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| St. Francis De Sales (1567-1622): Papal Infallibility and Papal Error |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-21-2022, 09:44 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching
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St. Francis De Sales (1567-1622): Papal Infallibility and Papal Error
Taken from here.
![[Image: st_francis_desales11.jpg?w=428&h=537]](https://erickybarra.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/st_francis_desales11.jpg?w=428&h=537)
“Under the ancient law, the High Priest [of Israel] did not wear the Rational except when he was vested in the pontifical robes and was entering before the Lord. Thus we do not say that the Pope cannot err in his private opinions, as did John XXII; or be altogether a heretic as perhaps Honorius was. Now when he is explicitly a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church must either deprive him or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See, and must say as St. Peter did: let another take his bishopric [as was said of Judas Iscariot, Apostle of Jesus Christ]. When he errs in his private opinions he must be instructed, advised, convinced; as happened with John XXII, who was so far from dying obstinate or from determining anything during his life concerning his opinion, that he died whilst he was making the examination which is necessary for determining in a matter of faith, as his successors declared in the Extravagantes which begins Benedictus Deus. But when he is clothed with the pontifical garments, I mean when he teaches the whole Church as Shepherd, in general matters of faith and morals, then there is nothing but doctrine and truth.
And in fact everything a king says is not a law or an edict, but that only which a king says as king and as a legislator. So everything the Pope says is not canon law or of legal obligation; he must mean to define and to lay down the law for the sheep, and he must keep the due order and form. Thus we say that we must appeal to him not as to a learned man, for in this he is ordinarily surpassed by some others, but as to the general head and pastor of the Church: and as such we must honor, follow, and firmly embrace his doctrine, for then he carries on his breast the Urim and Thummin, doctrine and truth. And again we must not think that in everything and everywhere his judgement is infallible, but then only when he gives judgement on a matter of faith in questions necessary to the whole Church; for in particular cases which depend on human fact he can err, there is no doubt, though it is not for us to control him in these cases save with all reverence, submission, and discretion. Theologians have said, in a word, that he can err in questions of fact, not in questions of right; that he can err extra cathedram, outside the chair of Peter, that is, as a private individual by writings and bad example.
But he cannot err when he is in cathedra, that is, when he intends to make an instruction and decree for the guidance of the whole Church, when he means to confirm his brethren as supreme pastor, and to conduct them into the pastures of the faith. For then it is not so much man who determines, resolves, and defines as it is the blessed Holy Spirit by man, which Spirit, according to the promise made by Our Lord to the Apostles, teaches all truth to the church, and, as the Greek says and the Church seems to understand in a collect of Pentecost, conducts and directs his Church into all truth; But when that Spirit of truth shall come, he will teach you all truth, or, will lead you into all truth…”
(St. Francis De Sales, The Catholic Controversy, Rule Of Faith – Chapter XIV)
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| St. Francis De Sales (1567-1622): Papal Infallibility and Papal Error |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-21-2022, 09:44 AM - Forum: Sedevacantism
- No Replies
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St. Francis De Sales (1567-1622): Papal Infallibility and Papal Error
Taken from here.
“Under the ancient law, the High Priest [of Israel] did not wear the Rational except when he was vested in the pontifical robes and was entering before the Lord. Thus we do not say that the Pope cannot err in his private opinions, as did John XXII; or be altogether a heretic as perhaps Honorius was. Now when he is explicitly a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church must either deprive him or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See, and must say as St. Peter did: let another take his bishopric [as was said of Judas Iscariot, Apostle of Jesus Christ]. When he errs in his private opinions he must be instructed, advised, convinced; as happened with John XXII, who was so far from dying obstinate or from determining anything during his life concerning his opinion, that he died whilst he was making the examination which is necessary for determining in a matter of faith, as his successors declared in the Extravagantes which begins Benedictus Deus. But when he is clothed with the pontifical garments, I mean when he teaches the whole Church as Shepherd, in general matters of faith and morals, then there is nothing but doctrine and truth.
And in fact everything a king says is not a law or an edict, but that only which a king says as king and as a legislator. So everything the Pope says is not canon law or of legal obligation; he must mean to define and to lay down the law for the sheep, and he must keep the due order and form. Thus we say that we must appeal to him not as to a learned man, for in this he is ordinarily surpassed by some others, but as to the general head and pastor of the Church: and as such we must honor, follow, and firmly embrace his doctrine, for then he carries on his breast the Urim and Thummin, doctrine and truth. And again we must not think that in everything and everywhere his judgement is infallible, but then only when he gives judgement on a matter of faith in questions necessary to the whole Church; for in particular cases which depend on human fact he can err, there is no doubt, though it is not for us to control him in these cases save with all reverence, submission, and discretion. Theologians have said, in a word, that he can err in questions of fact, not in questions of right; that he can err extra cathedram, outside the chair of Peter, that is, as a private individual by writings and bad example.
But he cannot err when he is in cathedra, that is, when he intends to make an instruction and decree for the guidance of the whole Church, when he means to confirm his brethren as supreme pastor, and to conduct them into the pastures of the faith. For then it is not so much man who determines, resolves, and defines as it is the blessed Holy Spirit by man, which Spirit, according to the promise made by Our Lord to the Apostles, teaches all truth to the church, and, as the Greek says and the Church seems to understand in a collect of Pentecost, conducts and directs his Church into all truth; But when that Spirit of truth shall come, he will teach you all truth, or, will lead you into all truth…”
(St. Francis De Sales, The Catholic Controversy, Rule Of Faith – Chapter XIV)
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| Biden admin moving to strip conscience rights from medical professionals |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-21-2022, 09:09 AM - Forum: Socialism & Communism
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Biden admin moving to strip conscience rights from medical professionals
A proposed rule from the Biden administration ‘would abandon health care professionals to being forced to perform medical procedures
that directly violate their religious beliefs or risk losing their jobs,’ ADF Senior Counsel Matt Bowman warned.
Wed Apr 20, 2022
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – The Biden administration appears ready to strip conscience rights from medical professionals and potentially require them to commit abortions, provide transgender procedures, and euthanize people.
The White House regulatory affairs office has published a placeholder for a “Rescission of the Regulation” of the “Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care; Delegations of Authority” rule finalized under the Trump administration in 2019.
That regulation provides conscience protections for professionals who do not want to engage in “abortion, sterilization, and certain other health services,” “assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing,” and for “managed care organizations with moral or religious objections to counseling or referral for certain services.”
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) flagged the pending regulation in a news release.
ADF Senior Counsel Matt Bowman stated:
Quote:No American should be forced to violate their ethical and religious beliefs. Doctors, nurses, and other medical providers should enjoy this same constitutional protection, free to live and work in a manner consistent with their faith.
Yet the Biden administration’s proposed rule would abandon health care professionals to being forced to perform medical procedures that directly violate their religious beliefs or risk losing their jobs. This is an illegal and gross overreach of executive power, and we urge the administration to withdraw this harmful proposal immediately.
Since taking office, the Biden administration has consistently sought to undermine religious freedom protections while promoting abortion and “gender-affirming care.”
For example, under Biden, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped its lawsuit against the University of Vermont for allegedly coercing a pro-life nurse to assist with an abortion. The decision drew criticism from Roger Severino, former Director of the Office of Civil Rights at the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), who initiated the case while working in the Trump administration.
“Such a politically motivated backstab means it’s open season on pro-life doctors and nurses,” he warned last year.
The administration also released two documents in March of this year that encouraged the chemical and genital mutilation of gender-confused children under the guise of providing healthcare.
The administration has also ignored established rule-making processes to try to force Americans to pay for abortions, in violation of provisions of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that explicitly forbid insurance companies from charging individuals to cover other people’s abortions.
The HHS, under Secretary Xavier Becerra, has sought to remove pro-life regulations, including a prohibition on fetal experimentation from aborted babies. Becerra also sent millions to Texas abortion facilities in the wake of the state’s Heartbeat Act.
The Catholic Benefits Association recently warned that the administration plans to force health plans to cover abortion and “sex change” operations.
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| How Old is Your Church? |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-20-2022, 09:07 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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How old is your Church?
Taken from here.
If you are a Lutheran, Martin Luther, an apostate of the Roman Catholic Church, founded your religion in Germany, in the year 1517.
If you are a Mennonite, your church began in Switzerland with Grebel, Mantz, and Blaurock, in the year 1525.
If you belong to the Church of England, also know as Anglican, your religion began with King Henry VIII in 1534, who established his own church because the Pope could not grant him a divorce with the right to remarry.
If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox, in Scotland, in the year 1560.
If you are a Congregationalist, your religion was founded by Robert Brown, in Holland, in 1583.
If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your religion to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam, in 1606.
If you are a Unitarian, John Biddle in London founded your religion in 1645.
If you are an Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England, founded by Samuel Seabury in the American Colonies in the 17th century.
If you are a Quaker, your religion was founded by George Fox, in England, in 1647.
If you are a Methodist, your religion was founded by John and Charles Wesley, in England, in 1739.
If you are a Universalist, John Murray founded your religion in New Jersey, in 1770.
If you are an Evangelical, you owe the founding of your religion to Jacob Albright, in Pennsylvania, in 1803.
If you are a Mormon (a "Latter Day Saint"), then Joseph Smith started your religion in Palmyra, New York, in 1829.
If you are a Seventh Day Adventist, your religion originated in New York, by William Miller, in 1831.
If you worship with the Salvation Army sect, then you acknowledge William Booth in London as your originator, in 1865.
If you are a Jehovah Witness, then your church was founded by Charles Taze Russell, in 1872, and renamed in 1931 by Judge Rutherford, his successor.
If you are a Christian Scientist, then Mary Baker Eddy founded your religion in Massachusetts, in 1879.
If you belong to the Assembly of God religion, then a General Assembly in Arkansas started it in 1914.
If you claim the Church of the Nazarene as your religion, then Union at General Assembly launched it in 1919.
If you are an Evangelical Reformed, then Union at General Assembly created it in 1934.
If you belong to "Pentecostal Gospel," your religion is one of the hundreds of new sects founded by men in the last 100 years.
If you are a Roman Catholic, you know that your religion was founded in the year 33 by Our Lord Jesus Christ.
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| What "Catholic" Means |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-20-2022, 09:03 AM - Forum: Articles by Catholic authors
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What "Catholic" Means
Taken from here.
The Greek roots of the term "Catholic" mean "according to (kata-) the whole (holos)", or more colloquially, "universal." At the beginning of the second century, we find in the letters of Ignatius its first surviving use in reference to the Church. At that time or shortly thereafter it was used to refer to a single, visible communion, separate from others.
Ignatius of Antioch - "Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated by the bishop or by one whom he ordains [i.e., a presbyter]. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church" (Letter to the Smyrneans 8:2 [A.D. 110]).
The Martyrdom of Polycarp - "And of the elect, he was one indeed, the wonderful martyr Polycarp, who in our days was an apostolic and prophetic teacher, bishop of the Catholic Church in Smyrna. For every word which came forth from his mouth was fulfilled and will be fulfilled" (Martyrdom of Polycarp 16:2 [A.D. 155]).
The Muratorian Canon - "Besides these [letters of Paul] there is one to Philemon, and one to Titus, and two to Timothy, in affection and love, but nevertheless regarded as holy in the Catholic Church, in the ordering of churchly discipline. There is also one [letter] to the Laodiceans and another to the Alexandrians, forged under the name of Paul, in regard to the heresy of Marcion, and there are several others which cannot be received by the Church, for it is not suitable that gall be mixed with honey. The epistle of Jude, indeed, and the two ascribed to John are received by the Catholic Church. . . . Of [the Gnostics] Arsinorus, also called Valentine, and of Miltiades, we receive nothing at all. Those also who wrote the new book of psalms for Marcion, together with Basilides, the founder of the Asian Cataphrygians [we do not accept]" (Muratorian fragment [A.D. 177]).
Tertullian - "Where was [the heretic] Marcion, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago--in the reign of Antonius for the most part--and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of the blessed Eleutherius, until on account of their ever restless curiosity, with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled" (Demurrer Against the Heretics 30 [A.D. 200]).
Council of Nicaea I - "But those who say: 'There was [a time] when he [the Son] was not,' and 'before he was born, he was not,' and 'because he was made from non-existing matter, he is either of another substance or essence,' and those who call 'God the Son of God changeable and mutable,' these the Catholic Church anathematizes" (Appendix to the Creed of Nicaea [A.D. 325]).
Council of Nicaea I - "Concerning those who call themselves Cathari [Novatians], that is, 'the Clean,' if at any time they come to the Catholic Church , it has been decided by the holy and great council that, provided they receive the imposition of hands, they remain among the clergy. However, because they are accepting and following the doctrines of the Catholic and apostolic Church, it is fitting that they acknowledge this in writing before all; that is, both that they communicate with the twice married and with those who have lapsed during a persecution" (canon 8).
Council of Nicaea I - "Concerning the Paulianists who take refuge with the Catholic Church, a decree has been published that they should be fully baptized. If, however, any of these in times past have been in the clerical order, if indeed they have appeared spotless and above reproach, after being baptized, let them be ordained by the bishop of the Catholic Church" (canon 9).
Cyril of Jerusalem - "[The Church] is called Catholic, then, because it extends over the whole world, from end to end of the earth, and because it teaches universally and infallibly each and every doctrine which must come to the knowledge of men, concerning things visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly, and because it brings every race of men into subjection to godliness, governors and governed, learned and unlearned, and because it universally treats and heals every class of sins, those committed with the soul and those with the body, and it possesses within itself every conceivable form of virtue, in deeds and in words and in the spiritual gifts of every description" (Catechetical Lectures 18:23 [A.D. 350]).
Cyril of Jerusalem - "And if you ever are visiting in cities, do not inquire simply where the house of the Lord is--for the others, sects of the impious, attempt to call their dens 'houses of the Lord'--nor ask merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the name peculiar to this holy Church, the Mother of us all, which is the Spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God" (ibid., 18:26).
The Apostles Creed - "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen" (Apostles Creed [A.D. 360 version, the first to include the term "Catholic"]).
Council of Constantinople I - "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who spoke through the prophets; in one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church" (Nicene Creed [A.D. 381]).
Council of Constantinople I - "Those who embrace orthodoxy and join the number of those who are being saved from the heretics, we receive in the following regular and customary manner: Arians, Macedonians, Sabbatians, Novatians, those who call themselves Cathars and Aristeri, Quartodecimians or Tetradites, Apollinarians--these we receive when they hand in statements and anathematize every heresy which is not of the same mind as the holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church of God" (canon 7).
Augustine - "We must hold to the Christian religion and to communication in her Church, which is Catholic and which is called Catholic not only by her own members but even by all her enemies. For when heretics or the adherents of schisms talk about her, not among themselves but with strangers, willy-nilly they call her nothing else but Catholic. For they will not be understood unless they distinguish her by this name which the whole world employs in her regard" (The True Religion 7:12 [A.D. 390]).
Augustine - "We believe in the holy Church, that is, the Catholic Church; for heretics and schismatics call their own congregations churches. But heretics violate the faith itself by a false opinion about God; schismatics, however, withdraw from fraternal love by hostile separations, although they believe the same things we do. Consequently, neither heretics nor schismatics belong to the Catholic Church; not heretics, because the Church loves God, and not schismatics, because the Church loves neighbor" (Faith and Creed 10:21 [A.D. 393]).
Augustine - "In the Catholic Church . . . a few spiritual men attain [wisdom] in this life, in such a way that . . . they know it without any doubting, while the rest of the multitude finds is greatest safety not in lively understanding but in the simplicity of believing . . . [T]here are many other things which most properly can keep me in her bosom. The unanimity of peoples and nations keeps me here. Her authority, inaugurated in miracles, nourished by hope, augmented by love, and confirmed by her age, keeps me here. The succession of priests, from the very see of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after his resurrection, gave the charge of feeding his sheep [John 21:15Against the Letter of Mani Called 'The Foundation' 4:5 [A.D. 397]).
Augustine - "If you should find someone who does not yet believe in the gospel, what would you [Mani] answer him when he says, 'I do not believe'? Indeed, I would not believe in the gospel myself if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so" (ibid., 5:6).
Vincent of Lerins - "I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and so to speak universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical depravity; and I have always, and in almost every instance, received an answer to this effect:: that whether I or anyone else should wish to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they arise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic faith, we must, the Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways: first, by the authority of the Divine Law [Scripture], and then by the Tradition of the Catholic Church. But here some one perhaps will ask, 'Since the canon of Scripture is complete, and sufficient of itself for everything, and more than sufficient, what need is there to join with it the authority of the Church's interpretation?' For this reason: Because, owing to the depth of Holy Scripture, all do not accept it in one and the same sense, but one understands its words in one way, another in another, so that it seems to be capable of as many interpretations as there are men. . . . Therefore, it is very necessary, on account of so great intricacies of such various errors, that the rule for the right understanding of the prophets and apostles should be framed in accordance with the standard of ecclesiastical and Catholic interpretation" (The Notebooks 2:1)
Council of Chalcedon - "Since in certain provinces readers and cantors have been allowed to marry, this sacred synod decrees that none of them is permitted to marry a wife of heterodox views. If those thus married have already had children, and if they have already had the children baptized among heretics, they are to bring them into the communion of the Catholic Church" (canon 14 [A.D. 451]).
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| St. Athanasius: Short Excerpt of a Letter to his Flock |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-20-2022, 08:56 AM - Forum: Fathers of the Church
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St. Athanasius: Short Excerpt of a Letter to his Flock
Taken from here.
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3...%3DApi&f=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.1-899OAEI-GvP7w3e43fWgHaJU%26pid%3DApi&f=1)
May God console you! ...What saddens you ...is the fact that others have occupied the churches by violence, while during this time you are on the outside. It is a fact that they have the premises-but you have the apostolic Faith. They can occupy our churches, but they are outside the true Faith. You remain outside the places of worship, but the Faith dwells within you. Let us consider: what is more important, the place or the Faith? The true Faith, obviously. Who has lost and who has won in this struggle-the one who keeps the premises or the one who keeps the Faith?
True, the premises are good when the apostolic Faith is preached there; they are holy if everything takes place there in a holy way ...You are the ones who are happy: you who remain within the church by your faith, who hold firmly to the foundations of the Faith which has come down to you from apostolic Tradition. And if an execrable jealousy has tried to shake it on a number of occasions, it has not succeeded. They are the ones who have broken away from it in the present crisis.
No one, ever, will prevail against your faith, beloved brothers. And we believe that God will give us our churches back some day.
Thus, the more violently they try to occupy the places of worship, the more they separate themselves from the Church. They claim that they represent the Church; but in reality, they are the ones who are expelling themselves from it and going astray.
Even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ.
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| St. Robert Bellarmine: On Papal Authority |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-20-2022, 08:44 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching
- Replies (11)
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Chapter 1 - The question is proposed about his temporal power
Chapter 2 - That the Pope is not Master of the Whole World
Chapter 3 - That the Pope is not Master of the Whole Christian World
Chapter 4 - That the Pope has no merely temporal power by divine law
Chapter 5 - Opposing Arguments are Resolved
Chapter 6 - That the Pope possesses the highest temporal power indirectly
Chapter 7 - The Opinion of Theologians is Proved by Reasons
Chapter 8 - The Same Points Proved by Examples
Chapter 9 - That one man should be the Ecclesiastical and, at the same time, a political Head
Chapter 10 - Opposing Arguments are Solved
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| Fr. Denis Fahey - A Short Biography |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-20-2022, 08:28 AM - Forum: Add'nl Clergy
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Short Biographies: Father Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp.
Taken from the SSPX Asia site
Part I
Tipperary Priest Was Vatican Authority on Activities of Secret Societies
(Excerpts from the “Tipperary Star” of May 8th 1954)
Father Fahey’s name will forever be associated with the Cause of the Kingship of Christ. The writings of the great Cardinal Pie (1815-1880), Bishop of Poitiers, had a profound influence on his life and work. These writings so warmly commended by Blessed Pius X, had helped him see “the history of the world in its true perspective, that is, in relation to Our Lord”. Following in the footsteps of the great French Cardinal, Father Fahey appealed to Catholics to arouse themselves from apathy and indifference and not to acquiesce in the dethronement of Christ the King.
He insisted that, “The world must conform to Our Lord, not He to it”.
Divine Plan for Order
“In his characteristic forthright manner he set down in clear and unmistakable terms the Divine Plan for Order in the world, as outlined in the Papal Encyclicals. This is the Six Point Programme - The Catholic Plan for Social Order - which is printed in each issue of Fiat. It is the Plan advocated by Maria Duce, an organisation of Catholics which was founded through the inspiration of Father Fahey, and of which he was a member. “To that Divine Plan for Order”, wrote Father Fahey, “there neither is nor can be any man-made alternative. Man has not even got the right to propose an alternative.
His duty is simply to try to grasp what God has instituted and bow down his head in humble acceptance.
Thus alone can he fully acknowledge God’s Rights”. On this Divine Plan for Order, Father Fahey never compromised. It was God’s Plan; he would not whittle it down. “It is the duty”, he urged, “of those who believe in and love Our Lord not to whittle down His programme but to preach the integral truth and to urge the world to the one course befitting creatures- humble submission to order.
In laying bare the sound doctrine of the Kingship of Christ, he had of necessity, like Saint Thomas Aquinas, to contradict many of the erroneous but accepted ideas of his age. The awful consequences of disorder in political, social and economic life could only be remedied he stressed, by the return to the full doctrine and practice of Membership of Christ, that is, by the implementation of the Six Point Programme of Order to which reference has already been made.
Like a double-edge sword his keen intellect, with clean cuts severed truth from error.
In all his work he strove to follow the example of his Divine Master. To guide him in his castigation of error, he recalled the words of Blessed Pius X that, “though Jesus was kind to those who had gone astray and to sinners, He did not respect their erroneous convictions, however sincere they appeared to be”. His defence for truth and his unmasking of errors was forever consistent with the injunction of Pope Pius XI: “The first and obvious duty the priest owes to the world about him, is service to the truth, the unmasking of and refutation of error in whatever from of disguise it conceals itself”. Because he was faithful to his priestly office, he unmasked the enemies of Christ the King and emphasised the teaching of Cardinal Pie that the Will of God is not done on earth, as it is in Heaven, if organised societies here below do not acknowledge their duties to God through Our Lord Jesus Christ.
“MAGNIFICENT SERVICE FOR MANKIND”
“Naturalism”, Father Fahey pointed out, “is in practice the same thing as opposition to the Mystical Body of Christ, the Catholic Church instituted by Our Divine Lord Jesus Christ as the visible expression as well as the divinely-accredited exponent of the Divine Plan for Order in the world. Naturalism must therefore, be opposed by every Catholic worthy of the name”.
He was acknowledged as a world-wide authority on the activities of secret societies.
His brilliance as a linguist facilitated him in his study of the original sources of documentation which he presented to his readers.
“The modern connotation of the term “anti-Semitism” did not deter Father Fahey from exposing the awful activities of the Jewish Nation in its calculated campaign to impose its will on God. The initiation and use by the international Jewish Money Power of the modern scourge of Atheistic Communism was lucidly explained by him. He strove to do all in his power “to set forth the opposition of every form of Naturalism, including Jewish Naturalism, to the supernatural reign of Christ the King.” In addition, as he wrote in The Kingship of Christ and the Conversion of the Jewish Nation, for over forty years I have been offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass every year on the Feasts of the Resurrection, Corpus Christi, Saints Peter and Paul, and the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother for the acceptance by the Jewish Nation of the Divine Plan for Order”.
“JEWS’ BITTER OPPOSITION”
The bitter opposition of the Jewish Nation to God’s Plan for Order deeply grieved Father Fahey. He prayed that they would cease to wound the Sacred Heart of Jesus and His Blessed Mother. “A day will come”, he wrote, “when the Jewish Nation will cease to oppose order and will turn in sorrow and repentance to Him whom they rejected before Pilate.
That will be a glorious triumph for the Immaculate Heart of Our Blessed Mother.
Until that day dawns, however, their naturalistic opposition to the one true Supernatural Order of the world must be exposed and combatted”.
He was a great priest and a true patriot.
His roots were deep in the traditional allegiance to Faith and Fatherland. He saw that the true resurgence of Ireland could never be accomplished on the false principals of Nationalism that stemmed from the French Revolution. The true national spirit must be revived, the spirit that spurred on to victory the great Eoghan Ruadh O’Neill, when with “Sancta Maria” on their lips, his soldiers “charged for the old land”.
Through his books Father Fahey will continue to exhort and guide every Irishman and every soldier of Christ the King, wherever he be, to strive ever harder for the Universal Rights of Christ the King. For our own part, we pledge ourselves to be ever faithful to the heritage he has bequeathed to us. We will always remember his words: “It would be easier for Our Divine Lord and His Blessed Mother to do all They want without us, but as They have decided otherwise, we must just keep on and be grateful for being made to work and suffer”.
Part II
Appreciation by Rev. F. Comerford, C.S.Sp.
(from the ‘Tipperary Star’ of May 29th 1954)
In the Golden Vale
To really say one knew Father Fahey, one should have met him in his home setting. Into the green, fertile land around the Golden Vale in the heart of Tipperary he fitted as into a natural background. He invited me to visit him there one sunny July evening some ten years ago. He had been saving hay that morning and had just finished his breviary when I arrived.
He greeted me with a warmth of affection that I shall never forget.
I felt not without a touch of pride that I was more then a student now. I was a friend. He showed me around the modest farm, pointed out the spit in the local river where he took his early morning dip, made me partake finally of a delightful tea under the thatched roof where he was born. And all the while he regaled me with a host of historical anecdotes, sad and humorous alike, evoked perhaps by a passer-by, an old times whom he knew in the “bad days”, or by the now broken walls that surrounded the once-spacious demesne of a little-loved hand-lord.
Ten years is not a short span, yet time has not dimmed the memory of those golden moments spent in Kilmore with Father Fahey. He was a man stepped in his country’s history, full of its lore and with a knowledge and love of the Irish language that few command.
Rarely indeed has Ireland had a more sincere and genuine patriot of only the truth were told.
The locals spoke of “Father Denis” with an affection and respect not untinged with legitimate pride. His sermons on the Sundays of his brief annual sojourn in his native parish were eagerly looked forward to. He knew his audience - none better. That is why perhaps one of his listeners could pay him a tribute and make an important distinction at the same time. “He’s a Tipperary man, is Father Denis, and hurling is in his blood. He never delays us on the Sunday of the Munster Final and thinks nothing of cycling the 25 odd miles to be present himself”. He laughed heartily when I recounted this comment.
Few knew Father Fahey, knew him as a friend knows a friend with that understanding and insight that is quick to appreciate greatness even amid the more sombre setting of what is merely human.
Teacher of Philosophy
It was a a teacher of Philosophy that most of us first encountered Father Fahey. His fame had of course preceded him and he was something of a fable before ever we met him. He was not a teacher in the Quintilian sense that he succeeded in making his matter, logic and metaphysics, palatable to the untrained mind. He did not possess, as the “born teacher” does, the art of putting his ideas across with clarity, at least in English. English is not the language of philosophy and Father Fahey was often cumbersome in his efforts to cloth in the English idiom those philosophical concepts that are so happily couched in Latin as in their native setting.
Hence his books make dry and difficult reading for the average reader. It is a tribute to him nonetheless that his books have been so widely read and appreciated in spite of this initial handicap.
He was however a teacher in the higher sense that his mere presence exercised over all who were unbiassed a strange charm and fascination. He radiated a very real quality, difficult to describe and impossible to define, and which many would call holiness. We felt we were in the presence of one who was great because he was good, good with the goodness of God. He had a rare sense of humour which found expression often at his own expense but never at the expense of others.
He was wont to get quite a large mail from England and America, a large proportion of it from non-Catholics, writers in various social fields, who sought his advice and criticism.
One day holding up a sheaf of such correspondence he remarked in his high-pitch voice: “They said Father Fahey had a bee in his bonnet, but now they are all coming looking for the honey!!” In Church History class he was most interesting. He gave the minimum time to early and long-dead heresies and was much more concerned with the history of the Church in the making, of “the Mystical Body of Christ in the Modern World”. He was labelled “anti-semite” by those who never tried to understand his careful distinction, who could lay claim neither to his erudition and competency in the subject in question nor to his spontaneous abhorrence of anything that offended against Truth or Charity.
Because he did not approve of Article 44 of the Constitution of Eire (1937) he was termed “unpatriotic” by many to whom the traditional Catholic teaching on the relations which should exist between Church and State was a closed book. Pointing out that such a disapproval flows from the principles of Catholic Social teaching as inevitably as water from a fountain, he said, one day with a humorous twinkle in his eye: “The Popes posit the major premise: Article 44 provides the minor premise - and they all jump on me because I draw the conclusion! “The humour in the situation was the humour of the logician. As an Irish priest, however, he felt very keenly the infidelity to Christ contained in Article 44. It haunted his waking hours and disturbed his brief moments of repose.
The thought that his beloved Ireland, which had so loyally withstood through tortured centuries every effort to destroy her Faith in Christ, should fail in her official document publicly to acknowledge His Kingship, - that thought, that fact blighted in his eyes all the beauties of nature, robbed the bird’s song of their sweetness and the countryside at large of it colour.
Few, perhaps, took such a serious view of the situation. But then, they were few indeed who were qualified as he to assess the problem at its true worth. For him it was a tragedy. Only on the day of judgement will we know how tragic it was for Ireland.
For Father Fahey was at home on the heights. He saw “the vision splendid” and sought to interpret that vision to others. Small wonder then that those whom he helped as Confessor and Director regarded him with something akin to veneration. His principles as a rule were beyond the pale of contest. Few would dare quarrel with them.
As a student he was too thorough and painstaking to tolerate the superficial in thought, or expression. Indeed he weight his works with an almost excessive care. Hence it is not surprising that in the social field, where many challenged his conclusions, nobody to my knowledge has disproved a thesis of his. The walls of his syllogisms never cracked under the clamour that rose around them. What the Popes taught Father Fahey certainly preached. He took such pains, however, to search out the “ultimate causes” and rear his edifice on foolproof foundations that too few journeymen who accompanied him, so to speak, in the initial stages of this building process had the intellectual patience to see the job through. His teaching was too deep for small minds, who not infrequently hastened to condemn what they failed to understand like the fox in the fable. It was Tertulian who said long ago: “This boon alone Truth sometimes craves - that it be not condemned unheard”. How rarely that boon is conceded to Truth Father Fahey knew from bitter experience. He trod the lonely road all those must travel who would serve the Truth without compromise. Whole chapters could be written and will, please God, be written some day about Father Fahey and his teaching. Here, however, I can afford but the most cursory commentary.
AHEAD OF HIS TIME
Though it is a pity that so many knew Father Fahey only through his writings, it is also true that apart from his writings he cannot be understood.
What came to be called his ‘doctrine’ was part of his very being.
He had a message for society - profound, coherent and significant, more so perhaps than that of any writer of his age. A life-long student of St. Thomas, he had made a profound study of Papal Teaching and in several noted instances anticipated Papal pronouncements on current problems. Thus those only, whose minds were steeped like his in Papal Teaching and formed in the school of St. Thomas Aquinas, were competent to judge his works, and invariably the judgement was favourable. “It is probable” writes a well-known Dominican Thomist “that only in another generation will the full import of all Dr. Fahey has been doing for a quarter of a century now be rightly appreciated”. That one who was by common consent a generation ahead of his time should be misunderstood, misrepresented and even maligned was inevitable.
Promise to St. Peter
On one occasion, when a well-meaning but very regrettable ‘personal attack’ was made on him he wrote his Apologia pro vita mea - a closely reasoned vindication of the stand he had taken as writer and teacher, showing that his defense of the fundamental decencies of life, his teaching, on Masonry, International Jewry and the more prosaic matters such as Money and Artificial Manures was but a re-echo of Papal Teaching and had its roots deep in the philosophy of St. Thomas. In the course of that Apologia he gives us an interesting and revealing “flash-back” on his student-days at Rome during the Pontificate of the saintly Pius X.
“When in Rome I began to realise more fully the real significance of the history of the world, as the account of the acceptance and rejection of Our Lord’s Programme for Order. I used to ask permission to remain at the Confession of St. Peter, while the other scholastics went round the basilica.
“I spent the time there going over the history of the world, and I repeatedly promised St. Peter that if I ever got the chance, I would teach the truth about his Master in the way he and his successors, the Roman Pontiffs, wanted it done.
That is what I have striven to do and am doing” (Apologia).
There is something touchingly inspiring and pathetic in those words. In retrospect we may say that his tryst with St. Peter was not in vain. Rarely indeed was a promise more faithfully fulfilled. From his study of St. Thomas and of the Papal Encyclicals he acquired a grasp of the doctrine of the Redemption that as at once coherent and dynamic. In an age when the bulk of spiritual literature as tinged if not tainted with Protestant individualism, and long before “Mystici Corporis” appeared, Father Fahey inculcated the doctrine of our solidarity in the Mystical Body and preached a very positive Christianity that was most satisfying to the mind and to the will most stimulating. His power to synthesize where others were content to analyse, to keep the whole panorama of the Divine Plan in view when others were satisfied to take the vision piecemeal -that was his great achievement. From that vision - of the Divine Life intended by God to pervade all society and bring man in all his activities, under the salutary sway of Christ, priest and King - as from a fountain flowed all his endeavours and to that source they returned.
THE DIVINE PLAN
Though his writings where at first sight so varied, ranging from a treatise on Mental Prayer to a book on Money, yet there is continuity and consistency throughout. He disapproved of Art. 44 because it could not be reconciled with the traditional teaching of the Sovereign Pontiffs on the Social Rights of Christ the King. Freemasonry he opposed because it stood for organised and insidious opposition to the influence of the Mystical Body in society. He exposed and deplored the machinations of International Finance as a perversion of God’s order. Money in the hands of a small avaricious but powerful minority instead of being the servant of man, its flow regulated to ensure prosperous family life, was his master, imposing on millions iniquitous conditions hostile to the life of Grace. He knew the supernatural was built on the natural, hence his attempts to draw public attention to the triumph of the philosophy of quantity over quality in domestic and agricultural life to the detriment of the health of soul and man alike. To him the “machine-made, water-sodden lump of carbo-hydrates - cum- peroxide” which we call “Bakery Bread” was an abomination. Likewise the disruption of agricultural life by the false economy of our day, the over emphasis on mechanised farming and the indiscriminate use of inorganic fertilizers called forth his strongest disapproval. To the promoters of Liberalism through the Press and of licence through the Screen, Father Fahey was a formidable and unrelenting foe. It is not generally known that with the prominent pioneers re-acting against disorder in all these domains, many of them non-Catholics - Father Fahey was persona grata.
HE KNEW THAT IDEAS DETERMINE HISTORY
At first sight it would seem that Father Fahey was always in ‘opposition’, always sounding the negative note, condemning this, deploring that. A closer study of the man and his teaching reveals the logic of that opposition, the tremendously positive thing which was his unswerving loyalty to Christ. Perhaps his greatest handicap, humanly speaking, was his wisdom. He knew too much. “He was a great observer and looked quite through the deeds of men”. He realised that ideas determine the course of history. To what was false in the different social philosophies he was keenly alive. In consequence he penetrated effortlessly behind the smoke-screen of political propaganda and beheld Satan marshaling his minions for yet another attack on the Divine life of Grace. Small wonder then that one who was as fearless in propagating truth and unmasking error as he was consistent, profound and Papal in his teaching, should have disturbed the complacency and incurred the displeasure of many. Among them were Catholics not a few of whom might reasonably have been expected to second his efforts and befriend the cause he had espoused. Like the officious Roman soldiers who would beat St. Paul because he caused a tumult - though St. Paul had been put trumpeting the truth - so, too, many self-appointed patrons of ‘charity’, ‘tolerance’, and ‘liberty’, - (terms they never define) - have lashed this brave priest with their tongues less because his teaching was too profound for them to grasp than because his conclusions were too unpalatable for them to accept.
HYERSENSITIVE
And now before we complete this brief pen-portrait of a great Irishman and a great priest, there are some shadows to be filled in which serve but to throw the main colours into bolder relief and heighten their effect. To those great qualities of soul which we have so briefly considered we must add a few words about certain handicaps under which he laboured. It is generally admitted that he was hypersensitive where his work and the opposition it aroused were concerned. To ideas that ran counter to the teaching of Christ and His Vicars on earth Father Fahey was opposed with a fiery zeal of a Crusader. Such opposition hurt him personally even to the extent of making him physically ill. So fully was his mind attuned (by long years of study and meditation) to that of Christ, so closely was his heart identified with the Sacred Heart of Christ the King, that any opposition to the interests of Christ caused him intense pain. Where ideas were concerned he was certainly very sensitive, much as a trained musician is sensitive to and shudders at the slightest discordant note. He was abnormal - some thought. But, perhaps had we studied as profoundly as he, (I’ll not forget the day he said to me apropos a recent attack “I have been studying the problem for forty years and it is just possible I may be right after all”), had we lived our Christian life as whole-heartedly as he, a life of utterly unselfish devotion to Christ, had we seen, finally, in all its commanding beauty the vision which inspired him, had such been our privilege, perhaps we would have come to understand that our way of looking at things was abnormal, not his.
SUFFERED FOR YEARS FROM MIGRAINE
Some thought him un-sociable because he disliked meeting people and avoided social gatherings, especially in his later years. It was not generally known that he suffered over a long period of years from migraine, a continual headache which made his work as teacher and writer very difficult. He knew from experience that social gatherings such as plays, concerts, etc. aggravated his complaint and rendered him unfit for the labours of the morrow - hence his abstention. The last letter I received from him two weeks before his death was written he told me against a back-ground of laughter and applause. One of the post-Christmas concerts was in progress in the Theologians’ study, but he was enjoying it from afar - at his desk.
TREBLY GREAT
To sum up now all we have written so far we may say that Father Fahey was a great professor, a great patriot and a great priest. He will I feel be greater in death than in life. The cause for which he strove so laboriously, or better, the crusade be preached so fervently, will not fail. He has sown the seed with a generous hand and already a promising harvest is assured. Not only do we on the missions, who were his pupils, thank God for that privilege, but throughout Ireland and in far off America there are groups of laymen to whom Father Fahey has opened up the vista of life full and satisfying, a life lived in Christ and for the promotion of the when news of his death reached America a Solemn Requiem Mass was offered in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, at the request and in the presence of a host of his friends. A tombstone doubtless will be raised to his memory in Kimmage but we are his epitaph, his monument, we on whose souls the shining example and profound teaching of this learned and saintly priest have traced the likeness of Christ; we are his glory and his crown.
As I pen these lines in the troubled Kikuyu Reserve a Dublin Opinion lies un-opened on my desk. It arrived this afternoon addressed to me in a familiar hand. But this monthly packet of laughter is wrapped in pathos, the pathos of the hands that folded it, of the fingers that addressed it - for the last time.
For those friendly hands are stilled forever, folded now in the cold silence of the tomb. Father Fahey is dead. That he should die in the Lord was but the normal outcome of such a life. The details of his last illness bore out that premonition.
Towards the end of 1953 he felt that the end was near.
When on his way to class on 16th January, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Refuge of Sinners, he collapsed. After an operation the following day he seemed at first to rally but it soon became evident that his was the end. He lingered for some days perfectly conscious. a remarkable peace invested his last hours impressing all who watched by his bedside. Death came on 21st January.
Some who knew Father Fahey but slightly will evince surprise that he should have given the Dublin Opinion even a second thought, still less considered it a worth-while addition to a missionary’s mail. Yet the very nature of that token is full of meaning. He realized what a tonic a laugh can be and knew that the missionary at times would find a Dublin Opinion more refreshing than a theological review. There is a delicacy in such Charity that is as rare as it is beautiful.
Specially recommended:
“The Mystical Body of Christ and the Reorganization of Society”
“The kingship of Christ and the Conversion of the Jewish Nation”
“The kingship of Christ and Organized Naturalism”
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| Refugee Youths in Spain attack Holy Week Procession with Rocks and Projectiles |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-18-2022, 01:19 PM - Forum: Anti-Catholic Violence
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Muslim Youths Attack Easter Week Processions in Spain — Pelt Christians with Rocks and Projectiles — Police Called In (VIDEO)
![[Image: easter-procession-grenada-spain-screengrab.jpg]](https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/easter-procession-grenada-spain-screengrab.jpg)
Easter procession in Grenada, Spain (screengrab)
GP | April 17, 2022
A group of Muslim migrants from a local shelter pelted Christians with rocks and projectiles at an Easter procession in Granada, Spain during Holy Week.
This is not the first time this has happened. On Palm Sunday, a group of North Africans had tried to attack the Easter procession in El Vendrell (Tarragona).
Here is video of the attack in Tarragona.
Medforth.biz reported:
Quote:A group of unaccompanied minor refugees from the Bermúdez de Castro hostel in Granada disrupted the Catholic procession in the early hours of Holy Thursday morning (…) Fortunately, the quick intervention of the police prevented serious incidents.
Total outrage in Granada. The procession had been on the road for about an hour and a half, and as it went down the Cuesta del Chapiz, a large number of objects began to rain down on those present. All of these projectiles came from the migrant shelter mentioned above, as several sources confirmed.
The president of Vox Granada, Onofre Miralles, condemned the events through his networks: “Yesterday I had the honour of accompanying the procession. I was informed that objects were thrown at the procession from the reception centre for underage migrants. They are directed against our culture and our tradition. I demand action on the part of the Region of Andalusia”.
This is the umpteenth attack on a Catholic procession during Holy Week. It is not the first incident and unfortunately it will not be the last. Last Sunday, a group of North Africans had tried to attack the Easter procession in El Vendrell (Tarragona).
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| Regina Caeli Laetare: Holy Saturday until Trinity Sunday |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-18-2022, 06:46 AM - Forum: In Honor of Our Lady
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Regina Caeli Laetare
From Holy Saturday until Trinity Sunday instead of the praying the Angelus
Taken from here.
![[Image: Regina%20Caeli.jpg]](https://www.catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Regina%20Caeli.jpg)
Anthem to the Blessed Virgin
There is a venerable tradition connected with this joyous Anthem. It is related that a fearful pestilence raged in Rome, during one of the Easters of the pontificate of St. Gregory the Great. In order to propitiate the anger of God, the holy Pope prescribed a public procession of both people and clergy, in which was to be carried the portrait of our Blessed Lady painted by St. Luke. The procession was advancing in the direction of Saint Peter's; and as the holy Picture, followed by the Pontiff, was carried along, the atmosphere became pure and free from pestilence. Having reached the bridge which joins the City with the Vatican, a choir of Angels was heard singing above the Picture, and saying: "Rejoice, O Queen of heaven, alleluia! for He whom thou deservedst to bear, alleluia! hath risen, as He said, alleluia!" As soon as the heavenly music ceased, the saintly Pontiff took courage, and added these words to those of the Angels: "Pray to God for us, alleluia!" Thus was composed the Paschal Anthem to our Lady. Raising his eyes to heaven, Gregory saw the destroying Angel standing on the top of the Mole of Hadrian, and sheathing his sword. In memory of this apparition, the Mole was called the Castle of Saint Angela, and on the dome was placed an immense statue representing an Angel holding his sword in the scabbard.
Regina Caeli
Regina caeli, laetare, Alleluia.
Qua quem meruisti portare, Alleluia.
Resurrexit, sicut dixit, Alleluia.
Ora pro nobis Deum, Alleluia.
V. Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, Alleluia.
R. Qua surrexit Dominus vere, Alleluia.
Oremus
Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri, Jesu Christi, mundum laetificare dignatus es, praesta, quaesumus, ut per ejus Genitricem Virginem Mariam perpetuae capiamus gaudia vitae: per eumdem Christum, Dominum nostrum. Amen
Queen of Heaven
O Queen of heaven, rejoice, Alleluia.
For He Whom thou didst merit to bear, Alleluia.
Hath risen as He said, Alleluia.
Pray for us to God, Alleluia.
V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary! Alleluia.
R. Because the Lord is truly risen, Alleluia.
Let us pray
O God, Who by the resurrection of Thy Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, hast vouchsafed to make glad the whole world, grant, we beseech Thee, that, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His mother, we may lay hold of the joys of eternal life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen
(The Sovereign Pontiff Benedict XIII, by a brief, Injuntae nobis, Set. 14, 1724, amended by the Sacred Penitentiary Apostolic, Feb. 20, 1933, granted a plenary indulgence, once a month, to all the faithful who, everyday in the morning, at noon, and in the evening at sunset, shall say devoutly the Angelus Dominie, with the Hail Mary, three times, or at Eastertide the Regina Caeli, on any day when, being truly penitent, after confession and communion, they shall pray for peace and union among Christian princes, for the extirpation of heresy, and for the triumph of Holy Mother Church; also an indulgence of ten years, on all the other days in the year, ever time that they shall devoutly say these prayers.)
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| The Love of Jesus Christ in Being Willing to Satisfy the Divine Justice for Our Sins |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-18-2022, 06:42 AM - Forum: Lenten Devotions
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The Love of Jesus Christ in Being Willing to Satisfy the Divine Justice for Our Sins
I.
We read in history of a proof of love so prodigious that it will be the admiration of all ages. There was once a king, lord of many kingdoms, who had one only son , so beautiful, so holy, so amiable, that he was the delight of his father, who loved him as much as himself. This young prince had a great affection for one of his slaves; so much so that, the slave having committed a crime for which he had been condemned to death, the prince offered himself to die for the slave; the father, being jealous of justice, was satisfied to condemn his beloved son to death, in order that the slave might remain free from the punishment that he deserved: and thus the son died a malefactor's death, and the slave was freed from punishment.
This fact, the like of which has never happened in this world, and never will happen, is related in the Gospels, where we read that the Son of God, the Lord of the universe, seeing that man was condemned to eternal death in punishment of his sins, chose to take upon Himself human flesh , and thus to pay by His death the penalty due to man: He was offered because it was His own will (1). And His Eternal Father caused him to die upon the cross to save us miserable sinners : He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all (2) . What dost thou think, O devout soul , of this love of the Son and of the Father?
Thou didst, then , O my beloved Redeemer, choose by Thy death to sacrifice Thyself in order to obtain the pardon of my sins. And what return of gratitude shall I then make to Thee? Thou hast done too much to oblige me to love Thee; I should indeed be most ungrateful to Thee if I did not love Thee with my whole heart. Thou hast given for me Thy divine life; I , miserable sinner that I am, give Thee my own life . Yes, I will at least spend that period of life that remains to me only in loving Thee, obeying Thee, and pleasing Thee.
II.
O men, men! let us love this our Redeemer, who, being God, has not disdained to take upon Himself our sins, in order to satisfy by His sufferings for the chastisement which we have deserved: Surely He hath borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows (3).
St. Augustine says that our Lord in creating us formed us by virtue of His power, but in redeeming us He has saved us from death by means of His sufferings: "He created us in His strength; He sought us back in His weakness (4)."
How much do I not owe Thee, O Jesus my Saviour! Oh, if I were to give my blood a thousand times over, if I were to spend a thousand lives for Thee, --it would yet be nothing. Oh, how could any one that meditated much on the love which Thou hast shown him in Thy Passion, love anything else but Thee? Through the love with which Thou didst love us on the cross, grant me the grace to love Thee with my whole heart. I love Thee, infinite Goodness; I love Thee above every other good; and I ask nothing more of Thee but Thy holy love.
"But how is this?" continues St. Augustine. How is it possible, O Saviour of the world, that Thy love has arrived at such a height that when I had committed the crime, Thou shouldst have to pay the penalty? "Whither has Thy love reached? I have sinned; Thou art punished (5)."
And what could it then signify to Thee, adds St. Bernard, that we should lose ourselves and be chastised, as we well deserved to be ; that Thou shouldst choose to satisfy with Thy innocent flesh for our sins, and to die in order to deliver us from death! "O good Jesus, what doest Thou? We ought to have died, and it is Thou who diest. We have sinned and Thou sufferest. A deed without precedent, grace without merit, charity without measure (6)." O deed which never has had and never will have its match! O grace which we could never merit! O love which can never be understood!
III.
Isaias had already foretold that our blessed Redeemer should be condemned to death , and as an innocent lamb brought to the sacrifice: He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter (7). What a cause of wonder it must have been to the angels, O my God, to behold their innocent Lord led as a victim to be sacrificed on the altar of the cross for the love of man! And what a cause of horror to heaven and to hell, the sight of a God extended as an infamous criminal on a shameful gibbet for the sins of His creatures! Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (for it is written , Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree): that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ (8). "He was made a curse upon the cross," says St. Ambrose, "that thou mightest be blessed in the kingdom of God (9)."
O my dearest Saviour! Thou wert, then, content, in order to obtain for me the blessing of God, to embrace the dishonor of appearing upon the cross accursed in the sight of the whole world , and even forsaken in Thy sufferings by Thy Eternal Father, --a suffering which made Thee cry out with a loud voice, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me (10)? Yes, observes Simon of Cassia, it was for this end that Jesus was abandoned in His Passion in order that we might not remain abandoned in the sins which we have committed: "Therefore Christ was abandoned in His sufferings that we might not be abandoned in our guilt (11)." O prodigy of compassion! O excess of love of God towards men! And how can there be a soul who believes this, O my Jesus, and yet loves Thee not?
IV.
He hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood (12). Behold, O men, how far the love of Jesus for us has carried Him , in order to cleanse us from the filthiness of our sins. He has even shed every drop of His blood that He might prepare for us in this His own blood a bath of salvation: "He offers His own blood," says a learned writer, "speaking better than the blood of Abel: for that cried for justice; the blood of Christ for mercy (13)."
Whereupon St. Bonaventure exclaims, "O good Jesus, what hast Thou done (14)?" O my Saviour, what indeed hast Thou done? How far hath Thy love carried Thee? What hast Thou seen in me which hath made Thee love me so much? "Wherefore hast Thou loved me so much? Why, Lord, why? What am I (15)? " Wherefore didst Thou choose to suffer so much for me? Who am I that Thou wouldst win to Thyself my love at so dear a price? Oh, it was entirely the work of Thy in finite love! Be Thou eternally praised and blessed for it.
O all ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like to My sorrow (16). The same seraphic Doctor, considering these words of Jeremias as spoken of our blessed Redeemer while He was hanging on the cross dying for the love of us, says, " Yes, Lord , I will attend and see if there be any love like unto Thy love (17)." By which he means, I do indeed see and understand, O my most loving Redeemer, how much Thou didst suffer upon that infamous tree; but what most constrains me to love Thee is the thought of the affection which Thou hast shown me in suffering so much, in order that I might love Thee.
V.
That which most inflamed St. Paul with the love of Jesus was the thought that He chose to die, not only for all men, but for him in particular: He loved me, and delivered Himself up for me (18). Yes, He has loved me, said he, and for my sake He gave himself up to die. And thus ought every one of us to say; for St. John Chrysostom asserts that God has loved every individual man with the same love with which He has loved the world: "He loves each man separately with the same measure of charity with which He loves the whole world (19)." So that each one of us is under as great obligation to Jesus Christ for having suffered for every one, as if He had suffered for him alone.
F or supposing, my brother, Jesus Christ had died to save you alone, leaving all others to their original ruin , what a debt of gratitude you would owe to him! But you ought to feel that you owe Him a greater obligation still for having died for the salvation of all. For if he had died for you alone, what sorrow would it not have caused you to think that your neighbors, parents, brothers, and friends would be damned, and that you would, when this life was over, be forever separated from them? If you and your family had been slaves, and some one came to rescue you alone, how would you not entreat of him to save your parents and brothers together with yourself! And how much would you thank him if he did this to please you! Say, therefore, to Jesus:
O my sweetest Redeemer! Thou hast done this for me without my having asked Thee; Thou hast not only saved me from death at the price of Thy blood, but also my parents and friends, so that I may have a good hope that we may all together enjoy Thy presence forever in paradise. O Lord! I thank Thee, and I love Thee, and I hope to thank Thee for it, and to love Thee forever in that blessed country.
VI.
Who could ever, says St. Laurence Justinian, explain the love which the divine Word bears to each one of us, since it surpasses the love of every son towards his mother, and of every mother for her son? "The intense charity of the Word of God surpasses all maternal and filial love; neither can human words express how great his love is to each one of us (20)!" So much so, that our Lord revealed to St. Gertrude that He would be ready to die as many times as there were souls damned, if they were yet capable of redemption: "I would die as many deaths as there are souls in hell (21)."
O Jesus, O treasure more worthy of love than all others! why is it that men love Thee so little? Oh! do Thou make known what Thou hast suffered for each of them, the love that Thou bearest them , the desire Thou hast to be loved by them , and how worthy Thou art of being loved . Make Thyself known, O my Jesus, make Thyself loved .
VII.
I am the good shepherd, said our Redeemer; the good shepherd gives his life for his sheep (22). But, O my Lord, where are there in the world shepherds like unto Thee? Other shepherds will slay their sheep in order to preserve their own life. Thou, O too loving Shepherd, didst give Thy divine life in order to save the life of Thy beloved sheep. And of these sheep, I , O most amiable Shepherd, have the happiness to be one. What obligation, then, am I not under to love Thee, and to spend my life for Thee, since Thou hast died for the love of me in particular! And what confidence ought I not to have in Thy blood, knowing that it has been shed to pay the debt of my sins! And thou shalt say in that day, I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord. Behold, God is my Saviour; I will deal confidently, and will not fear (23). And how can I any longer mistrust Thy mercy, O my Lord, when I behold Thy wounds? Come, then , O sinners, and let us have recourse to Jesus, who hangs upon that cross as it were upon a throne of mercy. He has appeased the divine justice, which we had insulted. If we have offended God, He has done penance for us; all that is required for us is contrition for our sins. O my dearest Saviour, to what have Thy pity and love for me reduced Thee? The slave sins, and Thou, Lord , payest the penalty for him. If, therefore, I think of my sins, the thought of the punishment I deserve must make me tremble; but when I think of Thy death, I find I have more reason to hope than to fear. O blood of Jesus! thou art all my hope.
VIII.
But this blood, as it inspires us with confidence, also obliges us to give ourselves entirely to our Blessed Redeemer. The Apostle exclaims, Know you not that you are not your own? For you are bought with a great price (24).
Therefore, O my Jesus, I cannot any longer, without injustice, dispose of myself, or of my own concerns, since Thou hast made me Thine by purchasing me through Thy death. My body, my soul, my life are no longer mine; they are Thine, and entirely Thine. In Thee alone, therefore, will I hope. O my God, crucified and dead for me, I have nothing else to offer Thee but this soul, which Thou hast bought with Thy blood ; to Thee do I offer it. Accept of my love, for I desire nothing but Thee, my Saviour, my God, my love, my all. Hitherto I have shown much gratitude towards men; to Thee alone have I, alas! been most ungrateful. But now I love Thee, and I have no greater cause of sorrow than my having offended Thee. O my Jesus, give me confidence in Thy Passion; root out of my heart every affection that belongs not to Thee. I will love Thee alone, who dost deserve all my love, and who hast given me so much reason to love Thee. And who, indeed, could refuse to love Thee, when they see Thee, who art the beloved of the Eternal Father, dying so bitter and cruel a death for our sake? O Mary, O Mother of fair love, I pray thee, through the merits of thy burning heart, obtain for me the grace to live only in order to love thy Son, who, being in himself worthy of an infinite love, has chosen at so great a cost to acquire to Himself the love of a miserable sinner like me. O love of souls, O my Jesus! I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee; but still I love Thee too little. Oh, give me more love, give me flames that may make me live always burning with Thy love! I do not myself deserve it; but Thou dost well deserve it, О infinite Goodness. Amen. This I hope, so may it be. Amen
1. "Oblatus est, quia ipse voluit." --Isa. liii . 7.
2. Proprio Filio suo non pepercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit illum." --Rom . viii . 32 .
3. Vere languores nostros ipse tulit , et dolores nostros ipse portavit."--Isa . liii . 4 .
4. "Condidit nos fortitudine sua, quaesivit nos infirmitate sua."--In Jo. tr . 15.
5. Quo tuus attigit amor? Ego inique egi , tu poena mulctaris." --Medit. c. 7.
6. "O bone Jesu! quid tibi est? Mori nos debuimus, et tu solvis? Nos peccavimus, et tu luis?--Opus sine exemplo, gratia sine merito, charitas sine modo:'--Apud Lohn . Bibl. tit . 110, $ 3.
7. "Sicut ovis ad occisionem ducetur. "--Isa. liii . 7.
8. "Christus nos redemit de maledicto legis, factus pro nobis male. dictum, quia scriptum est : Maledictus omnis qui pendet in ligno ; ut in gentibus benedictio Abrahæ fieret in Christo Jesu."--Gal. iii . 13 .
9. "Ille maledictum in cruce factus est, ut tu benedictus esses in Dei regno."--t.pist. 47.
10. "Deus meus ! Deus meus ! ut quid dereliquisti me?"--Matt. xxvii . 46.
11. "Ideo Christus derelictus est in penis, ne nos derelinquamur in culpis." --Lib. xiii , de Pass. D.
12. "Dilexit nos, et lavit nos a peccatis nostris in sanguine suo."--Apoc. i . 5 .
13. "Offert sanguinem melius clamantem quam Abel ; quia iste justitiam, sanguis Christi misericordiam interpellabat."--Contens. 1. 10, d . 4, c. 1 , sp. 1 .
14. "O bone Jesu! quid fecisti?"
15. "Quid me tantum amasti? quare, Domine, quare? quid sum ego?"--Stim . div. am. p. I , C. 13.
16. " O vos omnes qui transitis per viam! attendite , et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus."--Lam . i . 12.
17. "Imo, Domine, attendam , et videbo si est amor sicut amor tuus, "
18. "Dilexit me, et tradidit semetipsum pro mene."--Gal. ii . 20.
19. " Adeo singulum quemque hominum pari charitatis modo diligit, quo diligit universum orbem."--In Gal. ii . 20.
20. "Praecellit omnem maternum ac filialem affectum Verbi Dei immensa charitas; neque humano valet explicare eloquio, quo circa unumquemque moveatur amore."--De Tr. Chr. Ag. c . 5 .
21. "Toties morerer, quot sunt animae in inferno."--Rev. 1. 7 , c . 19.
22. " Ego sum Pastor bonus. Bonus Pastor animam suam dat pro ovibus suis."--John , x . 11 .
23. " Et dices in die illa: Confitebor tibi , Domine! . . . Ecce Deus Salvator meus; fiducialiter agam, et non timebo."--Isa. xii . 1 .
24. "An nescitis quoniam . . . non estis vestri? Empti enim estis pretio magno."--1 Cor . vi . 19.
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| St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori: A Meditation on Paradise for the Paschal Season |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-18-2022, 06:28 AM - Forum: Articles by Catholic authors
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The Joys of Heaven
I.
Oh, happy are we if we suffer with patience on earth the troubles of this present life! Distress of circumstances, fears, bodily infirmities, persecutions and crosses of every kind, will one day come to an end; and if we be saved, they will all become for us subjects of joy and glory in paradise: Your sorrow (says the Saviour, to encourage us) shall be turned into joy.
So great are the delights of paradise, that they can neither be explained nor understood by us mortals: Eye hath not seen (says the Apostle), nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for those who love Him. Beauties like the beauties of paradise, eye hath never seen; harmonies like unto the harmonies of paradise, ear hath never heard; nor hath ever human heart gained the comprehension of the joys which God hath prepared for those who love Him.
Beautiful is the sight of a landscape adorned with hills, plains, woods and views of the sea. Beautiful is the sight of a garden abounding with fruit, flowers and fountains. Oh, how much more beautiful is paradise!
II.
To understand how great the joys of paradise are, it is enough to know that in that blessed realm resides a God Omnipotent, Whose care is to render happy His beloved souls. St. Bernard says that paradise is a place where “there is nothing that thou wouldst not, and everything that thou wouldst.” There shalt thou not find anything that is displeasing to thyself, and everything thou dost desire thou shalt find: “There is nothing that thou wouldst not.” In paradise there is no night; no seasons of winter and summer; but one perpetual day of unvaried serenity, and one perpetual spring of unvaried delight.
No more persecutions, no jealousies are there; for there do all in sincerity love one another, and each rejoices in each other’s good, as if it were his own. No more bodily infirmities, no pains are there, for the body is no longer subject to suffering; no poverty is there, for everyone is rich to the full, not having anything more to desire; no more fears are there, for the soul being confirmed in grace can sin no more, nor lose that supreme good which it possesses.
III.
“There is everything that thou wouldst.” “Nihil est nolis, totum est quod velis.” In paradise thou shalt have whatsoever thou desirest. There the sight is satisfied in beholding that city so beautiful and its citizens all clothed in royal apparel, for they are all kings of that everlasting kingdom.
There shall we see the beauty of Mary, whose appearance will be more beautiful than that of all the Angels and Saints together.
We shall see the Beauty of Jesus, which will immeasurably surpass the beauty of Mary.
Smell will be satisfied with the perfumes of paradise. Hearing will be satisfied with the harmonies of heaven and the canticles of the blessed, who will all with ravishing sweetness sing the divine praises for all eternity.
Ah, my God, I deserve not paradise, but hell; yet Thy death gives me a hope of obtaining it. I desire and ask paradise of Thee, not so much in order to enjoy, as in order to love Thee everlastingly, secure that it will never more be possible for me to lose Thee.
O Mary, my Mother, O Star of the Sea, it is for thee, by thy prayers, to conduct me to paradise.
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| St. Bernadette’s Incorrupt Relics Tour the U.S. for the First Time Ever |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-17-2022, 07:08 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Very Novus Ordo-y but important nonetheless...
St. Bernadette’s Incorrupt Relics Tour the U.S. for the First Time Ever
![[Image: bernadette-tour-700x438.jpg]](https://www.churchpop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/bernadette-tour-700x438.jpg)
Church Pop | Apr 8, 2022
This is so exciting!
The incorrupt relics of St. Bernadette Soubirous will travel through the United States for the first time ever this year. The tour began in Miami, Fla. on April 7, 2022 and will conclude on Aug. 4, 2022 in Los Angeles, Calif.
The relics will visit several additional states, including Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.
Click here for the full itinerary.
The website explains that the Sisters of Nevers distributed the relics “to various houses of their congregation.”
The relic traveling in a reliquary to the United States is an ex-carne (from the flesh) relic.
Rector of the Sanctuary of Lourdes Olivier Ribadeau Dumas expressed deep joy and enthusiasm for this U.S. tour of St. Bernadette’s relics.
He says he “deeply rejoices in this pilgrimage,” where “this little Bernadette, in her simplicity, in her joy, who is coming to join you, who is coming to invite you to pray to the Virgin Mary in complete trust, to renew your confidence in the one who became the handmaid of the Lord.”
Here’s his video below:
The website also says the faithful may obtain a plenary indulgence through the veneration of the relics, along with following the three usual conditions: receiving sacramental confession, holy communion, and praying for the Holy Father, as well as detaching oneself from all sin.
Here’s a video of the relics entering the first U.S. Church – Our Lady of Lourdes in Miami.
St. Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes, please pray for us!
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| St. John Chrysostom: Homily on "Father, if it be possible..." |
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Posted by: Stone - 04-16-2022, 07:55 PM - Forum: Fathers of the Church
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Against Marcionists and Manichæans
On the passage Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will but as you will: and against Marcionists and Manichæans: also, that we ought not to rush into danger, but to prefer the will of God before every other will.
1. I lately inflicted a severe stroke upon those who are grasping and wish to overreach others; I did this not in order to wound them but in order to correct them; not because I hate the men, but because I detest their wickedness. For so the physician also lances the abscess, not as making an attack upon the suffering body, but as a means of contending with the disorder and the wound. Well today let us grant them a little respite, that they may recover from their distress, and not recoil from the remedy by being perpetually afflicted. Physicians also act thus; after the use of the knife they apply plasters and drugs, and let a few days pass while they devise things to allay the pain. Following their example let me today, devising means for them to derive benefit from my discourse, start a question concerning doctrine, directing my speech to the words which have been read. For I imagine that many feel perplexed as to the reason why these words were uttered by Christ: and it is probable also that any heretics who are present may pounce upon the words, and thereby upset many of the more simple-minded brethren.
In order then to build a wall against their attack and to relieve those who are in perplexity from bewilderment and confusion, let us take in hand the words which have been cited, and dwell upon the passage, and dive into the depths of its meanings. For reading does not suffice unless knowledge also be added to it. Even as the eunuch of Candace read, but until one came who instructed him in the meaning of what he was reading he derived no great benefit from it. In order therefore that you may not be in the same condition attend to what is said, exert your understanding, let me have your mind disengaged from other thoughts, let your eye be quick-sighted, your intention earnest: let your soul be set free from worldly cares, that we may not sow our words upon the thorns, or upon the rock, or by the way side, but that we may till a deep and rich field, and so reap an abundant harvest. For if you thus attend to what is said you will render my labour lighter and facilitate the discovery of that which you are seeking.
What then is the meaning of the passage which has been read Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me? What does the saying mean? For we ought to unlock the passage by first giving a clear interpretation of the words. What then does the saying mean? Father if it be possible take away the cross. How do you say? Is he ignorant whether this be possible or impossible? Who would venture to say this? Yet the words are those of one who is ignorant: for the addition of the word if, is indicative of doubt: but as I said we must not attend to the words merely, but turn our attention to the sense, and learn the aim of the speaker, and the cause and the occasion, and by putting all these things together turn out the hidden meaning. The unspeakable Wisdom then, who knows the Father even as the Father knows the Son, how should he have been ignorant of this? For this knowledge concerning His passion was not greater than the knowledge concerning His essential nature, which He alone accurately knew. For as the Father knows me He says even so know I the Father. John 10:15 And why do I speak of the only begotten Son of God? For even the prophets appear not to have been ignorant of this fact, but to have known it clearly, and to have declared beforehand with much assurance that so it must come to pass, and would certainly be.
Hear at least how variously all announce the cross. First of all the patriarch Jacob: for directing his discourse to Him he says Out of a tender shoot did you spring up: by the word shoot signifying the Virgin and the undefiled nature of Mary. Then indicating the cross he said You lied down and slumber as a lion, and as a lion's cub; who shall raise him up? Ibid Here he called death a slumbering and a sleep, and with death he combined the resurrection when he said who shall raise him up? No one indeed save he himself — wherefore also Christ said I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again, John 10:18 and again Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. John 2:19 And what is meant by the words you lied down and slumber as a lion? For as the lion is terrible not only when he is awake but even when he is sleeping, so Christ also not only before the cross but also on the cross itself and in the very moment of death was terrible, and wrought at that time great miracles, turning back the light of the sun, cleaving the rocks, shaking the earth, rending the veil, alarming the wife of Pilate, convicting Judas of sin, for then he said I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood; Matthew 27:4 and the wife of Pilate declared Have nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things in a dream because of Him. Matthew 27:19 The darkness took possession of the earth, and night appeared at midday, then death was brought to nought, and his tyranny was destroyed: many bodies at least of the saints which slept arose. These things the patriarch declaring beforehand, and demonstrating that, even when crucified, Christ would be terrible, said you lied down and slumber as a lion. He did not say you shall slumber but you slumbered, because it would certainly come to pass. For it is the custom of the prophets in many places to predict things to come as if they were already past. For just as it is impossible that things which have happened should not have happened, so is it impossible that this should not happen, although it be future. On this account they predict things to come under the semblance of past time, indicating by this means the impossibility of their failure, the certainty of their coming to pass. So also spoke David, signifying the cross; They pierced my hands and my feet. He did not say they shall pierce but they pierced they counted all my bones. And not only does he say this, but he also describes the things which were done by the soldiers. They parted my garments among themselves, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And not only this but he also relates they gave Him gall to eat, and vinegar to drink. For he says they gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. And again another one says that they smote him with a spear, for they shall look on Him whom they pierced. Zechariah 12:10 Esaias again in another fashion predicting the cross said He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, so opens he not his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away. Isaiah 53:7-8
2. Now observe I pray how each one of these writers speaks as if concerning things already past, signifying by the use of this tense the absolute inevitable certainty of the event. So also David, describing this tribunal, said, Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? The Kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. And not only does he mention the trial, and the cross, and the incidents on the cross, but also him who betrayed him, declaring that he was his familiar companion and . For, he says, he that eats bread with me did magnify his heel against me. Thus also does he foretell the voice which Christ was to utter on the cross saying My God, My God why have you forsaken me? and the burial also does he describe: They laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, and in the shadow of death. And the resurrection: you shall not leave my soul in hell, neither shall you suffer your Holy One to see corruption; and the ascension: God has gone up with a merry noise, the Lord with the sound of the trump. And the session on the right hand: The Lord said to my Lord sit thou on my right hand until I make your foes your footstool. But Esaias also declares the cause; saying, for the transgressions of my people is He brought to death, Isaiah 53:8 and because all have strayed like sheep, therefore is he sacrificed. Isaiah 53:6-7 Then also he adds mention of the result, saying by his stripes we have all been healed: Isaiah 53:5 and he has borne the sins of many. Isaiah 53:12 The prophets then knew the cross, and the cause of the cross and that which was effected by it, and the burial and the resurrection, and the ascension, and the betrayal, and the trial, and described them all with accuracy: and is He who sent them and commanded them to speak these things ignorant of them Himself? What reasonable man would say that? Do you see that we must not attend merely to the words? For this is not the only perplexing passage, but what follows is more perplexing. For what does He say? Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me. Here he will be found to speak not only as if ignorant, but as if deprecating the cross: For this is what He says. If it be permissible let me not be subjected to crucifixion and death. And yet when Peter, the leader of the apostles, said this to Him, Be it far from you Lord, this shall not happen unto You, He rebuked him so severely as to say; get you behind me Satan, you are an offense unto me, for you savour not the things which be of God, but those which be of men: Matthew 16:22-23 although a short time before he had pronounced him blessed. But to escape crucifixion seemed to Him so monstrous a thing, that him who had received the revelation from the Father, him whom He had pronounced blessed, him who had received the keys of Heaven, He called Satan, and an offense, and accused him of not savouring the things which be of God because he said to Him, Be it far from you Lord, this shall never be unto You— namely crucifixion. He then who thus vituperated the disciple, and poured such an invective upon him as actually to call him Satan (after having bestowed such great praise on him), because he said avoid crucifixion, how could He desire not to be crucified? And how after these things when drawing the picture of the good shepherd could He declare this to be the special proof of his virtue, that he should be sacrificed for the sake of the sheep, thus saying, I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep? John 10:11 Nor did He even stop there, but also added, but he that is an hireling and not the shepherd sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep, and flees. John 10:12 If then it is the sign of the good shepherd to sacrifice himself, and of the hireling to be unwilling to undergo this, how can He who calls Himself the good shepherd beseech that he may not be sacrificed? And how could He say I lay down my life of myself? For if you lay down your life of yourself, how can you beseech another that you may not lay it down? And how is it that Paul marvels at Him on account of this declaration, saying Who being in the form of God counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Philippians 2:6-8 And He Himself again speaks in this wise, For this cause does my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. John 10:17 For if He does not desire to lay it down, but deprecates the act, and beseeches the Father, how is it that He is loved on this account? For love is of those who are like minded. And how does Paul say again Love one another even as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us? Ephesians 5:2 And Christ Himself when He was about to be crucified said Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son, John 17:1 speaking of the cross as glory: and how then does He deprecate it here when He urges it there? For that the cross is glory listen to what the evangelist says the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:39 Now the hearing of this expression is grace was not yet given because the enmity towards men was not yet destroyed by reason that the cross had not yet done its work. For the cross destroyed the enmity of God towards man, brought about the reconciliation, made the earth Heaven, associated men with angels, pulled down the citadel of death, unstrung the force of the devil, extinguished the power of sin, delivered the world from error, brought back the truth, expelled the Demons, destroyed temples, overturned altars, suppressed the sacrificial offering, implanted virtue, founded the Churches. The cross is the will of the Father, the glory of the Son, the rejoicing of the Spirit, the boast of Paul, for, he says, God forbid that I should boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6:14 The cross is that which is brighter than the sun, more brilliant than the sunbeam: for when the sun is darkened then the cross shines brightly: and the sun is darkened not because it is extinguished, but because it is overpowered by the brilliancy of the cross. The cross has broken our bond, it has made the prison of death ineffectual, it is the demonstration of the love of God. For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that every one who believes in Him should not perish. John 3:16 And again Paul says If being enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Romans 5:10 The cross is the impregnable wall, the invulnerable shield, the safeguard of the rich, the resource of the poor, the defense of those who are exposed to snares, the armour of those who are attacked, the means of suppressing passion, and of acquiring virtue, the wonderful and marvellous sign. For this generation seeks after a sign: and no sign shall be given it save the sign of Jonas; Matthew 12:39 and again Paul says, for the Jews ask for a sign and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. 1 Corinthians 1:22 The cross opened Paradise, it brought in the robber, it conducted into the kingdom of Heaven the race of man which was about to perish, and was not worthy even of earth. So great are the benefits which have sprung and do spring from the cross, and yet does He not desire to be crucified I ask? Who would venture to say this? And if He did not desire it who compelled Him, who forced Him to it? And why did He send prophets beforehand announcing that He would be crucified, if He was not to be, and did not wish to undergo it? And for what reason does He call the cross a cup, if He did not desire to be crucified? For that is the word of one who signifies the desire which he has concerning the act. For as the cup is sweet to those who are thirsty so also was crucifixion to Him: wherefore also He said With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you, Luke 22:15 and this He meant not absolutely, but relatively, because after that evening the cross was awaiting Him.
3. He then who calls the thing glory, and rebukes the disciple because he was trying to hinder Him, and proves that what constitutes the good shepherd is his sacrificing himself on behalf of the sheep, and declares that he earnestly longs for this thing, and willingly goes to meet it, how is it that He beseeches it may not come to pass? And if He did not wish it what difficulty was there in hindering those who came for that purpose? But in fact you behold Him hastening towards the deed. At least when they came upon Him He said Whom do you seek? and they replied Jesus. Then He says to them Lo! I am He: and they went backward and fell to the ground. John 18:6 Thus having first crippled them and proved that He was able to escape their hands, He then surrendered Himself, that you might learn that not by compulsion or force, or the tyrannical power of those who attacked Him, did He unwillingly submit to this, but willingly with purpose and desire, preparing for it a long time before. Therefore also were prophets sent beforehand, and patriarchs foretold the events, and by means of words and deeds the cross was prefigured. For the sacrifice of Isaac also signified the cross to us: wherefore also Christ said Abraham your father rejoiced to see my glory and he saw it and was glad. John 8:56 The patriarch then was glad beholding the image of the cross, and does He Himself deprecate it? Thus Moses also prevailed over Amalek when he displayed the figure of the cross: and one may observe countless things happening in the Old Testament descriptive by anticipation of the cross. For what reason then was this the case if He who was to be crucified did not wish it to come to pass? And the sentence which follows this is yet more perplexing. For having said Let this cup pass from me He added nevertheless not as I will but as You will. Matthew 26:39 For herein as far as the actual expression is concerned we find two wills opposed to one another: if at least the Father desires Him to be crucified, but He Himself does not desire it. And yet we everywhere behold Him desiring and purposing the same things as the Father. For when He says grant to them, as I and Thou are one that they also may be one in us, John 17:11 it is equivalent to saying that the purpose of the Father and of the Son is one. And when He says The words which I speak I speak not myself, but the Father which dwells in me, He does these works, John 14:10 He indicates the same thing. And when He says I have not come of myself John 7:28 and I can of my own self do nothing John 5:30 he does not say this as signifying that He has been deprived of authority, either to speak or to act (away with the thought!), but as desiring to prove the concord of his purpose, both in words and deeds, and in every kind of transaction, to be one and the same with the Father, as I have already frequently demonstrated. For the expression I speak not of myself is not an abrogation of authority but a demonstration of agreement. How then does He say here Nevertheless not as I will but as You will? Perhaps I have excited a great conflict in your mind, but be on the alert: for although many words have been uttered I know well that your zeal is still fresh: for the discourse is now hastening on to the solution. Why then has this form of speech been employed? Attend carefully, The doctrine of the incarnation was very hard to receive. For the exceeding measure of His lovingkindness and the magnitude of His condescension were full of awe, and needed much preparation to be accepted. For consider what a great thing it was to hear and to learn that God the ineffable, the incorruptible, the unintelligible, the invisible, the incomprehensible, in whose hand are the ends of the earth, who looks upon the earth, and causes it to tremble, who touches the mountains, and makes them smoke, the weight of whose condescension not even the Cherubim were able to bear but veiled their faces by the shelter of their wings, that this God who surpasses all understanding, and baffles all calculation, having passed by angels, archangels, and all the spiritual powers above, deigned to become man, and to take flesh formed of earth and clay, and enter the womb of a virgin, and be borne there the space of nine months, and be nourished with milk, and suffer all things to which man is liable. Inasmuch then as that which was to happen was so strange as to be disbelieved by many even when it had taken place, He first of all sends prophets beforehand, announcing this very fact. For instance the patriarch predicted it saying You sprang from a tender shoot my son: you lied down and slumber as a lion; Genesis 49:9 and Esaias saying Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call His name Emmanuel; Isaiah 7:14 and elsewhere again We beheld Him as a young child, as a root in a dry ground; Isaiah 53:2 and by the dry ground he means the virgin's womb. And again unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, Isaiah 9:6 and again there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall spring out of his root. Isaiah 11:1 And Baruch in the book of Jeremiah says this is our God: no other shall be reckoned by the side of Him: He found out every path of knowledge and gave it to Jacob His servant, and Israel his beloved. After these things also He appeared upon the earth, and held converse with men. And David signifying His incarnate presence said He shall come down like the rain into a fleece of wool, and like the drop which distills upon the earth because He noiselessly and gently entered into the Virgin's womb.
4. But these proofs alone did not suffice, but even when He had come, lest what had taken place should be deemed an illusion, He warranted the fact not only by the sight but by duration of time and by passing through all the phases incident to man. For He did not enter once for all into a man matured and completely developed, but into a virgin's womb, so as to undergo the process of gestation and birth and suckling and growth, and by the length of the time and the variety of the stages of growth to give assurance of what had come to pass. And not even here were the proofs concluded, but even when bearing about the body of flesh He suffered it to experience the infirmities of human nature and to be hungry, and thirsty, and to sleep and feel fatigue; finally also when He came to the cross He suffered it to undergo the pains of the flesh. For this reason also streams of sweat flowed down from it and an angel was discovered strengthening it, and He was sad and down-cast: for before He uttered these words He said my soul is troubled, and exceeding sorrowful ever unto death. Matthew 26:38 If then after all these things have taken place the wicked mouth of the devil speaking through Marcion of Pontus, and Valentinus, and Manichæus of Persia and many more heretics, has attempted to overthrow the doctrine of the Incarnation and has vented a diabolical utterance declaring that He did not become flesh, nor was clothed with it, but that this was mere fancy, and illusion, a piece of acting and pretence, although the sufferings, the death, the burial, the thirst, cry aloud against this teaching; supposing that none of these things had happened would not the devil have sown these wicked doctrines of impiousness much more widely? For this reason, just as He hungered, as He slept, as He felt fatigue, as He ate and drank, so also did He deprecate death, thereby manifesting his humanity, and that infirmity of human nature which does not submit without pain to be torn from this present life. For had He not uttered any of these things, it might have been said that if He were a man He ought to have experienced human feelings. And what are these? In the case of one about to be crucified, fear and agony, and pain in being torn from present life: for a sense of the charm which surrounds present things is implanted in human nature: on this account wishing to prove the reality of the fleshly clothing, and to give assurance of the incarnation He manifests the actual feelings of man with full demonstration.
This is one consideration, but there is another no less important. And what is this? Christ having come to earth wished to instruct men in all virtue: now the instructor teaches not only by word, but also by deed: for this is the teacher's best method of teaching. A pilot for instance when he makes the apprentice sit by his side shows him how he handles the rudder, but he also joins speech to action, and does not depend upon words alone or example alone: in like manner also an architect when he has placed by his side the man who is intended to learn from him how a wall is constructed, shows him the way by means of action as well as by means of oral teaching; so also with the weaver, and embroiderer, and gold refiner, and coppersmith — and every kind of art has teachers who instruct both orally and practically. Inasmuch then as Christ Himself came to instruct us in all virtue, He both tells us what ought to be done, and does it. For, he says, he who does and teaches the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:19 Now observe; He commanded men to be lowly-minded, and meek, and He taught this by His words: but see how He also teaches it by His deeds. For having said Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, Matthew 5:3-4 He shows how these virtues ought to be practised. How then did He teach them? He took a towel and girded Himself and washed the disciples' feet. John 13:4-5 What can match this lowliness of mind? For He teaches this virtue no longer by His words only but also by His deeds. Again He teaches meekness and forbearance by His acts. How so? He was struck on the face by the servant of the high priest, and said If I have spoken evil bear witness of the evil: but if well why do you smite me? John 18:23 He commanded men to pray for their enemies: this also again He teaches by means of His acts: for when He had ascended the cross He said Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34 As therefore He commanded men to pray so does He Himself pray, instructing you to do so by his own unflagging utterances of prayer. Again He commanded us to do good to those who hate us, and to deal fairly with those who treat us despitefully: Matthew 5:44 and this He did by his own acts: for he cast devils out of the Jews, who said that He Himself was possessed by a devil, He bestowed benefits on His persecutors, He fed those who were forming designs against Him, He conducted into His kingdom those who were desiring to crucify Him. Again He said to His disciples Get you no gold nor silver neither brass in your purses, Matthew 10:9 thus training them for poverty: and this also He taught by His example, thus saying, Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has not where to lay His head. Matthew 8:20 And He had neither table nor dwelling nor anything else of that kind: not because He was at a loss to obtain them, but because He was instructing men to go in that path. After the same manner then he taught them also to pray. They said to Him Teach us to pray. Luke 11:1 Therefore also He prays, in order that they may learn to pray. But it was necessary for them not merely to learn to pray but also how they ought to pray: for this reason He delivered to them a prayer in this form: Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come: Your will be done, as in Heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread: and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors: and lead us not into temptation: Luke 11:2-4 that is into danger, into snares. Since then He commanded them to pray lead us not into temptation, He instructs them in this very precept by putting it in practice Himself, saying Father if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me, thus teaching all the saints not to plunge into dangers, not to fling themselves into them but to wait for their approach, and to exhibit all possible courage, only not to rush forwards themselves, or to be the first to advance against terrors. Why so, pray? Both to teach us lowliness of mind, and also to deliver us from the charge of vainglory. On this account it is said also in this passage that when He had spoken these words He went away and prayed: and after He had prayed He speaks thus to His disciples Could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. Matthew 26:39-41 Do you see He not only prays but also admonishes? For the Spirit indeed is willing, He said, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26:41 Now this He said by way of emptying their soul of vanity, and delivering them from pride, teaching them self-restraint, training them to practice moderation. Therefore the prayer which He wished to teach them, He Himself also offered, speaking after the manner of men, not according to His Godhead (for the divine nature is impassable) but according to His manhood. And He prayed as instructing us to pray, and even to seek deliverance from distress; but, if this be not permitted, then to acquiesce in what seems good to God. Therefore He said Nevertheless not as I will but as You will: not because He had one will and the Father another; but in order that He might instruct men even if they were in distress and trembling, even if danger came upon them, and they were unwilling to be torn from present life, nevertheless to postpone their own will to the will of God: even as Paul also when he had been instructed practically exhibited both these principles; for he besought that temptations might be removed from him, thus saying For this thing I besought the Lord thrice: 2 Corinthians 12:8 and yet since it did not please God to remove it, he says Wherefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in insults, in persecutions. 2 Corinthians 12:10 But perhaps what I have said is not quite clear: therefore I will make it clearer. Paul incurred many dangers and prayed that he might not be exposed to them. Then he heard Christ saying my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9 As soon then as he saw what the will of God was, he in future submitted his will to God's will. By means of this prayer then Christ taught both these truths, that we should not plunge into dangers, but rather pray that we may not fall into them; but if they come upon us we should bear them bravely, and postpone our own will to the will of God. Knowing these things then let us pray that we may never enter into temptation: but if we do enter it let us beseech God to give us patience and courage, and let us honour His will in preference to every will of our own. For then we shall pass through this present life with safety, and shall obtain the blessings to come: which may we all receive by the favour and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom be to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, glory, might, honour, now and for ever world without end. Amen.
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