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  The Sin Unto Death by Cardinal Henry Manning
Posted by: Stone - 10-24-2021, 06:24 AM - Forum: Articles by Catholic authors - No Replies

The Sin Unto Death
by Cardinal Henry Manning, 1874

[Image: The%20Sins%20Unto%20Death.jpg]

If any man shall see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and life shall be given unto him that sinneth not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say for that any man shall ask. All iniquity is sin, and there is a sin unto death. 1 S. John V. 16, 17.


From the written Word of God it is clear, beyond controversy, that some sins are unto death, and some sins are not unto death. That is to say, that some sins are mortal, and some sins are not mortal.

Our next subject, as I said, is mortal sin. But before I enter upon it, I wish to recall to your memories the general principles already laid down. First, we know that the end of man is God; that God made man for Himself; that He made him to His own likeness; that He made him capable of knowing, loving, and serving Him, and of being like to God; and that in the knowledge, the love, and the service, and the likeness of God, is the bliss of man. Therefore conformity to God is our perfection, and union with God is eternal life; but deformity, or departure from the likeness of God, is sin, and separation from God is eternal death. The nature of sin is, as we have defined it, the transgression of the law of God; or, in other words, any thought, word, or deed deliberately committed with the knowledge of the intellect, and the consent of the will, contrary to the will of God; or, in other words again, it is the variance of the created will against the uncreated will--of the will of the creature against the will of the Creator. The essential malice of sin, then, consists in the variance of the will, the hostility of the will of the creature against the will of his Maker. These were the principles which I laid down last time. We will now take them up again, and make application of them in one particular point.

Saint John, in the words with which I began, tells us that if any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he ought to pray for him. Now what are the sins that are not unto death? Sins of infirmity; sins of impetuosity; sins of strong temptation; sins which by the subtilty of Satan lead men astray; sins of passion, in which human nature, being weak and tempestuous and liable to disorder, is drawn aside: if in all these there be no malice, either against God, or against our neighbour. Now these are sins which all Christians are liable to commit, and do commit, and which, without doubt, you yourselves are profoundly conscious of committing. These are sins not unto death, as we may trust, because if there be no malice against God or our neighbour, then the essential sinfulness of sin is wanting; and in that case, Saint John says, 'Let him pray for him, and God will give life unto those that sin not unto death;' that is to say, He will give grace, sorrow, pardon, help, protection, and perseverance. He will watch over those souls if in humility and in sorrow they persevere; and the prayer of those who are faithful and steadfast will obtain grace for those that sin not unto death.

Then he goes on: 'There is a sin unto death: for that I say not that any man should ask that is, that any man should pray. Now what is this sin unto death? The sin of Judas was a sin unto death. With his eyes open, with a knowledge of his Master,--though perhaps he did not know of the mystery of the Incarnation as we know it now; nevertheless he knew enough,--he sold his Master, and yet perhaps not knowing that he sold Him to be crucified. This, then, was a sin unto death. The sin of Simon Magus was a blasphemy and a sin unto death. The sin of those that blaspheme the Holy Ghost, which shall never be forgiven, is a sin unto death. The sin of apostates from the faith, who, having known the truth, and having had the full light and illumination to know God, afterwards fall from Him, is described by Saint Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where he says, 'It is impossible for those who have been once enlightened, and have tasted of the Heavenly Gift, and of the good Word of God, and of the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to be renewed again unto repentance (Heb. vi. 6).'

In one word, all who are impenitent sin unto death. All those who, having had full light and knowledge of God in His revelation, with their eyes open, turn from it, of whom Saint John says, 'They went out from us because they were not of us; for if they had been of us, without doubt they would have continued with us (1 St. John ii. 10)'--all these who so sin, sin unto death, and are left to the judgment of God. Saint John in these words does not forbid us to pray; he says, 'I do not say'--that is, 'I do not enjoin it.' He leaves it to the conscience of every man. He says of those who sin not unto death, that 'we have all confidence we may obtain pardon and grace for them;' but for those who do sin unto death as I have described, 'we have no such confidence, and therefore, though I do not enjoin it, I do not forbid it.'

Then he goes on to say, 'All iniquity is sin.' Now iniquity means all departure from the rectitude of God and of the law of God. Iniquity is inequality, or crookedness. Everything that is not conformed to the rectitude of God, to His perfections, to His law, and to His will, is sin. 'And there is a sin unto death.' We have here a distinction of those sins which are and those which are not mortal. My purpose now is very roughly to define what it is that constitutes this distinction; and secondly, to show what are the effects of this mortal sin which is unto death.

As I have said before, to constitute a mortal sin it is necessary that the man who commits it should know what he does--there must be a knowledge of the intellect; if not, the sin is only, as I then said, a material sin, and not a formal sin, unless his ignorance be a culpable and guilty ignorance. Next, he must not only know that he is doing wrong, but his will must consent to the wrong-doing. Thirdly, he must know and consent deliberately, with such an advertence or attention to what he is about as to make him conscious of his action. A man who should transgress the law of God in the least possible way would fulfil these three conditions. It would be a transgression of the law of God if I should take an apple off the tree of my neighbour without his leave. It was his: I had not a right to take it, and I thereby broke the commandment, 'Thou shalt not steal;' but that certainly would not be a sin unto death. It became a sin unto death when a divine prohibition was laid upon such an act under pain of death, and that the pain of eternal death; but where there is no such command laid under pain of death, it is quite clear that the taking of an apple would not constitute a sin unto death.

Therefore it is necessary that there should be a gravity in the matter of the sin; and the gravity of that matter will be constituted in one of two ways--it is either the material gravity, that is, the extent, or amount, or quantity of the sin committed; or it is the moral gravity derived from the circumstances of the case. An illustration will at once make this clear. If I were to rob a man of a very large amount of his property, no one would doubt for an instant that I had committed a sin unto death, or a mortal sin. The common sense of mankind, the instincts of justice, would at once pronounce against me. If I were to take a needle from some rich person, the instincts of justice would Aquit me of a sin unto death. I have taken that which did not belong to me, but no one would say that, in taking that needle from the rich man, who could obtain an abundant supply of needles, I had committed a sin unto death. No. But suppose that needle belonged to a poor seamstress, who gained her daily bread by the industrious use of that one needle, and that she had not the means to buy another; and that if she were robbed of it, her industry must cease, and she could no longer gain her bread; and that I knew all those facts; and that, with my eyes open, knowing the extent of the injury I was doing, in violation of the law of charity, as well as of the law of justice, I should take that needle with a perfect consciousness that I was destroying the means of industry and reducing her to hunger. You see at once that there is a moral guilt which arises from these circumstances. Suppose, still further, that I myself were jealous of her prosperity, being of the same trade or calling, and that I take the needle in order to ruin her for my own advantage. You see, therefore, that in so small a theft as the stealing of a needle there may be an enormity of moral guilt. It is not enough then that there should be the knowledge of the intellect, and the consent of the will to the action, unless the matter in which that action is committed shall be of a grave kind, either materially or morally, before God.

There are seven capital sins, the names of which you all know. First of all there is pride, which separates the soul from God; secondly, there is envy, or jealousy, which separates a man from his neighbour; thirdly, there is sloth, which is a burden pressing down the powers of man, so that he becomes weary of his duty towards God, and forsakes Him; fourthly, there is avarice, which plunges a man deep into the mire of this world, so that he makes it to be his god; fifthly, there is gluttony, which makes a sensual fool; sixthly, there is anger, which makes a man a slave to himself; and lastly, there is impurity, which makes a man a slave of the devil. In those seven kinds there are seven ways of eternal death; and all those who, with their eyes open, with the knowledge of the intellect, and the full consent of the will, commit sin in any of those seven kinds, are walking in the way towards sin unto death.

1. We come now to the effects. The first effect of one mortal sin is to strike the soul dead. The grace of God is the life of the soul as the soul is the life of the body; and one sin unto death, in any one of the kinds that I have spoken of, strikes the soul dead. The soul dies at once, and on the spot; not as the tree which is blasted by the lightning and dies gradually day after day; first in the leader, then it begins to die in the branches, and then it dies in the trunk, and then it dies in the root. This is a slow process, but not so with the soul. One single sin unto death strikes the soul dead at once, and that for this reason: the grace of God is the life of the soul, and one mortal sin separates the soul from God. The holy angels, when they were created, lived in the presence of God, though they did not as yet see the face of God. They were on probation. Every creature depends on God in two ways: he needs the support of God for his existence; and of the grace of God for his sanctification. If God were not present with us at this moment in our physical life we should die. If He were not in this building, the walls of it would vanish. So it was with the angels in their first state of bliss. It was the assistance of God which sustained them in their being as pure intelligences, spotless in their innocence, excellent in their strength, surpassing in their energy. 'He maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire (Heb. i. 7.).' They also needed grace. The angels were holy just as we are holy, because the Holy Ghost was with them; and all the actions of the angelic perfection were sustained by an actual grace and help of God, just like our own. By one sin--one sin unto death--and that a sin of pride, purely spiritual, they fell and died eternally and without redemption; and as S. Jude writes: 'Leaving their habitations, were cast down into darkness and everlasting chains until the day of judgment (St. Jude 6.).'

As it was with the angelic natures, so it was with man. God, when He created man, constituted him, as I said before, with three perfections--the perfection of nature, that is, of body and soul; the supernatural perfection or the indwelling of the Holy Ghost and of sanctification; and the preternatural perfection or the perfect harmony of the soul in itself and with God; and the immortality of the body. These three perfections, natural, supernatural, and preternatural, make up what is called original justice; and in that state man was constituted when he was created. But by one sin of disobedience, with his eyes open, with the consent of his will and with full deliberation--and that in a matter light in itself, as I have said, but grave because the prohibition of God under the penalty of eternal death was laid upon it--in that slight trial, without temptation save only the listening to the tempter, who awakened a spirit of curiosity and disobedience, where all around him was permitted and one only thing forbidden, man sinned against God, and by that one sin was struck dead. The Holy Ghost departed from him, and all his perfections were wrecked. The supernatural perfection was lost, the preternatural perfection was forfeited, the soul fell from God, the body was struck by death. He became from that time disinherited, shorn of sanctity and life: one sin unto death separated him and all his posterity from God.

As it was in the case of Adam, so it is also in the case of the regenerate; so it is in our own. We who are born, into the world, spiritually dead have once more, by regeneration in baptism, the life of the Spirit. If we sin mortally with our eyes open, and with consent of our will, we forfeit the presence of the Holy Ghost in the soul, the charity of God which unites us to Him, the sanctifying grace whereby we are made children of God, the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost which are always inseparably united to His presence. There is left in us, indeed, the grace of hope and the grace of faith. These two remain like the beating of the pulse and the breathing of the lungs: there is just so much left of the life of grace with the light of faith and the aspiration of hope after God; but our union with God is broken: we are separated from Him, and at variance with Him. This is the first effect of mortal sin; for habitual grace and the presence of God are the life of the soul; and the loss of that grace, which is the loss of the presence of God, is the death of the soul.

2. But further: one mortal sin destroys all the merits that the soul has ever heaped up. Understand what is meant by merit. The doctrine of the Catholic Church is this: not that any creature can merit in the sense of claiming out of the hand of his Maker, Redeemer, and Judge, by any right of his own, anything whatsoever in nature or in grace. Cast out of your minds for ever all shadow of misunderstanding upon this. Merit does not signify that the creature can by any right of his own, either in the order of nature or of grace, challenge and demand of God the gift or the possession of anything. No. The word 'merit' is used in two senses. There is the merit for good, and the merit for evil. Every good action has a merit--that is, a certain conformity to the will of God; and every evil action has a merit, that is, a deformity, which will be followed by punishment. Therefore 'merit' is a word altogether indifferent in itself, and derives its meaning for good or for evil from its context. Merit signifies the connection or link that exists between certain actions done in grace and certain awards; and that connection or link is constituted sovereignly and gratuitously by the grace and promise of God. So that every man who does acts of faith, or of charity, or of self-denial, or of piety, will receive a reward, both in this life and the next, according to those actions. Every man who does acts of charity will receive an increase of charity and of grace in this life; and hereafter, as the Council of Florence defines, the glory of the blessed shall be in proportion to the measure of their charity on earth. There is a link then between the measure of our charity here and the measure of our glory hereafter. This is what is called merit; and all through our life, if we are living faithfully in the grace of God, we are thereby heaping up merits, and Aquiring in virtue of the promise a greater reward and a greater bliss.

I may give as example the life of the Apostles, who, through the whole of their career, even to their martyrdom, were continually increasing in the sight of God the accumulation of His good-will, of His grace, and of His reward. This is true of you all, and through your whole life everything that you do according to the will of God, being in a state of grace, has in the Book of Remembrance a record, and in the Sacred Heart of our Divine Master a promise of reward, which shall be satisfied at His coming. One sin then, unto death, unless afterwards repented of, utterly cancels all these merits of a whole life. It matters not how long you may have been living a life of justice, of charity, of humility, of generosity, and of piety, before God--one mortal sin, and the whole of that record is cancelled from the Book of His remembrance. It is all gone as if it had never been. Do you need proofs of it? Take the history of David, the 'man after God's own heart (Acts xiii. 22).' You remember his faith, his patience, his fidelity, his courage, his prayer, his spirit of thanksgiving. He is the Psalmist of Israel, the man with the greatest of all titles--'the man after God's own heart.' But in one moment, by the twofold sin of murder and adultery, he cancelled before God every merit of his youth and of his manhood: all was dead before God. Solomon, the son of David, the type of our Divine Lord, the King of Peace, the man famous for wisdom--not only because he received it as a divine gift, but because he had the wisdom to ask for wisdom, not for riches--the man illuminated beyond all other men, because afterwards he fell away from God into sin unto death, all the merit of that long life of wisdom and light and of early sanctity was cancelled. Judas, in his childhood, and in his boyhood, and in his youth, was perhaps as faithful to the light of his conscience as you have been. He left kindred, and all that he had, to follow his Master. No doubt there were in his heart struggles and aspirations and prayers and desires to walk in the footsteps of his Divine Lord; but there crept upon him the sin of covetousness. He carried the bag, and that which was put therein; and Satan tempted him, and then entered into him, and he sold his Master. Ananias in like manner renounced the world, perilled his own life to become a Christian, sold all that he had, made sacrifice of everything; but kept back part of the price. Demas was the companion of Apostles, and exposed his life to danger, and lived in toil and poverty and perpetual risk, the companion of the Apostle of the Gentiles until he forsook him, having loved this present world ( 2 Tim. iv. 10.); and all the merits of that life of faith, and of all those actions which once were recorded in the Book of God's remembrance, were in one moment cancelled; and therefore S. Paul said of himself, 'I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest, after I have preached the Gospel to others, I myself should become a castaway (1 Cor. ix. 27.).' The prophet Ezekiel says, 'When the just man turneth away from justice he hath done, and committeth iniquity; in the iniquity he hath done, in the sin he hath committed, in that he shall die, and his justice shall be no more remembered (Ezek. iii. 20.).'

3. The third effect is even more terrible; it mortifies and kills the very power of serving God. All the actions of a man in a state of mortal sin are dead; they have no merit or power to prevail before God for his salvation. So long as he is separated from God, nothing he does has saving power. Just as a tree that has life bears living fruit, and a tree that is dead has nothing but fruit that is withered and dead likewise, so a soul that is planted in God, as we all are by baptism, strikes its root as the tree by the rivers of water, and increases continually in faith, hope, and charity, and in the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, which expand themselves like the leaves upon the branch, and the twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost unfold themselves and ripen. On the other hand, a soul that is separated from God is like the tree that is cut asunder at the root, and as the severed tree withers from the topmost spray and every fruit upon it dies, so the soul in the state of mortal sin, of whatsoever kind, so long as it remains in that state, is separated from God, and can bear no fruit unto salvation. The Apostle has declared this, in the most express words: 'Though I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, and have not charity, I become as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal; and if I have all prophecy and all knowledge, and can understand all mysteries, and though I have faith and could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing; and though I give my goods to feed the poor and my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing (1 Cor. xiii. 1-3.):' that is to say, a soul separated from God, not having the love of God; it matters not what that soul may know, it may be able to prophesy, to expound mysteries, to work miracles: it may give all it possesses to the poor in alms, it may be martyred, as men may think, and yet if it have not the love of God it profits nothing to salvation. There will be at the last day those who will come to our Divine Lord and say, 'Lord! Lord! we prophesied in Thy name, we cast out devils and did many mighty works in Thy name; we have eaten and drunk in Thy presence; and He will say unto them, Depart from Me, I never knew you (St. Matt. vii. 22.):' that is to say, a soul that has sinned unto death by one sin, one transgression, continuing in that state, until restored to union with God by charity and by grace, is dead before God, and all the actions of the soul are dead.

Those who are in such a condition are like men looking up to a high mountain on which the sun dwells perpetually in its splendour, and there is a glory as of the Heavenly City upon it, and they long to climb up to it; but before them there is the breast of a precipice, which no human foot can scale, and they pine away with longing and with the impossibility of ascending: or they are like men gazing upon a fair country, the Promised Land of vineyards and olive-yards and fig-trees, and rivers flowing with milk and honey; and homes of peace are before them; but at their feet there is a river, so deep and rapid, without ferry and without ford, which the mightiest swimmer cannot pass. So is it with sinners. The law of God stands between the soul that is cut off from Him, between the soul that is out of grace, and the peace of God.

4. And not this only: the soul in itself begins to lose its vigour and its strength. As I said before, every creature needs the help of nature and of graae: and the supernatural gifts of God--faith, hope, and charity--are by a mortal sin either entirely destroyed or weakened. Charity is utterly destroyed. Hope remains and faith remains, but hope begins to grow faint; for a man conscious of having sinned mortally against God cannot deceive himself with the hope of salvation unless he has grounds for hope; and what grounds can an impenitent sinner have? The faith that remains in him--what does it show to him? 'The Great White Throne,' 'the smoke that ascendeth up before the Seat of Judgment,' the law of God written in letters of fire: 'There is no peace, saith my God, for the wicked (Isa. xlviii. 22.),' and 'without holiness no man shall see the Lord (Heb. xii. 14.).' Faith shows him judgment to come, and the witnesses that will stand before the Throne on that day and bear testimony against him; and therefore the faith that remains in him is a terrible light, warning him and piercing his conscience. So far the supernatural grace that is still with him is goading him with fear to bring him back to God; more than this it cannot do. The natural powers of the soul are also affected when a man is in a state of sin. The heart becomes corrupt, the soul becomes weak.

Let me take what may seem to be an example not fitting for you. You who listen to me are not likely to be tempted to excess, or intoxication, but it is an apt example to illustrate every kind of sin. The man who indulges himself in drink loses the vigour and command of his will. The will becomes feeble and loses its imperious control. It can no longer command the man. It is like a rotten helm which the ship will not obey. The will itself becomes paralysed--there is a solvent which has been eating away its elasticity and its power, and what happens in this gross example happens in every other. I might take falsehood, sloth, or other sins I named before--but you must make application for yourselves. The very will loses its power of repenting. Ay, and there is a still more terrible thought than this. Sometimes the sins that men have committed long ago are the cause of their instability, their inconsistency, their wavering, and irresolution at this day. They have never yet returned to God; they have never yet been really restored to the grace of God and vitally united to Him. They carry within them that which we read of in the Book of Job, where it says: 'His bones are full of the vices of his youth, and they shall go down with him to his grave (Job xx. 11.).'

5. Lastly, there is another effect of the sin unto death; that is, that it brings a man into a double debt before God--it brings him into the debt of guilt, and into the debt of pain--and he will have to pay both. The debt of guilt he must answer at the Day of Judgment. The debt of pain he must suffer before he can see God, either here, or after death in the state of purification: or in hell to all eternity. Every substance in this world has its shadow. You cannot separate the shadow from the substance. Where the substance moves the shadow follows, so every sin has its pain; it matters not whether we think of it or no, whether we believe it or no. So it is: God has ordained it from the day in which He said: 'In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death.' From that day onward, no sin has ever been committed that has not been followed by its measure of judicial pain. It must be some day expiated, either by bearing it here or bearing it hereafter, or by a loving sorrow prevailing with God through the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, to wash out from the book of His remembrance the great debt of accumulated sin.

I will not go further into these effects; I will only sum up what I have said. First of all, one mortal sin unto death strikes a soul dead. Secondly, one such sin when the soul is struck dead destroys all the merits of a long life, be they what they may--hereafter I will show how they may all revive again like the spring after the winter time; but this, not for the present. Thirdly, one such sin unto death mortifies, kills, and destroys the saving power of every action that the soul may do while in that state of separation from God. Fourthly, it weakens both the supernatural graces that remain in the soul, and the natural powers and faculties of the soul itself. Lastly, it brings the soul into the double debt of guilt and pain. These are the five effects of a sin unto death.

I have but a few words of counsel to add. The first is this: meditate every day of your lives upon this great and awful truth--how easy it is to fall from God; and say to yourselves, 'God is my end; for Him I was created; and if I fall short of that end by a hair's-breadth, if I swerve aside from attaining that end, I shall go down into eternal death.' An arrow shot at a mark, a hair's breadth aside from its aim, fails to attain it. A ship steered by a confident and cunning hand, if it miss the light, is wrecked, be it never so near the port: and a soul that does not attain to union with God here in a state of grace will be separated from God to all eternity. Next say to yourselves, 'If I do not correspond with the grace which God has given me, I shall miss my eternal end.' As I have before said, God is co-operating with every creature. The drawing of His Holy Spirit, and the gifts of His grace, are like a chain of gold drawing every created soul to Himself. 'God wills all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth;' and again, our Divine Lord has said, 'And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things unto Me.' God is drawing every created soul to Himself. He is drawing them to the knowledge of Himself and of His Incarnate Son, and of the Precious Blood shed on the Cross from the Sacred Heart of Jesus; and the graces and the love and the breathings of the Holy Ghost are perpetually going out and drawing souls to Himself, and to the unity of the Church. God is always drawing souls to repentance, and through repentance to perfection, and from one degree of perfection to another, raising them higher and higher to union with Himself. This is always going on, but we must correspond with it. Listen to Him, respond, answer, lay hold of that grace which is offered to you, keep fast the links of that golden chain, never let it go, and take heed lest you break its links.

We often think if a soul that is already in eternal death could once more return, what would be the fervour of such a man through all the time granted him on earth. What humility, what hatred of sin, what holy fear of its occasions, what piety, what selfdenial, what self-sacrifice, would mark a soul that once had tasted eternal death, if it could return, and have one more opportunity of salvation. What a life of the Cross, and of intense devotion to God, that soul would live! You have never yet gone down into eternal death. You have been the subject of a greater grace than even if you had been liberated. You are still in life, still surrounded by the light of truth, you have yet the graces of the Holy Ghost in abundance, you have time, you have opportunity, you have the seven Sacraments, you have the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ: all that is needful for eternal life--ay, and that in abundance, without stint and without measure. You are like the Prodigal Son before he left his father's house--you have not yet tasted that far country, and the misery and condemnation of falling from God. Therefore say to yourselves: 'God be praised! I am still in life, and my day of grace is not gone by.' The sun is yet in the heavens --with some it is in the morning still, with others it is the noontide, with some who hear me it is declining towards the horizon. Say: 'Lord, abide with us; for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent. Give me grace to make my peace with Thee, that I may be united with Thee, lest Thou find me parted from Thee in the day of Thy coming.'

This, then, is the first thought I would pray you with all my heart to make day after day; and the other is like unto it, but it is more terrible. Day after day say this to yourselves: 'If I fall from God--as I easily may--I shall go down alive into hell.' Dear brethren, we live in days when men must speak plainly. There are among us going to and fro, as there are in foreign countries, mockers, scoffers, blasphemers, ministers of Satan, apostles of lies, who say there is no hell. Eternal punishment! mediaeval fables! Popish superstition! True it is that the Church which is called 'Popish' inflexibly maintains that there is a hell, that there is an eternal punishment, and that they who live and die impenitent will go down quick into that torment. It is a glory that such a charge is laid against the Church of Rome. I accept the accusation--ay, and as a minister of Jesus Christ, and as an apostle of His Gospel, I declare that God has revealed that there is hereafter eternal pain and everlasting death. As there is a heaven, so there is a hell. As there is eternal life, so there is eternal death.

Be on your guard then, dear brethren. Be not so shallow or so credulous. Let no impostors, who pretend to philosophy and to criticism, lead you for one moment to believe that the existence of hell and eternal punishment is by an arbitrary law, by a mere act of Divine legislation, like a statute made by despotic power. Eternal death is an intrinsic necessity of the perfection of God, and of the wilful apostasy of man. If there be a God who is holy, just, pure, true, and unchangeable; then, if man is impure, unjust, unholy, and false, and will not change by repentance, as light and darkness cannot exist together, God and that soul cannot unite in eternity. It is not a statute law. It is an intrinsic necessity of the Divine perfection on the one hand, and of the sinfulness of the human soul upon the other. Why is the human soul unholy and unjust? By the abuse of the free will which God has given us--as I said in the beginning--by the open-eyed transgression of God's law, by the deliberate breaking of His commandments, by the impenitent persevering in that state of disobedience and of separation from God, which in itself is death, which is eternal death in time, which is hell upon earth. Except the soul repent, it already begins to taste the condemnation of eternity.

Therefore, bear in mind that the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man are enough clearly to demonstrate the intrinsic necessity of an eternal separation. And what is hell but to be separated from God eternally? and to be separated from God not as we are here, with our souls clogged and stupefied by sin, intoxicated by the world, ignorant of ourselves? No. After death, the eyes of the soul will be opened, the scales will fall from its sight, it will see itself for the first time, as it will for the first time see God in judgment. And when it shall see God in judgment, all that instinct of the soul in which it was from the beginning created for God--an instinct like the needle of the compass, which points by its own law always to the north, as in the blaze of the noonday, so in the darkness of the midnight, will return to its direction. The lost soul that was created in the image of God, of which the beatific end is God, and to be united with God is life, will then begin to hunger and thirst after God, when to be united with God is impossible for ever. Just as breathing is a vital necessity to the body, so union with God is a vital necessity to the soul.

You know sometimes in sleep a sense of stifling and suffocation in which you seem to lie an endless night in torment; conceive to yourselves an eternity of that suffocation, when the soul is conscious of the vital necessity of its union with God, when to be united with God is eternally impossible. Ay, more than this, there will be a torment in the soul which is the undying worm that will gnaw to all eternity. What is that torment? Remorse. The consciousness that the soul has committed self-murder, that it died because it sinned unto death, and that it sinned unto death of its own free will. There was no constraint, no necessity. With its own free will it sinned against God, and broke the link of union with Him. In eternal death the worm that dieth not, the perpetual tooth of remorse, will make the soul conscious of an anguish, which no human heart can conceive. There is no need of fire to torment; this alone is torment enough, to lose God eternally; to have eternal remorse without anything more is hell; but there will be more. Those who are lost will be lost together--multitudes, myriads of millions--all in misery, all separated from God, all in remorse, all feeding on themselves, hateful and hating one another.

I have not said one word as yet of that which I now will add. It is true there is a Divine mystery which we shall know--God grant not by experience. Our Divine Lord has said it: 'Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.' And again: 'Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.' There is an eternal pain by fire. God has declared it. Woe to the man that denies it! Satan is always endeavouring to efface this belief out of the minds of men--doing everything he can by subtil philosophy, by specious reasoning, by appeals to the mercy of God, by wonderful exaltations of the Divine perfections, and criticisms upon the Greek Testament, by laughter, derision, scoffing, and mockery, before which many a man who is not afraid of going into battle is coward enough to run away. Satan is always endeavouring to root out the belief of eternal fire from the minds of men. I will tell you why. Because the greater multitude of men have so little hunger and thirst after God, so little aspiration after union with Him, that they are conscious only of the fear of an eternal pain to keep them from sin. If he could only efface from the minds of men-the thought of eternal pain, there is nothing left to restrain them; and for this he is always labouring. There is nothing Satan loves better than to get men to laugh at him, to use his name in jest, to interlard their conversation with some reference to him in mocking levity, which very soon makes men cease to fear him, and then cease to believe in his existence.

On the other hand, God is always striving to awaken and revive in the conscience of each one of us the sense of the danger of eternal death by His Divine Word, by the voice of His Church, by the whispers of conscience. He is perpetually reviving in every one of us the sense and belief that there is hereafter a judgment and a condemnation to eternal fire.

Live, then, as you would wish to die; because as you die, so you will be to all eternity. Precisely that character which you have woven for yourself through life by the voluntary acts of your free will, be it for good or be it for evil, that will be your eternal state before God. If God find you clothed in the white raiment which is the justice of the saints, happy are you; you will walk before Him in white for ever. If you be found in the rags and tatters of the Prodigal before his repentance, you will be cast out from His face, and all men will see your shame. As you live, so you will die; as you die, so you will be for ever. God is unchangeable. You are continually changing; but death will precipitate the form in which you die, and you will be so fixed for ever. As the tree falls, so it shall be. Make one mistake, and that mistake is made for ever.

O, dear brethren, look round about us; how many men there are that are learned, and scientific, and noble, and eloquent, and prosperous, whom the world honours! How many there are that are amiable, and loving, and loved, and their neighbours think no evil of them; they see nothing but the fair outside --the whited disguise. Some one mortal sin--God knows what--unrepented of, is within. Whited sepulchres--fair without; within, full of dead men's bones, and of uncleanness. Dear brethren, that may be our case. Say to yourselves, every one of you: 'That may be my case--that may be my likeness before God at this moment.' 'It is appointed unto all men once to die, and after that the judgment (Heb. ix. 27.).' And hear what that judgment will be: 'I saw a great White Throne and One sitting on it, before whose face the heaven and earth fled away, and there was no place found for them; and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, and the dead were judged out of the things that are written in the books; and another book was opened which was the Book of Life, and death and hell were cast into the pool of fire--which is the second death; and whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the pool of fire (Apoc. xx. 11-15.).'


Prayers Against The Seven Deadly Sins


1. Against Pride

Lord Jesus Christ, Pattern of humility, who didst empty Thyself of Thy glory, and take upon Thee the form of a servant: root out of us all pride and conceit of heart, that, owning ourselves miserable and guilty sinners, we may willingly bear contempt and reproaches for Thy sake, and, glorying in nothing but Thee, may esteem ourselves lowly in Thy sight. Not unto us, O Lord, but to Thy name be the praise, for Thy loving mercy and for Thy truth's sake. Amen.



2. Against Covetousness

O Lord Jesus Christ, who though Thou wast rich yet for our sakes didst become poor, grant that all over-eagerness and covetousuess of earthly goods may die in us, and the desire of heavenly things may live and grow in us: keep us from all idle and vain expenditures, that we may always have to give to him that needeth, and that giving not grudgingly nor of necessity, but cheerfully, we may be loved of Thee, and be made through Thy merits partakers of the riches of Thy heavenly treasure. Amen.



3. Against Lust

O Lord Jesus Christ, Guardian of chaste souls, and lover of purity, who wast pleased to take our nature and to be born of an Immaculate Virgin: mercifully look upon my infirmity. Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me; help me to drive away all evil thoughts, to conquer every sinful desire, and so pierce my flesh with the fear of Thee that, this worst enemy being overcome, I may serve Thee with a chaste body and please Thee with a pure heart. Amen.



4. Against Anger

O most meek Jesus, Prince of Peace, who, when Thou wast reviled, reviled not, and on the Cross didst pray for Thy murderers: implant in our hearts the virtues of gentleness and patience, that, restraining the fierceness of anger, impatience, and resentment, we may overcome evil with good, for Thy sake love our enemies, and as children of our heavenly Father seek Thy peace and evermore rejoice in Thy love. Amen.



5. Against Gluttony

Lord Jesus Christ, Mirror of abstinence, who, to teach us the virtue of abstinence, didst fast forty days and forty nights, grant that, serving Thee and not our own appetites, we may live soberly and piously with contentment, without greediness, gluttony, or drunkenness, that Thy will being our meat and drink, we may hunger and thirst after justice, and finally obtain from Thee that food which eudureth unto life eternal. Amen.



6. Against Envy

O Most loving Jesus, Pattern of charity, who makest all the commandments of the law to consist in love towards God and towards man, grant to us so to love Thee with all our heart, with all our mind, and all our soul, and our neighbor for Thy sake, that the grace of charity and brotherly love may dwell in us, and all envy, harshness, and ill-will may die in us; and fill our hearts with feelings of love, kindness, and compassion, so that by constantly rejoicing in the happiness and success of others, by sympathizing with them in their sorrows, and putting away all harsh judgments and envious thoughts, we may follow Thee, who art Thyself the true and perfect love. Amen.



7. Against Sloth

Lord Jesus Christ, eternal Love, who in the garden didst pray so long and so fervently that Thy Sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground: put away from us, we beseech Thee, all sloth and inactivity both of body and mind; kindle within us the fire of Thy love; strengthen our weakness, that whatsoever our hand is able to do we may do it earnestly, and that, striving heartily to please Thee in this life, we may have Thee hereafter as our reward exceeding great. Amen.

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  Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost
Posted by: Stone - 10-24-2021, 05:43 AM - Forum: Pentecost - Replies (6)

Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost
From Fr. Leonard Goffine's Explanations of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, Holydays, and Festivals throughout the Ecclesiastical Year 36th edition, 1880

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At the Introit of the Mass pray with the priest for the forgiveness of your sins: If thou shalt observe iniquities O Lord: Lord, who shall endure? for with thee is propitiation, O God of Israel. From the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. (Ps. CXXIX.) Glory etc.

COLLECT O God, our refuge and strength, who art the author of all goodness, hear, we beseech Thee, the devout prayers of Thy Church, and grant that what we faithfully ask we may effectually obtain. Thro’.

EPISTLE (Philipp. I. 6-II.) Brethren, We are confident in the Lord Jesus, that he who hath begun a good work in you will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus. As it is meet for me to think this for you all, for that I have you in my heart, and that in my bands, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partakers of my joy. For God is my witness, how I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your charity may more and more abound in knowledge and in all understanding: that you may approve the better things; that you may be sincere and without offence unto the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of justice, through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

EXPLANATION This epistle was written by St. Paul at Rome, where he was imprisoned for the faith, to the inhabitants of Philippi in Macedonia whom he had converted to the true faith. He congratulates them that they so willingly received and conscientiously obeyed the gospel which he had preached to the, and he says, he trusts in God to complete the good work which He has commenced, and to give them perseverance until the day of Christ, that is, until death.


GOSPEL (Matt. XXII. 15-21.) At that time, The Pharisees went and consulted among themselves how to ensnare Jesus in his speech. And they send to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying: Master, we know that thou art a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man, for thou dost not regard the person of men: tell us, therefore, what dost thou think? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? But Jesus knowing their wickedness, said: Why do you tempt me, ye hypocrites? Show me the coin of the tribute. And they offered him a penny. And Jesus saith to them: Whose image and inscription is this? They say to him: Caesar's. Then he saith to them: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.


Why did the Pharisees try to ensnare Jesus in His speech?

In order to find some reason to accuse Him before the emperor, or to make Him hated by the Jews; for had He denied tribute to Caesar, they would have accused Him before the emperor as guilty of high treason; had He, on the contrary made it obligatory to pay tribute, then they would have denounced Him as a destroyer of the liberty of the people, who considered themselves a free nation owing allegiance only to God. Like the Pharisees are all those who, under the appearance of friendship, only cause vexation and misfortune to their neighbor.


Who are really hypocrites?

Those who in order to cheat their neighbor, appear outwardly pious and holy, whilst inward they are full of malice; those who have honey on the tongue, but gall in the heart, and sting like scorpions, when we least expect it. Because there are so many vices connected with hypocrisy, (Matt. XXIII.) therefore Christ has denounced no sin more emphatically than this one. Hypocrites are brethren of Cain, Joab, and Judas, of whom the first killed his brother, the second his cousin and the third betrayed his divine Master with a kiss. Such false men are cursed by God. (Mal, I. 14.) I hate a mouth with a double tongue. (Prov. VIII. 13.) "The devil silently possesses the hearts of hypocrites and quietly sleeps in them, whilst he gives them no peace," says St. Gregory; and St. Jerome writes: "Pretended holiness is double malice." Better is an open enemy, before whom we can be on our guard, than a hypocritical friend of whom we have no suspicion, because we look upon him as a friend. Beware, therefore, my dear Christian, of the vice of hypocrisy, which is so hateful to God; endeavor always to be sincere with God, thyself and thy neighbor, and to walk in true humility before God, then mayst thou carry His image within thee.

PRAYER Help me, O Lord, for the number of the saints is decreasing and truth is becoming rare among men. They speak vain things each with his neighbor: their lips are deceitful, and they speak with double hearts. Let the Lord destroy all those who say: We will magnify our tongue; our lips are our own; who is Lord over us? O Lord, deliver my soul from wicked lips and deceitful tongues give me grace to preserve Thy image in my soul, by piety and virtue. Direct my heart to justice and keep it from avarice, that I may give to each his own.



INSTRUCTION ON THE FOLLY OF HUMAN RESPECT
Thou art a true speaker neither carest thou or any man, for thou dost not regard the person of men. (Matt. XXII. 16.)

In this Christians ought especially to follow the Saviour, and not permit themselves to be deterred from piety, and the practice of virtue by fear or human respect. What matters it, what people think and say of us, if we only please God? He alone can truly benefit or injure us; therefore he alone is to be feared, as Christ says: Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt. X. 28.)

How foolishly, therefore, do those act who through fear of displeasing certain people, are afraid to serve God and practice piety; who even go so far as to commit sin; who in order to be pleasing to others, oppress innocent, poor and forsaken people; who adopt the latest and most scandalous fashions and customs; those who eat meat on days of abstinence, or give it to others; those who sing sinful songs, or what is still worse, do not hesitate to ridicule sacred things to give others occasion to laugh, or in order to be considered strong-minded. Implore God daily and sincerely, that He may take from you this vain fear of men and give you instead the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom.



INSTRUCTION ON THE VALUE AND DIGNITY OF THE SOUL
Whose image is this? (Matt. XXII. 20.)

Thus we should often ask ourselves with respect to our soul, particularly when we are tempted to stain and ruin it by sin, Whose image is this? We should then say to ourselves, "Is it not the likeness of God, a likeness painted with the blood of Jesus, an image for which the Saviour gave His life? Should I defile and deform this by sin and voluptuousness? God forbid!" For in truth, what among all created things, except the angels, is more beautiful and more precious than a human soul, which is in the state of grace? "Could we," says St. Catherine of Sienna, "behold with our corporal eyes a soul in the state of grace, we would see with astonishment that it surpasses in splendor all flowers all stars, the whole world, and there is probably no one who would not wish to die for such beauty." It is a dwelling of the Blessed Trinity! Christ did not give His life for all the goods and treasures of this earth, but for the human soul. And yet many estimate their soul at such little value that they sell it for a momentary pleasure, for a present not worth a penny! For shame! The body we estimate so highly that we take all pains to decorate it and keep it alive, and the soul the image and likeness of God, we take no pains to keep in the state of grace, and adorn with virtues! What folly!



INSTRUCTION ON THE OBLIGATION TO PAY TAXES OR TRIBUTE TO THE GOVERNMENT
Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. (Matt. XXII. 21.)

To pay tribute to the lawful government is a duty of justice which the Spirit of God Himself commands us faithfully to fulfil. (Rom. XIII. 6, 7.) Christ Himself paid the customary didrachma for Himself and St. Peter; (Matt. XVII. 23.) "and if the Son of God Himself paid duty and tax," says St. Ambrose, "who art thou, O man, that thou wouldst free thyself from it?" The government must watch lest the life of its subjects be at hazard, that their property be not endangered or stolen, that there be security on the highways, that peace, harmony and order be preserved among the citizens, that their temporal welfare be promoted; that science and art flourish, etc. For this, teachers, judges, officers and soldiers are necessary, for whose support care must be taken, and whose trouble must be rewarded. Besides this the government must care for the security of the country, for public streets and bridges, and institutions necessary for the common good; to enable the government to perform these duties, taxes are necessary and lawfully assessed. If you oppose these laws, you oppose God, for by Him princes rule, and the mighty degree justice. (Prov. VIII. 16.) Let the payment of duties be done willingly, because you pay them for love of God, and resigned to His holy will as the early Christians did, who even served their heathenish government with pleasure, in all that was not contrary to God's will, and cheerfully paid the duties.

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  Archbishop Lefebvre: "All who believe in the Catholic Faith are betrayed!" [1981]
Posted by: Stone - 10-23-2021, 05:50 AM - Forum: Sermons and Conferences - Replies (1)

The Angelus - August 1981



The Archbishop Speaks

THE ORDINATION SERMON of His Grace Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre 29 June 1981
at the International Seminary of the Society of Saint Pius X in Ecône, Switzerland



In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

My dear brothers, dear friends, it is with a great delight and a profound joy that we arrive each year at this point, on this date, to confer ordination to the holy priesthood upon the young deacons who have prepared themselves for long years to receive the holy anointing of the priesthood. We rejoice to confer ordination not only on members of the Society, but also on those who have prepared so carefully in the monasteries, those of Dom Gerard and Dom Augustine. If the number this year seems smaller, it is because, day before yesterday, I performed the same ceremony in our seminary at Zaitzkofen, in Germany. We ordained five members of the Society who had completed their studies, either at Weissbad or at Zaitzkofen. And I must say, the ceremony was very moving—remarkable in the devotion of all the faithful who were present, in the number of the faithful present—some three thousand, I think. We had a day truly blessed by God. And I am sure that today also—the sky proves it with the sun God has given us—God is blessing us equally at Ecône, as usual.

My dear friends, we often use this occasion, to which you come from everywhere, to highlight, in a sense, the situation of the Society, and the situation also of the Church. We must say that the Passion of the Church continues, a Passion which manifests itself even, I would say, in the health of the Head of the Church. The Pope suffers in his own body, so to say, the Passion of the Church, in these sad and difficult times, by this accident—incredible, inconceivable, in our time. And we have had to live through an age when the Pope could be mortally injured. Yes, we are truly living the Passion of the Church. But this Passion manifests itself in an even more urgent way, more difficult, more shocking, when one thinks of all that is happening today in the world, and that this is promoted, we must say, by the clergy, by members of the Church. Just as Our Lord was betrayed by one of His own, Our Lord was abandoned by the apostles, when the soldiery came to lay hands on Our Lord, even so today, members of the clergy and others betray anew Our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have observed, alas, in our dear country of France, how on the occasion of the last elections, the bishops, the priests, religious men and women, aided the coming to power of Socialism—Socialism which wars against Our Lord Jesus Christ, which fights on the side of atheism! Not for nothing did the new President go to receive—as the newspapers put it—lay-anointing at the Pantheon. It is this which disturbed us. The economic consequences are less important alongside this drama which we are living, this struggle against Our Lord Jesus Christ. It seems that the devil, unleashed, has finally arrived at his goal. By the Socialism which is spreading in all countries, by the Communism which spreads through the world, the devil aspires to destroy the Catholic religion and Our Lord Jesus Christ. And unfortunately, we must say once again, in South America, in the episcopacy of North America, in almost all espicopacies, one may say, of Europe, these movements of rebellion against Our Lord are promoted—willingly, most willingly by the episcopacy. This is the particular drama of the Church in our day. St. Pius X said it clearly: the enemies of the Church are no longer merely outside the Church; they are now also inside. He pointed the finger himself at the seminaries. And in pinpointing the seminaries, he also pinpointed the professors of the seminaries—those charged with the formation of the clergy. It is thus that the clergy was formed by Modernist ideas, Liberal ideas, and so we arrive at the point where we are today.

We must also say—we cannot deny it that this Passion of the Church is everywhere. The Church suffers everywhere. And it suffers, first, we must add, in the Roman Curia, which continues to propagate Modernist ideas. And now we see, in spite of everything, these reforms, which were set in motion by Vatican II, which are in the process of destroying the Church—the self-destruction of the Church, as Pope Paul VI himself called it! This self-destruction of the Church, how did it come about, if not by the clergy themselves, if not by those placed in the citadel of the Roman Church, to protect the Faith of the Church—which they are no longer protecting. Are they condemned? These so-called philosophers, these so-called theologians who corrupt the Faith, who are virtually heretics—are they really being punished? Are the bishops punished, who fashion an ecumenism which is nothing more nor less than the spread of heresy, who invite Protestants to concelebrate with them? Are they condemned, the bishops? The superiors of seminaries who introduce pornography into the seminaries—and Rome knows this—one could go on indefinitely with examples of this kind. Are the bishops of Mexico condemned, who in their diocesan assemblies, in their newspapers, publish articles favorable to the Revolution, and against El Salvador, asking for money for Fidel Castro, expressing a willingness to fight—physically, if possible—against the government of El Salvador, to spread the Revolution, to spread Communism?

My dear friends, we are betrayed. You—you are betrayed. All honest people are betrayed. All who believe in the Catholic Faith are betrayed. All who believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ, all who wish to defend the Faith of Our Lord, who wish to defend the fundamental truth of their Faith, in the catechism itself, who wish to defend morality, the Ten Commandments, who wish to defend Sacred Scripture itself—all these are betrayed. Betrayed by Modernist ideas. Modernism replaces the Faith by research, purely masonic ideas! ("We are all searching for the truth. It does not exist. We will never find it. We don't know if it exists.") We do know our Faith, and we wish to maintain it! The Ten Commandments have been replaced by the Rights of Man. What we have now is the religion of the Rights of Man, in place of the Ten Commandments. Now we know perfectly well that the Rights of Man and justice in this world, exist only in virtue of the Ten Commandments. When we have done our duty to God and our neighbor, justice will prevail—but not in the fight against the authority of God, against all authority. The Rights of Man is simply the struggle against the authority of God and against all authority. Law has been replaced by conscience. Everyone does as he pleases. Everyone looks to his conscience, and no longer to law. These are the Modernist ideas which are spreading in the world.

And so they wanted to fashion for us a liturgy in this spirit. In this spirit of liberty, of pluralism, in short, of desacralization. They don't want to adore God any longer; they don't want to recognize His sovereign authority: they don't want to believe any longer in Our Creator, Our Savior, Our Redeemer, Our Judge. And all this is promoted—promoted by the Roman Curia. Perhaps not everyone [in the Curia], but certainly by those in charge of worship, of the bishops and of religious. And also by the Secretary of State. Because, wherever the freedom of all religions has been proclaimed, as in Spain, in Ireland, and here in the Canton of Valais, and in all countries where the Catholic religion has been kept as the one true religion, they wanted to establish this law of ecumenism, this false ecumenism, as the great desire of the age, this heresy which destroys what is still Catholic in those countries which recognize Our Lord Jesus Christ as their head and their sovereign. And all this is promoted. And it is promoted by the [Papal] Secretary of State.

How can this be, my dear friends? You know as well as I. I cite facts. I do not seek for explanations; I stand by facts. The fact is that our resolution is made, to stand forever: qui perseverat usque in finem, his salvus erit. (He who perseveres unto the end, he will be saved. Mt. 10:22) And persevere in what, I ask you? Persevere in the Catholic Faith! Persevere in what Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us—that there is only one true religion, that other religions were invented by the devil, to turn souls away from Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is clearly the truth. This is what Pope St. Leo in the Lesson for today, the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, teaches, that, before the coming of Peter and Paul, Rome was the place which recognized all gods, and that the devil invented that idea to keep men in error. Now Rome has become the mistress of truth. That is what St. Leo says. So we must maintain our Catholic Faith. Persevere—unto the end.

AND TO MAINTAIN OUR CATHOLIC FAITH, my dear brothers (I now address the men who will be ordained priests in a few minutes), what is the means? Maintain your Holy Mass! Not because it is the Mass of the Latin Rite. There are other Masses in other rites. But this rite contains all the truths of Our Catholic Faith—and proclaims them! Thus today these new rites, infested with ecumenism, a false ecumenism, does not proclaim our Faith any longer, as the immemorial Mass does. And in this way we know that the faithful are in the way of losing the Faith. Some more rapidly than others, to the extent that priests are guarding tradition. But the results are forthcoming; they are clear and unmistakable. So what must we do? We must maintain our holy immemorial Mass. It is the cornerstone of the Church. This is the treasure that Our Lord Jesus Christ has given us: hic est calix sanguinis mei, novi et aeterni testamenti—the new and everlasting covenant. This is the covenant of Our Lord Jesus Christ: His blood poured out for us, for the forgiveness of our sins.

It is in this that you will believe, my dear friends. You will believe in the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ, renewed by yourselves, for us sinners, all poor sinners, as the good Lord has given us the power—this power actually given to bring the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ upon our altars, for the forgiveness of our sins. You will maintain this profound understanding of your Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is simply the great charity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In pronouncing the words of consecration, you will think of the last breath of Our Lord Jesus Christ and you will think of His pierced heart. Can one show a greater love than to lay down his life for those he loves? Our Lord Jesus Christ gave His life first of all for His Father, for the glory of His Father, to establish the glory of His Father. The Father never received such glory as when Our Lord Jesus Christ breathed His last, when His Heart was pierced—it was for Him that He did that. You too, you will offer your entire lives to God, first to God.

Then, in a spirit of prayer, in a spirit of adoration, in a spirit of humility, in a spirit of holiness, then you will go, to bring the word of the Gospel, to bring your faith—so well expressed in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, which is at the foundation of what you teach—to bring the light of faith, to draw people to the light of charity, to kindle the fire of charity, this fire which will embrace your hearts and your souls, and you will go forth, to bring the grace of the Lord in the sacrament of baptism and in the sacrament of penance especially. No one goes to Confession any more! In entire countries, like Ireland, no one goes to Confession for two, three, four years. And they go to Communion whenever they have a chance. And this can be said for the whole world, for the whole Catholic world. And you will allow souls to pour into your hearts the secrets of their conscience, and you will wash these souls in the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, with your words of absolution. If you spend the whole of your day in the confessional, that is the most beautiful service that you could render, to souls and to the Church. And you will give, above all, by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Holy Communion, the very Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ, with all the respect that we owe Him, Our God, Our Savior, Our Redeemer.

And you will teach souls the meaning of sacrifice. No one speaks any more of the Sacrifice of the Mass, but rather of a Eucharist, a Communion, a Sharing. It is not that! It is a question of the Holy Sacrifice, the sacrifice of Our Lord. The spirit of sacrifice is the Catholic spirit. Without sacrifice, there is no more Catholicism. You know this very well, my dear brothers, and you are an example of it, a magnificent example.

Everywhere I go, where I have occasion to go, I find this circumstance, of people who have the Faith, who want to keep the Faith. We find beautiful Christian families, with numerous children, whence come religious and priestly vocations. How beautiful! There you are—this is what the Church does! This is what the grace of Our Lord produces, by Holy Mass and by Holy Communion. And we must add, my dear brothers, that the sacrament of marriage has its symbol, its image, its meaning on Calvary. Our Lord gives birth to His bride, unites Himself to His bride, on Calvary. One finds it in His Blood, in His pierced Heart, the water and blood which flowed from His Heart. Here is the symbol of marriage, the mystical marriage of Our Lord Jesus Christ with His bride. As a result, the grace of the sacrament of marriage renews itself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. So Christians cannot nourish the grace of marriage without frequently attending Holy Mass.

This is what you do, and we congratulate you. This is what is done, so traditionalist families—i.e., simply good Catholics, have numerous children. See the joy and peace which is at the root of the many vocations which we have in our seminaries. They are here, they are in monasteries, they are in the religious congregations which we know, these religious who are here present—numerous vocations. You will be the support, my dear brothers, of these Christian homes, and at the same time the models.

Now I end with these few words. You have studied. You have bent over the holy books, over those books which are at the foundation of the Faith of the Church, these books of philosophy, of theology; you have questioned your professors; you have enlightened your minds; you have increased your faith; and you feel yourselves profoundly attached to the Church, to the Sovereign Pontiff, to all the bishops (insofar as they remain Catholic), to all the Church, to Rome—Rome which cannot separate itself from the Church. You feel yourselves attached to all these fundamental values, which have made the entire history of the Church, for twenty centuries, and which you wish to hand on. It is for this reason that you are traditionalists, as St. Pius X so well said: the Catholic is a traditionalist, because the Church is a tradition. So you will transmit all this to all the souls who will turn to you. But you will be nothing, my dear brothers, without holiness. You have an intelligence well enlightened, an extraordinary knowledge of philosophy and theology, Holy Scripture and Canon Law. But you will do nothing if you have not holiness. And who is the model of holiness for the priesthood? The Most Blessed Virgin. Why? Because see how God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, chose to prepare His mother to be worthy to receive Him—this was the Immaculate Conception. She knew the dominion neither of sin nor the devil. Her soul is pure. Her soul is holy. Her soul is truly divine. The Holy Ghost dwells there; the Holy Trinity dwells with joy in this soul which has never known sin. By her Fiat, prepared by her total virginity, she prepares for the coming of the Lord, she accepts the coming of the Lord. So you too—your lips in pronouncing the words of consecration, will repeat in a sense the Fiat of the Virgin Mary, and make Jesus Himself come upon the altar—Jesus, to Whom you unite yourselves first, before distributing Him to souls. So if the Lord wished the Virgin Mary to have a wonderful holiness, a holiness which surpasses the holiness of all other creatures, you priests, priests of Jesus Christ, you who will bring Jesus upon the altar, you too must be holy. One cannot stay with a priest who is not holy, who does no seek for holiness, who does not seek for a humility like that of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.

Respexit humilitatem meam. He has looked upon my lowliness, said the Holy Virgin. Yes, she can sing of the glory of God, because she is humble. So you too will be humble in heart, because these graces which you are going to receive, which you owe not to yourselves, but to God, you have been chosen by God, and you receive them also through the Virgin Mary. As the Apostles in the Cenacle, seated around the Virgin Mary, received the graces they received through the Virgin Mary, so you too, in a few minutes, by the imposition of hands of the bishop and by the words of the sacrament of ordination, you will receive the Holy Ghost, and you will receive Him through your Good Mother in Heaven, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. So remain united to the Holy Virgin, like the Apostles, who sat around her in the Cenacle, remain so all your lives, and you will exercise in this way a magnificent apostolate. And thus you will persevere until the end, and you will save yourselves, with all the souls whom you have sanctified.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

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  October 23rd - St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop
Posted by: Stone - 10-23-2021, 05:32 AM - Forum: October - No Replies

October 23 -St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger  (1841-1875)

[Image: Fotos_Claret599.jpg?resize=768%2C1168&ssl=1]

He was one of the greatest prelates and missionaries of the nineteenth century. Born in Sallent, a small town in the province of Barcelona on December 25, 1807, as a child he began to give extraordinary signs of his providential destiny. Dedicated to the work of his father’s loom, where a cheerful future awaited him given his good qualities and his great love of work, he left it all day to dedicate himself fully to the salvation of his own soul and the souls of others.

He begins by studying Latin and philosophy at the Vich Seminary. During this time, he had a strong desire to give his blood for Christ, and it was these same wishes that led him to embark on Marseilles to go to countries of the infidels, in order to spread the Christian faith everywhere. But his apostolate ambitions are unsuccessful. He then tries to join the Society of Jesus, and his poor health forces him to leave it. He returned again to Spain, where he was ordained as a priest and was entrusted with the care of the Villadraú parish, in which he displayed great apostolic activity from the first moment: he confessed, preached, organized pious brotherhoods and brotherhoods, consoled the afflicted, He helps the poor and sows good hands full in every corner of his congregation. His fame began to spread throughout the region, and on Sundays a stream of people flocked to listen to the famous and austere preacher. Soon all the towns of Catalonia can hear his voice, and he lets himself be carried away. You walk from town to town from the banks of the Ebro to the slopes of the Pyrenees. His passage raises waves of enthusiasm and cries of repentance: peoples are transformed, great sinners change their lives and the most stupendous conversions take place. He possessed the divine secret of snatching hearts like the great popular preachers, San Antonio de Padua, San Bernardino de Siena, or San Vicente Ferrer. He had taken Blessed Avila as the model of his preaching and, like him, he anointed his sermons with prayer. and on Sundays a stream of people flock from all over to listen to the famous and austere preacher. Soon all the towns of Catalonia can hear his voice, and he lets himself be carried away. You walk from town to town from the banks of the Ebro to the slopes of the Pyrenees. His passage raises waves of enthusiasm and cries of repentance: peoples are transformed, great sinners change their lives and the most stupendous conversions take place. He possessed the divine secret of snatching hearts like the great popular preachers, San Antonio de Padua, San Bernardino de Siena, or San Vicente Ferrer. He had taken Blessed Avila as the model of his preaching and, like him, he anointed his sermons with prayer. and on Sundays a stream of people flock from all over to listen to the famous and austere preacher. Soon all the towns of Catalonia can hear his voice, and he lets himself be carried away. You walk from town to town from the banks of the Ebro to the slopes of the Pyrenees. His passage raises waves of enthusiasm and cries of repentance: peoples are transformed, great sinners change their lives and the most stupendous conversions take place. He possessed the divine secret of snatching hearts like the great popular preachers, San Antonio de Padua, San Bernardino de Siena, or San Vicente Ferrer. He had taken Blessed Avila as the model of his preaching and, like him, he anointed his sermons with prayer. You walk from town to town from the banks of the Ebro to the slopes of the Pyrenees. His passage raises waves of enthusiasm and cries of repentance: peoples are transformed, great sinners change their lives and the most stupendous conversions take place. He possessed the divine secret of snatching hearts like the great popular preachers, San Antonio de Padua, San Bernardino de Siena, or San Vicente Ferrer. He had taken Blessed Avila as the model of his preaching and, like him, he anointed his sermons with prayer. You walk from town to town from the banks of the Ebro to the slopes of the Pyrenees. His passage raises waves of enthusiasm and cries of repentance: peoples are transformed, great sinners change their lives and the most stupendous conversions take place. He possessed the divine secret of snatching hearts like the great popular preachers, San Antonio de Padua, San Bernardino de Siena, or San Vicente Ferrer. He had taken Blessed Avila as the model of his preaching and, like him, he anointed his sermons with prayer. He possessed the divine secret of snatching hearts like the great popular preachers, San Antonio de Padua, San Bernardino de Siena, or San Vicente Ferrer. He had taken Blessed Avila as the model of his preaching and, like him, he anointed his sermons with prayer. He possessed the divine secret of snatching hearts like the great popular preachers, San Antonio de Padua, San Bernardino de Siena, or San Vicente Ferrer. He had taken Blessed Avila as the model of his preaching and, like him, he anointed his sermons with prayer.

In addition to being a preacher, Saint P. Claret was a tireless propagandist of the pen: he wrote thousands of pious books, founded religious bookstores, published Catholic newspapers, and promoted the religious teaching of the people by all means. This incomparable and fruitful activity aroused against him the wrath of the anti-religious and Masonic sectarianism that persecuted him with all fury, raising against him the most vile slander. But the virtue of the integrity of the missionary emerged triumphant from all his enemies and the glory began to adorn his forehead from this very life. The Queen of Spain chose him as her confessor, but before that he was appointed Bishop of Santiago de Cuba, an island where his zeal greatly intensified Christian life, and, finally, he was given the title of Archbishop of Trajanópolis;

He concentrated the last years of his life especially in the Institute of the Missionaries Sons of the Heart of Mary, which he had founded with other companions in 1849, and which continues to be still today the purest and most exalted glory of the eminent missionary of Sallent.

At the outbreak of the 1868 revolution, Father Claret followed the queen into exile, dying two years later (1870) in the Fontfroide Cistercian Abbey (France), always harassed, fiercely slandered and persecuted until after his death. He had a great rage and still has hell, Satan knows why.

Pope Pius XI declared him Blessed, and Pius XII canonized him in the midst of tremendous functions. The fame and glory of this incomparable man, the pride of Spain, grows in the world like one more overwhelmed, and astonishing manifestations of his beneficial influence in the entire world are to be expected. We wish for him the aura of the doctorate in the universal Church. Hail father, hail tireless shepherd of souls, hail prez of Missionaries and Prelates; look from the sky at the vineyard that you planted and watered with sweat, watch over its prosperity!

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  CDC Director Says US May Change Definition of “Fully Vaccinated” as Booster Shots Become Available
Posted by: Stone - 10-23-2021, 05:26 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines - Replies (1)

HERE WE GO: CDC Director Walensky Says US May Change Definition of “Fully Vaccinated” as Booster Shots Become Available (VIDEO)

GP | October 22, 2021

Here we go…

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Friday said the US may change its definition of “fully vaccinated” as booster shots become available for everybody.

A reporter for the Associated Press asked Walensky if the Biden Administration is rethinking the definition what it means to be “fully vaccinated” now that booster shots are recommended.

“Should people who are eligible for a booster now get one by a certain time frame to maintain their fully vaccinated status?” the reporter asked Fauci and Walensky.

“We have not yet changed the definition of ‘fully vaccinated.’ We will continue to look at this. We may need to update our definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ in the future,” Walensky said during a press briefing on Friday.

VIDEO:

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  Analysis Shows More COVID Deaths in 2021 than 2020 with Large Percent of 2021 Deaths Fully Vaccinate
Posted by: Stone - 10-23-2021, 05:06 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular] - No Replies

Analysis Shows More COVID Deaths in 2021 than 2020 with Large Percent of 2021 Deaths Fully Vaccinated
GP | October 22, 2021


The Devil is in the Details and The Trends Look Like Hell

Some may want to “Follow the Science” since a majority feel it is correct but math provides the true answers.  Math takes the data and determines the trends.  While we must learn from the past 22 months of this pandemic we also must understand the current trends so we can determine the correct path forward.

In the first 3 months of 2020 in the US, 3,603 people died from Covid-19. In April the deaths accelerated and varied between 9k and 15k per week.  Eventually, 333,199 died between April 1, 2020 and Dec 31, 2020 for a daily average of 1,216 deaths.

During the October 22nd 2020 debate Joe Biden stated, “Folks, I will take care of this. I will end this. I will make sure we have a plan”.

According to www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ there have been an additional 414,890 deaths from Covid-19 between Jan 1, 2021 and Oct 20, 2021.  That equates to a new daily average of 1,421 deaths.  The 2021 daily rate is 16.9% greater than 2020.  In the math world we would say the plan has failed.

The following is an analysis of breakthrough cases and deaths in Maryland, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.  Covid-19 breakthrough cases or deaths are in fully vaccinated persons.  Each state records their Covid-19 data differently which makes some data more readily available.  It is practically impossible to get all the data for these states on the exact same dates.

From the Maryland.gov website we are told.

[Image: Covid-Pic-1.jpg]

Then it states later,

Quote:Less than 0.71% sounds pretty low doesn’t it?  The state of Maryland implies the vaccines are doing their job as Dr. Fauci has told us over and over again.  Yet what is the trend?

Between Sept 22, 2021, and Oct 10, 2021, Maryland had an additional 21,864 Covid-19 cases which 7,233 or 33.1% of the cases were classified as breakthrough cases.  Why doesn’t the state of Maryland give you this data versus the 0.71% number?

During this same period, Maryland lost 259 citizens to Covid-19.  Of those 259 souls, 77 or 29.7% were fully vaccinated.  Again, why does Maryland.gov water down that data?

In Massachusetts, for the four week ending period of Aug 28 through Sep 18, there were 44,773 Covid-19 cases which 37.1% were classified as breakthrough and 269 covid-19 deaths of which, 86 or 32.0% were in fully vaccinated people.  For the four week ending period of Sep 25 through Oct 16, there were 38,228 Covid-19 cases which 40.8% were classified as breakthrough and 380 Covid-19 deaths of which, 154 or 40.5% were in fully vaccinated people.

These trends detail an obvious failure of the vaccine, but news outlets state that this fully vaccinated death count of 371 is only a very small percentage of the total vaccinated.  What should be troubling to the Massachusetts public is those fully vaccinated account for an average of 39.2% of all deaths in the first two weeks of October.

In Pennsylvania, the acting Sec. of Health Alison Beam stated at a news conference at Lancaster General Hospital, “With nearly seven million Pennsylvanians fully vaccinated, the data makes it clear: the vaccines are safe and effective at preventing severe illness from Covid-19.”

However, recent analysis of cases and deaths between September 15 and Oct 4 show that in 132k cases, 26.1% of them were classified as breakthrough and 305 (26.5%) deaths out of a total of 1,153 were in fully vaccinated people.  But Sec. of Health Alison Beam makes no mention of that.

While Vermont is a small state, the fully vaccinated share of the total loss of life from Covid-19 is an even higher percentage than any of the states reviewed so far.  In September, according to the Vermont Daily Chronicle, 76% of those who died of Covid-19 were fully vaccinated.

When we look to the UK, the picture looks as bad as in Vermont except on a larger scale which should be a concern as our country’s numbers tend to lag the UK’s by a few weeks.

The following table from the UK government can be found here, on page 15.  It shows that between week 37 and week 40, there was a total of 2,805 covid-19 deaths and 2,136 or 76.1% were fully vaccinated.  These deaths happened within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test.

[Image: COVID-Pic-2.jpg]

Recently, Dr. Robert Malone, who developed the mRNA technology, was interviewed on The Jimmy Dore Show and stated, “overuse of vaccines will drive the development of viruses that are able to evade vaccinations”.

Vaccinating those that aren’t at risk drives this development of further variants which could be killing more of our elderly.

Hopefully, we can learn from these trending hardships in the UK, that a booster shot that was designed for the initial variant discovered in the fall of 2019 can’t be the silver bullet against the variants in the 2021/2022 Covid-19 season.  When will we realize that statements like, “we can vaccinate ourselves out of a pandemic”, could actually be very dangerous to our young and killing our elderly?

Why is our 2021 daily death toll, with vaccine use, 16.9% greater than in 2020 when no vaccine was readily available?

The following Virginia data was obtained.

[Image: COVID-Pic-3.jpg]

If a current protocol has failed, we need to discard it.  If the majority of deaths are in a specific age group we need to focus on that age group and protect their lives.  We need to stop spending time on scare tactics with other groups who are at minimal risk of death, by coercing them or mandating them into getting an experimental vaccine without knowledge of long-term side effects.

The old saying, “knowledge is power, get some” is more relevant than ever now.  Math is a beautiful thing.

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  UK: Deleted Government Report Celebrates How Public Loves to “Conform”
Posted by: Stone - 10-22-2021, 02:50 PM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

Deleted Government Report Celebrates How Public Loves to “Conform”
Climate change technocrats plan on using same methods that convinced public to obey lockdown.


Summit News |  22 October, 2021


A deleted government report exploring how to make the public alter its behavior to accept the new ‘green economy’ reveals how COVID-19 restrictions have created a population with a “deep set reverence” for authority and a “powerful tendency to conform.”

The report was inadvertently published by the British government before being hastily pulled down, but numerous journalists were able to retrieve its contents.

The document explored how to weaponize behavioral psychology to ‘nudge’ the public into supporting measures and adopting behavior without them explicitly knowing they’re being manipulated.

The investigation found that the same techniques the government used to force people into accepting lockdown could be used to make them change their lifestyles in the name of preventing climate change.

Under the heading “principles for successful behaviour,” the paper noted;

“Government statements, actions and laws powerfully shape perceptions of normative and acceptable behaviour. For instance, even with public criticism being high, many still perceived government approval as the yardstick for safe behaviour during COVID-19 ‘we’re allowed to do this now [so must be safe]…’. This reveals, for many, a deep set reverence for legitimate government authority, regardless of one’s personal political views.”

While PR stunts such as having officials vaccinated live on television worked to convince people of the narrative, elite hypocrisy (public officials violating lockdown rules) was found to cause significant damage to public trust.

“Perceived hypocrisy can do a lot to undermine efforts to build public engagement and support. This was observed during the COVID-19 pandemic when prominent authority figures broke guidelines, leading to measurable reductions in public compliance as well as shifting attitudes.”

“Green politics has similar deep-seated reputational issues with elite hypocrisy,” notes Breitbart. “A common feature of climate change summits has been high-profile attendees arriving by private or government jet, a disconnect between word and deed that seems unlikely to vanish in the near term.”

The paper concluded that people can be rather easily “nudged” into changing their behavior in response to government announcements and “have a powerful tendency to conform.”

The investigation also found that even if enforced changes to lifestyle are not wanted by the public, most tend to fall in line with the new status quo rather quickly anyway.

The report was prepared by the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), a quasi-government body that was part of the effort to use “totalitarian” and “unethical” methods of instilling fear into the population as a means of scaring them into complying with lockdown rules.

A related group, the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours team, warned at the start of the first lockdown that a “substantial number of people still do not feel sufficiently personally threatened [by Covid-19].”

“The perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent, using hard-hitting emotional messaging,” the group added, leading to numerous lurid propaganda campaigns that exaggerated the threat of COVID to bully the public into total submission.

In summary, the public is largely unthinking, compliant and docile and can be made to go along with just about anything so long as they’re bombarded with the right propaganda.

Wonderful.

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  October 22nd - Saint Mello of Cardiff, Archbishop of Rouen
Posted by: Stone - 10-22-2021, 07:26 AM - Forum: October - No Replies

October 22 - Saint Mello of Cardiff, Archbishop of Rouen
Taken from here

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Saint Mello was born at Cardiff in Great Britain, immersed in idolatry, but converted when sent on a diplomatic mission to Rome. He heard a discourse by Pope Saint Steven and immediately afterwards expressed his desire for Baptism. Later the same Pope ordained him to the priesthood, having witnessed his zeal for the Faith. He was designated miraculously by God to go to Rouen as its Bishop, when the Pope, as well as Saint Mello himself, saw an Angel beside the altar while he was saying Mass. This heavenly Messenger presented him with a pastoral staff and told him he was destined to take the Gospel to the city of Rouen in Neustria, which is now Normandy. Saint Steven sent him there after consecrating him bishop.

In Auxerre he cured the injured foot of a carpenter by touching his pastoral staff to it, and the artisan himself and all the witnesses to this cure were converted. Then blind persons and paralytics were brought to him, and he cured them by his prayers, offered in the name of Jesus Christ. Several of his converts would later shed their blood for their faith.

Saint Mello preached in Rouen to a crowd, and a young man who had gone up on a roof to hear him, fell and was killed by the fall. The apostle resurrected him at once, and several thousand persons became Christians, including the young man in question, who was afterwards ordained a priest and became a great preacher in his turn. It was there that Saint Mello decided to build a church in honor of the Most Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin; it is believed that the present Cathedral stands at the same site. At what is now Saint Lo he cast out a demon from an idol, in the presence of a crowd, and nearly the entire village asked for Baptism. He purified the temple by the exorcisms of the Church and placed there an altar to the true God. This sanctified site is today the Church of Saint Lo. The holy bishop continued to bring souls to the truth during a long episcopate; he died in peace, an octogenarian, in the year 311, having governed the see of Rouen for forty years. A spring at Hericourt where the Saint once baptized, is still visited by parents with sick children, who plunge them into the water of this Fountain of Saint Mello.

- Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 12

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  91 Research Studies Affirm Naturally Acquired Immunity to Covid-19: Documented, Linked, and Quoted
Posted by: Stone - 10-22-2021, 07:15 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular] - No Replies

91 Research Studies Affirm Naturally Acquired Immunity to Covid-19: Documented, Linked, and Quoted

[Image: shutterstock_116566336-800x469.jpg]

Brownstone Institute | OCTOBER 17, 2021

We should not force COVID vaccines on anyone when the evidence shows that naturally acquired immunity is equal to or more robust and superior to existing vaccines. Instead, we should respect the right of the bodily integrity of individuals to decide for themselves.

Public health officials and the medical establishment with the help of the politicized media are misleading the public with assertions that the COVID-19 shots provide greater protection than natural immunity.  CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, for example, was deceptive in her October 2020 published LANCET statement that “there is no evidence for lasting protective immunity to SARS-CoV-2 following natural infection” and that “the consequence of waning immunity would present a risk to vulnerable populations for the indefinite future.”

Immunology and virology 101 have taught us over a century that natural immunity confers protection against a respiratory virus’s outer coat proteins, and not just one, e.g. the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein. There is even strong evidence for the persistence of antibodies. Even the CDC recognizes natural immunity for chicken-pox and measles, mumps, and rubella, but not for COVID-19.

The vaccinated are showing viral loads (very high) similar to the unvaccinated (Acharya et al. and Riemersma et al.), and the vaccinated are as infectious. Riemersma et al. also report Wisconsin data that corroborate how the vaccinated individuals who get infected with the Delta variant can potentially (and are) transmit(ting) SARS-CoV-2 to others (potentially to the vaccinated and unvaccinated).

This troubling situation of the vaccinated being infectious and transmitting the virus emerged in seminal nosocomial outbreak papers by Chau et al. (HCWs in Vietnam), the Finland hospital outbreak (spread among HCWs and patients), and the Israel hospital outbreak (spread among HCWs and patients). These studies also revealed that the PPE and masks were essentially ineffective in the healthcare setting. Again, the Marek’s disease in chickens and the vaccination situation explains what we are potentially facing with these leaky vaccines (increased transmission, faster transmission, and more ‘hotter’ variants).

Moreover, existing immunity should be assessed before any vaccination, via an accurate, dependable, and reliable antibody test (or T cell immunity test) or be based on documentation of prior infection (a previous positive PCR or antigen test). Such would be evidence of immunity that is equal to that of vaccination and the immunity should be provided the same societal status as any vaccine-induced immunity. This will function to mitigate the societal anxiety with these forced vaccine mandates and societal upheaval due to job loss, denial of societal privileges etc. Tearing apart the vaccinated and the unvaccinated in a society, separating them, is not medically or scientifically supportable.

The Brownstone Institute previously documented 30 studies on natural immunity as it relates to Covid-19.

This follow-up chart is the most updated and comprehensive library list of 81 of the highest-quality, complete, most robust scientific studies and evidence reports/position statements on natural immunity as compared to the COVID-19 vaccine-induced immunity and allow you to draw your own conclusion.

I’ve benefited from the input of many to put this together, especially my co-authors:

Dr. Harvey Risch, MD, PhD (Yale School of Public Health)
Dr. Howard Tenenbaum, PhD ( Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto)
Dr. Ramin Oskoui, MD (Foxhall Cardiology, Washington)
Dr. Peter McCullough, MD (Truth for Health Foundation (TFH)), Texas
Dr. Parvez Dara, MD (consultant, Medical Hematologist and Oncologist)

See article link [above] for all 90 articles: Evidence on natural immunity versus COVID-19 vaccine induced immunity as of October 15th 2021

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  Pfizer and BioNTech announce their vaccine is USELESS 11 months after dosing…
Posted by: Stone - 10-22-2021, 07:01 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines - No Replies

Pfizer and BioNTech announce their vaccine is USELESS 11 months after dosing…

Alex Berenson | October 21, 2021


Well, that’s not how they phrased it.

But it is the only reasonable way to read their press release claiming that the booster is 95% effective.

Remember. The booster is given to people who have RECEIVED the vaccine. (That’s why it’s a booster, right?)

And when they tested a booster against a placebo in those people, they found a 95% reduction in disease in people who received the booster (for a total of 11 weeks after they received the booster, excluding the first week, because science - by which I mean because including that week would not help their results).

95%!

Where have you heard that figure before? Oh yeah, it is EXACTLY the same relative risk reduction they claimed in the pivotal trial last year, when they tested the INITIAL dose against placebo.

The only reasonable read is that the booster is providing (temporary) protection similar to the first two-dose series (temporarily) did AGAINST PLACEBO. But these are VACCINATED people.

So where’s the protection from the initial two doses?

There is ONE difference, though. The ABSOLUTE risk appeared at least two to three times higher in the vaccinated people in this trial than in UNVACCINATED people in the initial trial - 110 infections in 5,000 people in 10 weeks, compared to 162 infections in 20,000 people in about the same period.

Because vaccines work.

If you are vaccinated, get ready to take boosters forever.

By the way, the press release includes NO specific safety data.

Yay Pfizer!

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  Channeling Pachamama: Diocesan Synod in San Bernardino - The Darkest of the Aztec Idols
Posted by: Stone - 10-22-2021, 06:51 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism - No Replies

From gloria.tv


The Darkest of the Aztec Idols Present at Synod

At an October 17 opening Eucharist for the Diocesan Synod in the Queen of Angels Church, Riverside, San Bernardino Diocese, California, Tezcatlipoca, the Aztec jaguar demon-god, was present (picture).

Michael Hichborn of LepantoIn.org speaks of an “abominable Aztec Mass” explaining that this kind of phenomenons doesn’t happen spontaneously but is coordinated and arranged, "Someone knew about the darkest of the Aztec gods represented in the jaguar costume."

[Image: Capture.png]



Right from the Diocesan website:

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  Francis approves the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon
Posted by: Stone - 10-22-2021, 06:38 AM - Forum: Pope Francis - No Replies

Francis approves the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon

[Image: Diseno-sin-titulo-3-2.jpg]
Vatican 2019

InfoVaticana [machine translated from the Spanish] | October 20, 2021

The Holy Father has canonically erected the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon as a public ecclesiastical legal person, reports the Vatican Press Room through a statement.

Francis, says the note, formalized the creation of this Ecclesiastical Conference on October 9 during the audience granted to the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, with the aim of “promoting common pastoral action of the ecclesiastical circumscriptions of the Amazonia and encourage a greater inculturation of the faith in said territory ”, although its statutes have not yet been approved.

The Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon was requested from the Holy See during an assembly held from June 26 to 29, 2020 among the Bishops of the Amazon interested in the project, stemming from an initiative proposed in the Final Document of the Synod on the Amazon, which was held at the Vatican in October 2019.

In their point 115, the Synod Fathers proposed “to create an episcopal body that promotes synodality among the churches of the region, that helps to delineate the Amazonian face of this Church and that continues the task of finding new paths for the evangelizing mission, especially incorporating the proposal of integral ecology, thus strengthening the physiognomy of the Amazonian Church ”.

“It would be a permanent and representative episcopal body that promotes synodality in the Amazon region, articulated with CELAM, with its own structure, in a simple organization and also articulated with REPAM. In this way, it can be the effective channel for assuming, from the territory of the Latin American and Caribbean Church, many of the proposals that emerged in this Synod. It would be the link that articulates ecclesial and socio-environmental networks and initiatives on a continental and international level ”.

Following the proposal made on June 29, 2020, the Pope agreed to study the initiative and commissioned the Congregation for Bishops "to closely monitor and accompany the process, providing all possible help to give the body an adequate appearance."

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  New evidence for infanticide in the creation of the fetal cell line used for COVID vaccine testing
Posted by: Stone - 10-21-2021, 03:47 PM - Forum: Abortion - No Replies

New evidence for infanticide in the creation of the fetal cell line used for COVID vaccine testing

Jon Rappoport | October 20, 2021



“To obtain embryo cells, embryos from spontaneous abortions cannot be used, nor can those obtained by means of abortions performed via the vagina: in both cases, the embryo will be contaminated by micro-organisms.”

“The correct way consists in having recourse to Caesarian section or to the removal of the uterus. Only in this way can bacteriological sterility be guaranteed.”

“In either case, then, to obtain embryo cells for culture a programmed abortion must be adopted, choosing the age of the embryo and dissecting it while still alive, in order to remove tissues to be placed in culture media.”

“Given these premises, we face the dilemma of whether the deliberate systematic destruction of a human creature to obtain cell material can be justified, when it is recognized that this is of great interest to fundamental research and for the diagnosis of some human diseases. Are research and diagnosis of such great value that they justify the destruction of human beings?”

“The Geneva Declaration affirms that the doctor has the duty to take the greatest care to safeguard the life of a human being from its conception and will not, even under threat, use his knowledge to infringe humanitarian laws.” (1986-04-26; Herranz, Gonzalo; Il Sabato, no.15…Professor Herranz was, at the time, president of the Committee of Medical Ethics of Spanish Doctors and vice-president of the Permanent Committee of Medical Ethics of the European Community.)

What exactly happened in 1972 or 1973, in the Netherlands, where an infant girl was aborted, and her kidneys used to make a cell line that would be used, going forward, in the testing of vaccines?

That cell line is called HEK 293 (HEK stands for human embryonic kidney), and it has been used to test COVID vaccines.

I have already presented evidence for concluding the abortion involved removing the living infant from her mother’s womb, and taking her kidneys, which of course killed her.

This evidence rests on the realization that, in order to extract viable and useful kidney tissue, the baby had to have a functioning blood supply, which meant she was alive.

But the evidence ALSO comes from knowing many other abortions have been carried out, in order to harvest tissue for medical research, by murdering living babies.

I have found a very informative article (2/9/2021) at the Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform UK, by Christian Hacking, titled, “What the HEK?!” by Christian Hacking. Quoting from the article:

“HEK 293 is a human cell line created using a kidney from a dissected unborn baby in the Netherlands between 1972 and 1973. It is the second most common cell line and is used extensively in ‘pharmaceutical and biomedical research’. It is also used in vaccine creation and cancer research.”

“It was used, along with other human cell lines, to develop a genetically engineered spike protein (that the mRNA vaccine codes for) in the original development stage of the vaccine. The ‘new technology’ Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna Vaccine were tested on HEK 293 before they began human trials. This testing is ongoing for all new batches. Finally the ‘old technology’ Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine grew a weakened viral strain in HEK 293 cell culture…”

“The kidney in question was dissected from a healthy Dutch baby girl of unknown origin by the team at Leiden University in the Netherlands in 1972. Despite the inclusion of the term ‘embryonic’ in the title, the baby in question was probably 12-13 weeks old when she was killed so as to secure functioning kidney cells. The man in charge of the research was named Alex Jan Van der Eb; he is still alive and still based in Holland.”

“When questioned on the matter by the FDA in 2001, Dr Van der Eb confirmed it was an intentional abortion of a ‘fetus’ but gave hazy details of the exact experiments.”

“’So the kidney material, the fetal kidney material was as follows: the kidney of the fetus was, with an unknown family history, obtained in 1972 probably. The precise date is not known anymore. The fetus, as far as I can remember, was completely normal. Nothing was wrong. The reasons for the abortion were unknown to me. I probably knew it at that time, but it got lost, all this information’.”

Author Hacking continues: “…extracting and growing living cells is incredibly difficult. In order to give oneself the best chance of success you need to ensure the child is healthy, fresh, intact and sterile. As one embryologist and Emeritus Professor of Anatomy confirms:”

“’In order to sustain 95% of the cells, the live tissue would need to be preserved within 5 minutes of the abortion. Within an hour the cells would continue to deteriorate, rendering the specimens useless’.”

[That statement was made by “Dr C Ward Kischer, embryologist and Emeritus Professor of Anatomy; specialist in Human Embryology, University of Arizona College of Medicine…”]

[My comment: This suggests the abortion, in the Netherlands, in 1972, was planned and technicians were standing by. I would say that, to ensure the viability of the tissue, the infant had a functioning blood supply and was alive when her kidneys were removed, killing her.]

Hacking: “In order for the organs to be at ‘optimal viability’, the child needs to be dissected and organs extracted within 5 minutes of delivery. Anaesthetic also cannot be used so as to not change the cellular activity of the organs the researcher wants to obtain.”

“Acclaimed Doctor, Ian Donald, the pioneer of the ultrasound scanner, also claims to have witnessed the WI-38 [another cell-line] dissections [1962], conducted at the Karolinska Institute; he described them such:

“’Experiments were being performed on near-term alive aborted babies who were not even afforded the mercy of anesthetic as they writhed and cried in agony, and when their usefulness had expired, they were executed and discarded as garbage’.”

“In his dense book ‘The Foetus As Transplant Donor the Scientific, Social, and Ethical Perspectives’, immunologist Dr Peter McCullagh relays detailed descriptions of the methods used on dozens of ‘fetal tissue donors’ from the 1970’s onward, including the deaths of babies between 7 and 26 weeks gestation by decapitations, exposure, dissection and drug testing. Gynaecologist and ex-abortionist Dr Bernard Nathanson, relaying his own understanding of abortion, and citing McCullagh’s book claims the Swedish experiments took place thus:

“’…in Sweden they have been puncturing the sac of a pregnant woman at let us say 14 to 16 weeks, and then they put a clamp on the head of the baby, pull the head down into the neck of the womb, drill a hole into the baby’s head, and then put a suction machine into the brain and suck out the brain cells….. Healthy human fetuses from 7 to 21 weeks from legal abortions were used. This is in Sweden. The conception age was estimated from crown rump length and so on. Fetal liver and kidney were rapidly removed and weighed. Now at 21 weeks, what they were doing, or 18 weeks, or 16 weeks, was what is called prostaglandin abortions. They would inject a substance into the womb. The woman would then go into mini-labor and pass this baby. 50% of the time, the baby would be born alive, but that didn’t stop them. They would just simply open up the abdomen of the baby with no anesthesia, and take out the liver and kidneys, etc.’”

“A research paper from the University of Toronto from June 1952 commenting on the method of their experiments suggests that these techniques were universal with researchers working in close proximity to the abortions.”

“’No macerated [softened after death] specimens were used and in many of the embryos the heart was still beating at the time of receipt in the virus laboratory.”

“According to Gonzalo Herranz, former head of the Committee of Medical Ethics of Spanish doctors, the best way to prevent ‘contamination by microorganisms’ is to deliver the child by caesarean section or the removal of the uterus.”

“A 1982 review of a history of tissue donation affirms this, and much of the above evidence:”

“’Fetal tissue for transplantation must be “harvested” within a few minutes of delivery. Ideally this is by hysterectomy, with the fetus delivered in utero. Drugs which reduce fetal physiological activity need to be avoided. The fetus is therefore in as alive and aware a state as possible when being opened’.”

From Hacking’s article, it’s quite clear how the standard procedure of infant-murder is carried out.

It’s entirely reasonable to assume fetal cell line HEK 293—used for COVID vaccine testing—was originally produced, in 1972, by the murder of an infant. Refusal to take a COVID vaccine on the basis of conscience and religion is more than justified.

Given the weight of the circumstantial case, I would say that for all people of faith, refusal is essential.

Lunatic medical murderers and their allies will say anything to avoid blame and the application of true justice to themselves. They will invent “science” at the drop of a hat and couch it in humanitarian terms. They will claim the ends justify the means. They will commit gross forgery to pretend those ends are vital.

But we don’t have to stand by and passively believe them.

Billions of people of faith can stand against them.

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  October 21st – St Hilarion, Abbot
Posted by: Stone - 10-21-2021, 01:12 PM - Forum: October - No Replies

October 21 – St Hilarion, Abbot
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger  (1841-1875)

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“Monks were unknown in Syria before St. Hilarion,” says his historian St. Jerome. “He instituted the monastic life in that country, and was the master of those who embraced it. The Lord Jesus had his Anthony in Egypt and his Hilarion in Palestine, the former advanced in years, the latter still young.” Now our Lord very soon raised this young man to such glory that Anthony would say to the sick, who came to him from Syria attracted by the fame of his miracles: “Why take the trouble to come so far when you have near you my son Hilarion?” And yet Hilarion had spent only two months with Anthony, after which the patriarch had said to him (according to the Greek translation): “Persevere to the end, my son, and thy labor will win thee the delights of heaven.” Then, giving a hairshirt and a garment of skin to this boy of fifteen whom he was never to see again, he sent him back to sanctify the solitudes of his own country, while he himself retired farther into the desert.

The enemy of mankind, foreseeing a formidable adversary in this new solitary, waged a terrible war against him. Even the flesh, in spite of the young ascetic’s fasts, was Satan’s first accomplice. But without any pity for a body so frail and delicate, as his historian says, that any effort would have seemed sufficient to destroy it, Hilarion cried out indignantly: “Ass, I will see that thou kick no more; I will reduce thee by hunger, I will crush thee with burdens, I will make thee work in all weathers; thou shalt be so pinched with hunger that thou wilt think no more of pleasure.”

Vanquished in this quarter, the enemy found other allies, through whom he thought to drive Hilarion, by fear, back to the dwellings of men. But to the robbers who fell upon his poor wicker hut, the Saint said smiling, “He who is naked has no fear of thieves.” And they, touched by his great virtue could not conceal their admiration, and promised to amend their lives.

Then Satan determined to come in person, as he had done to Anthony; but with no better success. No trouble could disturb the serenity attained by that simple, holy soul. One day the demon entered into a camel and made it mad, so that it rushed upon the Saint with horrible cries. But he only answered: “I am not afraid of thee; thou art always the same, whether thou come as a fox or a camel.” And the huge beast fell down tamed at his feet.

There was a harder trial yet to come from the most cunning artifice of the serpent. When Hilarion sought to hide himself from the immense concourse of people who besieged his poor cell, the enemy maliciously published his fame far and wide, and brought to him overwhelming crowds from every land. In vain he quitted Syria and travelled the length and breadth of Egypt; in vain, pursued from desert to desert, he crossed the sea, and hoped to conceal himself in Sicily, in Dalmatia, in Cyprus. From the ship, which was making its way among the Cyclades, he heard, in each island, the infernal spirits calling one another from the towns and villages and running to the shores as he passed by. At Paphos, where he landed, the same concourse of demons brought to him multitudes of men; until at length God took pity on his servant, and discovered to him a place inaccessible to his fellow men, where he had no company but legions of devils, who surrounded him day and night. Far from fearing, says his biographer, he took pleasure in the neighborhood of his old antagonists whom he knew so well; and he lived there in great peace the last five years before his death.

The Church thus abridges St. Jerome’s history of Hilarion.

Quote:Hilarion was born of infidel parents at Abatha in Palestine; and was sent to study at Alexandria, where he became famous for his talents and the purity of his morals. He embraced the Christian religion, and made wonderful progress in faith and charity. He was constantly in the church, devoted himself to prayer and fasting, and was full of contempt for the enticements of pleasure and earthly desires. The fame of St. Anthony had then spread all over Egypt. Hilarion, desirous of seeing him, betook himself to the wilderness, and stayed two months with him learning his manner of life. He then returned home; but on the death of his parents he bestowed his goods upon the poor, and though only in his fifteenth year, returned to the desert. He built himself a little cell scarcely large enough to hold him, and there he slept on the ground. He never changed nor washed the sackcloth he wore, saying it was superfluous to look for cleanliness in a hairshirt.

He devoted himself to the reading and study of the holy Scripture. His food consisted of a few figs and the juice of herbs, which he never took before sunset. His mortification and humility were wonderful; and by means of these and other virtues he overcame many terrible temptations of the evil one, and cast innumerable devils out of the possessed in many parts of the world. He had built many monasteries, and was renowned for miracles, when he fell ill in the eightieth year of his age. In his last agony he exclaimed: Go forth, my soul, why dost thou fear? Go forth, why dost thou hesitate? Thou hast served Christ for nearly seventy years, and dost thou fear death? And with these words he expired.

To be a Hilarion, and yet to fear death! If in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry? O glorious Saint, penetrate us with the apprehension of God’s judgments. Teach us that Christian fear does not banish love, but on the contrary, clears the way and leads to it, and then accompanies it through life as an attentive and faithful guardian. This holy fear was thy security at thy last hour; may it protect us also along the path of life, and at death introduce us immediately into heaven!

St. Hilarion was one of the first Confessors, if not the very first, to be honored in the East with a public cultus like the Martyrs. In the West, the white-robed army led by Ursula adds to the glory of the holy monk who has the first honors of this day.

On the 21st day of October 451, Cologne was made equal to the most illustrious cities by a spiritual glory. Criticism, and there is no lack of it, may dispute the circumstances which brought together the legion of virgins; but the fact itself that eleven thousand chosen souls were martyred by the Huns in recompense for their fidelity is now acknowledged by true science. From the earth where so many noble victims lay concealed, they have more than once been brought to light by multitudes, bearing about them evidence of the veneration of those who had buried them; for instance, by a happy inspiration, the arrow that had set free the blessed soul, would be left, as a token of victory, fixed in the breast or forehead of the martyr.

St. Angela of Merici confided to the patronage of this glorious phalanx her spiritual daughters, and the numberless children whom they will continue till the end of time to educate in the fear of the Lord. The grave Sorbonne dedicated its church to the holy virgins as well as to the Mother of God; and here, as in the Universities of Coimbra and Vienna, an annual panegyric was pronounced in praise of them. Portugal, enriched with some of their precious relics, carried their cultus into the Indies. And pious confraternities have been formed among the faithful for obtaining their assistance at the hour of death. Let us address to them these verses from a beautiful Office composed in their honor by the blessed Herman, their most devout client.

Ad Completorum
O præclaræ vos puellæ,
Nunc implete meum velle,
Et dum mortis venit hora,
Subvenite sine mora:
In tam gravi tempestate
Me præsentes defensate
A dæmonum instantia.


O ye glorious virgins, fulfill now my desire, and when the hour of my death arrives, hasten to my assistance: be present at that terrible moment, and defend me from the assault of the demons.


Nulla vestrum ibi desit,
Virgo Mater prima præsit,
Si quæ mihi fæx inh&aelis;sit,
Quæ me sua labe læsit,
Vestra prece procul fiat,
Vos præsentes hostis sciat,
Et se confusum doleat.


Let not one of you be then absent; come with the Virgin Mother at your head. If any remnant of sin still cling to me and soil me with its stain, remove it by your prayer. Let the foe be aware of your presence, and bewail his own confusion.


Let us conclude with the Church’s own prayer.

Prayer

Da nobis, quæsumus Domine Deus noster: sanctarum Virginum et Martyrum tuarum Ursulæ et Sociarum ejus palmas incessabili devotione venerari; ut quas digna mente non possumus celebrare, humilibus saltem frequentemus obsequiis. Per Dominum.
Grant us, we beseech thee, O Lord our God, to venerate with continual devotion the triumphs of thy holy virgins and martyrs, Ursula and her companions; that what we cannot celebrate with worthy minds, we may at least attend with humble service. Through our Lord, &c.

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  Bishop Schneider: “We Are Returning To Catacomb Masses"
Posted by: Stone - 10-21-2021, 08:24 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism - No Replies

Bishop Schneider is still very much a part of the Conciliar Church, albeit one of the more 'conservative' members. But it is so painfully obvious where all this is heading even those in the Novus Ordo can see it...



Bishop Schneider: “We Are Returning To Catacomb Masses"


gloria.tv | October 20, 2021


The deepest reason of the Church crisis since Vatican II especially in the liturgy is that “we banished God from the centre - put God in the corner - and put man in the centre,” Bishop Athanasius Schneider told RestorationChristianCulture.org (October 14).

This is self-evident in the Novus Ordo Eucharist, especially through Eucharists facing the people which turn the priest into a "showman," Schneider explained. He told about a Kazakh lady, a Protestant from Muslim background who attended a Mass in Schneider’s chapel. Afterwards, she said that the atmosphere was “centred to God”. Later, she attended a Eucharist and said innocently and without irony that it was “a performance of bad quality.”

Anthropocentrism is visible already in Vatican II, Schneider says, but it culminates in Francis' pontificate as can be seen from climate change, Pachamama etc.

Regarding Vatican visitations at contemplative monasteries, Schneider noticed that “the Holy See is destroying the contemplative life,” asking the sisters "to resist.” He diagnoses a “practical destruction of the cloistered life” but this is against the Church's common good, “The sisters cannot obey such orders even if they come from Rome.”

Francis' prohibiting the Mass is for Schneider an "abuse of power" and is harming the spiritual good of the Church. “When a pope or a bishop is forbidding the Roman Mass, they are acting against the good of the Church but the Church is larger than a single pope,” he said. Therefore priests must not obey these orders. Schneider suggests celebrating in private homes, “We are returning to a kind of catacomb Masses.”

He predicts that the restrictions on the Mass are short living and will collapse.

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