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| June 13th - St. Anthony of Padua |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-13-2021, 08:03 AM - Forum: June
- Replies (1)
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June 13 – St Anthony of Padua, Confessor
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“Rejoice thee, happy Padua, rich in thy priceless treasure!’ Anthony, in bequeathing thee his body, has done more for thy glory than the heroes who founded thee on so favored a site, or the doctors who have illustrated thy famous university!
The days of Charlemagne were past and gone: yet the work of Leo III still lived on, despite a thousand difficulties. The enemy, now at large, had sown cockle in the field of the divine householder; heresy was springing up here and there, while vice was growing apace in every direction. In many an heroic combat, the Popes, aided by the monastic Order, had succeeded in casting disorder out of the sanctuary itself: still the people, too long scandalized by venal pastors, were fast slipping away from the Church. Who could rally them once more? Who wrest from Satan a reconquest of the world? At this trying moment the Spirit of Pentecost, ever living, ever present in holy Church, raised up the sons of St Dominic and of St Francis. The brave soldiers of this new militia, organized to meet fresh necessities, threw themselves into the field, pursuing heresy into its most secret lurking holes, and thundering against vice in every shape and wheresoever found. In town or in country, they were everywhere to be seen confounding false teachers by the strong argument of miracle as well as of doctrine; mixing with the people, whom the sight of their heroic detachment easily won over to repentance. Crowds flocked to be enrolled in the Third Orders instituted by these two holy founders, to afford a secure refuge for the Christian life in the midst of the world.
The best known and most popular of all the sons of St. Francis is Anthony, whom we are celebrating this day. His life was short: at the age of thirty-five, he winged flight to heaven. But a span so limited allowed, nevertheless, of a considerable portion of time being directed by our Lord, to preparing this chosen servant for his destined ministry. The all-important thing in God’s esteem, where there is question of fitting apostolic men to become instruments of salvation to a greater number of souls, is not the length of time which they may devote to exterior works, but rather the degree of personal sanctification attained by them, and the thoroughness of their self-abandonment to the ways of divine Providence. As to Anthony, it may almost be said that, up to the last day of his life, Eternal Wisdom seemed to take pleasure in disconcerting all his thoughts and plans. Out of his twenty years of religious life, he passed ten amongst the Canons Regular, whither the divine call had invited him at the age of fifteen, in the full bloom of his innocence; and there, wholly captivated by the splendor of the Liturgy, occupied in the sweet study of the holy Scriptures and of the Fathers, blissfully lost in the silence of the cloister, his seraphic soul was ever being wafted to sublime heights, where (so it seemed) he was always to remain, held and hidden in the secret of God’s Face. When on a sudden, behold! the Divine Spirit urges him to seek the martyr’s crown: and presently, he is seen emerging from his beloved monastery, and following the Friars Minor to distant shores, where already some of their number had snatched the blood-stained palm. Not this, however, but the martyrdom of love, was to be his. Falling sick and reduced to impotence before his zeal could effect anything on the African soil, obedience recalled him to Spain, but instead of that, he was cast by a tempest on the Italian coast.
It happened that Saint Francis was just then convoking his entire family, for the third time, in general chapter. Anthony, unknown, lost in this vast assembly, beheld at its close each of the friars in turn receive his appointed destination, whereas to him not a thought was given. What a sight! The scion of the illustrious family de Bouillon and of the kings of the Asturias completely overlooked in the throng of holy Poverty’s sons! At the moment of departure, the Father Minister of the Bologna province, remarking the isolated condition of the young religious whom no one had received in charge, admitted him, out of charity, into his company. Accordingly, having reached the hermitage of Monte Paolo, Anthony was deputed to help in the kitchen and in sweeping the house, being supposed quite unfitted for anything else. Meanwhile, the Augustinian Canons, on the contrary, were bitterly lamenting the loss of one whose remarkable learning and sanctity, far more even than his nobility, had, up to this, been the glory of their Order.
The hour at last came, chosen by Providence, to manifest Anthony to the world; and immediately, as was said of Christ himself, the whole world went after him. Around the pulpits where this humble friar preached, there were wrought endless prodigies in the order of nature and of grace. At Rome he earned the surname of Ark of the Covenant; in France, that of Hammer of heretics. It would be impossible for us here to follow him throughout his luminous course; suffice it to say that France, as well as Italy, owes much to his zealous ministry.
St. Francis had yearned to be himself the bearer of the Gospel of peace through all the fair realm of France, then sorely ravaged by heresy; but in his stead, he sent thither Anthony, his well beloved son, and, as it were, his living portrait. What St. Dominic had been in the first crusade against the Albigenses, Anthony was in the second. At Toulouse was wrought that wondrous miracle of the famished mule turning aside from the proffered grain in order to prostrate in homage before the sacred Host. From the province of Berry, his burning word was heard thundering in various distant provinces; while Heaven lavished delicious favors on his soul, ever childlike amidst the marvelous victories achieved by him, and the intoxicating applause of an admiring crowd. Under the very eyes of his host, at a lonely house in Limousin, the Infant Jesus came to him radiant in beauty; and throwing himself into his arms, covered him with sweetest caresses, pressing the humble Friar to lavish the like on Him. One feast of the Assumption, Anthony was sad, because of a phrase then to be found in the Office seeming to throw a shade of discredit on the fact of Mary’s body being assumed into heaven together with her soul. Presently, the Mother of God herself came to console her devoted servant, in his lowly cell, assuring him of the truth of the doctrine of her glorious Assumption; and so left him, ravished with the sweet charms of her countenance and the melodious sound of her voice. Suddenly, as he was preaching at Montpellier, in a church of that city thronged with people, Anthony remembered that he had been appointed to chant the Alleluia at the conventual Mass in his own convent, and he had quite forgotten to get his place supplied. Deeply pained at this involuntary omission, he bent his head upon his breast: whilst standing thus motionless and silent in the pulpit, as though asleep, his brethren saw him enter their choir, sing his verse, and depart; at once his audience beheld him recover his animation, and continue his sermon with the same eloquence as before. In this same town of Montpellier, another well known incident occurred. When engaged in teaching a course of theology to his brethren, his commentary on the Psalms disappeared; but the thief was presently constrained, even by the fiend himself, to bring back the volume, the loss whereof had caused our saint so much regret. Such is commonly thought to be the origin of the popular devotion, whereby a special power of recovering lost things is ascribed to Saint Anthony. However this may be, it is certain that, from the very outset, this devotion rests on the testimony of startling miracles of this kind; and in our own day, constantly repeated favors of a similar nature still confirm the same.
The following is the abridgement of this beautiful life, as given in the liturgy.
Quote:Anthony was born at Lisbon, Portugal, of noble parents, who brought him up in the love of God. While he was still a youth, he joined the institute of the Canons Regular. But when the bodies of the five holy martyred Friars Minor, who had just suffered in Morocco for Christ’s sake, were brought to Coimbra. the desire to be himself a martyr enkindled his soul. and he therefore passed over to the Franciscan Order. Presently, still urged by the same yearning, he had wellnigh reached the land of the Saracens, when, falling sick on the road, he was enforced to turn back; but the ship, bound for Spain, was drifted towards Sicily.
From Sicily he came to Assisi, to attend the General Chapter of his Order. and thence withdrew himself to the Hermitage of Monte Paolo near Bologna, where he gave himself up for a long while to contemplation of the things of God, to fastings and to watchings. Being afterwards ordained priest and sent to preach the Gospel, his wisdom and eloquence drew on him such marked admiration of men, that the Sovereign Pontiff once, on hearing him preach, called him “The Ark of the Covenant.” Chiefly against heresies did he put forth the whole force of his vigor, whence he gained the name of “Perpetual hammer of heretics.”
He was the first of his Order who, on account of his excellent gift of teaching, publicly lectured at Bologna on the interpretation of Holy Scripture, and directed the studies of his brethren. Then, having traveled through many provinces, he came, one year before his death, to Padua, where he left some remarkable monuments of the sanctity of his life. At length, having undergone much toil for the glory of God, full of merits and conspicuous for miracles, he fell asleep in the Lord upon the Ides of June in the year of salvation one thousand two hundred and thirty-one. The Sovereign Pontiff, Gregory the Ninth, enrolled his name among those of Holy Confessors.
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Want of space obliges us to be very meager in the number we give of liturgical pieces; but we cannot omit here the Miraculous Responsory, as it is called, the composition whereof is attributed to Saint Bonaventure. It continues still to justify its name, in favor of those who recite it in the hour of need. In the Franciscan Breviary it is the eighth Responsory of the Office of Saint Anthony of Padua. At a very early date, this, together with the Nine Tuesdays in our Saint’s honor, became a very popular devotion and was fraught with immense fruits of grace.
Responsory
(called the “miraculous.”)
Se quæris miracula,
Mors, error, calamitas,
Dæmon, lepra fugiunt,
Ægri surgunt sani.
* Cedunt mare, vincula;
Membra, resque perditas
Petunt et accipiunt
Juvenes et cani.
If ye seek miracles,—lo! death, error, calamities, the demon and the leprosy, flee all away; the sick also arise healed. * Sea and chains give way; young and old alike, ask and receive again the use of members, as well as things lost.
℣. Pereunt pericula,
Cessat et necessitas:
Narrent hi qui sentiunt,
Dicant Paduani.
℣. Dangers vanish; necessity ceased: let those who have experienced such things relate these facts; let the Paduans repeat:
* Cedunt mare. Gloria Patri.* Cedunt mare.
* Sea, &c. Gloria, &c. * Sea, &c.
℣. Ora pro nobis, heate Antoni,
℣. Pray for us, O blessed Anthony,
℟. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.
℟. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Oremus.
Let us pray.
Ecclesiam tuam, Deus, beati Antonii confessoris tui commemoratio votiva lætificet: ut spiritualibus semper muniatur auxiliis, et gaudiis perfrui mereatur æternis. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
May the votive solemnity of blessed Anthony, thy Confessor, give joy to thy Church, O God; that it may be ever defended by spiritual assistance, and deserve to possess eternal joys. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
O glorious Anthony, the simplicity of thine innocent soul made thee a docile instrument in the hand of the Spirit of Love. The Seraphic Doctor, Saint Bonaventure, hymning thy praises, takes for his first theme thy childlike spirit, and for his second thy wisdom which flowed therefrom. Wise indeed wast thou, 0 Anthony, for, from thy tenderest years, thou wast in earnest pursuit of divine Wisdom; and wishing to have her alone for thy portion, thou didst hasten to shelter thy love in some cloister, to hide thee in the secret of God’s face, the better to enjoy her chaste delights. Silence and obscurity in her sweet company was thine heart’s one ambition; and even here below her hands were pleased to adorn thee with incomparable splendor. She walked before thee; and blithely didst thou follow, for her own sake alone, without suspecting how all other good things were to become thine in her company. Happy a childlike spirit such as thine, to which are ever reserved the more lavish favors of eternal Wisdom! “But,” exclaims thy sainted panegyrist Bonaventure, “who is really a child nowadays? Humble littleness is no more; therefore love is no more. Naught is to be seen now but valleys bulging into hills, and hills swelling into mountains. What saith Holy Writ? When they were lifted up, thou hast cast them down. To such towering vaunters, God saith again: Behold I have made thee a small child; but exceedingly contemptible among the nations such infancy is. Wherefore will ye keep to this childishness, O men, making your days an endless series of inconstancy, boisterous and vain effort at garnering wretched chaff? Other is that infancy which is declared to be the greatest in the land of true greatness. Such was thine, O Anthony! and thereby wast thou wholly yielded up to Wisdom’s sacred influence.”
In return for thy loving submission to God our Father in heaven, the populace obeyed thee, and fiercest tyrants trembled at thy voice. Heresy alone dared once to disobey thee, dared to refuse to hearken to thy word: thereupon, the very fishes of the sea took up thy defense; for they came swimming in shoals, before the eyes of the whole city, to listen to thy preaching which heretics had scorned. Alas! error, having long ago recovered from the vigorous blows dealt by thee, is yet more emboldened in these days, claiming even sole right to speak. The offspring of Manes, whom, under the name of Albigenses, thou didst so successfully combat, would now, under the new appellation of Freemasonry, have all France at its beck; thy native Portugal beholds the same monster stalking in broad daylight almost up to the very Altar; and the whole world is being intoxicated by its poison. O thou who dost daily fly to the aid of thy devoted clients in their private necessities, thou whose power is the same in heaven as heretofore upon earth, succor the Church, aid God’s people, have pity upon society, now more universally and deeply menaced than ever. O thou Ark of the Covenant, bring back our generation, so terribly devoid of love and faith, to the serious study of sacred letters, wherein is so energizing a power. O thou Hammer of heretics, strike once more such blows as will make hell tremble and the heavenly powers thrill with joy.
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| Third Sunday after Pentecost/Sunday within the Octave of the Sacred Heart |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-13-2021, 07:06 AM - Forum: Pentecost
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INSTRUCTION ON THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
From Fr. Leonard Goffine's Explanations of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, Holydays, and Festivals throughout the Ecclesiastical Year
36th edition, 1880
The Introit of the Mass the Church calls upon all to invoke our Lord: Look Thou upon me, and have mercy on
me, O Lord, for I am alone and poor. See my abjection and my labor, and forgive me all my sins, O my God. (Ps. xxiv.) To Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul. In Thee, O my God, I put my trust, let me not be ashamed. Glory &c.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. O God, the protector of them that hope in Thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: multiply Thy mercy upon us, that, guided and directed by Thee, we may so pass amid temporal goods as not to lose the eternal. Through &c.
EPISTLE. (i Pet. v. 6 — II.) Dearly beloved, Be you humbled under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the time of visitation: casting all your care upon him, for he hath care of you. Be sober and watch: because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist ye, strong in faith: knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little, will himself perfect you and confirm you and establish you. To him be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.
EXPLANATION. In this lesson St. Peter teaches that if we would be exalted we must humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. This necessary humility shows itself in us by giving ourselves and all our cares up to the providence of God who, as St. Augustine says, provides for one as for all. We should not fail, however, to be sober and circumspect, and not think ourselves secure from the lusts of the world. The devil like a lion seeking prey, desires the ruin of our souls, tormenting us by temptations and afflictions. By confidence in God's help we can and should resist him, especially when we consider that after the trials of this life the crown of glory will be our portion for all eternity.
Quote:ON DRUNKENNESS.
Be sober and watch. (i Peter, v. 8.)
SOBRIETY is the mother of vigilance; intemperance is the mother of sloth and of numberless other vices which
cast many souls into the jaws of the devil who, like a hungry lion, goes about day and night seeking for prey. Woe, therefore, to those who because of their drunkenness live, as it were, in constant night and in the perpetual sleep of sin! How will they feel when, suddenly awakened by death, they find themselves before the judgment seat of God burdened with innumerable sins of which they were unconscious, or which they wished not to know they were guilty! Who can number the sins committed in a state of intoxication, sins for which the drunkard cares nothing, for which he has no contrition, and has not confessed, because the light of reason is extinguished, his life is a senseless stupor, and he is therefore unconscious of his thoughts, words and actions.
But will the divine Judge find no sin in such persons? Will He permit the shameful deeds committed while intoxicated, the curses, blasphemies, sneers, detractions, outrages, and scandals to remain unpunished? He, who demands an account of every idle word, will He demand no account of the time so badly spent, of the money so uselessly squandered, families neglected, church service unattended, education of children omitted, and the other great sins committed? They will indeed excuse themselves, pleading that these sins were committed involuntarily, or as a joke, when they were intoxicated; that their intoxication was excusable, as they were not able to stand much; but will God be content with such excuses? Will they not add to their damnation? That they took more than they could bear of the intoxicating drink, deprived themselves of the use of reason, and thus voluntarily caused all the sins they committed while in that state, is what will be punished.
What then can they expect? Nothing- less than the fate of the rich man spoken of in the gospel, who on account of his debaucheries was buried in hell, where during all eternity his parched tongue was not cooled by one drop of water. (Luke xvi. 22.) Yes, this will be the place of those unconverted drunkards of whom St. Paul says that they will not possess the kingdom of God. (i Cor. vi. 10.) How rare and how difficult is the conversion of a drunkard, because with him as with the unchaste this habit becomes a second nature, and because he generally abuses the remedies: the holy Sacraments of Penance and the Altar.
This should certainly deter any one from the vice of drunkenness; but those who are not thus withheld, may consider the indecency, the disgrace, and the injury of this vice, for it ruins the body as well as the soul.
Is it not disgraceful that man endowed with reason, and created for heaven, should drown that reason in excessive drink, degrading his mind, his intellectual spirit, the image of God, rendering it like the brute animals, and even lower than the beasts. "Are not the drunkards far worse than the animals?" says St. Chrysostom. Yes, not only on account of their drunkenness, but far more so because of the shameful position of their body, their manners, their speech, their behavior. How disgracefully naked lay Noah, although he was intoxicated not through his own fault, exposed in his tent to the ridicule of the impudent Cham! (Gen. ix. 21.) Even the heathen Spartans considered the vice of drunkenness so disgraceful that they were in the habit of intoxicating a slave, and bringing him before their children that they might be disgusted with such a state.
Finally, that which should deter everybody from this vice, is its injuriousness. It ruins the body as well as the soul. By surfeiting many have perished, (Eccles. xxxvii. 34.) and it has ruined the health of many more. Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who fall into pits, who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink off their cups? (Prov. xxiii. 29. 30.) Daily observation confirms this truth of Scripture, and the miserable old age, accompanied by innumerable weaknesses and frailties, of one addicted to drink, is a sufficient testimony of the injuriousness of this vice.
GOSPEL. (Luke xv. 1 — 10.) At that time, The publicans and sinners drew nigh unto Jesus to hear him. And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying: This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. And he spoke to them this parable, saying: What man of you that hath an hundred sheep, and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety- nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost until he find it? And when he hath found it, lay it upon his shoulders rejoicing: and coming home, call together his friends and neighbors, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost? I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance. Or what woman having ten groats, if she lose one groat, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she find it? And when she hath found it, call together her friends and neighbors, saying: Rejoice with me, because I have found the groat, which I had lost? So I say to you, there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance.
What moved the sinners to approach Jesus?
The goodness and benevolence with which He met the penitent sinners. Do you also humbly and trustingly approach Him, and you may rest assured that, even if you are the greatest of sinners, you will receive grace and
forgiveness.
What is Christ's meaning in the parable of the lost sheep and groat?
He expresses by this His desire for the salvation of the sinner, His joy and that of all heaven when a sinner
is converted. Moreover, He shows the Pharisees who in vain self-righteousness avoided all intercourse with acknowledged sinners, and who murmured at the goodness of Jesus, that the sinner , being truly unhappy , deserves our compassion rather than our anger.
Why do the angels rejoice more over one sinner who does penance than over ninety-nine just?
Because the places of the fallen angels are thus refilled; because the angels see how the good God rejoices; because they find their prayers for the conversion of sinners granted, as St. Bernard says: "The tears of the penitents are wine for the angels;" because, as St. Gregory says, "the true penitents are usually more zealous than the innocent."
ASPIRATION. I have erred like a sheep that has lost its way; but I thank Thee, O Jesus, my good Shepherd, that Thou hast so carefully sought me by Thy inspirations, admonitions, and warnings, and dost now bring me back to true penance, that I may be a joy to the angels. Amen.
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| Pope Francis calls Eucharist ‘bread of sinners’ as USCCB considers denying pro-abort politicians Com |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-12-2021, 07:52 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Sounds as if the groundwork is being laid for many, many sacrilegious Communions...
Pope Francis calls Eucharist ‘bread of sinners’ as USCCB considers denying pro-abort politicians Communion
'The Eucharist is not the reward of saints, but the Bread of sinners. This is why he [Christ] exhorts us: ‘Do not be afraid! Take and eat,'
Pope Francis said during a Sunday June 6 homily. Next week the US Conference of Catholic Bishops will discuss whether or not a formal punishment
should be laid on pro-abortion politicians like President Joe Biden, including barring them from receiving the Eucharist.
VATICAN CITY, Italy, June 11, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) prepares to debate whether pro-abortion politicians should be denied Holy Communion, Pope Francis hinted toward favoring no restriction on distributing the Eucharist in both his Corpus Christi homily and his Angelus address on Sunday.
The Church must be “a community with open arms, welcoming towards all,” Pope Francis exhorted during his June 6, Corpus Christi homily in a possible allusion towards the USCCB’s proposed denial of Holy Communion to anti-life politicians. “The Eucharist wants to nourish those who are tired and hungry along the way, let's not forget that!”
The remarks come ahead of next week’s U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) general assembly meeting, when the bishops are set to decide on whether or not a formal punishment should be laid on pro-abortion politicians like President Joe Biden, including barring them from receiving the Eucharist.
Pope Francis advised Catholics to “think together about pastoral care,” taking care to avoid becoming “[the] Church of the perfect and the pure … in which there is no room for anyone.”
Rather, “the Church with open doors, which celebrates around Christ, is instead a large room where everyone – everyone, righteous and sinful – can enter,” he said, making no distinction between the universal invitation to enter the Church and the worthiness or preparation necessary to fully participate in her sacraments.
The Church must be “a great hall” and not “a small and closed circle” in order to welcome he “who is hurt, who has made a mistake,” and also those whom Pope Francis mysteriously described as having “a different life path.”
Earlier in the day, as is customary, Pope Francis addressed the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s square after the weekly, midday recitation of the Angelus. He took the opportunity to lay the groundwork for his later homily, saying that the Eucharist demonstrates to the faithful “the strength to love those who make mistakes.”
Francis related the night of the Last Supper, when Christ gave Himself in the Eucharist for the first time, even to Judas Iscariot, who would betray Him. “And what does Jesus do? He reacts to the evil with a greater good,” he said.
“He responds to Judas’ ‘no’ with the ‘yes’ of mercy,” Francis noted, adding that, instead of punishing Judas, Jesus “rather gives His life for him; He pays for him.”
Pope Francis has previously indicated uncertainty regarding the destination of Judas’ soul, suggesting that he may not be in hell after betraying the Son of Man. A little over a year ago, during a homily on the Wednesday of that Holy Week, the Pope remarked that “Christ never calls Judas a ‘traitor’ personally. Rather, Jesus calls him ‘friend’ and kisses him.”
Consequently, Pope Francis asked himself “How did Judas end up?” answering, “I don’t know.” Pope St. Leo the Great, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Catherine of Siena, the Catechism of the Council of Trent, and the Church’s liturgy, on the other hand, are all of one accord regarding the damnation of Judas Iscariot.
However, with the attention having been given to Christ’s “yes of mercy” to Judas, Pope Francis said that when “we receive the Eucharist, Jesus does the same with us: he knows us; he knows we are sinners; he knows we make many mistakes, but he does not give up on joining his life to ours.” In doing so, Pope Francis removed any emphasis from the basic worthiness one must possess before presenting for Holy Communion, as St. Paul instructed the Corinthians: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.” (1 Cor 11:29)
Instead, Pope Francis spoke exclusively of man’s need for the Eucharist, divorced from the reality of our worthy reception thereof, saying “the Eucharist is not the reward of saints, but the Bread of sinners. This is why he [Christ] exhorts us: ‘Do not be afraid! Take and eat.’”
The Council of Trent makes clear that worthy preparation for reception of the Eucharist is vital:
Quote:If anyone says that faith alone is sufficient preparation for receiving the sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist: let him be anathema. And that so great a Sacrament may not be unworthily received, and therefore unto death and condemnation, this holy Council ordains and declares that sacramental confession must necessarily be made beforehand by those whose conscience is burdened by mortal sin, however contrite they may consider themselves. If anyone moreover teaches the contrary or preaches or obstinately asserts, or even publicly by disputation shall presume to defend the contrary, by that fact itself he is excommunicated. (Council of Trent, Session XIII, Canon 11; Denz. 893)
LifeSiteNews is unaware of the origin of the title "bread of sinners" to describe the Blessed Sacrament, as the title seems to have no basis in the Church’s bimillennial tradition. Many titles already exist for the sacramental Body and Blood of Christ: the Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament, the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, Holy Communion, the Real Presence, the Bread of Life, the Bread of Angels, the Bread of heaven, and Living Bread. Perhaps coming closest to “bread of sinners” is St. Thomas Aquinas’ title “Bread of men,” (as written in the hymn Panis Angelicus). St. Thomas Aquinas does not suggest in any of his writings that public figures in an objective state of grave sin should be permitted to receive the Blessed Sacrament.
In fact, the Catholic Church teaches (Code of Canon Law, can. 915) that Catholics who are “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.” According to a 2004 memo issued to the U.S. bishops by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) who is now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a Catholic politician who is “consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws” manifests “formal cooperation” with grave sin and must be “denied” the Eucharist.
President Biden is currently engaging in a number of liaisons with European leaders, beginning June 10 at the G7 summit being held in Cornwall, England. During his stay, Vatican sources have indicated that the president may stop in Rome to meet with Pope Francis on June 15, just one day before the USCCB are slated to begin their spring general assembly and debate the possibility of excluding Biden and other Catholic politicians from receiving Holy Communion.
A group of 67 American bishops, including dissident Cardinals Blaise Cupich and Wilton Gregory, voiced their opposition to any discussion at the upcoming assembly of formalizing penalties against Catholic, pro-abortion politicians, despite what the Church already teaches regarding Eucharistic reception for obstinate sinners in public office.
The Vatican has also backed a less forthright approach than the USCCB’s proposed policy of restricting Eucharistic reception for anti-life, anti-family politicians. The current prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Luis F. Ladaria S.J., penned a letter on May 7 to Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, the president of the USCCB, warning against any decision to limit the distribution of Communion to such people, describing such a policy as “a source of discord.” Instead, Ladaria suggested that the conference engage in “extensive and serene dialogue.”
In the midst of the letter, Ladaria referred to pro-abortion politicians and the related legislation as “pro-choice,” acquiescing to the euphemistic language of the political Left. He also lamented the possibility that enacting a policy against pro-choice politicians receiving Holy Communion might target “only one category of Catholics.” Despite the murmurings, Gomez issued a May 22 letter confirming that the proposed “document on the Eucharist” will be discussed at the June assembly.
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| June 12th - Sts. Leo III, John of Facundo, & Basilides and Comp. |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-12-2021, 07:36 AM - Forum: June
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June 12 – St. Leo the Third, Pope and Confessor
The fragrance of Christmas is suddenly wafted around us, while basking in the Pentecostal ray! Leo III, as he speeds his flight from earth, sheds upon us the perfumed memory of that day whereon the Infant God was pleased to manifest, by his means, the plenitude of his principality over all nations. Christmas Day of the year 800 witnessed the proclamation of the Holy Empire. The obscurity and poverty which had eight centuries previously ushered in the Birth of the Son of God, had for its object the drawing of men’s hearts; but this feebleness, redolent as it was with tenderness and condescension, was far from expressing the fullness of the mystery of the Word made Flesh. The Church tells us so, every year (in the Office of Matins, Christmas Day), as this blessed night of love comes round: “A Child is born to us, and upon his shoulder is the sign of Principality; his name shall be called the Wonderful, the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.” Yea, Peace, this day, once more shines upon the Cycle,—the Peace of Christ, indisputably Victor and King! More even in one respect than our St. John of today does Leo III deserve the united gratitude of the Faithful. Here he stands like a new Sylvester, in presence of a new Constantine; by him alone is the complete victory of the Word Incarnate absolutely revealed.
Christ had successively triumphed over the false gods, over Byzantine Cæsarism, and over barbarian hordes. A new society had sprung up, governed by princes who confessed to hold their crowns of the Man-God alone. To the old Roman empire founded on might, to Cæsarism coiled around the world,—rather bruising it with the iron teeth of its domination, than together,—was to succeed that confederation of baptized nations, which was to be called Christendom. But whence the united needed for so vast a body? Who the chief amongst such a multitude of princes equal in birth and in rights? On what basis can the primacy of such a chieftain stand? Who may summon him? who point out the chosen of the Lord and anoint him with so potent an anointing, that his right to the first place in the councils of kings, be undisputed by the strongest amongst them? The Holy Ghost, brooding over the chaos of peoples, as in the beginning over the dark waters, had long been elaborating this new creation, which must declare the glory of our Emmanuel: the new Empire thus prepared would, as it were of itself, spring forth unto light, out of circumstances preordained strongly and sweetly by Eternal Wisdom.
Up to this period, the uncontested primacy of the spiritual power had stood majestic and alone, amidst Christian kingdoms. Though weakest of them all, ever did Peter’s successor behold earth prostrate at his feet; the city of the Cæsars had become his; Rome, by his voice, commanded all nations. Nevertheless, his authority, unarmed and defenseless, must needs at times repel assaults of violence too often possible, and which had already more than once imperiled the sacred patrimony consecrated by ages, to securing the independence of Christ’s Vicar. For the spiritual power, when once able to appear in sublime magnificence, became itself the object of sacrilegious ambition, the coveted prey of blackest perfidy. Leo III himself had lately experienced this, in his own sacred person. A powerful lord, in conjunction with certain unworthy clerics, banded together by one common greed for gain, had beguiled the Pontiff into an ambush; his body had been mutilated, his eyes and tongue torn out, and his life preserved only by miracle; more wondrous still, his sight and speech had been afterwards restored, by divine intervention. All Rome, witnessing this prodigy, was loud in heartfelt thanksgiving. God had indeed delivered his anointed; but the assassins had remained, nevertheless, masters of the city until the victorious troops of the Frankish king brought back the illustrious victim and reinstated him in his place. Still this noble triumph was of itself no guarantee against future peril; for it had been preceded by other such victories, likewise due to the ever ready arm of the eldest daughter of the Roman Church. Her protecting sword once again withdrawn, leaving the work of restoration scarce accomplished, new plots within or outside of Rome, would soon be again set in motion for the usurpation of either the spiritual or of the temporal power of the Papacy. From the coast of the Bosphorus too, the depraved successors of Constantine only applauded such intrigues, even keeping conspirators and traitors in secret pay.
Such a state of things could no longer continue. The Sovereign Pontiff must necessarily look around to find some security less precarious, for the great interests confided to his keeping; the peace of the whole Christian world, the peace of souls as well as of nations, demanded that the highest authority upon earth should not be left at the mercy of ceaseless cabals. It was by no means sufficient that at the hour of peril, the Vicar of Jesus Christ should be able to depend upon the fidelity of one nation, or of one prince. Some permanent institution was needed not only to repair, but to ward off every blow aimed by violence or by perfidy against Rome. Christian society was, by this time, advanced enough to furnish materials for the carrying out of such a noble conception. Already indeed, Pepin le Bref, by abandoning his Italian conquests into the hands of the Apostolic See, had unreservedly constituted the temporal sovereignty of the Roman Pontiffs. But though the use of the sword in self defense belongs to the Pope by right, yet even when absolutely unable to act otherwise, personal use of armed force must ever be distasteful to the successor of him whom the Man-God appointed, here below, as the Vicar of His Love. On the other hand, he well knows that he must maintain those sacred rights for which he has to answer unto both God and man. Monarch as he is, Peter’s successor would be at liberty to choose from amongst the kings of the West (all of whom gloried in being his sons), one prince to whom he might confide the office of protector and defender of Holy Church. Head as he is of the whole spiritual army of the elect, Porter of heaven’s gates, Depository of grace and of infallible truth, he could invite the said prince to the honor of his allegiance. Sublime indeed would such an alliance be, the legitimacy whereof bears the palm over that of all treaties ever concluded between potentates. Such an alliance, inasmuch as it is intended to guarantee the rights of the King of kings, in the person of His representative, would entail solemn obligations, it is true, on the recipient; but at the same time, it would single him out to lofty privileges. Intrinsically vain and powerless are nobility of race, vastness of territory, glory of arms, and brilliancy of genius, to exalt a prince above his peers; such a greatness merely springs from earth and outstrips not man’s limits. But the ally of Pontiffs would possess a dignity touching upon the heavenly; for such are the sacred interests whereof he would assume the filial guardianship. Without in the least encroaching on the domain of other kings, his compeers in other respects, or derogating from their independence, he must hold it his right, as accredited protector of his mother, the Church, to carry the sword, whithersoever the spiritual authority is aggrieved or requires his concurrence, in the accomplishment of the divine mission of teaching and saving souls. In this sense, his power must be universal, because the mission of Holy Church is universal. so real this power, so distinct from every other, that to express it a new diadem must needs be added to the regal crown already his by inheritance; and a fresh anointing, different from the usual royal unction, must manifest in his person, superiority over all other kings, chieftainship of the Holy Empire, of the Roman Empire renewed, ennobled and limitless, as the earthly dominion assigned to Jesus Christ by the Eternal Father.
Verily this magnificent conception unveils before us the boundless Empire of the Word Incarnate, in all its wondrous plenitude! He alone possesses fully, by right of birth, by right of conquest, the universality of nations; He alone can delegate, for and by his Church, such power to kings. Who then may tell the splendor of that Christmas festival whereon Charlemagne the greatest of princes, prostrate before the Infant God, beheld his anterior glories eclipsed by the pomp of that unexpected title, whereby he was officially appointed lieutenant of the divine Child couched in the humble crib! Beside the tomb of the first of Popes, of him that was crucified by the orders of a Cæsar, Leo III in the plenitude of his sole authority, reconstituted the Empire; in Peter’s name, on Peter’s tomb, he linked once more the broken chain of the Cæsars. Henceforth, before the eyes of all nations, the Pope and the Emperor (to use the language of the papal bulls) will appear as two luminaries directing earth’s movements; the Pope, as the faithful image of the Sun of Justice; the Emperor, as deriving his light from the radiance cast on him by the Supreme Pontiff.
Too often, indeed, will parricides stand up in revolt and turn against the Church the sword that should be brandished only in her defense. But even these will only serve to demonstrate more clearly that the Papacy is verily the one source of empire. True, the day may come when German tyrants, rejected as unworthy by the Roman Pontiffs, will lay violent hands on the Eternal City, creating antipopes, with a view to the aggrandizement of their own power. But by the very fact of carrying their insolence so far as to get themselves crowned champions of Saint Peter, by these pseudo-vicars of Christ, on the very tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, will they prove that society in those days could acknowledge no title to greatness, save such as either came, or seemed to come, from the Apostolic See. The abuses and crimes, everywhere to be met with on history’s page, must not allow us Christians to forget that the value of an epoch or of an institution must, as regards God and his Church, be measured only by the progress derived thence by truth. Even though the Church do suffer from the violence of rightful or of intruded emperors, she nevertheless rejoices much to see her Spouse glorified, by the faith of nations, still recognizing how, through Christ, all power resides in her alone. Children of the Church, let us judge of the Holy Empire, as the Church, our Mother, judges of it: it was the highest expression ever given to the influence and power of the Popes. To this glorification of Christ in his Vicar did Christendom owe its thousand years of existence.
Space fails us, or gladly would we here describe in detail the gorgeous liturgical function used during the Middle Ages, in the Ordination of an Emperor. The Ordo Romanus wherein these rites are handed down to us, is full of the richest teachings clearly revealing the whole thought of the Church. The future lieutenant of Christ, kissing the feet of the Vicar of the Man-God, first made his profession in due form: he “guaranteed, promised, and swore fidelity to God and blessed Peter, pledging himself on the holy Gospels, for the rest of his life, to protect and defend, according to his skill and ability, without fraud or ill intent, the Roman Church and her Ruler, in all necessities or interests affecting the same.” Then followed the solemn examination of the faith and morals of the elect, almost word for word the same as that marked in the Pontifical at the Consecration of a Bishop. Not until the Church had thus taken sureties regarding him who was to become in her eyes, as it were, an extern bishop, was she content to proceed to the Imperial ordination. While the Apostolic Suzerain, the Pope, was being vested in pontifical attire for the celebration of the sacred Mysteries, two cardinals clad the emperor elect in amice and alb; then they presented him to the Pontiff, who made him a Clerk, and conceded to him, for the ceremony of his coronation, the use of the tunic, dalmatic, and cope, together with the pontifical shoes and the mitre. The anointing of the prince was reserved to the Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, the official consecrator of popes and emperors. But the Vicar of Jesus Christ himself gave to the new emperor the infrangible seal of his faith, namely the ring; the sword, representing that of the Lord of armies, the Most Potent One chanted in the Psalm; the globe and sceptre, images of the universal empire and of the inflexible justice of the King of kings; lastly, the crown, a sign of the glory reserved in endless ages as a reward for his fidelity, by this same Lord Jesus Christ, whose figure he had just been made. The giving of these august symbols took place during the holy Sacrifice. At the Offertory, the emperor laid aside the cope and the ensigns of his new dignity; then, clad simply in the dalmatic, he approached the altar and there fulfilled, at the Pontiff’s side, the office of Subdeacon, the Servitor, as it were, of holy Church and the official representative of the Christian people. Later on, even the stole was given him: as recently as 1530, Charles V on the day of his coronation, assisted Clement VII in quality of deacon, presenting to the Pope the paten and the Host, and offering the chalice together with him.
The Christmas Day of the year 800 witnessed not indeed the display of all this sacred pageantry; for these splendid rites reached full development only in course of centuries. Up to the last moment, Leo III had kept wholly secret the grand project conceived in his heart. But none the less solemn was this marvelous historic fact, when Rome, at the sight of the golden crown placed by the Pontiff’s hand on the brow of the new Cæsar, re-echoed the cry: “To Charles, the most pious, the ever august, the Monarch crowned by God, to the great and pacific Emperor of the Romans, life and victory!” This creation of an empire by the sole power and will of the Supreme Pontiff on such a day, and for the sole service of the interests of our Emmanuel, verily puts the finishing stroke to that which the Birth of the son of God was meant to achieve. As year by year this august Christmas festival returns, let us remember Leo the Third’s work, and so enter more and more fully into the touching antiphons of that day: “The King of Peace whom the whole earth desireth to see, hath shown his greatness. He is magnified above all the kings of the earth.”
The account of this holy Pope’s life, we here borrow from the “Proper of the city of Rome.”
Quote:Leo, the third of this name, was a Roman, having Asuppius for his father. He was brought up from infancy in the dependencies of the patriarchal Church of Lateran, and formed to all divine and ecclesiastical sciences. Becoming a monk of St. Benedict, then Cardinal Priest, he was at last, with common consent, created Sovereign Pontiff, on the very day of the death of Adrian, in the year seven hundred and ninety-five. He occupied the venerable chair of St. Peter twenty years, five months, and seventeen days.
He was in the pontifical state, just what he was before his elevation, full of benignity and of sweetness, singularly devoted to God’s holy worship, charitable to his neighbor, prudent in affairs. he was the father of the poor and of the sick, the defender of the Church, the promoter of divine worship. His zeal undertook the greatest things for Jesus Christ and the Church, patiently bearing all trials for their cause.
Being left half dead by certain impious men, his eyes plucked out and himself all covered with wounds, he was found by a remarkable miracle, perfectly cured, the next day; by his intervention the life of these parricides was spared. He conferred the Roman empire upon Charlemagne king of the Franks. He built a large hospital for pilgrims, and consecrated all his patrimony and other goods to the benefit of the poor. It is hardly credible to what a degree he lavished precious riches on the basilicas of Rome, specially that of Lateran, in the palace of which he built the celebrated triclinium that surpasses all others. At last he crowned his most holy life with a most pious death, on the day preceding the Ides of June, in the year of our Lord, eight hundred and sixteen; he was buried in the Vatican.
Commissioned by the Lion of Juda to complete his own victory, thou, O Leo, didst constitute his Kingdom and proclaim his Empire. Apostles had preached, martyrs had shed their blood, confessors had toiled and suffered, to win that great day whereon thou didst crown the labor of eight centuries; by thee, the Man-God could then rule supreme, over the social edifice, not only as Pontiff in the person of his vicar, but as Lord-paramount and King, in the person of his lieutenant, the armed defender of Holy Church, the civil head of all Christendom. Thy work lasted as long as the Eternal Father permitted the glory of his Son to shine in full splendor over the world. After a thousand years, when the divine light became too strong for their weakened and diseased eyes, men turned away from Holy Church and renounced her mighty works. They replaced God by self; the power of Christ by the sovereignty of the people; institutions sprung from centuries of toil, by instability of ephemeral chartas; bygone union, by isolation of nationalities, and within each of these, anarchy. In this dark age, every utopia of man’s wild brain is called light, and every step towards nonentity is called progress! Thus the Holy Empire is no more; like Christendom itself, it can henceforth be but a name in history: and history too must soon cease to be, for the world is verging on the final term of its destinies.
Great forever shall thy glory be, in endless ages, O thou, by whom Eternal Wisdom hath manifested the grandeur of his wondrous ways. A docile instrument in the hand of the Holy Ghost for the glorification of our Emmanuel, thy firmness was equaled only by thy gentleness; and this humble sweetness of thine attracted the eyes of the Lamb, the Ruler of the earth. Praying like him, under the stroke of treason for thy murderers, thou hadst to pass through thy day of humiliation, through a day of crushing anguish and of death agony; but therefore, was it given thee, to distribute the spoils of the strong and then for centuries, the will of the Lord to be prosperous in thy hand, according to the plan which thou didst trace.
Even in these unhappy times, so unworthy of thee, vouchsafe to bless our earth. Strengthen those whom universal apostasy has left unshaken as yet. Make them by faith cling loyally to Christ; hold them ever aloof from Liberalism, that fatal error whereby men would fain remain Christians, while actually refusing to acknowledge Christ’s kingship over all creation. What an insult to the Eternal Father is such a wild notion as this; what a misconception of the mystery of the Incarnation! O holy Pontiff, make it to be clearly understood that safety is not to be sought at the hands of lying compromise with rebels, that the time is nigh when God’s kingdom will assert itself, when the upheaving of nations against the Lord and against his Christ will ebb away into empty froth, mocked by him who dwelleth in the heavens. On that day, none may contest the origin of all power. On that day of wrathful vengeance, happy he who hath kept the oath of allegiance sworn to his King in baptism! Like the prophet of Patmos, the Faithful will easily recognize him when the heavens opening out a way before his feet, he shall come to crush the nations; for all the crowns of the whole earth shall rest upon his head, and he shall bear written upon the vesture of his Human Nature: King of kings, and Lord of Lords.
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| Dr. Peter McCullough warns about covid vaccine |
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Posted by: Scarlet - 06-11-2021, 03:38 PM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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This interview is from May 19, 2021 and has been removed from YT. However a 17 min. video can now be found on Rumble at this website: Top Doctor Warns about Covid Vaccine
Main points: - This pandemic has always been “ABOUT THE VACCINE”.
- “Stakeholders” that strongly want a “needle in every arm” are Big Pharma, White House, CDC, FDA, NIH, Gates Foundation, WHO.
- The death rate for the covid vaccine is far higher than for any other vaccine in history.
- “Never vaccinate into the middle of a pandemic”
- “85% of covid deaths were preventable with early treatment which was squashed.”
- The “dangerous spike protein” damages blood vessels and cause blood clotting.
Dr. Peter McCullough has been the world’s most prominent and vocal advocate for early outpatient treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection in order to prevent hospitalization and death. On May 19, 2021, he was interviewed about his efforts as a treating physician and researcher. From his unique vantage point, he has observed and documented a PROFOUNDLY DISTURBING POLICY RESPONSE to the pandemic — a policy response that may prove to be the greatest malpractice and malfeasance in the history of medicine and public health.
Dr. McCullough is an internist, cardiologist, epidemiologist, and Professor of Medicine at Texas A & M College of Medicine, Dallas, TX USA. Since the outset of the pandemic, Dr. McCullough has been a leader in the medical response to the COVID-19 disaster and has published “Patho-physiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection” the first synthesis of sequenced multi-drug treatment of ambulatory patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the American Journal of Medicine and subsequently updated in Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine. He has 40 peer-reviewed publications on the infection and has commented extensively on the medical response to the COVID-19 crisis in The Hill and on FOX NEWS Channel. On November 19, 2020, Dr. McCullough testified in the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and throughout 2021 in the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, Colorado General Assembly, and New Hampshire Senate concerning many aspects of the pandemic response.
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| Abp. Viganò’s considerations on the feared modification of Summorum Pontificum |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-11-2021, 10:52 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Abp. Viganò’s considerations on the feared modification of Summorum Pontificum
'Let us pray that the Divine Majesty ... will deign to enlighten the Sacred Pastors so that they desist from their purpose and indeed promote
the Tridentine Mass for the good of Holy Church and for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.'
June 10, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — On the occasion of the Philosophy Symposium dedicated to the memory of Msgr. Antonio Livi which was held in Venice on May 30 (here), I tried to identify the elements that constantly recur throughout history in the work of deception of the Evil One. In my examination (here), I focused on the fraud of the pandemic, showing how the reasons given to justify illegitimate coercive measures and no less illegitimate limitations of natural freedoms were in reality prophasis, that is, pretexts: ostensible reasons that are actually intended to conceal a malicious intent and a criminal design. The publication of Anthony Fauci’s emails (here) and the impossibility of censoring the ever more numerous voices of dissent with respect to the mainstream narrative have confirmed my analysis and allow us to hope for a blatant defeat of the supporters of the Great Reset.
In that address, you may recall, I dwelt on the fact that the Second Vatican Council was also in a certain way a Great Reset for the ecclesial body, like other historical events planned and designed in order to revolutionize the social body. Also in this case, the excuses given to legitimize liturgical reform, ecumenism, and the parliamentarization of the authority of the Sacred Pastors were not founded on good faith but on deceit and lies, in such a way so as to make us believe that we were renouncing things that were unquestionably good — the Apostolic Mass, the uniqueness of the Church as the means of salvation, the immutability of the Magisterium and the Authority of the Hierarchy — for the sake of a higher good. But as we know, not only did this higher good not come about (nor could it have), but in fact the true intent of the Council manifested itself in all its disruptive subversive value: churches were emptied, seminaries deserted, convents abandoned, authority discredited and perverted into tyranny for the sake of the wicked Pastors or rendered ineffective for the good ones. And we also know that the purpose of this reset, this devastating revolution, was from the very beginning iniquitous and malicious, despite being clothed in noble intentions in order to convince the faithful and the clergy to obey.
In 2007 Benedict XVI restored full citizenship to the venerable Tridentine liturgy, giving back to it the legitimacy that had been abusively denied it for fifty years. In his Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum he declared:
Quote:It is therefore permitted to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass following the typical edition of the Roman Missal, which was promulgated by Blessed John XXIII in 1962 and never abrogated, as an extraordinary form of the Church’s Liturgy. [...] For such a celebration with either Missal, the priest needs no permission from the Apostolic See or from his own Ordinary. (here)
In reality, the letter of the Motu Proprio and the implementing documents associated with it was never completely applied, and the cœtus fidelium who today celebrate in the Apostolic Rite continue to have to go to their Bishop to ask permission, essentially still abiding by the dictate of the Indult of the preceding Motu Proprio of John Paul II, Ecclesia Dei. The just honor in which the traditional liturgy ought to be held was tempered by its being placed on an equal level with the liturgy of the post-conciliar reform, with the former being defined as the “extraordinary form” and the latter as the “ordinary form,” as if the Bride of the Lamb could have two voices — one fully Catholic and another equivocally ecumenical — with which to speak at one moment to the Divine Majesty and at the next to the assembly of the faithful. But there is also no doubt that the liberalization of the Tridentine Mass has done much good, nourishing the spirituality of millions of people and bringing many souls closer to the Faith who, in the sterility of the reformed rite, have not found any incentive either for conversion or even less for spiritual growth.
Last year, displaying the typical behavior of the Innovators, the Holy See sent a questionnaire to the dioceses of the world in which they were asked to provide information about the implementation of Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio (here). The way in which the questions were written betrayed, once again, a second purpose, and the responses that were sent to Rome were supposed to create a basis of apparent legitimacy for imposing limitations on the Motu Proprio, if not its total abrogation. Certainly, if the author of Summorum Pontificum were still seated on the Throne, this questionnaire would have allowed the Pontiff to remind the Bishops that no priest needs to ask for permission to celebrate Mass in the ancient rite, nor may a priest be removed from ministry for doing so. But the real intention of those who wanted to consult the Ordinaries does not seem to reside in the salus animarum so much as in theological hatred against a rite that expresses with adamantine clarity the immutable Faith of the Holy Church, and which for this reason is alien to the conciliar ecclesiology, to its liturgy, and to the doctrine it presupposes and conveys. There is nothing more opposed to the so-called magisterium of Vatican II than the Tridentine liturgy: every prayer, every pericope — as liturgists would say — constitutes an affront to the delicate ears of the Innovators, every ceremony is an offense to their eyes.
Simply tolerating that there are Catholics who want to drink from the sacred sources of that rite sounds like a defeat for them, one that is bearable only if it is limited to little groups of nostalgic elderly people or eccentric aesthetes. But if the “extraordinary form” — which is such in the ordinary sense of the word — becomes the norm for thousands of families, young people, and ordinary people who consciously choose it, then it becomes a stone of scandal and must be relentlessly opposed, limited, and abolished, since there must be no counter to the reformed liturgy, no alternative to the squalor of the conciliar rites — just as there can be no voice of dissent or argued refutation against the mainstream narrative, and just as effective treatments cannot be adopted in the face of the side effects of an experimental vaccine because they would demonstrate the latter’s uselessness.
Nor can we be surprised: Those who do not come from God are intolerant of everything that even remotely recalls an era in which the Catholic Church was governed by Catholic pastors and not by unfaithful pastors who abuse their authority; an era in which the Faith was preached in its integrity to the nations and not adulterated in order to please the world; an era in which those who hungered and thirsted for Truth were nourished and refreshed by a liturgy that was earthly in form but divine in substance. And if all that until yesterday was holy and good is now condemned and made an object of scorn, then allowing any trace of it to remain is inadmissible and constitutes an intolerable affront. Because the Tridentine Mass touches chords of the soul that the Montinian rite does not even begin to approach.
Obviously, those who maneuver behind the scenes in the Vatican to eliminate the Catholic Mass see decades of work compromised in the Motu Proprio, they see a threat against the possession of so many souls whom today they keep subjugated and their tyrannical hold over the ecclesial body weakened. The same priests and bishops who, like me, have rediscovered that inestimable treasure of faith and spirituality — or which by the grace of God they have never abandoned, despite the ferocious persecution of the post-council — are not disposed to renounce it, having found in it the soul of their Priesthood and the nourishment of their supernatural life. And it is disturbing, as well as scandalous, that in the face of the good that the Tridentine Mass brings to the Church, there are those who want to ban it or limit its celebration on the basis of specious reasons.
Yet, if we place ourselves in the shoes of the Innovators, we understand how perfectly consistent this is with their distorted vision of the Church, which for them is not a perfect society instituted by God for the salvation of souls but a human society in which an authority that is corrupt and subservient to the elite it favors steers the needs of the masses for vague spirituality, denying the purpose for which Our Lord willed it, and in which the good Pastors are constrained to inaction by bureaucratic shackles which they alone obey. This impasse, this juridical dead end, means that the abuse of authority can be imposed on subjects precisely in virtue of the fact that they recognize the voice of Christ in it, even in the face of evidence of the intrinsic wickedness of the orders that are given, the motivations that determine them, and the individuals who exercise it. On the other hand, even in the civil sphere, during the pandemic, many people obeyed absurd and harmful rules because they were imposed on them by doctors, virologists, and politicians who should have had the health and well-being of citizens at heart; and many did not want to believe, not even in the face of evidence of the criminal design, that they could directly intend the death or illness of millions of people. It is what social psychologists call cognitive dissonance, which induces individuals to take refuge in a comfortable niche of irrationality rather than recognize that they are victims of a colossal fraud and therefore having to react manfully.
So let us not ask ourselves why — in the face of the multiplication of communities tied to the ancient liturgy, the flowering of vocations almost exclusively in the context of the Motu Proprio, and the increase in the frequent reception of the Sacraments and consistency of Christian life among those who follow it — there is a desire to wickedly trample an inalienable right and hinder the Apostolic Mass: The question is wrong, and the answer would be misleading.
Let us ask ourselves, rather, why notorious heretics and fornicators without morals would tolerate their errors and their deplorable way of life being placed into question by a minority of the faithful and clergy without protectors when they have the power to prevent it. At this point we understand well that this aversion cannot fail to be made explicit precisely by putting an end to the Motu Proprio, abusing a usurped and perverted authority. Even at the time of the Protestant pseudo-Reformation, tolerance towards certain liturgical customs rooted in the people was short-lived, because those devotions to the Virgin Mary, those hymns in Latin, those bells rung at the Elevation — which no longer existed — necessarily had to disappear, since they expressed a Faith that Luther’s followers had denied. And it would be absurd to hope that there could be a peaceful coexistence between the Novus and Vetus Ordo, as well as between the Catholic Mass and the Lutheran Lord’s Supper, given the ontological incompatibility between them. On closer inspection, at least the defeat of the Vetus hoped for by the supporters of the Novus is consistent with their principles, just as the defeat of the Novus by the Vetus should likewise be hoped for. They are mistaken, therefore, who believe that it is possible to hold together two opposing forms of Catholic worship in the name of a plurality of liturgical expression that is the daughter of the conciliar mentality no more and no less than it is the daughter of the hermeneutic of continuity.
The modus operandi of the Innovators emerges once again in this operation against the Motu Proprio: First some of the most fanatical opponents of the traditional liturgy call for the abrogation of Summorum Pontificum as a provocation, calling the ancient Mass “divisive.” Then the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asks the Ordinaries to respond to a questionnaire (here), the answers to which are practically pre-packaged (the Bishop’s career depends on the way he goes along with what he reports to the Holy See, because the content of his responses to the questionnaire will also be made known to the Congregation of Bishops). Then, with a nonchalant air, during a closed-door meeting with the members of the Italian Episcopate, Bergoglio says that he is concerned about seminarians “who seem good, but are rigid” (here) and the spread of the traditional liturgy, always reiterating that the conciliar liturgical reform is irreversible. Furthermore, he appoints a bitter enemy of the Vetus Ordo as Prefect of Divine Worship who will be an ally in the application of any future restrictions. Finally, we learn that Cardinals Parolin and Ouellet are among the first to desire this downsizing of the Motu Proprio (here). This obviously leads “conservative” Prelates to come scurrying in defense of the present system of the co-existence of the two forms, ordinary and extraordinary, giving Francis the opportunity to show that he is the prudent moderator of two opposing currents by moving towards “only” a limitation of Summorum Pontificum rather than its total abrogation: which — as we know — was exactly what he was aiming for from the start of his operation.
Regardless of the final outcome, the deus ex machina of this predictable play is, as always, Bergoglio, who is even ready to take credit for a gesture of clement indulgence towards conservatives as well as unloading the responsibilities for a restrictive application onto the new Prefect, Archbishop Arthur Roche, and his followers. Thus, in the event of a choral protest of the faithful and an unhinged reaction by the Prefect or other Prelates, once again Bergoglio will enjoy the clash between progressives and traditionalists, since he will then have excellent arguments to affirm that the coexistence of the two forms of the Roman Rite causes divisions in the Church and that it is thus more prudent to return to the pax montiniana, that is, the total proscription of the Mass of all time.
I exhort my Brothers in the Episcopate, Priests, and laity to strenuously defend their right to the Catholic liturgy solemnly sanctioned by the Bull Quo Primum of Saint Pius V, and by means of it to defend the Holy Church and the Papacy, which have both been exposed to discredit and ridicule by the Pastors themselves. The question of the Motu Proprio is not in the least negotiable, because it reaffirms the legitimacy of a rite that has never been abrogated nor is able to be abrogated. Furthermore, in addition to the certain damage that airing these novelties will cause to souls and to the certain advantage that will come from them to the Devil and his servants, there is also added the indecorous rudeness displayed to Benedict XVI, who is still living, by Bergoglio, who ought to know that the authority the Roman Pontiff exercises over the Church is vicarious and that the power which he holds comes to him from Our Lord Jesus Christ, the One Head of the Mystical Body. Abusing the Apostolic authority and the power of the Holy Keys for a purpose opposed to that for which they were instituted by the Lord represents an unheard-of offense against the Majesty of God, a dishonor for the Church, and a sin for which he will have to answer to the One whose Vicar he is. And whoever refuses the title of Vicar of Christ knows that by doing so the legitimacy of his authority also fails.
It is not acceptable for the supreme authority of the Church to allow itself to cancel, in a disturbing operation of cancel culture in a religious key, the inheritance it has received from its Fathers; nor is it permissible to consider as being outside of the Church those who are not prepared to accept the privation of the Mass and the Sacraments celebrated in the form that has molded almost two thousand years of Saints. The Church is not an agency in which the marketing office decides to cancel old products from the catalog and propose new ones in their stead according to customer requests. Imposing the liturgical revolution with force on priests and the faithful in the name of obedience to the Council, stripping away from them the very soul of the Christian life and replacing it with a rite that the Freemason Bugnini copied from Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer, was already painful. That abuse, partially healed by Benedict XVI with the Motu Proprio, cannot be repeated in any way now in the presence of elements that are all largely in favor of the liberalization of the ancient liturgy. If one really wanted to help the people of God in this crisis, the reformed liturgy should have been abolished, which in fifty years has caused more damage than Calvinism has done.
We do not know if the feared restrictions that the Holy See intends to make to the Motu Proprio will affect diocesan priests, or if they will also affect the Institutes whose members celebrate the ancient rite exclusively. I fear, however, as I have already had the occasion to say in the past, that it will be precisely on the latter that the demolishing action of the Innovators will be unleashed, who can perhaps tolerate the ceremonial aspects of the Tridentine liturgy but absolutely do not accept adherence to the doctrinal and ecclesiological structure that they imply, which contrasts sharply with the conciliar deviations that the Innovators want to impose without exception. This is why it is to be feared that these Institutes will be asked to make some form of submission to the conciliar liturgy, for example by making the celebration of the Novus Ordo mandatory at least occasionally, as diocesan priests must already do. In this way, whoever makes use of the Motu Proprio will be constrained not only to an implicit acceptance of the reformed liturgy but also to a public acceptance of the new rite and its doctrinal mens. And whoever celebrates the two forms of the rite will find himself ipso facto discredited above all in his consistency, passing off his liturgical choices as a merely aesthetic — I would say almost choreographic — in fact, depriving him of any sort of critical judgment towards the Montinian Mass and the mensthat gives it form: because he will find himself forced to celebrate that Mass. This is a malicious and cunning operation, in which an authority that abuses its power delegitimizes those who oppose it, on the one hand by granting the ancient rite, but on the other hand making it a merely aesthetic question and obligating an insidious bi-ritualism and an even more insidious adherence to two opposing and contrasting doctrinal approaches. But how can a priest be asked to celebrate a venerable and holy rite in which he finds perfect coherence between doctrine, ceremony, and life at one moment, and at the next a falsified rite that winks at heretics and contemptibly keeps silent about what the other proudly proclaims?
Let us pray, therefore: Let us pray that the Divine Majesty, to which we render perfect worship celebrating the venerable ancient rite, will deign to enlighten the Sacred Pastors so that they desist from their purpose and indeed promote the Tridentine Mass for the good of Holy Church and for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity. Let us invoke the Holy Patrons of the Mass — Saint Gregory the Great, Saint Pius V, and Saint Pius X in primis, and all the Saints who over the course of the centuries have celebrated the Holy Sacrifice in the form that has been handed down to us, so that we may faithfully preserve it.May their intercession before the throne of God beg for the preservation of the Mass of all time, thanks to which we are sanctified, strengthened in virtue, and able to resist the attacks of the Evil One. And if ever the sins of the men of the Church should merit for us a punishment so severe as that prophesied by Daniel, let us prepare to descend into the catacombs, offering this trial for the conversion of the Shepherds.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
9 June 2021
Feria IV infra Hebdomadam II post Octavam Pentecostes[/i]
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| June 11th - St. Barnabas, Apostle |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-11-2021, 08:11 AM - Forum: June
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June 11 – St Barnabas, Apostle
![[Image: 1803_17.jpg?resize=752%2C1024&ssl=1]](https://i0.wp.com/sensusfidelium.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1803_17.jpg?resize=752%2C1024&ssl=1)
The promulgation of the new Alliance invited all nations to sit down at the Marriage feast in the kingdom of God; since that day, the sanctifying Spirit is ever producing saints in every age and at moments which correspond most mysteriously to the deep and hidden designs of Eternal Wisdom, over the particular history of a people. Nor must we be astonished hereat: for Christian nations having, as such, their appointed part in the advancing of the kingly sway of the Man-God, this vocation imposes duties upon them and gives them rights, superior to nature’s law; the supernatural order invests them with its inherent greatness; and the Holy Ghost by means of his Elect, fosters not only their birth, but likewise their development. This wondrous working of divine Providence, as presented on history’s page, is indeed admirable; where the hidden influence of sanctity in even the frail and lowly is ever being divinely used to overrule the powerful action of the mighty, who seem, in men’s eyes, to be leading everything their own way. Now, among the saints strikingly appointed as channels of grace to nations, none are so particularly entitled to universal remembrance and gratitude as are the Apostles, for they are laid as foundation stones of the edifice of Christian society, whereof the Gospel is both the strength and the primary law. The Church is ever watchful to prevent her sons falling into a dangerous forgetfulness of this; hence no Liturgical season is without its memory of some one or other of these glorious witnesses to Christ. But from the day that the world was delivered over to become the conquest of their zeal, the mysteries of man’s salvation being all consummated, their names are more closely pressed together on the sacred records; each month of the cycle now borrows its characteristic coloring, from the brilliant triumph of some one of these.
The month of June, all aflame with the fires of Pentecost, sees the Holy Ghost setting upon its predestined foundations, the first layer of stones, in the Church’s construction; to this month, that is, belongs the honor of proclaiming the memorable names of Peter and Paul, wherein are summed up all the services and trophies of the whole Apostolic College. Peter declared the Gentiles admitted to the grace of the Gospel; Paul was named their Apostle; but still, before rendering the homage so justly due to these two leaders of the Christian people, fitting is it that nations should throng, in grateful veneration, around the sainted guide given to Paul himself, in the opening days of his apostolate, that is, around Barnabas, whose name is interpreted, the son of consolation, and by whom the convert of Damascus was presented to the terrified Church, anon so sorely tried by the violence of Saul the persecutor. The 29th of June will derive its chief radiance from the simultaneous confession of the two Princes of the Apostles, united in death, as they had been one in life. Be then honor due, first of all, to him who first knit together this fruitful union, by leading to the Head of the infant Church the future Doctor of the Gentiles. Barnabas presents himself before us, as a herald; the feast which the Church is celebrating in his honor is a prelude to the gladness which awaits us, at the end of this month so rich in light and in fruits of holiness.
Let us read his history, drawn up as it mainly is, from the Acts of the Apostles. Notwithstanding its brevity, there are, on the pages of the sacred Liturgy, few more glorious than this.
Quote:Barnabas, called also Joseph, a Levite, was born in Cyprus, and was the one designated by the apostles, together with Paul, to preach the Gospel of Christ, to the Gentiles. He having land, sold it, and brought the money to the apostles. Being sent to Antioch to preach there, he met with a great number of people already converted to the faith of Christ, the Lord, which thing filled him with much joy, and he multiplied his exhortations, that they might persevere in the faith of Christ. His word had great success, for he was looked upon by all as a good man and one filled with the Holy Ghost.
Travelling thence to Tarsus, there to seek Paul, he came with him as far as Antioch. They here passed one year with the Faithful who formed the Church of this city, laboring to instruct them in the Christian life and in faith; and here also it was, that the worshippers of Jesus Christ were first called Christians. The disciples of Paul and Barnabas aided with alms, the Christians that were in Judea; and sent these subsidies by the hands of Paul and Barnabas. Having performed this work of charity, joining unto them John, surnamed Mark, they returned to Antioch.
While Paul and Barnabas were serving the Lord in the Church of Antioch, fasting and praying with the other prophets and doctors, the Holy Ghost spoke and said: Separate Me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them. Then with fasting and prayer, they imposed hands upon them and let them depart. They went to Seleucia, and thence to Cyprus; besides this, they passed through many towns and countries preaching the gospel everywhere with much fruit, amongst all who heard them. After this Barnabas separated himself from Paul and together with John surnamed Mark, returned to Cyprus. Here, about the seventh year of the reign of Nero, on the third of the Ides of June, he joined the martyr’s crown to the dignity of an Apostle. In the reign of the Emperor Zeno, his body was discovered, in the Island of Cyprus: on his breast lay a copy of the Gospel of Saint Matthew, written by the hand of Barnabas himself.
To thee, O Barnabas, we offer the gratitude of the nations. Thou didst watch, O faithful Levite, beside the figurative sanctuary of the days of expectation, observing the coming of the Lord God, until at last the true ark, the Incarnate Word, having appeared in Sion, thou didst at once take thy place at his side, to defend and serve him, the ark of holiness, that had come to rally all nations, to give unto them the true manna, to establish amongst all a new covenant; this was to require from the sons of the Old Testament, the sacrifice of the privileges that had been theirs, since the first prevarication of the Gentiles. Though a member of the favored tribe of Levi, prompt wast thou to abandon its sacred titles which thou didst recognize to have been but limited, and to be now set aside; yea, outstepping mere precept, thou didst not hesitate to renounce all thy family possessions and give them up, together with thyself, to the Church yet in her infancy and scorned by the Synagogue. Therefore, the Holy Ghost would not be outdone in generosity; to thee he reserved the signal privilege of presenting to the Gentiles, their apostle. Saul was thy friend; blinded by the prejudices of his sect, he scorned to follow thine example; and the Faithful trembled at his very name, seeing in him their most relentless persecutor. But silently thine intercession arose from earth, and blending with that of Stephen, pleaded a strong prayer for the murderer. The hour of grace had sounded; and thou wast the first in Jerusalem, to hear of its victory; on the strength of thy testimony alone, the terrified assembly of believers opened their doors to the recent convert.
Thus appearing before the Church, as guarantee for the future Doctor of the Gentiles, to thee belonged the honor of leading him forth to the scene of his labors. Thine it was not, to be numbered among the Twelve by our Lord, yet thine authority was of a kind that almost equalled theirs. After the baptism of Cornelius, thou wast delegated, by the apostles to Antioch to direct the evangelization of the Gentiles. There Paul, the new laborer, was joined to thee; and then did the word of salvation falling from thy lips, begin to produce conversions so numerous that the Faithful were then called, for the first time, Christians, to distinguish them at once from both pagans and Jews. The emancipation of the nations was thus accomplished and Paul in the eyes of all, as also according to the language of the Holy Ghost himself, was still but thy disciple and thy client. For which reason the Divine Spirit was pleased that thou shouldst share in common with him that solemn ordination whereby he was constituted Apostle of the Gentiles. But very soon after this, the greater good of souls required that thy journeys and labors, hitherto inseparable from his, should be divided. Thine apostolate was then directed more specially to the Island of Cyprus, so abused in pagan times, by the demon of voluptuousness; there hadst thou first seen the light and now thou didst gladly devote thy sweat and even thy blood to diffusing throughout this thy native Isle, the purifying light of the Son of God.
But the Pentecostal fires burning in thy breast, urged thee ever forwards and onwards to more distant missions. Of thee it was written as of Paul: I have set thee to be the light of the Gentiles: that thou mayest be for salvation unto the uttermost part of the earth. Thus, Italy also heard thy sweet voice, redolent of the joy and consolation of the Paraclete; she beheld thy noble countenance, the serene majesty whereof had made the pagans of another land mistake thee for one of their gods, veiled under human features. Bergamo, Brescia, and other places, especially Milan, claim thee as their Father. Then, O Barnabas, from thine exalted throne, look down and ever protect the faith thou didst deposit in these spots, which, more fortunate than the fated cities of Cyprus, have remained faithful. Vouchsafe to protect the Order, so useful to the Church, which claims thy powerful patronage; may its apostolate continue to carry out thine own, and may its members deserve unto the day of doom, the high esteem in which it was held by Saint Charles Borromeo, thy glorious successor in the see of Milan. In one word, O Father of the Gentiles, extend thy solicitude to all nations, for all, without distinction, were confided to thee by the Holy Ghost, suffer them to enter into the way of light so exquisitely described in that precious Epistle which bears thy blessed name: may the Gentile world become the true temple, of which that of Moriah was but a figure.
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| The Feast of the Sacred Heart |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-11-2021, 07:46 AM - Forum: Pentecost
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INSTRUCTION ON THE FEAST OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS.
From Fr. Leonard Goffine's Explanations of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, Holydays, and Festivals throughout the Ecclesiastical Year 36th edition, 1880
ORIGIN OF THIS FESTIVAL
AFTER many devout souls had venerated the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with sincere devotion, in the solitude of quiet life, as is seen in the lives of Sts. Augustine, Bernard, Bonaventura, Thomas of Aquin, Francis de Sales, Ignatius, Clara, Gertrude, Mechtild, Catharine of Sienna, Theresa, and others, our divine Saviour willed that His heart's infinite love should be recognized by all men, and be kindled in cold hearts by a new fire of love. For this
end He made use of a feeble, obscure instrument, that all the world might know that the devotion to His loving heart, previously almost entirely unknown, was His own work.
This instrument, disregarded by the world, was one who shone before God in all the radiance of the most sublime virtues, the nun Margaret Alacoque of the order of the Visitation of Mary, at Paray, in Burgundy. In the year 1675, whilst she was one day in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, our Lord appeared to her, and pointing to His heart which He showed to her, surrounded with flames, surmounted by the cross, encircled with a crown of thorns, and pierced with a gaping wound, He said to her: "Behold this heart, which has loved mankind so much, and which receives from only ingratitude and coldness in return for its love. My desire is that you should make reparation to my heart for this ingratitude, and induce others also to make reparation."
Our Lord then designated the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi as the special day for this duty. In several subsequent apparitions our divine Lord repeated this injunction, and made the most unbounded promises in favor of all who would apply themselves to this office of reparation to His Sacred Heart. The following are some of His promises;
1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2. I will establish peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their pains and trials.
4. I will be their assured refuge in life, and especially in death.
5. I will shed abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in my Heart an infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Lukewarm souls will be rendered fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall rise rapidly to greater perfection.
9. I will bless those houses where the image of my heart shall be exposed and honored.
10. I will give to priests the gift of moving the hardest hearts.
11. Persons who propagate this devotion, shall have their names inscribed on my heart, never to be effaced from it.
Margaret obeyed, but found everywhere the greatest opposition, actual sneers and persecution, even from her Sisters in religion, until finally, with the aid of her divine spouse, she succeeded as mistress of novices, in bringing her young charges to the veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. But this did not content her zeal; although opposition continued, she strove to fulfil the command of Jesus, who assisted her by at last changing the hardened hearts of the nuns and inflaming them with the same love of His Sacred Heart. This devotion soon spread from the convent
throughout the adjoining dioceses, where confraternities in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus arose, and Pope Clement XIII. , after causing the strictest investigation to be made, commanded the Festival of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to be observed throughout the Catholic Church, on the first Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi.
ON DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
I. Object of this Devotion
BY the Sacred Heart of Jesus must be understood not the lifeless heart, separated from the body of Christ, but the tender, loving heart of the God-Man, the home of all His emotions, the fountain of all His virtues, and the most touching embodiment of His infinite love for man. The Catholic Church, in like manner, sets apart certain festivals with appropriate Mass and office, in honor of the cross, of our Lord's sacred blood and wounds that our devotion to the Redeemer may be rendered more fervent by the contemplation of these objects, for Jesus has shed His blood for us , has received wounds for us which He retained even after His resurrection, as eternal signs of His immense love for man, has taken them with Him to heaven, and will show them to us on the Judgment Day. How much more should our Saviour's Sacred Heart be the object of our devotion, since all thoughts, sentiments, and emotions of this most loving heart aim only at our salvation, and since it is always ready to receive truly penitent sinners,
to forgive them, again to turn His love to them, and make them sharers in eternal bliss.
Therefore the saints have from the first encouraged a tender devotion to this most Sacred Heart, as already mentioned. "Longinus," says St. Augustine, "opened the side of Jesus with His spear; in it I enter, and securely rest." "O how good," exclaims St. Bernard, "how lovely to take
up my abode in this Heart! In this temple, in this sanctuary, before this ark of the covenant, I will adore and praise the name of the Lord, and say with the prophet: I have found in the heart of Jesus, my king, my brother, my friend." "Believe me, O blinded men," says St. Bonaventura, "if you knew how to enter by His sacred wounds into the interior of Jesus, you would there find not only a wonderful sweetness for your soul, but even sweet repose for your body. And if there even the body finds rest, how great, think you, must be the sweetness which the spirit there enjoys, if through these wounds we become united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus!" And St. Peter Damian says: "In this adorable heart we find the weapons with which to defend ourselves against our enemies, a cure for our ills, powerful help against temptations, the sweetest consolation in suffering, and the. purest joy in this valley of tears."
St. Mechtild and St. Gertrude found themselves transported in an especial manner by the tenderness of this adorable heart, to adore it fervently, and Gertrude, enlightened by the Spirit of God, spoke these prophetic words: "The Lord retained until these late centuries the devotion to His Sacred Heart, as a last effort of His divine love." We have already seen how these words have been verified in the pious Margaret. O would that Jesus' great desire that all men might know and love His Sacred Heart be accomplished!
II. Excellence of this Devotion
It is, says the venerable P. Simon Gourdan:
1) The most sacred devotion, for by it man venerates the holiest sentiments and emotions of the Heart of Jesus, by which He has sanctified the Church, glorified His Heavenly Father, and presented Himself to us as the perfect model of the most exalted sanctity.
2) The oldest devotion of the holy Church, which, instructed by the great St. Paul, has at all times recognized the munificence of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
3) The most approved devotion, for the holy Scriptures everywhere exhort us, to renew our heart by changing our lives, rendering them contrite by true penance, inflaming them with the fire of divine love, and adorning them by the exercise of all virtue. Therefore a new heart is promised on which to remodel our Heart. That Heart can be no other than the Heart of Jesus, which is given us as an example of all virtue, and which we must imitate, if
we wish to be saved.
4) The most perfect devotion, for it is the source of all other devotions; the Heart of Jesus is that inexhaustible treasury, from which the Mother of God and all the saints have drawn their graces, their life, their virtues, and all spiritual blessings. Filled from this treasury, other servants of God have instituted different devotions.
5) The most useful devotion, for in it we have the Fountain of Life itself before our eyes, from which we can draw directly, and increase in all virtue by adoring this divine Heart, meditating on its holy desires, and seeking to imitate it.
6) The devotion most pleasing to Christ, for by it we honor God, as Christ requires, in spirit and in truth, because we adore the interior power of God, seeking to please His heart.
7) Finally; the most necessary devotion, for its object is that we become intimately connected as members with Jesus, our Head, that we live by and according to His spirit, and have only one heart and soul with Christ.
Because this devotion is of such importance, we cannot sufficiently recommend it to all who are anxious for their soul's salvation. Every person may cherish this devotion, and venerate the Heart of Jesus by himself, but there is a greater blessing when pious souls make the devotion in a
confraternity. In the year 1726 there existed more than three hundred such confraternities, and they are now spread throughout all Catholic countries. Do not delay then, O Christian soul, to practise this devotion, uniting with others to honor the divine Heart of Jesus, because in this most
Blessed Heart all men find their reconciliation, the pious their assurance, sinners their hope, the oppressed their comfort, the sick their relief, those who are fighting their strength, the dying their refuge and the elect their joy and bliss.
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The Introit of this day's Mass reads: He will have mercy according to the multitude of his mercies: for he hath not willingly afflicted nor cast off the children of men: the Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him. Allel. allel. (Lament. iii. 2. 3 25.) The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever: to generation and generation. (Ps. lxxxviii. 1.) Glory, &c.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who, glorying in the most Sacred Heart of Thy beloved Son, celebrate the singular benefits of His love toward us, may rejoice equally in their operation and their fruit. Through the same.
LESSON. (Isai. xii. 1 — 6.) I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, for thou wast angry with me; thy wrath is turned away, and thou hast comforted me. Behold God is my Saviour, I will deal confidently, and will not fear: because the Lord is my strength and my praise, and he is become my salvation. You shall draw waters with joy out of the Saviour's fountains: and you shall say in that day: Praise ye the Lord, and call upon his name: make his works known among the people: remember that his name is high. Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath done great things: show this forth in all the earth. Rejoice, and praise, O thou habitation of Sion: for great is he that is in the midst of thee, the Holy One of Israel.
EXPLANATION. This lesson is a hymn of praise for the deliverance of the Jews from the hands of their enemies; and at the same time a prophecy of the coming redemption of mankind from sin and death through Christ. Man will then draw waters with joy, says the prophet, from the Saviour's fountains. These fountains are the graces which Jesus has gained for us on the cross, but especially, as St. Augustine says, the holy Sacraments of Baptism and Communion. We should rejoice on account of these graces, particularly that the Holy One of Israel, Christ, the Son of God, dwells in the midst of Sion, that is, in the Catholic Church, in the Blessed Sacrament, to remain there to the end of the world. — Oh! let us often approach this ever-flowing fountain of all grace, the holy Eucharist, and let us draw with confidence, consolation, help, and strength from this fountain of love.
GOSPEL. (John xix. 31 — 35.) At that time, The Jews (because it was the parasceve), that the bodies might not remain upon the cross on the sabbath-day (for that was a great sabbath-day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. The soldiers, therefore, came, and they broke the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with him. But after they were come to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 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.
EXPLANATION. According to the Jewish law a criminal could not be put to death, nor could the body of one who had been executed, remain in the place of execution, on the Sabbath day ; it was for this reason that the Jews asked Pilate, the governor, to have the Body of Christ and those of the two thieves buried. Before this could be done, the bones of the crucified, according to the Roman law, had to be broken with iron clubs. The soldiers did so to the two thieves, who were yet alive; when they came to Jesus and found Him dead, they did not break His bones, but one of them, Longinus, opened the Saviour's side with a spear, as was foretold by the prophet.
Jesus permitted His most Sacred Heart to be opened to atone for and efface those sins of men which originate in the heart, as Christ Himself says: (Matt. xv. 19.) From the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies; also to show us the infinite love with which He has loved us from the beginning, so that He even shed the last drop of His heart's blood for our salvation; to make, as it were, a place of refuge in His heart for us, as St. Augustine says: "The Evangelist is very careful in his expression; he does not say, the soldiers pierced or wounded His side, but he opened it, as if to open for us the door of life, from which flow the Sacraments of the Church, without which there can be no access to the true life." As often, then, as a temptation arises, or trouble depresses us, let us take refuge in that abode, and dwell there, until the tempest is over; as says the prophet; (Is. ii. 10.) Enter thou into the rock, and hide thee in the pit. Who is the rock but Christ, and what is the pit but His wound?
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AN ACT OF RESIGNATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
[An indulgence of one hundred days is gained by saying this prayer with true contrition, before a picture of the sacred heart of Jesus , and a plenary
indulgence by saying it every day for a month, and receiving the Sacraments of Penance and Communion, and praying for the Church.]
O Jesus, most worthy of love! I gratefully offer Thee my heart in compensation for my great unfaithfulness, and consecrate myself wholly and forever to Thy service, purposing, with Thy grace, no more to offend Thee. Amen.
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| June 10th - St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-10-2021, 08:34 AM - Forum: June
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June 10 – St Margaret, Queen of Scotland
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One week has elapsed since the day on which we beheld Clotilde arise, and from yonder land of France won over to Christ by her, make known to the whole world, what is the special role of woman beside the cradle of a nation. Until Christianity came, man altogether lowered in his own person and in the social order, by the consequences of sin, was wholly ignorant of the grandeur of the divine intention, in this respect; philosophy and history never dreamed it possible that maternity could be raised to such heights. But since the Holy Ghost has been given to man to instruct him, both theoretically and practically, in all truth, examples have been multiplied whereby the wondrous vastness of the divine plan has been clearly set forth, strength and sweetness herein presiding, as ever, at the counsels of Eternal Wisdom.
Scotland had long been Christian, when Margaret was given to her, not to lead her to the baptismal font, but to establish, amidst a population so diversified and so often at mutual enmity, as was hers, that unity which makes a Nation. Ancient Caledonia defended by her lakes, mountains, and rivers, had, up to the fall of the Roman empire, kept her independence. But while herself inaccessible to invading troops, she had become the refuge of the vanquished of every race, and the proscribed of every epoch. Many an advancing wave that had paused and crouched at the feet of her granite frontiers had swept pitilessly over the Southern provinces of the great British island. Britons, Saxons, and Danes in turn, dispossessed and driven from their homes, fleeing northwards had successively crept in, and settling down, as best they might, had maintained their own customs, in juxtaposition with those of the first inhabitants, adding consequently their own mutual jealousies to the inveterate divisions of the Picts and Scots. But from the very evil itself, the remedy was to come. God, in order to show that he is master of revolutions, just as he is of the surging waves, was about to confide the execution of his merciful designs upon Scotland, to such casual instruments as a storm or a political overthrow may sometimes prove to be.
At the opening of the eleventh century, Danish invasion had driven from the English shore the sons of the Saxon king, Edmund Ironside. The crowned apostle of Hungary, Saint Stephen I, generously received the fugitives at his court, welcoming in these helpless children, the great-nephews of a Saint, namely Edward the Martyr. To the eldest, he gave his own daughter in marriage, and the second he affianced to the niece of St. Henry, Emperor of Germany. Of this last mentioned union, were born three children, Edgar, surnamed Atheling, Christian afterwards a nun, and Margaret whose feast the Church is keeping today. Ere long by the turning tide of fortune, the exile once more returned to their country and Edgar was brought to the very steps of the English throne. For in the meanwhile, the scepter had passed from the Danish princes, back again to the Saxon line, in the person of their uncle, Saint Edward the Confessor, and by very birth-right, seemed destined to pass ultimately to Edgar Atheling. But almost immediately after their return from exile, the death of St. Edward and the Norman conquest, again banished the royal Saxon family. The ship bearing these noble fugitives, bound for the continent, was driven in an opposite direction by a hurricane, and stranded on the Scottish shore. Edgar Atheling, despite the efforts of the Saxon party, was never to raise up the fallen throne of his sires; but his sister, the Saint of this day, made conquest of the land whither the storm, God’s instrument, had carried her.
Having become the wife of Malcolm III, her gentle influence softened the fierce instincts of the son of a Duncan, and triumphed over the barbarism still so dominant in those parts of the country, as to separate them utterly from the rest of the known world. The fierce highlander and haughty lowlander, reconciled at last, now followed their gentle queen along hitherto unknown paths, thrown open by her to the light of the Gospel. The strong now bent him down to meet the weak or the poor; and all alike, casting aside the rigidity of their hardy race, let themselves be captured by the alluring charms of Christian charity. Holy penitence resumed its rights over the gross instincts of mere nature. The frequentation of the sacraments once more brought into esteem, produced seasonable fruits. Everywhere, whether in Church or in state, abuses vanished. The whole kingdom became one family, whereof Margaret was called the Mother; for Scotland was born by her to true civilization. David I (inscribed like his mother in the catalogue of Saints) completed the work begun by her; and another child of Margaret’s, alike worthy of her, Matilda of Scotland, surnamed the “good Queen Maude,” was married to Henry I of England; and thus, an end was put on the English soil, to the persistent rivalries of victors and vanquished, by this admixture of Saxon blood with the Norman race.
The following are the words given in the Liturgy, concerning Saint Margaret:
Quote:Margaret, Queen of Scots, was most noble by birth, uniting in herself, from her father the blood of the kings of England, and from her mother the blood of the Cæsars, but her greatest nobility was in her brave Christian life. She was born in Hungary, where her father was then an exile, and had passed a highly religious childhood, when her uncle Edward the holy King of England, recalled him to the royal prerogatives of her ancestors, and she came to England with him. A few years afterwards, upon the ruin of her family, she was escaping from England by sea, when the violence of the weather, or to speak more truly, the Providence of God, caused the ship to be driven upon the coast of Scotland. There her extraordinary graces of mind and of body so attracted king Malcolm III, that by the wish of his mother, he took her to wife; and of Scotland she deserved exceedingly well, during the thirty years of her reign, by the holiness of her life and the abundance of her works of mercy.
In the midst of regal delicacies, she afflicted her body with hardships and watchings, being used to spend great part of the night in earnest prayer. Besides other fasts which she imposed upon herself, it was her custom to observe one of forty days before Christmas; concerning which fast she was so rigid, that she would not relax it even under sharp suffering. She took great delight in the public worship of God, and founded or renewed a number of churches and convents which she enriched at great cost with sacred furniture. Her healthy example drew the king, her husband, to habits of sobriety and to the imitation of her in her good works. She educated all her children in so holy a manner, and with such happy success, that several of them, like her own mother Agatha and her sister Christina, embraced a most holy course of life. The happiness of the whole kingdom was the object for which she constantly strove, and she successfully rooted out all the vices which had stealthily crept in, and established among the people a standard of living worthy of Christians.
This most remarkable feature of her life was the tenderness of her charity towards her neighbor, especially the needy. Of these she would not only order crowds to be relieved, but was accustomed to give dinner to three hundred of them every day, treating them with the tenderness of a mother, holding it a sacred privilege to wait upon them on her knees, like a handmaid; washing their feet with her own royal hands, and even pressing her lips to their sores, with tender kisses. To meet the expenses of her charity, she sold not only her queenly raiment and her precious jewels, but more than once wholly exhausted her treasury. Purified by grievous suffering which she bore with marvellous patience during an illness of six months, she resigned her soul into the hands of her Creator, upon the fourth of the Ides of June. At the moment of death, the bystanders saw her face, till then pale and worn with long sickness, flush again with a beauty to which it had become disused. After her death, she became illustrious on account of great signs and prodigies. By the authority of Pope Clement X, she was chosen patroness of Scotland, and she is honored most religiously throughout the whole world, with the usual cultus.
We hail thee, O Queen, truly worthy of the praises lavished upon thee by posterity, among the most illustrious of sovereigns! Power, in thy hands, became an instrument of rescue for an entire population. Thine earthly passage marks the meridian of true light for Scotland. Yesterday, holy Church commemorated in her Martyrology, him who was thy precursor in this far-off land, Colum-kille, who leaving Ireland, in the sixth century, had borne the faith thither. But Christianity crippled in its soarings, by diverse combined circumstances, could produce scarcely any of its civilizing effects on the then inhabitants of the land. Only a Mother could perfect the supernatural education of the nation. The Holy Ghost who had chosen thee, O Margaret, for the task, prepared thy maternity in the midst of tribulation and anxiety: thus had he acted in the case of Clotilde; thus does he ever act in the case of mothers. How mysterious and hidden did not the ways of Eternal Wisdom seem, as realized in thy person! Thy birth in exile, far from the land of thy sires; thy return home; then fresh misfortunes; then the tempest at sea; and at last, thy being cast despoiled of everything, upon the crags of an unknown coast; what a list of disasters, and who among the worldly wise would ever have dreamed that herein was the direct course of a merciful Providence, to make the combined violence of men and the elements, serve the sweet purpose of His designs in thy regard! Yet so it was; and this was the very way thou wast moulded into the valiant woman, raised in all thy loftiness above the deceits of this present life, and wholly fixed on God, the one supreme Good, alone untouched by earth’s revolutions.
Far from becoming either soured or dried up by suffering, thy heart firmly anchored, beyond the influence of this world’s ebb and flow, on unshaken and Eternal Love, was ever up to the mark, in foresight and in devotedness, such as was needed to hold thee always at the height of the mission destined for thee. Wherefore, thou wast indeed that treasure worthy of being sought from the uttermost coasts; that merchant ship bringing bread from afar, and all good things to the favored shore on which she is cast. Yea, fortunate indeed were thy land of adoption, had she never forgotten thy teaching and example! Happy thy descendants, had they ever remembered that the blood of saints flowed in their veins! Yet, worthy of thee in death was at least the last Queen of Scots, as she bowed beneath the heads-man’s axe, a brow faithful to her baptism up to her last breath. But, alas, the unworthy son of Mary Stuart, by a policy as false as it was sacrilegious, abandoned at once both the Church and his own mother. Thenceforth heresy blighted the noble stem whence so many kings had sprung; and this at the very moment when England and Scotland were first united under one scepter’s sway! Nor may the treason of a James I, be redeemed by the fidelity of a second James, to the faith of his fathers! O Margaret, thy throne is firmly fixed forever in the eternal kingdom; but abandon not thine own England, the land of thy sires, nor Scotland still more thine own, of which Holy Church has declared thee patroness. The Apostle Andrew shares with thee the rights of patronage: in concert with him, then, preserve those who have been steadfast in fidelity, multiply converts to the ancient faith, and prepare the way for a speedy gathering of the whole flock into the fold of the one Shepherd.
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| Biden, Pope Francis may meet in Rome ahead of US bishops’ debate on Communion for pro-abortion polit |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-09-2021, 12:47 PM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Biden, Pope Francis may meet in Rome ahead of US bishops’ debate on Communion for pro-abortion politicians
The get-together and details about the discussion have yet to be confirmed by the Vatican.
Former Vice President and ardent abortion supporter Joe Biden and Pope Francis during the latter's visit to Washington, D.C. in September 2015.Evy Mages/Getty Images
June 8, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) –President Joe Biden will make his first international trip to Europe for a number of political liaisons starting June 10, according to the White House, and Vatican sources hinted that he may stop in Rome to meet with Pope Francis on June 15.
The meeting would come just one day before American bishops are set to debate the censure of openly pro-abortion politicians like Biden who claim to be Catholic, including the possibility of being denied Holy Communion.
Biden will travel to Europe to attend a host of summits with world leaders throughout June, beginning with the G7 summit on Britain’s picturesque Cornish coast alongside six of the wealthiest nation’s leaders to discuss climate change and coronavirus-related issues. Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a call to his fellow G7 members ahead of the summit to “vaccinate the entire world against coronavirus by the end of 2022,” according to a June 6 press release.
After the summit closes June 13, Biden will make his way to Brussels on June 14 to attend the NATO summit before heading to Geneva on June 16 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, CNA reported. Before meeting Putin, it is expected that Biden will stop in Rome to be hosted by Pope Francis on June 15. A meeting is not confirmed at this time or have any details been released about what might be discussed.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will meet from June 16 to 18 in their biannual General Assembly, held virtually for only the second time in its history.
Part of the discussion at the assembly will focus on the approval of a document on “Eucharistic coherence,” Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, who also serves as the president of the USCCB, confirmed in a May 22 letter.
The letter outlines the scope of the proposed teaching document as “how best to help people to understand the beauty and mystery of the Eucharist as the center of their Christian lives,” Gomez wrote.
More specifically, the document proposes to address the worthiness of receiving Holy Communion for Catholics in public office. Such politicians, if they openly dissent from Catholic teaching in a grave matter like abortion would face strict ecclesiastical penalties, including exclusion from the reception of Holy Communion, in line with the Catholic Code of Canon Law.
The approval of the document during the assembly would prompt the USCCB’s doctrine committee to develop a formal text. “From there, the Conference’s usual process of consultation, modification, and amendment will take place as the document is presented for consideration at a future Plenary Assembly,” Gomez’s May 22 letter laid out.
Canon 915 states that Catholics who are “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.” According to a 2004 memo issued to the U.S. bishops by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith who is now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a Catholic politician who is “consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws” manifests “formal cooperation” with grave sin and must be “denied” the Eucharist.
Gomez explained in his letter that “In light of recent surveys, it is clear that there is a lack of understanding among many Catholics about the nature and meaning of the Eucharist. This teaching document will address the fundamental doctrines concerning the Eucharist that the Church, as a whole, needs to retrieve and revive.”
A section addressing Eucharistic reception, titled “Eucharistic consistency,” will purportedly tackle “the nature of eucharistic communion and the problem of serious sin.” The May 22 letter to the bishops noted that “a person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself (1 Cor 11:28-29).”
Opposing any debate on the exclusion of Catholics like Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving the Eucharist are Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., and 65 other prelates within the American hierarchy who have attempted to stall proceedings, going so far as to sign a letter urging their brother bishops to disregard any notion of publicly correcting anti-life, anti-family Catholic politicians.
Gomez, however, has insisted that the proposal receives a full discussion, as originally planned.
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