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| Madness! Bishop Rifan of Campos, Brazil defends Traditionis Custodes |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-10-2021, 07:08 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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Madness! Old Rite Bishop DEFENDS Traditionis Custodes
gloria.tv | August 10, 2021
Bishop Fernando Rifan, the head of the Old Rite Apostolic Administration in Campos, Brazil, commented in a recent homily (video here) on Francis’ Traditionis custodes.
He said that he replied to Francis' never published consultation on the Roman Rite, that there were "no problems" within his jurisdiction.
However, Rifan identified two "enemies" of the Roman Mass. His first "enemy" are progressive conformists who hate the Roman Mass because it expresses the Catholic doctrine of the Sacrifice of Mass.
In order to place himself opportunistically in the "middle," he invented a "second enemy" whom he called “radical traditionalists” and insulted as “stubborn” [=determined] and “quarrelsome” [=convinced]. He insinuated that this imaginary enemy “uses the Mass in order to criticise Vatican II, the local bishop, and the whole Church” - as if such criticism were not legitimate.
“Everyone knows there are radicals on the Internet, and this also harms the Mass in the old form, because they end up using it to create problems in the Church.” Rifan didn't explain how forbidding the Roman Rite Francis addressed this "problem."
He mentioned a meeting with Francis in Rome when Francis told him that “I’m only against exploiting the Mass in the old way, when they use it to attack the Church, the Pope and the Council.” Rifan hurried to echo Francis, “So do I.”
For Rifan, Traditionis custodes doesn't abolish but only "regulate" the Roman Mass. He presents the outlandish theory that it affects only those who “were doing it wrong” and will have to get permission of the bishops now. He thus condemned ALL priests of the Church across the board, because TC affects them all.
In October 2017, Rifan told the laity not to wait for the shepherds, to speak out, and to protest - exactly what happens now in reaction to TC.
[Emphasis mine.]
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| Pentagon, Biden announce mandatory COVID jab for ‘all Service members’ within weeks |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-10-2021, 07:03 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Pentagon, Biden announce mandatory COVID jab for ‘all Service members’ within weeks
Even before the mandate is enforced, unvaccinated personnel are subject to additional restrictions that their vaccinated counterparts do not face.
Mon Aug 9, 2021 WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III just released a memo stipulating that he will make COVID-19 experimental injections mandatory for “all Service members” within a matter of weeks.
The letter, reported first by the Associated Press and subsequently released August 9, is signed by Austin and deals with his task of determining “how and when we might add the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines to the list of those required for all Service members.”
Austin declared that his memo comes after consultation with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the various secretaries of the military departments, and the White House COVID response force – for which Dr. Anthony Fauci is chief medical adviser.
As a result, Austin announced that he will seek presidential approval for the plan to mandate the COVID-19 injection “no later than mid-September, or immediately upon the U.S. Food and Drug Agency (FDA) licensure, whichever comes first.”
He defended his decision by alluding to reports suggesting that FDA approval could arrive for the injections as soon as early September, and adding that the time until this arrived, along with the expected presidential approval, would be spent “preparing for this transition.”
“I have every confidence that Service leadership and your commanders will implement this new vaccination program with professionalism, skill, and compassion,” Austin declared. “We will have more to say about this as implementation plans are fully developed.”
Before the injection is given full FDA approval, any mandate would be a direct violation of federal statute and thus service personnel would have the right to decline. However, Austin’s terminology suggests that he will forge ahead with the mandate by mid-September, even without the full FDA approval for the injection.
Until the mandate is implemented, Secretary Austin writes that all unvaccinated service personnel will have to face additional restrictions, which their vaccinated colleagues will not, in accord with the presidential directives. “Those requirements apply to those of you in uniform as well as our civilian and contractor personnel,” he wrote.
However, he hinted at the promised vaccine mandate being implemented sooner, should he find cause for concern in the number of COVID-19 positive cases within the military. Referencing the infection rates from the Delta variant of the virus, Austin warned about the possible “impact these rates might have on our readiness.”
“I will not hesitate to act sooner or recommend a different course to the President if I feel the need to do so,” Austin said.
“To defend this Nation, we need a healthy and ready force,” Austin declared, before urging military personnel to take the experimental injection.
“I strongly encourage all DoD military and civilian personnel — as well as contractor personnel — to get vaccinated now and for military Service members to not wait for the mandate.”
Joe Biden wrote to “strongly support” Austin’s memo in a press release issued shortly afterward. “We are still on a wartime footing, and every American who is eligible should take immediate steps to get vaccinated right away,” Biden said.
The president accused the unvaccinated of spreading the virus “rapidly,” adding that “being vaccinated will enable our service members to stay healthy, to better protect their families, and to ensure that our force is ready to operate anywhere in the world.”
Attempting to defend his argument once more and encourage vaccine uptake, Austin wrote, “All FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines are safe and highly effective.” He was echoed by Biden, who stated, “These vaccines will save lives. Period. They are safe. They are effective.”
However, the latest data released by the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) for the period between December 14, 2020 and July 30, 2021, records a total of 545,338 total adverse events, including 12,366 deaths.
The Defender notes that of the number of adverse events, there were 70,105 reports of serious injuries, including deaths, with 121,452 reports of anaphylaxis.
Indeed, the number of breakthrough cases of COVID-19 in people who are fully injected continues to rise. One such recent example took place on a contained cruise liner with 4,000 fully vaccinated passengers, where there was reportedly an outbreak of the virus. The ship, Carnival Vista, has now implemented mask mandates for all passengers, apart from on the outer decks.
Some studies also suggest that the vaccinated group of Americans may in fact “play a key role in helping SARS-CoV-2 variants evolve into those that evade existing COVID vaccines.”
Meanwhile, just days ago 16 congressmen penned a letter to the Secretary of Defense appealing to Doe v. Rumsfeld and noting that “Mandatory vaccination is illegal for military personnel prior to complete approval.”
Led by Rep. Mark E. Green, MD, the signatories reminded Austin that any vaccine mandate before full FDA approval would be “an unprecedented violation of federal law.”
However, they did not express concerns about the safety of the injection, or the mandatory nature of the injection after potentially receiving full FDA approval.
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| Quote from Virgil |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-10-2021, 06:43 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito.
You should not give in to evils, but proceed ever more boldly against them.
- From Virgil, Aeneid, 6, 95.
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| Pope Francis Sent 'Bullets In Envelope' Death Threat As Financial Scandal Trial Underway |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-10-2021, 06:21 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Pope Francis Sent 'Bullets In Envelope' Death Threat As Financial Scandal Trial Underway
ZH | AUG 10, 2021
It's being widely reported that Italian police are investigating a threat made on Pope Francis' life after a mysterious envelope addressed to the pontiff was intercepted at a mail sorting facility near Milan.
"Law enforcement in Milan is investigating the source of an envelope containing three bullets addressed to the pope, Italian paramilitary police said Monday," the AP reports. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera described that they were 9-millimeter caliber bullets.
The Pope has had beefed up security over the years, including his own 'secret service' detail along with the traditional Swiss Guard.
The suspicious envelope was reportedly sent from France but left few other details in terms of the identity of the sender. It was found during overnight sorting.
The AP notes further:
Quote:The envelope was addressed by hand in pen to: "The Pope, Vatican City, St. Peter's Square, Rome," and contained three bullets presumed to be for a pistol and a message referring to financial operations at the Vatican.
The financial scandal-related message is interesting given that an unprecedented Vatican trial is still underway, likely to result in the downfall of a very senior cardinal. It's centered on shady London real estate purchases and mismanaged funds that were intended for charity.
To review, details of the trial include the following:
Quote:On July 27, a trial got under way in which 10 people, including a senior cardinal, have been indicted over allegations of mishandling of Vatican funds. The multi-million euro scandal revolves around the purchasing of a luxury property in London.
According to Reuters, an indictment revealed as part of the process showed Pope Francis gave his personal approval for the trial against senior figures to commence.
The trial is considered the biggest in recent Vatican history...
Previously there was widespread speculation that the highly unusual February 2013 resignation of Pope Benedict - Francis' still living predecessor (unusual given that typically a Pope remains in the highest Roman Catholic office for life) - was due to his inability to clean up increasingly grave and public financial mismanagement and scandal at the Vatican Bank.
It's believed that among Pope Francis' most central mandates is to urgently clean up and resolve lingering financial crisis, while also the clergy molestation scandal and fallout is still ongoing.
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| Vatican demands COVID-19 ‘Green Pass’ for entry to historic museums |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-10-2021, 06:16 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Spiritual]
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Vatican demands COVID-19 ‘Green Pass’ for entry to historic museums
Italy's new Green Pass offers 9 months of free movement to the double-jabbed.
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iodonna.it%2Fwp-con...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iodonna.it%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F07%2FGettyImages-1326301500.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
Mon Aug 9, 2021 VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) – Going to Rome? You’ll need a COVID-19 passport to be admitted to the Vatican Museums.
A July 29 statement from the Vatican Museums confirmed that, as of August 6 “and until further notice, access to the Vatican Museums and all related areas will be permitted only to those in possession of a Green COVID-19 Certification (Green Pass or equivalent certificate).”
The Green Pass comes in both a digital and paper form and is issued automatically to people registered on Italy’s public health system. Those not on the system can obtain a pass by applying through a government-run website dedicated to the Green Pass.
The pass identifies holders as having either been “vaccinated” against COVID-19, testing negative for the virus, or having recovered from illness brought on by the virus. Applicants must submit proof of their status to Green Pass administrators to obtain the certificate.
Certification is offered on three levels, based on the type of proof submitted. Vaccination is considered the highest level, granting those confirmed to have taken a full regimen of either the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, or Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) jabs 270 days (or around nine months) of Green Pass authorization. The next level applies to those who have demonstrably recovered from COVID-19 infection; they are given 180 days (around six months) on the Green Pass. In last place, a negative antigen or molecular test will provide just 48 hours on the Green Pass.
In order to verify that the identity of a Green Pass holder matches the person attempting to enter the Vatican Museums, the organization noted that its staff “may also request the visitor’s identity document [e.g., a passport], in order to verify actual ownership.”
“Therefore, please arrive at the Museums with the required documents ready for inspection, in order to facilitate control and access procedures,” the notice reads.
The statement urges those who booked tours at the Museums before the mandate to be sure to bring the relevant documentation as they too “will in any case” be required to have signed up to the Green Pass system.
Besides the new restriction on admission, the Vatican Museums are running heightened modifications to their normal order of business, including the cancellation of their popular “extraordinary openings on the last Sunday of the month,” which allowed guests free entry. They are also staggering entry in 30-minute, pre-booked slots, reducing the overall daily visitor capacity.
Masks and a temperature check are also required.
“To enter the Vatican Museums and Gardens it is obligatory to wear a mask covering the nose and mouth. The mask must be worn for the entire duration of the visit,” the guidelines now read.
Additionally, “[a]ccess will be denied to all those with a body temperature of 37.5º C or more.”
The implementation of the Green Pass requirement coincides with announcements from the Italian government that the certificates will be required nationwide if citizens wish to engage in normal social activities. From August 6 the passes will be made a legal requirement for indoor dining, as well as access to entertainment venues like bars, theatres, amusement parks, festivals, and sports arenas.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced that the “Green Pass is essential if we want to keep businesses open.” It was also confirmed that non-compliance with the requirement, be it on the part of the patron or the proprietor of a business, will be penalized heavily, with fines between €400 and €1,000 (up to $1,175 U.S.) being levied per offence. Businesses which fail to implement the ruling three times in three days will face enforced closure of their premises for up to ten days.
But the prospect of having to prove one’s immunity to the virus under such penalties has caused uprisings in Italy and other countries. Many thousands of Italians took to the streets towards the end of July in major metropolises like Rome, Milan, Naples, and Turin to demonstrate their opposition to the newly approved Green Pass system.
Likewise, in the U.K. and Australia, where the local governments have been dangling COVID “passports” over the public in order to coerce vaccination uptake, tens of thousands of protestors rallied together in opposition to the draconian measures being implemented. Australians have been forced to remain in their homes except to buy food, to seek medical assistance, to perform an “essential” in-person job, or to exercise with no more than one other person. Protestors have marched on British capital London and Australia’s most populated city, Sydney.
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| Shock executive order greenlights quarantines, involuntary commitment amid COVID fears |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-09-2021, 01:28 PM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Shock executive order greenlights quarantines, involuntary commitment amid COVID fears
The executive order would permit the National Guard to be brought in to deal with 'certain health care and emergency services operations,'
while temporary quarantine facilities could be built.
August 9, 2021 (WND News Center) – An executive order signed quietly by Tennessee’s Republican governor is troubling some Americans as it greenlights the National Guard and State Guard to implement quarantines and involuntary commitment of citizens “in connection with certain health care and emergency services operations,” with the governor specifically concerned about “an increase in COVID-19 cases.”
Gov. Bill Lee signed Executive Order 83 on Friday “with little fanfare” according to Tennessee Stands, an influential conservative coalition.
The group says it found some of the provisions in the executive order “exceptionally concerning,” including:
- “Discretion to utilize National Guard and State Guard members in connection with certain health care and emergency services operations.”
- “Telephone assessments for involuntary commitment cases are permitted.”
- “Temporary quarantine and isolation facilities may be constructed.”
Fox News journalist Todd Starnes collected reaction on social media, with one commenter saying:
“Wow! The guard will be utilized? Involuntary commitment? And construction of quarantine and isolation facilities? Thought all of that was just a silly conspiracy theory.”
“The pieces add up to a very scary picture!! People need to wake up,” another concerned citizen wrote. “I would like to know the specific scenarios and situations that would need to take place in order for these actions to be implemented. They are too open ended and vague which leads to open door interpretation and neglected use which would not work in our best interests. We need to demand specificity.”
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| 60 Uses of Graphene |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-09-2021, 06:36 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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This company, Nanografi, has this to say about what they do:
Founded in 2011, Nanografi Nanotechnology AS has been producing and supplying nano and micro particles such as Graphene, Fullerene, Carbon Nanotubes as well as 3D printer materials. Thanks to the collaboration of both industry and academy, Nanografi has been effectively developing new nanomaterial applications for challenging engineering works beside supplying them to over 80 countries.
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| Rumor: Is An Even More Fanatical Document in the Pipeline? |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-09-2021, 06:14 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Traditionis Custodes: Is An Even More Fanatical Document in the Pipeline?
gloria.tv | August 9, 2021
Luigi Casalini of MessaInLatino.it (August 8) reports that after the summer an application document to Traditionis custodes will be released by the anti-Catholic Congregations for Liturgy and for the Religious.
This document is supposedly even more extreme. Futher, according to Casalini, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sent a July 22 letter to Old Rite monasteries and communities informing that from now on the Liturgy Congregation will be responsible for liturgical and the Congregation for the Religious for administrative matters.
The officials at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith who were responsible for these Old Rite communities, were told to look for other jobs.
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| August 9th - Vigil of St. Lawrence |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-09-2021, 06:10 AM - Forum: August
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August 9 – Vigil of St Laurence, Martyr; Comm. of St Romanus, Martyr
“Fear not, my servant, for I am with thee, saith the Lord. If thou pass through fire, the flame shall not hurt thee, and the odor of fire shall not be in thee. I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the mighty.” It was the hour of combat; and Wisdom, more powerful than flame, was calling upon Laurence to win the laurels of victory presaged by his very name. The three days since the death of Sixtus had passed at length, and the deacon’s exile was about to close: he was soon to stand beside his Pontiff at the altar in heaven, and never more to be separated from him. But before going to perform his office as deacon in the eternal sacrifice, he must on this earth, where the seeds of eternity are sown, give proof of the brave faithfulness which becomes a Levite of the Law of Love. Laurence was ready. He had said to Sixtus: “Try the fidelity of the minister to whom thou didst intrust the dispensation of the Blood of our Lord.” He had now, according to the Pontiff’s wish, distributed to the poor the treasures of the Church; as the chants of the Liturgy tell us on this very morning. But he knew that if a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing; and he longed to give himself as well. Overflowing with joy in his generosity he hailed the holocaust, whose sweet perfume he seemed already to perceive rising up to heaven. And well might he have sung the offertory on this Vigil’s Mass: “My prayer is pure, and therefore I ask that a place be given to my voice in heaven: for my judge is there, and he that knoweth my conscience is on high: let my prayer ascend to the Lord.”
Sublime prayer of the just man which pierces the clouds! Even now we can say with the Church: His seed shall be mighty upon earth, the seed of new Christians sprung from the blood of martyrdom; for today we greet the first fruits thereof in the person of Romanus, the neophyte whom his first torments won to Christ, and who preceded him to heaven. Let us, with the Church, unite the soldier and the deacon in our prayers:
Prayer
Adesto, Domine, supplicationibus nostris: et, intercessione beati Laurentii, Martyris tui, cujus prævenimus festivitatem, perpetuam nobis misericordiam benignus impende. Per Dominum.
Attend, O Lord, to our supplications, and by the intercession of blessed Laurence, thy martyr, whose festival we anticipate, graciously extend to us perpetual mercy. Through our Lord, &c.
Prayer
Præsta, quæsumus omnipotens Deus: ut, intercedente beato Romano, Martyre tuo, et a cunctis adversitatibus liberemur in corpore, e ta pravis cogitationibus mundemur in mente. Per Dominum.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that by the intercession of blessed Romanus, thy martyr, we may both be delivered from all adversities in body, and be purified from all evil thoughts in mind. Through our Lord, &c.
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| August 8th - St. Jean Marie Vianney |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-09-2021, 05:56 AM - Forum: August
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Blessed John Baptist Vianney
The Blessed John Baptist Vianney, parish priest of Ars, is certainly one of the noblest figures among the saints of the nineteenth century. If one would know holiness in all its charms, in its ineffable gentleness and amiability, let him read the life of this illustrious ornament of the French clergy. The supernatural power revealed in him is so grand and so clearly manifest that only the ill-disposed can deny it.
John Baptist Vianney, born May 8, 1786, in the village of Dardilly, near Lyons, was the son of simple peasants. Grace attracted him heavenward from the beginning. Reason had hardly dawned in him when it turned toward God. The boy of three or four years was often found praying in some secluded corner of the house. When, at the age of seven, he was sent to tend the cows, he was able to spend almost the entire day in the sweetness of prayer. Even then he gave promise of his future calling. He used to gather the shepherd boys of the neighborhood around him from time to time and give them a little exhortation on the duty of avoiding evil and of persevering in good. He had always before his eyes the best example in his parents, who were models of piety and were most careful to preserve their children from every taint of evil.
Then came the French Revolution, closing the churches and expelling the priests. Blessed John received his first Holy Communion in a barn during the darkness of night. Finally, in 1803 a priest, the zealous Charles Bailey, was appointed to Ecully, about three miles from Dardilly. His attention was soon attracted to the virtuous John Vianney. He offered to help John to become a priest. The young man gladly agreed, lodged with relations at Ecully and began to learn Latin. He was then seventeen years old, but had had scarcely any schooling. Study, therefore, proved very difficult for him, for his natural talent appeared to be rather poor. But his tutor, convinced that this upright and innocent youth would serve the Church well by his holiness, if not by his learning, did not lose patience. Vianney sought help from God and vowed a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. John Francis Regis at Lalouvesc. While he advanced steadily but slowly in his studies, it brought him many humiliations. In the little seminary of Verrieres he had to suffer much from his fellow-students and he failed in his examination for entrance into the great seminary of Lyons. It was only through the intercession of his tutor Bailey that he was granted a second examination and admission to the seminary. On August 9, 1815, the end was at last attained. Vianney was a priest. His former teacher, Father Bailey, asked to have him for an assistant. Ecully rejoiced, for it already knew the profound piety and modesty of the newly-ordained priest. Vianney's good sense in the direction of souls soon showed itself. His zeal was prodigious but not indiscreet or excessive, and he began at once to achieve noble triumphs.
At the beginning of February, 1818, Vianney was appointed parish priest of Ars. The vicar-general said to him: "My friend, you are pastor of Ars. It is a small parish where there is little love for God. Bring it to them." Ars was in bad repute and not without reason. Even among the good attendance at divine service and the reception of the sacraments were limited to what was just necessary. The rest sometimes attended, but only exteriorly. Dissolute pleasure seeking allowed religion only scant existence.
Still all admired the edifying example of the new pastor in the church and in his humble and modest manner of life. If the sheep did not come to the shepherd the shepherd sought out the sheep. Vianney went from house to house, showed interest in their welfare and their troubles and spoke kinds words of encouragement and consolation. In this way the ice was broken. Sunday after Sunday more came to church, They ventured even to approach the sacraments outside the great feasts. Those who had once experienced in confession what gentleness flowed from the heart of the priest and how refreshing were his words, soon came again. With his heart glowing with love and speaking as only saints can speak he preached on God, death, heaven, hell, and on the Blessed Sacrament so movingly that from eyes which on like occasions had never wept there welled up fountains of tears. In the whole village only one voice was heard: "Our pastor is a saint." In the course of time no one could escape the influence of his personality. It was indeed a long struggle and many years passed before all hearts were conquered, for the love of pleasure made a most stubborn resistance.
The news of this change in Ars and of the holiness of its pastor soon spread throughout the neighboring country round about, penetrating at length to the limits of France and thence abroad. Every day the roads that led to Ars brought greater pilgrimages. Monnin says of them: "These pilgrimages, which went on for more than thirty years with extraordinarily great crowds and under exceptional circumstances, will fill a large page in Christian annals. They give the monograph we now publish a color so living and original, a framing so splendid, that it seems to be poetry as well as history. We find here on a large scale all those wonders with which our ancient hagiographers loved to adorn their narratives. But we have no mythical antiquity before us and no one can find excuse for our belief that our history of this man who is still a contemporary will show any trace of fanciful or exaggerated elaboration.
It is a history of our own time which can bring forward witnesses to its truth by thousands and hundreds of thousands, yet we find in it all that we marvel at in the legends of the past--all that in our own day we may regard as extraordinary heroism, perfect mortification, wonderful self-denial, incomparable humility, boundless love of God and our neighbor, and a dominion over souls--a power to draw them from afar, to move them, to convert and to gain them for heaven; and further, as if in proof of this spiritual dominion, a miraculous power over nature, the power to change the ordinary course of things, to heal bodily diseases, to read the depths of conscience as an open book, to foretell the future--in a word, he possessed the miraculous gift of knowledge and of power. This does not constitute, it is true, what is most sublime in the lives of the saints, but it is most convincing with the people--one of them told us: 'Before I came to Ars and saw the good Father [so the pilgrims used to call our saint], I found it hard to believe all that is related in the lives of the saints. Much in them seemed to me impossible. But now I believe it all, for I have seen all those things with my own eyes and even more.'"
In fact, Ars proved to be a constant miracle. Men could not say precisely what it was that attracted these vast crowds from near and far. They saw only a poor little church and a poorly-clad priest. Yet they stood there close-thronged and waited patiently two or three days to confess to him and to listen to his simple catechism, which powerfully stirred their consciences. Many came out of mere curiosity, but on these, too, fell the rays of grace. They could not resist going in and confessing their sins to the holy priest. To these wonders of grace were added the most astonishing cures of the sick, which he effected through the intercession of St. Philomena, and his wise admonitions, which were certainly inspired by divine enlightenment.
These labors demanded of him the heaviest personal sacrifices. He could hardly allow himself one or two hours of rest at night. A little after midnight he hurried to the confessional, there to remain the whole day except during the times of Mass, of the brief instruction, and of his very scanty meal. One can not understand whence he derived the physical strength for such uninterrupted exertions. Still, not satisfied with all this, he afflicted his body with the severest penances, and it pleased God to send him the most grievous interior trials. His combats with the evil one, which are verified by the best authorities, remind us of what St. Athanasius relates of the hermit Anthony. All that is related of the gifts of grace and the fulness of virtue possessed by the holy Cure of Ars and of the wonderful cures and conversions wrought by him, is full of consolation. What faith teaches of the power, the beauty, and the grandeur of the soul of the just man was embodied in him. Vianney was to be set against the unbelieving spirit of the age as a visible proof of the truth of Christian teaching.
On July 29, 1859, the Cure, then seventy-three years of age, had been, as usual, for sixteen or seventeen hours in the confessional, and there his strength suddenly gave way. On the morning of the fourth of August his soul took its flight to heaven while Abbe Monnin was reciting the prayer of the dying: "Veniant illi obviam sancti angeli Dei et perducant eum in civitatem caelestem Jerusalem;" "May the holy angels of God meet him and guide him into the city of the heavenly Jerusalem." But his influence was not ended with his death. All Christendom rejoiced when Pius X, on January 8, 1905, numbered this ideal pastor of souls among the beatified.
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The sufferings He Inflicted on Himself
It is from the period of the foundation of the Providence that M. Monnin dates the commencement of the heroic life of the Cur of Ars. "Those," says he, "who did not approach him till the later years of his life, when the habit of sanctity had become a second nature to him; when the practice of the most heroic virtues had become so familiar as no longer to cost him an effort; when, united with, and transformed into, Him, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, he had become one with Him, loving what He loves, hating what He hates, never changing tone or look, whatever might befall him; following every movement of that Divine Master, with Whose Heart and will his own were inseparably united; those who knew him in those days admired a work finished and perfected. But they would have much mistaken had they imagined that the Cure of Ars had become a saint without the toil and effort by which alone saints are made.
"'Who are these,' says one of the ancients in the Apocalypse, 'who are around the Throne before the face of the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and having palms in their hands? Who are they, and whence come they?' And he is answered, 'These are they who are come out of great tribulation.' This is the law of sanctity; and it was not given to our saint to escape it, or to unite himself by any other means to Him who is the Saint of saints.
"Through how many tribulations, conflicts, and trials did he pass before he reached the lofty summit on which we have seen him so tranquilly reposing! So true are the words of St. Catherine, that never from the beginning to the end of the world has our Lord willed, or shall He will, that anything great should be accomplished but through much suffering. "Sanctity is the fruit of sacrifice. It is a death, and a new birth; the death of the old man, the birth of the new. There is no death without its suffering, no childbirth without its pangs."
Of the sufferings of our holy cure, some were inflicted by himself, some by the devil, some by good and some by evil men; some, and those the most intense of all, by the hand of God Himself. And first of those which were self-imposed. There are few, even among the saints, whose lives bear the marks of a more systematic and unflinching crucifixion of the whole man, a more uniform practice both of exterior and interior mortification, than we find in the portrait traced of him by those familiar with the details of his daily life.
Claudine Renard, the pious widow who had the charge of washing his linen, and rendering him such other little services as he could not refuse to receive at her hands, could rarely obtain admittance into the presbytery. On the few occasions when she contrived to effect an entrance, after doing her best to put the poor furniture in order, she sometimes proceeded to make the good Cur's bed. She thus discovered that, one by one, he had cast aside all the bedding he had brought with him from Ecully, till nothing remained but the straw palliasse; and that finding even this too luxurious, he had put a board on the top of it.
"And besides," said Catherine, when relating these particulars, "there is hardly any straw left now in that poor bed. He takes it out by degrees, till at last there will be nothing left but the wood. Then he will be satisfied. We have tried sometimes secretly to put in a few handfuls, but it only made him take out more; for if he felt his bed a little less hard, he would pull out the straw, and throw it into the fire. We discovered this by finding the ashes in the fireplace."
It was accidentally found out afterwards, that, to satisfy his increasing thirst for suffering, M. Vianney was in the habit of discarding his bed altogether, and sleeping on the bare floor of the granary with a stone for his pillow.
His favorite food consisted of some pieces of the coarsest black bread bought out of the basket of some poor man. The Abbe Renard, in a memoir drawn up by him of the early days of the holy Cur's ministry, tell us that he had often witnessed the joy with which he ate this most distasteful food. If he perceived the disgust which his companion felt at the sight of it, he would laugh and invite him to share his dinner, saying, "It is a blessing, dear friend, to be permitted to eat the bread of the poor; they are the friends of Jesus Christ. I feel as if I were sitting at His table."
When these delicacies were not to be procured, his ordinary meal consisted of potatoes, which he boiled himself once a week. Sometimes, when his own stock of potatoes had come to an end, he has been seen, with his basket in his hand, begging his week's provision from door to door. He took our Lord at His word, and left the whole care of his life, and all that belonged to it, to the pledged care of His Providence. He never withheld an alms because it would leave him without provision for the morrow, or even for the day.
A neighbor one day brought him a loaf of fine flour, which she had made on purpose for him. She went back to fetch some milk; and believing that he had been long fasting, she wished him to eat the bread and milk in her presence. No persuasions could induce him to consent. At last an idea struck her, which would account for his pertinacious refusal.
"I see, M. le Cure," said she, "you have no bread left." True, indeed; a beggar had passed while she was gone, and the whole loaf of bread had been deposited in his wallet. M. Vianney seemed determined, in those days, to try how long human nature could be supported without food. He sometimes reduced himself to such a state of weakness, as to be obliged to lean against the forms or walls of the church for support. When, after long days of fasting, he could hold out no longer, he would take a handful of flour, and, moistening it with a little water, make a few matafaims (A thin cake so called in the Dombes), which served him for his single meal.
Catherine tells us that she had often heard him say: "Oh! how happy I was in those days! I had not the whole world on my hands; I was all alone. When I wanted my dinner, I did not lose much time over it. Three matefaims did the business. I ate the first while I was baking the second; and while I was eating the second, I baked the third. As I finished my dinner, I arranged my fire and my stove, drank a little water, and that was enough for two or three days."
It has, in fact, been ascertained that the Cure of Ars often passed several days together without taking any nourishment whatever, when he desired to obtain some special grace for himself or his parishioners, to make reparation for some scandal which had wrung his heart, or to do penance for some grievous sinner, whom he judged too weak in courage, or in contrition, to perform it for himself. When asked how a confessor was to act in order to exact due reparation for sin, and at the same time show necessary consideration for the weakness of sinners, he said, "I will tell you my recipe. I give them a light penance, and do the rest in their place."
He had great confidence in the efficacy of fasting as a means of appeasing Divine justice, and a weapon against the evil one.
''The devil," said he, "laughs at disciplines and other instruments of penance; or, at least, if he does not laugh at them, he cares little for them; but what puts him effectually to flight is the privation of food and sleep. There is nothing which the devil dreads so much, and nothing which is more pleasing to God. I experienced this during the five or six years when I was alone, and could follow my attrait without being remarked. Oh, what graces did the Lord vouchsafe to me at that time! I obtained everything. I wanted from Him." His assistant priest once said to him: "M. le Cur, it is said that at one time you could easily pass a whole week without eating."
"Oh, no, my friend," replied he; "that is an exaggeration. The utmost I ever did was to go through a week upon three meals."
He has acknowledged on other occasions having abstained from all nourishment for whole days together, and sometimes for forty-eight hours. The habitual rigid abstinence which he practiced appears from a remark which escaped him one day, when a batch of baking at the Providence had been very successful: "Well, for once I must be greedy, and eat as much as I want." It is positively affirmed by Catherine that he has passed a whole Lent without consuming two pounds of bread. He even tried to live without bread altogether. Claudine Renard caught him one day eating a handful of grass.
"What, M. le Cur," said she in amazement, "are you eating grass?"
"Yes, my good mother Renard," answered he with a smile; "it is an experiment which I am trying; but it does not answer."
"It is very plain," said he, long afterwards, in a moment of affectionate familiarity, to his assistant priest, "that we are differently formed from the beasts. I once tried to live like them, upon grass; but I lost all my strength. It seems that bread is necessary to man."
Bishop Devie once asked him: "Did you ever try to live upon roots and grass, like your predecessors, the fathers of the desert?"
"Monseigneur," replied he, "I did try it once for a week; but I could not go on. I am not a saint like them."
"One day," says Catherine, "I tried to persuade M. le Cure to take a little more nourishment. I said, 'You will never hold out, if you go on living in this way.' 'Oh, yes,' replied he gaily. 'What says our Lord? I have another food to eat; which is, to do the will of My Father, who hath sent Me.' Then he added, 'I have a good carcass. I am tough. As soon as I have eaten something, no matter what, or slept a couple of hours, I can begin again. When you have given something to a good horse, he sets off upon the trot again, as if nothing ailed him; and a horse hardly ever lies down.'"
The best horse, however, may be overridden, and M. Vianney was sometimes forced to acknowledge that he could do no more.
"There are days when I can really hardly speak; especially about seven in the morning, and seven in the evening; but I always find strength to speak of the good God."
At evening prayers his voice was sometimes scarcely audible. He was asked once, why he spoke so loud when he preached, and so low when he prayed.
"Because, when I am preaching," said he, "I have to deal with those who are deaf or sleeping; but when I pray, I have to deal with the good God, and He is not deaf."
In fact, he always went to the very limit of his powers. "My good cure," said M. d'Ars, "do take a little more care of yourself, if you would not give me continual distractions. When I hear you recite the Rosary in that feeble, worn-out tone, I find myself saying, instead of Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us,' 'My God, have pity on him, and give him grace to go on to the end.'"
Sometimes the good lady got fairly angry with him, and threatened to complain of him to the Archbishop; and, indeed, M. Courbon, the Vicar-General, who looked upon him as in some sort a child of his own, remonstrated with him, though without effect.
The only occasions on which M. Vianney relaxed, in any degree, the habitual austerity of his life, were when he was called upon to exercise hospitality to a brother priest. On these rare occasions, he would send to Mdlle. d'Ars; or, if there was not time to reach the castle, Mdlle. Pignaut, or Claudine Renard, would provide a dinner, simple indeed, but very different from his ordinary fare, which he would make a show of sharing with his guests, while, in the words of one who enjoyed his hospitality on one of these occasions, "he ceased not to discourse of heavenly things, like a man absorbed in God." It is an instance of what has been before observed, of the strength and tenderness of his home affections, that he showed the same consideration for any of his relatives who came to see him. When his nephew and niece from Dardilly paid him a visit, some little addition was always made. He sat down to dinner with them, whereas he always took his solitary meals standing; carved for them, and courteously did all the honors of the table, encouraging them to eat, and eating with them of whatever was before them. But as these good people said, "When we were at Ars, we felt neither hunger nor thirst; it was always like the day of our first Communion."
Then M. Vianney would ask kindly after all his old friends at Dardilly, and dwell upon his childish reminiscences, asking particularly after the old apple-tree, under the shadows of which the reapers had been accustomed to dine and sleep.
We are told of a very characteristic banquet, to which the good cure invited Mdlle. Pignaut and the widow Renard, who, to satisfy a little womanly curiosity, often teased him to give them an entertainment in return for the many repasts they had provided for his guests. He could do no less, they said, than invite them in return.
"One evening, then," says Catherine, "when M. le Cure had laid in a fresh stock of his favorite black bread, he went to visit his neighbor.
"'Claudine,' said he, in a livelier tone than usual, 'you are to come to my house at once, with your daughter and Mdlle. Pignaut. I want you all three.'
"Exceedingly pleased, and above all exceedingly curious to know what M. le Cure wanted with them, the three women arrived at the presbytery.
"'What do I want with you?' said he, as soon as they came in; 'I want you to sup with me. Are you not pleased? Take chairs, and sit down. What a feast we are going to have! We will eat the bread of the poor--the friends of Jesus Christ--and we will drink the good water of the good God. So much for the body. And then we will-read out of the lives of those holy Saints who were so penitent and so mortified. So much for the soul. And so now let us set to work.'"
The good Cure had arranged his table, and spread his feast: in the middle was a basket filled with the bread of the poor; on the right, a large folio volume of the Lives of the Saints; on the left, a pitcher of water, with a wooden cup.
At the sight of this grand preparation, Claudine Renard,who was in the secret, exchanged a look with M. le Cur, and smiled; the other two were a little disconcerted. Without seeming to notice their confusion, M. Vianney blessed the table, and offered a piece of bread to each.
"I dared not refuse," said Anne Renard, when she related the story. "I got to the end of my piece of bread, and so did my mother; but poor Mdlle. Pignaut, do what she would, could not manage to swallow hers. She was on thorns the whole time the visit lasted, having never been invited to such a feast before. She never tried to get another invitation."
M. Vianney would certainly have wanted the necessaries of life but for the watchful care of Divine Providence in commissioning one pious hand after another to supply his wants. On the death of the good widow Renard, her place was 'filled by a pious woman, who went by the name of Soeur Lacon. She carried on a perpetual warfare with the holy cure to induce him to mitigate in some degree the inflexible austerity of his life. She would slip unawares into the presbytery, and leave with-inside the provisions which M. Vianney had refused to receive from her. Great was her self-gratulation on such occasions, until, on the following morning, she would recognize her gift in the wallet of the first beggar who came to ask alms at her door.
Catherine's journal contains an amusing account of one of these skirmishes between Soeur Lacon and her incorrigible pastor:
"She had made a beautiful pie for M. le Cure, which, when baked to perfection, she took out of the oven, and hid in an old cupboard in the presbytery kitchen, thinking it would be sure to be safe in that deserted corner of the house. She impatiently awaited M. Vianney's return in the evening; and as soon as she heard him come in, she said to him, in the most insinuating tone in the world, 'M. le Cure, will you have a little piece of pie?'
"'Certainly,' replied he, immediately; 'I should like it very much!
"Delighted with so unusual an acquiescence, she flew to her hiding-place, when, alas, no pie was to be found! What could have become of it? Had M. le Cure found it out, and given it to some poor man? This was really too much. She went up stairs in great indignation.
"'M. le Cure, this is too bad. My pie was my own; I did not give it to you.'
"'Why did you put it in the presbytery, then?' replied he, very quietly. 'I conclude that what I find in my house is my own, and that I have a right to dispose of it.'"
Poor Mdlle. Lacon, as Catherine tells us, had taken a great deal of trouble to give M. Vianney this surprise; and was the more to be pitied, as she was upwards of seventy, had one leg shorter than the other, and had great difficulty in moving about, on account of her rheumatism.
"M. le Cure, however," adds she, "only did it to try her; for he knew that she was a good soul, and that the more sacrifices he led her to make, the more would she advance in the ways of God."
That she was a good soul, free from malice and guile, appears from her proposing, a few days afterwards, to M. Vianney to make him some matefaims. He consented with a readiness which might have led her to suspect mischief. But in the innocence of her heart she set to work to mix her flour; and, being doubtful of her own skill, called in Mdlle. Pignaut to counsel. M. Vianney watched all these preparations with a malicious eye. When they were finished, the dish was solemnly placed before him. He joined his hands, and raised his eyes to heaven, as if about to say the Benedicite; and then, while all around were devoutly making the sign of the Cross, he took up the dish, ran down stairs with it, and distributed the contents to the poor.
M. Vianney was often to be met hurrying along with something concealed under his cassock. He would go about, knocking at one door after another, till he found some one to receive his alms, which it was his great object to bestow with the greatest possible secrecy, and unknown, if possible, even to the objects of his bounty. An old blind woman, who lived near the church, was on this account a special favorite. He would enter her cottage softly, and deposit his gift in her apron without speaking a word. She would feel with her hand what he had given her, and, supposing she owed it to the kindness of some of her poor neighbors, would answer, " Many thanks, good woman; many thanks;" to the great delight of M. le Curl, who would go away laughing heartily.
M. Vianney, after some of his long fasts, often came home from the church so utterly exhausted, that he was unable to stand. On these occasions he would laugh merrily, and seem as much delighted with himself as a schoolboy who has succeeded in some mischievous frolic.
One day, as Catherine tells us, he felt so faint in the confessional, that he said to himself, "You had better come out while you can, or they will be obliged to carry you." So he dragged himself, as best he could, to the Providence, when he arrived panting for breath, and as pale as a corpse. He asked for a little eau de Cologne.
"Well, Monsieur," said Catherine, as she brought it to him, "you must be quite happy this time; you have carried things far enough to-day." And indeed, said she, "under his pale and sunken features we could perceive the radiance of an exceeding interior joy." It was the joy of victory over a vanquished enemy; and that enemy whom he thus triumphed over and laughed to scorn was himself. He would take nothing but a little eau de Cologne; and as soon as he could stand, hastened into the next room to catechize the children.
"When the catechizing is over," says Catherine, "he finds his little earthen pipkin by the fire containing some milk just colored with chocolate. He generally takes his meal, if meal it can be called, standing by the chimney corner, and often drinks his milk without putting any bread into it at all; the whole is concluded in the course of five minutes. When he is in a hurry, he returns to the presbytery with his pipkin in his hand; so that any one who met him going through the streets would take him for a beggar who had just received an alms. He is never better pleased, nor in a merrier mood, than on these occasions."
It was thus that he contrived to add humiliation to mortification. An ecclesiastic, who had come to Ars on purpose to see him, met him thus eating his dinner as he went along. "Are you the Cur of Ars, of whom every one speaks " said he, in great astonishment and disgust.
"Yes, my good friend; I am indeed the poor Cur of Ars."
"This is a little too much," said the priest; "I had expected to see something dignified and striking. This little Cure has no presence or dignity, and eats in the street like a beggar. It is a mystery altogether."
The words were repeated to M. Vianney, who delighted to tell the story. "The poor good gentleman," said he, "was fairly caught; he came to Ars to see something, and found nothing."
A second interview, however, brought this contemptuous visitor under the power of the singular fascination which the little Cure exercised over all who came within its sphere. He made a good retreat under his direction, and no longer wondered what men came out into the wilderness to see.
The dress of M. Vianney corresponded with his fare. Though a great lover of order and cleanliness, he never allowed himself more than one cassock at a time. It was washed and mended till it would no longer hold together, and not till then would he consent to replace it by a new one. It was the same with his hat, which was worn till it was perfectly shapeless; and with his shoes, which were never approached by brush or blacking. Thus arrayed, he would present himself at the ecclesiastical conferences or other meetings of the clergy, which he made a point of attending, meeting all the raillery of his brethren by the invariable reply, "It is quite good enough for the Cure of Ars. Who do you think would take scandal at it? When you have said, It is the Cure of Ars, you have said all there is to say."
"Thus was it," says M. Monnin, "that he became a Saint,--by sparing himself in nothing, little or great; by applying fire and steel to the most sensitive parts of his being. Such, at the period of his history at which we have arrived, was the Cure of Ars. Having overcome the slavery of self, he was free to follow every impulse of the Holy Ghost. He had removed all the hindrances, and broken all the bonds, which could attach his heart to anything below the Supreme Good. His will soared above this world, in union with the will of God. His views, his desires, his affections, were, so to speak, deified; his expanded heart included all creatures in its wide and fraternal embrace. He had but one wish,--that God's name should be hallowed : His kingdom come; His will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." With him, as with St. Paul, to live was Christ; and it was manifest to all who saw him, that Christ lived in him.
Quote:Prayer to Our Lady by St. John Mary Vianney
O thou most holy virgin Mary, who dost evermore stand before the most holy Trinity, and to whom it is granted at all times to pray for us to thy most beloved Son; pray for me in all my necessities; help me, combat for me, and obtain for me the pardon of all my sins. Help me especially at my last hour; and when I can no longer give any sign of the use of reason, then do thou encourage me, make the sign of the cross for me, and fight for me against the enemy. Make in my name a profession of faith; favor me with a testimony of my salvation, and never let me despair of the mercy of God. Help me to overthrow the wicked enemy. When I can no longer say:
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I place my soul in your hands," do thou say it for me; when I can no longer hear human words of consolation, do thou comfort me. Leave me not before I have been judged; and if I have to expiate my sins in purgatory, Oh! pray for me earnestly; and admonish my friends to procure for me a speedy enjoyment of the blessed sight of God. Lessen my sufferings, deliver me speedily, and lead my soul into heaven with thee: that, united with all the elect, I may there bless and praise my God and thee for all eternity. Amen.
Hymn: Iste Confessor
This the Confessor of the Lord, whose triumph
Now all the faithful celebrate, with gladness
Erst on this feast-day merited to enter
Into his glory.
Saintly and prudent, modest in behavior,
Peaceful and sober, chaste was he, and lowly,
While that life's vigor, coursing through his members,
Quickened his being.
Sick ones of old time, to his tomb resorting,
Sorely by ailments manifold afflicted,
Oft-times have welcomed health and strength returning,
At his petition.
Whence we in chorus gladly do him honor,
Chanting his praises with devout affection,
That in his merits we may have a portion,
Now and forever.
His be the glory, power and salvation,
Who over all things reigneth in the highest,
Earth's mighty fabric ruling and directing,
Onely and Trinal. Amen
A Prayer for Priests
Keep them, I pray Thee, dearest Lord,
Keep them, for they are Thine
Thy priests whose lives burn out before Thy consecrated shrine.
Keep them, and comfort them in hours of loneliness and pain,
When all their life of sacrifice for souls seems but in vain.
Keep them, and O remember, Lord, They have no one but Thee,
Yet they have only human hearts with human frailty.
Keep them as spotless as the host that daily, they caress.
Their ever thought and word and deed
Deign, dearest Lord, to bless.
August
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| August 8th – Sts Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus, Martyrs |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-08-2021, 06:33 AM - Forum: August
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August 8 – Sts Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus, Martyrs
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger (1841-1875)
St Cyriacus Ordained by Pope MarcellusSt Cyriacus ordained by Pope Marcellus
Today a precursor of Laurence appears on the cycle, the deacon Cyriacus, whose power over the demon made hell tremble, and entitles him to a place among the Saints called helpers. He and his companions in martyrdom form one of the noblest groups of Christ’s army in that last and decisive battle, wherein the eagerness of the faithful to show that they knew how to die, won victory for the Cross. Rome, baptized in the blood she had shed, found herself Christian in spite of herself; all her honors were now to be lavished upon the very men whom in the time of her folly she had put to the sword. Such are thy triumphs, O Wisdom of God!
Mention of the three martyrs celebrated today is to be found in the most authentic calendars of the Church that have come down to us from the fourth century. If, then, Baronius acknowledged, there is some reason for calling into question certain details of the legend, their cultus is nonetheless immemorial upon earth; and the unwavering devotion of which they are the objects, especially in the sanctuaries enriched with their holy relics, proves that they have great power before the throne of the Lamb.
Quote:Cyriacus, a deacon, underwent, a long imprisonment together with Largus, Sisinius and Smaragdus, and worked many miracles. Amongst others, by his prayers, he freed Arthemia, a daughter of Diocletian, from the possession of the devil. He was sent to Sapor, king of Persia, and delivered his daughter, Jobia, in like manner from the devil. He baptized the king, her father, and four hundred and thirty others, and then returned to Rome. There he was seized by command of the Emperor Maximian, and dragged in chains before his chariot. Four days afterwards he was taken out of prison, boiling pitch was poured over him, he was stretched on the rack, and at length he was put to death by the axe, with Largus, Smaragdus, and twenty others at Sallust’s Gardens on the Salarian Way. A priest named John buried their bodies on that same way, on the 17th of the Calends of April, but on the 6th of the Ides of August, Pope Marcellus and the noble lady Lucina wrapt them in linen with precious spices, and translated them to Lucina’s estate on the Ostian Way, seven miles from Rome.
The Church today recites this prayer in their honor:
Prayer
Deus, qui nos annua sanctorum Martyrum tuorum Cyriaci, Largi et Smaragdi solemnitate lætificas: concede propitius; ut quorum natalitia colimus, virtutem quoque passionis imitemur. Per Dominum.
O God, who dost rejoice us by the annual solemnity of thy holy martyrs, Cyriacus, Largus and Smaragdus, mercifully grant that we may imitate the virtue with which they suffered, whose festival we celebrate. Through, &c.
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| Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-08-2021, 06:02 AM - Forum: Pentecost
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INSTRUCTION ON THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST.
From Fr. Leonard Goffine's Explanations of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, Holydays, and Festivals throughout the Ecclesiastical Year 36th edition, 1880
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AT the Introit pray with the priest for brotherly love and for protection against our enemies within and without: God in his holy place; God, who maketh men of one mind to dwell in a house: he shall give power and strenghth to his people. Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered; and let them that hate him flee from before His face. (Ps. lxvii.) Glory, &c.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. Almighty, everlasting God, who, in the abundance of Thy loving kindness, dost exceed both the merits and desires of Thy suppliants; pour down upon us Thy mercy, that thou mayest forgive those things of which our conscience is afraid, and grant us those things which our prayer ventures not to ask. Thro.
EPISTLE. (i Cor. xv. i — 10.) Brethren, I make known unto you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand: by which also you are saved: if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen by Cephas, and after that by the eleven. Then was he seen by more than five hundred brethren at once, of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God; but by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace in me hath not been void.
Quote:INSTRUCTION.
I. St. Paul warns the Corinthians against those who denied the Resurrection of Christ and exhorts them to persevere in the faith which they have received, and to live in accordance with the same. Learn from this to persevere firmly in the one, only saving Catholic faith, which is the same that Paul preached.
II. In this epistle to the Corinthians St. Paul gives us a beautiful example of humility. Because of the sins he had committed before his conversion, he calls himself one born out of due time, the least of the apostles, and not worthy of being called an apostle, although he had labored much in the service of Christ. He ascribes it to God's grace that he was what he was. Thus speaks the truly humble man : he sees in himself nothing but weakness, sin, and evil, and therefore despises himself and is therefore willing to be despised by others. The good which he professes or practices, he ascribes to God, to whom he refers all the honor. Endeavor, too, O Christian soul, to attain such humility. You have far more reason to do so than had St. Paul, because of the sins which you have committed since your baptism, the graces which you have abused, and the inactive, useless life you have led.
ASPIRATION. Banish from me, O most loving Saviour, the spirit of pride, and grant me the necessary grace of humility. Let me realize that of myself I can do nothing, and that all my power to effect any good, comes from Thee alone who alone workest in us to will and to accomplish.
GOSPEL. (Mark vii. 31 — 37.) At that time, Jesus going out of the coast of Tyre, came by Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coast of Decapolis. And they bring to him one deaf and dumb, and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him. And taking him from the multitude apart, he put his fingers into his ears, and spitting, he touched his tongue: and looking up to heaven, he groaned, and said to him, Ephpheta, which is. Be thou opened: and immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right. And he charged them that they should tell no man; but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal did they publish it, and so much the more did they wonder, saying: He hath done all things well: he hath made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
Whom may we understand by the deaf and dumb man?
Those who desire neither to hear nor to speak of things concerning salvation.
Why did Christ take the deaf and dumb man aside?
To teach us that he who wishes to live piously and be comforted, must avoid the noisy world, and dangerous society, and love solitude, for there God speaks to the heart. (Osee ii. 14.)
Why did Christ forbid them to mention this miracle?
That we might learn to fly from the praise of vain and fickle men.
What do we learn from those who brought the deaf and dumb man to Jesus, and notwithstanding tin- prohibition, made known the miracle?
That in want and sickness we should kindly assist our neighbor, and not neglect to announce and praise the works of (rod, for God works His miracles, that His goodness and omnipotence may be known and honored.
SUPPLICATION. O Lord Jesus, who during Thy life on earth didst cure the sick and the infirm, open
my ears that they may listen to Thy will, and loosen my tongue that I may honor and announce Thy works. Take away from me, O most beautiful Jesus, the desire for human praise, that I may not be led to reveal my good works, and thus lose the reward of my Heavenly Father. (Matt. vi. 1.)
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ON RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES.
What are ceremonies?
RELIGIOUS Ceremonies are certain forms and usages, prescribed for divine service, for the increase of devotion, and the edification of our fellow-men; they represent externally and visibly the interior feelings of man.
Why do we make use of ceremonies in our service?
That we may serve God not only inwardly with the soul, but outwardly with the body by external devotion; that we may keep our attention fixed, increase our devotion, and edify others; that by these external things we may be raised to the contemplation of divine, inward things. (Trid. Sess. 22.)
Are ceremonies founded on Scripture?
They are; for besides those which Christ used, as related in this day's gospel, in regard to the deaf and dumb man, He has also made use of other different ceremonies: as, when He blessed bread and fishes; (Matt. xv. 36.) when He spread clay upon the eyes of a blind man; (John ix. 6.) when He prayed on bended knees; (Luke xxii. 41.) when He fell upon His face to pray; (Matt. xxvi. 39.) when He breathed upon His disciples, imparting to them the Holy Ghost; (John xx. 22.) and finally when He blessed them with uplifted hands before ascending into heaven. (Luke xxiv. 50.) Likewise in the Old Law various ceremonies were prescribed for the Jews, of which indeed in the New Law the greater number have been abolished ; others, however, have been retained, and new ones added.
If, therefore, the enemies of the Church contend that ceremonies are superfluous, since Christ Himself reproached the Jews for their ceremonial observances, and said: God must be adored inspirit and in truth, we may, without mentioning that Christ Himself made use of certain ceremonies, answer, that He did not find fault with their use, but only with the intention of the Jews. They observed every ceremony most scrupulously, without at the same time entertaining pious sentiments in the heart, and whilst they dared not under any circumstances omit even the least ceremony, they scrupled not to oppress and defraud their neighbor. Therefore Christ says: God must be adored in spirit and in truth, that is, in the innermost heart, and not only in external appearances. — Do not, therefore, let the objections, nor the scoffs and sneers of the enemies of our Church confound you, but seek to know the spirit and meaning of each ceremony, and impress them on your heart, and then make use of them to inflame your piety, to glorify God, and to edify your neighbor.
✠ ✠ ✠
INSTRUCTION CONCERNING THE ABUSE OF THE TONGUE.
THERE is no member of the body more dangerous and pernicious than the tongue. The tongue, says the Apostle St. James, is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small afire what a great wood it kindleth? And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell. (James iii. 5. 6.) The tongue no man can tame: an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father; and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing, (ibid. iii. 8—10.) There is no country, no city, scarcely a house in which evil tongues do not cause quarrel and strife, discord and enmity, jealousy and slander , seduction and debauchery. An impious tongue reviles God and His saints, corrupts the divine word, causes heresy and chism, makes one intemperate, unchaste, envious, and malevolent; in a word, it is according to the apostle a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue of the serpent seduced our first parents, and brought misery and death into the world. (Gen. iii.) The tongue of Judas betrayed Jesus. (Matt. xxvi. 49.)
And what is the chief cause of war among princes, revolts among nations, if it is not the tongue of ambitious, restless men, who seek their fortune in war and revolution? How many, in fine, have plunged themselves into the greatest misery by means of their unguarded tongue? How can we secure ourselves against this dangerous, domestic enemy? Only by being slow to speak according to the advice of St. James, (i. 19.) to speak very few, sensible, and well considered word. In this way we will not offend, but will become perfect. (James iii. 2.) As this cannot happen without a special grace of God, we must according to the advice of St. Augustine beg divine assistance, in the following or
similar words:
ASPIRATION. O Lord, set a watch before my mouth, and a door round about my lips, that I may not fall and my tongue destroy me. (Ps. cxl. 3.)
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