Sunday Meditation: A few words of wisdom from Blessed Pope Pius IX

But first a fake meme. Pope Blessed Pius IX never warned about a future pope. The quote above is all over the internet, but there's no evidence that the pope ever said it. And in view of his statements on papal infallibility, it immediately raised question marks when I saw it. Serious Catholics need to check, check, check! Don't pass along incorrect information. Whoever's doing it are the Joseph Goebbels of the Church.When you see things on the internet, it's wise to check them, especially if a quote has no attribution. We don't need fake quotes. Pope Blessed Pius IX was a zealous shepherd totally committed to defending the faith and how he suffered for it!

To Restore All Things in Christ

I finished reading Pope Pius X's first encyclical, E Supremi Apostolatus, this morning. What a wonderful pope! The document could have been written yesterday and what a clarion call for today's Catholics. Please read it. I'll give you just a few bits of its brilliance:

• Who can fail to see that at the present time society is suffering more than in any past age from a terrible and radical malady which, while developing every day and gnawing into its very being, is dragging it to destruction? You understand, Venerable Brethren, this disease is apostasy from God.

Think about it. That statement was made in 1903. What would the saint say about the situation today when the attack on reason has led to people justifying the insane proposition that man can choose his own sex, mothers can kill and be celebrated for murdering not only their unborn babies in the womb but their born children. How would that saintly pope respond in order "to restore all things in Christ." Do you think he would be telling the world that all religions (including paganism) are pathways to God? Would Pachamama be celebrated in the Vatican garden? Would he invite representatives of other Christian denominations, Buddhists, Muslims, etc. to come to Assisi and worship together? Read his words and answer for yourself:

St. Pius X, Pray for us!

Yesterday was the feast of St. Pope Pius X, so today is good day to read about his life and examine some of his writings. Here's a list of his encyclicals, 17 in all. His motto was "To restore all things in Christ" which was the subject of his first encylical published on October 4, 1903. 

Pray the Rosary to Survive the Scourge of Modernism and Keep the Faith!

What's Wrong with the World? Modernism! Give your priest this oath and ask if he would take it.

Today is the feast of St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, a protege of St. John the apostle and a martyr. What a model for us as modern heretics try to influence us to give a pinch of incense to Caesar. We need to follow in the footsteps of all the martyrs who refused to water down the faith in order to save their lives.

In fact, it would be good for every serious Catholic to take the oath against modernism and follow in the footsteps of the saints. As members of the Church Militant, we can only be effective if we fully embrace the faith and step out well armed on the battlefield, with love, charity, the Eucharist, and the rosary as our weapons. What does the oath affirm? I summarize it in the bold introduction to each section.

Sunday Meditation: Happy Birthday, Blessed Mother!

For Our Lady's birthday, I'm reading Pope St. Pius X's encyclical Ad Diem Illum. He wrote it in honor of the 50 year jubilee of the dogmatic declaration in 1854 of her Immaculate Conception. That dogma was declared by Pope Pius IX in his own encyclical, Ineffabilis Deus. If I finish reading the encylical by Pope Pius X, I will read the original declaration.

On the Feast Day of Pope St. Pius X: Challenging Times are Nothing New!

In the old calendar, today is the feast of Pope St. Pius X (pope from 1903-1914). In honor of his feast day, I am reading selections from My Words Will Not Pass Away: doctrinal writings of St. Pius X. I am personally grateful to this pope for encouraging the frequent, even daily, reception of Holy Communion and reducing the age for reception to the age of reason around seven years old. [This is what the Church means when it talks about "development of doctrine". It doesn't mean playing fast and loose with the perennial teachings of Holy Mother Church.] We have a lot to learn from this great saint!

Guest Post: It's Time to Restore All Things in Christ

The motto of Pope St. Pius X was "To restore all things in Christ." Bring it on, Lord!

By Greg Diefenderfer

Looking back over the past 120 years at the tumultuous 20th century, two inflection points seem to stand out. One was World War I, which began 30 years after Pope Leo’s locution in 1884 and 3 years before Fatima. “The Great War” started the carnage that would eventually kill over 100 million souls. The second was the middle of the 20th century, when, seemingly out of nowhere, western Christian society started to go crazy. Compare anything you wish – music, TV, movies, education, clothing and dress, politics, economics, sexuality, your choice – and everything started deteriorating. We went from Doris Day and Frank Sinatra to Jefferson Airplane and Jimi Hendrix, from Leave it to Beaver to All in the Family. And so on. What happened?

Sunday Meditation: Pope St. Pius X, a Man for Today

In the traditional calendar, yesterday was the feast of Pope St. Pius X, a man for our age. 

The situation at the beginning of the 20th century was much the same as it was for us at the beginning of the 21st. Dissent was rampant. Catholics in the pew were being formed and misled by theologians and catechists espousing a novel religion at odds with the faith, the very essence of modernism which the pope called the "synthesis of all heresies."

Modernism both without and within the Church led Pius X to publish Pascendi, the encyclical against modernism, as relevant today as when it was published September 8, 1907. Pius lamented that the modernists preached that "Dogma is not only able, but ought to evolve and to be changed." That for the faith to be "living" it had to adapt to the spirit of the time. Like today's modernists, those of the early 20th century maintained that "all religions are true" and that doctrine "evolves." Nothing is fixed; the rock is smashed to sand. Although the Assisi meetings were decades away, the spirit of false ecumenism was already polluting the faith with syncretism.

The Triumph of Modernism: An Explanation of the Current Crisis in the Church

Pope St. Pius X

I think what we are seeing in the Church today is the triumph of modernism. Modernism, a declared heresy (in fact the "synthesis of all heresies"), is the "smoke of Satan" that entered the Church after Vatican II. In 1907, Pope St. Pius X who battled modernism throughout his pontificate, required all clergy, religious superiors, professors in Catholic institutions, etc. to take an oath against modernism.
The oath professed belief in revelation, divine acts, miracles and prophecies as the "surest signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion." It professed adherence to the papal encyclical Pascendi which condemned modernism and its tenets very specifically. The oath rejected the "error of those who say that the faith held by the Church can contradict history, and that Catholic dogmas, in the sense in which they are now understood, are irreconcilable with a more realistic view of the origins of the Christian religion."

How Would You Describe the Church Today?

Pope St. Pius X

Remember in the gospels how often we read that people followed Jesus because he "spoke with authority." How's that working today do you think? Do those serving in persona Christi inspire confidence because they "speak with authority?" If you had to pick a word or phrase that summed up what Catholics are experiencing now would "speaking with authority" make the list? Not mine (at least for most prelates). Here's my take on the current situation which was confirmed big time by the recent synod. I believe these words describe the state of the Church:

• confusion
• ambiguity
• error
• disharmony
• discontinuity
• silence on moral truth
• obfuscation

Dare I say diabolical disorientation?

How Modernism has infected the Church

Pope St. Pius X warned over 100 years ago about modernism, the "synthesis of all heresies." Modernism is alive and well and directing the culture of death. Remember that we are called to be warriors in the Church Militant. Have you gone to a 40 Days for Life event yet or joined a group lobbying for life at your state capitol? Have you called your senators and congressman about Obama's health plan that expands the murder of the innocent? We're called to engage the culture not stand on the sidelines. Put on the armour of God and fight for life! Polish the sword of truth by studying the Gospel this Lent. Let's all live it and share it.