Keep
your eyes open!...
June 29, 2020
(Lam 2:18-19)
Their
heart cried to the Lord upon the walls of the daughter of Sion: Let
tears run down like a torrent day and night: give thyself no rest, and
let not the apple of thy eye cease. Arise, give praise in the night, in
the beginning of the watches: pour out thy heart like water, before the
face of the Lord: lift up thy hands to him for the life of thy little
children, that have fainted for hunger at the top of all the streets.
MARK MALLET BLOG: Control! Control!
FIRST THINGS: Of Statues and Symbolic Murder
CNA: Catholic priest among defenders of St Louis statue
FROM THE MAILBAG: Father Rutler's Weekly Column
As the local churches gradually open again, one is reminded of the
persistence of Benjamin Stoddert Ewell, president of the College of
William and Mary, ringing the school bell during seven years of closure
after the Civil War. It is yet to be seen how many return to our
churches after the quarantine, but the churches will be strengthened by
the perdurance of the truly faithful, and I have been edified by their
patience.
Nor have I been scandalized by those who call worship of God
non-essential. No surprise here. I write this on the feast of Saint
John Fisher and Saint Thomas More, the only bishop and the one
high-level magistrate who placed Christ before the Crown. “Put not your
trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help”
(Psalm 146:3).
Perhaps not by coincidence have social riots accompanied the health
crisis. The anarchists, whose numbers include ignorant pawns, are the
latest effervescence of the ancient Gnostic heresy which in modern
times has assumed the fatal dialectic of Marxism.
The supine “virtue signaling” of failed leaders bending their knees to
barbarians makes them poster children for what Lenin called his “useful
idiots.” Civilization stands on the precipice of what already seemed
chaotic as William Butler Yeats perceived over one hundred years ago.
“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed
upon the world, / The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere / The
ceremony of innocence is drowned; / The best lack all conviction, while
the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.”
Demagogues who lack all conviction ignored one of the most important
civil acts of recent times: our President’s “Executive Order on
Advancing International Religious Freedom.” On June 2 he dared to
proclaim that “Religious freedom, America’s first freedom, is a moral
and national security imperative.” The First Amendment is not
“non-essential” because, among other instances, thousands of Christians
have been slaughtered in Nigeria, in attacks ignored by Westerners who
claim to be champions of black lives, and in China churches are being
destroyed by a government with which ecclesiastical bureaucrats have
tried naively to cut deals.
In the present cultural war, parishes are on the front line. We have
our obligations to the needs of the larger church, but we exercise the
“principle of subsidiarity” by assuring our people that any donations
specified for the support of our local church will be honored as such.
After months of closure, our parish, perhaps like most, is in financial
peril. But the greater peril is surrender to vandals who would smash
the very fundaments of our civilization. If “the centre cannot hold,”
such is only the case with the material order. Christ is the true and
unfailing nucleus of all life: “He is before all things, and in Him all
things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
43. The assurance of every petition becomes evident
during prayer. Assurance is loss of doubt. Assurance is sure proof of the
unprovable.
June 24, 2020
THE TRIB TIMES
WILL
RETURN NEXT WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
(Isa 48:10) See, I refined you, but not like silver; I tested you in the furnace of affliction.
UNVEILING THE APOCALYPSE BLOG: 2020: The Silence in Heaven and the Opening of the Seventh Seal
COMMENTARIES OF CONCERN
Catholics: They Are Not Coming Back…Unless…
Archbishop Vigano Is Right About the “Deep Church.”
The Church Collaborates in Its Own Destruction
FR. BROOM BLOG: Hope and Trust in Our Loving Father
We must have a firm, solid, staunch, faith and trust in God in all
times, places and circumstances. If our faith and trust in God is never
put to the test by the fire of trials and tribulations, then it usually
does not grow. In nature, plants and trees that have weathered the
inclement climate of strong winds, raging tempests, rain, sleet and
snow will be the most robust when future inclement weather descends.
Similarly, with the follower of Christ, trials, tribulations,
afflictions, contradictions, sufferings, and setbacks can serve to
fortify and to make robust one’s interior life.
In the midst of the turmoil and tempests that we all experience, we
must fervently beg for hope and trust in God now more than ever. It is
proven in nature that in the middle of the tornado there is actually
calm—calm in the eye of the tornado. In the midst of the sea storm, in
the depths of the sea there is a real calmness and tranquility. It
should be likewise in our personal spiritual lives. At the same time,
we have to guard against a tendency toward laziness, complacency, and
even lukewarmness that can visit all of us in our spiritual lives. God
does not want tepidity and mediocre followers. Quite the contrary, God
most ardently desires fire, fervor, and passion in our hearts towards
Him.
This being the scenario, what are some potent reasons for depositing our hope and trust in God.
1. GOD’S OMNIPRESENT PROVIDENTIAL CARE.
Even in the midst of the most difficult situations that can occur in
the world, God is always present. God never ceases to exist or be
present to us. Quite the contrary! Saint Paul quoting the Greek poet
states: “In God we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)
Jesus says the Heavenly Father loves us so much that He actually has
you and me in His loving hand, and nobody can snatch us from the loving
hand of the Eternal Father. (Jn. 10:29)
2. GOD LOVES US AND PUTS US TO THE TEST.
If God really loves us, which He certainly always does, He puts us to
the test, like Abram who was tested to offer his son Isaac as a
sacrifice. (Gen. 22: 1-19) Also, Jesus tested Peter by sending him out
with the other Apostles in the boat to cross the lake at night against
their will. (Mt.14. 22-33) Then Jesus came walking on the waters and
challenged Saint Peter to come to Him walking on the waters. Leaving
the comfort of the boat, Peter actually did walk on the waters of Lake
Galilee, at least for a short time, until he started to lose heart and
sink. Why did Peter sink? The response to that question is the response
to our own many questions, doubts, and fears: Peter lifted his eyes,
his gaze from the Person and the eyes of Jesus—and he started to sink.
Our problem is very simple! Instead focusing our eyes on the
Problem-solver—that is Jesus our Lord, God, and Savior—we focus on the
problem. When we focus more on the problem than on the Problem-solver
then we sink in the tumultuous waves of our own fears, doubts, and
insecurities. Therefore, in the midst of the many tempestuous and earth
shaking events that we experience—and there are often more than one—let
us remember to focus less on the problem and more on the
Problem-solver: Jesus our Lord, God, and Savior!
3. LORD SAVE ME!
When Peter was quickly sinking beneath the waves he cried out: “Lord,
save me!” Jesus stretched out his hand, gently rebuking Peter for his
lack of faith, and lifted Peter out from under the surging waves. Then
with Jesus at his side, Peter continued to walk on water until he
reached the boat, entered the boat with Jesus, and the boat arrived
safely and securely at the shore with speed and graceful ease! Like
Peter, when it seems as if the world is caving in upon us from all
different sides, angles, and situations, then we must cry out with all
of our heart, and with dauntless faith: LORD, SAVE ME!!! The gentle
voice of Jesus will be heard in your heart and His gentle but firm and
loving Hand will save you from drowning in the surging waves of your
many doubts, fears, and insecurities. What a short but powerful prayer:
LORD, SAVE ME!
4. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD, THERE IS NOTHING I SHALL LACK. (PSALM 23)
Another enormous Lifesaver in the midst of the earthquakes, storms, and
tornadoes of the human drama is the beautiful, consoling, comforting
prayer, Psalm 23—the Psalm of the Good Shepherd. Probably the most
known and loved of all of the 150 Psalms, the Psalm of the Good
Shepherd can prove to be a real Lifesaver! When you are cast into a
deep state of desolation and it seems as if life can be compared to a
dark, damp, dreary, endless and depressing tunnel, why not leave the
tunnel by opening your Bible to the passage of the Good Shepherd—Psalm
23. Very calmly, very slowly, very prayerfully read this passage, once,
twice, or even three times. Allow the words of this beautiful Psalm
through a real spiritual osmosis to penetrate, permeate, and absorb
your whole being. Then allow one of the words or concepts to captivate
and enthrall your heart; relish that word; repeat it and allow it to
fill you with a peace and joy that surpasses all understanding. “The
Lord is my Shepherd; there is nothing I shall lack.” Maybe these are
the words that touch you most. With these words there is no need to
fear because the Good Shepherd takes me to green pastures and nourishes
my soul!
5. MOTHER OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
Finally, when surrounded by an atmosphere of gloom and doom, we must
lift up our eyes, our mind, and our heart to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Many are the encouraging titles for Mary, titles that can really lift
our spirits: Mary is our life, our sweetness, and our hope; the Star of
the Sea amidst the storms; the Cause of our Joy; the Gate to Heaven;
Mother of Hope and Consolation. Many more are the titles of Mary, our
Mother. However, why not turn to Mary in her Motherly, loving presence
at the Wedding Feast of Cana. (Jn. 2:1-12) The couple ran out of wine
for their guests. To alleviate this embarrassing situation, Mary first
turns to Jesus, and then she says to the servers: “Do whatever He tells
you!” Miracle! Water transformed into wine, but the best of all wines
through the power of Jesus and the Maternal presence of Mary and the
power of her intercession. Therefore, in the midst of your fears,
doubts, insecurities, sadness, and many questions, lift up your mind,
your heart and soul to Mary and beg her to turn to Jesus who will
transform your water into the most splendid and exquisite wine. If you
trust in Mary, it will indeed happen!
Tribulation is a gift from God - one that he especially gives His special friends. -St. Thomas More
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
41. He who possesses the Lord will no longer express
his object in prayer, for then, within him, the Spirit maketh intercession
for him with groanings that cannot be uttered (Vid. Rom 8:26).
June 22, 2020
(Rev 6:1-2) And
I saw that the Lamb had opened one of the seven seals: and I heard one
of the four living creatures, as it were the voice of thunder, saying:
Come and see. And I saw: and behold a white horse, and he that sat on
him had a bow, and there was a crown given him, and he went forth
conquering that he might conquer.
MARK MALLET VIDEO: The Time of Mercy - The First Seal
VIGANÒ: WHAT TO DO? TELL THE TRUTH. SPEAK AS CHRISTIANS: YES, YES, NO, NO.
NCR ARCHIVES: Cardinal Caffarra: Satan is Hurling at God the “Ultimate and Terrible Challenge”
EXCERPT COMMENTARY
VIA FACEBOOK:
DESMOND BIRCH, AUTHOR OF TRIAL, TRIBULATION, AND TRIUMPH:
BROTHERS AND SISTERS, this piece is
the first step overview in our discussion of how we got to the overall
multitude of messes in which we find ourselves today.
Is it safe for me to conclude for almost all of you by now, today, you
have figured out that our world is changing rapidly and drastically –
and not for the better? Have you already concluded by yourself that the
world you grew up in, almost no matter what your age, is gone and will
not return? While this is always true to one degree or another, there
are certain BENCHMARK EVENTS in salvation history which stand out as
major changes in our world. WHETHER WE UNDERSTAND IT OR NOT, WE MAY BE
RIGHT NOW LIVING THROUGH ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE BENCHMARK EVENTS IN
SALVATION HISTORY. THE PURPOSE OF THIS ONE IS 'PURIFICATION'.
I will now list what I consider to be the most important previous ones;
1. The creation of the world and our first parents, Adam and Eve.
2. The fall of man and expulsion of our first parents from the garden.
3. God’s revelation of himself to Noah – the building of the Ark and the flood.
4. God’s Self-revelation to Abraham – and Abraham’s ‘Yes’ response and
walk in faith – the highlight of which is his faith, his willingness at
the word of God to sacrifice his son Isaac. This is the beginning of
God’s Covenant with Israel.
5. Of course the granddaddy event of them all is the arrival and
Revelation of Jesus Christ ‘in the fullness of time’. With His passion,
death and resurrection, and establishment of His Church, we have the
New Covenant, the New Israel. The world has never been the same since.
6. Then there was the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D., signed by the two
Roman Emperors [Western and Eastern], Constantine and Licinius. That
document officially freed the Christians in the primarily pagan Roman
Empire from persecution and legally freed them to practice their faith
and to evangelize in the name of Jesus Christ.
7. As the next major such event, I pick the schism of the Eastern
Orthodox in 1054 A.D. That tragic split still exists and is an open
wound in the Body of Christ.
8. Next is the continuing development, during the late Middle Ages, of
the extension of the popularity of the philosophy of the Greek
philosopher, Plato. This philosophy espoused that the world and its
things do not represent any true reality. True reality exists only in
the non-material world of ideas, concepts, ‘forms’. Essentially, Plato
taught that truth is not found in anything material. i.e., Men do not
discover any truth from the world within with which their senses are in
contact. [If you wish for an explanation of this ludicrous idea read
the following paragraph.] Example: Put crassly, little children do not
learn about true and false from the forms of roundness, squareness,
two, three, four, etc. (number), parents, children, life, death,
suffering, pain, joy, sadness, humanity, God, etc., from observations
of the world around them. Their concept of divinity, humanity, good,
bad, life, death, etc., is derived from some kind of giant immaterial
hopper of ideas or forms (in the sky?). When they see three
grasshoppers on the ground, three apples on a plate, three puppies
playing at their feet, their mind doesn’t abstractly conclude a concept
of ‘threeness’. According to Plato, their mind doesn’t see a
commonality of ‘threeness’ in them. According to Plato, and his many
look alikes, the little child’s soul instead sees or knows the concept
of three, recognizes it from somewhere in an immaterial hopper of
forms, somewhere outside of them. The three puppies, apples, etc., only
somehow bring to their mind this eternal form or idea of ‘threeness’
from that hopper. And it does not exist in those examples universally,
but only in each one individually. Anyone who has brought up children
and watched how they learn should be able to see through the error in
that theory in a New York minute.
9. As the intellectual confusion of Plato’s ideas spread during the
Middle Ages, the English philosopher, William of Occam [1287-1347 A.D.]
comes along and expounds a philosophy called Nominalism. Accordingly in
Occam, there are no universals such as roundness, squareness,
greenness, redness, triangleness, maleness, femaleness, humanness, life
death, etc. to be found in nature. E.g., there is no universal
commonality in the 'roundness' seen in tree trunks. Those are only
names we apply to individual material things. [Philosophy has been in a
downhill plunge of denying absolute truth in the existence of
universalities in the material world ever since.]
10. The Renaissance. At this stage, due to various forms of philosophy
stemming from Plato, man concludes that “man is the measure of all
things.” Prior to that in Christendom, Christians considered God their
Creator to be the measure of all things. That was a stark perversion
which is still alive and well today.
11. Evolution of Protestantism - the Church now had geater apparent
lack of unity than when there were only the two division of Catholicism
and Eastern Orthodoxy.
12. The Enlightenment –basically, in the midst of more developments and
refinements of a denial of the reality to be found around us in the
material world, enters Immanuel Kant and the umbilical cord is cut with
any vestige of truth to be found in universals. His phenomenalism
teaches Universal and completely necessary representations of things
have nothing to do with anything outside our own mind, since those
universals are produced exclusively by the structural functions (the a
priori forms) of our mind. [Thomas Aquinas had previously destroyed
this selfsame argument. There is neither room nor time to develop this
here, but that destruction is a historical fact.] St. Thomas greatest
achievement was the intellectual resolution of Faith and Reason.
13. The Industrial Revolution. Took the common man out of the country
and towns and jammed him into the growing industrial cities throughout
Western Europe. He there worked in those giant factories with their
mindless jobs "where morality withers and disappears".
14. Modernism/Relativism
15. Post-Modernism – total relativism pretends to have suppressed any
absolute truth. Pope Benedict XVI calls this, ‘The Dictatorship of
Relativism’.
16. USA AND THE BALANCE OF THE WEST TODAY. To use computer language
equivalents, the system in most all of its aspects, social, political,
moral, philosophical, and familial, is in the process of crashing. In
large part, it is crashing because this system’s source code (Christian
faith and morals, belief in objective truth) has been corrupted within
that system – except for a minority core of believing Christians. Even
the approach to life of Classical Graeco-Roman culture is gone. In the
computer world when a system is crashing, if it isn’t a terminal/crash
without a solution, the programmer will order the operator to shut the
system down. Then, the Programmer will bring the system back up in
‘safe mode’ - step by step – by clearing the corrupted parts out of the
source code and, by then, reloading all its cleaned essential parts
back into the system.
In our case, the Programmer, God,
is either allowing or causing the system to shut down, in order to to
do a ‘reset’ of the system.
I believe that is where we are
right now in our civilization, our families, our Church, our
philosophy, our theology, our virtual total culture, and especially in
the reality of its peoples’ relationship with our God and with each
other.
He did the same thing in the original fall of man – his expulsion from
the garden, in handling the corruption of the world at the time of
Noah, in revealing himself to Abraham, and, most especiall,y in the
arrival of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the fullness of time.
I believe we are, today, at a juncture somewhat similarly stark to that
in the Garden, the time of Noah, of Abraham, and at the First Coming of
Jesus Christ ‘in the fullness of time’.
This piece is the first step
overview in our discussion of how we got to the overall multitude of
messes in which we find ourselves today.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
40. What is obtained by frequent and prolonged
prayer is lasting.
June 19, 2020
(Joh 19:34-35) But one of the
soldiers with a spear opened his side: and immediately there came out
blood and water. And he that saw it hath given testimony: and his
testimony is true. And he knoweth that he saith true: that you also may
believe.
NCR: An Exorcist Encounters the Power of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
OUR CATHOLIC PRAYERS: Twelve Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary
A MOMENT WITH MARY: The very deep union of the Two Hearts
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was already important in the 12th
century, to saints like Anthony of Padua, Bonaventure, and Clare of
Assisi, and in the 17th century, to Berulle and St John Eudes, who also
emphasized how closely the Hearts of Mary and Jesus are united. In the
middle of the 17th century, we find depictions of Jesus pointing to his
Heart through his chest opened by the lance. From 1673 to 1675, the
apparitions of Christ to St Margaret Mary Alacoque brought a deeper
focus to the pierced Heart of Christ and the depth of his love.
St John Eudes (1601-1680) wrote
extensively about the mystery of the United Hearts, and after him St
Louis Marie de Montfort (1673-1716) sang his praises most eloquently.
In our times, the solemnity of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus (Friday) is immediately followed by the feast of
the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Saturday).
It is very interesting to note that
on the reverse side of the Miraculous Medal (1830 Marian apparition of
the Rue du Bac in Paris, France), the Two Hearts are depicted side by
side: the Heart of Jesus crowned with thorns and the Heart of Mary
pierced according to the prophecy of Simeon in Luke 2:35.
The Immaculate Heart of Mary is
also central to the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal (20th
century), and continued to take an increasingly important place in the
messages to the visionary Lucia, culminating in this prophecy from Our
Lady: "In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph."
Saint Jacinta of Fatima was aware
of the union of those two Hearts, and famously said: "If only I could
put into the hearts of all the people the fire which I have in my chest
and which burns me and makes me love the Heart of Jesus and the Heart
of Mary so much!"
Françoise Breynaert, French writer and theologian
ALETEIA: Rest in the Heart of Jesus with this beautiful meditation
Sometimes we forget that prayer can be as simple as using our
imagination to picture Jesus standing in front of us, inviting us into
his deep and abiding love. This simple exercise can increase the love
we have for God, as well as invite him to speak to our soul.
In the 19th-century book Meditations on the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Christ, there are printed several inspiring meditations that help form
our imaginations and let us see Jesus in a new light.
For example, one of them focuses on Jesus’ love for us as revealed in his Heart.
Imagine you see
Jesus Christ in the most holy Sacrament, opening His divine breast, and
showing you His Heart as on a throne of sweetest light and of living
fire. Beg of Him to give you a share of that sweet light and of that
divine fire, to undeceive and inflame your heart.
With this picture in mind, we can recall those moments in our lives
when we had an ardent love of God and try to stir within us those same
feelings of love.
Call to mind
those days, or at least those hours of your life, when your heart was
most inflamed with love of your God. O sweet and yet bitter
recollection! What was then wanting to your happiness? Compare the
tranquility of your heart then with that which it enjoys at present.
Ask pardon for having allowed that holy love for His Heart, the
sweetness and peace of which He has formerly made you taste, to be
extinguished by your dissipation. Make great, but practical and
particular, resolutions to disengage yourself from that which is the
special impediment to the increase of divine love in you, and
consequently the impediment also to the acquisition and increase of the
happiness of your heart even in this life.
Sometimes we forget that Jesus is always offering to us his most
precious Heart and that we are the ones who put up barriers to that
Heart. As we pray each day, let us recall that image and do what we can
to let God’s love flood our soul.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
39. We should always perform every virtue, especially
prayer, with great feeling. A soul prays with feeling when it gets the
better of bad temper and anger.
June 17, 2020
(Jud 1:17-21)
But you, my dearly beloved, be mindful of the words which have been
spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who told you
that in the last time there should come mockers, walking according to
their own desires in ungodlinesses. These are they who separate
themselves, sensual men, having not the Spirit. But you, my beloved,
building yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy
Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ, unto life everlasting.
SHIELD OF FAITH BLOG
Penance and Reparation Appease the Almighty
God wants saints, not “brutes!”
St. Alphonsus on the Victories of the Martyrs
ALETEIA ARCHIVE: When Father Joseph Ratzinger Predicted the Future of the Church
The Catholic Church will
survive in spite of men and women, not necessarily because of them. And
yet, we still have our part to do. We must pray for and cultivate
unselfishness, self-denial, faithfulness, Sacramental devotion and a
life centered on Christ.
EXCERPT COMMENTARY
VIA FACEBOOK:
DESMOND BIRCH, AUTHOR OF TRIAL, TRIBULATION, AND TRIUMPH:
Brothers and Sisters, am starting this thread to answer
questions about Ratzinger's 1969 prediction about a Church drastically
reduced in size, as a seed for a new birth for Her.
Below is the answer to some questions about whether or not the words referred to by Ratzinger were a prophecy or not???
So, exactly what was Fr. Joseph Ratzinger’s 1969 ‘prediction’ about the
future of the Church. Was it a prophecy or not? [1969 was the year Jean
and I got married. I personally lived and remember subsequent events
quite well.] The brief material below is not something I’m presenting
to titillate someone looking for cheap excitement. I’m posting it for
serious Catholics and all other serious Christians. This material of
then Fr. Joseph Ratzinger is so well thought out that ‘serious’
Christians will feel cheated if they do not get to savor and appreciate
it. This is the first part, an introduction if you will.
First, let’s be clear. it wasn’t a prophecy. It was a thoughtful
prediction. It came in the form of a radio broadcast he made in 1969 in
Germany. He was a theology professor at the time. And the violent
student riots of 1969 began to reshape his thinking, his theology, and
his philosophy and world view for the rest of his life. [violent riots
of troubled fevered minds are nothing now.] And now a question, is
violent rioting something which any serious Christian would or should
engage in??? Obviously not.
Now Ratzinger sets the stage for his remarks:
“Let us, therefore, be cautious in our prognostications. What St.
Augustine said is still true: man is an abyss; what will rise out of
these depths, no one can see in advance. And whoever believes that the
Church is not only determined by the abyss that is man, but reaches
down into the greater, infinite abyss that is God, will be the first to
hesitate with his predictions, for this naïve desire to know for sure
could only be the announcement of his own historical ineptitude.”
We can see he is clearly stating his words are not prophetic in nature.
They are conjectural, based on the thoughts of a profound mind who
believed totally in God and His Church and understood well the story of
mankind during salvation history.
“The future of the Church can and will issue from those whose roots are
deep and who live from the pure fullness of their faith. It will not
issue from those who accommodate themselves merely to the passing
moment or from those who merely criticize others and assume that they
themselves are infallible measuring rods; nor will it issue from those
who take the easier road, who sidestep the passion of faith, declaring
false and obsolete, tyrannous and legalistic, all that makes demands
upon men, that hurts them and compels them to sacrifice themselves. To
put this more positively: The future of the Church, once again as
always, will be reshaped by saints, by men, that is, whose minds probe
deeper than the slogans of the day, who see more than others see,
because their lives embrace a wider reality. Unselfishness, which makes
men free, is attained only through the patience of small daily acts of
self-denial. By this daily passion, which alone reveals to a man in how
many ways he is enslaved by his own ego, by this daily passion and by
it alone, a man’s eyes are slowly opened. He sees only to the extent
that he has lived and suffered. If today we are scarcely able any
longer to become aware of God, that is because we find it so easy to
evade ourselves, to flee from the depths of our being by means of the
narcotic of some pleasure or other. Thus our own interior depths remain
closed to us. If it is true that a man can see only with his heart,
then how blind we are!
If you haven’t already done so, I admonish all of you to thoughtfully
reread the above paragraph. Ratzinger as a priest-prof in a Catholic
university, deeply understood the weaknesses of the world which was
passing around him. He understands the root of the post-modernist world
around us today – much deeper than his critics of either the right or
left.
We know throughout history that lesser minds often go out of their way
to try to find fault with the greater ones around them. Example: Most
of the enemies of the theology of Pope John Paul II or Ratzinger are
pretend theologians, wanna-be theologians, in many sad cases who view
themselves exactly as Ratzinger described them above, “ … those who
merely criticize others and assume that they themselves are infallible
measuring rods”.
This ends our introductry look at the 1969 view of our world by the
future Pope Benedict XVI. I believe it has much more than enough meat
for us to consider for the day.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
37. Do not be puffed up if you have prayed for
another and been heard, for it is his faith that has been strong and effective.
June 14, 2020
(1Co 10:16-17) The chalice of
benediction which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of
Christ? And the bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the
body of the Lord? For we, being many, are one bread, one body: all that
partake of one bread.
THE CATHOLIC THING: Saint Juliana and Corpus Christi by Pope Benedict XVI (Excerpted from his General Audience of November 14, 2010)
UNIVERSALIS: "On the feast of Corpus Christi", by St Thomas Aquinas
O precious and wonderful banquet!
Since it was the will of God’s only-begotten Son that men should share
in his divinity, he assumed our nature in order that by becoming man he
might make men gods. Moreover, when he took our flesh he dedicated the
whole of its substance to our salvation. He offered his body to God the
Father on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation.
He shed his blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be
redeemed from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin.
But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us
for ever, he left his body as food and his blood as drink for the
faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.
O precious and wonderful banquet, that brings us salvation and contains
all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old
law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here
Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could
be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing
power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the
soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is
offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was
instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all. Yet,
in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament,
in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which
we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ
revealed in his passion.
It was to impress the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts
of the faithful that our Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last
Supper. As he was on the point of leaving the world to go to the
Father, after celebrating the Passover with his disciples, he left it
as a perpetual memorial of his passion. It was the fulfilment of
ancient figures and the greatest of all his miracles, while for those
who were to experience the sorrow of his departure, it was destined to
be a unique and abiding consolation.
ALETEIA: Why did Jesus choose bread and wine for the Eucharist?
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA Bishop Barron: SOLEMNITY OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST
Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus promises eternal life to those who eat
his Flesh and drink his Blood. Many of the Church Fathers characterized
the Eucharist as food that effectively immortalizes those who consume
it.
They understood that if Christ is really present in the Eucharistic
elements, the one who eats and drinks the Lord’s Body and Blood becomes
configured to Christ in a far more than metaphorical way. The Eucharist
Christifies and hence eternalizes.
If the Eucharist were no more than a symbol, this kind of language
would be so much nonsense. But if the doctrine of the Real Presence is
true, then this literal eternalization of the recipient of Communion
must be maintained.
But what does this transformation practically entail? It implies that
the whole of one’s life—body, psyche, emotions, spirit—becomes ordered
to the realm of God. It means that one’s energies and interests, one’s
purposes and plans, are lifted out of a purely temporal context and
given an entirely new spiritual valence.
The Christified person knows that his life is not finally about him but
about God; the Eucharistized person understands that her treasure is to
be found above and not below.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
35. He who is busy with something, and continues
it when the hour of prayer comes, is deceived by demons. Those thieves
aim at stealing from us one hour after another.
June 12, 2020
(1Pe 4:12-14) Dearly beloved, think
not strange the burning heat which is to try you: as if some new thing
happened to you. But if you partake of the sufferings of Christ,
rejoice that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad
with exceeding joy. If you be reproached for the name of Christ, you
shall be blessed: for that which is of the honour, glory and power of
God, and that which is his Spirit resteth upon you.
CRISIS COMMENTARY: The Scourge of Radical Islam, From Corpus Christi to Nigeria by Fr. Mario Alexis Portella
VATICAN NEWS: Dozens killed in Nigeria village attack
Gunmen attacked the village of Faduma Koloram, in the Gubio district of Borno state, on Tuesday afternoon.
In their rampage, they shot and killed residents, stole cattle and camels and razed the village to the ground.
Witnesses described how the attackers took people off guard, saying there was nowhere to hide and they couldn't escape.
Giving a dramatic account, a community leader said the attackers had
mown down the 69 villagers including children as they watched over
their cattle.
It’s suspected that the fighters were from the Islamic State West
Africa Province (ISWAP) a splinter faction that broke away from Boko
Haram in 2016.
Reuters reported that the militants suspected villagers of sharing information about their movements to security forces.
In recent months ISWAP has been blamed for an increase in attacks on civilians.
The decade-long conflict has killed 36,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes in Nigeria’s northeast.
ACN: ACNUSA director of outreach on the suffering of the Church in Ethiopia and Eritrea
In Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Church
has been suffering. Over the past two years, over 30 churches have been
attacked in Ethiopia – half burned to the ground – leaving over 100
people dead. In Eritrea, where Catholics make up just about 4 percent
of the population, Church-run schools and hospitals have been
forcefully shut down by the government.
The pontifical charity Aid to the
Church in Need (ACN) has launched an appeal to help its efforts in the
two Horn of Africa countries.
“Both Ethiopia and Eritrea are
suffering from poverty and economic instability,” said Edward F.
Clancy, the director of outreach for ACN.
“In Ethiopia, although Christians
are a majority there has been a spate of violence against Christians
and Christian institutions over the last two years. The violence has
been due to a mixture of ethnic, political and religious differences,
but nonetheless, it has caused more instability and fear,” he
explained. “In Eritrea, the totalitarian government has gone after
Christian institutions and lately those of the Roman Catholic Church to
lessen the impact that the Church has on Eritrean society.”
MORE: In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Catholic wounds need healing as radical Islam is on the rise
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
34. Your prayer will show you what condition you
are in. Theologians say that prayer is the monk's mirror.
June 10, 2020
(Mat 28:18-20)
And
Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven
and in earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And behold
I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.
THE B.C. CATHOLIC: The Holy Trinity: our eternal destiny
BISHOP BARRON VIDEO: The God Who Is Love - On the Trinity
A MOMENT WITH MARY: Mary, Mother of God’s Word and Temple of the Trinity
The Blessed Virgin, temple of the
Holy Trinity, radiates God's light. Daughter of the Father, source of
life, Mary is not a goddess but a creature loved and redeemed by God.
Mother of the Word made flesh, image of the Father, Mary manifests to
the world the infinite richness of the knowledge of God revealed by
Jesus.
The Blessed Virgin was that blank page upon which God wrote the history
of salvation. The white page evokes Mary's availability and her absence
of sin. Through Mary, God made Himself visible to our eyes. The Life of
God was manifested in Jesus. Whoever sees Jesus sees the Father. Just
as a narrative makes us see the story told as if it were unfolding
before our eyes. Through the Holy Spirit, the Word of God makes the
face of Christ visible in the light of the faith: "Jesus Christ is the
human face of God and the divine face of man."
Far from being a possessive mother, Mary always leads to Jesus as she
did at the wedding at Cana: "Do whatever He tells you" (Jn 2:5). Spouse
of the Holy Spirit, God's gift to us that makes the Church grow, Mary
contributes through her intercession to the growth of the faith and of
the Body of Christ, the Church.
Mary's divine motherhood does not stop at the Nativity. It unfolds
until Calvary when Jesus gives her as spiritual mother to John, the
beloved disciple who represents the Church, and at Pentecost when the
Holy Spirit descends upon the apostles praying in the Upper Room and
upon a multitude of believers gathered in Jerusalem.
Glorified in body and soul, the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God,
continues to work alongside her Son for the growth of the total Christ,
the Head, Jesus, and the members, who are the baptized and those who
believe in him. French bishop and theologian Bossuet defined the Church
as "Christ extended and communicated."
Hence the role of the Blessed Virgin in evangelization. Many religious
missionary congregations have chosen the patronage of the Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God’s Word. Of about 400 female congregations of
apostolic life, 130 have a Marian name. No one has loved the Word made
flesh as much as Mary. No one has welcomed the Word of God with as much
faith and love as Mary.
Adapted from: Fr. Manuel Rivero O.P Cathedral of Saint-Denis (Reunion Island)
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
33. War proves the soldier's love for his king;
but the time and discipline of prayer show the monk's love for God.
June 8, 2020
(Act 20:28-31) Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock, wherein
the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the Church of God which
he hath purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departure
ravening wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. And of
your own selves shall arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away
disciples after them. Therefore watch, keeping in memory that for three
years I ceased not with tears to admonish every one of you, night and
day.
FIVE MINUTE VIDEO: The Living Will Envy the Dead - Fr. Mark Goring, CC
LIFESITENEWS.COM: Archbishop Viganò’s powerful letter to President Trump: Eternal struggle between good and evil playing out right now
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò warns
the president that the current crises over the coronavirus pandemic and
the George Floyd riots are a part of the eternal spiritual struggle
between the forces of good and evil.
EXCERPT FROM LETTER:
Although it may seem disconcerting, the opposing alignments I have
described are also found in religious circles. There are faithful
Shepherds who care for the flock of Christ, but there are also
mercenary infidels who seek to scatter the flock and hand the sheep
over to be devoured by ravenous wolves. It is not surprising that these
mercenaries are allies of the children of darkness and hate the
children of light: just as there is a deep state, there is also a deep
church that betrays its duties and forswears its proper commitments
before God. Thus the Invisible Enemy, whom good rulers fight against in
public affairs, is also fought against by good shepherds in the
ecclesiastical sphere. It is a spiritual battle, which I spoke about in
my recent Appeal which was published on May 8.
For the first time, the United States has in you a President who
courageously defends the right to life, who is not ashamed to denounce
the persecution of Christians throughout the world, who speaks of Jesus
Christ and the right of citizens to freedom of worship. Your
participation in the March for Life, and more recently your
proclamation of the month of April as National Child Abuse Prevention
Month, are actions that confirm which side you wish to fight on. And I
dare to believe that both of us are on the same side in this battle,
albeit with different weapons.
For this reason, I believe that the attack to which you were subjected
after your visit to the National Shrine of Saint John Paul II is part
of the orchestrated media narrative which seeks not to fight racism and
bring social order, but to aggravate dispositions; not to bring
justice, but to legitimize violence and crime; not to serve the truth,
but to favor one political faction. And it is disconcerting that there
are Bishops – such as those whom I recently denounced – who, by their
words, prove that they are aligned on the opposing side. They are
subservient to the deep state, to globalism, to aligned thought, to the
New World Order which they invoke ever more frequently in the name of a
universal brotherhood which has nothing Christian about it, but which
evokes the Masonic ideals of those want to dominate the world by
driving God out of the courts, out of schools, out of families, and
perhaps even out of churches.
For this reason, I believe that the attack to which you were subjected
after your visit to the National Shrine of Saint John Paul II is part
of the orchestrated media narrative which seeks not to fight racism and
bring social order, but to aggravate dispositions; not to bring
justice, but to legitimize violence and crime; not to serve the truth,
but to favor one political faction. And it is disconcerting that there
are Bishops – such as those whom I recently denounced – who, by their
words, prove that they are aligned on the opposing side. They are
subservient to the deep state, to globalism, to aligned thought, to the
New World Order which they invoke ever more frequently in the name of a
universal brotherhood which has nothing Christian about it, but which
evokes the Masonic ideals of those want to dominate the world by
driving God out of the courts, out of schools, out of families, and
perhaps even out of churches.
EXCERPT COMMENTARY FATHER JEFFREY F. KIRBY:
We have been made sharers of his kingdom. He has commissioned us and
called us to fight for him, on behalf of him, and alongside him. He has
empowered us, ennobled us, and sent us to bring about his kingdom. In
this way, each of us - as his beloved children - are ourselves a living
answer to the question about where God’s goodness and power can be seen
in the midst of evil and darkness.
So, we tread our way through the
sorrows and sufferings of life, and call upon our higher natures. We
look above for wisdom. We search for goodness and work to be
instruments of peace. We throw off the evils and heaviness of this
world and we earnestly seek the light and comfort of God’s kingdom.
We labor to live the powerful
summons, voiced by many holy ones, and synthesized best by Saint John
of the Cross: “Where there is no love, put love, and you will find
love.”
This is the task and the commission of the children of God. The
response of raw anger, bitterness, self-pity, negativity, and violence
are not options for us. We hear the whisper of these darker spirits and
we cast them out. In spite of them, we boldly open our hearts in love
and service to others. We defiantly hope and zealously labor for
salvation, peace, understanding, and mutual acceptance.
This is the way of the living God.
This is the our commission as his children. This is reality for which
we longingly cry out, “Thy kingdom come!”
EDITORIALS
Your Silence Isn’t Enough
Is “God and Caesar” Still a Realistic Model?
With Cries That Pierce Me to the Heart: A Priestly Testimony of Grief in These Times
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
32. Psalmody in a crowded congregation is accompanied
by captivity and wandering of the thoughts; but in solitude, this does
not happen. However, those in solitude are liable to be assailed by despondency,
whereas in congregation the brethren help each other by their zeal.
June 5, 2020
(Mar 12:32-33)
And the scribe said to him: Well, Master, thou hast said in truth that
there is one God and there is no other besides him. And that he should
be loved with the whole heart and with the whole understanding and with
the whole soul and with the whole strength. And to love one's neighbour
as one's self is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices.
VICTIMS OF ABORTION NEWSLETTER: Broken Branches Issue 137
HEADLINE: Telemedicine Abortion Gains Momentum During Pandemic
CNA: Human rights groups decry effort to promote abortion in pandemic response
A total of 434
human rights organizations from 16 countries have released a manifesto
condemning the push from external groups to promote abortion in their
nations during the coronavirus pandemic.
The “International Manifesto for
the Right to Life” was delivered this week to the foreign ministry
offices of Costa Rica, Argentina, Peru, and Ecuador.
It repudiates the U.N.’s
Humanitarian Response Plan COVID-19 for Ecuador, which requires “safe,
legal abortion” as a condition for aid.
The plan claims to be “humanitarian
aid” but “includes a $3 million allocation to train health care
personnel in so-called 'safe and legal abortion,' in violation of the
Constitution and Ecuadoran laws,” the manifesto says.
The manifesto also rejects the
“Joint Statement on Protecting Sexual and Reproductive Health and
Rights and Promoting Gender-responsiveness in the COVID-19 Crisis”
signed by representatives of 59 countries – including Argentina,
Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru – which promotes access to
abortion.
The International Manifesto for the
Right to Life argues that there is a major disconnect between the
efforts to promote abortion and the broader society’s focus on
safeguarding human life amid the coronavirus crisis. Many of the
countries in question have protections in their constitutions, criminal
codes, and civil codes to protect human life of the moment of
conception, the document notes.
Instead of advocating for
pro-abortion policies, the right to life manifesto calls for a “focus
on public policies based on human dignity, and for effectively putting
an end to any attempt to interfere with or attack the sovereignty of
our countries, in particular coming from the U.N. and its principal
agencies.” It pointed specifically to the United Nations Population
Fund, UN Women, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and the
International Monetary Fund.
C-FAM: U.S. Blocks UN Agreement Over Pro-Life Concerns, UN Member States Ignore
The U.S. Mission to the United
Nations has rejected a draft agreement on humanitarian assistance for
emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic, that would have given
cover for UN agencies to promote abortion. But it may not be enough to
stop the agreement.
“The United States cannot accept the terms ‘sexual and reproductive
health care services’ and ‘sexual and reproductive health’,” reads a
statement released by U.S. diplomats on the evening of June 2
explaining why the U.S. government could not accept a draft of the
annual agreement on the humanitarian work of the UN system.
The statement from the United States mission to the United Nations, led
by U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft, laments that U.S. concerns about
ambiguous terms used by UN agencies to promote abortion were not taken
into account by the diplomat from Morocco who steered the negotiations.
“At the UN and elsewhere, the United States will continue its work to
build consensus on clear terminology that would better promote women’s
health without also promoting abortion,” the U.S. statement explains,
adding that U.S. taxpayers have generously contributed over $11 billion
to the global response to COVID-19, more than any other nation.
“The United States rejects any interpretation of international human
rights to require any State Party to provide access to abortion. In
short, there is no international right to abortion, nor is there any
duty on the part of States to finance or facilitate abortion,” the
statement explains.
The diplomatic controversy is challenging the already controversial
tentative procedure set in place for adopting resolutions on a
non-objection basis during the COVID-19 lockdown of UN headquarters.
Essentially, according to the rules, if any member state objects to a
resolution it cannot be considered adopted.
In email communications to UN member states last night, the Moroccan
delegation acknowledged that the U.S. had broken silence on the
resolution, but said he forwarded the draft to the UN secretariat for
official publication anyway.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
31. Prepare yourself for your set times of prayer
by unceasing prayer in your soul, and you will soon make progress. I have
seen those who shone in obedience and who tried, as far as they could,
to keep in mind the remembrance of God, and the moment they stood in prayer
they were at once masters of their minds, and shed streams of tears, because
they were prepared for this beforehand by holy obedience.
June 4, 2020
(Mat 5:9) Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
POPE FRANCIS:
We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any
form. At the same time, we have to recognize that violence is
self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and
so much is lost. Let us pray for reconciliation and peace.
REVIEW: The Popes and Martin Luther King’s dream
ANGELUS: Vatican cardinal urges forgiveness, justice in response to George Floyd killing
CATHOLIC HERALD: Statement from Bishop Donald J. Hying, regarding peaceful protests turned violent in Madison
"Over this past weekend, what started as a peaceful protest against the
horrific killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, quickly devolved into
rioting and looting in downtown Madison by some. I join my voice with
those of Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, area alders, and other
leaders calling for calm and peace as we as a community work for
justice in a positive and proactive way. I ask all people of faith to
pray and act for peace and unity. In these days after Pentecost, we
pray that the Holy Spirit will pour out His graces, especially justice
and mercy, which are much needed in our country at this critical moment.
"All people of good will mourn with
the family of George Floyd and all who have lost loved ones to
injustice and violence. While peaceful protest is justified, violence
against others and their property is not. In a culture of anger,
conflict, pain, and suffering, only the love of God can truly transform
hearts and minds, as we seek human flourishing and the common good.
"Racism is always a sin. Our
society can and will, by the grace of God, overcome the injustices with
which this sin infects our community, if we stand together proclaiming
the dignity of every human person, created in the image and likeness of
God, and together build a culture of life in which every person is
welcomed, respected, and loved.
"I thank our civic leaders, police
and firefighters, National Guard and all citizens of good will who have
heroically responded in difficult and often dangerous circumstances to
protect precious lives in our local community. Everyone has our prayers
and support."
EXCERPT MEDITATION
VIA FACEBOOK:
DESMOND BIRCH, AUTHOR OF TRIAL, TRIBULATION, AND TRIUMPH: Is your heart circumcised yet? Perhaps the suffering going on right now is heavily contributing to that process in you.
I’ve been trying to see all suffering as part of an
opportunity for the circumcision of my heart – which progresses if I
really accept those sufferings, unfilled wants, desires, and even what
I perceive as needs. My worst suffering is in being, almost/virtually,
the ‘last of the Mohicans’ in my theological generation. This is my
toughest challenge.
Your major suffering(s) might be something completely different.
Perhaps you have had horrible dreams or nightmares of the resemblance
between what you’ve read about the French Revolution and events
currently taking place in the USA. The mobs in the streets then …
beating up or to death anyone they didn’t like or thought might be in
some way associated with the French aristocracy. The singling out of
the Christians, nuns, priests, prominent Christian laymen by the mobs –
that was common in the French Revolution. Perhaps you’re recalling the
mobs during the 19th century in America which attacked Catholic
parishes and building, burned convents, and attacked defenseless nuns.
It was particularly bad in Philadelphia in the 1830’s and 40’s. Many
parishes and convents burned, people shot, etc. The cause, the ‘Know
Nothing Party’ was trying to force Catholics IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS to study
from the King James version of the Bible. The Catholic parents simply
refused, but supplied their children with the Douay-Rheims Catholic
edition of the Bible in English. The reaction of the Know Nothings was
the brutality which followed. For the Know Nothings, it was knuckle
under to our will or we will burn you out or kill you.
What am I leading this toward? Every civilization has its moments of
brutality, some unruly mobs turned loose to do the will of Satan rather
than that of God. It was not all that long ago – when I was a boy in
primary and secondary school, and even in college, that it was far from
uncommon for Catholic priests or black Americans to be lynched – hung
from some tree somewhere in the deep south of the U.S.A. The majority
of any race or denomination never did these things. It was always a
willful, evil, resolute small minority of the population who did so.
[It is the same today in America.] Today we are seeing an all too
common very aggravating prejudice against all Christian churches and
assemblies. While abortion mills, liquor stores, gambling houses,
marijuana dispensaries, grocery stores, etc., are allowed to be open
for business – in many of the same places, the Churches are ordered
closed --- or can only have ten people in them, etc., etc.
Some good news is that the Catholics and Protestants are today facing a
common enemy, that of a pagan secular mentality in all of this.
Hopefully this will – after this brouhaha is over - lead to greater
unity among the Christians in this great land, and also, greater common
cause with our Jewish brothers and sisters in their right to worship
freely in their synagogues and temple.
WHERE IS ALL THIS LEADING? If we wish for the spiritual fruits in all
this, which God wishes for us, we must allow Him to lead us in the
circumcision of our hearts. That leads us to our detachment from
‘disordered attractions’ which get in the way of our love of God.
St. Paul speaks of circumcision of the heart in opposition to physical
circumcision. In Romans 2:29 Paul speaks of this distinction, ‘HE IS A
JEW WHO IS ONE INWARDLY, THE REAL CIRCUMCISION IS A MATTER OF THE
HEART, SPIRITUAL AND NOT LITERAL.’ Paul goes on to explain that for the
Christian to grow spiritually, he must cooperate with God circumcising
his heart. The path to the circumcision of the heart is clearly laid
out by Our Lord in the Gospel. We must WILLINGLY [not murmuringly or
grudgingly] daily take up our crosses and follow Him. We must welcome
our sufferings as the most direct path to Christ.
RELATED
One New Yorker’s Sleepless Night As Lawlessness And Disorder Took Over The City
Minneapolis Archbishop Hebda and Priests Join in Prayerful George Floyd Protest
Churches in 6 states damaged by violent protests
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
30. A convict does not fear his sentence of punishment
so much as a fervent man of prayer fears this duty of prayer. So if he
is wise and shrewd, by remembering this he can avoid every reproach, anger,
worry, and interruption, afflicton, satiety, temptation, and distracting
thought.
June 1, 2020
(Mat 24:12-13) And because iniquity
hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. But he that shall
persevere to the end, he shall be saved.
EXCERPT
ARCHBISHOP VIGANO: For decades they catechized us with the hateful
phrase “there is no going back” with regard to the Liturgy, the Faith,
moral teaching, penance, asceticism. Today we hear the same expressions
slavishly repeated in the civil sphere, through which the attempt is
made to indoctrinate the masses that “nothing will be as it was
before.” Modernism and Covid-19 are part of the same brand, and for
anyone who has their gaze towards the transcendent it is not difficult
to understand that the greatest fear of those who want us to believe
that the race towards the abyss is both unavoidable and unstoppable is
that we will not believe them, ignore them, and unmask their
conspiracy. This is our duty, today: to open the eyes of many people,
both clergy and religious, who have not yet put together the overall
picture, limiting themselves to looking at reality only in a partial
and disjointed way. As soon as we have helped them to understand the
mechanism, they will understand everything else.
It is possible to go back, dear
Sister, it is possible to do so in such a way that the good that was
fraudulently taken from us may be restored: but only in the coherence
of doctrine, without compromises, without yielding, without
opportunism. The Lord will deign to grant us a share in his victory,
even if we are weak and without material means, only if we will abandon
ourselves totally to him and to His Most Holy Mother.
MARK MALLET BLOG: Our 1942
MARK MALLET VIDEO: Apocalyse... Not?
USCCB: Statement of U.S. Bishop Chairmen in Wake of Death of George Floyd and National Protests
We are broken-hearted,
sickened, and outraged to watch another video of an African American
man being killed before our very eyes. What’s more astounding is that
this is happening within mere weeks of several other such occurrences.
This is the latest wake-up call that needs to be answered by each of us
in a spirit of determined conversion.
Racism is not a thing of the past
or simply a throwaway political issue to be bandied about when
convenient. It is a real and present danger that must be met head on.
As members of the Church, we must stand for the more difficult right
and just actions instead of the easy wrongs of indifference. We cannot
turn a blind eye to these atrocities and yet still try to profess to
respect every human life. We serve a God of love, mercy, and justice.
While it is expected that we will
plead for peaceful non-violent protests, and we certainly do, we also
stand in passionate support of communities that are understandably
outraged. Too many communities around this country feel their voices
are not being heard, their complaints about racist treatment are
unheeded, and we are not doing enough to point out that this deadly
treatment is antithetical to the Gospel of Life.
As we said eighteen months ago in our most recent pastoral letter against racism, Open Wide Our Hearts,
for people of color some interactions with police can be fraught with
fear and even danger. People of good conscience must never turn a blind
eye when citizens are being deprived of their human dignity and even
their lives. Indifference is not an option. “As bishops, we
unequivocally state that racism is a life issue.”
We join Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis in
praying for the repose of the soul of Mr. George Floyd and all others
who have lost their lives in a similar manner. We plead for an end to
the violence in the wake of this tragedy and for the victims of the
rioting. We pray for comfort for grieving families and friends. We pray
for peace across the United States, particularly in Minnesota, while
the legal process moves forward. We also anticipate a full
investigation that results in rightful accountability and actual
justice.
BISHOP ZUBIK:
"Watching a peaceful protest against racial injustice break down into
violence in Pittsburgh, I am sending out an urgent call for calm as we
work for justice. I ask all believers to pray and act for peace, unity
and that perfect balance of justice and mercy that is the hallmark of
God’s work in our world.
I mourn with the family of George
Floyd and all who have lost loved ones to inexcusable violence. I
especially pray with and for the members of the African American
community.
Racism is a sin. We must all work
to overcome the injustice with which this sin infects our society. Some
of the protests are occurring near Freedom Corner, which is an historic
gathering place to call for unity and the true justice whose fruit is
peace. It happens as we Christians prepare to celebrate the Feast of
Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit’s flames inspired a movement to preach
God’s love and mercy -- Who is Jesus Himself. May Jesus now give us
that peace which only He can give and no one can take away."
RELATED HEADLINES
President Trump To Designate Antifa As Terrorist Organization
Antifa’s American insurgency
TWEET:
Last night, the City of Madison announced that it would not be
arresting any rioters who loot and burn buildings. Today, the
City of Madison is strictly enforcing a ban on Catholic Churches having
more than 50 worshippers at mass. Let that sink in for a second.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
29. Do not say, after spending a long time at prayer,
that nothing has been gained; for you have already gained something. And
what higher good is there than to cling to the Lord and persevere in unceasing
union with Him.
Links 
E-mail
Dr. Zambrano 
Home
Jubilee
2000: Bringing the World to Jesus
The
Tribulation Times Archives:
FAIR
USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the
use of which
has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We
are making such material available in our efforts to advance
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this
constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted
material
as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance
with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes. For more detailed information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of
your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain
permission from the copyright owner.