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| Archbishop Viganò: Homily for the Feast of Christ the King |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-31-2023, 07:12 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Archbishop Viganò: Homily for the Feast of Christ the King
October 29, 2023
Taken from here.
Editor’s note: The following essay is taken from Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s homily on the feast of Christ the King.
Regnum eius regnum sempiternum est, et omnes reges servient ei et obedient
For his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
Once upon a time there was a king. Thus began the fairy tales we heard as children, at a time when ideological indoctrination had not yet come to corrupt children in their innocence and we could serenely speak of kings, princes, and princesses, and it was normal to think that at least in the world of fairy tales there could be a social order not subverted by the Revolution. Realms, thrones, crowns, honor, loyalty, and chivalry were all references that went beyond time and fashions, precisely because of their coherence with the divine cosmos, with the eternal and immutable hierarchy of the celestial orders.
There were also kings in the parables with which the Lord instructed His disciples, and He proclaimed Himself to be a king as He stood before Pilate clothed in mockery with a purple robe, crowned with thorns, holding a reed instead of a scepter. He was mocked by the scoundrels for being a king, and the governor of Judea recognized Him as king when He had the plaque affixed to the Cross indicating the reason for His condemnation to death: “Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudæorum.” The Sanhedrin would have liked to correct that inscription:
Do not write: ‘The King of the Jews,’ but: ‘This man said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’’ (Jn 19:21)
And even today there are those who want to deny Our Lord that title which so disturbs His enemies, because of all that it implies. But at the very moment when the wicked shake off Christ’s gentle yoke and openly declare their rebellion against His sovereign authority, they are forced to fill that void, just as those who deny the true God end up worshiping idols.
Pilate said to the Jews, ‘Behold, your king.’ But they cried out, ‘Away! Away! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ (Jn 19:15)
It is very sad to see how misguided minds, in order not to recognize an evident and salvific reality, prefer to make themselves slaves of a far inferior power, such as that of the state, and an invading state at that. On the other hand, those who serve Satan are also ready to serve the Antichrist as king and to recognize his kingdom, of which the New World Order is an ominous prelude. But isn’t that ultimately what we do every time we disobey God? Do we not deny universal and absolute Lordship to Him who holds it by divine right and by conquest, and then attribute it to creatures or usurp it ourselves? Do we not set ourselves up as supreme legislators whenever we pretend to take the place of the one on Sinai who gave Moses the tablets of the law? Did not our first parents do the same when they listened to the enticements of the serpent and broke the Lord’s command by eating the fruit of the tree? Or the Jews in the wilderness, when they worshipped the golden calf?
Kingly power is inextricably linked to divinity: the kings of Israel and the sovereigns of the Catholic nations considered themselves vicars of God, vested with a sacred power that was conferred by a quasi-sacramental rite. The exercise of kingly authority – and more generally of government – must therefore be consistent with the will of God Himself, from whom all authority emanates.
This coherence implies the recognition, on the part of the public authority, of the supreme power of God and the obligation to conform the laws of the state to the natural and divine law. He who believes that he can use the power of authority, whether civil or ecclesiastical, for a purpose different from, or even opposed to, that for which authority was instituted by God, is deluding himself miserably, and his destiny will be no different from that which providence has reserved for tyrants and sovereigns who rebel against the divine will.
This applies not only to temporal power, but also – and above all – to spiritual power, which by the hierarchical superiority of ends is intrinsically superior to temporal power, and precisely for this reason those who hold spiritual power must conform even more faithfully to what God has taught and ordained. And if it is true that it is an inconsistency when those given authority do not act in their private lives in accordance with the principles of faith and morals, it is quite unheard of that such inconsistency could extend to the exercise of authority itself.
For this reason the stains which weigh upon the personal conduct of an Alexander VI are incomparably less serious than those of a pope who, although having a life which is not scandalous, commits acts of government contrary to the end of the papacy. And today we must also come to terms with the reality of a “papacy” in which the personal scandals of Jorge Mario Bergoglio are even obscured by those that he commits by virtue of the authority that is – at least momentarily – recognized to him.
The Lord, who is a jealous God (Ex 20:5), wants to reign over His people, and He exercises this kingdom through His vicars in temporal and spiritual matters. He intended His Church to be monarchical. He did not intend to leave the Pope free to decide what he wants, but rather to act as Christi Vicarius and Servus servorum Dei, so that He would be the only High and Eternal Priest, the mediator between God and men, the universal king and Lord, so as to reign by means of the pope.
The idea of a democratic Church is not only a theological aberration and a blatant violation of the Lord’s hierarchical structure, but it is a nonsense that is refuted by its own proponents, since it is based on the false premise that it is possible to exercise authority apart from the good, perverting it into tyranny. Ecclesiastical and civil authority, by divine decree, are the expression of the supreme, absolute and universal Lordship of Christ, cujus regni non erit finis. Too often we forget that the Lord is not God as a result of universal suffrage. Dominus regnavit, decorem indutus est (Ps 92:1). The Lord reigns in all the universe: He has clothed Himself with majesty. Sacred Scripture here uses a verbal form with which it expresses the eternity, indefectibility, and finality of the Kingdom of Christ.
“Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo” (Jn 18:36): these words of Our Lord to Pilate are not to be understood in the sense that heretics and modernists are accustomed to give you, that is, that Jesus Christ does not claim authority over the government of nations and that He leaves them free to legislate as they wish, following the errors of secularism and liberalism. On the contrary, precisely because the Kingdom of Christ does not derive from earthly power, it is eternal and universal, total and absolute, direct and immediate. Ego vici mundum, the Lord reassures us. Therefore, not only is the world not at the origin of His authority, but rather it becomes its enemy as soon as it withdraws from it in order to serve the Princeps mundi huius, who is precisely a prince, who is also hierarchically subject to the supreme power of God, who allows him to act only in order to obtain greater good from it.
I have conquered the world, therefore, means that the world, however much it deludes itself that it can oppose the plans of providence and hinder the action of grace, can do nothing against the one who has already conquered it. That victory, which is total and irreversible, was accomplished through the Cross, a sign of the infamy reserved for slaves, with the passion and death of the Savior in obedience to His Father. Regnavit a ligno Deus. The Cross is the throne of glory, because through it Christ has redeemed us, that is, he has ransomed us from slavery to Satan.
Today both the state and the Church are held hostage by the enemies of God, and their authority is usurped by criminal subversives and heretics who arrogantly show their determination to do evil and their aversion to the law of the Lord. The betrayal of rulers and the apostasy of prelates are the punishment we deserve for having disobeyed God.
And yet, while they destroy, we have the joy and honor of rebuilding. And there is a still greater happiness: a new generation of laity and priests are participating with zeal in this work of reconstruction of the Church for the salvation of souls, and they do so well aware of their own weaknesses and miseries, but also allowing themselves to be used by God as docile instruments in His hands: helpful hands, strong hands, the hands of the Almighty.
Our fragility highlights the fact that this is the Lord’s work even more, especially where this human fragility is accompanied by humility. This humility ought to lead us to instaurare omnia in Christo, beginning with the heart of the faith, which is the Holy Mass. Let us return to the liturgy which recognizes Our Lord in His absolute primacy.
If Our Lord is King by hereditary right (since he is born of the royal line of David), by divine right (in virtue of the hypostatic union), and also by right of conquest (having redeemed us by His sacrifice on the Cross), we must not forget that, in the plans of divine providence, this divine sovereign has at his side, as Our Lady and queen, His own august Mother, Mary Most Holy. There can be no Kingship of Christ without the sweet and maternal Queenship of Mary, whom Saint Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort reminds us is our mediatrix before her Son’s majestic throne, where she stands as queen interceding before the king. Regina, Mater Misericordiae, Spes nostra, Advocata nostra.
The premise of the triumph of the divine king in society and in nations is that He already reigns in our hearts, our souls, and our families. May Christ also reign in us, and may His Most Holy Mother reign along with Him. Adveniat regnum tuum: adveniat per Mariam.
And so may it be.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
October 29, 2023
Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Regis
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| How the Fleur-de-lis Became the Symbol of France |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-30-2023, 06:27 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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The lily has long been associated with the Virgin Mary, who lived a lily among the thorns, (1) as a symbol of purity, innocence and beauty. With the conversion of Clovis, the Franks adopted a stylized lily – the fleur-de-lis – as a symbol to commemorate the conversion of its first Catholic King. The fleur-de-lis became the symbol of the French Monarchy.
We find our legend in the late 13th century poem written at the Abbey of Joyenval at Chambourcy. (2)
Now it so happened that Clovis was at war with another pagan, King Conflac. One day he set out to do battle with the King of the Alamanni, in what today is known as the Battle of Tolbiac (496). However, as he took up his shield to enter the battle, he saw that the three frogs that had been the insignia on his weapon had been transformed into three lilies on an azure ground. Clovis, still with toads on his tunic, entered the battle bearing lilies on his shield.
![[Image: H249_Clo.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/religious/images_F-J/H249_Clo.jpg)
The shield of Clovis, from The Bedford Book of Hours, c. 1423, below, a medieval manuscript records the change from frogs to lilies
![[Image: H249_15t.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/religious/images_F-J/H249_15t.jpg)
banner france toads frongThe rest of the story is well known to readers of History. During the heat of the battle with the Alemanni, Clovis called out to the “God of Clotilde” and made a vow to convert if he were victorious. God heard his plea and gave him the victory.
When Clovis returned to his castle, he sought out the mysterious meaning of the three golden fleurs-de-lis. Clotilde told him that the three petals of the flower symbolized the Holy Trinity Who had given him the victory. For God did not want him to bear such a shield with frogs any longer, but had sent to him those three fleurs-de-lis on a blue field so that he would be provided fittingly after he became Catholic.
“Hereby the Holy Trinity gives you victory, my Lord Clovis, so that just as the unity of the three flowers is like gold to your shield, so in perpetuity will your authority reign supreme in golden sovereignty.” (3)
From that time forward the fleur-de-lis replaced the frog and became the symbol of France and its Kings.
And how was it that the three lilies came to appear on the shield of Clovis?
There was a pious hermit who lived nearby the castle, next to a place where the Monastery of Joyenval would later be built. Queen Clotilde at times would consult this holy monk. One day when the hermit was praying an Angel appeared to him with a shield upon which were placed the three fleurs-de-lis against a background the color of a serene blue sky.
The monk told Clotilde of this vision, and she ordered that the frogs should be scratched from Clovis’ shield and replaced with the lilies. With this new symbol from Heaven, delivered in message by an Angel, Clovis won his battle against Conflac. And with this victory, a new era of peace and harmony came to all of France.
And thus the virginal and immaculate lily provided the perfect symbol of the virtue, power and stability of the French Monarchy, under the protection of the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary. From the beginning to the end of the Capetian line, the heraldry and iconography of the French Kings included, virtually without exception, a fleur-de-lis either held in a hand, placed atop a scepter or placed on royal robes, shields and seals.
I doubt not that thou art the Lily, the King,
For the lily is painted on thine armor.
Te lillium regem non dubito,
Nam lilium armis depingitur. (4)
![[Image: H249_VIII.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/religious/images_F-J/H249_VIII.jpg)
The wedding of King Louis VIII & Blanche of Castile, 1223
By the 13th century the fleur-de-lis was adopted also by the chivalric orders as a symbol of the virtues. Guillaume de Nangis praised the fleur-de-lis and noted its significance thus:
“But since Our Lord Jesus Christ wishes above all other Kingdoms to illuminate the Kingdom of France with the three aforementioned attributes, that is, faith, learning and chivalry, it has become customary for the King to bear on his coat of arms and on his banner the flower of the lily with three petals, as if the three petals said to the whole world: Faith, learning and chivalry thrive more abundantly in our Kingdom than in any other Kingdom, serving us through the care and grace of God. … For faith is governed and ruled by knowledge and is defended by chivalry.
“And furthermore, as long as the aforesaid three are together in the Kingdom of France and are firmly united to each other, the Kingdom will also remain firm. If, however, they should be separated from each other or be torn asunder, everything will be reduced to desolation and will fall into ruin.”
1. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons, ed. J. Leclercq and H Rochais, S. Bernardi Opera, 5 (Rome, 1958), Sermon 48, pp. 67-73.
2. Michael Randall, “On the Evolution of Toads in the French Renaissance.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 57, no. 1 (Spring, 2004), pp. 126-164.
3. Mary Channen Caldwell, “Flower of the lily': late-medieval religious and heraldic symbolism in Paris,” Bibliothèque Nationale de France, ms français 146, vol. 33 (2014), p. 18, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43304729
4. Ibid.
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| Synod Final Report: Pushes Female Deacons and Lay Governance But Avoids Giving Firm Answers |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-29-2023, 05:43 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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Synod on Synodality report pushes female deacons and lay governance but avoids giving firm answers
The much anticipated final report from the Synod on Synodality has been released, avoiding giving direct answers on controversial issues, but pushing a continued ‘synodal’ approach to general Church life.
![[Image: synod-francis.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/synod-francis.jpg)
Pope Francis with Cdl. Grech at the Synod on Synodality
Facebook/Synod.va
Oct 28, 2023
VATICAN CIY (LifeSiteNews - adpated) –– The concluding document from the Synod on Synodality’s October 2023 meeting has been released, with no definitive stance taken in terms of attempts to alter Church teaching on LGBT issues or female ordination, yet containing a host of subtle but significant calls for changes to the manner of the Church’s governance and daily life.
The 41-page report was released late into the night on October 28, as the month-long session of the Synod on Synodality came to an end and participants hastily poured out of the Paul VI Audience Hall. The text’s initial version gave rise to over 1,000 amendments from synod members, according to synod officials, meaning that such amendments had to be acted upon between Thursday night and Saturday afternoon.
The contents of the report, as already noted by synod officials, are not meant to be a final report, nor even the text which will form the basis of the October 2024 synod meeting. Rather, as the synthesis report states, it contains the “main elements that emerged in the dialogue, prayer and discussion that characterized these days.”
“Some fear that they will be forced to change; others fear that nothing will change and that there will be too little courage to move at the pace of living Tradition,” reads Chapter 1, paragraph g. (Passed by 326 – 18)
The synod has been particularly marked by controversy due to its discussion topics. The Instrumentum Laboris formed the basis of the discussions, meaning that the 465 synod participants and over 300 voting synod members were discussing (among other topics) questions on female deacons; “welcoming” LGBT, polygamous, divorced and “re-married” individuals; married priests; lay governance.
Given such topics – on which the Church has already clearly pronounced – numerous Catholics have expressed strong concern about the direction and intent of the Synod on Synodality. However, when questioned by LifeSiteNews during the event, a cardinal member of the synod refused to confirm if members were adhering to Church teaching during the discussions on such issues.
Sections of the synthesis report that saw particularly high levels of opposition were in Chapters 9, 11, 12, 15.
The report presents the discussions on the topic of “synodality” itself, before then dealing with the more hot-button topics. While radical advocates for LGBT issues or for female deacons will not have had their aims fulfilled, the report nevertheless also avoids clearly proclaiming the already defined Church teaching on all such issues.
Indeed, the report is marked more for its generic nature rather than by any particularly notable argumentation made. Paragraphs contain calls for further discussion on a number of topics, rather than presenting concrete demands or formulated decisions.
Each paragraph was voted on in turn, and had to be passed by at least a two-thirds majority: abstentions were not permitted. Although this meeting is unique in that it has for the first time allowed lay voters, the report did not divide the voting results by lay or clerical status. The simple numerical results were presented.
Every paragraph was approved, though no paragraph received a 100 percent approval, as there were always objections registered: only three paragraphs had just one objection.
Each chapter of the report is divided into three sections: summaries of discussions, issues to be addressed, and proposals presented.
READ: Cardinal Müller: Synod is about ‘preparing us to accept homosexuality,’ women’s ordination
Commenting on the surprisingly large numbers of votes approving controversial passages, especially relating to the female diaconate, relator general Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich told journalists that he was surprised and “happy with that result.” He added that the vote on this particular issue “means that the resistance are [sic] not so great as people have thought before.”
The report particularly highlights a continuation of the culture of questioning that has characterized the synod during the past two years. While less explicit on certain topics than in previous documents, the synthesis report lays the groundwork for essentially codifying the “synodal manner” of prolonged discussion on already decided moral or doctrinal questions, and the concept of majority vote approval in the Church with equality of voting power amongst the laity and the clergy.
“To have this freedom and openness will change the Church, and I’m sure the Church will find answers, but perhaps not the exact answer this group or that group wants to have, but answers [with which] most people could feel well and listened to,” said Cardinal Hollerich of the Synod on Synodality’s style and process.
![[Image: 395111416_122130018566030689_63550144234...e=6542946C]](https://scontent-fco2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/395111416_122130018566030689_6355014423481648428_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=z7bnnOcO054AX-nqc1-&_nc_ht=scontent-fco2-1.xx&oh=00_AfBG4rG6UYpBYqtoTz9HsVrQ3BWRowtysSIWmwROkG88Hw&oe=6542946C)
Cdl. Hollerich at the synod Credit: Facebook
Synodality: a definition and a future
Describing even the arrangement of the synod – which was held in the Paul VI Audience Hall, rather than the customary synod hall, to accommodate the round table arrangement – the report stated that this physical arrangement was highly significant. The passage is particularly key for understanding the concept of the new, democratic style of life proposed by the Synod on Synodality:
Quote:“The very way the Assembly was conducted, starting with the arrangement of people seated in small groups around round tables in the Paul VI Hall, comparable to the biblical image of the wedding banquet (Rev. 19:9), is emblematic of a synodal Church and an image of the Eucharist, the source and summit of synodality, with the Word of God at its center. Within it, different cultures, languages, rites, ways of thinking and realities can engage together and fruitfully in a sincere search under the guidance of the Spirit. (Passed by 339 – 5)
“The entire journey, rooted in the Tradition of the Church, is taking place in the light of the conciliar magisterium,” noted the opening message at the start of the report.
READ: Cardinal Müller criticizes ‘heretics and globalists’ at Synod, reaffirms ‘God never blesses sin’
Somewhat of a definition of synodality was offered, being presented as an inherently ecumenical event which was to be “understood as the walk of Christians with Christ and toward the Kingdom, together with all humanity.” The definition continued that “synodality” was to be:
Quote:… mission-oriented, it involves coming together in assembly at the different levels of ecclesial life, listening to one another, dialogue, communal discernment, consensus-building as an expression of Christ’s making himself present alive in the Spirit, and decision-making in differentiated co-responsibility. (Passed 340 – 4)
However, the text added that there was a “need to clarify the meaning of synodality at different levels, from pastoral use to theological and canonical use, averting the risk that it sounds too vague or generic, or appearing as a passing fad.” (Passed 341 – 3)
A call was made to “experiment with and adapt conversation in the Spirit” – which has been the modus operandi of the Synod on Synodality – along with “other forms of discernment” into the wider life of the church, “valuing according to cultures and contexts the richness of different spiritual traditions.” (Paragraph passed by 332 – 12)
![[Image: DSC05278-scaled.jpeg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DSC05278-scaled.jpeg)
The Paul VI Audience Hall
![[Image: 391712991_122126643128030689_17380145174...e=6542CE23]](https://scontent-fco2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/391712991_122126643128030689_1738014517468227382_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=bXcDrUNBIFUAX-pKbvE&_nc_ht=scontent-fco2-1.xx&oh=00_AfBNnAVQZReCmAdBYF-lO0Z8tWOIH0safmq7wnxNoJtgtg&oe=6542CE23)
Credit: Synod.va/Facebook
Equality of dignity, governance and liturgical themes
Consistent with the themes of ecumenical and hierarchical equality which have emerged from the process, the report argued that all baptized individuals are completely equal in dignity, avoiding the discussion of differing kinds and ways to lose dignity: “among all the baptized there is a genuine equality of dignity and a common responsibility for mission, according to each person’s vocation.” (Passed by 318 – 26)
The sacrament of baptism appeared as a new tool to aid “synodality” with the report stating how it “cannot be understood in an individualistic way” and that “the contribution to the understanding of synodality that can come from a more unified vision of Christian initiation.” (Passed by 337 – 7)
Consistent themes of “synodal” styles of governance and regular activity within the Church’s daily life are also contained in the report, highlighting the regime change which is promoted by the Synod on Synodality.
This is particularly highlighted with regard to the role of women, with the report even expressing an “urgent” call for Canon Law to be changed in order to allow more female governance roles:
Quote:There is an urgent need to ensure that women can participate in decision-making processes and assume roles of responsibility in pastoral care and ministry. The Holy Father has significantly increased the number of women in positions of responsibility in the Roman Curia. The same should happen at other levels of Church life. Canon law should be adapted accordingly. (Passed by 319 – 27)
An insight into the potential new form of the diaconal understanding was given in section 4, which argued that “as part of the rethinking of diaconal ministry, let it be promoted to be more strongly oriented toward service to the poor.” (Passed by 337 – 7)
Another section noted the “widely reported need to make liturgical language more accessible to the faithful and more embodied in the diversity of cultures.” (Passed by 322 – 22)
The current Vatican concentration on climate change issues was also represented, with a call being made for “the biblical and theological foundations of integral ecology [to] be more explicitly and carefully integrated into the teaching, liturgy and practices of the Church.” (Passed by 328 – 16)
![[Image: DSC05236-scaled.jpeg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DSC05236-scaled.jpeg)
Synod members during the October 2023 meetings.
Catholic identity
The text’s dealing with the issue of migration highlighted calls for “respect for the liturgical traditions and religious practices of migrants” as part of an “authentic welcome,” while avoiding urging the promotion of Catholicism. In a paragraph with a relatively large amount of objection, mention was made of “sensitivity” needed in places where “the proclamation of the Gospel has been associated with colonization and even genocide.” (Passed by 312 – 32)
Mention was further made of calls for increased dialogue and unity between the East and the West, along with a focus on ecumenism. For this end, Baptism was once again placed at the service of “synodality,” with the text stating: “through it, [Baptism] all Christians participate in the sensus fidei and for this reason they should be listened to carefully, regardless of their tradition, as the Synodal Assembly did in its discernment process. There can be no synodality without the ecumenical dimension.” (Passed by 316 – 28)
So also was the Holy Eucharist seen and used as an aid for “synodality,” with calls made for Communion to be given to non-Catholics. So-called “Eucharistic hospitality” was highlighted as being an issue “particularly felt by interfaith couples.”
Quote:The issue of Eucharistic hospitality (communicatio in sacris) should be further examined from the theological, canonical and pastoral perspectives in light of the link between sacramental and ecclesial communion. This issue is particularly felt by interfaith couples. It also points to a broader reflection on mixed marriages.(Passed by 321 – 23)
![[Image: P1120460-scaled.jpeg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/P1120460-scaled.jpeg)
Fr. Timothy Radcliffe and Sr. Nathalie Becquart arrive to the synod, October 12, 2023.
Ministry, deacons and clergy
The much anticipated demand for female-deacons – which would be in opposition to Church teaching – was not made in the synthesis report. However, the relevant chapter (9) saw some of the highest level of objections during the vote.
The discussions on female deacons were summarized as being welcomed by some as return to “a practice of the early church” or a “necessary response to the signs of the times, faithful to Tradition.” The report did note the objections of those Catholics who echoed Church teaching that such a move would be “in discontinuity with Tradition.” (Passed 277 – 69)
![[Image: Screenshot-2023-10-28-at-23.36.14.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Screenshot-2023-10-28-at-23.36.14.png)
Screenshot of Synod synthesis report’s section on female deacons.
The text also called for “theological and pastoral research” on the female diaconate to continue, and requested that the results of the 2016 and 2020 commissions on the topic be presented at the October 2024 meeting. (Passed 279 – 67) Therefore while any definite statements supporting the female diaconate were not made in the report, the Church’s condemnation of the female diaconate as impossible was seemingly ignored, with calls for further discussion on the topic thus promoted.
Calls were also made for new ministries for laity, particularly for “establishing a ministry” for married couples. (Passed by 308 – 38)
Priestly celibacy, as noted on these pages, was discussed alongside the female diaconate. In this light, a call for a “deeper reflection” on the diaconate itself was raised, with the note that this could “illuminate the issue of women’s access to the diaconate.” (Passed by 285 – 61) Such a comment has been made in passing by synod members to journalists, suggesting that an attempt to change the understanding of the diaconate is underway, rather than immediately pushing to institute women as deacons. Should such a move take effect – effectively instituting a lay version of the diaconate – it could be an attempt by advocates of female ordination to achieve their goal of a form of “parity” with priests, whilst also looking to avoid a clear condemnation of being heretical.
LGBT issues
Father James Martin, S.J., told the dissident National Catholic Reporter that he was “‘disappointed but not surprised’ by the result for LGBTQ Catholics.” Indeed, the synod had been discussing a perceived need to “welcome” the “remarried divorcees, people in polygamous marriages, LGBTQ+ [sic] people.”
“There were widely diverging views on the topic. I wish, however, that some of those discussions, which were frank and open, had been captured in the final synthesis,” Martin stated.
While the text does not defend same-sex blessings, it does argue that the Church has an out-dated mode of understanding LGBT questions. It states:
Quote:Sometimes the anthropological categories we have developed are not sufficient to grasp the complexity of the elements emerging from experience or knowledge in the sciences and require refinement and further study. It is important to take the necessary time for this reflection and invest our best energies in it, without giving in to simplifying judgments that hurt people and the Body of the Church. (Passed 307 – 39)
The terminology “LGBTQ” did not appear in the synthesis report, unlike in the Instrumentum Laboris which guided proceedings. This is a particularly notable absence, especially given the concentration of questions on the topic of homosexuality during the near-daily press briefings.
When asked by LifeSiteNews during the synod about homosexual topics in the synod discussions, voting member Cardinal Leonardo Steiner argued there was a mixed view on the topic of same-sex blessings, adding that Pope Francis has planned for next year’s synod meetings to address the topic specifically.
READ: Pope Francis reportedly tasked next year’s Synod with addressing same-sex ‘blessings’
But as time progressed, the message from the press office briefing table was more succinct: officials moved towards a more unified line, stating that the topic of the event was “synodality” and not same-sex blessings, or female deacons, even though the same officials would state how such items had in fact been discussed that same day.
As for the Instrumentum Laboris calls for a “welcome” for those in “polygamous” relationships, the synthesis report also states:
Quote:In different ways, people who feel marginalized or excluded from the Church because of their marriage situation, identity, and sexuality also ask to be heard and accompanied, and that their dignity be defended. A deep sense of love, mercy and compassion for people who are or feel hurt or neglected by the Church, who desire a place to come ‘home’ and to feel safe, to be listened to and respected, without fear of feeling judged. Listening is a prerequisite for walking together in search of God’s will. The Assembly reaffirms that Christians cannot disrespect the dignity of any person. (Passed by 326 – 20)
A much more concrete defense of the polygamous came from the bishops of Africa and Madagascar, however, whose bishops’ conference stated they were encouraged “to promote theological and pastoral discernment on the issue of polygamy and the accompaniment of people in polygamous unions coming to faith.” (Passed by 303 – 43)
Some disgruntlement was raised in the Holy See Press Office by journalists looking for more radical texts supporting LGBT issues. But Cardinal Mario Grech – secretary general of the General Secretariat of the Synod – defended the text, saying that all the paragraphs had received the two-thirds majority needed.
![[Image: F9Jmn0CWIAAp3Gl?format=jpg&name=large]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F9Jmn0CWIAAp3Gl?format=jpg&name=large)
Synod on Synodality members. Credit: X screenshot
Synodality for the future
While the Synod on Synodality is due to end in October 2024, Cardinal Hollerich gave yet another hint that the process was not likely to actually end there. “The process really starts at the end of the process” he told journalists, when presenting the synthesis report.
He welcomed the fact that a “synodal church will more easily try to speak about these topics [controversial topics] than in the past.”
The synthesis report is now entrusted to the bishops’ conferences around the world, who are tasked with promoting it to the congregations under their charge. The participants of this October’s meeting will reconvene in the Vatican next October for the second session of the Synod on Synodality. Leading cardinals and synod officials have suggested that more concrete decisions and proposals are likely to emerge from the 2024 session.
For those looking for definitive statements approving same-sex blessings or female ordination – which would both violate Catholic doctrine – then such hopes will have been dashed. Yet, in a less immediately visible manner, the synod’s synthesis report presents a blueprint for a radical alteration of the Church’s daily life, in that it refuses to present Church teaching on the controversial moral issues and argues for a parliamentary style democracy of equality between laity and clergy, and continues the process of undermining the authority of bishops.
The Synod on Synodality now proceeds at the local level once more, with concerns of faithful Catholics remaining unabated.
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| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Twenty-second Week after Pentecost |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-29-2023, 05:25 AM - Forum: Pentecost
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By our sins long ago committed, and often since, we have deserved hell. And do we understand what hell means? One moment in hell is more dreadful than a hundred years of most frightful torments. And yet we complain if God sends us sufferings. O Lord, Thou art just! Give us grace to suffer with patience.
I.
Are we to look upon God as a tyrant who takes pleasure in our suffering? He does take pleasure in punishing us, but exactly the same pleasure a father takes in correcting his son: He does not take pleasure in the pain which He inflicts, but in the amendment it will work. My son, reject not the correction of the Lord; and do not faint when thou art chastised by him, for whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth, and as a father in the son, he pleaseth himself (Prov. iii. 11). He chastises you because He loves you; it is not that He wishes to see you afflicted, but converted; and if He takes pleasure in your suffering, He does so inasmuch as it is a means of conversion -- just as a father who chastises his son derives pleasure, not from the affliction of his son, but from the amendment which he hopes to see in him, and which will prevent him from working his own ruin. Chastisement makes us return to God, says St. John Chrysostom; and it is to this end God inflicts it, in order that we may not stay away from Him.
Why then do you complain of God when in tribulation? You ought to thank Him prostrate on the earth. If a man condemned to die were to have his sentence changed by the prince from death into one hour's imprisonment, and if he were to complain of that one hour, would his complaint be just? Would he not rather deserve that the prince should reverse the last sentence, and condemn him a second time to death? You have long and often deserved hell by your sins. And do you know all that the word hell means? Know that it is more dreadful to suffer for one moment in hell than to suffer for a hundred years the most frightful torments which the Martyrs suffered on earth; and in this hell you should have had to suffer not for a moment, but during all eternity. And yet you complain if God send you some tribulation, some infirmity, some loss! Thank God, and say: Lord, this chastisement is trifling compared with my sins. I should have been in hell burning, deserted by all, and in despair; I thank Thee for having called me to Thyself by this tribulation which Thou hast sent me. God, says Oleaster, often calls sinners to repentance by temporal chastisements. By earthly chastisements the Lord shows us the immense punishment our sins deserve; and therefore afflicts us on this earth, that we may be converted and escape eternal flames.
II.
Wretched, then, should we poor sinners be if left unpunished; but still more wretched is the sinner who, admonished by affliction, does not amend. It is not a grievous thing to be afflicted by God on this earth after one has sinned; but it is very grievous not to be converted by the affliction sent, and to be like those of whom David speaks, who, although visited by Divine chastisement, still sleep on in their sins. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, they have all slumbered (Ps. lxxv. 7). As if the sound of the scourges and the thunders of God, instead of rousing them from their lethargy, served only to make them sleep more soundly. I struck you, yet you returned not to me (Amos iv. 9). I have scourged you, says God, in order that you might return to Me; but ye, ungrateful that you are, have been deaf to My calls. Unhappy the sinner who acts like him of whom the Lord says, He shall send lightnings against him; ... his heart shall be as hard as a stone, and as firm as a smith's anvil (Job xli. 14, 15). God visits him with chastisement, and he, instead of being softened and returning to the Lord by penance, shall be as firm as a smith's anvil; he shall grow more hardened under the blows of God, as the anvil grows harder under the hammer, like the impious Achaz, of whom the Scripture says: In the time of his distress he increased contempt against the Lord (2 Par. xxviii. 22). Unhappy man, instead of humbling himself, he all the more despised God. He deserves all chastisement who, being afflicted by the Lord for his conversion, continues to provoke the Lord to greater wrath. What can I do, O sinner, to bring about your conversion? The Lord will say: I have called you by sermons and inspirations, and you have despised them; I have called you by favours, and you have grown more insolent; I have called you by scourges, and you continue to offend Me. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression ... and the daughter of Sion shall be left ... as a city that is laid waste (Is. i. 5-8). Do you not wish to hearken even to My chastisements? Do you wish that I should abandon you?
Let us no longer abuse the mercy which God uses towards us. Let us not be like the nettle, which stings him who strikes it. God afflicts us, because He loves us, and wishes to see us reformed. When we feel the chastisement, we should remember our sins, and say with the brethren of Joseph: We deserve to suffer these things, because we have sinned against our brother (Gen. xlii. 21). Lord, Thou punishest us justly, because we have offended Thee, our Father and God. Thou art just, O God, and thy judgment is right (Ps. cxviii. 137). Everything thou hast done to us, thou hast done in true judgment (Dan. iii. 31). Lord, Thou art just, and dost with justice punish us; we accept this tribulation which Thou sendest us; give us strength to suffer it with patience.
Spiritual Reading
HOLY HUMILITY
V. HUMILITY OF THE INTELLECT OR JUDGMENT
Since without the Divine aid you can do nothing, be careful never to confide in your own strength; but after the example of St. Philip Neri, endeavour to live in continual and utter distrust of yourself. Like St. Peter, who protested that not even death would induce him to deny his Master, the proud man trusts in his own courage, and therefore yields to temptation. Because he confided in himself, the Apostle had no sooner entered the house of the high-priest than he denied Jesus Christ. Be careful never to place confidence in your own resolutions or in your present good dispositions; but put your whole trust in God, saying with St. Paul: I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me (Phil. iv. 13). If you cast away all self-confidence, and place all your hopes in the Lord, you may then expect to do great things for God. They that hope in the Lord, says the Prophet Isaias, shall renew their strength (Is. xl. 31). Yes, the humble, who trust in the Lord, shall renew their strength; distrusting themselves, they shall lay aside their own weakness and put on the strength of God. Hence, St. Joseph Calasanctius used to say, that "whoever desires to be the instrument of God in great undertakings, should seek to be the lowest of all." Strive to imitate the conduct of St. Catharine of Sienna, who, when tempted to vainglory, would make an act of humility, and when tempted to despair, would make an act of confidence in God. Enraged at her conduct, the devil began one day to curse her and the person who taught her this mode of resisting his temptations; and added, that he "knew not how to attack her." When, therefore, Satan tells you that you are in no danger of falling, tremble; and reflect that, should God abandon you for a moment, you are lost. When he tempts you to despair, exclaim in the loving words of David: In thee, O Lord, have I hoped: let me never be confounded (Ps. xxx. 2). In Thee, O Lord, I have placed all my hopes; I trust that I shall not be confounded, deprived of Thy grace, and made the slave of hell.
Should you be so unfortunate as to commit a fault, take care not to give way to diffidence, but humble your soul; repent, and with a stronger sense of your own weakness, throw yourself into the arms of the Lord. To be angry with ourselves after having committed a fault, is not an act of humility, but of pride, which makes us wonder how we could have fallen into such a fault. Yes, it is pride and a delusion of the devil, who seeks to draw us away from the path of perfection, to cast us into despair of advancing in virtue, and thus precipitate us into more grievous sins. After a fault we should redouble our confidence in God, and thus take occasion from our infidelity to place still greater hopes in His mercy. To them that love God, says St. Paul, all things work together unto good (Rom. viii. 28). "Yes," adds the Gloss, "even sins." The Lord once said to St. Gertrude: "When a person's hands are stained he washes them, and they become cleaner than before they were soiled." So the soul that commits a fault, being purified by repentance, is made more pleasing in the eyes of God than she was before her transgression. To teach them to distrust themselves, and to confide only in Him, God sometimes permits His servants, and particularly those who are not well grounded in humility, to fall into some sin. If, then, you commit a fault, endeavour to repair it immediately by an act of love and of sorrow; resolve to amend, and redouble your confidence in God; say with St. Catharine of Genoa: "Lord, this is the fruit of my garden. If Thou dost not protect me I shall be guilty of still more grievous offences; but I purpose to avoid this fault for the future, and with the aid of Thy grace, I hope to keep this resolution." Should you ever relapse, act always in the same manner, and never abandon the resolution of becoming a saint.
Should you ever see another commit some grievous sin, take care not to indulge in pride, nor to be surprised at his fall; but pity his misfortune, and trembling for yourself, say with holy David: Unless the Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelt in hell (Ps. xciii. 17). If the Almighty had not been my Protector, I should at this moment be buried in hell. Beware of even taking vain complacency in being exempt from faults you perceive in others, or else, in chastisement of your pride the Lord will permit you to fall into the sins they have committed. Cassian relates that a certain young monk, being for a long time molested by a violent temptation to impurity, sought advice and consolation from an aged Father. Instead of receiving encouragement and comfort, he was loaded with reproaches. "What!" said the old man, "is it possible that a monk should be subject to such abominable thoughts?" In punishment of his pride the Almighty permitted the Father to be assailed by the spirit of impurity to such a degree that he ran about like a madman. Hearing of his miserable condition, the Abbot Apollo told him that God had permitted this temptation to punish his conduct towards the young monk, and also to teach him compassion for others in similar circumstances. The Apostle tells us that in correcting sinners we should not treat them with contempt, lest God should permit us to be assailed by the temptation to which they yielded, and perhaps to fall into the very sin which we were surprised to see them commit. We should, before we reprove others, consider that we are as miserable and as liable to sin as our fallen brethren. Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault ... instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted (Gal. vi. 1). The same Cassian relates that a certain Abbot called Machete confessed that he himself had miserably fallen into three faults, of which he had rashly judged his brethren to be guilty.
Evening Meditation
INTERIOR TRIALS
We are to have this certain confidence that in obeying our Spiritual Father, we are sure of not sinning. "The sovereign remedy for the scrupulous," says St. Bernard, "is a blind obedience to their confessor." John Gerson relates, that the same Saint told one of his disciples, who was scrupulous, to go and celebrate, and take his word for it. He went, and was cured of his scruples. "But a person may answer," says Gerson, "Would to God I had a St. Bernard for my director! Mine is one of indifferent wisdom." And he answers, "Thou dost err, whoever thou art that so speakest; for thou hast not given thyself into the hands of the man because he is well read, etc., but because he is placed over thee; wherefore obey him not as man, but as God." Hence St. Teresa has well said: "Let the soul accept the confessor with a determination to think no more of personal excuses, but to trust in the words of the Lord: He that heareth you heareth me.
Hence St. Francis de Sales, speaking of direction from a Spiritual Father in order to walk securely in the way of God, says: "This is the very counsel of all counsels." "Search as much as you will," says the saintly Father John of Avila, "you will in no way discover the will of God so surely as by the path of that humble obedience which is so much recommended and practised by the devout of former times." Thus, too, Father Alvarez said: "Even if the Spiritual Father should err, the obedient soul is secure from error, because it rests on the judgment of him whom God has given it as a superior." And Father Nieremberg writes to the same effect: "Let the soul obey the confessor; and then, although the thing itself were faulty, he does not sin who does it with the intention of obeying him who holds the place of God in his regard, persuading himself, as is, indeed, the case, that he is bound to obey him," who is the interpreter of the Divine will.
II.
St. Francis of Sales gives three maxims which bring great consolation to scrupulous souls.
1. An obedient soul has never been lost; 2. We ought to rest satisfied with knowing from our Spiritual Father that we are going on well, without seeking a personal knowledge of it; 3. The best thing is to walk on blindly through all the darkness and perplexity of this life, under the Providence of God. And therefore all the Doctors of Morals conclude, in general, with St. Antoninus, Navarro, Silvester, etc., that obedience to the confessor is the safest rule for walking securely in the ways of God. F. Tirillo, and F. La Croix say that this is the common doctrine of the holy Fathers and masters of the spiritual life.
The scrupulous should know that not only are they safe in obeying, but that they are bound to obey their director, and to despise the scruple, acting with all freedom in the midst of their doubts. This is the teaching of Natalis Alexander: That scruples ought to be despised when one has the judgment of a prudent, pious, and learned director; and that one ought to act against them. "He who acts against scruples does not sin," says Father Wigandt, "nay, sometimes it is a precept to do so, especially when backed by the judgment of the confessor." So do these authors speak, although they belong to the rigid school; so, too, theologians in general; and the reason is, that if the scrupulous man goes on in his scruples, he is in danger of placing grievous impediments in the way of satisfying his obligations, or, at least, of making spiritual progress; and, moreover, of even losing his mind, losing his health, and destroying his soul by despair or by relaxation. Hence St. Antoninus agrees with Gerson in thus reproving the scrupulous soul who, through a vain fear, is not obedient in overcoming his scruples: "Beware lest, from overmuch desire to walk securely, thou fall and destroy thyself."
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| Students protest drag show planned for Catholic university Notre Dame |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-29-2023, 05:09 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Students protest drag show planned for Catholic university Notre Dame
Notre Dame, one of the most famous Catholic universities in the U.S., has defended the event on the grounds of academic freedom
Fox News [adapted] | October 28, 2023
Students at one of the most popular Catholic universities in the U.S. are protesting a drag event sanctioned by the school administration.
The University of Notre Dame, one of the most well-known Catholic colleges in the country, is hosting and sponsoring a drag queen symposium on November 3 as part of a one-credit course titled "What a Drag: Drag on Screen — Variations and Meanings."
Students who are upset with the event's contradiction to Catholic morality are pushing Vice President of Student Affairs Fr. Gerry Olinger to rescind the religious university's participation in hosting the event.
MASSACHUSETTS MAN ALLEGEDLY BROKE ARMS OFF CRUCIFIX OUTSIDE BOSTON CATHEDRAL AFTER SWINGING FROM IT
"In the weeks following the completion of the regilding of the dome and Our Lady, promotional posters appeared throughout campus advertising a drag show on Nov. 3," students wrote in an editorial for a student publication. "Months were spent regilding Notre Dame’s Virgin Mary statue, accentuating the beauty and truth of her feminine form in imago dei — a feminine form that is warped and mocked in the burlesque-styled form of entertainment that is drag."
The students wrote, "We cannot help but question how witnessing such a performance prepares students to be forces for good and truth in the world."
Posters advertising the event say that anyone at the university can attend — tickets are free.
DODGERS HONOR ANTI-CATHOLIC DRAG 'NUNS' MORE THAN AN HOUR BEFORE FIRST PITCH INSIDE NEARLY EMPTY STADIUM
"University funding will be paying drag artists to come to Notre Dame, dress as women, defile femininity, and most importantly, promote the disordered ideology that gender and sexuality are fluid — in direct contradiction to the Catholic Church’s teaching," student Merlot Fogarty wrote to Olinger in an email.
Olinger defended the university event on the grounds of "academic freedom," according to Catholic News Agency.
"This freedom in academic contexts is critical, and the university protects this freedom even when the content of the presentation is objectionable to some or even many. Because the event you reference is part of a one-credit course in film, television and theater on the history of drag, the principle of academic freedom does apply in this instance," Olinger responded to the email, according to the outlet.
Drag queen performances have become a tense topic in Catholic communities following the celebration of anti-Catholic drag "nuns" by the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this year.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were given a "Community Hero award" by the baseball team ahead of its Pride Night celebrations.
The ceremony was pushed to more than an hour before the game and done with few spectators in their seats after weeks of outrage surrounding the decision.
Fox News Digital reached out to the University of Notre Dame for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
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| Archbishop Viganò: Bergoglio is attempting to ‘adulterate the deposit of faith’ under false pretense |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-26-2023, 05:12 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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NB: Once again, we see Pope Francis embrace and employ the same tactics that were used at Vatican II to subvert Catholic Teaching, nicely summarized here by Archbishop Viganò.
Archbishop Viganò: Bergoglio is attempting to ‘adulterate the deposit of faith’ under false pretenses
Bergoglio’s attacks on the deposit of faith are ‘scandalous and unheard of’ and risk the eternal damnation of souls, Archbishop Viganò writes.
Wed Oct 25, 2023
Editor’s note: The following is a commentary first posted by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò on X.
(LifeSiteNews (emphasis mine)) — The system of the subverters is always the same: they modify a law by leveraging emotion and not reason, not because they care about the common good, but because they need a (false) pretext with which to legitimize what the law instead condemns. This was also the case for introducing divorce, abortion, and euthanasia.
In the ecclesial sphere, the subverters of doctrine and morality put forward the (false) pretext of understanding the Rites in order to introduce the vernacular language into the Liturgy, or the (false) pretext of ecumenical dialogue to water down Catholic Truths. Bergoglio resorted to the same trick for the death penalty, with the (false) pretext that it is contrary to the spirit of the Gospel, and today his minions use the (false) pretext of discrimination against adulterers, concubines, and perverts to legitimize adultery, concubinage, and sodomy.
This happens when the vicarious authority of those who govern society or the Church does not limit itself, as it should, to acting in the Name of God, but presumes that it has something to teach even God Himself, Who is said [to] not be able to legislate with justice, and that He imposes precepts that are impossible to observe.
And this is the same accusation with which Satan rebelled against God, and his main argument to convince us to disobey Him. That civil rulers do this is painful and very serious; but that the one who, sitting on the Throne of Peter, dares to make these recriminations his own in order to adulterate the Deposit of Faith and lead souls to eternal damnation is scandalous and unheard of.
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| Archbishop Viganò: Priests and bishops who promoted ‘lethal’ COVID jabs must answer to God |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-25-2023, 05:23 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Archbishop Viganò: Priests and bishops who promoted ‘lethal’ COVID jabs must answer to God
‘Their silence on the pandemic fraud is identical to that on the apostasy of the Catholic Hierarchy,’ Archbishop Viganò writes. ‘And the moral responsibility that weighs on them will remain as an indelible stain for which they will have to answer to God, to men, and to History.’
![[Image: Vigano_foto.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Vigano_foto.jpg)
Mon Oct 23, 2023
Editor’s note: The following is a commentary about the Catholic hierarchy and COVID jabs first posted by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò on X.
(LifeSiteNews) — Three years ago I was among the first – and certainly the first Bishop – to denounce pandemic and vaccination fraud. Expressed with arguments that today emerge as true and well-founded are the critical issues and immorality of an experimental gene treatment, which aborted fetuses were and are used to produce. I also wrote two open letters to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which remain unanswered.
READ: Israeli boy featured in COVID vaccine campaign dies of heart attack at age 8
There were those in conservative circles who went so far as to attack me personally and resorted to the unproven and clearly false statements of a doctor who worked with her husband for BigPharma.
I expressed my dismay at the silence of the bishops, priests, and parish pastors, of many religious workers involved in hospitals, and at the servile zeal with which the Catholic Hierarchy conformed to the crazy and criminal health regulations and Bergoglio’s promotion of the serum. I was publicly insulted on television and in the media, while my brother bishops were silent. Faced with a crime against humanity that has continued to take place before our eyes for three years with the approval and encouragement of Bergoglio, I would have thought that many Pastors would have found the courage to raise their voices and join in my denunciation of the plan of world depopulation implemented by the Word Economic Forum, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the WHO, and the UN, while the funds of these criminals were also given to the Vatican, transforming Bergoglio into a vaccine salesman and a supporter of climate fraud, which has now become “magisterium” with Laudate Deum and with the “Amazonian and synodal church.”
READ: New documentary exposes World Health Organization’s vaccine sterilization campaign in Kenya
Nemo propheta in sua patria. But if today some priests surrender to the evidence and ask Catholic journalists to tell the truth about the adverse effects, I wonder with what serenity they have so far silenced their conscience, and if their silence and fearful silence – like that of the doctors, police forces, magistrates, teachers and governors – has not turned into a timid protest today just because they see the showdown approaching and fear for their own reputation more than for the health of the billions of people subjected to the inoculation of a product that was known from the beginning to be dangerous and even lethal.
Their silence on the pandemic fraud is identical to that on the apostasy of the Catholic Hierarchy. And the moral responsibility that weighs on them will remain as an indelible stain for which they will have to answer to God, to men, and to History.
READ: Bill Gates: Life won’t go back to ‘normal’ until population ‘widely vaccinated’
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| Health Canada confirms cancer-linked Simian Virus 40 DNA sequence found in Pfizer COVID jab |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-24-2023, 07:25 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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Health Canada confirms cancer-linked Simian Virus 40 DNA sequence found in Pfizer COVID jab
Health Canada noted that '(a)lthough the full DNA sequence of the Pfizer plasmid was provided at the time of initial filing, the sponsor did not specifically identify the SV40 sequence.'
![[Image: Shutterstock_2196481543-1.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Shutterstock_2196481543-1.jpg)
Shutterstock
Mon Oct 23, 2023
OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – The presence of Polyomavirus Simian Virus 40 (SV40), which is a monkey-linked DNA sequence known to cause cancer when it was used in old polio vaccines, has been confirmed by Health Canada to be present in the Pfizer COVID shot, a fact that was not disclosed by the vaccine maker to officials.
As first reported by The Epoch Times last week, there is still ongoing debate among scientists regarding the findings, with some reporting SV40 poses a cancer risk and was hidden on purpose while others say it is nothing to worry about.
As per an email that was sent to The Epoch Times, Health Canada said it “expects sponsors to identify any biologically functional DNA sequences within a plasmid (such as an SV40 enhancer) at the time of submission.”
“Although the full DNA sequence of the Pfizer plasmid was provided at the time of initial filing, the sponsor did not specifically identify the SV40 sequence,” Health Canada added.
Health Canada noted that Kevin McKernan, a microbiologist and former researcher and team leader for the MIT Human Genome project, and Dr. Phillip J. Buckhaults, who is a professor of cancer genomics as well as the director of the Cancer Genetics Lab at the University of South Carolina, had raised in a public manner earlier this year how SV40 was present in the jabs.
After this, Health Canada noted, it was “possible for Health Canada to confirm the presence of the enhancer based on the plasmid DNA sequence submitted by Pfizer against the published SV40 enhancer sequence.”
SV40 is used to enhance gene transcription when the shots are made.
According to McKernan, he noted in correspondence to The Epoch Times, that Pfizer did not let it be known of SV40 being in the COVID shots given its cancer link when it was used in polio vaccines decades ago.
McKernan shared his concerns about SV40 but did say there is no straightforward evidence yet if it is a full-blown carcinogenic. He did warn the public that SV40 promoters are still a concern due to the risk of them “integrating into the human genomes near oncogenes, which are genes that have the potential to cause cancer,” as noted by The Epoch Times.
According to Buckhaults, “People have a right to have their concerns taken seriously and addressed by competent, caring scientists, even if their concerns end up being invalidated. We should look for monsters under the bed and report results honestly.”
Health Canada spokesperson Mark Johnson, as noted by The Epoch Times, said the current data available regarding SV40 does not connect it to so-called “turbo cancers” linked with the COVID shot.
Dr. Joseph Mercola in an opinion piece posted to LifeSiteNews in June mentioned a discussion about COVID jab contamination between Dr. Steven E. Greer and McKernan, along with Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi.
According to McKernan’s team, SV40 DNA contamination was found in both the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA shots, with the findings posted on OSF Preprints in early April 2023.
Greer noted, as observed by Mercola, that “governments and drug companies ‘have misled the world to a far greater extent than previously known.’ If these findings are correct, it would also mean that ‘the so-called ‘vaccines’ are actually altering the human genome and causing permanent production of the deadly spike protein,’ and this internal production of spike protein would, in turn, ‘trigger the immune system to attack its own cells.’”
Mercola wrote that as for SV40 showing up in the COVID shots, “it appears to be related to poor quality control during the manufacturing process, although it’s unclear where in the development SV40 might have sneaked in.”
“Quality control deficiencies may also be responsible for the high rate of anaphylactic reactions we’ve been seeing,” Mercola noted.
Last month, Health Canada approved a revised Moderna mRNA-based COVID shot despite research showing that 1 in 35 recipients of the booster have myocardial damage.
There is mounting evidence concerning the adverse effects they cause in many who have taken the COVID shots, including kids.
For example, a recent study done by researchers with Canada-based Correlation Research in the Public Interest showed that 17 countries have found a “definite causal link” between peaks in all-cause mortality and the fast rollouts of the COVID shots as well as boosters.
SV40 was ‘hidden’ from regulators by vaccine makers, doctor says
According to Dr. Janci Lindsay, who works as the director of toxicology and molecular biology for Toxicology Support Services, Pfizer did not disclose the presence of SV40 “promoters” to both Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as the European Medicines Agency.
She said, as reported in The Epoch Times, the drug company “hid them.”
“So it’s not just the fact that they’re there, it’s the fact that they were purposefully hidden from the regulators,” she noted.
Lindsay explained that the full SV40 virus is not present in the COVID shots, but a nuclear localization sequence is.
She said that SV40 promoters were integrated into the “human genome — in a process known as insertional mutagenesis — that would then result in gene mutations that could cause cancers.”
Lindsay also said SV40 will “sit down anywhere” as it is a strong promoter.
As for Health Canada, it maintains that when it comes to the COVID shots, it has “concluded that the risk/benefit profile continues to support the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.”
“Health Canada does not rely on the conclusions provided by vaccine manufacturers. Health Canada conducts an in-depth, independent review of the required evidence provided by the manufacturer to ensure that our high standards for safety, efficacy and quality are met,” the agency noted.
Buckhaults noted, as per The Epoch Times report, that the SV40 “sequence in the vaccine is NOT the cancer-causing SV40 large T antigen, which would be a very significant cancer risk.
He said that the SV40 enhancer is a “standard bit of molecular biology engineering to achieve high level expression of the Neo resistance marker” that has been used “for decades.”
He did state that the small DNA pieces of SV40 still have a “non-zero future cancer risk, same as all the other DNA sequences.”
“Concern among regulators is appropriate, but panic among the public is not appropriate (and indeed harmful),” he noted.
What is SV40 and why was it in the shots?
SV40 in vaccines has been linked to the spread of turbo cancers in those who have been exposed to the virus via contaminated injections. According to a 2002 study published in the Lancet, there is evidence that links the older polio vaccines, which were filed with SV40 contaminants, to certain forms of cancer.
Polio vaccines from the late 1950s to the early 1960s were all contaminated with SV40, after it was discovered that the virus was present in the monkey kidney cells, which vaccine makers used to grow the shots.
The authors of the 2002 study claim that the SV40-contaminated polio vaccine may have caused up to half of the 55,000 cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosed each year.
SV40, or the simian (monkey) virus as it is also known, according to Dr. Maurice Hilleman, who is a late vaccine developer, was put in the polio vaccine and then put into wide circulation by Merck inadvertently.
It has never been clear, as noted by Mercola, whether SV40 has been completely removed from polio vaccines since, however, it is known that contaminated jabs were in circulation in Italy as late as 1999.
The Lancet book review titled “The Virus and the Vaccine: The True Story of a Cancer-Causing Money Virus, Contaminated Polio Vaccine and the Millions of Americans Exposed” goes over SV40’s link to cancer in detail.
An expert from the book reads, “By 1960, scientists and vaccine manufacturers knew that monkey kidneys were sewers of simian viruses. Such contamination often spoiled cultures, including those of an NIH researcher named Bernice Eddy, who worked on vaccine safety … Her discovery … threatened one of the USA’s most important public-health programs.”
“Eddy tried to get word out to colleagues but was muzzled and stripped of her vaccine regulatory duties and her laboratory … [Two] Merck researchers, Ben Sweet and Maurice Hilleman, soon identified the rhesus virus later named SV40 – the carcinogenic agent that had eluded Eddy,” the book reads.
By 1963, U.S. health authorities switched to African green monkeys, which do not naturally carry SV40 to make polio shots.
Adverse effects from COVID shots on the rise in Canada
Adverse effects from the first round of COVID shots have resulted in a growing number of Canadians who have filed for financial compensation over alleged injuries from the jabs, via Canada’s Vaccine Injury Program (VISP).
Thus far, some VISP has already paid over $6 million to those injured by COVID injections, with some 2,000 claims remaining to be settled.
Despite the health risks associated with the COVID shots, governments across Canada all enacted strict rules, including workplace jab mandates.
As a result, many Canadians who chose not to get the shots lost their job. However, many of them are fighting back.
Last week, LifeSiteNews reported on how over 700 vaccine-free Canadians negatively affected by federal COVID jab dictates have banded together to file a multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuit against the federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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| Pope Francis gives Synod members Vatican II lobby group’s liberation theology text |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-22-2023, 06:54 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Pope Francis gives Synod members Vatican II lobby group’s liberation theology text
Church historian Roberto de Mattei told LifeSiteNews that this hugely significant event is the 'last act of a process' beginning with Vatican II and culminating in Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality.
![[Image: synod-catacombs.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/synod-catacombs.jpg)
Synod on Synodality members at the Catacombs, October 12, 2023
Vatican News X/Screenshot
Oct 20, 2023
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) –– In a hugely significant move, participants of the Synod on Synodality were quietly given the text of a secretive pact – first composed by a group of liberal theologians during Vatican II – which is part of a relativistic and “egalitarian” plan embodied and enacted by Pope Francis to “change the identity of the Catholic Church.”
In an article published October 13, Jesuit-run America Magazine revealed that participants of the Synod on Synodality were given a controversial and secret text during their October 12 trip to the Catacombs of Sts. Sebastian, Callistus and Domitilla. (An archive of the America Magazine report is available here.)
The report stated how the prayer booklet given to Synod participants “included the full text of the Pact of the Catacombs.” Of note is that this was not included in the booklet emailed to journalists of the Vatican press corps.
READ: SPECIAL: Pope Francis’ agenda is the progressive vision of Vatican II
The text and its being given to the Synod members is hugely significant, with Church historian Professor Roberto de Mattei describing it as the “last act of a process” beginning with Vatican II and culminating in Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality.
Commenting to LifeSiteNews about the event, de Mattei stated:
Quote:The Catacombs Pact distributed to the Synod Fathers last week is not a purely commemorative event, but the last act of a process that began with the Second Vatican Council and has its ultimate expression in the Synodal project encouraged by Pope Francis to change the identity of the Catholic Church, removing any “Constantinian” element and transforming it into an egalitarian and pauperist social agency.
What is the Catacombs Pact?
On November 16, 1965, 42 bishops attending the Second Vatican Council met in the Catacombs of St. Domitilla to compile and sign the “Pact of the Catacombs,” or the Catacombs Pact. The text has remained largely out of the public eye, but is a formulation of 13 key points pertaining to Church life, organization and practice, all based on tenets of the heterodox ideology known as Liberation Theology.
It highlights aspects which strongly resonate with “social justice” activists of today, such as:
- Living in the “ordinary manner of our people,”
- Rejecting “the appearance and reality of riches” including in dress and belongings, seemingly including liturgical objects,
- Handing over the finances to laity in the dioceses,
- Refusing traditional ecclesiastical titles like “Excellency,”
- Avoiding any semblance of hierarchical treatment, including during the liturgy,
- To be more focused on the style of “collegiality,”
- To “be more humanly present, more welcoming,” and to “show ourselves to be open to all, whatever their religion.”
Some accounts suggest the Pact garnered support from as many as 500 bishops at the council.
Who orchestrated it?
In his detailed account of the Second Vatican Council, de Mattei wrote how the pact was proposed by a group of prelates known as the “Church of the Poor,” which he described as one of the three “most important and effective pressure groups of the council.”
The “Church of the Poor” began meeting as early as the first session of the Council, in October 1962.
The late Bishop of Ivrea, Luigi Bettazzi – who until his death in July 2023 was the last remaining signatory of the Pact – stated the text was chiefly written by Archbishop Hélder Câmara, a Brazilian prelate who is described as an “icon” and “father” of liberation theology.
The influence of the author must not be underestimated.
Prof. de Mattei records that Câmara’s collaboration with prominent liberal advocate Cardinal Joseph Suenens at Vatican II was “one of the ‘hidden’ driving forces of the conciliar assembly.”
As de Mattei highlights, Câmara described his friend Suenens as “the key man of the Council, certain of the direct and personal trust of the Holy Father.” Câmara defended Suenens’ description as “the world head of progressivism,” adding “he is my leader at the Council.”
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Cdl. Joseph Suenens during a video interview
Câmara himself advocated for contraception and an acceptance of divorce during the conciliar years, and is acknowledged as “source of inspiration for Pope Francis,” especially as it was under Francis that his canonization process was approved in 2015.
Câmara was also vice-president of CELAM at the time of Vatican II, and so had influence over the six hundred or so Latin American prelates.
Nor is the composition of the signatories to be overlooked.
Bishop Luigi Bettazzi’s signature on the 1965 Pact thus linked the document to the work of other prominent liberal forces at play during those years. Bettazzi, records de Mattei, signed as the representative of Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro – the Archbishop of Bologna.
Lercaro was highly influential in compiling the Novus Ordo liturgy alongside Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, and was one of four moderators appointed by Pope Paul VI to oversee daily proceedings of Vatican II, only weeks after Paul VI was elected pope in June 1963.
A certain Father Giuseppe Dossetti served as Cdl. Lercaro’s theological advisor. Dossetti was the leading figure behind the so-called “Bologna School,” which promoted the liberal “spirit” of the Council and portrayed traditionalists as enemies.
De Mattei describes the School of Bologna as “the intellectual laboratory of European ultra-progressivism.”
Thus, the founders and leading lights of extreme liberal forces both in Europe and South America were behind the 1965 Pact of the Catacombs.
To add to this, the Conciliar fathers’ moves were enacted in other parts of the Church. Commenting on the situation to LifeSiteNews, de Mattei noted that in 1965 also, “Father Pedro Arrupe, the author of a project to reform the Church that turned its foundations upside down along the lines of the Pact of the Catacombs, was elected General of the Society of Jesus.”
It was this same liberal Jesuit Superior General, Fr. Arrupe, who was a mentor for the young Fr. Jorge Bergoglio S.J. and raised him to become a district superior aged only 36. Indeed, Francis praised Arrupe even as recently as this summer, when Pope Francis hailed his “courage.”
Catacombs Pact and Pope Francis
To understand Pope Francis and his direction for the Church it is thus vital to come to grips with his relationship with the text signed by the Council fathers in 1965. For Francis has crucial links with those involved with the document, the ideologies of the text itself and its very aims.
De Mattei told LifeSite that Francis has been in possession of a text of the document from at least the start of his time in the Vatican. “On 21 March 2013, a week after his election, Pope Francis received a copy of the Pact of the Catacombs from the hands of Argentine activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, supporter of Marxist dictators Fidel Castro, Nicolas Maduro and Hugo Chaves,” said the historian.
De Mattei added how in July 2014, the Pope’s favored liberation theologian, Leonardo Boff, “published an article with the title El pacto de las catacumbas vivido por el Papa Francisco, in which, after transcribing the Catacombs Pact of 1965, he concluded with these words: ‘Aren’t these precisely the ideals presented by Pope Francis?’”
In 2015, Bishop Bettazzi stated that the text he and his fellow signatories worked on was now “bearing fruit.” “The pact of the catacombs today… is Pope Francis,” he said. Incidentally, when Bettazzi died in June, Pope Francis described him as “… a man of dialogue and a point of reference for numerous representatives of Italian public and political life.”
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Pope Francis and Bishop Bettazzi. Credit: Vatican News
Indeed, with 2015 being the 50th anniversary of the text, there was a renewed interest in the document which had largely remained out of the public consciousness.
The Washington Post wrote how “perhaps nothing has revived and legitimated the Pact of the Catacombs as much as the surprise election, in March 2013, of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio – Pope Francis.”
The heterodox German prelate, Walter Cardinal Kasper, stated to the news outlet that Francis’ “program is to a high degree what the Catacomb Pact was.”
Kasper stated that “now he [Francis] brings it back,” saying that already in 2015 “the Catacomb Pact is everywhere now in discussion.”
Amazon Synod and a new Pact
With Pope Francis being described as the very embodiment of the Pact, it is not surprising that the document has assumed a key role in his pontificate, albeit not quite having the public exposure to be described as having taken center stage.
Perhaps, though, no clearer sign was given of Francis’ commitment and promotion of the 1965 Pact of the Catacombs than during the 2019 Synod on the Amazon.
During that synod – which is perhaps most infamously known for its Pachamama pagan idols being honored in the Vatican – a renewed version of the 1965 Pact was signed. (A copy can be viewed here.)
In the very same Catacombs of St. Domitilla, a group of cardinals, bishops and Synod members celebrated Mass and signed a “Pact of the Catacombs for the Common Home.” They were led by Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, who proudly announced that he was wearing Archbishop Câmara’s stole. Câmara was a man to whom Hummes “was extremely devoted,” observed de Mattei.
Hummes’s leadership of the 2019 Pact is also a sign of Francis’ approval of the endeavor. Hummes was seated next to Cardinal Bergoglio during the 2013 papal conclave, accompanied the new Pope Francis onto the balcony to greet the crowds on March 13, 2013 and remained in Francis’ own words “a good friend.” Hummes also had key responsibility for the Amazon Synod, serving as relator general – the position now held by Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich for the Synod on Synodality.
As de Mattei commented to LifeSite about the 2019 Pact, “the socio-political Pact of the 1960s became the fifteen-point socio-cosmic pact entitled: ‘Catacombs Pact for the Common Home. For a Church with an Amazonian face, poor and servant, prophetic and Samaritan.’”
Writing about the 2019 Pact at the time, LifeSite’s Jeanne Smits noted how the new text also featured considerably more explicit arguments in favor of ecological and indigenous talking points.
Quote:The new Pact of the Catacombs not only proclaims preferential attention for the poor, as did the first Pact signed in 1965 – the poor now being represented by the indigenous peoples of Amazonia, but also their right to their traditional (pagan and pantheistic) ‘spirituality’ and their right to participate in all Church decisions in their area.
The pantheistic element is present in the Pact in the affirmation of an ‘integral ecology, in which everything is interconnected, the human race and all creation, for all creatures are daughters and sons of the earth.’
“The 1965 Pact has now simply been updated,” wrote Smits.
Here, as in so many aspects of the details regarding the Catacombs Pact, there is further integration of details. For it was the laicized priest Leonardo Boff, who in 2015 likened Francis’ pontificate to the 1965 Catacombs Pact, who is widely credited with providing the theological groundwork for the 2019 Amazon Synod.
READ: 47-year-old photo shows future Pope Francis with dissident priest who helped engineer Amazon synod
As Dr. Maike Hickson recounted, Boff’s friendship with Francis dates back decades, and has grown more impactful for the Church since Cardinal Bergoglio assumed the papal throne and kept Boff as a close friend and advisor.
Indeed, evidencing Francis’ commitment to the liberation theology ideals of the Catacombs Pact, Boff claimed in a 2016 interview that Pope Francis is “one of us.”
“He has turned Liberation Theology into a common property of the Church. And he has widened it,” said Boff.
With Francis now ensuring that members of his pontificate’s major work, the Synod on Synodality, receive the text of the 1965 Pact of the Catacombs, his agenda for the Church is increasingly clear for those who wish to see it.
“Today,” said de Mattei to LifeSite, “this legacy is taken up by an organism that is called a Synod, even though it is not an authentic Synod (the bishops are only a part of its members), and which expresses a magisterium that is not a magisterium, because it lacks the content and form of authentic Catholic teaching.”
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| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Twenty-first Week after Pentecost |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-22-2023, 05:58 AM - Forum: Pentecost
- Replies (6)
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When God, at length, sees that we will not respond to benefits, nor threats, nor admonitions, nor amend our lives, He is forced by our own very selves to punish us. God will then chastise us because we ourselves force Him to chastise us.
I.
When God, at length, sees that we will not respond to benefits, nor threats, nor admonitions, nor amend our lives, He is forced by our own very selves to chastise us, but while punishing us, He will place before our eyes the great mercies He has extended to us: Thou thoughtest unjustly that I shall be like to thee; but I will reprove thee, and set before thy face (Ps. xlix. 20). He will then say to the sinner: Think you, O sinner, that I had forgotten, as you had done, the outrages you put upon Me, and the graces I dispensed to you? St. Augustine says that God does not hate but loves us, and that He only hates our sins. He is not wroth with men, says St. Jerome, but with their sins. The Saint says, that by His nature God is inclined to benefit us, and that it is we ourselves who oblige Him to chastise us, and assume the appearance of severity, which He has not of Himself. St. Jerome, reflecting on those words which Jesus Christ on the day of the General Judgment will address to the reprobate: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. xxv. 41), inquires, who has prepared this fire for sinners? God, perhaps? No, because God never created souls for hell, as the impious Luther taught: this fire was kindled for sinners by their own sins. He who sows in sin, shall reap chastisement. He that soweth iniquity shall reap evils (Prov. xxii. 8). When the soul commits sin, it voluntarily obliges itself to pay the penalty thereof, and thus condemns itself to the pains of hell. For you have said; we have entered into a league with death, and we have made a covenant with hell (Is. xxviii. 15). Hence, St. Ambrose well says, that God has not condemned any one, but that each one is the author of his own punishment. And the Holy Ghost says, that the sinner shall be consumed by the hatred which he bears himself: with the rod of his anger he shall be consumed (Prov. xxii. 8). He, says Salvian, who offends God has no more cruel enemy than himself, since he himself has caused the torments which he suffers. God, he continues, does not wish to see us in affliction, but it is we who draw down sufferings upon ourselves, and by our sins enkindle the flames in which we are to burn. God punishes us, because we oblige Him to punish us.
II.
You will say the mercies of the Lord are great: no matter how manifold my sins, I have in view a change of life by and by, and God will have mercy upon me. God does not wish you to speak thus. Say not the mercy of the Lord is great, he will have mercy on the multitude of my sins (Ecclus. v. 6). The reason is this, for mercy and wrath quickly come from him (Ibid. 7). Yes, it is true, God has patience, God waits for some sinners; I say some, for there are some whom God does not wait for at all: how many has He not sent to hell immediately after the first transgression? Others He does wait for, but He will not always wait for them; He spares them for a certain time and then punishes. The Lord patiently expecteth, that when the day of judgment shall come, he may punish them in the fulness of their sins (2 Mach. vi. 14). Mark well, when the day of judgment shall come: when the day of vengeance shall arrive, in the fulness of their sins. When the measure of sins which God has determined to pardon is filled up, He will punish. Then the Lord will have no mercy, and will chastise to the full.
The city of Jericho did not fall during the first circuit made by the Ark, it did not fall at the fifth, or at the sixth, but it fell at last at the seventh. And thus it will happen with thee, says St. Augustine, "at the seventh circuit made by the Ark the city of vanity will fall." God has pardoned you your first sin, your tenth, your seventieth, perhaps your thousandth; He has often called you, He now calls you again; tremble lest this should be the last circuit of the ark, that is, the last call, after which, if you do not change your life, it will be over with you. For the earth, says the Apostle, that drinketh in the rain which cometh often upon it ... and which bringeth forth thorns and briars is reprobate, and very near unto a curse, whose end is to be burned (Heb. vi. 7). That soul, he says, which has often received the waters of Divine light and grace, and instead of bearing fruit produces nought but the thorns of sin, is nigh unto a curse, and its end will be to burn eternally in hell fire. In a word, when the time comes, God punishes.
Spiritual Reading
II. MORTIFICATION OF THE EYES
The Saints were particularly cautious not to look at persons of a different sex. St. Hugh, bishop, when compelled to speak with women, never looked at them in the face. St. Clare would never fix her eyes on the face of a man. She was greatly afflicted because, when raising her eyes at the elevation to see the consecrated Host, she once involuntarily saw the countenance of the priest. St. Aloysius never looked his own mother in the face. It is related of St. Arsenius, that a noble lady went to visit him in the desert, to beg of him to recommend her to God. When the Saint perceived that his visitor was a woman, he turned away from her. She then said to him: "Arsenius, since you will neither see nor hear me, at least remember me in your prayers." "No," replied the Saint, "but I will beg of God to make me forget you, and never more think of you."
From these examples may be seen the folly and temerity of those who, though they have not the sanctity of a St. Clare, still gaze around upon every object that presents itself, even on persons of a different sex. And notwithstanding their unguarded looks, they expect to be free from temptations and from the danger of sin. For having once looked deliberately at a woman, the Abbot Pastor was tormented for forty years by temptations against chastity. St. Gregory states that the temptation, to conquer which St. Benedict rolled himself in thorns, arose from one incautious glance at a woman. St. Jerome, though living in a cave at Bethlehem, in continual prayer and macerations of the flesh, was terribly molested by the remembrance of ladies whom he had long before seen in Rome. Why should not similar molestations be the lot of those who wilfully and without reserve fix their eyes on persons of a different sex?
"It is not," says St. Francis de Sales, "the seeing of objects so much as the fixing of our eyes upon them that proves most pernicious." "If," says St. Augustine, our eyes should by chance fall upon others, let us take care never to fix them upon any one." Father Manareo, when taking leave of St. Ignatius for a distant place, looked steadfastly in his face: for this look he was corrected by the Saint. From the conduct of St. Ignatius on this occasion, we learn that it is not becoming in those who aspire to sanctity, to fix their eyes on the countenance of a person even of the same sex, particularly if the person is young. But I do not see how looks at young persons of a different sex can be excused from the guilt of a venial fault, or even from mortal sin, when there is proximate danger of criminal consent. "It is not lawful," says St. Gregory, "to behold what it is not lawful to covet." The evil thought that proceeds from looks, though it should be rejected, never fails to leave a stain upon the soul. Brother Roger, a Franciscan of singular purity, being once asked why he was so reserved in his intercourse with women, replied, that when men avoid the occasions of sin, God preserves them; but when they expose themselves to danger, they are justly abandoned by the Lord, and easily fall into some grievous transgressions.
Evening Meditation
CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD
XI. SPECIAL PRACTICES OF THIS VIRTUE.
I.
We may at times have to suffer the loss of persons who, in either a temporal or spiritual point of view, happen to be of service to us. This is a matter in regard to which devout people are often very faulty, through their want of resignation to the Divine dispensations. Our sanctification must come, not from spiritual directors, but from God. It is, indeed, His will that we should avail ourselves of directors as spiritual guides, when He gives them to us; but when He takes them away, He wills that we should rest content, and increase our confidence in His goodness, saying at such times: Lord, it is Thou Who hast given me this assistance; now Thou hast taken it from me; may Thy will be ever done; but I pray Thee now to supply my wants Thyself, and to teach me what I ought to do to serve Thee. And in the same way ought we to receive all other crosses from the hands of God. but so many troubles, you say, are chastisements. But, I ask in reply, are not the chastisements God sends us in this life acts of kindness and benefits? If we have offended Him, we have to satisfy Divine justice in some way or other, either in this life or in the next. Therefore we ought all of us to say with St. Augustine, "Here burn, here cut, here do not spare; that so Thou mayest spare in eternity"; and again, with holy Job: And that this may be my comfort, that, afflicting me with sorrow, he spare not (Job vi. 10). It should, too, be a consolation to one who has deserved hell to see that God is punishing him in this world; because this will give him good hopes that it may be God's will to deliver him from punishment eternal. Let us, then, say when suffering the chastisements of God what was said by Heli the high priest: It is the Lord; let him do what is good in his sight (1 Kings, iii. 18).
II.
We must be conformed to God's will in times of spiritual desolation. When a soul begins to lead a spiritual life, the Lord is accustomed to heap consolations on it in order to wean it from the pleasures of the world; but afterwards, when He sees it more settled in spiritual ways, He holds His hand, in order to try its love, and to see whether it serves and loves Him unrecompensed and deprived of spiritual joys. "While we are living here below," St. Teresa writes, "our gain does not consist in any increase of enjoyment of God, but in the performance of His will." And in another passage: "The love of God does not consist in tenderness, but in serving Him with constancy and humility." And again, elsewhere: "By means of drynesses and temptations the Lord tries the fidelity of those who love Him." Let the soul then thank the Lord when He caresses it with sweetness; but not torment itself by acts of impatience, when it finds itself left in desolation. This is a point which should be well attended to; for some foolish persons, finding themselves in a state of aridity, think that God has abandoned them; or, that the spiritual life was not for them; and so they leave off prayer, and lose all they have gained. There is no time better for exercising resignation to the will of God than the time of dryness. I am not saying that you will not suffer pain at seeing yourself bereft of the sensible presence of God, for it is impossible for a soul not to feel such pain as this. Neither can we refrain from lamentation, when our Redeemer Himself upon His Cross complained: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matt. xxvii. 46). But, in its sufferings, it should ever resign itself perfectly to the will of its Lord. This spiritual desolation and abandonment is what all the Saints have suffered. "What hardness of heart," said St. Bernard, "do I not experience! I no longer find any delight in reading, no longer any pleasure in meditation or in prayer."
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