Pope Francis Celebrated Lampedusa Mass – by Invitation Only
Francis celebrated an exclusive “Mass for migrants” in St. Peter’s Basilica on July 8 in commemoration of his journey to the Italian island Lampedusa, six years ago. Lampedusa is a destination point …More
Francis celebrated an exclusive “Mass for migrants” in St. Peter’s Basilica on July 8 in commemoration of his journey to the Italian island Lampedusa, six years ago.
Lampedusa is a destination point of human traffickers coming from Libya.
The Mass was by invitation only in order to avoid embarrassing pictures of empty pews, as promoting mass-immigration and human trafficking is mostly a private obsession of Francis.
Only 250 people, immigrants and agents of the immigration business, where present in Saint Peter’s church. The Ferula (picture) used by Francis was made from parts of boat used by traffickers. It looked like a piece of firewood.
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Lampedusa is a destination point of human traffickers coming from Libya.
The Mass was by invitation only in order to avoid embarrassing pictures of empty pews, as promoting mass-immigration and human trafficking is mostly a private obsession of Francis.
Only 250 people, immigrants and agents of the immigration business, where present in Saint Peter’s church. The Ferula (picture) used by Francis was made from parts of boat used by traffickers. It looked like a piece of firewood.
#newsQrtsdrbbzv
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Father Vaughn Treco
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge[Ezekiel 18:2].
November 25, 2018
Friends:
If you have been tracking the news concerning the current crisis within the Church, the past few months have likely been the occasion of
•Disappointment, disgust and anger and
•perhaps you have been tempted to resentment;
•or have experienced an ever …More
Father Vaughn Treco
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge[Ezekiel 18:2].
November 25, 2018
Friends:
If you have been tracking the news concerning the current crisis within the Church, the past few months have likely been the occasion of
•Disappointment, disgust and anger and
•perhaps you have been tempted to resentment;
•or have experienced an ever deepening sadness.
And, I am sure that you must have realized that… the recent months have been particularly difficult for me...
•First as a MAN and as a FATHER
•Then, as a CHRISTIAN and as a CATHOLIC PRIEST
•And, lastly, as the PASTOR into whose care you have been ENTRUSTED.
IF YOU HAVE OFFERED PRAYERS to God for my spiritual well-being during this time, I want to thank you! AND — IN THE WORDS of Saint Paul — I want to beg that you continue your prayers on my behalf...
AND FOR THOSE OTHER PRIESTS who strive daily to be faithful to our holy vocation:
[Pray for] your [priests]... For they watch as being to render an account of your souls; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief. .. For we trust we have a good conscience, being willing to behave ourselves well in all things. [Hebrews 13:17-18]
DURING THIS PERIOD, my mind has been given much to the question about how I might best care for you...
•AND GUIDE YOU through these troubling times when — as Pope Benedict XVI said the Barque of Peter has “taken on so much water as to be on the verge of capsizing.”
•In the past few weeks, I have prayed much for you, and I have tried to offer — in fits and starts — based upon the Sacred Scriptures and our Holy Tradition, pointers towards A SAFE WAY FORWARD...
•MOST OF THESE HINTS and suggestions have been directed toward our personal piety...
•AND HAVE CONSISTED LARGELY in exhortations to diligence in our mutual efforts to know, love and serve God in this life...
•SO THAT YOU and I might together one day enjoy the everlasting beatitude of the Blessed Trinity in the next!
TODAY, HOWEVER, I wish to set before you a deeper understanding of the crisis that now engulfs Holy Mother Church and to propose a way forward in the months and years that lay before us!
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.[Ezekiel 18:2]
IN ORDER TO PROPERLY UNDERSTAND the current crisis in the Church it is necessary that we...
FIRST KNOW and APPRECIATE THE SPIRIT OF CATHOLICISM...
And know and appreciate what some have called the “SPIRIT” of the SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL...
AND THE RELATIONSHIP that exists between these Spirits!
FUNDAMENTAL TO THE ETHOS and CULTURE of the Catholic Church is the fact it is set in opposition to the world!
If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember my word that I said to you: The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you...He that hateth me, hateth my Father also. [John 15:18-20,23]
FUNDAMENTAL TO THE ETHOS and CULTURE of the Second Vatican Council is an embrace of the world!
Friends: At a time when the Church and the world was being assaulted by Socialist-Communism — one of the most dangerous ideologies in the history of mankind — Pope John XXIII declared that the Church would take a new course.
To the Conciliar Fathers, he said:
In these days, which mark the beginning of this Second Vatican Council, it is more obvious than ever before that the Lord's truth is indeed eternal. Human ideologies change. Successive generations give rise to varying errors, and these often vanish as quickly as they came, like mist before the sun. The Church has always opposed these errors, and often condemned them with the utmost severity.
Today, however, Christ's Bride prefers the balm of mercy to the arm of severity. She believes that, present needs are best served by explaining more fully the purport of her doctrines, rather than by publishing condemnations.
Then, a little more than three years later, on December 7, 1965, in his address to the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI, as he brought the Council to a close, said that
“this council, which exposed itself to human judgment, insisted very much more upon this pleasant side of man, rather than on his unpleasant one. Its attitude was very much and deliberately optimistic. A wave of affection and admiration flowed from the council over the modern world of humanity.”
Then, Pope Paul VI added:
“Instead of depressing diagnoses, encouraging remedies; instead of direful prognostics, messages of trust issued from the council to the present-day world.”
“The modern world's values were not only respected but honored, its efforts approved, its aspirations purified and blessed.”
Although it is exceedingly painful to say, I have come to the realization that...
•It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that this “spirit” of the Council, with its opening to the so-called “modern world” in ambiguous texts unlike any that any previous Council had ever adopted, has caused a rupture within the Church...
•Recognizing the problem with the Council’s apparent departure from Catholic tradition, Pope Benedict XVI made a valiant effort to propose what he called a Hermeneutic of Continuity or Reform.
•THAT IS, a way of interpreting the teachings of the Second Vatican Council so that they can be embraced together with the infallible teachings of the councils and Popes which came before...
•At this point, the thoughtful Catholic should ask himself: Why should it be necessary to try to reconcile the teaching of one Council with all other councils that came before it?
This had never happened before in the history of the Church!
I have come to the realization that this effort can no longer be made with integrity!
And this conclusion ought not to surprise me, you or anyone else:
•For Pope John XIII said at the opening of the Council... and
•Pope Paul VI reminded everyone as the Council he brought to a close...
•That it was their express will to unleash a new Spirit into the Church by way of the Council...
•A spirit which they each affirmed in their own way would be unlike the Spirit of Catholicism which had preceded it!
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.[Ezekiel 18:2]
Jesus came and said to them,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; And behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”[Matthew 28:18-20]
DEAR FRIENDS:
THE BALTIMORE CATECHISM, which was used to form the minds, hearts and wills of Catholics in the United States of America and of English-speaking Catholics in many other countries, offers the following questions regarding the nature, purpose and structure of the Catholic Church:
Why did Jesus Christ found the Church? [BC-Q: 138]
•Jesus Christ founded the Church to bring ALL MEN to ETERNAL SALVATION.
How is the Church enabled to lead men to salvation? [BC-Q: 139]
•The Church is enabled to lead men to salvation by the INDWELLING of the Holy Ghost, who gives it life.
Who sent the Holy Ghost to dwell in the Church? [BC-Q: 142]
•God the Father and God the Son sent the Holy Ghost to dwell in the Church.
What does the indwelling of the Holy Ghost enable the Church to do? [BC-Q: 143]
•The indwelling of the HOLY GHOST enables the Church to TEACH, to SANCTIFY, and to RULE the faithful in the name of Christ.
To whom did Christ give the power to TEACH, to SANCTIFY, and to RULE the members of His Church? [BC-Q: 145]
•Christ gave the power to teach, to sanctify, and to rule the members of His Church to the apostles, the first bishops of the Church.
Did Christ give SPECIAL POWER in His Church to any one of the apostles? [BC-Q: 147]
•Christ gave SPECIAL POWER in His Church to Saint Peter by making him the head of the apostles and the CHIEF TEACHER and RULER of the entire Church.
FRIENDS:
The Catholic Church exists for a PARTICULAR MISSION!
The Catholic Church was founded by Christ for the SALVATION OF SOULS.
The Catholic Church exists to CALL ALL MEN
•To repent of sin,
•To abandon their false gods, and
•To offer meet and right worship to the only God, the Living and the True;
The Catholic Church exists to raise men — of every tongue and tribe and nation — to life through the Sacrament of Baptism:
•And so make them individually very members incorporate of the Mystical Body of Christ;
The Catholic Church exists to nourish the Divine Life given in Baptism through the Sacraments entrusted to Her alone:
•So that all those baptized into Her might live in, with and through Jesus Christ...
•And so — both in this life and that which is to come — share in the Life of the Blessed Trinity;
Put another way: The Catholic Church exists to bring all men and every nation under the Kingship of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Universe!
BUT FRIENDS:
In the face of our Lord’s clear teaching regarding the mission of the Church, the Conciliar Popes, the Successors of Peter have — in a way — repeated Peter’s Three-Fold Denial of Jesus Christ!
And Jesus said: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. [John 14:27]
FIRST, in Paul VI, Peter said the United Nations, not the Catholic Church, has the mission of bringing peace to the world!
On the 4th of October 1965, Pope Paul VI, speaking to and about a merely human organization, the United Nations, at it’s General Assembly, the pontiff declared that it was to them that the Church was entrusting world peace to it!
On that occasion Pope Paul VI said:
“Permit us to say that we have a message, and a happy one, to hand over to each one of you Our message is meant to be first of all a solemn moral ratification of this lofty Institution, and it comes from our experience of history. It is as an “expert on humanity” that we bring this Organization the support and approval of our recent predecessors, that of the Catholic hierarchy, and our own, convinced as we are that this Organization represents the obligatory path of modern civilization and world peace.”
However, only forty years earlier, Pope Pius XI, observing the terrible state of the world between the two World Wars, and in line with what the Church has always taught about her mission, said the following in his encyclical Ubi Arcano Dei:
“The only remedy for such state of affairs is the peace of Christ since the peace of Christ is the peace of God, which could not exist if it did not enjoin respect for law, order, and the rights of authority…. “
He taught that Christ’s doctrines which pertain to the peace of the world include
“the necessity and value of the spiritual life, on the dignity and sanctity of human life, on the duty of obedience, on the divine basis of human government, on the sacramental character of matrimony and by consequence the sanctity of family life.”
And, Pius XI declared that
“these ideals and doctrines of Christ...were confided by Him to His Church and to her alone for safekeeping”
and that because
“the Church ... alone possesses .. the power effectively to combat that materialistic philosophy which has already done and, still threatens, such tremendous harm to the home and to the state. The Church alone can introduce into society and maintain therein the prestige of a true, sound spiritualism, the spiritualism of Christianity which ... is quite superior to any exclusively philosophical theory. The Church is the teacher and an example of world good-will, for she is able to inculcate and develop in mankind the “true spirit of brotherly love”…
SECONDLY, through Pope Paul VI, Peter Denied his responsibility to Rule & Govern the Church: An authority that Jesus Christ himself had entrusted to Peter!
•PETER NEUTRALIZED the authority of the Holy Office;
•PETER REFUSED to discipline wayward Catholic Bishops, theologians and seminary professors;
•PETER PROMOTED and advanced clerics who openly denied the perennial and immutable truths of the Faith; ◦Men who denied the Divinity of Christ;
◦Men who denied the historical Resurrection of Jesus Christ;
◦Men who denied the unique Saving power of Jesus Christ, and
◦The Daily re-presentation of this sacrifice, made once for all on the Cross of Calvary, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass;
◦Men who denied the Divine origin of the Church;
◦Men who denied the Apostolic Succession of the Episcopacy, and
◦Men who denied the necessity of the ministerial Priesthood of Jesus Christ.
THIRDLY, through Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI, Peter Denied the Church’s obligation to offer Worship to no other God, but the Blessed Trinity
•Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI each visited and took part in services of worship at the Synagogue in Rome; ◦By way of these visits, these three Conciliar Popes gave credence to the false notion that it is possible for a people to have access to God the Father even though they have rejected His Only Begotten Son;
◦And they said this by and through their actions even though Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself said:
◦He that believeth in the Son, hath life everlasting; but he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. [John 3:36]
◦He who honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father, who hath sent him. [John 5:23]
•Pope John Paul II called for and leads and Pope Benedict XVI lead subsequent ◦Assisi Prayer for World Peace events;
◦At these events prayers, animal sacrifices, and other offerings were made to false gods — with Peter’s blessing — within the precincts of a Church consecrated to the worship of the Blessed Trinity!
IN THREE ICONIC ACTIONS — each taken by Conciliar Popes — Peter set aside the mandate given to him by our Lord Jesus Christ!
•In Pope Paul VI, Peter took off the Papal tiara:
I will not RULE the Church of Jesus Christ;
•In Pope Paul VI, Peter returned the Islamic Standard to the Muslims won by our Lady at the Battle of Lepanto:
I will not DEFEND the Bride of Jesus Christ;
•In Pope John Paul II, Peter kissed the Koran:
I will not HONOR the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone!
The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the teeth of the children are set on edge.[Ezekiel 18:2]
FRIENDS:
According to Pope Paul VI, the Popes and Conciliar Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, deliberately did not invoke the charism of infallibility!
And, on at least four occasions Pope Paul VI sought to make this fact clear:
In his General Audience of January 12, 1966, he said:
“There are those who ask what authority, what theological qualification, the Council intended to give to its teachings, knowing that it avoided issuing solemn dogmatic definitions backed by the Church's infallible teaching authority. The answer is known by those who remember the conciliar declaration of March 6, 1964, repeated on November 16, 1964. In view of the pastoral nature of the Council, it avoided proclaiming in an extraordinary manner any dogmas carrying the mark of infallibility.”
However, despite knowing full-well that he had deliberately continued a validly convened Ecumenical Council, but had deprived that council’s documents of the protection of the Holy Spirit, Pope Paul VI, nevertheless effected sweeping changes to the self-understanding of the Catholic Church...
Changes that touched every facet of the Church’s life:
•It’s WORSHIP and SACRAMENTS;
•It’s FAITH and DOCTRINE; and
•It’s MORAL LIFE.
Words are inadequate to convey the severity of this papal indiscretion!
•But, no words are required, because we now live in the wasteland of Pope Paul VI’s indiscretion!
The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the teeth of the children are set on edge.[Ezekiel 18:2]
Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.[Matthew 5:17-20]
FRIENDS:
In this Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ gave his disciples a practical means by which they could discern the character of institutions and actions. In giving us this guide, our Lord made it possible for us to “test spirits”!
And so, we can ask:
What are the fruit of the Second Vatican Council?
•Firstly, in the wake of the Council, the Religious Orders of the Catholic Church collapsed: More than 80,000 Women Religious forsake their vows;
•Secondly, in the wake of the Council, the ranks of the Sacred Priesthood of Jesus Christ was decimated: In excess of 32,000 Priests almost immediately abandon the priestly office;
Subsequently — as the Church tried to make peace with the world — priestly and religious vocations have continued to collapse.
As of 2012 there were only 414,313 priests in the world—about 5,000 fewer priests than there were in 1970, even though the Catholic population of the world has doubled.
So today the Catholic Church has the equivalent of only 50% of the priests that she had in 1970!
In 1965, there were 58,000 priests in the United States of America.
Today there are only 37,000, and more than half of those — that’s 19,000 priests! — will reach retirement age next year.
•Thirdly, in the wake of the Council, heresies that had been previously condemned have been allowed to run rampant throughout the Church; ◦And these heresies have been promoted by Professors of Catholic Theology and Philosophy, Theologians, Priests, Bishops and Cardinals;
And now we are told from the Vatican itself that people living in adulterous second marriages can receive Holy Communion in certain cases, which is exactly the opposite of what even Pope John Paul II taught, when he insisted that it was “intrinsically impossible” to give Holy Communion to the divorced and remarried because — as the Catechism that he had published states — they are living “public and permanent adultery.”
•Fourthly, in the wake of the Council, there arose a sharp decline in obedience to the Third Commandment; A disobedience accelerated by the substitution of what Cardinal Ratzinger has called a “fabricated liturgy” for the Ancient Roman Rite;
With this wisdom to hand, it is possible for us to ask and answer the question:
Was the Second Vatican Council — and the changes introduced into the Church in its name — a good gift come down from the Father of the heavenly lights?
•Did our Lord Jesus Christ want his holy Catholic Church to follow the path set for her by the Conciliar Popes?
The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the teeth of the children are set on edge. [Ezekiel 18:2]
In the early days of the Church, the Holy Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome saying:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those men that detain the truth of God in injustice:
Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable. Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.
For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. 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.
Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonour their own bodies among themselves. 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. [Romans 1:18ff]
FRIENDS:
•The current corruption of the Moral Lives of the faithful and of the clergy....
•A corruption led and promoted by members of profession Catholic Theological associations, priests, and bishops alike, many of whom once vowed to “firmly embrace and accept each and every definition that has been set forth and declared by the unerring teaching authority of the Church, especially those principal truths which are directly opposed to the errors of this day”;
•The current epidemic of fornication, adultery, and the acceptance of homosexuality as a moral good among the faithful and of the clergy....
•And the current scourge of homosexual predation among the priests and bishops of the Catholic Church are the FORESEEABLE and INEVITABLE fruit of the Conciliar Popes’ decision
To respect, honor, and approve the aspirations of Modern Man so-called; and
To declare, pursue and defend the exaltation of Man in the Temples of God!
Each of the current crises in the Catholic Church are the direct result of the refusal of the Conciliar Popes’ to submit to the Kingship of Jesus Christ!
•The Church is where she is today because — in the Conciliar Popes — Peter chose to submit the Church’s teaching to the judgment of Modern Man, rather to the judgment of Christ the King!
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.[Ezekiel 18:2]
Perhaps by now you are asking the question:
Is there anything that we can do in response to this unprecedented crisis within the Church of Jesus Christ?
And, the answer is, Yes!
FIRSTLY, we can actively seek to restore the Kingship of Jesus Christ in our personal lives, in society and in the nations of the world!
•Our Lord Jesus Christ is King by Right! ◦Through His Incarnation, God the Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity assumed a human soul and a human body.
◦Therefore, Jesus Christ is King because He is God!
◦Consequently, the Church teaches us that — by his Incarnation — Our Lord is Savior, Priest and King — not accidentally — but Essentially!
•Our Lord Jesus Christ is King by Conquest! ◦Our Lord Jesus Christ has conquered us all by His blood, by His cross, by Calvary:
◦And His conquest extends to all souls… to every family, to all schools, and
◦The Kingship of Jesus Christ extends to our professional lives, to our laws, to our politics and to the entire life of society!
The restoration of all things in Christ in the nations of the world is the integral work of the Catholic Church!
The restoration of all things in Christ within the Church is the integral work of the Catholic priesthood!
The re-establishment of the Kingship of Christ within society is the integral work of the sons of Christ’s Holy Catholic Church!
◦So, what can we do?
◦We can start by recognizing and submitting to the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
SECONDLY, we can make knowing Christ the King and His holy doctrine the chief priority of our lives!
In these days God hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world. [Hebrews 1:1-2]
•We can choose to be done with convenience Catholicism!
•We can find and attach ourselves and our families to a parish that offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to God reverently!
•We can resolve to read only those theological and spiritual books that are faithful to the Ancient Faith — the perennial, unchangeable and infallible teaching of Christ the King!
•We can choose to teach the true Faith, and only the true Faith to our children!
•In this regard, a helpful rule of thumb would be to return to those theological and spiritual resources that were approved by the Holy See prior to the revolution of the 1960s!
•Put another way: We can make Our Lord Jesus Christ the King of our intellect, of our thoughts, of our reflections, because He is the Truth!
•And so I ask you:
•Can you say that Christ is the King is the King of your intellect?
•Can you say that Christ is the King is the Light of your mind?
THIRDLY, We can choose to conform ourselves to Our Lord Jesus Christ!
Be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. [Romans 12:1-2]
Friends: In this passage, Saint Paul teaches that our capacity to discern “what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God” is rooted in our deliberate effort to conform our minds to Christ...
•And, so, There are things that must we do!
•We must uproot and discard from our minds all personal opinions that are in conflict with the infallible and unchangeable teaching of Christ the King and of his holy Church!
•We must break all personal habits that are rooted in a carefree approach to the Law of Christ! ◦Since today Satan has arrayed himself especially against the virtues of humility, purity and modesty, we can examine our consciences, our entertainment habits, and our wardrobes.
•We must establish new priorities and habits of heart, mind and body that will ensure our continued growth and progress in holiness!
•Put another way: We must choose to attach our hearts to Christ the King!
•We must make Christ the King of our hearts!
•And so I ask you: ◦Does your heart love only those things that His Kingly Heart loves?
◦Does your heart abhor the things that His Kingly Heart abhors?
FOURTHLY, We can Resist!
I wonder that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel. Which is not another, only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. [Galatians 1:2-7]
Friends: The holy Apostle warned us that from within the very bosom of the institutional Church false teachers of false gospels had arisen and would arise! And so with great solemnity he declared:
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. [Galatians 1:2-8]
Therefore — for the good of our souls — it is necessary that we respond faithfully to Saint Paul’s command!
If we are to be saved, then it is imperative that we engage the war that is being waged both from outside and within the institutional Church:
Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. [Ephesians 6:11]
•How can we do this?
•We can begin by remembering Our Lady’s warning given to Sister Sassagawa at Akita, Japan!
“The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.”
•We can set ourselves like flint to become like Saint Athanasius!
WHO — WHEN THE EARTH WAS SHAKING under his feet — fixed his gaze upon the certainty that the Church will emerge unscathed from the ruin in which it finds itself today...
BECAUSE HE WAS CONVINCED THAT NOBODY CAN SAY and conjecture who and what will survive!
THEREFORE, WE MUST in our counsel, in our recommendations and in worship, impede the evil of this day by unveiling its signs!
LET US THEN WORK while it is day, since at night nobody can!
IT SERVES NOTHING TO WAIT: Waiting has done nothing more than aggravate things."
•We can Choose to make Our Lord Jesus Christ King of our wills!
•We can reject the sophism “I am personally opposed to this, but I will not impose my view on someone else!” ◦The sophism by which we participate in the charade that our minds can give assent to a truth that we deny in practice by our wills!
•We can conform our wills to His law: ◦To His law of charity;
◦To those two commandments through which all the commandments are fulfilled!
◦Love God, and love your neighbor.
◦Love God for Himself, and love our neighbor for the sake of God!
•And Christ the King gave this law to us himself!
FIFTHLY, We can Enter into the sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of his Mystical Body!
If so ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and immoveable from the hope of the gospel which you have heard, which is preached in all the creation that is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister. Who 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. [Colossians 1:23-24]
•WE CAN ENTER THE GARDEN of Gethsemane with Jesus Christ! We can enter into the Garden with his Mystical Body!
•WE CAN GO TO THE PILLAR of scourging. We can endure the removal of His kingly robes and his crowning with thorns!
•WE CAN ACCEPT the honor of suffering meekly with Christ Jesus the taunts, insults, and injuries of Calvary!
FINALLY, We can pray!
•WE CAN PRAY WITH Our Lord Jesus Christ, “Let this cup pass from me. But, not my will, let thy will be done!
•WE CAN ASK MARY to call the Successor of Peter and the Successors of the Apostles back to life under the sweet reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
LET US REMEMBER what Sister Lucia of Fatima said about the crisis we now witness:
“A time will come when the decisive battle between the kingdom of Christ and Satan will be over marriage and the family. And those who will work for the good of the family will experience persecution and tribulation. But do not be afraid, because Our Lady has already crushed his head.”
•WE CAN ASK JOSEPH, Patron Saint of the Family, for the conversion of the Successor of Peter that he might strengthen his Venerable Brethren once again under the sweet reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
•WE CAN ASK MARY AND JOSEPH to help us live under the same sweet reign. ◦For we know and we hope that we — and those entrusted with the authority to rule and govern the Church...
◦We know that if we return to the obedience of Faith (Romans 1:5)…
◦We will be someday in this kingdom and we will see Him in His splendor, in His glory.
Dearest Friends:
We know that the Church must pass through the passion and cross of Jesus on earth;
We know, too, that one day we may partake in the glory of His resurrection.
•This is the glory which lights up heaven;
•This is the glory which is heaven;
•For God is heaven!
•Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the universe, is Heaven!
If we already have him as King here below, then we will have him as King of glory for all eternity!
So let us entreat the most Blessed Virgin and Saint Joseph, not only for ourselves, but also for our families, for all those who surround us.
•That they may come to the light of Christ the King:
•who know Him but little,
•who do not obey him,
•who distance themselves from Him.
•Let us have pity on all those souls who do not know Christ the King!
•In Whom we have the happiness to believe!
•Whom we have the happiness to love!
Almighty and everlasting god, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Ghost, one world without end. Amen.
The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the teeth of the children are set on edge.[Ezekiel 18:2]
So on this solemnity, I call upon you to stand and declare your allegiance to Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the universe!
•Christus Rex!
•Cristo Rey!
•Long live Christ the King!
In the Name of the Father, And of the Son, And of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge[Ezekiel 18:2].
November 25, 2018
Friends:
If you have been tracking the news concerning the current crisis within the Church, the past few months have likely been the occasion of
•Disappointment, disgust and anger and
•perhaps you have been tempted to resentment;
•or have experienced an ever deepening sadness.
And, I am sure that you must have realized that… the recent months have been particularly difficult for me...
•First as a MAN and as a FATHER
•Then, as a CHRISTIAN and as a CATHOLIC PRIEST
•And, lastly, as the PASTOR into whose care you have been ENTRUSTED.
IF YOU HAVE OFFERED PRAYERS to God for my spiritual well-being during this time, I want to thank you! AND — IN THE WORDS of Saint Paul — I want to beg that you continue your prayers on my behalf...
AND FOR THOSE OTHER PRIESTS who strive daily to be faithful to our holy vocation:
[Pray for] your [priests]... For they watch as being to render an account of your souls; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief. .. For we trust we have a good conscience, being willing to behave ourselves well in all things. [Hebrews 13:17-18]
DURING THIS PERIOD, my mind has been given much to the question about how I might best care for you...
•AND GUIDE YOU through these troubling times when — as Pope Benedict XVI said the Barque of Peter has “taken on so much water as to be on the verge of capsizing.”
•In the past few weeks, I have prayed much for you, and I have tried to offer — in fits and starts — based upon the Sacred Scriptures and our Holy Tradition, pointers towards A SAFE WAY FORWARD...
•MOST OF THESE HINTS and suggestions have been directed toward our personal piety...
•AND HAVE CONSISTED LARGELY in exhortations to diligence in our mutual efforts to know, love and serve God in this life...
•SO THAT YOU and I might together one day enjoy the everlasting beatitude of the Blessed Trinity in the next!
TODAY, HOWEVER, I wish to set before you a deeper understanding of the crisis that now engulfs Holy Mother Church and to propose a way forward in the months and years that lay before us!
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.[Ezekiel 18:2]
IN ORDER TO PROPERLY UNDERSTAND the current crisis in the Church it is necessary that we...
FIRST KNOW and APPRECIATE THE SPIRIT OF CATHOLICISM...
And know and appreciate what some have called the “SPIRIT” of the SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL...
AND THE RELATIONSHIP that exists between these Spirits!
FUNDAMENTAL TO THE ETHOS and CULTURE of the Catholic Church is the fact it is set in opposition to the world!
If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember my word that I said to you: The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you...He that hateth me, hateth my Father also. [John 15:18-20,23]
FUNDAMENTAL TO THE ETHOS and CULTURE of the Second Vatican Council is an embrace of the world!
Friends: At a time when the Church and the world was being assaulted by Socialist-Communism — one of the most dangerous ideologies in the history of mankind — Pope John XXIII declared that the Church would take a new course.
To the Conciliar Fathers, he said:
In these days, which mark the beginning of this Second Vatican Council, it is more obvious than ever before that the Lord's truth is indeed eternal. Human ideologies change. Successive generations give rise to varying errors, and these often vanish as quickly as they came, like mist before the sun. The Church has always opposed these errors, and often condemned them with the utmost severity.
Today, however, Christ's Bride prefers the balm of mercy to the arm of severity. She believes that, present needs are best served by explaining more fully the purport of her doctrines, rather than by publishing condemnations.
Then, a little more than three years later, on December 7, 1965, in his address to the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI, as he brought the Council to a close, said that
“this council, which exposed itself to human judgment, insisted very much more upon this pleasant side of man, rather than on his unpleasant one. Its attitude was very much and deliberately optimistic. A wave of affection and admiration flowed from the council over the modern world of humanity.”
Then, Pope Paul VI added:
“Instead of depressing diagnoses, encouraging remedies; instead of direful prognostics, messages of trust issued from the council to the present-day world.”
“The modern world's values were not only respected but honored, its efforts approved, its aspirations purified and blessed.”
Although it is exceedingly painful to say, I have come to the realization that...
•It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that this “spirit” of the Council, with its opening to the so-called “modern world” in ambiguous texts unlike any that any previous Council had ever adopted, has caused a rupture within the Church...
•Recognizing the problem with the Council’s apparent departure from Catholic tradition, Pope Benedict XVI made a valiant effort to propose what he called a Hermeneutic of Continuity or Reform.
•THAT IS, a way of interpreting the teachings of the Second Vatican Council so that they can be embraced together with the infallible teachings of the councils and Popes which came before...
•At this point, the thoughtful Catholic should ask himself: Why should it be necessary to try to reconcile the teaching of one Council with all other councils that came before it?
This had never happened before in the history of the Church!
I have come to the realization that this effort can no longer be made with integrity!
And this conclusion ought not to surprise me, you or anyone else:
•For Pope John XIII said at the opening of the Council... and
•Pope Paul VI reminded everyone as the Council he brought to a close...
•That it was their express will to unleash a new Spirit into the Church by way of the Council...
•A spirit which they each affirmed in their own way would be unlike the Spirit of Catholicism which had preceded it!
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.[Ezekiel 18:2]
Jesus came and said to them,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; And behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”[Matthew 28:18-20]
DEAR FRIENDS:
THE BALTIMORE CATECHISM, which was used to form the minds, hearts and wills of Catholics in the United States of America and of English-speaking Catholics in many other countries, offers the following questions regarding the nature, purpose and structure of the Catholic Church:
Why did Jesus Christ found the Church? [BC-Q: 138]
•Jesus Christ founded the Church to bring ALL MEN to ETERNAL SALVATION.
How is the Church enabled to lead men to salvation? [BC-Q: 139]
•The Church is enabled to lead men to salvation by the INDWELLING of the Holy Ghost, who gives it life.
Who sent the Holy Ghost to dwell in the Church? [BC-Q: 142]
•God the Father and God the Son sent the Holy Ghost to dwell in the Church.
What does the indwelling of the Holy Ghost enable the Church to do? [BC-Q: 143]
•The indwelling of the HOLY GHOST enables the Church to TEACH, to SANCTIFY, and to RULE the faithful in the name of Christ.
To whom did Christ give the power to TEACH, to SANCTIFY, and to RULE the members of His Church? [BC-Q: 145]
•Christ gave the power to teach, to sanctify, and to rule the members of His Church to the apostles, the first bishops of the Church.
Did Christ give SPECIAL POWER in His Church to any one of the apostles? [BC-Q: 147]
•Christ gave SPECIAL POWER in His Church to Saint Peter by making him the head of the apostles and the CHIEF TEACHER and RULER of the entire Church.
FRIENDS:
The Catholic Church exists for a PARTICULAR MISSION!
The Catholic Church was founded by Christ for the SALVATION OF SOULS.
The Catholic Church exists to CALL ALL MEN
•To repent of sin,
•To abandon their false gods, and
•To offer meet and right worship to the only God, the Living and the True;
The Catholic Church exists to raise men — of every tongue and tribe and nation — to life through the Sacrament of Baptism:
•And so make them individually very members incorporate of the Mystical Body of Christ;
The Catholic Church exists to nourish the Divine Life given in Baptism through the Sacraments entrusted to Her alone:
•So that all those baptized into Her might live in, with and through Jesus Christ...
•And so — both in this life and that which is to come — share in the Life of the Blessed Trinity;
Put another way: The Catholic Church exists to bring all men and every nation under the Kingship of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Universe!
BUT FRIENDS:
In the face of our Lord’s clear teaching regarding the mission of the Church, the Conciliar Popes, the Successors of Peter have — in a way — repeated Peter’s Three-Fold Denial of Jesus Christ!
And Jesus said: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. [John 14:27]
FIRST, in Paul VI, Peter said the United Nations, not the Catholic Church, has the mission of bringing peace to the world!
On the 4th of October 1965, Pope Paul VI, speaking to and about a merely human organization, the United Nations, at it’s General Assembly, the pontiff declared that it was to them that the Church was entrusting world peace to it!
On that occasion Pope Paul VI said:
“Permit us to say that we have a message, and a happy one, to hand over to each one of you Our message is meant to be first of all a solemn moral ratification of this lofty Institution, and it comes from our experience of history. It is as an “expert on humanity” that we bring this Organization the support and approval of our recent predecessors, that of the Catholic hierarchy, and our own, convinced as we are that this Organization represents the obligatory path of modern civilization and world peace.”
However, only forty years earlier, Pope Pius XI, observing the terrible state of the world between the two World Wars, and in line with what the Church has always taught about her mission, said the following in his encyclical Ubi Arcano Dei:
“The only remedy for such state of affairs is the peace of Christ since the peace of Christ is the peace of God, which could not exist if it did not enjoin respect for law, order, and the rights of authority…. “
He taught that Christ’s doctrines which pertain to the peace of the world include
“the necessity and value of the spiritual life, on the dignity and sanctity of human life, on the duty of obedience, on the divine basis of human government, on the sacramental character of matrimony and by consequence the sanctity of family life.”
And, Pius XI declared that
“these ideals and doctrines of Christ...were confided by Him to His Church and to her alone for safekeeping”
and that because
“the Church ... alone possesses .. the power effectively to combat that materialistic philosophy which has already done and, still threatens, such tremendous harm to the home and to the state. The Church alone can introduce into society and maintain therein the prestige of a true, sound spiritualism, the spiritualism of Christianity which ... is quite superior to any exclusively philosophical theory. The Church is the teacher and an example of world good-will, for she is able to inculcate and develop in mankind the “true spirit of brotherly love”…
SECONDLY, through Pope Paul VI, Peter Denied his responsibility to Rule & Govern the Church: An authority that Jesus Christ himself had entrusted to Peter!
•PETER NEUTRALIZED the authority of the Holy Office;
•PETER REFUSED to discipline wayward Catholic Bishops, theologians and seminary professors;
•PETER PROMOTED and advanced clerics who openly denied the perennial and immutable truths of the Faith; ◦Men who denied the Divinity of Christ;
◦Men who denied the historical Resurrection of Jesus Christ;
◦Men who denied the unique Saving power of Jesus Christ, and
◦The Daily re-presentation of this sacrifice, made once for all on the Cross of Calvary, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass;
◦Men who denied the Divine origin of the Church;
◦Men who denied the Apostolic Succession of the Episcopacy, and
◦Men who denied the necessity of the ministerial Priesthood of Jesus Christ.
THIRDLY, through Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI, Peter Denied the Church’s obligation to offer Worship to no other God, but the Blessed Trinity
•Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI each visited and took part in services of worship at the Synagogue in Rome; ◦By way of these visits, these three Conciliar Popes gave credence to the false notion that it is possible for a people to have access to God the Father even though they have rejected His Only Begotten Son;
◦And they said this by and through their actions even though Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself said:
◦He that believeth in the Son, hath life everlasting; but he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. [John 3:36]
◦He who honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father, who hath sent him. [John 5:23]
•Pope John Paul II called for and leads and Pope Benedict XVI lead subsequent ◦Assisi Prayer for World Peace events;
◦At these events prayers, animal sacrifices, and other offerings were made to false gods — with Peter’s blessing — within the precincts of a Church consecrated to the worship of the Blessed Trinity!
IN THREE ICONIC ACTIONS — each taken by Conciliar Popes — Peter set aside the mandate given to him by our Lord Jesus Christ!
•In Pope Paul VI, Peter took off the Papal tiara:
I will not RULE the Church of Jesus Christ;
•In Pope Paul VI, Peter returned the Islamic Standard to the Muslims won by our Lady at the Battle of Lepanto:
I will not DEFEND the Bride of Jesus Christ;
•In Pope John Paul II, Peter kissed the Koran:
I will not HONOR the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone!
The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the teeth of the children are set on edge.[Ezekiel 18:2]
FRIENDS:
According to Pope Paul VI, the Popes and Conciliar Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, deliberately did not invoke the charism of infallibility!
And, on at least four occasions Pope Paul VI sought to make this fact clear:
In his General Audience of January 12, 1966, he said:
“There are those who ask what authority, what theological qualification, the Council intended to give to its teachings, knowing that it avoided issuing solemn dogmatic definitions backed by the Church's infallible teaching authority. The answer is known by those who remember the conciliar declaration of March 6, 1964, repeated on November 16, 1964. In view of the pastoral nature of the Council, it avoided proclaiming in an extraordinary manner any dogmas carrying the mark of infallibility.”
However, despite knowing full-well that he had deliberately continued a validly convened Ecumenical Council, but had deprived that council’s documents of the protection of the Holy Spirit, Pope Paul VI, nevertheless effected sweeping changes to the self-understanding of the Catholic Church...
Changes that touched every facet of the Church’s life:
•It’s WORSHIP and SACRAMENTS;
•It’s FAITH and DOCTRINE; and
•It’s MORAL LIFE.
Words are inadequate to convey the severity of this papal indiscretion!
•But, no words are required, because we now live in the wasteland of Pope Paul VI’s indiscretion!
The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the teeth of the children are set on edge.[Ezekiel 18:2]
Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.[Matthew 5:17-20]
FRIENDS:
In this Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ gave his disciples a practical means by which they could discern the character of institutions and actions. In giving us this guide, our Lord made it possible for us to “test spirits”!
And so, we can ask:
What are the fruit of the Second Vatican Council?
•Firstly, in the wake of the Council, the Religious Orders of the Catholic Church collapsed: More than 80,000 Women Religious forsake their vows;
•Secondly, in the wake of the Council, the ranks of the Sacred Priesthood of Jesus Christ was decimated: In excess of 32,000 Priests almost immediately abandon the priestly office;
Subsequently — as the Church tried to make peace with the world — priestly and religious vocations have continued to collapse.
As of 2012 there were only 414,313 priests in the world—about 5,000 fewer priests than there were in 1970, even though the Catholic population of the world has doubled.
So today the Catholic Church has the equivalent of only 50% of the priests that she had in 1970!
In 1965, there were 58,000 priests in the United States of America.
Today there are only 37,000, and more than half of those — that’s 19,000 priests! — will reach retirement age next year.
•Thirdly, in the wake of the Council, heresies that had been previously condemned have been allowed to run rampant throughout the Church; ◦And these heresies have been promoted by Professors of Catholic Theology and Philosophy, Theologians, Priests, Bishops and Cardinals;
And now we are told from the Vatican itself that people living in adulterous second marriages can receive Holy Communion in certain cases, which is exactly the opposite of what even Pope John Paul II taught, when he insisted that it was “intrinsically impossible” to give Holy Communion to the divorced and remarried because — as the Catechism that he had published states — they are living “public and permanent adultery.”
•Fourthly, in the wake of the Council, there arose a sharp decline in obedience to the Third Commandment; A disobedience accelerated by the substitution of what Cardinal Ratzinger has called a “fabricated liturgy” for the Ancient Roman Rite;
With this wisdom to hand, it is possible for us to ask and answer the question:
Was the Second Vatican Council — and the changes introduced into the Church in its name — a good gift come down from the Father of the heavenly lights?
•Did our Lord Jesus Christ want his holy Catholic Church to follow the path set for her by the Conciliar Popes?
The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the teeth of the children are set on edge. [Ezekiel 18:2]
In the early days of the Church, the Holy Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome saying:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those men that detain the truth of God in injustice:
Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable. Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.
For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. 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.
Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonour their own bodies among themselves. 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. [Romans 1:18ff]
FRIENDS:
•The current corruption of the Moral Lives of the faithful and of the clergy....
•A corruption led and promoted by members of profession Catholic Theological associations, priests, and bishops alike, many of whom once vowed to “firmly embrace and accept each and every definition that has been set forth and declared by the unerring teaching authority of the Church, especially those principal truths which are directly opposed to the errors of this day”;
•The current epidemic of fornication, adultery, and the acceptance of homosexuality as a moral good among the faithful and of the clergy....
•And the current scourge of homosexual predation among the priests and bishops of the Catholic Church are the FORESEEABLE and INEVITABLE fruit of the Conciliar Popes’ decision
To respect, honor, and approve the aspirations of Modern Man so-called; and
To declare, pursue and defend the exaltation of Man in the Temples of God!
Each of the current crises in the Catholic Church are the direct result of the refusal of the Conciliar Popes’ to submit to the Kingship of Jesus Christ!
•The Church is where she is today because — in the Conciliar Popes — Peter chose to submit the Church’s teaching to the judgment of Modern Man, rather to the judgment of Christ the King!
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.[Ezekiel 18:2]
Perhaps by now you are asking the question:
Is there anything that we can do in response to this unprecedented crisis within the Church of Jesus Christ?
And, the answer is, Yes!
FIRSTLY, we can actively seek to restore the Kingship of Jesus Christ in our personal lives, in society and in the nations of the world!
•Our Lord Jesus Christ is King by Right! ◦Through His Incarnation, God the Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity assumed a human soul and a human body.
◦Therefore, Jesus Christ is King because He is God!
◦Consequently, the Church teaches us that — by his Incarnation — Our Lord is Savior, Priest and King — not accidentally — but Essentially!
•Our Lord Jesus Christ is King by Conquest! ◦Our Lord Jesus Christ has conquered us all by His blood, by His cross, by Calvary:
◦And His conquest extends to all souls… to every family, to all schools, and
◦The Kingship of Jesus Christ extends to our professional lives, to our laws, to our politics and to the entire life of society!
◦So, what can we do?
◦We can start by recognizing and submitting to the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
SECONDLY, we can make knowing Christ the King and His holy doctrine the chief priority of our lives!
In these days God hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world. [Hebrews 1:1-2]
•We can choose to be done with convenience Catholicism!
•We can find and attach ourselves and our families to a parish that offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to God reverently!
•We can resolve to read only those theological and spiritual books that are faithful to the Ancient Faith — the perennial, unchangeable and infallible teaching of Christ the King!
•We can choose to teach the true Faith, and only the true Faith to our children!
•In this regard, a helpful rule of thumb would be to return to those theological and spiritual resources that were approved by the Holy See prior to the revolution of the 1960s!
•Put another way: We can make Our Lord Jesus Christ the King of our intellect, of our thoughts, of our reflections, because He is the Truth!
•And so I ask you:
•Can you say that Christ is the King is the King of your intellect?
•Can you say that Christ is the King is the Light of your mind?
THIRDLY, We can choose to conform ourselves to Our Lord Jesus Christ!
Be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. [Romans 12:1-2]
Friends: In this passage, Saint Paul teaches that our capacity to discern “what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God” is rooted in our deliberate effort to conform our minds to Christ...
•And, so, There are things that must we do!
•We must uproot and discard from our minds all personal opinions that are in conflict with the infallible and unchangeable teaching of Christ the King and of his holy Church!
•We must break all personal habits that are rooted in a carefree approach to the Law of Christ! ◦Since today Satan has arrayed himself especially against the virtues of humility, purity and modesty, we can examine our consciences, our entertainment habits, and our wardrobes.
•We must establish new priorities and habits of heart, mind and body that will ensure our continued growth and progress in holiness!
•Put another way: We must choose to attach our hearts to Christ the King!
•We must make Christ the King of our hearts!
•And so I ask you: ◦Does your heart love only those things that His Kingly Heart loves?
◦Does your heart abhor the things that His Kingly Heart abhors?
FOURTHLY, We can Resist!
I wonder that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel. Which is not another, only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. [Galatians 1:2-7]
Friends: The holy Apostle warned us that from within the very bosom of the institutional Church false teachers of false gospels had arisen and would arise! And so with great solemnity he declared:
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. [Galatians 1:2-8]
Therefore — for the good of our souls — it is necessary that we respond faithfully to Saint Paul’s command!
If we are to be saved, then it is imperative that we engage the war that is being waged both from outside and within the institutional Church:
Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. [Ephesians 6:11]
•How can we do this?
•We can begin by remembering Our Lady’s warning given to Sister Sassagawa at Akita, Japan!
“The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.”
•We can set ourselves like flint to become like Saint Athanasius!
WHO — WHEN THE EARTH WAS SHAKING under his feet — fixed his gaze upon the certainty that the Church will emerge unscathed from the ruin in which it finds itself today...
BECAUSE HE WAS CONVINCED THAT NOBODY CAN SAY and conjecture who and what will survive!
THEREFORE, WE MUST in our counsel, in our recommendations and in worship, impede the evil of this day by unveiling its signs!
LET US THEN WORK while it is day, since at night nobody can!
IT SERVES NOTHING TO WAIT: Waiting has done nothing more than aggravate things."
•We can Choose to make Our Lord Jesus Christ King of our wills!
•We can reject the sophism “I am personally opposed to this, but I will not impose my view on someone else!” ◦The sophism by which we participate in the charade that our minds can give assent to a truth that we deny in practice by our wills!
•We can conform our wills to His law: ◦To His law of charity;
◦To those two commandments through which all the commandments are fulfilled!
◦Love God, and love your neighbor.
◦Love God for Himself, and love our neighbor for the sake of God!
•And Christ the King gave this law to us himself!
FIFTHLY, We can Enter into the sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of his Mystical Body!
If so ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and immoveable from the hope of the gospel which you have heard, which is preached in all the creation that is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister. Who 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. [Colossians 1:23-24]
•WE CAN ENTER THE GARDEN of Gethsemane with Jesus Christ! We can enter into the Garden with his Mystical Body!
•WE CAN GO TO THE PILLAR of scourging. We can endure the removal of His kingly robes and his crowning with thorns!
•WE CAN ACCEPT the honor of suffering meekly with Christ Jesus the taunts, insults, and injuries of Calvary!
FINALLY, We can pray!
•WE CAN PRAY WITH Our Lord Jesus Christ, “Let this cup pass from me. But, not my will, let thy will be done!
•WE CAN ASK MARY to call the Successor of Peter and the Successors of the Apostles back to life under the sweet reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
LET US REMEMBER what Sister Lucia of Fatima said about the crisis we now witness:
“A time will come when the decisive battle between the kingdom of Christ and Satan will be over marriage and the family. And those who will work for the good of the family will experience persecution and tribulation. But do not be afraid, because Our Lady has already crushed his head.”
•WE CAN ASK JOSEPH, Patron Saint of the Family, for the conversion of the Successor of Peter that he might strengthen his Venerable Brethren once again under the sweet reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
•WE CAN ASK MARY AND JOSEPH to help us live under the same sweet reign. ◦For we know and we hope that we — and those entrusted with the authority to rule and govern the Church...
◦We know that if we return to the obedience of Faith (Romans 1:5)…
◦We will be someday in this kingdom and we will see Him in His splendor, in His glory.
Dearest Friends:
We know that the Church must pass through the passion and cross of Jesus on earth;
We know, too, that one day we may partake in the glory of His resurrection.
•This is the glory which lights up heaven;
•This is the glory which is heaven;
•For God is heaven!
•Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the universe, is Heaven!
If we already have him as King here below, then we will have him as King of glory for all eternity!
So let us entreat the most Blessed Virgin and Saint Joseph, not only for ourselves, but also for our families, for all those who surround us.
•That they may come to the light of Christ the King:
•who know Him but little,
•who do not obey him,
•who distance themselves from Him.
•Let us have pity on all those souls who do not know Christ the King!
•In Whom we have the happiness to believe!
•Whom we have the happiness to love!
Almighty and everlasting god, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Ghost, one world without end. Amen.
The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the teeth of the children are set on edge.[Ezekiel 18:2]
So on this solemnity, I call upon you to stand and declare your allegiance to Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the universe!
•Christus Rex!
•Cristo Rey!
•Long live Christ the King!
In the Name of the Father, And of the Son, And of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
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A Mass for Muslim illegals directly responsible for Europe's staggering increase in crime. Nice crucifix. Interesting how it was "by invitation only" That probably means His Holiness said things about the "migrant issue" he wouldn't like seeing repeated in the press. Given his previous more "ambiguous" remarks, it doesn't take too much extrapolation to imagine what position he took.