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| Francis blows the Jewish shofar |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-05-2022, 07:49 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Francis blows the Jewish shofar
![[Image: B015-Sho-1.jpg]](https://www.traditioninaction.org/RevolutionPhotos/Images(B-001-100)/B015-Sho-1.jpg)
TIA | December 4, 2022
On December 2, 2022, Pope Bergoglio received a delegation of the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary of Buenos Aires, below first and second rows. The group delivered a "Proposal for Social Change" to Francis.
This project aims to renew the religious formation in Latin America. The goal is to transform religious leaders into agents of social change and to renew the training of clergy from a common spiritual perspective.
On the occasion rabbi Ariel Stofenmacher, rector of the Rabbinical Seminary, gave the pope a shofar and Francis could not find anything better to do than to blow that religious horn, above.
Now then, the shofar constitutes a part of the Jewish liturgy that is habitually blown by rabbis to call the Jews to prayer, see last row below. This action of Francis can, therefore, be considered a call for Jews to prepare themselves for Hanukkah, which starts on December 18.
We do not know for sure whether we should interpret this act as another clownish gesture of the Buffoon Pope or consider that he is assuming the role of a high priest of Judaism – like Paul VI (here and here) and John Paul II (here).
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| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for the Second Week of Advent |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-05-2022, 07:04 AM - Forum: Advent
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St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for the Second Week of Advent
Morning Meditation
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RELIGIOUS STATE
Consider that salvation is assured to souls who enter the Religious state.
God has placed us in the world and keeps us here in life, not to acquire the perishable goods of earth, but the eternal goods of Heaven. The end is life everlasting (Rom. vi. 22). But the misfortune is that in the world men think very little indeed, if at all, of eternal life, and only dream of acquiring honours and pleasures, and this is the reason why so many souls perish.
I.To understand the importance of our eternal salvation it is enough to have Faith and to consider we have only one soul, and if that is lost, all is lost were a man even master of the whole world. What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul? (Matt. xvi. 26). This great maxim of the Gospel has induced many youths to shut themselves up in cloisters, others to live in deserts, and others to give up their lives for Jesus Christ. For, said they, what does it profit us to possess the whole world, and all the goods of this world, in this present life, which must soon finish, and then be damned and be miserable in the life to come, which will never end? All those rich men, all those princes and emperors, who are now in hell -- what have they now of all they enjoyed in this life but greater torment and a greater despair? Miserable beings! They lament now and say: All those things are passed away like a shadow (Wis. v. 9). For them all is passed like a shadow, like a dream, and that lamentation which is their lot has lasted already many years, and will last throughout all eternity. The fashion of this world passeth away (1 Cor. vii. 51). This world is a scene which lasts but a short time; happy he who plays in this scene that part which will afterwards make him happy in the life which will never end. When he shall then be contented, honoured, and a prince in Paradise, so long as God shall be God, little will he care for having been in this world -- poor, despised and in tribulation. For this end alone God has placed us on this earth, and keeps us here in life, not to acquire transitory but eternal goods: The end is life everlasting.
O my God! How have I ever deserved this great mercy, that, having left so many others to live in the midst of the world, Thou hast willed to call me, who have offended Thee more than others, and deserved, more than they, to be deprived of Thy divine light, to enjoy the honour of living as a friend in Thy own house! O Lord, grant that I may understand this exceeding grace, which Thou hast bestowed on me, that I may always thank Thee for it, as I purpose and hope to do always during my life and throughout eternity, and do not permit me to be ungrateful for it. Since Thou hast been so liberal towards me, and hast in Thy love preferred me to others, it is but just that more than others I should serve and love Thee.
II.With desolation is all the land made desolate, because there is none that considereth in the heart (Jer. xii. 11). How few are they who reflect on death, by which for us the scene is closed; on the eternity which awaits us; on what God has done for our sake! And hence it comes that these miserable beings live in blindness and carelessly, far from God, having their eyes, like the beasts, intent only on earthly things, without remembering God, without desiring His love, and without a thought of eternity. Therefore, they die afterwards an unhappy death, which will be the beginning of eternal death and endless misery. Then it is they will open their eyes; but it will be only to lament over their own foolishness.
This is the great means of salvation which is found in Religion, namely, continual meditation on the eternal truths. Remember thy last end and thou shalt never sin (Eccles. vii. 40). In well-regulated Religious houses this is done every day, and even several times a day. And therefore in the light of divine things, which there shines continually, it is morally impossible to live, at least for a long time, far from God, and without keeping one's account ready for eternity.
O my Jesus! Thou wouldst have me to be wholly Thine, and to Thee I give myself entirely. Accept me, and henceforward keep me as Thy own, since I am no longer mine. Finish Thou the work which Thou hast begun. Thou hast called me to Thy house, because Thou wilt have me become a Saint. Make me then what Thou wilt have me. Do it, O Eternal Father! for the love of Jesus Christ, in Whom is all my confidence. I love Thee, my sovereign Good, I love Thee. O infinite Goodness! I love Thee alone, and will love Thee forever. O Mary, my hope, succour me, and obtain for me to be always faithful and thankful to my Lord.
Spiritual Reading
COUNSELS CONCERNING A RELIGIOUS VOCATION
I. HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO FOLLOW A VOCATION TO THE RELIGIOUS LIFE
It is evident our Eternal Salvation depends principally upon the choice of a state of life. Father Louis of Granada calls the choice of a state the main-spring of the whole life. Just as in a clock when the main-spring is out of order the whole clock goes wrong, so in the order of our salvation, if we fail to enter the state to which we are called, the whole life, as St. Gregory Nazianzen says, is in disorder.
If, then, we wish to make our eternal salvation secure we must, in our choice of a state, embrace the Divine Vocation in which God has prepared for us the efficacious means of salvation. For, as St. Cyprian says: "the grace of the Holy Ghost is given according to the order of Divine Providence and not according to our own caprice." And in this sense St. Paul writes: Everyone has his proper gift from God (l Cor. vii. 7). That is, God gives to each one his Vocation, chooses the state in which He wills him to be saved. And this is the order of predestination described by the same Apostle: Whom he predestinated, them he also called: and whom he called them he also justified ... and them he also glorified (Rom. viii. 30).
And here we must remark that in the world there are some who pay little attention to this question of Vocation. They think it to be all the same, whether they live in the state to which God calls them, or in that which they themselves choose, following their own inclinations, and this is why so many lead a bad life and lose their souls. It is certain that this is the principal point with regard to the acquisition of eternal life. Vocation is followed by justification, and justification by glorification, that is, eternal life. He who disturbs this order and breaks this chain of salvation shall not save his soul. With all his labours and with all the good he may do, the words of St. Augustine apply to him: "Thou runnest well, but off the road," that is, out of the way in which God called you to walk for attaining salvation. The Lord does not accept sacrifices, which are purely of our own making: But to Cain and his offerings he had no respect (Gen. iv. 5). Rather He threatens with great chastisement those who, when He calls them, turn their backs on Him in order to follow the counsels of their own caprice. Woe to you apostate children, He says through Isaias, that you would take counsel and not from me, and would begin a web and not by my spirit (Is. xxx. 1).
A divine call to a more perfect life is undoubtedly a special and a very great grace which God does not give to all; hence He has much reason to be displeased with those who despise it. How greatly would not a prince think himself offended, if he should call one of his vassals to serve near his person, and he should refuse to obey! And should God not resent like conduct? Ah! He resents it very much indeed, and threatens, saying: Woe to him that gainsayeth his Maker (Ib. xiv. 9). The word "Woe" in Scripture signifies eternal damnation. The chastisement of the disobedient will begin even in this life, in which he will always be unquiet, for, says Job, Who hath resisted him and hath had peace? (Job ix. 4). He will be deprived of those abundant and efficacious helps necessary to lead a good life. For which reason the Theologian, Habert, writes "He will with great difficulty be able to work out his salvation." He will with great difficulty save himself; for, being like a member out of its proper place, he will with great difficulty be able to live well. "In the body of the Church," adds the learned author, "he will be like a limb of the human body out of its place, which may be able to perform its functions, but only with difficulty and in an awkward manner." Hence, he concludes: "And although, absolutely speaking, he may be saved, he will with difficulty enter upon and advance in the road, and use the means of salvation." The same thing is taught by St. Bernard and St. Leo. St. Gregory, writing to the Emperor Maurice, who by an Edict had forbidden soldiers to become Religious, says that this was an unjust law, which shut the gates of Paradise to many, because many would save themselves in Religion who would otherwise perish in the world.
Father Lancicius tells us there was in the Roman College a youth of great talents. While he was making the Religious Exercises, he asked his confessor whether it was a sin not to correspond to a Vocation to the Religious life. The confessor replied that in itself it was not a grievous sin, because a call to perfection is a counsel and not a precept, but he would expose his salvation to great danger as had happened to many who, not following their Vocation, were in the end, lost. He did not obey the call. He went to study in Macerata, where he soon began to omit prayer and Holy Communion, and finally gave himself up to a bad life. Soon after, coming one night from the house of a wicked woman, he was mortally wounded by a rival. Some priests ran to his assistance, but he had expired before they arrived, just in front of the college. By this circumstance God wished to show that this chastisement came upon him for having neglected his Vocation.
Father Pinamonti relates in his treatise, Victorious Vocation, that a Novice who had resolved to leave the Novitiate had a vision. He saw Christ on a throne in wrath, ordering his name to be blotted out of the Book of Life. He was so terrified that he persevered in his Vocation.
How many similar examples are there not to be found in books! And how many unhappy youths shall we not see damned on the Day of Judgment for not having followed their Vocation! Such are rebels against the divine light, as the Holy Ghost says: They have been rebellious to the light, they have not known his ways (Job xxiv. 13), and they will be justly punished by losing the light; and because they would not walk in the way shown them by the Lord, they shall walk without light in that chosen by their own caprice, and perish. Behold I will declare my spirit to you (Prov. i. 23). Behold the Call of God -- but because they fail to follow it, God adds: Because I called you and you refused ... you have despised all my counsel ... I also will laugh in your destruction, and I will mock when that shall come upon you which you feared. Then shall you call upon me, and I will not hear: they shall rise in the morning and shall not find me. Because they have hated instruction and received not the fear of the Lord, nor consented to my counsel, but despised all my reproof (Ib. i. 24, 26, 28, 80). And this signifies that God will not hear the prayers of him who has neglected to obey His voice. St. Augustine says: "They who have despised the will of God which invited them, shall feel the will of God when it becomes its own avenger."
Evening Meditation
THE LOVE THAT THE SON OF GOD HAS SHOWN US IN THE REDEMPTION
I. He hath loved us, and hath delivered himself for us. (Eph. v. 2).
Consider that the Eternal Word is that God Who is so infinitely happy in Himself that His happiness cannot be greater than it is, nor could the salvation of all mankind have added anything to it; nor could the loss of souls have diminished it; and yet He has done and suffered so much to save us miserable worms that if His beatitude, as St. Thomas says, had depended on that of man, He could not have done or suffered more: "As if without him He could not be happy." And, indeed, if Jesus Christ could not have been happy without redeeming us, how could He have humbled Himself more than He has done, in taking upon Himself our infirmities, the miseries of infancy, the troubles of human life, and a death so barbarous and ignominious?
None but God was capable of loving to so great an excess such wretched sinners as we are, and who are so unworthy of being loved. A devout author says: "If Jesus Christ had permitted us to ask of Him to give us the greatest proof of His love, who would have ventured to ask of Him that He should become a Child like unto us, that He should clothe Himself with all our miseries, and make Himself of all men the most poor, the most despised, and the most ill-treated, even to being put to death by the hands of executioners, and in the greatest torments upon an infamous gibbet, cursed and forsaken by all, even by His own Father, Who abandoned His Son that He might not abandon us in our ruin?"
But that which we should not have had the boldness even to think of, the Son of God has thought of and accomplished.
My Jesus, I should, indeed, do great injustice to Thy mercy and Thy love, if, after Thou hast given me so many proofs of the love Thou bearest me, and the desire Thou hast to save me, I should still distrust Thy mercy and Thy love. My beloved Redeemer, I am a poor sinner; but Thou hast said that Thou didst come to seek sinners: I am not come to call the just, but sinners. (Matt. ix. 13). I am a poor infirm creature -- Thou camest to cure the infirm, and Thou didst say: They that are whole need not the physician, but they that are sick (Luke v. 31). I was lost through my sins, but Thou didst come to save the lost: The son of man is come to save that which was lost (Matt. xviii. 11). What, then, can I fear, if I am willing to amend my life and to become Thine? I have only myself and my own weakness to fear; but my own weakness and poverty ought to increase my confidence in Thee, Who hast declared Thyself to be the refuge of the destitute: The Lord is become a refuge for the poor (Ps. ix. 10).
II. Even from His childhood He sacrificed Himself for us to sufferings, to opprobium, and to death: He hath loved us, and hath delivered himself for us (Eph. v. 2). He loved us, and out of love He gave us Himself, in order that we, by offering Him as a Victim to the Father, in satisfaction for our debts, might through His merits obtain from the divine goodness all the graces that we desire; a Victim dearer to the Father than if we offered Him the lives of all men and of all the Angels. Let us therefore continually offer to God the merits of Jesus Christ, and through them let us seek and hope for every good.
I implore this favour of Thee, O my Jesus! Give me confidence in Thy merits, and grant that I may always recommend myself to God through Thy merits. Eternal Father, save me from hell, and first from sin, for the love of Jesus Christ; for the sake of the merits of this Thy Son enlighten my mind to obey Thy will; give me strength against temptations; grant me the gift of Thy holy love; and, above all, I beseech Thee to give me the grace to pray to Thee to help me, for the love of Jesus Christ, Who hast promised that Thou wilt grant to him who prays in His name whatever he asks of Thee. If I continue to pray to Thee in this way, I shall certainly be saved; but if I neglect it, I shall certainly be lost. Most holy Mary, obtain for me this great gift of prayer, and that I may persevere in recommending myself constantly to God, and also to thee, who dost obtain from God whatever thou willest.
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| Top 4 ways the medical establishment tries to label people as MENTALLY ILL if they don’t vaccinate, |
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Posted by: ThyWillBeDone - 12-04-2022, 09:52 PM - Forum: Health
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https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-12-01-t...ilate.html
"In Canada, Big Pharma Ontario wants to put every Canadian who is fully unvaccinated on psychiatric medications for being “mentally ill” for not desiring to have millions of toxic spike prions clogging their vascular system and cleansing organs. Doctors in Canada are literally being advised to consider medicating all patients who are fully unvaccinated with dangerous psychiatric SSRI drugs right now.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons put out that request in writing, suggesting anyone who denies the clot shots is suffering from mental illness. It sounds like these doctors are all suffering from Vaccine Derangement Syndrome themselves, or they know the truth about the immune-compromising gene-mutating jabs and just want to create more patients-for-life.
So far, it’s just a “suggestion,” like the Covid masks at the beginning of 2020, and then the quarantines, and then the vaccine passports, and then kidney-decimating Remdesivir, and then the choke-you-to-death-in-less-than-4-days ventilators.
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It always starts off as a ‘suggestion,’ but then come the virus “experts” advice, then the mandates, then the government tyranny. The growing members of the Covid Vaccine Cult, also known as the Branch Covidians, are now so deranged that they want to label all the sane people crazy and force-medicate us all.
Top 4 ways the Allopathic Industrial Complex tries to label people as mentally ill if they don’t vaccinate, medicate or mutilate
Insane is the new sane, and sane is now insane, according to the medical establishment. Get ready for the top ways Big Pharma now labels people as mentally unstable if they don’t comply with all the deadly vaccinations, drugs, and surgery “recommended” for the ‘denialists.’
#1. If you don’t support child and teen gender mutilation surgery and cancer-causing, gender-bender hormone therapy, you are a violent, bigoted, racist, gay-bashing freak who needs psychological help, according to the Left.
#2. If you have emotions such as angst, worry, frustration, anger, sadness, or even just confusion, you are mentally unstable and need psychotropic SSRI medications immediately and forever, according to the medical establishment and the DSM psychology manual.
#3. If you don’t take every vaccine ‘recommended’ by the CDC, you are conspiring to mass murder the vaccinated and should be taken away to an insane asylum, force-vaccinated, force-medicated, and put in a straight jacket in a solitary confinement cell indefinitely, while being ‘re-educated,’ according to the Vaccine Cult.
#4. If you don’t think about sex all day, being gay, choosing multiple sex partners regularly, and inviting strip club dancers into school classrooms, including day care centers, then you are a straight, white-supremacist (even if you’re not white), who hates all gays and wants to eliminate all gay people’s rights, according to the LBGTQ-whatever movement.
Don’t fall for all the cons, where the freaks accuse the natural health advocates of being freaks. It’s one of the oldest cons in the book. Do bookmark Vaccines.news to your favorite independent websites for updates on experimental gene therapy injections and medications that are making the medical complex crazier every day."
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| Pope Francis Interview with America Magazine |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-03-2022, 06:22 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Pope Francis discusses Ukraine, U.S. bishops and more
![[Image: pope-francis-group-photo-america.jpg]](https://www.americamagazine.org/sites/default/files/inline-images/pope-francis-group-photo-america.jpg)
Pope Francis stands for a group photo with the staff of America. ((America Media/Antonello Nusca)
America Magazine [slightly adatped] | November 28, 2022
Editor’s Note: On Nov. 22, 2022, five representatives of America Media interviewed Pope Francis at his residence at Santa Marta at the Vatican. Matt Malone, S.J., the departing editor in chief of America, was joined by Sam Sawyer, S.J., the incoming editor in chief; executive editor Kerry Weber; Gerard O’Connell, America’s Vatican correspondent; and Gloria Purvis, host of “The Gloria Purvis Podcast.” They discussed a wide range of topics with the pope, including polarization in the U.S. church, racism, the war in Ukraine, the Vatican’s relations with China and church teaching on the ordination of women. The interview was conducted in Spanish with the assistance of a translator, Elisabetta Piqué. A transcript of the Spanish text can be found here.
Pope Francis: Thank you for coming!
Matt Malone, S.J.: Holy Father, America magazine was founded by the Jesuits in 1909, and we’ve been published continuously since. This is our first opportunity to speak face to face with a pope, and we’re very grateful. The first thing that is on the mind of our readers, that surprises them, is that you always seem joyful, happy, even amid crises and troubles. What is it that makes you so joyful, so peaceful and happy in your ministry?
I didn’t know that I am always like that. I am joyful when I am with people—always. One of the things I find most difficult as pope is not being able to walk on the street with the people, because here one cannot go out; it is impossible to walk on the street. But I would not say that I am happy because I am healthy, or because I eat well, or because I sleep well, or because I pray a great deal. I am happy because I feel happy, God makes me happy. I don’t have anything to blame on the Lord, not even when bad things happen to me. Nothing. Throughout my life, he has always guided me on his path, sometimes in difficult moments, but there is always the assurance that one does not walk alone. I have that assurance. He is always at my side. One has one’s faults, also one’s sins; I go to confession every 15 days—I do not know, that is just how I am.
Sam Sawyer, S.J.: Holy Father, in your speech to the U.S. Congress seven years ago, you warned against “the simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil, or the righteous and sinners” and you also called for “a renewed spirit of fraternity and solidarity, cooperating generously for the common good.” Yet since your speech to Congress we have seen not only political polarization grow deeper, also polarization within the life of the church. How can the church respond to polarization within its own life and help respond to polarization in society?
Polarization is not Catholic. A Catholic cannot think either-or (aut-aut) and reduce everything to polarization. The essence of what is Catholic is both-and (et-et). The Catholic unites the good and the not-so-good. There is only one people of God. When there is polarization, a divisive mentality arises, which privileges some and leaves others behind. The Catholic always harmonizes differences. If we see how the Holy Spirit acts; it first causes disorder: Think of the morning of Pentecost, and the confusion and mess (lío) it created there, and then it brings about harmony. The Holy Spirit in the church does not reduce everything to just one value; rather, it harmonizes opposing differences. That is the Catholic spirit. The more harmony there is between the differences and the opposites the more Catholic it is. The more polarization there is, the more one loses the Catholic spirit and falls into a sectarian spirit. This [saying] is not mine, but I repeat it: what is Catholic is not either-or, but is both-and, combining differences. And this is how we understand the Catholic way of dealing with sin, which is not puritanical: saints and sinners, both together.
Polarization is not Catholic. A Catholic cannot think either-or and reduce everything to polarization. The essence of what is Catholic is both-and.
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It is interesting to search for the roots of what is Catholic in the choices that Jesus made. Jesus had four possibilities: either to be a Pharisee, or to be a Sadducee, or to be an Essene, or to be a Zealot. These were the four parties, the four options at that time. And Jesus was not a Pharisee, nor a Sadducee, nor an Essene, nor a Zealot. He was something different. And if we look at the deviations in the history of the church we can see that they are always on the side of the Pharisees, of the Sadducees, of the Essenes, or the Zealots. Jesus went beyond all this by proposing the Beatitudes, which are also something different.
The temptation in the church was always to follow in these four paths. In the United States you have a Catholicism that is particular to the United States—that is normal. But you also have some ideological Catholic groups.
Kerry Weber: Holy Father, in 2021, we conducted a survey asking Catholics [in the United States] who they trusted to be their leaders and guides on matters of faith and morals. Of all the groups we listed, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was found to be the least trustworthy; only 20 percent found it to be “very trustworthy.” Catholics ranked their own local bishop higher; around 29 percent described them as “very trustworthy.” But the majority of Catholics seem to have lost faith in the bishops’ conference’s ability to offer moral guidance. How can the U.S. Catholic bishops regain the trust of American Catholics?
The question is good because it speaks about the bishops. But I think it is misleading to speak of the relationship between Catholics and the bishops’ conference. The bishops’ conference is not the pastor; the pastor is the bishop. So one runs the risk of diminishing the authority of the bishop when you look only to the bishops’ conference. The bishops’ conference is there to bring together the bishops, to work together, to discuss issues, to make pastoral plans. But each bishop is a pastor. Let us not dissolve the power of the bishop by reducing it to the power of the bishops’ conference. Because at that level, these tendencies compete, more on the right, more on the left, more here, more there, and anyway [the bishops’ conference] does not have the flesh-and-blood responsibility like that of a bishop with his people, a pastor with his people.
Jesus did not create bishops’ conferences. Jesus created bishops, and each bishop is pastor of his people. On this, I recall a fifth-century author who, in my judgment, has written the best profile of a bishop. It is St. Augustine in his treatise “De Pastoribus.”
Therefore, the question is: What is the relation of the bishop with his people? Permit me to mention a bishop about whom I do not know if he is conservative, or if he is progressive, if he is of the right or of the left, but he is a good pastor: [Mark] Seitz, [bishop of El Paso,] on the border with Mexico. He is a man who grasps all the contradictions of that place and carries them forward as a pastor. I do not say the others are not good, but this is one I know. You have some good bishops who are more on the right, some good bishops who are more on the left, but they are more bishops than ideologues; they are more pastors than ideologues. That is the key.
The answer to your question is: The bishops’ conference is an organization meant to assist and unite, a symbol of unity. But the grace of Jesus Christ is in the relationship between the bishop and his people, his diocese.
Gloria Purvis: Holy Father, abortion is a heavily politicized issue in the United States. We know it is wrong. And the United States Supreme Court recently ruled that there is no constitutional right to abortion. However, it still seems to plague the church in the sense that it separates us. Should the bishops prioritize abortion in relation to other social justice issues?
On abortion, I can tell you these things, which I’ve said before. In any book of embryology it is said that shortly before one month after conception the organs and the DNA are already delineated in the tiny fetus, before the mother even becomes aware. Therefore, there is a living human being. I do not say a person, because this is debated, but a living human being. And I raise two questions: Is it right to get rid of a human being to resolve a problem? Second question: Is it right to hire a “hit man” to resolve a problem? The problem arises when this reality of killing a human being is transformed into a political question, or when a pastor of the church uses political categories.
Each time a problem loses the pastoral dimension ([i]pastoralidad), that problem becomes a political problem and becomes more political than pastoral. I mean, let no one hijack this truth, which is universal. It does not belong to one party or another. It is universal. When I see a problem like this one, which is a crime, become strongly, intensely political, there is a failure of pastoral care in approaching this problem. Whether in this question of abortion, or in other problems, one cannot lose sight of the pastoral dimension: A bishop is a pastor, a diocese is the holy people of God with their pastor. We cannot deal with [abortion] as if it is only a civil matter.[/i]
Gerard O’Connell: The question was if the bishops’ conference should present the fight against abortion as the number one problem, while all the rest are secondary.
My response is that this is a problem the bishops’ conference has to resolve within itself. What interests me is the relationship of the bishop with the people, which is sacramental. The other [issue] is organizational, and bishops’ conferences at times get it wrong (equivocan). It is enough to look at the Second World War and at certain choices that some bishops’ conferences made, which were wrong from a political or social viewpoint. Sometimes a majority wins, but maybe the majority is not right.
In other words, let this be clear: A bishops’ conference has, ordinarily, to give its opinion on faith and traditions, but above all on diocesan administration and so on. The sacramental part of the pastoral ministry is in the relationship between the pastor and the people of God, between the bishop and his people. And this cannot be delegated to the bishops’ conference. The conference helps to organize meetings, and these are very important; but for a bishop, [being] pastor is most important. What is most important, I would say essential, is the sacramental. Obviously, each bishop must seek fraternity with the other bishops, that is important. But what is essential is the relationship with his people.
Sam Sawyer, S.J.: Holy Father, the sexual abuse crisis has greatly damaged both the church’s credibility and its effort at evangelization. Recent revelations of abuse committed by bishops, who have been allowed to retire quietly, have increased concerns about the church’s transparency in the handling of abuse cases, especially when it involves bishops. What more can the Vatican do to improve in this aspect of transparency?
Some history. Until the Boston crisis, when everything was uncovered, the church acted by moving an abuser from his place; covering up, as often happens in families today. The problem of sexual abuse is extremely serious in society. When I held the meeting of the presidents of the bishops’ conferences three and a half years ago, I asked for official statistics and [i]42 percent to 46 percent of abuses occur in the family home or in the neighborhood. After that in prevalence comes the world of sport, then that of education, and 3 percent [of abusers] are Catholic priests. One could say, “That is good, we are few.” No! If there had been only one case, it would have been monstrous. The abuse of minors is one of the most monstrous things. The practice, which is still maintained in some families and institutions today, was to cover it up. The church made the decision to not cover up [anymore]. From there progress was made in judicial processes, the creation of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
Here, a great [example] is Cardinal [Seán] O’Malley of Boston, who had the mindset to institutionalize [the protection of minors] within the church. When honest people see how the church is taking responsibility for this monstrosity, they understand that the church is one thing while the abusers who are being punished by the church are another. The leader in taking these decisions was Benedict XVI. It is a “new” problem in its manifestation, but eternal in that it has always existed. In the pagan world they commonly used children for pleasure. One of the things that most worries me is child pornography. These are filmed live. In which country are these films made? What are the authorities of these countries doing that allows this to happen? It is criminal. Criminal!
The church takes responsibility for its own sin, and we go forward, sinners, trusting in the mercy of God. When I travel, I generally receive a delegation of victims of abuse. An anecdote about this: When I was in Ireland, people who had been abused asked for an audience. There were six or seven of them. At the beginning, they were a little angry, and they were right. I said to them: “Look, let us do something. Tomorrow, I have to give a homily; why don’t we prepare it together, about this problem?” And that gave rise to a beautiful phenomenon because what had started as a protest was transformed into something positive and, together, we all created the homily for the next day. That was a positive thing [that happened] in Ireland, one of the most heated situations I have had to face. What should the church do, then? Keep moving forward with seriousness and with shame. Did I answer your question?
S.S.: The one thing I would follow up on is this: The U.S. church has made a great advance in dealing with abuse when it happens with priests. However, it seems there is less transparency when a bishop is accused, and that is worrying.
Yes, and here I believe we have to go forward with equal transparency. If there is less transparency, it is a mistake.
Gerard O’Connell: Holy Father, about Ukraine: Many in the United States have been confused by your seeming unwillingness to directly criticize Russia for its aggression against Ukraine, preferring instead to speak more generally of the need for an end to war, an end to mercenary activity rather than Russian attacks, and to the traffic in arms. How would you explain your position on this war to Ukrainians, or Americans and others who support Ukraine?
When I speak about Ukraine, I speak of a people who are martyred. If you have a martyred people, you have someone who martyrs them. When I speak about Ukraine, I speak about the cruelty because I have much information about the cruelty of the troops that come in. Generally, the cruelest are perhaps those who are of Russia but are not of the Russian tradition, such as the Chechens, the Buryati and so on. Certainly, the one who invades is the Russian state. This is very clear. Sometimes I try not to specify so as not to offend and rather condemn in general, although it is well known whom I am condemning. It is not necessary that I put a name and surname.
On the second day of the war, I went to the Russian embassy [to the Holy See], an unusual gesture because the pope never goes to an embassy. And there I said to the ambassador to tell [Vladimir] Putin that I was willing to travel on condition that he allowed me a tiny window to negotiate. [Sergey] Lavrov, the foreign minister at a high level, replied with a very nice letter from which I understood that for the time being it was not necessary.
Pope Francis is seated with the editors and staff of America, seen from above
Pope Francis speaks with editors and staff of America. (America Media/Antonello Nusca)
I spoke to President Zelensky three times by phone. And I work in general with receiving lists of prisoners, both civilian prisoners and military prisoners, and I have these sent to the Russian government, and the response has always been very positive.
I also thought of traveling, but I made the decision: If I travel, I go to Moscow and to Kyiv, to both, not to one place only. And I never gave the impression that I was covering up the aggression. I received here in this hall, three or four times, a delegation from the Ukrainian government. And we work together.
Why do I not name Putin? Because it is not necessary; it is already known. However, sometimes people latch onto a detail. Everyone knows my stance, with Putin or without Putin, without naming him.
Some cardinals went to Ukraine: Cardinal Czerny went twice; [Archbishop] Gallagher, who is responsible for [relations with] states, spent four days in Ukraine, and I received a report of what he saw; and Cardinal Krajewski went four times. He goes with his van loaded with things and spent last Holy Week in Ukraine. I mean the presence of the Holy See with the cardinals is very strong, and I am in continual contact with people in positions of responsibility.
And I should like to mention that there is in these days the anniversary of the Holodomor, the genocide that Stalin committed against the Ukrainians [in 1932-33]. I believe it is appropriate to mention it as a historical antecedent of the [present] conflict.
The position of the Holy See is to seek peace and to seek an understanding. The diplomacy of the Holy See is moving in this direction and, of course, is always willing to mediate.
Gloria Purvis: In the history of the church in the United States, Black Catholics have largely been neglected. It is our experience in the church, but we stayed because we believed. Now, a recent survey has shown that a large number of Black Catholics are leaving the church. Racism is important to us, but other Catholics do not see it as a priority. After George Floyd’s murder more people have left the church because of the neglect within the church around the theme of racism. What would you say now to Black Catholics in the United States who experienced racism and at the same time experience a deafness within the church for calls for racial justice? How can you encourage them?
I would say to them that I am close to the suffering they are experiencing, which is a racial suffering. And [in this situation], those who should in some way be close to them are the local bishops. The church has bishops of African American descent.
G.P.: Yes, but most of us go to parishes where the priests are not African American, and most of the other people are not African American, and they appear not to have sensitivity for our suffering. Many times they ignore our suffering. So how can we encourage Black Catholics to stay?
I believe what is important here is pastoral development, be it of the bishops or of the laity, a mature pastoral development. Yes, we see the discrimination, and I understand that they do not want to go. Sometimes in other countries the same happens in these sorts of situations. But this has a very ancient history, much older than your history [in the U.S.], and it has not been resolved. The bishops and the pastoral workers have to help to resolve it in an evangelical way.
I would say to African American Catholics that the pope is aware of their suffering, that he loves them very much, and that they should resist and not walk away. Racism is an intolerable sin against God. The church, the pastors and lay people must continue fighting to eradicate it and for a more just world.
I take this opportunity to say that I also love, very much, the Indigenous peoples of the United States. And I do not forget the Latinos, who are very many there now.
Kerry Weber: Holy Father, as you know, women have contributed and can contribute much to the life of the church. You have appointed many women at the Vatican, which is great. Nevertheless, many women feel pain because they cannot be ordained priests. What would you say to a woman who is already serving in the life of the church, but who still feels called to be a priest?
It is a theological problem. I think that we amputate the being of the church if we consider only the way of the ministerial dimension ([i]ministerialidad) of the life of the church. The way is not only [ordained] ministry. The church is woman. The church is a spouse. We have not developed a theology of women that reflects this. The ministerial dimension, we can say, is that of the Petrine church. I am using a category of theologians. The Petrine principle is that of ministry. But there is another principle that is still more important, about which we do not speak, that is the Marian principle, which is the principle of femininity (femineidad) in the church, of the woman in the church, where the church sees a mirror of herself because she is a woman and a spouse. A church with only the Petrine principle would be a church that one would think is reduced to its ministerial dimension, nothing else. But the church is more than a ministry. It is the whole people of God. The church is woman. The church is a spouse. Therefore, the dignity of women is mirrored in this way.
There is a third way: the administrative way. The ministerial way, the ecclesial way, let us say, Marian, and the administrative way, which is not a theological thing, it is something of normal administration. And, in this aspect, I believe we have to give more space to women. Here in the Vatican, the places where we have put women are functioning better. For example, in the Council for the Economy, where there are six cardinals and six laypersons. Two years ago, I appointed five women among the six laypersons, and that was a revolution. The deputy governor of the Vatican is a woman. When a woman enters politics or manages things, generally she does better. Many economists are women, and they are renewing the economy in a constructive way.
So there are three principles, two theological and one administrative. The Petrine principle, which is the ministerial dimension, but the church cannot function only with that one. The Marian principle, which is that of the spousal church, the church as spouse, the church as woman. And the administrative principle, which is not theological, but is rather that of administration, about what one does.
And why can a woman not enter ordained ministry? It is because the Petrine principle has no place for that. Yes, one has to be in the Marian principle, which is more important. Woman is more, she looks more like the church, which is mother and spouse. I believe that we have too often failed in our catechesis when explaining these things. We have relied too much on the administrative principle to explain it, which in the long term does not work.
This is an abbreviated explanation, but I wanted to highlight the two theological principles; the Petrine principle and the Marian principle that make up the church. Therefore, that the woman does not enter into the ministerial life is not a deprivation. No. Your place is that which is much more important and which we have yet to develop, the catechesis about women in the way of the Marian principle.
And on this, about the charism of women, allow me [to share] a personal experience. To ordain a priest one asks for information from persons who know the candidate. The best information that I have received, the right information, was either from my brother coadjutor [bishops], or brother laypersons who are not priests, or from women. They have a nose (olfato), an ecclesial sense to see if this man is or is not suitable for the priesthood.
Another anecdote: once I asked for information about a very bright candidate for the priesthood. I asked his professors, companions and also the people in the parish where he went. And [the latter] gave me a very negative report, written by a woman, saying, “He is a danger, this young man won’t work out.” So, I phoned her and said, “Why do you say that?” And she said: “I don’t know why, but if he were my son, I would not let him be ordained; he is lacking something.” So I followed her advice and said to the candidate, “Look, this year you won’t be ordained. Let’s wait.” Three months later this man had a crisis and left. The woman is a mother and sees the mystery of the church more clearly than we men. For this reason, the advice of a woman is very important, and the decision of a woman is better.[/i]
Matt Malone, S.J.: In the United States, there are those who interpret your criticisms of market capitalism as criticisms of the United States. There are even some who think you may be a socialist, or they call you a communist, or they call you a Marxist. You, of course, have always said you are following the Gospel. But how do you respond to those who say that what the church and you have to say about economics is not important?
I always ask myself, where does this labeling come from? For example, when we were returning from Ireland on the plane, a letter from an American prelate erupted that said all kinds of things about me. I try to follow the Gospel. I am much enlightened by the Beatitudes, but above all by the standard by which we will be judged: Matthew 25. “I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was in prison, and you visited me. I was sick and you cared for me.” Is Jesus a communist, then? The problem that is behind this, that you have rightly touched on, is the socio-political reduction of the Gospel message. If I see the Gospel in a sociological way only, yes, I am a communist, and so too is Jesus. Behind these Beatitudes and Matthew 25 there is a message that is Jesus’ own. And that is to be Christian. The communists stole some of our Christian values. [Laughter.] Some others, they made a disaster out of them.
Gerard O’Connell: Speaking about communism, you have been criticized over China. You signed an agreement with China on the nomination of bishops. Some people, and you yourself, have said the result is not great, but it is a result. Some people in the church and in politics say you are paying a high price for maintaining silence on human rights [in China].
It is not a matter of speaking or silence. That is not the reality. The reality is to dialogue or not to dialogue. And one dialogs up to the point that is possible.
For me, the greatest model I find in the modern period of the church is Cardinal Casaroli. There is a book called The Martyrdom of Patience that is all about the work he did in Eastern Europe. The popes—I mean Paul VI and John XXIII—sent him above all to the countries of Central Europe to try to re-establish relations during the period of communism, during the Cold War. And this man dialogued with governments, slowly, and he did what he could and slowly was able to re-establish the Catholic hierarchy in those countries. For example—I think of one case—it was not always possible to appoint the best person as archbishop in the capital, but instead the one that was possible according to the government.
Dialogue is the way of the best diplomacy. With China I have opted for the way of dialogue. It is slow, it has its failures, it has its successes, but I cannot find another way. And I want to underline this: The Chinese people are a people of great wisdom and deserve my respect and my admiration. I take off my hat to them. And for this reason I try to dialogue, because it is not that we are going to conquer people. No! There are Christians there. They have to be cared for, so that they may be good Chinese and good Christians.
There is another beautiful story about how the church carries out this apostolate. It’s about the last time [then Archbishop] Casaroli saw John XXIII. He gave a report on how the negotiations were going in these countries. Casaroli used to go on weekends to the prison for minors at Casal del Marmo to visit the young people. At the audience with John XXIII, they spoke about the problem of this country, that country and the other. Difficult decisions had to be taken, for example, to get [Cardinal József] Mindszenty to come to Rome; he was then in the U.S. Embassy in Budapest. It was a problem, a hard decision, but Casaroli had prepared [the transfer]. And when he was about to leave, John XXIII asked him, “Eminence, one small matter: Do you still go on weekends to this prison for minors?” [When Casaroli replied,] ‘Yes,’ [the pope said,] “Give them my greetings and do not abandon them!” In the hearts of these two great men, it was as important to go to the prison and visit the young people there as it was to establish relations with Prague, Budapest or with Vienna. These are the great ones. This gives a full picture of them.
G.O’C.: Last question. You have now been pope for 10 years.
Yes! [Laughs.]
G.O’C.: If you look back, are there three things that you would have done differently, or that you regret?
All! All! [Said in English, and laughs and laughs.] All differently! However, I did what the Holy Spirit was telling me I had to do. And when I did not do it, I made a mistake.[/i]
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| St. Catherine of Siena on Position of the Sun in the Universe |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-03-2022, 05:51 AM - Forum: The Saints
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The center of the Universe? - quotes from St. Catherine of Siena
gloria.tv [adapted] | December 1, 2022
A couple of quotes from "The Dialogue" of St. Catherine of Siena dictated by God the Eternal Father about Geometry and Mechanics and Structure of the Universe.
An important quote from St. Catherine of Siena: "The Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin Catherine of Siena"; Translated by Algar Thorold; Chapter LXXX; page 168; Quote by God the Eternal Father about the spinning sky above us, and the Center of the Universe being either the Sun or the Earth:
Quote:"I even wait for them and command the Earth to give them of her fruits, the Sun to give them light and warmth, and the sky to move above them."
And another one from the same book, Chapter CX, p.233:
Quote:"...as in the case of natural Sun, in which heat and light cannot be separated, so perfect is their union; for, the Sun, NEVER LEAVING ITS ORBIT, lights the whole world and warms whoever wishes to be warmed by it,..."
So, as to Geocentrism, the words of God the Father given to St. Catherine of Siena are apparent: the Sun moves in an orbit, and, the sky moves over the Earth.
Flammarion (colored), XIX Century:
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| Pope Francis: Benedict XVI's theology is not for the past, but fruitful for the future |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-02-2022, 01:17 PM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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Pope Francis: Benedict XVI's theology is not for the past, but fruitful for the future
Vatican News [Emphasis mine]| December 1, 2022
At the 2022 Ratzinger Prize award ceremony, Pope Francis highlights the significant contributions of the recipients - Fr. Michel Fédou, SJ, and Professor Joseph H.H. Weiler – and hails the prestigious award for providing indications of lines of commitment for study and life, which should be proposed to everyone.
Pope Francis addressed participants at the 2022 Ratzinger Prize award ceremony on Thursday, during which this year's recipients - Father Michel Fédou and Prof. Joseph Halevi Horowitz Weiler - were presented with the prestigious award.
The Ratzinger award, launched in 2011, is given to scholars that have stood out for their scientific research in the theological field, much like Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI. Over the years, recipients have included composers, artists, and writers who have made notable contributions to the world of arts related to Christianity.
The contributions of Benedict XVI
In his speech, Pope Francis greeted those present for the occasion, and in particular, the two recipients of the 2022 Ratzinger Prize.
Pope Francis then highlighted the “spiritual presence and accompaniment in prayer” of Pope emeritus Benedict XVI for the whole Church, and highlighted that the occasion reaffirmed the contribution of his theological work and thought which “continue to be fruitful and operative.”
Recalling the recently commemorated 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Francis pointed to Father Joseph Ratzinger's role at the Council, as an expert who helped in the creation of some of its documents; and then in his calling as Pope Benedict XVI to “lead the ecclesial community in its implementation, both alongside St. John Paul II and [then as Pastor of the universal Church.”
Even recently, Pope Francis noted, Benedict XVI still wanted to highlight how the Council enduringly exercises its crucial function, as it gave us the necessary guidelines to reformulate the central question of the nature and mission of the Church in our time (in his message for the 10th International Symposium of the Ratzinger Foundation, Oct. 7, 2022). In fact, Benedict XVI has “helped us to read the conciliar documents in-depth, proposing a "hermeneutic of reform and continuity."
Furthermore, Benedict XVI’s theological contributions are offered through the publication of the Opera Omnia, the German edition of which is nearing completion, while the translation in other languages continues to progress.
“These contributions, offer us a solid theological basis for the Church's journey: a ‘living’ Church, which he taught us to see and live as communion, and which is on the move - in "synod" - guided by the Spirit of the Lord, always open to the mission of proclaiming the Gospel and serving the world in which it lives.”
The Pope then encouraged collaboration between Vatican Foundations named after Blessed John Paul I and St. John Paul II, as well as the Joseph Ratzinger Foundation, noting that the service of the Benedict XVI Foundation is placed in the perspective of the conviction that his magisterium and thought “are not directed toward the past, but are fruitful for the future, for the implementation of the Council and for the dialogue between the Church and the world today, in the most topical and debated fields, such as integral ecology, human rights, and the encounter between different cultures.”
The awardees
Pope Francis then shifted his attention to the prizewinners – Father Michel Fédou and Prof. Joseph Halevi Horowitz Weiler – pointing at their accomplishments in the fields of study and teaching – fields considered by Ratzinger to be “of vital importance.”
Fr. Fédou
Concerning Fr. Fédou, the Pope noted that this “master of Christian theology” has dedicated his life to study and teaching, particularly of the works of the Eastern and Western Church Fathers and the development of Christology over the centuries. Also, in order not to focus his gaze only on the past, his knowledge of the faith tradition nourished in him a living thought, which was also able to address current issues in the field of ecumenism and in that of relations with other religions.
In Fr. Fédou, the Pope noted, “we recognize and pay tribute to a valiant heir and continuer of the great tradition of French theology, which has given the Church masters of the stature of Father Henri De Lubac and solid and courageous cultural enterprises such as the Sources Chrétiennes, whose publication began eighty years ago.”
“Without the contribution of this French theology, the richness, depth, and breadth of reflection on which the Second Vatican Council was nourished would not have been possible, and we must hope that it will continue to bear fruit for its implementation in the long run,” Pope Francis said.
Prof. Weiler
Pope Francis hailed Prof. Weiler as the first adherent of the Jewish faith to be awarded the prestigious prize. The Pope welcomed this, noting that Benedict XVI firmly and proudly affirmed that "an objective of his personal theological work had been from the beginning the sharing and promotion of all the steps of reconciliation between Christians and Jews taken since the Council."
The Holy Father further noted the harmony between Benedict XVI and Prof. Weiler in other issues, including the relationship between faith and juridical reason in the contemporary world; the crisis of juridical positivism and the conflicts generated by an unlimited extension of subjective rights; and the proper understanding of the exercise of religious freedom in a culture that tends to relegate religion to the private sphere.
Prof. Weiler, the Pope said, has not only conducted in-depth studies on them, but has also taken courageous positions, moving, when necessary, from the academic level to the level of discussion – or ‘discernment’ – in the search for consensus on fundamental values and the overcoming of conflicts for the common good.
“These awards, in addition to representing well-deserved recognition, offer the indication of lines of commitment, study, and life of great significance, which elicit our admiration and demand to be proposed for the attention of all.”
Concluding, Pope Francis reiterated his congratulations to the awardees and wished them the best in the continuation of their endeavors. He also invoked God’s blessing upon them, their families and friends, and the members and supporters of the Ratzinger Foundation.
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| Sorrowful Heart of Mary Newsletter - Advent 2022 |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-02-2022, 09:41 AM - Forum: Sorrowful Heart of Mary
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Advent 2022
Dear Confreres in the Church Militant,
It is normal for bullets to fly, bombs to drop and chaos to erupt at any time, in any given war. We are soldiers in the Great War between Christ the King and Satan; between His Holy Catholic Church of Tradition and Satan’s counterfeit Conciliar Church; between the Woman of Genesis with Her army and the serpent with his.
It is also a strategy of Satan to deceive by cunningly making evil seem good, ugliness seem like beauty, and darkness seem as illuminating as light. As Liberalism avalanches and morphs with each decade, it has to appear as close as possible to an “angel of light” to deceive. The enemy must make the decoy look as real as possible to the genuine article. Hence, Pope St. Pius X warned in his Encyclical, Pascendi, the enemies will keep the same name of all the sacraments (e.g. “Baptism”), but cleverly gut out their true meaning and replace them with new ones (e.g. from “washing away original sin and infusing sanctifying grace into the soul” to the Modernist version of “initiation into the Christian community”). They will dare to change the most sacred of all sacraments, the Holy Eucharist, from the traditional “Body and Blood of Christ under the appearance of bread and wine” to the Modernist version of “the symbol of unity and ‘luv’ in the Christian community.”
It stands to reason that Satan would invent a new Church which looks a lot like the real Catholic Church, and even has the same visible head, “one Pope over two Churches”, but one of these churches is counterfeit. That is the Conciliar Church, which Abp. Lefebvre was asked to obey and be faithful to, by Msgr. Benelli and Modernist Rome, on June 25, 1976, to which the Archbishop replied:
“What could be clearer? We must [according to Rome] henceforth obey and be faithful to the Conciliar Church, no longer to the Catholic Church. Right there is our whole problem: we are suspended by the Conciliar Church, the Conciliar Church, to which we have no wish to belong! That Conciliar Church is a schismatic Church because it breaks with the Catholic Church that has always been. It has its new dogmas, its new priesthood, its new institutions, its new worship… the Church that affirms such errors is at once schismatic and heretical. The Conciliar Church, is therefore, not Catholic.” (Abp. Lefebvre, Reflections on his suspension ‘a divinis’, July 29, 1976).
Never did Abp. Lefebvre want to break from the Catholic Church, nor be at odds with the Pope, but the dilemma he, and every Catholic faced, was that this new Conciliar Church was now like a monstrous cancer growing off the healthy body of the Catholic Church, that aggressively spreads, imposes itself and takes over! Modernist Rome is like a large parasite that lives on the body of Catholic Rome, which is similar in appearances but is rife with heresy and error.
Bishop Tissier, in an excellent article that appeared in 2013 (Le Sal de la Terre, no. 85) drew up this summary:
“...It is clear that the Conciliar Church is not only a sickness, nor a theory, but it is an association of high ranking Catholic churchmen inspired by liberal and modernist thinkers, who want, according to the goals of the one-worlders, to bring to fruition a new type of Church, with many Catholic priests and faithful won over by this ideal. It is not a pure association of victims. Formally considered, the Conciliar Church is a sect that occupies the Catholic Church. It has its organized instigators and actors, as had the Modernism condemned by St. Pius X.”
Pope St. Pius X exposed these parasites penetrating inside the Church, who were often clergymen of the Masonic Lodges or at least imbued with their ideas. He writes in Pascendi:
“...Hence, the danger is present almost in the very veins and heart of the Church, whose injury is the more certain from the very fact that their knowledge of her is more intimate. Moreover, they lay the axe not to the branches and shoots, but to the very root, that is, to the Faith and its deepest fibers. And once having struck at this root of immortality, they proceed to diffuse poison through the whole tree. [...] What efforts do they not make to win new recruits! They seize upon professorships in the seminaries and universities, and gradually make of them thrones of pestilence” (St. Pius X, September 8, 1907).
These “seized seminaries” don’t exclude the new Conciliar-SSPX! The dilemma of all Catholics today is still the same, and the answer laid out by Abp. Lefebvre is still the same: absolutely no compromise with the New Mass or Vatican II! This means no acceptance of the revolutionary Doctrinal Declaration of 2012 and all accompanying adjustments and jurisdictions made for the Conciliar-SSPX ever since, and no acceptance of trying to justify the New Mass by proclaiming that, somehow, it “nourishes your faith” or promoting its so-called miracles!
Once again, listen to the profound foresight and wisdom of Abp. Lefebvre:
“I hold that we are in the Church and that we are the true sons of the Church, and the others are not. They are not, because Liberalism is not a son of the Church. Liberalism is against the Church, Liberalism operates to destroy the Church, in that sense they cannot claim to be sons of the Church… Some are prepared to sacrifice the fight for the Faith by saying: ‘Let us first re-enter the Church! Let us first do everything to integrate into the official, public structures of the Church! Let us be silent about the dogmatic issues. Let us be silent about the malice of the [New] Mass. Let us keep quiet over the issues of Religious Liberty, Human Rights, Ecumenism. And, once we are inside the Church, we will be able to do this, we will be able to achieve that!’”
“That’s absolutely false! You don’t enter into a structure, under superiors, by claiming you will overthrow everything as soon as you are inside, whereas they have all the means to suppress us! They have all the authority.
“What matters to us first and foremost is to maintain the Catholic Faith. That’s what we are fighting for! So the canonical issue, this purely public and exterior issue in the Church, is secondary. What matters is to stay within the Church,... inside the Church. In other words, in the Catholic Faith of all time, in the true priesthood, in the true Mass, in the true sacraments, and the same catechism, with the same Bible. That’s what matters to us! That’s what the Church is. Public recognition is a secondary issue. Thus, we should not seek what is secondary by losing what is primary, by losing what is the primary goal of our fight!” (Abp. Lefebvre, Spiritual Conference at Écône, December 21, 1984).
So, fight on for the Holy Catholic Faith! …Battle on for the reign of Christ the King! Under Our Lady’s mantle we must not fear the enemy but fight courageously and prudently, avoiding the Liberal “prudence” of compromise at any cost in order to be recognized or receive favors from those compromising with or promoting Vatican II or the New Mass!
In Christ the King,
Fr. David Hewko
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| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for the First Week of Advent |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-30-2022, 09:05 AM - Forum: Advent
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Daily Meditations
by St. Alphonsus Liguori
Morning Meditation
GOD DISHONOURED BY SIN
Previous to the coming of our Redeemer, the whole unhappy race of mankind groaned in misery upon this earth: all were children of wrath, nor was there one who could appease God, justly indignant at their sins. O God of Mercy, lest Thy Divine Wisdom might reproach us with our offences against Thee, Thou hast hidden under an infant's form! Thou hast concealed Thy Justice under the most profound abasement that it might not condemn us!
I.
Consider how sin dishonours God. By transgression of the law thou dishonourest God (Rom. ii., 23), says St. Paul. When the sinner deliberates whether he shall give or refuse his consent to sin, he takes the balance into his hands to decide which is of greater value -- the favour of God, or some passion, some worldly interest or pleasure. When he yields to temptation, what does he do? He decides that some wretched gratification is more desirable than the favour of God. Thus it is that he dishonours God, declaring, by his consent, that a miserable pleasure is preferable to the Divine friendship. Thus, then, O God, have I so many times dishonoured Thee, by esteeming Thee less than my miserable passions!
Of this the Almighty complains by the Prophet Ezechiel, when He says: They violated me among my people for a handful of barley and a piece of bread. (Ezech. xiii., 19). If the sinner should exchange God for a treasure of jewels, or for a kingdom, it would indeed be doing a great evil, because God is of infinitely more value than all the treasures and kingdoms of the earth. But for what do so many exchange Him? For a vapour, for a little dirt, for a poisoned pleasure, which is no sooner tasted than it is fled. O God, how could I have had the heart, for such vile things, so often to despise Thee, Who hast shown so much love for me! But behold, my Redeemer, how I now love Thee above all things; and because I love Thee, I feel more regret for having lost Thee, my God, than if I had lost all my other goods, and even my life. Have pity on me, and forgive me, I will never more incur Thy displeasure. Grant that I may rather die than offend Thee any more.
II.
Lord, who is like to thee? (Ps. xxxiv., 10).
And what good things, O God, can be comparable to Thee, O infinite Goodness? And how could I have turned my back upon Thee, to give myself to those vile things which sin held out to me? Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou hast gone backward. (Jer. xv., 6). God complains and says: Ungrateful soul, thou hast forsaken Me! I would never have forsaken thee hadst not thou first turned thy back upon Me! Thou hast gone backward. O God, with what consternation will these words fill the soul of the sinner when he shall stand to be judged before the divine tribunal! O Jesus, Thy precious Blood is my hope. Thou hast promised to hear him who prays to Thee. I ask Thee not for the goods of this world; I ask Thee for the pardon of the sins I have committed against Thee, and for which I am sorry above every other evil. I ask Thee for perseverance in Thy grace until the end of my life. I ask Thee for the gift of Thy holy love; my soul is enamoured of Thy goodness: hear me, O Lord. Only grant that I may love Thee both here and hereafter, and as to all things else, do with me as Thou pleasest. My Lord and my only Good, suffer me not to be any more separated from Thee! Mary, Mother of God, do thou also listen to me, and obtain for me that I may ever belong to God, and that God may be my inheritance for ever.
Spiritual Reading
THE JUDGMENT AND THE SENTENCE
The judgment sat and the books were opened. (Dan. vii., 10). The books of conscience are opened, and the Judgment commences. The Apostle says, that the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness. (1 Cor. iv., 5). And, by the mouth of His Prophet, Jesus Christ has said: I will search Jerusalem with lamps. (Soph. i., 12). The light of the lamp reveals all that is hidden.
"A judgment," says St. Chrysostom, "terrible to sinners, but desirable and sweet to the just." The Last Judgment will fill sinners with terror, but will be a source of joy and sweetness to the elect; for God will then give praise to each one according to his works. The Apostle tells us that on that day the just will be raised above the clouds to be united to the Angels, and to increase the number of those who pay homage to the Lord. We shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air. (1 Thess. iv., 16).
Worldlings now regard as fools the Saints who led mortified and humble lives; but then they shall confess their own folly, and say: We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints. (Wis. v., 4). In this world, the rich and the noble are called happy; but true happiness consists in a life of sanctity. Rejoice, ye souls who live in tribulation; your sorrow shall be turned into joy. (Jo. xvi., 20). In the valley of Josaphat you shall be seated on thrones of glory.
But the reprobate, like goats destined for the slaughter, shall be placed on the left to await their last condemnation. On the Day of Judgment there is no hope of mercy for poor sinners. The greatest punishment of sin for those who live in enmity with God is to lose the fear and remembrance of the divine judgment. Continue, continue, says the Apostle, to live obstinately in sin; but in proportion to your obstinacy, you shall have accumulated for the Day of Judgment a treasure of the wrath of God. But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath. (Rom. ii., 5).
Then sinners will not be able to hide themselves; but, with insufferable pain, they will be compelled to appear in judgment. "To lie hid," says St. Anselm, "will be impossible -- to appear will be intolerable." The devils will perform their office as accusers, and, as St. Augustine says, will say to the Judge: Most just God, declare him to be ours, who was unwilling to be yours. The witnesses against the wicked shall be: first, their own conscience -- Their conscience bearing witness to them (Ib. ii., 15); secondly, the very walls of the house in which they sinned shall cry out against them -- The stone shall cry out of the wall (Hab. ii., 11); thirdly, the Judge Himself will say -- I am the judge and the witness (Jer. xxix., 23). Hence, according to Saint Augustine, "He who is now the witness of your life shall be the judge of your cause." To Christians particularly He will say: Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida; for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes. (Matt. xi., 21). Christians, He will say, if the graces which I have bestowed on you had been given to the Turks or to the Pagans, they would have done penance for their sins; but you have ceased to sin only with your death. He shall then manifest to all men their most hidden crimes. I will discover thy shame to thy face. (Nah. iii., 5). He shall expose to view all their secret impurities, injustices and cruelties. I will set all thy abominations against thee. (Ezech. vii., 3). Each of the damned shall carry his sins written on his forehead.
What excuses can save the wicked on that day? Ah! they can offer no excuses. All iniquity shall stop her mouth. (Ps. cvi., 42). Their very sins will close the mouth of the reprobate, so that they will not have courage to excuse themselves. They shall pronounce their own condemnation.
The Sentence of the Judge
Jesus Christ, then, will first turn to the Elect, and with a serene countenance will say: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (Matt. xxv., 34). He will then bless all the tears shed through sorrow for their sins, and all their good works, their prayers, mortifications, and communions; above all, He will bless for them the pains of His Passion and the Blood shed for their salvation. And, after these benedictions, the Elect, singing Alleluias, shall enter Paradise to praise and love God for all eternity.
The Judge shall then turn to the reprobate, and pronounce their condemnation in these words: Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. (Ib. 41). They shall then be forever accursed, separated from God, and sent to burn for ever in the fire of hell. And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just into life everlasting. (Ib. 46).
After this Sentence, the wicked shall, according to St. Ephrem, be compelled to take leave for ever of their relatives, of Paradise, of the Saints, and of Mary the divine Mother. "Farewell, ye just! Farewell, O Cross! Farewell, O Paradise! Farewell, fathers and brothers: we shall never see you again! Farewell, O Mary, Mother of God!" Then a great pit shall open in the middle of the valley: the unhappy damned shall be cast into it, and shall see those gates shut which shall never again be opened. O accursed sin! to what a miserable end will you one day conduct so many souls redeemed by the Blood of Jesus Christ. O unhappy souls! for whom is prepared such a melancholy end. But let us have confidence, for Jesus Christ is now a Father, and not a Judge. He is ready to pardon all who repent. For us men and for our salvation, He came down from Heaven and was made man.
Evening Meditation
JESUS CHARGED WITH THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
I. He shall bear their iniquities. (Is.,liii., 11).
Consider that the Divine Word, in becoming Man, chose not only to take the form of a sinner, but also to bear all the sins of men, and to satisfy for them as if they were His own: He shall bear their iniquities. Cornelius a Lapide adds: "as if He had committed them Himself." Let us here reflect what an oppression and anguish the Heart of the Infant Jesus must have felt, Who had already charged Himself with the sins of the whole world, in finding that Divine Justice insisted on His making a full satisfaction for them.
Well did Our Lord know the malice of every sin, for, through the divine light which accompanied Him, He knew immeasurably more than all men and Angels the infinite goodness of His Father, and how infinitely deserving He is of being revered and loved. And then He saw drawn up in array before Him a countless number of transgressions which would be committed by men and for which He was to suffer and die.
My beloved Jesus, I, who have offended Thee, am not worthy of Thy favours, but through the merit of that pain which Thou didst suffer, and which Thou didst offer up to God at the sight of my sins, and to satisfy divine justice for them, give me a share in that light by which Thou didst see their malice, and in that hatred with which Thou didst then abominate them. O Lord! Thou hast indeed died to save me; but Thy death will not save me if I do not, on my part, detest every evil, and have true sorrow for the sins I have committed against Thee. But even this sorrow must be given me by Thee. Thou givest it to him that asks it of Thee. I ask it of Thee through the merits of all the sufferings Thou didst endure on this earth; give me sorrow for my sins, but a sorrow that will correspond to my transgressions.
II.
Our Lord once showed St. Catherine of Siena the hideousness of one single venial sin; and such was the dread and sorrow of the Saint that she fell senseless to the ground. What, then, must have been the sufferings of the Infant Jesus when, on His entrance into the world, He saw before Him the immense array of all the crimes of men for which He was to make satisfaction!
And then He knew in particular every sin of each one of us: "He had regard to every particular sin," says St. Bernardine of Siena. And Cardinal Hugo says that the executioners "caused Him exterior pain by crucifying Him, but we interior pain by sinning against Him." He means that each one of our sins afflicted the soul of Jesus Christ more than crucifixion and death afflicted His body. Such is the beautiful recompense which has been rendered to our Divine Saviour for His love by everyone who remembers to have offended Him by mortal sin!
O Eternal God, supreme and infinite Good! I, a miserable worm, have dared to lose respect for Thee, and to despise Thy grace; I detest above every evil and abhor the injustice I have committed against Thee; I repent of all with my whole heart, not so much on account of hell, which I have deserved, as because I have offended Thy infinite Goodness. I hope for pardon from Thee through the merits of Jesus Christ; and I hope also to obtain, together with Thy pardon, the grace of loving Thee. I love Thee, O God, Who art worthy of infinite love, and I will always repeat to Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee! And as Thy beloved St. Catherine of Genoa said to Thee, while she stood in spirit at the foot of Thy crucified Image, so will I also say to Thee now that I am standing at Thy feet: "My Lord, no more sins, no more sins!" No, for Thou indeed dost not deserve to be offended, O my Jesus, but Thou only deservest to be loved. My Blessed Redeemer, help me. My Mother Mary, assist me, I pray thee; I only ask of thee to obtain for me that I may love God during the time that is left me in this life.
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| Netherlands to "compulsory purchase" and close up to 3,000 farms to comply with EU environmental rul |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-28-2022, 05:01 PM - Forum: Global News
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Netherlands to close up to 3,000 farms to comply with EU rules
Government tries to cut down on nitrogen pollution in a move set to reignite tensions with farmers who say the industry is unfairly targeted
Telegraph.co.uk [slightly adapted - hyperlinks not included] | 28 November 2022
The Dutch government plans to buy and close down up to 3,000 farms near environmentally sensitive areas to comply with EU nature preservation rules.
The Netherlands is attempting to cut down its nitrogen pollution and will push ahead with compulsory purchases if not enough farms take up the offer voluntarily.
Farmers will be offered a deal “well over” the worth of the farm, according to the government plan that is targeting the closure of 2,000 to 3,000 farms or other major polluting businesses.
Earlier leaked versions of the plan put the figure at 120 per cent of the farm’s value but that figure has not yet been confirmed by ministers.
“There is no better offer coming,” Christianne van der Wal, nitrogen minister, told MPs on Friday. She said compulsory purchases would be made with “pain in the heart”, if necessary.
Biodiversity under threat
The Netherlands needs to reduce its emissions to comply with EU conservation rules and agriculture is responsible for almost half the nitrogen emitted in the proud farming nation.
The Dutch environment agency has warned that native species are disappearing faster in the Netherlands than in the rest of Europe and that biodiversity is under threat.
But the new plan looks set to reignite tensions with farmers over nitrogen reduction.
Dutch farmers have staged mass protests, burnt hay bales, dumped manure on highways and picketed ministers' houses over the last three years.
In 2019 a ruling by the Dutch Council of State meant every new activity that emits nitrogen, including farming and building, needs a permit.
That has prevented the expansion of dairy, pig and poultry farms, which are major sources of nitrogen from ammonia in manure mixed with urine. This can be harmful for nature when it washes into rivers and the sea.
Last month, an army of thousands of tractors took to the roads in protest and caused the worst rush hour in Dutch history with 700 miles of jams at its peak.
Farmers fear that the plan to slash emissions by 2030 will cost them their livelihoods, oppose any compulsory purchases and argue farming is unfairly targeted while other sectors such as aviation are not.
‘Restrictions without perspective’
Farmers’ lobby group LTO Nederland said trust in the government “has been very low for a long time”. It accused the Government of drafting “restrictions without perspective”.
Sjaak van der Tak, chairman of LTO, said: “Of course it is positive that a good voluntary stop scheme is being promised. But the stayers who are central to us will have many additional restrictions imposed.”
Agractie, another farmers’ organisation, said the voluntary closure scheme was welcome but must not be applied with the threat of compulsory purchase.
Ministers will decide if enough farms have come forward voluntarily to close in the autumn. They say the plan will help biodiversity recover, building could resume and farms without proper nitrogen permits could be legalised.
They are also looking at eventually taxing nitrogen emissions to encourage more sustainable practices, the Dutch News website reported.
The Dutch cabinet also wants to draw up a long term plan for the future of agriculture with farmers, environmental groups and local government.
The voluntary buyout scheme was “the only way to finally create opportunities for the construction of homes, the construction of new infrastructure and for projects to make the Netherlands more sustainable in the shortest possible time,” said Ingrid Thijssen, chairman of VNO-NCW, an employers’ federation in the Netherlands.
Last month, the Netherlands Assessment Agency said other buyout schemes over the last 25 years had failed to substantially cut the number of cattle.
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| The Apocalypse of St. John by Rev. E. Sylvester Berry [1921] |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-28-2022, 11:06 AM - Forum: Resources Online
- Replies (29)
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The Apocalypse of St. John
by Rev. E. Sylvester Berry [1921]
Taken from here.
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.fineartamerica.c...ipo=images]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.fineartamerica.com%2Fimages-medium-large-5%2Fallegory-of-the-apocalypse-joseph-heintz-the-younger.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=2eea15080db39715b1140c4099e8a0cd2c0898ba29fee7b83802dbb35eeff2d7&ipo=images)
NIHIL OBSTAT
JOSEPH MOLITOR, D. D.
Censor Deputatus
IMPRIMATUR
JAMES J. HARTLEY
Bishop of Columbus
June 15, 1921
PREFACE
The book of the Apocalypse is unlike any other book of the New Testament and is full of consolation and instruction to all who read its inspired and prophetic words. It lifts the soul up to the beauty and grandeur of Heaven shows us in all their glory the joys and triumphs of those who were once like our selves but who are now changed and happy with those "who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." How consoling it is to turn from the sordid things of earth to be carried away with the sublime words that lead us to the throne of God to the company of the Angels and Saints to the new Jerusalem with streets of gold to the river and tree of life to hear the voice of God Himself saying "Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book."
The following pages will be most interesting to those who love to study the word of God. Father Berry has entered a new field for there is practically no study of the Apocalypse in the English language and the points and explanations he has placed before us are both interesting and instructive. The student will read it with pleasure and profit. St. Jerome tells us "The Apocalypse has as many mysteries as words or rather mysteries in every word." The author has tried in a simple scholarly way to help us view them all with pleasure and understanding.
JAMES J. HARTLEY,
Bishop of Columbus. Columbus, Ohio, June 18th, 1921.
THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN
INTRODUCTION
In the study of Holy Scripture it is necessary to bear in mind that its various books are not separate and independent works. It is true, they were written by persons widely distant from one another in time and place, yet the Holy Ghost, their true Author, coordinates them all to one common purpose. The different books are but so many chapters of one and the same great work whose first chapter recounts the origin of the world by creation; its last, foretells the final consummation of all things. The intervening chapters relate in order various happenings between these two extremes.
The Bible does not give a complete history of mankind; in fact it is not intended to teach history as such. The Holy Ghost wishes to strengthen our faith, arouse our hopes in the mercies of God, and instill our hearts with the fear of His punishments. For this purpose He gives a summary view of God s dealings with mankind. There is only an occasional glimpse of things not closely connected with this main purpose. The origin of the material world is briefly sketched while the creation of the angels is only referred to incidentally. But the questions which concern us more directly are treated at length. Our nature, our origin, and our destiny summarize the content of Holy Scripture. It teaches that man is a free and intelligent being created in a state of grace and destined to be united with God in Heaven for all eternity. Through abuse of free will man fell from this high estate and is daily exposed to sin and suffering, but the merits of Christ's death on the cross have redeemed man s fallen nature and placed him once more upon the way of salvation.
The person of Christ thus becomes the central figure of all Scripture. He is the "alpha and omega, the be ginning and the end. " As God, He created all things "and without Him was made nothing that was made, in Him was life and the life was the light of men." 2 As man, Christ is the greatest handiwork of God, the "first-born of every creature.3 As the God-man, He is our Redeemer, the "only name under Heaven given to men whereby we must be saved."4 Thus is Jesus Christ the centre from which all things radiate, around which all revolve, and in which all must finally converge.
After recounting the creation and fall of man, the Old Testament announces the coming of the Saviour and narrates the preparation of mankind for this great event.
The Gospels and Epistles give the life of our Lord and rehearse His teachings. The Acts of the Apostles outline the first years of the new-born Church. The Apocalypse gives a prophetic history of the Church from the days of St. John to the final consummation of the world.
In its general purpose the Apocalypse does not differ from the other Scriptures. It is to teach men a knowledge of God, enlighten their faith, strengthen their hopes, and give them a rule of conduct by which they may obtain eternal salvation. It is also intended to fortify the faithful in time of trial and temptation, and to guide the Church in every age. In this respect the Apocalypse simply enlarges upon the warnings of Christ concerning persecution of His Church. "The servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me they will also persecute you. . . . They will put you out of the synagogue; yea the hour cometh that whosoever I killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God."5
Christ has promised that the gates of hell shall never pre vail against His Church,6 but this very promise fore shadows a mighty conflict with the powers of darkness. The Apocalypse tells of the trials and sufferings of the Church in this great conflict and prophesies her final triumph according to the promise of Christ: "Behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world." Hence the prophecies of the Apocalypse should be a source of consolation when we see the Church opposed and persecuted for we have the assurance of the Holy Ghost that she shall come forth triumphant and reign peacefully over all nations.
In other parts of Scripture, purely historical events serve merely as a background upon which are depicted the designs of Providence. St. John pursues a similar method in the Apocalypse. He does not intend to give a detailed prophetic history of the Church. He singles out the more important points to serve as guide-posts along the course of centuries. It may be said that he" gives only the philosophy of the Church s history, the underlying causes of all its outward events.
The laws of sacred and profane history are alike; similar causes must produce similar effects. Hence all history repeats itself in general outlines. Only accidental circumstances differ. This explains why the Apocalypse is written under the form of symbolic visions instead of ordinary discourse. It must give in a few pages a resume of many centuries. One and the same prophecy often announces many similar events separated in time by centuries. The account must be limited to the barest outlines and stripped of every accidental circumstance.
Symbolic visions are best suited to this purpose. More over they admit of mystic and moral interpretations profitable to the faithful of every age.
The prophecies of the Apocalypse consist almost entirely of symbolic visions whose allegorical sense must be the sense intended by the Holy Ghost. Any other interpretation is unwarranted except where the Apostle has evidently abandoned allegory for ordinary discourse. The chief duty of the interpreter is to search out the key of each symbol. The prophetic writings of the Old Testament greatly facilitate this work because the Apocalypse is strongly tinged with the imagery of the prophets of old and in many instances it further develops prophecies first announced by them.
A study of the Gospels and Epistles also gives a clue to the proper interpretation of many things in the Apocalypse. Thus, for example, the Gospels make it plain that the "kingdom of God" or the "kingdom of Heaven" is the Church in time or in eternity. Again it is evident from the Epistles and from the Acts of the Apostles that the ancients [illegible] are the Apostles, and the bishops and priests of the church.8
In some cases St. John himself gives the key to his visions. Thus, an angel is an Apostle or bishop sent by Christ to, teach and govern His Church. In a similar sense our Lord calls St. John the Baptist an "angel. " In other cases the meaning is evident from the context. The "Lamb standing as it were slain10 can be none other than Christ triumphant at the right hand of God the Father. Hence the words "as it were slain must refer to Christ mystically slain in the Holy Eucharist.
It has been customary to divide the Apocalypse into seven visions with a prologue and an epilogue, as follows:
Prologue I, 1-8
1st Vision. Letters to the seven churches. 1, 9 iii, 22.
2nd Vision. The seven seals, iv, 1 viii, 1.
3rd Vision The seven trumpets, viii, 2 xi, 18.
4th Vision,
(a) The woman and the dragon.
(b) The beast of the sea.
© The beast of the earth.
(d) The harvest and the vintage, xi. 19 xiv, 8.
5th Vision. The seven angels with seven plagues, xv, 1 xix, 2 1 .
6th Vision. The binding and loosing of Satan, xx, 1-15.
7th Vision. The resurrection, general judgment, and the heavenly Jerusalem, xxi, 1 xxii, 5.
Epilogue XXII, 6-21
Instead of this commonly received division, the following is here submitted in the belief that it is justified by the commentary which follows. Yet in
this, as in all things, we submit to the unerring judgment of the Church, the "pillar and ground of the truth." 12
Prologue I, 1-8
Part I From the Days of St. John to the Opening of the Abyss
i. General warning to the churches, i, 9 iii, 22. ii. Constitution of the Church, chs. iv-v.
iii. Persecution of the Church, and fall of the pagan Empire of Rome. ch. vi.
iv. The Church firmly established, ch. vii. v. The Vicissitudes of the Church, eh. viii.
Part II. From the Opening of the Abyss to its Closing
i. Preparation for the Reign of Antichrist.
(a) Heresies and Religious Wars. eh. ix.
(b) A Preparatory Vision, ch. x.
(c ) The Two Witnesses, ch. xi.
(d) Conflict between the Church and Satan, ch. xii.
ii. The Reign of Antichrist and his Overthrow.
(a) Antichrist and his Prophet, ch. xiii.
(b) Prophets of Victory, ch. xiv.
(c ) Seven Plagues on the Empire of Antichrist, chs. xv-xvi.
(d) The Beast and the Harlot, ch. xvii.
(e) The Fall of Babylon, ch. xviii.
(f ) The Hymn of Victory, and the Condemnation of Antichrist and his Prophet, ch. xix.
Part III From the Closing of the Abyss to the End of the World
i. The Universal Reign of Jesus Christ, xx, 1-6.
ii. The Loosing of Satan and the Last Persecution, xx, 7-10.
iii. The Resurrection and General Judgment, xx, 11-15. iv. The Heavenly Jerusalem, xxi, 1 xxii, 5.
Epilogue XX, 6-20
According to tins division the three parts of the Apocalypse correspond to three successive periods in the history of the Church and furnish a prophetic history that extends from the time of St. John to the final triumph of the Church in glory.
The above division of the Apocalypse and the explanation which follows are based upon an article by Pere Gallois, 0. R, which first appeared in the Revue Biblique. It was then issued in pamphlet form by P. Lethielleux, Paris, in 1895, with a prefatory letter by Pere Monsabre, 0. P., which, we believe, is sufficient guaranty for its complete orthodoxy. The present work is practically an enlarged adaptation of the article by Pere Gallois, but many departures from his opinions demand that it be issued as a separate work with due acknowledgment to the original author. It is not intended to be a complete exegesis of the Apocalypse, yet we hope it may lead to a better understanding of those obscure prophecies in which the Holy Ghost foretells the vicissitudes of the Church and its final triumph over all enemies.
(1) Apocalypse i, 8.
(2) St. John i, 3, 4.
(3) Colossians i, 15.
(4) Acts of the Apostles iv, 12.
(5) St. John xv, 18-20; xvi, 2.
(6) St. Matthew xvi, 18.
(7) St. Matthew xxviii, 20.
(8) Cf. Acts xi, 30; xiv, 23; Titus i, 5; 1 Timothy v. 19; 1 Peter v. 1.
(9) St. Matthew xi, 10.
(10) Apocalypse v, 6.
(11) Cf. Comely, "Cursus Scripturae Sacrae" vol. iii, page 715 sq.; Gigot, "Apocalypse of St. John" in Westminster version.
(12) 1 Timothy iii, 15.
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| Pope tells theologians to consult ‘non-Catholics,’ avoid ‘going backward’ in Tradition |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-28-2022, 07:14 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
- Replies (1)
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Pope tells theologians to consult ‘non-Catholics,’ avoid ‘going backward’ in Tradition
The Pontiff once again criticized Catholics attached to the traditional form of the Church's life.
![[Image: pope-francis-audience--810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/pope-francis-audience--810x500.jpg)
Pope Francis during the general audience, September 21, 2022.
Screenshot/Twitter
Nov 25, 2022
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has warned an influential, Vatican-based theological commission against “going backward” in “Tradition,” instead urging them to promote the Gospel by consulting non-Catholic “experts.”
The 85-year-old Pontiff made the comments Thursday to the International Theological Commission, a body of theologians set up by Pope Paul VI in 1969 to advise the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
Francis first highlighted how the Commission was to fulfil its task “in the wake traced by the Second Vatican Council, which – sixty years after its inception – constitutes the sure compass for the journey of the Church.”
Don’t go ‘backward’ with Tradition
Re-iterating his oft-repeated remarks against devotees of Tradition and the traditional Mass, Francis called the commission’s 30 members to practice a “creative fidelity to Tradition.” By doing so, said Francis, the theologians could work “for the progress of the apostolic Tradition, under the assistance of the Holy Spirit.”
“Tradition, the origin of faith, which either grows or dies out,” said Francis. “Tradition – I want to emphasize this – makes us move in this direction: from down up, vertical.”
The Argentine Pontiff continued by making his trademark comments against traditional Catholics: “Today there is a great danger, which is to go in another direction: ‘indietrism.’ Going backward. ‘It has always been done this way’: it is better to go backward, which is safer, and not to go forward with tradition.”
Such a position, said Francis, “has moved some movements, Church movements, to remain fixed in a time, in a backward. They are the indietrists.”
He made reference to un-named movements which emerged after Vatican I which he observed had been “trying to be faithful to tradition, and so today they develop in such a way as to ordain women, and other things, out of this vertical direction.”
Francis criticized those who promoted “indietrism” which, he argued, “leads you to say, ‘That’s the way it’s always been done, it’s better to go on like this,’ and doesn’t let you grow. On this point, you theologians think a little bit about how to help.”
READ: Pope calls for an end to ‘intransigent defense of tradition’
This is by no means the first time that Francis has made such remarks, appearing to single out Catholics devoted to the traditional Mass and criticising them for it.
On one such occasion the Pope suggested that those clerics who opt to don more traditional clerical garb, such as cassocks and clerical hats, possess a “rigid clericalism,” behind which there are “serious problems.”
However, while Francis has used the texts of St. Paul on one occasion to make such an attack on “rigidity,” it was St. Paul himself who wrote: “Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.” (2 Thessalonians 2:14)
Then, in his letter to Titus, St. Paul stipulated that bishops must faithfully adhere to the doctrine of the Church: “Embracing that faithful word which is according to doctrine, that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine, and to convince the gainsayers.”
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Pope Francis with members of the International Theological Commission, Nov 2022. Credit: Screenshot/Vatican News
Promote Catholic faith by seeking opinion of ‘non-Catholics’
Offering a second guideline to the members of the Commission to continue their studies, Francis advised them to promote the Catholic faith by seeking the advice of those outside the Church.
The Pope spoke of the “appropriateness – in order to carry out with pertinence and incisiveness the work of deepening and inculturation of the Gospel – to open prudently to the contribution of the different disciplines through the consultation of experts, including non-Catholics, as provided for in the Statutes of the Commission.”
In this manner the theologians could practice “transdisciplinarity,” he said, suggesting that by consulting non-Catholics the theologians could draw from their knowledge as it comes from the “Light and Life offered by the Wisdom streaming from God’s Revelation.”
While he urged catechists to “give the right doctrine,” Francis told the ITC to “go further” than the “solid doctrine” as the magisterium will assume the role of informing the theologians when they have gone too far.
Catholics question wisdom of Pope’s advice
Reacting to yet another of the Pope’s attacks upon Tradition, Catholics were swift to rebuff his comments online. Henry Sire, a former Knight of Malta and author of The Dictator Pope, highlighted an apparent contradiction in the Pope’s words.
In comments to LifeSiteNews, U.K. catechist Deacon Nick Donnelly responded to the recommendation to consult “non-Catholics” by questioning its wisdom.
Quote:Pope St John Paul II’s statutes for the International Theological Commission allowed for consultation with experts, including non-Catholics (Apostolic Letter, Tredecim Anni, 10). Whilst this allowed for a broad consultation, the wisdom of such a provision is questionable under the pontificate of Pope Francis where such ‘consultation’ is being given primacy.
Continuing, Donnelly summarized Francis’ increasingly heterodox activities with regard to Catholic doctrine. “Since 2013, he has appointed non-Catholic experts who, among other things, advocate eugenics, contraception, and abortion.”
“Pope Francis’ enthusiasm for non-Catholic experts goes so far as him advocating that the Church learns from pagan religions and ‘spiritualities’,” Donnelly said, before warning against such a practice:
Quote:The problem with drawing on the expertise of non-Catholic experts to help the Church proclaim the Gospel is that they have, de facto, rejected our Lord Jesus Christ’s institution of the Catholic Church as the ‘sacrament of salvation.’ Such a fundamental antagonism against the Church, and the intentions of our Lord Jesus Christ, surely taints any knowledge or advice they propose to the International Theological Commission.
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| Klaus Schwab: ‘God Is Dead’ and the WEF is ‘Acquiring Divine Powers |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-25-2022, 10:56 AM - Forum: Great Reset
- No Replies
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Klaus Schwab: ‘God Is Dead’ and the WEF is ‘Acquiring Divine Powers’
Video: Klaus Schwab: ‘God Is Dead’ and the WEF is ‘Acquiring Divine Powers’
Transcript of the video:
God is dead, according to the World Economic Forum, who have also declared that “Jesus is fake news,” and that WEF leaders have “acquired divine powers” to rule over humanity.
According to the WEF, a new one world religion has arrived and it unites all of humanity in worshipping at the altar of climate science, techno-communism and eugenics.
If you find it hard to believe Klaus Schwab’s WEF would go this far, you clearly haven’t been paying attention to developments in recent times.
Klaus Schwab’s right hand man Noah Yuval Harari has announced that the WEF has been so successful in its plans that it is “acquiring divine powers” of “creation and destruction.” The blasphemy doesn’t stop there. Harari also promises the WEF will turn humans into gods.
The WEF is also increasingly hostile to Christianity and major religions. If you read between the lines just a little, it’s clear the WEF is consciously attempting to supplant Jesus
According to the WEF, Jesus is fake news, God is dead, and you do not have a soul. You are a “hackable animal” who does not have the capacity for free will.
The World Economic Forum has spent decades quietly infiltrating democratically elected governments, penetrating cabinets and wielding an outsized influence on the world from the corridors of Schwab’s Swiss hideout in Davos.
These tyrants have now become arrogant and sure of their own success. They are no longer hiding in the shadows and pulling puppet strings from behind the curtain.
According to Schwab, it is his role to shape the “transformation” of the world in the current period. And unsurprisingly he admires the Chinese system of state control authoritarianism.
With world leaders and cabinets firmly under their control, Western democracy has been decimated. Trudeau’s Canada has become a wasteland of authoritarian control. Jacinta Ardern’s New Zealand is arguably even more tightly controlled by the Davos technocrats.
Why should they respect us and our human and constitutional rights if they see us as “hackable animals” incapable of free thought?
Take a look at Brazil for a glimpse of the future. President Bolsonaro’s supporters are protesting what they claim to be a wildly unfair and corrupt election. WEF favorite Lula, who hasn’t even taken office yet, has already started enacting the Klaus Schwab playbook, freezing the bank accounts of protestors amid a chilling crackdown on freedom of speech and the right to protest peacefully.
First Canada, now Brazil. Next the United States?
French billionaire Philippe Argillier claims he has four databases that will expose 38 individuals who control the whole world and run the “shadow government”. Bill Gates, who needs no introduction, is one of those 38 un-elected individuals who control the daily lives of 8 billion people.
According to Argillier, he can prove the Biden administration takes direct orders from this shadow government.
If you want a sneak peek of the future under this shadow government, it’s worth paying attention to Bill Gates’ latest announcement. Gates has a history of playing god. Robert F. Kennedy warned us about this trait in Gates’ psychology years ago.
According to Kennedy Jr, the World Health Organization is “conducting global social and medical experimentation” in accordance with the vision of their mega-donor Bill Gates and his “religious faith that he can use technology (vaccines and GMO agriculture) to make him the savior to all of humanity.”
“Gates’ strategy of buying WHO [World Health Organization] and purchasing control of US health officials like Tony Fauci & Deborah Birx” means the Microsoft co-founder can now “dictate global health policies affecting 7 billion people and to control the most intimate details of our lives,” said Kennedy Jr. on his Instagram page.
Just last week Gates, in his role as false savior, was caught telling world leaders that it’s time for “death panels” to decide who has the right to live and die.
Of course Gates’s “death panels” have everything to do with the globalist elite’s obsession with depopulation. This is the brutal, soulless world Gates and the shadow government at the World Economic Forum are determined to roll out as part of their Great Reset. We can’t allow their evil religion to become the new normal.
Take a look at one of the videos in the description box below for a deeper dive into these plans. Forewarned is forearmed.
If you understand the importance of these videos in educating the masses about the shadow government and the evil agenda of the elite, please like these videos and subscribe to the channel to help us continue to produce this content and forewarn as many people as possible.
We are all in this together.
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