Keep
your eyes open!...
Lent, 2013
(Ecc
3:1-7) All things have their season, and in their times all things pass
under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and
a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to
heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a
time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter
stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far
from embraces. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a
time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep
silence, and a time to speak.
UPDATES: Non-subscribers can access items emailed during Lent at http://groups.google.com/group/tribulaton-times/about
VATICAN: Pope's Lenten message 2013: Believing in charity calls forth charity
ARCHBISHOP CHAPUT: Preparing For the Journey of Lent, 2013
THE REGISTER: During Lent, Catholics urged to return to Confession
CATHOLIC REGISTER: Fast in solidarity with world’s hungry
CATHOLIC SENTINEL: God's Lenten Gifts
LENTEN SABBATICAL
The TRIB
TIMES will not
be updated again this year
during the Lenten season, extending to the first week after
Easter. My computer time will be limited to 30
minutes
each morning and evening during Lent. I will read all emails I receive,
and will answer all that I can, time permitting. I may also
occasionally
email non-reformatted news articles to Trib Times subscribers that I
find
to be of particular interest. But barring a major event (admittedly not unlikely these days), the Trib
Times
web page itself will not be updated.
I
apologize to all who have recently subscribed but
will keep your email information for use after my return. God
willing,
the next issue of the Trib Times should be shortly after Divine Mercy
Sunday, April 7, 2013. Please keep me in your
prayers, and be
assured that
I will do the same.
I recommend the
following links to keep up
with unfolding events:
Catholic
News
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/headlines.asp
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/
http://www.catholictide.com/
Signs of the Times
http://www.spiritdaily.com/
http://www.lifesite.net/
http://www.lifenews.com/
Readings & Meditations for Lent &
Holy
Week
http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Lent/index.html
http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/lent.htm
http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/season/
Catholic Commentary
Courageous Priest
Statements of Archbishop Chaput
Crisis Magazine
Newer
subscribers may also be interested in a meditation
that first appeared in the Trib Times in 2004, The
Pain of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
LINK TO DONATE TO CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICE: https://secure.crs.org/site/Donation2?df_id=3181&3181.donation=form1.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
8. Be despoiled of everything and the Sacred Heart
of Jesus will enrich you. Empty your heart of everything and He will compensate
you. Forget and abandon yourself.
February 13, 2013
(2Th 2:13-15)
But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of
God, for that God hath chosen you firstfruits unto salvation, in
sanctification of the spirit and faith of the truth: Whereunto also he
hath called you by our gospel, unto the purchasing of the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast: and hold the
traditions, which you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle.
POPE BENEDICT XVI, Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima Thursday, 13 May 2010:
May the seven years which separate us from the centenary of the
apparitions hasten the fulfilment of the prophecy of the triumph of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.
NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: Setting the World Ablaze- The future of the Catholic Church
THOUGHTFUL COMMENTARY: On the Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI by Rev. Dr. Joseph L. Iannuzzi, STL, STD, Ph.D.
RECENT RON SMITH REPORTS
Fulfilling Sunday Mass Obligation
Holding Hands During Our Father Prayer
Restrictions on Receiving Holy Communion
Laying on of Hands
Catholic Church for Civil Wedding
Note from Ron: To receive my Catholic Q&A reports please contact me with your correct email address.
BLOG: Heaven, the Hope of Our Souls
CATHOLIC HERALD: How did we forget about hell?
In the late 1990s I wrote a history of the Knights Templar
and, after a year or two immersed in the Crusades, was struck by how
real was the fear of hell among Catholics at the time, and by what
extreme measures they were prepared to take to save their souls. So
central to their faith was this fear of damnation that present-day
post-Vatican II Catholicism seemed in this respect like a different
religion.
Six years later, I expressed my perplexity on the subject in an essay
published together with other collected writings by Darton, Longman and
Todd as Hell and Other Destinations. I asked how it was that the clear
teaching of the Church (and of the monks at Ampleforth where I went to
school) that those who die in a state of mortal sin would be damned,
that many were called but few chosen, that the hard and narrow path
leads to salvation and the broad and easy road to damnation, all now
seemed to have been replaced by an assumption that salvation is a
universal entitlement with hell either empty or reserved for
world-historical monsters like Genghis Khan, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot
and, possibly, General Pinochet and Mrs Thatcher.
My essay was an amateur effort and the question I put received no
answer. That is, until now. Dr Ralph Martin is an associate professor
of theology at the University of Notre Dame, director of graduate
theology programmes in the new evangelisation and a consultor for the
Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation. He is, in other words, a
man at the cutting edge of the current drive to convert non-Catholics
to the Catholic Faith. In this endeavour, however, he has clearly faced
a problem. What is Catholicism’s unique selling point, other than the
conviction of Catholics that what they believe happens to be true? What
makes up for its inconveniences such as its strictures on sex and the
obloquy Catholics must endure for their perceived misogyny, homophobia,
indifference to Aids in Africa and so on if, in the long run, as we now
seem to believe, everyone will end up in heaven?
Dr Martin’s book is called Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and its Implications for the New Evangelisation. Theological cognoscenti will recognise the reference to Dare we Hope “That All Men Be Saved”?
by Hans Urs von Balthasar, a book in which the Swiss theologian claims
not just that we dare hope that no one is in hell but that we should
hope that no one is in hell and, in fact, can assume that no one is in
hell.
Dr Martin treads carefully with von Balthasar, said to be the favourite
theologian of Blessed John Paul II, but his critique of his writing on
the subject is devastating. In his book Balthasar “departs from the
content of revelation and the mainstream theological tradition of the
Church in a way that undermines the call to holiness and evangelisation
and is pastorally damaging”. Martin is equally critical of the teaching
of Karl Rahner, whose heavy tomes of theology, impenetrable to the lay
Catholic, have done much to change our beliefs on the question of
salvation. It is Rahner’s concept of the “anonymous Christian” that put
the final nail in the coffin of extra Ecclesiam nulla salus – outside
the Church there is no salvation.
Both Rahner and Balthasar make much of paragraph 16 of Gaudium et Spes,
which teaches that members of other religions, and even atheists, may
be saved; but here, says Martin, there is some cherry-picking and
sleight of hand. “Rahner’s completely optimistic description of the
conciliar teaching on the salvation of non-Christians is only possible
when the complete text is ignored…” With great delicacy and repeated
protestation of respect Martin shows how both Rahner and von Balthasar
have allowed their wishful thinking to distort, even pervert, the
teaching of the gospels and the Church.
Paragraph 16 of Lumen Gentium states that non-believers who “seek God
with a sincere heart” and “do his will as they know it through the
dictates of their conscience” will be saved. So far so good. But, as
Martin points out (with the aid of other commentators), both
theologians wilfully ignore what follows: “But very often, deceived by
the Evil One, men have become vain in their reasonings, have exchanged
the truth of God for a lie…” Note the “very often”. Note, too, Lumen
Gentium’s reference at this point to St Paul’s First Letter to the
Romans, in which he uses “unnatural intercourse” as an instance of
where such vain reasoning can lead: “men doing shameless things with
men and getting an appropriate reward for their perversion”.
Dr Martin is a specialist on evangelisation and at first sight his book
is a merely a scholarly contribution to his area of expertise. But, of
course, it is much more than that. Evangelising is at the heart of what
it means to be a Catholic. Presenting the Catholic faith as “an
optional enrichment opportunity”, instead of “a precious and urgent
opportunity to find salvation and escape damnation”, is to distort both
the gospels and the teaching of the Catholic Church.
A riddle remains. Why, if Martin’s critique is correct, has the
teaching on salvation of Rahner and Balthasar not been condemned by the
Church? Cardinal Avery Dulles described Balthasar’s position as
“adventurous” and the then Cardinal Ratzinger talked of Rahner’s
“astonishing optimism”: he also warned Catholics against reading
Scripture “contrary to its own intentions”. But these are mild
criticisms if the two theologians have got things so wrong. Dr Martin’s
book is now endorsed by four cardinals and two archbishops but, given
that the subject is of such paramount importance, should there not be a
clear statement by Pope Benedict or Archbishop Gerhard Müller, the
prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, about what
we must do, or not do, to be saved?
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
7. I wish to learn in the Sacred Heart of Jesus
to suffer all things in silence, and never to complain of what may be done
to me, since dust deserves but to be trodden underfoot.
February 12, 2013
(Mat 27:40) And
saying: Vah, thou that destroyest the temple of God and in three days
dost rebuild it: save thy own self. If thou be the Son of God, come
down from the cross.
POPE BENEDICT XVI (02/10/13): "Man
is not the author of his own vocation, but the proposal is a response
to the Divine. We have to have confidence in his power acting in
our own poverty, we must rely more and more in the power of his mercy,
which transforms and renews.”
VIA A MOMENT WITH MARY: The Gospel of Suffering
From the time of her secret conversation with the angel, she began to
see in her mission as a mother her "destiny" to share, in a singular
and unrepeatable way, in the very mission of her Son. And she very soon
received a confirmation of this in the events that accompanied the
birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, and in the solemn words of the aged
Simeon, when he spoke of a sharp sword that would pierce her heart. Yet
a further confirmation was in the anxieties and privations of the
hurried flight into Egypt, caused by the cruel decision of Herod.
And again, after the events of her Son's hidden and public life, events
which she must have shared with acute sensitivity, it was on Calvary
that Mary's suffering, beside the suffering of Jesus, reached an
intensity which can hardly be imagined from a human point of view but
which was mysterious and supernaturally fruitful for the redemption of
the world (…).
As a witness to her Son's Passion by her presence, and as a sharer in
it by her compassion, Mary offered a unique contribution to the Gospel
of suffering, by embodying in anticipation the expression of Saint Paul
(…). She truly has a special title to be able to claim that she
"completes in her flesh"—as already in her heart—"what is lacking in
Christ's afflictions ".
In the light of the unmatchable example of Christ, reflected with
singular clarity in the life of his Mother, the Gospel of suffering,
through the experience and words of the Apostles, becomes an
inexhaustible source for the ever new generations that succeed one
another in the history of the Church. The Gospel of suffering signifies
not only the presence of suffering in the Gospel, as one of the themes
of the Good News, but also the revelation of the salvific power and
salvific significance of suffering in Christ's messianic mission and,
subsequently, in the mission and vocation of the Church.
John Paul II Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris (On the Christian Meaning of Suffering) February 11, 1984
REPORT: Lightning Struck St Peter's Dome at the Vatican on Monday after Pope Benedict XVI Announced He Will Resign
RETROSPECT: Pope Benedict's Symbolic Placement of the Papal Pallium on the Tomb of St Celestine V
ARCHIVES VATICAN NEWSFLASH: The Celestine Sign
Q&A: The Pope Who Quit: Pope Celestine V
INFORMATION OF NOTE
Questions and Answers on the Resignation of the Pope
Papal Resignation Throughout History
The Rules for the Election of the Next Pope
CALL TO PENANCE: Penance for the Church: Penance for the Upcoming Papal Election!
VIA CHASTISEMENT LIST:
I will mention in this context something that was said by Fr. Malachi
Martin in the final years of his life. As you may know, Fr. Martin was
one of the few who read the 3d Secret of Fatima, about which he would
say very little because he was sworn to secrecy. But one of the things
that he did say was that in the 21st Century the Catholic Church
would-- not "might", but "would"-- abolish the papacy & move
towards becoming a loosely affiliated group of national churches
organized around their individual colleges of bishops. Viewed in this
light, the Church has been moving in that direrction since V2. If Fr.
Martin is correct, then the last pope will possibly be elected
specifically in order to effect that change.
I'll conclude with a brief discussion of the chronology that leads me
to the conclusion that the events foretold at the beginning of Ch. 13
of the Apocalypse-- & the Chastisement-- will begin to unfold in
2017.
1. Ch. 9 of the Apocalypse foretells that "locusts" will be released
from the Pit & will be given the power to torment Mankind for 5
months. These locusts have been interpreted by Fr. Herman Kramer ("The
Book of Destiny") & others to refer to the ministers who spread the
Protestant Reformation, & the 5 months has been interpreted to
refer to 5 centuries. Martin Luther began the Reformation by nailing
his 95 Theses to the door of the Church in Wittemburg on Hallowe'en,
1517-- a particularly auspicious date, on which tradition has held that
demons are annually released from Hell. 1517 + 500 years = 2017.
2. When Jesus appeared to Sr. Lucy at Rianjo He said, "Make it known to
My ministers, given that follow the example of the King of France in
delaying their obedience to My command, they will follow him into grave
misfortune." Jesus was referring to a revelation given to Sr. Margaret
Mary Alacoque in which He asked the King of France to consecrate France
to His Sacred Heart. The King didn't do so, & exactly 100 years
later-- to the day-- the Kingdom was annihilated & the King himself
was executed in the French Revolution. This came about because of the
refusal of the Church to do as Jesus had asked thru his mother &
consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. The verbiage indicates that
Jesus was thinking in terms of exact timetables. In other words, 100
years. The miracle that gave divine force to Jesus' request thru His
mother was performed on 13 October 1917, & 1917 + 100 years = 2017.
3. Fr. Malachi Martin, when he was questioned about the 3d Secret of
Fatima, said in 1997 that it did refer to a worldwide chastisement,
& that we had 20 years or less left until its fulfillment. 1997 +
20 = 2017.
4. At Garabandal it was foretold that Joey Lomangino would see again at
the time of the Miracle. In 2017 Joey will be 89 years old, & the
Miracle is removed from the Chastisement by only a year or so. Theories
that place the Chastisement further in the future than c. 2017 have to
contend with the fact that Joey is unlikely to live very much longer
than that.
There is more, but these are the bare bones of it. Other
interpretations are possible, so I don't insist on this one-- but I do
think that with the present information available, this one is the most
likely.
(Mat 24:21-22) For
there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the
beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. And unless those
days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of
the elect those days shall be shortened.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
6. I assure you I possess naught but my Saviour
Jesus Christ. Therefore He often says to me: "What wouldst thou do without
Me? Thou wouldst be poor indeed!"
February 11, 2013
(Psa 73:26) For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever.
BREAKING VIA VATICAN RADIO: Pope Benedict XVI on Monday said he Plans on Resigning the Papal Office on February 28th
Full text of Pope's declaration:
Dear Brothers,
I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only
for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision
of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly
examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my
strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate
exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry,
due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only
with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However,
in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by
questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern
the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind
and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has
deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my
incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this
reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full
freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome,
Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April
2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the
See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to
elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose
competence it is.Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the
love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask
pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to
the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his
holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her
maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to
myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the
future through a life dedicated to prayer.
From the Vatican, 10 February 2013
BENEDICTUS PP XVI
EARLY REACTION: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/11/pope-resigns-live-reaction
MORE: Benedict XVI will be first Pope to stand down since Gregory XII quit in 1415
ON ST. MALACHY: Papal Prophecy of St. Malachy Suggests There Will be Just One More Pope After Benedict
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
3. I must efface and annihilate myself and live
poor, unknown, forgotten and despised by creatures and hidden in the Sacred
Heart of my divine Master, so that He may found His Kingdom on my nothingness.
February 8, 2013
(Rom 12:1-2) I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your
reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be reformed
in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and
the acceptable and the perfect will of God.
UPDATE: Catholic bishops reject revised ObamaCare contraceptive rule
ARCHBISHOP CHAPUT: Making sense of another ambiguous ‘compromise’
AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE: Obama-Mandate--Extermination of Religious Freedom
LIFENEWS.COM: EWTN Will Continue its Lawsuit Against HHS Abortion Mandate
FROM THE MAILBAG:
VIA Human Life International: HLI Statement on the Revised Rules for the HHS Mandate
Following is a statement from Father Shenan J. Boquet, president of
Human Life International, on the release of proposed rules from the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regarding the mandate that
almost all employers must provide insurance that pays for abortifacient
and contraceptive drugs:
“Although many questions remain about what these proposed (not final)
rules mean and how they will be implemented, we see no evidence that
the Obama administration has any intention of listening to dissenting
voices.
“The proposed ‘compromise’ seems to amount to small changes on the
margins, most likely destined to send the problem to the courts rather
than simply acknowledge the basic right to religious freedom enshrined
in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. While it appears that
some additional entities may be provided relief from the unjust
mandate, others, such as for-profit business and not-for-profits whom
the administration deems insufficiently religious, are still subject to
coercion. It is not clear that Human Life International and similar
organizations will be protected from being forced to participate in
actions that we find morally abhorrent.
“Most importantly, the more fundamental problem with the Affordable
Healthcare Act (also known as ‘Obamacare’) remains unaddressed. HHS
Secretary Sebelius has almost unlimited power to make any changes to
the rules as needed, with little oversight from Congress, and massive
new bureaucratic structures that both strengthen and hide the laws’
many anti-life aspects. Under this administration, this means that
abortion will be free – paid for by taxpayers, despite assurances to
the contrary; yet many life saving treatments are not free, and
coverage is not nearly as universal for the most poor, as we were led
to believe.
“Not only is this latest accommodation not acceptable, the entire law
is still an affront to human rights, especially the right to life. The
entire law must be abolished, and must be replaced by a more modest
system that respects freedom, that values life, and that is set on a
sustainable fiscal path.”
VIA Anne Lastman: Broken Branches Issue 91 for Feb/Mar, 2013 newsletter for Victims of Abortion Ministry
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
2. As all things find rest only in their center
and are irresistibly drawn to what is natural to them, even so my heart,
wholly absorbed in its center, the humble Heart of Jesus, has an unquenchable
thirst for humiliations, contempt and oblivion on the part of creatures,
and thus I never feel happier than when I am conformed to my crucified
Spouse.
February 5, 2013
(Psa 122:6) Pray ye for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: and abundance for them that love thee.
ROME REPORTS: Pope welcomes new Chaldean Patriarch, pray together for peace
REPORT: Region's Armies All on High Alert
The armies of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan are all on high alert, a report
in a Lebanese newspaper said Sunday. The report in Ad-Diar said that
the alerts were due to Israel's attack on a Syrian missile transport
and, according to Syrian claims, an attack on a sensitive Syrian
military installation.
The report said that the Syrian army has instructed its units to break
up into smaller groups, “similar to what Hizbullah has done in south
Lebanon.” The strategy is designed to protect troops in the wake of
another possible Israeli attack, the report said.
The report added that Syrian troops had joined Hizbullah terrorists in
several areas of south Lebanon. According to the report, the Syrian and
Hizbullah forces were stationed very close to the Israeli border, in
the area of Har Dov (also known as “Sheba Farms”). The Lebanese and
Jordanian armies are also on high alert over the possibility of a clash
between Israel and Syria in the area. Unconfirmed Lebanese reports said
that Israeli warplanes had been seen over Lebanon earlier Sunday.
ANALYSIS: Israel airstrike may foreshadow Iran attack
RELATED HEADLINES
Pre-emptive threat not empty, Israeli says
Iran’s security head: Israel will ‘regret’ striking Syrian targets
Assad set on arms transfers to Lebanon. Israel responds with no-fly zone
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
1. Behold, O my soul, the means by which you cn
honor your God, viz., by renouncing and humbling yourself with Jesus Christ
and for the love of Jesus Christ. Thus you will find life in death, sweetness
in bitterness, and God in self-effacement: for you must leave all in order
to find Him.
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