Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

Quote:St. Paul explained to us, in yesterday’s Epistle, the antagonism that there is between the Synagogue and the Church; he showed us how Sara’s son, who was the father’s favourite, was persecuted by the son of Agar. The two women, who appear before Solomon, are another figure of the same truth. The child they both lay claim to, is the Gentile people, which has ‘been brought to the knowledge of the true God. The Synagogue, typified by the woman who has caused death to her child, has misled the people confided to her care; and now unjustly claims one that does not belong to her. And whereas it is not from any motherly affection, but only from pride, that she puts forward such a claim, it matters little to her what becomes of the child, provided only he be not given to the true mother, the Church. Solomon, the King of Peace, who is one of the Scriptural types of Christ, adjudges the child to her that has given him birth, and nourished him; and the pretensions of the false mother are rejected. Let us, then, love our mother, the Holy Church, the Spouse of Jesus. It is she has made us children of God by Baptism. She has fed us with the Bread of Life; she has given us the Holy Spirit; and, when we had the misfortune to relapse into death by sin, she, by the divine power given to her, has restored us to life. A filial love for the Church is the sign of the Elect; obedience to her commandments is the mark of a soul in which God has set his kingdom.

Quote:We read, in the Gospel of the first Tuesday of Lent, that Jesus drove from the Temple them that were making it a place of traffic. He twice showed this zeal for his Father’s House. The passage we have just read from St. John refers to the first time. Both occasions are brought before us during this Season of Lent, because this conduct of our Savior shows us with what severity he will treat a soul that harbors sin within her. Our souls are the Temple of God, created and sanctified by God to the end that he might dwell there. He would have nothing to be in them which is unworthy of their destination. This is the Season for self-examination; and if we have found that any passions are profaning the sanctuary of our souls, let us dismiss them; let us beseech our Lord to drive them out by the scourge of his justice, for we, perhaps, might be too lenient with these sacrilegious intruders. The day of pardon is close at hand; let us make ourselves worthy to receive it. There is an expression in our Gospel which deserves a special notice. 

The Evangelist is speaking to those Jews who were more sincere than the rest, and believed in Jesus, because of the miracles he wrought; he says: Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men. So that there may be persons who believe in and acknowledge Jesus, yet whose hearts are not changed! Oh! the hardness of man’s heart! Oh! cruel anxiety for God’s Priests! Sinners and worldlings are now crowding round the Confessional; they have faith, and they confess their sins! And the Church has no confidence in their repentance! She knows that, a very short time after the Feast of Easter, they will have relapsed into the same state in which they were on the day when she marked their foreheads with ashes. These souls are divided between God and the world; and she trembles as she thinks on the danger they are about to incur by receiving Holy Communion without the preparation of a true conversion. Yet on the other side, she remembers how it is written that the bruised reed is not to be broken, nor the smoking flax to be extinguished. Let us pray for these souls, whose state is so full of doubt and danger. Let us also pray for the Priests of the Church, that they may receive from God abundant rays of that light, whereby Jesus knew what was in man.

Quote:EXPLANATION. It was the common custom, in the days of the patriarchs, for a man to have more than one wife. This was permitted by God, partly because they and their descendants would hardly have been satisfied with one marriage, (Matt. xix. 8.) partly because bigamy was a means of promoting the increase of the people of Israel, typical of the future increase of the children of God. Thus Abraham had two wives, who had each a son; of these Ismael was born to Abraham from his bondwoman Agar, in the natural way; the other, Isaac, the son of the free wife Sara, was born in a supernatural manner according to the promise, (Gen. viii. 11. 14.) that she by the grace of God, although aged, would give birth to a son. These two women with their sons were types, as St. Paul says, of the two Testaments: Agar the bond- woman typified the Old, Sara, the free-woman, the New Testament; the son of Agar, the Jews, the son of Sara, the Christians; for the Jews, like Ismael, are descendants of Abraham by natural descent, but the Christians, like Isaac, by grace. The Old Testament gave birth only to servants; for the Jews obeyed the commandments of God through fear of punishment, and in hope of temporal reward: the New Testament, the Jerusalem from above, that is,the Christian Church, gives birth to children who willingly and through love obey the commandments of God. Although the Christian Church, the New Jerusalem, chosen from heathenism, was in the beginning barren, as- Was Sara, she gives birth, by the grace of God and through His apostles, to more children than the Jewish Church, which was so long the Church of God, that is, more were converted to Christianity from the Gentiles than from the Jews. The latter even hated and persecuted the Christians, as did Ismael his brother Isaac. For their hardness of heart they were cast out by God, like Agar and her son; that is, after the destruction of Jerusalem the Jews were dispersed to all parts of the world. Let us, therefore, give thanks to God, that through Jesus we have become the free children of our heavenly Father, who through love fulfil His holy will by which we shall be saved.

ASPIRATION. Give me the grace, O Jesus, that by prayer and fasting, and patience in all adversities and persecutions, I may be made less unworthy of Thy passion; that I may not, one day, be cast out by Thee, but become worthy of Thy divine promise and Thy eternal consolation in the heavenly Jerusalem.

Getting closer to the book of the Apocalypse...

Amazon introduces the Amazon One, a way to pay with your palm when entering stores

Taken and slightly adapted from The Catacombs archived site.
Original article here.

Fr. Calderón Refutes Bishop Fellay 

Quote:"We declare that we recognize the validity of the sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacraments celebrated with the intention to do what the Church does according to the rites indicated in the typical editions of the Roman Missal and the Sacramentary Rituals legitimately promulgated by Popes Paul VI and John-Paul II."

• "The new rite is certainly illegitimate.
  

• The new Rite that Paul VI intended to promulgate by his apostolic constitution Pontificalis Romani is certainly illegitimate by the accumulation of two reasons: firstly, because no pope has authority to destroy the Roman liturgical tradition and much less so to invent a rite that is in rupture with the whole of Catholic tradition; secondly, because the contamination with modernist doctrines causes harm to the faith, and a decision contrary to the common good of the Church cannot have the force of law. (...)
  

• Because of all this, even though the rite, considered as such, were totally orthodox and a better expression of the doctrine of the episcopate, it would not be legitimate, because no pope has the authority to break the liturgical tradition of the Church. The invention of a new Rite is an act which is certainly illegitimate, even if he is a pope or an angel from heaven who intends to establish it. (...)
  

• (...) And the Society is obligated to declare the illegitimacy of the Novus Ordo Missae, because of the doctrines of the Paschal Mystery that inspire it (...), so we must also recognize that the Novus Ordo episcopal consecration is certainly illegitimate.
  

• The new rite is probably valid.A sacramental rite can be certainly illegitimate, but that does not necessarily invalidate it. (...)
  

• If we consider the matter, form and intention of the new rite of episcopal consecration in the context of the rite and the circumstances of their institution, we think it is most likely valid (...)
  

• But we also believe that there is no certainty of its validity (...)
  

• Now, in a matter of utmost importance for the life of the Church, such as the validity of the episcopate, it is necessary to be absolutely certain. Therefore, to accept in good conscience this rite, it would be necessary to not only rely on the judgment of theologians, but on the infallible judgment of the Magisterium. As for the practical attitude to maintain in light of the new episcopal consecrations, it seems justified that which until now had been held by the Society: (Note the past tense, "had been held" NON POSSUMUS.) (...)
  

• (...) the positive and objective defects that this Rite suffers, which prevent having certainty of its validity, we feel that (...) they justify and necessitate the conditional ordination of priests consecrated by new bishops and, if necessary, the conditional consecration of these bishops. Such doubts in the very root of the sacraments cannot be tolerated." 
  

Life of Alphonsus De Liguori, Austin Berthe, J. Duffy & Co. Dublin, 1905, from Chapter IV.

Excerpts from “A short treatise on Prayer”, pp. 440-447, in the book by St. Alphonsus de Liguori, The Way of Salvation and Perfection.

Quote:"There exists a true novitiate by which ecclesiastics are incorporated into the Masonic Order. Amongst ecclesiastics a certain category of man can be found which Masonry sees as  a possible collaborator; this type of man must possess certain gifts: intelligence, keen ambition and desire to further his career, an ability to understand but to pretend to understand nothing, generosity of service, and, if possible, a physically imposing presence and a pleasing face. Such qualities draw the attention of the recruiters. When a young ecclesiastic answers these criteria (...), it remains only to initiate the process by playing upon his self-esteem."

Quote:"The absolute condition is that, in this first phase, the chosen candidate remains in total ignorance of what is being framed around him. The Masonic technique requires a progressive revelation, so that the associate discovers the ends of the Secret Society only gradually, according to what the Masonic superiors consider useful."

Quote:"An invitation to an embassy for a national festival, the unexpected introduction to a person well known or influential, a prelate who asks him for something and shows himself grateful. Then comes the phase of compliment and flattery : 'oh, what a treasure, such kindness, such keen intelligence!... You deserve better, you are wasting your time... But why not address each other in a familiar way?

Then one enters the phase of future prospects : 'I know such a prelate, such a cardinal, such an ambassador or such a minister'...  I will readily say a word concerning you; I will speak of you as of a man who deserves higher responsibilities... At this stage, the proposer realizes immediately if the interested party has taken the bait."

Quote:"Gradually, the promises made take place. The pre-selected candidate notes that they were not vain promises and believes it his duty to be grateful to the friend, whom he regards as his benefactor. During this time, his career progresses without encountering difficulties. Radiant prospects are dangled in front of him for the service of the Church, within which he starts to foresee a position which would suit him very well.

It is precisely at this time when seized by a fever of ambition and vanity, the unwary prelate has knowledge of his easy rise which he doesn't yet fully grasp, and when other promotions to still higher levels appear at the horizon, that they arrive at the phase of explanations."

Quote:"Skillfully baited, the new Freemason becomes a pawn in the sphere of activity of the secret lodge and is added to the others who have already made their nest there. His rise can continue from now on, without obstacles, towards the top with the assistance of the other ‘brothers’."