Newspaper Clipping, 1793

A London newspaper in the fall of 1793 reports the death of the Queen of France (Via Tiny-Librarian). Share

Lord Nicholas Windsor Speaks

The Queen's cousin speaks about the struggles of English Catholics. To quote:

It is a story of love for the Church, love of others and love of the truth, during a time when a 1,000-year-old tradition was at risk of being uprooted. These men and women were determined that their culture would continue, though it was very nearly destroyed.

During that period, the Jesuits wanted to educate young Englishmen who couldn’t receive a Catholic education in England, and they set up schools in France. The English boys were sent with items that had been preserved and saved from the officers of King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth, who sought to destroy every physical trace of Catholic culture: from the art to vestments. These Jesuit schools became a depository of sacred history, and the boys were taught to venerate the relics and the memory of the martyrs.

Many became priests and martyrs. They suffered the most appalling deaths. We cannot forget these people; they intercede for us still. (Read more.)

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Wiseblood Books

There is a new publishing venture dedicated to literary excellence in the footsteps of Flannery O'Connor. To quote:

Wiseblood Books is a publishing line particularly favorable toward works of fiction, poetry, and philosophy that render truths with what Flannery O'Connor called an unyielding "realism of distances." Such works find redemption in uncanny places and people; wrestle us from the tyranny of boredom; mock the pretensions of respectability; engage the hidden mysteries of the human heart, be they sources of either violence or courage; articulate faith and doubt in their incarnate complexity; dare an unflinching gaze at human beings as "political animals"; and suffer through this world's trials without forfeiting hope.

We are dedicated to publishing, preserving, and editing fiction, poetry, and philosophy fit for the world stage.

Wiseblood Books is staffed by established editors marked with all the traits of incurable commitments to literature: university-level teaching experience, Doctoral Degrees in English, strong publication records, and over six years experience as freelance, Managing, and Fiction Editors for several literary magazines and major publishers.

Our dock serves as harbor to diverse vessels of literature: minimalist or stream of consciousness; philosophical thriller or epistolary novel; collection of vignettes or thousand-page opus; poetry or political memoirs; journalistic essays or academic scholarship.We seek contemporary fiction in the vein of such popular classics as Dickens' Pickwick Papers, Graham Greene's “entertainments,” Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Cather's O Pioneers!, and P.D. James' The Children of Men or as demanding as Dostoevsky's Demons, Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!, Melville's Moby-Dick, Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, or David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. Our devotion to the life of the mind makes us watchful for works that reach the roots of fundamental questions, that turn to the almost three-thousand-year-long conversations committed to these questions, and that incite our hunger for the splendor of truth.

We are wide-eyed for new epiphanies of beauty. We are wide-eyed for epiphanies of truth.   (Read more.)

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Triumph vs Triumphalism

Fr. Angelo Mary interprets Pope Francis for anyone who might be confused. To quote:

Pope Francis’ attribution of Pelagianism to the restorationist tendencies—in my opinion, rightly applied to the above mentioned line of thinking—has nothing to do with a failure to believe in grace or in a neglect of its sources, but with the restorationist mode of operation in the face of the modern crisis.  The traditionalist Counter-Revolution is no less pragmatic and Machiavellian than the progressive Revolution.  When the Pope becomes the enemy, this somehow seems to justify the very human propaganda campaign and political program that undermines papal authority.  Pope Francis criticizes the idea that a restoration of the past is going to solve the problems of the present and prepare for the future. 

Traditionalists believe this is a rejection of Tradition.  But human prudence is the wisdom of this world and it is human prudence that consistently pits personal opinion against the teaching authority of the Holy Father.  This is not a work of God.  It is a work of man, hence Pelagian.

I believe Pope Francis’s criticism of “triumphalist” Christians is related to what he has said about Pelagian restorationaism.  He states that while traditionalists do not believe in the Resurrection of Christ they do have a very vibrant faith in their own victories.  Obviously, no traditionalist denies the fact of the bodily resurrection of Christ.  So what does the Holy Father mean?  I believe it is this: belief in the historical resurrection of Christ and a really “deep down” assimilated belief in the “Risen One,” is a hope believed against hope, when in the present circumstances we are as good as dead (cf. Rom 4:18-19). From this hope proceeds no Pelagian Counter-Revolution, but a persevering faith in the One that God has sent (cf. Jn 6:29).  Our belief in the indefectibility of the Church and in supernatural obedience, especially to the Holy Father, is not always supported by the facts of the present circumstances as we estimate them.  When we obey the Holy Father, our faith is not in him, but in Christ—in God, not in man.  The restoration of the Church in its pastoral practice and the liturgy is not a project or campaign to be strategized with cold, hard logic.  The Church, as Pope Benedict has pointed out many times, is a person at whose feet we sit.  And we are disciples, that is, learners.  Only One is our Teacher, the Christ (Mt 23:8). (Read more.)

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The Church is a Bride

She is not a widow. From Monsignor Charles Pope:

There’s a common thread among many traditional Catholics (and some left-wingers too) that “the Church has gone down the tubes.” This seems to be a basic set point in too many conversations, and if one runs too far afield from this view they are “one of them” or are “off message.”

But I want to say to all the negative ones: the Church is a Bride, not a widow.

I have, in twenty-five years as a priest, found a great deal of affinity with traditional Catholics. I love the Traditional Latin Mass (and have celebrated it since 1989), chant, polyphony, traditional churches, stained glass, and I toe a line in rather strict conformity to the Church’s teachings and Scripture’s admonitions. I preached Hell and Purgatory even when it wasn’t cool.

But in recent years I have found my relationship to many (not all or even most) traditional Catholics tested and strained. I say “tested” because I have found that if I do not adhere to a rather strict, and I would say “narrow” line, I am relegated to be thrown out of the feast, and there in the “outer darkness” to wail and grind my teeth.

It would seem that for some, I am required to bash bishops, lament that the Church has “never been in worse shape,” and that every single solitary problem in the Church today is “due to Vatican II” and the “Novus Ordo” Mass. Stray too far from this, either by omission or commission, and I am in the hurt locker, the penalty box, and relegated to being no better than one of “them.”

Last week on the blog was especially hurtful. All I did was quote what I thought was an interesting statistic, that the average number of priests per parish in 1950 was “1″ and that in 2013, the average number of priests per parish is also “1″. There are many interesting questions that can be raised about this number. Perhaps there were more ethnic parishes then, perhaps church closings now are a factor, perhaps many of us remember the Northeastern Urban experience, but knew little of the rural experience back then which balanced our reality. Yes, there have been closings and declines of late, but overall there are 17K  parishes nationwide today, slightly more than in 1950, and double the number of putative Catholics. And at the end of the day, the number averages out to “1″ priest per parish. More here: [01] and here: [02]

Anyway, while one may dispute how helpful or illuminating the statistic is, the real grief came to me with just how hostile and even nasty some comments (many of which I had to delete) were. There were personal accusations against me, there was a bevy of bishop-bashing, and Pope-bashing statements, and any number and variety of venomous attacks against perfectly legitimate Church realities, liturgical forms, and the Second Vatican Council itself.

Wowza! What a hornet’s nest. (Read more.)

Via Mary Victrix.
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Light of Faith

Pope Francis and Pope Benedict have given us much to think about in the encyclical Lumen Fidei. To quote:

There is an urgent need, then, to see once again that faith is a light, for once the flame of faith dies out, all other lights begin to dim. The light of faith is unique, since it is capable of illuminating every aspect of human existence. A light this powerful cannot come from ourselves but from a more primordial source: in a word, it must come from God. Faith is born of an encounter with the living God who calls us and reveals his love, a love which precedes us and upon which we can lean for security and for building our lives. Transformed by this love, we gain fresh vision, new eyes to see; we realize that it contains a great promise of fulfillment, and that a vision of the future opens up before us. (Read entire encyclical.)

His Holiness has also consecrated the Vatican to St. Michael the Archangel, together with the Pope Emeritus. (Via Spirit Daily.) They are like Saints Peter and Paul, or Moses and Elias.

 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks, that stand before the Lord of the earth.~Apocalypse 11:4

 But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people: and a time shall come such as never was from the time that nations began even until that time. ~Daniel 12:1

Fr. Mark says: "How extraordinary! An encyclical written by one Pope and signed and promulgated by another." I agree. We live in the most extraordinary times. Share

What's Wrong with Gossip?

From Catholic Exchange:

The topic of gossip is also on the mind of Pope Francis as well.  Since his election less than two months ago, the Pontiff has already spoken three times about the dangerous consequences of gossip.  In a recent homily in the chapel of the Vatican’s Santa Marta, Pope Francis said, “When one prefers gossiping – gossiping about another, it’s like clobbering another.  This is normal, it happens to everyone, including me – it is a temptation of the evil one who does not want the Spirit to come and bring about peace and meekness in the Christian community.”  The Pope went on to say, “The struggle against such harmful chatter is something that continually sows tensions in parishes, families, in neighborhoods and among friends.”

The Bible is also very clear about gossip – “Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people” (Leviticus 19:16). Likewise the Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks to the importance of refraining from actions such as gossiping that can tarnish the reputation of another–

“Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury” (Para. 2477). Gossiping involves the sin of detraction in which a person discloses another’s faults and failings to someone who did not know them. Therefore, one commits the sin of detraction when he makes known the faults of another without a very good reason for doing so.  Further, it can be a serious moral offense if it does great harm to another’s reputation by having his or her faults spread about when they otherwise would not be.

Gossip can be true, partially true, or completely false and while it can be motivated by good intentions, it always contains negative personal information about another that puts them in a bad light.  Similarly, we can also participate in gossip by remaining silent or using approving body language such as nodding our head in agreement. (Read entire article.)

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Meanwhile, in Hungary...

The schools have been handed over to religious institutions. To quote:

The Hungarian government is transferring public schools to religious institutions, reported the French magazine L’Express.

This policy has infuriated socialist leaders within and outside Hungary and even in European countries where public education has had calamitous results. The angry complaints center on the fact that traditional morals are being restored with the help of Hungarian government policy.

Schools have brought back the singing of religious hymns as well as beginning the classes with prayer. And students’ parents get to choose the catechism to be taught to their children.

Churches retain their school subsidies regardless of the number of students. In the small town of Alsoörs, which L’Express presents as a typical case, out of a total of ninty-six families only two voted against transferring the school to the Church, underscoring the strong popular support this measure has. (Read entire article.)

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Women Apostles

Those who think that women need to be priestesses in order to make an impact on the Church have greatly underestimated women. From Fr. Mark:

"Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord'; and she told them that He had said these things to her." (John 20:18

Women Apostles
I am thinking, on this eve of the feast of the Divine Mercy, of four women raised up by the Spirit of God in the course of the last century to deliver a message to the Church. Each one prophesied the mystery of the Divine Mercy in her own language, using her own vocabulary, images, and unique feminine sensibility.

Two were French: Thérèse and Yvonne-Aimée; one was Spanish: Josefa Menendez; and one was Polish: Maria Faustina Kowalska. Two were humble laysisters charged with the lowliest tasks in their convents, all the while receiving the secrets of Heaven: Josefa and Faustina. One, Thérèse, was a young Carmelite hidden away in her cloister, and dreaming of doing great deeds for France (like Jeanne d'Arc), for missionaries, and for the salvation of sinners. And one, Yvonne-Aimée, was a heroine of the French resistance during World War II, a spiritual mother to priests, a divinely-inspired risk-taker for love for her Jesus, and a bold and prudent renovator of religious life. (Read entire post.)

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Of Rules, Rubrics, and Zeal

A timely letter from Fr. Mark:

In my now long monastic life I have known the poison of an evil zeal of bitterness. It stinks of pharisaism. It is the panoply of those who would uphold the letter of the law at any price, even if it means pushing souls over the edge into an abyss of despair. How easy it is to fall into the deception of priding oneself on one's virtue, on one's spotless record of spiritual achievement, or on one's scrupulous attention to the minutest rubric, while looking at others with a sneer of disdain.

It is in no way Benedictine to think oneself justified in beating up others verbally so as to coerce them into conformity with one's own notion of what is virtuous. Saint Benedict would have us, instead, practice a humble patience. Every virtue has its hour. There are souls who have striven for the better part of a lifetime to acquire patience, or sobriety, or chastity, or temperance; then, when they least expected it, and after having failed to attain it, even over decades, the very virtue that seemed impossible was, as it were, dropped gently into their soul.

Precocious virtues of the self-help variety are extremely dangerous: the patience that makes one condescending to poor wretches tossed on the waves of their emotions; the sobriety that makes one peer into the lives of others from the height of one's own puritanical posing; the chastity that makes the lily-white (be they preserved or reconstituted therein) as prideful as demons; the temperance that takes pleasure in pointing out -- in all charity, mind you -- that another is excessively self-indulgent, excessively addicted to his pleasures, excessively wanting in mortification, or poverty, or separation from the world. (Read entire post.)

Please read the article in full before commenting.

I would love to make a pilgrimage to Silverstream Priory someday. The bookstore looks marvelous! Share

Anatomy of a Lie

The assault on Pope Francis. To quote:

The Eighth Commandment is clear: Thou shall not bear false witness.

The Catechism states that misrepresenting the truth to harm another’s reputation violates the Eighth Commandment, given by God to Moses, and Jesus’ commandment in the Gospel of Matthew, love your neighbor as yourself (2477-2479). Just over an hour after Jorge Bergoglio was announced as Pope Francis, a devastating example of false witness against the Holy Father was winging its way around the world. (Read entire article.)

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The Heart of the Liturgy

It is time to enter the garden with Jesus. From Fr. Mark in Ireland:

The Pasch of the Lord: Heart of the Liturgy
Hermann Schmidt opens his Hebdomada Sancta with the lapidary phrase: "Pascha est cor liturgiae." The heart of the liturgy is the Paschal Mystery of Christ's death, Resurrection and Ascension, accomplished once and for all in Christ the Head, and extended by means of the liturgy to all his members throughout history. Dame Aemiliana Löher, the Benedictine of Herstelle writes in The Great Week, a book I never tire of reading at this time of the year, that, "It will never be possible for the Church in her liturgy to make anything else present or anything else the subject of her celebration than the Pasch of Christ."

All Christian worship is but a continuous celebration of the Pasch: the sun, dawning each day, draws in its course an uninterrupted train of Eucharists; every celebration of Mass prolongs the Pasch. Each day of the liturgical year, and within each day, every instant of the Church's sleepless vigil, continues and renews the Pasch. (Louis Bouyer, Le Mystère Pascal)

The Liturgy is the Church's Primary Theology
The Paschal Mystery is the ultimate and unrepeatable word from God, to God and about God. Actualized in the liturgy, the Paschal Mystery is the substance and expression of the Church's theologia prima, the ground and reference of her theologia secunda. The complement of Schmidt's aphorism Pascha est cor liturgiae is that the Pasch of Christ, sacramentally mediated in the liturgy, is the wellspring of a living, doxological theology, the only kind of theology that a monk can embrace fully and find himself at home in.

The Mystery of Christ
In repeating the enactment of the liturgy, the Church has access to the "unique, unrepeatable mystery of Christ"; day after day, week after week, and year after year, the Church is caught up in the transforming glory of the Paschal Mystery of Christ, her Bridegroom and Head. Through the actio, the Paschal Mystery irrigates and transforms all of human life, healing those who partake of the sacraments and drawing the Church, already here and now, into the communion of the risen and ascended Christ with the Father in the Holy Spirit. Because it is the heart of the liturgy, the Pasch of the Lord is the heart of theology, and the heart of Christian piety as well. (Read entire post.)

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The Myth of Persecution

Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus.~ from the Te Deum

When I wrote to Dr. Moss requesting her latest work The Myth of Persecution, I received a prompt and gracious reply assuring me of a copy. Dr. Moss hoped that I would not see the book as an attack upon the Church. I responded that I did not see the book as an attack on the Church and even if it was, the Church has been through worse. We have nothing to fear from the truth of history.

After reading the book my reply is not altered. It is a well-written book with clear explanations indicative of a skilled teacher. However, I recommend Myth to others with reservations, since in spite of the genuine scholarship which Dr. Moss shares with us, there is a contemporary political slant given to the narrative which clouds the objectivity of how the historical evidence is presented. For instance, my cognitive processes are strained to envision St. Justin Martyr (pp. 109-112) and Glenn Beck (p. 250) as confreres in a long battle of paranoid right-wing true believers to demonize the opposition. And the whys and wherefores of the legend of Saints Chrysthanus and Daria (pp. 83-88) are intriguing enough without dragging Ann Coulter into the mix. (p. 255)

The main premise of Myth of Persecution is that the early Christians, and those generations who followed immediately after them, exaggerated the Roman punishment of those who refused to comply with the laws of the Empire. (p. 16) Dr. Moss claims that the Christians made it appear that they suffered one long relentless persecution for over three hundred years, which made them see themselves as victims and everyone else as the enemy. (pp. 18-19) The book goes on to assert that Christians have continued to do this and are doing it now, especially the conservative branches of the various Christian offshoots who marginalize anyone who does not agree with them, especially anyone involved in the abortion industry. (p. 252) This view completely overlooks the vast number of Christians who are engaged in giving practical help to the unfortunate, including those with post-abortion trauma.

 I grew up around Christians, most of whom were either Catholic or Episcopalian; they certainly did not instill in me an idea of non-Christians being the enemy. Nor did I ever have the impression that the early Christian persecution by the Romans was non-stop. I was aware at an early age that some Emperors persecuted and some did not, Diocletian being one that did. While I understand the point the author is trying to make, I think it is an oversimplification of a complex process involving many types of Christians and different cultures over two thousand years.

What makes Myth of Persecution an interesting read is that it shows how the Roman authorities saw the Christians. They saw them as annoying, crazy, disrespectful, cowardly, vengeful, violent, devious and even incestuous. (pp. 170-187) I have the impression that much of this assessment is shared by the author as well. Such bias mitigates the effectiveness of the genuine lessons which are to be learned from the book. Certainly, there are elements among the diverse Christian communities who exhibit a harsh and paranoid reaction at every hostile hiccup on the horizon. I am not denying that sometimes in showing zeal for a cause Christians forget that the charity of Christ is what defines them. If Christians who read this book will take that lesson to heart then progress will have been made.

The book does indeed offer a great deal of wisdom which should not be taken lightly. In Chapter 6, "Myths about Martyrs", Dr. Moss makes an excellent point about how imitation of the martyrs does not mean the complacent acceptance of an abusive or oppressive situation. The martyrs were killed because they stood up to injustice, not because they were doormats. (pp.201-204)  To quote: "As much as we admire those who are willing to sacrifice themselves for others, there are also circumstances in which this in inappropriate. Modern theologians have criticized the idea that imitating the suffering Christ means obedience and submission in circumstances of oppression." (p.202) I would interject that for persons of faith suffering can still be personally redemptive, even while working to correct the injustices which create the suffering.

Now the author does not deny that, in spite of the title of the book, the Christians were genuinely persecuted by the Roman authorities from time to time. This is, of course, a fact of history. Dr. Moss insists that the persecution undertaken by St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles was not a genuine persecution, saying:

 That Paul himself would admit that he had participated in this practice [i.e., “persecuting the church of God”] lends credibility to the narrative of Acts, but it does not prove that Jews persecuted Christians. The primary reason for this is that there were no Christians! Not only did the name ‘Christian’ not yet exist, but the idea of Christians as a group distinct from the rest of Judaism did not exist in the lifetime of the apostles. (p.133)

So according to Myth of Persecution, St. Stephen the first martyr was not a bona fide martyr. Whatever the people later to be known as Christians were called, Paul persecuted them, and later repented of it. The Acts of the Apostles affirms that the Followers of Jesus were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26) a good hundred years before Dr. Moss claims they began to be called Christians. Furthermore, Dr. Moss claims that the Christians were not really persecuted by the Romans, but "prosecuted." (pp. 159-160) "Romans saw themselves not as persecutors but as prosecutors....Just because Christians were prosecuted or executed, even unjustly, does not mean that they were persecuted." (pp163-164). Unfortunately, this sort of sophistry is rampant in the book.

The highlights of Myth include the discussions of the executions of Christians under Decius and later under Diocletian. Decius, around 250 AD, did not single out the Christians for persecution. (pp.145-151) Rather he passed a law which required that all Roman citizens participate in the Emperor worship. The Christians did not want to do this, and had to either find a legal loophole around it, or else apostatize their faith. Some chose neither option, and when asked to sacrificed they refused, were tortured and killed. Many were able to escape prosecution but those who were executed became the martyrs whom we honor. As for the Great Persecution of Diocletian, Christians were singled out, beginning in 303, and for the next several years the persecution ebbed and flowed throughout the empire, depending upon local leadership and political circumstances. The persecution of Christians is definitely NOT a myth.

Speaking of Daria and Chrysthanus, the book spends a great deal of time demonstrating how the legend of their acts has many historical inconsistencies. (pp 83-88) This is the case with many of the old legends which grew up around the various martyrs of the early Church. When I was a child during the Second Vatican Council, I remember when many early martyrs and saints were removed from the Roman Calender because of lack of solid historical evidence of their ordeals or even of their existence, St. Catherine of Alexandria being one. The same saints, however, were retained by the Byzantine Catholic calender, since they and the accounts of their sufferings were seen as being hallowed by sacred tradition. I think Myth of Persecution would have been richer if it had taken into account the power of storytelling and the liturgy as a means of permitting the believers to participate in the sacred drama. Whether every detail of the story of Chrysthanus and Daria really happened is not what was important to our brothers and sisters in the faith. What mattered was the inner truths the story conveyed which the believers would enter into and participate in through prayers, veneration of relics and the sacred liturgy. We will never have the newspaper accounts of the death of Daria and Chrysthanus and of any number of other martyrs. The accounts do not exist. We do, however have a rich tradition about them, passed on through good times and bad. And we have the relics of Chrysthanus and Daria, which have recently been examined, according to the National Geographic, showing that they were young, highborn and possibly buried alive.*

There is a great deal in the book about how Christians see the world as the enemy. But Jesus warned us that it would be so. "In the world you will have distress, but have confidence, I have overcome the world." (John 16: 33) Christians must always guard against the things of the world which threaten the health of the soul. We must not forget the confidence which we are invited to have in Jesus Christ, and this confidence should preserve us from the very perils we wish to avoid, the tendency pass rash judgment, to despair, to become bitter, to hate, to be greedy. Martyrdom is overcoming those things of the world, and in that way supersedes political and cultural vicissitudes.

(This book was sent to me by the author's representative in exchange for my honest opinion.)

(*NOTE: Dr. Candida Moss was consulted by National Geographic in their examination of the relics of Saints Chrysthanus and Daria.) Share

The Keys of the Kingdom

 And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. (Matthew 16: 18-19)

"Lowly yet Chosen" like Mary and Joseph. To quote the Catholic World Report:

From the Vatican Information Service, here are details about the symbols found on Francis’ coat of arms:

The shield has a bright blue background, at the centre top of which is a yellow radiant sun with the IHS christogram on it representing Jesus (it is also the Jesuit logo). The IHS monogram, as well as a cross that pierces the H, are in red with three black nails directly under them. Under that, to the left, is a star representing Mary, Mother of Christ and the Church. To the right of the star is a nard flower representing Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church. With these symbols the Pope demonstrates his love for the Holy Family. 

Francis’ papal motto, displayed with the coat of arms, is also the same as the one he used as a bishop; it is “miserando atque eligendo,” which in Latin means “by having mercy, by choosing him.” It is taken from a homily of the Venerable Bede on the call of St. Matthew: “Jesus saw the tax collector and by having mercy chose him as an Apostle saying to him: Follow me.” Vatican Radio explains the significance of this passage to the Holy Father: 

This homily, which focuses on divine mercy and is reproduced in the Liturgy of the Hours on the Feast of Saint Matthew, has taken on special significance in the Pope's life and spiritual journey.

In fact it was on the Feast of Saint Matthew in 1953 that a young, seventeen-year-old Jorge Bergoglio was touched by the mercy of God and felt the call to religious life in the footsteps of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

(Read entire article.)

Another interpretation, HERE. Share

A Word in Defense of Our Beloved Pope Emeritus

Some wise words from Amy Welborn:

Liturgical conversations have resurfaced with a vengeance over the past few days.  Just a few points there:  A few days ago, a church historian was quoted as saying, “You have to remember that Benedict was a clotheshorse.”    What that expert fails to recognize was that Benedict’s attention to papal garb was not about vanity – I mean – really.  It was about what he was always about: history  And not history as a museum, out of an antiquarian interest, but as a link from the present to the past.  The red shoes – so maligned even by Catholics who should know better – are a symbol of blood.  Blood , people.  The blood of the martyrs and the blood of Christ on which His vicar stands, and through him, all of us.  Popes – yes, even John XXIII and Paul VI – wore them until John Paul II stopped.  Then Benedict reinstated them. That is, he humbled himself before history and symbol and put the darn things on.

 Why did he reinstate them?   Because he was  vain, monarchical and arrogant?  Because he was out of touch with the poor? Because he was, in the terms of the esteemed professor, a “clotheshorse?” Because they look good?  I doubt it, because, you know, they don’t, not really.  Maybe – just maybe – because he believes was they symbolize?  That his office is rooted in the blood of the martyrs, especially Peter?  And that it is good for the Pope in the 21st century to maintain this link to and through other Popes who have done the same thing, to Peter, and then to Christ?

[...]

For me, it comes down to this.  Both of these Popes were and are pastors.  Both have given their lives for us, for Christ.  We can – and should be open to being – taught by both.  All I’m saying is that – as Pope Francis himself has acknowledged in his own words these past few days – Pope Benedict was all about Christ. He spent 8 years as your Pope, “proposing Jesus Christ” through his words and actions – even his red shoes.  If Pope Francis’ actions so far preach Christ more clearly to you then so be it.  Christ is who is important, and we are a Church of great diversity for a reason.  But what has been so bizarre and even saddening over the past few days is a tone and implication that Benedict was somehow about something else besides Jesus Christ. (Read entire post.)

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Pope Francis and Fatima

 Nolite tangere christos meos et in prophetis meis nolite malignari. (I Par. 16:22, The Vulgate)

 Fr. Angelo has a superb post on "Benedict and Francis: the Law and the Prophets" in which he discusses the prophetic aspect of the papacy. To quote:

The Catechism also teaches us that all the baptized participate in the triple office of Christ as priest, prophet and king (783). However, priests, especially bishops who have the fullness of the priesthood and most especially the pope as the Vicar of Christ and Head of the apostolic college, have a mandate to exercise these three offices in a particular way. These offices are the proper functions of the Holy Father and the bishops: the priest sanctifies by offering sacrifice; the prophet teaches by delivering God’s message; and the king governs by shepherding God’s people after the heart of Christ (cf., Jer 3:15). (Read entire post.)

As I mentioned in a previous post, Our Holy Father has been viciously attacked by certain elements in the Church. Terry Nelson made the connection of the attacks with one of the visions at Fatima, saying:

Just remember, Our Lady is the one who emphasized the papacy at Fatima, and called for prayers for the Holy Father.  I somehow doubt she was referring to just one specific Pope... as Cardinal Ratzinger noted in his commentary on the Third Secret: "Beginning from Pius X up to the present Pope, they all shared the sufferings of the century and strove to go forward through all the anguish along the path which leads to the Cross." Post election reaction reminds me of something Blessed Jacinta said:

I saw the Holy Father in a very big house, kneeling by a table, with his head buried in his hands, and he was weeping. Outside the house, there were many people. Some of them were throwing stones, others were cursing him and using bad language. Poor Holy Father, we must pray very much for him.”
[...]
"the Holy Father will have much to suffer."

Along with the enemies of the Church, there are many devotees of Our Lady, crusaders for the Truth, cursing, using bad language, against Pope Francis since his election. I doubt Our Lady would be pleased.

I agree.

Similar connections have been made the recent papal election with Fatima on the Unveiling the Apocalypse blog.

Here is an interview about Pope Francis and Fatima. More HERE.

"These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth."
(Rev 11:4)

Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
(Rev 11:19)

UPDATE: It is interesting that the name Bergoglio can be taken to mean "Mount of Olives." Of course, it can also mean "mountain range" which is interesting  in the light of the prophecy by Blessed Tomasuccio, who said that a worthy Shepherd shall come from "beyond the mountains" twelve years into the millennium:

One from beyond the mountains shall become the Vicar Of God. Religious and clerics shall take part in this change. Outside the true path, there will be only disreputable men; I shrug my shoulders when the Bark of Peter is in danger and there is no one to lend it help... The schismatic shall fall into the scorn of the Italian faithful... By about twelve years shall the millennium have passed when the resplendent mantle of legitimate power shall emerge from the shadows where it was being kept by the schism. And beyond harm from the one who is blocking the door of salvation, for his deceitful schism shall have come to an end. And the mass of the faithful shall attach itself to the worthy Shepherd, who shall extricate each one from error and restore to the Church its beauty. He shall renew it.

Our Holy Father will ascend the papal throne on St. Joseph's day. Remember how St. Joseph appeared blessing the crowd at Fatima on October 13, 1917? Lucia wrote of that day, saying:

After Our Lady had disappeared into the immense distance of the firmament, we beheld St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun. St. Joseph and the Child Jesus appeared to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands. When, a little later, this apparition disappeared, I saw Our Lord and Our Lady; it seemed to me that it was Our Lady of Dolours. Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the same manner as St. Joseph had done. This apparition also vanished, and I saw Our Lady once more, this time resembling Our Lady of Carmel.

 As I said above, the papacy has a prophetic character. It is interesting how our new Pope is a sum and total of the great Religious orders whose Rules of Life have long given prophetic witness to the Church and the World. He was immediately preceded by Benedict. He is a Jesuit who comes to us in the habit of the Dominicans, who use the Augustinian rule. He bears the name Francis and is proceeded by the great silence of the Carmelites. It was amazing how the silence enveloped St. Peter's square when he first asked for prayers and blessing on the balcony....

"And when it opened the seventh seal, there was silence in the heaven about half an hour."(Apoc. 8:1)

"And after the earthquake a fire: the Lord is not in the fire, and after the fire a whistling of a gentle air. [13] And when Elias heard it, he covered his face with his mantle, and coming forth stood in the entering in of the cave, and behold a voice unto him, saying: What dost thou here, Elias?" (1 Kings 19:12-13)

In the St. Malachy prophecy, according to Father Thibaut, "Petrus Romanus" represents the sum and total of all the Popes, as I have written before. I do think that Pope Benedict is the "Glory of the Olive" for he has opened the door to the Two Witnesses, who will come to the world at a time of great Apostasy.

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
(Apoc. 11:1-3)

Perhaps Benedict and Francis are the Witnesses who have appeared in many prophecies. However, it could be that the other Witness will be a great Catholic lay-leader, who in prophecies has been labeled the Great Monarch. We must wait and see how things unfold. Share

"Miserando Atque Eligendo"

His Holiness Pope Francis, "Lowly yet Chosen"

Nolite tangere christos meos et in prophetis meis nolite malignari. (I Par. 16:22, The Vulgate)

"Touch not my anointed ones and do no evil to my prophets." (I Chronicles 16: 22) It was shocking how even as Our Holy Father Francis stepped upon the balcony the detraction and calumnies of his enemies began, like many verbal stones. Yet his serenity and peacefulness are from beyond this world. The rage being leveled at this quiet man is beyond anything I have ever seen before; it tells me that the devil is threatened, which is always a good sign. May God protect Our Holy Father from those who hate him.

One of the best pieces I have come across on our new Pope was written by Rush Limbaugh, someone I hardly ever read, but he is right on target this time:

I heard people, in fact, media people, "Is this new hope, is he a liberal? Is he a conservative?" He's a Catholic! It's no more complicated than that. Catholicism is what it is. You don't have to believe it. You don't have to follow it. But it's not up to them to modernize to you. It's not up to any religion, although some do this, 'cause they want the money. They want the membership. But the Catholic Church doesn't do it. It's not up to them to bend and shape and mold itself to accommodate the shrinking depravity of a worldwide culture. It's to provide the exact opposite. It's to provide a beacon out of depravity, among other things.

Pope Francis I is bad news for the Drive-By Media. He is adamantly opposed to abortion. He is adamantly opposed to euthanasia. He has called the pro-choice movement a culture of death. He opposes same-sex marriage, which he has called demonic in origin. He opposes gay adoption on the grounds that it is discriminatory to the child. He opposed Argentina's legalizing of same-sex marriage. He called it a real and dire anthropological throwback. He was exiled by the Cristina Kirchner government. He was dispatched to the northern climes and the outposts of Argentina. He literally was cast out by the government.

And you know who rescued him? John Paul II. He's a protege, by the way, of John Paul II. John Paul II rescued Pope Francis from what essentially was internal exile, and he was made archbishop of Buenos Aires. And this just happened in early 2000. It's not that long ago. The Argentinean government had basically taken this pope, cast him out. He was teaching math. He was teaching high school math in small, little towns in northern Argentina because he refused to go along with Cristina Kirchner at present and her husband, who was her predecessor. He refused to go along with any of the cultural modernization, and as such they had nothing to do with him. And the Jesuits, of which he is one, had many left-wing members, and they were eager to cast him out, which they did. Oh, yeah, there are left-wing and right-wing Jesuits. There are left-wing and right-wing Catholics, as you know.

And this man, if you had to categorize him, you would have to call him -- and I really don't like doing this, but if it will help facilitate, help people understand, it would be accurate to say that he is a conservative. He's a conservative theologian. I had somebody that I really trust in these matters, a Catholic, who is in Rome, tell me today that in their opinion, Pope Francis is the Catholic equivalent of our Founding Fathers on federalism. But I find it fascinating that he refused to accede, refused to go along with any of the cultural modernization, which was same-sex marriage, contraception, abortion on demand.

And the Jesuits, the left-wing Jesuits working with the Kirchner government, basically threw him out. And he's rescued by John Paul II, made archbishop of Buenos Aires, and then a cardinal, and almost became pope when Benedict became pope, but the people that put him up -- he didn't want to be pope -- the people that put him up for pope in the conclave in 2005 were simply trying to block Benedict. And they failed. He's not crazy about being pope now, apparently. But he accepted it.

You know what he did today? Twelve hours after becoming pope he got in a small, little typical Italian putt-putt car and went to the hotel where he was staying during the conclave and picked up his bags and then went to a local church, which is devoted to the Virgin Mary, and prayed. This is stuff that presidents and popes dispatch underlings to go do. "Go get my bags. They're over at the hotel. Bring 'em back here to my papal apartment." He dressed up in his official pope togs and got in the car and drove over to the little hotel where he was staying, nothing fancy, picked up his own bags and went to church and went back to the Vatican.

I read some things this man has said -- and don't get the wrong idea. I'm just telling you why I like this so far. I'm reading things that he's said that I have authored in the Undeniable Truths of Life. One of my Undeniable Truths of Life is that senior citizens -- I'm paraphrasing my own truth; I don't have it right in front of me -- senior citizens are among the most valuable resource we have for our young people. And, of course, young people throw the elderly away and they laugh at 'em, old-fashioned fuddy-duddies, don't know what they're talking about. To the young, every old person has Alzheimer's. To the young, every old person has Parkinson's.

This man said that the elderly are the seat of wisdom in any society, is how he put it. He says adoption by homosexuals is a form of discrimination against children, which is why you're only gonna be hearing about the aspects of his life I just described, this common man, everyday man. This is not what they were hoping for.

The Vatican is apparently a mess, too, the Vatican Curia -- the White House, if you will -- the administrative aspect. One of the first things that he's going to do when he really sits down and gets serious, is there's a 300-page report on all of the corruption, the back-stabbing, the basic disintegration of the administration of the Vatican, all the petty politics. There's a report done that details it all, and he's gonna be charged here with making the appropriate changes, if he deems them necessary.

People have said that the Prophecy of St. Malachy has been proved false. I do not think so. I think it has been fulfilled. Another Jesuit, Fr. René Thibaut, surmised that the prophecy about "Peter the Roman" does not signify a future pope calling himself “Pope Peter II” but rather Petrus Romanus symbolizes all the Roman pontiffs since St. Peter, for the Church has continually undergone persecution of some kind. For Fr. Thibaut and other scholars, the final pope mentioned on the list is given the mysterious title Gloriae olivae, “The Glory of the Olive.” Fr. Thibaut says that the olive represents the people of God whom His judgment will glorify. It is then, as Fr. Thibaut interprets, that the kingdom of God will be manifested in an extraordinary manner. Benedict XVI is De gloria olivae, the last pope on the list. Fr. Thibaut makes it clear that this does not indicate the end of the world but the end of an era. Now we have a Jesuit pope, the first one, who is also the first pope from the New World. A new era has indeed begun. It is cause for hope rather than trepidation, hope which inspires reverence, prayer and vigilance.

There are other prophecies that are awaiting fulfillment. Whether they are for our time or a future time we cannot be certain. But given the recent events it is worth reading them.  Here is one from Robert of Uzes on the Papal Crisis and Angelic Pope (1292):

In the same place I saw in a dream that I was with my oldest brother and younger sister. While we were walking we came to a door and heard the words: "The pope is inside, if you wish to see him." We entered and kissed his feet as he stood on the ground. I was amazed that he would sit upon the ground and looked upon his short narrow bed with its very poor covering. I said: "Why is it, Father, that you have such a poor bed? The poorest of the poor bishops of the world would not have a meaner one." The pope said to me, "We must be humbled." Suddenly we were on our way down a mountain and I saw him in the habit of the Friars Minor [i.e. the Franiciscans]. (Read more at Emmett O'Regan's Unveiling the Apocalypse.)

 Remember the prophecies of the "Three Days Darkness" which everyone started reading in the 1980's? People were buying special kits with Holy Water and blessed candles to protect themselves? Mr. O'Regan has his own theory about that particular Prophecy, which is interesting for those interested in Catholic and Scriptural prophecies:

Although the prophecies of the Three Days of Darkness appear to be directly related to the "time, times, and half a time" in the Book of Daniel and the Apocalypse (and would therefore be synonymous with the 35 years of apostasy leading up to the millennium), there is also the possibility that they can be used to point to another date. If the Three Days of Darkness are to be interpreted as representing three decades of darkness - three decades which are to be calculated from before the appearance of the Morning Star announcing the arrival of the new dawn in the Great Jubilee Year 2000, then we could have an alternative date concerning the start of the Great Apostasy - the year 1970; which is just before the end of the Zeitoun apparitions (see the post Our Lady of Light and the Apocalyptic Nativity). And if we use the alternative figure for the duration of the abomination of desolation, which is given in Rev 11 as 42 "months" (which is the equivalent of the three and a half years), then the "gentiles" trampling upon the Holy City would last for a period of 42 years - after which a restoration would take place. So according to this interpretation, the "trampling" of the Holy City underfoot would only last until up to the year 2012, and the restoration would begin the year after, in 2013. So this interpretation could also be used to support the Worthy Shepherd Prophecy.
Also worth noting is that there appears to be a division of the period of apostasy similar to the seventy years being cut short in Rev 11:1-3 below:

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
(Rev 11:1-3) (Read more.)

We have no way of knowing whether these prophetic utterances apply to our time or not. Let us watch and pray.

In the meantime, HERE is a post on the Pope's chalice. To quote:

Sitting in his workshop in San Telmo, pencil in hand, goldsmith Juan Carlos Pallarols drafts one of his most meaningful works of art: a chalice that will be delivered to “Pope Jorge” on behalf of all Argentines.

Pallarols knows that this is not just another piece amongst his many other works that have earned him the reputation of being one of the best goldsmiths in the world. This is special.

“It’s a particular gift, it’s for a friend, for a good man, but this is not just a gift coming from me. It comes from the Argentine population,” he said, still moved by the news. Unlike many of the great objects created by him and his goldsmith family, this one stands out for its simplicity. “It’s a simple chalice, like Bergoglio ism” he explains. Years ago, the artist created a chalice for former Pop Benedict XVI with the help of Bergoglio himself, and they both delivered it in person to Ratzinger a few months after he was elected as the Vicar of Christ. “While creating the design, Bergoglio would give his opinion about it and I’m trying to bring that back to this new work,” he explains.

“It will be simple. It will feature images of Our Lady of Lujan and Mary Untier of Knots, whose first painting was brought into the country by him. It will also feature Jesuit symbols and Argentine icon. It will be made of silver, a metal that represents our country.”

For Pope Benedict’s chalice, the artist visited several areas of Argentina and allowed thousands of Catholic followers to chisel it once so Argentines could “be a part” of the work. This time the process will be similar.

“We began working on this new chalice in Argentina, but in the next few days we will exhibit it at the entrance to the Vatican - under close watch by the Swiss Guard – so people can leave their mark. It will also go to Barcelona since I’m currently working on a chalice for the Sagrada Familia, which was commissioned by Bishop Sistach.

Lluis Martínez Sistach was one of the cardinals close to Bergoglio who took part in the recent conclave that elected him as Pope. But this isn’t the only object that Pallarols will be carrying to Rome. For the last four months, he has been working in an exhibit named “Argentina: the gaucho, art and faith”, curated by Roberto Vega, which will be opening in May in one of the galleries of the Vatican Museums.

A collection of 120 pieces will be exhibited.

Laughing, but respectful of the decision “coming from above,” he explains: “When we started working on the exhibit we wondered if it was a sign that the next Pope was going to be Bergoglio. What do you know, it ended up being him.” (Read entire article.)

Do read on how Our Holy Father came to pray the 15 decade rosary every day.

In a tribute to Pope John Paul II written after the Pontiff’s death in 2005, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires recounted how the Pope’s example inspired him to “recite the 15 mysteries of the Rosary every day.”

“If I remember well it was 1985,” Cardinal Bergoglio wrote. “One evening I went to recite the Holy Rosary that was being led by the Holy Father. He was in front of everybody, on his knees. The group was numerous; I saw the Holy Father from the back and, little by little, I got lost in prayer. I was not alone: I was praying in the middle of the people of God to which I and all those there belonged, led by our Pastor.”

“In the middle of the prayer I became distracted, looking at the figure of the Pope: his pity, his devotion was a witness,” he continued. “And the time drifted away, and I began to imagine the young priest, the seminarian, the poet, the worker, the child from Wadowice… in the same position in which knelt at that moment, reciting Ave Maria after Ave Maria. His witness struck me.” (Read more.)

Our Holy Father as a young Jesuit, third from the left, with his family

Our Lady, "Undoer of Knots"

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Habemus Papam!

May God bless and protect Our Holy Father Pope Francis! This is a happy day! Te Deum laudamus!

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Interview with Charles Coulombe

Here is an excellent interview with author Charles Coulombe about the Pope Emeritus and the conclave.

The Church is stagnant in Western Europe and North America (areas which, demographically-speaking, are dying out in general) and these dying zones are precisely the areas from which come the cries for “women’s reproductive rights” and the “groups of nuns.” (The latter, incidentally, are inevitably members of similarly dying orders—the only orders of nuns that seem to attract recruits these days are those who hew a more orthodox line.) For an institution which must think in terms of centuries—and even if questions of “immutable” dogma were not involved—it would make little sense to tie one’s future to the views of a declining, one might almost say failed, portion of the Church.

From that perspective, it is not a question of being “forward thinking” or holding on to “old fashioned values,” but of surviving into the future (to say nothing of remaining true to oneself). Certainly the Cardinals (and anyone else knowledgeable about modern dating norms in Europe and America!) who have read Paul VI’s encyclical “Humanae Vitae” will see that his predictions in 1968 about the probable future if artificial contraception became generally accepted, shall find Church teaching on this point prophetic rather than retrograde—even if it makes uncomfortable reading. (Read entire interview.)

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Dom Guéranger: A Prophet

I love Dom Guéranger's fifteen volume masterpiece, The Liturgical Year. Father Mark quotes the following prophetic words of the holy abbot:

One must study that people's degree of fidelity to the laws of the Church. If its public law is based on the principles and institutions of Christianity, a nation may carry some germs of sickness, but its temperament will be robust. Revolutions make shake it, but will not bring about its dissolution. If the greater number of citizens are faithful to the observance of the Church's exterior precepts; if they keep, for example, the Lord's Day, and the Lenten discipline, there will be a moral foundation that will preserve such a people from the dangers of dissolution.

Gloomy economists will see [in these things] no more than a childish and traditional superstition, good only to retard the onward march of progress. If a nation, hitherto simple and faithful, has the misfortune of listening to these prideful and silly theories, not a century will pass before it realizes that, in emancipating itself from the ritual law of Christianity, it has seen the decline of public and private morality, and that its destiny is beginning to slip away. (Read entire post.)

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