On the proper manifestation of zeal for souls September 30, 2015
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, catachesis, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Interior Life, reading, Saints, sanctity, Spiritual Warfare, the struggle for the Church, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
I haven’t posted anything from Divine Intimacy in ages, because a while back I got the impression that most readers perused Divine Intimacy at least as often as I did, and so the posting wasn’t helping anyone. BUUUUT……this little bit from yesterday is so timely and good I thought, what the heck, I’ll post it. There are sure to be some readers who don’t crack open Divine Intimacy daily (I highly recommend you do!). The section below is on zeal for souls, and how to properly practice that zeal (this is a partial re-post but also update of a post from 2012. I’m putting the material in a new post):
Zeal for souls finds its source in charity, and in the contemplation of of Christ crucified. His wounds, His Blood, the excruciating sufferings of His agony, all tell us how much God values souls, and how much He loves them. But this love is unrequited, and it seems that ungrateful men strive more and more to elude His action. It is this sad spectacle of all the ages which is renewed even today, as though men wished to insult Jesus and renew His Passion. “The world is on fire. Men try to condemn Christ once again, as it were, for they bring a thousand false witnesses against Him. They would raze his Church to the ground” (St. Teresa of Jesus, Way of Perfection, 1). If Teresa of Jesus could speak these words in her century which was troubled by the protestant heresy, how much more can we say it in ours, when the struggle against God and the Church has increased immeasurably, and has now spread over the entire world. [And even into the Church. Or perhaps especially into the Church. The bastions must be re-erected. But how is beyond me at this point. I fear it’s going to take a great fall and then perhaps they can be built again, from the rubble.]Happy shall we be if we can say with the Saint: “It breaks my heart to see so many souls traveling to perdition. I would the evil were not so great……..I felt that I would have laid down a thousand lives to save a single one of all the souls that were being lost.” (Way of Perfection, 1) But it is not a question of merely formulating desires; we must work, act, and suffer for the salvation of our fellow men.
St. John Chrysostom affirms: “Nothing is colder than a Christian who does not care about the salvation of others.” This coldness comes from a very languid charity. Let us kindle and revive our charity and it will inflame us with zeal for the salvation of souls. Then our apostolate will no longer be merely a duty which is imposed from without, one which we are obliged to attend to because of the obligation of our state in life, but it will be an exigency of love, an interior flame of charity which burns spontaneously. [Is this not what the traditional movement, overall, is about – zeal for souls?! Yes there are probably some motivated by less edifying motives, but I see in much of the traditional “critique,” if you will, of the crisis in the Church a profound love for souls AND Holy Mother Church. We desire to see souls taught properly again, for disciplines to be reinstated for the good of souls, and for our glorious Mother to return to her proper, exalted status. For me, anyway, but I think for many others, as well, being a traddie isn’t about just wanting things our way, it’s about what we know, what our sensus fidei tells us, is best for souls]
Devoting ourselves to the spiritual life does not mean shutting ourselves up in an ivory tower to enjoy God’s consolations undisturbed, with no concern for the welfare of others. [!!] It means concentrating all our powers on seeking God, working for our own sanctification in order to please God, and thus acquiring a power of action and impetration capable of obtaining the salvation of many souls. [INDEED!]
St. Teresa of Jesus says:
O my dear Lord, how much oppressed are You by those to whom You have shown so much 
good! It seems as though these traitors [me, for I speak boldly, but I am weak] would send You to the Cross again and that You would have nowhere to lay Your Head. My heart cannot conceive this without being sorely distressed!
O eternal Father! Surely all these scourgings and insults and grievous tortures will not be forgotten. how, then, my Creator, can a heart as loving as Yours endure that an act which was performed by Your son in order to please You the more and to obey Your commands (for He loved You most deeply, and You commanded Him to love us) should be treated as lightly as the heretics treat the most Holy Sacrament today, destroying His tabernacles and demolishing His churches? [Can you imagine how the great St. Teresa would see the Church today?!?! Today, the destruction comes not from without, but from within! It is to weep…..] Could it be that Your Son failed to do something to please You? Has He not fulfilled everything?….Has this most loving Lamb to pay once more whenever we relapse into sin? Permit it not, my sovereign Lord! Look not upon our sins, but upon our redemption by Thy most sacred Son, upon His merits and upon those of His glorious Mother and of all the saints and martyrs who have died for You!……
…..Behold my desires, my God, and the tears with which I beg this of You; forget my sins, for Your Name’s sake, and have pity on all these souls who are being lost, and help Your Church (The Way of Perfection, 1-3)
———–End Quote———–
“now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church” (Col i:24).
Could the Church have fallen into her present deplorable state had the faithful not fulfilled this edict from St. Paul, to complete the sufferings of Christ’s Sacrifice in our own flesh? Are we doing all we possibly can to “fill up those things that are wanting?” I sadly must declare that I am not. I could do much more. I pray that I will.
President of Ghana’s Bishop’s Conference: “Homosexuals go to hell” September 30, 2015
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Bible, catachesis, episcopate, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, manhood, paganism, Papa, sadness, scandals, secularism, self-serving, sickness, Society, SOD, Tradition, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
Well, we’re seeing a few examples of Christians willing to call a spade a spade today. First it was the Russian Orthodox Church calling the war against ISIS a holy war, and now the President of the Ghanian Catholic Bishop’s Conference says that practicing, unrepentant sodomites will go to hell:
Bishop Joseph Osei Bonsu of Konongo-Mampong in Ghana disagreed with the notion that aberrosexuals [German site Katholisches’ term for sodomites/those of perverse inclinations] could go to heaven. The President of the Ghanaian Bishops’ Conference, who is descended from the ancient royal family of the Ashanti, is of a quite different opinion.
Homosexuality, said Bishop Osei Bonsu was “not natural.” The assertion that some could already be born as homosexuals, was placed by the Ghanaian prelate in the realm of “political myth-making”. They had been invented to agitate for “gay rights” and to justify one’s actions. [Absolutely correct. To date, there is absolutely zero evidence for a genetic component to perverse proclivities, but the lie has been repeated often enough that the vast majority of the soft-headed people today accept it unquestioningly, as an article of faith. In fact, there is actually much more evidence that these inclinations stem almost entirely from environment, with poor relationships with their fathers being almost the constant factor in these afflicted souls]
“The Bible tells us in the Letter to the Romans, chapter one, clearly, that those who practice homosexuality and those who support gay marriage political, religious or not, will be guilty before God.”
“Gays, lesbians, liars and child molesters and others do not get into heaven, and the Bible says that very clearly. There is not a man who says, and not a bishop, that they do not go to heaven, but the Bible. It is the Holy Scriptures that says that they do not go to heaven,” said Msgr. Osei-Bonsu [Thus, the authority of this determination does not rest with men, but with God, who through inspired and inerrant Scripture hath revealed this unto us]
Just what does Romans 1 have to say about sodomy? It could hardly be more clear, and even more, seems to forecast a day when men, rejecting God’s law, would pretend that this perversion was actually normal and acceptable:
21 Because that, when they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, or give thanks: but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened:
22 For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
23 *And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God, into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of creeping things.
24 Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, *to uncleanness: to dishonour their own bodies among themselves.
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie: and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature.
27 And, in like manner the men also, leaving the natural use of the woman, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error. [St. Paul is referring directly to the Canaanites and their perverse practices in support of their satanic religion, but he is also speaking of all of those who give themselves over to such unnatural lusts]
28 And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge; God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient,
29 Being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, whisperers,
30 Detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Foolish, dissolute, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy.
32 Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they, who do such things, are worthy of death: and not only they who do them, but they also who consent to them that do them.
It is frightening the degree to which St. Paul describes our culture today. “They liked not to have God in their knowledge; [so] God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient [or natural]”……..”They, who do such things, are worthy of death: and not only they who do them, but they also who consent to them that do them.”
There’s a lot of folks in a lot of trouble, spiritually, and the truly frightening thing is, there is almost no one to tell them what danger their souls are in.
I just want to say one more brief thing: good for Bishop Bonsu for teaching the Truth with charity. But really, that’s not heroic virtue, that’s his minimum duty as a prelate in Holy Mother Church. The only reason it seems heroic is because so very few of his brother bishops are willing to stick their necks out and proclaim the truth in that manner. That is, so many other manifestly fail in their duties, it seems heroic when a bishop actually fulfills it. So pray like mad for our bishops, which I know so many of you already do. But apparently there is still much to be done.
+Liguori: “Jesus died for us; we ought to live and die for Him” September 30, 2015
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, catachesis, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Interior Life, manhood, Saints, sanctity, the struggle for the Church, Tradition, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
Saint Alphonsus Liguori on the proper gratitude we should have for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in all things, but especially in thankfulness for his Passion, death, and Resurrection. From The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, pp. 330-331:
Saint Augustine says that Jesus Christ, having first given His life for us, has bound us to give our life for Him; and, further, that when we go to the Eucharistic table to communicate, as we go to feed there upon the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, we ought also, in gratitude, to prepare for Him the offering of our blood and of our life, if there is need for us to give either of them for His glory.
Full of tenderness are the words of St. Francis de Sales on this text of St. Paul: The charity of Christ presseth us (II Cor v:14). To what does it press us? To love Him. But let us hear what St. Francis de Sales says: “When we know that Jesus has loved us even to death, and that the death of the Cross, is not this to feel our hearts constrained by a violence as great as it is full of delight?” And then he adds, “My Jesus gives Himself wholly to me, and I give myself wholly to Him; I will live and die upon His breast, and neither death nor life shall ever separate me from Him.” [How do we stay close to Jesus? By the practice of virtue and especially charity for God and for souls, but just as importantly, by accepting and practicing to the best of our ability ALL the Truth Christ has revealed through His Church. This latter part has been greatly forgotten over the past 50 years]
St. Peter, in order that we might remember to be ever grateful to our Savior, reminds us that we were not redeemed from the slavery of hell with gold or silver, but with the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, which He sacrificed for us, as an innocent Lamb, upon the altar of the Cross. Great, therefore, will be the punishment of those who are thankless for such a blessing, if they do not correspond to it. It is true that Jesus came to save all men who were lost (Lk xix:10); but it is also true what was said by the Venerable Simeon, when Mary presented the child Jesus in the temple: Behold, this child is placed for the fall and the rising again of many in Israel, and as a sign of contradiction which shall be spoken against (Lk ii:34). By the words for the rising again he expresses the salvation which all believers should receive from Jesus Christ, who by faith should rise from death to the life of Grace. But first, by the words he is set for the fall, he foretells that many shall fall into a greater ruin by their ingratitude to the Son of God, Who came into the world to become a contradiction to His enemies, as the following words imply: He shall be a sign which shall be spoken against; for Jesus Christ was set up as a sign, against which were hurled all the calumnies, the injuries, and the insults which the Jews devised against Him. And this sign is spoken against not only by the Jews of the present day, who deny Him to be the Messiah, but by those Christians who ungratefully return His love with offenses, and by neglecting His commands.
…….Wherefore, if we do not love Him, and obey His precepts, of which the first is that we should love Him, we are not only ungrateful, but unjust, and deserve a double punishment. The obligation of a slave rescued by Jesus Christ from the hands of the devil is to devote himself wholly to love and serve Him, whether he live or die.
————End Quote———-
Once again, the topic of mercy comes to mind. There are plainly efforts afoot from the highest authorities in the Church to propagate a false concept of mercy that puts Doctrine and justice in conflict with charity/mercy. As we see from the above, however, it is impossible to show proper gratitude for God if we do not accept All that He has told us, including those things which are deeply unpopular and countercultural today. At least, that’s how a great Saint, perhaps the greatest expert on moral doctrine in the history of the Church, viewed things. It is not that he was wrong, or overly zealous, nor that his exegesis is somehow dated and out of place, but that many have fallen under the dread influence of modernist indifferentism and general weakness of Faith. And for those, St. Alphonsus predicts a dire end, being among those Christians who return Christ’s love with offenses by neglecting His commands.
Not an enviable state. They definitely need many prayers.
Quick reminder: Wyoming Catholic College presentation in Irving Thursday 10/01/15 September 30, 2015
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, catachesis, Christendom, Dallas Diocese, family, General Catholic, Interior Life, Latin Mass, Society, Tradition.comments closed
Just wanted to give a quick reminder that an administrator from Wyoming Catholic College will be on hand at Mater Dei parish in Irving, TX this Thursday October 1 at 7:15 pm (or immediately after the 6:30 pm Mass). Trevor Lontine, alumnus and admissions counselor at WCC will be on hand to answer your questions about what WCC has to offer you or your children. WCC is probably one of the least expensive, if not the least expensive, faithful Catholic colleges around. I don’t know that they are explicitly traditional, yet, but with Dr. Peter Kwasneiwski one of their most prominent faculty, the traditional practice of the Faith is growing there.
So come check it out! You don’t have to be affiliated with Mater Dei in any way to attend.
Slick flyer —–>>>>> Mater Dei TX Poster
Russia Strikes in Syria September 30, 2015
Posted by Tantumblogo in Christendom, Ecumenism, General Catholic, persecution, Society, technology, the enemy.comments closed
The Russian Parliament today gave President Vladimir Putin approval to begin military operations in Syria. Operations began almost immediately thereafter. Operations appear limited to airstrikes at present, with a strong ground presence around the airbases housing several types of Russian fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. Russian forces gave any US forces that might be in their area of operations 1 hour notice to clear out before attacks began. Since the US and other nations have been engaged in a very low-intensity air campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, it remains to be seen how operations with Russian forces can be coordinated, or whether they will, at all (big potential for problems, there, but I imagine Obama will just surrender, again, and force ROE on US forces that keep them hundreds of miles from anywhere Russians might be operating).
Note this – Russian bombing will not be the extremely precise, minimum collateral damage that the US and its “coalition partners” have been practicing. Many of these attacks have amounted to pinpricks with many high-value targets excluded due to ostensible fear of causing “civilian” casualties (or perhaps because Obama really doesn’t want to fight his co-religionists very hard). Russia won’t do that, for one thing, they have very few and very poor precision guided munitions, secondly, their aircraft don’t carry advanced sensors to aim precisely, and thirdly, they rarely care about civilian casualties. In the Chechnyan War, in Georgia, they frequently made use of carpet bombing by Tu-22M3 bombers. None are deployed to Syria, but they don’t need to be – they can easily reach Syria from Crimean bases recently annexed, involuntarily, from the Ukraine.
In an interesting development, the Russian Orthodox Church has decreed the Russian intervention in Syria a “holy war” and indicated its full support. Nah, not a bit of nationalism in Orthodoxy! Nevertheless, it’s nice to see that some Christians understand the existential nature of the fight against islam and use a bit of militant terminology:
The Russian Orthodox Church has backed the country’s parliamentary decision to give President Vladimir Putin permission to use military force in Syria, saying the fight against terrorism is a “holy war”.
The head of Synodal department for church and society, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, told journalists on 30 September that the decision from the upper chamber of parliament, the Federation Council, to authorise air strikes in Syria was “consistent with international law, the mentality of our people and the role that our country has always played in the Middle East”, according to Interfax news agency.
He added that Russia cannot be indifferent while Christians and other minority groups are being destroyed in the region. [Well, they’ve been being wiped out for years, so don’t paint yourself as too much the hero] The interreligious council of Russia released a statement in support of military operations against terrorism in the Middle East. “The fight against terrorism is a holy struggle and today our country is perhaps the most active force in the world to combat terrorism,” the priest said.
None of the preening moralism of “interreligious dialogue” from the Russian Orthodox. It’d be nice to see such a muscular faith from our own
Blessing Russian jets headed to Syria
leadership occasionally.
It should be noted that Syrian President Assad – who controls perhaps 1/4 of the main populated areas of his country now – requested this intervention. He has been gradually losing this war for years, especially since ISIS became involved. This is really a last ditch effort to keep his regime alive – which is something I hope happens because if ISIS takes over, it will be curtains for Christians in a land where millions have lived for thousands of years.
While Russia may be covering their actions in a cloak of high morality, there are also of course geo-political reasons for the intervention. Syria is Russia’s last client state in the western Mideast. Aside from Iran, which is very much an independent actor, they are their only remaining client. Naval bases in northern Syria are their only access point in the entire Mediterranean now, since Qaddafi fell. So they have strong reasons to see the regime survive.
But I don’t think airstrikes alone are going to do it. Assad has lost so much territory and support they’re going to have to intervene on the ground and in large numbers in order to make a substantial difference. Not initially, but the inevitable logic of this kind of open-ended commitment is to gradually get sucked in more and more. If Russian bases fall under mortar or rocket attack, for instance, there will be a great temptation to expand their security perimeter by several miles. That will mean contact with the enemy, which will in turn create pressure for even more ground forces and even further contact. The generals will be screaming for more intervention if all this comes about. And that will mean large losses, and the potential exposure of Russian kit as being well below Western standard yet again (which really kills Russian arm sales overseas, one of their prime means of funding procurement for their own armed forces at home – it’s the same model the French use). It will take enormous strength on Putin’s part not to get gradually sucked in – unless, of course, he’s planned that all along. But counter-insurgencies are a nightmare to fight, as both Russia and the US have found out repeatedly over the years, take a long commitment and a willingness to take high losses. Is that commitment there?
Are the Russian people in favor of this intervention? Western media say no, pointing to some polling data that ostensibly shows broad Russian opposition to involvement in Syria. Russian people have generally been supportive of Putin’s various escapades in Chechnya, Georgia, and the Ukraine. But further afield?
Fox News has published more details on its claim that Russia has demanded that American warplanes exit Syrian airspace immediately.
Citing a senior U.S. official, the network reports that Russian diplomats “sent an official demarche ordering US planes out of Syria, adding that Russian fighter jets were now flying over Syrian territory”
US military sources told Fox News that US planes would not comply with the Russian demand:
There is nothing to indicate that we are changing operations over Syria
We have had every indication in recent weeks that [the Russians] were going to do something given the build-up
Airspace de-confliction in a combat area can be a b—h. Generally it requires positive radar coverage of the area (which AWACS can provide, but do we have enough, and are they flying over Syria?). The Russians will probably get positive radar control from the remaining Syrian government ground stations. But without an overall plan and coordination, unfortunate accidents could certainly happen.
And what would it be like if armed US and Russian warplanes happen upon each other? Will we finally get to see how much better the F-22 is than the Su-30MK?
One final thought – is ramping up the scale of the Mideast conflagration an attempt by Putin to drive oil prices, upon which the Russian economy is utterly dependent, up, and a great deal?
IMPORTANT: Adopt a Synod Father! September 30, 2015
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, different religion, episcopate, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Papa, Sacraments, scandals, secularism, self-serving, Society, SOD, Spiritual Warfare, the struggle for the Church.comments closed
Someone has set up a website that will, upon request, assign anyone who requests it a Synod father to pray for. With the Ordinary Synod on the Family starting this Sunday, time is of the essence. The way it works is that you will go to the website and click on a link that launches an e-mail for you to request a father to pray for. They then send you the name and you can offer a Novena or whatever prayer you feel is appropriate for the circumstance.
I hope they send me Cardinal Kasper or Daneels. They won’t know what hit them!
Look, this whole crisis afflicting the Church certainly has its human element and we spend a lot of time dealing with that, but our main battle remains with the principalities and powers that have influenced the minds of many in the Church in a most horrifying way. In terms of human influence or natural means to change the direction the leadership of the Church has taken since March 2013, I don’t think we laity have many effective means of intervention. But in the spiritual realm we can exercise great power. I have been trying to ramp up my own efforts in that regard with perpetual Novenas and other prayers to change the hearts and minds of so many of our leaders, or, failing that, to at least prevent them by some supernatural means from doing something irretrievably destructive.
So! I pray you will consider praying for one Synod father in particular. It’s the best response we have at this point. Perhaps we can move the God of surprises to really shock the revolutionaries in the Church!
Again, you can sign up here.
IT’S V-G DAY! Pope Francis proclaims it’s ok for government employees to say no to pseudo-sodo-marriages! September 29, 2015
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, different religion, episcopate, foolishness, General Catholic, Papa, persecution, pr stunts, sadness, scandals, silliness, Society, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
A little late, one might think. While he had numerous golden opportunities and the most high-profile platforms available, Pope Francis said little or nothing about pseudo-sodo-marriage or the rising persecution in this country, save for some bland, nebulous statements regarding religious liberty (which could have been the erroneous secular understanding of same, for all we know). But on the flight back from North America to Rome sweet Rome, Pope Francis finally gave a sterling, powerful, full-throated defense of those who, in conscience, simply cannot go along with the sexular pagan agenda and specifically, perform government functions that require them to pretend that two people of the same sex can be married. Hallelujah! We’re saved:
On the flight back to Rome, he was asked if he supported individuals, including government officials, who refuse to abide by some laws, such as issuing marriage licenses to gays.
“Conscientious objection must enter into every juridical structure because it is a right,” Francis said…..
“I can’t have in mind all cases that can exist about conscientious objection but, yes, I can say that conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right,” he said, speaking in Italian.
“And if someone does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right,” he added.
Francis said conscientious objection had to be respected in legal structures. “Otherwise we would end up in a situation where we select what is a right, saying: ‘This right has merit, this one does not.'”
WOW! Couldn’t be clearer, could it?!? In fact, I’m quite certain this is the first whopping step that will see the steady roll back – nay, complete crushing – of the forces of sodomy in the world at large! I mean what possible rejoinder could there be to “Conscientious objection must enter into every juridical structure” and “And if someone does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right.” I understand ARCUS and New Ways Ministry are considering shutting down after this clear, unequivocal condemnation of sodomy and bold assertion of the Truth and rights of the Church as revealed by God Almighty. Heck, they’ve probably closed up shop already.
The Pope just utterly blew away the moral relativism of the satanic left by pointing it out to them in the last sentence. I’m sure they are even now in sackcloth and ashes, bewailing the fact that their “might makes right” modus operandi has now been exposed for all the world to see.
OK……I’m being a bit smart. But sorry, this is way too little and way too late. Instead of pointing to conscientious objection, Pope Francis could have just as easily, and much more powerfully, said that objection to pseudo-sodo-marriage and all the rest is an absolute right because it is founded in the Truth, while this fake marriage and all the other atrocities are evil and morally wrong. But instead he basically begged permission for some to be excused from the sexular pagan zeitgeist. It is rather nice that he at least recognizes that what the sexular left proposes is a structure entirely based on marxist power dynamics (power = right/morality), but his language is again so nebulous and weak that a) the point evades most people and b) it fails to condemn it in the stark terms demanded by the severity of the situation.
Context also comes into play. The same words said in front of Congress would have had a lot more impact than on the flight home to Rome, almost while running away, as it were. Throughout the 10 day visit to both the US and Cuba, Pope Francis had any number of golden opportunities to really strike blows in favor of the Church, the Truth, and the good of souls, but, a few relatively innocuous exceptions aside, singularly failed to do so. He seemed much more interested in stressing his political program (which happens to align with the desires of the self-anointed, false* elite in both countries) and in not making any serious waves against the global powers that be. It was quite the opposite of visits from PBXVI and PSJPII, both of whom, at least periodically, would afflict the powerful of the world. But I don’t think too many are surprised by this at this point.
And, if you really didn’t get it V-G = Victory over Gay, like V-J for Victory over Japan
* – I have no animus against an elite in any society, properly understood and construed. I wouldn’t say I’m a monarchist or a devotee of an aristocratic system, per se’, but I do believe there is a proper role for an elite in any society, be it the Church, a locality, a nation, or the world. But such elites must be dedicated, and this is critical, to the assertion of the common good, which can only be rightly done in concert with revealed Truth, that is, the Doctrine of the Faith. The vast majority of self-anointed elites today – and they do anoint themselves, whether it be by riches, media presence, media stardom, or academic credentials – not only do very little for the common good (their self-promoting PR stunts aside), but work for the positive derangement of the moral order and the promotion of what is best for souls. They are, by and large, thoroughgoing promoters of the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and are not at all deserving of our respect or admiration, nor their self-anointed roles as society’s “betters” and arbiters of cultural standards.
“Papalotry” finding strange new converts September 29, 2015
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, catachesis, different religion, episcopate, error, foolishness, General Catholic, history, Papa, Revolution, secularism, self-serving, SOD, the struggle for the Church.comments closed
Cardinal Daneels, Msgr. Pinto, Cardinal Kasper, and others who so stridently opposed the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, even at times rejecting his Magisterial statements (or at least casting doubt on them), are suddenly emerging as great proponents of total, absolute obedience to the Holy See. Father John Hunwicke notes the dichotomy and, even more, the estrangement of hyper-montanism from the right practice of the Faith:
One Pinto, Dean of the Roman Rota, has apparently claimed that “The Jubilee Year of Mercy expects this sign of humble obedience (on the part of the Church’s shepherds) to the Spirit who speaks to them through Francis”.
Oh dear. Here we go again. That dreadful old 1860s and 1960s-style maximalising view of the Papacy once more … against which both Newman and Ratzinger in turn, in their respective contexts, wrote so sensibly……..
I find it hard to reconcile Pinto’s idiotic teaching with the wise words of the First Vatican Council, which so admirably limited the role of the Roman Pontiff thus: “The Holy Spirit was not promised to the Successors of Peter so that by His revelation they might make new teaching public, but so that, by His assistence, they might devoutly guard and faithfully set forth the revelation handed down through the Apostles; i.e. the Deposit of Faith”.
Believe it or not, I first formally subscribed the dogmas of Vatican I half a century ago, when I was an uppity little fellow in my mid-teens, barely out of short trousers. I have no intention of abandoning those sound teachings now, and least of all at the behest of some canonist of whom (happily) I know nothing. Indeed, a life-time of living with this subject has left me never more convinced of the correctness of Pastor aeternus than I am now. What a shame that it is now so unfashionable in the upper echelons of the Vatican itself.
Vox Cantoris has more:
Why do people continue to ascribe more power to the Pope and more authority than he has?……
The First Vatican Council prescribed the Infallibility of the Pope. We can’t tell Protestants what to think but for heaven’s sake, can Catholics at least come to understand that the Infallibility of the Pope is a control on his power not an absolute grant of it?
“The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.”
Our dear Benedict XVI said the above during his homily as he took the Chair at the Lateran as Bishop of Rome. He also said in response on Bavarian television that the Holy Spirit picks the Pope:
“I would not say so, in the sense that the Holy Spirit picks out the Pope. … I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus the Spirit’s role should be understood in a much more elastic sense, not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote. Probably the only assurance he offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined. There are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit obviously would not have picked!“
Indeed, if the Holy Spirit “picks” the Pope, then free will is something that can be conditionally lifted? I think a knowledge of the history of the papacy is the strongest argument against both the idea that the Holy Spirit somehow invades the minds and souls of the cardinal-electors and guides their hands to arrive at a certain, pre-determined choice. I think the above can occur, if there happens to be a particularly holy group of cardinals who cooperate with grace, but God doesn’t force their hand. Sometimes, there can be extraordinary interventions, such as that by Emperor Franz Josef of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the conclave of 1903 that resulted in the election of Pope St. Pius X that could be interpreted as acts of God, too. But again, just because something can happen, doesn’t mean it always does.
I was kind of shocked in the wake of the election of Pope Francis when a traditional priest or two opined that his election was a clear expression of the Holy Ghost and we had better just go along with this revelation. I actually asked one of them whether and how free will gets trumped in such cases and I got no response.
I personally think – and I hope this isn’t some latent protestantism talking – that the tendency towards ultramontanism run amok is one of the most serious problems that has faced the Church in the past century-plus. I think it’s unbalanced the Church and led to these wild swings from one pontificate to the next. But the danger in that is arrogating to ourselves who meets sufficient standard of adherence to that Doctrine. Even though I recognize the danger, I feel compelled to judge a pontiff’s actions by that standard, and pray fervently that I am doing so not in accordance with my own will, but in accord with revelation as I best understand it.
Of course, the signal achievement of the modernists is the mass experience of exactly this kind of mass confusion and division. The devil works in the gray areas, and all of that.
Breaking: Cardinal Burke brought back into Curia by Pope Francis September 29, 2015
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, episcopate, General Catholic, Papa, Tradition, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
Not many details, yet, only that Cardinal Burke has been appointed to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, along with Cardinal Carlo Caffara, another of the more faithful princes of the Church:
The Vatican announced today that Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, metropolitan archbishop of Bologna, and Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, as members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
Maybe giving Cardinal Burke a bunch of free time was found to not be such a good thing after all? Did his removal from the Roman Rota have anything to do with the “reform” of the annulment process? Is this all part of some Machiavellian plot, or is it now certain proof that every critic of Pope Francis has been horribly uncharitable and wrong, wrong, wrong? Is this an answer to prayers, or could it be a response to increasing “conservative” concern/criticism of this pontificate?
I guess the main question is whether this act is truly significant or just part of the regular shuffling of curial cardinals? Do you think it has some broader meaning?
I’m just glad to see Cardinal Burke “back,” as it were. I pray his presence in a non-ceremonial office can exert substantial positive influence on his brother cardinals and the Vatican bureaucracy, at large.
UPDATE: Grr. First update lost. A bit more information – or perhaps it is opinion – from the German site Katholisches via Eponymous Flower:
Congregation is not the same as Congregation. Each has its tasks, which have some weighty influence on the management of world church than others. The reassignment from one congregation to another, as in the case of Cardinal Burke, can therefore be seen as diesempowering, while maintaining integration.
I think that’s true. Congregation for the Causes of the Saints is a sure step up from the Order of Malta but it is not an organization involved much in the day to day administration of the Church. It’s important, to be sure, but not nearly so influential as the Apostolic Signatura (Burke’s former post), the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith or the Congregation for Divine Worship. It’s nice to see, to be sure, but will keep Burke out of the main decision-making avenues of Church administration. He’s still very much sidelined.
Could this be a case of keeping one’s enemies relatively close?
The man is back
Miraculous story of Our Lady’s intercession September 29, 2015
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, history, Holy suffering, manhood, reading, Saints, sanctity, Tradition, true leadership, Victory, Virtue.comments closed
From the biography of Saint Rose of Lima by Sister Mary Alphonsus O.SS.R., a tale of men saved from desperate straits by their devotion to Our Lady (all images taken from New Liturgical Movement. They show the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary/Convent of Santo Domingo in Lima) :
In November, 1605, a strange procession made its way from the city gate of Lima, Peru to the Calle de Santo Domingo, passing the home of Rose Flores and entering the Church of St. Dominic where our Saint so often prayed. It was led by a tall man with a well nourished look. He was clad in rough animal skins; his beard was long and his hair streamed behind him as he walked. He carried a cross formed of two timber beams, coarse and unplaned. Behind him walked his ten followers dressed in the same way, their skin blackened by exposure to the sun. Unlike thier leader, they were emaciated and showed signs of great fatigue. They had come on foot from Callao [the major port serving Lima, perhaps 20 miles away at that time] to thank Our Lady of the Rosary for their deliverance from a deserted island.
Who were these Robinson Crusoes and how did they find themselves stranded? They were passengers from a ship which had hit calm weather and, 
with provisions almost depleted, had been carried to an island. The eleven men had offered to go ashore to search for food and water. Armed with a few weapons, they had braved the wild, only to find that the island contained nothing but jungle. There were a few berries and fruit trees, but no other food.
The adventurers cut their way back to the shore to report their findings, only to see the ship disappearing in the distance. The wind had shifted as soon as they went ashore and the captain had put out from the island. There were abandoned.
For two years they eked out a painful existence on the island, living in constant danger of death. Besides the savage beasts, they had hunger and storm and sun as their tormentors. They were devoured by insects, maddened by monotony and inaction. Only one among them never lost hope. This was the corpulent man with the streaming locks who now led their procession. He was Martin Barravenido, a native of Fuente del Maestre in Extremadura [a hard land that trained many hard men, like Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro] . A man of firm faith and practical wisdom, he had refused to give up his hold on life. He was devoted to Mary and her Rosary; in this he put his trust. If he continued to pray for deliverance, she would not fail him.
Little by little, he had restored the spirits of most of his companions. On that deserted island they knelt each day and prayed before a crude wooden 
cross which Barravenido had made. At last, one joyful day as they peered at the horizon, they saw the sails of a ship. It sighted their signals and approached them rapidly. In delirious jubilation they shouted and waved. But one of them was on his knees, weeping his thanks to Our Lady. It was the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary, 1605.
At Barravenido’s urging the men had made a vow. If Our Lady delivered them, they would make a pilgrimage of thanksgiving to her chapel of the Rosary in St. Dominic’s Church, Lima. It was this vow that they now fulfilled as they plodded to Lima from Callao. Exhausted as they were by two years of frightful malnutrition, they had wished to make this gesture of gratitude to Mary.
That their pilgrimage would draw all eyes upon them had been farthest from their minds. But even at the seaport they saw that such was the case. 
People had flocked from Lima to welcome them. As they passed, people knelt and recited the Rosary with tears of devotion. It was as good as a mission. All Lima and Callao seemed to press them into St. Dominic’s; what had been meant as a private visit by eleven men had become a fiesta. Thousands of rosaries were recited that day before the miraculous statue. Our Lady and the Infant Jesus showered graces on their clients; the confessionals were full and long lines of penitents waited to be absolved.
Rose, who had prepared the altar of Our Lady that morning with special love, felt an inexpressible joy as she joined the throng in prayer in the chapel which was her charge…….
On the following day Rose met Martin Barravenido when he came again to Our Lady’s chapel of the Rosary. She was just finishing her sacristy work when Brother Martin de Porres [Can you imagine having not one, but two such Saints in a city at the same time?!? Lima had about 22,000 people at this time. But it was more than two. The Archbishop of Lima of that time, Toribio de Mogrovejo, is also canonized. Such was the faith of many Spaniards during that heroic age.] brought him to meet her. With accents rich in emotion, the grateful man retold his story…….
“And now, what do you think I should do to repay my debts of thanks for this favor?” he asked Rose.
“I do not know,” she answered softly. Then her eyes flashed. “A whole lifetime would not be enough!” she added with feeling.
“That is what I have been thinking,” he said. “And Brother Martin is of the same opinion. May I ask your prayers for my intention?”……..
………Rose said the promised prayers and practiced patience, but she did not have to wait long to learn their issue. Only three weeks later the middle-aged Barravenido had taken his place among the lay brother novices at Holy Rosary. It was a courageous act, one worthy of so generous a soul. Through the years of his postulancy and novitiate Rose saw him seldom, but as soon as he was professed he was made porter of the convent with Brother Martin. It was a strange coincidence that threw them together in their work, for both were “fray Martin.” He and Martin de Porres became fast friends. His humble, simple piety won the admiration of Martin de Porres, who often related to Rose conversations which he had had with Barravenido.
————-End Quote———–
So there is no particular hook to end this story. We don’t know the fate of the other 10 men. We can presume that Martin Barravenido died in the odor of sanctity if he was so highly regarded by Saint Martin de Porres. The saving of those men from such desperate straits seems a clear miracle of Our Lady’s intercession to me. I think that is sufficient story in and of itself, as was the outpouring of Grace into the lives of the people of Lima who shared in that miraculous event.
I think the point is this: devotion to Our Lady, piety, striving for sanctity are always rewarded by God. Not always so visibly as in this case, but God gives us richly, sometimes in ways we don’t expect or even want. I think this, also: the man who led the prayers that resulted in the rescue gave a proper thanksgiving in devoting his life even more to God and His Church than he had previously. A reminder there for us to perhaps be even more thankful to God for all the myriad benefits and graces He bestows on us so constantly, and which we (if you are anything like me) so often fail to recognize. It is easy to become so focused on the crisis in the Church and the (generally) small problems of our lives that we lose sight of the big picture of God’s great largess to us his fallen creatures. Pious examples like this help remind me to always have great thanks in my heart to God for our Church, my conversion, my family, and so much else.
I pray you found the story edifying!
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