Sunday Meditation: If you want to go to hell, here's the Rx from "Dr." Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire)

It's hard to believe that anyone would actually seek to become an atheist and develop a program to turn belief into disbelief offering it as a prescription for hating God and His Church. Why? 

If you don't believe, why not just shrug and walk away? Why actively pursue hatred of the God in Whom you don't believe? Wouldn't it make more sense to pursue truth, goodness justice, mercy, etc.? Aren't those the most noble pursuits? And consider Voltaire's given name. His parents obviously dedicated him to Our Lady. His mother died when he was only seven. How sad that he did not turn to the Queen of Heaven.

To me, the idea that someone would desire and pursue hatred of a God in which he disbelieves is unfathomable. But that's what Voltaire not only did himself, but he advised others to do it as well. Where is Voltaire today one wonders in alarm. The loss of any soul for Whom Christ suffered and died is a tragedy. Let us pray that Voltaire, a brilliant but stupid man, repented in the end.

Part V: A Pinch of Incense to Modernism -- How Accepting Ecclesia Dei, etc. Poisoned Principles

See all the previous posts in this series on Ecclesia Dei and its aftermath on our Modernism page.

I started out this series bringing up principles. If someone calls you a person of principle, what do they mean? The American Heritage Dictionary defines principle as: 

• A basic truth, law, or assumption.
• A rule or standard, especially of good behavior.
• The collectivity of moral or ethical standards or judgments.

Let's Hope Glenn Beck is not a Prophet! Things aren't looking good if he's right!

Unfortunately, Glenn Beck is often absolutely on target. Which means we all better be on our knees preparing like the people of Nineveh for some very rough times. God often uses chastisement to bring us to our knees, so let's not fear it, but do what the people of Nineveh did. Now if only dear leader would be the one to put on sackcloth and ashes and call for the people of the United States to do penance. I don't think we'll see that sad to say. No matter what happens, keep the faith!

 

Liberty vs License: The Crisis in the Catholic Church - Part 2

A picture is worth a thousand words. The fact that the smoke of Satan has entered inside her walls literally with the Satanic architecture of the papal audience hall. Satan is hardly disguised there, but raises his reptilian head for all to see.

See  Part 1

Without naming Lamennais, Pope Gregory XVI addressed his errors in the 1832 encyclical, Mirari Vos: On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism:

...it is obviously absurd and injurious to propose a certain “restoration and regeneration” for [the Church] as though necessary for her safety and growth, as if she could be considered subject to defect or obscuration or other misfortune. Indeed, these authors of novelties consider that a “foundation may be laid of a new human institution,” and what Cyprian detested may come to pass, that what was a divine thing “may become a human church.”

 The pope went on to decry indifferentism which:

Do Charity and Love Prevail in the Diocese of Arlington?

Before I get into the subject of this post, let me explain the collage above. My oldest brother, who died in 2019, created it for his Facebook page. That's him as a baby and as a teenager. He always said he was the youngest survivor at Pearl Harbor because my mom was a few months pregnant on December 7th when the attack occurred.

Is the Pope Catholic?: The Ambiguous World of Pope Francis

Remember the cliche response to questions with an obvious answer? Someone asks a football nut if he's going to watch the Super Bowl and he responds, "Is the pope Catholic?" 

Well...you don't hear that much these days for obvious reasons, but it really came home to me with two articles I happened to read this week. One was from the October 27th issue of The Wanderer by Raymond De Souza titled When Ambiguity Holds Sway in the Church. If anything marks this pontificate, ambiguity takes the premier position. And that reminds me of a comedy routine by Emo Philips when he ends a joke saying, "Ambiguity... the devil's volleyball."

Questions on Saturday for Curious Catholics with Inquiring Minds

 Is Cardinal Burke in Schism?

"On at least five occasions, Cardinal Burke has rejected the magisterial nature of official papal teaching (in one case, pre-emptively dismissing a hypothetical official teaching of the Magisterium)." Since this is what the SSPX also does, why does he believe they are "in schism" for holding the same positions as he does? That's a head scratcher!

Does Cardinal Burke think Pope Francis is an anti-pope?

"Curiouser and Curiouser:" Living in the Francis Bizarro Church!

I would have said "Wonderland," but there is nothing of "wonder" in anything that comes out of the Francis Vatican these days, only of the bizarre. Let's look at some of the latest abominations:

1. Vatican dismissal of Fr. Pavone -- Yes, it's true, crazy but true, and one more event that damages belief of faithful Catholics in the legitimacy and authority of Rome. Here's Fr. Pavone's response to this abomination.

You can read more about it in the articles below:

Vatican dismisses Father Frank Pavone from priesthood 

Is the SSPX "Out of the Boat?" A Modern Parable

Recently I had a conversation with a priest in which we were discussing the situation with the SSPX. He described them as being "out of the boat." I've been thinking about that metaphor for several days and, really, I don't think it's true. 

Looking Back and Looking Forward: Living in Times of Religious Crisis is Nothing New!

Out of curiosity yesterday I pulled out my old high school religion book, The Way, the Truth, and the Life and began reading. It was published in 1956 and was first in a series for high school students. In the first chapter I read this about the Jewish faith in the era of Pax Romana:

Thought for the Day: Sola Scriptura Makes No Sense!

And if you interpret it any which way, and reject
the authority of the Church, the same applies!

I'm always catching up on my reading and this morning I'm reading the January 4th issue of The Wanderer. Great publication! Raymond De Souza has an article in his Live Your Faith series providing testimony from early Christians on the sacrament of Confession which proves it was practiced from the first century. He is refuting the contention by some skeptics that the sacrament was an invention from the Middle Ages and demonstrates through the writings of The Fathers of the Church (and others) to illustrate his point. But the paragraph that caught my eye was this:

Monday Morning Thought: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

Are you discouraged about the state of the Church? Are you scandalized by the bad guys in Roman collars? Do you imagine them at the pinnacle of the temple looking down upon the earth while the evil one whispers in their ears about what he will give them? 

Don't be!

Things have always been thus and the Holy Spirit remains with Holy Mother Church despite the ear tickling, scandalous clergy.  Here are a few situations that prove sin is never original and never goes out of style among bad clergymen. It ain't new, but it's not the "rest of the story."

THE BAD GUYS

Example #1

Cardinal Cupich is our own modern Cardinal Wolsey. Just as Wolsey was willing to mess with the doctrine of marriage to give Henry VIII what he wanted (i.e., normalization of his adulterous relationship with Ann Boleyn), Cupich is ready to dump Christ's teaching on marriage to normalize adultery and encourage sacrilegious Communion for the adulterers. Unfortunately there are plenty of others in the Church just like him. (The bishops of Malta and Argentina come to mind.)

U.S. cardinal writes foreward to new book approving Communion for adulterers

Fear Not! Our Twelve Star General is Leading Us.

An anonymous reader left a long quote from Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich on my post about the Synod. These two visions reminded me that, although we are war with the world, we have a general leading us in whom we can place all our confidence. So fear not. The worst that the world can do is kill us, and if we die for the faith, we have a direct, non-stop ticket to heaven. Follow the advice of Padre Pio: "Pray, hope, and don't worry."

April 12, 1820: "I had another vision of the great tribulation. It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps."

October 22, 1822: "Very bad times will come when non-Catholics will lead many people astray. A great confusion will result. I saw the battle also. The enemies were far more numerous, but the small army of the faithful cut down whole rows (of enemy soldiers). During the battle, the Blessed Virgin stood on a hill, wearing a suit of armor. It was a terrible war. At the end, only a few fighters for the just cause survived, but the victory was theirs." 

The victory is the Lord's. We have nothing to fear. Keep the faith and defend it and all will be well! Our Lady of Victory, pray for us.

Keep the Faith -- No Matter What!

And here's another great website to help you do it! Keep the Faith

Hunker Down and Keep the Faith

The dear priest who witnessed our marriage was a benedictine monk who suffered greatly for his orthodoxy. As a matter of fact, the monks were happy to have him teach chemistry at the University of Maryland so they didn't have to deal with his faith. He told us once when we were lamenting the state of the Church that the laity always bring her back. I thought of Father when I listened to Michael Voris' message today. Keep the faith and pass it on to your children and grandchildren.

"Keep Punching"

A priest friend just sent me a very encouraging email about keeping the faith and the fight as we enter this new dark age in the Obama-nation. I was so personally encouraged I thought I'd share it. I haven't seen Cinderella Man but I definitely will after Father's recommendation. And I urge all who care about the future of this country, for the sake of our children and grandchildren, to pray and fight for a restoration of a culture of life. Don't just fight at the abortion mills, but in the schools. Tyrants have always gone after the children because they are the future. So fight on Facebook and My Space, fight on the editorial pages of national and local newspapers. Fight at political town meetings and in the halls of congress. You will even have to fight in your own churches, often with your own pastors.

And always remember to fight with charity and a smile so pray first.

Mary Ann

Yesterday I watched the Ron Howard movie, "Cinderella Man." Like Spielberg, when he puts his mind to it, Howard can produce a very good movie and this was a good example. It's the story of Jimmy Braddock, the prize fighter who came back from destitution to become the heavy weight champion by beating Max Baer in 1936. The story line was his great Catholic love for his wife and family that drove him to keep fighting to keep food on the table.

Don't miss it if you haven't seen it. Braddock, who Joe Louis said was the "bravest fighter" he knew, would always tell his nephews and nieces when leaving them, "Keep punching." Joe Louis had to knock out Jimmy Braddock because he, Braddock, would not quit.

"Keep punching." Good advice, methinks.