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| Maine’s radical new law allowing abortion up to birth takes effect |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-03-2023, 05:41 AM - Forum: Abortion
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Maine’s radical new law allowing abortion up to birth takes effect
The Pine Tree State’s new law makes it one of only a few states that provide almost no protections for the unborn.
![[Image: mills.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/mills.jpg)
Maine Governor Janet Mills speaks during a press conference about the mass shooting on October 26, 2023 in Lewiston, Maine.
Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images
Nov 2, 2023
AUGUSTA, Maine (LifeSiteNews) — A radical new law in Maine that will permit abortions up to the moment of birth at the discretion of abortionists took effect last week.
Maine’s LD 1619, which was signed by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills in July, officially took effect Wednesday, October 25.
State law previously specified that abortions after a baby was deemed viable, usually about 20 weeks’ gestation, could only be performed if a woman’s “life or health” were at risk. That language, as well as criminal penalties for any non-licensed person who performs or helps to perform an elective abortion, have been stripped out.
Preborn babies in Maine are now left with virtually no protections under the new law, which authorizes abortionists to kill unborn babies at any stage of pregnancy as long as they determine the procedure “necessary in [their] professional judgment.” Pro-lifers point out that the deliberate killing of a preborn baby is never medically necessary.
Ahead of signing the radical legislation, Gov. Mills argued that specific abortion restrictions cannot be implemented at the legislative level.
“Maine law should recognize that every pregnancy, like every woman, is different, and that politicians cannot and should not try to legislate the wide variety of difficult circumstances pregnant women face,” Mills said.
The Pine Tree State’s new law makes it one of only a few states that provide almost no protections for the unborn.
“Maine is now among a handful of states with the least restrictions on abortion rights [sic],” The Portland Press Herald reported.
Alaska, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont have similar laws.
Maine’s legislation at least partially inspired by the tragic story of a mother who traveled from Maine to Colorado to abort her 32-week-old baby boy who was diagnosed with skeletal dysplasia and was predicted not to survive delivery.
“The fetus’ bones were fracturing in the womb, and [he] was suffering,” the outlet reported, adding that, if his mother had given birth to him, he “likely would have died a horrible death at birth, with delivery crushing his bones … ”
“If he somehow survived the birth, he wouldn’t have been able to breathe, she said, and would have died immediately,” The Portland Press Herald reported.
Pro-life advocates do not deny the existence of difficult pregnancies or severe fatal fetal anomalies but do argue that the intentional killing of an innocent child is not an acceptable response. Moreover, prenatal diagnoses are frequently wrong, and intentional murder does not spare a child from a horrific death.
According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, “Abortions performed after 20 weeks’ gestation, when not done by induction of labor (which leads to fetal death due to prematurity), are most commonly performed by dilation and evacuation (D & E) procedures.”
“These particularly gruesome surgical techniques involve crushing, dismemberment and removal of a fetal body from a woman’s uterus,” the organization states.
If not dismembered, the late-term babies are murdered through lethal injection and then delivered deceased.
Mike McClellan, policy director for the Christian Civic League of Maine, argued that the “tragic” and “sad” story promoted by the media ahead of the passage of the new law didn’t justify the changed legislation, which will enable women to kill their babies at any stage of pregnancy after simply attaining the go-ahead from a physician.
Moreover, while tragic and complicated stories like those of the Maine woman with the disabled baby are often used to justify sweeping pro-abortion laws, the vast majority of abortions are not sought for medical reasons, but for social, career, or financial considerations.
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| What Happens to Aborted Babies after They are Killed? |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-03-2023, 05:35 AM - Forum: Abortion
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Where do aborted babies go after they are killed? The answer may shock you
Many of them, it turns out, are treated as biomedical waste and burned for fuel – babies with perfect hands and feet, with faces and eyes and little mouths.
![[Image: baby-810x500-1.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/baby-810x500-1.jpg)
Aborted baby obtained by Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising from Washington Surgi-Clinic
Nov 2, 2023
(LifeSiteNews) — On March 25, 2022, a truck driver who works for the biomedical waste company hired to dispose of children aborted at the Washington Surgi-Clinic looked the other way to give pro-life sidewalk counselor Lauren Handy the opportunity to take two boxes. Stuffed inside the medical waste containers within were the remains of 115 children. A.J. Hurley, a Californian pro-life activist, drove down to help her and her companions, members of the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, and to photograph the bodies. It was a surreal experience, Hurley said. The women “were beside themselves.” As they photographed the babies, the activists frequently broke down, but to photograph the children was to validate their existence.
“You look at these bodies – it felt cold, it felt sterile, it felt dark, there was a sense of abandonment,” Hurley told me. “My mind couldn’t separate the depravity of what I was witnessing from the image-bearers of God it happened to. It was pure evil. Something so pure being treated in such a wicked way – I remember leaving the room, just beside myself, thinking: I will never be the same. Everything inside of me is energized to fight this evil. I hope these pictures will break the spell our country is under.”
Of the 115 children, 110 were buried in an undisclosed cemetery; the five late-term children were reported to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Unit, which came to Handy’s house and picked up the bodies. Despite physician testimony indicating that the children were likely killed beyond the legal limit (what a phrase), the Metropolitan Police Department declared that they wouldn’t be commissioning autopsies: “Those fetuses were aborted in accordance with D.C. law, so we are not investigating this incident along those lines. There doesn’t seem to be anything criminal in nature about that now except for how they got into this house.”
Where do aborted babies go after they are killed? Where were the 115 children killed in Cesare Santangelo’s clinic and boxed up in little buckets headed on the biomedical waste truck? A press release issued by Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising on October 17 offers a gut-wrenching answer. Curtis Bay Medical Waste, “the facility responsible for transporting the box of 115 aborted babies found by PAUU last year, was fined $1.7 million for a criminal penalty after pleading guilty to over 40 charges related to environmental violations.” Among these violations were “failing to properly incinerate medical waste before dumping it into landfills.” Those 115 babies that PAUU took from the truck driver? They were on the way to be incinerated – burned – for fuel to “provide energy to residents of Baltimore.”
Where do aborted babies go after they are killed? Many of them, it turns out, are burned. As PAUU reported: “Curtis Bay has a long history of collecting and burning aborted babies for energy in the Baltimore area. They are the leading medical waste pick up service for abortion facilities in the DMV area. These 40 charges were all related to the improper disposal and treatment of medical waste, including fetal remains. One of the investigators on the case was quoted saying, ‘Our evidence shows that they knew they were failing to do what they were required to do. They failed, and they were caught.’” The reality behind that summary is the specter of a waste company dumping half-burned babies into a garbage dump. Our society, however, permits killing the babies – it just demands that they are properly incinerated once they’ve been murdered.
“Any step towards justice for the babies murdered by Cesare Santangelo is a victory for the pro-life movement,” said Caroline Smith, executive director of PAUU. “Curtis Bay is a collaborator in the pervasive mass murder of abortion, and they must be held accountable for burning the bodies of thousands of aborted human beings. Curtis Bay must be shut down and their assets must be liquidated for the good of the community.” PAAU founder Terrisa Bukovinac, one of the activists who found the box of the aborted babies, stated, “I know first hand that Curtis Bay burns aborted children because I intercepted a box of baby remains outside an all-term DC abortion business bound for a Curtis Bay incinerator. Curtis Bay must be held accountable for exposing the Baltimore community to toxic incinerated human bodies.”
Somehow, accountability for “exposing the Baltimore community to toxic incinerated human bodies” seems like a criminally flaccid response to the fact that we are – well, burning babies. Babies with perfect hands and feet; with faces and eyes and little mouths. They weren’t biomedical waste. They were people – but we burned them anyway. God have mercy on us.
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| Allegri & Palestrina: Lamentations |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-02-2023, 08:49 AM - Forum: Catholic Hymns
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Allegri & Palestrina: Lamentations
From the video description:
Quote:This recording brings together music composed in a variety of contrasting yet complemetary forms, from Gregorian chant to more elaborate, polyphonic music, set to words that explore the rawest human emotions, death, sin and repentance. The death of a loved one is a particularly distressing experience, and over the centuries composers have chanelled their grief into their most moving and emotional works. In the 1850s Brahms composed the German Requiem after he lost his mother, and Fauré’s Requiem was also composed after his mother died. Britten produced the imposingly bleak and Mahlerian Sinfonia da Requiem after the death of his parents. In this recording, the grief of Mary, the mother of Christ, is portrayed in Palestrina’s masterful setting of the Stabat Mater, composed for Pope Gregory XIV. Another moving portrayal of grief is Weelkes’s intimate depiction of the pain of David upon learning of his son Absalom’s death, When David heard.
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| WEF co-founder’s son calls for the arrests of COVID jab pushers for ‘democide’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-02-2023, 06:56 AM - Forum: Great Reset
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World Economic Forum co-founder’s son calls for the arrests of COVID jab pushers for ‘democide’
‘The WEF, the WHO, GAVI, Big Pharma, Big Tech, Bill Gates all advocated a global humanity injection by a bioweapon, injecting nano lipids into 5.7 billion people... We can no longer tolerate any entity that promotes poison to be injected into humanity.'
![[Image: Pascal-Najadi-e1698841028421.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Pascal-Najadi-e1698841028421.png)
Oct 31, 2023
(LifeSiteNews) — Pascal Najadi, the son of World Economic Forum co-founder Hussain Najadi, called for the arrests of those responsible for the forced COVID-19 “vaccinations” of 5.7 billion people around the world, saying the injections are a bioweapon leading to “democide.”
“Democide” is a term coined a few decades ago that refers to government mass murder and extermination of civilian populations via either direct action or indifference.
“Everything evil in the world related to democide, unfortunately, comes from Geneva,” Najadi said as he listed the global organizations headquartered in Geneva that played major roles in mandating the COVID jab, which has proved deadly to an estimated 50 million souls around the globe and medically debilitating to tens of millions more.
Among those organizations based in Geneva are the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Global Alliance for Vaccine Immunization (GAVI).
“The World Economic Forum – of which my father was a co-founder and left Klaus Schwab out of disgust in the early 1980s – has diplomatic immunity” from the Swiss government, Najadi noted.
“I, as a Swiss citizen, right here now, declare that the WEF is not eligible anymore for diplomatic immunity,” Najadi said. “I call on the Swiss authorities and security to arrest those people immediately. Why?”
The WEF, the WHO, GAVI, Big Pharma, Big Tech, Bill Gates all advocated a global humanity injection by a bioweapon, injecting nano lipids into 5.7 billion people.
And we Swiss are hosting them? We can no longer tolerate any entity that promotes poison to be injected into humanity.
“I’m a victim. I’m dying from it, and my mother too,” said Najadi, who has described previously that he experienced severe bodily harm when Swiss doctors injected him with “poison.”
Najadi said that as a result of the Pfizer jab he now suffers from a terminal autoimmune condition. Doctors have told him that his lifespan will now be reduced by up to 25 years.
“It’s ‘democide,’” he reemphasized.
“It will be corrected in the name of humanity,” he predicted.
“The victims curve is going up, steep,” Najadi said during an interview in June. “The turbo cancer cases in Europe are exploding. Children are dropping dead. This is unforgivable.”
“This genocide is driven by the WHO. We’re talking about more than 50 million people worldwide killed, murdered by those injections,” Najadi continued. “This is a genocide of biblical dimensions.”
“Fauci, the CDC, the WHO, Pfizer, and the government officials and media that were in [on] this, in my personal view, they’ll face God very soon and they’ll have to answer tough questions,” he mused.
Najadi referred to the Big Pharma corporations as “gangsters,” adding that a long line of political and medical industry leaders and unelected bureaucrats “belong behind bars.”
In March, Najadi filed a civil lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in Manhattan against Pfizer, Inc. which he hopes will bring a halt to the manufacture and implementation of the COVID mRNA injection and its accompanying adverse effects.
Late last year, Najadi filed criminal charges against Swiss President Alain Berset for abuse of public office concerning his role in his government’s push to inject citizens with an experimental drug without informed consent.
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| "Not A Crisis. It's An Invasion": Massive Migrant Caravan Prepares To Cross US Border |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-02-2023, 06:29 AM - Forum: Global News
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"Not A Crisis. It's An Invasion": Massive Migrant Caravan Prepares To Storm US Border
ZH [adapted] | NOV 02, 2023
While everyone is laser-focused on World War III threats across the Middle East, President Biden's border crisis is only worsening as a new migrant caravan departed from southern Mexico on Monday and is headed north to the US southern border.
According to Reuters, 5,000 migrants from Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Venezuela are on foot near the city of Tapachula near the Guatemalan border.
One of the caravan's organizers, Irineo Mujica, told Reuters that civil protection officials and ambulances are escorting the migrants.
Mujica said the migrants departed from Tapachula over their inability to secure humanitarian visas. He added that some migrants had asked local authorities to help with recovery efforts in the hurricane-stricken port of Acapulco in trade for visas. Authorities responded with "No."
Videos are flooding 'free speech' platform X, showing the massive migrant caravan.
Elon Musk commented on one of the videos with a "Wow."
Fox News published new US Border Patrol data which reveals President Biden's disastrous open border policies have led to the release of 900,000 illegal immigrants into the interior US this year, including 150,000 in September alone. This offers new insight into the invasion the Biden administration allowed at the southern border (remember this?).
The migrant invasion comes as the US military-industrial complex is funding two wars, one in Eastern Europe and the other in the Middle East.
One major worry is that some migrants from countries associated with terrorism have flooded the US. There has been no vetting of these folks, and no understanding, if any, have been radicalized - this is a huge national security threat.
"People approved for walkovers include individuals from Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, with some of the largest numbers coming from Muslim-majority former Soviet republics such as Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan," the NYPost said.
It's very evident the radicals in the White House are allowing people from terror countries into the country.
Days ago, former UK politician Nigel Farage spoke with Tucker Carlson about how migrants flooding the Western world from current conflicts are posing national security threats.
Meanwhile, major Democrat cities, such as New York, are imploding after receiving more than 100,000 migrants this year. Some city streets have been transformed into a third-world-like state, and Mayor Eric Adams recently warned the city's immigration crisis could "break the bank."
On Tuesday, Fox News' Peter Doocy pressed National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on the increased terror threat to Americans.
Doocy asked Kirby whether there was a possibility that a migrant could carry out a terror attack in the US since the southern border has been wide open.
Kirby responded: "I couldn't possibly answer that question, Peter. All I can do is tell you that we have remained vigilant to that potential threat."
The federal government's lack of intervention on the southern border is a telling sign they don't have the interest of the vast majority. At the same time, they're mysteriously catering to a fringe minority that promotes open borders. And this is all before the 2024 presidential election cycle. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.
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| Archbishop Viganò: Homily for the Feast of Christ the King |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-31-2023, 07:12 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Archbishop Viganò: Homily for the Feast of Christ the King
October 29, 2023
Taken from here.
Editor’s note: The following essay is taken from Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s homily on the feast of Christ the King.
Regnum eius regnum sempiternum est, et omnes reges servient ei et obedient
For his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
Once upon a time there was a king. Thus began the fairy tales we heard as children, at a time when ideological indoctrination had not yet come to corrupt children in their innocence and we could serenely speak of kings, princes, and princesses, and it was normal to think that at least in the world of fairy tales there could be a social order not subverted by the Revolution. Realms, thrones, crowns, honor, loyalty, and chivalry were all references that went beyond time and fashions, precisely because of their coherence with the divine cosmos, with the eternal and immutable hierarchy of the celestial orders.
There were also kings in the parables with which the Lord instructed His disciples, and He proclaimed Himself to be a king as He stood before Pilate clothed in mockery with a purple robe, crowned with thorns, holding a reed instead of a scepter. He was mocked by the scoundrels for being a king, and the governor of Judea recognized Him as king when He had the plaque affixed to the Cross indicating the reason for His condemnation to death: “Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudæorum.” The Sanhedrin would have liked to correct that inscription:
Do not write: ‘The King of the Jews,’ but: ‘This man said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’’ (Jn 19:21)
And even today there are those who want to deny Our Lord that title which so disturbs His enemies, because of all that it implies. But at the very moment when the wicked shake off Christ’s gentle yoke and openly declare their rebellion against His sovereign authority, they are forced to fill that void, just as those who deny the true God end up worshiping idols.
Pilate said to the Jews, ‘Behold, your king.’ But they cried out, ‘Away! Away! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ (Jn 19:15)
It is very sad to see how misguided minds, in order not to recognize an evident and salvific reality, prefer to make themselves slaves of a far inferior power, such as that of the state, and an invading state at that. On the other hand, those who serve Satan are also ready to serve the Antichrist as king and to recognize his kingdom, of which the New World Order is an ominous prelude. But isn’t that ultimately what we do every time we disobey God? Do we not deny universal and absolute Lordship to Him who holds it by divine right and by conquest, and then attribute it to creatures or usurp it ourselves? Do we not set ourselves up as supreme legislators whenever we pretend to take the place of the one on Sinai who gave Moses the tablets of the law? Did not our first parents do the same when they listened to the enticements of the serpent and broke the Lord’s command by eating the fruit of the tree? Or the Jews in the wilderness, when they worshipped the golden calf?
Kingly power is inextricably linked to divinity: the kings of Israel and the sovereigns of the Catholic nations considered themselves vicars of God, vested with a sacred power that was conferred by a quasi-sacramental rite. The exercise of kingly authority – and more generally of government – must therefore be consistent with the will of God Himself, from whom all authority emanates.
This coherence implies the recognition, on the part of the public authority, of the supreme power of God and the obligation to conform the laws of the state to the natural and divine law. He who believes that he can use the power of authority, whether civil or ecclesiastical, for a purpose different from, or even opposed to, that for which authority was instituted by God, is deluding himself miserably, and his destiny will be no different from that which providence has reserved for tyrants and sovereigns who rebel against the divine will.
This applies not only to temporal power, but also – and above all – to spiritual power, which by the hierarchical superiority of ends is intrinsically superior to temporal power, and precisely for this reason those who hold spiritual power must conform even more faithfully to what God has taught and ordained. And if it is true that it is an inconsistency when those given authority do not act in their private lives in accordance with the principles of faith and morals, it is quite unheard of that such inconsistency could extend to the exercise of authority itself.
For this reason the stains which weigh upon the personal conduct of an Alexander VI are incomparably less serious than those of a pope who, although having a life which is not scandalous, commits acts of government contrary to the end of the papacy. And today we must also come to terms with the reality of a “papacy” in which the personal scandals of Jorge Mario Bergoglio are even obscured by those that he commits by virtue of the authority that is – at least momentarily – recognized to him.
The Lord, who is a jealous God (Ex 20:5), wants to reign over His people, and He exercises this kingdom through His vicars in temporal and spiritual matters. He intended His Church to be monarchical. He did not intend to leave the Pope free to decide what he wants, but rather to act as Christi Vicarius and Servus servorum Dei, so that He would be the only High and Eternal Priest, the mediator between God and men, the universal king and Lord, so as to reign by means of the pope.
The idea of a democratic Church is not only a theological aberration and a blatant violation of the Lord’s hierarchical structure, but it is a nonsense that is refuted by its own proponents, since it is based on the false premise that it is possible to exercise authority apart from the good, perverting it into tyranny. Ecclesiastical and civil authority, by divine decree, are the expression of the supreme, absolute and universal Lordship of Christ, cujus regni non erit finis. Too often we forget that the Lord is not God as a result of universal suffrage. Dominus regnavit, decorem indutus est (Ps 92:1). The Lord reigns in all the universe: He has clothed Himself with majesty. Sacred Scripture here uses a verbal form with which it expresses the eternity, indefectibility, and finality of the Kingdom of Christ.
“Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo” (Jn 18:36): these words of Our Lord to Pilate are not to be understood in the sense that heretics and modernists are accustomed to give you, that is, that Jesus Christ does not claim authority over the government of nations and that He leaves them free to legislate as they wish, following the errors of secularism and liberalism. On the contrary, precisely because the Kingdom of Christ does not derive from earthly power, it is eternal and universal, total and absolute, direct and immediate. Ego vici mundum, the Lord reassures us. Therefore, not only is the world not at the origin of His authority, but rather it becomes its enemy as soon as it withdraws from it in order to serve the Princeps mundi huius, who is precisely a prince, who is also hierarchically subject to the supreme power of God, who allows him to act only in order to obtain greater good from it.
I have conquered the world, therefore, means that the world, however much it deludes itself that it can oppose the plans of providence and hinder the action of grace, can do nothing against the one who has already conquered it. That victory, which is total and irreversible, was accomplished through the Cross, a sign of the infamy reserved for slaves, with the passion and death of the Savior in obedience to His Father. Regnavit a ligno Deus. The Cross is the throne of glory, because through it Christ has redeemed us, that is, he has ransomed us from slavery to Satan.
Today both the state and the Church are held hostage by the enemies of God, and their authority is usurped by criminal subversives and heretics who arrogantly show their determination to do evil and their aversion to the law of the Lord. The betrayal of rulers and the apostasy of prelates are the punishment we deserve for having disobeyed God.
And yet, while they destroy, we have the joy and honor of rebuilding. And there is a still greater happiness: a new generation of laity and priests are participating with zeal in this work of reconstruction of the Church for the salvation of souls, and they do so well aware of their own weaknesses and miseries, but also allowing themselves to be used by God as docile instruments in His hands: helpful hands, strong hands, the hands of the Almighty.
Our fragility highlights the fact that this is the Lord’s work even more, especially where this human fragility is accompanied by humility. This humility ought to lead us to instaurare omnia in Christo, beginning with the heart of the faith, which is the Holy Mass. Let us return to the liturgy which recognizes Our Lord in His absolute primacy.
If Our Lord is King by hereditary right (since he is born of the royal line of David), by divine right (in virtue of the hypostatic union), and also by right of conquest (having redeemed us by His sacrifice on the Cross), we must not forget that, in the plans of divine providence, this divine sovereign has at his side, as Our Lady and queen, His own august Mother, Mary Most Holy. There can be no Kingship of Christ without the sweet and maternal Queenship of Mary, whom Saint Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort reminds us is our mediatrix before her Son’s majestic throne, where she stands as queen interceding before the king. Regina, Mater Misericordiae, Spes nostra, Advocata nostra.
The premise of the triumph of the divine king in society and in nations is that He already reigns in our hearts, our souls, and our families. May Christ also reign in us, and may His Most Holy Mother reign along with Him. Adveniat regnum tuum: adveniat per Mariam.
And so may it be.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
October 29, 2023
Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Regis
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| How the Fleur-de-lis Became the Symbol of France |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-30-2023, 06:27 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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The lily has long been associated with the Virgin Mary, who lived a lily among the thorns, (1) as a symbol of purity, innocence and beauty. With the conversion of Clovis, the Franks adopted a stylized lily – the fleur-de-lis – as a symbol to commemorate the conversion of its first Catholic King. The fleur-de-lis became the symbol of the French Monarchy.
We find our legend in the late 13th century poem written at the Abbey of Joyenval at Chambourcy. (2)
Now it so happened that Clovis was at war with another pagan, King Conflac. One day he set out to do battle with the King of the Alamanni, in what today is known as the Battle of Tolbiac (496). However, as he took up his shield to enter the battle, he saw that the three frogs that had been the insignia on his weapon had been transformed into three lilies on an azure ground. Clovis, still with toads on his tunic, entered the battle bearing lilies on his shield.
![[Image: H249_Clo.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/religious/images_F-J/H249_Clo.jpg)
The shield of Clovis, from The Bedford Book of Hours, c. 1423, below, a medieval manuscript records the change from frogs to lilies
![[Image: H249_15t.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/religious/images_F-J/H249_15t.jpg)
banner france toads frongThe rest of the story is well known to readers of History. During the heat of the battle with the Alemanni, Clovis called out to the “God of Clotilde” and made a vow to convert if he were victorious. God heard his plea and gave him the victory.
When Clovis returned to his castle, he sought out the mysterious meaning of the three golden fleurs-de-lis. Clotilde told him that the three petals of the flower symbolized the Holy Trinity Who had given him the victory. For God did not want him to bear such a shield with frogs any longer, but had sent to him those three fleurs-de-lis on a blue field so that he would be provided fittingly after he became Catholic.
“Hereby the Holy Trinity gives you victory, my Lord Clovis, so that just as the unity of the three flowers is like gold to your shield, so in perpetuity will your authority reign supreme in golden sovereignty.” (3)
From that time forward the fleur-de-lis replaced the frog and became the symbol of France and its Kings.
And how was it that the three lilies came to appear on the shield of Clovis?
There was a pious hermit who lived nearby the castle, next to a place where the Monastery of Joyenval would later be built. Queen Clotilde at times would consult this holy monk. One day when the hermit was praying an Angel appeared to him with a shield upon which were placed the three fleurs-de-lis against a background the color of a serene blue sky.
The monk told Clotilde of this vision, and she ordered that the frogs should be scratched from Clovis’ shield and replaced with the lilies. With this new symbol from Heaven, delivered in message by an Angel, Clovis won his battle against Conflac. And with this victory, a new era of peace and harmony came to all of France.
And thus the virginal and immaculate lily provided the perfect symbol of the virtue, power and stability of the French Monarchy, under the protection of the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary. From the beginning to the end of the Capetian line, the heraldry and iconography of the French Kings included, virtually without exception, a fleur-de-lis either held in a hand, placed atop a scepter or placed on royal robes, shields and seals.
I doubt not that thou art the Lily, the King,
For the lily is painted on thine armor.
Te lillium regem non dubito,
Nam lilium armis depingitur. (4)
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The wedding of King Louis VIII & Blanche of Castile, 1223
By the 13th century the fleur-de-lis was adopted also by the chivalric orders as a symbol of the virtues. Guillaume de Nangis praised the fleur-de-lis and noted its significance thus:
“But since Our Lord Jesus Christ wishes above all other Kingdoms to illuminate the Kingdom of France with the three aforementioned attributes, that is, faith, learning and chivalry, it has become customary for the King to bear on his coat of arms and on his banner the flower of the lily with three petals, as if the three petals said to the whole world: Faith, learning and chivalry thrive more abundantly in our Kingdom than in any other Kingdom, serving us through the care and grace of God. … For faith is governed and ruled by knowledge and is defended by chivalry.
“And furthermore, as long as the aforesaid three are together in the Kingdom of France and are firmly united to each other, the Kingdom will also remain firm. If, however, they should be separated from each other or be torn asunder, everything will be reduced to desolation and will fall into ruin.”
1. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons, ed. J. Leclercq and H Rochais, S. Bernardi Opera, 5 (Rome, 1958), Sermon 48, pp. 67-73.
2. Michael Randall, “On the Evolution of Toads in the French Renaissance.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 57, no. 1 (Spring, 2004), pp. 126-164.
3. Mary Channen Caldwell, “Flower of the lily': late-medieval religious and heraldic symbolism in Paris,” Bibliothèque Nationale de France, ms français 146, vol. 33 (2014), p. 18, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43304729
4. Ibid.
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| Synod Final Report: Pushes Female Deacons and Lay Governance But Avoids Giving Firm Answers |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-29-2023, 05:43 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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Synod on Synodality report pushes female deacons and lay governance but avoids giving firm answers
The much anticipated final report from the Synod on Synodality has been released, avoiding giving direct answers on controversial issues, but pushing a continued ‘synodal’ approach to general Church life.
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Pope Francis with Cdl. Grech at the Synod on Synodality
Facebook/Synod.va
Oct 28, 2023
VATICAN CIY (LifeSiteNews - adpated) –– The concluding document from the Synod on Synodality’s October 2023 meeting has been released, with no definitive stance taken in terms of attempts to alter Church teaching on LGBT issues or female ordination, yet containing a host of subtle but significant calls for changes to the manner of the Church’s governance and daily life.
The 41-page report was released late into the night on October 28, as the month-long session of the Synod on Synodality came to an end and participants hastily poured out of the Paul VI Audience Hall. The text’s initial version gave rise to over 1,000 amendments from synod members, according to synod officials, meaning that such amendments had to be acted upon between Thursday night and Saturday afternoon.
The contents of the report, as already noted by synod officials, are not meant to be a final report, nor even the text which will form the basis of the October 2024 synod meeting. Rather, as the synthesis report states, it contains the “main elements that emerged in the dialogue, prayer and discussion that characterized these days.”
“Some fear that they will be forced to change; others fear that nothing will change and that there will be too little courage to move at the pace of living Tradition,” reads Chapter 1, paragraph g. (Passed by 326 – 18)
The synod has been particularly marked by controversy due to its discussion topics. The Instrumentum Laboris formed the basis of the discussions, meaning that the 465 synod participants and over 300 voting synod members were discussing (among other topics) questions on female deacons; “welcoming” LGBT, polygamous, divorced and “re-married” individuals; married priests; lay governance.
Given such topics – on which the Church has already clearly pronounced – numerous Catholics have expressed strong concern about the direction and intent of the Synod on Synodality. However, when questioned by LifeSiteNews during the event, a cardinal member of the synod refused to confirm if members were adhering to Church teaching during the discussions on such issues.
Sections of the synthesis report that saw particularly high levels of opposition were in Chapters 9, 11, 12, 15.
The report presents the discussions on the topic of “synodality” itself, before then dealing with the more hot-button topics. While radical advocates for LGBT issues or for female deacons will not have had their aims fulfilled, the report nevertheless also avoids clearly proclaiming the already defined Church teaching on all such issues.
Indeed, the report is marked more for its generic nature rather than by any particularly notable argumentation made. Paragraphs contain calls for further discussion on a number of topics, rather than presenting concrete demands or formulated decisions.
Each paragraph was voted on in turn, and had to be passed by at least a two-thirds majority: abstentions were not permitted. Although this meeting is unique in that it has for the first time allowed lay voters, the report did not divide the voting results by lay or clerical status. The simple numerical results were presented.
Every paragraph was approved, though no paragraph received a 100 percent approval, as there were always objections registered: only three paragraphs had just one objection.
Each chapter of the report is divided into three sections: summaries of discussions, issues to be addressed, and proposals presented.
READ: Cardinal Müller: Synod is about ‘preparing us to accept homosexuality,’ women’s ordination
Commenting on the surprisingly large numbers of votes approving controversial passages, especially relating to the female diaconate, relator general Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich told journalists that he was surprised and “happy with that result.” He added that the vote on this particular issue “means that the resistance are [sic] not so great as people have thought before.”
The report particularly highlights a continuation of the culture of questioning that has characterized the synod during the past two years. While less explicit on certain topics than in previous documents, the synthesis report lays the groundwork for essentially codifying the “synodal manner” of prolonged discussion on already decided moral or doctrinal questions, and the concept of majority vote approval in the Church with equality of voting power amongst the laity and the clergy.
“To have this freedom and openness will change the Church, and I’m sure the Church will find answers, but perhaps not the exact answer this group or that group wants to have, but answers [with which] most people could feel well and listened to,” said Cardinal Hollerich of the Synod on Synodality’s style and process.
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Cdl. Hollerich at the synod Credit: Facebook
Synodality: a definition and a future
Describing even the arrangement of the synod – which was held in the Paul VI Audience Hall, rather than the customary synod hall, to accommodate the round table arrangement – the report stated that this physical arrangement was highly significant. The passage is particularly key for understanding the concept of the new, democratic style of life proposed by the Synod on Synodality:
Quote:“The very way the Assembly was conducted, starting with the arrangement of people seated in small groups around round tables in the Paul VI Hall, comparable to the biblical image of the wedding banquet (Rev. 19:9), is emblematic of a synodal Church and an image of the Eucharist, the source and summit of synodality, with the Word of God at its center. Within it, different cultures, languages, rites, ways of thinking and realities can engage together and fruitfully in a sincere search under the guidance of the Spirit. (Passed by 339 – 5)
“The entire journey, rooted in the Tradition of the Church, is taking place in the light of the conciliar magisterium,” noted the opening message at the start of the report.
READ: Cardinal Müller criticizes ‘heretics and globalists’ at Synod, reaffirms ‘God never blesses sin’
Somewhat of a definition of synodality was offered, being presented as an inherently ecumenical event which was to be “understood as the walk of Christians with Christ and toward the Kingdom, together with all humanity.” The definition continued that “synodality” was to be:
Quote:… mission-oriented, it involves coming together in assembly at the different levels of ecclesial life, listening to one another, dialogue, communal discernment, consensus-building as an expression of Christ’s making himself present alive in the Spirit, and decision-making in differentiated co-responsibility. (Passed 340 – 4)
However, the text added that there was a “need to clarify the meaning of synodality at different levels, from pastoral use to theological and canonical use, averting the risk that it sounds too vague or generic, or appearing as a passing fad.” (Passed 341 – 3)
A call was made to “experiment with and adapt conversation in the Spirit” – which has been the modus operandi of the Synod on Synodality – along with “other forms of discernment” into the wider life of the church, “valuing according to cultures and contexts the richness of different spiritual traditions.” (Paragraph passed by 332 – 12)
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The Paul VI Audience Hall
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Credit: Synod.va/Facebook
Equality of dignity, governance and liturgical themes
Consistent with the themes of ecumenical and hierarchical equality which have emerged from the process, the report argued that all baptized individuals are completely equal in dignity, avoiding the discussion of differing kinds and ways to lose dignity: “among all the baptized there is a genuine equality of dignity and a common responsibility for mission, according to each person’s vocation.” (Passed by 318 – 26)
The sacrament of baptism appeared as a new tool to aid “synodality” with the report stating how it “cannot be understood in an individualistic way” and that “the contribution to the understanding of synodality that can come from a more unified vision of Christian initiation.” (Passed by 337 – 7)
Consistent themes of “synodal” styles of governance and regular activity within the Church’s daily life are also contained in the report, highlighting the regime change which is promoted by the Synod on Synodality.
This is particularly highlighted with regard to the role of women, with the report even expressing an “urgent” call for Canon Law to be changed in order to allow more female governance roles:
Quote:There is an urgent need to ensure that women can participate in decision-making processes and assume roles of responsibility in pastoral care and ministry. The Holy Father has significantly increased the number of women in positions of responsibility in the Roman Curia. The same should happen at other levels of Church life. Canon law should be adapted accordingly. (Passed by 319 – 27)
An insight into the potential new form of the diaconal understanding was given in section 4, which argued that “as part of the rethinking of diaconal ministry, let it be promoted to be more strongly oriented toward service to the poor.” (Passed by 337 – 7)
Another section noted the “widely reported need to make liturgical language more accessible to the faithful and more embodied in the diversity of cultures.” (Passed by 322 – 22)
The current Vatican concentration on climate change issues was also represented, with a call being made for “the biblical and theological foundations of integral ecology [to] be more explicitly and carefully integrated into the teaching, liturgy and practices of the Church.” (Passed by 328 – 16)
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Synod members during the October 2023 meetings.
Catholic identity
The text’s dealing with the issue of migration highlighted calls for “respect for the liturgical traditions and religious practices of migrants” as part of an “authentic welcome,” while avoiding urging the promotion of Catholicism. In a paragraph with a relatively large amount of objection, mention was made of “sensitivity” needed in places where “the proclamation of the Gospel has been associated with colonization and even genocide.” (Passed by 312 – 32)
Mention was further made of calls for increased dialogue and unity between the East and the West, along with a focus on ecumenism. For this end, Baptism was once again placed at the service of “synodality,” with the text stating: “through it, [Baptism] all Christians participate in the sensus fidei and for this reason they should be listened to carefully, regardless of their tradition, as the Synodal Assembly did in its discernment process. There can be no synodality without the ecumenical dimension.” (Passed by 316 – 28)
So also was the Holy Eucharist seen and used as an aid for “synodality,” with calls made for Communion to be given to non-Catholics. So-called “Eucharistic hospitality” was highlighted as being an issue “particularly felt by interfaith couples.”
Quote:The issue of Eucharistic hospitality (communicatio in sacris) should be further examined from the theological, canonical and pastoral perspectives in light of the link between sacramental and ecclesial communion. This issue is particularly felt by interfaith couples. It also points to a broader reflection on mixed marriages.(Passed by 321 – 23)
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Fr. Timothy Radcliffe and Sr. Nathalie Becquart arrive to the synod, October 12, 2023.
Ministry, deacons and clergy
The much anticipated demand for female-deacons – which would be in opposition to Church teaching – was not made in the synthesis report. However, the relevant chapter (9) saw some of the highest level of objections during the vote.
The discussions on female deacons were summarized as being welcomed by some as return to “a practice of the early church” or a “necessary response to the signs of the times, faithful to Tradition.” The report did note the objections of those Catholics who echoed Church teaching that such a move would be “in discontinuity with Tradition.” (Passed 277 – 69)
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Screenshot of Synod synthesis report’s section on female deacons.
The text also called for “theological and pastoral research” on the female diaconate to continue, and requested that the results of the 2016 and 2020 commissions on the topic be presented at the October 2024 meeting. (Passed 279 – 67) Therefore while any definite statements supporting the female diaconate were not made in the report, the Church’s condemnation of the female diaconate as impossible was seemingly ignored, with calls for further discussion on the topic thus promoted.
Calls were also made for new ministries for laity, particularly for “establishing a ministry” for married couples. (Passed by 308 – 38)
Priestly celibacy, as noted on these pages, was discussed alongside the female diaconate. In this light, a call for a “deeper reflection” on the diaconate itself was raised, with the note that this could “illuminate the issue of women’s access to the diaconate.” (Passed by 285 – 61) Such a comment has been made in passing by synod members to journalists, suggesting that an attempt to change the understanding of the diaconate is underway, rather than immediately pushing to institute women as deacons. Should such a move take effect – effectively instituting a lay version of the diaconate – it could be an attempt by advocates of female ordination to achieve their goal of a form of “parity” with priests, whilst also looking to avoid a clear condemnation of being heretical.
LGBT issues
Father James Martin, S.J., told the dissident National Catholic Reporter that he was “‘disappointed but not surprised’ by the result for LGBTQ Catholics.” Indeed, the synod had been discussing a perceived need to “welcome” the “remarried divorcees, people in polygamous marriages, LGBTQ+ [sic] people.”
“There were widely diverging views on the topic. I wish, however, that some of those discussions, which were frank and open, had been captured in the final synthesis,” Martin stated.
While the text does not defend same-sex blessings, it does argue that the Church has an out-dated mode of understanding LGBT questions. It states:
Quote:Sometimes the anthropological categories we have developed are not sufficient to grasp the complexity of the elements emerging from experience or knowledge in the sciences and require refinement and further study. It is important to take the necessary time for this reflection and invest our best energies in it, without giving in to simplifying judgments that hurt people and the Body of the Church. (Passed 307 – 39)
The terminology “LGBTQ” did not appear in the synthesis report, unlike in the Instrumentum Laboris which guided proceedings. This is a particularly notable absence, especially given the concentration of questions on the topic of homosexuality during the near-daily press briefings.
When asked by LifeSiteNews during the synod about homosexual topics in the synod discussions, voting member Cardinal Leonardo Steiner argued there was a mixed view on the topic of same-sex blessings, adding that Pope Francis has planned for next year’s synod meetings to address the topic specifically.
READ: Pope Francis reportedly tasked next year’s Synod with addressing same-sex ‘blessings’
But as time progressed, the message from the press office briefing table was more succinct: officials moved towards a more unified line, stating that the topic of the event was “synodality” and not same-sex blessings, or female deacons, even though the same officials would state how such items had in fact been discussed that same day.
As for the Instrumentum Laboris calls for a “welcome” for those in “polygamous” relationships, the synthesis report also states:
Quote:In different ways, people who feel marginalized or excluded from the Church because of their marriage situation, identity, and sexuality also ask to be heard and accompanied, and that their dignity be defended. A deep sense of love, mercy and compassion for people who are or feel hurt or neglected by the Church, who desire a place to come ‘home’ and to feel safe, to be listened to and respected, without fear of feeling judged. Listening is a prerequisite for walking together in search of God’s will. The Assembly reaffirms that Christians cannot disrespect the dignity of any person. (Passed by 326 – 20)
A much more concrete defense of the polygamous came from the bishops of Africa and Madagascar, however, whose bishops’ conference stated they were encouraged “to promote theological and pastoral discernment on the issue of polygamy and the accompaniment of people in polygamous unions coming to faith.” (Passed by 303 – 43)
Some disgruntlement was raised in the Holy See Press Office by journalists looking for more radical texts supporting LGBT issues. But Cardinal Mario Grech – secretary general of the General Secretariat of the Synod – defended the text, saying that all the paragraphs had received the two-thirds majority needed.
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Synod on Synodality members. Credit: X screenshot
Synodality for the future
While the Synod on Synodality is due to end in October 2024, Cardinal Hollerich gave yet another hint that the process was not likely to actually end there. “The process really starts at the end of the process” he told journalists, when presenting the synthesis report.
He welcomed the fact that a “synodal church will more easily try to speak about these topics [controversial topics] than in the past.”
The synthesis report is now entrusted to the bishops’ conferences around the world, who are tasked with promoting it to the congregations under their charge. The participants of this October’s meeting will reconvene in the Vatican next October for the second session of the Synod on Synodality. Leading cardinals and synod officials have suggested that more concrete decisions and proposals are likely to emerge from the 2024 session.
For those looking for definitive statements approving same-sex blessings or female ordination – which would both violate Catholic doctrine – then such hopes will have been dashed. Yet, in a less immediately visible manner, the synod’s synthesis report presents a blueprint for a radical alteration of the Church’s daily life, in that it refuses to present Church teaching on the controversial moral issues and argues for a parliamentary style democracy of equality between laity and clergy, and continues the process of undermining the authority of bishops.
The Synod on Synodality now proceeds at the local level once more, with concerns of faithful Catholics remaining unabated.
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| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Twenty-second Week after Pentecost |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-29-2023, 05:25 AM - Forum: Pentecost
- Replies (7)
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By our sins long ago committed, and often since, we have deserved hell. And do we understand what hell means? One moment in hell is more dreadful than a hundred years of most frightful torments. And yet we complain if God sends us sufferings. O Lord, Thou art just! Give us grace to suffer with patience.
I.
Are we to look upon God as a tyrant who takes pleasure in our suffering? He does take pleasure in punishing us, but exactly the same pleasure a father takes in correcting his son: He does not take pleasure in the pain which He inflicts, but in the amendment it will work. My son, reject not the correction of the Lord; and do not faint when thou art chastised by him, for whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth, and as a father in the son, he pleaseth himself (Prov. iii. 11). He chastises you because He loves you; it is not that He wishes to see you afflicted, but converted; and if He takes pleasure in your suffering, He does so inasmuch as it is a means of conversion -- just as a father who chastises his son derives pleasure, not from the affliction of his son, but from the amendment which he hopes to see in him, and which will prevent him from working his own ruin. Chastisement makes us return to God, says St. John Chrysostom; and it is to this end God inflicts it, in order that we may not stay away from Him.
Why then do you complain of God when in tribulation? You ought to thank Him prostrate on the earth. If a man condemned to die were to have his sentence changed by the prince from death into one hour's imprisonment, and if he were to complain of that one hour, would his complaint be just? Would he not rather deserve that the prince should reverse the last sentence, and condemn him a second time to death? You have long and often deserved hell by your sins. And do you know all that the word hell means? Know that it is more dreadful to suffer for one moment in hell than to suffer for a hundred years the most frightful torments which the Martyrs suffered on earth; and in this hell you should have had to suffer not for a moment, but during all eternity. And yet you complain if God send you some tribulation, some infirmity, some loss! Thank God, and say: Lord, this chastisement is trifling compared with my sins. I should have been in hell burning, deserted by all, and in despair; I thank Thee for having called me to Thyself by this tribulation which Thou hast sent me. God, says Oleaster, often calls sinners to repentance by temporal chastisements. By earthly chastisements the Lord shows us the immense punishment our sins deserve; and therefore afflicts us on this earth, that we may be converted and escape eternal flames.
II.
Wretched, then, should we poor sinners be if left unpunished; but still more wretched is the sinner who, admonished by affliction, does not amend. It is not a grievous thing to be afflicted by God on this earth after one has sinned; but it is very grievous not to be converted by the affliction sent, and to be like those of whom David speaks, who, although visited by Divine chastisement, still sleep on in their sins. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, they have all slumbered (Ps. lxxv. 7). As if the sound of the scourges and the thunders of God, instead of rousing them from their lethargy, served only to make them sleep more soundly. I struck you, yet you returned not to me (Amos iv. 9). I have scourged you, says God, in order that you might return to Me; but ye, ungrateful that you are, have been deaf to My calls. Unhappy the sinner who acts like him of whom the Lord says, He shall send lightnings against him; ... his heart shall be as hard as a stone, and as firm as a smith's anvil (Job xli. 14, 15). God visits him with chastisement, and he, instead of being softened and returning to the Lord by penance, shall be as firm as a smith's anvil; he shall grow more hardened under the blows of God, as the anvil grows harder under the hammer, like the impious Achaz, of whom the Scripture says: In the time of his distress he increased contempt against the Lord (2 Par. xxviii. 22). Unhappy man, instead of humbling himself, he all the more despised God. He deserves all chastisement who, being afflicted by the Lord for his conversion, continues to provoke the Lord to greater wrath. What can I do, O sinner, to bring about your conversion? The Lord will say: I have called you by sermons and inspirations, and you have despised them; I have called you by favours, and you have grown more insolent; I have called you by scourges, and you continue to offend Me. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression ... and the daughter of Sion shall be left ... as a city that is laid waste (Is. i. 5-8). Do you not wish to hearken even to My chastisements? Do you wish that I should abandon you?
Let us no longer abuse the mercy which God uses towards us. Let us not be like the nettle, which stings him who strikes it. God afflicts us, because He loves us, and wishes to see us reformed. When we feel the chastisement, we should remember our sins, and say with the brethren of Joseph: We deserve to suffer these things, because we have sinned against our brother (Gen. xlii. 21). Lord, Thou punishest us justly, because we have offended Thee, our Father and God. Thou art just, O God, and thy judgment is right (Ps. cxviii. 137). Everything thou hast done to us, thou hast done in true judgment (Dan. iii. 31). Lord, Thou art just, and dost with justice punish us; we accept this tribulation which Thou sendest us; give us strength to suffer it with patience.
Spiritual Reading
HOLY HUMILITY
V. HUMILITY OF THE INTELLECT OR JUDGMENT
Since without the Divine aid you can do nothing, be careful never to confide in your own strength; but after the example of St. Philip Neri, endeavour to live in continual and utter distrust of yourself. Like St. Peter, who protested that not even death would induce him to deny his Master, the proud man trusts in his own courage, and therefore yields to temptation. Because he confided in himself, the Apostle had no sooner entered the house of the high-priest than he denied Jesus Christ. Be careful never to place confidence in your own resolutions or in your present good dispositions; but put your whole trust in God, saying with St. Paul: I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me (Phil. iv. 13). If you cast away all self-confidence, and place all your hopes in the Lord, you may then expect to do great things for God. They that hope in the Lord, says the Prophet Isaias, shall renew their strength (Is. xl. 31). Yes, the humble, who trust in the Lord, shall renew their strength; distrusting themselves, they shall lay aside their own weakness and put on the strength of God. Hence, St. Joseph Calasanctius used to say, that "whoever desires to be the instrument of God in great undertakings, should seek to be the lowest of all." Strive to imitate the conduct of St. Catharine of Sienna, who, when tempted to vainglory, would make an act of humility, and when tempted to despair, would make an act of confidence in God. Enraged at her conduct, the devil began one day to curse her and the person who taught her this mode of resisting his temptations; and added, that he "knew not how to attack her." When, therefore, Satan tells you that you are in no danger of falling, tremble; and reflect that, should God abandon you for a moment, you are lost. When he tempts you to despair, exclaim in the loving words of David: In thee, O Lord, have I hoped: let me never be confounded (Ps. xxx. 2). In Thee, O Lord, I have placed all my hopes; I trust that I shall not be confounded, deprived of Thy grace, and made the slave of hell.
Should you be so unfortunate as to commit a fault, take care not to give way to diffidence, but humble your soul; repent, and with a stronger sense of your own weakness, throw yourself into the arms of the Lord. To be angry with ourselves after having committed a fault, is not an act of humility, but of pride, which makes us wonder how we could have fallen into such a fault. Yes, it is pride and a delusion of the devil, who seeks to draw us away from the path of perfection, to cast us into despair of advancing in virtue, and thus precipitate us into more grievous sins. After a fault we should redouble our confidence in God, and thus take occasion from our infidelity to place still greater hopes in His mercy. To them that love God, says St. Paul, all things work together unto good (Rom. viii. 28). "Yes," adds the Gloss, "even sins." The Lord once said to St. Gertrude: "When a person's hands are stained he washes them, and they become cleaner than before they were soiled." So the soul that commits a fault, being purified by repentance, is made more pleasing in the eyes of God than she was before her transgression. To teach them to distrust themselves, and to confide only in Him, God sometimes permits His servants, and particularly those who are not well grounded in humility, to fall into some sin. If, then, you commit a fault, endeavour to repair it immediately by an act of love and of sorrow; resolve to amend, and redouble your confidence in God; say with St. Catharine of Genoa: "Lord, this is the fruit of my garden. If Thou dost not protect me I shall be guilty of still more grievous offences; but I purpose to avoid this fault for the future, and with the aid of Thy grace, I hope to keep this resolution." Should you ever relapse, act always in the same manner, and never abandon the resolution of becoming a saint.
Should you ever see another commit some grievous sin, take care not to indulge in pride, nor to be surprised at his fall; but pity his misfortune, and trembling for yourself, say with holy David: Unless the Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelt in hell (Ps. xciii. 17). If the Almighty had not been my Protector, I should at this moment be buried in hell. Beware of even taking vain complacency in being exempt from faults you perceive in others, or else, in chastisement of your pride the Lord will permit you to fall into the sins they have committed. Cassian relates that a certain young monk, being for a long time molested by a violent temptation to impurity, sought advice and consolation from an aged Father. Instead of receiving encouragement and comfort, he was loaded with reproaches. "What!" said the old man, "is it possible that a monk should be subject to such abominable thoughts?" In punishment of his pride the Almighty permitted the Father to be assailed by the spirit of impurity to such a degree that he ran about like a madman. Hearing of his miserable condition, the Abbot Apollo told him that God had permitted this temptation to punish his conduct towards the young monk, and also to teach him compassion for others in similar circumstances. The Apostle tells us that in correcting sinners we should not treat them with contempt, lest God should permit us to be assailed by the temptation to which they yielded, and perhaps to fall into the very sin which we were surprised to see them commit. We should, before we reprove others, consider that we are as miserable and as liable to sin as our fallen brethren. Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault ... instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted (Gal. vi. 1). The same Cassian relates that a certain Abbot called Machete confessed that he himself had miserably fallen into three faults, of which he had rashly judged his brethren to be guilty.
Evening Meditation
INTERIOR TRIALS
We are to have this certain confidence that in obeying our Spiritual Father, we are sure of not sinning. "The sovereign remedy for the scrupulous," says St. Bernard, "is a blind obedience to their confessor." John Gerson relates, that the same Saint told one of his disciples, who was scrupulous, to go and celebrate, and take his word for it. He went, and was cured of his scruples. "But a person may answer," says Gerson, "Would to God I had a St. Bernard for my director! Mine is one of indifferent wisdom." And he answers, "Thou dost err, whoever thou art that so speakest; for thou hast not given thyself into the hands of the man because he is well read, etc., but because he is placed over thee; wherefore obey him not as man, but as God." Hence St. Teresa has well said: "Let the soul accept the confessor with a determination to think no more of personal excuses, but to trust in the words of the Lord: He that heareth you heareth me.
Hence St. Francis de Sales, speaking of direction from a Spiritual Father in order to walk securely in the way of God, says: "This is the very counsel of all counsels." "Search as much as you will," says the saintly Father John of Avila, "you will in no way discover the will of God so surely as by the path of that humble obedience which is so much recommended and practised by the devout of former times." Thus, too, Father Alvarez said: "Even if the Spiritual Father should err, the obedient soul is secure from error, because it rests on the judgment of him whom God has given it as a superior." And Father Nieremberg writes to the same effect: "Let the soul obey the confessor; and then, although the thing itself were faulty, he does not sin who does it with the intention of obeying him who holds the place of God in his regard, persuading himself, as is, indeed, the case, that he is bound to obey him," who is the interpreter of the Divine will.
II.
St. Francis of Sales gives three maxims which bring great consolation to scrupulous souls.
1. An obedient soul has never been lost; 2. We ought to rest satisfied with knowing from our Spiritual Father that we are going on well, without seeking a personal knowledge of it; 3. The best thing is to walk on blindly through all the darkness and perplexity of this life, under the Providence of God. And therefore all the Doctors of Morals conclude, in general, with St. Antoninus, Navarro, Silvester, etc., that obedience to the confessor is the safest rule for walking securely in the ways of God. F. Tirillo, and F. La Croix say that this is the common doctrine of the holy Fathers and masters of the spiritual life.
The scrupulous should know that not only are they safe in obeying, but that they are bound to obey their director, and to despise the scruple, acting with all freedom in the midst of their doubts. This is the teaching of Natalis Alexander: That scruples ought to be despised when one has the judgment of a prudent, pious, and learned director; and that one ought to act against them. "He who acts against scruples does not sin," says Father Wigandt, "nay, sometimes it is a precept to do so, especially when backed by the judgment of the confessor." So do these authors speak, although they belong to the rigid school; so, too, theologians in general; and the reason is, that if the scrupulous man goes on in his scruples, he is in danger of placing grievous impediments in the way of satisfying his obligations, or, at least, of making spiritual progress; and, moreover, of even losing his mind, losing his health, and destroying his soul by despair or by relaxation. Hence St. Antoninus agrees with Gerson in thus reproving the scrupulous soul who, through a vain fear, is not obedient in overcoming his scruples: "Beware lest, from overmuch desire to walk securely, thou fall and destroy thyself."
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| Students protest drag show planned for Catholic university Notre Dame |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-29-2023, 05:09 AM - Forum: General Commentary
- No Replies
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Students protest drag show planned for Catholic university Notre Dame
Notre Dame, one of the most famous Catholic universities in the U.S., has defended the event on the grounds of academic freedom
Fox News [adapted] | October 28, 2023
Students at one of the most popular Catholic universities in the U.S. are protesting a drag event sanctioned by the school administration.
The University of Notre Dame, one of the most well-known Catholic colleges in the country, is hosting and sponsoring a drag queen symposium on November 3 as part of a one-credit course titled "What a Drag: Drag on Screen — Variations and Meanings."
Students who are upset with the event's contradiction to Catholic morality are pushing Vice President of Student Affairs Fr. Gerry Olinger to rescind the religious university's participation in hosting the event.
MASSACHUSETTS MAN ALLEGEDLY BROKE ARMS OFF CRUCIFIX OUTSIDE BOSTON CATHEDRAL AFTER SWINGING FROM IT
"In the weeks following the completion of the regilding of the dome and Our Lady, promotional posters appeared throughout campus advertising a drag show on Nov. 3," students wrote in an editorial for a student publication. "Months were spent regilding Notre Dame’s Virgin Mary statue, accentuating the beauty and truth of her feminine form in imago dei — a feminine form that is warped and mocked in the burlesque-styled form of entertainment that is drag."
The students wrote, "We cannot help but question how witnessing such a performance prepares students to be forces for good and truth in the world."
Posters advertising the event say that anyone at the university can attend — tickets are free.
DODGERS HONOR ANTI-CATHOLIC DRAG 'NUNS' MORE THAN AN HOUR BEFORE FIRST PITCH INSIDE NEARLY EMPTY STADIUM
"University funding will be paying drag artists to come to Notre Dame, dress as women, defile femininity, and most importantly, promote the disordered ideology that gender and sexuality are fluid — in direct contradiction to the Catholic Church’s teaching," student Merlot Fogarty wrote to Olinger in an email.
Olinger defended the university event on the grounds of "academic freedom," according to Catholic News Agency.
"This freedom in academic contexts is critical, and the university protects this freedom even when the content of the presentation is objectionable to some or even many. Because the event you reference is part of a one-credit course in film, television and theater on the history of drag, the principle of academic freedom does apply in this instance," Olinger responded to the email, according to the outlet.
Drag queen performances have become a tense topic in Catholic communities following the celebration of anti-Catholic drag "nuns" by the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this year.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were given a "Community Hero award" by the baseball team ahead of its Pride Night celebrations.
The ceremony was pushed to more than an hour before the game and done with few spectators in their seats after weeks of outrage surrounding the decision.
Fox News Digital reached out to the University of Notre Dame for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
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