Dom Prosper Gueranger gives an exhortation for our age November 26, 2013
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, Basics, Christendom, disaster, episcopate, error, family, General Catholic, persecution, sadness, scandals, secularism, self-serving, Society, the enemy.comments closed
I read the following several days ago, on the Feast of St. Cecilia. Due to other commitments, I was not able to post the below until now. I find in the below exactly the kind of exhortation we need for our day, for the crises that afflict the Church and the entire world. We need great Saints. Saints rarely, if ever, are made through some secret action of Grace, just suddenly emerging one day totally imbued with sanctity and virtue. No, Saints are made through suffering and denial, but also apostolic zeal for the salvation of souls and the conversion of the world. What the Church has been missing most of all these past several decades is that latter, critical part: zeal of souls.
God have mercy on us. Gueranger, via Ars Orandi (which saved me from having to type all this in!), below:
The Church recognizes and honours in St. Cæcilia three characteristics, which, united together, distinguish her among all the blessed in heaven, and are a source of grace and an example to men. These three characteristics are, virginity, apostolic zeal, and the superhuman courage which enabled her to bear torture and death. Such is the threefold teaching conveyed by this one Christian life.
In an age so blindly abandoned as ours to the worship of the senses, is it not time to protest, by the strong lessons of our faith, against the fascination which even the children of the promise can hardly resist? Never since the fall of the Roman Empire have morals, and with them the family and society, been so seriously threatened. [And this was written 150 years ago! Where are we today?! Have not Gueranger’s reasoned prophecy been borne out? The family hardly exists anymore!] For long years literature, the arts, the comforts of life, have had but one aim: to propose physical enjoyment as the only end of man’s destiny. Society already counts an immense number of members who live entirely a life of the senses. Alas for the day when it will expect to save itself by relying on their energy! The Roman empire thus attempted several times to shake off the yoke of invasions: it fell, never to rise again.
Yes, the family itself, the family especially, is menaced. It is time to think of defending itself against the legal recognition, or rather encouragement, of divorce. [Divorce! What would Gueranger think of the destruction and “redefinition” of marriage today?] It can do so by one means alone: by reforming and regenerating itself according to the law of God, and becoming once more serious and Christian. Let marriage, with its chaste consequences, be held in honour; let it cease to be an amusement or a speculation; let fatherhood and motherhood be no longer a calculation, but an austere duty: and soon, through the family, the city and the nation will resume their dignity and their vigour. [Duty is one word our culture is most repulsed by.]
But marriage cannot be restored to this high level unless men appreciate the superior element, without which human nature is an ignoble ruin: this heavenly element is continence. True, all are not called to embrace it in the absolute sense; but all must do honour to it, under pain of being “delivered up,” as the apostle expresses it, “to a reprobate sense.” It is continence that reveals to man the secret of his dignity, that braces his soul to every kind of devotedness, that purifies his heart and elevates his whole being. It is the culminating-point of moral beauty in the individual, and at the same time the great lever of human society. It is because the love of it became extinct that the ancient world fell to decay; but when the Son of the Virgin came on earth, He renewed and sanctioned this saving principle, and a new phase began in the destinies of the human race. [Concupiscence? It is difficult to distinguish between the behavior of most people today, especially the young, and rutting animals.]
The children of the Church, if they deserve the name, relish this doctrine, and are not astonished at it. The words of our Saviour and of His apostles have revealed all to them; and, at every page, the annals of the faith they profess set forth in action this fruitful virtue, of which all degrees of the Christian life, each in its measure, must partake. St. Cæcilia is one example among others offered to their admiration…….
The second characteristic offered for our consideration in the life of St. Cæcilia is that ardent zeal, of which she is one of the most admirable models; and we doubt not that here too is the lesson calculated to produce useful impressions. Insensibility to evil for which we are not personally responsible, or from which we are not likely to suffer, is one of the features of the period. [Indeed, it is. Sometimes from most surprising quarters. I have heard amazing counsels of late to just put our heads down and ignore the wreckage and collapse around us, to focus on our personal sanctification rather than be concerned with scandal and dangers to other souls.] We acknowledge that all is going to ruin, and we look on at the universal destruction without ever thinking of holding out a helping hand to save a brother from the wreck. Where should we now be, if the first Christians had had hearts as cold as ours? If they had not been filled with that immense pity, that inexhaustible love, which forbade them to despair of a world in the midst of which God placed them to be the “salt of the earth”? Each one felt himself accountable beyond measure for the gift he had received. Freeman or slave, known or unknown, every man was the object of the boundless devotedness for these hearts filled with the charity of Christ. One has but to read the Acts of the Apostles, and their Epistles, to learn on what an immense scale the apostolate was carried on in those early days; and the ardour of that zeal remained long uncooled. Hence the pagans used to say: “See how they love one another!” And how could they help loving one another? For in the order of faith they were fathers and children.
What maternal tenderness Cæcilia felt for the souls of her brethren, from the mere fact that she was a Christian! After her we might name a thousand others, in proof of the fact that the conquest of the world by Christianity and its deliverance from the yoke of pagan depravity are due to such acts of devotedness preformed in a thousand places at once, and at length producing universal renovation. Let us imitate, in something at least, these examples to which we owe so much. Let us waste less of our time and eloquence in bewailing evils which are only too real. Let each one of us set to work, and gain one of his brethren: and soon the number of the faithful will surpass that of unbelievers. Without doubt, this zeal is not extinct; it still works in some, and its fruits rejoice and console the Church; but why does it slumber so profoundly in so many hearts which God had prepared to be its active centers?
The cause is unhappily to be traced to that general coldness, produced by effeminacy, [I believe men of past ages would be stunned at the effeminacy evidenced by men, and the entire culture, today. Feminism has helped feminize men, while masculinating women. The rupture this has caused in the natural order has been catastrophic, and has played a huge role in the destruction of the family.] which might be taken by itself alone as the type of the age; but we must add thereto another sentiment, proceeding from the same source, which would suffice, if of long duration, to render the debasement of a nation incurable. This sentiment is fear; and it may be said to extend at present to its utmost limit. Men fear the loss of goods or position, fear the loss of comforts and ease, fear the loss of life. Needless to say, nothing can be more enervating, and consequently more dangerous to the world, than this humiliating preoccupation; but above all we must confess that it is anything but Christian. [Where are the stout hearts? Who is willing to suffer?] Have we forgotten that we are merely pilgrims on this earth? And has the hope of future good died out of our hearts? Cæcilia will teach us how to rid ourselves of this sentiment of fear. In her days life was less secure than now. There certainly was then some reason to fear; and yet Christians were so courageous that the powerful pagans often trembled at the words of their victims.
God knows what He has in store for us; but if fear does not soon make way for a sentiment more worthy of men of Christians, all particular existences will be swallowed up in the political crisis. Come what may, it is time to learn our history over again. The lesson will not be lost if we come to understand this much: had the first Christians feared, they would have betrayed us, for the word of life would never have come down to us; if we fear, we shall betray future generations, for we are expected to transmit to them the deposit we have received from our fathers. [Unfortunately, they did fear, but we are also quivering mounds of jello. We’re terrified of everything. “Oh, what will the media say?” “What will the protestants say?” “Don’t condemn islam, it’s the religion of peace, and they might blow us up if you do.” Etc]
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Much to contemplate, there. Blogging will continue to be slow or nonexistent until next week.
Dallas Carmel in need of your support November 26, 2013
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Grace, Interior Life, Latin Mass, religious, sanctity, Tradition, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
The good nuns of the Carmel of the Infant Jesus of Prague are in need of help. Their HVAC unit has conked out. It must be replaced, it is beyond repair. I don’t have a figure for the cost of the replacement, but it is likely to be high. Could you please consider, in your charity, sending a donation to these good nuns, who have so supported the traditional practice of the Faith in this Diocese (and whose prayers likely played a huge role in the miracle that is Mater Dei)? Any amount will help.
Donations can be sent to:
Discalced Carmelite Nuns
600 Flowers Avenue
Dallas, TX 75211
You can make your checks out to Dallas Carmelites
God bless you!
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