Keep
your eyes open!...
February 17, 2021
(Deu 30:19-20) I
call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you
life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both
thou and thy seed may live: And that thou mayst love the Lord thy God,
and obey his voice, and adhere to him (for he is thy life, and the
length of thy days,) that thou mayst dwell in the land, for which the
Lord swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give
it them.
VICTIMS OF ABORTION: Broken Branches Newsletter Issue 141, Feb/Mar 2021
HLI: Defending Life after 100 Years of Legal Abortion
PRIESTS FOR LIFE: 90-Day Campaign for LIFE
CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT: Abp. Naumann: Pres. Biden “should stop defining himself as a devout Catholic”
CRISIS MAGAZINE: No Common Ground With Abortion
In an online event recently, Bishop McElroy of San Diego criticized the
idea of making abortion a “litmus test” for Catholic politicians. When
Catholic leaders do this, he claims, “such a position will reduce the
common good to a single issue.”
Clearly, the bishop was thinking of many Catholic Democrat politicians,
notably the new president, who are fully pro-abortion at all times and
at the taxpayers’ expense. Even so, argues McElroy, they do ostensibly
support measures to help immigrants, save the environment, and lower
the punishment for criminals. Apparently, a little thing like the
collective murdering of the most vulnerable members of society should
not overshadow a politician’s progressive views in these other areas.
No doubt, Pope Francis and his favorite bishops feel the same way as
Bishop McElroy, as they themselves overlook genocide and slavery to
find “common ground” with murderous dictators, Leftist politicians, and
anti-religious organizations. One would think that they might appear
somewhat hypocritical to look past the flaws of so many of the world’s
worst people while condemning President Trump’s American immigration
policy. But, according to Catholic leadership, this isn’t
hypocritical—it’s just being “pastoral.”
And no doubt, the logic of seeking common ground around the issue of
abortion is very much the agenda in Catholic parishes around the world.
How often does one even hear a sermon in support of life versus sermons
on fundraising, being nice, or the trendy social justice topic of the
day? Even in traditional parishes, one can sense that the pastors and
priests are discouraged from broaching certain topics for fear of
upsetting the bishop.
However, if one’s position on abortion is removed from assessing a
person’s moral and spiritual character, all for the sake of finding
common ground, what common ground is left? If a politician believes
that some lives matter more than others and that killing a baby in the
womb is not necessarily murder, where does the conversation go from
there?
Life is not just one issue among many, one area of the ground of ideas;
it is the issue on which all other issues depend. It is the ground.
This is what is meant when other bishops regard abortion as a
“preeminent” issue. The supposed “encounter” and “dialogue” that
pastorally-minded bishops pretend to have with bad Catholics like Joe
Biden is simply not possible in any logical sense. Because the moral
and intellectual ground is removed, bishops who try to come to terms
with such people will consequently fall into depravity and scandal.
This truth helps explain why abortion tends to define a person’s
position on every other issue. When a person supports life, he usually
supports liberty, tradition, and virtue—issues that align with American
conservatism. When a person supports abortion, he usually supports
government entitlements, identity politics, and outcome-based
equality—issues that align with American progressivism. Hence, the
Democratic platform fundamentally changed when its position on abortion
changed, and the Republican platform has remained very much the same
(sometimes frustratingly so) for over a century.
Adding to the hypocrisy of bishops seeking common ground by ignoring
the issue of abortion is the insistence that abortion is a complex,
nuanced issue where positions fall along a spectrum. However, compared
to most controversies, abortion is remarkably binary: one either
believes life is sacred from conception and must be preserved, or one
believes life is contingent on some arbitrary standard (heartbeat,
brain activity, weeks of incubation, level of convenience for the
parent, etc.) and thus disposable. Sure, abortionists introduce
euphemisms, ridiculous hypotheticals, and emotional testimonials into
the debate to muddy the waters, but the matter really does come down to
whether one chooses life or death.
By contrast, on issues which really are nuanced and complex, like
environmental or immigration policy or how to best alleviate poverty,
these same bishops ironically take a hard line and issue statements
regularly. As John Zmirak writes in American Greatness, so many of
these bishops’ statements simply parrot progressive philosophy: “A slim
percentage (10-20 percent) referred to the sanctity of life, religious
liberty, or some other fitting issue that actually fell within their
authority. The rest were typically calls for ever more taxpayer money
to be squeezed out of the citizenry and handed to the government.” Does
anyone believe that these bishops are ready to have a serious
discussion on the actual efficacy or morality on so many of these
issues? Is there really any nuance to any of a multitude of loaded
terms and arguments on which they opine?
What results from this inconsistency of Bishop McElroy and so many
Catholic leaders is less common ground between Catholics than ever
before. Because they have essentially politicized the faith,
emphasizing progressive values over Christian values in the interest of
having a phony consensus, most Catholics now define themselves more by
their politics than their religion, and they follow the words and
example of politicians more than those of the clergy.
If the shepherds have any desire to bring back their flock—and, judging
by their unflappable complacency, this seems doubtful—they need to take
up the issue of human life and stop compromising. Not only should they
stop serving Holy Communion to politicians who promote abortion, but
they should also stop the sophistry they use to defend them. It is
driving people away from the Church and hurting evangelization efforts.
When Catholic teaching and the Catholic identity are continually
diluted, attempting to convert and catechize others feels increasingly
empty and pointless.
No one is fooled by the cop-outs. What most people see when they look
at the bishops are men who are ridiculously out of touch with the
world, let alone their congregations, speaking on behalf of corrupt
politicians who are also ridiculously out of touch. If there is any
common ground in these times, it is the delusions of moral authority
that both these groups seem to share. Therefore, the Catholic laity,
and Christians in general, should be their own leaders in public life
and continue to fight the good fight for life while they pray that
their leaders will quit courting evil and start supporting their
spiritual families once again.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
22. In spite of all opposition, this divine Heart
will eventually triumph. Satan with all his adherents will be confounded.
Happy will they be who have been the means of establishing His empire.
February 15, 2021
(Joh 15:18-20) If
the world hate you, know ye that it hath hated me before you. If you
had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you
are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you. Remember my word that I said to you: The servant
is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will
also persecute you. If they have kept my word, they will keep yours
also.
ST. PAUL MIKI:
“The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine
of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason that I die. I believe that
I am telling the truth before I die.” “After Christ’s example, I
forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on
all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain.”
DAILY COMPASS: 340 million Christians persecuted: Islam the prime culprit
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Christians Are Being Attacked and Killed in Nigeria, and They Need Our Help
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A grim year for Pakistan's persecuted religious minorities
EXCERPT INSIDE THE VATICAN: A young Nigerian seminarian became a martyr for the Faith
Nigeria, according to many worldwide indices, is one of the worst
nations in the world for religious freedom and the rule of law.
Christians, who make up roughly half the population, are specially
targeted for persecution and death in Muslim areas. One December 2020
report by the Heritage Foundation cited just one example:
“The Fulani raiders arrived under
cover of darkness with their jihadist chants and their AK-47s. The
marauders swiftly maimed and murdered Christians while burning down
every structure and pillaging what remained. Hundreds of similar
incidents have occurred. We reviewed one confidential list that
precisely documents attacks by Fulani militants on seventy-nine
Christian villages over the last five years in one state alone.” In
May, the Catholic News Service reported that a Nigerian Catholic
seminarian, Michael Nnadi, 18, one of four seminarians who had been
kidnapped from Good Shepherd Seminary by Islamic bandits, had been
killed for his refusal to stop preaching the Gospel to his captors.
According to Nigeria’s Daily Sun
newspaper, the jailed Mustapha Mohammed, 26, leader of a marauding gang
and admitted killer of Michael Nnadi, praised the seminarian’s
“outstanding bravery,” and said Nnadi “told him to his face to change
his evil ways or perish.” The other three seminarians were released,
having sustained injuries, some of them serious.
“With immense sorrow, we must
inform you that the last seminarian held by kidnappers, Michael, was
murdered. The rector of the seminary of Kaduna identified the body in
the afternoon,” Aid to the Church in Need tweeted February 1, 2020.
Michael Nnadi is a martyr for the Faith.
And in 2020, he was not even
remotely alone. Some estimates put Christians killed in hatred for
their faith last year in the thousands, with churches attacked and
Christians imprisoned in the tens of thousands.
As Pope Francis pointed out just a
month after his election, and has repeated many times since, “The
Church has more martyrs now than during the first centuries.” And
specifically, Catholic missionaries were among those targeted for death
because of their faith; 20 of them were killed in 2020.
The Pontifical Mission Societies’
Agenzia Fides reported December 30 that those killed in service of the
Church in 2020 comprised eight priests, three religious women, one male
religious, two seminarians, and six lay people.
As in previous years, the most deadly continents for Church workers were the Americas and Africa.
The Vatican-based news agency,
which releases an annual list of murdered Church workers, uses the term
“missionary” to refer to “all the baptized engaged in the life of the
Church who died in a violent way.” Nigeria saw more faith-motivated
killings when, in mid-July, five aid workers were killed in its West
Africa Province by the Islamic State (ISWAP), a Boko Haram faction in
northeast Nigeria.
In a video, the fighters said that
the executions were a warning to “all those being used by infidels to
convert Muslims to Christianity.” And in what was once known as
“Christian Europe,” a suspected Islamic terrorist on October 29 hacked
to death three worshippers at the Basilica of Notre Dame in Nice,
France.
The three victims were Simone
Barreto Silva, a 44-year-old mother of three; a 60-year-old woman who
had come to the church to pray; and Vincent Loquès, the church’s
55-year-old sacristan.
“The stones cannot cry out their
horror,” said Nice’s Bishop André Marceau at the November 1 funeral
Mass. “Three lives were stolen in the name of a false god.” Also in
Europe, Fr. Roberto Malgesini, 51, of the Diocese of Como, Italy, was
found near the rectory where he lived with numerous stab wounds,
including one on the neck which caused his death, on September 15.
Fr. Malgesini had begun his morning
routine distributing breakfast to the needy when the killer, lying in
wait, accosted him; he was a homeless man from Tunisia the priest had
been assisting.
At a General Audience September 16, Pope Francis praised God for “the martyrdom of this witness of charity toward the poorest.”
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
21. I think our Lord is like a king who does not
give rewards whilst he is engaged in fighting battles and overcoming his
enemies, but when he reigns victorious on his throne.
February 11, 2021
(Mat 11:25-26) At
that time Jesus answered and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of
Heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father: for so
hath it seemed good in thy sight.
VIA A MOMENT WITH MARY:
In 778, weary of the stubborn resistance of the Saracen Lord Mirat in
the citadel of Mirambel (now the citadel of Lourdes), Charlemagne was
about to give up and lift the siege, when his friend Turpin, bishop of
Puy-en-Velay (southern France), had an inspiration. He obtained
permission to go and parley with the besieged, asking Mirat whether he
would accept to sign the treaty of surrender not to Charlemagne, but to
the Queen of Heaven.
The terms of the surrender were agreeable to the Moorish chief, who
laid down his arms at the feet of the Black Madonna of Le Puy, and was
baptized. On the day of his baptism, Mirat changed his name to Lorus,
which became the name of his city, and later “Lourdes.” A thousand
years before her apparition to Saint Bernadette, the Virgin had thus
officially been given dominion over the place where she appeared in the
19th century!
REPORT: Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes: The secret behind the healing water from the Grotto of Massabielle
OFFICE OF READINGS: From a letter from Saint Bernadette Soubirous, virgin
The apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes
I had gone down one day with two other girls to the bank of the river
Gave when suddenly I heard a kind of rustling sound. I turned my head
toward the field by the side of the river but the trees seemed quite
still and the noise was evidently not from them. Then I looked up and
caught sight of the cave where I saw a lady wearing a lovely white
dress with a bright belt. On top of each of her feet was a pale yellow
rose, the same color as her rosary beads.
At this I rubbed my eyes, thinking I was seeing things, and I put my
hands into the fold of my dress where my rosary was. I wanted to make
the sign of the cross but for the life of me I couldn’t manage it and
my hand just fell down. Then the lady made the sign of the cross
herself and at the second attempt I managed to do the same, though my
hands were trembling. Then I began to say the rosary while the lady let
her beads slip through her fingers, without moving her lips. When I
stopped saying the Hail Mary, she immediately vanished.
I asked my two companions if they had noticed anything, but they said
no. Of course they wanted to know what I was doing and I told them that
I had seen a lady wearing a nice white dress, though I didn’t know who
she was. I told them not to say anything about it, and they said I was
silly to have anything to do with it. I said they were wrong and I came
back next Sunday, feeling myself drawn to the place....
The third time I went the lady spoke to me and asked me to come every
day for fifteen days. I said I would and then she said that she wanted
me to tell the priests to build a chapel there. She also told me to
drink from the stream. I went to the Gave, the only stream I could see.
Then she made me realise she was not speaking of the Gave and she
indicated a little trickle of water close by. When I got to it I could
only find a few drops, mostly mud. I cupped my hands to catch some
liquid without success and then I started to scrape the ground. I
managed to find a few drops of water but only at the fourth attempt was
there a sufficient amount for any kind of drink. The lady then vanished
and I went back home.
I went back each day for two weeks and each time, except one Monday and
one Friday, the lady appeared and told me to look for a stream and wash
in it and to see that the priests build a chapel there. I must also
pray, she said, for the conversion of sinners. I asked her many times
what she meant by that, but she only smiled. Finally with outstretched
arms and eyes looking up to heaven she told me she was the Immaculate
Conception.
During the two weeks she told me three secrets but I was not to speak about them to anyone and so far I have not.
POPE BENEDICT XVI (2008) : A Homily for the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
CNA (2018): The 70th miracle: Lourdes healing officially declared supernatural
VIA LOURDES-FRANCE.ORG: Full list of 70 cases of unexplained cures have been recognised as miraculous by the Church at this time
EXCERPT: Why Aren't All Cured?
This is a very common question that is often asked by the skeptic.
Nonetheless, one must remember that the physical cures, the visible
cures, aren’t the most important. More important than the body is the
soul. The spiritual diseases are far more serious and far outweigh the
bodily ones. Like our Divine Savior Jesus Christ said:
Do not fear those who kill the body and after that can do nothing…fear
Him Who has the power to cast into Gehenna” ( St. Luke , 12, 4).
Unbelief, hate, pride, greed, and all the vices that can lead the soul
to hell: these are the most serious evils of the present life.
Throughout the history of Lourdes no one who approaches the Grotto
leaves without receiving some grace for a spiritual cure. How many
conversions have occurred in this blessed land! How many unbelievers
have returned to the Catholic faith! How many have made a firm purpose
to lead a holier life, more sacrificial, more oriented towards
eternity. How many souls have been torn from the clutches of the Devil!
Here is the greatest of miracles that take place in Lourdes: all who
come to the Holy Grotto receive graces that emanate from the Sacred
Heart of Jesus, whose mediatrix is his Most Holy Mother. She awaits us
always at the Grotto to fill us with her blessings and aid us in
reaching life everlasting, where we can abide together with all the
saints. Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us!
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
17. You can hardly realize what pleasure you give
me by your zeal for the glory of the Sacred Heart. It is, I think, one
of the quickest means of sanctifying oneself.
February 10, 2021
(Tit 2:1-5) But speak thou the things
that become sound doctrine: That the aged men be sober, chaste,
prudent, sound in faith, in love, in patience. The aged women, in like
manner, in holy attire, not false accusers, not given to much wine,
teaching well: That they may teach the young women to be wise, to love
their husbands, to love their children. To be discreet, chaste, sober,
having a care of the house, gentle, obedient to their husbands: that
the word of God be not blasphemed.
NEWS HEADLINE: French nun, Europe's oldest person, beats Covid-19 on eve of 117th birthday
ASIANEWS.IT: Vatican: assisting the elderly to still 'give'
A "cultural turning point" so the
elderly can be cared for in family contexts in environments that are
more like a home than a hospital, involving young people and in
particular believers. This is the proposal put forward by the
Pontifical Academy for Life in the document: "Old age: our future. The
elderly after the pandemic", presented today.
The basic idea is that the elderly
are not, and should not be seen or treated exclusively in the context
of their frailty with the accompanying care needs, but a people who are
still able to "give".
The document starts from the
observation that the pandemic has shown that “we are all at the mercy
of the same storm, but in a certain sense, we can also say that we are
rowing on different boats: the most fragile ones sink every day. It is
essential to rethink the development model of the entire planet.
Everyone is called upon: politics, the economy, society, religious
organizations, to start a new social order that places the common good
of peoples at the centre ".
Under the blows of the virus, there was talk of an "unimaginable tragedy" that occurred in hospices for the elderly.
Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia, president of
the Pontifical Academy for Life, at the presentation of the document,
stated "50% of the deaths of the elderly occurred among the
approximately 300,000 guests of nursing homes and care homes while only
24% affected the 7 million elderly over 75 living at home. The home,
even during the pandemic, all other things being equal, gave greater
protection.” This, he added, shows that “we urgently need a global
rethinking of how society assists the elderly. Much needs to be
reviewed in the system of care and assistance for the elderly”.
In the structure of society,
however, a change is taking place: the progress of medicine has
produced the lengthening of life. And “contrary to what a stereotyped
vision might make us imagine, globally cities are places where on
average people live longer. Therefore, the elderly are numerous, but it
is essential to make the cities habitable for them too. According to
data from the World Health Organization, in 2050 there will be two
billion over-60s in the world: therefore, one in five people will be
elderly”.
If there are those who see old age
as a disease, Pope Francis has called it "a privilege! Loneliness can
be a disease, but with charity, closeness and spiritual comfort we can
heal it”. "In any case, being elderly is a gift from God and an
enormous resource, an achievement to be carefully safeguarded".
CNA RESOURCE: Human Dignity and Respect for the Elderly
USCCB: Blessings of Age
EXCERPT TODAYSCATHOLIC ORG: Honoring the elderly
In our culture, old age is not always respected and esteemed as it
should be. There is an attitude among some that values only youth,
physical vigor, usefulness and productivity. Such an attitude is
contrary to the Gospel and the teaching of the Church. The elderly must
never be marginalized or neglected. The commandment of love includes
generous attention to the elderly in our families and communities. We
read the following in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the
Church:
The elderly constitute an important school of life, capable of
transmitting values and traditions, and of fostering the growth of
younger generations, who thus learn to seek not only their own good but
also that of others. If the elderly are in situations where they
experience suffering and dependence, not only do they need health care
services and appropriate assistance, but — and above all — they need to
be treated with love.
Respect for the elderly is an essential part of our faith. It falls
within the fourth commandment: Honor your father and your mother.
Blessed John Paul II wrote: Honouring older people involves a threefold
duty: welcoming them, helping them and making good use of their
qualities. I see such honor being shown in parishes and families, in
institutions and ministries throughout our diocese. We must ensure that
such honor is always shown. The Roman philosopher Cicero, centuries
ago, said that the burden of age is lighter for those who feel
respected and loved by the young.
When praising the esteem for the elderly in Africa, Blessed John Paul
spoke of the elderly as living encyclopedias of wisdom, guardians of an
inestimable treasure of human and spiritual experiences. How much all
of us can learn from our elderly brothers and sisters! Bishop D’Arcy
and our elderly and retired priests are great teachers for me and all
our younger priests.
The Church needs the wisdom, the example, and the prayers of our
elderly brothers and sisters. We are all enriched by their daily
witness to the Gospel. May our Lord bless them with His grace and
peace! To all the elderly members of the Church, I say thank you for
your fidelity, example, and prayers!
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
16. Endeavor to take all your delight in this divine
Heart, and beg the most Holy Trinity to make It known and loved by all
hearts that are capable of so doing.
February 8, 2021
(Rom 5:3-5) And
not only so: but we glory also in tribulation, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience; And patience trial; and trial hope; And hope
confoundeth not: because the charity of God is poured forth in our
hearts, by the Holy Ghost who is given to us.
VIDEO: Fr. Altier: Persevere in the Faith
ARCHBISHOP CARLO MARIA VIGANÒ: Open Letter to Confused Priests: Viganò on Obedience, Resistance, Francis and Vaccines
MEDITATION: Second Flood
Repeat, the main player in the
worldwide Covid drama unfolding all around us is Almighty God, no less.
Of course He plays no part in the multitudinous sins involved, as sins,
but it is He who created the universe and who sustains in existence
what He created for every moment that it exists, without which it would
collapse back into nothingness. And for what purpose did He create it?
To populate His heaven with rational creatures, angelic or human, who
will have made use of their God-given existence and free-will to
choose, on God’s terms, to take up His offer of eternal bliss with Him
in His heaven. And with a divine wisdom far above all human
understanding, He so manages all life here on earth that every human
soul reaching the age of reason has not only trials enough to make sure
that it loves Him enough to deserve heaven, but also actual grace
enough to make sure that it can get to heaven if it wants.
Therefore it is God who is
ultimately directing what we can call this collapse of the West, just
as He directed the Flood in the time of Noah, to punish sinful mankind,
and to prevent it from populating hell instead of heaven. In fact the
punishment was also a great mercy, because all mankind had “corrupted
its ways” (Genesis VI, 11–12), so that no doubt a great mass of men
were on their way to eternal damnation and succeeding – like today – in
taking virtually everybody with them. Such had been the effect of
original sin, over the approximately one thousand years since Adam and
Eve. But as men progressively realised that the rising waters of the
Flood were going to leave them no escape, so a minority of them will
have profited by the waters’ slow rise to make an act of contrition
sufficient to save their souls for eternity. Ask any of those souls,
now in heaven, if the Flood was not a huge act of God’s mercy!
Similarly today. Mankind has
corrupted its ways, all over the earth, with Western materialism, and
worse than in Noah’s time, because this time the Incarnation has taken
place, and after profiting from it for a while, this time men have
spurned not only God but even the Incarnate God, visibly crucified for
them, to endow them with a Church to help them to save their souls. Yet
this time even His own churchmen have virtually spurned Him, ever since
Vatican II. We are now 56 years on from the end of Vatican II, and the
corruption is galloping forwards. Now, can anyone accuse God of having
been in a hurry to strike, in the way He struck in 2020? Hardly. Or can
anyone say He started to strike with a heavy hand? Hardly, when one
thinks of the misfortunes like complete economic crashes or civil wars
or famines announced for the years soon to come? And if and when these
do come, by the malice of men and only by the permission of God, who
will be able to say they were undeserved?
Yet God is patient with each single
one of us, and His mercy endures for ever, only, He must strike and go
on striking hard enough until we learn our lesson and even only begin
to think again of getting to heaven. For with all too many of us the
lesson, however hard, will be arriving too late, and will give rise
only to curses, against Him, against our fellow-men, against life,
against politicians, against anybody except the one person truly
responsible for my own distress, and that will be – myself.
Therefore in everything that is
coming I will see the (sinless) hand of God, and I will get on my knees
to pray to Him to have mercy upon us poor sinners. Men can no longer
clean up their mess, they can only make it worse. With the grace of God
I will have compassion on them all, and I will do what I can do, to
help them to save their souls, but from God alone will I expect true
solutions. And He at least will have the wisdom and power to be
directing all for the best, that much I know in advance.
A MOMENT WITH MARY: Our Lady of Good Success foretold about modern times
Our Lady of Good Success prophesied that devotion to her under this
title, so popular in the 1600s, would fall away but it would become
resurgent in the 20th century, the era in which we would sorely need to
"gird our loins" for battle.
In 1577, a small group of religious sisters completed an arduous
journey by ship from Spain to Ecuador to found the first convent in
Quito, Ecuador. With the five founding sisters who traveled to Quito
was a 13-year-old girl named Mariana de Jesus Torres. At a later time,
Mariana was to take her vows and eventually become Mother Prioress
herself.
In 1582, when she was 18, the Blessed Mother appeared to Mariana and
asked her if she would be willing to offer her life for the sins of the
20th century, particularly for the sins of blasphemy, heresy, and
impurity. In this apparition, Mariana was given to know all that was to
happen during this time and appeared to die from the knowledge of it.
Our Lady of Good Success was quite clear that the decline of the
Catholic Church would be blamed on a lax and perverse clergy. Certain
members of the Catholic clergy would become as thieves stealing the
tabernacle light, stealing what is rightfully ours by virtue of our
baptism in the Catholic Church—our Faith. They would rob us of
doctrine, dogma, and tradition, ransacking the Church and leaving it in
total darkness without even the light of the presence of the Holy
Eucharist, Jesus Christ Himself. Our Lady of Good Success explained the
reasons for the extinguishing of the light.
The first reason why the lamp would be snuffed out was because in the
end of the 19th and 20th centuries, heresies would prevail not only in
Ecuador but universally. As these heresies spread, the precious light
of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption
of tradition.
The second reason was that her religious community in these times would
be infected with bad attitudes and false charity as a result of the
pervading situation of the Church at the time. Many vocations would be
lost as a direct result. The faithful souls would suffer a continuous
and slow martyrdom, weeping in secret and imploring that such dire
times be shortened.
The third reason the light failed was due to the fact that during those
centuries a worldwide campaign against the virtues of chastity and
purity would succeed in ruining the youth. Our Lady of Good Success
affirmed, "There will be almost no virgin souls in the world."
The fourth reason the lamp would be put out would be the freemasons and
other secret sects’ malevolent influence on society and the Church. Our
Lady foretold: "During these unfortunate times evil will invade
childhood innocence. In this way, vocations to the priesthood will be
lost, resulting in a true calamity."
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
15. What are the joys of life where nothing is
lasting? They pass like a dream, and I cannot understand how a heart which
loves God and which seeks Him can take any pleasure save in Him alone.
February 4, 2021
(Heb 12:11-13)
Now all chastisement for the present indeed seemeth not to bring with
it joy, but sorrow: but afterwards it will yield to them that are
exercised by it the most peaceable fruit of justice. Wherefore, lift up
the hands which hang down and the feeble knees: And make straight steps
with your feet: that no one, halting, may go out of the way; but rather
be healed.
FR. ED BROOM, OMV: Learning to Offer Up Our Sacrifices and Sufferings
FR. RONAN MURPHY: Trust in Mary’s Plan
CNA: The 100 year test
EXCERPT SKY VIEW: Trustful Surrender to God's Providence by Father Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure
GOD CONTROLS ALL EVENTS, WHETHER GOOD OR BAD
Nothing happens in the the universe without God willing and allowing
it. This statement must he taken absolutely of everything with the
exception of sin. 'Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our
lives' is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the
Church, 'and God intervenes everywhere.'
I am the Lord, He tells us Himself by the mouth of the prophet Isaias,
and there is none else. I form light and create darkness; I make peace
and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. It is I who bring
both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them, He said to
Moses. 'The Lord killeth and maketh alive, it is written in the
Canticle of Anna, the mother of Samuel, He bringeth down to the tomb
and He bringeth back again; the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he
humbleth and he exalteth. Shall there be evil (disaster, affliction) in
a city which the Lord hath not done? asks the prophet Amos: Good
things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches are from God
Solomon proclaims. And so on in numerous other passages of
Scripture.
Perhaps you will say that while this is true of certain necessary
effects, like sickness, death, cold and heat, and other accidents due
to natural causes which have no liberty of action, the same cannot be
said in the case of things that result from the free will of man. For
if, you will object, someone slanders me, robs me, strikes me,
persecutes me, how can I attribute his conduct to the will of God who
far from wishing me to be treated in such a manner, expressly forbids
it? So the blame, you will conclude, can only be laid on the will of
man, on his ignorance or malice. This is the defense behind which we
try to shelter from God and excuse our lack of courage and submission.
It is quite useless for us to try and take advantage of this way of
reasoning as an excuse for not surrendering to Providence. God Himself
has refuted it and we must believe on His word that in events of this
kind as in all others, nothing occurs except by His order and
permission.
Let us see what the Scriptures say. He wishes to punish the murder and
adultery committed by David and He expresses Himself as follows by the
mouth of the prophet Nathan: Why therefore hast thou despised the word
of the Lord, to do evil in my sight? Thou hast killed Urias the Hittite
with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain
him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Therefore the sword shall
never depart from thy house, because thou hast despised me, and host
taken the wife of Urias the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the
Lord: Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thy own house,
and I will take thy wives before thy eyes and give them to thy neighbor
and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou
didst it secretly, but I will do this thing in the sight of all all
Israel, and in the sight of the sun.
Later when the Jews by their iniquities had grievously offended Him and
provoked His wrath, He says: The Assyrian is the rod and the staff of
my anger, and my indignation is in his hands. I will send him to the
deceitful nation, and I will give him charge against the people of my
wrath, to take away the spoils, and to lay hold on the prey, and to
tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Could God more openly declare Himself to be responsible for the evils
that Absalom caused his father and the King of Assyria the Jews? It
would be easy to find other instances but these are enough. Let us
conclude then with St. Augustine: "All that happens to us in this world
against our will (whether due to men or to other causes) happens to us
only by the will of God, by the disposal of Providence, by His orders
and under His guidance; and if from the frailty of our understanding we
cannot grasp the reason for some event, let us attribute it to divine
Providence, show Him respect by accepting it from His hand, believe
firmly that He does not send it us without cause."
Replying to the murmurs and complaints of the Jews who attributed their
captivity and sufferings to misfortune and causes other than the will
of God, the prophet Jeremias says to them: Who is he that hath
commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not? Do not
both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest? Why doth a
living man murmur, a man suffering for his sins? Let us search our
ways, and seek, and return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts with
our hands to the Lord in the heavens, saying, We have done wickedly and
provoked thee to wrath; therefore thou art inexorable.
Are not these words clear enough? We should take them to heart for our
own good. Let us be careful to attribute everything to the will of God
and believe that all is guided by His paternal hand.
NCR: Discouraged by Current Events? Here Are 10 Ways to Lift up Your Heart
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
14. I admire the mercy of God with regard to the
dear departed one... Happy the soul who has quitted this miserable life
where there is nothing but suffering and affliction of mind, and where
our salvation is constantly endangered through sin, the greatest enemy
of the soul.
February 2, 2021
(Luk 2:25-32)
And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon: and this man was
just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy
Ghost was in him. And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost,
that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought
in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law,
He also took him into his arms and blessed God and said Now thou dost
dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace: Because my
eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face
of all peoples: A light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory
of thy people Israel.
BENEDICT XVI:
“In this meeting between the Child and the old man, the Church depicts
the encounter between the disintegrating heathen world and the new
beginning in Christ, between the waning of Old Testament time and the
new time of the Church of the Gentiles. What the Church is underscoring
here is more than the ceaseless alternation of dying and becoming, more
than the consoling fact that a new generation with new ideas and new
hopes always succeeds the old one. Were that all that was being
commemorated here, then the Child would have offered no hope for
Simeon, but only for himself. But it is more than that; it is hope for
everyone, because it is a hope that extends beyond death.”
CANDLEMAS: The Encounter Between Chaos and Light
VIDEO: Candlemas Procession & Liturgy in the Extraordinary Form
CANDLEMAS: History, Traditions… and Crepes!
VIA UNIVERSALIS: From a sermon by Saint Sophronius, bishop
Let us receive the light whose brilliance is eternal
In honour of the divine mystery that we celebrate today, let us all
hasten to meet Christ. Everyone should be eager to join the procession
and to carry a light.
Our lighted candles are a sign of the divine splendour of the one who
comes to expel the dark shadows of evil and to make the whole universe
radiant with the brilliance of his eternal light. Our candles also show
how bright our souls should be when we go to meet Christ.
The Mother of God, the most pure Virgin, carried the true light in her
arms and brought him to those who lay in darkness. We too should carry
a light for all to see and reflect the radiance of the true light as we
hasten to meet him.
The light has come and has shone upon a world enveloped in shadows; the
Dayspring from on high has visited us and given light to those who
lived in darkness. This, then, is our feast, and we join in procession
with lighted candles to reveal the light that has shone upon us and the
glory that is yet to come to us through him. So let us hasten all
together to meet our God.
The true light has come, the light that enlightens every man who is
born into this world. Let all of us, my brethren, be enlightened and
made radiant by this light. Let all of us share in its splendour, and
be so filled with it that no one remains in the darkness. Let us be
shining ourselves as we go together to meet and to receive with the
aged Simeon the light whose brilliance is eternal. Rejoicing with
Simeon, let us sing a hymn of thanksgiving to God, the Father of the
light, who sent the true light to dispel the darkness and to give us
all a share in his splendour.
Through Simeon’s eyes we too have seen the salvation of God which he
prepared for all the nations and revealed as the glory of the new
Israel, which is ourselves. As Simeon was released from the bonds of
this life when he had seen Christ, so we too were at once freed from
our old state of sinfulness.
By faith we too embraced Christ, the salvation of God the Father, as he
came to us from Bethlehem. Gentiles before, we have now become the
people of God. Our eyes have seen God incarnate, and because we have
seen him present among us and have mentally received him into our arms,
we are called the new Israel. Never shall we forget this presence;
every year we keep a feast in his honour.
Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB:
We apply the name of Christmas to the forty days which begin with the
Nativity of our Lord, December 25, and end with the Purification of the
Blessed Virgin, February 2. It is a period which forms a distinct
portion of the Liturgical Year, as distinct, by its own special spirit,
from every other, as are Advent, Lent, Easter, or Pentecost. One same
Mystery is celebrated and kept in view during the whole forty days.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
11. Have no reserve with Him Who wishes to dwell
within you as the source of eternal life. He would reign in you, to rule
and govern you, by being the motive power of all your actions and the object
of all your affections.
February 1, 2021
(Mat 7:21-23) Not
every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Many will say to me in that
day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in thy name, and cast out
devils in thy name, and done many miracles in thy name? And then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work
iniquity.
C-FAM: Under Biden/Harris, Abortion May become a Mandate in International Aid
NCR: What Every Catholic Should Know About the Mexico City Policy
National Prayer Vigil for Life Recap
Opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life - January 28, 2021
Closing Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life - January 29, 2021
Homilies
Archbishop Naumann criticizes Biden, hopes for change from courts at vigil Mass
Profess the truth and trust in God, Bishop Burbidge says at Mass for Life
Archbishop Hebda: Pro-life advocates are 'on right side' of battle that is 'Lord's battle'
EXCERPT HOMILY: Archbishop
Aquila at Respect Life Mass: If dignity of human life does not exist at
the beginning and the end, it will not exist in between
When it comes to
human life and the dignity of human life, Pope Francis has spoken
clearly about the dignity of the unborn child and about the evil of
abortion. All you must do is Google, “Pope Francis sayings on
abortion,” and you will have a lengthy list of what he has stated – a
list that the media does not want to look at, and a list that Catholics
at times do not want to look at because it does not fit their image of
Pope Francis. He is one who has always said, “the teaching of the
Church is clear on abortion, and I am a son of the Church.”
One must be merciful with the woman who has had an abortion. When one
is merciful towards a woman who has had an abortion, it does not mean
that one condones the abortion. The two are quite different. Women who
have had abortions are broken. They are wounded, and especially when
they come to their senses, like the younger son in the story of the
prodigal son. He comes to his senses and realizes the sin that is
present, he does not condone his sin or look for approval from others.
His dead conscience is awakened, and he returns to the father. And the
father welcomes him with love and with mercy. That is exactly the way
the Church must treat the woman who has had an abortion and who comes
to her senses. The Church accompanies her in the mercy and the love of
Jesus Christ because that is what is going to heal the wound. That is
what is going to help her, to see how much the Father loves her, and
bring her to true repentance.
The Gospel reading is very brief. There are relatives of Jesus who
obviously thought he was nuts, to put it in the vernacular. They said
“he is out of his mind” because of what he taught, because of what he
did. And even though they visibly saw the miracles that occurred, they
still thought he was crazy. They never asked, “by what power does he do
this?” They just wrote off Jesus.
That, too, is important for us, because there are many today in the
world who completely write off Jesus. In fact, they hate Jesus. But
there are also many Catholics, unfortunately, who think Jesus is crazy,
or some of his teachings are crazy, and especially when it comes to
human life and the dignity of the unborn child. It is important for us
as Catholics that both our hearts and our minds, that our words,
thoughts, and actions, are always conformed to Jesus Christ and to the
Gospel, and not to the ways of the world.
A question we must ask ourselves is, “Are my words and actions, my
thoughts truly subordinate to the teachings of God and to the truth of
the Gospel, or do I go along with the ways of the world?”
That is precisely the problem with now President Biden, Nancy Pelosi,
and other Catholic politicians and laity who, when it comes to the
dignity of human life for the unborn child, do not subordinate their
positions to the truth of the Gospel and fail to give witness to life.
And what they truly do not understand is that they are putting their
eternal souls in jeopardy by the position they take.
Yes, there is a heaven and there is a hell. And yes, we will be judged,
as we proclaim in the Creed and as the Lord taught in the Gospels. It
is for the salvation of souls that Pope Francis, that bishops and
priests, speak so ardently on the Gospel and the Gospel of Life. If we
do not accept the dignity of the unborn child, then we will not accept,
or we will find other ways to get around the dignity of other human
beings, and we see that in euthanasia today.
It is important to give witness to the dignity of the unborn, [as well
as] give witness to the dignity of the human being when it comes to
immigration, when it comes to capital punishment, and other life
issues. But we are also clear that the preeminent [concern], and the
place dignity begins, is with the unborn child and the dying – at the
beginning of life and at the end of life. If dignity does not exist at
those two points – at the beginning and the end – it will not exist in
between.
And so we too, today, when we speak out on the Gospel of Life, must
clearly speak the truth, and do it with love, mercy, and gentleness. We
must never back off the teaching on life. We can never take the
position of a Pelosi or a Biden or of so many other Catholics.
By their positions they give scandal to the Church by what they do,
because what they do is wrong. And we must be clear about that. One
day, as every one of us will, they will die, and stand before the
judgment of God. Our task is to urgently pray for their conversion, for
their change of heart. It is not a political issue. It is an issue of
salvation. It is an issue of integrity. It is an issue of living the
Gospel, and of being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. You cannot
just pick what you want to follow. Jesus is clear that if we are his
disciples, we must take the narrow road. And we must never forget
Jesus, too, is truly clear about the possibility of hell and people
going to hell, and he encourages his disciples to enter through the
narrow gate, to take the narrow road.
He also warns his disciples, and we use his words to warn Biden and
Pelosi and other Catholics, “There will be many who say, ‘Lord, Lord,’
on the day of judgment, and I will say, ‘I do not know you.’”
Those are tough words to hear. Jesus does not say, “Yeah, I’ll just
open the gates and let you all in.” He is clear, that our hearts, our
minds, our words, our actions, must be formed by him and by his way of
thinking. That is why St. Paul will remind us in his letters for us to
put on the heart and the mind of Jesus Christ.
And so, as we continue today, let us first pray for the conversion of
our country and for the conversion especially of Catholics who take a
so-called pro-choice position, or who say, “well, I am personally
opposed, but it is fine for you to do it.” They would never say that
about cheating or lying, about embezzling or anything else. Abortion is
much more of a grave sin than any of those, as is euthanasia. We must
pray for their conversion, for the awakening of their consciences, that
they may no longer be dead or erroneous, but come to the truth of Jesus
Christ.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
10. Provided He is pleased we ought to be satisfied,
and ought not to be troubled about our feelings of dissatisfaction or annoyance;
these arise within us only because we are not sufficiently mortified and
simple-hearted to cut off the windings and reflections of self-love.
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