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| Did Communism ever die? Our current crisis in light of Our Lady of Fatima |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-26-2020, 04:39 PM - Forum: Socialism & Communism
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Opinion piece:
Did Communism ever die? Our current crisis in light of Our Lady of Fatima
It seems now to me, looking back, how, while we went to sleep thinking that Communism was effectively dead, other themes and strategies were developed that still aimed at establishing modified Communist systems in the world.
December 24, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – In light of our current election crisis, involving a Joe Biden/Kamala Harris team and with their cooperation with the socialist project of the Great Resent looming over us, much has been said about an impending Communist threat. Suddenly, we realize how China has been influencing the affairs of the West by way of party members working in Western companies, but also the news that China might have been involved in the current election fraud shook many of us. We suddenly woke up to the reality of a strong and strategic Communist presence in the West.
Yet, did we not largely think that Communism had essentially died with the fall of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the 1990s? But let us now look back and reflect upon the question: Did Communism ever die? I am writing these reflections as someone born and raised in Germany and having studied in Germany and lived in Switzerland for some time, and having moved to the U.S. some 13 years ago – that is to say, from a European-American perspective.
Looking back, it baffles me how certain key steps were taken right at the formal end of the Soviet Union. Remember how not long after that political change, the U.S. started trading more intensely with China, something that many conservatives have still called “trading with the enemy.” Already in 1993, President Bill Clinton proposed a policy of “constructive engagement” with China, and in 2000, the same president granted China permanent normal trade relations with the United States and paving the way for China to join the World Trade Organization in 2001. How could this have happened, we now ask, that the U.S. would allow itself to be so intertwined with a country – having most of its goods even produced by it – whose political system is so contrary to our Western democracies. Were we sleeping? That country was still Communist!
As LifeSite contributor and China expert Steven Mosher recently summed it up so well:
Quote:The #CCP studied 1991 collapse of the USSR They instituted mandatory Patriotic Education, clamped down on dissent. They created a facade of capitalism to deceive us, while infiltrating and undermining American institutions. They intend to do to us what we did to USSR. Soon.
At the same time, let us consider another aspect of this history: I still remember attending around that time a talk by Josef Joffe, the editor-in-chief of the German intellectual newspaper Die Zeit. Speaking to an audience of the University of Zurich in Switzerland, he was promoting the idea of globalism. We are now in the era of globalism. National borders are falling, all nations are getting interconnected. Where did this sudden change come from? Who came up with the idea, shortly after the perceived fall of Communism, that we need to break national borders apart? At the time, I revolted against the words of Joffe. They seemed so artificial to me, as if there was a sort of law that forced the world to go down the globalist path. Why did politicians suddenly decide to change the laws in order to make this globalization possible? Little did I realize at the time that Joffe was at the time participating at conferences of the Bilderberg Group and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Looking back, it now sounds like a change of the propaganda, a change of the code words. Someone decided that things will change in the West.
Another example: not long after the “fall” of Communism at the beginning of the 1990s, we in Germany had suddenly the surge of the economization of education, of partnerships between schools and companies. There was this push for making education pay. For making research pay. As if the work of the mind can be and should be connected with financial outcomes and matters. Where did this new slogan come from? I remember at the time, being a student at the University of Hannover, how a group of students opposed this idea and published articles on it. We were against the economization of education which would level down the education of future generations. We wanted academic freedom and independence, not an academic life that was depending upon financial aspects.
Finally, there was another strange phenomenon: the United Nations came up with the Agenda 21. I remember how I one day, at a feast with people from the former Communist part of Germany, discussed with them this new agenda that had been agreed upon by the United Nations at the Brazil Earth Summit in 1992. Having read about this agenda, I told these acquaintances that this agenda contains such ideas as that one has to share one’s car with one’s neighbor since the environment was to be protected. The Agenda 21 document, for example, expounded: “Raise public awareness of the environmental impacts of transport and travel behaviour through mass media campaigns and support for non-governmental and community initiatives promoting the use of non-motorized transport, shared driving and improved traffic safety measures.” Furthermore, they proposed to assist “individuals and households to make environmentally sound purchasing decisions,” which includes “deposit/refund systems,” that is to say, shared ownership of goods.
It sounded so Communist to me at the time, and I remember how my interlocutors shook their heads, too. They could not believe it, having just been freed from a Communist dictatorship.
By now, this Agenda 21 has been further developed, not only into the Sustainable Development Goals which are anti-life and pro-birth control. The Davos Economic Forum group just published a video which makes one's hair stand up. “You'll own nothing. And you'll be happy,” they predict for the year 2030, proposing that in a few years, we will merely “rent” whatever we “want” for a certain period of time, thus repeating the idea that I discussed at the beginning of the 1990s with my acquaintances from formerly Communist Eastern Germany. Private property is to be abolished for the sake for a purported environmental crisis. Remember how the former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, was first among that new Green Movement at that time? That he founded, in 1993, a year after the 1992 Earth Summit that agreed upon the Agenda 21 and because of it, the Green Cross Movement? Is this a coincidence? Or remember how Leonardo Boff, a proponent of Marxist Liberation Theology in Southern America, suddenly went green? Interesting about this Davos video is that when it states that “the U.S. won't be the leading world superpower,” but, instead that “a handful of states will dominate,” it shows a photo with flags, at the center of which flies the Turkish one, overshadowing the U.S. flag.
It seems now to me, looking back, how, while we went to sleep thinking that Communism was effectively dead, other themes and strategies were developed that still aimed at establishing modified Communist systems in the world. National borders were to be weakened, national economies globalized, education leveled down with new economically inspired reforms, while the largest Communist country in the world, China, was somehow welcomed as a normal partner on the international level.
On top of all of this, there suddenly also emerged the LGBT agenda. Where did it come from? When did it emerge? Also here, I remember the homosexual lobby (which was the first of that multi-faceted movement) started to get stronger in light of the HIV discussion. Information booklets about the disease were being used by this lobby to present homosexual relations as something normal. Yes, that was also in the 1990s. Strange coincidence!
It seems now, in retrospect, as if Communism merely shifted its approaches and agendas, but not its goal. It infiltrated the West more indirectly, by means of soft power, rather than with the help of Soviet tanks. My husband, Dr. Robert Hickson, likes to quote here James Burnham, a former Trotskyite and political analyst who warned the West not to adapt to the enemy, without realizing it. Burnham called one of his essays The Suicide of the West: An Essay on the Meaning and Destiny of Liberalism (1964). My husband once quoted Burnham with these insistent warnings: “From the communist point of view, every institution in the camp of the enemy is a battleground: churches as well as armies; business corporations and trade unions alike; art, literature and science; Boy Scout troops along with intelligence agencies; communications media just as much as political parties.”
This, we need to understand also who stands behind Communism. We might have thought in too limited ways that it was just the Communist party of the Soviet Union that dominated the East. But who prepared and implemented the Communist Revolution? Here, we can refer to a letter written on November 8, 1918 to the papal nuncio Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli by Cardinal Felix von Hartmann, a German prelate, in which he warns the Pope of an impending Communist revolution in Germany that aimed at destroying the German monarchy, but also aimed at the Catholic Church.
Von Hartmann wrote on behalf of the German Emperor Willhelm II: “that, according to news that came to him yesterday, the Grand Orient [a Freemasonic lodge] has just decided first to depose all Sovereigns – first of all him, the Emperor – then to destroy (?) the Cathol.[olic] Church, to imprison the pope, etc and, finally, to establish on the ruins of the former bourgeois society a world republic under the leadership of American Big Capital. [...] France and America, however, are said to be under the full influence of the Grand Orient. Bolshevism is said to be the external tool to establish the desired conditions. In the face of such a great danger which threatens in addition to the Monarchy, also the Catholic Church; it is thus important that the German episcopacy be informed and that also the pope be warned.”
As von Hartmann explained, this Communist threat was organized by Freemasonry. And he said they planned to use people from the U.S. high finance to further this project. That is to say, there are well-connected international financial and Freemasonic elites which funded and organized the Communist Revolution. That very same elite seems now to be analogously organizing the Great Reset, and they have been preparing for it essentially since the fall of the Soviet Union, the moment when most of us had gone to sleep.
Now we are awake. Very much awake. Because we realize our entire way of living is at stake, our liberties, our properties, our children, our churches. As the new Davos Forum video states: “Western values will have been tested to the breaking point.” It is our formative Christian civilization and way of life that are increasingly at stake. We woke up and face this election fraud, and we do not even know who will win this battle – perhaps those forces that wish us to have no more personal property.
But here we also remember that Our Lady of Fatima said that “the errors of Russia will spread throughout the world,” should Russia not be consecrated by the Pope to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. According to Sister Lucia, in 1946, the United States would also become Communist.
We are approaching it. We stare right into the eyes of this Communist apparatus funded and conceptualized by a global financial-Freemasonic elite. But what now?
Let us call to Our Mother. She was so loving and kind to warn us 100 years ago; she will surely not abandon us now! She can work the miracle – and she will! – turning men's hearts back to God. Perhaps even the men of the Great Reset. Pray God.
She promised us that the consecration of Russia would be done. It would be late, but it would come, and there would then be a time of peace. She stated on July 13, 1917: “If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
May we, until then, show our fidelity to Christ, fight for every single aspect of truth on the way.
May we refuse to live the lie, which would accustom our minds and souls to adjust to untruth. God is truth!
May we refuse to take the terrible, abortion-tainted corona vaccines which happen also to be gene manipulated! Let us not participate in a child sacrifice that is being perpetuated by the use of human cells of those babies that had to die so that we may live. Father Chad Rippberger calls it “ongoing theft.” Let us not agree to a human sacrifice that, similar to the ones of the Aztecs (listen here a priest who makes a similar argument), done with the hope that mankind may benefit from that lethal sacrifice! May we mothers say a clear no to the fact that the cells are still being stolen from these babies who were killed dozens of years ago, thereby still violating the rights of God Who is the author of natural and supernatural life!
It nearly seems to me that this global elite that wishes that the “Western values” come to a breaking point – as announced by the recent Global Reset video – wishes us all collectively to participate in a perpetuated child sacrifice, taking into our bodies the cells and DNA of another human being, in a sort of cannibalism!
So while we fight and resist, we pray to Our Lady, to Our Mother, asking her to hold us tight in her hands, leading us to her Son, trusting that she will not let us perish. May we be granted the wisdom and courage that are now needed, may we receive all the Graces we need next.
And let us gaze upon the little baby in the manger, the child of all children, the baby of all babies, that was only acceptable to God the Father as the freely offered ultimate sacrifice. He alone was to be sacrificed so that all may live. He alone was to die so that the lives of the eternal souls may be with the Father in heaven, for eternity. But to benefit from this Eternal Sacrifice, we need to follow Him, do right, pray, and resist the subtle violations of the first and the fifth Commandments.
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| California Judge Orders Video Journalists to Pay $13.6 M to Planned Parenthood |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-26-2020, 04:27 PM - Forum: Abortion
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California Judge Orders Video Journalists to Pay $13.6 M to Planned Parenthood
Breitbart | 24 Dec 2020
A federal judge in California ordered the video journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood’s practices in the harvesting and sales of aborted baby body parts to pay the abortion giant $13.6 million to cover its legal costs in its case against them.
Quote:Planned Parenthood is suing the organization behind the sting videos exposing its baby organ harvest https://t.co/14ndpdoyNd
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Orrick III ordered David Daleiden and his associates at Center for Medical Progress (CMP) to pay $13.6 million over the $2 million in damages they were ordered to pay last year for recording the abortion vendor’s officials while they discussed how they harvest the fetal tissue for sale.
Daleiden and his advocates have now appealed the verdict to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In November 2019, a jury found the pro-life journalists violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), causing significant harm to Planned Parenthood with its video series, and awarded the punitive damages to the abortion provider.
Quote:The jury in the federal civil case brought against the undercover video journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood in its alleged trafficking of the body parts of aborted babies found in favor of Planned Parenthood Friday. https://t.co/akqcVg1KRS
Orrick, Daleiden told SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight soon afterward, “is actually the founder of a Planned Parenthood of Northern California clinic in San Francisco.”
He added what he and his legal team discovered about the relationship between Orrick and high-level Democrats:
Planned Parenthood, very intentionally and very strategically and with a lot of gamesmanship, filed this case specifically to get it in San Francisco in front of Judge William Orrick, who is an Obama appointee, who was a bundler for the Obama campaign for hundreds of thousands of dollars, is best friends with Tom Steyer.
Daleiden and his attorneys unsuccessfully attempted to get Orrick recused from the case several times.
The judge blocked the jury from viewing all the undercover video he produced during his undercover investigation, Daleiden said.
In addition, Orrick’s wife’s Facebook account was found to have included posted public comments — along with a photo of her and her husband — that indicated support for Planned Parenthood and criticism of Daleiden and CMP.
Planned Parenthood has yet to be prosecuted for any of the allegations of profiting from the sales of the body parts of babies aborted in its clinics.
In June 2019, Senate Judiciary Chairman(SJC) Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and his predecessor Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), wrote to Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray, seeking an update on the federal investigation that was supposedly launched in 2017 into the allegations raised, in part, through the video documentation by CMP.
The senators asked Barr and Wray to respond to their inquiry no later than July 2 of last year.
In August 2019, Breitbart News reached out to the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) press team for an update on the Department of Justice/FBI response and was informed SJC was still awaiting a response.
In January 2020, Daleiden told Breitbart News the civil and criminal cases against him and his colleagues “are really all part of the same conspiracy.”
“Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation and Kamala Harris and the California Attorney General’s office,” he said. “All violating our First Amendment civil rights.”
Quote:Top prolife leaders from across the country, including our own @daviddaleiden, sign letter urging the US Senate to reject Biden HHS nominee @XavierBecerra. Via @WashTimes https://t.co/HgWbhEw1br
In an op-ed at Breitbart News in October, Daleiden [url=https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/10/28/journalist-who-exposed-planned-parenthood-kamala-harris-weaponized-her-office-to-punish-me-on-behalf-of-her-donors/]wrote that Harris, who ordered a raid on his California home, is “one of the biggest threats to First Amendment civil liberties that our country has ever seen.”
He continued:
Does anyone doubt that if I had been investigating and publishing undercover video reports on unlicensed gun sales, factory farming, or unsanitary grocery practices, that Harris never would have dreamed of raiding my home? Local news reporters in California tape and publish undercover conversations with corrupt chiropractors in their offices, fraudulent repairmen in private homes, and vendors in unlicensed marijuana dispensaries, but are not prosecuted under the California video recording law. Yet I, who filmed in crowded public restaurants and hotel lobbies, had my home raided and face the first-ever criminal charges for newsgathering under the recording law.
“Is there any doubt why Kamala Harris subjected me alone among undercover video reporters in California to this selective standard of ‘justice?’” he asked. “It is because I dared to question Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry, and to speak the truth: Planned Parenthood sells baby parts.”
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| Doctor reportedly has first documented severe allergic reaction to Moderna COVID-19 vaccine |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-26-2020, 04:22 PM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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Doctor reportedly has severe allergic reaction to Moderna COVID-19 vaccine
This is the first known reaction of its severity from the Moderna shot
Fox News | December 26, 2020
Boston doctor with shellfish allergy experiences severe allergic reaction to Moderna vaccine; Dr. Qanta Ahmed reacts on ‘FOX & Friends Weekend.’
A Boston doctor suffered a serious allergic reaction to Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine, the first of its kind documented, a report said Friday.
Dr. Hossein Sadrzadeh, a geriatric oncologist at Boston Medical Center, became dizzy and felt his heart racing minutes after receiving the vaccine on Thursday, he told The New York Times.
"It was the same anaphylactic reaction that I experience with shellfish," Dr. Sadrzadeh told the paper, noting that his tongue became numb, his blood pressure plummeted and he broke into a cold sweat.
"I don’t want anybody to go through that."
Sadrzadeh self-administered an EpiPen he brought in the event of such a reaction, and was discharged following a brief emergency room examination, the report said.
Though a handful of recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have reported allergic reactions to that inoculation — including a New York City health care worker — Sadrzadeh’s symptoms mark the first known reaction of its severity to the Moderna shot.
The vaccines, which have similar ingredients, both require two shots administered a few weeks apart.
Neither Moderna nor the federal Food and Drug Administration, which approved the vaccines, commented on the Times’ report.
Related: STATE WITH ONE OF THE STRICTEST LOCKDOWNS IN THE COUNTRY HAS THE MOST COVID CASES
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| December 26th - St. Stephen |
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Posted by: Elizabeth - 12-26-2020, 12:42 AM - Forum: December
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Saint Stephen
First Martyr
(† 35)
The Jewish origin of Saint Stephen is universally acknowledged; he is known and loved everywhere as the first follower of Christ to give to his martyred God love for love, blood for blood. It is not certain whether he was among the seventy-two disciples of Jesus; some believe he was of the Greek tongue and not a native of Palestine. He studied with Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas under the famous Doctor of the Law, Gamaliel, who, being a member of the Sanhedrin, attempted to stop the persecution of the Apostles. (Acts of the Apostles 5:34-40) What is certain, however, is that he distinguished himself among his brethren as an admirable Christian, replete with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. To his great beauty and angelic chastity were joined humility, patience, gentleness and charity, so perfect that they drew from all the faithful great admiration and esteem for him.
He was head of the seven disciples whom the Apostles named as deacons, to execute the works of charity which their mandate to preach did not permit them to carry out. Stephen manifested all the qualities one could wish for in a minister of charity and of the Gospel. He knew Scripture to perfection and was steeped in its divine spirit; he was endowed with invincible force because he feared nothing in the service of God. Everywhere in Jerusalem, he was proving Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah, and working great prodigies to confirm the truths he taught. Some believe he was the cousin of Saul, later Saint Paul; in any case, the latter, still a fire-breathing Pharisee, took offense at his boldness and presided at the scene of his martyrdom by stoning. The fervent deacon, insensible to his own fate, defended Christ before the Jerusalem tribunal with a perfection which enraged the proud authorities of Jerusalem, unwilling to recognize a humble carpenter of Nazareth for their Saviour. He boldly upbraided the chief priests with their hard-hearted resistance to the Holy Spirit. And when he accused them of putting to death, just as their forebears had treated the prophets who foretold Him, the long-awaited Just One announced by Moses, they stoned him without further delay. (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 7)
Saint Stephen died, beholding his Lord standing at the right hand of God. He imitated Him in death; crying out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! He concluded on his knees, Lord, do not impute to them this sin! And then he fell asleep, the narrative says.
His mortal remains were left outdoors to be devoured by beasts, but were protected by God; and Gamaliel, the Doctor of the Law, took the body of the martyr to his own country home, a few leagues from the city, where he buried him. His tomb was discovered miraculously in the fifth century, by the intervention of Gamaliel himself in a priest's dream. The greater part of his relics are still conserved in the Basilica of Saint Lawrence and Saint Stephen in Rome. His death was the signal for a great persecution of the Christians in Jerusalem, spurred on by Saul, who had approved his death. But Saint John Chrysostom remarks that because Stephen prayed, we have Saint Paul, whose conversion miraculously came about soon afterwards.
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| December 25th - The Nativity of Our Lord |
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Posted by: Elizabeth - 12-26-2020, 12:40 AM - Forum: December
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The Nativity of Our Lord
Noel! Noel! This was the cry of our fathers when the Faith prevailed, ardent and lively in the bosom of families, institutions, and all of society. That cry has grown very weak in our day, for the naivete of simple faith has tended to disappear. Nevertheless, of all the Christian feasts, Christmas is perhaps the most beloved and the most popular.
God used the most apparently indifferent events to reach His ends. Mary lived in Nazareth, and the prophets predicted that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. But an edict of Caesar Augustus ordered all the inhabitants of Judea to go at a certain time to enroll in their native city. Bethlehem was the birthplace of Joseph, so that is where the holy spouses went; and that is where, in conformity to the predictions of the prophets, Jesus was to come into the world.
What a birth for a God! Joseph looked for an inn, but there was none for such poor people; rejected and scorned, they were obliged to seek refuge in an isolated stable. And that is where, in the middle of the night, Mary miraculously gave birth to Jesus; that is where the most meek Saviour received the first adorations, where He received the first kisses and caresses, where He shed His first tears! Mary took the Infant in Her arms, covered Him with poor swaddling clothes and laid Him softly in a cold manger. O first moments which Mary and Joseph spent at the feet of Jesus, how precious you were for them, how full of charm! We will taste a little of this joy and these charms on going to our church to pay a visit to the manger scene that represents such a great mystery. Earthly joys are deceitful, but the joy of God's service are lasting and true.
Jesus was born, and behold, the heavens rang out in hymns of joy as the Angels sang the canticle of triumph, Glory to God in the highest! and the canticle of peace, Peace on earth to men of good will! Jesus was born, and at once the poor shepherds, informed by the Angels, came to adore the Redeemer of Israel in that little Infant. Jesus was born, and soon the princes of the East, led by a Star, laid their homages at His feet. Let us hail Christmas, the dawn of peace and salvation.
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| Fr. Goffine: The Three Masses of Christmas |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-25-2020, 12:24 PM - Forum: Christmas
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The 3 Masses of Christmas Day
Image above: engraving from an altar missal for the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christmas Eve
Let us therefore make him a little chamber, and put a little bed in it for him and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick, that when he cometh to us, he may abide there" (4 Kings 4:13).
Such was the Sunamite woman's regard for the prophet Eliseus, that she would make such preparations for his entertainment! Will we do as much for Christ who is ready to come to us? Take pains, O Christian, to occupy this night in pious thoughts, and aspirations, for the love of God and for the good of your own soul, making yourself worthy to receive the graces which He is ready when He comes, to give you.
Think how Mary, who was near her time, and Joseph her spouse obedient to the Imperial command, and perfectly submissive to the will of God, journeyed with the greatest inconvenience to Bethlehem, and when, because of the multitude of people, they found no place to receive them they took refuge, as God willed it, in a most miserable stable, at the extreme end of the town. What love does not the Savior deserve, who for love of us so humbled Himself!
COLLECT O God, who makest us rejoice in the yearly expectation of the feast of our redemption: grant, that we who cheerfully receive Thy only-begotten Son as a Redeemer, may behold without fear the same Lord Jesus Christ, coming as our judge. Through Our Lord.
Christmas Day
What is Christmas Day?
It is the day on which Christ Jesus, our Redeemer, was born of the Blessed Virgin in a stable at Bethlehem.
Why is this festival called "the Holy Night"?
Because this night has been especially blessed and sanctified by the holy, mysterious birth of the Redeemer of the world.
Why do priests say three Masses on this day?
In commemoration of the threefold birth of the Redeemer: of His birth from all eternity in the bosom of His Heavenly Father; of His birth in the fullness of time; and of His spiritual birth in the hearts of the faithful who, by lively faith in Him, receive the power to become children of God (Jn. 1:12).
Why is the first Mass said at midnight?
Because Christ, the true light which came into the world to enlighten those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death, that is, of unbelief and of sin (Lk. 1:79), was born at night, and because the divine birth is incomprehensible to us.
Why is the next Mass said at daybreak, and the third after sunrise?
To signify that the birth of Christ, expelling the darkness of ignorance and infidelity, brought us the clear daylight of the knowledge of God, and that the spiritual birth of Christ can take place at any time in the pure soul.
When does this spiritual birth take place?
It takes place when the soul, having been cleansed from all sin, makes the firm, unalterable resolution to die to the world and all carnal desires, and arouses in itself the ardent desire henceforth to live only for Christ, and, by His grace, to practice all virtues.
Instruction on the First Mass
The Introit of this Mass reminds us of the eternal birth of Christ, the Lord.
INTROIT The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my Son, this day (that is, from all eternity) have I begotten thee (Ps. 2:7). Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things (Ps. 2:1)? Glory be to the Father.
COLLECT O God, who hast made this most sacred night to shine forth with the brightness of the true light: grant, we beseech Thee, that we may enjoy His happiness in heaven, the mystery of whose light we have known upon earth. Through Our Lord.
EPISTLE (Tit. 2:11-15). Dearly beloved, the grace of God our Savior hath appeared to all men, instructing us, that denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works. These things speak, and exhort, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In what special manner has the grace and goodness of God been manifested to us?
In the incarnation and birth of Christ, His Son, whom, in His infinite love, He has made like unto us, our brother and our teacher, by whom we have become children of God, and co-heirs of His kingdom.
What does Christ by His incarnation desire to teach us especially?
That we should put aside all unrighteousness, all infidelity and injustice, and endeavor to become like unto Him, who, except in sin, has become altogether like unto us. But especially that we repress the desires of lust, wealth, and honor, and not rest until we have rooted them from our hearts.
How do we live soberly, justly, and godly?
We live soberly, when we fulfill all duties towards ourselves; justly, when we fulfill all duties towards our neighbor; and godly, when we fulfill all duties to God.
ASPIRATION Blessed art Thou, Oh! newborn Savior, who hast descended from on high to teach me the ways of justice, hast become man and equal to me. In return for this goodness of Thine, I renounce all evil, all sinful desires, words, and deeds. In return for Thy love, I will ever uproot from my heart all carnal desires, and always live soberly, justly, and godly; do Thou by Thy grace, strengthen me in this resolve.
GOSPEL (Lk. 2:1-14). At that time there went forth a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the whole world should be enrolled. This enrolling was first made by Cyrinus, the governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary his espoused wife, who was with child. And it came to pass, that when they were there, her days were accomplished, that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds watching, and keeping the night-watches over their flock. And behold, an Angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round them; and they feared with a great fear. And the Angel said to them: Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people: for this day is born to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you: You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God, and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good-will.
Why, at the time of Augustus, were all the Roman subjects enrolled?
This happened by a special ordinance of God, that by this enrollment Mary and Joseph should be obliged to go to Bethlehem, that it might be made known to the world that Christ was really born at Bethlehem, of the tribe of Juda, and the house of David, and that He was the Messiah who had been foretold by the prophets (Mich. 5:2). Let us learn from this how the providence of God directs all things according to His will, and consider the obedience which Mary rendered to the command of a heathen emperor, or rather to God who caused the command.
Why is Christ called the "first-born" of Mary?
Because she gave birth to no child before Him; she bore none after Him, He was the only son of Mary, as He was the only-begotten Son of the Heavenly Father.
Why was Christ born in such poverty?
To teach us not by words but by example that which He afterwards so often preached and forcibly taught, namely: the love of poverty, the practice of humility and patience with contempt of the world, and also to confound by His humble birth the foolish wisdom of the world which seeks only honors, pleasures and riches.
Why was the birth of Christ announced to poor shepherds, and not to King Herod and the chief priests?
That it might be known that God loves to dwell with poor, simple, pious, faithful people, such as the shepherds were, and reveals Himself to those who are little in their own eyes (Mt. 11:25), while He despises the proud and leaves them over to their own spiritual blindness. Let us learn from this to acquire simplicity and humility, and despise pride and cunning, that God may reveal Himself to us by His interior inspirations.
What is meant by the angelic song of praise: "Glory be to God on high"?
By this song of praise which the priests usually say in the Mass is meant that the greatest praise and the most heartfelt thanks are due to God for having sent His Son into the world; and that those who have the good will to glorify God by all their actions, will receive peace, that is, all happiness, blessings, and salvation.
Rejoice with the angels over the birth of the Savior, return thanks to God, and honor Him alone in all things, that you may have that peace: peace with God, peace with yourself and peace with all men.
Learn also from the angels, who rejoiced in the graces which man would receive from the birth of Christ, to rejoice, and thank God for the favors which He gives your neighbor, and by rejoicing participate in them.
Instruction on the Second Mass
In the Introit of this Mass the Church makes use of the words of Isaias:
INTROIT A light shall shine upon us this day: for our Lord is born to us: and he shall be called Wonderful, God, the Prince of peace, the Father of the world to come; of whose reign there shall be no end (Is. 9). The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself. Glory be to the Father.
COLLECT Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who are filled with the new light of Thy incarnate Word, may show forth in our works what by faith shineth in our minds. Through Our Lord.
EPISTLE (Tit. 3:4-7). Dearly beloved, the goodness and kindness of God our Savior hath appeared: not by the works of justice which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Ghost, whom he hath poured forth upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior: that, being justified by his grace, we may be heirs according to hope of life everlasting, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
To whom do we owe our salvation?
Not to ourselves, nor any good works we may have performed, but entirely to the mercy of God who from all eternity decreed our redemption, and sent His only-begotten Son into this world to accomplish it; which redemption is bestowed upon us in baptism, where we are washed from the stain of sin, and by the rich infusion of the Holy Ghost born again, heirs of eternal life.
Why, then, had God no mercy on the fallen angels?
To this question St. John of Damascus replies:
We must know here that the fall was to the angels what death is to man; for the angels there was no repentance after the fall, as for man there is no repentance after death" (De fid. orthod. lib.2. c.4).
In eternity there is no available contrition and penance, so God showed no mercy to the fallen angels. Let us learn from this, to make ourselves participators in the merry of God, by contrition and penance while there is yet time.
GOSPEL (Lk. 2:15-20). At that time the shepherds said one to another: Let us go over to Bethlehem, and let us see this word that is come to pass, which the Lord hath showed to us. And they came with haste; and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in a manger. And seeing they understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning this child. And all that heard wondered, and at those things that were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God, for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
Instruction
I. The shepherds follow at once the voice of God which calls them to the manger; they exhort one another to do so; they seek the Redeemer and happily find Him; they make Him known to others, and heartily thank God for the grace given them.
Let us follow the inspirations of God with ready obedience; let us exhort one another to virtue by our good example and edifying conversation; let us make good use of the knowledge given us by God, give it to others, and praise God for the same.
II. Mary kept all these words, spoken about her Son, and pondered them in her heart. Let us learn from her to prepare food for our souls by careful meditation on the divine truths that are made known to us: so that we may be preserved and strengthened in spiritual life.
Instruction on the Third Mass
The Introit of this Mass reminds us of the spiritual birth of Christ, by which He is spiritually born in us:
INTROIT A child is born to us, and a Son is given to us; whose government is upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called the Angel of great counsel (Is. 9). Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: for he hath done wonderful things (Ps. 97). Glory be to the Father.
COLLECT Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that the new birth of Thine only-begotten Son in the flesh may deliver us who are held by the old bondage under the yoke of sin. Through Our Lord.
EPISTLE (Heb. 1:1-12). God, who diversely and many ways, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all, in these days hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the figure of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, making purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high: being made so much better than the angels, as he hath inherited a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels hath he said at any time: Thou art my son, today have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son? And again when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith: And let all the angels of God adore him. And to the angels indeed he saith: He that maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But to the Son: Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of justice is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore, God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And: Thou in the beginning, O Lord, didst found the earth; and the works of thy hands are the heavens. They shall perish, but thou shaft continue; and they shall all grow old as a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed; but thou art the self-same, and thy years shall not fail.
INSTRUCTION The greatness of Christ Jesus, the dignity of His divinity and humanity, the love and goodness of His Heavenly Father, who has given Him to us as our teacher, could not be more gloriously described than in this epistle. Learn from it how much you are obliged, because of this, to serve God, to be grateful to Him, and to follow Christ who governs heaven and earth; and whom the angels serve.
ASPIRATION I thank Thee, a thousand times, O Heavenly Father, that Thou hast spoken to us through Thy only-begotten Son, in whom Thou art well pleased. With my whole heart, O Father of Mercy, will I listen to Him, and be obedient to all His instructions.
GOSPEL (Jn. l:1-14). In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was made nothing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men; and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men might believe through him. He was not the light, but was to bear witness of the light. That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them he gave power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name. Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.
What does St. John mean by the Word?
That the Son of God, who was begotten and brought forth like a word of the mouth from the Father, but in a manner incomprehensible and inscrutable to us, is one with the Father in the divine nature, but different from Him in person; He is also called the Word of the Father, because through Him the Father has spoken and made known the divine will (Heb. 1:2; Mt. 17:5).
What is meant by: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God?
When all things had their beginning the Son of God already was, not made or created, but born of the Father from eternity, with whom and in whom He therefore existed from all eternity. St. John here teaches the divinity, the eternity, and the equality of Christ with the Father.
What is meant by: All things were made by Him?
That the Son of God, Himself true God, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, has made all things, visible and invisible.
What is meant by: In Him was the life?
It means: The Son of God is the origin and fountain of the spiritual life of our souls upon earth, and of the glorious life in eternity. To give this true life to us, He became man, whereby we are born again, newly created, as it were, from the death of sin to the life of grace and righteousness.
Why is this life the light of men?
Because this true life of the soul which Christ has obtained for us, consists in the ever increasing knowledge of God and his salvation, which knowledge also comes from Christ, either externally through holy words and examples, or inwardly by divine inspiration.
How did the light shine in darkness?
The Son of God has given the necessary grace to find the true faith to mankind. He still imparts to all men the necessary light, especially by His holy Word which is preached to them, but the hardened sinners reject it, because they wish not to hear of faith and repentance.
How did St. John the Baptist bear witness of the light?
By announcing the Savior to the world, and even pointing Him out when He appeared.
Who receive Christ?
Those who walk in the light of His grace, co-operate with it, and so become the children of God.
How are we to understand: The Word was made flesh?
We are to understand by it that the Word was not changed into human nature, but that He became incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, thus uniting in Himself two natures, the divine and the human. So Christ is true God, and at the same time true man, therefore God-Man; consequently there are in Christ two wills, the divine and the human. In His humanity He is less than the Father (Jn. 14:28), in His divinity He is equal to the Father (Jn. 10:30); His humanity filled Him with a natural terror of His sufferings, but His divinity was perfectly united with the will of His Heavenly Father, and could pray: Not my will, but thine be done.
ASPIRATION O God, our Heavenly Father, Who this night has given to us sinners, in the form of a child from the immaculate womb of Mary, Thine only-begotten Son as our Mediator and Redeemer, we give Thee thanks with heart and lips, and humbly beseech Thee that Thou wilt never permit us to forget such a grace, and that we may sustain ourselves by it in all temptations; that we may be ever grateful to Thee for it, and until death praise, honor and serve Thee in sanctity. Amen.
Whence comes the custom of representing in our churches and houses the crib of Bethlehem?
This custom was introduced by St. Francis of Assisi who, having a particular devotion to the Infant Jesus, was accustomed to represent to himself in this way the stable and manger at Bethlehem the further to excite his love; and as this pious practice is calculated to assist exceedingly in the instruction of the unlearned, especially of children, it was introduced into many congregations.
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| Dom Guéranger: The Three Masses of Christmas |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-24-2020, 10:09 AM - Forum: Christmas
- Replies (5)
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CHRISTMAS DAY: MIDNIGHT MASS
Taken from The Liturgical Year authored by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)
It is now time to offer the Great Sacrifice, and to call down our Emmanuel from heaven: he alone can fully pay the debt of gratitude which mankind owes to the Eternal Father. He will intercede for us on the Altar, as he did in his Crib. We will approach him with love, and he will give himself to us.
But such is the greatness of to-day’s Mystery, that the Church is not satisfied with only once offering up the Holy Sacrifice. The long-expected and precious Gift deserves an unusual welcome. God the Father has given his Son to us; and it is by the operation of the Holy Ghost that the grand Portent is produced: let there be, then, to the ever Blessed Three, the homage of a triple Sacrifice.
Besides, this Jesus, who is born to-night, is born thrice. He is born of the Blessed Virgin, in the stable of Bethlehem; he is born by grace, in the hearts of the Shepherds, who are the first fruits of the Christian Church; and he is born eternally from the Bosom of the Father, in the brightness of the Saints: to this triple Birth, therefore, let there be the homage of a triple Sacrifice.
The first Mass honours the Birth according to the Flesh, which, like the other two, is an effusion of the Divine Light. The hour is come: the people that walked in darkness have seen a great Light; Light is risen to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death [Isa. ix 2]. Outside the holy place, where we are now assembled, there is dark Night: material Night, caused by the absence of the sun; spiritual Night, by reason of the sins of men, who either sleep in the forgetfulness of God, or wake to the commission of crime. At Bethlehem, round the Stable, and in the City, all is deep darkness; and the inhabitants, who would not find room for the Divine Babe, are sleeping heavily: will they awaken when the Angels begin to sing?
Midnight comes. The Holy Virgin has been longing for this happy moment. Her heart is suddenly overwhelmed with a delight which is new even to her. She falls into an ecstasy of love. As her Child will one day, in his almighty power, rise through the unmoved barrier of his Sepulchre; so now, as a sunbeam gleaming through purest crystal, he is born, and lies on the ground before her. With arms outstretched to embrace her, and smiling upon her: this is her first sight of her Son, who is Son also of the Eternal Father! She adores - takes him into her arms - presses him to her heart - swathes his infant limbs - and lays him down in the manger. Her faithful Joseph unites his adoration with hers; and so, too, do the Angels of heaven, for, the Royal Psalmist had sung this prophecy of their adoring him on his entrance into the world [Ps. xcvi 7; Heb. i 6]. Heaven opens over this spot of earth, which men call a Stable; and from it there mount to the Throne of the Eternal Father the first prayer, the first tear, the first sob of this his Son, our Jesus, who thus begins to prepare the world’s salvation.
The eyes of the faithful are now riveted on the Sanctuary, where the same Jesus is to be their Holy Sacrifice. The procession of the sacred Ministers has entered the Holy of Holies, and the Priest comes with them to the foot of the Altar. The Choir is singing its opening-canticle, the Introit; where we have our God himself speaking to his Son, and saying: This Day have I begotten thee. Let the Nations rage, if they will, and be impatient of the yoke of this Babe of Bethlehem; he shall subdue them and reign over them, for he is the Son of God.
INTROIT
Dominus dixit ad me: Filius meus es tu; ego hodie genui te.
Ps. Quare fremuerunt gentes, et populi meditati sunt inania? V. Gloria Patri. Dominus dixit.
The Lord hath said unto me: Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
Ps. Why have the nations raged, and the people devised vain things? V. Glory, etc. The Lord hath said, etc.
The Angelic Hymn is preceded by the Kyrie eleison; but these nine supplications for mercy over, it bursts forth with those sublime words: GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO; ET IN TERRA PAX HOMINIBUS BONAE VOLUNTATIS!
Let us unite, heart and voice, in this the chant of the Angels: Glory be to God! Peace be to men! These our heavenly Brethren first intoned it, and they are, at this moment, round our Altar, as they were round the Crib; they are singing our happiness. They are adoring that divine Justice, which gave not a Redeemer to their fallen fellow-angels, yet to us gives the very Son of God to be our Redeemer. They are magnifying that deep humiliation of him who made both Angels and men, and who so lovingly favours the weaker of the two. They know that our gratitude needs help, and so they lend us their sweet voices to give thanks to him who, by this mystery of love and magnificence, is enabling us poor mortals one day to fill up the thrones left vacant by the rebel spirits. Oh! yes; let us all, men and Angels, Church of earth and Church of heaven, let us sing: Glory be to God! and Peace to men! The more the Son of the Eternal Father has had to humble himself in order to enrich and exalt us, the more fervently must we cry out our warmest praise, and hymn this Mystery of the Incarnation: Tu solus Sanctus! Tu solus Dominus! Tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe! Thou only, O Jesus! art Holy! Thou only art Lord! Thou only art Most High!
The Collect then follows, summing up all our prayers in one.
COLLECT
Deus, qui hanc sacratissimam noctem veri luminis fecisti illustratione clarescere: da, quaesumus, ut cujus lucis mysteria in terra cognovimus, ejus quoque gaudiis in coelo perfruamur. Qui tecum.
O God, who hast enlightened this most sacred Night by the brightness of him who is the true Light: grant, we beseech thee, that we who have known the mysteries of this Light on earth, may likewise come to the enjoyment of it in heaven. Who liveth, etc.
EPISTLE
Lesson of the Epistle of St Paul the Apostle to Titus. Ch. II.
Dearly beloved, the grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men, instructing us that denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and justly and godly in this world; looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works. These things speak and exhort, in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Quote:This God our Saviour hath at length appeared! and with such grace and mercy! He alone could deliver us from dead works, and restore us to life. At this very hour, he appeareth to all men, laid in his narrow Crib, and fastly wrapped, as a Babe, in swaddling- clothes. Yes, here have we the Blessed One, whose visit we had so long hoped for! Let us purify our hearts, that he may be pleased with us; for though he is the Infant Jesus, he is also, as the Apostle has just told us, the Great God, and the Son of the Eternal Father, born from all eternity. Let us unite with the Angels and the Church in this hymn to our Great God, Jesus of Bethlehem.
GRADUAL
Tecum principium in die virtutis tuae, in splendoribus sanctorum: ex utero ante luciferum genui te.
V. Dixit Dominus Domino meo: sede a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum. Alleluia, alleluia.
Dominus dixit ad me: Filius meus es tu, ego hodie genui te. Alleluia.
With thee is the principality in the day of thy strength, in the brightness of the Saints: from the womb, before the day-star, I begot thee.
V. The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies my footstool. Alleluia, alleluia.
V. The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Alleluia.
GOSPEL
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Luke. Ch. II.
At that time, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the whole world should be enrolled. This enrolling was first made by Cyrinus, the governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his espoused wife, who was with child. And it came to pass, that when they were there, her days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first born Son, and wrapt him up in swaddling-clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country Shepherds watching and keeping the night-watches over their flock. And behold an Angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round about them, and they feared with a great fear. And the Angel said to them: Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people: for this day is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you: You shall find the Infant wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.
Quote:O Divine Infant! we too must needs join our voices with those of the Angels, and sing with them: Glory be to God! and Peace to men! We cannot restrain our tears at hearing this history of thy Birth. We have followed thee in thy journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem; we have kept close to Mary and Joseph on the whole journey; we have kept sleepless watch during this holy Night, waiting thy coming. Praise be to thee, sweetest Jesus, for thy mercy! and love from all hearts for thy tender love of us! Our eyes are riveted on that dear Crib, for our Salvation is there; and there we recognize thee as the Messias foretold in those sublime Prophecies which thy Spouse the Church has been repeating to us in her solemn prayers of this night. Thou art the mighty God - the Prince of Peace - the Spouse of our souls - our Peace - our Saviour - our Bread of Life. And now what shall we offer thee? A good Will? Ah! dear Lord! thou must form it within us; thou must increase it, if thou hast already given it; that thus, we may become thy Brethren by grace, as we already are by the human nature thou hast assumed. But, O Incarnate Word! this Mystery of thy becoming Man works within us a still higher grace: it makes us, as thy Apostle tells us, partakers of that divine nature [St Pet. i 4] which is inseparable from thee in the midst of all thy humiliations. Thou hast made us less than the Angels in the scale of creation; but in thy Incarnation thou hast made us Heirs of God, and Joint-Heirs [Rom viii 17] with thine own divine Self. Never permit us, through our own weaknesses and sins, to degenerate from this wonderful gift, whereby thy Incarnation exalted us, and oh! dear Jesus, to what a height!
After the Gospel, the Church triumphantly chants the glorious symbol of our Faith, which tells, one by one, the Mysteries of the Man-God. At the words: Et Incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, ET HOMO FACTUS EST, profoundly adore the great God who assumed our human nature, and became like unto us, his poor creatures; let your adoration and love repay him, if it were possible, for this his incomprehensible abasement. In each of to-day’s Masses, when the Choir comes to these words in the Credo, the Priest rises from the sedilia, and remains kneeling in humble adoration at the foot of the Altar whilst they are being sung. You must unite your adorations with those of the Church, which is represented by the Celebrant.
During the Offering of the bread and wine, the Church tells us how the Birth of Jesus Christ filled heaven and earth with joy. In a few short moments there will be on our Altar, where we now see mere bread and wine, the Body and Blood of this same Jesus, our Emmanuel.
OFFERTORY
Laetentur coeli et exsultet terra ante faciem Domini, quoniam venit.
Let the heavens rejoice, and the earth be glad in the presence of the Lord, for he is come.
SECRET
Accepta tibi sit, Domine, quaesumus, hodiernae festivitatis oblatio; ut, tua gratia largiente, per haec sacrosancta commercia in illius inveniamur forma, in quo tecum est nostra substantia. Qui tecum vivit.
Receive, O Lord, the offerings we make to thee on this present solemnity: that by thy grace, through the intercourse of these sacred mysteries, we may be conformable to him in whom our nature is united to thine. Who liveth, etc.
The Preface then gives expression to the thanksgiving of the people, and finishes with the triple Sanctus to the God of Sabaoth. At the Elevation, when, in the midst of the mysterious silence, your Saviour, the Incarnate Word, descends upon the Altar, you must see, with the eye of your faith, the Crib, and Jesus stretching out his hands to his Eternal Father, and looking upon you with extreme tenderness, and Mary adoring him with a Mother’s love, and Joseph looking on and weeping with joy, and the holy Angels lost in amazement at the mystery. You must give your heart to the New-Born Babe, that he may fill it with what he wishes to see there; nay, beg of him to fill it with himself, and make himself its Master and its All.
After the Communion, the Church, which has just been united to the Infant God by partaking of the sacred mysteries, once more celebrates the Eternal Generation of that Divine Word, who was born from the Bosom of the Father before any creature existed, and who has appeared to the world this Night before the Day-Star has risen.
COMMUNION
In splendoribus Sanctorum, ex utero ante luciferum genui te.
In the brightness of the Saints, from the womb, before the day-star, I begot thee.
The Church terminates this her first Sacrifice, by praying for the grace of indissoluble union with the Saviour who is born to her.
POSTCOMMUNION
Da nobis, quaesumus, Domine Deus noster, ut qui Nativitatem Domini nostri Jesu Christi mysteriis nos frequentare gaudemus, dignis conversationibus ad ejus mereamur pervenire consortium. Qui tecum.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord our God, that we, who celebrate with joy the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, by partaking of these sacred mysteries, may, by a worthy conduct of life, come to be united with him. Who liveth, etc.
The sacred Night is passing quickly on; and will soon bring us to the Second Mass, which is to sanctify the hour of day-break, or the Aurora. Every day in the year, the Church passes the hour before Sunrise in prayer, for the rising of the Sun is a beautiful figure of the mystery of Jesus’ coming to this earth to give it light. This portion of the Divine Office is called Lauds, on account of its being wholly made up of praise and joy.
On Christmas Day, however, she somewhat anticipates the usual hour, in order that she may begin, at the precise time of the Aurora, a more perfect and more divine Sacrifice of Praise - the Eucharistic Oblation, which satisfies all the obligations we owe to the Divine bounty.
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| The Golden Legend - Of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-24-2020, 08:39 AM - Forum: Christmas
- Replies (2)
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The Golden Legend - Of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ
Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275
First Edition Published 1470
ENGLISHED by WILLIAM CAXTON, First Edition 1483
Volume I
Here followeth the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When the world had endured five thousand and nine hundred years, after Eusebius the holy saint, Octavian the Emperor commanded that all the world should be described, so that he might know how many cities, how many towns, and how many persons he had in all the universal world. Then was so great peace in the earth that all the world was obedient to him. And therefore our Lord would be born in that time, that it should be known that he brought peace from heaven. And this Emperor commanded that every man should go into the towns, cities or villages from whence they were of, and should bring with him a penny in acknowledgment that he was subject to the Empire of Rome. And by so many pence as should be found received, should be known the number of the persons. Joseph which then was of the lineage of David, and dwelled in Nazareth, went into the city of Bethlehem, and led with him the Virgin Mary his wife.
And when they were come thither, because the hostelries were all taken up, they were constrained to be without in a common place where all people went. And there was a stable for an ass that he brought with him, and for an ox. In that night our Blessed Lady and Mother of God was delivered of our Blessed Saviour upon the hay that lay in the rack.
At which nativity our Lord shewed many marvels. For because that the world was in so great peace, the Romans had done made a temple which was named the Temple of Peace, in which they counselled with Apollo to know how long it should stand and endure. Apollo answered to them that, it should stand as long till a maid had brought forth and borne a child. And therefore they did do write on the portal of the Temple: Lo! this is the temple of peace that ever shall endure. For they supposed well that a maid might never bear Bethlehem, there may ye find him wrapt in clouts.
And anon, as the angel had said this, a areas multitude of angels appeared with him, and began to sing. Honour, glory and health be to God on high, and in the earth peace to men of goodwill. Then said the shepherds, let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing. And when they came they found like as the angel had said. And it happed this night that all the sodomites that did sin against nature were dead and extinct; for God hated so much this sin, that he might not suffer that nature human, which he had taken, were delivered to so great shame. Whereof S. Austin saith that, it lacked but little that God would not become man for that sin.
In this time Octavian made to cut and enlarge the ways and quitted the Romans of all the debts that they owed to him. This feast of Nativity of our Lord is one of the greatest feasts of all the year, and for to tell all the miracles that our Lord hath showed, it should contain a whole book; but at this time I shall leave and pass over save one thing that I have heard once preached of a worshipful doctor, that what person being in clean life desire on this day a boon of God, as far as it is rightful and good for him, our Lord at the reverence of this blessed high feast of his Nativity will grant it to him.
Then let us always make us in clean life at this feast that we may so please him, that after this short life we may come unto his bliss. Amen.
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| The Golden Legend: Of the Advent of Our Lord |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-24-2020, 08:36 AM - Forum: Advent
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The Golden Legend - Of the Advent of Our Lord
Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275
First Edition Published 1470
ENGLISHED by WILLIAM CAXTON, First Edition 1483
Volume I
The time of the Advent or coming of our Lord into this world is hallowed in Holy Church the time of four weeks, in betokening of four divers comings. The first was when he came and appeared in human nature and flesh. The second is in the heart and conscience. The third is at death. The fourth is at the Last Judgment. The last week may unnethe be accomplished: for the glory of the saints which shall be given at the last coming shall never end nor finish. And to this signifiance the first response of the first week of Advent hath four verses to reckon. Gloria patri et filio, for one, to the report of the four weeks, and how it be that there be four comings of our Lord, yet the Church maketh mention in especial but of twain, that is to wit, of that he came in human nature to the world, and of that he cometh to the Judgment and Doom, as it appeareth in the office of the Church of this time. And therefore the fastings that be in this time, be of gladness and of joy in one part, and that other part is in bitterness of heart. Because of the coming of our Lord in our nature human, they be of joy and gladness. And because of the coming at the Day of Judgment, they be of bitterness and heaviness.
As touching the coming of our Lord in our bodily flesh, we may consider three things of this coming, that is to wit, the opportunity, the necessity and the utility.
The opportunity of coming is taken by the reason of the man that first was vanquished in the law of nature of the default of the knowledge of God, by which he fell into evil errors, and therefore he was constrained to cry to God: Illumina oculos meos, that is to say, Lord, give light to mine eyes. After, came the law of God, which hath given commandment in which he hath been overcome of impuissance, as first he hath cried: There is none that fulfilleth but that commandeth. For there he is only taught, but not delivered from sin, ne holpen by grace, and therefore he was constrained to cry: There lacketh none to command, but there is none that accomplished the commandment. Then came the Son of God in time when man was vanquished of ignorance and impuissance. To that if he had so come tofore, peradventure man might say that by his own merits he might have been saved, and thus he had not been bound to yield thanks to God.
The second thing that is shown us of this coming is the necessity by reason of the time, of which the apostle Paul speaketh, ad Galatas the fourth chapter: At ubi venit plenitudo temporis, when the plentitude or full time of the grace of God was ordained, then he sent his Son that was God and Son of the virgin and wife which was made subject to the law. To that, that they be subject to the law he bought them again, and were received sons of God by grace of adoption. Now saith S. Austin that many demand why he came not rather. He answered that it was because that the plentitude of time was not come, which should come by him, that all things were ordained and made, and after when this plentitude of time came, he came that of time past hath delivered us, to that we shall bedelivered of time, we shall come to him whereas no time passeth, but is perpetuity. The third thing that is showed to us of this coming is the utility and profit that cometh for the cause of the hurt and sickness general.
For sith the malady was general, the medicine must be general, whereof saith S. Austin that: Then came the great medicine, when the great malady was through all the world. Whereof the holy Church remembereth in the seven anthems [The O Antiphons - The Catacombs] that be sung before the nativity of our Lord, where the malady is showed in divers manners, and for each demandeth remedy of his malady of prisoner out of the prison that sitteth in darkness and shadow of death. For they that have been long in prison and dark places may not see clearly, but have their eyes dim.
Therefore, after we be delivered from prison, it behoveth that our eyes be made clear and our sight illumined for to see whither we should go, and therefore we cry in the fifth anthem: O Oriens splendor lucis eterne, veni et illumina sedentes in tenebris et umbra mortis, O Orient that art the resplendour of the eternal light, come and illumine them that sit in darkness and shadow of death, and if we were taught, lighted, unbound, and bought, what should it avail to us but if we should be saved? And, therefore, we require to be saved, and therefore we say in the two last anthems, the sixth and the seventh; when we cry: O Rex gentium, veni et salva hominem quem de limo formasti, O thou King of peoples come and save the man that thou hast formed of the slime of the earth; and in the seventh: O Emmanuel rex et legifer noster veni ad saluandum nos, domine deus noster, O Emmanuel that art our King, and bearer of our law, our Lord, our God, come and save us.
The profit of his coming is assigned of many saints in many manners, for Luke saith in the fourth chapter that our Lord was sent and came to us for seven profits, where he saith: The Spirit of our Lord is on me, which he rehearseth by order; he was sent for the comfort of the poor, to heal them that were sick in sin, to deliver them that were in prison, to teach them that were uncunning. To forgive sins, to buy again all mankind. And for to give reward to them that deserve it.
And S. Austin putteth here three profits of his coming and saith: In this wretched world what aboundeth but to be born to labour and to die. These be the merchandise of our region, and to these merchandises the noble merchant Jesus descended. And because all merchants give and take, they give that they have and take that they have not; Jesu Christ in this merchandise gave and took, he took that which in this world aboundeth, that is to wit, to be born to labour and to die, he gave again to us to be born spiritually, to rise and reign perdurably. And he himself came to us to take villanies and to give to us honour, to suffer death and to give us life, to take poverty and to give us glory. S. Gregory putteth four causes of the profit of his coming: Studebant omnes superbi de eadem stirpe progeniti, prospera vitæ præsentis appetere, adversa devitare, opprobria fugere, gloriam sequi: They of the world, in their pride descended of the same lineage, studied to desire the prosperity of this present life, to eschew the adversities, to flee the reproofs and shames and to ensue the glory of the world.
And our Lord came incarnate among them, asking and seeking the adversities, despiting the prosperities, embracing villanies, fleeing all vain glory. And he himself which descended from glory, came, and he being come, taught new things, and in showing marvels suffered many evils. S. Bernard putteth other causes, and saith that, we travail in this world for three manner of maladies or sickness, for we be lightly deceived, feeble to do well, and frail to resist against evil. If we entend to do well we fail, it we do pain to resist the evil, we be surmounted and overcome; and for this the coming of Jesu Christ was to us necessary. To that he inhabiteth in us, by faith he illumineth our eyes of the heart, and in abiding with us he helpeth us in our malady, and in being with us he defendeth our frailty against our enemies.
Of the second coming which shall be at the last Judgment two things be to be seen, that is to wit, that which cometh before the Judgment, and that which shall be at the Judgment. As for the first, three things shall be tofore the Judgment.
First, the terrible confusion of signs and tokens. Secondly, the malice and deceit of Antichrist, and the third, of vehement and marvellous operation of the fire.
As touching the signs, S. Luke saith in the twenty-fifth chapter: Erunt signa in sole, luna et stellis, etc. There shall be great signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, and in the earth oppression of people anguishous for the confusion of the sound of the sea and of the waves.
The three first signs be determined in the Book of the Apocalypse in the sixth chapter. Sol factus est niger tanquam saccus cilicinus: et luna facta est sicut sanguis, et stellæ ceciderunt super terraim. Then shall be the time that the sun shall be black as a sack, gross and rude, and the moon shall be as blood, and the stars shall fall on the earth. The sun is said dark, forasmuch as he is deprived of his light, as though he wept for the dying of men. For S. Austin saith that, the vengeance of God shall be so cruel at the day of doom, that the sun shall not dare behold it. Or as for to speak of the proper signification spiritually to be understood, is that, the Son of Justice, Jesu Christ, shall be then so dark that no man shall dare know him. The heaven is here taken for the air, and the star judge in great fear.
The sixth sign, the edifices and buildings shall fall down: and in this sixth day thunders and tempests full of fire shall grow in the west, where the sun goeth down against the firmament, in running to the east.
The seventh sign, the stones shall smite and hurtle together and shall cleave in four parts, and each part shall smite other, ne none.
The eighth sign shall be the moving and general trembling of the earth, which shall be so.
The ninth sign, all the earth shall be even and plain, and all the mountains and valleys shall be brought into powder and be all like.
The tenth day, the men shall issue out of the caves and shall go by the ways and fields as men aliened and out of their wit, and shall not con speak one to another.
The eleventh day the bones of dead men shall issue out of their burials and places and shall hold them upon their sepulchres, and from the sun rising unto it go down, the sepulchres shall be open, to the end that the dead bodies may all issue. The twelfth sign all the stars shall fall from the heaven and shall spread out rays of fire, and then great quantity shall grow.
In this twelfth day it is said that all the beasts shall come to the field howling, and shall not eat ne drink.
The thirteenth sign, all living shall die, to the end that they should arise with the dead bodies.
The fourteenth day the heaven and the earth shall burn. The fifteenth day shall be a new heaven and a new earth, and all things and all dead men shall arise.
The second thing that shall be afore judgment, shall be the folly and malice of Antichrist; he shall pain him to deceive all men by four manners. The first manner shall be by suasion and false exposition of Scripture. Forasmuch as he may, he shall give them to understand Christ, and he shall destroy the law of Jesu Christ, and shall ordain his law in alleging David the Prophet that saith: Constitue domine legislatorem super eos. Thus shall he say, that it was said for him as he that was ordained of God for to set law upon his place, after this that is said in the scripture of Daniel, Daniel xi.: Dabunt abominationem et desolationem templi, etc. Antichrist and his complices shall give abomination and desolation to the temple of God in this time, as saith the gloss: Antichrist shall be in the temple of God, as God, for that he shall destroy the law of God. The second manner shall be by marvellous operation of miracles, whereof saith the apostle S. Paul in his second Epistle ad Thessalonicenses in the second chapter, where he saith: Cujus adventus erit secundum operationem Sathanae in omnibus verbis et prodigiis mendacibus.
Of Antichrist it is said that, the coming shall be after the operation of Satan in all his signs, in all his marvels, and false Iying deeds, whereof S. John maketh mention in the Apocalypse, the thirteenth chapter: Fecit signa ut etiam ignem facerit de celo in terram descendere. Antichrist shall make such signs, that is to say, he shall make such tokens that he shall make the fire descend from heaven. The gloss saith that, like as the Holy Ghost descended in likeness of fire, in likewise shall Antichrist give the evil spirit in likeness of fire.
The third manner that he shall do for to deceive, shall be in giving of gifts, of which is written in the book of Daniel the Prophet in his eleventh chapter: Dabit eis potestatem in multis et terram divides gratuito: Antichrist shall give puissance to his servants in many things, and shall depart the earth to them after his will. The gloss saith that, Antichrist shall give many gifts to them that he shall deceive. And to his disciples he shall divide the earth, and them that and make them thereby to obey him.
The fourth manner for to deceive them shall be by torments that he shall give to them, whereof Daniel saith in his eighth chapter: Supra quod credi potest universe vastabit; no man shall believe how he shall destroy and torment them that will not believe in him, for to draw them to him by force. And S. Gregory saith of him: Robustos quippe interficiet, et cetera; he shall slay the great and strong men; when he may not win nor overcome them by heart ne will, he shall overcome them by torment.
The third thing that shall go before the judgment shall be the right vehement fire, the which shall go tofore the face of the judge. And God shall send this fire for four causes.
First for the renewing of the world, for he shall purge and renew the elements. And, like to the form of the deluge it shall be forty cubits higher than all the mountains, like as it is written in the history scholastic; for the works of the people may mount so high.
Secondly for the purgation of the people; for then that fire shall be instead of the fire of purgatory to them that then shall be on live.
Thirdly for to give more greater torment to them that be damned.
Fourthly for to give more clearness and light unto the saints. For after the saying of S. Basil: Our Lord God when shall make the purgation of the w others should see them. And it ought not to be believed that within that little valley all might be enclosed, after that which S. Jerome saith, but many shall be there, and the others there about. Nevertheless, in a little space of land may be men without number by divine puissance and ordinance, and, if it be of necessity, the chosen people shall be in the air for the agility and lightness of their bodies, and also in soul.
And then the judge shall dispute and reprove the wicked men of the works of mercy which he ordained to us. And they shall not mow reply, but shall then weep upon themselves and upon their deeds; like as S. John Chrysostom saith upon the gospel of S. Matthew, in saying that, the Jews shall weep their life when they shall see their judge and him that giveth life to all men, whom they esteemed and trowed a dead man, and shall blame themselves for his body hurt and wounded by them. And they may not deny their cruelty but shall weep in great distress.
The paynims, which by the vain disputations of the philosophers were deceived and supposed it to have been folly to worship God crucified. The Christian men, sinners, shall weep that have more loved the world than God. The heretics shall weep because they holden false opinions against the Faith of Jesu Christ whom then they shall see the sovereign judge, whom the Jews crucified.
And so shall all the lineages of the world weep, for they shall have no force ne power ne strength against him, nor they may not flee before his face, nor they shall have no time of space to do penance for their sins nor to make satisfaction of the great anguish that they shall have of all things: there shall nothing abide to them but weeping. The second thing that shall follow at the judgment is the difference of the orders.
For thus, as S. Gregory saith: at the day of judgment shall be four things, two on the party reproved, and two on the party chosen. The first shall be damned and perished, to whom he shall say, Esurivi et non dedistis mihi manducare; I had hunger and ye have given to me no meat. The other shall not be judged and perish, of whom it is written, Qui non credit jam judicatus est; he that believeth not is now judged. For they shall not perceive the words of the judge, which would not keep the words of God.
The other of the party of the good shall be judged and shall reign, as they to whom shall be said: I have had hunger and ye have given me meat. The other shall not be judged and yet shall reign. That is to wit, the perfect men that shall judge others; not that they shall give the sentence of the judgment; for the sovereign judge shall only give the sentence, but they be said judges, because they be present approving the judgment. And this assistance shall be first to the honour of saints. For it shall be great honour to them to have their seats and sit with the judge, like as Jesu Christ promised to them, that they should be sitting upon twelve seats judging the twelve lineages of Israel.
Secondly, to the confirmation of the sentence; for they shall approve the sentence given of the judge, as do the assistants in judgment which approve the sentence of the judge that is good and just. And with their hands they set-to their names in witness; like as David saith: Ut faciant in eis judicium conscriptum, etc. To the end that they make upon the damned, judgment written with the judge. Thirdly, that shall be to condemnation of the evil people whom they shall condemn by the works of their good life.
The third thing that followeth the Judgment, that shall be the signs and tokens of the passion of Jesu Christ. That is to wit, the cross, the nails and the wounds. The which signs shall be first for to shew his glorious victory. And by that they shall appear in the excellence of his glory, whereof saith S. John Chrysostom that, the cross and the wounds shall be more shining than any rays of the sun; now then, saith he, consider ye what the virtue is of the cross The sun then shall be dark and the moon shall give no light, hereby then may ye understand how much the cross is more shining than the moon and more clear than the sun.
Secondly, for to shew his mercy, by which he shall save the good. Thirdly, for to shew his justice, how justly he hath damned them that be evil, because they have despised so noble price as his blood, and set not thereby. And therefore as saith S. John Chrysostom: he shall say to them hard words by manner of reproof: For your sake I made myself a man, f what good then we should have done. And he shall say to the judge: Right true judge deme and judge this sinner to be mine for his trespass, which would be shine by grace. He is thine by nature, he is mine by his misery, he is thine by the passion, he is mine by monition. To thee he hath been inobedient, to me he hath been obedient. He hath received of thee the vesture of immortality; of me he hath taken this penible coat with which he is clad. He hath left thy vesture and is come to mine. Right just deemer, judge him to be mine for to be damned with me. to God, but from God may no man appeal, for he hath none above him. Secondly, for the crime. For all trespass and sins shall be there openly showed, whereof saith S. Jerome that: In this day all our deeds shall be showed, like as they were written in a table and noted. Thirdly, for the thing which may not suffer dilation. For all things that shall be done at the judgment shall be done in the twinkling of an eye. Then let us pray that we may in this holy time so receive him, that at the day of judgment we may be received into his everlasting bliss. Amen.
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| Abp. Viganò: We’re witnessing ‘rehearsal for the establishment of the Antichrist' |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-24-2020, 08:14 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Abp. Viganò: We’re witnessing ‘general rehearsal for the establishment of the kingdom of the Antichrist’
'In my opinion,' Viganò writes, 'what we are witnessing represents the general rehearsal for the establishment of the kingdom of the Antichrist, which will be preceded by the preaching of the False Prophet, the Precursor of the one who will carry out the final persecution against the Church before Our Lord’s definitive and crushing victory.
December 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, in a new interview with LifeSite, comments on LifeSite’s report that since the first coronavirus lockdown in March, Pope Francis is not anymore using the papal altar in St. Peter’s Basilica for his public Masses, an altar which is situated on top of St. Peter's tomb. Instead, the Pope is using another altar at the basilica. For Viganò, this papal act is symbolic in light of the fact that Pope Francis himself ordered during the closing Mass of the October 2019 Amazon Synod that a bowl of plants dedicated to the false goddess Pachamama be placed on that very papal altar at St. Peter's. Not long after that act, the Pope also decided that he would no longer use the title “Vicar of Christ” in the 2020 Vatican Yearbook.
The Italian prelate here finds strong words about the recent developments at St. Peter's and the Vatican.
“In my opinion,” Viganò writes, “what we are witnessing represents the general rehearsal for the establishment of the kingdom of the Antichrist, which will be preceded by the preaching of the False Prophet, the Precursor of the one who will carry out the final persecution against the Church before Our Lord’s definitive and crushing victory.”
The Italian prelate compares the placing of a Pachamama bowl on the altar with the enthronement of the “Goddess Reason” at Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral during the Terror of the French Revolution in 1793. However, he explains, this time, the profanation of an altar came from within, committed by the highest levels of the hierarchy. “The Bergoglian church is giving itself an increasingly more disconcerting image, in which the negation of Catholic truths is accompanied by the explicit affirmation of an intrinsically anti-Catholic and antichristic ideology, in which the idolatrous cult of pagan divinities – that is, of demons – is no longer hidden, who are propititated with sacrilegious acts and profanations of holy things.”
He goes on to say that this “presence of an idol of ‘mother earth’ is a direct offense against God and the Most Holy Virgin” and “a tangible sign that explains in a certain sense Bergoglio’s many irreverent utterances with regard to the Blessed Mother.”
Here, the Italian archbishop sees a link to the warnings of Our Lady of Salette from the 19th century. For him it is not surprising “that those who want to demolish the Church of Christ and the Roman Papacy do so from the highest Throne, according to the prophecy of Our Lady at La Salette: ‘Rome will lose the Faith and will become the seat of the Antichrist.’”
In accordance with this increase of sacrilegious acts – Viganò mentions here also the ugly and occultist Nativity Set in St. Peter’s Square – Pope Francis also does not wish to carry the name “Vicar of Christ” anymore, nor has he, for months now, had a public Mass televised from his private chapel at his Santa Marta Residence.
Commenting on the fact that Pope Francis removed from his entry in the 2020 Vatican Yearbook the title “Vicar of Christ” – he merely placed it at the end of his entry, under “historic titles” – Viganò states that “whoever refuses to be called Vicar of Christ apparently has the perception that this title does not suit him, or even looks with contempt at the possibility of being the Vicar of the One whom by his words and actions Bergoglio shows that he does not wish to recognize and adore as God.”
All these papal acts taken together are seen by Archbishop Viganò as a development toward apostasy and sacrilege, that is, demon worship. And for him, this development has its beginning at the Second Vatican Council. “I believe,” he explains, “that the premises that have been laid down up to this point – which in good part go back to Vatican II, but also to later events such as the Interreligious Prayer Meeting in Assisi – will inexorably lead in an ever more explicit way towards a ‘profession of apostasy’ by the leaders of the Bergoglian church.”
But Archbishop Viganò also gives us encouragement and strength. He recalls that “the Church does not belong to the Pope, and even less does she belong to a clique of heretics and fornicators that has succeeded in coming to power by deception and fraud.” He continues, by saying:
Therefore, we ought to unite our supernatural faith in the constant action of God in the midst of His people with a work of resistance, as counseled by the Fathers of the Church: Catholics have the duty of opposing the infidelity of their Shepherds, because the obedience that they owe them is aimed at the glory of God and the salvation of souls. We therefore denounce everything that represents a betrayal of the mission of the Shepherds, imploring the Lord to shorten these times of trial. And if one day we are told by Bergoglio that, in order to remain in communion with him, we must perform an act that offends God, we will have further confirmation that he is an impostor, and that as such he has no authority.
It is the archbishop's hope that this crisis in the Church will open the eyes of many a lukewarm Catholic. He hopes that it will “permit us to see that where Christ the King does not reign, the tyranny of Satan is inevitably established; where Grace does not reign, sin and vice spread; where the Truth is not loved, people end up embracing error and heresy.” Perhaps, he hopes, this crisis will make many people who have difficulty adoring God realize “perhaps they can now understand that without God our life becomes hell.”
Archbishop Viganò concludes this interview with the hopeful words: “And let us pray that we will see the day on which a Pope will return to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice on the Altar of the Confession of Saint Peter, in the rite that Our Lord taught the Apostles and that they handed down intact through the centuries. This will also be a symbol of the restoration of the Papacy and of the Church of Christ.”
Below is the full interview with Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò:
Archbishop Viganò with Dr. Maike Hickson on the empty Papal Altar
Omnes dii gentium dæmonia. Psalm 95:5
LifeSiteNews: Your Excellency, in my recent article I noted that the Papal Altar of the Vatican Basilica has not been used anymore not long after it was profaned by the offering presented to the pachamama idol in October 2019. On that occasion, in the presence of Bergoglio and his court, a very grave sacrilege was carried out. What are your thoughts about this?
Archbishop Viganò: The profanation of the Vatican Basilica during the concluding ceremony of the Synod on the Amazon contaminated the Altar of the Confession, since a bowl dedicated to the infernal cult of the pachamama was placed on its surface. I find that this and other similar profanations of churches and altars re-propose in a certain manner other similar actions that have taken place in the past and allows us to understand their true nature.
What are you referring to?
I am referring to all the times when Satan has been unleashed against the Church of Christ, from the persecutions of the first Christians to the war of Khosrow of Persia against Byzantium, from the iconclastic fury of the Mohammedans to the Sack of Rome at the hands of the German Landsknechte, and later the French Revolution, the anticlericalism of the 19th century, atheistic communism, the Cristeros in Mexico and the Spanish Civil War, up to the heinous crimes of the communist partisans during and after the Second World War and the forms of christianophobia that we see today all over the world. Each time, invariably, the Revolution – in all of its various forms – confirms its own Luciferian essence, allowing the Biblical enmity between the offspring of the Serpent and the offspring of the Woman to emerge, between the children of Satan and the children of the Most Holy Virgin. There is no other explanation for this ferocity against the Blessed Mother and her children.
I think in particular of the enthronement of the “Goddess Reason” which took place on November 10, 1793, in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, at the height of the Terror. On this occasion as well, the infernal hatred of the revolutionaries wanted to replace the cult of the Mother of God with the cult of a prostitute, erected as a symbol of the Masonic religion, carried on their shoulders on a sedan chair and placed in the sanctuary. There are many analogies here with the pachamama, and they reveal the infernal mind which has inspired them.
Let us not forget that on August 10, 1793, a few months before the profanation of Notre Dame, the statue of the “Goddess Reason” was erected in the Place de la Bastille, in the guise of the Egyptian goddess Isis. It is significant that we find this reference to the cults of ancient Egypt also in the horrid “Nativity scene” that is presently standing in Saint Peter’s Square. But obviously the similarities we find in these events are also accompanied by something absolutely new.
Would you like to explain to us what this new element consists of?
I refer to the fact that whereas up until the Council – or, to be indulgent, up until this “pontificate” – profanations and sacrileges were carried out by the external enemies of the Church; since then the scandals have seen the active involvement of the highest levels of the Hierarchy, along with the culpable silence of the Bishops and the scandalization of the faithful. The Bergoglian church is giving itself an increasingly more disconcerting image, in which the negation of Catholic truths is accompanied by the explicit affirmation of an intrinsically anti-Catholic and antichristic ideology, in which the idolatrous cult of pagan divinities – that is, of demons – is no longer hidden, who are propititated with sacrilegious acts and profanations of holy things. Putting that unclean bowl on the Altar of the Confession of Saint Peter is a liturgical gesture with a precise value and a purpose that is not only symbolic. The presence of an idol of “mother earth” is a direct offense against God and the Most Holy Virgin, a tangible sign that explains in a certain sense Bergoglio’s many irreverent utterances with regard to the Blessed Mother.
It is therefore not surprising that those who want to demolish the Church of Christ and the Roman Papacy do so from the highest Throne, according to the prophecy of Our Lady at La Salette: “Rome will lose the Faith and will become the seat of the Antichrist.” It seems to me that today we can no longer speak of a simple “loss of Faith,” but we ought to take note of the next step, which is expressed in a true and proper apostasy, just as the initial subversion of Catholic worship by the liturgical reform is evolving into a form of pagan worship that includes the systematic profanation of the Blessed Sacrament – especially with the imposition of Communion in the hand under the pretext of Covid – and into an ever more evident aversion towards the ancient liturgy.
In essence, many forms of initial “prudence” in concealing the true intentions of the Innovators are decreasing, revealing the true nature of the work carried out by God’s enemies. The pretext of common prayer for peace which legitimized the slaughter of chickens and other scandalous abominations in Assisi is no longer needed, and it is theorized that brotherhood among men can leave God aside as well as the salvific mission of the Church.
What is your assessment of the events beginning in October 2019, in particular Bergoglio’s abandonment of the title of Vicar of Christ, the fact that he does not celebrate anymore Mass at the Papal Altar, and the suspension of the public celebration of Mass at Santa Marta?
The philosophical principle “Agere sequitur esse” teaches us that everything acts in conformity with what it is. Whoever refuses to be called Vicar of Christ apparently has the perception that this title does not suit him, or even looks with contempt at the possibility of being the Vicar of the One whom by his words and actions Bergoglio shows that he does not wish to recognize and adore as God. Or, more simply, he does not consider that his own role at the top of the Church ought to coincide with the Catholic concept of the papacy, but, rather, with an “updated” and “demythologized” version of it. At the same time, since he does not consider himself to be Vicar of Christ, Bergoglio can also exempt himself from acting as such, casually adulterating the Magisterium and giving scandal to the entire Christian people. Celebrating in pontificalibus at the altar erected over the tomb of the Apostle Peter would make the Argentine disappear, would overshadow his eccentricities, his perpetually disgusted expression that he does not succeed in concealing as often as he celebrates the papal functions: instead, it is much better for him to stand out on the deserted Sagrato of Saint Peter’s, in full lockdown, drawing to himself the attention of the faithful that would otherwise be directed towards God.
Do you therefore recognize the “symbolic” value of the acts of Pope Francis?
The symbols have their own precise value: his choice of name, his decision to live at Domus Santa Marta, the abandonment of the insignia and vestments proper to the Roman Pontiff, such as the red mozzetta, the rochet and stole, or the papal coat of arms on his fascia (sash). The obsessive emphasis on all that is profane is symbolic, as is the intolerance of everything that recalls specifically Catholic content. And perhaps the gesture by which, at the epiclesis during the Consecration of the Mass, Bergoglio always completely covers the chalice, plugging it with his hands, as if he wants to impede the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, is also symbolic.
Likewise, just as in the act of kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament one witnesses to faith in the Real Presence and an act of latria (adoration) is performed towards God, by not kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, Bergoglio publicly proclaims that he does not want to humble himself before God, but he has no problem getting down on his hands and knees before immigrants or officials of an African republic. And in prostrating themselves before the pachamama, some friars, sisters, clerics, and laity have performed an act of true and proper idolatry, unduly honoring an idol and offering worship to a demon. Symbols, signs, and ritual gestures are thus the instrument by which the Bergoglian church reveals itself for what it is.
All of these “rites” of the new church, these “ceremonies” that are more or less indicated, these elements borrowed from profane liturgies, are by no means accidental. They constitute one of the shifts of the Overton window towards that which in reality Bergoglio had already theorized in his interventions and the acts of his “magisterium.” On the other hand, the witch doctor who made the sign of Shiva on the brow of John Paul II and the Buddha adored on top of the tabernacle in Assisi may be understood in their perfect coherence with the present horrors, exactly as, in the societal sphere, prior to considering abortion acceptable in the ninth month it had to be legitimized in more limited cases, and prior to legalizing marriage between persons of the same sex it was prudently preferred to allow people to believe that the legal protection of sodomy would not eventually call into question the institution of natural marriage between a man and a woman.
Your Excellency, do you believe that these events will have a further development?
If the Lord, the Eternal High Priest, does not deign to put an end to this action of general perversion of the Hierarchy, the Catholic Church will be increasingly obscured by the sect that abusively superimposes itself upon her. We trust in the promises of Christ and in the special assistance of the Holy Spirit, but we must not forget that the apostasy of the highest levels of the Church is a necessary part of the eschatological events [the events of the end times] that cannot be avoided.
I believe that the premises that have been laid down up to this point – which in good part go back to Vatican II – will inexorably lead in an ever more explicit way towards a “profession of apostasy” by the leaders of the Bergoglian church. The Enemy demands fidelity from his servants, and if at the beginning he appears to be content with a wooden idol adored in the Vatican Gardens, or an offering of soil and plants placed upon the Altar of Saint Peter, he will shortly demand public and official worship that replaces the perpetual Sacrifice. Thus there would be realized what Daniel prophesied with regard to the abomination of desolation that stands in the holy place.
I note the precise expression of Sacred Scripture: “Cum videritis abominationem desolationis stantem in loco sancto” [When you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place] (Mt 24:15). It is clearly written that this abomination will stand, that is, it will be in a position of brazen and arrogant imposition of itself in the place that is most foreign and alien to it. It will be a disgrace, a scandal, an unprecedented thing, of which there are not adequate words to express condemnation.
What awaits us, if things continue in this direction?
In my opinion, what we are witnessing represents the general rehearsal for the establishment of the kingdom of the Antichrist, which will be preceded by the preaching of the False Prophet, the Precursor of the one who will carry out the final persecution against the Church before Our Lord’s definitive and crushing victory.
The “symbolic void” of the Papal Altar is not only a warning for those who pretend not to see the scandals of this “papacy.” It is in some manner a way in which Bergoglio wants to accustom us to taking note of a substantial mutation of the Papacy and the Church herself; to see in him not only the last of the long line of Roman Pontiffs whom Christ has ordered to feed His sheep and His lambs, but also the first head of a philanthropic multinational organization that usurps the name “Catholic Church” only because it allows him to enjoy a prestige and authority that are difficult to equal, even in times of general religious crisis.
The paradox is therefore obvious: Bergoglio knows that he can effectively destroy the Catholic Church only if he is recognized as the Pope, but at the same time he cannot exercise the Papacy in the strict sense of the term, because doing so would necessarily require that he speak, behave, and appear as the Vicar of Christ and the Successor of the Prince of the Apostles. It is the same paradox that we see in the civil and political sphere, where those who are constituted in authority to govern public affairs and promote the bonum commune are at the same time emissaries of the elite and have the task of destroying the Nation and violating the rights of citizens. Behind the deep state and the deep church there is always the same inspirer: Satan.
What can the laity and clergy do to prevent this rush towards the abyss?
The Church does not belong to the Pope, and even less does she belong to a clique of heretics and fornicators that has succeeded in coming to power by deception and fraud. Therefore, we ought to unite our supernatural faith in the constant action of God in the midst of His people with a work of resistance, as counseled by the Fathers of the Church: Catholics have the duty of opposing the infidelity of their Shepherds, because the obedience that they owe them is aimed at the glory of God and the salvation of souls. We therefore denounce everything that represents a betrayal of the mission of the Shepherds, imploring the Lord to shorten these times of trial. And if one day we are told by Bergoglio that, in order to remain in communion with him, we must perform an act that offends God, we will have further confirmation that he is an impostor, and that as such he has no authority.
Therefore, let us pray. Let us pray very much and with fervor, mindful of the words of the Savior and of His final victory. We will be judged, not for the scandals of Bergoglio and his accomplices, but for our fidelity to the teaching of Christ: a fidelity that begins with living in God’s grace, receiving the Sacraments frequently, and offering sacrifices and penances for the salvation of the Ministers of God.
What is your wish for this coming Christmas?
My wish is that these times of trial may permit us to see that where Christ the King does not reign, the tyranny of Satan is inevitably established; where Grace does not reign, sin and vice spread; where the Truth is not loved, people end up embracing error and heresy. If up until now many lukewarm souls have not known how to turn to God, recognizing that they can find the full and perfect realization of their existence in Him alone, perhaps they can now understand that without God our life becomes hell.
As the shepherds prostrated themselves in adoration at the feet of the Infant King, placed in the manger but significantly clothed in the swaddling bands that in antiquity constituted the prerogative of sovereigns, so we too must gather in prayer around the altar – even though it may be in an attic or a cellar in order to escape persecution or bans on gatherings – because even in the poverty of a clandestine chapel or an abandoned church the Lord descends on the altar to mystically sacrifice Himself for our salvation.
And let us pray that we will see the day on which a Pope will return to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice on the Altar of the Confession of Saint Peter, in the rite that Our Lord taught the Apostles and that they handed down intact through the centuries. This will also be a symbol of the restoration of the Papacy and of the Church of Christ.
[Emphasis mine.]
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| Asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 didn’t occur at all according to 2 Studies |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-24-2020, 07:54 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 didn’t occur at all, study of 10 million finds
Only 300 asymptomatic cases in the study of nearly 10 million were discovered, and none of those tested positive for COVID-19.
ANALYSIS
WUHAN, China, December 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A study of almost 10 million people in Wuhan, China, found that asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 did not occur at all, thus undermining the need for lockdowns, which are built on the premise of the virus being unwittingly spread by infectious, asymptomatic people.
Published in November in the scientific journal Nature Communications, the paper was compiled by 19 scientists, mainly from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, but also from scientific institutions across China as well as in the U.K. and Australia. It focused on the residents of Wuhan, ground zero for COVID-19, where 9,899,828 people took part in a screening program between May 14 and June 1, which provided clear results as to the possibility of any asymptomatic transmission of the virus.
Asymptomatic transmission has been the underlying justification of lockdowns enforced all across the world. The most recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) still states that the virus “can be spread by people who do not have symptoms.” In fact, the CDC claimed that asymptomatic people “are estimated to account for more than 50 percent of transmissions.”
U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock also promoted this message, explaining that the concept of asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 led to the U.K. advocating masks and referring to the “problem of asymptomatic transmission.”
However, the new study in Nature Communications, titled “Post-lockdown SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid screening in nearly 10 million residents of Wuhan, China,” debunked the concept of asymptomatic transmission.
It stated that out of the nearly 10 million people in the study, “300 asymptomatic cases” were found. Contact tracing was then carried out and of those 300, no cases of COVID-19 were detected in any of them. “A total of 1,174 close contacts of the asymptomatic positive cases were traced, and they all tested negative for the COVID-19.”
Both the asymptomatic patients and their contacts were placed in isolation for two weeks, and after the fortnight, the results remained the same. “None of detected positive cases or their close contacts became symptomatic or newly confirmed with COVID-19 during the isolation period.”
Further evidence showed that “virus cultures” in the positive and repositive asymptomatic cases were all negative, “indicating no ‘viable virus' in positive cases detected in this study.”
Ages of those found to be asymptomatic ranged between 10 and 89, with the asymptomatic positive rate being “lowest in children or adolescents aged 17 and below” and highest rate found among people older than 60.
The study also made the realization that due to a weakening of the virus itself, “newly infected persons were more likely to be asymptomatic and with a lower viral load than earlier infected cases.”
These results are not without precedent. In June, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, shed doubt upon asymptomatic transmission. Speaking at a press conference, Van Kerkhove explained, “From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual.”
She then repeated the words “It’s very rare,” but despite her word choice of “rare,” Van Kerkhove could not point to a single case of asymptomatic transmission, noting that numerous reports “were not finding secondary transmission onward.”
Her comments went against the predominant narrative justifying lockdowns, and at the time the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) highlighted that “she undermined the last bit of rationale there could be for lockdowns, mandated masks, social distancing regulation, and the entire apparatus of compulsion and coercion under which we’ve lived for three months.”
Swift to act, the WHO performed a U-turn, and the next day Van Kerkhove then declared that asymptomatic transmission was a “really complex question … We don’t actually have that answer yet.”
“I think that that’s misunderstanding to state that asymptomatic transmission globally is very rare. I was referring to a small subset of studies,” she added.
However, the new Wuhan study seems to present solid, scientific evidence that asymptomatic transmission is not just rare but nonexistent. Given that it found “no evidence that the identified asymptomatic positive cases were infectious,” the study raises important questions about lockdowns.
Commenting on the study, The Conservative Tree House noted that “all of the current lockdown regulations, mask wearing requirements and social distancing rules/decrees are based on a complete fallacy of false assumptions.” The evidence presented in the study shows that “‘very rare’ actually means ‘never’ asymptomatic spread just doesn’t happen – EVER.”
Such a large scientific study of 10 million people should not be overlooked, Jeffrey Tucker argued in the AIER, as it should be “huge news,” paving the way “to open up everything immediately.” Yet media reports have been virtually nonexistent and “ignored,” a fact that Tucker explained: Quote:“The lockdown lobby ignores whatever contradicts their narrative, preferring unverified anecdotes over an actual scientific study of 10 million residents in what was the world’s first major hotspot for the disease we are trying to manage.”
The recent findings should enable society to reopen once more, according to the AIER. Without asymptomatic transmission, “the whole basis for post-curve-flattening lockdowns,” life should resume and “we could take comfort in our normal intuition that healthy people can get out and about with no risk to others.”
“We keep hearing about how we should follow the science,” Tucker added. “The claim is tired by now. We know what’s really happening.”
He closed his commentary with the question: “With solid evidence that asymptomatic spread is nonsense, we have to ask: Who is making decisions and why?"
[Emphasis mine.]
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| The Future of Vaccines |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-24-2020, 07:48 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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A good friend sent this to me, highly recommending it, and even providing a brief summary. Borrowing from his words:
- Experimental: mRNA "medicine" has never been approved for use before. Now, we are testing this questionable vaccine, en masse, on the healthcare workers of the world. If there is a problem, we've just wiped out our front-line workers.
- If it doesn't help, it can kill: This kind of vaccine can lead to "antibody-dependent amplification" (ADE), which leads the patient to becomes powerless against the actual virus out-in-the-wild, often killing them. How bad could it be? It usually takes years and decades to find out, not months.
- Fatal reactions: The vaccine contains polyethylene glycol (PEG). Many people can developer allergic and potentially fatal reactions to the vaccine, itself.
- Infertility: The vaccine produces antibodies against spike proteins for SARS-CoV-2, but those contain synctin-homologous proteins - which are used in the placenta and required for a human to be born. If the mRNA "stays" (and gets uptake from your DNA), then women can become permanently infertile. How prevalent? Who knows. It takes years and decades to study, not
months.
- No long term studies: There has been no studies on the long term effects (since it's only been months), and with a terrible track record, and vaccine companies being held-harmless (you can't sue them for damages), this is completely unprecedented.
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| Ireland announces third national lockdown, threatens mass vaccination before it ends |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-24-2020, 07:43 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Ireland announces third national lockdown, threatens mass vaccination before it ends
'It will probably be towards the end of February or early March before a critical mass of the population is vaccinated and I think we need to operate on the basis that these restrictions will be in place until then,' Deputy Irish Prime Minister Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said.
DUBLIN, Ireland, December 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Politicians in Ireland have announced a third national lockdown, banning public worship once more and saying that the restrictions will likely continue until there have been mass vaccinations.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin announced the grim news in a press conference Tuesday afternoon, justifying the move by referencing an uptake in COVID-19 ‘positive’ cases. The restrictions take effect at midnight on December 24 and are officially set to last until January 12, when a review is to take place. The Dáil Éireann, Irish parliament, is due to return on January 13, after the Christmas break.
Despite setting a date, Martin admitted to the press that the government did not actually have any targets it wished to have met by January 12.
However, that date seems to have already been altered, as the deputy prime minister Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, intimated that the lockdown would last until March, and would be linked to vaccination roll-outs. “It will probably be towards the end of February or early March before a critical mass of the population is vaccinated and I think we need to operate on the basis that these restrictions will be in place until then,” Varadkar declared.
The Tánaiste’s words are similar to those of U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who on Sunday suggested that newly announced lockdowns in the U.K. could last until a vaccine was widely distributed. “We don’t know how long these measures are going to be in place. It may be for some time until we can get the vaccine going…It is going to be very difficult to keep it [the virus] under control until we have the vaccine rolled out.”
Martin went further in an interviewthe day before, saying that restrictions could last up to six months: “We’ll be looking at restrictions for the next six months. It’s going to be a parallel process of vaccinating the public while at the same time keeping the pressure on the virus.”
Both politicians have also stated that they are operating on the assumption that the newly identified strain of COVID-19 is in the country, although gave no evidence at all to support this. “We do not yet have firm evidence that the new, more virulent, strain of the Covid virus is in our country,” Martin revealed, yet added the government would work “on the assumption that it is already here.”
“We don’t know if the new variant is circulating in Ireland but we’re operating on the basis that it is,” Varadkar echoed.
The latest restrictions are somewhat staggered, with some measures starting on Christmas Eve, others on December 27, and still more coming into effect on New Year's Day. Gyms, leisure centers and swimming pools have been permitted to remain open, along with non-essential retail, although stores have been asked to avoid holding January sales.
From New Year's Day, “no visitors are permitted to your home except for essential family reasons, such as providing care to children, elderly or vulnerable people, or as part of a support bubble.”
Martin made reference to an “alarming scale of the growth” of the virus, saying that this was “of grave concern and couldn’t be ignored.” He made the alarmist claim that Ireland was experiencing a “third wave” of the virus, which could see higher hospital admissions and deaths compared to the ‘second wave’, which saw only “limited” admissions and “low mortality.”
Yet, figures as recently as December 20 show just 1,911 deaths have been attributed to the virus in Ireland, with 238 infected patients currently in hospital, and 28 in intensive care. Including patients termed as probably or possibly infected, 2,171 deaths in total have been linked to the virus, but 2,018 people who died already had underlying health conditions. The average age of those who have died is 81 years.
Speaking on TV last Friday, Varadkar even mentioned how “this winter in Ireland has seen no excess deaths”.
Mass and worship banned...yet again
Whilst retail is permitted to continue, the government has once again moved to force churches and places of worship to close, with effect from December 26. Christmas Day Masses will be the last ones permitted.
All ceremonies are to “move online” and churches will be open only for private prayer. Weddings can occur and have 25 guests present until January 3, from which point only 6 guests are allowed.
It marks the third time this year that the Irish people will be barred from attending Mass and the sacraments. Mass was only re-permitted a few weeks ago after two months without public worship, with lockdown regulations threatening jail to priests who said Mass.
Catholics previously petitioned for a return to Mass and the sacraments, noting that it is actually unconstitutional in Ireland to ban worship.
In a statement to LifeSiteNews, Anthony Murphy, Director of Lumen Fidei Institute and editor of Catholic Voice magazine, described the law as “an unjust and discriminatory attack on our faith fuelled by the anti-Catholicism of our political leaders” adding that “we have a duty to resist this law which takes Ireland back to the penal times.”
Murphy noted the discrepancy between Ireland and England and France, saying that “our bishops chose to abandon the faithful and collaborate with the pagan state - it is particularly shameful that at this time of year our bishops remain silent.”
“How can it be that gyms and shops can remain open, but churches must close even though all churches in Ireland implemented procedures to make public worship safe? The government cannot provide any evidence that public worship is not safe and so this ban must be rescinded immediately and if not then faithful Catholics and priests must be ready to stand up to this new wave of persecution. I encourage Catholics to seek out good priests and with them organise the public celebration of Mass.”
Murphy continued: “While the state has a duty to care for the health of its people the ultimate provider of health is God and at this time of year we must be allowed to celebrate the birth of his Son, the Saviour of mankind not just on Christmas Day but throughout the year.”
“We cannot allow the state to reduce the worship of God to a ‘non-essential’ service while at the same time encouraging people to go to gyms or the hairdresser - we must prioritise the spiritual health of the nation because only God can lead us out of the darkness of this crisis. I pray that one of our bishops finds the courage to speak out against these harmful and unnecessary restrictions. All we need is one good bishop to lead the fight back against the state-sponsored censorship of Christ.”
Newly formed conservative political part Aontú, has called the church closures “incredibly illogical” adding that “The democratic process is another casualty in a long list of Covid.”
Dr. Roger Hodkinson, CEO and Medical Director of Western Medical Assessments, has blasted lockdown measures, saying that “[a]ll of this is draconian … first of all because they have no basis in evidence-based medicine, and secondly because of horrendous consequences of that action.”
“The bottom line is simply this: There is utterly unfounded public hysteria driven by the media and politicians. It’s outrageous. This is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting public.”
[Emphasis mine.]
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| December 24th - St. Charbel Makhlouf, Sts. Tarsila and Emiliana, and St. Delphinus |
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Posted by: Elizabeth - 12-24-2020, 01:06 AM - Forum: December
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Saint Charbel Makhlouf
Maronite Priest and Hermit
(1828-1898)
Saint Charbel Makhlouf, the modest monk of Lebanon whose perfectly conserved mortal remains exude a miraculous sanguinolent liquid, has become known to many in the past half century, because of the extraordinary miracles which have drawn thousands to visit his tomb.
Youssef Makhlouf was born in 1828 in Bika'Kafra, the highest village of Lebanon, near the grove of the still-conserved famous cedars of Lebanon. The youngest of five children, he became a little shepherd. Their pious mother lived almost as a religious in her family home. She would pray with outstretched arms, telling her family to allow no one to see her at those moments. The children's father also possessed the genuine piety which recommends a Christian to his brethren, but the little Youssef never knew him, for he died when the youngest son was only two years old. An uncle took upon himself the support of the family, which was thereby maintained intact. The child was profoundly affected by the example of two other maternal uncles, who were monks of the Maronite Lebanese Order, living in a hermitage only three miles away, and whom he often visited, at first with his mother, later on his own. They would say to him: All here below is nothing, the world is vanity, life is short. The true beauty is God, near Him there is true happiness. Wisdom is to not find oneself with empty hands at the supreme hour.
By the time he was sixteen, he had completed his basic schooling under an oak in the village churchyard, where he was taught by the priest with the other village boys. The Christian spirit of the entire village was remarkable; the men regarded it as a great privilege to ring the church bells for Sunday Mass. Youssef during his days on the hillside with his little flock, often retired to a grotto to pray, for solitude was his joy, and prayer the breath of his soul. He was serving Mass every morning, and in that function he discovered the true purpose of his existence: to be, like his Saviour, a victim to be offered, with Christ, to His Father.
At the age of twenty-three he left home silently one morning, and made his way to a monastery a day's journey away. Only one thing mattered to him — to obey the voice of the One who summons: Come, follow Me. When his uncle and tutor, Tanios, tried to persuade him to return, he could not succeed; and his mother, who had accompanied her brother, taking his hand in hers, and shaking it energetically, said to him: Well then, if you should not become a good religious, return with me to the house! He received the habit one week after entering the monastery, and chose the name of Charbel, a martyr of the Antioch church in the year 107.
There followed two years of a severe novitiate, completed in the monastery of Annaya, which on its mountaintop seemed to breathe the stars, then the young monk was sent to prepare for the priesthood farther away, at Saint Cyprian of Kfifan, where he was ordained six years later at the age of 31. He returned to Annaya afterwards, where for sixteen years he was in every way a model of perfection, until in 1875, at forty-seven years of age, he retired to its nearby hermitage, where he would remain until his death. He was offering Mass a week before Christmas, when paralysis struck him as he elevated the host. His sorrowing companion, during a week's time, heard him repeating as long as he had voice, the prayers of his uncompleted Mass: O Father of truth, behold Your Son, victim to please You; condescend to approve [this offering], because for me He endured death, to give me life... Saint Charbel died quietly on the 24th of December, attended by three monks.
The events of his life are not often extraordinary save by their heroic virtue, which indeed exceeds description. He endured the extreme cold of his hermitage each winter, without ever adding additional garments to his ordinary very simple ones; this alone sufficed to astonish all who knew of it. The monks who trembled with cold during the night when they kept vigil at his coffin before his funeral, said: See how we find ourselves unable to endure for a single night, the rude cold of this chapel! How could this priest live here for twenty-three years, on his knees, like a statue before the altar, every night from midnight until eleven in the morning, when he rose to say his Mass? Blessed is he, for he undoubtedly receives at present his reward with God! We can nonetheless relate with the biographer whom we cite here, that one day he completely cured a dangerously violent insane man, whom several others had difficulty to make enter the monastery, but who went to its chapel when the Saint commanded him to do so; and there, when Saint Charbel placed a Gospel on his head and prayed, he became calm and silent, remaining thereafter entirely cured. On another occasion, while the monks were outdoors working to harvest their grapes, a huge venomous serpent emerged from beneath a bush, in a threatening attitude. Saint Charbel told the others who had already armed themselves not to touch it, and commanded it to depart, which it did in peace.
After his death a great many miracles occurred. Sick and infirm people of all kinds have been healed: deaf, dumb, blind, paralytic, those with cancer, mental illness, etc. They are also of every religion and every country. God worked these wonders either when people touched the body of His servant of were anointed with the oily liquid that sweated miraculously from his precious remains, or when they touched cloths either impregnated with this liquid or which had belonged to him.
The divine power that strengthens and heals does not limit itself to the needs of the body. It especially cures wounds of the soul in every form — sin, indifference, unbelief, error. Indeed, it is the healing of souls that occurs most often amid the cures that take place at Annaya. Since the death of Saint Charbel, thousands of cases of miraculous healings have been recorded.
Saint Charbel was one of those souls which, in a life of silence, mortification, deprivation and total gift of self, was able to detach itself from everything except the adorable Face of the Lord. Nothing mattered more for him than the redemption and salvation of souls, for whom he wanted to give his life in union with Christ on the cross. He applied these words of Saint Paul in their totality: I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the Passion of Christ for His body, which is the Church. (Colossians 1:24)
Saints Tarsilla and Emiliana
Virgins
(Sixth Century)
Tarsilla and Emiliana were two paternal aunts of Saint Gregory the Great, and it is this holy Pope who narrates their touching story. They renounced the world together, together consecrated their virginity to God and remained in their house as if in a convent, far removed from the conversation of the world. Encouraging one another to virtue by discourse and example, the two sisters soon made considerable progress in spiritual life.
They had a sister named Gordiana, who had taken the same engagements, but little by little fell back into affection for the world, to the great grief of Tarsilla and Emiliana. With gentleness they reproached her, but the inconstant spirit of Gordiana soon forgot their charitable lessons. One day Tarsilla had a vision, in which Pope Saint Felix, her uncle, appeared to her and showed her a palace of marvelous beauty, saying to her: Come; I will receive you into this habitation of light. She fell ill with a fever the next day, which rapidly grew worse. While in her agony, with her eyes lifted to heaven, she cried out to those surrounding her, Make way! Jesus is coming! Soon after speaking these words, as she gazed at the vision, her soul was delivered from the bonds of the flesh. It was December 24th. The fragrance with which the room was filled confirmed the vision the virgin had had before dying.
A few days afterwards she appeared to her sister Emiliana, saying: My sister, come! I did not celebrate with you the birth of the Lord, but together we will celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. If you call only me, Emiliana replied, what will become of our sister Gordiana? Come, Tarsilla answered sadly; Gordiana has decided to remain with the worldlings. And after that vision, Emiliana fell ill and joined her sister for the feast day.
Saint Delphinus
Bishop of Bordeaux
(† 403)
Little is known of the origins of Saint Delphinus; it is after his elevation to the episcopate that he became famous among the bishops of his time as a vigilant protector of the truth. We have written evidence, however, that his piety and learning made him so celebrated that the saintliest bishops of the Church were honored to be his friends and to correspond with him.
He was present at the Council of Saragossa in 380, at which the Priscillian heretics were condemned. Later he assembled a Council in Bordeaux, his episcopal city, which the heretics had entered and where they were working havoc; this assembly condemned once again the same propagators of error. The bishop's force and preaching so reduced their influence that they abandoned the region entirely and fled to Italy.
Saint Delphinus baptized Saint Paulinus, later Bishop of Nola, in 388, and inspired in him the desire to live a life of perfection. He, in several letters, speaks of Saint Delphinus as his father and his master. Saint Delphinus died on the 24th of December, at the beginning of the fifth century.
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