LOSS OF THE SENSE OF SALVATION

 

DO YOU THINK YOU'VE LOST YOUR FAITH? READ THIS ARTICLE

Poor unbelievers! How sorry I am for them! Not all are equally guilty. I clearly distinguish two completely different kinds of unbelievers. There are tormented souls who feel they have lost their faith. They don't feel it, they don't savor it as before. They feel they have lost it completely. This very afternoon I received an anonymous letter; no one signs it. Through his words, however, a person of more than average culture shines through. He writes admirably well. And after telling me that he is listening to my lectures on Spanish National Radio, he tells me his story. He tells me that he has almost completely lost his faith, although he desires it with all his soul, because with it he felt happy, and now he feels a terrible emptiness in his spirit. And he begs me, if I know of any practical and effective means to return to his lost faith, to shout it out to him, to show him that goal of peace and happiness he longs for.

My poor friend! I'm going to open a parenthesis in my lecture to send you a few words of comfort. I will tell you with Christ: "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." From the moment you seek faith, you already have it. Saint Augustine says it beautifully: "You would not seek God if you did not already have him." From the moment you desire faith with all your soul, you already have it. God, in His inscrutable designs, has chosen to subject you to a test. He has withdrawn the feeling of faith from you, to see how you react in the darkness. If, despite all the darkness, you remain faithful, a day will come—I don't know if sooner or later, these are God's judgments—when He will restore the feeling of faith to you with a strength and intensity incomparably greater than before. What do you have to do in the meantime? Humble yourself before God. Humble yourself a little, which is the indispensable condition for receiving God's gifts.  Joy, enjoyment, and the savoring of faith are often the rewards of humility. God never resists humble tears. If you kneel before Him and say: “Lord, I have faith, but I wish I had more. Help my little faith.” If you fall on your knees and ask God to give you the innermost feeling of faith, He will give it to you infallibly, do not doubt it; and in the meantime, my poor brother, live in peace, because not only are you not far from the Kingdom of God, but, in reality, you are already within it.

Ah! But your case is completely different from that of true unbelievers. You are not an unbeliever, even if for the moment you lack the sweet and savory feeling of faith. True unbelievers are those who, without any foundation, without any argument to prevent them from believing, burst into foolish laughter and utterly disregard the truths of faith.  You have no argument against it, you cannot have one, gentlemen. The Catholic faith resists all kinds of arguments that may be put against it. There is not, and cannot be, a valid argument against it. It infinitely surpasses reason, but it never contradicts it. There can be no conflict between reason and faith, because both proceed from the same and only source of truth, which is the first Truth by essence, which is God himself, in whom there can be no contradiction. It is impossible to find a valid argument against the Catholic faith. It is impossible for there to be unbelievers in the head—as I told you the other day—but there are abundant ones at heart. He who leads an immoral conduct, he who has acquired a fortune through unjust means, he who has four or five girlfriends, he who is up to his neck in mire and mud—how can he calmly accept the Catholic faith that speaks to him of an eternal hell! It is more convenient for him to dispense with faith or to hurl at it the laughter of unbelief.  Fool! As if that laughter could alter the tremendous reality of things in any way! Laugh now! The laughter of a dwarf on a night in Chinatown. Laugh now! God's time will come! Things will change. Listen to Holy Scripture: "You rejected all my advice and did not obey my requests. I, too, will laugh at your ruin and mock when terror comes upon you." (Prov 1:25-26). Christ himself warns in the Gospel, quite clearly: "Woe to you who laugh now, for you will groan and weep!" (Lk 6:25). Are you mocking all this? Well, go on enjoying yourself and laughing peacefully. You are dancing with incredible madness on the edge of an abyss: it is the time of your laughter! The time of God's laughter will come for all eternity.

“THE MYSTERY OF THE BEYOND”

Antonio Royo Marín. O.P.

Father Pio dixit

 

How many souls will spend years and years in purgatory because of those ideas!

And we hear phrases like:

"Finally, he's resting with God."

"We now have a little angel in heaven."

"He was very good, he's at peace now."

No, my friends, only God knows in what state that soul arrived in His presence, but good wishes are not enough to save a soul, no matter how beloved it may be.

Therefore, let us not stop offering prayers, Masses, and sacrifices for the souls in purgatory; they may still need us greatly.

LET US NOT FORGET THEM.

THE VIRGIN OF REMEDIES AND THE HILL OF OTOMCAPULCO IN TOTOLTEPEC

Evening of June 30: 505nd Anniversary of the arrival of the Image of Our Lady of Remedies to Naucalpan, amidst the tragic flight of "The Sad Night."

After the chaos caused during Cortés' absence from the Great Tenochtitlan, the natives became very angry with Emperor Moctezuma II for various reasons, one of them being for having allowed the Spanish to place the Image of Our Lady of Remedies atop the Templo Mayor.

Following the death of Moctezuma II and the growing hatred of the natives toward the Spanish, on the night of June 30 to July 1, 1520, the Spanish conquistadors under Hernán Cortés fled the city of Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire.  But not before collecting the image that presided over the Templo Mayor, the patron saint of the Conquest, which had remained intact despite the attacks of the Mexica seeking its destruction.

Many of the Spaniards only attempted to flee, because the indigenous warriors caught up with them and offered their blood to their false gods. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, author of the "True History of the Conquest of New Spain," a soldier present at that event, estimates that around 600 of his comrades died.

Cortés and his men fled at midnight on June 30, 1520. Cortés gave the signal to depart, and under orders of silence, they marched across a canoe bridge toward Tlacopan (Tacuba). Before reaching the causeways leading out of the Aztec city, they were observed by Aztec warriors, who sounded the alarm warning of the Spanish escape.  As the Spanish and their allies reached the causeways, hundreds of canoes appeared in the waters alongside the Aztec warriors.

The Spanish and their native allies fought their way out in the rain against countless arrows, using portable bridges to bridge the gaps.  It is said that during the battle, the natives suddenly saw a bearded man mounted on a white steed flashing with a distinctive light, shielding the Spaniards from fleeing (some say it was the apostle Saint James, known as "Santiago Matindios"); but they also saw a Lady with a Child in her arms, both with delicate faces, who threw dirt in the eyes of the natives so they would lose track of the Spaniards (here it is believed that it was the Virgin of Remedies).

Upon reaching the territory of Tacuba, they entered the area of ​​Totoltepec, where the Otomi Indians, tired of being dominated and enslaved by the Mexica empire, supported Cortés and his men, providing them with provisions and treating their wounds so they could later resume their journey.

Tradition tells us that upon arriving at Totoltepec, Cortés sat at the foot of an ahuehuete tree to mourn his defeat.  The image of the Virgin of Remedies, and feeling helpless over his failure, Cortés, fearing that the Blessed Image would be desecrated, ordered Captain Juan Rodríguez de Villafuerte (the soldier who brought the Virgin) to hide her at the top of a grove on Otomcapulco Hill. There was no safer place than the hollow of a maguey tree at the top of Otomcapulco Hill (today Los Remedios), where the indigenous chief of Totoltepec, Don Juan Ce Cuautli, found her in 1540.

It seems strange to think that after the battle of the "Noche Triste," the Spanish Conquistador and General Hernán Cortés stayed to mourn his defeat in the tree located in Popotla (for let us remember that the Aztec dominions extended even beyond those lands), as most people think. Therefore, it is more likely that this resting place took place in Totoltepec, since  It was an Otomi domain.

It is worth noting that the aforementioned Ahuehuete de Totoltepec is still standing, making it one of the oldest trees preserved in the town.

Author: Eduardo Baltazar Martínez.

CATHOLIC: ALWAYS REMAIN UNITED TO THE CROSS OF CHRIST

Catholics must unite themselves to the cross, in the depths of their souls, uniting the sufferings of our time with the Passion of Our Lord.

We must not only unite against modern errors, but we must provide our families with an alternative to this godless world in Christian civilization. Therefore, our unity is first for the Truth and then against error.

The Truth we promote is Catholic Tradition in all its fullness: the doctrine revealed by Christ and guarded by the Catholic Church: faith and morals, as well as the sacred traditional liturgy and also the customs, pious beliefs, and the great monuments of art, architecture, and music.

We unite according to the binding force of Tradition; this is what was handed down to us by our grandparents and parents, to be passed on to our children and grandchildren.

WHAT THE PRIEST SHOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT

 

“Look, my priest, stop worrying about the suggestion of numbers and focus more on quality. Rather than filling my churches with people, focus on filling them with the sweet aroma of fervent Communions, of heartfelt adoration, of sighs of love, of aspirations of hope, of inspirations of faith, of well-praised prayers, of sinners' tears, of effective resolutions of amendment, of an intensely Eucharistic life.” Author: Monsignor Manuel González (1877-1940), the Apostle of the Abandoned Tabernacles.