| Welcome, Guest |
You have to register before you can post on our site.
|
| Online Users |
There are currently 320 online users.
» 0 Member(s) | 317 Guest(s)
Bing, Google, Yandex
|
| Latest Threads |
Daily pilgrimage to purga...
Forum: For the Souls in Purgatory
Last Post: SAguide
3 hours ago
» Replies: 1
» Views: 4,947
|
Prominent COVID jab criti...
Forum: General Commentary
Last Post: Stone
Today, 07:58 AM
» Replies: 0
» Views: 61
|
Purgatory Explained by th...
Forum: Resources Online
Last Post: Stone
Today, 06:30 AM
» Replies: 2
» Views: 105
|
Twenty-fourth Sunday afte...
Forum: Pentecost
Last Post: Stone
Yesterday, 07:17 AM
» Replies: 4
» Views: 8,073
|
St. Alphonsus Liguori: Da...
Forum: Pentecost
Last Post: Stone
Yesterday, 07:10 AM
» Replies: 7
» Views: 4,898
|
From Fr. Shouppe's 'Purga...
Forum: Resources Online
Last Post: Stone
Yesterday, 06:16 AM
» Replies: 0
» Views: 73
|
Archbishop Viganò: Homily...
Forum: Archbishop Viganò
Last Post: Stone
Yesterday, 06:11 AM
» Replies: 0
» Views: 87
|
Fr. Luigi Villa: There is...
Forum: Add'nl Clergy
Last Post: Stone
Yesterday, 06:04 AM
» Replies: 0
» Views: 81
|
The Dominican 'Libera me,...
Forum: Catholic Hymns
Last Post: Stone
11-02-2024, 07:31 AM
» Replies: 0
» Views: 107
|
November 2nd - All Souls ...
Forum: November
Last Post: Stone
11-02-2024, 07:26 AM
» Replies: 9
» Views: 17,150
|
|
|
| Sorrowful Heart of Mary Newsletter - Advent 2022 |
|
Posted by: Stone - 12-02-2022, 09:41 AM - Forum: Sorrowful Heart of Mary
- No Replies
|
 |
Advent 2022
Dear Confreres in the Church Militant,
It is normal for bullets to fly, bombs to drop and chaos to erupt at any time, in any given war. We are soldiers in the Great War between Christ the King and Satan; between His Holy Catholic Church of Tradition and Satan’s counterfeit Conciliar Church; between the Woman of Genesis with Her army and the serpent with his.
It is also a strategy of Satan to deceive by cunningly making evil seem good, ugliness seem like beauty, and darkness seem as illuminating as light. As Liberalism avalanches and morphs with each decade, it has to appear as close as possible to an “angel of light” to deceive. The enemy must make the decoy look as real as possible to the genuine article. Hence, Pope St. Pius X warned in his Encyclical, Pascendi, the enemies will keep the same name of all the sacraments (e.g. “Baptism”), but cleverly gut out their true meaning and replace them with new ones (e.g. from “washing away original sin and infusing sanctifying grace into the soul” to the Modernist version of “initiation into the Christian community”). They will dare to change the most sacred of all sacraments, the Holy Eucharist, from the traditional “Body and Blood of Christ under the appearance of bread and wine” to the Modernist version of “the symbol of unity and ‘luv’ in the Christian community.”
It stands to reason that Satan would invent a new Church which looks a lot like the real Catholic Church, and even has the same visible head, “one Pope over two Churches”, but one of these churches is counterfeit. That is the Conciliar Church, which Abp. Lefebvre was asked to obey and be faithful to, by Msgr. Benelli and Modernist Rome, on June 25, 1976, to which the Archbishop replied:
“What could be clearer? We must [according to Rome] henceforth obey and be faithful to the Conciliar Church, no longer to the Catholic Church. Right there is our whole problem: we are suspended by the Conciliar Church, the Conciliar Church, to which we have no wish to belong! That Conciliar Church is a schismatic Church because it breaks with the Catholic Church that has always been. It has its new dogmas, its new priesthood, its new institutions, its new worship… the Church that affirms such errors is at once schismatic and heretical. The Conciliar Church, is therefore, not Catholic.” (Abp. Lefebvre, Reflections on his suspension ‘a divinis’, July 29, 1976).
Never did Abp. Lefebvre want to break from the Catholic Church, nor be at odds with the Pope, but the dilemma he, and every Catholic faced, was that this new Conciliar Church was now like a monstrous cancer growing off the healthy body of the Catholic Church, that aggressively spreads, imposes itself and takes over! Modernist Rome is like a large parasite that lives on the body of Catholic Rome, which is similar in appearances but is rife with heresy and error.
Bishop Tissier, in an excellent article that appeared in 2013 (Le Sal de la Terre, no. 85) drew up this summary:
“...It is clear that the Conciliar Church is not only a sickness, nor a theory, but it is an association of high ranking Catholic churchmen inspired by liberal and modernist thinkers, who want, according to the goals of the one-worlders, to bring to fruition a new type of Church, with many Catholic priests and faithful won over by this ideal. It is not a pure association of victims. Formally considered, the Conciliar Church is a sect that occupies the Catholic Church. It has its organized instigators and actors, as had the Modernism condemned by St. Pius X.”
Pope St. Pius X exposed these parasites penetrating inside the Church, who were often clergymen of the Masonic Lodges or at least imbued with their ideas. He writes in Pascendi:
“...Hence, the danger is present almost in the very veins and heart of the Church, whose injury is the more certain from the very fact that their knowledge of her is more intimate. Moreover, they lay the axe not to the branches and shoots, but to the very root, that is, to the Faith and its deepest fibers. And once having struck at this root of immortality, they proceed to diffuse poison through the whole tree. [...] What efforts do they not make to win new recruits! They seize upon professorships in the seminaries and universities, and gradually make of them thrones of pestilence” (St. Pius X, September 8, 1907).
These “seized seminaries” don’t exclude the new Conciliar-SSPX! The dilemma of all Catholics today is still the same, and the answer laid out by Abp. Lefebvre is still the same: absolutely no compromise with the New Mass or Vatican II! This means no acceptance of the revolutionary Doctrinal Declaration of 2012 and all accompanying adjustments and jurisdictions made for the Conciliar-SSPX ever since, and no acceptance of trying to justify the New Mass by proclaiming that, somehow, it “nourishes your faith” or promoting its so-called miracles!
Once again, listen to the profound foresight and wisdom of Abp. Lefebvre:
“I hold that we are in the Church and that we are the true sons of the Church, and the others are not. They are not, because Liberalism is not a son of the Church. Liberalism is against the Church, Liberalism operates to destroy the Church, in that sense they cannot claim to be sons of the Church… Some are prepared to sacrifice the fight for the Faith by saying: ‘Let us first re-enter the Church! Let us first do everything to integrate into the official, public structures of the Church! Let us be silent about the dogmatic issues. Let us be silent about the malice of the [New] Mass. Let us keep quiet over the issues of Religious Liberty, Human Rights, Ecumenism. And, once we are inside the Church, we will be able to do this, we will be able to achieve that!’”
“That’s absolutely false! You don’t enter into a structure, under superiors, by claiming you will overthrow everything as soon as you are inside, whereas they have all the means to suppress us! They have all the authority.
“What matters to us first and foremost is to maintain the Catholic Faith. That’s what we are fighting for! So the canonical issue, this purely public and exterior issue in the Church, is secondary. What matters is to stay within the Church,... inside the Church. In other words, in the Catholic Faith of all time, in the true priesthood, in the true Mass, in the true sacraments, and the same catechism, with the same Bible. That’s what matters to us! That’s what the Church is. Public recognition is a secondary issue. Thus, we should not seek what is secondary by losing what is primary, by losing what is the primary goal of our fight!” (Abp. Lefebvre, Spiritual Conference at Écône, December 21, 1984).
So, fight on for the Holy Catholic Faith! …Battle on for the reign of Christ the King! Under Our Lady’s mantle we must not fear the enemy but fight courageously and prudently, avoiding the Liberal “prudence” of compromise at any cost in order to be recognized or receive favors from those compromising with or promoting Vatican II or the New Mass!
In Christ the King,
Fr. David Hewko
|
|
|
| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for the First Week of Advent |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-30-2022, 09:05 AM - Forum: Advent
- Replies (6)
|
|
Daily Meditations
by St. Alphonsus Liguori
Morning Meditation
GOD DISHONOURED BY SIN
Previous to the coming of our Redeemer, the whole unhappy race of mankind groaned in misery upon this earth: all were children of wrath, nor was there one who could appease God, justly indignant at their sins. O God of Mercy, lest Thy Divine Wisdom might reproach us with our offences against Thee, Thou hast hidden under an infant's form! Thou hast concealed Thy Justice under the most profound abasement that it might not condemn us!
I.
Consider how sin dishonours God. By transgression of the law thou dishonourest God (Rom. ii., 23), says St. Paul. When the sinner deliberates whether he shall give or refuse his consent to sin, he takes the balance into his hands to decide which is of greater value -- the favour of God, or some passion, some worldly interest or pleasure. When he yields to temptation, what does he do? He decides that some wretched gratification is more desirable than the favour of God. Thus it is that he dishonours God, declaring, by his consent, that a miserable pleasure is preferable to the Divine friendship. Thus, then, O God, have I so many times dishonoured Thee, by esteeming Thee less than my miserable passions!
Of this the Almighty complains by the Prophet Ezechiel, when He says: They violated me among my people for a handful of barley and a piece of bread. (Ezech. xiii., 19). If the sinner should exchange God for a treasure of jewels, or for a kingdom, it would indeed be doing a great evil, because God is of infinitely more value than all the treasures and kingdoms of the earth. But for what do so many exchange Him? For a vapour, for a little dirt, for a poisoned pleasure, which is no sooner tasted than it is fled. O God, how could I have had the heart, for such vile things, so often to despise Thee, Who hast shown so much love for me! But behold, my Redeemer, how I now love Thee above all things; and because I love Thee, I feel more regret for having lost Thee, my God, than if I had lost all my other goods, and even my life. Have pity on me, and forgive me, I will never more incur Thy displeasure. Grant that I may rather die than offend Thee any more.
II.
Lord, who is like to thee? (Ps. xxxiv., 10).
And what good things, O God, can be comparable to Thee, O infinite Goodness? And how could I have turned my back upon Thee, to give myself to those vile things which sin held out to me? Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou hast gone backward. (Jer. xv., 6). God complains and says: Ungrateful soul, thou hast forsaken Me! I would never have forsaken thee hadst not thou first turned thy back upon Me! Thou hast gone backward. O God, with what consternation will these words fill the soul of the sinner when he shall stand to be judged before the divine tribunal! O Jesus, Thy precious Blood is my hope. Thou hast promised to hear him who prays to Thee. I ask Thee not for the goods of this world; I ask Thee for the pardon of the sins I have committed against Thee, and for which I am sorry above every other evil. I ask Thee for perseverance in Thy grace until the end of my life. I ask Thee for the gift of Thy holy love; my soul is enamoured of Thy goodness: hear me, O Lord. Only grant that I may love Thee both here and hereafter, and as to all things else, do with me as Thou pleasest. My Lord and my only Good, suffer me not to be any more separated from Thee! Mary, Mother of God, do thou also listen to me, and obtain for me that I may ever belong to God, and that God may be my inheritance for ever.
Spiritual Reading
THE JUDGMENT AND THE SENTENCE
The judgment sat and the books were opened. (Dan. vii., 10). The books of conscience are opened, and the Judgment commences. The Apostle says, that the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness. (1 Cor. iv., 5). And, by the mouth of His Prophet, Jesus Christ has said: I will search Jerusalem with lamps. (Soph. i., 12). The light of the lamp reveals all that is hidden.
"A judgment," says St. Chrysostom, "terrible to sinners, but desirable and sweet to the just." The Last Judgment will fill sinners with terror, but will be a source of joy and sweetness to the elect; for God will then give praise to each one according to his works. The Apostle tells us that on that day the just will be raised above the clouds to be united to the Angels, and to increase the number of those who pay homage to the Lord. We shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air. (1 Thess. iv., 16).
Worldlings now regard as fools the Saints who led mortified and humble lives; but then they shall confess their own folly, and say: We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints. (Wis. v., 4). In this world, the rich and the noble are called happy; but true happiness consists in a life of sanctity. Rejoice, ye souls who live in tribulation; your sorrow shall be turned into joy. (Jo. xvi., 20). In the valley of Josaphat you shall be seated on thrones of glory.
But the reprobate, like goats destined for the slaughter, shall be placed on the left to await their last condemnation. On the Day of Judgment there is no hope of mercy for poor sinners. The greatest punishment of sin for those who live in enmity with God is to lose the fear and remembrance of the divine judgment. Continue, continue, says the Apostle, to live obstinately in sin; but in proportion to your obstinacy, you shall have accumulated for the Day of Judgment a treasure of the wrath of God. But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath. (Rom. ii., 5).
Then sinners will not be able to hide themselves; but, with insufferable pain, they will be compelled to appear in judgment. "To lie hid," says St. Anselm, "will be impossible -- to appear will be intolerable." The devils will perform their office as accusers, and, as St. Augustine says, will say to the Judge: Most just God, declare him to be ours, who was unwilling to be yours. The witnesses against the wicked shall be: first, their own conscience -- Their conscience bearing witness to them (Ib. ii., 15); secondly, the very walls of the house in which they sinned shall cry out against them -- The stone shall cry out of the wall (Hab. ii., 11); thirdly, the Judge Himself will say -- I am the judge and the witness (Jer. xxix., 23). Hence, according to Saint Augustine, "He who is now the witness of your life shall be the judge of your cause." To Christians particularly He will say: Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida; for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes. (Matt. xi., 21). Christians, He will say, if the graces which I have bestowed on you had been given to the Turks or to the Pagans, they would have done penance for their sins; but you have ceased to sin only with your death. He shall then manifest to all men their most hidden crimes. I will discover thy shame to thy face. (Nah. iii., 5). He shall expose to view all their secret impurities, injustices and cruelties. I will set all thy abominations against thee. (Ezech. vii., 3). Each of the damned shall carry his sins written on his forehead.
What excuses can save the wicked on that day? Ah! they can offer no excuses. All iniquity shall stop her mouth. (Ps. cvi., 42). Their very sins will close the mouth of the reprobate, so that they will not have courage to excuse themselves. They shall pronounce their own condemnation.
The Sentence of the Judge
Jesus Christ, then, will first turn to the Elect, and with a serene countenance will say: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (Matt. xxv., 34). He will then bless all the tears shed through sorrow for their sins, and all their good works, their prayers, mortifications, and communions; above all, He will bless for them the pains of His Passion and the Blood shed for their salvation. And, after these benedictions, the Elect, singing Alleluias, shall enter Paradise to praise and love God for all eternity.
The Judge shall then turn to the reprobate, and pronounce their condemnation in these words: Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. (Ib. 41). They shall then be forever accursed, separated from God, and sent to burn for ever in the fire of hell. And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just into life everlasting. (Ib. 46).
After this Sentence, the wicked shall, according to St. Ephrem, be compelled to take leave for ever of their relatives, of Paradise, of the Saints, and of Mary the divine Mother. "Farewell, ye just! Farewell, O Cross! Farewell, O Paradise! Farewell, fathers and brothers: we shall never see you again! Farewell, O Mary, Mother of God!" Then a great pit shall open in the middle of the valley: the unhappy damned shall be cast into it, and shall see those gates shut which shall never again be opened. O accursed sin! to what a miserable end will you one day conduct so many souls redeemed by the Blood of Jesus Christ. O unhappy souls! for whom is prepared such a melancholy end. But let us have confidence, for Jesus Christ is now a Father, and not a Judge. He is ready to pardon all who repent. For us men and for our salvation, He came down from Heaven and was made man.
Evening Meditation
JESUS CHARGED WITH THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
I. He shall bear their iniquities. (Is.,liii., 11).
Consider that the Divine Word, in becoming Man, chose not only to take the form of a sinner, but also to bear all the sins of men, and to satisfy for them as if they were His own: He shall bear their iniquities. Cornelius a Lapide adds: "as if He had committed them Himself." Let us here reflect what an oppression and anguish the Heart of the Infant Jesus must have felt, Who had already charged Himself with the sins of the whole world, in finding that Divine Justice insisted on His making a full satisfaction for them.
Well did Our Lord know the malice of every sin, for, through the divine light which accompanied Him, He knew immeasurably more than all men and Angels the infinite goodness of His Father, and how infinitely deserving He is of being revered and loved. And then He saw drawn up in array before Him a countless number of transgressions which would be committed by men and for which He was to suffer and die.
My beloved Jesus, I, who have offended Thee, am not worthy of Thy favours, but through the merit of that pain which Thou didst suffer, and which Thou didst offer up to God at the sight of my sins, and to satisfy divine justice for them, give me a share in that light by which Thou didst see their malice, and in that hatred with which Thou didst then abominate them. O Lord! Thou hast indeed died to save me; but Thy death will not save me if I do not, on my part, detest every evil, and have true sorrow for the sins I have committed against Thee. But even this sorrow must be given me by Thee. Thou givest it to him that asks it of Thee. I ask it of Thee through the merits of all the sufferings Thou didst endure on this earth; give me sorrow for my sins, but a sorrow that will correspond to my transgressions.
II.
Our Lord once showed St. Catherine of Siena the hideousness of one single venial sin; and such was the dread and sorrow of the Saint that she fell senseless to the ground. What, then, must have been the sufferings of the Infant Jesus when, on His entrance into the world, He saw before Him the immense array of all the crimes of men for which He was to make satisfaction!
And then He knew in particular every sin of each one of us: "He had regard to every particular sin," says St. Bernardine of Siena. And Cardinal Hugo says that the executioners "caused Him exterior pain by crucifying Him, but we interior pain by sinning against Him." He means that each one of our sins afflicted the soul of Jesus Christ more than crucifixion and death afflicted His body. Such is the beautiful recompense which has been rendered to our Divine Saviour for His love by everyone who remembers to have offended Him by mortal sin!
O Eternal God, supreme and infinite Good! I, a miserable worm, have dared to lose respect for Thee, and to despise Thy grace; I detest above every evil and abhor the injustice I have committed against Thee; I repent of all with my whole heart, not so much on account of hell, which I have deserved, as because I have offended Thy infinite Goodness. I hope for pardon from Thee through the merits of Jesus Christ; and I hope also to obtain, together with Thy pardon, the grace of loving Thee. I love Thee, O God, Who art worthy of infinite love, and I will always repeat to Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee! And as Thy beloved St. Catherine of Genoa said to Thee, while she stood in spirit at the foot of Thy crucified Image, so will I also say to Thee now that I am standing at Thy feet: "My Lord, no more sins, no more sins!" No, for Thou indeed dost not deserve to be offended, O my Jesus, but Thou only deservest to be loved. My Blessed Redeemer, help me. My Mother Mary, assist me, I pray thee; I only ask of thee to obtain for me that I may love God during the time that is left me in this life.
|
|
|
|
| Netherlands to "compulsory purchase" and close up to 3,000 farms to comply with EU environmental rul |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-28-2022, 05:01 PM - Forum: Global News
- No Replies
|
|
Netherlands to close up to 3,000 farms to comply with EU rules
Government tries to cut down on nitrogen pollution in a move set to reignite tensions with farmers who say the industry is unfairly targeted
Telegraph.co.uk [slightly adapted - hyperlinks not included] | 28 November 2022
The Dutch government plans to buy and close down up to 3,000 farms near environmentally sensitive areas to comply with EU nature preservation rules.
The Netherlands is attempting to cut down its nitrogen pollution and will push ahead with compulsory purchases if not enough farms take up the offer voluntarily.
Farmers will be offered a deal “well over” the worth of the farm, according to the government plan that is targeting the closure of 2,000 to 3,000 farms or other major polluting businesses.
Earlier leaked versions of the plan put the figure at 120 per cent of the farm’s value but that figure has not yet been confirmed by ministers.
“There is no better offer coming,” Christianne van der Wal, nitrogen minister, told MPs on Friday. She said compulsory purchases would be made with “pain in the heart”, if necessary.
Biodiversity under threat
The Netherlands needs to reduce its emissions to comply with EU conservation rules and agriculture is responsible for almost half the nitrogen emitted in the proud farming nation.
The Dutch environment agency has warned that native species are disappearing faster in the Netherlands than in the rest of Europe and that biodiversity is under threat.
But the new plan looks set to reignite tensions with farmers over nitrogen reduction.
Dutch farmers have staged mass protests, burnt hay bales, dumped manure on highways and picketed ministers' houses over the last three years.
In 2019 a ruling by the Dutch Council of State meant every new activity that emits nitrogen, including farming and building, needs a permit.
That has prevented the expansion of dairy, pig and poultry farms, which are major sources of nitrogen from ammonia in manure mixed with urine. This can be harmful for nature when it washes into rivers and the sea.
Last month, an army of thousands of tractors took to the roads in protest and caused the worst rush hour in Dutch history with 700 miles of jams at its peak.
Farmers fear that the plan to slash emissions by 2030 will cost them their livelihoods, oppose any compulsory purchases and argue farming is unfairly targeted while other sectors such as aviation are not.
‘Restrictions without perspective’
Farmers’ lobby group LTO Nederland said trust in the government “has been very low for a long time”. It accused the Government of drafting “restrictions without perspective”.
Sjaak van der Tak, chairman of LTO, said: “Of course it is positive that a good voluntary stop scheme is being promised. But the stayers who are central to us will have many additional restrictions imposed.”
Agractie, another farmers’ organisation, said the voluntary closure scheme was welcome but must not be applied with the threat of compulsory purchase.
Ministers will decide if enough farms have come forward voluntarily to close in the autumn. They say the plan will help biodiversity recover, building could resume and farms without proper nitrogen permits could be legalised.
They are also looking at eventually taxing nitrogen emissions to encourage more sustainable practices, the Dutch News website reported.
The Dutch cabinet also wants to draw up a long term plan for the future of agriculture with farmers, environmental groups and local government.
The voluntary buyout scheme was “the only way to finally create opportunities for the construction of homes, the construction of new infrastructure and for projects to make the Netherlands more sustainable in the shortest possible time,” said Ingrid Thijssen, chairman of VNO-NCW, an employers’ federation in the Netherlands.
Last month, the Netherlands Assessment Agency said other buyout schemes over the last 25 years had failed to substantially cut the number of cattle.
|
|
|
|
| The Apocalypse of St. John by Rev. E. Sylvester Berry [1921] |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-28-2022, 11:06 AM - Forum: Resources Online
- Replies (29)
|
|
The Apocalypse of St. John
by Rev. E. Sylvester Berry [1921]
Taken from here.
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.fineartamerica.c...ipo=images]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.fineartamerica.com%2Fimages-medium-large-5%2Fallegory-of-the-apocalypse-joseph-heintz-the-younger.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=2eea15080db39715b1140c4099e8a0cd2c0898ba29fee7b83802dbb35eeff2d7&ipo=images)
NIHIL OBSTAT
JOSEPH MOLITOR, D. D.
Censor Deputatus
IMPRIMATUR
JAMES J. HARTLEY
Bishop of Columbus
June 15, 1921
PREFACE
The book of the Apocalypse is unlike any other book of the New Testament and is full of consolation and instruction to all who read its inspired and prophetic words. It lifts the soul up to the beauty and grandeur of Heaven shows us in all their glory the joys and triumphs of those who were once like our selves but who are now changed and happy with those "who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." How consoling it is to turn from the sordid things of earth to be carried away with the sublime words that lead us to the throne of God to the company of the Angels and Saints to the new Jerusalem with streets of gold to the river and tree of life to hear the voice of God Himself saying "Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book."
The following pages will be most interesting to those who love to study the word of God. Father Berry has entered a new field for there is practically no study of the Apocalypse in the English language and the points and explanations he has placed before us are both interesting and instructive. The student will read it with pleasure and profit. St. Jerome tells us "The Apocalypse has as many mysteries as words or rather mysteries in every word." The author has tried in a simple scholarly way to help us view them all with pleasure and understanding.
JAMES J. HARTLEY,
Bishop of Columbus. Columbus, Ohio, June 18th, 1921.
THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN
INTRODUCTION
In the study of Holy Scripture it is necessary to bear in mind that its various books are not separate and independent works. It is true, they were written by persons widely distant from one another in time and place, yet the Holy Ghost, their true Author, coordinates them all to one common purpose. The different books are but so many chapters of one and the same great work whose first chapter recounts the origin of the world by creation; its last, foretells the final consummation of all things. The intervening chapters relate in order various happenings between these two extremes.
The Bible does not give a complete history of mankind; in fact it is not intended to teach history as such. The Holy Ghost wishes to strengthen our faith, arouse our hopes in the mercies of God, and instill our hearts with the fear of His punishments. For this purpose He gives a summary view of God s dealings with mankind. There is only an occasional glimpse of things not closely connected with this main purpose. The origin of the material world is briefly sketched while the creation of the angels is only referred to incidentally. But the questions which concern us more directly are treated at length. Our nature, our origin, and our destiny summarize the content of Holy Scripture. It teaches that man is a free and intelligent being created in a state of grace and destined to be united with God in Heaven for all eternity. Through abuse of free will man fell from this high estate and is daily exposed to sin and suffering, but the merits of Christ's death on the cross have redeemed man s fallen nature and placed him once more upon the way of salvation.
The person of Christ thus becomes the central figure of all Scripture. He is the "alpha and omega, the be ginning and the end. " As God, He created all things "and without Him was made nothing that was made, in Him was life and the life was the light of men." 2 As man, Christ is the greatest handiwork of God, the "first-born of every creature.3 As the God-man, He is our Redeemer, the "only name under Heaven given to men whereby we must be saved."4 Thus is Jesus Christ the centre from which all things radiate, around which all revolve, and in which all must finally converge.
After recounting the creation and fall of man, the Old Testament announces the coming of the Saviour and narrates the preparation of mankind for this great event.
The Gospels and Epistles give the life of our Lord and rehearse His teachings. The Acts of the Apostles outline the first years of the new-born Church. The Apocalypse gives a prophetic history of the Church from the days of St. John to the final consummation of the world.
In its general purpose the Apocalypse does not differ from the other Scriptures. It is to teach men a knowledge of God, enlighten their faith, strengthen their hopes, and give them a rule of conduct by which they may obtain eternal salvation. It is also intended to fortify the faithful in time of trial and temptation, and to guide the Church in every age. In this respect the Apocalypse simply enlarges upon the warnings of Christ concerning persecution of His Church. "The servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me they will also persecute you. . . . They will put you out of the synagogue; yea the hour cometh that whosoever I killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God."5
Christ has promised that the gates of hell shall never pre vail against His Church,6 but this very promise fore shadows a mighty conflict with the powers of darkness. The Apocalypse tells of the trials and sufferings of the Church in this great conflict and prophesies her final triumph according to the promise of Christ: "Behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world." Hence the prophecies of the Apocalypse should be a source of consolation when we see the Church opposed and persecuted for we have the assurance of the Holy Ghost that she shall come forth triumphant and reign peacefully over all nations.
In other parts of Scripture, purely historical events serve merely as a background upon which are depicted the designs of Providence. St. John pursues a similar method in the Apocalypse. He does not intend to give a detailed prophetic history of the Church. He singles out the more important points to serve as guide-posts along the course of centuries. It may be said that he" gives only the philosophy of the Church s history, the underlying causes of all its outward events.
The laws of sacred and profane history are alike; similar causes must produce similar effects. Hence all history repeats itself in general outlines. Only accidental circumstances differ. This explains why the Apocalypse is written under the form of symbolic visions instead of ordinary discourse. It must give in a few pages a resume of many centuries. One and the same prophecy often announces many similar events separated in time by centuries. The account must be limited to the barest outlines and stripped of every accidental circumstance.
Symbolic visions are best suited to this purpose. More over they admit of mystic and moral interpretations profitable to the faithful of every age.
The prophecies of the Apocalypse consist almost entirely of symbolic visions whose allegorical sense must be the sense intended by the Holy Ghost. Any other interpretation is unwarranted except where the Apostle has evidently abandoned allegory for ordinary discourse. The chief duty of the interpreter is to search out the key of each symbol. The prophetic writings of the Old Testament greatly facilitate this work because the Apocalypse is strongly tinged with the imagery of the prophets of old and in many instances it further develops prophecies first announced by them.
A study of the Gospels and Epistles also gives a clue to the proper interpretation of many things in the Apocalypse. Thus, for example, the Gospels make it plain that the "kingdom of God" or the "kingdom of Heaven" is the Church in time or in eternity. Again it is evident from the Epistles and from the Acts of the Apostles that the ancients [illegible] are the Apostles, and the bishops and priests of the church.8
In some cases St. John himself gives the key to his visions. Thus, an angel is an Apostle or bishop sent by Christ to, teach and govern His Church. In a similar sense our Lord calls St. John the Baptist an "angel. " In other cases the meaning is evident from the context. The "Lamb standing as it were slain10 can be none other than Christ triumphant at the right hand of God the Father. Hence the words "as it were slain must refer to Christ mystically slain in the Holy Eucharist.
It has been customary to divide the Apocalypse into seven visions with a prologue and an epilogue, as follows:
Prologue I, 1-8
1st Vision. Letters to the seven churches. 1, 9 iii, 22.
2nd Vision. The seven seals, iv, 1 viii, 1.
3rd Vision The seven trumpets, viii, 2 xi, 18.
4th Vision,
(a) The woman and the dragon.
(b) The beast of the sea.
© The beast of the earth.
(d) The harvest and the vintage, xi. 19 xiv, 8.
5th Vision. The seven angels with seven plagues, xv, 1 xix, 2 1 .
6th Vision. The binding and loosing of Satan, xx, 1-15.
7th Vision. The resurrection, general judgment, and the heavenly Jerusalem, xxi, 1 xxii, 5.
Epilogue XXII, 6-21
Instead of this commonly received division, the following is here submitted in the belief that it is justified by the commentary which follows. Yet in
this, as in all things, we submit to the unerring judgment of the Church, the "pillar and ground of the truth." 12
Prologue I, 1-8
Part I From the Days of St. John to the Opening of the Abyss
i. General warning to the churches, i, 9 iii, 22. ii. Constitution of the Church, chs. iv-v.
iii. Persecution of the Church, and fall of the pagan Empire of Rome. ch. vi.
iv. The Church firmly established, ch. vii. v. The Vicissitudes of the Church, eh. viii.
Part II. From the Opening of the Abyss to its Closing
i. Preparation for the Reign of Antichrist.
(a) Heresies and Religious Wars. eh. ix.
(b) A Preparatory Vision, ch. x.
(c ) The Two Witnesses, ch. xi.
(d) Conflict between the Church and Satan, ch. xii.
ii. The Reign of Antichrist and his Overthrow.
(a) Antichrist and his Prophet, ch. xiii.
(b) Prophets of Victory, ch. xiv.
(c ) Seven Plagues on the Empire of Antichrist, chs. xv-xvi.
(d) The Beast and the Harlot, ch. xvii.
(e) The Fall of Babylon, ch. xviii.
(f ) The Hymn of Victory, and the Condemnation of Antichrist and his Prophet, ch. xix.
Part III From the Closing of the Abyss to the End of the World
i. The Universal Reign of Jesus Christ, xx, 1-6.
ii. The Loosing of Satan and the Last Persecution, xx, 7-10.
iii. The Resurrection and General Judgment, xx, 11-15. iv. The Heavenly Jerusalem, xxi, 1 xxii, 5.
Epilogue XX, 6-20
According to tins division the three parts of the Apocalypse correspond to three successive periods in the history of the Church and furnish a prophetic history that extends from the time of St. John to the final triumph of the Church in glory.
The above division of the Apocalypse and the explanation which follows are based upon an article by Pere Gallois, 0. R, which first appeared in the Revue Biblique. It was then issued in pamphlet form by P. Lethielleux, Paris, in 1895, with a prefatory letter by Pere Monsabre, 0. P., which, we believe, is sufficient guaranty for its complete orthodoxy. The present work is practically an enlarged adaptation of the article by Pere Gallois, but many departures from his opinions demand that it be issued as a separate work with due acknowledgment to the original author. It is not intended to be a complete exegesis of the Apocalypse, yet we hope it may lead to a better understanding of those obscure prophecies in which the Holy Ghost foretells the vicissitudes of the Church and its final triumph over all enemies.
(1) Apocalypse i, 8.
(2) St. John i, 3, 4.
(3) Colossians i, 15.
(4) Acts of the Apostles iv, 12.
(5) St. John xv, 18-20; xvi, 2.
(6) St. Matthew xvi, 18.
(7) St. Matthew xxviii, 20.
(8) Cf. Acts xi, 30; xiv, 23; Titus i, 5; 1 Timothy v. 19; 1 Peter v. 1.
(9) St. Matthew xi, 10.
(10) Apocalypse v, 6.
(11) Cf. Comely, "Cursus Scripturae Sacrae" vol. iii, page 715 sq.; Gigot, "Apocalypse of St. John" in Westminster version.
(12) 1 Timothy iii, 15.
|
|
|
|
| Pope tells theologians to consult ‘non-Catholics,’ avoid ‘going backward’ in Tradition |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-28-2022, 07:14 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
- Replies (1)
|
|
Pope tells theologians to consult ‘non-Catholics,’ avoid ‘going backward’ in Tradition
The Pontiff once again criticized Catholics attached to the traditional form of the Church's life.
![[Image: pope-francis-audience--810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/pope-francis-audience--810x500.jpg)
Pope Francis during the general audience, September 21, 2022.
Screenshot/Twitter
Nov 25, 2022
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has warned an influential, Vatican-based theological commission against “going backward” in “Tradition,” instead urging them to promote the Gospel by consulting non-Catholic “experts.”
The 85-year-old Pontiff made the comments Thursday to the International Theological Commission, a body of theologians set up by Pope Paul VI in 1969 to advise the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
Francis first highlighted how the Commission was to fulfil its task “in the wake traced by the Second Vatican Council, which – sixty years after its inception – constitutes the sure compass for the journey of the Church.”
Don’t go ‘backward’ with Tradition
Re-iterating his oft-repeated remarks against devotees of Tradition and the traditional Mass, Francis called the commission’s 30 members to practice a “creative fidelity to Tradition.” By doing so, said Francis, the theologians could work “for the progress of the apostolic Tradition, under the assistance of the Holy Spirit.”
“Tradition, the origin of faith, which either grows or dies out,” said Francis. “Tradition – I want to emphasize this – makes us move in this direction: from down up, vertical.”
The Argentine Pontiff continued by making his trademark comments against traditional Catholics: “Today there is a great danger, which is to go in another direction: ‘indietrism.’ Going backward. ‘It has always been done this way’: it is better to go backward, which is safer, and not to go forward with tradition.”
Such a position, said Francis, “has moved some movements, Church movements, to remain fixed in a time, in a backward. They are the indietrists.”
He made reference to un-named movements which emerged after Vatican I which he observed had been “trying to be faithful to tradition, and so today they develop in such a way as to ordain women, and other things, out of this vertical direction.”
Francis criticized those who promoted “indietrism” which, he argued, “leads you to say, ‘That’s the way it’s always been done, it’s better to go on like this,’ and doesn’t let you grow. On this point, you theologians think a little bit about how to help.”
READ: Pope calls for an end to ‘intransigent defense of tradition’
This is by no means the first time that Francis has made such remarks, appearing to single out Catholics devoted to the traditional Mass and criticising them for it.
On one such occasion the Pope suggested that those clerics who opt to don more traditional clerical garb, such as cassocks and clerical hats, possess a “rigid clericalism,” behind which there are “serious problems.”
However, while Francis has used the texts of St. Paul on one occasion to make such an attack on “rigidity,” it was St. Paul himself who wrote: “Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.” (2 Thessalonians 2:14)
Then, in his letter to Titus, St. Paul stipulated that bishops must faithfully adhere to the doctrine of the Church: “Embracing that faithful word which is according to doctrine, that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine, and to convince the gainsayers.”
![[Image: cq5dam.thumbnail.cropped.1000.563.jpeg]](https://www.vaticannews.va/content/dam/vaticannews/agenzie/images/srv/2022/11/24/2022-11-24-membri-della-commissione-teologica-internazionale/1669285097238.JPG/_jcr_content/renditions/cq5dam.thumbnail.cropped.1000.563.jpeg)
Pope Francis with members of the International Theological Commission, Nov 2022. Credit: Screenshot/Vatican News
Promote Catholic faith by seeking opinion of ‘non-Catholics’
Offering a second guideline to the members of the Commission to continue their studies, Francis advised them to promote the Catholic faith by seeking the advice of those outside the Church.
The Pope spoke of the “appropriateness – in order to carry out with pertinence and incisiveness the work of deepening and inculturation of the Gospel – to open prudently to the contribution of the different disciplines through the consultation of experts, including non-Catholics, as provided for in the Statutes of the Commission.”
In this manner the theologians could practice “transdisciplinarity,” he said, suggesting that by consulting non-Catholics the theologians could draw from their knowledge as it comes from the “Light and Life offered by the Wisdom streaming from God’s Revelation.”
While he urged catechists to “give the right doctrine,” Francis told the ITC to “go further” than the “solid doctrine” as the magisterium will assume the role of informing the theologians when they have gone too far.
Catholics question wisdom of Pope’s advice
Reacting to yet another of the Pope’s attacks upon Tradition, Catholics were swift to rebuff his comments online. Henry Sire, a former Knight of Malta and author of The Dictator Pope, highlighted an apparent contradiction in the Pope’s words.
In comments to LifeSiteNews, U.K. catechist Deacon Nick Donnelly responded to the recommendation to consult “non-Catholics” by questioning its wisdom.
Quote:Pope St John Paul II’s statutes for the International Theological Commission allowed for consultation with experts, including non-Catholics (Apostolic Letter, Tredecim Anni, 10). Whilst this allowed for a broad consultation, the wisdom of such a provision is questionable under the pontificate of Pope Francis where such ‘consultation’ is being given primacy.
Continuing, Donnelly summarized Francis’ increasingly heterodox activities with regard to Catholic doctrine. “Since 2013, he has appointed non-Catholic experts who, among other things, advocate eugenics, contraception, and abortion.”
“Pope Francis’ enthusiasm for non-Catholic experts goes so far as him advocating that the Church learns from pagan religions and ‘spiritualities’,” Donnelly said, before warning against such a practice:
Quote:The problem with drawing on the expertise of non-Catholic experts to help the Church proclaim the Gospel is that they have, de facto, rejected our Lord Jesus Christ’s institution of the Catholic Church as the ‘sacrament of salvation.’ Such a fundamental antagonism against the Church, and the intentions of our Lord Jesus Christ, surely taints any knowledge or advice they propose to the International Theological Commission.
|
|
|
|
| Klaus Schwab: ‘God Is Dead’ and the WEF is ‘Acquiring Divine Powers |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-25-2022, 10:56 AM - Forum: Great Reset
- No Replies
|
|
Klaus Schwab: ‘God Is Dead’ and the WEF is ‘Acquiring Divine Powers’
Video: Klaus Schwab: ‘God Is Dead’ and the WEF is ‘Acquiring Divine Powers’
Transcript of the video:
God is dead, according to the World Economic Forum, who have also declared that “Jesus is fake news,” and that WEF leaders have “acquired divine powers” to rule over humanity.
According to the WEF, a new one world religion has arrived and it unites all of humanity in worshipping at the altar of climate science, techno-communism and eugenics.
If you find it hard to believe Klaus Schwab’s WEF would go this far, you clearly haven’t been paying attention to developments in recent times.
Klaus Schwab’s right hand man Noah Yuval Harari has announced that the WEF has been so successful in its plans that it is “acquiring divine powers” of “creation and destruction.” The blasphemy doesn’t stop there. Harari also promises the WEF will turn humans into gods.
The WEF is also increasingly hostile to Christianity and major religions. If you read between the lines just a little, it’s clear the WEF is consciously attempting to supplant Jesus
According to the WEF, Jesus is fake news, God is dead, and you do not have a soul. You are a “hackable animal” who does not have the capacity for free will.
The World Economic Forum has spent decades quietly infiltrating democratically elected governments, penetrating cabinets and wielding an outsized influence on the world from the corridors of Schwab’s Swiss hideout in Davos.
These tyrants have now become arrogant and sure of their own success. They are no longer hiding in the shadows and pulling puppet strings from behind the curtain.
According to Schwab, it is his role to shape the “transformation” of the world in the current period. And unsurprisingly he admires the Chinese system of state control authoritarianism.
With world leaders and cabinets firmly under their control, Western democracy has been decimated. Trudeau’s Canada has become a wasteland of authoritarian control. Jacinta Ardern’s New Zealand is arguably even more tightly controlled by the Davos technocrats.
Why should they respect us and our human and constitutional rights if they see us as “hackable animals” incapable of free thought?
Take a look at Brazil for a glimpse of the future. President Bolsonaro’s supporters are protesting what they claim to be a wildly unfair and corrupt election. WEF favorite Lula, who hasn’t even taken office yet, has already started enacting the Klaus Schwab playbook, freezing the bank accounts of protestors amid a chilling crackdown on freedom of speech and the right to protest peacefully.
First Canada, now Brazil. Next the United States?
French billionaire Philippe Argillier claims he has four databases that will expose 38 individuals who control the whole world and run the “shadow government”. Bill Gates, who needs no introduction, is one of those 38 un-elected individuals who control the daily lives of 8 billion people.
According to Argillier, he can prove the Biden administration takes direct orders from this shadow government.
If you want a sneak peek of the future under this shadow government, it’s worth paying attention to Bill Gates’ latest announcement. Gates has a history of playing god. Robert F. Kennedy warned us about this trait in Gates’ psychology years ago.
According to Kennedy Jr, the World Health Organization is “conducting global social and medical experimentation” in accordance with the vision of their mega-donor Bill Gates and his “religious faith that he can use technology (vaccines and GMO agriculture) to make him the savior to all of humanity.”
“Gates’ strategy of buying WHO [World Health Organization] and purchasing control of US health officials like Tony Fauci & Deborah Birx” means the Microsoft co-founder can now “dictate global health policies affecting 7 billion people and to control the most intimate details of our lives,” said Kennedy Jr. on his Instagram page.
Just last week Gates, in his role as false savior, was caught telling world leaders that it’s time for “death panels” to decide who has the right to live and die.
Of course Gates’s “death panels” have everything to do with the globalist elite’s obsession with depopulation. This is the brutal, soulless world Gates and the shadow government at the World Economic Forum are determined to roll out as part of their Great Reset. We can’t allow their evil religion to become the new normal.
Take a look at one of the videos in the description box below for a deeper dive into these plans. Forewarned is forearmed.
If you understand the importance of these videos in educating the masses about the shadow government and the evil agenda of the elite, please like these videos and subscribe to the channel to help us continue to produce this content and forewarn as many people as possible.
We are all in this together.
|
|
|
|
| Abp. Viganò: The COVID pandemic farce served as a trial balloon for the New World Order |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-23-2022, 09:24 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
- No Replies
|
|
Abp. Viganò: The COVID pandemic farce served as a trial balloon for the New World Order
'There can be no neutrality, because when there is a clash between two armies, those who choose not to fight are also making a choice that affects the outcome of the battle.'
![[Image: vigano_cic-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/vigano_cic-810x500.jpg)
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
LifeSiteNews
Nov 22, 2022
Editor’s note: Below is Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s address to Medical Doctors for Covid Ethics International (MD4CE International).
(LifeSiteNews) — Dear and distinguished friends,
Allow me first of all to thank Doctor Stephen Frost for the invitation he has extended to me to speak to you. Along with Doctor Frost I also thank all of you: your commitment to fighting the psychopandemic propaganda is commendable. I am well aware of the difficulties you have had to face in order to remain consistent with your principles, and I hope that the damage you have suffered can be adequately repaired by those who have discriminated against you, depriving you of work and salary and labeling you as dangerous no-vaxxers.
I am pleased to be able to speak and share with you my thoughts about the current global crisis. A crisis that we can consider to have begun with the pandemic emergency, but that we know has been planned for decades with very specific purposes by well-known personalities. Stopping at the pandemic alone would in fact be a serious mistake, because it would not allow us to consider the events in their full coherence and inter-connectedness, thus preventing us from understanding them and above all from identifying the criminal intentions behind them. You too – each with your own expertise in the medical, scientific, legal or other fields – will agree with me that limiting yourselves to your own discipline, which in some cases is extremely specific, does not fully explain the rationale for certain choices that have been made by governments, international bodies, and pharmaceutical agencies. For example, finding “graphene-like” material in the blood of people who have been inoculated with experimental serums makes no sense for a virologist, but it does made sense for an expert in nanomaterials and nanotechnology who understands what graphene can be used for. It also makes sense for an expert in medical patents, who immediately identifies the content of the invention and relates it to other similar patents. It also makes sense for an expert in war technologies who knows about studies on the enhanced man (a document of the British Ministry of Defense calls him “augmented man” in transhumanistic terms) and is therefore able to recognize in graphene nanostructures the technology that enables the augmentation of the war performance of military personnel. And a telemedicine expert will be able to recognize in those nanostructures the indispensable device that sends biomedical parameters to the patient control server and also receives certain signals from it.
Once again: the assessment of events from a medical point of view should take into account the legal implications of certain choices, such as the imposition of masks or, even worse, mass “vaccination,” made in violation of the fundamental rights of citizens. And I am sure that in the field of health governance the manipulations of the classification codes of diseases and therapies will also emerge, which have been designed to make the harmful effects of measures taken against COVID-19 untraceable, from placing people on respirators in intensive care to watchful waiting protocols, to say nothing of the scandalous violations of regulations by the European Commission which – as you know – has no delegation from the European Parliament in the field of Health, and that is not a public institution but rather a private business consortium.
Just in the past few days, at the G-20 Bali summit, Klaus Schwab instructed heads of government – almost all coming from the Young Global Leaders for Tomorrow program of the World Economic Forum – about the future steps to be taken in view of establishing a world government. The president of a very powerful private organization with enormous economic means exercises undue power over world governments, obtaining their obedience from political leaders who have no popular mandate to subject their nations to the delusions of power of the elite: this fact is of unprecedented gravity. Klaus Schwab said: “In the fourth industrial revolution the winners will take it all, so if you are a World Economic Forum first mover, you are the winners”. These very serious statements have two implications: the first is that “the winners will take it all” and will be “winners” – it is not clear in what capacity and with whose permission. The second is that those who do not adapt to this “fourth industrial revolution” will find themselves ousted and will lose – they will lose everything, including their freedom. In short, Klaus Schwab is threatening the heads of government of the twenty most industrialized nations in the world to carry out the programmatic points of the Great Reset in their nations. This goes far beyond the pandemic: it is a global coup d’état, against which it is essential that people rise up and that the still healthy organs of states start an international juridical process. The threat is imminent and serious, since the World Economic Forum is capable of carrying out its subversive project and those who govern nations have all become either enslaved or blackmailed by this international mafia.
In light of these statements – and those of others no less delusional than Yuval Noah Harari, Schwab’s adviser – we understand how the pandemic farce served as a trial balloon for imposing controls, coercive measures, curtailing individual freedoms, and increasing unemployment and poverty. The next steps will have to be carried out by means of economic and energy crises, which are instrumental to the establishment of a synarchic government in the hands of the globalist elite.
And here, dear friends, allow me to speak as a bishop. Because in this series of events that we are witnessing and will continue to witness, your commitment could risk being thwarted or limited by the fact of not being able to see its essentially spiritual nature. I know that two centuries of Enlightenment thought, revolutions, atheistic materialism and anticlerical liberalism have accustomed us to thinking of Faith as a personal matter, or that there is not an objective Truth to which we all must conform. But this is the fruit of a propaedeutic indoctrination, one that happened long before what is happening today, and it would be foolish to believe that the anti-Christian ideology that drove the secret sects and Masonic groups of the eighteenth century had nothing to do with the anti-Christian ideology that today drives people like Klaus Schwab, George Soros, and Bill Gates. The driving principles are the same: rebellion against God, hatred for the Church and humanity, and destructive fury aimed against Creation and especially against man because he is created in the image and likeness of God.
If you start from this evidence, you will understand that it is not possible to pretend that what is happening before our eyes is solely the result of profit-seeking or the desire for power. Certainly, the economic part cannot be disregarded, considering how many people have collaborated with the World Economic Forum. And yet, beyond profit, there are unstated purposes that stem from a “theological” vision – one that is turned upside-down, it’s true, but still theological – a vision that sees two opposing sides: the side of Christ and the side of the Antichrist.
There can be no neutrality, because when there is a clash between two armies, those who choose not to fight are also making a choice that affects the outcome of the battle. On the other hand, how is it possible to recognize in your noble and high professions the admirable order that the Creator has placed in nature (from the constellations of stars to the particles of the atom) and then deny that man is also part of this order, with his moral sense, his laws, his culture, and his discoveries? How can man, who is God’s creature, presume to not be subject himself to eternal and perfect laws?
Our battle is not against creatures made of flesh and blood, but against the Principalities and Powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of evil that dwell in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12).
On the one hand, there is the City of God – the one Saint Augustine writes about – and on the other hand there is the city of the devil. We can say that in this era the city of the devil is clearly identifiable in neo-Malthusian globalism, the New World Order, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, the European Union, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and in all those so called “philanthropical foundations” that follow an ideology of death, disease, destruction, and tyranny. And also in those forces that have infiltrated the institutions, which we call the deep state and the deep church.
On the other front, we must recognize that the City of God is more difficult to identify. Even the religious authorities appear to have betrayed their role of giving guidance to the faithful, preferring to serve power and propagate their lies. The very people who ought to be protecting and sanctifying souls are scattering and scandalizing them, calling good Christians rigid fundamentalists. As you can see, the attack is on several fronts, and thus it is a mortal threat for humanity, striking at both the body and the soul.
And yet, precisely at a time when it is difficult to find authoritative points of reference – both in the religious sphere as well as the temporal one – we see an ever-increasing number of those who are understanding, opening their eyes, and recognizing the criminal mind behind the evolution of events. It is now clear that everything is linked together, without having to dismiss those who say so as “conspiracy theorists.” The conspiracy is already there: we are not inventing it, we are simply denouncing it, hoping that people wake up from this suicidal narcosis and demand that someone put an end to the global coup. The operations of social engineering and mass manipulation have demonstrated beyond any doubt that this crime was premeditated, and how it is consistent with a “spiritual” vision of the conflict that is now unfolding: it is necessary to take sides and fight, without giving in. The Truth – which is an attribute of God – cannot be cancelled by error, and Life cannot be defeated by death: remember that the Lord, who has said of Himself, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” has already defeated Satan, and what remains of the battle serves only to give us the opportunity to make the right choice, to choose to do those actions which place us under the banner of Christ, on the side of Good.
I trust that this great work you are undertaking will soon bear its expected fruits, putting an end to a time of trial in which we see how the world will become if we do not turn to Christ, if we continue to think that we can coexist with evil, lying, and self-worship. After all, the City of God is the model of those who live in God’s love, self-control, and contempt for the world; the city of the devil is the model of those who live in self-love, conforming to the world and despising God.
I thank you and bless you all.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
|
|
|
|
| Abp. Viganò: Faithful Catholics will escape the authoritarian suppression of the Latin Mass |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-23-2022, 09:18 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
- No Replies
|
|
Abp. Viganò: Faithful Catholics will escape the authoritarian suppression of the Latin Mass
'The faithful Catholic is in communion not only with the Church of his own time, but he must necessarily also be in communion with the Church of all times.'
![[Image: Archbishop_Carlo_Maria_Vigano-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Archbishop_Carlo_Maria_Vigano-810x500.jpg)
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò at the Rome Life Forum on May 18, 2018.
Steve Jalsevac / LifeSiteNews
Nov 22, 2022
Editor’s note: The following is an open letter written by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò to Bishop Franco Giulio Brambilla regarding his decision to suppress the Old Mass in his diocese.
(LifeSiteNews) — Most Reverend Excellency,
Your recent decision to suspend the celebration of the Tridentine Liturgy in the church of Vocogno and in the chapel of San Biagio in the Ossola Valleys (Piedmont, Italy) has provoked a great bitterness in the thousands of the faithful and in the priests who are tied to the Traditional Rite. After years of application of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, the coldness with which you have executed Traditionis Custodes has aroused deep indignation, despite the fact that the Code of Canon Law gives diocesan Ordinaries faculties that would permit you to derogate from it.
I can understand how your role as bishop and Successor of the Apostles is being tested by the pressures of an evident authoritarianism exercised by Rome. I equally understand that, having to choose between obedience to the Roman diktats and the protection of the sacrosanct rights of the faithful, the most humanly simple choice is one that in other times led Don Abbondio to become complicit in the oppression of Don Rodrigo and the Innominato. This Mass does not have to be done, because that is what the powerful want.
The “church of mercy” finds itself exercising its power with the force of coercion, which fails when it ought to instead be used to heal situations that are much more serious: theological deviations, moral aberrations, sacrileges and irreverences in the liturgical ambit, The image of the Hierarchy given to the people of God is summed up in the adage: Strong with the weak; weak with the strong. Which, if you will permit me to say so, is the exact opposite of what you pledged to do as a bishop.
The multiple appeals to parrhesia and synodality are daily disavowed by authoritarian decisions, moved by that clericalism that is so often deplored in words. What hateful crime did the faithful of Vocogno and San Biagio commit to deserve being deprived of the traditional Mass, which was recognized by Benedict XVI as “never abrogated” and today is cancelled as divisive because it is contrary to the ecclesiology of Vatican II? Where did the famous hermeneutic of continuity go? Where is the attention for the people of God and the listening about which so many bishops speak at the Synod on synodality?
In the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed we profess that the Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic: she is one not only in her diffusion across the entire world, but also in the passage of time and in the unfolding of events. The faithful Catholic is in communion not only with the Church of his own time, but he must necessarily also be in communion with the Church of all times: with the Church of the catacombs, of Constantine, of Saint Bernard, of Saint Pius V and Blessed Pius IX. The lex credendi – and the lex orandi that expresses it – cannot be susceptible to adulterations dictated by the latest fashions or contingencies. But if the lex orandi born from the modernist mind of Annibale Bugnini is recognized as the only cultic expression of the “conciliar church,” this means that the doctrine it expresses is other than – is opposed to – the teaching of Our Lord to the Apostles, handed down over the centuries and faithfully guarded by the Catholic Church. If this rupture with the Tradition is recognized and admitted by the drafter of Traditionis Custodes himself, this places the “conciliar church” outside of Catholic Tradition, thereby eliminating any legitimate authority to promulgate laws in contrast with the purposes for which the Lord instituted that authority.
I do not know if Your Excellency shares this vision, and if you consider the Holy Tridentine Mass as irreconcilable and extraneous to the “synodal church.” It seems to me that your decision, beyond revealing an exercise of episcopal authority that has been unchained from the duty to guard the depositum fidei, demonstrates a worrisome distance from the ecclesial body, a victim of the volubility and idiosyncrasies of a hierarchy that follows its own ideological program without having even the slightest concern for the consequences that it may have. The result is a very unflattering image of Shepherds, in whom the rerum novarum cupiditas [greed for novelties] tramples with impunity the immutable Magisterium of the Church, the legitimate rights of priests, and the spiritual necessities of the faithful; who, as you know, ask nothing from their bishop other than to be allowed to be free to enjoy the use of a rite that for centuries has been the praying voice of the Church, and which sixty years of failures and aberrations cannot render illegitimate only because it brings to light deceptions and falsifications.
I wonder what teaching the faithful of the Diocese of Novara – and also the millions of traditional faithful around the world – will draw from this authoritarian use of power against the very purposes from which it draws its legitimacy. Whether they obey an order that they consider unjust or oppose it in the name of obedience to God rather than to men, the authority of the Shepherds is totally discredited, because that which yesterday the Church taught and recommended is today despised and prohibited by those holding roles of governance in the Church, while that which earlier was considered contrary to the teaching of Christ is now pointed out as a model to follow.
What reproach could ever be uttered against the priests and faithful tied to the usus antiquior who – almost all of them without conviction and merely out of conformism – have resigned themselves to the imposition of the Novus Ordo? The fact that they desire the adoration of God? Recollection and decorum in the celebration? The unparalleled richness of the traditional liturgical texts, compared to the deliberate equivocal vacuousness of the reformed rite? The yearning to see the glory of the heavenly Court anticipated here on earth? The pious contemplation of the Passion of Christ in place of a noisy fraternal agape in which the Lord is only the alibi for celebrating oneself? What is so intolerable, so deplorable in wanting to pray with the sacred words handed down to us by two thousand years of Faith?
The faithful and priests of Vocogno, like all Catholics scattered throughout the diocese of the world, will find a way to escape these diktats, just as happened at the time of the Arian heresy, during the Pseudo-Reformation or at the time of the Anglican schism. Their suffering due to the deprivation of an inalienable right is a test of fidelity that makes them pleasing to God, just like what the refractory clergy did during the time of the Terror in France. But do not believe that you are winning them over to the new rite, or that you are bending their determination to remain faithful to the religion of their fathers. At most, you will be able to impede them from having the consolation of daily Mass, or assisting at the liturgical functions on Sundays and Holy Days, but all this will not favor either harmony among the faithful or their respect for ecclesiastical authority.
Time will prove them right, as has always happened in the events that have contrasted Catholic orthodoxy professed by the simple against the heretical deviations imposed by a misguided or enslaved authority. The Judgment of God will also prove them right, to which you will have to render an account of your own work as bishop. The Bergoglian Sanhedrin will not judge you, nor will the presbyteral council, nor the false friends who self-interestedly support you in this already-lost battle to hold together the conciliar narrative that has now been discredited. I believe therefore that a salutary reflection on the Last Things and your eternal destiny is most appropriate, also considering your age and the inevitability of your meeting with the Just Judge. If you believe you have acted and are acting according to God’s will, you have nothing to fear: you may continue to consider the faithful and priests of the Val d’Ossola as rebels, you may prohibit traditional Masses and demonstrate all of your unconditional subjection to the power presently in place. But remember that the powerful of this world pass away, and those who support and follow them are destined to follow them into oblivion or unanimous condemnation.
With the hope that the awareness of the time remaining to you to merit eternal glory will spur you on to retrace your steps and perform an act of true charity towards the faithful entrusted to your care, I assure Your Excellency that I will remember you in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (of Saint Pius V, obviously), imploring the Paraclete to illumine with his gift of counsel your Most Reverend Excellency, to whom I am.
Most Devoted in Christ,
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
Post Scriptum:
This open letter is also addressed to the brother Bishops of Bishop Brambilla and to all the Bishops who find themselves exposed to pressure from the Roman Curia to systematically nullify the beneficial effects of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum.
|
|
|
|
| Daily offering of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the Most High as revealed to Mary of Agreda |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-23-2022, 09:10 AM - Forum: Our Lady
- Replies (1)
|
|
Daily offering of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the Most High as revealed to Mary of Agreda
"Ven. Mary of Agreda - The Mystical City of God - Vol. I The Conception"; Chapter XXI, section 343; page 276.
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-ks...ipo=images]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-ksFPOz_3AVA%2FV7p--WpPsQI%2FAAAAAAAABk0%2FjRzyAwCpGG4SXW1zkv2fKJnIcw-osVbhQCLcB%2Fs1600%2Fqueenship-of-mary.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=f656d3026d0130ca229829322d62efeddb769c0541528afe295741dc4768ed41&ipo=images)
Most Holy Mary: "My admonition to thee, whom in spite of thy weakness and poverty I have chosen with such a generous kindness as my disciple and companion, is this: that thou strive with all thy powers to imitate me in an exercise, in which I persevered during my whole life from the very first moment of my birth, omitting it on not a single day, however full of cares and labors it might have been.
The exercise was the following:
"Every day at the beginning of dawn, I prostrated myself in the presence of the Most High and gave Him thanks for His Immutable Being, His infinite Perfections, and for having created me out of nothing; acknowledging myself as His creature and the work of His hands, I blessed Him and adored Him, giving Him honor, Magnificence, and Divinity, as the supreme Lord and Creator of myself and of all that exists. I raised up my spirit to place it into His hands, offering myself with profound humility and resignation to Him, and asking Him to dispose of me according to His Will during that day and during all the days of my life and to teach me to fulfill whatever would be to His greater pleasure.
This I repeated many times during the external works of the day, and in the internal ones I first consulted His Majesty, asking His advice, permission, and benediction for all my actions."
|
|
|
|
| 80 Canadian MDs VAXXED and Dead |
|
Posted by: Scarlet - 11-22-2022, 07:18 PM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
- No Replies
|
 |
80 Canadian MDs VAXXED and Dead
A round the world, the extreme body count of men, women and children who have been injured or died following the forced and misrepresented genetic injections, continues to grow. The injections are dangerous based on their declared content, but they have many undeclared toxic ingredients as well. No one is spared from the assault on our rights and health.
Though many doctors have maintained their income by complying with and participating in the criminal injection campaign; they are still required to roll up their sleeves and take their turns in this sick game of Russian roulette. In 2022 we now see dramatically increased death rates among young injected Canadian physicians.
Here is a recent compilation of Canada’s growing number of injected and lost medical doctors (currently 80). Our condolences go to the family’s of the lost Canadian physicians whose names and faces appear here.
See page 7 for Dr. William Makis’ second letter of appeal to the Canadian Medical Association to investigate the swath of death following the misrepresented covid injections.
|
|
|
|
| O Gloriosa Domina |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-22-2022, 09:07 AM - Forum: Marian Hymns
- No Replies
|
|
O Gloriosa Domina
Gregorian Hymn to Our Lady - taken from here.
![[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%2F7f%2F05%2F8b%2F7f058b3ec1e3936ec68bbcf7826757f7.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=28d739c12e62960fbc6f831fbd264ecf2a749ad1dbb02a9fa6f0670275072e02&ipo=images)
O Gloriosa Domina (O Glorious Lady) is the famous Marian hymn sung at Lauds on Feasts of Our Lady in the Roman Breviary. It forms the second part of the hymn Quem terra, pontus, aethera written by Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers.
Below is a translation of an excerpt from the famous Año Virgineo, published in Spanish in 1716, which tells the story of a priest who was saved from trouble by this hymn:
"In Madrid, the year 1573 saw the [death] of Ven. Father Fray Ananio de Segura, of the most exemplary Order of the Discalced Friars Minor, first Guardian of the Convent [Monastery] of Madrid. He was most devoted to the Great Queen, and for this the Devil hated him very much: For he is the Dragon with seven heads, who vomits poison, against which St. John in the Apocalypse saw Our Lady adorned with Stars. And he still hurls this [poison] at the children whom Our Lady is giving to the Church.
"One day, [the Devil] took on the form of a horrendous and bloody boar, which with its bare fangs threatened to tear him to pieces. The Holy Guardian [Fray Ananio] became frightened and called on the Merciful Virgin, telling her: 'My Lady and Mother, drive this beast away from me!" On his knees, he began the Hymn that says O Gloriosa Domina, excelsa super sidera: O Glorious Lady, whose dominion is elevated above the Stars; and upon hearing these voices, the demon fled.
"The demon appeared to him again some days later, making grimaces at him and telling him: 'Thank the Gloriosa Domina, [because] if it were not for her, I would take my revenge on you.' Fray Ananio immediately intoned the Gloriosa Domina, as one who already knows the remedy for his affliction, with which on this and other occasions he was freed from the infernal beast." (1)
It is also a well known fact that O Gloriosa Domina was the favorite hymn of St. Anthony, who learned it from his mother as a child. He would sing this hymn so often that the Jesuit Fr. Manuel de Azevedo wrote: "It could be said that he had this hymn on his lips at every breath." (2) St. Anthony also sung this hymn on his deathbed: after receiving the Sacrament of Confession: "Like a swan approaching death, he began to sing the hymn, which he was accustomed to pray many times against the demons." (3)
Listen to O Gloriosa Domina by Schola of the Hofburgkapelle
Lyrics:
Latin text:
O gloriosa Domina
Excelsa super sidera,
Qui te creavit provide,
Lactasti sacro ubere.
Quod Eva tristis abstulit,
Tu reddis almo germine;
Intrent ut astra flebiles,
Caeli fenestra facta es.
Tu regis alti janua
Et porta lucis fulgida;
Vitam datam per Virginem,
Gentes redemptae, plaudite.
Gloria tibi, Domine,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et Sancto Spiritu
In sempiterna saecula. Amen.
English translation:
O Heaven's glorious mistress,
Elevated above the stars,
Him who created thee
Thou feedest with thy sacred breast.
What miserable Eve lost
Thy dear offspring to man restores,
They enter like weeping stars
Thou hast become Window of Heaven.
Thou art the door of the High King,
The gate of shining light.
Life is given through a Virgin:
Rejoice, ye redeemed nations.
Glory be to Thee, O Lord,
Born of a Virgin,
With the Father and the Holy Spirit,
World without end. Amen.
|
|
|
|
|
![[Image: ?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpaulburkhart.files.wordp...ipo=images]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpaulburkhart.files.wordpress.com%2F2013%2F12%2Fo-tree-of-jesse.jpg%3Fw%3D405%26h%3D509&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=f3a85e26f71250dc26f7a8f3a849089a36bfe6922786e4b1ef94fa6107cab04d&ipo=images)
