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| Fr. Demaris [1801]: Catholics Without a Priest |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-23-2020, 08:47 PM - Forum: When there is No Priest
- Replies (1)
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Catholics Without a Priest - God's Providence Will Provide
by
Fr. Demaris
Professor of Theology Missionary of St. Joseph, at Lyon, France
1801
Editor's Preface
During the French Revolution very many Bishops and priests were martyred for their faith as were many outstanding laymen also martyred. Church property was seized by the Masonic government. That left the people without their priests and without a place to go to Mass and receive the sacraments. It was during that period that a Father Demaris wrote the following letter to the concerned Catholics of his day. At the present time (the year 2004), the Church is in a situation which is EXACTLY parallel to the time of Fr. Demaris. If he were writing this letter today, he would in all probability write exactly the same words. Hence, Fr. Demaris’ letter is given below in its entirety. Read it with an eye to history and an eye to the present. May it bring you courage and consolation.
Letter from Fr. Demaris to Catholics Who Have Been Deprived of a Priest
Dear Children,
1. In the midst of human vicissitudes and the havoc of shock to the feeling, you voice your fears to your Father and ask for a rule of conduct. I’m going to show you and try to instill into your souls the consolation you need.
2. Jesus Christ, the Model of Christians, teaches us by his conduct, what we must do in the painful situation in which we find ourselves, and St. Luke tells us (Chapter 13:31) that some Pharisees, coming to Our Lord, said “Go away from here, Herod wants to have you put to death.” He answered, ‘Go tell that fox that I have yet to chase out demons and give health to the sick, today and tomorrow and the third day my life shall be finished. Anyway, I must carry on today and tomorrow and the next day and a prophet must die only at Jerusalem.”
3. You are frightened, my children, at what you see: all that you hear is frightening, but be consoled that it is the will of God being accomplished. Your days are numbered. His Providence watches over us.
4. Cherish those men who appear to you as savages. They are the means which Heaven uses in its plans, and like a tempestuous sea, they will not pass the prescribed line against the countering and menacing waves. The stormy turbulence of revolution which strikes right and left, and the sounds which alarm you are the threats of Herod. Let it not deter you from good works, nor change your trust, nor wither the shower of virtues which tie you to Jesus Christ. He is your model, The threats of Herod do not change the course of his destiny.
5. I know you can be deprived of your freedom that one can even seek to kill you. I would say to them what St. Peter said to the first faithful, What pleases God is that with a view to pleasing Him, we should endure all the pain and suffering given to us unjustly. What glory would you have if it were for your sins you endured maltreatment? But if in doing good, you suffer with patience that is pleasing to God. For this is why you have been called, since Jesus Christ has suffered for us, leaving you an example to follow ... He, who had committed no sin; Whose mouth no wrong had spoken: When heaped with curses gave none in return; when ill-treated made no threats, but gave Himself into the hands of one who judged Him unjustly.” (1 Peter 2: 19-23).
6. The disciples of Jesus Christ in their fidelity to God are faithful to their country and full of submission and respect for all authority - adoring the will of God, they must not coward-like flee persecution. When one loves the Cross, one is fearless to kiss it and even enjoy death. It is necessary for our intimate union with Jesus Christ. It could happen any instant but it is not always so meritorious or glorious. If God does not call you to it, you shall be like those illustrious confessors of who St. Cyprian said, That without dying by the executioner, they have gained the merits of martyrdom, because they were prepared for it.
7. The conduct of St. Paul mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, tells us how one must model oneself on Jesus Christ. “Going to Jerusalem, he learnt at Caesarea that he would be persecuted there. The faithful besought him to avoid going, but he believed himself called to be crucified with Jesus Christ if such was His wish. His only reply to them was, “Stop softening my heart with your tears. I tell you, I am prepared to suffer at Jerusalem, not only prison, but even death for Jesus Christ.”
8. There, my children, such must be your dispositions. The shield of faith must arm you, hope must sustain you and charity guide you in everything. If, in all and always we must be simple as the doves and prudent as the serpents. I will recall for you here a maxim of St. Cyprian which in these times must be the rule of your faith and piety: “Do not seek too much,” said this illustrious martyr, the chance of a fight, and do not dodge it either. Let us await God’s command, and let us hope for His mercy alone. If God asks of us a humble confession rather than a fierce protestation, then humility is our greatest strength.”
9. This saying invites us to meditate on the strength, the patience and the joy with which the saints suffered. Look at what St. Paul said, and you will be convinced that when one is animated by faith, troubles only afflict us outside and are but an instrument of battle which victory crowns. This consoling truth can only be appreciated by the righteous, and do not be surprised if in our own time, we see that St. Cyprian saw in his - that most of the faithful succumbed.
10. To love God and fear Him alone, such is the lot of a small number of the elect. It is this love and this fear which makes martyrs by detaching the faithful from the world and attaching them to God and His holy law. To support this love and this fear, in your hearts, watch and pray. Increase your good works and join to that the edifying act of which the first faithful have given us an example. Mix with followers of the faith, and then glorify the Lord as did the first Christians whom we retrace in the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.
11. This practice will be much more salutary seeing that you are deprived of ministers of the Lord who nourished your souls with the bread of the word. You weep for these men precious to your piety. I appreciate all your loss. You feel lonely by yourselves, but could not this loneliness be salutary to you in the eyes of faith? It is by faith that the faithful are united in probing this truth, we find that the absence of the body does not break this unity, since it does not break the ties of faith, but rather augments it by depriving it of all felling.
12. If you were united by those ties to the ministers of the Lord whom you regret, console yourselves; their absence purifies and enlivens the love which united us. Faith gives us eyes so piercing that we can see them wherever they are, when they are at the ends of the earth, and when death has separated them from the world. Nothing is far away in faith. It plumbs the depths of the earth as the heights of the heavens. Faith is beyond the senses, and its empire beyond the power of men. Who can prevent us loving whom we wish? Who can steal from us memory? Who can prevent us from presenting to God those we love, and asking Him for our daily bread, by prayers in union with those whom we love? It is not enough, my children, to console you on the absence of the Lord’s ministers and to dry the tears you shed on their chains. This loss deprives you of sacraments and spiritual consolation; your piety takes flight; it sees itself alone. However, through your desolation, never forget that God is your Father, and if He permits your deprivation of the dispensation of the mysteries, that does not mean that He shuts off the means of His graces and mercies. I am going to offer them to you as the only source to which you can possibly go for purification. Read what I write with the same intention that I have in writing them. Seek nothing but the truth, and our salvation is self-denial, in our love for God and a submission to His holy will.
Sacraments
13. You know of the efficacy of the sacraments; you know of the obligation imposed on you to have recourse to the sacrament of Penance to cleanse us of our sins. But to profit from these channels of mercy, it requires ministers of the Lord. In our position without worship, without altar, without sacrifice, without priests, we only see Heaven and no longer have mediators among men. Let this abandonment not deject us! We offer faith to Jesus Christ our Immortal Mediator. He reads our hearts. He understands our desires. He will crown our faithfulness. We are in the eyes of His all-powerful mercy. The sick one of eighty-eight years of age, whom He is said to have cured, not to get someone to put him in the bath, but to take up his bed and walk. If life’s events change the position of the faithful, the events change our obligations. Once upon a time we were the servants who received five talents, we had the peaceful exercise of our religion. Today, we have but one talent - our heart. Let us make it fruitful and our recompense will be equal to that of five. God is just. He does not ask of us the impossible. Respectful to the Divine and Ecclesiastical laws which recall us to the sacrament of Penance, I must tell you, that in these circumstances, these laws do not oblige. Listen to what I tell you. It is essential for your learning and consolation that you should know these circumstances, in order to not accept your own mind for that of God’s. The circumstances where these laws do not oblige, are those where Gods Will manifests itself to obtain Our salvation without the intermediary of man. God needs nobody but Himself to save us when He so desires. He is the source of life, and He gives to everyone the ordinary means that He has provided to effect our salvation by extraordinary means that His mercy dispenses us according to our needs. He is a loving Father Who by ineffable means helps His children, when believing themselves abandoned, they seek Him and yearn for Him. If in the course of our lives, we had in the least neglected the means which God and His Church had provided for our sanctification, we would have been ungrateful children, but if we were to believe that in the extraordinary circumstances we could not do without even greater means, we would be forgetting and insulting the Divine Wisdom Who puts us to the test, and Who, in wishing us to be deprived of it, makes up to us with His Spirit.
Rule-Of-Conduct
14. To show you, my children, your exact rule of conduct, I am going to apply to your situation, the principles of faith, and some examples of the history of religion which should develop all the senses and console you in the use you are able to make of them. It is of faith, the first and most necessary of all sacraments, Baptism! It is the doorway to salvation and eternal life. However, the desire, the wish for Baptism suffices in certain cases. Catechumens who were surprised by persecution, only received it in blood which they spilt for the faith. They found the grace of all the sacraments in the free possession of their faith, and they were received into the Church by the Holy Ghost, Who is the tie which unites all the members to the Head. It was thus that the martyrs saved themselves, their blood serving as Baptism (the Holy Innocents). It will be thus that you will be saved. Baptism of Desire is for all those who, instructed in our mysteries, shall desire, according to their faith, to receive them. Such is the law of the Church, founded on what St. Peter said that one cannot refuse the water of Baptism to those who have received the Holy Ghost. When one has the spirit of Jesus Christ, one cannot be separated from Jesus Christ. When we are persecuted for love of Him, deprived of all help, heaped with captives chains, when we are led to the scaffold, we then have all the sacraments in the Cross. This instrument of our redemption embraces all that is necessary for our salvation. The tradition and history of the better days of the Church, confirm this dogmatic truth. The faithful who desired the sacraments, the confessors and martyrs were saved without the sacraments since they could not receive them. From that it is simple for us to conclude that no sacrament is necessary when it is impossible to receive it, and this conclusion is the belief of the Church ... St. Ambrose regarded the Pious Emperor Valentinian as a saint, although he died without the Baptism of water although he desired to do so, but which he had not been able to receive. “It is the desire and the will which saves us in this case.’ Said the doctor of the Church, “He who does not receive the sacraments from the hand of men, receives them from God who is not baptized by his piety and desire, is baptized by Jesus Christ.”
15. What this great man said of Baptism, let us say of all the sacraments, of all the ceremonies, and all the prayers that we can be deprived of at the present time. He who is unable to go to confession to a priest, but who, having all the necessary dispositions for the sacrament, the desire, and in form the most firm and constant wish, hears Jesus Christ Who, touched and witnessed to his faith, says to him or her what He once said to the sinning women, ‘Go, it is forgiven because you have loved much.” St. Leo said that love of justice contains in itself all apostolic authority, and in that he has expressed the belief of the Church.
Confession
16. The application of this maxim has place for all, like ourselves, who are deprived of apostolic ministry by persecution which removes or incarcerates all true ministers of Jesus Christ worthy of the faith and piety of the faithful. It has place above all if we are stricken with persecution; we suffer then for justice. The Cross of Christ leaves no blemish when embraced and carried as it should be. Here, instead of reasoning, let us listen to the language of the saints. The confessors and martyrs of Africa, writing to St. Cyprian, said boldly that one renewed ones conscience pure and spotless in the courts when one had confessed the name of Jesus Christ. They did not say that one went there with a pure conscience. Nothing silences scruples like the Cross. Surrounded by drastic measures which are the tests of saints if we cannot confess our sins to priests confess them to God. I feel my children, that your worry and scruples are vanishing and that your faith and love of the Cross increasing. Say to yourselves, and by your conduct say to all who see you, what St. Paul said: “Who can separate me from the love of Jesus Christ? Shall it be tribulation, hunger, nakedness, etc.” (Romans 8) St. Paul then, was in your position, and he did not say that any minister of the Lord, where he was able to find one, would be able to separate him from Jesus Christ and change his love for Him. He knew that, robbed of all human help and deprived of an intermediary between himself and Heaven, he found in his love, his zeal for the gospel and in the Cross, all the sacraments are means of salvation, necessarily.
17. From what I have just said, it is easy for you to see a great truth, proper to your consolation and to give you courage. It is that your conduct is a true confession before God and before men. If confession must precede absolution, your conduct here, precedes the graces of holiness and Justice which God gives you and is confession, public and continuous. Confession is necessary,’ said St. Augustine, because it embraces the condemnation of sin.” Here, we condemn it in a manner so public and so solemnly, that is known by all, and this condemnation is why we cannot go to a priest; is it not more satisfactory and edifying? The secret condemnation of our sins to a priest costs us little, while this which we make today is supported by the general sacrifice of our possessions, of our liberty, or our rest, of our reputation and perhaps even our life! The confession we would be making to the priest would only benefit ourselves, while that which we presently make is useful to our brothers and can serve all the Church. God confers on us, unworthy as we are, the grace of wanting to use us to show that it is an enormous crime to offend against truth and justice, and our voice shall be much more intelligible when we suffer greater evils with more patience. Our example tells the faithful that there is more good than one thinks in doing what is the truth, which is the most noble confession, and the most necessary in these circumstances. We do not confess our sins in secret, we confess the truth in public. We are persecuted, the truth is not captive, and we have this consolation in the hope that we suffer. That we will not hold back God’s truth and justice, as the apostle of the nations says, and that we teach our brothers not to hold it back.
18. Finally, if we do not confess our sins, the Church confesses them for us. Such are the admirable rules of Providence, which allows these trials to make us obtain merit and make us reflect seriously on the use we have made of the sacraments. The habit and ease that we had for confession often made us lukewarm. Instead of as at present, deprived of a confessor, one turns in on oneself, and the fervor increases. Let us look at this privation as a fast for our souls and a preparation to receive the bread of penance which, greatly desired, will become a more salutary nourishment. Strive to banish from our conduct, which is our confession before men and our accusation before God, all the faults which might have crept into our ordinary confessions; above all, aim for interior humility. What I have said is more than sufficient. However, I am not sure that I have been able to tranquilize you on the anxieties and scruples which are conjured up in a soul which has to judge itself, and to follow its own directions. I sense, my children, all the importance of your solicitude, but when one trusts in God, one must not do it by halves, as this would show lack of confidence, looking at the extraordinary means by which God calls and keeps His elected in justice. You found in the wisdom, maturity and experience of ministers of the Lord, advice and wise practices for avoiding sin, to do good and gain in virtue. All that was not of a sacramental character, but of private enlightenment. A virtuous, zealous, enlightened, charitable friend, could on this point be your judge and guide. Pious persons did not go the tribunal of penance only for instruction and enlightenment. They opened their hearts to illustrious people by their holiness in their intimate discussions. Do the same, but let the most discreet charity reign in these mutual interchanges of your souls, of your wills and desires. God will bless them, and you will find there the guidance you need. If this means is not open to you, rely on the Mercy of God. He will not abandon you. His spirit itself will speak to your hearts by holy inspirations which will inflame and direct them towards the high objectives of your destiny.
19. You are finding me concise on this subject, your desires go well beyond, but have patience and the rest will thoroughly answer your expectations. One cannot say everything at once, especially on such a delicate matter which demands the greatest exactitude. I am going to continue talking to you as I talk to myself. Removed from the resources of the sanctuary, and deprived of all exercise of the priesthood, there remains no mediator for us, save Jesus Christ. It is to Him we must go for our needs. Before His Supreme Majesty we must bluntly tear the veil off our consciences, and in the search of good and bad that we shall have done. Thank Him for His graces; confess our sins and ask pardon and to show us the direction of His minister, whenever we are able to do so. There, my children, is what I call confessing to God! In such a confession, well made, God Himself will absolve us.
20. It is the Gospel which teaches this to us, in giving us the example of the publican, who, humiliating himself before God, went away justified; since the best sign of absolution is justice, which cannot be tied, because it unties. So in the total isolation in which we find ourselves, that is what we must do. Holy Scripture here outlines our duties. All which attaches to God is holy. When we suffer for the truth, our sufferings are those of Jesus Christ, Who honors us then with a special character of resemblance to Him with His Cross. This grace is the greatest happiness which could possibly happen to a mortal in this life. It is thus in all painful situations which deprive us of the sacraments. The carrying of the cross like a Christian is the source of the remission of our sins; such as once carried by Jesus Christ; it was for the sins of the whole human race. To doubt this truth is to wound the Crucified Savior. It is to confess that one does not realize deeply enough, the virtue and merits of the cross. Tell me, would it be possible that the Good Thief received on the cross the forgiveness of all his sins, and the faithful one who gives up everything for his God should not be forgiven his? The Holy Fathers observed that the thief was a thief right to the cross to show he was faithful; what they must hope for from this cross when they embrace it, and remain attached to it for justice and truth. Jesus ending His sufferings entered Heaven by the Cross. To be sanctified by the cross, our actions must reflect the virtues of Jesus. It is not sufficient in these times, that animated with His love, like St. John, you rest your head on His breast. You must serve Him with firmness and constancy, on Calvary and on the cross. There, in confessing to God, if your confession is not crowned by the imposition of the hands of the priest, it will be by the imposition of the hands of Jesus Christ. See those adorable hands which appeared so heavy by nature, and which are so light to those who love Him. They are spread over you from morning to night, to heap you with all sorts of blessings, if you do not reject Him yourselves. There is no blessing like that of Jesus Crucified, when He blesses His children from the Cross.
21. The sacrament of Penance is for us at this moment like the well of Jacob, whose water was pure and salutary, but the well is deep. Without assistance we are unable to make entry. That is the picture of our position. Look at the action of our persecutors as a punishment for our sins. It is certain that if we could approach the well with faith, we would find Jesus there talking to the Samaritan woman. But be not discouraged, let us go down in the valley of Bethulie where we will find several springs which are not guarded, where we can leisurely quench our thirst. Let Jesus Christ live in our heart and His Holy Spirit inflame it, and we will find for ourselves the spring of living water which gives life and makes up for Jacob’s well. As Sovereign Pontiff, Jesus Christ Himself, does, in an ineffable manner in the confession which we make to God, that which men cannot take away. So carrying Jesus in us, Who looks after us continually, we can do it any time, any place and in any disposition. It is something worthy of admiration and recognition to see that what the world does to us to drive us away from Him, only brings us closer. Confession must not be only a remedy for past sins, but must be a preservative from sins to come. If we seriously reflect on this double efficacy of the sacrament of penance, we are able to have much to humiliate us and to bewail, and we shall be so much better founded in it, that our advancement towards virtue shall have been slower, and that we shall be founded the same, still, before and after confession. We are able now to repair the faults, which come from too great a trust in absolution and that one did not examine thoroughly enough ones weaknesses. Obliged to bewail now before God, the faithful soul considers all its deformities. And there at the feet of Our Savior, stricken with grief of repentance, it remains there silent, only speaking with tears as did the sinning woman of the Gospel. Seeing on the one hand all her wretchedness and on the other, the goodness of God, she prostrated herself before His Majesty until her sins were cleansed by one of His looks. That is how the Divine Light enlightens a contrite and humble heart, right to the particles which can darken it. Let this confession to God be for you a short daily practice, but fervent, and that from time to time you do it from one epoch to another as you have been doing it daily. The first fruit you will draw from it, apart from the remission of your sins, will be to learn to know yourself and to know God, and the second will be, to be ever ready to present yourself to a priest, if you are able, enriched in character by the mercy of the Lord. I think I have said all that I should have, my children, on your actions during privation of the sacrament of Penance. I am going to discuss the privation of that of the Eucharist and after that all those things you mentioned in your letter.
The Holy Eucharist
22. The Holy Eucharist had for you many joys and advantages when you were able to participate in this Sacrament of Love, but now that you are deprived of it for being defenders of the truth and justice, your advantages are the same. For who would have dared approach this fearsome table if Jesus Christ had not given us a precept, and if the Church, which desires that we fortify ourselves with this Bread of Life, had not invited us to eat by the voice of its ministers, who re-clothed us with a nuptial dress. All was obedience, but if we compare obedience by that which we are deprived of, with that which led us there, it will be easy to judge the merit. Abraham obeyed in immolating his son, and in not immolating him, but his obedience was greater when he took the sword in his hand than when he returned it to its scabbard. We are obedient in going to Communion, but in holding ourselves from the sacrifice we are immolating Ourselves. Quenched of the thirst of justice and deprived of the Blood of the Lamb which alone can slake it, we sacrifice our own liking as much as it is in us to do. The sacrifice of Abraham was for an instant, and an angel stopped the knife, ours is daily, renewing itself everyday, every time that we adore with submission the Hand of God which drives us away from His altars, and this sacrifice is voluntary. It is to be advantageously deprived of the Eucharist, to raise the standard of the Cross for the cause of Christ and the Glory of His Church. Observe, my children, that Jesus, after having given His Body, found no difficulty in dying for us. There is the action of a Christian in the persecutions; the cross follows on from the Eucharist. Let not the love for the Eucharist drive us away from the cross. It is to arise and make glorious advance in the grace of the gospel, to go out from the Cenacle, to go to Calvary. Yes, I have no fear in saying it. When the storm of the malice of men roars against truth and justice, it is more advantageous to the faithful to suffer for Christ than to participate in His Body by Communion. I seem to hear the Savior saying to us, Do not be afraid to be separated from My table for the confession of My Name: it is a grace I give you, which is very rare. Repair by this humiliating deprivation which glorifies Me, all the Communions which dishonor me. Feel this grace. You can do nothing for me, and I put into your hands a means of doing what I have done for you, and to return to Me with magnificence, that which I have given you in the greatest measure. I have given you My Body, and you give it back to Me. since you are separated from It in My service. You give back the truth which you have received from My love. I could not have given you anything greater. Your gratitude matches that; the grace I have given you - the greatest of the Gifts I made to you. Console yourselves if I do not call upon you to pour out your blood like the martyrs; there is mine to make up for it. Every time that you are prevented from drinking It, I regard it the same as if you had spilt yours; and Mine is more precious.”
23. So that is how we find the Eucharist, even during the deprivation of the Eucharist. From another viewpoint, who is able to separate us from Christ and His Church in Communion in approaching its altars by faith in a much more efficacious manner since it is spiritual and further from the senses. It is what I call communicating spiritually in uniting oneself with the faithful who are able to do it in different places on earth. You were familiar with this sort of Communion in the times when you were able to go to the Holy Table. You knew the advantages and the manner of it, so I shall not discuss it with you, but I am going to show you what Holy Scripture and the annals of the Church offer in reflections on the deprivation of the Mass, and the necessity of continual sacrifice for the faithful in times of persecution.
24. Give particular attention, my children, to the principles I am giving to recall. They are for your edification. Nothing happens without the Will of God! Whether we have a worship which allows us to assist at Mass, or that we be deprived of it, let us submit to His Holy Will, but in all circumstances let us be worthy. The worship which we owe to Christ depends on the assistance which He gives us and the necessity we have of His help. This worship outlines for us our duties as isolated faithful just as it was outlined for us before, in the public exercise of our religion. As children of God, according to the witness of Sts. Peter and John, we participated in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ to offer prayers and promises. If we are not entitled to sacrifice on visible altars, we are not without offering, since we can offer it in worship by our love in sacrificing Christ ourselves to His Father on the invisible altar of our hearts. Faithful to this principle, we shall gather all the graces that we would have been able to gather had we been able to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Charity unites us to all the faithful of the universe who offer this Divine Sacrifice, or who assist at it. If we lack a material altar and sensible species, there are no longer any in heaven where Jesus Christ is offered in the most perfect manner. Yes, my children, the faithful who are without priest, offer their sacrifices without temple, without minister and without anything sensible. It needs only Jesus Christ to offer it. ‘For the sacrifice of the heart, where the Victim must be consumed by the fire of love for the Holy Ghost, it requires to be united to Jesus Christ,” said St. Clement of Alexandria, ‘by words, by deeds and by heart. We are united to Him by words when they are true, by our actions when they are just, by our hearts when charity inflames them. So, let us speak the truth, follow nothing but the truth, love nothing but the truth. Then we shall render to God the glory which is His due. When we are true in our words, just in our actions, submit to God in our desires and thoughts, in speaking for Him alone, in praising Him for His gifts, in humiliating ourselves for our sins, we offer God an agreeable sacrifice, and which cannot be taken from us. It remains for me to consider the Eucharist as a last sacrament. You could be deprived of It at death, so I must enlighten you and caution you against so terrible a deprivation.
Last Sacrament
25. God, Who loves and protects us, wishes to give us His Body at the approach of death -- to take away our fear on this last journey. When you look to the future and see yourself on your own deathbed, without the Last Sacrament, without Extreme Unction and without any help on the part of the ministers of the Lord, you see yourself abandoned in the most sad and terrible way. Console yourselves, my children, in the trust you have in God. This tender Father will pour on you His graces, His blessings and His mercies, in these awful moments which you fear, in more abundance than if you were being assisted by His ministers of whom you have been deprived only because you would not abandon Him Himself. The abandonment and forsakenness which we fear for ourselves, resembles that of the Savior on the Cross when He said to His Father: My God, My God, why have You forsaken me? (Psalm 21) Ah! How constructive and consoling are these words! Your pains and abandonment lead you to your Glorious Destiny in Ending Your Life like Jesus ended His. Jesus, in His sufferings, His abandonment and His death, was in most intimate union with His Father. In your pains and abandonment, be to Him likewise united, and let your last sign be like His, that God’s will be done. Being deprived of Extreme Unction, and in the hands of persons, who not only do not help, but also insult me, I shall be much happier that my death shall have more conformity with that of Jesus Who was a spectacle of opprobrium to all the world. Crucified by the hands of His enemies, He was treated like a thief and died between two thieves. He was wisdom Itself and was taken for an idiot. He was truth, and He was taken for a cheat and deceiver. The Pharisees and scribes triumphed over Him and in His presence. They were finally sated with His Blood. Christ died in the torture and excruciating pains of the Cross. Christians, if your last moment and death are an occasion for your enemies to treat you with insults and disgrace, what were those of Jesus? I am not sure that the angel who was sent to make up for the hard heartedness and callousness of men was not to teach us, that in similar circumstances, we receive the consolation of Heaven when that of men is missing. It was not without a special plan of God, that the Apostles who ought to have consoled Jesus, remained in a deep sleep. So the faithful should not be surprised to find himself without a priest in his last moments. Jesus reproached His apostles that they slept, but He did not say that they left Him without consolation, to teach us, that if we go into the Garden of Olives, if we climb up to Calvary, if we die alone and without human help, God watches over us, consoles us, and that suffices. Faithful, you are afraid of what follows the present time. Lift your eyes up to Jesus; keep them on Him; contemplate Him. He is your Model.
26. After having contemplated on Him, could you still fear the deprivation of prayers and ceremonies of the Church which was established to sanctify and honor our last moments, our death and burial? Remember that the cause for which we suffer and die gives to this deprivation a new glory and gives to us the merit of the last bit of resemblance we can have to Jesus Christ. Providence has wished and permitted for our instruction, that the Pharisees should put guards at the Sepulchre to guard the Body of Jesus Crucified. It has even wished that after His death His Body should remain in the hands of His enemies, and that in order to teach us that however long the domination of our enemies be, we must suffer it with patience and pray for them. St. Ignatius, the Martyr, who had so much ardor to be eaten by wild beasts, did not he prefer to have them for a sepulchre than the most beautiful mausoleum? Even the first Christians who were delivered to the executioner, all the confessors and all the martyrs, never worried about their last moment nor their graves. None of them worried on what should become of their bodies. Yes, my children, when one has trusted Jesus Christ all his life, he still trusts Him after his death. Jesus on the Cross and near to death, saw the women who had followed Him from Galilee. His Mother and Mary Magdalene and His beloved Apostle were near the Cross in sorrow, silence and grief. There, my children, is the picture you shall see, Most Christians feel sorry for those among the faithful who find themselves persecuted, but they keep themselves apart, while some like the Mother of Jesus go to the innocent, which wickedness strikes down. I remark with St. Ambrose, that Jesus’ Mother, who stayed at the foot of the Cross, knew that her Son was dying for the redemption of mankind, and wishing to die with Him for the accomplishment of this great work, she did not tear to annoy the Jews with her presence and desired to die with her Son. When you see someone die all forsaken, my children, or by the sword of persecution, imitate the Mother of Jesus, and not the women who had followed Him from Galilee, but kept back at the foot of the Cross. Be pierced with this truth: that the most glorious and salutary time to die is when virtue is strongest in our heart. One must never fear for a friend of Jesus Christ when he is suffering. Help him even by our looks and our tears. That, my children is what I believe I had to tell you. I believe it sufficient to answer your questions and calm your fears. I have put the principles without going into detail, which appears useless. Your reflections will certainly make up for it, and our conversations if providence ever permits, shall be on what you have done and what will inspire you to new desires.
27. I must tell you, my children, not to worry at what you are witnessing. Faith is not allied to these terrors. The number of the elect was always small. Only fear that God does not reproach you for lack of faith, and for not having been able to watch an hour with Him. I admit, however, that humanity can grieve, but in so saying, I shall add that faith must gladden. God does all. Bear this judgment. It is the only one worthy of you. The unbelievers themselves delivered this judgment when the Savior was making miraculous cures. What He is doing now is far greater. In His mortal life He cured the body, but now He cures souls and completes by trials the number of the elect.
28. Whatever are God’s plans for us, let us adore the depth of His judgments and put all our confidence in Him. If He wishes to deliver us, the time is near. Everything turns against us, our friends oppress us; our relations treat us like strangers; the faithful who used to worship with us are turned away with a single look. We do not fear to say that they are not only unlike us, they are faithful to their country and submit to its laws (right or wrong) and also claim to be faithful to God. They fear to say that they love us, or even know us. If we are without help along side men, we are assured of Gods help, who according to the Prophet King, will deliver the poor from the powerful, for they have no other help.
29. The universe is the work of God. He reigns over it, and every happening is according to the plans of His providence. When we believe that desertion is going to be general, we forget that a little faith is enough to give faith to the family of Jesus - like a little leaven makes all the dough rise. These extraordinary events where the mob wields the ax to undermine the work of God, serve marvelously to show His omnipotence. In every country will be seen what the people of God saw. When the Lord was wanted by Gideon to show His power against the Midianites, He had him send back most of his army. Three hundred men only and those without arms in order that it could be seem that the victory was God’s. This small number of Gideon’s soldiers, is the number of the faithful elect of this century. You have seen with the saddest astonishment, my children, that out of all those called, since all of France was Christian, the greater part, like Gideon’s army, remained weak, timid and fearing to lose their temporal interests. God sends them back, for use in His justice. God only wants those who give themselves to Him entirely. Do not be surprised at the great number who quit. Truth wins, no matter how small the number of those who love and remain attached to Him. For my part I nave only one wish, the desire of St. Paul. As a child of the Church, as a soldier of Christ I wish to die under His standard.
30. If you have the works of St. Cyprian, read them, my children. One must go back to the first centuries of the Church to find worthy examples to serve as models. It is in these holy books and in those of the first defenders of the faith that one must form a precise idea of the object of martyrdom and of the confession of Jesus Christ. It is truth and justice. These are the august, eternal and unchangeable objects of the faith which one must confess. It is the gospel. For human instructions, however wise they may be, they are temporary and changeable. But the gospel and the law of God holds for eternity. It is in thinking over this distinction that you will clearly see what is God’s and what is Caesars. As by the example of Christ you must render to One with respect, and to the other that which is his due.
31. Every century, the Church is in agreement, that there is nothing more glorious and holy than to confess the Name of Jesus Christ. But remember, my dear children, to confess it in a manner worthy of the crown which we desire. It is during the time one suffers most that one must have the greatest holiness. I can find nothing more beautiful than the words of St. Cyprian when he praises all the Christian virtues in the confessors of Jesus Christ. “You have always observed,” he says to them, “the command of the Lord with a severity worthy of your firmness, you have conserved simplicity and innocence, charity and concord, modesty and humility. You have carried out your ministry with care and exactitude. You have been vigilant to help those who need help, to have compassion for the poor, of constancy in defending the truth and discipline, in order that there be nothing wanting in these great examples of virtue which you have till now given. It is by your confession and generous sufferings that you highly animate your brethren to martyrdom and to show then the road.”
32. I hope, children, although God does not call you to martyrdom nor to a distressing confession of His Name, to be able to speak to you one day as in the example of this illustrious martyr when he spoke to the confessors Celerius and Areie, and to praise in you your humility rather than your steadfastness and to glorify you more for your holiness than for your sufferings and wounds. In looking towards this happy moment, profit from my advice and sustain yourselves by my example, if necessary.
33. God watches over us; our hope is justified. It shows us either that the persecution stops, or the persecution will be our crown. In the alternative of one or the other, I see the accomplishment of our destiny. Let God’s will be done, since in whatever manner He delivers us, His eternal mercies pour into us. I end, my dear children, in embracing you and praying to God for your as my faith and as my sincere resignation is to have no other will than that of God.
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| Fr. Goffine [1871]: Manner of Hearing Mass at Home |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-23-2020, 08:19 PM - Forum: When there is No Priest
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MANNER OF HEARING MASS AT HOME
by Rev. Leonard Goffine, 1871
For those who on account of sickness, old age, or for other proper reasons cannot assist at holy Mass, especially on Sundays and Holidays.
PREFATORY REMARKS.
Bear in mind, O Christian soul, that those who would with pleasure be present at the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, if it were possible, such as the sick, the infirm, the aged, fathers and mothers who must remain at home with the little children, and for other reasons, are all included in the holy Sacrifice, that is, take part in the prayers of the Church, in the blessings and merits of the Sacrifice, if they have a sincere desire for it, and, include themselves in the holy Sacrifice.
The holy Sacrifice of the Mass does not belong to any one person, but is offered for all the faithful. As Christ offered Himself for all men on the cross, so He now offers Himself in an unbloody manner for all in the holy Mass, and as He offers the blessing and merits of His sacrifice on the cross to all men, all also have a part in them, who by faith, by hearty desire, by penitent sentiments, and by a life pleasing to God assist at the holy Sacrifice. And if you are kept at home, the priest prays, the Church prays, your Saviour Jesus Christ offers Himself, and the merits and blessing of the holy Sacrifice flow to you, if you only heartily desire it, and unite your prayers at home with the prayers of the priest and the whole congregation. Therefore kneel in spirit before the altar and devoutly make a
GOOD INTENTION.
My Father and my God, Thou knowest how sincerely I would like to assist at the Sacrifice of Thy beloved Son, my Redeemer, which is now being offered to Thee upon the altar by the hands of the priest; but obstacles as Thou knowest, prevent me. Because I cannot now be present in Thy holy house, do Thou graciously look down upon the desire of my heart, and let me have part in the prayers of Thy holy Church and in the blessing and merits of Thy divine Son, who died for me on the cross, and again offers Himself in an unbloody manner upon the altar. With the same intention with which the priest accomplishes the holy Sacrifice on the altar, I also offer it to Thee for Thy praise and glory, in thanksgiving for all gifts and graces which Thou hast granted me, to reconciliate Thee with me, a poor sinner, and for forgiveness of my sins, and with the most fervent petition, that Thou wilt be to me in my cares and afflictions a gracious Father, and for the sake of Thy Son Jesus not refuse me Thy aid.
O my holy Guardian Angel, do thou stand by my side and unite thy prayers with mine, that they may be acceptable to God's Majesty, and do thou, my beloved Mother Mary, assist me that I may attend in spirit to the unbloody Sacrifice of the Mass with the same intention as thou didst have, when thou didst assist at the bloody Sacrifice of the cross. Amen.
FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF MASS TO THE GOSPEL.
My Lord and my God! Creator of heaven and earth, the highest Majesty! how can I presume to raise my hands and pray to Thee? Thou art infinite holiness, in whose sight even the angels are not pure, Thou art the Almighty, before whom even the blessed spirits veil their faces, and I, what am I? Nothing but a poor sinner, a little dust and ashes, who long ago deserved punishment. But Thou art also infinitely gracious and merciful. In the spirit of the deepest contrition and humility, behold, I prostrate myself before Thee with the priest and confess my fault, my great fault, my greatest fault. From my inmost heart I grieve for all my sins and crimes, earnestly beseeching Thee, O my good God and Father, to bestow forgiveness upon me. With the priest I penitently call upon Thee, have mercy on me, O Lord, have mercy on me! Thy mercy is indeed infinitely great, and a contrite heart Thou wilt never despise. And if my sorrow and contrition are not sufficient, O Father in heaven, then graciously accept the penitent tears of all the holy penitents, the dolors of my beloved Mother Mary under the cross, and the grief of Thy most tender heart for the sins of men. Graciously accept the homage which the Church offers Thee, to which I also add my poor adoration. To Thee, O God on high, be glory! Would that Thou mightest be everywhere glorified! Would that Thy most holy name might be everywhere honored and praised! For this Thou didst send Thine only begotten Son upon earth, for this, that all men might acknowledge Thee, love Thee, learn to serve Thee; and for this Thy divine Son sent His apostles over the whole earth to lead all men to the truth. O give me the grace to always acknowledge the truth which Thy Son brought to earth, and ever more faithfully observe His sacred precepts, that I may be acceptable to Thee and eternally happy. Amen.
FROM THE GOSPEL TO THE CONSECRATION.
Most heartfelt thanks to Thee, O God! for the Catholic faith in which I was born, and which as a little child I received, without any merit of mine, from Thy hands. O how unfortunate would I be, if like so many others I were left to wander in heresy or unbelief, never finding the light of the true faith, which shines only in the Catholic Church, to lead me to heaven! With joy I profess this my holy faith, and beseech Thee, O my God, with all my heart to grant me the grace to live always in accordance with it. For what would it avail me if I should fully believe every truth the Catholic Church teaches, if I did not also faithfully obey it? O my God, do not permit this ever to happen, do not permit me to give ear to false and evil doctrines, which are everywhere spread by vicious men; do not permit me to become weak in faith, do not permit me to be faithless to the promises I have made Thee in Baptism and holy Communion. I desire to be and to remain a child of Thy holy Church, for in this Church alone can I be happy; for she only has all the means of grace for happiness, she alone possesses the fountain of all grace, the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which Thine only Son, Jesus, offers Himself to Thee, in order to bestow upon us all that His blood won for us on the cross. I see now, in spirit, the priest standing on the altar with bread and wine in his hands, praying to the Holy Ghost to bless these gifts, that they may be fitted to be changed into the body and blood of Thy beloved Son. I unite my heart to these consecrated gifts of sacrifice, and lay it upon the altar. I possess nothing which I could give to Thee, but a heart which can and will love Thee. O take this poor heart of mine, purify it from all sins and stains, inflame it with the fire of Thy love, and draw it near to Thee, O infinite Goodness, that it may be never more separated from Thee. At the same time I offer to Thee with my heart all its cares and anxieties. Nothing that weighs upon it, is unknown to Thee, O my God, plain before Thy eyes lie all my heart's desires. O do not permit it to desire anything displeasing to Thee, turn it entirely to Thee, and by Thy grace make it ever one with the most loving heart of Thy most loving Son, who, as long as He was upon earth, sought only that Thy will should be done upon earth as in heaven. Amen.
BEFORE THE ELEVATION.
Holy, holy, holy art Thou, O Triune God, and because Thou art infinitely holy, no offering can please Thee as that infinitely holy Sacrifice of Thy Son Jesus, and because Thou art infinitely just, no other Sacrifice can satisfy Thee but this one stainless Sacrifice, which Thy beloved Son accomplished on the cross, and now in an unbloody manner renews upon the altar. For the sake of this holy Sacrifice now being accomplished on the altar, I beseech Thee, O God in heaven, to graciously look down upon all true Christians and preserve them in the unity of faith and love; permit the light of truth to shine for all unbelievers and heretics, give Thy good Spirit to the *True and valid pope, our common father and head, to the bishops and priests, that they may lead the souls entrusted to them, in the way of salvation to heaven, give the grace of conversion to all poor sinners, console the afflicted, strengthen the weak, guide the erring, steady the wavering, and graciously hear the prayers of those who supplicate Thee. Remember, O best Father, my poor soul, also, bought by Thy divine Son with His blood. I confess in deepest humility and most profound sorrow, that I have often stained that soul with sin and by transgressing Thy holy commandments; give me but one drop of that Most Precious Blood, and it will become pure and pleasing to Thee. Thou knowest my desire to serve Thee with all faithfulness, O give me Thy grace, always to do Thy holy will; assist me, that I may always follow the beautiful virtues of Thy beloved Son, His humility, His peacefulness, and become thus always more and more pleasing to Thee. Do not forsake me, O merciful Father, in my crosses and afflictions, and in the heavy cares which weigh upon my heart. Give me strength to bear them, and cause all to redound to Thy honor and the salvation of my own poor soul. Aid me now, O most blessed Virgin and Mother of God, and all you saints in heaven, in this most solemn hour, when Jesus, the Lamb of God, offers Himself with your petitions, that my prayers may be heard at the throne of God, before which you stand, singing hymns of praise. You have won and are now happy, we must yet suffer and fight, aid us, that through Christ, our Saviour, we may conquer the enemies of our salvation and meet with you in heaven. Amen.
AT THE ELEVATION.
Most merciful Heavenly Father! Thou hast given us Thy beloved Son Jesus, and with Him all. He, Thine only Son, is now my possession, He is now present on the altar, and I presume to draw near to Him, presume to offer Him to Thee for Thy glory, in thanksgiving for all Thy graces, for forgiveness of my sins, and for the obtaining of new graces which I so much need. A thousand thanks to Thee for having given us Thy beloved Son, through whom we poor sinners have access to Thee; through Him, my Jesus, I offer to Thy great Majesty my heart, my body, my soul, everything that I am or have. I offer Thee His infinite merits for my poverty, His infinite virtues for my sinfulness, the holiness of His life upon earth for my crimes, His Most Precious Blood as my appeal for mercy. Have mercy on me, O Father in Heaven, have mercy on me! Forgive me all my offences, and permit me to be and remain Thy child. Amen.
AFTER THE ELEVATION.
How infinitely great, O my most loving Jesus, how perfectly incomprehensible is Thy love for us weak men who can do nothing but sin! It was not enough for Thee to die on the cross with unutterable agonies for us, and by that bloody Sacrifice reconcile us sinners with Thy just Father, opening heaven to us, but Thou wouldst daily renew it on our altars, wouldst daily descend from heaven, changing the bread into Thy Sacred Body and the wine into Thy most Precious Blood, presenting to our eyes Thy death upon the cross and giving us all its merits. O who can comprehend this Thine infinite love? And how ungrateful we are to Thee for it! Instead of loving Thee in return, instead of doing everything which is pleasing to Thee, instead of following Thee and becoming always more like Thee, we insult Thee, nail Thee anew by our sins to the cross, drive Thee from us, and follow the broad way of the world, which leads to destruction. I also, O my most loving Saviour, am one of these ingrates; O forgive me, for I am indeed sorry from my whole heart for having acted so ungratefully towards Thee. In deepest humility I fall down before Thee, confessing my offences, give me but a drop of Thy most Precious Blood; that I may be purified. Look upon me with the eyes of Thy boundless mercy, and give me the grace to love Thee with my whole heart and faithfully to serve Thee. Yes, I love Thee, O Jesus, I love Thee, and will always love Thee. Remember also, O most faithful Jesus, those who have departed from this world in faith in Thee and Thy most holy Church, remember my (parents, relations) friends, benefactors; let them share in the merits of Thy most Precious Blood, that they may obtain consolation and comfort in the tortures of purgatory and soon arrive at redemption. Amen.
AT THE PRIEST'S COMMUNION.
O Jesus, how unutterable is Thy love for man! Thou art not only willing to bestow upon him the merits of Thy holy Sacrifice, but desirest to give Thyself entirely to him, to nourish and strengthen his soul by Thy most Sacred Body and Blood, uniting Thyself wholly with him. How infinitely great is Thy condescension to us, Thy poor creatures! Thou who art infinite Holiness, the Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Lord of legions, desirest to come to us and dwell with us! Who could believe it, if Thou hadst not said it? Since it is, then, certain and true, that Thou dost visit us and dwell in our hearts, I will presume, poor sinner though I am, to draw near to Thee, to unite myself with the priest and earnestly pray and beseech Thee, O Jesus! Come to me! I am not worthy, but Thy great goodness, Thy great mercy permits me to hope, that Thou wilt not refuse to deign to come into my poor heart. I cannot, it is true, now actually receive Thee, Thy Sacred Body and Blood, with the priest, but Thou canst come to me with Thy effective grace to console, strengthen, purify, and sanctify my soul. Come, then, O Jesus, sole desire of my heart! Behold, I dedicate my heart to Thee, may it love only Thee! I dedicate my soul to Thee, may it think only of Thee and be acceptable to Thee! I dedicate my body and all its members to Thee, that they may be used only in doing good. Come, O Jesus, and make me entirely Thine, for Thee I desire to live and to die. Amen.
FROM THE COMMUNION TO THE BENEDICTION.
Thou hast now, O most tender Jesus, finished Thy most holy Sacrifice, Thou hast given Thyself for the honor and glory of Thy Heavenly Father, and called at His throne for grace and mercy for us. Thou hast permitted the merits of Thy most holy Sacrifice to flow into our souls. How can I thank Thee enough for it? For if I had the tongues of all the angels, I could not sufficiently praise Thee. Since I have not the power, I offer Thee the praise, adoration, and thanks of Thy holy Mother Mary and of all the saints, earnestly beseeching Thee to supply from Thy own loving heart all that I, in my poverty, cannot give Thee. Thou hast given me the grace, O Heavenly Father, to offer Thee Thy divine Son in union with the priest and the congregation, to adore and praise Thee, and to presume to offer Thee the price of the forgiveness of my sins. Thanks be to Thee for this grace. May I stand always firmly in faith in Thee and in Him, Thy only begotten Son, whom Thou hast sent, may my trust in Thee never become weakened and may I never cease to love Thee as long as I live! Amen.
AT THE BENEDICTION.
May + God the Father, + the Son, and + the Holy Ghost bless me. Strengthened by this blessing, I will seek to-day and at all times to do Thy will, O Holy Trinity. I desire not only to be called Thy child, O Heavenly Father, but to be Thy child, always and at all times to fulfil Thy commandments with filial obedience. I desire not only to be Thy disciple, O Jesus, but to be Thy faithful disciple. I wish to be humble and meek, like Thee, at peace with all men, always preserving purity of body and soul, and merciful to all my fellowmen, friends, and enemies alike. I will cheerfully follow Thy inspirations, O Divine Spirit, faithfully use the graces, with which Thou overloadest me, depart from sin, and live for virtue. O Mary, blessed Mother of my Saviour, pray for me and assist me to keep my resolutions. Take me, and all for whom I am bound to pray and all my friends, under thy protection and lead us to the heaven, where thou livest in splendor, that with thee and the saints we may always love and praise the Triune God. Amen.
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| Soviet expert: COVID isolation ‘blatantly and obviously cover for social control |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-23-2020, 07:56 PM - Forum: Socialism & Communism
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Soviet propaganda expert: COVID isolation ‘blatantly and obviously cover for social control’
'What this COVID thing is doing is basically putting us each in kind of a vault,' said Stella Morabito, who was stationed in the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Stella Morabito gives a talk at the Family Research Council in 2016.
November 20, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — On November 20, the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) hosted an online seminar about the “totalitarian” implications of enforced isolation. C-Fam is a pro-life, pro-family organization that defends the natural family and the right to life in international institutions.
Austin Ruse, president of C-Fam, was joined by Soviet propaganda expert Stella Morabito, a former CIA analyst who was stationed in the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
“What this COVID thing is doing is basically putting us each in kind of a vault,” Morabito said. She compared current lockdown measures to social separation tactics used as a “weapon of choice” by Soviet and other communist regimes. “How do you control people? You isolate them. You control their personal relationships,” she said.
Morabito discussed “threat of being socially isolated” as the “greatest tool” of totalitarian governments, referencing calculated solitary confinement of political prisoners in the Soviet Union. In his landmark The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a Soviet internment camp survivor, described how “[s]ecurity officers would decide the degree of isolation” for persons “under suspicion.” In certain cases, “while nominally remaining free, a man lost all his personal freedom and was sent off to some isolated area,” he wrote.
Soviet scholar Anne Applebaum also has noted the systematic use of social isolation in Soviet gulags, in which isolation was punishment for “people who disobeyed or who failed to fulfill the norm” or “myriad rules,” like those against excessive “fraternization.”
Enforced seclusion is “all part of the totalitarian mindset,” Morabito said. In a recent article, she further condemned the “social isolation and misery” of COVID measures imposed by “certain power grabbers” that leave us “locked down indefinitely, economically strapped, and demoralized.”
Tens of thousands of medical professionals have voiced similar complaints. The Great Barrington Declaration, which was published only six weeks ago, reports having collected the signatures of over 52,000 doctors and scientists, along with those of more than 638,000 private citizens. The declaration decries the “damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies.” “Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health,” it warns.
Detrimental effects of social isolation were a top concern of medical practitioners at last month’s second “White Coat Summit” as well. At the event, Dr. Lee Merritt, a former military surgeon trained at the University of Rochester Medical School, stated, “Besides what they’re doing to society as a whole, separating us, isolating us, think about what they’re doing to our children.” “Children need to look at faces to learn how to be a human. Reading faces is part of humanity[.] ... [T]his is George Orwell’s boot on a human face forever if we don’t get this off,” Merritt said.
Other medical experts such as Stanford’s Dr. John Ioannidis and Dr. Roger Hodkinson of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada have sounded the alarm against political and psychological dangers of COVID policies like mandatory masking. Hodkinson called masks “utterly useless” and “simply virtue-signaling.” In May, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine admitted as much, saying “that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection.” The authors referred to masks as “talismans that may help increase health care workers’ perceived sense of safety, well-being
C-Fam’s seminar concluded by emphasizing the enhanced impact of political censorship and identity politics amid extended lockdowns. Morabito said that “in an era of social isolation, when people respond by self-censorship, all they are doing is creating more isolation.”
She described political correctness as “virtual solitary confinement” “designed to induce self-censorship ... through the threat of being separated from others.” Morabito continued, “because there is such a monopoly in the mainstream media that enforces this totalitarian mindset that only they can say what is real and what is true.”
As with lockdowns, identity politics and political censorship work to “destabilize individual identity” and “sow hostilities between people so that they cannot relate as real human beings,” she said.
Justifications like “public health” and “equality” may be serving to “cover up a totalitarian agenda,” with enduring ramifications for free association and thought. “People who are used to living in freedom just take that for granted,” Morabito said.
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| Oregon Gov. Encourages Residents to Call Police on Neighbors Violating COVID Restrict |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-23-2020, 07:28 PM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Encourages Residents to Call Police on Neighbors Violating COVID Restrictions
MSN | November 23, 2020
Oregon Governor Kate Brown is encouraging residents to call the police on any neighbors who flout state COVID-19 restrictions, which include limiting in-home gatherings to a maximum of six people.
“This is no different than what happens if there’s a party down the street and it’s keeping everyone awake,” Brown said in an interview Friday. “What do neighbors do [in that case]? They call law enforcement because it’s too noisy. This is just like that. It’s like a violation of a noise ordinance.”
Last week the Democratic governor instituted a new round of restrictions aimed at mitigating the spread of coronavirus in the state via executive order, including a two-week “freeze” limiting indoor and outdoor gatherings to no more than six people from no more than two households just ahead of Thanksgiving.
Residents are also prohibited from eating out at restaurants and going to the gym, though faith-based gatherings of up to 25 people indoors and 50 people outdoors are allowed.
Violators can face up to 30 days in jail, $1,250 fines or both.
The Marion County Sheriff’s office said in a statement on Friday that it believes “we cannot arrest or enforce our way out of the pandemic.”
“We believe both are counterproductive to public health goals.”
Brown pushed back, calling criticisms of the new restrictions “irresponsible.”
“This is about saving lives and it’s about protecting our fellow Oregonians,” she said. “We have too many sporadic cases in Oregon. We can’t trace these cases to a particular source. We have to limit gatherings and social interactions.”
On Sunday, new COVID-19 cases reached a record high in the state for the third straight day, with 1,517 new infections recorded, bringing the state total to 65,170.
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| November 23rd |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-23-2020, 10:12 AM - Forum: November
- Replies (1)
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Saint Clement I of Rome
Pope and Martyr
(† 100)
Saint Clement is a Roman of noble birth, the son of the Senator Faustinian. Saint Paul speaks of him in his Epistle to the Philippians, chapter 4, assuring that Clement had worked with him in the ministry of the Gospel, and that his name was written in the Book of Life. Later Saint Clement was consecrated bishop by Saint Peter himself. He succeeded in the supreme office to Saint Linus, the immediate successor to Saint Peter, and the Liber Pontificalis says that he reigned nine years, two months and ten days, from 67 to 76, ...until the reign of Vespasian and Titus.
It was, we may say, with the words of the Apostles still resounding in his ears that he began to rule the Church of God; he was among the first, as he was among the most illustrious, in the long line of those who have held the place and power of Peter. Living at the same time and in the same city with Domitian, persecutor of the Church, and having to face not only external foes but to contend with schism and rebellion from within, his days were not tranquil. The Corinthian Church was torn by intestine strife, and its members were defying the authority of their clergy. It was then that Saint Clement intervened in the plenitude of his apostolic authority, and sent his famous Epistle to the Corinthians. He reminded them of the duties of charity, and above all of submission to the clergy. He did not speak in vain; peace and order were restored. Saint Clement had done his work on earth, and shortly after sealed with his blood the Faith which he had learned from Peter and taught to the nations.
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Saint Felicitas or Felicity
Mother of the 7 Holy Brothers
Martyr
(† 150)
Saint Felicity was a noble Roman matron, distinguished above all for her virtue. This mother of seven children raised her sons in the fear of the Lord, and after the death of her husband, served God in continence, concerning herself only with good works. Her good examples and those of her children brought a number of pagans to renounce their superstitions, and also encouraged the Christians to show themselves worthy of their vocation. The pagan priests, furious at seeing their gods abandoned, denounced her. She appeared with her pious sons before the prefect of Rome, who exhorted her to sacrifice to idols, but in reply heard a generous confession of faith.
Wretched woman, he said to her, how can you be so barbarous as to expose your children to torments and death? Have pity on these tender creatures, who are in the flower of their age and can aspire to the highest positions in the Empire! Felicity replied, My children will live eternally with Jesus Christ, if they are faithful; they will have only eternal torments to await, if they sacrifice to idols. Your apparent pity is but a cruel impiety. Then, turning to her children, she said: Look towards heaven, where Jesus Christ is waiting for you with His Saints! Be faithful in His love, and fight courageously for your souls.
The Judge, taking the children one by one, tried to overcome their constancy. He began with Januarius, but received for his answer: What you advise me to do is contrary to reason; Jesus, the Saviour, will preserve me, I hope, from such impiety. Felix, the second, was then brought in. When they urged him to sacrifice, he answered: There is only one God, and it is to Him that we must offer the sacrifice of our hearts. Use all artifices, every refinement of cruelty, you will not make us betray our faith! The other brothers, when questioned, answered with the same firmness. Martial, the youngest, who spoke last, said: All those who do not confess that Jesus Christ is the true God, will be cast into a fire which will never be extinguished.
When the interrogation was finished, the Saints underwent the penalty of the lash and then were taken to prison. Soon they completed their sacrifice in various ways: Januarius was beaten until he died by leather straps capped with lead; Felix and Philip were killed with bludgeons; Sylvanus was thrown headfirst from a cliff; Alexander, Vitalis and Martial were beheaded. Felicity, the mother of these new Maccabees, was the last to suffer martyrdom.
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| November 22nd |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-23-2020, 10:02 AM - Forum: November
- Replies (1)
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Saint Cecilia
Virgin, Martyr
(† 177)
Patron of musicians
It is under the emperor Alexander Severus that this young Saint, one of the most fragrant flowers of Christian virginity and martyrdom, suffered for the Faith she had chosen; to choose it was at that moment as certain an end to earthly felicity as it is a guarantee, at every epoch, of the eternal felicity of those who remain faithful to it. Cecilia was the daughter of an illustrious patrician, and was the only Christian of her family; she was permitted to attend the reunions held in the catacombs by the Christians, either through her parents' condescension or out of indifference. She continually kept a copy of the holy Gospel hidden under her clothing over her heart. Her parents obliged her, however, despite her vow of virginity, which most probably they knew nothing of, to marry the young Valerian, whom she esteemed as noble and good, but who was still pagan.
During the evening of the wedding day, with the music of the nuptial feast still in the air, Cecilia, this intelligent, beautiful, and noble Roman maiden, renewed her vow. When the new spouses found themselves alone, she gently said to Valerian, Dear friend, I have a secret to confide to you, but will you promise me to keep it? He promised her solemnly that nothing would ever make him reveal it, and she continued, Listen: an Angel of God watches over me, for I belong to God. If he sees that you would approach me under the influence of a sensual love, his anger will be inflamed, and you will succumb to the blows of his vengeance. But if you love me with a perfect love and conserve my virginity inviolable, he will love you as he loves me, and will lavish on you, too, his favors. Valerian replied that if he might see this Angel, he would certainly correspond to her wishes, and Cecilia answered, Valerian, if you consent to be purified in the fountain which wells up eternally; if you will believe in the unique, living and true God who reigns in heaven, you will be able to see the Angel. And to his questions concerning this water and who might bestow it, she directed him to a certain holy old man named Urban.
That holy Pontiff rejoiced exceedingly when Valerian came to him the same night, to be instructed and baptized; his long prayer touched the young man greatly, and he too rejoiced with an entirely new joy in his new-found and veritable faith, so far above the religion of the pagans. He returned to his house, and on entering the room where Cecilia had continued to pray for the remainder of the night, he saw the Angel waiting, with two crowns of roses and lilies, which he would place on the head of each of them. Cecilia understood at once that if the lilies symbolized their virginity, the roses foretold for them both the grace of martyrdom. Valerian was told he might ask any grace at all of God, who was very pleased with him; and he requested that his brother Tiburtius might also receive the grace he had obtained; and the conversion of Tiburtius soon afterwards became a reality.
The two brothers, who were very wealthy, began to aid the families which had lost their support through the martyrdom of the fathers, spouses, and sons; they saw to the burial of the Christians, and continually braved the same fate as these victims. In effect they were soon captured, and their testimony was such as to convert a young officer chosen to conduct them to the site of their martyrdom. He succeeded in delaying it for a day, and took them to his house, where before the day was ended he had decided to receive Baptism with his entire family and household. The two brothers offered their heads to the sword; and soon afterward the officer they had won for Christ followed them to the eternal divine kingdom. It was Cecilia who saw to the burial of all three martyrs. She then distributed to the poor all the valuable objects of her house, in order that the property of Valerian might not be confiscated according to current Roman law, and knowing that her own time was close at hand.
She was soon arrested and arraigned, but having asked a delay after her interrogation, she assembled those who had heard her with admiration and instructed them in the faith; the Pontiff Urban baptized a large number of them. The death appointed for her was suffocation by steam. Saint Cecilia remained unharmed and calm, for a day and a night, in the calderium, or place of hot baths, in her own palace, despite a fire heated to seven times its ordinary violence. Finally, an executioner was sent to dispatch her by the sword; he struck with trembling hand the three blows which the law allowed, and left her still alive. For two days and nights Cecilia would lie with her head half severed, on the pavement of her bath, fully sensible and joyfully awaiting her crown. When her neophytes came to bury her after the departure of the executioner, they found her alive and smiling. They surrounded her there, not daring to touch her, for three days, having collected the precious blood from her wounds. On the third day, after the holy Pontiff Urban had come to bless her, the agony ended, and in the year 177 the virgin Saint gave back her glorious soul to Christ. It was the Supreme Pontiff who presided at her funeral; she was placed in a coffin in the position in which she had lain, as we often see her pictured, and interred in the vault prepared by Saint Callixtus for the Church's pontiffs. The authentic acts of her life and martyrdom were prepared by Pope Anteros in the year 235. When the tomb was opened in 1599 her body was entirely intact still.
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| Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple -November 21st |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-23-2020, 09:37 AM - Forum: November
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The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Religious parents never fail by devout prayer to consecrate their children to God, His divine service and love, both before and after their birth. Some among the Jews, not content with this general consecration of their children, offered them to God in their infancy, by the hands of the priests in the Temple, to be brought up in quarters attached to the Temple, attending the priests and Levites in their sacred ministry. There were special divisions in these lodgings for the women and children dedicated to the divine service. (III Kings 6:5-9) We have examples of this special consecration of children in the person of Samuel, for example. Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple of Jerusalem. It is very probable that the holy prophet Simeon and the prophetess Anna, who witnessed the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, as we read in the second chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke (verses 25 ff.) had known His Mother as a little girl in the Temple and observed her truly unique sanctity.
It is an ancient and very trustworthy tradition that the Blessed Virgin was thus solemnly offered in the Temple to God at the age of three by Her parents, Saint Anne and Saint Joachim. The Gospel tells us nothing of the childhood of Mary; Her title Mother of God, eclipses all the rest. Where, better than in the Temple, could Mary be prepared for Her mission? Twelve years of recollection and prayer, contemplation and sufferings, were the preparation of the chosen one of God. The tender soul of Mary was adorned with the most precious graces and became an object of astonishment and praise for the holy Angels, as well as of the highest complacency for the adorable Trinity. The Father looked upon Her as His beloved Daughter, the Son as One set apart and prepared to become His Mother, and the Holy Ghost as His undefiled Spouse.
Here is how Mary's day in the Temple was apportioned, according to Saint Jerome. From dawn until nine in the morning, She prayed; from 9:00 until 3:00 She applied Herself to manual work; then She turned again to prayer. She was always the first to undertake night watches, the One most applied to study, the most fervent in the chanting of Psalms, the most zealous in works of charity, the purest among the virgins, Her companions, the most perfect in the practice of every virtue. On this day She appears as the standard-bearer for Christian virginity: after Her will come countless legions of virgins consecrated to the Lord, both in the shadow of the altars or engaged in the charitable occupations of the Church in the world. Mary will be their eternal Model, their dedicated Patroness, their sure guide on the paths of perfection.
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| Feast of Our Lady's Presentation in the Temple - November 21st |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-23-2020, 09:37 AM - Forum: Our Lady
- Replies (6)
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The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Religious parents never fail by devout prayer to consecrate their children to God, His divine service and love, both before and after their birth. Some among the Jews, not content with this general consecration of their children, offered them to God in their infancy, by the hands of the priests in the Temple, to be brought up in quarters attached to the Temple, attending the priests and Levites in their sacred ministry. There were special divisions in these lodgings for the women and children dedicated to the divine service. (III Kings 6:5-9) We have examples of this special consecration of children in the person of Samuel, for example. Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple of Jerusalem. It is very probable that the holy prophet Simeon and the prophetess Anna, who witnessed the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, as we read in the second chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke (verses 25 ff.) had known His Mother as a little girl in the Temple and observed her truly unique sanctity.
It is an ancient and very trustworthy tradition that the Blessed Virgin was thus solemnly offered in the Temple to God at the age of three by Her parents, Saint Anne and Saint Joachim. The Gospel tells us nothing of the childhood of Mary; Her title Mother of God, eclipses all the rest. Where, better than in the Temple, could Mary be prepared for Her mission? Twelve years of recollection and prayer, contemplation and sufferings, were the preparation of the chosen one of God. The tender soul of Mary was adorned with the most precious graces and became an object of astonishment and praise for the holy Angels, as well as of the highest complacency for the adorable Trinity. The Father looked upon Her as His beloved Daughter, the Son as One set apart and prepared to become His Mother, and the Holy Ghost as His undefiled Spouse.
Here is how Mary's day in the Temple was apportioned, according to Saint Jerome. From dawn until nine in the morning, She prayed; from 9:00 until 3:00 She applied Herself to manual work; then She turned again to prayer. She was always the first to undertake night watches, the One most applied to study, the most fervent in the chanting of Psalms, the most zealous in works of charity, the purest among the virgins, Her companions, the most perfect in the practice of every virtue. On this day She appears as the standard-bearer for Christian virginity: after Her will come countless legions of virgins consecrated to the Lord, both in the shadow of the altars or engaged in the charitable occupations of the Church in the world. Mary will be their eternal Model, their dedicated Patroness, their sure guide on the paths of perfection.
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| Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple -November 21st |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-23-2020, 09:37 AM - Forum: Our Lady
- Replies (5)
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The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Religious parents never fail by devout prayer to consecrate their children to God, His divine service and love, both before and after their birth. Some among the Jews, not content with this general consecration of their children, offered them to God in their infancy, by the hands of the priests in the Temple, to be brought up in quarters attached to the Temple, attending the priests and Levites in their sacred ministry. There were special divisions in these lodgings for the women and children dedicated to the divine service. (III Kings 6:5-9) We have examples of this special consecration of children in the person of Samuel, for example. Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple of Jerusalem. It is very probable that the holy prophet Simeon and the prophetess Anna, who witnessed the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, as we read in the second chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke (verses 25 ff.) had known His Mother as a little girl in the Temple and observed her truly unique sanctity.
It is an ancient and very trustworthy tradition that the Blessed Virgin was thus solemnly offered in the Temple to God at the age of three by Her parents, Saint Anne and Saint Joachim. The Gospel tells us nothing of the childhood of Mary; Her title Mother of God, eclipses all the rest. Where, better than in the Temple, could Mary be prepared for Her mission? Twelve years of recollection and prayer, contemplation and sufferings, were the preparation of the chosen one of God. The tender soul of Mary was adorned with the most precious graces and became an object of astonishment and praise for the holy Angels, as well as of the highest complacency for the adorable Trinity. The Father looked upon Her as His beloved Daughter, the Son as One set apart and prepared to become His Mother, and the Holy Ghost as His undefiled Spouse.
Here is how Mary's day in the Temple was apportioned, according to Saint Jerome. From dawn until nine in the morning, She prayed; from 9:00 until 3:00 She applied Herself to manual work; then She turned again to prayer. She was always the first to undertake night watches, the One most applied to study, the most fervent in the chanting of Psalms, the most zealous in works of charity, the purest among the virgins, Her companions, the most perfect in the practice of every virtue. On this day She appears as the standard-bearer for Christian virginity: after Her will come countless legions of virgins consecrated to the Lord, both in the shadow of the altars or engaged in the charitable occupations of the Church in the world. Mary will be their eternal Model, their dedicated Patroness, their sure guide on the paths of perfection.
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| November 20th |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-23-2020, 09:29 AM - Forum: November
- Replies (1)
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Saint Felix of Valois
Founder
(1127-1212)
Saint Felix was the son of the Count of Valois. His mother carried him to Saint Bernard at his monastery of Clairvaux, to offer him there to God, when he was three years old; she kept him, however, under her own care and took particular care of him, permitting him, still young, to distribute the alms she was pleased to give to the poor. When the exiled Pope Innocent II sought refuge in France, the Count of Valois, father of Felix, offered his castle of Crepy to the Pontiff, who often blessed the young child whom he saw being trained in virtue. One day when Felix gave away his own habits to a poor beggar, he found them that evening neatly laid on his bed; and he thanked God for this sign of His divine goodness, proving that one loses nothing when one gives to the poor.
When he was ten years old he obtained grace for a prisoner condemned to death, by means of his prayer and his pleadings with his uncle, a lord of whom the man was the subject. Felix had a presentiment that this man would become a saint; and in fact, he retired into a deep solitude where he undertook severe penance and died the death of the just.
The unfortunate divorce of the parents of Felix, and the excommunication of his father, who had remarried and whose condemnation raised serious troubles on his domains, caused to mature in the young man a long-formed resolution to leave the world. Confiding his mother to her pious brother, Thibault, Count of Champagne, Felix took the Cistercian habit at Clairvaux. His rare virtues drew on him an admiration such that, with Saint Bernard's consent, he fled from it to Italy, where he began to live an austere life with an aged hermit in the Alps. For this purpose he had departed secretly, and the servants his uncle sent believed him dead, being unable to trace him; they published the rumor of his death. About this time the old hermit procured the ordination of his disciple as a priest.
After his elderly counselor died in his arms, Saint Felix returned to France. He built a cell in the diocese of Meaux in an uninhabited forest; this place was later named Cerfroid. Amid savage beasts he led an angelic life of perpetual fasting. Here God inspired him with the desire of founding an Order for the redemption of Christian captives. The Lord also moved Saint John of Matha, a young nobleman of Provence, to seek out the hermit and join him. The two applied themselves to the practice of all virtues. It was John who overtly proposed to Saint Felix the project of an Order for the redemption of captives, when his preceptor was already seventy years old. The latter gladly offered himself to God for that purpose, and after praying for three days the two solitaries made a pilgrimage to Rome in the middle of winter. They were kindly received by the Pope, after he read the recommendation which the Bishop of Paris had given them. He too prayed and became convinced that the two Saints were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and he gave his approbation to the Trinitarian Order
Within forty years the Order would have six hundred monasteries. Saint John, who was Superior General, left to Saint Felix the direction of the convents in France, exercised from the monastery which the founders had built at Cerfroid. There Saint Felix died in November of 1212, at the age of eighty-five, only about six weeks before his younger co-founder. It is a constant tradition in the Trinitarian Order that Saint Felix and Saint John were canonized by Urban IV in 1260, though no bull has ever been found. In 1219 already the feast of Saint Felix was kept in the entire diocese of Meaux. In 1666 Alexander VI declared that veneration of the servant of God was immemorial.
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