That Christ May Reign!

A Move For Christ the King

2007-01-27T09:54:00.000-08:00

This Blog has moved permanently to:

http://www.franciscan-archive.org/ThatChristMayReign.html

Google's Censoring More and More Sites

2007-01-22T03:29:00.000-08:00

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=147140#147140

I won't say more about it: lest this blog get censored itself.

For this reason I will be moving all my blogs to The Franciscan Archive within the next month. Big Brother has come to Google (the parent company of Blogger). From now own, if you find it on a blog, you'll have to presume that Google has allowed you to find it: an ominous trend.

Your about to be Googled!

2006-12-30T11:48:00.000-08:00

In my previous posts, here and at The Scholasticum, I have pointed to the ominous trend on the Internet of Wikipedia and Googles' attack on objectivity.

It seems that the ominous has only grown worse.

Try going to Google.com and doing a search under the form "What is a N."? (where N. is any noun)

You will not receive a standard list of searches.

What you receive is a new format in which the returns are listed under the search criteria definition:N.

The omninousness of this lies in this: that the resulting links are NOT TO STANDARD DICTIONARIES or academic resources, they are not even to dictionaries at all, but under the guise of giving you such a link the first links listed refer you to a page at GOOGLE, in which about 3 or four sites are listed as contextual definitions of the term you searched for.

And among these 3 or four sites, of course, is Wikipedia's article on the item.

Wikipedia, as I pointed out at The Scholasticum, is not an encyclopedia, it is online game in which a group of anonymous individuals control the definition and identification of every word contained in the "resource", such that they can say anything they want about anything or person, and engage in the most subjective blather, while claiming falsely and quite stubbornly that what they are doing is objective, academic and impartial. (Impartial for Wikipedia means e.g. that their editors can tell you what St. Anselm meant by a letter he wrote 900 years ago, and conclude from this that he was a sodomite, despite the fact that every major Anselm scholar has refuted such a scurilous charge of the sodomitic movement; nay, you cannot even cite such scholars in a Wikipedia article!)

A search at Google under the form "What is a franciscan" gave me this definition, ostensible from a website at Princeton University:

"a friar who wears a grey habit"

The absurdity and inaccuracy of this is only equaled by the fact that Google's interface cites no one as the author of their "definition" page, and no way to submit criticisms or corrections.

But even if they did, it would be nothing but another Wikipedia game; because when the definitinos of words are set in stone, on the Web, then there is no longer any objective academic way of verifying their accuracy.

Thus, without doubt, Google is advancing the surreal world of 1984 and the reign of the Antichrist.

I had called for a boycott of Google before, but now I believe that it is a moral imperative of all men of goodwill to spread the word: Boycot Google!

Vices opposed to the Kingdom: Bitter Zeal

2006-12-28T03:29:00.000-08:00

As we are at the end of the Year of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, 2006, it is only fitting to review in our hearts how we have lived and acted, according to the measure of the teachings of Our Lord and King.

In this respect, if we have not been to confession recently, let us do so, and make a good and full confession.

And if we do go to confession regularly, let us take some time to reflect on our dominant vice, and the means to uproot it.

Now one vice which is very much opposed to the Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ, both in the world to come and in this world, is bitter zeal.

Like the fallen angels which inspire them, vices offer what it evil under the appearances of good. Bitter zeal is no different. Actually, it is more accurate to say that a vice is a distorted virtue, or a spiritual ailment which afflicts a virtue, feeds off it, and destroys it.

Thus no man who has a vice is free of the consideration that this vice is not a vice, for unless a man to some extent be deceived about what is truly good, he would not be vicious.

Zeal is a virtue common among those who seek the Kingdom of Our Most High Lord, especially if they are eager to work for the His Reign over all hearts and nations and societies.

But bitter zeal is not so often understood and recognized. For this reason it is very dangerous.

Since I have come to understand the crisis in the Church, I have had the opportunity to come to know of many laymen and women who are zealous for Sacred Tradition and the Immemorial Rites of the Church.

However, sadly, I can recount that so, so many of them have fallen away from the practice of their Roman Catholic Faith on account of bitter zeal.

This one vice can undo all the good intentions and merit of ones actions, with seemingly no apparent ill symptoms.

Nay, those afflicted almost never advert to their affliction, and thus are completely robbed of Christ's grace.

Bitter zeal is very common. It is a common aflliction of those who are zealous to see and observe God's Will done in themselves and in others. Its characteristic symptom is the predominance of anger at others faults over anger at one's owns faults. It manifests itself most often in uncharitable speech: detraction. And as it grows more strong it leads to worse vices, such as calumny, backbiting, spiritual sloath, neglect of the sacrament of penance, impenitance, and ultimately to such a hatred for one's fellow man, society, people, nation, etc. that the individual is completely isolated.

Bitter zeal as a vice has not only an opposed virtue, but a contrary, opposed vice.

The opposed virtue is righteous zeal. The contrary opposed vice is irenicism.

Righteous zeal is the eagerness of a soul in seeing the Will of God done in himself and in others. But righteous zeal cannot be practiced without justice and charity.

Charity as we know is the form of all the virtues, and it should motivate them all. When charity is not the principle motivation of the practice of any virtue, that virtue becomes distorted.

When zeal is not properly movtivated by charity, it exceeds the bounds of justice, and thus is distorted by self-love to notice the faults in others, more than in one's self.

When this happens the considerations of others faults leads to destructive criticism, and this kills fraternal charity. When spoken or communicated to others it leads to detraction, and worse to calumny, if what is said is not true. When spoken or communicated to the guilty parties it leads to a very demeritorious act: giving a correction when a correction is not wanted, when the giver has no obligation to give it, and the receiver no grace to receive it.

In this regard we can temper our righteous zeal by the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

He said, "Do not throw pearls to swine, lest they trample upon them and then turn on you."

Which in this regard means to consider well wether the offender against the Divine Will is even capable of receiving the correction; when he may be able to accept it, how it should be given so that he may accept it, with what explanation and spirit and temper it can be given, and when given, and in what circumstances; and to what extent the Lord obliges us to act, and to what extent the offender must be given correction and in what respect he does not deserve it, etc..

Often in such circumstances we will see that personally we do not have any obligation to correct the sinner, but those in authority do. And most often only those in authority have the grace and position such that when giving the correction the offender will accept it. But we should take counsel in things so proximate to fraternal charity, lest we err by our own uninformed and inexperienced judgment. It is good in all such cases to ask the advice of your confessor as to what to do. Or if you have a spiritual director, to seek and follow his counsel.

Destructive criticism is a most common result of bitter zeal.

Just as there are many scandals in the world and in the Church today, so there are many ways, good and bad, to respond to them.

First of all we should never give bad example, and thus become the occasion of the scandal to our brothers. For as Our Might King says, "Woe to him through whom a scandal comes! Better to have a mill stone tied around one's neck and to be thrown into the sea, than to scandalize even the least of these little ones!"

Second we should never take scandal. Taking scandal means responding to a scandal of another in such a way as to justify our commiting some sin, similar or differnt, ourselves.

Thus those who uncessarily speak of the ill deed of another to destroy his reputation or to discourage others in their virtue or attatchement to the Church, are taking scandal and doing the Devil's work.

The great frequency of this sort of vicious behavior has lead to the loss of so many souls in the Traditional Movement. So many who used to go only to the Traditional Latin Mass, no longer practice their faith, or no longer remain in communion with the Apostolic See, apart from which there is no salvation, or no longer care about virtue, having despaired, which is contrary to Hope.

It is thus a very precarious thing to speak of the faults of one's superior. Even when it is justified and necessary, to avert vice and scandal, we must do so in a constructive manner, and only to those who know of the scandal, so as to avert their taking scandal, and to encourage them in fidelity to the Faith, to Sacred Scripture, to Sacred Tradition, to a proper sense of obedience, and to a proper sense of forebearance.

Let us pray that Our Most High King and His Immaculate and Glorious Queen Mother may with St. Joseph, the Guardian of His Kingdom, enlighten us as to the grave danger of bitter zeal, and to the goodness of the virtues which are opposed to it: charity, justice, righteous zeal, prudence, and discretion.

Polish Archbishops oppose Christ being named King of Poland

2006-12-21T07:01:00.000-08:00

In a sign of complete perfidy and stupidity, the Episcopal Conference of Poland, an nearly entirely catholic nation, has oppenly opposed a proposed bill to be voted on in Polish Parliment on the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, to name Our Most High Lord Jesus Christ the Honorary King of Poland (Poland in the early Renaissance already consecrated itself to Our Blessed Lady, as Queen of Poland).

In response to the proposed bill, Archbishop Tadeusz Gocłowski, of Gdansk, (formerly Danzig, Prussia) said: "Let parliament deal with passing better laws that we need" (you can find the Archbishops phone number and address here)

For his part, Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek, the retired bishop of Sosnowiec said: "This kind of action, although it may stem from good will, sounds a bit like propaganda." (you can contact Bishop Pieronek through the Diocese of Sosnowiec)

What Christmas Means

2006-12-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

Soon the most lovely feast of the year will be upon us: Christmas!

"For God so loved the world as to send His only Son, that all who believe in Him might have eternal life".

Merry Christmas! is the cheer of the season, and the whole tenor and force of our holy religion urges us to mean it by a sincere preparation.

Our Lord says in the Gospel, "If you approach the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, leave you gift at the altar and go and be reconciled with your brother, and then return and offer your gift."

This lesson of Our Lord is about moral integrity; and how our acts of religion have no value if we have offended our brother and refuse to set things right before approaching God.

On Christmas Day this should be our goal: to approach the altar and the Creche with a clean heart, having undone the evil we have done others and to right the injustices which we have wrought.

In vain do we say, "Merry Christmas!" to our neighbor if we neglect these things.

Indeed, I would say that is a sort of blasphemy to twist these words into an excuse for living the Gospel, as if to say, "Merry Christmas!", in the sense of "Good-bye and don't bother me", or even worse: in the sense of "Fat chance of that! I took what I wanted to take, and I am not going to give it back before Hell freezes over!"

In vain do we spend the day talking about religion, talking about the problems in the Church, etc., the problems in the government, if we do such things.

If we profess to seek the Social Reign of Christ, we are more obliged to live the faith daily in our personal interelations.

And the more we talk about the Reign of Christ, the more He shall hold us to His high standards in the day of our judgment. Which is not to say we ought not speak about Him, but rather, that we should be mindful of living His teachings, and speaking accordingly consequently.

Practicing Fraternal Correction

On of the most central aspects of our Religion is the practice of charity, and one oft misunderstood or non-observed aspect is the precept Our Lord gave about how to resolve problems of interpersonal relations when one side has been wronged by another, or vice versa, or both.

Our Lord said that we should 1) go the one who has wronged us, in private and ask him for what is our due, 2) if he does not see reason, then go again with a fellow catholic, and ask again, 3) if he does not see reason, appeal to the Church.

This "going to our neighbor" can be done by any sort of communication that is privat, it does not require a personal visit, because this can or cannot be helpful, depending on the circumstances.

It should be noted that, if the offense is objective, that it is in no way a sin for the one offended to seek justice; since Our Lord commands that we resolve disputes in this manner, it is obvious that doing so is not a sin, or a lack of perfection.

Too often it is the offender who will reply that we should be better Christians if we endured or put up with this injustice: but that is nothing but the same mentality that justifies abusive behavior: something like the theif who attempt to excuse himself by claiming the one robbed was too attached to his belongings.

Turnign to a friend, on a second appeal, means seeking the intervention of another catholic, in private who will in private speak to the offender: he does not need to do this in person, as said before: and it does not seem that he has to do this in the presence of the offended, either, as this may or may not be helpful.

Turning to the Church is the final recourse: by this Our Lord means to see that we guard scrupulously the personal reputations of even offenders, such that we do not publically speak or identify them until recourse is had to proper authorities.

In civil matters, we should have recourse to civil authorities, in religious ones to religious authorities. It seems that Our Lord by speaking only of religious authorities is implicity upholding the notion of a theocracy; or at least that of the superiority of the ecclesiastical order. St. Paul sheds some light upon this, by saying that we catholics should not hall one another into court, because this gives the Faith a bad name. But in this he gives a counsel not a precept, because in certain cases, obviously, on in civil courts can one take legal action, or only a recourse to the police could provide a remedy.

Appealing to an authority puts the matter in the hands of those who should deal with it in an impartial or objective manner; in such cases we should examine our consciences carefuly to only state the impartial truth, and not to wrong the one who has offended us by claiming he did other than what he did.

Let us try to live these truths this Christmas season.

I for myself, ask pardon from all whom I have offended over the years and especially this year, and in particular through anything I have written or said, on my websites, or via email.

May the Good Lord and His Blessed Mother, give you peace and all the blessings of Christ's Mass!

To Found a Monastery

2006-12-07T11:13:00.000-08:00

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The season of Christmas is nearly upon us, and I beg you to consider helping some poor franciscans who have no place to live.

I am speaking about the franciscans and the vocations who want to live the traditional observance of the Rule of St. Francis, but who cannot do so in the Order of Friars minor because this is a very hateful thing to the superiors of the Order.

Since the time of Vatican II there have been a constant program of disassembling the observances of the order, of denying the traditional virtues, of omitting and then forbidding the traditional rules and regulations.

Since that time too, nearly all the centers of formation and religious orders in the Church have been overcome by modernism and vile immorality. The Order has not been exempted from this either.

For this reason the Order of Friars Minor today is not a welcoming place nor a safe place for vocations.

For franciscan brothers like myself, and for franciscan priests and vocations, we have no place to go.

You can read more about this through the link on the Right, entitled, "Help Save St. Francis' Order".

I ask you to read that link and make a donation of whatever you can to the non-profit which is helping me establish a new monastery where the Traditional observances of the Rule of St. Francis can be faihtfully kept, along with the Traditional Latin Mass.

The Truth Breaks Out in Italy

2006-12-05T06:59:00.000-08:00

by Christopher A. Ferrara

Speaking of the divine imperative that the Gospel be proclaimed, Our Lord declared that even if the apostles themselves were to fall silent “the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19:40). The same can be said of the Message of Fatima, and the Third Secret of Fatima in particular. If the Fatima Message is from Heaven — and John Paul II himself insisted that it was — God would have the stones themselves reveal the words of the Mother of God, even if no man would. That is why the story of the missing words of the Third Secret will just not go away. What did Our Lady say after the telltale phrase “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,” to which Sister Lucy added “etc.” to make it clear that more words followed? Fatima scholars were unanimous in concluding that what followed were the Mother of God’s predictions of a grave crisis in the Church and catastrophe for the world is contained in the Third Secret.

That is why worldwide skepticism prevailed when the vision of “the bishop dressed in white” was published by the Vatican in June of 2000 without a single word of Our Lady to explain how the Pope comes to be seen trudging through a half-ruined city and then being executed by a band of soldiers on a hill outside that city.

We were asked to believe that the Mother of God left it to Cardinal Sodano to “explain” the ambiguous vision in the Vatican commentary published with the vision, while Our Lady described explicitly to the seers, in Her own words, the patently obvious vision of hell. It was simply incredible that the Virgin of Fatima had not a word to say about the “bishop dressed in white,” the half-ruined city and the execution of the Pope by soldiers. Did anybody really believe that?

Well, there has been a major breakthrough for the truth in Italy. The renowned Italian author and journalist Antonio Socci has just published a book entitled The Fourth Secret of Fatima in which he advances the very claims of this organization concerning a Vatican cover-up of a distinct text of the Third Secret containing words of Our Lady. Socci also claims, with us, that Russia has yet to be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

I will let Vittorio Messori, who worked with John Paul II on his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope, describe Socci’s basic thesis (this from a review of the book by Messori in Corriere della Sera, November 21, 2006):

In brief, his thesis is that the part of the secret revealed (that of the “bishop dressedin white” who is killed by “gunshots and arrows”) is authentic, but constitutes only a fragment. In its entirety, the message would contain terrible words on the crisis of the faith, on betrayal on the part of the hierarchy, on catastrophic events in store for the Church and, with it, the whole of humanity.

John XXIII and Paul VI — whether out of skepticism or to avoid furnishing arguments to the critics of the Council — would have prevented the publication of the text. John Paul II and his right-hand theologian, Ratzinger, would have been blocked by the refusal of their predecessors and the unavailability of the great part of the episcopacy for the “consecration” of Russia requested by the Virgin.

So, in 2000, recourse would have been made to trickery: to reveal only one part of the text, making believe that it referred only to the past. The other contents would have been revealed “not explicitly although implicitly,” in homilies, discourses, documents of Pope Wojtyla and by the prefect of the Faith. ‘He who can understand, let him understand.’

Socci’s conclusions are consistent with reported remarks of the current Pope himself (when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger) that his “hands were tied” on Fatima by the dictates of the former Vatican Secretary of State, whose recent departure was celebrated in this column.

And Socci’s theory that it was decided to reveal the contents of the missing text of the Secret indirectly through papal remarks — such as John Paul II’s reference to Chapter 12 of the Apocalypse at Fatima in 2000 — would also explain how the Vatican could state that all has been revealed without telling a lie, strictly speaking.

It is absolutely stunning that a “mainstream” author of celebrity status, with absolutely no connection to so-called “Fatimite extremists,” would arrive at the conclusions Socci arrived at. What is even more stunning, however, is that, as Messori notes, Socci was dead set against those very conclusions and set out to disprove them, only to become convinced that the position defended by Father Nicholas Gruner and other Fatima experts was correct:
For him (Socci), there was no longer anything “secret” after the declaration of Cardinal Sodano, on May 13, 2000, and after the publication of the manuscript text, with commentary by the ex-Prefect of the Holy office, on June 26 of that same year.

But then, the Tuscan journalist and author changed his opinion and has now published a book, to be released tomorrow (The Fourth Secret of Fatima, Rizzoli, 252 pages, € 17) that begins by retracting, with undoubted honesty, the conviction that every word pronounced by the Apparition in 1917 had already been revealed by the Church.

After having rejected the journalism, above all on the part of Lefebvrists and sedevacantists, who suspected the Vatican of not having revealed the true contents of the message, Socci decided to examine the reasons of those he found unworthy of belief. And he ended by convincing himself that something of great importance had been hidden.

Now the ball is in the Vatican’s court. Socci has made serious accusations that cannot be dismissed as “Fatimite” ranting. In particular, it now falls to the Vatican to admit or deny that there is a “fourth secret of Fatima” consisting of the withheld text of the words of Our Lady which accompany the vision of “the bishop dressed in white.” If the Vatican does not deny the existence of this text — explicitly and without equivocation — then one can only conclude that the moral certainty that such a text exists, as Socci now recognizes, is confirmed as a certainty in fact.

God bless Antonio Socci for having the courage to follow the truth wherever it led. His work is an important human contribution to the task of making the truth about Fatima known for the good of the Church and the whole world, with time fast running out for our rebellious civilization.

As Vittorio Messori himself admits — in an astounding concession for one who is indeed “Mr. Establishment” in Rome — the pages Socci has written “can make one think.” They are not the work of a fanatic. (And neither is the work of this organization, whose publications are cited repeatedly by Socci.) Rather, as Messori observes, Socci was motivated by the desire to know “which are really the warnings that heaven would have wanted to reach us. And the concern about sparing the Church devastating consequences, in case the hypothesized ‘censorship’ of the text delivered by Sister Lucy was imposed by malevolent adversaries.”

With the publication of Socci’s book, the “hypothesized” censorship of Sister Lucy will be as a grim reality seen by more and more people. As for those “respectable” organizations and personages that have mindlessly parroted the Sodano party line on Fatima — The Blue Army, Catholic Answers, EWTN, The Wanderer, Father Fox, and so forth — it is time for them to recognize their duty to make amends for having misled so many for so long. History’s verdict is fast approaching, and with it God’s inevitable fulfillment of the prophecies of Fatima.

God will not be mocked. Nor will He allow His prophet, the very Mother of God, to be silenced by the machinations of mere men, or the tut-tutting of the “respectable” and “mainstream” defenders of the status quo of apostasy and confusion in the Church. The stones are proclaiming the truth about Fatima, even if certain elements of the Vatican apparatus, aided by the useful idiots of post-conciliar correctness, are still trying to bury it in the past. They will not succeed.

The Papal Address to the President of the Republic of Italy

2006-11-20T07:36:00.000-08:00

A respectful critcism of Benedict XVI's refusal to implement the perennial teaching of His august predecessors. My comments in italics.

VATICAN CITY, NOV 20, 2006 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican, the Pope received Giorgio Napolitano, president of the Italian Republic, on an official visit. President Napolitano took office on May 15 this year.

Following a private meeting in his library, the Holy Father delivered an address, which was followed by some words from President Napolitano.

"Church and State," said Pope Benedict, "are both called, according to their respective missions and with their own ends and means, to serve man, ... and they collaborate in promoting his integral good."

There is no vocation but in Christ and from Christ. Therefore, the State in and of itself, has no "calling" to anything. But in Christ its calling is the same as that of all mankind, since the State is nothing more than a community of human beings. And hence the State is called to Faith, and thus the State is called to join the Church. And thus the state does not have a mission to serve men, but God, just as men to not have as their last End, their own particular or collective interests, but the Eternal Good which created them. And thus the State as a state has as its end the common good of its citizens, reckoning this common good as all that is conducive and participatory in their final End, God. And this is the reaon why the True Faith and the State are by the nature of the latter inseprarable.

The Holy Father highlighted how the civil community's solicitude for the good of citizens "cannot be limited ... to their physical health, economic wellbeing, intellectual formation and social relationships," and he stressed the fact that "human beings present themselves before the State also in their religious dimension."

"It would be reductive to consider that the right to religious freedom is sufficiently guaranteed when personal convictions suffer no violence or interference, or when we limit ourselves to respecting the expression of faith within the confines of a place of worship. It cannot, in fact, be forgotten that 'the social nature of man itself requires that he should give external expression to his internal acts of religion: that he should share with others in matters religious; that he should profess his religion in community.' Religious freedom is, then, not just of individuals, but also of families, of religious groups and of the Church herself."

"Adequate respect of the right to religious freedom," said the Pope, "implies, then, the commitment of civil authorities in helping to create 'conditions favorable to the fostering of religious life, in order that the people may be truly enabled to exercise their religious rights and to fulfill their religious duties'."

"The freedom that the Church and Christians claim does not prejudice the interests of the State or of other social groups, and does not seek an authoritative supremacy over them. Rather, it is a condition enabling ... the fulfillment of the vital service that the Church offers to Italy, and to all other countries in which she is present. This service to society, ... is also expressed towards the civil and political spheres. Indeed, although it is true that by her nature and mission 'the Church is not and does not intend to be a political player,' nonetheless she 'has a profound interest in the good of the political community'."

The religious liberty due the Church and all Christ's faithful as individuals does prejudice the interests of the State, inasmuch as prejudice means to judge beforehand, to lay down before hand a law, because the rights of God are prior to those of all creatuers, and God in Christ deserves our faith, hope, love, worship and service. And thus the religious liberty of the Church and of each of the faithful is prior to and must take precedent to the State, otherwise the State is not a state but an Idol, which asserts itself before God.

The Pope went on: "This specific contribution is chiefly made by the lay faithful," who "when they commit themselves through word and deed to confronting the great modern challenges, ... do not act out of their own specific interests or in the name of principles perceptible only to people who profess a specific religious creed. Rather, they do so in the context of, and following the rules of, democratic coexistence, for the good of all of society and in the name of values that all people of good will can share."

This is totally false: because as St. Paul teaches, "Whatever you do, do in the Name of the Lord", and hence if we do not act out of principles of faith, which are beyond the grasp of atheists, then we do not act as christians, and hence fail the Lord. The Faith is not democracy, and hence our actions are not conformable to the Democratic Order, rather it is the democratic order which must admit and conform itself to our Faith, and all peoples must have the opportunity and the right to know this Faith and live in conformity with its teaches, because this is the best order for the civil order, even if they refuse the Faith.

At the end of his address, the Pope expressed the hope that Italy "may continue to advance along the path of authentic progress, and offer the international community its precious contribution, always promoting those human and Christian values that have forged the country's history and culture, and its heritage of ideals, laws and arts; values that still lie at the base of the lives and activities of its citizens. These efforts," he concluded, "will not lack the loyal and generous contribution of the Catholic Church through the teaching of her bishops, ... and the work of all the faithful."

The Italian Republic has not been progressing on this path for a long time, it is vain and absurd to suggest otherwise.

Should Catholics Blog?

2006-11-19T03:50:00.000-08:00

by R. J. Stove

Blogging. By now every Catholic, even if he leads as hermetic an existence as did Saint Bruno, must know about it. Blogs (short, of course, for weblogs) have now become the preferred method for communication among Catholics in the English-speaking world, more especially in America. It seems every second Catholic one meets has a blog, from the staunchest traditionalist to the most oafish lesbian eucharistic minister. (Continued on the Remnant Website: Reprint)

-------------------------

My Comments:

I agree in general with Mr. Stove, that the errors which he mentions should be scrupulously avoided in Blogging, writing, or speaking. But as "to blog" in of itself does not mean "to sin", you cannot cure sin by saying "Don't blog!" as you can when you say things like "Don't gossip!"

As for writers who cannot be payed for what they write: I commiserate with Mr. Stove's general criticism, that we need the writings of good writers ("good" in the sense of men of truth and learning commited to the ideals of the Most Holy Trinity); however, I demure in this: why should such writers expect or have the right to receive monetary compensation for what they do?

I recal that it was in Ancient Greece among the first philosophers, that the Sophists were criticized for demaning payment for the lessons they gave, because men like Socrates held that truth should be taught for its own sake, and not for lucre.

Even pagans can recognize that. Indeed, all the best writings were done by Saints, who wrote what they wrote for free, for the Love of God and the salvation of souls, and not to receive a stipend. So by that logic, blogs are by no means opposed to virtue and truth, whereas those who write for a fee, may be suspect in what they say, since they say it to be payed.

True to say, obviously, you are often not going to find as good quality among what is free, as you would among what is payed for: but that is not always true: it supposes an unspoken premise, namely that Capitalistic or mercantile principles guarentee truth. Which premise itself is not true.

The Gospels have always been copyright free, though editions always cost you money. If someone gives the Gospels out for free on the Internet, that's good. Books are not in danger, nor will they ever disappear, because of their eminent utility in preserving information.

What we need therefore is not less blogging in itself, but more reading of good books; and with that, what is said or written, will be worth hearing or reading. And we need to be more mindful of the application of the counsels and teachings of the Saints, regarding the practice of virtue and the avoidance of vice, especially, if we use blogs, of the vices of which afflict them, some of which Mr. Stove mentions.

Rejection of Christ's Kingship means Disaster for the State

2006-11-13T06:56:00.000-08:00

ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII
NOVEMBER 1, 1900

To Our Venerable Brethren, the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other Local Ordinaries having Peace and Communion with the Holy See.

Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction.

1. The outlook on the future is by no means free from anxiety; on the contrary, there are many serious reasons for alarm, on account of numerous and long-standing causes of evil, of both a public and a private nature. Nevertheless, the close of the century really seems in God's mercy to afford us some degree of consolation and hope. For no one will deny that renewed interest in spiritual matters and a revival of Christian faith and piety are influences of great moment for the common good. And there are sufficiently clear indications at the present day of a very general revival or augmentation of these virtues. For example, in the very midst of worldly allurements and in spite of so many obstacles to piety, what great crowds have flocked to Rome to visit the "Threshold of the Apostles" at the invitation of the Sovereign Pontiff! Both Italians and foreigners are openly devoting themselves to religious exercises, and, relying upon the indulgences offered by the Church. are most earnestly seeking the means to secure their eternal salvation. Who could fail to be moved by the present evident increase of devotion towards the person of Our Saviour? The ardent zeal of so many thousands, united in heart and mind, "from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof," in venerating the Name of Jesus Christ and proclaiming His praises, is worthy of the best days of Christianity. Would that the outburst of these flames of antique faith might be followed by a mighty conflagration! Would that the splendid example of so many might kindle the enthusiasm of all! For what so necessary for our times as a widespread renovation among the nations of Christian principles and oldfashioned virtues? The great misfortune is that too many turn a deaf ear and will not listen to the teachings of this revival of piety. Yet, "did they but know the gift of God," did they but realise that the greatest of all misfortunes is to fall away from the World's Redeemer and to abandon Christian faith and practice, they would be only too eager to turn back, and so escape certain destruction.

2. The most important duty of the Church, and the one most peculiarly her own, is to defend and to propagate throughout the world the Kingdom of the Son of God, and to bring all men to salvation by communicating to them the divine benefits, so much so that her power and authority are chiefly exercised in this one work. Towards this end We are conscious of having devoted Our energies throughout Our difficult and anxious Pontificate even to the present day. And you too, Venerable Brethren, are wont constantly, yea daily, to give your chief thoughts and endeavours together with Ourselves to the selfsame task. But at the present moment all of us ought to make still further efforts, more especially on the occasion of the Holy Year, to disseminate far and wide the better knowledge and love of Jesus Christ by teaching, persuading, exhorting, if perchance our voice can be heard; and this, not so much to those who are ever ready to listen willingly to Christian teachings, but to those most unfortunate men who, whilst professing the Christian name, live strangers to the faith and love of Christ. For these we feel the profoundest pity: these above all would we urge to think seriously of their present life and what its consequences will be if they do not repent.

3. The greatest of all misfortunes is never to have known Jesus Christ: yet such a state is free from the sin of obstinancy and ingratitude. But first to have known Him, and afterwards to deny or forget Him, is a crime so foul and so insane that it seems impossible for any man to be guilty of it. For Christ is the fountain-head of all good. Mankind can no more be saved without His power, than it could be redeemed without His mercy. "Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved" (Acts iv, 12). What kind of life that is from which Jesus Christ, "the power of God and the wisdom of God," is excluded; what kind of morality and what manner of death are its consequences, can be clearly learnt from the example of nations deprived of the light of Christianity. If we but recall St. Paul's description (Romans i., 24-32) of the mental blindness, the natural depravity, the monstrous superstitions and lusts of such peoples, our minds will be filled with horror and pity. What we here record is well enough known, but not sufficiently realised or thought about. Pride would not mislead, nor indifference enervate, so many minds, if the Divine mercies were more generally called to mind and if it were remembered from what an abyss Christ delivered mankind and to what a height He raised it. The human race, exiled and disinherited, had for ages been daily hurrying into ruin, involved in the terrible and numberless ills brought about by the sin of our first parents, nor was there any human hope of salvation, when Christ Our Lord came down as the Saviour from Heaven. At the very beginning of the world, God had promised Him as the conqueror of "the Serpent," hence, succeeding ages had eagerly looked forward to His coming. The Prophets had long and clearly declared that all hope was in Him. The varying fortunes, the achievements, customs, laws, ceremonies and sacrifices of the Chosen People had distinctly and lucidly foreshadowed the truth, that the salvation of mankind was to be accomplished in Him who should be the Priest, Victim, Liberator, Prince of Peace, Teacher of all Nations, Founder of an Eternal Kingdom. By all these titles, images and prophecies, differing in kind though like in meaning, He alone was designated who "for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us," gave Himself up for our salvation. And so, when the fullness of time came in God's Divine Providence, the only-begotten Son of God became man, and in behalf of mankind made most abundant satisfaction in His Blood to the outraged majesty of His Father and by this infinite price He redeemed man for His own. "You were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver . . . but with the precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb, unspotted and undefiled" (1 Peter i., 18-19). Thus all men, though already subject to His Kingly power, inasmuch as He is the Creator and Preserver of all, were over and above made His property by a true and real purchase. "You are not your own: for you are bought with a great price" (2 Corinthians vi, 19-20). Hence in Christ all things are made new. "The mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed to Him, in the dispensation of the fullness of times to re-establish all things in Christ" (Ephesians i., 9-10). When Jesus Christ had blotted out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, fastening it to the cross, at once God's wrath was appeased, the primeval fetters of slavery were struck off from unhappy and erring man, God's favour was won back, grace restored, the gates of Heaven opened, the right to enter them revived, and the means afforded of doing so. Then man, as though awakening from a long-continued and deadly lethargy, beheld at length the light of the truth, for long ages desired, yet sought in vain. First of all, he realised that he was born to much higher and more glorious things than the frail and inconstant objects of sense which had hitherto formed the end of his thoughts and cares. He learnt that the meaning of human life, the supreme law, the end of all things was this: that we come from God and must return to Him. From this first principle the consciousness of human dignity was revived: men's hearts realised the universal brotherhood: as a consequence, human rights and duties were either perfected or even newly created, whilst on all sides were evoked virtues undreamt of in pagan philosophy. Thus men's aims, life, habits and customs received a new direction. As the knowledge of the Redeemer spread far and wide and His power, which destroyeth ignorance and former vices, penetrated into the very life-blood of the nations, such a change came about that the face of the world was entirely altered by the creation of a Christian civilisation. The remembrance of these events, Venerable Brethren, is full of infinite joy, but it also teaches us the lesson that we must both feel and render with our whole hearts gratitude to our Divine Saviour.

4. We are indeed now very far removed in time from the first beginnings of Redemption; but what difference does this make when the benefits thereof are perennial and immortal? He who once hath restored human nature ruined by sin the same preserveth and will preserve it for ever. "He gave Himself a redemption for all" (1 Timothy ii., 6)."In Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Corinthians xv., 22). "And of His Kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke i., 33). Hence by God's eternal decree the salvation of all men, both severally and collectively, depends upon Jesus Christ. Those who abandon Him become guilty by the very fact, in their blindness and folly, of their own ruin; whilst at the same time they do all that in them lies to bring about a violent reaction of mankind in the direction of that mass of evils and miseries from which the Redeemer in His mercy had freed them.

5. Those who go astray from the road wander far from the goal they aim at. Similarly, if the pure and true light of truth be rejected, men's minds must necessarily be darkened and their souls deceived by deplorably false ideas. What hope of salvation can they have who abandon the very principle and fountain of life? Christ alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John xiv., 6). If He be abandoned the three necessary conditions of salvation are removed.

6. It is surely unnecessary to prove, what experience constantly shows and what each individual feels in himself, even in the very midst of all temporal prosperity-that in God alone can the human will find absolute and perfect peace. God is the only end of man. All our life on earth is the truthful and exact image of a pilgrimage. Now Christ is the "Way," for we can never reach God, the supreme and ultimate good, by this toilsome and doubtful road of mortal life, except with Christ as our leader and guide. How so? Firstly and chiefly by His grace; but this would remain "void" in man if the precepts of His law were neglected. For, as was necessarily the case after Jesus Christ had won our salvation, He left behind Him His Law for the protection and welfare of the human race, under the guidance of which men, converted from evil life, might safely tend towards God. "Going, teach ye all nations . . . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matthew xxviii., 19-20). "Keep my commandments" john xiv., 15). Hence it will be understood that in the Christian religion the first and most necessary condition is docility to the precepts of Jesus Christ, absolute loyalty of will towards Him as Lord and King. A serious duty, and one which oftentimes calls for strenuous labour, earnest endeavour, and perseverance! For although by Our Redeemer's grace human nature hath been regenerated, still there remains in each individual a certain debility and tendency to evil. Various natural appetites attract man on one side and the other; the allurements of the material world impel his soul to follow after what is pleasant rather than the law of Christ. Still we must strive our best and resist our natural inclinations with all our strength "unto the obedience of Christ." For unless they obey reason they become our masters, and carrying the whole man away from Christ, make him their slave. "Men of corrupt mind, who have made shipwreck of the faith, cannot help being slaves. . . They are slaves to a threefold concupiscence: of will, of pride, or of outward show" (St. Augustine, De Vera Religione, 37). In this contest every man must be prepared to undergo hard ships and troubles for Christ's sake. It is difficult to reject what so powerfully entices and delights. It is hard and painful to despise the supposed goods of the senses and of fortune for the will and precepts of Christ our Lord. But the Christian is absolutely obliged to be firm, and patient in suffering, if he wish to lead a Christian life. Have we forgotten of what Body and of what Head we are the members? "Having joy set before Him, He endured the Cross," and He bade us deny ourselves. The very dignity of human nature depends upon this disposition of mind. For, as even the ancient Pagan philosophy perceived, to be master of oneself and to make the lower part of the soul, obey the superior part, is so far from being a weakness of will that it is really a noble power, in consonance with right reason and most worthy of a man. Moreover, to bear and to suffer is the ordinary condition of man. Man can no more create for himself a life free from suffering and filled with all happiness that he can abrogate the decrees of his Divine Maker, who has willed that the consequences of original sin should be perpetual. It is reasonable, therefore, not to expect an end to troubles in this world, but rather to steel one's soul to bear troubles, by which we are taught to look forward with certainty to supreme happiness. Christ has not promised eternal bliss in heaven to riches, nor to a life of ease, to honours or to power, but to longsuffering and to tears, to the love of justice and to cleanness of heart.

7. From this it may clearly be seen what con sequences are to be expected from that false pride which, rejecting our Saviour's Kingship, places man at the summit of all things and declares that human nature must rule supreme. And yet, this supreme rule can neither be attained nor even defined. The rule of Jesus Christ derives its form and its power from Divine Love: a holy and orderly charity is both its foundation and its crown. Its necessary consequences are the strict fulfilment of duty, respect of mutual rights, the estimation of the things of heaven above those of earth, the preference of the love of God to all things. But this supremacy of man, which openly rejects Christ, or at least ignores Him, is entirely founded upon selfishness, knowing neither charity nor selfdevotion. Man may indeed be king, through Jesus Christ: but only on condition that he first of all obey God, and diligently seek his rule of life in God's law. By the law of Christ we mean not only the natural precepts of morality and the Ancient Law, all of which Jesus Christ has perfected and crowned by His declaration, explanation and sanction; but also the rest of His doctrine and His own peculiar institutions. Of these the chief is His Church. Indeed whatsoever things Christ has instituted are most fully contained in His Church. Moreover, He willed to perpetuate the office assigned to Him by His Father by means of the ministry of the Church so gloriously founded by Himself. On the one hand He confided to her all the means of men's salvation, on the other He most solemnly commanded men to be subject to her and to obey her diligently, and to follow her even as Himself: "He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me" (Luke x, 16). Wherefore the law of Christ must be sought in the Church. Christ is man's "Way"; the Church also is his "Way"-Christ of Himself and by His very nature, the Church by His commission and the communication of His power. Hence all who would find salvation apart from the Church, are led astray and strive in vain.

8. As with individuals, so with nations. These, too, must necessarily tend to ruin if they go astray from "The Way." The Son of God, the Creator and Redeemer of mankind, is King and Lord of the earth, and holds supreme dominion over men, both individually and collectively. "And He gave Him power, and glory, and a kingdom: and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him" (Daniel vii., 14). "I am appointed King by Him . . . I will give Thee the Gentiles for Thy inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession" (Psalm ii., 6, 8). Therefore the law of Christ ought to prevail in human society and be the guide and teacher of public as well as of private life. Since this is so by divine decree, and no man may with impunity contravene it, it is an evil thing for the common weal wherever Christianity does not hold the place that belongs to it. When Jesus Christ is absent, human reason fails, being bereft of its chief protection and light, and the very end is lost sight of, for which, under God's providence, human society has been built up. This end is the obtaining by the members of society of natural good through the aid of civil unity, though always in harmony with the perfect and eternal good which is above nature. But when men's minds are clouded, both rulers and ruled go astray, for they have no safe line to follow nor end to aim at.

9. Just as it is the height of misfortune to go astray from the "Way," so is it to abandon the "Truth." Christ Himself is the first, absolute and essential "Truth," inasmuch as He is the Word of God, consubstantial and co-eternal with the Father, He and the Father being One. "I am the Way and the Truth." Wherefore if the Truth be sought by the human intellect, it must first of all submit it to Jesus Christ, and securely rest upon His teaching, since therein Truth itself speaketh. There are innumerable and extensive fields of thought, properly belonging to the human mind, in which it may have free scope for its investigations and speculations, and that not only agreeably to its nature, but even by a necessity of its nature. But what is unlawful and unnatural is that the human mind should refuse to be restricted within its proper limits, and, throwing aside its becoming modesty, should refuse to acknowledge Christ's teaching. This teaching, upon which our salvation depends, is almost entirely about God and the things of God. No human wisdom has invented it, but the Son of God hath received and drunk it in entirely from His Father: "The words which thou gavest me, I have given to them" john xvii., 8). Hence this teaching necessarily embraces many subjects which are not indeed contrary to reasonfor that would be an impossibility-but so exalted that we can no more attain them by our own reasoning than we can comprehend God as He is in Himself. If there be so many things hidden and veiled by nature, which no human ingenuity can explain, and yet which no man in his senses can doubt, it would be an abuse of liberty to refuse to accept those which are entirely above nature, because their essence cannot be discovered. To reject dogma is simply to deny Christianity. Our intellect must bow humbly and reverently "unto the obedience of Christ," so that it be held captive by His divinity and authority: "bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians x., 5). Such obedience Christ requires, and justly so. For He is God, and as such holds supreme dominion over man's intellect as well as over his will. By obeying Christ with his intellect man by no means acts in a servile manner, but in complete accordance with his reason and his natural dignity. For by his will he yields, not to the authority of any man, but to that of God, the author of his being, and the first principle to Whom he is subject by the very law of his nature. He does not suffer himself to be forced by the theories of any human teacher, but by the eternal and unchangeable truth. Hence he attains at one and the same time the natural good of the intellect and his own liberty. For the truth which proceeds from the teaching of Christ clearly demonstrates the real nature and value of every being; and man, being endowed with this knowledge, if he but obey the truth as perceived, will make all things subject to himself, not himself to them; his appetites to his reason, not his reason to his appetites. Thus the slavery of sin and falsehood will be shaken off, and the most perfect liberty attained: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" john viii., 32). It is, then, evident that those whose intellect rejects the yoke of Christ are obstinately striving against God. Having shaken off God's authority, they are by no means freer, for they will fall beneath some human sway. They are sure to choose someone whom they will listen to, obey, and follow as their guide. Moreover, they withdraw their intellect from the communication of divine truths, and thus limit it within a narrower circle of knowledge, so that they are less fitted to succeed in the pursuit even of natural science. For there are in nature very many things whose apprehension or explanation is greatly aided by the light of divine truth. Not unfrequently, too, God, in order to chastise their pride, does not permit men to see the truth, and thus they are punished in the things wherein they sin. This is why we often see men of great intellectual power and erudition making the grossest blunders even in natural science.

10. It must therefore be clearly admitted that, in the life of a Christian, the intellect must be entirely subject to God's authority. And if, in this submission of reason to authority, our self-love, which is so strong, is restrained and made to suffer, this only proves the necessity to a Christian of long-suffering not only in will but also in intellect. We would remind those persons of this truth who desire a kind of Christianity such as they themselves have devised, whose precepts should be very mild, much more indulgent towards human nature, and requiring little if any hardships to be borne. They do not properly under stand the meaning of faith and Christian precepts. They do not see that the Cross meets us everywhere, the model of our life, the eternal standard of all who wish to follow Christ in reality and not merely in name.

11. God alone is Life. All other beings partake of life, but are not life. Christ, from all eternity and by His very nature, is "the Life," just as He is the Truth, because He is God of God. From Him, as from its most sacred source, all life pervades and ever will pervade creation. Whatever is, is by Him; whatever lives, lives by Him. For by the Word "all things were made; and without Him was made nothing that was made." This is true of the natural life; but, as We have sufficiently indicated above, we have a much higher and better life, won for us by Christ's mercy, that is to say, "the life of grace," whose happy consummation is "the life of glory," to which all our thoughts and actions ought to be directed. The whole object of Christian doctrine and morality is that "we being dead to sin, should live to justice" (I Peter ii., 24)-that is, to virtue and holiness. In this consists the moral life, with the certain hope of a happy eternity. This justice, in order to be advantageous to salvation, is nourished by Christian faith. "The just man liveth by faith" (Galatians iii., II). "Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews xi., 6). Consequently Jesus Christ, the creator and preserver of faith, also preserves and nourishes our moral life. This He does chiefly by the ministry of His Church. To Her, in His wise and merciful counsel, He has entrusted certain agencies which engender the supernatural life, protect it, and revive it if it should fail. This generative and conservative power of the virtues that make for salvation is therefore lost, whenever morality is dissociated from divine faith. A system of morality based exclusively on human reason robs man of his highest dignity and lowers him from the supernatural to the merely natural life. Not but that man is able by the right use of reason to know and to obey certain principles of the natural law. But though he should know them all and keep them inviolate through life-and even this is impossible without the aid of the grace of our Redeemer-still it is vain for anyone without faith to promise himself eternal salvation. "If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up and cast him into the fire, and he burneth" john xv., 6). "He that believeth not shall be condemned" (Mark xvi., 16). We have but too much evidence of the value and result of a morality divorced from divine faith. How is it that, in spite of all the zeal for the welfare of the masses, nations are in such straits and even distress, and that the evil is daily on the increase? We are told that society is quite able to help itself; that it can flourish without the assistance of Christianity, and attain its end by its own unaided efforts. Public administrators prefer a purely secular system of government. All traces of the religion of our forefathers are daily disappearing from political life and administration. What blindness! Once the idea of the authority of God as the Judge of right and wrong is forgotten, law must necessarily lose its primary authority and justice must perish: and these are the two most powerful and most necessary bonds of society. Similarly, once the hope and expectation of eternal happiness is taken away, temporal goods will be greedily sought after. Every man will strive to secure the largest share for himself. Hence arise envy, jealousy, hatred. The consequences are conspiracy, anarchy, nihilism. There is neither peace abroad nor security at home. Public life is stained with crime.

12. So great is this struggle of the passions and so serious the dangers involved, that we must either anticipate ultimate ruin or seek for an efficient remedy. It is of course both right and necessary to punish malefactors, to educate the masses, and by legislation to prevent crime in every possible way: but all this is by no means sufficient. The salvation of the nations must be looked for higher. A power greater than human must be called in to teach men's hearts, awaken in them the sense of duty, and make them better. This is the power which once before saved the world from destruction when groaning under much more terrible evils. Once remove all impediments and allow the Christian spirit to revive and grow strong in a nation, and that nation will be healed. The strife between the classes and the masses will die away; mutual rights will be respected. If Christ be listened to, both rich and poor will do their duty. The former will realise that they must observe justice and charity, the latter self-restraint and moderation, if both are to be saved. Domestic life will be firmly established ( by the salutary fear of God as the Lawgiver. In the same way the precepts of the natural law, which dictates respect for lawful authority and obedience to the laws, will exercise their influence over the people. Seditions and conspiracies will cease. Wherever Christianity rules over all without let or hindrance there the order established by Divine Providence is preserved, and both security and prosperity are the happy result. The common welfare, then, urgently demands a return to Him from whom we should never have gone astray; to Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life,-and this on the part not only of individuals but of society as a whole. We must restore Christ to this His own rightful possession. All elements of the national life must be made to drink in the Life which proceedeth from Him- legislation, political institutions, education, marriage and family life, capital and labour. Everyone must see that the very growth of civilisation which is so ardently desired depends greatly upon this, since it is fed and grows not so much by material wealth and prosperity, as by the spiritual qualities of morality and virtue.

13. It is rather ignorance than ill-will which keeps multitudes away from Jesus Christ. There are many who study humanity and the natural world; few who study the Son of God. The first step, then, is to substitute knowledge for ignorance, so that He may no longer be despised or rejected because He is unknown. We conjure all Christians throughout the world to strive all they can to know their Redeemer as He really is. The more one contemplates Him with sincere and unprejudiced mind, the clearer does it become that there can be nothing more salutary than His law, more divine than His teaching. In this work, your influence, Venerable Brethren, and the zeal and earnestness of the entire Clergy, can do wonders. You must look upon it as a chief part of your duty to engrave upon the minds of your people the true knowledge, the very likeness of Jesus Christ; to illustrate His charity, His mercies, His teaching, by your writings and your words, in schools, in Universities, from the pulpit; wherever opportunity is offered you. The world has heard enough of the so-called "rights of man." Let it hear something of the rights of God. That the time is suitable is proved by the very general revival of religious feeling already referred to, and especially that devotion towards Our Saviour of which there are so many indications, and which, please God, we shall hand on to the New Century as a pledge of happier times to come. But as this consummation cannot be hoped for except by the aid of divine grace, let us strive in prayer, with united heart and voice, to incline Almighty God unto mercy, that He would not suffer those to perish whom He had redeemed by His Blood. May He look down in mercy upon this world, which has indeed sinned much, but which has also suffered much in expiation! And, embracing in His loving-kindness all races and classes of mankind, may He remember His own words: "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself" (John xii., 32).

14. As a pledge of the Divine favours, and in token of Our fatherly affection, we lovingly impart to You, Venerable Brethren, and to your Clergy and People, the Apostolic Blessing.

Given at St. Peter's in Rome, the first day of November 1900, in the 23rd year of Our Pontificate

Solemnity of Christ the King: A. D. 2006

2006-10-29T04:23:00.000-08:00

Traditional Act of Consecration of the Human Race

Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before Thy altar.

We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but to be more surely united with Thee, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to Thy most Sacred Heart.

Many indeed have never known Thee; many too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee.

Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy Sacred Heart.

Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee; grant that they may quickly return to their Father's house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.

Be Thou King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one Shepherd.

Be Thou King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism, and refuse not to draw them all into the light and kingdom of God.

Turn Thine eyes of mercy towards the children of that race, once Thy chosen people: of old they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Savior; may It now descend upon them, a laver of redemption and of life.

Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry:

Praise be to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to It be glory and honor for ever!
Amen!

For those interested in more prayers, readings and images about Christ Our King visit Catholic Tradition.

The Evangelical Life

2006-10-26T03:11:00.000-07:00

In the Catholic Church there has always existed, by the decree of Christ, the right for all Catholics to follow Our Most High Lord Jesus Christ.

And the expression of this right takes form in the living of the evangelical counsels by means of consecrating oneself to the Most Holy Trinity by the practice of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Our Lord taught this holy way of life when He says: "Blessed are the poor, Blessed are the meek", "Blessed are they who have made themselves such for the sake of the Kingdom", and "I have come not to do My Will but the will of the Father, who sent Me".

Religious Life is the generic name we Catholics use to speak of the evangelical life, living the poverty, chastity and obedience of Jesus Christ, like the Apostles and Mary and the Holy Women did, who followed the Lord during His public ministry.

Religious Life, as a technical canonical term, is a stable form of a specific expression of consecrated life, following the example and/or rule of a Saint, in a public institute or community.

But in the general sense, religious life requires no community. It does not even require the priesthood.

We see this truth in the origin of religious life in the deserts of Egypt in the second century after Christ.

Single Men and women, of all ages, inspired by the Holy Ghost, left everything and went into the desert to live as hermits. Later on for their mutual edification, the men grouped together into monasteries of men, the women into monasteries of women. Later on, some of the brother monks were ordained priests.

Today one who is called by God to forsake all and follow Him can do so in an established religious institute, or by himself at home or in the wilderness.

Such a call is a great grace, and it comes to one who has already for a long time decided to spend a good deal of time, regularly, each day in prayer.

Can one live such a holy life without the permission of the local Bishop?

1. Yes. There is no canon of the new or old code of Canon Law which forbids any baptized Catholic from deciding to follow the Lord Jesus in the evangelical life, even at home. Normally however one does seek the counsel of a religious or of a religious priest, or sometimes of a holy secular priest (that is, a priest who is not a religious).

2. There was in the Latin Church, before the Council of Trent another public form of religious life, which was re-permitted after Vatican II, knows as the eremetical life, which required the permission of the local Bishop, and placed the hermit under the direct governance of the Bishop, and that one could only undertake after being proven faithful in the living of the evangelical counsels.

Whether one is called to the evangelical life of a professed religious in community, or to the eremetical life of a hermit, it is always good to first do n. 1, mentioned above first to some extent, to test one's own fidelity to the grace given or offered.

The Evangelical Life is greatly needed today. So many priests, even those in institutes dedicated to the Traditional Roman Rite are ignorant of the dignity and value of religious life. Some might even tell you that it is not permissible to follow the Lord Jesus without their permission. Except for those who have promised obedience to their spiritual director, it is never a sin to undertake the evangelical life when one's present obligations and duties do not require otherwise. Thus all single men and women may be able to undertake this life.

Indeed so common is the grace of religious life that St. John Bosco said that 3 out of every 5 of his boys were called to religious life. That means, if we suppose the extension of this statistic is valid to the whole Catholic population, that most of us have the vocation to religious life; those of us who have not followed this call, and who are not married, are thus missing out on a great grace which the Lord is offering them, but of which they are ignorant or unaware, or have refused.

Pray to the Lord, that He might give you the authentic grace of discernment, so that you may know His Will regarding your state in life. And have no fear to follow your Shepherd wherever He leads you!

Some reasons why so many do not become religious:

The fundamental reason is that most Catholics are spiritual cripples.

This indeed is a most pitiful state.

And it comes about chiefly on account of one fault.

The lack of prayer.

Did not St. Paul command us to pray always? Did not Our Lord Jesus Christ exhort us: pray always so that you may not fall into temptation?

Since there are always many temptations and many devils out to drag each of us to damnation, those of us who do not have the habit of prayer, especially those of us who did not have a habit of prayer as children and in our youth, have been left defenseless in times of temptation.

Lossing the sense of spiritual things on this account, we have acquired a carnal mind which has accomodated itself to a carnal way of life, and so the mere though of the Evangelical Life seems like a story from one of Tolkien's Books.

So many adults scoff at the virutes of religious life, just as they would scoff at a fairy tale or a myth.

And there are too many priests and even bishops in this category.

And that is why the world has so many problems, and the Church so many problems.

Indeed if you count the number of Bishops who were religious at the time of Trent, you would find that it was a good proportion of the Council Fathers; Vatican I too; I wonder how many religious were at Vatican II; the tenor of its documents makes me doubt that men with a true religiuos spirit oversaw them. Indeed Archbishop Lebefvre was a religious, of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, let us not forget.

Another reason is what results from this lack of habitual prayer. And that is the excessive love of creatures, which in most cases results in a bumper crop of mortal sins. And having lost grace, one looses the vivid desire for heaven, the life of which is the life of the religious.

The State of the Church

2006-10-21T03:12:00.000-07:00

Bishop Bernard Fellay’s Conference in Villepreux on October 14,2006

English Translation by Dici

The key-points of the conference

N.B. The oral style has been kept.

Fr. Alain Lorans: Your Excellency, concerning the declaration of the General Chapter, which all of us could read since it has been published in several languages, the chapter members were against a practical agreement, they said that such an agreement was chimeric, impossible for the present…

Bishop Fellay: It is impossible today. And why? Because it is not so much the agreement taken in itself which is impossible; since Rome is offering it to us. Or rather Rome declares itself ready to come to terms. So what is impossible is not so much the agreement but the situation in which we would find ourselves if we signed such an agreement. What would we be confronted by? Would the concrete circumstances brought about by the agreement be a livable situation for us? And obviously the answer is no. During the private audience I had with the pope, in August last year, I told him that the situation in the Church was such today that a normal Catholic life, i.e. a traditional life, has been made concretely impossible. So it is impossible to speak about a practical agreement before this life is made possible again. And to make this life possible is not something we can do. It must be done by the pope.

The hierarchy must make decisions on the one hand to punish and condemn the deviations and abuses, and on the other hand to promote the Catholic principles of all times, in the domain of the discipline, the liturgy, the religious life… It is a whole world, which has disappeared since Vatican II and which must be re-introduced. Obviously, we will not wait until all is perfectly in order to say: “now we can sign”. But the principles, which rule the Catholic life, must be recalled and imposed. As long as these elements are not there, it is utterly suicidal to want to make a practical agreement.

During the chapter, we examine some hypothetical situations: let us suppose that we make the agreement today, what happens tomorrow? We are perfectly recognized as members of the official Church, so the parish priest invites us to come and help him. “Listen, I have a lot of parishioners (well this would be rather an exception!!), could you come and help me give Holy Communion?” There we already have the first problem!! “No, I don’t give this communion. I know the New Mass is bad. I can’t have any part in it. I won’t have any part in it and so I can’t come and give communion with you.” Things start out very badly. And you can consider things from any aspect you wish, relations with those around us would immediately be fraught with difficulties and conflicts. We would be obliged to remain entrenched in our chapels in order not to have any problem, and that in itself would already be a problem. This shows that we cannot begin with a practical agreement. On the very evening of the agreement, we would already be in such a disagreement that we would be excommunicated again, and we would be back to square one. Consequently, we say that a practical agreement is not the way to go. We must first try to modify the state of affairs in the Church, hence our insistence on what we call the preconditions.

The preconditions do not concern us directly but they concern the whole Church and once applied they would begin to modify the state of mind, which is that of the Church today. And of course, there are not only two preconditions. We asked for those two as a sign that we may begin to go forward. It does not mean that once the two preconditions are fulfilled we sign the agreement. That is not at all what we have in mind. It is not like two conditions in a written contract, once the conditions are fulfilled, you go ahead. Here it is a question of the reality of the life in the Church being gradually modified by preconditions, which gradually make Catholic life possible. And it is only gradually that we will manage to have normal relationships with our “neighbors”, the Catholics of the official Church. It will come gradually and it will be a very delicate process because the confusion is great. But try to think for a moment: how is the Church going to get back on the tracks? There are two solutions. One is miraculous, the instantaneous conversion not only of one person, but of the whole Church. A Church, which is upside down, suddenly finds herself back on the tracks. It is a prodigious miracle; nothing is impossible to God. But from a human point of view, and from the point of view of faith, such a situation is rather improbable. Up to now God has never used such a method. He can use it, he certainly can… This famous promise: “In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph” might be just that.

But it might just as well not be that at all. And so to expect such a miraculous healing of the Church by God is not reasonable. The healing of the Church will be a slow process, just as when you recover from a bad flu or some other illness. And so we may believe that the Church will gradually come out of the crisis. This means that there will be intermediary stages during which we will be getting closer to the official Church, and for us this will be a very difficult time, because on the one hand we will have to remain firm, and on the other hand we will have to consider the progress made by the Church. So we will need charity and mercy towards our neighbor while remaining quite firm. It will be much more difficult than a struggle in which the two opponents have clearly defined positions. But God will give us all the graces we need.

But first of all we now insist on the preconditions. First, by granting them Rome will give us a pledge, and it will be a sign that we can trust them. They will have evidenced a certain desire for the good of tradition. We are not asking for half measures, we are asking for complete freedom of the Mass with no condition. And why do we ask for the Mass since we already have it? We are not asking for us but for the others. The Mass is the heart of the Church, just as the heart sends life through the body, the Mass sends graces through the Mystical Body. A Mass, which is fruitful, revitalizes the Church. The New Mass is like a heart after an attack, a failing heart. To reintroduce the Mass is first of all a juridical act. It has been said that this Mass had been forbidden, this is not true, it is an injustice.

And Rome acknowledges that this Mass has never been abrogated. This means that the traditional Mass is a law still enforced in the Church. And they forbid the application of this law. This is a juridical monstrosity. (…)

Fr. Alain Lorans: Your Excellency, I would like to come back to something you said on the airwaves of Radio Courtoisie two days ago. You used the expression “the temptation of officiality”. Could you tell us first what you mean by “the temptation of officiality”, and then how you see the role of the SSPX in the present crisis of the Church? Is the regularization of the status of the SSPX a priority for you? And if that is not the priority, what do you consider as your priority?

Bishop Fellay: Let us begin with officiality. I believe that it belongs to human nature, which is made to live in a society, to have the desire to live in peace with society, whether it is the family or society in general. Man has the desire to live in the “tranquility of order” which is peace. And this implies that man recognizes authority, and that authority approves what he does. For instance, the police are not meant for good people, but to enforce the laws and punish those who transgress. So this desire to be in peace with authority, to receive the approbation of authority is something inherent to human nature, and hence it is an absolutely natural desire. This desire is found in all societies and consequently also in the Church. But it may become what I called the “temptation of officiality”, the desire to be on good terms with authority. I call it a “temptation” when we are in conflict with this authority for very serious reasons. Next the authority makes a kind gesture towards us, it stretches out a helping hand, and then we forget everything else and remember only the kind gesture: “Look, they are kind, they are on our side”. And we avidly seize the opportunity and think that everything is for the best. “It’s the triumph of tradition, we have the Mass; we have won everything.” But it is not so. Yet this temptation is very deeply seated in us. So we must be careful.

An example of this phenomenon is the Institute of the Good Shepherd, which has been created in Bordeaux. They have a rubber stamped paper and they think all is well. That is not true at all. What has been changed in the life of the Church? Nothing. There is just this piece of paper. “It is official, I am recognized by the official Church”.

That is what I call the “officiality”. But the relations with the local bishop are they peaceful?! And there again, we see that this practical agreement (which is a good thing in itself) cannot be the priority. In the SSPX we have always looked beyond the surface. We ask ourselves: “Why are we in opposition to the authorities? Why does the official Church resent us? Did we do something wrong? No, we are faithful to what Archbishop Lefebvre did.” We tell the authorities that there is something wrong, and that they are the cause. And, of course, they do not like hearing this at all. To say that they are the cause, may sound like provocation, so we may even content ourselves with saying: “There is something wrong, please take care of the problem.” Truly, that is the rock bottom problem. There is a crisis in the Church. Up to quite recently when we told the authorities: “There is a crisis in the Church”, they used to answer: “Where? Everything is going fine.” We have won something, because today they acknowledge that, after all, everything is not going too well, but they add: “You know, it is already getting better.” And we are almost back to square one! So we try again with the help of concrete examples to show them that things are not going well. It is rather tedious! The priority is to go to the root of the problem, which is not to get a rubber stamped paper. Our concern is the situation of the Church, which, of course, also has a repercussion on our own life. And when we say: “We cannot obey your orders because that would mean suicide”, we have said it all. Rome must straighten things out, and then obedience to the authorities will no longer mean suicide. To straighten things out simply means a return to what the Church has always taught and done. Truth cannot change; it is eternal. There are principles in the Church which have been clearly established, defined, they are infallible. You cannot change them. If you change them, what you create is no longer the Church. And such is the present situation. Most Catholics today think they are Catholics, but they no longer are; they no longer have the Catholic Faith. For instance, the surveys tell us that 50% of practicing Catholics (those who go to Church every month or so are practicing Catholics in the surveys!) no longer believe in the resurrection of Our Lord. Consequently, they do not believe in the divinity of Christ, and they are no longer Catholics. They call themselves Catholics, but they no longer are. In what proportion may invincible ignorance excuse them? God knows. But objectively speaking, Christians for the most part have lost the Faith, because those in charge of proclaiming the Faith no longer announce it. If we give this example to Rome, they tell us to keep quiet or they will sanction us. We do not have the right to keep quiet in order to avoid sanctions. There is a risk, once you have received a rubber stamped approbation to think: “This rubber stamped paper is very precious. I must keep it and avoid sanction.” This is not right. The priority is the defense of the Faith, because without the Faith man cannot go to heaven. Even a simple Christian layman has the duty to confess his faith. It means that if you are asked whether you believe this or that article of the Faith, you are obliged to answer and profess your faith even if that means death. The rubber stamped approbation comes last. It is the cherry on the cake. We want the cake. We will worry later about the cherry! (…)

Father Lorans: The second of your two preconditions is the withdrawal of the decree of excommunication which sanctioned the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988. You ask for this, not because you consider the excommunication to be valid, but because it has an impact on the media and on people’s mind. It diabolizes tradition. Now some say that you lack realism when you make such a request, that you are asking for something impossible.

Bishop Fellay: Concerning the excommunication. For a year now, Rome has seemed not to have any real objections to the annulment of the excommunication. The only problem is that they want us to beg for it on our knees. And we do not want to get down on our knees. Why? Because we have no contrition. And Rome is asking for, at least, a little contrition. We want to be sincere; we do not have any contrition. We have no regret. As for the fact, Rome acknowledges that it is not what they claimed it was, i.e. it is not a schism. But they would like us to yield something in return. They say that it is not a formal excommunication. In Canon Law there is a distinction between a formal excommunication and a material excommunication. Excommunication is formal when it is true. It is material when it was pronounced by the pope, but was not supported by any cause. The pope did say: “I excommunicate”, but as the cause was lacking (the cause is a mortal sin) the excommunication has no effect on the soul. Normally the excommunication cuts you off from the Church and from the life of grace. For this sanction to be valid it must have been caused by a very serious sin, a very serious mortal sin. And in our case, we tell Rome: “Sorry, but we did not sin”.

And the pope and the cardinals, if they look at the situation seriously, must acknowledge that the circumstances are lacking which would have made a sin of the act. This is why we say that it is a material excommunication. The pope did say that we were excommunicated, but it was without basis since there was no sin. So the excommunication is of no worth. The reasoning is the same as for the Mass. We tell Rome: “You acknowledge that the Mass is valid, so say that it is also allowed.” For the excommunication: “You acknowledge that it was without cause, and consequently that it is not valid, so withdraw it without asking us anything.” But they answer: “Yes… no, it should be bilateral.” That may just be now a matter of diplomacy, but it shows clearly that we are not asking for something impossible.

Scandals and Scandal-mongering

2006-10-15T04:11:00.000-07:00

Undoubtedly we live in an age more beset by evils, errors and evil men than any age that has ever lived.

For some this realization causes them to fall away from virtue: for others it encourages them to virtue; for some, they make it the excuse for sin.

The Sin of Scandal is twofold: giving scandal and receiving scandal.

A scandal is a sin, reckoned not in itself, but in resepect of the bad example it gives to others. Thus a mortal sin when known becomes a sin of scandal to others.

"Scandal" comes from the Latin meaning "something one must climb over", it corresponds to the "stumbling stone" metaphor used in Sacred Scripture, or as we say in English "a rock of scandal".

The sin of receiving scandal is that which is commited by individuals when they come to know of the sins of others. It consists in using this knowledge to do evil themselves, either in justifying similar behavior, or in justifying some other sin.

Scandal of either kind is a sin against charity. Because the Love of God and the love of neighbor in God require us never to veer from the Love of God for the sake of or on the occasion of anyone else's sin.

Charity also requires us not to put others in the occasions of sin. And so charity oblidges us not to parade our own sins before others; and to not parade the sins of others before others.

This is especially important in the current trials and tribulations which are afflicting Holy Mother Church on account of the gross scandals being committed almost daily by members of the clergy, hierarchy and religious.

There are some things of which we must speak, as Pope St. Gregory the Great says, for that error prevail in the Church is a worse evil, than that scandals become known.

At the same time we must recognize that without a proper explanation of sins, when they do become known, we can by making them known, contribute to the problem, rather than assist our brother or sister in the Faith, to remain firm in the faith.

This is especially true of the sins of the Roman Pontiff.

If we say his errors are heresies, when they are not; or his heresies are pertinacious, when they are not; we push our neighbor towards the immoral position of Sedevacantism or to the loss of the Faith itself, the former which leads inextricably to the latter.

If we do such, we commit a mortal sin of giving scandal, and are guilty for the damnation of every soul that ends up in such a situation, on account of our scandal mongering.

Considering the Fact that a great number of those who had at one time called themselves "Traditional Catholics" have now left the Catholic Church on account of knowing the faults and sins and errors of the Popes of their own day, it behooves us to speak temperately about the scandals of our age, to avoid contributing to the evil that the Devil and the spirit of the Antichrist are working among the Flock of Christ, which is the Catholic Church.

For this reason, on my own blogs, recognizing that I am not so important of a person, not so learned of a man, and not so significant, that anyone needs to hear me discuss such things, I am adopting as of today, this policy: I will not, in reference to sins or errors speak of the sinner or error by name in public, and so on my blogs and website, The Franciscan Archive, I will and am removing all such references.

I am doing this, not because I agree with such sins and errors, but because I do not want to be condemned on the day of my death, with the damnation of any soul who has read what I have written or published or said in public.

Let us pray for our Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Religious and fellow Catholics, that they may remain firm in the faith, and that the fallen away may return to the practice of their faith and to communion with the See of St. Peter.

What the American "Democracy" has come to

2006-10-13T18:40:00.000-07:00

In the last week we have seen the depths to which the American experiment has come to. A Republican Congressman involved in sodomy and sodomites in the offices of the highest level Republicans covering it up.

If that was surprising, the logic of the Democrats is little less. To gain power they expose a scandal they have known about for a long time. ABC sits on the news story so that they can pop it up close enough to the Mid-Term elections, even though that means more teenagers might be put at risk. And the Media in nearly every outlet is beating the drums, saying, on account of a few morally corrupt Republicans, the conservate voters should let the entirely corrupt Democrats into power.

Somehow I get the feeling I am watching an election in Hell. Don't you?

Aristotle taught long ago, that the next to the worse form of government is the Democracy, because, as he said in his Politics, without a constitution which established moral norms, the masses will always vote for the candidates who promise them the most immoral licence. The worst form of government, according to him is the tyranny (dictatorship); the best the monarchy, when a virtuous man rules.

Being all plebians in an "egalitarian society" it takes a lot of nobility of soul in a lot of people to turn the situation around. Failing that, we will see the continued erosion of the American Republic with each passing decade of this century, only to see the Democracy pass into Tyranny.

There is nothing more insane and cowardly in all of this than in the midst of it all to be preaching "love and tolerance toward all the enemies of Christ". If we assume that no one lives by any intellectual principles, then why should those who in principle insist that every does, live by this very principle. But if others live by different principles, be they more or less moral than us, then why assume that their principles will not inextricably influence their behavior.

Or in other words, to seek peace without the acceptance of Christ's gentle yoke, is the hieght of dishonestly and the pit of cowardice in the ministers of Jesus Christ. Let us take care that when we go to the polls in November, that we do not commit the same sin ourselves.

Let us remember, in our form of government there is no obligation to vote; but if you vote, you are morally obligated to vote for the candidate that most agrees with Christ, first in things essential, like the rights to life and the definition of marriage, and freedom for Catholics to practice their faith, and then in all other matters. The Democratic Party has become in our country the party whose mantra is "my fault is your problem"; the Republican party is funded by the same supporters, for the most part, as the Democrats, and serves most of all to keep the majority of us from opting out of a political system in which there are no truly and thoroughly pro-Christ candidates. We need to keep this in mind, if we decide to vote for the least immoral candidate.

In Italy the Papers say that the Pope has freed The Mass

2006-10-11T06:53:00.000-07:00

UnaVoce of Venice announced on Tuesday October 10, the vigil of the Solemnity of the Mother of God est. in 1931, on the occasion of the 15th centenary of the Council of Ephesus, and also the Octave day of St. Francis of Assisi, in their email bulletin that "all the newspapers today are reporting that the Pope has formally made the decision to free the Ancient Roman Rite".

At the same time, yesterday the Pope gave a talk on the Apostles, in which he said:

"Today, perhaps, we are no longer accustomed to using such polemical language which, though adopting beautiful poetic imagery, does not fail to state with great clarity both what is distinctive of Christianity and what is incompatible with it. The path of tolerance and dialogue ... taken by Vatican Council II must certainly be continued with firmness and constancy. This must not, however, make us forget the duty to reconsider and highlight the irrefutable guiding lines of our Christian identity."

More on all of this as it happens.

12:27 PM EST (+4:00 GMT) Oct. 11

I have just read most of the online editions of the Italian Papers, and there seems to be no confirmation from Rome. The stories all cite the London Times, which itself cites a rumor put out by a priest in London who spoke with a Cardinal Zen who visited Rome and heard it from the pope, as the story goes: The limitations will be that the Mass will be declared the extraordinary rite, and every pastor with 30 laypeople who want it, can say it; so long as his bishop does not write him and refuse consent. (That is not really a revolution, nor an affirmation of Quo Primum, which remains in force). As the rumor goes, the document will be a motu proprio, it either has been signed today, or will be within a week, and will be published on Dec. 8th, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the Order of Friars Minor.

9:17 PM EST (+4:00 GMT) Oct. 13

The consensus of the major media outlets is that no document has been signed, that it has further more gone through several versions, and is still being considered by various sections of the Curia. Thus it appears to be entirely a rumor that the Pope has freed the mass. Shame on the London Times, which appears now to be single handedly the source of the rumor! As for the other reports, they all cite anonymous curial confirmations of the preparation for such a document, which however has reached no definite or final form. Alot of hullabalou.

Oct. 17

There have been no named sources in the Roman Curia to confirm the rumour of the "Indult". However, it seems that one insightful Italian commentator has proven herself. She remarked that the rumor was only to bind the hopes of traditionalists from public comment during the upcomming trip of the Holy Father to Istanbul, because there he will genuflect to Islam, and bring shame upon the whole of Christendom. Her insight seems to be a prophecy, because only yesterday, Cardinal Bertone, the Secretary of State at the Vatican, announced that the upcomming papal trip to Istanbul will mark and begin a new "more profound" dialogue between the Vatican and Islam. Among other remarks which help understand what the Cardinal means by this, the Cardinal is reported to have said that Islam and Christiany have lived "centuries and centuries" in "peaceful coexistence" as they have done in such places as "Iraq", and that there is no question today of a "clash of cultures".

If one adds the fact that the London Times, which is an organ of international Freemasonry, was the one who put out the Indult rumor in the first place, and that the Vatican did not deny the rumour, but allowed "unnamed" sources to "confirm" it; it is hard to believe that the goodwill of faithful catholcis world wide is not being manipulated, by men who care little for the Catholic Faith.

Let us pray, therefore to the Lord, that He may convert their hearts, and bring about swiftly the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

For my own part, the result I foresee if the Pope should "genuflect to Islam" is this: the Islamic world will perceive this as weakness, and unleash a true War against the West.

Connecting the Dots

2006-10-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

Blood on the Altar

What's Beyond Freemasonry?

A Book Review by Cornelia R. Ferreira

As Vatican II commenced, a little-known secret society, the Ordo Templis Orientis (OTO), conducted a ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Council. The OTO's occult icon, the "Stele of Revealing," was carried across Germany from Hamburg to Zurich, then onwards to Stein, where it was borne into the OTO's chapel, with bells ringing, for a Gnostic ritual. (p. 103) Just what is this Ordo Templis Orientis, and what advance knowledge did it have of the Council's designs that caused it to celebrate? These questions are answered in Blood on the Altar as Craig Heimbichner unravels the history and workings of what he calls the world's most dangerous secret society, the power behind the Invisible Government or Cryptocracy. (To listen to mp3 format, interview with Mr. Heimbichner, click on the link under his name)

The Cryptocracy is involved in the transformation or "alchemical processing" of mass consciousness by psychological mind manipulation. With the help of the secret societies, tests are set up and responses measured, to "shape" world events. (pp. 5-6, 15, 137) The goal is to have the masses live as controlled puppets in the Masonic New World Order. Established a century ago, the OTO is the "graduate school" of Freemasonry, and is self-titled the "Masonic Academy." It contains all the degrees of Masonry and Illuminism and is the highest secret society for elite Freemasons. An international organization, the OTO is a tax-exempt organized religion in the United States. (pp. 13-14, 25, 76, 87, 91-92). The writings of its long-time head, British Intelligence agent and satanist Aleister Crowley (d. 1947), who called himself the Great Beast 666, reveal the OTO is grounded in satanism. (for rest of review click on link in title)

An Eminently Catholic Prudence

2006-10-03T05:53:00.000-07:00

There is nothing so obstinent than willful blindness to the truth. Yet sadly that is a much too common spiritual and intellectual disease today, at all levels.

Whether it be in the world, where claims to rights which even Adolph Hitler had the shame enough never to claim, are trupeted aloud as the unnegotiable Koranic doctrine of the West, or in Holy Mother Church, were good is called evil and evil good.

Everywhere today one can find examples of the pandemic which rages all about us.

As a traditional Franciscan brother, I was much amused by the glaring example that found its was in my email box this morning. Evidently, there is a display of rare artifacts in Rome for the occasion of the 500th Anniversary of St. Peter's Basilica; according to the Vatican Information Service a wide variety of objects are on display, even some relics of Saints. I quote from the VIS report for Tuesday, October 3, 2006:

"To testify to the pilgrimages by the Saints and Blesseds to this sacred place, some extraordinary relics will be shown, such as the tunic of Saint Francis of Assisi and Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta's sandals."

Certainly no Catholic would be suprised by this sentence, if he reasd as far as the second occurance of the word "and". However, to read further is to at once be affronted with the willful blindess of our age.

Are Mother Theresa of Calcautta's sandals really to be numbered among the "extraordinary relics" of the Catholic Church? Humm. Let's consider the possibility.

She said her mission was to make Catholics, Hindus, Buddishts, Muslims and Protestants, better Catholics, Hindus, Buddishts, Muslims and Protestants. She prayed at Buddisht temples, as is evidenced by photographs showing her in a reverent position before a statue of Buddha.

She has never worked 1 undisputed miracle; and is only attributed 1 disputed miracle, one by the way that was worked, if at all, through the instrumentality of a miraculous medal, and thus properly if at all should be attributed to the Madonna.

St. Francis on the other hand was cited to have worked more than 100 miracles at the time of his canonization, founded 3 orders which have produced more than 300 Canonized Saints and Blesseds, and has worked innumerable miracles and inspired millions and millions in the following of Christ for 8 centuries. So sacred are his relics that Padre Pio Himself waited in anxious anticipation to see the Tunic of his Seraphic Father.

There is no reasonable comparison here between his Tunic and her sandals. There is none whatsoever; less so to name them both extraordinary relics.

An Eminently Catholic Prudence

And this brings me to the topic of this post.

What is afoot in the world today is the conduction of the whole human race into the kingdom of the Antichrist, by means of every public institution, which rejects the social reign of Jesus Christ, whether these are civil, secular, or ecclesiastical.

The world is already, whether you wish to believe it or not; ruled by the spirit of the Antichrist. St. John the Apostle teaches infallibly that Satan is lord of the world. Now, after having been amply warned for several generations by the Apostolic See of a world wide conspiracy to advance the reign of evil, and having been warned by Our Lady that this world wide conspiracy would overwhelm the men in the Church who hold authority from Christ, we have come to see that there is no room left in the officially sanctioned "ecclesiastical structures" for a simple, humble admission of the plain truth.

Everything, so it appears, today is comprimised. The VIS cannot even publish notice of the 500th Anniversary of the Basilica of St. Peter, without mixing in a little jab at that Pillar of Orthodoxy and Catholicity and Apostolicity, the poverello who is St. Francis of Assisi.

There is no doubt that the crux of the crisis today takes aim chiefly at Tradition. In an article which I wrote more than 5 years ago (What it Means to be a Traditional Catholic) I explained how it is that for a restoration a side-chapel option in a pluralistic church is not a catholic option.

Such a side chapel option is fruitless and lifeless. It exists only to undermine authentic progress back to Tradition; it serves the vain and estetic interest of those interested in appearances, rather than substances. And it presents an option in which with every day, week, month and year encumbers those who accept it with more comprimise, as the a priori condition for maintaining "favor" from on high.

The stunningly brilliant, and eminently catholic prudence to be exercised in the present crisis in the world and in the Church today is that which was as it were "incarnate" in the late, grate, Archbishop Marcel Lefebrve, founder of the Society of St. Pius X.

Without the path he charted and set out upon, there would be no practical way back to the restoration of all that Christ wants His Church to be, and His churchmen to be.

If we waste our years and lives idle in a sidechapel, we will only serve to keep shut the doors to the millions of souls wasting away in the wastleand which the Nave of the Church has become, after the remodling of the Aggiornomentoists.

We should not look to what others think of us; but only to what is of God and what He thinks of us. We should hold fast to charity, and always help the weak and ignorant, not imputing personal fault where there is only ignorance; and thus we should always seek to convert back to the Faith those who never have been well schooled in it, and have been unwarily or even cleverly weaned or lead away from it by false sheperds.

A shepherd feeds his flock, he does not beat it, starve it, imprison it, not lead it into a waste land. If pastoral care means anything, it first of all requires the Pastor to be a shepherd; not just merely pretend to be one, or talk as if by talk alone he can make himself one.

By their fruits you will know them, says the Lord.

Thanks be to the Most Holy Trinity for making known His servant Archbishop Marcel Lefebrve, by filling him with such an eminent, catholic prudence!

The War of the Terribles

2006-09-29T10:08:00.000-07:00

Since 9/11 we have seen a disastrous war of Terror and war against Terror, which are infact only two fronts of the War of the Terribles.

The War of Terror is of Muslims, who take their satanic faith to heart, and apply it in a modern manner, that of asymetic warfare, to induce capitulation to the principles of their shadowy religion.

The War on Terror is of the Liberal West, which takes its masonic-satantic faith to heart, and applys it in a modern way, that of demand for toleration at the point of a gun, to induce capitulation of the world to the principles of their shadowy cult.

But each side, Terrorist and Counter-Terrorist is a minion in the cause of the terrible: that dark lord who has enslaved the human race in Adam's sin, and who seeks to damn as many souls as fast as he can, knowing that his time is short.

The Speech of the Pope at Regensberg and the response world wide manifest this dialectic at work. The BBC used his words to promote an reaction among Muslims first in Pakistant and then throughout the world. It is obvious that they did this because they disliked what the Pope has said about the rejection of reason in the West, and sought to make trouble.

The fact that the Muslims care not a wit about being our equals, unless when they are threatened, and when threatening demand the same things that their false prophet demanded that they demand more than 1300 years ago, seem not to matter to minds driven mad by a desire for dialogue, rather than truth.

The result of both wars is that peoples world wide are being marched to the drums of obligatory toleration and the obligatory abomination of the use of force in the cause of any claim to truth which is beyond this world.

And thus both wars advance the cause of the Terrible, that is advance the reign of the Antichrist, in which the only crime with be to side with Christ and all that He stands for.

We Catholics must resist the warped logic of our times. The evil of Islam must be clearly stated, the reasons for opposing terrorism must be founded on the recognition of terrorism as evil in itself and evil in virtue of an evil religion which it seeks to promote. The correctc response is not a toleration of this evil religion, but the submission to the true One, and the non-toleration of the false one.

And the same time we must insist that the masonic order has no right to rule the world either, and that its very system of morals in which all is moral except the non-toleration of evil, is itself deserving of opposition.

As the drumbs beat louder and louder on both sides, we need to be clear about the issues, lest we be swept away with the War of the Terribles that is being waged at this very moment, and may very well last this entire century.

The Sacred Priesthood of Jesus Christ

2006-09-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

For those interested, Mr. Angelo Panzica of Vocie of Catholic Tradition on Long Island, interviewed me on the subject of the Catholic Priesthood yesterday. You can listen to the talk in mp3 format by clicking here.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

2006-09-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

If you would like to listen to a mp3 recording of the talk I gave about the Mass on Voice of Catholic Radio on Long Island, hosted by Mr. Angelo Panzica, click here.

Padre Pio And America

2006-09-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

Book by Mr. Frank M. Rega

http://www.sanpadrepio.com/

2005 Edition: Tan Books, pp. 308 (w. Photos)

Formerly Entitled: “The Holy Man on the Mountain”

A Book Review by Br. Alexis Bugnolo, Editor of The Franciscan Achive

“He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm,and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.”
(Isaias 40:11 — From the inside cover of the book)

Consolation, Inspiration, Encouragement.

If one had to describe Frank M. Rega’s Book, Padre Pio and America, I do not think he could do better, with a few words, that to say it is a consolation, an inspiration, and an encouragement in the Faith, to read this book. Here are my reflections gathered and garnered from Mr. Rega’s Book. At the end I will give a brief synopsis of its contents, according to the text. But first, the essential spiritual realities that this book will impart to you, if you read it prayerfully.

SPIRITUAL MEDICINE AND HEALING

If you have never heard of Padre Pio or if you have read a dozen books about him, this one thing will strike you about this great, great Saint. He was so conformed to Christ Crucified, that he became filled with the Spiritual Medicine and Healing that the Divine Redeemer, the Doctor of Our Souls, is filled with. So that everyone who met him, talked with him, heard of him, was consoled, inspired, and encouraged in the Faith.

Padre Pio is truly a divine gift for our sorry, weary, and sick age.

He is one of those Saints, which the Lord Jesus gives the Church once or twice in a 1,000 years. Padre Pio is a sign that the Lord Jesus has particular and special pity for us poor sinners at the beginning of the Third Millenium, when the world seems more and more, along with so many in the Church, to be headed to open revolt from God.

Padre Pio is a spiritual medicine and a source of great spiritual healing for all souls.

He is this, because if you but get to know him just a little you are consoled, inspired and encouraged in your faith. You are consoled because, we see in Padre Pio the Faith come alive: He worked miracles for everyone who asked him, obtained conversions of the most hardened sinners, solved inextricable problems, protected 100,000’s of souls and family from every kind of danger, spiritual and physical, and did this all because he obtained all he asked for from the Lord Jesus and Our Blessed Mother.

Padre Pio was a priest, par-excellence. And thus he was and is forever a great healer of souls. I don’t mean to say that he left you or leaves you with a good feeling about yourself. Nothing so silly, mundane or trite. No, he imparts a clear, focused idea of what salvation is all about, and a clear, practical method for obtaining it: Penance, Conversion, Prayer, Mortification, Good Works, focused on Christ Crucified, His Mass and His Mother.

(for rest of review, see link in title of this post)

Whether can it be licit to receive sacraments from an unworthy minister?

2006-09-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

There is some controversy among Catholics now-a-days, about whether one can morally receive a Sacrament from a priest or bishop, who is a public sinner, or under some sort of canonical penalty, such as suspended a divinis. Contrary to the juridical positivists, the morality of the question is objective, and depends on the perenial teaching of the Church, as known through the consensus of approved pre-Vatican II theologians; it does not depend on the current Code of Canon Law, which even its author, the present Cardinal of New York City, has openly admitted is a failure of jurisprudence.

I therefore present here, what the Doctor of the Church in all questions regarding morals, St. Alphonsus says in his Theologia Moralis, which was approved as free from error by the Holy Office of the Inquisition, during the Pontificate of Bl. Pius IX.

ST. ALPHONSUS DEI LIGUORI

DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

WHETHER IT IS LICIT TO RECEIVE THE SACRAMENTS FROM AN UNWORTHY MINISTER

Translated from

CHAPTER III

of

TRACT I : ON THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL

in

Vol. III

of

the Critical Latin Edition of the Saint's

Theologia Moralis

Edited and annotated by Rev. Leonard Gaudè, C.S.S.R.

88. — Question 2. Whether it is licit to seek the Sacraments from an unworthy minister? — Here it is fitting to distinguish a minister unworthy because of some censure and/or [vel] inability, and one unworthy because of mortal sin.

I respond 1º. If the minister is unworthy by means of censure, etc. and is not [an excommunicate] tolertatus[1], nor indeed an exommunicate vitandus, and/or [vel] suspended publicly and by name, and/or irregular [in legal status] by means of [some ecclesiastical] judgement (see Croix[2]), certainly it is not licit to seek the Sacraments from him, except in extreme and/or grave necessity, in which all say that it is licit to receive Baptism and Penance; as [Francisco] Suarez,[3] Tournely's Continuator,[4] Antoine,[5] Bonacina,[6] Croix;[7] and the Salamancans[8] with Sayro, Granado, Cronejo, etc., [teach] on the basis of the divine St. Augustine.[9]

Likewise concerning the Sacrament of the Eucharist do Navarro,[10] [Francisco] Suarez,[11] Bonacina,[12] Viva[13] with Soto,[14] the Salamancans[15] with Cornejo, Nuñez (against Sayro, Avila[16], etc.) say [that it can] probably [be done]. — And Tournely{'s Continuator}[17] adhereres to this; on the basis of the chapter Quod in te, de poenitent. et remission., where [Pope] Innocent III, though he denies Extremunction to the dying during a general interdict, does not, nevertheless, deny Penance and Viaticum.

Concernig the Sacrament of Extremunction Escobar, Henricz and Discatilius, as quoted in Croix, think the same; for the reason that such a Sacrament can per accidens cause grace. — But better do [Francisco] Suarez, Bonacina, Elbel not admitt this; likewise Coninck, Filliuccio, Avila and Cornejo, as quoted by the Salamancans, except when an infirm [person] could not receive any other Sacrament.

Equally do [Francisco] Suarez, and Cornejo, as quoted by the Salamancans, say that it is licit to receive the Sacrament of Orders from an excommunicated Bishop, when in some remote region he alone is to be found, and [when] such an ordination would redound to the common good.[18]

The aforesaid authors say the same concerning the Sacrament of Matrimony, in the case where it would be necessary and/or for the spiritual health of the one dying, and/or for the great temporal utility of the children, and there is not other minister present.

Whether, however, an excommunicate vitandus validly ministers the Sacrament of Penance in extreme necessity? — This must be denied; see what is to be said in n. 560.

I respond 2º. But if the minister is an excommunicate and or suspended toleratus; the question among the divines [is] Whether it is licit to seek the Sacraments from him without grave cause[?]. — Others deny it. — But more truly it must be affirmed; because the Council of Constance absolutely concedes to the faithful communion with tolerati. See what has been said in n. 55, and what is to be said On Censures in n. 139.

89. — I respond 3º. However, when the minister is unworthy because of a mortal sin, the divine St. Thomas sesms to indistinctly concede that it is possible to receive the Sacraments from an secret sinner, saying: As long as (the minister) is tolerated by the Church in the [priestly] ministry, he who receives a Sacrament from him does not communicate in this a sin. — And the same is had in the chapter Vestra &, de cohabit. cler. etc., where it is said: Without doubt . . . your are to hold that from clergy and priests, although fornicators, as long as the are tolerated, and there is no evidence of their deed (that is, as the Gloss explains, where they themselves have not been condemned [by authority] and/or have not confessed in court), that they licitly hear the divine mysteries, and receive the other ecclesiastical Sacraments. Nevertheless this must be rightly understood, to be valid only to excuse [them from sin] not that the prohibition of the Church [against clerical concubinage] be contravened.

Otherwise, to receive a Sacrament from a [public] sinner, always requires a reasonable cause: in accord with what has been said in Book II, n. 47, at the sentence "The second ...", and in n. 49; and as the divine St. Thomas likewise teaches in another place, where he says: Besides the necessity of the moment [of death], it would not be safe that he (namely the pastor) induce for the accomplishment of some [sacred duty] of his order, while in such a conscience because he would be in mortal sin. However by the word necessity, Tournely's Continuator rightly explains that moral necessity is to be understood. — Whence it probably suffices to excuse even in case of grave usefulness; as [Francisco] Suarez, Sanchez, Palaus, Viva, Croix, Mazzotta, Toleto, Filliuccio, Escobar, Anacletus, Holzmann, Elbel citing [Bl. John Duns] Scotus, Sporer; Bonacina with Coninck, Valentia, Reginaldo, Henriquez; and the Salamancans with Ledesma, Nuñez and generally others say is common [teaching], as they assert.

To this the divines say that a Sacrament is licitly received from a sinful minister:

1. If the precept of confession and/or communion urges [the reception of the Sacrament], as [Francisco] Suarez, Concina, and Escobar with Vasquez, etc. say.

2. If from a delay of reception the danger of a [moral] relapse is imminent. — Tournely{'s Continuator}.

3. If you ought to fulfill the precept of hearing Mass. — [Francisco] Suarez, with Coninck and Soto, as quoted in Escobar. (See what has been said in Book II, n. 51 and 79).

4. If otherwise you are obliged to remain in mortal [sin], and you do not know of any other confessor to hear [your confession]. Thus Tournely{'s Continuator}. But better do [Francisco] Suarez and Antoine excuse from all fault him who is in mortal [sin], if he does not even know at what hour to expect [a legitimate confessor]; because there is no small measure of usefulness to be liberated from sin as soon as possible.

5. If you are obliged to lack communion (at least for a day); as [Francisco] Suarez and Escobar [teach]. — And [Francisco] Suarez says likewise, if you are obliged to lack the fruit of confession, even if you have no mortal [sin on your soul]. — Whether, however, it suffices in the case of lacking the fruit of other Sacrament[s]? Croix denies it. But [Francisco] Suarez and Escobar affirm it, if the minister is the pastor and/or is prepared [to administer the Sacrament], and there is not other administering it worthily.

6. If you do not know how to otherwise profit from the Jubilee [year]. Tournely{'s Continuator} and Croix.

7. If you are in need of a skilled [spiritual] director, and you do not have another [to go to]. Tournely{'s Continuator}. — So long, adds Sporer, that you are obliged to wait for another.

8. If you want to have a Mass said for a departed friend; as Sporer [teaches].

Cajetan, however, says that it is absolutely licit to seek a Sacrament from one's own pastor without any grave cause; but more truly does Concina, and the Salamancans with Navarro, Soto, Bonacina and Ledesma, deny this, if you can easily hear another [Mass]. —Thus also Concina and Antoine say that it is not licit to seek the Sacraments from a heretic and/or schismatic, except in the case of extreme and/or the most grave necessity. But concerning a heretic see n. 560.

Whether, however, it is a mortal [sin] to seek without grave cause a Sacrament from an unworthy minister prepared [to administer it]? — Soto, Navarro, Sà, Diana, etc. as quoted by the Salamancans, deny it. — But rightly do the Salamancans with Silvestro, Molina, Valentia, Aragon, etc., affirm it (in accord with what has been said in Book II, On Charity, n. 47, at sentence "The second...", and in n. 79). — I would only except him who received the Eucharist from an unworthy minister, who is actually administering it to others: as [Francisco] Suarez and Escobar say, in accord with the opinion brought forward in n. 35, at the sentence "Whether...", namely, that it is only one sin to administer the Eucharist to many [in such a case].

Thus equally I think it is illicit without grave cause to serve an unworthy priest celebrating [Mass]; — against [Francisco] Suarez, Bonacina, and the Salamancans with others, who admit it when the priest can easily find another [acolyte].

It is, however, certain that any minister is presumed worthy, unless the opposite is established; as commonly Concina, Tournely{'s Continuator} teach, on the basis of the Apostle's statement in 1 Cor 13: Charity . . . thinks no evil ; as Elbel, and Croix with Aversa, Dicastillius and others commonly [teach]. — From this it can probably be inferred, that the Sacrament can still be sought from one who is only a little before known to have sinned; because he must be presumed to have already disposed himself at least by means of contrition [to confect the Sacrament worthily]. Thus [Francisco] Suarez, Bonacina, Croix; Mazzotta with Sporer; the Salamancans with Vasquez, Coninck Sayro, Reginald, Discatillius and others commonly [teach]. And Tournely{'s Continuator} thinks the same, saying: Indeed, {it does not suffice} that I know that he has recently and gravely sinned; for still wisely I am to presume, especially if he is readily willing to administer the Sacraments, that he had done that which is his [duty] to be reconciled to God. Certainly, says St. Thomas, in an instant a man is emended by divine grace.

Nevertheless, rightly do the limit this 1º. [Francisco] Suarez and Bonacina with Coninck, Vasquez, Sayro, Reginald and others commonly, if it is established that the minister is customarily and/or in the proximate occasion of sinning (understand voluntarily). They limit this 2º. Gobat, as quoted by Croix, if the minister, after his sin, has not gone to confession before the celebration of Mass.

========

FOOTNOTES

[1] [trans. an excommunicatus toleratus is a person who although excommunicated, need not be shunned. An excommunicatus vitandus is a person who is both excommunicated and shunned on account of his danger to others.]
[2] Loc. cit., nn. 209 and 210.
[3] De Censuris, disput. 11, sect. 1, n. 5 and 7.
[4] De Sacramentis. i. g., ch. 2, art. 1, sect. 2, point 1, § 3.
[5] De Sacramentis i. g., ch. 2, q. 13, resp. 1.
[6] Disp. 2, On Excommunication, q. 2, point 2, § 4, n. 7; cf. ibid., n. 8.
[7] Loc. cit., n. 209.
[8] Tr. 1, ch. 8, n. 16 and 18. — Sayro, De Censuris, bk. 2, ch. 2, n. 12 and 18. — Jacob de Granado, in the third part, controversy 3, On the Sacraments i. g., tr. 5, last dispt., n. 3. — Cornejo. tr. 5, On Excommunication, disp. 10, § 1, dub. 2 and 3.
[9] St. Augustine, On Baptism against the Donatists, Book I, Chapter 2, n. 3 (where he praises one who in extreme necessity sought to be baptized by a non-Catholic); in Migne, Patrologia Latina, Tome 43, col. 110.
[10] Man., ch. 22, n. 4.
[11] Loc. cit., n. 17, v. Addo vero.
[12] Loc. cit., n. 8.
[13] De Sacramentis i.g., q. 1, art. 7, n. 10. — Loc. cit., n. 22. — Cornejo, loc. cit., dub. 4. — Nuñez, in third part, q. 64, art. 6, diff. 3 bis. — Sayro, De Censuris, bk. 2, ch. 2, n. 21.
[14] Sotus (here quoted by the Salamancans), in 4, dist. 13, q. 1, art. 9, in each and every case denies that it is licit to receive communion from an excummunicate (vitandus).
[15] Loc. cit., § 3, v. An autem.
[16] Avila, part. 2, chapter 6, disputation 3, dubium 3, conclusion 4., is only partly contrary, that is in the case when one infirm has already received the sacrament of Penance. But if he does not know if he has received the Sacrament, he can licitly accept the Eucharist from a vitandus. To which limitation the Salamancans also advert.
[17]
[18] Or when in the said region there would be a great necessity for or [seu] penury of priests and/or clerics, as the mentioned authors note. [trans. - but see n. 89, § 8 below: Also note, that the Holy See has never permitted this opinion to be acted on in regard to heretical or schismatic bishops, or those who received ordination in open denial of the legitimacy of the Roman Pontiff holding office, that is, sedevacantists (cf. decrees of Pope St. Pius X); for Catholics who received such an ordination, reconciliation is only possible if they lay down their priestly or episcopal ministry forever, according to the norms of the Apostolic See before and after Vatican II: this opinon cited by St. Alphonsus, thus, is to be rightly understood only of excommunicated Catholic Bishops, who were, are and remain Catholic, in all other things.]

The Truth Google.com Wants you to know and not to know

2006-09-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

or why we need an Objective, Hierarchical, Index to the WWW — OHI-WWW

Google.com, by far the most used internet search engine, gained mastery over the Internet world by powering the searchs of major Internet Directories such as Yahoo.com.

However, major changes have slowly been implemented at Google.com

Google.com no longer gives you an objective report on the sites on the Internet that meet your search criteria.

Instead, Google.com gives you 1-5 pages of payed advertisements from sites that want you to visit them, REGARDLESS of their objectivity, content, information, or accuracy.

My recommendation, therefore is to dump Google.com, and all search engines powered by Google.com.

Google.com is now all about complete censorship, and the ascendancy of capitalism over objective truth. Another componet to the Orwellian Transmogorification of the West.

What's the Solution?

THE SOLUTION is for Catholics to create an Objective Hierarchichal Index to the WWW.

What's that?

Everyone who has personal internet access is given some webspace to put up webpages. Once you get a little knowledge about how to do this, it is not difficult at all. You can use, for example, MS Word 6.0+ to create webpages just like you may already be using it to write letters or papers.

If every Catholic who is a serious user of the web created 1 page, in which he placed all the links of his one favorite interest, and then if these catholics linked to each others indices, we could easily and quickly create a comprehensive, independent and objective collections of links to the whole web, which was neatly organized.

In this way we could completely avoid the censored search results which are the inevitable result of Companies who power searchengines by advertising profit goals.

And in that way we could better insure that the Internet was free from Masonic forces.

For about 12 years I have been working at an Internet Apostolate in one manner or another; in the past 9 years, I have done just that, created a hierarchical index of what interestes me most: St. Francis and His Order: this index is called The Franciscan Archive and its url is:

http://www.franciscan-archive.org/

I get a lot of inquiries to post links to for profit organizations or to modernist groups, but I never do. I list only the pages which are have objective value as to information or the existing ancient Franciscan institutions. Modernist polemics, freethinkers, liberal blather, never gets pass the erase key.

If you are a Catholic who has assembled such a page on your favorite topic, regardless of whether your favorite topic is about religion, and provided that it omits links to heretical sites, immodest sites, let me know, because I will post to the right of this blog a list of such pages, and begin assembling an Objective Hierarchical Index to the WWW.

Note Well:

You can free your own blog at blogger.com, from their thought control applications, which appear on the upper bar above all blogs at blogger.com by following the directions at

http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/2005/01/remove-navbar.html

================

Finally, I would like to thank the 800 visitors who read That Christ May Reign! in it's first month on line. I hope and pray that it will be of service in the months to come, God willing.

The Fruitfulness of Purity

2006-08-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

The greatest irony and the most reviled of truths. The secret of life and the mystery of the ages. The beginning of all things and the absolute necessary condition for the ultimate beatification: Purity!

As we approach the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, we need to reflect on the greatness of the virtue of purity, a virtue which ornaments every aspect of the Mystery of the Incarnation. Such a reflection is necessary, because unless we meditate on the value of the truths and virtues and gifts and graces made available to us by the Incarnation of the Eternal Son of God, we will not recognize the importance of remaining faithful in the years to come, when days surely will grow more evil.

Purity ornaments the entire Mystery of the Incarnation. Fist of all, we can look to the Eternal Father, who is alone the only Father who is eternal. All created fathers, were once creatures and not fathers: but He alone has ever been as much a Father as an eternal Being. And yet, a Father, without impurity: because a Father without the necessity of corruption, mingling, companionship. A perfect Father, because a Father not lacking in any aspect of the power of generation. And hence a Father more masculine than all fathers. And this first consideration shocks carnal men, who pride themselves on their masculinity so often divorced from purity and chastity. The truth of Christmas is just the opposite: men are most masculine, precisely when they are pure and chaste.

Second, we can look to the Eternal Son, both as a child and as a man. As Son of the Eternal Father He is forever proceeding from the Father, forever being generated from the Father: not in the sense that He is not already and forever, perfectly begotten of the Father, but in the sense that His perfect generation from the Father is no time-bound event, no eternal process, but a sempiternal perfection. And in this the incomparable purity of the Eternal Son is made manifest: because there is no one more characteristically pure than the new born: so full of innocence. And as both God and Man, the Eternal Son is forever most pure. A virgin more than any virgin, because a man without any inclination to impurity, any weakness of corporal rebellion, any desire or imagination for the impure. A virgin more than any virgin, because a God without any need to generate, without any need to mix Himself up with creatures, who has come precisely to offer us a life to come, in which there is to be no more generation, no more impurity. And this second consideration is also a shock to carnal men, who contemptuously demand every human person to be subjected to and tolerant to carnal desires, whether these persons are priests, religious, or lay people.

Third, we can look to the Blessed Ever Virgin Mary, who precisely in Her most adamant rejection of impurity, Her most zealous and prudent defense of virginity, receives the invitation from the Eternal Father to become the Mother of the Eternal Son. There is so little devotion to Our Blessed Mother today, among popes, bishops, priests, religious, and lay people, precisely because there is so much tolerance for impurity, so much subjection to impurity and so much love of impurity among them.

And this is what makes the Blessed Ever Virgin Mary the singular refutation of the world in our times. For She alone was elected by the Eternal Father, She alone espoused by the Holy Spirit, She alone embraced by the Eternal Son, and thus She alone became Empress of the Cosmos, Queen of Angels and Men, being given the pre-eminent share in the divine power of Her Son over all creation, and what is more, the influence of a Mother over the very Divine Will of Her Son. Her exaltation is all about Her purity and inextricable from it. Just as the only True Savior of this world came forth from a Virgin, untouched by a man, and just as according to the Fathers, the Antichrist to come will be born of a whore and an apostate Bishop, so the reign of Christ in hearts begins with love of the Blessed Ever Virgin Mary, and the reign of the Antichrist begins with the love of impurity.

Our Society today is being ever more consumed into the Mystical Body of the Antichrist through a mass media of impurity. If we wish the promise of the salvation which comes only from Jesus Christ, we must walk with Jesus and Mary and Joseph in a life of purity and chastity according to our state in life. If we have not done so, let us make a full and complete and sincere confession this Christmas season. And let us continue to guard our senses and remove all the occasions of impurity from our homes and workplaces. Let us set up images of the Blessed Virgin wherever we can. Let us practice mortification and penance, eat and drink abstemiously, live austerely. And whenever we can, let us praise purity, chastity and virginity.

The Fruitfulness of purity is the hope of eternal life. “Nothing impure can enter into heaven”, teaches St. Paul. This is because impurity is essentially and diametrically opposed to the Divine Nature. This is why, as St. Alphonsus dei Liguori teaches, the first effect of the sin of impurity is loss of the Faith, for the consent to impurity turns the mind away from God’s inmost quality of purity. And that is why the same Saint teaches that no one can get to heaven without the virtue of purity, and contrariwise, that no one has every been damned, who is not also impure.

Likewise, as a consequence, that no one can be saved without the revealed truth of the necessity of purity, a truth taught only by Jesus Christ and accepted only by faith in the divinity and resurrection of Christ. Indeed, so necessary is Jesus for the practice of purity, that St. Alphonsus teaches that it is morally impossible for the youth to persevere in chastity, apart from a worthy, weekly reception of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The necessity of purity therefore entails, that there is no practical possibility of salvation outside the Catholic Church.

Let us not be deceived, and let us not deceive others: for as St. Paul infallibly taught: “neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor sodomites, nor the effeminate, nor the impure shall enter the Kingdom of God.” And as it is written in the psalms: “All nations which are forgetful of God, shall be converted unto Hell !” (Psalm 9:18).

The Catholic Colony

2006-08-26T07:09:00.000-07:00

The Advocates of Distributism have been promoting the idea of a Back to the Land movement, to respond to the needs of Catholic Society to return to a more natural situation, vis-à-vis the modern errors of laisser-faire capitalism and Marxism.

However as I briefly remarked in An Error of Distributism? over at The Scholasticum, this concept of going “Back to the Land” is not in itself Catholic, since it places a moral value on what in itself has no moral value, or rather, is morally neutral.

The proper response to the need to re-establish the Social Reign of Christ is not a materialistic one; and inasmuch as Catholic genius is as manifold as the number of the faithful who are faithful, there is in my opinion no one solution.

However, at the same time, this does mean there can be a variety of solutions. And, as one claiming no expertise in political science or economics, but as B.A. in Anthropology, I would like first to make an general observation and a particular suggestion.

How Did Catholics in the Past Build up the Social Reign of Christ?

We see from the very first pages of the history of the Church, that Catholics did this by forming a community of faith and daily life around the witnesses of the Deposit of the Faith, the Apostles, with Mary. You can read about this in the Book of Acts.

Generally and commonly this example is understood as a religious one, without reference to politics and economics.

But I believe that such an interpretation, to a certain extent, can be made, though it is by no means necessary. For we see throughout the centuries this general model followed, whether it is in Benedictine Monasteries or in Catholic villages of lay people. Each and everywhere the faithful worked to upbuild the Social Reign of Christ by means of establishing what I call the Catholic Colony.

What is a Catholic Colony?

It is a local social unit in which Catholics ordered their social, political, economic and religious life to promote the Faith and support each individual and the whole community in fidelity to Jesus Christ and in communion with the Successor of St. Peter, through the local clergy.

It placed the Church in its proper place, as Magistra in all questions of believe and morals; it put the civil power in subordination to the Church, to uphold the authority of the Church; it ordered the community accordingly in an concentric circle about the Church and the subordinated civil power; it ordered the economy naturally, guarding it against the vices of avarice, intemperance, impurity, criminality, injustice etc..

In some instances the community shared all property in common (the Monastic), in some predominately in one cleric (the Abbot, Bishop, Pope), or one layman (the Knight, Baron, Lord, etc), or in diverse hands, with or without freeholders (that is property holding by the average citizen). But howeverso it was done, any lack in the means to obtain what was necessary was made up by Christian charity, either by the Church or State or individuals or subsidiary private and public institutions.

Authority and power were not in the hands of heretics, apostates, dissenters, etc.. Consequently, law and order guarded against these holding such, and protected the community against such by prohibiting the unbridled exercise of speech, writing, publishing, teaching, etc..

Thus ordered, there were naturally checks and balances on the exercise of power and authority, and the moral conduct of those who exercised these; Christ established what was necessary for the Church; but when churchmen failed they risked loosing the protection of the civil power; likewise when the civil authority failed, they risked the excommunications or censures of the ecclesiastical authority. Without both, each risked loosing the material support of the entire community. And if there were a failure among the community, either in individuals or groups, both the Church and State had remedies and powers to correct these.

But to be more specific about what constituted the form of Catholic society, one would have to descend to the practical circumstances of differing ages. For the present, I wanted only to outline the general characteristics of the Catholic Colony.

Why call it a Catholic Colony?

I call it a Catholic Colony, because in Latin a colony was a group which set out from another city, to establish a livable city in another place, which founded itself on the same values and social order as its mother city. As Catholics, in this world we are to build models on Earth of the Heavenly Jerusalem, our Mother on High, as much as this is possible, so that just as Christ is King There, so may He be King here.

A Particular Suggestion

So far I have made the general observation, of which I spoke before; now I will make a particular suggestion.

Charity begins at home.

If we are eager, individually, to serve Christ the King, I have already mentioned some ways at home it is necessary to begin.

But inasmuch as there are entire families eager to serve Christ the King, I suggest they should work together in specific and concrete ways to re-establish the Catholic social order, by means of founding Catholic Colonies.

In practice how this can be done, will vary; but I want to suggest only some general specifics.

The fundamental tool used by the New World Order against the Catholic Order is Banks, as I have already briefly observed. We Catholics serve the New World Order by entrusting our material wealth to Masonic banks.

One solution, by no means the only solution, then, to re-establishing the Catholic Social Order, is to establish Catholic Colonies, by means of Catholic Banks.

How to do this?

When there are sufficient numbers of Catholic Families eager to work for Christ the King and to establish a Catholic Colony, let them pool all their monies into a cooperative Bank, which will be governed by the depositors, and which will invest its monies to promote the Colony religiously, civilly, morally, academically, economically, etc.. Let it loan monies only to a member of the Colony, who must make a public proposal, to be scrutinized by the depositors of the Bank, whenever a loan is requested. Let the monies be invested to establish all the necessary institutions of the Colony, as may be needed: a church, a town hall, a school, roads, utilities, etc. etc..; let such monies be recuperated by a voluntary tax levied upon property holders, or colony members; then let monies be invested for stores and other economic means of production, such as farms, factories, shipping companies, service industries, etc. etc., in which the bank shares in the profits by means of the loan, and by which loans the borrower agrees to operate his business in accord with catholic principles, as judged by a body composed by the clergy and lay representatives of the colony. In such a way, the Faith will be promoted, the civil authority will be properly subordinated, the economy will serve both and all citizens, and Catholics can work for the Social Reign of Christ while providing for their families the things necessary for a Christian life, true Christian liberty, and the persuit of true Christian happiness, which is virtue, grace and eternal salvation.

This model I believe provides the necessary securities against the Masonic forces that will ultimately challenge the Catholic community: by it, the community is prepared to defend its religious, civil, and economic independence and prosperity, as well as independence from the larger secular society.

It can do this by guaranteeing that the local church is not sold off by the bishop, because it is own by the community; that the clergy are upright, because thus it can eject the evil doers; that the school teaches a catholic curriculum, since it receives no monies from the secular state, that all have work since the community is underwriting the local businesses, and that the social order is catholic, by local laws which prohibit things contrary to the faith. Furthermore, by means of their own bank, they can establish their own financial system, which can ultimately be independent of the phony Masonic monetary system, by means of establishing their own currency, and rates of exchange, and conducting their business with one another, to the mutual service of all.

Salve Theotokos!

2006-08-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

Oh, Immaculate and Ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Our Mother: I kneel before Thee, the Theotokos! I bow before Thee, the Masterpiece of the Holy Ghost! I turn to Thee in humble supplication, Thou who, but a creature, are the Daughter and Princess of the Eternal Father!

Thou, O Virgin Queen, art the Mother of all Theology! Thou, O Theotokos, are the Fount of Light! Few there are in the history of Salvation that have recognized this; fewer still who have taken pains to put this truth into practice. Thy incomparable humility has so completely concealed the magnificence of Thy dignity! As Spouse of the Holy Spirit, Thou are supremely efficacious among women; yet, more on that account hidden from notice, for Thy power is cloaked in such gentleness, wrapped and woven into the very fabric of Providence, that it escapes the notice of all but a few.

Dearest Mother, Thou art the Light of all lights! For every creature, which by its very nature and perfection recalls our minds to the First Principle, who enlightens every man, is but a feeble flickering flame in comparison with Thy light! But a smoldering, dark coal, whose beauty and utility are themselves conditioned so profoundly by Thy predestination to be His Mother.

Without doubt, as Thy Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ is the shining Brightness of the Eternal Father, according to His Divine Nature and Person, so art Thou the shining brightness of the Eternal Son, according to His grace and predestination!

And hence Thou art The Spotless Mirror of the Divine Majesty! Through whom alone, as a creature, the limitless perfection of the Eternal One can be contemplated without danger, without illusion, without distortion.

O Window upon the Divine Nature! O Portal opening unto Eternity! Thou art our blessed Gate to Heaven! The Doorway through which has shone the Light of men! And not only The Door of the Most High King, but the Horizon out of which is arisen the Sun of Justice! For through Thee alone Has He deigned to rise upon our world, through Thee, whose sanctity and spotlessness are forever beyond the grasp of our achievement.

For this, I hail Thee, The Promontory above the Ocean of Divinity! Whose utterly unique dignity merits an utterly unique Theophany!

In Thy earthly pilgrimage, in Thy eternal glorification: Thou art the Watchtower before the blazing Majesty of God! For nothing escapes the Divine Pleasure for creation which is not known to Thee; and there is nothing to be found in the Ocean of Divinity which Thou does not see more clearly and profoundly that all creatures!

O Star of the Sea! Not only of this world beclouded by sin, but also of that Firmament of Beatitude which is promised to the faithful!

And such is the authenticity of Thy holiness that Thou did not hesitate to reject all that is evil. And hence you merit to be extolled not only as the Star of Heaven, who alone has crushed all the Stars fallen from Heaven! but as the Morning Star, who has merited to usurp the name of the first fallen Star!

O Blessed Mother of all theologians: is it not Thou who dost gaze upon the wondrous abundance of the Divine Vision, as the One closer to the Face of God than all creatures?

Grant that we might rejoice in Thee, who has borne the Clarity of the Eternal Light!
Grant that we might rejoice in Thee, O glorious and mystical City of God!
Grant that we might rejoice in Thee, who art more glorious than the Sun, more beautiful than the Moon, who dost shine more golden than the dawn, more brightly than the stars!
Grant that we might rejoice in Thee, O Mother of the Lamb, who is the Light of the City of God; who has made Thee shine forever with His own incomparable Light!
Grant that we might rejoice in Thee, O Immaculate Virgin, who dost hold the Light of God in the palms of Thy hands, who dost behold the Child Jesus, the Eternal Light, in wondrous glory for all eternity!
Grant that we might rejoice in Thee, O Most Blessed Virgin, for it is through Thee that all the Angels of Heaven and all the Choirs of the Elect art enlightened and filled with the Incomparable Radiance!

And so, I pray, Dearest Mother: lead us thus to Heaven, inflame us so with the Divine Love, let shine upon us that same light of glory which Thou dost behold forever!

Let us see What Thou dost see and gaze upon Him in Trinity, that we may share the fullness of Thy Heart’s joy forever! Let it be! Let it be! Amen.

A Warrior for Christ

2006-08-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

The Trial of Edward Atkinson: This British Catholic has been arrested for the crime of writing a personal letter, in which he explains his prolife beliefs, to an official at a local public hospital. His case is a clear example that the Orwellian State has arrived in Britian.

I ask all who read this, to pray 3 Hail Mary's for him, right now, and to remember him in your daily prayers.

The Assumption: the Dogma, Feast, and their development

2006-08-15T02:56:00.000-07:00

These are my notes for the talk I did on this topic, on the Voice of Catholic Radio, with Mr. Angelo Panzica on Long Island, NY, USA: you can download this talk in audio format from here.

1) The Dogma, The Definition

HH. PP. Pius XII: Munificentissimus Deus, Nov. 1, 1950:

40. Hence the revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus Christ in one and the same decree of predestination,[47] immaculate in her conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.[48]

44. For which reason, after we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.

45. Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith.

2) The Assumption Revealed in Scripture

It is often said that the Dogma of the Assumption is nowhere found in or supported in Sacred Scripture. This error is based on a modernistic and protestant understanding of Scripture which holds that Scripture either only means what I want it to mean, or only means what we modern men will tolerate it to mean.

However for us Catholics Sacred Scripture is an inerrant testimony of revealed Truth. And it speaks to us according to the letter of the text, both as to what it says and what it does not say.
Thus we know that Jesus committed no sin, not only because He said to the high priests and Pharisees: “Which of you can convict Me of sin?”, but also because that the Bible nowhere says Jesus sinned or did anything evil. And the Old Testament confirms this about the Messiah, saying with Isaiah: “In him was found no sin”.

Now Sacred Scripture says Jesus died. And we have His empty tomb in Jerusalem which likewise confirms what Scripture taught: that Jesus died and rose again.

But Sacred Scripture does not say Mary died. It does say in the Gospel of St. Luke, that that Mary is “Full of Grace” and “Mother of my Lord”. It also says in the Apocalypse that the Mother of Jesus, appeared in the Heavens, clothed with the Sun, standing on the Moon, and with a crown of 12 stars upon her brow.

For those who do not believe in Scripture, no single citation will suffice, and for those who do, one citation alone is sufficient. Mary is clothed with the Sun, and a crown of 12 stars is upon hear head. But most importantly She is glorified in Heaven.

Now it is patently obvious that no one gets to heaven without God taking him there. Jesus’ divinity is proven by the fact that He ascends to Heaven by His own power, body and soul. And Jesus can do everything. And Mary is glorified now in Heaven, body and soul, because you cannot put a crown upon a soul, but you can upon a human head. Quodvultdeus, a contemporary of St. Augustine, writing in the 5th century says of this vision in the Apocalypse: “None of you is ignorant of the fact that the dragon was the Devil. The woman signified the Virgin Mary.” Indeed in the sixth century Oecumenius, the first writer to composed an entire commentary on the Apocalypse says: that this vision is “about our Lady, the Holy, Ever-Virgin and Theotokos, Mary.”

This vision of the Apostle St. John on the island of Patmos, which is recorded in the Apocalypse, confirms what is revealed less openly in other passages of Sacred Scripture.

In Genesis 3:15 it says that the Woman shall crush the head of the Satan, the infernal dragon. In St., Paul’s letters to the Romans and Corinthians, he says that death is the punishment for sin, and that Christ being sinless, had no obligation to die, but died for us, to save us from eternal damnation. St. Paul says also that without grace it is impossible not to sin, and that the grace of justification forgives all our sins, after which, we are obliged to sin nor more.

But Scripture also says that Mary is filled full of grace; and if grace forgives sins and enables us not to sin, it is patently obvious that Mary did not sin. And by not sinning, She never merited to die.

The Psalms sing of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, saying: "Arise, O Lord, into your resting place: you and the ark, which you have sanctified"[Ps 131:8.]; Now an ark is a container for carrying things: in the OT it carried the tablets Moses received from God and the manna that rained down from heaven. In the New Testament Jesus fulfills these symbols, by becoming Himself the New Law and the Manna in the Eucharist. Therefore, it follows that in the New Testament, Mary is the Ark of the Covenant, because She carried the Child Jesus in Her womb.
Now Jesus is the Immortal King of the Ages: this scripture teaches clearly. Scripture also teaches in the OT that the mother of the king is the Queen, not like in Western Europe where the wife of the King is the Queen. And so in the OT, in Psalm 44 when it speaks of the Queen being exalted at the Right Hand of the King, and receiving a name that will endure for all generations, it clearly follows that inasmuch as this Psalm speaks of Jesus, it speaks of Jesus’ Mother, and that therefore Mary is enthroned in Heaven, at the side of Her Son. But Jesus is in Heaven body and soul, therefore, so is Mary.

St. Anthony of Padua witnesses to this interior logic of Sacred Scripture saying in his homily for the Feast of the Assumption, that in this passage from Isaiah: "I will glorify the place of my feet,"[ Is 61:13] "you have here a clear statement that the Blessed Virgin has been assumed in her body, where was the place of the Lord's feet. Hence it is that the holy Psalmist writes: 'Arise, O Lord, into your resting place: you and the ark which you have sanctified."' And he asserts that, just as Jesus Christ has risen from the death over which he triumphed and has ascended to the right hand of the Father, so likewise the ark of his sanctification "has risen up, since on this day the Virgin Mother has been taken up to her heavenly dwelling."[28]

The very fact of the Assumption, the act whereby Jesus took His Mother body and soul into heaven is also indicated in Scripture. St. Bonaventure explains these words of Sacred Scripture: "Who is this that comes up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved?"[ Song 8:5.]: "From this we can see that she is there bodily...her blessedness would not have been complete unless she were there as a person. The soul is not a person, but the soul, joined to the body, is a person. It is manifest that she is there in soul and in body. Otherwise she would not possess her complete beatitude.

3) The Tradition of the Assumption in the Church of Jerusalem

Now the perennially Faith of the Catholic Church in the Assumption is based on the fact of Mary’s Assumption, remembered faithfully by the Church of Jerusalem.

First textual evidence of belief in the Assumption comes from a popular story of Mary’s Assumption in a 4th Century writing, documenting a 3rd Century narrative.

St. Epiphanius a monk of Palestine who lived 315-403 A.D. was the first to document the belief that Mary had been taken body and soul into Heaven. He does this in rebutting the false beliefs of a certain sects of heretics, who held, on this account, that Mary was divine (since all pagans believed that only Gods resided in Heaven, they reasoned that being assumed into heaven meant that Mary was now a God). St. Epiphanius refutes there false conclusion. He does not refute the belief in the Assumption, however. He does note that no tomb of Mary is found in all of Palestine, and hence it is clear that there were not know any relics of the body of Mary to be found anywhere. Mary has disappeared from this world. He does assert: “shall Mary, the holy one, not possess the Kingdom of Heaven in the flesh, she who was not lewd or wanton, who did not commit adultery, was in now way at fault in what concerned the flesh, but remained immaculate?”

Timothy of Jerusalem (c. 350 A.D.): said of Mary that She is “immortal to the present time through Him, who had His abode in Her and who assumed and raised Her above the higher regions”

Thus as Feast Day, in honor of Mary was celebrated, on Aug. 15 since 5th Century, at the Resting Place half way between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

James of Serugh (c. 451-521 A.D.) praised in poetry the holiness of Mary in her death and burial.

According to St. John Damascene: St. Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451), made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened, upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven.

Explicitly Explained by Bishop Theoteknos of LIvias of Jordan (550-560 A.D.): calls the feast the Analepsis i.e. the Feast of the Assumption , and says: “Raised to Heaven, She remains for the human race an unconquerable rampart, interceding for us before Her Son and God.”
21.

PP. Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, writes: Thus St. John Damascene, an outstanding herald of this traditional truth, spoke out with powerful eloquence when he compared the bodily Assumption of the loving Mother of God with her other prerogatives and privileges. "It was fitting that she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death. It was fitting that she, who had carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles. It was fitting that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to himself, should live in the divine mansions. It was fitting that she, who had seen her Son upon the cross and who had thereby received into her heart the sword of sorrow which she had escaped in the act of giving birth to him, should look upon him as he sits with the Father. It was fitting that God's Mother should possess what belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every creature as the Mother and as the handmaid of God."[17]

4) The Feast of the Dormition or Koimesis

First Record of its celebration: 430 A.D. at Jerusalem

The Emperor Justinian mentions feast of Assumption in a Letter to the Church of Jerusalem in 561 A.D.

Decreed by the Emperor Maurice for entire Roman Empire, on Aug. 15, 600 A.D.

Brought to Rome by Pope Theodosius I, of Jerusalem c. 630 A.D.

Mentioned in Papal Decree of Pope Sergius I (687-701 A.D.), who established a procession to honor the Feast.

Coptic Feast first mentioned by Theodosius, Patriarch of Alexandria (d. 566 A.D.)

St. Gregory of Tours (d. 593 A.D.): says that Mary’s body was “taken up and borne on a cloud into Paradise, where now, reunited with Her soul and rejoincing with the elect, it enjoys the good things of eternity which shall never come to an end” (Homily on the Martyrs)

It must be noted that, whereas the Collyridians, those heretics who worshipped Mary as a God, were present only in the East, in the East the name of the Feast of the Assumption was changed to the Dormition, to emphasize that Mary too was human. But in the West, the ancient and more original name of the Assumption was retained, and the "Feast of the Dormition" was never used as a title.

5) The Faith of the Roman Church

Pope Theodore I brings the feast of the Dormition to Rome in 430 A.D.

Pope Sergius I adds a procession in honor of the Assumption c. 690 A.D.

PP. Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, writes: Pope St. Leo IV (c. 850 A.D.) saw to it that the feast, which was already being celebrated under the title of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother of God, should be observed in even a more solemn way when he ordered a vigil to be held on the day before it and prescribed prayers to be recited after it until the octave day. When this had been done, he decided to take part himself in the celebration, in the midst of a great multitude of the faithful.[15]

PP. Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, writes: Pope St. Nicholas I (c. 860 A.D.) testifies that the Assumption was one of the principal fasts which "the Holy Roman Church has observed for a long time, and still observes."[16]

PP. Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, writes:

17. In the liturgical books which deal with the feast either of the Dormition or of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin there are expressions that agree in testifying that, when the Virgin Mother of God passed from this earthly exile to heaven, what happened to her sacred body was, by the decree of divine Providence, in keeping with the dignity of the Mother of the Word Incarnate, and with the other privileges she had been accorded. Thus, to cite an illustrious example, this is set forth in that sacramentary which Adrian I (c. 800 A.D.), our predecessor of immortal memory, sent to the Emperor Charlemagne. These words are found in this volume: "Venerable to us, O Lord, is the festivity of this day on which the holy Mother of God suffered temporal death, but still could not be kept down by the bonds of death, who has begotten your Son our Lord incarnate from herself."[11]

18. What is here indicated in that sobriety characteristic of the Roman liturgy is presented more clearly and completely in other ancient liturgical books. To take one as an example, the Gallican sacramentary designates this privilege of Mary's as "an ineffable mystery all the more worthy of praise as the Virgin's Assumption is something unique among men." And, in the Byzantine liturgy, not only is the Virgin Mary's bodily Assumption connected time and time again with the dignity of the Mother of God, but also with the other privileges, and in particular with the virginal motherhood granted her by a singular decree of God's Providence: In the Menae for the Whole Year there is written of Mary: "God, the King of the universe, has granted you favors that surpass nature. As he kept you a virgin in childbirth, thus he has kept your body incorrupt in the tomb and has glorified it by his divine act of transferring it from the tomb."[12]

6) Contemporary Misunderstandings

1. It’s a new doctrine not based the bible:

This is the argument of those who hold that the bible only means what they want it to mean and understand it to mean; they read the Bible in modern languages and expect modern ideas to pop out of it. They open the bible with the expectation of finding nothing Catholic, and read it with that prejudice. The only response to this kind of ignorance is to recommend they go to a library and read some histories of Christianity.

2. It’s a doctrine that has evolved, and it proves that our Catholic Faith Changes.

This is likewise based on ignorance; but it is also mixed up with the error of Modernism, which heresy holds that faith changes to suits the subjective needs of men and women of each age. We have seen that as soon as the Catholic Faith was no longer persecuted, all the testimonies of history, theology, archeology, etc.. demonstrate that the dogma has not changed one iota, and that it has not evolved one bit.

3. It’s not a critical Christian belief, and we can dispense with it to please our non-Catholic or non-Christian friends.

Faith is obedience, faith is like pregnancy: you either are pregnant with faith, and the whole Jesus lives in you, or you are not at all pregnant, and nothing of Jesus Believes in you. If you think you can abort part of the Faith in you and keep the rest, ask a doctor if you can tear off part of a child in the womb and expect mother and child to live safely.

Likewise, Christ says, if you deny Me before men. He did not say this just in regard to His own person, but in regard to all his teachings and those of the Bible and Sacred Tradition. Since Jesus raised His Mother from the dead and brought Her to heaven, and we deny this before men, we without doubt only deserve eternal damnation.

4.) Mary's Assumption took place at Ephesus, not Jerusalem

This error is based on the protestant assertions, first made in the 17th century, that Mary died at Ephesus. No Catholic nor Orthodox writer for the first 1600 years every made such a claim. All Catholic writers have held that Mary died and was assumed into Heaven from Jerusalem, or its near environs. You can find the tomb of Mary today at Jerusalem, where it has been venerated for more than 1500 years. (I would point out that Mark Alessio's speculations, published in the Angelus Magazine in 2003, on this matter, were not founded upon a sufficient review of the scholarly literature on the point, and that his argument that a Pope in the footnote of a certain booklet argues for Ephesus, is not a suitable argument in such a weighty matter, because such dogmatic facts are based on Scripture, Tradition, and the testimony of the ancient Fathers and Saints, not on the opinions of modern popes, even those who were saints).

7) The Promise that the Assumption holds out for all of us

The Assumption is a great consolation and assurance for us all; that we too, body and soul, if we are faithful, will reign with Jesus Christ in Heaven forever.

It is also a consolation in the practical order, because strengthened by this confirmation, we ought to strive in all our acts to mortify our sinful desires, and govern our bodies in a Christian manner, so as to offend the Lord in nothing, and lead no one to offend Him on account of our bodies.

It is also a strong defense against the many heresies that say that Christ does not expect holiness in body and soul, but only in soul; or that there is a right order and a decent respectful way of living with the body God gave us.

It also refutes evolution: because nothing improves except by God’s intervention, just as no life comes into existence without God creating it, so Mary did not get to heaven body and soul, except for Jesus taking Her there. The same order that prevails in the 7 days of creation, of God intervening at all important points, prevails in our salvation: we are recreated in baptism, to be eternally glorified in Heaven; baptized body and soul, to be glorified body and soul.

But most of all, here and now, the fact that Mary is in Heaven Body and Soul at Jesus’ right hand, means that we can turn to Her to obtain from Him, what we are not worthy to obtain directly.

Behold your Mother!

2006-08-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

These words of Our Divine Redeemer echo throughout the ages: they resound from Mt. Golgotha, from the pages of Sacred Scripture, in the memories of St. John the Evangelist, in the preaching of the Apostles and first evangelists; they are recalled in the divine liturgies of the Church, are meditated upon by the prayers of the Saints, explained in their writings, emblazoned in art and music, in churches and paintings and frescos and statues; they have become the call to arms of saintly founders and are the mottoes of monasteries, convents, priests and bishops and cardinals.

Beautiful words: consoling words: words of confidence and words of hope. I personally think that in their own way, these words of Jesus from the Cross are the most beautiful in all the pages of the Bible, the most encouraging among all the words men have or shall ever hear.

I remember reading a study on the Shroud of Turin, which explained the exact manner in which, according to this holy relic, the Body of Jesus hung from the Cross, and the exact manner of His Death. The study pointed out that when Jesus in the moment of death shouted out and laid down His Most Sacred Head, He did so in a very telling manner. This final position of Our Lord’s Head is recorded in the blood and sweat stains of the Sacred Shroud.

What made this description so poignant was what the authored observed about these facts in his summation, namely, that Our Lord Jesus Christ in the very final moment of His earthly life did a thing which remained the only thing He could do: that is lay down His Head in a very significant manner. In such a manner as would enable Him to look straight down to the right hand side of the foot of His Cross.

As I wondered why this was, there came to me a wonderful and most consoling realization. Have you ever noticed paintings of the Crucifixion? I would dare say that most of them depict Our Blessed Lady standing at the foot of the Cross with St. John and Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross. But Mary is nearly always under Christ’s right arm, that is to say, on the right side of the Cross.

A conclusion presses itself upon our devotion: namely, that in the last moment of His Life, Christ Our Lord made a decisive effort to make sure that the very last gaze of His mortal life would be filled with the vision of the sorrowful and most compassionate face of His Mother, Mary.

I don’t think we Christians can think of this long without being very much touched at heart by it, and even brought to tears by it, especially if you have made it the habit of meditating on the Passion, as all the Saints recommend us to do, or have at least been awakened to this holy exercise by Mel Gibson’s recent and literally stunning film, “The Passion of the Christ.” I think, weak creatures that we are, that this is especially true if we have had the personal experience of being at the death bed of a mother or father or son or daughter. The reality of how ephemeral our existence of us is inescapable in such moments. And it is only natural and fitting that we should burst out in tears at such tragic separations – something which is not unfitting, since as our Holy Religion teaches us, death is unnatural – and Jesus Himself cried at such occasions.

Of course being God Almighty, Jesus had no need of consolations in the Hour of Death. Indeed many a Saintly author speculates that to drink the very dregs of the bitterness of His Passion He forced Himself to look upon the woeful suffering of His Mother in that last moment of His Life, so as to offer the merit of a Son’s Heart torn open at the sight of a Mother’s suffering, as the very last and final oblation to the Father for our salvation.

Yes, I do believe, that in that last moment, Christ received the compassion of His Mother, received Her Sacrifice of Himself, and looked upon Her in His death as if to say, “Look! Since I go now to the Father, I receive and take from Thee all that Thou has borne for My Sake with Me here and throughout all Thy life up to this day, and throughout all Thy life until I call you hence to be with me! I take it with Me to the Father, to offer it to Him forever in union with My Own Sacrifice.”

I think too many of us forget that the very last moments of Christ’s Passion were very Marian. The Holy Spirit Himself teaches us this, when the Evangelists cite the fact that Christ did not say, “It is consummated!” until first He said, “Woman, behold Thy son; son behold thy Mother!”

These marvelous words are, as it were, the “Ite Missa Est” of Golgotha. With them, Christ the High Priest completes and finishes His Sacrifice, and lays down not only His Head but now His whole human Life, accepting death and allowing His soul and body to be split asunder in the Holy Sacrifice of the Cross.

Now just as the Passion of Our Lord is the most central Mystery of our divine Religion, so the final moments and words of Our Lord from the Cross ought to be something very central to our interior life of prayer and meditation. For if Our Lord went to such lengths as to ensure and enable our remembrance of Him by promulgating the Holy Mass and ordaining the Apostles with His own powers as High Priests, saying, “Do this in memory of Me!”, how much must He want that we remember that which He did for us, and especially the very crowning moment of that Salvific Event!

Of course there are many graces, especially of consolation and encouragement for anyone who mediates on Sacred Scripture, and most of all, who meditates on the life of Jesus and Mary. And this is a very exquisite consolation that few find or enjoy in this life, trampled and trammeled as we are by the hubbub of daily life and the plethora of the modern means of mass communication. How sad and tragic, that so many, for example, make it a daily ritual to read the news, yet give not a thought to spending some quite time alone, with the doors of their room shut, or in some solitary place, meditating on all that Jesus and Mary did and said and suffered for our sake.

One of the great truths which we can mine from these final words of Our Lord, by means of meditation, is that which will teach us something of the magnitude of how much confidence we ought to have in the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.

If we but consider that “before the foundation of the world” God had been considering and pondering from eternity all the details of creation, not as an architect who draws up plans and changes this or that, perfecting the project day after day, right up and even often during construction, but as the Infinite Eternal, Omnipotent and Most Wise uncreated Intelligence, Full of Charity and Truth, conceiving in the depths of His Divine Heart the most wonderful and stunning manifestations of His Divinity, we must, I say, certainly stop and ponder once again, and more and more, these words of Our Lord, “Behold thy Mother!” for in them are hidden great treasures of grace.

If we but recall the reason why God became Man, that it was to save our sorry souls from the eternal perdition of Hell, to which we all would have voluntarily wandered to by the end of our lives, born as we are, bereft of sanctifying grace, of faith, hope and charity for God, we can taste in mind something, howeverso small, of the savoriness of the remedy of these words: “Behold thy Mother!” “Thy” here means “you and I”, “each one of us”, “all of us”, “believers and those yet to believe”: “all of us in need of salvation and redemption”, howsoever much grace we have already received.

And since this is why Christ came and suffered and died: this final proclamation of the King of the Ages must have everything to do with the revelation of the ultimate means of salvation.

I believe Our Lord gives us His very own infallible commentary on this passage in the same Gospel of St. John, as He speaks with Nicodemus under the cover of night. “Unless you be born of water and the Holy Ghost . . .” He says. It is Our Lord Himself who uses the metaphor of birth for justification. It follows that being newborns in grace, we need a Mother.

This conclusion is inescapable, when we consider that the One who uses this metaphor is the Same as the One who created all living things, and who made us male and female, establishing some of us father or mothers for others of us: who in short preordained the human family within the original and individual necessity of our corporal being.

We must ask ourselves, then, “What was Our Lord thinking of when He spoke those wonderful words at the crowning moment of all that He would merit for us?” In His human mind, all the saints tell us that He knew all about creation, past, present, and future; foresaw all of us and all of our sins and good deeds, foreknew all of our thoughts and feelings and all of the movements and inclinations of our hearts. But just as importantly, as Our Divine Master and Teacher, in that final moment He considered all the pious questions of all His faithful who would beg him in prayer to explain something more to them about the meaning of His Life, Suffering and Death, especially at this final moment.

And so, these words, “Behold thy Mother” are without doubt the Answer of Christ to all our questions regarding the meaning and significance and importance of His Passion.

“Have confidence, I have overcome the world!” says Our Lord to the Apostles at the Last Supper. These words find their historical consummation, without doubt, in the Passion and Death, and point to the meaning of these words He speaks to St. John, “Behold thy Mother!” They indicate to us that all that Christ would do would be both truly victorious, and hence that the remembrance of it should be a source of confidence for us.

And we can draw much confidence from these words of Our Lord to St. John. Yes, Christ has died and is Risen, and yet though He has ascended into Heaven, to sit at the Right Hand of the Father, and with Him, at the end of Her earthly life, His Mother, to intercede for us before the Face of God the Father, it nevertheless remains no less true, that He has given His Blessed Mother to us, to be our Mother! Our sweet Mother!

If we but consider the greatness of Mary’s holiness, the spotlessness of Her purity, the inviolability of Her Virginity, the excellence of Her Faith, the magnitude of Her Charity, the strength and firmness of Her Hope, and every other virtue which is Hers beyond the measure of men and angels, and if we but consider that this Wonderful, most Splendid and beautiful of women is now Our Mother! I say, who cannot be encouraged, who cannot be moved, who cannot be warmed at heart, stirred to a sweet delight, stirred to reach out in spirit to Her, to embrace Her and kiss Her and enfold both body and soul in Her embrace, embracing Her with soul and body likewise – to bury, as it were, oneself in Her Maternal Bosom, as a little child does, when seeing its Mother after a long absence, it runs swiftly and immediately up to Her, jumping into Her arms and hugging Her with every affection!

But if we consider even more, that this Woman, is not only Our Mother, but the very Mother of God, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, the Daughter elect by the Father, the Queen of Angels and men, the Mediatrix of Grace, the Corredemptrix of the Universe, I say, who cannot be stirred to confidence, seeing that in Her are the treasures and means to obtain every good thing, every medicine of soul and body.

But what is most consoling and encouraging about the Blessed Virgin, being Our Mother, is that She is always listening to and observing and watching over us, and She is very able and powerful and wiling to grant us our pious wishes and prayers, if we but ask with great confidence.

Perhaps you have seen little children who are brothers and sisters vying with each other for their mother’s affection or intercession. If one receives some special favor, the others are not slow in asking, begging, insisting, demanding the how and why of how they obtained it from her. How zealous they are! How innocent! And How Simple! Should not we be similar, when we hear of what Our Lady has done for some of Her children!

Yes, I am sure you have heard at least once of how Our Lady helped some saint: but it is more encouraging, I believe, to consider how She has helped some sinners, even more so than some Saints.

One such wonderful story is that which Our Lady did to a poor mule driver in Spain some 400 years ago. He was a very poor man, and not learned at all. I do not think he could even read or write. All he could do for a living, was lead his mule along the mountain paths nears his village, carrying cargo over the mountain pass for various merchants in the locale. He would rise very early in the morning, pack some food for the journey, load up his burrow, and walk up the mountain, arriving at the end of the day on the other side, where, having unloaded the same animal, and rested at a friends house, he would eat and sleep and rise the next day, to do the same thing, on the return trip.

And so he lived his life and scratched out a meager living for his wife and son and father and mother who lived with him in his 2 room shed.

But one day, the mule slipped as it clopped its way along the mountain path. And to save it and its load this poor mule driver ran quickly to the other side and did all he could to prop up the animal so that it would not slip and fall. But though he had done this successfully on many occasions, this time he failed, and the animal and all its cargo came crashing down upon him, knocking him to the ground.

He screamed, o how he screamed in agonizing pain!

Very soon the other peasants leading their own animals along the way, came running to help him, and succeeded in getting his animal up. It was then he discovered that he could not stand – he had badly injured his leg. The villagers came and took him in a stretcher to his home and to bed.

As the days passed it go no better. And when the local priest came to visit him, he assured him that it would not get better, and that the only hope was to arrange to be carried to the University Hospital at Salamanca.

It was a long a costly journey, but his best friends and relatives did him this favor.

Needless to say, by the time he arrived, gangrene had set in and there was nothing the doctors could do, but cut off his leg at the mid of the thigh.

For a mule driver, this was little better than death, for it meant that he could not work at his trade: and no work meant no pay, and no pay meant that he, though the only bread winner at home, could no longer support his family.

His friends and relatives bore him home and left him at home in his bed. And to add upon all his sufferings, as soon as they had left his home, his wife and parents turned on him with the most bitter and disgusting insults, saying: “What good are you to us now! It is all your fault! We are all going to starve on your account! Did you return home thinking we are going to take care of you!”

And with that this poor man pulled up his blanket, prayed desperately to Our Lady, and went to sleep, filled with the most bitter remorse and sorrow, bereft of any hope and overcome by the pains of sorrow and betrayal no less painful than the surgery wounds of his leg.

But this, thanks be to God, is not where this poor man’s story ends, but rather where a most consoling story begins. For that night, as he slept, he dreamed.

And in that dream, he saw Our Blessed Mother.

And this is what he dreamed: he saw himself sick in bed, and into his room stepped the Blessed Virgin, covered in a shining blue mantle, and looking upon him with such a tender compassion, as if She had come to him, on a sick call. And as he rejoiced at heart to see Her loveliness, She opened Her mouth and said to him, encouraging him as She touched his legs, “Be healed!”

In the morning, the man awoke, and as he had not yet opened his eyes, for it was dark still, he called to mind the dream that had given him such confidence. And he said to himself in his heart with the simplicity of a child, “O, how good you are to me, Blessed Virgin! I prayed to you, when I had no other hope, to help me! And you in your kind charity have given me such a consoling dream to lessen all my sorrows when I have suffered such a tragedy as this!” And so he reposed, until the sun had arisen, and his wife has gotten up and gone out.

After she left, he tried to make himself comfortable in bed. He suddenly felt so odd. The doctors had said that, although they cut off his leg, that it would feel that it was still there for some time still. And so it was: under his covers he could still feel his leg!

But as he looked down the bed, what he saw was all wrong. He saw not one, but two bulging points where his foot should be.

Two?, he thought to himself: Yes, I can still feel my leg, as the doctors said I should on occasion, for it is a trick of the nerves, but I should not still see two feet!

At that the memory of his dream came back to him and he ripped his covers of the bed to find TWO perfectly healthy legs!

He jumped from the bed and began to scream with joy: A Miracle! A Miracle!

Soon the whole village was gathered around his house and word spread far and wide of what the Blessed Virgin did for him.

And for our confidence, it happened that this story came to the ears of the King of Spain, who sent a commission of royal investigators to record and interview all the facts and testimony. They even went to the University of Salamanca and interviewed all who had assisted at the amputation of the peasant’s leg. They even unearthed the coffin in which it was buried. And they found it empty, but for the blood stained wrappings which once bound it fast!

Today, on the sight of the poor man’s bedroom, stands a magnificent Basilica to commemorate this miracle of confidence.

Let us therefore, have great confidence in the Blessed Virgin, who is in truth and has been made so forever, Our Mother! That She does and will and wants to grant us the things of which we or our loved ones, or some poor soul, is truly in need of.

We don’t need to be saints to receive Her favors. We just need to ask with humility, sincerity!

Therefore, let us pray and beseech Her everyday with unbounded confidence! And lest us offer up such prayers as this:

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known,
that anyone who fled to Thy protection,
implored Thy assistance,
or sought Thy intercession,
was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence,
we fly unto Thee, O Virgin of virgins, our Mother!

To Thee do we come; before Thee do we stand, sinful and sorrowful.

O Mother of the Word Incarnate, do not despise our petitions,
but in Thy gracious mercy hear and answer us. Amen.

The Practical Hallmark of the True Christian

2006-08-07T05:34:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

The practical mark which with the greatest certainty manifests the authentic Christian spirit of fidelity to Jesus Christ, is this: to remove oneself from occasions to sin.

This is the best practical mark, because it manifests at once the virtues of fidelity, humility, love, and diligence.

Removing oneself from occasions of sin is a mark of fidelity, because the perfection of fidelity is this, to desire in no manner to ever risk being unfaithful.

Removing oneself from occasions of sin is a mark of humility, because no man can presume the grace of God, especially that special grace which makes us overcome sin in the face of a grave temptation. And since the perfection of humility consists in the lowest self-esteem, the humble man esteems that he is not worthy even to receive the grace to avoid small sins in near occasions.

Removing oneself from occasions of sin is a mark of love, because love is perfected in a desire to be unbroken and continuously pleasing to the one loved.

Removing oneself from occasions of sin is a mark of diligence, because diligence first does what is most necessary and conducive to the purpose at hand.

It is the for the sin of putting ourselves in the constant occasions of sin, that the modern world and the Church in the modern world has lost so much of the grace of truth and holiness, that but for the grace of God, it is easy to despair.

But a renewal of the Social Reign of Jesus Christ is possible, if only we respond to Christ's call to repent, by removing ourselves from the occasions of sin.

We can do this in several important ways:

1) Let us not accept the use of the immoral and amoral secular media, which strives only to subborn us to the desires of the flesh, the world, and the devil.

2) Let us not accept the secular customs of living or of family organization, which distort the normal natural way of life, which is conducive to a life of virtue.

3) Let us not accept the secular way of conducting ourselves in business, which today is founded completely upon justifying all means for the sake of all ends, profit above and apart from morals.

4) Let us not accept the secular way of thinking, which blurs distinctions and is founded upon that bold and diabolically proud presumption of a self-sufficiency without God and God's revelation.

5) Let us not accept the secular modes of relaxation or entertainment, which are designed by and for the promotion of all that is worldly, carnal, and diabolic.

And so let us make the effort to establish as outposts of the Kingdom of Christ, first of all our hearts and bodies, our homes, and property, our businesses and our work by removing all occasions of sin, to ourselves, to our family and friends, and to our workers.

Let us start by removing all printed material and media which is an occasion of sin, such as contains immodest images. Let us remove all foods which are an occasion of sin, such as may be liquor, beer, supplements, medicines, etc.. Let us remove all furniture which may be an occasion of sin, such as mirrors, saunas or hot tubs, etc.. Let us remove all clothing which may be an occasion such as all that is immodest or revealing.

And in turn, let us replace these with things wholesome and edifying, such as good Catholic publications, videos, images, statutes, wholesome well balanced foods, simple austere furniture, modest and dignified clothing.

In this way we can remove ourselves from many occasions of sins, and begin to be true Christians and faithful warriors in the Kingdom of Our Eternal Master.

The Façade of the Modern Economy

2006-08-06T04:49:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

It is important to understand the profound perversions in modern society, so as to understand better the way to the establishment of the Social Reign of Jesus Christ.

One of the more important promises which the Masonic Order makes to nations, peoples, and individuals, is that of prosperty. But if we examine some of the foundations and conditions of the modern liberal economy, we see that it is a false economy, a façade, which is designed to enable the agenda of the Lodge.

The first principle of the modern economy is that the State alone has the authority to issue money, and that money itself has not objective correlative; that is it is not equivalent to anything real or fixed, in the economic sense: such as gold or silver, or something precious.

This results in money which is fake. Money historically was at the beginnign nothing more than a certified quantity of a precious metal. The image on the coins of Asian Minor in the 6-5th centuries Before Christ were to guarantee that the quality and quantity of the metal were uniform and true.

Later a certain deceit was introduced, and which became more and more common: the certification of a quality and quantity in the coin which was not in the coin; at first it was more or less in the coin, but with the passing of ages, it became only significant of the value, there was no real value in the coin.

Today no coin has the value of its metal: even the gold coins issued by nations have a value of precious metal in them much more than their face value. Indeed the very concept of "face value" manifests the established custom of this fakery in money.

But most modern money is paper money, and since about the time of the post WWII era, all nations use paper money which has no value in gold or silver, all money is now entirely symbolic, and not real.

The "advance" (which is really a digression, and concession to deceit) of paper money allows the modern state to "make money"; that is, issue a quantity of paper symbols for money, beyond the quantity of real property belonging to the State. Thus the US government has spent something like 7 Trillion Dollars more than it has receive in Taxes, Customes and Dues.

But the modern economy is also founded upon a capital market; in which money is bought, sold, traded, and "created". The right to create money is distingiushed from the right the State claims to "make money". The right to create money is that of the Banks alone, which can loan out more money than they have on deposit. For example, in 80's at one point, Chase Manhattan Bank had 65 billion Dollars on deposit, but had loans for 120 billion outstanding. In short, they had created 55 billion dollars out of thin air. When in a financial scandal in which the bank loaned out 20 billion to a unidentified investor, and the investor defaulted, the Bank wrote off the loan, and hocus pocus! the money disappeared. (Needless to say, what was ever done with all that money?)

However, the Banks and the State use their power to make and create money solely for the purposes of advancing their own agenda. Thus for example, in the USA, nearly no Bank loans money to Christian Churches, and the few that do, loan money nearly exclusively to Anti-Catholic churches. One financial institution in Europe did loan money to the recent revisionist history of the Crusades, because it was anti-christian, anti-catholic. And the chielf financial officer in charge was a Muslim.

So much of our economy is based on the silent tacit consent of the masses to the right of the State and Banks to make billions, trillions of dollars out of thin air, all the while demanding that the hoi polloi sweat and work for pennies. I do not say this to inspire envy or hatred of evil men; but to say that a lot of the modern economy is based on a lie, and the so called progress that we enjoy is merely a financial manipulation on a grand scale of the economic forces of the whole society.

If one considers that the French Monary fell, chiefly because bankers called in its loans, and forced it into bankrupcy, and that no bank today even would consider calling in the loans of a Modern Secular State, which is one of the elite club of ruling nations (the G8), and that such banks such as the Inernational Monetary Fund use their loans to bludgeon nations (such as Argentina) into accepting the Masonic agenda birth control, etc.. etc.., it is not difficult to see that the false economy and the false rights to make and create money, are little more than institutionalized Pulpits for the promotion of the religion of the Anti-Christ.

The great difficulty in all of this is that such is the organization of marked forces today by State and Banks, that every price of every thing is monitored, and that nothing has a value in the market independent of their control. And for this reason, no one, seeking to establish the Social Reign of Jesus Christ, could amass wealth in such a way as to be independent of the influence of the Lodge; which always stands ready to pummel and destroy all who would oppose it.

Devotion to the Eternal Father

2006-08-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

When we catholics speak of devotions, we speak of particular spiritual practices which regard particular Saints, prayers, or ways to stimulate our faith.

While the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity are the very object of our faith and end of our religion (that is, the focus and purpose and goal), we cannot properly makes Them the object of a devotion.

However, in the sense that one can be devoted to another, we certainly ought to be devoted to the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity.

This is especially necessary today.

For all those who live as if there were no God, or who do not know God, seek the meaning of life or the solution to the problems of life in created things. They turn toward things and live facing things. And this is what all sinner do, when they sin, and live in the habit of sin, even Catholics.

And such a is a life turned away from God.

But a Catholic life, when lived faithfully, is a life turned toward God.

Now when it comes to directions there are only 2 spiritual choices, to be turned toward God or to be turned toward creatures, and thus, away from God.

The first is by grace, the second by our fallen nature; the first is the cause of all our sanctification, the second of all our damnation. The second has not one object, in the sense that in turning toward creatures, one can turn toward a myriad of disparate ends or objects.

But the first has one object, and it is the Origin of all.

Now God is the Origin of all creatures: He is our Alpha and Omega.

But in God, the Father is the Origin of the other Two Persons, and He originates from None. He is thus called by the Fathers, the Origin without Origin.

And so, fundamentally, our faith, and the practice of the Faith, aim to One Most High End, or Goal, and return us to one Origin, God, and in God, to the Father. Or as St. Augustine says, all creatures return to the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit.

We are thus not only the adopted sons of God, of the Most Holy Trinity, but also in Christ, the adopted sons of the Eternal Father.

And thus it is that we must face the Father. That is, we must regard and consider and think of, and speak in prayer, and with all our actions, to the Father.

The Eternal Father in this sense is and ought to be our first devotion, that is, we must and are called to be devoted to Him before and above all else.

This kind of devotion to the Eternal Father is the Hallmark of Catholic Society, of the Social Reign of Jesus Christ, just as it is the Hallmark of a truly Christian interior and exterior life.

It is often said, "Do what Jesus would do": but it is more catholic to say, "Do what the Father would be pleased that you do". The first axiom really cannot be put into practice, because being sinful souls, darkened by sin, how can we know what Jesus would do?

But the second is more catholic, because it is more obvious that what pleases the Father is virtue, good works, virtue of every kind, not the works, worked by the desires of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life.

To live facing the Eternal Father, that is regarding Him, so as to please Him, to confess our sins and needs to Him, and to seek always to do His Will, this was the Religion of Jesus Christ, of which He gave us the best example, and by which example He called all of us to.

If we accept the grace to make ourselves in spirit the little sons of the Eternal Father, and be faithful sons, we cannot fail to be faithful Catholics, and work in the very best manner to promote the Social Reign of Jesus Christ.

Indeed, the Social Reign of Jesus Christ can be simply understood as this: to fashion and establish all persons, all families, all institutions, all civil order in such a manner that it is always facing the Eternal Father, through the Eternal Son, relying upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, and thus orders all thing in the best and truest and most upright manner.

The Evils of Our Times

2006-08-03T03:00:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

Pope Pius XI, in his Encyclical Letter, Ubi Arcano Dei, spoke of the evils of the post WWI era. We can see from his condemnations that these are the same evils, in their incipient form, which so sway the hearts of men and nations today. The Evils of Our Times are those of his, conditions have not changed: therefore the remedies remain the same:

21. Men today do not act as Christians, as brothers, but as strangers, and even enemies. The sense of man's personal dignity and of the value of human life has been lost in the brutal domination begotten of might and mere superiority in numbers. Many are intent on exploiting their neighbors solely for the purpose of enjoying more fully and on a larger scale the goods of this world. But they err grievously who have turned to the acquisition of material and temporal possessions and are forgetful of eternal and spiritual things, to the possession of which Jesus, Our Redeemer, by means of the Church, His living interpreter, calls mankind.

22. It is in the very nature of material objects that an inordinate desire for them becomes the root of every evil, of every discord, and in particular, of a lowering of the moral sense. On the one hand, things which are naturally base and vile can never give rise to noble aspirations in the human heart which was created by and for God alone and is restless until it finds repose in Him. On the other hand, material goods (and in this they differ greatly from those of the spirit which the more of them we possess the more remain to be acquired) the more they are divided among men the less each one has and, by consequence, what one man has another cannot possibly possess unless it be forcibly taken away from the first. Such being the case, worldly possessions can never satisfy all in equal manner nor give rise to a spirit of universal contentment, but must become perforce a source of division among men and of vexation of spirit, as even the Wise Man Solomon experienced: "Vanity of vanities, and vexation of spirit." (Ecclesiastes i, 2, 14)

23. The same effects which result from these evils among individuals may likewise be expected among nations. "From whence are wars and contentions among you?" asks the Apostle St. James. "Are they not hence from your concupiscences, which war in your members?" (James iv, 1, 2)

24. The inordinate desire for pleasure, concupiscence of the flesh, sows the fatal seeds of division not only among families but likewise among states; the inordinate desire for possessions, concupiscence of the eyes, inevitably turns into class warfare and into social egotism; the inordinate desire to rule or to domineer over others, pride of life, soon becomes mere party or factional rivalries, manifesting itself in constant displays of conflicting ambitions and ending in open rebellion, in the crime of lese majeste, and even in national parricide.

25. These unsuppressed desires, this inordinate love of the things of the world, are precisely the source of all international misunderstandings and rivalries, despite the fact that oftentimes men dare to maintain that acts prompted by such motives are excusable and even justifiable because, forsooth, they were performed for reasons of state or of the public good, or out of love for country. Patriotism - the stimulus of so many virtues and of so many noble acts of heroism when kept within the bounds of the law of Christ - becomes merely an occasion, an added incentive to grave injustice when true love of country is debased to the condition of an extreme nationalism, when we forget that all men are our brothers and members of the same great human family, that other nations have an equal right with us both to life and to prosperity, that it is never lawful nor even wise, to dissociate morality from the affairs of practical life, that, in the last analysis, it is "justice which exalteth a nation: but sin maketh nations miserable." (Proverbs xiv, 34)

26. Perhaps the advantages to one's family, city, or nation obtained in some such way as this may well appear to be a wonderful and great victory (this thought has been already expressed by St. Augustine), but in the end it turns out to be a very shallow thing, something rather to inspire us with the most fearful apprehensions of approaching ruin. "It is a happiness which appears beautiful but is brittle as glass. We must ever be on guard lest with horror we see it broken into a thousand pieces at the first touch." (St. Augustine de Civitate Dei, Book iv, Chap. 3)

27. There is over and above the absence of peace and the evils attendant on this absence, another deeper and more profound cause for present-day conditions. This cause was even beginning to show its head before the War and the terrible calamities consequent on that cataclysm should have proven a remedy for them if mankind had only taken the trouble to understand the real meaning of those terrible events. In the Holy Scriptures we read: "They that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed." (Isaias i, 28) No less well known are the words of the Divine Teacher, Jesus Christ, Who said: "Without me you can do nothing" (John xv, 5) and again, "He that gathereth not with me, scattereth." (Luke xi, 23)

28. These words of the Holy Bible have been fulfilled and are now at this very moment being fulfilled before our very eyes. Because men have forsaken God and Jesus Christ, they have sunk to the depths of evil. They waste their energies and consume their time and efforts in vain sterile attempts to find a remedy for these ills, but without even being successful in saving what little remains from the existing ruin. It was a quite general desire that both our laws and our governments should exist without recognizing God or Jesus Christ, on the theory that all authority comes from men, not from God. Because of such an assumption, these theorists fell very short of being able to bestow upon law not only those sanctions which it must possess but also that secure basis for the supreme criterion of justice which even a pagan philosopher like Cicero saw clearly could not be derived except from the divine law. Authority itself lost its hold upon mankind, for it had lost that sound and unquestionable justification for its right to command on the one hand and to be obeyed on the other. Society, quite logically and inevitably, was shaken to its very depths and even threatened with destruction, since there was left to it no longer a stable foundation, everything having been reduced to a series of conflicts, to the domination of the majority, or to the supremacy of special interests.

29. Again, legislation was passed which did not recognize that either God or Jesus Christ had any rights over marriage - an erroneous view which debased matrimony to the level of a mere civil contract, despite the fact that Jesus Himself had called it a "great sacrament" (Ephesians v, 32) and had made it the holy and sanctifying symbol of that indissoluble union which binds Him to His Church. The high ideals and pure sentiments with which the Church has always surrounded the idea of the family, the germ of all social life, these were lowered, were unappreciated, or became confused in the minds of many. As a consequence, the correct ideals of family government, and with them those of family peace, were destroyed; the stability and unity of the family itself were menaced and undermined, and, worst of all, the very sanctuary of the home was more and more frequently profaned by acts of sinful lust and soul-destroying egotism - all of which could not but result in poisoning and drying up the very sources of domestic and social life.

30. Added to all this, God and Jesus Christ, as well as His doctrines, were banished from the school. As a sad but inevitable consequence, the school became not only secular and non-religious but openly atheistical and anti-religious. In such circumstances it was easy to persuade poor ignorant children that neither God nor religion are of any importance as far as their daily lives are concerned. God's name, moreover, was scarcely ever mentioned in such schools unless it were perchance to blaspheme Him or to ridicule His Church. Thus, the school forcibly deprived of the right to teach anything about God or His law could not but fail in its efforts to really educate, that is, to lead children to the practice of virtue, for the school lacked the fundamental principles which underlie the possession of a knowledge of God and the means necessary to strengthen the will in its efforts toward good and in its avoidance of sin. Gone, too, was all possibility of ever laying a solid groundwork for peace, order, and prosperity, either in the family or in social relations. Thus the principles based on the spiritualistic philosophy of Christianity having been obscured or destroyed in the minds of many, a triumphant materialism served to prepare mankind for the propaganda of anarchy and of social hatred which was let loose on such a great scale.

31. Is it to be wondered at then that, with the widespread refusal to accept the principles of true Christian wisdom, the seeds of discord sown everywhere should find a kindly soil in which to grow and should come to fruit in that most tremendous struggle, the Great War, which unfortunately did not serve to lessen but increased, by its acts of violence and of bloodshed, the international and social animosities which already existed?

Pre Vatican II prononcements are not subject to Change

2006-08-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

His Holiness Pope Pius XI, in Ubi Arcano Dei, condemnes the notion, promoted last year by Pope Benedict XVI, in his capacity as a private theologian, that the prior decisions of Popes Leo XII, Pius X, Benedict XV, are time bound and subject to change:

59. However, these very social changes, which have created and increased the need of cooperation between the clergy and laity to which We have just referred, have themselves brought along in their wake new and most serious problems and dangers. As an after-effect of the upheaval caused by the Great War and of its political and social consequences, false ideas and unhealthy sentiments have, like a contagious disease, so taken possession of the popular mind that We have grave fears that even some among the best of our laity and of the clergy, seduced by the false appearance of truth which some of these doctrines possess, have not been altogether immune from error.

60. Many believe in or claim that they believe in and hold fast to Catholic doctrine on such questions as social authority, the right of owning private property, on the relations between capital and labor, on the rights of the laboring man, on the relations between Church and State, religion and country, on the relations between the different social classes, on international relations, on the rights of the Holy See and the prerogatives of the Roman Pontiff and the Episcopate, on the social rights of Jesus Christ, Who is the Creator, Redeemer, and Lord not only of individuals but of nations. In spite of these protestations, they speak, write, and, what is more, act as if it were not necessary any longer to follow, or that they did not remain still in full force, the teachings and solemn pronouncements which may be found in so many documents of the Holy See, and particularly in those written by Leo XIII, Pius X, and Benedict XV.

61. There is a species of moral, legal, and social modernism which We condemn, no less decidedly than We condemn theological modernism.

62. It is necessary ever to keep in mind these teachings and pronouncements which We have made; it is no less necessary to reawaken that spirit of faith, of supernatural love, and of Christian discipline which alone can bring to these principles correct understanding, and can lead to their observance. This is particularly important in the case of youth, and especially those who aspire to the priesthood, so that in the almost universal confusion in which we live they at least, as the Apostle writes, will not be "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive." (Ephesians iv, 14)

Practical Virtues for the Kingdom: Paenitentia

2006-08-02T03:10:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

Each and every Christian has the means at hand to thwart the kingdom of the Antichrist and overturn those working towards that dark age, the adherents of the Lodges.

This "means" is that which he can accomplish by faith and penance.

The very first thing Our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior of the World, did, when He began the quest for the salvation of our souls, was to preach Faith and Penance, and the necessity of these.

Penance, or Paenitentia in Latin, means primarily the disposition against sin, which is a lively and remorseful detestation of our sins, especially of our dominant fault. It is often called repentance.

If we consider all the sins that come forth from the heart of a single man in his entire lifetime, how offensive they are to God, how worthy of eternal damnation and how damaging they are to other men, women, and children, by bad example, and by inducing others in a myriad of manners to sin, we can readily understand the absolute necessity of repentance.

Repentance is the act; paenitentia the virtue, and penance is our response to repentence.

We repent of our sins, because paenitentia urges us to this; but we do so by a gift of grace, partly gratuitous, partly meritorious. That is in part it is a gift which only God can give, as regards the grace that moves us to it, and as regards Revelation which teaches us through Scripture and Tradition, the Magisterium of the Church, the Saints, men of God and our fellow Christians, that we should repent. And it is partly meritorious, because by cooperating with these graces we are inclined to receive the fruit: which is a lively repenting of our sins.

In the moral order, the virtue paenitentia comes first, the act of repenting or repentance follows, and penance finishes.

Penance refers to those acts which we do after repentance to make reparation and atone for our sins. Mortification refers to those acts whereby we subdue the movements in our body and soul which were the occasions of sin, or were sinful.

But paenitentia is the seed. Because being first, from it flows so many goods.

This virtue is a gift, but we can use what we have been given in baptism and by other occaions of grace to make this gift grow, like the good steward who put the monies entrusted to him by the King, who went away to a distant land, so as to make a profit for his Lord, before His return.

And this gift can grow if we water it with acts of humility, remembrance of our sins and their disastrous consequences in this world and the next, make meditation on the danger of sin and on our own weakness, and familiarize ourselves with the primary fault we have, so as to avoid this predominant vice bearing its evil fruit today and in the future.

If we all had a lively penitence, then the world would be freed from so many sins, and so many souls would not be lost on account of our hardness of heart.

This is especially true among those who consider themselves just, or who actually do work for a good cause: so often such as these neglect reflecting on their own sins and vices, and only undo all the good spiritual fruit that would have come from their good works, if they had only had a more humble spirit.

Our Lord says, "with the measure you measure it shall be measured out to you", signifying that by our sins we demerit God's graces and gifts, and by our mercies toward others, we merit mercy from God.

If we have a penitential spirit, then we are disposed to forgive our neighbor. But if we consider ourselves immaculate, we will always blame him for our faults.

Indeed, a good deal of politics today is based upon this principle, "My problem is your fault". Such a spirit begets strift, not peace.

Let us have a little humilty, and confess and recognize our own sinfulness, let us repent, and do penance and pratice mortification, and as it were, turn over a new leaf, by God's grace. For all of which, we must pray humbly to the Lord, for that grace without which we cannot begin, continue and grow in harmony with His Will and Law, to believe and to repent.

Today, the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels of the Portiuncula, at Assisi, one can obtain a plenary indulgeance by visting any Catholic Church in the world, reciting the Our Father and Creed therein, and praying for the Holy Father, along with the usual conditions of breaking with the habits of all sins, making a good confession, and receiving communion within 7 days. This indulgence was first granted by Pope Honorius III, at the insistence of St. Francis, so that all would have a means of obtaining the same grace as visiting the Holy Places in the Holy Land, without the burden of traveling there.

The Family Altar

2006-07-30T03:08:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

The most important place for Christian formation in the family is the Family Altar.

What is the Family Altar?

By "Family Altar" I mean a table, mantle piece, shelf, or the like upon which the Family permanently displays the religious statues, icons, images, along with candles and relics that they possess, and around which or before which the family gathers, whether as a whole or its individual members, to pray.

"A Family which prays together stays together", was the sound addage of Fater Patrick Peyton, a man very devoted to the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin, for by "praying together" mean meant chiefly "praying the Rosary together daily".

The Importance of the Family Altar

It must be remember here, that Our Lord said, when you pray to the Father, pray to Him in Secret, so that your prayer offered in secred may be rewarded by Him in secrete; by which Our Lord meant not only that we should personaly and individual pray, but that when we do this, we should do this alone, silently or outloud, but for no other purpose than to obtain good things needful for our salvation or that of others, and/or for the necessary temporal needs of ourselves or others.

However, by this teaching Our Lord did not exclude or forbid that there are times for communal prayer; for he often when to synagogue and to the Temple to pray, as all devout Jews used to do.

Yet there is a middle place, between one's room and the community's center of prayer (the Church): and this middle place is the Family Altar.

The importance of this middle place is this: if religion is only a private affair, then the individual is cut off from the Holy Spirit who dwells in the One, True Church: and if religious is only a public affair, then the individual is cut off from the practice of personal fidelity to the Lord, even in the deepest recesses of his heart, where the Lord and Our Lady alone see what he does and thinks.

Now between the private and public is the family. Because the family partakes of both worlds, and mediates both worlds, being in a certain sense the first first community, and in a certain sense the fundamental individual of the larger society.

The religion of the Family is thus crucial to assist and support the religion of both individual and society; when this family religion is strong, it is the greatest help for the salvation of the individual and the welfare of the Church and state.

The Family Altar as the Spiritual Hearth of the Home

In Latin, the hearth, where the mother cooks the food, is called the "focus" of the house. In this sense the Family Altar is both the hearth of the spiritual life of the family, and the focus of its religious practices. I say focus, not in the sense that the religion of the Family gives its attention to this place, set aside, but that is is at this Family Altar where as a family the family engages in its common religious acts, such as the Family Rosary.

The Father should establish the practice of daily family prayer from the beginning of his marriage. Even before the first child is born, he and his wife should pray together for their daily needs, and for this there is no prayer more encompassing of the entire Christian Faith, than the Rosary of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.

To this it is customary to add the Salve Regina, the Litany of the Most Blessed Virgin, and a Prayer to St. Joseph, along with prayers for the Roman Pontiff (which prayers conjoined with a family rosary, are the current conditions for obtaining a plenary indulgence, under the normal conditions, for the rosary said in family). But other prayers can be offered, especially for the faithfully departed members of the family, and of both the father and mother's lineage.

Let the father, and in his absence, the mother, begin with a sign of the cross. Let there be a mention specifically the intentions of the whole family and of each member, and then let the daily prayers begin.

A most suitable time for family prayer is after dinner, when the kitchen has been cleaned.

Regarding the question about when it is more suitable to pray, some families add prayers at the table, after or before the saying of grace. However, since the family is hungry and there is delicious food in front of them or about to be eaten, it is not prudent to prolong such prayers, since it would be tedious for the weak. Rather long prayers should be done at the family altar, and in common.

All the children should be under obedience to attend the daily prayers, until they are of age. And then when they are of age, they should still be expected, and even when they are only visiting, after having grown up, they should still be invited, to join them.

Some of the images most fitting for a family altar, are an Icon of the Most Holy Trinity, A Crucifix, An Image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (which should be enthroned) and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, or a statue of Our Lady, and some image of the patron saint of each member of the family. A family should also choose a patron saint or Angel to be their special family protector.

A Family Altar does not exclude, but is all the more reason, why in each room of the house there also should be religious images, especially in the bedrooms. In this way the fruit and mindfulness of prayer will be remembered and recalled throughout the day, throughout the home.

The Family Table

2006-07-29T03:16:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

Next to the Family Altar (which I will explain tomorrow) the Family Table is the most important place for Christian formation in the family.

By "Family Table" I mean the table about which the family sits together to eat its daily means.

Father Peyton used to say that "A family which prays together, stays together"; one could justly extend this on the natural level to say, "A family which eats together, stays together", because while in pray we feed our souls with grace, at the table we nourish our bodies with food and nourish our human spirits with company.

I mentioned how it is a must that the mother provide regular meals for the family, and how she should teach her daughters to assist her in this. By proving regular wholesome meals, which all members of the family partake of at the same time, as much as this is possibile, the mother provides the strongest natural motives for family unity.

This is true because we all need to eat; and we all naturally prefer to eat in the company of our family members, especially in the company of our mother.

And hence, this is also true, because where a man finds food, he seeks companionship. And if he finds good food in the company of the virtuous, he is drawn to virtue. And in saying "man" I mean all the sons and daughters of Adam.

The Family Table is thus not only a table, but also a doctor's office, a board room, a recreation room.

The Family table is a doctor's office, because by regularly meeting together about the same table, the mother and father can guage the health of body, soul and spirit of each of their children, hear their concerns, hear of their pains and sicknesses, troubles or problems, and being duly informed, provide the necessary remedies.

It goes without saying therefore that for the table to be the Family Table there must not only be eating, but communication. Both father and mother should engage each member of the family in some conversation during the meals, leaving none out. And they should assign seating at the famil table, based no so much on where the chairs are, but on where the father and mother are seated, which customarily is opposite one another, at the ends of the table.

One often finds that a child who has less communication skills or needs special attention, or who feels left out, is easily helped by being moved adjacent to the more empathetic parent. And just as each child should be taught not to take all the food for himself or herself, but rather to leave some for everyone; so each child should be taught to listen first, and let everyone have the opportunity to talk at the table, but most of all, to listen to their parents, and cede room for conversation to them, when they seek it.

For the formation of children it is just as important that the parents speak to them as they to the parents. If the parents have a good habit of communicating with their children about all things, then they will easily avoid a myriad of problems, dangers and evils for their child, and often find that they do not even need to discipline the child in any other manner, than by an admonition or a mild rebuke. Indeed, though as scripture says, "spare the rod, spoil the child", one finds that the rod of counsel and advice and a mild verbal correction is often more affective and lasting. Homes thus ruled rarely need corporal discipline, because communication nipped the problem in the bud from the start.

The Family Table is also the board room of the family. At it the Father and Mother discuss what is to be done that day, what the children need to do, and they in turn report on what they have done. Father and Mother inform one another where they will be during the day, and the children tell them what they have done and where they have done it (It is the mother to whom all should tell where they are going before they go there, so that at all times she knows the whereabouts of all, including her husband; but in a gentle sort of way, not by her demanding, but by all willingly informing her)

The Family Table is also the recreation room, because in the mutual exchange of little acts of charity in deed, food, and word, the family should grow about the table to have such love for one another, that their greatest joy naturally speaking is comming together about the table to be with one another. Thus it is important for the parents from the early years of their children to see that the mix of conversation at the table is encourging and edifying. They ought not discuss the problems of adults at table, until their children are mature. Nor of money or such issues of morality which are beyond children. Nor should they discuss their own sins of infidelity infront of the children. But they should always be ready to encourage them in their problems, to a life of virtue, prayer, good works, discipline, study, charity to all, etc.. And as it is often necessary to revive the human spirit, when it is fallen, with natural means, to be ready to tell an interesting story, relate a facisnating fact, or offer the child or children the opportunity to something of special interest, as is necessary for this.

Finally the Family table is a good place to teach the whole family to work together; because there the Mother works with her daughters to prepare the meals; the sons help in cleaning up after the meals. By the assignment of such regular simple tasks the parents can give the very first lessons, which will last a life time, about responsibility, duty, honesty and diligence in work, regularity at work, despite other interests or activities or relationships with friends. And by exempting the Father, from this work about the table, the Mother teaches the children to honor superiors, and that it is fitting that the Head of every society have privileges above the common member. She also shows her obedience and obeisance to her husband, and teaches the children in a very poignant manner thay they too should obey and serve their father. She also shows and teaches in this gratitude to the one who has earned what has purchased the food all partake of.

And thus the Family Table is, next to the Family Altar, the most important place for the Christian formation of the Family.

The Importance of a Library at Home

2006-07-28T02:56:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

Next to the Family Altar and the Family Table (which I will explain in tomorrow's post) the most important place in the Family Home, for formation, is the Family Library.

By "Family Library" I mean a place or room set aside for all the books belonging to the Family.

It is important to have a library at home, because it is essential to learning that the moment in which a question arises, that there be some means, ready at hand, by which the answer may be provided. And especially with children, who have not acquired the habit of prolonged attention and patience, a Family Library provides a ready access and safe means for their educcation, whether as part of a formal program of homeschoooling, private education, or even self education.

A Family LIbrary should ony have wholesomebooks, it goes without saying. First of all, one should have a copy of the Douay-Rheims Bible, whether in the original or Challonier editions. Then try to acquire a copy of the decress of the Ecumenical Councils of the Church, the Encyclicals of the pre-Vatican II Popes (because these are all edifying), th e Catechism of Trent, the major Catechism of St. Pius X, the Catechism of St. John Neumann, and if you can find it, the Catechism of St. Peter Canisius.

If you can find it and afford it, get a copy of the Summa of St. Thomas, and the City of God and the Confessions of St. Augustine, the Life of St. Anthony of the Desert by St. Athanasius, the Life of St. Martin of Tours by Sulpitious Severus, the Anti-Nice and Nicene Fathers (many of the major Fathers of the Church from 2nd to 8th centuries), and anything written by a Saint; the Little Flowers of St. Francis, and His Writings and Rule, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus, True Devotion to Mary by St. Loius Marie de Montfort, biographies of any Saint, especially, St. Margaret Mary Alaqoque, St. Clare, St. Teresa of Avila (an all of her writings), St. Teresa of Liseux's autobiography, St. John of the Cross (and all of his writings) St. Joan of Arc, St. Thomas More, St. Dominic, St. Bernard of Clarivaux, St. Benedict (and His Rule), plus any collection of the lives of the Saints and Martyrs, especially those which are organized on the basis of the Calendar.

Of course one should have copies of a missal so that each member of the family, when attending the Traditional Latin Mass can follow along, a copy other books in Latin as might help members of the family learn Latin, such as the Bible, books of prayes, the Raccolata, etc. Also books on the spiritual life, on morals and catholic upbringing, books of meditation on the 4 last things, and the like.

In addition religious books, do not neglect to have a copy of a good Encylopedia that covers secular matters, atlases of the world, and of economic or cultural information, histories of the Church and of the world, something on the history of science, the history of philosophy, something on the history of biology, economics, politics, some of the works of Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, some of the great works of classical literature, such as the Iliad, the Odessy, the Aneid, and some of the works of the great Catholic or morally upright authors of your native language and country. Finally some detailed histories of the country in which you live, especially on its foundation and the important persons involved in its establishement, or development through history. It is also good to have a geographical dictionary or gazeteer, and other such useful books as almanacs, thesuaruses, and dictionary of Latin and other major world and European Languages, such as Spanish, French, English, Italian, German, Portuguese, Greek, etc..

That Christ May Reign!

2006-07-27T13:37:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

There is a very informative article by Mr. Heiner on how the Masons pressured the Pope to suppress the Jesuits at

http://hprosepoetry.blogspot.com/2006/07/triumph-of-evil-freemasons-and.html

And another on Good Catholic Manners for young men, by Dr. Horvat, at

http://www.traditioninaction.org/Cultural/A013cpManualCivility_Intro.htm

The Bribe of Community and Prosperity

2006-07-26T03:23:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

The chief Masonic tactic in the overthrow of the Church and of the Social Reign of Jesus Christ, in the establishment of the Reign of the Antichrist to come, is a twofold offer of community and prosperity, under conditions of accepting their Novus Ordo Saeculorum.

The Masons, whose established doctrine is to work on both sides of every dispute, so as always to dominate both sides and always be on the winning side, seeks always to establish the conditions without which there can be no solution except their own.

We see this in contemporary politics, when the US Secretary of State, in Jerusalem yesterday, stood alongside the Foreign Minister of Israel, and boldly proclaimed that the problem with the Mideast is one of those who oppose democracy and those who promote it, and that such a response as Israel has undertaken, is necessary to preserve democracy.

But the problem is not that at all. The problem is that both sides reject the Social Reign of Jesus Christ, because, fundamentally they reject the religion of Christ, and that therefore they are both doomed to be enslaved by the Prince of this world in internecine conflicts, injustices, hatreds, racisms, and are incapable of forgiveness and true reconciliation, which come only from Jesus Christ and the power of faith in His Divine Name.

We see this also in the strategy of overthrowing the last vestiges of Christendom in Europe. You cannot share in the wonderful bounty promised by the new Europe without belonging to the EU, they say: however, there is one catch: you cannot belong to the EU unless you reject not only the Social Reign of Jesus Christ, but any vestige of Christian morals, or objective natural moral standards.

We see this also in the logic of the American Experiment. A close study of the American Revolution shows that there was no major injustice which sparked the Revolution. There was however a very great desire, however, on the part of the revolutionaries to establish a liberal state, which rejected a fortiori the Social Reign of Jesus Christ and the claims of the Catholic Church. However, under the guise of promising the freedom which would lead to prosperity and progress, participants in the American experiment had to accept the principles of a liberal democracy and reject any notion of a return to a Catholic confessional state.

Lately there have been reports of a joint commission established by the leaders of the USA, Mexico and Canada to work toward establishment of one Country in North America; no doubt the condition will be to accept the lowest common denominator, an even more liberal version of "democracy", ala Canada, or worse: because the Masons recognize that the predominate Catholic population of the Continent poses a real threat to their Order, and that it must be circumvented and intricated in a legal form that will prevent any influence of Catholic principles in public life.

A word to the wise: we Catholics must work in diametrically opposite direction toward the establishment of a Catholic Confessional state, and in opposition to the establishment of international agreements founded upon Masonic principles.

We must also reject the logic that says that those Masonic pacts which have already been agreed to must be observed as a precondition for participation in public life.

And we must also reject the logic which says that we cannot work lawfully and morally toward the establishment of new forms of government based on old Catholic ideas, even if this means an end to the modern liberal democracy.

The Catholic Family: Some Basic Must Do's

2006-07-25T03:45:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

Every aspect of our lives should be lived and well ordered under the banner of Christ the King. First of all, family life: and so, from time to time, I will post something about how to form and instill a true Catholic spirit in the Familiy and how to see that family prosper spiritually under the banner of Christ. For the first installment in this series, I will discuss some basic rules or must do's for family life.

1. The head of the Household, the father, along with his wife, must keep all the 10 Commandments, and give good example to the children; they should see that the Family attends the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass each Sunday, even during vacations, and frequents the sacraments worthily, as much as they can do this.

2. The Father must see that his authority is always at the service of Christ, to promote justice, virtue, and honest living, tempering severity at times (not always) with mercy. Doing all to promote virtue in others and in himself.

3. The Mother must see that her authority is always at the service of Christ, through her husband, to promote the same and act likewise. She should especially encourage all members to practice the virtues of forgiveness, charity, and repentence.

4. Consequently, there must be removed from the home all that is contrary to Christ's law and Gospel: pornography, heretical books, immodest publications, posters, anything that advocates values or ideas contrary to the Social Reign of Jesus Christ.

5. In addition, there must be removed from the behavior of all -- and all should be encouraged to persevere in doing this -- all bad habits to the contrary.

6. To cap this effort off and promote its sucess, there must be removed from the home, all occasions of grave sin and all occasions which are the situations in which any member of the family might habitually fall into sin. This may require the removal from the home even things which in themselvs are legitimate, such as liquor, wine, secular publications or printed media, music, certain foods, medicines, supplements, or even amenities such a wall mirrors, certain apparati for bathing and hygiene, certain forms of transportation, furniture, clothing, etc. etc..

7. In the spiritual order, "the Family that prays together, stays together" is a good axiom, taught by Father Peyton. There should be a daily rosary, and when the children are old enough to take responsibility, their attendence should not be obligatory, but should be invariably expected, with this matter especially explained to them for spiritual reasons, not just because the family does it. Each member of the family should be encouraged and admonished about the necessity of private silent prayer, and the whole family should conduct itself in such a manner as to allow each member some silent, quite and private time each day to do this.

8. On the natural level, the mother should prepare 3 meals daily for all the members of the family, and see to it that no one develops a desire to each too much, or too little, or for the wrong reasons.

9. The Father should see that his sons have a Christian view and practice of manhood. He should see especially that they are not too attached to sports, cars, competition, athletic performance; that they dress modestly, even in the heat of summertime, that they avoid the pagan persuits of weightlifting, public bathing, getting drunk, taking drugs or sport enhancements, dancing and dating, and listening to unbecomming secular music and any pagan music.

10. The Mother should see that her daughters have a Christian view and practice of womanhood. She should see especially that they are not too attached to their looks, to fine clothing, to idleness or idle talk, to the vain fashions of the world; that they avoid the pagan persuits of acting like men, or of public bathing, getting drunk, taking drugs, dating, and dancing, or of listenting to unbecomming secular music or any pagan music.

11. Both father and mother should give, in particular, a good example against the spirit of avarice of our age, which poses as capitalism. They should teach and raise their children, before they are adults, to hold all things in common, just as husband and wife, they should hold all things in common, in as much as this is possible. Thus they should not give as presents to their children, excepting those things which are truly personal such as clothing, etc., such gifts which make one child feel more important or loved than the other. This is especially true at Christmas and birthdays. Let the children regard and respect what their siblings use as if it is their own, asking permission for its every use, but let no child consider what he uses so exclusively his own, as to demand anything for himself as his own. The parents should not give their children an allowance, nor pay them to do any household chore. If they work at the family business, they should be payed equally to any other worker of similar talent and capability, but as minors, if this be the case, their pay should go to an account which is dedicated to their future educational expenses. Children should be taught not to sell or buy anything from their siblings, but freely give and allow the use of whateve they have. And all the children should consider the toys, furniture, and other appliances of the home, just as much the property of one as of the other. If one child borrows money from another, it should be without interest, and the entire family should be raised to be responsible with money, with financial transactions, and be trustworthy in the payment of debts. In all this the example of the parents in their public life will be the most solid foundation of such and education.

12. The Father and Mother must teach their children catechism, and provide them with good spiritual books, written by the Saints; they should promote reading of such, and anything that promotes a solid, sound, catholic education. If they are college educated, they should homeschool their children. If their is a sound catholic school locally, and they can afford it, they should send their children there if they cannot home school. And they should make every sacrifice to see that their children are college educated, and are prepared to found sound catholic families themselves, or becomes priests and/or religious, encouraging such vocations. There should be a common family library, which promotes all these goals and values.

Practical Virtues for the Kingdom: Humilitas

2006-07-24T14:25:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

From time to time I will post an article on the virtues and vices. For the second installment, here is an article on Humilitas, the virtue which inclines us to regard ourselves truthfully, without which we cannot be good citizens of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in this world, nor merit entrance to the Eternal Kindom on High.

St. Thomas teaches that since sins are to be punished, not the habit of sin, it is possible for someone to get to purgatory with some vices, even though his soul is clean of all mortal sins.

However, it is also said, that while no one goes to Hell without the vice of impurity, no one can get into Heaven without the virtue of humility.

Humility is much underated, because if you understood what it was, and desired it duely, you would be one of those rare human persons, a saint on earth.

It behooves, us therefore, to strive to understand it better, because while every sin begins with error in the mind, according to St. Thomas, consequently, every virtue begins with truth in the mind.

I find it somewhat disconcerting that there is so little written about such a great virtue, as humility.

Humility, upon reflection, is found to be one of the greatest moral virtues. It is required even prior to justification, becuase, while the grace which makes us holy, the first grace, that of justification, is God's gift, no one could receive grace without a concommitant humility, to accept that gift of God which makes us His loyal and true subject.

I say prior to justification, in the moral order, because, simply speaking, there is no cooperation, and hence no act of virtue which merits justification, only those acts like humility, penance and charity, and the virtues, which dispose one to it.

The whole order of grace, the whole order of Mercy, the whole supranatural order, the entire Catholic Religion comes to us, therefore, via and with humility.

And without such humility, there is no salvation, no Church, no true religion.

Humility therefore is a great, very great virtue.

And since, according to the Scholastic axion, "that whereby a thing comes into being, is a principle whereby it grows to perfection", humility is a key virtue for our own santification. And since this is true for the individual, it is aslo true for the entire Catholic community of the faithful, dispersed throughout the world.

It is often, almost tritely said, that humilty is "self knowledge", or "knowing yourself as you truly are"; but there is a great deficiency in these definitions, in that they suppose an understanding of what we true are is. If you recognize that you are a human being, a Catholic, and have some faults, is that humility?

Humility, however, is not an intellectual virtue per se, but a moral virtue, whereby the will regards the entire human person of which it is, and every aspect of that which belongs to that person or comes forth from him.

And hence humility is not knowledge, but is based on knowledge.

But humility is a certain door to knowledge, because "God gives grace to the humble, but the proud man He resists", as it says in Scripture.

And since grace is an illumination, because by grace we not only grow in Faith but in the intellectual virtues, which clarify our understanding, comprehension, capacity to understand spiritual things, and even temporal things, in the light of spiritual ones, humility is a door to knowledge, in that by acts of humility, we can merit an increase of this grace which illumines.

Humility is a certain practice of knowing also: because just as humility, as a moral virtue, induces the will to regard ourselves as we truly are, it disposes the will to the quest for such right knowledge. This kind of knowledge is not that which is given by grace, nor that which is partly given and partly merited, which is a better understanding of spiritual things, but one which is wholly merited, in the sense that with the grace to do so, one obtains it only if one posits certain specific acts, which open up a hidden path to knowledge.

Now I am not speaking of a gnostic knowledge, nor of a properly mystical one, as of which St. John of the Cross speaks in the Ascent of Mout Carmel, but of an acquired knowledge of one's self.

This acquired knowledge of what one truly is, is the best guage of progress in humility: for though a humble man indeed will deny he is humble, he will not deny that he is at fault, sinful, or vicious, when he is such.

This kind of acquired knowledge, which humility alone obtains, is not so special or rarified as to be unaccessible to every Catholic. We obtain it in a good examination of conscience, in a good practice of regular confession, whereby we obtain the habit of looking at our selves in the light of grace.

But some theological reflection or meditation on our self is also required, and this is something we can add to our regular prayer schedule.

We should regularly consider each of the following:

1) That in comparison to God we are nothing. We should especially and specifically consider God's Eternity, Immutability and Constancy, His Omnipotence, Omniscence, Justice, Truthfulness, etc. in comparison with ourselves, to understand better how it is that even if we are holy we are mortal, limited, inconstant, changeable, powerless, ignorante, not so inclined to justice, to truthfullness, or to any other virtue.

2) That in comparison to the the Angels, the Holy Angels and the Devils, we are nothing. That they are more powerful, more intelligent, swifter, more perceptive, more knowledgeable, more talented, more able to learn, to see the truth, that anything we ever can be or can hope to be.

3) That in comparison to the Saints, we are nothing. That they were and are more faithful, hopeful, charitable, prudent, intelligent, understanding, wise, just, temperate, morally strong, humble, honest, etc. than ourselves, and anything we can every hope to be in our vanity.

4) That in comparison to Creation, we are nothing. Because while the Earth, Moon, and Sun, and all other non-rational creatures never offend God and never can offend God, and never will offend God, we have so much, so so much offended Him.

5) That in comparison to what Christ and Mary have done for us, what the Saints have done for us, and what the Church and good popes, bishops, priests, religious, and laymen, have done for us, we are as nothing.

6) That in comparison to what we own our parents, our siblings, all our other relations and friends, neigbors or coworkers, employers, have done for us, we are nothing.

7) That in comparison to what God want of us, and calls us to, we are as nothing.

Collaboration without Comprimise

2006-07-23T03:51:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

It is an ancient Axiom of our Faith, that we are to be "in the world but not of the world" [in mundo, sed non mundi], and yet of the spiritual life, the endeavor from Ancient times among Catholic Religious was "to flee the world" [fuga a saeculo].

What do these traditional axioms mean? And how are we Catholics to live them today? I will speak about the first axiom, here.

In the world, but not of the world.

Unlike the Gnostics, those early heretics who believed salvation came solely through the acquisition of knowledge, and that all things material were evil, our Holy Catholic Faith has always taught that God, our Lord and Master, is the Creator of both the corporeal and spiritual reality. Thus as He is Lord of both body and soul, of this creation and of that transcends all history, He is to be served faithfully, both in the flesh and in the spirit.

"To be in the world", then means that we Catholics are not to live as if the world did not exist, with our hearts closed to the needs of our neighbors, believing that we can neglect or do evil to or with our bodies, or those bodies of others, or with material goods, as if these pertained in no manner to the faithful service of Jesus Christ. Rather, we are to live, mindful that everything we do and think, every action of our souls and bodies, must come under and be faithful to the Law of Jesus Christ, the Gospel, and His Teaching, which perdures in the Church.

"But not of the world", because though we recognize God as Creator and Lord of both the material and spiritual creation, we adore and worship Him also as Our Eternal Redeemer, who has ransomed us from the eternal damnation we each are due on account of the transgression of Adam, long ago.

And hence we must not be "of the world", that is, not be one of those who accepts and lives by the carnal desires, customs, opinions, laws, dreams, which arise from the disorder introduced by Original Sin. Having being liberated from this in Baptism, we must persevere not only in Grace, but in that constant state of spirit and mind, which takes such a true liberty as the rule of all our actions, seeking always the Kingdom of God in Heaven, while serving in the Church Militant here below.

And hence this ancient, traditional axiom: "In the world, and not of the world", means nothing else than that we should, while "working out our salvation with fear" of offending God, and " with trembling", knowing that of ourselves we are nothing, full of weakness, seek ever to live as faithful subjects of Christ Our King, and thus work for the upbuilding of His Kingdom.

Now Christ's Kingdom is not of this world, as He Himself said before the tribunal of Pontius Pilate. However, some of Christ's subjects are in this world, and they are already citizens of that Eternal Kingdom, and hence, in this world, the Kingdom of Christ is a sort of ex-archy, that is a little portion of the Fatherland that is overseas, yet still ruled as part of the Kingdom.

Now this exarchy of the Eternal Kingdom, is called the Church Militant, and the King's viceregeant here is His Vicar, the Roman Pontiff. And He speaks to us through His Vicar, when the Vicar speaks officially and solemnly. Thus we hear the true Voice of Christ in the infallible Ecumencial Councils and in the infallible Decrees of the Roman Pontiff, and show Our Lord true fidelity in obeying the legitimate decrees of the Roman Pontiff in all other matters.

But though the Roman Pontiff is Christ's Vicar here, He has not entrusted to him all authority, but only that over the Church, in which capacity he holds authority of judgement over all civil states, but not that of governance. Christ entrusts the civil governance of most of the world (For the Pope too can legitimately be a civil ruler) to others, whether clergy, religious or laymen.

Today, most civil authority is exercized by laymen, and in most states today, that means in a secular state, governed by the principles of indifferentism.

So there arises a very important question regarding the participation of Catholics in public life: when can we collaborate without comprimise?

Certainly, since there are very many ways in which a human person participates in civil life, there are many different specific questions and answers, which cannot be answered in a single post, or briefly.

But some general principles can be given.

Participation is possible, but it must be limited, because, when the Social Reign of Jesus Christ does not exist fully in a state, as least in accord with Christian morals and a Christian concept of right and justice, unlimited participation cannot be morally licit, because it would require that the Christian accept the immoral or unjust principles of the state.

However, a complete separatism is also not licit, because by nature, evern member of a state shares in some manner in the responsibilty for the state and has some duties toward the common good.

St. Padre Pio gave a good example in this: voting against the communists in every election, even when there were no non-communists on the ballot. Though he was of such great sanctity, that he was granted by the Lord a share in every charismatic gift and grace, nevertheless, he did not live in complete separation from the civil order.

However, we must understand that though unlimited participation is illicit and compelte seperation is illicit, it is morally right and upright, holy and virtuous, for the Catholic to refuse some participation and practice some sort of separation.

And if we are living our Faith truly and actually, then on a daily basis we will in every action that regards participation in the civil society, in some manner refuse to participate somewhat and practice some sort of separation, even while we participate in some manner, and collaborate without comprimise somewhat.

While the modern liberal democracy slides toward the Orwellian State, or rather, the political order of the Antichrist, Catholics can legitimately participate and do so best, when they strive to obstruct the transmogrification of the modern democratic state, and they legitimately separate and refuse collaboration, when personally or collectively they refuse the Masonic agenda.

If Catholics today only separated themselves, and did not participate, the modern state would become all the quicker the Orwellian State. However, if Catholics only participated and did not separate themselves to some degree, the same would occur. Hence there is a sort of political sobriety required for the Social Reign of Jesus Christ.

There is some good in every liberal modern democracy, in both the political order and the social order: but that is not to say that it is all good. If Catholics can use political institutions to alter the very nature of the political order to a more Christian version, they should act accordingly and in concert. If the state is irreparible, and is falling apart, then if Catholics have the resources they should act decisively to establish subsidiary structures, which can substitute for the state and replace it when it fails.

But always acting honestly and uprightly both in participating and in refusing participation, we Catholics can win over our neighbor the the Religion of Jesus Christ, for by such we show true public charity, and it is by charity that all shall know whether we are or are not the true servants of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as Our Lord said: "by your love for one another, they shall know you to be My disciples".

Practical Virtues for the Kingdom: Honestas

2006-07-22T03:34:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

From time to time I will post an article on the virtues and vices. For the first installment, here is an article on Honestas, the virtue which inclines us to moral integrity and spiritual nobility, without which all our acts and intentions are fruitless, and with which all our acts and intentions contribute to the Social Reign of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and everlasting Redeemer.

Honesty

Honesty, the Latin virtue honestas.

I. The English word “honesty” is derived from the Latin, honestas: high character, right action; that quality of character that induces one to seek what is worthy of praise.

But it is important to note, that honestas, is not what the world calls “being honest”: being sincere, transparent, straightforward. These are a certain form of outward consistency of life, which good or evil men both can have, wherein a person is who he claims to be, and lives according to the values he advocates. These are not true form of honesty, for even a dog or monkey has this sort of honesty.

II. Honesty, true honesty, rather is a virtue, a quality of the soul. Though there are many virtues, yet, all virtue is one in the soul, because the soul has not parts, and is a simple, individual spiritual being.

So what we call many virtues are each, as is were, one aspect of the whole spiritual perfection of man, one point of view, according to which we can understand the sum total of virtue in the soul of a man.

But specifically, what is honesty?

St. Thomas defines honesty, as that virtue which moderates according to reason all that is connected with man. Wherefore St. Dionysius says that "honesty is the same as spiritual beauty." And St. Augustine echoes this, saying: "By honesty I mean intelligible beauty, which we properly designate as spiritual”. And therefore, honesty, the virtue, touches upon and perfects, when present every aspect of man’s life. Honesty is the beauty of character that we can understand, rather than the beauty of art which we can see or hear, or of cuisine, which we can taste.

Honesty, in thinking.

I. As St. Thomas says, every sin begins with error in the mind. Hence, every virtue in practice begins with virtue in the mind, which is the apprehension of the truth. Furthermore, the Angelic Doctor says that, “A thing is said to be honest, if it is desired for its own sake by the rational appetite, which tends to that which is in accordance with reason”. Hence, since our intellect in thinking desires only the truth for its own sake, honesty in thinking is found in assenting to the truth, seeking to understand the truth, contemplating the truth when found and holding fast to the truth by refuting all falsehoods opposed to the truth. Such a mind, and only such a mind is a beautiful mind: all the others are perverse, disordered, in a word dishonest. And hence an honest mind is a chaste mind, a mind devoted to Faith in Christ, to the teachings of the Church, and which eschews the specious prattle of the world.

And so St. Thomas says, “For this reason honesty consists radically in the internal choice, but its expression lies in the external conduct.”

Honesty, in speaking.

I. It follows that since honesty in thinking is humility in the face of truth, zeal in the pursuit of truth, and a determined, tenacious loyalty to the truth, then honesty in speaking must reflect all these. An honest man in speaking, therefore, never lies, never tells a falsehood, is willing to speak the truth, unashamedly, and speaks to understand and know the truth; he makes no false promises, keeps his word, and never speaks to do evil. He is not intentionally equivocal. The honest man, then in speech, is the truthful man, in whose mouth is found nothing unseemly, silly, foul or perverse.

Our Lord teaches us about honesty in speaking, when He lays down this rule: “Let your yes be yes and your no, no, anything more comes from the Evil One”.

Honesty, in work.

I. By work, I mean action: all our exterior behavior. But work, properly speaking, since it is the chief means of improving ourselves and supporting ourselves, is as it were the focus of our activity. In our actions, then honesty is found in the perfection of the moral virtues, which govern all our behavior.

II. First, honesty is conducive to temperance: because, as St. Thomas says, that since “the disgraceful is opposed to the beautiful”, and honesty is “spiritual beauty”, honesty is made manifest first in temperance, since temperance “repels that which is most disgraceful and unbecoming to man, namely animal lusts.” Thus, the temperate man is the honest man, because, he who resists what is more shameful, is more honest.

III. But honesty is greater in the virtues of justice and fortitude, because by these one works greater things, than by temperance.

By justice we render to each what belongs to each, to God, what belongs to God, and to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. It is honest then to obey, propose, approve, enact, uphold and enforce, just civil laws, and dishonest to propose, approve, enact, uphold and enforce unjust laws. And the greater the effort or opposition to goodness and justice, the greater the honesty of the man who by his fortitude defends goodness and justice, in himself, and in others.

Honesty in fulfillment of ones duties.

I. Because honesty leads us to think uprightly, speak truthfully, and work with temperance, justice and fortitude, the honest man is the one who fulfills his duties with fidelity. And this is no small thing: because since we enter this world with nothing and leave this world with only our immortal soul, the true riches and nobility and character of a man lie in the virtues he practices in this life and which alone he takes with him when he leaves it. Hence it is that honesty is the greatest benefit to every individual. By it we merit to stand before the judgment seat of Christ prepared to be found worthy of everlasting life, of the eternal, most satisfying, most enlightening, most gratifying, most splendid, most rich, most wonderful, Beatific Vision of God. And Our Lord urges us to such an honest life and honest destiny, saying, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God”: this is the reward of the honest man. And for those who are faithfully honest, God rewards them even in this life, as He says, “And My Father and I shall come to him, and make our abode in him, and reveal ourselves to him.”

Honesty in a Religious.

I. Now the most honest profession, is that which aims at the most upright and noble work. And since honesty is the spiritual perfection of a man, that life which seeks spiritual perfection, truly, zealously, firmly, daily, without compromise, is the most honest profession.

II. Now the profession that does all this, is the religious state. The Catholic Religious, by his or her vows of poverty, chastity, obedience puts into practice the evangelical counsels taught by Our Lord Jesus Christ in the pursuit of Christian spiritual perfection, which is the only actual, real kind of perfection. Thus the faithful Religious is the most honest of men.

II. But this state requires that one keep ones vows for the purpose they were intended. Thus a Catholic Religious who does not keep his vows, or who does so, not for the sake of seeking the perfection of charity, fails greatly. Indeed, just as it is the most honest thing to undertake the most honest profession for the most honest reasons and motives, so it is the most dishonest thing to undertake the most honest profession for dishonest reasons and motives.

III. And this is why, when a religious institute, a convent or a monastery, falls away from Jesus Christ, in such a way that it cannot be led back to Him, then the only honest thing left for the faithful Religious therein, is to leave, and found a new institute, convent, or monastery, or even live out the rest of their religious life on their own: seeking always the perfection of the virtues taught by Our Most High Lord, Jesus Christ.

Honesty in a Priest

I. I mentioned how there is nothing more dishonest than to do something honest for dishonest motives. This is no more true than in the Catholic Priesthood. Alas, though in years past nearly every priest was a shining example of honestly, integrity, and fidelity to Jesus Christ, an undeniable, spiritual disintegration has occurred in the last 50 years; so much so, that being an honest man is the condition of character that will guarantee in most Dioceses throughout the world that you will not be accepted as a candidate for the priesthood.

II. But a priest, more than anyone else, ought to be a honest man; and the priesthood is the profession which more than any else demands and requires honest men. Because the Catholic Priest alone is the ambassador of God, the minister of the Lord of Hosts, who is the All Pure God of Israel. Since God is most honest, He abhors all dishonesty; and since there is no greater offense to a Lord than to impose upon Him in His presence with that which most displeases him, there is no greater offense to God than that a dishonest man serve Him as His priest.

II. The honesty of a priest requires that he is always in the state of grace, always pure, always chaste, always faithful, always a man devoted to Christ, accepting and approving and believing all that the infallible Magisterium of the Church teaches, all that Scripture teaches, all that Tradition hands down. He must be devoted to Christ’s Immaculate Mother, and an ardent disciple and devotee of Christ’s Saints. He must be zealous in representing God, of seeking the conversion of sinners and the salvation of all souls by their conversion to the Catholic Faith, and their sanctification in the practice of every virtue. In a word, he must be a minister of honesty.

Honesty in a Bishop

I. The root cause, however, of the decline of Catholicism in the last half century, is without doubt the decline of the character of men, elevated to the Episcopacy. If a Priest is to be a minister of honesty, then a Bishop, obviously, should be a high-priest of honesty. One who studies the honesty of Christ, worships the honesty of Christ, and who seeks to impart to all, the honesty of Christ.

II. It follows then that a Bishop betrays his profession if he tolerates dishonesty. Indeed, St. Alphonsus dei Liguori, who wrote a whole treatise on the virtues necessary in the Priest and Bishop, said that a Bishop must be first of all a police-man. The Church as we know has, in comparison with the modern state, almost no internal system for the prosecution and punishment of criminals. For this reason a Bishop must be vigilant and rule, correct, punish, and govern his priests who are dishonest. At the same time, he must promote honesty, by encouraging his priests in all that is honest. A Bishop, who does the opposite, is the worst of criminals; and he should either repent or resign.

Honesty in a Cardinal

I. Cardinals too, must be honest, men: exceptionally honest men, since it is their duty to share with the Roman Pontiff, the Successor of St. Peter, the Vicar of Christ, the weighty burden of the government of the entire Church. Thus, if a Cardinal is anything less, that a most zealous, honest man; he is failing greatly in the prerequisite of his state. It used to be said, that a Cardinal must be willing to shed his blood rather than offend Christ. Alas, today, we too infrequently hear of even such a zeal in a Cardinal.

II. But Cardinals must be honest men, especially because upon them, and them alone, weighs the awesome burden of electing the Successor of St. Peter in conclave. Since no one but an honest man is worthy to be a priest, bishop or Cardinal, how much more honest ought be that man who is elevated to the throne of St. Peter? A Cardinal must be mindful of this, and only support a truly honest candidate, who is willing to guard Scripture, Tradition and all that pertains to the infallible Magisterium of the Church.

III. Like priests and bishops, a Cardinal must have a very precise and clear recognition of the difference between politics and religion, between carnal prudence and heavenly, Christian prudence. He must promote the government of the Church according to Christian prudence, and root out and oppose all carnal, devilish prudence.

Honesty in a Pope.

I. Another striking comment by St. Alphonsus dei Liguori, was that the road to Hell was paved with the skulls of Bishops. He said this because so weighty and pressing are the duties of a Bishop, that unless he lived and acted and prayed and thought with the zeal and integrity of a Saint, he would surely so greatly fail in his duties that he would merit his own damnation. For this reason St. Alphonsus, who was himself a Bishop, said that he presumed that all those bishops, who were not Saints, were damned. He likewise said, that any Pope who was not canonized or martyred, he presumed was damned.

II. The reason for this is that literally, actually, and most amazingly, the salvation or damnation of millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, nay billions and of the entire human race depends in a unique manner on the character of the Roman Pontiff. This is not because the Pope is our savior, Christ alone is that, nor our God, the Most Holy Trinity is that, nor the principle cause of our salvation, Christ alone is that. But because it is upon his actions, or lack of actions, that the course of history, the course of the growth or decline of the Church depends in a unique manner.

III. A pope then must be a most honest man. If he is a coward, he cannot be honest; if he distains the perennial teaching or ecclesiastical traditions of the Church, he cannot be honest. If he puts politics in the Church or in the world ahead of the salvation of souls, or confounds the one with the other, he cannot be honest. If he tolerate the immorality of the bishops or the clergy, or the religious, he cannot be honest. He must above all be a watchguard, a prosecutor, because there exists no authority in the Church world wide to punish wrongdoers, evildoers, unbelievers in the cloth, except the Pope. A pope therefore who for the sake of popularity, or of being well thought of by all the clergy, eschews his duty to correct, as well as to speak bravely, cannot be honest, cannot be a candidate for holiness. Because no saint is a coward, no saint is a dishonest man.

Obtaining Honesty

I. We cannot be honest by our own efforts alone; we must turn to Jesus Christ who is the cause of every virtue. But we can obtain honesty by walking along the past of honesty. This path begins with an honest appraisal of our own dishonesty; an honest distain of the dishonesty in ourselves; an honest resolution to confess our sins to a Catholic priest, and an honest and good confession actually made; then it progresses to the honest and practical recognition that without the worthy reception of the Sacraments we cannot be honest nor grow in honesty. We need then to honesty set aside time for personal private prayer, honestly examine our conscience daily, to understand what our vices are, especially our principal vice, that keeps reoccurring; we must honestly examine the occasions in which we sin, and we must honestly take firm and irrevocable steps to remove ourselves from such occasions. We must study the lives of the honest, of the Saints, and devout ourselves to their imitation. We must love honesty and all who are honest, especially the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, Her most chaste Spouse. We must in a word, submit and embrace without reserve the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Honesty, keeping always in mind the great reward of honesty:

“Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God”.

From Faith to Action

2006-07-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

That Christ May Reign!

In his recent commentary on President Bush's veto of stem-cell research, Dr. Drolesky concludes one of his many fine analyses of the current political order, with these comments.

Our political system has revealed itself over the course of time to be unreasonable and unjust in that it is founded in the belief that men persevere in virtue on their own powers without recourse to Sanctifying Grace and that men can pursue the common good without submitting themselves in every aspect of their lives, both personal and social, to the Deposit of Faith that Our Lord has entrusted solely to the Catholic Church. Yes, the Church can adapt herself to any specific institutional arrangement that men may consider appropriate for a given country. Granted. Such institutional arrangements must be premised upon an acceptance of the true Faith as the foundation of personal and social order. The Modern State, worshiping at the altar of religious indifferentism and cultural pluralism, has shown itself to be incapable of retarding evils. Indeed, it is the propagator of one the worst evils imaginable: that the state can be without the true God. And this Modern State is the one regarded so highly by Benedict XVI and his fellow conciliarists.

It is thus important to realize that specific policy proposals, especially those offered in election years, are designed to do one thing: raise money and win votes. Do not get lost in the "trees" of these proposals. While we must seek the good of our country as best we can, we must understand that the best way we can seek the good of the United States of America is to plant the seeds, one day at a time, for its Catholicization. We can do this by devotion to assisting exclusively at the Immemorial Mass of Tradition, by our prayers before the Blessed Sacrament, by our Total Consecration to Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart and offering her as many Rosaries as we can as our states-in-life permit, by our frequent use of the Sacred Tribunal of Penance, by our learning more about the lives of the saints (and reading about the saints to our children; children need to hear about the lives of the saints, not to be immersed in fairy tales or comics or such things; saints, my friends, saints, their stories are more fascinating than any work of fiction), by our fleeing from this culture of eternal death and seeking to Catholicize every aspect of our own lives. In brief, by our pursuit of sanctity.

As a Franciscan Religious I can not agree more. First of all, if we want to contribute to the establishment of the Social Reign of Christ, we must understand that it is our personal collaboration in our own salvation and that of our families and our neighbors that matters most, and that this is done by being faithful to Christ.

However, we must not be fideists, who believe that it is given to all to work merely by prayer or private endeavors. Some of us must work and do so in the public.

So from this Faith which is eternal, some of must make a move to something practical here and now.

And so to continue with what I said in my previous post, we have to do what we can to establish truly catholic institutions, both educational, cultural, economic, political, etc.., if we are to see the establishment of Christ's reign among men.

And hence it necessary for the whole Church and world that some Catholics take the initiative in every sector of life.

And since we are on the Internet, we should not neglect taling about how to catholicize the internet.

One pratical way is to refuse all secular advertizement at sites which are Catholic and run by Catholics. There should be a Catholic advertisement adjency to replace such things as "Ads by Google" and banner ads, to ensure only products and services compatible with the Faith are given billing. There is nothing so distasteful, e.g., than an add regarding lists of sexual perverts among the clergy, popping up on a blog about the Faith. Google.com does this to break down the faith of those reading catholics sites. And we play into the Masons by accepting such adds.

Also there ought to be a truly catholic internet provider with server side filtering. Presently the most trustworthy company with server side filtering is a Protestant one. Where are the Catholics?

Also there ough to be a truly catholic search engine, which avoids entirely illicit and imoral sites, and guarantees catholics can search the web without having their faith and morals comprimised.

But moving on to the real world.

Where are all those Catholic Banks and Credit Unions? The Catholic daily papers? Where are the Catholic businesses, which are unashamed to publically display an image of Christ, or of the Blessed Virgin?

Where are the Catholic professional societies, which are not infiltrated by modernists?

Where are the Catholic clubs, confraternities etc.?

There was a time we could trust that the Diocese would sponsor these. For most places in the West, however, the Diocese has become the sponsor of the Masonic institutions, which promote immorality of every kind.

Where are the Catholic foundations to promote such endeavors as the establishment of the Social Reign of Christ?

This is not to say that there ought not be a restorarion of seminaries, religious orders, monasteries and convents, by religious and clergy. But, there is much to be done by the laity, which is proper to the laity, and which is not being done, because too many have accepted the philosophy of get alone to go along, and live in the secular State as if the secular State was the only form of social order.

The Orwellian Transmogrification

2006-07-20T04:38:00.000-07:00

"Transmogrification" is the act whereby the nature of a thing is corrupted into another nature, by some malign force.

Orwell, is the famous author of the Novel "1984".

In that novel there is a two diametrically opposed societies: one totalitarian, one libertarian; one based on political correctness, the other on sensuality. Orwell's novel is generally seen as a warning against the totalitarian regimes of the early 1930's, but in fact it is a thought experiment about how to transform the modern liberal democratic state.

One omnimous indication of this is that in the Novel, the totalitarian state lauds the invention of the concept of the "thought crime", as one of the principle legal advancesments of the 20th century, which lead to the development of itself.

But Orwell's novel is prophetic, not beccause of some supernatural grace or gift, but precisely because he is a spokesman for that transformation. For by opposing a Cartesian state, in which the body must be completely subservient to reason, dictated by the State, in some sort of fulfillment of Plato's aspirations, as stated in his Republic, to a Sentimentalist society of free thinkers, who see the ephemeral experience of the sense as the good of man, freed from all moral constraint, he establishes a false dichotomy which opposes the Christian Order in two ways.

First by omitting, and thus, effectively censoring, the existence of the Christian solution to civil organization. Second by attempting to win over the reader to the Sentimentalist society's principles of social order.

Today, in the West, we see the principlef of this false dialectic of Orwell, manifested in the modern development toward a liberal totalitarian dictatorship, out of the liberal democratic state.

This false dialectic is the principle tool of the Masons and their mass media outlets. First they characterize the opposition with negative terms, then they advocate immorality as a right, and dictate the terms of the debate, by demanding that their oppoents prove their gratuitous assertions are wrong, their false rights, unjust, etc.. Since the modern liberal democracy has no true representation of the people by the people, but of the parties by the parties, every representative in government is beholded to the agenda's of the parties, which are merely public organs for the unseen Masonic order. These public organs always will act, as much as possibile, as if they are democratic, but in regard to anything the Masonic Lodge wants as a sine qua non, all pretense to democracy will be brushed aside.

We see this game being played in the EU and in the USA. In the EU, in the name of economic progress and peace, there was created a new political order, centered on the European Parliment, wherein those who do not represent the governments of each member state, are elected by so called popular vote in each region of each member state. However, since no candidate can become known, and since only Masonic corporations or those funded by them can own and control media outlets, only Masonic candidates are generally elected to the European Parliment. This parliment has dictated new moral laws for the EU and wants to adopt a constitution which will relegate the Christian roots of Europe to oblivion. It has forced the acceptance of sodomy upon all member states and threatened those members which refuse (e.g. Malta, Slovakia, Lithuania, Estonia etc..).

In the USA, in states like Massachusetts, we see the dictatorial imposition of sodomitic unions by the Commonwealth's Superior General Court. This court imposed a novel interpretation upon the Constitution, and established that their opinion was valid, unless the constitution is amended. Note, they dictate, but the people must petition a modification of the constitution, to defend from this dictate. When the people, in accord with their right to amend the constitution of the Commonwealth have twice petitioned for the opportunity to vote on such a constitutional amendment, the State Legislature refused to allow its own members to vote to approve the measure (even though the necessary votes where present for its approval); it did this in direct violation of the Constitution, which requires the Legislature to allow the vote.

Thus MA is left with a de facto dictatorship. It no longer matters if you seek to act in accord with the State constitution; that does not matter any more. What matters is that the Liberal forces dictate what you are to think and what laws you are to observe. Everything else is merely facade. These same Liberal Forces have also ignored constitutionally valid votes by the people to recind tax increases. The Governor and Supreme General Court have ignored this too, saying basically that they are powerless to act otherwise.

Finally, at least in MA, if you run for office opposing either the Democrats or Republicans who want this Orwellian Revolution, you will receive death threats regularly, several times each week, and the local and state police will do nothing, neither will the FBI. However, if you support their agenda, they will.

This is what I call the Orwellian Transmogrification of the modern liberal Democracy. As it becomes more and more the synthesis of the totalitarian and sentimentalist states of his novel, the institutions of democracy which be believed to have will pass away, and the media will become all the more the rabid defenders of the new Order.

As Catholics there is no substantial reason to weep at this, because the modern secular democracy is not founded upon Chrsitian principles, but on masonic ones, being merely a facade for the establishement of the New World Order, which will be all that Orwell dreamed it to be.

Rather we need to work for a radical realignment of thought, will, action, institutions and culture, to the Sociel Reign of Jesus Christ.

To do this we need to stop depending upon the Masonically controlled institutions of the State, public education, secular media. We need rather to found and establish our own institutions, taking the teachings of the Roman Pontiffs before Vatican II, on the nature of the state and the Christian Order, as our infallible guide and rejecting all comprimise with the process of transmogrification underway.

We also need to disabuse our fellow citizens of their naive, unreal, and make-believe trust in Masonic institutions, and show them and explain to them, how trust in these leads to the Orwellian state, which is fast approaching.