| Welcome, Guest |
You have to register before you can post on our site.
|
| Forum Statistics |
» Members: 268
» Latest member: Sarah
» Forum threads: 6,382
» Forum posts: 11,932
Full Statistics
|
| Online Users |
There are currently 365 online users.
» 2 Member(s) | 359 Guest(s)
Bing, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Chivalry, PaxetBonum2024
|
|
|
| Fr. Fidelis Moscinski sentenced to six months in prison after blocking access to abortion center |
|
Posted by: Stone - 06-30-2023, 07:53 AM - Forum: General Commentary
- No Replies
|
 |
Father Fidelis sentenced to six months in prison after blocking access to abortion center
The pro-life priest said he locked the gates of the facility because Planned Parenthood ‘is in the business of killing.’
![[Image: Fr-Fidelis-by-Jim-Hale-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Fr-Fidelis-by-Jim-Hale-810x500.jpg)
Father Fidelis Moscinski
LifeSiteNews/Jim Hale
Jun 28, 2023
(LifeSiteNews) — Pro-life priest Fr. Fidelis Moscinski was sentenced to six months in prison for blocking access to a New York abortion facility in attempt to save innocent unborn children.
On Tuesday, the priest was dealt the punishment in a federal court, months after being found guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Moscinski is frequently involved in Red Rose Rescues and “lock and blocks” — forms of pro-life advocacy in which volunteers enter the waiting room of abortion facilities, or block access to said facilities, in a final attempt to dissuade women from killing their babies. The “lock and block” in question took place on July 7, 2022, in Hempstead, New York.
“It is almost surreal in these court rooms to listen to the prosecution and the judges,” pro-lifer Theresa Bonapartis, who was present at the sentencing, wrote in a statement shared with LifeSiteNews. “Father [Moscinski] is made out to be a career criminal while the slaughter of the innocent human life and the destruction of their mothers and families that takes place is never even mentioned or allowed to mentioned.”
The judge reportedly claimed that Moscinski has a “criminal past” and must be given “deterrents from acting like this again.” Bonapartis shared that the judge rejected the prosecuting attorney’s request that the priest have “restrictions … placed on him with pretty much anyone who is pro-life” during his probation but “compar[ed] restrictions of a crime family not being allowed to associate with others in the mafia with pro-lif[ers].”
“The prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence and unsurprisingly that is what he got. He is not in jail yet but will be waiting to hear when and where he needs to surrender,” Bonapartis wrote. “Of course, there is a basic misunderstanding of the reason and the sacrifice on a spiritual level to what Father (and others) do. No matter your views on rescue, please keep him in your prayers as he lays down his life for the moms and babies.”
As previously reported by LifeSiteNews, Moscinski was charged and found guilty after he locked the gates of a Planned Parenthood facility, preventing cars from entering the driveway and the killing center. Federal charges were brought against the priest after local authorities only dealt him an ordinance violation immediately following the incident.
In court on Tuesday, Moscinski told the judge that “my actions on July 7, 2022 were done because Planned Parenthood as an organization is in the business of killing. Every procured abortion that occurs on its premises constitutes the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.”
Moscinski shared that “I was also aware of the evidence compiled by the House Select Panel on Infant Lives that Planned Parenthood, contrary to federal law, profits from the harvesting and selling of the body parts of unborn children. This grisly trade in human tissues and organs is deemed by many as revolting and sickening since it reduces human beings to mere objects that can be bought and sold.”
The priest noted that, despite Roe’s reversal last year, “we are still sadly burdened with the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act,” further arguing that he is “not guilty of violating this law because this law cannot be seen as anything other than null and void since it attempts to give legal protection to actions which are intrinsically evil and unjust.”
“I recognize that this view may not be shared by your Honor,” Moscinski continued. “I would like you to know that I find the pernicious error of legal positivism both logically incoherent and immensely destructive in practice”
“Would it not be much better to acknowledge the truth that there must be a necessary and intrinsic connection between our civil laws and the natural moral law written on the human heart, knowable by human reason, and revealed authoritatively by God Himself in the Ten Commandments?”
Moscinski, along with Red Rose Rescuer Laura Gies, will be in court again in Long Island, New York, on Friday, facing separate misdemeanor charges for which he was convicted on February 10.
|
|
|
| New York Archdiocese Celebrates "Holy Spirit Of Pride" |
|
Posted by: Stone - 06-30-2023, 07:44 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
- No Replies
|
|
New York Archdiocese Celebrates "Holy Spirit Of Pride"
![[Image: ann32jcps40mqxgf473svx0vyu5lpu425o9y9mf....12&webp=on]](https://assistant.gloria.tv/1z94gyaCTBei3D8MsGrYwjE6j/ann32jcps40mqxgf473svx0vyu5lpu425o9y9mf.webp?secure=KHFgTCx_ieoLFynM1HzUGw&expires=1688551998&scale=512&webp=on)
gloria.tv | June 30, 2023
“Let us go out, come out, speak out, stand up, stand by, stand for, celebrate, commemorate, advocate. May all of us – whether we are marching or not [at LGBT parade] - participate in and share the good news of my prayer for us that we can truly take in God’s unconditional love, trust in God’s providential care for us and walk together in God’s Holy Spirit of Pride.”
Sequence of a June 25 homily by Homosexualist James Miracky, a Jesuit, in the church St Francis Xavier, New York City. Archbishop in New York is Cardinal Dolan..
|
|
|
|
| WEF: Governments can program CBDC to restrict undesirable purchases, set expiry dates |
|
Posted by: Stone - 06-29-2023, 10:11 AM - Forum: Great Reset
- No Replies
|
|
Governments can program CBDC to restrict undesirable purchases, set expiry dates: WEF ‘Summer Davos’ in China
![[Image: Eswar-Prasad.png]](https://sociable.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Eswar-Prasad.png)
sociable.co [adapted] | June 28, 2023
Governments can program Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) with expiry dates and to restrict undesirable purchases, according to a discussion at the World Economic Forum (WEF) “Summer Davos” meeting in China.
Today at the WEF’s 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, aka “Summer Davos,” in Tianjing, China, Cornell University professor Eswar Prasad said that “we are at the cusp of physical currency essentially disappearing,” and that programmable CBDCs could take us to either a better or much darker place.
“If you think about the benefits of digital money, there are huge potential gains,” said Prasad, adding, “It’s not just about digital forms of digital currency; you can have programmability — units of central bank currency with expiry dates.
“You could have […] a potentially better — or some people might say a darker world — where the government decides that units of central bank money can be used to purchase some things, but not other things that it deems less desirable like say ammunition, or drugs, or pornography, or something of the sort, and that is very powerful in terms of the use of a CBDC, and I think also extremely dangerous to central banks.”
“Now we are at the cusp of physical currency essentially disappearing”
The Cornell professor went on to say that “ultimately, if you have different units of central bank money with different characteristics, or if you use central bank money as a conduit for economic policies in a very targeted way, or more broadly for social policies, that could really affect the integrity of central bank money and the integrity and independence of central banks.
“So, there are wonderful notions of things that can be done with digital money, but again I fear the technology could take us to a better place, but equally has the potential to take us to a pretty dark place.”
While Prasad highlighted that programming CBDC for economic or social policies could affect the integrity of central banks, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde recently explained that programmability would be left to commercial banks.
“For us [central banks], the issuance of a digital currency that would be central bank money would not be programmable […] Those who can associate the use of digital currency with programmability would be the intermediaries — would be the commercial banks” - Christine Lagarde, BIS Innovation Summit, March 2023
Speaking at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Summit in March, Lagarde told her fellow panelists that a central bank would not be in charge of programming a digital currency.
“For us [central banks], the issuance of a digital currency that would be central bank money would not be programmable — would not be associated with any particular limitation, whether it’s in time, in type of use — that to me would be a voucher. It wouldn’t be a digital currency,” said Lagarde.
“Those who can associate the use of digital currency with programmability would be the intermediaries — would be the commercial banks.
“And that’s their business. They know how to do that, but if we are to say that a dollar is a dollar, whether it is cash or digital; or a euro is a euro, cash or digital — then for us [central bank] it cannot be programmable.
“It can be associated with conditionality, which is different, but not programmable,” she added.
“By programming CBDC, those money can be precisely targeted for what kind of people can own and what kind of use this money can be utilized“ Bo Li, IMF, October 2022
Speaking at a high-level roundtable on CBDC in Washington, DC in October 2022, International Monetary Fund (IMF) deputy managing director and former People’s Bank of China (PBoC) deputy governor Bo Li said of CBDC programmability:
“CBDC can allow government agencies and private sector players to program — to create smart contracts — to allow targeted policy functions. For example, welfare payment; for example, consumption coupons; for example, food stamps.”
“By programming CBDC, those money can be precisely targeted for what kind of people can own and what kind of use this money can be utilized,” he added.
So, while Lagarde says that central banks have no interest in programming CBDCs, central banks around the world are indeed exploring programmability, even if the central banks themselves are not the ones doing the actual programming.
For example, the Reserve Bank of India is exploring a programmable CBDC with expiry dates.
And in Nigeria, “The individual and merchant wallets of the eNaira have different caps on daily transaction limits and the amount of eNaira that can be held in them, depending on their customer due diligence tier,” according to the BIS November 2022 report on CBDCs in Africa.
|
|
|
|
| Saint John Southworth Enshrined (1930) - Video |
|
Posted by: Stone - 06-28-2023, 07:04 AM - Forum: Uncompromising Fighters for the Faith
- No Replies
|
|
Saint John Southworth Enshrined (1930) - Feast Day: June 28
Gloria.tv | June 28, 2023
Saint John Southworth (c. 1592, Lancashire, England - 28 June 1654, Tyburn, London) was an English Catholic martyr. He is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Father John Southworth came from a Lancashire family who lived at Samlesbury Hall. They chose to pay heavy fines rather than give up the Catholic faith.
He studied at the English College in Douai, now in northern France, (and then moved to Hertfordshire, St Edmunds College) and was ordained priest before he returned to England. Imprisoned and sentenced to death for professing the Catholic faith, he was later deported to France. Once more he returned to England and lived in Clerkenwell, London, during a plague epidemic. He assisted and converted the sick in Westminster and was arrested again.
He was again arrested under the Interregnum and was tried at the Old Bailey under Elizabethan anti-priest legislation. He pleaded guilty to exercising the priesthood and was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. At his execution at Tyburn, London, he suffered the full pains of his sentence and was hanged, drawn and quartered.
The Spanish ambassador returned his corpse to Douai for burial. His corpse was sewn together and parboiled, to preserve it. Following the French Revolution, his body was buried in an unmarked grave for its protection. The grave was discovered in 1927 and his remains were returned to England. They are now kept in the Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs in Westminster Cathedral in London.
He was beatified in 1929.
In 1970, he was canonized by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
|
|
|
|
| China opens its doors to the world by kicking off its first in-person 'Summer Davos' since the pande |
|
Posted by: Stone - 06-27-2023, 09:27 AM - Forum: Great Reset
- No Replies
|
|
China opens its doors to the world by kicking off its first in-person 'Summer Davos' since the pandemic
![[Image: 649a57146eb0a800194d496b?width=1300&form...&auto=webp]](https://i.insider.com/649a57146eb0a800194d496b?width=1300&format=jpeg&auto=webp)
Impressions from the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2023 in Tianjin, People's Republic of China World Economic Forum/PASCAL BITZ
Business Insider | Jun 27, 2023
- The Chinese city of Tianjin is hosting the World Economic Forum's "Summer Davos."
- Chinese Premier Li Qiang opened the conference, acknowledging global challenges and warning about future public health crises.
- Saudi Arabia has sent a top delegation to the event, reflecting the importance of its oil trade relationship with China.
The Chinese city of Tianjin is buzzing with activity. C-suite executives, government officials, and media members from all over the world have made their way to attend the first in-person World Economic Forum, or WEF, event in China since the pandemic began.
The WEF's three-day "Summer Davos" will see over 1,500 participants discuss topics centered around "Entrepreneurship: The driving force of the global economy."
The port city of Tianjin, home to 14 million people, welcomed the participants with big billboards on the main highway. Local Chinese residents welcomed "foreigners" to their neighborhoods, and food stalls were in action selling local delicacies including dumplings, noodles, and bao buns.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang welcomed the delegates and officially opened the conference on Tuesday. "The world is standing at a historical crossroads," Li said, adding that global challenges are escalating and regional conflicts keep coming up.
While Li's speech welcomed the return of in-person meetings, he also said COVID-19 will not be the last public health crisis.
Meanwhile, inside the conference center, the handshakes have begun, deals are being struck, and money has started to move around.
Saudi Arabia has sent a top delegation to China's Summer Davos this year. According to the Financial Times, the 24-member delegation includes six ministers and several vice-ministers.
The presence of Saudi ministers is of particular interest to President Xi Jinping. With oil trade between the two nations standing at $55.5 billion as of 2022, the Kingdom is now China's largest oil supplier.
While the day will be spent discussing everything from the state of the global economy to conflicts to AI, it's the evenings that the delegates are eyeing.
"I can't wait for the wine to start flowing. That's when the real money also starts to flow," a delegate said.
|
|
|
|
| Vatican denies Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage permission to say Latin Mass in St. Peter’s |
|
Posted by: Stone - 06-27-2023, 09:08 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
- No Replies
|
|
The wisdom of Archbishop Lefebvre, who clearly understood the traps being laid for the Traditionalists:
“It is imperative to know that today Rome is at the service of the revolution and therefore terribly anti-traditional. That is why I refused to put myself in their hands. They only wanted that, by recognizing my mistakes, I help them continue their revolution in the Church – no more, no less. All those who have left us are not aware of the situation and believe in the good will and the rectitude of thought of the bishops or cardinals in Rome. Nothing is further from the truth! ‘It is not possible for them to lead us into the revolution,’ say those who agree with the Pope and his bishops. Well, that is exactly what will happen.” (Interview for Controverses, 1989)
✠ ✠ ✠
Vatican denies Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage permission to say Latin Mass in St. Peter’s
Catholics will not be able to attend the traditional Mass in the Vatican, which has marked the annual pilgrimage for over a decade.
![[Image: BBA59122-1CBC-4590-A85A-8B485CD82407_1_2...0x500.jpeg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/BBA59122-1CBC-4590-A85A-8B485CD82407_1_201_a-scaled-e1687799875313-810x500.jpeg)
Msgr. Agostini celebrates Mass in the Vatican for the 2022 Ad Petri Sedem pilgrimage.
Michael Haynes/LifeSiteNews
Jun 26, 2023
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) –– For the first time since its inception, the international traditional Mass pilgrimage held in Rome annually will not be granted permission for a traditional Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica.
Since it began in 2011, the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage, now known as the Ad Petri Sedem pilgrimage, has drawn thousands of Catholics to Rome from across the globe out of love for the traditional Mass and sacraments. With the exception of disruption caused during the COVID-19 restrictions, the pilgrimage has always included the celebration of a traditional Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica.
The details of previous celebrations of the pilgrimage’s Masses inside the Vatican are recounted by Fœderatio Internationalis Una Voce (FIUV) president Dr. Joseph Shaw, who detailed the pilgrimage’s gradual progression from using side chapels around the Basilica in 2007 to celebrating Mass at the Altar of the Throne.
Such was the position last year, with an estimated 1,700 people gathering in Rome and worshipping in the Church’s traditional rites at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter. Monsignor Marco Agostini – part of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State and one of the Papal Masters of Ceremonies – celebrated the Mass for pilgrims in the 2022 event, although prior pilgrimages had been marked by bishops or cardinals offering the Vatican liturgy.
However, in an update provided by the organizers in recent days, news of the cessation of the traditional Mass for the pilgrimage in the Vatican has been provided. Referencing a “a significant and sensitive change” – the pilgrimage runs Friday, October 27 through Sunday, October 29 – the organizers revealed the traditional Mass could not take place.
The statement read:
Quote:since Cardinal (Mauro) Gambetti – certainly due to a superior order – is not authorizing the celebration of a Mass this year (i.e., the directive is only for this year, and even so, subject to a possible last-minute change), our celebration there will consist of:
1. The procession to the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles and the chanting of the Credo
2. The chanting of the office of Sext of the Holy Apostles Simon and Jude at the altar of the Chair
3. The veneration of the relics of the Holy Apostles Simon and Jude (their bodies are in the Vatican Basilica); the blessing; and a final chant.
Cardinal Gambetti is the Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, Vicar General of the Pope for the Vatican City and President of the Fabric of Saint Peter’s since February 2021. Shortly after Gambetti began his new role in 2021, private traditional Masses were nearly banned in the basilica, and priests ordered to concelebrate Novus Ordo Masses rather than say such liturgies privately. The restrictions came from the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, though some speculated if Gambetti was ultimately behind the move.
In late June 2021, the cardinal also issued restrictions on the use of Latin in Masses in the Papal Basilica, widely stipulating Italian for the liturgy.
However, with the more recent issuing Pope Francis’ motu proprio Traditionis Custodes and Cardinal Arthur Roche’s subsequent dubia and Rescript, global provision and access to the traditional Mass has been widely restricted.
In a statement issued to LifeSiteNews, Shaw noted that “this is naturally a great disappointment, whether it is a delayed response to Traditionis Custodes or connected with the scheduling of the events of the Synod on Synodality, which concludes the following day.”
Quote:The Traditional Latin Mass has been celebrated publicly for international groups of Traditional Catholics since 2007, thanks to the hospitality of Pope Benedict and Pope Francis, and the success of these events has emphasized Traditionalists’ strong attachment to the See of Rome and the Papacy. The Pilgrimage will still take place this year, and despite everything Traditional Catholics all over the world will continue to venerate the tombs of the Apostles and to pray for the Pope, as we continue to work for the good of the Church as a whole in everything that we do.”
Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, a previous participant and speaker at the pilgrimage and accompanying conference, criticized the Vatican’s move, although he was not entirely surprised.
“For the first time since the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimages in Rome have begun, a Latin Mass in the Basilica of St. Peter’s has been denied to the pilgrims,” he wrote.
Quote:Naturally, one might have been surprised that it continued as long as it did … and it is also possible that the decision could be reversed, by means of continued negotiations.
Frankly, the thought that the immemorial rite of the Church of Rome, offered by countless popes, cardinals, bishops, and pilgrim priests, would be forbidden at the heart of the Vatican is so absurd it can hardly be put into words.
The Ad Petri Sedem pilgrimage takes place on the last weekend of October, beginning with vespers at the Pantheon celebrated by Bishop Athanasius Schneider on Friday evening and ending with solemn Mass at the Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini run by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) on Sunday.
It also coincides with the Pax Liturgica conference on October 27, held at the Augustinianum in the shadows of the Vatican.
Last year’s conference saw addresses from liturgical scholars and distinguished clerics such as Monsignor Nicola Bux, who formerly served as an adviser to the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith. The 2023 event will see Dr. Shaw deliver one of the addresses alongside Bishop Schneider.
LifeSiteNews has contacted the office of the vicariate of the Vatican, asking why permission for the Mass has not been granted, and will update this report upon receiving a response.
|
|
|
|
| Spanish church vandalized, robbed amid notable rise in anti-Catholic violence |
|
Posted by: Stone - 06-27-2023, 08:59 AM - Forum: Anti-Catholic Violence
- No Replies
|
|
Spanish church vandalized, robbed amid notable rise in anti-Catholic violence
St. Josemaría Escrivá parish in the town of Alcorcón, Spain has been vandalized, a few years after the parish priest was stabbed before Mass.
![[Image: Contreras-810x500.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Contreras-810x500.png)
Father Javier Contreras
YouTube
Jun 26, 2023
ALCORCÓN, Spain (LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic church in Spain has been vandalized amid a continuing wave of anti-Catholic violence across the world.
During the night of June 15-16, the vigil of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Josemaría Escrivá parish in the town of Alcorcón, Spain was vandalized and robbed. It is the same church in which Father Javier Contreras was stabbed in 2020.
“Tonight, our parish has been partially vandalized and robbed,” Contreras reported, according to Catholic News Agency. “Thank God, the tabernacle and the sacred vessels were unharmed, but [otherwise] there was a great deal of damage.”
Far from being angry at the vandals, Contreras requested prayers for the perpetrators and forgave them, saying, “We ask you for prayers for those poor people, whom we forgive.”
The 76-year-old priest showed similar compassion when he was attacked and stabbed by a mentally unstable young man on September 24, 2020, as he prayed before morning Mass.
According to Contreras, the attacker was “a young kid with a psychiatric condition and who seems to have wanted one less priest.”
The assailant inflicted “three light stab wounds that could have been something else, especially [affecting] the sternum.”
However, trying to downplay the attack, Contreras stated, “I defended myself like Bruce Lee in priest’s clothing, and thanks to that the wounds weren’t greater.”
“There was no hatred of God [on the part of the aggressor] in all this, but an acute psychotic crisis, I hope so at least,” the parish priest told his parishioners from the hospital. “I am at peace and eager to continue working for the Lord.”
Anti-Catholic attacks are rising across the world. One report revealed that over 300 Catholic churches in the United States have been hit with destructive acts of vandalism since spring 2020.
In France, reports showed that there was a 70% increase in anti-Catholic hate crimes from 2019 to 2020.
In early March, abortion activists attacked churches in Latin America to celebrate International Women’s Day. Rioters broke windows, attacked police and civilians, and covered walls with anti-life graffiti and slogans in support of their so-called ‘right’ to abortion access.
Later in the same month, Sacred Heart Church in Bordeaux was desecrated by vandals who marked the church’s doors and walls with satanic and communist phrases and symbols.
On March 29, Antifa members vandalized two Catholic churches in Munich over support for the March for Life that was set to take place a few days later.
In June, St. Mary’s Romanian Orthodox Church, a historic 118-year-old building, was reduced to a pile of rubble after being consumed by a fire, making it one of over 100 churches to have burned down or been vandalized in Canada in recent years.
|
|
|
|
| Pope’s peace envoy to visit Moscow in wake of aborted insurrection |
|
Posted by: Stone - 06-27-2023, 08:56 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
- No Replies
|
|
Pope’s peace envoy to visit Moscow in wake of aborted insurrection
![[Image: ?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.cruxnow.com%2Fwp-c...=1280&q=75]](https://cruxnow.com/_cf-images/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.cruxnow.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F06%2Fzuppi3.jpg&w=1280&q=75)
CruxNow | Jun 27, 2023
ROME – In the wake of a short-lived but still unprecedented challenge to Vladimir Putin’s authority in Russia, the Vatican announced Tuesday that the pope’s personal peace envoy for the Russia-Ukraine war, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, will head to Moscow this weekend, following a similar visit to Kyiv earlier this month.
In a June 27 statement, the Vatican said Zuppi would travel to Moscow from June 28-29 alongside a representative from the Vatican’s Secretariat of State “as an envoy of Pope Francis.”
According to the statement, “the principal scope of the initiative is to encourage acts of humanity which can contribute to favoring a solution to the current tragic situation and to finding paths for reaching a just peace.”
Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Zuppi made a two-day visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv from June 5-6, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top state and religious officials, including Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav Shevchuk.
Pope Francis initially hinted that he was planning a peace mission to Ukraine on his return flight from Hungary earlier this year, and last month it was announced that Zuppi would serve as his official envoy.
Though he offered no specifics, he mentioned the return of Ukrainian children deported to Russia as something the Vatican could potentially help facilitate as an “act of humanity.”
Zuppi’s visit to Ukraine came nearly one month after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself met with Pope Francis at the Vatican during a whirlwind trip to Italy to foster support for Ukraine’s military defense.
At the time, Zelenskyy thanked Pope Francis for his interest but appeared to decline the Vatican’s offer of mediating negotiations, saying on a popular Italian news program that, “We do not need mediators, we need a just peace,” however, he did ask the pope to intervene in the return of Ukrainian children.
Speaking in a lengthy interview to Ukrainian news site Glavkom, Shevchuk touched on Zuppi’s recent visit to Kyiv, and reflected on what the potential talking points of a visit to Moscow could be.
For the pope to have a special envoy is no different than political leaders who appoint them, Shevchuk said in the interview, noting that while United States President Donald Trump was in office, he had named Kurt Volker as a special representative for Ukraine.
“A special representative is needed to strengthen the role of the Vatican,” he said, but noted that there have been “several communicative misunderstandings” about Zuppi’s role since the pope first hinted at the peace mission returning from Hungary.
Shevchuk noted that Pope Francis himself had spoken of Vatican mediation, but later walked that back, insisting now that they are not interested in being a “political mediator.”
Noting that he has spoken with Zuppi since he returned from Kyiv, Shevchuk said the main aim of Zuppi’s visit to Ukraine was to listen and report back what was said.
“He didn’t come with a plan to impose on anyone,” which is different that past Vatican intervention in conflicts, such as John Paul II’s intervention with US President George W Bush and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in an attempt to stop the American invasion of Iraq in the early 2000s.
Rather than making a specific request, Zuppi, had no plan of action to propose, he said, noting that at first there was a bit of tension when Zuppi arrived, but when the Ukrainian government leadership understood that he was not there to impose anything, “the Ukrainian side breathed a sign of relief and the dialogue unfolded in a very positive way.”
“In the case of Ukraine, it was clear that the Vatican did not claim a political solution,” Shevchuk said, saying he believed Zelenskyy’s visit to the Vatican in May was “very fruitful.”
Zelenskyy, he said, “made it clear that Ukraine does not need mediators, but allies. Now the question arises: to what extent can the Vatican be an ally of Ukraine today and tomorrow? I believe this will be investigated with the help of these contacts through the special envoy.”
Shevchuk voiced support for Zelenskyy’s peace plan and said he believes there are several potential talking points for Zuppi’s visit to Moscow.
Among the biggest potential topics, he said, is the return of Ukrainian children, “which is a fundamental and painful thing.”
“I think that the possibilities for active actions on the part of the Vatican will also be considered when it comes to food security, because the issue of the grain corridor is very important for Ukraine,” Shevchuk said, saying he also personally asked Zuppi to intervene on the environmental fallout of the war, especially following the recent destruction of the dam in Kakhovskaya.
According to Shevchuk, “this is not just an ecological disaster, it is ecocide under international law. It is a type of war crime that is equated with the use of weapons of mass destruction.”
“Therefore, not only one, but three, could be the main areas in which the Vatican can act: The return of children, ecology, and food,” he said.
|
|
|
|
| ‘There Are Two Sister Lucys’: Powerful Conclusion of a [Another] Forensic Professional |
|
Posted by: Stone - 06-26-2023, 09:41 AM - Forum: General Commentary
- No Replies
|
|
‘There Are Two Sister Lucys’: Powerful Conclusion of a [Another] Forensic Professional
TIA | June 19, 2023
A reader recently sent TIA a link to an “Anatomical Report” by Professor Carlos Antonio Bezerra, a Portuguese intellectual and a forensic sculptor, which was published on Sister Lucy Truth. The site, founded in 2017, is dedicated to exposing the deceitful ploy of the Vatican in replacing the real Sister Lucia dos Santos with an imposter Sister.
His work is based on the same hypothesis presented by me in an article posted on April 27, 2006, on the TIA website, which proposed that there were two Sister Lucys (The Two Sister Lucys: Photos and Facts).
![[Image: G059_L01.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/HTimages_g-k/G059_L01.jpg)
Our 2006 study presented the obvious differences in the two Sister Lucys
Ours was a simple analysis based on viewing pictures taken before her entry into the Carmelite Convent in Coimbra on March 25, 1948, and comparing them to photos of what appears to be a different nun who reappeared on the public scene in 1967, almost 20 years later, when she reemerged to public view at a visit Paul VI made to Portugal. That comparison raised a question: Can these two nuns be the same person? Our answer: It seems they are not.
The article raised furor in progressivist and even conservative sectors of the Catholic milieu, and for many years we bore the stigma of having the nerve to suggest the Vatican could replace the Seer of Fatima. Why? “The very idea is preposterous!” said our critics. “You are wicked conspirators for even proposing such a thing!”
Time passed, the waters calmed, and many persons who undertook an objective comparison of the two groups of photos came to our conclusion: There was an exchange made, and a second Sister Lucy had indeed entered the picture.
Forensic expert studies the photos
In 2013 the valorous priests of the Servants of the Holy Family hired a company specialized in photo regressions and progressions through computer technology. The result of their professional study was the same we had reached, as shown in this article.
![[Image: G059_L02.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/HTimages_g-k/G059_L02.jpg)
The pictures of age progression & regression of Sister lucy 1, above, and Sister Lucy II, below, clearly show two different persons based on the known photos
![[Image: G059_L03.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/HTimages_g-k/G059_L03.jpg)
In February 2017 writer Frank Rega applied the “eye-tooth ratio” scientific method of comparison to the photos of the two Lucys; he reached the same conclusion, as he explains here.
Also in 2017, Sister Lucy Truth site appeared, and has added demonstrations that support the two Sister Lucys hypothesis. The anatomical report by forensic sculptor Prof. Carlos Bezerra is one of these. His sculptures painstakingly composed from photos of the two Sister Lucy's present another very solid proof that they are two different persons.
![[Image: G059_L04.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/HTimages_g-k/G059_L04.jpg)
The question becomes, What happened to Sister Lucy 1?
His line of work consists in creating a three-dimensional image of a person, often used to identify a murder victim or track down a criminal. According to the results of his study, there was indeed a crime in this case.
- The crime is replacing Sister Lucia Santos with an imposter Sister.
- The perpetrator of that crime is the Vatican.
- The primary victim of the crime is the real Sister Lucia do Santos of Fatima, who lost her identity and voice, significantly right before 1960, the year the Secret should have been released. She had been personally instructed by Our Lady that the Secret should be revealed in that year and there is no doubt the real Sister Lucy would have made every effort to do so, even thwarting Vatican commands.
The secondary victims are the Catholic faithful, who believed the authorities who presented a false Sister Lucy with her progressivist messages and modern way of being and who approved the false third Secret released in 2002 by Cardinals Ratzinger and Sodano and Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone.
Anatomical report of Prof. Bezerra
Bezerra reports that he first studied photographs of Sister Lucia dos Santos from her childhood until her entry into the Carmel of Coimbra. He then studied photos of Sister Lucy as she appeared in that Convent from 1967 until her death.
He claimed that the two-dimensional limitation of the paper photographs was insufficient for a conclusive analysis. So, he modeled with plasticine clay a three-dimensional figure of both Sister Lucys, based on those two sets of photographs.
Although I disagree that a study of two sets of photographs of persons by an expert in anatomical structure could not produce a strong conclusion, I heartily support his decision to make the matter of two different nuns crystal clear.
Thus, working from the two sets of pictures (one showing the whole face, the other a profile) pictured on this page, Prof. Bezerra modeled two three-dimensional figures, accentuating without changing an iota the facial bone structure of each face.
![[Image: G059_L05.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/HTimages_g-k/G059_L05.jpg)
Photos used of the pre-1967 Sister Lucia dos Santos by Prof. Bezerra for his study
In his highly professional and technical report, he analyzes Sister Lucy I as having the following characteristics, summarized below:- A tendency to height over width in the bone structure of the face, resulting in a more lengthy, oval and narrow overall format.
- A jaw with a tendency to recede, the bone structure taking a downward and backward vertical development.
- The forehead smooth and round, bringing the more perfect design of the eyebrows closer together toward the nasal bone.
- The teeth of the upper arch protrude forward, which in technical language is called a bimalillary protrusion.
These characteristics make the face of Lucy I, when viewed in profile, a convex face.
![[Image: G059_L06.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/HTimages_g-k/G059_L06.jpg)
The photos used to make the analysis of the Post 1967 Sister Lucy
Then, he goes to analyze the facial structure of Sister Lucy 2, which he describes as follows:- The arched forehead (or supraciliary arch), a feature acquired in childhood or that is congenital, makes the space between the eyebrows larger and reduces wrinkling in the forehead.
- The chin is more prominent, corpulent and voluminous.
- This jutting forward of the chin makes the lower lip larger (not thicker) with the tendency to protrude forward. It is this protrusion that makes the individual quite different from what is seen in Sister Lucy I, and, as Prof. Bezerra states: “This difference cannot be explained in any way, neither by the aging process, nor by the use of dental prosthesis (denture or dental surgery to restructure a mouth).
- Thus Sister Lucy II has a concave-shaped profile, with a more prominent forehead and chin.
![[Image: G059_L08.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/HTimages_g-k/G059_L08.jpg)
Convex vs. concave profiles, the structure does not change with aging
Prof. Berrera’s conclusion is decisive: “I state beyond doubt from the analyses done from the 3D images of individuals 1 and 2 that they are not the same person, because there are insuperable differences throughout the bone structure of the faces, which cannot be explained in any other way.”
![[Image: G059_L07.jpg]](https://traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/HTimages_g-k/G059_L07.jpg)
Conclusion: The two facial structures cannot be the same person
I congratulate Prof. Carlos Antonio Bezerra and Sister Lucy Truth website for adding this new evidence to the case for the Two Sister Lucys, and for reaching the indisputable conclusion, which 17 years ago I had only proposed: There are two Sister Lucys.
Prof. Bezerra takes the consequences further than I did: He straightforwardly accuses the Vatican of crime, and specifies the victims. I do not know whether or not he intends to legally prosecute the Vatican. I imagine that no international court would take this case, and if any would, I suspect the final sentence would favor the Vatican, although Prof. Bezerra has truth on his side.
I pray that someday we may know the fate of the real Sister Lucy.
|
|
|
|
| Mass in ‘Masonic Auditorium’ raises questions |
|
Posted by: Stone - 06-26-2023, 09:16 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
- Replies (1)
|
|
Mass in ‘Masonic Auditorium’ raises questions
THE PILLAR | June 23, 2023
A Mass meant to foster Catholic brotherhood at the border between the U.S. and Canada has raised questions, after organizers scheduled it to take place in an auditorium built and sponsored by an international coalition of Freemasonic organizations.
![[Image: https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama...6x1152.png]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14081b7a-7709-460c-8463-d2d34ebaa635_1536x1152.png)
The Masonic Auditorium at the International Peace Gardens. Credit: Grand Masonic Lodge of Manitoba.
The International Field Mass began in 1960 as a Mass of solidarity and friendship between Knights of Columbus in North Dakota and the Canadian province of Manitoba. The Mass has been held since that year at the International Peace Garden, a large park which straddles the border between the U.S. and Canada.
The Mass was initially held on a large field with a tent to shelter the altar, and then on a band shell constructed by the Knights of Columbus in the park. Promotional material from prior events says the Mass has been held in recent years in an auditorium connected to a music camp with facilities on the grounds of the peace garden park.
But promotional material for the 2023 Mass says it will be held July 9 in the “Masonic Auditorium” on the grounds of the park.
That auditorium, which can seat some 2,000 people, is built in the shape of the Masonic square and compass logo. The building was constructed as a joint initiative of the Masonic Grand Lodges of Manitoba and North Dakota, and is home to the Peace Garden Lodge of Freemasons, which holds annual Masonic meetings there.
It is not clear whether the Mass has been held in the Masonic Auditorium previously. But the location of the Mass has raised questions, given the Church’s longstanding ban on Catholic participation in Masonic organizations.
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Fargo, on the U.S. side of the border, directed questions to the Archdiocese of Winnipeg, on the Canadian side, because Archbishop Richard Gagnon of Winnipeg is scheduled to offer the Mass.
The Winnipeg archdiocese referred The Pillar to Knights of Columbus organizers, who have not yet responded to questions.
A Winnipeg archdiocesan official speaking on background told The Pillar that the archbishop had expected the Mass would be celebrated outdoors when he agreed to it, and was waiting for the Knights of Columbus to clarify plans for the Mass venue.
The choice of a Masonic venue for an event organized by the Knight of Columbus could be seen as a kind of historical irony.
The Catholic fraternal society was founded in 1882 by Fr. Michael McGivney in Connecticut, in part to offer a direct Catholic alternative to Masonic lodges which, at the time, offered to members benefits that would later be associated with workplace insurance and trade union membership, including disability and survivor benefits. Many Masonic lodges, especially in the New England region, used those benefits to encourage Catholic laborers to join, despite the penalty of excommunication imposed by the Church at the time.
Knights of Columbus policies explicitly prohibit Freemasons from membership in the Catholic fraternal organization.
The Church has taught for centuries that Freemasonry has an explicitly religious nature, which is antithetical to Christianity, and described Masonic lodges as “societies which plot against the Church.”
In 1738, Pope Clement XII banned Freemasonry for Catholics, saying it promoted religious indifferentism and undermined a Catholic’s proper relationship to the Church.
From Clement until the promulgation of the first universal Code of Canon Law in 1917, eight popes issued encyclicals or papal bulls denouncing Freemasonry and imposing a penalty of excommunication, reserved to the Holy See, for any Catholic who joined.
The ritual for initiation into the first level of Masonry involves explicitly renouncing the unique saving power of the Church and the sacraments, and accepting that all religions are essentially equally partial truths, with Masonry offering the real, secret truth needed to understand God.
The higher degrees of some Masonic branches, like the Royal Arch and Scottish Rites — whose membership has included some Deer Park Masons — have explicitly anti-Catholic rituals.
In one initiation ceremony, a replica human skull wearing a mock papal tiara is presented to the candidate, to represent “the cruel and cowardly pontiff” — an “imposter” pretending to be the vicar of Christ. The candidate is invited to stab the skull with a dagger, and trample on the tiara.
In his Masonic catechism, “Morals and Dogma,” the founder of the Scottish Rite, former Confederate General Albert Pike, described the society as “at its very origin devoted to the cause of opposition to the tiara of Rome.”
The Church still considers it a canonical crime for a Catholic to become a Mason, and maintains penalties for anyone who does so — including in the recently revised Book VI of the Code of Canon Law, promulgated by Pope Francis in 2021.
In 1983, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reaffirmed its stance. “The Church’s negative judgment in regard to Masonic association remains unchanged,” the CDF said, “since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.”
The Church’s canon law also specifies that Mass “is to be carried out in a sacred place unless in a particular case necessity requires otherwise; in such a case the celebration must be done in a decent place.”
|
|
|
|
| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Fourth Week after Pentecost |
|
Posted by: Stone - 06-25-2023, 08:30 AM - Forum: Pentecost
- Replies (6)
|
|
Think of the Lord in goodness. In these words the Wise Man exhorts us to have more confidence in God’s Mercy than dread of His divine Justice, for God is immeasurably more inclined to bestow favours than to punish. Mercy exalteth itself above judgment.
I.
Think of the Lord in goodness-(Wis. i. I). In these words the Wise Man exhorts us to have more confidence in the divine mercy than dread of the divine justice; since God is immeasurably more inclined to bestow favours than to punish; as St. James says, Mercy exalteth itself above judgment-(James ii. 13). Hence the Apostle St. Peter tells us that in all fears, whether about our interests for time or for eternity, we should commit ourselves altogether to the goodness of our God, Who has the greatest care of our safety: Casting all your care upon him, for he hath care of you-(1 Peter v. 7). Oh, what a beautiful meaning does this lend to the title which David gives to the Lord, when he says that our God is the God Who makes it His care to save: Our God is the God of salvation-(Ps. lxvii. 21), which signifies, as Bellarmine explains it, that the office peculiar to the Lord is, not to condemn, but to save all. For while He threatens with His displeasure those who disregard Him, He promises, on the other hand, His assured mercies to those who fear Him, as the divine Mother said in her Canticle: And his mercy is to them that fear him-(Luke i. 50). I set before you, devout soul, all these passages of Scripture, that when the thought disquiets you-Am I to be saved or not? Am I predestined or not?-You may take courage, and understand from the promises He makes you what desire God has to save you, if only you are resolved to serve Him and to love Him as He commands.
II.
When you receive pleasant news, do not act like those unfaithful, thankless souls who have recourse to God in time of trouble, but in time of prosperity forget and forsake Him. Be as faithful to Him as you would to a friend who loves you and rejoices in your good; and, go therefore, at once and tell Him of your gladness, and praise Him and give Him thanks, acknowledging it all as a gift from His hands; and rejoice in that happiness because it comes to you of His good pleasure. Rejoice, therefore, and comfort yourself in Him alone: I will receive in the Lord and I will joy in God my Jesus-(Habac. ii. 18). Say to Him: My Jesus, I bless, and will ever bless Thee, for granting me so many favours, when I deserved at Thy hands not favours, but chastisements for the affronts I have offered Thee. All fruits, the new and the old, my Beloved, I have kept for thee-(Cant. vii. 13). Lord, I give Thee thanks; I keep in memory all Thy bounties, past and present, to render Thee praise and glory for them for ever and ever.
But if you love your God, you ought to rejoice more in His blessedness than in your own. He who loves a friend very much, sometimes takes more delight in that friend’s good name than if it were his own. Comfort yourself, then, in the knowledge that your God is infinitely blessed. Often say to Him: My beloved Lord, I rejoice more in Thy blessedness than in any good of mine; yes, for I love Thee more than I love myself.
Another mark of confidence highly pleasing to your most loving God is this: that when you have committed any fault, you be not ashamed to go at once to His feet and seek His pardon. Consider that God is so greatly inclined to pardon sinners that He laments their perdition, when they depart far from Him and live as dead to His grace. Therefore does He lovingly call them, saying: Why will you die, O house of Israel? Return ye, and live-(Ezech. xviii. 31, 32). He promises to receive the soul that has forsaken Him, as soon as she returns to His arms: Turn ye to me, … and I will turn to you-(Zach. i. 3). Oh, if sinners did but know with what tender mercy the Lord stands waiting to forgive them! The Lord waiteth, that he may have mercy on you-(Is. xxx. 18). Oh, did they but know the desire He has, not to chastise, but to see them converted, that He may embrace them, that He may press them to His Heart! He declares: As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live-(Ezech. xxxiii. 11). He even says: And then come and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow-(Is. i. 18). As though He had said: Sinners, repent of having offended Me; if I do not pardon you, accuse me; upbraid Me, and treat Me as one unfaithful. But no, I will not be wanting to My promise. If you will come, know this: that though your consciences are dyed deep as crimson by your sins, I will make them by My grace as white as snow. In a word, God has declared that when a soul repents of having offended Him, He forgets all its sins: I will not remember all his iniquities-(Ezech. xviii., 22).
Spiritual Reading
CORAM SANCTISSIMO
TWENTY-FIFTH VISIT
St. Paul praises the obedience of Jesus Christ, saying that He obeyed His Eternal Father even unto death: becoming obedient even unto death-(Philipp. ii. 8). But in this Sacrament He has gone still farther; for here He has been pleased to become obedient, not only to His Eternal Father, but also to man; and not only unto death, but as long as the world shall last; so that we can say: “He has become obedient even unto the consummation of the world.” He, the King of Heaven, comes down from Heaven in obedience to man, and then seems to dwell and converse there, in order to obey men: And I do not resist. There He remains without moving Himself; He allows Himself to be placed where men will, be it for exposition in the Monstrance, or to be enclosed in the Tabernacle. He allows Himself to be carried wheresoever He is borne, be it into houses or through the streets; He allows Himself to be given in Communion to whomsoever He is administered, be they just or sinners. St. Luke says that whilst He dwelt on earth He obeyed the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph; but in this Sacrament He obeys as many creatures as there are priests on earth: and I do not resist-(Is. 1. 5).
Permit me now to address Thee, O most loving Heart of my Jesus, from which indeed all the Sacraments flowed forth, but principally this Sacrament of love. I would gladly give Thee as much glory and honour as Thou givest in the Holy Sacrament to the Eternal Father. I know that on this altar Thou still lovest me with that same love with which Thou didst love me when Thou didst close Thy divine life in the midst of so much anguish on the Cross. O Divine Heart, enlighten all those who know Thee not with the knowledge of Thyself! Through Thy merits deliver from Purgatory, or at least relieve, the afflicted souls, who are already Thy spouses for all eternity. I adore Thee, I thank Thee, I love Thee, in union with all souls who at this moment love Thee, be they on earth or in Heaven.
O most pure Heart, purify my heart from all attachment to creatures, and fill it with Thy holy love! O sweetest Heart of Jesus, possess my heart, so that henceforward it may be all Thine, and may be always able to say: Who, then, shall separate us from the love of God, … which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord?-(Rom. viii. 38). Write, O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, upon my heart all the bitter sorrows which for so many years Thou didst endure on earth with so much love for me, that, on seeing them, I may henceforward desire, or at least endure with patience, all the sorrows of this life. Most humble Heart of Jesus, give me a share of Thy humility. Most meek Heart, impart Thy sweetness to me. Take from my heart all that displeases Thee; convert it wholly to Thee, so that I may no longer will or desire other than what Thou willest. In a word, grant that I may live only to obey Thee, only to love Thee, only to give Thee pleasure. I know that I, indeed, owe Thee much; and that Thou hast indeed placed me under great obligations: it will be but little if I consume and wear myself out for Thee.
Ejac. O Heart of Jesus, Thou art the sole Lord of my heart!
AN ACT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
My Jesus, I believe that Thou art truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love Thee above all things, and I desire to possess Thee within my soul. Since I am unable now to receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace Thee as already there, and unite myself wholly to Thee; never permit me to be separated from Thee.
VISIT TO MARY
St. Bernard says that Mary is that heavenly Ark in which, if we take refuge, we shall certainly be delivered from the shipwreck of eternal damnation: “She is the ark in which we escape shipwreck.” The Ark In which Noe escaped from the general wreck of the world was indeed a type of Mary. But Hesychius says that Mary is a more spacious, a stronger, and a more compassionate Ark. Only a few men and a few beasts were received into and saved by the Ark of Noe; but Mary, our Ark, receives all who take refuge under her mantle, and with certainty saves them. Unfortunate should we be had we not Mary! But still, my Queen, how many are lost! And why? Because they have not recourse to thee. And who would ever be lost had he recourse to thee?
Ejac. Grant, most holy Mary, that we may always have recourse to thee!
Concluding Prayer
Most holy Immaculate Virgin and my Mother Mary, to thee, who art the Mother of my Lord, and Queen of the world, the advocate, the hope, the refuge of sinners, I have recourse today I, who am the most miserable of all. I render thee my most humble homage, O great Queen, and I thank thee for all the graces thou hast conferred on me until now, particularly for having delivered me from hell, which I have so often deserved. I love thee, O most amiable Lady; and for the love which I bear thee, I promise to serve thee always, and to do all in my power to make others love thee also. I place in thee all my hopes; I confide my salvation to thy care. Accept me for thy servant, and receive me under thy mantle, O Mother of Mercy. And since thou art so powerful with God, deliver me from all temptations, or rather obtain for me the strength to triumph over them until death. Of thee I ask a perfect love of Jesus Christ. From thee I hope to die a good death.
O my Mother, for the love which thou bearest to God, I beseech thee to help me at all times, but especially at the last moment of my life. Leave me not, I beseech thee, until thou seest me safe in Heaven, blessing thee, and singing thy mercies for all eternity. Amen. So I hope. So may it be.
Evening Meditation
THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST.
XXXVIII.-HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST WISHES WHAT JESUS CHRIST WISHES
I.
God wishes us to love Him with our whole heart: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart -(Matt. xxii. 37). That person loves Jesus Christ with his whole heart who says to Him with the Apostle: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?-(Acts ix. 6). Lord, signify to me what Thou wilt have me do; for I desire to perform all. And let us be persuaded that whilst we desire what God desires, we desire what is best for ourselves; for assuredly God only wishes what is best for us. St. Vincent de Paul said: “Conformity with the will of God is the treasure of a Christian and the remedy for all evils; since it comprises abnegation of self and union with God and all virtues.” In this, then, is all perfection: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Jesus Christ promises us that not a hair of your head shall perish-(Luke xxi. 18), which is as much as to say, that the Lord rewards us for every good thought we have of pleasing Him, and for every tribulation embraced with patience in conformity to His holy will. St. Teresa says: “The Lord never sends a trial without remunerating it with some favour as often as we accept it with resignation. “
II.
But our conformity to the Divine will must be entire, without any reserve, and constant, without withdrawal. In this consists the height of perfection; and to this, I repeat, all our thoughts, all our desires, all our works, and all our prayers ought to tend. Some souls given to prayer, on reading of the ecstasies of St. Teresa and St. Philip Neri, come to wish to enjoy themselves these supernatural unions. Such wishes must be banished as contrary to humility; if we really desire to be saints, we must aspire after true union with God, which is to unite our will entirely to the will of God. St. Teresa said: “Those persons are deceived who fancy that union with God consists in ecstasies, raptures, and sensible enjoyments of Him. It consists in nothing else than submitting our will to the will of God; and this submission is perfect when our will is detached from everything, and so completely united with that of God that all its movements depend solely on the will of God. This is the real and essential union which I have always sought after, and continually beg of the Lord.” And then she adds: “Oh, how many of us say this, and seem to ourselves to desire nothing besides this; but, miserable creatures that we are, how few of us attain to it.” Such, indeed, is the undeniable truth; many of us say: O Lord! I give Thee my will, I desire nothing but what Thou desirest,-but, in the event of some trying occurrence, we know not how to yield calmly to the Divine will. And this is the source of our continually complaining that we are unfortunate in the world, and that we are the butt of every misfortune, and so of our dragging on an unhappy life.
|
|
|
|
|
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginal...ipo=images]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fd0%2F5e%2F9e%2Fd05e9e6b7986738c1cc877ca2bf16e65.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=7be389d62b3ae357ef7b62b3b7c9dae24a529281f15a4315cd0f37c874472af2&ipo=images)
