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| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Eleventh Week after Pentecost |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-13-2023, 03:49 AM - Forum: Pentecost
- Replies (7)
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A Novena of Meditations and Readings for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary begins here.
Let us consider how holy Mary passed from this world by a sweet and happy death. Three things render death bitter -- attachment to the world, remorse for sins, and the uncertainty of salvation. Mary died as she had lived, entirely detached from the things of the world; she died in the most perfect peace; she died in the certainty of eternal glory.
I.
Death being the punishment of sin, it would seem that the Divine Mother -- all holy, and exempt as she was from its slightest stain -- should also have been exempt from death, and from encountering the misfortunes to which the children of Adam, infected by the poison of sin, are subject. But God was pleased that Mary should in all things resemble Jesus; and as the Son died, it was becoming that the Mother should also die; because, moreover, He wished to give the just an example of the precious death prepared for them, He willed that even the most Blessed Virgin should die, but by a sweet and happy death. Let us, therefore, consider how precious was Mary's death, on account of the special favours by which it was accompanied.
There are three things that render death bitter: attachment to the world, remorse for sins, and the uncertainty of salvation. The death of Mary was entirely free from these causes of bitterness, and was accompanied by three special graces, which rendered it precious and joyful. She died as she had lived, entirely detached from the things of the world; she died in the most perfect peace; she died in the certainty of eternal glory.
There can be no doubt that attachment to earthly things renders the death of the worldly bitter and miserable, as the Holy Ghost says: O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath peace in his possessions! (Ecclus. xli. 1). But because the Saints die detached from the things of the world, their death is not bitter, but sweet, lovely, and precious; that is to say, as St. Bernard remarks, worth purchasing at any price, however great. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord (Apoc. xiv. 13). Who are they who, being already dead, die? They are those happy souls who pass into eternity already detached, and, so to say, dead to all affection for terrestrial things; who, like St. Francis of Assisi, find in God alone all their happiness, and with him can say: "My God and my All!"
II.
What soul was ever more detached from earthly goods, and more united to God, than the beautiful soul of Mary? She was detached from her parents, for at the age of three years, when children are most attached to them, and stand in the greatest need of their assistance, Mary, with the greatest intrepidity, left them, and went to shut herself up in the Temple to attend to God alone. She was detached from riches, contenting herself always to live poor, and supporting herself with the labour of her own hands. She was detached from honours, loving an humble and abject life, though the honours due to a queen were hers, as she was descended from the kings of Israel. The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Elizabeth of Hungary that when her parents left her in the temple, she resolved in her heart to have no father, and to love no other good than God.
St. John saw Mary represented in that woman, clothed with the sun, who held the moon under her feet. And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet (Apoc. xii. 1). Interpreters explain the moon to signify the goods of this world, which, like the moon, are uncertain and changeable. Mary never had these goods in her heart, but always despised them and trampled them under her feet; living in this world as a solitary turtle-dove in a desert, never allowing her affection to centre itself on any earthly thing; so that of her it was said: The voice of the turtle is heard in our land (Cant. ii. 12). And elsewhere: Who is she that goeth up by the desert? (Cant. iii. 6). Whence the Abbot Rupert says "Thus didst thou go up by the desert; that is, having a solitary soul." Mary, then, having lived always and in all things detached from the earth, and united to God alone, death was not bitter, but, on the contrary, very sweet and dear to her; since it united her more closely to God in Heaven, by an eternal bond.
Spiritual Reading
TO THEE DO WE CRY, POOR BANISHED CHILDREN OF EVE
I.-THE PROMPTITUDE OF MARY IN ASSISTING THOSE WHO INVOKE HER.
Truly unfortunate are we poor children of Eve; for, guilty before God of her fault, and condemned to the same penalty, we have to wander about in this valley of tears as exiles from our country, and to weep over our many afflictions of body and soul. But blessed is he who, in the midst of these sorrows, often turns to the comfortress of the world, to the refuge of the unfortunate, to the great Mother of God, and devoutly calls upon her and invokes her! Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates (Prov. viii. 34). Blessed, says Mary, is he who listens to my counsels, and watches continually at the gate of my mercy, and invokes my intercession and aid.
The holy Church carefully teaches us her children with what attention and confidence we should unceasingly have recourse to this loving protectress; and for this purpose commands a worship peculiar to Mary. And not only this, but she has instituted many Festivals that are celebrated throughout the year in honour of this great Queen: she devotes one day in the week, in an especial manner, to her honour: in the Divine Office all Ecclesiastics and Religious are daily obliged to invoke her in the name of all Christians; and, finally, she desires that all the faithful should salute this most holy Mother of God three times a day, at the sound of the Angelus-bell. And that we may understand the confidence that the holy Church has in Mary we need only remember that in all public calamities she invariably invites all to have recourse to the protection of this Divine Mother, by novenas, prayers, processions, by visiting the churches dedicated to her honour, and her images. And this is what Mary desires. She wishes us always to seek her and invoke her aid; not as if she were begging of us these honours and marks of veneration, for they are in no way proportioned to her merit; but she desires them, that by such means our confidence and devotion may be increased, and that so she may be able to give us greater succour and comfort. "She seeks for those," says St. Bonaventure, "who approach her devoutly and with reverence, for such she loves, nourishes, and adopts as her children."
The Saint remarks that Ruth, whose name signifies, "seeing and hastening," was a figure of Mary; " for Mary, seeing our miseries, hastens in her mercy to succour us." Novarino adds that "Mary, in the greatness of her desire to help us, cannot admit of delay, for she is in no way an avaricious guardian of the graces she has at her disposal as Mother of Mercy, and cannot do otherwise than immediately shower down the treasures of her liberality on her servants."
Oh, how prompt is this good Mother to help those who call upon her! Thy two breasts, says the sacred Canticle, are like two roes that are twins (Cant. iv. 5). Richard of St. Laurence explains this verse, and says, that as roes are swift in their course, so are the breasts of Mary prompt to bestow the milk of mercy on all who ask it. By the light pressure of a devout salutation and prayer they distil large drops." The same author assures us that the compassion of Mary is poured out on every one who asks it, even should it be sought for by no other prayer than a simple "Hail Mary." Wherefore Novarino declares that the Blessed Virgin not only runs but flies to assist him who invokes her. "She," says this author, "in the exercise of her mercy, knows not how to act differently from God; for, as He flies at once to the assistance of those who beg His aid, faithful to His promise, Ask, and you shall receive (John xvi. 24), so Mary, whenever she is invoked, is at once ready to assist him who prays to her. "God has wings when He assists His own, and immediately flies to them; Mary also takes wing when she is about to fly to our aid." And hence we see who the woman was, spoken of in the following verse of the Apocalypse, to whom two great eagle's wings were given, that she might fly to the desert. And there were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the desert (Apoc. xii. 14). Ribeira explains these wings to mean the love with which Mary always flew to God. "She has the wings of an eagle, for she flies with the love of God." But the Blessed Amadeus, more to our purpose, remarks that these wings of an eagle signify "the velocity, exceeding that of the seraphim with which Mary always flies to the succour of her children."
This will explain a passage in the Gospel of St. Luke, in which we are told that when Mary went to visit and shower graces on St. Elizabeth and her whole family, she was not slow, but went with speed. The Gospel says: And Mary, rising up, went into the hill country with haste (Luke i. 39). And this is not said of her return. For a similar reason, we are told in the sacred Canticles that her hands are skilful at the wheel (Cant. v. 14), meaning, says Richard of St. Laurence, "that as the art of turning is the easiest and most expeditious mode of working, so also is Mary the most willing and prompt of all the Saints to assist her clients." And truly "she has the most ardent desire to console all, and is no sooner invoked than accepts our prayers and helps us." St. Bonaventure, then, was right in calling Mary the "salvation of all who call upon her," meaning, that it suffices to invoke this Divine Mother in order to be saved; for, according to Richard of St. Laurence, she is always ready to help those who seek her aid. "Thou wilt always find her ready to help thee." And Bernardine de Bustis adds that "this great lady is more desirous to grant us graces than we are desirous to receive them."
Evening Meditation
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST
I.
The Prophet David predicted many circumstances, and in great detail, respecting the Passion of Jesus Christ. Especially in the twenty-first Psalm he foretold that Jesus would be pierced with nails in His hands and in His feet, and that they would be able to count all His bones. He foretold that before He should be crucified, His garments would be stripped from Him and divided among the executioners. He spoke of His outer garments, because the inner vestment, which was made without seam, was to be given by lot: They parted my garments amongst them, and upon my vesture they cast lots (Ps. xxi. 19). This Prophecy is recalled both by St. Matthew and St. John (Matt. xxvii. 35; Jo. xix. 23).
David also foretold what St. Matthew relates respecting the blasphemies and mockeries of the Jews against Jesus Christ while He hung upon the Cross: They that passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, Vah, thou that destroyest the temple of God, and in three days dost rebuild it, save thy own self; if thou be the son of God, come down from the cross. In like manner also, the chief priests, with the scribes and ancients, mocking, said: He saved others, himself he cannot save; if he be the king of Israel, let him come now down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him now deliver him if he will have him; for he said: I am the Son of God (Matt. xxvii. 39-43). All this was in accordance with what David had foretold: All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn; they have spoken with the lips and wagged the head. He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him save him seeing he delighteth in him (Ps. xxi. 8, 9).
II.
The Royal Prophet further foretold the great pains Jesus would suffer on the Cross in seeing Himself abandoned by all, and even by His own, except St. John and the Blessed Virgin; while His beloved Mother, by her presence, would not lessen the sufferings of her Son, but rather increased them through the compassion He felt for her, in seeing her thus afflicted by His death. Thus our suffering Lord, in the agonies of His bitter death, had none to comfort Him. This also was foretold by David: I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none; and for one that would comfort me, and I found none (Ps. lxviii. 21). The greatest suffering, however, of our afflicted Redeemer consisted in His beholding Himself abandoned by His Eternal Father, upon which He cried out, according to the prophecy of David: O God, my God, look upon me; why hast thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins (Ps. xxi. 2), as though He had said, "O my Father, the sins of men, which I call My own, because I have taken them upon Me, forbid Me to be delivered from these sufferings which are ending My life; and why hast Thou, O My God, abandoned Me in this My great agony?" To these words of David correspond the words which St. Matthew records as uttered by Jesus upon the Cross a little while before His death: Eli, Eli, lamma sabachthani? that is: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matt. xxvii. 46).
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| FDA Drops Ivermectin Bombshell |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-11-2023, 02:44 PM - Forum: Health
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FDA Drops Ivermectin Bombshell
ZH [not all hyperlinks included from original] | AUG 11, 2023
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,
Doctors are free to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID-19, a lawyer representing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said this week.
“FDA explicitly recognizes that doctors do have the authority to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID,” Ashley Cheung Honold, a Department of Justice lawyer representing the FDA, said during oral arguments on Aug. 8 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
The government is defending the FDA’s repeated exhortations to people to not take ivermectin for COVID-19, including a post that said “Stop it.”
The case was brought by three doctors who allege the FDA unlawfully interfered with their practice of medicine with the statements.
A federal judge dismissed the case in 2022, prompting an appeal.
“The fundamental issue in this case is straightforward. After the FDA approves the human drug for sale, does it then have the authority to interfere with how that drug is used within the doctor-patient relationship? The answer is no,” Jared Kelson, representing the doctors, told the appeals court.
The FDA on Aug. 21, 2021, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter:
“You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
The post, which linked to an FDA page that says people shouldn’t use ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19, went viral.
In other statements, the FDA said that ivermectin “isn’t authorized or approved to treat COVID-19” and “Q: Should I take ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19? A: No.”
Command or Not
“FDA made these statements in response to multiple reports of consumers being hospitalized, after self medicating with ivermectin intended for horses, which is available for purchase over the counter without the need for prescription,” Ms. Honold said.
A version of the drug for animals is available, but ivermectin is approved by the FDA for human use against diseases caused by parasites.
Ms. Honold said that the FDA didn’t purport to require anyone to do anything or to prohibit anyone from doing anything.
“What about when it said, ‘No, stop it’?” Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, on the panel that is hearing the appeal, asked.
“Why isn’t that a command? If you were in English class, they would say that was a command.”
Ms. Honold described the statements as “merely quips.”
“Can you answer the question, please? Is that a command, ‘Stop it’?” Judge Elrod asked.
“In some contexts, those words could be construed as a command,” Ms. Honold said.
“But in this context, where FDA was simply using these words in the context of a quippy tweet meant to share its informational article, those statements do not rise to the level of a command.”
The statements “don’t prohibit doctors from prescribing ivermectin to treat COVID or for any other purpose” Ms. Honold said. She noted that the FDA, along with the statements, said that people should consult their health care providers about COVID-19 treatments and that they could take medicine if it was prescribed by the provider.
“FDA is clearly acknowledging that doctors have the authority to prescribe human ivermectin to treat COVID. So they are not interfering with the authority of doctors to prescribe drugs or to practice medicine,” she said.
Judge Elrod is on the panel with Circuit Judges Edith Brown Clement and Don Willett. All three were appointed under President Donald Trump.
Federal Law
The plaintiffs are Drs. Paul Marik, Mary Bowden, and Robert Apter. They say they were professionally harmed by the FDA’s statements, including being terminated over efforts to prescribe ivermectin to patients.
Dr. Marik has noted that a number of studies support using ivermectin against COVID-19, as the FDA itself has acknowledged. Some other studies show little to no effect.
Federal law enables the FDA to provide information, such as reports of adverse reactions to drugs, but not medical advice, Mr. Kelson said.
“This is something the FDA has never been able to do. And it’s a bright line,” he told the court, adding later:
“The clearest examples of where they have gone over the line are when they say things like, ‘You are not a horse, you are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.'”
Judges indicated they agree that the FDA lacks the power to give medical advice; Judge Clement said, “You’re not authorized to give medical advice.”
But Ms. Honold said the government “isn’t conceding that in this case.”
She also argued that Congress has empowered the FDA to protect public health and make sure regulated products are safe and effective, giving it the “inherent authority to further its mission by communicating information to the public about safe uses of drugs.”
A ruling in favor of the doctors would prevent the FDA from reporting on consumers suffering after cooking chicken with NyQuil or that opioid addiction is a problem, she claimed.
Mr. Kelson said that wasn’t accurate. “It’s when they step beyond that [and] start telling people how they should or should not be using approved drugs,” he said.
Ms. Honold also said that the courts can’t hold agencies accountable when they provide false or misleading information: “The FDA is politically accountable, just like all other executive agencies.”
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| UN Chief: Christians Who Don’t Accept MAPs Will Be Excluded From Society. |
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Posted by: ThyWillBeDone - 08-10-2023, 12:58 PM - Forum: Anti-Catholic Violence
- Replies (1)
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UN Chief: Christians Who Don’t Accept MAPs Will Be Excluded From Society.
The United Nations has warned Christians that if they do not fully embrace the legalization of pedophilia, they will be excluded from participating in society.
In a disturbing new declaration, UN expert Victor Madrigal-Borloz says religious freedom can only be tolerated if religious people fully embrace the globalist agenda, including radical LGBTQ+ ideology.
The LGBTQ+ ideology the UN is pushing originates from a report issued earlier this year that calls for the decriminalization of sex between adults and minors.
https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/un-chief-chri...om-society
T.me/LetThereBeLightNow
T.me/LetThereBeLightChat
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| Archbishop Viganò: Pope Francis wants to create a ‘schism’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-09-2023, 05:04 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Archbishop Viganò: Pope Francis wants to create a ‘schism’ by excommunicating Latin Mass devotees
Pope Francis 'has placed in key positions in the Roman Curia those characters who guarantee the worst possible management of the dicasteries entrusted to them, with the worst possible result and the greatest damage to the ecclesial body,' Viganò said.
![[Image: Vigano_and_Pope_Francis-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Vigano_and_Pope_Francis-810x500.jpg)
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Pope Francis
Mon Jul 24, 2023
(LifeSiteNews [emphasis mine - slightly adapted]) –– The outspoken former apostolic nuncio to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has argued that Pope Francis is looking to corral devotees of the traditional Mass into the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) and then excommunicate the Society.
Speaking with veteran Italian journalist Aldo Maria Valli in a July 15 interview, Archbishop Viganò commented on the recent cardinal-designates announced by Pope Francis and the Pope’s moves against the traditional Mass.
The archbishop stated that the Pope was looking to “create the premises for a schism, which he denies and deplores in words, but which he has been preparing for some time.”
Such a move, argued Viganò, would be “to separate, in one way or another, the good part of the faithful and clerics from the official Church; and to achieve this, to ensure that they distance themselves from the modernist Sanhedrin, he [Pope Francis] has placed in key positions in the Roman Curia those characters who guarantee the worst possible management of the dicasteries entrusted to them, with the worst possible result and the greatest damage to the ecclesial body.”
To this perceived end, Viganò suggested that the Pope’s restrictions on the traditional Mass were part of a larger move aimed at orchestrating a de facto schism.
This could be achieved by channelling traditional Catholics into the SSPX, he argued, and then issuing an “intolerable provocation” that would “force at least one faction of the Society of Saint Pius X to distance themselves from Bergoglian Rome, sanctioning the ‘excommunication’ of traditionalism, no longer represented within the official Church, if it ever was.”
He argued:
Quote:The progressive restrictions on the celebration of the ancient liturgy serve to confine conservatives to hunting reserves, in order to then channel them towards the Society of Saint Pius X, as soon as the Synod leads the doctrinal, moral and disciplinary changes that are in the pipeline to their tragic consequences, causing an exodus of Catholics into what, after the suppression or normalization of the Ecclesia Dei Institutes, will become the “monopolist” of Tradition.
But at that point — that is, when the traditional Catholics have migrated into the Society and its leaders believe they have won a victory over the competition from the suppressed Summorum Pontificum — a new intolerable provocation will force at least one faction of the Society of Saint Pius X to distance themselves from Bergoglian Rome, sanctioning the “excommunication” of traditionalism, no longer represented within the official Church, if it ever was. For this reason, in my opinion, it is important to maintain a certain fragmentation, in order to make the malicious maneuver of expelling traditional Catholics from the ecclesial body more complex.
Highlighting Pope Francis’ promotion of heterodox prelates—such as Cardinal-designate Victor Manuel Fernández—Viganò stated that the Pope’s aim is “to create confrontation, let it grow, encourage the supporters of the most extreme requests with appointments and promotions.” This, he stated, would lead to a “predictable reaction of condemnation” from the “few good remaining bishops, priests, and religious,” who by doing so would encounter “Bergoglio’s trap door.”
They would then “have two choices: either to return to suffer in silence, or or to stand up, denounce the betrayal of Catholic Truth, and be forced to leave one’s post and exercise the ministry clandestinely or at least in apparent canonical irregularity.”
By this method, “the Bergoglian hierarchy will be able to exercise full control over the clergy and people, certain of the obedience of those who remain,” Viganò argued. “And this sect, which will only have the name of Catholic (and perhaps not even that anymore), will totally eclipse the Bride of the Lamb, in the paradox of a traitorous and corrupt Hierarchy that abuses Christ’s authority to destroy his Church.”
The archbishop expanded on these statements in a subsequent conversation with Valli, in which Viganò recalled how Pope Francis had already stated “I am not afraid of schisms.” Viganò commented:
Quote:And while he [Francis] stated that “schismatics always have one thing in common, they detach themselves from people, from the faith of the people, from the faith of the people of God,” he added: “The morality of ideology leads you to rigidity, and today we have so many schools of rigidity within the Church, which are not schisms, but they are pseudo-schismatic Christian ways that will end badly: when you see rigid Christians, bishops, and priests, there are problems behind them, there is not the sanity of the Gospel.” As usual, he accused Catholics of doing what he himself was about to do.
Referring to Pope Francis’ July 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, Archbishop Viganò argued that the text was a means to effect such a plan of fomenting a schism. To this, he added the current practice of how “the Vatican does not hesitate to limit the rights of Bishops to prevent them from helping certain traditional communities to survive, [and] it significantly extends the rights of other Bishops beyond the law – by sanating the irregularities and abuses of its own lackeys – whenever it serves to suppress and persecute such communities.”
“To this we may add the Constitution Vultum Dei Quærere and the Instruction Cor Orans, with which Bergoglio has deprived monastic communities of their autonomy and arranged them into federations under the strict control of ultra-progressives – along with Chinese-style reprogramming – of the self-styled Dicastery for Religious,” he continued.
What about an impending schism?
When questioned by Valli about what devotees of the traditional liturgy and faith should do when such devotion is deemed to be increasingly hostile to the current Vatican program, Viganò outlined an image of an abducted Church. He stated that since the Second Vatican Council “we have become accustomed to seeing the authority of the Pastors used against the faithful and against the Church herself, all while maintaining an appearance of formal legitimacy.”
Quote:The “Council” itself – the only Council that is dear to the heart of the Modernists, because it is the only one of which they are the architects and that has nothing Catholic about it – was a colossal deception against the ecclesial body, because it maintained the authority of an Ecumenical Council while fraudulently insinuating heretical doctrines; it maintained the authority of the Council Fathers and the Roman Pontiff precisely as it was being used to demolish the Catholic edifice; it imposed blind and servile obedience to norms in contrast with the uninterrupted and immutable Magisterium.
Addressing the “abolition of the traditional Liturgy,” which he said was “intended by Paul VI using his apostolic authority,” Viganò described this action as “a fraud.”
And the current attempt to cancel Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum with an analogous Motu Proprio – apparently carrying the same canonical efficacy – is no less malicious.
Such an action – meaning Traditionis Custodes – is intended for the “ruin” of the Church and of souls, argued the outspoken prelate:
Quote:Its aim is not the good of the Church and the salvation of the faithful, but the ruin of both. On the other hand, even the accusation of blasphemy that the Sanhedrin brought against Our Lord had all the appearances of a formally unexceptionable action, even though it was intrinsically illegitimate and null, because it was used against the Divine and Innocent Legislator.
He alluded to Pope Francis’ campaign against the traditional liturgy as a form of “authoritarianism,” by which an individual governs in his own name but “not because he is a vicar of the authority of Christ.”
“This makes it a subversive power,” he said, “unchained from any duty to conform itself to the will of Christ in pursuing the common good, and for this reason it is inexorably destined to transform itself into hateful tyranny.”
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| Major Australian Banks Are Going Cashless - Forced Acceptance Of CBDCs Next? |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-08-2023, 05:11 AM - Forum: Global News
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Major Australian Banks Are Going Cashless - Forced Acceptance Of CBDCs Next?
ZH AUG 07, 2023
The core problems of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) have been addressed many times here, but it may bear repeating these two facts - First, in a cashless society all privacy in trade is lost, and second, banks and governments will control access to all of your money. If such a system is allowed, it will act as a major stepping stone to technocratic authoritarianism. It's inevitable.
The Australian government and central bank have been involved in a beta test for the past year with the proliferation of CBDCs in mind. Their partnership projects with the Bank for International Settlements and pilot programs with companies like Mastercard are about to wrap up this fall, and it looks as though Aussie bureaucrats are planning to implement their cashless system very quickly after the trial run is finished.
In defense of CBDCs officials suggest that Australians are already shifting into a cashless society, citing the fact that the population went from 32% using cash to only 16% using cash in the span of three years. Of course, what they don't mention is that Australia's aggressive and draconian covid lockdowns and mandates since 2020 pushed the public into relying more on digital and online purchases.
Already, the top four banks in the country are removing over the counter cash withdrawals at most of their branches. "Special centers" will be put in place for "more complex banking needs including cash" but the overall trend will be the reduction of paper money, forcing the populace to go fully digital.
The use of CBDCs by the establishment to control the flow of money is tied directly to social engineering programs. As members of the World Economic Forum have openly admitted, governments could program CBDC usage to prevent purchases of items they deem to have a negative social impact. These restricted items could be anything from ammunition to meat. In other words, they don't have to officially "ban" certain products, all they have to do is make it impossible to buy them.
But the micromanagement goes well beyond this. There are plans to make CBDCs that "time out," compelling the public to spend them before they expire. There is also the issue of social credit scoring, which has been established in China and is creeping into western institutions. What if one day the powers-that-be decide that certain speech and certain beliefs cause "harm" to the greater collective and must be suppressed through monetary penalties? This could result in limitations on how you can use your bank account everytime you make a comment they don't like on social media. Or, it could result in your account being frozen for a period of time until you publicly apologize for your statements.
It makes sense that Australia would be one of the first western nations to adopt the cashless structure. The government was rather successful in enforcing extreme covid lockdowns with minimal public resistance, to the point that citizens in cities were under house arrest and were not even allowed to go to the parks or beaches in many cases. It's likely the the establishment sees Australians as an easy target for the first volley of cashless controls.
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| 'Disease X': UK scientists begin developing vaccines against new pandemic |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-07-2023, 06:42 AM - Forum: Health
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'Disease X': UK scientists begin developing vaccines against new pandemic
The work is being carried out at the government's high-security Porton Down laboratory complex in Wiltshire.
SkyNews | 7 August 2023
UK scientists have begun developing vaccines as an insurance against a new pandemic caused by an unknown "Disease X".
The work is being carried out at the government's high-security Porton Down laboratory complex in Wiltshire by a team of more than 200 scientists.
They have drawn up a threat list of animal viruses that are capable of infecting humans and could in future spread rapidly around the world.
Which of them will break through and trigger the next pandemic is unknown, which is why it's referred to only as "Disease X".
Sky News was escorted around the site, which is run by the UK Health Security Agency, to see the work being done in high-containment labs.
Professor Dame Jenny Harries, the head of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), told Sky News: "What we're trying to do here is ensure that we prepare so that if we have a new Disease X, a new pathogen, we have done as much of that work in advance as possible.
"Hopefully we can prevent it [a pandemic]. But if we can't and we have to respond, then we have already started developing vaccines and therapeutics to crack it."
The Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre at Porton Down has been expanded to take on the work.
Originally, it was focused on COVID and testing the effectiveness of vaccines against new variants.
But scientists at the centre are now involved in monitoring several high-risk pathogens, including bird flu, monkeypox and hantavirus, a disease spread by rodents.
![[Image: skynews-porton-down-vaccination_6242399....0806152750]](https://e3.365dm.com/23/08/2048x1152/skynews-porton-down-vaccination_6242399.jpg?20230806152750)
File photo of a high containment lab at Porton Down
One early success is the world's first vaccine against Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, a disease that's spread by ticks and has a fatality rate of 30%.
Early-stage clinical trials have just started, with 24 volunteers expected to test the jab.
The disease is becoming more common in Europe as global temperatures rise and some travellers have returned to the UK with the infection.
UK scientists have begun developing vaccines as an insurance against a new pandemic caused by an unknown ‘Disease X’. The work is being carried out at the government’s high-security Porton Down laboratory complex in Wiltshire by a team of more than 200 scientists.
Prof Harries said climate change and population shifts are making another pandemic more likely.
"What we're seeing is a rising risk globally," she said.
"Some of that is because of things like urbanisation where you may get virus jumping into humans [living close-by], as we've seen with bird flu.
"And some of it is because of climate change where you get things like ticks and mosquitoes moving to where it was previously cold and is now becoming increasingly warm.
"So this is a growing risk agenda. But it's one we can use our science actively to prevent human impact."
Bird flu is currently thought to be the most likely pandemic threat.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says at least 30,000 seabirds have died around the UK this summer as a more virulent strain of the H5N1 virus has swept around the world.
There is also evidence of limited spread in some mammals.
Bird flu is currently thought to be the most likely pandemic threat. The RSPB says at least 30,000 seabirds have died around the UK this summer as a more virulent strain of the H5N1 virus has swept around the world.
![[Image: skynews-bird-flu-vaccine-porton-down_624...0806201357]](https://e3.365dm.com/23/08/2048x1152/skynews-bird-flu-vaccine-porton-down_6242757.png?20230806201357)
Bird flu is currently thought to be the most likely pandemic threat
And four people working on poultry farms in the UK have also tested positive, but were only mildly affected.
The UKHSA has started monitoring people in close contact with birds in case it can spread without causing symptoms.
The agency is part of a global effort to develop a vaccine within 100 days of a new pathogen being recognised as having pandemic potential.
"Historically, that would be unheard of," said Prof Harries.
"It would normally take five or 10 years. For COVID it was around 360 days.
"So this is a really high ambition. But for some viruses, it is definitely possible."
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| Pope Francis says new council unnecessary as Vatican II ‘has not yet been implemented’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-07-2023, 05:57 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Pope Francis says new council unnecessary as Vatican II ‘has not yet been implemented’
Pope Francis again blasted traditional Catholics and said Vatican II ‘was very risky’ in a new interview.
![[Image: pope-recent-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/pope-recent-810x500.jpg)
Pope Francis addressing Portuguese leaders during his August 2023 visit
Twitter screenshot
Aug 4, 2023
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) –– In a newly released interview, Pope Francis has downplayed suggestions of a third Vatican Council, saying that Vatican II “has not yet been implemented.”
The Pope’s comments came as part of an interview he granted to the Spanish-language outlet Vida Nueva marking the 65th anniversary of the publication, to which the Pope is a subscriber.
Speaking about his reaction to ascending to the papal throne, along with topics such as the Ukraine war, “rigidity” and the Synod, Pope Francis gave the interview from his apartment at the Vatican’s Santa Martha hotel.
The current Synod on Synodality has been compared to an extension of Vatican II, and occasionally likened to a form of a third Vatican Council. Vida Nueva asked Francis about the Synod and whether he would “consider shaping the third Vatican Council?”
In response, the 86-year-old pontiff downplayed such a suggestion, arguing instead that the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) had yet to be enacted.
Quote:The time is not ripe for a Vatican Council III. And neither is it necessary at this time, since Vatican II has not yet been implemented. It was very risky and it has to be implemented. But there is always that fear that we all have been infected, unseen, by the “old Catholics” who, already at Vatican I, claimed to be “depositaries of the true faith.” All these proposals of “bad lactose” must be brought down with clear arguments. It is important to go out to meet the sophisms.
As has become commonplace, the Pope also took aim at traditional Catholics, arguing that “rigidity” was caused by fear “of the time of insecurity we are living in,” but also due to vice. He argued that the “armor” of “rigidity … hides a lot of rottenness. I have already had to intervene in some dioceses in several countries with similar parameters.”
“Behind this traditionalism, we have discovered moral problems and serious vices, double lives,” Francis continued, without expanding on what was incorporated by “traditionalism.”
Quote:We all know of bishops who, needing priests, have made use of people they had thrown out of other seminaries for immorality. I do not like rigidity because it is a bad symptom of interior life. The pastor cannot afford to be rigid. The pastor has to be ready for whatever comes.
He cited a conversion in which he had been told that “the rigidity of young priests arises because they are tired of the current relativism, but this is not always the case.” Instead, Francis called for “normal seminarians, with their problems, who play soccer, who do not go to the neighborhoods to dogmatize.”
Francis also decried individuals who “live trapped in a theology manual, incapable of getting into the problems and moving theology forward.” Such “stagnant theology,” he said, “reminds me that stagnant water is the first to be corrupted, and stagnant theology creates corruption. Both left-wing and right-wing movements that remain stagnant create corruption.”
Vatican II central theme of pontificate
Francis has made similar laudatory comments of the Second Vatican Council in a previous interview, published in March 2023 but conducted in December 2022.
Answering questions about how Vatican II is a central theme to his pontificate, Francis outlined how “I am so committed to the Council because that event was actually a visit of God to His Church.”
He continued: “The Council was one of those things that God brings about in history through holy men.”
READ: Pope claims Vatican II was ‘renewal’ of the Church ‘in tune with the signs of the times’
Francis expanded upon this claim by stating that Vatican II was a “renewal” and a rejuvenation of the Catholic Church. “The Council did not only involve a renewal of the Church,” he said. “It was not only a matter of renewal, but also a challenge to make the Church more and more alive.”
Citing not only a “renewal” of the Church, Francis argued that the Council “rejuvenates the Church,” turning it into a “mother always moving forward.” This process of “moving forward” is being achieved by the Synod on Synodality, argued the Argentine pontiff:
Quote:We come from afar, now we are here and we have to move forward. This is what we do through the current Synod process, and the two Synods on Synodality will help us clarify the meaning and method of decision-making in the Church.
But while Francis has praised Vatican II, alongside expressing his desire for it to be further implemented, scholars and clerics do not share his view.
Liturgist and theologian Dr. Peter Kwasniewski wrote of the Council that “it must be remembered with shame and repentance as a moment in which the hierarchy of the Church, to varying degrees, surrendered to a more subtle (and therefore more dangerous) form of worldliness.”
“Moreover,” he continued, “the errors contained in the documents, as well as the many errors commonly attributed to the Council or prompted by it, must be drawn into a syllabus and anathematized by a future pope or council so that the controverted matters may be laid to rest, as former councils have wisely and charitably done in regard to the errors of their times.”
The former papal nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò wrote in 2020 that certain of the “deviations” of Vatican II have given rise to many of the more controversial and problematic recent papal texts, such as the Abu Dhabi document and Fratelli Tutti.
Summing up the deviations in Catholic doctrine in the last decades, the Italian prelate wrote:
Quote:If the pachamama could be adored in a church, we owe it to Dignitatis Humanae. If we have a liturgy that is Protestantized and at times even paganized, we owe it to the revolutionary action of Msgr. Annibale Bugnini and to the post-conciliar reforms. If the Abu Dhabi Declaration was signed, we owe it to Nostra Aetate. If we have come to the point of delegating decisions to the Bishops’ Conferences – even in grave violation of the Concordat, as happened in Italy – we owe it to collegiality, and to its updated version, synodality. Thanks to synodality, we found ourselves with Amoris Laetitia having to look for a way to prevent what was obvious to everyone from appearing: that this document, prepared by an impressive organizational machine, intended to legitimize Communion for the divorced and cohabiting, just as Querida Amazonia will be used to legitimize women priests (as in the recent case of an “episcopal vicaress” in Freiburg) and the abolition of Sacred Celibacy.
He called the Second Vatican Council a “coup d’état” and a “revolution.”
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| The Kolbe Report (August 5, 2023) re Fr. Paul Robinson, SSPX |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-07-2023, 05:46 AM - Forum: The New-Conciliar SSPX
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Kolbe Report
Taken from here
[Red emphasis mine. Slightly adapted]
August 5, 2023
Dear Friends of the Kolbe Center,
Glory to Jesus Christ!
While many traditional Catholic theologians recognize that the theology and the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas cannot be reconciled with theistic evolution, there are some who insist that the long ages associated with the molecules-to-man evolution hypothesis have been proven to be true beyond any reasonable doubt.
According to the view known as “progressive creation,” God created all of the different kinds of creatures by fiat, but He did so by intervening periodically in the course of the 13.7 billion of years that began with the Big Bang. We are delighted to announce the publication of a new book entitled Worthy of Belief which masterfully defends the traditional Catholic reading of Genesis, with its chronology of four to five thousand years from Creation to the Incarnation, against the claims of the progressive creationist account of the origins of man and the universe.
In this newsletter I would like to share the first chapter of this new book with you, so that you can see how the author approaches his task. I hope that you will be moved to obtain the book for your own library and make the author’s arguments your own. Chapter One is entitled “Muddy Walls” and ends with a quotation from G. K. Chesterton in which he defines a “realist” as “One who throws enough mud until some of it sticks, especially to that unfortunate creature Man, who was originally made of mud.”
Muddy Walls
On the origin of the universe, theories and theorists abound. Those who believe in Creation point to revelation, and also to the observable world, explaining that it corroborates the Biblical account. Atheists reject God, arguing that the same world proves the contrary. Some promote a middle way, contending that God created the universe, but not as described in Genesis. And these say that compromise is necessary to save religion; which, they contend, cannot otherwise stand against the theories of modern scientists.
Disbelief, of course, is nothing new. The centuries have had many scoffers, grinding their atheistic axes with unproven theories. But there is something novel about modern disbelief. It’s not so much the substance of the modern theories, or even that the theories are taught by secular academics. What’s different today is the number of clerics and churchmen who accept those theories. Now, Catholic schools and seminaries commonly teach the principles of Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin as if true.
Indeed, despite the attempts of some previous popes to stop it, the trend has escalated to such a point that the Catholic hierarchy itself has become a leading scoffer. Pope Francis recently complained that, when thinking of the creation “story,” Catholics “risk imagining that God was a magician, with such a magic wand as to be able to do everything.” According to U.S. News, instead of the account in Genesis, Pope Francis expressly accepts “[t]he Big-Bang;” the theory that, he explains, “is placed today at the origin of the world.” Obviously, this amplifies the Big Bang’s impact in undermining belief in Creation as revealed by God through Moses in Genesis.
But Pope Francis’ view directly contradicts that held by previous popes, especially those preceding Pius XII. Consider the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, Providentissimus Deus, where (in 1893) he expressly reaffirmed that:
Quote:The books [of the Bible], all and entire, which the Church accepts as sacred and canonical, with all their parts, have been written at the dictation of the Holy Spirit; so far is it from the possibility of any error being present to divine inspiration, that it itself of itself not only excludes all error, but excludes it and rejects it as necessarily as it is necessary that God, the highest Truth, be the author of no error whatsoever.
This is the ancient and uniform faith of the Church, defined also by solemn opinion, at the Council of Florence and of Trent, finally confirmed and more expressly declared at the [first] Vatican Council, by which it was absolutely declared: ‘The books of the Old and New Testament . . . have God as their author.’ Therefore, it matters not at all that the Holy Spirit took men as instruments for the writing, as if anything false might have slipped, not indeed from the first Author, but from the inspired writers.
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3...ipo=images]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.lOWEp_fWGUlQ2Ppq1alu0QHaJm%26pid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=96fa2cfc1be6942b346eea8798a2b8f176eb75a0bc3d998866addf8023fae211&ipo=images)
Pope Leo XIII
Clearly, it is well-settled dogma that the Scriptures cannot contain even the slightest error. It is likewise clear that the Big Bang Theory, which holds that the universe developed progressively over billions of years from a primeval atom, contradicts the historical account of Creation revealed in Genesis. This is the case even if God is ‘credited’ as having gotten the process started. The Big Bang also contradicts more than nineteen hundred years of Church tradition.
Pope St. Pius X also reaffirmed that “each and every part” of Sacred Scripture is protected against error. In adopting the report of his Biblical Commission, St. Pius X admonished against “the various exegetical systems” (systems of interpretation), “which have been proposed to exclude the literal sense of the first three chapters of the Book of Genesis.” In fact, he specifically rejected abandoning the literal meaning of Genesis with interpretations that “have been defended by the pretense of science.” St. Pius X expressly ruled that those interpretations of science are erroneous. He and the Commission explicitly rejected any teaching which suggested “that the three aforesaid chapters of Genesis do not contain the stories of events which really happened, that is, which correspond with objective reality and historical truth...”
If the universe is the result of billions of years of evolutionary—or progressive—development, then reason demands a re-evaluation of Genesis. And from that theory springs yet another concept: that discernment of truth itself is an evolutionary or progressive process, a process in which revealed truth is subject to qualification by scientific theorists. These ideas gave birth to the notion that truth may differ from age to age, that truths defined by the Apostles may have evolved to have different meanings or aspects for today’s truth. This is the essence of Modernism, which Pope St. Pius X, in his Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, dubbed “the synthesis of all heresies,”9 calling out the Modernists for proposing to “separate the theological and pastoral [interpretation of text and tradition] from the scientific and the historical.”10 Concerning this, he stated:
Quote:[The modernists,] on the principle that science in no wise depends on faith, when they are treating of philosophy, history, and criticism, . . . they display in every way a contempt for Catholic precepts, the Holy Fathers, the Ecumenical Synods, and the ecclesiastical magisterium; and if they are criticized for this, they complain that they are being deprived of their freedom. Finally, professing that faith must be made subject to science, they rebuke the Church generally and openly, because she refuses most resolutely to subject and accommodate her teachings to the opinions of philosophy; but they, repudiating the old theology for this purpose, endeavor to bring in the new, which follows the ravings of the philosophers.
St. Pius X warned that, ultimately, this “system means the destruction not of the Catholic religion alone but of all religion.” Thus, he says, “[w]ith good reason do the rationalists applaud [the modernists], for the most sincere and the frankest among the rationalists warmly welcome the modernists as their most valuable allies.” The aftermath of Vatican II has certainly vindicated St. Pius X’s warning, especially as to the Catholic faithful.
After Vatican II was implemented in the late 1960s, those adhering to tradition (in dogmas and liturgy) became known as traditional Catholics. Leaders of the traditional Catholic movement opposed the new theologies that contradicted the traditional account of Creation as revealed in Genesis. At the very least, they certainly never heralded the new theories. But that, too, has apparently changed. Anyway, it appears to have for the Society of St. Pius X, judging by its support of The Realist Guide to Religion & Science, a book written by one of its seminary professors, Fr. Paul Robinson.
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3...ipo=images]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.BXv0-1gltI40zQt0aX-Y_AHaJH%26pid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=e8ec5d0d47ab752b7b4dd3c10fb17ccfa73779a0b04a97adca89f7ca64d442b5&ipo=images)
Pope St. Pius X
Of course, one book by one priest does not a movement make. But the posture of the SSPX toward this book is tantamount to endorsement. Upon its release, the SSPX’s website officially promoted the book as being “written at [its] Holy Cross Seminary,” and applauded that it “takes a thesis of the late, great Fr. Stanley Jaki.” The book’s author taught theology and philosophy at the Society’s Holy Cross Seminary until 2019, when he took charge of one of the Society’s high schools in the United States. Additionally, the Society’s publisher, Angelus Press, not only sells the book but gives it accolades, having promoted it with an email push following its publication. Further, priories of the SSPX in the United States have promoted the book by hosting lectures with Fr. Robinson. And, finally, Fr. Robinson himself credits his formation at the SSPX seminary for instilling in him this “opposition” to the literal interpretation of Genesis, explaining it was there that:
Quote:...[he] was taught why Catholic exegetes reject [the idea of a young Earth, i.e., dating the Earth according to Scriptural history,] under the guidance of the Church. God willing, I was also given a Catholic intellectual balance in Scriptural matters which, in turn, I hope I communicate to my own students.
In The Realist Guide, Fr. Robinson announces: “Today, it is clear that Genesis 1 is not meant to provide a strict history of the universe.” Instead, he insists that the literal understanding of Genesis is incompatible with reality. This, he contends, results in “an apparent dilemma for believers.” According to Fr. Robinson, taking Genesis literally has “disastrous effects on souls,” often ending in apostasy. To emphasize this point, he narrates the following:
Quote:Jaki makes mention of a priest working in the slums of Paris who claimed that ‘the apparent conflict between science and the six-day-creation story was much more effective in promoting atheism among the poor and the relatively uneducated than were the social injustices that cut into their flesh and blood.’
To what “social injustices” this Parisian priest was referring is left undisclosed, but his disdain for the six-day-creation “story” is obvious. The answer to the “dilemma,” says Fr. Robinson, is to adopt “a middle ground” and compromise “between the strictly literal interpretation and the allegorical” reading of Genesis 1. He calls this middle ground “progressive creationism,” explaining “that Genesis 1 is not an exact, historical account of the unfolding of creation, yet at the same time, it does contain historical elements.” In explaining this notion, he declares that:
Quote:God did not create everything at once, but rather created some material beings in an initial instant and then progressively added material beings to the universe at later times. This did not happen in six periods of twenty-four hours, nor did it happen in the exact order indicated by Genesis 1.
According to Fr. Robinson’s reckoning, it is impossible for Creation to have happened within the time-frame calculated by Biblical scholars, which dates Creation at approximately 6,000 or so years ago. Instead, Fr. Robinson suggests that God initiated creation via the “Big Bang Theory,” starting with a “primeval atom” some 13.7 billions of years ago—an opinion he credits as having “probable certainty.” He opines that taking Genesis literally “advocates a picture of the Earth that is manifestly wrong” concerning its age, as well as the historical account of Creation over six days that he deems equally erroneous. Fr. Robinson also rejects the Genesis account of the Flood of Noah, contending it to be both scientifically and physically impossible. He concludes that the Flood could not have happened as described in Genesis and, thus, had to be merely local to that region.
![[Image: noe-ark-icon.png?resize=600%2C542&ssl=1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kolbecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/noe-ark-icon.png?resize=600%2C542&ssl=1)
Presenting what he purports to be scientific data, Fr. Robinson asserts that Reason is not to be ignored and, thus, insists we must reject Genesis as traditionally understood. It is true that “faith and reason can never come into conflict.” But the reasoning must be sound. The theories Fr. Robinson promotes do contradict the text of Genesis, and also the Church Fathers and Doctors. The problem, however, is not with the words of Moses and tradition, but with the theories The Realist Guide promotes.
On a positive note, Fr. Robinson is correct that words used solely for esthetic description are not to be taken literally. To use his example, a text that describes a morning “sunrise” conveys the present sense of what the writer sees, not movement of the sun. As Fr. Robinson correctly states, the Fathers of the Church adopted a “fundamental” rule for interpreting Biblical text, namely, that: “it is not lawful to depart from the obvious literal sense, unless reason prohibits it or some necessity forces us to leave it.” Fr. Robinson then explains that the Bible was not given as a physics or science manual. Fair enough. Brother Francis Maluf, M.I.C.M, Ph.D. (1913-2009), who was a great defender of the literal account of Genesis, explained that the more important focus is on man’s spiritual position rather than geometric location. But there is no error whatsoever in Scripture. The accounts of Creation and the Flood, as revealed in Genesis, are literally and historically true. These historical narratives are foundational first principles in Revelation and, therefore, central to the Faith. They either happened as revealed or they did not.
Through the prayers of the Mother of God and of all the Saints, may the Holy Ghost guide us all into all the Truth!
Yours in Christ through the Immaculata in union with St. Joseph,
Hugh Owen
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| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Tenth Week after Pentecost |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-06-2023, 05:37 AM - Forum: Pentecost
- Replies (7)
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How is it possible for him who looks at the Crucifix, and beholds a God dying in a sea of sorrows and insults –how is it possible for him, if he loves that God, not to suffer with cheerfulness? Yea, how is it even possible not to desire to suffer every pain for Jesus’ sake? Love makes all things easy.
I.
O God, how is it possible for him who looks at the Crucifix, and beholds a God dying in a sea of sorrows and insults; how, I say, is it possible for him, if he loves that God, not to suffer with cheerfulness? Yea, how is it even possible not to desire to suffer every pain for Jesus’ sake? St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi used to say: “The sharpest pains become sweet when we behold Jesus on the Cross.” Justus Lipsius once found himself greatly afflicted with pains: a certain person endeavoured to encourage him to bear them with patience by placing before him the patience of the stoics; but turning to the Crucifix he said: “There is true patience!” He meant to say that the example of a God Who once suffered so much for the love of us is sufficient to animate us to endure all pain for the love of Him. “The ignominy of the Cross,” says St. Bernard, “is agreeable to him who is not ungrateful to a crucified God.” To him who loves his crucified Saviour pains and opprobrium are agreeable. When St. Eleazar was asked by his virgin spouse, St. Afra, how he could submit to so many insults from the rabble without seeking revenge, he said: “My spouse, think not that I am insensible to these insults; I feel them keenly; but I turn to Jesus on the Cross, and continue to look at Him until my soul becomes tranquil.” Love, says St. Augustine, makes all things easy. After being wounded with Divine love, St. Catherine of Genoa used to say that she knew not what it was to suffer. Although she endured the most grievous pains, she felt none of them, because she regarded them as sent by Him who loved her so tenderly. Thus also a good religious of the Society of Jesus, when God visited him with any pain, sickness, or persecution, used to say within himself: “Tell me, O pain, sickness, or persecution, who sends thee? Does God send thee? Welcome, welcome!” Thus he was always in peace.
II.
Since, therefore, in this life we must suffer either cheerfully or with reluctance, let us endeavour to suffer with merit, that is, with patience. Patience is a shield that defends us against all the pains arising from persecutions, infirmities, losses, and other afflictions. He who has not this shield, has to bear all these pains. Let us, then, in the first place, ask this patience of God; without asking it we shall never obtain this great gift. When afflictions come upon us, let us be careful to do violence to ourselves, and not break out into words of impatience or complaint. The fire that burns in a vessel is soon extinguished when the vessel is closed. To him that overcometh, I will give the hidden manna (Apoc. ii. 17). When a person does violence to conquer himself in adversity, by instantly embracing the cross that God sends him, oh! what sweetness does the Lord not make him afterwards experience in the very tribulation he suffers–a sweetness wholly hidden from men of the world, but well known to souls that love God. St. Augustine used to say that to enjoy a good conscience in the midst of afflictions is sweeter than to live with a guilty conscience in the midst of delights. Speaking of herself, St. Teresa said: “I have several times experienced that when I generously resolve to do an act, God instantly makes the performance of it pleasant to me. He wishes the soul to feel these terrors in the beginning, that she may have greater merit.”
Spiritual Reading
THE DOCTOR AND APOSTLE OF PRAYER, ST. ALPHONSUS.
When once his Congregation was approved, Alphonsus gave himself up with greater ardour than ever to the impulses of his burning zeal. From this time we see him extending so widely the sphere of his labours, that his boundless activity has won for him the admiration of all successive ages. In addition to the cares, which now weighed upon him more heavily than ever owing to the increase and extension of his Institute; in addition to the anxieties and fatigues occasioned by his persevering assiduity in the work of the missions, Alphonsus now began to publish that long series of works, both theological and ascetical, by which he merited the glorious title of Doctor of the Church. His fame rests principally on his Moral Theology, and as a teacher of morals he occupies indisputably the foremost place. It was the charity of Christ and zeal for souls that constantly urged on this holy man. Hence no amount of work, no pains of sickness, however severe, could hinder him from publishing one or another book, and sometimes even many every year, and this he continued to do even when burdened by the heavy cares of his episcopal office.
If we look for an explanation of this marvellous activity we shall find it in the heroic vow by which this extraordinary man bound himself for the love of Jesus. This vow is recorded in the Bull of his Canonization in the following terms:–“In order that he might consecrate himself and all his actions to the service of God, he bound himself by an arduous and almost unheard-of vow, never to waste the smallest portion of his time in idleness, but to be perpetually engaged in some useful occupation.” Certainly we cannot but wonder that anyone should venture to make a promise so unlimited. It occasioned the defender of the cause of his beatification to exclaim in astonishment: “O wondrous vow, to which eternal praises are due; O heroic act, unknown till now, that reveals to us the sanctity of Alphonsus!” It is very probable indeed that Alphonsus took this vow from the very commencement of his Congregation. But since he lived for more than fifty years from that time, what must have been the vigilance necessary to observe so heroic a resolution for so long a period?
And now before we proceed further in our narration of the Saint’s life, we will delay for a few moments in order to speak of the virtues which he practised in so perfect a manner. As we mentioned before, the chief virtue of St. Alphonsus was his burning love for Jesus Christ. This virtue was, as it were, the root from which sprung all his other virtues; it was the motive power of all his actions. Since he was pressed by the charity of Christ, he fled even from the shadow of sin as from the face of a serpent. “Rather,” he used to say, “would I be plunged alive into a cauldron of boiling oil than commit even one mortal sin; and I would suffer my head to be cut off sooner than tell a willful lie.” The words and actions of Jesus Christ formed the unceasing subject of his contemplation. Yet there were three Mysteries of this Divine life that he loved to dwell upon with a special affection: the Incarnation of the Divine Word; His Passion and Death; and that immense love which moved Him to become a sojourner on our altars, even to the end of time. In meditating on these Mysteries he nourished his soul with a food of heavenly sweetness; they formed the usual subjects of his sermons, and he explained them with such unction that he seemed to be an angel rather than a man. In order to communicate to others the piety that inflamed his own heart, he published many books, written in a strain that is truly seraphic. Amongst these the best known is that golden little work entitled Visits to the Blessed Sacrament. When Alphonsus thought of the number of souls who offend our Divine Lord by their sins, and who either treat Him with complete indifference, or with cold respect, he would exclaim, in bitter grief: “Poor Jesus Christ! Poor Jesus Christ!” And it was this compassion for his outraged Saviour that urged him to undertake so many labours for the salvation of souls.
There was, perhaps, no Saint who more fully understood, or more constantly insisted on that urgent command of our Lord Jesus Christ “that we ought always to pray and not to faint.” Alphonsus himself used to pray to God without ceasing, and he never wearied of exhorting the faithful to make use of the weapon of prayer in all dangers both of soul and body. He published on this subject his celebrated treatise, entitled: Prayer, the Great Means of Salvation; and, hence, he has been styled the Apostle of Prayer. From this unwearied spirit of prayer, and from his singular love for Jesus, there sprung his boundless and truly extraordinary devotion to the Virgin Mother of God. It would, indeed, be difficult to describe the greatness of his love for this best of mothers. During the whole course of his life he had nothing more at heart than to prepare himself for her Feasts by redoubling his prayers and penances. Every Saturday he fasted on bread and water in honour of his beloved Mother. His actions were all commenced and ended with the “Hail Mary.” No day was allowed to pass by without the recitation of a third part of the Rosary, to which he bound himself by vow. He had also made a vow to preach every Saturday in honour of the Blessed Virgin. When he spoke of his dearly-beloved Queen, it was evident that his burning words proceeded from a heart burning with love. And since these marks of affection for the Holy Virgin seemed insufficient to him, he wrote a book on the Glories of Mary, of which every page, nay, every line, breathes the tenderest devotion and love. As the Bull of his Canonization declares: “Towards the Blessed Virgin, whom he regarded as a Mother, he cherished the most singular devotion.” Such was Alphonsus, whom Jesus Christ gave to His Church as founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. The Saint had now reached his sixty-sixth year, and it is at this period of his life that he received a call from Heaven to new cares and duties, namely, those of the episcopal office. Alphonsus as a bishop will be the subject of our next chapter.
Evening Meditation
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
I.
Therefore, we ought continually with tears of tenderness, to thank the Eternal Father for having given His innocent Son to death, to deliver us from eternal death: He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; and how hath he not also with him given us all things? (Rom. viii. 32). Thus wrote St. Paul; and thus Jesus Himself spoke in the Gospel of St. John: God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son (Jo. iii. 16). On this account the Holy Church exclaims on Holy Saturday: “Oh, wonderful the condescension of Thy love for us! O inestimable gift of Charity, that to redeem a servant Thou shouldst give Thy Son.” O infinite mercy, O infinite love of our God! O holy Faith! How can he who believes and confesses this, live without burning with holy love for a God Who is so loving, and so worthy of love?
O Eternal God, look not upon my soul overwhelmed with sins; look upon Thy innocent Son hanging upon a Cross, Who offers Thee the many pangs and insults He has suffered, that Thou mayest have mercy upon me. O God most worthy of love, and my true Lover, for the love of this Thy Son, so beloved by Thee, have mercy upon me. The mercy I ask is, that Thou shouldst give me Thy holy love. Oh, draw me wholly to Thyself, from the mire of my corruption. Burn up, O Thou consuming Fire, all Thou seest impure in my soul, and all that hinders me from being wholly Thine.
II.
Let us give thanks to the Father, and let us give equal thanks to the Son, that He has been willing to take upon Himself our flesh, and together with it our sins, to offer to God, by His Passion, a worthy satisfaction. It is on this account that the Apostle says that Jesus Christ has become our Mediator; that is, that He has bound Himself to pay our debts: Jesus is made the surety of a better testament (Heb. vii. 22). As the Mediator between God and man, He has established a covenant with God, by which He has bound Himself to satisfy Divine justice for us; and, on the other hand, has promised us eternal life on the part of God. Therefore, in anticipation of this, we are warned not to forget the grace of this Divine surety, Who, to obtain salvation for us, has been willing to sacrifice His life. Forget not the kindness of thy surety, for he hath given his life for thee (Ecclus. xxix. 19). It is to give us the better assurance of pardon, says St. Paul, that Jesus Christ with His Blood has blotted out the decree of our condemnation, in which the sentence of eternal death stands written against us, and nailed it to the Cross on which He died to satisfy the Divine justice for us (Col. ii. 14).
O my Jesus, by that love which caused Thee to give Thy Blood and Thy life upon Calvary for me, make me die to all the affections of this world; make me forget everything, that I may think only of loving Thee and giving Thee pleasure! O my God, worthy of infinite love, Thou hast loved me without reserve, I desire to love Thee also without reserve. I love Thee, my greatest Good; I love Thee, O my Love, my All!
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| New Evidence Suggests Vaccinated Can Transmit Covid-19 Vax Antibodies Through The Air |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-05-2023, 05:30 AM - Forum: Health
- No Replies
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New Evidence Suggests Vaccinated Can Transmit Covid-19 Vax Antibodies Through The Air
![[Image: id5437809-Coronavirus-inside-aerosol-par...k=qHjOSH3v]](https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/id5437809-Coronavirus-inside-aerosol-particles-1200x609.jpeg?itok=qHjOSH3v)
ZH | AUG 04, 2023
Authored by Megan Radshaw JD via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
New evidence suggests vaccinated individuals can transmit antibodies generated through mRNA COVID-19 vaccination to unvaccinated individuals through aerosols, according to a peer-reviewed study (pdf) published in ImmunoHorizons.
Extended mask requirements allowed scientists at the University of Colorado to evaluate whether vaccinated individuals could transfer aerosolized antibodies generated from COVID-19 vaccines. Aerosols are a manufactured or naturally occurring suspension of particles or droplets in the air, such as airborne dust, mists, fumes, or smoke, that can be absorbed by the skin or inhaled.
Researchers used a combination of tests to detect SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies from masks vaccinated lab members wore and donated anonymously at the end of the day. Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system that circulate in the blood and neutralize foreign substances such as bacteria and viruses.
Consistent with results reported by others, the researchers identified both immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies in the saliva of vaccinated individuals and on their masks.
Based on their observations, the researchers hypothesized droplet or aerosolized antibody transfer might occur between individuals, similar to how droplets and aerosolized viral particles are transferred by the same route.
To test their hypothesis, they obtained and compared nasal swabs from unvaccinated children living in vaccinated, unvaccinated, and COVID-19-positive households.
Results showed high IgG in the noses of vaccinated parents was “significantly associated” with an increase in intranasal IgG within the unvaccinated child from the same household, especially compared to the “complete deficit of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody detected” in nasal swabs obtained from children in nonvaccinated families. A similar trend was found with IgA in the same samples.
In other words, their findings suggest aerosol transmission of antibodies can occur between COVID-19 vaccinated parents and their children—and the tendency for this transfer is directly related to the amount of nasal or oral antibodies found in those who received vaccines.
This type of shedding is called “passive immunization,” where antibodies—primarily IgA—are actually exchanged between individuals through respiratory droplets, Brian Hooker, chief scientific officer at Children’s Health Defense, who holds a doctorate in biochemical engineering, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times. “But this would provide minimal immunity for the ‘bystanders’ based on the fact that the original mRNA vaccines provide so little protection.”
Mr. Hooker said passive immunization could elicit autoimmunity and “all sorts of reactions” in bystanders due to a similar “molecular mimicry between the COVID-19 Ig [immunoglobulin] antibodies and human proteins.”
Studies have shown that molecular mimicry between the foreign molecules and human molecules can lead to an autoimmune response causing antibodies to function incorrectly and interact against human proteins. Autoimmunity refers to an immune reaction where the body attacks its own tissues, resulting in damage or disease.
Mr. Hooker said the study suggests that if Ig antibodies can be transmitted person-to-person, there is a possibility the spike protein generated by COVID-19 vaccines could be transmitted as well.
“This could cause immunization of the bystanders as well as problems associated with spike protein toxicity to bloodstream components and other tissues,” he added.
COVID-19 Vaccines Were Authorized Without Studies to Assess Transmission
COVID-19 vaccines using mRNA technology like Pfizer and Moderna were authorized globally without studies into the possible expression of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) containing the mRNA or of the spike protein manufactured by the cells of a recently vaccinated individual.
Read more here...
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| Should Women Become Bible Scholars? |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-05-2023, 05:16 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Should Women Become Bible Scholars?
A Q&A taken from here.
[This seems very much in line with how the Church has traditionally acted in the past.]
Dear TIA,
Back in March, I sent you an email asking questions on academic professions and one of my questions was regarding the appropriateness or inappropriateness regarding a woman receiving a degree in religious studies and becoming a scholar on religion.
I wanted to ask your opinion on such a matter again including one regarding biblical studies by sending a new email since my older one might have gotten lost in the flood of other emails you probably receive daily.
My question is: Is it against a woman's nature to join religious studies and becoming a scholar on religion? Should this profession only be reserved for men? How about a woman receiving a degree in biblical studies and becoming a Bible scholar?
Thank you for your time. It is much appreciated.
R.T.
***
Dr. Horvat responds:
Dear R.T.,
I apologize for the delay in responding to your question. I will gladly offer my opinion on the topic of whether a woman should become a scholar in Religion.
Given that men by nature are more prone to objective and logical thinking, I believe that the fields of Religion and Philosophy belong to them, as was the rule in the past. It suits the nature of men, as the medieval Doctors noted well, but not the nature of women, to enter into serious study on these topics.
Having said this, I believe that, as an exception, if a woman were to pursue a sensible course of study in Religion or History for her own benefit, or inside a convent, it could well be beneficial and could help to fulfill her spiritual / intellectual needs, as some persons profit from studies more than others.
I believe it is not wrong for a woman to study Religion. Some women can even be called to it, although it is often the exception rather than the rule.
From the time of the Middle Ages, women in convents studied Latin, read spiritual works, and engaged in transcribing. As early as St. Jerome, we have St. Paula and her daughter assisting the Saint in the translation of the Vulgate, dedicating their lives to study under his guidance. There were many great Abbesses such as Saint Hild, Saint Lioba, Saint Gertrude, Saint Hildegarde von Bingen, who were deeply immersed in matters of Religion and read and studied much.
However, please note, until the 17th century women did not enter the universities and pursue careers as professors, and even up to the 19th century it was a novelty for a woman to pursue higher degrees. Further, the study of Theology in the medieval and even later universities (at least until the 20th century) was strictly for men.
In the study of Religion, women followed men and were directed by men, usually priests, who often encouraged them in their studies when they discerned it would be a good for them and others.
So, on one side we have Feminism pushing women to have degrees, including degrees in religious matters, and this inclines us to think it is wrong. On the other hand, we have the examples of great women saints who studied, which lead us to imitate them.
There is not one unswerving answer to your question. The spirit of the study and its aim are what should count for a decision.
As a final note, allow me to stress that more important than to have a degree is to have Catholic sense, which today has almost disappeared.
Regarding Catholic sense and common sense, in my opinion, for women the most important thing is to know how to do well those things that are proper to women: Housekeeping, sewing, cooking, home decor, gardening, playing a musical instrument and singing, besides taking care of her husband and children if she is married, or of her family if she is not.
I hope this is of some help to you.
Cordially,
Dr. Marian T. Horvat
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