darkness! … A land of misery and darkness, where the shadow of death, and no order, but everlasting horror dwelleth … He shall not depart out of darkness―the flame shall dry up his branches” (Job 18:18; 17:13; 10:22; 15:30). “He goeth to darkness and his name shall be wholly forgotten!” (Ecclesiastes 6:4). “What manner of joy shall be to me, who sit in darkness, and see not the light of Heaven?” (Tobias 5:12). “We are in dark places as dead men!” (Isaias 59:10). In our present day, the Church has fallen into a terrible black hole. “The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … All the universe will be struck with terror and many will let themselves be led astray, because they have not worshiped the true Christ, Who lives among them. It is time; the sun is darkening; only Faith will survive. Now is the time; the abyss is opening. Here is the king of kings of darkness, here is the Beast with his subjects, calling himself the savior of the world!” We can clearly see the black holes of increasing apostasy and a falling away from the practice of the Faith with every passing day; the black hole that has sucked out of the Church the vocations of the priests and religious more and more with each passing year; the black hole of hypocrisy and corruption among clergy and laity, governments, politicians, media moguls, entertainers and businessmen; the black hole of electronic technology that sucks souls away from God and a spiritual life; the black hole of materialism and fun-seeking that sucks out all notions of sacrifice, mortification and penance; the black hole of social media which replaces communication with Heaven by a vain and banal communication with mere creatures and not the Creator; the black hole of gluttony which destroys the temperance we need to live a truly Christian life; the black hole of alcoholism and drug addiction that weakens the will and leads the mind into an unreal existence; the black hole of sexuality that titillates with flirtation and eventually leads to terrible sins against purity through thoughts, words, glances and actions with self or with others or on the internet; the black hole of curiosity that is fed by the internet’s ability to know almost everything that is happening anywhere in the world. These earthly black holes are just as numerous as the black holes in space and the universe. There are plenty of black holes for all the souls on Earth―all perfectly designed so that nobody feels left out or dissatisfied. There is a black hole tailor-made for you! The Black Hole of Sin Sin can easily become a black hole for us―it can have a gravitational pull that we just cannot resist when we come close to it. We are all creatures of habit―God made us that way―but we should have good, virtuous habits and not bad, sinful habits. Vice is sin that has become a habit. Thus, it could be said that vice (habitual sin) is the black hole of the soul. Each person has a tendency or propensity to one sin or another (a “pet” sin) that they like to commit and feel comfortable committing without having much remorse about it. It could be in thoughts, in glances and looking at things, it could be in talking about this, that or the other, or criticizing this that or the other, or is doing one thing or another, or even not doing something that we should be doing. Sin can become the black hole, or spider’s web, which, when we draw close to it and then indulge in it, can capture us for life and never let us escape. In looking for some potential lyrics on “black holes” and sin, wouldn’t you just know it that it had to be a heavy metal, punk rock band from the Netherlands that had these ‘sinful’ lyrics, or lyrics that typify the black hole aspect of sin and its captivation. The ‘sinful’ song is entitled “Black Hole”―neither the band nor the song is something that is praiseworthy, but it does manifest the notion of sin (or sinful feelings) being a “black hole.” You did it once again You're losing everything in sin In your world alone All you've ever known Your ways have proved you wrong Haven't smiled in so long The things you tried to hide Are killing you inside Try to find out what it means When nothing is what it seems Hope it felt good when you stole Your heart is one black hole It is one black hole or another that has led priests, monks, nuns, brothers and sisters to abandon their vocations in droves since the Second Vatican Council; it is one black hole or another that has led countless souls away from the practice of their Faith; it is one black hole or another that distracts innumerable Catholics from the spiritual life and entangles them in a material and even worldly life. All of this is the black hole of sin. Black Holes Everywhere! There are so many black holes in the universe that counting them is impossible. Nearly every galaxy — our own Milky Way, and the billions or so other galaxies visible from Earth — all shows signs of a supermassive black hole at the center of their galaxy. Moreover the bigger a galaxy is, the more massive is its central black hole. Nobody knows why. The question of how you would die inside a black hole is one of the biggest debates in physics. And so physics is stuck. It does not know the answers! It’s a good job someone knows the answers! God knows! But nobody wants to bring God into science or humbly ask Him questions. Just as the Child Jesus was teaching the doctors in the Temple, so too would He teach the scientists in the laboratory―but nobody wants Him for their teacher! And that is the reason why we are headed for our own spiritual “black hole” and many have already been sucked into its deadly whirlpool negating energy. Black Holes and Tombstones for the Holies Black holes are the tombstones of stars―and the black holes of Hell or hell-holes are the tombstones of the ‘stars’ of this world, who shone brightly with all the glitz and glamour of this world. Black holes are made when the center of a very big star finally explodes and dies―spewing its outer mass out into space and at the same seeing its core collapsing and falling in upon itself. Black holes are extremely dense pockets of matter, objects of such incredible mass and miniscule―to help your imagination feebly grasp the idea, think of packing 60 people into a regular car, or trying to squeeze the Pacific or Atlantic ocean into a thimble. The dramatic transformation starts when a massive star runs out of fuel. As the star begins to collapse, it explodes. The star’s outer layers spew out into space, but the inside implodes, becoming denser and denser, until there is too much matter in too little space. The inner core of the star succumbs to its own gravitational pull and collapses into itself, in extreme cases forming a black hole. Theoretically, if you shrank or crushed any mass down into a smaller amount of space, it could become a black hole. Our planet would be one if you tried to cram Earth into a pea. Yet that is exactly what we are doing, in a certain sense, when we try to cram the maximum possible worldly pleasure and satisfaction into our measly 24 hour day! We are creating a spiritual black hole, whereby our true spiritual life explodes and spews out all our spirituality into space―because we have no time for it―and we fall back into ourselves to selfishly and intensely indulge ourselves on material, non-spiritual things, thus creating that spiritual black hole in our souls, just as the dying star creates a black hole in space. After a black hole has formed, it can continue to grow by absorbing mass from its surroundings. By absorbing other stars and merging with other black holes, super-massive black holes of millions of solar masses may form. Once we have formed a black hole in the soul, we likewise start to absorb all the material things that surround us and titillate us―we become the “hungry beast” mentioned above, we suck in the world all around us. Having cast out the spiritual light, we enter a spiritual darkness―a black hole. We fall into the pit of the devil (the prince of this world), the world itself and all the allurements, seductions and concupiscences that come from the devil and the world. We dig our own spiritual pit or grave! If you fell into a black hole, it’s not clear how you would die―or if you would die. Would gravity rip you apart and crush you into the black hole’s core? Or would a firewall of energy sizzle you into oblivion? Some scientists think It is possible to enter a black hole and not even die―much like entering Hell’s hole or pit and not dying, but living in Satan’s ‘black hole’ eternally. Could some essence of you ever emerge from a black hole? Could anyone come out of Hell’s black hole? |
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Thousands of Black Holes on Earth
Although no black hole is close enough to Earth to pull the planet to its doom, we have spiritual “black holes” on this Earth and most people are falling into them! “Behold darkness shall cover the Earth!” (Isaias 60:2). “The sun shall be turned into darkness!” (Joel 2:31). “A day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds” (Sophonias 1:15). “Take heed therefore, that the light which is in thee, be not darkness!” (Luke 11:35).
We have the “light” of Faith in our souls―yet we are surrounded by the darkness coming from the many “black holes” of the devil, the world and concupiscence that surround us on all sides―which like the black holes in space, produce such strong gravitational effects that almost nothing—not even souls filled with the light of Faith—can escape from being dragged inside one or other of those black holes of worldliness, comfort, technology, convenience, pleasure, entertainment, wealth, power, fame, curiosity, gossip, idle thoughts, day-dreaming, impure thoughts, flirtations, inebriations, etc. A black hole is a hungry beast. It swallows up everything too close, too slow, too small, or too weak to fight its gravitational force.
Follow the Light, Not the Darkness
“Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life!’” (John 8:12). “I am come a light into the world; that whosoever believeth in Me, may not remain in darkness!” (John 12:46). “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men ... The true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it ... He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not ... He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:1-11). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil” (John 3:19).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). “For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord. Walk then as children of the light” (Ephesians 5:8). “For all you are the children of light, and children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:5).
“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them!” (Ephesians 5:11). “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness” (Ephesians 6:12).
Are You In The Dark?
We think ourselves to be enlightened―but are you actually sitting in the dark? We are enlightened about many earthly, worldly, material things―but we are in the dark about spiritual things and things of the Faith. We make light of spiritual things, me make light of the Faith, we make light of the Commandments of God and the Church, we make light of the teachings of the Church―but we are in the dark about what really matters. “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not say the truth … if we walk in the light, as He also is in the light, we have fellowship one with another” (1 John 1:5-7). “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother, abideth in the light. But he that hateth his brother, is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not where he goeth; because the darkness hath blinded his eyes!” (1 John 2:9-11). “If he walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him!” (John 11:10).
The Dark Black Hole of Hatred
Today, there is so much hatred in the world―even among Catholics, one towards the other―that we really have to question whether or not we are truly of God. “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness.” (1 John 2:9). “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not just, is not of God, nor he that loveth not his brother” (1 John 3:10). As a whole, we are most certainly sitting in darkness, for we sit in hatred. Just read the internet forums―even Catholic forums, even traditional Catholic forums―and you will see them adequately spiced with hatred, insults, mockeries, insinuations, accusations, allegations, humiliations, snide comments, calumnies (lies), detractions (revealing of sins), rash judgments on little or no evidence, or questionable evidence, whereby, like evolutionists, they take a mere ‘bone’ and fabricate or invent a whole prehistoric mammal out of it, describing its every tiny detail. Woe, woe and thrice woe! “We are wrapped up in darkness!” (Job 37:19). “He that walketh in darkness, knoweth not where he goeth!” (John 12:35). “Error and darkness are created with sinners” (Ecclesiasticus 11:16). “The eye of the adulterer observeth darkness, saying: ‘No eye shall see me!’ and he will cover his face” (Job 24:15). Likewise, the calumniator (liar), the dectractor (revealer of sins), the accuser, the critic, the sower of discord and doubt, speaks (or types) while hiding in the darkness of the internet, concealed in the dark cloud of anonymous usernames.
We wrap our hatred, insults, mockeries, insinuations, accusations, allegations, humiliations, snide comments, calumnies (lies), detractions (revealing of sins), rash judgments in the wrapping-paper of “truth”―as though that little word gave license to the aforementioned sins! We blind ourselves to other truths, spoken by Our Lord and Holy Scripture, which truthfully tell us: “Why seest thou the mote in thy brother’s eye: but the beam that is in thy own eye thou considerest not? Or how canst thou say to thy brother: ‘Brother, let me pull the mote out of thy eye!’ when thou thyself seest not the beam in thy own eye? Hypocrite! Cast first the beam out of thy own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to take out the mote from thy brother’s eye!” (Luke 6:41-42). “The Son of man is come to save that which was lost. What think you? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray: doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and go to seek that which is gone astray? And if it so be that he find it: Amen I say to you, he rejoiceth more for that, than for the ninety-nine that went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father, Who is in Heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican!” (Matthew 18:11-17).
Our Lord says above: “If thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more! … And if he will not hear them: tell the Church!” (Matthew 18:15-17). What do we do? We do not to our ‘brother’ alone, in private, and try to correct him―we go to the internet and voice our knowledge, grievances, suspicions, etc. far and wide for public consumption! The above words of Our Lord will be the condemnation of a very large number of self-righteous Catholics on Judgment Day! “They have not known nor understood― they walk on in darkness” (Psalms 81:5). “They walk in darkness as if it were in light” (Job 24:17). “They were all bound together with one chain of darkness” (Wisdom 17:17) in the world wide web of darkness. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not say the truth!” (1 John 1:6). “All the days of his life he eateth [speaketh and typeth] in darkness, and in many cares, and in misery, and sorrow!” (Ecclesiastes 5:16).
The Dark Black Hole of Religious Ignorance
St. Louis de Montfort asks a very pertinent question: “Are you groping in the darkness of ignorance and error?” (The Secret of the Rosary, “Twentieth Rose”). Pope St. Pius X wrote: “We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and, as it were, infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in ignorance of things divine. This is fully in accord with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: « And there is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed! » … It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation. And when we use the word ‘Christians’, We refer not only to the masses, or to those in the lower walks of life — but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world, but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there … Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: « We declare that a great number of those, who are condemned to eternal punishment, suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed, in order to be numbered among the elect.» … How many and how grave are the consequences of ignorance in matters of religion!” (Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical on Ignorance: Acerbo Nimis, April 1905).
Our Lady lamented to the Venerable Mary of Agreda concerning the pitiful religious ignorance of mankind: “I wish that thou be very cautious and watchful in regard to the ignorance and darkness, by which the demon commonly ensnares mortals and makes them forget their eternal salvation and the continual danger of its loss through his persecutions. Men are lost in forgetful rest and sleep, as if there were no vigilant and powerful enemies. This dreadful carelessness arises from two causes: on the one hand, men are so taken up with their earthly and sensible being, that they do not feel any other evils, except those concerning the animal nature in them; all that concerns their interior is harmless and not dangerous in their estimation. On the other hand, since the princes of darkness are invisible and unperceived by any of the senses; and, since carnal men neither touch, nor feel, nor see them, they forget the fear of them. Yet, for this very reason, they ought to be more attentive and careful, since invisible enemies are more cunning and adroit in injuring us by their treachery. So much the more certain is the danger, the more concealed it is, and so much the more deadly are the wounds, the less they are felt and recognized.” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda).
St. Alphonsus Liguori speaks of parents leaving their children in religious ignorance: “You will see a man who is charitable, who gives alms, who is touched by the poverty of his neighbor. That is quite good! But he allows his children to live in the greatest ignorance! Perhaps they do not even know what they should do in order to be saved. Go along, my poor man. You are blind. Your alms and your sympathy are leading you, with great steps, straight to Hell ... In the year 1248, an ignorant priest was commanded, in a certain synod, to make a discourse. But while he was greatly agitated by the command, the Devil appeared to him, and instructed him to say: ‘The rectors of infernal darkness salute the rectors of parishes, and thank them for their negligence in instructing the people; because from ignorance proceed the misconduct and the damnation of many!’ The same is true of negligent parents!” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, sermon On the Education of Children).”
“We have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not risen upon us” (Wisdom 5:6). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil” (John 3:19). “Others indeed were worthy to be imprisoned in darkness and deprived of light” (Wisdom 18:4). “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams” (Isaias 56:10). “These also have been ignorant through wine, and through drunkenness have erred: they have been ignorant through drunkenness, they are swallowed up with wine, they have gone astray in drunkenness.” (Isaias 28:7). Ignorance in matters of Faith is just one step away from a disease, weakening and loss of Faith. Use it, or lose it! Know it, or throw it! Since they have ignored the commands of God not to love the world, God has allowed them to be blinded: “Let their eyes be darkened that they see not” (Psalm 68:24). “They have eyes and see not!” (Psalm 113:13). “For their own malice blinded them” (Wisdom 2:21). “They are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14).
Although no black hole is close enough to Earth to pull the planet to its doom, we have spiritual “black holes” on this Earth and most people are falling into them! “Behold darkness shall cover the Earth!” (Isaias 60:2). “The sun shall be turned into darkness!” (Joel 2:31). “A day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds” (Sophonias 1:15). “Take heed therefore, that the light which is in thee, be not darkness!” (Luke 11:35).
We have the “light” of Faith in our souls―yet we are surrounded by the darkness coming from the many “black holes” of the devil, the world and concupiscence that surround us on all sides―which like the black holes in space, produce such strong gravitational effects that almost nothing—not even souls filled with the light of Faith—can escape from being dragged inside one or other of those black holes of worldliness, comfort, technology, convenience, pleasure, entertainment, wealth, power, fame, curiosity, gossip, idle thoughts, day-dreaming, impure thoughts, flirtations, inebriations, etc. A black hole is a hungry beast. It swallows up everything too close, too slow, too small, or too weak to fight its gravitational force.
Follow the Light, Not the Darkness
“Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘I am the light of the world! He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life!’” (John 8:12). “I am come a light into the world; that whosoever believeth in Me, may not remain in darkness!” (John 12:46). “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men ... The true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it ... He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not ... He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:1-11). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light―for their works were evil” (John 3:19).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers! For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). “For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord. Walk then as children of the light” (Ephesians 5:8). “For all you are the children of light, and children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:5).
“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them!” (Ephesians 5:11). “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness” (Ephesians 6:12).
Are You In The Dark?
We think ourselves to be enlightened―but are you actually sitting in the dark? We are enlightened about many earthly, worldly, material things―but we are in the dark about spiritual things and things of the Faith. We make light of spiritual things, me make light of the Faith, we make light of the Commandments of God and the Church, we make light of the teachings of the Church―but we are in the dark about what really matters. “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not say the truth … if we walk in the light, as He also is in the light, we have fellowship one with another” (1 John 1:5-7). “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother, abideth in the light. But he that hateth his brother, is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not where he goeth; because the darkness hath blinded his eyes!” (1 John 2:9-11). “If he walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him!” (John 11:10).
The Dark Black Hole of Hatred
Today, there is so much hatred in the world―even among Catholics, one towards the other―that we really have to question whether or not we are truly of God. “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness.” (1 John 2:9). “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not just, is not of God, nor he that loveth not his brother” (1 John 3:10). As a whole, we are most certainly sitting in darkness, for we sit in hatred. Just read the internet forums―even Catholic forums, even traditional Catholic forums―and you will see them adequately spiced with hatred, insults, mockeries, insinuations, accusations, allegations, humiliations, snide comments, calumnies (lies), detractions (revealing of sins), rash judgments on little or no evidence, or questionable evidence, whereby, like evolutionists, they take a mere ‘bone’ and fabricate or invent a whole prehistoric mammal out of it, describing its every tiny detail. Woe, woe and thrice woe! “We are wrapped up in darkness!” (Job 37:19). “He that walketh in darkness, knoweth not where he goeth!” (John 12:35). “Error and darkness are created with sinners” (Ecclesiasticus 11:16). “The eye of the adulterer observeth darkness, saying: ‘No eye shall see me!’ and he will cover his face” (Job 24:15). Likewise, the calumniator (liar), the dectractor (revealer of sins), the accuser, the critic, the sower of discord and doubt, speaks (or types) while hiding in the darkness of the internet, concealed in the dark cloud of anonymous usernames.
We wrap our hatred, insults, mockeries, insinuations, accusations, allegations, humiliations, snide comments, calumnies (lies), detractions (revealing of sins), rash judgments in the wrapping-paper of “truth”―as though that little word gave license to the aforementioned sins! We blind ourselves to other truths, spoken by Our Lord and Holy Scripture, which truthfully tell us: “Why seest thou the mote in thy brother’s eye: but the beam that is in thy own eye thou considerest not? Or how canst thou say to thy brother: ‘Brother, let me pull the mote out of thy eye!’ when thou thyself seest not the beam in thy own eye? Hypocrite! Cast first the beam out of thy own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to take out the mote from thy brother’s eye!” (Luke 6:41-42). “The Son of man is come to save that which was lost. What think you? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray: doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and go to seek that which is gone astray? And if it so be that he find it: Amen I say to you, he rejoiceth more for that, than for the ninety-nine that went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father, Who is in Heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican!” (Matthew 18:11-17).
Our Lord says above: “If thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more! … And if he will not hear them: tell the Church!” (Matthew 18:15-17). What do we do? We do not to our ‘brother’ alone, in private, and try to correct him―we go to the internet and voice our knowledge, grievances, suspicions, etc. far and wide for public consumption! The above words of Our Lord will be the condemnation of a very large number of self-righteous Catholics on Judgment Day! “They have not known nor understood― they walk on in darkness” (Psalms 81:5). “They walk in darkness as if it were in light” (Job 24:17). “They were all bound together with one chain of darkness” (Wisdom 17:17) in the world wide web of darkness. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not say the truth!” (1 John 1:6). “All the days of his life he eateth [speaketh and typeth] in darkness, and in many cares, and in misery, and sorrow!” (Ecclesiastes 5:16).
The Dark Black Hole of Religious Ignorance
St. Louis de Montfort asks a very pertinent question: “Are you groping in the darkness of ignorance and error?” (The Secret of the Rosary, “Twentieth Rose”). Pope St. Pius X wrote: “We are forced to agree with those who hold that the chief cause of the present indifference and, as it were, infirmity of soul, and the serious evils that result from it, is to be found above all in ignorance of things divine. This is fully in accord with what God Himself declared through the Prophet Osee: « And there is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed! » … It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation. And when we use the word ‘Christians’, We refer not only to the masses, or to those in the lower walks of life — but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world, but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the darkness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there … Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: « We declare that a great number of those, who are condemned to eternal punishment, suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed, in order to be numbered among the elect.» … How many and how grave are the consequences of ignorance in matters of religion!” (Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical on Ignorance: Acerbo Nimis, April 1905).
Our Lady lamented to the Venerable Mary of Agreda concerning the pitiful religious ignorance of mankind: “I wish that thou be very cautious and watchful in regard to the ignorance and darkness, by which the demon commonly ensnares mortals and makes them forget their eternal salvation and the continual danger of its loss through his persecutions. Men are lost in forgetful rest and sleep, as if there were no vigilant and powerful enemies. This dreadful carelessness arises from two causes: on the one hand, men are so taken up with their earthly and sensible being, that they do not feel any other evils, except those concerning the animal nature in them; all that concerns their interior is harmless and not dangerous in their estimation. On the other hand, since the princes of darkness are invisible and unperceived by any of the senses; and, since carnal men neither touch, nor feel, nor see them, they forget the fear of them. Yet, for this very reason, they ought to be more attentive and careful, since invisible enemies are more cunning and adroit in injuring us by their treachery. So much the more certain is the danger, the more concealed it is, and so much the more deadly are the wounds, the less they are felt and recognized.” (Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda).
St. Alphonsus Liguori speaks of parents leaving their children in religious ignorance: “You will see a man who is charitable, who gives alms, who is touched by the poverty of his neighbor. That is quite good! But he allows his children to live in the greatest ignorance! Perhaps they do not even know what they should do in order to be saved. Go along, my poor man. You are blind. Your alms and your sympathy are leading you, with great steps, straight to Hell ... In the year 1248, an ignorant priest was commanded, in a certain synod, to make a discourse. But while he was greatly agitated by the command, the Devil appeared to him, and instructed him to say: ‘The rectors of infernal darkness salute the rectors of parishes, and thank them for their negligence in instructing the people; because from ignorance proceed the misconduct and the damnation of many!’ The same is true of negligent parents!” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, sermon On the Education of Children).”
“We have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not risen upon us” (Wisdom 5:6). “The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil” (John 3:19). “Others indeed were worthy to be imprisoned in darkness and deprived of light” (Wisdom 18:4). “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams” (Isaias 56:10). “These also have been ignorant through wine, and through drunkenness have erred: they have been ignorant through drunkenness, they are swallowed up with wine, they have gone astray in drunkenness.” (Isaias 28:7). Ignorance in matters of Faith is just one step away from a disease, weakening and loss of Faith. Use it, or lose it! Know it, or throw it! Since they have ignored the commands of God not to love the world, God has allowed them to be blinded: “Let their eyes be darkened that they see not” (Psalm 68:24). “They have eyes and see not!” (Psalm 113:13). “For their own malice blinded them” (Wisdom 2:21). “They are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit” (Matthew 15:14).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Easter Tuesday, April 23rd & Easter Wednesday April 24th
Article 3
The Era of the Faithless "Faithful"
Article 3
The Era of the Faithless "Faithful"
Shall He Find Faith on Earth?
Since this time of Easter is essentially a time of Faith, it will do us no harm whatsoever to focus on the Faith in these days following Easter Sunday―or, rather, should it be rephrased to say, “to focus on the lack of Faith”? You might indignantly protest and reply: “But there’s nothing wrong with my Faith!” To which Holy Scripture responds and warns: “Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12). The following words of Our Lord are brief and simple, yet tragic and terrifying: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Our Lord is merely asking a rhetorical question (one that needs no answer, because it actually gives the answer). No, He will not find much Faith on Earth when He comes again. These terrifyingly tragic words are merely an echo of what God the Father said in the Old Testament:
“The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. There is no fear of God before their eyes. They have not called upon the Lord: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear” (Psalm 13:2-5).
“God looked down from Heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one. They have not called upon God: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men: they have been confounded, because God hath despised them” (Psalm 52:3-4).
Mary Merely Echoes God
One of the chief purposes of Divine Private Revelation is to refocus or refresh our minds on what we have forgotten, neglected or ignored in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture & Tradition). This is exactly what Our Lady does at her apparitions at Quito in Ecuador (early 1600s), at La Salette in France (1846) and Akita in Japan (1973). Just as Our Lord said in Holy Scripture, concerning the falling-away from the Faith, Our Lady, through Private Revelation, has reminded us that fact and warned us once again of a catastrophic falling-away from the Faith and offers to some more precise details and to the “how” and “why” and “when” of that tragic, progressive, increasing apostasy from the Faith that we are currently and doubtlessly entering into.
If you cannot see that we are actually starting to fulfill the following words of Our Lady, then sadly you are blind and heading for the pit, of whom Our Lord says: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). These are the foreboding words by which Our Lady merely confirms what Our Lord says in Holy Scripture concerning the loss of Faith on Earth towards the so-called “End-Times”:
“I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights … The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church.
“As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world …
“Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like.
“The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … Rome will lose the Faith … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Faith Poorly Taught or No Longer Taught
The teaching of the Faith has deteriorated abysmally—how can a child know what a child has not been taught? Furthermore, the child who has been taught little cannot possible love much. St. Thérèse of Lisieux lamented that Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known! What would she say today? The greater crime lays at the feet of the teachers―parents, catechists, school-teachers and priests―who should have taught all the Faith in its integrity, and not a watered-down version, or a “people-pleasing” version. As Our Lord said to His first group of teachers―the Apostles and other disciples― “Teach ye all nations … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20).
As You Sow, So You Reap
Currently, statistics show that 90% of youth will no longer practice the Faith regularly after finishing their schooling (high-school, college or university). In such an environment, can we say that most souls are saved? Add to this fact that Our Lady, at Fatima, showed the three children a vision of Hell and told them that so many souls of sinners go there, because there is nobody to pray and offer sacrifices for them. Which is hardly surprising in this modern world of convenience, ease and comfort—where sacrifice seems to be an intolerable pain, as well as an insupportable inconvenience.
Familiarity Breeds Contempt
“Familiarity breeds contempt” is what they say, and that so readily applies to our Faith and our relationship with God. What was once a period of awe, amazement and attraction, has now for many become something bland, boring and burdensome. They say that routine is the prime killer of devotion—this is true not only in the natural sphere, but also in the supernatural sphere. This routine affects the relationship between spouses, parents and children, friends and work colleagues and even our relationship with God Himself.
We have been in God’s workplace, the Church, for so long, that familiarity has bred, if not contempt, then at least a growing indifference to God and the things of God. We hear the same readings at Mass year after year; we say the same prayers year after year; we hear the same sermons and appeals year after year; we see the same unimproved faults and weaknesses among our fellow Catholics year after year; we confess the same sins year after year; we seem to get away unpunished by God year after year—so it is hardly surprising that we find ourselves slipping into the fatal fantasy of feeling that God is somehow far away and couldn’t care less about what we are really doing or not doing. This helps us make a compromise with indifference and lukewarmness—at first uneasy, but more and more easy with each passing year.
This is one of the several ingredients that make us go through our spiritual and liturgical exercises in a half-awake, partially attentive, automatic, mindless, thoughtless and loveless manner, like some sort of cloned Catholic robot. Sure, we go through the motions, but our minds, thoughts, hearts and affections—if not yet divorced—are living separated from what we are doing, with only occasional ‘weekend visiting rights.’ The fact that so many religious and spiritual activities have become boring, bland and burdensome, inevitably makes this cancer slowly grow to rapidly approaching fatal levels.
The Law of Diminishing Returns in the Faith
Today, worldwide, only 24% or 24 out 100 Catholic adults regularly attend Sunday Mass―and that is a very generous number! Of those 24 per 100 who regularly attend Mass each Sunday, 90% or 22 out of those 24 believe that Jesus is really present in the Holy Eucharist. Those numbers fall significantly among less frequent attendees. Of those who attend Mass around once a month, only 65% believe in the Real Presence; whole among those who only attend a few times a year, only 40% believe in the Real Presence.
According to the Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), only 22% of baptized USA Catholics attended Holy Mass weekly in 2016, compared to 55% in 1965, 70% in 1970, and 75% in 1955. Traditionally “Catholic” areas, such as New England, report historic drops in attendance at Holy Mass and the reception of the Sacraments. Some areas show even worse stats―in Boston, only 12% of Catholics attended Mass weekly in 2016. As attendance at Holy Mass spiraled downwards after the Second Vatican Council, so too did the numbers of souls going to the Sacrament of Confession. Traditional prayers, devotions and customs― Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, processions, the Rosary, novenas, special weekday devotions at the local church, etc. ― gradually fell out of common practice. Even seminaries were places of confusion with the Catholic Church opening its windows to the world. The 1960s and 1970s, ripe with the spirit of “revolution”, took its toll on religious vocations. From 1966 to 1999 the number of seminarians dropped from 39,638 to 4,826. In 1965, there were 180,000 religious sisters/nuns in the United States. As of 2014, there were only 50,000 — a 72% drop in merely 50 years. As of 2012, the average age of a Roman Catholic nun was 74.
For those who still believe in the Real Presence, their Faith is more theoretical than practical. They may admit in theory that Jesus in really and truly present in the Holy Eucharist and Blessed Sacrament, but they live as though they do not believe it―that is why the churches are empty throughout the week and barely anybody ever visits the Blessed Sacrament. Hey! Think about it! IT IS GOD! OUR GREATEST GOOD! WHO PULLS ALL THE STRINGS IN OUR LIVES THROUGH HIS DIVINE PROVIDENCE! And we just can’t be bothered to go and see Him outside of Sunday!
“God looked down from Heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one. They have not called upon God … God hath scattered the bones of them that please men: they have been confounded, because God hath despised them” (Psalm 13:2-5; 52:3-4).
Modern Catholic Perspective
In 1990, 10 million Americans classified themselves as “former Catholics”; in 2016, that number had risen to 30 million, says the Jesuit magazine America. In the USA, the Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented on a Gallup poll of Catholics that was accomplished around 12 months ago―in the spring of 2018. Donahue says that everyone was well aware of decline in Mass attendance by younger Catholics, but the 2018 Gallup poll showed that there was also a decline among older Catholics. Across the board, including all age levels, 39% of Catholics claimed they attended Mass weekly, and for those aged 60 and over, the number was 49%. Before the Second Vatican Council, in 1955, 73% of those in their twenties went to Mass weekly, today it has fallen to 25%. Likewise, for those aged 60 and over, also 73% attended Mass weekly in 1955, but that number has fallen to 49%. In 1955 only 1% of young people stated that they professed no religion whatsoever, but today, that 1% has risen to 33%--a 3200% increase!
Donahue gives his opinion on the reasons behind this decline, presenting seven core reasons:
(1) The declining role of religion in elementary and secondary education has been dramatic.
(2) Higher education has become increasingly hostile to religion, especially Christianity.
(3) The pop culture, as manifested on TV, the movies, and music, is marked by a libertinism that is at odds with Christianity.
(4) The ascendancy of moral relativism—the denial of moral absolutes— has engulfed society. The nation’s cultural elites are responsible for this outcome, including, sadly, some religious leaders.
(5) Declining marriage rates, and birthrates among married couples, has made it easier for parents to neglect their religious duties, including obligations to their own children.
(6) Those over the age of 60 are the baby boomers, a generation that in their youth experienced the decadence of the 1960s and 1970s. Many of them entered their senior years without a strong religious background.
(7) The Catholic clergy, which in the 1950s expected the faithful to attend church—and they did—lowered their expectations in subsequent decades, yielding predictable results.
The results of all this whittling-away at traditional values, the doctrinal dilution, the replacement of a sound and solid objective theology with a theology of feelings, emotions and subjectivity has led many Catholics into erroneous, heretical and immoral standpoints and demands. Today’s modern American Catholics want the Church to undertake significant changes. 60% believe that priests should be permitted to marry. Many hold the positive view of women becoming priests. About 50% hold the opinion that the Catholic Church should solemnize gay and lesbian marriages.
A Modern Catholic Priest Chimes-In
Since the largest falling-away in numbers happens within the Post-Vatican II modern Catholic Church, let us hear what a modern Catholic priest has to say on the matter of the declining, dwindling, disappearing Faith. In researching material for this article, this testimony turned-up by a Fr. Bill Peckman, a pastor in Missouri, USA. He wrote:
“I spend a lot of time thinking, reading, and praying about why the Church is decline in this country. The influx of immigrants from Latin America hides the number decline. Even with this influx, every measurable indicator is down: baptisms, confirmations, marriages, priestly ordinations, numbers of men’s and women’s religious, children in parochial schools and religion programs. It is grim. How did we get here? The major error was ditching the transcendent (what exists outside of material things). We domesticated God. It means we act as if Jesus was merely human, that He is a guru, self-help teacher, social worker extraordinaire. To be sure, I am not talking about every parish. But as a Church in this country, we took our eyes off the ball. Mass started looking less like the worship of God and more like a pep rally. Our churches stopped looking Catholic and were overrun by iconoclasts. We went from churches that exuded Catholic belief visually, to ubiquitous ‘sacred spaces’ that looked more like theaters. Some places ran with the theater aspect. Worship transformed to entertainment. What I got out of it became much more important than what I put into it.
“By ripping out the transcendent heart out of worship, we reduced Mass. It is little wonder that belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist plummeted. It is little wonder that priestly vocations plummeted. While the generation that ushered these things love them, the subsequent generations fled in droves. With worship emptied of the transcendent, Catholic life soon followed. Devotional life in parishes dried up. Parish churches became Mass stations. With the focus off the transcendent, awareness also plummeted. Confession lines disappeared. Families shrunk as we started contracepting ourselves out of existence. The loud din of children gave way to seas of gray. Accommodation of the secular culture went largely unchallenged. The works of mercy declined as a false idea of social justice rose in its place. In this mileau, it was easy for people to leave. Without the transcendent, we offer nothing more than any fraternal order. Without the transcendent, objective morality withers. With our eyes off the ball, 78% of Catholics simply quit coming to Mass. Without the source and summit that is the Eucharist, the Catholic life dies. It is starved to death.
“If we look and act the same as the secular culture around us, then we can hardly be a witness to the throngs of people who are searching for something to fill that God sized hole in their souls. After all, St. Augustine reminds us that our hearts are restless until they rest in Christ. Our eyes need to be on the ball. Our eyes need to be on Christ. Not on the congregation. Not only the priest. They need to be on Christ.”
Since this time of Easter is essentially a time of Faith, it will do us no harm whatsoever to focus on the Faith in these days following Easter Sunday―or, rather, should it be rephrased to say, “to focus on the lack of Faith”? You might indignantly protest and reply: “But there’s nothing wrong with my Faith!” To which Holy Scripture responds and warns: “Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12). The following words of Our Lord are brief and simple, yet tragic and terrifying: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Our Lord is merely asking a rhetorical question (one that needs no answer, because it actually gives the answer). No, He will not find much Faith on Earth when He comes again. These terrifyingly tragic words are merely an echo of what God the Father said in the Old Testament:
“The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. There is no fear of God before their eyes. They have not called upon the Lord: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear” (Psalm 13:2-5).
“God looked down from Heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one. They have not called upon God: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men: they have been confounded, because God hath despised them” (Psalm 52:3-4).
Mary Merely Echoes God
One of the chief purposes of Divine Private Revelation is to refocus or refresh our minds on what we have forgotten, neglected or ignored in Divine Public Revelation (Holy Scripture & Tradition). This is exactly what Our Lady does at her apparitions at Quito in Ecuador (early 1600s), at La Salette in France (1846) and Akita in Japan (1973). Just as Our Lord said in Holy Scripture, concerning the falling-away from the Faith, Our Lady, through Private Revelation, has reminded us that fact and warned us once again of a catastrophic falling-away from the Faith and offers to some more precise details and to the “how” and “why” and “when” of that tragic, progressive, increasing apostasy from the Faith that we are currently and doubtlessly entering into.
If you cannot see that we are actually starting to fulfill the following words of Our Lady, then sadly you are blind and heading for the pit, of whom Our Lord says: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). These are the foreboding words by which Our Lady merely confirms what Our Lord says in Holy Scripture concerning the loss of Faith on Earth towards the so-called “End-Times”:
“I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights … The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church.
“As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world …
“Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like.
“The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … Rome will lose the Faith … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost!” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Faith Poorly Taught or No Longer Taught
The teaching of the Faith has deteriorated abysmally—how can a child know what a child has not been taught? Furthermore, the child who has been taught little cannot possible love much. St. Thérèse of Lisieux lamented that Jesus is so little loved because He is so little known! What would she say today? The greater crime lays at the feet of the teachers―parents, catechists, school-teachers and priests―who should have taught all the Faith in its integrity, and not a watered-down version, or a “people-pleasing” version. As Our Lord said to His first group of teachers―the Apostles and other disciples― “Teach ye all nations … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20).
As You Sow, So You Reap
Currently, statistics show that 90% of youth will no longer practice the Faith regularly after finishing their schooling (high-school, college or university). In such an environment, can we say that most souls are saved? Add to this fact that Our Lady, at Fatima, showed the three children a vision of Hell and told them that so many souls of sinners go there, because there is nobody to pray and offer sacrifices for them. Which is hardly surprising in this modern world of convenience, ease and comfort—where sacrifice seems to be an intolerable pain, as well as an insupportable inconvenience.
Familiarity Breeds Contempt
“Familiarity breeds contempt” is what they say, and that so readily applies to our Faith and our relationship with God. What was once a period of awe, amazement and attraction, has now for many become something bland, boring and burdensome. They say that routine is the prime killer of devotion—this is true not only in the natural sphere, but also in the supernatural sphere. This routine affects the relationship between spouses, parents and children, friends and work colleagues and even our relationship with God Himself.
We have been in God’s workplace, the Church, for so long, that familiarity has bred, if not contempt, then at least a growing indifference to God and the things of God. We hear the same readings at Mass year after year; we say the same prayers year after year; we hear the same sermons and appeals year after year; we see the same unimproved faults and weaknesses among our fellow Catholics year after year; we confess the same sins year after year; we seem to get away unpunished by God year after year—so it is hardly surprising that we find ourselves slipping into the fatal fantasy of feeling that God is somehow far away and couldn’t care less about what we are really doing or not doing. This helps us make a compromise with indifference and lukewarmness—at first uneasy, but more and more easy with each passing year.
This is one of the several ingredients that make us go through our spiritual and liturgical exercises in a half-awake, partially attentive, automatic, mindless, thoughtless and loveless manner, like some sort of cloned Catholic robot. Sure, we go through the motions, but our minds, thoughts, hearts and affections—if not yet divorced—are living separated from what we are doing, with only occasional ‘weekend visiting rights.’ The fact that so many religious and spiritual activities have become boring, bland and burdensome, inevitably makes this cancer slowly grow to rapidly approaching fatal levels.
The Law of Diminishing Returns in the Faith
Today, worldwide, only 24% or 24 out 100 Catholic adults regularly attend Sunday Mass―and that is a very generous number! Of those 24 per 100 who regularly attend Mass each Sunday, 90% or 22 out of those 24 believe that Jesus is really present in the Holy Eucharist. Those numbers fall significantly among less frequent attendees. Of those who attend Mass around once a month, only 65% believe in the Real Presence; whole among those who only attend a few times a year, only 40% believe in the Real Presence.
According to the Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), only 22% of baptized USA Catholics attended Holy Mass weekly in 2016, compared to 55% in 1965, 70% in 1970, and 75% in 1955. Traditionally “Catholic” areas, such as New England, report historic drops in attendance at Holy Mass and the reception of the Sacraments. Some areas show even worse stats―in Boston, only 12% of Catholics attended Mass weekly in 2016. As attendance at Holy Mass spiraled downwards after the Second Vatican Council, so too did the numbers of souls going to the Sacrament of Confession. Traditional prayers, devotions and customs― Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, processions, the Rosary, novenas, special weekday devotions at the local church, etc. ― gradually fell out of common practice. Even seminaries were places of confusion with the Catholic Church opening its windows to the world. The 1960s and 1970s, ripe with the spirit of “revolution”, took its toll on religious vocations. From 1966 to 1999 the number of seminarians dropped from 39,638 to 4,826. In 1965, there were 180,000 religious sisters/nuns in the United States. As of 2014, there were only 50,000 — a 72% drop in merely 50 years. As of 2012, the average age of a Roman Catholic nun was 74.
For those who still believe in the Real Presence, their Faith is more theoretical than practical. They may admit in theory that Jesus in really and truly present in the Holy Eucharist and Blessed Sacrament, but they live as though they do not believe it―that is why the churches are empty throughout the week and barely anybody ever visits the Blessed Sacrament. Hey! Think about it! IT IS GOD! OUR GREATEST GOOD! WHO PULLS ALL THE STRINGS IN OUR LIVES THROUGH HIS DIVINE PROVIDENCE! And we just can’t be bothered to go and see Him outside of Sunday!
“God looked down from Heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one. They have not called upon God … God hath scattered the bones of them that please men: they have been confounded, because God hath despised them” (Psalm 13:2-5; 52:3-4).
Modern Catholic Perspective
In 1990, 10 million Americans classified themselves as “former Catholics”; in 2016, that number had risen to 30 million, says the Jesuit magazine America. In the USA, the Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented on a Gallup poll of Catholics that was accomplished around 12 months ago―in the spring of 2018. Donahue says that everyone was well aware of decline in Mass attendance by younger Catholics, but the 2018 Gallup poll showed that there was also a decline among older Catholics. Across the board, including all age levels, 39% of Catholics claimed they attended Mass weekly, and for those aged 60 and over, the number was 49%. Before the Second Vatican Council, in 1955, 73% of those in their twenties went to Mass weekly, today it has fallen to 25%. Likewise, for those aged 60 and over, also 73% attended Mass weekly in 1955, but that number has fallen to 49%. In 1955 only 1% of young people stated that they professed no religion whatsoever, but today, that 1% has risen to 33%--a 3200% increase!
Donahue gives his opinion on the reasons behind this decline, presenting seven core reasons:
(1) The declining role of religion in elementary and secondary education has been dramatic.
(2) Higher education has become increasingly hostile to religion, especially Christianity.
(3) The pop culture, as manifested on TV, the movies, and music, is marked by a libertinism that is at odds with Christianity.
(4) The ascendancy of moral relativism—the denial of moral absolutes— has engulfed society. The nation’s cultural elites are responsible for this outcome, including, sadly, some religious leaders.
(5) Declining marriage rates, and birthrates among married couples, has made it easier for parents to neglect their religious duties, including obligations to their own children.
(6) Those over the age of 60 are the baby boomers, a generation that in their youth experienced the decadence of the 1960s and 1970s. Many of them entered their senior years without a strong religious background.
(7) The Catholic clergy, which in the 1950s expected the faithful to attend church—and they did—lowered their expectations in subsequent decades, yielding predictable results.
The results of all this whittling-away at traditional values, the doctrinal dilution, the replacement of a sound and solid objective theology with a theology of feelings, emotions and subjectivity has led many Catholics into erroneous, heretical and immoral standpoints and demands. Today’s modern American Catholics want the Church to undertake significant changes. 60% believe that priests should be permitted to marry. Many hold the positive view of women becoming priests. About 50% hold the opinion that the Catholic Church should solemnize gay and lesbian marriages.
A Modern Catholic Priest Chimes-In
Since the largest falling-away in numbers happens within the Post-Vatican II modern Catholic Church, let us hear what a modern Catholic priest has to say on the matter of the declining, dwindling, disappearing Faith. In researching material for this article, this testimony turned-up by a Fr. Bill Peckman, a pastor in Missouri, USA. He wrote:
“I spend a lot of time thinking, reading, and praying about why the Church is decline in this country. The influx of immigrants from Latin America hides the number decline. Even with this influx, every measurable indicator is down: baptisms, confirmations, marriages, priestly ordinations, numbers of men’s and women’s religious, children in parochial schools and religion programs. It is grim. How did we get here? The major error was ditching the transcendent (what exists outside of material things). We domesticated God. It means we act as if Jesus was merely human, that He is a guru, self-help teacher, social worker extraordinaire. To be sure, I am not talking about every parish. But as a Church in this country, we took our eyes off the ball. Mass started looking less like the worship of God and more like a pep rally. Our churches stopped looking Catholic and were overrun by iconoclasts. We went from churches that exuded Catholic belief visually, to ubiquitous ‘sacred spaces’ that looked more like theaters. Some places ran with the theater aspect. Worship transformed to entertainment. What I got out of it became much more important than what I put into it.
“By ripping out the transcendent heart out of worship, we reduced Mass. It is little wonder that belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist plummeted. It is little wonder that priestly vocations plummeted. While the generation that ushered these things love them, the subsequent generations fled in droves. With worship emptied of the transcendent, Catholic life soon followed. Devotional life in parishes dried up. Parish churches became Mass stations. With the focus off the transcendent, awareness also plummeted. Confession lines disappeared. Families shrunk as we started contracepting ourselves out of existence. The loud din of children gave way to seas of gray. Accommodation of the secular culture went largely unchallenged. The works of mercy declined as a false idea of social justice rose in its place. In this mileau, it was easy for people to leave. Without the transcendent, we offer nothing more than any fraternal order. Without the transcendent, objective morality withers. With our eyes off the ball, 78% of Catholics simply quit coming to Mass. Without the source and summit that is the Eucharist, the Catholic life dies. It is starved to death.
“If we look and act the same as the secular culture around us, then we can hardly be a witness to the throngs of people who are searching for something to fill that God sized hole in their souls. After all, St. Augustine reminds us that our hearts are restless until they rest in Christ. Our eyes need to be on the ball. Our eyes need to be on Christ. Not on the congregation. Not only the priest. They need to be on Christ.”
Easter Monday, April 22nd
Article 2
Where to Now, My Friend?
Article 2
Where to Now, My Friend?
Which Turning Will You Take at the Easter Crossroads?
Now that Lent is over and Easter is here―what road will you take? Will you, like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after the crucifixion, walk away from Jerusalem? Or will you stay where you are? In other words, there are those who walk away from the progress they may have made during Lent, and walk back into their old habits. Whereas there are some―admittedly few―who not only maintain the progress that they have made, but also build upon it.
All Change!
The resurrection of Our Lord sees Him come back much changed and much different to what He was before. So much so, that He is not even recognized by His nearest and dearest! Something similar is seen in the apparition of St. Dominic Savio after his death, when he came to St. John Bosco—his teacher and confessor while he was still on Earth. St. John Bosco did not recognize him and had to ask: “Is that you Dominic?”
New Life!
Our Lord had passed through the barrier of suffering and death and emerged on the other side in His new life, His glorious life, a life in His glorified body. This should teach us that, after the suffering and attempts to kill sin, during the season of Lent, we should be emerging from Lent as ‘new-beings’ with a new attitude and a new life-style.
Saul Resurrects as Paul
St. Paul, too, went through his ‘three-days-of death’ or, rather, ‘three-days-of-darkness’ when he was struck blind by Jesus on the road to Damascus. He then went through his own ‘Lent’ by praying and not eating or drinking for three days: “And he was there three days, without sight, and he did neither eat nor drink” (Acts 9:9).
In the meantime, God was preparing Saul for a new life. Saul would be given a new name—Paul (like Simon was renamed Peter). He would be given a new mission—instead of rounding up Christians to arrest them; he would now round up people and make them into Christians.
“And the Lord said to Ananias: ‘Arise, and go into the street that is called Strait, and seek in the house of Judas, one named Saul of Tarsus. For behold he prayeth!’ (And he saw a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hands upon him, that he might receive his sight.) But Ananias answered: ‘Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to Thy saints in Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that invoke Thy Name!’ And the Lord said to him: ‘Go thy way; for this man is to Me a vessel of election, to carry My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake!’” (Acts 9:1-16).
I was blind! Now I see!
This should also be the case for ourselves, who have been blind and, like Saul, by our sins, have persecuted Christ. Our Lord could well say to us the words He addressed to Saul (Paul): “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” (Acts 9:4). Yet the mercy of Christ transformed the soul of Saul into the pillar of Paul, but not without pain and suffering.
Suffering After His Resurrection
The new Paul was destined to pay for his past sins by suffering throughout his new ‘risen’ or ‘resurrected’ life. Paul himself lists some of the many sufferings that he had endured in the short time since his ‘resurrection’:
“In many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches.
“Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity. My daily instance: The labors that come in, and press upon me every day. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not. At Damascus, the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to apprehend me. And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands …
“But for myself I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities. For though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth in me, or any thing he heareth from me. And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And He said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity!’ Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful” (2 Corinthians 11:23-33; 12:1-10).
Don’t Go Back!
Our Easter should see, likewise, a resurrection in ourselves. We should not go back to our old ways, like the dog goes back to his vomit: “As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). There are too many Catholics, who, now that Lent is over, will go back to a life of self-indulgence and over-indulgence. They just don’t get it! They do not understand! “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21).
In very first readings of the first two Masses of Easter (the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass), the Church clearly tells us that we have to change! This is the very first message of Easter! That the old ways have to be cast far away from us, so that we live a new, resurrected, better and more holy life:
The Church’s Easter Message
“Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened: for Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (Epistle from Midnight Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
“Brethren: If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory” (Epistle from the Day Mass: Colossians 3:1-4).
Christ Rises With His Wounds
The second point that is worth mentioning and imprinting upon our minds and hearts, is the fact that Our Lord rises from the dead WITH his wounds still visible. He could have healed Himself totally, but He chose to keep His wounds like a stigmata.
He also leaves His shroud to us as a relic and a reminder of His Passion. He doesn’t want to be remembered so much for His resurrection, as He wants to be remembered for His Passion and Death. It was the latter that redeemed us and brought about the defeat of the devil, sin and death.
We have arrived at the crossroads of Lent and Easter―yet that does not mean that we must now cast the cross off at the side of the road! Just because Lent is over, it does not mean an end to penance and sacrifice. Penance and sacrifice are the bread and butter of the Christian life. It should be the staple diet of any and every Christian. Our Lady calls for penance at Lourdes and sacrifice at Fatima. Our Lord clearly told us: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). “Daily” means every day of the year and not just Lent. Our Lord and Our Lady suffered every single day of their lives—not just during the Passion or Seven isolated Sorrows! And Our Lord told us: “I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Delighting the Devil
If we go back to our pre-Lenten attitudes and lifestyle, then we are insanely going backwards when we should going forwards—to the devil’s delight! Celebrating Easter does not mean over-indulging or, even less, going back to the venial or even mortal sins of the past! Otherwise, we end up caressing Our Lord with our extra prayers and sacrifices during Lent, and then go back to slapping Him around after Lent is over!
Maintain your Higher Spiritual Levels Gained During Lent
Though we may not be required to fast outside of Lent (though it is not forbidden to do so, for fasting is a wonderful weapon against the devil—who does not just work during Lent, but all-year-round!), we can and still should ‘fast’ from sin, occasions of sin, worldliness and frivolity. “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4) … For the word of God cannot survive in a worldly atmosphere, “the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word, and it is made fruitless” (Mark 4:19).
God Wants to Save; But Many Don’t Want His Terms
Even though “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:17), “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not ... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-11).
St. Paul was in darkness, which got worse and ended up with him being blinded as a means of driving home to him the extent of his spiritual blindness. Let the scales fall from our eyes as they fell from his eyes; so that we can see the new life that God has mapped out for us, beginning with this Easter season! How many Catholics and how many times have they rejected God’s invitation to come to the spiritual banquet of a new life at Easter? God may well say one day: “The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy!’ And he said to his servants: ‘Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage!’” (Matthew 22:8-9).
Listen to Your Mother!
Let us not ignore God’s invitation, nor test His patience: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7). Let us take the advice of Holy Mother Church, as given at the very start of this Easter season: “Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth … If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Epistles from the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; Colossians 3:1-4).
Celebrate we must, but our celebration is more spiritual (to satisfy the soul) than it is carnal (to satisfy the body). We do not see Our Lord ‘living-it-up’ after His resurrection by indulging in joys of the body, but we see Him giving much spiritual joy to His disciples. Let us imitate Our Lord! A happy, holy and joyous Easter to all!
Now that Lent is over and Easter is here―what road will you take? Will you, like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after the crucifixion, walk away from Jerusalem? Or will you stay where you are? In other words, there are those who walk away from the progress they may have made during Lent, and walk back into their old habits. Whereas there are some―admittedly few―who not only maintain the progress that they have made, but also build upon it.
All Change!
The resurrection of Our Lord sees Him come back much changed and much different to what He was before. So much so, that He is not even recognized by His nearest and dearest! Something similar is seen in the apparition of St. Dominic Savio after his death, when he came to St. John Bosco—his teacher and confessor while he was still on Earth. St. John Bosco did not recognize him and had to ask: “Is that you Dominic?”
New Life!
Our Lord had passed through the barrier of suffering and death and emerged on the other side in His new life, His glorious life, a life in His glorified body. This should teach us that, after the suffering and attempts to kill sin, during the season of Lent, we should be emerging from Lent as ‘new-beings’ with a new attitude and a new life-style.
Saul Resurrects as Paul
St. Paul, too, went through his ‘three-days-of death’ or, rather, ‘three-days-of-darkness’ when he was struck blind by Jesus on the road to Damascus. He then went through his own ‘Lent’ by praying and not eating or drinking for three days: “And he was there three days, without sight, and he did neither eat nor drink” (Acts 9:9).
In the meantime, God was preparing Saul for a new life. Saul would be given a new name—Paul (like Simon was renamed Peter). He would be given a new mission—instead of rounding up Christians to arrest them; he would now round up people and make them into Christians.
“And the Lord said to Ananias: ‘Arise, and go into the street that is called Strait, and seek in the house of Judas, one named Saul of Tarsus. For behold he prayeth!’ (And he saw a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hands upon him, that he might receive his sight.) But Ananias answered: ‘Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to Thy saints in Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that invoke Thy Name!’ And the Lord said to him: ‘Go thy way; for this man is to Me a vessel of election, to carry My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake!’” (Acts 9:1-16).
I was blind! Now I see!
This should also be the case for ourselves, who have been blind and, like Saul, by our sins, have persecuted Christ. Our Lord could well say to us the words He addressed to Saul (Paul): “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” (Acts 9:4). Yet the mercy of Christ transformed the soul of Saul into the pillar of Paul, but not without pain and suffering.
Suffering After His Resurrection
The new Paul was destined to pay for his past sins by suffering throughout his new ‘risen’ or ‘resurrected’ life. Paul himself lists some of the many sufferings that he had endured in the short time since his ‘resurrection’:
“In many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches.
“Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity. My daily instance: The labors that come in, and press upon me every day. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not. At Damascus, the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to apprehend me. And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands …
“But for myself I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities. For though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth in me, or any thing he heareth from me. And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And He said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity!’ Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful” (2 Corinthians 11:23-33; 12:1-10).
Don’t Go Back!
Our Easter should see, likewise, a resurrection in ourselves. We should not go back to our old ways, like the dog goes back to his vomit: “As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). There are too many Catholics, who, now that Lent is over, will go back to a life of self-indulgence and over-indulgence. They just don’t get it! They do not understand! “Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21).
In very first readings of the first two Masses of Easter (the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass), the Church clearly tells us that we have to change! This is the very first message of Easter! That the old ways have to be cast far away from us, so that we live a new, resurrected, better and more holy life:
The Church’s Easter Message
“Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened: for Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (Epistle from Midnight Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
“Brethren: If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory” (Epistle from the Day Mass: Colossians 3:1-4).
Christ Rises With His Wounds
The second point that is worth mentioning and imprinting upon our minds and hearts, is the fact that Our Lord rises from the dead WITH his wounds still visible. He could have healed Himself totally, but He chose to keep His wounds like a stigmata.
He also leaves His shroud to us as a relic and a reminder of His Passion. He doesn’t want to be remembered so much for His resurrection, as He wants to be remembered for His Passion and Death. It was the latter that redeemed us and brought about the defeat of the devil, sin and death.
We have arrived at the crossroads of Lent and Easter―yet that does not mean that we must now cast the cross off at the side of the road! Just because Lent is over, it does not mean an end to penance and sacrifice. Penance and sacrifice are the bread and butter of the Christian life. It should be the staple diet of any and every Christian. Our Lady calls for penance at Lourdes and sacrifice at Fatima. Our Lord clearly told us: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). “Daily” means every day of the year and not just Lent. Our Lord and Our Lady suffered every single day of their lives—not just during the Passion or Seven isolated Sorrows! And Our Lord told us: “I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Delighting the Devil
If we go back to our pre-Lenten attitudes and lifestyle, then we are insanely going backwards when we should going forwards—to the devil’s delight! Celebrating Easter does not mean over-indulging or, even less, going back to the venial or even mortal sins of the past! Otherwise, we end up caressing Our Lord with our extra prayers and sacrifices during Lent, and then go back to slapping Him around after Lent is over!
Maintain your Higher Spiritual Levels Gained During Lent
Though we may not be required to fast outside of Lent (though it is not forbidden to do so, for fasting is a wonderful weapon against the devil—who does not just work during Lent, but all-year-round!), we can and still should ‘fast’ from sin, occasions of sin, worldliness and frivolity. “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4) … For the word of God cannot survive in a worldly atmosphere, “the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word, and it is made fruitless” (Mark 4:19).
God Wants to Save; But Many Don’t Want His Terms
Even though “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:17), “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not ... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-11).
St. Paul was in darkness, which got worse and ended up with him being blinded as a means of driving home to him the extent of his spiritual blindness. Let the scales fall from our eyes as they fell from his eyes; so that we can see the new life that God has mapped out for us, beginning with this Easter season! How many Catholics and how many times have they rejected God’s invitation to come to the spiritual banquet of a new life at Easter? God may well say one day: “The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy!’ And he said to his servants: ‘Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage!’” (Matthew 22:8-9).
Listen to Your Mother!
Let us not ignore God’s invitation, nor test His patience: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7). Let us take the advice of Holy Mother Church, as given at the very start of this Easter season: “Brethren, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth … If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead [to the world and sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Epistles from the Midnight Mass and the Day Mass: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; Colossians 3:1-4).
Celebrate we must, but our celebration is more spiritual (to satisfy the soul) than it is carnal (to satisfy the body). We do not see Our Lord ‘living-it-up’ after His resurrection by indulging in joys of the body, but we see Him giving much spiritual joy to His disciples. Let us imitate Our Lord! A happy, holy and joyous Easter to all!
Easter Sunday, April 21st
Article 1
Victory Over Death, Sin and the Devil!
Article 1
Victory Over Death, Sin and the Devil!
The Multiform Victory of Christ
Attacked from all sides—by the Sadducess (priests); the Scribes and Pharisees; by the mob or heartless cowardly crowd; by Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiphas, the Roman soldiers; betrayed by Judas; abandoned by most of His Apostles; and last of all attacked by the devils themselves—the irrepressible Jesus, after His horrendous beating, emerges victorious!
Jesus Looked a Failure and a Loser as He Died on the Cross
Today the world looks upon those who are religious as losers. They mock us, like they mocked Christ. Our Lord said that if they have hated Me then they will also hate you. Let us not become cowards just because we are mocked and laughed at. He who laughs last, laughs longest. Those who laugh now at religion, will gnash and grind their teeth as they howl and wail for eternity.
Victory Over His Murderers
“Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4) He was afraid, but He chose to walk into the jaws of death so as to come out alive. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel shall save it” (Mark 8:35). Don’t waste your life things that don’t matter, you may lose your eternal life over those things. Do not seek a long life, but rather a good one. Do not be afraid of martyrdom if it may come your way. “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Victory Over the Doubters and Unbelievers
“Let Christ the king of Israel come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Yet, as Jesus had once said: “Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk?” (Mark 2:9); now, dying on Calvary, He could say: “Which is easier? To come down from this cross while I am still alive, or to rise from the dead once I have died?” As always, Our Lord chose the most difficult option.
He did much more than come down from the Cross whilst alive! He came out of the tomb when He was dead! Let us beg Him to conquer our unbelief...our unbelief or doubts, for example, about the Holy Eucharist, our unbelief or doubts about eternal life, our unbelief or doubts in the power of prayer, our unbelief or doubts about the devil, our unbelief or doubts about the existence of Hell, or whatever unbelief or doubts that we may be guilty of.
Victory Over Death
Say what you will, but most people fear death! Some will even renounce the Faith if threatened with death. Death is the penultimate punishment, which the punishment of Hell still manages to trump. The wage for sin is death. Yet Our Lord came to remove our fears over death.
Death where is thy sting? Through the old Adam death came into the world, because he ate a forbidden fruit from a tree. Now the new Adam, bore a new fruit on the tree of the Cross and through partaking of that fruit we have life eternal. Look at the lacerated, bruised, beaten, wounded body that hung on the cross and now is unrecognizable in His resurrection. Do not fear or flee your sufferings, for they will be your source of grace and glory. He had raised three persons from the dead while He was alive, now He raised Himself from the dead as He had predicted and when He had predicted. So too will He raise you and your loved ones from the dead on the last day. Do not fear so much as the death of mortal sin. Yet there too He raises from the dead of the tomb of confessional in which we bury ourselves. We enter dead to God and come out alive.
Victory Over the Devil
The devil was not sure who He was! His holiness enraged the devil so much that he plotted and waged war against Christ—as he will wage war against you the holier you try to become, stirring all manner of things against you. Yet by His humble acceptance and meekness in face of this onslaught, Christ bore the victory. He used the weight oh His enemies attack against his enemy. The greater the rage, the greater the defeat. Let us learn from Our Lord not to fear the devil, and above all not to love him and his allurements. The devil can do nothing without the permission and agreement of God.
Victory Over the World
Jesus did not rise from the dead to live in the world. After His resurrection, He could have lived in the world till the end of time; but He did not rise to live here forever. He rose from the dead to go to Heaven. He died for this world, but He also died to this world. He took nothing of this world with Him, nor shall we when we die. Let us not live as though it was only this world that matters. Especially the young ones, who have not yet tasted the poison that Satan offers under the glitter and charm of the world around us. Do not compromise your soul and your salvation for a cheap sin. What a way to repay your God who died for you in order to help you stay clean!
Attacked from all sides—by the Sadducess (priests); the Scribes and Pharisees; by the mob or heartless cowardly crowd; by Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiphas, the Roman soldiers; betrayed by Judas; abandoned by most of His Apostles; and last of all attacked by the devils themselves—the irrepressible Jesus, after His horrendous beating, emerges victorious!
Jesus Looked a Failure and a Loser as He Died on the Cross
Today the world looks upon those who are religious as losers. They mock us, like they mocked Christ. Our Lord said that if they have hated Me then they will also hate you. Let us not become cowards just because we are mocked and laughed at. He who laughs last, laughs longest. Those who laugh now at religion, will gnash and grind their teeth as they howl and wail for eternity.
Victory Over His Murderers
“Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4) He was afraid, but He chose to walk into the jaws of death so as to come out alive. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel shall save it” (Mark 8:35). Don’t waste your life things that don’t matter, you may lose your eternal life over those things. Do not seek a long life, but rather a good one. Do not be afraid of martyrdom if it may come your way. “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Victory Over the Doubters and Unbelievers
“Let Christ the king of Israel come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Yet, as Jesus had once said: “Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk?” (Mark 2:9); now, dying on Calvary, He could say: “Which is easier? To come down from this cross while I am still alive, or to rise from the dead once I have died?” As always, Our Lord chose the most difficult option.
He did much more than come down from the Cross whilst alive! He came out of the tomb when He was dead! Let us beg Him to conquer our unbelief...our unbelief or doubts, for example, about the Holy Eucharist, our unbelief or doubts about eternal life, our unbelief or doubts in the power of prayer, our unbelief or doubts about the devil, our unbelief or doubts about the existence of Hell, or whatever unbelief or doubts that we may be guilty of.
Victory Over Death
Say what you will, but most people fear death! Some will even renounce the Faith if threatened with death. Death is the penultimate punishment, which the punishment of Hell still manages to trump. The wage for sin is death. Yet Our Lord came to remove our fears over death.
Death where is thy sting? Through the old Adam death came into the world, because he ate a forbidden fruit from a tree. Now the new Adam, bore a new fruit on the tree of the Cross and through partaking of that fruit we have life eternal. Look at the lacerated, bruised, beaten, wounded body that hung on the cross and now is unrecognizable in His resurrection. Do not fear or flee your sufferings, for they will be your source of grace and glory. He had raised three persons from the dead while He was alive, now He raised Himself from the dead as He had predicted and when He had predicted. So too will He raise you and your loved ones from the dead on the last day. Do not fear so much as the death of mortal sin. Yet there too He raises from the dead of the tomb of confessional in which we bury ourselves. We enter dead to God and come out alive.
Victory Over the Devil
The devil was not sure who He was! His holiness enraged the devil so much that he plotted and waged war against Christ—as he will wage war against you the holier you try to become, stirring all manner of things against you. Yet by His humble acceptance and meekness in face of this onslaught, Christ bore the victory. He used the weight oh His enemies attack against his enemy. The greater the rage, the greater the defeat. Let us learn from Our Lord not to fear the devil, and above all not to love him and his allurements. The devil can do nothing without the permission and agreement of God.
Victory Over the World
Jesus did not rise from the dead to live in the world. After His resurrection, He could have lived in the world till the end of time; but He did not rise to live here forever. He rose from the dead to go to Heaven. He died for this world, but He also died to this world. He took nothing of this world with Him, nor shall we when we die. Let us not live as though it was only this world that matters. Especially the young ones, who have not yet tasted the poison that Satan offers under the glitter and charm of the world around us. Do not compromise your soul and your salvation for a cheap sin. What a way to repay your God who died for you in order to help you stay clean!
DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE LENTEN SEASON
Holy Saturday in Holy Week, April 20th
Article 38
From Good Friday to "Lousy" Saturday?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 38
From Good Friday to "Lousy" Saturday?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Where's He Gone? They've Taken Him Away! No Mass, No Communion Today!
Yesterday, on Good Friday, there was no Sacrifice of the Mass offered anywhere. If you love your Mass, then that was not a good Good Friday feeling! However, every cloud has a silver lining―and the silver lining was that Holy Communion was still available in the Solemn Afternoon Liturgy! Today, however, could be termed “Lousy” Saturday―because, not only is there no Holy Sacrifice of the Mass available, but neither is Holy Communion available!
Jesus is Buried, But Cross Isn’t
On Holy Saturday—an incredibly ‘silent’ day in the Church’s Liturgy, apart from the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours—there is a sense of an absence of Christ. Walk into a church and what do you see? The tabernacle is open and empty. The altar is almost bare. All candles—especially the sanctuary light—are dead and extinguished. The statues buried beneath purple coverings. What can you see? There are some things that visible! What are they?
For one, there is the crucifix above the empty tabernacle—just as the cross of Christ remained on Calvary after Christ was taken away. Also, if you look around, you will still see the Stations of the Cross uncovered—as they have been throughout Lent, and also throughout Passiontide when the other statues and pictures were buried beneath purple ‘burial’ cloths, and they will remain uncovered throughout the whole year! The Cross of Christ and the Way or Stations of the Cross are not meant for Lent only, but it for the whole Liturgical Year and for every single day of our lives, in every circumstance of life. For without that Cross of Christ there is no salvation—hence the liturgy gives us phrases such as: “Ave Crux, spes unica!” (“Hail Cross, our sole hope!”) and “In cruce salus” (“In the cross is salvation”).
Don't Bury Your Cross!
You may not have the Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion available to you because it has been "taken away"‘—but the cross is always available to you and always will be available to you until the day you die (whether you want that cross or not). If you bury’ your cross—like the man who buried his talent in the ground (Matthew 25:14-30)—and your salvation is dead and buried! Like that man who buried the talent, we risk hearing the words: “And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury. Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away. And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:26-30). Our crosses are far more precious than any talents (money) that we have. We cannot buy our way into Heaven with money (except giving alms), but we can buy Heaven with the cross.
This is why Our Lord says emphatically: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). There is absolutely no “wiggle-room” in those words—no loophole, no escape clause, no compromise—it is a “non-negotiable” fact. There is no salvation outside Christ and He is to be found on the cross—that is why we have the crucifix overlooking every altar and the Stations of the Cross peering down upon us from all sides—in season and out of season, during Lent and outside of Lent, before Good Friday, during Good Friday and after Good Friday! “Ave Crux, spes unica!” (“Hail Cross, our sole hope!”) and “In cruce salus” (“In the cross is salvation”).
Yesterday, on Good Friday, there was no Sacrifice of the Mass offered anywhere. If you love your Mass, then that was not a good Good Friday feeling! However, every cloud has a silver lining―and the silver lining was that Holy Communion was still available in the Solemn Afternoon Liturgy! Today, however, could be termed “Lousy” Saturday―because, not only is there no Holy Sacrifice of the Mass available, but neither is Holy Communion available!
Jesus is Buried, But Cross Isn’t
On Holy Saturday—an incredibly ‘silent’ day in the Church’s Liturgy, apart from the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours—there is a sense of an absence of Christ. Walk into a church and what do you see? The tabernacle is open and empty. The altar is almost bare. All candles—especially the sanctuary light—are dead and extinguished. The statues buried beneath purple coverings. What can you see? There are some things that visible! What are they?
For one, there is the crucifix above the empty tabernacle—just as the cross of Christ remained on Calvary after Christ was taken away. Also, if you look around, you will still see the Stations of the Cross uncovered—as they have been throughout Lent, and also throughout Passiontide when the other statues and pictures were buried beneath purple ‘burial’ cloths, and they will remain uncovered throughout the whole year! The Cross of Christ and the Way or Stations of the Cross are not meant for Lent only, but it for the whole Liturgical Year and for every single day of our lives, in every circumstance of life. For without that Cross of Christ there is no salvation—hence the liturgy gives us phrases such as: “Ave Crux, spes unica!” (“Hail Cross, our sole hope!”) and “In cruce salus” (“In the cross is salvation”).
Don't Bury Your Cross!
You may not have the Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion available to you because it has been "taken away"‘—but the cross is always available to you and always will be available to you until the day you die (whether you want that cross or not). If you bury’ your cross—like the man who buried his talent in the ground (Matthew 25:14-30)—and your salvation is dead and buried! Like that man who buried the talent, we risk hearing the words: “And his lord answering, said to him: ‘Wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strewed! Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with usury. Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents. For to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away. And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’” (Matthew 25:26-30). Our crosses are far more precious than any talents (money) that we have. We cannot buy our way into Heaven with money (except giving alms), but we can buy Heaven with the cross.
This is why Our Lord says emphatically: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). There is absolutely no “wiggle-room” in those words—no loophole, no escape clause, no compromise—it is a “non-negotiable” fact. There is no salvation outside Christ and He is to be found on the cross—that is why we have the crucifix overlooking every altar and the Stations of the Cross peering down upon us from all sides—in season and out of season, during Lent and outside of Lent, before Good Friday, during Good Friday and after Good Friday! “Ave Crux, spes unica!” (“Hail Cross, our sole hope!”) and “In cruce salus” (“In the cross is salvation”).
Good Friday in Holy Week, April 19th
Article 37
Why Call a Day of Evil by the title "Good Friday"?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 37
Why Call a Day of Evil by the title "Good Friday"?
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Love and Live; Sin and Die
Love and death! At first, they conjure up two different emotions: desire and dread; pleasant and unpleasant; magnificent and morbid; delightful and depressing; exhilarating and excruciating! Two irreconcilables! Or are they?
An initial glance at Scripture seems to show their irreconcilability: God, Who is Love itself, is linked to life: "God is charity" (1 John 4:8) and God, Who is good, loves us and seeks to bring eternal life to our souls; the devil, who is evil, does not love us, but hates us and seeks to bring eternal death to our souls. Christ, with His grace, brings eternal life to us; the devil, with sin, brings eternal death to us. Jesus says of Himself: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life ... I am come that they may havelife, and may have it more abundantly" (John 14:6; 10:10); whereas, speaking of the devil, Jesus says: "He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him” (John 8:44).
“By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). St. Paul tells us that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) and “the sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 14:56). God Himself tells us: “everyone shall die for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:16).
A God of Extremes
Yet our God is not just a God of extreme justice; He is also a God of extreme mercy:“For God loveth mercy and truth: the Lord will give grace and glory” (Psalm 83:12).“The Lord is merciful and just, and our God showeth mercy” (Psalm 114:5). “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9). But that mercy is not unconditional, nor is it free. To obtain that mercy, certain things have to be done.
“As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die? Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity: all his justices shall be forgotten, and in his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall he die. And if I shall say to the wicked: ‘Thou shalt surely die!’ and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice, and if that wicked man restore what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing: he shall surely live, and shall not die. None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him: he hath done judgment and justice, he shall surely live...For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit iniquities, he shall die in them. And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall do judgments, and justice: he shall live in them” (Ezechiel 33:11-19).
Mercy Means Penance! What are the Means of Penance?
Sin must be paid for; our debt must be settled—otherwise we cannot enter Heaven. If we die in a state of unconfessed and unforgiven mortal sin, then the debt will be paid in Hell. If we neglect to pay for our confessed and forgiven sins in this life, then Purgatory awaits, and Jesus says: “thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26). The obvious solution is to pay now, rather than later. Now we can pay at a greatly 'discounted' price; after death, it will be payments with high interest added; “for the sin is great, and the fierce anger of the Lord hangeth over Israel” (2 Paralipomenon 28:13). What payment did we choose? What payment plans are there to choose from?
The Penance of Pain & The Penance of Love
Upon Calvary, alongside the dying Christ, we see two sinners: one dying in pain, the other 'dying' out of grief-stricken love. One is a man, the other a woman. The man is St. Dismas; the woman is St. Mary Magdalen. We may call them saints today, but at the time they were great sinners being transformed into saints. They were living proof that “the Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy ... and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9).
The Dismal Pain of Dismas
Dismas has led a dismal life; being a thief, robber, and consequently probably a murderer too, he was doing 'penance' for his sins and proving the truth of the statement that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). However, there is another thief suffering and dying with him; he has the same history, he has the same sufferings, but he does not have the same fate. His sufferings will be of no use to him, for he does not accept those sufferings as a just wage for his sins. He could have paid his debt there and then, like the Good Thief, Dismas, but he preferred (knowingly or unknowingly) to pay his debt in Hell.
Dismas would pay his debt alongside Jesus; or rather, he would co-pay with Jesus, for, of himself, he could not pay for any of his sins. Sin is an offense against God, even though we might sin against neighbor — “as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40). God is infinite, so any sin is consequently an infinite offense since it offends an infinite God. Therefore, it contracts an infinite debt, which finite man cannot hope to pay. It needs an infinite creature to be able to pay an infinite debt—Jesus is that infinite being, as an infinite God he can pay an infinite debt; as a human being He can pay the human debt for sin. Dismas merely co-pays, just as Our Lady co-redeems. We likewise have to co-pay—it is proof of our admission to guilt and proof of acceptance of responsibility and accountability.
Dismas pays primarily through his body: he is accepting of the pains and tortures of death as a just wage for his sins. It is not pain alone that saves him, it is pain processed and transformed by the soul into something above the natural, into something unnatural for him, into something supernatural. The pain breaks through into his soul and transforms him from a bad thief into a Good Thief who steals Heaven in the last lap of his life, with the last breath of his life. His was a payment plan of pain.
Yet, to say that Dismas died without love would be a grave misunderstanding and misrepresentation of what happened. He had to have some degree of love towards God in his heart for Christ to be able say to him: “This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). A variety of things will have contributed to breaking down any hardness of heart that he may have had—we will look at those at later point during Lent—but the pain of suffering undoubtedly opened and softened his heart, and prepared the soil of the soul to receive the seed of divine love. So, in the end, both death and love united in his life, to bring about his salvation.
The Mournful Love of Mary
The other sinner that we spoke of was Mary Magdalen, the sister of Martha, who according the traditional teaching of the Western (Roman) Church is the woman who was caught in adultery, the woman possessed by seven devils and the woman at the banquet of Simon the Leper who was weeping tears over Jesus' feet, wiping them dry with her hair and anointing Jesus with precious alabaster. Like the thief, Dismas, she too was a great sinner.
However, her payment plan was of a different kind—she paid for her sins through love. Jesus Himself confirmed this, when at the banquet He said: "Why do you trouble this woman? Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much"(Matthew 26:10; Luke 7:47). Her payment plan was based upon the Old Testament quote of: "Charity covereth all sins" (Proverbs 10:12) and the same plan was carried over into the New Testament, as testified by St. Peter: "Charity covereth a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8). This is merely a reflection or an echo of the charity that led Jesus to lay down His life for our sins: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
Like Dismas, Mary experienced a blend of love and pain on Calvary. The more she loved Christ, the more she felt the pain of what was happening to Christ. We know this from personal experience: the more we treasure a person or an object, the more agitated, sorrowful and pained we become when suffering a separation or its loss.
Love and Death United
Love and Death, the two things that seemed contradictory and irreconcilable, now find themselves united on Calvary. The words of Christ perform a marriage, so to speak, between Love and Death: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Death proves Love; and Love leads to Death. Our Lord proves His love for us by dying for us; and that love of His had to go to the very extreme, to the point of death itself. He could not raise the stakes any higher than that.
Similarly, Mary Magdalen 'dies' on Calvary with Christ. In a vaguely analogous way, as Christ dies mystically in each Sacrifice of the Mass, Mary dies mystically in an unbloody manner at the Sacrifice on Calvary. Christ's heart is pierced, she feels the wound—since it is for her benefit and salvation that He undergoes all this, and it is her sins (ours too) that pierce that Sacred Heart. She knows that He is the 'scapegoat' for her sins. She knows that she should be in His place, sentenced to death and dying on the cross.
Just as Christ had spared her a painful physical death from being stoned to death for adultery, He now prevents her spiritual death by dying on the cross. Like a woman watching her child being slain (Massacre of the Innocents) and wishing that she could be slain in the place of her baby; Mary Magdalen must have wished that this Massacre of the Innocent One could have been prevented and that she could be slain in His place. She was grateful to Him when she escaped being stoned to death; she was grateful to Him again for His redeeming death—she died with Him out of love.
A Double Death
So on Calvary, the wage of sin was most certainly death for all involved—to the innocent and guilty alike. Some experienced the pains of death primarily in the body; others felt pain as though they were 'dying' in the soul. But regardless of which manner of death was being experienced, what mattered most was that which was taking place in the soul. Without the presence of a supernatural love, all and any death would be vain, useless and pointless. This is exactly what St. Paul was trying to tell us in the Epistle that the Church put before us on Quinquagesima Sunday: "If I should deliver my body to be burned (or crucified, or whatever form of death it may be), and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:3).
The Soul of Lent
This shows us the indispensable ingredient that should have been present in all our Lenten penances—charity, or a love God. If we perform our penances without that vital, life-giving ingredient, then our penances are mere lifeless corpses, to which we could apply the words of Our Lord and Isaias: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). In other words, we will be performing penances in a lifeless manner, without putting our heart into them—and the heart we need to put into them is a contrite heart, a broken heart, a sorrowing heart, a repentant heart, a new heart, but above all a loving heart. For charity is the form or the soul of all virtues; it is the inspiration, motivation and elevation of all that we do, ensuring that we do for God, and God alone! That is why Holy Scripture says: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Thus we can apply the axiom about prayer, to our penances, sacrifices and mortifications also: "One Hail Mary said well, is better than hundreds said badly!" Then, one act of penance done with a loving, broken, repentant heart, will be worth hundreds of penances done on 'auto-pilot' or mechanically.
Never Too Late
Perhaps, up to this point, our Lent has been “loveless”―the penances have been there, but the soul of charity was missing from them. This is what Our Lord meant when He said: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Perhaps, like the Good Thief on the cross, Dismas, we find ourselves in this dismal, loveless, painful state of having labored through Lent with our loveless penances. Well, like Dismas, we could still “steal” a profitable Lent like he “stole” Heaven―even at the “eleventh hour” or the very of end of “Lenten Life”. Or like the workers in the vineyard, who only began work at the eleventh hour, after being idle all day. There is still time left to bring good out evil, to make good what was not so good. In these last moments of Lent, let us crucify ourselves spiritually, rip our flesh away from the seductive world, nail ourselves to the cross of a truly spiritual life, and die to our enemies of the devil, the world and our own concupiscences.
Love and death! At first, they conjure up two different emotions: desire and dread; pleasant and unpleasant; magnificent and morbid; delightful and depressing; exhilarating and excruciating! Two irreconcilables! Or are they?
An initial glance at Scripture seems to show their irreconcilability: God, Who is Love itself, is linked to life: "God is charity" (1 John 4:8) and God, Who is good, loves us and seeks to bring eternal life to our souls; the devil, who is evil, does not love us, but hates us and seeks to bring eternal death to our souls. Christ, with His grace, brings eternal life to us; the devil, with sin, brings eternal death to us. Jesus says of Himself: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life ... I am come that they may havelife, and may have it more abundantly" (John 14:6; 10:10); whereas, speaking of the devil, Jesus says: "He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him” (John 8:44).
“By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). St. Paul tells us that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) and “the sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 14:56). God Himself tells us: “everyone shall die for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:16).
A God of Extremes
Yet our God is not just a God of extreme justice; He is also a God of extreme mercy:“For God loveth mercy and truth: the Lord will give grace and glory” (Psalm 83:12).“The Lord is merciful and just, and our God showeth mercy” (Psalm 114:5). “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9). But that mercy is not unconditional, nor is it free. To obtain that mercy, certain things have to be done.
“As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die? Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity: all his justices shall be forgotten, and in his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall he die. And if I shall say to the wicked: ‘Thou shalt surely die!’ and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice, and if that wicked man restore what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing: he shall surely live, and shall not die. None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him: he hath done judgment and justice, he shall surely live...For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit iniquities, he shall die in them. And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall do judgments, and justice: he shall live in them” (Ezechiel 33:11-19).
Mercy Means Penance! What are the Means of Penance?
Sin must be paid for; our debt must be settled—otherwise we cannot enter Heaven. If we die in a state of unconfessed and unforgiven mortal sin, then the debt will be paid in Hell. If we neglect to pay for our confessed and forgiven sins in this life, then Purgatory awaits, and Jesus says: “thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26). The obvious solution is to pay now, rather than later. Now we can pay at a greatly 'discounted' price; after death, it will be payments with high interest added; “for the sin is great, and the fierce anger of the Lord hangeth over Israel” (2 Paralipomenon 28:13). What payment did we choose? What payment plans are there to choose from?
The Penance of Pain & The Penance of Love
Upon Calvary, alongside the dying Christ, we see two sinners: one dying in pain, the other 'dying' out of grief-stricken love. One is a man, the other a woman. The man is St. Dismas; the woman is St. Mary Magdalen. We may call them saints today, but at the time they were great sinners being transformed into saints. They were living proof that “the Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy ... and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9).
The Dismal Pain of Dismas
Dismas has led a dismal life; being a thief, robber, and consequently probably a murderer too, he was doing 'penance' for his sins and proving the truth of the statement that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). However, there is another thief suffering and dying with him; he has the same history, he has the same sufferings, but he does not have the same fate. His sufferings will be of no use to him, for he does not accept those sufferings as a just wage for his sins. He could have paid his debt there and then, like the Good Thief, Dismas, but he preferred (knowingly or unknowingly) to pay his debt in Hell.
Dismas would pay his debt alongside Jesus; or rather, he would co-pay with Jesus, for, of himself, he could not pay for any of his sins. Sin is an offense against God, even though we might sin against neighbor — “as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40). God is infinite, so any sin is consequently an infinite offense since it offends an infinite God. Therefore, it contracts an infinite debt, which finite man cannot hope to pay. It needs an infinite creature to be able to pay an infinite debt—Jesus is that infinite being, as an infinite God he can pay an infinite debt; as a human being He can pay the human debt for sin. Dismas merely co-pays, just as Our Lady co-redeems. We likewise have to co-pay—it is proof of our admission to guilt and proof of acceptance of responsibility and accountability.
Dismas pays primarily through his body: he is accepting of the pains and tortures of death as a just wage for his sins. It is not pain alone that saves him, it is pain processed and transformed by the soul into something above the natural, into something unnatural for him, into something supernatural. The pain breaks through into his soul and transforms him from a bad thief into a Good Thief who steals Heaven in the last lap of his life, with the last breath of his life. His was a payment plan of pain.
Yet, to say that Dismas died without love would be a grave misunderstanding and misrepresentation of what happened. He had to have some degree of love towards God in his heart for Christ to be able say to him: “This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). A variety of things will have contributed to breaking down any hardness of heart that he may have had—we will look at those at later point during Lent—but the pain of suffering undoubtedly opened and softened his heart, and prepared the soil of the soul to receive the seed of divine love. So, in the end, both death and love united in his life, to bring about his salvation.
The Mournful Love of Mary
The other sinner that we spoke of was Mary Magdalen, the sister of Martha, who according the traditional teaching of the Western (Roman) Church is the woman who was caught in adultery, the woman possessed by seven devils and the woman at the banquet of Simon the Leper who was weeping tears over Jesus' feet, wiping them dry with her hair and anointing Jesus with precious alabaster. Like the thief, Dismas, she too was a great sinner.
However, her payment plan was of a different kind—she paid for her sins through love. Jesus Himself confirmed this, when at the banquet He said: "Why do you trouble this woman? Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much"(Matthew 26:10; Luke 7:47). Her payment plan was based upon the Old Testament quote of: "Charity covereth all sins" (Proverbs 10:12) and the same plan was carried over into the New Testament, as testified by St. Peter: "Charity covereth a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8). This is merely a reflection or an echo of the charity that led Jesus to lay down His life for our sins: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
Like Dismas, Mary experienced a blend of love and pain on Calvary. The more she loved Christ, the more she felt the pain of what was happening to Christ. We know this from personal experience: the more we treasure a person or an object, the more agitated, sorrowful and pained we become when suffering a separation or its loss.
Love and Death United
Love and Death, the two things that seemed contradictory and irreconcilable, now find themselves united on Calvary. The words of Christ perform a marriage, so to speak, between Love and Death: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Death proves Love; and Love leads to Death. Our Lord proves His love for us by dying for us; and that love of His had to go to the very extreme, to the point of death itself. He could not raise the stakes any higher than that.
Similarly, Mary Magdalen 'dies' on Calvary with Christ. In a vaguely analogous way, as Christ dies mystically in each Sacrifice of the Mass, Mary dies mystically in an unbloody manner at the Sacrifice on Calvary. Christ's heart is pierced, she feels the wound—since it is for her benefit and salvation that He undergoes all this, and it is her sins (ours too) that pierce that Sacred Heart. She knows that He is the 'scapegoat' for her sins. She knows that she should be in His place, sentenced to death and dying on the cross.
Just as Christ had spared her a painful physical death from being stoned to death for adultery, He now prevents her spiritual death by dying on the cross. Like a woman watching her child being slain (Massacre of the Innocents) and wishing that she could be slain in the place of her baby; Mary Magdalen must have wished that this Massacre of the Innocent One could have been prevented and that she could be slain in His place. She was grateful to Him when she escaped being stoned to death; she was grateful to Him again for His redeeming death—she died with Him out of love.
A Double Death
So on Calvary, the wage of sin was most certainly death for all involved—to the innocent and guilty alike. Some experienced the pains of death primarily in the body; others felt pain as though they were 'dying' in the soul. But regardless of which manner of death was being experienced, what mattered most was that which was taking place in the soul. Without the presence of a supernatural love, all and any death would be vain, useless and pointless. This is exactly what St. Paul was trying to tell us in the Epistle that the Church put before us on Quinquagesima Sunday: "If I should deliver my body to be burned (or crucified, or whatever form of death it may be), and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:3).
The Soul of Lent
This shows us the indispensable ingredient that should have been present in all our Lenten penances—charity, or a love God. If we perform our penances without that vital, life-giving ingredient, then our penances are mere lifeless corpses, to which we could apply the words of Our Lord and Isaias: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). In other words, we will be performing penances in a lifeless manner, without putting our heart into them—and the heart we need to put into them is a contrite heart, a broken heart, a sorrowing heart, a repentant heart, a new heart, but above all a loving heart. For charity is the form or the soul of all virtues; it is the inspiration, motivation and elevation of all that we do, ensuring that we do for God, and God alone! That is why Holy Scripture says: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Thus we can apply the axiom about prayer, to our penances, sacrifices and mortifications also: "One Hail Mary said well, is better than hundreds said badly!" Then, one act of penance done with a loving, broken, repentant heart, will be worth hundreds of penances done on 'auto-pilot' or mechanically.
Never Too Late
Perhaps, up to this point, our Lent has been “loveless”―the penances have been there, but the soul of charity was missing from them. This is what Our Lord meant when He said: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Perhaps, like the Good Thief on the cross, Dismas, we find ourselves in this dismal, loveless, painful state of having labored through Lent with our loveless penances. Well, like Dismas, we could still “steal” a profitable Lent like he “stole” Heaven―even at the “eleventh hour” or the very of end of “Lenten Life”. Or like the workers in the vineyard, who only began work at the eleventh hour, after being idle all day. There is still time left to bring good out evil, to make good what was not so good. In these last moments of Lent, let us crucify ourselves spiritually, rip our flesh away from the seductive world, nail ourselves to the cross of a truly spiritual life, and die to our enemies of the devil, the world and our own concupiscences.
Thursday in Holy Week, April 18th
Article 36
Three Birthdays on the Same Day!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 36
Three Birthdays on the Same Day!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
The Problem With Sharing Birthdays!
A birthday should be a day when the focus is on the person whose birthday it is―they should be made to feel special on that day. However, there are such things as twins, triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets, sextuplets and more! Imagine being of six or seven siblings born on the same day―the attention given to the “birthday boy” (or girl) ends up being spread a little thin. Instead of being the sole focus of attention, you are merely one of six or seven or whatever getting only a morsel of attention from everyone else.
It Comes in Threes
Or look upon the phenomenon of “doing the rounds” of parties on Christmas Day―so as not shun or slight any parent or in-law, brother or sister. So you gallop around three or four parties, showing your face everywhere, but feeling as though belong nowhere! It is much the same with Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday), which does not just celebrate one thing or one birthday―but it celebrates THREE BIRTHDAYS for THREE THINGS, which you could, in a manner of speaking, call HOLY TRIPLETS. These triplets are, in order of birth or logical order, (1) the Holy Priesthood, (2) the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and (3) the Holy Eucharist or Blessed Sacrament. They are logically in that order, because you must have a priest before you can have a Sacrifice of the Mass; and you cannot produce the Holy Eucharist without both the priest and the Mass.
Before we look at the three ‘birthdays’, there is another threesome aspect to Holy Thursday―or at least there used to be before destructive man started to destroy the beauty that God had created through His Church. That other “threesome” refers to the three different kinds of solemn Masses celebrated on Holy Thursday. The first was for the reconciliation of penitents, the second was for the creation and blessing of the Church’s Holy Oils, and the third was the solemn evening Mass commemorating the Last Supper, during which the other “threesome” were born―the Holy Priesthood, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the Holy Eucharist.
The Mass of Reconciliation of Public Penitents (Public Sinners)
Dom Gueranger tells us that three solemn Masses were anciently celebrated on this day; and the first was preceded by the absolution of the public penitents, and their readmission into the Church. The following was the order of the service for the reconciliation of penitents. Firstly, they presented themselves at the church door, clad in penitential garb, and bare-footed. The hair of both head and beard had been allowed to grow from Ash Wednesday, the day on which they had received their penance, which had to be completed before Holy Thursday. In the sanctuary, the bishop recited the Seven Penitential Psalms, in which David expresses his sorrow for having offended God. These psalms were followed by
the litany of the saints. During these prayers the penitents were laying prostrate, flat on their faces, in the porch of the church, for entrance into the actual interior of the church was forbidden to them. Three times (that number three again!) during the litany, the bishop sent a member of the clergy to go and speak to them, in the bishop’s name, and bring them words of hope and consolation.
The first time, two subdeacons went to them and said: “As I live, saith the Lord, I will not the death of the sinner, but rather that he be converted and live!”
The second time, two other subdeacons were sent, with this message: “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’”
Finally, a deacon was commissioned to go to them and say: “Lift up your heads! Behold! Your redemption is nigh!”
After these announcements of approaching pardon, the bishop left the sanctuary and went towards the penitents, as far as half way down the centre nave, where was prepared a seat, turned towards the door which led into the porch where the penitents were still lying prostrate. The pontiff being seated, the archdeacon addressed him in these words:
“Venerable pontiff! The acceptable time has come, the day of God's mercy and of man's salvation, when death was destroyed, and eternal life began. This is the time when, in the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth, new plants are to be set, and the detestableness of the old growth is to be pruned away. For though there is no period of time, which is not rich in the goodness and mercy of God, yet now indulgence a produces a more abundant remission of sins, and grace yields a more plentiful number of the regenerated. Those that are regenerated add to our ranks, those that return, increase our numbers. There is a laver of water; there is a laver of tears. From the one, there is joy because of the admittance of them that are called j from the other, there is gladness because of them that repent. Therefore it is that these thy suppliant servants-after having fallen into sundry kinds of sins, by the neglect of the divine commandments, and the transgression of the moral law-humbled and prostrate, cry out to the Lord in these words of the prophet: I We have sinned! We have done unjustly! We have committed iniquity! Have mercy on us, O LordI” It has not been in vain, that they have heard the words of the Gospel: Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. As it is written, they have eaten the bread of 'sorrow; they have watered their couch with tears; they have afflicted their hearts with mourning, and their bodies with fasting, that thus they might recover the health of soul, which they had lost. The grace of penance, therefore, is one; but it profits each one that receives it, and gives help to all in common.”
The bishop then rose, and advanced towards the penitents. He spoke to them concerning the mercy of God, and how they should live for the time to come. After this exhortation, he thus addressed them: “Come, come, come, my children! I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” The choir then sang this antiphon, taken from Psalm 33: “Come ye to Him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be confounded!” Hereupon, the penitents rose up, and, coming to the bishop, threw themselves at his feet.
The archpriest then pleaded for them in these words: “Make good in them, O apostolic pontiff, all that has been
corrupted in them by the temptation of the devil. By the merit of thy prayers and intercession, and by the grace of
the divine reconciliation, bring these men nigh unto God. Thus they, who heretofore suffered by the sins they committed, may now be happy in the hope that, having overcome the author of their death, they may please the Lord
ia the land of the living.”
The bishop answered: “Knowest thou, if they be worthy of reconciliation?”
The archpriest replied: “I know and bear witness, that they are worthy.”
A deacon then ordered the penitents to rise. This done, the bishop took one of them by the hand, who did the same to his neighbor; and thus all, hand in hand, followed the bishop to the place prepared in the centre of the nave.
Meanwhile, the choir sang the following antiphons: “I say unto you, there is joy to the angels of God over one sinner doing penance. It behoveth thee, my son, to rejoice; for thy brother was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and is found.”
The bishop then offered up to God this prayer, which he sang to the solemn tone of the Preface.
“It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation, that we should always and in all places give thanks to Thee, O holy Lord, almighty Father, eternal God, through Christ our Lord: Whom Thou, almighty Father, didst will to be born among us by an ineffable birth, that so He might pay to Thee, His eternal Father, the debt contracted by Adam, and put our death to death by His own, and bear our wounds in His own flesh, and cleanse away our stains by His Blood; hereby enabling us, who had fallen by the envy of the old enemy, to rise again by His mercy. Through Him, O Lord, we suppliantly beseech and pray Thee, that Thou graciously hear us making intercession for the sins of others, who are not worthy to plead for our own. Do Thou, O most merciful Lord, recall to Thyself, with Thy customary goodness, these Thy servants, who have separated themselves from Thee by their sins. For neither didst Thou reject the most wicked Achab when he humbled himself before Thee, but didst avert from him the punishment he had deserved. So, likewise, didst Thou graciously hear Peter, when he wept, and didst afterwards give to him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and Thou didst promise the reward of that same Kingdom to the thief, when he trusted in Thee. Therefore, O most merciful Lord, mercifully welcome back these for whom we offer to Thee our prayers, and restore them to the bosom of the Church, that the enemy may not triumph over them, but that they may be reconciled unto Thee by Thy coequal Son, and by Him be cleansed from their guilt, and graciously admitted by Him to the banquet of Thy most holy Supper. May He in such wise refresh them by His Flesh and Blood, as to lead them, after this life's course is run, to the Kingdom of Heaven.”
After this prayer, all―both clergy and laity―prostrated themselves, together with the penitents, before the divine Majesty, and recited the three psalms which begin with the word “Miserere” (“Have mercy”), that is, psalms 50, 55 and 56. The bishop then stood up, and said over the penitent―who remained prostrate, as did also all the assistants―six long prayers, from which the following is but a short extract:
“Give ear, O Lord, to our supplications, and mercifully hear me, though I myself need mercy above all others. Thou hast chosen me to be the minister of this work, not from any merits Thou didst see in me, but by the pure gift of Thy grace. Grant me courage to fulfill my office, and do Thou work, by my ministry, the effects of Thine own mercy. It is Thou that didst bring back, on Thy shoulders, the lost sheep to the fold, and that didst mercifully hear the prayers of the publican; do Thou, also, restore to life these Thy servants, whom Thou wouldst not have die unto Thee. O Thou, Who abandonest not them that are gone astray, receive these who have returned to Thee. We beseech Thee, O Lord, let the tearful sighs of these Thy servants move Thee to clemency! Heal their wounds! Stretch out thy saving hand to them, and raise them up! Permit not Thy Church to be injured in any of her members; let not Thy flock suffer loss; let not the enemy exult over the destruction of any of Thy family, nor the second death lay hold of them that have been regenerated in the waters of salvation. Pardon, O Lord, these that confess their sins to Thee! Let them not fall into the punishments of the judgment to come! Let them never know the horrors of darkness, or the torments of the flames of Hell. They have returned from the way of error to the path of justice; let them not again be wounded, but maintain ever within themselves both what Thy grace hath conferred upon them, and what Thy mercy hath reformed within them.”
Having said these prayers, the bishop stretched forth his hands over the penitents, and pronounced the reconciliation, in this solemn formula:
“May our Lord Jesus Christ, who vouchsafed to take away the sins of the whole world, by delivering Himself up for us, and shedding His spotless Blood, Who also said unto His disciples: ‘Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth, shall be bound also in Heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth, shall be loosed also in Heaven!” and Who hath numbered me, though unworthy, among these His ministers: may He deign, by the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God, of the blessed Archangel Michael, of holy Peter the Apostle (to whom He gave the power of binding and loosing), and of all the saints, to absolve you, by the merits of His Blood, shed for the remission of sins, from all whatsoever you have negligently committed in thought, or word, or action; and, having loosed you from the bonds of sin, may He graciously lead you to the Kingdom of Heaven, Who, with God the Father, and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.”
The bishop then advanced towards the penitents, who were still lying prostrate: he sprinkled them with holy water, and incensed them with thurible (censer). Finally, he addressed them in these words of the Apostle: “Arise, ye that sleep! Arise from the dead, and Christ shall enlighten you!” The penitents stood up; and, in order to express the joy they felt at being reconciled with their God, they immediately went and changed their penitential garb for one more in accordance with gladness, and with the Holy Communion they were now to receive, together with the rest of the faithful
.
You can see and sense that in those days, Catholics had not lost a sense of sin―as too sadly is the case today! One reason for that is that liturgical ceremonies, such as seen in the above extracts, were a marvelous means of instruction and influence on the spiritual and moral fiber of the members of the Church. As the famous axiom says: “Lex orandi, lex credendi”―meaning that they way we worship influences the way we think and what we believe. The banal, worldly, irreverent manner of worship today is a major factor in provoking, promoting and producing the lack of Faith that is increasingly evident amongst Catholics all throughout the world. We need those old ceremonies to restore our former awe, zeal, reverence and sense of sin.
The Blessing of the Holy Oils
The second Mass which used, formerly, to be said on Maundy Thursday, was that of the Blessing of the Holy Oils. This holy function, which takes place but once each year, requires a Bishop as the consecrator. For now many centuries, this great ceremony is celebrated at the single Mass, which is said, on this day, in commemoration of our Lord’s Supper. As this Blessing only takes place in Cathedral Churches, we will not enter into each detail; and yet we would not deprive our readers of what they ought to know with regard to the Holy Oils. Faith teaches us, that, as we are regenerated by water, so are we confirmed and fortified by oil; and that Oil is one of the chief elements chosen by the Divine Author of the Sacraments, whereby to signify and produce grace in our souls.
The reason of the Church’s selecting Maundy Thursday for the Blessing of the Holy Oils, was that It is incorrectly called a Blessing Urbi et Orbi, inasmuch as it is only given to the Faithful who are present at it they would be so much needed for the Baptism of the neophytes on Easter Eve. It behooves the Faithful to understand the mystery of those sacred elements. We will, therefore, briefly explain it to them, in order that we may excite their hearts to gratitude to our Blessed Lord, who has made material things the instruments of grace, and, by his Blood, has given them the sacramental power which resides within them.
The first of the Holy Oils, that is, the first that is blessed by the Bishop, is the one called the Oil of the Sick. It is the matter of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. It takes away, from the dying Christian, the remnants of sin; it strengthens him in his last combat; and, by the supernatural power it possesses, sometimes restores to him the health of the body. Formerly, it used to be blessed on any day of the year, as often as required: but, later on, its blessing was fixed for this day, that thus the three Oils might be blessed all together. The Faithful should assist with much devotion, at this ceremony; for the element that is thus sanctified, is one day to anoint and purify their bodies, sinking under sickness. Let them, as they see it being blessed, think upon their last hour, and praise the infinite goodness of their Savior, whose blood streams so plentifully through this precious fluid.
The noblest of the three Oils is the Chrism, and its consecration is more solemn, and fuller of mystery, than those of the other two. It is by the chrism that the Holy Ghost imprints his indelible seal on the Christian, that has already been made a member of Christ by Baptism. The Water gives us our spiritual birth; the Chrism gives us strength; and, until such time as we have received its holy anointing, we have not as yet the perfect character of a Christian.
Anointed with this holy Oil, the Faithful has a visible sign given him of his being a member of the Man-God, whose name of Christ signifies the unction He has received both as King and Pontiff. This consecration of a Christian by Chrism is so much in accordance with the spirit of our holy Religion, that, immediately after Baptism, the child receives upon its head an anointing (though it is not a sacramental one), of this Oil, to show that he is already a sharer of the kingly character of Jesus Christ.
In order to express, by an outward sign, the sacredness of Chrism, an Apostolic tradition requires the Bishop to mix Balm with it. This Balm represents what the Apostle calls the good odor of Christ, of whom it is written: “We will run after Thee, to the odor of Thy ointments.” The scarcity and high price of other perfumes has obliged the Latin Church to be content with Balm alone in the mixture of holy Chrism: but in the Eastern Church, where the climate is more favorable than ours, three and thirty species of precious perfumes are put into the Oil, and it thus becomes an ointment of exquisite fragrance.
The holy Chrism, besides its sacramental use in Confirmation, and its being put upon the head of the newly baptized, is also used by the Church in the consecration of her Bishops, in the consecration of Chalices and Altars, in the blessing of Bells, and in the Dedication of a Church, in which last most imposing ceremony, the Bishop pours out the Chrism on the twelve crosses, which are to attest to all succeeding ages, the glory of God’s House.
The third of the holy Oils is that which is called the Oil of Catechumens. Though it be not the matter of any Sacrament, it is, nevertheless, an Apostolic institution. Its blessing is less solemn than that of the Chrism, but more so than that of the Oil of the Sick. The Oil of Catechumens is used in the ceremonies of Baptism, for the anointing the breast and shoulders. It is also used for the anointing a Priest’s hands in Ordination, and for the coronation of a King or Queen.
These few words of explanation will give the Faithful some idea of the importance of the Blessing of the holy Oils. By this threefold Blessing, says St. Fortunatus (in the beautiful Hymn which is used during the ceremony), the Bishop acquits the debt he owes, and which none but he can pay.
The holy Church seldom employs such pomp as she does on this occasion. Twelve Priests, seven Deacons, and seven Subdeacons, are present. The Roman Pontifical tells us, that the twelve Priests assist as witnesses and co-operators of the holy Chrism. The Mass commences, and goes on as far as the Prayer of the Canon, which immediately precedes the Pater noster (the “Our Father”).
The Bishop then leaves the Altar, and goes to the place prepared for the Blessing. The first phial of Oil that is brought to him, is that which is intended for the sick. He prefaces the blessing, by pronouncing the words of exorcism over this oil, in order to drive from it the influence of the wicked spirits, who, out of hatred for man, are ever seeking to infest the creatures given to us for our use. This done, he blesses it in these words:
“We beseech Thee, O Lord, send forth from heaven Thy Holy Spirit the Paraclete upon this rich juice of the olive, which Thou hast graciously produced from the green wood, for the solace of both mind and body. By Thy holy blessing, may all they that are anointed with this ointment of heavenly virtue, receive help to mind and body; may it remove from them all pains, all infirmities, and all sickness of mind and body, for it was with oil that Thou didst anoint Thy Priests, Kings, Prophets, and Martyrs. May this, being blessed by Thee, O Lord, become unto us an ointment of perfection, and abide within our whole being. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
One of the seven Subdeacons then carries the phial back, and the Bishop returns to the Altar, and continues the Mass. As soon as he has given Holy Communion to the Clergy, he returns to the place prepared for the blessing of the Oils. The twelve Priests, the seven Deacons, and the seven Subdeacons, repair to the place where the other two phials have been put. One contains the oil, which is to become the Chrism of salvation; the other, the oil which is to be sanctified as the oil of Catechumens. The procession is soon seen returning towards the Pontiff. The two phials are carried by two Deacons; a Subdeacon carries the vase of Balm. The Bishop begins by blessing the Balm: he calls it the fragrant tear of dry bark—the oozing of a favored branch, that gives us the priestly unction.
Before proceeding to bless the oil of the Chrism, he thrice breathes upon it, in the form of a cross. The twelve Priests do the same. The Gospel tells us that our Blessed Savior used this same ceremony over his Apostles. It signifies the power of the Holy Ghost, and expresses his name, which is the Spirit. This Holy Spirit is about to make this oil become an instrument of his Divine power.
The Bishop first prepares it for the heavenly dignity, by exorcising it. He then celebrates the praises of the Chrism, by this magnificent Preface, which has been handed down to us from the earliest ages of our faith.
“It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation, that we should always, and in all places, give thanks to Thee, O Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God: who, in the beginning, among the rest of Thy bounteous gifts, didst command the earth to yield fruit-bearing trees, among which should be the olive, which produces this most rich liquor, and whose fruit was to serve for the making holy Chrism. Hence it was, that David, foreknowing, by a prophetic spirit, the Sacraments of Thy grace, sang that our faces were to be made glad with oil: and when the sins of the world were expiated of old, by the deluge, a dove announced that peace was restored to the earth, by bearing an olive branch, the type of the gift to come, which has been manifested in these latter ages; for after the waters of Baptism have washed away the sins of men, this anointing of oil gave us joy and calm. Hence, too, Thou didst command Thy servant Moses to ordain his brother Aaron priest, by pouring oil upon him, after he had been cleansed with water. A greater honor still was, that when Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, bade John baptize him in the waters of the Jordan, Thou didst send upon him the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove; that thus by a voice that bore testimony, Thou mightest designate thine Only Begotten Son, in whom Thou wast well pleased, and mightest prove, beyond all doubt, that this was the fulfillment of what the Prophet David had foretold, when he sang, that he was to be anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows.
“We, therefore, beseech Thee, Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God, through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, that Thou vouchsafe to sanctify, by Thy blessing, this Thy creature oil, and infuse into it the virtue of the Holy Ghost, through the co-operating power of Christ, Thy Son, from whose name it hath borrowed its own of Chrism, and wherewith Thou didst anoint the Priests, Kings, Prophets, and Martyrs. Raise this Chrism into a Sacrament of perfect salvation and life, to them that are to be renewed by the spiritual laver of Baptism. That thus, the corruption of their first birth being absorbed by the infusion of this holy anointing, they may become a holy temple, redolent with the fragrance of the innocence of holy living. According to what Thou hast appointed in this mystery, bestow upon them the honor of kings, priests, and prophets, by vesting them in the robe of incorruption. May this oil be to them, that are born again from water and the Holy Ghost, a Chrism of salvation, making them partakers of life everlasting, and co-heirs of heavenly glory.”
The Bishop then takes the Balm; and having mixed it, on a paten, with a little oil, he pours it into the Phial. The consecration of the Chrism thus completed, he salutes it with these words: Hail, Holy Chrism! This he does with the intention of honoring the Holy Ghost, who is to work by this sacramental oil. The same is done by each of the twelve Priests.
The Bishop then proceeds to bless the Oil of Catechumens. After having breathed upon it, and pronounced the exorcism, (as before, in the blessing of the holy Chrism,) he says this Prayer:
“O God, the rewarder of every spiritual increase and growth.! who strengthenest the beginnings of weakly souls by the power of the Holy Ghost: we beseech Thee, O Lord, that Thou vouchsafe to pour out Thy blessing upon this oil, and grant to them, that come to the laver of holy regeneration, the cleansing of soul and body, by the anointing they receive from this Thy creature; that so, if there should be any stains fixed upon them by their spiritual enemies, they may be effaced by the touch of this holy oil. May the wicked spirits find no room there; may the powers, that have been put to flight, have no further sway; may there be no lurking place left to insidious evil ones. May Thy servants that come to the faith, and are to be cleansed by the operation of Thy Holy Spirit, find in this anointing a preparation for that salvation, which they are to receive in the Sacrament of Baptism, by the Birth of a heavenly regeneration. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who is to come to judge the living, and the dead, and the world by fire. Amen.”
The Bishop then salutes the Oil, on which he has conferred these wonderful prerogatives, saying: “Hail, holy Oil!” The same act of reverence is repeated by each of the Priests. One of the deacons takes the Chrism, another deacon takes the Oil of Catechumens, and a procession is again formed for taking them to the place prepared for them. They are covered with veils of silk— the holy Chrism, with white silk, and the Oil of Catechumens, with purple silk.
A birthday should be a day when the focus is on the person whose birthday it is―they should be made to feel special on that day. However, there are such things as twins, triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets, sextuplets and more! Imagine being of six or seven siblings born on the same day―the attention given to the “birthday boy” (or girl) ends up being spread a little thin. Instead of being the sole focus of attention, you are merely one of six or seven or whatever getting only a morsel of attention from everyone else.
It Comes in Threes
Or look upon the phenomenon of “doing the rounds” of parties on Christmas Day―so as not shun or slight any parent or in-law, brother or sister. So you gallop around three or four parties, showing your face everywhere, but feeling as though belong nowhere! It is much the same with Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday), which does not just celebrate one thing or one birthday―but it celebrates THREE BIRTHDAYS for THREE THINGS, which you could, in a manner of speaking, call HOLY TRIPLETS. These triplets are, in order of birth or logical order, (1) the Holy Priesthood, (2) the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and (3) the Holy Eucharist or Blessed Sacrament. They are logically in that order, because you must have a priest before you can have a Sacrifice of the Mass; and you cannot produce the Holy Eucharist without both the priest and the Mass.
Before we look at the three ‘birthdays’, there is another threesome aspect to Holy Thursday―or at least there used to be before destructive man started to destroy the beauty that God had created through His Church. That other “threesome” refers to the three different kinds of solemn Masses celebrated on Holy Thursday. The first was for the reconciliation of penitents, the second was for the creation and blessing of the Church’s Holy Oils, and the third was the solemn evening Mass commemorating the Last Supper, during which the other “threesome” were born―the Holy Priesthood, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the Holy Eucharist.
The Mass of Reconciliation of Public Penitents (Public Sinners)
Dom Gueranger tells us that three solemn Masses were anciently celebrated on this day; and the first was preceded by the absolution of the public penitents, and their readmission into the Church. The following was the order of the service for the reconciliation of penitents. Firstly, they presented themselves at the church door, clad in penitential garb, and bare-footed. The hair of both head and beard had been allowed to grow from Ash Wednesday, the day on which they had received their penance, which had to be completed before Holy Thursday. In the sanctuary, the bishop recited the Seven Penitential Psalms, in which David expresses his sorrow for having offended God. These psalms were followed by
the litany of the saints. During these prayers the penitents were laying prostrate, flat on their faces, in the porch of the church, for entrance into the actual interior of the church was forbidden to them. Three times (that number three again!) during the litany, the bishop sent a member of the clergy to go and speak to them, in the bishop’s name, and bring them words of hope and consolation.
The first time, two subdeacons went to them and said: “As I live, saith the Lord, I will not the death of the sinner, but rather that he be converted and live!”
The second time, two other subdeacons were sent, with this message: “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Do penance! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’”
Finally, a deacon was commissioned to go to them and say: “Lift up your heads! Behold! Your redemption is nigh!”
After these announcements of approaching pardon, the bishop left the sanctuary and went towards the penitents, as far as half way down the centre nave, where was prepared a seat, turned towards the door which led into the porch where the penitents were still lying prostrate. The pontiff being seated, the archdeacon addressed him in these words:
“Venerable pontiff! The acceptable time has come, the day of God's mercy and of man's salvation, when death was destroyed, and eternal life began. This is the time when, in the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth, new plants are to be set, and the detestableness of the old growth is to be pruned away. For though there is no period of time, which is not rich in the goodness and mercy of God, yet now indulgence a produces a more abundant remission of sins, and grace yields a more plentiful number of the regenerated. Those that are regenerated add to our ranks, those that return, increase our numbers. There is a laver of water; there is a laver of tears. From the one, there is joy because of the admittance of them that are called j from the other, there is gladness because of them that repent. Therefore it is that these thy suppliant servants-after having fallen into sundry kinds of sins, by the neglect of the divine commandments, and the transgression of the moral law-humbled and prostrate, cry out to the Lord in these words of the prophet: I We have sinned! We have done unjustly! We have committed iniquity! Have mercy on us, O LordI” It has not been in vain, that they have heard the words of the Gospel: Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. As it is written, they have eaten the bread of 'sorrow; they have watered their couch with tears; they have afflicted their hearts with mourning, and their bodies with fasting, that thus they might recover the health of soul, which they had lost. The grace of penance, therefore, is one; but it profits each one that receives it, and gives help to all in common.”
The bishop then rose, and advanced towards the penitents. He spoke to them concerning the mercy of God, and how they should live for the time to come. After this exhortation, he thus addressed them: “Come, come, come, my children! I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” The choir then sang this antiphon, taken from Psalm 33: “Come ye to Him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be confounded!” Hereupon, the penitents rose up, and, coming to the bishop, threw themselves at his feet.
The archpriest then pleaded for them in these words: “Make good in them, O apostolic pontiff, all that has been
corrupted in them by the temptation of the devil. By the merit of thy prayers and intercession, and by the grace of
the divine reconciliation, bring these men nigh unto God. Thus they, who heretofore suffered by the sins they committed, may now be happy in the hope that, having overcome the author of their death, they may please the Lord
ia the land of the living.”
The bishop answered: “Knowest thou, if they be worthy of reconciliation?”
The archpriest replied: “I know and bear witness, that they are worthy.”
A deacon then ordered the penitents to rise. This done, the bishop took one of them by the hand, who did the same to his neighbor; and thus all, hand in hand, followed the bishop to the place prepared in the centre of the nave.
Meanwhile, the choir sang the following antiphons: “I say unto you, there is joy to the angels of God over one sinner doing penance. It behoveth thee, my son, to rejoice; for thy brother was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and is found.”
The bishop then offered up to God this prayer, which he sang to the solemn tone of the Preface.
“It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation, that we should always and in all places give thanks to Thee, O holy Lord, almighty Father, eternal God, through Christ our Lord: Whom Thou, almighty Father, didst will to be born among us by an ineffable birth, that so He might pay to Thee, His eternal Father, the debt contracted by Adam, and put our death to death by His own, and bear our wounds in His own flesh, and cleanse away our stains by His Blood; hereby enabling us, who had fallen by the envy of the old enemy, to rise again by His mercy. Through Him, O Lord, we suppliantly beseech and pray Thee, that Thou graciously hear us making intercession for the sins of others, who are not worthy to plead for our own. Do Thou, O most merciful Lord, recall to Thyself, with Thy customary goodness, these Thy servants, who have separated themselves from Thee by their sins. For neither didst Thou reject the most wicked Achab when he humbled himself before Thee, but didst avert from him the punishment he had deserved. So, likewise, didst Thou graciously hear Peter, when he wept, and didst afterwards give to him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and Thou didst promise the reward of that same Kingdom to the thief, when he trusted in Thee. Therefore, O most merciful Lord, mercifully welcome back these for whom we offer to Thee our prayers, and restore them to the bosom of the Church, that the enemy may not triumph over them, but that they may be reconciled unto Thee by Thy coequal Son, and by Him be cleansed from their guilt, and graciously admitted by Him to the banquet of Thy most holy Supper. May He in such wise refresh them by His Flesh and Blood, as to lead them, after this life's course is run, to the Kingdom of Heaven.”
After this prayer, all―both clergy and laity―prostrated themselves, together with the penitents, before the divine Majesty, and recited the three psalms which begin with the word “Miserere” (“Have mercy”), that is, psalms 50, 55 and 56. The bishop then stood up, and said over the penitent―who remained prostrate, as did also all the assistants―six long prayers, from which the following is but a short extract:
“Give ear, O Lord, to our supplications, and mercifully hear me, though I myself need mercy above all others. Thou hast chosen me to be the minister of this work, not from any merits Thou didst see in me, but by the pure gift of Thy grace. Grant me courage to fulfill my office, and do Thou work, by my ministry, the effects of Thine own mercy. It is Thou that didst bring back, on Thy shoulders, the lost sheep to the fold, and that didst mercifully hear the prayers of the publican; do Thou, also, restore to life these Thy servants, whom Thou wouldst not have die unto Thee. O Thou, Who abandonest not them that are gone astray, receive these who have returned to Thee. We beseech Thee, O Lord, let the tearful sighs of these Thy servants move Thee to clemency! Heal their wounds! Stretch out thy saving hand to them, and raise them up! Permit not Thy Church to be injured in any of her members; let not Thy flock suffer loss; let not the enemy exult over the destruction of any of Thy family, nor the second death lay hold of them that have been regenerated in the waters of salvation. Pardon, O Lord, these that confess their sins to Thee! Let them not fall into the punishments of the judgment to come! Let them never know the horrors of darkness, or the torments of the flames of Hell. They have returned from the way of error to the path of justice; let them not again be wounded, but maintain ever within themselves both what Thy grace hath conferred upon them, and what Thy mercy hath reformed within them.”
Having said these prayers, the bishop stretched forth his hands over the penitents, and pronounced the reconciliation, in this solemn formula:
“May our Lord Jesus Christ, who vouchsafed to take away the sins of the whole world, by delivering Himself up for us, and shedding His spotless Blood, Who also said unto His disciples: ‘Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth, shall be bound also in Heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth, shall be loosed also in Heaven!” and Who hath numbered me, though unworthy, among these His ministers: may He deign, by the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God, of the blessed Archangel Michael, of holy Peter the Apostle (to whom He gave the power of binding and loosing), and of all the saints, to absolve you, by the merits of His Blood, shed for the remission of sins, from all whatsoever you have negligently committed in thought, or word, or action; and, having loosed you from the bonds of sin, may He graciously lead you to the Kingdom of Heaven, Who, with God the Father, and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.”
The bishop then advanced towards the penitents, who were still lying prostrate: he sprinkled them with holy water, and incensed them with thurible (censer). Finally, he addressed them in these words of the Apostle: “Arise, ye that sleep! Arise from the dead, and Christ shall enlighten you!” The penitents stood up; and, in order to express the joy they felt at being reconciled with their God, they immediately went and changed their penitential garb for one more in accordance with gladness, and with the Holy Communion they were now to receive, together with the rest of the faithful
.
You can see and sense that in those days, Catholics had not lost a sense of sin―as too sadly is the case today! One reason for that is that liturgical ceremonies, such as seen in the above extracts, were a marvelous means of instruction and influence on the spiritual and moral fiber of the members of the Church. As the famous axiom says: “Lex orandi, lex credendi”―meaning that they way we worship influences the way we think and what we believe. The banal, worldly, irreverent manner of worship today is a major factor in provoking, promoting and producing the lack of Faith that is increasingly evident amongst Catholics all throughout the world. We need those old ceremonies to restore our former awe, zeal, reverence and sense of sin.
The Blessing of the Holy Oils
The second Mass which used, formerly, to be said on Maundy Thursday, was that of the Blessing of the Holy Oils. This holy function, which takes place but once each year, requires a Bishop as the consecrator. For now many centuries, this great ceremony is celebrated at the single Mass, which is said, on this day, in commemoration of our Lord’s Supper. As this Blessing only takes place in Cathedral Churches, we will not enter into each detail; and yet we would not deprive our readers of what they ought to know with regard to the Holy Oils. Faith teaches us, that, as we are regenerated by water, so are we confirmed and fortified by oil; and that Oil is one of the chief elements chosen by the Divine Author of the Sacraments, whereby to signify and produce grace in our souls.
The reason of the Church’s selecting Maundy Thursday for the Blessing of the Holy Oils, was that It is incorrectly called a Blessing Urbi et Orbi, inasmuch as it is only given to the Faithful who are present at it they would be so much needed for the Baptism of the neophytes on Easter Eve. It behooves the Faithful to understand the mystery of those sacred elements. We will, therefore, briefly explain it to them, in order that we may excite their hearts to gratitude to our Blessed Lord, who has made material things the instruments of grace, and, by his Blood, has given them the sacramental power which resides within them.
The first of the Holy Oils, that is, the first that is blessed by the Bishop, is the one called the Oil of the Sick. It is the matter of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. It takes away, from the dying Christian, the remnants of sin; it strengthens him in his last combat; and, by the supernatural power it possesses, sometimes restores to him the health of the body. Formerly, it used to be blessed on any day of the year, as often as required: but, later on, its blessing was fixed for this day, that thus the three Oils might be blessed all together. The Faithful should assist with much devotion, at this ceremony; for the element that is thus sanctified, is one day to anoint and purify their bodies, sinking under sickness. Let them, as they see it being blessed, think upon their last hour, and praise the infinite goodness of their Savior, whose blood streams so plentifully through this precious fluid.
The noblest of the three Oils is the Chrism, and its consecration is more solemn, and fuller of mystery, than those of the other two. It is by the chrism that the Holy Ghost imprints his indelible seal on the Christian, that has already been made a member of Christ by Baptism. The Water gives us our spiritual birth; the Chrism gives us strength; and, until such time as we have received its holy anointing, we have not as yet the perfect character of a Christian.
Anointed with this holy Oil, the Faithful has a visible sign given him of his being a member of the Man-God, whose name of Christ signifies the unction He has received both as King and Pontiff. This consecration of a Christian by Chrism is so much in accordance with the spirit of our holy Religion, that, immediately after Baptism, the child receives upon its head an anointing (though it is not a sacramental one), of this Oil, to show that he is already a sharer of the kingly character of Jesus Christ.
In order to express, by an outward sign, the sacredness of Chrism, an Apostolic tradition requires the Bishop to mix Balm with it. This Balm represents what the Apostle calls the good odor of Christ, of whom it is written: “We will run after Thee, to the odor of Thy ointments.” The scarcity and high price of other perfumes has obliged the Latin Church to be content with Balm alone in the mixture of holy Chrism: but in the Eastern Church, where the climate is more favorable than ours, three and thirty species of precious perfumes are put into the Oil, and it thus becomes an ointment of exquisite fragrance.
The holy Chrism, besides its sacramental use in Confirmation, and its being put upon the head of the newly baptized, is also used by the Church in the consecration of her Bishops, in the consecration of Chalices and Altars, in the blessing of Bells, and in the Dedication of a Church, in which last most imposing ceremony, the Bishop pours out the Chrism on the twelve crosses, which are to attest to all succeeding ages, the glory of God’s House.
The third of the holy Oils is that which is called the Oil of Catechumens. Though it be not the matter of any Sacrament, it is, nevertheless, an Apostolic institution. Its blessing is less solemn than that of the Chrism, but more so than that of the Oil of the Sick. The Oil of Catechumens is used in the ceremonies of Baptism, for the anointing the breast and shoulders. It is also used for the anointing a Priest’s hands in Ordination, and for the coronation of a King or Queen.
These few words of explanation will give the Faithful some idea of the importance of the Blessing of the holy Oils. By this threefold Blessing, says St. Fortunatus (in the beautiful Hymn which is used during the ceremony), the Bishop acquits the debt he owes, and which none but he can pay.
The holy Church seldom employs such pomp as she does on this occasion. Twelve Priests, seven Deacons, and seven Subdeacons, are present. The Roman Pontifical tells us, that the twelve Priests assist as witnesses and co-operators of the holy Chrism. The Mass commences, and goes on as far as the Prayer of the Canon, which immediately precedes the Pater noster (the “Our Father”).
The Bishop then leaves the Altar, and goes to the place prepared for the Blessing. The first phial of Oil that is brought to him, is that which is intended for the sick. He prefaces the blessing, by pronouncing the words of exorcism over this oil, in order to drive from it the influence of the wicked spirits, who, out of hatred for man, are ever seeking to infest the creatures given to us for our use. This done, he blesses it in these words:
“We beseech Thee, O Lord, send forth from heaven Thy Holy Spirit the Paraclete upon this rich juice of the olive, which Thou hast graciously produced from the green wood, for the solace of both mind and body. By Thy holy blessing, may all they that are anointed with this ointment of heavenly virtue, receive help to mind and body; may it remove from them all pains, all infirmities, and all sickness of mind and body, for it was with oil that Thou didst anoint Thy Priests, Kings, Prophets, and Martyrs. May this, being blessed by Thee, O Lord, become unto us an ointment of perfection, and abide within our whole being. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
One of the seven Subdeacons then carries the phial back, and the Bishop returns to the Altar, and continues the Mass. As soon as he has given Holy Communion to the Clergy, he returns to the place prepared for the blessing of the Oils. The twelve Priests, the seven Deacons, and the seven Subdeacons, repair to the place where the other two phials have been put. One contains the oil, which is to become the Chrism of salvation; the other, the oil which is to be sanctified as the oil of Catechumens. The procession is soon seen returning towards the Pontiff. The two phials are carried by two Deacons; a Subdeacon carries the vase of Balm. The Bishop begins by blessing the Balm: he calls it the fragrant tear of dry bark—the oozing of a favored branch, that gives us the priestly unction.
Before proceeding to bless the oil of the Chrism, he thrice breathes upon it, in the form of a cross. The twelve Priests do the same. The Gospel tells us that our Blessed Savior used this same ceremony over his Apostles. It signifies the power of the Holy Ghost, and expresses his name, which is the Spirit. This Holy Spirit is about to make this oil become an instrument of his Divine power.
The Bishop first prepares it for the heavenly dignity, by exorcising it. He then celebrates the praises of the Chrism, by this magnificent Preface, which has been handed down to us from the earliest ages of our faith.
“It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation, that we should always, and in all places, give thanks to Thee, O Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God: who, in the beginning, among the rest of Thy bounteous gifts, didst command the earth to yield fruit-bearing trees, among which should be the olive, which produces this most rich liquor, and whose fruit was to serve for the making holy Chrism. Hence it was, that David, foreknowing, by a prophetic spirit, the Sacraments of Thy grace, sang that our faces were to be made glad with oil: and when the sins of the world were expiated of old, by the deluge, a dove announced that peace was restored to the earth, by bearing an olive branch, the type of the gift to come, which has been manifested in these latter ages; for after the waters of Baptism have washed away the sins of men, this anointing of oil gave us joy and calm. Hence, too, Thou didst command Thy servant Moses to ordain his brother Aaron priest, by pouring oil upon him, after he had been cleansed with water. A greater honor still was, that when Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, bade John baptize him in the waters of the Jordan, Thou didst send upon him the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove; that thus by a voice that bore testimony, Thou mightest designate thine Only Begotten Son, in whom Thou wast well pleased, and mightest prove, beyond all doubt, that this was the fulfillment of what the Prophet David had foretold, when he sang, that he was to be anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows.
“We, therefore, beseech Thee, Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God, through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, that Thou vouchsafe to sanctify, by Thy blessing, this Thy creature oil, and infuse into it the virtue of the Holy Ghost, through the co-operating power of Christ, Thy Son, from whose name it hath borrowed its own of Chrism, and wherewith Thou didst anoint the Priests, Kings, Prophets, and Martyrs. Raise this Chrism into a Sacrament of perfect salvation and life, to them that are to be renewed by the spiritual laver of Baptism. That thus, the corruption of their first birth being absorbed by the infusion of this holy anointing, they may become a holy temple, redolent with the fragrance of the innocence of holy living. According to what Thou hast appointed in this mystery, bestow upon them the honor of kings, priests, and prophets, by vesting them in the robe of incorruption. May this oil be to them, that are born again from water and the Holy Ghost, a Chrism of salvation, making them partakers of life everlasting, and co-heirs of heavenly glory.”
The Bishop then takes the Balm; and having mixed it, on a paten, with a little oil, he pours it into the Phial. The consecration of the Chrism thus completed, he salutes it with these words: Hail, Holy Chrism! This he does with the intention of honoring the Holy Ghost, who is to work by this sacramental oil. The same is done by each of the twelve Priests.
The Bishop then proceeds to bless the Oil of Catechumens. After having breathed upon it, and pronounced the exorcism, (as before, in the blessing of the holy Chrism,) he says this Prayer:
“O God, the rewarder of every spiritual increase and growth.! who strengthenest the beginnings of weakly souls by the power of the Holy Ghost: we beseech Thee, O Lord, that Thou vouchsafe to pour out Thy blessing upon this oil, and grant to them, that come to the laver of holy regeneration, the cleansing of soul and body, by the anointing they receive from this Thy creature; that so, if there should be any stains fixed upon them by their spiritual enemies, they may be effaced by the touch of this holy oil. May the wicked spirits find no room there; may the powers, that have been put to flight, have no further sway; may there be no lurking place left to insidious evil ones. May Thy servants that come to the faith, and are to be cleansed by the operation of Thy Holy Spirit, find in this anointing a preparation for that salvation, which they are to receive in the Sacrament of Baptism, by the Birth of a heavenly regeneration. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who is to come to judge the living, and the dead, and the world by fire. Amen.”
The Bishop then salutes the Oil, on which he has conferred these wonderful prerogatives, saying: “Hail, holy Oil!” The same act of reverence is repeated by each of the Priests. One of the deacons takes the Chrism, another deacon takes the Oil of Catechumens, and a procession is again formed for taking them to the place prepared for them. They are covered with veils of silk— the holy Chrism, with white silk, and the Oil of Catechumens, with purple silk.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Tuesday & Wednesday in Holy Week, April 16th & 17th
Article 35
Are Your For Me or Against Me?
Article 35
Are Your For Me or Against Me?
Whose Side Are You On?
The words of Our Lord are blunt and penetrating: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). St. Luke also reports those same words: “He that is not with Me, is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Luke 11:23).
However, you may feel confused and tempted to ask: “What does He mean by not being with Him?” Elsewhere, on the occasion of the Last Supper, Our Lord expands upon this notion when He says: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10; 15:14). Obedience and love go hand-in-hand.
Therefore, essentially, the more we listen to and obey and fulfill the words, advice and commands of God, the more we actually love Him. “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
What’s Your Score?
We worry about school grades; credit scores or credit ratings. We worry about what other people think about us and how much they esteem us. We try to climb the social ladder, or clamber up higher upon the promotion ladder at work. Yet how much do we worry about what God thinks of us? How anxious are we over our ‘credit’ rating or score with God? How desperate are we in climbing the sanctity ladder? You can grade yourself on your standing with God by answering the following questions on the key elements of the Faith and the spiritual life―all of which directly or indirectly are concerned with keeping or ignoring the words of God. “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 14:15, 14:21-23; 15:14). “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24).
So let us embark on a test of our spiritual ‘credit’ rating with God by honestly answering the following questions, which will cover all the chief categories virtues and vices that make up our ‘credit’ rating: “Turn away from evil and do good!” (Psalm 33:15) … “Decline from evil and do good, and dwell for ever and ever” (Psalm 36:27). For it is better to search ourselves and our works now, rather than leave it unsearched until our Day of Judgment, when “Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:22-23).
What is Your “Charity-Rating”?
Love of God comes before everything else―even before love of neighbor. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment!’” (Matthew 22:37-38).“A certain lawyer stood up, tempting Him, and saying, ‘Master, what must I do to possess eternal life?’ But Jesus said to him: ‘What is written in the law? How readest thou?’ The lawyer answering, said: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbor as thyself.’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Thou hast answered right! This do, and thou shalt live!’” (Luke 10:25-28).
As Our Lord said, charity “is the greatest and the first commandment!” Which is why St. Paul writes: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Nobody doubts that you love God―but how much do you love God? Can you really, truly and honestly say that you love God with “with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind, and with your whole strength”? Is God really the main focus and most time consuming element of your daily life? Check the box you honestly think applies to you:
► IS GOD THE MAIN FOCUS AND MOST TIME CONSUMING ACTIVITY OF THE DAY (OUTSIDE OF YOUR OBLIGATORY WORKING HOURS)?
YES □ (10 out of 10) QUITE A LOT □ (7 out of 10) NOT AS MUCH AS I SHOULD □ (4 out of 10) VERY LITTLE □ (1 out of 10)
Charity Towards Neighbor?
After telling us that love of God is the first and greatest commandment, Our Lord says that love of neighbor comes right after it: “And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 7:31), because “because “as long as you did it to one of these, My least brethren, you did it to Me … and … as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me” (Matthew 25:40-45). To which St. John adds: “We are of God. Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity” (1 John 4:6-8). While St. Paul gives us a basic initial description of some of the chief elements of love of neighbor: “Charity is patient; is kind; Charity envieth not; dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious; seeketh not her own; is not provoked to anger; thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things; believeth all things; hopeth all things; endureth all things. Charity never falleth away!” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). Read that list CAREFULLY and then grade yourself. Do you love your neighbor by practicing all these recommendations all the time?
► DO YOU LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR BY PRACTICING THESE RECOMMENDATIONS ALL THE TIME AND TOWARDS ALL PEOPLE―BOTH FRIENDS AND FOES?
YES □ (10 out of 10) QUITE A LOT □ (7 out of 10) NOT AS MUCH AS I SHOULD □ (4 out of 10) VERY LITTLE □ (1 out of 10)
What's Your Score with Keeping the Commandments in General?
How well you keep to Commandments is an indication of how well you love God―it is the “Love Litmus Test” that has been given to us by Our Lord Himself, Who said at the Last Supper: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father” (John 14:15; 14:21).
Of course, everyone keeps some of the Commandments all of the time and all of the Commandments some of the time―but how well do you keep and are you getting better at it or worse at it. Are you becoming more sensitive to sin or are you becoming desensitized to sin? The lament of all the recent popes―traditional and modernist alike, from Pius XII to Francis―has been the fact that Catholics have lost or are losing the sense of sin. It is highly likely that your sensitivity to sin has declined over time, due to the social and cultural and permissive attitudes of the world that surrounds us―as they say: “You cannot leave clean clothes in a smoky room for long, without them taking on the smell of smoke!” We live in a world that has been set on fire by Hell―for the devil is the prince of this world, as Our Lord Himself say―and that smoke has penetrated all Catholic families―it is highly unlikely that yours is excluded. That smoke of Hell hides the gravity of sin behind its smokescreen of pleasure, fun and entertainment. Thus, like an acid that eats away at substance, does the world eat away at our Faith and Morals―with the result that Commandments are watered-down, tweaked for personal preferences, or even ignored or unknown, or at least known only superficially or partially. It is presumed that you know the Ten Commandments―even though you may be ignorant of all their subheadings and related sins. However, personal experience shows that even sincere and good Catholics have a sketchy memory of all of the Ten Commandments―knowing only some of them! How well do you know you Commandments? Just listing them or reeling them off does not necessarily mean that you KNOW and UNDERSTAND them! A parrot can be taught to reel off the Ten Commandments! Do you delve deeper into them and study their subheadings or “sub-sins”? Do you know their breadth and depth? Do you measure your daily life by them?
► HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND THE CHURCH―BEYOND MERELY "REELING THEM OFF" PARROT FASHION?
► VERY WELL □ (10 out of 10) QUITE WELL □ (7 out of 10) NOT AS WELL AS I SHOULD □ (4 out of 10) VERY LITTLE □ (1 out of 10)
What’s You Rating in Relation to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the Holy Eucharist that comes from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, are the greatest treasures that we have on this Earth! St. Leonard of Pert Maurice, in his book, The Hidden Treasure of the Holy Mass, writes: “The principal excellence of the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass consists in being essentially, and in the very highest degree, identical with that which was offered on the Cross of Calvary: with this sole difference, that the Sacrifice on the Cross was bloody, and made once for all, and did on that one occasion satisfy fully for all the sins of the world; while the Sacrifice of the Altar is an unbloody sacrifice, which can be repeated an infinite number of times ... It may be said, with all truth, that in every Mass Our Redeemer returns mystically to die for us, without really dying … Now, tell me whether, when you enter church to hear Mass, you thoroughly well consider that you are going up as it were to Calvary, to be present at the death of the Redeemer. If so, would you go with behavior so unsubdued, with dress so flaunting? If the Magdalene had gone to Calvary, to the foot of the Cross, all dressed out, perfumed, and adorned, as when she associated with her lovers, what would have been said of her? What, then, shall be said of you who go to Holy Mass as if you were going to a ball? But what shall be said if you profane those functions of most dread sanctity with nods and becks, with tattle, with laughter, with the petty attentions of courtship, or with graver sacrileges of thought, word, or deed? Wickedness is hideous at any time, and in any place; but sins committed during the time of Mass, and before the altar, draw down after them the curse of God!” St. Padre Pio said of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: “If we only knew how God regards this Sacrifice, we would risk our lives to be present at a single Mass!” St. John Vianney, the Curê of Ars, said: “All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because they are the works of men; but the Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison for it is but the sacrifice of man to God; but the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man.”
If the Holy Mass is so important, you would think that Catholics could never be satisfied in learning more and more about it! In reading one book after another on the Holy Mass? You would imagine that they would be always thinking about the Mass, talking about the Mass, and going to Mass at every opportunity! Yet, no! Just as we have lost the sense of sin, we have also lost the sense of the sacred―the sacred has been desacralized and demoted to the ordinary. We know next to nothing about the Mass and we care next to nothing about the Mass. Any free time we have, we give to worldly pursuits and ignore the chances to attend extra Masses throughout the week! How to relate to the Mass? Do you attend Mass at every opportunity or do you give it pass when the opportunity arises? How much do you know about the Mass? Its origins, its development, the symbolism of the actions, the symbolism of the things used at Mass, etc.?
► DO YOU ATTEND THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY YOU GET?
YES □ (10 out of 10) MOST TIMES □ (7 out of 10) NOT AS OFTEN AS I SHOULD □ (4 out of 10) VERY LITTLE □ (1 out of 10)
► HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS?
A LOT □ (10 out of 10) QUITE A LOT □ (7 out of 10) NOT AS MUCH AS I SHOULD □ (4 out of 10) VERY LITTLE □ (1 out of 10)
What’s You Rating in Relation to the Holy Eucharist?
St. Maximilian Kolbe wrote: “The culmination of the Mass is not the consecration, but Communion!” As Fr. Michael Muller, in his book, The Blessed Eucharist―Our Greatest Treasure, writes: “Who could believe that Jesus Christ is present in this Sacrament and fail in reverence towards it? What reverence did not the Jews pay to the Ark of the Covenant! No one dared to approach it―yet fifty thousand persons who, through curiosity, ventured to gaze thereat, were instantly struck dead as a punishment for their rash act! Yet, what did the Ark contain? Only the Ten Commandments of God. But in the Holy Eucharist, Faith tells us that God Himself is present, He Who made all things out of nothing and could destroy them in a moment. He Who at the last day will come on the clouds of Heaven to judge the living and the dead. Only let Catholics believe this with a lively Faith, and our churches will be filled with worshipers, whose deportment will correspond to their belief. The modest attire, the guarded eye, the bended knee, the meekly folded hands will bespeak the conviction of their hearts. Only let Catholics have a lively faith in this mystery, and Jesus Christ will seldom be left alone. At all hours, His children will come to present themselves before Him, as subjects before their prince, as slaves before their master, as sick men before their physician, as children before their father, in a word, as friends before their beloved friend.”
St. Francis de Sales wrote: “When you have received Him, stir up your heart to do Him homage; speak to Him about your spiritual life, gazing upon Him in your soul where He is present for your happiness; welcome Him as warmly as possible, and behave outwardly in such a way that your actions may give proof to all of His Presence.” Father Lessius (1554-1623), the eminent Jesuit theologian, was afflicted with more than one painful disease. In spite of his sufferings, he would prolong his thanksgiving a full hour after Mass. To those who pitied him he would reply: “Why should I complain? Mine is still the joy of receiving the Bread of angels!” St. Bernard tells us that the Lord will not lose His graces by giving them to the ungrateful. St. Alphonsus Liguori says: “Let us then remain, at least for half an hour, with Jesus Christ after Mass; or at least for a quarter. But, O good Lord! A quarter of an hour is too little!”
► HOW OFTEN DO YOU RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION?
DAILY □ (10 out of 10) FEW TIMES A WEEK □ (7 out of 10) ONLY SUNDAYS □ (4 out of 10) LESS THAN WEEKLY □ (1 out of 10)
► WHAT IS TOTAL TIME YOU SPEND ON BOTH YOUR PREPARATION AND THANKSGIVING BEFORE AND AFTER RECEIVING HOLY COMMUNION?
OVER 30 MINS □ (10 out of 10) 20 TO 30 MINS □ (7 out of 10) 10 TO 20 MINS □ (4 out of 10) LESS THAN 10 MINS □ (1 out of 10)
► NOT INCLUDING SUNDAY, HOW OFTEN DO YOU MAKE A SPECIAL EXTRA VISIT TO A CHURCH TO VISIT OUR LORD IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT?
ALMOST DAILY □ (10 out of 10) FEW TIMES A MONTH □ (7 out of 10) FEW TIMES A YEAR □ (4 out of 10) RARELY OR NEVER □ (1 out of 10)
How Good is You Credit Rating With Regard to Prayer?
St. Augustine tells us that “As our body cannot live without nourishment, so our soul cannot spiritually be kept alive without prayer,” while St. John Chrysostom says “It is simply impossible to lead, without the aid of prayer, a virtuous life.” St. Alphonsus Liguori says that “He who prays most receives most.” We sin so much because we pray so little—if we would only pray much more, we would sin much less. “When prayer is poured forth, sins are covered” says St. Ambrose. Holy Scripture confirms this: “My son, hast thou sinned? Do so no more: but, for thy former sins, also pray that they may be forgiven thee” (Ecclesiasticus 21:1). St. John Climacus calls it “the bridge over temptations” and St. Ephraem points out that “Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy.” Which is why Our Lord said: “Watch ye, and pray that you enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak!” (Mark 14:38).
God expects far more prayer than we actually give Him. Our Lord Himself said we ought pray always and not to grow faint: “And Jesus spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). “I desire therefore that men pray in every place” (1 Timothy 2:8). “I will praise Thy Name continually” (Ecclesiasticus 51:15). “We will give ourselves continually to prayer” (Acts 6:4). “Prayer was made without ceasing” (Acts 12:5). “By all prayer and supplication praying at all times” (Ephesians 6:18).
► WHAT IS DAILY TOTAL TIME YOU SPEND IN PRAYER (NOT INCLUDING MEDITATION OR SPIRITUAL READING)?
OVER 2 HOURS □ (10 out of 10) 1 TO 2 HOURS □ (7 out of 10) 30 TO 60 MINS □ (4 out of 10) LESS THAN 30 MINS □ (1 out of 10)
Apart from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office, the Rosary is the most powerful prayer that we have. It is also the prayer of our age―which has been repeatedly demanded by Our Lady at Lourdes, at Fatima and at Akita. “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!” Concerning little 9-year old Francisco Marto at Fatima, Our Lady said that he would have to pray many Rosaries before he would be admitted into Heaven: ”He must say many Rosaries!” (Our Lady of Fatima, May 13th, 1917).
► HOW MAY 5-DECADE ROSARIES DO YOU USUALLY PRAY EVERY DAY?
OVER 3 ROSARIES □ (10 out of 10) 1 OR 2 ROSARIES □ (7 out of 10) 1 ROSARY □ (4 out of 10) LESS THAN 1 ROSARY □ (1 out of 10)
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, writes: “It was because Our Lady wanted to help us in the great task of working out our salvation that she ordered Saint Dominic to teach the faithful to meditate upon the sacred mysteries … We must not only say the Rosary with our lips in honor of Jesus and Mary, but also meditate upon the sacred mysteries while we are saying it … A Christian who does not meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary is very ungrateful to Our Lord and shows how little he cares for all that our divine Savior has suffered to save the world. This attitude seems to show that he knows little or nothing of the life of Jesus Christ, and that he has never taken the trouble to find out what He has done and what He went through in order to save us … It is a great mistake to think that only priests and religious, and those who have withdrawn from the turmoil of the world, are supposed to meditate upon the truths of our Faith and the mysteries of the life of Christ. If priests and religious have an obligation to meditate on the great truths of our holy religion, in order to live up to their vocation worthily, the same obligation is just as much incumbent on the laity, because of the fact that every day they meet with spiritual dangers which might cause them to lose their souls. Therefore they should arm themselves with the frequent meditation on the life, virtues, and sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which are presented to us in the fifteen mysteries of the Holy Rosary …
“You, who are people of prayer, learn from this the power, the value and the importance of this devotion of the Holy Rosary when it is said with meditation on the mysteries. Our Lady said to Blessed Alan, «I want you to know that, although there are numerous indulgences already attached to the recitation of my Rosary, I shall add many more to every five decades for those who, free from serious sin, say them with devotion, on their knees. And whosoever shall persevere in the devotion of the Holy Rosary, with its prayers and meditations, shall be rewarded for it; I shall obtain for him full remission of the penalty and the guilt of all his sins at the end of his life.» She also said to Blessed Alan de la Roche in a vision, «When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.»”
► HOW MAY 5-DECADE ROSARIES DO YOU USUALLY MEDITATE AND PRAY EVERY DAY?
OVER 3 ROSARIES □ (10 out of 10) 1 OR 2 ROSARIES □ (7 out of 10) 1 ROSARY □ (4 out of 10) LESS THAN 1 ROSARY □ (1 out of 10)
What’s You Rating in Relation to Studying Your Faith?
Our Lord says: “Learn of Me!” (Matthew 11:29). Elsewhere, He tells His Apostles and disciples: “Teach ye all nations … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20). “Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). “Continue in those things which thou hast learned, and which have been committed to thee!” (2 Timothy 3:14). “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). However, Our Lord lamented: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)―which is really a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is a question someone asks without expecting an answer. The question might not have an answer, or it might have an obvious answer. In this case, Our Lord is hinting at the obvious answer―there will be little Faith remaining on Earth at His Second Coming. If we do not ‘feed’ our Faith, then our Faith will gradually weaken and die. The level of Faith―or the knowledge of the Faith―is pretty abysmal in our day and age, where Catholic adults do not even remember their First Communion Catechism (a 7-year-old’s level), nor their Confirmation Catechism (an 11 year-old’s level). They also lack even the most basic “parrot-fashion” memorization of certain important religious facts―and don’t even imagine that they can enter into a serious religious conversation or debate or argument about deeper matters concerning Faith or Morals. They just don’t have that kind of equipment! Yet some are highly intelligent and highly knowledgeable about material things!
As Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange in his book, The Three Ages of the Spiritual Life, writes: “The interior life is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life, or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be, in certain respects, the search for the true and the good, in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.”
► WHAT IS YOUR DAILY TOTAL NON-WORK, NON-FAITH RELATED TIME ON YOUR SMARTPHONE, LAPTOP, TABLET, TV, VIDEO PLAYER, OR SOCIAL MEDIA ?
LESS THAN 1 HOUR □ (10 out of 10) 1 TO 2 HOURS □ (7 out of 10) 2 TO 3 HOURS □ (4 out of 10) MORE THAN 3 HOURS □ (1 out of 10)
► WHAT IS THE TOTAL TIME DEDICATED DAILY TO THE STUDY OF THE FAITH, WHETHER THROUGH BOOKS OR ELECTRONIC MEDIA?
MORE THAN 1 HOUR □ (10 out of 10) 30 TO 6O MINS □ (7 out of 10) 15 TO 30 MINS □ (4 out of 10) LESS THAN 15 MINS □ (1 out of 10)
What’s Your Meditation Credit-Score Like?
Normally, when we pray, we like to speak a lot but we don't like or think to listen. Prayer, in itself, is as necessary for our spiritual life as breathing is necessary for our bodily life. Our spiritual life depends on God's grace, and he has, so to speak, given us the power to breathe it in prayer. Not to pray will have the same results, for the life of the soul, as not to breathe would have for the life of the body―that is sickness and death.
Prayer means to be with God and sometimes speak with him. The majority of people know only one kind of prayer called vocal prayer because we do it with our voices (i.e. standard prayers like Our Father, Hail Mary, or with words in the silences of our mind). These prayers are wonderful. We need to practice them. However they are not enough to nourish our soul. Sometimes, if we don't pay attention, we run the risk of merely saying prayers mechanically without really praying.
The majority of people like to speak to God, but very few speak with God. To speak with God implies that we also listen, not only speak. How can we listen to God? God speaks to us, first of all, through His Word which is found in Holy Scripture and the Tradition of the Church (which is the teachings of Christ, Apostles, writings of the Popes, of the Church Councils, of the Saints, etc.). God also speaks to us through the events of our lives, through the people that we meet, through the circumstances, through the inspirations that He sends to us. We need to be aware of these in order to listen more. It is very hard for us to listen and far easier to talk and make God listen. But, besides vocal prayer we also need mental prayer. This is our way of listening to God. Mental prayer is also called meditation.
Meditation is simply reflecting on God's word with the help of the Holy Spirit. It is a very simple process that involves your mind, your heart (emotions and affections), and your will. Meditation does not mean that we are looking for visions or extraordinary insights. It is no different than paying attention to someone you care for. Anyone can do it. In fact, you are definitely meditating on many secular things all day long―you just need to channel that absorption away from the secular and onto the religious. In other words, you already have the tools of meditation and have been using them for years―but on the wrong things! As St. Teresa points out, meditation consists not so much in thinking a great deal, but in loving a great deal. However, you cannot love what you do not know―and you will only love a little if you only know a little. Thus, meditation goes hand-in-hand with studying the Faith, the spiritual life, the Bible, etc. One important thing to note is that for meditation to be a REAL meditation, and not just spiritual reading or pious thinking, it has to end with a practical concrete resolution to put into practice. It might something exterior and visible, or it might be interior and invisible. It could be a positive thing, meaning DOING something, or it could be a negative thing, meaning NOT DOING something.
► HOW OFTEN DO YOU MAKE A MEDITATION?
ALMOST DAILY □ (10 out of 10) FEW TIMES A MONTH □ (7 out of 10) FEW TIMES A YEAR □ (4 out of 10) RARELY OR NEVER □ (1 out of 10)
How Would You Grade Your Daily-Examination of Conscience?
As already mentioned previously, all the popes since Pope Pius XII have complained about the loss of the sense of sin on the part of Catholics. Part of the problem, or one of the fundamental causes of the loss of a sense of sin, is a neglect in performing the daily examination of conscience at the end of each and every day, and then begging pardon from God for whatever sins we have committed throughout the course of that day. If you don’t use a tool, it gets rusty! If you don’t clean your conscience, it gets dirty and stays dirty.
► HOW OFTEN DO YOU MAKE A SERIOUS EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE?
ALMOST DAILY □ (10 out of 10) FEW TIMES A MONTH □ (7 out of 10) FEW TIMES A YEAR □ (4 out of 10) RARELY OR NEVER □ (1 out of 10)
What Scores is Your Mercy Getting?
Charity, of course, is the greatest of virtues―yet you can look at charity as being a mansion with many rooms. The best and most valuable room is the “Room of Mercy”―or could we say: “Room for Mercy.” Holy Scripture says: “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 144:8-9). Our Lord Himself points out: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy … For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences” (Matthew 5:7; 6:14-15).
In the same Sermon on the Mount, Our Lord adds: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil―but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other! And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him! And whosoever will force thee to go one mile, go with him another two! Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away! You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you, so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you do more? Do not also the heathens do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:38-48).
“Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $112 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be just over $200): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: ‘Pay what thou owest!’ And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!’ And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: ‘Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?’ And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!” (Matthew 18:23-35).
Pope St. Gregory the Great, in chapter 60 of his Dialogues, says that we ought to pardon other men their sins, that we may obtain remission of our own:
“We have also further to know, that he doth rightly and in good sort demand pardon for his own sin, who doth forgive that which hath been done against himself. For our gift is not received, if, before, we free not our soul from all discord and lack of charity: for our Savior said: ‘If thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift!’ (Matthew 5:23-24). Wherein we have to consider, that whereas all sin, is loosed by a gift, how grievous the sin of discord is, for which no gift is received. Therefore we ought, in soul and desire, to go unto our neighbor, though he be far off, and many miles distant from us, and there to humble ourselves before him, and to pacify him by humility and hearty good will, to the end that our Creator, beholding the desire of our mind, may forgive us our own sin, who receives a gift for sin. And our Savior Himself teaches us, how that servant, which did owe ten thousand talents, by penance obtained of his Lord the forgiveness of that debt: but yet because he would not forgive his fellow-servant an hundred pence, which were due to him, that was again exacted at his hands, which before was pardoned. (Matthew 18:27). Out of which sayings we learn, that if we do not from our heart forgive that which is committed against us, how that is again required at our hands, whereof before we were glad that by penance we had obtained pardon and remission. Wherefore, whiles time is given us, whiles our judge doth bear with us, whiles he that examines our sins doth expect our conversion and amendment: let us mollify with tears the hardness of our heart, and with sincere charity, love our neighbors: and then dare I speak it boldly, that we shall not have any need of the holy sacrifice after our death: if, before death, we offer up ourselves for a sacrifice unto almighty God.”
St Alphonsus Ligouri told the story of a certain religious brother whose life was not what it should have been. When he came to the end of his life he was asked if he feared the judgment of God. His reply was, “No, because I have always forgiven my enemies!”
► HOW OFTEN DO YOU FORGIVE WRONGS COMMITTED BY FAMILY, RELATIVES AND FRIENDS?
ALWAYS □ (10 out of 10) MOST TIMES □ (7 out of 10) LESS THAN HALF THE TIME □ (4 out of 10) RARELY OR NEVER □ (1 out of 10)
► HOW OFTEN DO YOU FORGIVE WRONGS COMMITTED BY WORK COLLEAGUES, NEIGHBORS, ACQUAINTANCES, STRANGERS, ENEMIES?
ALWAYS □ (10 out of 10) MOST TIMES □ (7 out of 10) LESS THAN HALF THE TIME □ (4 out of 10) RARELY OR NEVER □ (1 out of 10)
► HOW OFTEN DO YOU PRAY FOR YOUR ENEMIES OR FOR THE SERIOUS SINNERS IN THE WORLD, FOR EXAMPLE THE ONE'S WHO MAKE THE NEWS?
ALWAYS □ (10 out of 10) MOST TIMES □ (7 out of 10) LESS THAN HALF THE TIME □ (4 out of 10) RARELY OR NEVER □ (1 out of 10)
Run With the Ball Yourself
These are just the very basic, foundational elements that everyone needs to examine in their own lives. Following the above system, you could further add the following points for examination―time and length of article do not allow this to be covered in one single article. However, now that you are familiar with the lay-out or approach, you can easily do this yourself. The additional points―which are only some key points and by no means the only points―are:
● Spiritual Reading
● The Corporal Works of Mercy
● The Spiritual Works of Mercy
● The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Covetousness, Gluttony, Anger, Lust, Envy and Sloth
● The Cadinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance
● Each of the Ten Commandments taken individually
● The chief virtues, especially humility and charity
● Gossip through calumny (lies) and detraction (revealing true faults)
● Etc., etc., etc., etc.
In the meantime, you can add up your current score, which, based upon the above questions, potentially gives you a maximum of 180 points and an absolute minimum of 18 points. Although all of this is purely arbitrary and subjective, you could obviously say that anything below 90 is most certainly a sign of lukewarmness. Anything below 50 … well, hmm?! A score of around 120 would show seriousness about the spiritual life, whereas anywhere near 180 means you can start polishing your halo, but don’t drop it through pride!
The words of Our Lord are blunt and penetrating: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). St. Luke also reports those same words: “He that is not with Me, is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Luke 11:23).
However, you may feel confused and tempted to ask: “What does He mean by not being with Him?” Elsewhere, on the occasion of the Last Supper, Our Lord expands upon this notion when He says: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love … You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10; 15:14). Obedience and love go hand-in-hand.
Therefore, essentially, the more we listen to and obey and fulfill the words, advice and commands of God, the more we actually love Him. “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
“Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Everyone therefore that heareth these My words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these My words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof!” (Matthew 7:21-27).
What’s Your Score?
We worry about school grades; credit scores or credit ratings. We worry about what other people think about us and how much they esteem us. We try to climb the social ladder, or clamber up higher upon the promotion ladder at work. Yet how much do we worry about what God thinks of us? How anxious are we over our ‘credit’ rating or score with God? How desperate are we in climbing the sanctity ladder? You can grade yourself on your standing with God by answering the following questions on the key elements of the Faith and the spiritual life―all of which directly or indirectly are concerned with keeping or ignoring the words of God. “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … You are My friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 14:15, 14:21-23; 15:14). “He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words” (John 14:24).
So let us embark on a test of our spiritual ‘credit’ rating with God by honestly answering the following questions, which will cover all the chief categories virtues and vices that make up our ‘credit’ rating: “Turn away from evil and do good!” (Psalm 33:15) … “Decline from evil and do good, and dwell for ever and ever” (Psalm 36:27). For it is better to search ourselves and our works now, rather than leave it unsearched until our Day of Judgment, when “Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’” (Matthew 7:22-23).
What is Your “Charity-Rating”?
Love of God comes before everything else―even before love of neighbor. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment!’” (Matthew 22:37-38).“A certain lawyer stood up, tempting Him, and saying, ‘Master, what must I do to possess eternal life?’ But Jesus said to him: ‘What is written in the law? How readest thou?’ The lawyer answering, said: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbor as thyself.’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Thou hast answered right! This do, and thou shalt live!’” (Luke 10:25-28).
As Our Lord said, charity “is the greatest and the first commandment!” Which is why St. Paul writes: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Nobody doubts that you love God―but how much do you love God? Can you really, truly and honestly say that you love God with “with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind, and with your whole strength”? Is God really the main focus and most time consuming element of your daily life? Check the box you honestly think applies to you:
► IS GOD THE MAIN FOCUS AND MOST TIME CONSUMING ACTIVITY OF THE DAY (OUTSIDE OF YOUR OBLIGATORY WORKING HOURS)?
YES □ (10 out of 10) QUITE A LOT □ (7 out of 10) NOT AS MUCH AS I SHOULD □ (4 out of 10) VERY LITTLE □ (1 out of 10)
Charity Towards Neighbor?
After telling us that love of God is the first and greatest commandment, Our Lord says that love of neighbor comes right after it: “And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 7:31), because “because “as long as you did it to one of these, My least brethren, you did it to Me … and … as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me” (Matthew 25:40-45). To which St. John adds: “We are of God. Let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God―for God is charity” (1 John 4:6-8). While St. Paul gives us a basic initial description of some of the chief elements of love of neighbor: “Charity is patient; is kind; Charity envieth not; dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious; seeketh not her own; is not provoked to anger; thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things; believeth all things; hopeth all things; endureth all things. Charity never falleth away!” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). Read that list CAREFULLY and then grade yourself. Do you love your neighbor by practicing all these recommendations all the time?
► DO YOU LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR BY PRACTICING THESE RECOMMENDATIONS ALL THE TIME AND TOWARDS ALL PEOPLE―BOTH FRIENDS AND FOES?
YES □ (10 out of 10) QUITE A LOT □ (7 out of 10) NOT AS MUCH AS I SHOULD □ (4 out of 10) VERY LITTLE □ (1 out of 10)
What's Your Score with Keeping the Commandments in General?
How well you keep to Commandments is an indication of how well you love God―it is the “Love Litmus Test” that has been given to us by Our Lord Himself, Who said at the Last Supper: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father” (John 14:15; 14:21).
Of course, everyone keeps some of the Commandments all of the time and all of the Commandments some of the time―but how well do you keep and are you getting better at it or worse at it. Are you becoming more sensitive to sin or are you becoming desensitized to sin? The lament of all the recent popes―traditional and modernist alike, from Pius XII to Francis―has been the fact that Catholics have lost or are losing the sense of sin. It is highly likely that your sensitivity to sin has declined over time, due to the social and cultural and permissive attitudes of the world that surrounds us―as they say: “You cannot leave clean clothes in a smoky room for long, without them taking on the smell of smoke!” We live in a world that has been set on fire by Hell―for the devil is the prince of this world, as Our Lord Himself say―and that smoke has penetrated all Catholic families―it is highly unlikely that yours is excluded. That smoke of Hell hides the gravity of sin behind its smokescreen of pleasure, fun and entertainment. Thus, like an acid that eats away at substance, does the world eat away at our Faith and Morals―with the result that Commandments are watered-down, tweaked for personal preferences, or even ignored or unknown, or at least known only superficially or partially. It is presumed that you know the Ten Commandments―even though you may be ignorant of all their subheadings and related sins. However, personal experience shows that even sincere and good Catholics have a sketchy memory of all of the Ten Commandments―knowing only some of them! How well do you know you Commandments? Just listing them or reeling them off does not necessarily mean that you KNOW and UNDERSTAND them! A parrot can be taught to reel off the Ten Commandments! Do you delve deeper into them and study their subheadings or “sub-sins”? Do you know their breadth and depth? Do you measure your daily life by them?
► HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND THE CHURCH―BEYOND MERELY "REELING THEM OFF" PARROT FASHION?
► VERY WELL □ (10 out of 10) QUITE WELL □ (7 out of 10) NOT AS WELL AS I SHOULD □ (4 out of 10) VERY LITTLE □ (1 out of 10)
What’s You Rating in Relation to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the Holy Eucharist that comes from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, are the greatest treasures that we have on this Earth! St. Leonard of Pert Maurice, in his book, The Hidden Treasure of the Holy Mass, writes: “The principal excellence of the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass consists in being essentially, and in the very highest degree, identical with that which was offered on the Cross of Calvary: with this sole difference, that the Sacrifice on the Cross was bloody, and made once for all, and did on that one occasion satisfy fully for all the sins of the world; while the Sacrifice of the Altar is an unbloody sacrifice, which can be repeated an infinite number of times ... It may be said, with all truth, that in every Mass Our Redeemer returns mystically to die for us, without really dying … Now, tell me whether, when you enter church to hear Mass, you thoroughly well consider that you are going up as it were to Calvary, to be present at the death of the Redeemer. If so, would you go with behavior so unsubdued, with dress so flaunting? If the Magdalene had gone to Calvary, to the foot of the Cross, all dressed out, perfumed, and adorned, as when she associated with her lovers, what would have been said of her? What, then, shall be said of you who go to Holy Mass as if you were going to a ball? But what shall be said if you profane those functions of most dread sanctity with nods and becks, with tattle, with laughter, with the petty attentions of courtship, or with graver sacrileges of thought, word, or deed? Wickedness is hideous at any time, and in any place; but sins committed during the time of Mass, and before the altar, draw down after them the curse of God!” St. Padre Pio said of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: “If we only knew how God regards this Sacrifice, we would risk our lives to be present at a single Mass!” St. John Vianney, the Curê of Ars, said: “All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because they are the works of men; but the Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison for it is but the sacrifice of man to God; but the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man.”
If the Holy Mass is so important, you would think that Catholics could never be satisfied in learning more and more about it! In reading one book after another on the Holy Mass? You would imagine that they would be always thinking about the Mass, talking about the Mass, and going to Mass at every opportunity! Yet, no! Just as we have lost the sense of sin, we have also lost the sense of the sacred―the sacred has been desacralized and demoted to the ordinary. We know next to nothing about the Mass and we care next to nothing about the Mass. Any free time we have, we give to worldly pursuits and ignore the chances to attend extra Masses throughout the week! How to relate to the Mass? Do you attend Mass at every opportunity or do you give it pass when the opportunity arises? How much do you know about the Mass? Its origins, its development, the symbolism of the actions, the symbolism of the things used at Mass, etc.?
► DO YOU ATTEND THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY YOU GET?
YES □ (10 out of 10) MOST TIMES □ (7 out of 10) NOT AS OFTEN AS I SHOULD □ (4 out of 10) VERY LITTLE □ (1 out of 10)
► HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS?
A LOT □ (10 out of 10) QUITE A LOT □ (7 out of 10) NOT AS MUCH AS I SHOULD □ (4 out of 10) VERY LITTLE □ (1 out of 10)
What’s You Rating in Relation to the Holy Eucharist?
St. Maximilian Kolbe wrote: “The culmination of the Mass is not the consecration, but Communion!” As Fr. Michael Muller, in his book, The Blessed Eucharist―Our Greatest Treasure, writes: “Who could believe that Jesus Christ is present in this Sacrament and fail in reverence towards it? What reverence did not the Jews pay to the Ark of the Covenant! No one dared to approach it―yet fifty thousand persons who, through curiosity, ventured to gaze thereat, were instantly struck dead as a punishment for their rash act! Yet, what did the Ark contain? Only the Ten Commandments of God. But in the Holy Eucharist, Faith tells us that God Himself is present, He Who made all things out of nothing and could destroy them in a moment. He Who at the last day will come on the clouds of Heaven to judge the living and the dead. Only let Catholics believe this with a lively Faith, and our churches will be filled with worshipers, whose deportment will correspond to their belief. The modest attire, the guarded eye, the bended knee, the meekly folded hands will bespeak the conviction of their hearts. Only let Catholics have a lively faith in this mystery, and Jesus Christ will seldom be left alone. At all hours, His children will come to present themselves before Him, as subjects before their prince, as slaves before their master, as sick men before their physician, as children before their father, in a word, as friends before their beloved friend.”
St. Francis de Sales wrote: “When you have received Him, stir up your heart to do Him homage; speak to Him about your spiritual life, gazing upon Him in your soul where He is present for your happiness; welcome Him as warmly as possible, and behave outwardly in such a way that your actions may give proof to all of His Presence.” Father Lessius (1554-1623), the eminent Jesuit theologian, was afflicted with more than one painful disease. In spite of his sufferings, he would prolong his thanksgiving a full hour after Mass. To those who pitied him he would reply: “Why should I complain? Mine is still the joy of receiving the Bread of angels!” St. Bernard tells us that the Lord will not lose His graces by giving them to the ungrateful. St. Alphonsus Liguori says: “Let us then remain, at least for half an hour, with Jesus Christ after Mass; or at least for a quarter. But, O good Lord! A quarter of an hour is too little!”
► HOW OFTEN DO YOU RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION?
DAILY □ (10 out of 10) FEW TIMES A WEEK □ (7 out of 10) ONLY SUNDAYS □ (4 out of 10) LESS THAN WEEKLY □ (1 out of 10)
► WHAT IS TOTAL TIME YOU SPEND ON BOTH YOUR PREPARATION AND THANKSGIVING BEFORE AND AFTER RECEIVING HOLY COMMUNION?
OVER 30 MINS □ (10 out of 10) 20 TO 30 MINS □ (7 out of 10) 10 TO 20 MINS □ (4 out of 10) LESS THAN 10 MINS □ (1 out of 10)
► NOT INCLUDING SUNDAY, HOW OFTEN DO YOU MAKE A SPECIAL EXTRA VISIT TO A CHURCH TO VISIT OUR LORD IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT?
ALMOST DAILY □ (10 out of 10) FEW TIMES A MONTH □ (7 out of 10) FEW TIMES A YEAR □ (4 out of 10) RARELY OR NEVER □ (1 out of 10)
How Good is You Credit Rating With Regard to Prayer?
St. Augustine tells us that “As our body cannot live without nourishment, so our soul cannot spiritually be kept alive without prayer,” while St. John Chrysostom says “It is simply impossible to lead, without the aid of prayer, a virtuous life.” St. Alphonsus Liguori says that “He who prays most receives most.” We sin so much because we pray so little—if we would only pray much more, we would sin much less. “When prayer is poured forth, sins are covered” says St. Ambrose. Holy Scripture confirms this: “My son, hast thou sinned? Do so no more: but, for thy former sins, also pray that they may be forgiven thee” (Ecclesiasticus 21:1). St. John Climacus calls it “the bridge over temptations” and St. Ephraem points out that “Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy.” Which is why Our Lord said: “Watch ye, and pray that you enter not into temptation! The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak!” (Mark 14:38).
God expects far more prayer than we actually give Him. Our Lord Himself said we ought pray always and not to grow faint: “And Jesus spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). “I desire therefore that men pray in every place” (1 Timothy 2:8). “I will praise Thy Name continually” (Ecclesiasticus 51:15). “We will give ourselves continually to prayer” (Acts 6:4). “Prayer was made without ceasing” (Acts 12:5). “By all prayer and supplication praying at all times” (Ephesians 6:18).
► WHAT IS DAILY TOTAL TIME YOU SPEND IN PRAYER (NOT INCLUDING MEDITATION OR SPIRITUAL READING)?
OVER 2 HOURS □ (10 out of 10) 1 TO 2 HOURS □ (7 out of 10) 30 TO 60 MINS □ (4 out of 10) LESS THAN 30 MINS □ (1 out of 10)
Apart from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office, the Rosary is the most powerful prayer that we have. It is also the prayer of our age―which has been repeatedly demanded by Our Lady at Lourdes, at Fatima and at Akita. “Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary!” Concerning little 9-year old Francisco Marto at Fatima, Our Lady said that he would have to pray many Rosaries before he would be admitted into Heaven: ”He must say many Rosaries!” (Our Lady of Fatima, May 13th, 1917).
► HOW MAY 5-DECADE ROSARIES DO YOU USUALLY PRAY EVERY DAY?
OVER 3 ROSARIES □ (10 out of 10) 1 OR 2 ROSARIES □ (7 out of 10) 1 ROSARY □ (4 out of 10) LESS THAN 1 ROSARY □ (1 out of 10)
St. Louis de Montfort, in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, writes: “It was because Our Lady wanted to help us in the great task of working out our salvation that she ordered Saint Dominic to teach the faithful to meditate upon the sacred mysteries … We must not only say the Rosary with our lips in honor of Jesus and Mary, but also meditate upon the sacred mysteries while we are saying it … A Christian who does not meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary is very ungrateful to Our Lord and shows how little he cares for all that our divine Savior has suffered to save the world. This attitude seems to show that he knows little or nothing of the life of Jesus Christ, and that he has never taken the trouble to find out what He has done and what He went through in order to save us … It is a great mistake to think that only priests and religious, and those who have withdrawn from the turmoil of the world, are supposed to meditate upon the truths of our Faith and the mysteries of the life of Christ. If priests and religious have an obligation to meditate on the great truths of our holy religion, in order to live up to their vocation worthily, the same obligation is just as much incumbent on the laity, because of the fact that every day they meet with spiritual dangers which might cause them to lose their souls. Therefore they should arm themselves with the frequent meditation on the life, virtues, and sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which are presented to us in the fifteen mysteries of the Holy Rosary …
“You, who are people of prayer, learn from this the power, the value and the importance of this devotion of the Holy Rosary when it is said with meditation on the mysteries. Our Lady said to Blessed Alan, «I want you to know that, although there are numerous indulgences already attached to the recitation of my Rosary, I shall add many more to every five decades for those who, free from serious sin, say them with devotion, on their knees. And whosoever shall persevere in the devotion of the Holy Rosary, with its prayers and meditations, shall be rewarded for it; I shall obtain for him full remission of the penalty and the guilt of all his sins at the end of his life.» She also said to Blessed Alan de la Roche in a vision, «When people say 150 Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.»”
► HOW MAY 5-DECADE ROSARIES DO YOU USUALLY MEDITATE AND PRAY EVERY DAY?
OVER 3 ROSARIES □ (10 out of 10) 1 OR 2 ROSARIES □ (7 out of 10) 1 ROSARY □ (4 out of 10) LESS THAN 1 ROSARY □ (1 out of 10)
What’s You Rating in Relation to Studying Your Faith?
Our Lord says: “Learn of Me!” (Matthew 11:29). Elsewhere, He tells His Apostles and disciples: “Teach ye all nations … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” (Matthew 28:19-20). “Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). “Continue in those things which thou hast learned, and which have been committed to thee!” (2 Timothy 3:14). “This is the victory which overcometh the world―our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). However, Our Lord lamented: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)―which is really a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is a question someone asks without expecting an answer. The question might not have an answer, or it might have an obvious answer. In this case, Our Lord is hinting at the obvious answer―there will be little Faith remaining on Earth at His Second Coming. If we do not ‘feed’ our Faith, then our Faith will gradually weaken and die. The level of Faith―or the knowledge of the Faith―is pretty abysmal in our day and age, where Catholic adults do not even remember their First Communion Catechism (a 7-year-old’s level), nor their Confirmation Catechism (an 11 year-old’s level). They also lack even the most basic “parrot-fashion” memorization of certain important religious facts―and don’t even imagine that they can enter into a serious religious conversation or debate or argument about deeper matters concerning Faith or Morals. They just don’t have that kind of equipment! Yet some are highly intelligent and highly knowledgeable about material things!
As Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange in his book, The Three Ages of the Spiritual Life, writes: “The interior life is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life, or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be, in certain respects, the search for the true and the good, in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.”
► WHAT IS YOUR DAILY TOTAL NON-WORK, NON-FAITH RELATED TIME ON YOUR SMARTPHONE, LAPTOP, TABLET, TV, VIDEO PLAYER, OR SOCIAL MEDIA ?
LESS THAN 1 HOUR □ (10 out of 10) 1 TO 2 HOURS □ (7 out of 10) 2 TO 3 HOURS □ (4 out of 10) MORE THAN 3 HOURS □ (1 out of 10)
► WHAT IS THE TOTAL TIME DEDICATED DAILY TO THE STUDY OF THE FAITH, WHETHER THROUGH BOOKS OR ELECTRONIC MEDIA?
MORE THAN 1 HOUR □ (10 out of 10) 30 TO 6O MINS □ (7 out of 10) 15 TO 30 MINS □ (4 out of 10) LESS THAN 15 MINS □ (1 out of 10)
What’s Your Meditation Credit-Score Like?
Normally, when we pray, we like to speak a lot but we don't like or think to listen. Prayer, in itself, is as necessary for our spiritual life as breathing is necessary for our bodily life. Our spiritual life depends on God's grace, and he has, so to speak, given us the power to breathe it in prayer. Not to pray will have the same results, for the life of the soul, as not to breathe would have for the life of the body―that is sickness and death.
Prayer means to be with God and sometimes speak with him. The majority of people know only one kind of prayer called vocal prayer because we do it with our voices (i.e. standard prayers like Our Father, Hail Mary, or with words in the silences of our mind). These prayers are wonderful. We need to practice them. However they are not enough to nourish our soul. Sometimes, if we don't pay attention, we run the risk of merely saying prayers mechanically without really praying.
The majority of people like to speak to God, but very few speak with God. To speak with God implies that we also listen, not only speak. How can we listen to God? God speaks to us, first of all, through His Word which is found in Holy Scripture and the Tradition of the Church (which is the teachings of Christ, Apostles, writings of the Popes, of the Church Councils, of the Saints, etc.). God also speaks to us through the events of our lives, through the people that we meet, through the circumstances, through the inspirations that He sends to us. We need to be aware of these in order to listen more. It is very hard for us to listen and far easier to talk and make God listen. But, besides vocal prayer we also need mental prayer. This is our way of listening to God. Mental prayer is also called meditation.
Meditation is simply reflecting on God's word with the help of the Holy Spirit. It is a very simple process that involves your mind, your heart (emotions and affections), and your will. Meditation does not mean that we are looking for visions or extraordinary insights. It is no different than paying attention to someone you care for. Anyone can do it. In fact, you are definitely meditating on many secular things all day long―you just need to channel that absorption away from the secular and onto the religious. In other words, you already have the tools of meditation and have been using them for years―but on the wrong things! As St. Teresa points out, meditation consists not so much in thinking a great deal, but in loving a great deal. However, you cannot love what you do not know―and you will only love a little if you only know a little. Thus, meditation goes hand-in-hand with studying the Faith, the spiritual life, the Bible, etc. One important thing to note is that for meditation to be a REAL meditation, and not just spiritual reading or pious thinking, it has to end with a practical concrete resolution to put into practice. It might something exterior and visible, or it might be interior and invisible. It could be a positive thing, meaning DOING something, or it could be a negative thing, meaning NOT DOING something.
► HOW OFTEN DO YOU MAKE A MEDITATION?
ALMOST DAILY □ (10 out of 10) FEW TIMES A MONTH □ (7 out of 10) FEW TIMES A YEAR □ (4 out of 10) RARELY OR NEVER □ (1 out of 10)
How Would You Grade Your Daily-Examination of Conscience?
As already mentioned previously, all the popes since Pope Pius XII have complained about the loss of the sense of sin on the part of Catholics. Part of the problem, or one of the fundamental causes of the loss of a sense of sin, is a neglect in performing the daily examination of conscience at the end of each and every day, and then begging pardon from God for whatever sins we have committed throughout the course of that day. If you don’t use a tool, it gets rusty! If you don’t clean your conscience, it gets dirty and stays dirty.
► HOW OFTEN DO YOU MAKE A SERIOUS EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE?
ALMOST DAILY □ (10 out of 10) FEW TIMES A MONTH □ (7 out of 10) FEW TIMES A YEAR □ (4 out of 10) RARELY OR NEVER □ (1 out of 10)
What Scores is Your Mercy Getting?
Charity, of course, is the greatest of virtues―yet you can look at charity as being a mansion with many rooms. The best and most valuable room is the “Room of Mercy”―or could we say: “Room for Mercy.” Holy Scripture says: “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 144:8-9). Our Lord Himself points out: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy … For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences” (Matthew 5:7; 6:14-15).
In the same Sermon on the Mount, Our Lord adds: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil―but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other! And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him! And whosoever will force thee to go one mile, go with him another two! Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away! You have heard that it hath been said: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy!’ But I say to you: Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you, so that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you do more? Do not also the heathens do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:38-48).
“Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $112 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.
“But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be just over $200): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: ‘Pay what thou owest!’ And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!’ And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
“Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: ‘Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?’ And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!” (Matthew 18:23-35).
Pope St. Gregory the Great, in chapter 60 of his Dialogues, says that we ought to pardon other men their sins, that we may obtain remission of our own:
“We have also further to know, that he doth rightly and in good sort demand pardon for his own sin, who doth forgive that which hath been done against himself. For our gift is not received, if, before, we free not our soul from all discord and lack of charity: for our Savior said: ‘If thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift!’ (Matthew 5:23-24). Wherein we have to consider, that whereas all sin, is loosed by a gift, how grievous the sin of discord is, for which no gift is received. Therefore we ought, in soul and desire, to go unto our neighbor, though he be far off, and many miles distant from us, and there to humble ourselves before him, and to pacify him by humility and hearty good will, to the end that our Creator, beholding the desire of our mind, may forgive us our own sin, who receives a gift for sin. And our Savior Himself teaches us, how that servant, which did owe ten thousand talents, by penance obtained of his Lord the forgiveness of that debt: but yet because he would not forgive his fellow-servant an hundred pence, which were due to him, that was again exacted at his hands, which before was pardoned. (Matthew 18:27). Out of which sayings we learn, that if we do not from our heart forgive that which is committed against us, how that is again required at our hands, whereof before we were glad that by penance we had obtained pardon and remission. Wherefore, whiles time is given us, whiles our judge doth bear with us, whiles he that examines our sins doth expect our conversion and amendment: let us mollify with tears the hardness of our heart, and with sincere charity, love our neighbors: and then dare I speak it boldly, that we shall not have any need of the holy sacrifice after our death: if, before death, we offer up ourselves for a sacrifice unto almighty God.”
St Alphonsus Ligouri told the story of a certain religious brother whose life was not what it should have been. When he came to the end of his life he was asked if he feared the judgment of God. His reply was, “No, because I have always forgiven my enemies!”
► HOW OFTEN DO YOU FORGIVE WRONGS COMMITTED BY FAMILY, RELATIVES AND FRIENDS?
ALWAYS □ (10 out of 10) MOST TIMES □ (7 out of 10) LESS THAN HALF THE TIME □ (4 out of 10) RARELY OR NEVER □ (1 out of 10)
► HOW OFTEN DO YOU FORGIVE WRONGS COMMITTED BY WORK COLLEAGUES, NEIGHBORS, ACQUAINTANCES, STRANGERS, ENEMIES?
ALWAYS □ (10 out of 10) MOST TIMES □ (7 out of 10) LESS THAN HALF THE TIME □ (4 out of 10) RARELY OR NEVER □ (1 out of 10)
► HOW OFTEN DO YOU PRAY FOR YOUR ENEMIES OR FOR THE SERIOUS SINNERS IN THE WORLD, FOR EXAMPLE THE ONE'S WHO MAKE THE NEWS?
ALWAYS □ (10 out of 10) MOST TIMES □ (7 out of 10) LESS THAN HALF THE TIME □ (4 out of 10) RARELY OR NEVER □ (1 out of 10)
Run With the Ball Yourself
These are just the very basic, foundational elements that everyone needs to examine in their own lives. Following the above system, you could further add the following points for examination―time and length of article do not allow this to be covered in one single article. However, now that you are familiar with the lay-out or approach, you can easily do this yourself. The additional points―which are only some key points and by no means the only points―are:
● Spiritual Reading
● The Corporal Works of Mercy
● The Spiritual Works of Mercy
● The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Covetousness, Gluttony, Anger, Lust, Envy and Sloth
● The Cadinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance
● Each of the Ten Commandments taken individually
● The chief virtues, especially humility and charity
● Gossip through calumny (lies) and detraction (revealing true faults)
● Etc., etc., etc., etc.
In the meantime, you can add up your current score, which, based upon the above questions, potentially gives you a maximum of 180 points and an absolute minimum of 18 points. Although all of this is purely arbitrary and subjective, you could obviously say that anything below 90 is most certainly a sign of lukewarmness. Anything below 50 … well, hmm?! A score of around 120 would show seriousness about the spiritual life, whereas anywhere near 180 means you can start polishing your halo, but don’t drop it through pride!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Palm Sunday, April 14th & Monday in Holy Week, April 15th
Article 34
Reading Palms the Christian Way!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 34
Reading Palms the Christian Way!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
From Triumph to Tragedy to Triumph
Talk of a roller-coaster ride! In these 7 days, Our Lord, with His Apostles and Disciples, will experience a momentous and unimaginable “roller-coaster” ride of gargantuan proportions. Today―“Palm Sunday”―we start with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, which quickly descends into days of altercation and dispute in the Temple between Jesus and the Jews and the plotted betrayal by Judas and the High Priest, only to reach new heights by Holy Thursday, the birthday of the Holy Mass, the Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood, which then immediately plummets down into the betrayal and arrest of Jesus leading into His Passion and Death; and then ends with His glorious Resurrection from death and seeming defeat.
Dom Gueranger, in the section on Palm Sunday, in his Liturgical Year, writes:
“Early in the morning of this day, Jesus sets out for Jerusalem, leaving Mary His Mother, and the two sisters Martha and Mary Magdalene, and Lazarus, at Bethany. The Mother of sorrows trembles at seeing her Son thus expose Himself to danger, for His enemies are bent upon His destruction; but it is not death, it is triumph, that Jesus is to receive today in Jerusalem. The Messias, before being nailed to the cross, is to be proclaimed King by the people of the great city; the little children are to make her streets echo with their Hosannas to the Son of David; and this in presence of the soldiers of Rome’s emperor, and of the high priests and Pharisees: the first standing under the banner of their eagles; the second, dumb with rage.” (Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Year, Palm Sunday).
“The disciples spread their garments upon the colt; and our Savior, that the prophetic figure might be fulfilled, sits upon him (Mark 11:7, Luke 19:35), and advances towards Jerusalem. As soon as it is known that Jesus is near the city, the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of those Jews, who have come from all parts to celebrate the feast of the Passover. They go out to meet Our Lord, holding palm branches in their hands, and loudly proclaiming Him to be King (Luke 19:38). They that have accompanied Jesus from Bethany, join the enthusiastic crowd. Whilst some spread their garments on the way, others cut down boughs from the palm-trees, and strew them along the road. “Hosanna” is the triumphant cry, proclaiming to the whole city that Jesus, the Son of David, has made His entrance as her King. Thus did God, in His power over men’s hearts, procure a triumph for His Son, and in the very city which, a few days later, was to clamor for His Blood. This day was one of glory to our Jesus, and the Holy Church would have us renew, each year, the memory of this triumph of the Man-God” (Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Year, Palm Sunday).
“Jesus begins His reign upon the Earth this very day; and though the first Israel is soon to disclaim His rule, a new Israel, formed from the faithful few of the old, shall rise up in every nation of the earth, and become the kingdom of Christ, a kingdom such as no mere earthly monarch ever coveted in his wildest fancies of ambition. This is the glorious mystery which ushers in the great week, the week of dolors. Holy Church would have us give this momentary consolation to our heart, and hail our Jesus as our King. She has so arranged the service of today, that it should express both joy and sorrow; joy, by uniting herself with the loyal hosannas of the city of David; and sorrow, by compassionating the Passion of her divine Spouse. The whole function is divided into three parts, which we will now proceed to explain.
Reading the Palms for the Significance
“The first is the blessing of the palms; and we may have an idea of its importance from the solemnity used by the Church in this sacred rite. One would suppose that the holy Sacrifice has begun, and is going to be offered up in honor of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Introit, Collect, Epistle, Gradual, Gospel, even a Preface, are said, as though we were, as usual, preparing for the immolation of the spotless Lamb; but―after the triple Sanctus! Sanctus! Sanctus!―the Church suspends these sacrificial formulas, and turns to the blessing of the palms. The prayers she uses for this blessing are eloquent and full of instruction; and, together with the sprinkling with holy water and the incensation, impart a virtue to these branches, which elevates them to the supernatural order, and makes them means for the sanctification of our souls and the protection of our persons and dwellings. The faithful should hold these palms in their hands during the procession, and during the reading of the Passion at Mass, and keep them in their homes as an outward expression of their faith, and as a pledge of God’s watchful love.
Then, Dom Gueranger proceeds to explain the significance of the palms by reading the prayers that constitute their blessing. Unless your local parish followed the so-called “Extraordinary Rite” (the old Latin Rite, which truly is extraordinary compared to its cheap and ordinary replacement in recent times), then you will have missed out of the tremendous riches and depth of symbolism, teaching and inspiration contained in that venerable Rite. If you are offended by that, then don’t be―for increasing numbers of priests and laity are expressing a preference for the “old-way of doing things” especially among younger ones, which surprises many. Besides, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich saw in her visions, a counterfeit church for our times, introducing new ways of doing things―which, when overthrown by Heaven, went back to the “old ways” with a worldwide restoration of the old rite by the pope. Here are the prayers that were used (and will be used again) in blessing the psalms.
The priest began by by giving two Scriptural allusions: the first is to Noe, who received an olive-branch, when the waters of the deluge had subsided; the second is to Moses, whose people, after quitting Egypt, encamped under the seventy palm-trees. The prayer of blessing was then said as follows:
► PRAYER OF BLESSING: “Increase, O God, the Faith of them that hope in Thee, and mercifully hear the prayers of Thy suppliants; let Thy manifold mercy come upon us, and let these branches of palm-trees, or olive-trees be blessed; and as in a figure of the Church Thou didst multiply Noe going out of the ark, and Moses going out of Egypt with the children of Israel, so let us, carrying palms and branches of olive-trees, go and meet Christ with good works, and enter, through Him, into eternal joys.”
The five prayers which follow, explain the mystery of the palms, and draw down the blessing of God both upon them and upon the faithful who receive and keep them with proper dispositions.
► FIRST PRAYER: “We beseech Thee, O holy Lord, almighty Father, eternal God, that Thou wouldst be pleased to bless and sanctify this creature of the olive tree, which Thou madest to shoot out of the substance of the wood, and which the dove, returning to the ark, brought in its bill; that whoever receiveth it, may find protection of soul and body, and that it may prove, O Lord, a saving remedy, and a sacred sign of Thy grace.”
► SECOND PRAYER: “O God, Who gatherest what is dispersed, and preservest what is gathered; who didst bless the people that carried boughs to meet Jesus; bless also these branches of the palm-tree and olive-tree, which Thy servants take with Faith in honor of Thy Name; that into whatever place they may be carried, the inhabitants of that place may obtain thy blessing, and Thy right hand may preserve from all adversity, and protect those that have been redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son.”
► THIRD PRAYER: “O God, Who by the wonderful order of Thy providence wouldst, even in insensible things, show us the manner of our salvation; grant, we beseech Thee, that the devout hearts of Thy faithful may understand to their benefit the mystical meaning of that ceremony, when the multitude, by direction from Heaven, going this day to meet our Redeemer, strewed under His feet palms and olive-branches. The palms represent His triumph over the prince of death: and the olive-branches proclaim, in some manner, the coming of a spiritual unction. For that pious multitude then knew, what was by them signified, that our Redeemer, compassionating the misery of mankind, was to fight, for the life of the whole world, with the prince of death; and to triumph over him by His own death. And, therefore, in that action they made use of such things, as might declare, both the triumph of his victory and the riches of His mercy. We also, with a firm Faith, retaining both the ceremony and its signification, humbly beseech Thee, O holy Lord, almighty Father, eternal God, through the same Lord Jesus Christ, that we, whom Thou hast made His members, gaining by Him, and in Him, a victory over the empire of death, may deserve to be partakers of His glorious resurrection.”
► FOURTH PRAYER: “O God, Who by an olive branch didst command the dove to proclaim peace to the world; sanctify, we beseech Thee, by Thy heavenly benediction, these branches of olives and other trees; that they may be serviceable to all Thy people unto salvation.”
► FIFTH PRAYER: “Bless, O Lord, we beseech Thee, these branches of the palm-tree, or olive-tree; and grant that what Thy people, this day, do corporally for Thy honor, they may perform the same spiritually with the greatest devotion, by gaining a victory over their enemy, and ardently loving the work of Thy mercy.”
The Palm is a Sign of Victory
The palm branch is a symbol of victory, triumph, peace, and eternal life originating in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world. The palm (Phoenix) was sacred in Mesopotamian religions, and in ancient Egypt the palm represented immortality.
In Judaism, the lulav―a closed frond of the date palm―is part of the Festival of Tabernacles, one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, on which the Israelites were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. As stated in the Book of Leviticus, it is also intended as a reminder of the type of fragile dwellings in which the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt―for the Latin word tabernaculum literally means “tent” or “booth” in the sense of a temporary dwelling place. God commands: “And you shall take to you, on the first day, the fruits of the fairest tree, and branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. And you shall keep the solemnity thereof seven days in the year. It shall be an everlasting ordinance in your generations. In the seventh month shall you celebrate this feast. And you shall dwell in bowers seven days: every one that is of the race of Israel, shall dwell in tabernacles [tents]. That your posterity may know, that I made the children of Israel to dwell in tabernacles [tents], when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.” (Leviticus 23:40-43).
A palm branch was awarded to victorious athletes in ancient Greece, and a palm frond or the tree itself is one of the most common attributes of Victory personified in ancient Rome. Since a victory signals an end to a conflict or competition, the palm developed into a symbol of peace.
Pick Your Palm!
There are approximately 2,600 species of palm. The most well-known ones are the date palm and the coconut tree. All palm trees are not actually trees. A palm tree is a type of grass. This is so because the yearly growth of the palm is not marked by rings, as it happens in other trees. Also, a palm tree does not have a bark. The inside and outside of the plant are essentially the same―which how Catholics should be, we should be on the inside what we are on the outside and not be hypocrites or pretenders.
Palm trees are of two types―palmate and pinnate. In the palmate varieties, the leaves grow at the end of the stem in a bunch, resembling a hand or a fan. In the pinnate variety, the leaves grow all along either side of the stem, resembling feathers. The pinnate leaves of the oil palm can easily be 10 to 15 feet long and palm trees shed these enormous leaves on a yearly basis and these dead leaves have a veritable variety of uses. The woody stem of the leaves is strong and is used as fuel or building material, the leaves themselves can be recycled in the palm plantation as mulch, or can be used as a base for weaving baskets, and sometimes the leaf as a whole is used in fences and temporary constructions.
Greasy, Oily Palms?
The use of palm oil is as old as 3000 B.C and archaeologists have located traces of palm oil in Egyptian tombs. Palm oil — also known as red palm oil — is a vegetable oil extracted from the oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis). The oil palm yields two types of oil: One is extracted from the flesh of the fruit (palm oil), and the other from the seed, or kernel (palm kernel oil).
The oil is often found in products such as bread, ice cream, and other processed foods, as it is trans-fat free, as well as some cosmetics such as makeup and soap. In fact, half the packaged products in any supermarket contain palm oil, so the chances are high that you have a lot of palm oil products in your house.
Health in the Palm of Your (Oily) Hand
Unrefined palm oil is sometimes referred to as red palm oil because of its reddish-orange color. Similar to coconut oil, palm oil is resistant to heat compared to other vegetable oils. Red palm oil's reddish-orange pigment stems from antioxidants known as carotenoids, including beta-carotene, which your body can convert into vitamin A.
Palm Oil is packed with amazing health benefits that includes boosting energy, may prevent cancer, balancing cholesterol level, a rich source of antioxidants, a rich source of vitamin K, a rich source of Omega 3 fatty acids, supply the body with vitamin E for youthful appearance, support pregnancy, and supply the body with vitamin D for healthy joints and bone density. Applying palm oil directly to your skin is also beneficial. Injuries like bruises, sunburn, and cuts also heal faster when palm oil is applied.
Regarded as a sacred healing food by many civilizations, including the ancient Egyptians, crude or virgin red palm fruit oil should be regarded as one of the most nutritious edible oils in the world. It is not to be confused with palm kernel oil. Palm fruit oil is derived from the fruit of the oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis) and is referred to as “red palm oil” because of its rich dark red color in its unprocessed natural state. Palm kernel oil is derived from the seed or the kernel.
● PALM FRUIT OIL contains mainly palmitic and oleic acids and is about 50% saturated, while palm kernel oil contains mainly lauric acid and is more than 89% saturated. The general assumption that kernel oil and palm fruit oil are one in the same, may have lead to one of the greatest oversights in modern nutrition. The stigma attached to the kernel has kept the fruit in the dark ― at least until now. Virgin organic sustainable red palm fruit oil is otherwise a bona fide food.
● PALM KERNEL OIL does not convey the same health benefits that red palm fruit oil does. The health benefits are only achieved due to the red color of the palm fruit oil that is attributed to its high content of carotenes, which include beta-carotene and lycopene. These powerhouse antioxidant nutrients are the same ones that give tomatoes and carrots and other fruits and vegetables their rich red and orange colors. What may shock you is that red palm fruit oil contains more that tomatoes or carrots. Red palm fruit oil is also densely packed with numerous tocotrienols ― a powerful form of vitamin E.
Palm Oil Can “Take the Heat”!
Like coconut oil, palm oil is semi-solid at room temperature. However, its melting point is 95°F (35°C), which is considerably higher than 76°F (24°C) for coconut oil. This is due to the different fatty acid compositions of the two oils. It is often used for sautéing or frying because it has a high smoke point of 450°F (232°C) and remains stable under high heat. That is how Catholics ought to be―able to take the heat, while remaining flexible, yet hard.
Your Palm Shows a Long Life!
Palm trees have ancient symbolical value. The Assyrians believed that the symbol of eternal life was a palm tree growing beside a stream. Palm trees live unusually live long. It takes about 5 years for a palm tree to grow a trunk. Palm tree trunks are absolutely amazing in their ability to bend and flex in hurricane force winds without breaking―which is how Catholics ought to be amid the storms and tempests and persecutions of the world. Within 15 years a palm tree can produce coconuts―that number reminds us of the 15 mysteries of the Rosary we should be producing daily. At about 70 years the tree stops producing coconuts. Though it can be difficult to estimate the age of a palm tree without rings, thankfully, scientists have found other ways to estimate age. One species was found to have lived for 740 years! That reminds us of the long years that Adam and his descendants used to live―before God shortened the life of man due to sin.
Palm trees are of two types―palmate and pinnate. In the palmate varieties, the leaves grow at the end of the stem in a bunch, resembling a hand or a fan. In the pinnate variety, the leaves grow all along either side of the stem, resembling feathers. The leaves of the palm tree are eaten by animals―likewise, the words and examples of Catholics ought to be “eaten” by those around us.
A Palm Roof Over Your Head
The leaves can also be used to make a thatch or roof. However, only the pinnate type of leaves (the hand-shaped or fan-shaped leaves) can be used. Some palm leaves make great roofs because of their size―the ones from coconut or royal palm in the feather or fan-leaf category. Some of the larger fan varieties like many of the “thatch palms” (that's why they call them that―because of the thatch roofs). The roofs made out of these giant leaves can last anywhere from 5-10 years, depending on the weather, of course.
Universal
Like the Catholic Church, you could say that the palm tree is universal―that is to say it is used an enormous amount and variety of products. Many palm trees are the source of wax, which is used to make scented candles. Many different leaves are also used in weaving everything from furniture, to decorations and place-mats. There are cultures that make sugar out of the sap of the sugar palm tree. It's collected very similar to the way we get sap for maple syrup from maple trees, but it is then fermented into the sugary drink called “toddy.”
Walking on Your Palms
Wood from coconut and palm trees is used for making flooring as the dried wood is harder than oak. After a coconut palm tree has gone beyond its productive years, the tree is chopped down. The wood from the palm tree can be made into some excellent flooring and siding. The wood is extremely hard once it is cured, or dried. Harder than oak, by far. There are also palms whose leaves are also used to produce oil, but a completely different kind. Other palm tree uses for leaves are, to produce a different kind of oil and wax from those produced from the fruit.
Talk of a roller-coaster ride! In these 7 days, Our Lord, with His Apostles and Disciples, will experience a momentous and unimaginable “roller-coaster” ride of gargantuan proportions. Today―“Palm Sunday”―we start with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, which quickly descends into days of altercation and dispute in the Temple between Jesus and the Jews and the plotted betrayal by Judas and the High Priest, only to reach new heights by Holy Thursday, the birthday of the Holy Mass, the Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood, which then immediately plummets down into the betrayal and arrest of Jesus leading into His Passion and Death; and then ends with His glorious Resurrection from death and seeming defeat.
Dom Gueranger, in the section on Palm Sunday, in his Liturgical Year, writes:
“Early in the morning of this day, Jesus sets out for Jerusalem, leaving Mary His Mother, and the two sisters Martha and Mary Magdalene, and Lazarus, at Bethany. The Mother of sorrows trembles at seeing her Son thus expose Himself to danger, for His enemies are bent upon His destruction; but it is not death, it is triumph, that Jesus is to receive today in Jerusalem. The Messias, before being nailed to the cross, is to be proclaimed King by the people of the great city; the little children are to make her streets echo with their Hosannas to the Son of David; and this in presence of the soldiers of Rome’s emperor, and of the high priests and Pharisees: the first standing under the banner of their eagles; the second, dumb with rage.” (Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Year, Palm Sunday).
“The disciples spread their garments upon the colt; and our Savior, that the prophetic figure might be fulfilled, sits upon him (Mark 11:7, Luke 19:35), and advances towards Jerusalem. As soon as it is known that Jesus is near the city, the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of those Jews, who have come from all parts to celebrate the feast of the Passover. They go out to meet Our Lord, holding palm branches in their hands, and loudly proclaiming Him to be King (Luke 19:38). They that have accompanied Jesus from Bethany, join the enthusiastic crowd. Whilst some spread their garments on the way, others cut down boughs from the palm-trees, and strew them along the road. “Hosanna” is the triumphant cry, proclaiming to the whole city that Jesus, the Son of David, has made His entrance as her King. Thus did God, in His power over men’s hearts, procure a triumph for His Son, and in the very city which, a few days later, was to clamor for His Blood. This day was one of glory to our Jesus, and the Holy Church would have us renew, each year, the memory of this triumph of the Man-God” (Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Year, Palm Sunday).
“Jesus begins His reign upon the Earth this very day; and though the first Israel is soon to disclaim His rule, a new Israel, formed from the faithful few of the old, shall rise up in every nation of the earth, and become the kingdom of Christ, a kingdom such as no mere earthly monarch ever coveted in his wildest fancies of ambition. This is the glorious mystery which ushers in the great week, the week of dolors. Holy Church would have us give this momentary consolation to our heart, and hail our Jesus as our King. She has so arranged the service of today, that it should express both joy and sorrow; joy, by uniting herself with the loyal hosannas of the city of David; and sorrow, by compassionating the Passion of her divine Spouse. The whole function is divided into three parts, which we will now proceed to explain.
Reading the Palms for the Significance
“The first is the blessing of the palms; and we may have an idea of its importance from the solemnity used by the Church in this sacred rite. One would suppose that the holy Sacrifice has begun, and is going to be offered up in honor of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Introit, Collect, Epistle, Gradual, Gospel, even a Preface, are said, as though we were, as usual, preparing for the immolation of the spotless Lamb; but―after the triple Sanctus! Sanctus! Sanctus!―the Church suspends these sacrificial formulas, and turns to the blessing of the palms. The prayers she uses for this blessing are eloquent and full of instruction; and, together with the sprinkling with holy water and the incensation, impart a virtue to these branches, which elevates them to the supernatural order, and makes them means for the sanctification of our souls and the protection of our persons and dwellings. The faithful should hold these palms in their hands during the procession, and during the reading of the Passion at Mass, and keep them in their homes as an outward expression of their faith, and as a pledge of God’s watchful love.
Then, Dom Gueranger proceeds to explain the significance of the palms by reading the prayers that constitute their blessing. Unless your local parish followed the so-called “Extraordinary Rite” (the old Latin Rite, which truly is extraordinary compared to its cheap and ordinary replacement in recent times), then you will have missed out of the tremendous riches and depth of symbolism, teaching and inspiration contained in that venerable Rite. If you are offended by that, then don’t be―for increasing numbers of priests and laity are expressing a preference for the “old-way of doing things” especially among younger ones, which surprises many. Besides, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich saw in her visions, a counterfeit church for our times, introducing new ways of doing things―which, when overthrown by Heaven, went back to the “old ways” with a worldwide restoration of the old rite by the pope. Here are the prayers that were used (and will be used again) in blessing the psalms.
The priest began by by giving two Scriptural allusions: the first is to Noe, who received an olive-branch, when the waters of the deluge had subsided; the second is to Moses, whose people, after quitting Egypt, encamped under the seventy palm-trees. The prayer of blessing was then said as follows:
► PRAYER OF BLESSING: “Increase, O God, the Faith of them that hope in Thee, and mercifully hear the prayers of Thy suppliants; let Thy manifold mercy come upon us, and let these branches of palm-trees, or olive-trees be blessed; and as in a figure of the Church Thou didst multiply Noe going out of the ark, and Moses going out of Egypt with the children of Israel, so let us, carrying palms and branches of olive-trees, go and meet Christ with good works, and enter, through Him, into eternal joys.”
The five prayers which follow, explain the mystery of the palms, and draw down the blessing of God both upon them and upon the faithful who receive and keep them with proper dispositions.
► FIRST PRAYER: “We beseech Thee, O holy Lord, almighty Father, eternal God, that Thou wouldst be pleased to bless and sanctify this creature of the olive tree, which Thou madest to shoot out of the substance of the wood, and which the dove, returning to the ark, brought in its bill; that whoever receiveth it, may find protection of soul and body, and that it may prove, O Lord, a saving remedy, and a sacred sign of Thy grace.”
► SECOND PRAYER: “O God, Who gatherest what is dispersed, and preservest what is gathered; who didst bless the people that carried boughs to meet Jesus; bless also these branches of the palm-tree and olive-tree, which Thy servants take with Faith in honor of Thy Name; that into whatever place they may be carried, the inhabitants of that place may obtain thy blessing, and Thy right hand may preserve from all adversity, and protect those that have been redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son.”
► THIRD PRAYER: “O God, Who by the wonderful order of Thy providence wouldst, even in insensible things, show us the manner of our salvation; grant, we beseech Thee, that the devout hearts of Thy faithful may understand to their benefit the mystical meaning of that ceremony, when the multitude, by direction from Heaven, going this day to meet our Redeemer, strewed under His feet palms and olive-branches. The palms represent His triumph over the prince of death: and the olive-branches proclaim, in some manner, the coming of a spiritual unction. For that pious multitude then knew, what was by them signified, that our Redeemer, compassionating the misery of mankind, was to fight, for the life of the whole world, with the prince of death; and to triumph over him by His own death. And, therefore, in that action they made use of such things, as might declare, both the triumph of his victory and the riches of His mercy. We also, with a firm Faith, retaining both the ceremony and its signification, humbly beseech Thee, O holy Lord, almighty Father, eternal God, through the same Lord Jesus Christ, that we, whom Thou hast made His members, gaining by Him, and in Him, a victory over the empire of death, may deserve to be partakers of His glorious resurrection.”
► FOURTH PRAYER: “O God, Who by an olive branch didst command the dove to proclaim peace to the world; sanctify, we beseech Thee, by Thy heavenly benediction, these branches of olives and other trees; that they may be serviceable to all Thy people unto salvation.”
► FIFTH PRAYER: “Bless, O Lord, we beseech Thee, these branches of the palm-tree, or olive-tree; and grant that what Thy people, this day, do corporally for Thy honor, they may perform the same spiritually with the greatest devotion, by gaining a victory over their enemy, and ardently loving the work of Thy mercy.”
The Palm is a Sign of Victory
The palm branch is a symbol of victory, triumph, peace, and eternal life originating in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world. The palm (Phoenix) was sacred in Mesopotamian religions, and in ancient Egypt the palm represented immortality.
In Judaism, the lulav―a closed frond of the date palm―is part of the Festival of Tabernacles, one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, on which the Israelites were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. As stated in the Book of Leviticus, it is also intended as a reminder of the type of fragile dwellings in which the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt―for the Latin word tabernaculum literally means “tent” or “booth” in the sense of a temporary dwelling place. God commands: “And you shall take to you, on the first day, the fruits of the fairest tree, and branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. And you shall keep the solemnity thereof seven days in the year. It shall be an everlasting ordinance in your generations. In the seventh month shall you celebrate this feast. And you shall dwell in bowers seven days: every one that is of the race of Israel, shall dwell in tabernacles [tents]. That your posterity may know, that I made the children of Israel to dwell in tabernacles [tents], when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.” (Leviticus 23:40-43).
A palm branch was awarded to victorious athletes in ancient Greece, and a palm frond or the tree itself is one of the most common attributes of Victory personified in ancient Rome. Since a victory signals an end to a conflict or competition, the palm developed into a symbol of peace.
Pick Your Palm!
There are approximately 2,600 species of palm. The most well-known ones are the date palm and the coconut tree. All palm trees are not actually trees. A palm tree is a type of grass. This is so because the yearly growth of the palm is not marked by rings, as it happens in other trees. Also, a palm tree does not have a bark. The inside and outside of the plant are essentially the same―which how Catholics should be, we should be on the inside what we are on the outside and not be hypocrites or pretenders.
Palm trees are of two types―palmate and pinnate. In the palmate varieties, the leaves grow at the end of the stem in a bunch, resembling a hand or a fan. In the pinnate variety, the leaves grow all along either side of the stem, resembling feathers. The pinnate leaves of the oil palm can easily be 10 to 15 feet long and palm trees shed these enormous leaves on a yearly basis and these dead leaves have a veritable variety of uses. The woody stem of the leaves is strong and is used as fuel or building material, the leaves themselves can be recycled in the palm plantation as mulch, or can be used as a base for weaving baskets, and sometimes the leaf as a whole is used in fences and temporary constructions.
Greasy, Oily Palms?
The use of palm oil is as old as 3000 B.C and archaeologists have located traces of palm oil in Egyptian tombs. Palm oil — also known as red palm oil — is a vegetable oil extracted from the oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis). The oil palm yields two types of oil: One is extracted from the flesh of the fruit (palm oil), and the other from the seed, or kernel (palm kernel oil).
The oil is often found in products such as bread, ice cream, and other processed foods, as it is trans-fat free, as well as some cosmetics such as makeup and soap. In fact, half the packaged products in any supermarket contain palm oil, so the chances are high that you have a lot of palm oil products in your house.
Health in the Palm of Your (Oily) Hand
Unrefined palm oil is sometimes referred to as red palm oil because of its reddish-orange color. Similar to coconut oil, palm oil is resistant to heat compared to other vegetable oils. Red palm oil's reddish-orange pigment stems from antioxidants known as carotenoids, including beta-carotene, which your body can convert into vitamin A.
Palm Oil is packed with amazing health benefits that includes boosting energy, may prevent cancer, balancing cholesterol level, a rich source of antioxidants, a rich source of vitamin K, a rich source of Omega 3 fatty acids, supply the body with vitamin E for youthful appearance, support pregnancy, and supply the body with vitamin D for healthy joints and bone density. Applying palm oil directly to your skin is also beneficial. Injuries like bruises, sunburn, and cuts also heal faster when palm oil is applied.
Regarded as a sacred healing food by many civilizations, including the ancient Egyptians, crude or virgin red palm fruit oil should be regarded as one of the most nutritious edible oils in the world. It is not to be confused with palm kernel oil. Palm fruit oil is derived from the fruit of the oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis) and is referred to as “red palm oil” because of its rich dark red color in its unprocessed natural state. Palm kernel oil is derived from the seed or the kernel.
● PALM FRUIT OIL contains mainly palmitic and oleic acids and is about 50% saturated, while palm kernel oil contains mainly lauric acid and is more than 89% saturated. The general assumption that kernel oil and palm fruit oil are one in the same, may have lead to one of the greatest oversights in modern nutrition. The stigma attached to the kernel has kept the fruit in the dark ― at least until now. Virgin organic sustainable red palm fruit oil is otherwise a bona fide food.
● PALM KERNEL OIL does not convey the same health benefits that red palm fruit oil does. The health benefits are only achieved due to the red color of the palm fruit oil that is attributed to its high content of carotenes, which include beta-carotene and lycopene. These powerhouse antioxidant nutrients are the same ones that give tomatoes and carrots and other fruits and vegetables their rich red and orange colors. What may shock you is that red palm fruit oil contains more that tomatoes or carrots. Red palm fruit oil is also densely packed with numerous tocotrienols ― a powerful form of vitamin E.
Palm Oil Can “Take the Heat”!
Like coconut oil, palm oil is semi-solid at room temperature. However, its melting point is 95°F (35°C), which is considerably higher than 76°F (24°C) for coconut oil. This is due to the different fatty acid compositions of the two oils. It is often used for sautéing or frying because it has a high smoke point of 450°F (232°C) and remains stable under high heat. That is how Catholics ought to be―able to take the heat, while remaining flexible, yet hard.
Your Palm Shows a Long Life!
Palm trees have ancient symbolical value. The Assyrians believed that the symbol of eternal life was a palm tree growing beside a stream. Palm trees live unusually live long. It takes about 5 years for a palm tree to grow a trunk. Palm tree trunks are absolutely amazing in their ability to bend and flex in hurricane force winds without breaking―which is how Catholics ought to be amid the storms and tempests and persecutions of the world. Within 15 years a palm tree can produce coconuts―that number reminds us of the 15 mysteries of the Rosary we should be producing daily. At about 70 years the tree stops producing coconuts. Though it can be difficult to estimate the age of a palm tree without rings, thankfully, scientists have found other ways to estimate age. One species was found to have lived for 740 years! That reminds us of the long years that Adam and his descendants used to live―before God shortened the life of man due to sin.
Palm trees are of two types―palmate and pinnate. In the palmate varieties, the leaves grow at the end of the stem in a bunch, resembling a hand or a fan. In the pinnate variety, the leaves grow all along either side of the stem, resembling feathers. The leaves of the palm tree are eaten by animals―likewise, the words and examples of Catholics ought to be “eaten” by those around us.
A Palm Roof Over Your Head
The leaves can also be used to make a thatch or roof. However, only the pinnate type of leaves (the hand-shaped or fan-shaped leaves) can be used. Some palm leaves make great roofs because of their size―the ones from coconut or royal palm in the feather or fan-leaf category. Some of the larger fan varieties like many of the “thatch palms” (that's why they call them that―because of the thatch roofs). The roofs made out of these giant leaves can last anywhere from 5-10 years, depending on the weather, of course.
Universal
Like the Catholic Church, you could say that the palm tree is universal―that is to say it is used an enormous amount and variety of products. Many palm trees are the source of wax, which is used to make scented candles. Many different leaves are also used in weaving everything from furniture, to decorations and place-mats. There are cultures that make sugar out of the sap of the sugar palm tree. It's collected very similar to the way we get sap for maple syrup from maple trees, but it is then fermented into the sugary drink called “toddy.”
Walking on Your Palms
Wood from coconut and palm trees is used for making flooring as the dried wood is harder than oak. After a coconut palm tree has gone beyond its productive years, the tree is chopped down. The wood from the palm tree can be made into some excellent flooring and siding. The wood is extremely hard once it is cured, or dried. Harder than oak, by far. There are also palms whose leaves are also used to produce oil, but a completely different kind. Other palm tree uses for leaves are, to produce a different kind of oil and wax from those produced from the fruit.
The Commemoration of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Friday, April 12th & Saturday April 13th in Passiontide
Article 34
The World Plays While Mary Mourns!
This article is STILL TO BE FINISHED. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Friday, April 12th & Saturday April 13th in Passiontide
Article 34
The World Plays While Mary Mourns!
This article is STILL TO BE FINISHED. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Time for What? What Time is It?
The Book of Ecclesiastes is not a bad a book for “telling-the-time”―in its third chapter, it says: “All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). What time is it in your house?
If, as Ecclesiastes says, “all things have their season”, then what season is it now? We can look at the current season in relation to one single year, and we can also look at the current season in relation to all time. Of course, the season of the current year is one of winter passing into spring (northern hemisphere), and liturgically we are in the season of Lent (a spiritual winter) that will soon pass into the season of Easter (a spiritual springtime).
From another perspective, we can look at our present age (season) in relation to all the ages that have passed and to those which are yet to come. In this sense, we also find ourselves in a winter―which is far from being finished―and before we can enter into a future springtime, some very heavy storms have to be weathered.
Weather Forecast
Talking of weather―putting aside the proverbial joke that when weather forecasters get their forecasts right, then it will be a sign that the end of world is fast approaching―we can look to a more reliable “weather forecast” than any earthly agency can provide. That “weather forecast” or “climate prediction” is not focused on natural weather conditions, but on the spiritual and moral climate of the world and the resulting “supernatural weather” that these will provoke. This “spiritual and moral weather forecast” comes, of course, from Heaven―and Our Lady is God’s chosen “weathercaster” or weather forecaster.
Usually, people do not plan on organizing a parish picnic on a day when tornados and torrential rain has been forecast. When a hurricane hits the east coast of America, the advice is to stay indoors or even leave the area―rather than be a fatal victim of the hurricane. When the winter snow storms bring multiple feet of snow, nobody ventures outdoors wearing a t-shirt, shorts and sandals. When it is multiple degrees below freezing and the biting winter winds are howling, we don’t go swimming in the back-yard swimming pool. When flood waters invade our house, we do not put on knee-high rubber boots and continue watching TV, or browsing the internet and munching on our snacks and sipping beer or wine. All of this is patently obvious and pure common sense. Yet, we fail to apply this earthly or worldly wisdom to our spiritual life! We act like a person who is insane when we are faced with some blatant spiritual realities and “weather forecasts”.
Mary is No Cheery Weathercaster
The TV channel weathercasters are usually upbeat, cheery and smiling. Our Lady is far from falling into that stereotype. When the weather is going to be extraordinarily severe, then the weather updates are very frequent. This is equally true of Our Lady’s “weather forecasts” for our age. Unless you have your head buried in the sand (or the screen of some electronic device), then you cannot fail to see that Our Lady’s forecast is one of an impending catastrophe―so much so, that you might well want to bury your head in something, and switch over to a state of denial.
At Quito, there is NO RECORD OF OUR LADY BEING CHEERY AND SMILING―if some evidence turns up, it is likely to be minimal, for the whole tone of Our Lady’s message is somber, sad and depressing.
At La Salette (1846), Our Lady NEVER SMILES, BUT WEEPS! One of the seers, Melanie, reports: “I saw a most beautiful Lady sitting on top of our Paradise, with her head in her hands. This beautiful Lady stood up, she calmly crossed her arms while watching us. When I was up close to the beautiful Lady, she began to speak and, from her beautiful eyes, tears also started to flow.”
At Lourdes (1858), though Our Lady smiles at times, it is merely to calm the suspicious and frightened Bernadette. Otherwise, we read that Our Lady looks off into the distance and shows signs of deep sorrow, saying: “Pray to God for sinners!” At the sight of her sadness, Bernadette cannot help shedding tears.
At Fatima (1917), Sr. Lucia of Fatima reveals: “The Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
At Akita in Japan (1973), the statue of Our Lady does not miraculously smile, but miraculously WEEPS, and it weeps tears of blood!
All of this sets the general tone of Our Lady’s appearance, emotions, and messages as being of a grave, tragic, sad and unhappy disposition―not a happy-go-lucky, cheerful, upbeat, smiling demeanour.
Mary's Frequent Weather Warnings
It may not seem that Our Lady’s forecasts are very frequent―if we are to take Quito in basically the first part of othe 1600s (1594-1635), La Salette (1846), Lourdes (1858), Fatima (1917) and Akita (1973) as being the main “weather updates”. Yet, it must be remembered that, with God, “a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8) and “a thousand years in Thy sight are as yesterday, which is past” (Psalm 89:4). Therefore, arguably and artificially, we could translate years into hours, and the dates of Our Lady’s apparitions at Quito (early 1660s), La Salette (1846), Lourdes (1858), Fatima (1917) and Akita (1973), as well as our present day―could all be looked at in the context of one single day. The year 1600 would become 16:00 hours; 1846 would become 18:46 hours; 18:58 would be 18:58 hours; 1917 would be 19:17 hours and 1973 (doesn’t quite work, for there are only 60 minutes in an hour) could be said to be almost 20:00 hours, while our present year, 2019, would translate into 20:19 hours. In this sense, following the principle that “a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”, we have Our Lady’s weather forecasts rapidly following one upon the other in one single “day”―as the darkness grows and night approaches―at 18:46 or 6:46 p.m., then at 18:58 or 6:58 p.m., again at 19:17 or 7:17 p.m. and again at 19:53(73) or 7:53 p.m. While now, in our present age and time, we have arrived at 20:19 or 8:19 p.m. Thus the weather warnings are flowing thick and fast between 4:00 p.m. and 8:19 p.m.
Our Lady is Sad and Sorrowful
What is our response? Ignore them and keep enjoying life! What is Our Lady’s response? The seer, Melanie, at La Salette reports: “I saw a most beautiful Lady sitting on top of our Paradise, with her head in her hands ... She began to speak and, from her beautiful eyes, tears also started to flow.” Bernadette at Lourdes reports that the Immaculate Lady looks off into the distance and shows signs of deep sorrow, saying: “Pray to God for sinners!” At the sight of her sadness, Bernadette cannot help shedding tears. Sister Lucia of Fatima puts it in a nutshell when she says: “Our Lady never smiled. She was always very sad … The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of virtue, goodness and personal apostolates, but without paying attention and uniting their lives to this Message. The bad―the sinners―keep following the road of evil”―so much so that in the 1950’s (nowhere near a sinful time as 2019), Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Our Lady is so Sorrowful, She Sweats Blood and Weeps in Tears
Hence, in 1973, at Akita in Japan, at the time of Our Lady’s messages to Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa, her statue was seen to be ‘sweating’ tears of blood from her eyes on many occasions for over two months, as well as a having a stigmata miraculously appear on one of the statues hands. Sister Agnes also received the stigmata in one of her hands, that lasted for around one month―from June 28th to July 27th of 1973. Blood began to flow out of the statue's hand the very next day, from a stigmata wound that looked identical to Sister Agnes' wound. One of Sister Agnes’s fellow nuns, who observed the statue’s wound up close, stated: “It seemed to be truly cut into flesh. The edge of the cross had the aspect of human flesh and one even saw the grain of the skin like a fingerprint.” The statue sometimes bled simultaneously with Sister Agnes. A guardian angel told Sister Agnes: “The wounds of Mary are much deeper and more sorrowful than yours!” After that, the statue began to sweat beads of perspiration. More than a year later, on January 4th, 1975, the statue began to weep—crying three times on that first day. The weeping statue drew so much attention, that its crying was broadcast on national television throughout Japan, on December 8th, 1979―the feast of the Immaculate Conception. By the time the statue cried for the last time―which was on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (September 15th) in 1981—it was recorded that it had wept for a total of 101 times.
Blood, sweat and tears―all of which were combined in this miraculous occurrence―are invariably symbols of suffering, toil, agony and mourning. Samples of blood, sweat, and tears from the Akita statue were all scientifically tested by people who weren't told where the samples came from. The results: all of the fluids were identified as human. The blood was found to be Type B, the sweat Type AB, and the tears Type AB. Investigators came to the conclusion that a supernatural miracle had somehow caused a non-human object — the statue — to exude human bodily fluids because that would be impossible naturally.
To us, all these apparitions, all these words of Our Lady, all these solemn and grave warnings, are much like the proverbial “water flowing off the duck’s back”―we read them, we nod and then we file them away in our “been there, seen it, done it” folder―and then refocus once again on what really concerns us: our daily grind and the material preoccupations of our life. Somehow―we convince ourselves―these “weather advisories” or “storm warnings” do not apply to us, but to someone else, they are for some other part of the world, or for some future age.
Weather Psychologists Reveal Typical Human Reactions to Warnings
What is true on natural level, is often true on the spiritual level. Our reactions to severe weather alerts, storm warnings Our reactions to severe weather alerts, storm warnings and even evacuation orders are similar to the way we react to Heaven's storm warnings and chastisement alerts. Dr. Laura Myers, the director and senior research scientist at the Center for Advanced Public Safety, has researched how people react to warnings. She reveals that most folk stubbornly do not want to change their plans or their behavior on account of weather warnings, unless they are convinced that storm will really affect them. Dr. Myers pointed out that people become desensitized to alerts and warnings (like “water flowing off the duck’s back”), and after a while, not having seen disasters in their neighborhood, tend to ignore the warnings and alerts. She added: “When people hear what the weather impacts are, such as damage and destruction to well-built homes, they start to pay attention. When they are told they need to take shelter now because their location is going to take a direct impact, they usually act.” Dr. Myers explained that the moment in time, when a warning is issued to the public, can also produce various reactions and responses. Given too much advance notice, people can fall into a complacency, become tired of waiting and go back to their usual daily occupations. Regardless of the warning, some people wait until they see their life is in danger.
AccuWeather Meteorologist, Dan Kottlowski, revealed that “a lot of social media research was done and people said they have to see [a tornado] before they do something.” Mike Smith, Senior Vice President of AccuWeather, revealed several reasons why people wait to react to severe weather alerts: “There is considerable inertia in people. They are busy or their attention is on some project. There is also sociological evidence that people feel silly for taking shelter; that it somehow reflects poorly on their courage.” Mike Smith further added that for many people it sometimes takes a push-and-a-shove from someone they really trust and whose opinions they really value, to get them to take shelter or evacuate. He added that repeated warnings from various different sources can also tip the balance from inertia to action.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service analyzes forecasting performance and public response during the second deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. history―the “Super Tuesday Tornado Outbreak” of February, 2008, when 82 tornadoes raked nine states throughout the South, killing 57 people, injuring 350 others and causing $400 million in property damage. NOAA’s key area of concern was: “Why do some people take cover while others ride out severe weather?” In reviewing the public response, the research team found that two-thirds of the victims were in mobile homes, and 60 percent did not have access to safe shelter (i.e., a basement or storm cellar). Some indicated they thought the threat was minimal because February is not within traditional tornado season. Several of those interviewed said they spent time seeking confirmation and went to a safe location only after they saw a tornado. Many people minimized the threat of personal risk through “optimism bias,” the belief that such bad things only happen to other people.
Lots of varying reasons are behind the phenomenon of why some people don’t pay attention to severe weather evacuation notices—some think they can ride out the winds and surging waters; while others basically have nowhere to go and or have means by which to evacuate. Others recall or perhaps have experienced previous unnecessary evacuations that resulted from forecasts “not coming true” and so they now react to such forecasts with a “boy who cried ‘wolf’” mentality. Rebecca Morss of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, says: “Some people just don't perceive the risk to be that high.”
Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, says: “Following Hurricane Katrina, there is a level of awareness around the potential danger of large-scale coastal storms and hurricanes and it has been a wake-up call … Many, many people electively choose not to comply with official orders of mandatory evacuation and intend to stay in place no matter what the warnings are. Many of these people are putting themselves at an extreme level of risk … What we've found is that being hesitant about the communication messages, or using softer language doesn't work ... The message is being forcefully delivered in an attempt to absolutely minimize the number of people that stay behind … When a public official determines that the hardest possible language is going to be used, he or she is hoping that strongest message will get the most people to safety. On the other hand, there is the "crying wolf" phenomenon. They are taking a chance that if the conditions are not as dire as anticipated, that the next time there will be a great reluctance to heed those warnings …
“Theoretically, they could physically remove someone, especially if their remaining would endanger anyone else's safety and especially [the life of] first responders. But the strategy that officials may use, rather than arresting the recalcitrant citizen, is to make it very clear--absolutely clear—that rescue and response services may not be available. In essence, if you don't comply with evacuation orders, you are in effect waiving your right to get rescue and response if you need it … We just did a study on evacuations under scenarios of disasters without warnings. We are very concerned about disasters that occur without warning when we have to do evacuations in real-time—in essence, immediate—for example, an earthquake or a terrorist nuclear attack. We found about two thirds of people with children would not comply with official orders to evacuate, until and unless they were able to retrieve their children from school or day care. If we have two thirds of the population with children that would not comply, what we would have is evacuation chaos and an absolute breakdown of disaster response in circumstances that provided no warning.”
Research by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) unearthed several factors that lead people to ignore warnings of severe or devastating weather alerts. The most common factor is OPTIMISM, because as human beings we prefer to think that, for us, things will go right rather than wrong, and that we will be among the lucky ones to escape. The next most common factor is UNCERTAINTY―people are told to prepare and evacuate and many just do not know how to go about doing it. So you sit back and keep thinking and saying: “What should I do? What should I do?” and this makes you increasingly uncertain, with the result that most people, when uncertain, keep doing the things they were doing before. The third factor is HERD THINKING―whereby we are very influenced by what our friends and neighbors do, so we look to see what they are doing―and if they are not “stocking-up” or not evacuating, then we assume they know what they are doing and we do likewise, not realizing (or denying) that they are as uncertain as we are.
Typical Reactions to Heaven’s Warnings
You have no doubt heard the saying “Like father, like son; like mother, like daughter”―which actually can be traced to Holy Scripture: “Behold every one that useth a common proverb, shall use this against thee, saying: ‘As the mother was, so also is her daughter’” (Ezechiel 16:44). Similarly, we could say―“As we are naturally, so we shall be spiritually!” Our natural, physical, bodily, material, earthly habits and attitudes seep into our supernatural and spiritual habits and attitudes. If a person is lazy in work, they are more likely to also be lazy about spiritual duties. If they are careless about material things, they will tend to be careless about spiritual things. Hence the above quoted research on people ignoring severe weather advisories, alerts and warnings, is just as applicable to the reaction of people to Heaven’s severe climate or chastisement advisories, alerts and warnings.
Therefore, most Catholics view Our Lady’s dire warnings as a case of “The boy crying: ‘Wolf!’” when there is no wolf to be found! Their mentality is one of: “It doesn’t apply to me, so why bother?” They have heard the warnings time and time again―but nothing happens. So they “switch-off” their minds to the warnings and just go about their daily life as though nothing was wrong. Just as the above quoted recipients of severe weather warnings, their “knee-jerk” response is one of false OPTIMISM―based upon one of many differing complacent rationalizations. “I’m not such a bad person! I'm not like most people! I go to church! I say my Rosary!, etc.” Yet just as a natural storm makes no distinction between good people and bad people when it claims lives or inflicts serious injuries, likewise will Heaven do when it begins to chastise us for our sins and the sins of others―as Our Lady of Akita warned: “If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful.”
We are fools to ignore and do nothing about Our Lady's incessant and increasingly severe warnings: “Fools despise wisdom and instruction! … Fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves! … The eyes of fools are on the ends of the Earth … The prosperity of fools shall destroy them! … And the number of fools is infinite!” (Proverbs 1:7; 1:22; 17:24; 1:32; Ecclesiastes 1:15). Holy Mother Church puts the following words of Scripture into the mouth of Mary, as part of the readings for the Masses on the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (December 8th) and also the Immaculate Heart of Mary (August 22nd): “Now therefore, ye children, hear me! Blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise―and refuse it not! Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors! He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord! But he that shall sin against me, shall hurt his own soul. All that hate me love death … He who obeys me will not be put to shame, they who serve me will never fail. They who explain me shall have life everlasting!” (Proverbs 8:32-36; Ecclesiasticus 34:30-31). In other words, listen to her “weather warnings and advisories”, take them to heart, obey the instructions and pass them on to others.
From Year to Hour
Coming back to the concept of “a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8), let us look at Our Lady’s “weather alerts” or spiritual storm advisories from the perspective of not being separated by hundreds of years―as in the case of Our Lady of Good Success giving her first warning in 1594, with the others following in the 379 years up to her messages at Akita in Japan in 1973―but look upon them as being given in one single day―by taking numbers of the year and making them into the numbers for the hours and minutes of the day. Thus the 1600s would become 16:00 hours or 4:00 p.m. and 1635 would become 16:35 p.m. or 4:35 p.m., etc. Thus Quito would translate to approximately 4:00 p.m. onwards; La Salette would translate to 6:46 p.m.; Lourdes would be 6:58 p.m.; Fatima would be 7:17 p.m. and Akita would be just before 8:00 p.m. So four major alerts, advisories and warnings in a ‘four hour’ period.
The Quito Weather Forecast (from 1594 to 1635)
Our Lady of Good Success appeared in Quito, Ecuador between 1594 and 1635. These centuries and years would translate to the period between 15:54(94) hours and 16:35 hours, on the 24-hour clock, or roughly between 3:54 p.m. and 4:35 p.m. In this “severe weather” 90-second warning, Our Lady says:
“At the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated ... As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private. The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many of them will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … During these unfortunate times, evil will invade childhood innocence … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Without virginity, it will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon those lands in order to purify them … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith … In this way, vocations to the priesthood will be lost, resulting in a true calamity. Many authentic vocations will perish!”
The La Salette Weather Forecast (1846)
The year 1846 would translate to 18:46 p.m. on the 24-hour clock, or 6:46 p.m. Here is the two-minute weather warning (it is a brief warning and takes 2 minutes to read):
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it. I have suffered all of the time for the rest of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually. And the rest of you think little of this. In vain you will pray, in vain you will act, you will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for the rest of you … Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God …
“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes. Then, at the first blow of God’s thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens. Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly.”
The Lourdes Weather Forecast (1858)
The year 1858 would translate to 18:58 p.m. on the 24-hour clock, or 6:58 p.m. The spiritual climate at Lourdes could be described as sunny, but changing to overcast skies and threatening storm clouds.
At her first apparition at Lourdes, on February 11th, 1858, Our Lady appeared as a beautiful young woman, dressed in white and holding a Rosary, and smiling most graciously toward the frightened little visionary―which indicates she was not smiling beforehand.
At her third apparition, on February 14th, Bernadette, thinking perhaps all this might be trick of the devil, sprinkles Our Lady with holy water, asking her to remain if she came from God, otherwise go away. The Lady smiles―which again indicates she was not smiling beforehand.
At her second apparition, on February 18th, Our Lady seems to be a “kill-joy” because she tells Bernadette: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world but only in the other!” But we want to be happy in this world as well as the other, don’t we? We want to keep our cake and we want to eat it!
At her sixth apparition on Sunday, February 21st, the Immaculate Lady looks off into the distance and shows signs of deep sorrow, saying: “Pray to God for sinners!” At the sight of her sadness, Bernadette cannot help shedding tears. Just as with Simeon’s prophecy, the Immaculate Heart of Mary seems to be pierced even now with the sword of sorrow caused by the sins of men, sins that crucify her Son, making Him a sign of contradiction.
The Book of Ecclesiastes is not a bad a book for “telling-the-time”―in its third chapter, it says: “All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). What time is it in your house?
If, as Ecclesiastes says, “all things have their season”, then what season is it now? We can look at the current season in relation to one single year, and we can also look at the current season in relation to all time. Of course, the season of the current year is one of winter passing into spring (northern hemisphere), and liturgically we are in the season of Lent (a spiritual winter) that will soon pass into the season of Easter (a spiritual springtime).
From another perspective, we can look at our present age (season) in relation to all the ages that have passed and to those which are yet to come. In this sense, we also find ourselves in a winter―which is far from being finished―and before we can enter into a future springtime, some very heavy storms have to be weathered.
Weather Forecast
Talking of weather―putting aside the proverbial joke that when weather forecasters get their forecasts right, then it will be a sign that the end of world is fast approaching―we can look to a more reliable “weather forecast” than any earthly agency can provide. That “weather forecast” or “climate prediction” is not focused on natural weather conditions, but on the spiritual and moral climate of the world and the resulting “supernatural weather” that these will provoke. This “spiritual and moral weather forecast” comes, of course, from Heaven―and Our Lady is God’s chosen “weathercaster” or weather forecaster.
Usually, people do not plan on organizing a parish picnic on a day when tornados and torrential rain has been forecast. When a hurricane hits the east coast of America, the advice is to stay indoors or even leave the area―rather than be a fatal victim of the hurricane. When the winter snow storms bring multiple feet of snow, nobody ventures outdoors wearing a t-shirt, shorts and sandals. When it is multiple degrees below freezing and the biting winter winds are howling, we don’t go swimming in the back-yard swimming pool. When flood waters invade our house, we do not put on knee-high rubber boots and continue watching TV, or browsing the internet and munching on our snacks and sipping beer or wine. All of this is patently obvious and pure common sense. Yet, we fail to apply this earthly or worldly wisdom to our spiritual life! We act like a person who is insane when we are faced with some blatant spiritual realities and “weather forecasts”.
Mary is No Cheery Weathercaster
The TV channel weathercasters are usually upbeat, cheery and smiling. Our Lady is far from falling into that stereotype. When the weather is going to be extraordinarily severe, then the weather updates are very frequent. This is equally true of Our Lady’s “weather forecasts” for our age. Unless you have your head buried in the sand (or the screen of some electronic device), then you cannot fail to see that Our Lady’s forecast is one of an impending catastrophe―so much so, that you might well want to bury your head in something, and switch over to a state of denial.
At Quito, there is NO RECORD OF OUR LADY BEING CHEERY AND SMILING―if some evidence turns up, it is likely to be minimal, for the whole tone of Our Lady’s message is somber, sad and depressing.
At La Salette (1846), Our Lady NEVER SMILES, BUT WEEPS! One of the seers, Melanie, reports: “I saw a most beautiful Lady sitting on top of our Paradise, with her head in her hands. This beautiful Lady stood up, she calmly crossed her arms while watching us. When I was up close to the beautiful Lady, she began to speak and, from her beautiful eyes, tears also started to flow.”
At Lourdes (1858), though Our Lady smiles at times, it is merely to calm the suspicious and frightened Bernadette. Otherwise, we read that Our Lady looks off into the distance and shows signs of deep sorrow, saying: “Pray to God for sinners!” At the sight of her sadness, Bernadette cannot help shedding tears.
At Fatima (1917), Sr. Lucia of Fatima reveals: “The Blessed Virgin was very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled at us. This anguish that we saw in her, caused by offenses to God and the chastisements that threaten sinners, penetrated our souls” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima to Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
At Akita in Japan (1973), the statue of Our Lady does not miraculously smile, but miraculously WEEPS, and it weeps tears of blood!
All of this sets the general tone of Our Lady’s appearance, emotions, and messages as being of a grave, tragic, sad and unhappy disposition―not a happy-go-lucky, cheerful, upbeat, smiling demeanour.
Mary's Frequent Weather Warnings
It may not seem that Our Lady’s forecasts are very frequent―if we are to take Quito in basically the first part of othe 1600s (1594-1635), La Salette (1846), Lourdes (1858), Fatima (1917) and Akita (1973) as being the main “weather updates”. Yet, it must be remembered that, with God, “a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8) and “a thousand years in Thy sight are as yesterday, which is past” (Psalm 89:4). Therefore, arguably and artificially, we could translate years into hours, and the dates of Our Lady’s apparitions at Quito (early 1660s), La Salette (1846), Lourdes (1858), Fatima (1917) and Akita (1973), as well as our present day―could all be looked at in the context of one single day. The year 1600 would become 16:00 hours; 1846 would become 18:46 hours; 18:58 would be 18:58 hours; 1917 would be 19:17 hours and 1973 (doesn’t quite work, for there are only 60 minutes in an hour) could be said to be almost 20:00 hours, while our present year, 2019, would translate into 20:19 hours. In this sense, following the principle that “a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”, we have Our Lady’s weather forecasts rapidly following one upon the other in one single “day”―as the darkness grows and night approaches―at 18:46 or 6:46 p.m., then at 18:58 or 6:58 p.m., again at 19:17 or 7:17 p.m. and again at 19:53(73) or 7:53 p.m. While now, in our present age and time, we have arrived at 20:19 or 8:19 p.m. Thus the weather warnings are flowing thick and fast between 4:00 p.m. and 8:19 p.m.
Our Lady is Sad and Sorrowful
What is our response? Ignore them and keep enjoying life! What is Our Lady’s response? The seer, Melanie, at La Salette reports: “I saw a most beautiful Lady sitting on top of our Paradise, with her head in her hands ... She began to speak and, from her beautiful eyes, tears also started to flow.” Bernadette at Lourdes reports that the Immaculate Lady looks off into the distance and shows signs of deep sorrow, saying: “Pray to God for sinners!” At the sight of her sadness, Bernadette cannot help shedding tears. Sister Lucia of Fatima puts it in a nutshell when she says: “Our Lady never smiled. She was always very sad … The Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of virtue, goodness and personal apostolates, but without paying attention and uniting their lives to this Message. The bad―the sinners―keep following the road of evil”―so much so that in the 1950’s (nowhere near a sinful time as 2019), Our Lady said to Blessed Elena Aiello: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge! All is hanging on a slender thread. When that thread shall snap, Divine Justice shall pounce upon the world and execute its dreadful, purging designs. All the nations shall be punished because sins, like a muddy river, are now covering all the Earth!”
Our Lady is so Sorrowful, She Sweats Blood and Weeps in Tears
Hence, in 1973, at Akita in Japan, at the time of Our Lady’s messages to Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa, her statue was seen to be ‘sweating’ tears of blood from her eyes on many occasions for over two months, as well as a having a stigmata miraculously appear on one of the statues hands. Sister Agnes also received the stigmata in one of her hands, that lasted for around one month―from June 28th to July 27th of 1973. Blood began to flow out of the statue's hand the very next day, from a stigmata wound that looked identical to Sister Agnes' wound. One of Sister Agnes’s fellow nuns, who observed the statue’s wound up close, stated: “It seemed to be truly cut into flesh. The edge of the cross had the aspect of human flesh and one even saw the grain of the skin like a fingerprint.” The statue sometimes bled simultaneously with Sister Agnes. A guardian angel told Sister Agnes: “The wounds of Mary are much deeper and more sorrowful than yours!” After that, the statue began to sweat beads of perspiration. More than a year later, on January 4th, 1975, the statue began to weep—crying three times on that first day. The weeping statue drew so much attention, that its crying was broadcast on national television throughout Japan, on December 8th, 1979―the feast of the Immaculate Conception. By the time the statue cried for the last time―which was on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (September 15th) in 1981—it was recorded that it had wept for a total of 101 times.
Blood, sweat and tears―all of which were combined in this miraculous occurrence―are invariably symbols of suffering, toil, agony and mourning. Samples of blood, sweat, and tears from the Akita statue were all scientifically tested by people who weren't told where the samples came from. The results: all of the fluids were identified as human. The blood was found to be Type B, the sweat Type AB, and the tears Type AB. Investigators came to the conclusion that a supernatural miracle had somehow caused a non-human object — the statue — to exude human bodily fluids because that would be impossible naturally.
To us, all these apparitions, all these words of Our Lady, all these solemn and grave warnings, are much like the proverbial “water flowing off the duck’s back”―we read them, we nod and then we file them away in our “been there, seen it, done it” folder―and then refocus once again on what really concerns us: our daily grind and the material preoccupations of our life. Somehow―we convince ourselves―these “weather advisories” or “storm warnings” do not apply to us, but to someone else, they are for some other part of the world, or for some future age.
Weather Psychologists Reveal Typical Human Reactions to Warnings
What is true on natural level, is often true on the spiritual level. Our reactions to severe weather alerts, storm warnings Our reactions to severe weather alerts, storm warnings and even evacuation orders are similar to the way we react to Heaven's storm warnings and chastisement alerts. Dr. Laura Myers, the director and senior research scientist at the Center for Advanced Public Safety, has researched how people react to warnings. She reveals that most folk stubbornly do not want to change their plans or their behavior on account of weather warnings, unless they are convinced that storm will really affect them. Dr. Myers pointed out that people become desensitized to alerts and warnings (like “water flowing off the duck’s back”), and after a while, not having seen disasters in their neighborhood, tend to ignore the warnings and alerts. She added: “When people hear what the weather impacts are, such as damage and destruction to well-built homes, they start to pay attention. When they are told they need to take shelter now because their location is going to take a direct impact, they usually act.” Dr. Myers explained that the moment in time, when a warning is issued to the public, can also produce various reactions and responses. Given too much advance notice, people can fall into a complacency, become tired of waiting and go back to their usual daily occupations. Regardless of the warning, some people wait until they see their life is in danger.
AccuWeather Meteorologist, Dan Kottlowski, revealed that “a lot of social media research was done and people said they have to see [a tornado] before they do something.” Mike Smith, Senior Vice President of AccuWeather, revealed several reasons why people wait to react to severe weather alerts: “There is considerable inertia in people. They are busy or their attention is on some project. There is also sociological evidence that people feel silly for taking shelter; that it somehow reflects poorly on their courage.” Mike Smith further added that for many people it sometimes takes a push-and-a-shove from someone they really trust and whose opinions they really value, to get them to take shelter or evacuate. He added that repeated warnings from various different sources can also tip the balance from inertia to action.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service analyzes forecasting performance and public response during the second deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. history―the “Super Tuesday Tornado Outbreak” of February, 2008, when 82 tornadoes raked nine states throughout the South, killing 57 people, injuring 350 others and causing $400 million in property damage. NOAA’s key area of concern was: “Why do some people take cover while others ride out severe weather?” In reviewing the public response, the research team found that two-thirds of the victims were in mobile homes, and 60 percent did not have access to safe shelter (i.e., a basement or storm cellar). Some indicated they thought the threat was minimal because February is not within traditional tornado season. Several of those interviewed said they spent time seeking confirmation and went to a safe location only after they saw a tornado. Many people minimized the threat of personal risk through “optimism bias,” the belief that such bad things only happen to other people.
Lots of varying reasons are behind the phenomenon of why some people don’t pay attention to severe weather evacuation notices—some think they can ride out the winds and surging waters; while others basically have nowhere to go and or have means by which to evacuate. Others recall or perhaps have experienced previous unnecessary evacuations that resulted from forecasts “not coming true” and so they now react to such forecasts with a “boy who cried ‘wolf’” mentality. Rebecca Morss of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, says: “Some people just don't perceive the risk to be that high.”
Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, says: “Following Hurricane Katrina, there is a level of awareness around the potential danger of large-scale coastal storms and hurricanes and it has been a wake-up call … Many, many people electively choose not to comply with official orders of mandatory evacuation and intend to stay in place no matter what the warnings are. Many of these people are putting themselves at an extreme level of risk … What we've found is that being hesitant about the communication messages, or using softer language doesn't work ... The message is being forcefully delivered in an attempt to absolutely minimize the number of people that stay behind … When a public official determines that the hardest possible language is going to be used, he or she is hoping that strongest message will get the most people to safety. On the other hand, there is the "crying wolf" phenomenon. They are taking a chance that if the conditions are not as dire as anticipated, that the next time there will be a great reluctance to heed those warnings …
“Theoretically, they could physically remove someone, especially if their remaining would endanger anyone else's safety and especially [the life of] first responders. But the strategy that officials may use, rather than arresting the recalcitrant citizen, is to make it very clear--absolutely clear—that rescue and response services may not be available. In essence, if you don't comply with evacuation orders, you are in effect waiving your right to get rescue and response if you need it … We just did a study on evacuations under scenarios of disasters without warnings. We are very concerned about disasters that occur without warning when we have to do evacuations in real-time—in essence, immediate—for example, an earthquake or a terrorist nuclear attack. We found about two thirds of people with children would not comply with official orders to evacuate, until and unless they were able to retrieve their children from school or day care. If we have two thirds of the population with children that would not comply, what we would have is evacuation chaos and an absolute breakdown of disaster response in circumstances that provided no warning.”
Research by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) unearthed several factors that lead people to ignore warnings of severe or devastating weather alerts. The most common factor is OPTIMISM, because as human beings we prefer to think that, for us, things will go right rather than wrong, and that we will be among the lucky ones to escape. The next most common factor is UNCERTAINTY―people are told to prepare and evacuate and many just do not know how to go about doing it. So you sit back and keep thinking and saying: “What should I do? What should I do?” and this makes you increasingly uncertain, with the result that most people, when uncertain, keep doing the things they were doing before. The third factor is HERD THINKING―whereby we are very influenced by what our friends and neighbors do, so we look to see what they are doing―and if they are not “stocking-up” or not evacuating, then we assume they know what they are doing and we do likewise, not realizing (or denying) that they are as uncertain as we are.
Typical Reactions to Heaven’s Warnings
You have no doubt heard the saying “Like father, like son; like mother, like daughter”―which actually can be traced to Holy Scripture: “Behold every one that useth a common proverb, shall use this against thee, saying: ‘As the mother was, so also is her daughter’” (Ezechiel 16:44). Similarly, we could say―“As we are naturally, so we shall be spiritually!” Our natural, physical, bodily, material, earthly habits and attitudes seep into our supernatural and spiritual habits and attitudes. If a person is lazy in work, they are more likely to also be lazy about spiritual duties. If they are careless about material things, they will tend to be careless about spiritual things. Hence the above quoted research on people ignoring severe weather advisories, alerts and warnings, is just as applicable to the reaction of people to Heaven’s severe climate or chastisement advisories, alerts and warnings.
Therefore, most Catholics view Our Lady’s dire warnings as a case of “The boy crying: ‘Wolf!’” when there is no wolf to be found! Their mentality is one of: “It doesn’t apply to me, so why bother?” They have heard the warnings time and time again―but nothing happens. So they “switch-off” their minds to the warnings and just go about their daily life as though nothing was wrong. Just as the above quoted recipients of severe weather warnings, their “knee-jerk” response is one of false OPTIMISM―based upon one of many differing complacent rationalizations. “I’m not such a bad person! I'm not like most people! I go to church! I say my Rosary!, etc.” Yet just as a natural storm makes no distinction between good people and bad people when it claims lives or inflicts serious injuries, likewise will Heaven do when it begins to chastise us for our sins and the sins of others―as Our Lady of Akita warned: “If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful.”
We are fools to ignore and do nothing about Our Lady's incessant and increasingly severe warnings: “Fools despise wisdom and instruction! … Fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves! … The eyes of fools are on the ends of the Earth … The prosperity of fools shall destroy them! … And the number of fools is infinite!” (Proverbs 1:7; 1:22; 17:24; 1:32; Ecclesiastes 1:15). Holy Mother Church puts the following words of Scripture into the mouth of Mary, as part of the readings for the Masses on the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (December 8th) and also the Immaculate Heart of Mary (August 22nd): “Now therefore, ye children, hear me! Blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise―and refuse it not! Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors! He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord! But he that shall sin against me, shall hurt his own soul. All that hate me love death … He who obeys me will not be put to shame, they who serve me will never fail. They who explain me shall have life everlasting!” (Proverbs 8:32-36; Ecclesiasticus 34:30-31). In other words, listen to her “weather warnings and advisories”, take them to heart, obey the instructions and pass them on to others.
From Year to Hour
Coming back to the concept of “a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8), let us look at Our Lady’s “weather alerts” or spiritual storm advisories from the perspective of not being separated by hundreds of years―as in the case of Our Lady of Good Success giving her first warning in 1594, with the others following in the 379 years up to her messages at Akita in Japan in 1973―but look upon them as being given in one single day―by taking numbers of the year and making them into the numbers for the hours and minutes of the day. Thus the 1600s would become 16:00 hours or 4:00 p.m. and 1635 would become 16:35 p.m. or 4:35 p.m., etc. Thus Quito would translate to approximately 4:00 p.m. onwards; La Salette would translate to 6:46 p.m.; Lourdes would be 6:58 p.m.; Fatima would be 7:17 p.m. and Akita would be just before 8:00 p.m. So four major alerts, advisories and warnings in a ‘four hour’ period.
The Quito Weather Forecast (from 1594 to 1635)
Our Lady of Good Success appeared in Quito, Ecuador between 1594 and 1635. These centuries and years would translate to the period between 15:54(94) hours and 16:35 hours, on the 24-hour clock, or roughly between 3:54 p.m. and 4:35 p.m. In this “severe weather” 90-second warning, Our Lady says:
“At the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated ... As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private. The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many of them will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … During these unfortunate times, evil will invade childhood innocence … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Without virginity, it will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon those lands in order to purify them … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith … In this way, vocations to the priesthood will be lost, resulting in a true calamity. Many authentic vocations will perish!”
The La Salette Weather Forecast (1846)
The year 1846 would translate to 18:46 p.m. on the 24-hour clock, or 6:46 p.m. Here is the two-minute weather warning (it is a brief warning and takes 2 minutes to read):
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it. I have suffered all of the time for the rest of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually. And the rest of you think little of this. In vain you will pray, in vain you will act, you will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for the rest of you … Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! … Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God …
“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes. Then, at the first blow of God’s thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens. Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly.”
The Lourdes Weather Forecast (1858)
The year 1858 would translate to 18:58 p.m. on the 24-hour clock, or 6:58 p.m. The spiritual climate at Lourdes could be described as sunny, but changing to overcast skies and threatening storm clouds.
At her first apparition at Lourdes, on February 11th, 1858, Our Lady appeared as a beautiful young woman, dressed in white and holding a Rosary, and smiling most graciously toward the frightened little visionary―which indicates she was not smiling beforehand.
At her third apparition, on February 14th, Bernadette, thinking perhaps all this might be trick of the devil, sprinkles Our Lady with holy water, asking her to remain if she came from God, otherwise go away. The Lady smiles―which again indicates she was not smiling beforehand.
At her second apparition, on February 18th, Our Lady seems to be a “kill-joy” because she tells Bernadette: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world but only in the other!” But we want to be happy in this world as well as the other, don’t we? We want to keep our cake and we want to eat it!
At her sixth apparition on Sunday, February 21st, the Immaculate Lady looks off into the distance and shows signs of deep sorrow, saying: “Pray to God for sinners!” At the sight of her sadness, Bernadette cannot help shedding tears. Just as with Simeon’s prophecy, the Immaculate Heart of Mary seems to be pierced even now with the sword of sorrow caused by the sins of men, sins that crucify her Son, making Him a sign of contradiction.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : First Wednesday & Thursday in Passiontide, April 10th & 11th
Article 33
Time to Get Serious!
Article 33
Time to Get Serious!
Superficial Piety of Our Times
As Dom Gueranger writes, in his magistral and scholarly work The Liturgical Year, in the section on Passiontide: “Let us, therefore, do our utmost to receive these strong impressions, too little known, alas, by the superficial piety of these times!” What Dom Gueranger is saying, in other words, is: “Let us stop being so superficial and shallow in our spiritual approach to Holy Week and Easter and let us get serious for once!”
Very few would disagree and argue with the statement that most of the world is superficial. Superficiality has almost become the DNA of the world. We see it in politics, in business, in social life, in the depth of knowledge, in the conveyance of feelings, in casual day-to-day conversation, even in home and family life. The obvious and inevitable offshoot of all this superficiality is that we become superficial in our religion, in our Faith, in our spiritual life, and with God.
Here is an interesting observation from a USA Catholic visiting the largest Catholic country in the world―Brazil: “An interesting choreography, of sorts, can be seen during rush hour, in front of the church Nossa Senhora da Paz, in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro. There, among the evening stream of pedestrians, cars, and buses, many people, both outside and inside vehicles, face the church when passing in front of it and do the sign of the cross in a perfectly timed and almost automatic movement. For an outsider, this would appear to be a natural occurrence in the world’s largest Catholic nation, but as some Brazilians will readily admit, such displays should not be considered signs of a devoted Catholic population, but superficial manifestations. ‘Everybody says they are Catholic, but nobody really is,’ a local friend told me. ‘Futebol (soccer) is more of a religion than Catholicism.’ … Should we take this as the modern pretense we see elsewhere? … Religious practices in the country, starting with Catholicism, have all incorporated, and even been created from, interactions with practices and traditions from all the others … It is true that many people who identify as Catholics are not practicing Catholics. But then, like my friend admitted, almost nobody really is.”
How often do we forget why we are attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and become concerned only over whether other people see how much we give in the offertory, or how well we sing hymns, or how seemingly devout we appear during Mass? For most persons, their mind and heart is not fully engaged in the Holy Sacrifice―the mind and heart wander and the Holy Sacrifice quickly becomes a superficial sacrifice. The same is often true for Holy Communion. The same is often true for our confessions. The same can be said of our prayers and (if we even make any) meditations. They are mechanical, routine, automatic, with little or no supernatural feelings or desires. They are more of a chore than an enthusiastic passion. Instead of passionately waiting for them to happen or begin, we passionately can’t wait until they are over and done with!
We see this superficiality manifested by rushed, inattentive, half-made genuflections before the Blessed Sacrament; or hasty, half-made Signs of the Cross; or rushed, distracted prayers and Rosaries; speedy, fast-track Masses; express-lane Communions; micro-waved vague confessions; soulless and heartless hymns―all of which is closer to being a “Catholic-Assembly-Line” that a true spiritual living of the Faith.
Nobody Cares
There are two psalms―almost identical in tone and content―that epitomize the mindset of most Catholics in this most holy and most serious season of Passiontide. Here are the relevant parts of those two psalms:
“The Lord hath looked down from Heaven, upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good, no not one! They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good, no not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they act deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalm 13:1-3).
“God looked down from Heaven, on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good, no not one! They are corrupted and have become abominable in iniquities! There is none that doth good! They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear! For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men! They have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 52:2-6).
To this may be added the tragic words that open the Gospel of St. John: “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. That was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:1-14).
In a similar vein, Our Lady and her recent messages and warnings are not taken very seriously, they are largely unheeded, ignored or even despised by people who just will not listen and obey! At La Salette, Our Lady is not a happy Mother, but a sad Mother—she weeps! Why does she weep? She weeps because she wants and tries to obtain mercy for us—but, by our continuing and increasing sins, we block the avenues of mercy that could be opened to us. Our Lady laments our lack of knowledge and attention to what she is doing behind the scenes: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you! … There is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world ... Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement.”
Sr. Lucia of Fatima, in an interview with Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, tells us the following: “Our Lady never smiled. She was always very sad … Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of virtue, goodness and personal apostolates, but without paying attention and uniting their lives to this Message. The bad―the sinners―keep following the road of evil because of their sins, also ignoring the Message, and do not see God’s terrible chastisement about to befall them. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance!”
Open Your Eyes and Mind!
If you cannot sense and see the importance of these last two weeks before Easter, which we have now entered, then you must be blind in sight and blind in mind! To you Holy Scripture addresses the following words: “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Leave them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest, at any time, they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “Hear, O foolish people without understanding―who have eyes, and see not; and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “Having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember?” (Mark 8:18).
Are our eyes and ears, minds and hearts oblivious to what is going on around us? Have we become so spiritually “zombie-like” that we fail to react to some major happenings within the church? Do we not see something that is not seen at other times of the year? They say “Familiarity breeds contempt” ― has the liturgy become so familiar, boring and dull that it has numbed our minds and hearts? Have the liturgical seasons become like nature’s seasons―they come and go, and each day is more or less like any other day―just that some are colder or warmer, shorter or longer, sunny or cloudy, rainy or dry.
In the aforementioned work by Dom Gueranger, speaking of Passiontide, he says: “Let us hope that the holy time, which we are now entering upon [Passiontide], will work such a happy change in us, that, on the day of judgment, we may confidently fix our eyes on Him we are now about to contemplate crucified by the hands of sinners.” But will it “work such a happy change in us”? Or will we be happy once this time of penance and fasting is all over and we can go back to eating our favorite foods in our desired quantities and indulging (or over-indulging) in our favorite activities? It all depends upon how seriously or superficially we take and live our Faith. As we sow, so shall we reap. You have no doubt heard the saying: “All work and no play―makes Jack a dull boy!” Yet, one could equally say: “All play and no pray―makes for a lost soul!” There is certainly no danger of most Catholics praying too much these days! It is more of a case of “All work and then play, forget the Faith and forget to pray!” There is a marked and dangerous lack of seriousness about the Faith, the spiritual life and salvation these days. It does take a “rocket-scientist” to calculate the outcome!
The Most Serious and Important Time of the Year
In case you are unaware of the fact―the Church is currently in the most important 14 days of the year. If you would like an analogy, then it is as though the Church, like a kettle of water, is coming to the boil. The start of the liturgical year―Advent―has seen water (Christ) put into the kettle (the world) and since that time it has been slowly heating, getting really hot during Lent and now coming to a boil during Passiontide, culminating with the loud shrill whistling that announces the boiling water (Good Friday). The steam (the prayer of Christ) rises increasingly in the air (Heaven) throughout the whole process and finally the water (Christ and His Blood) is poured-out to make a healthy beverage― “They shall not hunger, nor thirst … for He that is merciful to them, shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters he shall give them drink!” Isaias 49:10). “For the Lamb … shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life!” Apocalypse 7:17).
It has been the custom of the Roman Church, at least in modern times (that is to say from the 17th Century forward), to veil the crosses and the images of the saints from the 5th Sunday of Lent until Easter. This has been, and ought to continue to be, one of the defining characteristics of the season of Passiontide – a season which, if after the postconciliar liturgical reforms lost in name, need not be lost in spirit.
Still in many churches throughout the West, crosses and statues are veiled now and will remain veiled for two full weeks. The Catholic Encyclopedia enlightens us on this custom by saying: “Before Vespers of Saturday preceding Passion Sunday [i.e. the 5th Sunday of Lent] the crosses, statues, and pictures of Our Lord and of the saints on the altar and throughout the church―with the sole exception of the crosses and pictures of the Way of the Cross―are to be covered with a violet veil, not translucent, nor in any way ornamented. The crosses remain covered until after the solemn denudation of the principal crucifix on Good Friday. The statues and pictures retain their covering, no matter what feast may occur, until the Gloria in Excelsis of Holy Saturday.” The statue of St. Joseph may remain uncovered, if outside the sanctuary―but only remains uncovered during the month of March, which is dedicated to his honor. Once March ends, St. Joseph is covered by a purple veil like all the other statues.
This practice is no longer obligatory, but is still allowable and permitted in the modern Church. But how many people even know the significance of covering the crucifixes, statutes and pictures with a purple veil? If you don’t understand the purpose, then what’s the point? Sadly, most people―and, if push comes to shove, perhaps most modern-day priests too―would be befuddled as to why things are covered in purple!
The Mystical Importance
Dom Gueranger presents a mystical interpretation of the Gospel which, in former times, was read on this Sunday―just as Christ hid Himself from the rage of the Jewish authorities as He prepared for His Passion(John 8:59), so now, by the veiling of the crucifix, He is hidden from the world in preparation for the mysteries of His Passion. Dom Gueranger writes: “The presentiment of that awful hour [of our Savior’s passion] leads the afflicted mother [the Church] to veil the image of her Jesus: the cross is hidden from the eyes of the faithful. The statues of the saints, too, are covered; for it is but just that, if the glory of the Master be eclipsed, the servant should not appear. The interpreters of the liturgy tell us that this ceremony of veiling the crucifix during Passiontide, expresses the humiliation to which our Savior subjected Himself, of hiding Himself when the Jews threatened to stone Him, as is related in the Gospel of Passion Sunday [John 8:46-59, They took up stones therefore to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple (John 8:59)]. The Church begins this solemn rite with the Vespers of the Saturday before Passion Sunday.”
The Spiritual Importance
Dom Gueranger then speaks of devotion for the Cross: “Twice during the course of the year, that is, on the feasts of its Invention and Exaltation, this sacred Wood will be offered to us that we may honor it as the trophy of our Jesus’ victory; but now, it speaks to us but of His sufferings, it brings with it no other idea but that of His humiliation.”
You may legitimately ask: “Okay, I understand why the statues and pictures of the saints are coverered―so that we can focus on the Passion of Christ. But if the Passion of Our Lord is meant to be our focus of attention during Lent, they why hide the images of the Cross by covering them in these days?” The answer is that during His Passion―as a result of his beatings, scourging and other tortures―the normal appearance of Christ, as everyone knew Him to be, was almost totally unrecognizable and hidden behind a bloody, mangled, torn exterior. In His passion, our Savior’s divinity was almost totally eclipsed, so great was his suffering. Likewise, even his humanity was hidden – so much so that he could say through his prophet: “I am a worm and no man” (Psalm 21:7). His face and whole body were so disfigured by the blows and scourges that our Jesus was scarcely recognizable! Through the bruises and wounds that were inflicted upon Him, both is divinity and his humanity were hidden behind a ‘veil’ of torture. For this reason we veil the crosses in these final days of Lent―hiding our Savior under the sorrowful yet regal purple cloth―symbolizing a king, a priest and a victim.
The Historical Importance
Fr. Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University (taken from Zenit) states:
“It probably derives from a custom, noted in Germany from the ninth century, of extending a large cloth before the altar from the beginning of Lent. This cloth, called the ‘Hungertuch’ (hunger cloth), hid the altar entirely from the faithful during Lent and was not removed until during the reading of the Passion on Holy Wednesday at the words ‘the veil of the temple was rent in two.’
“Some authors say there was a practical reason for this practice insofar as the often-illiterate faithful needed a way to know it was Lent. Others, however, maintain that it was a remnant of the ancient practice of public penance in which the penitents were ritually expelled from the church at the beginning of Lent. After the ritual of public penance fell into disuse — but the entire congregation symbolically entered the order of penitents by receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday — it was no longer possible to expel them from the church. Rather, the altar or ‘Holy of Holies’ was shielded from view until they were reconciled to God at Easter. For analogous motives, later on in the Middle Ages, the images of crosses and saints were also covered from the start of Lent. The rule of limiting this veiling to Passiontide came later and does not appear until the publication of the Bishops’ Ceremonial of the 17th century.”
Medieval Seriousness About Passiontide
Tudor and Medieval historians paint a very striking, serious and enthusiastic picture of how Tudor England (1485 and 1603) approached the solemn period of Passiontide. The manner in which great religious festivals were once kept throughout Europe is now almost entirely lost. Much like the Twelve days of Christmas, the season of Passiontide, beginning with Passion Sunday (the 5th Sunday in Lent), encompassing Holy Week all the way through to the Paschal Vigil at the end of Holy Saturday, were, for centuries, amongst the most important and most meaningful days of the year. Today, Holy week and Easter week are no longer clearly―with Holy Saturday often being called Easter Saturday, with Passion Sunday (now just an ordinary Sunday of Lent) and Palm Sunday and Passiontide and Holy Week and Easter week somewhat losing their relevance and importance. Even those attending the remaining fragments of those beautiful ceremonies of old, might mistakenly think nothing has changed much since medieval times, but, in actual fact, the liturgy and rituals known to Shakespeare’s audience have passed away entirely, or have taken on entirely new forms.
Even a child would notice the drastic differences that the liturgy would introduce on the first Sunday of Passiontide (Passion Sunday, the 5th Sunday of Lent). Here is an excerpt from a Irish-born Catholic English Tudor historian, who reminisces of the impressions that Passiontide had upon him as a little child.
“Amongst things lost in the mist of childhood is the wonder I felt on going to church on Passion Sunday. When I went into church for Mass, I saw all the statues, pictures and crucifixes covered in violet cloths. I remember asking mum why there were no flowers on the altars. Even the gilt crucifix over the tabernacle was covered in a cloth. The figure of Christ hanging on the giant cross suspended from the apse in front of the sanctuary was also covered. Mind you it was as wondrous in my small head that they could get up that high to put a cover over the figure of Christ as to the meaning of the figure being covered. It was a simple theatrical device. But I was awe struck and that meant it had achieved the desired effect.”
“The Introit of the fifth Sunday begins ‘Judica Me….’ (‘Judge me O God…’psalm 42,v1-2). This is known either as Judica Sunday or more usually since 1570 as Passion Sunday. The introit is the first prayer of the Mass – sung by the choir whilst the priest enters the church in procession. On Passion Sunday usual antiphon – Gloria Patri et Filio etc (Glory be to the Father, to the Son etc) is omitted throughout the Mass and in all the daily prayers (Vigils, Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None Vespers and Compline). In the papal chapel, at the Gospel reading from St John 8, 46-59, upon speaking the last verse: ‘And they took up stones to throw at him but Jesus hid himself and went out of the Temple’ … in Latin ‘Jesus autem abscondebat se’―the deacon covered the processional cross with a white linen cloth and then all the statues and crosses in the chapel were covered in white or violet cloth. The Mass was the occasion for the singing of the hymn (sequence) between the epistle and gospel ‘Pange Lingua Gloriosi Lauream Certaminis’ by composed by Fortunatus (not to be confused with the prayer Aquinas composed for the Mass of the feast of Corpus Christi). This hymn was then sung throughout Passiontide.”
Sadly, today, much of that has been lost, neglected, ignored, counted as being insignificant, cumbersome, irrelevant and useless. A master stroke of false propaganda by the devil and Hell, who always seeks to dilute, disperse, destroy and render defunct all the powerful liturgical prayers, customs, observances and blessings that the Church has (or had) for our spiritual strengthening and salvation.
The Devil is Serious! Why Are You Not Serious?
Speaking of the serious efforts that the devils make to secure our damnation, Our Lady says to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Consider as seriously as thou canst, whether anything deserves greater pity, than to see so many men misled into danger by demons and made forgetful of that danger! How some of them cast themselves into it on account of their lightheartedness, some of them for trivial reasons, others for a short and instantaneous pleasure, others through negligence, and yet others on account of their inordinate appetites, tearing themselves away from the places of refuge, in which the Almighty has placed them, to fall into the hands of such cruel and furious enemies; and not only to feel their fury for an hour, a day, a month, a year, but to suffer indescribable and unmeasured torments for all eternity. Be filled with fear and wonder to see such horrible and dreadful foolishness among the impenitent mortals and to see even the faithful, who have come to know and confess all this by Faith, lose their understanding so far as to allow themselves to be so insanely blinded by the devil, that they neither regard nor avoid this danger.
“Remember that this dragon knows thee and lurks about thee ever since the hour of thy creation and entrance into this world. Night and day he restlessly prowls about seeking some chance of capturing thee as a prize. He observes thy natural inclinations and also the gifts of the Lord, in order to combat thee with thy own weapons. He charges other demons with thy ruin and promises reward to those that are more diligent in securing it. They weigh thy actions carefully, watch thy footsteps, and work zealously to lay snares for thee in all thy undertakings. Meditate on these truths and the Lord will show thee where they lead; compare them afterwards with thy own experience and thou wilt understand, whether thou hast any occasion for sleep in the midst for such dangers. Do not doubt, that thou must live with great vigilance and caution. It suffices to remind thee of thy soft and yielding nature, which thy enemies will strive to make use of for thy destruction.”
“By divine enlightenment, thou hast received a deep understanding of the glorious triumph of my Son and Lord on the Cross over the demons, and of their rout and vanquishment. Thou art astonished to see, on the one hand, the power of my Son’s merits and of His Redemption, the ruin and weakness caused by the demons in men; and, on the other hand, to see the power of the devil lording it over the world in haughty presumption. It is certain, that when Hell came to the full knowledge of the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption―and of the poverty, humility and lowliness of the birth of Jesus, of His life and miracles, ending in the mysterious Passion and Death, and of all the rest of His labors to draw men to Him―Lucifer and his demons were weakened and disabled; and they saw that they could not tempt the faithful in the same way as the rest of men and as they ceaselessly desire to do.
“In the primitive Church this terror and fear of the baptized, and of the followers of Christ our Lord, continued many years; for the divine virtues shone forth brightly in their imitation of Christ, in their zeal in confessing the Faith, in following the teachings of the Gospel, in practicing heroic virtues and most fervent love, humility, patience and contempt of the vanities and deceits of the world. Many shed their blood and gave their life for Christ the Lord; they performed many admirable and exalted deeds for the glory of His Name. This invincible fortitude resulted from their living at a time so near to the Passion and Death of their Redeemer and so close to the prodigious example of His patience and humility; but also because they were less tempted by the devils, who could not so soon rise from the crushing defeat brought upon them by the triumph of the crucified God.
“This close imitation and living reproduction of Christ, confronting the demons in the first children of the Church, they feared so much, that they dared not approach and they precipitously fled from the Apostles and the just ones imbued with the doctrines of my divine Son. In them were offered up to the Almighty the first fruits of grace, and of Redemption. What is seen in the saints and in perfect Christians in those times, would happen in the present times with all the Catholics if they would accept grace and work with it instead of permitting it to go to waste, and if they would seek the way of the Cross; for Lucifer fears it just as much now as in the times thou hast been writing of. But soon the charity, zeal and devotion in many of the faithful began to grow cold and they forgot the blessings of the Redemption; they yielded to their carnal inclinations and desires, they loved vanity and avarice, and permitted themselves to be fascinated and deceived by the false pretenses of Lucifer, obscuring the glory of their Savior and inveigling them into the meshes of their mortal enemies.
“This foul ingratitude has thrown the world into the present state and has encouraged the demons to rise up in their pride against God, audaciously presuming to possess themselves of all the children of Adam, on account of this forgetfulness and carelessness of Catholics. They presume to plot the destruction of the whole Church by the perversion of so many who have fallen away from it; and by inducing those who are in it, to think little of it, or by hindering them from producing the fruits of the blood and death of their Redeemer. The greatest misfortune is, that many Catholics fail to recognize this great damage and do not seriously think of a remedy, although they can presume that the times, of which Jesus forewarned the women of Jerusalem, have arrived; namely, those in which the sterile should be happy, and in which many would call upon the mountains and the hills to cover and fall upon them, in order not to see the devastation of wickedness cutting down the sons of perdition, the dried trees, barren of all the fruits of virtue. In these evil times dost thou live; and in order that thou mayest not be included in the perdition of so many souls, do thou bewail it in the bitterness of thy heart, never forgetting the mysteries of the Incarnation, Passion and Death of my Divine Son. I desire thee to give thanks, in compensation for the great number of those who forget it, and, I assure thee, that the mere memory and contemplation of these mysteries are terrible to Hell, torment and drive away the demons, and that they avoid and fly those who thankfully remember the life and passion of my divine Son.” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
As Dom Gueranger writes, in his magistral and scholarly work The Liturgical Year, in the section on Passiontide: “Let us, therefore, do our utmost to receive these strong impressions, too little known, alas, by the superficial piety of these times!” What Dom Gueranger is saying, in other words, is: “Let us stop being so superficial and shallow in our spiritual approach to Holy Week and Easter and let us get serious for once!”
Very few would disagree and argue with the statement that most of the world is superficial. Superficiality has almost become the DNA of the world. We see it in politics, in business, in social life, in the depth of knowledge, in the conveyance of feelings, in casual day-to-day conversation, even in home and family life. The obvious and inevitable offshoot of all this superficiality is that we become superficial in our religion, in our Faith, in our spiritual life, and with God.
Here is an interesting observation from a USA Catholic visiting the largest Catholic country in the world―Brazil: “An interesting choreography, of sorts, can be seen during rush hour, in front of the church Nossa Senhora da Paz, in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro. There, among the evening stream of pedestrians, cars, and buses, many people, both outside and inside vehicles, face the church when passing in front of it and do the sign of the cross in a perfectly timed and almost automatic movement. For an outsider, this would appear to be a natural occurrence in the world’s largest Catholic nation, but as some Brazilians will readily admit, such displays should not be considered signs of a devoted Catholic population, but superficial manifestations. ‘Everybody says they are Catholic, but nobody really is,’ a local friend told me. ‘Futebol (soccer) is more of a religion than Catholicism.’ … Should we take this as the modern pretense we see elsewhere? … Religious practices in the country, starting with Catholicism, have all incorporated, and even been created from, interactions with practices and traditions from all the others … It is true that many people who identify as Catholics are not practicing Catholics. But then, like my friend admitted, almost nobody really is.”
How often do we forget why we are attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and become concerned only over whether other people see how much we give in the offertory, or how well we sing hymns, or how seemingly devout we appear during Mass? For most persons, their mind and heart is not fully engaged in the Holy Sacrifice―the mind and heart wander and the Holy Sacrifice quickly becomes a superficial sacrifice. The same is often true for Holy Communion. The same is often true for our confessions. The same can be said of our prayers and (if we even make any) meditations. They are mechanical, routine, automatic, with little or no supernatural feelings or desires. They are more of a chore than an enthusiastic passion. Instead of passionately waiting for them to happen or begin, we passionately can’t wait until they are over and done with!
We see this superficiality manifested by rushed, inattentive, half-made genuflections before the Blessed Sacrament; or hasty, half-made Signs of the Cross; or rushed, distracted prayers and Rosaries; speedy, fast-track Masses; express-lane Communions; micro-waved vague confessions; soulless and heartless hymns―all of which is closer to being a “Catholic-Assembly-Line” that a true spiritual living of the Faith.
Nobody Cares
There are two psalms―almost identical in tone and content―that epitomize the mindset of most Catholics in this most holy and most serious season of Passiontide. Here are the relevant parts of those two psalms:
“The Lord hath looked down from Heaven, upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good, no not one! They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways! There is none that doth good, no not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher! With their tongues they act deceitfully! The poison of asps is under their lips! Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness! Their feet are swift to shed blood! Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known! There is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalm 13:1-3).
“God looked down from Heaven, on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God. All have gone aside! They are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good, no not one! They are corrupted and have become abominable in iniquities! There is none that doth good! They have not called upon God! There have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear! For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men! They have been confounded, because God hath despised them!” (Psalm 52:2-6).
To this may be added the tragic words that open the Gospel of St. John: “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. That was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!” (John 1:1-14).
In a similar vein, Our Lady and her recent messages and warnings are not taken very seriously, they are largely unheeded, ignored or even despised by people who just will not listen and obey! At La Salette, Our Lady is not a happy Mother, but a sad Mother—she weeps! Why does she weep? She weeps because she wants and tries to obtain mercy for us—but, by our continuing and increasing sins, we block the avenues of mercy that could be opened to us. Our Lady laments our lack of knowledge and attention to what she is doing behind the scenes: “If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you! … There is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world ... Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement.”
Sr. Lucia of Fatima, in an interview with Fr. Fuentes, on December 26th, 1957, tells us the following: “Our Lady never smiled. She was always very sad … Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one has paid attention to her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of virtue, goodness and personal apostolates, but without paying attention and uniting their lives to this Message. The bad―the sinners―keep following the road of evil because of their sins, also ignoring the Message, and do not see God’s terrible chastisement about to befall them. The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a tremendous way. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance!”
Open Your Eyes and Mind!
If you cannot sense and see the importance of these last two weeks before Easter, which we have now entered, then you must be blind in sight and blind in mind! To you Holy Scripture addresses the following words: “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house―who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:2). “Leave them alone! They are blind and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). “The heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut―lest, at any time, they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them!” (Matthew 13:15). “Hear, O foolish people without understanding―who have eyes, and see not; and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “Having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember?” (Mark 8:18).
Are our eyes and ears, minds and hearts oblivious to what is going on around us? Have we become so spiritually “zombie-like” that we fail to react to some major happenings within the church? Do we not see something that is not seen at other times of the year? They say “Familiarity breeds contempt” ― has the liturgy become so familiar, boring and dull that it has numbed our minds and hearts? Have the liturgical seasons become like nature’s seasons―they come and go, and each day is more or less like any other day―just that some are colder or warmer, shorter or longer, sunny or cloudy, rainy or dry.
In the aforementioned work by Dom Gueranger, speaking of Passiontide, he says: “Let us hope that the holy time, which we are now entering upon [Passiontide], will work such a happy change in us, that, on the day of judgment, we may confidently fix our eyes on Him we are now about to contemplate crucified by the hands of sinners.” But will it “work such a happy change in us”? Or will we be happy once this time of penance and fasting is all over and we can go back to eating our favorite foods in our desired quantities and indulging (or over-indulging) in our favorite activities? It all depends upon how seriously or superficially we take and live our Faith. As we sow, so shall we reap. You have no doubt heard the saying: “All work and no play―makes Jack a dull boy!” Yet, one could equally say: “All play and no pray―makes for a lost soul!” There is certainly no danger of most Catholics praying too much these days! It is more of a case of “All work and then play, forget the Faith and forget to pray!” There is a marked and dangerous lack of seriousness about the Faith, the spiritual life and salvation these days. It does take a “rocket-scientist” to calculate the outcome!
The Most Serious and Important Time of the Year
In case you are unaware of the fact―the Church is currently in the most important 14 days of the year. If you would like an analogy, then it is as though the Church, like a kettle of water, is coming to the boil. The start of the liturgical year―Advent―has seen water (Christ) put into the kettle (the world) and since that time it has been slowly heating, getting really hot during Lent and now coming to a boil during Passiontide, culminating with the loud shrill whistling that announces the boiling water (Good Friday). The steam (the prayer of Christ) rises increasingly in the air (Heaven) throughout the whole process and finally the water (Christ and His Blood) is poured-out to make a healthy beverage― “They shall not hunger, nor thirst … for He that is merciful to them, shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters he shall give them drink!” Isaias 49:10). “For the Lamb … shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life!” Apocalypse 7:17).
It has been the custom of the Roman Church, at least in modern times (that is to say from the 17th Century forward), to veil the crosses and the images of the saints from the 5th Sunday of Lent until Easter. This has been, and ought to continue to be, one of the defining characteristics of the season of Passiontide – a season which, if after the postconciliar liturgical reforms lost in name, need not be lost in spirit.
Still in many churches throughout the West, crosses and statues are veiled now and will remain veiled for two full weeks. The Catholic Encyclopedia enlightens us on this custom by saying: “Before Vespers of Saturday preceding Passion Sunday [i.e. the 5th Sunday of Lent] the crosses, statues, and pictures of Our Lord and of the saints on the altar and throughout the church―with the sole exception of the crosses and pictures of the Way of the Cross―are to be covered with a violet veil, not translucent, nor in any way ornamented. The crosses remain covered until after the solemn denudation of the principal crucifix on Good Friday. The statues and pictures retain their covering, no matter what feast may occur, until the Gloria in Excelsis of Holy Saturday.” The statue of St. Joseph may remain uncovered, if outside the sanctuary―but only remains uncovered during the month of March, which is dedicated to his honor. Once March ends, St. Joseph is covered by a purple veil like all the other statues.
This practice is no longer obligatory, but is still allowable and permitted in the modern Church. But how many people even know the significance of covering the crucifixes, statutes and pictures with a purple veil? If you don’t understand the purpose, then what’s the point? Sadly, most people―and, if push comes to shove, perhaps most modern-day priests too―would be befuddled as to why things are covered in purple!
The Mystical Importance
Dom Gueranger presents a mystical interpretation of the Gospel which, in former times, was read on this Sunday―just as Christ hid Himself from the rage of the Jewish authorities as He prepared for His Passion(John 8:59), so now, by the veiling of the crucifix, He is hidden from the world in preparation for the mysteries of His Passion. Dom Gueranger writes: “The presentiment of that awful hour [of our Savior’s passion] leads the afflicted mother [the Church] to veil the image of her Jesus: the cross is hidden from the eyes of the faithful. The statues of the saints, too, are covered; for it is but just that, if the glory of the Master be eclipsed, the servant should not appear. The interpreters of the liturgy tell us that this ceremony of veiling the crucifix during Passiontide, expresses the humiliation to which our Savior subjected Himself, of hiding Himself when the Jews threatened to stone Him, as is related in the Gospel of Passion Sunday [John 8:46-59, They took up stones therefore to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple (John 8:59)]. The Church begins this solemn rite with the Vespers of the Saturday before Passion Sunday.”
The Spiritual Importance
Dom Gueranger then speaks of devotion for the Cross: “Twice during the course of the year, that is, on the feasts of its Invention and Exaltation, this sacred Wood will be offered to us that we may honor it as the trophy of our Jesus’ victory; but now, it speaks to us but of His sufferings, it brings with it no other idea but that of His humiliation.”
You may legitimately ask: “Okay, I understand why the statues and pictures of the saints are coverered―so that we can focus on the Passion of Christ. But if the Passion of Our Lord is meant to be our focus of attention during Lent, they why hide the images of the Cross by covering them in these days?” The answer is that during His Passion―as a result of his beatings, scourging and other tortures―the normal appearance of Christ, as everyone knew Him to be, was almost totally unrecognizable and hidden behind a bloody, mangled, torn exterior. In His passion, our Savior’s divinity was almost totally eclipsed, so great was his suffering. Likewise, even his humanity was hidden – so much so that he could say through his prophet: “I am a worm and no man” (Psalm 21:7). His face and whole body were so disfigured by the blows and scourges that our Jesus was scarcely recognizable! Through the bruises and wounds that were inflicted upon Him, both is divinity and his humanity were hidden behind a ‘veil’ of torture. For this reason we veil the crosses in these final days of Lent―hiding our Savior under the sorrowful yet regal purple cloth―symbolizing a king, a priest and a victim.
The Historical Importance
Fr. Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University (taken from Zenit) states:
“It probably derives from a custom, noted in Germany from the ninth century, of extending a large cloth before the altar from the beginning of Lent. This cloth, called the ‘Hungertuch’ (hunger cloth), hid the altar entirely from the faithful during Lent and was not removed until during the reading of the Passion on Holy Wednesday at the words ‘the veil of the temple was rent in two.’
“Some authors say there was a practical reason for this practice insofar as the often-illiterate faithful needed a way to know it was Lent. Others, however, maintain that it was a remnant of the ancient practice of public penance in which the penitents were ritually expelled from the church at the beginning of Lent. After the ritual of public penance fell into disuse — but the entire congregation symbolically entered the order of penitents by receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday — it was no longer possible to expel them from the church. Rather, the altar or ‘Holy of Holies’ was shielded from view until they were reconciled to God at Easter. For analogous motives, later on in the Middle Ages, the images of crosses and saints were also covered from the start of Lent. The rule of limiting this veiling to Passiontide came later and does not appear until the publication of the Bishops’ Ceremonial of the 17th century.”
Medieval Seriousness About Passiontide
Tudor and Medieval historians paint a very striking, serious and enthusiastic picture of how Tudor England (1485 and 1603) approached the solemn period of Passiontide. The manner in which great religious festivals were once kept throughout Europe is now almost entirely lost. Much like the Twelve days of Christmas, the season of Passiontide, beginning with Passion Sunday (the 5th Sunday in Lent), encompassing Holy Week all the way through to the Paschal Vigil at the end of Holy Saturday, were, for centuries, amongst the most important and most meaningful days of the year. Today, Holy week and Easter week are no longer clearly―with Holy Saturday often being called Easter Saturday, with Passion Sunday (now just an ordinary Sunday of Lent) and Palm Sunday and Passiontide and Holy Week and Easter week somewhat losing their relevance and importance. Even those attending the remaining fragments of those beautiful ceremonies of old, might mistakenly think nothing has changed much since medieval times, but, in actual fact, the liturgy and rituals known to Shakespeare’s audience have passed away entirely, or have taken on entirely new forms.
Even a child would notice the drastic differences that the liturgy would introduce on the first Sunday of Passiontide (Passion Sunday, the 5th Sunday of Lent). Here is an excerpt from a Irish-born Catholic English Tudor historian, who reminisces of the impressions that Passiontide had upon him as a little child.
“Amongst things lost in the mist of childhood is the wonder I felt on going to church on Passion Sunday. When I went into church for Mass, I saw all the statues, pictures and crucifixes covered in violet cloths. I remember asking mum why there were no flowers on the altars. Even the gilt crucifix over the tabernacle was covered in a cloth. The figure of Christ hanging on the giant cross suspended from the apse in front of the sanctuary was also covered. Mind you it was as wondrous in my small head that they could get up that high to put a cover over the figure of Christ as to the meaning of the figure being covered. It was a simple theatrical device. But I was awe struck and that meant it had achieved the desired effect.”
“The Introit of the fifth Sunday begins ‘Judica Me….’ (‘Judge me O God…’psalm 42,v1-2). This is known either as Judica Sunday or more usually since 1570 as Passion Sunday. The introit is the first prayer of the Mass – sung by the choir whilst the priest enters the church in procession. On Passion Sunday usual antiphon – Gloria Patri et Filio etc (Glory be to the Father, to the Son etc) is omitted throughout the Mass and in all the daily prayers (Vigils, Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None Vespers and Compline). In the papal chapel, at the Gospel reading from St John 8, 46-59, upon speaking the last verse: ‘And they took up stones to throw at him but Jesus hid himself and went out of the Temple’ … in Latin ‘Jesus autem abscondebat se’―the deacon covered the processional cross with a white linen cloth and then all the statues and crosses in the chapel were covered in white or violet cloth. The Mass was the occasion for the singing of the hymn (sequence) between the epistle and gospel ‘Pange Lingua Gloriosi Lauream Certaminis’ by composed by Fortunatus (not to be confused with the prayer Aquinas composed for the Mass of the feast of Corpus Christi). This hymn was then sung throughout Passiontide.”
Sadly, today, much of that has been lost, neglected, ignored, counted as being insignificant, cumbersome, irrelevant and useless. A master stroke of false propaganda by the devil and Hell, who always seeks to dilute, disperse, destroy and render defunct all the powerful liturgical prayers, customs, observances and blessings that the Church has (or had) for our spiritual strengthening and salvation.
The Devil is Serious! Why Are You Not Serious?
Speaking of the serious efforts that the devils make to secure our damnation, Our Lady says to the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Consider as seriously as thou canst, whether anything deserves greater pity, than to see so many men misled into danger by demons and made forgetful of that danger! How some of them cast themselves into it on account of their lightheartedness, some of them for trivial reasons, others for a short and instantaneous pleasure, others through negligence, and yet others on account of their inordinate appetites, tearing themselves away from the places of refuge, in which the Almighty has placed them, to fall into the hands of such cruel and furious enemies; and not only to feel their fury for an hour, a day, a month, a year, but to suffer indescribable and unmeasured torments for all eternity. Be filled with fear and wonder to see such horrible and dreadful foolishness among the impenitent mortals and to see even the faithful, who have come to know and confess all this by Faith, lose their understanding so far as to allow themselves to be so insanely blinded by the devil, that they neither regard nor avoid this danger.
“Remember that this dragon knows thee and lurks about thee ever since the hour of thy creation and entrance into this world. Night and day he restlessly prowls about seeking some chance of capturing thee as a prize. He observes thy natural inclinations and also the gifts of the Lord, in order to combat thee with thy own weapons. He charges other demons with thy ruin and promises reward to those that are more diligent in securing it. They weigh thy actions carefully, watch thy footsteps, and work zealously to lay snares for thee in all thy undertakings. Meditate on these truths and the Lord will show thee where they lead; compare them afterwards with thy own experience and thou wilt understand, whether thou hast any occasion for sleep in the midst for such dangers. Do not doubt, that thou must live with great vigilance and caution. It suffices to remind thee of thy soft and yielding nature, which thy enemies will strive to make use of for thy destruction.”
“By divine enlightenment, thou hast received a deep understanding of the glorious triumph of my Son and Lord on the Cross over the demons, and of their rout and vanquishment. Thou art astonished to see, on the one hand, the power of my Son’s merits and of His Redemption, the ruin and weakness caused by the demons in men; and, on the other hand, to see the power of the devil lording it over the world in haughty presumption. It is certain, that when Hell came to the full knowledge of the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption―and of the poverty, humility and lowliness of the birth of Jesus, of His life and miracles, ending in the mysterious Passion and Death, and of all the rest of His labors to draw men to Him―Lucifer and his demons were weakened and disabled; and they saw that they could not tempt the faithful in the same way as the rest of men and as they ceaselessly desire to do.
“In the primitive Church this terror and fear of the baptized, and of the followers of Christ our Lord, continued many years; for the divine virtues shone forth brightly in their imitation of Christ, in their zeal in confessing the Faith, in following the teachings of the Gospel, in practicing heroic virtues and most fervent love, humility, patience and contempt of the vanities and deceits of the world. Many shed their blood and gave their life for Christ the Lord; they performed many admirable and exalted deeds for the glory of His Name. This invincible fortitude resulted from their living at a time so near to the Passion and Death of their Redeemer and so close to the prodigious example of His patience and humility; but also because they were less tempted by the devils, who could not so soon rise from the crushing defeat brought upon them by the triumph of the crucified God.
“This close imitation and living reproduction of Christ, confronting the demons in the first children of the Church, they feared so much, that they dared not approach and they precipitously fled from the Apostles and the just ones imbued with the doctrines of my divine Son. In them were offered up to the Almighty the first fruits of grace, and of Redemption. What is seen in the saints and in perfect Christians in those times, would happen in the present times with all the Catholics if they would accept grace and work with it instead of permitting it to go to waste, and if they would seek the way of the Cross; for Lucifer fears it just as much now as in the times thou hast been writing of. But soon the charity, zeal and devotion in many of the faithful began to grow cold and they forgot the blessings of the Redemption; they yielded to their carnal inclinations and desires, they loved vanity and avarice, and permitted themselves to be fascinated and deceived by the false pretenses of Lucifer, obscuring the glory of their Savior and inveigling them into the meshes of their mortal enemies.
“This foul ingratitude has thrown the world into the present state and has encouraged the demons to rise up in their pride against God, audaciously presuming to possess themselves of all the children of Adam, on account of this forgetfulness and carelessness of Catholics. They presume to plot the destruction of the whole Church by the perversion of so many who have fallen away from it; and by inducing those who are in it, to think little of it, or by hindering them from producing the fruits of the blood and death of their Redeemer. The greatest misfortune is, that many Catholics fail to recognize this great damage and do not seriously think of a remedy, although they can presume that the times, of which Jesus forewarned the women of Jerusalem, have arrived; namely, those in which the sterile should be happy, and in which many would call upon the mountains and the hills to cover and fall upon them, in order not to see the devastation of wickedness cutting down the sons of perdition, the dried trees, barren of all the fruits of virtue. In these evil times dost thou live; and in order that thou mayest not be included in the perdition of so many souls, do thou bewail it in the bitterness of thy heart, never forgetting the mysteries of the Incarnation, Passion and Death of my Divine Son. I desire thee to give thanks, in compensation for the great number of those who forget it, and, I assure thee, that the mere memory and contemplation of these mysteries are terrible to Hell, torment and drive away the demons, and that they avoid and fly those who thankfully remember the life and passion of my divine Son.” (Words of Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : First Monday & Tuesday in Passiontide April 8th & April 9th
Article 32
Take It or Leave It!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 32
Take It or Leave It!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
The High-Point of the Liturgical Year
As we enter the glorious season of Passiontide, it is well worth looking beyond the surface of what is the most important time of the entire liturgical year of Holy Mother Church. One of greatest liturgists of modern times, Dom Guéranger, states:
“After having proposed the forty-days’ fast of Jesus in the desert for the meditation of the faithful during the first four weeks of Lent, the Holy Church gives the two weeks, which still remain before Easter, to the commemoration of the Passion. She would not have her children come to that great day of the immolation of the Lamb, without having prepared for it by compassionating with Him in the sufferings He endured in their stead. The most ancient sacramentaries and antiphonaries of the several Churches attest, by the prayers, the lessons, and the whole liturgy of these two weeks, that the Passion of our Lord is now the one sole thought of the Christian world. During Passion-Week, a saint’s feast, if it occur, will be kept; but the holy images [traditionally covered by purple cloth] are not allowed to be uncovered. The severity of the Lenten fast is increased during these its last days; the whole energy of the spirit of penance is now brought out.”
What’s It All About?
The actual name “Passiontide” tells us what it is all about—it is about the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the focus of these last two weeks or the last two laps of the race which St. Paul spoke of at the start of Lent: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain!” (1 Corinthians 9:24). For “not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 7:21). And what is the will of the Father? “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3) … “You shall be holy, because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:46) … “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
And what is it that makes us perfect? It is self-denial and the Cross that makes us perfect—as Jesus said to the rich young man and others too: “Jesus saith to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me!’” (Matthew 19:21) … “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). Yet not many want to do this―for they, like most people, prefer the way of comfort to the Way of the Cross. Yet Our Lord warns: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). It is the Cross that is the key to the gate of Heaven―that is why Our Lord says: “He that taketh not up his Cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). The door of Heaven is locked―as the foolish virgins in Our Lord’s parable found out―as they cried: “‘Lord! Lord! Open to us!’ But He answering said: ‘Amen I say to you, I know you not!’” (Matthew 25:11-12)―and it is only the Cross of Christ that will open it for us.
The Focus on the Cross
The pinnacle of joy―though most people wince at the thought―is to be able to suffer for God. Our Lord Himself tells us: “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake! Be glad and rejoice! For your reward is very great in Heaven! For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12) and on the eve of His own Passion and Death, He said at the Last Supper: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). All of this summed-up in one word—the “Cross.” The liturgy for Passiontide is clearly, unashamedly and unapologetically focused on the Cross. Here are just a few extracts from one of the liturgical hymns for Passiontide:
Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle
Sing the last, the dread affray;
O’er the cross, the victor’s trophy,
Sound the high triumphal lay:
Tell how Christ, the world’s Redeemer,
As a victim won the day.
Thirty years among us dwelling,
His appointed time fulfilled,
Born for this, He meets His passion,
For that this He freely willed:
On the Cross the Lamb is lifted,
Where His life-blood shall be spilled.
He endured the nails, the spitting,
Vinegar, and spear, and reed;
From that holy body broken
Blood and water forth proceed:
Earth, and stars, and sky, and ocean,
By that flood from stain are freed.
Faithful cross! Above all other,
One and only noble tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peers may be;
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron!
Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
Bend thy boughs, O tree of glory!
Thy relaxing sinews bend;
For awhile the ancient rigor,
That thy birth bestowed, suspend;
And the King of heavenly beauty
On thy bosom gently tend!
Thou alone wast counted worthy
This world’s Ransom to uphold;
For a shipwrecked race preparing
Harbor, like the ark of old;
With the sacred blood anointed
From the smitten Lamb that rolled.
Fourteen Days & Fourteen Stations
Beginning with this Passion Sunday, we have fourteen days to go before Easter Sunday. Since Passiontide is all about the Passion and Death of Jesus, in which the Cross receives the place of primacy, it is well for us to reflect upon the events that immediately lead up to Calvary and flow form Calvary. The fourteen Stations of the Cross can providentially fill those fourteen days of Passiontide for us. It is not for nothing that the Stations of the Cross are traditionally left uncovered during these fourteen days of Passiontide, whereas all other statues and images in the church are traditionally covered with a purple cloth. It is so that we can focus on the essential, and the essential is the Passion.
The Need for the Cross and Crucifixion
Of course we know the importance of the Cross and the Crucifixion in the life of Jesus―but do we do we acknowledge the importance of the cross and crucifixion in our own and for our own lives? Suffering is good of us! Ouch! Yes! Without sufferings and little crucifixions we would lose our souls. St. Padre Pio gives us these painful words of Jesus―spoken to Padre Pio, but equally applicable to all of us: “‘How often’, Jesus said to me just now, ‘would you have abandoned Me, My son, if I had not crucified you ... ?’” (Padre Pio, La croce sempre pronta, Città Nuova, 2002, p. 3).
Very rarely do Catholics respond and gallop along into sanctity based on the “sweet-talk” of Our Lord. It is usually the cross and the crucifixion that stings us into action and, like a Simon of Cyrene, FORCES us along the road to Calvary and Heaven. Padre Pio lived as one crucified from 1910 to 1968, carrying both his own cross and the crosses of those who turned to him. He himself wrote, in one of his letters to a Discalced Carmelite: “One day, when we are granted to see the full noon-day light, we will recognize and value, how great is the treasure, that we earned from our earthly sufferings for the homeland that will have no end. From generous souls and from those in love, God expects acts of heroism and fidelity so that, after the ascent of Calvary, they may reach Mount Tabor!” (Padre Pio, Letter of March 1948).
The Cross is a Focal Point
Just as the Calvary, the Cross and Crucifixion stands at the heart of our Faith―so too must it be found at the very heart of our lives. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―which is a perpetuation of Christ’s crucifixion on the Cross on Calvary―is the greatest treasure the Church possesses here on Earth. The Holy Mass has the Consecration taking place at the very heart of the Mass―during the Canon of the Mass. In bygone days, the church building―which housed the Holy Eucharist and in which the Holy Sacrifice took place―was found at the heart of the town or village, it was at its center, it was its focal point, it stood higher than other buildings.
Today, all that has been forgotten―just as the Holy Mass and Holy Eucharist has been forgotten, neglected, ignored and even disliked. We might wear a cross as a piece of jewelry―but the real cross is far from being a jewel in our personal estimation. We might pay “big-money” to purchase a jeweled cross to wear around our necks, but we are prepared to pay even “bigger-money” to avoid the real cross in our daily lives! St. Padre Pio said: “To souls loved by God, tribulations are more precious than gold or rest!” He further adds: “If people knew the value of the Mass, there would be policemen at the door, to regulate the access to the church, every time that a Mass is celebrated!”
St. Padre Pio, in speaking of suffering, says: “The Christian’s motto is the cross. You will recognize God’s love by this sign―by the sufferings He sends you … Love Jesus, love Him very much―but to do this, be ready to love sacrifice more! … Don’t be daunted by the cross! The surest test of love consists in suffering for the loved one, and if God suffered so much for love, the pain we suffer for Him becomes as lovable as love itself … The more bitterness you experience, the more love you will receive … Bless Him in all that He makes you suffer on this Earth and rejoice in it, for each victory gained has a corresponding crown in paradise! … In this life Jesus does not ask you to carry the heavy cross with Him, but a small piece of His cross, a piece that consists of human suffering … Fear nothing! On the contrary, consider yourself very fortunate to have been made worthy to participate in the sufferings of the Man-God ... Remember, our suffering is brief but our reward is eternal!”
The Stigmata of Padre Pio
Here is an account of the event that would bring much pain and suffering into the life of St. Padre Pio―the reception of the stigmata, or the wounds of Christ in his own body. The following is found in a letter from Padre Pio to his spiritual director, Fr. Benedetto, describing how he received the stigmata:
“On the morning of the 20th of last month (October 1918), in the choir, after I had celebrated Mass, I yielded to a drowsiness similar to a sweet sleep. All the internal and external senses and even the very faculties of my soul were immersed in indescribable stillness. Absolute silence surrounded and invaded me. I was suddenly filled with great peace and abandonment which effaced everything else and caused a lull in the turmoil. All this happened in a flash.
“While this was taking place, I saw before me a mysterious person similar to the one I had seen on the evening of August 5th. The only difference was that his hands and feet and side were dripping blood. The sight terrified me and what I felt at that moment is indescribable. I thought I should die and really should have died if the Lord had not intervened and strengthened my heart which was about to burst out of my chest.
“The vision disappeared and I became aware that my hands, feet and side were dripping blood. Imagine the agony I experienced and continue to experience almost every day. The heart wound bleeds continually, especially from Thursday evening until Saturday. Dear Father, I am dying of pain because of the wounds and the resulting embarrassment I feel in my soul. I am afraid I shall bleed to death if the Lord does not hear my heartfelt supplication to relieve me of this condition―not the wound or the pain, which is impossible since I wish to be inebriated with pain, but these outward signs, which cause me such embarrassment and unbearable humiliation.”
In another letter he says, “I have no wish whatsoever to have my cross lightened, for it is a joy for me to suffer with Jesus,” and, “I should reproach myself if I sought to be without suffering for one single moment or, worse still, if others tried to take this privilege from me.”
Notice that St Padre Pio did not pray to have the pain removed, but only for the removal of the external signs of the pain. This shows that the cross was at the heart of his life and soul―he wished to suffer as much as could possibly endure for the conversion, the good and the salvation of souls. His letters always bear witness to that truth. In one letter to his spiritual advisors he writes: “The most certain proof of love is to suffer for the one we love and since the Son of God suffered so much for pure love, there can no longer be any doubt that the cross carried for him becomes lovable in proportion to our love.”
As we enter the glorious season of Passiontide, it is well worth looking beyond the surface of what is the most important time of the entire liturgical year of Holy Mother Church. One of greatest liturgists of modern times, Dom Guéranger, states:
“After having proposed the forty-days’ fast of Jesus in the desert for the meditation of the faithful during the first four weeks of Lent, the Holy Church gives the two weeks, which still remain before Easter, to the commemoration of the Passion. She would not have her children come to that great day of the immolation of the Lamb, without having prepared for it by compassionating with Him in the sufferings He endured in their stead. The most ancient sacramentaries and antiphonaries of the several Churches attest, by the prayers, the lessons, and the whole liturgy of these two weeks, that the Passion of our Lord is now the one sole thought of the Christian world. During Passion-Week, a saint’s feast, if it occur, will be kept; but the holy images [traditionally covered by purple cloth] are not allowed to be uncovered. The severity of the Lenten fast is increased during these its last days; the whole energy of the spirit of penance is now brought out.”
What’s It All About?
The actual name “Passiontide” tells us what it is all about—it is about the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the focus of these last two weeks or the last two laps of the race which St. Paul spoke of at the start of Lent: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain!” (1 Corinthians 9:24). For “not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 7:21). And what is the will of the Father? “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3) … “You shall be holy, because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:46) … “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
And what is it that makes us perfect? It is self-denial and the Cross that makes us perfect—as Jesus said to the rich young man and others too: “Jesus saith to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me!’” (Matthew 19:21) … “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). Yet not many want to do this―for they, like most people, prefer the way of comfort to the Way of the Cross. Yet Our Lord warns: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). It is the Cross that is the key to the gate of Heaven―that is why Our Lord says: “He that taketh not up his Cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). The door of Heaven is locked―as the foolish virgins in Our Lord’s parable found out―as they cried: “‘Lord! Lord! Open to us!’ But He answering said: ‘Amen I say to you, I know you not!’” (Matthew 25:11-12)―and it is only the Cross of Christ that will open it for us.
The Focus on the Cross
The pinnacle of joy―though most people wince at the thought―is to be able to suffer for God. Our Lord Himself tells us: “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake! Be glad and rejoice! For your reward is very great in Heaven! For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12) and on the eve of His own Passion and Death, He said at the Last Supper: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). All of this summed-up in one word—the “Cross.” The liturgy for Passiontide is clearly, unashamedly and unapologetically focused on the Cross. Here are just a few extracts from one of the liturgical hymns for Passiontide:
Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle
Sing the last, the dread affray;
O’er the cross, the victor’s trophy,
Sound the high triumphal lay:
Tell how Christ, the world’s Redeemer,
As a victim won the day.
Thirty years among us dwelling,
His appointed time fulfilled,
Born for this, He meets His passion,
For that this He freely willed:
On the Cross the Lamb is lifted,
Where His life-blood shall be spilled.
He endured the nails, the spitting,
Vinegar, and spear, and reed;
From that holy body broken
Blood and water forth proceed:
Earth, and stars, and sky, and ocean,
By that flood from stain are freed.
Faithful cross! Above all other,
One and only noble tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peers may be;
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron!
Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
Bend thy boughs, O tree of glory!
Thy relaxing sinews bend;
For awhile the ancient rigor,
That thy birth bestowed, suspend;
And the King of heavenly beauty
On thy bosom gently tend!
Thou alone wast counted worthy
This world’s Ransom to uphold;
For a shipwrecked race preparing
Harbor, like the ark of old;
With the sacred blood anointed
From the smitten Lamb that rolled.
Fourteen Days & Fourteen Stations
Beginning with this Passion Sunday, we have fourteen days to go before Easter Sunday. Since Passiontide is all about the Passion and Death of Jesus, in which the Cross receives the place of primacy, it is well for us to reflect upon the events that immediately lead up to Calvary and flow form Calvary. The fourteen Stations of the Cross can providentially fill those fourteen days of Passiontide for us. It is not for nothing that the Stations of the Cross are traditionally left uncovered during these fourteen days of Passiontide, whereas all other statues and images in the church are traditionally covered with a purple cloth. It is so that we can focus on the essential, and the essential is the Passion.
The Need for the Cross and Crucifixion
Of course we know the importance of the Cross and the Crucifixion in the life of Jesus―but do we do we acknowledge the importance of the cross and crucifixion in our own and for our own lives? Suffering is good of us! Ouch! Yes! Without sufferings and little crucifixions we would lose our souls. St. Padre Pio gives us these painful words of Jesus―spoken to Padre Pio, but equally applicable to all of us: “‘How often’, Jesus said to me just now, ‘would you have abandoned Me, My son, if I had not crucified you ... ?’” (Padre Pio, La croce sempre pronta, Città Nuova, 2002, p. 3).
Very rarely do Catholics respond and gallop along into sanctity based on the “sweet-talk” of Our Lord. It is usually the cross and the crucifixion that stings us into action and, like a Simon of Cyrene, FORCES us along the road to Calvary and Heaven. Padre Pio lived as one crucified from 1910 to 1968, carrying both his own cross and the crosses of those who turned to him. He himself wrote, in one of his letters to a Discalced Carmelite: “One day, when we are granted to see the full noon-day light, we will recognize and value, how great is the treasure, that we earned from our earthly sufferings for the homeland that will have no end. From generous souls and from those in love, God expects acts of heroism and fidelity so that, after the ascent of Calvary, they may reach Mount Tabor!” (Padre Pio, Letter of March 1948).
The Cross is a Focal Point
Just as the Calvary, the Cross and Crucifixion stands at the heart of our Faith―so too must it be found at the very heart of our lives. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―which is a perpetuation of Christ’s crucifixion on the Cross on Calvary―is the greatest treasure the Church possesses here on Earth. The Holy Mass has the Consecration taking place at the very heart of the Mass―during the Canon of the Mass. In bygone days, the church building―which housed the Holy Eucharist and in which the Holy Sacrifice took place―was found at the heart of the town or village, it was at its center, it was its focal point, it stood higher than other buildings.
Today, all that has been forgotten―just as the Holy Mass and Holy Eucharist has been forgotten, neglected, ignored and even disliked. We might wear a cross as a piece of jewelry―but the real cross is far from being a jewel in our personal estimation. We might pay “big-money” to purchase a jeweled cross to wear around our necks, but we are prepared to pay even “bigger-money” to avoid the real cross in our daily lives! St. Padre Pio said: “To souls loved by God, tribulations are more precious than gold or rest!” He further adds: “If people knew the value of the Mass, there would be policemen at the door, to regulate the access to the church, every time that a Mass is celebrated!”
St. Padre Pio, in speaking of suffering, says: “The Christian’s motto is the cross. You will recognize God’s love by this sign―by the sufferings He sends you … Love Jesus, love Him very much―but to do this, be ready to love sacrifice more! … Don’t be daunted by the cross! The surest test of love consists in suffering for the loved one, and if God suffered so much for love, the pain we suffer for Him becomes as lovable as love itself … The more bitterness you experience, the more love you will receive … Bless Him in all that He makes you suffer on this Earth and rejoice in it, for each victory gained has a corresponding crown in paradise! … In this life Jesus does not ask you to carry the heavy cross with Him, but a small piece of His cross, a piece that consists of human suffering … Fear nothing! On the contrary, consider yourself very fortunate to have been made worthy to participate in the sufferings of the Man-God ... Remember, our suffering is brief but our reward is eternal!”
The Stigmata of Padre Pio
Here is an account of the event that would bring much pain and suffering into the life of St. Padre Pio―the reception of the stigmata, or the wounds of Christ in his own body. The following is found in a letter from Padre Pio to his spiritual director, Fr. Benedetto, describing how he received the stigmata:
“On the morning of the 20th of last month (October 1918), in the choir, after I had celebrated Mass, I yielded to a drowsiness similar to a sweet sleep. All the internal and external senses and even the very faculties of my soul were immersed in indescribable stillness. Absolute silence surrounded and invaded me. I was suddenly filled with great peace and abandonment which effaced everything else and caused a lull in the turmoil. All this happened in a flash.
“While this was taking place, I saw before me a mysterious person similar to the one I had seen on the evening of August 5th. The only difference was that his hands and feet and side were dripping blood. The sight terrified me and what I felt at that moment is indescribable. I thought I should die and really should have died if the Lord had not intervened and strengthened my heart which was about to burst out of my chest.
“The vision disappeared and I became aware that my hands, feet and side were dripping blood. Imagine the agony I experienced and continue to experience almost every day. The heart wound bleeds continually, especially from Thursday evening until Saturday. Dear Father, I am dying of pain because of the wounds and the resulting embarrassment I feel in my soul. I am afraid I shall bleed to death if the Lord does not hear my heartfelt supplication to relieve me of this condition―not the wound or the pain, which is impossible since I wish to be inebriated with pain, but these outward signs, which cause me such embarrassment and unbearable humiliation.”
In another letter he says, “I have no wish whatsoever to have my cross lightened, for it is a joy for me to suffer with Jesus,” and, “I should reproach myself if I sought to be without suffering for one single moment or, worse still, if others tried to take this privilege from me.”
Notice that St Padre Pio did not pray to have the pain removed, but only for the removal of the external signs of the pain. This shows that the cross was at the heart of his life and soul―he wished to suffer as much as could possibly endure for the conversion, the good and the salvation of souls. His letters always bear witness to that truth. In one letter to his spiritual advisors he writes: “The most certain proof of love is to suffer for the one we love and since the Son of God suffered so much for pure love, there can no longer be any doubt that the cross carried for him becomes lovable in proportion to our love.”
Passion Sunday April 7th
Article 31
No "Passion-Fruit" Without a "Passion-Tree"!
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No "Passion-Fruit" Without a "Passion-Tree"!
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Passiontide―A Time of Trees and Fruit
As we enter this wonderful season of Passiontide―a two-week stretch where the Church focuses on the Passion and Death of Our Lord―we do well to put all else aside and tend to our tree―the “Passion Tree”, or the Cross on which Our Lord died and bore fruit―the fruit of His Passion, His “passion-fruit”, so to speak. The Cross is, of course, a tree of suffering. Yet it is also a tree of life―supernatural life and eternal life. The liturgy of Passion Sunday sings of the Tree of the Cross on which our Savior will die for our sins―let us then treat of trees, for there is much fruit to be found in reflecting upon the various trees that God has made and spoken about.
Learning from Trees
What can we learn from trees? Trees play a major role with God and have a place of importance in Holy Scripture! Even the Bible is printed on paper that comes from trees!! The Bible begins with the words: “In the beginning…” and very soon after that beginning, God made plants and trees! “And God said: ‘Let the Earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit, after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the Earth.’ And it was so done. And the Earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed each one according to its kind. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:11-12).
Good Trees, Bad Trees
Speaking of that good and evil, Our Lord touches upon that in the New Testament—showing us that God had not lost interest in trees: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:17-20).
He adds elsewhere: “The axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). Obviously, He is not talking about horticulture, but is likening the tree to the human being by analogy. This is clearly shown later, when, in speaking with the Pharisees, He says: “Either make the tree good and its fruit good: or make the tree evil, and its fruit evil. For by the fruit the tree is known. O generation of vipers, how can you speak good things, whereas you are evil?” (Matthew 12:33-34).
Tree of Knowledge
There is much to learn from trees—even though God forbade Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil! “And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of Paradise: and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” (Genesis 2:9). “And God commanded Adam, saying: ‘Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat: but of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!’” (Genesis 2:16-17).
Learning from Trees
Our Lord would use the tree to communicate many things and truths to His followers—by both word and His actions. He will speak of the fig tree, the mulberry tree, the vine, the mustard seed that grows into a tree: “And He spoke to them in a similitude. ‘See the fig tree, and all the trees…’” (Luke 21:29). “And from the fig tree learn a parable…” (Matthew 24:32).
Danger for Fruitless Trees
“He spoke also this parable: ‘A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: “Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it done therefore! Why cumbereth it the ground?” But he answering, said to him: “Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it! And if happily it bear fruit: but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!”‘” (Luke 13:6-9).
“And the next day when they came out from Bethania, He was hungry. And when He had seen afar off a fig tree having leaves, He came if perhaps He might find anything on it. And when He was come to it, He found nothing but leaves. For it was not the time for figs. And answering He said to it: ‘May no man hereafter eat fruit of thee any more forever!’” (Mark 11:12-14). “And immediately the fig tree withered away. And the disciples seeing it wondered, saying: ‘How is it presently withered away?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, if you shall have Faith, and stagger not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do, but also if you shall say to this mountain, “Take up and cast thyself into the sea!” it shall be done. And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” (Matthew 21:20-22).
Tree of Faith
“And the Lord said: ‘If you had Faith like to a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this mulberry tree, “Be thou rooted up, and be thou transplanted into the sea!” and it would obey you” (Luke 17:6).
“Another parable he proposed unto them, saying: The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32).
Encounters around Trees
“Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him: and He saith of him: ‘Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!’ Nathanael saith to Him: ‘Whence knowest Thou me?’ Jesus answered, and said to him: ‘Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee!’” (John 1:47-48).
“And entering in, he walked through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named Zacheus, who was the chief of the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who He was, and he could not for the crowd, because he was low of stature. And running before, he climbed up into a sycamore tree, that he might see Him; for He was to pass that way. And when Jesus was come to the place, looking up, He saw him, and said to him: Zacheus, make haste and come down; for this day I must abide in thy house” (Luke 19:1-5).
Farewell Among Trees
On the eve of His Passion and Death, Our Lord made His way to the Garden of Gethsemane, on the Mount of Olives, and would pray among the olive trees: “And when they had said a hymn, they went forth to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus saith to them: ‘You will all be scandalized in My regard this night; for it is written, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be dispersed”‘” (Mark 14:26-27). “And going out, He went, according to His custom, to the Mount of Olives. And His disciples also followed Him. And when He was come to the place, He said to them: ‘Pray, lest ye enter into temptation!’” (Luke 22:39-40).
Death on a Tree
St. Peter states that Jesus died upon a tree. When the Apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin and were forbidden to preach in Jesus’ Name, St. Peter retorted: “The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, Whom you put to death, hanging Him upon a tree.” (Acts 5:30). Later in Caesarea, Peter, speaking before the converted centurion Cornelius, again says: “We are witnesses of all things that Jesus did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, Whom they killed, hanging Him upon a tree!” (Acts 10:39). St. Paul says the same thing in Antioch: “For they that inhabited Jerusalem, and the rulers thereof, … judging Him … and finding no cause of death in Him, they desired of Pilate, that they might kill Him. And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of Him, taking Him down from the tree, they laid Him in a sepulcher” (Acts 13:27-29).
So what is there to Learn?
“For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). As Our Lord said: “from the fig tree learn a parable…” (Matthew 24:32). So what can we learn? In fact, if we were to just take the time and delve into the things that were made by God—in this case, trees—then we would be amazed at what there is to find! One would suspect that, from merely looking at the preoccupation Holy Scripture has with trees.
Seek God First!
First things first! “Seek ye first … God!” (Luke 12:31). Well, in that case, let us look for God in the tree and see where He is to found! Now we know that God is a spirit, and spirit cannot be seen—so what is there about a tree that cannot be seen? Usually it is the roots. From the roots comes the trunk, which then divides into branches, and later twigs. It is the roots that furnish the tree with its life—much as God furnishes spiritual life through His grace. Hence, we could say that the sap is a symbol of the grace of God.
Tree of Calvary
If we look at the tree of the Cross, on which Jesus died, we can loosely compare it the three-leaf clover that St. Patrick would use to explain the Holy Trinity. The long base upright beam, that stems from the ground to the intersection with the horizontal beam, could be said to be the One God. The three sections of the cross that branch out north, east and west, after the intersection, could be said to be the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
The tree of the Cross on Calvary is our Tree of Life—for Christ died on the dead wood of a tree, in order to bring us eternal life. “Unless the grain of wheat (the tree) falling into the ground (being chopped-down) die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). The dead wood of the tree bore the fruit of eternal life—as we clearly see from the beautiful liturgy of Passiontide:
Liturgical Passion Tree With Passion Fruit
The mystery of the Cross shines out in glory,
The Cross on which Life suffered death,
And by that death gave life back to us.
The words of David’s prophetic song were fulfilled,
In which he announced to the nations:
“God has reigned from a tree.”
Tree of dazzling beauty,
Adorned with the purple of the King’s Blood,
And chosen from a stock worthy to bear Limbs so sacred!
How favored the tree, on whose branches hung the Ransom of the world;
It was made a balance on which His Body was weighed,
And bore away the prey that Hell had claimed.
The Redeemer had now completed thirty years
And had come to the end of His earthly life,
And then of His own free will, He gave Himself up to the Passion,
The Lamb was lifted up on to the tree of the Cross to be a sacrifice.
Faithful Cross, tree that is alone in its glory among all other trees;
No forest ever yielded its equal in leaf, flower and fruit.
Loving nails and loving wood bear a loving burden.
Soften your branches, noble tree;
Relax your taut fibers and let your natural hardness give way to yielding suppleness;
And so offer yourself as a gentle support for the Body of the King of Heaven.
You alone were worthy to bear the Victim of the world
And like the Ark, to give shelter to a shipwrecked world.
An Ark which the Sacred Blood, poured out from the Body of the Lamb, has annointed.
What a beautiful incorporation of the tree as an essential part of our salvation! These verses, extracted from the liturgy of Passiontide, are worth reading over and over again. They almost contain a fiery spark that is destined to enkindle our devotion.
Mary the Tree of Life
Taking this idea of Jesus on the tree a little further, we can say that Mary is the Tree of which Jesus is the Fruit: “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus!” St. Louis de Montfort does not hesitate in calling Mary the Tree of Life. “He who wishes to have the fruit well-ripened and well-formed, must have the tree that produces it; he who wishes to have the Fruit of Life, Jesus Christ, must have the Tree of Life, which is Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §164).
“Jesus is everywhere and always the Fruit and the Son of Mary; and Mary is everywhere the veritable Tree who bears the Fruit of life, and the true Mother who produces it” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §44). “If Mary, who is the Tree of Life, is well-cultivated in our soul, by fidelity to the practices of this devotion, she will bear her fruit in her own time, and her Fruit is none other than Jesus Christ” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §218).
At Fatima, Our Lady essentially says the same thing: “Jesus wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God” (June 13, 1917).
Planting the Tree of Life in Ourselves
When we make the True Devotion Consecration to Mary, we plant a seed from this Tree of Life, that Mary is, in our own souls, so that Mary may reproduce her spirit in our soul. “O Holy Spirit, grant me all these graces. Plant in my soul the Tree of true Life, which is Mary; cultivate it and tend it so that it may grow and blossom and bring forth the fruit of life in abundance” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §67).
We are supposed to be the seed of Mary, for as God said to devil after he had made Adam and Eve fall: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” (Genesis 3:15). “As Mother of the living, gives to all her children splinters of the Tree of Life, which is the Cross of Jesus” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §22). Through the Cross, Our Lord crushed and defeated the devil.
St. Louis continues: “Have you understood with the help of the Holy Ghost what I have tried to explain? If so, be thankful to God. It is a secret of which very few people are aware. If you have discovered this treasure in the field of Mary, this pearl of great price (Matthew 13:44-46), you should sell all you have to purchase it. You must offer yourself to Mary, happily lose yourself in her, only to find God in her” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §70).
Necessity of Cultivating the Tree of Life
“If the Holy Ghost has planted in your soul the true Tree of Life, which is the devotion that I have just explained (True Devotion to Mary), you should see carefully to its cultivation, so that it will yield its fruit in due season. This devotion is like the mustard seed of the Gospel (Mark 4:31), which is indeed the smallest of all seeds, but nevertheless it grows into a big plant, shooting up so high that the birds of the air, that is, the elect, come and make their nest in its branches. They repose there, shaded from the heat of the sun, and safely hidden from beasts of prey” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §70).
How to Cultivate the Tree of Life
“Here is the best way, chosen soul, to cultivate it:
(1) This Tree, once planted in a docile heart, requires fresh air and no human support. Being of heavenly origin, it must be uninfluenced by any creature, since a creature might hinder it from rising up towards God Who created it. Hence you must not rely on your own endeavors or your natural talents or your personal standing or the guidance of men. You must resort to Mary, relying solely on her help. (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §71).
(2) The person in whose soul this Tree has taken root must, like a good gardener, watch over it and protect it. For this Tree, having life and capable of producing the fruit of life, should be raised and tended with enduring care and attention of soul. A soul that desires to be holy, will make this its chief aim and occupation. (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §72).
“Whatever is likely to choke the Tree or in the course of time prevent its yielding fruit, such as thorns and thistles, must be cut away and rooted-out. This means that by self-denial and self-discipline you must sedulously cut short and even give up all empty pleasures and useless dealings with other creatures. In other words, you must crucify the flesh, keep a guard over the tongue, and mortify the bodily senses” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §73).
(3) You must guard against grubs doing harm to the Tree. These parasites are love of self and love of comfort, and they eat away the green foliage of the Tree and frustrate the fair hope it offered of yielding good fruit; for love of self is incompatible with love of Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §74).
(4) You must not allow this Tree to be damaged by destructive animals, that is, by sins, for they may cause its death simply by their contact. They must not be allowed even to breathe upon the Tree, because their mere breath, that is, venial sins, which are most dangerous when we do not trouble ourselves about them” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §75).
(5) It is also necessary to water this Tree regularly with your Communions, Masses and other public and private prayers. Otherwise it will not continue bearing fruit” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §76).
(6) Yet you need not be alarmed when the winds blow and shake this Tree, for it must happen that the storm-winds of temptation will threaten to bring it down, and snow and frost tend to smother it. By this we mean that this devotion to our Blessed Lady will surely be called into question and attacked. But as long as we continue steadfastly in tending it, we have nothing to fear” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §77).
Its lasting fruit: Jesus Christ
“Chosen soul, provided you thus carefully cultivate the Tree of Life, which has been freshly planted in your soul by the Holy Ghost, I can assure you that in a short time it will grow so tall that the birds of the air will make their home in it. It will become such a good Tree, that it will yield in due season the sweet and adorable Fruit of honor and grace, which is Jesus, Who has always been, and will always be, the only fruit of Mary. Happy is that soul in which Mary, the Tree of Life, is planted. Happier still is the soul in which she has been able to grow and blossom. Happier again is the soul in which she brings forth her fruit. But happiest of all is the soul which savors the sweetness of Mary’s fruit and preserves it up till death, and then beyond, to all eternity” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §78).
Saintly Trees, Holy Trees
“It is Mary alone to whom God has given the keys of the cellars of divine love and the power to enter into the most sublime and secret ways of perfection, and the power likewise to make others enter in there also. It is Mary alone who has given to the miserable children of Eve, the faithless, entry into the terrestrial paradise; that they may walk there agreeably with God, hide there securely against their enemies, feed themselves there deliciously, without further fear of death, on the fruit of the Trees of Life and of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and drink, in long draughts, the heavenly waters of that fair fountain, which gushes forth there with abundance; or rather, since she is herself that terrestrial paradise, that virgin and blessed Earth, from which Adam and Eve, the sinners, have been driven, she gives no entry there except to those whom it is her pleasure to make saints” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §45).
“I have said that this would come to pass, particularly at the end of the world and indeed presently, because the Most High with His holy Mother has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity as much as the cedars of Lebanon outgrow the little shrubs. These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §47-48).
As we enter this wonderful season of Passiontide―a two-week stretch where the Church focuses on the Passion and Death of Our Lord―we do well to put all else aside and tend to our tree―the “Passion Tree”, or the Cross on which Our Lord died and bore fruit―the fruit of His Passion, His “passion-fruit”, so to speak. The Cross is, of course, a tree of suffering. Yet it is also a tree of life―supernatural life and eternal life. The liturgy of Passion Sunday sings of the Tree of the Cross on which our Savior will die for our sins―let us then treat of trees, for there is much fruit to be found in reflecting upon the various trees that God has made and spoken about.
Learning from Trees
What can we learn from trees? Trees play a major role with God and have a place of importance in Holy Scripture! Even the Bible is printed on paper that comes from trees!! The Bible begins with the words: “In the beginning…” and very soon after that beginning, God made plants and trees! “And God said: ‘Let the Earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit, after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the Earth.’ And it was so done. And the Earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed each one according to its kind. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:11-12).
Good Trees, Bad Trees
Speaking of that good and evil, Our Lord touches upon that in the New Testament—showing us that God had not lost interest in trees: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:17-20).
He adds elsewhere: “The axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). Obviously, He is not talking about horticulture, but is likening the tree to the human being by analogy. This is clearly shown later, when, in speaking with the Pharisees, He says: “Either make the tree good and its fruit good: or make the tree evil, and its fruit evil. For by the fruit the tree is known. O generation of vipers, how can you speak good things, whereas you are evil?” (Matthew 12:33-34).
Tree of Knowledge
There is much to learn from trees—even though God forbade Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil! “And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of Paradise: and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” (Genesis 2:9). “And God commanded Adam, saying: ‘Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat: but of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, thou shalt not eat! For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!’” (Genesis 2:16-17).
Learning from Trees
Our Lord would use the tree to communicate many things and truths to His followers—by both word and His actions. He will speak of the fig tree, the mulberry tree, the vine, the mustard seed that grows into a tree: “And He spoke to them in a similitude. ‘See the fig tree, and all the trees…’” (Luke 21:29). “And from the fig tree learn a parable…” (Matthew 24:32).
Danger for Fruitless Trees
“He spoke also this parable: ‘A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: “Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it done therefore! Why cumbereth it the ground?” But he answering, said to him: “Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it! And if happily it bear fruit: but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!”‘” (Luke 13:6-9).
“And the next day when they came out from Bethania, He was hungry. And when He had seen afar off a fig tree having leaves, He came if perhaps He might find anything on it. And when He was come to it, He found nothing but leaves. For it was not the time for figs. And answering He said to it: ‘May no man hereafter eat fruit of thee any more forever!’” (Mark 11:12-14). “And immediately the fig tree withered away. And the disciples seeing it wondered, saying: ‘How is it presently withered away?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, if you shall have Faith, and stagger not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do, but also if you shall say to this mountain, “Take up and cast thyself into the sea!” it shall be done. And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” (Matthew 21:20-22).
Tree of Faith
“And the Lord said: ‘If you had Faith like to a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this mulberry tree, “Be thou rooted up, and be thou transplanted into the sea!” and it would obey you” (Luke 17:6).
“Another parable he proposed unto them, saying: The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32).
Encounters around Trees
“Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him: and He saith of him: ‘Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!’ Nathanael saith to Him: ‘Whence knowest Thou me?’ Jesus answered, and said to him: ‘Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee!’” (John 1:47-48).
“And entering in, he walked through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named Zacheus, who was the chief of the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who He was, and he could not for the crowd, because he was low of stature. And running before, he climbed up into a sycamore tree, that he might see Him; for He was to pass that way. And when Jesus was come to the place, looking up, He saw him, and said to him: Zacheus, make haste and come down; for this day I must abide in thy house” (Luke 19:1-5).
Farewell Among Trees
On the eve of His Passion and Death, Our Lord made His way to the Garden of Gethsemane, on the Mount of Olives, and would pray among the olive trees: “And when they had said a hymn, they went forth to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus saith to them: ‘You will all be scandalized in My regard this night; for it is written, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be dispersed”‘” (Mark 14:26-27). “And going out, He went, according to His custom, to the Mount of Olives. And His disciples also followed Him. And when He was come to the place, He said to them: ‘Pray, lest ye enter into temptation!’” (Luke 22:39-40).
Death on a Tree
St. Peter states that Jesus died upon a tree. When the Apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin and were forbidden to preach in Jesus’ Name, St. Peter retorted: “The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, Whom you put to death, hanging Him upon a tree.” (Acts 5:30). Later in Caesarea, Peter, speaking before the converted centurion Cornelius, again says: “We are witnesses of all things that Jesus did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, Whom they killed, hanging Him upon a tree!” (Acts 10:39). St. Paul says the same thing in Antioch: “For they that inhabited Jerusalem, and the rulers thereof, … judging Him … and finding no cause of death in Him, they desired of Pilate, that they might kill Him. And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of Him, taking Him down from the tree, they laid Him in a sepulcher” (Acts 13:27-29).
So what is there to Learn?
“For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). As Our Lord said: “from the fig tree learn a parable…” (Matthew 24:32). So what can we learn? In fact, if we were to just take the time and delve into the things that were made by God—in this case, trees—then we would be amazed at what there is to find! One would suspect that, from merely looking at the preoccupation Holy Scripture has with trees.
Seek God First!
First things first! “Seek ye first … God!” (Luke 12:31). Well, in that case, let us look for God in the tree and see where He is to found! Now we know that God is a spirit, and spirit cannot be seen—so what is there about a tree that cannot be seen? Usually it is the roots. From the roots comes the trunk, which then divides into branches, and later twigs. It is the roots that furnish the tree with its life—much as God furnishes spiritual life through His grace. Hence, we could say that the sap is a symbol of the grace of God.
Tree of Calvary
If we look at the tree of the Cross, on which Jesus died, we can loosely compare it the three-leaf clover that St. Patrick would use to explain the Holy Trinity. The long base upright beam, that stems from the ground to the intersection with the horizontal beam, could be said to be the One God. The three sections of the cross that branch out north, east and west, after the intersection, could be said to be the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
The tree of the Cross on Calvary is our Tree of Life—for Christ died on the dead wood of a tree, in order to bring us eternal life. “Unless the grain of wheat (the tree) falling into the ground (being chopped-down) die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). The dead wood of the tree bore the fruit of eternal life—as we clearly see from the beautiful liturgy of Passiontide:
Liturgical Passion Tree With Passion Fruit
The mystery of the Cross shines out in glory,
The Cross on which Life suffered death,
And by that death gave life back to us.
The words of David’s prophetic song were fulfilled,
In which he announced to the nations:
“God has reigned from a tree.”
Tree of dazzling beauty,
Adorned with the purple of the King’s Blood,
And chosen from a stock worthy to bear Limbs so sacred!
How favored the tree, on whose branches hung the Ransom of the world;
It was made a balance on which His Body was weighed,
And bore away the prey that Hell had claimed.
The Redeemer had now completed thirty years
And had come to the end of His earthly life,
And then of His own free will, He gave Himself up to the Passion,
The Lamb was lifted up on to the tree of the Cross to be a sacrifice.
Faithful Cross, tree that is alone in its glory among all other trees;
No forest ever yielded its equal in leaf, flower and fruit.
Loving nails and loving wood bear a loving burden.
Soften your branches, noble tree;
Relax your taut fibers and let your natural hardness give way to yielding suppleness;
And so offer yourself as a gentle support for the Body of the King of Heaven.
You alone were worthy to bear the Victim of the world
And like the Ark, to give shelter to a shipwrecked world.
An Ark which the Sacred Blood, poured out from the Body of the Lamb, has annointed.
What a beautiful incorporation of the tree as an essential part of our salvation! These verses, extracted from the liturgy of Passiontide, are worth reading over and over again. They almost contain a fiery spark that is destined to enkindle our devotion.
Mary the Tree of Life
Taking this idea of Jesus on the tree a little further, we can say that Mary is the Tree of which Jesus is the Fruit: “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus!” St. Louis de Montfort does not hesitate in calling Mary the Tree of Life. “He who wishes to have the fruit well-ripened and well-formed, must have the tree that produces it; he who wishes to have the Fruit of Life, Jesus Christ, must have the Tree of Life, which is Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §164).
“Jesus is everywhere and always the Fruit and the Son of Mary; and Mary is everywhere the veritable Tree who bears the Fruit of life, and the true Mother who produces it” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §44). “If Mary, who is the Tree of Life, is well-cultivated in our soul, by fidelity to the practices of this devotion, she will bear her fruit in her own time, and her Fruit is none other than Jesus Christ” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §218).
At Fatima, Our Lady essentially says the same thing: “Jesus wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world. I promise salvation to whoever embraces it; these souls will be dear to God” (June 13, 1917).
Planting the Tree of Life in Ourselves
When we make the True Devotion Consecration to Mary, we plant a seed from this Tree of Life, that Mary is, in our own souls, so that Mary may reproduce her spirit in our soul. “O Holy Spirit, grant me all these graces. Plant in my soul the Tree of true Life, which is Mary; cultivate it and tend it so that it may grow and blossom and bring forth the fruit of life in abundance” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §67).
We are supposed to be the seed of Mary, for as God said to devil after he had made Adam and Eve fall: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” (Genesis 3:15). “As Mother of the living, gives to all her children splinters of the Tree of Life, which is the Cross of Jesus” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §22). Through the Cross, Our Lord crushed and defeated the devil.
St. Louis continues: “Have you understood with the help of the Holy Ghost what I have tried to explain? If so, be thankful to God. It is a secret of which very few people are aware. If you have discovered this treasure in the field of Mary, this pearl of great price (Matthew 13:44-46), you should sell all you have to purchase it. You must offer yourself to Mary, happily lose yourself in her, only to find God in her” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §70).
Necessity of Cultivating the Tree of Life
“If the Holy Ghost has planted in your soul the true Tree of Life, which is the devotion that I have just explained (True Devotion to Mary), you should see carefully to its cultivation, so that it will yield its fruit in due season. This devotion is like the mustard seed of the Gospel (Mark 4:31), which is indeed the smallest of all seeds, but nevertheless it grows into a big plant, shooting up so high that the birds of the air, that is, the elect, come and make their nest in its branches. They repose there, shaded from the heat of the sun, and safely hidden from beasts of prey” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §70).
How to Cultivate the Tree of Life
“Here is the best way, chosen soul, to cultivate it:
(1) This Tree, once planted in a docile heart, requires fresh air and no human support. Being of heavenly origin, it must be uninfluenced by any creature, since a creature might hinder it from rising up towards God Who created it. Hence you must not rely on your own endeavors or your natural talents or your personal standing or the guidance of men. You must resort to Mary, relying solely on her help. (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §71).
(2) The person in whose soul this Tree has taken root must, like a good gardener, watch over it and protect it. For this Tree, having life and capable of producing the fruit of life, should be raised and tended with enduring care and attention of soul. A soul that desires to be holy, will make this its chief aim and occupation. (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §72).
“Whatever is likely to choke the Tree or in the course of time prevent its yielding fruit, such as thorns and thistles, must be cut away and rooted-out. This means that by self-denial and self-discipline you must sedulously cut short and even give up all empty pleasures and useless dealings with other creatures. In other words, you must crucify the flesh, keep a guard over the tongue, and mortify the bodily senses” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §73).
(3) You must guard against grubs doing harm to the Tree. These parasites are love of self and love of comfort, and they eat away the green foliage of the Tree and frustrate the fair hope it offered of yielding good fruit; for love of self is incompatible with love of Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §74).
(4) You must not allow this Tree to be damaged by destructive animals, that is, by sins, for they may cause its death simply by their contact. They must not be allowed even to breathe upon the Tree, because their mere breath, that is, venial sins, which are most dangerous when we do not trouble ourselves about them” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §75).
(5) It is also necessary to water this Tree regularly with your Communions, Masses and other public and private prayers. Otherwise it will not continue bearing fruit” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §76).
(6) Yet you need not be alarmed when the winds blow and shake this Tree, for it must happen that the storm-winds of temptation will threaten to bring it down, and snow and frost tend to smother it. By this we mean that this devotion to our Blessed Lady will surely be called into question and attacked. But as long as we continue steadfastly in tending it, we have nothing to fear” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §77).
Its lasting fruit: Jesus Christ
“Chosen soul, provided you thus carefully cultivate the Tree of Life, which has been freshly planted in your soul by the Holy Ghost, I can assure you that in a short time it will grow so tall that the birds of the air will make their home in it. It will become such a good Tree, that it will yield in due season the sweet and adorable Fruit of honor and grace, which is Jesus, Who has always been, and will always be, the only fruit of Mary. Happy is that soul in which Mary, the Tree of Life, is planted. Happier still is the soul in which she has been able to grow and blossom. Happier again is the soul in which she brings forth her fruit. But happiest of all is the soul which savors the sweetness of Mary’s fruit and preserves it up till death, and then beyond, to all eternity” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, §78).
Saintly Trees, Holy Trees
“It is Mary alone to whom God has given the keys of the cellars of divine love and the power to enter into the most sublime and secret ways of perfection, and the power likewise to make others enter in there also. It is Mary alone who has given to the miserable children of Eve, the faithless, entry into the terrestrial paradise; that they may walk there agreeably with God, hide there securely against their enemies, feed themselves there deliciously, without further fear of death, on the fruit of the Trees of Life and of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and drink, in long draughts, the heavenly waters of that fair fountain, which gushes forth there with abundance; or rather, since she is herself that terrestrial paradise, that virgin and blessed Earth, from which Adam and Eve, the sinners, have been driven, she gives no entry there except to those whom it is her pleasure to make saints” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §45).
“I have said that this would come to pass, particularly at the end of the world and indeed presently, because the Most High with His holy Mother has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity as much as the cedars of Lebanon outgrow the little shrubs. These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her light, strengthened with her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and sheltered under her protection” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §47-48).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Friday April 5th & Saturday April 6th
Article 30
Terrible Titanic Tragedy & Calamitous Church Catastrophe!
This article is STILL being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 30
Terrible Titanic Tragedy & Calamitous Church Catastrophe!
This article is STILL being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Creepy ‘Coincidences’ & Ominous Omens
As the previous article said: History repeats itself and “What goes around, comes around!” If you do not know your history and learn from history, then you will be obliged to learn your history by the repeating the mistakes of history. A creepy coincidence is seen in a book written fourteen years before the Titanic sank. The novel, entitled Futility, by Morgan Robertson, was about the sinking of the Titan―the largest ship in the world. An extract from The Portland Press Herald described the plot of the book thus: “The largest ship ever built, billed as ‘unsinkable’ by its British owners and the press, strikes an iceberg one April and goes down. Due to a lack of lifeboats, more than half the passengers perish in the North Atlantic.”
The fictional Titan and the real-life Titanic were almost mirror images in many respects―in the fictional and in real life.
● both described as being the largest ships in the world and the greatest works ever seen;
● both had almost identical dimensions, the fictional Titan being 800 feet long, and the Titanic being 882 feet long;
● both were described as being “unsinkable”;
● both ships had triple screw propellers;
● both the Titan and the Titanic were made in Britain and had similar crew/passenger capacities totaling around 3,000;
● both struck icebergs in the North Atlantic at around the same spot―400 nautical miles (460 miles) from Newfoundland;
● both were sailing at similar speeds―25 knots for the Titan and 22½ knots for the Titanic;
● both had a similar number of persons on board―2,500 for the Titan and 2,200 for the Titanic;
● both the Titan and the Titanic lacked sufficient lifeboats and both lost well over half to three-quarters of the persons on board.
The creepy part or scary thing is that the book was written fourteen years BEFORE the sinking of the Titanic! Uncanny, huh? The fictional novel, Futility, has since been renamed The Wreck of the Titan. After the terrible Titanic tragedy, many persons thought that the author of the book, Futility, had the power of clairvoyance. Morgan Robertson dispelled this idea, claiming the uncanny similarities were simply put down to his deep knowledge of shipbuilding and the maritime trends of that time.
Speaking of Similarities!
Speaking of ships and actual or potential ship sinking―there comes to mind another incident involving a ship. This particular ship appeared in a dream or vision that St. John Bosco had, concerning the “Ark of the Church” or “Ship of the Church.” On May 30th, 1862, St. John Bosco, in his customary ‘Good Night’ talk to an assembly of priests and the young clerics he was training, as well as the boys of his school, told them about a dream he had dreamt a few nights previously. He actually described it as a parable or allegory. Strictly speaking a parable is a general story with a deeper meaning, but one in which the points of the story may not all be significant, while in an allegory every detail is important and meaningful. In the case of Don Bosco’s dream it is difficult to know just how significant each point is. After some preliminary remarks he went on to describe what he had seen:
“Try to picture yourselves with me on the seashore, or, better still, on an outlying cliff with no other land in sight. The vast expanse of water is covered with a formidable array of ships in battle formation, prows [the front of the ship] fitted with sharp spear-like beaks capable of breaking through any defense. All are heavily armed with cannons, incendiary bombs, and firearms of all sorts ― even books ― and are heading toward one stately ship, mightier than them all. As they try to close in, they try to ram it, set it afire, and cripple it as much as possible.
“This stately vessel is shielded by a flotilla escort. Winds and waves are with the enemy. In this midst of this endless sea, two solid columns, a short distance apart, soar high into the sky: one is surmounted by a statue of the Immaculate Virgin at whose feet a large inscription reads: Help of Christians; the other, far loftier and sturdier, supports a [Communion] Host of proportionate size and bears beneath it the inscription Salvation of believers.
“The flagship commander ― the Roman Pontiff [the Pope] ― seeing the enemy’s fury and his auxiliary ships very grave predicament, summons his captains to a conference. However, as they discuss their strategy, a furious storm breaks out and they must return to their ships. When the storm abates, the Pope again summons his captains as the flagship keeps on its course. But the storm rages again. Standing at the helm, the Pope strains every muscle to steer his ship between the two columns, from whose summits hang many anchors and strong hooks linked to chains.
“The entire enemy fleet closes in to intercept and sink the flagship at all costs. They bombard it with everything they have: books and pamphlets, incendiary bombs, firearms, cannons. The battle rages ever more furious. Beaked prows ram the flagship again and again, but to no avail, as, unscathed and undaunted, it keeps on its course. At times a formidable ram splinters a gaping hole into its hull, but, immediately, a breeze from the two columns instantly seals the gash.
“Meanwhile, enemy cannons blow up, firearms and beaks fall to pieces, ships crack up and sink to the bottom. In blind fury the enemy takes to hand-to-hand combat, cursing and blaspheming. Suddenly the Pope falls, seriously wounded. He is instantly helped up but, struck down a second time, dies. A shout of victory rises from the enemy and wild rejoicing sweeps their ships. But no sooner is the Pope dead than another takes his place. The captains of the auxiliary ships elected him so quickly that the news of the Pope’s death coincides with that of his successor’s election. The enemy’s self-assurance wanes.
“Breaking through all resistance, the new Pope steers his ship safely between the two columns and moors it to the two columns; first to the one surmounted by the Host, and then to the other, topped by the statue of the Virgin. At this point something unexpected happens. The enemy ships panic and disperse, colliding with and scuttling each other. Some auxiliary ships which had gallantly fought alongside their flagship are the first to tie up at the two columns.
“Many others, which had fearfully kept far away from the fight, stand still, cautiously waiting until the wrecked enemy ships vanish under the waves. Then, they too head for the two columns, tie up at the swinging hooks, and ride safe and tranquil beside their flagship. A great calm now covers the sea.”
At this point, Don Bosco asked one of the priests present for his views. He replied that he thought that the flagship symbolized the Church headed by the Pope, with the ships representing mankind and the sea as an image of the world. The ships defending the flagship he equated with the laity and the attackers with those trying to destroy the Church, while the two columns represented devotion to Mary and the Eucharist.
He did not mention the death of the Pope and neither did Don Bosco in his reply, in which he agreed with what the priest had said, while adding that the enemy ships symbolized persecutions:
“Very grave trials await the Church. What we have suffered so far is almost nothing compared to what is going to happen. The enemies of the Church are symbolized by the ships which strive their utmost to sink the flagship. Only two things can save us in such a grave hour: devotion to Mary and frequent Communion. Let us do our very best to use these two means and have others use them everywhere.”
Not surprisingly this contents of this dream amazed all those listening, and four of those present wrote down what they had heard. Two wrote the next day, May 31st, and two some time later, but all four narratives agree substantially. Such small differences as were found can be explained on the basis that it is impossible to get every detail when remembering and writing a spoken narrative.
One point that did cause some argument amongst those who had been present was over whether there had been two popes as commander of the flagship as in the above account, or, as some thought, three. This point was made clearer in 1886, when one of those who had heard the dream recounted in 1862, returned to the Oratory. At dinner with Don Bosco he began to narrate the dream and was quite certain that two popes had fallen, since he was sure that after the first was struck down the captains of the other ships had said: “Let’s hurry, We can quickly replace him!”; on the second occasion he maintained that they had said nothing. Don Bosco seemed to back up this version of events by calling attention to what was being said, and so it is probable that we are dealing with three popes in the account. Those who had written down the dream, were convinced that it was a genuine vision and prophecy, although Don Bosco’s immediate aim was probably to encourage his boys to pray more fervently for the Church and the Pope, as well as to indicate the importance of devotion to Mary and the Blessed Sacrament.
We may be living part way through Don Bosco’s vision, but as in all genuine prophecy before its fulfillment, there is quite a degree of uncertainty and ambiguity, and it would be foolish to attempt to come to definite conclusions at this stage. The important point is the way in which the end of the vision points to what would seem to be the world-wide triumph of the Church, a triumph which will be recognized by all, but one which is only gained after much suffering.
Was the Second Vatican Council the Church’s “Iceberg”?
Has the Ark of the Church hit its own calamitous “iceberg”? Today, there is most certainly chaos on board the Ark of the Church―which seems to be taking on the water of worldliness and is listing towards Liberalism and risks splitting into schism. Staying with St. John Bosco for a moment, in a well-known prophecy, made in 1862, exactly 100 years before the disastrous Second Vatican Council was convoked, St. John Bosco predicted the Second Vatican Council and its disastrous impact on the Church. The relevant portion of the prophecy is: “There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century, after which there will be chaos in the Church. Tranquility will not return until the Pope succeeds in anchoring the boat of Peter between the twin pillars of Eucharistic Devotion and Devotion to Our Lady.”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) also spoke of a calamitous council. Describing one of her visions in the 1820s, she said: “Among the strangest things that I saw, was long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound … I saw many good pious Bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … I saw the ever-increasing tepidity of the clergy, the circle of darkness ever widening … The priests let things go their way and said Mass very irreverently; only a few of them were still a little intelligent and pious ... Most priests contributed to the work of destruction ... I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church … A concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. Religion is there so skillfully undermined and stifled that there are scarcely 100 faithful priests … It was as if people were splitting into two camps ... Near them I saw a horrible Beast coming up from the sea …... I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church … They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church …
“They built a large, singular, extravagant church which was to embrace all creeds with equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, and all denominations, a true communion of the unholy with one shepherd and one flock. There was to be a Pope, a salaried Pope, without possessions. All was made ready, many things finished; but, in place of an altar, were only abomination and desolation. Such was the new church to be, and it was for it that he had set fire to the old one … I see the black counterfeit church gaining ground, I see its fatal influence on the public … I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church: I saw it increase; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city ... Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence ... When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish … In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families―which God has protected …
“When the Church had been for the most part destroyed by the secret sect, and when only the sanctuary and altar were still standing, I saw the wreckers enter the Church with the Beast. There they met a Woman of noble carriage who seemed to be with child because she walked slowly. At this sight, the enemies were terrorized, and the Beast could not take but another step forward. It projected its neck towards the Woman as if to devour her, but the Woman turned about and bowed down [towards the altar], her head touching the ground. Thereupon, I saw the Beast taking to flight towards the sea again, and the enemies were fleeing in the greatest confusion ….
As the previous article said: History repeats itself and “What goes around, comes around!” If you do not know your history and learn from history, then you will be obliged to learn your history by the repeating the mistakes of history. A creepy coincidence is seen in a book written fourteen years before the Titanic sank. The novel, entitled Futility, by Morgan Robertson, was about the sinking of the Titan―the largest ship in the world. An extract from The Portland Press Herald described the plot of the book thus: “The largest ship ever built, billed as ‘unsinkable’ by its British owners and the press, strikes an iceberg one April and goes down. Due to a lack of lifeboats, more than half the passengers perish in the North Atlantic.”
The fictional Titan and the real-life Titanic were almost mirror images in many respects―in the fictional and in real life.
● both described as being the largest ships in the world and the greatest works ever seen;
● both had almost identical dimensions, the fictional Titan being 800 feet long, and the Titanic being 882 feet long;
● both were described as being “unsinkable”;
● both ships had triple screw propellers;
● both the Titan and the Titanic were made in Britain and had similar crew/passenger capacities totaling around 3,000;
● both struck icebergs in the North Atlantic at around the same spot―400 nautical miles (460 miles) from Newfoundland;
● both were sailing at similar speeds―25 knots for the Titan and 22½ knots for the Titanic;
● both had a similar number of persons on board―2,500 for the Titan and 2,200 for the Titanic;
● both the Titan and the Titanic lacked sufficient lifeboats and both lost well over half to three-quarters of the persons on board.
The creepy part or scary thing is that the book was written fourteen years BEFORE the sinking of the Titanic! Uncanny, huh? The fictional novel, Futility, has since been renamed The Wreck of the Titan. After the terrible Titanic tragedy, many persons thought that the author of the book, Futility, had the power of clairvoyance. Morgan Robertson dispelled this idea, claiming the uncanny similarities were simply put down to his deep knowledge of shipbuilding and the maritime trends of that time.
Speaking of Similarities!
Speaking of ships and actual or potential ship sinking―there comes to mind another incident involving a ship. This particular ship appeared in a dream or vision that St. John Bosco had, concerning the “Ark of the Church” or “Ship of the Church.” On May 30th, 1862, St. John Bosco, in his customary ‘Good Night’ talk to an assembly of priests and the young clerics he was training, as well as the boys of his school, told them about a dream he had dreamt a few nights previously. He actually described it as a parable or allegory. Strictly speaking a parable is a general story with a deeper meaning, but one in which the points of the story may not all be significant, while in an allegory every detail is important and meaningful. In the case of Don Bosco’s dream it is difficult to know just how significant each point is. After some preliminary remarks he went on to describe what he had seen:
“Try to picture yourselves with me on the seashore, or, better still, on an outlying cliff with no other land in sight. The vast expanse of water is covered with a formidable array of ships in battle formation, prows [the front of the ship] fitted with sharp spear-like beaks capable of breaking through any defense. All are heavily armed with cannons, incendiary bombs, and firearms of all sorts ― even books ― and are heading toward one stately ship, mightier than them all. As they try to close in, they try to ram it, set it afire, and cripple it as much as possible.
“This stately vessel is shielded by a flotilla escort. Winds and waves are with the enemy. In this midst of this endless sea, two solid columns, a short distance apart, soar high into the sky: one is surmounted by a statue of the Immaculate Virgin at whose feet a large inscription reads: Help of Christians; the other, far loftier and sturdier, supports a [Communion] Host of proportionate size and bears beneath it the inscription Salvation of believers.
“The flagship commander ― the Roman Pontiff [the Pope] ― seeing the enemy’s fury and his auxiliary ships very grave predicament, summons his captains to a conference. However, as they discuss their strategy, a furious storm breaks out and they must return to their ships. When the storm abates, the Pope again summons his captains as the flagship keeps on its course. But the storm rages again. Standing at the helm, the Pope strains every muscle to steer his ship between the two columns, from whose summits hang many anchors and strong hooks linked to chains.
“The entire enemy fleet closes in to intercept and sink the flagship at all costs. They bombard it with everything they have: books and pamphlets, incendiary bombs, firearms, cannons. The battle rages ever more furious. Beaked prows ram the flagship again and again, but to no avail, as, unscathed and undaunted, it keeps on its course. At times a formidable ram splinters a gaping hole into its hull, but, immediately, a breeze from the two columns instantly seals the gash.
“Meanwhile, enemy cannons blow up, firearms and beaks fall to pieces, ships crack up and sink to the bottom. In blind fury the enemy takes to hand-to-hand combat, cursing and blaspheming. Suddenly the Pope falls, seriously wounded. He is instantly helped up but, struck down a second time, dies. A shout of victory rises from the enemy and wild rejoicing sweeps their ships. But no sooner is the Pope dead than another takes his place. The captains of the auxiliary ships elected him so quickly that the news of the Pope’s death coincides with that of his successor’s election. The enemy’s self-assurance wanes.
“Breaking through all resistance, the new Pope steers his ship safely between the two columns and moors it to the two columns; first to the one surmounted by the Host, and then to the other, topped by the statue of the Virgin. At this point something unexpected happens. The enemy ships panic and disperse, colliding with and scuttling each other. Some auxiliary ships which had gallantly fought alongside their flagship are the first to tie up at the two columns.
“Many others, which had fearfully kept far away from the fight, stand still, cautiously waiting until the wrecked enemy ships vanish under the waves. Then, they too head for the two columns, tie up at the swinging hooks, and ride safe and tranquil beside their flagship. A great calm now covers the sea.”
At this point, Don Bosco asked one of the priests present for his views. He replied that he thought that the flagship symbolized the Church headed by the Pope, with the ships representing mankind and the sea as an image of the world. The ships defending the flagship he equated with the laity and the attackers with those trying to destroy the Church, while the two columns represented devotion to Mary and the Eucharist.
He did not mention the death of the Pope and neither did Don Bosco in his reply, in which he agreed with what the priest had said, while adding that the enemy ships symbolized persecutions:
“Very grave trials await the Church. What we have suffered so far is almost nothing compared to what is going to happen. The enemies of the Church are symbolized by the ships which strive their utmost to sink the flagship. Only two things can save us in such a grave hour: devotion to Mary and frequent Communion. Let us do our very best to use these two means and have others use them everywhere.”
Not surprisingly this contents of this dream amazed all those listening, and four of those present wrote down what they had heard. Two wrote the next day, May 31st, and two some time later, but all four narratives agree substantially. Such small differences as were found can be explained on the basis that it is impossible to get every detail when remembering and writing a spoken narrative.
One point that did cause some argument amongst those who had been present was over whether there had been two popes as commander of the flagship as in the above account, or, as some thought, three. This point was made clearer in 1886, when one of those who had heard the dream recounted in 1862, returned to the Oratory. At dinner with Don Bosco he began to narrate the dream and was quite certain that two popes had fallen, since he was sure that after the first was struck down the captains of the other ships had said: “Let’s hurry, We can quickly replace him!”; on the second occasion he maintained that they had said nothing. Don Bosco seemed to back up this version of events by calling attention to what was being said, and so it is probable that we are dealing with three popes in the account. Those who had written down the dream, were convinced that it was a genuine vision and prophecy, although Don Bosco’s immediate aim was probably to encourage his boys to pray more fervently for the Church and the Pope, as well as to indicate the importance of devotion to Mary and the Blessed Sacrament.
We may be living part way through Don Bosco’s vision, but as in all genuine prophecy before its fulfillment, there is quite a degree of uncertainty and ambiguity, and it would be foolish to attempt to come to definite conclusions at this stage. The important point is the way in which the end of the vision points to what would seem to be the world-wide triumph of the Church, a triumph which will be recognized by all, but one which is only gained after much suffering.
Was the Second Vatican Council the Church’s “Iceberg”?
Has the Ark of the Church hit its own calamitous “iceberg”? Today, there is most certainly chaos on board the Ark of the Church―which seems to be taking on the water of worldliness and is listing towards Liberalism and risks splitting into schism. Staying with St. John Bosco for a moment, in a well-known prophecy, made in 1862, exactly 100 years before the disastrous Second Vatican Council was convoked, St. John Bosco predicted the Second Vatican Council and its disastrous impact on the Church. The relevant portion of the prophecy is: “There will be an Ecumenical Council in the next century, after which there will be chaos in the Church. Tranquility will not return until the Pope succeeds in anchoring the boat of Peter between the twin pillars of Eucharistic Devotion and Devotion to Our Lady.”
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) also spoke of a calamitous council. Describing one of her visions in the 1820s, she said: “Among the strangest things that I saw, was long processions of bishops. Their thoughts and utterances were made known to me through images issuing from their mouths. Their faults towards religion were shown by external deformities ... I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound … I saw many good pious Bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand … I saw the ever-increasing tepidity of the clergy, the circle of darkness ever widening … The priests let things go their way and said Mass very irreverently; only a few of them were still a little intelligent and pious ... Most priests contributed to the work of destruction ... I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church … A concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. Religion is there so skillfully undermined and stifled that there are scarcely 100 faithful priests … It was as if people were splitting into two camps ... Near them I saw a horrible Beast coming up from the sea …... I saw the secret sect relentlessly undermining the great Church … They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church …
“They built a large, singular, extravagant church which was to embrace all creeds with equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, and all denominations, a true communion of the unholy with one shepherd and one flock. There was to be a Pope, a salaried Pope, without possessions. All was made ready, many things finished; but, in place of an altar, were only abomination and desolation. Such was the new church to be, and it was for it that he had set fire to the old one … I see the black counterfeit church gaining ground, I see its fatal influence on the public … I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church: I saw it increase; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city ... Then I saw that everything pertaining to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence ... When the time of the reign of Antichrist is near, a false religion will appear which will be opposed to the unity of God and His Church. This will cause the greatest schism the world has ever known. The nearer the time of the end, the more the darkness of Satan will spread on Earth, the greater will be the number of the children of corruption, and the number of the just will correspondingly diminish … In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families―which God has protected …
“When the Church had been for the most part destroyed by the secret sect, and when only the sanctuary and altar were still standing, I saw the wreckers enter the Church with the Beast. There they met a Woman of noble carriage who seemed to be with child because she walked slowly. At this sight, the enemies were terrorized, and the Beast could not take but another step forward. It projected its neck towards the Woman as if to devour her, but the Woman turned about and bowed down [towards the altar], her head touching the ground. Thereupon, I saw the Beast taking to flight towards the sea again, and the enemies were fleeing in the greatest confusion ….
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Wednesday April 3rd & Thursday April 4th
Article 29
The Sinking of the Titanic & The Sinking of the Church!
Article 29
The Sinking of the Titanic & The Sinking of the Church!
It’s That Time of the Year Again!
Years come and go, they change in number―but the months remain the same. No year repeats itself, but the months repeat themselves each year. They say that history repeats itself and they also say: “What goes around, comes around!”―meaning that if someone treats other people badly, then he or she will eventually be treated badly by someone else. They also say that if you do not know your history, then you will be obliged to learn your history by the repeating the mistakes of history. The origins of that last quote are disputed―though its truth is undisputed. We should learn from our own mistakes or the mistakes of others, so that we do not repeat them.
“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it!” Some attribute the quote to the writer and philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952), and they argue that in its original form, made in 1905, it was: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it!” Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) twice Prime Minister of England, paraphrased the original quote in 1948, in a speech to Parliament in the House of Commons, saying: “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it!”
It seems that most Catholics do not know their history very well and are on course for a collision with fate (or God’s Providence), much like crew on the famous English ship, the Titanic, refused to learn what was being told them from neighboring ships, and thus was on course for its collision with fate (or God’s providence) by hitting the fatal iceberg on the night of April 13th, 1912. It was around this time of the year―March 31st, 1912―that the Titanic was finally completed and fully fitted. It had taken around 3,000 workers around 3 years to build her. On April 2nd, 1912, the fully completed Titanic took to water for the first time in her life (baptized, so to speak) in order to undergo the obligatory “sea trials” before being passed as being “ship-shape” for active duty.
The Unsinkable Encounters the Unthinkable
In the lead-up to that fateful night of April 13th (the collision) and April 14th (the sinking), let us, by way of analogy or similitude, learn what we can from history and see how much of what we learn can be applied to the present plight of the ‘Titanic’ Catholic Church, which seems to have struck its own ‘iceberg’ or perhaps several ‘icebergs’ in its voyage through time hoping to take its passengers to Heaven.
What we learn can also be applied to the “Titanic” of your family, or even your own personal life―for there are many who think that they cannot possibly “sink” into Hell, just like many said that the Titanic was unsinkable! Had the owners and crew of the Titanic followed the rules and recommendations, then, not only would all the persons on-board have been saved, but the Titanic would never have hit the iceberg at full-speed ahead and consequently and tragically sunk.
There are many, today, sailing “full-speed-ahead”―but in what direction? The plush and comfortable Titanic sailed into the graveyard of death; the uncomfortable and harsh conditions of the lifeboats saved the lives of a few on the desert of the sea. Do we want the Titanic or its lifeboat? The city or the desert? Pleasure or penance? Fun or fasting?
“God Himself could not sink this ship!”
It is difficult to discover exactly where or when the term ‘unsinkable’ was first used. An extract from a White Star Line publicity brochure produced in 1910 for the twin ships Olympic and Titanic which states —“these two wonderful vessels are designed to be unsinkable.” On June 1st, 1911, the Irish News and the Belfast Morning News contained a report on the launching of Titanic’s hull. The article described the system of watertight compartments and electronic watertight doors and concluded that Titanic was practically unsinkable. In 1911, Shipbuilder magazine published an article on the White Star Line’s sister ships Titanic and Olympic. The article described the construction of the ship and concluded that Titanic was practically unsinkable. “God Himself could not sink this ship!” This quotation is reputed to have been the answer given by a deck-hand, when asked if Titanic was really unsinkable.
Whatever the origin of the belief, there is no doubt that people did believe Titanic to be unsinkable. Passenger Margaret Devaney said: “I took passage on the Titanic for I thought it would be a safe steamship and I had heard it could not sink.” Another passenger, the American Thomson Beattie, wrote home: “We are changing ships and coming home in a new unsinkable boat.” It was the beginning of the twentieth century and people had absolute Faith in new science and technology. They believed that science in the twentieth century could and would provide answers to solve all problems. The sinking of the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic shattered much confidence in science and made people more skeptical about such fantastic claims.
Noe’s Ark versus Titanic
The Titanic was bigger, heavier, stronger and far more comfortable than Noe’s Ark, but it sank anyway, while Noe’s Ark got the job done. One was designed by God, the other designed by man. Noe’s Ark was around 450 feet long (about 1½ lengths of a football field), while the Titanic was almost twice as long as Noe’s Ark, at 883 feet (almost 3 football fields). The Ark was around 75 feet wide, compared to the slightly wider Titanic at 92 feet wide. The height of the Ark was about 45 feet, compared to the 104 feet of the Titanic. The Ark was made of God created wood; the Titanic was constructed from man-made steel. In a certain way, you could say that the Titanic was a modern-day Tower of Babel, the pride of human endeavor!
A 1993 Korean study, headed by Dr. Seon Won Hong, found no fault with the Ark’s dimensions. Such a vessel would have been seaworthy and able to handle waves as high as 100 feet. God’s blueprints were more than adequate! Interestingly, the Hebrew word for Ark (tebah) is used only one other time in the Bible, as the name of the basket that carried baby Moses down the Nile. Some scholars think tebah is more accurately translated “lifeboat” or “life-saving boat.” The Ark was certainly the only lifeboat available to survive the judgment of the Flood. The authorities in charge of the Titanic are said to have refused to place the required number of lifeboats to cater for all passengers in the case of an emergency, because (1) they said that too many visible lifeboats would make the passengers feel uneasy and nervous, and (2) that the Titanic should sink was something unthinkable, for it was unsinkable!
False Sense of Security
Imagine the many different reactions on board the ill-fated Titanic. There was the bravado that idealistically and unrealistically thought that this ship could never sink—especially on this, the Titanic’s maiden voyage! Many survivors testified that they hoped against hope that somehow the ship would not go under. Some knew, or sensed, almost immediately that things would not fare well. Others refused to face reality and kept on enjoying themselves until the very last minutes, when the obvious became obvious. The ship’s captain, Edward Smith, was on record as having said that he could not “imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.”
It seems incredible to us today that anyone could believe that 70,000 tons of steel could be unsinkable, but that was exactly what people in 1912 believed. When the New York office of the White Star Line was informed that Titanic was in trouble, White Star Line Vice President P.A.S. Franklin announced “We place absolute confidence in the Titanic. We believe the boat is unsinkable.” By the time Franklin spoke those words Titanic was at the bottom of the ocean. It would seem that the White Star Line President was also influenced by the myth.
The Catholic’s False Sense of Security
We all know that Our Lord promised that the gates of Hell would not prevail against the Catholic Church: “And I say to thee: ‘That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it!’” (Matthew 16:18). But this does not mean that most of Church could not “go under” and “sink.” In a sense, the Titanic was unsinkable, because its lifeboats—which were really and truly a part of the Titanic and not independent of it—still remained afloat, while the rest of the glorious ship sank disastrously beneath the waves. Perhaps one of those lifeboats, still a part of the Titanic, remains visible in some naval museum to this very day. The very words of Our Lord--“The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)—show that only a remnant of the Faith, or Church, will remain.
This is compounded and reinforced with other quotes, such as: “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14) — as though He would say, “Wide is the ship, but narrow is the lifeboat, and few there are who find it!” St. Luke adds the question that provoked that answer: “A certain man said to him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:23-24). Are there few that will avoid going down with the Catholic Titanic? Our Lord gave the answer. “Many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16).
Is the Catholic Titanic Sinking?
You would look pretty silly frantically climbing into a ship’s lifeboat if there was no danger of the ship sinking, wouldn’t you? Isn’t it a bit silly to think that the Catholic Titanic, or Catholic Church, is sinking or could sink? Well, let’s answer that in stages. Is it silly having lifeboats on a ship if you think it is unlikely to sink? No. Is it silly paying insurance premiums just because you think you are a safe-driver; or paying health insurance, because you think you’re pretty healthy? No. Is it silly telling and warning your children about Hell just because you think your children won’t go there? No. Is it silly locking your car doors just because the odds of someone stealing your car or something from your car is fairly remote? No. In other words, there is nothing wrong in taking precautions in case something might happen. Are you silly for locking the doors of your house when you go away, or when you sleep at night? No. We all do these things on a regular basis, day-in day-out.
The Sinking of the Catholic Titanic is Not Just Imagination
As was noted above, Christ’s promise that His Church will not be destroyed, does not apply to each and every portion of the Church, nor does it apply to each and every member of the Church. History clearly shows this to be true. Heresies and schisms there have always been—and these two things mean that someone, who is part of the Church, does something that makes them no longer part of the Church. It is like a part of a ship that ‘falls-off’ or is destroyed, even though the whole ship is not destroyed. If the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, then, just like a human body, parts of the Mystical Body of the Church can become diseased and die — even be amputated — even though the body remains. A person could have their fingers, toes, arms, feet, legs, ears, nose amputated; they could have their tongue cut-out, their eyes gouged-out; even have some internal organs removed — and yet still remain living and be a person, though a severely crippled person.
Benedict XVI Speaks of the Sinking Church
Pope Benedict XVI, a few years ago, confessed that in all likelihood the Church, in the near future, will be a GREATLY reduced Church—having lost most of its members. “She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes ... she will lose many of her social privileges. . . As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members .... It will be hard-going for the Church … It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek ... The process will be long and wearisome … And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals.” (from his book Faith and the Future).
Our Lady Speaks of the Sinking Church
The above comments of Benedict XVI obviously refer to the apostasy from the Faith that Our Lady has alluded to on several occasions: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God” (Our Lady of La Salette). “The Church will be full of those who accept compromises” (Our Lady of Akita). “The demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord” (Our Lady of Akita). “Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops” (Our Lady of La Salette). “Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls” (Our Lady of La Salette). “The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … a false light [will] brighten the people” (Our Lady of La Salette). “Various heresies will be propagated. As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom.” (Our Lady of Good Success). “Rome will lose the Faith” (Our Lady of La Salette). “However, in Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will be preserved” (Our Lady of Fatima).
Let’s Conduct an Inquiry!
Inquiries into the Titanic disaster were immediately held in the USA and in England, with crew and passengers, as well as crew of nearby ships, giving evidence. The two inquiries reached broadly similar conclusions; (1) the regulations on the number of lifeboats that ships had to carry were out of date and inadequate, (2) Captain Smith had failed to take proper heed of ice warnings, (3) the lifeboats had not been properly filled or crewed, (4) the lifeboat drills had not been carried out to prepare the passengers and crew for the possibility of the ship sinking, (5) there was a gross negligence on the part of Titanic’s wireless operators in their communication with other ships, (6) and the collision was the direct result of steaming into a dangerous area at too high a speed.
We could loosely make an analogous inquiry into why the Catholic Titanic is sinking, and the evidence shows that (1) the number of prayers and sacrifices (the ‘lifeboats’ of the Church) that we think we ought to carry (pray and do) are insufficient in number and in poor condition, (2) Catholic Captains—the clergy, parents and teachers—have failed to take proper heed of Our Lady’s icy warnings, (3) the prayers requests (lifeboats) of Our Lady have not been properly filled or instigated, (4) there has been a neglect in instructing souls in spiritual drills and exercises for the possibility of a sinking Church, (5) there has been a gross neglect, by those in authority—clergy, parents, teachers—in their communication with Heaven and communicating Heaven’s messages to those in their charge, (6) and the damage to the ship of the Church is the direct result steaming into the dangerous waters of the world, at high speed, without due care and attention.
Years come and go, they change in number―but the months remain the same. No year repeats itself, but the months repeat themselves each year. They say that history repeats itself and they also say: “What goes around, comes around!”―meaning that if someone treats other people badly, then he or she will eventually be treated badly by someone else. They also say that if you do not know your history, then you will be obliged to learn your history by the repeating the mistakes of history. The origins of that last quote are disputed―though its truth is undisputed. We should learn from our own mistakes or the mistakes of others, so that we do not repeat them.
“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it!” Some attribute the quote to the writer and philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952), and they argue that in its original form, made in 1905, it was: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it!” Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) twice Prime Minister of England, paraphrased the original quote in 1948, in a speech to Parliament in the House of Commons, saying: “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it!”
It seems that most Catholics do not know their history very well and are on course for a collision with fate (or God’s Providence), much like crew on the famous English ship, the Titanic, refused to learn what was being told them from neighboring ships, and thus was on course for its collision with fate (or God’s providence) by hitting the fatal iceberg on the night of April 13th, 1912. It was around this time of the year―March 31st, 1912―that the Titanic was finally completed and fully fitted. It had taken around 3,000 workers around 3 years to build her. On April 2nd, 1912, the fully completed Titanic took to water for the first time in her life (baptized, so to speak) in order to undergo the obligatory “sea trials” before being passed as being “ship-shape” for active duty.
The Unsinkable Encounters the Unthinkable
In the lead-up to that fateful night of April 13th (the collision) and April 14th (the sinking), let us, by way of analogy or similitude, learn what we can from history and see how much of what we learn can be applied to the present plight of the ‘Titanic’ Catholic Church, which seems to have struck its own ‘iceberg’ or perhaps several ‘icebergs’ in its voyage through time hoping to take its passengers to Heaven.
What we learn can also be applied to the “Titanic” of your family, or even your own personal life―for there are many who think that they cannot possibly “sink” into Hell, just like many said that the Titanic was unsinkable! Had the owners and crew of the Titanic followed the rules and recommendations, then, not only would all the persons on-board have been saved, but the Titanic would never have hit the iceberg at full-speed ahead and consequently and tragically sunk.
There are many, today, sailing “full-speed-ahead”―but in what direction? The plush and comfortable Titanic sailed into the graveyard of death; the uncomfortable and harsh conditions of the lifeboats saved the lives of a few on the desert of the sea. Do we want the Titanic or its lifeboat? The city or the desert? Pleasure or penance? Fun or fasting?
“God Himself could not sink this ship!”
It is difficult to discover exactly where or when the term ‘unsinkable’ was first used. An extract from a White Star Line publicity brochure produced in 1910 for the twin ships Olympic and Titanic which states —“these two wonderful vessels are designed to be unsinkable.” On June 1st, 1911, the Irish News and the Belfast Morning News contained a report on the launching of Titanic’s hull. The article described the system of watertight compartments and electronic watertight doors and concluded that Titanic was practically unsinkable. In 1911, Shipbuilder magazine published an article on the White Star Line’s sister ships Titanic and Olympic. The article described the construction of the ship and concluded that Titanic was practically unsinkable. “God Himself could not sink this ship!” This quotation is reputed to have been the answer given by a deck-hand, when asked if Titanic was really unsinkable.
Whatever the origin of the belief, there is no doubt that people did believe Titanic to be unsinkable. Passenger Margaret Devaney said: “I took passage on the Titanic for I thought it would be a safe steamship and I had heard it could not sink.” Another passenger, the American Thomson Beattie, wrote home: “We are changing ships and coming home in a new unsinkable boat.” It was the beginning of the twentieth century and people had absolute Faith in new science and technology. They believed that science in the twentieth century could and would provide answers to solve all problems. The sinking of the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic shattered much confidence in science and made people more skeptical about such fantastic claims.
Noe’s Ark versus Titanic
The Titanic was bigger, heavier, stronger and far more comfortable than Noe’s Ark, but it sank anyway, while Noe’s Ark got the job done. One was designed by God, the other designed by man. Noe’s Ark was around 450 feet long (about 1½ lengths of a football field), while the Titanic was almost twice as long as Noe’s Ark, at 883 feet (almost 3 football fields). The Ark was around 75 feet wide, compared to the slightly wider Titanic at 92 feet wide. The height of the Ark was about 45 feet, compared to the 104 feet of the Titanic. The Ark was made of God created wood; the Titanic was constructed from man-made steel. In a certain way, you could say that the Titanic was a modern-day Tower of Babel, the pride of human endeavor!
A 1993 Korean study, headed by Dr. Seon Won Hong, found no fault with the Ark’s dimensions. Such a vessel would have been seaworthy and able to handle waves as high as 100 feet. God’s blueprints were more than adequate! Interestingly, the Hebrew word for Ark (tebah) is used only one other time in the Bible, as the name of the basket that carried baby Moses down the Nile. Some scholars think tebah is more accurately translated “lifeboat” or “life-saving boat.” The Ark was certainly the only lifeboat available to survive the judgment of the Flood. The authorities in charge of the Titanic are said to have refused to place the required number of lifeboats to cater for all passengers in the case of an emergency, because (1) they said that too many visible lifeboats would make the passengers feel uneasy and nervous, and (2) that the Titanic should sink was something unthinkable, for it was unsinkable!
False Sense of Security
Imagine the many different reactions on board the ill-fated Titanic. There was the bravado that idealistically and unrealistically thought that this ship could never sink—especially on this, the Titanic’s maiden voyage! Many survivors testified that they hoped against hope that somehow the ship would not go under. Some knew, or sensed, almost immediately that things would not fare well. Others refused to face reality and kept on enjoying themselves until the very last minutes, when the obvious became obvious. The ship’s captain, Edward Smith, was on record as having said that he could not “imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.”
It seems incredible to us today that anyone could believe that 70,000 tons of steel could be unsinkable, but that was exactly what people in 1912 believed. When the New York office of the White Star Line was informed that Titanic was in trouble, White Star Line Vice President P.A.S. Franklin announced “We place absolute confidence in the Titanic. We believe the boat is unsinkable.” By the time Franklin spoke those words Titanic was at the bottom of the ocean. It would seem that the White Star Line President was also influenced by the myth.
The Catholic’s False Sense of Security
We all know that Our Lord promised that the gates of Hell would not prevail against the Catholic Church: “And I say to thee: ‘That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it!’” (Matthew 16:18). But this does not mean that most of Church could not “go under” and “sink.” In a sense, the Titanic was unsinkable, because its lifeboats—which were really and truly a part of the Titanic and not independent of it—still remained afloat, while the rest of the glorious ship sank disastrously beneath the waves. Perhaps one of those lifeboats, still a part of the Titanic, remains visible in some naval museum to this very day. The very words of Our Lord--“The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8)—show that only a remnant of the Faith, or Church, will remain.
This is compounded and reinforced with other quotes, such as: “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14) — as though He would say, “Wide is the ship, but narrow is the lifeboat, and few there are who find it!” St. Luke adds the question that provoked that answer: “A certain man said to him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:23-24). Are there few that will avoid going down with the Catholic Titanic? Our Lord gave the answer. “Many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16).
Is the Catholic Titanic Sinking?
You would look pretty silly frantically climbing into a ship’s lifeboat if there was no danger of the ship sinking, wouldn’t you? Isn’t it a bit silly to think that the Catholic Titanic, or Catholic Church, is sinking or could sink? Well, let’s answer that in stages. Is it silly having lifeboats on a ship if you think it is unlikely to sink? No. Is it silly paying insurance premiums just because you think you are a safe-driver; or paying health insurance, because you think you’re pretty healthy? No. Is it silly telling and warning your children about Hell just because you think your children won’t go there? No. Is it silly locking your car doors just because the odds of someone stealing your car or something from your car is fairly remote? No. In other words, there is nothing wrong in taking precautions in case something might happen. Are you silly for locking the doors of your house when you go away, or when you sleep at night? No. We all do these things on a regular basis, day-in day-out.
The Sinking of the Catholic Titanic is Not Just Imagination
As was noted above, Christ’s promise that His Church will not be destroyed, does not apply to each and every portion of the Church, nor does it apply to each and every member of the Church. History clearly shows this to be true. Heresies and schisms there have always been—and these two things mean that someone, who is part of the Church, does something that makes them no longer part of the Church. It is like a part of a ship that ‘falls-off’ or is destroyed, even though the whole ship is not destroyed. If the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, then, just like a human body, parts of the Mystical Body of the Church can become diseased and die — even be amputated — even though the body remains. A person could have their fingers, toes, arms, feet, legs, ears, nose amputated; they could have their tongue cut-out, their eyes gouged-out; even have some internal organs removed — and yet still remain living and be a person, though a severely crippled person.
Benedict XVI Speaks of the Sinking Church
Pope Benedict XVI, a few years ago, confessed that in all likelihood the Church, in the near future, will be a GREATLY reduced Church—having lost most of its members. “She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes ... she will lose many of her social privileges. . . As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members .... It will be hard-going for the Church … It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek ... The process will be long and wearisome … And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals.” (from his book Faith and the Future).
Our Lady Speaks of the Sinking Church
The above comments of Benedict XVI obviously refer to the apostasy from the Faith that Our Lady has alluded to on several occasions: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God” (Our Lady of La Salette). “The Church will be full of those who accept compromises” (Our Lady of Akita). “The demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord” (Our Lady of Akita). “Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops” (Our Lady of La Salette). “Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls” (Our Lady of La Salette). “The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … a false light [will] brighten the people” (Our Lady of La Salette). “Various heresies will be propagated. As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs” (Our Lady of Good Success). “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom.” (Our Lady of Good Success). “Rome will lose the Faith” (Our Lady of La Salette). “However, in Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will be preserved” (Our Lady of Fatima).
Let’s Conduct an Inquiry!
Inquiries into the Titanic disaster were immediately held in the USA and in England, with crew and passengers, as well as crew of nearby ships, giving evidence. The two inquiries reached broadly similar conclusions; (1) the regulations on the number of lifeboats that ships had to carry were out of date and inadequate, (2) Captain Smith had failed to take proper heed of ice warnings, (3) the lifeboats had not been properly filled or crewed, (4) the lifeboat drills had not been carried out to prepare the passengers and crew for the possibility of the ship sinking, (5) there was a gross negligence on the part of Titanic’s wireless operators in their communication with other ships, (6) and the collision was the direct result of steaming into a dangerous area at too high a speed.
We could loosely make an analogous inquiry into why the Catholic Titanic is sinking, and the evidence shows that (1) the number of prayers and sacrifices (the ‘lifeboats’ of the Church) that we think we ought to carry (pray and do) are insufficient in number and in poor condition, (2) Catholic Captains—the clergy, parents and teachers—have failed to take proper heed of Our Lady’s icy warnings, (3) the prayers requests (lifeboats) of Our Lady have not been properly filled or instigated, (4) there has been a neglect in instructing souls in spiritual drills and exercises for the possibility of a sinking Church, (5) there has been a gross neglect, by those in authority—clergy, parents, teachers—in their communication with Heaven and communicating Heaven’s messages to those in their charge, (6) and the damage to the ship of the Church is the direct result steaming into the dangerous waters of the world, at high speed, without due care and attention.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Monday April 1st & Tuesday April 2nd
Article 28
Don't Be Intimidated!
Article 28
Don't Be Intimidated!
Intimidation is the Name of the Game
We live in an intimidating world! We are living in intimidating times! We are under constant threat from one side or another. As a whole, the world is in a financial crisis―businesses are closing down, jobs are being lost, prices are rising, continuing threats of Social Security payments being stopped, threats of epidemic diseases, a marked rise in earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, forest fires, droughts and famine. Threats to ‘terrorist’ shootings on streets, in schools and public venues. Threats to privacy through computer and phone cameras and microphones filming, photographing and recording everything they want―to be stored in a gargantuan digital library. Hacking electronic devices and spying or stealing through them. Threats to freedom by subversive surveillance and tracking techniques through phones, computers, televisions, computerized car systems, closed circuit cameras in stores and on streets, and drones. ‘Big Brother’ is playing at being God and ‘Big Brother’ is watching you closely. Furthermore, we are part of a Church that is being intimidated! And things will only get worse! Our Lord and Our Lady have already foretold this state of affairs.
Intimidation of Our Lord
Our Lord, while He still walked this Earth, also suffered intimidation from the Jews―especially the Scribes and Pharisees―who conspired against Him: “And the Pharisees going out made a consultation against Him, how they might destroy Him” (Matthew 12:14). “And the Pharisees going out, immediately made a consultation with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him … And they watched Him whether He would heal on the Sabbath days; that they might accuse Him … The Chief Priests and the Scribes sought how they might destroy Him. For they feared Him, because the whole multitude was in admiration at His doctrine … Now the feast of the Pasch and of the Azymes was after two days; and the Chief Priests and the Scribes sought how they might by some wile lay hold on Him, and kill Him … And Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the Chief Priests, to betray Him to them. Who, at hearing it, were glad; and they promised him they would give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray Him” (Mark 3:6; 3:2; 11:18; 14:1; 14:10-11). “And the Chief Priests and the Scribes sought how they might put Jesus to death: but they feared the people” (Luke 22:2). “The Chief Priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said: ‘What do we do, for this Man doth many miracles? If we so leave Him alone, all will believe in Him and the Romans will come and take away our place and nation! But one of them, named Caiphas, being the High Priest that year, said to them: ‘You know nothing! Neither do you realize that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, so that the whole nation perish not!’ And this he spoke, not of himself, but being the High Priest of that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation. And not only for the nation, but to gather together in one the children of God, that were dispersed. From that day therefore they devised to put Him to death. Wherefore, Jesus walked no more openly among the Jews; but He went into a country near the desert, unto a city that is called Ephrem, and there He abode with His disciples” (John 11:47-54).
If They Have Intimidated Me, They Will Also Intimidate You
Let us not be surprised at the ceaseless and growing intimidation and persecution that the Mystical Body of Christ has undergone, is undergoing and will undergo even more so in the future! Our Lord foretold it. Our Lady foretold. While He still walked this Earth, Our Lord warned us: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). Our Lord then goes on to paint a very intimidating picture of our times:
“You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. And when you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that ye be not troubled and fear ye not. For such things must needs be and these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places. Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. But look to yourselves. For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony unto them. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death. The brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all nations and by all men for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. And then if any man shall say to you, ‘Lo, here is Christ! Lo, He is here!’—do not believe! For there will rise up false Christs and false prophets, and they shall show signs and wonders, to seduce (if it were possible) even the elect. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. But he that shall persevere and endure to the end, he shall be saved. For in those days shall be such tribulations, as were not from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, neither shall be. And unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect which He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days. Take you heed therefore; behold I have foretold you all things” (Combined version of Matthew 24:6-13 and Mark 13:7-23). It might be April 1st― “April Fools Day” ― but Our Lord is not fooling around, He is not joking! His message is intimidating!
Our Lady of Intimidation
Our Lady―nearly 2,000 years later―says nothing different to her Son. At Quito (as Our Lady of Good Success), at Fatima and Akita, her message is equally intimidating―or even more intimidating, since it goes into more detail: “
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this!
“I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! …
“The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people.
“During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.
“The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church.
“As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world …
“Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like.
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness …
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … The seasons will be altered, the Earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc...
“The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test?” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Do Not Allow Yourself to be Intimidated
Yet despite that intimidating picture, Our Lord adds: “And I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do!” (Luke 12:4). “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:28). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
The Holy Ghost, in the Old Testament warns: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fear them not―for the Lord your God will fight for you! … Because the Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger … The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you, as He did in Egypt in the sight of all” (Deuteronomy 3:22; 20:4; 1:30). While in the New Testament He adds: “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication, praying at all times!” (Ephesians 6:11-17).
Our Lady Calls Us to the Intimidating Battle
“The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession ... Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! …
“God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!
“And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
The Power of Prayer―The Power of Monasteries and Convents
Everyone underestimates the power of prayer and everyone underestimates the power of monasteries and convents. Our Lady of Good Success says: “The exquisite aroma that perfumes the fortunate countries that possess monasteries and convents, purifies the air polluted by those in the world delivered over to the most shameful vices and passions ... Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one, on the face of the Earth, is aware from where comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
With Religious Vocations Falling―So Does the Church
Perhaps you are unaware―perhaps you don’t even care―but Catholic vocations to the priestly and religious life have fallen drastically over the last 50 years (since the end of Second Vatican Council in 1965). Most Catholics know little about their Faith, therefore they know even less about the statistics concerning their Faith―they are content to know “news headlines” and no more. Well, since 1965 the numbers of vocations to the priestly or religious life (monks, nuns, brothers, sisters) has plummeted.
► PRIESTS: The Catholic population has risen enormously since 1965―doubling from 653 million to 1,313 million by the end of 2018. Whereas the worldwide number of Catholic priests (combined total for both diocesan and religious priests) was over 420,000 in 1965 and was around 410,000 at the end of 2018. However, the average age of those priests has risen from around 35 years old in 1965 to over 65 years old in 2019―which means that soon, there will be massive collapse in the number of priests as the older ones die, for there are few younger ones to replace them. Although the Vatican report does not mention it, it is no secret that very large numbers of European and North American clergy are in the age range of late 70s to 90s, which explains why the official statistics for priests in Europe and North America have little to do with the actual (and much reduced) number of priests available for, or capable of, pastoral duties on the ground. In 1970, fewer than 10% of priests in the USA were over the age of 65. Now it is somewhere between 45% and 50%.
Not only that, but the rise in the Catholic population to 1,313 million, means that globally there are 3,200 persons per priest to care for―if each priest of those 410,000 were in active service (which they are not) and if all Catholics were practicing Catholics (which they are not). While globally there are 3,200 Catholics for every Catholic priest, in South America the average priest serves 7,203 Catholics, according to Vatican statistics. In the United States and Canada, for comparison, the Vatican estimates that there are 1,916 Catholics for every priest. As will be shown further below, a priest has only limited time daily to give to his flock of 2,000 to 3,200 souls―which, giving a priest a hypothetical 7 to 8 hours a day of potential “contact time”, that comes out to daily seeing 4 persons per minute (for 2,000 souls), or giving each of those 2,000 persons 1½ minutes per week, or 6 minutes a month. If the priest has 3,200 souls committed to is care, then he can see 400 people per hour, almost 7 persons per minute, or allocate each person 1 minute a day, or 4 minutes a week.
Most Catholics are oblivious to the impending disaster to the priesthood in the USA. After the USA number of priest skyrocketed from about 27,000 in 1930 to 58,000 in 1965, the number of priests in the United States fell to around 45,000 in 2002, to 38,000 in 2014. By 2020, there will be about 31,000 priests―and only 15,000 will be under the age of 70, according to a study conducted by Dr. James R. Lothian of Fordham University.
► NUNS & SISTERS: The fall in the numbers of religious vocations (monks, nuns, brothers, sisters) is of an appalling magnitude! Worldwide, in 1965, there were 1 million nuns and sisters―today that has fallen to 650,000, with most of those nuns and sisters being aged 70 and over. In the USA alone, female religious (nuns and sisters) have fallen from a total of over 180,000 in 1965 to having only 153,645 in 1970, and 92,107 in 1995, 68,634 in 2005, and 49,883 in 2014. The Vatican’s statistical yearbook, the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae (the Annual Statistics of the Church) confirms that continual fall. Thus the USA female religious numbers fell by more than 70%. The USA is not alone. According to a 2000 study by Rodney Stark and Roger Finke, between 1965 and 1995 the number of nuns plummeted by 51% in the Netherlands, by 48% in Germany, by 46% in Canada, by 44% in France, and by 43% in the UK―statistics that are on par with the 49% fall in the USA over the same time frame. The current worldwide total of female religious, at the end of 2017, was 659,000, compared to over 1 million in 1965. The age status of European and North American women religious is the same as that of priests in Europe and North America, with the majority of nuns and sisters being extremely old― very aged, and when they die in the near future, the fall in overall numbers of nuns and sisters will be disastrous.
► MONKS & BROTHERS: The numbers of monks and brothers is even worse. Worldwide, the numbers of male religious (monks and brothers) fell from 79,408 in 1970, to 52,625 in 2016―which represents an average loss of 34% worldwide. The figures for the USA monks and brothers are even worse―they have fallen twice as much, from 12,271 in 1965, to 8,625 in 1975, to 7,544 in 1985, to 6,535 in 1995, to 4,119 in 2012, and to 4,007 in 2014―which is an overall fall of 67% from 1965 to 2014 in the USA.
As Our Lady of Good Success said: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one, on the face of the Earth, is aware from where comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
An Idiotic Attempt to Cover the Collapse
In a National Catholic Reporter article from 2008, it was reported that James Davidson, a Catholic sociologist of religion from Purdue University in Indiana, “believes it’s inaccurate to interpret the shrinking number of priests and a decrease in the number of men and women joining religious communities as a general decline in the Catholic Church. Instead, he said, rising numbers of deacons and lay ecclesial ministers point to a Catholic Church that is vibrant, though perhaps one that will be led in a different way in the future. ‘The Church is being transformed as the social context of the laity is being transformed … The strength and vitality of the Catholic Church is in its laity’ said Davidson.” (National Catholic Reporter, October 21st. 2008). This is as ridiculous argument as one that would say we are heading towards a vibrant health care system, because of an ever-increasing shortage of doctors and nurses, who are being replaced by well-meaning lay people. Or the country’s defense system is becoming more vibrant and secure, because trained soldiers are abandoning ing the military in unprecedented numbers, but they are being replaced by folks at home who are ready to pick up a gun in the event of a war.
What a load of baloney! What stupidity! What a bunch of blatant damage limitation waffle! What a waste of his university education! Since when does a “shrinking number of priests and a decrease in the number of men and women joining religious communities” … “point to a Catholic Church that is vibrant”? Is a massive loss of highly and specially trained priests, monks, a good thing? Davidson argues that “the Church is being transformed as … rising numbers of deacons and lay ecclesial ministers” are taking the place of priests and religious to create “a Catholic Church that is vibrant, though perhaps one that will be led in a different way in the future”―and perhaps led to a different final destination too!
A Day in the Life of Priest
► Daily Sleep = 7 hours
► Shower, Dress, Bathroom/Restroom throughout the day, etc. = 30 minutes
► Breakfast (15 minutes), Lunch (30 minutes), Dinner (15 minutes) = 1 hour total
► Obligation of offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (prayers before/after Mass; vest/unvest for Mass) = 1 hour
► Obligation of Praying the Divine Office (properly and not hurriedly) = 1 hour
► Obligation of Daily Meditation & Rosary & additional prayers = 1 hour
► Daily Religious Study (review of Faith, prepare sermons, conferences, classes) = 1 hour
► End of Day preparing for bed = 30 minutes
► Total for the day: 13 hours per day.
► Most of these estimates are extremely minimal and will frequently take longer than estimated above.
This total of 13 hours per day is minimal and will frequently take up much more time―which does not include the “dripping-faucet-of-time” activities that quickly fill up the day with additional minutes and hours. Walking or driving from one place to another―simply leaving one activity, such as studying and having to put things away and walking over the church to say Mass―that all takes minutes, and such “dripping-minutes” easily add up to an hour or more per day. Answering phone calls, answering the door, reading mail, writing letters, routine maintenance, parish meetings for various different groups, daily checking on local and world news both Catholic and secular, personal exercise or health care, etc. All of this can easily add one, two or three more hours to the day. In the end, the priest has around 8 hours to do other things.
There are simply too few priests to go around and cater for the larger numbers of Catholic laity―which has doubles since 1965, while the overall number of priests has declined―not forgetting that average age of the priest in 2018 is over 65 years of age, compared overall average of only 35 years of age back in 1965. Imagine being told to double your workload and output by 100% at your place of work and not being any extra time to do it in! Twice the work, in the same time constraint, with no additional help. This is one fundamental reason―and there are several others―for the decline in interest, knowledge and practice of the Catholic Faith, whereby numbers of regular Sunday church-goers have fallen from an average of 3 out 4 in the 1950s to less than 1 in 4 in 2018.
The Intimidation of Having “Gay” Priests
Using the term “gay” does not mean a cheerful, friendly, happy priest―it sadly means a homosexual priest. Apparently, according to various reports―from outside the Church and more importantly from within the Church―the number of homosexual priests is not a meager number! Only around 10 priests in the United States have publicly admitted to being homosexuals. But it is estimated that around 30% to 40% (3 to 4 out of 10) of the American Catholic clergy are probably homosexual, according to dozens of estimates from homosexual priests themselves and researchers. Some priests say the number is closer to 75% (15 out of 20). One priest in Wisconsin is on record as saying that he assumes every priest is homosexual, unless he knows for a fact he is not. Another priest in Florida said: “A third are gay, a third are straight and a third don’t know what the hell they are!”
The New York TImes recently interviewed 24 homosexual priests and seminarians from 13 different states in the USA, who shared details of their lives within the “the Catholic closet.” As The New York Times reports: “Almost all of them required strict confidentiality to speak without fear of retribution from their bishops or superiors. A few had been expressly forbidden to come out or even to speak about homosexuality. Most are in active ministry, and could lose more than their jobs if they are outed.” The New York Times article continued to explain that the livelihood of the priest is in the Church’s hands, for it “almost always controls a priest’s housing, health insurance and retirement pension. He could lose all three if his bishop finds his sexuality disqualifying, even if he is faithful to his vows of celibacy. The environment for gay priests has grown only more dangerous.” The article adds that the recent defrocking of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, due to his sexual abuse of boys and seminarians, has fanned-the-flames and poured more gasoline on the “accusations that homosexuality is to blame for the Church’s resurgent abuse crisis.” It further states that Pope Francis has become more critical than ever in recent months and has lamented that homosexuality is seemingly growing to be “fashionable.”
As Our Lady of La Salette warned: “The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people.”
We live in an intimidating world! We are living in intimidating times! We are under constant threat from one side or another. As a whole, the world is in a financial crisis―businesses are closing down, jobs are being lost, prices are rising, continuing threats of Social Security payments being stopped, threats of epidemic diseases, a marked rise in earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, forest fires, droughts and famine. Threats to ‘terrorist’ shootings on streets, in schools and public venues. Threats to privacy through computer and phone cameras and microphones filming, photographing and recording everything they want―to be stored in a gargantuan digital library. Hacking electronic devices and spying or stealing through them. Threats to freedom by subversive surveillance and tracking techniques through phones, computers, televisions, computerized car systems, closed circuit cameras in stores and on streets, and drones. ‘Big Brother’ is playing at being God and ‘Big Brother’ is watching you closely. Furthermore, we are part of a Church that is being intimidated! And things will only get worse! Our Lord and Our Lady have already foretold this state of affairs.
Intimidation of Our Lord
Our Lord, while He still walked this Earth, also suffered intimidation from the Jews―especially the Scribes and Pharisees―who conspired against Him: “And the Pharisees going out made a consultation against Him, how they might destroy Him” (Matthew 12:14). “And the Pharisees going out, immediately made a consultation with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him … And they watched Him whether He would heal on the Sabbath days; that they might accuse Him … The Chief Priests and the Scribes sought how they might destroy Him. For they feared Him, because the whole multitude was in admiration at His doctrine … Now the feast of the Pasch and of the Azymes was after two days; and the Chief Priests and the Scribes sought how they might by some wile lay hold on Him, and kill Him … And Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the Chief Priests, to betray Him to them. Who, at hearing it, were glad; and they promised him they would give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray Him” (Mark 3:6; 3:2; 11:18; 14:1; 14:10-11). “And the Chief Priests and the Scribes sought how they might put Jesus to death: but they feared the people” (Luke 22:2). “The Chief Priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said: ‘What do we do, for this Man doth many miracles? If we so leave Him alone, all will believe in Him and the Romans will come and take away our place and nation! But one of them, named Caiphas, being the High Priest that year, said to them: ‘You know nothing! Neither do you realize that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, so that the whole nation perish not!’ And this he spoke, not of himself, but being the High Priest of that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation. And not only for the nation, but to gather together in one the children of God, that were dispersed. From that day therefore they devised to put Him to death. Wherefore, Jesus walked no more openly among the Jews; but He went into a country near the desert, unto a city that is called Ephrem, and there He abode with His disciples” (John 11:47-54).
If They Have Intimidated Me, They Will Also Intimidate You
Let us not be surprised at the ceaseless and growing intimidation and persecution that the Mystical Body of Christ has undergone, is undergoing and will undergo even more so in the future! Our Lord foretold it. Our Lady foretold. While He still walked this Earth, Our Lord warned us: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). Our Lord then goes on to paint a very intimidating picture of our times:
“You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. And when you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that ye be not troubled and fear ye not. For such things must needs be and these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places. Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. But look to yourselves. For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony unto them. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death. The brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all nations and by all men for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. And then if any man shall say to you, ‘Lo, here is Christ! Lo, He is here!’—do not believe! For there will rise up false Christs and false prophets, and they shall show signs and wonders, to seduce (if it were possible) even the elect. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. But he that shall persevere and endure to the end, he shall be saved. For in those days shall be such tribulations, as were not from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, neither shall be. And unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect which He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days. Take you heed therefore; behold I have foretold you all things” (Combined version of Matthew 24:6-13 and Mark 13:7-23). It might be April 1st― “April Fools Day” ― but Our Lord is not fooling around, He is not joking! His message is intimidating!
Our Lady of Intimidation
Our Lady―nearly 2,000 years later―says nothing different to her Son. At Quito (as Our Lady of Good Success), at Fatima and Akita, her message is equally intimidating―or even more intimidating, since it goes into more detail: “
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this!
“I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! …
“The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people.
“During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds ... They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family.
“The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God ... The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres … The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them … These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church.
“As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church ... The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world …
“Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent ... Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Nature is asking for vengeance because of man, and she trembles, with dread, at what must happen to the Earth stained with crime. Tremble, Earth, and you who proclaim yourselves as serving Jesus Christ and who, on the inside, only adore yourselves! Tremble, for God will hand you over to His enemy, because the holy places are in a state of corruption. Many convents are no longer houses of God, but the grazing-grounds of Asmodeas [the devil of impurity] and his like.
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness …
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will strike in an unprecedented way. God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … The seasons will be altered, the Earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the Earth’s globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc...
“The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death. Several will abandon the Faith, and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God ... as true Faith fades and false light will brighten the people … The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … Nations will be annihilated … Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... There will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. People will believe that all is lost! … Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test?” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
Do Not Allow Yourself to be Intimidated
Yet despite that intimidating picture, Our Lord adds: “And I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do!” (Luke 12:4). “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul―but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:28). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
The Holy Ghost, in the Old Testament warns: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fear them not―for the Lord your God will fight for you! … Because the Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger … The Lord God, Who is your leader, Himself will fight for you, as He did in Egypt in the sight of all” (Deuteronomy 3:22; 20:4; 1:30). While in the New Testament He adds: “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God. By all prayer and supplication, praying at all times!” (Ephesians 6:11-17).
Our Lady Calls Us to the Intimidating Battle
“The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession ... Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you … Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and the end of the war … The only weapons which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners … Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Pray very much for the Pope, Bishops, and Priests! … I desire souls to console and to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful … If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent … This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration … This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church will be finally free of his cruel tyranny ... In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph! … Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach! …
“God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will. I call on the true disciples of the living God who reigns in Heaven! I call on the true followers of Christ made man, the only true Savior of men! I call on my children, the true faithful, those who have given themselves to me, so that I may lead them to my divine Son, those whom I carry in my arms, so to speak, those who have lived on my spirit! Finally, I call on the Apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in scorn and in silence, in prayer and in mortification, in chastity and in union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world! It is time they came out and filled the world with light! Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children! I am at your side and within you, provided that your Faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days! May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ! Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see! For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends!
“And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God” (Our Lady of Good Success, at Quito in Ecuador, Our Lady of La Salette, France; Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Akita, Japan).
The Power of Prayer―The Power of Monasteries and Convents
Everyone underestimates the power of prayer and everyone underestimates the power of monasteries and convents. Our Lady of Good Success says: “The exquisite aroma that perfumes the fortunate countries that possess monasteries and convents, purifies the air polluted by those in the world delivered over to the most shameful vices and passions ... Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one, on the face of the Earth, is aware from where comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
With Religious Vocations Falling―So Does the Church
Perhaps you are unaware―perhaps you don’t even care―but Catholic vocations to the priestly and religious life have fallen drastically over the last 50 years (since the end of Second Vatican Council in 1965). Most Catholics know little about their Faith, therefore they know even less about the statistics concerning their Faith―they are content to know “news headlines” and no more. Well, since 1965 the numbers of vocations to the priestly or religious life (monks, nuns, brothers, sisters) has plummeted.
► PRIESTS: The Catholic population has risen enormously since 1965―doubling from 653 million to 1,313 million by the end of 2018. Whereas the worldwide number of Catholic priests (combined total for both diocesan and religious priests) was over 420,000 in 1965 and was around 410,000 at the end of 2018. However, the average age of those priests has risen from around 35 years old in 1965 to over 65 years old in 2019―which means that soon, there will be massive collapse in the number of priests as the older ones die, for there are few younger ones to replace them. Although the Vatican report does not mention it, it is no secret that very large numbers of European and North American clergy are in the age range of late 70s to 90s, which explains why the official statistics for priests in Europe and North America have little to do with the actual (and much reduced) number of priests available for, or capable of, pastoral duties on the ground. In 1970, fewer than 10% of priests in the USA were over the age of 65. Now it is somewhere between 45% and 50%.
Not only that, but the rise in the Catholic population to 1,313 million, means that globally there are 3,200 persons per priest to care for―if each priest of those 410,000 were in active service (which they are not) and if all Catholics were practicing Catholics (which they are not). While globally there are 3,200 Catholics for every Catholic priest, in South America the average priest serves 7,203 Catholics, according to Vatican statistics. In the United States and Canada, for comparison, the Vatican estimates that there are 1,916 Catholics for every priest. As will be shown further below, a priest has only limited time daily to give to his flock of 2,000 to 3,200 souls―which, giving a priest a hypothetical 7 to 8 hours a day of potential “contact time”, that comes out to daily seeing 4 persons per minute (for 2,000 souls), or giving each of those 2,000 persons 1½ minutes per week, or 6 minutes a month. If the priest has 3,200 souls committed to is care, then he can see 400 people per hour, almost 7 persons per minute, or allocate each person 1 minute a day, or 4 minutes a week.
Most Catholics are oblivious to the impending disaster to the priesthood in the USA. After the USA number of priest skyrocketed from about 27,000 in 1930 to 58,000 in 1965, the number of priests in the United States fell to around 45,000 in 2002, to 38,000 in 2014. By 2020, there will be about 31,000 priests―and only 15,000 will be under the age of 70, according to a study conducted by Dr. James R. Lothian of Fordham University.
► NUNS & SISTERS: The fall in the numbers of religious vocations (monks, nuns, brothers, sisters) is of an appalling magnitude! Worldwide, in 1965, there were 1 million nuns and sisters―today that has fallen to 650,000, with most of those nuns and sisters being aged 70 and over. In the USA alone, female religious (nuns and sisters) have fallen from a total of over 180,000 in 1965 to having only 153,645 in 1970, and 92,107 in 1995, 68,634 in 2005, and 49,883 in 2014. The Vatican’s statistical yearbook, the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae (the Annual Statistics of the Church) confirms that continual fall. Thus the USA female religious numbers fell by more than 70%. The USA is not alone. According to a 2000 study by Rodney Stark and Roger Finke, between 1965 and 1995 the number of nuns plummeted by 51% in the Netherlands, by 48% in Germany, by 46% in Canada, by 44% in France, and by 43% in the UK―statistics that are on par with the 49% fall in the USA over the same time frame. The current worldwide total of female religious, at the end of 2017, was 659,000, compared to over 1 million in 1965. The age status of European and North American women religious is the same as that of priests in Europe and North America, with the majority of nuns and sisters being extremely old― very aged, and when they die in the near future, the fall in overall numbers of nuns and sisters will be disastrous.
► MONKS & BROTHERS: The numbers of monks and brothers is even worse. Worldwide, the numbers of male religious (monks and brothers) fell from 79,408 in 1970, to 52,625 in 2016―which represents an average loss of 34% worldwide. The figures for the USA monks and brothers are even worse―they have fallen twice as much, from 12,271 in 1965, to 8,625 in 1975, to 7,544 in 1985, to 6,535 in 1995, to 4,119 in 2012, and to 4,007 in 2014―which is an overall fall of 67% from 1965 to 2014 in the USA.
As Our Lady of Good Success said: “Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils ... No one, on the face of the Earth, is aware from where comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
An Idiotic Attempt to Cover the Collapse
In a National Catholic Reporter article from 2008, it was reported that James Davidson, a Catholic sociologist of religion from Purdue University in Indiana, “believes it’s inaccurate to interpret the shrinking number of priests and a decrease in the number of men and women joining religious communities as a general decline in the Catholic Church. Instead, he said, rising numbers of deacons and lay ecclesial ministers point to a Catholic Church that is vibrant, though perhaps one that will be led in a different way in the future. ‘The Church is being transformed as the social context of the laity is being transformed … The strength and vitality of the Catholic Church is in its laity’ said Davidson.” (National Catholic Reporter, October 21st. 2008). This is as ridiculous argument as one that would say we are heading towards a vibrant health care system, because of an ever-increasing shortage of doctors and nurses, who are being replaced by well-meaning lay people. Or the country’s defense system is becoming more vibrant and secure, because trained soldiers are abandoning ing the military in unprecedented numbers, but they are being replaced by folks at home who are ready to pick up a gun in the event of a war.
What a load of baloney! What stupidity! What a bunch of blatant damage limitation waffle! What a waste of his university education! Since when does a “shrinking number of priests and a decrease in the number of men and women joining religious communities” … “point to a Catholic Church that is vibrant”? Is a massive loss of highly and specially trained priests, monks, a good thing? Davidson argues that “the Church is being transformed as … rising numbers of deacons and lay ecclesial ministers” are taking the place of priests and religious to create “a Catholic Church that is vibrant, though perhaps one that will be led in a different way in the future”―and perhaps led to a different final destination too!
A Day in the Life of Priest
► Daily Sleep = 7 hours
► Shower, Dress, Bathroom/Restroom throughout the day, etc. = 30 minutes
► Breakfast (15 minutes), Lunch (30 minutes), Dinner (15 minutes) = 1 hour total
► Obligation of offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (prayers before/after Mass; vest/unvest for Mass) = 1 hour
► Obligation of Praying the Divine Office (properly and not hurriedly) = 1 hour
► Obligation of Daily Meditation & Rosary & additional prayers = 1 hour
► Daily Religious Study (review of Faith, prepare sermons, conferences, classes) = 1 hour
► End of Day preparing for bed = 30 minutes
► Total for the day: 13 hours per day.
► Most of these estimates are extremely minimal and will frequently take longer than estimated above.
This total of 13 hours per day is minimal and will frequently take up much more time―which does not include the “dripping-faucet-of-time” activities that quickly fill up the day with additional minutes and hours. Walking or driving from one place to another―simply leaving one activity, such as studying and having to put things away and walking over the church to say Mass―that all takes minutes, and such “dripping-minutes” easily add up to an hour or more per day. Answering phone calls, answering the door, reading mail, writing letters, routine maintenance, parish meetings for various different groups, daily checking on local and world news both Catholic and secular, personal exercise or health care, etc. All of this can easily add one, two or three more hours to the day. In the end, the priest has around 8 hours to do other things.
There are simply too few priests to go around and cater for the larger numbers of Catholic laity―which has doubles since 1965, while the overall number of priests has declined―not forgetting that average age of the priest in 2018 is over 65 years of age, compared overall average of only 35 years of age back in 1965. Imagine being told to double your workload and output by 100% at your place of work and not being any extra time to do it in! Twice the work, in the same time constraint, with no additional help. This is one fundamental reason―and there are several others―for the decline in interest, knowledge and practice of the Catholic Faith, whereby numbers of regular Sunday church-goers have fallen from an average of 3 out 4 in the 1950s to less than 1 in 4 in 2018.
The Intimidation of Having “Gay” Priests
Using the term “gay” does not mean a cheerful, friendly, happy priest―it sadly means a homosexual priest. Apparently, according to various reports―from outside the Church and more importantly from within the Church―the number of homosexual priests is not a meager number! Only around 10 priests in the United States have publicly admitted to being homosexuals. But it is estimated that around 30% to 40% (3 to 4 out of 10) of the American Catholic clergy are probably homosexual, according to dozens of estimates from homosexual priests themselves and researchers. Some priests say the number is closer to 75% (15 out of 20). One priest in Wisconsin is on record as saying that he assumes every priest is homosexual, unless he knows for a fact he is not. Another priest in Florida said: “A third are gay, a third are straight and a third don’t know what the hell they are!”
The New York TImes recently interviewed 24 homosexual priests and seminarians from 13 different states in the USA, who shared details of their lives within the “the Catholic closet.” As The New York Times reports: “Almost all of them required strict confidentiality to speak without fear of retribution from their bishops or superiors. A few had been expressly forbidden to come out or even to speak about homosexuality. Most are in active ministry, and could lose more than their jobs if they are outed.” The New York Times article continued to explain that the livelihood of the priest is in the Church’s hands, for it “almost always controls a priest’s housing, health insurance and retirement pension. He could lose all three if his bishop finds his sexuality disqualifying, even if he is faithful to his vows of celibacy. The environment for gay priests has grown only more dangerous.” The article adds that the recent defrocking of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, due to his sexual abuse of boys and seminarians, has fanned-the-flames and poured more gasoline on the “accusations that homosexuality is to blame for the Church’s resurgent abuse crisis.” It further states that Pope Francis has become more critical than ever in recent months and has lamented that homosexuality is seemingly growing to be “fashionable.”
As Our Lady of La Salette warned: “The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people.”
Sunday March 31st
Article 27
Rejoice and Hope!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 27
Rejoice and Hope!
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
“Laetare” Sunday
Today, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, is traditionally called “Laetare Sunday”—meaning “A Sunday to Rejoice.” This particular title owes its origins to the opening words of the Introit or Entrance Hymn for today’s Mass, which say: “Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and come together, all you who love her: rejoice with joy, you who have been in sorrow: that you may exult…”
Dom Guéranger, in his masterful multi-volume work, The Liturgical Year, states: “This Sunday, called, from the first word of the Introit, Laetare Sunday, is one of the most solemn of the year. The Church interrupts her Lenten mournfulness; the chants of the Mass speak of nothing but joy and consolation; the organ, which has been silent during the preceding three Sundays, now gives forth its melodious voice; the deacon resumes his dalmatic, and the subdeacon his tunic; and instead of purple, rose-colored vestments are allowed to be used.
“These same rites were practiced in Advent, on the third Sunday, called “Gaudete.” The Church’s motive for introducing this expression of joy into today’s liturgy is to encourage her children to persevere fervently to the end of this holy season. The real mid-Lent was last Thursday, but the Church, fearing lest the joy might lead to some infringement on the spirit of penance, has deferred her own notice of it to this Sunday, when she not only permits, but even bids, her children to rejoice!”
A Liturgical Oxymoron?
Eh? An “oxymoron” is a combination of contradictory or incongruous words as “cruel kindness”, or “laborious idleness.” It would, at first glance, seem oxymoronic to combine “penance” with “joy”, for it would be akin to combining “pain” with “laughter”, or “suffering” and “happiness.”
Yet, looked at from another perspective—and above all, a supernatural perspective—we can see how true and fitting is that combination. Our Lord Himself uses the combination of these two words—penance and joy—when He says: “I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in Heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance!” (Luke 15:7).
Joy Over A Sinner’s Return
We see a similar situation in the parable of the Prodigal Son—for the wayward, sinful son, after having wasted his father’s inheritance in debauchery, decides to return to his father, repentant and contrite, saying within himself: “I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: ‘Father! I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee! I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants!’” (Luke 15:18-19).
This repentance and return brings joy to his father, who, rightfully, could be extremely indignant and would be within his rights in punishing him severely for the scandal and harm he had perpetrated.
Our Lord, in telling this parable, says: “And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, I am not now worthy to be called thy son!’ And the father said to his servants: ‘Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet! And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry! Because this, my son, was dead, and is come to life again! Was lost, and is found!’ And they began to be merry” (Luke 15:20-24).
Wrong Kind of Joy
The world is the epitome of the wrong kind of joy. Whereas God loves the sinner and hates the sin, the world is merciless to the sinner and lenient to the sin. The world rejoices in what God condemns. Holy Scripture denounces this attitude: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaias 5:20).
Our penances may be bitter, but they will lead to sweet things—hence, we can call them bittersweet.
Our Lord tells His Apostles, at the Last Supper: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you!” (John 16:20-22).
Rejoice with the World—Perish with the World
Let us not be sucked-into the damning whirlpool of the world—its fate is inevitable! Our Lord and the Apostles in particular, and Holy Scripture in general, repeatedly warn us against the false and fateful joys of the world: “You that rejoice in a thing of nought…” (Amos 6:14) … Rejoice not, O Israel, rejoice not as the nations do!” (Osee 9:1). “Rejoice not in ungodly children, neither be delighted in them, if the fear of God be not with them!” (Ecclesiasticus 16:1).
What Are We Rejoicing Over?
“Let the heart of them rejoice, that seek the Lord!” (1 Paralipomenon 16:10). “Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto Him with trembling” (Psalm 2:11). Rejoice over the greatest gift of God! What is that greatest gift? “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). “Let your soul rejoice in His mercy!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:37). “I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation” (Psalm 12:6).
Rejoice Over Mercy!
What is it, above all things, that you will desire in your death throes and agony on your deathbed? It is mercy! Nothing else will matter. Nothing else will be worth anything if you fail to secure that mercy. All your future joy or misery will depend on one thing alone—whether or not you manage to secure the mercy of God. Our joy, on this day of rejoicing—Laetare Sunday—comes from the fact of God’s incredible mercy and pardon, which is to be used, but not abused.
Mercy—A Room in the Mansion of Charity
Lacking hope in that mercy and pardon, leads to despair. Being over-confident in that mercy and pardon, leads to presumption. Both despair and presumption are serious sins. We need to keep that balance between the two—for virtue stands in the middle between excess and neglect—and joyfully do penance for our sins, hoping and trusting in the mercy and pardon of God, Whose “tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:9). This is because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and mercy is one of the rooms in the divine mansion of charity.
God Does Not Hate His Creation
God cannot hate what He has created—for all that He creates is good. Yet God does hate some things that man has created—and the chief focal point of hatred is sin. As St. Thomas Aquinas says: “…the hatred of something does not befit God. For as love is to the good, so hatred is to evil; for to those we love we will good, and to those we hate, evil. If, then, the will of God cannot be inclined to evil, as has been shown, it is impossible that He should hate anything” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Contra Gentiles, Book 1, chapter 96: “God Hates Nothing, and the Hatred of No Thing Befits Him”).
This is stated in slightly different terms by Holy Scripture: “All things were made by Him” (John 1:3). “The Lord has made all things for Himself” (Proverbs 16:4). Thus mankind was made for God and not for itself. Yet, God’s human creation—mankind—turned away from God through sin.
Nevertheless, God in His infinite mercy, sought a remedy to that rebelliousness, as explained by Our Lord Himself: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him. He that believeth in Him is not judged. But he that doth not believe, is already judged: because he believeth not in the Name of the Only-begotten Son of God” (John 3:16-18) … “Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sin” (John 8:24). “For everyone that doth evil, hateth the light, and cometh not to the light” (John 3:20).
Came to Save All—But All Will Not Be Saved
St. Thomas writes: “The power of the divine Incarnation is equal to the salvation ‘of all men, but the fact that some are not saved, thereby comes from their indisposition: they are unwilling to take unto themselves the fruit of the Incarnation; they do not cleave to the incarnate God by Faith and Love. For men were not intended to lose that freedom of choice, by which they are able to cleave or not to cleave to the incarnate God, lest the good of man be produced by coercion” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Contra Gentiles, Book 4, chapter 55: “Arguments Against the Suitability of the Incarnation”).
Thus we are free to choose—and, ultimately, we choose our own salvation or damnation. There will be no coercion from God in that matter.
Abuse of Mercy
Most souls fail to do so and are irrevocably lost—says Our Lord and most theologians of the Church. Yet every soul is capable of securing it. “Christ died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15). Yet everyone WILL NOT DO what it takes to be saved. “And a certain man said to Jesus: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24).
As St. Paul points out: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5). “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). So rejoice—mercy is yours if you choose to abide by it, use it and not abuse it! But woe to you if you abuse it!
Joy Though Pain
The joys of Heaven are not “freebies” but must be painfully earned on Earth or in Purgatory. Mercy, of course, brings joy—but mercy requires payment. This is something that mankind—especially modern man—fails to grasp. Modern man thinks the joys of Heaven are there for sinners, or the lukewarm, or the mediocre man.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange dispels this foolish thought: “There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity.
“There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death, or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin, though it should be venial, must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God, see Him as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Going Cheap…! Cheap Joys!
Most people put a cheap price on sin and cheap admission price to Heaven. How foolish and stupid we are! This stupidity is perhaps one of the chief reasons why so many souls are lost! It does not help matters to see almost everyone around us, living-out this insane sense of values.
These idiots—let us at least hope they are idiots, for idiocy might excuse them somewhat from sin—want joy on Earth and joy in Heaven! They want to neither suffer in this life, nor in the next! They, as the proverb goes, “want their cake and they want to eat it”! Our Lord says: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24)—“You can’t have your cake and eat it!”
Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty?
This brings us to the way in which we can view a glass that contains 50% liquid and 50% air. Some see this glass as being half-full; others see it as being half-empty. The “half-full” people are being positive about it; the “half-empty” people are being negative about it.
The same applies to our Faith and religion. Some see the Faith and religion as being a foretaste of the fullness of joy we shall experience in Heaven. Others sees our Faith and religion as “cramping their style” and robbing of them of many joys they would like to experience here on Earth.
One group sees the Faith, and the practice of it, as being “half-full” and look forward to being fulfilled in Heaven. The other group sees the Faith, and practice of it, as being “half-emptied” of potential Earthly joys, and dread having to give up even more of them. Yet our soul—in which joy resides—was made by God and only God can truly fill it with true joy—“Who satisfieth thy desire with good things” (Psalms 102:5).
Cotton Candy Joys
To seek the joys of this world above the joys of Heaven; to seek material joys above spiritual joys—is like eating cotton-candy (candy-floss) in comparison to a highly nutritious and delicious seven course meal. The cotton-candy melts away in your mouth before you know it! On top of that, the high sugar content is the favorite nesting place for disease!
Our Lord puts it this way: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Different Ideas of Joy
You are, no doubt, familiar with the Scriptural quote: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9). We could well paraphrase that into “My ideas of joy are not your ideas of joys: nor your joys My joys, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My joys exalted above your joys, and My ideas of joy above your ideas of joy!”
God is Joy Because God is Love
God is love and love is the cause of joy. For, we rejoice either because the object of our love is really present, or because we really find our own good existing, so to say, in the person, or in the object we love.
We rejoice because we find ourselves in the presence of one whom we cherish, or because we have good news from a friend or parent, separated from us by endless stretches of land, or by vast expanses of water; we find an unbounded joy when we know that son or brother called to serve his country’s cause, in the gory battlefields of the world, is well, far removed from harm, or has been honored for his bravery.
Furthermore, our joy is enhanced by our love for the person from whom we receive the news, and is in proportion to it. We feel, for instance, little or no delight in our hearts when we read that a commander of a hostile force has escaped unscathed from battle. Our love is the cause of our joy.
To Find Joy, We Must Find and Love God
But, charity, in its highest object and point, is love of God, Whose good is infinite, unchanging and unchangeable, and, Who, by the very fact that He is loved, dwells in the person who loves Him. “God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God and God in Him” (1 John 4:16). Hence joy is caused by love; hence, too, it follows charity.
What is this spiritual joy? It is not a virtue, separated from charity, spiritual joy is an action of the virtue charity, an effect, a result of charity. Joy of itself could not exist, it owes its very being to the virtue of charity, which is, for it, a fountainhead. Love is the first impulse of our will or heart, and from it proceed joy and desire. Thus joy is not a virtue distinct from charity, it is only an effect of charity, it is an action of charity.
Joy is that gratitude, that happy consciousness we have of the infinite goodness of God, the great object of our love, in Whom we live, move and have our being. Joy is the grand and consoling reward for the victories we have won in the battles with our passions.
A Religion of Joy
Since joy is a Fruit of the Holy Ghost, it follows that where the Holy Ghost is not, there is no joy. Now, the Divine Spirit is the vivifying principle of the Catholic Church and of her faithful. The Catholic Religion, is, then, essentially a religion of joy. Christ being the center of Christianity, there is no joy superior to that which He procures.
Down through the night of forgotten centuries and the fast highway of fleeting years, whatever holy joy was in the world was caused by Him. He was the unsurpassing joy of the patriarchs and prophets, of David, Isaias and Zachary, of Magdalene and John, of Peter and of Paul.
Faith itself is a joyous exposition of the truths that lead to Heaven; its precepts and commands are not merely a burden, but also a pleasure and a joy. Self-control in the service of the commandments makes us strong, and that is a source of joy. In sin we are downcast, and a load seems lifted from our hearts when grace, through the Sacrament of Penance, joy streams into our souls anew.
Once forgiven, we are children of God once again, perfect men and perfect Christians. Penance brings an entire Heaven of joy into our otherwise heavy hearts. “In thy salvation he shall rejoice exceedingly” (Psalm 20:2). “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: Thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness” (Psalm 29:12).
Purgatorial Joys
Penance brings joy to the souls in Purgatory, too! Even though they find themselves in the most unspeakably excruciating pains—which no tongue can describe nor imagination imagine—they are, nevertheless, also immersed in the most unspeakably great joys. They know that they are saved and that these horrendous pains are bringing Heaven and God closer with every excruciating moment. They are the perfect example of how the Catholic on Earth should find joy in suffering.
Those poor souls failed to learn how to suffer and do penance with joy on Earth, so now they have to learn that lesson in Purgatory. Yet their lesson is also a lesson for us—who, like the ill-fated Chosen People, are ever mumbling and grumbling, whining and whinging, moaning and groaning about the least suffering that we have to experience and suffer, by God’s Providence, here on Earth.
Worldly Joys Bring Sadness
At the Last Supper, Our Lord spoke of the two contrary lots that would befall His Apostles on the one hand, at the world on the other. He said: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20). If we take this to the next stage—if the sorrow of His followers shall be turned to joy, then the joy of the world shall be turned to sorrow. This is proven to be the case by other passages in Holy Scripture that depict the rich and the poor.
We have the case of Our Lord’s parable about the beggar, Lazarus, and Rich Man: “There was a beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores, desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and no one did give him. Moreover, the dogs came, and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in Hell” (Luke 16:20-22).
In a real-life incident, we have the case of the rich young man—who you would have thought would be happy and joyful with all his riches, but he becomes sad and sorrowful because of them: “And behold a certain man running up and kneeling before Him: ‘Good Master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Thou knowest the commandments—keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Jesus: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee: go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
“Then Jesus, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you: How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:16-26; Mark 10:17-27).
God Does Bestow Riches, But…
God has enriched many a man as well the Israelites as a nation—but it was always contingent upon their placing God before all riches and wealth. Once those riches and wealth became a hindrance to their love of God and led them down paths of infidelity, lukewarmness, infidelity and sin—God not only brutally removed or destroyed those riches and that wealth, but He also was not averse to slaying some or most of the wayward ones.
The Old Testament history of the Chosen People is a perpetual saga of God’s benefits leading them to forget God, which led God to acting in a way towards them that they would never forget! But forget they did—and foolishly repeated the same behavior.
God has to come first—Our Lord commands in the New Testament what had already been commanded in the Old Testament: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30), which merely repeats the Old Testament command: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5).
This is what Job did in the Old Testament, and he was abundantly blessed by God. Yet, when God allowed all types of calamities to befall Job—losing his health, his children, his wealth and his properties and flocks—God never ceased to love and bless God, as much in calamity as in prosperity.
His famous quote—which we would well to take to heart—was: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither! The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away! As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done! Blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21). This eventual acceptance of the bitter with the sweet, led to God restoring all things to Job in an abundantly greater measure than he had possessed in the beginning: “And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10).
The Joys of Heaven
This doubling of Job’s possessions and wealth, after his tribulations at the hands of the devil, is symbolic of our tests and trials in this life, after which we shall be rewarded with Heaven—if we have been faithful.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “This vision will constitute eternal life. No one can express the joy and love that will be born in us of this vision. It will be so strong, so absolute a love of God, that, thenceforth, nothing will be able to destroy it, or even to diminish it. It will be a love by which we shall, above all, rejoice that God is God, infinitely holy, just, and merciful. We shall adore all the decrees of His providence in view of the manifestation of His goodness … We shall have entered into His beatitude, according to Christ’s own words: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!’” (The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Today, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, is traditionally called “Laetare Sunday”—meaning “A Sunday to Rejoice.” This particular title owes its origins to the opening words of the Introit or Entrance Hymn for today’s Mass, which say: “Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and come together, all you who love her: rejoice with joy, you who have been in sorrow: that you may exult…”
Dom Guéranger, in his masterful multi-volume work, The Liturgical Year, states: “This Sunday, called, from the first word of the Introit, Laetare Sunday, is one of the most solemn of the year. The Church interrupts her Lenten mournfulness; the chants of the Mass speak of nothing but joy and consolation; the organ, which has been silent during the preceding three Sundays, now gives forth its melodious voice; the deacon resumes his dalmatic, and the subdeacon his tunic; and instead of purple, rose-colored vestments are allowed to be used.
“These same rites were practiced in Advent, on the third Sunday, called “Gaudete.” The Church’s motive for introducing this expression of joy into today’s liturgy is to encourage her children to persevere fervently to the end of this holy season. The real mid-Lent was last Thursday, but the Church, fearing lest the joy might lead to some infringement on the spirit of penance, has deferred her own notice of it to this Sunday, when she not only permits, but even bids, her children to rejoice!”
A Liturgical Oxymoron?
Eh? An “oxymoron” is a combination of contradictory or incongruous words as “cruel kindness”, or “laborious idleness.” It would, at first glance, seem oxymoronic to combine “penance” with “joy”, for it would be akin to combining “pain” with “laughter”, or “suffering” and “happiness.”
Yet, looked at from another perspective—and above all, a supernatural perspective—we can see how true and fitting is that combination. Our Lord Himself uses the combination of these two words—penance and joy—when He says: “I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in Heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance!” (Luke 15:7).
Joy Over A Sinner’s Return
We see a similar situation in the parable of the Prodigal Son—for the wayward, sinful son, after having wasted his father’s inheritance in debauchery, decides to return to his father, repentant and contrite, saying within himself: “I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: ‘Father! I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee! I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants!’” (Luke 15:18-19).
This repentance and return brings joy to his father, who, rightfully, could be extremely indignant and would be within his rights in punishing him severely for the scandal and harm he had perpetrated.
Our Lord, in telling this parable, says: “And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, I am not now worthy to be called thy son!’ And the father said to his servants: ‘Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet! And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry! Because this, my son, was dead, and is come to life again! Was lost, and is found!’ And they began to be merry” (Luke 15:20-24).
Wrong Kind of Joy
The world is the epitome of the wrong kind of joy. Whereas God loves the sinner and hates the sin, the world is merciless to the sinner and lenient to the sin. The world rejoices in what God condemns. Holy Scripture denounces this attitude: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaias 5:20).
Our penances may be bitter, but they will lead to sweet things—hence, we can call them bittersweet.
Our Lord tells His Apostles, at the Last Supper: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you!” (John 16:20-22).
Rejoice with the World—Perish with the World
Let us not be sucked-into the damning whirlpool of the world—its fate is inevitable! Our Lord and the Apostles in particular, and Holy Scripture in general, repeatedly warn us against the false and fateful joys of the world: “You that rejoice in a thing of nought…” (Amos 6:14) … Rejoice not, O Israel, rejoice not as the nations do!” (Osee 9:1). “Rejoice not in ungodly children, neither be delighted in them, if the fear of God be not with them!” (Ecclesiasticus 16:1).
What Are We Rejoicing Over?
“Let the heart of them rejoice, that seek the Lord!” (1 Paralipomenon 16:10). “Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto Him with trembling” (Psalm 2:11). Rejoice over the greatest gift of God! What is that greatest gift? “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. His tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). “Let your soul rejoice in His mercy!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:37). “I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation” (Psalm 12:6).
Rejoice Over Mercy!
What is it, above all things, that you will desire in your death throes and agony on your deathbed? It is mercy! Nothing else will matter. Nothing else will be worth anything if you fail to secure that mercy. All your future joy or misery will depend on one thing alone—whether or not you manage to secure the mercy of God. Our joy, on this day of rejoicing—Laetare Sunday—comes from the fact of God’s incredible mercy and pardon, which is to be used, but not abused.
Mercy—A Room in the Mansion of Charity
Lacking hope in that mercy and pardon, leads to despair. Being over-confident in that mercy and pardon, leads to presumption. Both despair and presumption are serious sins. We need to keep that balance between the two—for virtue stands in the middle between excess and neglect—and joyfully do penance for our sins, hoping and trusting in the mercy and pardon of God, Whose “tender mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:9). This is because “God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and mercy is one of the rooms in the divine mansion of charity.
God Does Not Hate His Creation
God cannot hate what He has created—for all that He creates is good. Yet God does hate some things that man has created—and the chief focal point of hatred is sin. As St. Thomas Aquinas says: “…the hatred of something does not befit God. For as love is to the good, so hatred is to evil; for to those we love we will good, and to those we hate, evil. If, then, the will of God cannot be inclined to evil, as has been shown, it is impossible that He should hate anything” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Contra Gentiles, Book 1, chapter 96: “God Hates Nothing, and the Hatred of No Thing Befits Him”).
This is stated in slightly different terms by Holy Scripture: “All things were made by Him” (John 1:3). “The Lord has made all things for Himself” (Proverbs 16:4). Thus mankind was made for God and not for itself. Yet, God’s human creation—mankind—turned away from God through sin.
Nevertheless, God in His infinite mercy, sought a remedy to that rebelliousness, as explained by Our Lord Himself: “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him. He that believeth in Him is not judged. But he that doth not believe, is already judged: because he believeth not in the Name of the Only-begotten Son of God” (John 3:16-18) … “Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sin” (John 8:24). “For everyone that doth evil, hateth the light, and cometh not to the light” (John 3:20).
Came to Save All—But All Will Not Be Saved
St. Thomas writes: “The power of the divine Incarnation is equal to the salvation ‘of all men, but the fact that some are not saved, thereby comes from their indisposition: they are unwilling to take unto themselves the fruit of the Incarnation; they do not cleave to the incarnate God by Faith and Love. For men were not intended to lose that freedom of choice, by which they are able to cleave or not to cleave to the incarnate God, lest the good of man be produced by coercion” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Contra Gentiles, Book 4, chapter 55: “Arguments Against the Suitability of the Incarnation”).
Thus we are free to choose—and, ultimately, we choose our own salvation or damnation. There will be no coercion from God in that matter.
Abuse of Mercy
Most souls fail to do so and are irrevocably lost—says Our Lord and most theologians of the Church. Yet every soul is capable of securing it. “Christ died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15). Yet everyone WILL NOT DO what it takes to be saved. “And a certain man said to Jesus: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But Jesus said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!’” (Luke 13:23-24).
As St. Paul points out: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5). “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). So rejoice—mercy is yours if you choose to abide by it, use it and not abuse it! But woe to you if you abuse it!
Joy Though Pain
The joys of Heaven are not “freebies” but must be painfully earned on Earth or in Purgatory. Mercy, of course, brings joy—but mercy requires payment. This is something that mankind—especially modern man—fails to grasp. Modern man thinks the joys of Heaven are there for sinners, or the lukewarm, or the mediocre man.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange dispels this foolish thought: “There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity.
“There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death, or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin, though it should be venial, must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God, see Him as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Going Cheap…! Cheap Joys!
Most people put a cheap price on sin and cheap admission price to Heaven. How foolish and stupid we are! This stupidity is perhaps one of the chief reasons why so many souls are lost! It does not help matters to see almost everyone around us, living-out this insane sense of values.
These idiots—let us at least hope they are idiots, for idiocy might excuse them somewhat from sin—want joy on Earth and joy in Heaven! They want to neither suffer in this life, nor in the next! They, as the proverb goes, “want their cake and they want to eat it”! Our Lord says: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24)—“You can’t have your cake and eat it!”
Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty?
This brings us to the way in which we can view a glass that contains 50% liquid and 50% air. Some see this glass as being half-full; others see it as being half-empty. The “half-full” people are being positive about it; the “half-empty” people are being negative about it.
The same applies to our Faith and religion. Some see the Faith and religion as being a foretaste of the fullness of joy we shall experience in Heaven. Others sees our Faith and religion as “cramping their style” and robbing of them of many joys they would like to experience here on Earth.
One group sees the Faith, and the practice of it, as being “half-full” and look forward to being fulfilled in Heaven. The other group sees the Faith, and practice of it, as being “half-emptied” of potential Earthly joys, and dread having to give up even more of them. Yet our soul—in which joy resides—was made by God and only God can truly fill it with true joy—“Who satisfieth thy desire with good things” (Psalms 102:5).
Cotton Candy Joys
To seek the joys of this world above the joys of Heaven; to seek material joys above spiritual joys—is like eating cotton-candy (candy-floss) in comparison to a highly nutritious and delicious seven course meal. The cotton-candy melts away in your mouth before you know it! On top of that, the high sugar content is the favorite nesting place for disease!
Our Lord puts it this way: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Different Ideas of Joy
You are, no doubt, familiar with the Scriptural quote: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9). We could well paraphrase that into “My ideas of joy are not your ideas of joys: nor your joys My joys, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My joys exalted above your joys, and My ideas of joy above your ideas of joy!”
God is Joy Because God is Love
God is love and love is the cause of joy. For, we rejoice either because the object of our love is really present, or because we really find our own good existing, so to say, in the person, or in the object we love.
We rejoice because we find ourselves in the presence of one whom we cherish, or because we have good news from a friend or parent, separated from us by endless stretches of land, or by vast expanses of water; we find an unbounded joy when we know that son or brother called to serve his country’s cause, in the gory battlefields of the world, is well, far removed from harm, or has been honored for his bravery.
Furthermore, our joy is enhanced by our love for the person from whom we receive the news, and is in proportion to it. We feel, for instance, little or no delight in our hearts when we read that a commander of a hostile force has escaped unscathed from battle. Our love is the cause of our joy.
To Find Joy, We Must Find and Love God
But, charity, in its highest object and point, is love of God, Whose good is infinite, unchanging and unchangeable, and, Who, by the very fact that He is loved, dwells in the person who loves Him. “God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God and God in Him” (1 John 4:16). Hence joy is caused by love; hence, too, it follows charity.
What is this spiritual joy? It is not a virtue, separated from charity, spiritual joy is an action of the virtue charity, an effect, a result of charity. Joy of itself could not exist, it owes its very being to the virtue of charity, which is, for it, a fountainhead. Love is the first impulse of our will or heart, and from it proceed joy and desire. Thus joy is not a virtue distinct from charity, it is only an effect of charity, it is an action of charity.
Joy is that gratitude, that happy consciousness we have of the infinite goodness of God, the great object of our love, in Whom we live, move and have our being. Joy is the grand and consoling reward for the victories we have won in the battles with our passions.
A Religion of Joy
Since joy is a Fruit of the Holy Ghost, it follows that where the Holy Ghost is not, there is no joy. Now, the Divine Spirit is the vivifying principle of the Catholic Church and of her faithful. The Catholic Religion, is, then, essentially a religion of joy. Christ being the center of Christianity, there is no joy superior to that which He procures.
Down through the night of forgotten centuries and the fast highway of fleeting years, whatever holy joy was in the world was caused by Him. He was the unsurpassing joy of the patriarchs and prophets, of David, Isaias and Zachary, of Magdalene and John, of Peter and of Paul.
Faith itself is a joyous exposition of the truths that lead to Heaven; its precepts and commands are not merely a burden, but also a pleasure and a joy. Self-control in the service of the commandments makes us strong, and that is a source of joy. In sin we are downcast, and a load seems lifted from our hearts when grace, through the Sacrament of Penance, joy streams into our souls anew.
Once forgiven, we are children of God once again, perfect men and perfect Christians. Penance brings an entire Heaven of joy into our otherwise heavy hearts. “In thy salvation he shall rejoice exceedingly” (Psalm 20:2). “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: Thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness” (Psalm 29:12).
Purgatorial Joys
Penance brings joy to the souls in Purgatory, too! Even though they find themselves in the most unspeakably excruciating pains—which no tongue can describe nor imagination imagine—they are, nevertheless, also immersed in the most unspeakably great joys. They know that they are saved and that these horrendous pains are bringing Heaven and God closer with every excruciating moment. They are the perfect example of how the Catholic on Earth should find joy in suffering.
Those poor souls failed to learn how to suffer and do penance with joy on Earth, so now they have to learn that lesson in Purgatory. Yet their lesson is also a lesson for us—who, like the ill-fated Chosen People, are ever mumbling and grumbling, whining and whinging, moaning and groaning about the least suffering that we have to experience and suffer, by God’s Providence, here on Earth.
Worldly Joys Bring Sadness
At the Last Supper, Our Lord spoke of the two contrary lots that would befall His Apostles on the one hand, at the world on the other. He said: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20). If we take this to the next stage—if the sorrow of His followers shall be turned to joy, then the joy of the world shall be turned to sorrow. This is proven to be the case by other passages in Holy Scripture that depict the rich and the poor.
We have the case of Our Lord’s parable about the beggar, Lazarus, and Rich Man: “There was a beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores, desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and no one did give him. Moreover, the dogs came, and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in Hell” (Luke 16:20-22).
In a real-life incident, we have the case of the rich young man—who you would have thought would be happy and joyful with all his riches, but he becomes sad and sorrowful because of them: “And behold a certain man running up and kneeling before Him: ‘Good Master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Thou knowest the commandments—keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Jesus: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee: go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
“Then Jesus, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you: How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:16-26; Mark 10:17-27).
God Does Bestow Riches, But…
God has enriched many a man as well the Israelites as a nation—but it was always contingent upon their placing God before all riches and wealth. Once those riches and wealth became a hindrance to their love of God and led them down paths of infidelity, lukewarmness, infidelity and sin—God not only brutally removed or destroyed those riches and that wealth, but He also was not averse to slaying some or most of the wayward ones.
The Old Testament history of the Chosen People is a perpetual saga of God’s benefits leading them to forget God, which led God to acting in a way towards them that they would never forget! But forget they did—and foolishly repeated the same behavior.
God has to come first—Our Lord commands in the New Testament what had already been commanded in the Old Testament: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30), which merely repeats the Old Testament command: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5).
This is what Job did in the Old Testament, and he was abundantly blessed by God. Yet, when God allowed all types of calamities to befall Job—losing his health, his children, his wealth and his properties and flocks—God never ceased to love and bless God, as much in calamity as in prosperity.
His famous quote—which we would well to take to heart—was: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither! The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away! As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done! Blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21). This eventual acceptance of the bitter with the sweet, led to God restoring all things to Job in an abundantly greater measure than he had possessed in the beginning: “And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10).
The Joys of Heaven
This doubling of Job’s possessions and wealth, after his tribulations at the hands of the devil, is symbolic of our tests and trials in this life, after which we shall be rewarded with Heaven—if we have been faithful.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “This vision will constitute eternal life. No one can express the joy and love that will be born in us of this vision. It will be so strong, so absolute a love of God, that, thenceforth, nothing will be able to destroy it, or even to diminish it. It will be a love by which we shall, above all, rejoice that God is God, infinitely holy, just, and merciful. We shall adore all the decrees of His providence in view of the manifestation of His goodness … We shall have entered into His beatitude, according to Christ’s own words: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!’” (The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Friday March 29th & Saturday March 30th
Article 26
Look Who's Doing the Accusing!
This article is still being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 26
Look Who's Doing the Accusing!
This article is still being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Know Thyself―Know Thy Enemy!
The ancient Greek philosopher would often say: “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.” St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his famous Spiritual Excercises, also stresses the important to know thyself: “To ask account of our soul … to know our sins and cast them out.” St. Louis de Montfort follows suit in his 33-Day Preparation for Consecration to Jesus through Mary, dedicated a whole week to the task of knowing thyself. Our Lord implies the same thing when He says: “And why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the speck out of thy eye!’ ― and behold a plank is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5).
Knowing self is of paramount importance―but so too is knowing your enemy. As the saying goes: “Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t know!”―meaning that it is more advantageous to see your enemy than not to see your enemy. Sun Tzu, a 6th century BC Chinese general, military strategist, and philosopher, wrote: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
A Divided Church and Families―Attacked From Without and Within
Attacked from the outside―attacked from the inside! Accused from the outside―accused from within! That is plight and the fight that the Church has to currently endure―or, in fact, has been increasingly enduring for nearly 300 years―like the plight of a cancer patient having to fight the cancer within himself/herself as well as having to fight external incursions of viruses and bacteria with a now much reduced, greatly depleted and less efficient immune system. Sin is a cancer that grows from venial sin to mortal sin and depletes our spiritual strength. Sin attacks from the inside and the outside. It attacks individuals and it attacks bodies, like the Church, the family, the nation, etc.
This two-pronged attack―from without and within, external and internal―seems to be fatal, for, as Our Lord says: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25). Worryingly, He adds elsewhere: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:34-36). Who is the enemy―or who is the real enemy? Scripture tells us of a triple enemy: the devil, the world and our own flesh: “That old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, seduceth the whole world!” (Apocalypse 12:9).
The ancient Greek philosopher would often say: “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.” St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his famous Spiritual Excercises, also stresses the important to know thyself: “To ask account of our soul … to know our sins and cast them out.” St. Louis de Montfort follows suit in his 33-Day Preparation for Consecration to Jesus through Mary, dedicated a whole week to the task of knowing thyself. Our Lord implies the same thing when He says: “And why seest thou the speck that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the plank that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the speck out of thy eye!’ ― and behold a plank is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the plank in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the speck out of thy brother’s eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5).
Knowing self is of paramount importance―but so too is knowing your enemy. As the saying goes: “Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t know!”―meaning that it is more advantageous to see your enemy than not to see your enemy. Sun Tzu, a 6th century BC Chinese general, military strategist, and philosopher, wrote: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
A Divided Church and Families―Attacked From Without and Within
Attacked from the outside―attacked from the inside! Accused from the outside―accused from within! That is plight and the fight that the Church has to currently endure―or, in fact, has been increasingly enduring for nearly 300 years―like the plight of a cancer patient having to fight the cancer within himself/herself as well as having to fight external incursions of viruses and bacteria with a now much reduced, greatly depleted and less efficient immune system. Sin is a cancer that grows from venial sin to mortal sin and depletes our spiritual strength. Sin attacks from the inside and the outside. It attacks individuals and it attacks bodies, like the Church, the family, the nation, etc.
This two-pronged attack―from without and within, external and internal―seems to be fatal, for, as Our Lord says: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25). Worryingly, He adds elsewhere: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:34-36). Who is the enemy―or who is the real enemy? Scripture tells us of a triple enemy: the devil, the world and our own flesh: “That old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, seduceth the whole world!” (Apocalypse 12:9).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Wednesday March 27th & Thursday March 28th
Article 25
Pointing the Finger! Throwing the Stone!
Article 25
Pointing the Finger! Throwing the Stone!
For or Against? With God or With Satan?
With each passing year, the world becomes more Satanic and less Christian. Huh? Are you serious? A little over the top, no? No, nowhere near being over the top! The bottom line of life is this: (1) You are either on God’s side, or (2) you are on Satan’s side―there is no middle ground, there are no spectators. If anyone protests that they are indifferent, and are on neither one side or the other, then God answers: “I know thy works―that thou art neither cold, nor hot! I would thou wert cold, or hot! But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). God speaks of being on one side or the other―hot or cold―but the indifferent, the in-between, the non-committed―He cannot tolerate and says He will vomit them out of His mouth.
Our Lord says something similar on several occasions: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “Everyone therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it! And he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it!” (Matthew 10:32-39).
Our Lord Speaks of Two Sides
Elsewhere, Our Lord points out that the world is in opposition to God and that He Himself wants nothing to do with the world, except to try and save souls from this world and its prince―Satan. “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, and because I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25).
In addition to this, Our Lord speaks of the terrible influence the world has upon the effectiveness of the Word of God. In the parable about the Sower of the Seed―in which Our Lord explains that the seed represents the Word of God―He says: “He that received the seed [the Words of God] among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless” (Matthew 13:22). “And that which fell among thorns, are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit” (Luke 8:14).
The Apostles Speak of Two Sides
Following the lead of Our Lord’s truths, the Apostles write in Holy Scripture (which itself is Word of God and not just the word of the Apostles) that the world is our enemy and that, apart from living in it, we should have nothing to do with the world, its worldliness and spirit:
“Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32) ... “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20) ... “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4) ... “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31) ... “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27) ... “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world” (Galatians 1:4). Therefore, the world is NOT GOOD, but in need of reform and in need of rescuing and saving! It is, as Holy Scripture say, a “wicked world” that is at enmity with God.
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
“Be sober and watch: because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one!” (Ephesians 6:16).
Who is Satan?
The word “Satan” is derived from the Hebrew verb “satan”, which means “to oppose” and so from it comes the general meaning of “adversary.” The word devil comes from the way the wicked spirit goes about his work. It comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate.” Since the devil is the prince of this world, he leaves his influence, or fingerprints or DNA upon this world―creating a spirit of opposition, accusation, defamation, calumniation and a twisting of truth, facts and motives.
Children of Satan
What Jesus said to the Scribes and Pharisees, can equally be said of the world―along the principle of “like father, like son―like mother like daughter” which comes from Scripture: “Behold everyone that useth a common proverb, shall use this against thee, saying: ‘As the mother was, so also is her daughter’” (Ezechiel 16:44)―so too can these words of Our Lord’s be also applied to the world in general and not just the Scribes and Pharisees: “You [the world] are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.” (John 8:44).
With the word “Satan” coming from the Hebrew verb “satan”, which means “to oppose” and the word “devil” coming from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate”―Satan lives up his billing as an opponent and adversary to Christ and His Church, who loves to lie, twist things, accuse and calumniate. Since he does not do those things directly himself, he has to have his instruments who will do his work for him. Our Lord even addresses some of the Jews, the Scribes and Pharisees as being instruments of the devil, when He says: “You are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you will do!” (John 8:44).
In the same encounter between the Jews and Jesus, the Jews, showed the fingerprints and footprints of the devil (adversary, opponent, twister, accuser and calumniator) by accusing Jesus of being possessed by a devil. In that encounter, Jesus indirectly repeats what He had said earlier about them having the devil for their ‘father’ and says to them: “He that is of God, heareth the words of God! Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!’ The Jews therefore answered, and said to Him: ‘Do not we say well that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?’ Jesus answered: ‘I have not a devil―but I honor My Father, and you have dishonored Me! But I seek not My own glory! There is One that seeketh and judgeth!” (John 8:47-50).
Thus God says in Holy Scripture: “Thou art blasphemed by them that say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan! … Behold, I will bring of the synagogue of Satan―who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie―behold, I will make them to come and adore before Thy feet. And they shall know that I have loved Thee!” (Apocalypse 2:9; 3:9).
Children or Instruments of Satan Today
Like any family, over centuries, the clan or extent of the family grows to enormous proportions―the same is true for the ‘family’ of the devil, his instruments―some witting, some unwitting―which has grown to enormous proportions today.
If we take the ‘measuring-stick’ of Our Lord―“He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30)―then the vast majority of the 7 billion people walking this planet right now, are more aligned with the devil than they are aligned with Christ. Catholics are a mere 13% of the world―and most Catholics are most likely at enmity with God by living in a state of mortal sin, which further reduces that 13% down to anywhere―your guess is as good as anyone’s―to perhaps 2% or 1 in 50 people. With odds like that―50 to 1―there are not going to be many brave enough and willing enough to stand up for Christ and His Law and confess Him (witness to Him) before the remaining horde of mortal sinners, pagans, and atheists. Yet, Our Lord did warn: “Everyone therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33).
Our Lady Points the Finger at the Instruments of Satan
It was at Quito, in Ecuador, in the late 16th and early 17th century, that Our Lady of Good Success revealed, to Sister Marianna de Jesus Torress, a glimpse of the future 19th and 20th centuries and the appalling times that awaited the Church due to our lukewarmness and indifference to God and our love for luxury and pleasure instead.
“I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... This epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. These years — during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government — will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised ... The life-giving Sacrament of Penance will be forgotten and even scorned by ungrateful men. In their foolish madness, they do not realize that it is the only sure means of salvation after one has lost his baptismal innocence. What is most grievious, is that even the ministers of my Most Holy Son do not give to this Sacrament the value that they should. Many view with cold indifference this valuable and precious treasure, which has been placed in their hands for the restoration of souls redeemed by the Blood of the Redeemer. There are those who consider hearing confession as a loss of time and a futile thing ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them. These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests ... Against them, the impious will rage a cruel war, overwhelming them with vituperations, calumnies and vexations, in order to stop them from fulfilling their ministry … The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. How the Church will suffer during this dark night!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church ... Making use of persons in positions of authority, the devil will assiduously try to destroy the Sacrament of Confession ... The same will happen with Holy Communion. Often during this epoch, the enemies of Jesus Christ, instigated by the demon, will steal consecrated hosts from the churches, so that they might profane the Eucharistic Species … The Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament. This will make it easy for everyone to live in sin and will encourage the procreation of illegitimate children born without being incorporated into the Church ... Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent … The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom ... A spirit of impurity will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall … Commiserate with and weep for your imprudent brethren sinners, beseeching your God and Redeemer to send to their souls many special and efficacious graces, powerful enough to draw them out of the dark abyss in which they lie” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Our Lord Also Points the Finger
Our Lord added: “This punishment will be for the 20th century … I shall punish heresy, blasphemy and impurity … “Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the rigor of the punishments.” The ingratitude and betrayal of religious souls, so dear to His Heart, would compel Him “to let My Justice fall upon My beloved cloisters ― and even over cities ― when those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them, even more than for the rest of the faithful … Such communities can only be preserved ― while they exist ― at the cost of much penance, humiliations and daily and solid practice of the religious who are good. Woe to these corrupt members during those times of calamity! Weep for them, beloved spouse, and implore that the time of so much suffering will be shortened.”
Popes Point the Finger of Accusation
After the formation of modern Masonry in London in 1717, the Church reacted shortly afterwards, in 1738, by forbidding Catholics from joining Masonic organizations and other secret societies. In the years that have followed, at least eleven popes have ruled that Catholic doctrines and Freemasonry are incompatible. Until 1983, Catholics who publicly associated with, or publicly supported, Masonic organizations were automatically excommunication―without the need for any court trial or decree of excommunication.
However, in view of the progressive infiltration of the Church by its enemies―Freemasons, Communists and others―once these infiltrators reached positions of power, they were able to weaken the Church’s stance against her enemies―with the result that, by the time of the Second Vatican Council, the “finger was not longer pointed” at Freemasons and Communists. Vatican II was asked, by over 400 bishops present at the Council, to condemn Freemasonry and Communism―and it did neither. Since 1983, a mere prohibition (no longer an automatic excommunication) on Masonic membership exists. The Church still prohibits membership in Freemasonry, but now only goes so far as to say, in an official Declaration, that “faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.” This is seen as a massive success by the Freemasonic invaders of the clergy and laity and led to a great increase in Masonic membership (mortal sin) on the part of many Catholic clergy and laity. Today, in the Vatican alone, there are at least 4 Masonic Lodges for the higher clergy. Even the Modernist and Liberal Pope Francis has frequently spoken of his grave concern over the Masonic infiltration of the Church’s Curia and other Catholic organizations. Yet, strangely, Pope Francis is constantly praised and cheered by Freemasons all over the world, and has even been made an honorary member of the Lodge, and has invited Rotarian Masons to celebrate their jubilee in the Vatican.
In his 1884 encyclical, Humanum Genus, Pope Leo XIII stated that the human race is “separated into two diverse and opposite parts, of which the one steadfastly contends for truth and virtue, the other of those things which are contrary to virtue and to truth. The one is the kingdom of God on Earth, namely, the true Church of Jesus Christ … The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader and of our first parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God.”
“At every period of time each has been in conflict with the other, with a variety and multiplicity of weapons, and of warfare, although not always with equal ardor and assault. At this period, however, the partisans of evil seem to be combining together, and to be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons ... No longer making any secret of their purposes, they are now boldly rising up against God Himself. They are planning the destruction of holy Church publicly and openly, and this with the set purpose of utterly despoiling the nations of Christendom, if it were possible, of the blessings obtained for us through Jesus Christ our Savior … In this insane and wicked endeavor we may almost see the implacable hatred and spirit of revenge with which Satan himself is inflamed against Jesus Christ. The studious endeavor of the Freemasons, to destroy the chief foundations of justice and honesty, and to cooperate with those who would wish, as if they were mere animals, to do what they please, tends only to the ignominious and disgraceful ruin of the human race.”
“The first warning of the danger was given by Clement XII in the year 1738, and his constitution was confirmed and renewed by Benedict XIV; Pius VII followed the same path; and Leo XII put together the acts and decrees of former Pontiffs on this subject, and ratified and confirmed them forever. In the same sense spoke Pius VIII, Gregory XVI, and, many times over, Pius IX ... The Church forbade anyone to enter the society, under the penalties which the Church is wont to inflict upon exceptionally guilty persons [excommunication]. The sectaries [adherents to Freemasonry], indignant at this, thinking to elude or to weaken the force of these decrees―partly by contempt of them, and partly by calumny―accused the sovereign Pontiffs, who had passed them, either of exceeding the bounds of moderation in their decrees, or of decreeing what was not just … Let no one be deceived by a pretense of honesty. It may seem to some that Freemasons demand nothing that is openly contrary to religion and morality; but, as the whole principle and object of the sect lies in what is vicious and criminal, to join with these men or in any way to help them cannot be lawful.”
“From the[ir] disturbing errors, the greatest dangers to States are to be feared. For, the fear of God and reverence for divine laws being taken away, the authority of rulers despised, sedition permitted and approved, and the popular passions urged on to lawlessness, with no restraint save that of punishment, a change and overthrow of all things will necessarily follow [which is what we are now seeing in most countries multiplied ten or a hundred times over]. This change and overthrow is deliberately planned and put forward by many associations of Communists and Socialists; and to their undertakings the sect of Freemasons is not hostile, but greatly favors their designs, and holds in common with them their chief opinions.”
In 1890, Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical on Freemasonry, entitled Dall'Alto Dell'Apostolico Seggio which condemned Masonic sects, wrote: “They are already judged! Their ends, their means, their doctrines, and their action, are all known with indisputable certainty. Possessed by the spirit of Satan, whose instrument they are, they burn like him with a deadly and implacable hatred of Jesus Christ and of His work; and they endeavor by every means to overthrow and fetter it.”
Then he goes on to outline the chief insidious Masonic goals:
● Replacing religious schools with state-run, atheistic schools
● Creating laws that separate civil society from the Church’s influence
● Suppressing religious organizations and corporations
● Seeking to control all Church property
● Excluding Catholic influence from public administration, academia, charitable works and hospitals
The Masons laid out even more insidious plans to directly attack the Church in their document Alta Vendita. It's been called a Masonic blueprint for destroying the Catholic Church by plotting to capture the papacy. Their plans fell into the hands of Pope Gregory XVI and were subsequently published under the authority of both Pope Pius IX and Pope Leo XIII. The Alta Vendita states: “Our final end is that of Voltaire and of the French Revolution, the destruction forever of Catholicism and even of the Christian idea, which, if left standing on the ruins of Rome, would be the resuscitation of Christianity later on.” The Alta Vendita calls for corrupting the young clergy and religious by indoctrinating them with secular humanist doctrines of Freemasonry. This doctrinally corrupted clergy would then make revolutionary changes in the Church and choose ill-formed leaders to further spread these errors.
There are many well-researched, detailed and reputable articles and books that show the inherent ties of Freemasonry with Satan. Since Satan is the prince of this world―according to words of Our Lord Himself―then Satan uses many tools in this world in his vain attempt to destroy the Church of Christ―among the most numerous ones are Freemasonry and Communism, though they are merely the “Indians” who are under the control of even higher placed “chiefs”. Marx’s Communist League and The Communist Manifesto did not pop-up out of nowhere. Communism came about after several centuries of agitation, theorizing and propaganda within secret societies. Regarding Freemasonry and the rise of Communism/Socialism―it is neither accidental nor coincidental that the revolutionary reformers Garibaldi, Mazzini, Charles Bradlaugh and Karl Marx were all Freemasons. Fr. Chad Ripperger, a current exorcist, flatly and bluntly says that the Masons are the property of the devil. The same could be said of Communists―and anyone else who plots against the Church, or merely lacks the state of sanctifying grace in the soul.
Pointing the Finger at Communism and Socialism
If you are still one of those persons who is blessed with still being able to use your mind to see beyond the façade of the superficial cosmetic phony projection of the world, and are not yet drugged by the media, the internet, the social media and dumbed-down rhetoric of shallow politicians, personalities and self-taught experts in theology, psychology, politics or some other subject in which they have a PhD (phony-degree) from the University of Google or Forum College, then you most probably realize that the world increasingly finds itself in the stranglehold of Communism and Freemasonry in all the key positions of life―Church, politics, finance, judiciary, military, science and medicine.
Dr. Bella Visono Dodd (1904–1969) was a member of the Communist Party of America in the 1930s and 1940s, who later became a vocal anti-Communist. After her defection from the Communist Party in 1949, she testified that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radical Communists to enter Roman Catholic Seminaries. In her public affidavit, among other things, Dr. Bella V. Dodd stated:
“In the late 1920s and 1930s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... I, myself, put some 1,200 men in Catholic seminaries … In the 1930s we put 1,100 men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops”
A dozen years before the Second Vatican Council, she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church”--which is true, for if you are old enough to remember the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church, then you have to admit that things have been changed drastically. A large part of the fault has to be placed at the lack of a truly practiced Faith on the part of the good priests and the good faithful. Our Lady’s statement at La Salette, that “People will think of nothing but amusement” … and the priests with “their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures” came to be true, as this attitude sapped any and all spiritual strength from the fun loving laity and ambitious clergy.
Weakened in this way, it was easy for the Communists (and all those other enemies of the Church who were and are fueled by the Communists—in finance and armament) to breach the walls of the Church—especially after their masterpiece conquests during Vatican II, when all the infiltrators “won the day” and carried away so many captive and ignorant souls!
Dodd gave voluminous testimony on communist infiltration of Church and state before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in the 1950s. In a lecture at Fordham University during that time, Dodd unveiled what would seem to be an uncanny prophecy of future chaos in the Church. The lecture was attended by a monk whose account of the talk is presented in Christian Order:
“I listened to that woman for four hours and she had my hair standing on end. Everything she said has been fulfilled to the letter. You would think she was the world's greatest prophet, but she was no prophet. She was merely exposing the step-by-step battle plan of Communist subversion of the Catholic Church. She explained that of all the world's religions, the Catholic Church was the only one feared by the Communists, for it was its only effective opponent. The whole idea was to destroy, not the institution of the Church, but rather the Faith of the people, and even use the institution of the Church, if possible, to destroy the Faith through the promotion of a pseudo-religion: something that resembled Catholicism, but was not the real thing. Once the Faith was destroyed, she explained that there would be a guilt complex introduced into the Church…. to label the ‘Church of the past’ as being oppressive, authoritarian, full of prejudices, arrogant in claiming to be the sole possessor of truth, and responsible for the divisions of religious bodies throughout the centuries. This would be necessary in order to shame Church leaders into an ‘openness to the world,’ and to a more flexible attitude toward all religions and philosophies. The Communists would then exploit this openness in order to undermine the Church.”
Does any of this sound familiar? Just like a perfect interrogation technique. Confront the church with alleged or real crimes. Brainwash the Church with the “themes” you want to introduce to get the Church to confess to Her real or imagined wrongdoings. Unless you have been comatose since Vatican II, you would be aware that Bella Dodd was describing the state of the Catholic Church today. Today, post-conciliar churchmen wallow in guilt over the Church’s "intolerant" past, make public apologies for the sins of dead Catholics (but not their own sins against the living faithful, including the victims of the homo-priest cover-up), and extol the virtues of other religions, thereby de facto abandoning the defined dogma that there is no salvation outside the Church.
Bella Dodd was no prophet. She merely told us what the infiltrators of the Church were planning to do. And lo, they have done it.
With each passing year, the world becomes more Satanic and less Christian. Huh? Are you serious? A little over the top, no? No, nowhere near being over the top! The bottom line of life is this: (1) You are either on God’s side, or (2) you are on Satan’s side―there is no middle ground, there are no spectators. If anyone protests that they are indifferent, and are on neither one side or the other, then God answers: “I know thy works―that thou art neither cold, nor hot! I would thou wert cold, or hot! But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). God speaks of being on one side or the other―hot or cold―but the indifferent, the in-between, the non-committed―He cannot tolerate and says He will vomit them out of His mouth.
Our Lord says something similar on several occasions: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). “Everyone therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it! And he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it!” (Matthew 10:32-39).
Our Lord Speaks of Two Sides
Elsewhere, Our Lord points out that the world is in opposition to God and that He Himself wants nothing to do with the world, except to try and save souls from this world and its prince―Satan. “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything … The prince of this world is already judged ... Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31; 16:11; 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, and because I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25).
In addition to this, Our Lord speaks of the terrible influence the world has upon the effectiveness of the Word of God. In the parable about the Sower of the Seed―in which Our Lord explains that the seed represents the Word of God―He says: “He that received the seed [the Words of God] among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless” (Matthew 13:22). “And that which fell among thorns, are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit” (Luke 8:14).
The Apostles Speak of Two Sides
Following the lead of Our Lord’s truths, the Apostles write in Holy Scripture (which itself is Word of God and not just the word of the Apostles) that the world is our enemy and that, apart from living in it, we should have nothing to do with the world, its worldliness and spirit:
“Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32) ... “If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20) ... “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4) ... “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31) ... “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27) ... “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world” (Galatians 1:4). Therefore, the world is NOT GOOD, but in need of reform and in need of rescuing and saving! It is, as Holy Scripture say, a “wicked world” that is at enmity with God.
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
“Be sober and watch: because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith!” (1 Peter 5:8-9). “In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one!” (Ephesians 6:16).
Who is Satan?
The word “Satan” is derived from the Hebrew verb “satan”, which means “to oppose” and so from it comes the general meaning of “adversary.” The word devil comes from the way the wicked spirit goes about his work. It comes from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate.” Since the devil is the prince of this world, he leaves his influence, or fingerprints or DNA upon this world―creating a spirit of opposition, accusation, defamation, calumniation and a twisting of truth, facts and motives.
Children of Satan
What Jesus said to the Scribes and Pharisees, can equally be said of the world―along the principle of “like father, like son―like mother like daughter” which comes from Scripture: “Behold everyone that useth a common proverb, shall use this against thee, saying: ‘As the mother was, so also is her daughter’” (Ezechiel 16:44)―so too can these words of Our Lord’s be also applied to the world in general and not just the Scribes and Pharisees: “You [the world] are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.” (John 8:44).
With the word “Satan” coming from the Hebrew verb “satan”, which means “to oppose” and the word “devil” coming from the Greek verb “diaballo” meaning “to twist, accuse and calumniate”―Satan lives up his billing as an opponent and adversary to Christ and His Church, who loves to lie, twist things, accuse and calumniate. Since he does not do those things directly himself, he has to have his instruments who will do his work for him. Our Lord even addresses some of the Jews, the Scribes and Pharisees as being instruments of the devil, when He says: “You are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you will do!” (John 8:44).
In the same encounter between the Jews and Jesus, the Jews, showed the fingerprints and footprints of the devil (adversary, opponent, twister, accuser and calumniator) by accusing Jesus of being possessed by a devil. In that encounter, Jesus indirectly repeats what He had said earlier about them having the devil for their ‘father’ and says to them: “He that is of God, heareth the words of God! Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God!’ The Jews therefore answered, and said to Him: ‘Do not we say well that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?’ Jesus answered: ‘I have not a devil―but I honor My Father, and you have dishonored Me! But I seek not My own glory! There is One that seeketh and judgeth!” (John 8:47-50).
Thus God says in Holy Scripture: “Thou art blasphemed by them that say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan! … Behold, I will bring of the synagogue of Satan―who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie―behold, I will make them to come and adore before Thy feet. And they shall know that I have loved Thee!” (Apocalypse 2:9; 3:9).
Children or Instruments of Satan Today
Like any family, over centuries, the clan or extent of the family grows to enormous proportions―the same is true for the ‘family’ of the devil, his instruments―some witting, some unwitting―which has grown to enormous proportions today.
If we take the ‘measuring-stick’ of Our Lord―“He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30)―then the vast majority of the 7 billion people walking this planet right now, are more aligned with the devil than they are aligned with Christ. Catholics are a mere 13% of the world―and most Catholics are most likely at enmity with God by living in a state of mortal sin, which further reduces that 13% down to anywhere―your guess is as good as anyone’s―to perhaps 2% or 1 in 50 people. With odds like that―50 to 1―there are not going to be many brave enough and willing enough to stand up for Christ and His Law and confess Him (witness to Him) before the remaining horde of mortal sinners, pagans, and atheists. Yet, Our Lord did warn: “Everyone therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 10:32-33).
Our Lady Points the Finger at the Instruments of Satan
It was at Quito, in Ecuador, in the late 16th and early 17th century, that Our Lady of Good Success revealed, to Sister Marianna de Jesus Torress, a glimpse of the future 19th and 20th centuries and the appalling times that awaited the Church due to our lukewarmness and indifference to God and our love for luxury and pleasure instead.
“I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... This epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. These years — during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government — will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised ... The life-giving Sacrament of Penance will be forgotten and even scorned by ungrateful men. In their foolish madness, they do not realize that it is the only sure means of salvation after one has lost his baptismal innocence. What is most grievious, is that even the ministers of my Most Holy Son do not give to this Sacrament the value that they should. Many view with cold indifference this valuable and precious treasure, which has been placed in their hands for the restoration of souls redeemed by the Blood of the Redeemer. There are those who consider hearing confession as a loss of time and a futile thing ... The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them. These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests ... Against them, the impious will rage a cruel war, overwhelming them with vituperations, calumnies and vexations, in order to stop them from fulfilling their ministry … The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. How the Church will suffer during this dark night!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church ... Making use of persons in positions of authority, the devil will assiduously try to destroy the Sacrament of Confession ... The same will happen with Holy Communion. Often during this epoch, the enemies of Jesus Christ, instigated by the demon, will steal consecrated hosts from the churches, so that they might profane the Eucharistic Species … The Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament. This will make it easy for everyone to live in sin and will encourage the procreation of illegitimate children born without being incorporated into the Church ... Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent … The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom ... A spirit of impurity will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall … Commiserate with and weep for your imprudent brethren sinners, beseeching your God and Redeemer to send to their souls many special and efficacious graces, powerful enough to draw them out of the dark abyss in which they lie” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Our Lord Also Points the Finger
Our Lord added: “This punishment will be for the 20th century … I shall punish heresy, blasphemy and impurity … “Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the rigor of the punishments.” The ingratitude and betrayal of religious souls, so dear to His Heart, would compel Him “to let My Justice fall upon My beloved cloisters ― and even over cities ― when those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them, even more than for the rest of the faithful … Such communities can only be preserved ― while they exist ― at the cost of much penance, humiliations and daily and solid practice of the religious who are good. Woe to these corrupt members during those times of calamity! Weep for them, beloved spouse, and implore that the time of so much suffering will be shortened.”
Popes Point the Finger of Accusation
After the formation of modern Masonry in London in 1717, the Church reacted shortly afterwards, in 1738, by forbidding Catholics from joining Masonic organizations and other secret societies. In the years that have followed, at least eleven popes have ruled that Catholic doctrines and Freemasonry are incompatible. Until 1983, Catholics who publicly associated with, or publicly supported, Masonic organizations were automatically excommunication―without the need for any court trial or decree of excommunication.
However, in view of the progressive infiltration of the Church by its enemies―Freemasons, Communists and others―once these infiltrators reached positions of power, they were able to weaken the Church’s stance against her enemies―with the result that, by the time of the Second Vatican Council, the “finger was not longer pointed” at Freemasons and Communists. Vatican II was asked, by over 400 bishops present at the Council, to condemn Freemasonry and Communism―and it did neither. Since 1983, a mere prohibition (no longer an automatic excommunication) on Masonic membership exists. The Church still prohibits membership in Freemasonry, but now only goes so far as to say, in an official Declaration, that “faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.” This is seen as a massive success by the Freemasonic invaders of the clergy and laity and led to a great increase in Masonic membership (mortal sin) on the part of many Catholic clergy and laity. Today, in the Vatican alone, there are at least 4 Masonic Lodges for the higher clergy. Even the Modernist and Liberal Pope Francis has frequently spoken of his grave concern over the Masonic infiltration of the Church’s Curia and other Catholic organizations. Yet, strangely, Pope Francis is constantly praised and cheered by Freemasons all over the world, and has even been made an honorary member of the Lodge, and has invited Rotarian Masons to celebrate their jubilee in the Vatican.
In his 1884 encyclical, Humanum Genus, Pope Leo XIII stated that the human race is “separated into two diverse and opposite parts, of which the one steadfastly contends for truth and virtue, the other of those things which are contrary to virtue and to truth. The one is the kingdom of God on Earth, namely, the true Church of Jesus Christ … The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader and of our first parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God.”
“At every period of time each has been in conflict with the other, with a variety and multiplicity of weapons, and of warfare, although not always with equal ardor and assault. At this period, however, the partisans of evil seem to be combining together, and to be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons ... No longer making any secret of their purposes, they are now boldly rising up against God Himself. They are planning the destruction of holy Church publicly and openly, and this with the set purpose of utterly despoiling the nations of Christendom, if it were possible, of the blessings obtained for us through Jesus Christ our Savior … In this insane and wicked endeavor we may almost see the implacable hatred and spirit of revenge with which Satan himself is inflamed against Jesus Christ. The studious endeavor of the Freemasons, to destroy the chief foundations of justice and honesty, and to cooperate with those who would wish, as if they were mere animals, to do what they please, tends only to the ignominious and disgraceful ruin of the human race.”
“The first warning of the danger was given by Clement XII in the year 1738, and his constitution was confirmed and renewed by Benedict XIV; Pius VII followed the same path; and Leo XII put together the acts and decrees of former Pontiffs on this subject, and ratified and confirmed them forever. In the same sense spoke Pius VIII, Gregory XVI, and, many times over, Pius IX ... The Church forbade anyone to enter the society, under the penalties which the Church is wont to inflict upon exceptionally guilty persons [excommunication]. The sectaries [adherents to Freemasonry], indignant at this, thinking to elude or to weaken the force of these decrees―partly by contempt of them, and partly by calumny―accused the sovereign Pontiffs, who had passed them, either of exceeding the bounds of moderation in their decrees, or of decreeing what was not just … Let no one be deceived by a pretense of honesty. It may seem to some that Freemasons demand nothing that is openly contrary to religion and morality; but, as the whole principle and object of the sect lies in what is vicious and criminal, to join with these men or in any way to help them cannot be lawful.”
“From the[ir] disturbing errors, the greatest dangers to States are to be feared. For, the fear of God and reverence for divine laws being taken away, the authority of rulers despised, sedition permitted and approved, and the popular passions urged on to lawlessness, with no restraint save that of punishment, a change and overthrow of all things will necessarily follow [which is what we are now seeing in most countries multiplied ten or a hundred times over]. This change and overthrow is deliberately planned and put forward by many associations of Communists and Socialists; and to their undertakings the sect of Freemasons is not hostile, but greatly favors their designs, and holds in common with them their chief opinions.”
In 1890, Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical on Freemasonry, entitled Dall'Alto Dell'Apostolico Seggio which condemned Masonic sects, wrote: “They are already judged! Their ends, their means, their doctrines, and their action, are all known with indisputable certainty. Possessed by the spirit of Satan, whose instrument they are, they burn like him with a deadly and implacable hatred of Jesus Christ and of His work; and they endeavor by every means to overthrow and fetter it.”
Then he goes on to outline the chief insidious Masonic goals:
● Replacing religious schools with state-run, atheistic schools
● Creating laws that separate civil society from the Church’s influence
● Suppressing religious organizations and corporations
● Seeking to control all Church property
● Excluding Catholic influence from public administration, academia, charitable works and hospitals
The Masons laid out even more insidious plans to directly attack the Church in their document Alta Vendita. It's been called a Masonic blueprint for destroying the Catholic Church by plotting to capture the papacy. Their plans fell into the hands of Pope Gregory XVI and were subsequently published under the authority of both Pope Pius IX and Pope Leo XIII. The Alta Vendita states: “Our final end is that of Voltaire and of the French Revolution, the destruction forever of Catholicism and even of the Christian idea, which, if left standing on the ruins of Rome, would be the resuscitation of Christianity later on.” The Alta Vendita calls for corrupting the young clergy and religious by indoctrinating them with secular humanist doctrines of Freemasonry. This doctrinally corrupted clergy would then make revolutionary changes in the Church and choose ill-formed leaders to further spread these errors.
There are many well-researched, detailed and reputable articles and books that show the inherent ties of Freemasonry with Satan. Since Satan is the prince of this world―according to words of Our Lord Himself―then Satan uses many tools in this world in his vain attempt to destroy the Church of Christ―among the most numerous ones are Freemasonry and Communism, though they are merely the “Indians” who are under the control of even higher placed “chiefs”. Marx’s Communist League and The Communist Manifesto did not pop-up out of nowhere. Communism came about after several centuries of agitation, theorizing and propaganda within secret societies. Regarding Freemasonry and the rise of Communism/Socialism―it is neither accidental nor coincidental that the revolutionary reformers Garibaldi, Mazzini, Charles Bradlaugh and Karl Marx were all Freemasons. Fr. Chad Ripperger, a current exorcist, flatly and bluntly says that the Masons are the property of the devil. The same could be said of Communists―and anyone else who plots against the Church, or merely lacks the state of sanctifying grace in the soul.
Pointing the Finger at Communism and Socialism
If you are still one of those persons who is blessed with still being able to use your mind to see beyond the façade of the superficial cosmetic phony projection of the world, and are not yet drugged by the media, the internet, the social media and dumbed-down rhetoric of shallow politicians, personalities and self-taught experts in theology, psychology, politics or some other subject in which they have a PhD (phony-degree) from the University of Google or Forum College, then you most probably realize that the world increasingly finds itself in the stranglehold of Communism and Freemasonry in all the key positions of life―Church, politics, finance, judiciary, military, science and medicine.
Dr. Bella Visono Dodd (1904–1969) was a member of the Communist Party of America in the 1930s and 1940s, who later became a vocal anti-Communist. After her defection from the Communist Party in 1949, she testified that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radical Communists to enter Roman Catholic Seminaries. In her public affidavit, among other things, Dr. Bella V. Dodd stated:
“In the late 1920s and 1930s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... I, myself, put some 1,200 men in Catholic seminaries … In the 1930s we put 1,100 men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops”
A dozen years before the Second Vatican Council, she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church’s effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church”--which is true, for if you are old enough to remember the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church, then you have to admit that things have been changed drastically. A large part of the fault has to be placed at the lack of a truly practiced Faith on the part of the good priests and the good faithful. Our Lady’s statement at La Salette, that “People will think of nothing but amusement” … and the priests with “their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures” came to be true, as this attitude sapped any and all spiritual strength from the fun loving laity and ambitious clergy.
Weakened in this way, it was easy for the Communists (and all those other enemies of the Church who were and are fueled by the Communists—in finance and armament) to breach the walls of the Church—especially after their masterpiece conquests during Vatican II, when all the infiltrators “won the day” and carried away so many captive and ignorant souls!
Dodd gave voluminous testimony on communist infiltration of Church and state before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in the 1950s. In a lecture at Fordham University during that time, Dodd unveiled what would seem to be an uncanny prophecy of future chaos in the Church. The lecture was attended by a monk whose account of the talk is presented in Christian Order:
“I listened to that woman for four hours and she had my hair standing on end. Everything she said has been fulfilled to the letter. You would think she was the world's greatest prophet, but she was no prophet. She was merely exposing the step-by-step battle plan of Communist subversion of the Catholic Church. She explained that of all the world's religions, the Catholic Church was the only one feared by the Communists, for it was its only effective opponent. The whole idea was to destroy, not the institution of the Church, but rather the Faith of the people, and even use the institution of the Church, if possible, to destroy the Faith through the promotion of a pseudo-religion: something that resembled Catholicism, but was not the real thing. Once the Faith was destroyed, she explained that there would be a guilt complex introduced into the Church…. to label the ‘Church of the past’ as being oppressive, authoritarian, full of prejudices, arrogant in claiming to be the sole possessor of truth, and responsible for the divisions of religious bodies throughout the centuries. This would be necessary in order to shame Church leaders into an ‘openness to the world,’ and to a more flexible attitude toward all religions and philosophies. The Communists would then exploit this openness in order to undermine the Church.”
Does any of this sound familiar? Just like a perfect interrogation technique. Confront the church with alleged or real crimes. Brainwash the Church with the “themes” you want to introduce to get the Church to confess to Her real or imagined wrongdoings. Unless you have been comatose since Vatican II, you would be aware that Bella Dodd was describing the state of the Catholic Church today. Today, post-conciliar churchmen wallow in guilt over the Church’s "intolerant" past, make public apologies for the sins of dead Catholics (but not their own sins against the living faithful, including the victims of the homo-priest cover-up), and extol the virtues of other religions, thereby de facto abandoning the defined dogma that there is no salvation outside the Church.
Bella Dodd was no prophet. She merely told us what the infiltrators of the Church were planning to do. And lo, they have done it.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Monday March 25th & Tuesday March 26th
Article 24
Annunciation or Denunciation
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 24
Annunciation or Denunciation
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
What’s in a Word? The Word of God!
We glibly use words without fully adverting to what they mean and without knowing much about their origins. To us, words are like “Birds Eye” ready-made-meals in a package, just take off the shelf, open, add water, mix together and use. You don’t need to know how to make a meal―it’s already made for you―just use it and eat it! We could compare these “Birds-Eye Meals” to “Words-I-Use”―words that have already been invented, packaged and are on the shelf, we don’t fully understand them, we just mix them together and, instead of putting them into our mouths, these words come out of our mouths! Yet sometimes, after having “made a meal” of what we say, we are made to “eat our own words” with some “humble-pie”!
As surveys show, most young Catholics today―especially of the modern Church―are clueless as to what the Annunciation is all about. Some even confuse the Immaculate Conception with the Annunciation, thinking that the Immaculate Conception is all about Mary conceiving Jesus in her womb while still remaining a virgin! On that point, some young Catholics cannot even tell you who the members of the Holy Trinity are! Nor do they know who the Evangelists were, nor the names of the Apostles, nor the Ten Commandments, nor what the essential conditions are for a mortal sin, etc. That is a situation that calls for an annunciation of a denunciation!
Anyway, before we proceed further, let us look at the meaning of the words “annunciation” and “denunciation” and then take those “Birds-Eye” words off the shelf, unpack them, add the water of some thoughts and mix them all together to see what comes out of the oven.
Annunciation & Denunciation
The English word “annunciation” originates from Middle English, which in turn takes the word from Old French “annunciation”, which, going further back in time, comes from late Latin “annuntiatio(n-)”, which has its origins in the ancient Latin verb “annuntiare” or the prefix “an-” plus “nuntiare” ― meaning “an act or instance of announcing something; a proclamation; the brining of news.” Thus, the word “annunciation” essentially means “to bring news, the making of an announcement, making a proclamation.” Related word, or synonyms, of “annunciation” are “edict, notice, publication, communication, declaration, pronouncement, advertisement, proclamation, bulletin, notification.”
The English word “denunciation” comes from the 15th century, and traces its roots, like “annunciation” through Old French, Late Latin to ancient Latin. It has the same root as “annunciation”―that is to say, the Latin verb “nuntiare” which is prefixed with “de-” which means taking from something, as in detract; or going away from something, as in depart; or going down, as in demote; whereas the “an-” prefix, which is a derivative of “ad-“ means “adding to something, going towards something.” The Latin meaning of “denuntiare” is “to announce [negatively], proclaim [negatively]; bring bad news, denounce, menace; a charge, a solemn or formal declaration accompanied by a menace.” Hence today’s definition of “a strong, public criticism; the act of accusing someone in public of something bad; an act or instance of denouncing; public censure or condemnation; an accusation of crime before a public prosecutor or tribunal.” Related word, or synonyms, of “denunciation” are “denouncement, censure, accusation, condemnation, rebuke, reprimand, reproach, reproof, indictment, castigation, reprehension, reprobation, blame, charge, incrimination, vilification, stigmatization.”
The Annunciation
In Christianity, the capitalized word “Annunciation” means the announcement of GOOD NEWS by the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would conceive a Son by the power of the Holy Ghost, Who would be the Son of God and was to be called Jesus (Luke 1:26–38).
“And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel, being come in, said unto her: ‘Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou among women!’ Who, having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said to her: ‘Fear not, Mary! For thou hast found grace with God! Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High! And the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David His father! And He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever! And of His Kingdom there shall be no end!’ And Mary said to the angel: ‘How shall this be done, because I know not man?’ And the angel answering, said to her: ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee! And therefore also the Holy, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren―because no word shall be impossible with God!’ And Mary said: ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord! Be it done to me according to thy word!’ And the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:26-38).
The Denunciation
This miraculous conception within Mary, by the power of God, brought about a great consternation within St. Joseph, to whom Mary was espoused. Very soon he noticed her pregnancy and was bewildered as to how this could have happened. Jewish Law demanded that any adulterous actions be denounced and that the guilty parties be stoned to death. Joseph could not bring himself to believe that Mary would commit adultery, nor could he bear the thought of denouncing her. So he decided to quietly withdraw from the scene, leave Mary, and go live somewhere else.
“When, as His mother, Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with Child, of the Holy Ghost. Whereupon Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately. But, while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: ‘Joseph, son of David! Fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife! For that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call His Name Jesus. For He shall save His people from their sins!’ Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: ‘Behold a virgin shall be with Child, and bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel!’―which being interpreted is, ‘God with us.’ And Joseph, rising up from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took unto him his wife. And he knew her not till she brought forth her firstborn Son: and he called His Name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:17-25).
Combining the Annunciations to Mary and Joseph
Mixing together the ingredients of the two packages of ‘Annunciations’ made by Angels―instead of “Birds-Eye” packages you could call then “Angel-Mouth” messages―you get the following GOOD NEWS: “ ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee, and thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son … And therefore the Holy, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. And thou shalt call His name Jesus [which means “Savior”]. For He shall save His people from their sins! And the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David His father! And He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever! And of His Kingdom there shall be no end!’ Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: ‘Behold a virgin shall be with Child, and bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel!’―which being interpreted is, ‘God with us.’”
The Annunciation of Jesus
When Jesus reached manhood and began His public ministry, He would make His own annunciation and announce the very same thing the angels had announced to Mary and Joseph:
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47)―thus confirming that “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent His Son into the world, NOT to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Galatians 1:4). Yet though He came into this world, He was not of this world: “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18).
The Denunciation of the World by Jesus
But if the world will not receive Him―“He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:10-11)―then He WILL judge the world and they will die in their sins rather than being saved from their sins: “For neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). “I cannot of Myself do anything. As I hear, so I judge and My judgment is just; because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (John 5:30). “You judge according to the flesh … Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment … I judge not any man. And if I do judge, My judgment is true: because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me … I go, and you shall seek Me, and you shall die in your sin. Whither I go, you cannot come! … You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin … Many things I have to speak and to judge of you. But He that sent Me, is true―and the things I have heard of Him, these same I speak in the world!” (John7:24; 8:15-16; 8:21-26). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Our Lord goes on to announce: “The spirit of truth, the world cannot receive” (John 14:17). “I have manifested Thy Name, Father, to the men whom Thou hast given Me out of the world ... Thine they were, and to Me Thou gavest them … I am not of the world, and these are in the world … I pray for them … I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me … I have given them Thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world; as I also am not of the world” (John 17:6-14). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you … If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19).
The Denunciation of Christ and the Laws of Christ by the World
The world denounces Christ/God both directly and indirectly, totally or partially. It all depends on the ruling regime and the culture and religion of each country. Nevertheless, it should be clear even to the most myopic mind and most optimistic observer, that the world is stacked against Christ, His Church and His Laws. In some countries, the persecution is open, brutal and widespread; in other countries it is more indirect, hidden, subversive and subtle. Some countries physically persecute and kill Catholics, other countries persecute and kill them through laws and finance. It is not for nothing that Holy Scripture says in both the Old and New Testaments: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and His Christ!” Psalm 2:2; Acts 4:26).
President Barack Obama’s administration’s January 2014 directive to religious institutions to pay for employees’ contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs is one example of the modern-day “rack” or torture on which the Catholic Church has been placed. It is the modern compromise that imitates the early Christian dilemma of having to sacrifice to false gods or being put to death. Likewise the “hate crimes” of not accepting and speaking out against homosexual relationships, divorce, abortion, contraception and abortion provoking contraceptives, fornication and cohabitation outside of marriage, etc. Then the more subtle pressure of having to accept “freedom of religion” which, as has been witnessed, leads to freedom to worship Satan in the public domain―in the military, in schools, and in society at large. All of this is a disguised hatred of Christ, Christ’s teachings and Christ’s one true Church. Make no mistake about it―for the most part, the world hates Christ and Christ’s laws, either totally or partially, explicitly or implicitly. The teachings of Christ are denounced, ridiculed, ignored, rejected and forbidden. The world, as a whole, hates Christ whether it admits it or not, and we somehow still love the world!
Denouncing a Right to Life by the World
Let us put some objectivity into our vigilante moralizing today! There is no question that child abuse―whether physical abuse or sexual abuse―is a grave sin, one which merits Hell, unless sincerely confessed and paid for by penance. Yet let us not use that grave sin to whitewash or hide an even greater sin of child abuse―which is the even greater sin of abortion, which also merits Hell, unless sincerely confessed and paid for by penance. All things being equal―the person asking for an abortion or performing an abortion, will find themselves in far greater torments in Hell than the person who has abused a child physically or sexually. Murder is a far greater crime than abuse! With regard to abortion (the ultimate “child abuse” crime―since it is child murder), abortion laws vary widely by country. Only three countries in Latin America (the tiny countries Dominican Republic―population 10 million, El Salvador―population 6 million, and Nicaragua with a population 6 million) and two in Europe: the tiny island of Malta with a population of half-a-million and the Holy See or Vatican City with a population of 1,000―have banned abortions entirely, but life-saving abortions are nevertheless allowed in Malta in practice. Therefore, a total of less than 23 million people from those five tiny countries, out of the world’s population of 7,000 million, live in an area where abortion is forbidden―which means that approximately 1/300th or 0.003% of the world forbids abortion. According to World Health Organization, whose numbers will always be on the low side, every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day. That is murder, that is child abuse of highest degree―yet the world condones it, accepts it, legalizes it! God says: “Thou shalt not kill!” and they don’t give a damn! That is a hatred of God and His Law.
As regards contraception―which is working against God’s providence and denying a child its right to life―in developing countries, more than half of all women of reproductive age want to avoid pregnancy. 214 million women are not using an effective method of contraception, leading to 88 million unintended pregnancies (but God intended pregnancies) in developing countries each year. In developed countries, contraception practice percentages, according to the United Nations statistics department, are as follows: Norway 88%; Czechia 86%; Canada 85%; Finland 85%; China 84%; UK 84%; Argentina 81%; Brazil 80%; Ecuador 80%; Uruguay 79%; France 78%; Greece 76%; Denmark 76%; Chile 76%; Colombia 75%; Netherlands 73%; USA 72%; Switzerland 69%; Germany 68%; Israel 68%; Sweden 64%; Spain 69%; Russia 68%; Portugal 67%; Mexico 67%; Belgium 66%; Australia 66%; Italy 65%; Austria 65%; Ireland 64%; Ukraine 64%; Hungary 61%; Poland 41%; Japan 39%; Pakistan 35%; United Arab Emirates 27%; Saudi Arabia 25%; Afghanistan 22%; Nigeria 13%; Sudan 12%; Gambia 9%; South Sudan 4%. These are just some of the chief countries of the total of 197 countries listed. If you are interested the worldwide average comes to rounded-off figure of 52% women of reproductive age practicing contraception.
The World Denounces God’s Rules on Marriage and Morality
Marriage is a creation of God’s and not a creation of man! Just as man cannot tinker with God’s physical laws in nature, neither can tinker with God’s moral laws concerning marriage and relationships. Sister Lucia of Fatima said that the focal point of the devil’s ‘final battle’ would be the family. This is patently and blatantly obvious to all who want to see! Marriage has been attacked on all fronts―firstly on the level of being a non-dissoluble institution, which has now been broken by universal acceptance of legalized divorced; and now on the level of marriage being a union between one man and one woman, with the almost universal acceptance of same sex marriages, which, obviously, therefore condone same sex sexual relationships. All of this flies in the face of God’s clear and unambiguous moral code, which can readily be found in Holy Scripture―which lays down the law that marriage is to be between one man and one woman; that marriage is monogamous (having only one spouse and not several spouses); that marriage is indissoluble (that it is a “until death do us part” marriage); and that marriage forbids adultery, contraception and abortion.
What is there about the following words of Holy Scripture―the word and law of God―that cannot be understood?
“And the Lord God said: ‘It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself!’ … for Adam there was not found a helper like himself. Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it. And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam. And Adam said: ‘This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man!’ Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh. And God created man to His own image―to the image of God He created him: male and female He created them. And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the Earth” (Genesis 1:27-28; 2:18-24).
The only way you can “increase and multiply” is in a male-female marriage, not a male-male or female-female union: “And Adam knew Eve his wife: who conceived and brought forth Cain, saying: I have gotten a man through God. And again she brought forth his brother Abel … In the day that God created man, he made him to the likeness of God. [2] He created them male and female; and blessed them … And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son to his own image and likeness, and called his name Seth. And the days of Adam, after he begot Seth, were eight hundred years: and he begot sons and daughters. And all the time that Adam lived came to nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. Seth begot begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.” (Genesis 3:1-2). If God would have intended some other option to male-female procreation, He would most certainly have built that possibility into human nature―but He didn’t. Why? God explains His thoughts elsewhere in Holy Scripture:
“Thou shalt not lie with man as with woman, because it is an abomination. Thou shalt not copulate with any beast, neither shalt thou be defiled with it. A woman shall not lie down to a beast, nor copulate with it―because it is a heinous crime. Defile not yourselves with any of these things with which all the nations have been defiled, and with which the land is defiled―the abominations of which I will visit―that it may vomit out its inhabitants” (Leviticus 18:22-25).
When St. Paul discusses the activity of sodomites, he does not say it is “just another sin”. Rather, he presents it as an example of extreme abomination, coming at the end of a long path of progressive debauchery. Many sins are not against nature, but are simply good things done in the wrong way or at the wrong time. But homosexual sex is such a perversion that it is a sin against nature itself. There is no context in which it can ever be holy. It is debased and unfruitful by definition. When it comes to heinous sins, sodomy is near the end of the road, just before final judgment.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and injustice … They became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools … Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature, rather than the Creator … For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men, working that which is filthy!” (Romans 1:18-27).
Homosexuality is Severely Punished by God
Holy Scripture shows, on numerous occasions, God’s disgust with homosexuality. First of all he warns against it, threatening severe punishments: “Thou shalt not lie with man as with woman, because it is an abomination. Thou shalt not copulate with any beast, neither shalt thou be defiled with it. A woman shall not lie down to a beast, nor copulate with it―because it is a heinous crime. Defile not yourselves with any of these things with which all the nations have been defiled, and with which the land is defiled―the abominations of which I will visit―that it may vomit out its inhabitants” (Leviticus 18:22-25). “If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination! Let them be put to death―their blood be upon them!” (Leviticus 20:13).
Then, whenever homosexuality breaks out, we see God’s heavy hand of punishment chastising it, as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrha (Genesis 19:1-29), Canaan (Leviticus 18:22-25) and Gabaa (Judges 19:22-25). Fire and brimstone rain down from Heaven and destroy Sodom, Gomorrha and all surrounding land and cities:
“And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city … And they [the angels] said to Lot: ‘Hast thou here any of thine? Son-in-law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city! For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them!’ … And when it was morning, the angels pressed Lot, saying: ‘Arise! Take thy wife and the two daughters, which thou hast! Lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city!’ … And they brought him forth, and set him outside the city … And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities, and all the country round about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth … And Abraham got up early in the morning and, in the place where he had stood before with the Lord, he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country, and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace” (Genesis 19:1-29).
So what has changed? Has God changed His mind about homosexuality? Is what once was evil now acceptable? Times change―don’t they? Holy Scripture trashes such a thought, saying that God is “the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration!” (James 1:17) and “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness―that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). Today’s modern world and legal system had better get ready to take God to court and sentence Him for being guilty of a “hate crime”! They may well be “proud” of the sin today, but after Judgment Day, there will no longer be any “Pride Days” in Hell. They can threaten and blaspheme God as much as they want―God is not going to change, God does not cave in to pressure and intimidation.
When St. Paul discusses the activity of sodomites, he does not say it is “just another sin”. Rather, he presents it as an example of extreme abomination, coming at the end of a long path of progressive debauchery. Many sins are not against nature, but are simply good things done in the wrong way or at the wrong time. But homosexual sex is such a perversion that it is a sin against nature itself. There is no context in which it can ever be holy. It is debased and unfruitful by definition. When it comes to heinous sins, sodomy is near the end of the road, just before final judgment.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and injustice … They became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools … Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshiped and served the creature, rather than the Creator … For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men, working that which is filthy!” (Romans 1:18-27).
“Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err! Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor men who sleep with men (Latin: masculorum concubitoribus, in other words, homosexuals), nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor speakers of evil (Latin: maledici), nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10) and “the law is not made for the just man, but for the unjust and disobedient, for the ungodly, and for sinners, for the wicked and defiled, for murderers of fathers, and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for homosexuals (masculorum concubitoribus), … and whatever other thing is contrary to sound doctrine” (1 Timothy 1:9-10).
The bishops and priests of today, who are practicing homosexuals―which apparently seems to be many―are, as Our Lady of La Salette says, about to bring down from Heaven a terrible chastisement: “The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God! Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Let us not imagine that this scourge of homosexuality simply exists among the clergy―they don’t become homosexual after priestly ordination―it is rampant everywhere even before they hit the seminaries, monasteries and convents. It is not only the homosexual clergy that will attract the wrath of God, but also the countless homosexuals that now infest society at large. In his 1948 book, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, Alfred Kinsey shocked the world by announcing that 10% of the male population was homosexual. A 1993 Janus Report estimated that 9% of men and 5% of women had more than “occasional” homosexual relationships―these percentages only count practicing homosexuals. In August 2002, a Gallup poll asked Americans, in an open-ended format, to estimate the percentage of American men and the percentage of American women who are homosexual. The average estimates were that 21% of men are homosexual and 22% of women are lesbians. In fact, roughly a quarter of the public thinks more than 25% of men and 25% of women are homosexual―given that many or most homosexuals, lesbians or transgenders are still shy of “coming out” and admitting their sexual deviation. They are fools, foolishly playing―not just with each other―but with their very salvation and eternal damnation. This sin, which God calls an abomination, cries out to Heaven for Divine retribution: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, because it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). “If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination! Let them be put to death―their blood be upon them!” (Leviticus 20:13).
What is to be said of the enablers of homosexuality? What is to be said of those who praise and fight for freedom to be granted to homosexuality; who promote homosexuality in schools and organizations; those who pass laws allowing and legalizing homosexuality, lesbianism and transgenderism? In moral theology, the provoker is often more guilty than the perpetrator, in instigator more than the malefactor, the seducer more than the seduced. The words that Our Lord spoke to the Pharisees―for much lesser transgressions―are thus even more applicable to these people: “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men―for you yourselves do not enter in―and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you go round about the sea and the land to make one convert; and when he is made, you make him the child of Hell twofold more than yourselves!” (Matthew 23:13-15). “He that shall scandalize one of these little ones, that believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea!” (Matthew 18:6).
God’s Denunciation of Fornication and Adultery
So you are not homosexual or lesbian! Okay! God, however, does not just condemn homosexuality! He also condemns fornication (sexual relations or desires among single people) and adultery (sexual relations or desires where one or both persons is married).
“The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body!” (1 Corinthians 6:13). “For fear of fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband!” (1 Corinthians 7:2-3). “Flee fornication! Every sin that a man does, is without the body; but he that commits fornication, sins against his own body. Or know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Who is in you, Whom you have from God; and you are not your own? For you are bought with a great price! Glorify and bear God in your body!” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20). “Mortify, therefore, your members, which are upon the earth from fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence … For which things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of unbelief, among whom you also walked at some time, when you lived in them. But now put away all filthy speech … stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new man, him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him!” (Colossians 3:5-10). “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from fornication! That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor! Not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles that know not God!” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5). “Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit: and the spirit against the flesh … Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, … and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:16-21).
Remember, too, that fornication is not just committed by physical actions, but also by mental thoughts! If the following verse is true of adultery, then it is also true of fornication: “Whosoever shall look on a woman, to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28). Today, the world has made it easy for mental fornication and mental adultery to be committed―the media is a literal tsunami of constant sexual and immodest bombardment. Turn wherever you will―TV, internet, advertizing, magazine covers, book covers, fashions, everyday clothing, people on the street―immodesty at best and impurity at worst is flowing onto you from all sides.
It is not for nothing that Our Lady of Good Success spoke of this: “Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church … The passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals ... In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!”
Woe to those people who are enablers and promoters of this “filthy ocean” of “the spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times” allowing it to “run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty.” As was said before, the provoker is often more guilty than the perpetrator, in instigator more than the malefactor, the seducer more than the seduced. Why do the governments not legislate against such immodesty, impurity, perversion and pornography? They have it in their power to do so! Yet they refuse to do so! Yet they will sentence a man to jail who gives drugs to his children, or even drugs to fellow adults―yet they allow immodesty, impurity, perversion and pornography to freely circulate on the various media outlets, thus creating the tinder-wood or kindling-wood for the fire of fornication and adultery in both mind and body! “He that shall scandalize one of these little ones, that believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea!” (Matthew 18:6). What does it mean to “scandalize”? The word comes from the Latin noun, “scandalum”, which means a stumbling-block or something that you trip over. That is exactly what the governments, media outlets, fashion outlets and everyday folk on the street are doing―they are placing stumbling-blocks of immodesty, impurity, perversion and pornography in the path of others to trip them up so that they fall into sin!
The very same applies to adultery, which is basically fornication by married people―or where at least one person is married―with someone who is not their spouse. Just as with fornication, adultery can be mental or physical. Our Lord is pretty clear on the matter, not giving leeway for loopholes:
“You have heard that it was said to them of old: ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery!’ But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman, to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart! And if thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee! For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell! And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell! And it hath been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, excepting for the cause of fornication, maketh her to commit adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery!” (Matthew 5:27-32).
God’s Denunciation of Divorce
Marriage is intended to be permanent, since it was established by God. “And there came to Jesus the Pharisees tempting Him, and saying: ‘Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?’ Jesus, answering, said to them: ‘Have ye not read, that He [God] Who made man from the beginning, made them male and female?’ And Jesus said [quoting Genesis 2:24]: ‘For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh. Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder!’ They said to Him: ‘Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorce, and to put away?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Because Moses, by reason of the hardness of your heart, permitted you to put away your wives! But from the beginning it was not so! And I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery! And he that shall marry her, that is put away, committeth adultery!” (Matthew 19:3-9).
St. Mark paints an almost identical scene: “The Pharisees, coming to Jesus, tempting Him, asked Him: ‘Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?’ But Jesus, answering, said to them: ‘What did Moses command you?’ They said: ‘Moses permitted to write a bill of divorce, and to put her away!’ To whom Jesus, answering, said: ‘Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you that precept! But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother; and shall cleave to his wife. And they two shall be in one flesh. Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder!’ And in the house, again His disciples asked Him concerning the same thing. And He said to them: ‘Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, committeth adultery against her! And if the wife shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery!’” (Mark 10:2-12).
Those who have created, pushed for, and passed legislation permitting divorce will have one hell of a judgment when they die and find themselves divorced from God and eternally married to the devil! God help them! The same for those who promote divorce on the media, via television shows and movies, which desensitize us to the sin of divorce and even glamorize and glorify divorce. Marriage and divorce has become like a fast-food express lane check-out! Quickie-Marriage followed by a Quickie-Divorce, followed by a not-so-Quickie payment in Hell or Purgatory. But what the hell! As one pope after another has said―the greatest sin of our modern age is that man has lost the sense of sin! And losing the sense of sin is just one step away from losing your soul!
We glibly use words without fully adverting to what they mean and without knowing much about their origins. To us, words are like “Birds Eye” ready-made-meals in a package, just take off the shelf, open, add water, mix together and use. You don’t need to know how to make a meal―it’s already made for you―just use it and eat it! We could compare these “Birds-Eye Meals” to “Words-I-Use”―words that have already been invented, packaged and are on the shelf, we don’t fully understand them, we just mix them together and, instead of putting them into our mouths, these words come out of our mouths! Yet sometimes, after having “made a meal” of what we say, we are made to “eat our own words” with some “humble-pie”!
As surveys show, most young Catholics today―especially of the modern Church―are clueless as to what the Annunciation is all about. Some even confuse the Immaculate Conception with the Annunciation, thinking that the Immaculate Conception is all about Mary conceiving Jesus in her womb while still remaining a virgin! On that point, some young Catholics cannot even tell you who the members of the Holy Trinity are! Nor do they know who the Evangelists were, nor the names of the Apostles, nor the Ten Commandments, nor what the essential conditions are for a mortal sin, etc. That is a situation that calls for an annunciation of a denunciation!
Anyway, before we proceed further, let us look at the meaning of the words “annunciation” and “denunciation” and then take those “Birds-Eye” words off the shelf, unpack them, add the water of some thoughts and mix them all together to see what comes out of the oven.
Annunciation & Denunciation
The English word “annunciation” originates from Middle English, which in turn takes the word from Old French “annunciation”, which, going further back in time, comes from late Latin “annuntiatio(n-)”, which has its origins in the ancient Latin verb “annuntiare” or the prefix “an-” plus “nuntiare” ― meaning “an act or instance of announcing something; a proclamation; the brining of news.” Thus, the word “annunciation” essentially means “to bring news, the making of an announcement, making a proclamation.” Related word, or synonyms, of “annunciation” are “edict, notice, publication, communication, declaration, pronouncement, advertisement, proclamation, bulletin, notification.”
The English word “denunciation” comes from the 15th century, and traces its roots, like “annunciation” through Old French, Late Latin to ancient Latin. It has the same root as “annunciation”―that is to say, the Latin verb “nuntiare” which is prefixed with “de-” which means taking from something, as in detract; or going away from something, as in depart; or going down, as in demote; whereas the “an-” prefix, which is a derivative of “ad-“ means “adding to something, going towards something.” The Latin meaning of “denuntiare” is “to announce [negatively], proclaim [negatively]; bring bad news, denounce, menace; a charge, a solemn or formal declaration accompanied by a menace.” Hence today’s definition of “a strong, public criticism; the act of accusing someone in public of something bad; an act or instance of denouncing; public censure or condemnation; an accusation of crime before a public prosecutor or tribunal.” Related word, or synonyms, of “denunciation” are “denouncement, censure, accusation, condemnation, rebuke, reprimand, reproach, reproof, indictment, castigation, reprehension, reprobation, blame, charge, incrimination, vilification, stigmatization.”
The Annunciation
In Christianity, the capitalized word “Annunciation” means the announcement of GOOD NEWS by the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would conceive a Son by the power of the Holy Ghost, Who would be the Son of God and was to be called Jesus (Luke 1:26–38).
“And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel, being come in, said unto her: ‘Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou among women!’ Who, having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said to her: ‘Fear not, Mary! For thou hast found grace with God! Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High! And the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David His father! And He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever! And of His Kingdom there shall be no end!’ And Mary said to the angel: ‘How shall this be done, because I know not man?’ And the angel answering, said to her: ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee! And therefore also the Holy, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren―because no word shall be impossible with God!’ And Mary said: ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord! Be it done to me according to thy word!’ And the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:26-38).
The Denunciation
This miraculous conception within Mary, by the power of God, brought about a great consternation within St. Joseph, to whom Mary was espoused. Very soon he noticed her pregnancy and was bewildered as to how this could have happened. Jewish Law demanded that any adulterous actions be denounced and that the guilty parties be stoned to death. Joseph could not bring himself to believe that Mary would commit adultery, nor could he bear the thought of denouncing her. So he decided to quietly withdraw from the scene, leave Mary, and go live somewhere else.
“When, as His mother, Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with Child, of the Holy Ghost. Whereupon Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately. But, while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: ‘Joseph, son of David! Fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife! For that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call His Name Jesus. For He shall save His people from their sins!’ Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: ‘Behold a virgin shall be with Child, and bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel!’―which being interpreted is, ‘God with us.’ And Joseph, rising up from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took unto him his wife. And he knew her not till she brought forth her firstborn Son: and he called His Name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:17-25).
Combining the Annunciations to Mary and Joseph
Mixing together the ingredients of the two packages of ‘Annunciations’ made by Angels―instead of “Birds-Eye” packages you could call then “Angel-Mouth” messages―you get the following GOOD NEWS: “ ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee, and thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son … And therefore the Holy, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. And thou shalt call His name Jesus [which means “Savior”]. For He shall save His people from their sins! And the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David His father! And He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever! And of His Kingdom there shall be no end!’ Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: ‘Behold a virgin shall be with Child, and bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel!’―which being interpreted is, ‘God with us.’”
The Annunciation of Jesus
When Jesus reached manhood and began His public ministry, He would make His own annunciation and announce the very same thing the angels had announced to Mary and Joseph:
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47)―thus confirming that “God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent His Son into the world, NOT to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him” (John 3:16-17). “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Galatians 1:4). Yet though He came into this world, He was not of this world: “My kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36). “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). To the worldlings He says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18).
The Denunciation of the World by Jesus
But if the world will not receive Him―“He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:10-11)―then He WILL judge the world and they will die in their sins rather than being saved from their sins: “For neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). “I cannot of Myself do anything. As I hear, so I judge and My judgment is just; because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (John 5:30). “You judge according to the flesh … Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment … I judge not any man. And if I do judge, My judgment is true: because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me … I go, and you shall seek Me, and you shall die in your sin. Whither I go, you cannot come! … You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin … Many things I have to speak and to judge of you. But He that sent Me, is true―and the things I have heard of Him, these same I speak in the world!” (John7:24; 8:15-16; 8:21-26). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7).
Our Lord goes on to announce: “The spirit of truth, the world cannot receive” (John 14:17). “I have manifested Thy Name, Father, to the men whom Thou hast given Me out of the world ... Thine they were, and to Me Thou gavest them … I am not of the world, and these are in the world … I pray for them … I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me … I have given them Thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world; as I also am not of the world” (John 17:6-14). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you … If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19).
The Denunciation of Christ and the Laws of Christ by the World
The world denounces Christ/God both directly and indirectly, totally or partially. It all depends on the ruling regime and the culture and religion of each country. Nevertheless, it should be clear even to the most myopic mind and most optimistic observer, that the world is stacked against Christ, His Church and His Laws. In some countries, the persecution is open, brutal and widespread; in other countries it is more indirect, hidden, subversive and subtle. Some countries physically persecute and kill Catholics, other countries persecute and kill them through laws and finance. It is not for nothing that Holy Scripture says in both the Old and New Testaments: “The kings of the Earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and His Christ!” Psalm 2:2; Acts 4:26).
President Barack Obama’s administration’s January 2014 directive to religious institutions to pay for employees’ contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs is one example of the modern-day “rack” or torture on which the Catholic Church has been placed. It is the modern compromise that imitates the early Christian dilemma of having to sacrifice to false gods or being put to death. Likewise the “hate crimes” of not accepting and speaking out against homosexual relationships, divorce, abortion, contraception and abortion provoking contraceptives, fornication and cohabitation outside of marriage, etc. Then the more subtle pressure of having to accept “freedom of religion” which, as has been witnessed, leads to freedom to worship Satan in the public domain―in the military, in schools, and in society at large. All of this is a disguised hatred of Christ, Christ’s teachings and Christ’s one true Church. Make no mistake about it―for the most part, the world hates Christ and Christ’s laws, either totally or partially, explicitly or implicitly. The teachings of Christ are denounced, ridiculed, ignored, rejected and forbidden. The world, as a whole, hates Christ whether it admits it or not, and we somehow still love the world!
Denouncing a Right to Life by the World
Let us put some objectivity into our vigilante moralizing today! There is no question that child abuse―whether physical abuse or sexual abuse―is a grave sin, one which merits Hell, unless sincerely confessed and paid for by penance. Yet let us not use that grave sin to whitewash or hide an even greater sin of child abuse―which is the even greater sin of abortion, which also merits Hell, unless sincerely confessed and paid for by penance. All things being equal―the person asking for an abortion or performing an abortion, will find themselves in far greater torments in Hell than the person who has abused a child physically or sexually. Murder is a far greater crime than abuse! With regard to abortion (the ultimate “child abuse” crime―since it is child murder), abortion laws vary widely by country. Only three countries in Latin America (the tiny countries Dominican Republic―population 10 million, El Salvador―population 6 million, and Nicaragua with a population 6 million) and two in Europe: the tiny island of Malta with a population of half-a-million and the Holy See or Vatican City with a population of 1,000―have banned abortions entirely, but life-saving abortions are nevertheless allowed in Malta in practice. Therefore, a total of less than 23 million people from those five tiny countries, out of the world’s population of 7,000 million, live in an area where abortion is forbidden―which means that approximately 1/300th or 0.003% of the world forbids abortion. According to World Health Organization, whose numbers will always be on the low side, every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day. That is murder, that is child abuse of highest degree―yet the world condones it, accepts it, legalizes it! God says: “Thou shalt not kill!” and they don’t give a damn! That is a hatred of God and His Law.
As regards contraception―which is working against God’s providence and denying a child its right to life―in developing countries, more than half of all women of reproductive age want to avoid pregnancy. 214 million women are not using an effective method of contraception, leading to 88 million unintended pregnancies (but God intended pregnancies) in developing countries each year. In developed countries, contraception practice percentages, according to the United Nations statistics department, are as follows: Norway 88%; Czechia 86%; Canada 85%; Finland 85%; China 84%; UK 84%; Argentina 81%; Brazil 80%; Ecuador 80%; Uruguay 79%; France 78%; Greece 76%; Denmark 76%; Chile 76%; Colombia 75%; Netherlands 73%; USA 72%; Switzerland 69%; Germany 68%; Israel 68%; Sweden 64%; Spain 69%; Russia 68%; Portugal 67%; Mexico 67%; Belgium 66%; Australia 66%; Italy 65%; Austria 65%; Ireland 64%; Ukraine 64%; Hungary 61%; Poland 41%; Japan 39%; Pakistan 35%; United Arab Emirates 27%; Saudi Arabia 25%; Afghanistan 22%; Nigeria 13%; Sudan 12%; Gambia 9%; South Sudan 4%. These are just some of the chief countries of the total of 197 countries listed. If you are interested the worldwide average comes to rounded-off figure of 52% women of reproductive age practicing contraception.
The World Denounces God’s Rules on Marriage and Morality
Marriage is a creation of God’s and not a creation of man! Just as man cannot tinker with God’s physical laws in nature, neither can tinker with God’s moral laws concerning marriage and relationships. Sister Lucia of Fatima said that the focal point of the devil’s ‘final battle’ would be the family. This is patently and blatantly obvious to all who want to see! Marriage has been attacked on all fronts―firstly on the level of being a non-dissoluble institution, which has now been broken by universal acceptance of legalized divorced; and now on the level of marriage being a union between one man and one woman, with the almost universal acceptance of same sex marriages, which, obviously, therefore condone same sex sexual relationships. All of this flies in the face of God’s clear and unambiguous moral code, which can readily be found in Holy Scripture―which lays down the law that marriage is to be between one man and one woman; that marriage is monogamous (having only one spouse and not several spouses); that marriage is indissoluble (that it is a “until death do us part” marriage); and that marriage forbids adultery, contraception and abortion.
What is there about the following words of Holy Scripture―the word and law of God―that cannot be understood?
“And the Lord God said: ‘It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself!’ … for Adam there was not found a helper like himself. Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it. And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam. And Adam said: ‘This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man!’ Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh. And God created man to His own image―to the image of God He created him: male and female He created them. And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the Earth” (Genesis 1:27-28; 2:18-24).
The only way you can “increase and multiply” is in a male-female marriage, not a male-male or female-female union: “And Adam knew Eve his wife: who conceived and brought forth Cain, saying: I have gotten a man through God. And again she brought forth his brother Abel … In the day that God created man, he made him to the likeness of God. [2] He created them male and female; and blessed them … And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son to his own image and likeness, and called his name Seth. And the days of Adam, after he begot Seth, were eight hundred years: and he begot sons and daughters. And all the time that Adam lived came to nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. Seth begot begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.” (Genesis 3:1-2). If God would have intended some other option to male-female procreation, He would most certainly have built that possibility into human nature―but He didn’t. Why? God explains His thoughts elsewhere in Holy Scripture:
“Thou shalt not lie with man as with woman, because it is an abomination. Thou shalt not copulate with any beast, neither shalt thou be defiled with it. A woman shall not lie down to a beast, nor copulate with it―because it is a heinous crime. Defile not yourselves with any of these things with which all the nations have been defiled, and with which the land is defiled―the abominations of which I will visit―that it may vomit out its inhabitants” (Leviticus 18:22-25).
When St. Paul discusses the activity of sodomites, he does not say it is “just another sin”. Rather, he presents it as an example of extreme abomination, coming at the end of a long path of progressive debauchery. Many sins are not against nature, but are simply good things done in the wrong way or at the wrong time. But homosexual sex is such a perversion that it is a sin against nature itself. There is no context in which it can ever be holy. It is debased and unfruitful by definition. When it comes to heinous sins, sodomy is near the end of the road, just before final judgment.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and injustice … They became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools … Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature, rather than the Creator … For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men, working that which is filthy!” (Romans 1:18-27).
Homosexuality is Severely Punished by God
Holy Scripture shows, on numerous occasions, God’s disgust with homosexuality. First of all he warns against it, threatening severe punishments: “Thou shalt not lie with man as with woman, because it is an abomination. Thou shalt not copulate with any beast, neither shalt thou be defiled with it. A woman shall not lie down to a beast, nor copulate with it―because it is a heinous crime. Defile not yourselves with any of these things with which all the nations have been defiled, and with which the land is defiled―the abominations of which I will visit―that it may vomit out its inhabitants” (Leviticus 18:22-25). “If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination! Let them be put to death―their blood be upon them!” (Leviticus 20:13).
Then, whenever homosexuality breaks out, we see God’s heavy hand of punishment chastising it, as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrha (Genesis 19:1-29), Canaan (Leviticus 18:22-25) and Gabaa (Judges 19:22-25). Fire and brimstone rain down from Heaven and destroy Sodom, Gomorrha and all surrounding land and cities:
“And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city … And they [the angels] said to Lot: ‘Hast thou here any of thine? Son-in-law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city! For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them!’ … And when it was morning, the angels pressed Lot, saying: ‘Arise! Take thy wife and the two daughters, which thou hast! Lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city!’ … And they brought him forth, and set him outside the city … And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities, and all the country round about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth … And Abraham got up early in the morning and, in the place where he had stood before with the Lord, he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country, and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace” (Genesis 19:1-29).
So what has changed? Has God changed His mind about homosexuality? Is what once was evil now acceptable? Times change―don’t they? Holy Scripture trashes such a thought, saying that God is “the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration!” (James 1:17) and “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness―that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). Today’s modern world and legal system had better get ready to take God to court and sentence Him for being guilty of a “hate crime”! They may well be “proud” of the sin today, but after Judgment Day, there will no longer be any “Pride Days” in Hell. They can threaten and blaspheme God as much as they want―God is not going to change, God does not cave in to pressure and intimidation.
When St. Paul discusses the activity of sodomites, he does not say it is “just another sin”. Rather, he presents it as an example of extreme abomination, coming at the end of a long path of progressive debauchery. Many sins are not against nature, but are simply good things done in the wrong way or at the wrong time. But homosexual sex is such a perversion that it is a sin against nature itself. There is no context in which it can ever be holy. It is debased and unfruitful by definition. When it comes to heinous sins, sodomy is near the end of the road, just before final judgment.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and injustice … They became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools … Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshiped and served the creature, rather than the Creator … For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men, working that which is filthy!” (Romans 1:18-27).
“Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err! Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor men who sleep with men (Latin: masculorum concubitoribus, in other words, homosexuals), nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor speakers of evil (Latin: maledici), nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10) and “the law is not made for the just man, but for the unjust and disobedient, for the ungodly, and for sinners, for the wicked and defiled, for murderers of fathers, and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for homosexuals (masculorum concubitoribus), … and whatever other thing is contrary to sound doctrine” (1 Timothy 1:9-10).
The bishops and priests of today, who are practicing homosexuals―which apparently seems to be many―are, as Our Lady of La Salette says, about to bring down from Heaven a terrible chastisement: “The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth. The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God! Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Let us not imagine that this scourge of homosexuality simply exists among the clergy―they don’t become homosexual after priestly ordination―it is rampant everywhere even before they hit the seminaries, monasteries and convents. It is not only the homosexual clergy that will attract the wrath of God, but also the countless homosexuals that now infest society at large. In his 1948 book, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, Alfred Kinsey shocked the world by announcing that 10% of the male population was homosexual. A 1993 Janus Report estimated that 9% of men and 5% of women had more than “occasional” homosexual relationships―these percentages only count practicing homosexuals. In August 2002, a Gallup poll asked Americans, in an open-ended format, to estimate the percentage of American men and the percentage of American women who are homosexual. The average estimates were that 21% of men are homosexual and 22% of women are lesbians. In fact, roughly a quarter of the public thinks more than 25% of men and 25% of women are homosexual―given that many or most homosexuals, lesbians or transgenders are still shy of “coming out” and admitting their sexual deviation. They are fools, foolishly playing―not just with each other―but with their very salvation and eternal damnation. This sin, which God calls an abomination, cries out to Heaven for Divine retribution: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, because it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). “If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination! Let them be put to death―their blood be upon them!” (Leviticus 20:13).
What is to be said of the enablers of homosexuality? What is to be said of those who praise and fight for freedom to be granted to homosexuality; who promote homosexuality in schools and organizations; those who pass laws allowing and legalizing homosexuality, lesbianism and transgenderism? In moral theology, the provoker is often more guilty than the perpetrator, in instigator more than the malefactor, the seducer more than the seduced. The words that Our Lord spoke to the Pharisees―for much lesser transgressions―are thus even more applicable to these people: “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men―for you yourselves do not enter in―and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you go round about the sea and the land to make one convert; and when he is made, you make him the child of Hell twofold more than yourselves!” (Matthew 23:13-15). “He that shall scandalize one of these little ones, that believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea!” (Matthew 18:6).
God’s Denunciation of Fornication and Adultery
So you are not homosexual or lesbian! Okay! God, however, does not just condemn homosexuality! He also condemns fornication (sexual relations or desires among single people) and adultery (sexual relations or desires where one or both persons is married).
“The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body!” (1 Corinthians 6:13). “For fear of fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband!” (1 Corinthians 7:2-3). “Flee fornication! Every sin that a man does, is without the body; but he that commits fornication, sins against his own body. Or know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Who is in you, Whom you have from God; and you are not your own? For you are bought with a great price! Glorify and bear God in your body!” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20). “Mortify, therefore, your members, which are upon the earth from fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence … For which things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of unbelief, among whom you also walked at some time, when you lived in them. But now put away all filthy speech … stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new man, him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him!” (Colossians 3:5-10). “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from fornication! That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor! Not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles that know not God!” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5). “Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit: and the spirit against the flesh … Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, … and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:16-21).
Remember, too, that fornication is not just committed by physical actions, but also by mental thoughts! If the following verse is true of adultery, then it is also true of fornication: “Whosoever shall look on a woman, to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:28). Today, the world has made it easy for mental fornication and mental adultery to be committed―the media is a literal tsunami of constant sexual and immodest bombardment. Turn wherever you will―TV, internet, advertizing, magazine covers, book covers, fashions, everyday clothing, people on the street―immodesty at best and impurity at worst is flowing onto you from all sides.
It is not for nothing that Our Lady of Good Success spoke of this: “Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church … The passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals ... In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!”
Woe to those people who are enablers and promoters of this “filthy ocean” of “the spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times” allowing it to “run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty.” As was said before, the provoker is often more guilty than the perpetrator, in instigator more than the malefactor, the seducer more than the seduced. Why do the governments not legislate against such immodesty, impurity, perversion and pornography? They have it in their power to do so! Yet they refuse to do so! Yet they will sentence a man to jail who gives drugs to his children, or even drugs to fellow adults―yet they allow immodesty, impurity, perversion and pornography to freely circulate on the various media outlets, thus creating the tinder-wood or kindling-wood for the fire of fornication and adultery in both mind and body! “He that shall scandalize one of these little ones, that believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea!” (Matthew 18:6). What does it mean to “scandalize”? The word comes from the Latin noun, “scandalum”, which means a stumbling-block or something that you trip over. That is exactly what the governments, media outlets, fashion outlets and everyday folk on the street are doing―they are placing stumbling-blocks of immodesty, impurity, perversion and pornography in the path of others to trip them up so that they fall into sin!
The very same applies to adultery, which is basically fornication by married people―or where at least one person is married―with someone who is not their spouse. Just as with fornication, adultery can be mental or physical. Our Lord is pretty clear on the matter, not giving leeway for loopholes:
“You have heard that it was said to them of old: ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery!’ But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman, to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart! And if thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee! For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell! And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell! And it hath been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, excepting for the cause of fornication, maketh her to commit adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery!” (Matthew 5:27-32).
God’s Denunciation of Divorce
Marriage is intended to be permanent, since it was established by God. “And there came to Jesus the Pharisees tempting Him, and saying: ‘Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?’ Jesus, answering, said to them: ‘Have ye not read, that He [God] Who made man from the beginning, made them male and female?’ And Jesus said [quoting Genesis 2:24]: ‘For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh. Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder!’ They said to Him: ‘Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorce, and to put away?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Because Moses, by reason of the hardness of your heart, permitted you to put away your wives! But from the beginning it was not so! And I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery! And he that shall marry her, that is put away, committeth adultery!” (Matthew 19:3-9).
St. Mark paints an almost identical scene: “The Pharisees, coming to Jesus, tempting Him, asked Him: ‘Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?’ But Jesus, answering, said to them: ‘What did Moses command you?’ They said: ‘Moses permitted to write a bill of divorce, and to put her away!’ To whom Jesus, answering, said: ‘Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you that precept! But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother; and shall cleave to his wife. And they two shall be in one flesh. Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder!’ And in the house, again His disciples asked Him concerning the same thing. And He said to them: ‘Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, committeth adultery against her! And if the wife shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery!’” (Mark 10:2-12).
Those who have created, pushed for, and passed legislation permitting divorce will have one hell of a judgment when they die and find themselves divorced from God and eternally married to the devil! God help them! The same for those who promote divorce on the media, via television shows and movies, which desensitize us to the sin of divorce and even glamorize and glorify divorce. Marriage and divorce has become like a fast-food express lane check-out! Quickie-Marriage followed by a Quickie-Divorce, followed by a not-so-Quickie payment in Hell or Purgatory. But what the hell! As one pope after another has said―the greatest sin of our modern age is that man has lost the sense of sin! And losing the sense of sin is just one step away from losing your soul!
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Saturday March 23rd & Sunday March 24th
Article 23
Growing-Up to Heaven―Not Going-Down to Hell
Undoing the Damages and Ravages of Immaturity
Article 23
Growing-Up to Heaven―Not Going-Down to Hell
Undoing the Damages and Ravages of Immaturity
Mature, Wise & Saved vs. Immature, Foolish and Damned
You have to be fool to want to go to Hell! Arguably, you could say only fools go to Hell―but then you have to limit that “foolishness” to the domain of spiritual foolishness, because there must be a lot “wise-guys” in Hell who were very clever in their chosen fields―bishops, priests, religious, politicians, doctors, lawyers, professors, teachers, financiers, bankers, entrepreneurs, businessmen, etc. They were clever in their field, but fools in the field of Faith. “For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace!” (Romans 8:6). You could say that Hell is an unqualified success in attracting qualified people without even seeking their qualifications―in other words, Hell has no “entrance exam”, it requires no “university degree” or “business diploma” yet it attracts the most qualified people on the planet (as well as the unqualified folk). Do you need any qualifications to “get in”? Hell, no! Just jump right in! Who jumps in? Only fools jump in! How many fools are there? “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways―there is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalm 13:1). “My foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22). “A fool will laugh at sin” (Proverbs 14:9). “O children! How long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge?” (Proverbs 1:22). “Understand, ye senseless among the people: and, you fools, be wise at last!” (Psalms 93:8).
Is This a Picture of You?
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, in his book The Three Ages of the Interior Life, speaks of the foolishness of the “clever” ones of this world, who foolishly put their worldly interests and careers above their ‘spiritual careers:
“The interior life is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life, or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social life or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be, in certain respects, the search for the true and the good, in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not!” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
“Since the commission of Original Sin, man’s intellect is wounded. This wound is called that of ‘ignorance’― because of it, the intellect, instead of inclining spontaneously toward the true, and especially toward supreme Truth, has difficulty in attaining it and tends to become absorbed in the consideration of earthly things, without rising to their cause [their cause or creator is God]. It is inclined with curiosity toward passing, short-lived things and, on the other hand, it is negligent and slothful in the search for our true last end and the means leading to it. Consequently, the intellect easily falls into error, and lets itself be darkened by the prejudices which come from inordinate passions [meaning desires, whims, attractions, loves, interests that are out of control]. It may finally reach the state that is called spiritual blindness” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Just Asking You Out of Curiosity: “Are You a Curious Person?”
“Despite wounding our intellect, Original Sin did not make our intellect incapable of knowing the truth … This wound of ignorance, the consequence of Original Sin, is in the process of healing from the time of Baptism, which regenerates us by giving us sanctifying grace. This wound may, however, reopen by reason of our personal sins, especially by reason of curiosity and intellectual pride, of which we must speak here [Today, curiosity is a modern day plague of epidemic proportions]. Curiosity is a defect of our mind, says St. Thomas, which inclines us with eagerness and precipitation toward the consideration and study of less useful subjects, thus making us neglect the things of God and of our salvation. This curiosity, says St. Thomas, is born of spiritual sloth in respect to divine things, and makes us lose precious time. Whereas people who have little learning, but are nourished with the Gospel, possess great rectitude of judgment, there are others who, far from nourishing themselves profoundly with the great Christian truths, spend a great part of their time carefully storing up useless, or at least only slightly useful knowledge, which does not at all train or form the judgment. They are afflicted with almost a mania for collecting. Theirs is an accumulation of knowledge, mechanically arranged and unorganized, somewhat as if it were in a dictionary. This type of work, instead of training the mind, smothers it, as too much wood smothers a fire. Under this jumble of accumulated knowledge, they can no longer see the light of the first principles, which alone could bring order out of all this material and lift up their souls even to God, the Beginning and End of all things. As St. John of the Cross says, this heavy and stupid intellectual curiosity is in this sense the inverse or opposite of contemplation, which judges all thing’s by the Supreme Cause [contemplating and seeing things as God sees them]. Such curiosity could lead to spiritual folly [spiritual immaturity and spiritual foolishness in knowledge, thought, word and action] of which St. Paul often speaks, to the folly which judges all, even the highest things, by what is lowest and at times most contemptible, by the satisfactions of our concupiscence or of our pride” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Some of the passages that Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange refers to―“of which St. Paul often speaks”― are as follows:
“Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; so that we may know the things that are given us from God. Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom; but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the sensual man [the worldly man, the seeker of earthly knowledge, things and pleasures] perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined” (1 Corinthians 2:12-14). “We preach Christ crucified, which is unto the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness! But unto them that are called, it is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:23-25)―that is to say, what appears foolish to the world in the ways of God, is indeed most wise; and what appears weak in the ways of God, is indeed above all the strength and comprehension of man.
What’s Your Eyesight Like?
How do you see things? Do you see things supernaturally or naturally? Do you judge supernaturally or naturally? “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9). “Nor do I judge according to the look of man! For man seeth only those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). Do you see other people, things, circumstances and events as God sees them? Or do you see them according to fashions, attitudes, viewpoints of the world? Remember that the world is an enemy of God! “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
If you cannot see that the world is an enemy of God, as well as an enemy to your soul and your soul’s salvation, then, sadly, your eyesight is not good―it might even be so bad as categorize you as being spiritually blind! “And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man! Thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house! Who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not! For they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:1-2).“They have mouths and speak not: they have eyes and see not” (Psalms 113:13). “They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart” (Isaias 44:18). “God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day” (Romans 11:8). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” [the teachings of the Faith] (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish [immature] people, and without understanding [whose understanding had not matured]―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not! Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord, and will you not repent at My presence?” (Jeremias 5:21-22). “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
God (Christ) Wants Mature Fruit
Taking a start from the parable of the Sower of Seed―in which Our Lord explains that the seed is the Word of God―we cannot deny that we have all had the seed of the Word of God planted in our souls. But what fruit has that seed produced? Has that seed of the Word of God been taken away by the birds of the air―which we call the air-waves of internet routers, which bring in the ‘birds’ of super-fast broadband connection to your home, laptop, tablet, mobile, etc. and takes your mind away on a super-fast broadroad to distraction from God and an eventual reboot in Hell. The seed of the Word of God doesn’t even get a “look in” due to having to compete with all the glitzy, snazzy, hi-tech pages which are the seed of the word of the world. The seed of the Word of God cannot take root because it is not in the mind for long enough to sprout and grow. It is choked by cares, riches, pleasures and lusts of worldly things. These “are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit” Luke 8:14). It never reaches maturity. It never ripens. The soul produces no fruit. God waits patiently, but nothing happens.
This brings us to another parable about the fruitless fig tree. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: ‘Behold! For these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it down therefore! Why cumbereth it the ground?’ But he answering, said to him: ‘Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it. And if happily it bear fruit: but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!’” (Luke 13:6-9).
We see this Godly impatience in an encounter that Jesus had with a fruitless fig tree―“And in the morning, returning into the city, Jesus was hungry. And seeing a certain fig tree by the wayside, He came to it, and found nothing on it, but leaves only, and He said to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matthew 21:18-19). “And when Jesus had seen, afar off, a fig tree having leaves, He came if perhaps He might find anything on it. And when He was come to it, he found nothing but leaves. For it was not the time for figs. And answering, He said to it: ‘May no man hereafter eat fruit of thee any more for ever!’ … And when evening was come, He went forth out of the city. And when, they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter remembering, said to Him: ‘Rabbi, behold the fig tree, which thou didst curse, is withered away!’” (Mark 11:13-14; 19-21). The immature fig tree did not produce the expected fruit and Christ cursed it.
The very basic fruit we should be producing in the fruit of penance―for we are all sinners with debt for sin: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3) ... “Bring forth, therefore, fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8) … “For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!” (Matthew 3:10) … “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire!” (Matthew 7:16-19) … “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away! And every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit! Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you the branches―he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit―for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!” (John 15:1-6).
Adam and Eve Eat the Wrong Fruit
There is a massive lesson to learnt from Adam and Eve’s Original Sin, whereby they ate fruit that they should not have eaten. Let us first remind ourselves of the details and then draw some salutary lessons from the incident.
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat! And that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No! You shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’
“And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened! And when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons. And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God, amidst the trees of paradise. And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: ‘Where art thou?’ And he said: ‘I heard Thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself!’
“And the Lord God said to him: ‘And who hath told thee that thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?’ And Adam said: ‘The woman, whom Thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the woman: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ And she answered: ‘The serpent deceived me, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the Earth! Upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed―she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’
“To the woman also He said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband’s power, and he shall have dominion over thee!’ And to Adam He said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.
“And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living. And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife, garments of skins, and clothed them. And He said: ‘Behold Adam is become as one of Us, knowing good and evil! Now, therefore, lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever!’ And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken. And he cast out Adam; and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:1-24).
Today’s Adam and Eve Digital Sin
If we were to transpose Adam and Eve’s Original Sin to our present day, we could call that Original Sin a “Digital Sin”―meaning, of course, technological sin. St. Padre Pio, in speaking of the television, used to say: “The devil is in it!” and consequently Padre Pio refused to watch television. What would Padre Pio say today―with all the immense technological ‘advances’ that have been made, whereby the television seems almost a “stone-age” invention in comparison to the “fruits” of technology we can now lay our hands on!
If Holy Scripture warns us against loving the world―“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15) … Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4) ― then what would Holy Scripture say of the TV shows, the internet websites, social media, etc., which is 95% worldly, and the vehicles that bring that worldliness to us―television sets, computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, electronic assistants, etc.? If you have brain that still works, then the answer is as obvious as the nose on the front of your face! Yet very few people are focused on their noses, for we are looking way beyond our nose―which, at best, is blurred object that others can see far better than you yourself can see your own nose. That’s how it is with our worldliness―others can see our worldliness and lack of spirituality far better than we can. Or, as the Latin legal axiom says: “Nemo judex in causa sua” (or “nemo judex in sua causa”) literally meaning, “no-one is a judge in his own case.” It is a principle of natural justice that no person can judge a case in which they have an interest.
Without a doubt, we could say that modern technology has become “the forbidden fruit”―but, regardless of its dangers, we imitate Eve, who “saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened!” Today almost everyone thinks that “modern technology” is good to consume, fair to behold and delightful to use―and it opens eyes to the whole wide world (www=worldwideweb) and almost makes us like gods, knowing almost everything that is going at the click of a mouse or tapping a few keys! There is hardly anyone who can clearly see the terrible dangers infesting modern technology and few care anyway! But most souls are lost anyway! Is there a connection? You work it out! How can God be pleased with its constant use and distraction from Him, when He has said: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) … “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength!” (Mark 12:30). Is modern technology allowing that to happen? The hell it is! And it is to Hell that it leads most souls!
Immature Addiction
Sure, you can argue that, of itself, technology is neither good nor evil. But what is the most common effect of technology? It leads souls away from prayer, away from meditation and away from learning about the Faith, and ultimately away from God. They waste their time on secondary and mostly worldly things―which, as stated above, make them enemies of God. Even persons from what you would call “Conservative” or “Traditional” families are sold on and addicted to many of the modern media gadgets―smartphone, laptop, tablet, etc. They are not spending all their hours on religious sites and browsing the Bible! Far from it! And far from God too! They may, like the Israelites of the Old Testament, look upon themselves as the “Chosen People”―but do not forget God’s opinion of His “Chosen People”― “with most of them God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert!” (1 Corinthians 10:5), and most of today’s “Chosen People” are overthrown in the spiritual desert of material technology. Hardly anybody thinks like that anymore, but, there again, hardly anybody goes to Heaven anymore! “He that loveth danger shall perish in it” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27).
When God’s promised chastisement for our age finally comes―which Our Lady of Akita says will be even worse than the Great Flood in the days of Noe, and during which Our Lady of Fatima says that many nations will be annihilated―we can be sure that much of technology will be annihilated also. If it was so wonderful, God would keep it―but somehow St. Padre Pio’s opinion of “The devil is in it!” somehow seems to be more likely and true than a mistaken flimsy opinion that “God is in it!” Without a doubt, modern technology is an idol, a demi-god, that is adored and worshiped by old and young all over the world―a god that they cannot imagine living without! It has become their “golden-calf” and it will end like the golden-calf in the time of Moses ended―crushed, ground to dust and destroyed, with many people perishing with it. It is our modern day idolatry that is bring this forthcoming chastisement upon us―yet we care little, or worry little, or do little about it. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
We will certainly become mature and wise overnight, once that chastisement hits! The prophecies say that the few who remain alive on Earth, will live so holily as never before seen in the history of mankind! And they will achieve that holiness without modern-day technology! It will be a bygone-day mature spirituality that will have replaced this immature modern day technology. In the meantime, like babies, everyone will continue to play with their "technological toys" which have anesthetized and drugged their minds to the point where they can see spiritual truths and consequences no longer. That spiritual blindness is a punishment from God because they have preferred to spend more time and money on their technological toys rather than spend time with God.
Undoing the Evil Will Be Seen As an Evil
For those with the good sense and courage to fight against this technological tsunami, they will face a storm of ridicule, insults, alienation and persecution. Yet, there is no other way, for as Our Lord says: “He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth! … Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 12:30; 10:32-33) … “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it! He that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved” (Matthew 10:34-39; Luke 12:51-53, Mark 13:12-13).
You have to be fool to want to go to Hell! Arguably, you could say only fools go to Hell―but then you have to limit that “foolishness” to the domain of spiritual foolishness, because there must be a lot “wise-guys” in Hell who were very clever in their chosen fields―bishops, priests, religious, politicians, doctors, lawyers, professors, teachers, financiers, bankers, entrepreneurs, businessmen, etc. They were clever in their field, but fools in the field of Faith. “For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace!” (Romans 8:6). You could say that Hell is an unqualified success in attracting qualified people without even seeking their qualifications―in other words, Hell has no “entrance exam”, it requires no “university degree” or “business diploma” yet it attracts the most qualified people on the planet (as well as the unqualified folk). Do you need any qualifications to “get in”? Hell, no! Just jump right in! Who jumps in? Only fools jump in! How many fools are there? “The number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). “The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways―there is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalm 13:1). “My foolish people have not known Me! They are foolish and senseless children! They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge!” (Jeremias 4:22). “A fool will laugh at sin” (Proverbs 14:9). “O children! How long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge?” (Proverbs 1:22). “Understand, ye senseless among the people: and, you fools, be wise at last!” (Psalms 93:8).
Is This a Picture of You?
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, in his book The Three Ages of the Interior Life, speaks of the foolishness of the “clever” ones of this world, who foolishly put their worldly interests and careers above their ‘spiritual careers:
“The interior life is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life, or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social life or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be, in certain respects, the search for the true and the good, in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not!” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
“Since the commission of Original Sin, man’s intellect is wounded. This wound is called that of ‘ignorance’― because of it, the intellect, instead of inclining spontaneously toward the true, and especially toward supreme Truth, has difficulty in attaining it and tends to become absorbed in the consideration of earthly things, without rising to their cause [their cause or creator is God]. It is inclined with curiosity toward passing, short-lived things and, on the other hand, it is negligent and slothful in the search for our true last end and the means leading to it. Consequently, the intellect easily falls into error, and lets itself be darkened by the prejudices which come from inordinate passions [meaning desires, whims, attractions, loves, interests that are out of control]. It may finally reach the state that is called spiritual blindness” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Just Asking You Out of Curiosity: “Are You a Curious Person?”
“Despite wounding our intellect, Original Sin did not make our intellect incapable of knowing the truth … This wound of ignorance, the consequence of Original Sin, is in the process of healing from the time of Baptism, which regenerates us by giving us sanctifying grace. This wound may, however, reopen by reason of our personal sins, especially by reason of curiosity and intellectual pride, of which we must speak here [Today, curiosity is a modern day plague of epidemic proportions]. Curiosity is a defect of our mind, says St. Thomas, which inclines us with eagerness and precipitation toward the consideration and study of less useful subjects, thus making us neglect the things of God and of our salvation. This curiosity, says St. Thomas, is born of spiritual sloth in respect to divine things, and makes us lose precious time. Whereas people who have little learning, but are nourished with the Gospel, possess great rectitude of judgment, there are others who, far from nourishing themselves profoundly with the great Christian truths, spend a great part of their time carefully storing up useless, or at least only slightly useful knowledge, which does not at all train or form the judgment. They are afflicted with almost a mania for collecting. Theirs is an accumulation of knowledge, mechanically arranged and unorganized, somewhat as if it were in a dictionary. This type of work, instead of training the mind, smothers it, as too much wood smothers a fire. Under this jumble of accumulated knowledge, they can no longer see the light of the first principles, which alone could bring order out of all this material and lift up their souls even to God, the Beginning and End of all things. As St. John of the Cross says, this heavy and stupid intellectual curiosity is in this sense the inverse or opposite of contemplation, which judges all thing’s by the Supreme Cause [contemplating and seeing things as God sees them]. Such curiosity could lead to spiritual folly [spiritual immaturity and spiritual foolishness in knowledge, thought, word and action] of which St. Paul often speaks, to the folly which judges all, even the highest things, by what is lowest and at times most contemptible, by the satisfactions of our concupiscence or of our pride” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Some of the passages that Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange refers to―“of which St. Paul often speaks”― are as follows:
“Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; so that we may know the things that are given us from God. Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom; but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the sensual man [the worldly man, the seeker of earthly knowledge, things and pleasures] perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined” (1 Corinthians 2:12-14). “We preach Christ crucified, which is unto the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness! But unto them that are called, it is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:23-25)―that is to say, what appears foolish to the world in the ways of God, is indeed most wise; and what appears weak in the ways of God, is indeed above all the strength and comprehension of man.
What’s Your Eyesight Like?
How do you see things? Do you see things supernaturally or naturally? Do you judge supernaturally or naturally? “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9). “Nor do I judge according to the look of man! For man seeth only those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart!” (1 Kings 16:7). Do you see other people, things, circumstances and events as God sees them? Or do you see them according to fashions, attitudes, viewpoints of the world? Remember that the world is an enemy of God! “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
If you cannot see that the world is an enemy of God, as well as an enemy to your soul and your soul’s salvation, then, sadly, your eyesight is not good―it might even be so bad as categorize you as being spiritually blind! “And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man! Thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house! Who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not! For they are a provoking house!” (Ezechiel 12:1-2).“They have mouths and speak not: they have eyes and see not” (Psalms 113:13). “They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart” (Isaias 44:18). “God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day” (Romans 11:8). “Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember!” [the teachings of the Faith] (Mark 8:18). “Hear, O foolish [immature] people, and without understanding [whose understanding had not matured]―who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not! Will not you then fear Me, saith the Lord, and will you not repent at My presence?” (Jeremias 5:21-22). “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
God (Christ) Wants Mature Fruit
Taking a start from the parable of the Sower of Seed―in which Our Lord explains that the seed is the Word of God―we cannot deny that we have all had the seed of the Word of God planted in our souls. But what fruit has that seed produced? Has that seed of the Word of God been taken away by the birds of the air―which we call the air-waves of internet routers, which bring in the ‘birds’ of super-fast broadband connection to your home, laptop, tablet, mobile, etc. and takes your mind away on a super-fast broadroad to distraction from God and an eventual reboot in Hell. The seed of the Word of God doesn’t even get a “look in” due to having to compete with all the glitzy, snazzy, hi-tech pages which are the seed of the word of the world. The seed of the Word of God cannot take root because it is not in the mind for long enough to sprout and grow. It is choked by cares, riches, pleasures and lusts of worldly things. These “are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit” Luke 8:14). It never reaches maturity. It never ripens. The soul produces no fruit. God waits patiently, but nothing happens.
This brings us to another parable about the fruitless fig tree. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: ‘Behold! For these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none! Cut it down therefore! Why cumbereth it the ground?’ But he answering, said to him: ‘Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it. And if happily it bear fruit: but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down!’” (Luke 13:6-9).
We see this Godly impatience in an encounter that Jesus had with a fruitless fig tree―“And in the morning, returning into the city, Jesus was hungry. And seeing a certain fig tree by the wayside, He came to it, and found nothing on it, but leaves only, and He said to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matthew 21:18-19). “And when Jesus had seen, afar off, a fig tree having leaves, He came if perhaps He might find anything on it. And when He was come to it, he found nothing but leaves. For it was not the time for figs. And answering, He said to it: ‘May no man hereafter eat fruit of thee any more for ever!’ … And when evening was come, He went forth out of the city. And when, they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter remembering, said to Him: ‘Rabbi, behold the fig tree, which thou didst curse, is withered away!’” (Mark 11:13-14; 19-21). The immature fig tree did not produce the expected fruit and Christ cursed it.
The very basic fruit we should be producing in the fruit of penance―for we are all sinners with debt for sin: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3) ... “Bring forth, therefore, fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8) … “For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire!” (Matthew 3:10) … “By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire!” (Matthew 7:16-19) … “I am the true vine; and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away! And every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit! Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you the branches―he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit―for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth!” (John 15:1-6).
Adam and Eve Eat the Wrong Fruit
There is a massive lesson to learnt from Adam and Eve’s Original Sin, whereby they ate fruit that they should not have eaten. Let us first remind ourselves of the details and then draw some salutary lessons from the incident.
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the Earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: ‘Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ And the woman answered him, saying: ‘Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat! But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat! And that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die!’ And the serpent said to the woman: ‘No! You shall not die the death! For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil!’
“And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened! And when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons. And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God, amidst the trees of paradise. And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: ‘Where art thou?’ And he said: ‘I heard Thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself!’
“And the Lord God said to him: ‘And who hath told thee that thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?’ And Adam said: ‘The woman, whom Thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the woman: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ And she answered: ‘The serpent deceived me, and I did eat!’ And the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the Earth! Upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed―she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel!’
“To the woman also He said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband’s power, and he shall have dominion over thee!’ And to Adam He said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.
“And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living. And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife, garments of skins, and clothed them. And He said: ‘Behold Adam is become as one of Us, knowing good and evil! Now, therefore, lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever!’ And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken. And he cast out Adam; and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:1-24).
Today’s Adam and Eve Digital Sin
If we were to transpose Adam and Eve’s Original Sin to our present day, we could call that Original Sin a “Digital Sin”―meaning, of course, technological sin. St. Padre Pio, in speaking of the television, used to say: “The devil is in it!” and consequently Padre Pio refused to watch television. What would Padre Pio say today―with all the immense technological ‘advances’ that have been made, whereby the television seems almost a “stone-age” invention in comparison to the “fruits” of technology we can now lay our hands on!
If Holy Scripture warns us against loving the world―“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15) … Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4) ― then what would Holy Scripture say of the TV shows, the internet websites, social media, etc., which is 95% worldly, and the vehicles that bring that worldliness to us―television sets, computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, electronic assistants, etc.? If you have brain that still works, then the answer is as obvious as the nose on the front of your face! Yet very few people are focused on their noses, for we are looking way beyond our nose―which, at best, is blurred object that others can see far better than you yourself can see your own nose. That’s how it is with our worldliness―others can see our worldliness and lack of spirituality far better than we can. Or, as the Latin legal axiom says: “Nemo judex in causa sua” (or “nemo judex in sua causa”) literally meaning, “no-one is a judge in his own case.” It is a principle of natural justice that no person can judge a case in which they have an interest.
Without a doubt, we could say that modern technology has become “the forbidden fruit”―but, regardless of its dangers, we imitate Eve, who “saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened!” Today almost everyone thinks that “modern technology” is good to consume, fair to behold and delightful to use―and it opens eyes to the whole wide world (www=worldwideweb) and almost makes us like gods, knowing almost everything that is going at the click of a mouse or tapping a few keys! There is hardly anyone who can clearly see the terrible dangers infesting modern technology and few care anyway! But most souls are lost anyway! Is there a connection? You work it out! How can God be pleased with its constant use and distraction from Him, when He has said: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) … “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength!” (Mark 12:30). Is modern technology allowing that to happen? The hell it is! And it is to Hell that it leads most souls!
Immature Addiction
Sure, you can argue that, of itself, technology is neither good nor evil. But what is the most common effect of technology? It leads souls away from prayer, away from meditation and away from learning about the Faith, and ultimately away from God. They waste their time on secondary and mostly worldly things―which, as stated above, make them enemies of God. Even persons from what you would call “Conservative” or “Traditional” families are sold on and addicted to many of the modern media gadgets―smartphone, laptop, tablet, etc. They are not spending all their hours on religious sites and browsing the Bible! Far from it! And far from God too! They may, like the Israelites of the Old Testament, look upon themselves as the “Chosen People”―but do not forget God’s opinion of His “Chosen People”― “with most of them God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert!” (1 Corinthians 10:5), and most of today’s “Chosen People” are overthrown in the spiritual desert of material technology. Hardly anybody thinks like that anymore, but, there again, hardly anybody goes to Heaven anymore! “He that loveth danger shall perish in it” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27).
When God’s promised chastisement for our age finally comes―which Our Lady of Akita says will be even worse than the Great Flood in the days of Noe, and during which Our Lady of Fatima says that many nations will be annihilated―we can be sure that much of technology will be annihilated also. If it was so wonderful, God would keep it―but somehow St. Padre Pio’s opinion of “The devil is in it!” somehow seems to be more likely and true than a mistaken flimsy opinion that “God is in it!” Without a doubt, modern technology is an idol, a demi-god, that is adored and worshiped by old and young all over the world―a god that they cannot imagine living without! It has become their “golden-calf” and it will end like the golden-calf in the time of Moses ended―crushed, ground to dust and destroyed, with many people perishing with it. It is our modern day idolatry that is bring this forthcoming chastisement upon us―yet we care little, or worry little, or do little about it. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
We will certainly become mature and wise overnight, once that chastisement hits! The prophecies say that the few who remain alive on Earth, will live so holily as never before seen in the history of mankind! And they will achieve that holiness without modern-day technology! It will be a bygone-day mature spirituality that will have replaced this immature modern day technology. In the meantime, like babies, everyone will continue to play with their "technological toys" which have anesthetized and drugged their minds to the point where they can see spiritual truths and consequences no longer. That spiritual blindness is a punishment from God because they have preferred to spend more time and money on their technological toys rather than spend time with God.
Undoing the Evil Will Be Seen As an Evil
For those with the good sense and courage to fight against this technological tsunami, they will face a storm of ridicule, insults, alienation and persecution. Yet, there is no other way, for as Our Lord says: “He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth! … Everyone, therefore, that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven! But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven!” (Matthew 12:30; 10:32-33) … “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law! And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it! He that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved” (Matthew 10:34-39; Luke 12:51-53, Mark 13:12-13).
TRIPLE DAY ARTICLE : Wednesday March 20th & Thursday March 21st & Friday March 22nd
Article 22
Are There Any "Grown-Ups" Anymore?
The Damage Caused by Immature Clergy & Immature Laity
Article 22
Are There Any "Grown-Ups" Anymore?
The Damage Caused by Immature Clergy & Immature Laity
Regressing into Immaturity?
Today’s psychologist, scientist and sociologists―not to mention priests, parents and teachers―are increasingly of the opinion that we are regressing (going backwards) as regards our maturity. Is this true? What is maturity anyway? The dictionary will define “maturity” as “the quality or state of being mature, especially as in full development; when something reaches its full level of development or potential; the state of being completely grown; the state of being mentally and emotionally well-developed, and therefore responsible; a very advanced or developed form or state.” In psychology, maturity is the ability to respond to the environment in an appropriate manner. Maturity also encompasses being aware of the correct time and location to behave and knowing when to act, according to the circumstances and the culture of the society one lives in.
As regards “immaturity”―it is defined as “not fully grown or developed; lacking complete growth or development; not having attained the potential capacity to a definitive form or state; lacking wisdom, insight, emotional stability, emotionally undeveloped; juvenile; childish.”
In a recent BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) news article, March 19th 2019, it was stated that “People don’t become fully “adult” until they’re in their 30s, according to brain scientists. Currently the UK law says you become a mature adult when you reach the age of 18. Scientists who study the brain and nervous system say the age at which you become an adult is different for everyone. Research suggests people aged 18 are still going through changes in the brain which can affect behavior and make them more likely to develop mental health disorders. Professor Peter Jones, from Cambridge University, said: What we’re really saying is that to have a definition of when you move from childhood to adulthood looks increasingly absurd. It’s a much more nuanced transition that takes place over three decades. I guess systems like the education system, the health system and the legal system make it convenient for themselves by having definitions. When you reach 18, you can vote, buy alcohol, get a mortgage and are also treated as an adult if you get in trouble with the police.”
In another BBC article, “At What Age Do You Feel You Have Reached Adulthood?”, published on April 27th, 2017, it was stated that “Many of the current generation of recent over-18s do not feel like an adult, according to a survey by building society Nationwide, and those commenting on the BBC News Facebook page seem to agree. Nationwide’s study, of 2,000 over-18s, found more than one in 10 did not think of themselves as fully fledged grown-ups until they reached the age of 27. Of those 2,000 people asked did feel they were adults, the transition happened for half in their 20s, while a fifth said it happened in their 30s. One in 20 respondents felt they had not grown up until their 40s.”
Young Woman's Perspective
Is it just UK ‘adults’ who are still wearing diapers, or is it the same in America and elsewhere? It seems as though everything is not rosy in the Big Apple! Here is an anecdotal testimony of a young woman about her male friend―somehow you are tempted to think that she has hit the nail on the head and that this is no isolated case!
“People today are getting degrees at an alarming rate, but are completely useless individuals at life. The higher the degree, the more useless. I am girl with a degree, but fortunately not useless. My friend, however, is in University and I cringe at how useless he is. He moved out to attend school very far away. I originally told him that the apartment, which his mom chose for him, was too expensive, but he took it anyway. His mom should have known better―given her life experiences. But not all parents learn from their mistakes and consequently pass on their mis-education to their children. Ten months later, he had to move out, because he could not afford this apartment. He panicked, because he had 3 weeks to find someone to move into his current apartment and to find a new apartment. I was completely baffled at how stressed he was. To me it was not complicated and not a big deal―but he worried and worried. He had no coping skills.
“I told him he needed proceed methodically and cautiously and make an informed decision, or he would find himself in the same financial predicament and would have to move again. I told him his next apartment needed to stay below a certain rent amount, in order to minimize financial trouble. I made him an excel sheet with his expenses and showed him what would happen if he repeated the same mistakes. Armed with this sheet he began his hunt. This time he listened to most of my advice ... at least the crucial parts. Everything worked out. Moving time came―he had no driver’s license, so I offered to rent a van and he paid for it. Another part of independence is getting a driver’s license, so you can help yourself. But fine―not everyone can drive. Next, I helped him put up his curtains, build his Ikea bed etc. He had absolutely no life-skills. He was good at school and video games and that was it.
“This is happening everywhere―young adults with no life skills. He is a grown man, but knows nothing. I blame him for not wanting to learn, and his parents for not teaching him and his siblings, the basic things I learned: Street smarts, spotting toxic people, price comparison shopping, cooking, sewing, reading ingredients on food, price comparison shopping for apartments, putting up shelves, using my hands, tricks to unclog a toilet, ability to wash clothing by hand, handling my money, credit cards and debt and avoiding service fees at banks. These are the basics that everyone needs to learn. People go out into to the world expect to live as comfortably as did when they were at home―and fail miserably and move back in. They are ill-informed, unprepared and living above their means when they leave the home.
“Firstly, I think Western society has it backwards with its promotion of moving out of home at 17 or 18. I think people should stay home as long as possible while finishing school and then working. This allows you to save money. I believe you should still contribute financially, and otherwise, to your parents’ household. This will still be cheaper than moving out. You should help out with cooking, cleaning and all the things you would do if you were living alone. Obviously some children take advantage of their parents generosity and they will most likely be the ones with the most difficulty when they leave the nest. So, they don't realize they are hurting themselves in the long run. Parents can set down the law and make sure their kids are contributing. This needs to begin when a child is young, so, as adults, it will be natural for them to want to help their parents. Secondly, I noticed that the very parents who want their kids out of home, in turn, find that their kids put them in nursing homes when they get older. This is not a pattern seen in non-western societies, where more than one generation lives in the same roof.
“To conclude, I think on some level parents are to blame for raising people who have no live skills and sometimes no ambition. Some kids have life too easy and never struggle and thus never learn copping skills because life is too easy. If you are a wealthy parent you are doing your child a disservice by giving your kids everything the ask for. Hardship builds character. If you work hard for something, you are more likely to take care of it. A lot of kids feel entitled because parents have allowed them to think they are entitled. Of course some parents don't know how to be a parent, or are children themselves, with a very little skill set to pass on.
“The most frustrating about watching this friend of mine is that he is pretty lazy and has no interest in really acquiring any life skills. He could very easily learn what he missed out on―it isn't too late. I cringe at the thought that, when he becomes a parent, he will have nothing significant to teach his kids (if he continues this way), except a love for video games, school and processed foods. He may get an awesome job because of his degree but when the s - - - hits the fan, I hope he has someone by his side to pick up the pieces.”
It would be a fairly educated guess to say that the female is predominantly of a choleric temperament and that the male is predominantly melancholic. Nevertheless, like a good choleric, she proverbially hits (or hammers) the nail on the head.
Older Man’s Perspective
Here is the opinion of an older American―a Protestant, retired, reads 100 books a year. He places a large part of the blame for immaturity on technology:
“Instant gratification. And it all picked up speed in MY generation ― the boomers [he means “baby-boomers” which is a term for those born in the years following the Second World War]. How? Television. Television probably was the first technology which became actually invasive in family life. Unlike radio, TV required little imagination because the viewer was given both sight and sound. Radio, the predecessor medium, still required imagination to visualize what one heard. I was one of the lucky ones. My TV diet of cartoons and sappy little dramas for kids was satisfied only on Saturday mornings. TV time was limited―after the Saturday morning ‘transfusion’, I, and every other kid in the neighborhood, was ejected from our homes and told to go out and play. But in succeeding years, TV became more and more a kind of baby sitter. Especially as “house wives” became “working mothers” and many kids became “latch key” kids. I think you see where I am headed, with this, so I will just skip ahead to more recent generations, whose youth constituency is bribed or placated with instant satisfaction of their needs. To the extent that the fulfillment of needs is accomplished with portable devices.
“At the same time, the appearance of technology in schools has replaced the need of mental discipline to absorb the most basic skills. A friend of mine has a child of 15 who cannot do basic multiplication in his head. Asked to count the number of equal size boxes in a case, the poor guy actually pointed to each box, in turn, “One, two, three…”. This kid did not only NOT KNOW how to take the units on vertical and multiply by units on horizontal, he didn’t even have a CONCEPT of what that was all about. Why? Because his cell phone had a calculator.
“Which brings us to the landslide of internet “do it for me” questions, which is truly stunning, and where perceptions of reality appear to emerge from playing video games. And this is so widespread that people actually ask―with sincerity―such questions as, “My girlfriend gave me a funny look. What does it mean?” We have done an outstanding job of actually making entire generations as stupid and as self-serving as possible.
“Oh, sure, the parents will proudly say how little Throckmorton [imaginary name for a boy―you could just as well say “Little Johnny”] has a grasp of technology ― see how he uses his smart phone and computer? Well, bad news! Throckmorton has no more a grasp of technology than I do of composing a symphony. No, what Throckmorton has learned is how to push buttons for a reward. He is no different than a caged monkey who pushes a button to get a pellet of monkey food. No different! He has no clue what’s going on inside his “smart” whatever. He is as stupid as a table. And why? So people can have what they want, when they want it. The concept of delayed reward has been vaporized. We are left, instead, with a moaning, pathetic population of people approaching adulthood, who have not advanced beyond the crib. Dreadful!”
Our Lord's Perspective
What would Our Lord say? After all, it is His opinion that really counts! What does Holy Scripture―the Word of God par excellence―say on this matter? There are some who would be tempted to ‘canonize’ their immaturity by quoting the following incident with Our Lord: “And Jesus, calling unto Him a little child, set him in the midst of them, and said: ‘Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 18:2-3). You will say: “There you have it! Jesus wants us to be immature like children!”
Well, not quite! Though it is true that Jesus said those words, we must look and understand in what context He said them. In fact, Jesus said those things in order to stop the immature, childish, immature bickering that was taking place among His Apostles. Here are the accounts, combined together, that place His words in their full and true context―they are reported by St. Matthew and St. Mark: “And they came to Capharnaum. And when they were in the house, Jesus asked them: ‘What did you talk of on the way?’ But they held their peace, for, on the way, they had disputed among themselves, which of them should be the greatest [thus behaving just like immature children]. Then the disciples came to Jesus, saying: ‘Who, thinkest Thou, is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven?’ And sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve, and said to them: ‘If any man desire to be first, he shall be the last of all, and the minister of all!’ And Jesus calling unto Him a little child, and taking the child, He set him in the midst of them, and, when He had embraced him, He said to them: ‘Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 18:1-5; Mark 9:32-36). Thus, rather than ‘canonizing’ immaturity, Jesus in actually condemning the immaturity of the disciples.
The Old Testament severely condemns immaturity on several occasions: God, gives Moses the following command: “If a man have a stubborn and unruly son [an example of immaturity], who will not hear the commandments of his father or mother, and being corrected, slighteth obedience―then they shall take him and bring him to the ancients of his city, and to the gate of judgment, and shall say to them: ‘This our son is rebellious and stubborn, he slighteth hearing our admonitions, he giveth himself to reveling, and to debauchery and banqueting!’ The people of the city shall stone him and he shall die, so that you may take away the evil out of the midst of you, and all Israel, hearing of it, may be afraid!” (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).
“[The prophet of the Lord] Eliseus went up to Bethel. And, as he was going up by the way, little boys [immature] came out of the city and mocked him, saying: ‘Go up, thou bald head! Go up, thou bald head!’ And looking back, Eliseus saw them, and cursed them in the Name of the Lord―and there came forth two bears, out of the forest, and tore of them two and forty boys” (4 Kings 2:23-24). “Cast out the scoffer [the immature], and contention shall go out with him, and quarrels and reproaches shall cease! … Folly [immaturity] is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rod of correction shall drive it away!” (Proverbs 22:10, 15).
The Dangers of Immaturity
When we fail to correct the emotional immaturity in our lives, we end up merely going through the motions of Christian disciplines, activities, and behaviors, but deeply rooted behavioral patterns from our pasts continue to hinder us from an authentic life of maturity in Christ. We kneel, we join our hands in prayer, we bow, we genuflect, we make signs of the cross, we carry Rosaries, we wear scapulars, we say prayers, we go to Mass, we receive Holy Communion, etc. ― but all of these things are mere externals, ecclesiastical etiquette, but these actions are merely like feathers without a bird underneath them. There is little thought and little understanding of the purpose, significance, symbolism and spirituality of these things―they are mere externals that smugly satisfy our superficial Faith. A five-year-old child is taught to make a sign of the cross, to say a certain prayer, to use holy water, to answer a catechism question―such as “What is God? God is a spirit!”―without really knowing or understanding all that these things mean, represent, symbolize and effect. For a five-year-old child, this is fine, it is only a beginning―but we should not remain in the childish state of knowledge and understanding―it is only skin deep, superficial. It is of such a superficiality and immaturity that Our Lord speaks, when He says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Most Catholics today are “lip-service” Catholics living in a spiritual “express-lane” in their prayer life, and using the “fast-check-out-lane” after Holy Communion and Mass.
That is classic immaturity―to perform the externals (looking to be mature), while interiorly we are distracted, disconnected, disorientated like an immature child, who is told to apologize and begrudgingly spits out the words “I’m sorry!!!” when it is clear that those words come only from the lips and not the heart. Part of maturity is acceptance of responsibility―immature people are always making excuses, “passing-the-buck”, pointing the finger at others and blaming someone or something else other than themselves. In confession, they will ‘confess’ or tell the sins of others as much (or even more than) their own sins―all of this comes from a lack of maturity or lack of an ability to accept responsibility.
The Superficiality of Immaturity
We often neglect to dig deeper, to think more, to reflect on what is going on inside us and around us (emotional health) and are too busy to slow down to be with God (contemplative spirituality). As a result, we run the high risk of remaining stuck as spiritual infants, failing to develop into spiritually/emotionally mature adults in Christ. As St. Paul writes: “Brethren, do not become children in sense: but in malice be children, and in sense be perfect” (1 Corinthians 14:20). In other words, St. Paul is saying: “Do not think like mere children, but if you are going to imitate children, then imitate their lack of maliciousness that comes from their thoughtlessness―but in your own thoughts, be mature and not childish!”
Elsewhere St. Paul adds: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child” (1 Corinthians 13:11). Nowadays, adults still act like children, want to play like children, react to disappointments like children and make excuses like children.
St. Paul, in speaking of spiritual immaturity, writes: “For whereas for the time you ought to be masters, you have need to be taught again what are the first elements of the words of God [in other words: you should be spiritual masters by now, but I am still having to teach you basic elementary Christianity]: and you are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat [in other words, mature spiritual ideas and teachings are beyond your immature understanding]. For every one that is a partaker of milk, is unskillful in the word of justice: for he is a little child [in other words: babies who are being nursed on milk are pretty helpless and useless, and so are you with the Word of God]. But strong meat is for the perfect; for them who by custom have their senses exercised to the discerning of good and evil [in other words: meaty theology is for the spiritual mature, who have long since passed by and left behind their milk of ‘baby theology’].” (Hebrews 5:12-14). “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal. As unto little ones in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for you were not able as yet [in other words: because of your spiritual immaturity, I have to speak to you in spiritual baby language, because you cannot grasp nor understand anything above that level]. But neither, indeed, are you now able; for you are yet carnal [in other words: you have not changed, you are still the same, still spiritual babies in adult bodies]. For, whereas there is among you envying and contention, are you not carnal, and walk according to man? [in other words: that is why you are so carnal, worldly, earthly-minded and unspiritual, which makes to live more of a worldly life than a spiritual life]” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3).
The immature find mature things overwhelming. Our milk teeth need to give way to teeth for meat. Our infantile spiritual knowledge needs to give way to a far deeper, stronger, meatier spiritual and theological knowledge. Or, as parent or spouse might say: “Hey! You’re no longer a baby! Act you age! Act like a grown-up!”
Immaturity is Now Officially a Disease!
Immaturity now is officially an ailment. Listed in the World Health Organization’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision, the condition is akin to other impulse control disorders. Call it a disease, call it a disorder, call it a problem, call it malfunction or a dysfunction―we all have it in one form or another, in one area or another, at one time or another. The danger of immaturity is that it is hereditary―as in “like father, like son; like mother, like daughter”―in that immature behavior and immature language begets more immature behavior and language by example. As the philosophical axiom so rightly says: “You cannot give what you have not got!” and “The greater cannot proceed from the lesser!” Therefore, if you cannot speak Italian, or Spanish, or French―then you are incapable of teaching those languages. A dog (being lesser) cannot give birth to human being (that is greater). An immature parent or teacher will not raise a mature child―that maturity will have to come from elsewhere. The problem is that with each passing generation―due to the viral impact of immaturity and rapidly expanding technological outlets (or incubators) of immaturity being put into more and more hands at ever younger ages―the world, as a consequence, sees this World Health Organization categorized disease of immaturity spreading to epidemic proportions.
How Do You Measure Maturity?
Good question! Tough question! It is almost like asking: “How do you measure love?” God measures maturity and love and everything else, objectively, correctly, perfectly and incontestably. For mere humans, measuring such things is not flawless, but subjective and prejudiced. Is there a model of maturity alongside which we can stand and compare ourselves to in order to see how mature we are? Of course not. Besides, maturity (or immaturity) is some that is always progressing, regressing, and varying from one situation to another. It also depends on what your personal mature/immature level is, as to how you will judge. An immature 5-year old will judge a less immature 9 year old as being mature; whereas the immature 9 year old looks upon the immature 14 year old as being mature; and the immature 14 year old looks upon the immature 18 year old as being mature, etc. etc. The ‘mature’ college student of today, would be judged to be grossly immature by college students of 100 years ago.
Similarly, different cultures and countries have different criteria for what constitutes maturity. Furthermore, a person can very mature in one area of their life, but totally immature in another area. They might be mature in how they behave at work, but immature at home, or vice-versa. They might be mature in their behavior, but immature in their thoughts, or vice-versa. They could be mature in dealing with people, but immature in dealing with money, or vice-versa. This is merely a general observation and statement―a particular detailed assessment would be almost endless.
The bottom-line is that maturity in one area does not guarantee maturity in all things, nor does immaturity in one area mean that the person is immature in everything. In fact, it is much like sin―which, ultimately, is an immature act―we are all sinners, but we sin in different ways, in different areas and with varying frequencies. Likewise, we are all immature in one or more areas―just as we are Liberals in one or more areas―the problem or question is: “Are we becoming more and more mature; or are we becoming increasingly immature?” There is no standing still, or “treading water”, you are either becoming more mature, or if not, you are falling behind the level where you should be. In which areas are you maturing and in which areas are you still immature? As all the “giants” of philosophy, theology, psychology and business―such as Socrates, Plato, St. Thomas Aquinas, Abelard, St. Ignatius Loyola and others, tell us: “Know thyself!”
The Chief Domains of Immaturity
St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of three differing levels of difficult work. The easiest work of all, says St. Thomas, is physical work. Then comes a more difficult form of work―intellectual work. Finally, there is the most difficult of all works―spiritual work. It is not coincidental to see the work that is least tackled, and least well done is spiritual work. Most people prefer physical work, some will rise to intellectual work, but very few take on serious spiritual work―and this matches the fact that few souls are saved! There is a thought that should make us a little less immature! Let us then include these three domains in the following assessment of areas where a person can be immature.
(1) PHYSICAL IMMATURITY―When a person is still a baby, it has to have everything done for it―it has to be fed, nursed, clothed, have it diaper changed, be carried around, paid attention to, have its tantrums tolerated, be entertained, etc. All of that is fine and dandy and necessary. Yet, many a person does not change much as they grow older―and, when they reach what is called ‘adulthood’ (or you could call it “big-kid-hood”), they still carry many of those baby traits and needs with them. Throughout their childhood and adolescence, they have refused (or have not be taught and made to) acquire certain physical skills that one expected in an adult throughout the earlier centuries. They do not know how to cook (men must cook too); understand the nutritional aspects of foods (most disease stems from a bad diet); master basic health and first-aid principles; plan and budget things; trouble-shoot or problem solve; build, maintain and repair things; sew and stitch; plant and grow things; even fishing, hunting and dressing the kill, etc., etc. As a child grows older, it is to be expected that the child acquires more and more of these physical skills. A lack of fruit in these areas makes the person almost totally reliant upon others for meal preparation, health care, fixing and repairing items, short of ideas and needing constant advice and shepherding. In other words, they are immature―physically immature.
(2) EMOTIONAL IMMATURITY―Before passing on to intellectual immaturity, we need to look at emotional immaturity, which is, so to speak, a half-way point between body and mind. By emotions we mean passions―that more mystifying and less comprehensible word. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains thus: “By passions we are to understand here motions of the sensitive appetite in man, which tend towards the attainment of some real or apparent [imagined] good, or the avoidance of some evil. The more intensely the object is desired or abhorred, the more vehement is the passion.” St. Thomas Aquinas explains passions [emotions] thus: “The word passion means an ‘undergoing’. When sensitive appetite operates, the body undergoes some modification, some change. Sometimes such change is manifested outwardly, as, for instance, in the bright eye and animated manner of a person speaking of what he loves; or in the flushed face and stammering tongue of a man who is very angry. Passion is a kind of recoil or kick-back of the operation of sentient appetite [our sensitivity or feelings]; it is what a sentient [feeling] being undergoes because of the functioning of such appetite. There are two kinds of passions … the concupiscible passions [emotions] and the irascible passions [emotions]… The concupiscible passions [emotions] are: love and hatred; desire and aversion; joy or delight, and sorrow or grief or pain. The irascible passions are: hope and despair; fear (timidity) and courage (daring), and anger” (Msgr. Glenn, Tour of the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas).
The main characteristic of emotional maturity is the ability to see life clearly and accurately and to be able to deal with life’s ups and downs in a healthy way. Emotionally mature people are able to control their emotions and take full responsibility for their life and actions along with being able to handle their anger, resentments, insecurities, disappointments, fears, jealousies, guilt, and a lot of other emotions including grief.
Those who are emotionally immature are unable to get past their negative emotions, the way they act and react to situations is based far more on their feelings than on mature reasoning. They fail to make sense of situations, or defend themselves in an appropriate way. Those who are emotionally immature may have been discouraged by their parents to talk about feelings, seek help and support, deal with conflicts and problems and if they may have not been allowed to express feelings of anger and sadness. By nature our emotions want to and need to be guided by reason, but that reason serves the heart, or the emotional life―not the other way around.
Some Common Traits of Emotional Immaturity Are…
● They are more “Reactive” (passively accepting that life happens to me) than “Active” (trying to make things happen).
● They are governed more by feelings than by cold, clear logic. Like an infant, they can create an imaginary world.
● They act out those emotions―either aggressively by weeping, shouting, threatening, etc. or passively by pouting, moody silence, etc.
● They are governed by habits and lack the force of will to make effective, long-lasting changes.
● They are slaves to a “Have to” motivation―or a OCD “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder”, where they feel they must do certain things.
● They are self-centered, either aggressively or slyly.
● They seek security and self-protection.
● They are quick to lie or at least exaggerate to hide their responsibility and accountability.
● They are quick to blame other persons or things for their mistakes or failures.
● They avoid anything that risks leading to failure, rejection, discomfort.
● They have a tendency to separation/alienation from others.
● They are always living in the past or the future, but refuse to really face the present square-on.
(3) IGNORANT OR INTELLECTUAL IMMATURITY―The immature, especially as regards children, have a lack of knowledge, but this will come in due time, as they grown older and learn more. However, there are adults that also have a lack of knowledge that will not come with time! That knowledge should have been there a long time ago, but they couldn’t have cared less. Their lack of knowledge is deliberate―based on laziness, or selfishness, wrong priorities or lack of interest. The ignorant child has an excuse, the ignorant adult has no excuse. To put it another way, if the adult cannot do basic math, cannot read beyond a 5th to 8th grade level, cannot spell correctly, cannot write grammatically, does not know the basic Catechism, etc. then they are lacking knowledge and intellectual skills that SHOULD BE THERE. Thus, they have not matured―they are immature on an educational and intellectual level.
(4) MORAL IMMATURITY―Based upon the previous point (#1), moral maturity usually comes forth from intellectual maturity. As the philosophical axiom states: “You cannot love what you do not know!” Our Lord tells us: “If you love Me, keep my commandments!” (John 15:5). If you do not know the commandments, then you cannot keep them, and if you do not know them and do not keep them, then, according to Our Lord’s measuring stick, you do not love Him. Take it as a Gospel truth based on personal experience―most Catholics, even Traditional and Conservative Catholics, will have trouble listing all the Ten Commandments of God, and even more difficulty listing the (how many?) chief Commandments of the Church! Yes, it is six chief Commandments―but what are they? This is basic First Holy Communion Catechism material, for children who are around 7 or 8 years old! Yet most adults are clueless! They should have progressed way beyond that level and should be mastering the finer points of moral theology―but this is like meat to them and they only want milk! Thus they commit sin after sin without really knowing if it is a sin, or whether it is a venial or mortal sin. Their moral knowledge has not matured with time. They are immature on a moral level.
(5) DISCIPLINARY IMMATURITY―Discipline shows that a person is in control of his or her passions, whims, impulses, habits, feelings, emotions, actions and reactions. Such a person is said to be a mature person. It is the immaturity of infancy, childhood and adolescence that caves-in and collapses under passions, whims, impulses, habits, feelings, emotions and this is clearly broadcast by their actions and reactions. We often associate discipline with a strong will―which is true and correct. What most people forget―or never bothered to learn in the first place―is that the will, whether it is strong or weak, is a BLIND faculty of the soul. The will, like a blind person, needs a “guide-dog”. That “guide-dog” is HUMAN REASON, or the mind, or the intellect―or call it what you want. The mind, or reason, or intellect, guides the will, telling it what needs to be done. If your mind is badly informed, then your mind’s ability to guide yourself and others will also be poor. Lack of intelligence often leads to a lack of will. Lack of intelligence leads to a lack of a true sense of values―with the important becoming unimportant and the trivial becoming important, or everything is placed more or less on the same level of importance. Chaos is just waiting to take over.
Once the will has received its marching orders, the will then summons courage and commands “all hands on deck” to get the job accomplished and to sail in the direction that the mind / reason / intellect told it to sail. There are a lot of people with a strong will, sailing full-steam-ahead, or running strongly, but in the wrong direction. It all depends on how you mind is programmed. Today, it is mainly the world―and not God―that has programmed the minds of people, and part of that programming is to give free rein to your passions, whims, impulses, habits, feelings, emotions, actions and reactions. In other words, do what you want―don’t let anyone else tell you what to do! This is what is occurring everywhere today. This is immaturity on a disciplinary level.
(6) IMMATURITY IN RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY―Most people do not want to be held accountable. Not only does that trait begin in our infancy―for example, show anger towards an infant because they have done something wrong, and they will begin to sob, cry or even shout and shake their head―but it stretches way back beyond infancy to Adam and Eve and their Original Sin. They had done something wrong―and both of them refused to accept responsibility and accountability. Adam says that Eve made him do it! Eve says the devil made her do it! This tendency to reject responsibility and accountability, while pointing the finger at others, seems to come to us with the “DNA” of Original Sin with which were born. We want to do things without being responsible. It is never my fault. There is always someone to blame in the “blame game”. Like a child or adolescent who is confronted and corrected, we tend to give the same kind of replies: “You just don’t understand!” or “Why are you so judgmental?” or “You’re not perfect!” or “It’s my life and I can do what I want with it!” etc., etc.
We very conveniently sweep under the carpet any contrary Scriptural quotes―though knowledge if Scripture is very low: see IGNORANT IMMATURITY above―such as: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8) ... “The Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels: and then will He render to every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27) … “I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his works!” (Apocalypse 22:12). Instead, for the immature who refuse responsibility and accountability, the favorite quote is: “Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged! And with what measure you mete out, it shall be measured to you again! And why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye; and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the mote out of thy eye!’ ―and behold a beam is in thy own eye?” (Matthew 7:1-4)―which is true and good, but this quote also includes personal accountability―don’t just see the beam in your own eye, DEAL WITH IT, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! “Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye!” (Matthew 7:5). That is why, in the same Sermon on the Mount, speaking indirectly of responsibility and accountability, Our Lord adds: “If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee [because it has to be held responsible and accountable]. For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell. And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell!” (Matthew 5:29-30).
(7) SPIRITUAL IMMATURITY―This leads us to spiritual immaturity, which really is nothing other than taking all the above immature baggage into your spiritual life, or your relationship with God, His Church and other members of the Church and world on a spiritual or religious level.
The Chief Symptoms of Spiritual Immaturity
● Superficial and Insufficient Knowledge of the Faith and the Spiritual Life―They could be said to be “Masters of the Table of Contents”, while being terribly ignorant of the rest of the contents of a book. They know too little and talk too much. They make a mountain out of the molehill of knowledge that they actually possess.
● Disordered Sense of Spiritual Values―Their lack of depth in knowledge, concerning matters of the Faith, leads them to have a disordered and superficial sense of religious values. They will often make a big deal out of what is relatively unimportant and make serious matters seem trivial.
● Using God for Selfish Purposes―Prayers are usually about God doing our will, and so much about surrendering ourselves to His will.
● Praying More With Lips Than Heart―There is a certain lack of sincerity in our prayers, especially if we are always asking God for things and giving Him nothing in return, not even a “Thank You!” This recalls Our Lord’s complaint that only one leper of the ten that Jesus cured, returned to give thanks. Prayers become more of a chore of the lips than a work of love from the heart.
● Covering over our sins, weaknesses and failures―We find it uncomfortable and hard to confess our sins and admit to our weaknesses and failures. We cannot resist blaming others―at least in part, if not fully.
● Judging Others―At the same time, while hiding or avoiding our own faults, we are only too ready to focus on the sins, weaknesses and failures of others―either silently in our minds, or speaking out openly.
● Holding Grudges or Resentment Towards Others―Their high sensitivity and desire for esteem, leads them to harbor grudges or at least resentment against those who hurt their sensitive feelings or damage their esteem.
● Anxiety Over How Others See Us Spiritually―Another immature tendency is to worry about how we “come across” spiritually in the eyes of others. This can lead to hypocrisy and “faking” spirituality, trying to pass ourselves for what we are not. We will pretend to know a great deal about things we really know very little about. We seek to guide others, whereas we ourselves are in great need of guidance.
● Self-Protective, Defensive, Over-Sensitive―This exaggerated worry or concern about self leads to spirit of self-protectiveness, defensiveness, vulnerability, and stand-offishness.
● Remodeling the Faith to Our Tastes―We gradually start to tweak and twist our Faith into a slightly different version, that suits our immaturity. Most people have created their own “tailor-made” version of the Faith―without actually going into heresy.
Pretty scary and pretty uncomfortable, huh? If you are squirming a little, then that is a good sign―it is a sign that your conscience is not yet dead and there is a spark of truth left in you somewhere! If you are in denial, then you need to worry! For everyone―especially today―is immature in one area or another, to one degree or another, and not infrequently. If you deny you immaturity, then the logical thing would be to deny being a sinner―for immorality (sin of any kind) is a consequence of immaturity, or a weed that can only grow in the soil of immaturity. If you see yourself as immature, then welcome to the club! If you deny you are immature―then it is time to “grow up” and face the truth. In the next article, we shall look at how to “grow up”―both in the natural and supernatural realms.
Today’s psychologist, scientist and sociologists―not to mention priests, parents and teachers―are increasingly of the opinion that we are regressing (going backwards) as regards our maturity. Is this true? What is maturity anyway? The dictionary will define “maturity” as “the quality or state of being mature, especially as in full development; when something reaches its full level of development or potential; the state of being completely grown; the state of being mentally and emotionally well-developed, and therefore responsible; a very advanced or developed form or state.” In psychology, maturity is the ability to respond to the environment in an appropriate manner. Maturity also encompasses being aware of the correct time and location to behave and knowing when to act, according to the circumstances and the culture of the society one lives in.
As regards “immaturity”―it is defined as “not fully grown or developed; lacking complete growth or development; not having attained the potential capacity to a definitive form or state; lacking wisdom, insight, emotional stability, emotionally undeveloped; juvenile; childish.”
In a recent BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) news article, March 19th 2019, it was stated that “People don’t become fully “adult” until they’re in their 30s, according to brain scientists. Currently the UK law says you become a mature adult when you reach the age of 18. Scientists who study the brain and nervous system say the age at which you become an adult is different for everyone. Research suggests people aged 18 are still going through changes in the brain which can affect behavior and make them more likely to develop mental health disorders. Professor Peter Jones, from Cambridge University, said: What we’re really saying is that to have a definition of when you move from childhood to adulthood looks increasingly absurd. It’s a much more nuanced transition that takes place over three decades. I guess systems like the education system, the health system and the legal system make it convenient for themselves by having definitions. When you reach 18, you can vote, buy alcohol, get a mortgage and are also treated as an adult if you get in trouble with the police.”
In another BBC article, “At What Age Do You Feel You Have Reached Adulthood?”, published on April 27th, 2017, it was stated that “Many of the current generation of recent over-18s do not feel like an adult, according to a survey by building society Nationwide, and those commenting on the BBC News Facebook page seem to agree. Nationwide’s study, of 2,000 over-18s, found more than one in 10 did not think of themselves as fully fledged grown-ups until they reached the age of 27. Of those 2,000 people asked did feel they were adults, the transition happened for half in their 20s, while a fifth said it happened in their 30s. One in 20 respondents felt they had not grown up until their 40s.”
Young Woman's Perspective
Is it just UK ‘adults’ who are still wearing diapers, or is it the same in America and elsewhere? It seems as though everything is not rosy in the Big Apple! Here is an anecdotal testimony of a young woman about her male friend―somehow you are tempted to think that she has hit the nail on the head and that this is no isolated case!
“People today are getting degrees at an alarming rate, but are completely useless individuals at life. The higher the degree, the more useless. I am girl with a degree, but fortunately not useless. My friend, however, is in University and I cringe at how useless he is. He moved out to attend school very far away. I originally told him that the apartment, which his mom chose for him, was too expensive, but he took it anyway. His mom should have known better―given her life experiences. But not all parents learn from their mistakes and consequently pass on their mis-education to their children. Ten months later, he had to move out, because he could not afford this apartment. He panicked, because he had 3 weeks to find someone to move into his current apartment and to find a new apartment. I was completely baffled at how stressed he was. To me it was not complicated and not a big deal―but he worried and worried. He had no coping skills.
“I told him he needed proceed methodically and cautiously and make an informed decision, or he would find himself in the same financial predicament and would have to move again. I told him his next apartment needed to stay below a certain rent amount, in order to minimize financial trouble. I made him an excel sheet with his expenses and showed him what would happen if he repeated the same mistakes. Armed with this sheet he began his hunt. This time he listened to most of my advice ... at least the crucial parts. Everything worked out. Moving time came―he had no driver’s license, so I offered to rent a van and he paid for it. Another part of independence is getting a driver’s license, so you can help yourself. But fine―not everyone can drive. Next, I helped him put up his curtains, build his Ikea bed etc. He had absolutely no life-skills. He was good at school and video games and that was it.
“This is happening everywhere―young adults with no life skills. He is a grown man, but knows nothing. I blame him for not wanting to learn, and his parents for not teaching him and his siblings, the basic things I learned: Street smarts, spotting toxic people, price comparison shopping, cooking, sewing, reading ingredients on food, price comparison shopping for apartments, putting up shelves, using my hands, tricks to unclog a toilet, ability to wash clothing by hand, handling my money, credit cards and debt and avoiding service fees at banks. These are the basics that everyone needs to learn. People go out into to the world expect to live as comfortably as did when they were at home―and fail miserably and move back in. They are ill-informed, unprepared and living above their means when they leave the home.
“Firstly, I think Western society has it backwards with its promotion of moving out of home at 17 or 18. I think people should stay home as long as possible while finishing school and then working. This allows you to save money. I believe you should still contribute financially, and otherwise, to your parents’ household. This will still be cheaper than moving out. You should help out with cooking, cleaning and all the things you would do if you were living alone. Obviously some children take advantage of their parents generosity and they will most likely be the ones with the most difficulty when they leave the nest. So, they don't realize they are hurting themselves in the long run. Parents can set down the law and make sure their kids are contributing. This needs to begin when a child is young, so, as adults, it will be natural for them to want to help their parents. Secondly, I noticed that the very parents who want their kids out of home, in turn, find that their kids put them in nursing homes when they get older. This is not a pattern seen in non-western societies, where more than one generation lives in the same roof.
“To conclude, I think on some level parents are to blame for raising people who have no live skills and sometimes no ambition. Some kids have life too easy and never struggle and thus never learn copping skills because life is too easy. If you are a wealthy parent you are doing your child a disservice by giving your kids everything the ask for. Hardship builds character. If you work hard for something, you are more likely to take care of it. A lot of kids feel entitled because parents have allowed them to think they are entitled. Of course some parents don't know how to be a parent, or are children themselves, with a very little skill set to pass on.
“The most frustrating about watching this friend of mine is that he is pretty lazy and has no interest in really acquiring any life skills. He could very easily learn what he missed out on―it isn't too late. I cringe at the thought that, when he becomes a parent, he will have nothing significant to teach his kids (if he continues this way), except a love for video games, school and processed foods. He may get an awesome job because of his degree but when the s - - - hits the fan, I hope he has someone by his side to pick up the pieces.”
It would be a fairly educated guess to say that the female is predominantly of a choleric temperament and that the male is predominantly melancholic. Nevertheless, like a good choleric, she proverbially hits (or hammers) the nail on the head.
Older Man’s Perspective
Here is the opinion of an older American―a Protestant, retired, reads 100 books a year. He places a large part of the blame for immaturity on technology:
“Instant gratification. And it all picked up speed in MY generation ― the boomers [he means “baby-boomers” which is a term for those born in the years following the Second World War]. How? Television. Television probably was the first technology which became actually invasive in family life. Unlike radio, TV required little imagination because the viewer was given both sight and sound. Radio, the predecessor medium, still required imagination to visualize what one heard. I was one of the lucky ones. My TV diet of cartoons and sappy little dramas for kids was satisfied only on Saturday mornings. TV time was limited―after the Saturday morning ‘transfusion’, I, and every other kid in the neighborhood, was ejected from our homes and told to go out and play. But in succeeding years, TV became more and more a kind of baby sitter. Especially as “house wives” became “working mothers” and many kids became “latch key” kids. I think you see where I am headed, with this, so I will just skip ahead to more recent generations, whose youth constituency is bribed or placated with instant satisfaction of their needs. To the extent that the fulfillment of needs is accomplished with portable devices.
“At the same time, the appearance of technology in schools has replaced the need of mental discipline to absorb the most basic skills. A friend of mine has a child of 15 who cannot do basic multiplication in his head. Asked to count the number of equal size boxes in a case, the poor guy actually pointed to each box, in turn, “One, two, three…”. This kid did not only NOT KNOW how to take the units on vertical and multiply by units on horizontal, he didn’t even have a CONCEPT of what that was all about. Why? Because his cell phone had a calculator.
“Which brings us to the landslide of internet “do it for me” questions, which is truly stunning, and where perceptions of reality appear to emerge from playing video games. And this is so widespread that people actually ask―with sincerity―such questions as, “My girlfriend gave me a funny look. What does it mean?” We have done an outstanding job of actually making entire generations as stupid and as self-serving as possible.
“Oh, sure, the parents will proudly say how little Throckmorton [imaginary name for a boy―you could just as well say “Little Johnny”] has a grasp of technology ― see how he uses his smart phone and computer? Well, bad news! Throckmorton has no more a grasp of technology than I do of composing a symphony. No, what Throckmorton has learned is how to push buttons for a reward. He is no different than a caged monkey who pushes a button to get a pellet of monkey food. No different! He has no clue what’s going on inside his “smart” whatever. He is as stupid as a table. And why? So people can have what they want, when they want it. The concept of delayed reward has been vaporized. We are left, instead, with a moaning, pathetic population of people approaching adulthood, who have not advanced beyond the crib. Dreadful!”
Our Lord's Perspective
What would Our Lord say? After all, it is His opinion that really counts! What does Holy Scripture―the Word of God par excellence―say on this matter? There are some who would be tempted to ‘canonize’ their immaturity by quoting the following incident with Our Lord: “And Jesus, calling unto Him a little child, set him in the midst of them, and said: ‘Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (Matthew 18:2-3). You will say: “There you have it! Jesus wants us to be immature like children!”
Well, not quite! Though it is true that Jesus said those words, we must look and understand in what context He said them. In fact, Jesus said those things in order to stop the immature, childish, immature bickering that was taking place among His Apostles. Here are the accounts, combined together, that place His words in their full and true context―they are reported by St. Matthew and St. Mark: “And they came to Capharnaum. And when they were in the house, Jesus asked them: ‘What did you talk of on the way?’ But they held their peace, for, on the way, they had disputed among themselves, which of them should be the greatest [thus behaving just like immature children]. Then the disciples came to Jesus, saying: ‘Who, thinkest Thou, is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven?’ And sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve, and said to them: ‘If any man desire to be first, he shall be the last of all, and the minister of all!’ And Jesus calling unto Him a little child, and taking the child, He set him in the midst of them, and, when He had embraced him, He said to them: ‘Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 18:1-5; Mark 9:32-36). Thus, rather than ‘canonizing’ immaturity, Jesus in actually condemning the immaturity of the disciples.
The Old Testament severely condemns immaturity on several occasions: God, gives Moses the following command: “If a man have a stubborn and unruly son [an example of immaturity], who will not hear the commandments of his father or mother, and being corrected, slighteth obedience―then they shall take him and bring him to the ancients of his city, and to the gate of judgment, and shall say to them: ‘This our son is rebellious and stubborn, he slighteth hearing our admonitions, he giveth himself to reveling, and to debauchery and banqueting!’ The people of the city shall stone him and he shall die, so that you may take away the evil out of the midst of you, and all Israel, hearing of it, may be afraid!” (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).
“[The prophet of the Lord] Eliseus went up to Bethel. And, as he was going up by the way, little boys [immature] came out of the city and mocked him, saying: ‘Go up, thou bald head! Go up, thou bald head!’ And looking back, Eliseus saw them, and cursed them in the Name of the Lord―and there came forth two bears, out of the forest, and tore of them two and forty boys” (4 Kings 2:23-24). “Cast out the scoffer [the immature], and contention shall go out with him, and quarrels and reproaches shall cease! … Folly [immaturity] is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rod of correction shall drive it away!” (Proverbs 22:10, 15).
The Dangers of Immaturity
When we fail to correct the emotional immaturity in our lives, we end up merely going through the motions of Christian disciplines, activities, and behaviors, but deeply rooted behavioral patterns from our pasts continue to hinder us from an authentic life of maturity in Christ. We kneel, we join our hands in prayer, we bow, we genuflect, we make signs of the cross, we carry Rosaries, we wear scapulars, we say prayers, we go to Mass, we receive Holy Communion, etc. ― but all of these things are mere externals, ecclesiastical etiquette, but these actions are merely like feathers without a bird underneath them. There is little thought and little understanding of the purpose, significance, symbolism and spirituality of these things―they are mere externals that smugly satisfy our superficial Faith. A five-year-old child is taught to make a sign of the cross, to say a certain prayer, to use holy water, to answer a catechism question―such as “What is God? God is a spirit!”―without really knowing or understanding all that these things mean, represent, symbolize and effect. For a five-year-old child, this is fine, it is only a beginning―but we should not remain in the childish state of knowledge and understanding―it is only skin deep, superficial. It is of such a superficiality and immaturity that Our Lord speaks, when He says: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Most Catholics today are “lip-service” Catholics living in a spiritual “express-lane” in their prayer life, and using the “fast-check-out-lane” after Holy Communion and Mass.
That is classic immaturity―to perform the externals (looking to be mature), while interiorly we are distracted, disconnected, disorientated like an immature child, who is told to apologize and begrudgingly spits out the words “I’m sorry!!!” when it is clear that those words come only from the lips and not the heart. Part of maturity is acceptance of responsibility―immature people are always making excuses, “passing-the-buck”, pointing the finger at others and blaming someone or something else other than themselves. In confession, they will ‘confess’ or tell the sins of others as much (or even more than) their own sins―all of this comes from a lack of maturity or lack of an ability to accept responsibility.
The Superficiality of Immaturity
We often neglect to dig deeper, to think more, to reflect on what is going on inside us and around us (emotional health) and are too busy to slow down to be with God (contemplative spirituality). As a result, we run the high risk of remaining stuck as spiritual infants, failing to develop into spiritually/emotionally mature adults in Christ. As St. Paul writes: “Brethren, do not become children in sense: but in malice be children, and in sense be perfect” (1 Corinthians 14:20). In other words, St. Paul is saying: “Do not think like mere children, but if you are going to imitate children, then imitate their lack of maliciousness that comes from their thoughtlessness―but in your own thoughts, be mature and not childish!”
Elsewhere St. Paul adds: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child” (1 Corinthians 13:11). Nowadays, adults still act like children, want to play like children, react to disappointments like children and make excuses like children.
St. Paul, in speaking of spiritual immaturity, writes: “For whereas for the time you ought to be masters, you have need to be taught again what are the first elements of the words of God [in other words: you should be spiritual masters by now, but I am still having to teach you basic elementary Christianity]: and you are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat [in other words, mature spiritual ideas and teachings are beyond your immature understanding]. For every one that is a partaker of milk, is unskillful in the word of justice: for he is a little child [in other words: babies who are being nursed on milk are pretty helpless and useless, and so are you with the Word of God]. But strong meat is for the perfect; for them who by custom have their senses exercised to the discerning of good and evil [in other words: meaty theology is for the spiritual mature, who have long since passed by and left behind their milk of ‘baby theology’].” (Hebrews 5:12-14). “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal. As unto little ones in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for you were not able as yet [in other words: because of your spiritual immaturity, I have to speak to you in spiritual baby language, because you cannot grasp nor understand anything above that level]. But neither, indeed, are you now able; for you are yet carnal [in other words: you have not changed, you are still the same, still spiritual babies in adult bodies]. For, whereas there is among you envying and contention, are you not carnal, and walk according to man? [in other words: that is why you are so carnal, worldly, earthly-minded and unspiritual, which makes to live more of a worldly life than a spiritual life]” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3).
The immature find mature things overwhelming. Our milk teeth need to give way to teeth for meat. Our infantile spiritual knowledge needs to give way to a far deeper, stronger, meatier spiritual and theological knowledge. Or, as parent or spouse might say: “Hey! You’re no longer a baby! Act you age! Act like a grown-up!”
Immaturity is Now Officially a Disease!
Immaturity now is officially an ailment. Listed in the World Health Organization’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision, the condition is akin to other impulse control disorders. Call it a disease, call it a disorder, call it a problem, call it malfunction or a dysfunction―we all have it in one form or another, in one area or another, at one time or another. The danger of immaturity is that it is hereditary―as in “like father, like son; like mother, like daughter”―in that immature behavior and immature language begets more immature behavior and language by example. As the philosophical axiom so rightly says: “You cannot give what you have not got!” and “The greater cannot proceed from the lesser!” Therefore, if you cannot speak Italian, or Spanish, or French―then you are incapable of teaching those languages. A dog (being lesser) cannot give birth to human being (that is greater). An immature parent or teacher will not raise a mature child―that maturity will have to come from elsewhere. The problem is that with each passing generation―due to the viral impact of immaturity and rapidly expanding technological outlets (or incubators) of immaturity being put into more and more hands at ever younger ages―the world, as a consequence, sees this World Health Organization categorized disease of immaturity spreading to epidemic proportions.
How Do You Measure Maturity?
Good question! Tough question! It is almost like asking: “How do you measure love?” God measures maturity and love and everything else, objectively, correctly, perfectly and incontestably. For mere humans, measuring such things is not flawless, but subjective and prejudiced. Is there a model of maturity alongside which we can stand and compare ourselves to in order to see how mature we are? Of course not. Besides, maturity (or immaturity) is some that is always progressing, regressing, and varying from one situation to another. It also depends on what your personal mature/immature level is, as to how you will judge. An immature 5-year old will judge a less immature 9 year old as being mature; whereas the immature 9 year old looks upon the immature 14 year old as being mature; and the immature 14 year old looks upon the immature 18 year old as being mature, etc. etc. The ‘mature’ college student of today, would be judged to be grossly immature by college students of 100 years ago.
Similarly, different cultures and countries have different criteria for what constitutes maturity. Furthermore, a person can very mature in one area of their life, but totally immature in another area. They might be mature in how they behave at work, but immature at home, or vice-versa. They might be mature in their behavior, but immature in their thoughts, or vice-versa. They could be mature in dealing with people, but immature in dealing with money, or vice-versa. This is merely a general observation and statement―a particular detailed assessment would be almost endless.
The bottom-line is that maturity in one area does not guarantee maturity in all things, nor does immaturity in one area mean that the person is immature in everything. In fact, it is much like sin―which, ultimately, is an immature act―we are all sinners, but we sin in different ways, in different areas and with varying frequencies. Likewise, we are all immature in one or more areas―just as we are Liberals in one or more areas―the problem or question is: “Are we becoming more and more mature; or are we becoming increasingly immature?” There is no standing still, or “treading water”, you are either becoming more mature, or if not, you are falling behind the level where you should be. In which areas are you maturing and in which areas are you still immature? As all the “giants” of philosophy, theology, psychology and business―such as Socrates, Plato, St. Thomas Aquinas, Abelard, St. Ignatius Loyola and others, tell us: “Know thyself!”
The Chief Domains of Immaturity
St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of three differing levels of difficult work. The easiest work of all, says St. Thomas, is physical work. Then comes a more difficult form of work―intellectual work. Finally, there is the most difficult of all works―spiritual work. It is not coincidental to see the work that is least tackled, and least well done is spiritual work. Most people prefer physical work, some will rise to intellectual work, but very few take on serious spiritual work―and this matches the fact that few souls are saved! There is a thought that should make us a little less immature! Let us then include these three domains in the following assessment of areas where a person can be immature.
(1) PHYSICAL IMMATURITY―When a person is still a baby, it has to have everything done for it―it has to be fed, nursed, clothed, have it diaper changed, be carried around, paid attention to, have its tantrums tolerated, be entertained, etc. All of that is fine and dandy and necessary. Yet, many a person does not change much as they grow older―and, when they reach what is called ‘adulthood’ (or you could call it “big-kid-hood”), they still carry many of those baby traits and needs with them. Throughout their childhood and adolescence, they have refused (or have not be taught and made to) acquire certain physical skills that one expected in an adult throughout the earlier centuries. They do not know how to cook (men must cook too); understand the nutritional aspects of foods (most disease stems from a bad diet); master basic health and first-aid principles; plan and budget things; trouble-shoot or problem solve; build, maintain and repair things; sew and stitch; plant and grow things; even fishing, hunting and dressing the kill, etc., etc. As a child grows older, it is to be expected that the child acquires more and more of these physical skills. A lack of fruit in these areas makes the person almost totally reliant upon others for meal preparation, health care, fixing and repairing items, short of ideas and needing constant advice and shepherding. In other words, they are immature―physically immature.
(2) EMOTIONAL IMMATURITY―Before passing on to intellectual immaturity, we need to look at emotional immaturity, which is, so to speak, a half-way point between body and mind. By emotions we mean passions―that more mystifying and less comprehensible word. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains thus: “By passions we are to understand here motions of the sensitive appetite in man, which tend towards the attainment of some real or apparent [imagined] good, or the avoidance of some evil. The more intensely the object is desired or abhorred, the more vehement is the passion.” St. Thomas Aquinas explains passions [emotions] thus: “The word passion means an ‘undergoing’. When sensitive appetite operates, the body undergoes some modification, some change. Sometimes such change is manifested outwardly, as, for instance, in the bright eye and animated manner of a person speaking of what he loves; or in the flushed face and stammering tongue of a man who is very angry. Passion is a kind of recoil or kick-back of the operation of sentient appetite [our sensitivity or feelings]; it is what a sentient [feeling] being undergoes because of the functioning of such appetite. There are two kinds of passions … the concupiscible passions [emotions] and the irascible passions [emotions]… The concupiscible passions [emotions] are: love and hatred; desire and aversion; joy or delight, and sorrow or grief or pain. The irascible passions are: hope and despair; fear (timidity) and courage (daring), and anger” (Msgr. Glenn, Tour of the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas).
The main characteristic of emotional maturity is the ability to see life clearly and accurately and to be able to deal with life’s ups and downs in a healthy way. Emotionally mature people are able to control their emotions and take full responsibility for their life and actions along with being able to handle their anger, resentments, insecurities, disappointments, fears, jealousies, guilt, and a lot of other emotions including grief.
Those who are emotionally immature are unable to get past their negative emotions, the way they act and react to situations is based far more on their feelings than on mature reasoning. They fail to make sense of situations, or defend themselves in an appropriate way. Those who are emotionally immature may have been discouraged by their parents to talk about feelings, seek help and support, deal with conflicts and problems and if they may have not been allowed to express feelings of anger and sadness. By nature our emotions want to and need to be guided by reason, but that reason serves the heart, or the emotional life―not the other way around.
Some Common Traits of Emotional Immaturity Are…
● They are more “Reactive” (passively accepting that life happens to me) than “Active” (trying to make things happen).
● They are governed more by feelings than by cold, clear logic. Like an infant, they can create an imaginary world.
● They act out those emotions―either aggressively by weeping, shouting, threatening, etc. or passively by pouting, moody silence, etc.
● They are governed by habits and lack the force of will to make effective, long-lasting changes.
● They are slaves to a “Have to” motivation―or a OCD “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder”, where they feel they must do certain things.
● They are self-centered, either aggressively or slyly.
● They seek security and self-protection.
● They are quick to lie or at least exaggerate to hide their responsibility and accountability.
● They are quick to blame other persons or things for their mistakes or failures.
● They avoid anything that risks leading to failure, rejection, discomfort.
● They have a tendency to separation/alienation from others.
● They are always living in the past or the future, but refuse to really face the present square-on.
(3) IGNORANT OR INTELLECTUAL IMMATURITY―The immature, especially as regards children, have a lack of knowledge, but this will come in due time, as they grown older and learn more. However, there are adults that also have a lack of knowledge that will not come with time! That knowledge should have been there a long time ago, but they couldn’t have cared less. Their lack of knowledge is deliberate―based on laziness, or selfishness, wrong priorities or lack of interest. The ignorant child has an excuse, the ignorant adult has no excuse. To put it another way, if the adult cannot do basic math, cannot read beyond a 5th to 8th grade level, cannot spell correctly, cannot write grammatically, does not know the basic Catechism, etc. then they are lacking knowledge and intellectual skills that SHOULD BE THERE. Thus, they have not matured―they are immature on an educational and intellectual level.
(4) MORAL IMMATURITY―Based upon the previous point (#1), moral maturity usually comes forth from intellectual maturity. As the philosophical axiom states: “You cannot love what you do not know!” Our Lord tells us: “If you love Me, keep my commandments!” (John 15:5). If you do not know the commandments, then you cannot keep them, and if you do not know them and do not keep them, then, according to Our Lord’s measuring stick, you do not love Him. Take it as a Gospel truth based on personal experience―most Catholics, even Traditional and Conservative Catholics, will have trouble listing all the Ten Commandments of God, and even more difficulty listing the (how many?) chief Commandments of the Church! Yes, it is six chief Commandments―but what are they? This is basic First Holy Communion Catechism material, for children who are around 7 or 8 years old! Yet most adults are clueless! They should have progressed way beyond that level and should be mastering the finer points of moral theology―but this is like meat to them and they only want milk! Thus they commit sin after sin without really knowing if it is a sin, or whether it is a venial or mortal sin. Their moral knowledge has not matured with time. They are immature on a moral level.
(5) DISCIPLINARY IMMATURITY―Discipline shows that a person is in control of his or her passions, whims, impulses, habits, feelings, emotions, actions and reactions. Such a person is said to be a mature person. It is the immaturity of infancy, childhood and adolescence that caves-in and collapses under passions, whims, impulses, habits, feelings, emotions and this is clearly broadcast by their actions and reactions. We often associate discipline with a strong will―which is true and correct. What most people forget―or never bothered to learn in the first place―is that the will, whether it is strong or weak, is a BLIND faculty of the soul. The will, like a blind person, needs a “guide-dog”. That “guide-dog” is HUMAN REASON, or the mind, or the intellect―or call it what you want. The mind, or reason, or intellect, guides the will, telling it what needs to be done. If your mind is badly informed, then your mind’s ability to guide yourself and others will also be poor. Lack of intelligence often leads to a lack of will. Lack of intelligence leads to a lack of a true sense of values―with the important becoming unimportant and the trivial becoming important, or everything is placed more or less on the same level of importance. Chaos is just waiting to take over.
Once the will has received its marching orders, the will then summons courage and commands “all hands on deck” to get the job accomplished and to sail in the direction that the mind / reason / intellect told it to sail. There are a lot of people with a strong will, sailing full-steam-ahead, or running strongly, but in the wrong direction. It all depends on how you mind is programmed. Today, it is mainly the world―and not God―that has programmed the minds of people, and part of that programming is to give free rein to your passions, whims, impulses, habits, feelings, emotions, actions and reactions. In other words, do what you want―don’t let anyone else tell you what to do! This is what is occurring everywhere today. This is immaturity on a disciplinary level.
(6) IMMATURITY IN RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY―Most people do not want to be held accountable. Not only does that trait begin in our infancy―for example, show anger towards an infant because they have done something wrong, and they will begin to sob, cry or even shout and shake their head―but it stretches way back beyond infancy to Adam and Eve and their Original Sin. They had done something wrong―and both of them refused to accept responsibility and accountability. Adam says that Eve made him do it! Eve says the devil made her do it! This tendency to reject responsibility and accountability, while pointing the finger at others, seems to come to us with the “DNA” of Original Sin with which were born. We want to do things without being responsible. It is never my fault. There is always someone to blame in the “blame game”. Like a child or adolescent who is confronted and corrected, we tend to give the same kind of replies: “You just don’t understand!” or “Why are you so judgmental?” or “You’re not perfect!” or “It’s my life and I can do what I want with it!” etc., etc.
We very conveniently sweep under the carpet any contrary Scriptural quotes―though knowledge if Scripture is very low: see IGNORANT IMMATURITY above―such as: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8) ... “The Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels: and then will He render to every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27) … “I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his works!” (Apocalypse 22:12). Instead, for the immature who refuse responsibility and accountability, the favorite quote is: “Judge not, that you may not be judged! For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged! And with what measure you mete out, it shall be measured to you again! And why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye; and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: ‘Let me cast the mote out of thy eye!’ ―and behold a beam is in thy own eye?” (Matthew 7:1-4)―which is true and good, but this quote also includes personal accountability―don’t just see the beam in your own eye, DEAL WITH IT, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! “Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye!” (Matthew 7:5). That is why, in the same Sermon on the Mount, speaking indirectly of responsibility and accountability, Our Lord adds: “If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee [because it has to be held responsible and accountable]. For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell. And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into Hell!” (Matthew 5:29-30).
(7) SPIRITUAL IMMATURITY―This leads us to spiritual immaturity, which really is nothing other than taking all the above immature baggage into your spiritual life, or your relationship with God, His Church and other members of the Church and world on a spiritual or religious level.
The Chief Symptoms of Spiritual Immaturity
● Superficial and Insufficient Knowledge of the Faith and the Spiritual Life―They could be said to be “Masters of the Table of Contents”, while being terribly ignorant of the rest of the contents of a book. They know too little and talk too much. They make a mountain out of the molehill of knowledge that they actually possess.
● Disordered Sense of Spiritual Values―Their lack of depth in knowledge, concerning matters of the Faith, leads them to have a disordered and superficial sense of religious values. They will often make a big deal out of what is relatively unimportant and make serious matters seem trivial.
● Using God for Selfish Purposes―Prayers are usually about God doing our will, and so much about surrendering ourselves to His will.
● Praying More With Lips Than Heart―There is a certain lack of sincerity in our prayers, especially if we are always asking God for things and giving Him nothing in return, not even a “Thank You!” This recalls Our Lord’s complaint that only one leper of the ten that Jesus cured, returned to give thanks. Prayers become more of a chore of the lips than a work of love from the heart.
● Covering over our sins, weaknesses and failures―We find it uncomfortable and hard to confess our sins and admit to our weaknesses and failures. We cannot resist blaming others―at least in part, if not fully.
● Judging Others―At the same time, while hiding or avoiding our own faults, we are only too ready to focus on the sins, weaknesses and failures of others―either silently in our minds, or speaking out openly.
● Holding Grudges or Resentment Towards Others―Their high sensitivity and desire for esteem, leads them to harbor grudges or at least resentment against those who hurt their sensitive feelings or damage their esteem.
● Anxiety Over How Others See Us Spiritually―Another immature tendency is to worry about how we “come across” spiritually in the eyes of others. This can lead to hypocrisy and “faking” spirituality, trying to pass ourselves for what we are not. We will pretend to know a great deal about things we really know very little about. We seek to guide others, whereas we ourselves are in great need of guidance.
● Self-Protective, Defensive, Over-Sensitive―This exaggerated worry or concern about self leads to spirit of self-protectiveness, defensiveness, vulnerability, and stand-offishness.
● Remodeling the Faith to Our Tastes―We gradually start to tweak and twist our Faith into a slightly different version, that suits our immaturity. Most people have created their own “tailor-made” version of the Faith―without actually going into heresy.
Pretty scary and pretty uncomfortable, huh? If you are squirming a little, then that is a good sign―it is a sign that your conscience is not yet dead and there is a spark of truth left in you somewhere! If you are in denial, then you need to worry! For everyone―especially today―is immature in one area or another, to one degree or another, and not infrequently. If you deny you immaturity, then the logical thing would be to deny being a sinner―for immorality (sin of any kind) is a consequence of immaturity, or a weed that can only grow in the soil of immaturity. If you see yourself as immature, then welcome to the club! If you deny you are immature―then it is time to “grow up” and face the truth. In the next article, we shall look at how to “grow up”―both in the natural and supernatural realms.
Tuesday March 19th & Wednesday March 20th
Article 21
Joseph, the "Anti-Hero" Hero
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 21
Joseph, the "Anti-Hero" Hero
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Modern-Day Heroes
Since modern man is increasingly losing touch with God and thinks less and less like God would think with each passing day-week-month-year, it is only logical that modern-man’s idea of what a hero is would differ from God’s idea of what a hero is. Furthermore, it is the increasingly godless gospel of Hollywood that is the protagonist (chief player) in configuring our minds and attitudes to what is and what is not acceptable in our ‘heroes’―and Hollywood has increasingly moved towards glorifying “anti-heroes” rather than traditional heroes.
What is an “Anti-Hero”?
We will often use words without really knowing what they mean or without explaining what they mean―so let us define what is meant by the term “anti-hero”. Is it someone who fights against heroes? Is it someone who doesn’t want to be a hero? Is it someone who is humble and doesn’t want to be called a hero? Actually, in the current general acceptance of the word, it is none of these definitions.
What the world at large understands (if it even understands at all) by the word “anti-hero” is a main character in a story who lacks one or several conventional heroic qualities and attributes―such as idealism, courage, skill, morality, etc. Other definitions of an “anti-hero” describe him or her as a flawed hero, with some or several character defects, which may or may not be immoral and sinful. Sometimes the anti-heroes may perform actions that are morally correct, but it is not always for the right reasons, often acting primarily out of self-interest, or in ways that defy conventional ethical codes. Thus the anti-hero is someone who is a protagonist (main character), but is lacking traditional heroic qualities. Usually, the anti-hero might be chaotic, unconventional, rebellious, reckless, cruel, harsh, inconsiderate, proud, boastful, who will achieve their goals within lawful boundaries or at times without regard for authority or law. Though, on more rare occasions, the anti-hero can simply be an unlikely hero―who does not “fit the bill” of what we think a hero should be like.
St. Joseph―Hero or Anti-Hero?
Since we are celebrating St. Joseph at this time of the year (March 19th), and since he is regarded as one the greatest saints to have lived, it is well worth looking at what St. Joseph offers by way of a model. All saints are heroes in our eyes―though in God’s eyes, He must see them all as being merely “average”―par for the course, so to speak―for a hero is one among thousands, but everyone in Heaven has to be and is a saint. So, in that sense, being a saint is pretty average for Heaven’s family―because everyone is a saint.
Nobody in Heaven, of course, is an “anti-hero” in the sense that they became saints by going against the law, or disobeying God’s will―that kind of “anti-hero” only exists in Hell. However, there are many “unconventional” saints in Heaven, who go against our notions of what being a saint has to be. Some saints are spectacular saints, having performed incredible deeds or miracles. Yet some saints are “anti-saints” or “anti-heroes” in the sense that we see nothing in their lives that, in our personal opinion, merits the name or title of “saint”. St. Thérèse of Lisieux was one such saint, of whom, when her investigative canonical process on her holiness began, elicited comments from her fellow sisters, such as: “Thérèse? What did she ever do?” Some may, perhaps, be tempted to think of St. Joseph in that light―especially when you compare him to persons such Moses, Elias, David, Samuel, St. Paul, and a whole string of glorious, spectacular, heroic, miracle working saints from the time of Christ onwards.
As always, we have to remind ourselves of God words: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
Heaven’s Surprise
I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp―
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash!
There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money―twice!
Next to him was my old neighbor,
Who never said anything nice!
Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in Hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well!
I nudged Jesus, “What’s the deal?
“I would love to hear your take!
“How’d all these sinners get up here?
“God must’ve made a mistake!”
“And why’s everyone so quiet, so somber?
“Give me a clue!”
“My Friend,” He said, “They’re all in shock!
“They never thought they’d be seeing you!”
As St. Augustine says: “The Church is not a museum of saints, but a hospital of sinners … There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future” (St. Augustine of Hippo, Doctor of the Church—sinners need a good doctor!).
Saints can seem remote and distant, close to God, but far from people. But they’re more like us than we give them credit for. Their lives were like ours, full of dilemmas and struggles, with bad choices as well as good. But their goodness won out in the end, as ours can. Interest in angels is quite popular at the moment, but it is the saints who are really like us in both their strengths and frailties.
As Dom Hubert Van Zeller writes, in his book Holiness―A Guide For Beginners, sanctity is often humdrum and unexciting:
“If personal holiness is thought of as being a name at the top of a list, it is understood wrong. If it is thought of as something that merits a feast in the Church’s calendar, it is understood wrong. If it is thought of as something to which is attached the power of working miracles, it is understood wrong … The way to think of sanctity is as something that, by being generous and faithful to grace, gives back to God the love He has given to the soul. So it is for God’s sake, more than for our own, that we should want to be saints. We work away at holiness, not because we are ambitious and want to be experts in a particular kind of lofty career, but because God wants us to be saints and is praised by our striving after sanctity. Anyone can be holy, or rather act holy, so long as others are saying, “There’s a saint for you,” but sooner or later this sort of holiness wears off. Either the person sees the trap, becomes humble, and goes ahead toward real holiness, or keeping up the act becomes too much of a strain and there’s a swing toward worldliness and perhaps to a lasting unholiness. The whole secret of sanctity is that it is a thing of grace, and so cannot be switched on as a part to be played.”
“This means that however determined you are to be a saint, you will not become one if you rely on your own strength of mind. The only thing that can get you to sanctity is God’s grace. You will need all the strength of mind you have just to work together with God’s grace, but if you imagine that making good, strong resolutions will carry you the whole way, you are wrong. About the first thing to happen will be that God lets you break some of those good, strong resolutions before you get properly started. This will be to put you in your place, and show you that you can do nothing without Him. Once you are decently humbled, knowing that left to yourself you cannot even carry out the things that you very much want to carry out, you are getting ready to be used. You are being softened up like a steak. When all the toughness and pride and glamorized ideas of holiness have been beaten out of you by the down-to-earth action of truth, then God has got something there on which He can work. Without false notions and fancy plans, you can now begin to fall in with the true notions of holiness and with the plan God has in mind for you. It stands to reason. God is not going to reward anyone else’s work but His own. You cannot expect Him to recognize a holiness that He has done nothing to bring about. When you get right down to it, there is only one real goodness, one perfection, one sanctity, and that is God’s. When man invents a holiness of his own, God lets him look for it but does not help him find it, because a holiness of one’s own does not exist, and it is a waste of time searching for it. It is as if someone were to look for moonlight without the moon. Once you admit that all moonlight is bound to come from one particular place, and that it is a thing you cannot make yourself, you have learned something.
“Another thing to notice right at the beginning about holiness is that there is no cut-and-dried pattern about it. It is what God wants out of you, and because you are not exactly the same as anyone else, the holiness that is to be yours will not be exactly like anyone else’s. The model of all holiness is Our Lord, and unless you grow to be like Him, you will never get anywhere in holiness, but this does not mean that all, who follow Him, will end up exactly alike. Our Lord appeals to us in His way, and we answer Him in our way. If twenty artists are told to paint a picture of the Crucifixion, they will all show the same thing, but in twenty different ways. There will be twenty quite separate pictures, no two alike. This is how God wants our response to be: each one his own. Now, just as it would show a weakness in one of those twenty artists to copy as closely as possible the painting of the artist next to him, so it would be a weakness for one follower of Our Lord to copy as closely as possible the particular holiness of another follower. He should make it his first job to follow Our Lord. The ways by which others have followed Our Lord can be a tremendous help, just as the ways other people paint can be a tremendous help to painting, but Our Lord, who is Himself “the way, the truth, and the life,” (John 14:6), wants something out of you that is your own to give and is not just a copy. The saints produce masterpieces because of each one’s likeness to Our Lord, not because of each one’s likeness to another. By all means, let us imitate the way in which the saints went about it, but by no means let us copy the results. God wants an original reproduction of Himself, not a forgery.
“All right then, what is it that the saints do that makes them into saints? The answer is that they do two things: on the one side they keep clear of anything that they think is going to get in the way of grace, and on the other they head directly for Our Lord. The only thing to be added to this is that they do it for the glory of God and not for what they can get out of it. They are the ones who “seek first the kingdom of God,” and for the King’s sake rather than for their own, and who are ready to wait as long as God likes for the day when “all these things” shall be added to them (Mathew 6:33). So it is not that the saints do particularly “saintly” things (like fierce penances, whole nights spent on their knees, miracles, prophecies, or raptures in prayer); it is more that they do all things in a particularly saintly way, in exactly the way that they feel God wants. To them the only thing in the world that matters is God’s will. They know that by doing God’s will as perfectly as they can, they are imitating Our Lord, they are expressing Charity, and they are being true to the best that is in them. All this should be a great encouragement to us because it shows that our service of God does not depend upon how we feel about it, but upon how God looks at it; not upon acts that are seen to be heroic, but upon how ready we are to let God draw heroism out of us; not upon battling our way to a certain point that will give us the title of “saint,” but upon following blindly the course that is set by God’s will.”
Since modern man is increasingly losing touch with God and thinks less and less like God would think with each passing day-week-month-year, it is only logical that modern-man’s idea of what a hero is would differ from God’s idea of what a hero is. Furthermore, it is the increasingly godless gospel of Hollywood that is the protagonist (chief player) in configuring our minds and attitudes to what is and what is not acceptable in our ‘heroes’―and Hollywood has increasingly moved towards glorifying “anti-heroes” rather than traditional heroes.
What is an “Anti-Hero”?
We will often use words without really knowing what they mean or without explaining what they mean―so let us define what is meant by the term “anti-hero”. Is it someone who fights against heroes? Is it someone who doesn’t want to be a hero? Is it someone who is humble and doesn’t want to be called a hero? Actually, in the current general acceptance of the word, it is none of these definitions.
What the world at large understands (if it even understands at all) by the word “anti-hero” is a main character in a story who lacks one or several conventional heroic qualities and attributes―such as idealism, courage, skill, morality, etc. Other definitions of an “anti-hero” describe him or her as a flawed hero, with some or several character defects, which may or may not be immoral and sinful. Sometimes the anti-heroes may perform actions that are morally correct, but it is not always for the right reasons, often acting primarily out of self-interest, or in ways that defy conventional ethical codes. Thus the anti-hero is someone who is a protagonist (main character), but is lacking traditional heroic qualities. Usually, the anti-hero might be chaotic, unconventional, rebellious, reckless, cruel, harsh, inconsiderate, proud, boastful, who will achieve their goals within lawful boundaries or at times without regard for authority or law. Though, on more rare occasions, the anti-hero can simply be an unlikely hero―who does not “fit the bill” of what we think a hero should be like.
St. Joseph―Hero or Anti-Hero?
Since we are celebrating St. Joseph at this time of the year (March 19th), and since he is regarded as one the greatest saints to have lived, it is well worth looking at what St. Joseph offers by way of a model. All saints are heroes in our eyes―though in God’s eyes, He must see them all as being merely “average”―par for the course, so to speak―for a hero is one among thousands, but everyone in Heaven has to be and is a saint. So, in that sense, being a saint is pretty average for Heaven’s family―because everyone is a saint.
Nobody in Heaven, of course, is an “anti-hero” in the sense that they became saints by going against the law, or disobeying God’s will―that kind of “anti-hero” only exists in Hell. However, there are many “unconventional” saints in Heaven, who go against our notions of what being a saint has to be. Some saints are spectacular saints, having performed incredible deeds or miracles. Yet some saints are “anti-saints” or “anti-heroes” in the sense that we see nothing in their lives that, in our personal opinion, merits the name or title of “saint”. St. Thérèse of Lisieux was one such saint, of whom, when her investigative canonical process on her holiness began, elicited comments from her fellow sisters, such as: “Thérèse? What did she ever do?” Some may, perhaps, be tempted to think of St. Joseph in that light―especially when you compare him to persons such Moses, Elias, David, Samuel, St. Paul, and a whole string of glorious, spectacular, heroic, miracle working saints from the time of Christ onwards.
As always, we have to remind ourselves of God words: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9).
Heaven’s Surprise
I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp―
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash!
There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money―twice!
Next to him was my old neighbor,
Who never said anything nice!
Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in Hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well!
I nudged Jesus, “What’s the deal?
“I would love to hear your take!
“How’d all these sinners get up here?
“God must’ve made a mistake!”
“And why’s everyone so quiet, so somber?
“Give me a clue!”
“My Friend,” He said, “They’re all in shock!
“They never thought they’d be seeing you!”
As St. Augustine says: “The Church is not a museum of saints, but a hospital of sinners … There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future” (St. Augustine of Hippo, Doctor of the Church—sinners need a good doctor!).
Saints can seem remote and distant, close to God, but far from people. But they’re more like us than we give them credit for. Their lives were like ours, full of dilemmas and struggles, with bad choices as well as good. But their goodness won out in the end, as ours can. Interest in angels is quite popular at the moment, but it is the saints who are really like us in both their strengths and frailties.
As Dom Hubert Van Zeller writes, in his book Holiness―A Guide For Beginners, sanctity is often humdrum and unexciting:
“If personal holiness is thought of as being a name at the top of a list, it is understood wrong. If it is thought of as something that merits a feast in the Church’s calendar, it is understood wrong. If it is thought of as something to which is attached the power of working miracles, it is understood wrong … The way to think of sanctity is as something that, by being generous and faithful to grace, gives back to God the love He has given to the soul. So it is for God’s sake, more than for our own, that we should want to be saints. We work away at holiness, not because we are ambitious and want to be experts in a particular kind of lofty career, but because God wants us to be saints and is praised by our striving after sanctity. Anyone can be holy, or rather act holy, so long as others are saying, “There’s a saint for you,” but sooner or later this sort of holiness wears off. Either the person sees the trap, becomes humble, and goes ahead toward real holiness, or keeping up the act becomes too much of a strain and there’s a swing toward worldliness and perhaps to a lasting unholiness. The whole secret of sanctity is that it is a thing of grace, and so cannot be switched on as a part to be played.”
“This means that however determined you are to be a saint, you will not become one if you rely on your own strength of mind. The only thing that can get you to sanctity is God’s grace. You will need all the strength of mind you have just to work together with God’s grace, but if you imagine that making good, strong resolutions will carry you the whole way, you are wrong. About the first thing to happen will be that God lets you break some of those good, strong resolutions before you get properly started. This will be to put you in your place, and show you that you can do nothing without Him. Once you are decently humbled, knowing that left to yourself you cannot even carry out the things that you very much want to carry out, you are getting ready to be used. You are being softened up like a steak. When all the toughness and pride and glamorized ideas of holiness have been beaten out of you by the down-to-earth action of truth, then God has got something there on which He can work. Without false notions and fancy plans, you can now begin to fall in with the true notions of holiness and with the plan God has in mind for you. It stands to reason. God is not going to reward anyone else’s work but His own. You cannot expect Him to recognize a holiness that He has done nothing to bring about. When you get right down to it, there is only one real goodness, one perfection, one sanctity, and that is God’s. When man invents a holiness of his own, God lets him look for it but does not help him find it, because a holiness of one’s own does not exist, and it is a waste of time searching for it. It is as if someone were to look for moonlight without the moon. Once you admit that all moonlight is bound to come from one particular place, and that it is a thing you cannot make yourself, you have learned something.
“Another thing to notice right at the beginning about holiness is that there is no cut-and-dried pattern about it. It is what God wants out of you, and because you are not exactly the same as anyone else, the holiness that is to be yours will not be exactly like anyone else’s. The model of all holiness is Our Lord, and unless you grow to be like Him, you will never get anywhere in holiness, but this does not mean that all, who follow Him, will end up exactly alike. Our Lord appeals to us in His way, and we answer Him in our way. If twenty artists are told to paint a picture of the Crucifixion, they will all show the same thing, but in twenty different ways. There will be twenty quite separate pictures, no two alike. This is how God wants our response to be: each one his own. Now, just as it would show a weakness in one of those twenty artists to copy as closely as possible the painting of the artist next to him, so it would be a weakness for one follower of Our Lord to copy as closely as possible the particular holiness of another follower. He should make it his first job to follow Our Lord. The ways by which others have followed Our Lord can be a tremendous help, just as the ways other people paint can be a tremendous help to painting, but Our Lord, who is Himself “the way, the truth, and the life,” (John 14:6), wants something out of you that is your own to give and is not just a copy. The saints produce masterpieces because of each one’s likeness to Our Lord, not because of each one’s likeness to another. By all means, let us imitate the way in which the saints went about it, but by no means let us copy the results. God wants an original reproduction of Himself, not a forgery.
“All right then, what is it that the saints do that makes them into saints? The answer is that they do two things: on the one side they keep clear of anything that they think is going to get in the way of grace, and on the other they head directly for Our Lord. The only thing to be added to this is that they do it for the glory of God and not for what they can get out of it. They are the ones who “seek first the kingdom of God,” and for the King’s sake rather than for their own, and who are ready to wait as long as God likes for the day when “all these things” shall be added to them (Mathew 6:33). So it is not that the saints do particularly “saintly” things (like fierce penances, whole nights spent on their knees, miracles, prophecies, or raptures in prayer); it is more that they do all things in a particularly saintly way, in exactly the way that they feel God wants. To them the only thing in the world that matters is God’s will. They know that by doing God’s will as perfectly as they can, they are imitating Our Lord, they are expressing Charity, and they are being true to the best that is in them. All this should be a great encouragement to us because it shows that our service of God does not depend upon how we feel about it, but upon how God looks at it; not upon acts that are seen to be heroic, but upon how ready we are to let God draw heroism out of us; not upon battling our way to a certain point that will give us the title of “saint,” but upon following blindly the course that is set by God’s will.”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Sunday March 17th & Monday March 18th
Article 20
Figure Out Your Transfiguration Configuration
Article 20
Figure Out Your Transfiguration Configuration
Strange “Goings-On” in the Liturgy!
In the Extraordinary (Traditional Latin) Rite of the Church, an extraordinary situation arises. What is that? It is the fact that the Gospel of Transfiguration arises three times during the year. Not only that―but, right now, you have the same Transfiguration Gospel occurring two days in a row! On Ember Saturday (which, this year, 2019, was on Saturday March 16th) and on the Second Sunday of Lent (this year, March 17th)―in addition to its appearance on the feast of the Transfiguration, which always occurs on August 6th. In the modern Liturgy―which has trashed the Ember Days―it still appears twice―on August 6th and the Second Sunday of Lent. Either someone made a big, big mistake and failed to notice that repetition when the Liturgy of the Church was being arranged, or it is a sign that the Transfiguration is something very important! Figure that one out if you can! The Transfiguration is given a feast day of its own and then is repeated on two other occasions, which, furthermore, are one day immediately after the other―as though some forgot to change to reading for the next day!
Trans What?
Transfiguration? What on earth is that? Can’t figure that out? No! You might say: “Who cares anyway? Are there not more important things to think and talk about than some obscure feast with a name that merely cause confusion? What on earth has the Transfiguration got to do with my salvation? It doesn’t seem to be important at all―it is ranked nowhere near the other important feasts such as Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, etc. So why bother? Let’s pass on that and move on!”
It Comes in Threes
No! We won’t pass on that and move on―because Holy Mother Church rubs our noses in it THREE TIMES every year, and TWO DAYS IN SUCCESSION on Ember Saturday and the following day, the Second Sunday of Lent. If someone tells you something three times―then it has to be important. It is a case of: “Hey! Read or do this!” … “I’m telling you again―read or do this!” … “Look! For a third time I’m telling you―read or do this!” Or, “Hey! If I told you once, I’ve told you twice, I’ve told you three times! I am serious!”
Additionally, all three Synoptic Evangelists― Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke―as well as St. Peter in his epistle, write about the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration narrative appears in Matthew 17:1-18; in Mark 9:2-8; and in Luke 9:28-36. The Transfiguration is also mentioned in 2 Peter 1:16-18. It is a curious thing that Saint John is the only Evangelist who does not record the event of the Transfiguration, especially so since he was actually there, but we have at least an implicit allusion to the event in the very first words of the opening chapter of St. John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … That was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the Only Begotten of the Father!” (John 1:1-14).
For those of you who may wonder why the Gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to St. John’s Gospel, whose content is comparatively different and was the last of the four Gospels to be written―many years after the other three. It is generally believed that Matthew was written before 70 A.D. and as early as 50 A.D. St. Mark’s Gospel is thought to have been written between 55 A.D. to 70 A.D. St. Luke’s Gospel was written before 62 A.D. Whereas St. John’s Gospel appears to have been written in the 80s to 90s A.D.
The Meaning of “Transfiguration”
The English word “Transfiguration” comes from the Latin word “transfigurare” (pronounced tranz-fig-gu-rah-ray). The first part of the Latin word, “trans” means “change”; and the Latin word “figura” (pronounced fig-goo-ra) means “figure” or “appearance.” These words combine to describe what happened to Jesus at His transfiguration― Jesus’ appearance (figure) changed. The Greek text uses the word “metamorphosis” (pronounced met-ta-mor-foe-sis, meaning “to change form, shape, or appearance”) to describe the change or transformation that occurred in Our Lord at this momentous occasion.
You Would Think That If Our Lord …
Isn’t it strange and anomalous that most people know very little about something that Our Lord and the Apostles “made a great deal of”! How would you feel if you did something “out of this world” and nobody paid any attention to it? You would think that if Our Lord did something as striking and mind-boggling as seen by His Transfiguration, then we would at least make a bit of a fuss over it! But no! Who the heck cares? There are far more exciting things waiting for me on my smartphone / tablet / laptop / TV set―which are just as “mind-boggling”―so let’s “pass” on that. Just not interested and can’t be bothered to look deeper into it! Sorry, but that’s how it is! Thanks, but no thanks! This kind of “stuff” just puts me to sleep, just like all spiritual things. Besides, it even says that Peter James and John fell as;leep during the Transfiguration ― “Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep” (Luke 9:32)―so if could them to sleep, it certainly puts me to sleep! Tell me when another article appears ― something that’s more interesting or shocking, saucy or salacious―like the scandals in the Church, or the latest shocking comment from the Pope. Now that’s the kind of stuff I like and can get my teeth into, and happily read all day long! Besides―didn’t Our Lord say after His Transfiguration that nobody should mention it or talk about it? “He charged them not to tell any man what things they had seen!” (Mark 9:8) … “Tell the vision to no man!” (Matthew 17:9) … “And they kept the word to themselves” (Mark 9:9) … “And they held their peace, and told no man any of these things which they had seen” (Luke 9:36). So why are we talking about it?
Sure, Our Lord did command Peter, James and John not to speak about ― but the prohibition only applied to the period BEFORE His death and resurrection! Otherwise why did they write about it? Because it was no longer forbidden to speak of the Transfiguration. In fact, it is even more important to speak about it today, because we have lost all notions of the supernatural by becoming too natural, and lost our taste for the spiritual by having become gluttons for the material.
Drawing Back the Curtains on the Transfiguration
The Transfiguration of Christ draws back the curtains to the culminating point of His public life, as His Baptism is its starting point, and His Ascension its end. The Transfiguration occurred shortly before the Passion and Death of Our Lord―hence its inclusion (on the Second Sunday of Lent) among the various readings during Lent, which also culminates with the Passion and Death of Our Lord during “Holy Week”.
If we are about to speak of the Transfiguration, then we should refer to the very source of our knowledge on the matter―which is, of course, Holy Scripture. Here is a combination of the three accounts of by Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke, with the additions of the allusions made by St. Peter and St. John. This should give us a clear platform and factual representation of what we will be talking about.
“Jesus taketh with Him Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain, apart by themselves, to pray. But Peter, and they that were with Him, were heavy with sleep. And, whilst He prayed, He was transfigured before them. The shape of His countenance was altered, and His face did shine as the sun. And His garments became white and glittering, shining and exceedingly white as snow, so as no fuller [cloth-maker] upon Earth can make white. And waking, they saw his glory and majesty, and the two men that stood with Him and were talking with Him. They were Moses and Elias and they were talking with Jesus of His decease that He should accomplish in Jerusalem. And it came to pass, that as they were departing from Him, Peter said to Jesus: ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here! If Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles [tents], one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias!’― not knowing what he said, for they were struck with fear. And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and they were afraid when they entered into the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased! Hear ye Him!’ And whilst the voice was uttered, Jesus was found alone. And the disciples, hearing the voice, fell upon their faces, and were very much afraid. And Jesus came, touched them and said to them: ‘Arise, and fear not!’ And immediately lifting up their eyes and looking about, they saw no man any more, but only Jesus with them. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them not to tell any man what things they had seen, till the Son of man shall be risen again from the dead, saying: ‘Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead!’ And they held their peace, and told no man in those days any of these things which they had seen. They kept the word to themselves, questioning together what that should mean― ‘when He shall be risen from the dead.’” St. Peter would later write: “We have not by following artificial fables, made known to you the power, and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ; but we were eyewitnesses of His greatness. For He received from God the Father, honor and glory―this voice coming down to Him from the excellent glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased! Hear ye Him!’ And this voice we heard brought from Heaven, when we were with Him on the holy mount!” (Matthew 17:1-18; Mark 9:1-9; Luke 9:28-36; John 1:1-14; 2 Peter 1:16-18).
The Church Needs a Transfiguration―So Do We!
God’s creation is loaded with the “positive-negative” syndrome in both the supernatural-spiritual, as well as the natural-material realms. We have Heaven (positive) and Hell (negative); virtue (positive) and sin (negative); good angels (positive) and bad angels (negative); salvation (positive) and damnation (negative); saints (positive) and sinners (negative), etc. In that natural-material world we have day (positive) and night (negative), heat and cold, life and death, health and sickness; being awake and being asleep; riches and poverty; joy and sadness; love and hatred; peace and war; success and failure; ups and downs, etc., etc., etc.
We also see these positive and negative “ups and downs” in Holy Scripture, in the life of the Chosen People, in the life of Christ and in the life of the Church. The pleasant wedding miracle at Cana is soon followed by the violent cleansing of the Temple, just as the Transfiguration on the mountain leads to a wild encounter at the foot of the mountain with an epileptic. A Russian proverb holds that when the Lord builds a church somewhere, Satan pitches a tent across the street. The endless agony of Lucifer the lightbearer―which is what the word “Lucifer” means―without the Light, is that he cannot get far enough away from the eternal brightness, and yet he is helplessly drawn to it, like an ugly moth is drawn to a lovely flame. There is some of that same satanic tension in those who talk ceaselessly about why they will have nothing to do with the Church. A Christ who does not inspire, will nevertheless seem to haunt―He will simply not go away!
The Church Militant on Earth is headed in one of two directions―Heaven (positive) or Hell (negative). We call it the Church Militant because it is meant to be fighting―it is meant to fight the devil and the world, or it will end up being condemned with the devil and world. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
The Church Militant, which in its weakest moments, may seem like a scattered and tattered regiment of the Church Triumphant, has supernatural guarantees that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. Yet our hope has to be in Heaven and based upon Christ’s power and help―as He Himself said: “I am the vine―you [are merely] the branches! He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit―for without Me you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).
Any reformation of the Church that is not a transfiguration by the light of that confidence, becomes a deformation of the Church. The Church must rely on God and not on the talents of its human members. St. Paul expands upon this, by saying that worldly wisdom, human skills and a too naturalistic approach to things will not bear fruit and is unacceptable to God: “The justification of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh; but they that are according to the Spirit, mind the things that are of the Spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the Spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God! But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Romans 8:4-9).
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, reveling [partying], and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the Kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, long-suffering, mildness, faith, modesty, continency and chastity” (Galatians 5:19-23).
The Transfiguration of Holiness
Pushing aside all the leaves and branches that obscure a clear view of the trunk of the tree of the Church, we see that the chief purposes of the Church are:
(1) to give glory to God―which is commanded numerous times in Scripture: “Give glory to God!” (Josue 7:19; Jeremias 13:16; 1 Kings 6:5; Tobias 12:6; 13:12; Psalms 67:35; 135;26; Ecclesiasticus 35:10; 50:22; Luke 2:14; 17:18; John 9:24; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Apocalypse 4:11 and many more references), and the other chief purpose of the Church is …
(2) to make its members holy, for only saints get to go to Heaven: “And thou shalt sanctify all, and they shall be most holy!” (Exodus 30:29). “You shall be holy men to Me!” (Exodus 22:31) … “Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy, because I am the Lord your God! … For I am the Lord your God―be holy because I am holy! … You shall be holy, because I am holy! … You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:7; 11:44-46; 20:26) … “And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Sion, My holy mountain, and Jerusalem shall be holy and strangers [the worldly] shall pass through it no more!” (Joel 3:17) … “As He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight!” (Ephesians 1:4) … “Because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy!’” (1 Peter 1:16). “The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to Himself, as He swore to thee―if thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways!” (Deuteronomy 28:9). “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). “The disciple is not above his master―but everyone shall be perfect!” (Luke 6:40).
Let us, for a moment, go back to that mystifying word “transfiguration.” The English word “Transfiguration” comes from the Latin word “transfigurare.” The first part of the Latin word, “trans” means “change”; and the Latin word “figura” means “figure” or “appearance.” Christ changed His appearance during His transfiguration―not only to manifest the glory and sanctity that was always ‘hiding’ below the surface―but also to show us that we must change from being mainly humanistic, materialistic and worldly in our thoughts, words and actions, into being supernatural, spiritual and holy in our thoughts, words and actions. For if are members of the Mystical Body of Christ, of which Christ is the Head, then the body should be united to the Head and follow the head into that glory of holiness, which should be ‘hidden’ yet active within each member of the Mystical Body of Christ.
Are we in need of a spiritual transfiguration? Do we need a transfiguration of holiness? You bet we do! Scripture says that we have all sinned and that we all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10). We are also reminded: “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God?” (1 Corinthians 6:9). “There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie…” etc. (Apocalypse 21:27). “Follow holiness―without which no man shall see God!” (Hebrews 12:14). Just as an athlete can be “out of shape” physically, we can also be “out of shape” spiritually. In fact, just as an athlete can always increase his or her physical fitness and performance, likewise, we can always increase our spiritual fitness and performance―which is precisely why St. Paul writes what we read at Mass on Septuagesima Sunday, as we prepared for Lent:
“Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And everyone that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty, I so fight, not as one beating the air―but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Out of Shape Church
Today, the Catholic Church is totally out of shape! Yes, totally―not partially as some would like to think! Even those who are still clinging on to the Faith, are way below par for what a Catholic should be. We have become so dumbed-down and so weakened in our Faith, morals and spiritual levels, that even a weakling looks like a superman by comparison to everyone else. It is much like your child running home from school shouting with glee that they came top of the class in the test. You ask: “What did you score?” Your child replies: “Five out of a hundred!”
Everyone is below par―even the intelligent ones are nowhere near as intelligent as what they could and should be. A bishop―now deceased―once told his seminarians words to the effect of: “You think you’re special, don’t you? Your think―I’m a seminarian and will soon be a priest!―Well let me point some things out to you seminarians-soon-to-be-priests! When I was in your shoes, I had already studied theology in high school! I could read, write and speak Latin before going to the seminary! I had already learnt a good deal of Greek and some Hebrew. Most of you don’t even know your catechism very well! The priests of old were far superior in their levels to what they are today!”
What is true of today’s priests and seminarians, is even more true of today’s faithful who are not so full of faith as the faithful should be! If there was ever an age when the following words of Holy Scripture are perfectly suited, then it has to be our present age: “There is none that doth good, no not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together―there is none that doth good, no not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalm 13:1-3).
Wearing Business Suits With Spiritual Diapers
The modern world―with the advent of easy worldwide trade and technological advances―has become much more materialistic and much less spiritual. Though there have been many major advances in technology and business, there have been no advances spiritually. You could compare it to a child growing into adolescence and adulthood in the materialistic, technological, and worldly level―but on a spiritual level, the baby never grows up, remaining forever in spiritual diapers.
Most Catholics today―even some ‘good’ Catholics―are wearing spiritual diapers. They know a lot about the world, what is going on in the world, the scandals in the world, the crimes in the world, the corruption in the world, or even the everyday things of the world, such as found in science, technology, mechanics, electricity, plumbing, building, etc. ― but they are clueless as to how fine-tune their soul, how to recharge their soul, how to fix their soul, how to de-clog their soul, how to build their soul into the temple that God expects the soul to be! All of this brings to mind the words of Our Lord: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)―modern man is searching for the wrong kind of “profits” these days, which may profit his pocket, but not his soul―for Our Lord adds: “Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible―but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:23-26).
This should also remind us the following passage from Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange’s book, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, in which he speaks, in a sense, of the aforementioned souls in business suits and spiritual diapers:
“The one thing necessary which Jesus spoke of, to Martha and Mary (Luke 10:41), consists in hearing the word of God and living by it. The interior life thus conceived is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be, in certain respects, the search for the true and the good, in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
“This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called ‘the one thing necessary’, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. This last must not be too widely separated from progressive sanctification, for it is the very way of salvation. There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death, or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin—though it should be venial—must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God; see Him as He sees Himself; and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified.
“The interior life of a just man who tends toward God and who already lives by Him is indeed the one thing necessary. To be a saint, neither intellectual culture nor great exterior activity is a requisite; it suffices that we live profoundly by God. This truth is evident in the saints of the early Church; several of those saints were poor people, even slaves. It is evident also in St. Francis, St. Benedict Joseph Labre, in the Curé of Ars, and many others. They all had a deep understanding of these words of our Savior: ‘For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?’ (Matthew 16:26). If people sacrifice so many things to save the life of the body, which must ultimately die, what should we not sacrifice to save the life of our soul, which is to last forever? Ought not man to love his soul more than his body? ‘Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?’ Our Lord adds in Matthew 16:26. ‘One thing is necessary,’ He tells us in Luke 10:41.
“ ‘Jesus entered into a certain town and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who, sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy with much serving. Who stood and said: “Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her, therefore, that she help me!” And the Lord answering, said to her: “Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!” (Luke 10:38-42).’
“To save our soul, one thing alone is necessary―to hear the word of God and to live by it. Therein lies the best part, which will not be taken away from a faithful soul, even though it should lose everything else” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Is Angelic Intelligence Promoting Artificial Intelligence?
Those words of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange were written before the technological explosion that came in the 1990’s with the advent of the internet, which was a launch-pad for a series of technological enterprises and breakthroughs never ever imagined in bygone years. Though today’s technological “junkies” and addicts may squirm at the thought, it is very likely that St. Padre Pio was not very far off the mark when he said of television: “The devil is in it!” It is highly likely that the current massive, unstoppable, escalating and worldwide addiction to one or more branches of technology (TV, smartphone, tablet, laptop, Artificial Intelligence, virtual reality, etc.) is more than a little to do with the smartness of the devil and his angelic intelligence creating artificial intelligence as a devil-made substitute for God. As one present-day exorcist is on record as saying, the devil, even though he cannot make some people disbelieve in God, will nevertheless be satisfied if he can distract souls away from loving God by making them do things that are less important. Today, if you are honest, that is true of almost everyone in the world―they may or may not believe in God, but the one thing in common between both groups is that they are addicted to things that give them no time for God.
Configured to the World and not God
In this sense, they are “configured” to the world and not “configured” to God. In case you were not quite sure of the meaning of the word “configure”, it means “to arrange or put together in a particular form or shape; to arrange something, or change the controls on a computer, or other device, so that it can be used in a particular way.” The word “configure” comes from the Middle English “configuren” (as past participle “configured”) meaning “to model on, conform to,” and is borrowed from Middle French and Latin from “con-“ meaning “with, together” + “figūrāre” meaning “to shape, form, make a likeness of one thing to another thing.”
Under heavy pressure from the world and its media, most people have configured themselves, or conformed themselves, to the world rather than God. What this means in simple brutal terms is that they have sided with the enemies of God. Now most Catholics would huff-and-puff, scream and squirm, decry and deny such a statement―but it is, nevertheless, true―unless, of course, you want to call God and Holy Scripture a liar! For here is what God and Holy Scripture says―you will find these words under the carpet or rug, under which they have been conveniently swept, or maybe they are in the back of the closet, or some corner of the basement under a pile of boxes:
“Christ gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world!” (Galatians 1:4). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Our Lord says: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). Which is why His followers, the Apostles, write: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27) ... “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Speaking of the word of God as being a seed, Jesus says in the parable about the Sower of the Seed: “He that received the seed [word of God] among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless!” (Matthew 13:22). “The devil took Jesus up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written, “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’ Then the devil left Him; and behold angels came and ministered to Him” (Matthew 4:8-11).
We have be “offered the world and the glory of it” and we have accepted it willingly, gladly, with open arms and wallets. We love the world and what it offers us, don’t we? O yes we do―regardless of the politically correct (or religiously correct) things we might say! We love the world and we guzzle and gurgle at its fountains every day―the TV, the movies, the music, the internet, the social media, the videos, the news channels, the gossip channels, the blogs and forums and listen to their gospels on our smartphones, tablets, laptops, computers, screens and headsets. We are most certainly “configured” (conformed and shaped) to the world far, far, far more than we are configured (conformed and shaped) to God. That is why we need a spiritual “transfiguration”.
Transfigured and Configured to God
Though we are sinners and thus lost, God nevertheless loves us and wants to save us (“transfigure” us from the world and worldliness and “configure” us to Him). In the Old Testament we see God speak of this “transfiguration” from worldliness and “configuration” to holiness when He says: “And thou shalt sanctify (“transfigure” and “configure”) all, and they shall be most holy (“transfigured” and “configured”)!” (Exodus 30:29). “You shall be holy men (“transfigured” and “configured”) to Me!” (Exodus 22:31) … “Sanctify (“transfigure” and “configure”) yourselves, and be ye holy, because I am the Lord your God! … You shall be holy (“transfigured” and “configured”) unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated (“transfigured” and “configured”) you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:7; 11:44-46; 20:26) … “As He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted (“transfigured” and “configured”) in His sight!” (Ephesians 1:4) … “Because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy!’” (1 Peter 1:16). “The Lord will (“transfigure” and “configure”) raise thee up to be a holy people to Himself!” (Deuteronomy 28:9). “Be you therefore perfect (“transfigured” and “configured”), as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). “The disciple is not above his master―but everyone shall be perfect (“transfigured” and “configured”)!” (Luke 6:40).
Rich Young Man Not Configured to God
We see Our Lord attempt this “transfiguration” and “configuration” of a rich, well-meaning, young man: “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
What eventually happened to the soul of that rich young man we do not know―but the words of Our Lord are an ominous warning: “How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” Today, most people are probably richer than the young man of this encounter. Most of us are in a dire need of a spiritual transfiguration so as to avoid a potential eternal damnation, where souls are transfigured from being Christians and configured into being demons. Let the words Holy Scripture bite hard and penetrate deep: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “For the Lord saith: ‘In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee!’ Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation! … Knowing that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed! Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light” (2 Corinthians 6:2; Romans 13:11-12)―in other words, let us be “transfigured” from the world and worldliness and “configured” to God and godliness.
That’s the Theory! But What About the Practice? How to Make it Happen?
As they say: “Talk is cheap!” Hell is full of cheap talkers. Does that mean that talk is useless? No, talk we must―but we must talk about the right things, talk in the right way, and know what we are talking about! There are many who talk without knowing much about what they talk about. Nevertheless, talking is merely a “middle-man” between “ideas and thoughts” on the ones side, and “action or deeds” on the other side. That is true for most Catholics when it comes to matters of the Faith and the spiritual life―they have no gas in the tank (knowledge in the mind) and run only on gas fumes or “two-bit-phrases” and clever-sounding clichés that hide their real ignorance. Talk is necessary but it must be based on sound knowledge. We must know our Faith, talk-up our Faith and walk the Faith―as they say: “Don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk!” St. James says the same thing, but in different words, when he says: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves! … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!”―show me thy faith without works and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead!” (James 1:22; 2:17-26).
Transfiguration and Configuration Require Detoxification and Meditation
The philosophical axiom “Nature abhors a vacuum” could equally be applied to the spiritual life by being rephrased as “The supernatural abhors a vacuum”―in the sense that our soul cannot be empty, our thoughts cannot be empty, there is no spiritual limbo where nothing is happening, where we are spiritually “treading water” and waiting for something. As the spiritual writers tell us, there is no standing still in the spiritual life. Heaven is somewhere upstream and you have to either swim or row your boat against the downstream flowing current of the world. If you stop rowing, you do not stay where you are, but in a very, very short time you are rapidly carried downstream by the current of world, and you lose, in a very short time, all the painstaking and time-taking efforts you had made in swimming just a little more upstream and nearer the mountain lake of Heaven.
If you refuse to detoxify yourself of the world, the world will toxify you and destroy your chances of Heaven. Most souls refused to swim upstream and were, sooner or later, washed away downstream into the fires of Hell. Salvation is serious and the effort required is great. If you look under the carpet or rug―where all the other unpleasant words of Our Lord have swept―then you will find these: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal [and carry you downstream]. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also. No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! [you cannot swim in two directions at the same time]” (Matthew 6:19-24). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away! … But he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 11:12; 10:22).
Time For a Rethink! Time to Transfigure and Reconfigure Our Thoughts
The first area of detoxification (or transfiguration) is your thought pattern. Are you happy with your thoughts? Are your thoughts happy thoughts? Are your thoughts positively happy thoughts or negatively unhappy thoughts? Your words and your actions (as well as your health―physical, mental and spiritual) will follow your thoughts. The statement―“You are what you think”―is not just cheap talk, but reality, as some find out to their expense! You need to think well and think positively―without trashing the negative. Everything that God has created has a positive-negative reality or existence―it has to be that way―but the positive should be in the ascendancy and should be our goal, the negative is like a safety net for a circus trapeze act―it is not what they plan on using, but it is there in case they fall.
If you want to see God Himself use the positive-negative routine, then read chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus, where the first third (33%) of the chapter sees God being super-positive, and the remaining two-thirds (66%) sees Him being super-negative―it is basically using the carrot and the stick. If you are looking for a basic, foundational, reality-check, bottom-line meditation that lays the foundations for all else that God has done, is doing or will do, then that chapter has it all. It shows the two sides of God―which are unchangeable―and you can press which buttons you want, knowing that God can and will give you what you request and deserve. If ever the expression― “It’s my way or the highway!” ― ever applied to anyone, then it applies to God, as chapter 26 of Leviticus clearly shows, to which Jesus adds, in His own gentle way, “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! … Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:13-14, 21).
If you think like the many―the majority―then your fate is that of the many. “For many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16). You must think like the few in order to be saved with the few. St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, writes: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few … Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness!” St. Alphonsus Liguori re-echoes those sentiments: “The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are; yet among those few I wish to be!”
You are what you think and your thoughts could lead you to where you never thought you’d end up! Spiritual meditation, or spiritual reflection, spiritual thinking, spiritual reading is of the utmost importance to “transfigure” your worldly way of thinking into a spiritual way of looking at things. It is not for nothing that God said: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). “And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel! Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:25).
If people can spend hour upon hour, switching their minds and thoughts from smartphone, to tablet, to laptop to TV screen, to headset―all of which transfigures and configures their minds from God to the world, then they void and annul any possible excuse of not having enough time to spend reading, thinking, reflecting and meditating upon God! Furthermore, they dig their own grave and prepare their own pit by giving so much of their time and enjoyment over to what Holy Scripture calls an enemy of God―“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
In the Extraordinary (Traditional Latin) Rite of the Church, an extraordinary situation arises. What is that? It is the fact that the Gospel of Transfiguration arises three times during the year. Not only that―but, right now, you have the same Transfiguration Gospel occurring two days in a row! On Ember Saturday (which, this year, 2019, was on Saturday March 16th) and on the Second Sunday of Lent (this year, March 17th)―in addition to its appearance on the feast of the Transfiguration, which always occurs on August 6th. In the modern Liturgy―which has trashed the Ember Days―it still appears twice―on August 6th and the Second Sunday of Lent. Either someone made a big, big mistake and failed to notice that repetition when the Liturgy of the Church was being arranged, or it is a sign that the Transfiguration is something very important! Figure that one out if you can! The Transfiguration is given a feast day of its own and then is repeated on two other occasions, which, furthermore, are one day immediately after the other―as though some forgot to change to reading for the next day!
Trans What?
Transfiguration? What on earth is that? Can’t figure that out? No! You might say: “Who cares anyway? Are there not more important things to think and talk about than some obscure feast with a name that merely cause confusion? What on earth has the Transfiguration got to do with my salvation? It doesn’t seem to be important at all―it is ranked nowhere near the other important feasts such as Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, etc. So why bother? Let’s pass on that and move on!”
It Comes in Threes
No! We won’t pass on that and move on―because Holy Mother Church rubs our noses in it THREE TIMES every year, and TWO DAYS IN SUCCESSION on Ember Saturday and the following day, the Second Sunday of Lent. If someone tells you something three times―then it has to be important. It is a case of: “Hey! Read or do this!” … “I’m telling you again―read or do this!” … “Look! For a third time I’m telling you―read or do this!” Or, “Hey! If I told you once, I’ve told you twice, I’ve told you three times! I am serious!”
Additionally, all three Synoptic Evangelists― Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke―as well as St. Peter in his epistle, write about the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration narrative appears in Matthew 17:1-18; in Mark 9:2-8; and in Luke 9:28-36. The Transfiguration is also mentioned in 2 Peter 1:16-18. It is a curious thing that Saint John is the only Evangelist who does not record the event of the Transfiguration, especially so since he was actually there, but we have at least an implicit allusion to the event in the very first words of the opening chapter of St. John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … That was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the Only Begotten of the Father!” (John 1:1-14).
For those of you who may wonder why the Gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to St. John’s Gospel, whose content is comparatively different and was the last of the four Gospels to be written―many years after the other three. It is generally believed that Matthew was written before 70 A.D. and as early as 50 A.D. St. Mark’s Gospel is thought to have been written between 55 A.D. to 70 A.D. St. Luke’s Gospel was written before 62 A.D. Whereas St. John’s Gospel appears to have been written in the 80s to 90s A.D.
The Meaning of “Transfiguration”
The English word “Transfiguration” comes from the Latin word “transfigurare” (pronounced tranz-fig-gu-rah-ray). The first part of the Latin word, “trans” means “change”; and the Latin word “figura” (pronounced fig-goo-ra) means “figure” or “appearance.” These words combine to describe what happened to Jesus at His transfiguration― Jesus’ appearance (figure) changed. The Greek text uses the word “metamorphosis” (pronounced met-ta-mor-foe-sis, meaning “to change form, shape, or appearance”) to describe the change or transformation that occurred in Our Lord at this momentous occasion.
You Would Think That If Our Lord …
Isn’t it strange and anomalous that most people know very little about something that Our Lord and the Apostles “made a great deal of”! How would you feel if you did something “out of this world” and nobody paid any attention to it? You would think that if Our Lord did something as striking and mind-boggling as seen by His Transfiguration, then we would at least make a bit of a fuss over it! But no! Who the heck cares? There are far more exciting things waiting for me on my smartphone / tablet / laptop / TV set―which are just as “mind-boggling”―so let’s “pass” on that. Just not interested and can’t be bothered to look deeper into it! Sorry, but that’s how it is! Thanks, but no thanks! This kind of “stuff” just puts me to sleep, just like all spiritual things. Besides, it even says that Peter James and John fell as;leep during the Transfiguration ― “Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep” (Luke 9:32)―so if could them to sleep, it certainly puts me to sleep! Tell me when another article appears ― something that’s more interesting or shocking, saucy or salacious―like the scandals in the Church, or the latest shocking comment from the Pope. Now that’s the kind of stuff I like and can get my teeth into, and happily read all day long! Besides―didn’t Our Lord say after His Transfiguration that nobody should mention it or talk about it? “He charged them not to tell any man what things they had seen!” (Mark 9:8) … “Tell the vision to no man!” (Matthew 17:9) … “And they kept the word to themselves” (Mark 9:9) … “And they held their peace, and told no man any of these things which they had seen” (Luke 9:36). So why are we talking about it?
Sure, Our Lord did command Peter, James and John not to speak about ― but the prohibition only applied to the period BEFORE His death and resurrection! Otherwise why did they write about it? Because it was no longer forbidden to speak of the Transfiguration. In fact, it is even more important to speak about it today, because we have lost all notions of the supernatural by becoming too natural, and lost our taste for the spiritual by having become gluttons for the material.
Drawing Back the Curtains on the Transfiguration
The Transfiguration of Christ draws back the curtains to the culminating point of His public life, as His Baptism is its starting point, and His Ascension its end. The Transfiguration occurred shortly before the Passion and Death of Our Lord―hence its inclusion (on the Second Sunday of Lent) among the various readings during Lent, which also culminates with the Passion and Death of Our Lord during “Holy Week”.
If we are about to speak of the Transfiguration, then we should refer to the very source of our knowledge on the matter―which is, of course, Holy Scripture. Here is a combination of the three accounts of by Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke, with the additions of the allusions made by St. Peter and St. John. This should give us a clear platform and factual representation of what we will be talking about.
“Jesus taketh with Him Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain, apart by themselves, to pray. But Peter, and they that were with Him, were heavy with sleep. And, whilst He prayed, He was transfigured before them. The shape of His countenance was altered, and His face did shine as the sun. And His garments became white and glittering, shining and exceedingly white as snow, so as no fuller [cloth-maker] upon Earth can make white. And waking, they saw his glory and majesty, and the two men that stood with Him and were talking with Him. They were Moses and Elias and they were talking with Jesus of His decease that He should accomplish in Jerusalem. And it came to pass, that as they were departing from Him, Peter said to Jesus: ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here! If Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles [tents], one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias!’― not knowing what he said, for they were struck with fear. And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and they were afraid when they entered into the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased! Hear ye Him!’ And whilst the voice was uttered, Jesus was found alone. And the disciples, hearing the voice, fell upon their faces, and were very much afraid. And Jesus came, touched them and said to them: ‘Arise, and fear not!’ And immediately lifting up their eyes and looking about, they saw no man any more, but only Jesus with them. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them not to tell any man what things they had seen, till the Son of man shall be risen again from the dead, saying: ‘Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead!’ And they held their peace, and told no man in those days any of these things which they had seen. They kept the word to themselves, questioning together what that should mean― ‘when He shall be risen from the dead.’” St. Peter would later write: “We have not by following artificial fables, made known to you the power, and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ; but we were eyewitnesses of His greatness. For He received from God the Father, honor and glory―this voice coming down to Him from the excellent glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased! Hear ye Him!’ And this voice we heard brought from Heaven, when we were with Him on the holy mount!” (Matthew 17:1-18; Mark 9:1-9; Luke 9:28-36; John 1:1-14; 2 Peter 1:16-18).
The Church Needs a Transfiguration―So Do We!
God’s creation is loaded with the “positive-negative” syndrome in both the supernatural-spiritual, as well as the natural-material realms. We have Heaven (positive) and Hell (negative); virtue (positive) and sin (negative); good angels (positive) and bad angels (negative); salvation (positive) and damnation (negative); saints (positive) and sinners (negative), etc. In that natural-material world we have day (positive) and night (negative), heat and cold, life and death, health and sickness; being awake and being asleep; riches and poverty; joy and sadness; love and hatred; peace and war; success and failure; ups and downs, etc., etc., etc.
We also see these positive and negative “ups and downs” in Holy Scripture, in the life of the Chosen People, in the life of Christ and in the life of the Church. The pleasant wedding miracle at Cana is soon followed by the violent cleansing of the Temple, just as the Transfiguration on the mountain leads to a wild encounter at the foot of the mountain with an epileptic. A Russian proverb holds that when the Lord builds a church somewhere, Satan pitches a tent across the street. The endless agony of Lucifer the lightbearer―which is what the word “Lucifer” means―without the Light, is that he cannot get far enough away from the eternal brightness, and yet he is helplessly drawn to it, like an ugly moth is drawn to a lovely flame. There is some of that same satanic tension in those who talk ceaselessly about why they will have nothing to do with the Church. A Christ who does not inspire, will nevertheless seem to haunt―He will simply not go away!
The Church Militant on Earth is headed in one of two directions―Heaven (positive) or Hell (negative). We call it the Church Militant because it is meant to be fighting―it is meant to fight the devil and the world, or it will end up being condemned with the devil and world. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32).
The Church Militant, which in its weakest moments, may seem like a scattered and tattered regiment of the Church Triumphant, has supernatural guarantees that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. Yet our hope has to be in Heaven and based upon Christ’s power and help―as He Himself said: “I am the vine―you [are merely] the branches! He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit―for without Me you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).
Any reformation of the Church that is not a transfiguration by the light of that confidence, becomes a deformation of the Church. The Church must rely on God and not on the talents of its human members. St. Paul expands upon this, by saying that worldly wisdom, human skills and a too naturalistic approach to things will not bear fruit and is unacceptable to God: “The justification of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For they that are according to the flesh, mind the things that are of the flesh; but they that are according to the Spirit, mind the things that are of the Spirit. For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the Spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God! But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Romans 8:4-9).
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, reveling [partying], and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the Kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, long-suffering, mildness, faith, modesty, continency and chastity” (Galatians 5:19-23).
The Transfiguration of Holiness
Pushing aside all the leaves and branches that obscure a clear view of the trunk of the tree of the Church, we see that the chief purposes of the Church are:
(1) to give glory to God―which is commanded numerous times in Scripture: “Give glory to God!” (Josue 7:19; Jeremias 13:16; 1 Kings 6:5; Tobias 12:6; 13:12; Psalms 67:35; 135;26; Ecclesiasticus 35:10; 50:22; Luke 2:14; 17:18; John 9:24; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Apocalypse 4:11 and many more references), and the other chief purpose of the Church is …
(2) to make its members holy, for only saints get to go to Heaven: “And thou shalt sanctify all, and they shall be most holy!” (Exodus 30:29). “You shall be holy men to Me!” (Exodus 22:31) … “Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy, because I am the Lord your God! … For I am the Lord your God―be holy because I am holy! … You shall be holy, because I am holy! … You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:7; 11:44-46; 20:26) … “And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Sion, My holy mountain, and Jerusalem shall be holy and strangers [the worldly] shall pass through it no more!” (Joel 3:17) … “As He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight!” (Ephesians 1:4) … “Because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy!’” (1 Peter 1:16). “The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to Himself, as He swore to thee―if thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways!” (Deuteronomy 28:9). “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). “The disciple is not above his master―but everyone shall be perfect!” (Luke 6:40).
Let us, for a moment, go back to that mystifying word “transfiguration.” The English word “Transfiguration” comes from the Latin word “transfigurare.” The first part of the Latin word, “trans” means “change”; and the Latin word “figura” means “figure” or “appearance.” Christ changed His appearance during His transfiguration―not only to manifest the glory and sanctity that was always ‘hiding’ below the surface―but also to show us that we must change from being mainly humanistic, materialistic and worldly in our thoughts, words and actions, into being supernatural, spiritual and holy in our thoughts, words and actions. For if are members of the Mystical Body of Christ, of which Christ is the Head, then the body should be united to the Head and follow the head into that glory of holiness, which should be ‘hidden’ yet active within each member of the Mystical Body of Christ.
Are we in need of a spiritual transfiguration? Do we need a transfiguration of holiness? You bet we do! Scripture says that we have all sinned and that we all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10). We are also reminded: “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God?” (1 Corinthians 6:9). “There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie…” etc. (Apocalypse 21:27). “Follow holiness―without which no man shall see God!” (Hebrews 12:14). Just as an athlete can be “out of shape” physically, we can also be “out of shape” spiritually. In fact, just as an athlete can always increase his or her physical fitness and performance, likewise, we can always increase our spiritual fitness and performance―which is precisely why St. Paul writes what we read at Mass on Septuagesima Sunday, as we prepared for Lent:
“Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And everyone that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty, I so fight, not as one beating the air―but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Out of Shape Church
Today, the Catholic Church is totally out of shape! Yes, totally―not partially as some would like to think! Even those who are still clinging on to the Faith, are way below par for what a Catholic should be. We have become so dumbed-down and so weakened in our Faith, morals and spiritual levels, that even a weakling looks like a superman by comparison to everyone else. It is much like your child running home from school shouting with glee that they came top of the class in the test. You ask: “What did you score?” Your child replies: “Five out of a hundred!”
Everyone is below par―even the intelligent ones are nowhere near as intelligent as what they could and should be. A bishop―now deceased―once told his seminarians words to the effect of: “You think you’re special, don’t you? Your think―I’m a seminarian and will soon be a priest!―Well let me point some things out to you seminarians-soon-to-be-priests! When I was in your shoes, I had already studied theology in high school! I could read, write and speak Latin before going to the seminary! I had already learnt a good deal of Greek and some Hebrew. Most of you don’t even know your catechism very well! The priests of old were far superior in their levels to what they are today!”
What is true of today’s priests and seminarians, is even more true of today’s faithful who are not so full of faith as the faithful should be! If there was ever an age when the following words of Holy Scripture are perfectly suited, then it has to be our present age: “There is none that doth good, no not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together―there is none that doth good, no not one! Their throat is an open sepulcher―with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes!” (Psalm 13:1-3).
Wearing Business Suits With Spiritual Diapers
The modern world―with the advent of easy worldwide trade and technological advances―has become much more materialistic and much less spiritual. Though there have been many major advances in technology and business, there have been no advances spiritually. You could compare it to a child growing into adolescence and adulthood in the materialistic, technological, and worldly level―but on a spiritual level, the baby never grows up, remaining forever in spiritual diapers.
Most Catholics today―even some ‘good’ Catholics―are wearing spiritual diapers. They know a lot about the world, what is going on in the world, the scandals in the world, the crimes in the world, the corruption in the world, or even the everyday things of the world, such as found in science, technology, mechanics, electricity, plumbing, building, etc. ― but they are clueless as to how fine-tune their soul, how to recharge their soul, how to fix their soul, how to de-clog their soul, how to build their soul into the temple that God expects the soul to be! All of this brings to mind the words of Our Lord: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)―modern man is searching for the wrong kind of “profits” these days, which may profit his pocket, but not his soul―for Our Lord adds: “Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible―but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:23-26).
This should also remind us the following passage from Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange’s book, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, in which he speaks, in a sense, of the aforementioned souls in business suits and spiritual diapers:
“The one thing necessary which Jesus spoke of, to Martha and Mary (Luke 10:41), consists in hearing the word of God and living by it. The interior life thus conceived is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their moments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be, in certain respects, the search for the true and the good, in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride, that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not.
“This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called ‘the one thing necessary’, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. This last must not be too widely separated from progressive sanctification, for it is the very way of salvation. There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death, or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin—though it should be venial—must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God; see Him as He sees Himself; and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified.
“The interior life of a just man who tends toward God and who already lives by Him is indeed the one thing necessary. To be a saint, neither intellectual culture nor great exterior activity is a requisite; it suffices that we live profoundly by God. This truth is evident in the saints of the early Church; several of those saints were poor people, even slaves. It is evident also in St. Francis, St. Benedict Joseph Labre, in the Curé of Ars, and many others. They all had a deep understanding of these words of our Savior: ‘For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?’ (Matthew 16:26). If people sacrifice so many things to save the life of the body, which must ultimately die, what should we not sacrifice to save the life of our soul, which is to last forever? Ought not man to love his soul more than his body? ‘Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?’ Our Lord adds in Matthew 16:26. ‘One thing is necessary,’ He tells us in Luke 10:41.
“ ‘Jesus entered into a certain town and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who, sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy with much serving. Who stood and said: “Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her, therefore, that she help me!” And the Lord answering, said to her: “Martha! Martha! Thou art careful and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary! Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!” (Luke 10:38-42).’
“To save our soul, one thing alone is necessary―to hear the word of God and to live by it. Therein lies the best part, which will not be taken away from a faithful soul, even though it should lose everything else” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Is Angelic Intelligence Promoting Artificial Intelligence?
Those words of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange were written before the technological explosion that came in the 1990’s with the advent of the internet, which was a launch-pad for a series of technological enterprises and breakthroughs never ever imagined in bygone years. Though today’s technological “junkies” and addicts may squirm at the thought, it is very likely that St. Padre Pio was not very far off the mark when he said of television: “The devil is in it!” It is highly likely that the current massive, unstoppable, escalating and worldwide addiction to one or more branches of technology (TV, smartphone, tablet, laptop, Artificial Intelligence, virtual reality, etc.) is more than a little to do with the smartness of the devil and his angelic intelligence creating artificial intelligence as a devil-made substitute for God. As one present-day exorcist is on record as saying, the devil, even though he cannot make some people disbelieve in God, will nevertheless be satisfied if he can distract souls away from loving God by making them do things that are less important. Today, if you are honest, that is true of almost everyone in the world―they may or may not believe in God, but the one thing in common between both groups is that they are addicted to things that give them no time for God.
Configured to the World and not God
In this sense, they are “configured” to the world and not “configured” to God. In case you were not quite sure of the meaning of the word “configure”, it means “to arrange or put together in a particular form or shape; to arrange something, or change the controls on a computer, or other device, so that it can be used in a particular way.” The word “configure” comes from the Middle English “configuren” (as past participle “configured”) meaning “to model on, conform to,” and is borrowed from Middle French and Latin from “con-“ meaning “with, together” + “figūrāre” meaning “to shape, form, make a likeness of one thing to another thing.”
Under heavy pressure from the world and its media, most people have configured themselves, or conformed themselves, to the world rather than God. What this means in simple brutal terms is that they have sided with the enemies of God. Now most Catholics would huff-and-puff, scream and squirm, decry and deny such a statement―but it is, nevertheless, true―unless, of course, you want to call God and Holy Scripture a liar! For here is what God and Holy Scripture says―you will find these words under the carpet or rug, under which they have been conveniently swept, or maybe they are in the back of the closet, or some corner of the basement under a pile of boxes:
“Christ gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world!” (Galatians 1:4). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Our Lord says: “The prince of this world [the devil] cometh, and in Me he hath not anything!” (John 14:30). “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence!” (John 18:36). To the worldlings Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). Which is why His followers, the Apostles, write: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27) ... “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
Speaking of the word of God as being a seed, Jesus says in the parable about the Sower of the Seed: “He that received the seed [word of God] among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless!” (Matthew 13:22). “The devil took Jesus up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: ‘All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me!’ Then Jesus saith to him: ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written, “The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve!”’ Then the devil left Him; and behold angels came and ministered to Him” (Matthew 4:8-11).
We have be “offered the world and the glory of it” and we have accepted it willingly, gladly, with open arms and wallets. We love the world and what it offers us, don’t we? O yes we do―regardless of the politically correct (or religiously correct) things we might say! We love the world and we guzzle and gurgle at its fountains every day―the TV, the movies, the music, the internet, the social media, the videos, the news channels, the gossip channels, the blogs and forums and listen to their gospels on our smartphones, tablets, laptops, computers, screens and headsets. We are most certainly “configured” (conformed and shaped) to the world far, far, far more than we are configured (conformed and shaped) to God. That is why we need a spiritual “transfiguration”.
Transfigured and Configured to God
Though we are sinners and thus lost, God nevertheless loves us and wants to save us (“transfigure” us from the world and worldliness and “configure” us to Him). In the Old Testament we see God speak of this “transfiguration” from worldliness and “configuration” to holiness when He says: “And thou shalt sanctify (“transfigure” and “configure”) all, and they shall be most holy (“transfigured” and “configured”)!” (Exodus 30:29). “You shall be holy men (“transfigured” and “configured”) to Me!” (Exodus 22:31) … “Sanctify (“transfigure” and “configure”) yourselves, and be ye holy, because I am the Lord your God! … You shall be holy (“transfigured” and “configured”) unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated (“transfigured” and “configured”) you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:7; 11:44-46; 20:26) … “As He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted (“transfigured” and “configured”) in His sight!” (Ephesians 1:4) … “Because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy!’” (1 Peter 1:16). “The Lord will (“transfigure” and “configure”) raise thee up to be a holy people to Himself!” (Deuteronomy 28:9). “Be you therefore perfect (“transfigured” and “configured”), as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). “The disciple is not above his master―but everyone shall be perfect (“transfigured” and “configured”)!” (Luke 6:40).
Rich Young Man Not Configured to God
We see Our Lord attempt this “transfiguration” and “configuration” of a rich, well-meaning, young man: “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
What eventually happened to the soul of that rich young man we do not know―but the words of Our Lord are an ominous warning: “How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” Today, most people are probably richer than the young man of this encounter. Most of us are in a dire need of a spiritual transfiguration so as to avoid a potential eternal damnation, where souls are transfigured from being Christians and configured into being demons. Let the words Holy Scripture bite hard and penetrate deep: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “For the Lord saith: ‘In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee!’ Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation! … Knowing that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed! Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light” (2 Corinthians 6:2; Romans 13:11-12)―in other words, let us be “transfigured” from the world and worldliness and “configured” to God and godliness.
That’s the Theory! But What About the Practice? How to Make it Happen?
As they say: “Talk is cheap!” Hell is full of cheap talkers. Does that mean that talk is useless? No, talk we must―but we must talk about the right things, talk in the right way, and know what we are talking about! There are many who talk without knowing much about what they talk about. Nevertheless, talking is merely a “middle-man” between “ideas and thoughts” on the ones side, and “action or deeds” on the other side. That is true for most Catholics when it comes to matters of the Faith and the spiritual life―they have no gas in the tank (knowledge in the mind) and run only on gas fumes or “two-bit-phrases” and clever-sounding clichés that hide their real ignorance. Talk is necessary but it must be based on sound knowledge. We must know our Faith, talk-up our Faith and walk the Faith―as they say: “Don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk!” St. James says the same thing, but in different words, when he says: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves! … Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!”―show me thy faith without works and I will show thee, by works, my Faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead!” (James 1:22; 2:17-26).
Transfiguration and Configuration Require Detoxification and Meditation
The philosophical axiom “Nature abhors a vacuum” could equally be applied to the spiritual life by being rephrased as “The supernatural abhors a vacuum”―in the sense that our soul cannot be empty, our thoughts cannot be empty, there is no spiritual limbo where nothing is happening, where we are spiritually “treading water” and waiting for something. As the spiritual writers tell us, there is no standing still in the spiritual life. Heaven is somewhere upstream and you have to either swim or row your boat against the downstream flowing current of the world. If you stop rowing, you do not stay where you are, but in a very, very short time you are rapidly carried downstream by the current of world, and you lose, in a very short time, all the painstaking and time-taking efforts you had made in swimming just a little more upstream and nearer the mountain lake of Heaven.
If you refuse to detoxify yourself of the world, the world will toxify you and destroy your chances of Heaven. Most souls refused to swim upstream and were, sooner or later, washed away downstream into the fires of Hell. Salvation is serious and the effort required is great. If you look under the carpet or rug―where all the other unpleasant words of Our Lord have swept―then you will find these: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal [and carry you downstream]. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also. No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! [you cannot swim in two directions at the same time]” (Matthew 6:19-24). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away! … But he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 11:12; 10:22).
Time For a Rethink! Time to Transfigure and Reconfigure Our Thoughts
The first area of detoxification (or transfiguration) is your thought pattern. Are you happy with your thoughts? Are your thoughts happy thoughts? Are your thoughts positively happy thoughts or negatively unhappy thoughts? Your words and your actions (as well as your health―physical, mental and spiritual) will follow your thoughts. The statement―“You are what you think”―is not just cheap talk, but reality, as some find out to their expense! You need to think well and think positively―without trashing the negative. Everything that God has created has a positive-negative reality or existence―it has to be that way―but the positive should be in the ascendancy and should be our goal, the negative is like a safety net for a circus trapeze act―it is not what they plan on using, but it is there in case they fall.
If you want to see God Himself use the positive-negative routine, then read chapter 26 of the Book of Leviticus, where the first third (33%) of the chapter sees God being super-positive, and the remaining two-thirds (66%) sees Him being super-negative―it is basically using the carrot and the stick. If you are looking for a basic, foundational, reality-check, bottom-line meditation that lays the foundations for all else that God has done, is doing or will do, then that chapter has it all. It shows the two sides of God―which are unchangeable―and you can press which buttons you want, knowing that God can and will give you what you request and deserve. If ever the expression― “It’s my way or the highway!” ― ever applied to anyone, then it applies to God, as chapter 26 of Leviticus clearly shows, to which Jesus adds, in His own gentle way, “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! … Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 7:13-14, 21).
If you think like the many―the majority―then your fate is that of the many. “For many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16). You must think like the few in order to be saved with the few. St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church, writes: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few … Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, that they may attain everlasting blessedness!” St. Alphonsus Liguori re-echoes those sentiments: “The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are; yet among those few I wish to be!”
You are what you think and your thoughts could lead you to where you never thought you’d end up! Spiritual meditation, or spiritual reflection, spiritual thinking, spiritual reading is of the utmost importance to “transfigure” your worldly way of thinking into a spiritual way of looking at things. It is not for nothing that God said: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9). “And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel! Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:25).
If people can spend hour upon hour, switching their minds and thoughts from smartphone, to tablet, to laptop to TV screen, to headset―all of which transfigures and configures their minds from God to the world, then they void and annul any possible excuse of not having enough time to spend reading, thinking, reflecting and meditating upon God! Furthermore, they dig their own grave and prepare their own pit by giving so much of their time and enjoyment over to what Holy Scripture calls an enemy of God―“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Friday March 15th & Saturday March 16th
Article 19
Why Waste Your Time?
Article 19
Why Waste Your Time?
Time is Precious! Time is More Than Money!
Our present modern-day age is worships the idols of “time-saving”―or could you, with tongue in cheek, call it “time-salvation” instead of “time-saving”? We are surrounded by “time-savers” or should call them “time-saviors”? We have technological marvels — computers, smartphones, tablets, artificial intelligence, robots — that do many things for us. We are sold on express-lanes, fast-tracking, self-service check-outs, overnight deliveries, two-day deliveries, etc. We must have our power tools, electronic kitchen appliances, dishwashers, laundry washers and dryers, lawn mowers with leaf vacuum attachments, leaf blowers, electric chain-saws, etc. We read books on time management techniques, we use time management tools and software, and we eat at fast food restaurants or prepare “instant” meals and dishes so that we don’t waste long hours in the kitchen. It has become a veritable cult or quasi-religion of “saving time” more so than “saving our soul”!
Minute-Millionaires or Time-Trillionaires
However, once we have gained or earned those “precious extra minutes”, like an overindulgent, self-indulgent, wanton, lavish and splurging millionaire, we waste most of these hard-earned minutes―our precious savings of time―on many a mindless and trivial activity, like scrolling through social media, or browsing worldly websites on our smartphones / tablets / laptops, or staring fruitlessly at the television, or in other activities that do nothing in bringing us closer to God or our loved ones.
Some of the saints have left us some wise advice on the use of time, that we do well to heed―especially in this time of Lent, when any time saved should be spent in saving our soul! For that is exactly what St. Paul tells us: “Knowing the season that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed! The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy! But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences!” (Romans 13:11-14).
“Rise, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead: and Christ shall enlighten thee! See therefore, brethren, how you walk circumspectly! Not as unwise, but as wise―redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore become not unwise, but understanding what is the will of God! And be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury; but be ye filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord!” (Ephesians 5:14-19).
Time to Listen to the Saints on Time
Here are some short (time-saving) quotes from some of our famous saints on the importance of time and its good use:
St. John of Cross: “At the hour reckoning, you will regret that you didn’t sacrifice time to serve God―so why don’t you use your time now as you would want to have done at the time of death?”
St. Basil the Great: “How many times people waste the present time, only to regret it when it’s gone forever!”
St. Isidore of Seville: “Learn as if you were immortal; but live as though you were to die tomorrow!”
St. Alphonsus Liguori: “Worldly people most desire time at the moment of their death―but they will not get it!”
St. Bernard of Clairvaux: “There isn’t anything more precious than time, but there is also nothing less respected and more disregarded than time.”
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina: “When you waste time, you disregard God’s gifts that He entrusts to you love and generosity! Time spent for the glory of God and the health of the soul, is never wasted.”
St. Elizabeth of the Trinity: “If I had to start my life again, how I would like not to waste any moment of my time!”
Our Lord Himself complained about the lack of time given to Him, when He rebuked His three favorite Apostles during His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40).
Time Passes―How Do You Pass Your Time?
Our Lord uses the words “watch” and “hour”―we have watches that we use continually to check the hour. We wear watches on our wrists, we have watches (clocks) on our phones, watches on our tablets, watches on our laptops and computers, watches on our walls, watches in our cars, watches on our ovens, watches on our thermostats, watches on our streets and in our stores and offices and schools―and we are watching them many times a day! This obsession with time could be because we think “time means money”. Time is, of course, precious―but it precious in a way more than meaning a time to make money, or lose money. Though we could look upon time as being an invisible form of money (the hours being dollars, and the minutes being cents), which God has put into our “time bank account”―some people getting more time than others―but, at the end of the day, God permits us to withdraw and spend only 24 hours of time each day. We can spend that time (“money”) wisely or foolishly―the choice is ours to make and the consequences are ours to take!
We speak of “pastimes” as meaning things we like to do, which are not our official work or duty of state, but which we do to pass whatever free-time we have at our disposal. “Hobby” or “hobbies” is often used in the same sense. Pastimes are part-time hobbies. This leads to the next point. Is God a hobby and a pastime for you? Is God a part-time pastime? For most people, the answer is “Yes!” They have little time for God and, at best, God becomes a part-time pastime, a hobby, and church on Sunday is merely a “hobby lobby”―a lobby in both senses of the word. A “lobby” can be an outer room, vestibule, reception area, or waiting room providing a space out of which one or more other rooms or corridors lead, typically one near the entrance of a public building―and in this sense, church is a room at the entrance of the Faith, which leads to other rooms: Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. The word “lobby” can also mean a group of people, a pressure group, seeking to influence politicians or public officials on a particular issue―and in this sense, Catholics are a “lobby” trying to influence God by coming to church, praying and telling Him what to do and what they want from Him.
Time? What is Time? What Time is It?
As Pontius Pilate disdainfully and sarcastically said to Jesus: “What is truth?”―in the sense of “Does truth really matter?”―we can be tempted to say dismissively: “What is time?”―in the sense of “Does time really matter?” Is time really that important? Well, if you think about our modern obsession with time-saving, then it seems to be very important! Yet even more important is the question: “What do we do with our time? How do we spend the time we have saved? Are we wasting our preciously earned minutes? Or are we spending them wisely?
Your eternity―in which there is no such thing as time―depends upon how you use time in this world. If Our Lord says that every idle word will be looked at and judged at our Final Judgment―“But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!” (Matthew 12:36)―then He might as well have said: “But I say unto you, that for every second of their lives, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!”―for it amounts to the same thing. Time is merely the capsule for the idle word. We will be judged on how we spent every second of our lives―time is precious, too precious to waste or squander. You could even take the parable about The Talents and relate it to time:
“A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods [TIME]. And to one he gave five talents [units of time], and to another two [units of time], and to another one [unit of time], to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents [units of time], went his way and traded with the same, and gained other five [he used his time well]. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two [he also used his time well]. But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, and hid his lord’s money [he wasted the time given to him].” (Matthew 25:14-18).
God is Timeless―Are You Timeless, or Out of Time?
Holy Scripture says: “One day, with the Lord, is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). God is timeless, or atemporal. The word “atemporal” is really another word for “timeless” or outside of time, away from time. From the Greek prefix “a-” meaning “no” or “not” . Add the Latin word “tempus”―which means time―and you get “atemporal” which gives it its meaning of being “timeless”. The difference between “atemporal” and “temporal” is that “atemporal” has the quality of being uninfluenced, unaffected, ungoverned or unchanged by time; it is timeless; permanent or unchanging, while the word “temporal” is linked to, dependent upon, or relating to time and changes with time, or adapts to time and its fashions, attitudes, mannerisms and ways of acting.
Thus, in saying God is “timeless” or “atemporal”, indicates that not only is God eternal, but God is outside of time, He is not governed by time, He does not depend upon time, He does not change with time. There is no “time” in Heaven―there is no “past” and no “future”, but everything is seen in the present. Time is not eternal. God created time when He created the universe. To “create” is to make things out of nothing, with no material at all being used. We cannot ask―“Why did God wait so long before creating the world?”―because before creation, there is no “time”. Time is a measure of change on a scale of “before” and “after” something (Aristotle, Physics, 4:11). Therefore, when―in speaking of eternity--there was no change, there was no time. Time began to be when changing creatures came into being. Time is a restless continuous set of changes. Ahead is a moment we call “future”―which quickly changes into the “present”―which then quickly changes into the “past”. God sees everything as if it were in the present, without any relation to the past and the future. Our Lady and the saints see things the same way―that is why Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita can speak of world affairs as if she is actually seeing them happening right before her eyes, for everything is in the present, and not in the past and the future. In a sense, when you die, your whole life will flash before you as though it is in the present moment and not in the past.
Let us take time to consider and reflect upon a few timeless yet timely words of St. Augustine of Hippo, Father and Doctor of the Church, on the subject of time. Your time will not be wasted because only two paragraphs of quotes will be used―but if you have the time and the inclination, you will find St. Augustine spend much more time on the matter in his Confessions, Book Eleven, chapters 12 to 28:
St. Augustine writes: You, God Almighty, and All-creating, and All-sustaining, the Architect of Heaven and Earth … You are the Creator of all times … Nor did You precede time by any time; because then You would not precede all times. But in the excellence of an ever-present eternity, You precede all times past, and survive all future times, because they are future, and when they have come they will be past; but “You are the same, and Your years shall have no end.” Your years neither go nor come; but ours both go and come, that all may come. . . . You have made all time; and before all times You are, nor in any time was there not time ... because You made time itself.
Augustine then continues and explains all things as being in the present: But what now is manifest and clear is, that neither are there future nor past things. Nor is it right to say, “There are three times―past, present and future.” But it might be right to say, “There are three times; (1) a present of things past, (2) a present of things present, and (3) a present of things future.” For these three times do somehow exist in the soul. Otherwise I would not see them: (1) present of things past, memory; (2) present of things present, sight; (3) present of things future, expectation. If of these things we are permitted to speak, I see three times, and I grant there are three. It may also be said, “There are three times, past, present and future,” as usage falsely has it. (Confessions, Book Eleven, chapters 12 to 26).
If you prefer the “lingo” of more modern times to St. Augustine’s old-time “lingo”, then here is what a humble High School Science Teacher says on time:
“The Bible teaches that God created the Universe and all its dimensions. That being the case, Heaven is not restricted by the dimensions of our universe, and that includes time. Of course, Heaven may have its own set of dimensions and some of those might well be spatial and temporal, but they are not the same as those in our universe and they are not connected in any way. This means that God―and whoever else is in Heaven―would not experience space and time the way we would, if at all. There may be space and time in Heaven, but it would have no relationship to our universe. One part of Heaven would be no “closer” than another, nor would time move forward, or backward, in the same fashion as in our universe. The idea of “before” and “after” might have no meaning in Heaven. It could all be the eternal “now”. It could be quite easy for God to be anywhere in our universe at any time, or everywhere at all times. This is true because there would be no relationship between the space-time of Heaven and the space-time of our universe. In fact, that would be true for any being that could transcend the “barrier” between Heaven and our universe. It’s kind of like standing in front of a bookshelf that contains history books. You can open any book and read about pre-historic or modern history, or anything in between, simply by picking up the desired book. Or like being in front of a map of the Earth where you can point to any place on the Earth as easily as any other. The only difference is that God has the ability to enter into history “real time” and interact with any part of the Universe at any time. Such “transcendence” is quite powerful.”
God Made Time―You Can Make Time Too!
As St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas say, God made time when He began to create the world and creatures. In a sense, you could say God made time for you! He doesn’t need time―He is eternal. In this world, you need time and God has given that time. If God made time, you, in your own little way, can make time too―by making time for God!
In fact, all the time that you have been given, comes from God! He wants all that time returning to Him! “The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof―the world, and all they that dwell therein” (Psalm 23:1). “All things that are under Heaven are Mine!” (Job 41:2). “All the Earth is Mine!” (Exodus 19:5). “The world is Mine, and the fullness thereof!” (Psalm 49:12). “The land also is Mine!” Leviticus 25:23). “The river is Mine, for I made it!” (Ezechiel 29:9). “‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine!’ saith the Lord of hosts” (Aggeus 2:9). “Behold all souls are Mine―as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine!” (Ezechiel 18:4). “I entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest Mine!” (Ezechiel 16:8). “I have redeemed thee―thou art Mine!” (Isaias 43:1). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:26). “Thine, O Lord, is magnificence, and power, and glory, and victory: and to Thee is praise! For all that is in Heaven, and in Earth, is Thine! Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art above all princes! Thine are riches, and Thine is glory, thou hast dominion over all! In Thy hand is power and might! In Thy hand greatness and the empire of all things!” (1 Paralipomenon 29:11-12).
Why else would Our Lord and Holy Scripture, things like: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind! [which translates to all the time]. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-38). Elsewhere Jesus says: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times” (Luke 21:36). “ALL whatsoever you do in word or in work, do ALL in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Colossians 3:17). “Sell what you possess and give alms. Make to yourselves bags which grow not old, a treasure in Heaven which faileth not! … Every one of you that doth not renounce ALL that he possesseth, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 12:33; 14:33). “Simon Peter and also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners … having brought their ships to land, leaving all things, they followed Him” (Luke 5:8-11)―thus giving all their time to Christ.
We also see Our Lord ask that the rich young man give up ALL his possessions by selling them and giving up ALL the money from the proceeds as an alms to the poor, and then give up ALL his time and come and follow Jesus, saying that he would gain a great treasure in Heaven: “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’”
“Then Peter answering, began to say unto Him: ‘Behold we have left ALL things, and have followed Thee! What therefore shall we have?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of His majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel! And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and, in the world to come, shall possess life everlasting!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Two Kinds of Timeless Catholics
There are two meanings for the word “timeless”―one old and one new; one bad and one good. God is timeless―not that he is short on time, but in the sense of the word “timeless” as we understand it today. In our present time―or should we say, since the early 17th Century, if you describe something as being “timeless”, you mean that it is so good or beautiful that it cannot be affected by changes in society or fashion―which is something that every Catholic should be. The dictionary will define “timeless” along the lines of: “not restricted to a particular time or date; having no beginning or end; lasting forever; never showing the effects of aging; not affected by time.” Something that is timeless does not change as the years pass, it is always applicable, always relevant, always beautiful, etc. As synonyms (a word that means the same, or almost the same) for “timeless”, the dictionary will give you something akin to: “abiding, endless, ageless, enduring, immortal, always, constant, continual, deathless, everlasting, forever, immemorial, indefinite, infinite, lasting, never-ending, perennial, permanent, perpetual, persistent, etc.”
There is also an archaic or obsolete meaning of the word “timeless” that is no longer used today―but it is still important in our understand of time and timelessness. The general meaning of “timeless” as being “eternal” (and similar definitions), only arose in the 1620s, from compounding the noun “time” with the adjective “less”. Before this new meaning introduced in the 1620s, “timeless” meant “ill-timed” or “untimely” (as we see recorded in the 1550s and earlier). You can describe something as untimely if it happens at an unsuitable time; not occurring at a suitable time or season; something that is ill-timed or inopportune. If you describe an event as untimely, you mean that it happened earlier than it should, or sooner than you expected, or not in an appropriate place or setting. Obviously, this old, archaic, obsolete sense of the word “timeless, cannot and does not apply to God―but it can apply to us if we do things when we should not be doing them, or we do things that are inappropriate for the place or situation in which we find ourselves, or we try to “run ahead of time” by skipping things we should not be skipping, etc.
No Time For Prayer = Time for Disaster
The math is simple! Without prayer there will be no change in the worldliness levels of ourselves or our families, relatives and friends. Without prayer there will no stopping the horrors that are heading our way. Our Lord said that without Him, we can nothing, and it is through prayer that we enlist His help. Our Lady said that at this moment in time, only she can help us, and she said that the help will only come if we pray and show devotion to her.
Time spent is prayer is time that is lost—at least that is the attitude of the world and of souls who are worldly. We have all heard of the modern-day expression: “Time means money!” Obviously, the meaning behind this is that if we lose time or waste time, then we will lose money or waste money. The worldly person could well substitute any other thing or activity for the word “money”: “Time is having fun!” “Time is playing games!” “Time is surfing the internet!” “Time is TV or videos!” “Time is music!” “Time is being with friends!” “Time is food, drink and parties!” Or even slightly more noble things: “Time is family!” “Time is my work!” “Time is my hobby!” “Time is working-out!” And the more time we have for these things, the happier we are! Yet for many, prayer (and all the spiritual exercises like going to Mass, Confession, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, going on retreat, spiritual reading, meditation, etc.) gets in the way of whatever we want to make time for! This is another litmus test for our own worldliness.
Consequently, the world thinks it can get on without prayer (and all the other spiritual exercises) or at least it relegates them to last or near last place in its “Time is....” ladder of values. Instead of seeking first the kingdom of God, His kingdom becomes an afterthought, a kind of a “we’ll get round to it when we have some time” attitude.
Yet we forget that without God we can do nothing, as Jesus clearly said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” Not only that, but Jesus also had a few words to say about time for prayer: “He spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Which is why St. Paul says: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Time is Too Precious to Waste
We have all experienced the frustration of having wasted our time, or having our time wasted. We dislike people who waste our time. We have heard of the expression—“A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work.” Yet the employer hates “time-wasters” who refuse to work properly and do not give “a fair day’s effort for a fair day’s pay.”
The world also has the expression: “Time is money!” or “Time means money!” In other words, if you waste time, you end up wasting or losing money—or at least you will not earn the money you could have earned, had you not wasted time.
A teacher dislikes students who waste time in class by distracting themselves or others. Many a poor grade or failure in school is down to the fact that the student in question wasted too much time at school on things other than study.
The same holds true for the spiritual life. God does not like us to waste our time. This is seen both directly and indirectly in Holy Scripture. St. Paul tells the Ephesians not to waste time, but to seek and find out what the will of God is for them (Ephesians 5:16).
Our Lord tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard, where the idle ones (time wasters) are rebuked for standing around. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just. And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: ’Why stand you here all the day idle?’ They say to him: ‘Because no man hath hired us!’ He saith to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard!’” (Matthew 20:1-7).
Time Savers and Time Wasters
Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, states: “Time is limited and should not be wasted” (§550) and that we should have a set of spiritual rules for our life, that we follow carefully, for “He that lives without a rule inevitably wastes a great deal of time” (§559). He goes on to say:
“Now, a rule of life wisely made with the help of our spiritual director secures for us this threefold advantage. It enables us to make a better use of our time. Let us actually compare the life of a person that follows a rule with that of another that does not.
He that lives without a rule inevitably wastes a great deal of time:
(1) He hesitates as to what is the best thing to do. Time is spent in deliberation,, in weighing the reasons for and against, and, as in many cases there are no decisive reasons on either side, he is liable to remain inactive; then, natural inclinations gain the upper hand and he runs the risk of being led by curiosity, pleasure or vanity.
(2) He neglects a certain number of duties, for haying neither foreseen nor determined the acceptable time and place for their fulfilment, he no longer finds time to perform them all.
(3) These negligences engender inconstancy. At times he makes vigorous efforts to steady himself, while at other times he surrenders to his native indolence, and this, just because he has no fixed rule that would act as a corrective to the fickleness of his nature.
The man who holds to a well-defined rule of life saves considerable time:
(1) He wastes no time in hesitation. He knows exactly what he is to do, and when he is to do it. Even if his schedule is not mathematically detailed, at least it sets off time-periods and lays down principles with regard to religious exercises, recreation, work, etc.
(2) There is little or nothing unforeseen for even should the unusual occur, he has already provided for it by determining beforehand exercises that may be shortened and the manner of making up for them. At all events, as soon as these exceptional circumstances cease to exist, he immediately comes back to his rule.
(3) Inconstancy likewise vanishes. The rule urges him to do always what is prescribed, and that every day and at every hour of the day. Thus habits are formed that give continuity to his life and assure his perseverance; his days are full days, teeming with good works and merit” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §559-§560).
Busy Time Wasters
There are some persons who are very, very busy—who seem not to waste any time, but are always running out of time with all the many things that they do! Yet some of these poor souls are actually wasting their time by being busy about the wrong things! A case in point is the famous incident between Jesus, Martha and Mary:
“Now it came to pass as they went, that Jesus entered into a certain town, and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who, sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful, and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
It is not that Martha was totally wasting her time in busying herself with the material things around the house, but Jesus said that Mary was making BETTER use of her time in busying herself with the spiritual matters that Jesus was talking about. As the saying goes-—“First things first!”—and the spiritual comes before the material. Our Lord said that the first commandment was to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength. If we would do this, then God would look after many of our material needs: “O ye of little faith! Seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink! For all these things do the nations of the world seek. But your Father knoweth that you have need of these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Luke 12:28-31).
Wasting Time by Doing Your Own Thing!
Pride and imprudent zeal often leads to a waste of time. This happens when we follow our own opinions without consulting wiser heads or authorities. Fr. Tanquerey explains: “Not a few beginners, full of good will, apply themselves too eagerly and too anxiously to the work of their perfection and end by fatiguing and exhausting themselves in futile efforts. The chief cause of this defect is the substitution of one’s own activity for that of God. Instead of reflecting before acting, of asking light from the Holy Ghost and following it, such beginners’ thrust themselves headlong into action. Instead of taking counsel with their spiritual director, they act first, and afterwards confront him with the accomplished fact. Hence, numerous imprudences and many wasted efforts. Often presumption enters into the case. They would like to emerge hastily from the discipline of penance and promptly arrive at the desired union with God. But alas! Many an unforeseen obstacle appears; they then lose heart, retrace their steps and at times fall into grievous faults” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §931-§932).
Wasting Time in Idle Thoughts and Words
“The two interior senses to be mortified are the imagination and the memory … Otherwise, left to themselves, they literally crowd the soul with a host of memories and images that distract the spirit, waste, its energies, cause it to lose priceless time while at prayer and work, and constitute the source of a thousand temptations against purity, charity, humility and other virtues … We should take heed to provide against idle thoughts, by mortifying ourselves as regards useless fancies, which constitute a waste of time and pave the way to others of an even more perilous nature. ‘Mortifying idle thoughts’, the Saints tell us, ‘is dealing death to evil ones’” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §779-§781).
As for idle words, Our Lord warns: “I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment” (Matthew 12:36). How much damage has been caused by an idle word here and there, which, like a spark, has kindled an enormous forest fire and laid waste to many a tree! St. James writes: “The tongue is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man: but the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be!” (James 3:5-10).
The Wasted Time in Mortal Sin
We are pretty useless when in the state of Mortal Sin! Our prayers and sacrifices can help nobody else but ourselves—by bringing us to our knees and conversion. We cannot receive the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist—for to do so would be a great sacrilege! Any good actions we do are without merit! As Fr. Tanquerey writes: “Moreover, whilst we remain in the state of mortal sin, we can acquire no merits for Heaven. What a waste of the supernatural! … If, unfortunately, the sinner remains obdurate to the end in his resistance to grace, then follows Hell with all its horrors!” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §720-§721). What a waste of time and a waste of a life!
Wasting God’s Time
God made us for great things, yet, for one reason or another, we fail or refuse to live up to those expectations, thus, in a sense, wasting God’s time in not doing those things for which He has made us. We are reminded of this by Our Lord’s parable of the Unfruitful Vine:
“A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: ‘Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it done therefore! Why encumbereth it the ground?’ But he answering, said to him: ‘Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it. And if happily it bear fruit: but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down” (Luke 13:6-9).
A similar point was made in a real-life setting by Our Lord, in the case of the fruitless fig tree: “Jesus was hungry. And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, Jesus came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and he saith to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matthew 21:18-19).
Fr. Tanquerey writes: “Magnanimity, which is also called greatness of soul, or nobility of character, is the noble and generous disposition to undertake great things for God and for our neighbor. It is not the same as ambition, which is essentially egotistical and goads us on to surpass others by wielding authority, or receiving honors. The characteristic of magnanimity is disinterested service. This virtue therefore presupposes a noble soul, possessed of high ideals and unselfish thoughts, a valiant spirit that does not hesitate to make its life accord with its convictions. It is brought out not only by noble sentiments, but also by noble acts, and this in every sphere of action: in the army by brilliant exploits; in civil life by great reform movements, or great industrial commercial, economic enterprises; in the realm of the supernatural, by the pursuit of a high ideal of perfection, by generous efforts to conquer self and to rise ever higher, by striving to acquire solid virtue and to exercise zeal in its various forms. All this is done without fear of risking fortune, health, reputation and life itself. The contrary defect is which, through an excessive fear of failure, makes one hesitate and remain inactive. Seeking to avoid blunders the pusillanimous (the cowardly or fearful) fall into the greatest mistakes; they do nothing, or almost nothing, and thus waste their lives. Evidently, it is better to risk making mistakes than to do nothing” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §1083-§1084).
Wasting Our Lady’s Time
A similar effect to that of pusillanimity (fearfulness or cowardliness) is brought about by the indifference of souls to Our Lady’s message—which is tantamount to making her waste her time. Sr. Lucia of Fatima laments this indifference of the vast majority of Catholics, saying: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 1957).
Wasting Time By Doing Things Badly
We have all experienced the teacher or parent who told us go back and do something all over again—because it had been badly done in the first place! How much more often have we done things badly or insufficiently in our spiritual life? Wasted graces by a distracted assistance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass! Wasted Holy Communions—by not asking for things, or not asking enough! Wasted Rosaries that were hurriedly and distractedly said, rather than prayed with attention and devotion! Masses, Communions and prayers that had no intentions—we just plodded through them without offering them for anyone or anything! Wasted actions that could have been offered to God, but instead were performed in a naturalistic manner and for naturalistic motives, and not supernaturally.
St. Paul tells us that if we do things without the motive of charity (which is a love of God), then those actions are worthless—no matter how great they might be: even if they were miracles. “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal! And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing! And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Wasting Time On Trifles
We are easily caught up with trifles—things that have little or no bearing upon our eternal salvation—and amazingly pass over things that can have serious and eternal spiritual repercussions. Our Lord rebuked the Pharisees for a similar attitude, when He said: “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you tithe mint, and anise, and cumin, and have left the weightier things of the law—such as judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone! Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23:23-24).
We get angry about various kinds of trifles like a messy kitchen or room, or delays in traffic, or poor service from others, but we will not complain and correct family, or others who are under our charge, if they pray hurriedly, make short thanksgivings after Mass, use God’s Name in vain, complain about some religious matter, etc. We are more upset about offenses given to us than we are about offenses to God.
“We have only one life, and it is short; it must not be wasted in trifles” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Time to Spend Time Well
These are only some of the chief or most common ways in which we waste time—many more exist and each person has their own personal repertoire of time wasting mannerisms. Let this upcoming Lenten season be a time where we waste less time and give God more time, before God “calls time” on our life and deems it time to judge us! If we have improved our use of time before that Day of Dread, we will spend less time in Purgatory for having spent time well on Earth! As the opening of the Lenten season will say: “In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Now is the acceptable time to improve how we spend our time!
Our present modern-day age is worships the idols of “time-saving”―or could you, with tongue in cheek, call it “time-salvation” instead of “time-saving”? We are surrounded by “time-savers” or should call them “time-saviors”? We have technological marvels — computers, smartphones, tablets, artificial intelligence, robots — that do many things for us. We are sold on express-lanes, fast-tracking, self-service check-outs, overnight deliveries, two-day deliveries, etc. We must have our power tools, electronic kitchen appliances, dishwashers, laundry washers and dryers, lawn mowers with leaf vacuum attachments, leaf blowers, electric chain-saws, etc. We read books on time management techniques, we use time management tools and software, and we eat at fast food restaurants or prepare “instant” meals and dishes so that we don’t waste long hours in the kitchen. It has become a veritable cult or quasi-religion of “saving time” more so than “saving our soul”!
Minute-Millionaires or Time-Trillionaires
However, once we have gained or earned those “precious extra minutes”, like an overindulgent, self-indulgent, wanton, lavish and splurging millionaire, we waste most of these hard-earned minutes―our precious savings of time―on many a mindless and trivial activity, like scrolling through social media, or browsing worldly websites on our smartphones / tablets / laptops, or staring fruitlessly at the television, or in other activities that do nothing in bringing us closer to God or our loved ones.
Some of the saints have left us some wise advice on the use of time, that we do well to heed―especially in this time of Lent, when any time saved should be spent in saving our soul! For that is exactly what St. Paul tells us: “Knowing the season that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed! The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy! But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences!” (Romans 13:11-14).
“Rise, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead: and Christ shall enlighten thee! See therefore, brethren, how you walk circumspectly! Not as unwise, but as wise―redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore become not unwise, but understanding what is the will of God! And be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury; but be ye filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord!” (Ephesians 5:14-19).
Time to Listen to the Saints on Time
Here are some short (time-saving) quotes from some of our famous saints on the importance of time and its good use:
St. John of Cross: “At the hour reckoning, you will regret that you didn’t sacrifice time to serve God―so why don’t you use your time now as you would want to have done at the time of death?”
St. Basil the Great: “How many times people waste the present time, only to regret it when it’s gone forever!”
St. Isidore of Seville: “Learn as if you were immortal; but live as though you were to die tomorrow!”
St. Alphonsus Liguori: “Worldly people most desire time at the moment of their death―but they will not get it!”
St. Bernard of Clairvaux: “There isn’t anything more precious than time, but there is also nothing less respected and more disregarded than time.”
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina: “When you waste time, you disregard God’s gifts that He entrusts to you love and generosity! Time spent for the glory of God and the health of the soul, is never wasted.”
St. Elizabeth of the Trinity: “If I had to start my life again, how I would like not to waste any moment of my time!”
Our Lord Himself complained about the lack of time given to Him, when He rebuked His three favorite Apostles during His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40).
Time Passes―How Do You Pass Your Time?
Our Lord uses the words “watch” and “hour”―we have watches that we use continually to check the hour. We wear watches on our wrists, we have watches (clocks) on our phones, watches on our tablets, watches on our laptops and computers, watches on our walls, watches in our cars, watches on our ovens, watches on our thermostats, watches on our streets and in our stores and offices and schools―and we are watching them many times a day! This obsession with time could be because we think “time means money”. Time is, of course, precious―but it precious in a way more than meaning a time to make money, or lose money. Though we could look upon time as being an invisible form of money (the hours being dollars, and the minutes being cents), which God has put into our “time bank account”―some people getting more time than others―but, at the end of the day, God permits us to withdraw and spend only 24 hours of time each day. We can spend that time (“money”) wisely or foolishly―the choice is ours to make and the consequences are ours to take!
We speak of “pastimes” as meaning things we like to do, which are not our official work or duty of state, but which we do to pass whatever free-time we have at our disposal. “Hobby” or “hobbies” is often used in the same sense. Pastimes are part-time hobbies. This leads to the next point. Is God a hobby and a pastime for you? Is God a part-time pastime? For most people, the answer is “Yes!” They have little time for God and, at best, God becomes a part-time pastime, a hobby, and church on Sunday is merely a “hobby lobby”―a lobby in both senses of the word. A “lobby” can be an outer room, vestibule, reception area, or waiting room providing a space out of which one or more other rooms or corridors lead, typically one near the entrance of a public building―and in this sense, church is a room at the entrance of the Faith, which leads to other rooms: Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. The word “lobby” can also mean a group of people, a pressure group, seeking to influence politicians or public officials on a particular issue―and in this sense, Catholics are a “lobby” trying to influence God by coming to church, praying and telling Him what to do and what they want from Him.
Time? What is Time? What Time is It?
As Pontius Pilate disdainfully and sarcastically said to Jesus: “What is truth?”―in the sense of “Does truth really matter?”―we can be tempted to say dismissively: “What is time?”―in the sense of “Does time really matter?” Is time really that important? Well, if you think about our modern obsession with time-saving, then it seems to be very important! Yet even more important is the question: “What do we do with our time? How do we spend the time we have saved? Are we wasting our preciously earned minutes? Or are we spending them wisely?
Your eternity―in which there is no such thing as time―depends upon how you use time in this world. If Our Lord says that every idle word will be looked at and judged at our Final Judgment―“But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!” (Matthew 12:36)―then He might as well have said: “But I say unto you, that for every second of their lives, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!”―for it amounts to the same thing. Time is merely the capsule for the idle word. We will be judged on how we spent every second of our lives―time is precious, too precious to waste or squander. You could even take the parable about The Talents and relate it to time:
“A man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods [TIME]. And to one he gave five talents [units of time], and to another two [units of time], and to another one [unit of time], to everyone according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents [units of time], went his way and traded with the same, and gained other five [he used his time well]. And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two [he also used his time well]. But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, and hid his lord’s money [he wasted the time given to him].” (Matthew 25:14-18).
God is Timeless―Are You Timeless, or Out of Time?
Holy Scripture says: “One day, with the Lord, is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). God is timeless, or atemporal. The word “atemporal” is really another word for “timeless” or outside of time, away from time. From the Greek prefix “a-” meaning “no” or “not” . Add the Latin word “tempus”―which means time―and you get “atemporal” which gives it its meaning of being “timeless”. The difference between “atemporal” and “temporal” is that “atemporal” has the quality of being uninfluenced, unaffected, ungoverned or unchanged by time; it is timeless; permanent or unchanging, while the word “temporal” is linked to, dependent upon, or relating to time and changes with time, or adapts to time and its fashions, attitudes, mannerisms and ways of acting.
Thus, in saying God is “timeless” or “atemporal”, indicates that not only is God eternal, but God is outside of time, He is not governed by time, He does not depend upon time, He does not change with time. There is no “time” in Heaven―there is no “past” and no “future”, but everything is seen in the present. Time is not eternal. God created time when He created the universe. To “create” is to make things out of nothing, with no material at all being used. We cannot ask―“Why did God wait so long before creating the world?”―because before creation, there is no “time”. Time is a measure of change on a scale of “before” and “after” something (Aristotle, Physics, 4:11). Therefore, when―in speaking of eternity--there was no change, there was no time. Time began to be when changing creatures came into being. Time is a restless continuous set of changes. Ahead is a moment we call “future”―which quickly changes into the “present”―which then quickly changes into the “past”. God sees everything as if it were in the present, without any relation to the past and the future. Our Lady and the saints see things the same way―that is why Our Lady of Good Success, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita can speak of world affairs as if she is actually seeing them happening right before her eyes, for everything is in the present, and not in the past and the future. In a sense, when you die, your whole life will flash before you as though it is in the present moment and not in the past.
Let us take time to consider and reflect upon a few timeless yet timely words of St. Augustine of Hippo, Father and Doctor of the Church, on the subject of time. Your time will not be wasted because only two paragraphs of quotes will be used―but if you have the time and the inclination, you will find St. Augustine spend much more time on the matter in his Confessions, Book Eleven, chapters 12 to 28:
St. Augustine writes: You, God Almighty, and All-creating, and All-sustaining, the Architect of Heaven and Earth … You are the Creator of all times … Nor did You precede time by any time; because then You would not precede all times. But in the excellence of an ever-present eternity, You precede all times past, and survive all future times, because they are future, and when they have come they will be past; but “You are the same, and Your years shall have no end.” Your years neither go nor come; but ours both go and come, that all may come. . . . You have made all time; and before all times You are, nor in any time was there not time ... because You made time itself.
Augustine then continues and explains all things as being in the present: But what now is manifest and clear is, that neither are there future nor past things. Nor is it right to say, “There are three times―past, present and future.” But it might be right to say, “There are three times; (1) a present of things past, (2) a present of things present, and (3) a present of things future.” For these three times do somehow exist in the soul. Otherwise I would not see them: (1) present of things past, memory; (2) present of things present, sight; (3) present of things future, expectation. If of these things we are permitted to speak, I see three times, and I grant there are three. It may also be said, “There are three times, past, present and future,” as usage falsely has it. (Confessions, Book Eleven, chapters 12 to 26).
If you prefer the “lingo” of more modern times to St. Augustine’s old-time “lingo”, then here is what a humble High School Science Teacher says on time:
“The Bible teaches that God created the Universe and all its dimensions. That being the case, Heaven is not restricted by the dimensions of our universe, and that includes time. Of course, Heaven may have its own set of dimensions and some of those might well be spatial and temporal, but they are not the same as those in our universe and they are not connected in any way. This means that God―and whoever else is in Heaven―would not experience space and time the way we would, if at all. There may be space and time in Heaven, but it would have no relationship to our universe. One part of Heaven would be no “closer” than another, nor would time move forward, or backward, in the same fashion as in our universe. The idea of “before” and “after” might have no meaning in Heaven. It could all be the eternal “now”. It could be quite easy for God to be anywhere in our universe at any time, or everywhere at all times. This is true because there would be no relationship between the space-time of Heaven and the space-time of our universe. In fact, that would be true for any being that could transcend the “barrier” between Heaven and our universe. It’s kind of like standing in front of a bookshelf that contains history books. You can open any book and read about pre-historic or modern history, or anything in between, simply by picking up the desired book. Or like being in front of a map of the Earth where you can point to any place on the Earth as easily as any other. The only difference is that God has the ability to enter into history “real time” and interact with any part of the Universe at any time. Such “transcendence” is quite powerful.”
God Made Time―You Can Make Time Too!
As St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas say, God made time when He began to create the world and creatures. In a sense, you could say God made time for you! He doesn’t need time―He is eternal. In this world, you need time and God has given that time. If God made time, you, in your own little way, can make time too―by making time for God!
In fact, all the time that you have been given, comes from God! He wants all that time returning to Him! “The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof―the world, and all they that dwell therein” (Psalm 23:1). “All things that are under Heaven are Mine!” (Job 41:2). “All the Earth is Mine!” (Exodus 19:5). “The world is Mine, and the fullness thereof!” (Psalm 49:12). “The land also is Mine!” Leviticus 25:23). “The river is Mine, for I made it!” (Ezechiel 29:9). “‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine!’ saith the Lord of hosts” (Aggeus 2:9). “Behold all souls are Mine―as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine!” (Ezechiel 18:4). “I entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest Mine!” (Ezechiel 16:8). “I have redeemed thee―thou art Mine!” (Isaias 43:1). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:26). “Thine, O Lord, is magnificence, and power, and glory, and victory: and to Thee is praise! For all that is in Heaven, and in Earth, is Thine! Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art above all princes! Thine are riches, and Thine is glory, thou hast dominion over all! In Thy hand is power and might! In Thy hand greatness and the empire of all things!” (1 Paralipomenon 29:11-12).
Why else would Our Lord and Holy Scripture, things like: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind! [which translates to all the time]. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-38). Elsewhere Jesus says: “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times” (Luke 21:36). “ALL whatsoever you do in word or in work, do ALL in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Colossians 3:17). “Sell what you possess and give alms. Make to yourselves bags which grow not old, a treasure in Heaven which faileth not! … Every one of you that doth not renounce ALL that he possesseth, cannot be My disciple!” (Luke 12:33; 14:33). “Simon Peter and also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners … having brought their ships to land, leaving all things, they followed Him” (Luke 5:8-11)―thus giving all their time to Christ.
We also see Our Lord ask that the rich young man give up ALL his possessions by selling them and giving up ALL the money from the proceeds as an alms to the poor, and then give up ALL his time and come and follow Jesus, saying that he would gain a great treasure in Heaven: “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’”
“Then Peter answering, began to say unto Him: ‘Behold we have left ALL things, and have followed Thee! What therefore shall we have?’ And Jesus answering, said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of His majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel! And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and, in the world to come, shall possess life everlasting!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Two Kinds of Timeless Catholics
There are two meanings for the word “timeless”―one old and one new; one bad and one good. God is timeless―not that he is short on time, but in the sense of the word “timeless” as we understand it today. In our present time―or should we say, since the early 17th Century, if you describe something as being “timeless”, you mean that it is so good or beautiful that it cannot be affected by changes in society or fashion―which is something that every Catholic should be. The dictionary will define “timeless” along the lines of: “not restricted to a particular time or date; having no beginning or end; lasting forever; never showing the effects of aging; not affected by time.” Something that is timeless does not change as the years pass, it is always applicable, always relevant, always beautiful, etc. As synonyms (a word that means the same, or almost the same) for “timeless”, the dictionary will give you something akin to: “abiding, endless, ageless, enduring, immortal, always, constant, continual, deathless, everlasting, forever, immemorial, indefinite, infinite, lasting, never-ending, perennial, permanent, perpetual, persistent, etc.”
There is also an archaic or obsolete meaning of the word “timeless” that is no longer used today―but it is still important in our understand of time and timelessness. The general meaning of “timeless” as being “eternal” (and similar definitions), only arose in the 1620s, from compounding the noun “time” with the adjective “less”. Before this new meaning introduced in the 1620s, “timeless” meant “ill-timed” or “untimely” (as we see recorded in the 1550s and earlier). You can describe something as untimely if it happens at an unsuitable time; not occurring at a suitable time or season; something that is ill-timed or inopportune. If you describe an event as untimely, you mean that it happened earlier than it should, or sooner than you expected, or not in an appropriate place or setting. Obviously, this old, archaic, obsolete sense of the word “timeless, cannot and does not apply to God―but it can apply to us if we do things when we should not be doing them, or we do things that are inappropriate for the place or situation in which we find ourselves, or we try to “run ahead of time” by skipping things we should not be skipping, etc.
No Time For Prayer = Time for Disaster
The math is simple! Without prayer there will be no change in the worldliness levels of ourselves or our families, relatives and friends. Without prayer there will no stopping the horrors that are heading our way. Our Lord said that without Him, we can nothing, and it is through prayer that we enlist His help. Our Lady said that at this moment in time, only she can help us, and she said that the help will only come if we pray and show devotion to her.
Time spent is prayer is time that is lost—at least that is the attitude of the world and of souls who are worldly. We have all heard of the modern-day expression: “Time means money!” Obviously, the meaning behind this is that if we lose time or waste time, then we will lose money or waste money. The worldly person could well substitute any other thing or activity for the word “money”: “Time is having fun!” “Time is playing games!” “Time is surfing the internet!” “Time is TV or videos!” “Time is music!” “Time is being with friends!” “Time is food, drink and parties!” Or even slightly more noble things: “Time is family!” “Time is my work!” “Time is my hobby!” “Time is working-out!” And the more time we have for these things, the happier we are! Yet for many, prayer (and all the spiritual exercises like going to Mass, Confession, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, going on retreat, spiritual reading, meditation, etc.) gets in the way of whatever we want to make time for! This is another litmus test for our own worldliness.
Consequently, the world thinks it can get on without prayer (and all the other spiritual exercises) or at least it relegates them to last or near last place in its “Time is....” ladder of values. Instead of seeking first the kingdom of God, His kingdom becomes an afterthought, a kind of a “we’ll get round to it when we have some time” attitude.
Yet we forget that without God we can do nothing, as Jesus clearly said: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” Not only that, but Jesus also had a few words to say about time for prayer: “He spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Which is why St. Paul says: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Time is Too Precious to Waste
We have all experienced the frustration of having wasted our time, or having our time wasted. We dislike people who waste our time. We have heard of the expression—“A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work.” Yet the employer hates “time-wasters” who refuse to work properly and do not give “a fair day’s effort for a fair day’s pay.”
The world also has the expression: “Time is money!” or “Time means money!” In other words, if you waste time, you end up wasting or losing money—or at least you will not earn the money you could have earned, had you not wasted time.
A teacher dislikes students who waste time in class by distracting themselves or others. Many a poor grade or failure in school is down to the fact that the student in question wasted too much time at school on things other than study.
The same holds true for the spiritual life. God does not like us to waste our time. This is seen both directly and indirectly in Holy Scripture. St. Paul tells the Ephesians not to waste time, but to seek and find out what the will of God is for them (Ephesians 5:16).
Our Lord tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard, where the idle ones (time wasters) are rebuked for standing around. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just. And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: ’Why stand you here all the day idle?’ They say to him: ‘Because no man hath hired us!’ He saith to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard!’” (Matthew 20:1-7).
Time Savers and Time Wasters
Fr. Tanquerey, in The Spiritual Life, states: “Time is limited and should not be wasted” (§550) and that we should have a set of spiritual rules for our life, that we follow carefully, for “He that lives without a rule inevitably wastes a great deal of time” (§559). He goes on to say:
“Now, a rule of life wisely made with the help of our spiritual director secures for us this threefold advantage. It enables us to make a better use of our time. Let us actually compare the life of a person that follows a rule with that of another that does not.
He that lives without a rule inevitably wastes a great deal of time:
(1) He hesitates as to what is the best thing to do. Time is spent in deliberation,, in weighing the reasons for and against, and, as in many cases there are no decisive reasons on either side, he is liable to remain inactive; then, natural inclinations gain the upper hand and he runs the risk of being led by curiosity, pleasure or vanity.
(2) He neglects a certain number of duties, for haying neither foreseen nor determined the acceptable time and place for their fulfilment, he no longer finds time to perform them all.
(3) These negligences engender inconstancy. At times he makes vigorous efforts to steady himself, while at other times he surrenders to his native indolence, and this, just because he has no fixed rule that would act as a corrective to the fickleness of his nature.
The man who holds to a well-defined rule of life saves considerable time:
(1) He wastes no time in hesitation. He knows exactly what he is to do, and when he is to do it. Even if his schedule is not mathematically detailed, at least it sets off time-periods and lays down principles with regard to religious exercises, recreation, work, etc.
(2) There is little or nothing unforeseen for even should the unusual occur, he has already provided for it by determining beforehand exercises that may be shortened and the manner of making up for them. At all events, as soon as these exceptional circumstances cease to exist, he immediately comes back to his rule.
(3) Inconstancy likewise vanishes. The rule urges him to do always what is prescribed, and that every day and at every hour of the day. Thus habits are formed that give continuity to his life and assure his perseverance; his days are full days, teeming with good works and merit” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §559-§560).
Busy Time Wasters
There are some persons who are very, very busy—who seem not to waste any time, but are always running out of time with all the many things that they do! Yet some of these poor souls are actually wasting their time by being busy about the wrong things! A case in point is the famous incident between Jesus, Martha and Mary:
“Now it came to pass as they went, that Jesus entered into a certain town, and a certain woman, named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who, sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord! Hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha! Martha! Thou art careful, and art troubled about many things! But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).
It is not that Martha was totally wasting her time in busying herself with the material things around the house, but Jesus said that Mary was making BETTER use of her time in busying herself with the spiritual matters that Jesus was talking about. As the saying goes-—“First things first!”—and the spiritual comes before the material. Our Lord said that the first commandment was to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength. If we would do this, then God would look after many of our material needs: “O ye of little faith! Seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink! For all these things do the nations of the world seek. But your Father knoweth that you have need of these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you!” (Luke 12:28-31).
Wasting Time by Doing Your Own Thing!
Pride and imprudent zeal often leads to a waste of time. This happens when we follow our own opinions without consulting wiser heads or authorities. Fr. Tanquerey explains: “Not a few beginners, full of good will, apply themselves too eagerly and too anxiously to the work of their perfection and end by fatiguing and exhausting themselves in futile efforts. The chief cause of this defect is the substitution of one’s own activity for that of God. Instead of reflecting before acting, of asking light from the Holy Ghost and following it, such beginners’ thrust themselves headlong into action. Instead of taking counsel with their spiritual director, they act first, and afterwards confront him with the accomplished fact. Hence, numerous imprudences and many wasted efforts. Often presumption enters into the case. They would like to emerge hastily from the discipline of penance and promptly arrive at the desired union with God. But alas! Many an unforeseen obstacle appears; they then lose heart, retrace their steps and at times fall into grievous faults” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §931-§932).
Wasting Time in Idle Thoughts and Words
“The two interior senses to be mortified are the imagination and the memory … Otherwise, left to themselves, they literally crowd the soul with a host of memories and images that distract the spirit, waste, its energies, cause it to lose priceless time while at prayer and work, and constitute the source of a thousand temptations against purity, charity, humility and other virtues … We should take heed to provide against idle thoughts, by mortifying ourselves as regards useless fancies, which constitute a waste of time and pave the way to others of an even more perilous nature. ‘Mortifying idle thoughts’, the Saints tell us, ‘is dealing death to evil ones’” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §779-§781).
As for idle words, Our Lord warns: “I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment” (Matthew 12:36). How much damage has been caused by an idle word here and there, which, like a spark, has kindled an enormous forest fire and laid waste to many a tree! St. James writes: “The tongue is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man: but the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be!” (James 3:5-10).
The Wasted Time in Mortal Sin
We are pretty useless when in the state of Mortal Sin! Our prayers and sacrifices can help nobody else but ourselves—by bringing us to our knees and conversion. We cannot receive the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist—for to do so would be a great sacrilege! Any good actions we do are without merit! As Fr. Tanquerey writes: “Moreover, whilst we remain in the state of mortal sin, we can acquire no merits for Heaven. What a waste of the supernatural! … If, unfortunately, the sinner remains obdurate to the end in his resistance to grace, then follows Hell with all its horrors!” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §720-§721). What a waste of time and a waste of a life!
Wasting God’s Time
God made us for great things, yet, for one reason or another, we fail or refuse to live up to those expectations, thus, in a sense, wasting God’s time in not doing those things for which He has made us. We are reminded of this by Our Lord’s parable of the Unfruitful Vine:
“A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: ‘Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it done therefore! Why encumbereth it the ground?’ But he answering, said to him: ‘Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it. And if happily it bear fruit: but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down” (Luke 13:6-9).
A similar point was made in a real-life setting by Our Lord, in the case of the fruitless fig tree: “Jesus was hungry. And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, Jesus came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and he saith to it: ‘May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever!’ And immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matthew 21:18-19).
Fr. Tanquerey writes: “Magnanimity, which is also called greatness of soul, or nobility of character, is the noble and generous disposition to undertake great things for God and for our neighbor. It is not the same as ambition, which is essentially egotistical and goads us on to surpass others by wielding authority, or receiving honors. The characteristic of magnanimity is disinterested service. This virtue therefore presupposes a noble soul, possessed of high ideals and unselfish thoughts, a valiant spirit that does not hesitate to make its life accord with its convictions. It is brought out not only by noble sentiments, but also by noble acts, and this in every sphere of action: in the army by brilliant exploits; in civil life by great reform movements, or great industrial commercial, economic enterprises; in the realm of the supernatural, by the pursuit of a high ideal of perfection, by generous efforts to conquer self and to rise ever higher, by striving to acquire solid virtue and to exercise zeal in its various forms. All this is done without fear of risking fortune, health, reputation and life itself. The contrary defect is which, through an excessive fear of failure, makes one hesitate and remain inactive. Seeking to avoid blunders the pusillanimous (the cowardly or fearful) fall into the greatest mistakes; they do nothing, or almost nothing, and thus waste their lives. Evidently, it is better to risk making mistakes than to do nothing” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §1083-§1084).
Wasting Our Lady’s Time
A similar effect to that of pusillanimity (fearfulness or cowardliness) is brought about by the indifference of souls to Our Lady’s message—which is tantamount to making her waste her time. Sr. Lucia of Fatima laments this indifference of the vast majority of Catholics, saying: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them” (Sr. Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, December 1957).
Wasting Time By Doing Things Badly
We have all experienced the teacher or parent who told us go back and do something all over again—because it had been badly done in the first place! How much more often have we done things badly or insufficiently in our spiritual life? Wasted graces by a distracted assistance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass! Wasted Holy Communions—by not asking for things, or not asking enough! Wasted Rosaries that were hurriedly and distractedly said, rather than prayed with attention and devotion! Masses, Communions and prayers that had no intentions—we just plodded through them without offering them for anyone or anything! Wasted actions that could have been offered to God, but instead were performed in a naturalistic manner and for naturalistic motives, and not supernaturally.
St. Paul tells us that if we do things without the motive of charity (which is a love of God), then those actions are worthless—no matter how great they might be: even if they were miracles. “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal! And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing! And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Wasting Time On Trifles
We are easily caught up with trifles—things that have little or no bearing upon our eternal salvation—and amazingly pass over things that can have serious and eternal spiritual repercussions. Our Lord rebuked the Pharisees for a similar attitude, when He said: “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you tithe mint, and anise, and cumin, and have left the weightier things of the law—such as judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone! Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23:23-24).
We get angry about various kinds of trifles like a messy kitchen or room, or delays in traffic, or poor service from others, but we will not complain and correct family, or others who are under our charge, if they pray hurriedly, make short thanksgivings after Mass, use God’s Name in vain, complain about some religious matter, etc. We are more upset about offenses given to us than we are about offenses to God.
“We have only one life, and it is short; it must not be wasted in trifles” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).
Time to Spend Time Well
These are only some of the chief or most common ways in which we waste time—many more exist and each person has their own personal repertoire of time wasting mannerisms. Let this upcoming Lenten season be a time where we waste less time and give God more time, before God “calls time” on our life and deems it time to judge us! If we have improved our use of time before that Day of Dread, we will spend less time in Purgatory for having spent time well on Earth! As the opening of the Lenten season will say: “In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Now is the acceptable time to improve how we spend our time!
Thursday March 14th
Article 18
Our Lord's TLC is not Our TLC
Article 18
Our Lord's TLC is not Our TLC
TLC?
TLC is an acronym― which is an abbreviation of several words by using the first letter(s) of each word―as in USCCB meaning United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; BBC meaning British Broadcasting Corporation; NASA meaning National Aeronautics and Space Administration, CNN meaning Cable News Network, etc.
With the advent of the cell-phone texting―with its limited number of characters that can be used per message―we have begun to live in a world of acronyms―so that as much as possible can be texted in the limited character parameters currently imposed by cell-phones. Thus you have text message acronyms such as:
BCNU ― Be Seeing You; CU2moro ― See You Tomorrow; CU2nite ― See You Tonight; BRB ― Be Right Back; BTW ― By The Way; B4N ― Bye For Now; DBEYR ― Don't Believe Everything You Read; W2WO4― What To Watch Out For; FWIW ― For What It's Worth; IMHO ― In My Humble Opinion; J/K ― Just Kidding; RBTL ― Read Between The Lines; LOL― Laughing Out Loud; ROTFL ― Rolling On The Floor Laughing , etc.
So what does the acronym “TLC” stand for? It could stand for a lot of things―even Christian things, such as “To love Christ” … “To love Christianity” … “To live charitably” … “To love church” … “To love confession” … “To love Communion” …etc. “TLC” could also stand for negative things, such as “Terrible Lukewarm Catholics” … “The Liberal Catholic” … “The Lazy Catholic” … “The Lip-service Catholic” … “The Lapsed Catholic”, etc. The enemies of Christ might substitute the word “love” with “loathe” in regard to Christ and Christianity and the Church. Loathe is a verb and means “to detest or dislike.” Loath is an adjective and means “reluctant or unwilling.” Therefore “loathe” and “loath” are not the same, even though they are pronounced in the same way. “Loathe” is much more aggressive (to detest) than “loath” (be unwilling or reluctant).
Nevertheless, that does not answer the question of what “TLC” really means. However, you most probably know the answer anyway! “TLC” is commonly held to mean “Tender Loving Care” and is used in expressions like “People work better if they get a bit of TLC” or “Give them some TLC and everything will improve and get better!”
God is Love! Does God Give TLC?
Holy Scripture tells us that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins!” (1 John 4:10). “God, Who is rich in mercy, for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins” (Ephesians 2:4-5). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “The Lord is gracious and merciful―patient and plenteous in mercy! The Lord is sweet to all―and His tender (TLC?) mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). “For Thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild: and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon Thee” (Psalm 85:5). That sounds great―sounds like a lot of TLC on the part of God towards us sinners!
The bottom line is getting on the right side of God. “As it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!’” (1 Corinthians 2:9). “God will redeem my soul from the hand of Hell” (Psalm 48:16) … “The Lord thy God will bring thee into a good land” (Deuteronomy 8:7) ... “God will defend thee” (Judith 5:25) … “The Lord your God will fight for you” (Deuteronomy 3:22) … “God will overthrow thy enemies for thee” (Ecclesiasticus 4:33) ... “God will give a blessing” (Ecclesiasticus 4:14) ... “God will keep him, and deliver him from evils” (Ecclesiasticus 33:1). And the list of good things and blessings goes on and on throughout Scripture. The key to activating God’s miracle muscles is a love of God—the greater the love, the greater the intervention. “Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19). “Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness” (Ephesians 5:2).
God Does Not Always Show TLC
There are some today―you could call them “fools” and, as Scripture says: “the number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15)―who see God as being nothing but love! Once these “fools” plant this foolish idea in their minds, it grows into a tree of foolish love. To them, God tolerates everything and punishes nothing. They reduce God to doting impotent grandpa, who just smiles through everything and corrects nothing.
It is said that God can be known and understood through the things that He has created― “All men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God: and who, by these good things that are seen, could not understand Him that is, neither by attending to the works, have acknowledged Who was the workman” (Wisdom 13:1). God has created everything with what we could call a “positive” and a “negative”.
We have the North Pole and South Pole. For the Earth the north pole has a negative polarity and the south pole a positive polarity. Every magnet has both a North and a South pole―that is what the plus sign and the minus sign on every battery signifies. A magnetic field flows from the North to the South Pole in the same way that electric fields flow from positive to negative charges. Magnetism and electricity are not the same current BUT they are both comprised of the same “stuff”. Electricity is to magnetism, what North Pole current is to South Pole current, or positive to negative. They're opposites.
We have the opposites of day (positive with light) and night (negative of light). Our bodies are at times healthy (positive) and sick (negative). Our seasons pass from the heat of summer (positive) to the bitter cold of winter (negative). Plants grow (positive) and plants die (negative). We are awake and energized during the day (positive) and we sleep, rest and recharge during the night (negative). We are times happy (positive) and at times we are sad (negative). You could through all that God has created and find the same phenomenon in all things―positive and negative aspects. This has to teach us something about God. Are there positive and negative sides to God?
If we look upon the word “negative” as lacking something―then, no, God is not negative, for God lacks nothing since He is all perfect. However, if we look at the word “negative” as meaning the opposite of something, then, yes, God has those opposites, inasmuch as justice is the opposite of mercy, hatred is the opposite of love, anger is the opposite of meekness, etc. For Holy Scripture uses those opposite terms when speaking of God.
“To the Lord our God belongeth justice” (Baruch 1:15), “They think they can escape the justice of God, Who seeth all things!” (Esther 16:4) and “The Lord is gracious and merciful―patient and plenteous in mercy!” (Psalm 144:8). “God loveth mercy and truth” (Psalm 83:12). “God hateth iniquity” (Judith 5:21). “Learn of Me, for I am meek!” (Matthew 11:29). “Because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief” (Ephesians 5:6).
In one place, Holy Scripture gives us a list of “positives” and “negatives”:
“All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to destroy and a time to build. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend and a time to sew. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. A time of love and a time of hatred. A time of war and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).
No Unconditional TLC From God
God’s sweetness, kindness, tenderness, mildness and mercy are not unconditional!—here are a few quotes that prove this truth―that God does not love us unconditionally: “How good is God to them that are of a right heart!” (Psalm 72:1). It is common sense―God will not reward evil, it is not to be rewarded but punished: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “Thou art not a God that willest iniquity. Neither shall the wicked dwell near Thee: nor shall the unjust abide before Thy eyes. Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity” (Psalm 5:5-7).
Yet, at the same time, Holy Scripture says: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18) … “Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy and find grace!” (Hebrews 4:16). “Who is a God like to Thee, Who takest away iniquity, and passest by the sin of the remnant of Thy inheritance? He will send His fury in no more, because He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, and have mercy on us! He will put away our iniquities, and He will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea!” (Micheas 7:18-19).
Speaking of the “sea”, which is water, grace removes the stains of sin from the soul, like water remove stains of dirt from clothes―it is not for nothing that the Church often speaks of water as a symbol grace. We know that water is H2O―meaning two parts Hydrogen to one part Oxygen. Similarly, in the ‘water’ of God’s grace there are two elements―Love and Fear. We can be sorry for our sins out of a love of God (which is called “contrition”) or sorry out of a fear of God’s punishments (which is called “attrition”). It depends upon how much we love as to how much punishment is removed―“Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). “Charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). As Jesus said of Mary Magdalen: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less” (Luke 7:47)―which can just as easily and truthfully be stated as: “Many sins are forgiven to those who love much. But to those who love less, then less is forgiven!” There must always be a fear of God present―the only difference being what kind of fear―(1) a fear of offending a loving God whom we love very much, which is contrition, or (2) a fear of offending an angry God whose punishments we fear very much. Fear there must always be―but one kind is better than the other―the first kind of fear (contrition) reduces or wipes away more temporal punishment (here below or in Purgatory) than the other kind of fear (attrition).
Coming back to the analogy between Water and Grace―the chemical formula for water, ice or steam is H20, which consists of two atoms of Hydrogen and one atom of Oxygen. The three varying states of H20 are ice, water and steam. Similarly, we can be in a state of grace, which requires love and fear (let’s call it L2F―two parts love and one part fear), but in varying states L2F―cold towards God (ice), lukewarm towards God (water), or very much in love with God (steam). Only steam rises upwards! Is it not time to “chill-out”, “defrost” our relationship with God, and start boiling?
From Ice to Steam
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book, The Spiritual Life, speaks of these three stages of growth―which by analogy have been called ice, water and steam in the above paragraph. It could be said that ice represents Beginners in the Spiritual Life; that water represents those who are more Proficient in the Spiritual Life; and that steam represents those who are reaching Perfection in the Spiritual Life. We will also see this “threesome” immediately afterwards, in Our Lord’s treatment of the Canaanite woman―at first He is “icy-cold” and gives her the “frosty-stare” and “silent-treatment”. Then, in a sense, He throws water at her by saying she is of the wrong religion. Thirdly, he starts “steaming” and “boiling” and calls her a dog! But before we get to that, let us look at the first “threesome” of Beginners, Proficients, and the Perfect as explained by Fr. Tanquerey:
“(1) The chief care of beginners is that of preserving charity. Their efforts, then, are directed toward the avoidance of sin, above all, mortal sin, and toward the conquest of evil inclinations, of the passions, and of all that could make them lose the love of God. This is the purgative way, the end of which is the purification of the soul.
(2) The chief concern of those already advanced, the ‘proficientes’, is progress in the positive exercise of the virtues and growth in charity. The heart, already purified, is all the more open to divine light and to the love of God. The soul wishes to follow Jesus and to imitate His virtues, and since by following Him one walks in the Light, this is called the illuminative way. Here the soul strives to avoid not only mortal, but even venial sin.
(3) Perfect souls have but one concern to cling to God and to take their delight in Him. Ever seeking to unite themselves to God, they are in the unitive way. Sin fills them with horror, for they fear to displease God and to offend Him. The virtues that most attract them are the theological virtues, which unite them to God. Hence, the Earth seems to them an exile, and, like St. Paul, they long to die to be joined to Christ” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §341-§343).
The Two Sides of God Work Together
God is not moody, God is not temperamental, God is not emotional, God does not have “ups and downs”, God is not “two-faced”, God does not act upon whims―everything that God says or does is perfectly calculated and wisely executed. It might not look so―to us superficial and ignorant creatures―but everything is perfectly pondered, planned and performed. This might involve God doing some “acting” to “throw us off the scent” of what He is planning, but no blame can be attached to God for anything. We see this “acting” come into play in the Lenten Gospel reading of the Canaanite woman―who, being Canaanite was a pagan, but, paradoxically, a pagan with great “faith” in Christ―that is to say, great “confidence” in Christ, even though she was not of the Jewish religion.
The Canaanite woman’s daughter was possessed by a devil and she came to Christ full of confidence (“faith”) that He could, should and would help her! Yet, Our Lord―who professed Himself to have “come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10)―didn’t seem to care much for this pagan soul and her possessed daughter. In other words, He was not prepared to show any TLC in her regard, but actually rebuffs and rejects her―not just once, but three times! You could say that “TLC” here means “Tough Loving Christ”! Here is the “shocking” account:
TLC or Tough Loving Christ
“A woman of Canaan, who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to Him: ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David! My daughter is grieviously troubled by the devil! Jesus answered her not a word [1st refusal]. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying: ‘Send her away, for she crieth after us!’ [in other words, “She has been bothering us all day!’] And He answering, said [to her]: ‘I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel. [2nd refusal, in other words, “You are not an Israelite, so get lost!”]. But she came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord, help me!’ Jesus answering, said: ‘It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs!’ [3rd refusal, in other words, “You’re a dog! Leave! Now!]. But she said: ‘Yea, Lord; but even the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters!’ Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great [intense] is thy Faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt!’ And her daughter was cured from that hour” (Matthew 15:22-28).
This woman had been trying to get to Our Lord for quite some time, but had been continually rebuffed by His Apostles. When she finally breaks through the ‘protective cordon’ or ‘security ring’ surrounding Our Lord, she manages to speak to Jesus Himself and begs Him, with great hope, for her desired miracle. Yet she meets the same fate at the hands of Jesus—He says nothing and refuses to talk to her. Our Lord ‘stonewalls’ her with His silence. When the Apostles ― perhaps flustered that she had managed to slip past them and get to Jesus Himself ― complain to Jesus about this ‘pest’ of a pesky woman, she undeterred, continues to beg for help—this time Our Lord tells her that she is not of the right religion. Thus, once again He rebukes and rejects the woman’s pleas for help―but this time, not just by politely remaining silent, He actually speaks out and tells her He will not help her because she is of the wrong religion: “And Jesus answering, said: ‘I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel!’” Still she comes at Him—only to have Him call her a dog! “But she came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord, help me!’ Who answering, said: ‘It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs!’” This latest in a series of setbacks, rejections and failures does not deter the woman, nor dampen her belief, hope and confidence—she humbly acknowledges that she is a dog, but then says that even dogs get crumbs from the master’s table: “But she came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord, help me!’ Who answering, said: ‘It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs!’”
At this point Our Lord relents—He had tested her pagan faith, hope, confidence and trust. He had publicly humiliated her and she came through with flying colors. Not only great was her Faith, but great was her courage and devotion. She was repeatedly turned back and refused by the Apostles. It seems she has been ‘trying all day’ to get close to Jesus, to be able to beg of Him this miracle—yet the Apostles have been successful in keeping her away. She must have been pretty persistent in her efforts, for the Apostles complained to Our Lord about her continuous harassment. Our Lord Himself, refused her three times. She pressed on regardless. Jesus gives her the “cold-shoulder”, the “silent-treatment”, the “frosty-stare” and refuses to answer her; then He says makes what we today would term as a ‘racist’ comment, saying she is of the wrong race and wrong religion and so cannot be helped, thus “pouring water” on her fervent hopes; after that, things “come to boil” and start “steaming” when He calls her a dog! That would be enough to turn away the staunchest of persons! “But she said: ‘Yea, Lord; for the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters!’” She humbles herself and says that, yes, she is a dog—but that even dogs are given crumbs by their masters! “Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy Faith! Be it done to thee as thou wilt!’ And her daughter was cured from that hour” (Matthew 15:22-28). Humility and perseverance will go a long way to getting our prayers answered. In this incident with the Canaanite woman, we can see symbolized that three states or stages or levels of the spiritual life that we MUST pass through before getting our desire for admittance to Heaven finally answered.
Devotion to something means that we stick with it, through ‘thick-and-thin’, taking the ‘rough with the smooth’, persevering in adversity. How would we respond if Jesus insinuated that we were dogs? It is easier to call oneself a sinner or even a dog, than to be called such by others—and it must be supremely hard to take when it comes from the mouth of Jesus Himself!
God’s TLC to Those That Love Him
The entire twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus proves the truth of this:
“I am the Lord your God: If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear.
“I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
“I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God: who have brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and I have broken the chains on your necks, that you might go upright.” (Leviticus 26:1-13). Who wouldn’t want this? No shortage of food! Perfect seasons of the year! Peace in the land, with no threats from anywhere! If enemies arise, a guarantee of God’s help and protection—even if we are outnumbered! Guarantee of victory over all enemies! At peace with God! Wow! Extreme kindness!
But… Brace Yourself! God Throws TLC Out of the Window!
“But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant: I also will do these things to you: I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you.
“But if you will not yet for all this obey Me: I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass: your labour shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hearken to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins: and I will send in upon you the beasts of the field, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate.
“And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to Me: I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies, after I shall have broken the staff of your bread: so that ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and give it out by weight: and you shall eat, and shall not be filled.
“But if you will not for all this hearken to Me, but will walk against Me: I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed.
“And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword: they shall fall, when no man pursueth them, And they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars, none of you shall dare to resist your enemies. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own: until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed me, and walked contrary unto Me.
“Therefore I also will bring them into their enemies’ land: then shall they pray for their sins. And I will remember My covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. But they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet, for all that, when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be quite consumed, and I should make void My covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God. And I will remember My former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Gentiles, to be their God. I am the Lord. These are the judgments, and precepts, and laws, which the Lord gave between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses” (Leviticus 26:14-45).
A real TLC education there! A “Tough Love Class” by God Who can also show the other kind of TLC or “Tender Loving Care”―it all depends on us and how much we love God or loathe God, on how much we obey or disobey His commandments, on how much we respect or disrespect God―“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “With the holy one Thou wilt be holy: and with the valiant perfect. With the elect Thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse Thou wilt be perverted. And the poor people Thou wilt save: and with Thy eyes Thou wilt humble the haughty” (2 Kings 2:26-28). Echoed again in the Book of Psalms: “The Lord will reward me according to my justice; and according to the cleanness of my hands before His eyes. With the holy, Thou wilt be holy; and with the innocent man Thou wilt be innocent. And with the elect Thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse Thou wilt be perverted. For Thou wilt save the humble people; but wilt bring down the eyes of the proud” (Psalm 17:25-28).
Our Lady Continues the TLC Class
The above words and example―which are found in Holy Scripture, which is infallible Divine Public Revelation―are also echoed and reinforced by Our Lady in Divine Private Revelation. She also reveals the “two sides” of God, which depend upon whether or not we obey Him, whether or not we sin against Him. She speaks just as ‘brutally’ and ‘terrifyingly’ as God speaks in chapter 26 of Leviticus:
“Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity and child-like simplicity” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Cursed human respect, which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’ … Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness. This, then, will be the cause of the cursed demon taking possession and he will achieve his victories by means of foreign and faithless people, so numerous that, like a black cloud, with these people, every type of vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me ... There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride. The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis. The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten, each individual will want to be independent and be superior to others” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. There will be desecration of holy places. In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens. Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession … And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Our Lady of Akita essentially gives the same grim warning and prophecy―which, if we are honest, is unfolding before our very own eyes today: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness! If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” (Our Lady of Akita).
Holy Scripture, Leviticus and Our Lady All Give The Same Message
Turn where you want, ask who you want―Scripture, God, Our Lady or the Saints―the message and warnings are the same: Love God, keep His commandments, avoid sin―and you will have positive and pleasant relationship with God. If you choose not to love God, to be indifferent and neglectful of Him, not keeping His commandments, but indulging in sin―then you will have a very nasty and negative relationship with Him. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
The problem is that we have become so accustomed to the world, that we greatly underestimate how bad sin and how bad the world really are―we have become desensitized to evil. We have created our own version of the Catholic Faith where sin has little or no real consequence―we sin, we go to confession, we sin, we go to confession, we sin, we go to confession―and we are confessing the same sins over and over again. Where is the “FIRM purpose of amendment” and the implementation of means that will help us to avoid those sins? They are absent! Yet they are essential components for a GOOD confession―the absence of which renders our confession invalid and mere “lip-service” or “lip-sorrow” and not real sorrow from the heart. Confession is merely a revolving door or a weekly car-wash, where we IMAGINE we are being cleaned-up for Holy Communion―but it might be that we are not being cleaned because of defective intentions! We presume on God’s mercy―the sin of presumption―but we will not do what it takes to really obtain God’s mercy. Our sins increase in frequency and gravity and our resolutions to change decrease in intensity―thus we fall into the category of which Our Lady of Akita spoke: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
God is willing to forgive, BUT, as infallible Holy Scripture warns: “Jesus findeth the cured paralytic in the temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14). When the Scribes and Pharisees presented Jesus with the woman caught in adultery, whom they were ready to stone to death, Jesus, showed both sides of His love―tender and tough―and said to them: “‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!’ But they hearing this, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest. And Jesus alone remained, and the woman standing in the midst. Then Jesus said to her: ‘Woman! Where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?’ Who said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:7-11). “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer! … Therefore let no sin reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof!” (Romans 6:6, 12). “Be not without fear about forgiven sin, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5).
Two TLC’s―One Positive, One Negative
God has two kinds of TLC―we can choose to experience His “Tender Love Care” or His “Tough Love Cauldron”―the choice is ours. However, we must not expect God’s “Tender Loving Care” to be without pain―for love is tested and proved by suffering: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13) and laying down your life―whether physically by death, or morally by suffering, is painful, but that is the test of love that a loving God will impose on everyone. “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35). “Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise! Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:19). “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth!” (Hebrews 12:6).
TLC is an acronym― which is an abbreviation of several words by using the first letter(s) of each word―as in USCCB meaning United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; BBC meaning British Broadcasting Corporation; NASA meaning National Aeronautics and Space Administration, CNN meaning Cable News Network, etc.
With the advent of the cell-phone texting―with its limited number of characters that can be used per message―we have begun to live in a world of acronyms―so that as much as possible can be texted in the limited character parameters currently imposed by cell-phones. Thus you have text message acronyms such as:
BCNU ― Be Seeing You; CU2moro ― See You Tomorrow; CU2nite ― See You Tonight; BRB ― Be Right Back; BTW ― By The Way; B4N ― Bye For Now; DBEYR ― Don't Believe Everything You Read; W2WO4― What To Watch Out For; FWIW ― For What It's Worth; IMHO ― In My Humble Opinion; J/K ― Just Kidding; RBTL ― Read Between The Lines; LOL― Laughing Out Loud; ROTFL ― Rolling On The Floor Laughing , etc.
So what does the acronym “TLC” stand for? It could stand for a lot of things―even Christian things, such as “To love Christ” … “To love Christianity” … “To live charitably” … “To love church” … “To love confession” … “To love Communion” …etc. “TLC” could also stand for negative things, such as “Terrible Lukewarm Catholics” … “The Liberal Catholic” … “The Lazy Catholic” … “The Lip-service Catholic” … “The Lapsed Catholic”, etc. The enemies of Christ might substitute the word “love” with “loathe” in regard to Christ and Christianity and the Church. Loathe is a verb and means “to detest or dislike.” Loath is an adjective and means “reluctant or unwilling.” Therefore “loathe” and “loath” are not the same, even though they are pronounced in the same way. “Loathe” is much more aggressive (to detest) than “loath” (be unwilling or reluctant).
Nevertheless, that does not answer the question of what “TLC” really means. However, you most probably know the answer anyway! “TLC” is commonly held to mean “Tender Loving Care” and is used in expressions like “People work better if they get a bit of TLC” or “Give them some TLC and everything will improve and get better!”
God is Love! Does God Give TLC?
Holy Scripture tells us that “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). “In this is charity―not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins!” (1 John 4:10). “God, Who is rich in mercy, for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins” (Ephesians 2:4-5). “For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16). “The Lord is gracious and merciful―patient and plenteous in mercy! The Lord is sweet to all―and His tender (TLC?) mercies are over all His works!” (Psalm 144:8-9). “For Thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild: and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon Thee” (Psalm 85:5). That sounds great―sounds like a lot of TLC on the part of God towards us sinners!
The bottom line is getting on the right side of God. “As it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!’” (1 Corinthians 2:9). “God will redeem my soul from the hand of Hell” (Psalm 48:16) … “The Lord thy God will bring thee into a good land” (Deuteronomy 8:7) ... “God will defend thee” (Judith 5:25) … “The Lord your God will fight for you” (Deuteronomy 3:22) … “God will overthrow thy enemies for thee” (Ecclesiasticus 4:33) ... “God will give a blessing” (Ecclesiasticus 4:14) ... “God will keep him, and deliver him from evils” (Ecclesiasticus 33:1). And the list of good things and blessings goes on and on throughout Scripture. The key to activating God’s miracle muscles is a love of God—the greater the love, the greater the intervention. “Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us!” (1 John 4:19). “Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness” (Ephesians 5:2).
God Does Not Always Show TLC
There are some today―you could call them “fools” and, as Scripture says: “the number of fools is infinite” (Ecclesiastes 1:15)―who see God as being nothing but love! Once these “fools” plant this foolish idea in their minds, it grows into a tree of foolish love. To them, God tolerates everything and punishes nothing. They reduce God to doting impotent grandpa, who just smiles through everything and corrects nothing.
It is said that God can be known and understood through the things that He has created― “All men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God: and who, by these good things that are seen, could not understand Him that is, neither by attending to the works, have acknowledged Who was the workman” (Wisdom 13:1). God has created everything with what we could call a “positive” and a “negative”.
We have the North Pole and South Pole. For the Earth the north pole has a negative polarity and the south pole a positive polarity. Every magnet has both a North and a South pole―that is what the plus sign and the minus sign on every battery signifies. A magnetic field flows from the North to the South Pole in the same way that electric fields flow from positive to negative charges. Magnetism and electricity are not the same current BUT they are both comprised of the same “stuff”. Electricity is to magnetism, what North Pole current is to South Pole current, or positive to negative. They're opposites.
We have the opposites of day (positive with light) and night (negative of light). Our bodies are at times healthy (positive) and sick (negative). Our seasons pass from the heat of summer (positive) to the bitter cold of winter (negative). Plants grow (positive) and plants die (negative). We are awake and energized during the day (positive) and we sleep, rest and recharge during the night (negative). We are times happy (positive) and at times we are sad (negative). You could through all that God has created and find the same phenomenon in all things―positive and negative aspects. This has to teach us something about God. Are there positive and negative sides to God?
If we look upon the word “negative” as lacking something―then, no, God is not negative, for God lacks nothing since He is all perfect. However, if we look at the word “negative” as meaning the opposite of something, then, yes, God has those opposites, inasmuch as justice is the opposite of mercy, hatred is the opposite of love, anger is the opposite of meekness, etc. For Holy Scripture uses those opposite terms when speaking of God.
“To the Lord our God belongeth justice” (Baruch 1:15), “They think they can escape the justice of God, Who seeth all things!” (Esther 16:4) and “The Lord is gracious and merciful―patient and plenteous in mercy!” (Psalm 144:8). “God loveth mercy and truth” (Psalm 83:12). “God hateth iniquity” (Judith 5:21). “Learn of Me, for I am meek!” (Matthew 11:29). “Because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief” (Ephesians 5:6).
In one place, Holy Scripture gives us a list of “positives” and “negatives”:
“All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to destroy and a time to build. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend and a time to sew. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. A time of love and a time of hatred. A time of war and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).
No Unconditional TLC From God
God’s sweetness, kindness, tenderness, mildness and mercy are not unconditional!—here are a few quotes that prove this truth―that God does not love us unconditionally: “How good is God to them that are of a right heart!” (Psalm 72:1). It is common sense―God will not reward evil, it is not to be rewarded but punished: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “Thou art not a God that willest iniquity. Neither shall the wicked dwell near Thee: nor shall the unjust abide before Thy eyes. Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity” (Psalm 5:5-7).
Yet, at the same time, Holy Scripture says: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool!” (Isaias 1:18) … “Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy and find grace!” (Hebrews 4:16). “Who is a God like to Thee, Who takest away iniquity, and passest by the sin of the remnant of Thy inheritance? He will send His fury in no more, because He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, and have mercy on us! He will put away our iniquities, and He will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea!” (Micheas 7:18-19).
Speaking of the “sea”, which is water, grace removes the stains of sin from the soul, like water remove stains of dirt from clothes―it is not for nothing that the Church often speaks of water as a symbol grace. We know that water is H2O―meaning two parts Hydrogen to one part Oxygen. Similarly, in the ‘water’ of God’s grace there are two elements―Love and Fear. We can be sorry for our sins out of a love of God (which is called “contrition”) or sorry out of a fear of God’s punishments (which is called “attrition”). It depends upon how much we love as to how much punishment is removed―“Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). “Charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). As Jesus said of Mary Magdalen: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less” (Luke 7:47)―which can just as easily and truthfully be stated as: “Many sins are forgiven to those who love much. But to those who love less, then less is forgiven!” There must always be a fear of God present―the only difference being what kind of fear―(1) a fear of offending a loving God whom we love very much, which is contrition, or (2) a fear of offending an angry God whose punishments we fear very much. Fear there must always be―but one kind is better than the other―the first kind of fear (contrition) reduces or wipes away more temporal punishment (here below or in Purgatory) than the other kind of fear (attrition).
Coming back to the analogy between Water and Grace―the chemical formula for water, ice or steam is H20, which consists of two atoms of Hydrogen and one atom of Oxygen. The three varying states of H20 are ice, water and steam. Similarly, we can be in a state of grace, which requires love and fear (let’s call it L2F―two parts love and one part fear), but in varying states L2F―cold towards God (ice), lukewarm towards God (water), or very much in love with God (steam). Only steam rises upwards! Is it not time to “chill-out”, “defrost” our relationship with God, and start boiling?
From Ice to Steam
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book, The Spiritual Life, speaks of these three stages of growth―which by analogy have been called ice, water and steam in the above paragraph. It could be said that ice represents Beginners in the Spiritual Life; that water represents those who are more Proficient in the Spiritual Life; and that steam represents those who are reaching Perfection in the Spiritual Life. We will also see this “threesome” immediately afterwards, in Our Lord’s treatment of the Canaanite woman―at first He is “icy-cold” and gives her the “frosty-stare” and “silent-treatment”. Then, in a sense, He throws water at her by saying she is of the wrong religion. Thirdly, he starts “steaming” and “boiling” and calls her a dog! But before we get to that, let us look at the first “threesome” of Beginners, Proficients, and the Perfect as explained by Fr. Tanquerey:
“(1) The chief care of beginners is that of preserving charity. Their efforts, then, are directed toward the avoidance of sin, above all, mortal sin, and toward the conquest of evil inclinations, of the passions, and of all that could make them lose the love of God. This is the purgative way, the end of which is the purification of the soul.
(2) The chief concern of those already advanced, the ‘proficientes’, is progress in the positive exercise of the virtues and growth in charity. The heart, already purified, is all the more open to divine light and to the love of God. The soul wishes to follow Jesus and to imitate His virtues, and since by following Him one walks in the Light, this is called the illuminative way. Here the soul strives to avoid not only mortal, but even venial sin.
(3) Perfect souls have but one concern to cling to God and to take their delight in Him. Ever seeking to unite themselves to God, they are in the unitive way. Sin fills them with horror, for they fear to displease God and to offend Him. The virtues that most attract them are the theological virtues, which unite them to God. Hence, the Earth seems to them an exile, and, like St. Paul, they long to die to be joined to Christ” (Fr. Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, §341-§343).
The Two Sides of God Work Together
God is not moody, God is not temperamental, God is not emotional, God does not have “ups and downs”, God is not “two-faced”, God does not act upon whims―everything that God says or does is perfectly calculated and wisely executed. It might not look so―to us superficial and ignorant creatures―but everything is perfectly pondered, planned and performed. This might involve God doing some “acting” to “throw us off the scent” of what He is planning, but no blame can be attached to God for anything. We see this “acting” come into play in the Lenten Gospel reading of the Canaanite woman―who, being Canaanite was a pagan, but, paradoxically, a pagan with great “faith” in Christ―that is to say, great “confidence” in Christ, even though she was not of the Jewish religion.
The Canaanite woman’s daughter was possessed by a devil and she came to Christ full of confidence (“faith”) that He could, should and would help her! Yet, Our Lord―who professed Himself to have “come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10)―didn’t seem to care much for this pagan soul and her possessed daughter. In other words, He was not prepared to show any TLC in her regard, but actually rebuffs and rejects her―not just once, but three times! You could say that “TLC” here means “Tough Loving Christ”! Here is the “shocking” account:
TLC or Tough Loving Christ
“A woman of Canaan, who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to Him: ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David! My daughter is grieviously troubled by the devil! Jesus answered her not a word [1st refusal]. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying: ‘Send her away, for she crieth after us!’ [in other words, “She has been bothering us all day!’] And He answering, said [to her]: ‘I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel. [2nd refusal, in other words, “You are not an Israelite, so get lost!”]. But she came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord, help me!’ Jesus answering, said: ‘It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs!’ [3rd refusal, in other words, “You’re a dog! Leave! Now!]. But she said: ‘Yea, Lord; but even the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters!’ Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great [intense] is thy Faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt!’ And her daughter was cured from that hour” (Matthew 15:22-28).
This woman had been trying to get to Our Lord for quite some time, but had been continually rebuffed by His Apostles. When she finally breaks through the ‘protective cordon’ or ‘security ring’ surrounding Our Lord, she manages to speak to Jesus Himself and begs Him, with great hope, for her desired miracle. Yet she meets the same fate at the hands of Jesus—He says nothing and refuses to talk to her. Our Lord ‘stonewalls’ her with His silence. When the Apostles ― perhaps flustered that she had managed to slip past them and get to Jesus Himself ― complain to Jesus about this ‘pest’ of a pesky woman, she undeterred, continues to beg for help—this time Our Lord tells her that she is not of the right religion. Thus, once again He rebukes and rejects the woman’s pleas for help―but this time, not just by politely remaining silent, He actually speaks out and tells her He will not help her because she is of the wrong religion: “And Jesus answering, said: ‘I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel!’” Still she comes at Him—only to have Him call her a dog! “But she came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord, help me!’ Who answering, said: ‘It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs!’” This latest in a series of setbacks, rejections and failures does not deter the woman, nor dampen her belief, hope and confidence—she humbly acknowledges that she is a dog, but then says that even dogs get crumbs from the master’s table: “But she came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord, help me!’ Who answering, said: ‘It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs!’”
At this point Our Lord relents—He had tested her pagan faith, hope, confidence and trust. He had publicly humiliated her and she came through with flying colors. Not only great was her Faith, but great was her courage and devotion. She was repeatedly turned back and refused by the Apostles. It seems she has been ‘trying all day’ to get close to Jesus, to be able to beg of Him this miracle—yet the Apostles have been successful in keeping her away. She must have been pretty persistent in her efforts, for the Apostles complained to Our Lord about her continuous harassment. Our Lord Himself, refused her three times. She pressed on regardless. Jesus gives her the “cold-shoulder”, the “silent-treatment”, the “frosty-stare” and refuses to answer her; then He says makes what we today would term as a ‘racist’ comment, saying she is of the wrong race and wrong religion and so cannot be helped, thus “pouring water” on her fervent hopes; after that, things “come to boil” and start “steaming” when He calls her a dog! That would be enough to turn away the staunchest of persons! “But she said: ‘Yea, Lord; for the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters!’” She humbles herself and says that, yes, she is a dog—but that even dogs are given crumbs by their masters! “Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy Faith! Be it done to thee as thou wilt!’ And her daughter was cured from that hour” (Matthew 15:22-28). Humility and perseverance will go a long way to getting our prayers answered. In this incident with the Canaanite woman, we can see symbolized that three states or stages or levels of the spiritual life that we MUST pass through before getting our desire for admittance to Heaven finally answered.
Devotion to something means that we stick with it, through ‘thick-and-thin’, taking the ‘rough with the smooth’, persevering in adversity. How would we respond if Jesus insinuated that we were dogs? It is easier to call oneself a sinner or even a dog, than to be called such by others—and it must be supremely hard to take when it comes from the mouth of Jesus Himself!
God’s TLC to Those That Love Him
The entire twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus proves the truth of this:
“I am the Lord your God: If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear.
“I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
“I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God: who have brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and I have broken the chains on your necks, that you might go upright.” (Leviticus 26:1-13). Who wouldn’t want this? No shortage of food! Perfect seasons of the year! Peace in the land, with no threats from anywhere! If enemies arise, a guarantee of God’s help and protection—even if we are outnumbered! Guarantee of victory over all enemies! At peace with God! Wow! Extreme kindness!
But… Brace Yourself! God Throws TLC Out of the Window!
“But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant: I also will do these things to you: I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you.
“But if you will not yet for all this obey Me: I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass: your labour shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hearken to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins: and I will send in upon you the beasts of the field, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate.
“And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to Me: I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies, after I shall have broken the staff of your bread: so that ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and give it out by weight: and you shall eat, and shall not be filled.
“But if you will not for all this hearken to Me, but will walk against Me: I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed.
“And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword: they shall fall, when no man pursueth them, And they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars, none of you shall dare to resist your enemies. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own: until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed me, and walked contrary unto Me.
“Therefore I also will bring them into their enemies’ land: then shall they pray for their sins. And I will remember My covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. But they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet, for all that, when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be quite consumed, and I should make void My covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God. And I will remember My former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Gentiles, to be their God. I am the Lord. These are the judgments, and precepts, and laws, which the Lord gave between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses” (Leviticus 26:14-45).
A real TLC education there! A “Tough Love Class” by God Who can also show the other kind of TLC or “Tender Loving Care”―it all depends on us and how much we love God or loathe God, on how much we obey or disobey His commandments, on how much we respect or disrespect God―“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “With the holy one Thou wilt be holy: and with the valiant perfect. With the elect Thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse Thou wilt be perverted. And the poor people Thou wilt save: and with Thy eyes Thou wilt humble the haughty” (2 Kings 2:26-28). Echoed again in the Book of Psalms: “The Lord will reward me according to my justice; and according to the cleanness of my hands before His eyes. With the holy, Thou wilt be holy; and with the innocent man Thou wilt be innocent. And with the elect Thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse Thou wilt be perverted. For Thou wilt save the humble people; but wilt bring down the eyes of the proud” (Psalm 17:25-28).
Our Lady Continues the TLC Class
The above words and example―which are found in Holy Scripture, which is infallible Divine Public Revelation―are also echoed and reinforced by Our Lady in Divine Private Revelation. She also reveals the “two sides” of God, which depend upon whether or not we obey Him, whether or not we sin against Him. She speaks just as ‘brutally’ and ‘terrifyingly’ as God speaks in chapter 26 of Leviticus:
“Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the Earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents. Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity and child-like simplicity” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Cursed human respect, which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’ … Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness. This, then, will be the cause of the cursed demon taking possession and he will achieve his victories by means of foreign and faithless people, so numerous that, like a black cloud, with these people, every type of vice will enter, calling down in turn every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me ... There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride. The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis. The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten, each individual will want to be independent and be superior to others” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. There will be desecration of holy places. In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens. Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession … And then Jesus Christ, in an act of His justice and His great mercy, will command His Angels to have all His enemies put to death. Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ, and all those given over to sin, will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled with God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshiped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in Its poor but fervent imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in fear of God” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Our Lady of Akita essentially gives the same grim warning and prophecy―which, if we are honest, is unfolding before our very own eyes today: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord ... In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness! If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” (Our Lady of Akita).
Holy Scripture, Leviticus and Our Lady All Give The Same Message
Turn where you want, ask who you want―Scripture, God, Our Lady or the Saints―the message and warnings are the same: Love God, keep His commandments, avoid sin―and you will have positive and pleasant relationship with God. If you choose not to love God, to be indifferent and neglectful of Him, not keeping His commandments, but indulging in sin―then you will have a very nasty and negative relationship with Him. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
The problem is that we have become so accustomed to the world, that we greatly underestimate how bad sin and how bad the world really are―we have become desensitized to evil. We have created our own version of the Catholic Faith where sin has little or no real consequence―we sin, we go to confession, we sin, we go to confession, we sin, we go to confession―and we are confessing the same sins over and over again. Where is the “FIRM purpose of amendment” and the implementation of means that will help us to avoid those sins? They are absent! Yet they are essential components for a GOOD confession―the absence of which renders our confession invalid and mere “lip-service” or “lip-sorrow” and not real sorrow from the heart. Confession is merely a revolving door or a weekly car-wash, where we IMAGINE we are being cleaned-up for Holy Communion―but it might be that we are not being cleaned because of defective intentions! We presume on God’s mercy―the sin of presumption―but we will not do what it takes to really obtain God’s mercy. Our sins increase in frequency and gravity and our resolutions to change decrease in intensity―thus we fall into the category of which Our Lady of Akita spoke: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
God is willing to forgive, BUT, as infallible Holy Scripture warns: “Jesus findeth the cured paralytic in the temple, and saith to him: ‘Behold thou art made whole! Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!’” (John 5:14). When the Scribes and Pharisees presented Jesus with the woman caught in adultery, whom they were ready to stone to death, Jesus, showed both sides of His love―tender and tough―and said to them: “‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!’ But they hearing this, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest. And Jesus alone remained, and the woman standing in the midst. Then Jesus said to her: ‘Woman! Where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?’ Who said: ‘No man, Lord!’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!’” (John 8:7-11). “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer! … Therefore let no sin reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof!” (Romans 6:6, 12). “Be not without fear about forgiven sin, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5).
Two TLC’s―One Positive, One Negative
God has two kinds of TLC―we can choose to experience His “Tender Love Care” or His “Tough Love Cauldron”―the choice is ours. However, we must not expect God’s “Tender Loving Care” to be without pain―for love is tested and proved by suffering: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends!” (John 15:13) and laying down your life―whether physically by death, or morally by suffering, is painful, but that is the test of love that a loving God will impose on everyone. “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35). “Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise! Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 3:19). “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth!” (Hebrews 12:6).
Ember Wednesday March 13th
Article 17
The Ember Days of Lent & The Embers of the Church
Article 17
The Ember Days of Lent & The Embers of the Church
Remember Ember?
Ember what? Ember who? Ember days, huh? Ask most modern-day Catholics what an “Ember Day” is and they will probably say something like: “An ember day is the day after a barbecue or bonfire!” Or a more intelligent guess might be: “Ember Day is another name for Ash Wednesday!” What about you? What do you know about Ember Days? Could you give an satisfying explanation to an inquirer? Hmm! Isn’t it funny (or embarrassing) that we know more about many pagan and worldly things than we know about our Faith! You would think that if our Faith is as important as they say it is, then we could and should be showing an interest in it―especially in researching and finding out things about terms and aspects of the Faith that we know that we are ignorant about or have insufficient knowledge upon. Thank heavens for Google―which can be used for good or for evil! Here is a modification and expansion of the article you would find in the 1909 Catholic Encyclopedia.
Resurrecting Knowledge from the Ashes Concerning Ember Days
The title “Ember Days” comes from the Latin “quatuor anni tempora” (the "four seasons of the year"), or formerly as the “jejunia quatuor temporum” (meaning “fasts of the four seasons”). This was abbreviated with time to “Quatuor Tempora.’ Quatuor Tempora literally means “four times” and thus Quatuor Tempora or Ember Days, in the Church’s intended meaning, are the days at the beginning of the four seasons ordered by the Church as days of fast and abstinence. The Latin name has remained in modern languages. In French and Italian the term is the same; in Spanish and Portuguese they are simply Temporas. The German converts them into Quatember (with “ember” being a corruption of “Tempora” where tEMPORa become EMBER, and thence, by the easy corruption of dropping the first syllable, a corruption which also takes place in some other words, we get the English “Ember”.
Although they were observed and practiced locally in Rome and some other areas since the 3rd Century, it was only in 11th Century that they were definitely arranged in a fixed order and prescribed for the entire Church by Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) for the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after December 13th (feast of St. Lucia), after Ash Wednesday (the feast varies its date from year to year), after Whit Sunday or Pentecost (which also varies its date, since it is the 50th day after Easter), and after September 14th (feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross).
Poetically Remember the Ember
There is even a catchy Latin and English phrase to remember when Ember Days take place, based on the feast days that occur during these four times of the year.
Sant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia
Ut sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.
Holy Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost,
are when the quarter holidays follow.
For non-Latinists, it might be easier to just remember L-A-D-C or “Lucy, Ashes, Dove, and Cross.”
Or another rhyme would be:
Lucy December, the Cross in September
After the Ashes in Lent and after the Dove was sent.
Reasons For The Seasons
The purpose of their introduction―besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting―was to thank God for the gifts of nature; to teach men to make use of them in moderation; and to assist the needy. These seasonal occasions of honoring of pagan gods were long the practice of the heathens of Rome. The Romans were originally given to agriculture, and their native gods belonged to the same class. At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting, the Romans performed religious ceremonies to implore the help of their pagan gods―in June for a bountiful harvest; in September for a rich vintage; and in December for the seeding―hence their feriae sementivae (meaning “days of seeding”), feriae messis (“days of harvest”), and feri vindimiales (“days of vintage”).
The Church, when converting heathen nations, has always tried to sanctify any practices which could be utilized for a good purpose. At first the Church in Rome had fasts in June, September, and December; the exact days were not fixed but were announced by the priests. The Liber Pontificalis ascribes to Pope Callistus (217-222) a law ordering the fast, but probably it is older. Pope Leo the Great (440-461) considers it an Apostolic institution. When the fourth season was added cannot be ascertained, but Pope Gelasius (492-496) speaks of all four. This pope also permitted the conferring of priesthood and diaconate (ordaining priests and deacons) on the Saturdays of Ember Week―these were formerly given only at Easter. Before Pope Gelasius’s time, the Ember Days were known only in Rome, but after his time their observance spread.
From Rome the Ember days gradually spread unevenly through the whole of Western Christendom. They were brought into England by St. Augustine of Canterbury, in 597 AD, said to be acting under the direct authority of Pope Gregory the Great. In Gaul (modern day France), they do not seem to have been generally recognized much before the 8th century. They were introduced into Germany by the Carlovingians. Spain adopted them with the Roman Liturgy in the 11th Century. They were introduced by St. Charles Borromeo into Milan in the 16th century. The Eastern Church never practiced them. The traditional Roman Missal, in the formulary for the Ember days, retains in part the old practice of lessons read from Scripture in addition to the ordinary two readings: for the Wednesdays three readings, for the Saturdays six readings, and seven readings for the Saturday in December. Some of these lessons contain promises of a bountiful harvest for those that serve God. Fasting and complete abstinence from meat were obligatory on the Ember Days.
Embers Reduced to Embers
The Ember Days disappeared off the scene with the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)―you could say that the Ember Days were reduced to embers or ashes!
In 1969, the Sacred Congregation of Divine Worship came out with its General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar and gave local bishops the authority to adapt this custom to their region, saying:
“On Rogation and Ember Days the practice of the Church is to offer prayers to the Lord for the needs of all people, especially for the productivity of the earth and for human labor, and to give him public thanks. In order to adapt the Rogation and Ember Days to various regions … the conferences of bishops should arrange the time and plan for their celebration.”
The USCCB (Unites States Conference of Catholic Bishops) decided to revise the celebration and removed the obligation to fast as well as their place on the calendar, with this following ruling:
“Vigils and Ember Days, as most now know, no longer oblige to fast and abstinence. However, the liturgical renewal and the deeper appreciation of the joy of the holy days of the Christian year will, we hope, result in a renewed appreciation as to why our forefathers spoke of “a fast before a feast.” We impose no fast before any feast-day, but we suggest that the devout will find greater Christian joy in the feasts of the liturgical calendar, if they freely bind themselves, for their own motives and in their own spirit of piety, to prepare for each Church festival by a day of particular self-denial, penitential prayer and fasting.”
Let’s face it―when you change an obligation into a mere suggestion, then you have sounded the death knell for the practice, or placed into ‘hospice’! At a time when sin is increasing, the bishops of the world ensure that penance is decreasing! The logic behind that is shocking! A patient becomes increasingly sick and you keep decreasing all the medications and medical interventions. A doctor would be sued for such behavior!
Embers Glow and Can Re-Ignite a Fire
However, it is interesting to note that some modern Catholic sources still mention them and even suggest their practice―such as this little quote from the UK Catholic Herald in December of 2017: “While the obligation for fasting on Ember Days is no longer imposed by Canon Law, they are a particularly ancient and rich part of the Church’s liturgical patrimony. They give us today an opportunity to enter more deeply the spirit of the liturgical seasons, the observance of which is a key part of a Catholic’s formation.”
The National Catholic Register goes even further, and in an article on Ember Days (March12th, 2019), strongly recommends their practice! Pope Paul VI must be tossing and turning in his grave―having reduced the Lenten fast by 95% in 1966! The National Catholic Register article states in an addendum:
“In the wake of the crisis in the Church, Ember Days are making a comeback. These were days of fast and abstinence observed at the turn of the season … These days of penance were introduced to thank the Lord for the gifts of nature, to teach us the importance of moderation and to provide for the needy. This was indeed a wonderful way to take the pagan celebrations and sanctify them into the Faith. Fasting for the reparation of the sins of the clergy during Ember Days is an easy way to reintroduce this most valuable spiritual discipline. Three days each season in addition to Ash Wednesday and Good Friday add up to only 14 days of fast. Only 14 days, but what a difference that will make in our lives and in the Church. If the laity took up this spiritual burden and offered up their sufferings, the invisible hold of evil will start shaking. After all, Satan’s temptation of Christ came after His 40-day fast in the desert. He was strong when He was supposed to be weak. Daniel received a revelation from the Lord only after fasting for three weeks.
“Performing penance, including fasting, is an imitation of Christ. Communal acts of reparation not only declare that Christ’s Church is one body, but also acknowledge that the cause of the problem is sin. Fasting and praying show us how sinful and weak our own hearts are, and how without the gift of Christ, no one can break free from the slavery of sin. We fast and pray and do penance so that the sinner — including us — can be moved to conversion and will desire to seek out the sacraments … We cannot only tame our sinful appetites and keep evil at bay, but also carve a true Catholic community out of this secular culture through the communal act of fasting. The more you fast, the easier it gets. Expect it to be hard at first, but that hardship is part of the sacrifice.”
It is consoling to see some modern-day Catholics who have not yet been totally brainwashed by the rampant Liberalism and Modernism that has reached epidemic proportions and infected the Church for over 50 years. Hopefully that initiative leads them back to accepting many more of the dumped and trashed traditions of a wise Holy Mother Church!
Right! So now you know and are no longer a “know not”! See how easy that was! We can use the internet to build up our Faith or we can use it to weaken our Faith! As you sow (know), so shall you reap! It must please God to see us taking an active interest in our Faith, just as it must offend God to see our indifference to the Faith and our deliberate ignorance in matters of the Faith.
Sense of Sin Reduced to Embers and Ashes
Every effect has a cause. Every child has parents. Every tree came from a seed. Every actions stems from prior thoughts. This is pretty obvious besides also being philosophically true. So what is the cause―or causes―of this increasing and deepening sinfulness that has a stranglehold on, not only the world at large, but also the Catholic world? Well, philosophically, they speak of “remote causes” and “proximate causes”―alternatively, you could call them “distant causes” and “immediate causes.” Sin is rarely that simple that it can be reduced to one cause, where there is only one culprit. Usually, there is a gang of causes that work together to lead us into sin. It is of the utmost importance to see, understand and fight against that―especially since most souls are being lost because they fail to do that, whether through culpable ignorance, indifference, lukewarmness, bad sense of values or whatever else may affect them. You need to “fight the good fight” against these causes, for “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” Matthew 11:12). If you won’t fight to get to Heaven, you won’t get there! Most souls never really entered the fight―but made a false and fatal peace with the enemy!
Pope after Pope, since Pope Pius XII, has lamented the general loss of the sense of sin―not only by non-Catholics, but also by Catholics themselves. “The greatest sin today is that men have lost the sense of sin,” said Pope Pius XII in the years following the Second World War―and John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis have all repeated it. It is now common to think along the lines of: “How can something be a sin if doesn’t hurt anybody?” Or: “How can it be a sin if it is done in the privacy of my own home?” Or: “Everybody is doing it!” So, instead of admitting our sins—that have damaged or killed our relationship with God and others—and then confessing them and reconciling ourselves with God, people now-a-days go to therapy instead. A therapist can be good to help heal emotional wounds and reactions—especially those produced by trauma, such as uncontrollable anger, fear of commitment, etc.—but we can also use this as a therapeutic crutch to escape the personal responsibility for our actions. We may also look to science to excuse our behavior: if there is any evidence of a genetic component to alcoholism, homosexuality, or even violent crime, then a person wouldn’t be responsible for decisions he makes that are detrimental to his family or to others… so they think: How can there be any sin where biology has predetermined our fate? These ways of thinking change our way of speaking about sin.
If such is the attitude to blatant sin―what about the attitude to the proximate causes of sin? That attitude is even more lax!
Remote or Distant Causes of Sin
Of course, one of the “remote causes” or, if you like, the “distant causes” of all sin is what we know as “Original Sin”―the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve. The ‘wounds’ or ‘scars’ of their sin have been passed down to every human being―unless there is divine intervention preventing that from happening, as in the case of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception, whereby she was conceived without Original Sin having any effect on her, because God totally preserved her from the ‘stain’ of Original Sin.
This handicap, or inherent weakness, that we are conceived and born with, brings with it what St. Thomas Aquinas calls the “fomes peccati”―an inclination or tendency to sin. He says “there belongs to the very nature of the “fomes” of sin an inclination of the sensual appetite to what is contrary to reason. And hence it is plain that the more perfect the virtues are in any man, the weaker the “fomes” of sin becomes in him.” (Summa Theologica, IIIa, q. 15, article 2).
St. Paul speaks of the same thing when he writes: “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I work, I understand not. For I do not that good which I will [=desire]; but the evil which I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I will not, I consent to the law, that it is good. Now, then, it is no more I that do it, but sin [=Original Sin and its tendencies to sin] that dwelleth in me. For I know that there dwelleth not in me, that is to say, in my flesh, that which is good. For to will [=desire something good], is present with me; but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I will [=want to do], I do not; but the evil which I will not [=do not want to do], that I do. Now if I do that which I will not, it is no more I that do it, but sin [=Original Sin and its tendencies to sin] that dwelleth in me. I find then a law [=“fomes peccati”―the inclination or tendency to sin], that when I have a desire to do good, evil is present with me. For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man―but I see another law [=“fomes peccati”―the inclination or tendency to sin] in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my members!” (Roman 7:14-23).
Heaven is Tough! Grace is Indispensible!
St. Paul then asks how on earth can he get out of this dilemma or mess in which he finds himself―and he replies by saying that only the grace of God can help him: “Unhappy man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Roman 7:24-25). This truth is cemented by Our Lord Himself, when He says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). This also means that He WILL NOT DO EVERYTHING for us―He means that we have to work with Him and under Him if we are to save our souls. Thinking that we know better, or can do better without Him, or disregarding His rules, demands, commands, advice and suggestions, will only lead to Hell, or Purgatory if we are lucky. Unfortunately, today, there are fewer and fewer souls willing to “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:12). Most people refuse to accept that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” Matthew 11:12).
Heaven is no Free Handout
They want Heaven to be a cake-walk or a social-security handout with no strings attached. They do not want to and refuse to make the necessary sacrifices and changes in their lives that would secure Heaven for them―it is too much hard work, it means not having the fun that others in the world enjoy, it means sticking-out like a sore-thumb, it means constantly hearing complaints from children or other family members and relatives about being a religious fanatic, it means having to face-up to the truth of Our Lord’s words: ““Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:51-53). “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:34-37).
We must realize and accept the fact that we are born inherently weak, we come into this life with a handicap, we are all born imperfect―and the work of our life is to strengthen our weaknesses, to overcome our handicap and to become perfect. Like it or not, agree with it or not, want it or not―that’s how it is! “For I am the Lord your God! Be holy because I am holy! Defile not your souls by any thing upon the Earth! You shall be holy, because I am holy! … You shall be holy unto me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 11:44-46; 20:26). St. Peter echoes this: “It is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy!’” (1 Peter 1:16). Our Lord Himself adds: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). Lip service is not enough for Him: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men!’” (Mark 7:6-7). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Unpopular But True!
Of course, in today’s modern environment of ease, comfort, convenience, entertainment and fun, such talk is far from being popular―even in Our Lord’s day it wasn’t popular, as we see in the following reaction of the Jews towards the teachings of Jesus: “These things Jesus said, teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum. Many, therefore, of His disciples, hearing it, said: ‘This saying is hard! And who can hear it?’ But Jesus, knowing in Himself, that His disciples murmured at this, said to them: ‘Doth this scandalize you?... The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life!’ … After this many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the Twelve: ‘Will you also go away?’” (John 6:60-64).
Our day was foreseen and foretold in Holy Scripture: “Know this first, that in the Last Days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3). “In the Last Times there will come mockers, walking according to their own desires in ungodliness. These are they, who are sensual men, who separate themselves, having not the Spirit” (Jude 1:18-19). “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God. Having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:2-4).
Unfortunately, most will not “preach the word in season and out of season”―for as Our Lady of Good Success foretold: “In this time of depraved desolation, those who should speak out will be silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success). We, or those in our family, or among relatives and friends, may have a genetic predisposition to alcoholism. But that does not excuse our and their personal responsibility to avoid situations with alcohol if they would lead to drunkenness and physical or verbal abuse of a spouse, children, or others. We make a choice when we walk down that street with the bar on the corner―although the ability to choose quickly weakens and disappears once we walk in the door. Our choices impact our relationships and thus have moral implications. So, just because all one’s peers are having sex, doing drugs, using birth control, or have had an abortion―doesn’t mean that these things are okay, acceptable and not sins. Such thoughts may ease or deaden our feelings of guilt, but they do not take away our moral responsibility for the choices we have made. We will have to answer to God for them. Therefore, our consciences need to recover the “sense of sin” so that we can take responsibility for our moral decisions, seeking God’s mercy now in the confessional rather than having to face His justice before the Judgment Seat.
Better Be a “Broken Record” than a “Lost Soul”
When a child or a student or employee does not do what they are told to do, you either surrender to their perverse and stubborn will, or you tell them again, and again, and again, and finally you punish them. It is no different with God. Even the Mother of Mercy takes the same strict line. At La Salette, in 1846, the Mother of Mercy shows some “Tough Love” when she says:
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... Blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Blood will flow in the streets … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens. Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly.”
Our Lady, the sweet Mother of Mercy, ended her prophetic warning with the words: “AND SO, MY CHILDREN, YOU WILL PASS THIS ON TO ALL MY PEOPLE!” Sadly, what she said earlier, as Our Lady of Good Success, has come to pass: “THOSE THAT SHOULD SPEAK OUT WILL REMAIN SILENT!”
Was Our Lady of La Salette just “having a bad day at the office” the day she revealed all this? Not really―it has been more or less the same message whenever she has appeared in modern times. At Fatima, she must have had another “bad day at the office”―for she said that “many nations will be annihilated!” Sister Lucia of Fatima later revealed that that Our Blessed Mother had told herself (Lucia), Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, p. 27).
Akita, in 1973, must have been yet another “bad day at the office” for Our Lady, the sweet Mother of Mercy, for it was there that she added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
Once again, such thoughts are not “comfy”, “cosy”, “sweet” and “sugary”―but they are realistically uncomfortable and frighteningly true! It is the neglect of these things that causes the vast majority of mankind to be lost―another scary thought, but uncomfortably true! Not that God wishes to damn anyone―“Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23)―but “be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). In this same context, God says: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). Sadly, that is the case today―where sin is thought to be good and the condemnation of sin is thought to be evil. Where same-sex unions are thought to be ‘good’ and the condemnation of them is thought to be an evil “hate crime”! Where abortion is thought to be ‘good’ and condemnation of abortion is another “hate crime”! Where contraception, cohabitation, fornication, drug use, alcoholism, pornography, and a whole host of other sins are thought to be ‘good’ and the condemnation of them is evil.
What Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette predicted is now coming true before our very eyes: “Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... because of the corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education … People will think of nothing but amusement … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent! (Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette). The sad thing being, we are no longer shocked, we no longer really care, we do not pray against it, we do no sacrifices to stem the tide and change things―we know it is there, we might not like it, but we say and do nothing.
Our Lady of La Salette told the children, with regard to her “not so sweet message”, “AND SO, MY CHILDREN, YOU WILL PASS THIS ON TO ALL MY PEOPLE!” Do we do that? Or are we guilty by neglect as condemned by Our Lady of Good Success: “THOSE THAT SHOULD SPEAK OUT WILL REMAIN SILENT!” Are you silent in your family? Have you lost the sense of sin, or are you in the process of losing your sense of sin? Have you capitulated to thinking of the world? Do the words of Sister Lucia of Fatima, where she repeats the thoughts of Our Lady, apply to you too?
In an interview with Fr. Fuentes on December 26th, 1957, Sr. Lucia told him: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one has paid attention to her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already presently falling on them―they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a terrible way― they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then! I cannot give more details, because it is still a secret!”
The Price of Silence
The words spoken by God to the prophet Ezechiel are equally applicable to all true Catholics today―even more so if Our Lady of La Salette and Our Lady of Fatima commanded little children to pass on her messages and prophecies to everyone! Here are those words, which we also should take to heart as a warning for ourselves:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: “When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them: and he see the sword coming upon the land, and sound the trumpet and tell the people, then he that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and doth not look to himself, if the sword come and cut him off―then his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him―but if he look to himself, he shall save his life. And if the watchman see the sword coming and sound not the trumpet, and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come and cut off a soul from among them, he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman. So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel! Therefore thou shalt hear the word from My mouth, and shalt tell it them from Me. When I say to the wicked: “O wicked man, thou shalt surely die!”―if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, then that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou tell the wicked man, so that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way: then he shall die in his iniquity―but thou hast delivered thy own soul. Thou, therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: “Thus you have spoken, saying: ‘Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them: how then can we live?’ Say to them: ‘As I live,’ saith the Lord God, ‘I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezechiel 33:1-11).
Unfortunately, we, the watchmen fail to see and as watchdogs, we fail to bark! “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant―dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10).
Same Old Message! Same Old Reaction! Same Old Result! O Hell!
Holy Scripture is actually not very popular! Why? Because of its inescapable, clear, hard-hitting, simple truths. Scripture leaves no hiding places―unless, like Protestants, you quote it selectively, leaving the “hard-to-take” truths aside or stuffing them in the closet or under a stone. The truth and logic of Holy Scripture leaves little or no room for arguing or debating―it is what it is, and, being at times so simple, its truth and its meaning cannot be misinterpreted. Like God, the truths of Scripture will not change and they are the yardstick by which we have to measure what we believe and what we say. On the point of sin and penance (payment for sin), there is no wiggle-room, as the following quotes show. The message is the same all throughout the Old and New Testaments. It is message that we need to take on board and communicate to those who surround―even those above us, if necessary, just as the children at La Salette and Fatima were told to communicate Our Lady’s message to everyone.
First of all, both the Old and New Testaments lay down the basic law: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength!” (Deuteronomy 6:5) … “What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways, and love Him, and serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12) … “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.’” (Matthew 22:37-40).
Secondly, how do show our love for God? “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). “And all the days of thy life have God in thy mind: and take heed thou never consent to sin, nor transgress the commandments of the Lord our God!” (Tobias 4:6). If we keep the commandments of God, we show that we love Him―if we break the commandments of God, then we commit sin.
Thirdly, “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15) … “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:20). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) … “By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Fourthly, God gives the sinner a chance: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment and justice―then living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done! In his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live!” (Ezechiel 18:21-23). “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). “There is none that doth penance for his sin!” (Jeremias 8:6). “Hear, I beseech you, My words, and do penance!” (Job 21:2). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
The Stupidity of Man
Most souls perish! Why? Because they have not truly repented of their grave sins, confessed them and done penance for them. Simple! Clear! Logical! Frightening! Why do they not repent? Why do they not confess? Why do they fail to do penance? Because they have lost the sense of sin! They have been fooled, hoodwinked, brainwashed and blinded by the gospel of world, which they have been happily drinking , despite the warnings of God not to mix with the world, not to listen to the world, not to follow the world and not to love the world―for the world is an enemy of God. If you fail to see that, fail to understand that, fail to believe that, fail to act on that―then there is nothing that God can do for you, except to allow you to blindly follow your own blind will until, following the blind world, you fall into the pit. Once again, Holy Scripture shows this clearly, simply and without any possible misinterpretation of its words:
“In this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God, and keep His commandments. For this is the charity of God, that we keep His commandments―and His commandments are not heavy. For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:2-4). “The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
To the worldlings Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25).
“If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
What Can You Not Understand?
What is there that is so hard to understand about those simple, clear, logical words of God from Holy Scripture? Yet many do not want to hear them! They do not want to understand them! They do not want to believe them! They do not want to follow them! “O foolish people without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart” (Isaias 44:18). “Let them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
The only thing modern-man wants to see, look at, listen to and do―is spend hours watching TV, hours on the smartphone or tablet or laptop, browsing the world, reading, listening to and watching the gospel of world unfold on social media, Youtube, worldly websites, gossipy forums, salacious slander, accusatory articles, worldly trivial news, etc., etc., etc. Rather than believe Our Lord’s words that we cannot serve God and mammon, today mammon is on par with God―in some cases even way ahead of God, judging by the time given to mammon instead of God!
The Ember Days and the Season of Lent should be the time of a much needed reality check―not virtual reality, but real reality! How do we really stand with God? Remember that even with His Chosen People, “with most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:5). It would be amiss to review the whole passage from which that quote comes―especially so since it was the reading at Mass for Septuagesima Sunday:
“For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert! Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
The above passage perfectly describes the modern Catholic world! Except that today we have far more idols than they had―and our “desert” is a “spiritual desert” located in the oasis of the materialistic malls and stores of the world. With most of us, God is not well pleased―which Our Lady has made abundantly clear in her many modern day apparitions. Use this Lent as a springboard to the rest of your life, to detach yourself―and your nearest and dearest―from the enemy of God (the world and all it offers) and start to pay back by penance for the worldly love and addictions of the past, and begin to learn how to love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, whole mind, whole soul and whole strength! “For charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8) and “He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20).
Ember what? Ember who? Ember days, huh? Ask most modern-day Catholics what an “Ember Day” is and they will probably say something like: “An ember day is the day after a barbecue or bonfire!” Or a more intelligent guess might be: “Ember Day is another name for Ash Wednesday!” What about you? What do you know about Ember Days? Could you give an satisfying explanation to an inquirer? Hmm! Isn’t it funny (or embarrassing) that we know more about many pagan and worldly things than we know about our Faith! You would think that if our Faith is as important as they say it is, then we could and should be showing an interest in it―especially in researching and finding out things about terms and aspects of the Faith that we know that we are ignorant about or have insufficient knowledge upon. Thank heavens for Google―which can be used for good or for evil! Here is a modification and expansion of the article you would find in the 1909 Catholic Encyclopedia.
Resurrecting Knowledge from the Ashes Concerning Ember Days
The title “Ember Days” comes from the Latin “quatuor anni tempora” (the "four seasons of the year"), or formerly as the “jejunia quatuor temporum” (meaning “fasts of the four seasons”). This was abbreviated with time to “Quatuor Tempora.’ Quatuor Tempora literally means “four times” and thus Quatuor Tempora or Ember Days, in the Church’s intended meaning, are the days at the beginning of the four seasons ordered by the Church as days of fast and abstinence. The Latin name has remained in modern languages. In French and Italian the term is the same; in Spanish and Portuguese they are simply Temporas. The German converts them into Quatember (with “ember” being a corruption of “Tempora” where tEMPORa become EMBER, and thence, by the easy corruption of dropping the first syllable, a corruption which also takes place in some other words, we get the English “Ember”.
Although they were observed and practiced locally in Rome and some other areas since the 3rd Century, it was only in 11th Century that they were definitely arranged in a fixed order and prescribed for the entire Church by Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) for the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after December 13th (feast of St. Lucia), after Ash Wednesday (the feast varies its date from year to year), after Whit Sunday or Pentecost (which also varies its date, since it is the 50th day after Easter), and after September 14th (feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross).
Poetically Remember the Ember
There is even a catchy Latin and English phrase to remember when Ember Days take place, based on the feast days that occur during these four times of the year.
Sant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia
Ut sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.
Holy Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost,
are when the quarter holidays follow.
For non-Latinists, it might be easier to just remember L-A-D-C or “Lucy, Ashes, Dove, and Cross.”
Or another rhyme would be:
Lucy December, the Cross in September
After the Ashes in Lent and after the Dove was sent.
Reasons For The Seasons
The purpose of their introduction―besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting―was to thank God for the gifts of nature; to teach men to make use of them in moderation; and to assist the needy. These seasonal occasions of honoring of pagan gods were long the practice of the heathens of Rome. The Romans were originally given to agriculture, and their native gods belonged to the same class. At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting, the Romans performed religious ceremonies to implore the help of their pagan gods―in June for a bountiful harvest; in September for a rich vintage; and in December for the seeding―hence their feriae sementivae (meaning “days of seeding”), feriae messis (“days of harvest”), and feri vindimiales (“days of vintage”).
The Church, when converting heathen nations, has always tried to sanctify any practices which could be utilized for a good purpose. At first the Church in Rome had fasts in June, September, and December; the exact days were not fixed but were announced by the priests. The Liber Pontificalis ascribes to Pope Callistus (217-222) a law ordering the fast, but probably it is older. Pope Leo the Great (440-461) considers it an Apostolic institution. When the fourth season was added cannot be ascertained, but Pope Gelasius (492-496) speaks of all four. This pope also permitted the conferring of priesthood and diaconate (ordaining priests and deacons) on the Saturdays of Ember Week―these were formerly given only at Easter. Before Pope Gelasius’s time, the Ember Days were known only in Rome, but after his time their observance spread.
From Rome the Ember days gradually spread unevenly through the whole of Western Christendom. They were brought into England by St. Augustine of Canterbury, in 597 AD, said to be acting under the direct authority of Pope Gregory the Great. In Gaul (modern day France), they do not seem to have been generally recognized much before the 8th century. They were introduced into Germany by the Carlovingians. Spain adopted them with the Roman Liturgy in the 11th Century. They were introduced by St. Charles Borromeo into Milan in the 16th century. The Eastern Church never practiced them. The traditional Roman Missal, in the formulary for the Ember days, retains in part the old practice of lessons read from Scripture in addition to the ordinary two readings: for the Wednesdays three readings, for the Saturdays six readings, and seven readings for the Saturday in December. Some of these lessons contain promises of a bountiful harvest for those that serve God. Fasting and complete abstinence from meat were obligatory on the Ember Days.
Embers Reduced to Embers
The Ember Days disappeared off the scene with the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)―you could say that the Ember Days were reduced to embers or ashes!
In 1969, the Sacred Congregation of Divine Worship came out with its General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar and gave local bishops the authority to adapt this custom to their region, saying:
“On Rogation and Ember Days the practice of the Church is to offer prayers to the Lord for the needs of all people, especially for the productivity of the earth and for human labor, and to give him public thanks. In order to adapt the Rogation and Ember Days to various regions … the conferences of bishops should arrange the time and plan for their celebration.”
The USCCB (Unites States Conference of Catholic Bishops) decided to revise the celebration and removed the obligation to fast as well as their place on the calendar, with this following ruling:
“Vigils and Ember Days, as most now know, no longer oblige to fast and abstinence. However, the liturgical renewal and the deeper appreciation of the joy of the holy days of the Christian year will, we hope, result in a renewed appreciation as to why our forefathers spoke of “a fast before a feast.” We impose no fast before any feast-day, but we suggest that the devout will find greater Christian joy in the feasts of the liturgical calendar, if they freely bind themselves, for their own motives and in their own spirit of piety, to prepare for each Church festival by a day of particular self-denial, penitential prayer and fasting.”
Let’s face it―when you change an obligation into a mere suggestion, then you have sounded the death knell for the practice, or placed into ‘hospice’! At a time when sin is increasing, the bishops of the world ensure that penance is decreasing! The logic behind that is shocking! A patient becomes increasingly sick and you keep decreasing all the medications and medical interventions. A doctor would be sued for such behavior!
Embers Glow and Can Re-Ignite a Fire
However, it is interesting to note that some modern Catholic sources still mention them and even suggest their practice―such as this little quote from the UK Catholic Herald in December of 2017: “While the obligation for fasting on Ember Days is no longer imposed by Canon Law, they are a particularly ancient and rich part of the Church’s liturgical patrimony. They give us today an opportunity to enter more deeply the spirit of the liturgical seasons, the observance of which is a key part of a Catholic’s formation.”
The National Catholic Register goes even further, and in an article on Ember Days (March12th, 2019), strongly recommends their practice! Pope Paul VI must be tossing and turning in his grave―having reduced the Lenten fast by 95% in 1966! The National Catholic Register article states in an addendum:
“In the wake of the crisis in the Church, Ember Days are making a comeback. These were days of fast and abstinence observed at the turn of the season … These days of penance were introduced to thank the Lord for the gifts of nature, to teach us the importance of moderation and to provide for the needy. This was indeed a wonderful way to take the pagan celebrations and sanctify them into the Faith. Fasting for the reparation of the sins of the clergy during Ember Days is an easy way to reintroduce this most valuable spiritual discipline. Three days each season in addition to Ash Wednesday and Good Friday add up to only 14 days of fast. Only 14 days, but what a difference that will make in our lives and in the Church. If the laity took up this spiritual burden and offered up their sufferings, the invisible hold of evil will start shaking. After all, Satan’s temptation of Christ came after His 40-day fast in the desert. He was strong when He was supposed to be weak. Daniel received a revelation from the Lord only after fasting for three weeks.
“Performing penance, including fasting, is an imitation of Christ. Communal acts of reparation not only declare that Christ’s Church is one body, but also acknowledge that the cause of the problem is sin. Fasting and praying show us how sinful and weak our own hearts are, and how without the gift of Christ, no one can break free from the slavery of sin. We fast and pray and do penance so that the sinner — including us — can be moved to conversion and will desire to seek out the sacraments … We cannot only tame our sinful appetites and keep evil at bay, but also carve a true Catholic community out of this secular culture through the communal act of fasting. The more you fast, the easier it gets. Expect it to be hard at first, but that hardship is part of the sacrifice.”
It is consoling to see some modern-day Catholics who have not yet been totally brainwashed by the rampant Liberalism and Modernism that has reached epidemic proportions and infected the Church for over 50 years. Hopefully that initiative leads them back to accepting many more of the dumped and trashed traditions of a wise Holy Mother Church!
Right! So now you know and are no longer a “know not”! See how easy that was! We can use the internet to build up our Faith or we can use it to weaken our Faith! As you sow (know), so shall you reap! It must please God to see us taking an active interest in our Faith, just as it must offend God to see our indifference to the Faith and our deliberate ignorance in matters of the Faith.
Sense of Sin Reduced to Embers and Ashes
Every effect has a cause. Every child has parents. Every tree came from a seed. Every actions stems from prior thoughts. This is pretty obvious besides also being philosophically true. So what is the cause―or causes―of this increasing and deepening sinfulness that has a stranglehold on, not only the world at large, but also the Catholic world? Well, philosophically, they speak of “remote causes” and “proximate causes”―alternatively, you could call them “distant causes” and “immediate causes.” Sin is rarely that simple that it can be reduced to one cause, where there is only one culprit. Usually, there is a gang of causes that work together to lead us into sin. It is of the utmost importance to see, understand and fight against that―especially since most souls are being lost because they fail to do that, whether through culpable ignorance, indifference, lukewarmness, bad sense of values or whatever else may affect them. You need to “fight the good fight” against these causes, for “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” Matthew 11:12). If you won’t fight to get to Heaven, you won’t get there! Most souls never really entered the fight―but made a false and fatal peace with the enemy!
Pope after Pope, since Pope Pius XII, has lamented the general loss of the sense of sin―not only by non-Catholics, but also by Catholics themselves. “The greatest sin today is that men have lost the sense of sin,” said Pope Pius XII in the years following the Second World War―and John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis have all repeated it. It is now common to think along the lines of: “How can something be a sin if doesn’t hurt anybody?” Or: “How can it be a sin if it is done in the privacy of my own home?” Or: “Everybody is doing it!” So, instead of admitting our sins—that have damaged or killed our relationship with God and others—and then confessing them and reconciling ourselves with God, people now-a-days go to therapy instead. A therapist can be good to help heal emotional wounds and reactions—especially those produced by trauma, such as uncontrollable anger, fear of commitment, etc.—but we can also use this as a therapeutic crutch to escape the personal responsibility for our actions. We may also look to science to excuse our behavior: if there is any evidence of a genetic component to alcoholism, homosexuality, or even violent crime, then a person wouldn’t be responsible for decisions he makes that are detrimental to his family or to others… so they think: How can there be any sin where biology has predetermined our fate? These ways of thinking change our way of speaking about sin.
If such is the attitude to blatant sin―what about the attitude to the proximate causes of sin? That attitude is even more lax!
Remote or Distant Causes of Sin
Of course, one of the “remote causes” or, if you like, the “distant causes” of all sin is what we know as “Original Sin”―the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve. The ‘wounds’ or ‘scars’ of their sin have been passed down to every human being―unless there is divine intervention preventing that from happening, as in the case of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception, whereby she was conceived without Original Sin having any effect on her, because God totally preserved her from the ‘stain’ of Original Sin.
This handicap, or inherent weakness, that we are conceived and born with, brings with it what St. Thomas Aquinas calls the “fomes peccati”―an inclination or tendency to sin. He says “there belongs to the very nature of the “fomes” of sin an inclination of the sensual appetite to what is contrary to reason. And hence it is plain that the more perfect the virtues are in any man, the weaker the “fomes” of sin becomes in him.” (Summa Theologica, IIIa, q. 15, article 2).
St. Paul speaks of the same thing when he writes: “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I work, I understand not. For I do not that good which I will [=desire]; but the evil which I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I will not, I consent to the law, that it is good. Now, then, it is no more I that do it, but sin [=Original Sin and its tendencies to sin] that dwelleth in me. For I know that there dwelleth not in me, that is to say, in my flesh, that which is good. For to will [=desire something good], is present with me; but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I will [=want to do], I do not; but the evil which I will not [=do not want to do], that I do. Now if I do that which I will not, it is no more I that do it, but sin [=Original Sin and its tendencies to sin] that dwelleth in me. I find then a law [=“fomes peccati”―the inclination or tendency to sin], that when I have a desire to do good, evil is present with me. For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man―but I see another law [=“fomes peccati”―the inclination or tendency to sin] in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my members!” (Roman 7:14-23).
Heaven is Tough! Grace is Indispensible!
St. Paul then asks how on earth can he get out of this dilemma or mess in which he finds himself―and he replies by saying that only the grace of God can help him: “Unhappy man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Roman 7:24-25). This truth is cemented by Our Lord Himself, when He says: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). This also means that He WILL NOT DO EVERYTHING for us―He means that we have to work with Him and under Him if we are to save our souls. Thinking that we know better, or can do better without Him, or disregarding His rules, demands, commands, advice and suggestions, will only lead to Hell, or Purgatory if we are lucky. Unfortunately, today, there are fewer and fewer souls willing to “Fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:12). Most people refuse to accept that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” Matthew 11:12).
Heaven is no Free Handout
They want Heaven to be a cake-walk or a social-security handout with no strings attached. They do not want to and refuse to make the necessary sacrifices and changes in their lives that would secure Heaven for them―it is too much hard work, it means not having the fun that others in the world enjoy, it means sticking-out like a sore-thumb, it means constantly hearing complaints from children or other family members and relatives about being a religious fanatic, it means having to face-up to the truth of Our Lord’s words: ““Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation! For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:51-53). “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:34-37).
We must realize and accept the fact that we are born inherently weak, we come into this life with a handicap, we are all born imperfect―and the work of our life is to strengthen our weaknesses, to overcome our handicap and to become perfect. Like it or not, agree with it or not, want it or not―that’s how it is! “For I am the Lord your God! Be holy because I am holy! Defile not your souls by any thing upon the Earth! You shall be holy, because I am holy! … You shall be holy unto me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 11:44-46; 20:26). St. Peter echoes this: “It is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy!’” (1 Peter 1:16). Our Lord Himself adds: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). Lip service is not enough for Him: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men!’” (Mark 7:6-7). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
Unpopular But True!
Of course, in today’s modern environment of ease, comfort, convenience, entertainment and fun, such talk is far from being popular―even in Our Lord’s day it wasn’t popular, as we see in the following reaction of the Jews towards the teachings of Jesus: “These things Jesus said, teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum. Many, therefore, of His disciples, hearing it, said: ‘This saying is hard! And who can hear it?’ But Jesus, knowing in Himself, that His disciples murmured at this, said to them: ‘Doth this scandalize you?... The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life!’ … After this many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the Twelve: ‘Will you also go away?’” (John 6:60-64).
Our day was foreseen and foretold in Holy Scripture: “Know this first, that in the Last Days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3). “In the Last Times there will come mockers, walking according to their own desires in ungodliness. These are they, who are sensual men, who separate themselves, having not the Spirit” (Jude 1:18-19). “Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God. Having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:2-4).
Unfortunately, most will not “preach the word in season and out of season”―for as Our Lady of Good Success foretold: “In this time of depraved desolation, those who should speak out will be silent!” (Our Lady of Good Success). We, or those in our family, or among relatives and friends, may have a genetic predisposition to alcoholism. But that does not excuse our and their personal responsibility to avoid situations with alcohol if they would lead to drunkenness and physical or verbal abuse of a spouse, children, or others. We make a choice when we walk down that street with the bar on the corner―although the ability to choose quickly weakens and disappears once we walk in the door. Our choices impact our relationships and thus have moral implications. So, just because all one’s peers are having sex, doing drugs, using birth control, or have had an abortion―doesn’t mean that these things are okay, acceptable and not sins. Such thoughts may ease or deaden our feelings of guilt, but they do not take away our moral responsibility for the choices we have made. We will have to answer to God for them. Therefore, our consciences need to recover the “sense of sin” so that we can take responsibility for our moral decisions, seeking God’s mercy now in the confessional rather than having to face His justice before the Judgment Seat.
Better Be a “Broken Record” than a “Lost Soul”
When a child or a student or employee does not do what they are told to do, you either surrender to their perverse and stubborn will, or you tell them again, and again, and again, and finally you punish them. It is no different with God. Even the Mother of Mercy takes the same strict line. At La Salette, in 1846, the Mother of Mercy shows some “Tough Love” when she says:
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you! … Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other … The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... Blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … Blood will flow in the streets … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens. Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly.”
Our Lady, the sweet Mother of Mercy, ended her prophetic warning with the words: “AND SO, MY CHILDREN, YOU WILL PASS THIS ON TO ALL MY PEOPLE!” Sadly, what she said earlier, as Our Lady of Good Success, has come to pass: “THOSE THAT SHOULD SPEAK OUT WILL REMAIN SILENT!”
Was Our Lady of La Salette just “having a bad day at the office” the day she revealed all this? Not really―it has been more or less the same message whenever she has appeared in modern times. At Fatima, she must have had another “bad day at the office”―for she said that “many nations will be annihilated!” Sister Lucia of Fatima later revealed that that Our Blessed Mother had told herself (Lucia), Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, p. 27).
Akita, in 1973, must have been yet another “bad day at the office” for Our Lady, the sweet Mother of Mercy, for it was there that she added: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!”
Once again, such thoughts are not “comfy”, “cosy”, “sweet” and “sugary”―but they are realistically uncomfortable and frighteningly true! It is the neglect of these things that causes the vast majority of mankind to be lost―another scary thought, but uncomfortably true! Not that God wishes to damn anyone―“Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23)―but “be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). In this same context, God says: “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil―that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaias 5:20). Sadly, that is the case today―where sin is thought to be good and the condemnation of sin is thought to be evil. Where same-sex unions are thought to be ‘good’ and the condemnation of them is thought to be an evil “hate crime”! Where abortion is thought to be ‘good’ and condemnation of abortion is another “hate crime”! Where contraception, cohabitation, fornication, drug use, alcoholism, pornography, and a whole host of other sins are thought to be ‘good’ and the condemnation of them is evil.
What Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette predicted is now coming true before our very eyes: “Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... because of the corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education … People will think of nothing but amusement … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent! (Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette). The sad thing being, we are no longer shocked, we no longer really care, we do not pray against it, we do no sacrifices to stem the tide and change things―we know it is there, we might not like it, but we say and do nothing.
Our Lady of La Salette told the children, with regard to her “not so sweet message”, “AND SO, MY CHILDREN, YOU WILL PASS THIS ON TO ALL MY PEOPLE!” Do we do that? Or are we guilty by neglect as condemned by Our Lady of Good Success: “THOSE THAT SHOULD SPEAK OUT WILL REMAIN SILENT!” Are you silent in your family? Have you lost the sense of sin, or are you in the process of losing your sense of sin? Have you capitulated to thinking of the world? Do the words of Sister Lucia of Fatima, where she repeats the thoughts of Our Lady, apply to you too?
In an interview with Fr. Fuentes on December 26th, 1957, Sr. Lucia told him: “Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one has paid attention to her message―neither the good nor the bad. The good, because they continue on the road of goodness, but without paying mind to this message. The bad, because of their sins, do not see God’s chastisement already presently falling on them―they also continue on their path of badness, ignoring the message. But, Father, you must believe me that God is going to punish the world and chastise it in a terrible way― they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them! The chastisement from Heaven is imminent. It will be very sad for everyone, and far from a happy thing if the world does not pray and do penance before then! I cannot give more details, because it is still a secret!”
The Price of Silence
The words spoken by God to the prophet Ezechiel are equally applicable to all true Catholics today―even more so if Our Lady of La Salette and Our Lady of Fatima commanded little children to pass on her messages and prophecies to everyone! Here are those words, which we also should take to heart as a warning for ourselves:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: “When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them: and he see the sword coming upon the land, and sound the trumpet and tell the people, then he that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and doth not look to himself, if the sword come and cut him off―then his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him―but if he look to himself, he shall save his life. And if the watchman see the sword coming and sound not the trumpet, and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come and cut off a soul from among them, he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman. So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel! Therefore thou shalt hear the word from My mouth, and shalt tell it them from Me. When I say to the wicked: “O wicked man, thou shalt surely die!”―if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, then that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou tell the wicked man, so that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way: then he shall die in his iniquity―but thou hast delivered thy own soul. Thou, therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: “Thus you have spoken, saying: ‘Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them: how then can we live?’ Say to them: ‘As I live,’ saith the Lord God, ‘I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezechiel 33:1-11).
Unfortunately, we, the watchmen fail to see and as watchdogs, we fail to bark! “His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant―dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams!” (Isaias 56:10).
Same Old Message! Same Old Reaction! Same Old Result! O Hell!
Holy Scripture is actually not very popular! Why? Because of its inescapable, clear, hard-hitting, simple truths. Scripture leaves no hiding places―unless, like Protestants, you quote it selectively, leaving the “hard-to-take” truths aside or stuffing them in the closet or under a stone. The truth and logic of Holy Scripture leaves little or no room for arguing or debating―it is what it is, and, being at times so simple, its truth and its meaning cannot be misinterpreted. Like God, the truths of Scripture will not change and they are the yardstick by which we have to measure what we believe and what we say. On the point of sin and penance (payment for sin), there is no wiggle-room, as the following quotes show. The message is the same all throughout the Old and New Testaments. It is message that we need to take on board and communicate to those who surround―even those above us, if necessary, just as the children at La Salette and Fatima were told to communicate Our Lady’s message to everyone.
First of all, both the Old and New Testaments lay down the basic law: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength!” (Deuteronomy 6:5) … “What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways, and love Him, and serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12) … “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment! And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.’” (Matthew 22:37-40).
Secondly, how do show our love for God? “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). “And all the days of thy life have God in thy mind: and take heed thou never consent to sin, nor transgress the commandments of the Lord our God!” (Tobias 4:6). If we keep the commandments of God, we show that we love Him―if we break the commandments of God, then we commit sin.
Thirdly, “Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death!” (James 1:15) … “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die!” (Ezechiel 18:20). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) … “By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Fourthly, God gives the sinner a chance: “Is it My will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all My commandments, and do judgment and justice―then living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done! In his justice, which he hath wrought, he shall live!” (Ezechiel 18:21-23). “Let him do penance for his sin” (Leviticus 5:5). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). “There is none that doth penance for his sin!” (Jeremias 8:6). “Hear, I beseech you, My words, and do penance!” (Job 21:2). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
The Stupidity of Man
Most souls perish! Why? Because they have not truly repented of their grave sins, confessed them and done penance for them. Simple! Clear! Logical! Frightening! Why do they not repent? Why do they not confess? Why do they fail to do penance? Because they have lost the sense of sin! They have been fooled, hoodwinked, brainwashed and blinded by the gospel of world, which they have been happily drinking , despite the warnings of God not to mix with the world, not to listen to the world, not to follow the world and not to love the world―for the world is an enemy of God. If you fail to see that, fail to understand that, fail to believe that, fail to act on that―then there is nothing that God can do for you, except to allow you to blindly follow your own blind will until, following the blind world, you fall into the pit. Once again, Holy Scripture shows this clearly, simply and without any possible misinterpretation of its words:
“In this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God, and keep His commandments. For this is the charity of God, that we keep His commandments―and His commandments are not heavy. For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:2-4). “The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
To the worldlings Our Lord says: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To His followers He says: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you!” (John 15:18). “The world hateth Me because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil!” (John 7:7). “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal!” (John 12:25).
“If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15).
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
What Can You Not Understand?
What is there that is so hard to understand about those simple, clear, logical words of God from Holy Scripture? Yet many do not want to hear them! They do not want to understand them! They do not want to believe them! They do not want to follow them! “O foolish people without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not!” (Jeremias 5:21). “They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart” (Isaias 44:18). “Let them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
The only thing modern-man wants to see, look at, listen to and do―is spend hours watching TV, hours on the smartphone or tablet or laptop, browsing the world, reading, listening to and watching the gospel of world unfold on social media, Youtube, worldly websites, gossipy forums, salacious slander, accusatory articles, worldly trivial news, etc., etc., etc. Rather than believe Our Lord’s words that we cannot serve God and mammon, today mammon is on par with God―in some cases even way ahead of God, judging by the time given to mammon instead of God!
The Ember Days and the Season of Lent should be the time of a much needed reality check―not virtual reality, but real reality! How do we really stand with God? Remember that even with His Chosen People, “with most of them God was not well pleased!” (1 Corinthians 10:5). It would be amiss to review the whole passage from which that quote comes―especially so since it was the reading at Mass for Septuagesima Sunday:
“For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased―for they were overthrown in the desert! Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12).
The above passage perfectly describes the modern Catholic world! Except that today we have far more idols than they had―and our “desert” is a “spiritual desert” located in the oasis of the materialistic malls and stores of the world. With most of us, God is not well pleased―which Our Lady has made abundantly clear in her many modern day apparitions. Use this Lent as a springboard to the rest of your life, to detach yourself―and your nearest and dearest―from the enemy of God (the world and all it offers) and start to pay back by penance for the worldly love and addictions of the past, and begin to learn how to love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, whole mind, whole soul and whole strength! “For charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8) and “He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20).
Tuesday March 12th
Article 16
The Thoughts and Ways of the Lord Are Not Our Thoughts and Ways!
Article 16
The Thoughts and Ways of the Lord Are Not Our Thoughts and Ways!
So You Know Better Than God, Huh?
There is a quote from God that everyone should engrave in their minds and in their hearts―but not tattoo on their bodies (for that would be sinful, to deface the body). The quote in question, which cannot be questioned, is: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:1-9). Those are potentially soul-saving words, which, if taken to heart and committed to mind, should lead to the next stage, of which Holy Scripture speaks: “And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28).
What is Good for the Goose is Not Good Enough for Us
The problem is that we do not always see God’s thoughts and ways as being “good” for us. The way we often think and act―even though we might not admit it or even be aware of it―indicates or implies that we know better than God as to what should be happening and that our plan is better than God’s plan. Do you agree, or are you in a state of denial? Okay, let us look at this another way (since God’s ways are not our ways)―we rejoice when things turn out to our profit and we are saddened when things work out badly. Unfortunately, we value “short-term” goods and successes more than we value “long-term” goods and successes. In other words, we look for a false happiness in this world in place of a true happiness in the next world. Of course, we would prefer to “have our cake and eat it”―but Our Lord says: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24), and He tells us “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21). Even Our Lady echoes the same message when speaking to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” Which is why Our Lord warned: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Bland Bread of Life versus the Chocolate Cream Cake of the World
Yet many happily exchange their eternal happiness for earthly happiness and are happy enough with that until they die and find out what real happiness is and what they have missed-out on for eternity. We have all done it, some are still doing it! We want our cake and we want to it―we give God lip service and serve the world with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength. We receive the plain, bland-tasting, unattractive Bread of Life on Sunday and we greedily gobble the sugary, multi-layered, fruit filled, chocolate studded, ice-cream topped cake of the world for the rest of the week―which the devil and the world is only too pleased to give away at cheap, discounted prices or even for free!
We seek wealth and riches―or at least a comfortable way of life―but this does not seem to be according to God’s “thought” or God’s way! For a start, Our Lord chose to come and live in relative poverty―even though He wasn’t the poorest man in the world, He was extremely far from being rich and wealthy―from the little that was given to Him during the three years of His public ministry, Our Lord gave a lot it away, which rankled and irritated the money greedy petty thief who held Our Lord’s purse strings―Judas.
Our Lord put the world and its possessions in opposition to the Kingdom of Heaven, when He said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). To confirm this preference for poverty over riches, Our Lord said to the sincere, good, but rich young man who desired perfection and eternal life:
“Jesus saith to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions [Today, many people must have far more possessions than that rich young man had in his day!]. . Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible. Then Peter answering, said to Him: ‘Behold we have left all things, and have followed Thee! What therefore shall we have?’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed Me, and every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting!” (Matthew 19:16-29).
Don’t Waste Time and Money on What Fails to Satisfy!
The quote, about God’s thoughts and ways, can be seen here in its full context. When God spoke through His prophet Isaias, saying: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:1-9), these were said during the captivity and exile of the Jews in Babylon, but at the time of Babylon’s fall to the invading and conquering Persians. Rumors began to circulate that the Jews would be allowed to return home. Isaias is referring to this possibility of a return to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity in Babylon and his words find a skeptical audience. He tells them that their liberation was an invitation to celebrate; that their time of exile had come to an end; that their “prison sentence” was over. Even the morally questionable were invited to the celebration. The people would be as one again. And they would be with their God again. Thus God said:
“All you that thirst, come to the waters! And you, that have no money, make haste, buy, and eat! Come ye, buy wine and milk, without money and without any price! Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doth not satisfy you? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat that which is good, and your soul shall be delighted in fatness. Incline your ear and come to Me! … Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found! Call upon Him, while He is near! Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God: for He is bountiful to forgive. For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:1-9).
Yet, sadly, after 70 years of captivity―where several new generations had been born and raised away from Jerusalem and were accustomed to living in the worldly Babylon―the news of a possible return to the remains of a destroyed Jerusalem, was greeted with as much enthusiasm as the news of an approaching Lent is greeted by Catholics today―who have grown so accustomed to comfortable and worldly lifestyle that a spiritual good (fasting) is seen as an evil which saddens. We pine for the ‘bread’ of the world, and eschew or spit-out the less tasty Bread of the Word of God, of which Jesus said, when tempted by devil in the desert: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4).
Unfortunately, today most Catholics live on the ‘bread’ of the world, following the ‘ways and thoughts’ of the world, rather than the thoughts, words and ways of God. Of such, Holy Scripture says: “Many walk, of whom I have told you often―and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18-19). When you care for earthly things, worldly pleasures, comfort and ease, fun and entertainment, then you instinctively develop a dislike for the cross and suffering, or even a detestation for the cross and suffering. The “thoughts and ways of the Lord” become abhorrent, unfair, too difficult, too demanding―to the point that we are tempted to cry out with the Chosen People of old: “The way of the Lord is not right!” (Ezechiel 18:25)―to which God answers: “Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel! Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse?”
Rejecting the Ways of God
Both Catholics and Protestants have increasingly rejected the words of God. Both nations and families have increasingly abandoned God’s ways and care little for His thoughts. The Catholic Church―once a bastion of truth and morality―has become a bastard of lies and immorality by copulating with the world. The priesthood and religious orders are increasingly fulfilling Our Lady of La Salette’s prediction: “The priests have become cesspools of impurity … In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts.” Catholic families increasingly cease practicing their Faith and no longer regularly attend Sunday Mass, because, as Our Lady foretold, “[Only a] small number of souls, who are hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... because of the corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education … People will think of nothing but amusement … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent! (Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette).
Catholic Who Reject, Risk Being Rejected
How can you really profess or pretend to be a serious, true, committed Catholic when you mix into your Faith the poisons of the world? TV, certain kinds of music, visiting certain internet sites (meaning the worldly ones, not just the filthy ones), permitting certain fashions to your children, allowing unrestricted and addictive use of social media, the internet and other media? Such Catholics are Catholics in name only―but are not true Catholics. They form part of the “blizzard” of damned souls, or the “goats” on Our Lord’s left hand that are condemned. For God clearly makes known His THOUGHTS and His WAYS when He says (as Christ): “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24) and “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Most Catholics treasure their TV, their smartphone, their tablet or laptop, their worldly internet sites, their ‘music box’ of one kind or another, their social media, their parties, socials, barbecues, dances, sports and fashions, etc. They treasure these more than they treasure God―they have no intention of relinquishing those worldly preoccupations (that have become addictions), but intend to serve God and mammon for the rest of their lives. Their ways are not God’s way, their thoughts are not God’s thoughts, and little do they think or realize that they are on the broad wide road that leads to damnation: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Stop Pretending! Stop Two-Timing God!
In other words, why do you profess yourself to be a Catholic, but ignore the thoughts and ways of the Lord? Why are you not progressively and increasingly detaching yourself from the world and its thoughts and ways―for the world is an enemy of God: “Our Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world!” (Galatians 1:3-4). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31).
“If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
True Catholicism Demands True Bravery
True Catholicism requires that we fight against the world and not that we make peace with this world! “For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-16). We are called to fight against the world: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). Therefore we must “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) and not fight to cling onto the world and its thoughts and ways. Heaven is not for the half-hearted, but for the fighters, as the following words of Our Lord prove:
“The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:34-36). “For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony unto them … And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:9-13). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). It is not for nothing that elsewhere Holy Scripture says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1).
God’s Thoughts and Ways of Fighting is Not Our Thoughts and Way of Fighting
Yet God’s way of fighting―even though He has used extreme violence at times, not only by destroying the Egyptian army, as well many of the pagans that threatened the existence of His Chosen People, but even destroying some of His Chosen People, delivering them over to many decades of exile and oppression as in the Babylonian Captivity, and destroying Jerusalem in 70 AD, etc.―usually God fights in a way that scandalizes us. Our Lord allows Himself to be betrayed, tortured and put to death―thereby practicing what He preached about our fate at the hands of the world. He says to us to be content and happy when persecuted, maligned and suffering violence: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil―but if anyone strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other! … Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice! For your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you!” (Matthew 5:38-39; 5:10-12). We were not made “soldiers of Christ” in the Sacrament of Confirmation for nothing and for no reason or purpose! A soldier must fight! Fight whom? Fight the triple enemy―the devil, the world and our own passions and concupiscence: “Overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof!” (1 John 2:14-17).
God’s Idea of Weaponry Are Not Our Idea of Weaponry
When we think of a war or fighting, we think of punches, kicks, blows, stabbing, shooting, bombing, killing, annihilating. We imagine guns, artillery, tanks, armored vehicles, planes, missiles, etc. The weaponry that God has in mind is not what we have in mind―His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts. Rather than kill the enemy, God wants us to convert the enemy. Rather than shoot them down with bullets or kill them with bombs and missiles, God want us to shoot them with the truth and kill their errors with the ‘bombs’ and ‘missiles’ of the Word of God.
“They shall come upon thee well appointed with chariot and wheel, a multitude of people: they shall be armed against thee on every side with breastplate, and buckler [a small round shield], and helmet” (Ezechiel 23:24). “Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect! Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice! And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace! In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:13-17). “From His mouth came out a sharp two-edged sword” (Apocalypse 1:16). “And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two edged sword; that with it He may strike the nations!” (Apocalypse 19:15). “For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart!” (Hebrews 4:12). “Every word of God is fire tried!” (Proverbs 30:5). “The word of the Lord is tried by fire! He is the shield of all that trust in Him!” (2 Kings 22:31). “All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice” (2 Timothy 3:16).
Notice that it doesn’t say: “Therefore take unto you the armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day! Stand, therefore, in front of your TV set or computer screen, having your mind girt with latest posts on the internet, and having on the breastplate of social media, and your remote control in your left hand and your smartphone in your right hand, with the helmet of the virtual-reality before your eyes, and the headphones of music on your head, and your feet shod with the latest designer sneakers, trainers or basketball shoes, and yourself clothed with robes of the latest fashions.” Those are the weapons and armor of the enemy―the world. We should be weaning ourselves off those things and taking unto ourselves the true armor and weapons of God―less glamorous, but more effective and profitable.
The Spoils of War and the Fruits of Faith
When we speak of “the spoils of war” we mean the profits obtained as the result of winning a war or other military activity. These “spoils of war” are further categorized as “prizes of war” which are regarded as legitimate or lawful, and “war looting” which is regarded as illegitimate or unlawful.
It is the role of every Catholic―since they are soldiers of Christ by virtue of the Sacrament of Confirmation―to fight against the devil, the world their own flesh with its passions and concupiscence. The armor, as a whole and in general terms, is the Faith: “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world―and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). Yet many have thrown this ‘armor’ of Faith away―so much so that we are seeing the relevance of Our Lord’s prophecy when He said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
We know, of course, that He won’t find much Faith left―as Our Lady has foretold. She speaks of a general falling away from the Faith among both clergy, religious and laity: “As heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … People will think of nothing but amusement. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … A great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … [Only a] small number of souls, who are hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith” (Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette).
Our Lord will look to see what fruits of the Faith can be found, and, like the fruitless fig tree, the Church will have no noticeable fruit to be found. It is not that everyone will have lost the Faith in the strict sense―though many will have apostatized from the Faith―there will some who still ‘believe’, but they will also ‘believe’ the false gospel of the devil and the world. Believing alone is not enough―as Hoy Scripture says: “Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble!” (James 2:19). That is why Scripture adds: “Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself … But some man will say: ‘Thou hast faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:17-26). Just as a tree produces fruits, so must the Faith produce fruits, which we call the works of Faith―or, in day modern parlance, we say: “Actions (Faith with works) speak louder than words” (Faith without works).
St. Bede on Fruits and Works
In the Breviary or Divine Office readings from Matins of Tuesday after the First Sunday of Lent, Holy Mother Church presents us with a homily of St. Bede on the subject of Our Lord searching for our fruits or works of Faith. Here is what St. Bede writes in his Eleventh Homily for Lent, Volume 7:
“The same thing which the Lord showed in a figure by cursing the barren fig-tree, He afterwards more plainly put before us by casting the desecrators out of the Temple [in Jerusalem]. The tree herself had not sinned by bearing no fruit, when the Lord was hungry, for the time of figs was not yet come, but those priests had sinned who were carrying on worldly business in the Lord’s house, and who neglected to bring forth that fruit of godliness which they owed, and which the Lord was hungry to find in them. The Lord made the fig-tree to wither away under His curse, that all men who saw it, and all men who hear of it, might know that they will be condemned by the judgment of God, if they content themselves with the talk of godliness, without the solid fruit of good works, even as that barren fig tree was clothed only with a rustling garb of green leaves. (Faith without works is dead―be not hearers of the word, but doers also).
“But because the buyers and sellers understood not the parable of the barren fig-tree, the Lord brought upon them the stroke of the punishment that they had deserved, and cast out the traffickers in earthly things, from that house, wherein it had been commanded that nothing should be done save the work of God, sacrifices and prayers offered up to Him, and His word read, taught, and sung. And yet it may be believed that nothing was being sold or bought in the Temple save such things as were needful for the service thereof, as we read in another place (John 2:14), that when Jesus went into the Temple, He found those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and all these things were, without doubt, there for no other end but to be offered to God in His holy House, and were sold by the natives to those worshipers who came from a distance, to be so used. (Those oxen, sheep doves―TVs, smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc., and any and all other worldly things that distract us from God and hinder our worship of God).
“If, therefore, the Lord would not have to be sold in the temple, even such things as He willed should be offered therein―(on account, that is, of the greed or dishonesty which is often the stain of such transactions)―with what anger, suppose ye, would He visit such as He might find laughing or gossiping there, or yielding to any other sin. If the Lord suffer not to be carried on, in His house, such worldly business as may be freely done elsewhere, how much more shall such things as ought never to be done anywhere, draw down the anger of God if they be done in His own holy House.” (St. Bede the Venerable, Doctor of the Church, as quoted in the Breviary for Matins of the Tuesday after the 1st Sunday of Lent).
Not Everyone Produces Fruit from Faith
Fruits have to be cultivated and protected from the pests of the world―the same is true for the “Fruits of the Faith.” Fruits come from trees and trees come from seeds. Our Lord says as much in the parable about the Sower of the Seed. He explains that the “seed” that is sown is the “word of God”―but not all of the seed that is sown ends up becoming a tree or a plant that bears fruit. “The sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And other some fell upon a rock: and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And other some fell among thorns, and the thorns growing up with it, choked it. And other some fell upon good ground; and being sprung up, yielded fruit a hundredfold. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear; then the devil cometh, and taketh the word out of their heart, lest believing they should be saved. Now they upon the rock, are they who when they hear, receive the word with joy: and these have no roots; for they believe for a while, and in time of temptation, they fall away. And that which fell among thorns, are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit. But that on the good ground, are they who in a good and perfect heart, hearing the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience” (Luke 8:5-15).
The “No Nots”, the “Know Nots”, the “Know Knots” and the “No Knots”
As the philosophical axiom states: “Something cannot give what it has not got.” Our Lord basically says this is His parable: The seed withered away and could give no fruit because it had no moisture. Other seed could not give fruit because it had no roots. This is true of our Faith and what we do with it. We receive the seed of Faith in baptism, but it is received in SEED FORM. This seed of Faith has to watered, nourished and cultivated and protected from weeds and thorns, the “birds of the air” and other pests.
Those who are “NO NOTS” are those who say: “No! I will not water, nourish and cultivate and protect my seed of Faith from weeds and thorns, the birds of the air and other pests!”
The “KNOW NOTS” are those who want the Faith, but know not the Faith, or know very little about the Faith. Hence they give their seed of Faith too little moisture and too little nourishment. They do not nourish their Faith on the word of God through reading Holy Scripture and other spiritual books; they do not produce deep roots by meditation; they do not water the Faith with grace obtained by much prayer. They do something, but it is too little.
The “KNOW KNOTS” are those whose Faith is tangled knots by their imprudence in trying serve the world as well as God. They have sown many seeds of the world around their Faith, which, as they grow, choke and starve the Faith by stealing its nourishment and moisture―by taking up our time with unimportant or secondary materialistic, worldly or earthly matters. Time (nourishment) and love (moisture) that could and should be given to God―“thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength” (Mark 12:30)―that time and love is given to other things instead. Thus, like an embryo in its mother’s womb, their Faith gets all tangled and knotted and they strangle their Faith like the baby strangles on the umbilical cord―thus producing, not fruit, but dead fruit or a spiritual miscarriage.
The “NO KNOTS” are those who are not entangled at all with the things of the world and in whom there are no knots to be found to choke and strangle them. They are what Our Lord calls “the good ground, they who in a good and perfect heart, hearing the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience.”
Not Fruit By Magic, But By Hard Work
Of course we should be trying to know the thoughts and follow the ways of God―as taught and lived-out by Our Lord. The first Christians found this difficult. Every generation since then has found this difficult. But, as Jesus said: “With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26). “The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!” (Luke 18:27). However, God is not going to “wave a magic wand” and make us effortlessly attain our salvation. He will, however, help us by His grace and inspirations to carry our cross to our salvation. “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). The cross is the “good tree” that Jesus looks for in our lives―and the pains, sacrifices, mortifications and sufferings of the cross are the fruits that Jesus wants to find on that “good tree” of the cross. If you like, you could call those “fruits” of the “good tree” by another name―the “spoils of war” or the “legitimate prizes of war.”
In the reading from today’s Mass―Tuesday after the First Sunday of Lent―God stated: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts. And as the rain and the snow come down from Heaven, and return no more there, but soak the Earth and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater―so shall My word be, which shall go forth from My mouth. It shall not return to Me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it!” (Isaias 55:8-11). Is the word of God watering, seeding, growing and prospering in your soul? Are you doing what God sent you to do in this world? Or is your Faith returning to God void of any fruits―like the barren fig-tree, which Our Lord cursed because He found no fruit on its branches? As the reading in the Epistle from the First Sunday of Lent said: “Receive not the grace of God in vain. For He saith: ‘In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee!’ Behold, now is the acceptable time! Behold, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).
There is a quote from God that everyone should engrave in their minds and in their hearts―but not tattoo on their bodies (for that would be sinful, to deface the body). The quote in question, which cannot be questioned, is: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:1-9). Those are potentially soul-saving words, which, if taken to heart and committed to mind, should lead to the next stage, of which Holy Scripture speaks: “And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28).
What is Good for the Goose is Not Good Enough for Us
The problem is that we do not always see God’s thoughts and ways as being “good” for us. The way we often think and act―even though we might not admit it or even be aware of it―indicates or implies that we know better than God as to what should be happening and that our plan is better than God’s plan. Do you agree, or are you in a state of denial? Okay, let us look at this another way (since God’s ways are not our ways)―we rejoice when things turn out to our profit and we are saddened when things work out badly. Unfortunately, we value “short-term” goods and successes more than we value “long-term” goods and successes. In other words, we look for a false happiness in this world in place of a true happiness in the next world. Of course, we would prefer to “have our cake and eat it”―but Our Lord says: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24), and He tells us “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21). Even Our Lady echoes the same message when speaking to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!” Which is why Our Lord warned: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Bland Bread of Life versus the Chocolate Cream Cake of the World
Yet many happily exchange their eternal happiness for earthly happiness and are happy enough with that until they die and find out what real happiness is and what they have missed-out on for eternity. We have all done it, some are still doing it! We want our cake and we want to it―we give God lip service and serve the world with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength. We receive the plain, bland-tasting, unattractive Bread of Life on Sunday and we greedily gobble the sugary, multi-layered, fruit filled, chocolate studded, ice-cream topped cake of the world for the rest of the week―which the devil and the world is only too pleased to give away at cheap, discounted prices or even for free!
We seek wealth and riches―or at least a comfortable way of life―but this does not seem to be according to God’s “thought” or God’s way! For a start, Our Lord chose to come and live in relative poverty―even though He wasn’t the poorest man in the world, He was extremely far from being rich and wealthy―from the little that was given to Him during the three years of His public ministry, Our Lord gave a lot it away, which rankled and irritated the money greedy petty thief who held Our Lord’s purse strings―Judas.
Our Lord put the world and its possessions in opposition to the Kingdom of Heaven, when He said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). To confirm this preference for poverty over riches, Our Lord said to the sincere, good, but rich young man who desired perfection and eternal life:
“Jesus saith to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions [Today, many people must have far more possessions than that rich young man had in his day!]. . Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible. Then Peter answering, said to Him: ‘Behold we have left all things, and have followed Thee! What therefore shall we have?’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed Me, and every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting!” (Matthew 19:16-29).
Don’t Waste Time and Money on What Fails to Satisfy!
The quote, about God’s thoughts and ways, can be seen here in its full context. When God spoke through His prophet Isaias, saying: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:1-9), these were said during the captivity and exile of the Jews in Babylon, but at the time of Babylon’s fall to the invading and conquering Persians. Rumors began to circulate that the Jews would be allowed to return home. Isaias is referring to this possibility of a return to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity in Babylon and his words find a skeptical audience. He tells them that their liberation was an invitation to celebrate; that their time of exile had come to an end; that their “prison sentence” was over. Even the morally questionable were invited to the celebration. The people would be as one again. And they would be with their God again. Thus God said:
“All you that thirst, come to the waters! And you, that have no money, make haste, buy, and eat! Come ye, buy wine and milk, without money and without any price! Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doth not satisfy you? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat that which is good, and your soul shall be delighted in fatness. Incline your ear and come to Me! … Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found! Call upon Him, while He is near! Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God: for He is bountiful to forgive. For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:1-9).
Yet, sadly, after 70 years of captivity―where several new generations had been born and raised away from Jerusalem and were accustomed to living in the worldly Babylon―the news of a possible return to the remains of a destroyed Jerusalem, was greeted with as much enthusiasm as the news of an approaching Lent is greeted by Catholics today―who have grown so accustomed to comfortable and worldly lifestyle that a spiritual good (fasting) is seen as an evil which saddens. We pine for the ‘bread’ of the world, and eschew or spit-out the less tasty Bread of the Word of God, of which Jesus said, when tempted by devil in the desert: “Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God!” (Matthew 4:4).
Unfortunately, today most Catholics live on the ‘bread’ of the world, following the ‘ways and thoughts’ of the world, rather than the thoughts, words and ways of God. Of such, Holy Scripture says: “Many walk, of whom I have told you often―and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18-19). When you care for earthly things, worldly pleasures, comfort and ease, fun and entertainment, then you instinctively develop a dislike for the cross and suffering, or even a detestation for the cross and suffering. The “thoughts and ways of the Lord” become abhorrent, unfair, too difficult, too demanding―to the point that we are tempted to cry out with the Chosen People of old: “The way of the Lord is not right!” (Ezechiel 18:25)―to which God answers: “Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel! Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse?”
Rejecting the Ways of God
Both Catholics and Protestants have increasingly rejected the words of God. Both nations and families have increasingly abandoned God’s ways and care little for His thoughts. The Catholic Church―once a bastion of truth and morality―has become a bastard of lies and immorality by copulating with the world. The priesthood and religious orders are increasingly fulfilling Our Lady of La Salette’s prediction: “The priests have become cesspools of impurity … In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts.” Catholic families increasingly cease practicing their Faith and no longer regularly attend Sunday Mass, because, as Our Lady foretold, “[Only a] small number of souls, who are hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue … Disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth ... because of the corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education … People will think of nothing but amusement … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent! (Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette).
Catholic Who Reject, Risk Being Rejected
How can you really profess or pretend to be a serious, true, committed Catholic when you mix into your Faith the poisons of the world? TV, certain kinds of music, visiting certain internet sites (meaning the worldly ones, not just the filthy ones), permitting certain fashions to your children, allowing unrestricted and addictive use of social media, the internet and other media? Such Catholics are Catholics in name only―but are not true Catholics. They form part of the “blizzard” of damned souls, or the “goats” on Our Lord’s left hand that are condemned. For God clearly makes known His THOUGHTS and His WAYS when He says (as Christ): “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24) and “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth … But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven … For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also!” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Most Catholics treasure their TV, their smartphone, their tablet or laptop, their worldly internet sites, their ‘music box’ of one kind or another, their social media, their parties, socials, barbecues, dances, sports and fashions, etc. They treasure these more than they treasure God―they have no intention of relinquishing those worldly preoccupations (that have become addictions), but intend to serve God and mammon for the rest of their lives. Their ways are not God’s way, their thoughts are not God’s thoughts, and little do they think or realize that they are on the broad wide road that leads to damnation: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Stop Pretending! Stop Two-Timing God!
In other words, why do you profess yourself to be a Catholic, but ignore the thoughts and ways of the Lord? Why are you not progressively and increasingly detaching yourself from the world and its thoughts and ways―for the world is an enemy of God: “Our Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world!” (Galatians 1:3-4). “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “Adulterers! Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God!” (James 4:4). “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “That we be not condemned with this world!” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world!” (1 John 2:16). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31).
“If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still act as though living in the world?” (Colossians 2:20). “For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out!” (1 Timothy 6:7). “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
True Catholicism Demands True Bravery
True Catholicism requires that we fight against the world and not that we make peace with this world! “For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-16). We are called to fight against the world: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places!” (Ephesians 6:12). Therefore we must “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12) and not fight to cling onto the world and its thoughts and ways. Heaven is not for the half-hearted, but for the fighters, as the following words of Our Lord prove:
“The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household!” (Matthew 10:34-36). “For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony unto them … And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:9-13). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you!” (John 15:19). It is not for nothing that elsewhere Holy Scripture says: “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1).
God’s Thoughts and Ways of Fighting is Not Our Thoughts and Way of Fighting
Yet God’s way of fighting―even though He has used extreme violence at times, not only by destroying the Egyptian army, as well many of the pagans that threatened the existence of His Chosen People, but even destroying some of His Chosen People, delivering them over to many decades of exile and oppression as in the Babylonian Captivity, and destroying Jerusalem in 70 AD, etc.―usually God fights in a way that scandalizes us. Our Lord allows Himself to be betrayed, tortured and put to death―thereby practicing what He preached about our fate at the hands of the world. He says to us to be content and happy when persecuted, maligned and suffering violence: “You have heard that it hath been said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!’ But I say to you not to resist evil―but if anyone strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other! … Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice! For your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you!” (Matthew 5:38-39; 5:10-12). We were not made “soldiers of Christ” in the Sacrament of Confirmation for nothing and for no reason or purpose! A soldier must fight! Fight whom? Fight the triple enemy―the devil, the world and our own passions and concupiscence: “Overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof!” (1 John 2:14-17).
God’s Idea of Weaponry Are Not Our Idea of Weaponry
When we think of a war or fighting, we think of punches, kicks, blows, stabbing, shooting, bombing, killing, annihilating. We imagine guns, artillery, tanks, armored vehicles, planes, missiles, etc. The weaponry that God has in mind is not what we have in mind―His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts. Rather than kill the enemy, God wants us to convert the enemy. Rather than shoot them down with bullets or kill them with bombs and missiles, God want us to shoot them with the truth and kill their errors with the ‘bombs’ and ‘missiles’ of the Word of God.
“They shall come upon thee well appointed with chariot and wheel, a multitude of people: they shall be armed against thee on every side with breastplate, and buckler [a small round shield], and helmet” (Ezechiel 23:24). “Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect! Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice! And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace! In all things taking the shield of Faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:13-17). “From His mouth came out a sharp two-edged sword” (Apocalypse 1:16). “And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two edged sword; that with it He may strike the nations!” (Apocalypse 19:15). “For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart!” (Hebrews 4:12). “Every word of God is fire tried!” (Proverbs 30:5). “The word of the Lord is tried by fire! He is the shield of all that trust in Him!” (2 Kings 22:31). “All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice” (2 Timothy 3:16).
Notice that it doesn’t say: “Therefore take unto you the armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day! Stand, therefore, in front of your TV set or computer screen, having your mind girt with latest posts on the internet, and having on the breastplate of social media, and your remote control in your left hand and your smartphone in your right hand, with the helmet of the virtual-reality before your eyes, and the headphones of music on your head, and your feet shod with the latest designer sneakers, trainers or basketball shoes, and yourself clothed with robes of the latest fashions.” Those are the weapons and armor of the enemy―the world. We should be weaning ourselves off those things and taking unto ourselves the true armor and weapons of God―less glamorous, but more effective and profitable.
The Spoils of War and the Fruits of Faith
When we speak of “the spoils of war” we mean the profits obtained as the result of winning a war or other military activity. These “spoils of war” are further categorized as “prizes of war” which are regarded as legitimate or lawful, and “war looting” which is regarded as illegitimate or unlawful.
It is the role of every Catholic―since they are soldiers of Christ by virtue of the Sacrament of Confirmation―to fight against the devil, the world their own flesh with its passions and concupiscence. The armor, as a whole and in general terms, is the Faith: “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world―and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4). Yet many have thrown this ‘armor’ of Faith away―so much so that we are seeing the relevance of Our Lord’s prophecy when He said: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
We know, of course, that He won’t find much Faith left―as Our Lady has foretold. She speaks of a general falling away from the Faith among both clergy, religious and laity: “As heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God … People will think of nothing but amusement. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls … A great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … [Only a] small number of souls, who are hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith” (Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette).
Our Lord will look to see what fruits of the Faith can be found, and, like the fruitless fig tree, the Church will have no noticeable fruit to be found. It is not that everyone will have lost the Faith in the strict sense―though many will have apostatized from the Faith―there will some who still ‘believe’, but they will also ‘believe’ the false gospel of the devil and the world. Believing alone is not enough―as Hoy Scripture says: “Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble!” (James 2:19). That is why Scripture adds: “Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself … But some man will say: ‘Thou hast faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? … Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also Faith without works is dead!” (James 2:17-26). Just as a tree produces fruits, so must the Faith produce fruits, which we call the works of Faith―or, in day modern parlance, we say: “Actions (Faith with works) speak louder than words” (Faith without works).
St. Bede on Fruits and Works
In the Breviary or Divine Office readings from Matins of Tuesday after the First Sunday of Lent, Holy Mother Church presents us with a homily of St. Bede on the subject of Our Lord searching for our fruits or works of Faith. Here is what St. Bede writes in his Eleventh Homily for Lent, Volume 7:
“The same thing which the Lord showed in a figure by cursing the barren fig-tree, He afterwards more plainly put before us by casting the desecrators out of the Temple [in Jerusalem]. The tree herself had not sinned by bearing no fruit, when the Lord was hungry, for the time of figs was not yet come, but those priests had sinned who were carrying on worldly business in the Lord’s house, and who neglected to bring forth that fruit of godliness which they owed, and which the Lord was hungry to find in them. The Lord made the fig-tree to wither away under His curse, that all men who saw it, and all men who hear of it, might know that they will be condemned by the judgment of God, if they content themselves with the talk of godliness, without the solid fruit of good works, even as that barren fig tree was clothed only with a rustling garb of green leaves. (Faith without works is dead―be not hearers of the word, but doers also).
“But because the buyers and sellers understood not the parable of the barren fig-tree, the Lord brought upon them the stroke of the punishment that they had deserved, and cast out the traffickers in earthly things, from that house, wherein it had been commanded that nothing should be done save the work of God, sacrifices and prayers offered up to Him, and His word read, taught, and sung. And yet it may be believed that nothing was being sold or bought in the Temple save such things as were needful for the service thereof, as we read in another place (John 2:14), that when Jesus went into the Temple, He found those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and all these things were, without doubt, there for no other end but to be offered to God in His holy House, and were sold by the natives to those worshipers who came from a distance, to be so used. (Those oxen, sheep doves―TVs, smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc., and any and all other worldly things that distract us from God and hinder our worship of God).
“If, therefore, the Lord would not have to be sold in the temple, even such things as He willed should be offered therein―(on account, that is, of the greed or dishonesty which is often the stain of such transactions)―with what anger, suppose ye, would He visit such as He might find laughing or gossiping there, or yielding to any other sin. If the Lord suffer not to be carried on, in His house, such worldly business as may be freely done elsewhere, how much more shall such things as ought never to be done anywhere, draw down the anger of God if they be done in His own holy House.” (St. Bede the Venerable, Doctor of the Church, as quoted in the Breviary for Matins of the Tuesday after the 1st Sunday of Lent).
Not Everyone Produces Fruit from Faith
Fruits have to be cultivated and protected from the pests of the world―the same is true for the “Fruits of the Faith.” Fruits come from trees and trees come from seeds. Our Lord says as much in the parable about the Sower of the Seed. He explains that the “seed” that is sown is the “word of God”―but not all of the seed that is sown ends up becoming a tree or a plant that bears fruit. “The sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And other some fell upon a rock: and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And other some fell among thorns, and the thorns growing up with it, choked it. And other some fell upon good ground; and being sprung up, yielded fruit a hundredfold. The seed is the word of God. And they by the way side are they that hear; then the devil cometh, and taketh the word out of their heart, lest believing they should be saved. Now they upon the rock, are they who when they hear, receive the word with joy: and these have no roots; for they believe for a while, and in time of temptation, they fall away. And that which fell among thorns, are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit. But that on the good ground, are they who in a good and perfect heart, hearing the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience” (Luke 8:5-15).
The “No Nots”, the “Know Nots”, the “Know Knots” and the “No Knots”
As the philosophical axiom states: “Something cannot give what it has not got.” Our Lord basically says this is His parable: The seed withered away and could give no fruit because it had no moisture. Other seed could not give fruit because it had no roots. This is true of our Faith and what we do with it. We receive the seed of Faith in baptism, but it is received in SEED FORM. This seed of Faith has to watered, nourished and cultivated and protected from weeds and thorns, the “birds of the air” and other pests.
Those who are “NO NOTS” are those who say: “No! I will not water, nourish and cultivate and protect my seed of Faith from weeds and thorns, the birds of the air and other pests!”
The “KNOW NOTS” are those who want the Faith, but know not the Faith, or know very little about the Faith. Hence they give their seed of Faith too little moisture and too little nourishment. They do not nourish their Faith on the word of God through reading Holy Scripture and other spiritual books; they do not produce deep roots by meditation; they do not water the Faith with grace obtained by much prayer. They do something, but it is too little.
The “KNOW KNOTS” are those whose Faith is tangled knots by their imprudence in trying serve the world as well as God. They have sown many seeds of the world around their Faith, which, as they grow, choke and starve the Faith by stealing its nourishment and moisture―by taking up our time with unimportant or secondary materialistic, worldly or earthly matters. Time (nourishment) and love (moisture) that could and should be given to God―“thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength” (Mark 12:30)―that time and love is given to other things instead. Thus, like an embryo in its mother’s womb, their Faith gets all tangled and knotted and they strangle their Faith like the baby strangles on the umbilical cord―thus producing, not fruit, but dead fruit or a spiritual miscarriage.
The “NO KNOTS” are those who are not entangled at all with the things of the world and in whom there are no knots to be found to choke and strangle them. They are what Our Lord calls “the good ground, they who in a good and perfect heart, hearing the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience.”
Not Fruit By Magic, But By Hard Work
Of course we should be trying to know the thoughts and follow the ways of God―as taught and lived-out by Our Lord. The first Christians found this difficult. Every generation since then has found this difficult. But, as Jesus said: “With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!” (Matthew 19:26). “The things that are impossible with men, are possible with God!” (Luke 18:27). However, God is not going to “wave a magic wand” and make us effortlessly attain our salvation. He will, however, help us by His grace and inspirations to carry our cross to our salvation. “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). The cross is the “good tree” that Jesus looks for in our lives―and the pains, sacrifices, mortifications and sufferings of the cross are the fruits that Jesus wants to find on that “good tree” of the cross. If you like, you could call those “fruits” of the “good tree” by another name―the “spoils of war” or the “legitimate prizes of war.”
In the reading from today’s Mass―Tuesday after the First Sunday of Lent―God stated: “My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts. And as the rain and the snow come down from Heaven, and return no more there, but soak the Earth and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater―so shall My word be, which shall go forth from My mouth. It shall not return to Me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it!” (Isaias 55:8-11). Is the word of God watering, seeding, growing and prospering in your soul? Are you doing what God sent you to do in this world? Or is your Faith returning to God void of any fruits―like the barren fig-tree, which Our Lord cursed because He found no fruit on its branches? As the reading in the Epistle from the First Sunday of Lent said: “Receive not the grace of God in vain. For He saith: ‘In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee!’ Behold, now is the acceptable time! Behold, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).
Monday March 11th
Article 15
The Devil and Temptation
Article 15
The Devil and Temptation
“Talk of the Devil, and He’s Bound to Appear!”
We have all heard that phrase used, perhaps more than once: “Talk of the devil, and he’s bound to appear!” But not to talk of the devil, is tantamount to spiritual suicide, as the following Church authorities will clearly testify. In a day and age, when many a pope and bishop (not to even mention Our Lady) has said that the devil has been unleashed into our world—to be negligent in talking about him and warning others of his presence, power and tactics, as well as pointing out the defenses and remedies against him, would be a grave sin of omission for which the negligent will one day have to answer and pay. So since the devil made his appearance in last Sunday’s Gospel of Our Lord’s temptation in the desert, we would do well to seriously reflect upon his impact in the world today and his impact on our families.
Words of Sister Lucia spoken in 1957 to Fr. Augustine Fuentes, a Mexican priest.
The importance of the subject is further underlined by the revelation Sister Lucia of Fatima made to Fr. Fuentes in 19557, when she revealed: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God or we belong to the demon; there is no middle ground.”
“The devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. The devil knows what it is that most offends God and which, in a short space of time, will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima interview with Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Sr. Josefa Menendez Speaks of the Devil
In one the visions of Hell that Our Lord allowed Sr. Josefa to endure, she heard the devil, speaking of different ways of tempting, said: “Insinuate yourselves by inducing carelessness in them ... but keep in the background, so that you are not found out ... by degrees they will become callous, and you will be able to incline them to evil. Tempt these others to ambition, to self-interest, to acquiring wealth without working, whether it be lawful or not. Excite some to sensuality and love of pleasure. Let vice blind them ... As to the remainder ... get in through the heart ... you know the inclinations of their hearts ... make them love ... love passionately ... work thoroughly ... take no rest ... have no pity. Let them cram themselves with food! It will make it all the easier for us ... Let them get on with their banqueting. Love of pleasure is the door through which you will reach them.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, February 3rd, 1923).
Ancient & Modern
There are many modern Catholics who do not like to refer to, nor rely on, quotes and opinions from the distant past, so, for their benefit, let us go against personal preferences and furnish some quotes from modern authors—popes and priests—to show any and all modern readers that the enemy is still the enemy, whether the times be ancient or modern. And the enemy has to spoken of and his tactics have to be revealed. Imagine not telling soldiers about their enemy for fear of frightening them; or failing to tell your children not to walk-off with strangers; or not telling them about the dangers of scorpions and snakes, for fear of scaring them! Our Lady did not fear showing a 7-year old, an 8-year old and a 10-year old a vision of Hell! So, here are your modern day quotes!
CAVEAT or WARNING!
The following quotes selected from various websites are merely a “reporting” of what was posted on those sites. There is no intent to recommend any or all of those websites. It is much like quoting from a secular newspaper’s website--it does not mean that we agree with all the content on that website. Nor do we endorse all that the modern popes say—for, as Pope St. Pius X said, the modernist will on one page of his writings give you the most beautiful traditional doctrine you can read, and then, on the next page, give you pure modernism. It is much like what is said of the devil: “Satan will admit nine truths in order to slip the lie on point number ten!”
► POPE FRANCIS AND THE (D)EVIL ONE
● Catholic Answers website
In fact, Pope Francis has shown himself to be a straight-talking preacher who isn’t afraid of using the kind of language that some in the dissenting camp might label as “negative” and “harsh.” I’ve lost count over how many times Pope Francis has used the words “devil”, “Satan”, “the Evil One”, and “the Enemy” in his homilies and various addresses. He has even quoted the French convert Leon Bloy, who said, “Whoever does not pray to God prays to the devil.”
(Catholic Answers website).
● Catholic News Agency (CAN) and EWTN News Service
Vatican City, May 14, 2013 (CNA/EWTN News). Christians who buy into Satan’s temptation to live selfishly, get swindled, while those who live life as a “gift” to others, are immersed in love and the Church community, Pope Francis said. “And, we must say, with Satan the payback is rotten. He always rips us off, always!” the Pope emphasized.
● Catholic Culture website
Pope Francis stated emphatically that the Devil’s existence is a reality, in his homily at a daily Mass on October 11th, 2103.
The Pope observed that some priests, when they preach about Gospel accounts of Jesus driving out demons, say that the stories refer to mental illness. It is true that sometimes mental illness can mimic demonic possession, the Pope conceded. “But it is also true that there was the devil!” “We should not be naïve,” the Pope continued. The devil is a reality, and refusing to recognize the struggle between Jesus and the devil is a way of only “halfway” accepting the salvific role of Jesus Christ. The Lord came to end “the enslavement the devil has over us,” the Pope said. He reminded his congregation of Christ’s words from the day’s Gospel: “Either you are with Me or you are against Me.” Pope Francis urged the faithful to guard against the devil, relying on the Holy Spirit and remaining vigilant against temptations.
► POPE FRANCIS ON THE DEVIL
● The Vatican Insider magazine
THE VATICAN INSIDER magazine ran an article entitled “To what extent does the Pope acknowledge the devil?” by their journalist Andrea Tornielli, on August 20, 2013. Here are some extracts from that article: “ ‘When one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil’―these were the words of Pope Francis in the homily of his first Mass as Pope, celebrated in the Sistine Chapel on the day after being elected ...
On March 24th, 2013, in St. Peter’s Square, while celebrating World Youth Day, he recalled the fact that a Christian’s joy comes not from owning many possessions but from encountering Jesus, ‘from knowing that with Him we are never alone, even when we come across problems and obstacles in life that seem insurmountable – and there are so many of them! That is when the enemy comes, when the devil comes.’
Furthermore, on May 4th, 2013, during the morning Mass at Santa Marta, Francis reflected upon the persecution of the Christians, speaking of the ‘hate of the prince of the world for those who have been saved and redeemed by Jesus.’” (THE VATICAN INSIDER article entitled “To what extent does the Pope acknowledge the devil?” by Andrea Tornielli, August 20, 2013).
► CATHOLIC CLERGY RUN WEBSITE “CATHOLIC PREACHING” ON POPE FRANCIS & THE DEVIL
Fr. Roger J. Landry, May 24, 2013
Pope Francis was elected in order to bring about the reform of the Church ... He is…seeking to repair the Church by addressing the deeper issues that have led to the problems in the Vatican and elsewhere. To reform means to bring back into shape. The call to reform presupposes that there has been a deformation. It begs the question of what caused the Church to get out of shape.
[During the papal pre-election speeches] Cardinal Bergoglio identified that the chief sickness ailing the Church is a spiritual worldliness. “When the Church … gives way to that very great evil which is spiritual worldliness (the worst evil that can come upon the Church)…” But how do those in the Church become spiritually worldly, setting our hearts and minds on the things of this world rather than the things of God? Pope Francis has been talking about. The chief cause of the corruption of the Church, the root of the deformation that has led to the need for reform, is through succumbing to the temptations of the devil.
Many have noted that Pope Francis speaks about the devil almost every other homily, but most have been responding to what he’s been saying with indifference or curiosity, not seriousness. We live in a world in which most regard the devil as a medieval superstition, a beast in red leotards carrying a pitchfork, and relegate him to the same existential category as tooth fairies and centaurs. Even within the Church, most bishops, pastors, theologians and catechists minimize the devil and seldom mention him, even though Jesus battled him, exorcised him, and taught us all to pray to the Father to be delivered from him.
Pope Francis, however, has been mentioning the devil since the beginning of his pontificate, because he knows he’s not a myth, and wants to help the rest of us recognize the presence of the serpentine saboteur.
During his first homily, when he returned to the Sistine Chapel the day after his election to celebrate the traditional Mass with his cardinal electors, he talked with somewhat shocking forthrightness about the evil one. “Anyone who doesn’t pray to the Lord prays to the devil,” he said, quoting Leon Bloy. “When we do not profess Jesus Christ, we profess the worldliness of the devil, a demonic worldliness.”
One of the chief problems facing the Church today is that most Catholics ignore the devil. If the TSA were as negligent with regard to terrorists as most of us are to the father of evil, we wouldn’t have any airplanes left. In the book length dialogue “On Heaven and Earth,” published in Spanish in 2010 and recently released in English, Cardinal Bergoglio [now Pope Francis] said, “I believe that the devil exists” and “his greatest achievement in these times has been to make us believe that he doesn’t exist. … His fruits are always destruction: division, hate and slander.”
Pope Francis talked about that destruction — and what our response needs to be to it — in a daily Mass homily on May 4th, 2013. “The origin of hatred is this: we are saved and the prince of this world, who does not want us to be saved, hates us and gives rise to the persecution that from the earliest times of Jesus continues until today. One must react to the devil as did Jesus, who replied with the word of God. With the prince of this world one cannot dialogue; … one can only respond with the word of God that defends us.”
Pope Francis’ waking us up to the presence and work of the devil in the Church today is something each of us must ponder and act upon.
On the day of our baptism, and in so many renewals over the years, each of us has renounced Satan, his evil works and his empty promises as a precondition for living by Faith in God. But many times those baptismal vows have just been said as a chorus of half-hearted “I do’s,” rather than pronounced with the seriousness with which loving spouses say and mean every word of their marital vows.
Pope Francis wants to assist us truly to renounce Satan and all his seductions, to refuse to dialogue with him and accept his lies, and to reject his call to live spiritually for ourselves instead of for God and others.
The devil who never sleeps — the one whom Jesus himself battled and called a “murderer from the beginning,” a “liar and the father of lies” and “the prince of this world” — will doing all he can to get you to ignore what Pope Francis has been saying and dismiss this column, so that he can continue his work of deformation.
But now’s the time for us to discern under which standard we’ve really been living and, like Pope Francis, choose Christ anew and completely.
► CIVILTÀ CATTOLICA, ROME’S CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER ON THE DEVIL
These hints that were repeatedly dropped were already picked up on by the press, and have prompted reflections from Fr. Giandomenico Mucci in Civiltà Cattolica. He wrote, “for several decades, Catholic preaching has forgotten about the devil, who is fully present in the very documents of Vatican II. Some theologians have welcomed the opinion whereby Satan is a fruit of human fantasy, a figure dreamt up in pagan areas, only to later penetrate into Jewish thought. This would explain the stir which was created among believers and non-believers alike when the Pope preached about the devil.”
Forgetting the devil is a phenomenon which has been particularly characteristic of the last fifty years. In order to highlight this very point, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a study in 1975, during the pontificate of Paul VI, under the title, “Christian Faith and demonology.” The study aimed to stymie any attempt to “demythify the centuries-old doctrine of the Church on Satan.” It recalls a great many quotes from the Gospels, the Book of Revelation, the Apostolic Letters, the Fathers of the Church, the Councils and the Papal Magisterium.
A considerable part of Fr. Mucci’s article includes long quotes from Paul VI’s famous speech, who reserved the catechesis of the general audience for this argument, stating that, “one of the greatest needs of the Church today is that of defending against the evil which we know to be the devil.” Pope Paul VI placed emphasis on the fact that, “evil is not simply a force in the background but rather truly present, a living being who is spiritual, perverse and who renders perverse. He is a horrifying reality, a mysterious force who spreads fear. Anyone who refuses to recognise his existence is distancing themselves from the framework of Biblical and Church teaching.” (also reported by THE VATICAN INSIDER article entitled “To what extent does the Pope acknowledge the devil?” by Andrea Tornielli, August 20, 2013).
► FR. MALACHI MARTIN ON SATAN AND THE VATICAN
Catholic priest and scholar Malachi Martin, formerly Professor of Palaeontology at the Vatican’s Pontifical Biblical Institute, and from 1958 Martin also served as a theological adviser to Cardinal Augustin Bea in the Vatican, later a Jesuit professor at Georgetown University, USA, and a confidant of Vatican insiders. Also an author of 17 books, among which his most significant works were The Scribal Character of The Dead Sea Scrolls (1958) and Hostage To The Devil (1976) which dealt with satanism, demonic possession, and exorcism. In the latter mentioned book, Martin references his experience as an exorcist. According to the book he assisted in several exorcisms. In 1996, he spoke of having performed thousands of minor exorcisms, and participated in a few hundred major exorcisms during his lifetime. Fr. Martin declared in a New York City interview: “Yes, it’s true. Lucifer is enthroned in the Catholic Church.”
Fr. Martin was also interviewed by The Fatima Crusader (Fr. Grunner’s organization), a well-known Catholic publication. He again repeated his allegations, and expressed his dismay and distress that the Catholic institution, of which he is a part, has grown so decadent and morally reprobate since the Vatican II Council of the 1960s. The contention that there are Satanists in Rome is “completely correct” said Martin, adding: “Anybody who is acquainted with the state of affairs in the Vatican in the last 35 years is well aware that the prince of darkness has and still has his surrogates in the court of St. Peter in Rome.”
► FR. GABRIEL AMORTH — ONE OF ROME’S CHIEF EXORCISTS — ON VATICAN & DEVIL
Even Father Gabriele Amorth, official chief exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, is aware of the existence of satanic cults, including the Clergy in Rome. In an excerpt of his “Memoirs” we read:
Question: “Satanists in the Vatican?”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “Yes, even in the Vatican there are members of Satanic cults.”
Question: “Who is involved? Is it simple priests or laymen?”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “There are priests, monsignors and even cardinals.”
Question: “Forgive me, Father Gabriel, but how do you know?”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “I know from people who reported to me how they got to know this directly. It is something, “confessed” several times by the Devil, himself, under obedience during the exorcisms.”
Question: “Was the Pope informed?”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “Of course he was informed! But he does what he can. It’s horrifying. Keep in mind also that Benedict XVI is a German Pope, who is from a nation decidedly averse to these things. In Germany, in fact, there are virtually no exorcists, yet the Pope believes. I had occasion to speak with him three times, while he was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. You bet he believes!...”
Question: “ Is it really true that Paul VI said: that ‘the smoke of Satan” entered the church?’”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences. It took someone like me – who was a nobody – to spread the alarm in order to get results.”
So, as stated by Father Amorth, Pope Benedict XVI is aware of the fact that, in the Vatican, there are cardinals, bishops and priests who are members of Satanic cults, “but he does what he can”!
► CRISIS MAGAZINE — SIN & SATAN
Advice for Preachers on Sin and Satan
by Regis Martin
I once knew a pastor whose homilies were so awful, so bone crushingly boring, … but while they may have been a tad bit thin theologically, they were always reassuringly thick with orthodoxy. So I didn’t really mind missing the spiritual wheat germ so much, because I figured at least he’s not trying to poison me. For real toxicity, one would have to go elsewhere.
And, believe me, I have gone elsewhere; indeed, over the years, I have been regularly assaulted by some of the best ‘hit and run’ homilists in the business. I’ll never forget a certain curate who preached one Sunday on sin, his point being that since we so rarely commit any, we should stop feeling guilty worrying about it.
“Haven’t you already opted fundamentally for God?” he asked. “Then why fuss over details? Details are for bookkeepers, not for Christians, who, loving Jesus and everyone else, are blessedly free to do what they will!” How very soothing it all sounded at the time, his honeyed words exuding great dollops of sweetness and light. Well that was all rather a long time ago, and I haven’t noticed the levels of sin diminishing all that much.
In other words, when preparing their homilies, priests and pastors mustn’t forget the long shadow cast by sin. Nor, while they’re at it, the devil himself, who was the first to live in love’s shadow, and has been wandering about the world ever since trying mightily to put out the lights. I mean, who else besides all those fallen and corrupt angels deserve the first word in a sermon on sin?
Ah, but Satan, we are told, achieved his master-stroke sometime in the nineteenth century, when he managed to persuade huge numbers of people to stop believing in him. Once that ruse got around—and, as always, educated opinion was sinfully eager to help it along—the devil was at liberty to do his worst. What then becomes of sin, in a world more and more stripped of belief in an Evil Intelligence, who is bent on bedeviling us with its false attractions? As Monsignor Ronald Knox once wryly put it: “It is so stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the devil when he is the only explanation of it.”
Any recovery of a sane and healthy sense of sin, therefore, crucially depends on getting people to believe once again in the devil. If the world and the flesh fell on his, and Adam’s, account, why ever not? “The devil is the number one enemy,” declared Pope Paul VI, “the source of all temptation … the sophistical perverter of man’s moral equipoise, the malicious seducer who knows how to penetrate us (through the senses, the imagination, desire, utopian logic or disordered social contacts) in order to spread error….”
And if papal testimony were not telling enough, particularly from the tragedy of one who felt, in his final days, “the very smoke of Satan” within the Temple of God [which is what Paul VI said before he died], Holy Scripture emphasizes that “the whole world is under the power of the evil one,” who is not called “the prince of this world” for nothing. So let the devil have his due, I say.
► THE IRISH CATHOLIC
The Devil in the World Today
The Devil has been a subject addressed surprisingly frequently by Pope Francis in the early months of his pontificate.
The same subject is addressed with rivaled frequency in the New Testament. However, in spite of this, the surprise somehow remains. The new Pope’s preaching, it seems, is much like his renewed approach to the papacy — unfamiliar. Pope Francis parts ways with the current preaching in the Church, which is silent about the Devil, or reduces him to a mere metaphor. Theology’s treatment of evil today, by and large, trivializes the Devil. It seems Pope Francis wants to call everyone back to face the reality of evil and educate them on how exactly to confront the Devil. One thing is certain. For this Pope, the Devil is not a myth, but a real person.
Hatred
In one of Francis’ recent morning homilies, the Pope said that not only is there a hatred in the world for Jesus and the Church, but that behind this spirit of the world is the Devil. Dialogue doesn’t work with the Devil; the only defense is the word of God, humility and meekness, especially in response to his works of hatred and persecution, Pope Francis said.
“Humility and meekness: These are the weapons that the prince of the world, the spirit of the world does not tolerate, because he makes proposals for worldly power, proposals of vanity, proposals for riches,” the Pope said.
“Many Christian communities are persecuted today, more now than in the early days of the Church: today, right now, on this day and at this hour,” he said. The reason for this persecution comes from the Devil and his hatred; the path of persecution “is a consequence of the hatred of the world and the prince of this hatred in the world.”
Persecutions
The Devil hates Christians, he said, because “we have been saved and the prince of the world doesn’t want us to be saved, he hates us and gave rise to the persecutions from the time of Jesus to today.” With his death and resurrection, Christ “ransomed us” and all humanity from worldly power and the Devil’s grasp, the Pope said.
Just as the Devil tried to trick and tempt Jesus, he tries to trick others, too, Pope Francis said. Jesus did not respond by bargaining with the Devil or trying to fight him on his own; he responded with the word of the God. “You cannot dialogue with the prince of this world. This is clear!” the Pope said. According to the Pope, the best defense against the Devil’s “seductions, fireworks and flattery” is Jesus, the word of God, and Jesus’ own example of humility and meekness, he said.
In speaking of the Devil, Francis demonstrates that he has very clearly in mind his biblical and theological foundations. But what exactly are these foundations? What do Catholics actually believe about Satan?
Seductive voice
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Behind the disobedient voice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy. Scripture and the Church’s tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called ‘Satan’ or the ‘Devil’.”
Throughout the Scriptures, we find mention of Satan, otherwise known as the Devil. The word “Satan” comes from the Hebrew word “satan”, meaning “the opposer” or “the adversary”; while “Devil” is derived from the Greek diabolos, meaning “the slanderer.”
The Church’s teaching on the subject is clear from its liturgy. At baptism, those to be baptized are called upon to reject Satan, his works, and his empty promises. The Church provides an official rite of exorcism, which presupposes the existence of Satan.
Pseudo-Reality or Virtual Reality
In 1975 the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship issued a document called Christian Faith and Demonology. It explained the Church’s teaching on the subject. This document quotes Pope Paul VI’s teaching regarding the devil. Neither Bible commentators nor theologians can neglect this caution, the document warns.
Just as Francis is right to preach about the Devil, he is right also to advise the faithful on how to combat such evil. Arming themselves with humility and meekness, Catholics can be confident that the power of God will always triumph over that of Satan; good over evil and love over hatred. As St John reminds us: “It was to destroy the Devil’s works that the Son of God revealed Himself” (1 John 3:8).
► MODERN PRIEST ON PREACHING ABOUT THE DEVIL
Father John Zuhlsdorf writes: “Before anything else, let it be said that, ‘God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it’ (1 Corinthians 10:13). Now…
“The greatest accomplishment of the Enemy of our souls is to deceive people that the Enemy doesn’t exist … that there is no Hell … that people can’t go to Hell … that no one is in Hell, blah blah blah. Let’s be clear about this. Catholics are obliged to believe in the existence of the Devil and of Hell. These are de fide doctrines taught by the Church without the possibility of error.
“The Devil exists! Fallen angels hate you with a malice no human can imagine! They have an intellect that surpasses our mere human faculties in a way that we can’t fathom. They never tire! They are relentless! They are real! If you don’t believe in the existence of malicious fallen angels, you are in serious risk of joining them in Hell. This is no joke!
“Hell is real! In Hell, the damned suffer the pain of sense and the pain of loss (hint: unending pain is a key feature of your eternity in Hell). We can choose to separate ourselves from God and go to Hell by sinning, by resisting grace, by failing to repent, by failing to do what we ought, by presuming that we are automatically saved. If, when you die ― and you will die ― you are not in the state of grace, if, when you die ― and it is going to happen to you ― you are not living the friendship of God, you will go to Hell. Once you are there, that’s it! There is no hope of ever changing your lot! There is no changing your mind. There is no possibility of leaving even after a million billion years!
“If you don’t believe in Hell, you will probably wind up there. And if you chose that fate, it would be better for you had you never been born (cf. Matthew 26:24).
“STOP. Spend a moment to examine your conscience.
“NOW. Try to imagine what goes through the mind of the damned soul during his first 30 seconds in Hell.
“I remind you of these harsh realities because I don’t want to go to Hell. Priests and bishops who don’t teach about Hell will probably wind up there. It is my job to keep as many of you as possible out of Hell. I will therefore tell you about Hell and then echo St. Augustine, who told his flock: ‘Nolo salvus esse sine vobis! … I don’t want to be saved without you!’
“We must be clear about the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell. Sure, we must also talk about Heaven and goodness and joy and kitties and sunshine and birthday cakes. Let’s get this Hell and Devil thing straightened out because it’s been neglected for far too long.
“We must also work to revive the Sacrament of Penance, which was instituted by Christ as the ordinary way our sins would be forgiven. Going to confession, making a sincere confession of all your mortal sins in kind and number, can keep you out of Hell. Got that? GO TO CONFESSION. What a victory for the demons of Hell it has been to run down the Sacrament of Penance until it is barely thought of in some parishes.
“Fathers, if you are parish priests and have the obligation to hear confessions, hearing confessions can help to keep you out of Hell. If you are parish priests and you don’t hear confessions or you won’t teach about confession, you will probably go to Hell. Just try to deny it! Just try!”
► THE CURÉ OF ARS: ST. JOHN VIANNEY
In Chapter Seven of Fr. Trochu’s book, The Curé d’Ars: St. John Vianney, we read of one priest questioning St. John Vianny’s assistant priest about St. John Vianney’s preaching habits:
“Did Fr. Vianney preach long sermons?” Mgr. Convert one day asked Fr. Drémieux.
The assistant priest replied: “Yes, long ones, and always on Hell. . . . He would strike his hands together, saying ‘My children, you are lost!’ Or he struck his breast. What a constitution he had! There are people who say there is no Hell. Ah, well! He believed in it!”
► FROM THE BOOK “RULES FOR DISCERNING SPIRITS” BY FR. BARRIELLE
“‘The life of man is a battle upon Earth’, said Job—[“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1)]. We must expect to fight continually for the whole of our lives. The difficulty is that in these battles, where we defend our souls from the attacks of the devil, one does not see the enemy ... We do not see those who attack us, because the devils are pure spirits ... The devil does all in his power to make us believe that he does not exist or to think not of him. It is then that he is able to act with all freedom. This is the reason for all these attempts to deny the existence of the angels that we hear repeated, sometimes even in the sacristies: because if there were no angels there would not be any devils.
“Many people do not realize the influences that a spirit can have on us. Someone will say to me: ‘Father, I’m down in the dumps!’
“I reply: ‘No, you are not down in the dumps. That does not exist. You have the devil hovering about you!’
“He exclaims: ‘Father, you see the devil everywhere! I’m down in the dumps because the sun is not out today, and when the weather is bad I’m sad, that’s all! It has nothing to do with the devil.’
“I tell him: ‘Exactly! Do you not know that the devil uses everything when coming to tempt you? He will use advantageously the bad weather, as a disposition. You just are not aware of the fact that if you are feeling sad, the devil is hovering about you. Beware!’
“As soon as one knows that it comes from the devil, it must be rejected without any discussion. My master of novices, Fr. Terradas said, ‘One does not play with the devil.’ He calls ‘playing with the devil’ the fact of tarrying with a thought that one knows to be not good, and thus, from the devil (while reassuring oneself, with a firm will, not to consent to it). Woe to him who consents to dialogue with the devil (who is much stronger that we). Eve succumbed because she ‘played’ with the devil. After having told her that God had forbidden it, the devil followed up with new reasons. Instead of cutting him short, she started to discuss with him.
“St. Bernard wrote: ‘Nemo repente fit pessimus’, meaning ‘Nobody becomes suddenly bad.’ We sometimes hear of priests falling, of great, exemplary Christians falling, etc. Know that it has not happened all of a sudden. For a long time, they have played with the devil ... Fr. Roothan said that this can also be applied to those who, without being in the state of mortal sin, are well entrenched in tepidity (lukewarmness). For example, those Christians and religious who have decided not to correct their venial sins. The devil reassures one in tepidity (lukewarmness), and it is very dangerous for their salvation. The good angel sends him grave warnings. Woe to those who pay no attention! It is in this way that laxity is introduced into many convents and even into Christian families. This is why the examination of conscience is so important. ‘Vigilate et orate!’ said Jesus in the Gospels: ‘Watch and pray!’ Woe to the Christian that is not on his guard! The devil will do with his soul as he pleases if he is not alert.
“ ‘All trouble comes from the devil,’ said St. John Berchmans, including moody temperaments and vivid emotions. Sometimes in the family, there is tension in the air. The wife loses her temper, the children are particularly unbearable, the father is boxing every one’s ears. Know that the devil is present! There, he wins every time... Foolish things are said and done, sin is committed more or less gravely, and more or less numerously. Watch! Pray! … St. Peter says to us, ‘Brethren, be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist ye, strong in the Faith!’ … The devil ‘roams about us,’ as St. Peter says, looking for our weak points in order to attack them. When you observe so many priests, religious and Christians, well‑advanced in the interior life, who later stagnate or even slide backwards, you wonder why. Whence did it come about? Out of a major difficulty? No! There was a slight inordinate attachment: gluttony or, more frequently, human respect, this accursed human respect which is the source of laxity and even of the damnation of so many people, even amongst the clergy.
“One of the first things the devil always does is to make people stop praying. No more meditations, spiritual reading, Rosaries, examinations of conscience, breviary, thanksgivings, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, confessions... No more Masses (or sacrilegious ones, which is worse!). No more devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, etc.” (Fr. Ludwig Barrielle, Rules for Discerning the Spirits).
CONCLUSION
It is absolutely necessary to speak about the devil and to speak about him often. If Blessed Pope Pius IX begged priests to preach more and preach often about Hell, then it is equally important to preach more and preach often about the devil. The enemy always benefits when he is “out of sight and out of mind.” It is a grave duty for priests, teachers and parents to continually bring the devil to mind and his tactics within our sight. How many souls are now in his clutches because of a false fear, a negligence, a silly sentimentality, hellish human respect, or being pressured to keep silent on the most destructive of the triple enemy: the devil, the flesh and the world. Let us reflect once more on what Sr. Josefa Menendez heard the devils speaking about, when she was mystically dragged down to Hell:
The devil, speaking of different ways of tempting, said: “Insinuate yourselves by inducing carelessness in them ... but keep in the background, so that you are not found out ... by degrees they will become callous, and you will be able to incline them to evil. Tempt these others to ambition, to self-interest, to acquiring wealth without working, whether it be lawful or not. Excite some to sensuality and love of pleasure. Let vice blind them ... As to the remainder ... get in through the heart ... you know the inclinations of their hearts ... make them love ... love passionately ... work thoroughly ... take no rest ... have no pity. Let them cram themselves with food! It will make it all the easier for us ... Let them get on with their banqueting. Love of pleasure is the door through which you will reach them.” (February 3rd, 1923).
Don’t play with devil ... Don’t let the devil play ... Don’t let your children just play, but teach them to pray and pray well ... Pull them out of the devil’s playground, which is the world of which he is prince ... Otherwise you are playing with their salvation, which may unexpectedly turn into damnation. “What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:15). “Now the sons of Heli [the high priest] were children of Belial, not knowing the Lord” (1 Kings 2:12). Make sure that “Belial shall no more pass through thee again, and is utterly cut off” (Nahum 1:15).
We have all heard that phrase used, perhaps more than once: “Talk of the devil, and he’s bound to appear!” But not to talk of the devil, is tantamount to spiritual suicide, as the following Church authorities will clearly testify. In a day and age, when many a pope and bishop (not to even mention Our Lady) has said that the devil has been unleashed into our world—to be negligent in talking about him and warning others of his presence, power and tactics, as well as pointing out the defenses and remedies against him, would be a grave sin of omission for which the negligent will one day have to answer and pay. So since the devil made his appearance in last Sunday’s Gospel of Our Lord’s temptation in the desert, we would do well to seriously reflect upon his impact in the world today and his impact on our families.
Words of Sister Lucia spoken in 1957 to Fr. Augustine Fuentes, a Mexican priest.
The importance of the subject is further underlined by the revelation Sister Lucia of Fatima made to Fr. Fuentes in 19557, when she revealed: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God or we belong to the demon; there is no middle ground.”
“The devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. The devil knows what it is that most offends God and which, in a short space of time, will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.” (Sr. Lucia of Fatima interview with Fr. Fuentes, December 26th, 1957).
Sr. Josefa Menendez Speaks of the Devil
In one the visions of Hell that Our Lord allowed Sr. Josefa to endure, she heard the devil, speaking of different ways of tempting, said: “Insinuate yourselves by inducing carelessness in them ... but keep in the background, so that you are not found out ... by degrees they will become callous, and you will be able to incline them to evil. Tempt these others to ambition, to self-interest, to acquiring wealth without working, whether it be lawful or not. Excite some to sensuality and love of pleasure. Let vice blind them ... As to the remainder ... get in through the heart ... you know the inclinations of their hearts ... make them love ... love passionately ... work thoroughly ... take no rest ... have no pity. Let them cram themselves with food! It will make it all the easier for us ... Let them get on with their banqueting. Love of pleasure is the door through which you will reach them.” (Sr. Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love, February 3rd, 1923).
Ancient & Modern
There are many modern Catholics who do not like to refer to, nor rely on, quotes and opinions from the distant past, so, for their benefit, let us go against personal preferences and furnish some quotes from modern authors—popes and priests—to show any and all modern readers that the enemy is still the enemy, whether the times be ancient or modern. And the enemy has to spoken of and his tactics have to be revealed. Imagine not telling soldiers about their enemy for fear of frightening them; or failing to tell your children not to walk-off with strangers; or not telling them about the dangers of scorpions and snakes, for fear of scaring them! Our Lady did not fear showing a 7-year old, an 8-year old and a 10-year old a vision of Hell! So, here are your modern day quotes!
CAVEAT or WARNING!
The following quotes selected from various websites are merely a “reporting” of what was posted on those sites. There is no intent to recommend any or all of those websites. It is much like quoting from a secular newspaper’s website--it does not mean that we agree with all the content on that website. Nor do we endorse all that the modern popes say—for, as Pope St. Pius X said, the modernist will on one page of his writings give you the most beautiful traditional doctrine you can read, and then, on the next page, give you pure modernism. It is much like what is said of the devil: “Satan will admit nine truths in order to slip the lie on point number ten!”
► POPE FRANCIS AND THE (D)EVIL ONE
● Catholic Answers website
In fact, Pope Francis has shown himself to be a straight-talking preacher who isn’t afraid of using the kind of language that some in the dissenting camp might label as “negative” and “harsh.” I’ve lost count over how many times Pope Francis has used the words “devil”, “Satan”, “the Evil One”, and “the Enemy” in his homilies and various addresses. He has even quoted the French convert Leon Bloy, who said, “Whoever does not pray to God prays to the devil.”
(Catholic Answers website).
● Catholic News Agency (CAN) and EWTN News Service
Vatican City, May 14, 2013 (CNA/EWTN News). Christians who buy into Satan’s temptation to live selfishly, get swindled, while those who live life as a “gift” to others, are immersed in love and the Church community, Pope Francis said. “And, we must say, with Satan the payback is rotten. He always rips us off, always!” the Pope emphasized.
● Catholic Culture website
Pope Francis stated emphatically that the Devil’s existence is a reality, in his homily at a daily Mass on October 11th, 2103.
The Pope observed that some priests, when they preach about Gospel accounts of Jesus driving out demons, say that the stories refer to mental illness. It is true that sometimes mental illness can mimic demonic possession, the Pope conceded. “But it is also true that there was the devil!” “We should not be naïve,” the Pope continued. The devil is a reality, and refusing to recognize the struggle between Jesus and the devil is a way of only “halfway” accepting the salvific role of Jesus Christ. The Lord came to end “the enslavement the devil has over us,” the Pope said. He reminded his congregation of Christ’s words from the day’s Gospel: “Either you are with Me or you are against Me.” Pope Francis urged the faithful to guard against the devil, relying on the Holy Spirit and remaining vigilant against temptations.
► POPE FRANCIS ON THE DEVIL
● The Vatican Insider magazine
THE VATICAN INSIDER magazine ran an article entitled “To what extent does the Pope acknowledge the devil?” by their journalist Andrea Tornielli, on August 20, 2013. Here are some extracts from that article: “ ‘When one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil’―these were the words of Pope Francis in the homily of his first Mass as Pope, celebrated in the Sistine Chapel on the day after being elected ...
On March 24th, 2013, in St. Peter’s Square, while celebrating World Youth Day, he recalled the fact that a Christian’s joy comes not from owning many possessions but from encountering Jesus, ‘from knowing that with Him we are never alone, even when we come across problems and obstacles in life that seem insurmountable – and there are so many of them! That is when the enemy comes, when the devil comes.’
Furthermore, on May 4th, 2013, during the morning Mass at Santa Marta, Francis reflected upon the persecution of the Christians, speaking of the ‘hate of the prince of the world for those who have been saved and redeemed by Jesus.’” (THE VATICAN INSIDER article entitled “To what extent does the Pope acknowledge the devil?” by Andrea Tornielli, August 20, 2013).
► CATHOLIC CLERGY RUN WEBSITE “CATHOLIC PREACHING” ON POPE FRANCIS & THE DEVIL
Fr. Roger J. Landry, May 24, 2013
Pope Francis was elected in order to bring about the reform of the Church ... He is…seeking to repair the Church by addressing the deeper issues that have led to the problems in the Vatican and elsewhere. To reform means to bring back into shape. The call to reform presupposes that there has been a deformation. It begs the question of what caused the Church to get out of shape.
[During the papal pre-election speeches] Cardinal Bergoglio identified that the chief sickness ailing the Church is a spiritual worldliness. “When the Church … gives way to that very great evil which is spiritual worldliness (the worst evil that can come upon the Church)…” But how do those in the Church become spiritually worldly, setting our hearts and minds on the things of this world rather than the things of God? Pope Francis has been talking about. The chief cause of the corruption of the Church, the root of the deformation that has led to the need for reform, is through succumbing to the temptations of the devil.
Many have noted that Pope Francis speaks about the devil almost every other homily, but most have been responding to what he’s been saying with indifference or curiosity, not seriousness. We live in a world in which most regard the devil as a medieval superstition, a beast in red leotards carrying a pitchfork, and relegate him to the same existential category as tooth fairies and centaurs. Even within the Church, most bishops, pastors, theologians and catechists minimize the devil and seldom mention him, even though Jesus battled him, exorcised him, and taught us all to pray to the Father to be delivered from him.
Pope Francis, however, has been mentioning the devil since the beginning of his pontificate, because he knows he’s not a myth, and wants to help the rest of us recognize the presence of the serpentine saboteur.
During his first homily, when he returned to the Sistine Chapel the day after his election to celebrate the traditional Mass with his cardinal electors, he talked with somewhat shocking forthrightness about the evil one. “Anyone who doesn’t pray to the Lord prays to the devil,” he said, quoting Leon Bloy. “When we do not profess Jesus Christ, we profess the worldliness of the devil, a demonic worldliness.”
One of the chief problems facing the Church today is that most Catholics ignore the devil. If the TSA were as negligent with regard to terrorists as most of us are to the father of evil, we wouldn’t have any airplanes left. In the book length dialogue “On Heaven and Earth,” published in Spanish in 2010 and recently released in English, Cardinal Bergoglio [now Pope Francis] said, “I believe that the devil exists” and “his greatest achievement in these times has been to make us believe that he doesn’t exist. … His fruits are always destruction: division, hate and slander.”
Pope Francis talked about that destruction — and what our response needs to be to it — in a daily Mass homily on May 4th, 2013. “The origin of hatred is this: we are saved and the prince of this world, who does not want us to be saved, hates us and gives rise to the persecution that from the earliest times of Jesus continues until today. One must react to the devil as did Jesus, who replied with the word of God. With the prince of this world one cannot dialogue; … one can only respond with the word of God that defends us.”
Pope Francis’ waking us up to the presence and work of the devil in the Church today is something each of us must ponder and act upon.
On the day of our baptism, and in so many renewals over the years, each of us has renounced Satan, his evil works and his empty promises as a precondition for living by Faith in God. But many times those baptismal vows have just been said as a chorus of half-hearted “I do’s,” rather than pronounced with the seriousness with which loving spouses say and mean every word of their marital vows.
Pope Francis wants to assist us truly to renounce Satan and all his seductions, to refuse to dialogue with him and accept his lies, and to reject his call to live spiritually for ourselves instead of for God and others.
The devil who never sleeps — the one whom Jesus himself battled and called a “murderer from the beginning,” a “liar and the father of lies” and “the prince of this world” — will doing all he can to get you to ignore what Pope Francis has been saying and dismiss this column, so that he can continue his work of deformation.
But now’s the time for us to discern under which standard we’ve really been living and, like Pope Francis, choose Christ anew and completely.
► CIVILTÀ CATTOLICA, ROME’S CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER ON THE DEVIL
These hints that were repeatedly dropped were already picked up on by the press, and have prompted reflections from Fr. Giandomenico Mucci in Civiltà Cattolica. He wrote, “for several decades, Catholic preaching has forgotten about the devil, who is fully present in the very documents of Vatican II. Some theologians have welcomed the opinion whereby Satan is a fruit of human fantasy, a figure dreamt up in pagan areas, only to later penetrate into Jewish thought. This would explain the stir which was created among believers and non-believers alike when the Pope preached about the devil.”
Forgetting the devil is a phenomenon which has been particularly characteristic of the last fifty years. In order to highlight this very point, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a study in 1975, during the pontificate of Paul VI, under the title, “Christian Faith and demonology.” The study aimed to stymie any attempt to “demythify the centuries-old doctrine of the Church on Satan.” It recalls a great many quotes from the Gospels, the Book of Revelation, the Apostolic Letters, the Fathers of the Church, the Councils and the Papal Magisterium.
A considerable part of Fr. Mucci’s article includes long quotes from Paul VI’s famous speech, who reserved the catechesis of the general audience for this argument, stating that, “one of the greatest needs of the Church today is that of defending against the evil which we know to be the devil.” Pope Paul VI placed emphasis on the fact that, “evil is not simply a force in the background but rather truly present, a living being who is spiritual, perverse and who renders perverse. He is a horrifying reality, a mysterious force who spreads fear. Anyone who refuses to recognise his existence is distancing themselves from the framework of Biblical and Church teaching.” (also reported by THE VATICAN INSIDER article entitled “To what extent does the Pope acknowledge the devil?” by Andrea Tornielli, August 20, 2013).
► FR. MALACHI MARTIN ON SATAN AND THE VATICAN
Catholic priest and scholar Malachi Martin, formerly Professor of Palaeontology at the Vatican’s Pontifical Biblical Institute, and from 1958 Martin also served as a theological adviser to Cardinal Augustin Bea in the Vatican, later a Jesuit professor at Georgetown University, USA, and a confidant of Vatican insiders. Also an author of 17 books, among which his most significant works were The Scribal Character of The Dead Sea Scrolls (1958) and Hostage To The Devil (1976) which dealt with satanism, demonic possession, and exorcism. In the latter mentioned book, Martin references his experience as an exorcist. According to the book he assisted in several exorcisms. In 1996, he spoke of having performed thousands of minor exorcisms, and participated in a few hundred major exorcisms during his lifetime. Fr. Martin declared in a New York City interview: “Yes, it’s true. Lucifer is enthroned in the Catholic Church.”
Fr. Martin was also interviewed by The Fatima Crusader (Fr. Grunner’s organization), a well-known Catholic publication. He again repeated his allegations, and expressed his dismay and distress that the Catholic institution, of which he is a part, has grown so decadent and morally reprobate since the Vatican II Council of the 1960s. The contention that there are Satanists in Rome is “completely correct” said Martin, adding: “Anybody who is acquainted with the state of affairs in the Vatican in the last 35 years is well aware that the prince of darkness has and still has his surrogates in the court of St. Peter in Rome.”
► FR. GABRIEL AMORTH — ONE OF ROME’S CHIEF EXORCISTS — ON VATICAN & DEVIL
Even Father Gabriele Amorth, official chief exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, is aware of the existence of satanic cults, including the Clergy in Rome. In an excerpt of his “Memoirs” we read:
Question: “Satanists in the Vatican?”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “Yes, even in the Vatican there are members of Satanic cults.”
Question: “Who is involved? Is it simple priests or laymen?”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “There are priests, monsignors and even cardinals.”
Question: “Forgive me, Father Gabriel, but how do you know?”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “I know from people who reported to me how they got to know this directly. It is something, “confessed” several times by the Devil, himself, under obedience during the exorcisms.”
Question: “Was the Pope informed?”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “Of course he was informed! But he does what he can. It’s horrifying. Keep in mind also that Benedict XVI is a German Pope, who is from a nation decidedly averse to these things. In Germany, in fact, there are virtually no exorcists, yet the Pope believes. I had occasion to speak with him three times, while he was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. You bet he believes!...”
Question: “ Is it really true that Paul VI said: that ‘the smoke of Satan” entered the church?’”
Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “It’s true, unfortunately, because even in the Church there are adherents to Satanic cults. Pope Paul VI reported this detail about the smoke of Satan on June 29th, 1972. Of course, this broke the ice, lifting a veil of silence and censorship that has lasted too long, but it had no practical consequences. It took someone like me – who was a nobody – to spread the alarm in order to get results.”
So, as stated by Father Amorth, Pope Benedict XVI is aware of the fact that, in the Vatican, there are cardinals, bishops and priests who are members of Satanic cults, “but he does what he can”!
► CRISIS MAGAZINE — SIN & SATAN
Advice for Preachers on Sin and Satan
by Regis Martin
I once knew a pastor whose homilies were so awful, so bone crushingly boring, … but while they may have been a tad bit thin theologically, they were always reassuringly thick with orthodoxy. So I didn’t really mind missing the spiritual wheat germ so much, because I figured at least he’s not trying to poison me. For real toxicity, one would have to go elsewhere.
And, believe me, I have gone elsewhere; indeed, over the years, I have been regularly assaulted by some of the best ‘hit and run’ homilists in the business. I’ll never forget a certain curate who preached one Sunday on sin, his point being that since we so rarely commit any, we should stop feeling guilty worrying about it.
“Haven’t you already opted fundamentally for God?” he asked. “Then why fuss over details? Details are for bookkeepers, not for Christians, who, loving Jesus and everyone else, are blessedly free to do what they will!” How very soothing it all sounded at the time, his honeyed words exuding great dollops of sweetness and light. Well that was all rather a long time ago, and I haven’t noticed the levels of sin diminishing all that much.
In other words, when preparing their homilies, priests and pastors mustn’t forget the long shadow cast by sin. Nor, while they’re at it, the devil himself, who was the first to live in love’s shadow, and has been wandering about the world ever since trying mightily to put out the lights. I mean, who else besides all those fallen and corrupt angels deserve the first word in a sermon on sin?
Ah, but Satan, we are told, achieved his master-stroke sometime in the nineteenth century, when he managed to persuade huge numbers of people to stop believing in him. Once that ruse got around—and, as always, educated opinion was sinfully eager to help it along—the devil was at liberty to do his worst. What then becomes of sin, in a world more and more stripped of belief in an Evil Intelligence, who is bent on bedeviling us with its false attractions? As Monsignor Ronald Knox once wryly put it: “It is so stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the devil when he is the only explanation of it.”
Any recovery of a sane and healthy sense of sin, therefore, crucially depends on getting people to believe once again in the devil. If the world and the flesh fell on his, and Adam’s, account, why ever not? “The devil is the number one enemy,” declared Pope Paul VI, “the source of all temptation … the sophistical perverter of man’s moral equipoise, the malicious seducer who knows how to penetrate us (through the senses, the imagination, desire, utopian logic or disordered social contacts) in order to spread error….”
And if papal testimony were not telling enough, particularly from the tragedy of one who felt, in his final days, “the very smoke of Satan” within the Temple of God [which is what Paul VI said before he died], Holy Scripture emphasizes that “the whole world is under the power of the evil one,” who is not called “the prince of this world” for nothing. So let the devil have his due, I say.
► THE IRISH CATHOLIC
The Devil in the World Today
The Devil has been a subject addressed surprisingly frequently by Pope Francis in the early months of his pontificate.
The same subject is addressed with rivaled frequency in the New Testament. However, in spite of this, the surprise somehow remains. The new Pope’s preaching, it seems, is much like his renewed approach to the papacy — unfamiliar. Pope Francis parts ways with the current preaching in the Church, which is silent about the Devil, or reduces him to a mere metaphor. Theology’s treatment of evil today, by and large, trivializes the Devil. It seems Pope Francis wants to call everyone back to face the reality of evil and educate them on how exactly to confront the Devil. One thing is certain. For this Pope, the Devil is not a myth, but a real person.
Hatred
In one of Francis’ recent morning homilies, the Pope said that not only is there a hatred in the world for Jesus and the Church, but that behind this spirit of the world is the Devil. Dialogue doesn’t work with the Devil; the only defense is the word of God, humility and meekness, especially in response to his works of hatred and persecution, Pope Francis said.
“Humility and meekness: These are the weapons that the prince of the world, the spirit of the world does not tolerate, because he makes proposals for worldly power, proposals of vanity, proposals for riches,” the Pope said.
“Many Christian communities are persecuted today, more now than in the early days of the Church: today, right now, on this day and at this hour,” he said. The reason for this persecution comes from the Devil and his hatred; the path of persecution “is a consequence of the hatred of the world and the prince of this hatred in the world.”
Persecutions
The Devil hates Christians, he said, because “we have been saved and the prince of the world doesn’t want us to be saved, he hates us and gave rise to the persecutions from the time of Jesus to today.” With his death and resurrection, Christ “ransomed us” and all humanity from worldly power and the Devil’s grasp, the Pope said.
Just as the Devil tried to trick and tempt Jesus, he tries to trick others, too, Pope Francis said. Jesus did not respond by bargaining with the Devil or trying to fight him on his own; he responded with the word of the God. “You cannot dialogue with the prince of this world. This is clear!” the Pope said. According to the Pope, the best defense against the Devil’s “seductions, fireworks and flattery” is Jesus, the word of God, and Jesus’ own example of humility and meekness, he said.
In speaking of the Devil, Francis demonstrates that he has very clearly in mind his biblical and theological foundations. But what exactly are these foundations? What do Catholics actually believe about Satan?
Seductive voice
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Behind the disobedient voice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy. Scripture and the Church’s tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called ‘Satan’ or the ‘Devil’.”
Throughout the Scriptures, we find mention of Satan, otherwise known as the Devil. The word “Satan” comes from the Hebrew word “satan”, meaning “the opposer” or “the adversary”; while “Devil” is derived from the Greek diabolos, meaning “the slanderer.”
The Church’s teaching on the subject is clear from its liturgy. At baptism, those to be baptized are called upon to reject Satan, his works, and his empty promises. The Church provides an official rite of exorcism, which presupposes the existence of Satan.
Pseudo-Reality or Virtual Reality
In 1975 the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship issued a document called Christian Faith and Demonology. It explained the Church’s teaching on the subject. This document quotes Pope Paul VI’s teaching regarding the devil. Neither Bible commentators nor theologians can neglect this caution, the document warns.
Just as Francis is right to preach about the Devil, he is right also to advise the faithful on how to combat such evil. Arming themselves with humility and meekness, Catholics can be confident that the power of God will always triumph over that of Satan; good over evil and love over hatred. As St John reminds us: “It was to destroy the Devil’s works that the Son of God revealed Himself” (1 John 3:8).
► MODERN PRIEST ON PREACHING ABOUT THE DEVIL
Father John Zuhlsdorf writes: “Before anything else, let it be said that, ‘God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it’ (1 Corinthians 10:13). Now…
“The greatest accomplishment of the Enemy of our souls is to deceive people that the Enemy doesn’t exist … that there is no Hell … that people can’t go to Hell … that no one is in Hell, blah blah blah. Let’s be clear about this. Catholics are obliged to believe in the existence of the Devil and of Hell. These are de fide doctrines taught by the Church without the possibility of error.
“The Devil exists! Fallen angels hate you with a malice no human can imagine! They have an intellect that surpasses our mere human faculties in a way that we can’t fathom. They never tire! They are relentless! They are real! If you don’t believe in the existence of malicious fallen angels, you are in serious risk of joining them in Hell. This is no joke!
“Hell is real! In Hell, the damned suffer the pain of sense and the pain of loss (hint: unending pain is a key feature of your eternity in Hell). We can choose to separate ourselves from God and go to Hell by sinning, by resisting grace, by failing to repent, by failing to do what we ought, by presuming that we are automatically saved. If, when you die ― and you will die ― you are not in the state of grace, if, when you die ― and it is going to happen to you ― you are not living the friendship of God, you will go to Hell. Once you are there, that’s it! There is no hope of ever changing your lot! There is no changing your mind. There is no possibility of leaving even after a million billion years!
“If you don’t believe in Hell, you will probably wind up there. And if you chose that fate, it would be better for you had you never been born (cf. Matthew 26:24).
“STOP. Spend a moment to examine your conscience.
“NOW. Try to imagine what goes through the mind of the damned soul during his first 30 seconds in Hell.
“I remind you of these harsh realities because I don’t want to go to Hell. Priests and bishops who don’t teach about Hell will probably wind up there. It is my job to keep as many of you as possible out of Hell. I will therefore tell you about Hell and then echo St. Augustine, who told his flock: ‘Nolo salvus esse sine vobis! … I don’t want to be saved without you!’
“We must be clear about the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell. Sure, we must also talk about Heaven and goodness and joy and kitties and sunshine and birthday cakes. Let’s get this Hell and Devil thing straightened out because it’s been neglected for far too long.
“We must also work to revive the Sacrament of Penance, which was instituted by Christ as the ordinary way our sins would be forgiven. Going to confession, making a sincere confession of all your mortal sins in kind and number, can keep you out of Hell. Got that? GO TO CONFESSION. What a victory for the demons of Hell it has been to run down the Sacrament of Penance until it is barely thought of in some parishes.
“Fathers, if you are parish priests and have the obligation to hear confessions, hearing confessions can help to keep you out of Hell. If you are parish priests and you don’t hear confessions or you won’t teach about confession, you will probably go to Hell. Just try to deny it! Just try!”
► THE CURÉ OF ARS: ST. JOHN VIANNEY
In Chapter Seven of Fr. Trochu’s book, The Curé d’Ars: St. John Vianney, we read of one priest questioning St. John Vianny’s assistant priest about St. John Vianney’s preaching habits:
“Did Fr. Vianney preach long sermons?” Mgr. Convert one day asked Fr. Drémieux.
The assistant priest replied: “Yes, long ones, and always on Hell. . . . He would strike his hands together, saying ‘My children, you are lost!’ Or he struck his breast. What a constitution he had! There are people who say there is no Hell. Ah, well! He believed in it!”
► FROM THE BOOK “RULES FOR DISCERNING SPIRITS” BY FR. BARRIELLE
“‘The life of man is a battle upon Earth’, said Job—[“The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1)]. We must expect to fight continually for the whole of our lives. The difficulty is that in these battles, where we defend our souls from the attacks of the devil, one does not see the enemy ... We do not see those who attack us, because the devils are pure spirits ... The devil does all in his power to make us believe that he does not exist or to think not of him. It is then that he is able to act with all freedom. This is the reason for all these attempts to deny the existence of the angels that we hear repeated, sometimes even in the sacristies: because if there were no angels there would not be any devils.
“Many people do not realize the influences that a spirit can have on us. Someone will say to me: ‘Father, I’m down in the dumps!’
“I reply: ‘No, you are not down in the dumps. That does not exist. You have the devil hovering about you!’
“He exclaims: ‘Father, you see the devil everywhere! I’m down in the dumps because the sun is not out today, and when the weather is bad I’m sad, that’s all! It has nothing to do with the devil.’
“I tell him: ‘Exactly! Do you not know that the devil uses everything when coming to tempt you? He will use advantageously the bad weather, as a disposition. You just are not aware of the fact that if you are feeling sad, the devil is hovering about you. Beware!’
“As soon as one knows that it comes from the devil, it must be rejected without any discussion. My master of novices, Fr. Terradas said, ‘One does not play with the devil.’ He calls ‘playing with the devil’ the fact of tarrying with a thought that one knows to be not good, and thus, from the devil (while reassuring oneself, with a firm will, not to consent to it). Woe to him who consents to dialogue with the devil (who is much stronger that we). Eve succumbed because she ‘played’ with the devil. After having told her that God had forbidden it, the devil followed up with new reasons. Instead of cutting him short, she started to discuss with him.
“St. Bernard wrote: ‘Nemo repente fit pessimus’, meaning ‘Nobody becomes suddenly bad.’ We sometimes hear of priests falling, of great, exemplary Christians falling, etc. Know that it has not happened all of a sudden. For a long time, they have played with the devil ... Fr. Roothan said that this can also be applied to those who, without being in the state of mortal sin, are well entrenched in tepidity (lukewarmness). For example, those Christians and religious who have decided not to correct their venial sins. The devil reassures one in tepidity (lukewarmness), and it is very dangerous for their salvation. The good angel sends him grave warnings. Woe to those who pay no attention! It is in this way that laxity is introduced into many convents and even into Christian families. This is why the examination of conscience is so important. ‘Vigilate et orate!’ said Jesus in the Gospels: ‘Watch and pray!’ Woe to the Christian that is not on his guard! The devil will do with his soul as he pleases if he is not alert.
“ ‘All trouble comes from the devil,’ said St. John Berchmans, including moody temperaments and vivid emotions. Sometimes in the family, there is tension in the air. The wife loses her temper, the children are particularly unbearable, the father is boxing every one’s ears. Know that the devil is present! There, he wins every time... Foolish things are said and done, sin is committed more or less gravely, and more or less numerously. Watch! Pray! … St. Peter says to us, ‘Brethren, be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist ye, strong in the Faith!’ … The devil ‘roams about us,’ as St. Peter says, looking for our weak points in order to attack them. When you observe so many priests, religious and Christians, well‑advanced in the interior life, who later stagnate or even slide backwards, you wonder why. Whence did it come about? Out of a major difficulty? No! There was a slight inordinate attachment: gluttony or, more frequently, human respect, this accursed human respect which is the source of laxity and even of the damnation of so many people, even amongst the clergy.
“One of the first things the devil always does is to make people stop praying. No more meditations, spiritual reading, Rosaries, examinations of conscience, breviary, thanksgivings, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, confessions... No more Masses (or sacrilegious ones, which is worse!). No more devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, etc.” (Fr. Ludwig Barrielle, Rules for Discerning the Spirits).
CONCLUSION
It is absolutely necessary to speak about the devil and to speak about him often. If Blessed Pope Pius IX begged priests to preach more and preach often about Hell, then it is equally important to preach more and preach often about the devil. The enemy always benefits when he is “out of sight and out of mind.” It is a grave duty for priests, teachers and parents to continually bring the devil to mind and his tactics within our sight. How many souls are now in his clutches because of a false fear, a negligence, a silly sentimentality, hellish human respect, or being pressured to keep silent on the most destructive of the triple enemy: the devil, the flesh and the world. Let us reflect once more on what Sr. Josefa Menendez heard the devils speaking about, when she was mystically dragged down to Hell:
The devil, speaking of different ways of tempting, said: “Insinuate yourselves by inducing carelessness in them ... but keep in the background, so that you are not found out ... by degrees they will become callous, and you will be able to incline them to evil. Tempt these others to ambition, to self-interest, to acquiring wealth without working, whether it be lawful or not. Excite some to sensuality and love of pleasure. Let vice blind them ... As to the remainder ... get in through the heart ... you know the inclinations of their hearts ... make them love ... love passionately ... work thoroughly ... take no rest ... have no pity. Let them cram themselves with food! It will make it all the easier for us ... Let them get on with their banqueting. Love of pleasure is the door through which you will reach them.” (February 3rd, 1923).
Don’t play with devil ... Don’t let the devil play ... Don’t let your children just play, but teach them to pray and pray well ... Pull them out of the devil’s playground, which is the world of which he is prince ... Otherwise you are playing with their salvation, which may unexpectedly turn into damnation. “What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:15). “Now the sons of Heli [the high priest] were children of Belial, not knowing the Lord” (1 Kings 2:12). Make sure that “Belial shall no more pass through thee again, and is utterly cut off” (Nahum 1:15).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Saturday March 9th & Sunday March 10th
Article 14
Breaking Out Of Your Vicious Cycle and Circle
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Article 14
Breaking Out Of Your Vicious Cycle and Circle
This article is currently being written. Sections will be posted as they are completed. Please check back later.
Life Goes Round in Circles
Are you going round in circles? Are you caught in a vicious cycle or vicious circle? ― A “vicious cycle” is the same thing as a “vicious circle” in case you were wondering, it’s just two ways of saying the same thing. We speak of “the circle of life” which essentially speaks of Nature’s way of taking and giving back life to Earth. In fact, the circle represents eternity―by not having a beginning and not having an end. It represents the infinite nature of energy, meaning if something dies, it gives new life to another being―Our Lord even speaks of this when He says: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24-25).
One of the Old Testament Books of Wisdom says much the same: “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth standeth for ever. The sun riseth, and goeth down, and returneth to his place: and there rising again, maketh his round by the south, and turneth again to the north: the spirit goeth forward surveying all places round about, and returneth to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea doth not overflow: unto the place from whence the rivers come, they return, to flow again” (Ecclesiastes 1:4-7).
A tree or a plant produces a “live-seed”, which, when it falls from the plant or tree, dies and produces new life―hence the acorn-tree-acorn-tree-acorn-tree endless or circular syndrome. Even the seasons follow this circular or cyclical pattern―over and over again―spring, summer, fall, winter and the cycle begins again. Similarly, in our emotional lives, the emotions tend to act like the seasons, leading from one to another, yet another, and another, until we arrive back at the first emotion and start all over again. Even our daily physical life is cyclical or circular―we awake, we work, we sleep and we awake once more to resume the endless cycle, day after day. The same with our lungs―we inhale, we absorb, we exhale and inhale once more―the cycle is endless as long as we live and breath. The same with food―it is an endless cycle of eat, absorb, excrete and eat again to resume the cycle. The same with drinking. The same with work―we work, we earn, we are paid, we spend, we go to work again. We plant, we grow, we harvest, we gather the seed, and we plant again. The same with conversation―we think, we speak, we listen, we think and speak again. Walking is the same cycle―left, right, left, right, left, right, etc. We tend to stir and mix in a circular pattern. We can only drive somewhere if the wheels of our car will continually turn in circles. Our many letters of our alphabet and numerals are based upon a full or partial circular form―a, b, c, d, e, g, o, p, q, 3, 5, 6, 8, 0. Most of our cooking pots and pans and our plates, saucers, bowls, cups and dishes keep to a circular shape. All of this shapes our thinking and acting processes. Even the planet Earth is roughly circular, likewise the moon. In art, even Heaven’s halos are depicted as circular! Look wherever you will―the same circular pattern appears everywhere in shapes, seasons, movement, etc.
The Cycle of Life
We ourselves are born helpless as babes and die as helpless as babes in old age―having to be looked after and cared for like babies. William Shakespeare famously depicts this in his famous comedy, As You Like It, where the melancholic Jaques, in Act II Scene VII Line 138, gives a monologue which has become to be famously known by its opening words― “All the world’s a stage”―and proceeds to compare the the world to a stage and life to a play, wherein Shakespeare depicts the seven stages of a man’s life, sometimes referred to as the seven ages of man―infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, Pantalone, and old age, facing imminent death. It is one of Shakespeare's most frequently quoted passages. The notion behind the seven ages seems to come from mediaeval philosophy and theology, which groups many thing in groups of seven―such as the as the Seven Sacraments; the Seven Deadly Sins; the Seven Chief Virtues (3 theological plus 4 cardinal virtues), the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy; the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy, etc., etc.
A Little Bit of Culture à la Shakespeare
Here is Shakespeare’s originally phrase monologue (which you may find hard to understand in parts) and so alongside is the modern-man’s current day English translation―take your pick! In any case―it depicts the cycle of life from helpless infancy to helpless old age.
Are you going round in circles? Are you caught in a vicious cycle or vicious circle? ― A “vicious cycle” is the same thing as a “vicious circle” in case you were wondering, it’s just two ways of saying the same thing. We speak of “the circle of life” which essentially speaks of Nature’s way of taking and giving back life to Earth. In fact, the circle represents eternity―by not having a beginning and not having an end. It represents the infinite nature of energy, meaning if something dies, it gives new life to another being―Our Lord even speaks of this when He says: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24-25).
One of the Old Testament Books of Wisdom says much the same: “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth standeth for ever. The sun riseth, and goeth down, and returneth to his place: and there rising again, maketh his round by the south, and turneth again to the north: the spirit goeth forward surveying all places round about, and returneth to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea doth not overflow: unto the place from whence the rivers come, they return, to flow again” (Ecclesiastes 1:4-7).
A tree or a plant produces a “live-seed”, which, when it falls from the plant or tree, dies and produces new life―hence the acorn-tree-acorn-tree-acorn-tree endless or circular syndrome. Even the seasons follow this circular or cyclical pattern―over and over again―spring, summer, fall, winter and the cycle begins again. Similarly, in our emotional lives, the emotions tend to act like the seasons, leading from one to another, yet another, and another, until we arrive back at the first emotion and start all over again. Even our daily physical life is cyclical or circular―we awake, we work, we sleep and we awake once more to resume the endless cycle, day after day. The same with our lungs―we inhale, we absorb, we exhale and inhale once more―the cycle is endless as long as we live and breath. The same with food―it is an endless cycle of eat, absorb, excrete and eat again to resume the cycle. The same with drinking. The same with work―we work, we earn, we are paid, we spend, we go to work again. We plant, we grow, we harvest, we gather the seed, and we plant again. The same with conversation―we think, we speak, we listen, we think and speak again. Walking is the same cycle―left, right, left, right, left, right, etc. We tend to stir and mix in a circular pattern. We can only drive somewhere if the wheels of our car will continually turn in circles. Our many letters of our alphabet and numerals are based upon a full or partial circular form―a, b, c, d, e, g, o, p, q, 3, 5, 6, 8, 0. Most of our cooking pots and pans and our plates, saucers, bowls, cups and dishes keep to a circular shape. All of this shapes our thinking and acting processes. Even the planet Earth is roughly circular, likewise the moon. In art, even Heaven’s halos are depicted as circular! Look wherever you will―the same circular pattern appears everywhere in shapes, seasons, movement, etc.
The Cycle of Life
We ourselves are born helpless as babes and die as helpless as babes in old age―having to be looked after and cared for like babies. William Shakespeare famously depicts this in his famous comedy, As You Like It, where the melancholic Jaques, in Act II Scene VII Line 138, gives a monologue which has become to be famously known by its opening words― “All the world’s a stage”―and proceeds to compare the the world to a stage and life to a play, wherein Shakespeare depicts the seven stages of a man’s life, sometimes referred to as the seven ages of man―infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, Pantalone, and old age, facing imminent death. It is one of Shakespeare's most frequently quoted passages. The notion behind the seven ages seems to come from mediaeval philosophy and theology, which groups many thing in groups of seven―such as the as the Seven Sacraments; the Seven Deadly Sins; the Seven Chief Virtues (3 theological plus 4 cardinal virtues), the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy; the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy, etc., etc.
A Little Bit of Culture à la Shakespeare
Here is Shakespeare’s originally phrase monologue (which you may find hard to understand in parts) and so alongside is the modern-man’s current day English translation―take your pick! In any case―it depicts the cycle of life from helpless infancy to helpless old age.
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ELIZABETHAN ENGLISH OF SHAKESPEARE'S DAY
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages. At first the infant, mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail unwillingly to school. And then the lover, sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier, full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, seeking the bubble reputation even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, in fair round belly with good capon lin’d, with eyes severe and beard of formal cut, full of wise saws and modern instances; and so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon, with spectacles on nose and pouch on side; his youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide for his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, turning again toward childish treble, pipes and whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, that ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion; sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.” [“sans” is a French word for “without”] |
MODERN-DAY ENGLISH OF TODAY
“The whole world is a stage, and all the men and women merely actors. They have their exits and their entrances, and in his lifetime a man will play many parts, his life separated into seven acts. In the first act he is an infant, whimpering and puking in his nurse’s arms. Then he’s the whining schoolboy, with a book bag and a bright, young face, creeping like a snail unwillingly to school. Then he becomes a lover, huffing and puffing like a furnace as he writes sad poems about his mistress’s eyebrows. In the fourth act, he’s a soldier, full of foreign curses, with a beard like a panther, eager to defend his honor and quick to fight. On the battlefield, he puts himself in front of the cannon’s mouth, risking his life to seek fame that is as fleeting as a soap bubble. In the fifth act, he is a judge, with a nice fat belly from all the bribes he’s taken. His eyes are stern, and he’s given his beard a respectable cut. He’s full of wise sayings and up-to-the-minute anecdotes: that’s the way he plays his part. In the sixth act, the curtain rises on a skinny old man in slippers, glasses on his nose and a money bag at his side. The stockings he wore in his youth hang loosely on his shriveled legs now, and his bellowing voice has shrunk back down to a childish squeak. In the last scene of our play—the end of this strange, eventful history—our hero, full of forgetfulness, enters his second childhood: without teeth, without eyes, without taste, without everything.” |
God’s Chosen People Caught in a Vicious Cycle
In reading the Old Testament, what clearly stands out of the overall “big-picture” is the fact that the Chosen People, the Israelites, lived in a vicious circle or vicious cycle that was repeated time and time again―they are complacent and cocky about being God’s Chosen People; this leads them to sin without fear; they are chastised severely in one way or another as a punishment; they become sad, sorrowful and repent; God forgives them and blesses them once again in many ways; they become too comfortable again; they sin again; they are punished again; they repent again; they are forgiven and blessed again; they grow too comfortable again; they sin again, etc., etc. This, sadly, is the case of very many Catholics―who end up treating the mercies of God like a doormat and the confessional like a revolving door.
The Vicious Cycle of Temptation
This brings us to the vicious cycle or vicious circle of temptation―which it is appropriate to consider right now, as the First Sunday of Lent presents to us the Gospel of Our Lord’s temptation in the desert by the devil. You could, in a sense, call this “Temptation Weekend”―which shows us how the devil tempts and how to resist and break that cycle of temptation. The vast multitude of souls in Hell, either failed to successfully break the cycle of temptation, or didn’t really want to break it―because they enjoyed the temptations too much!
Why call it “The Vicious Cycle of Temptation”? Because sin itself is vicious―as the catechism tells us, mortal sin and venial sin and the two greatest and most vicious evils in the world―therefore, what leads us into them, is equally vicious. “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
In reading the Old Testament, what clearly stands out of the overall “big-picture” is the fact that the Chosen People, the Israelites, lived in a vicious circle or vicious cycle that was repeated time and time again―they are complacent and cocky about being God’s Chosen People; this leads them to sin without fear; they are chastised severely in one way or another as a punishment; they become sad, sorrowful and repent; God forgives them and blesses them once again in many ways; they become too comfortable again; they sin again; they are punished again; they repent again; they are forgiven and blessed again; they grow too comfortable again; they sin again, etc., etc. This, sadly, is the case of very many Catholics―who end up treating the mercies of God like a doormat and the confessional like a revolving door.
The Vicious Cycle of Temptation
This brings us to the vicious cycle or vicious circle of temptation―which it is appropriate to consider right now, as the First Sunday of Lent presents to us the Gospel of Our Lord’s temptation in the desert by the devil. You could, in a sense, call this “Temptation Weekend”―which shows us how the devil tempts and how to resist and break that cycle of temptation. The vast multitude of souls in Hell, either failed to successfully break the cycle of temptation, or didn’t really want to break it―because they enjoyed the temptations too much!
Why call it “The Vicious Cycle of Temptation”? Because sin itself is vicious―as the catechism tells us, mortal sin and venial sin and the two greatest and most vicious evils in the world―therefore, what leads us into them, is equally vicious. “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
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Not fair!
We may feel that it is unfair for God to expose us to temptation and allow it to attack us. We know that Our Lord was tempted in the desert after praying and fasting there for forty days and nights—but He, after all, was God. We are mere mortals! We are like babies or infants compared to an adult! But as children we had to learn to avoid many unpleasant and dangerous things: poisonous liquids, poisonous berries, fire, electricity, lakes and rivers if we couldn’t swim, reptiles, snakes, vicious animals, and so many other things that are too numerous to name. Dealing with and avoiding what is harmful, is all part and parcel of growing up. The same is true for growing up spiritually.
Same Temptation—Different Destination
St. Augustine tells us that the same crosses lead some souls to Heaven, but other souls to Hell. By this he means that some souls accept their crosses and sufferings—like the ‘Good Thief’ on the cross; whereas others refuse their crosses and sufferings and seek to escape them—like the ‘Bad Thief’ on the cross. The ‘Good Thief’ ended up in Paradise, the ‘Bad Thief’ did not! Likewise, the same temptations will lead some souls to Heaven, but other souls to Hell. It depends upon whether the temptation is powerfully rejected or gladly accepted.
Material of Glory
Fr. Frererick Faber tells us that “Temptations are the raw material of glory.” That is why St. James says: “My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations!” (James 1:2), to which St. Peter will add: “You shall greatly rejoice, if now you must be for a little time made sorrowful in divers temptations: so that the trial of your faith (much more precious than gold which is tried by the fire) may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7).
Beware If You Have No Temptations
“If you have no temptations,” St. Gregory tells us, “it is because the devils are your friends, your leaders, and your shepherds. And by allowing you to pass your poor life tranquilly, to the end of your days, they will drag you down into the depths.” St. Augustine tells us that the greatest temptation is not to have temptations, because this means that one is a person who has been rejected, abandoned by God, and left entirely in the grip of one's own passions. St. John Vianney explains: “If Our Lord was tempted, it was in order to show us that we must be also. It follows, therefore, that we must expect temptation. If you ask me what is the cause of our temptations, I shall tell you that it is the beauty and the great worth and importance of our souls which the Devil values and which he loves so much that he would consent to suffer two Hells, if necessary, if by so doing he could drag our souls into Hell” (St. John Vianney).
Temptations Are Necessary
That classic book, The Imitation of Christ, tells us that “It is good for us to have trials and troubles at times, for they often remind us that we are on probation and ought not to hope in any worldly thing. It is good for us sometimes to suffer contradiction, to be misjudged by men even though we do well and mean well. These things help us to be humble and shield us from vainglory. When to all outward appearances men give us no credit, when they do not think well of us, then we are more inclined to seek God, Who sees our hearts. Therefore, a man ought to root himself so firmly in God that he will not need the consolations of men. When a man of good will is afflicted, tempted, and tormented by evil thoughts, he realizes clearly that his greatest need is God, without Whom he can do no good. Saddened by his miseries and sufferings, he laments and prays. He wearies of living longer and wishes for death that he might be dissolved and be with Christ. Then he understands fully that perfect security and complete peace cannot be found on earth” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, chapter 12).
Nobody is Exempt from Temptations
The author of The Imitation of Christ continues: “So long as we live in this world we cannot escape suffering and temptation. Whence it is written in Job: “The life of man upon earth is a warfare.” Everyone, therefore, must guard against temptation and must watch in prayer lest the devil, who never sleeps but goes about seeking whom he may devour, find occasion to deceive him. No one is so perfect or so holy but he is sometimes tempted; man cannot be altogether free from temptation. Yet temptations, though troublesome and severe, are often useful to a man, for in them he is humbled, purified, and instructed. The saints all passed through many temptations and trials to profit by them, while those who could not resist became reprobate and fell away” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, chapter 13).
“There is no state so holy, no place so secret that temptations and trials will not come. Man is never safe from them as long as he lives, for they come from within us C in sin we were born. When one temptation or trial passes, another comes; we shall always have something to suffer because we have lost the state of original blessedness. Many people try to escape temptations, only to fall more deeply. We cannot conquer simply by fleeing, but by patience and true humility we become stronger than all our enemies. The man who only shuns temptations outwardly and does not uproot them will make little progress; indeed they will quickly return, more violent than before. Little by little, in patience and long-suffering you will overcome them, by the help of God rather than by severity and your own rash ways. Often take counsel when tempted; and do not be harsh with others who are tempted, but console them as you yourself would wish to be consoled” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, chapter 13).
A Testing and Trying Time
Before all else, it is essential that we get as clear a notion as possible of the meaning of the word temptation.
“Temptation” is derived from the Latin “tentare”, which means “to try” or “to test”. Accordingly, a temptation may be said to be a trying or a testing of the soul for the purpose of ascertaining its attitude toward God and its fidelity in the service it owes to Him.
To a great extent, temptations are to the spiritual life, what various tests on machines and materials are to mechanical and building operations. Before a steam boiler is put into operation, its ability to withstand a determined pressure of steam is ascertained by subjecting it to a rigorous test. Before a beam is placed in a building, its carrying strength is determined. And so in hundreds of other cases. The machines and materials are put through stresses designed to show whether they will prove adequate to the demand that will be made on them. By a transfer of meaning, we can say that they are tempted.
This, then, is the meaning of temptation — a trial or a test. In the service of God, souls are tested or tried in order that the quality of their love for God and their devotion to Him may become known, and that they may at the same time be given opportunities of winning for themselves large treasures of grace and merit. Temptations, therefore, are meant to reveal whether the love that a soul claims to have for God is genuine and true, and not mere hollow sham and vain pretense. They are the acid test of the spiritual life.
Sifting the True form the Fake
It is well known that there are certain substances that look so much like gold that they are often mistaken for that precious metal by ignorant and inexperienced persons. Many a man has been deceived by the worthless substance commonly known as “fool's gold.” To discover whether minerals that look like gold are the genuine metal, an assayer employs special tests. One of these consists in subjecting the substance to the action of strong nitric acid. If the substance is gold, the acid will have no effect on it; if it is not, it will break up and dissolve — an easy way of proving that what was thought to be gold was nothing more than worthless dross.
This has its parallel in the spiritual world. There are many souls parading before men what appears to be solid and genuine virtue. An acid test is needed to re-veal the true character of these souls. This is supplied by temptations. The soul that truly loves God, will not allow itself to be overcome by them, but will remain firm and immovable in the keeping of His holy law; whereas that which is only a pretender, will offer but little resistance, or perhaps none at all.
God Causes Some 'Temptations' and Permits Others
When the man on the street speaks of temptations, it is commonly understood as an incitement or allurement to some sin, brought about by either suggestion, the fear of suffering, or the offer of some good or pleasure. It may be an external temptation, such as the sight of objects, e.g., books, improper pictures, immodestly dressed persons; or by hearing, e.g., of suggestive or obscene stories, attacks on religion or the Church, detraction, or calumny. Or it may be an internal temptation, as when evil thoughts, imaginings, or desires spring up in the mind, or when feelings or sensations of a sensual character arise in the body without our having voluntarily caused them. These and similar causes make an assault on the will to induce it to give its consent to the evil proposed.
Does God Tempt or Not?
In the Sacred Scriptures we find two sets of passages, relating to temptations, that, at first sight, seem to contradict each other. One set appears to make God the author of temptations, while the other plainly denies this. Thus we read that “God tempted Abraham” (Genesis 22:1) while we are assured by St. James that “God tempts no man” (James 1:13). To reconcile these two seemingly contradictory statements, we must keep in mind that there are two distinct varieties of temptations: those which are known as temptations of probation and those which go by the name of temptations of solicitation.
Temptations of Probation
The word “probation” finds it root in the Latin verb “probare” which means “to examine, to test, to try or to prove.” By temptations of probation we understand all those special trials to which God at times subjects persons, to prove their virtue, to prepare them for some particular work, or to elevate them to a very high degree of holiness, as was the case with Abraham, the Egyptian Joseph, Job, and Tobias in the Old Law; and with St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and countless other saints in the New. Such temptations are not incitements to sin, but simply what the first meaning of the word implies: a proving or testing of a person's virtue, as of faith, hope, patience, etc. In this sense, it is quite correct to say that God tempts man.
Hence all such evils as sickness, loss of fortune, poverty, enmities, false accusations, persecutions, wars, and other calamities with which people, both the good and the bad, are often visited, can be designated as temptations sent by God, or temptations of probation.
Temptations of Solicitation
But the case is entirely different when there is question of temptations of solicitation. The word “solicitation” finds it root in the Latin verb “sollicitare” which means “to stir up, to arouse, to agitate, or to incite.” These are really incitements or allurements to violations of the law of God that come, directly or indirectly, from the Devil. They come from him directly by reason of the superior spiritual powers he possesses and by which he can, to a great extent, work on our imagination and senses and suggest evil to our mind. They come from him indirectly by what Sacred Scripture designates as “the flesh” and “the world,” or by what St. John more particularly calls “the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Of these means the enemy of our souls makes constant use for the purpose of enticing us to commit sin.
The Providential Design Behind Temptations
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book The Spiritual Life, explains the providential reason and use that God makes of temptations: God Himself does not tempt us directly: “Let no man, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God. For God is not a tempter of evils : and He tempteth no man” (James 1:13). But He allows us to be tempted by our spiritual enemies, at the same time giving us the graces necessary to resist: “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). And this for excellent reasons of His own.
1. He wants to make us merit heaven.
Undoubtedly He could have bestowed upon us eternal life as a pure gift, but in His wisdom He has willed that we merit it as a reward. He even wills that the recompense be in proportion to the merit and hence in proportion to the obstacle overcome. Temptation, which imperils our frail virtue, is certainly one of the most trying hardships; to struggle courageously against it is one of the most meritorious acts we can perform; and once we have triumphed with God's grace, we can repeat with St. Paul, that we have fought the good fight, and that it only remains for us to receive the crown of justice which God has prepared for us. The more we have done in order to merit that crown, the greater shall be our honor and our joy.
2. Temptation is likewise a means of purification.
(a) It reminds us that through lack of vigilance and of effort in the past we have fallen, and it becomes thus an occasion for new acts of contrition, shame, and humiliation, which make for the purification of the soul.
(b) It obliges us at the same time to put forth earnest and sustained efforts lest we fall; it makes us atone for our negligences and for our surrenders by the performance of contrary acts which further purify the soul. This is why when God wants to purify a soul more perfectly in order to raise it to contemplation, He allows it to undergo horrible temptations, as we shall see when treating of the unitive way.
3. Lastly, temptation is an instrument of spiritual progress.
(a) It is like a stripe of the lash that awakens us at the moment we would lull ourselves to sleep and relax. It makes us realize the necessity of forging ahead, of not halting midway, but of ever aiming higher, the more surely to remove the danger.
(b) It is a school of humility, of distrust of self. When tempted we realize more fully our weakness, our powerlessness; we feel more keenly the need of grace, and we pray with greater earnestness. We see all the better the necessity of mortifying in us the love of pleasure, the source of our temptations, and we embrace more eagerly the little crosses of every day in order to weaken the power of concupiscence.
(c) It is a school of love of God; for to insure our power of resistance, we throw ourselves into God's arms there to seek for strength and shelter; we are more grateful to Him for His unfailing grace; we act towards Him as children of a most loving Father to Whom we have recourse in all our trials.
God's Friends Will Be Tempted
Hence, temptation possesses manifold advantages and it is on this account that God allows His friends to be tempted: “Because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove you” (Tobias 12:13). Which is why Fr. Faber says “Temptations are the raw material of glory” and St. James commands: “My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations!” (James 1:2).
We may feel that it is unfair for God to expose us to temptation and allow it to attack us. We know that Our Lord was tempted in the desert after praying and fasting there for forty days and nights—but He, after all, was God. We are mere mortals! We are like babies or infants compared to an adult! But as children we had to learn to avoid many unpleasant and dangerous things: poisonous liquids, poisonous berries, fire, electricity, lakes and rivers if we couldn’t swim, reptiles, snakes, vicious animals, and so many other things that are too numerous to name. Dealing with and avoiding what is harmful, is all part and parcel of growing up. The same is true for growing up spiritually.
Same Temptation—Different Destination
St. Augustine tells us that the same crosses lead some souls to Heaven, but other souls to Hell. By this he means that some souls accept their crosses and sufferings—like the ‘Good Thief’ on the cross; whereas others refuse their crosses and sufferings and seek to escape them—like the ‘Bad Thief’ on the cross. The ‘Good Thief’ ended up in Paradise, the ‘Bad Thief’ did not! Likewise, the same temptations will lead some souls to Heaven, but other souls to Hell. It depends upon whether the temptation is powerfully rejected or gladly accepted.
Material of Glory
Fr. Frererick Faber tells us that “Temptations are the raw material of glory.” That is why St. James says: “My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations!” (James 1:2), to which St. Peter will add: “You shall greatly rejoice, if now you must be for a little time made sorrowful in divers temptations: so that the trial of your faith (much more precious than gold which is tried by the fire) may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7).
Beware If You Have No Temptations
“If you have no temptations,” St. Gregory tells us, “it is because the devils are your friends, your leaders, and your shepherds. And by allowing you to pass your poor life tranquilly, to the end of your days, they will drag you down into the depths.” St. Augustine tells us that the greatest temptation is not to have temptations, because this means that one is a person who has been rejected, abandoned by God, and left entirely in the grip of one's own passions. St. John Vianney explains: “If Our Lord was tempted, it was in order to show us that we must be also. It follows, therefore, that we must expect temptation. If you ask me what is the cause of our temptations, I shall tell you that it is the beauty and the great worth and importance of our souls which the Devil values and which he loves so much that he would consent to suffer two Hells, if necessary, if by so doing he could drag our souls into Hell” (St. John Vianney).
Temptations Are Necessary
That classic book, The Imitation of Christ, tells us that “It is good for us to have trials and troubles at times, for they often remind us that we are on probation and ought not to hope in any worldly thing. It is good for us sometimes to suffer contradiction, to be misjudged by men even though we do well and mean well. These things help us to be humble and shield us from vainglory. When to all outward appearances men give us no credit, when they do not think well of us, then we are more inclined to seek God, Who sees our hearts. Therefore, a man ought to root himself so firmly in God that he will not need the consolations of men. When a man of good will is afflicted, tempted, and tormented by evil thoughts, he realizes clearly that his greatest need is God, without Whom he can do no good. Saddened by his miseries and sufferings, he laments and prays. He wearies of living longer and wishes for death that he might be dissolved and be with Christ. Then he understands fully that perfect security and complete peace cannot be found on earth” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, chapter 12).
Nobody is Exempt from Temptations
The author of The Imitation of Christ continues: “So long as we live in this world we cannot escape suffering and temptation. Whence it is written in Job: “The life of man upon earth is a warfare.” Everyone, therefore, must guard against temptation and must watch in prayer lest the devil, who never sleeps but goes about seeking whom he may devour, find occasion to deceive him. No one is so perfect or so holy but he is sometimes tempted; man cannot be altogether free from temptation. Yet temptations, though troublesome and severe, are often useful to a man, for in them he is humbled, purified, and instructed. The saints all passed through many temptations and trials to profit by them, while those who could not resist became reprobate and fell away” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, chapter 13).
“There is no state so holy, no place so secret that temptations and trials will not come. Man is never safe from them as long as he lives, for they come from within us C in sin we were born. When one temptation or trial passes, another comes; we shall always have something to suffer because we have lost the state of original blessedness. Many people try to escape temptations, only to fall more deeply. We cannot conquer simply by fleeing, but by patience and true humility we become stronger than all our enemies. The man who only shuns temptations outwardly and does not uproot them will make little progress; indeed they will quickly return, more violent than before. Little by little, in patience and long-suffering you will overcome them, by the help of God rather than by severity and your own rash ways. Often take counsel when tempted; and do not be harsh with others who are tempted, but console them as you yourself would wish to be consoled” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, chapter 13).
A Testing and Trying Time
Before all else, it is essential that we get as clear a notion as possible of the meaning of the word temptation.
“Temptation” is derived from the Latin “tentare”, which means “to try” or “to test”. Accordingly, a temptation may be said to be a trying or a testing of the soul for the purpose of ascertaining its attitude toward God and its fidelity in the service it owes to Him.
To a great extent, temptations are to the spiritual life, what various tests on machines and materials are to mechanical and building operations. Before a steam boiler is put into operation, its ability to withstand a determined pressure of steam is ascertained by subjecting it to a rigorous test. Before a beam is placed in a building, its carrying strength is determined. And so in hundreds of other cases. The machines and materials are put through stresses designed to show whether they will prove adequate to the demand that will be made on them. By a transfer of meaning, we can say that they are tempted.
This, then, is the meaning of temptation — a trial or a test. In the service of God, souls are tested or tried in order that the quality of their love for God and their devotion to Him may become known, and that they may at the same time be given opportunities of winning for themselves large treasures of grace and merit. Temptations, therefore, are meant to reveal whether the love that a soul claims to have for God is genuine and true, and not mere hollow sham and vain pretense. They are the acid test of the spiritual life.
Sifting the True form the Fake
It is well known that there are certain substances that look so much like gold that they are often mistaken for that precious metal by ignorant and inexperienced persons. Many a man has been deceived by the worthless substance commonly known as “fool's gold.” To discover whether minerals that look like gold are the genuine metal, an assayer employs special tests. One of these consists in subjecting the substance to the action of strong nitric acid. If the substance is gold, the acid will have no effect on it; if it is not, it will break up and dissolve — an easy way of proving that what was thought to be gold was nothing more than worthless dross.
This has its parallel in the spiritual world. There are many souls parading before men what appears to be solid and genuine virtue. An acid test is needed to re-veal the true character of these souls. This is supplied by temptations. The soul that truly loves God, will not allow itself to be overcome by them, but will remain firm and immovable in the keeping of His holy law; whereas that which is only a pretender, will offer but little resistance, or perhaps none at all.
God Causes Some 'Temptations' and Permits Others
When the man on the street speaks of temptations, it is commonly understood as an incitement or allurement to some sin, brought about by either suggestion, the fear of suffering, or the offer of some good or pleasure. It may be an external temptation, such as the sight of objects, e.g., books, improper pictures, immodestly dressed persons; or by hearing, e.g., of suggestive or obscene stories, attacks on religion or the Church, detraction, or calumny. Or it may be an internal temptation, as when evil thoughts, imaginings, or desires spring up in the mind, or when feelings or sensations of a sensual character arise in the body without our having voluntarily caused them. These and similar causes make an assault on the will to induce it to give its consent to the evil proposed.
Does God Tempt or Not?
In the Sacred Scriptures we find two sets of passages, relating to temptations, that, at first sight, seem to contradict each other. One set appears to make God the author of temptations, while the other plainly denies this. Thus we read that “God tempted Abraham” (Genesis 22:1) while we are assured by St. James that “God tempts no man” (James 1:13). To reconcile these two seemingly contradictory statements, we must keep in mind that there are two distinct varieties of temptations: those which are known as temptations of probation and those which go by the name of temptations of solicitation.
Temptations of Probation
The word “probation” finds it root in the Latin verb “probare” which means “to examine, to test, to try or to prove.” By temptations of probation we understand all those special trials to which God at times subjects persons, to prove their virtue, to prepare them for some particular work, or to elevate them to a very high degree of holiness, as was the case with Abraham, the Egyptian Joseph, Job, and Tobias in the Old Law; and with St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and countless other saints in the New. Such temptations are not incitements to sin, but simply what the first meaning of the word implies: a proving or testing of a person's virtue, as of faith, hope, patience, etc. In this sense, it is quite correct to say that God tempts man.
Hence all such evils as sickness, loss of fortune, poverty, enmities, false accusations, persecutions, wars, and other calamities with which people, both the good and the bad, are often visited, can be designated as temptations sent by God, or temptations of probation.
Temptations of Solicitation
But the case is entirely different when there is question of temptations of solicitation. The word “solicitation” finds it root in the Latin verb “sollicitare” which means “to stir up, to arouse, to agitate, or to incite.” These are really incitements or allurements to violations of the law of God that come, directly or indirectly, from the Devil. They come from him directly by reason of the superior spiritual powers he possesses and by which he can, to a great extent, work on our imagination and senses and suggest evil to our mind. They come from him indirectly by what Sacred Scripture designates as “the flesh” and “the world,” or by what St. John more particularly calls “the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Of these means the enemy of our souls makes constant use for the purpose of enticing us to commit sin.
The Providential Design Behind Temptations
Fr. Tanquerey, in his book The Spiritual Life, explains the providential reason and use that God makes of temptations: God Himself does not tempt us directly: “Let no man, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God. For God is not a tempter of evils : and He tempteth no man” (James 1:13). But He allows us to be tempted by our spiritual enemies, at the same time giving us the graces necessary to resist: “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). And this for excellent reasons of His own.
1. He wants to make us merit heaven.
Undoubtedly He could have bestowed upon us eternal life as a pure gift, but in His wisdom He has willed that we merit it as a reward. He even wills that the recompense be in proportion to the merit and hence in proportion to the obstacle overcome. Temptation, which imperils our frail virtue, is certainly one of the most trying hardships; to struggle courageously against it is one of the most meritorious acts we can perform; and once we have triumphed with God's grace, we can repeat with St. Paul, that we have fought the good fight, and that it only remains for us to receive the crown of justice which God has prepared for us. The more we have done in order to merit that crown, the greater shall be our honor and our joy.
2. Temptation is likewise a means of purification.
(a) It reminds us that through lack of vigilance and of effort in the past we have fallen, and it becomes thus an occasion for new acts of contrition, shame, and humiliation, which make for the purification of the soul.
(b) It obliges us at the same time to put forth earnest and sustained efforts lest we fall; it makes us atone for our negligences and for our surrenders by the performance of contrary acts which further purify the soul. This is why when God wants to purify a soul more perfectly in order to raise it to contemplation, He allows it to undergo horrible temptations, as we shall see when treating of the unitive way.
3. Lastly, temptation is an instrument of spiritual progress.
(a) It is like a stripe of the lash that awakens us at the moment we would lull ourselves to sleep and relax. It makes us realize the necessity of forging ahead, of not halting midway, but of ever aiming higher, the more surely to remove the danger.
(b) It is a school of humility, of distrust of self. When tempted we realize more fully our weakness, our powerlessness; we feel more keenly the need of grace, and we pray with greater earnestness. We see all the better the necessity of mortifying in us the love of pleasure, the source of our temptations, and we embrace more eagerly the little crosses of every day in order to weaken the power of concupiscence.
(c) It is a school of love of God; for to insure our power of resistance, we throw ourselves into God's arms there to seek for strength and shelter; we are more grateful to Him for His unfailing grace; we act towards Him as children of a most loving Father to Whom we have recourse in all our trials.
God's Friends Will Be Tempted
Hence, temptation possesses manifold advantages and it is on this account that God allows His friends to be tempted: “Because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove you” (Tobias 12:13). Which is why Fr. Faber says “Temptations are the raw material of glory” and St. James commands: “My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations!” (James 1:2).
Friday March 8th
Article 13
Are You Good At Crosswords or Crosswalks?
Don’t just talk the talk! Walk the walk! Walk after Christ with your cross!
Article 13
Are You Good At Crosswords or Crosswalks?
Don’t just talk the talk! Walk the walk! Walk after Christ with your cross!
Talking the Talk or Walking the Walk?
We all know the expression, “Don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk!” In other words, don’t just give me the theory, prove it in practice. Or “Actions speak louder than words!” For, more often than not, our own gospel is more a case of “Do as I say, but don’t do as I do!” Which is what Our Lord saw in the Scribes and Pharisees: “All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do! But according to their works do ye not; for they say, and do not!” (Matthew 23:3).
Elsewhere, Holy Scripture says the same thing slightly differently, telling us that theory alone will not suffice for Heaven: “Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
The Cross is an Essential Work of Faith
Make no mistake about it―no cross, no Heaven! Our Lord puts it this way: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me’”’ (Luke 9:23) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). Which is why the Church says―and we will hear this during the Liturgy of Holy Week― “Ave crux spes unica!” meaning, “Hail cross, our sole hope!” and “In cruce salus!” meaning, “In the cross is salvation!”
Our Lord even spells it out more clearly what it will be like to take up our cross daily and follow Him―“Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three … And a man's enemies shall be they of his own household … The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:51-53; Matthew 10:36). “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:10-12). “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12). “They shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death, and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake!” (Matthew 24:9). “You shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 10:22).
The Theory of Ash Wednesday in Practice
On Ash Wednesday, you went to the School of the Passion (the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass) and there you were enrolled in the School of the Cross, by being “branded” with the cross of ashes being rubbed into the skin of your forehead. It was a lesson on how to get to Heaven. Now, on this Friday after Ash Wednesday, it is customary and traditional for the Church to begin the weekly lessons on the “Way of the Cross”, or the “Stations of the Cross” or, as in a school career, the “Classes of the Cross” ― ranging from the pre-schooler classes, then kindergarten classes and then the twelve grades to graduation (which total fourteen―as in the fourteen Stations of the Cross―which finally come to fruition with graduation at the end of Twelfth Grade of High School. In each Station of the Cross we learn something more about how to get to Heaven―but it praying or even meditating the Station of the Cross, we are still in the realm of THEORY and not practice. Our “School of Suffering” classwork theory (or crosswork theory or crossword theory) has to be put into practice by doing our homework in all the daily events and circumstances of our lives.
Going to the Stations of the Cross is fine and necessary―but even more necessary is putting into practice what we have uttered with our lips or considered with our minds. This is where most people fail―they are fine with the theory, but fail in practice. The cross is on their lips, but not in their hearts. This is witnessed and proved by the countless times during each and every day that they mutter, complain, whine, moan and groan when a cross comes their way. God sends them numerous crosses down the production-line, but most of them are thrown into the cross-trash-can. They see the cross as a loss, rather than a profit. God speaks thus of such persons: “He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
In Cruce Salus―In the Cross is Salvation
How can we consider the cross as a loss when it helps us avoid the loss of our souls? In the cross is salvation! “In cruce salus” as Holy Mother Church says. Our Lord adds: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Our Lord offers us salvation in exchange for the cross―we pay for salvation with the cross, the Way of the Cross is the way to salvation. That is why Holy Mother Church sings: “O ave crux spes unica!” ― meaning, “Hail O cross, our sole hope!”
That is why St. Paul preaches the cross: “The Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom! But we preach Christ crucified―unto the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles it is foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). “Be ye followers of me, brethren … For many walk―of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things. But our conversation is in Heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ!” (Philippians 3:17-20). “Then is the scandal of the cross made void!” (Galatians 5:11). What is more precious than salvation? In that case, what is more precious than the cross? There is no loss in the cross.
Avoiding the Cross
In this age of technology and comfort, we have become a generation of cross avoiders and cross voiders. We run from the cross, and, if we cannot escape it, we make it void by our complaints, whine, moans and groans. This reminds us a little of St. Simon of Cyrene, who didn’t want to carry Jesus’ cross, but was forced to do so: “And going out, they found a man of Cyrene, named Simon―him they forced to take up His [Jesus’] cross” (Matthew 27:32). Most people in this world do not want the cross―and so God forces the cross upon them by His Divine Providence. But what is God forcing them to take? Poison? No, the cross is no poison, but healthy medicine―even though it tastes bitter. But many medicines do taste bitter―even natural medicines in the form of food―for as they say: “Bitter is better” in many if not most cases. Garlic is bitter, cayenne is sharp, lemon is bitter, ginger is sharp, many herbs are bitter―yet they are among the best medicines that we have.
The Sign of the Cross
As we read a little above, St. Paul said: “The Jews require signs” (1 Corinthians 1:22). On Calvary, the Jews wanted a sign from Christ that would prove that He really was the Son of God. They said among themselves: “He saved others! Himself He cannot save! If He be the king of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him!” (Matthew 27:42). Thus, they cried out to Him: “Save Thy own self! If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross!” (Matthew 27:40). Sure, Jesus could have performed a miracle and could have freed Himself of the cross―but He preferred to perform an even greater miracle by remaining faithful and attached to the cross of salvation, and, after dying on the cross, He would not merely come down from the cross while still alive, He would instead come out of the tomb “alive and kicking” after He had died!
When we make the “Sign of the Cross”―which we do, or should be doing, many times a day, when we rise, before and after prayers, before and after meals, etc.―we are reminded ourselves of the theory and the lessons we have learnt in our classes of the Stations of the Cross, and reminding ourselves that salvation will only be gained by picking-up our many crosses daily, collecting them rather than throwing them away, and following Christ on the Way of the Cross. How sad it is to see the vast majority of Catholics make the Sign of the Cross, rapidly, irreverently, haphazardly, indifferently, superficially, thoughtlessly and carelessly! Imagine how Our Lord feels and what He must think of such a flippant, heartless, loveless use of the Sign that He has left us to remind us of the gargantuan and gruesome sufferings He underwent to pay the price of our salvation! Our attitude should one of hailing, not failing the Cross of Christ―“Ave crux spes unica”―“Hail O Cross, our only hope!”
St. Augustine―probably in reference to the two thieves crucified on Calvary with Jesus―says that the same crosses or the same sufferings lead some souls to Heaven and other souls to Hell. The one thief―whom we call “the bad thief”―despised his cross and wanted to be freed from it, even though he was justly condemned to die upon it. The other thief―whom we call “the good thief”―willingly accepted his cross as a just punishment for his crimes. To the “good thief” Our Lord said: “Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise!” Luke 23:43).
We all know the expression, “Don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk!” In other words, don’t just give me the theory, prove it in practice. Or “Actions speak louder than words!” For, more often than not, our own gospel is more a case of “Do as I say, but don’t do as I do!” Which is what Our Lord saw in the Scribes and Pharisees: “All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do! But according to their works do ye not; for they say, and do not!” (Matthew 23:3).
Elsewhere, Holy Scripture says the same thing slightly differently, telling us that theory alone will not suffice for Heaven: “Faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. But some man will say: ‘Thou hast Faith, and I have works!’ Show me thy Faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my Faith! Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well―but the devils also believe and tremble! Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead? Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by Faith only? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also faith without works is dead” (James 2:17-26).
The Cross is an Essential Work of Faith
Make no mistake about it―no cross, no Heaven! Our Lord puts it this way: “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me’”’ (Luke 9:23) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). Which is why the Church says―and we will hear this during the Liturgy of Holy Week― “Ave crux spes unica!” meaning, “Hail cross, our sole hope!” and “In cruce salus!” meaning, “In the cross is salvation!”
Our Lord even spells it out more clearly what it will be like to take up our cross daily and follow Him―“Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three … And a man's enemies shall be they of his own household … The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law!” (Luke 12:51-53; Matthew 10:36). “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:10-12). “And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death” (Mark 13:12). “They shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death, and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake!” (Matthew 24:9). “You shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 10:22).
The Theory of Ash Wednesday in Practice
On Ash Wednesday, you went to the School of the Passion (the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass) and there you were enrolled in the School of the Cross, by being “branded” with the cross of ashes being rubbed into the skin of your forehead. It was a lesson on how to get to Heaven. Now, on this Friday after Ash Wednesday, it is customary and traditional for the Church to begin the weekly lessons on the “Way of the Cross”, or the “Stations of the Cross” or, as in a school career, the “Classes of the Cross” ― ranging from the pre-schooler classes, then kindergarten classes and then the twelve grades to graduation (which total fourteen―as in the fourteen Stations of the Cross―which finally come to fruition with graduation at the end of Twelfth Grade of High School. In each Station of the Cross we learn something more about how to get to Heaven―but it praying or even meditating the Station of the Cross, we are still in the realm of THEORY and not practice. Our “School of Suffering” classwork theory (or crosswork theory or crossword theory) has to be put into practice by doing our homework in all the daily events and circumstances of our lives.
Going to the Stations of the Cross is fine and necessary―but even more necessary is putting into practice what we have uttered with our lips or considered with our minds. This is where most people fail―they are fine with the theory, but fail in practice. The cross is on their lips, but not in their hearts. This is witnessed and proved by the countless times during each and every day that they mutter, complain, whine, moan and groan when a cross comes their way. God sends them numerous crosses down the production-line, but most of them are thrown into the cross-trash-can. They see the cross as a loss, rather than a profit. God speaks thus of such persons: “He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38).
In Cruce Salus―In the Cross is Salvation
How can we consider the cross as a loss when it helps us avoid the loss of our souls? In the cross is salvation! “In cruce salus” as Holy Mother Church says. Our Lord adds: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Our Lord offers us salvation in exchange for the cross―we pay for salvation with the cross, the Way of the Cross is the way to salvation. That is why Holy Mother Church sings: “O ave crux spes unica!” ― meaning, “Hail O cross, our sole hope!”
That is why St. Paul preaches the cross: “The Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom! But we preach Christ crucified―unto the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles it is foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). “Be ye followers of me, brethren … For many walk―of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things. But our conversation is in Heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ!” (Philippians 3:17-20). “Then is the scandal of the cross made void!” (Galatians 5:11). What is more precious than salvation? In that case, what is more precious than the cross? There is no loss in the cross.
Avoiding the Cross
In this age of technology and comfort, we have become a generation of cross avoiders and cross voiders. We run from the cross, and, if we cannot escape it, we make it void by our complaints, whine, moans and groans. This reminds us a little of St. Simon of Cyrene, who didn’t want to carry Jesus’ cross, but was forced to do so: “And going out, they found a man of Cyrene, named Simon―him they forced to take up His [Jesus’] cross” (Matthew 27:32). Most people in this world do not want the cross―and so God forces the cross upon them by His Divine Providence. But what is God forcing them to take? Poison? No, the cross is no poison, but healthy medicine―even though it tastes bitter. But many medicines do taste bitter―even natural medicines in the form of food―for as they say: “Bitter is better” in many if not most cases. Garlic is bitter, cayenne is sharp, lemon is bitter, ginger is sharp, many herbs are bitter―yet they are among the best medicines that we have.
The Sign of the Cross
As we read a little above, St. Paul said: “The Jews require signs” (1 Corinthians 1:22). On Calvary, the Jews wanted a sign from Christ that would prove that He really was the Son of God. They said among themselves: “He saved others! Himself He cannot save! If He be the king of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him!” (Matthew 27:42). Thus, they cried out to Him: “Save Thy own self! If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross!” (Matthew 27:40). Sure, Jesus could have performed a miracle and could have freed Himself of the cross―but He preferred to perform an even greater miracle by remaining faithful and attached to the cross of salvation, and, after dying on the cross, He would not merely come down from the cross while still alive, He would instead come out of the tomb “alive and kicking” after He had died!
When we make the “Sign of the Cross”―which we do, or should be doing, many times a day, when we rise, before and after prayers, before and after meals, etc.―we are reminded ourselves of the theory and the lessons we have learnt in our classes of the Stations of the Cross, and reminding ourselves that salvation will only be gained by picking-up our many crosses daily, collecting them rather than throwing them away, and following Christ on the Way of the Cross. How sad it is to see the vast majority of Catholics make the Sign of the Cross, rapidly, irreverently, haphazardly, indifferently, superficially, thoughtlessly and carelessly! Imagine how Our Lord feels and what He must think of such a flippant, heartless, loveless use of the Sign that He has left us to remind us of the gargantuan and gruesome sufferings He underwent to pay the price of our salvation! Our attitude should one of hailing, not failing the Cross of Christ―“Ave crux spes unica”―“Hail O Cross, our only hope!”
St. Augustine―probably in reference to the two thieves crucified on Calvary with Jesus―says that the same crosses or the same sufferings lead some souls to Heaven and other souls to Hell. The one thief―whom we call “the bad thief”―despised his cross and wanted to be freed from it, even though he was justly condemned to die upon it. The other thief―whom we call “the good thief”―willingly accepted his cross as a just punishment for his crimes. To the “good thief” Our Lord said: “Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise!” Luke 23:43).
Thursday March 7th
Article 12
Don't Be Rash! Don't Trash the Ash! It's Spiritual Cash!
Article 12
Don't Be Rash! Don't Trash the Ash! It's Spiritual Cash!
Too Superficial―Too Inattentive―Too Distracted
For most people, Ash Wednesday came and went! That’s it! All done and dusted―if you pardon the pun! (“Remember man that thou art dust and to dust thou shall return!”). O never mind! Another joke burnt to ashes! Nevertheless, it is true―for most people Ash Wednesday is a thing of the past that is of further consequence. However, Ash Wednesday is far from being “just another day”! The ashes may go away―as we wash them away at some point or another―but their significance should be like an indelible mark on our mind, heart and soul. Yet we far too superficial, far too inattentive and far too distracted to really pay attention to and profit from Ash Wednesday. What could be spiritual riches, ends up being spiritual poverty! What could be a diamond, crumbles into dust! No sooner has Ash Wednesday gone, it is quickly forgotten. Ash Wednesday, like the proverbial water that flows off a duck’s back, is washed away in the next shower―from both body and mind.
This is not how it should be! Ash Wednesday is not to be a “one-day-wonder” to be quickly forgotten! What did the priest say as he imposed the ashes on your forehead? The very first word is like a hammer blow― “REMEMBER man that thou art dust and to dust thou shall return!” Yes, REMEMBER! We read of Our Lady: “And His Mother kept all these words in her heart” (Luke 2:51). “But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart” Luke 2:19)―which is how we ought to look at Ash Wednesday and “REMEMBER” these things in our heart. The opposite to “remember” is to “forget.” Remember for how long? Every day―until the day you die and turn to dust! In this modern consumer world, where everything has to be fast and has to be constantly changing―no better epitomized by the TV screen, where the images are often changing angles or views at a rate of two, three or even four different angles or settings in one single second―whereas, in bygone years, the camera would hold a scene setting for many, many seconds before shifting to another view or angle. We have been trained, brainwashed and have accepted constant change as part and parcel and the normality of life―so much so, that when there is no change, we become irritated, agitated and consternated.
All of this works against our spiritual life, which, on the contrary, requires prolonged focus on matters: “Be still and see that I am God!” (Psalms 45:11). We may be addicted to change, but with God there is no change: “The Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17). That is why we are so superficial and unspiritual, because we have become so addicted to change, to new things, always seeking something different, that we find it impossible to sit still and think deeply and thing spiritually―for the spiritual is not a tangible thing, like all the ‘goodies’ in this world, that we can see, touch, hear, smell and taste. We become impatient, dry, restless and fruitless when faced with spiritual thought and meditation―because we are predominantly bombarded with material, physical, earthly and worldly elements that can be seen, heard, touched, tasted and smelt all around us. The spiritual is a desert by comparison.
Spiritual Lessons from Palm Branches and Ashes
The life of a palm branch or palm leaf goes from worldly glory to spiritual humiliation and annihilation. At first the palm branch basks in the sun and gloriously wafts around in the tropical air, playing its part in beautifying the world. Then, it finds itself chopped-down, and, like prisoners, tied together with other palm leaves and shipped off to the ‘prison camp’ of some local church, where it will be ‘baptized’ (sprinkled with holy water) and ‘sold’ as a slave on Palm Sunday to some Catholic family. After a year of slavery and dying of ‘dehydration’ it finds itself, as Ash Wednesday approaches, sentenced to death by burning, after which ‘cremation’ its ashes are distributed once again among the Catholic families who had brought them to their ‘death’. What a beautiful lesson on how God prepares the soul for Heaven! If you have ever read accounts of the “Three Ways of the Spiritual Life”, or the “Three Stages or Conversions of the Spiritual Life”, then you will see the similarities―whereby God gradually takes away, reduces, strips, destroys our worldliness in order to make us fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.
The preparation of the ashes for Ash Wednesday begins when the people of the parish bring back the palms that were blessed and they received the previous year on Palm Sunday. The palms are first cut up into smaller pieces―which allow them to burn more quickly. Then they are placed in some kind of burning container (everyone has their own way), it could even be an old barbecue, with a tray placed underneath to catch the ash. Palm leaves are dry (dry spiritually?), having lost their moisture (grace?) through the year, leaving only the cellulose material (worldliness?), which also help them to burn more quickly, but, at the same time, reduces the volume of ash produced. As they burn, the palm branches need to be stirred about in order to introduce the oxygen (grace) that is required for the burning process (fires of love?) to continue. Once burned, the CARBON material is collected and placed in an old-fashioned flour sifter. The ashes are stirred and sifted reducing them to a fine granular powder. It is amazing the amount of palm leaf material that is needed to obtain a sufficient amount for distribution on Ash Wednesday.
From Ashes to Jewels
The whole process is a spiritual lesson waiting to be meditated―but modern man has no time to think spiritually―barely a few minutes―never mind meditate, or dig deep and MINE THE TREASURES that are to be found. Which―speaking of CARBON and MINING―brings us to the subject of diamonds. For there is a connection between ashes and diamonds―in the sense that high heat (flames) reduce the palm branches to ashes (CARBON) and high heat within the Earth’s mantle produces rough diamonds from CARBON.
A rough diamond can easily be overlooked and discarded by someone who does not recognize what a rough diamond looks like. Everyone has an image of a diamond as being a sparkling jewel―the king of the jewels. If you fail to recognize a rough diamond, you will most likely pass or even pick-up and throw away a fortune! A rough diamond is an unprocessed, unpolished, rugged, common-looking stone. Perhaps you have at one time held or seen a rough diamond without realizing it. In its original form it is totally unimpressive. The untrained and superficial eye will have great difficulty or even find it impossible to recognize the king of jewels in its basic and original condition. You could say the same thing about Our Lord―whether as an infant in the cave at Bethlehem, or bloodied and bruised on the cross on Calvary. Many an untrained mind or soul found it impossible to see the King of kings in the person that was in front of them. While it is still unpolished, the rough diamond looks like a piece of colorless, cloudy, milky glass, or even a yellowish-brown pebble. Only when cut and polished does its beauty shine forth.
As the saying goes: “Diamonds are forever!”―so too is your soul. Not only are diamonds ‘eternal’, but they take an ‘eternity’ to be formed. It takes thousands of years to form a rough diamond at depths of over a hundred miles beneath the Earth’s surface―which makes us think of the eternity of the fires of Hell and relative seeming ‘eternity’ of the fires of Purgatory, both places are held to by, by many saints, beneath the surface of the Earth. Diamonds are created only by being under enormous pressure and in extremely high temperatures. Only then does volcanic activity bring them towards the surface of the Earth, waiting to be discovered and mined as rough diamonds. It is not easy to recognize a rough diamond among the many pebbles among which it is embedded. The expressions “one in a thousand” or “one in a million” spring to mind―which again reminds of the few number of souls (rough diamonds) that are saved and find themselves as jewels in the crowns of Our Lord and Our Lady in Heaven.
Only when polished does a rough diamond reveal its exquisite sparkle and beauty. The rough diamond has to be cut and polished until they shine―which speaks volumes for our path to holiness―only then are they taken to the goldsmiths and jewelers―which reminds us that only shining saints are taken into Heaven.
Similar to graphite, diamonds are comprised purely of carbon. However there is more to it than that. Carbon is not the only ingredient. Diamonds have three other crucial ingredients: pressure, heat, and time. Diamonds are formed in the Earth's mantle, somewhere between 1 and 3 billion years ago. Formed by heat and pressure, diamonds are then delivered to the Earth's surface by deep-source volcanic eruptions or the movement of subduction zones that bring the diamonds up to the ocean floor. In addition to being formed deep in the Earth, diamonds can also be formed from the immense heat and pressure of asteroid strikes. Diamonds require environments of at least 752 degrees Fahrenheit (400 degrees Celsius) and 434,113 pounds per square inch (30 kilobars). The most favorable diamond-forming conditions can be found about 100 miles (160 kilometers) underground.
Making “Diamonds” from the “Ashes” in Lent
For man, a rough diamond is useless if it remains embedded deep in the Earth and is not brought up closer to the Earth’s surface to within mining distance. Likewise, to God, a soul (rough diamond) is useless if it is embedded deep in the things of this Earth and fails to be brought closer to God.
As rough diamonds are formed from carbon over time spent in intense heat and pressure―likewise, “rough diamonds” (saints) can be formed from the carbon of the ashes smeared on our foreheads by spending a prolonged time in the intense ‘heat’ and ‘pressure’ of Lent. Of course, we hate the heat and we prefer no pressure, but Holy Scripture tells us: “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in fear and prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1). “As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace―so the Lord trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3). “For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation” (Ecclesiasticus 2:5)―and Lent sure is humbling, it can be a real furnace, if it is lived-through correctly with penitential and mortified spirit―which is how it was meant to be lived in the first place.
Of course, today’s 95% Lenten fast discount―reducing the 40 days of fasting to a mere 2 days of fasting, namely Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, makes Lent ‘a piece of cake’ or a ‘cakewalk’ for today’s ‘couch-potato’ Catholics. This is just what Our Lady warned us about at La Salette in 1846: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish.” Twelve years later, at Lourdes in 1858, she would emphatically insist on “Penance! Penance! Penance!” Which she essentially reiterated at Fatima in 1917, bys asking for sacrifices to the point of much suffering: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!” (Our Lady of Fatima, May 1917). While at Akita, in 1973, Our Lady further warned: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. Beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!” (Our Lady of Akita, August 3rd, 1973). Our Lord sums all of this up with the blunt, frightening words: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
Fasting a Fast-Track to Holiness! Careful What You Consume!
As Our Lady warned at La Salette, ““Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little!” As a counter-measure to these attacks, Our Lord reminds us: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20), which is why St. Francis de Sales encourages our battles against Satan with these words: “Although we may be able to do but little, the enemy nevertheless stands more in awe of those whom he knows can fast.” While St. Thomas Aquinas points out the spiritualizing effects of fasting: “Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, kindles the true light of chastity.”
However, it is not only fasting from food that we are encouraged to do! St. John Chrysostom very astutely says: “Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words, because, what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew-up and consume our brothers? He who condemns and blasphemes is as if he has eaten brotherly meat, as if he has bitten into the flesh of his fellow man. It is because of this that Paul frightened us, saying: ‘If you chew up and consume one another, be careful that you do not annihilate yourselves!’”
The Humility of Ashes―Big as Dust
There were some very important men in the Old Testament, key figures chosen by God to lead or teach His Chosen people: Adam, Abraham, Job, etc. These men were among the favorites of God. Yet of Adam, God says: “Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return” (Genesis 3:19); Abraham, in speaking to God says of himself:”I am dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27); and Job echoes a similar sentiment saying of himself: “I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes” (Job 30:19), adding, ”Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes”(Job 42:6).
On this Ash Wednesday, we have all heard the words of God addressed to us:”Remember, man, that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return!” This is a reminder of death, with the same words that God pronounced Adam’s fate: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return” (Genesis 3:19).
What Goes Around Comes Around
Our fate is the same as that of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and we “shall be like small dust: and as ashes passing away” (Isaias 29:5). Since Original Sin, the fate of the human race is one of being reduced to ashes: “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). As God says: “Everyone shall die for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:16).
Our Lady, directly and indirectly, explicitly and implicitly, reinforces this truth—that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23)—at her modern-day apparitions.
At Lourdes she says: “You will pray to God for sinners!” (February 21st, 1858); “Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for sinners. Kiss the ground as an act of penance for sinners!” (February 24th).
Warnings of a Mother
At La Salette she warns that: “the priests … by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity [and] the priests are asking vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together.”
Our Lady appeared to St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima several times between December 1919 and February 1920. Our Lady told her many things including: “The sins of the world are very great ... If men only knew what eternity is, they would do everything in their power to change their lives.” … “Fly from riches and luxury; love poverty and silence; have charity, even for bad people!”
“More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason” … “The Mother of God wants more virgin souls bound by the vow of chastity” … “Confession is a sacrament of mercy and we must confess with joy and trust” … “Our Lady can no longer uphold the arm of Her Divine Son which will strike the world. If people amend their lives, Our Lord will even now save the world, but if they do not, punishment will come” … “People must renounce sin and not persist in it, as has been done until now. It is essential to repent greatly!”
Effects Have Causes
What is the source or cause of these calamities, woes and punishments promised by Heaven? It is in large part a lack of prayer and penance. As Our Lady says at La Salette: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
For most people, Ash Wednesday came and went! That’s it! All done and dusted―if you pardon the pun! (“Remember man that thou art dust and to dust thou shall return!”). O never mind! Another joke burnt to ashes! Nevertheless, it is true―for most people Ash Wednesday is a thing of the past that is of further consequence. However, Ash Wednesday is far from being “just another day”! The ashes may go away―as we wash them away at some point or another―but their significance should be like an indelible mark on our mind, heart and soul. Yet we far too superficial, far too inattentive and far too distracted to really pay attention to and profit from Ash Wednesday. What could be spiritual riches, ends up being spiritual poverty! What could be a diamond, crumbles into dust! No sooner has Ash Wednesday gone, it is quickly forgotten. Ash Wednesday, like the proverbial water that flows off a duck’s back, is washed away in the next shower―from both body and mind.
This is not how it should be! Ash Wednesday is not to be a “one-day-wonder” to be quickly forgotten! What did the priest say as he imposed the ashes on your forehead? The very first word is like a hammer blow― “REMEMBER man that thou art dust and to dust thou shall return!” Yes, REMEMBER! We read of Our Lady: “And His Mother kept all these words in her heart” (Luke 2:51). “But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart” Luke 2:19)―which is how we ought to look at Ash Wednesday and “REMEMBER” these things in our heart. The opposite to “remember” is to “forget.” Remember for how long? Every day―until the day you die and turn to dust! In this modern consumer world, where everything has to be fast and has to be constantly changing―no better epitomized by the TV screen, where the images are often changing angles or views at a rate of two, three or even four different angles or settings in one single second―whereas, in bygone years, the camera would hold a scene setting for many, many seconds before shifting to another view or angle. We have been trained, brainwashed and have accepted constant change as part and parcel and the normality of life―so much so, that when there is no change, we become irritated, agitated and consternated.
All of this works against our spiritual life, which, on the contrary, requires prolonged focus on matters: “Be still and see that I am God!” (Psalms 45:11). We may be addicted to change, but with God there is no change: “The Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17). That is why we are so superficial and unspiritual, because we have become so addicted to change, to new things, always seeking something different, that we find it impossible to sit still and think deeply and thing spiritually―for the spiritual is not a tangible thing, like all the ‘goodies’ in this world, that we can see, touch, hear, smell and taste. We become impatient, dry, restless and fruitless when faced with spiritual thought and meditation―because we are predominantly bombarded with material, physical, earthly and worldly elements that can be seen, heard, touched, tasted and smelt all around us. The spiritual is a desert by comparison.
Spiritual Lessons from Palm Branches and Ashes
The life of a palm branch or palm leaf goes from worldly glory to spiritual humiliation and annihilation. At first the palm branch basks in the sun and gloriously wafts around in the tropical air, playing its part in beautifying the world. Then, it finds itself chopped-down, and, like prisoners, tied together with other palm leaves and shipped off to the ‘prison camp’ of some local church, where it will be ‘baptized’ (sprinkled with holy water) and ‘sold’ as a slave on Palm Sunday to some Catholic family. After a year of slavery and dying of ‘dehydration’ it finds itself, as Ash Wednesday approaches, sentenced to death by burning, after which ‘cremation’ its ashes are distributed once again among the Catholic families who had brought them to their ‘death’. What a beautiful lesson on how God prepares the soul for Heaven! If you have ever read accounts of the “Three Ways of the Spiritual Life”, or the “Three Stages or Conversions of the Spiritual Life”, then you will see the similarities―whereby God gradually takes away, reduces, strips, destroys our worldliness in order to make us fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.
The preparation of the ashes for Ash Wednesday begins when the people of the parish bring back the palms that were blessed and they received the previous year on Palm Sunday. The palms are first cut up into smaller pieces―which allow them to burn more quickly. Then they are placed in some kind of burning container (everyone has their own way), it could even be an old barbecue, with a tray placed underneath to catch the ash. Palm leaves are dry (dry spiritually?), having lost their moisture (grace?) through the year, leaving only the cellulose material (worldliness?), which also help them to burn more quickly, but, at the same time, reduces the volume of ash produced. As they burn, the palm branches need to be stirred about in order to introduce the oxygen (grace) that is required for the burning process (fires of love?) to continue. Once burned, the CARBON material is collected and placed in an old-fashioned flour sifter. The ashes are stirred and sifted reducing them to a fine granular powder. It is amazing the amount of palm leaf material that is needed to obtain a sufficient amount for distribution on Ash Wednesday.
From Ashes to Jewels
The whole process is a spiritual lesson waiting to be meditated―but modern man has no time to think spiritually―barely a few minutes―never mind meditate, or dig deep and MINE THE TREASURES that are to be found. Which―speaking of CARBON and MINING―brings us to the subject of diamonds. For there is a connection between ashes and diamonds―in the sense that high heat (flames) reduce the palm branches to ashes (CARBON) and high heat within the Earth’s mantle produces rough diamonds from CARBON.
A rough diamond can easily be overlooked and discarded by someone who does not recognize what a rough diamond looks like. Everyone has an image of a diamond as being a sparkling jewel―the king of the jewels. If you fail to recognize a rough diamond, you will most likely pass or even pick-up and throw away a fortune! A rough diamond is an unprocessed, unpolished, rugged, common-looking stone. Perhaps you have at one time held or seen a rough diamond without realizing it. In its original form it is totally unimpressive. The untrained and superficial eye will have great difficulty or even find it impossible to recognize the king of jewels in its basic and original condition. You could say the same thing about Our Lord―whether as an infant in the cave at Bethlehem, or bloodied and bruised on the cross on Calvary. Many an untrained mind or soul found it impossible to see the King of kings in the person that was in front of them. While it is still unpolished, the rough diamond looks like a piece of colorless, cloudy, milky glass, or even a yellowish-brown pebble. Only when cut and polished does its beauty shine forth.
As the saying goes: “Diamonds are forever!”―so too is your soul. Not only are diamonds ‘eternal’, but they take an ‘eternity’ to be formed. It takes thousands of years to form a rough diamond at depths of over a hundred miles beneath the Earth’s surface―which makes us think of the eternity of the fires of Hell and relative seeming ‘eternity’ of the fires of Purgatory, both places are held to by, by many saints, beneath the surface of the Earth. Diamonds are created only by being under enormous pressure and in extremely high temperatures. Only then does volcanic activity bring them towards the surface of the Earth, waiting to be discovered and mined as rough diamonds. It is not easy to recognize a rough diamond among the many pebbles among which it is embedded. The expressions “one in a thousand” or “one in a million” spring to mind―which again reminds of the few number of souls (rough diamonds) that are saved and find themselves as jewels in the crowns of Our Lord and Our Lady in Heaven.
Only when polished does a rough diamond reveal its exquisite sparkle and beauty. The rough diamond has to be cut and polished until they shine―which speaks volumes for our path to holiness―only then are they taken to the goldsmiths and jewelers―which reminds us that only shining saints are taken into Heaven.
Similar to graphite, diamonds are comprised purely of carbon. However there is more to it than that. Carbon is not the only ingredient. Diamonds have three other crucial ingredients: pressure, heat, and time. Diamonds are formed in the Earth's mantle, somewhere between 1 and 3 billion years ago. Formed by heat and pressure, diamonds are then delivered to the Earth's surface by deep-source volcanic eruptions or the movement of subduction zones that bring the diamonds up to the ocean floor. In addition to being formed deep in the Earth, diamonds can also be formed from the immense heat and pressure of asteroid strikes. Diamonds require environments of at least 752 degrees Fahrenheit (400 degrees Celsius) and 434,113 pounds per square inch (30 kilobars). The most favorable diamond-forming conditions can be found about 100 miles (160 kilometers) underground.
Making “Diamonds” from the “Ashes” in Lent
For man, a rough diamond is useless if it remains embedded deep in the Earth and is not brought up closer to the Earth’s surface to within mining distance. Likewise, to God, a soul (rough diamond) is useless if it is embedded deep in the things of this Earth and fails to be brought closer to God.
As rough diamonds are formed from carbon over time spent in intense heat and pressure―likewise, “rough diamonds” (saints) can be formed from the carbon of the ashes smeared on our foreheads by spending a prolonged time in the intense ‘heat’ and ‘pressure’ of Lent. Of course, we hate the heat and we prefer no pressure, but Holy Scripture tells us: “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in fear and prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1). “As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace―so the Lord trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3). “For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation” (Ecclesiasticus 2:5)―and Lent sure is humbling, it can be a real furnace, if it is lived-through correctly with penitential and mortified spirit―which is how it was meant to be lived in the first place.
Of course, today’s 95% Lenten fast discount―reducing the 40 days of fasting to a mere 2 days of fasting, namely Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, makes Lent ‘a piece of cake’ or a ‘cakewalk’ for today’s ‘couch-potato’ Catholics. This is just what Our Lady warned us about at La Salette in 1846: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish.” Twelve years later, at Lourdes in 1858, she would emphatically insist on “Penance! Penance! Penance!” Which she essentially reiterated at Fatima in 1917, bys asking for sacrifices to the point of much suffering: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!” (Our Lady of Fatima, May 1917). While at Akita, in 1973, Our Lady further warned: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair―by their suffering and their poverty―for the sinners and the ungrateful. Beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!” (Our Lady of Akita, August 3rd, 1973). Our Lord sums all of this up with the blunt, frightening words: “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
Fasting a Fast-Track to Holiness! Careful What You Consume!
As Our Lady warned at La Salette, ““Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little!” As a counter-measure to these attacks, Our Lord reminds us: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting!” (Matthew 17:20), which is why St. Francis de Sales encourages our battles against Satan with these words: “Although we may be able to do but little, the enemy nevertheless stands more in awe of those whom he knows can fast.” While St. Thomas Aquinas points out the spiritualizing effects of fasting: “Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, kindles the true light of chastity.”
However, it is not only fasting from food that we are encouraged to do! St. John Chrysostom very astutely says: “Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words, because, what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew-up and consume our brothers? He who condemns and blasphemes is as if he has eaten brotherly meat, as if he has bitten into the flesh of his fellow man. It is because of this that Paul frightened us, saying: ‘If you chew up and consume one another, be careful that you do not annihilate yourselves!’”
The Humility of Ashes―Big as Dust
There were some very important men in the Old Testament, key figures chosen by God to lead or teach His Chosen people: Adam, Abraham, Job, etc. These men were among the favorites of God. Yet of Adam, God says: “Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return” (Genesis 3:19); Abraham, in speaking to God says of himself:”I am dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27); and Job echoes a similar sentiment saying of himself: “I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes” (Job 30:19), adding, ”Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes”(Job 42:6).
On this Ash Wednesday, we have all heard the words of God addressed to us:”Remember, man, that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return!” This is a reminder of death, with the same words that God pronounced Adam’s fate: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return” (Genesis 3:19).
What Goes Around Comes Around
Our fate is the same as that of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and we “shall be like small dust: and as ashes passing away” (Isaias 29:5). Since Original Sin, the fate of the human race is one of being reduced to ashes: “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). As God says: “Everyone shall die for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:16).
Our Lady, directly and indirectly, explicitly and implicitly, reinforces this truth—that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23)—at her modern-day apparitions.
At Lourdes she says: “You will pray to God for sinners!” (February 21st, 1858); “Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for sinners. Kiss the ground as an act of penance for sinners!” (February 24th).
Warnings of a Mother
At La Salette she warns that: “the priests … by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity [and] the priests are asking vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together.”
Our Lady appeared to St. Jacinta Marto of Fatima several times between December 1919 and February 1920. Our Lady told her many things including: “The sins of the world are very great ... If men only knew what eternity is, they would do everything in their power to change their lives.” … “Fly from riches and luxury; love poverty and silence; have charity, even for bad people!”
“More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason” … “The Mother of God wants more virgin souls bound by the vow of chastity” … “Confession is a sacrament of mercy and we must confess with joy and trust” … “Our Lady can no longer uphold the arm of Her Divine Son which will strike the world. If people amend their lives, Our Lord will even now save the world, but if they do not, punishment will come” … “People must renounce sin and not persist in it, as has been done until now. It is essential to repent greatly!”
Effects Have Causes
What is the source or cause of these calamities, woes and punishments promised by Heaven? It is in large part a lack of prayer and penance. As Our Lady says at La Salette: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God.”
Ash Wednesday March 6th
Article 11
We Need To Be More Ashen-Faced!
Article 11
We Need To Be More Ashen-Faced!
Glory Reduced to Ashes
In the Catholic Encyclopedia entry for “Ash Wednesday” we read: “The name « dies cinerum » (day of ashes), which it bears in the Roman Missal, is found in the earliest existing copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary and probably dates from at least the eighth century. On this day all the faithful according to ancient custom are exhorted to approach the altar before the beginning of Mass, and there the priest, dipping his thumb into ashes previously blessed, marks the forehead — or in case of clerics upon the place of the tonsure [on the crown, i.e., the top of the head] — of each the sign of the cross, saying the words: « Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return. » The ashes used in this ceremony are made by burning the remains of the palms blessed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year.”
Palms are a symbol of glory, victory and peace―and when you think about it, it is logical in its order: the glory of the battles fought, followed by victory in the war, which obviously means and end to the war which is followed by peace after overcoming the enemy. In the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world, the palm branch is a symbol of victory, triumph, peace, and eternal life. The palm was sacred in Mesopotamian religions, and in ancient Egypt represented immortality. In Judaism, the date palm is used during the festival of Sukkot. A palm branch was awarded to victorious athletes in ancient Greece, and a palm frond or the tree itself is one of the most common attributes of Victory personified in ancient Rome. In Christianity, the palm branch is associated particularly with Palm Sunday, when according to Christian tradition palm branches were waved at the triumphal and victorious entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
Burning the Previous Year’s Palms Symbolizes Burning Our Previous Glories
Since palms represent glory, victory, peace and eternal life, the burning of these palms and reducing them to ashes represents a burning-up of glory, victory, peace and eternal life. We are, by nature and the effects of Original Sin, proud creatures and we love to “glory” whenever possible. We live in a “glorious” age, when technology “glories” over its own power, its potential, its “victories” and achievements. Technology boasts of many “victories” and helps us live our lives in “peace” and comfort. Technology, in the medical field, seeks to ward-off illness and death and thus gives us a false sense of “eternal life” on Earth, with the feeling that we will never die, even though we know we will.
No Glory in Glory! Unless It’s the Right Glory!
Yet, paradoxically, all this glory, victory, peace and imagined immortality that surrounds us in this world, is potentially reducing our chance of salvation to ashes! This man-made, man-sought, man-loved glory, victory, peace and imagined immortality is diametrically opposed to the Spirit of God. It is a man-made and man-sought and man-loved idol, that displaces God, dethrones God, uncrowns God and puts self in the place of God. This is something that God never could and never will tolerate, as shown repeatedly in Holy Scripture. God has to reduce this man-made glory to ashes. God has to reduce this falsely imagined immortality to ashes. God has to reduce this false sense of victory and peace to ashes. “That no flesh should glory in His sight!” (1 Corinthians 1:29). “Let no man therefore glory in men!” (1 Corinthians 3:21). “And fear not the words of a sinful man―for his glory is dung and worms!” (1 Machabees 2:62). “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). Let not modern-man glory in his technology! “Thou shalt not have strange gods in My sight!” (Deuteronomy 5:7). “Let them be all confounded that adore graven things and that glory in their idols!” (Psalms 96:7). “They shall decay in hell from their glory” (Psalm 48:15).
“Let us not be made desirous of vain glory!” (Galatians 5:26). “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord!” (2 Corinthians 10:17). “Give glory to the Lord!” (Tobias 13:3). “Give to the Lord glory to His Name!” (1 Paralipomenon 16:29). “Glory ye in His holy Name!” (Psalm 104:3). “For by grace you are saved through Faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God, not of works―so that no man may glory” (Ephesians 2:8-9). “He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh the glory of Him that sent him, he is true, and there is no injustice in him!” (John 7:18). “But let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me―for I am the Lord that exercises mercy, and judgment, and justice in the Earth: for these things please Me, saith the Lord!” (Jeremias 9:24).
Reducing Glory to Dust and Ashes
If we glory in ourselves, our knowledge, our skills, our influence, our popularity, our standard of living, our achievements, our ideas, our ‘holiness’, our station in life, our riches, our house and home, our possessions, etc. ― then let us remember that “he that is a searcher of majesty, shall be overwhelmed by glory!” (Proverbs 25:27) and instead let us cry out to God: “Bring down my glory to the dust!” (Psalm 7:6).
That is exactly what Ash Wednesday reminds us of―a reminder that all the glory of man will eventually be reduced to mere dust and ashes, and that only the glory of God, and things done for the glory of God, shall endure and remain for eternity. There is something shockingly simple and scathing about the traditional words addressed to each person during the imposition or marking of the forehead with ashes: “Remember man that thou art dust and to dust thou shall return!” The very substance of ashes is humiliating―they are grey or black (venial and mortal sin), they are grimy and coarse (like sinful man), they are diametrically opposed to the usual things that are plastered or placed on the face―perfume, pleasantly colored make-up, scented after-shave, scented soaps, etc.
More Than Just Words!
Instead of the traditional, unambiguous, clear as day, no mincing of words, slap in the face statement: “Remember man that thou art dust and to dust thou shall return!” ― the modern-Church has introduced a less-harsh and more comfortable admonition to be used while marking a person’s forehead with ashes, which is: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel!” or “Repent, and believe in the Gospel!”―though it retains the option of saying: “For dust you are and to dust you shall return!”
Perhaps you do not notice these things, but the second of the these two admonitions is even more watered-down than the first watered-down admonition. “Turn away from sin” seems to imply something that is being done in practice, whereas “Repent!” implies something that only takes place in the mind. To think is easier that to do―as we all know from common experience every day―we often find out that we cannot do the things we think we can do!
Additionally, “Be faithful to the Gospel!” sounds more demanding that merely “Believe in the Gospel!”―for believing alone doesn’t mean much or guarantee much, as Holy Scripture brutally points out: “Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead?” (James 2:19-20). “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves!” (James 1:22). Being faithful to the Gospel involves far, far more than merely believing in the Gospel. Another indication of how the modern-Church is diluting, dismantling and destroying the Faith to the point where when “the Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth” (Luke 18:8). Our Faith is being reduced to ashes!
Furthermore, the modern-Church has decimated and destroyed the most beautiful prayers that were used to bless the ashes on Ash Wednesday. We see this liturgical decrease, diminution, dilution and devaluation very clearly when we compare the two Ash Wednesday Blessing of Ashes Rituals. What there is now is just a morsel, a crumb, a dried-up, micro-waved, fast-tracked, drive-thru blessing that is a pitiful replacement for the beautiful, instructive, inspiring and humbling liturgy of old. What do we have now? Here is what there is now:
In the Catholic Encyclopedia entry for “Ash Wednesday” we read: “The name « dies cinerum » (day of ashes), which it bears in the Roman Missal, is found in the earliest existing copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary and probably dates from at least the eighth century. On this day all the faithful according to ancient custom are exhorted to approach the altar before the beginning of Mass, and there the priest, dipping his thumb into ashes previously blessed, marks the forehead — or in case of clerics upon the place of the tonsure [on the crown, i.e., the top of the head] — of each the sign of the cross, saying the words: « Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return. » The ashes used in this ceremony are made by burning the remains of the palms blessed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year.”
Palms are a symbol of glory, victory and peace―and when you think about it, it is logical in its order: the glory of the battles fought, followed by victory in the war, which obviously means and end to the war which is followed by peace after overcoming the enemy. In the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world, the palm branch is a symbol of victory, triumph, peace, and eternal life. The palm was sacred in Mesopotamian religions, and in ancient Egypt represented immortality. In Judaism, the date palm is used during the festival of Sukkot. A palm branch was awarded to victorious athletes in ancient Greece, and a palm frond or the tree itself is one of the most common attributes of Victory personified in ancient Rome. In Christianity, the palm branch is associated particularly with Palm Sunday, when according to Christian tradition palm branches were waved at the triumphal and victorious entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
Burning the Previous Year’s Palms Symbolizes Burning Our Previous Glories
Since palms represent glory, victory, peace and eternal life, the burning of these palms and reducing them to ashes represents a burning-up of glory, victory, peace and eternal life. We are, by nature and the effects of Original Sin, proud creatures and we love to “glory” whenever possible. We live in a “glorious” age, when technology “glories” over its own power, its potential, its “victories” and achievements. Technology boasts of many “victories” and helps us live our lives in “peace” and comfort. Technology, in the medical field, seeks to ward-off illness and death and thus gives us a false sense of “eternal life” on Earth, with the feeling that we will never die, even though we know we will.
No Glory in Glory! Unless It’s the Right Glory!
Yet, paradoxically, all this glory, victory, peace and imagined immortality that surrounds us in this world, is potentially reducing our chance of salvation to ashes! This man-made, man-sought, man-loved glory, victory, peace and imagined immortality is diametrically opposed to the Spirit of God. It is a man-made and man-sought and man-loved idol, that displaces God, dethrones God, uncrowns God and puts self in the place of God. This is something that God never could and never will tolerate, as shown repeatedly in Holy Scripture. God has to reduce this man-made glory to ashes. God has to reduce this falsely imagined immortality to ashes. God has to reduce this false sense of victory and peace to ashes. “That no flesh should glory in His sight!” (1 Corinthians 1:29). “Let no man therefore glory in men!” (1 Corinthians 3:21). “And fear not the words of a sinful man―for his glory is dung and worms!” (1 Machabees 2:62). “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches!” (Jeremias 9:23). Let not modern-man glory in his technology! “Thou shalt not have strange gods in My sight!” (Deuteronomy 5:7). “Let them be all confounded that adore graven things and that glory in their idols!” (Psalms 96:7). “They shall decay in hell from their glory” (Psalm 48:15).
“Let us not be made desirous of vain glory!” (Galatians 5:26). “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord!” (2 Corinthians 10:17). “Give glory to the Lord!” (Tobias 13:3). “Give to the Lord glory to His Name!” (1 Paralipomenon 16:29). “Glory ye in His holy Name!” (Psalm 104:3). “For by grace you are saved through Faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God, not of works―so that no man may glory” (Ephesians 2:8-9). “He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh the glory of Him that sent him, he is true, and there is no injustice in him!” (John 7:18). “But let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me―for I am the Lord that exercises mercy, and judgment, and justice in the Earth: for these things please Me, saith the Lord!” (Jeremias 9:24).
Reducing Glory to Dust and Ashes
If we glory in ourselves, our knowledge, our skills, our influence, our popularity, our standard of living, our achievements, our ideas, our ‘holiness’, our station in life, our riches, our house and home, our possessions, etc. ― then let us remember that “he that is a searcher of majesty, shall be overwhelmed by glory!” (Proverbs 25:27) and instead let us cry out to God: “Bring down my glory to the dust!” (Psalm 7:6).
That is exactly what Ash Wednesday reminds us of―a reminder that all the glory of man will eventually be reduced to mere dust and ashes, and that only the glory of God, and things done for the glory of God, shall endure and remain for eternity. There is something shockingly simple and scathing about the traditional words addressed to each person during the imposition or marking of the forehead with ashes: “Remember man that thou art dust and to dust thou shall return!” The very substance of ashes is humiliating―they are grey or black (venial and mortal sin), they are grimy and coarse (like sinful man), they are diametrically opposed to the usual things that are plastered or placed on the face―perfume, pleasantly colored make-up, scented after-shave, scented soaps, etc.
More Than Just Words!
Instead of the traditional, unambiguous, clear as day, no mincing of words, slap in the face statement: “Remember man that thou art dust and to dust thou shall return!” ― the modern-Church has introduced a less-harsh and more comfortable admonition to be used while marking a person’s forehead with ashes, which is: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel!” or “Repent, and believe in the Gospel!”―though it retains the option of saying: “For dust you are and to dust you shall return!”
Perhaps you do not notice these things, but the second of the these two admonitions is even more watered-down than the first watered-down admonition. “Turn away from sin” seems to imply something that is being done in practice, whereas “Repent!” implies something that only takes place in the mind. To think is easier that to do―as we all know from common experience every day―we often find out that we cannot do the things we think we can do!
Additionally, “Be faithful to the Gospel!” sounds more demanding that merely “Believe in the Gospel!”―for believing alone doesn’t mean much or guarantee much, as Holy Scripture brutally points out: “Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well! But the devils also believe and tremble! But wilt thou know, O vain man, that Faith without works is dead?” (James 2:19-20). “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves!” (James 1:22). Being faithful to the Gospel involves far, far more than merely believing in the Gospel. Another indication of how the modern-Church is diluting, dismantling and destroying the Faith to the point where when “the Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth” (Luke 18:8). Our Faith is being reduced to ashes!
Furthermore, the modern-Church has decimated and destroyed the most beautiful prayers that were used to bless the ashes on Ash Wednesday. We see this liturgical decrease, diminution, dilution and devaluation very clearly when we compare the two Ash Wednesday Blessing of Ashes Rituals. What there is now is just a morsel, a crumb, a dried-up, micro-waved, fast-tracked, drive-thru blessing that is a pitiful replacement for the beautiful, instructive, inspiring and humbling liturgy of old. What do we have now? Here is what there is now:
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THE LITURGY BEFORE THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
Blessing and Distribution of Ashes
The Opening Antiphon At the altar, before Mass begins, the Priest, standing with hands joined, says: Hear me, O Lord, for Thy mercy is kind! Look upon me according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, O Lord! (Psalm 68:17). Save me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my soul! (Psalm 68:2). Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Hear me, O Lord, for Thy mercy is kind! Look upon me according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, O Lord! (Psalm 68:17). First Prayer Over the Ashes The Priest, standing with hands joined, says: Let us pray: Almighty, everlasting God, spare those who are repentant, be merciful to those who pray to Thee, and graciously send Thy holy angel from Heaven to bless ☩ and sanctify ☩ these ashes, that they may be a wholesome remedy for all who humbly implore Thy Holy Name; who accuse themselves by acknowledging their sins, who weep for their evil deeds in the sight of Thy divine mercy; who humbly and earnestly seek Thy fatherly love. Grant to us who call upon Thy Holy Name, that all who are sprinkled with these ashes for the forgiveness of their sins, may receive health for their bodies and salvation for their souls. Through Christ our Lord. Response: Amen. Second Prayer Over the Ashes Let us pray: O God, Thou Who desirest not the death but the repentance of sinners, look graciously upon the weakness of our human nature, and, in Thy fatherly love, mercifully bless ☩ these ashes which are to be placed upon our heads as a sign of humility and a pledge of Thy forgiveness. We know that we are but ashes, and because of our wickedness must return to dust. May we obtain, from Thee, mercy the pardon of all our sins and the rewards promised to those who repent. Through Christ our Lord. Response: Amen. Third Prayer Over the Ashes Let us pray: O God, Thou Who art moved by our acts of humility and appeased by our works of penance, turn Thy ear lovingly to our prayers, and, by the ashes sprinkled upon the heads of Thy servants, mercifully pour forth upon them the grace of Thy blessing, fill them with the spirit of repentance and truly grant what they ask for in the right way; and may whatever Thou grant, remain fixed and unchanged always. Through Christ our Lord. Response: Amen. Fourth Prayer Over the Ashes Let us pray: Almighty, everlasting God, Who bestowed upon the people of Ninive, who repented in sackcloth and ashes, Thy merciful remedies, graciously grant that we may so imitate their outward behavior as inwardly to obtain Thy forgiveness. Through Christ our Lord. Response: Amen. THE IMPOSITION OF ASHES The priest then sprinkles the ashes three times with Holy Water and then incenses the ashes with the censer (thurible) three times. Then the Priest places ashes on the head of all those present who come to him, and says to each one: Remember man that thou art dust and to dust thou shall return! Antiphons Sung During the Distribution of Ashes ANTIPHON 1 Let us change our garment for ashes and sackcloth! Let us fast and lament before the Lord! For our God is plenteous in mercy to forgive sins! (Joel 2:13). ANTIPHON 2 Between the porch and the altar the priests the Lord’s ministers shall weep, and shall say: "Spare, O Lord, spare Thy people! And shut not the mouths of them that sing to Thee, O Lord!" (Joel 2:17). THE RESPONSORIAL (taken from Esther ch. 13; Joel ch. 2, Psalm 78:9). Responsory: Let us amend for the better in those things in which we have sinned through ignorance: lest suddenly overtaken by the day of death, we seek space for penance, and are not able to find it. Hear O Lord, and have mercy: for we have sinned against Thee! Help us, O God, our Savior! And, for the glory of Thy Name, O Lord, deliver us! And forgive us our sins for Thy Name’s sake! O Lord deliver us! Listen, O Lord!” Versicle: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. Listen, O Lord! The Final Prayer Let us pray: Grant us, O Lord, to take up our duty as soldiers of Christ by holy fasting, that we, who are going to struggle with the evil spirits, may be protected by the help of self-restraint! Through Christ our Lord. Response: Amen. |
THE LITURGY AFTER THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
Blessing and Distribution of Ashes
The Opening Address After the Homily, the Priest, standing with hands joined, says: Dear brethren (brothers and sisters), let us humbly ask God our Father that he be pleased to bless with the abundance of his grace these ashes, which we will put on our heads in penitence. Prayer Over the Ashes After a brief prayer in silence, and, with hands extended, he continues: (The following prayer corresponds to the Third Prayer in the pre-Vatican II rite) O God, who are moved by acts of humility and respond with forgiveness to works of penance, lend Your merciful ear to our prayers and in Your kindness pour out the grace of Your blessing on your servants who are marked with these ashes, that, as they follow the Lenten observances, they may be worthy to come with minds made pure to celebrate the Paschal Mystery of Your Son. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Notice that in the above prayer, the rubrics do not indicate a blessing with the sign of the cross ☩ , but merely invokes God to bless) (Later the following SHORTENED prayer replaced the prayer just above) Lord, bless the sinner who asks for Your forgiveness and bless ☩ all those who receive these ashes. May they keep this Lenten season in preparation for the joy of Easter. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Response: Amen. Or: [this being given a choice, either / or, means that ONLY ONE prayer is said. (The following prayer corresponds to the Second Prayer in the pre-Vatican II rite) O God, who desire not the death of sinners, but their conversion, mercifully hear our prayers and in your kindness be pleased to bless ☩ these ashes, which we intend to receive upon our heads, that we, who acknowledge we are but ashes and shall return to dust, may, through a steadfast observance of Lent, gain pardon for sins and newness of life after the likeness of Your Risen Son. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen. (Later the following SHORTENED prayer replaced the prayer just above) Lord, bless these ashes ☩ by which we show that we are dust. Pardon our sins and keep us faithful to the discipline of Lent, for you do not want sinners to die but to live with the risen Christ, who reigns with you for ever and ever. Much has been lost by way of instruction, teaching, symbolism and spiritual significance by only saying ONE prayer, and omitting the other THREE prayers from the Pre-Vatican II Ritual of Blessing. THE IMPOSITION OF ASHES The priest then sprinkles the ashes with Holy Water (the rubrics give no mention of how many times) but does not incenses the ashes.Then the Priest places ashes on the head of all those present who come to him, and says to each one: Repent, and believe in the Gospel. (notice this is the first choice) Or: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. (this is in second place) Antiphons Sung During the Distribution of Ashes ANTIPHON 1 Let us change our garments to sackcloth and ashes, let us fast and weep before the Lord, that our God, rich in mercy, might forgive us our sins. ANTIPHON 2 Cf. Joel 2:17; Esther 4:17 Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, stand between the porch and the altar and weep and cry out: "Spare, O Lord, spare Your people; do not close the mouths of those who sing Your praise, O Lord!" ANTIPHON 3 Psalm 51 (50):3 Blot out my transgressions, O Lord. THE RESPONSORIAL Cf. Baruch 3:2; Psalm 79 (78):9 Responsory: Let us correct our faults which we have committed in ignorance, let us not be taken unawares by the day of our death, looking in vain for leisure to repent. Versicle: Help us, O God our Savior; for the sake of Your Name, O Lord, set us free. The references to God by the words "You" and "Your" have been capitalized here, though in the original text, as is sadly the case with the modern Church, in addition to throwing out the more reverential "Thee", "Thou", "Thy", "Thine", their replacement words--"you" and "your"--are not even capitalized in most cases. |
Church Being Burnt to Ashes
The above comparison is just the tip of the iceberg of similar reductions and redactions, reformations and deformations, dilutions and defusions of a once powerful Church Liturgical and Sacramental power-house. This tweaking and tinkering has assaulted the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (the weapon of all weapons), the Holy Rosary, the Sacraments (for example, there are no more exorcisms at Baptism, use of dubious oils for Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders), and the many various blessings and prayers of the Church.
Much has been said in prophecy about the almost total collapse of the Catholic Church. It will, of course, stand until the end of time―as Christ promised: “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it!” (Matthew 16:18). Yet that does mean that much will remain standing―for the same Jesus Christ says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
This is backed up by prophecy, when Our Lady of Good Success (text in black print) and La Salette (text in red print) forewarns: “At the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated … Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education … The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties … Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … Many authentic vocations will perish … The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The demon will try to persecute the ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them. These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests ... In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts … for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good pastors of the Church … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist …
“Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis. The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. In order to free men from bondage to these heresies, those―whom the merciful love of my Most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration―will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God. To test this Faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed" (combined quotes from Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette).
The Cross of Death on Your Forehead
That little black or grey powdery cross―that you received so nonchalantly on your forehead, without it penetrating your mind and giving you much reflection or meditation―is far from being little in its signification. Above all, the cross is a sign of death―after all, it was on the cross that Our Lord chose to die and allowed Himself to be nailed to it. You could call it a “Cross of Death” from various different viewpoints. (1) It is the Cross of Death upon which Christ died to give us life; (2) it is a Cross of Death signifying that if we wish to go to Heaven, we have to take up our cross daily and follow Christ into death, but, in our case, it means dying to the world and worldliness; (3) it is a Cross of Death that also reminds us that this vain, distracting, comfort seeking life will one day end and that we will also die; (4) it is a Cross of Death that reminds us that it was the instrument of torture upon which Christ’s enemies and fake followers nailed Him; (5) it is a Cross of Death that signifies that through the crosses of suffering we can overcome the devil, the world and our own passions. These are not all the significations, just a few of them. It is this Cross of Death that the Church imprinted upon your forehead on Ash Wednesday―but were those thoughts imprinted in your mind? Or was everything washed away as we proceeded to “wash the ash” or “toss the cross”?
What sounds like bad news is also good news. There is a flip-side to that Cross of Death―the flip side is the Cross of Life. For when we take upon ourselves the Cross of Death for Christ’s sake and follow Him―“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23)―then we find that Cross of Death turns into a Cross of Life, much like when St. Simon of Cyrene was FORCED to carry Jesus’ Cross of Death, his attitude gradually changed from one of resentment to one of contentment, with the result that he and his sons became saints by the time they died! Death becomes Life―as Jesus said: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25) … “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35).
Don’t Trash the Ash! Don't Waste the Paste!
The whole ceremony of Ash Wednesday with its solemn imposition of ashes is not something to be trashed, but something to be stashed! So don’t trash the ash! Your ash is spiritual cash! We are too superficial―living a life of “Easy come, easy go!” We never really let the word of God penetrate our minds and most likely we didn’t let the ash penetrate our minds, too! The ashes could be compared to seeds―which immediately bring to mind the parable of The Sower of the Seed, which, by no coincidence, the Church made us listen to, ten days ago, on Sexagesima Sunday―during our countdown to Lent. Given the few number of souls that are saved―not by fate, but due to their own stupidity, laziness, worldliness and spiritual indifference, for God wishes to save everyone―it is in our most serious interests not to “trash the ash” or “waste the paste” that we received on our heads, but to take a prolonged look at the incredible and indelible significance of what happened on Ash Wednesday, like Our Lady: “But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart … His mother kept all these words in her heart” (Luke 2:19; 2:51). Thus, like seeds, we will allow the ashes―which have become grace attracting sacramentals by being blessed on Ash Wednesday―penetrate and sprout in the spiritual soil of our minds and hearts―thus, hopefully, gradually sprouting, growing, maturing and producing rich fruit by the end of Lent.
The above comparison is just the tip of the iceberg of similar reductions and redactions, reformations and deformations, dilutions and defusions of a once powerful Church Liturgical and Sacramental power-house. This tweaking and tinkering has assaulted the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (the weapon of all weapons), the Holy Rosary, the Sacraments (for example, there are no more exorcisms at Baptism, use of dubious oils for Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders), and the many various blessings and prayers of the Church.
Much has been said in prophecy about the almost total collapse of the Catholic Church. It will, of course, stand until the end of time―as Christ promised: “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it!” (Matthew 16:18). Yet that does mean that much will remain standing―for the same Jesus Christ says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8).
This is backed up by prophecy, when Our Lady of Good Success (text in black print) and La Salette (text in red print) forewarns: “At the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated … Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education … The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties … Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … Many authentic vocations will perish … The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God … The demon will try to persecute the ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them. These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests ... In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts … for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good pastors of the Church … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... and a great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion; among these people there will even be bishops … Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist …
“Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost ... The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis. The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. In order to free men from bondage to these heresies, those―whom the merciful love of my Most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration―will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God. To test this Faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed" (combined quotes from Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette).
The Cross of Death on Your Forehead
That little black or grey powdery cross―that you received so nonchalantly on your forehead, without it penetrating your mind and giving you much reflection or meditation―is far from being little in its signification. Above all, the cross is a sign of death―after all, it was on the cross that Our Lord chose to die and allowed Himself to be nailed to it. You could call it a “Cross of Death” from various different viewpoints. (1) It is the Cross of Death upon which Christ died to give us life; (2) it is a Cross of Death signifying that if we wish to go to Heaven, we have to take up our cross daily and follow Christ into death, but, in our case, it means dying to the world and worldliness; (3) it is a Cross of Death that also reminds us that this vain, distracting, comfort seeking life will one day end and that we will also die; (4) it is a Cross of Death that reminds us that it was the instrument of torture upon which Christ’s enemies and fake followers nailed Him; (5) it is a Cross of Death that signifies that through the crosses of suffering we can overcome the devil, the world and our own passions. These are not all the significations, just a few of them. It is this Cross of Death that the Church imprinted upon your forehead on Ash Wednesday―but were those thoughts imprinted in your mind? Or was everything washed away as we proceeded to “wash the ash” or “toss the cross”?
What sounds like bad news is also good news. There is a flip-side to that Cross of Death―the flip side is the Cross of Life. For when we take upon ourselves the Cross of Death for Christ’s sake and follow Him―“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!” (Luke 9:23)―then we find that Cross of Death turns into a Cross of Life, much like when St. Simon of Cyrene was FORCED to carry Jesus’ Cross of Death, his attitude gradually changed from one of resentment to one of contentment, with the result that he and his sons became saints by the time they died! Death becomes Life―as Jesus said: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25) … “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it!” (Mark 8:35).
Don’t Trash the Ash! Don't Waste the Paste!
The whole ceremony of Ash Wednesday with its solemn imposition of ashes is not something to be trashed, but something to be stashed! So don’t trash the ash! Your ash is spiritual cash! We are too superficial―living a life of “Easy come, easy go!” We never really let the word of God penetrate our minds and most likely we didn’t let the ash penetrate our minds, too! The ashes could be compared to seeds―which immediately bring to mind the parable of The Sower of the Seed, which, by no coincidence, the Church made us listen to, ten days ago, on Sexagesima Sunday―during our countdown to Lent. Given the few number of souls that are saved―not by fate, but due to their own stupidity, laziness, worldliness and spiritual indifference, for God wishes to save everyone―it is in our most serious interests not to “trash the ash” or “waste the paste” that we received on our heads, but to take a prolonged look at the incredible and indelible significance of what happened on Ash Wednesday, like Our Lady: “But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart … His mother kept all these words in her heart” (Luke 2:19; 2:51). Thus, like seeds, we will allow the ashes―which have become grace attracting sacramentals by being blessed on Ash Wednesday―penetrate and sprout in the spiritual soil of our minds and hearts―thus, hopefully, gradually sprouting, growing, maturing and producing rich fruit by the end of Lent.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Monday March 4th & Tuesday March 5th
Article 10
Shamed By The World!
Article 10
Shamed By The World!
Christians Inferior to Worldlings?
Our Lord has some cutting and biting words to offer us as we approach this season of Lent, or spiritual battlefield! What are those words? Here they are: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8). What does Our Lord mean by that? To better understand what Our Lord means, let us place His words in the context of the parable where they appear―the Parable of the Unjust Steward:
Parable of the Unjust Steward
“And Jesus said also to His disciples: ‘There was a certain rich man who had a steward: and the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said to him: “How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship! For now thou canst be steward no longer!” And the steward said within himself: “What shall I do, because my lord taketh away from me the stewardship? To dig I am not able; to beg I am ashamed. I know what I will do, that when I shall be removed from the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses!”
“Therefore calling together every one of his lord's debtors, he said to the first: “How much dost thou owe my lord?” But he said: “A hundred barrels of oil.” And he said to him: “Take thy bill and sit down quickly, and write fifty!” Then he said to another: “And how much dost thou owe?” Who said: “A hundred quarters of wheat!” He said to him: “Take thy bill, and write eighty!” And the lord commended the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely―for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. And I say to you: Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity * [see below]―that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater. If, then, you have not been faithful in the unjust mammon; who will trust you with that which is the true? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!’
“Now the Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided Him. And He said to them: ‘You are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts! For that which is high to men, is an abomination before God!’” (Luke 16:1-15).
* Regarding “mammon of iniquity”―Mammon signifies riches. They are here called the mammon of iniquity, because oftentimes ill-gotten, ill-bestowed, or an occasion of evil; and, at the best, are but worldly, and false; and not the true riches of a Christian. In general this means that the Christian should use the things of this world in such a way that, once he dies, he will be well-received by his friends in Heaven because of the Christian way he has used the riches of this world.
We shall look at some examples of modern day mammon lovers whose efforts truly put modern day Christians to great shame!
The Race―Earthly or Heavenly?
Septuagesima Sunday marked the countdown for Lent. You could say that it was the beginning of the training session or preparation for Lent. This attitude was clearly seen by the choice of Epistle that Holy Mother Church presented her children on that day. It was “The Epistle of the Race” in which St. Paul speaks of this life being a race for Heaven, where all run, but only one gets the prize of first place, or, as we would say today, the gold medal. He tells us to approach this race prepared and to run it so as to win it. “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). Not by chance, but by design, Holy Mother Church, on the First Sunday of Lent, then presents us with what could be called “The Epistle of Suffering”―which lists some of the many sufferings we have to undergo for the Faith in order “to win the prize” of eternal life. “In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. In all things let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in tribulation, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in prisons, in seditions, in labors, in watchings, in fastings!” (2 Corinthians 6:1-10).
This notion or combination of “The Epistle of the Race” with “The Epistle of Suffering” ― taken in light of Our Lord’s warnings that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) and that “the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8), leads us to look at the race which is arguably “The Epitome of Races” as well as being “The Epitome of Suffering”―for those unsure of the meaning of the word “epitome” (pronounced: epit-oh-mee), it means “a representative or perfect example of a class or type.”
Our Lord has some cutting and biting words to offer us as we approach this season of Lent, or spiritual battlefield! What are those words? Here they are: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8). What does Our Lord mean by that? To better understand what Our Lord means, let us place His words in the context of the parable where they appear―the Parable of the Unjust Steward:
Parable of the Unjust Steward
“And Jesus said also to His disciples: ‘There was a certain rich man who had a steward: and the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said to him: “How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship! For now thou canst be steward no longer!” And the steward said within himself: “What shall I do, because my lord taketh away from me the stewardship? To dig I am not able; to beg I am ashamed. I know what I will do, that when I shall be removed from the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses!”
“Therefore calling together every one of his lord's debtors, he said to the first: “How much dost thou owe my lord?” But he said: “A hundred barrels of oil.” And he said to him: “Take thy bill and sit down quickly, and write fifty!” Then he said to another: “And how much dost thou owe?” Who said: “A hundred quarters of wheat!” He said to him: “Take thy bill, and write eighty!” And the lord commended the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely―for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. And I say to you: Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity * [see below]―that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater. If, then, you have not been faithful in the unjust mammon; who will trust you with that which is the true? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!’
“Now the Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided Him. And He said to them: ‘You are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts! For that which is high to men, is an abomination before God!’” (Luke 16:1-15).
* Regarding “mammon of iniquity”―Mammon signifies riches. They are here called the mammon of iniquity, because oftentimes ill-gotten, ill-bestowed, or an occasion of evil; and, at the best, are but worldly, and false; and not the true riches of a Christian. In general this means that the Christian should use the things of this world in such a way that, once he dies, he will be well-received by his friends in Heaven because of the Christian way he has used the riches of this world.
We shall look at some examples of modern day mammon lovers whose efforts truly put modern day Christians to great shame!
The Race―Earthly or Heavenly?
Septuagesima Sunday marked the countdown for Lent. You could say that it was the beginning of the training session or preparation for Lent. This attitude was clearly seen by the choice of Epistle that Holy Mother Church presented her children on that day. It was “The Epistle of the Race” in which St. Paul speaks of this life being a race for Heaven, where all run, but only one gets the prize of first place, or, as we would say today, the gold medal. He tells us to approach this race prepared and to run it so as to win it. “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). Not by chance, but by design, Holy Mother Church, on the First Sunday of Lent, then presents us with what could be called “The Epistle of Suffering”―which lists some of the many sufferings we have to undergo for the Faith in order “to win the prize” of eternal life. “In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. In all things let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in tribulation, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in prisons, in seditions, in labors, in watchings, in fastings!” (2 Corinthians 6:1-10).
This notion or combination of “The Epistle of the Race” with “The Epistle of Suffering” ― taken in light of Our Lord’s warnings that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) and that “the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8), leads us to look at the race which is arguably “The Epitome of Races” as well as being “The Epitome of Suffering”―for those unsure of the meaning of the word “epitome” (pronounced: epit-oh-mee), it means “a representative or perfect example of a class or type.”
BELOW: A photo of Johnny Hoogerland's barbed-wire lacerated calf. Other parts of his body were just as lacerated.
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The Toughest Race in the World
The race that is being referred to is the Tour de France― which is an annual men’s multiple stage bicycle race, primarily held in France, that lasts 23 days with 21 day-long riding stages over all kinds of terrain―flat stages, hilly stages and several mountain stages with several mountainous peaks with interchanging climbs and descents. The race took place in 1903 and has been held annually except for breaks during the two World Wars. In the early years, the Tour de France had 14 rest days for the 21 stages―because of the much longer distances overall and per day (around 3,500 miles total and an average of 160 miles per day, compared to 2,200 miles total and 100 miles per day these days), the riders would need those 14 rest days for one day’s riding would mean around 12 hours in the saddle and would stretch into the night, so that they would need the next day to recover. Today it is an international event, attracting the fittest professional riders from all over the world, who ride for the now customary 22 or so teams that enter the Tour de France, with each team having eight riders. The Tour de France is probably the hardest endurance event in the world. Exercise scientists have calculated the riders’ TRIMP value (“training impulse,” or training volume multiplied by training intensity) for the 21-day long-haul to be at an astronomical 7,112. For comparison’s sake, the TRIMP for running a marathon is only about 300. In other words, it is even more than the energy output of running 21 marathons in 23 days, which would only total a TRIMPT value of 6,300 compared to the 7,112 of the Tour de France race. For most people, biking 125 miles over rugged mountain passes would be the challenge of a lifetime. But cyclists competing in the Tour de France are tackling such physical feats almost every day for three weeks ― covering more than 2,000 miles and powering through nine mountain stages, including one next week that will finish on a 8,677-foot (2,645-meter) summit. In the early years―the early 1900s―the Tour de France was usually ridden around the entire perimeter (circumference) of France―which always made the race over 3,000 miles long―with riders cycling a minimum of 200 miles daily. Nowadays, the route changes annually is usually anywhere from 2,000 to 2,400 miles long. The longest Tour de France was in 1926, with a total distance of 3,570 miles over 17 stages―which translates to an average of 210 miles a day (stage) and was ridden at an average speed of 15 miles per hour on much, much heavier bikes than professional cyclists have today. The fastest modern day average speed was 25 miles per hour over a distance of 2,115 miles. To give you an idea of what 2,000 miles looks like―Toronto, Canada, to Miami in Florida is merely 1,400 miles by road or 1,200 “as the crow flies” (straight line). The distance from New York City to Denver Colorado is only 1,700 miles by road, or 1,600 miles by air. The distance, coast to coast, from New York City to Los Angeles is only 2,700 miles by road, or 1,600 miles by air―which is still short of the distance covered by the Tour de France cyclists in the early years (varying annually from around 3,000 to 3,500 miles). “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). A Day In The Life of a Tour de France Cyclist Around 195 top-level professional cyclists start the race―only around 130 ever finish the race. That shows how hard it is―even for the elite professional cyclists of the world. Here is an example of one particular year’s schedule. DAY 1: 127 miles, about 9 hours saddle time DAY 2: 94 miles, about 7 hours saddle time with 3 pretty big hills DAY 3: 87 miles, about 7 hours saddle time with 4 pretty big hills DAY 4: quick 15 mile sprint (Team Time Trial) DAY 5: 137 miles, about 10 hours saddle time, 4 small hills DAY 6: 106 miles, about 7 hours of saddle time DAY 7: 123 miles, about 8.5 hours saddle time, 2 pretty big and 1 substantial hill DAY 8: 117 miles, about 9 hours saddle time, 2 mountains, one climbing up 5k feet DAY 9: 101 miles, about 8.5 hours, 5 mountains that'll hurt DAY 10: finally a day off DAY 11: 118 miles, about 9 hours, pretty flat DAY 12: quick 20 mile sprint (individual time trial) DAY 13: 130 miles, about 9 hours, flat DAY 14: 104 miles, about 6.5 hours, flat DAY 15: 114 miles, about 7.5 hours, 7 substantial hills DAY 16: 145 miles, 11+ hours, 4 hills plus 5000 ft of pain straight up Mt. Ventoux DAY 17: another rest day (you'll need it) DAY 18: 101 miles, 7 hours, 3 big hills DAY 19: quick 20 mile sprint (individual time trial) DAY 20: 103 miles, 10 hours, up the mountain Alpe d'Huez (6,102 feet) TWICE!!! Pain! Pain! Pain! DAY 21: 122 miles, 11 hours, 2 big alpine mountains and 3 more big climbs DAY 22: 75 miles, 7 hours, 4 more mountain climbs DAY 23: 80 miles, 6 hours into Paris down the Champs-Elysées “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). No Lukewarm Riders The Tour de France is probably the most physically demanding major sporting event in the world. Over 23 days and 21 stages, riders burn an average of roughly 5,000 calories per day, which is almost twice as much as a professional marathon runner might burn in a single race―but whereas the marathon runner stops running after one race, these cyclists repeat the same gruesome race 21 times over 23 days―and all the while they must maintain a sharp mind, marking their opponents and working with teammates to go fast as efficiently possible before their bodies cave in. Cycling a grand Tour is as much a fight against one’s own body as it is against opponents. Quite literally, cyclist’s bodies begin fighting back after the first week. Riders begin to lose muscle, their immunes systems tank, and they practically have to force feed themselves in order to maintain the baseline system functionality to climb mountain roads, such as the feared Alpe d’Huez which rises to over 6,000 feet. Just as in the spiritual life, lukewarmness means the death of the cyclist. To win the race, it is a case of “all or nothing”―or, as Our Lord says: “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). The Tour de France cyclist are far from being lukewarm, half-hearted, or half-committed. The amount of energy they expend for the worldly goal puts the layman to shame! If you’re the kind of sensible person who stops riding when you’re sick, or injured, or exhausted, or in extreme glucose debt (a.k.a. hypoglycemia or the “bonk”), you’ll never be a professional cyclist. These guys don’t quit. When the body doesn’t have excess fat to break down for fuel, it breaks down muscle. The Tour de France riders are literally cannibalizing themselves to get through the race. Even so, they don’t quit. They begin the Tour looking like strong, fit and gaunt athletes. Many of them finish looking emaciated. “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). Using Phenomenal Amounts of Energy The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that, on average, an adult American woman needs between 1,800 and 2,400 calories each day to support her normal activities. The range for adult men is between 2,400 and 3,000 calories. A professional cyclist riding in the Tour de France, will typically burn about 4,000 calories on an “easy” stage. Average stages require between 4,000 and 6,000 calories to complete the stage. Grueling mountain stages demand calorie burns of 7,000 calories or more. A Tour de France rider will burn enough calories during a six-hour mountain stage to fuel an average person’s activity for two to four days. At first glance it might not look to be much― a little bit more than twice as many calories a day as an average person. However, this fails to see that 2,400 calories is what an average person burns in 24 hours, whereas the professional cyclist burns between 4,000 and 7,000 calories in the 5 to 10 hours while they’re racing. They still have to live and burn calories after the race is over―which means burning calories for another 14 to 19 hours before and after the race―which will use up a few more thousand calories. “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). No Fasting, But Force-Feeding In order to have enough body fuel and energy for a day during the Tour de France, a rider needs an 8,000 calories per day diet, a rider will typically consume about 1,000 calories before the race starts. They will then try to consume approximately 1,500 calories during the race. This leaves roughly 5,500 calories to choke down between the time the race ends in the late afternoon or early evening and the time the usually exhausted rider goes to sleep. Consuming this many calories is not an easy thing to do. Eating on the bike is hard. Riders don’t have time to eat during hard efforts or long mountain descents. Sometimes when they do have the time, the thought of putting food in your mouth is nauseating. Even when the idea of eating doesn’t turn your stomach, the hassle of eating while riding can seem like it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Because of the constant need for glucose to fuel muscle activity, a rider’s calorie intake is overbalanced toward carbohydrates. Too many carbohydrates, in too short a time, leads to nausea and vomiting. Fall a little short and you don’t have the energy you need to compete; overdo it a little bit and you and your stomach are in for an unpleasant ride. Eating off the bike is also hard, because there are so many calories that have to be consumed and so little time to consume them. Eating becomes more difficult as the race wears on over days and weeks. Exhaustion and fatigue accumulate and riders experience appetite loss. Meals become increasingly unpalatable as the rider’s extreme dietary requirements result in eating the same things on the same schedule day after day. The goal may be to consume 6,000 to 8,000 calories a day, but few riders are successful at meeting this goal throughout the course of the Tour. They inevitably fall behind and, once that occurs, it is almost impossible to catch up. When calorie intake falls behind the demands of the stressed body, the body begins to feed on itself to get the energy it needs to finish the stage. “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). No Party-Poopers Here! Spending all those hours in the saddle, without being able to stop for a lunch-break (having to eat from sacks or pouches as you ride), brings about an inevitable and delicate question. Life is life and nature stops for no one! Though not many speak of these things, these things will not go away. As they say: “If ya gotta go, ya gotta go!” This is another example of how far dedicated athletes will go in order to win that “prize”―but there are no prizes for pooping! Nevertheless, the demands of nature will not go away just because of an important race. Since Our Lord spoke of things that “goeth out into the privy” meaning into the toilet bowl (Mark 7:19), a brief word about “the privy” can be said here too! Here is an extract from an article that deals with this delicate issue that besieges every single rider in the Tour de France. Let it be lesson that shows to what degree those dedicated athletes are prepared go to in order to win a prize! Way back in the early days of the Tour de France, when a cyclist had to use the bathroom, the entire race used to stop and wait for him to finish in a proper bathroom/restroom/toilet (call it what you will, according to the country you live in). Of course, this was back when cycling races like the Tour de France were more about being gentlemanly than about vigorously competitive. As races became more competitive, some riders would still stop to use a bathroom/restroom/toilet, but the other riders would not stop with them, but use that to their advantage and push on. Today, there’s time on each stage for a few bathroom. In the Tour and many other big races, the race leader is king. If he has to go, he can call a bathroom break whenever he desires, says Stephen Hall, a professional rider with OTOC-Vault Racing Team and a stage winner at the Tour of Thailand. A former Tour professional rider, Jonathan Vaughters, says: “Generally, the big pee break of the day occurs when the breakaway of the day is finally established, sometimes after five minutes, sometimes after two hours. The yellow jersey (the race leader, who currently holds the fastest time for the Tour, is given the yellow jersey to identify him as the race leader) will roll to the front and make a sign to everyone to see he’s stopping for a pee break. That’s like a truce flag on a battlefield. If that happens, a bathroom break is like an oasis in the desert—you take advantage of it when you see it. The peloton (the main group or pack of riders) will slow up a bit, and you'll pull over to the side of the road. Once your business is finished, you’ll work together to navigate back to pack. Usually there are at least two, sometimes three pee breaks.” Outside of those two or three pee breaks, nobody stops for anything short of the apocalypse and having to pee or poop does not count as apocalyptic. One Tour de France professional says: “Generally speaking, you’re better off peeing down your leg than using too much energy flapping around in the convoy!” Today, elite athletes will just poop in their pants and continue on. These professional cyclists compete to the point that their body is beyond just being stressed ― it feels likes it is dying. The heart rate is going haywire, it’s difficult to breathe, and the muscles are so tired and overworked that they feel as if they are literally screaming to stop torturing them. These riders can be on the verge of unconsciousness, sometimes death, and because their bodily biology doesn’t know that they are doing this for a ‘fun’ race, their body thinks it is in serious danger. A big part of the body’s response to the danger signal is to shut down the digestive system, so that the blood flow can be routed to areas that will keep you alive―the brain, muscles, and lungs. This can result in one of two responses by the digestive system: puking or pooping. Puking is something people expect of athletes, but the pooping part is something people don’t talk about. Some bike shorts have padding that can essentially double as an adult diaper if need be. Alternatively, riders will sprint off in front and get ahead of the peloton (the main group or pack of riders) to take a break. That way, by the time they’re done, the field has caught up and they’re ready to join back in. If there’s no break in sight, racers will gather up some teammates to give them a push while they go from the bike—it’s just about impossible to pedal and pee at the same time. Just one more slap in the face that proves that the “children of darkness” have more dedication than the “children of light”! And they do it for an earthly crown, a worldly prize, a materialistic gain! How much more of a prize is Heaven? Yet we complain about the slightest, most trivial, inconsequential, stupid little things! “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8). “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). No Dragging Your Heels (or Wheels) You could say that riding a bike on the Tour de France is similar to carrying your cross in the race for Heaven. The bike is an added weight for the rider―but guess what, you can’t win the Tour de France without a bike―just like you can’t win the race for Heaven without a cross! The average speed over the entire Tour de France race―which includes the flat roads, the mountain ascents or climbs, and the super-fast mountain downhill descents―is around 25 miles per hour. When the riders are all together in the peloton (the main group of cyclists) and nothing exciting is going on, then they will pedal at this speed, sometimes slower if it's a super long, hard stage, with around 10 hours in the saddle, and at times they will move along faster if they have a tailwind, or they want to make sure that isolated breakaway riders don't get too far ahead. Then they will hit speeds of 30 miles per hour or faster. As regards the so-called “Time Trial”, which has individual riders, released at staggered intervals, having to ride a set distance over a variety of terrains―sometimes it may be mainly flat, at other times it will undulating terrain, at other times it will be a continuous mountain climb. They are on their own fighting the clock. The fastest average speed in a time trial at 34.5 miles per hour, which obviously means at times the pedal faster and at times slower. At the end of a day’s racing, having spent many hours in the saddle and suffering from muscle pain and fatigue, the riders who are leading the race find energy to spring for the finishing line. When the leaders go for a sprint finish, they will often hit speeds of over 40 miles per hour (there is that number “forty” again! 40 days of Lent, 40 days of Our Lord in the desert fasting, 40 years wandering in the desert with Moses, etc.). Recorded data from one finishing line spring showed the winning cyclist hitting speeds of 44 miles per hour in order to win. The top mountain climb cyclists ride up the mountains at an average speed of 12 miles per hour―though that depends upon the steepness of the climb and also how many miles they have to climb. Some climbs can stretch out for as many as 15 miles. The record average speed for climbing the towering mountain Alpe d’Huez is around 14 miles per hour over an eight mile climb, taking a total of 38 minutes, over an average gradient of 8% with its steepest part being 12%, while climbing up a total of just over 6,000 feet. When you are working at a high output at altitude, and you’re super fit, your body relies heavily on oxygen, and with a low oxygen availability and partial pressure of oxygen in that environment, the fitter you are, the more you suffer. Your body also uses a lot more carbohydrate and your respiration rate and heart rate are also elevated. Cycling uphill is a pain! But what goes up, must come down! The best part of cycling is, of course, going downhill! Obviously! The Englishman, Chris Froome, stated the obvious during the 2017 Tour de France, when he reached spectacular speeds during his descent on the way to a victory on stage eight of the Tour de France, stating afterwards: “I felt like a kid again, just trying to ride my bike as fast as I could!” What were those speeds? He was clocked at reaching speeds up to 81 miles per hour! Another cyclist reached 79 miles per hour! Another reached 75 miles per hour. This is not on interstate roads (“motorways” for the Brits), but on regular roads! See the photo on the left of this paragraph, showing a typical Tour de France mountain descent. Many people would nervous driving a car at 81 miles per hour on regular roads, but here we have someone on a “push-bike” pushing its limits! One false move and you could be dead! “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). Talk About Penance!!! There are few people on Earth who can possibly comprehend what riders go through during the Tour de France. In an interview with Dr. Stacy Sims―an environmental exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, was a pro women’s cyclist who later went on to work with men’s pro cycling teams like Saxo and Dimension Data during the Tour de France―the interviewer, Louis Bien, gleaned the following information (the quotes of Dr. Sims are taken from his article): Dr. Stacy Sims speaks of “three weeks of intensity” where riders put themselves “through the ringer for three weeks.” At the outset, during “the first week, their body can handle the stress. It’s going to be hard, they’re going to have an elevated metabolism and poor sleep because you have the traveling, you have the racing, you have the poor food that goes with it.” Yet as stress begins to invade and bludgeon the mind and the body, “you really see the body start to bottom out. And you see people start to drop out, getting sick, more crashes because there’s less reaction time available, because their bodies enter so much stress.” Dr. Sims then says that the body begins to fight back during the third week, for it faces a “the idea of fight or flight and the famine situation, where the body is all of a sudden like, ‘OK, I have this increased stress, and I have to deal with it because it’s not going away!’” Experienced riders handle this better than newcomers or “less seasoned riders … who don’t have as much training history, will drop out earlier, or fall and be off the back a lot earlier.” Dr. Sims goes on to say that the July heat presents further danger, for “if they’re not acclimatized to the heat, that increases dehydration status and inflammation, poor abilities to recover. And then when they get into the cold and the altitude [on the mountain climbs], they have that compensation they have to worry about, less oxygen available, and the fitter you are, the more you suffer at altitude”―because you need and consume more oxygen due to being extremely fit. The cold, especially at high altitudes, which is more keenly felt due to the “wind chill” that comes from riding in the open air on a bike, can lead to some riders “getting hypothermic and not being able to control the gears because your hands are frozen. These have some consideration into crashing and attenuating your immune response to exercise.” With all this stress, the body starts to creak and get weak. Dr. Sims points out that “for each successive stress day, you have an increase in cortisol, you have increased inflammation, you have your protein breakdown, which is your catabolism. You’re depleting your fuel stores. And your immune system is very reliant on having glutamine available, which is a key amino acid which is also in the gut. Also having some protein available for white blood cell regeneration and stimulation. You also have the need for a reduction in inflammation in order for the immune system to do what it needs to do, because the response to inflammation, again, is an immune response. So if your body is dealing with body and muscle inflammation, it can’t necessarily deal with virus or bacterial infections that come into play. So as you are continuing to put your body under this stress, after about seven days you’re at this tipping point, so that’s usually when the rest day occurs.” Even Tour de France Riders Crave Sugar during their 3-Week “Lent” Isn’t it strange how some people can crave much more vehemently during Lent the things that they have decided to give up. Sugar is sweet―but sugar is not good! Dr. Sims points out a similar situation for the Tour de France riders. “In my experience working with a lot of the pro riders, all they want is sugar — sugar, sugar, sugar — because they’re in such a depleted state, they’re craving carbohydrates. So instead of trying to help repair, they’re just looking for that quick hit of carbohydrate and quick hit of sugar, and the more they have of the sugar aspect, the worse it is on their gut microbiome, which is also tied to the immune system. Because if they’re eating high sugar diet, then it’s going to reduce the growth of the bacteria that protects from fatigue and inflammation, and helps your immune system, and the more it’s going to grow the bacteria that relies on simple sugar and the metabolites of stress. So it’s a multi-tier effect of why they bottom out.” The cycling team’s doctor and dieticians, like unpopular parents, try to force the riders to eat what is best for their recovery and repair, rather than let them give in to their sugar-cravings. They need to address the catabolic state of the riders and the inevitable inflammation and immune-system depletion that comes along with the stress of high level physical effort for hour after hour, almost one day after another―with only 2 rest days being allowed in 23 days. Dr. Sims then speaks of the proverbial “bonk” which she says “comes from poor recovery or inadequate glucose regeneration and glycogen. We technically say it’s «low energy availability»― but what happens is that they’re not taking in enough to put everything back in their muscle and their liver—their body is using more in the immediate rather than storing it. So as you get further and further into the race, and you have less and less storage, they have to eat more and more, and physically they just don’t have the appetite. So it’s more force feeding both on the bike and off the bike. So as you get more and more into this depleted state, it becomes this fine balance of getting riders to take in enough to be able to perform, but also knowing that they have no appetite, and they’re dehydrated and you have this repercussion aspect. They’re going to hit the wall, they’re going to ‘bonk’, and then it’s all over!” Sink or Swim―Ride or Fall―Fight or Fail The race will not go away! Your body will not go away! You either adapt and persevere or you quit and fail. Dr. Sims, in speaking of the stark realization that finishing the race will require some “blood and guts”, then, as she says, “you get to a point and it becomes about survival. So you are getting a little bit fitter as you’re riding, so that extra fitness comes into play as well, and you’ll have less of a stress response because your body has kind of learned that stress response … Your body is starting to attune to that stress and understand what that is, so when you get into that third week, it’s not as strong of a response to that stress. That is what the «bounce back» is, because you don’t have as much cortisone being released, not as much adrenaline being released. The body is more efficient in carbohydrate utilization, more efficient in fat utilization. The inflammation response isn’t as great, so everything has kind been attenuated and habituated to that response.” Accidents Will Happen Cycling is a sport that mixes tragedy and triumph like few others. While there is perhaps no greater joy in the sport than a solo victory, there is no greater pain than that of a high-speed crash. There are numerous, perhaps countless incidents, of Tour de France riders continuing to ride after being involved in a bad crash. There was one incident in the 2018 Tour de France, where a rider lost control of his bike, skidded, hit a wall and was thrown over the wall. He remounted and continued cycling another 35 miles to the finish line, where it was discovered he had a broken his knee [see the photo of his broken knee to the left of this paragraph]. He was rightly recognized for his courage and bravery with an award for the 'most combative rider of the stage' on the podium. Obviously, he had to withdraw from the race. Hinault was the cherished champion of French cycling in the 1980s. In 1985, he was aiming for his fifth Tour de France win. Only two other riders, Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx, had accomplished this feat. His dreams were nearly crushed when he went down in the last kilometer of Stage 14, landing on his head and breaking his nose. Heroically, Hinault got back on his bike. A trail of blood followed him to the finish line, and he went on to win the Tour de France. Cars will always be a cyclist’s biggest enemy. With around 20 miles to go in the ninth stage of the 2011 Tour de France, Johnny Hoogerland was side swiped by a rival’s team car. As bad as that may sound, the collision wasn’t where the damage occurred. Hoogerland and Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha were sent flying into a barbed-wire fence. The blood and gashes on Hoogerland’s legs looked like something out of a WWII movie. Years later, Hoogerland is said to still suffer from back pain, mood swings and insomnia as a result of the horrific incident. A brutal day of heat ruined Joseba Beloki’s chances of up-ending Lance Armstrong in the 2003 Tour de France. Entering the day in second place overall, Beloki hit a patch of road tar that had melted from the blazing temperatures. To ompound the matter, Beloki was in the middle of a high-speed descent. The crash was one of the more horrific in Tour de France history. Beloki ended up with a fractured femur, fractured elbow and fractured wrist, and he wouldn’t return to action again until 2004. In the 1951 Tour de France, a historic crash occurred when leader Wim Van Est, experienced a tyre blow-out and went off the road, smashing himself down 70 yards of a steep, rocky ravine. Of course, in those days, he was not wearing a helmet, but astoundingly the Dutchman walked away from the accident and got back in the race. In the 2009 Tour de France, Jens Voigt suffered an epic disaster descending the Col du Petit Saint Bernard. Voigt was traveling in excess of 60 miles per hour when his front wheel hit a bump in the road, sending him face first over the handlebars. What could have been worse was that a trailing photographer on a motorcycle just missed running him over. TV cameras captured Voigt lying completely still for several minutes—leaving most of the viewing audience holding their breath in horror. In the end, Voigt survived, suffering a fractured cheekbone and a severe concussion. The most tragic crash was that of the Italian Fabio Casartelli crashed coming down the Col de Portet d'Aspet in the 1995 Tour de France. The 24-year-old rider crashed along with several other riders on the 15th stage of that year’s Tour. He hit his head on a roadside barrier, which resulted in a massive stream of blood coming from his head. Casartelli was airlifted to hospital, but slipped into a coma and died later that same day. “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). Just one more slap in the face that proves that the “children of darkness” have more dedication than the “children of light”! And they do it for an earthly crown, a worldly prize, a materialistic gain! How much more of a prize is Heaven? Yet we complain about the slightest, most trivial, inconsequential, stupid little things! “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8). Madness? Five-time Tour de France winner, Bernard Hinault of France, is on record as saying of the Tour de France: “An amateur should think long and hard before attempting one of these stages. Two would probably necessitate a visit to a doctor, and three would require a psychiatrist ― any more, and you should be checking if that person has written a will.” The Words of Pope St. Gregory the Great Our Lord says in another place of the Gospels: “If any man minister to Me, let him follow Me” (John 12:26). To be worthy of Him, we must follow His steps and examine the way in which He walked. And first we see that He, the Creator of all heavenly and reasonable beings, deigned to descend into the womb of a virgin, there to assume the human nature, which He Himself had created out of nothing. We see that He did not choose to be born of rich parents, when taking our human nature, but chose poor parents, who were not even able to offer for Him in the temple a lamb, but only a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons. Thus our Redeemer did not seek happiness in this world; He endured insults, scorn, and blasphemies; He allowed Himself to be spat upon, to be buffeted, scourged, crowned with thorns, and nailed to a cross. He would give us to understand that the pleasures we derived from corporeal things, robbed us of the eternal happiness, of which we can again take possession only by drinking the bitter chalice of suffering. Yet, since God suffered so much for man, what suffering will the sinful man be ready to endure? When after all this, a Christian, believing in Jesus Christ, is still ruled and led by avarice or ambition; when he is still devoured by the fire of envy or carnal pleasures; when he is eagerly rushing after the happiness of this world, then we can truly say that, instead of following Jesus, he is despising Him, because he is walking on quite a different road, and not on the road taken by the Son of God during His mortal life of bitter suffering. Let us, therefore, recall to our mind our own wickedness; let us remember that the eternal Judge will punish our sins most severely; then, let us endeavor to destroy them by sorrowful repentance. Now, let us do severe penance, and thus escape in eternity the terrible wrath of an offended God. The tears shed in this life will take us to the joys of heaven, for Our Lord said: “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:5); whereas the pleasures of this world will, according to the same Savior, bring us to the eternal dwelling of tears and sorrow. “Woe to you that now laugh, for you shall mourn and weep” (Luke 6:25). If we wish to obtain the highest felicity, let us now walk in the path of penance, and our penitential life will not only gain for us great merits with God, but will be to His greater glory; for, according to the words of the Gospel, others will be encouraged by our good example. |
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Saturday March 2nd & Sunday March 3rd
Article 9
Your Life is No Joke! Heaven is Not a Piece of Cake!
Heaven needs Sanctity―Sanctity needs Heroic Virtue―Heroism needs Extreme Effort!
Article 9
Your Life is No Joke! Heaven is Not a Piece of Cake!
Heaven needs Sanctity―Sanctity needs Heroic Virtue―Heroism needs Extreme Effort!
With “Fear and Trembling” or “Laughter and Jokes”?
St. Paul tells us: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12) Yet many jokingly ask: “Saved from what?” Millions think salvation is a joke, but sadly, one day the so-called “joke” will be on all those who don’t care much for God and the salvation of their soul. Successive popes have complained about the fact that the world in general, and Catholics in particular, have lost the sense of sin. Once you lose the sense of sin, you lose the sense of the seriousness of your salvation and you lose the sense of having to do pay for your sins by penance. Hence, for many, Lent is pointless and is treated more like a joke than a yoke for sin.
No More Fear and No More Trembling
This attitude is not helped very much by the fact that the Catholic Church has trivialized penance since Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Constitution, Paenitemini, of February 17th, 1966, which slashed Lenten penance ‘prices’ for sin by 95% ― reducing the 40 days of Lenten fasting to a mere two days of obligatory fasting: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday―Lent was reduced to ashes and the people thought it was good!
This has created a problem within the Church and a problem with regard to salvation, or the chance of salvation. It beggars belief and blows the mind to think that the Church leaders―Pope Paul VI and supporters―are so blind in matters of Faith and Morals, as to reduce the amount of medicine the ‘patient’ is to take when the disease is getting worse! What kind of doctor would prescribe that? What fire-marshal would advocate using less and less fire-fighting equipment when the fire is getting worse? What teacher would teach less and less when his or her students are failing more and more? Yet that is what has been going on for the last 53 years since Pope Paul VI gave wholesale discounts on Lenten penance. Was sin going down? Was is being reduced? Legalized abortion had not even got going in 1966! The worldwide legalization of homosexual unions had not yet taken place! The fashions were nowhere near as immodest as they are now! The internet was around 30 years in the future!
Don’t forget that it was common Church teaching that most souls were being lost―not just in 1966, but all throughout the history of the Church! What was the miraculous sudden turn-around from sin to sanctity that took place around 1966 to warrant the Pope’s 95% discount? There was no sudden turn to sanctity―instead, there was ever-increasing sin, which contracts an ever-increasing debt, which in turn requires ever-increasing penance! How true are the words of Holy Scripture for our times: “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). Lent is our place for penance―will we abuse in our pride?
Laughing And Joking All The Way To Hell
Even a Protestant Puritan preacher, like John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress, saw the danger of looking upon sin and salvation too lightly―he wrote:
“Fools make a mock of sin, will not believe;
It carries such a dagger in its sleeve!
How can be, they say, that such a thing
So full of sweet, should ever wear a sting?
They know not that it is the very spell
of sin, to make them laugh themselves to Hell?”
Pope Paul VI Not Laughing
Pope Paul VI was not laughing very much after having massively reduced penance within the Church with his Apostolic Constitution, Paenitemini, of February 17th, 1966. By 1972 Pope Paul VI admitted that that “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God” (June 29th, 1972). A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
To this must be added the thoughts of St. Padre Pio on the subject of television, which he thought was the ingenious tool of the devil. By the mid-1960s, the Capuchins in his monastery were permitted to watch TV, which did not please Padre Pio, who felt that the programs did not lead to virtues desirable in Christian living. He also feared that excessive television viewing was a factor in the destruction of family life―instead of interacting with one another, talking to each other, family members now tended to spend evenings staring gape-mouthed, like zombies, at the television set. He strongly advised anyone who asked his opinion not to buy a television set. When the subject was broached, he was known to say: “The devil is in it!” He realized it would destroy family life and told everyone not to buy one. Regarding movies and the cinema (or “’sin’-ema”), Padre Pio always gave the same answer: “The devil is in it!” Movies are more problematic than not. St. Padre Pio refused to view one, shouting (when they tried to take him to one): “The devil is in it!” Too often, the devil is in it. There is a prophecy―contested by some―that is attributed to the American religious sister, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821) had a vision she could not understand in the middle 1800’s: “Every American would have a black box in their home and the devil would enter through it.”
Merely 50 or so years from the time Padre Pio said those things about the television, the modern day Catholic’s outraged reaction to such words would be: “Hah! Poo! Pah! Piffle! What does Padre Pio know!!? It’s all harmless fun! Hey! You can’t be getting too serious about religion, you know!” Which brings back to mind the Protestant Puritan preacher’s, John Bunyan’s, words: “They know not that it is the very spell of sin, to make them laugh themselves to Hell?” Today, life is “one big long laugh”, a endless era of entertainment―which of course neutralizes and paralyzes penance and mortification and pulls away from prayer.
The Spell of Hell Blinds the Mind
The vast majority of Catholics today are immersed in the cauldron of fun, bubbling with mirth and drowning in entertainment. They have lost the plot of what life is all about! Life is the here and now―and to Hell with hereafter! Their stupid idiocy and foolishness―“The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15)―leads them to foolishly believe that they are safe if they think, talk and behave like the majority! Despite the ceaseless and ever-increasing number of sins rising to Heaven, the Church gives a 95% discount on penance; fails to promote the one thing Our Lady insisted was the solution―the Rosary; and prefers to preach on social issues, human matters, rather than preach on sin, penance, Heaven and Hell. Already back in the mid-19th century (mid-1800s), Blessed Pope Pius IX criticized and complained to his priests that they preached far too little on Hell. What the hell are they preaching today?
The foolish and tragic 95% discount on penance has produced a similar feeling with regard to the price of Heaven. The fact that penance has been slashed and discounted so much, has led most Catholics to discount Heaven and discount the efforts required to attain Heaven. Our Lord’s statement that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) has been reduced, by both clergy and faithful alike, to a “cake-walk” or “a piece of cake”! This is implied by the tacit acceptance of the clergy that hardly anybody goes to confession anymore; also proved by the fact that sin―and what constitutes mortal sin and what kinds of mortal sins there are―is rarely or never preached anymore. This leads to the faithful living in a fog about sin and the gravity of certain thoughts, words and actions―which is further compounded by the fact that priests often tell their faithful: “You aren’t committing any mortal sins!”―when in actual fact there are far more mortal sins being committed than would like to “wishfully think.” Heck! All throughout history most souls have been lost―and our present age sees a tidal wave of temptation that those earlier centuries never experienced or even dreamed that it was possible!
All that vast majority of souls in Hell are not in there for stealing a cookie out the candy jar, or saying their prayers a little hurriedly! They are there for one reason only―mortal sin, committed, unrepented or insufficiently repented and unconfessed or misconfessed. And yes, there ARE souls in the fires of Purgatory for confessed but unpaid mortal sins, and unrepented, unconfessed and unpaid venial sins―even “teeny-weeny” ones like the proverbial stealing of the cookie out of the cookie jar! Why that shocks us is because we are no longer shocked by sin, even venial sin. We no longer fully believe that sin, even venial sin, is the greatest evil in the world―it sounds too dramatic, too far-fetched. Yet our catechisms tell us that: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Lent is No Joke―Just as Sin is No Joke!
Lent is here for a purpose and we don’t need a 95% discount coming with it! Unless, of course, you like an extremely hot climate and are actually looking forwards to the idea of sitting in either the fires of Hell or the fires of Purgatory (which the saints say are just like the fires of Hell―except they gradually lessen and finally end). If you are one of those heat-loving souls, it is recommended that you buy the best asbestos suit that you can find―not it will do you much good, but it might help a little! Alternatively, you could meditate often about placing your hand in a fire for a whole day or two―as a little foretaste and “watered-down” sample of what it will be like. The bottom line is that we need Lent and FORTY DAYS OF FASTING (not just two) like we need the air that we breath.
In his homily on the Gospel of Quinquagesima Sunday, Pope St. Gregory the Great says: “Now, let us do severe penance, and thus escape in eternity the terrible wrath of an offended God. The tears shed in this life will take us to the joys of heaven, for Our Lord said: ‘Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted’ (Matthew 5:5); whereas the pleasures of this world will, according to the same Savior, bring us to the eternal dwelling of tears and sorrow. ‘Woe to you that now laugh, for you shall mourn and weep’ (Luke 6:25).”
God Wants to Save―But Most Don’t Want to be Saved
God will save any sinner―even the ones we seem to condemn in our minds. God is prepared to save the pedophile parent or priest. God is prepared to save the abortionist or aborting parent. God is prepared to save the homosexual, lesbian, or transgenderist. God is prepared to save the murderer or rapist. God is prepared to save the adultery or masturbator. God is prepared to save the alcoholic or drug-addict. God is prepared to save the sex-addict, pornographer or pervert. God is prepared to save the human trafficker or pimp. Why? Our Lord tells us: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10)―and all the aforementioned sinners are certainly lost. Yet God is only prepared to save them if they are willing to stop sinning, to change and to do penance. This is abundantly clear from numerous passages of Holy Scripture.
“The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die … Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32). “Return” says the Lord―that is what the word “conversion” literally means―it comes from the Latin verb convertere meaning “to turn back” therefore “to return.”
Salvation Requires A Turning-Away From the World and Worldliness
To “return” to God means to “turn one’s back” on sin. As Our Lord said: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). To “return” to God means to “turn one’s back” on the world―for the world is an enemy of God. Our Lord was “the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world … And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto his own, and His own received him not. But as many as received him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God” (John 1:9-12). To the world and the worldly, “He said to them: ‘You are from beneath, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To those who received Him, He told them not to be of this world: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19). To which Holy Scripture adds: “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). For Christ “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world” (Galatians 1:4). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
The World Chokes Salvation
In His parable about the Sower of the Seed―the seed being the word of God―Our Lord says: “He that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15)―which, today, is most of the world.
Our Lord tells another parable that should strike fear into the hearts of the worldly Catholics of today: “And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:16-21).
At another time―not in a parable, but a real life incident―Our Lord further pushed home the danger of worldliness and riches: “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Now, you may not consider yourself as being rich―but you are being too shortsighted and are not seeing beyond the end of your nose! You may well look around and say that there are lots of people far, far richer than you are―and that, in actual fact, you are more on the poor side than the rich side. Perhaps that is so―but that only applies TO THIS AGE. We are a human family stretching back thousands of years―we are the “last kinds on the block” and, just as they say of the youngest children, they are always spoilt rotten. Nobody in all the bygone centuries has had it so good as we have it today! Maybe we are not millionaires and billionaires―but we are rich compared to all those who have lived before the 1800s and even 1900s and especially far, far richer than the people of Our Lord’s time―which is time when He first spoke the parables and met the young rich man. They did not have cars, smartphones, tablets, computers, TVs, radios, worldwide instant communication, Google to answer difficult questions, medical technology and health care, food available from all over the world at all times of the year, houses with windows and mosquito screens, electricity, gas, plumbing, central heating, air-conditioning, running water, indoor toilets, baths and showers, electrical appliances such as refrigerators and freezers to keep food from spoiling, washing machines and dryers for laundry, dishwashers, microwaves, blenders, food processors, grinders, electric kettles, crockpots, pressure-cookers, power tools, vacuum cleaners, lawn-mowers, rotary tillers, seed planters, electric saws, etc., etc., etc. Yes, we are rich compared to people of all time―we are probably in the top 1% of which our millionaires and billionaires are at the very top. Our Lord’s words about how hard it is for a rich man to enter Heaven, are even more applicable to our day than they were in Our Lord’s day―when most people were far, far below what we call the “poverty line” today. Even Our Lord Himself lived at a level way below today’s “poverty line.” In other words, today it is even harder to get to Heaven than it ever was―if we are attached to our "riches" which detach us from God. It is no strange coincidence that while the rich West increasingly falls away from God, the poverty struck people in Africa are growing as regards Christianity!
Salvation at a Price
Yes, for man alone, salvation is impossible―but with God all things are possible, even the salvation of the worst sinner. However, even though “the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10), He will not save anybody who does not want to be saved. Nor will He save anyone on any terms except His own terms. As Jesus says: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Modern Day Blindness
In the readings for the Mass of Quinquagesima Sunday, we have the blind man in today’s Gospel―crying-out: “Lord! That I may see!”―and St. Paul speaking of the importance of Charity in today’s Epistle. They say, “Love is blind”―which is true in a sense, for love is an act of the will, which is blind in itself and needs the guidance of reason to point it in the right direction, so that it loves the right things and not the wrong things. Faith is the light of our reason―instructing us to walk in the direction God intends us to walk and guiding our will to love the things that God wants us to love. Today, like the blind man of the Gospel reading (Luke 18:31-43), most of the world is blind and is blindly, but happily, staggering around in a blind love of the world, thinking they are on road to Heaven! We need to see the truth of the matter and to do so, we need to cry out with the blind man: “Lord! That I may see!” Otherwise, we will remain blind and will lead those who are blind around us, blindly into the pit of Hell. We are also those of whom Our Lord spoke, when He said: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). We do not want to be left alone to fall into the pit―we need to cry out: “Lord! That I may see!” For it is clear that we cannot see correctly anymore! Or, perhaps it is more correct to say that we do not want to see correctly anymore―we prefer seeing things the modern way, the easy way, the comfortable way. In our blindness we think that the easy-chair or the armchair is the cross!
Learning From The Blind
It sounds strange, does it not? ―“Learning from the blind!” Yet this real-life incident and the attitude of the blind man has much to teach us. In case you did not attend a Quinquagesima Sunday Mass, here is the short excerpt from the Gospel:
“Now it came to pass, when Jesus drew nigh to Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the way side, begging. And when he heard the multitude passing by, he asked what this meant. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying: ‘Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!’ And they that went before, rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out much more: ‘Son of David! Have mercy on me!’ And Jesus, standing, commanded him to be brought unto Him. And when he was come near, He asked him, saying: ‘What wilt thou that I do to thee?’ But he said: ‘Lord! That I may see!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Receive thy sight! Thy faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God” (Luke 18:35-43).
Those Who Can See Are Blind―Those Who Are Blind Can See
You could provocatively say that those who could see were actually blind, and he who was blind could actually see! By this is meant that the multitude of people had natural sight or natural vision, but no supernatural sight or supernatural vision―they had human eyes, but not spiritual eyes, which is true for vast majority (multitude) of people today. Whereas the blind man (a tiny minority among that multitude) did not have natural sight or natural vision because of the blindness in his eyes, but he had something better than that―he had supernatural sight or supernatural vision due to the eyes of his Faith. The multitude was naturalistic, materialistic, earthly and worldly―that is all they had eyes for. Whereas the blind man could not see naturalistic, materialistic, earthly and worldly things, and so there was nothing hindering, blocking or blindfolding his supernatural vision. “The blind see” (Matthew 11:5). The blind man could ‘see’ the power of Jesus, he believed in His power, and was crying out, praying to Jesus for help―and the naturalistic, materialistic, earthly and worldly multitude kept telling him to shut up.
If our family, relatives, friends work-colleagues, fellow-students or neighbors are naturalistic, materialistic, earthly and worldly, then they will resent any kind of spirituality that we may show―they will tell us to shut up (either by words, reactions, gestures, or by their body language and facial expressions). These kind of people are those who are really blind and who lead others to damnation: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). Rather than be pressured into oblivion, we should follow the lead of the blind man from the Gospel, of whom we are told: “The blind man cried on the Lord so much the more” with the result that “he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God.”
Blind Resistance From The ‘Seeing’ Multitude
This resistance and opposition from the multitude is what Jesus warned us about: “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
“For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines. These things are the beginning of sorrows. But look to yourselves. For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony unto them. And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:8-13).
The False Gospels of “Safety in Numbers” and “Follow the Crowd”
It is tragically saddening, yet highly infuriating, to see so many blind souls blindly believing and following the false gospels of “safety in numbers” and “follow the crowd” and “everyone is doing it.” You can cry-out and scream and yell as much as you want―people will just pay attention or heed the advice! There is no safety in sin, no matter how great the number of sinners there are committing sin! Following the crowd means following them to Hell! If “everyone is doing it” then everyone will pay for it―in the fires of Hell or, if they are lucky in the fires of Purgatory! You can think what you want, say what you want, stamp your feet as much as you want, roll your eyes as much as you want―that is the plain painful truth! Our Lord has said it, Our Lady has said it, the Saints have said it―who are you going to bring as witness for your theory? The only one you can bring is the multitude or the devil, but nobody from Heaven!
In case you are blind and need your eyes opening like the blind man on the road to Jericho, then here are some of the many, many quotes:
According to Our Lord
● “Many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16).
● “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
● “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
● “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
According to Our Lady
● “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom” (Our Lady of Good Success).
● “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. People will think of nothing but amusement!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
● “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Many souls go to Hell … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … . If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … but if people do not cease offending God … Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July & August 1917).
Regarding the annihilation of nations: it is important to note that, during the Father Fuentes interview, Sister Lucia said that Our Lady had told herself (Lucia), Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations ”many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, p. 27.)
● “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
● “The whole ruin or salvation of souls depends upon the use of their free will; but most men use it ill and damn themselves … Mortals would receive great enlightenment, and incomparable favors from the Lord, if only they did not hinder them by their sins and abominations. But as they block up the way, which God in His ineffable Providence has opened up for conducting them to eternal felicity, the greater part of them damn themselves … Weep thou in seeing them laugh at their eternal damnation! … The rich might purchase eternal life with their possessions,but they abuse them to draw upon themselves damnation as senseless and foolish creatures … Great was the sorrow of my most holy Son, that not all should make use of the fruits of His Redemption. But next to this sorrow, my greatest one was to know, that after all these sufferings of the Lord, so many men should still damn themselves―even within sight of all the infinite treasures of grace ... Understand, that, if in the glory, which I now enjoy, I could be sorrowful, one of the reasons for being so would be the dreadful carelessness and presumption with which mortals approach to receive the Sacred Body and Blood of my divine Son; some of them unclean and abominable, others without veneration and respect, and nearly all of them without attention … Many children of the Church treat it with irreverence and without any fear or decorum. Weep then over this misfortune; weep, because there are few who weep over it. And in order that thou mayest weep more bitterly, I tell thee, that, just as in the primitive Church there were so many, who were saved by it, now there are countless souls, who damn themselves through it!” (Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
According to the Saints
● St. Peter the Apostle: “If the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly man and the sinner appear?” (1 Peter 4:18).
● Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604), Doctor of the Church: “There are many who arrive at the Faith, but few who are led into the heavenly Kingdom. Behold how many are gathered here for today’s feast-day―we fill the church from wall to wall. Yet who knows how few they are who shall be numbered in that chosen company of the Elect? … Few are the grains carried into the barns, but high are the piles of chaff burned with fire … They who are to be saved as saints, and wish to be saved as imperfect souls, shall not be saved!”
● St. Justin Martyr (100-165), Father of the Church: “The majority of men shall not see God, excepting those who live justly, purified by righteousness and by every other virtue.”
● St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor and Father of the Church: “So that you will better appreciate the meaning of Our Lord’s words, and perceive more clearly how few the Elect are, note that Christ did not say that those who walked in the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that narrow way. It is as though the Savior intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and overgrown!’ … Many begin well, but there are few who persevere ... Out of one-hundred-thousand sinners who continue in sin until death, scarcely one will be saved!”
● St. John Chrysostom (247-407), Doctor and Father of the Church: “What do you think? How many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that! … I do not speak rashly, but I do not think that many bishops are saved, and that those who perish are far more numerous!” (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor and Father of the Church).
● St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment ... It is certain that few are saved … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate” (St. Augustine, Sermon 224:1).
● St. Bede the Venerable (673-735), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Nor should we think that it is enough for salvation that we are no worse than the mass of the careless and indifferent … Christ's flock is called ‘little’ (Luke 12:32) in comparison with the greater number of the reprobates.”
● St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, so that they may attain everlasting blessedness.”
● St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church: “There are a select few who are saved!” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3.) “Those who are saved are in the minority!” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.8, ad.3).
● St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church: “Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost! … The greater part of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God! … The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few! … The common opinion is that the greater part of adults is lost … All persons desire to be saved, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost! ... In fact, the Elect are much fewer than the damned, for the reprobate are much more numerous than the Elect … It is certainly a great happiness for some sinners who, after a bad life, are converted at their death, and are saved; but these cases are very rare: ordinarily he that leads a bad life dies a bad death … In the Great Deluge in the days of Noe, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone being saved in the Ark. In our days a deluge, not of water but of sins, continually inundates the Earth, and out of this deluge very few escape. Scarcely anyone is saved … especially among seculars! … What is the number of those who love Thee, O God? How few they are! The Elect are much fewer than the damned! Alas! The greater portion of mankind lives in sin unto the devil, and not unto Jesus Christ … Ah, I pray Thee, O omnipotent God, O sovereign and infinite Good, make all men know and love Thee! … To obtain salvation we must tremble at the thought of being lost, and tremble not so much at the thought of Hell, as of sin, which alone can send us there. He who dreads sin, avoids dangerous occasions of sin, frequently recommends himself to God, and has recourse to the means of keeping himself in the state of grace. He who acts thus will be saved; but for him who lives not in this manner it is morally impossible to be saved.”
● St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few!”
● St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell, especially those Lutherans ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!”
Those are just the tip of the iceberg of the massive number of testimonies of the saints on the number of saved souls. Where are the saints who say that most souls are saved? How many are those ‘saints’ in number? It is mainly Liberals and Modernists―who are far from being saints―who insist that most souls are being saved and that we have little or nothing worry about! It is to be wondered what St. Paul would make of that attitude, since he wrote: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12).
One such Liberal priest interviewed Sr. Lucia of Fatima. The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sr. Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sr. Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Sr. Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
Scaring the Hell Out Of You?
What is the point of all this? To scare you? Well, yes, if you are lukewarm, complacent, lackadaisical or superficial in your Faith and its practice. However, even those who are serious about their Faith and its practice should also “tremble” in their boots―for, as St. Padre Pio said, most of the few souls that make it to Heaven, do not manage to get there without having to go through Purgatory. Lent is here for a reason―and it is not to be taken lightly, nor is it recommended that you “buy-into” the 95% discounted Lent either! As Pope St. Gregory says, in his homily for Quinquagesima Sunday:
“Let us, therefore, recall to our mind our own wickedness; let us remember that the eternal Judge will punish our sins most severely; then, let us endeavor to destroy them by sorrowful repentance. Now, let us do severe penance, and thus escape in eternity the terrible wrath of an offended God. The tears shed in this life will take us to the joys of heaven, for Our Lord said: ‘Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted’ (Matthew 5:5); whereas the pleasures of this world will, according to the same Savior, bring us to the eternal dwelling of tears and sorrow. ‘Woe to you that now laugh, for you shall mourn and weep!’ (Luke 6:25). If we wish to obtain the highest felicity, let us now walk in the path of penance, and our penitential life will not only gain for us great merits with God, but will be to His greater glory; for, according to the words of the Gospel, others will be encouraged by our good example: ‘And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.’”
St. Paul tells us: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12) Yet many jokingly ask: “Saved from what?” Millions think salvation is a joke, but sadly, one day the so-called “joke” will be on all those who don’t care much for God and the salvation of their soul. Successive popes have complained about the fact that the world in general, and Catholics in particular, have lost the sense of sin. Once you lose the sense of sin, you lose the sense of the seriousness of your salvation and you lose the sense of having to do pay for your sins by penance. Hence, for many, Lent is pointless and is treated more like a joke than a yoke for sin.
No More Fear and No More Trembling
This attitude is not helped very much by the fact that the Catholic Church has trivialized penance since Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Constitution, Paenitemini, of February 17th, 1966, which slashed Lenten penance ‘prices’ for sin by 95% ― reducing the 40 days of Lenten fasting to a mere two days of obligatory fasting: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday―Lent was reduced to ashes and the people thought it was good!
This has created a problem within the Church and a problem with regard to salvation, or the chance of salvation. It beggars belief and blows the mind to think that the Church leaders―Pope Paul VI and supporters―are so blind in matters of Faith and Morals, as to reduce the amount of medicine the ‘patient’ is to take when the disease is getting worse! What kind of doctor would prescribe that? What fire-marshal would advocate using less and less fire-fighting equipment when the fire is getting worse? What teacher would teach less and less when his or her students are failing more and more? Yet that is what has been going on for the last 53 years since Pope Paul VI gave wholesale discounts on Lenten penance. Was sin going down? Was is being reduced? Legalized abortion had not even got going in 1966! The worldwide legalization of homosexual unions had not yet taken place! The fashions were nowhere near as immodest as they are now! The internet was around 30 years in the future!
Don’t forget that it was common Church teaching that most souls were being lost―not just in 1966, but all throughout the history of the Church! What was the miraculous sudden turn-around from sin to sanctity that took place around 1966 to warrant the Pope’s 95% discount? There was no sudden turn to sanctity―instead, there was ever-increasing sin, which contracts an ever-increasing debt, which in turn requires ever-increasing penance! How true are the words of Holy Scripture for our times: “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). Lent is our place for penance―will we abuse in our pride?
Laughing And Joking All The Way To Hell
Even a Protestant Puritan preacher, like John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress, saw the danger of looking upon sin and salvation too lightly―he wrote:
“Fools make a mock of sin, will not believe;
It carries such a dagger in its sleeve!
How can be, they say, that such a thing
So full of sweet, should ever wear a sting?
They know not that it is the very spell
of sin, to make them laugh themselves to Hell?”
Pope Paul VI Not Laughing
Pope Paul VI was not laughing very much after having massively reduced penance within the Church with his Apostolic Constitution, Paenitemini, of February 17th, 1966. By 1972 Pope Paul VI admitted that that “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God” (June 29th, 1972). A few years later he repeated the same concern: “The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church” (Pope Paul VI, Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13th, 1977).
To this must be added the thoughts of St. Padre Pio on the subject of television, which he thought was the ingenious tool of the devil. By the mid-1960s, the Capuchins in his monastery were permitted to watch TV, which did not please Padre Pio, who felt that the programs did not lead to virtues desirable in Christian living. He also feared that excessive television viewing was a factor in the destruction of family life―instead of interacting with one another, talking to each other, family members now tended to spend evenings staring gape-mouthed, like zombies, at the television set. He strongly advised anyone who asked his opinion not to buy a television set. When the subject was broached, he was known to say: “The devil is in it!” He realized it would destroy family life and told everyone not to buy one. Regarding movies and the cinema (or “’sin’-ema”), Padre Pio always gave the same answer: “The devil is in it!” Movies are more problematic than not. St. Padre Pio refused to view one, shouting (when they tried to take him to one): “The devil is in it!” Too often, the devil is in it. There is a prophecy―contested by some―that is attributed to the American religious sister, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821) had a vision she could not understand in the middle 1800’s: “Every American would have a black box in their home and the devil would enter through it.”
Merely 50 or so years from the time Padre Pio said those things about the television, the modern day Catholic’s outraged reaction to such words would be: “Hah! Poo! Pah! Piffle! What does Padre Pio know!!? It’s all harmless fun! Hey! You can’t be getting too serious about religion, you know!” Which brings back to mind the Protestant Puritan preacher’s, John Bunyan’s, words: “They know not that it is the very spell of sin, to make them laugh themselves to Hell?” Today, life is “one big long laugh”, a endless era of entertainment―which of course neutralizes and paralyzes penance and mortification and pulls away from prayer.
The Spell of Hell Blinds the Mind
The vast majority of Catholics today are immersed in the cauldron of fun, bubbling with mirth and drowning in entertainment. They have lost the plot of what life is all about! Life is the here and now―and to Hell with hereafter! Their stupid idiocy and foolishness―“The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite!” (Ecclesiastes 1:15)―leads them to foolishly believe that they are safe if they think, talk and behave like the majority! Despite the ceaseless and ever-increasing number of sins rising to Heaven, the Church gives a 95% discount on penance; fails to promote the one thing Our Lady insisted was the solution―the Rosary; and prefers to preach on social issues, human matters, rather than preach on sin, penance, Heaven and Hell. Already back in the mid-19th century (mid-1800s), Blessed Pope Pius IX criticized and complained to his priests that they preached far too little on Hell. What the hell are they preaching today?
The foolish and tragic 95% discount on penance has produced a similar feeling with regard to the price of Heaven. The fact that penance has been slashed and discounted so much, has led most Catholics to discount Heaven and discount the efforts required to attain Heaven. Our Lord’s statement that “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12) has been reduced, by both clergy and faithful alike, to a “cake-walk” or “a piece of cake”! This is implied by the tacit acceptance of the clergy that hardly anybody goes to confession anymore; also proved by the fact that sin―and what constitutes mortal sin and what kinds of mortal sins there are―is rarely or never preached anymore. This leads to the faithful living in a fog about sin and the gravity of certain thoughts, words and actions―which is further compounded by the fact that priests often tell their faithful: “You aren’t committing any mortal sins!”―when in actual fact there are far more mortal sins being committed than would like to “wishfully think.” Heck! All throughout history most souls have been lost―and our present age sees a tidal wave of temptation that those earlier centuries never experienced or even dreamed that it was possible!
All that vast majority of souls in Hell are not in there for stealing a cookie out the candy jar, or saying their prayers a little hurriedly! They are there for one reason only―mortal sin, committed, unrepented or insufficiently repented and unconfessed or misconfessed. And yes, there ARE souls in the fires of Purgatory for confessed but unpaid mortal sins, and unrepented, unconfessed and unpaid venial sins―even “teeny-weeny” ones like the proverbial stealing of the cookie out of the cookie jar! Why that shocks us is because we are no longer shocked by sin, even venial sin. We no longer fully believe that sin, even venial sin, is the greatest evil in the world―it sounds too dramatic, too far-fetched. Yet our catechisms tell us that: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Lent is No Joke―Just as Sin is No Joke!
Lent is here for a purpose and we don’t need a 95% discount coming with it! Unless, of course, you like an extremely hot climate and are actually looking forwards to the idea of sitting in either the fires of Hell or the fires of Purgatory (which the saints say are just like the fires of Hell―except they gradually lessen and finally end). If you are one of those heat-loving souls, it is recommended that you buy the best asbestos suit that you can find―not it will do you much good, but it might help a little! Alternatively, you could meditate often about placing your hand in a fire for a whole day or two―as a little foretaste and “watered-down” sample of what it will be like. The bottom line is that we need Lent and FORTY DAYS OF FASTING (not just two) like we need the air that we breath.
In his homily on the Gospel of Quinquagesima Sunday, Pope St. Gregory the Great says: “Now, let us do severe penance, and thus escape in eternity the terrible wrath of an offended God. The tears shed in this life will take us to the joys of heaven, for Our Lord said: ‘Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted’ (Matthew 5:5); whereas the pleasures of this world will, according to the same Savior, bring us to the eternal dwelling of tears and sorrow. ‘Woe to you that now laugh, for you shall mourn and weep’ (Luke 6:25).”
God Wants to Save―But Most Don’t Want to be Saved
God will save any sinner―even the ones we seem to condemn in our minds. God is prepared to save the pedophile parent or priest. God is prepared to save the abortionist or aborting parent. God is prepared to save the homosexual, lesbian, or transgenderist. God is prepared to save the murderer or rapist. God is prepared to save the adultery or masturbator. God is prepared to save the alcoholic or drug-addict. God is prepared to save the sex-addict, pornographer or pervert. God is prepared to save the human trafficker or pimp. Why? Our Lord tells us: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10)―and all the aforementioned sinners are certainly lost. Yet God is only prepared to save them if they are willing to stop sinning, to change and to do penance. This is abundantly clear from numerous passages of Holy Scripture.
“The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die … Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? … Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:20-32). “Return” says the Lord―that is what the word “conversion” literally means―it comes from the Latin verb convertere meaning “to turn back” therefore “to return.”
Salvation Requires A Turning-Away From the World and Worldliness
To “return” to God means to “turn one’s back” on sin. As Our Lord said: “You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:24). To “return” to God means to “turn one’s back” on the world―for the world is an enemy of God. Our Lord was “the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world … And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it … He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto his own, and His own received him not. But as many as received him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God” (John 1:9-12). To the world and the worldly, “He said to them: ‘You are from beneath, I am from above! You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). To those who received Him, He told them not to be of this world: “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19). To which Holy Scripture adds: “Keep yourself unspotted from this world!” (James 1:27). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him!” (1 John 2:15). “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God! … Use this world, as if [you] used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away!” (1 Corinthians 2:12; 7:31). For Christ “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present wicked world” (Galatians 1:4). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
The World Chokes Salvation
In His parable about the Sower of the Seed―the seed being the word of God―Our Lord says: “He that received the seed among thorns, is he that hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, choke up the word of God, and the word becomes fruitless and yields no fruit” (Matthew 13:3-8, 13:18-23; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-15)―which, today, is most of the world.
Our Lord tells another parable that should strike fear into the hearts of the worldly Catholics of today: “And He spoke a similitude to them, saying: ‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And he said: “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God!’” (Luke 12:16-21).
At another time―not in a parable, but a real life incident―Our Lord further pushed home the danger of worldliness and riches: “And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’
“And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Now, you may not consider yourself as being rich―but you are being too shortsighted and are not seeing beyond the end of your nose! You may well look around and say that there are lots of people far, far richer than you are―and that, in actual fact, you are more on the poor side than the rich side. Perhaps that is so―but that only applies TO THIS AGE. We are a human family stretching back thousands of years―we are the “last kinds on the block” and, just as they say of the youngest children, they are always spoilt rotten. Nobody in all the bygone centuries has had it so good as we have it today! Maybe we are not millionaires and billionaires―but we are rich compared to all those who have lived before the 1800s and even 1900s and especially far, far richer than the people of Our Lord’s time―which is time when He first spoke the parables and met the young rich man. They did not have cars, smartphones, tablets, computers, TVs, radios, worldwide instant communication, Google to answer difficult questions, medical technology and health care, food available from all over the world at all times of the year, houses with windows and mosquito screens, electricity, gas, plumbing, central heating, air-conditioning, running water, indoor toilets, baths and showers, electrical appliances such as refrigerators and freezers to keep food from spoiling, washing machines and dryers for laundry, dishwashers, microwaves, blenders, food processors, grinders, electric kettles, crockpots, pressure-cookers, power tools, vacuum cleaners, lawn-mowers, rotary tillers, seed planters, electric saws, etc., etc., etc. Yes, we are rich compared to people of all time―we are probably in the top 1% of which our millionaires and billionaires are at the very top. Our Lord’s words about how hard it is for a rich man to enter Heaven, are even more applicable to our day than they were in Our Lord’s day―when most people were far, far below what we call the “poverty line” today. Even Our Lord Himself lived at a level way below today’s “poverty line.” In other words, today it is even harder to get to Heaven than it ever was―if we are attached to our "riches" which detach us from God. It is no strange coincidence that while the rich West increasingly falls away from God, the poverty struck people in Africa are growing as regards Christianity!
Salvation at a Price
Yes, for man alone, salvation is impossible―but with God all things are possible, even the salvation of the worst sinner. However, even though “the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost!” (Luke 19:10), He will not save anybody who does not want to be saved. Nor will He save anyone on any terms except His own terms. As Jesus says: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). “And why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Modern Day Blindness
In the readings for the Mass of Quinquagesima Sunday, we have the blind man in today’s Gospel―crying-out: “Lord! That I may see!”―and St. Paul speaking of the importance of Charity in today’s Epistle. They say, “Love is blind”―which is true in a sense, for love is an act of the will, which is blind in itself and needs the guidance of reason to point it in the right direction, so that it loves the right things and not the wrong things. Faith is the light of our reason―instructing us to walk in the direction God intends us to walk and guiding our will to love the things that God wants us to love. Today, like the blind man of the Gospel reading (Luke 18:31-43), most of the world is blind and is blindly, but happily, staggering around in a blind love of the world, thinking they are on road to Heaven! We need to see the truth of the matter and to do so, we need to cry out with the blind man: “Lord! That I may see!” Otherwise, we will remain blind and will lead those who are blind around us, blindly into the pit of Hell. We are also those of whom Our Lord spoke, when He said: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). We do not want to be left alone to fall into the pit―we need to cry out: “Lord! That I may see!” For it is clear that we cannot see correctly anymore! Or, perhaps it is more correct to say that we do not want to see correctly anymore―we prefer seeing things the modern way, the easy way, the comfortable way. In our blindness we think that the easy-chair or the armchair is the cross!
Learning From The Blind
It sounds strange, does it not? ―“Learning from the blind!” Yet this real-life incident and the attitude of the blind man has much to teach us. In case you did not attend a Quinquagesima Sunday Mass, here is the short excerpt from the Gospel:
“Now it came to pass, when Jesus drew nigh to Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the way side, begging. And when he heard the multitude passing by, he asked what this meant. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying: ‘Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!’ And they that went before, rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out much more: ‘Son of David! Have mercy on me!’ And Jesus, standing, commanded him to be brought unto Him. And when he was come near, He asked him, saying: ‘What wilt thou that I do to thee?’ But he said: ‘Lord! That I may see!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Receive thy sight! Thy faith hath made thee whole!’ And immediately he saw, and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God” (Luke 18:35-43).
Those Who Can See Are Blind―Those Who Are Blind Can See
You could provocatively say that those who could see were actually blind, and he who was blind could actually see! By this is meant that the multitude of people had natural sight or natural vision, but no supernatural sight or supernatural vision―they had human eyes, but not spiritual eyes, which is true for vast majority (multitude) of people today. Whereas the blind man (a tiny minority among that multitude) did not have natural sight or natural vision because of the blindness in his eyes, but he had something better than that―he had supernatural sight or supernatural vision due to the eyes of his Faith. The multitude was naturalistic, materialistic, earthly and worldly―that is all they had eyes for. Whereas the blind man could not see naturalistic, materialistic, earthly and worldly things, and so there was nothing hindering, blocking or blindfolding his supernatural vision. “The blind see” (Matthew 11:5). The blind man could ‘see’ the power of Jesus, he believed in His power, and was crying out, praying to Jesus for help―and the naturalistic, materialistic, earthly and worldly multitude kept telling him to shut up.
If our family, relatives, friends work-colleagues, fellow-students or neighbors are naturalistic, materialistic, earthly and worldly, then they will resent any kind of spirituality that we may show―they will tell us to shut up (either by words, reactions, gestures, or by their body language and facial expressions). These kind of people are those who are really blind and who lead others to damnation: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14). Rather than be pressured into oblivion, we should follow the lead of the blind man from the Gospel, of whom we are told: “The blind man cried on the Lord so much the more” with the result that “he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God.”
Blind Resistance From The ‘Seeing’ Multitude
This resistance and opposition from the multitude is what Jesus warned us about: “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37).
“For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines. These things are the beginning of sorrows. But look to yourselves. For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony unto them. And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:8-13).
The False Gospels of “Safety in Numbers” and “Follow the Crowd”
It is tragically saddening, yet highly infuriating, to see so many blind souls blindly believing and following the false gospels of “safety in numbers” and “follow the crowd” and “everyone is doing it.” You can cry-out and scream and yell as much as you want―people will just pay attention or heed the advice! There is no safety in sin, no matter how great the number of sinners there are committing sin! Following the crowd means following them to Hell! If “everyone is doing it” then everyone will pay for it―in the fires of Hell or, if they are lucky in the fires of Purgatory! You can think what you want, say what you want, stamp your feet as much as you want, roll your eyes as much as you want―that is the plain painful truth! Our Lord has said it, Our Lady has said it, the Saints have said it―who are you going to bring as witness for your theory? The only one you can bring is the multitude or the devil, but nobody from Heaven!
In case you are blind and need your eyes opening like the blind man on the road to Jericho, then here are some of the many, many quotes:
According to Our Lord
● “Many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16).
● “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
● “And a certain man said to Him: ‘Lord! Are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: ‘Lord! Open to us!’ And He, answering, shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are!’ Then you shall begin to say: ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets!” And He shall say to you: ‘I know you not, whence you are! Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity!’ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out!’” (Luke 13:23-28).
● “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat! How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14).
According to Our Lady
● “From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation … Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals … The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom” (Our Lady of Good Success).
● “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish ... Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. People will think of nothing but amusement!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
● “You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go! … Many souls go to Hell … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners! … . If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved … but if people do not cease offending God … Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated!” (Our Lady of Fatima, July & August 1917).
Regarding the annihilation of nations: it is important to note that, during the Father Fuentes interview, Sister Lucia said that Our Lady had told herself (Lucia), Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations ”many times!” (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, p. 27.)
● “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Our Lady of Akita, October 13th, 1973).
● “The whole ruin or salvation of souls depends upon the use of their free will; but most men use it ill and damn themselves … Mortals would receive great enlightenment, and incomparable favors from the Lord, if only they did not hinder them by their sins and abominations. But as they block up the way, which God in His ineffable Providence has opened up for conducting them to eternal felicity, the greater part of them damn themselves … Weep thou in seeing them laugh at their eternal damnation! … The rich might purchase eternal life with their possessions,but they abuse them to draw upon themselves damnation as senseless and foolish creatures … Great was the sorrow of my most holy Son, that not all should make use of the fruits of His Redemption. But next to this sorrow, my greatest one was to know, that after all these sufferings of the Lord, so many men should still damn themselves―even within sight of all the infinite treasures of grace ... Understand, that, if in the glory, which I now enjoy, I could be sorrowful, one of the reasons for being so would be the dreadful carelessness and presumption with which mortals approach to receive the Sacred Body and Blood of my divine Son; some of them unclean and abominable, others without veneration and respect, and nearly all of them without attention … Many children of the Church treat it with irreverence and without any fear or decorum. Weep then over this misfortune; weep, because there are few who weep over it. And in order that thou mayest weep more bitterly, I tell thee, that, just as in the primitive Church there were so many, who were saved by it, now there are countless souls, who damn themselves through it!” (Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
According to the Saints
● St. Peter the Apostle: “If the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly man and the sinner appear?” (1 Peter 4:18).
● Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604), Doctor of the Church: “There are many who arrive at the Faith, but few who are led into the heavenly Kingdom. Behold how many are gathered here for today’s feast-day―we fill the church from wall to wall. Yet who knows how few they are who shall be numbered in that chosen company of the Elect? … Few are the grains carried into the barns, but high are the piles of chaff burned with fire … They who are to be saved as saints, and wish to be saved as imperfect souls, shall not be saved!”
● St. Justin Martyr (100-165), Father of the Church: “The majority of men shall not see God, excepting those who live justly, purified by righteousness and by every other virtue.”
● St. Jerome (347-420), Doctor and Father of the Church: “So that you will better appreciate the meaning of Our Lord’s words, and perceive more clearly how few the Elect are, note that Christ did not say that those who walked in the path to Heaven are few in number, but that there were few who found that narrow way. It is as though the Savior intended to say: The path leading to Heaven is so narrow and so rough, so overgrown, so dark and difficult to discern, that there are many who never find it their whole life long. And those who do find it are constantly exposed to the danger of deviating from it, of mistaking their way, and unwittingly wandering away from it, because it is so irregular and overgrown!’ … Many begin well, but there are few who persevere ... Out of one-hundred-thousand sinners who continue in sin until death, scarcely one will be saved!”
● St. John Chrysostom (247-407), Doctor and Father of the Church: “What do you think? How many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that! … I do not speak rashly, but I do not think that many bishops are saved, and that those who perish are far more numerous!” (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor and Father of the Church).
● St. Augustine (354-430), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Take care not to resemble the multitude whose knowledge of God’s will only condemns them to more severe punishment ... It is certain that few are saved … If you wish to imitate the multitude, then you shall not be among the few who shall enter in by the narrow gate” (St. Augustine, Sermon 224:1).
● St. Bede the Venerable (673-735), Doctor and Father of the Church: “Nor should we think that it is enough for salvation that we are no worse than the mass of the careless and indifferent … Christ's flock is called ‘little’ (Luke 12:32) in comparison with the greater number of the reprobates.”
● St. Anselm (1033-1109), Doctor of the Church: “If thou wouldst be certain of being in the number of the elect, strive to be one of the few, not of the many. And if thou wouldst be quite sure of thy salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few… Do not follow the great majority of mankind, but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer, and who never relax their efforts by day or by night, so that they may attain everlasting blessedness.”
● St. Thomas Aquinas (1235-1274), Doctor of the Church: “There are a select few who are saved!” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.7, ad 3.) “Those who are saved are in the minority!” (Summa Theologica, Ia, q.23, art.8, ad.3).
● St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church: “Everyone desires to be saved but the greater part is lost! … The greater part of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God! … The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few! … The common opinion is that the greater part of adults is lost … All persons desire to be saved, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost! ... In fact, the Elect are much fewer than the damned, for the reprobate are much more numerous than the Elect … It is certainly a great happiness for some sinners who, after a bad life, are converted at their death, and are saved; but these cases are very rare: ordinarily he that leads a bad life dies a bad death … In the Great Deluge in the days of Noe, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone being saved in the Ark. In our days a deluge, not of water but of sins, continually inundates the Earth, and out of this deluge very few escape. Scarcely anyone is saved … especially among seculars! … What is the number of those who love Thee, O God? How few they are! The Elect are much fewer than the damned! Alas! The greater portion of mankind lives in sin unto the devil, and not unto Jesus Christ … Ah, I pray Thee, O omnipotent God, O sovereign and infinite Good, make all men know and love Thee! … To obtain salvation we must tremble at the thought of being lost, and tremble not so much at the thought of Hell, as of sin, which alone can send us there. He who dreads sin, avoids dangerous occasions of sin, frequently recommends himself to God, and has recourse to the means of keeping himself in the state of grace. He who acts thus will be saved; but for him who lives not in this manner it is morally impossible to be saved.”
● St. John Climacus (579-606), Father of the Church: “Live with the few if you want to reign with the few!”
● St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church: “I had the greatest sorrow for the many souls that condemned themselves to Hell, especially those Lutherans ... I saw souls falling into Hell like snowflakes!”
Those are just the tip of the iceberg of the massive number of testimonies of the saints on the number of saved souls. Where are the saints who say that most souls are saved? How many are those ‘saints’ in number? It is mainly Liberals and Modernists―who are far from being saints―who insist that most souls are being saved and that we have little or nothing worry about! It is to be wondered what St. Paul would make of that attitude, since he wrote: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12).
One such Liberal priest interviewed Sr. Lucia of Fatima. The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly “Osservatore della Domenica” on February 7th, 1954.
Fr. Lombardi: “Tell me, is the ‘Better World Movement’ a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?”
Sr. Lucia: “Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved.”
Fr. Lombardi: “Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity.” [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith]
Sr. Lucia: “Father, many will be lost.”
Fr. Lombardi: “It is true that the world is full of evil, but there is always a hope of salvation.”
Sr. Lucia: “No Father, many will be lost.”
Father Lombardi remembered that Lucia had seen Hell and added: “Her words disturbed me. I returned to Italy with that grave warning impressed on my heart.”
Scaring the Hell Out Of You?
What is the point of all this? To scare you? Well, yes, if you are lukewarm, complacent, lackadaisical or superficial in your Faith and its practice. However, even those who are serious about their Faith and its practice should also “tremble” in their boots―for, as St. Padre Pio said, most of the few souls that make it to Heaven, do not manage to get there without having to go through Purgatory. Lent is here for a reason―and it is not to be taken lightly, nor is it recommended that you “buy-into” the 95% discounted Lent either! As Pope St. Gregory says, in his homily for Quinquagesima Sunday:
“Let us, therefore, recall to our mind our own wickedness; let us remember that the eternal Judge will punish our sins most severely; then, let us endeavor to destroy them by sorrowful repentance. Now, let us do severe penance, and thus escape in eternity the terrible wrath of an offended God. The tears shed in this life will take us to the joys of heaven, for Our Lord said: ‘Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted’ (Matthew 5:5); whereas the pleasures of this world will, according to the same Savior, bring us to the eternal dwelling of tears and sorrow. ‘Woe to you that now laugh, for you shall mourn and weep!’ (Luke 6:25). If we wish to obtain the highest felicity, let us now walk in the path of penance, and our penitential life will not only gain for us great merits with God, but will be to His greater glory; for, according to the words of the Gospel, others will be encouraged by our good example: ‘And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.’”
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Thursday February 28th & Friday March 1st
Article 8
Were Saints Extreme? Were Saints Fanatical? What Should You Be?
Article 8
Were Saints Extreme? Were Saints Fanatical? What Should You Be?
Hatred of Extremism and Fanaticism
For the most part, people hate extremism and fanaticism. The press is full of negative reports about extremists and fanatics. Such people are said to be the most likely to be guilty of “hate crimes”. Even Catholics will quote St. Thomas Aquinas as saying that virtue stands in the middle between excess and neglect―and extremism and fanaticism is not the middle path. Furthermore, extremists and fanatics are extremely likely to use violence if they do not get their own way―further proving their undesirability and danger to mankind. All of this sounds extremely logical and extremely true―but is it? Coming back to St. Thomas Aquinas―who is never afraid to look at all objections in his search for the truth―let us dig deeper, let us dig extremely deep, let us dig fanatically in order to examine the truth and viability of the above statements.
Back to the Dictionary Again
In matters of importance, it is important to define the terms that one is using, so as to be able to stick to the point and debate on the same thing. If we are to debate on whether or not Florida is cool―we must define what we mean by the word “cool”―is it meant as being “cool in temperature” or “cool” as in “enjoyable, fun, trendy, etc.”? Similarly, with the word “bad”―in classical English “bad” always meant “evil”, today’s slang has taken the word “bad” and has additionally and confusingly given it the meaning of being “cool” as in something “above the normal, great, funny, enjoyable, sexy, etc.”
As an adjective, “extreme” means: “(a) of a character or kind that is farthest removed from the ordinary or average, (b) intense, utmost, or exceedingly great in degree, (c) farthest from the center or middle; outermost; endmost, the most remote in any direction.”
As a noun, “extremist” means “a person who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, especially one who resorts to or advocates extreme action; or a person who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action; or someone who goes through extreme tactics to reach their goal. These could involve torture, attack on innocent people and over-the-top violence.”
Originally, the word “fanatic” came from the Latin root-word “fanum”, which means, a sanctuary, shrine or temple, and the derivative word, “fanaticus”, means inspired; enthusiastic, frenzied. In the good sense of the word, “fanatic” means something akin to holy, sacred, enthusiastic, highly fervent, inspired by God—which is along the lines of what “devotion” is, or should be. In the bad sense of the word, “fanatic” means someone who is overly enthusiastic, highly fervent, obsessive in the pursuit of something that is not good, but bad or even evil.
Is “Extremism” and “Fanaticism” Always Evil?
Therefore, we have to ask if “extreme”, “extremism” and “extremist”, or “fanatical”, “fanaticism” and “fanatic”―are always and everywhere bad, or can they actually be good? In other words, is “extremism” and “fanaticism” always something evil, or can it also be something virtuous? In the previous articles, it has been shown, without any shadow of a doubt, that “God is extreme” and “Christ is extreme”―not only in the work of saving souls, but also in the realm of justice. God has created a place of extreme happiness―called Heaven. He has also created a place of extreme punishment―called Hell. He also has a place of extreme remediation or extreme purification for imperfection―called Purgatory. All of these places are “extreme” by our mode of thinking―yet, as God says, He does not think like we do: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9). As was said in the earlier articles, GOD HAS MADE US TO BE EXTREME and that being extreme is not “extreme” (as defined above), but is actually NORMAL and not “extreme”. The level to which God calls us is NORMAL in His eyes, but EXTREME in our eyes.
We Are Born With a ‘Gene’ or Tendency Towards Extremism
It might sound highly controversial to you to be told that we are all born with a tendency or propensity towards extremism―yet, if you dig below the surface and discard all tendencies of an ‘on-the-fly’, ‘bite-sized’, ‘fast-track’, ‘express-lane’, ‘only read the headlines’ superficial reasoning, then you will begin to see the truth of that statement.
A baby instinctively goes to extremes. The new born baby wants to be fed all the time―here is the testimony of several mothers from online sources: “My dear daughter nursed 24/7 for the first month. Well, it felt that way anyway. My husband would come home from work and make dinner and bring it to me. He had to bring me water, etc. After a few days of constant nursing, I finally took a shower and she was screaming when I got out. (It was probably a 10 minute shower). She just wanted to be attached to me all the time! Finally she settled into every 3 hours, then we got a 5 hour stretch at night. Now, at 4 months, she sleeps from 9ish to 8ish and nurses every 2 hours during the day.” Another mother replies: “Yes it's normal and very typical up until about 8-12 weeks!” Another says: “Just wanted to share that everything you are talking about is very normal. In the beginning some babies will nurse non-stop. My son nursed every two hours for months. Now, he's two. We still nurse, but only in the morning, nap time, and before bed. There's some nursing in between, but NOTHING like it was in the beginning!” Another comments: “Welcome to life with a newborn. We'd be worried if your baby didn't want to eat constantly!” Another chimes in: “Yup, totally normal and good because it helps to establish your milk supply. Young babies can spend 15+ hours a day nursing.” In other words, this is nursing to the extreme because the baby instinctively (by God’s design) has extreme demands.
A baby seems to have an extreme need for attention, you could almost call the baby a “fanatic” for attention. Babies will need to be clothed and changed (every couple of hours, infants need about 10 diaper changes a day), soothed, carried, talked to, taken to the doctor (infants can’t drive themselves). They will need someone to be around them every moment of every day for the first several months of their life―and this is for infants with no health issues; otherwise medicine need to be administered and more doctor appointments to be taken. As one mother puts it: “Does it feel as though your baby is demanding more attention of you than you can possibly give? Is your brain frazzled from the constant crying? Your baby craves your attention for a number of reasons. First and foremost, your baby needs your attention for his physical development and to make sure his needs are met. Your baby also needs your attention for healthy psychological development. Your baby is born with the need to be loved, to feel emotionally secure and valued. That’s why he calls for your attention; it’s a natural reaction because he realizes it’s the only way he’ll get to feel comfortable and satisfied.”
“Bonding―the emotional connection that forms between baby and parent during the early years―provides the basis for your baby’s future relationships. And the only way you and your baby can form this psychological bond is by you giving him your attention. Your baby quickly learns that your approval for his good behavior makes him feel good (he loves it when you smile lovingly at him). In fact, his desire is so strong that if your positive attention is given to something he does (for instance, he makes a loud noise with a rattle), then the chances are he’ll do the same again the next time. He thinks, “Mum made a lovely fuss of me the last time, so I’ll do the same this time!” An infuriating characteristic of many babies, however, is that they think, “Any form of attention is better than no attention at all.” This explains why a 9 month old may cry, no matter what you do to soothe him. If he’s learnt that crying brings you to his side, he may turn on the waterworks just for that purpose. The fact that you may be tense, tired and annoyed doesn’t really make a jot of difference to your baby. He thinks, “I’d rather mum was here, even if she is angry, than I was here on my own.” Our baby will do anything for a ‘well done’ and clap of our hands. My husband and I really sound foolish at times with seal like clapping to praise our daughter. But she thrives on it and it’s worth it see her beautiful smile!”
It is normal and healthy for children to go through a demanding phase during their development, God has designed them in that way. Yet their “extreme” and “fanatical” demands can continue through life if they are not regulated and channeled in the right directions. Constantly “rewarding” the child with material things―which are inferior to spiritual, supernatural things―risks the child becoming very emotionally demanding and manipulative, showing extremely materialistic tendencies throughout their childhood― especially during the preteen and teen years. Parents often unwittingly encourage this materialistically demanding behavior of “I want! I need! I must!” by over-indulging children emotionally and materialistically as a way of showing them “love”―which often is a mere substitution for the lack of time they show their children, giving them a “thing” instead of giving themselves. Thus, no matter how much they give, their children feel entitled to more. This extreme craving is not wrong or evil in itself, but it can become evil by craving the wrong things. They instinctively and rightly crave parental love (and love is a spiritual thing), but they are given a substitute for love (materialistic things). It is like the example of the baby above, who craves the mother’s milk, but is given a substitute instead―the bottle.
Learning From Babies, Infants and Children
There is something to be learnt from babies and children―even Holy Scripture indicates this. Our Lord Himself tried to teach us through the example of children: “And Jesus calling unto Him a little child, set him in the midst of them, and said: ‘Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven. And he that shall receive one such little child in My Name, receiveth Me!’” (Matthew 18:2-5). “Amen, I say to you: Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a child, shall not enter into it!” (Luke 18:17). “And Jesus said to them: Yea! Have you never read: ‘Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise?’” (Matthew 21:16). “And they brought unto Him also infants, that He might touch them” (Luke 18:15). Our Lord Himself chose to begin life amongst us as an infant―even though He could have come from Heaven in the form of a man, foregoing any need for a natural birth. Likewise, we are called “children of God” and begin our spiritual life born in the waters of the womb of the baptismal font.
The Desert Fathers, the Doctors and Fathers of the Church and many other saints, would learn about God through the things that God has created. God’s creation is a book that teaches us about God―the creature or creation reflects something of the Creator, just like a painting or a poem, or a song, reflects something of the artist, poet or composer. We learn about God from the things He has created, as Holy Scripture says: “Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable! Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified Him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools!” (Romans 1:19-22). “All men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God: and who, by these good things that are seen, could not understand Him that is … Let them understand by them, that He that made them, is mightier than they. For by the greatness of the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of them may be seen, so as to be known through them” (Wisdom 13:1-5).
Are the above example of the extreme needs and extreme demands of the baby wrong, evil, anti-establishment, subversive, tyrannical, hateful, etc. No, they are normal and necessary for the life and health and development of the baby on a natural level. Now, if you will once again switch-off the habitual ‘microwave’, ‘fast-lane’, ‘convenience’, ‘just-to-the-end-of-my-nose’, superficial thinking and look at the above from a spiritual and supernatural perspective―what do you see?
Baby Love Teaches How to Love God
In looking at the first days, weeks and months of a baby’s life and the circumstances surrounding it, we have an incredible meditation and instruction on the love of God and how God wants to be loved. It is EXTREME! Let us look and reflect upon this much closer.
(1) The Baby is Totally Helpless Without Its Parents
It is as clear as day and blatantly obvious that the baby cannot survive without its parents. Everything has to be done FOR the baby―it cannot do anything for itself. It is totally dependent upon the mother and the father for everything. Does this not remind you of the following words of Our Lord: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Scripture adds: “All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made” (John 1:3).
(2) The Baby Needs Almost Constant Feeding and Nourishment
The breast-feeding of the baby can be compared to our need for grace, and that grace usually comes through prayer and the Sacraments. Hence Our Lord tells us: “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times!” (Luke 21:36). “We ought always to pray and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). To which Holy Scripture adds: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessanlonians 5:17). “O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet!” (Psalm 34:8). “Thou hast brought us indeed into a land that floweth with rivers of milk and honey!” (Numbers 16:14)―which reminds us that a mother’s breast milk is indeed sweet and rich in sugar. “Who shall suck as milk the abundance of the sea!” (Deuteronomy 33:19)―and Mary is a sea of grace to us, as St. Louis de Montfort writes: “God the Father made an assemblage of all the waters and He named it the sea―in Latin: ‘mare’. He made an assemblage of all His graces and he called it Mary―in Latin: ‘Maria’!” (True Devotion to Mary, “§23). That sea of grace, or abundance of milk, is for the children of God: “That you may suck, and be filled with the breasts of her consolations: that you may milk out, and flow with delights, from the abundance of her glory” (Isaias 66:11). We see a similar analogy in the Epistle reading that is applied to Mary from the Mass of Immaculate Heart of August 22nd: “In me is all grace of the way … Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. For my spirit is sweet above honey … They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:25-29).
St. Louis de Montfort adds: “The world was unworthy, says St. Augustine, to receive the Son of God directly from the Father’s hands. He gave Him to Mary in order that the world might receive Him through her … God the Son has communicated to His Mother all that He acquired by His life and His death, His infinite merits and His admirable virtues; and He has made her the treasurer of all that His Father gave Him for His inheritance. It is by her that He applies His merits to His members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces. She is His mysterious canal; she is His aqueduct, through which He makes His mercies flow gently and abundantly … To Mary, His faithful spouse, God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the will of God, who has willed that we should have everything through Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §16, §24, §25).
(3) The Baby Needs Constant Attention and Love
We could do a role-reversal here, and put Our Lord in the role of the baby and ourselves in the role of the baby’s parents―which is not hard to imagine, since Our Lord initially came into this world as a baby! Babies require constant watching, constant care, constant attention and constant feeding―all these things are part and parcel of love. Do we give Our Lord this constant watching, constant care, constant attention and constant feeding in the spiritual domain? Were we not told to “love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind! This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-38). What does “whole” mean? It means “total”, “everything”, “all”, etc. Hence we should be loving God the whole time, all the time, totally and with all the powers of our body and soul. Holy Scripture adds: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Furthermore, a love of God is only proved if we keep His commandments: “Keep all My commandments at all times” (Deuteronomy 5:29). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10).
(4) The Baby Shows Happiness Over the Most Trivial Things
It is amazing at how easy it is to bring a smile to a baby! Things that we rate as being too trivial, inconsequential, useless or stupid―nevertheless can bring joy and a smile to the baby’s face! God is teaching us something about Himself in this phenomenon―He does not look upon anything as being too small, too trivial, inconsequential or useless. As Jesus Himself reveals: “Whosoever shall give to drink, to one of these little ones, a cup of cold water, only in the name of a disciple, amen I say to you he shall not lose his reward!” (Matthew 10:42). “Whosoever shall give you to drink a cup of water in My Name, because you belong to Christ, Amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward” (Mark 9:41). “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father [knowing and allowing it]. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered!” (Matthew 10:29-30). “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? Yea, the very hairs of your head are all numbered!” (Luke 12:7). God never misses a thing―both good and bad―hence, Our Lord reminds us: “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment!” (Matthew 12:36). Nothing is ever too small with God―whether in acts of virtue, good deeds, little offerings, nor by way of negligences, offenses and sins! We might think that some sins are only “teeny-weeny” inconsequential sins, but that is not true in God’s eyes―just go to Purgatory and see how long and terrible are some of the sufferings for “teeny-weeny” inconsequential sins. Yet, by the same token, you will be amazed at the happiness, joy and generosity God will have shown for “teeny-weeny” good deeds and “teeny-weeny” virtues! The little baby reminds us of all this by its reaction to “teeny-weeny” things!
(5) The Immense Sensitivity of the Baby
This leads us to another point, which is linked to the previous one, and that is the immense sensitivity of a baby. The slightest thing―as we have seen―can make it happy and the slightest thing can make it cry. We should have this awareness with regard to God―He is teaching us something about Himself through the baby. We are often so callous, insensitive, forgetful, rude, crude and indifferent to God―as we focus on self and our daily wants, needs, desires, pleasures and schedules. We treat a baby better than we treat God! Doesn’t that shame us in any way?
(6) The Immense Love of the Baby
We can all picture the baby snuggled-up in its mother’s arms with its little hands around her neck, peacefully resting there with eyes closed and look of security, contentment and peace on its face. Or sleeping re-assuredly on its father’s chest, with a blissful, calm and carefree expression. We have all witnessed the spontaneous, intense and tremendously expressive love the baby shows towards its parents―longingly stretching out its arms towards them, with a totally natural, unfeigned, sincere and deep love radiating from its countenance and body language! The absolute truth, sincerity, desire and depth of love in such expressions is both shocking and shaming! Why? Because we have lost such childlike simplicity! Ours has become more of a calculated, conditional, counterfeit, cold-hearted love―motivated more by self-seeking that self-giving; tainted by suspicion or sorrowful remembrances; trained and formed more by social convention than by true spiritual impulse! If only we could act and react towards God as the baby acts and reacts to its parents!
(7) Babies Pee and Poo with Much Boo-Hoo
One inescapable phenomenon of the baby’s life is the repeated “peeing” and “pooing” that goes on! It should remind us of the fact that we are all guilty of venial (“peeing”) sin and most probably mortal (“pooing”) sin. As Holy Scripture points out to us: “There is no just man upon Earth, that doth good and sinneth not!” (Ecclesiastes 7:21). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins [“pee” and “poo”], He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “For a just man shall fall seven times” Proverbs 24:16)―which was the basis in St. Peter’s question to Jesus: “Then came Peter unto him and said: ‘Lord! How often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him [change his diaper]? Till seven times?’Jesus saith to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times!’ (Matthew 18:21-22). Our sins―or “pee” and “poo”―makes us, as it were, “lepers” in the sight of God. This reminds us of the non-Jew, Naaman the Leper: “Naaman [the Leper] came with his horses and chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Eliseus: And Eliseus sent a messenger to him, saying: ‘Go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall recover health, and thou shalt be clean!’ … Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times: according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child, and he was made clean” (4 Kings 5:10-14). The baby―after “peeing” or “pooing”―often attracts attention to its sordid plight by lots of “booing” and “hooing” (crying and hollering). It does not like nor wants to remain in its sordid situation. The diaper needs removing and washing or discarding. Similarly, we can wash ourselves in the waters of the Jordan (the Sacraments of Baptism and the Sacrament of Confession) by confessing our sins and wash away the stains and stench of our own “peeing” and “pooing” (venial and mortal sins) by our tears of contrition, “booing” and “hollering” to God for mercy! “And we cried to the Lord God of our fathers: Who heard us, and looked down upon our affliction, and labor, and distress!” Deuteronomy 26:7).
You could go no all day spotting spiritual and supernatural lessons in the life of a baby and its interactions with its parents. That is not the point of this article―let it suffice in pointing out the treasures and inspirations that can be found, so that they remind us of our relationship with God, our dependence upon God and how we ought love our God. Nevertheless, lest the crux of the matter be forgotten―the life of a baby shows many in-built extremes and capacities for extremes, that God has wisely put there.
The Extremes of Childhood and Adolescence
It is not as though the baby grows out of its capacity and tendency towards extremes―this capacity and tendency remains as the baby grows into infancy, childhood and then adolescence. On the website Psychology Today, in an article entitled “Adolescence and the tyranny of extremes”, Dr. Carl Pickhardt, Ph.D., writes:
“Adolescence is not a moderate age. It is an all out effort to separate from childhood and begin the momentous transformation … into a young adult … It often takes extreme measures … In the process, adolescents must struggle with the tyranny of extremes in many forms. Thus they test limits. They disobey rules. They follow ideals. They want urgently. They feel intensely. They elevate standards. They break traditions. They object strenuously. They rebel strongly. They take dares. They fight hard. They dream dreams. They seek excitement. They risk adventure. This is a time when young people can make dramatic [extreme] personal changes … An extreme alteration of values distinguishes the adolescent from the child, establishes her individuality in the family, and becomes a statement of independence.”
Thus Dr. Pickhardt confirms the innate or inborn tendency towards extremes―the adolescent is merely carrying on or adapting the baby’s extremes to a wider circle. As said before, our tendency towards extremes can be applied in a good, virtuous or positive way, or it can be applied in bad, sinful or negative way. Dr. Pickhardt then goes on to analyze those extreme adolescent feelings and desires in relation to forbidden things. He writes:
“Furthermore, what adolescents are strictly forbidden in harshest [extreme] terms they can end up doing to an extreme degree … Parents can add their own agenda of extremes. Feeling more out of control come their child’s adolescence, parents can advocate for extremes around matters of conduct when they want the young person to be extremely careful, to work extremely hard, to be extremely responsible, and to perform extremely well.” Thus we also see a capacity and tendency within the parents for the extreme.
Dr. Pickhardt then points out how the adolescents seek to imitate their worldly heroes, or worldly ‘saints’ by going to extremes. He writes: “Susceptibility to extremes can be socially encouraged, because adolescent is such an impressionable age … Near at hand, outstanding peers inspire imitation, particularly those who are extremely popular, powerful, cool, confidant, attractive, and successful … More influential are models found in the world of celebrity … Just as popular entertainment uses extremely sensational content to compete for the adolescent audience, so the marketplace traffics in extreme images that embody youthful ideals to compete for young people's interest and allegiance. Adolescents will pay to listen to, look at, and look like their idols. Because these idealized images are powerfully attractive, they can create a lot of pressure to live up to, while failing to meet them can cause young people to become self-critical, even self-punitive for not measuring up. Where ideals rule, to be ‘ordinary' or ‘average' can be an admission of inadequacy or inferiority. Extremes also intensify the demands of expectations.”
The Stuff of Saints―But Stuffed Aside
Ha! If only we and they would do the same thing in relation to the true heroes and true idols―the saints! Nevertheless, it shows several things:
(1) It shows that adolescents are willing to go to extremes in the imitation of someone whom they idolize.
(2) It shows that adolescents are willing to sacrifice much money and time in their pursuit of being like their idols.
(3) It shows the adolescent’s grief at not attaining an extreme goal.
(4) It shows that the adolescent does not resent being set extreme goals and embraces them.
(5) It shows that adolescents are capable of living to extremes day after day without flagging or wearying of the extremes.
Thus, they can spend hour after hour on extreme electronic engagement via the TV, the smartphone, tablet, laptop, computer, i-pod, mp3, mp4, or whatever. What will be their excuse to Our Lord, when He says to them the words He said to His three sleeping Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). According to Common Sense Media, teens spend an average of nine hours a day online, compared to about six hours for those aged eight to 12; and the 50 minutes for kids between 0 and eight.
According to a Pew Research Center study, 60% of teens—those between the ages of 13 to 17—say that spending too much time online is a “major” problem facing their age group, with about nine in 10 teens dubbing it a problem. More than half of teens (54%) say they spend too much time on their cellphones/smarphones, and 41% say they overdo it on social media. Pew Research Center’s latest research suggests that teens are self-aware about the problem—but unable to rein themselves in. While 72% of parents say their teen is sometimes or often distracted by their phone while having real-life conversations, more than half (51%) of teens say the same about their parents! Like father, like son! Like mother, like daughter!
The average American adult spends nearly half a day staring at a screen. A Nielsen Company audience report revealed that adults in the United States devoted about 10 hours and 39 minutes each day to consuming media on our tablets, smartphones, personal computers, multimedia devices, video games, radios, DVDs, DVRs and TVs. Around 81% of American adults have smartphones, according to the report, which they use, on average, for around one hour and 39 minutes daily scanning the media. The report also states that despite the increasing availability of new electronic devices, radio and television are still the most popular. The report states that around 94% of American adults have a HD (high definition) TV screen, and that they spends around 4½ hours a day watching it. The report concluded that out of 168 hours in a week, we spend more than 50 hours with electronic devices―and little or none of that time is spent studying religion on those devices!
Any way you cut it, it's a lot of time staring at a screen! In case you missed that―the numbers are PER DAY and NOT per week! Extreme, huh? So there can and should be no excuse if Our Lord asks for the extreme! We all have an EXTREME GENE―the crucial thing is what we use and spend it on! For it could mean the difference between Heaven and Hell―both extreme places, one a place of extreme peace, joy and happiness, the other a place of extreme anguish, misery and pain.
In the next article we shall look at what was, what is and what could be and what will be!
For the most part, people hate extremism and fanaticism. The press is full of negative reports about extremists and fanatics. Such people are said to be the most likely to be guilty of “hate crimes”. Even Catholics will quote St. Thomas Aquinas as saying that virtue stands in the middle between excess and neglect―and extremism and fanaticism is not the middle path. Furthermore, extremists and fanatics are extremely likely to use violence if they do not get their own way―further proving their undesirability and danger to mankind. All of this sounds extremely logical and extremely true―but is it? Coming back to St. Thomas Aquinas―who is never afraid to look at all objections in his search for the truth―let us dig deeper, let us dig extremely deep, let us dig fanatically in order to examine the truth and viability of the above statements.
Back to the Dictionary Again
In matters of importance, it is important to define the terms that one is using, so as to be able to stick to the point and debate on the same thing. If we are to debate on whether or not Florida is cool―we must define what we mean by the word “cool”―is it meant as being “cool in temperature” or “cool” as in “enjoyable, fun, trendy, etc.”? Similarly, with the word “bad”―in classical English “bad” always meant “evil”, today’s slang has taken the word “bad” and has additionally and confusingly given it the meaning of being “cool” as in something “above the normal, great, funny, enjoyable, sexy, etc.”
As an adjective, “extreme” means: “(a) of a character or kind that is farthest removed from the ordinary or average, (b) intense, utmost, or exceedingly great in degree, (c) farthest from the center or middle; outermost; endmost, the most remote in any direction.”
As a noun, “extremist” means “a person who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, especially one who resorts to or advocates extreme action; or a person who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action; or someone who goes through extreme tactics to reach their goal. These could involve torture, attack on innocent people and over-the-top violence.”
Originally, the word “fanatic” came from the Latin root-word “fanum”, which means, a sanctuary, shrine or temple, and the derivative word, “fanaticus”, means inspired; enthusiastic, frenzied. In the good sense of the word, “fanatic” means something akin to holy, sacred, enthusiastic, highly fervent, inspired by God—which is along the lines of what “devotion” is, or should be. In the bad sense of the word, “fanatic” means someone who is overly enthusiastic, highly fervent, obsessive in the pursuit of something that is not good, but bad or even evil.
Is “Extremism” and “Fanaticism” Always Evil?
Therefore, we have to ask if “extreme”, “extremism” and “extremist”, or “fanatical”, “fanaticism” and “fanatic”―are always and everywhere bad, or can they actually be good? In other words, is “extremism” and “fanaticism” always something evil, or can it also be something virtuous? In the previous articles, it has been shown, without any shadow of a doubt, that “God is extreme” and “Christ is extreme”―not only in the work of saving souls, but also in the realm of justice. God has created a place of extreme happiness―called Heaven. He has also created a place of extreme punishment―called Hell. He also has a place of extreme remediation or extreme purification for imperfection―called Purgatory. All of these places are “extreme” by our mode of thinking―yet, as God says, He does not think like we do: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9). As was said in the earlier articles, GOD HAS MADE US TO BE EXTREME and that being extreme is not “extreme” (as defined above), but is actually NORMAL and not “extreme”. The level to which God calls us is NORMAL in His eyes, but EXTREME in our eyes.
We Are Born With a ‘Gene’ or Tendency Towards Extremism
It might sound highly controversial to you to be told that we are all born with a tendency or propensity towards extremism―yet, if you dig below the surface and discard all tendencies of an ‘on-the-fly’, ‘bite-sized’, ‘fast-track’, ‘express-lane’, ‘only read the headlines’ superficial reasoning, then you will begin to see the truth of that statement.
A baby instinctively goes to extremes. The new born baby wants to be fed all the time―here is the testimony of several mothers from online sources: “My dear daughter nursed 24/7 for the first month. Well, it felt that way anyway. My husband would come home from work and make dinner and bring it to me. He had to bring me water, etc. After a few days of constant nursing, I finally took a shower and she was screaming when I got out. (It was probably a 10 minute shower). She just wanted to be attached to me all the time! Finally she settled into every 3 hours, then we got a 5 hour stretch at night. Now, at 4 months, she sleeps from 9ish to 8ish and nurses every 2 hours during the day.” Another mother replies: “Yes it's normal and very typical up until about 8-12 weeks!” Another says: “Just wanted to share that everything you are talking about is very normal. In the beginning some babies will nurse non-stop. My son nursed every two hours for months. Now, he's two. We still nurse, but only in the morning, nap time, and before bed. There's some nursing in between, but NOTHING like it was in the beginning!” Another comments: “Welcome to life with a newborn. We'd be worried if your baby didn't want to eat constantly!” Another chimes in: “Yup, totally normal and good because it helps to establish your milk supply. Young babies can spend 15+ hours a day nursing.” In other words, this is nursing to the extreme because the baby instinctively (by God’s design) has extreme demands.
A baby seems to have an extreme need for attention, you could almost call the baby a “fanatic” for attention. Babies will need to be clothed and changed (every couple of hours, infants need about 10 diaper changes a day), soothed, carried, talked to, taken to the doctor (infants can’t drive themselves). They will need someone to be around them every moment of every day for the first several months of their life―and this is for infants with no health issues; otherwise medicine need to be administered and more doctor appointments to be taken. As one mother puts it: “Does it feel as though your baby is demanding more attention of you than you can possibly give? Is your brain frazzled from the constant crying? Your baby craves your attention for a number of reasons. First and foremost, your baby needs your attention for his physical development and to make sure his needs are met. Your baby also needs your attention for healthy psychological development. Your baby is born with the need to be loved, to feel emotionally secure and valued. That’s why he calls for your attention; it’s a natural reaction because he realizes it’s the only way he’ll get to feel comfortable and satisfied.”
“Bonding―the emotional connection that forms between baby and parent during the early years―provides the basis for your baby’s future relationships. And the only way you and your baby can form this psychological bond is by you giving him your attention. Your baby quickly learns that your approval for his good behavior makes him feel good (he loves it when you smile lovingly at him). In fact, his desire is so strong that if your positive attention is given to something he does (for instance, he makes a loud noise with a rattle), then the chances are he’ll do the same again the next time. He thinks, “Mum made a lovely fuss of me the last time, so I’ll do the same this time!” An infuriating characteristic of many babies, however, is that they think, “Any form of attention is better than no attention at all.” This explains why a 9 month old may cry, no matter what you do to soothe him. If he’s learnt that crying brings you to his side, he may turn on the waterworks just for that purpose. The fact that you may be tense, tired and annoyed doesn’t really make a jot of difference to your baby. He thinks, “I’d rather mum was here, even if she is angry, than I was here on my own.” Our baby will do anything for a ‘well done’ and clap of our hands. My husband and I really sound foolish at times with seal like clapping to praise our daughter. But she thrives on it and it’s worth it see her beautiful smile!”
It is normal and healthy for children to go through a demanding phase during their development, God has designed them in that way. Yet their “extreme” and “fanatical” demands can continue through life if they are not regulated and channeled in the right directions. Constantly “rewarding” the child with material things―which are inferior to spiritual, supernatural things―risks the child becoming very emotionally demanding and manipulative, showing extremely materialistic tendencies throughout their childhood― especially during the preteen and teen years. Parents often unwittingly encourage this materialistically demanding behavior of “I want! I need! I must!” by over-indulging children emotionally and materialistically as a way of showing them “love”―which often is a mere substitution for the lack of time they show their children, giving them a “thing” instead of giving themselves. Thus, no matter how much they give, their children feel entitled to more. This extreme craving is not wrong or evil in itself, but it can become evil by craving the wrong things. They instinctively and rightly crave parental love (and love is a spiritual thing), but they are given a substitute for love (materialistic things). It is like the example of the baby above, who craves the mother’s milk, but is given a substitute instead―the bottle.
Learning From Babies, Infants and Children
There is something to be learnt from babies and children―even Holy Scripture indicates this. Our Lord Himself tried to teach us through the example of children: “And Jesus calling unto Him a little child, set him in the midst of them, and said: ‘Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven. And he that shall receive one such little child in My Name, receiveth Me!’” (Matthew 18:2-5). “Amen, I say to you: Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a child, shall not enter into it!” (Luke 18:17). “And Jesus said to them: Yea! Have you never read: ‘Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise?’” (Matthew 21:16). “And they brought unto Him also infants, that He might touch them” (Luke 18:15). Our Lord Himself chose to begin life amongst us as an infant―even though He could have come from Heaven in the form of a man, foregoing any need for a natural birth. Likewise, we are called “children of God” and begin our spiritual life born in the waters of the womb of the baptismal font.
The Desert Fathers, the Doctors and Fathers of the Church and many other saints, would learn about God through the things that God has created. God’s creation is a book that teaches us about God―the creature or creation reflects something of the Creator, just like a painting or a poem, or a song, reflects something of the artist, poet or composer. We learn about God from the things He has created, as Holy Scripture says: “Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable! Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified Him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools!” (Romans 1:19-22). “All men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God: and who, by these good things that are seen, could not understand Him that is … Let them understand by them, that He that made them, is mightier than they. For by the greatness of the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of them may be seen, so as to be known through them” (Wisdom 13:1-5).
Are the above example of the extreme needs and extreme demands of the baby wrong, evil, anti-establishment, subversive, tyrannical, hateful, etc. No, they are normal and necessary for the life and health and development of the baby on a natural level. Now, if you will once again switch-off the habitual ‘microwave’, ‘fast-lane’, ‘convenience’, ‘just-to-the-end-of-my-nose’, superficial thinking and look at the above from a spiritual and supernatural perspective―what do you see?
Baby Love Teaches How to Love God
In looking at the first days, weeks and months of a baby’s life and the circumstances surrounding it, we have an incredible meditation and instruction on the love of God and how God wants to be loved. It is EXTREME! Let us look and reflect upon this much closer.
(1) The Baby is Totally Helpless Without Its Parents
It is as clear as day and blatantly obvious that the baby cannot survive without its parents. Everything has to be done FOR the baby―it cannot do anything for itself. It is totally dependent upon the mother and the father for everything. Does this not remind you of the following words of Our Lord: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5). Scripture adds: “All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made” (John 1:3).
(2) The Baby Needs Almost Constant Feeding and Nourishment
The breast-feeding of the baby can be compared to our need for grace, and that grace usually comes through prayer and the Sacraments. Hence Our Lord tells us: “Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times!” (Luke 21:36). “We ought always to pray and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). To which Holy Scripture adds: “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessanlonians 5:17). “O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet!” (Psalm 34:8). “Thou hast brought us indeed into a land that floweth with rivers of milk and honey!” (Numbers 16:14)―which reminds us that a mother’s breast milk is indeed sweet and rich in sugar. “Who shall suck as milk the abundance of the sea!” (Deuteronomy 33:19)―and Mary is a sea of grace to us, as St. Louis de Montfort writes: “God the Father made an assemblage of all the waters and He named it the sea―in Latin: ‘mare’. He made an assemblage of all His graces and he called it Mary―in Latin: ‘Maria’!” (True Devotion to Mary, “§23). That sea of grace, or abundance of milk, is for the children of God: “That you may suck, and be filled with the breasts of her consolations: that you may milk out, and flow with delights, from the abundance of her glory” (Isaias 66:11). We see a similar analogy in the Epistle reading that is applied to Mary from the Mass of Immaculate Heart of August 22nd: “In me is all grace of the way … Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. For my spirit is sweet above honey … They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst!” (Ecclesiasticus 24:25-29).
St. Louis de Montfort adds: “The world was unworthy, says St. Augustine, to receive the Son of God directly from the Father’s hands. He gave Him to Mary in order that the world might receive Him through her … God the Son has communicated to His Mother all that He acquired by His life and His death, His infinite merits and His admirable virtues; and He has made her the treasurer of all that His Father gave Him for His inheritance. It is by her that He applies His merits to His members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces. She is His mysterious canal; she is His aqueduct, through which He makes His mercies flow gently and abundantly … To Mary, His faithful spouse, God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts; and He has chosen her to be the dispenser of all He possesses, in such wise that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not have pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the will of God, who has willed that we should have everything through Mary” (St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §16, §24, §25).
(3) The Baby Needs Constant Attention and Love
We could do a role-reversal here, and put Our Lord in the role of the baby and ourselves in the role of the baby’s parents―which is not hard to imagine, since Our Lord initially came into this world as a baby! Babies require constant watching, constant care, constant attention and constant feeding―all these things are part and parcel of love. Do we give Our Lord this constant watching, constant care, constant attention and constant feeding in the spiritual domain? Were we not told to “love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind! This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-38). What does “whole” mean? It means “total”, “everything”, “all”, etc. Hence we should be loving God the whole time, all the time, totally and with all the powers of our body and soul. Holy Scripture adds: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Furthermore, a love of God is only proved if we keep His commandments: “Keep all My commandments at all times” (Deuteronomy 5:29). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If anyone love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10).
(4) The Baby Shows Happiness Over the Most Trivial Things
It is amazing at how easy it is to bring a smile to a baby! Things that we rate as being too trivial, inconsequential, useless or stupid―nevertheless can bring joy and a smile to the baby’s face! God is teaching us something about Himself in this phenomenon―He does not look upon anything as being too small, too trivial, inconsequential or useless. As Jesus Himself reveals: “Whosoever shall give to drink, to one of these little ones, a cup of cold water, only in the name of a disciple, amen I say to you he shall not lose his reward!” (Matthew 10:42). “Whosoever shall give you to drink a cup of water in My Name, because you belong to Christ, Amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward” (Mark 9:41). “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father [knowing and allowing it]. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered!” (Matthew 10:29-30). “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? Yea, the very hairs of your head are all numbered!” (Luke 12:7). God never misses a thing―both good and bad―hence, Our Lord reminds us: “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment!” (Matthew 12:36). Nothing is ever too small with God―whether in acts of virtue, good deeds, little offerings, nor by way of negligences, offenses and sins! We might think that some sins are only “teeny-weeny” inconsequential sins, but that is not true in God’s eyes―just go to Purgatory and see how long and terrible are some of the sufferings for “teeny-weeny” inconsequential sins. Yet, by the same token, you will be amazed at the happiness, joy and generosity God will have shown for “teeny-weeny” good deeds and “teeny-weeny” virtues! The little baby reminds us of all this by its reaction to “teeny-weeny” things!
(5) The Immense Sensitivity of the Baby
This leads us to another point, which is linked to the previous one, and that is the immense sensitivity of a baby. The slightest thing―as we have seen―can make it happy and the slightest thing can make it cry. We should have this awareness with regard to God―He is teaching us something about Himself through the baby. We are often so callous, insensitive, forgetful, rude, crude and indifferent to God―as we focus on self and our daily wants, needs, desires, pleasures and schedules. We treat a baby better than we treat God! Doesn’t that shame us in any way?
(6) The Immense Love of the Baby
We can all picture the baby snuggled-up in its mother’s arms with its little hands around her neck, peacefully resting there with eyes closed and look of security, contentment and peace on its face. Or sleeping re-assuredly on its father’s chest, with a blissful, calm and carefree expression. We have all witnessed the spontaneous, intense and tremendously expressive love the baby shows towards its parents―longingly stretching out its arms towards them, with a totally natural, unfeigned, sincere and deep love radiating from its countenance and body language! The absolute truth, sincerity, desire and depth of love in such expressions is both shocking and shaming! Why? Because we have lost such childlike simplicity! Ours has become more of a calculated, conditional, counterfeit, cold-hearted love―motivated more by self-seeking that self-giving; tainted by suspicion or sorrowful remembrances; trained and formed more by social convention than by true spiritual impulse! If only we could act and react towards God as the baby acts and reacts to its parents!
(7) Babies Pee and Poo with Much Boo-Hoo
One inescapable phenomenon of the baby’s life is the repeated “peeing” and “pooing” that goes on! It should remind us of the fact that we are all guilty of venial (“peeing”) sin and most probably mortal (“pooing”) sin. As Holy Scripture points out to us: “There is no just man upon Earth, that doth good and sinneth not!” (Ecclesiastes 7:21). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins [“pee” and “poo”], He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “For a just man shall fall seven times” Proverbs 24:16)―which was the basis in St. Peter’s question to Jesus: “Then came Peter unto him and said: ‘Lord! How often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him [change his diaper]? Till seven times?’Jesus saith to him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times!’ (Matthew 18:21-22). Our sins―or “pee” and “poo”―makes us, as it were, “lepers” in the sight of God. This reminds us of the non-Jew, Naaman the Leper: “Naaman [the Leper] came with his horses and chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Eliseus: And Eliseus sent a messenger to him, saying: ‘Go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall recover health, and thou shalt be clean!’ … Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times: according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child, and he was made clean” (4 Kings 5:10-14). The baby―after “peeing” or “pooing”―often attracts attention to its sordid plight by lots of “booing” and “hooing” (crying and hollering). It does not like nor wants to remain in its sordid situation. The diaper needs removing and washing or discarding. Similarly, we can wash ourselves in the waters of the Jordan (the Sacraments of Baptism and the Sacrament of Confession) by confessing our sins and wash away the stains and stench of our own “peeing” and “pooing” (venial and mortal sins) by our tears of contrition, “booing” and “hollering” to God for mercy! “And we cried to the Lord God of our fathers: Who heard us, and looked down upon our affliction, and labor, and distress!” Deuteronomy 26:7).
You could go no all day spotting spiritual and supernatural lessons in the life of a baby and its interactions with its parents. That is not the point of this article―let it suffice in pointing out the treasures and inspirations that can be found, so that they remind us of our relationship with God, our dependence upon God and how we ought love our God. Nevertheless, lest the crux of the matter be forgotten―the life of a baby shows many in-built extremes and capacities for extremes, that God has wisely put there.
The Extremes of Childhood and Adolescence
It is not as though the baby grows out of its capacity and tendency towards extremes―this capacity and tendency remains as the baby grows into infancy, childhood and then adolescence. On the website Psychology Today, in an article entitled “Adolescence and the tyranny of extremes”, Dr. Carl Pickhardt, Ph.D., writes:
“Adolescence is not a moderate age. It is an all out effort to separate from childhood and begin the momentous transformation … into a young adult … It often takes extreme measures … In the process, adolescents must struggle with the tyranny of extremes in many forms. Thus they test limits. They disobey rules. They follow ideals. They want urgently. They feel intensely. They elevate standards. They break traditions. They object strenuously. They rebel strongly. They take dares. They fight hard. They dream dreams. They seek excitement. They risk adventure. This is a time when young people can make dramatic [extreme] personal changes … An extreme alteration of values distinguishes the adolescent from the child, establishes her individuality in the family, and becomes a statement of independence.”
Thus Dr. Pickhardt confirms the innate or inborn tendency towards extremes―the adolescent is merely carrying on or adapting the baby’s extremes to a wider circle. As said before, our tendency towards extremes can be applied in a good, virtuous or positive way, or it can be applied in bad, sinful or negative way. Dr. Pickhardt then goes on to analyze those extreme adolescent feelings and desires in relation to forbidden things. He writes:
“Furthermore, what adolescents are strictly forbidden in harshest [extreme] terms they can end up doing to an extreme degree … Parents can add their own agenda of extremes. Feeling more out of control come their child’s adolescence, parents can advocate for extremes around matters of conduct when they want the young person to be extremely careful, to work extremely hard, to be extremely responsible, and to perform extremely well.” Thus we also see a capacity and tendency within the parents for the extreme.
Dr. Pickhardt then points out how the adolescents seek to imitate their worldly heroes, or worldly ‘saints’ by going to extremes. He writes: “Susceptibility to extremes can be socially encouraged, because adolescent is such an impressionable age … Near at hand, outstanding peers inspire imitation, particularly those who are extremely popular, powerful, cool, confidant, attractive, and successful … More influential are models found in the world of celebrity … Just as popular entertainment uses extremely sensational content to compete for the adolescent audience, so the marketplace traffics in extreme images that embody youthful ideals to compete for young people's interest and allegiance. Adolescents will pay to listen to, look at, and look like their idols. Because these idealized images are powerfully attractive, they can create a lot of pressure to live up to, while failing to meet them can cause young people to become self-critical, even self-punitive for not measuring up. Where ideals rule, to be ‘ordinary' or ‘average' can be an admission of inadequacy or inferiority. Extremes also intensify the demands of expectations.”
The Stuff of Saints―But Stuffed Aside
Ha! If only we and they would do the same thing in relation to the true heroes and true idols―the saints! Nevertheless, it shows several things:
(1) It shows that adolescents are willing to go to extremes in the imitation of someone whom they idolize.
(2) It shows that adolescents are willing to sacrifice much money and time in their pursuit of being like their idols.
(3) It shows the adolescent’s grief at not attaining an extreme goal.
(4) It shows that the adolescent does not resent being set extreme goals and embraces them.
(5) It shows that adolescents are capable of living to extremes day after day without flagging or wearying of the extremes.
Thus, they can spend hour after hour on extreme electronic engagement via the TV, the smartphone, tablet, laptop, computer, i-pod, mp3, mp4, or whatever. What will be their excuse to Our Lord, when He says to them the words He said to His three sleeping Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Could you not watch one hour with Me?” (Matthew 26:40). According to Common Sense Media, teens spend an average of nine hours a day online, compared to about six hours for those aged eight to 12; and the 50 minutes for kids between 0 and eight.
According to a Pew Research Center study, 60% of teens—those between the ages of 13 to 17—say that spending too much time online is a “major” problem facing their age group, with about nine in 10 teens dubbing it a problem. More than half of teens (54%) say they spend too much time on their cellphones/smarphones, and 41% say they overdo it on social media. Pew Research Center’s latest research suggests that teens are self-aware about the problem—but unable to rein themselves in. While 72% of parents say their teen is sometimes or often distracted by their phone while having real-life conversations, more than half (51%) of teens say the same about their parents! Like father, like son! Like mother, like daughter!
The average American adult spends nearly half a day staring at a screen. A Nielsen Company audience report revealed that adults in the United States devoted about 10 hours and 39 minutes each day to consuming media on our tablets, smartphones, personal computers, multimedia devices, video games, radios, DVDs, DVRs and TVs. Around 81% of American adults have smartphones, according to the report, which they use, on average, for around one hour and 39 minutes daily scanning the media. The report also states that despite the increasing availability of new electronic devices, radio and television are still the most popular. The report states that around 94% of American adults have a HD (high definition) TV screen, and that they spends around 4½ hours a day watching it. The report concluded that out of 168 hours in a week, we spend more than 50 hours with electronic devices―and little or none of that time is spent studying religion on those devices!
Any way you cut it, it's a lot of time staring at a screen! In case you missed that―the numbers are PER DAY and NOT per week! Extreme, huh? So there can and should be no excuse if Our Lord asks for the extreme! We all have an EXTREME GENE―the crucial thing is what we use and spend it on! For it could mean the difference between Heaven and Hell―both extreme places, one a place of extreme peace, joy and happiness, the other a place of extreme anguish, misery and pain.
In the next article we shall look at what was, what is and what could be and what will be!
Wednesday February 27th
Article 7
Like Father, Like Son―Jesus Was Extreme Too! Will You Be Extreme Too?
Article 7
Like Father, Like Son―Jesus Was Extreme Too! Will You Be Extreme Too?
Like Father, Like Son! Whaddya know! Jesus is Extreme Too!
If God the Father is extreme in everything, then do you think God the Son will be any different—They both have the same nature; and, as the saying goes, “Like Father, like Son!” If God the Father doesn’t do things by halves, neither does God the Son! He is extreme in His actions and His words, with Himself and with others. That is the epitome of devotion. He was a devoted man, trying to show us how to be devoted. When He said “Learn of Me! … Love one another, as I have loved you!” (Matthew 11:29; John 15:12), He showed us an extreme love: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)—He said it and He did it! He even went past that measuring line, and laid down His life for His enemies, saying: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Extreme On Himself
As for Himself, He wishes to be born in extreme poverty! He goes to the providential extremes of being pursued by a murderous king while He still yet a babe! How many children are born into that fate? He then chooses to be exiled while still a babe! The whole life of the King of kings will be one of poverty, to the point where He will later say: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). The suffering that He chooses to undergo in His Passion is extreme to say the least! He was born in a cave—He died naked—He was buried in someone else’s tomb, not having one of His own. He made everything, yet He owned nothing—so that nothing would get in the way of His love for us! He was the most innocent of all beings, yet He was treated as the worst of criminals. He was born between two Saints, but He died between two thieves. He was the Truth, but was called a liar! He was God, but they said He was possessed! He raised others to life, yet allowed Himself to be put to death! All this was done for what? It was done in order to forgive and save the sinners that were offending Him! They contracted the debt, He would pay! That is devotion! That is devotion to the extreme! And He says: “Learn of Me! … Love one another, as I have loved you!”
Extreme with Others In Words
When St. Peter tries to prevent the Our Lord’s sufferings from coming to pass, Our Lord comes out with an extreme rebuke, calling him Satan: “From that time Jesus began to shew to his disciples, that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter taking Him, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from Thee, this shall not be unto Thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23).
Extreme with the Canaanite Woman
Even women were on occasion treated ‘extremely’―as is seen in the case of the Canaanite woman, whose daughter was possessed by a devil and she sought out Jesus asking for help. Our Lord at first gives her the “silent-treatment” or “cold-shoulder”; then He tells her that she is of the wrong religion and that He only helps those of the House of Israel; finally, He calls her a dog! Only then does He help her! “And behold a Syro-Phoenician born woman of Canaan, a Gentile, who came out of those coasts, crying out, besought Him that He would cast forth the devil out of her daughter, saying to Him: ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David! My daughter is grieviously troubled by the devil!’ Jesus answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying: ‘Send her away! For she crieth after us!’ And Jesus answering, said to her: ‘I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel!’ But she came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord! Help me!’ Jesus answering, said: ‘Suffer first the children to be filled: for it is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs!’ But she answered and said to Him: ‘Yea, Lord; for the whelps under the table also eat of the crumbs of the children that fall from the table of their masters!’ Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith! For this saying go thy way! Be it done to thee as thou wilt! The devil is gone out of thy daughter!’ And her daughter was cured from that hour. And when she was come into her house, she found the girl lying upon the bed, and that the devil was gone out of her daughter” (Matthew 15:22-28; Mark 7:16).
Extreme with the Pharisees
In His arguments with the Scribes and Pharisees, He does a similar thing, basically calling them sons of the devil: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do!” (John 8:44). “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites … Woe to you blind guides … You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of Hell?” (Matthew chapter 23). Not content with calling them “hypocrites” just once, He calls them “hypocrites” seven times in that one single encounter! Yet these few quotes are a mere tip of an extreme iceberg of criticism that Our Lord hurls at the Pharisees, who, we should not forget, were meant to be the lay upholders of the Jewish traditions, laws and religion. The whole chapter (23) of Matthew should be read to get a clear idea of the extremes Our Lord broached.
Extreme with Judas
With Judas He shows both extremes. On the one hand He warns Him, saying: “Woe to that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed: it were better for him, if that man had not been born” (Matthew 26:24); then once Judas did betray Him, Jesus showed extreme restraint. Instead of laying into Judas like He had done with the Pharisees, He is civil and polite with His betrayer, even calling him “friend”: “And Jesus said to him: ‘Friend, whereto art thou come? … Dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss?” (Matthew 26:50; Luke 22:48)―to imagine that Our Lord was speaking demeaningly and sarcastically at that moment, would be blasphemous―for He had come to seek and save that which was lost, and Judas was most certainly lost!
Extreme Pain and Torture
The same extreme restraint was shown throughout the Passion—in front of Annas, Caiphas, Pilate and Herod. The same extreme restraint was shown throughout all the tortures he received at the hand of the Roman soldiers—experts in torture no less! The same extreme restraint was shown while He was crucified on the Cross, with the nails continually rubbing against the chief nerves of the body for three hours—recall what your reaction was when the dentist may have touched a tiny (not chief) nerve of yours while drilling! Multiply that pain hundreds of times for what Our Lord must have suffered!
Extreme Kindness in Death
As He dies tortured and in inexpressible agony, He finds time to forgive a thief at the last moments of his sinful life and not only forgives him, but promises him Paradise that very day! “Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:44). How extreme is that? Think of the souls burning in Purgatory for centuries before they can lay claim to Paradise! Yet the thief had not crucified Our Lord, he only happened to encounter Him by chance that day. With regard to those who had condemned Him and crucified Him, He still finds room in His Heart to pray for forgiveness for them also: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). Extreme even in death!
Extreme Punishment for Jerusalem and the Jews
As God had punished various peoples in the Old Testament, the same is seen with Our Lord in the New Testament—notably with God’s own Chosen People. For their rejection of Him and His message, Our Lord prophesies a horrendous punishment by God. Shortly before His Passion and Death, knowing of his imminent rejection that would lead to His Passion and Death, Jesus said: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate” (Matthew 23:37-38). “And as he was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to him: ‘Master, behold what manner of stones and what buildings are here!’ And Jesus answering, said to him: ‘Seest thou all these great buildings? There shall not be left a stone upon a stone, that shall not be thrown down!’” (Mark 13:1-2).
Extreme Measures of Survival
This would come to pass less than 40 years after Jerusalem crucified her Lord and King. In the year 66 AD the Jews of Judea rebelled against their Roman masters. In response, the Emperor Nero dispatched an army under the general Vespasian to restore order. By the year 68, resistance in the northern part of the province had been eradicated and the Romans turned their full attention to the subjugation of Jerusalem. That same year, the Emperor Nero committed suicide and Vespasian was declared Emperor and returned to Rome, leaving his son, Titus, to lead the assault on Jerusalem. A long siege Jerusalem’s stocks of food and water, and thing became so bad that some were now frying and eating their own dead children in order to stay alive during the long siege—and they were disgusted and revolted at Our Lord’s words about having to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. Those who tried to escape the city were crucified—thousands of them.
The Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, who worked for the Romans as a negotiator with the Jews, claims that 1.1 million people were killed during the siege, of which a majority were Jewish, and that 97,000 were captured and enslaved. Josephus, being an eye-witness, writes: “The slaughter within was even more dreadful than the spectacle from without. Men and women, old and young, insurgents and priests, those who fought and those who entreated mercy, were hewn down in indiscriminate carnage. The number of the slain exceeded that of the slayers. The legionaries had to clamber over heaps of dead to carry on the work of extermination.”
Extreme in His Providence on the Holy Innocent Babes of Bethlehem
We too easily forget that Jesus was the cause or reason behind the massacre of the Holy Innocent babes of Bethlehem―for King Herod sought to kill Jesus, but did not know who He was or where exactly He was to be found, since the Magi had not returned to tell him of Jesus’ whereabouts. So he took it upon himself to massacre the babes in the whole region around Bethlehem, aged two years and under. Our Lord or God’s providence could have prevented that loss of life, but it did not! Extreme, huh? Yes―but a guaranteed ticket to an eternal Heaven!
Jesus Makes Extreme Demands of His Followers
Our Lord does not mince His words when speaking of Heaven and what it takes to get there! “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:49-53).
“And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:36-39). “He that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 10:33).
Extreme? Yes. That’s how God is! Heaven is meant to be fought for: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). St. John the Baptist fought the good fight, and of him Our Lord said: “What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings” (Matthew 11:7-8). Whew! Time to check the wardrobe!
Our Lord demands total dedication and ceaseless prayer, saying: “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-38) and “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1).
His judgment of our lives will to the extremes, for He warns: “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!” (Matthew 12:36). As for punishment―there will no discounts: “Thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26).
Extremes of Eating His Body and Drinking His Blood
Can you imagine the shock factor when the Jews first heard Jesus speak of them having to eat His Body and drink His Blood? He lost many followers that day, because they found that far too extreme! Here are some excerpts of what Jesus said: “My Father giveth you the true bread from Heaven. For the bread of God is that which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life to the world ... I am the Bread of Life! He that cometh to Me shall not hunger and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst! … I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead! This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die! I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread that I will give, is My Flesh, for the life of the world … Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you! He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life … For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed! He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so too he that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the Bread that came down from Heaven! Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead! He that eateth this Bread, shall live for ever!” (John 6:32-35, 48-52; 54-59).
“The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: ‘How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat?’ … Many therefore of His disciples, hearing it, said: ‘This saying is hard! And who can hear it?’ … After this many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him” (John 6:53, 61, 67).
Suffering and Death is Meant to be a Joy
Following Christ is no picnic! He puts no political spin on His party manifesto. He calls it as it is! “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).”He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:18-20).
“Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake: Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).
Matthew, Mark and Luke all report several instances of Jesus saying: “For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25). “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it” (Mark 8:35). “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it” (Luke 9:24). “Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it, shall preserve it” (Luke 17:33).
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Heaven is Extremely Demanding
“You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world” (John 8:23). “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
“For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:20). “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:23-24).
“Not every one that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord!’ Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name? And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!” (Matthew 7:21). “And why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Wow! Even some miracle workers and prophets won’t make the cut! Is there a word that is stronger than “extreme”?
Extreme Suffering of the End Times
Our Lord also paints an extremely grim picture of the end times: “And when you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, fear ye not. For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines. These things are the beginning of sorrows.
“They shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake. And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death.
“But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved. In your patience you shall possess your souls. And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days. But pray ye, that these things happen not in winter. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the Earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves; men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For in those days shall be such tribulations, as were not from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, neither shall be.
“And unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect which He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days. Take you heed therefore; behold I have foretold you all things. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things may be fulfilled, that are written. But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand” (Mark 13; Luke 21).
Our Attitude to Salvation Needs a Rethink and Re-evaluation
You need to really have a rethink on what Our Lord expects in return for allowing us into Heaven! It is not the “piece of cake” that most think it is―since most souls drop their “piece of cake” as they fall into Hell. Not that God wants them in Hell―it is just that they refused to pay God’s price for an entry into Heaven. Everyone and anyone can get into Heaven―even the greatest sinners that have ever existed―but it is on God’s terms at God’s price―it is His way or the highway and broad way that leads to perdition: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat” (Matthew 7:13). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). The majority prefer to “sow in their flesh” and indulge their bodies, very few are those who “sow in the spirit”! As Jesus warned: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24).
Our Lord expressed His disgust for “halfway measures” to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) when He said: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! [=extreme] — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador). While Our Lady of Good Success added: “O if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God! How differently they would live―sparing no sacrifice [=extreme] in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues [=extreme] and fraternal charity and child-like simplicity” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Today’s modern vocabulary would be tempted to describe Jesus as “radical”, “extreme”, “anti-establishment”, “anti-social”, “rebellious”, “guilty of hate crimes” against the Pharisees (Matthew 23) and other Jews. Already in His own day some of the things they said of him were along the same lines: “These words are hard to accept” — “This saying is hard, and who can hear it?” (John 6:61) is the reaction when He says “eat my flesh” (6:55); “Thou hast a devil!” (John 7:20; 8:52); “Thou art a Samaritan!” (John 8:48); “He hath blasphemed!” (Matthew 26:65); “How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?” (John 9:16); “He seduceth the people!” (John 7:12). He “maketh Himself a king, [and] speaketh against Caesar!” (John 19:12); “We have found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar!” (Luke 23:2). Truly His life was “radical” and “extreme”, provoking extreme love or extreme hatred or extreme indifference from His contemporaries. How is the world treating you these days? We are all called to the Imitation of Christ!
We need to re-assess, re-evaluate, re-consider and re-energize the flimsy, half-hearted, lukewarm, feet-dragging, unfocused, mechanical, insufficient efforts we are making towards gaining an entrance ticket to Heaven. As Our Lord says, few succeed in getting a ticket―not because there are not enough tickets to go around, but because they refuse to pay the price and follow the rules. You do not tell God what to do! Whoever tried, got a free ticket to the other place!
Why Are We So Blind to Reality?
If you pardon the ‘French’―but why the hell do most people think that almost everyone goes to Heaven? How can they be so damned stupid! Our Lady indicated that many, if not most, souls are damned already back in 1917―a relatively innocent time compared with today! At Akita in 1973, she warned that if sins increased in number and gravity, then there would be no more mercy. Have sins decreased or increased since 1973? Yet today, the modern Church has funerals in white, rarely mention Purgatory (and most definitely will not mention Hell), while toasting the recently departed soul as “being up there!” Idiots! Blind idiots! “These things they thought, and were deceived―for their own malice blinded them!” (Wisdom 2:21). “In the last times, some shall depart from the Faith, giving heed to spirits of error, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, and having their conscience seared [mind blinded]” (1 Timothy 4:1-2).
Our Lady of La Salette also foretells this blindness of mind of our era: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith fades, a false light will brighten the people … for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement.” How true and how sad her prophecy is―for we can clearly see such an environment and atmosphere all around us!
God, in Holy Scripture, punctures the balloon of our self-sufficiency and complacency when He says: “Thou sayest: ‘I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ And knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold [charity], fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:17-19). Yet most do not see―and of them Jesus says: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
What we need to open our eyes to―and this is what the devils so successfully blind us to―is the fact that Heaven requires an extremely high standard, not an unattainable standard, but an extremely high standard. We might be tempted to say with the Apostles: “And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible―but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:25-26). However, for it to be possible, God requires that we do what He says: “Why call you Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
The Final Extreme is an Eternal Extreme!
Without necessarily intending to, most people make a mockery of God, a mockery of the value of Heaven, a mockery of terrors of Hell―yet these are inescapable realities that stare ever person in the face, even though most people have shut their eyes and plugged their ears to those eternal realities, those extreme―eternally extreme―realities. God is not mocked! You cannot devalue God below a smartphone or a computer or a TV set and get away with it! You cannot spend extremely long times on worldly pleasures and expect extreme eternal happiness. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Both Heaven and Hell are extremes―extremes that beat all other extremes! “As it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him!’” (1 Corinthians 2:9), says St. Paul quoting the prophet Isaias (64:4). By the same token, Holy Scripture paints an extreme, yet truthfully extreme, picture of Hell: “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone” (Apocalypse 21:8). “The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 13:49-50). “Cast alive into the pool of fire, burning with brimstone!” (Apocalypse 19:20). “Into Hell, into unquenchable fire, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished!” (Mark 9:42-43). “And the smoke of their torments shall ascend up for ever and ever: neither have they rest day nor night!” (Apocalypse 14:11). Pretty extreme, huh? That is why Holy Scripture tells us: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). Don’t take it for granted!
As St. Peter writes: “God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes, to the lower Hell, unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment! And God spared not the original world, but preserved only Noe, the eighth person, the preacher of justice, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. And God reduced the cities of the Sodomites, and of the Gomorrhites, into ashes, condemned them to be overthrown, making them an example to those that might afterwards act wickedly! … The Lord knoweth to reserve the unjust, unto the Day of Judgment, to be tormented … These men shall perish in their corruption … For it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice, than after they have known it, to turn back from that holy commandment which was delivered to them. For, that of the true proverb has happened to them: ‘The dog is returned to his vomit!’ and, ‘The sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire!’” (2 Peter 2:4). Boy oh boy! St. Peter sounds a little extreme, doesn’t he?!!
Think on that for a while―there are souls in Hell for eternity for having committed a sin that lasted only a few minutes or even a few seconds! There are souls burning in Purgatory―like the 18 year-old Amelia of Fatima, whom Our Lady said would remain in Purgatory until the end of the world! Extreme, huh? Yes, extremely extreme! Perhaps it’s time to start getting extreme ourselves? Or, to put it better―perhaps it’s time to stop spending extreme amounts of time on matters of the world, and start spending extreme amounts of time perfecting our soul! As Our Lord said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Most people are spending almost all of their time on worldly matters and very little time on spiritual matters! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
If God the Father is extreme in everything, then do you think God the Son will be any different—They both have the same nature; and, as the saying goes, “Like Father, like Son!” If God the Father doesn’t do things by halves, neither does God the Son! He is extreme in His actions and His words, with Himself and with others. That is the epitome of devotion. He was a devoted man, trying to show us how to be devoted. When He said “Learn of Me! … Love one another, as I have loved you!” (Matthew 11:29; John 15:12), He showed us an extreme love: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)—He said it and He did it! He even went past that measuring line, and laid down His life for His enemies, saying: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Extreme On Himself
As for Himself, He wishes to be born in extreme poverty! He goes to the providential extremes of being pursued by a murderous king while He still yet a babe! How many children are born into that fate? He then chooses to be exiled while still a babe! The whole life of the King of kings will be one of poverty, to the point where He will later say: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). The suffering that He chooses to undergo in His Passion is extreme to say the least! He was born in a cave—He died naked—He was buried in someone else’s tomb, not having one of His own. He made everything, yet He owned nothing—so that nothing would get in the way of His love for us! He was the most innocent of all beings, yet He was treated as the worst of criminals. He was born between two Saints, but He died between two thieves. He was the Truth, but was called a liar! He was God, but they said He was possessed! He raised others to life, yet allowed Himself to be put to death! All this was done for what? It was done in order to forgive and save the sinners that were offending Him! They contracted the debt, He would pay! That is devotion! That is devotion to the extreme! And He says: “Learn of Me! … Love one another, as I have loved you!”
Extreme with Others In Words
When St. Peter tries to prevent the Our Lord’s sufferings from coming to pass, Our Lord comes out with an extreme rebuke, calling him Satan: “From that time Jesus began to shew to his disciples, that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter taking Him, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord, be it far from Thee, this shall not be unto Thee!’ Jesus, turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23).
Extreme with the Canaanite Woman
Even women were on occasion treated ‘extremely’―as is seen in the case of the Canaanite woman, whose daughter was possessed by a devil and she sought out Jesus asking for help. Our Lord at first gives her the “silent-treatment” or “cold-shoulder”; then He tells her that she is of the wrong religion and that He only helps those of the House of Israel; finally, He calls her a dog! Only then does He help her! “And behold a Syro-Phoenician born woman of Canaan, a Gentile, who came out of those coasts, crying out, besought Him that He would cast forth the devil out of her daughter, saying to Him: ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David! My daughter is grieviously troubled by the devil!’ Jesus answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying: ‘Send her away! For she crieth after us!’ And Jesus answering, said to her: ‘I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel!’ But she came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord! Help me!’ Jesus answering, said: ‘Suffer first the children to be filled: for it is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs!’ But she answered and said to Him: ‘Yea, Lord; for the whelps under the table also eat of the crumbs of the children that fall from the table of their masters!’ Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith! For this saying go thy way! Be it done to thee as thou wilt! The devil is gone out of thy daughter!’ And her daughter was cured from that hour. And when she was come into her house, she found the girl lying upon the bed, and that the devil was gone out of her daughter” (Matthew 15:22-28; Mark 7:16).
Extreme with the Pharisees
In His arguments with the Scribes and Pharisees, He does a similar thing, basically calling them sons of the devil: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do!” (John 8:44). “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites … Woe to you blind guides … You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of Hell?” (Matthew chapter 23). Not content with calling them “hypocrites” just once, He calls them “hypocrites” seven times in that one single encounter! Yet these few quotes are a mere tip of an extreme iceberg of criticism that Our Lord hurls at the Pharisees, who, we should not forget, were meant to be the lay upholders of the Jewish traditions, laws and religion. The whole chapter (23) of Matthew should be read to get a clear idea of the extremes Our Lord broached.
Extreme with Judas
With Judas He shows both extremes. On the one hand He warns Him, saying: “Woe to that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed: it were better for him, if that man had not been born” (Matthew 26:24); then once Judas did betray Him, Jesus showed extreme restraint. Instead of laying into Judas like He had done with the Pharisees, He is civil and polite with His betrayer, even calling him “friend”: “And Jesus said to him: ‘Friend, whereto art thou come? … Dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss?” (Matthew 26:50; Luke 22:48)―to imagine that Our Lord was speaking demeaningly and sarcastically at that moment, would be blasphemous―for He had come to seek and save that which was lost, and Judas was most certainly lost!
Extreme Pain and Torture
The same extreme restraint was shown throughout the Passion—in front of Annas, Caiphas, Pilate and Herod. The same extreme restraint was shown throughout all the tortures he received at the hand of the Roman soldiers—experts in torture no less! The same extreme restraint was shown while He was crucified on the Cross, with the nails continually rubbing against the chief nerves of the body for three hours—recall what your reaction was when the dentist may have touched a tiny (not chief) nerve of yours while drilling! Multiply that pain hundreds of times for what Our Lord must have suffered!
Extreme Kindness in Death
As He dies tortured and in inexpressible agony, He finds time to forgive a thief at the last moments of his sinful life and not only forgives him, but promises him Paradise that very day! “Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:44). How extreme is that? Think of the souls burning in Purgatory for centuries before they can lay claim to Paradise! Yet the thief had not crucified Our Lord, he only happened to encounter Him by chance that day. With regard to those who had condemned Him and crucified Him, He still finds room in His Heart to pray for forgiveness for them also: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34). Extreme even in death!
Extreme Punishment for Jerusalem and the Jews
As God had punished various peoples in the Old Testament, the same is seen with Our Lord in the New Testament—notably with God’s own Chosen People. For their rejection of Him and His message, Our Lord prophesies a horrendous punishment by God. Shortly before His Passion and Death, knowing of his imminent rejection that would lead to His Passion and Death, Jesus said: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate” (Matthew 23:37-38). “And as he was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to him: ‘Master, behold what manner of stones and what buildings are here!’ And Jesus answering, said to him: ‘Seest thou all these great buildings? There shall not be left a stone upon a stone, that shall not be thrown down!’” (Mark 13:1-2).
Extreme Measures of Survival
This would come to pass less than 40 years after Jerusalem crucified her Lord and King. In the year 66 AD the Jews of Judea rebelled against their Roman masters. In response, the Emperor Nero dispatched an army under the general Vespasian to restore order. By the year 68, resistance in the northern part of the province had been eradicated and the Romans turned their full attention to the subjugation of Jerusalem. That same year, the Emperor Nero committed suicide and Vespasian was declared Emperor and returned to Rome, leaving his son, Titus, to lead the assault on Jerusalem. A long siege Jerusalem’s stocks of food and water, and thing became so bad that some were now frying and eating their own dead children in order to stay alive during the long siege—and they were disgusted and revolted at Our Lord’s words about having to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. Those who tried to escape the city were crucified—thousands of them.
The Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, who worked for the Romans as a negotiator with the Jews, claims that 1.1 million people were killed during the siege, of which a majority were Jewish, and that 97,000 were captured and enslaved. Josephus, being an eye-witness, writes: “The slaughter within was even more dreadful than the spectacle from without. Men and women, old and young, insurgents and priests, those who fought and those who entreated mercy, were hewn down in indiscriminate carnage. The number of the slain exceeded that of the slayers. The legionaries had to clamber over heaps of dead to carry on the work of extermination.”
Extreme in His Providence on the Holy Innocent Babes of Bethlehem
We too easily forget that Jesus was the cause or reason behind the massacre of the Holy Innocent babes of Bethlehem―for King Herod sought to kill Jesus, but did not know who He was or where exactly He was to be found, since the Magi had not returned to tell him of Jesus’ whereabouts. So he took it upon himself to massacre the babes in the whole region around Bethlehem, aged two years and under. Our Lord or God’s providence could have prevented that loss of life, but it did not! Extreme, huh? Yes―but a guaranteed ticket to an eternal Heaven!
Jesus Makes Extreme Demands of His Followers
Our Lord does not mince His words when speaking of Heaven and what it takes to get there! “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:49-53).
“And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:36-39). “He that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 10:33).
Extreme? Yes. That’s how God is! Heaven is meant to be fought for: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). St. John the Baptist fought the good fight, and of him Our Lord said: “What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings” (Matthew 11:7-8). Whew! Time to check the wardrobe!
Our Lord demands total dedication and ceaseless prayer, saying: “Jesus said to him: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment!” (Matthew 22:37-38) and “We ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1).
His judgment of our lives will to the extremes, for He warns: “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment!” (Matthew 12:36). As for punishment―there will no discounts: “Thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26).
Extremes of Eating His Body and Drinking His Blood
Can you imagine the shock factor when the Jews first heard Jesus speak of them having to eat His Body and drink His Blood? He lost many followers that day, because they found that far too extreme! Here are some excerpts of what Jesus said: “My Father giveth you the true bread from Heaven. For the bread of God is that which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life to the world ... I am the Bread of Life! He that cometh to Me shall not hunger and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst! … I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead! This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die! I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread that I will give, is My Flesh, for the life of the world … Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you! He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life … For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed! He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so too he that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the Bread that came down from Heaven! Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead! He that eateth this Bread, shall live for ever!” (John 6:32-35, 48-52; 54-59).
“The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: ‘How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat?’ … Many therefore of His disciples, hearing it, said: ‘This saying is hard! And who can hear it?’ … After this many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him” (John 6:53, 61, 67).
Suffering and Death is Meant to be a Joy
Following Christ is no picnic! He puts no political spin on His party manifesto. He calls it as it is! “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).”He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:18-20).
“Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake: Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).
Matthew, Mark and Luke all report several instances of Jesus saying: “For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25). “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it” (Mark 8:35). “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it” (Luke 9:24). “Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it, shall preserve it” (Luke 17:33).
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Heaven is Extremely Demanding
“You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world” (John 8:23). “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12).
“For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:20). “Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:23-24).
“Not every one that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord!’ Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name? And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!” (Matthew 7:21). “And why do you call Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Wow! Even some miracle workers and prophets won’t make the cut! Is there a word that is stronger than “extreme”?
Extreme Suffering of the End Times
Our Lord also paints an extremely grim picture of the end times: “And when you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, fear ye not. For such things must needs be, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and famines. These things are the beginning of sorrows.
“They shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake. And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death.
“But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved. In your patience you shall possess your souls. And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days. But pray ye, that these things happen not in winter. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the Earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves; men withering away for fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For in those days shall be such tribulations, as were not from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, neither shall be.
“And unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect which He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days. Take you heed therefore; behold I have foretold you all things. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things may be fulfilled, that are written. But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand” (Mark 13; Luke 21).
Our Attitude to Salvation Needs a Rethink and Re-evaluation
You need to really have a rethink on what Our Lord expects in return for allowing us into Heaven! It is not the “piece of cake” that most think it is―since most souls drop their “piece of cake” as they fall into Hell. Not that God wants them in Hell―it is just that they refused to pay God’s price for an entry into Heaven. Everyone and anyone can get into Heaven―even the greatest sinners that have ever existed―but it is on God’s terms at God’s price―it is His way or the highway and broad way that leads to perdition: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat” (Matthew 7:13). “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). The majority prefer to “sow in their flesh” and indulge their bodies, very few are those who “sow in the spirit”! As Jesus warned: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:24).
Our Lord expressed His disgust for “halfway measures” to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame) when He said: “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small spineless imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! [=extreme] — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Woe to souls like this! Woe!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador). While Our Lady of Good Success added: “O if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God! How differently they would live―sparing no sacrifice [=extreme] in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues [=extreme] and fraternal charity and child-like simplicity” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Today’s modern vocabulary would be tempted to describe Jesus as “radical”, “extreme”, “anti-establishment”, “anti-social”, “rebellious”, “guilty of hate crimes” against the Pharisees (Matthew 23) and other Jews. Already in His own day some of the things they said of him were along the same lines: “These words are hard to accept” — “This saying is hard, and who can hear it?” (John 6:61) is the reaction when He says “eat my flesh” (6:55); “Thou hast a devil!” (John 7:20; 8:52); “Thou art a Samaritan!” (John 8:48); “He hath blasphemed!” (Matthew 26:65); “How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?” (John 9:16); “He seduceth the people!” (John 7:12). He “maketh Himself a king, [and] speaketh against Caesar!” (John 19:12); “We have found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar!” (Luke 23:2). Truly His life was “radical” and “extreme”, provoking extreme love or extreme hatred or extreme indifference from His contemporaries. How is the world treating you these days? We are all called to the Imitation of Christ!
We need to re-assess, re-evaluate, re-consider and re-energize the flimsy, half-hearted, lukewarm, feet-dragging, unfocused, mechanical, insufficient efforts we are making towards gaining an entrance ticket to Heaven. As Our Lord says, few succeed in getting a ticket―not because there are not enough tickets to go around, but because they refuse to pay the price and follow the rules. You do not tell God what to do! Whoever tried, got a free ticket to the other place!
Why Are We So Blind to Reality?
If you pardon the ‘French’―but why the hell do most people think that almost everyone goes to Heaven? How can they be so damned stupid! Our Lady indicated that many, if not most, souls are damned already back in 1917―a relatively innocent time compared with today! At Akita in 1973, she warned that if sins increased in number and gravity, then there would be no more mercy. Have sins decreased or increased since 1973? Yet today, the modern Church has funerals in white, rarely mention Purgatory (and most definitely will not mention Hell), while toasting the recently departed soul as “being up there!” Idiots! Blind idiots! “These things they thought, and were deceived―for their own malice blinded them!” (Wisdom 2:21). “In the last times, some shall depart from the Faith, giving heed to spirits of error, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, and having their conscience seared [mind blinded]” (1 Timothy 4:1-2).
Our Lady of La Salette also foretells this blindness of mind of our era: “Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith fades, a false light will brighten the people … for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … People will think of nothing but amusement.” How true and how sad her prophecy is―for we can clearly see such an environment and atmosphere all around us!
God, in Holy Scripture, punctures the balloon of our self-sufficiency and complacency when He says: “Thou sayest: ‘I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing!’ And knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold [charity], fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see!” (Apocalypse 3:17-19). Yet most do not see―and of them Jesus says: “Leave them alone! They are blind, and leaders of the blind! And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit!” (Matthew 15:14).
What we need to open our eyes to―and this is what the devils so successfully blind us to―is the fact that Heaven requires an extremely high standard, not an unattainable standard, but an extremely high standard. We might be tempted to say with the Apostles: “And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible―but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:25-26). However, for it to be possible, God requires that we do what He says: “Why call you Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
The Final Extreme is an Eternal Extreme!
Without necessarily intending to, most people make a mockery of God, a mockery of the value of Heaven, a mockery of terrors of Hell―yet these are inescapable realities that stare ever person in the face, even though most people have shut their eyes and plugged their ears to those eternal realities, those extreme―eternally extreme―realities. God is not mocked! You cannot devalue God below a smartphone or a computer or a TV set and get away with it! You cannot spend extremely long times on worldly pleasures and expect extreme eternal happiness. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! [Neither is Our Lady!] For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Both Heaven and Hell are extremes―extremes that beat all other extremes! “As it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him!’” (1 Corinthians 2:9), says St. Paul quoting the prophet Isaias (64:4). By the same token, Holy Scripture paints an extreme, yet truthfully extreme, picture of Hell: “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone” (Apocalypse 21:8). “The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (Matthew 13:49-50). “Cast alive into the pool of fire, burning with brimstone!” (Apocalypse 19:20). “Into Hell, into unquenchable fire, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished!” (Mark 9:42-43). “And the smoke of their torments shall ascend up for ever and ever: neither have they rest day nor night!” (Apocalypse 14:11). Pretty extreme, huh? That is why Holy Scripture tells us: “With fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). Don’t take it for granted!
As St. Peter writes: “God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes, to the lower Hell, unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment! And God spared not the original world, but preserved only Noe, the eighth person, the preacher of justice, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. And God reduced the cities of the Sodomites, and of the Gomorrhites, into ashes, condemned them to be overthrown, making them an example to those that might afterwards act wickedly! … The Lord knoweth to reserve the unjust, unto the Day of Judgment, to be tormented … These men shall perish in their corruption … For it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice, than after they have known it, to turn back from that holy commandment which was delivered to them. For, that of the true proverb has happened to them: ‘The dog is returned to his vomit!’ and, ‘The sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire!’” (2 Peter 2:4). Boy oh boy! St. Peter sounds a little extreme, doesn’t he?!!
Think on that for a while―there are souls in Hell for eternity for having committed a sin that lasted only a few minutes or even a few seconds! There are souls burning in Purgatory―like the 18 year-old Amelia of Fatima, whom Our Lady said would remain in Purgatory until the end of the world! Extreme, huh? Yes, extremely extreme! Perhaps it’s time to start getting extreme ourselves? Or, to put it better―perhaps it’s time to stop spending extreme amounts of time on matters of the world, and start spending extreme amounts of time perfecting our soul! As Our Lord said: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Most people are spending almost all of their time on worldly matters and very little time on spiritual matters! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Tuesday February 26th & Wednesday February 27th
Article 6
"X-Treme" Catholicism―Nasty Or Necessary?
Article 6
"X-Treme" Catholicism―Nasty Or Necessary?
“Xtreme” is an Extremely New Concept
The modern notion or idea behind the recently created word “xtreme” or “x-treme” is defined by the Urban Dictionary as follows: “To define something as "cooler" than the norm. Originally used for outrageous sports and death-defying stunts, « Xtreme » has managed to find its way into nearly every marketing campaign in America: deodorant, beef tacos, soft drinks, and even duct tape, etc.”
As simple search reveals this to be true, as you will find the following:
Xtreme Action Park
Xtreme Treme Cars
Xtreme Treme Fitness
Xtreme Treme Rock Climbing
Xtreme Treme Racing
Xtreme Xperience
Xtreme Videos
Xtreme Sports
Xtreme Wrestling
Xtreme Solutions
Xtreme Pizza, etc., etc.
Classical Extremes
The classical dictionary definition of “extreme” is along the lines of the following:
(1) ADJECTIVE―“(a) of a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average, as in ‘extreme measures’, (b) intense, utmost or exceedingly great in degree, as in ‘extreme joy’ or ‘extreme grief’, (c) farthest from the center or middle; outermost; endmost, the most remote in any direction, as in the phrase ‘the extreme limits of a town’ or ‘the extreme edge of the field’, (d) farthest, utmost, or very far in any direction, as in ‘an object at the extreme point of vision.”
(2) NOUN―“(a) the utmost or highest degree, or a very high degree, as in ‘cautious to an extreme’, (b) one of two things as remote or different from each other as possible, as in ‘the extremes of joy and grief’.”
Extremism
Naturally, “extremism” is born of “extreme”―it is the practitioner of the idea. As they say, “ideas have consequences” and the consequence of the idea of something “extreme” is put into practice by “extremism”. Pretty simple, huh? The average dictionary will define “Extremist” as: “a person who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, especially one who resorts to or advocates extreme action.” Urban Dictionary defines an extremist as “someone who goes through extreme tactics to reach their goal. These could involve torture, attack on innocent people and over-the-top violence” (this is a more modernistic, one-sided, notion of an extremist in light of current worldwide political unrest). Or as the Oxford Dictionary states: “a person who holds extreme political or religious views, especially one who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action, as in ‘‘right-wing extremists’” (Hmm! Why not mention “left-wing extremists” or “Liberal extremists”?) The Collins Dictionary says: “If you describe someone as an extremist, you disapprove of them because they try to bring about political change by using violent or extreme methods. If you say that someone has extremist views, you disapprove of them because they believe in bringing about change by using violent or extreme methods.” Or, as Wikipedia, under the entry “Extremism” says: “Extremism means, literally, ‘the quality or state of being extreme’ or ‘the advocacy of extreme measures or views’. The term ‘extremism’ is primarily used in a political or religious sense, to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shared social consensus) to be far outside the mainstream attitudes of society.”
Who Defines What is Extreme and What is Normal?
Looking at the above definitions, one has to notice the obvious―which is: “Who has the power and objectivity to decide what is normal, or what is the norm, or expected standard. If you cannot decide on what is normal or the expected standard, then you have no way of measuring what is extreme! If there is no agreement on what is “normal”, then there can be no agreement on what is “extreme”! Who has the power, the intelligence, the prudence and the foresight to define and demand what is to be the norm?
Extremism is in the Eye of the Beholder
You have, no doubt, heard the expression: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!”―meaning that not all people have the same opinions about what is attractive. Beauty cannot be judged objectively, for what one person finds beautiful or admirable may not appeal to another. You will first find this idea used 3rd century BC in Greek. It’s present popular form began to be used in the 19th century, with a whole host of varieties or similar expressions existing in between, such as: “Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye, Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues” (Shakespeare, Love Labors Lost, 1588); “Beauty, like supreme dominion, Is but supported by opinion” (Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1741); “Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them” (David Hume, Essays, Moral and Political, 1742).
The same could be said of the notion of what is “extreme” and what is “not extreme”―it depends upon where you are standing in the first place. If you live in America, then New Zealand is extremely far away, but it you live in Australia, then it is not so far away. If you live in Florida, then 60 degrees Fahrenheit will seem cool and 30 degrees Fahrenheit will seem extremely cold―whereas to an Eskimo from northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland, or eastern Siberia, 60 degrees Fahrenheit will seem to be extremely hot and 30 degrees Fahrenheit will seem warm.
The same is true in the political sphere. To a Communist, the Capitalist West is lax, undisciplined and corrupt to an extreme. Whereas to a Westerner, Communism is rigorous, tyrannical and repressive to an extreme. It all depends upon where you are standing, what you are used to, what your tendencies are, what your ambitions are, and what direction you want your life to take. Arguably, you could that everyone has “extreme” views and everyone practices “extremism”―but in different ways and in different directions.
Are We All Extreme?
The question then arises, “Are we all extreme and extremists?” Personally and arguably, one is tempted to say: “Yes!” But is that true or a mere opinion? To dig deeper, let us again revisit the dictionary definitions of what “extreme” and “extremist” means.
EXTREME―As an adjective, “extreme” means: “(a) of a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average, as in ‘extreme measures’, (b) intense, utmost or exceedingly great in degree, (c) farthest from the center or middle; outermost; endmost, the most remote in any direction, (d) farthest, utmost, or very far in any direction.” As a noun, “extreme” means “the utmost or highest degree, or a very high degree.”
EXTREMIST― As a noun, “extremist” means “a person who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, especially one who resorts to or advocates extreme action; or a person who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action; or someone who goes through extreme tactics to reach their goal. These could involve torture, attack on innocent people and over-the-top violence.” As an adjective, “if you describe someone as an extremist, you disapprove of them because they try to bring about political change by using violent or extreme methods. If you say that someone has extremist views, you disapprove of them because they believe in bringing about change by using violent or extreme methods.”
When "Extreme" is "Normal" and "Normal" is "Extreme"
It is the contentious and shocking premise of this article to show that we are all extreme―if not in actual fact, then at least in potential. Furthermore―and even more shockingly―it is argued that GOD HAS MADE US TO BE EXTREME and that being extreme is not “extreme” (as defined above), but is actually NORMAL and not “extreme”. The level to which God calls us is NORMAL in His eyes, but EXTREME in our eyes. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9).
God is Extreme, So We Must Be Extreme
Without doubt GOD IS EXTREME. “O God, who shall be like to thee?” (Psalm 82:2). “Know that there is none like to the Lord our God” (Exodus 8:10)―which makes Him extreme, out on His own, unsurpassable. If “extreme” is defined as “a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average”―then GOD IS EXTREME. If “extreme” is further defined as “intense, utmost or exceedingly great in degree”―then GOD IS EXTREME. If “extreme” is being the “farthest from the center or middle; outermost; endmost, the most remote in any direction”―then GOD IS EXTREME. If “extreme” means “the utmost or highest degree, or a very high degree”―then GOD IS EXTREME. If “extremist” means being someone “who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, especially one who resorts to or advocates extreme action; or a person who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action; or someone who goes through extreme tactics to reach their goal. These could involve torture”―then GOD IS AN EXTREMIST. If you do not believe that, then you are EXTREMELY IGNORANT, or EXTREMELY BLIND, or EXTREMELY NAÏVE, or EXTREMELY BIASED.
God is Perfect to the Extreme
God, being absolutely perfect, is extremely perfect—He is extreme in everything: extreme in mercy, yet extreme in justice; extreme in patience, yet extreme in anger; extreme in kindness, yet extreme in punishment (what can be more extreme than Hell? Or Heaven, too, for that matter!). This is something that we find hard to grasp completely. For us it is a case of either/or: we are either merciful or just; patient or impatiently angry; kind or not kind. That is because we are imperfect—imperfect in our understanding and imperfect in our actions. For us, the idea of being called an “extremist” or a “fanatic” is troublesome and we seek to avoid such labels. Yet, there again, we have a poor understanding of the meaning of the word, and we use it or take it badly. Originally, the word “fanatic” came from the Latin root-word “fanum”, which means, a sanctuary, shrine or temple, and the derivative word, “fanaticus”, means inspired; enthusiastic, frenzied. In the good sense, “fanatic” means something akin to holy, sacred, enthusiastic, highly fervent, inspired by God—which is along the lines of what “devotion” is, or should be.
Only Extreme Efforts Obtain Heaven
In a certain sense, we have to be ‘fanatical’ (in the good sense of the word) to be able to get to Heaven. Our Lord said to us: “Be you therefore perfect as you heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). That’s a bit extreme, isn’t it? But we have to be extreme to get to Heaven. “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Violence is an extreme measure. If we are not extreme in this world, then those extremes will have to be reached in the extremely painful fires of Purgatory, where, as any saint or good Catholic book will tell you, souls suffer extremely, until they reach the extreme perfection required to enter Heaven. “There shall not enter into it anything defiled” (Apocalypse 21:27). “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence, till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26). Some writers, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, say that the fires of Purgatory are the same fires as those of Hell—now how’s that for extreme! Could we say ‘fanatical’?
The Extreme Attitude of God
God does not do things by halves. He can be extremely kind and loving, or extremely angry and vengeful. It all depends upon whether or not we are for Him or against Him; whether we obey Him or disobey Him. As we sow, so shall we reap. There is a passage that perfectly manifests these two extremes in God.
The following quotes from Holy Scripture will prove that God is extreme. However, before we begin, let us say that―If God is extreme, then we have to be extreme―for Our Lord says: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48)―which logically means, if God is extreme according to His infinite or limitless capacity, we must be extreme according to our limited capacity! Again, Scripture adds: “You shall be holy men to me!” (Exodus 22:31)―and holiness is a cut above the ordinariness we see all around us, holiness is thus an extreme compared to what we see everywhere. “For I am the Lord your God―be holy because I am holy!” (Leviticus 11:44). “You shall be holy, because I am holy!” (Leviticus 11:46). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:26). Holiness is a cut above mediocrity, lukewarmness, indifference, comfort-seeking―and even further above sinfulness. Holiness is extreme and saints are extremists, because there are few souls that end up being saved―and that is extreme in itself! [read more here]
The Old Testament Shows God To Be Extreme
Extreme Death Sentence
We see death come to the whole human race, through all centuries to come, just because Adam and Eve ate a fruit they were told not to eat! “Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death” (Genesis 2:16-17). “By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
God Promises Extreme Rewards and Threatens Extreme Punishments
Towards the end of the Book of Leviticus, God lists His extreme rewards and extreme punishments. As Scripture says elsewhere—He rewards the good and punishes the evil. “I am the Lord your God: If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God: who have brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and I have broken the chains on your necks, that you might go upright.” (Leviticus 26:1-13). Who wouldn’t want this? No shortage of food! Perfect seasons of the year! Peace in the land, with no threats from anywhere! If enemies arise, a guarantee of God’s help and protection—even if we are outnumbered! Guarantee of victory over all enemies! At peace with God! Wow! Extreme kindness!
But… Brace Yourself!
“But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant: I also will do these things to you: I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. But if you will not yet for all this obey Me: I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass: your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hearken to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins: and I will send in upon you the beasts of the field, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to Me: I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies, after I shall have broken the staff of your bread: so that ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and give it out by weight: and you shall eat, and shall not be filled. But if you will not for all this hearken to Me, but will walk against Me: I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword: they shall fall, when no man pursueth them, And they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars, none of you shall dare to resist your enemies. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own: until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will bring them into their enemies’ land: then shall they pray for their sins. And I will remember My covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. But they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet, for all that, when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be quite consumed, and I should make void My covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God. And I will remember My former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Gentiles, to be their God. I am the Lord. These are the judgments, and precepts, and laws, which the Lord gave between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses” (Leviticus 26:14-45). Extreme to the very extreme, huh?
League Table of Extremes—Lower Rankings
That was the theory or just words—here comes the practice or the action! How would you treat someone who sinned by mistake, through ignorance? Here is what God ruled, in the laws that He dictated to Moses: “If any one sin through ignorance, and do one of those things which by the law of the Lord are forbidden, and being guilty of sin, understand his iniquity, He shall offer, of the flocks, a ram without blemish to the priest, according to the measure and estimation of the sin: and the priest shall pray for him, because he did it ignorantly: and it shall be forgiven him, because by mistake he trespassed against the Lord” (Leviticus 5:17-19).
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Whosoever shall sin, and despising the Lord, shall deny to his neighbour the thing delivered to his keeping, which was committed to his trust; or shall by force extort anything, or commit oppression; or shall find a thing lost, and denying it, shall also swear falsely, or shall do any other of the many things, wherein men are wont to sin: being convicted of the offence, he shall restore all that he would have gotten by fraud, in the principal, and the fifth part besides to the owner, whom he wronged. Moreover, for his sin, he shall offer a ram without blemish out of the flock, and shall give it to the priest, according to the estimation and measure of the offence: and he shall pray for him before the Lord, and he shall have forgiveness for everything in doing of which he hath sinned” (Leviticus 6:1-7). Yikes! Aren’t you glad you weren’t alive in those days!? Well, the justice of Purgatory makes that look a ‘walk-in-the park’! A bit on the extreme side? Well, speak to God about that!
God does some tough-talking about worldliness and worldly customs: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: “I am the Lord your God. You shall not do according to the custom of the land of Egypt, in which you dwelt: neither shall you act according to the manner of the country of Chanaan, into which I will bring you, nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall do My judgments, and shall observe My precepts, and shall walk in them. I am the Lord your God. Keep My laws and My judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them. I am the Lord” (Leviticus 16:1-5).
League Table of Extremes—Middle Rankings
Where would you rank the following law in the Table of Extremes? “And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “The man that hath an issue of seed, shall be unclean. And then shall he be judged subject to this evil, when a filthy humour, at every moment, cleaveth to his flesh, and gathereth there. Every bed on which he sleepeth, shall be unclean, and every place on which he sitteth. If any man touch his bed, he shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, he shall be unclean until the evening. If a man sit where that man hath sitten, he also shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening. He that toucheth his flesh, shall wash his clothes: and, being himself washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening. If such a man cast his spittle upon him that is clean, he shall wash his clothes: and, being washed with water, he shall be unclean until the evening. The saddle on which he hath sitten shall be unclean. And whatsoever has been under him that hath the issue of seed, shall be unclean until the evening. He that carrieth any of these things, shall wash his clothes: and, being washed with water, he shall be unclean until the evening. Every person whom such a one shall touch, not having washed his hands before, shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening” (Leviticus 15:1-11). A lot of washing going on! Extreme? Again, speak to God about that! I guess His ways are not our ways, and our thoughts are not His thoughts (Isaias 55:8).
League Table of Extremes—Highest Rankings
God will think nothing of taking away life—especially the lives of His enemies! Before being finally allowed to leave Egypt, the Israelites saw the vengeance of God being wreaked upon the land of Egypt. God had commanded Moses to smear the doorposts of all the homes of the Israelites with the blood of the lamb to protect them from the extreme vengeance that the angel of the Lord would enact, saying: “And I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord” (Genesis 12:12). Pretty extreme, eh? That’s the way God is!
God does not seem to do things by halves or half-heartedly, like we tend to do. When the Egyptian army was pursuing Moses and the Israelites, even to point of crossing the divided sea, God could have stopped them at the coastline, by making the sea close-up behind the Israelites as they passed through—but God does not do things by halves, He went to the extreme of slaughtering the Egyptian army. The Lord said to Moses, after they had crossed the sea: “‘Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand over the sea, and divide it: that the children of Israel may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the heart of the Egyptians to pursue you!’ … And when Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea, the Lord took it away by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night, and turned it into dry ground: and the water was divided. And the children of Israel went in through the midst of the sea dried up … And the Egyptians pursuing went in after them, and all Pharao’s horses, his chariots and horsemen through the midst of the sea. And the Lord said to Moses: ‘Stretch forth they hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen!’ And when Moses had stretched forth his hand towards the sea, it returned at the first break of day to the former place: and as the Egyptians were fleeing away, the waters came upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the middle of the waves. And the waters covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharao, who had come into the sea after them, neither did there so much as one of them remain” (Exodus 14:16-28). Extreme? Yes, but that’s God!
Extreme—Even With His Favorites!
But God does not only kill His enemies, He is not averse to killing His own Chosen People—His personally selected favorites. God expects His people to be devoted to Him. One aspect of devotion implies fighting and overcoming fatigue. In the desert, some of the Israelites were moaning and groaning about the difficulties they had to endure — and God’s reaction to their complaints may seem to be extreme: “In the meantime there arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it, He was angry. And the fire of the Lord, being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp. And when the people cried to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was swallowed up. And he called the name of that place, “The Burning”, for that the fire of the Lord had been kindled against them” (Number 11:1-3). Extreme? Yes, but God is extreme.
A little bit of idolatry did not even the see the favored family of Aaron spared: “And Nadab and Abiu, the sons of Aaron, taking their censers, put fire therein, and incense on it, offering before the Lord strange fire: which was not commanded them. And fire coming out from the Lord destroyed them, and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:1-2).
Several times God allowed His Chosen People to be conquered and carried off from Jerusalem as captives to Babylon, where they remained for decades on end. On top of that, God allowed the Temple of Jerusalem to be totally destroyed.
You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!
It gets tougher as we go along! God is not afraid to go to the extremes of death—the ultimate punishment for man. How about this? “He that curseth his father, or mother, dying let him die. If any man commit adultery with the wife of another, and defile his neighbour’s wife, let them both be put to death … If a man lie with his stepmother, let them both be put to death. If any man lie with his daughter-in-law, let both die. If anyone lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death. If any man, after marrying the daughter, marry her mother, he shall be burnt alive with them. He that shall copulate with any beast or cattle, dying let him die, the beast also ye shall kill. The woman that shall lie under any beast, shall be killed together with the same. If any man take his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother, and see her nakedness: they have committed a crime and they shall be slain, in the sight of their people. If any man lie with a woman in her flowers, and uncover her nakedness, and she open the fountain of her blood, both shall be destroyed out of the midst of their people [after this many more cases are listed that are worthy of death. Keep my laws and my judgments, and do them: lest the land into which you are to enter to dwell therein, vomit you also out. Walk not after the laws of the nations, which I will cast out before you. For they have done all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine.” (Leviticus 20:9-26).
Ultimate Extremes
We see mass death and destruction being inflicted on the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrha: “And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the Earth” (Genesis 19:24-25). Extreme? Yes, but God is extreme.
If He is going to do something, He will do, cost what it may. God is not worried about numbers. If Sodom and Gomorrha was a large number, then what about this: “God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, It repented Him that he had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth Me that I have made them!’” (Genesis 6:5-7). So the flood came and the entire world, except for eight people and some animals on the ark were spared! Extreme? Yes, but God is extreme.
We are of the family of God, adopted children of God! Families have their traits—is this trait of the “extreme” found in us? God expects devotion, which, by its nature, is extreme, outstanding, above the average. God expects to be put first. God expects to be obeyed. Let us ask for that grace of such devotion in the highest most extreme degree! Catholics need to be extreme or "X-Treme Catholics" for it is only perfection or holiness that opens to us the gates of Heaven.
The modern notion or idea behind the recently created word “xtreme” or “x-treme” is defined by the Urban Dictionary as follows: “To define something as "cooler" than the norm. Originally used for outrageous sports and death-defying stunts, « Xtreme » has managed to find its way into nearly every marketing campaign in America: deodorant, beef tacos, soft drinks, and even duct tape, etc.”
As simple search reveals this to be true, as you will find the following:
Xtreme Action Park
Xtreme Treme Cars
Xtreme Treme Fitness
Xtreme Treme Rock Climbing
Xtreme Treme Racing
Xtreme Xperience
Xtreme Videos
Xtreme Sports
Xtreme Wrestling
Xtreme Solutions
Xtreme Pizza, etc., etc.
Classical Extremes
The classical dictionary definition of “extreme” is along the lines of the following:
(1) ADJECTIVE―“(a) of a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average, as in ‘extreme measures’, (b) intense, utmost or exceedingly great in degree, as in ‘extreme joy’ or ‘extreme grief’, (c) farthest from the center or middle; outermost; endmost, the most remote in any direction, as in the phrase ‘the extreme limits of a town’ or ‘the extreme edge of the field’, (d) farthest, utmost, or very far in any direction, as in ‘an object at the extreme point of vision.”
(2) NOUN―“(a) the utmost or highest degree, or a very high degree, as in ‘cautious to an extreme’, (b) one of two things as remote or different from each other as possible, as in ‘the extremes of joy and grief’.”
Extremism
Naturally, “extremism” is born of “extreme”―it is the practitioner of the idea. As they say, “ideas have consequences” and the consequence of the idea of something “extreme” is put into practice by “extremism”. Pretty simple, huh? The average dictionary will define “Extremist” as: “a person who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, especially one who resorts to or advocates extreme action.” Urban Dictionary defines an extremist as “someone who goes through extreme tactics to reach their goal. These could involve torture, attack on innocent people and over-the-top violence” (this is a more modernistic, one-sided, notion of an extremist in light of current worldwide political unrest). Or as the Oxford Dictionary states: “a person who holds extreme political or religious views, especially one who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action, as in ‘‘right-wing extremists’” (Hmm! Why not mention “left-wing extremists” or “Liberal extremists”?) The Collins Dictionary says: “If you describe someone as an extremist, you disapprove of them because they try to bring about political change by using violent or extreme methods. If you say that someone has extremist views, you disapprove of them because they believe in bringing about change by using violent or extreme methods.” Or, as Wikipedia, under the entry “Extremism” says: “Extremism means, literally, ‘the quality or state of being extreme’ or ‘the advocacy of extreme measures or views’. The term ‘extremism’ is primarily used in a political or religious sense, to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shared social consensus) to be far outside the mainstream attitudes of society.”
Who Defines What is Extreme and What is Normal?
Looking at the above definitions, one has to notice the obvious―which is: “Who has the power and objectivity to decide what is normal, or what is the norm, or expected standard. If you cannot decide on what is normal or the expected standard, then you have no way of measuring what is extreme! If there is no agreement on what is “normal”, then there can be no agreement on what is “extreme”! Who has the power, the intelligence, the prudence and the foresight to define and demand what is to be the norm?
Extremism is in the Eye of the Beholder
You have, no doubt, heard the expression: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!”―meaning that not all people have the same opinions about what is attractive. Beauty cannot be judged objectively, for what one person finds beautiful or admirable may not appeal to another. You will first find this idea used 3rd century BC in Greek. It’s present popular form began to be used in the 19th century, with a whole host of varieties or similar expressions existing in between, such as: “Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye, Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues” (Shakespeare, Love Labors Lost, 1588); “Beauty, like supreme dominion, Is but supported by opinion” (Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1741); “Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them” (David Hume, Essays, Moral and Political, 1742).
The same could be said of the notion of what is “extreme” and what is “not extreme”―it depends upon where you are standing in the first place. If you live in America, then New Zealand is extremely far away, but it you live in Australia, then it is not so far away. If you live in Florida, then 60 degrees Fahrenheit will seem cool and 30 degrees Fahrenheit will seem extremely cold―whereas to an Eskimo from northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland, or eastern Siberia, 60 degrees Fahrenheit will seem to be extremely hot and 30 degrees Fahrenheit will seem warm.
The same is true in the political sphere. To a Communist, the Capitalist West is lax, undisciplined and corrupt to an extreme. Whereas to a Westerner, Communism is rigorous, tyrannical and repressive to an extreme. It all depends upon where you are standing, what you are used to, what your tendencies are, what your ambitions are, and what direction you want your life to take. Arguably, you could that everyone has “extreme” views and everyone practices “extremism”―but in different ways and in different directions.
Are We All Extreme?
The question then arises, “Are we all extreme and extremists?” Personally and arguably, one is tempted to say: “Yes!” But is that true or a mere opinion? To dig deeper, let us again revisit the dictionary definitions of what “extreme” and “extremist” means.
EXTREME―As an adjective, “extreme” means: “(a) of a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average, as in ‘extreme measures’, (b) intense, utmost or exceedingly great in degree, (c) farthest from the center or middle; outermost; endmost, the most remote in any direction, (d) farthest, utmost, or very far in any direction.” As a noun, “extreme” means “the utmost or highest degree, or a very high degree.”
EXTREMIST― As a noun, “extremist” means “a person who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, especially one who resorts to or advocates extreme action; or a person who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action; or someone who goes through extreme tactics to reach their goal. These could involve torture, attack on innocent people and over-the-top violence.” As an adjective, “if you describe someone as an extremist, you disapprove of them because they try to bring about political change by using violent or extreme methods. If you say that someone has extremist views, you disapprove of them because they believe in bringing about change by using violent or extreme methods.”
When "Extreme" is "Normal" and "Normal" is "Extreme"
It is the contentious and shocking premise of this article to show that we are all extreme―if not in actual fact, then at least in potential. Furthermore―and even more shockingly―it is argued that GOD HAS MADE US TO BE EXTREME and that being extreme is not “extreme” (as defined above), but is actually NORMAL and not “extreme”. The level to which God calls us is NORMAL in His eyes, but EXTREME in our eyes. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9).
God is Extreme, So We Must Be Extreme
Without doubt GOD IS EXTREME. “O God, who shall be like to thee?” (Psalm 82:2). “Know that there is none like to the Lord our God” (Exodus 8:10)―which makes Him extreme, out on His own, unsurpassable. If “extreme” is defined as “a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average”―then GOD IS EXTREME. If “extreme” is further defined as “intense, utmost or exceedingly great in degree”―then GOD IS EXTREME. If “extreme” is being the “farthest from the center or middle; outermost; endmost, the most remote in any direction”―then GOD IS EXTREME. If “extreme” means “the utmost or highest degree, or a very high degree”―then GOD IS EXTREME. If “extremist” means being someone “who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, especially one who resorts to or advocates extreme action; or a person who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action; or someone who goes through extreme tactics to reach their goal. These could involve torture”―then GOD IS AN EXTREMIST. If you do not believe that, then you are EXTREMELY IGNORANT, or EXTREMELY BLIND, or EXTREMELY NAÏVE, or EXTREMELY BIASED.
God is Perfect to the Extreme
God, being absolutely perfect, is extremely perfect—He is extreme in everything: extreme in mercy, yet extreme in justice; extreme in patience, yet extreme in anger; extreme in kindness, yet extreme in punishment (what can be more extreme than Hell? Or Heaven, too, for that matter!). This is something that we find hard to grasp completely. For us it is a case of either/or: we are either merciful or just; patient or impatiently angry; kind or not kind. That is because we are imperfect—imperfect in our understanding and imperfect in our actions. For us, the idea of being called an “extremist” or a “fanatic” is troublesome and we seek to avoid such labels. Yet, there again, we have a poor understanding of the meaning of the word, and we use it or take it badly. Originally, the word “fanatic” came from the Latin root-word “fanum”, which means, a sanctuary, shrine or temple, and the derivative word, “fanaticus”, means inspired; enthusiastic, frenzied. In the good sense, “fanatic” means something akin to holy, sacred, enthusiastic, highly fervent, inspired by God—which is along the lines of what “devotion” is, or should be.
Only Extreme Efforts Obtain Heaven
In a certain sense, we have to be ‘fanatical’ (in the good sense of the word) to be able to get to Heaven. Our Lord said to us: “Be you therefore perfect as you heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). That’s a bit extreme, isn’t it? But we have to be extreme to get to Heaven. “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Violence is an extreme measure. If we are not extreme in this world, then those extremes will have to be reached in the extremely painful fires of Purgatory, where, as any saint or good Catholic book will tell you, souls suffer extremely, until they reach the extreme perfection required to enter Heaven. “There shall not enter into it anything defiled” (Apocalypse 21:27). “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence, till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26). Some writers, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, say that the fires of Purgatory are the same fires as those of Hell—now how’s that for extreme! Could we say ‘fanatical’?
The Extreme Attitude of God
God does not do things by halves. He can be extremely kind and loving, or extremely angry and vengeful. It all depends upon whether or not we are for Him or against Him; whether we obey Him or disobey Him. As we sow, so shall we reap. There is a passage that perfectly manifests these two extremes in God.
The following quotes from Holy Scripture will prove that God is extreme. However, before we begin, let us say that―If God is extreme, then we have to be extreme―for Our Lord says: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48)―which logically means, if God is extreme according to His infinite or limitless capacity, we must be extreme according to our limited capacity! Again, Scripture adds: “You shall be holy men to me!” (Exodus 22:31)―and holiness is a cut above the ordinariness we see all around us, holiness is thus an extreme compared to what we see everywhere. “For I am the Lord your God―be holy because I am holy!” (Leviticus 11:44). “You shall be holy, because I am holy!” (Leviticus 11:46). “You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine!” (Leviticus 20:26). Holiness is a cut above mediocrity, lukewarmness, indifference, comfort-seeking―and even further above sinfulness. Holiness is extreme and saints are extremists, because there are few souls that end up being saved―and that is extreme in itself! [read more here]
The Old Testament Shows God To Be Extreme
Extreme Death Sentence
We see death come to the whole human race, through all centuries to come, just because Adam and Eve ate a fruit they were told not to eat! “Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death” (Genesis 2:16-17). “By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
God Promises Extreme Rewards and Threatens Extreme Punishments
Towards the end of the Book of Leviticus, God lists His extreme rewards and extreme punishments. As Scripture says elsewhere—He rewards the good and punishes the evil. “I am the Lord your God: If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God: who have brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and I have broken the chains on your necks, that you might go upright.” (Leviticus 26:1-13). Who wouldn’t want this? No shortage of food! Perfect seasons of the year! Peace in the land, with no threats from anywhere! If enemies arise, a guarantee of God’s help and protection—even if we are outnumbered! Guarantee of victory over all enemies! At peace with God! Wow! Extreme kindness!
But… Brace Yourself!
“But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant: I also will do these things to you: I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. But if you will not yet for all this obey Me: I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass: your labor shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hearken to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins: and I will send in upon you the beasts of the field, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to Me: I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies, after I shall have broken the staff of your bread: so that ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and give it out by weight: and you shall eat, and shall not be filled. But if you will not for all this hearken to Me, but will walk against Me: I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be the inhabitants thereof. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword: they shall fall, when no man pursueth them, And they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars, none of you shall dare to resist your enemies. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own: until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will bring them into their enemies’ land: then shall they pray for their sins. And I will remember My covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. But they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. And yet, for all that, when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be quite consumed, and I should make void My covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God. And I will remember My former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Gentiles, to be their God. I am the Lord. These are the judgments, and precepts, and laws, which the Lord gave between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses” (Leviticus 26:14-45). Extreme to the very extreme, huh?
League Table of Extremes—Lower Rankings
That was the theory or just words—here comes the practice or the action! How would you treat someone who sinned by mistake, through ignorance? Here is what God ruled, in the laws that He dictated to Moses: “If any one sin through ignorance, and do one of those things which by the law of the Lord are forbidden, and being guilty of sin, understand his iniquity, He shall offer, of the flocks, a ram without blemish to the priest, according to the measure and estimation of the sin: and the priest shall pray for him, because he did it ignorantly: and it shall be forgiven him, because by mistake he trespassed against the Lord” (Leviticus 5:17-19).
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Whosoever shall sin, and despising the Lord, shall deny to his neighbour the thing delivered to his keeping, which was committed to his trust; or shall by force extort anything, or commit oppression; or shall find a thing lost, and denying it, shall also swear falsely, or shall do any other of the many things, wherein men are wont to sin: being convicted of the offence, he shall restore all that he would have gotten by fraud, in the principal, and the fifth part besides to the owner, whom he wronged. Moreover, for his sin, he shall offer a ram without blemish out of the flock, and shall give it to the priest, according to the estimation and measure of the offence: and he shall pray for him before the Lord, and he shall have forgiveness for everything in doing of which he hath sinned” (Leviticus 6:1-7). Yikes! Aren’t you glad you weren’t alive in those days!? Well, the justice of Purgatory makes that look a ‘walk-in-the park’! A bit on the extreme side? Well, speak to God about that!
God does some tough-talking about worldliness and worldly customs: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: “I am the Lord your God. You shall not do according to the custom of the land of Egypt, in which you dwelt: neither shall you act according to the manner of the country of Chanaan, into which I will bring you, nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall do My judgments, and shall observe My precepts, and shall walk in them. I am the Lord your God. Keep My laws and My judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them. I am the Lord” (Leviticus 16:1-5).
League Table of Extremes—Middle Rankings
Where would you rank the following law in the Table of Extremes? “And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “The man that hath an issue of seed, shall be unclean. And then shall he be judged subject to this evil, when a filthy humour, at every moment, cleaveth to his flesh, and gathereth there. Every bed on which he sleepeth, shall be unclean, and every place on which he sitteth. If any man touch his bed, he shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, he shall be unclean until the evening. If a man sit where that man hath sitten, he also shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening. He that toucheth his flesh, shall wash his clothes: and, being himself washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening. If such a man cast his spittle upon him that is clean, he shall wash his clothes: and, being washed with water, he shall be unclean until the evening. The saddle on which he hath sitten shall be unclean. And whatsoever has been under him that hath the issue of seed, shall be unclean until the evening. He that carrieth any of these things, shall wash his clothes: and, being washed with water, he shall be unclean until the evening. Every person whom such a one shall touch, not having washed his hands before, shall wash his clothes: and being washed with water, shall be unclean until the evening” (Leviticus 15:1-11). A lot of washing going on! Extreme? Again, speak to God about that! I guess His ways are not our ways, and our thoughts are not His thoughts (Isaias 55:8).
League Table of Extremes—Highest Rankings
God will think nothing of taking away life—especially the lives of His enemies! Before being finally allowed to leave Egypt, the Israelites saw the vengeance of God being wreaked upon the land of Egypt. God had commanded Moses to smear the doorposts of all the homes of the Israelites with the blood of the lamb to protect them from the extreme vengeance that the angel of the Lord would enact, saying: “And I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord” (Genesis 12:12). Pretty extreme, eh? That’s the way God is!
God does not seem to do things by halves or half-heartedly, like we tend to do. When the Egyptian army was pursuing Moses and the Israelites, even to point of crossing the divided sea, God could have stopped them at the coastline, by making the sea close-up behind the Israelites as they passed through—but God does not do things by halves, He went to the extreme of slaughtering the Egyptian army. The Lord said to Moses, after they had crossed the sea: “‘Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand over the sea, and divide it: that the children of Israel may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the heart of the Egyptians to pursue you!’ … And when Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea, the Lord took it away by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night, and turned it into dry ground: and the water was divided. And the children of Israel went in through the midst of the sea dried up … And the Egyptians pursuing went in after them, and all Pharao’s horses, his chariots and horsemen through the midst of the sea. And the Lord said to Moses: ‘Stretch forth they hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen!’ And when Moses had stretched forth his hand towards the sea, it returned at the first break of day to the former place: and as the Egyptians were fleeing away, the waters came upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the middle of the waves. And the waters covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharao, who had come into the sea after them, neither did there so much as one of them remain” (Exodus 14:16-28). Extreme? Yes, but that’s God!
Extreme—Even With His Favorites!
But God does not only kill His enemies, He is not averse to killing His own Chosen People—His personally selected favorites. God expects His people to be devoted to Him. One aspect of devotion implies fighting and overcoming fatigue. In the desert, some of the Israelites were moaning and groaning about the difficulties they had to endure — and God’s reaction to their complaints may seem to be extreme: “In the meantime there arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it, He was angry. And the fire of the Lord, being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp. And when the people cried to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was swallowed up. And he called the name of that place, “The Burning”, for that the fire of the Lord had been kindled against them” (Number 11:1-3). Extreme? Yes, but God is extreme.
A little bit of idolatry did not even the see the favored family of Aaron spared: “And Nadab and Abiu, the sons of Aaron, taking their censers, put fire therein, and incense on it, offering before the Lord strange fire: which was not commanded them. And fire coming out from the Lord destroyed them, and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:1-2).
Several times God allowed His Chosen People to be conquered and carried off from Jerusalem as captives to Babylon, where they remained for decades on end. On top of that, God allowed the Temple of Jerusalem to be totally destroyed.
You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!
It gets tougher as we go along! God is not afraid to go to the extremes of death—the ultimate punishment for man. How about this? “He that curseth his father, or mother, dying let him die. If any man commit adultery with the wife of another, and defile his neighbour’s wife, let them both be put to death … If a man lie with his stepmother, let them both be put to death. If any man lie with his daughter-in-law, let both die. If anyone lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death. If any man, after marrying the daughter, marry her mother, he shall be burnt alive with them. He that shall copulate with any beast or cattle, dying let him die, the beast also ye shall kill. The woman that shall lie under any beast, shall be killed together with the same. If any man take his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother, and see her nakedness: they have committed a crime and they shall be slain, in the sight of their people. If any man lie with a woman in her flowers, and uncover her nakedness, and she open the fountain of her blood, both shall be destroyed out of the midst of their people [after this many more cases are listed that are worthy of death. Keep my laws and my judgments, and do them: lest the land into which you are to enter to dwell therein, vomit you also out. Walk not after the laws of the nations, which I will cast out before you. For they have done all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. You shall be holy unto Me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from other people, that you should be Mine.” (Leviticus 20:9-26).
Ultimate Extremes
We see mass death and destruction being inflicted on the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrha: “And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And He destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the Earth” (Genesis 19:24-25). Extreme? Yes, but God is extreme.
If He is going to do something, He will do, cost what it may. God is not worried about numbers. If Sodom and Gomorrha was a large number, then what about this: “God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the Earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, It repented Him that he had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth Me that I have made them!’” (Genesis 6:5-7). So the flood came and the entire world, except for eight people and some animals on the ark were spared! Extreme? Yes, but God is extreme.
We are of the family of God, adopted children of God! Families have their traits—is this trait of the “extreme” found in us? God expects devotion, which, by its nature, is extreme, outstanding, above the average. God expects to be put first. God expects to be obeyed. Let us ask for that grace of such devotion in the highest most extreme degree! Catholics need to be extreme or "X-Treme Catholics" for it is only perfection or holiness that opens to us the gates of Heaven.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Sexagesima Sunday February 24th & Monday February 25th
Article 5
Sowing God's Seed?―Or Sowing Wild Oats?
Article 5
Sowing God's Seed?―Or Sowing Wild Oats?
What’s Your Preference? God’s Seed or Wild Oats?
Today’s Sexagesima Sunday’s Gospel speaks of sowing the seed. No doubt you have also heard of the expression about a person “sowing their wild oats.” What is this seed? What are those wild oats? The first question is answered by Our Lord Himself, Who says that the seed is the Word of God. The second question―about sowing wild oats―has a double meaning. One is literal and agricultural in meaning; the other is metaphorical and has an immoral meaning.
Wild Weeds and Wild Behavior
The literal and agricultural meaning of “sowing wild oats” refers to a European species of grass―botanically called Avena fatua, which the English have been calling “wild oats” for centuries. Botanists are of the opinion that these “wild oats” are the origin of cultivated oats. Farmers, since ancient times, have detested these “wild oats” because they are nothing but a useless weed, whose seeds have always been difficult to separate from those of useful cereals. Consequently, these “wild oats” have survived and multiply from year to year. The only way to remove it was by hand-weeding it. Modern seed cleaning and selective weed-killers have not really solved the problem in our days―for it still exists.
The metaphorical and immoral meaning of “sowing wild oats” refers to activities that are either immoral or a pure waste of time with little or no fruit coming from them. Hence, the expression of a “young man sowing his wild oats” came to be applied to those who “frittered away their time in stupid or idle pastimes.” Or as one writer puts it: “There’s a strong sexual association here, too, because the phrase was often applied, in a more or less indulgent way, and always to young men, to what was politely referred to as youthful dissipation. The associations between male sexual activity and sowing seed are obvious enough.”
It is asserted that the expression goes back to Roman times, with a certain Roman, called Plautus, thought to be the originator of the phrase. In the English language, it was apparently first used by the Norfolk Protestant clergyman Thomas Becon, in 1542. Later, in 1869, Louisa May Alcott used the expression in her book, Little Women, saying: “Boys will be boys, young men must sow their wild oats, and women must not expect miracles”―by which she seems to give the expression as one of time-wasting, trivial, pointless, infantile or stupid activities.
Our Lady on Wild Oats and Wild Behavior
You could say that Our Lady speaks of the same ‘wild behavior’ when she says: “As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals. From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! The Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education .… acting thus to snare many into sin, and will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
These words of Our Lady of Good Success are reiterated and compounded by Our Lady at Fatima, when she revealed that the sins that damn most souls are the sins of the flesh―sins of impurity in either thought, word or deed―which deeply affected little St. Jacinta Marto, to whom Our Lady―in three private apparitions―revealed that “More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason” … “Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much” … “Woe to women lacking in modesty” and that “The Mother of God wants more virgin souls bound by the vow of chastity.”
All of this is just the tip of the iceberg of “sowing one’s wild oats”―for it is not just sexual sins that damn souls, but a whole host of other ‘weeds’ or ‘wild oats’ that choke the life out of the soul. The list itself is generally summarized by the Ten Commandments―but the Ten Commandments are merely ‘chapter headings’ that have an awful lot of detail in their chapters, as anyone who has read a Moral Theology manual will tell you. If you like, the Ten Commandments are like the names of ten countries―but within each country there are millions of people, more or less alike, speaking the same language, but each one different to everyone else in one way or another.
Yet today, everyone seems to sowing more seeds of sin than seeds of virtue! It will not end well!
Sowing What Seed?
God, through His Church, has provided us with many seeds of knowledge, graces and virtues. But unless that seed is planted and makes us die to the world, we will bear no fruit. “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32).
We have a choice in whether to be Marthas or Marys. We can be busy with the world, or busy with Our Lord. Each choice has its inescapable consequences. As we sow, so shall we reap. To those who sow their seed in the world, it will be said: “Because thou hast forgotten God thy Savior, thou shalt sow strange seed” (Isaias 17:10); “Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap” (Micheas 6:15) ... “You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies” (Leviticus 26:16).
Jesus spoke of those who were too preoccupied with the world and were thus unable to see the mysteries of God: “And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: ‘By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive .For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear” (Matthew 13:14-16).
The Parable of the Sower of the Seed
Explaining the Parable of the Sower of the Seed, Jesus tells His Apostles that the seed is the Word of God. He then continues (here follow both the accounts by St. Matthew and St. Mark):
“Hear you therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, there cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart: this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon stony ground, is he that heareth the word, and immediately receiveth it with joy. Yet hath he not root in himself, but is only for a time: and when there ariseth tribulation and persecution because of the word, he is presently scandalized. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth, and beareth fruit, and yieldeth the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (Matthew 13:18-23).
“He that soweth, soweth the Word. And these are they by the way side, where the Word is sown, and as soon as they have heard, immediately Satan cometh and taketh away the Word that was sown in their hearts. And these likewise are they that are sown on the stony ground: who, when they have heard the Word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but are only for a time: and then when tribulation and persecution ariseth for the Word, they are presently scandalized. And others there are who are sown among thorns: these are they that hear the Word, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the Word, and it is made fruitless. And these are they who are sown upon the good ground, who hear the Word, and receive it, and yield fruit, the one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred” (Mark 4:14-20).
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting. And in doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing. Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the Faith” (Galatians 6:7-10). “With the elect thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted” (Psalm 17:27).
We cannot give what we have not got! Therefore, we need to plant that Word of God within us; we need to nurture the mysteries of God what we have seen this Christmas season, which only recently ended (February 2nd); we need to let those seeds sprout in our souls; and water them with our prayers and pluck out any weeds with our sacrifices. It is serious work, it is hard work, it is the work of salvation!
Preparing the Plant for “Hardening-Off”
“Hardening off” is the process of moving plants outdoors for a portion of the day to gradually introduce them to the direct sunlight, dry air, and cold nights. Young, pampered seedlings that were grown either indoors or in a greenhouse need a period to adjust and acclimate to outdoor conditions, prior to planting in the garden.
Hardening-off gradually exposes the tender plants to wind, sun and rain and toughens them up by thickening the cuticle on the leaves so that the leaves lose less water. This helps prevent transplant shock; seedlings that languish, become stunted or die from sudden changes in temperature. Hardening-off times depend on the type of plants that are being grown and the temperature and temperature fluctuations.
The same is true for our spiritual life. Advent was a time for preparing the soil of the soul. Christmas was the time of planting the seed of the baby Christ-Child in that prepared soil. Now we have a period of growth, where the feasts and festivities have to give way to the eventual fasting and abstinence of Lent. So we need to adjust, we need that period of “hardening-off” whereby our softness becomes less soft and more ready to bear the harshness of Lent. That Lenten harshness is necessary for the maturity of our spiritual plant, the soul, in order for it to bring forth the fruit required by God, once it is watered by the grace of the Holy Ghost after Pentecost.
Faith is a Seed that Must Grow
Our Lord Himself says that the “Word of God” is a “seed” and then delivers the Parable of the Sower of the Seed. Speaking of this “Word of God,” St. Paul says: “I planted, Apollo watered, God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). “He took of the seed and put it in the ground, that it might take a firm root: He planted it on the surface of the Earth” (Ezechiel 17:5)—that is to say the Faith was planted on the surface of the Earth; it was also planted in our souls at our Baptism. Yet all around us, in the world that surrounds and which we must live, there is an abundance of wild oats―meaning worldliness.
Our Faith Should Flourish
“They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish” (Psalm 91:14) and “shall be like a tree, which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off” (Psalm 1:3). “He shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture” (Jeremias 17:8). “Planted by the waters” means staying close to Sacraments and grace, which only the one true Faith can supply, while “spreading roots towards moisture” indicates an attraction to the things that give grace — namely, the Sacraments, prayer and other spiritual exercises.
The Mustard Seed of Faith
“Another parable he proposed unto them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof’” (Matthew 13:31-32).
Likewise, our Faith is like a little mustard seed, planted in our souls at Baptism, and which is expected to grow into the proportions of a tree—a Tree of Life, of Eternal Life. This Faith has to be nourished and protected, and if this is done correctly, then we will be amazed at the power of its fruits: “Amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Remove from hence hither!’, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:19).
What is Your Seed Doing?
“Is the seed as yet sprung up?” (Aggeus 2:20). God expects profit. “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you. In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit” (John 15:1-8).
Where is Your Fruit?
This is what God expects of us—as in the Parable of the Talents, which we could just as easily call the Parable of Faith—where our Faith is expected to bear fruit: in one a hundred-fold, in another sixty-fold and another thirty-fold. “Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they prosper and bring forth fruit” (Jeremias 12:2). “It was planted in a good ground upon many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and bear fruit, that it might become a large vine” (Ezechiel 17:8). Our Faith is not a pointless gift that allows us to remain idle: “And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just!’” (Matthew 20:3-4).
Good Fruit and Bad Fruit
However, in the vineyard of the Lord, as well as the vineyard of the world, there are good and bad trees, good seed and seed of wild oats, or as another parable states, Wheat and Cockle. God has planted, but the enemy has corrupted: “I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto Me into that which is good for nothing” (Jeremias 2:21).
“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:13-20).
Wheat and Cockle
The parable of the Wheat and the Cockle could easily be called the parable of the Seed of God and the Seed of Wild Oats. “Another parable He proposed to them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: “Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?” And he said to them: “An enemy hath done this!” And the servants said to him: “Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?” And he said: “No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and, in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers: ‘Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn’” “ (Matthew 13:24-30).
Avoiding the ‘Bad Trees’ and the ‘Cockle’
Our Faith is too precious to risk weakening it or losing it, for in the process we may also lose our souls. The world is an enemy of the Faith: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed” (Genesis 3:15). Jesus “was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not” (John 1:10). The world hated Jesus and so it has to hate us also (if we love Jesus)—“If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). “In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Since He is not of this world, He does not pray for this world: “I pray not for the world” (John 17:9)—He simply tries to take souls away from the world and its spirit, which is ultimately the spirit of the devil, so that “all the world may be made subject to God” (Romans 3:19).
The World belongs to the Devil
Jesus refers to the devil as the prince of the world: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing” (John 14:30). To the worldly Jews, Our Lord said: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin” (John 8:23-24). If the world will not listen to the Word of God, and will not accept the Faith―which is symbolized by the seed―then we are told to leave the world behind: “Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet” (Matthew 10:14).
Those who secretly love the world, find this hard to accept, and under a false pretense of desiring the conversion of the world, continue to hang around the world even after having their attempts at conversion rejected. They want to sow the seed of God together with the wild oats of the world. “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “He that loveth danger shall perish in it” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27). “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:25). Speaking of His true followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16).
We are explicitly told to stay clear of the world and to flee the world: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “that we be not condemned with this world” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “And you, in time past, when you were dead in your offenses and sins, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now works upon the children of unbelief: in which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts. But God, even when we were dead in sins, hath raised us up together [above this world], and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:1-6).
Separation from the World is Essential―Sow the Seed of God, Not the World
The field of our soul should be sown solely with the seed of God and not the world―there can be no cross-breeding, only cross carrying. The world is a weed that chokes the seed of God―which is the word of God. The two seeds cannot grow side by side―we cannot serve God and mammon, we cannot grow the seed of God and the world in the same soul. “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: If any man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers, that dwell in Israel, give of his seed to the idol Moloch, dying let him die: the people of the land shall stone him. And I will set My face against him: and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he hath given of his seed to Moloch, and hath defiled My sanctuary, and profaned My Holy Name!’” (Leviticus 20:1-3).
Separate the Seeds
God commanded a separation for the Israelites from the heathens and pagans that surrounded them. “Thou shalt not keep company with them” (Isaias 14:20) ... “Who have said to God: ‘Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways!’” (Job 21:14) … “Separate thyself from thy enemies” (Ecclesiasticus 6:13) … “What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. Wherefore, go out from among them, and be ye separate!” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17) ... “Be not seduced: Evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33) … “A corrupt man loveth not one that reproveth him: nor will he go to the wise” (Proverbs 15:12).
St. Paul tells us: “I have written to you, not to keep company, with any man that is named a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat” (1 Corinthians 5:11). The Liberals of this world are aghast at such intolerant words! St. Paul would again be stoned by the Liberals if he were to come around today. “The Liberal Catholic calls himself a Catholic because he firmly believes Catholicity to be the veritable revelation of the Son of God; he calls himself a Liberal Catholic because he believes that no one can impose upon him any belief which his individual judgment does not measure as perfectly rational. He falls an easy victim to the snare set by the devil for the intellectually proud. As a consequence, he is really not Christian, but pagan. He has no real supernatural Faith, but only a simple human conviction ... Liberals have a horror of any coercive element in matters of Faith; any chastisement of error shocks their tender susceptibilities, and they detest any … intolerance” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 7).
Liberals Will Not Separate
The disease of Liberalism has penetrated almost every corner of the world and every facet of daily life. What does one do? Can one be at peace with Liberalism? The words of the famous book, Liberalism is a Sin (a book praised and recommended by Rome itself) gives us some answers: “Should Catholics combine with the more moderate Liberals for … resisting the advance of the … extreme Liberals? … Such unions are neither good nor commendable … Liberalism, let its form be as moderated, as wheedling as possible, is by its very essence in direct and radical opposition to Catholicity… Liberals are born enemies of Catholics. … ‘Better seek solitude than bad company.’” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 30).
“Catholic associations ought chiefly to take care to exclude from amongst themselves, not only those who openly profess the principles of Liberalism, but also those who have deceived themselves into believing that a conciliation between Liberalism and Catholicism is possible, and who are known as Liberal Catholics.” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 31).
Many of our problems of today stem from the fact that we ignore this advice, and, by our own example and social contacts, we have taught our children to ignore this advice. For many, it is a case of vainly trying to bolt the barn door after the horse has escaped into the world.
If we fail to take to heart this command to separate ourselves and our loved ones from the world, then no matter what other precautions we take, they will merely be ‘Band-Aid’ solutions for a shotgun wound. As the above quote said: “Better seek solitude than bad company.”
What Seeds Have Been Sown in Your Family, Parish, School or Workplace?
As one, long-deceased, very conservative and traditional bishop used to say: “We are all Liberals!”―it is only in degrees of Liberalism that we differ. It is much the same as sin―we are all sinners: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us!” (1 John 1:8)―the only difference is in the degree of sin present in our lives. Liberalism is basically a freedom from authority, a freedom from being told what to do, a freedom of thought, a freedom of conscience, a freedom of action, a freedom of belief. Hence, today’s false theory of Ecumenism is pure Liberalism. Today’s false theory of Religious Freedom is pure Liberalism. Today’s false theory of everyone being equal is pure Liberalism. Today’s focus on Human Rights is pure Liberalism when it ignores and fails to place the Divine Rights of God above all Human Rights. Today’s laws―or so-called ‘laws’―that allow sinful behavior that contradicts the laws of God, are pure Liberalism. There is no love of God in Liberalism for a love of God requires a submission to God and His Laws: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). Liberalism seeks to escape the keeping of God’s commandments and God’s word―therefore Liberalism is not a love of God, but a hatred of God―varying, of course, according to the degree of Liberalism with which each one us is infected.
Pope Leo XIII writes: “It is a high crime to withdraw allegiance from God, in order to please men, … to break the laws of Jesus Christ, in order to yield obedience to earthly rulers, or, under pretext of keeping the civil law, to ignore the rights of the Church; ‘we ought to obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29) … If the laws of the State are manifestly at variance with the Divine Law, containing enactments hurtful to the Church, or conveying injunctions adverse to the duties imposed by religion, then, truly, to resist becomes a positive duty, to obey would be a crime … Commands that are issued adversely to the honor due to God, and hence are beyond the scope of justice, must be looked upon as anything rather than laws … Human laws can never be set above the Divine Law” (Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Sapientia Christianae).
Let us not pretend that there are no weeds, no cockle, no wild-oats being sown in our family, or parish, or school or workplace or social field. Once again, the words of Holy Scripture refute us and contradict us―“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). Liberalism is a sin―as irrefutably indicated in the book Liberalism Is A Sin, by Fr. Felix Salvany, and so the Scriptural passage could easily be rephrased to include Liberalism: “If we say that we have no Liberalism within us, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our Liberalism, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our Liberalism, and to cleanse us and weed out our iniquitous Liberalism. If we say that we have no Liberalism, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
The Biggest Weeds, the Wildest Oats
Without any shadow of a doubt, the biggest, greatest and most successful sower of cockle and wild-oats is today’s modern technological media apparatus―the TV, the internet (via computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone), the radio. Through these ‘weapons’ the devil manages to sow his cockle which leads us to “sow our wild oats” in a variety of ways, ranging from wasting time, worldliness, irresponsible behavior, impure imaginations, immoral and impure actions. We are a civilization of time-fritterers, wasting the precious time that God has given us to grow in a knowledge, love and service of Him, by using that time to grown in a knowledge, love and service of the world and all it offers. The eyes are said to be the “windows of the soul” and the ears could be said to be the doors of the soul. The modern media is one long continuous intense onslaught on our eyes and ears. If we would only listen to sermons and read spiritual material for as long as we open our eyes and ears to this media onslaught! Our Lord says that loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength is the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-38; Luke 10:27)―yet we give our whole heart (or most of it), mind, soul and strength to these media outlets which enter through the inlets of our eyes and ears.
Watching and listening to what is on the screen has become an epidemic of addiction throughout the world. Within the USA people are watching screens of TVs and computers, browsing social media and swiping their lives away on their tablets and smartphones. The market research organization, Nielsen, reported in August of 2018, that an average adult in the USA (Catholic and non-Catholic combined) spends more than 11 hours per day watching, reading, listening to or simply interacting with media. That is a 90 minute daily increase from 2014. The average time spent on computers, tablets and smartphones was just under 4 hours a day. Television remains the most used media outlet, with an average of almost 5 hours a day being consecrated to that worldly tabernacle.
Some people even put their idols on a par with God―taking their smartphones to Mass and using them during Mass, especially during the sermon. Perhaps they are texting God and asking Him to “pull-the-plug” on the sermon! Now, it may well be that they are taking notes of the sermon―which, at a stretch, would be permissible―but it is hard for others to know whether that person is holily taking notes, or if that person is unholily texting or surfing the internet (unless you happen to be sitting right next to them or behind them). Or they may even be recording the sermon―but that does not involve tapping away at the keyboard. Yet, in all honesty, how many persons take notes during sermons, or record sermons. For most people the sermon is too long anyway―and the last thing they want to do is go through the ordeal all over again!
Nevertheless, there are quite a few interruptions during Mass as one Smartphone or another chimes in to add to the worship of God with its own peculiar ‘hymn’―some obnoxious modern-day tune or ringtone. One wonders why a phone cannot be turned off during Mass. Then there is a goodly number of ‘worshipers’ who cannot wait to get out of church once Mass has finished, and pull-out and start using their beloved Smartphone. Their zeal for doing that exceeds their zeal for receiving Holy Communion. Thanksgiving to God after Holy Mass and Holy Communion is pretty far down the list―you have to scroll to the bottom to get there.
God Becomes an Afterthought
Far from loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength (Matthew 22:37-38; Luke 10:27), we pat ourselves on the head if we give Him a few minutes a day―and those are often rushed, distracted and half-hearted minutes, of which Our Lord says: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8). Most children―especially as they grown older―have little care and little time for God, and parents and teachers care little about trying to uproot that cancerous weed that is choking their hearts.
The Spiritual Loses to the Material
The general tone and flavor of once-spiritual Christian feasts and seasons has been flooded with anti-Christian values of a greedy desire for material goods, and an unmortified indulgence in amusements, entertainment, fun and pleasure, a gluttonous consumption of food and drink—all of which, as the spiritual masters tell us, leads to sexual sins of thought, word and action—because if we do not and cannot control our physical appetites, then this overflows to our sexual appetites, which we find are even more difficult to control. Hence the suitability of our annual Lent―which (until 1966, when Pope gave a 95% discount in Lenten penance) is meant to put a brake on our appetites and force us to practice self-control throughout the Lenten season by 40 days of fasting.
The World Feeds Our Greed and Gluttony
The world is always seeking to feed both our physical and sexual appetites to gratification—and let us face it: Our Lady, way back in 1917, said that sexual sins (not just actions, but thoughts, glances, reading, watching, looking, talking, etc.) are the sins that damn the most souls in this modern era. She said that long before the advent of television, internet, social media, widespread books and magazines, popular music, modern fashions, modern dancing, beachwear, etc. When the three children of Fatima asked Our Lady about the whereabouts of their friend Amelia—who had recently died aged around 18—Our Lady said that she would have to burn in Purgatory until the end of the world! Amelia’s sin? She was known to have been a little immodest (in 1917!!) and perhaps guilty of some impurity (1917)—how much worse is 102 years later, in 2019!!! How much more guilty are we today than Amelia was in 1917!
Our Appetites Have Increased!
Back in 1917, there was very little to have and to own by way of possessions—compared to weeds and cockle that is available to the common person today, in 2019. The variety and quantity of food was far, far less than what is available in the stores today. There were no electronic goods, gizmos and convenient electrical appliances in 1917. In 1882 Thomas Edison helped form the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York, which brought electric light to parts of Manhattan, Ney York―but only one square mile and not for everyone within that square mile― there were 85 customers with a total of 400 light bulbs between them, served by 6 jumbo generators. Progress was slow. Most Americans still lit their homes with gas light and candles for another fifty years. In 1925, only around half of all homes in the U.S. had electric power. If you lived in town in the 1930s, your house had probably electricity. In town, the more affluent families started using electric stoves, coffee makers, waffle irons, hot plates, electric roasters, and Waring Blenders during the 1930s. But if you lived in a farmhouse in the country, you did not have electricity.
The Sinful Daughters of Electricity
Once electricity arrived on the scene, it quickly gave birth to a large family, many of whom were the seductive occasions of sin. Television or TV is one example. Television sales took-off in the late 1940s, following the start of individual stations in the largest cities. Only in such heavily populated places was the relatively high cost of starting and operating a TV station considered economically viable. TV set ownership thus initially possessed a big-city or, more accurately, metropolitan-area bias. Yet do not for one second imagine that every household had a TV set! There were ONLY around 102,000 TV sets in the ENTIRE United States in early 1948, two-thirds of those TV sets were in the New York area, from which most of the first TV stations operated.
Another child of electricity was the PC (personal computer). Home computers were entering the market as a rarity in 1977, and becoming common during the 1980s. Yet in those ‘ancient’ days, much like electricity when it first became available to homes, only a few households had a computer. It was a rarity, unlike today. The first “mainframe” computers—too large for any home—would soon give birth to smaller computers, leading to the desktop computer, then the laptop computer, and then the computerized phones and tablets. The computer, though not an evil in itself, was to be the platform or forerunner of a series of ‘children’ or offspring, who would imitate it and build upon it—namely, the Internet, the Smartphone, computer Tablets, computer TV sets or Smart-TVs, etc.
A later child of electricity was the Internet. On August 6th, 1991, the World Wide Web became publicly available—and what a web it has become! How many souls in Hell owe their presence there to the Internet? Not a few! The Internet—even though it has a FEW good qualities—has brought about LOTS of sin in general, and immodesty and impurity in particular—into the home (much like the TV).
All of these electronic “conveniences” have become a very convenient way for the devil and the world to bring the spirit of the world—which is not the spirit of God—into the home today. If “eyes are the window of the soul”—then these electronic gizmos (TV, Cable TV, Satellite TV, Streaming TV, Smart TV, Computer, Laptop, Tablet, Smartphone, etc. loaded with the Internet and its offspring of Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, DeviantArt, BeMyEyes, NextDoor, etc.), then these electronic gizmos have become “the windows of the home”—and those windows are left open day and night! It is not for nothing that one of the major computer platforms is called “WINDOWS”! Thus does the sowing of wild oats begin with these seeds being sowed without hindrance.
Open Windows and Open Doors!
Parents used to take vigilant care on whom they allowed to enter their homes, for the sake of protecting the morals of their children—now, with these electronic gizmos, they and their children are open to invasion by anyone and anything, regardless of trying to take ‘preventative’ measures to protect the morals of the home from the immorality in the world. We are not just talking about sexual immorality, but of worldliness in general and a whole host of attitudes in particular, that cover topics such as bad language, bad music and lyrics, immodest dress, the Seven Deadly Sins (pride, greed, gluttony, anger, lust, envy, sloth), lying, mockery, materialism in general, erroneous philosophies of life, indifference to God and religion, questioning and doubting of the Faith, indirect and direct exposure to false religions, promotion of atheism and sinful lifestyles, etc. Consequently, the seeds of wild oats are sown and start to sprout, grow roots, and spread out and grow bigger and bigger, deeper and deeper.
If all of this does not please and appeal to the Catholic, it will still, nevertheless, gradually weaken the Faith―on the basis of the principle or axiom of: “You cannot place and leave clothes in a smoky room, without them gradually taking on the smell of smoke”—much like you cannot continue to peel onions without your hands taking on the smell of onions. Even if the Catholic miraculously (by God’s grace) escapes drinking-in the mortal sins from these electronic gizmos, the Catholic will nevertheless drink-in many poisonous venial sins and be gradually “desensitized” and “acclimatized” to sin and worldliness in general. Living among all the present opulence and wealth of the world, gazing at all the so-called “goodies” in the stores and malls, only serves to feed our appetite for all those things, which we begin to desire and seek. This is what Our Lord means, when explaining the parable of the Sower of Seed, in referring to the seeds of the word of God that bear no fruit because either the birds of the air take the seeds away, or they fall on stony ground, or among thorns and weeds.
Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day, Catholic Aren’t Corrupted in a Day
As they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and neither is the Catholic corrupted in a day. Yet that corruption or sowing of wild oats—you had better believe it—is planned and put into effect by the devil and world. Our Lord does not call the devil “the prince of this world” for no reason at all! If he is a prince—rather than a mere citizen—then he has power, and he uses that power well, as we see from the fact that most souls are lost and end up being eternal citizens of that prince in his real princedom—Hell. Why on earth (or should we say, why the hell) does Holy Scripture say: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). We need to be reminded of this again and again and again―because we are falling into that (pleasant) trap again and again and again!
The World is Not a Friend, But an Enemy
Holy Scripture says these things because God know that our ENEMY is the WORLD—which is why Our Lord pointed-out: “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). Yet, strangely enough, we DO NOT hate the world! We actually LIKE THE WORLD! We seek to MARRY THE WORLD to our Faith and its beliefs! Yet, this is NOT POSSIBLE, as Holy Scripture clearly states: “Children of Belial are gone out of the midst of thee and have said: ‘Let us go, and serve strange gods which you know not!’” (Deuteronomy 13:13) … “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Separation of Church and State, But No Separation of Catholic from the World
We naively or ignorantly accept the irreligious principle of “Separation of State from Church”, but we refuse to accept the religious principle of separating ourselves from the world. God says: “What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). Yet we DO NOT separate ourselves from—and make all kinds of specious excuses for not separating ourselves as much as possible. Today, the temples of Belial (the stores or screens of TV, computer or smartphone) are filled with glistening-eyed worshipers. They drool before the altars (store-shelves or TV and computer or smartphone screens) of those temples which are filled with “the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).
This is nothing new! The Chosen People of old—during the Exodus from Egypt—did the very same thing. They became tired of the mortification of the desert wilderness, that God had led them into on their way to the Promised Land, just as we get tired of being spiritual in the desert wilderness of worldliness. They hankered after the “fleshpots” of Egypt and wanted to turn back—as we will hanker after the things of the world that we may have left during the upcoming Lent and want to indulge in them all over again. They, so to speak, sowed their wild oats by building their golden calf in the desert and were severely punished for that—and do we expect to go unpunished for loving our “golden calves” more than we love God?
St. Paul warns us of repeating that grave mistake: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was [a figure of] Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall. Let no temptation take hold on you!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-13).
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
You say: “Of course—I know all this! I’ve heard countless times before! I don’t need to be told of it over again, and again, and again!” Of course you know this! Yet when you drive your car—and you are heading down a steep hill—do you merely apply the brakes only once (at the top of the hill), or do you keep the pressing the brake-pedal down continually, or at least press it down “again and again and again”? We, in this most materialistic and most affluent age in all of the world’s history, are heading down a very steep hill—and we are going down very fast—accelerating with each year! “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13). If you do not want to crash through the gates of Hell, then the brakes must be applied and the horn must be sounded―“again and again and again”! Road signs that warn of dangers are left up day and night―and are not just posted for a day or two―so that we might see them “again and again and again”!
Holy Scripture says: “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:1-4). So we preach “in season and out of season”.
Today’s Sexagesima Sunday’s Gospel speaks of sowing the seed. No doubt you have also heard of the expression about a person “sowing their wild oats.” What is this seed? What are those wild oats? The first question is answered by Our Lord Himself, Who says that the seed is the Word of God. The second question―about sowing wild oats―has a double meaning. One is literal and agricultural in meaning; the other is metaphorical and has an immoral meaning.
Wild Weeds and Wild Behavior
The literal and agricultural meaning of “sowing wild oats” refers to a European species of grass―botanically called Avena fatua, which the English have been calling “wild oats” for centuries. Botanists are of the opinion that these “wild oats” are the origin of cultivated oats. Farmers, since ancient times, have detested these “wild oats” because they are nothing but a useless weed, whose seeds have always been difficult to separate from those of useful cereals. Consequently, these “wild oats” have survived and multiply from year to year. The only way to remove it was by hand-weeding it. Modern seed cleaning and selective weed-killers have not really solved the problem in our days―for it still exists.
The metaphorical and immoral meaning of “sowing wild oats” refers to activities that are either immoral or a pure waste of time with little or no fruit coming from them. Hence, the expression of a “young man sowing his wild oats” came to be applied to those who “frittered away their time in stupid or idle pastimes.” Or as one writer puts it: “There’s a strong sexual association here, too, because the phrase was often applied, in a more or less indulgent way, and always to young men, to what was politely referred to as youthful dissipation. The associations between male sexual activity and sowing seed are obvious enough.”
It is asserted that the expression goes back to Roman times, with a certain Roman, called Plautus, thought to be the originator of the phrase. In the English language, it was apparently first used by the Norfolk Protestant clergyman Thomas Becon, in 1542. Later, in 1869, Louisa May Alcott used the expression in her book, Little Women, saying: “Boys will be boys, young men must sow their wild oats, and women must not expect miracles”―by which she seems to give the expression as one of time-wasting, trivial, pointless, infantile or stupid activities.
Our Lady on Wild Oats and Wild Behavior
You could say that Our Lady speaks of the same ‘wild behavior’ when she says: “As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals. From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! The Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education .… acting thus to snare many into sin, and will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world!” (Our Lady of Good Success).
These words of Our Lady of Good Success are reiterated and compounded by Our Lady at Fatima, when she revealed that the sins that damn most souls are the sins of the flesh―sins of impurity in either thought, word or deed―which deeply affected little St. Jacinta Marto, to whom Our Lady―in three private apparitions―revealed that “More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason” … “Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much” … “Woe to women lacking in modesty” and that “The Mother of God wants more virgin souls bound by the vow of chastity.”
All of this is just the tip of the iceberg of “sowing one’s wild oats”―for it is not just sexual sins that damn souls, but a whole host of other ‘weeds’ or ‘wild oats’ that choke the life out of the soul. The list itself is generally summarized by the Ten Commandments―but the Ten Commandments are merely ‘chapter headings’ that have an awful lot of detail in their chapters, as anyone who has read a Moral Theology manual will tell you. If you like, the Ten Commandments are like the names of ten countries―but within each country there are millions of people, more or less alike, speaking the same language, but each one different to everyone else in one way or another.
Yet today, everyone seems to sowing more seeds of sin than seeds of virtue! It will not end well!
Sowing What Seed?
God, through His Church, has provided us with many seeds of knowledge, graces and virtues. But unless that seed is planted and makes us die to the world, we will bear no fruit. “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). “The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31-32).
We have a choice in whether to be Marthas or Marys. We can be busy with the world, or busy with Our Lord. Each choice has its inescapable consequences. As we sow, so shall we reap. To those who sow their seed in the world, it will be said: “Because thou hast forgotten God thy Savior, thou shalt sow strange seed” (Isaias 17:10); “Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap” (Micheas 6:15) ... “You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies” (Leviticus 26:16).
Jesus spoke of those who were too preoccupied with the world and were thus unable to see the mysteries of God: “And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: ‘By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive .For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear” (Matthew 13:14-16).
The Parable of the Sower of the Seed
Explaining the Parable of the Sower of the Seed, Jesus tells His Apostles that the seed is the Word of God. He then continues (here follow both the accounts by St. Matthew and St. Mark):
“Hear you therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, there cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart: this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon stony ground, is he that heareth the word, and immediately receiveth it with joy. Yet hath he not root in himself, but is only for a time: and when there ariseth tribulation and persecution because of the word, he is presently scandalized. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth, and beareth fruit, and yieldeth the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (Matthew 13:18-23).
“He that soweth, soweth the Word. And these are they by the way side, where the Word is sown, and as soon as they have heard, immediately Satan cometh and taketh away the Word that was sown in their hearts. And these likewise are they that are sown on the stony ground: who, when they have heard the Word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but are only for a time: and then when tribulation and persecution ariseth for the Word, they are presently scandalized. And others there are who are sown among thorns: these are they that hear the Word, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the Word, and it is made fruitless. And these are they who are sown upon the good ground, who hear the Word, and receive it, and yield fruit, the one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred” (Mark 4:14-20).
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting. And in doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing. Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the Faith” (Galatians 6:7-10). “With the elect thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted” (Psalm 17:27).
We cannot give what we have not got! Therefore, we need to plant that Word of God within us; we need to nurture the mysteries of God what we have seen this Christmas season, which only recently ended (February 2nd); we need to let those seeds sprout in our souls; and water them with our prayers and pluck out any weeds with our sacrifices. It is serious work, it is hard work, it is the work of salvation!
Preparing the Plant for “Hardening-Off”
“Hardening off” is the process of moving plants outdoors for a portion of the day to gradually introduce them to the direct sunlight, dry air, and cold nights. Young, pampered seedlings that were grown either indoors or in a greenhouse need a period to adjust and acclimate to outdoor conditions, prior to planting in the garden.
Hardening-off gradually exposes the tender plants to wind, sun and rain and toughens them up by thickening the cuticle on the leaves so that the leaves lose less water. This helps prevent transplant shock; seedlings that languish, become stunted or die from sudden changes in temperature. Hardening-off times depend on the type of plants that are being grown and the temperature and temperature fluctuations.
The same is true for our spiritual life. Advent was a time for preparing the soil of the soul. Christmas was the time of planting the seed of the baby Christ-Child in that prepared soil. Now we have a period of growth, where the feasts and festivities have to give way to the eventual fasting and abstinence of Lent. So we need to adjust, we need that period of “hardening-off” whereby our softness becomes less soft and more ready to bear the harshness of Lent. That Lenten harshness is necessary for the maturity of our spiritual plant, the soul, in order for it to bring forth the fruit required by God, once it is watered by the grace of the Holy Ghost after Pentecost.
Faith is a Seed that Must Grow
Our Lord Himself says that the “Word of God” is a “seed” and then delivers the Parable of the Sower of the Seed. Speaking of this “Word of God,” St. Paul says: “I planted, Apollo watered, God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). “He took of the seed and put it in the ground, that it might take a firm root: He planted it on the surface of the Earth” (Ezechiel 17:5)—that is to say the Faith was planted on the surface of the Earth; it was also planted in our souls at our Baptism. Yet all around us, in the world that surrounds and which we must live, there is an abundance of wild oats―meaning worldliness.
Our Faith Should Flourish
“They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish” (Psalm 91:14) and “shall be like a tree, which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off” (Psalm 1:3). “He shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture” (Jeremias 17:8). “Planted by the waters” means staying close to Sacraments and grace, which only the one true Faith can supply, while “spreading roots towards moisture” indicates an attraction to the things that give grace — namely, the Sacraments, prayer and other spiritual exercises.
The Mustard Seed of Faith
“Another parable he proposed unto them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof’” (Matthew 13:31-32).
Likewise, our Faith is like a little mustard seed, planted in our souls at Baptism, and which is expected to grow into the proportions of a tree—a Tree of Life, of Eternal Life. This Faith has to be nourished and protected, and if this is done correctly, then we will be amazed at the power of its fruits: “Amen I say to you, if you have Faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Remove from hence hither!’, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:19).
What is Your Seed Doing?
“Is the seed as yet sprung up?” (Aggeus 2:20). God expects profit. “I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me, that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you. In this is My Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit” (John 15:1-8).
Where is Your Fruit?
This is what God expects of us—as in the Parable of the Talents, which we could just as easily call the Parable of Faith—where our Faith is expected to bear fruit: in one a hundred-fold, in another sixty-fold and another thirty-fold. “Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they prosper and bring forth fruit” (Jeremias 12:2). “It was planted in a good ground upon many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and bear fruit, that it might become a large vine” (Ezechiel 17:8). Our Faith is not a pointless gift that allows us to remain idle: “And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. And he said to them: ‘Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just!’” (Matthew 20:3-4).
Good Fruit and Bad Fruit
However, in the vineyard of the Lord, as well as the vineyard of the world, there are good and bad trees, good seed and seed of wild oats, or as another parable states, Wheat and Cockle. God has planted, but the enemy has corrupted: “I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto Me into that which is good for nothing” (Jeremias 2:21).
“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:13-20).
Wheat and Cockle
The parable of the Wheat and the Cockle could easily be called the parable of the Seed of God and the Seed of Wild Oats. “Another parable He proposed to them, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: “Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then hath it cockle?” And he said to them: “An enemy hath done this!” And the servants said to him: “Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?” And he said: “No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and, in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers: ‘Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn’” “ (Matthew 13:24-30).
Avoiding the ‘Bad Trees’ and the ‘Cockle’
Our Faith is too precious to risk weakening it or losing it, for in the process we may also lose our souls. The world is an enemy of the Faith: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed” (Genesis 3:15). Jesus “was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not” (John 1:10). The world hated Jesus and so it has to hate us also (if we love Jesus)—“If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). “In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Since He is not of this world, He does not pray for this world: “I pray not for the world” (John 17:9)—He simply tries to take souls away from the world and its spirit, which is ultimately the spirit of the devil, so that “all the world may be made subject to God” (Romans 3:19).
The World belongs to the Devil
Jesus refers to the devil as the prince of the world: “The prince of this world cometh, and in Me he hath not any thing” (John 14:30). To the worldly Jews, Our Lord said: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin” (John 8:23-24). If the world will not listen to the Word of God, and will not accept the Faith―which is symbolized by the seed―then we are told to leave the world behind: “Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet” (Matthew 10:14).
Those who secretly love the world, find this hard to accept, and under a false pretense of desiring the conversion of the world, continue to hang around the world even after having their attempts at conversion rejected. They want to sow the seed of God together with the wild oats of the world. “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “He that loveth danger shall perish in it” (Ecclesiasticus 3:27). “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:25). Speaking of His true followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world” (John 17:16).
We are explicitly told to stay clear of the world and to flee the world: “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) … “that we be not condemned with this world” (1 Corinthians 11:32). “And you, in time past, when you were dead in your offenses and sins, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now works upon the children of unbelief: in which also we all conversed in time past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts. But God, even when we were dead in sins, hath raised us up together [above this world], and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:1-6).
Separation from the World is Essential―Sow the Seed of God, Not the World
The field of our soul should be sown solely with the seed of God and not the world―there can be no cross-breeding, only cross carrying. The world is a weed that chokes the seed of God―which is the word of God. The two seeds cannot grow side by side―we cannot serve God and mammon, we cannot grow the seed of God and the world in the same soul. “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: If any man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers, that dwell in Israel, give of his seed to the idol Moloch, dying let him die: the people of the land shall stone him. And I will set My face against him: and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he hath given of his seed to Moloch, and hath defiled My sanctuary, and profaned My Holy Name!’” (Leviticus 20:1-3).
Separate the Seeds
God commanded a separation for the Israelites from the heathens and pagans that surrounded them. “Thou shalt not keep company with them” (Isaias 14:20) ... “Who have said to God: ‘Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways!’” (Job 21:14) … “Separate thyself from thy enemies” (Ecclesiasticus 6:13) … “What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. Wherefore, go out from among them, and be ye separate!” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17) ... “Be not seduced: Evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33) … “A corrupt man loveth not one that reproveth him: nor will he go to the wise” (Proverbs 15:12).
St. Paul tells us: “I have written to you, not to keep company, with any man that is named a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat” (1 Corinthians 5:11). The Liberals of this world are aghast at such intolerant words! St. Paul would again be stoned by the Liberals if he were to come around today. “The Liberal Catholic calls himself a Catholic because he firmly believes Catholicity to be the veritable revelation of the Son of God; he calls himself a Liberal Catholic because he believes that no one can impose upon him any belief which his individual judgment does not measure as perfectly rational. He falls an easy victim to the snare set by the devil for the intellectually proud. As a consequence, he is really not Christian, but pagan. He has no real supernatural Faith, but only a simple human conviction ... Liberals have a horror of any coercive element in matters of Faith; any chastisement of error shocks their tender susceptibilities, and they detest any … intolerance” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 7).
Liberals Will Not Separate
The disease of Liberalism has penetrated almost every corner of the world and every facet of daily life. What does one do? Can one be at peace with Liberalism? The words of the famous book, Liberalism is a Sin (a book praised and recommended by Rome itself) gives us some answers: “Should Catholics combine with the more moderate Liberals for … resisting the advance of the … extreme Liberals? … Such unions are neither good nor commendable … Liberalism, let its form be as moderated, as wheedling as possible, is by its very essence in direct and radical opposition to Catholicity… Liberals are born enemies of Catholics. … ‘Better seek solitude than bad company.’” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 30).
“Catholic associations ought chiefly to take care to exclude from amongst themselves, not only those who openly profess the principles of Liberalism, but also those who have deceived themselves into believing that a conciliation between Liberalism and Catholicism is possible, and who are known as Liberal Catholics.” (Liberalism Is A Sin, Chapter 31).
Many of our problems of today stem from the fact that we ignore this advice, and, by our own example and social contacts, we have taught our children to ignore this advice. For many, it is a case of vainly trying to bolt the barn door after the horse has escaped into the world.
If we fail to take to heart this command to separate ourselves and our loved ones from the world, then no matter what other precautions we take, they will merely be ‘Band-Aid’ solutions for a shotgun wound. As the above quote said: “Better seek solitude than bad company.”
What Seeds Have Been Sown in Your Family, Parish, School or Workplace?
As one, long-deceased, very conservative and traditional bishop used to say: “We are all Liberals!”―it is only in degrees of Liberalism that we differ. It is much the same as sin―we are all sinners: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us!” (1 John 1:8)―the only difference is in the degree of sin present in our lives. Liberalism is basically a freedom from authority, a freedom from being told what to do, a freedom of thought, a freedom of conscience, a freedom of action, a freedom of belief. Hence, today’s false theory of Ecumenism is pure Liberalism. Today’s false theory of Religious Freedom is pure Liberalism. Today’s false theory of everyone being equal is pure Liberalism. Today’s focus on Human Rights is pure Liberalism when it ignores and fails to place the Divine Rights of God above all Human Rights. Today’s laws―or so-called ‘laws’―that allow sinful behavior that contradicts the laws of God, are pure Liberalism. There is no love of God in Liberalism for a love of God requires a submission to God and His Laws: “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words … If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24; 15:10). Liberalism seeks to escape the keeping of God’s commandments and God’s word―therefore Liberalism is not a love of God, but a hatred of God―varying, of course, according to the degree of Liberalism with which each one us is infected.
Pope Leo XIII writes: “It is a high crime to withdraw allegiance from God, in order to please men, … to break the laws of Jesus Christ, in order to yield obedience to earthly rulers, or, under pretext of keeping the civil law, to ignore the rights of the Church; ‘we ought to obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29) … If the laws of the State are manifestly at variance with the Divine Law, containing enactments hurtful to the Church, or conveying injunctions adverse to the duties imposed by religion, then, truly, to resist becomes a positive duty, to obey would be a crime … Commands that are issued adversely to the honor due to God, and hence are beyond the scope of justice, must be looked upon as anything rather than laws … Human laws can never be set above the Divine Law” (Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Sapientia Christianae).
Let us not pretend that there are no weeds, no cockle, no wild-oats being sown in our family, or parish, or school or workplace or social field. Once again, the words of Holy Scripture refute us and contradict us―“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). Liberalism is a sin―as irrefutably indicated in the book Liberalism Is A Sin, by Fr. Felix Salvany, and so the Scriptural passage could easily be rephrased to include Liberalism: “If we say that we have no Liberalism within us, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our Liberalism, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our Liberalism, and to cleanse us and weed out our iniquitous Liberalism. If we say that we have no Liberalism, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
The Biggest Weeds, the Wildest Oats
Without any shadow of a doubt, the biggest, greatest and most successful sower of cockle and wild-oats is today’s modern technological media apparatus―the TV, the internet (via computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone), the radio. Through these ‘weapons’ the devil manages to sow his cockle which leads us to “sow our wild oats” in a variety of ways, ranging from wasting time, worldliness, irresponsible behavior, impure imaginations, immoral and impure actions. We are a civilization of time-fritterers, wasting the precious time that God has given us to grow in a knowledge, love and service of Him, by using that time to grown in a knowledge, love and service of the world and all it offers. The eyes are said to be the “windows of the soul” and the ears could be said to be the doors of the soul. The modern media is one long continuous intense onslaught on our eyes and ears. If we would only listen to sermons and read spiritual material for as long as we open our eyes and ears to this media onslaught! Our Lord says that loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength is the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-38; Luke 10:27)―yet we give our whole heart (or most of it), mind, soul and strength to these media outlets which enter through the inlets of our eyes and ears.
Watching and listening to what is on the screen has become an epidemic of addiction throughout the world. Within the USA people are watching screens of TVs and computers, browsing social media and swiping their lives away on their tablets and smartphones. The market research organization, Nielsen, reported in August of 2018, that an average adult in the USA (Catholic and non-Catholic combined) spends more than 11 hours per day watching, reading, listening to or simply interacting with media. That is a 90 minute daily increase from 2014. The average time spent on computers, tablets and smartphones was just under 4 hours a day. Television remains the most used media outlet, with an average of almost 5 hours a day being consecrated to that worldly tabernacle.
Some people even put their idols on a par with God―taking their smartphones to Mass and using them during Mass, especially during the sermon. Perhaps they are texting God and asking Him to “pull-the-plug” on the sermon! Now, it may well be that they are taking notes of the sermon―which, at a stretch, would be permissible―but it is hard for others to know whether that person is holily taking notes, or if that person is unholily texting or surfing the internet (unless you happen to be sitting right next to them or behind them). Or they may even be recording the sermon―but that does not involve tapping away at the keyboard. Yet, in all honesty, how many persons take notes during sermons, or record sermons. For most people the sermon is too long anyway―and the last thing they want to do is go through the ordeal all over again!
Nevertheless, there are quite a few interruptions during Mass as one Smartphone or another chimes in to add to the worship of God with its own peculiar ‘hymn’―some obnoxious modern-day tune or ringtone. One wonders why a phone cannot be turned off during Mass. Then there is a goodly number of ‘worshipers’ who cannot wait to get out of church once Mass has finished, and pull-out and start using their beloved Smartphone. Their zeal for doing that exceeds their zeal for receiving Holy Communion. Thanksgiving to God after Holy Mass and Holy Communion is pretty far down the list―you have to scroll to the bottom to get there.
God Becomes an Afterthought
Far from loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength (Matthew 22:37-38; Luke 10:27), we pat ourselves on the head if we give Him a few minutes a day―and those are often rushed, distracted and half-hearted minutes, of which Our Lord says: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8). Most children―especially as they grown older―have little care and little time for God, and parents and teachers care little about trying to uproot that cancerous weed that is choking their hearts.
The Spiritual Loses to the Material
The general tone and flavor of once-spiritual Christian feasts and seasons has been flooded with anti-Christian values of a greedy desire for material goods, and an unmortified indulgence in amusements, entertainment, fun and pleasure, a gluttonous consumption of food and drink—all of which, as the spiritual masters tell us, leads to sexual sins of thought, word and action—because if we do not and cannot control our physical appetites, then this overflows to our sexual appetites, which we find are even more difficult to control. Hence the suitability of our annual Lent―which (until 1966, when Pope gave a 95% discount in Lenten penance) is meant to put a brake on our appetites and force us to practice self-control throughout the Lenten season by 40 days of fasting.
The World Feeds Our Greed and Gluttony
The world is always seeking to feed both our physical and sexual appetites to gratification—and let us face it: Our Lady, way back in 1917, said that sexual sins (not just actions, but thoughts, glances, reading, watching, looking, talking, etc.) are the sins that damn the most souls in this modern era. She said that long before the advent of television, internet, social media, widespread books and magazines, popular music, modern fashions, modern dancing, beachwear, etc. When the three children of Fatima asked Our Lady about the whereabouts of their friend Amelia—who had recently died aged around 18—Our Lady said that she would have to burn in Purgatory until the end of the world! Amelia’s sin? She was known to have been a little immodest (in 1917!!) and perhaps guilty of some impurity (1917)—how much worse is 102 years later, in 2019!!! How much more guilty are we today than Amelia was in 1917!
Our Appetites Have Increased!
Back in 1917, there was very little to have and to own by way of possessions—compared to weeds and cockle that is available to the common person today, in 2019. The variety and quantity of food was far, far less than what is available in the stores today. There were no electronic goods, gizmos and convenient electrical appliances in 1917. In 1882 Thomas Edison helped form the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York, which brought electric light to parts of Manhattan, Ney York―but only one square mile and not for everyone within that square mile― there were 85 customers with a total of 400 light bulbs between them, served by 6 jumbo generators. Progress was slow. Most Americans still lit their homes with gas light and candles for another fifty years. In 1925, only around half of all homes in the U.S. had electric power. If you lived in town in the 1930s, your house had probably electricity. In town, the more affluent families started using electric stoves, coffee makers, waffle irons, hot plates, electric roasters, and Waring Blenders during the 1930s. But if you lived in a farmhouse in the country, you did not have electricity.
The Sinful Daughters of Electricity
Once electricity arrived on the scene, it quickly gave birth to a large family, many of whom were the seductive occasions of sin. Television or TV is one example. Television sales took-off in the late 1940s, following the start of individual stations in the largest cities. Only in such heavily populated places was the relatively high cost of starting and operating a TV station considered economically viable. TV set ownership thus initially possessed a big-city or, more accurately, metropolitan-area bias. Yet do not for one second imagine that every household had a TV set! There were ONLY around 102,000 TV sets in the ENTIRE United States in early 1948, two-thirds of those TV sets were in the New York area, from which most of the first TV stations operated.
Another child of electricity was the PC (personal computer). Home computers were entering the market as a rarity in 1977, and becoming common during the 1980s. Yet in those ‘ancient’ days, much like electricity when it first became available to homes, only a few households had a computer. It was a rarity, unlike today. The first “mainframe” computers—too large for any home—would soon give birth to smaller computers, leading to the desktop computer, then the laptop computer, and then the computerized phones and tablets. The computer, though not an evil in itself, was to be the platform or forerunner of a series of ‘children’ or offspring, who would imitate it and build upon it—namely, the Internet, the Smartphone, computer Tablets, computer TV sets or Smart-TVs, etc.
A later child of electricity was the Internet. On August 6th, 1991, the World Wide Web became publicly available—and what a web it has become! How many souls in Hell owe their presence there to the Internet? Not a few! The Internet—even though it has a FEW good qualities—has brought about LOTS of sin in general, and immodesty and impurity in particular—into the home (much like the TV).
All of these electronic “conveniences” have become a very convenient way for the devil and the world to bring the spirit of the world—which is not the spirit of God—into the home today. If “eyes are the window of the soul”—then these electronic gizmos (TV, Cable TV, Satellite TV, Streaming TV, Smart TV, Computer, Laptop, Tablet, Smartphone, etc. loaded with the Internet and its offspring of Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, DeviantArt, BeMyEyes, NextDoor, etc.), then these electronic gizmos have become “the windows of the home”—and those windows are left open day and night! It is not for nothing that one of the major computer platforms is called “WINDOWS”! Thus does the sowing of wild oats begin with these seeds being sowed without hindrance.
Open Windows and Open Doors!
Parents used to take vigilant care on whom they allowed to enter their homes, for the sake of protecting the morals of their children—now, with these electronic gizmos, they and their children are open to invasion by anyone and anything, regardless of trying to take ‘preventative’ measures to protect the morals of the home from the immorality in the world. We are not just talking about sexual immorality, but of worldliness in general and a whole host of attitudes in particular, that cover topics such as bad language, bad music and lyrics, immodest dress, the Seven Deadly Sins (pride, greed, gluttony, anger, lust, envy, sloth), lying, mockery, materialism in general, erroneous philosophies of life, indifference to God and religion, questioning and doubting of the Faith, indirect and direct exposure to false religions, promotion of atheism and sinful lifestyles, etc. Consequently, the seeds of wild oats are sown and start to sprout, grow roots, and spread out and grow bigger and bigger, deeper and deeper.
If all of this does not please and appeal to the Catholic, it will still, nevertheless, gradually weaken the Faith―on the basis of the principle or axiom of: “You cannot place and leave clothes in a smoky room, without them gradually taking on the smell of smoke”—much like you cannot continue to peel onions without your hands taking on the smell of onions. Even if the Catholic miraculously (by God’s grace) escapes drinking-in the mortal sins from these electronic gizmos, the Catholic will nevertheless drink-in many poisonous venial sins and be gradually “desensitized” and “acclimatized” to sin and worldliness in general. Living among all the present opulence and wealth of the world, gazing at all the so-called “goodies” in the stores and malls, only serves to feed our appetite for all those things, which we begin to desire and seek. This is what Our Lord means, when explaining the parable of the Sower of Seed, in referring to the seeds of the word of God that bear no fruit because either the birds of the air take the seeds away, or they fall on stony ground, or among thorns and weeds.
Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day, Catholic Aren’t Corrupted in a Day
As they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and neither is the Catholic corrupted in a day. Yet that corruption or sowing of wild oats—you had better believe it—is planned and put into effect by the devil and world. Our Lord does not call the devil “the prince of this world” for no reason at all! If he is a prince—rather than a mere citizen—then he has power, and he uses that power well, as we see from the fact that most souls are lost and end up being eternal citizens of that prince in his real princedom—Hell. Why on earth (or should we say, why the hell) does Holy Scripture say: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16). We need to be reminded of this again and again and again―because we are falling into that (pleasant) trap again and again and again!
The World is Not a Friend, But an Enemy
Holy Scripture says these things because God know that our ENEMY is the WORLD—which is why Our Lord pointed-out: “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). Yet, strangely enough, we DO NOT hate the world! We actually LIKE THE WORLD! We seek to MARRY THE WORLD to our Faith and its beliefs! Yet, this is NOT POSSIBLE, as Holy Scripture clearly states: “Children of Belial are gone out of the midst of thee and have said: ‘Let us go, and serve strange gods which you know not!’” (Deuteronomy 13:13) … “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Separation of Church and State, But No Separation of Catholic from the World
We naively or ignorantly accept the irreligious principle of “Separation of State from Church”, but we refuse to accept the religious principle of separating ourselves from the world. God says: “What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). Yet we DO NOT separate ourselves from—and make all kinds of specious excuses for not separating ourselves as much as possible. Today, the temples of Belial (the stores or screens of TV, computer or smartphone) are filled with glistening-eyed worshipers. They drool before the altars (store-shelves or TV and computer or smartphone screens) of those temples which are filled with “the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).
This is nothing new! The Chosen People of old—during the Exodus from Egypt—did the very same thing. They became tired of the mortification of the desert wilderness, that God had led them into on their way to the Promised Land, just as we get tired of being spiritual in the desert wilderness of worldliness. They hankered after the “fleshpots” of Egypt and wanted to turn back—as we will hanker after the things of the world that we may have left during the upcoming Lent and want to indulge in them all over again. They, so to speak, sowed their wild oats by building their golden calf in the desert and were severely punished for that—and do we expect to go unpunished for loving our “golden calves” more than we love God?
St. Paul warns us of repeating that grave mistake: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was [a figure of] Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert. Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play!’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall. Let no temptation take hold on you!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-13).
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
You say: “Of course—I know all this! I’ve heard countless times before! I don’t need to be told of it over again, and again, and again!” Of course you know this! Yet when you drive your car—and you are heading down a steep hill—do you merely apply the brakes only once (at the top of the hill), or do you keep the pressing the brake-pedal down continually, or at least press it down “again and again and again”? We, in this most materialistic and most affluent age in all of the world’s history, are heading down a very steep hill—and we are going down very fast—accelerating with each year! “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat!” (Matthew 7:13). If you do not want to crash through the gates of Hell, then the brakes must be applied and the horn must be sounded―“again and again and again”! Road signs that warn of dangers are left up day and night―and are not just posted for a day or two―so that we might see them “again and again and again”!
Holy Scripture says: “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:1-4). So we preach “in season and out of season”.
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Friday February 22nd & Saturday February 23rd
Article 4
If You Won’t Look After the Church―The Church Won’t Look After You!
Article 4
If You Won’t Look After the Church―The Church Won’t Look After You!
Who’s Your Mother?
You have, no doubt, heard the saying: “Everyone loves their mother!” Generally, that is true―unless the mother has been particularly cruel, nasty and abusive. By analogy, it is also said: “The father is the head of the family and the mother is the heart of the family.” We also speak of loving with our hearts and not with our heads! The head is a symbol of thought and the heart is a symbol of love―hence we also say that the man tends to lean towards being logical and the woman tends more towards feelings and emotions. Mothers tend to be closer to the hearts of their children than their fathers due to the fact that it was the mother who carried the child day and night in her womb; it was the mother who nursed the baby after it was born; it was the mother who spent more hours with the infant than the father; it was the mother who usually tended to the sick child; it was the mother who usually made the meals that fed the family, etc.
Looking at the negative aspects of life, a child born out of wedlock is usually under the care of the mother. In cases of failed marriages, it is usually the mother who retains custody of the children. In times of danger, the mother vehemently seeks to protect her children, even to the point of sacrificing her safety or even her life.
The Connection of Mother and Church
Today, February 22nd, we celebrate the feast of The Chair of St. Peter. Today’s feast used to be two separate feasts―one commemorating St. Peter’s Chair at Rome on January 18th, and one commemorating his Chair at Antioch on February 22nd. The two were combined and are now celebrated as one feast today. Yes, there is a physical object known as “the Chair of St. Peter”― is located in the apse of St. Peter’s Basilica. The Catholic Encyclopedia states: “We conclude, therefore, that there is no reason for doubting the genuineness of the relic preserved at the Vatican, and known as the ‘Cathedra Petri’.”
The Chair of Peter naturally brings to mind the thought and image of the Church―for it is to Peter that Our Lord said: “Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19).
The Church is a body―the Body of Christ. This theology is based on several passages in the Bible, where Jesus Christ is seen as the “head” of the body, which is the church, while the “members” of the body are seen as members of the Church: “Christ is the head of the Church” (Ephesians 5:23). “He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn” (Colossians 1:18). “We, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Romans 12:5). “His body, which is the Church” (Colossians 1:24). “For as the body is one, and hath many members; and all the members of the body, whereas they are many, yet are one body, so also is Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free; and in one Spirit we have all been made to drink. For the body also is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were the eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God hath set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased Him. And if they all were one member, where would be the body? But now there are many members indeed, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand: ‘I need not thy help!’ nor again the head to the feet: ‘I have no need of you!’ Yea, much more those that seem to be the more feeble members of the body, are more necessary. And such as we think to be the less honorable members of the body, about these we put more abundant honor; and those that are our uncomely parts, have more abundant comeliness. But our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, giving to that which wanted the more abundant honor, that there might be no schism in the body; but the members might be mutually careful one for another. And if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it; or if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the Body of Christ, and members of member” (1 Corinthians 12:12–27). “It is now revealed to His holy Apostles and Prophets, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of the same body, and co-partners of His promise in Christ Jesus, by the Gospel” (Ephesians 3:6).
The Womb of the Church
The Church―the Mystical Body of Christ―can be looked upon as a womb, in which children are conceived (baptized) and nourished (by the Holy Eucharist and the Word of God) and trained (confirmed) to be soldiers of Christ to fight for and defend Holy Mother Church against all attacks―both physical (persecutions) and intellectual (heresies and errors).
We often hear the Church referred to as “Sancta Mater Ecclesia” or “Holy Mother Church.” We speak of Protestants having “strayed” and needing to return “home” to “Holy Mother Church.” In literature, the Roman Catholic Church is referred to as the Holy Mother Church in Cervantes’ Don Quixote (Chapter XXVII), Scott’s Ivanhoe (Chapter II), Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Chapter XXV), Shakespeare’s King John (Act III, Scene 1), and many other works of literature.
Our Lady―the Blessed Mother of God―is a symbol of the Church. She is the microcosm of the macrocosm which is the Church. Microcosm and Macrocosm refers to a vision of things (or cosmos) where the smaller part (microcosm) reflects the greater whole (macrocosm) and vice versa. For example, as in a small group of individuals such as a Catholic family (microcosm) whose behavior is typical of a larger social body such as the Parish (macrocosm) in which they live. Or, if you take the family as being the macrocosm, each individual family member is a microcosm that reflects the whole family macrocosm. You will see children reflect the attitudes and behaviors of their parents; students reflect their teachers―hence we say: “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you what you are!” Or, “You are what you eat!”―in the sense that healthy people more often than not reflect healthy eating habits. As doctors say: “We eat ourselves into disease!” Our Lady reflects what the true Church should be like―and the Church should reflect Our Lady in the way it lives and conducts itself.
If we live in a way that reflects the mind and heart of the Church, then the Church will be our protection, safeguard and refuge. What Holy Scripture says of God, is also true of the Church―which is the Spouse or Bride of God: “Be not deceived, God [and the Church] is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
It Comes In Threes
They say “It comes in threes!” We have three Persons in one God, three members of the Holy Family, three Theological Virtues, three elements to each family (father, mother, child). Our Lady has a triple relationship with the Holy Trinity―she is the daughter of the Father, the mother of the Son and the spouse of the Holy Ghost. She lived a triple life on Earth―as a single woman, as a married woman and as a widowed woman. The Canaanite woman asks Our Lord for help three times and is refused by Our Lord three times. Our Lord gives us the “three strikes and you’re out” rule in correcting others―first privately, then with one or two witnesses, then with the Church. The Church still uses this by giving three solemn warnings before an excommunication. Our Lord was transfigured amongst a threesome―Himself, Elias and Moses. The family that Jesus loved had three members―Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary Magdalen. Our Lord had three favorite Apostles―Peter James and John. Our Lord was betrayed three times by St. Peter and after His resurrection Our Lord asks Peter three times if Peter loves Him. It is traditionally held that three nails were driven into Our Lord at His crucifixion. There were three crucifixes on Calvary and three main persons at the foot of Our Lord’s cross―His Mother, St. John and St. Mary Magdalen. After His death, Jesus was in the tomb over the course of three days. We have the three locations in the after life―Heaven, Purgatory and Hell. The Angels are divided into three groups and then subdivided into three further groups―giving us the nine choirs of angels. There is an abundance of other “threes” throughout Scripture―the purpose here is not to list them all, but merely to point out the fact.
In the Church, the number “three” continues to play an important part. We have three participants in Baptism―the baby, the godfather and the godmother. There are three Sacraments that impart to us an indelible mark and character―Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders. There are three basic states in life―married laity, single laity and some form of the religious life (priest, deacon, brother, sister, monk or nun). Our sins of commission and omission are of three basic kinds―things we did or not think; things we did or did not say; things we did or did not do. There are three essential requirements for a sin to classified as being a mortal sin―the thing itself must be serious, we must personally know that it is a serious thing at the time of committing the sin, and we must fully want to do it. In the Rosary, we have the traditional centuries old division into three groups of mysteries―Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious. In our prayer life, we make the three acts of Faith, Hope and Charity―which are the only three ways in which a person can relate to God. At the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (Extraordinary Rite, i.e. Latin Mass), we say three times: “mea culpa” or “through my fault”. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has three essential parts―the Offertory, the Canon (containing the Consecration), and the Communion. Also during Mass, we have the three-times-three Kyrie/Christe/Kyrie Eleison and the triple Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy) at the end of the Preface. Before Holy Communion, we say the prayer “Lord I not worthy, etc.” three times. Before ridiculous changes were made, the obligatory fast before receiving Holy Communion was of three hours and was binding under pain of mortal sin. We have sacred Triduum (Three Days) during Holy Week―Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. There is also the requirement by Canon Law for three banns of marriage to be proclaimed by the local church before any Catholic can get married. The pope used to wear a triple tiara―which reflected his power to govern, to teach and to make laws. Inadvertently, even fallen-away sinners worship in “threes”―for the only time you see them in church is at baptisms, marriages and funerals! Again, there is an abundance of other “threes” throughout the Liturgy, Sacraments and Canon Law―the purpose here is not to list them all, but merely to point out the fact.
The Spiritual Life is also loaded with “threes”―from its very foundation upwards. We have the Three Ways or Three Ages or Three Stages (call them what you will) of the Spiritual or Interior Life:
(1) The Way of Beginners―also called the Purgative Way
(2) The Way of the Proficient―also called the Illuminative Way
(3) The Way of the Perfect―also called the Unitive Way.
The point is that EVERYONE MUST pass through ALL of these three stages before they are admitted to Heaven―the only exceptions being deaths of baptized infants before they reach the age of reason and martyrdom. We also have the triple Baptism―baptism by water, baptism by blood and baptism by desire. Let it be said that baptism by desire is not the loose, open-ended, loophole that some people, by stretching or distorting the truth, like to apply to almost every Tom, Dick or Harry (notice the “three” in Tom, Dick and Harry!).
The Water of Grace
In living our spiritual or interior life, we must remember that without God and His grace we can do nothing: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―thus we have three elements in all that we do: God, His grace and ourselves. It is the Church that Christ has chosen and constructed to be the chief channel for His grace: “Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church!” (Matthew 16:18). Water is a symbol of grace and that is why we are baptized with water. Holy Mother Church provides us with holy water, which is a sacramental and therefore a source of grace. Besides being able to bless (make) holy water at any time, the Church has special moments where water is more solemnly blessed―such as blessing of water during the Paschal Vigil ceremony and on the eve of the Epiphany. The holy water is used during the blessing of persons, objects and homes, used during exorcisms, used at certain solemn Masses, used during processions, used upon the sick, etc. Holy Mother Church is a fountain of water―a source of grace―for all who come to her: “Whosoever drinketh of this water, shall thirst again; but he that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever! But the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting” (John 4:13-14).
No Life Without Water
It needs no mentioning how important water is for life. We can survive without food far longer than we can survive without water. A person can last for more than three weeks without food, but nowhere near as long without water. Water helps lubricate our joints, regulates body temperature by means of sweating and respiration, and helps flush-out waste. The experts vary in their opinions, but the general opinion is that we cannot survive longer than around 100 hours (4 days = 96 hours) without water. If only a little water is available, then it will not save life, but only delay inevitable death. Where outdoor temperatures are mild, it is estimated that a person could endure 100 hours without water. If it is cooler, you can last for a little longer. If you are in high temperatures and in direct sunlight, then it is less―for in extreme temperatures, the body can sweat as much as 2 to 3 pints per hour! Of course, all of these estimates will differ according to each individual, the amount of activity undergone and one’s general health.
The Effects of Dehydration
If even you manage to survive a prolonged time of being deprived of water or having less water than the body needs daily, you will not survive without various detrimental side-effects taking place due to varying levels of dehydration. Every year, American hospitals deal with around 500,000 persons due to dehydration. Around 10,000 of that number die in hospital.
The effects of dehydration depend upon how much water you have lost. If you lose 3% to 4% of your body weight due to fluid depletion, then you merely feel “off” and not in your best shape, though there may not be any clearly identifiable symptoms yet. If you lose around 5% to 6% of your body weight through fluid loss, then you can experience thirst, fatigue, dizziness and headaches, leading to muscles cramping―as is experienced by some athletes, especially long-distance runners. A 7% to 10% loss cannot be ignored. At this level blood pressure drops, the pulse might race, normal urination frequency decreases, prodded skin loses its “bounce-back” capacity, and vomiting can occur. Five or more hours at this level requires an emergency room visit. Severe dehydration begins when 11% to 15% of the body weight is lost due to fluid depletion. At this point, if fluid loss is severe enough, electrolyte abnormalities can lead to seizures and later death― symptoms include pale, cool and clammy skin; a rapid heartbeat; and shallow breathing. Heart muscles can begin to spasm, creating an arrhythmia (abnormal heartbeat), the heart cannot pump enough blood to the body, leading to hypovolemic shock, which can kill a person. Emergency medical treatment is necessary at this stage, to obtain intravenous rehydration. If you lose 16% to 25% percent of your total body weight to fluid depletion, death is highly likely if you cannot rehydrate yourself or get assistance. Prolonged or frequent occurrences of severe dehydration can severely affect the kidneys, causing kidney stones or eventually kidney failure.
Grace Dehydration
Since water is a symbol of grace, we can find symptoms similar to dehydration in the life of grace―you could call it “grace dehydration” or “degraciation”―with venial sin and lukewarmness being the early stages or symptoms of “grace dehydration” and death coming on with mortal sin. Our interior life, our spiritual life―the only real true life that brings any real and lasting reward―is a life of grace. We normally receive that first grace at our Baptism, where the priest says during the ceremony: “Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, has freely called him (her) (them) to His holy grace and blessed way and to the waters of Baptism.” … “Thus will they be made ready for the grace of Thy baptism and ever remain ... ready at all times to receive your grace” … “They are purified in the grace-laden waters” … “Make good use of the grace received in Baptism” … “May they delight in having become by grace what they could not have aspired to by nature.” It is symbolic of grace that water is used―for water washes things clean and water fills up objects and water sustains and promotes life. The baptized has Original Sin and all their personal sins removed; grace is poured into the soul; the Gifts of the Holy Ghost are planted within the soul; the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity come into the soul; the person becomes an adopted child of God and an heir to the kingdom of Heaven! Simple words and actions, but an awesome and powerful result! Yet just like newly planted seeds in a garden―as these gifts have been planted in the soul―they all need to be looked after, tended to, cultivated, nourished and protected so that they can grow and thrive.
As stated above, without God’s grace we can do nothing―grace is everything. Every good thought, word or action owes itself to God’s grace starting the ball rolling: “To every one of us is given grace” (Ephesians 4:7). “Therefore, my son, be strong in grace” (2 Timothy 2:1). “Stir up the grace of God which is in thee!” (2 Timothy 1:6). “And He [Christ] said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee!’” (2 Corinthians 12:9). “By the grace of God, I am what I am; and His grace in me hath not been void, but I have labored more abundantly than all they―yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). “God is able to make all grace abound in you; so that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8) … “having different gifts, according to the grace that is given us” (Romans 12:6). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above―coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). “Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may find grace in seasonable aid” (Hebrews 4:16). “So that nothing is wanting to you in any grace” (1 Corinthians 1:7). “As every man hath received grace … of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). “Being justified freely by his grace, through … Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24) … “without [Whom] we can do nothing!” (John 15:5). “Who hath delivered us and called us by His holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:9). “For by grace you are saved … and not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). “Trust perfectly in the grace which is offered you!” (1 Peter 1:13). “Grow in grace!” (2 Peter 3:18). “We do exhort you, that you receive not the grace of God in vain!” (2 Corinthians 6:1). “Neglect not the grace that is in thee!” (1 Timothy 4:14).
You Are a Church
Your soul is like a mini-church―a microcosm of the universal Catholic Church, which is the macrocosm. That is why some saints call our soul a “diocese” of which we are the “bishop” or “pastor” (pastor means “shepherd”). If you take care of your “flock” or your “sheep”, the members of your “diocese”, then they will take care of you and ensure that you are led to eternal life. If Our Lord can say: “The Kingdom of God is within you!” (Luke 17:21)―then obviously you can also say: “The Church of God is within you!”―for God’s Kingdom includes His Church. If you don’t believe that, then explain why Holy Scripture says: “Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are!” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). “What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore: ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord. Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
If you love God, then you will be careful about who you allow into your church! In more sane and respectable days, people who were immodestly dressed were barred from entering the church building. Any kind of secular or rowdy behavior is forbidden in the church. You cannot use your laptop, tablet, smartphone, i-Pod or i-Pad in church. You don’t watch TV and videos in church. You don’t listen to modern music―such as pop, rock & roll, heavy metal, blues, jazz, hip-hop, soul, country, reggae, etc.―in church. Why not? Because the church is a sacred place, not a secular place. The same is true of your soul. It was made by God and made for God―remember you catechism? Question: “Who made me?” Answer: “God made me!” Question: “Why did God make me?” Answer: “God made me to know Him, love Him, serve Him in this life and to be happy with Him in the next!” We were made by God and made for God―and God is not of this world! Jesus is not of this world, as He Himself said: “I am from above! You [the worldly minded] are from beneath! You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Speaking of His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world!” (John 17:16).
What is the ‘church’ of your soul like? Is it a ‘worldly church’ or a ‘heavenly church’―“By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Every one therefore that heareth these my words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof” (Matthew 7:16-27).
Is Your Church Crumbling or Thriving? Are You Looking After Your Church?
Is the church of your soul resting on sand, or is it resting on rock? Will it stand or will it fall? Are you doing ‘church maintenance’ (soul maintenance)? Outside of grace, there is nothing more precious than your soul. As Our Lord said: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the clothing? Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them! Are not you of much more value than they? … Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink? or “With what shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:19-33) and “The Kingdom of God is within you!” (Luke 17:21). “Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are!” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
You have, no doubt, heard the saying: “Everyone loves their mother!” Generally, that is true―unless the mother has been particularly cruel, nasty and abusive. By analogy, it is also said: “The father is the head of the family and the mother is the heart of the family.” We also speak of loving with our hearts and not with our heads! The head is a symbol of thought and the heart is a symbol of love―hence we also say that the man tends to lean towards being logical and the woman tends more towards feelings and emotions. Mothers tend to be closer to the hearts of their children than their fathers due to the fact that it was the mother who carried the child day and night in her womb; it was the mother who nursed the baby after it was born; it was the mother who spent more hours with the infant than the father; it was the mother who usually tended to the sick child; it was the mother who usually made the meals that fed the family, etc.
Looking at the negative aspects of life, a child born out of wedlock is usually under the care of the mother. In cases of failed marriages, it is usually the mother who retains custody of the children. In times of danger, the mother vehemently seeks to protect her children, even to the point of sacrificing her safety or even her life.
The Connection of Mother and Church
Today, February 22nd, we celebrate the feast of The Chair of St. Peter. Today’s feast used to be two separate feasts―one commemorating St. Peter’s Chair at Rome on January 18th, and one commemorating his Chair at Antioch on February 22nd. The two were combined and are now celebrated as one feast today. Yes, there is a physical object known as “the Chair of St. Peter”― is located in the apse of St. Peter’s Basilica. The Catholic Encyclopedia states: “We conclude, therefore, that there is no reason for doubting the genuineness of the relic preserved at the Vatican, and known as the ‘Cathedra Petri’.”
The Chair of Peter naturally brings to mind the thought and image of the Church―for it is to Peter that Our Lord said: “Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19).
The Church is a body―the Body of Christ. This theology is based on several passages in the Bible, where Jesus Christ is seen as the “head” of the body, which is the church, while the “members” of the body are seen as members of the Church: “Christ is the head of the Church” (Ephesians 5:23). “He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn” (Colossians 1:18). “We, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Romans 12:5). “His body, which is the Church” (Colossians 1:24). “For as the body is one, and hath many members; and all the members of the body, whereas they are many, yet are one body, so also is Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free; and in one Spirit we have all been made to drink. For the body also is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were the eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God hath set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased Him. And if they all were one member, where would be the body? But now there are many members indeed, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand: ‘I need not thy help!’ nor again the head to the feet: ‘I have no need of you!’ Yea, much more those that seem to be the more feeble members of the body, are more necessary. And such as we think to be the less honorable members of the body, about these we put more abundant honor; and those that are our uncomely parts, have more abundant comeliness. But our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, giving to that which wanted the more abundant honor, that there might be no schism in the body; but the members might be mutually careful one for another. And if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it; or if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the Body of Christ, and members of member” (1 Corinthians 12:12–27). “It is now revealed to His holy Apostles and Prophets, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of the same body, and co-partners of His promise in Christ Jesus, by the Gospel” (Ephesians 3:6).
The Womb of the Church
The Church―the Mystical Body of Christ―can be looked upon as a womb, in which children are conceived (baptized) and nourished (by the Holy Eucharist and the Word of God) and trained (confirmed) to be soldiers of Christ to fight for and defend Holy Mother Church against all attacks―both physical (persecutions) and intellectual (heresies and errors).
We often hear the Church referred to as “Sancta Mater Ecclesia” or “Holy Mother Church.” We speak of Protestants having “strayed” and needing to return “home” to “Holy Mother Church.” In literature, the Roman Catholic Church is referred to as the Holy Mother Church in Cervantes’ Don Quixote (Chapter XXVII), Scott’s Ivanhoe (Chapter II), Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Chapter XXV), Shakespeare’s King John (Act III, Scene 1), and many other works of literature.
Our Lady―the Blessed Mother of God―is a symbol of the Church. She is the microcosm of the macrocosm which is the Church. Microcosm and Macrocosm refers to a vision of things (or cosmos) where the smaller part (microcosm) reflects the greater whole (macrocosm) and vice versa. For example, as in a small group of individuals such as a Catholic family (microcosm) whose behavior is typical of a larger social body such as the Parish (macrocosm) in which they live. Or, if you take the family as being the macrocosm, each individual family member is a microcosm that reflects the whole family macrocosm. You will see children reflect the attitudes and behaviors of their parents; students reflect their teachers―hence we say: “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you what you are!” Or, “You are what you eat!”―in the sense that healthy people more often than not reflect healthy eating habits. As doctors say: “We eat ourselves into disease!” Our Lady reflects what the true Church should be like―and the Church should reflect Our Lady in the way it lives and conducts itself.
If we live in a way that reflects the mind and heart of the Church, then the Church will be our protection, safeguard and refuge. What Holy Scripture says of God, is also true of the Church―which is the Spouse or Bride of God: “Be not deceived, God [and the Church] is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption! But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).
It Comes In Threes
They say “It comes in threes!” We have three Persons in one God, three members of the Holy Family, three Theological Virtues, three elements to each family (father, mother, child). Our Lady has a triple relationship with the Holy Trinity―she is the daughter of the Father, the mother of the Son and the spouse of the Holy Ghost. She lived a triple life on Earth―as a single woman, as a married woman and as a widowed woman. The Canaanite woman asks Our Lord for help three times and is refused by Our Lord three times. Our Lord gives us the “three strikes and you’re out” rule in correcting others―first privately, then with one or two witnesses, then with the Church. The Church still uses this by giving three solemn warnings before an excommunication. Our Lord was transfigured amongst a threesome―Himself, Elias and Moses. The family that Jesus loved had three members―Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary Magdalen. Our Lord had three favorite Apostles―Peter James and John. Our Lord was betrayed three times by St. Peter and after His resurrection Our Lord asks Peter three times if Peter loves Him. It is traditionally held that three nails were driven into Our Lord at His crucifixion. There were three crucifixes on Calvary and three main persons at the foot of Our Lord’s cross―His Mother, St. John and St. Mary Magdalen. After His death, Jesus was in the tomb over the course of three days. We have the three locations in the after life―Heaven, Purgatory and Hell. The Angels are divided into three groups and then subdivided into three further groups―giving us the nine choirs of angels. There is an abundance of other “threes” throughout Scripture―the purpose here is not to list them all, but merely to point out the fact.
In the Church, the number “three” continues to play an important part. We have three participants in Baptism―the baby, the godfather and the godmother. There are three Sacraments that impart to us an indelible mark and character―Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders. There are three basic states in life―married laity, single laity and some form of the religious life (priest, deacon, brother, sister, monk or nun). Our sins of commission and omission are of three basic kinds―things we did or not think; things we did or did not say; things we did or did not do. There are three essential requirements for a sin to classified as being a mortal sin―the thing itself must be serious, we must personally know that it is a serious thing at the time of committing the sin, and we must fully want to do it. In the Rosary, we have the traditional centuries old division into three groups of mysteries―Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious. In our prayer life, we make the three acts of Faith, Hope and Charity―which are the only three ways in which a person can relate to God. At the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (Extraordinary Rite, i.e. Latin Mass), we say three times: “mea culpa” or “through my fault”. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has three essential parts―the Offertory, the Canon (containing the Consecration), and the Communion. Also during Mass, we have the three-times-three Kyrie/Christe/Kyrie Eleison and the triple Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy) at the end of the Preface. Before Holy Communion, we say the prayer “Lord I not worthy, etc.” three times. Before ridiculous changes were made, the obligatory fast before receiving Holy Communion was of three hours and was binding under pain of mortal sin. We have sacred Triduum (Three Days) during Holy Week―Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. There is also the requirement by Canon Law for three banns of marriage to be proclaimed by the local church before any Catholic can get married. The pope used to wear a triple tiara―which reflected his power to govern, to teach and to make laws. Inadvertently, even fallen-away sinners worship in “threes”―for the only time you see them in church is at baptisms, marriages and funerals! Again, there is an abundance of other “threes” throughout the Liturgy, Sacraments and Canon Law―the purpose here is not to list them all, but merely to point out the fact.
The Spiritual Life is also loaded with “threes”―from its very foundation upwards. We have the Three Ways or Three Ages or Three Stages (call them what you will) of the Spiritual or Interior Life:
(1) The Way of Beginners―also called the Purgative Way
(2) The Way of the Proficient―also called the Illuminative Way
(3) The Way of the Perfect―also called the Unitive Way.
The point is that EVERYONE MUST pass through ALL of these three stages before they are admitted to Heaven―the only exceptions being deaths of baptized infants before they reach the age of reason and martyrdom. We also have the triple Baptism―baptism by water, baptism by blood and baptism by desire. Let it be said that baptism by desire is not the loose, open-ended, loophole that some people, by stretching or distorting the truth, like to apply to almost every Tom, Dick or Harry (notice the “three” in Tom, Dick and Harry!).
The Water of Grace
In living our spiritual or interior life, we must remember that without God and His grace we can do nothing: “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5)―thus we have three elements in all that we do: God, His grace and ourselves. It is the Church that Christ has chosen and constructed to be the chief channel for His grace: “Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church!” (Matthew 16:18). Water is a symbol of grace and that is why we are baptized with water. Holy Mother Church provides us with holy water, which is a sacramental and therefore a source of grace. Besides being able to bless (make) holy water at any time, the Church has special moments where water is more solemnly blessed―such as blessing of water during the Paschal Vigil ceremony and on the eve of the Epiphany. The holy water is used during the blessing of persons, objects and homes, used during exorcisms, used at certain solemn Masses, used during processions, used upon the sick, etc. Holy Mother Church is a fountain of water―a source of grace―for all who come to her: “Whosoever drinketh of this water, shall thirst again; but he that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever! But the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting” (John 4:13-14).
No Life Without Water
It needs no mentioning how important water is for life. We can survive without food far longer than we can survive without water. A person can last for more than three weeks without food, but nowhere near as long without water. Water helps lubricate our joints, regulates body temperature by means of sweating and respiration, and helps flush-out waste. The experts vary in their opinions, but the general opinion is that we cannot survive longer than around 100 hours (4 days = 96 hours) without water. If only a little water is available, then it will not save life, but only delay inevitable death. Where outdoor temperatures are mild, it is estimated that a person could endure 100 hours without water. If it is cooler, you can last for a little longer. If you are in high temperatures and in direct sunlight, then it is less―for in extreme temperatures, the body can sweat as much as 2 to 3 pints per hour! Of course, all of these estimates will differ according to each individual, the amount of activity undergone and one’s general health.
The Effects of Dehydration
If even you manage to survive a prolonged time of being deprived of water or having less water than the body needs daily, you will not survive without various detrimental side-effects taking place due to varying levels of dehydration. Every year, American hospitals deal with around 500,000 persons due to dehydration. Around 10,000 of that number die in hospital.
The effects of dehydration depend upon how much water you have lost. If you lose 3% to 4% of your body weight due to fluid depletion, then you merely feel “off” and not in your best shape, though there may not be any clearly identifiable symptoms yet. If you lose around 5% to 6% of your body weight through fluid loss, then you can experience thirst, fatigue, dizziness and headaches, leading to muscles cramping―as is experienced by some athletes, especially long-distance runners. A 7% to 10% loss cannot be ignored. At this level blood pressure drops, the pulse might race, normal urination frequency decreases, prodded skin loses its “bounce-back” capacity, and vomiting can occur. Five or more hours at this level requires an emergency room visit. Severe dehydration begins when 11% to 15% of the body weight is lost due to fluid depletion. At this point, if fluid loss is severe enough, electrolyte abnormalities can lead to seizures and later death― symptoms include pale, cool and clammy skin; a rapid heartbeat; and shallow breathing. Heart muscles can begin to spasm, creating an arrhythmia (abnormal heartbeat), the heart cannot pump enough blood to the body, leading to hypovolemic shock, which can kill a person. Emergency medical treatment is necessary at this stage, to obtain intravenous rehydration. If you lose 16% to 25% percent of your total body weight to fluid depletion, death is highly likely if you cannot rehydrate yourself or get assistance. Prolonged or frequent occurrences of severe dehydration can severely affect the kidneys, causing kidney stones or eventually kidney failure.
Grace Dehydration
Since water is a symbol of grace, we can find symptoms similar to dehydration in the life of grace―you could call it “grace dehydration” or “degraciation”―with venial sin and lukewarmness being the early stages or symptoms of “grace dehydration” and death coming on with mortal sin. Our interior life, our spiritual life―the only real true life that brings any real and lasting reward―is a life of grace. We normally receive that first grace at our Baptism, where the priest says during the ceremony: “Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, has freely called him (her) (them) to His holy grace and blessed way and to the waters of Baptism.” … “Thus will they be made ready for the grace of Thy baptism and ever remain ... ready at all times to receive your grace” … “They are purified in the grace-laden waters” … “Make good use of the grace received in Baptism” … “May they delight in having become by grace what they could not have aspired to by nature.” It is symbolic of grace that water is used―for water washes things clean and water fills up objects and water sustains and promotes life. The baptized has Original Sin and all their personal sins removed; grace is poured into the soul; the Gifts of the Holy Ghost are planted within the soul; the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity come into the soul; the person becomes an adopted child of God and an heir to the kingdom of Heaven! Simple words and actions, but an awesome and powerful result! Yet just like newly planted seeds in a garden―as these gifts have been planted in the soul―they all need to be looked after, tended to, cultivated, nourished and protected so that they can grow and thrive.
As stated above, without God’s grace we can do nothing―grace is everything. Every good thought, word or action owes itself to God’s grace starting the ball rolling: “To every one of us is given grace” (Ephesians 4:7). “Therefore, my son, be strong in grace” (2 Timothy 2:1). “Stir up the grace of God which is in thee!” (2 Timothy 1:6). “And He [Christ] said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee!’” (2 Corinthians 12:9). “By the grace of God, I am what I am; and His grace in me hath not been void, but I have labored more abundantly than all they―yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). “God is able to make all grace abound in you; so that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8) … “having different gifts, according to the grace that is given us” (Romans 12:6). “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above―coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). “Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may find grace in seasonable aid” (Hebrews 4:16). “So that nothing is wanting to you in any grace” (1 Corinthians 1:7). “As every man hath received grace … of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). “Being justified freely by his grace, through … Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24) … “without [Whom] we can do nothing!” (John 15:5). “Who hath delivered us and called us by His holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:9). “For by grace you are saved … and not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). “Trust perfectly in the grace which is offered you!” (1 Peter 1:13). “Grow in grace!” (2 Peter 3:18). “We do exhort you, that you receive not the grace of God in vain!” (2 Corinthians 6:1). “Neglect not the grace that is in thee!” (1 Timothy 4:14).
You Are a Church
Your soul is like a mini-church―a microcosm of the universal Catholic Church, which is the macrocosm. That is why some saints call our soul a “diocese” of which we are the “bishop” or “pastor” (pastor means “shepherd”). If you take care of your “flock” or your “sheep”, the members of your “diocese”, then they will take care of you and ensure that you are led to eternal life. If Our Lord can say: “The Kingdom of God is within you!” (Luke 17:21)―then obviously you can also say: “The Church of God is within you!”―for God’s Kingdom includes His Church. If you don’t believe that, then explain why Holy Scripture says: “Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are!” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). “What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!’ Wherefore: ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord. Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
If you love God, then you will be careful about who you allow into your church! In more sane and respectable days, people who were immodestly dressed were barred from entering the church building. Any kind of secular or rowdy behavior is forbidden in the church. You cannot use your laptop, tablet, smartphone, i-Pod or i-Pad in church. You don’t watch TV and videos in church. You don’t listen to modern music―such as pop, rock & roll, heavy metal, blues, jazz, hip-hop, soul, country, reggae, etc.―in church. Why not? Because the church is a sacred place, not a secular place. The same is true of your soul. It was made by God and made for God―remember you catechism? Question: “Who made me?” Answer: “God made me!” Question: “Why did God make me?” Answer: “God made me to know Him, love Him, serve Him in this life and to be happy with Him in the next!” We were made by God and made for God―and God is not of this world! Jesus is not of this world, as He Himself said: “I am from above! You [the worldly minded] are from beneath! You are of this world, I am not of this world!” (John 8:23). Speaking of His followers, Jesus says: “They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world!” (John 17:16).
What is the ‘church’ of your soul like? Is it a ‘worldly church’ or a ‘heavenly church’―“By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!’ Every one therefore that heareth these my words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof” (Matthew 7:16-27).
Is Your Church Crumbling or Thriving? Are You Looking After Your Church?
Is the church of your soul resting on sand, or is it resting on rock? Will it stand or will it fall? Are you doing ‘church maintenance’ (soul maintenance)? Outside of grace, there is nothing more precious than your soul. As Our Lord said: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth―where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven―where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also! … No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon! Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the clothing? Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them! Are not you of much more value than they? … Be not solicitous therefore, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink? or “With what shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:19-33) and “The Kingdom of God is within you!” (Luke 17:21). “Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are!” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Wednesday February 20th & Thursday February 21st
Article 3
Where Will You Do Your "Boot Camp"? On Earth, Purgatory or Hell?
Article 3
Where Will You Do Your "Boot Camp"? On Earth, Purgatory or Hell?
Boot the “Boot-Camp” Talk!
Why all this talk about “Boot Camps”? Isn’t that a worldly thing? What place have worldly things among spiritual things? That seems like a plausible argument―yet Our Lord would often use examples of worldly things in His parables and draw analogies or lessons from them for the spiritual life. He speaks of seeds, trees, fruits, farms, vineyards, wheat fields, coins, pearls, treasures, sheep, goats, serpents, weddings, banquets, rulers, armies, masters, servants, armies, soldiers, etc. In speaking of “Boot Camps”, the intention is not to canonize “Boot Camps”, but to draw analogies from them that are most fitting, instructional and inspirational for the spiritual life and our daily warfare against its enemies. As Our Lord also said in His parable about the unjust steward: “And the lord commended the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely―for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8).
If anyone were to spend some time researching the various Religious Orders and their history (which is not the purpose of this article), they would find a similar “Boot Camp” mentality and procedure in the formation of their religious. This brings us to the next point.
Christian Evangelist Trumps Catholic at Boot Camp
Just as Our Lord would often make the non-Jew the hero in His parables (for example The Good Samaritan parable, where Our Lord paints the Jewish priest and Levite in bad light, but the enemy of the Jews, the Samaritan, in good light), here is a true story, from a Marine Boot Camp experience, recounted by an ex-Marine. This Catholic Marine found himself bettered by a Christian Evangelical, when faced by a constantly blaspheming Drill Instructor during the Marine Boot Camp. Here are the key excerpts from his story:
“To be honest, I (the Catholic) was not always such a zealous defender of the Lord’s sacred Name. I have always had negative internal reactions to blasphemy, but I don’t recall ever speaking out or expressing my displeasure to anyone in the face of it. Hating blasphemy is one thing; confronting the blasphemer is another. To gain that kind of moral courage I needed an example, and I was given one in a most unlikely place―Marine Corps boot camp. My ‘tutor’ in ‘Second Commandment Defense’ was another candidate, a young man who showed me what a true Christian ought to do in the face of the persistent abuse of the sacred Name. I remember him well. He was not an extremely adept Marine, as far as military discipline goes, but he was impressive in a more important category. He was an evangelical Christian and he did not hide his faith under a bushel basket. His faith was real and mature. He spoke of Jesus openly and even asked some of those tough Marines if they were “saved” – in boot camp! I initially wrote him off as a fundamentalist, of the kind that used to knock on doors in my neighborhood. But I quickly learned to appreciate this man’s holy “fanaticism” when it came to showing love and respect for the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was willing to fight for God’s honor.
“The moral courage that it took to defend Jesus’ Holy Name was heightened in the harsh environment of basic training, especially since the main blasphemer in the camp was our very own drill instructor. This particular warrior was arguably the toughest of the hard-core types that fall into the dreaded category of Marine Corps drill sergeant. He was in every way the perfect Marine. He was the epitome of military discipline, with battle scars from Vietnam to enhance his credibility – as if his credibility needed any enhancing. Our platoon, of impressionable twenty-year olds, both feared and respected him. He had a godlike quality. He seemed to be present everywhere and at all times. There was no evidence that he ever slept or ate. He always knew everything that was going on. What’s more he could outrun, out-hike, out-shoot, out-anything his candidates could do, at any time of the day or night. This man pushed us hard in physical training, hikes and bivouacs, obstacle courses, inspections, you name it. He was all over us, and we lived with a very real dread that he could make our lives miserable. He had everything the Marine Corps needed in a drill instructor, but there was one thing he didn’t have – a healthy fear of God.
“The sergeant had a habit of regularly blaspheming the Sacred Name of Jesus in front of all the candidates. No one would expect a Marine drill sergeant to use dainty language in executing his duties, but this man’s blasphemy was simply gratuitous. To be painfully precise: at any given moment, he would vehemently yell the full Name of Jesus Christ at us, but with a vile expletive inserted between the Names “Jesus” and Christ”. The first time I heard this foul abuse I cringed with horror. It was pure sacrilege. It had a feel of military aggression to it, almost as if he reveled in offending God. Perhaps in his own mind it reinforced his godlike demeanor in that super-controlled environment where no dissent of the system or its overlords would be tolerated. He used the term constantly and relentlessly. While I hated hearing it, I didn’t feel I had any other choice than to put up with it. What was the lowest of the low men on the totem pole going to say to his drill sergeant in boot camp? Thankfully, the true Christian in the platoon didn’t suffer from the same disease of moral cowardice. He didn’t react precipitously to the constant string of blasphemies hurled at us each day, but patiently endured it during the first two weeks of camp. Perhaps he was hoping that the blasphemy was just some passing negative behavior in a stressful environment. Or it may have just taken him time to get up the courage to confront the drill sergeant about the abusive language. But confront him he did. And the encounter was not pretty.
“On a break one afternoon, I was going to the camp store when I happened to be walking by a tent at the precise moment in which my platoon mate was speaking to the drill sergeant about his blasphemous language. Apparently the candidate made an appointment in order to address the matter in private, a method that is perfectly in accord with the biblical rules for fraternal correction found in Matthew 18:15-20. Hearing their voices, I confess that curiosity got the best of me. I paused at the corner of the tent to eavesdrop. What I heard was astonishing. The candidate used terms like “my Lord’s Name” and “God’s Commandment” a number of times. I heard him say he felt “insulted” by the constant use of the blasphemous phrase and that it was “not right.” He respectfully insisted that the formidable Marine not use that term any more when addressing the candidates. The drill sergeant initially sounded stunned at being called to account by a lowly recruit. But then his shock turned to sarcasm as he tried to make it look like the candidate was a fanatic: “You’re in boot camp, Candidate! What do you want?” Well, he wanted the vile blasphemy to stop. But as the conversation drew to a close I wasn’t convinced that the candidate had won the Marine over and I thought it best to exit the area―quickly.
“In the next day or two I was filled with foreboding that there would be “hell to pay” for that little encounter. Amazingly, there was not. The drill sergeant came out of the confrontation chastened but not furious, as I expected. If he was angry about the respectful rebuke, he didn’t show it overtly or take it out on anyone. No one but me knew about his chastening because the candidate had told no one. The drill sergeant later made a few snide comments to the platoon that “Candidate So-and-So was hyper-sensitive to cursing”, but he was not aggressive about it. Chastened, yes; repentant ― not so much. Yet, from that day forward, we never once heard the drill sergeant take the Lord’s Name in vain, even in the rough and stressful environment of Marine boot camp. I fully acknowledge that the candidate was a better Marine than I ― and a better Christian as well. He exhibited more military courage on the field of battle than I did even though I was one of the top performers of the platoon during those six weeks. But he also exercised moral courage when and where it was most needed. In the single most critical category of our relationship with God, he was the company honor man. I never saw the candidate again, but his measured, zealous example of moral courage has stayed with me. Now every time I hear the Lord’s Name taken in vain a fighting spirit awakens in me.
“Believe it or not, there is a lot we can do in the face of the blasphemy onslaught of our culture. Nowadays, if I hear blasphemous language in conversation around me, I immediately cross myself as a sign to the blasphemer that his or her words were noticed. If the blasphemy is more serious, I grimace and find some respectful way to show my displeasure. There was even one time when I actually yelled at a man who used the drill sergeant’s atrocious term. I am still that horrified by that term. But I regret that I was not a model of courtesy in that instance. I guess that was just the Marine in me coming out. Boot camp taught me the value of shouting. Yelling tends to wake a person up and lets him know that something important is at stake ― like his soul. I think I’ve mellowed over the years, though. I’m not at all averse to walking out of a movie when the offensive language goes beyond the pale. But now when I need to employ a gentle rebuke for a blaspheming neighbor ― i.e., when the blasphemy is serious and persistent ― I keep it courteous and on point. I have the vivid memory of a time when a true Christian man respectfully confronted a powerful blasphemer in a very harsh environment to draw on as a guide. Perhaps if we all confronted blasphemy instead of just ignoring It, we might be able to eventually change the culture. We might even change it enough to affect the movies we see and the music we hear. Whether it caused any permanent change in the heart of the drill sergeant I’ll never know. But the effect on the one Marine eavesdropping on a conversation that afternoon was literally life-changing.”
“Boot-Up” for “Boot-Camp”
Everyone must “boot-up”! Not their computer, but their soul. Everyone is expected to do a “Boot-Camp”! There is no escape from it―we either do it now or in eternity. It lasts for a while or for eternity. Why do Marines (or other soldiers) go to a “boot-camp”? They go there because they are not good enough to do what is expected of them as soldiers. They have to get rid of certain habitual ways of thinking, talking and acting―which are inappropriate for a future soldier and even dangerous to their well-being and survival in battle.
They need to be “untrained” so that they can be “retrained”―which Holy Scripture puts thus: “Christ died for all―so that they who live, may not now live to themselves, but unto Him … If, then, any be a new creature in Christ, the old things are passed away, and, behold, all things are made new!” (2 Corinthians 5:15-17). “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined” (Luke 5:36-37) … “Put off the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth!” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “Be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may see what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).
The recruits―wanting to be future Marines―are too conformed to the ways of the world and they need to be reformed to do―not their own will―but the will of their commanders. The same is true for anyone wishing to be a recruit for Heaven―they are too conformed to the ways of the world and need to be reformed to do the will of God, for only through that will they be sanctified and saved: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from [sin]” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). As Jesus said: “Whosoever shall do the will of God, he is My brother, and My sister, and mother!” (Mark 3:35). “Wherefore become not unwise, but understanding what is the will of God” (Ephesians 5:17). “Not serving to the eye, as it were pleasing men, but, as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart!” Ephesians 6:6).
Boot Camp Makes a New Man Out of You
Jon Davis―a Marine sergeant, Iraq veteran, and weapons instructor―explains:
“You have to train 18-year-olds to run to the sound of gunfire and perform under fire and the threat of death. This act defies all logic, goes against all human instinct, and takes one of the most intensive acts of psychological reprogramming to overcome. My experiences are that of the United States Marine Corps. Generally, no one argues that Marines’ boot camp is, by far, the hardest of U.S. military indoctrinatory exercises and is famous/infamous for its training tactics, so from that experience, I will share what I know.
“As for why boot camp training tactics are so important, you need to imagine what is expected of someone who goes there. In modern warfare, you have people too young to think about fighting the wars that we go through year after year. This has been the practice for centuries. The need for warriors and the nature for who has to fight hasn’t evolved much and likely won’t change in any near future. Drones, stealth, atomic warfare, and high-tech weaponry won’t change this. There will always be the need for young men and women who are willing and able to run to the sound of imminent danger and many, to their death. Nations need this. You need this. It is a horrible thing, but the sanctity and security of every nation on Earth requires young men and women capable of doing this.
“To do this, however, we need a form of psychological training that is able to forge individuals who can do this. That is why boot camp has evolved to become such a potent tool in today’s military machine. The most important single thing to know about boot camp is that it is 100% designed to reprogram children and civilians into warriors. It places within them a sense that they are expected to do important things, far more important things than could be expected from other 18-year-olds. This is all happening during one of the most intensely stressful periods of your life, when you are kept isolated from contact from your family and friends and taught that everything you were before entering the Marines was weak and lacking any real value until you too are a Marine. The psychological transformation of boot camp is a very intense and intentional effort by the Marine Corps ― out of kids who have just barely left high school ― to make warriors able to fight and kill. From the point that you graduate boot camp, you will be different and have parts of the Marine Corps culture as part of your psyche.” (Jon Davis―a Marine sergeant).
We Are Imperfect in God’s Eyes
When you enter a Marina Boot Camp, one of the first things you quickly realize is how imperfect, impatient, impetuous, imprudent, impractical, imprecise and imperceptive you are. You are called an imbecile and many more unprintable and unmentionable words―and are expected to “take it on the chin”! Our Lord does the same thing, to drill home the fact that we are imperfect way―He does this in a positive way, by encouraging, but He is not afraid to do it in a negative way, by what we would call “an insult”. In positive fashion, He says to His listeners: “Be perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48)―meaning that they are not perfect in first place. Yet, in the very same Sermon on the Mount, He also addresses that imperfection negatively, by saying: “If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts …” (Matthew 7:11). Furthermore, He is not afraid to call St. Peter “Satan” when Peter shows imperfection by not grasping the principles of Christ and His mission, by trying to dissuade Our Lord from going into His Passion and Death: “Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter taking Him, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord! Be it far from thee! This shall not be unto thee!’ Who turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me―because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23).
St. Peter takes the ‘insulting’ correction, learns from it and changes his attitude, but when Our Lord negatively attacked the Scribes and Pharisees, they did not seem to learn from it or correct themselves:
“Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the kingdom of Heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers. For this you shall receive the greater judgment. Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves! Woe to you blind guides! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees! … Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness! Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whitened sepulchers, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness! So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! … You serpents, generation of vipers! How will you flee from the judgment of Hell? Behold I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes―and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city! … Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate!” (Matthew 23:13-38).
On another occasion, because the Scribes, Pharisees and other Jews would not accept His teaching―for the umpteenth time―Jesus said to them words similar to those which He addressed to St. Peter: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof!” (John 8:44).
Then we have the incident where Our Lord calls the Canaanite woman a “dog”―but He is putting her through her own short “boot camp”―by making her suffer rejection and insults as a means of testing her resolve and faith, before allowing her to “graduate” or “pass” with the obtaining of the miracle she sought: “And Jesus went from thence, and retired into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a woman of Canaan who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to Him: ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou son of David! My daughter is grieviously troubled by the devil!’ Who answered her not a word [He rejects her by giving her the ‘silent treatment’]. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying: ‘Send her away, for she crieth after us!’ And He answering, said: ‘I was not sent but only to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel!’ [In other words: “Go away! You are of the wrong religion!”] But she came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord! Help me!’ Who answering, said: ‘It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs!’ [In other words: “Go away, you dog!”] But she said: ‘Yea, Lord! For the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters!’ Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith! Be it done to thee as thou wilt!’―and her daughter was cured from that hour” (Matthew 15:21-28). St. Mark reports it thus: “A woman, as soon as she heard of Him, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, came in and fell down at His feet. For the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophenician born. And she besought Him that He would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. Who said to her: ‘Suffer first the children to be filled! For it is not good to take the bread of the children, and cast it to the dogs!’ But she answered and said to Him: ‘Yea, Lord! For the whelps also eat under the table of the crumbs of the children!’ And He said to her: ‘For this saying, go thy way! The devil is gone out of thy daughter!’ And when she was come into her house, she found the girl lying upon the bed, and that the devil was gone out” (Mark 7:25-30).
No Marine Boot Camp Drill Instructor could deliver a better “put-down” than the ones above by Our Lord. Furthermore, In these incidents, we see the side or face of Our Lord along the lines of a Marine Boot Camp Drill Instructor, where He is tough and seemingly harsh―not because He is “having a bad day”―but for a reason and a purpose that is for the benefit of the victim of His toughness and seeming harshness.
We Need a Heavenly Boot Camp
As Scripture says, nothing impure or unclean will enter Heaven: “There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie―but they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb” (Apocalypse 21:27). Unfortunately, everyone is defiled―as Scripture says: “For all have sinned!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “Every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured. Then, when concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin” (James 1:14). Even the Old Testament, in several places, speaks of all men being defiled by sin: “They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalms 13:1-3; 52:2-4).
In the twelfth chapter of the Book of Hebrews, we read of need of tribulation and chastisement as a means of cleansing us from those sins and as means of acquiring holiness, without which there is no entry into Heaven: “Laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run to the fight proposed to us! Looking on Jesus, Who, having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God. For think diligently upon Him―Who endured such opposition from sinners against Himself―that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds. For in fighting against sin you have not yet resisted unto blood! And you have forgotten the consolation, which speaketh to you, as unto children, saying: ‘My son, neglect not the discipline of the Lord; neither be thou wearied whilst thou art rebuked by him! For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth!’ Persevere under discipline. God dealeth with you as with His sons; for what son is there, whom the father doth not correct? But if you be without chastisement―whereof all are made partakers―then are you bastards, and not sons. Moreover, we have had fathers of our flesh for instructors and we reverenced them! Shall we not much more obey the Father of spirits, and live? Now all chastisement for the present indeed seemeth not to bring with it joy, but sorrow: but afterwards, to them that are exercised by it, it will yield, the most peaceable fruit of justice. Follow peace and holiness―without which no man shall see God ... Let us serve, pleasing God, with fear and reverence. For our God is a consuming fire!” (Hebrews 12:1-29).
Unfortunately, the Chosen People did not live up to their calling! “And the Lord said to them: ‘You have forsaken Me and have worshipped strange gods! Therefore I will deliver you no more! Go and call upon the gods which you have chosen! Let them deliver you in the time of distress!’ And the children of Israel said to the Lord: ‘We have sinned! Do Thou unto us whatsoever pleaseth Thee―only deliver us this time!’ And saying these things, they cast away, out of their coasts, all the idols of strange gods and served the Lord their God! And He was touched with their miseries” (Judges 10:11-16).
We, Catholics, the “Chosen People of God” of the New Testament, are likewise guilty of similar sins of idolatry. If we pretend that we are serving God as He wants to be served, then we are liars. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). As the Good Thief admitted as he died on the cross on Calvary, alongside Christ: “We receive the due reward of our deeds!” (Luke 23:41). Like the Good Thief, we must receive “the due reward of our deeds”―we have to pay for our sins. “We deserve to suffer these things, because we have sinned” (Genesis 42:21). There is no escape from this unpleasant fact―we “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23), “sin entered into this world, and by sin death” (Romans 5:12), “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and “the soul that sinneth, the same shall die” (Ezechiel 18:20) because “sin, when it is completed, begetteth death” (James 1:14-15). There is no greater sorrow than death―and there is no greater evil than sin. Our catechisms tell us that: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Price of Sin in the Past
In the early Church, sin was looked upon as the greatest evil in the world, which what our catechisms still teach today. However, whereas our modern-day penances somehow fail to underline that truth, the penances of the early Church clearly reflected that truth. Here is an excerpt from the 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia under the entry for “The Sacrament of Penance.”
“To give some idea of the ancient discipline, the penalties attached to graver crimes are cited here from the English and Irish Penitentials (which were books listing sins and a recommended penance for each kind of sin). For [a single sin of] stealing, Cummian prescribes that a layman shall do one year of penance; a cleric, two; a subdeacon three; a deacon, four; a priest, five; a bishop, six. For murder or perjury, the penance lasted three, five, six, seven, ten or twelve years according to the criminal’s rank. Theodore commands that if any one leave the Catholic Church, join the heretics, and induce others to do the same, he shall, in case he repent, do penance for twelve years. For the perjurer who swears by the Church, the Gospel, or the relics of the saints, Egbert prescribes seven or eleven years of penance. Usury entailed three years; infanticide, fifteen; idolatry or demon-worship, ten. Violations of the sixth commandment were punished with great severity; the penance varied, according to the nature of the sin, from three to fifteen years, the extreme penalty being prescribed for incest, i.e., fifteen to twenty-five years. Whatever its duration, the penance included fasting on bread and water, either for the whole period or for a specified portion.”
Pay Now or Pay Later
When look at the severity of the penances in the early Church, we must pinch ourselves and remind ourselves that these penances were still fantastic “discount-prices” on the true cost of sin. It is when we read of the torments the holy souls undergo in Purgatory, that we start to understand and appreciate what the price of one single VENIAL SIN actually is, not to mention the price on each confessed and forgiven mortal sin. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7). “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing!” (Matthew 5:26).
That is why Holy Scripture is full of commands to repent, to change one’s heart and life, to pay for past sins: “Be penitent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).
“And there came down fire from God out of Heaven, and devoured them. And the devil, who seduced them, was cast into the pool of fire and brimstone, where both the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting upon it, from whose face the Earth and Heaven fled away. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of fire” (Apocalypse 20:9-15).
A Time of “Do As You Want!”―Play Now, Pay Never!
Today, most people live and do as they want―even sinning as they want and as much as they want―because they have imagined and created their own version of the Faith, where God is an all-loving, all-tolerating, all-forgiving , sugar-coated doormat, who will take all the offenses that we throw at Him and still kindly open the doors of Heaven to us. These kind of fools refuse to accept the “whole package” of God, filtering and distilling God until they are left with nothing but sugar. They take only the sweet Scriptural quotes and ignore the bitter ones. They will endlessly use quotes like: “The Lord is gracious and merciful; patient and plenteous in mercy! The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all his works!” (Psalm 144:8-9), or “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). Beautiful, huh? Not only beautiful, but also true! Yet equally true is the following: “Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). “Say not: ‘I have sinned―and what harm hath befallen me?’ For the most High is a patient rewarder!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:4).“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “I gave her a time that she might do penance, and she will not repent” (Apocalypse 2:21). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride” (Job 24:23). “I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Church Complacency Cripple Catholics
In 1956, Blessed Elena Aiello― Mystic, Stigmatic, Victim Soul, Prophetess & Foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―received the following warning from Our Lady: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Everything is in suspense, like a thread; when this thread breaks, the justice of God will fall like a thunderbolt and will complete its terrible course of purification.”
In 1966, barely ten years later, despite the ever-escalating number of sins throughout the world, Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Constitution Paenitemi, reduced the Lenten fast from 40 days to a mere 2 days (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday)―thus fulfilling the prophetic condemnation of Our Lady of La Salette, who warned: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars, which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish.”
In 1973, seven years after Pope Paul’s 95% reduction in Lenten fasting in 1966, Our Lady appeared at Akita in Japan, where she spoke of the continual increase in the number and gravity of sins, and warned of the consequences of this increase: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” (Our Lady of Akita). Then, as if delivering a ‘slap in the face’ for the reduction of penance by Pope Paul VI, she implicitly condemned it, saying: “Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!”
Escalation of Sin
ABORTION: Note that back in 1973, the level of sin was nowhere near the astronomical heights it has reached since 1973. The contentious legal battle Roe versus Wade took place in 1973 and opened the doors to ever escalating abortions since then. Presently, in the USA alone, almost 3,000 babies are aborted EACH DAY―or 125 an hour―or just over 2 per minute―or 1 every 30 seconds. Add to that number the enormous, but incalculable amount of babies killed at the moment of conception by the new abortifacient contraceptive pill―and you have a slaughter house beyond belief! In America an abortion reform movement emerged in the 1960s. In 1963 The Society for Human Abortions was formed, providing women with information on how to obtain and perform abortions. In the late 1960s, a number of organizations were formed to mobilize opinion both against and for the legalization of abortion. In 1967, 21 members of the clergy announced in the New York Times that they would help women find safe abortion providers. In 1967, Colorado became the first state to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, or in which pregnancy would lead to permanent physical disability of the woman. Similar laws were passed in California, Oregon, and North Carolina. In 1970, Hawaii became the first state to legalize abortions on the request of the woman. By the end of 1972, 13 states had a law similar to that of Colorado, while Mississippi allowed abortion in cases of rape or incest only and Alabama and Massachusetts allowed abortions only in cases where the woman's physical health was endangered. The landmark judicial ruling of the Supreme Court, in Roe versus Wade, ruled that a Texas statute forbidding abortion except when necessary to save the life of the mother was unconstitutional. The Court arrived at its decision by concluding that the issue of abortion and abortion rights falls under the right to privacy. The Court held that a right to privacy existed and included the right to have an abortion.
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: The abominable same-sex marriage ‘laws’ were years away from being even suggested―never mind passed and enforced! Divorce ‘laws’ were being made less and less strict. The history of same-sex marriage in the United States dates from the early 1970s, when the first lawsuits, seeking legal recognition of same-sex relationships, brought the question of civil marriage rights and benefits for same-sex couples to public attention―though they proved unsuccessful. The subject became increasingly prominent in U.S. politics following the 1993 Hawaii Supreme Court decision in Baehr v. Lewin, which suggested the possibility that the state’s prohibition on same-sex marriages might be unconstitutional. That decision was met by actions at both the federal and state level to restrict marriage to male-female couples, notably the enactment at the federal level of the Defense of Marriage Act. In May of 2004, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state and the sixth jurisdiction in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. By late 2014, same-sex marriage had become legal in states that contained more than 70% of the United States population. In June of 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, legalized it in all fifty states.
DIVORCE: By the middle to late 1800s, divorce rates in the United States increased at a rapid rate, and Americans obtained more divorces than were granted in all of Europe. By 1916, the U.S. led the world in number of divorces―by 1909, Reno, Nevada, was―and was happy to be―“the divorce capital of the world.” At that time, only six months in Nevada were sufficient to establish Nevada residency and qualify for divorce proceedings. However, due to divorce competition from other states, Nevada dropped residency requirements from six months to three months, then from three months to six weeks! Initially, divorce was only granted on grounds of adultery―this was later changed to included cruelty, drunkenness, insanity and desertion. The big change came in 1969, when a law was passed, allowing couples to divorce after they had been separated for two years (or five years if only one of them wanted a divorce). A marriage could be ended if it had irretrievably broken down, and neither partner no longer had to prove “fault”. In 1969, California became the first U.S. state to pass a no-fault divorce law. As regards the divorce rate, back in 1890, 0.003% (3 out of 1,000 couples) were divorced and by 1920, it had risen to 0.008% (8 out of 1,000 couples) being divorced. Today, the divorce rate among highly educated couples is 11% (110 out of 1,000 couples), while the divorce rate for lower income couples is 17% (170 out of 1,000 couples)―a massive rise from the 3 per 1,000 couples in 1890. The median length for a marriage in the US today is 11 years with 90% of all divorces being settled out of court. However, studies have shown that lower-income couples are currently more likely to get a divorce than higher-income couples.
ADULTERY & FORNICATION: These numbers are even higher than the above cases of abortion, same-sex marriage and divorce. Our Lady of Fatima said that impurity was the main cause in the present era for the damnation of souls. A 2014 Pew study, on global morality, found that premarital sex was considered particularly unacceptable in predominantly Muslim nations, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan and Egypt, each having over 90% disapproval, while people in Western European countries were the most accepting, with Spain, Germany and France expressing less than 10% disapproval―and these countries are mainly Catholic on paper. The Guttmacher Institute― a leading researcher on sexual and reproductive health―states: “The vast majority of Americans have sex before marriage … Further, contrary to the public perception that premarital sex is much more common now than in the past, the study shows that even among women who were born in the 1940s, nearly nine in 10 had sex before marriage. According to the analysis, 95% had had sex before marriage. Even among those who abstained from sex until age 20 or older, 81% had had premarital sex by age 44. “This is reality-check research. Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades,” says study author Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research at the Guttmacher Institute. “The data clearly show that the majority of older teens and adults have already had sex before marriage, which calls into question the federal government’s funding of «abstinence-only-until-marriage» programs for 12–29-year-olds.” Holy Scripture warns: “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err! Neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, shall possess the kingdom of God!” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). “Let marriage be honorable in all, and the bed undefiled! For fornicators and adulterers God will judge!” (Hebrews 13:4).
In a study conducted in the United States, 61% of men and 12% of women, born before to 1910, admitted to having premarital sex. Starting in the 1920s, and especially after World War II, premarital sex became more common, particularly among women. By the end of the 20th century, between 75% and 80% of Americans had experienced full sexual relations before the age of 19. Today, the figure is above 95%. Here we are only talking about sexual actions between persons―you can add to that the even more frequent cases of solitary sexual sins in both action and even more frequent sexual sins committed in thought―“Having eyes full of adultery” (2 Peter 2:14)―which can happen many, many times a day for just ONE PERSON. “You have heard that it was said to them of old: ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery!’ But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:27-28).
Once married, there arises the next temptation of adultery. Research suggests that 21% of men have been physically sexually unfaithful to their spouse or significant other. While among women, 15% acknowledging an affair in a current or previous relationship. While that might seem a fairly low number, it represents a 40% increase over the past two decades. The fear of getting caught red-handed is a pretty strong deterrent for most people, but 74% of men say they would be unfaithful to their partners if they knew they could get away with it. Whereas 68% of women said they would be unfaithful if there was no chance of their current partner finding out. Women, for the most part, tend to feel strongly about infidelity and 84% agree that it's wrong if you're married. Men, on the other hand, approach the issue with a slightly different attitude. Around 78% say that it's not okay for married spouses to have a romance on the side. Again, these numbers are referring to physical sexual relations―the number of adulterous thoughts must be sky high compared to actual physical infidelities. “Turn away thy face from a woman dressed up, and gaze not about upon another's beauty!” (Ecclesiasticus 9:8).
In addition to the above categories, you have sins of anger, hatred, dishonor, disrespect, foul language, violence, murder, rape, theft of all kinds, envy, pride, gluttony, drunkenness, addictions of all kinds, laziness, neglect, blasphemy, sacrilege, Satanism, witchcraft, Freemasonry and the other secret societies, calumny (lying), detraction (revealing sins of others), gossip, plus all the sins that arise from not doing what we should do.
Add it all together and you suddenly have before you what Our Lady spoke of: “Mankind is obscured by a thick fog, as a result of the many grievous sins, which are almost covering the whole Earth … Numerous scandals are bringing souls to ruin―particularly through the corruption of youth. Stirred up, and unrestrained in the enjoyment of the pleasures of the world, they have degraded their souls in corruption and sin. The bad example of parents trains the family in scandal and infidelity, instead of virtue and prayer, which is almost dead on the lips of many. Stained and withered is the fountain of Faith and sanctity the home … Men are offending God too much! If I were to show you the number of sins committed in a single day, you would die of horror and sorrow! … The times are grievous. The whole world is in turmoil, because IT HAS BECOME WORSE THAN AT THE TIME OF THE DELUGE!” (Our Lady to Blessed Sr. Elena Aiello, in 1955). “During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Without virginity, it will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Who Will Pick-Up The Tab? Who’s Paying For All This?
All those sins show a massive self-indulgence or even gluttony in Satan’s Sinful Steakhouse or the Devil’s Diner of Damnation! Nothing is free in this life, not even sin. Every sin on the menu has a price! Someone has to pay for it! Who is going to “foot the bill” or “pick-up the tab”? Of course, we know that the actual perpetrator of the sin will pay―and will pay big-time! Yet, do we really think that we are “not-guilty” of the sins of others? We most certainly are―even though it is to a lesser degree than the sinner himself or herself. We might be tempted to say with Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). The answer is, of course, “Yes, you are your brother’s keeper!” As Holy Scripture says: “He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how doth the charity of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17). If we cannot see that the vast majority of the world needs our prayers and sacrifices, yet we refuse to produce SUBSTANTIAL prayers and sacrifices―how can we dare to say that we love God? “If any man say: ‘I love God!’ and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not?” (1 John 4:20). We cannot be loving our neighbor if we see our neighbor sink deeper and deeper into sin and refuse to do anything SUBSTANTIAL about it. That was the whole point of Fatima―to do something for the vast majority of poor sinners who were falling into Hell, because there was nobody to pray and offer sacrifices for them.
“Then he shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat! I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink! I was a stranger, and you took Me not in! Naked, and you covered Me not! Sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me!’ Then they shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting” (Matthew 25:41-46).
From this passage, we derive the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy―the Corporal Works of Mercy being: (1) to feed the hungry; (2) to give drink to the thirsty; (3) to clothe the naked; (4) to visit the imprisoned; (5) to shelter the homeless; (6) to visit the sick; (7) to bury the dead. The Spiritual Works of Mercy being: (1) to admonish the sinner; (2) to instruct the ignorant; (3) to counsel the doubtful; (4) to comfort the sorrowful; (5) to bear wrongs patiently; (6) to forgive all injuries; (7) to pray for the living and the dead.
We must not forget the Church’s teaching on how we can become guilty of the sins of others: (1) by Counsel; (2) by Command; (3) by Consent; (4) by Concealment; (5) by Partaking; (6) by Provocation; (7) by Praise or Flattery; (8) by Silence; (9) by Defense of the Evil Done. The major one that jumps out at us is guilt by silence―not only silence in correction, but silence in prayer, we do not pray for their conversion, or, if we pray, we do pray enough or well enough.
If, by our silence, we fail to do something to stop this incredible loss of souls, then we are to some degree guilty―having the knowledge and the possibility to try and save them. How many people say SEVERAL Rosaries a day for the conversion of sinners? How many people have SEVERAL or MANY Masses offered for the conversion of sinners? How many people FORMALLY and LOVINGLY offer their daily sufferings, plus other additional sacrifices, for the conversion of sinners? Drill this into your heart and mind―it is a few paltry, inattentive, distracted, speedy, half-hearted, mumbled prayers that are going to pay the price of the incredible bill that has been and still is being run-up by the sinners of this world.
Boot Camp Battle Talk
Perhaps one of the most damaging things Catholics can do is to forget that they Soldiers of Christ, placed behind enemy lines, in a perpetual warfare against the world. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Be sober and watch―because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
“Be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of his power. Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God!” (Ephesians 6:10-17).
“All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, so that the man of God may be made perfect, and equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). “The high praise of God shall be in their mouth: and two-edged swords in their hands” (Psalm 149:6). “For the word of God is more piercing than any two edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). “And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two edged sword―so that with it He may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Apocalypse 19:15).
Negligence Has Its Price
“Neglect not to pray!” (Ecclesiasticus 7:10) … “Neglect not, lose no time!” (Judges 18:9) … “Neglect not the grace that is in thee!” (1 Timothy 4:14) … “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1) … “Know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins!” James 5:20).
Boot Camp Battle Talk
Perhaps one of the most damaging things Catholics can do is to forget that they Soldiers of Christ, placed behind enemy lines, in a perpetual warfare against the world. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Be sober and watch―because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
“Be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of his power. Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God!” (Ephesians 6:10-17).
“All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, so that the man of God may be made perfect, and equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). “The high praise of God shall be in their mouth: and two-edged swords in their hands” (Psalm 149:6). “For the word of God is more piercing than any two edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). “And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two edged sword―so that with it He may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Apocalypse 19:15).
We Are Headed For a 21st Century Universal Boot-Camp
After Our Lord, there is nobody who is kinder, sweeter, more gentle, more loving, more merciful and more generous than Our Lady. Yet this is what that sweet, gentle, kind, loving, merciful and generous Mother of God has to say to us―the following words of Our Lady are a combination from her apparitions at Quito in Ecuador (as Our Lady of Good of Success), at La Salette in France, at Fatima in Portugal and at Akita in Japan:
“The end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated. As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private. The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many of them will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … To test this Faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, many will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast ... Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Without virginity, it will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride. The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“In the year 1864, Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis. The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten, each individual will want to be independent and be superior to others” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. There will be desecration of holy places. In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens. Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“The Holy Father will suffer a great deal. I will be with him until the end and receive his sacrifice. The mischievous would attempt his life several times to do harm and shorten his days, but neither he, nor his successor will see the triumph of the Church of God” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated!” (Our Lady of Fatima).
Regarding the annihilation of nations: it is important to note that during the Father Fuentes interview, Sister Lucia said that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times”! (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, p. 27.)
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” (Our Lady of Akita).
“Esteeming these very punishments to be less than our sins deserve, let us believe that these scourges of the Lord, with which like servants we are chastised, have happened for our amendment, and not for our destruction” (Judith 8:27).
If Only We Knew!
“Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity and child-like simplicity! Cursed human respect, which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’ … Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness. This, then, will be the cause of the cursed demon taking possession and he will achieve his victories” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Why all this talk about “Boot Camps”? Isn’t that a worldly thing? What place have worldly things among spiritual things? That seems like a plausible argument―yet Our Lord would often use examples of worldly things in His parables and draw analogies or lessons from them for the spiritual life. He speaks of seeds, trees, fruits, farms, vineyards, wheat fields, coins, pearls, treasures, sheep, goats, serpents, weddings, banquets, rulers, armies, masters, servants, armies, soldiers, etc. In speaking of “Boot Camps”, the intention is not to canonize “Boot Camps”, but to draw analogies from them that are most fitting, instructional and inspirational for the spiritual life and our daily warfare against its enemies. As Our Lord also said in His parable about the unjust steward: “And the lord commended the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely―for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8).
If anyone were to spend some time researching the various Religious Orders and their history (which is not the purpose of this article), they would find a similar “Boot Camp” mentality and procedure in the formation of their religious. This brings us to the next point.
Christian Evangelist Trumps Catholic at Boot Camp
Just as Our Lord would often make the non-Jew the hero in His parables (for example The Good Samaritan parable, where Our Lord paints the Jewish priest and Levite in bad light, but the enemy of the Jews, the Samaritan, in good light), here is a true story, from a Marine Boot Camp experience, recounted by an ex-Marine. This Catholic Marine found himself bettered by a Christian Evangelical, when faced by a constantly blaspheming Drill Instructor during the Marine Boot Camp. Here are the key excerpts from his story:
“To be honest, I (the Catholic) was not always such a zealous defender of the Lord’s sacred Name. I have always had negative internal reactions to blasphemy, but I don’t recall ever speaking out or expressing my displeasure to anyone in the face of it. Hating blasphemy is one thing; confronting the blasphemer is another. To gain that kind of moral courage I needed an example, and I was given one in a most unlikely place―Marine Corps boot camp. My ‘tutor’ in ‘Second Commandment Defense’ was another candidate, a young man who showed me what a true Christian ought to do in the face of the persistent abuse of the sacred Name. I remember him well. He was not an extremely adept Marine, as far as military discipline goes, but he was impressive in a more important category. He was an evangelical Christian and he did not hide his faith under a bushel basket. His faith was real and mature. He spoke of Jesus openly and even asked some of those tough Marines if they were “saved” – in boot camp! I initially wrote him off as a fundamentalist, of the kind that used to knock on doors in my neighborhood. But I quickly learned to appreciate this man’s holy “fanaticism” when it came to showing love and respect for the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was willing to fight for God’s honor.
“The moral courage that it took to defend Jesus’ Holy Name was heightened in the harsh environment of basic training, especially since the main blasphemer in the camp was our very own drill instructor. This particular warrior was arguably the toughest of the hard-core types that fall into the dreaded category of Marine Corps drill sergeant. He was in every way the perfect Marine. He was the epitome of military discipline, with battle scars from Vietnam to enhance his credibility – as if his credibility needed any enhancing. Our platoon, of impressionable twenty-year olds, both feared and respected him. He had a godlike quality. He seemed to be present everywhere and at all times. There was no evidence that he ever slept or ate. He always knew everything that was going on. What’s more he could outrun, out-hike, out-shoot, out-anything his candidates could do, at any time of the day or night. This man pushed us hard in physical training, hikes and bivouacs, obstacle courses, inspections, you name it. He was all over us, and we lived with a very real dread that he could make our lives miserable. He had everything the Marine Corps needed in a drill instructor, but there was one thing he didn’t have – a healthy fear of God.
“The sergeant had a habit of regularly blaspheming the Sacred Name of Jesus in front of all the candidates. No one would expect a Marine drill sergeant to use dainty language in executing his duties, but this man’s blasphemy was simply gratuitous. To be painfully precise: at any given moment, he would vehemently yell the full Name of Jesus Christ at us, but with a vile expletive inserted between the Names “Jesus” and Christ”. The first time I heard this foul abuse I cringed with horror. It was pure sacrilege. It had a feel of military aggression to it, almost as if he reveled in offending God. Perhaps in his own mind it reinforced his godlike demeanor in that super-controlled environment where no dissent of the system or its overlords would be tolerated. He used the term constantly and relentlessly. While I hated hearing it, I didn’t feel I had any other choice than to put up with it. What was the lowest of the low men on the totem pole going to say to his drill sergeant in boot camp? Thankfully, the true Christian in the platoon didn’t suffer from the same disease of moral cowardice. He didn’t react precipitously to the constant string of blasphemies hurled at us each day, but patiently endured it during the first two weeks of camp. Perhaps he was hoping that the blasphemy was just some passing negative behavior in a stressful environment. Or it may have just taken him time to get up the courage to confront the drill sergeant about the abusive language. But confront him he did. And the encounter was not pretty.
“On a break one afternoon, I was going to the camp store when I happened to be walking by a tent at the precise moment in which my platoon mate was speaking to the drill sergeant about his blasphemous language. Apparently the candidate made an appointment in order to address the matter in private, a method that is perfectly in accord with the biblical rules for fraternal correction found in Matthew 18:15-20. Hearing their voices, I confess that curiosity got the best of me. I paused at the corner of the tent to eavesdrop. What I heard was astonishing. The candidate used terms like “my Lord’s Name” and “God’s Commandment” a number of times. I heard him say he felt “insulted” by the constant use of the blasphemous phrase and that it was “not right.” He respectfully insisted that the formidable Marine not use that term any more when addressing the candidates. The drill sergeant initially sounded stunned at being called to account by a lowly recruit. But then his shock turned to sarcasm as he tried to make it look like the candidate was a fanatic: “You’re in boot camp, Candidate! What do you want?” Well, he wanted the vile blasphemy to stop. But as the conversation drew to a close I wasn’t convinced that the candidate had won the Marine over and I thought it best to exit the area―quickly.
“In the next day or two I was filled with foreboding that there would be “hell to pay” for that little encounter. Amazingly, there was not. The drill sergeant came out of the confrontation chastened but not furious, as I expected. If he was angry about the respectful rebuke, he didn’t show it overtly or take it out on anyone. No one but me knew about his chastening because the candidate had told no one. The drill sergeant later made a few snide comments to the platoon that “Candidate So-and-So was hyper-sensitive to cursing”, but he was not aggressive about it. Chastened, yes; repentant ― not so much. Yet, from that day forward, we never once heard the drill sergeant take the Lord’s Name in vain, even in the rough and stressful environment of Marine boot camp. I fully acknowledge that the candidate was a better Marine than I ― and a better Christian as well. He exhibited more military courage on the field of battle than I did even though I was one of the top performers of the platoon during those six weeks. But he also exercised moral courage when and where it was most needed. In the single most critical category of our relationship with God, he was the company honor man. I never saw the candidate again, but his measured, zealous example of moral courage has stayed with me. Now every time I hear the Lord’s Name taken in vain a fighting spirit awakens in me.
“Believe it or not, there is a lot we can do in the face of the blasphemy onslaught of our culture. Nowadays, if I hear blasphemous language in conversation around me, I immediately cross myself as a sign to the blasphemer that his or her words were noticed. If the blasphemy is more serious, I grimace and find some respectful way to show my displeasure. There was even one time when I actually yelled at a man who used the drill sergeant’s atrocious term. I am still that horrified by that term. But I regret that I was not a model of courtesy in that instance. I guess that was just the Marine in me coming out. Boot camp taught me the value of shouting. Yelling tends to wake a person up and lets him know that something important is at stake ― like his soul. I think I’ve mellowed over the years, though. I’m not at all averse to walking out of a movie when the offensive language goes beyond the pale. But now when I need to employ a gentle rebuke for a blaspheming neighbor ― i.e., when the blasphemy is serious and persistent ― I keep it courteous and on point. I have the vivid memory of a time when a true Christian man respectfully confronted a powerful blasphemer in a very harsh environment to draw on as a guide. Perhaps if we all confronted blasphemy instead of just ignoring It, we might be able to eventually change the culture. We might even change it enough to affect the movies we see and the music we hear. Whether it caused any permanent change in the heart of the drill sergeant I’ll never know. But the effect on the one Marine eavesdropping on a conversation that afternoon was literally life-changing.”
“Boot-Up” for “Boot-Camp”
Everyone must “boot-up”! Not their computer, but their soul. Everyone is expected to do a “Boot-Camp”! There is no escape from it―we either do it now or in eternity. It lasts for a while or for eternity. Why do Marines (or other soldiers) go to a “boot-camp”? They go there because they are not good enough to do what is expected of them as soldiers. They have to get rid of certain habitual ways of thinking, talking and acting―which are inappropriate for a future soldier and even dangerous to their well-being and survival in battle.
They need to be “untrained” so that they can be “retrained”―which Holy Scripture puts thus: “Christ died for all―so that they who live, may not now live to themselves, but unto Him … If, then, any be a new creature in Christ, the old things are passed away, and, behold, all things are made new!” (2 Corinthians 5:15-17). “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined” (Luke 5:36-37) … “Put off the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth!” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “Be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may see what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).
The recruits―wanting to be future Marines―are too conformed to the ways of the world and they need to be reformed to do―not their own will―but the will of their commanders. The same is true for anyone wishing to be a recruit for Heaven―they are too conformed to the ways of the world and need to be reformed to do the will of God, for only through that will they be sanctified and saved: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from [sin]” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). As Jesus said: “Whosoever shall do the will of God, he is My brother, and My sister, and mother!” (Mark 3:35). “Wherefore become not unwise, but understanding what is the will of God” (Ephesians 5:17). “Not serving to the eye, as it were pleasing men, but, as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart!” Ephesians 6:6).
Boot Camp Makes a New Man Out of You
Jon Davis―a Marine sergeant, Iraq veteran, and weapons instructor―explains:
“You have to train 18-year-olds to run to the sound of gunfire and perform under fire and the threat of death. This act defies all logic, goes against all human instinct, and takes one of the most intensive acts of psychological reprogramming to overcome. My experiences are that of the United States Marine Corps. Generally, no one argues that Marines’ boot camp is, by far, the hardest of U.S. military indoctrinatory exercises and is famous/infamous for its training tactics, so from that experience, I will share what I know.
“As for why boot camp training tactics are so important, you need to imagine what is expected of someone who goes there. In modern warfare, you have people too young to think about fighting the wars that we go through year after year. This has been the practice for centuries. The need for warriors and the nature for who has to fight hasn’t evolved much and likely won’t change in any near future. Drones, stealth, atomic warfare, and high-tech weaponry won’t change this. There will always be the need for young men and women who are willing and able to run to the sound of imminent danger and many, to their death. Nations need this. You need this. It is a horrible thing, but the sanctity and security of every nation on Earth requires young men and women capable of doing this.
“To do this, however, we need a form of psychological training that is able to forge individuals who can do this. That is why boot camp has evolved to become such a potent tool in today’s military machine. The most important single thing to know about boot camp is that it is 100% designed to reprogram children and civilians into warriors. It places within them a sense that they are expected to do important things, far more important things than could be expected from other 18-year-olds. This is all happening during one of the most intensely stressful periods of your life, when you are kept isolated from contact from your family and friends and taught that everything you were before entering the Marines was weak and lacking any real value until you too are a Marine. The psychological transformation of boot camp is a very intense and intentional effort by the Marine Corps ― out of kids who have just barely left high school ― to make warriors able to fight and kill. From the point that you graduate boot camp, you will be different and have parts of the Marine Corps culture as part of your psyche.” (Jon Davis―a Marine sergeant).
We Are Imperfect in God’s Eyes
When you enter a Marina Boot Camp, one of the first things you quickly realize is how imperfect, impatient, impetuous, imprudent, impractical, imprecise and imperceptive you are. You are called an imbecile and many more unprintable and unmentionable words―and are expected to “take it on the chin”! Our Lord does the same thing, to drill home the fact that we are imperfect way―He does this in a positive way, by encouraging, but He is not afraid to do it in a negative way, by what we would call “an insult”. In positive fashion, He says to His listeners: “Be perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48)―meaning that they are not perfect in first place. Yet, in the very same Sermon on the Mount, He also addresses that imperfection negatively, by saying: “If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts …” (Matthew 7:11). Furthermore, He is not afraid to call St. Peter “Satan” when Peter shows imperfection by not grasping the principles of Christ and His mission, by trying to dissuade Our Lord from going into His Passion and Death: “Jesus began to show to His disciples, that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. And Peter taking Him, began to rebuke Him, saying: ‘Lord! Be it far from thee! This shall not be unto thee!’ Who turning, said to Peter: ‘Go behind Me, Satan! Thou art a scandal unto Me―because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men!’” (Matthew 16:21-23).
St. Peter takes the ‘insulting’ correction, learns from it and changes his attitude, but when Our Lord negatively attacked the Scribes and Pharisees, they did not seem to learn from it or correct themselves:
“Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the kingdom of Heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers. For this you shall receive the greater judgment. Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves! Woe to you blind guides! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees! … Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness! Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean! Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whitened sepulchers, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness! So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity! … Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! … You serpents, generation of vipers! How will you flee from the judgment of Hell? Behold I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes―and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city! … Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate!” (Matthew 23:13-38).
On another occasion, because the Scribes, Pharisees and other Jews would not accept His teaching―for the umpteenth time―Jesus said to them words similar to those which He addressed to St. Peter: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do! He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof!” (John 8:44).
Then we have the incident where Our Lord calls the Canaanite woman a “dog”―but He is putting her through her own short “boot camp”―by making her suffer rejection and insults as a means of testing her resolve and faith, before allowing her to “graduate” or “pass” with the obtaining of the miracle she sought: “And Jesus went from thence, and retired into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a woman of Canaan who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to Him: ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou son of David! My daughter is grieviously troubled by the devil!’ Who answered her not a word [He rejects her by giving her the ‘silent treatment’]. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying: ‘Send her away, for she crieth after us!’ And He answering, said: ‘I was not sent but only to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel!’ [In other words: “Go away! You are of the wrong religion!”] But she came and adored Him, saying: ‘Lord! Help me!’ Who answering, said: ‘It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs!’ [In other words: “Go away, you dog!”] But she said: ‘Yea, Lord! For the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters!’ Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith! Be it done to thee as thou wilt!’―and her daughter was cured from that hour” (Matthew 15:21-28). St. Mark reports it thus: “A woman, as soon as she heard of Him, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, came in and fell down at His feet. For the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophenician born. And she besought Him that He would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. Who said to her: ‘Suffer first the children to be filled! For it is not good to take the bread of the children, and cast it to the dogs!’ But she answered and said to Him: ‘Yea, Lord! For the whelps also eat under the table of the crumbs of the children!’ And He said to her: ‘For this saying, go thy way! The devil is gone out of thy daughter!’ And when she was come into her house, she found the girl lying upon the bed, and that the devil was gone out” (Mark 7:25-30).
No Marine Boot Camp Drill Instructor could deliver a better “put-down” than the ones above by Our Lord. Furthermore, In these incidents, we see the side or face of Our Lord along the lines of a Marine Boot Camp Drill Instructor, where He is tough and seemingly harsh―not because He is “having a bad day”―but for a reason and a purpose that is for the benefit of the victim of His toughness and seeming harshness.
We Need a Heavenly Boot Camp
As Scripture says, nothing impure or unclean will enter Heaven: “There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie―but they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb” (Apocalypse 21:27). Unfortunately, everyone is defiled―as Scripture says: “For all have sinned!” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). “Every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured. Then, when concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin” (James 1:14). Even the Old Testament, in several places, speaks of all men being defiled by sin: “They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one! The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together! There is none that doth good, no not one!” (Psalms 13:1-3; 52:2-4).
In the twelfth chapter of the Book of Hebrews, we read of need of tribulation and chastisement as a means of cleansing us from those sins and as means of acquiring holiness, without which there is no entry into Heaven: “Laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run to the fight proposed to us! Looking on Jesus, Who, having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God. For think diligently upon Him―Who endured such opposition from sinners against Himself―that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds. For in fighting against sin you have not yet resisted unto blood! And you have forgotten the consolation, which speaketh to you, as unto children, saying: ‘My son, neglect not the discipline of the Lord; neither be thou wearied whilst thou art rebuked by him! For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth!’ Persevere under discipline. God dealeth with you as with His sons; for what son is there, whom the father doth not correct? But if you be without chastisement―whereof all are made partakers―then are you bastards, and not sons. Moreover, we have had fathers of our flesh for instructors and we reverenced them! Shall we not much more obey the Father of spirits, and live? Now all chastisement for the present indeed seemeth not to bring with it joy, but sorrow: but afterwards, to them that are exercised by it, it will yield, the most peaceable fruit of justice. Follow peace and holiness―without which no man shall see God ... Let us serve, pleasing God, with fear and reverence. For our God is a consuming fire!” (Hebrews 12:1-29).
Unfortunately, the Chosen People did not live up to their calling! “And the Lord said to them: ‘You have forsaken Me and have worshipped strange gods! Therefore I will deliver you no more! Go and call upon the gods which you have chosen! Let them deliver you in the time of distress!’ And the children of Israel said to the Lord: ‘We have sinned! Do Thou unto us whatsoever pleaseth Thee―only deliver us this time!’ And saying these things, they cast away, out of their coasts, all the idols of strange gods and served the Lord their God! And He was touched with their miseries” (Judges 10:11-16).
We, Catholics, the “Chosen People of God” of the New Testament, are likewise guilty of similar sins of idolatry. If we pretend that we are serving God as He wants to be served, then we are liars. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10). As the Good Thief admitted as he died on the cross on Calvary, alongside Christ: “We receive the due reward of our deeds!” (Luke 23:41). Like the Good Thief, we must receive “the due reward of our deeds”―we have to pay for our sins. “We deserve to suffer these things, because we have sinned” (Genesis 42:21). There is no escape from this unpleasant fact―we “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23), “sin entered into this world, and by sin death” (Romans 5:12), “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and “the soul that sinneth, the same shall die” (Ezechiel 18:20) because “sin, when it is completed, begetteth death” (James 1:14-15). There is no greater sorrow than death―and there is no greater evil than sin. Our catechisms tell us that: “Sin is the only evil upon Earth” … “Mortal sin is a great evil, the greatest evil in the world, a greater evil than disease, poverty, or war, because it separates us from God … [venial sin] is second only in evil consequences to mortal sin” (The Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; My Catholic Faith, Bishop Morrow, STD).
Price of Sin in the Past
In the early Church, sin was looked upon as the greatest evil in the world, which what our catechisms still teach today. However, whereas our modern-day penances somehow fail to underline that truth, the penances of the early Church clearly reflected that truth. Here is an excerpt from the 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia under the entry for “The Sacrament of Penance.”
“To give some idea of the ancient discipline, the penalties attached to graver crimes are cited here from the English and Irish Penitentials (which were books listing sins and a recommended penance for each kind of sin). For [a single sin of] stealing, Cummian prescribes that a layman shall do one year of penance; a cleric, two; a subdeacon three; a deacon, four; a priest, five; a bishop, six. For murder or perjury, the penance lasted three, five, six, seven, ten or twelve years according to the criminal’s rank. Theodore commands that if any one leave the Catholic Church, join the heretics, and induce others to do the same, he shall, in case he repent, do penance for twelve years. For the perjurer who swears by the Church, the Gospel, or the relics of the saints, Egbert prescribes seven or eleven years of penance. Usury entailed three years; infanticide, fifteen; idolatry or demon-worship, ten. Violations of the sixth commandment were punished with great severity; the penance varied, according to the nature of the sin, from three to fifteen years, the extreme penalty being prescribed for incest, i.e., fifteen to twenty-five years. Whatever its duration, the penance included fasting on bread and water, either for the whole period or for a specified portion.”
Pay Now or Pay Later
When look at the severity of the penances in the early Church, we must pinch ourselves and remind ourselves that these penances were still fantastic “discount-prices” on the true cost of sin. It is when we read of the torments the holy souls undergo in Purgatory, that we start to understand and appreciate what the price of one single VENIAL SIN actually is, not to mention the price on each confessed and forgiven mortal sin. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7). “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing!” (Matthew 5:26).
That is why Holy Scripture is full of commands to repent, to change one’s heart and life, to pay for past sins: “Be penitent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).
“And there came down fire from God out of Heaven, and devoured them. And the devil, who seduced them, was cast into the pool of fire and brimstone, where both the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting upon it, from whose face the Earth and Heaven fled away. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of fire” (Apocalypse 20:9-15).
A Time of “Do As You Want!”―Play Now, Pay Never!
Today, most people live and do as they want―even sinning as they want and as much as they want―because they have imagined and created their own version of the Faith, where God is an all-loving, all-tolerating, all-forgiving , sugar-coated doormat, who will take all the offenses that we throw at Him and still kindly open the doors of Heaven to us. These kind of fools refuse to accept the “whole package” of God, filtering and distilling God until they are left with nothing but sugar. They take only the sweet Scriptural quotes and ignore the bitter ones. They will endlessly use quotes like: “The Lord is gracious and merciful; patient and plenteous in mercy! The Lord is sweet to all and His tender mercies are over all his works!” (Psalm 144:8-9), or “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). Beautiful, huh? Not only beautiful, but also true! Yet equally true is the following: “Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). “Say not: ‘I have sinned―and what harm hath befallen me?’ For the most High is a patient rewarder!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:4).“Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap! For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8). “I gave her a time that she might do penance, and she will not repent” (Apocalypse 2:21). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride” (Job 24:23). “I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3).
Church Complacency Cripple Catholics
In 1956, Blessed Elena Aiello― Mystic, Stigmatic, Victim Soul, Prophetess & Foundress of the Minim Tertiaries of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ―received the following warning from Our Lady: “People are offending God too much! Were I to show you all the sins committed on a single day, you would surely die of grief. These are grave times. The world is in total turmoil because it is in a worse condition than at the time of the deluge. Everything is in suspense, like a thread; when this thread breaks, the justice of God will fall like a thunderbolt and will complete its terrible course of purification.”
In 1966, barely ten years later, despite the ever-escalating number of sins throughout the world, Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Constitution Paenitemi, reduced the Lenten fast from 40 days to a mere 2 days (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday)―thus fulfilling the prophetic condemnation of Our Lady of La Salette, who warned: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars, which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish.”
In 1973, seven years after Pope Paul’s 95% reduction in Lenten fasting in 1966, Our Lady appeared at Akita in Japan, where she spoke of the continual increase in the number and gravity of sins, and warned of the consequences of this increase: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” (Our Lady of Akita). Then, as if delivering a ‘slap in the face’ for the reduction of penance by Pope Paul VI, she implicitly condemned it, saying: “Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger!”
Escalation of Sin
ABORTION: Note that back in 1973, the level of sin was nowhere near the astronomical heights it has reached since 1973. The contentious legal battle Roe versus Wade took place in 1973 and opened the doors to ever escalating abortions since then. Presently, in the USA alone, almost 3,000 babies are aborted EACH DAY―or 125 an hour―or just over 2 per minute―or 1 every 30 seconds. Add to that number the enormous, but incalculable amount of babies killed at the moment of conception by the new abortifacient contraceptive pill―and you have a slaughter house beyond belief! In America an abortion reform movement emerged in the 1960s. In 1963 The Society for Human Abortions was formed, providing women with information on how to obtain and perform abortions. In the late 1960s, a number of organizations were formed to mobilize opinion both against and for the legalization of abortion. In 1967, 21 members of the clergy announced in the New York Times that they would help women find safe abortion providers. In 1967, Colorado became the first state to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, or in which pregnancy would lead to permanent physical disability of the woman. Similar laws were passed in California, Oregon, and North Carolina. In 1970, Hawaii became the first state to legalize abortions on the request of the woman. By the end of 1972, 13 states had a law similar to that of Colorado, while Mississippi allowed abortion in cases of rape or incest only and Alabama and Massachusetts allowed abortions only in cases where the woman's physical health was endangered. The landmark judicial ruling of the Supreme Court, in Roe versus Wade, ruled that a Texas statute forbidding abortion except when necessary to save the life of the mother was unconstitutional. The Court arrived at its decision by concluding that the issue of abortion and abortion rights falls under the right to privacy. The Court held that a right to privacy existed and included the right to have an abortion.
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: The abominable same-sex marriage ‘laws’ were years away from being even suggested―never mind passed and enforced! Divorce ‘laws’ were being made less and less strict. The history of same-sex marriage in the United States dates from the early 1970s, when the first lawsuits, seeking legal recognition of same-sex relationships, brought the question of civil marriage rights and benefits for same-sex couples to public attention―though they proved unsuccessful. The subject became increasingly prominent in U.S. politics following the 1993 Hawaii Supreme Court decision in Baehr v. Lewin, which suggested the possibility that the state’s prohibition on same-sex marriages might be unconstitutional. That decision was met by actions at both the federal and state level to restrict marriage to male-female couples, notably the enactment at the federal level of the Defense of Marriage Act. In May of 2004, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state and the sixth jurisdiction in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. By late 2014, same-sex marriage had become legal in states that contained more than 70% of the United States population. In June of 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, legalized it in all fifty states.
DIVORCE: By the middle to late 1800s, divorce rates in the United States increased at a rapid rate, and Americans obtained more divorces than were granted in all of Europe. By 1916, the U.S. led the world in number of divorces―by 1909, Reno, Nevada, was―and was happy to be―“the divorce capital of the world.” At that time, only six months in Nevada were sufficient to establish Nevada residency and qualify for divorce proceedings. However, due to divorce competition from other states, Nevada dropped residency requirements from six months to three months, then from three months to six weeks! Initially, divorce was only granted on grounds of adultery―this was later changed to included cruelty, drunkenness, insanity and desertion. The big change came in 1969, when a law was passed, allowing couples to divorce after they had been separated for two years (or five years if only one of them wanted a divorce). A marriage could be ended if it had irretrievably broken down, and neither partner no longer had to prove “fault”. In 1969, California became the first U.S. state to pass a no-fault divorce law. As regards the divorce rate, back in 1890, 0.003% (3 out of 1,000 couples) were divorced and by 1920, it had risen to 0.008% (8 out of 1,000 couples) being divorced. Today, the divorce rate among highly educated couples is 11% (110 out of 1,000 couples), while the divorce rate for lower income couples is 17% (170 out of 1,000 couples)―a massive rise from the 3 per 1,000 couples in 1890. The median length for a marriage in the US today is 11 years with 90% of all divorces being settled out of court. However, studies have shown that lower-income couples are currently more likely to get a divorce than higher-income couples.
ADULTERY & FORNICATION: These numbers are even higher than the above cases of abortion, same-sex marriage and divorce. Our Lady of Fatima said that impurity was the main cause in the present era for the damnation of souls. A 2014 Pew study, on global morality, found that premarital sex was considered particularly unacceptable in predominantly Muslim nations, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan and Egypt, each having over 90% disapproval, while people in Western European countries were the most accepting, with Spain, Germany and France expressing less than 10% disapproval―and these countries are mainly Catholic on paper. The Guttmacher Institute― a leading researcher on sexual and reproductive health―states: “The vast majority of Americans have sex before marriage … Further, contrary to the public perception that premarital sex is much more common now than in the past, the study shows that even among women who were born in the 1940s, nearly nine in 10 had sex before marriage. According to the analysis, 95% had had sex before marriage. Even among those who abstained from sex until age 20 or older, 81% had had premarital sex by age 44. “This is reality-check research. Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades,” says study author Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research at the Guttmacher Institute. “The data clearly show that the majority of older teens and adults have already had sex before marriage, which calls into question the federal government’s funding of «abstinence-only-until-marriage» programs for 12–29-year-olds.” Holy Scripture warns: “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err! Neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, shall possess the kingdom of God!” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). “Let marriage be honorable in all, and the bed undefiled! For fornicators and adulterers God will judge!” (Hebrews 13:4).
In a study conducted in the United States, 61% of men and 12% of women, born before to 1910, admitted to having premarital sex. Starting in the 1920s, and especially after World War II, premarital sex became more common, particularly among women. By the end of the 20th century, between 75% and 80% of Americans had experienced full sexual relations before the age of 19. Today, the figure is above 95%. Here we are only talking about sexual actions between persons―you can add to that the even more frequent cases of solitary sexual sins in both action and even more frequent sexual sins committed in thought―“Having eyes full of adultery” (2 Peter 2:14)―which can happen many, many times a day for just ONE PERSON. “You have heard that it was said to them of old: ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery!’ But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart!” (Matthew 5:27-28).
Once married, there arises the next temptation of adultery. Research suggests that 21% of men have been physically sexually unfaithful to their spouse or significant other. While among women, 15% acknowledging an affair in a current or previous relationship. While that might seem a fairly low number, it represents a 40% increase over the past two decades. The fear of getting caught red-handed is a pretty strong deterrent for most people, but 74% of men say they would be unfaithful to their partners if they knew they could get away with it. Whereas 68% of women said they would be unfaithful if there was no chance of their current partner finding out. Women, for the most part, tend to feel strongly about infidelity and 84% agree that it's wrong if you're married. Men, on the other hand, approach the issue with a slightly different attitude. Around 78% say that it's not okay for married spouses to have a romance on the side. Again, these numbers are referring to physical sexual relations―the number of adulterous thoughts must be sky high compared to actual physical infidelities. “Turn away thy face from a woman dressed up, and gaze not about upon another's beauty!” (Ecclesiasticus 9:8).
In addition to the above categories, you have sins of anger, hatred, dishonor, disrespect, foul language, violence, murder, rape, theft of all kinds, envy, pride, gluttony, drunkenness, addictions of all kinds, laziness, neglect, blasphemy, sacrilege, Satanism, witchcraft, Freemasonry and the other secret societies, calumny (lying), detraction (revealing sins of others), gossip, plus all the sins that arise from not doing what we should do.
Add it all together and you suddenly have before you what Our Lady spoke of: “Mankind is obscured by a thick fog, as a result of the many grievous sins, which are almost covering the whole Earth … Numerous scandals are bringing souls to ruin―particularly through the corruption of youth. Stirred up, and unrestrained in the enjoyment of the pleasures of the world, they have degraded their souls in corruption and sin. The bad example of parents trains the family in scandal and infidelity, instead of virtue and prayer, which is almost dead on the lips of many. Stained and withered is the fountain of Faith and sanctity the home … Men are offending God too much! If I were to show you the number of sins committed in a single day, you would die of horror and sorrow! … The times are grievous. The whole world is in turmoil, because IT HAS BECOME WORSE THAN AT THE TIME OF THE DELUGE!” (Our Lady to Blessed Sr. Elena Aiello, in 1955). “During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation … Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Without virginity, it will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them” (Our Lady of Good Success).
Who Will Pick-Up The Tab? Who’s Paying For All This?
All those sins show a massive self-indulgence or even gluttony in Satan’s Sinful Steakhouse or the Devil’s Diner of Damnation! Nothing is free in this life, not even sin. Every sin on the menu has a price! Someone has to pay for it! Who is going to “foot the bill” or “pick-up the tab”? Of course, we know that the actual perpetrator of the sin will pay―and will pay big-time! Yet, do we really think that we are “not-guilty” of the sins of others? We most certainly are―even though it is to a lesser degree than the sinner himself or herself. We might be tempted to say with Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). The answer is, of course, “Yes, you are your brother’s keeper!” As Holy Scripture says: “He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him―how doth the charity of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17). If we cannot see that the vast majority of the world needs our prayers and sacrifices, yet we refuse to produce SUBSTANTIAL prayers and sacrifices―how can we dare to say that we love God? “If any man say: ‘I love God!’ and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not?” (1 John 4:20). We cannot be loving our neighbor if we see our neighbor sink deeper and deeper into sin and refuse to do anything SUBSTANTIAL about it. That was the whole point of Fatima―to do something for the vast majority of poor sinners who were falling into Hell, because there was nobody to pray and offer sacrifices for them.
“Then he shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat! I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink! I was a stranger, and you took Me not in! Naked, and you covered Me not! Sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me!’ Then they shall answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting” (Matthew 25:41-46).
From this passage, we derive the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy―the Corporal Works of Mercy being: (1) to feed the hungry; (2) to give drink to the thirsty; (3) to clothe the naked; (4) to visit the imprisoned; (5) to shelter the homeless; (6) to visit the sick; (7) to bury the dead. The Spiritual Works of Mercy being: (1) to admonish the sinner; (2) to instruct the ignorant; (3) to counsel the doubtful; (4) to comfort the sorrowful; (5) to bear wrongs patiently; (6) to forgive all injuries; (7) to pray for the living and the dead.
We must not forget the Church’s teaching on how we can become guilty of the sins of others: (1) by Counsel; (2) by Command; (3) by Consent; (4) by Concealment; (5) by Partaking; (6) by Provocation; (7) by Praise or Flattery; (8) by Silence; (9) by Defense of the Evil Done. The major one that jumps out at us is guilt by silence―not only silence in correction, but silence in prayer, we do not pray for their conversion, or, if we pray, we do pray enough or well enough.
If, by our silence, we fail to do something to stop this incredible loss of souls, then we are to some degree guilty―having the knowledge and the possibility to try and save them. How many people say SEVERAL Rosaries a day for the conversion of sinners? How many people have SEVERAL or MANY Masses offered for the conversion of sinners? How many people FORMALLY and LOVINGLY offer their daily sufferings, plus other additional sacrifices, for the conversion of sinners? Drill this into your heart and mind―it is a few paltry, inattentive, distracted, speedy, half-hearted, mumbled prayers that are going to pay the price of the incredible bill that has been and still is being run-up by the sinners of this world.
Boot Camp Battle Talk
Perhaps one of the most damaging things Catholics can do is to forget that they Soldiers of Christ, placed behind enemy lines, in a perpetual warfare against the world. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Be sober and watch―because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
“Be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of his power. Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God!” (Ephesians 6:10-17).
“All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, so that the man of God may be made perfect, and equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). “The high praise of God shall be in their mouth: and two-edged swords in their hands” (Psalm 149:6). “For the word of God is more piercing than any two edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). “And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two edged sword―so that with it He may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Apocalypse 19:15).
Negligence Has Its Price
“Neglect not to pray!” (Ecclesiasticus 7:10) … “Neglect not, lose no time!” (Judges 18:9) … “Neglect not the grace that is in thee!” (1 Timothy 4:14) … “Pray without ceasing!” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) … “We ought always to pray, and not to faint!” (Luke 18:1) … “Know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins!” James 5:20).
Boot Camp Battle Talk
Perhaps one of the most damaging things Catholics can do is to forget that they Soldiers of Christ, placed behind enemy lines, in a perpetual warfare against the world. “The life of man upon Earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). “Be sober and watch―because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour! Whom resist ye, strong in Faith―knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world!” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
“Be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of his power. Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God!” (Ephesians 6:10-17).
“All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, so that the man of God may be made perfect, and equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). “The high praise of God shall be in their mouth: and two-edged swords in their hands” (Psalm 149:6). “For the word of God is more piercing than any two edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). “And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two edged sword―so that with it He may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Apocalypse 19:15).
We Are Headed For a 21st Century Universal Boot-Camp
After Our Lord, there is nobody who is kinder, sweeter, more gentle, more loving, more merciful and more generous than Our Lady. Yet this is what that sweet, gentle, kind, loving, merciful and generous Mother of God has to say to us―the following words of Our Lady are a combination from her apparitions at Quito in Ecuador (as Our Lady of Good of Success), at La Salette in France, at Fatima in Portugal and at Akita in Japan:
“The end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated. As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private. The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many of them will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings … To test this Faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions when all will seem to be lost and paralyzed … From the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children, in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! … Under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, many will turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast ... Many people … will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect, and corruption of morals, unbridled luxury and extravagance, an impious press and secular education. Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and those who should speak out will be silent … The spirit of impurity that will permeate the atmosphere during these times. Like a filthy ocean, it will run through the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the world … Without virginity, it will be necessary for fire from Heaven to rain down upon these lands in order to purify them” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son! It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it! I have suffered all of the time for all of you! If I do not wish my Son to abandon you, I must take it upon myself to pray for this continually! And all of you think little of this! In vain you will pray! In vain you will act! You will never be able to make up for the trouble I have taken over for all of you!” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Woe to the Princes of the Church who think only of piling riches upon riches, to protect their authority and dominate with pride. The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“In the year 1864, Lucifer, together with a large number of demons, will be unloosed from Hell; they will put an end to Faith, little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of Hell. Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls. Evil books will be abundant on Earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God. Everywhere, as true Faith has faded, a false light brightens the people … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis. The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten, each individual will want to be independent and be superior to others” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. There will be desecration of holy places. In convents, the flowers of the Church will decompose and the devil will make himself like the king of all hearts. May those in charge of religious communities be on their guard against the people they must receive, for the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy, because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes. At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the Heavens. Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“The Holy Father will suffer a great deal. I will be with him until the end and receive his sacrifice. The mischievous would attempt his life several times to do harm and shorten his days, but neither he, nor his successor will see the triumph of the Church of God” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them! … Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended! … God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated!” (Our Lady of Fatima).
Regarding the annihilation of nations: it is important to note that during the Father Fuentes interview, Sister Lucia said that Our Blessed Mother had told herself, Jacinta and Francisco “many times ... that many nations will disappear from the face of the Earth.” We only have the one recorded instance in July 1917, but Lucia said Our Lady spoke of the annihilation of many nations “many times”! (Frère François, Tragedy and Triumph, p. 27.)
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead ... If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them!” (Our Lady of Akita).
“Esteeming these very punishments to be less than our sins deserve, let us believe that these scourges of the Lord, with which like servants we are chastised, have happened for our amendment, and not for our destruction” (Judith 8:27).
If Only We Knew!
“Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which … destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues and fraternal charity and child-like simplicity! Cursed human respect, which makes one ask: ‘What will others say about this?’ … Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness. This, then, will be the cause of the cursed demon taking possession and he will achieve his victories” (Our Lady of Good Success).
DOUBLE DAY ARTICLE : Monday February 18th & Tuesday February 19th
Article 2
Fit for the Fight? Or Scared and Put to Flight?
Article 2
Fit for the Fight? Or Scared and Put to Flight?
Fit, Fat, Fight, Flee
Heaven requires a certain fitness―not so much a physical fitness as a spiritual fitness. Yet some of the attributes that go into achieving physical fitness, are also necessary for spiritual fitness. Our Lord and Holy Scripture are very clear on that matter. Heaven is no place for “push-overs”, but more a place of “push-ups”―not a place for the “flighty” but the “feisty”―not a place for the “halfhearted” but the “wholehearted”―not a place for the “talkers” but the “walkers”! It takes a certain amount of grit―gritting your teeth through the many tribulations to be encountered―in order to successfully get to Heaven. Here are some of the many unmistakably uncompromising fitness statements that Our Lord and Holy Scripture state―they almost paint a “boot-camp” image that any prospective Soldier for Christ must pass through in order to qualify:
Fighting Talk
“Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). Jesus adds: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake! And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another!” (Matthew 24:9-10). “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation For there shall be, from henceforth, five in one house divided―three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:51-53). “The brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved! … And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it.” (Matthew 10:21-22; 10:36-39).
If You Want to be Fit for Heaven ...
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Christ’s “Boot Camp”
That sounds a little harsh, doesn’t it? “Christ’s Boot-Camp”! The image brought to mind by a “boot-camp” is one of rigor, discipline, harshness, yelling, insults, hatred, rough treatment, excessive exercise, exhaustion, etc. How could our sweet, gentle, compassionate, kind, loving, merciful Jesus be associated with such behavior and treatment? That would be the initial, instinctive, impassioned plea of a modern-day Catholic who has lost all contact with truth and reality, and, instead, has made-up his or her own sweet and sugar-coated, soft-centered, milk and honey chocolate version of the Faith. Without any doubt Jesus is sweet, gentle, compassionate, kind, loving and merciful―but we must not forget that Jesus has also created a Hell and a Purgatory―which are a zillion, trillion, billion times more excruciating than any earthly boot-camp―and which probably house the vast majority of mankind! Does that pop the balloon of self-imagined and man-made ideas of what the Faith is all about? It should do! Once again, those words of Jesus need to be digested: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
How Christ Treats His Recruits
Never mind Hell and Purgatory―even on Earth the true followers of Christ are put through a “Christian Boot Camp” of ever-increasing intensity. Not many like that! Many more refuse that! That is why Our Lord says of His recruits: “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14)―words that we also read in Sunday’s Gospel for Septuagesima Sunday―which, in certain sense, we could say is the arrival of the bus at “Christ’s Boot Camp”―which could be said to last from Septuagesima Sunday through to Easter Sunday. The Marine Boot Camp there are more than 70 training days (“Septuagesima” refers to the number “Seventy”) in a period that is a little longer than 12 weeks, almost 13 weeks, whereas the Catholic has potentially 64 days of training from Septuagesima Sunday to Easter Sunday―though the really grueling part of that training begins with Ash Wednesday.
Our Lord did his own “boot-camp” in the desert―for 40 days and 40 nights―fasting, praying and doing battle with the devil. God had His Chosen People do a “boot-camp” of 40 years in the desert wilderness―during which the vast majority failed to graduate and died in the desert! Once the elite Chosen People (like the Marines are said to be an elite fighting force) reached the Promised Land, they had to do another 70 year “boot-camp” (cf. Marine 70 day boot-camp and Septuagesima [meaning 70] connection) as exiles in Babylon due to their infidelity to God. Notice too, that in the year 70 AD, Jerusalem was made to undergo a “boot-camp” in the form of the Roman siege of Jerusalem, which lasted around 7 months. The length of our “boot-camp” life on Earth, according to Holy Scripture, is an average of 70 years: “The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years” (Psalm 89:10)―a “score” is twenty years, thus “three score and ten” equals seventy (Septuagesima).
Boot Camp of Saints
There is no saint in Heaven who has not passed through Christ’s Boot Camp! You most certainly remember the story where St. Teresa of Avila―in trying to reform and open Carmelite convents of the strict observance―met with one setback after another, whether from humans or from nature. On one occasion, on the way to visit one of her religious houses, she lost her footing in trying to navigate a road that had disappeared under a flooding river, and was almost carried away. Exasperated, she lovingly yet frustratingly complained to Our Lord, asking why on earth He was allowing all this to happen to her, when she was merely trying to do something good and fulfill His will. Our Lord basically said that He treated all His friends in that harsh manner―to which Teresa retorted that, if that was the case, then she was not surprised that Our Lord had so few friends! Here is the account from a French biography of St. Teresa of Avila, entitled The Life of St. Teresa, a 1912 translation by Alice Lady Lovat “taken from the French of ‘A Carmelite’ Nun,” which gives the following story on page 548.
In January of the last year of her life, 1582, she left Ávila to establish convents in Burgos and Grenada, and this befell her along the way:
Teresa describes the journey thus: “We had to run many dangers. At no part of the road were the risks greater than within a few leagues of Burgos, at a place called Los Pontes. The rivers were so high that the water in places covered everything, neither road nor the smallest footpath could be seen, only water everywhere, and two abysses on each side. It seemed foolhardiness to advance, especially in a carriage, for if one strayed ever so little off the road (then invisible), one must have perished.” The saint is silent on her share of the adventure, but her companions relate that, seeing their alarm, she turned to them and encouraged them, saying that “as they were engaged in doing God’s work, how could they die in a better cause?” She then led the way on foot. The current was so strong that she lost her footing, and was on the point of being carried away when our Lord sustained her. “Oh, my Lord!” she exclaimed, with her usual loving familiarity, “when wilt Thou cease from scattering obstacles in our path?” “Do not complain, daughter,” the Divine Master answered, “for it is ever thus that I treat My friends!” “Ah, Lord, it is also on that account that Thou hast so few!” was her reply.
Boot Camp of the Early Christians
We see, too, how the sweet, gentle, loving, merciful, kindly Christ―and He really is all of those things to the highest degree imaginable, but He is also more than that― treated the early Christians of the Church by His Divine Providence. The early Christians were God’s new “Chosen People”, His newly beloved children―but He chose to treat them, not in the way that the world would treat its chosen ones and beloved ones, but more in line with the words of Holy Scripture, where, in both the Old and New Testaments, God says: “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth: and, as a father in the son, He pleaseth Himself!” (Proverbs 3:12). “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth!” (Hebrews 12:6). “When thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1). “They shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake! … The brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death! And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake! But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:9-14).
Prior to Saul’s (Paul’s) conversion, Our Lord told Ananias that Paul would have to suffer much for the Lord’s Name’s sake: “And the Lord said to him: ‘Go thy way! For this man [Saul/Paul] is to me a vessel of election, to carry My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake!’” (Acts 9:15-16). Hence, St. Paul speaks of being “in tribulation, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in prisons, in seditions, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, … in longsuffering, … by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; … as dying, and behold we live; as chastised, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as needy, yet enriching many; as having nothing, and possessing all things” (2 Corinthians 6:4-10).
St. Paul gives a litany of sufferings that he had to endure for being a follower of Christ: “They are the ministers of Christ―(I speak as one less wise) I am more! In many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, less one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness!” (2 Corinthians 11:23-27).
We Want a Holiday Camp, Not Boot Camp
With God being so powerful, merciful and sweet―one would expect a “Holiday Camp” rather than a “Boot Camp” for his followers. Yet, as God Himself says: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9) … “And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:29). “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven! For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you!” (Matthew 5:10-12). “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalm 115:16). “Be you humbled therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in the time of visitation!” (1 Peter 5:6).
Adversity and tribulation often provokes repentance―and it us thus that God speaks to His Chosen People during their seventy year Babylonian Captivity, on account of their infidelities to God: “For thus saith the Lord: When the seventy years shall begin to be accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you: and I will perform my good word in your favor, to bring you again to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of affliction, to give you an end and patience. And you shall call upon Me, and you shall go and you shall pray to Me―and I will hear you. You shall seek Me, and shall find Me when you shall seek Me with all your heart. And I will be found by you, saith the Lord: and I will bring back your captivity, and I will gather you out of all nations, and from all the places to which I have driven you out, saith the Lord, and I will bring you back from the place to which I caused you to be carried away captive!” (Jeremias 29:10-14).
Boot Camp of the Desert Fathers
Look at the “Boot-Camp” of the Desert Fathers, who personally and willingly chose to leave the comforts of the world (with their sinful temptations) and went into the desert wilderness―not for a mere 70 days training (like the US Marine boot camp), but for the rest of their lives! St. Paul of Thebes, commonly known as St. Paul, the First Hermit or St. Paul the Anchorite, lived alone in the desert from the age of sixteen to one hundred and thirteen years of age―97 years in the desert wilderness, living on next to nothing! Paul fled to the Theban desert as a young man during the persecution of the Roman Emperors Decius and Valerianus, around 250 AD. He lived in the mountains of this desert in a cave, near a clear spring and a palm tree, the leaves of which provided him with clothing and the fruit of which provided him with his only source of food, until he was 43 years old, when a raven started bringing him half a loaf of bread daily. He would remain in that cave for the rest of his life―almost a hundred years. He is now in Heaven reaping the plentiful rewards FOR ALL ETERNITY for those mere 97 years of “boot camp”.
The Desert Fathers (along with Desert Mothers) were early Christian hermits, ascetics, and monks who lived mainly in the Scetes desert of Egypt, beginning around the third century AD. The desert monastic communities that grew out of the informal gathering of hermit monks became the model for Christian monasticism. Paul of Thebes is often credited with being the first hermit monk to go to the desert, but it was Anthony the Great who launched the movement that became the Desert Fathers. Sometime around 270 AD, Anthony heard a Sunday sermon stating that perfection could be achieved by selling all of one’s possessions, giving the proceeds to the poor, and following Christ (Matthew 19:21). He insisted on selling all his material possessions—he left his younger sister a small amount of money to live her life in a convent, donated the rest to the poor, and left for the desert wilderness.
Anthony was not alone in his sentiments. The legalization of Christianity by the Roman Empire in 313 gave many Christians a desire to retire from the world. Some, nostalgic for the tradition of martyrdom that had been the lot of many Christians throughout almost 300 years of persecution, saw withdrawal and asceticism as an alternative to martyrdom. When members of the Church began to look for ways in which they could work with the Roman state, the Desert Fathers saw that as a compromise between “the things of God and the things of Caesar.” The monastic communities were essentially an alternative Christian society―an uncompromising Christian society. The hermits doubted that religion and politics could ever produce a truly Christian society. For them, the only Christian society was spiritual and not worldly.
Anthony lived in a time of transition for Christianity—the persecution of Christians, by the Roman Emperor Diocletian, in the years following 303 AD, was the last great formal persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Only ten years later, Christianity was made legal in Egypt by Diocletian’s successor Constantine I. Those who left for the desert formed an alternative Christian society, at a time when it was no longer a risk to be a Christian. The solitude, austerity, and sacrifice of the desert was seen by Anthony as an alternative to martyrdom, which was formerly seen by many Christians as the highest form of sacrifice. Anthony quickly gained followers eager to live their lives in accordance with this solidarity and separation from material goods. From these prohibitions it is recorded by Athanasius that Anthony received special privileges from God, such as the ability to heal the sick, inspire others to have faith in healing through God, and even converse with God on occasion. Around this time, desert monasticism appeared nearly simultaneously in several areas, including Egypt and Syria.
Over time, the model of Anthony and other hermits attracted many followers, who lived alone in the desert or in small groups. They chose a life of extreme asceticism, renouncing all the pleasures of the senses, rich food, baths, rest, and anything that made them comfortable. They instead focused their energies on praying, singing psalms, fasting, giving alms to the needy, and preserving love and harmony with one another while keeping their thoughts and desires for God alone. Thousands joined them in the desert, mostly men, but also a handful of women. Religious seekers also began going to the desert seeking advice and counsel from the early Desert Fathers. By the time of Anthony’s death, there were so many men and women living in the desert that it was described as “a city” by Anthony’s biographer.
Boot Camp of Christian Martyrs Throughout Centuries
Beheading, stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake and a host of other gruesome manner of deaths―were fairly common methods of disposing of Catholic saints, who were a nuisance and thorn in the side of the pagans and the worldly. There have been an estimated 70 million martyrdoms for the Faith, from the time of Christ to this present day.
● St. Stephen was stoned to death. His success in converting Jews drew the ire of the Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court). His punishment for speaking against “this holy place and the law” was to be stoned to death.
● St. Sebastian, a Praetorian Guard under Diocletian (a committed persecutor of Christians), ‘died’ twice. The first martyrdom was being shot through with arrows and he was left for dead, after it was found out that he was a Christian who had been converting his fellow soldiers. He was found by a woman (later St. Irene) who nursed him back to health. Sebastian later again appeared before Diocletian; the emperor then had him clubbed to death, a punishment that did, in fact, kill Sebastian this time, and his body was dumped into a Roman sewer.
● St. Lawrence was grilled to death over a fire. He was a victim of persecution by the Roman emperor Valerian in 258. St. Lawrence’s martyrology states that he was grilled alive—as in, on an actual red-hot gridiron. It was recorded that he bore his slow torture stoically, even quipping: “Turn me over! I’m cooked on this side!”
● St. Margaret Clitherow was pressed to death. These days, we talk of being under pressure. Well, Margaret Clitherow, the Catholic-convert wife of a Protestant butcher in York, England, allowed Masses to be offered in her home secretly, and she also harbored priests there. When this was discovered, Margaret fell foul of a law instituted, in 1583, that imposed the death penalty for such crimes, and her sentence was to be pressed to death. Pressed, lying on her back with a sharp stone under her and with a door on top of her, which was topped with an 800-pound weight. It took 15 minutes for her to die.
● St. Cassian was hacked to death by children. Formerly the Bishop of Brescia, he became a schoolmaster after his banishment from that place. By refusing to make sacrifice to the pagan gods, he angered the local officials, who sentenced him to death and turned him over to his students as his executioners. Cassian’s death was torturous because of it: the only instruments the students had at their disposal were small and non-lethal. The boys employed their tablets to bash Cassian and their styluses (pointed iron instruments for writing) and penknives to make a multitude of cuts and punctures all over his body for an agonizingly extended time. Conscious through the long process.
● St. Dymphna was beheaded by her father. It is not so much the manner of St. Dymphna’s death---beheading---but the reason for it and the person behind it that is especially awful. Born in Ireland to a 13th century pagan king, Dymphna became a Christian convert. After the death of her mother, her deranged father demanded to marry his daughter Dymphna, a beautiful young woman who resembled his late wife. She refused and fled. Her father eventually found her. He reiterated his demand to marry her; she again refused. He had his servants kill the priest, but he himself cut off his daughter’s head.
● St. Bartholomew was skinned alive. The date is not known, but it is traditionally said that he died in Albanopolis, Armenia. There is evidence that he was a missionary to what are now Iran and Turkey as well as Armenia, Ethiopia, and Mesopotamia, and that the Armenian king Astyages called for his death after Bartholomew converted the king’s brother. Bartholomew’s death was especially grotesque―flaying. That is, his skin was fully removed from his body, in strips, while he was still alive. Then he was beheaded for good measure.
The Boot Camp of Being “Hung, Drawn and Quartered”
The form of execution referred to as being Hung, Drawn and Quartered was described by a chronicler called William Harrison:
“The greatest and most grievous punishment used in England, for such as offend against the State, is the drawing from the prison to the place of execution upon an hurdle or sled, where they are hanged till they be half-dead, and then taken down, and quartered alive; after that, their members and bowels are cut from their bodies, and thrown into a fire, provided near hand and within their own sight, even for the same purpose.” The Quarters of the body were then hung in prescribed locations in the City of London as a deterrent to all English citizens.
If, after a trial in court, a person was found guilty and convicted of treason (and Catholics were looked upon as being guilty of treason), then they were sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered. On the day of execution, they were first attached to the back of a horse and then dragged along the ground, over cobbles, stones, or whatever else was found on the road, to the place of their execution. Sometimes it was as simple as tying their hands and ankles with ropes. Other times, they were dragged with their bodies on a wooden frame called a hurdle. While the latter seems somewhat more compassionate, the real purpose was to keep the prisoners alive, so they could properly endure their punishment. By this point, fear would flood the victim's body with adrenaline, causing their heart rate and blood pressure to rapidly increase.
Traitors (Catholics) would often be subjected to the torture of crowds upon arriving at their execution place. These people came specifically to watch the barbaric display of retribution. However, just watching the execution wasn't enough: crowds would usually be waiting for their own opportunity to abuse the traitor. These vicious preliminary attacks could easily result in blunt force trauma, causing a variety of injuries from abrasions and lacerations to hemorrhaging and ruptured organs.
The execution would then begin with a hanging. Traitors (Catholics) were hanged until they are almost dead. Once semi-conscious, the victim’s body would exhibit spasms and all bowel and bladder control would be gone. After being hanged for a while, the condemned person would be pulled down from the scaffold. If the rope had compressed his neck arteries for too long, asphyxia would have led to the complete loss of consciousness. The compression could also have essentially brought the heart to a standstill. Regardless, if the traitor wasn’t conscious, he was vigorously splashed with water to wake him back up for what was coming next.
If they were lucky, at this point they would already be dead―since hanging is the least brutal aspect of the entire punishment. More often than not, the traitor would experience extra punishment outside of the outlined execution program. This involved everything from chopping off his extremities and cauterizing the stumps in hot sulfur, to creating lacerations with burning hot tools and then pouring molten lead into the wounds.
If the traitor’s body was not already in shock from asphyxiation, it would definitely be in shock by now. These types of injuries would cause immense pain, as burns can affect nerves, blood vessels, muscles, and bones. The burned portions of the body would experience instant cell death, an immense loss of fluids, and edema, or extreme swelling. In the term “drawn and quartered,” the word “drawn” was used to refer to disembowelment. A cut would be made down the traitor’s torso and his intestines pulled out, sometimes along with other major organs.
Tearing the mesentery (a fold in the lining of the abdomen that holds the digestive organs in place) from the inner wall of the body, would cause massive amounts of bleeding. This would trigger hypovolemic shock, as the severe blood loss would hinder the heart from pumping blood throughout the body. This type of shock would shut down the organs―if most of the traitor’s insides weren’t already out. You may ask yourself, what could be worse than disembowelment? How about being disemboweled and being castrated? In addition to watching their entrails being pulled out, traitors also had to witness their genitals being sliced off. This act symbolically took away the victim's masculinity, permanently ending the traitor’s bloodline and name.
If the traitor had not yet bled to death, then this horrific mutilation (in tandem with hypovolemic shock) usually resulted in his death. Once the traitor’s abdominal cavity was emptied and his manhood detached, his genitals and entrails were burned before his eyes. Sometimes, if the charges were particularly heinous, the executioner would go the extra mile to dig out the contents of the traitor’s chest cavity and burn them, as well.
By this point in the harrowing process, the traitor would most likely already be dead from shock, as there would be no substantial blood pressure and no vital organs to sustain the remnants of the body. If they happened to be unlucky enough to survive to this point, they would barely be hanging on to any essence of life. In a final act of punishment within the traitor’s last hypothetical moments of life, his head would be cut from his body. Immediately after decapitation, the head was held in the air by the executioner. This was ritualized in order to show the head its own body, as well as the faces of the crowd.
If the condemned was somehow still alive after decapitation, he may have actually caught a glimpse of this view, as consciousness can remain for a few short seconds after beheading. After this, the complete lack of oxygen would quickly lead to death. Following all of the agony, the traitor’s corpse would be quartered. In this act the body was divided into four parts, or quarters. Sometimes this was entirely done by hand, but it has been more notably achieved by scoring the body before tying the limbs (or remaining limbs) to four horses. The horses would then be booted to trot away in four different directions, tearing the body apart.
If the combined effort of the horses failed to properly break the portions away, the executioner assisted by making hatchet cuts on the joints. Sometimes the decision was made to simply burn the quarters of the body. More often than not, though, the four parts and head were preserved for display. The traitor’s head was parboiled in a brine mixture to maintain its appearance while ensuring that the rotting flesh wouldn’t fall victim to circling birds.
The quarters were sometimes parboiled, as well. However, in more serious cases of treason, the quarters were coated in tar to create longer-lasting displays. The preserved quarters were sometimes hung on a gibbet, but typically the crime of treason required that the parts be put on display in various public places. Each limb would often receive an inscription stating the reason(s) for its exposure before being placed atop town gates.
Sometimes the limbs would be scattered in towns in completely different parts of the country. The head would always be displayed in large public places, such as the London Bridge. It would be shoved on a stake and affixed to the bridge as the ultimate deterrent to other traitors.
Catholics Who Were Hung Drawn and Quartered
Here is a list of some Catholic martyrs (there are many more), who died for their Faith by being hung, drawn and quartered in England during the 16th and 17th centuries. Not all of anniversaries of their martyrdoms are on the Church calendar, but several Catholic martyrs from the English recusant (meaning those who “refused”) era, from the time of Elizabeth I to Charles II, are honored with feast days. These martyrs provide us examples of those who paid the ultimate price for adhering to the true Faith, when England was in process of tweaking, changing and eventually rejecting the true Faith.
● St. John Fisher (1469-1535) was an English Catholic bishop and cardinal who was executed by order of Henry VIII during the English Reformation for refusing to accept the King as Supreme Head of the Church of England and for upholding the Roman Catholic Church's doctrine of papal supremacy. He was condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn, London.
● St. Thomas More (1478-1535) was an English lawyer, a councilor to King Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England. He opposed the Protestant Reformation and the king's separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and rejected to uphold the annulment of Hnery’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy of Henry being the Head of the Catholic Church in England, he was convicted of treason and condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn, London― but the King later changed this to execution by decapitation.
● St. John Rigby, a layman, was hung, drawn and quartered in 1600, for having converted to Catholicism and neglected to attend Church of England services.
● St. Thomas Garnet, SJ (1575-1608) was hung, drawn, and quartered* during the reign of James I after the Gunpowder Plot discovery. He denied any involvement in it and would not swear James’ Oath of Allegiance denying the Pope’s authority. On June 23, 1608, he proclaimed himself the happiest man alive before his execution.
● St. John Southworth (1592-1654) had already been arrested and exiled once before, but then he had returned to England to serve the Catholic laity as a newly ordained priest. In 1585, a law had been passed branding as treasonable any priest who dared to come back to England. He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
● Blessed Philip Powell, OSB, (1594-1646) was a lawyer who became a Benedictine monk and priest, serving as a missionary in England during the English Civil War. He was condemned to death under the Elizabethan statute that designated his priesthood in England as an act of treason. He was hung, drawn and quartered on June 30th, 1646.
● St. Oliver Plunkett (1625-1681), the Archbishop of Armagh in Ireland, was executed at Tyburn in London. Plunkett was the last Catholic priest to be hung, drawn and quartered there.
● Blessed Thomas Maxfield (1590-1616) was condemned solely for being a priest and hung, drawn and quartered.
● Blesseds George Beesley and Montford Scott were hung, drawn and quartered on Fleet Street, in 1591, after suffering torture by Richard Topcliffe, Elizabeth I’s official priest catcher. Two groups of Catholic martyrs in Elizabethan England — in 1594 in Dorchester and in 1597 in York — comprised of priests and the laymen who protected them, were also hung, drawn and quartered. In Dorchester, Blessed John Cornelius, priest, and Blesseds Thomas Bosgrave, John Carey, and Patrick Salmon, all laymen. Father Cornelius was tortured to reveal more lay contacts. In the town of York, Blessed William Andleby, priest, and Blesseds Henry Abbot, Thomas Warcop, and Edward Fulthorp, again laymen.
God could have prevented this torture of His saints―but He didn’t. God knows that the those ‘terrible’ sufferings during that torture were the duration of a mere blink of an eye when compared to eternity. God also knows that the most terrible, horrendous, cruel, sadisitic, prolonged, intense sufferings that you could possibly imagine, are like a mere tickle compared to the sufferings of Purgatory, never mind those of Hell! Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “Suffering in Purgatory is greater than all suffering on Earth. Such is the doctrine of tradition, supported by theological reasoning. Tradition is expressed by St. Augustine: ‘That fire will be more painful than anything man can suffer in the present life.’ St. Isidore speaks in the same sense. According to these testimonies and others similar to them, the least pain in Purgatory surpasses the greatest sufferings of the present life. St. Bonaventure speaks somewhat differently: ‘In the next life, by reason of the state of the souls there retained, the purifying purgatorial suffering will be, in its kind, more severe than the greatest trials on Earth.’ We must understand him thus: For one and the same sin, the smallest suffering in Purgatory is greater than any corresponding suffering on Earth. But it does not follow that the least pain in Purgatory surpasses the greatest terrestrial suffering” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange. Life Everlasting) [read more here]
These eighteen martyrs represent the hundreds beatified, canonized or not, who suffered in England for their Faith from the 1570s to the 1690s, not to mention those many others who were imprisoned, fined, and exiled. They inspire us with their courage and willingness to sacrifice their lives in fighting for the Faith―something that is sorely lacking in Catholics today.
We Are Headed For a 21st Century Universal Boot-Camp
After Our Lord, there is nobody who is kinder, sweeter, more gentle, more loving, more merciful and more generous than Our Lady. Yet this sweet, gentle, kind, loving, merciful and generous Mother of God tells us that we are on the verge of the most terrible "Boot Camp" the world has even seen―while the modern Church lives in a complacency resembling the inhabitants of the world just before the Great Flood, which was survived by only a handful of people―Noe and Company, who opened and shipbuilding company and eventually “floated their shares”. More on all that―and more besides―in the next article.
Heaven requires a certain fitness―not so much a physical fitness as a spiritual fitness. Yet some of the attributes that go into achieving physical fitness, are also necessary for spiritual fitness. Our Lord and Holy Scripture are very clear on that matter. Heaven is no place for “push-overs”, but more a place of “push-ups”―not a place for the “flighty” but the “feisty”―not a place for the “halfhearted” but the “wholehearted”―not a place for the “talkers” but the “walkers”! It takes a certain amount of grit―gritting your teeth through the many tribulations to be encountered―in order to successfully get to Heaven. Here are some of the many unmistakably uncompromising fitness statements that Our Lord and Holy Scripture state―they almost paint a “boot-camp” image that any prospective Soldier for Christ must pass through in order to qualify:
Fighting Talk
“Fight the good fight of Faith! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called!” (1 Timothy 6:12). Jesus adds: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake! And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another!” (Matthew 24:9-10). “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation For there shall be, from henceforth, five in one house divided―three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:51-53). “The brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake―but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved! … And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it.” (Matthew 10:21-22; 10:36-39).
If You Want to be Fit for Heaven ...
“And behold, a certain rich young man, running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! If thou wilt be perfect, go sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful: for he was very rich and had great possessions. And Jesus, seeing him become sorrowful, looking round about, said to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God! Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!’ Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’” (combined account of Matthew 19:16-29; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-25).
Christ’s “Boot Camp”
That sounds a little harsh, doesn’t it? “Christ’s Boot-Camp”! The image brought to mind by a “boot-camp” is one of rigor, discipline, harshness, yelling, insults, hatred, rough treatment, excessive exercise, exhaustion, etc. How could our sweet, gentle, compassionate, kind, loving, merciful Jesus be associated with such behavior and treatment? That would be the initial, instinctive, impassioned plea of a modern-day Catholic who has lost all contact with truth and reality, and, instead, has made-up his or her own sweet and sugar-coated, soft-centered, milk and honey chocolate version of the Faith. Without any doubt Jesus is sweet, gentle, compassionate, kind, loving and merciful―but we must not forget that Jesus has also created a Hell and a Purgatory―which are a zillion, trillion, billion times more excruciating than any earthly boot-camp―and which probably house the vast majority of mankind! Does that pop the balloon of self-imagined and man-made ideas of what the Faith is all about? It should do! Once again, those words of Jesus need to be digested: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12).
How Christ Treats His Recruits
Never mind Hell and Purgatory―even on Earth the true followers of Christ are put through a “Christian Boot Camp” of ever-increasing intensity. Not many like that! Many more refuse that! That is why Our Lord says of His recruits: “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14)―words that we also read in Sunday’s Gospel for Septuagesima Sunday―which, in certain sense, we could say is the arrival of the bus at “Christ’s Boot Camp”―which could be said to last from Septuagesima Sunday through to Easter Sunday. The Marine Boot Camp there are more than 70 training days (“Septuagesima” refers to the number “Seventy”) in a period that is a little longer than 12 weeks, almost 13 weeks, whereas the Catholic has potentially 64 days of training from Septuagesima Sunday to Easter Sunday―though the really grueling part of that training begins with Ash Wednesday.
Our Lord did his own “boot-camp” in the desert―for 40 days and 40 nights―fasting, praying and doing battle with the devil. God had His Chosen People do a “boot-camp” of 40 years in the desert wilderness―during which the vast majority failed to graduate and died in the desert! Once the elite Chosen People (like the Marines are said to be an elite fighting force) reached the Promised Land, they had to do another 70 year “boot-camp” (cf. Marine 70 day boot-camp and Septuagesima [meaning 70] connection) as exiles in Babylon due to their infidelity to God. Notice too, that in the year 70 AD, Jerusalem was made to undergo a “boot-camp” in the form of the Roman siege of Jerusalem, which lasted around 7 months. The length of our “boot-camp” life on Earth, according to Holy Scripture, is an average of 70 years: “The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years” (Psalm 89:10)―a “score” is twenty years, thus “three score and ten” equals seventy (Septuagesima).
Boot Camp of Saints
There is no saint in Heaven who has not passed through Christ’s Boot Camp! You most certainly remember the story where St. Teresa of Avila―in trying to reform and open Carmelite convents of the strict observance―met with one setback after another, whether from humans or from nature. On one occasion, on the way to visit one of her religious houses, she lost her footing in trying to navigate a road that had disappeared under a flooding river, and was almost carried away. Exasperated, she lovingly yet frustratingly complained to Our Lord, asking why on earth He was allowing all this to happen to her, when she was merely trying to do something good and fulfill His will. Our Lord basically said that He treated all His friends in that harsh manner―to which Teresa retorted that, if that was the case, then she was not surprised that Our Lord had so few friends! Here is the account from a French biography of St. Teresa of Avila, entitled The Life of St. Teresa, a 1912 translation by Alice Lady Lovat “taken from the French of ‘A Carmelite’ Nun,” which gives the following story on page 548.
In January of the last year of her life, 1582, she left Ávila to establish convents in Burgos and Grenada, and this befell her along the way:
Teresa describes the journey thus: “We had to run many dangers. At no part of the road were the risks greater than within a few leagues of Burgos, at a place called Los Pontes. The rivers were so high that the water in places covered everything, neither road nor the smallest footpath could be seen, only water everywhere, and two abysses on each side. It seemed foolhardiness to advance, especially in a carriage, for if one strayed ever so little off the road (then invisible), one must have perished.” The saint is silent on her share of the adventure, but her companions relate that, seeing their alarm, she turned to them and encouraged them, saying that “as they were engaged in doing God’s work, how could they die in a better cause?” She then led the way on foot. The current was so strong that she lost her footing, and was on the point of being carried away when our Lord sustained her. “Oh, my Lord!” she exclaimed, with her usual loving familiarity, “when wilt Thou cease from scattering obstacles in our path?” “Do not complain, daughter,” the Divine Master answered, “for it is ever thus that I treat My friends!” “Ah, Lord, it is also on that account that Thou hast so few!” was her reply.
Boot Camp of the Early Christians
We see, too, how the sweet, gentle, loving, merciful, kindly Christ―and He really is all of those things to the highest degree imaginable, but He is also more than that― treated the early Christians of the Church by His Divine Providence. The early Christians were God’s new “Chosen People”, His newly beloved children―but He chose to treat them, not in the way that the world would treat its chosen ones and beloved ones, but more in line with the words of Holy Scripture, where, in both the Old and New Testaments, God says: “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth: and, as a father in the son, He pleaseth Himself!” (Proverbs 3:12). “For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth!” (Hebrews 12:6). “When thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation!” (Ecclesiasticus 2:1). “They shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for My sake! … The brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death! And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake! But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Mark 13:9-14).
Prior to Saul’s (Paul’s) conversion, Our Lord told Ananias that Paul would have to suffer much for the Lord’s Name’s sake: “And the Lord said to him: ‘Go thy way! For this man [Saul/Paul] is to me a vessel of election, to carry My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake!’” (Acts 9:15-16). Hence, St. Paul speaks of being “in tribulation, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in prisons, in seditions, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, … in longsuffering, … by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; … as dying, and behold we live; as chastised, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as needy, yet enriching many; as having nothing, and possessing all things” (2 Corinthians 6:4-10).
St. Paul gives a litany of sufferings that he had to endure for being a follower of Christ: “They are the ministers of Christ―(I speak as one less wise) I am more! In many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, less one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness!” (2 Corinthians 11:23-27).
We Want a Holiday Camp, Not Boot Camp
With God being so powerful, merciful and sweet―one would expect a “Holiday Camp” rather than a “Boot Camp” for his followers. Yet, as God Himself says: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are exalted above the Earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts!” (Isaias 55:8-9) … “And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:29). “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven! For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you!” (Matthew 5:10-12). “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalm 115:16). “Be you humbled therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in the time of visitation!” (1 Peter 5:6).
Adversity and tribulation often provokes repentance―and it us thus that God speaks to His Chosen People during their seventy year Babylonian Captivity, on account of their infidelities to God: “For thus saith the Lord: When the seventy years shall begin to be accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you: and I will perform my good word in your favor, to bring you again to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of affliction, to give you an end and patience. And you shall call upon Me, and you shall go and you shall pray to Me―and I will hear you. You shall seek Me, and shall find Me when you shall seek Me with all your heart. And I will be found by you, saith the Lord: and I will bring back your captivity, and I will gather you out of all nations, and from all the places to which I have driven you out, saith the Lord, and I will bring you back from the place to which I caused you to be carried away captive!” (Jeremias 29:10-14).
Boot Camp of the Desert Fathers
Look at the “Boot-Camp” of the Desert Fathers, who personally and willingly chose to leave the comforts of the world (with their sinful temptations) and went into the desert wilderness―not for a mere 70 days training (like the US Marine boot camp), but for the rest of their lives! St. Paul of Thebes, commonly known as St. Paul, the First Hermit or St. Paul the Anchorite, lived alone in the desert from the age of sixteen to one hundred and thirteen years of age―97 years in the desert wilderness, living on next to nothing! Paul fled to the Theban desert as a young man during the persecution of the Roman Emperors Decius and Valerianus, around 250 AD. He lived in the mountains of this desert in a cave, near a clear spring and a palm tree, the leaves of which provided him with clothing and the fruit of which provided him with his only source of food, until he was 43 years old, when a raven started bringing him half a loaf of bread daily. He would remain in that cave for the rest of his life―almost a hundred years. He is now in Heaven reaping the plentiful rewards FOR ALL ETERNITY for those mere 97 years of “boot camp”.
The Desert Fathers (along with Desert Mothers) were early Christian hermits, ascetics, and monks who lived mainly in the Scetes desert of Egypt, beginning around the third century AD. The desert monastic communities that grew out of the informal gathering of hermit monks became the model for Christian monasticism. Paul of Thebes is often credited with being the first hermit monk to go to the desert, but it was Anthony the Great who launched the movement that became the Desert Fathers. Sometime around 270 AD, Anthony heard a Sunday sermon stating that perfection could be achieved by selling all of one’s possessions, giving the proceeds to the poor, and following Christ (Matthew 19:21). He insisted on selling all his material possessions—he left his younger sister a small amount of money to live her life in a convent, donated the rest to the poor, and left for the desert wilderness.
Anthony was not alone in his sentiments. The legalization of Christianity by the Roman Empire in 313 gave many Christians a desire to retire from the world. Some, nostalgic for the tradition of martyrdom that had been the lot of many Christians throughout almost 300 years of persecution, saw withdrawal and asceticism as an alternative to martyrdom. When members of the Church began to look for ways in which they could work with the Roman state, the Desert Fathers saw that as a compromise between “the things of God and the things of Caesar.” The monastic communities were essentially an alternative Christian society―an uncompromising Christian society. The hermits doubted that religion and politics could ever produce a truly Christian society. For them, the only Christian society was spiritual and not worldly.
Anthony lived in a time of transition for Christianity—the persecution of Christians, by the Roman Emperor Diocletian, in the years following 303 AD, was the last great formal persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Only ten years later, Christianity was made legal in Egypt by Diocletian’s successor Constantine I. Those who left for the desert formed an alternative Christian society, at a time when it was no longer a risk to be a Christian. The solitude, austerity, and sacrifice of the desert was seen by Anthony as an alternative to martyrdom, which was formerly seen by many Christians as the highest form of sacrifice. Anthony quickly gained followers eager to live their lives in accordance with this solidarity and separation from material goods. From these prohibitions it is recorded by Athanasius that Anthony received special privileges from God, such as the ability to heal the sick, inspire others to have faith in healing through God, and even converse with God on occasion. Around this time, desert monasticism appeared nearly simultaneously in several areas, including Egypt and Syria.
Over time, the model of Anthony and other hermits attracted many followers, who lived alone in the desert or in small groups. They chose a life of extreme asceticism, renouncing all the pleasures of the senses, rich food, baths, rest, and anything that made them comfortable. They instead focused their energies on praying, singing psalms, fasting, giving alms to the needy, and preserving love and harmony with one another while keeping their thoughts and desires for God alone. Thousands joined them in the desert, mostly men, but also a handful of women. Religious seekers also began going to the desert seeking advice and counsel from the early Desert Fathers. By the time of Anthony’s death, there were so many men and women living in the desert that it was described as “a city” by Anthony’s biographer.
Boot Camp of Christian Martyrs Throughout Centuries
Beheading, stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake and a host of other gruesome manner of deaths―were fairly common methods of disposing of Catholic saints, who were a nuisance and thorn in the side of the pagans and the worldly. There have been an estimated 70 million martyrdoms for the Faith, from the time of Christ to this present day.
● St. Stephen was stoned to death. His success in converting Jews drew the ire of the Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court). His punishment for speaking against “this holy place and the law” was to be stoned to death.
● St. Sebastian, a Praetorian Guard under Diocletian (a committed persecutor of Christians), ‘died’ twice. The first martyrdom was being shot through with arrows and he was left for dead, after it was found out that he was a Christian who had been converting his fellow soldiers. He was found by a woman (later St. Irene) who nursed him back to health. Sebastian later again appeared before Diocletian; the emperor then had him clubbed to death, a punishment that did, in fact, kill Sebastian this time, and his body was dumped into a Roman sewer.
● St. Lawrence was grilled to death over a fire. He was a victim of persecution by the Roman emperor Valerian in 258. St. Lawrence’s martyrology states that he was grilled alive—as in, on an actual red-hot gridiron. It was recorded that he bore his slow torture stoically, even quipping: “Turn me over! I’m cooked on this side!”
● St. Margaret Clitherow was pressed to death. These days, we talk of being under pressure. Well, Margaret Clitherow, the Catholic-convert wife of a Protestant butcher in York, England, allowed Masses to be offered in her home secretly, and she also harbored priests there. When this was discovered, Margaret fell foul of a law instituted, in 1583, that imposed the death penalty for such crimes, and her sentence was to be pressed to death. Pressed, lying on her back with a sharp stone under her and with a door on top of her, which was topped with an 800-pound weight. It took 15 minutes for her to die.
● St. Cassian was hacked to death by children. Formerly the Bishop of Brescia, he became a schoolmaster after his banishment from that place. By refusing to make sacrifice to the pagan gods, he angered the local officials, who sentenced him to death and turned him over to his students as his executioners. Cassian’s death was torturous because of it: the only instruments the students had at their disposal were small and non-lethal. The boys employed their tablets to bash Cassian and their styluses (pointed iron instruments for writing) and penknives to make a multitude of cuts and punctures all over his body for an agonizingly extended time. Conscious through the long process.
● St. Dymphna was beheaded by her father. It is not so much the manner of St. Dymphna’s death---beheading---but the reason for it and the person behind it that is especially awful. Born in Ireland to a 13th century pagan king, Dymphna became a Christian convert. After the death of her mother, her deranged father demanded to marry his daughter Dymphna, a beautiful young woman who resembled his late wife. She refused and fled. Her father eventually found her. He reiterated his demand to marry her; she again refused. He had his servants kill the priest, but he himself cut off his daughter’s head.
● St. Bartholomew was skinned alive. The date is not known, but it is traditionally said that he died in Albanopolis, Armenia. There is evidence that he was a missionary to what are now Iran and Turkey as well as Armenia, Ethiopia, and Mesopotamia, and that the Armenian king Astyages called for his death after Bartholomew converted the king’s brother. Bartholomew’s death was especially grotesque―flaying. That is, his skin was fully removed from his body, in strips, while he was still alive. Then he was beheaded for good measure.
The Boot Camp of Being “Hung, Drawn and Quartered”
The form of execution referred to as being Hung, Drawn and Quartered was described by a chronicler called William Harrison:
“The greatest and most grievous punishment used in England, for such as offend against the State, is the drawing from the prison to the place of execution upon an hurdle or sled, where they are hanged till they be half-dead, and then taken down, and quartered alive; after that, their members and bowels are cut from their bodies, and thrown into a fire, provided near hand and within their own sight, even for the same purpose.” The Quarters of the body were then hung in prescribed locations in the City of London as a deterrent to all English citizens.
If, after a trial in court, a person was found guilty and convicted of treason (and Catholics were looked upon as being guilty of treason), then they were sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered. On the day of execution, they were first attached to the back of a horse and then dragged along the ground, over cobbles, stones, or whatever else was found on the road, to the place of their execution. Sometimes it was as simple as tying their hands and ankles with ropes. Other times, they were dragged with their bodies on a wooden frame called a hurdle. While the latter seems somewhat more compassionate, the real purpose was to keep the prisoners alive, so they could properly endure their punishment. By this point, fear would flood the victim's body with adrenaline, causing their heart rate and blood pressure to rapidly increase.
Traitors (Catholics) would often be subjected to the torture of crowds upon arriving at their execution place. These people came specifically to watch the barbaric display of retribution. However, just watching the execution wasn't enough: crowds would usually be waiting for their own opportunity to abuse the traitor. These vicious preliminary attacks could easily result in blunt force trauma, causing a variety of injuries from abrasions and lacerations to hemorrhaging and ruptured organs.
The execution would then begin with a hanging. Traitors (Catholics) were hanged until they are almost dead. Once semi-conscious, the victim’s body would exhibit spasms and all bowel and bladder control would be gone. After being hanged for a while, the condemned person would be pulled down from the scaffold. If the rope had compressed his neck arteries for too long, asphyxia would have led to the complete loss of consciousness. The compression could also have essentially brought the heart to a standstill. Regardless, if the traitor wasn’t conscious, he was vigorously splashed with water to wake him back up for what was coming next.
If they were lucky, at this point they would already be dead―since hanging is the least brutal aspect of the entire punishment. More often than not, the traitor would experience extra punishment outside of the outlined execution program. This involved everything from chopping off his extremities and cauterizing the stumps in hot sulfur, to creating lacerations with burning hot tools and then pouring molten lead into the wounds.
If the traitor’s body was not already in shock from asphyxiation, it would definitely be in shock by now. These types of injuries would cause immense pain, as burns can affect nerves, blood vessels, muscles, and bones. The burned portions of the body would experience instant cell death, an immense loss of fluids, and edema, or extreme swelling. In the term “drawn and quartered,” the word “drawn” was used to refer to disembowelment. A cut would be made down the traitor’s torso and his intestines pulled out, sometimes along with other major organs.
Tearing the mesentery (a fold in the lining of the abdomen that holds the digestive organs in place) from the inner wall of the body, would cause massive amounts of bleeding. This would trigger hypovolemic shock, as the severe blood loss would hinder the heart from pumping blood throughout the body. This type of shock would shut down the organs―if most of the traitor’s insides weren’t already out. You may ask yourself, what could be worse than disembowelment? How about being disemboweled and being castrated? In addition to watching their entrails being pulled out, traitors also had to witness their genitals being sliced off. This act symbolically took away the victim's masculinity, permanently ending the traitor’s bloodline and name.
If the traitor had not yet bled to death, then this horrific mutilation (in tandem with hypovolemic shock) usually resulted in his death. Once the traitor’s abdominal cavity was emptied and his manhood detached, his genitals and entrails were burned before his eyes. Sometimes, if the charges were particularly heinous, the executioner would go the extra mile to dig out the contents of the traitor’s chest cavity and burn them, as well.
By this point in the harrowing process, the traitor would most likely already be dead from shock, as there would be no substantial blood pressure and no vital organs to sustain the remnants of the body. If they happened to be unlucky enough to survive to this point, they would barely be hanging on to any essence of life. In a final act of punishment within the traitor’s last hypothetical moments of life, his head would be cut from his body. Immediately after decapitation, the head was held in the air by the executioner. This was ritualized in order to show the head its own body, as well as the faces of the crowd.
If the condemned was somehow still alive after decapitation, he may have actually caught a glimpse of this view, as consciousness can remain for a few short seconds after beheading. After this, the complete lack of oxygen would quickly lead to death. Following all of the agony, the traitor’s corpse would be quartered. In this act the body was divided into four parts, or quarters. Sometimes this was entirely done by hand, but it has been more notably achieved by scoring the body before tying the limbs (or remaining limbs) to four horses. The horses would then be booted to trot away in four different directions, tearing the body apart.
If the combined effort of the horses failed to properly break the portions away, the executioner assisted by making hatchet cuts on the joints. Sometimes the decision was made to simply burn the quarters of the body. More often than not, though, the four parts and head were preserved for display. The traitor’s head was parboiled in a brine mixture to maintain its appearance while ensuring that the rotting flesh wouldn’t fall victim to circling birds.
The quarters were sometimes parboiled, as well. However, in more serious cases of treason, the quarters were coated in tar to create longer-lasting displays. The preserved quarters were sometimes hung on a gibbet, but typically the crime of treason required that the parts be put on display in various public places. Each limb would often receive an inscription stating the reason(s) for its exposure before being placed atop town gates.
Sometimes the limbs would be scattered in towns in completely different parts of the country. The head would always be displayed in large public places, such as the London Bridge. It would be shoved on a stake and affixed to the bridge as the ultimate deterrent to other traitors.
Catholics Who Were Hung Drawn and Quartered
Here is a list of some Catholic martyrs (there are many more), who died for their Faith by being hung, drawn and quartered in England during the 16th and 17th centuries. Not all of anniversaries of their martyrdoms are on the Church calendar, but several Catholic martyrs from the English recusant (meaning those who “refused”) era, from the time of Elizabeth I to Charles II, are honored with feast days. These martyrs provide us examples of those who paid the ultimate price for adhering to the true Faith, when England was in process of tweaking, changing and eventually rejecting the true Faith.
● St. John Fisher (1469-1535) was an English Catholic bishop and cardinal who was executed by order of Henry VIII during the English Reformation for refusing to accept the King as Supreme Head of the Church of England and for upholding the Roman Catholic Church's doctrine of papal supremacy. He was condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn, London.
● St. Thomas More (1478-1535) was an English lawyer, a councilor to King Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England. He opposed the Protestant Reformation and the king's separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and rejected to uphold the annulment of Hnery’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy of Henry being the Head of the Catholic Church in England, he was convicted of treason and condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn, London― but the King later changed this to execution by decapitation.
● St. John Rigby, a layman, was hung, drawn and quartered in 1600, for having converted to Catholicism and neglected to attend Church of England services.
● St. Thomas Garnet, SJ (1575-1608) was hung, drawn, and quartered* during the reign of James I after the Gunpowder Plot discovery. He denied any involvement in it and would not swear James’ Oath of Allegiance denying the Pope’s authority. On June 23, 1608, he proclaimed himself the happiest man alive before his execution.
● St. John Southworth (1592-1654) had already been arrested and exiled once before, but then he had returned to England to serve the Catholic laity as a newly ordained priest. In 1585, a law had been passed branding as treasonable any priest who dared to come back to England. He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
● Blessed Philip Powell, OSB, (1594-1646) was a lawyer who became a Benedictine monk and priest, serving as a missionary in England during the English Civil War. He was condemned to death under the Elizabethan statute that designated his priesthood in England as an act of treason. He was hung, drawn and quartered on June 30th, 1646.
● St. Oliver Plunkett (1625-1681), the Archbishop of Armagh in Ireland, was executed at Tyburn in London. Plunkett was the last Catholic priest to be hung, drawn and quartered there.
● Blessed Thomas Maxfield (1590-1616) was condemned solely for being a priest and hung, drawn and quartered.
● Blesseds George Beesley and Montford Scott were hung, drawn and quartered on Fleet Street, in 1591, after suffering torture by Richard Topcliffe, Elizabeth I’s official priest catcher. Two groups of Catholic martyrs in Elizabethan England — in 1594 in Dorchester and in 1597 in York — comprised of priests and the laymen who protected them, were also hung, drawn and quartered. In Dorchester, Blessed John Cornelius, priest, and Blesseds Thomas Bosgrave, John Carey, and Patrick Salmon, all laymen. Father Cornelius was tortured to reveal more lay contacts. In the town of York, Blessed William Andleby, priest, and Blesseds Henry Abbot, Thomas Warcop, and Edward Fulthorp, again laymen.
God could have prevented this torture of His saints―but He didn’t. God knows that the those ‘terrible’ sufferings during that torture were the duration of a mere blink of an eye when compared to eternity. God also knows that the most terrible, horrendous, cruel, sadisitic, prolonged, intense sufferings that you could possibly imagine, are like a mere tickle compared to the sufferings of Purgatory, never mind those of Hell! Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “Suffering in Purgatory is greater than all suffering on Earth. Such is the doctrine of tradition, supported by theological reasoning. Tradition is expressed by St. Augustine: ‘That fire will be more painful than anything man can suffer in the present life.’ St. Isidore speaks in the same sense. According to these testimonies and others similar to them, the least pain in Purgatory surpasses the greatest sufferings of the present life. St. Bonaventure speaks somewhat differently: ‘In the next life, by reason of the state of the souls there retained, the purifying purgatorial suffering will be, in its kind, more severe than the greatest trials on Earth.’ We must understand him thus: For one and the same sin, the smallest suffering in Purgatory is greater than any corresponding suffering on Earth. But it does not follow that the least pain in Purgatory surpasses the greatest terrestrial suffering” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange. Life Everlasting) [read more here]
These eighteen martyrs represent the hundreds beatified, canonized or not, who suffered in England for their Faith from the 1570s to the 1690s, not to mention those many others who were imprisoned, fined, and exiled. They inspire us with their courage and willingness to sacrifice their lives in fighting for the Faith―something that is sorely lacking in Catholics today.
We Are Headed For a 21st Century Universal Boot-Camp
After Our Lord, there is nobody who is kinder, sweeter, more gentle, more loving, more merciful and more generous than Our Lady. Yet this sweet, gentle, kind, loving, merciful and generous Mother of God tells us that we are on the verge of the most terrible "Boot Camp" the world has even seen―while the modern Church lives in a complacency resembling the inhabitants of the world just before the Great Flood, which was survived by only a handful of people―Noe and Company, who opened and shipbuilding company and eventually “floated their shares”. More on all that―and more besides―in the next article.
Sunday February 17th
Article 1
We All Run in the Race! Will You be a Winner or a Loser?
Article 1
We All Run in the Race! Will You be a Winner or a Loser?
The Many and the Few―The Idlers and the Workers―The Losers and Winners
The Gospel for Septuagesima Sunday ends with those ominous words: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 20:16). Equally disconcerting to the modern-day “Catholic-Couch-Potato” are the words of the Epistle for Septuagesima Sunday, in which St. Paul warns all slackers that everyone must run in the race to Heaven―there are no exceptions, there are no spectators, only runners, and not everyone who runs (or walks or waddles) will get the prize: “Know you not that … all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain!” (1 Corinthians 9:24). The race to Heaven seems to be more like a marathon than a short race! We are more likely and more ready to run to the fridge, or run to the store, than to run to Heaven! Yes, “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 20:16)―many are called to run, but few choose to run!
Life is full of “the many and the few” syndrome―many want to be rich, only a few get to be rich; many want to be successful in the chosen field of work, but only few are successful; many are the teams in each sports league, but only one gets to be champion; many want to be top of the class, but only one is; many are the prayers we say, few are the prayers that get answered the way we want; many are the times we have made resolutions and wished we could change―become more virtuous, more skillful, more slender, more liked, etc.―but few are times we have succeeded; many are the souls that wish to be saved, but few are those who are saved.
“And a certain man said to him: Lord, are they few that are saved? But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: “Lord! Open to us!” And he answering, shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are!” Then you shall begin to say: “We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets!” And he shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are! Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity!” There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out! And there shall come from the east and the west, and the north and the south; and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And behold, they are last that shall be first; and they are first that shall be last!’” (Luke 13:23-30).
This is by no means the only reference to the number of souls that are saved or damned. Our Lord also speaks of this on another occasion—during His Sermon on the Mount: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!”(Matthew 7:13-14). “Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into exterior darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:13-14).
Wise and Foolish Virgins
Another parable told by Our Lord, which is very appropriate for this Septuagesima Season, was that of the Five Wise and Five Foolish Virgins: “Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be like to ten virgins, who taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh! Go ye forth to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: ‘Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out!’ The wise answered, saying: ‘Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves!’ Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came: and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last come also the other virgins, saying: ‘Lord! Lord! Open to us!’ But he answering said: ‘Amen I say to you, I know you not!’” (Matthew 25:1-12).
They found themselves locked-out because they had not prepared sufficiently―let us not waste this Septuagsima Season of preparation by foolishly remaining indifferent to it and idle throughout it!
Two Shall Be In The Field…
Notice the numbers in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins—five and five. Not all get to go to the banquet—which symbolizes Heaven. Though we should place absolute value and credence on the numbers mentioned, they do match another statement by Our Lord, concerning the last days, where He speaks of the numbers who will be taken up by the angels and the numbers left behind: “But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone. And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered into the ark, and they knew not till the flood came, and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be. Then two shall be in the field: one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill: one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come!” (Matthew 24:36-42).
The 'Unchosen Ones' Among the Chosen People
Our Lord mentioned the time of Noe and the Ark, reminded us of how few were saved―“the flood came, and took them all away.” God had no qualms about eliminating most of the human race because of sin and wiped them off the face of the Earth—“It repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:6-7).
We see the same anger in God during the Exodus from Egypt on the journey to the Promised Land: “And again the Lord said to Moses: ‘See that this people is stiff-necked! Let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation!’”(Exodus 32:9-10).
St. Paul reminds us of this in the New Testament: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea! And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ! But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5).
God was not well pleased with most of them! What a horrifying thought! They were His Chosen People—were they not? Yet He was ready to destroy them, He made them wander in the desert―until all who had murmured, complained, rebelled and disobeyed God had died―so that only two (Josue and Caleb) of the original millions of adults, who had left Egypt with Moses, actually entered the Promised Land—the rest were a new generation that had been born in the desert during those forty years! With most of them God was not well pleased! What, then, would God think of our ultra-sinful world today? We shiver to think!
Get the Spiritual Engine Serviced Before Lent
Before we know it, Lent will be upon us! This Sunday, Septuagesima Sunday, the Church places before us the words of St. Paul, about running in a race in such a manner that we may win. “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain!” (1 Corinthians 9: 24). In our lazy modern times, the car has replaced the two feet as the chief means of running around; but whether it is the athlete with his feet, or the driver with his car, the bottom line is that, to win a race, the athlete or the car has to be in peak condition.
Secondly, no athlete will win a competitive race without training beforehand. The car has to be tried out beforehand also, to see if all is running smoothly and well. This is what the Septuagesima season, with its three countdown Sundays (Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima) is for―a serious time of preparation for the even more serious time of Lent. In the previous article we spoke about the example furnished by St. Bernadette for our prayer life. Prayer is of the utmost importance to our ‘spiritual engine’; it is what drives our ‘spiritual body’ forwards and it is what gives it power.
“Do we believe in the power of prayer? We know the common teaching of theologians: that true prayer—by which we ask something for ourselves with humility, confidence and perseverance, the graces necessary for salvation—is infallibly efficacious (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, Q.83, Art.15, ad 2). We know this doctrine, and yet it seems to us, at times, that we have truly prayed without being heard. We believe in, or rather we see, the power of a machine, of an army, of money and of knowledge; but we do not believe strongly enough in the efficacy of prayer” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapter 23).
The Gasoline of Grace comes through Prayer
“The modern world cannot do without God. This is the root of its ills. The great truth is that we have an absolute need of God…He normally bestows His grace only in response to prayer. Since our need exists at all times .... ‘We ought always to pray and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) .... The true nature of Christian prayer is perfectly expressed in the following definition given by St. John Damascene and St. Thomas Aquinas: prayer is ‘a raising of the mind and heart towards God’ to offer Him our homage and to ask Him for all those things of which we stand in need” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Spinning Wheels and Going Nowhere
People often pray without realizing what it is that they are doing, or Whom they are addressing! God so rightly complains in Scripture saying: “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:7).
“It happens to some souls that, when they have recited many formulas, they realize that they have said nothing to God from the bottom of their hearts. Our mind may be far distant from the words that fall from our lips .... In our prayer, we must give up to God our whole heart and our whole mind .... Just as the sanctuary light burns itself up without reserving anything, so our soul, in its conversation with God, must be entirely dedicated to the Almighty. We must free ourselves from preoccupations and from vain thoughts, which tie the soul down to Earth and prevent it from being entirely given over to the Lord” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Winning Races Requires Intensity
Many find prayer difficult. That is only natural, since we are trying to communicate with the supernatural world.
“Prayer always requires a certain effort, even from those who find in it their delight, because a certain strain is involved in the concentration necessary to speak to God; it is always more or less difficult to maintain the soul in an atmosphere which is above its usual level. That is why prayer can serve as a sacramental penance. We must not be surprised at this difficulty in applying ourselves to prayer: for to raise ourselves towards God, even in the smallest degree, is to exceed our natural powers” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Focus on the Race, the Whole Race and Nothing but the Race
Too many people limit prayer to an isolated part of the day—first thing in the morning or last thing at night. Yet God should be part of our whole day, not just a mere ten minutes.
“Prayer in our life, must not be limited to a number of isolated, passing incidents. We must cultivate a spirit of prayer. What must we understand by this? A spirit of prayer is an habitual disposition of soul whereby, in our troubles and discouragements, as well as in our joys and successes, our hearts turn towards Our Lady and Our Lord, as to our best friends and most intimate confidants of our feelings. And it is not only in the morning and in the evening that the soul should be raised heavenwards, but always: ‘My eyes are ever towards the Lord’ (Psalm 24:15)” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
All Enter the Race, Not All Finish the Race
Prayer is actually a bending of our will towards the will of God. He wishes the salvation of all, but all will not be saved—and one of the contributory causes of failing to make it to Heaven is a lack of prayer; a lack of prayer by those who will be damned (the driver) and a lack of prayer on the part of others for the conversion of those unfortunate souls (the mechanics and maintenance crew).
“For material harvests, God prepared the seed, the rain that must help it germinate, the sun that will ripen the fruits of the Earth. Likewise, for spiritual harvest, He has prepared spiritual seeds, the divine graces necessary for sanctification and salvation. Prayer is one of the causes meant to produce that sanctification and salvation” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapter 23). We can add to this the Biblical axiom of we reap what we sow: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). Prayer is sowing in the spirit. Playing is sowing in the flesh. The Angel said to the children at Fatima: “Don’t play, but pray!”―which is essentially the same thing as we see in the Gospel for Septuagesima Sunday, where the Lord of the vineyard says to those men who were idly standing around in the market place: “But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: ‘Why stand you here all the day idle?’” (Matthew 20:6). No race was ever won, nor was work ever done, by merely standing around or playing!
“St. Gregory the Great says: ‘Men ought, by prayer, to dispose themselves to receive what Almighty God, from eternity, has decided to give them’ (Dialogues, Book 1, chapter 8). Thus, Christ, wishing to convert the Samaritan woman, led her to pray by saying to her: “If thou didst know the gift of God!” In the same way, He granted Mary Magdalen a strong and gentle actual grace, which inclined her to repentance and to prayer. He acted in the same way to Zacheus and the Good Thief. It is, therefore, as necessary to pray in order to obtain the help of God, as it is necessary to sow seed in order to have wheat. To those who say that, what was to happen would happen, whether they prayed or not, is as foolish as to maintain that, whether or not we sowed seed, wheat would still appear once summer came! Therefore, prayer is necessary to obtain the help of God, as seed is necessary for the harvest” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapter 23).
The problems we face, arise from the fact that God is prepared to give far more than we are prepared to ask for—we are so lazy and negligent, lacking in confidence and perseverance, that we receive only a fraction of what God is prepared to give. The efficacy of prayer, correctly made, is infallibly assured by Christ:
“Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you....And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? Or a fish, will he give him a serpent?...If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from Heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask Him?” (Luke 11:9-13). The problem does not lie with the Giver, but with us.
Some Racing Tips
Many of us become discouraged with prayer because our prayers are rarely, if ever heard. It is like entering the race just to make up numbers—but we never win! Yet, there are ways in which we can, almost infallibly, get our prayers answered and win that race! The spiritual writers or racers list the following chief tactics as “infallible” or guaranteed means of having our prayers favorably heard and answered:
1. PRAY FOR WHAT IS GOOD AND NOT SINFUL OR HARMFUL TO OUR SALVATION—We should always remember that what we want is not always what we need. At times, adversity is a better route to Heaven than prosperity. St. Augustine says: “We ought to be persuaded that what God refuses to our prayer, He grants to our salvation.”
2. OUR PRAYER MUST BE HUMBLE—Remember the prayer of the Pharisee and the Publican. Remember, too, Our Lady’s prayer, the Magnificat, wherein she says that God has “regarded the humility of His handmaid…He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble.” The Old Testament says: “...nor from the beginning have the proud been acceptable to Thee―but the prayer of the humble and the meek hath always pleased Thee” (Judith 9:16). “May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things” (Psalm 11:4). “Thou hast rebuked the proud” (Psalm 118:21). “Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 16:5).
3. OUR PRAYER MUST BE FERVENT—Too often our prayers are said listlessly, routinely, mechanically; our heart is not in them. Of such Our Lord said: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:7). Our prayers should be like grains of incense, placed on the hot coals of our hearts.
4. WE SHOULD AMEND OUR LIFE — If we persist in leading a life of sin, even venial sin, then we greatly handicap the chances of having our prayers heard. “He who turns his ears from hearing the law, his prayer is an abomination” (Proverbs 28:9).
5. WE SHOULD FORGIVE THOSE WHO HAVE INJURED US — This was the example of Christ dying on the cross: “Father, forgive them...” “If, therefore, thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee—Leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother: and then, coming, thou shalt offer thy gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “Forgive thy neighbor if he hath hurt thee, and then shall thy sins be forgiven to thee, when thou prayest” (Ecclesiasticus. 28:2).
6. OUR PRAYER SHOULD BE UNITED TO GOOD WORKS OR SACRIFICES — “Prayer is good with fasting and alms” (Tobias 12:8). That is why penance is so crucial in strengthening our prayer. Our Lady asks not only for prayer at Fatima, but prayer and sacrifices. The power of this is expressed in Scripture, where the Apostles failed to cast out a demon from one particular person, and asked Our Lord why they had failed. Our Lord replied: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20).
7. WE SHOULD PRAY WITH CONFIDENCE — Our Lord praised the Faith and confidence of persons on many occasions, saying: “Go, thy Faith has made thee whole!” (Matthew 9:22; Mark 5:34; 10:52; Luke 17:19; 18:42). He also told us that “all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matthew 21:22). Do we have that confidence in prayer?
8. WE SHOULD PRAY WITH PERSEVERANCE — “He defers the granting to increase our desire and appreciation” says St. Augustine. Our Lord Himself said: “Yet if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him because he is his friend; yet, because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you” (Luke 11:8-9).
If we would only pray in the above manner, we would be amazed at the response our prayers would bring from Heaven! Keep in mind the words of St. Augustine: “The man who knows how to pray well, is the one who knows how to live well.” Which, for our purposes, translates into “Drive well, and you’ll win the race! Pray well, and you’ll get the grace!”
But Above All … Have Charity
To this, we could well add, “The man who loves well, is one who prays well!”―which is basically the flip side of the coin of what Our Lord expresses when he says: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8). When our heart is not in our prayer, then our prayer is not as well prayed as it should be―our prayers may be “said”, but they are not “prayed”―because they mainly come from the lips and not from the heart.
Therefore, to make a successful Lent, you need to rectify, improve, overhaul and repair the way and manner in which you love God and show your love to God―otherwise, no matter how many other things you may do, they will be of little or no supernatural benefit and profit. It is our love of God, our charity towards God, that is the measure of our actions. The profit we get, or the rewards we receive, are directly proportionate to the love with which perform them. Hence, Holy Scripture says: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). St. Teresa of Ávila writes: “It is love alone that gives worth to all things!” That is why St. Paul adds: “But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection!” (Colossians 3:14).
Just as Our Lord would say: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26), you can likewise say: “What doth it profit a man if he perform all the possible penances but has no charity?”―charity being, above all else, a love of God. Sure, we can pray to God, we can say: “Lord! Lord! I love you!”―but actions speak louder than words, and love is proved by its actions and not its words, as Jesus Himself said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments!” (John 14:15) … “Why call you Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Keeping the commandments of God is the very basic, beginners or novices level of charity―it includes, first of all, the elimination of all habitual mortal sin and then the elimination of all deliberate venial sin. The next level of charity manifests a great desire to be in the presence of God as much as possible, especially by prayer―sincere, heartfelt prayer and not mere automatic, repetitive, mechanical lip-service. The next and ultimate level of charity is a great desire to suffer more and more for God’s sake, out of a love for Him.
The Engine and Engine Room of Charity
To win our race for Heaven, we have to have enough “fuel in the gas tank”―because the race is not a 100 yard sprint, but a lifelong marathon. “He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 10:22). Charity is that premium fuel that gives us maximum mileage and maximum results―as so beautifully explained by the following passage from the Imitation of Christ:
“Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it bears a burden without being weighted and renders sweet all that is bitter. The noble love of Jesus spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect. Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. Love wishes to be free and estranged from all worldly affections, lest its inward sight be obstructed, lest it be entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity.
“Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger or higher or wider; nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller, and nothing better in Heaven or on earth, for love is born of God and cannot rest except in God, Who is above all created things. One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free, not bound. He gives all for all and possesses all in all, because he rests in the one sovereign Good, Who is above all things, and from Whom every good flows and proceeds. He does not look to the gift but turns himself above all gifts to the Giver.
“Love often knows no limits but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much where he who does not love fails and falls. Love is watchful. Sleeping, it does not slumber. Wearied, it is not tired. Pressed, it is not straitened. Alarmed, it is not confused, but like a living flame, a burning torch, it forces its way upward and passes unharmed through every obstacle.
“If a man loves, he will know the sound of this voice. For this warm affection of soul is a loud voice crying in the ears of God, and it says: “My God, my love, You are all mine and I am all Yours. Give me an increase of love, that I may learn to taste with the inward lips of my heart how sweet it is to love, how sweet to be dissolved in love and bathe in it. Let me be rapt in love. Let me rise above self in great fervor and wonder. Let me sing the hymn of love, and let me follow You, my Love, to the heights. Let my soul exhaust itself in praising You, rejoicing out of love. Let me love You more than myself, and let me not love myself except for Your sake. In You let me love all those who truly love You, as the law of love, which shines forth from You, commands.”
“Love is swift, sincere, kind, pleasant, and delightful. Love is strong, patient and faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and manly. Love is never self-seeking, for in whatever a person seeks himself there he falls from love. Love is circumspect, humble, and upright. It is neither soft nor light, nor intent upon vain things. It is sober and chaste, firm and quiet, guarded in all the senses. Love is subject and obedient to superiors. It is mean and contemptible in its own eyes, devoted and thankful to God; always trusting and hoping in Him even when He is distasteful to it, for there is no living in love without sorrow. He who is not ready to suffer all things and to stand resigned to the will of the Beloved is not worthy to be called a lover. A lover must embrace willingly all that is difficult and bitter for the sake of the Beloved, and he should not turn away from Him because of adversities” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 5: “The Wonderful Effect of Divine Love”).
Read and re-read that beautiful passage―each day leading up to Lent and each day throughout Lent! It is the foundation of all that we do or might do―without which all we do is insignificant or even useless. Read it and meditate it throughout the rest of your life―for if you can increase the level of your love just a fraction (actually, you can’t―God has to do it for you, but you have to pay for it, earn it), then the tiniest action or word or thought at that slightly higher level of charity, blows away, outstrips, leaves standing, surpasses THE COMBINED TOTAL OF ALL ACTIONS, WORDS AND THOUGHTS PERFORMED THROUGHOUT YOUR WHOLE LIFE AT A LOWER LEVEL OF CHARITY. That is like one grain of sand weighing more than a mountain! Charity can do that! That is why charity (a love of God) should be the “Number One” item on you Septuagesima Shopping List for Lent! Get that right and so many other things will rectify themselves as a side-effect―as St. Thomas Aquinas says, that if we practice one virtue to a heroic degree, then without realizing it we are practicing all the other virtues as consequence, at one time or another. More articles will follow on how to achieve this.
The Gospel for Septuagesima Sunday ends with those ominous words: “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 20:16). Equally disconcerting to the modern-day “Catholic-Couch-Potato” are the words of the Epistle for Septuagesima Sunday, in which St. Paul warns all slackers that everyone must run in the race to Heaven―there are no exceptions, there are no spectators, only runners, and not everyone who runs (or walks or waddles) will get the prize: “Know you not that … all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain!” (1 Corinthians 9:24). The race to Heaven seems to be more like a marathon than a short race! We are more likely and more ready to run to the fridge, or run to the store, than to run to Heaven! Yes, “Many are called, but few are chosen!” (Matthew 20:16)―many are called to run, but few choose to run!
Life is full of “the many and the few” syndrome―many want to be rich, only a few get to be rich; many want to be successful in the chosen field of work, but only few are successful; many are the teams in each sports league, but only one gets to be champion; many want to be top of the class, but only one is; many are the prayers we say, few are the prayers that get answered the way we want; many are the times we have made resolutions and wished we could change―become more virtuous, more skillful, more slender, more liked, etc.―but few are times we have succeeded; many are the souls that wish to be saved, but few are those who are saved.
“And a certain man said to him: Lord, are they few that are saved? But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: “Lord! Open to us!” And he answering, shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are!” Then you shall begin to say: “We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets!” And he shall say to you: “I know you not, whence you are! Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity!” There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out! And there shall come from the east and the west, and the north and the south; and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And behold, they are last that shall be first; and they are first that shall be last!’” (Luke 13:23-30).
This is by no means the only reference to the number of souls that are saved or damned. Our Lord also speaks of this on another occasion—during His Sermon on the Mount: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!”(Matthew 7:13-14). “Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into exterior darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:13-14).
Wise and Foolish Virgins
Another parable told by Our Lord, which is very appropriate for this Septuagesima Season, was that of the Five Wise and Five Foolish Virgins: “Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be like to ten virgins, who taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh! Go ye forth to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: ‘Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out!’ The wise answered, saying: ‘Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves!’ Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came: and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last come also the other virgins, saying: ‘Lord! Lord! Open to us!’ But he answering said: ‘Amen I say to you, I know you not!’” (Matthew 25:1-12).
They found themselves locked-out because they had not prepared sufficiently―let us not waste this Septuagsima Season of preparation by foolishly remaining indifferent to it and idle throughout it!
Two Shall Be In The Field…
Notice the numbers in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins—five and five. Not all get to go to the banquet—which symbolizes Heaven. Though we should place absolute value and credence on the numbers mentioned, they do match another statement by Our Lord, concerning the last days, where He speaks of the numbers who will be taken up by the angels and the numbers left behind: “But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone. And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered into the ark, and they knew not till the flood came, and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be. Then two shall be in the field: one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill: one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come!” (Matthew 24:36-42).
The 'Unchosen Ones' Among the Chosen People
Our Lord mentioned the time of Noe and the Ark, reminded us of how few were saved―“the flood came, and took them all away.” God had no qualms about eliminating most of the human race because of sin and wiped them off the face of the Earth—“It repented Him that He had made man on the Earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the Earth!’” (Genesis 6:6-7).
We see the same anger in God during the Exodus from Egypt on the journey to the Promised Land: “And again the Lord said to Moses: ‘See that this people is stiff-necked! Let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation!’”(Exodus 32:9-10).
St. Paul reminds us of this in the New Testament: “For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea! And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea! And did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ! But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert!” (1 Corinthians 10:1-5).
God was not well pleased with most of them! What a horrifying thought! They were His Chosen People—were they not? Yet He was ready to destroy them, He made them wander in the desert―until all who had murmured, complained, rebelled and disobeyed God had died―so that only two (Josue and Caleb) of the original millions of adults, who had left Egypt with Moses, actually entered the Promised Land—the rest were a new generation that had been born in the desert during those forty years! With most of them God was not well pleased! What, then, would God think of our ultra-sinful world today? We shiver to think!
Get the Spiritual Engine Serviced Before Lent
Before we know it, Lent will be upon us! This Sunday, Septuagesima Sunday, the Church places before us the words of St. Paul, about running in a race in such a manner that we may win. “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain!” (1 Corinthians 9: 24). In our lazy modern times, the car has replaced the two feet as the chief means of running around; but whether it is the athlete with his feet, or the driver with his car, the bottom line is that, to win a race, the athlete or the car has to be in peak condition.
Secondly, no athlete will win a competitive race without training beforehand. The car has to be tried out beforehand also, to see if all is running smoothly and well. This is what the Septuagesima season, with its three countdown Sundays (Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima) is for―a serious time of preparation for the even more serious time of Lent. In the previous article we spoke about the example furnished by St. Bernadette for our prayer life. Prayer is of the utmost importance to our ‘spiritual engine’; it is what drives our ‘spiritual body’ forwards and it is what gives it power.
“Do we believe in the power of prayer? We know the common teaching of theologians: that true prayer—by which we ask something for ourselves with humility, confidence and perseverance, the graces necessary for salvation—is infallibly efficacious (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, Q.83, Art.15, ad 2). We know this doctrine, and yet it seems to us, at times, that we have truly prayed without being heard. We believe in, or rather we see, the power of a machine, of an army, of money and of knowledge; but we do not believe strongly enough in the efficacy of prayer” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapter 23).
The Gasoline of Grace comes through Prayer
“The modern world cannot do without God. This is the root of its ills. The great truth is that we have an absolute need of God…He normally bestows His grace only in response to prayer. Since our need exists at all times .... ‘We ought always to pray and not to faint” (Luke 18:1) .... The true nature of Christian prayer is perfectly expressed in the following definition given by St. John Damascene and St. Thomas Aquinas: prayer is ‘a raising of the mind and heart towards God’ to offer Him our homage and to ask Him for all those things of which we stand in need” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Spinning Wheels and Going Nowhere
People often pray without realizing what it is that they are doing, or Whom they are addressing! God so rightly complains in Scripture saying: “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:7).
“It happens to some souls that, when they have recited many formulas, they realize that they have said nothing to God from the bottom of their hearts. Our mind may be far distant from the words that fall from our lips .... In our prayer, we must give up to God our whole heart and our whole mind .... Just as the sanctuary light burns itself up without reserving anything, so our soul, in its conversation with God, must be entirely dedicated to the Almighty. We must free ourselves from preoccupations and from vain thoughts, which tie the soul down to Earth and prevent it from being entirely given over to the Lord” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Winning Races Requires Intensity
Many find prayer difficult. That is only natural, since we are trying to communicate with the supernatural world.
“Prayer always requires a certain effort, even from those who find in it their delight, because a certain strain is involved in the concentration necessary to speak to God; it is always more or less difficult to maintain the soul in an atmosphere which is above its usual level. That is why prayer can serve as a sacramental penance. We must not be surprised at this difficulty in applying ourselves to prayer: for to raise ourselves towards God, even in the smallest degree, is to exceed our natural powers” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
Focus on the Race, the Whole Race and Nothing but the Race
Too many people limit prayer to an isolated part of the day—first thing in the morning or last thing at night. Yet God should be part of our whole day, not just a mere ten minutes.
“Prayer in our life, must not be limited to a number of isolated, passing incidents. We must cultivate a spirit of prayer. What must we understand by this? A spirit of prayer is an habitual disposition of soul whereby, in our troubles and discouragements, as well as in our joys and successes, our hearts turn towards Our Lady and Our Lord, as to our best friends and most intimate confidants of our feelings. And it is not only in the morning and in the evening that the soul should be raised heavenwards, but always: ‘My eyes are ever towards the Lord’ (Psalm 24:15)” (Dom Marmion, Abbot of Maredsous, Christ—The Ideal of the Priest, chapter 15).
All Enter the Race, Not All Finish the Race
Prayer is actually a bending of our will towards the will of God. He wishes the salvation of all, but all will not be saved—and one of the contributory causes of failing to make it to Heaven is a lack of prayer; a lack of prayer by those who will be damned (the driver) and a lack of prayer on the part of others for the conversion of those unfortunate souls (the mechanics and maintenance crew).
“For material harvests, God prepared the seed, the rain that must help it germinate, the sun that will ripen the fruits of the Earth. Likewise, for spiritual harvest, He has prepared spiritual seeds, the divine graces necessary for sanctification and salvation. Prayer is one of the causes meant to produce that sanctification and salvation” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapter 23). We can add to this the Biblical axiom of we reap what we sow: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). Prayer is sowing in the spirit. Playing is sowing in the flesh. The Angel said to the children at Fatima: “Don’t play, but pray!”―which is essentially the same thing as we see in the Gospel for Septuagesima Sunday, where the Lord of the vineyard says to those men who were idly standing around in the market place: “But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: ‘Why stand you here all the day idle?’” (Matthew 20:6). No race was ever won, nor was work ever done, by merely standing around or playing!
“St. Gregory the Great says: ‘Men ought, by prayer, to dispose themselves to receive what Almighty God, from eternity, has decided to give them’ (Dialogues, Book 1, chapter 8). Thus, Christ, wishing to convert the Samaritan woman, led her to pray by saying to her: “If thou didst know the gift of God!” In the same way, He granted Mary Magdalen a strong and gentle actual grace, which inclined her to repentance and to prayer. He acted in the same way to Zacheus and the Good Thief. It is, therefore, as necessary to pray in order to obtain the help of God, as it is necessary to sow seed in order to have wheat. To those who say that, what was to happen would happen, whether they prayed or not, is as foolish as to maintain that, whether or not we sowed seed, wheat would still appear once summer came! Therefore, prayer is necessary to obtain the help of God, as seed is necessary for the harvest” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, chapter 23).
The problems we face, arise from the fact that God is prepared to give far more than we are prepared to ask for—we are so lazy and negligent, lacking in confidence and perseverance, that we receive only a fraction of what God is prepared to give. The efficacy of prayer, correctly made, is infallibly assured by Christ:
“Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you....And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? Or a fish, will he give him a serpent?...If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from Heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask Him?” (Luke 11:9-13). The problem does not lie with the Giver, but with us.
Some Racing Tips
Many of us become discouraged with prayer because our prayers are rarely, if ever heard. It is like entering the race just to make up numbers—but we never win! Yet, there are ways in which we can, almost infallibly, get our prayers answered and win that race! The spiritual writers or racers list the following chief tactics as “infallible” or guaranteed means of having our prayers favorably heard and answered:
1. PRAY FOR WHAT IS GOOD AND NOT SINFUL OR HARMFUL TO OUR SALVATION—We should always remember that what we want is not always what we need. At times, adversity is a better route to Heaven than prosperity. St. Augustine says: “We ought to be persuaded that what God refuses to our prayer, He grants to our salvation.”
2. OUR PRAYER MUST BE HUMBLE—Remember the prayer of the Pharisee and the Publican. Remember, too, Our Lady’s prayer, the Magnificat, wherein she says that God has “regarded the humility of His handmaid…He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble.” The Old Testament says: “...nor from the beginning have the proud been acceptable to Thee―but the prayer of the humble and the meek hath always pleased Thee” (Judith 9:16). “May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things” (Psalm 11:4). “Thou hast rebuked the proud” (Psalm 118:21). “Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 16:5).
3. OUR PRAYER MUST BE FERVENT—Too often our prayers are said listlessly, routinely, mechanically; our heart is not in them. Of such Our Lord said: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:7). Our prayers should be like grains of incense, placed on the hot coals of our hearts.
4. WE SHOULD AMEND OUR LIFE — If we persist in leading a life of sin, even venial sin, then we greatly handicap the chances of having our prayers heard. “He who turns his ears from hearing the law, his prayer is an abomination” (Proverbs 28:9).
5. WE SHOULD FORGIVE THOSE WHO HAVE INJURED US — This was the example of Christ dying on the cross: “Father, forgive them...” “If, therefore, thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee—Leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother: and then, coming, thou shalt offer thy gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “Forgive thy neighbor if he hath hurt thee, and then shall thy sins be forgiven to thee, when thou prayest” (Ecclesiasticus. 28:2).
6. OUR PRAYER SHOULD BE UNITED TO GOOD WORKS OR SACRIFICES — “Prayer is good with fasting and alms” (Tobias 12:8). That is why penance is so crucial in strengthening our prayer. Our Lady asks not only for prayer at Fatima, but prayer and sacrifices. The power of this is expressed in Scripture, where the Apostles failed to cast out a demon from one particular person, and asked Our Lord why they had failed. Our Lord replied: “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20).
7. WE SHOULD PRAY WITH CONFIDENCE — Our Lord praised the Faith and confidence of persons on many occasions, saying: “Go, thy Faith has made thee whole!” (Matthew 9:22; Mark 5:34; 10:52; Luke 17:19; 18:42). He also told us that “all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matthew 21:22). Do we have that confidence in prayer?
8. WE SHOULD PRAY WITH PERSEVERANCE — “He defers the granting to increase our desire and appreciation” says St. Augustine. Our Lord Himself said: “Yet if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him because he is his friend; yet, because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you” (Luke 11:8-9).
If we would only pray in the above manner, we would be amazed at the response our prayers would bring from Heaven! Keep in mind the words of St. Augustine: “The man who knows how to pray well, is the one who knows how to live well.” Which, for our purposes, translates into “Drive well, and you’ll win the race! Pray well, and you’ll get the grace!”
But Above All … Have Charity
To this, we could well add, “The man who loves well, is one who prays well!”―which is basically the flip side of the coin of what Our Lord expresses when he says: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me!” (Matthew 15:8). When our heart is not in our prayer, then our prayer is not as well prayed as it should be―our prayers may be “said”, but they are not “prayed”―because they mainly come from the lips and not from the heart.
Therefore, to make a successful Lent, you need to rectify, improve, overhaul and repair the way and manner in which you love God and show your love to God―otherwise, no matter how many other things you may do, they will be of little or no supernatural benefit and profit. It is our love of God, our charity towards God, that is the measure of our actions. The profit we get, or the rewards we receive, are directly proportionate to the love with which perform them. Hence, Holy Scripture says: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). St. Teresa of Ávila writes: “It is love alone that gives worth to all things!” That is why St. Paul adds: “But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection!” (Colossians 3:14).
Just as Our Lord would say: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26), you can likewise say: “What doth it profit a man if he perform all the possible penances but has no charity?”―charity being, above all else, a love of God. Sure, we can pray to God, we can say: “Lord! Lord! I love you!”―but actions speak louder than words, and love is proved by its actions and not its words, as Jesus Himself said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments!” (John 14:15) … “Why call you Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Keeping the commandments of God is the very basic, beginners or novices level of charity―it includes, first of all, the elimination of all habitual mortal sin and then the elimination of all deliberate venial sin. The next level of charity manifests a great desire to be in the presence of God as much as possible, especially by prayer―sincere, heartfelt prayer and not mere automatic, repetitive, mechanical lip-service. The next and ultimate level of charity is a great desire to suffer more and more for God’s sake, out of a love for Him.
The Engine and Engine Room of Charity
To win our race for Heaven, we have to have enough “fuel in the gas tank”―because the race is not a 100 yard sprint, but a lifelong marathon. “He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved!” (Matthew 10:22). Charity is that premium fuel that gives us maximum mileage and maximum results―as so beautifully explained by the following passage from the Imitation of Christ:
“Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it bears a burden without being weighted and renders sweet all that is bitter. The noble love of Jesus spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect. Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. Love wishes to be free and estranged from all worldly affections, lest its inward sight be obstructed, lest it be entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity.
“Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger or higher or wider; nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller, and nothing better in Heaven or on earth, for love is born of God and cannot rest except in God, Who is above all created things. One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free, not bound. He gives all for all and possesses all in all, because he rests in the one sovereign Good, Who is above all things, and from Whom every good flows and proceeds. He does not look to the gift but turns himself above all gifts to the Giver.
“Love often knows no limits but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much where he who does not love fails and falls. Love is watchful. Sleeping, it does not slumber. Wearied, it is not tired. Pressed, it is not straitened. Alarmed, it is not confused, but like a living flame, a burning torch, it forces its way upward and passes unharmed through every obstacle.
“If a man loves, he will know the sound of this voice. For this warm affection of soul is a loud voice crying in the ears of God, and it says: “My God, my love, You are all mine and I am all Yours. Give me an increase of love, that I may learn to taste with the inward lips of my heart how sweet it is to love, how sweet to be dissolved in love and bathe in it. Let me be rapt in love. Let me rise above self in great fervor and wonder. Let me sing the hymn of love, and let me follow You, my Love, to the heights. Let my soul exhaust itself in praising You, rejoicing out of love. Let me love You more than myself, and let me not love myself except for Your sake. In You let me love all those who truly love You, as the law of love, which shines forth from You, commands.”
“Love is swift, sincere, kind, pleasant, and delightful. Love is strong, patient and faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and manly. Love is never self-seeking, for in whatever a person seeks himself there he falls from love. Love is circumspect, humble, and upright. It is neither soft nor light, nor intent upon vain things. It is sober and chaste, firm and quiet, guarded in all the senses. Love is subject and obedient to superiors. It is mean and contemptible in its own eyes, devoted and thankful to God; always trusting and hoping in Him even when He is distasteful to it, for there is no living in love without sorrow. He who is not ready to suffer all things and to stand resigned to the will of the Beloved is not worthy to be called a lover. A lover must embrace willingly all that is difficult and bitter for the sake of the Beloved, and he should not turn away from Him because of adversities” (The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 5: “The Wonderful Effect of Divine Love”).
Read and re-read that beautiful passage―each day leading up to Lent and each day throughout Lent! It is the foundation of all that we do or might do―without which all we do is insignificant or even useless. Read it and meditate it throughout the rest of your life―for if you can increase the level of your love just a fraction (actually, you can’t―God has to do it for you, but you have to pay for it, earn it), then the tiniest action or word or thought at that slightly higher level of charity, blows away, outstrips, leaves standing, surpasses THE COMBINED TOTAL OF ALL ACTIONS, WORDS AND THOUGHTS PERFORMED THROUGHOUT YOUR WHOLE LIFE AT A LOWER LEVEL OF CHARITY. That is like one grain of sand weighing more than a mountain! Charity can do that! That is why charity (a love of God) should be the “Number One” item on you Septuagesima Shopping List for Lent! Get that right and so many other things will rectify themselves as a side-effect―as St. Thomas Aquinas says, that if we practice one virtue to a heroic degree, then without realizing it we are practicing all the other virtues as consequence, at one time or another. More articles will follow on how to achieve this.