Thursday, March 31, 2016

Does the shoe fit us? Let us reflect on this…

“THE STRENGTH OF SATAN’S REIGN IS DUE TO THE EASY-GOING WEAKNESS OF CATHOLICS”


POPE SAINT PIUS X SAID:

“… We must adore the dispositions of Divine Providence that, after establishing its Church down here on Earth, allows for her to encounter all kinds of obstacles and tremendous resistances. The reason behind this is evident: the Church is militant, and therefore is always in a constant battle. This battle makes the world a real battlefield where every Christian is a courageous soldier that fights under the banner of the Cross. This battle began with the life of our Holy Redeemer and it will only end with the end of time. Therefore, it is necessary that we, following the example of the brave people of Judah upon their return from captivity, reject the enemy with one hand while building the walls of the Holy Temple with the other, that is, to work in our own sanctification…

“Yes, we live in an age where many are ashamed to confess their Catholic faith, where several others hate God, faith, Revelation, cult and its ministers; that combine mocking impiety with their words, deny all things, and laugh and mock at everything, without even respecting the sanctuary of conscience…

“Let us not exaggerate the difficulties when it comes to the practice of what faith imposes on us to fulfill our duties, to exercise the fruitful apostolate of example that our Lord expects of us: Unicuique mandavit proximo suo. The difficulties come from those who create and exaggerate them; from those who trust in themselves and not in Heaven, and who cowardly give in intimidated by mockery and scorn. All of which leads us to conclude that in our time, more than ever before, the chief strength of the wicked, lies in the cowardice and weakness of good men, and all the strength of Satan’s reign is due to the easy-going weakness of Catholics.

Oh! if I might ask the Divine Redeemer, as the prophet Zachary did in spirit: What are those wounds in the midst of Thy hands? The answer would not be doubtful: With these was I wounded in the house of them that loved Me. I was wounded by My friends, who did nothing to defend Me, and who, on every occasion, made themselves the accomplices of My adversaries. And this reproach can be leveled at the weak and timid Catholics of all countries.”

Fragments of the discourse given by Pope Saint Pius X on December 13, 1908, at the Beatification of Joan of Arc, John Eudes, Francis Ferdinand de Capillas and Théophane Vénard. Albeit the Pope was speaking, in a way, particularly to the French people, his words can be universally applied. Act Apostolicsi Sedes, January 15, 1909, pp. 142-145.

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Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Something to reflect upon…

“BUT HE THAT SHALL PERSEVERE TO THE END, HE SHALL BE SAVED.” Matthew 24:13

In the picture of today’s post we see the Jewish people demanding the death of the Messiah they had been expecting for so long. It was the same people that had acclaimed Him at His triumphal entry to Jerusalem just a few days earlier. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. The human heart is fickle and changing. We love something one day, and hate it the next day, and we let ourselves be influenced by public opinion and general criteria. Let us not forget that the legitimate spiritual guides were the ones that instigated and stirred up the people to demand the crucifixion of their Messiah. In these times of universal apostasy, we are not exempt from falling. That is why we need to be alert, and to ask Christ and His Most Sweet Mother for help to be able to remain always faithful to His true doctrine, and so that they prevent us from following the errors of the world. May Our Lord Jesus Christ grant us our spiritual conversion to sin no more, and to persevere until the end so that we may be saved.

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Sunday, March 27, 2016

Happy and Blessed Easter to all our friends/readers!

If we have died to sin this Lent, are we still going to live in it? If he have felt grief for our sins, are we still going to commit them?


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Thursday, March 24, 2016

Meditation on the wounds of Christ


I.                    To love Jesus Christ you need only look at the sacred wounds in His feet, hands and adorable side. How could I not love you, O Sweet Jesus, when I see everything You suffered for me? You saved me from Hell by shedding all your blood; You gave me all the merits of your Holy Passion. Let us enter, O my soul, into the Heart of Jesus through the wound in his side; let us talk to Him and listen to what He tells us. Through His wounds, I can see the secrets of His heart.

II.                  Are you tempted by desperation in light of the sins you have committed and the difficulties you encounter on the way to Heaven? Are you prone to pride, lust or any other sin? Take refuge inside the loving wound in Jesus’ side; listen to Him saying: “How could I desire your death, my son, if I died for you? And would you want to offend Me after all the good that I have done for you? If my Father has so severely punished in Me Adam’s sin, would He forgive you if you offend Him?”

III.                Are you afflicted, overwhelmed by sorrow, loaded down with opprobrium, without support and consolation? Take refuge in the Heart of Jesus. In there you will find a safe haven; a consoler and a friend. Confide Him your sorrows, your heartaches, your concerns; tell Him all your sufferings, but, in turn, listen to Him when He tells you about His. He stretches His arms in the cross to embrace you, He opens His Heart to welcome you inside.

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Wednesday, March 23, 2016

How are you going to live the Holy Week?


The last three days of the Holy Week: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday are referred to as the Triduum Sacrum. These days are part of the most important week in the history of mankind, because all the creation would be useless if we had not been saved by Christ.

The Holy Week is the week of the Passion of Christ. Passion means the sufferings and death of Christ on the cross. Passion, Redemption, Salvation and eternal life are linked together. Without Christ’s sufferings and death there would be no salvation for us, ungrateful sinners.

Christ became the sacrificial Lamb that bore our sins. Saint Thomas Aquinas states in his Summa Theologica that “God's justice required that Christ should satisfy by the Passion in order that man might be delivered from sin.” (III, 66, 4).

He accepted being tormented to prevent you from suffering eternally; He accepted being scourged to save you from spending an eternity being scourged by demons in Hell.

Would you go on holiday the same day your parents died? Jesus dies on Good Friday, and how do you spend this day? Mourning or having fun?

Christ accepted to experience the terrible thirst of the crucifixion; He accepted the bitter death on the Cross to save you from suffering the eternal thirst of happiness. He accepted dishonor so that you would not be dishonored and ashamed in the Judgment Day.

And you, ungrateful son, how do you spend the Holy Week while your Lord is dying instead of you so you can be saved? What do you do? Where do you go? Why do you profane it?

If your employer gives you those days off due to them being part of the Holy Week, you should already know that they are not for going on holiday, or for dissipation. On the contrary, you should make good use of them by doing penance, praying and weeping.

The Son of God made man is fighting against the devil to set you free. Yes, to set you and your family free from the greatest danger possible: eternal perdition. Know this, and instill it in your children, so that they grow up showing their gratefulness to their Savior.

That precious blood that wipes away your sins is the Blood of your Benefactor: Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is God himself who says to us: “And without shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Hebrews, 9:22). No man can obtain by himself the forgiveness of his sins. He must seek it elsewhere. Where? In the Blood of the Son of God who died on the Cross on Good Friday. Saint Paul says: “We have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins…” (Ephesians, 1:7).

Above all, do not say that you have not sinned and therefore do not need forgiveness. By saying this, you would only be expressing your blindness and ignorance. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar: and his word is not in us.” (1 John, 1: 8).

Man cannot offer a propitiatory sacrifice for his sins. Our Lord Jesus Christ became the propitiation for our sins. He offers Himself on Good Friday in Propitiatory Sacrifice just for you. Only, through Christ’s Blood can you purify yourself, and be freed from the chains of sin and the tyranny of the devil.

And during these days where Christ is suffering the agonies of the Cross to earn your salvation, you, poor sinner, go to the beach to have fun, perhaps to accumulate even more sins to those you have already committed. Wake up, my brother, wake up from your lethargy! Be grateful to your Savior! Act as a true Catholic!

Go to the church to see and listen to what Christ is suffering instead of you. You should know that ingratitude draws God’s punishment rather than His mercy. So be not ungrateful but thankful.

Christian gratitude devotes the Triduum Sacruum to better know what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us, to do penance, to convert to God, and to amend our lukewarm and mediocre lives.

HOLY THRUSDAY

This is the day where Our Lord, before going to His Passion, left you the memorial of His Death. In order to apply the fruits of His Passion to your soul, He instituted the Sacrament of His love, which is the Holy Eucharist, and also the priesthood to consecrate it. He said: “Do this for a commemoration of me”, to remind us what He suffered out of pure love for us; to communicate holiness to our souls and the remedy against sin through the worthy reception of His Body.

And you are thinking about having fun! Do you not know that Christ said: He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me: and I in him. (John 6, 55:57). If you call yourself a disciple of Christ, why do you deprive yourself of the heavenly bread that heals, purifies and gives peace to your soul and home? If you knowingly do not benefit from the remedy that Christ offers you, why do you complain of the difficulties you experience in your life, family or work?

GOOD FRIDAY (Mandatory fast and abstinence)

This day is for you to cry out for mercy for yourself and the entire human race. On Good Friday you should participate in Christ’s funeral by hearing to the Gospel of the Passion and the Seven Words, which are the last guidelines that Christ, our Redeemer, gave us.

Confess this day all your iniquities, cleanse your soul from the leprosy of sin with the Blood of Christ, participate in the Passion of your Savior, so that one day you may share His Victory.

Christ suffered on Good Friday to set you free from sin, which is the most terrible cancer, and from Hell, the greatest misfortune.

And you are thinking of going on holiday like so many other Neo-Pagans, perhaps to die in the road of ingratitude!

On Good Friday you should follow the Way of the Cross, meditate on what your Lord suffered for you to realize what sin deserves. Read the last chapters of Matthew, Luke or John, or watch the movie The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson, to help you understand the price Christ paid to set you free from the power of sin and the devil in order to make you a son of God.

Good Friday is a day of abstinence, fast and penance; silence and tears; mourning and grief; and not a day to spend it on the beach, surrounded by pleasures and diversions (neither licit nor illicit).

HOLY SATURDAY

Holy Saturday is a day of Mourning. Both men and women should wear mourning clothes to keep company to the Blessed Mother of Sorrows. On this day, we should reflect with horror on what sin deserves. If Jesus, who is holiness itself, was punished in such a way, what will be of the sinner if he dies with his sin?

To sum up, my brother, listen to God Himself who says to each and everyone one of us: “Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For his wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy thee.” (Ecclesiasticus 5: 8-9).

Make good use of the Holy Week and convert to God, attend to the Holy Week offices and confess your sins, because honest conversion and true repentance ensure forgiveness of sins; give peace to the soul and, finally, attain eternal life.

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Prayers to Saint Joseph


O Glorious Patriarch, Saint Joseph, in whom God has gathered the splendors of all the saints, grant us that, in this world of pride, we may take refuge in humility.
O Glorious, Saint Joseph, in whom God has gathered the privileges of the nine Choirs of Angels, grant us that, in this world of lust, we may keep ourselves pure in body and soul.
O Glorious Saint Joseph, you always provided firm consolation to the Mother of God, grant us that, in this world enslaved by sin, we may remain as faithful slaves of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
O Glorious Saint Joseph, guardian of the Word of God made man, Our Lord Jesus Christ, grant us that, in the Culture of Death, we may live in true Charity.
O Glorious Saint Joseph, you faithfully cooperated while on Earth to the Redemptive Incarnation, grant us that, in these idolatrous times, we may always adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
O Glorious Saint Joseph, provident supporter of the Sacred Family, provide our needs of soul, mind and body.
O Glorious Saint Joseph, you have always answered to all the pleas made to you, in such a way that made Saint Teresa awestruck because of the great graces that God granted her through your intercession. Grant us, too, all the graces we ask you today.

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The only effective solution


That what is profane is also mundane, that is, everything that distances from the spiritual and higher issues. Holiness is the life of sanctifying grace in our souls. We are all called to be saints, to live in God’s grace, so that, one day we may reach eternal bliss together with our Creator. Many believe that holiness lies only in the heroic practice of the virtues, however, anyone who lives in a state of grace is already leading a saintly life. Holiness is not something unattainable.

Sanctification is a process through which the believer, who accepts and keeps intact the faith that he/her has received, grows steadily in holiness by the continuous action of the Holy Ghost, which begins with his/her incorporation to the Church through the Sacrament of Baptism, and extends until death. Holiness implies getting away from everything that is sinful, and that contaminates both the body and soul, also, behaving in a saintly manner in all aspects of our life and in our relationships with others, getting away from evil and dedicating our entire life, within our means, to God and to serve Him faithfully. The frequent use of the Sacraments, prayer, penance, and the practice of the virtues will increase this process.

Saint Paul tells us: “Therefore, brethren, stand fast in the faith: and hold the traditions, or doctrines, which you have learned.” (2 Thessalonians 2:14) and he also states: “But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting.” (Romans 6:22).

Therefore, the real solution is to convert to God, adjusting our hearts and will to God’s will, and refraining from making the Church worldly or adapting her to the world, which is one of the enemies of our souls, together with the flesh and the devil. The Divine teaching and the deposit of Faith must not be adapted to the criteria and currents of the world, instead we must turn our hearts to God and accept and follow His doctrine and laws. G. K. Chesterton said: “The Church must move the world, rather than moving with the world.” Let us transform hearts instead of deforming the Church!

By standing fast in the faith we have received and acting in keeping with it, one day we will attain the joy of living with God eternally. Therein lies the only and true solution.

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Friday, March 18, 2016

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Surrogacy is against women’s dignity and contributes to their exploitation

  • This practice is against the natural moral and is condemned by the Church.
  • In In Vitro Fertilization only one of all the fertilized eggs is chosen, the rest (where there is already human life) are criminally discarded and deprived of their existence, or frozen indefinitely. Thus, while a human being is given life, its siblings are killed simultaneously.

“Although surrogacy may have been surrounded by an aura of happiness shown by a famous homosexual English musician, cute newborns and notions of the “modern” family, behind that is an industry that buys and sells human life, where babies are tailor-made to fit the desires of the world’s rich”, the latter is the main conclusion reached by a team of Swedish experts derived from the investigations they carried out, at the government’s request, on surrogacy.

“That something is not quite right about surrogacy has been evident for some time”, indicates the report. In such practices, which are shamelessly regulated by the U.N., “a mother is nothing, deprived even of the right to be called “mum”, and the customer everything.”

The investigation shows the need to ban all types of surrogacy, whether altruistic or commercial, including also advertising, despite the fact that surrogacy is strongly supported by the gay-lobby and world-renowned gays.

 The infamous “Baby M” case, in which the mother changed her mind and was forced, in tears, to hand over her baby, and the Japanese billionaire who ordered 16 children from different Thai clinics are two examples cited by The Guardian, where the Swedish report was published.

All Surrogacy is Exploitation

The article entitled “All surrogacy is exploitation” emphasizes that “There has been a total commodification of human life in surrogacy: click; choose race and eye color; pay, then have your child delivered.”

There are other cases that are even worse, where the mothers are forced to have an abortion after the buyers find out that the babies have malformartions, or that there is more than one, so the client demands the abortion of all but one baby.

Baby Factories

This situation is bleaker in countries like Nigeria where, according to the report, the baby factories are a lucrative business. The journalist Milena Castigli exposed the reality of the above-mentioned African country where thousands of women are enslaved in order to provide children for rich couples, both homosexual and heterosexual.

The Italian journalist talks about all the “young women who were abducted, segregated, raped for months, and used as “incubators” for babies, who will be sold abroad for unknown purposes.”

The so-called “baby farms” are nothing but hovels where dozens of women and young women, some of whom are just girls, live crowded as breeding animals. Oppressors paid by powerful local criminal groups keep them segregated until they give birth, and nobody knows what happens to these mothers after delivery. What is even more abominable, nobody knows for certain what happens to their children”, she added.

“Many infants are “placed”, as if they were a commodity, in the circuit of international adoptions and sold at a high price to heterosexual or homosexual couples. Yet, many other children have gone missing. We rightfully fear that they have been “used” as a source of organs or have been “recycled” for the booming market of child pornography”, warned Castigli.

Emanuele di Leo, President of Steadfast (a non-profit organization that has been working for years in Nigeria, alongside the poorest) explains who the buyers guilty of this crime are: “Western people who have infertility issues, hence both heterosexual and homosexual couples; and Nigerians, rich families whose men are responsible for aggression against these girls who are kidnapped from their villages to give birth to a child with their own genetic heritage”.

Why Does Nobody Talk About This Atrocity?

“This new frontier of sexual exploitation is an abominable practice that came to light only a few months ago, yet it had been practiced for years in the conspiratorial silence of those who know, but preferred to keep quiet”, reports Castigli.

It is estimated that the price of a newborn “surrogate” ranges from 4 to 10 thousand euros. These sums, along with the hundreds of women sold abroad as (coerced) “surrogate mothers” constitute an income of hundreds of thousands of euros per year for the clans.

In recent years, at least 20 baby factories have been discovered only in Nigeria. In these places the girls are abused and their end is unknown.

In one of these hellish places that has been recently discovered, the police found 32 young women, all of whom were obviously pregnant, chained to the wall as cows in a stall”, concludes Castigli.

European Parliament

 The European Parliament officially passed a motion on December 2015 condemning and prohibiting the practice of surrogacy.

In the Annual Report of Human Rights and Democracy in the World 2014, the European Parliament “objects to surrogacy on the grounds that it “undermines the human dignity of the woman [because] her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity.” The motion went on to prohibit surrogacy, saying, “The practice of gestational surrogacy, which involves reproductive exploitation and use of the human body for financial or other gain, in particular in the case of vulnerable women in developing countries, shall be prohibited and treated as a matter of urgency in human rights instruments.” (The latter is a textual quotation of point 151, which refers to the rights of women and girls, as it appears in the report signed by Cristian Dan Preda, who is a Romanian Member of the European Parliament and of the People’s Movement Party.

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Monday, March 14, 2016

False Churches = False Religions


Pope Francis intends to participate in a joint ceremony between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation on October 31, 2016, date on which it is celebrated the arguable, and for some people, mythical event where the Catholic ex priest Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis against the Catholic Church on the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, who in 2012 had declared, with reference to the Anniversary of the Reformation, that there was nothing to celebrate, for “we cannot celebrate a sin”, and then in 2014 reiterated once again the same truth, has now adapted to the new times and stated that: “By concentrating together on the centrality of the question of God and on a Christocentric approach, Lutherans and Catholics will have the possibility of an ecumenical commemoration of the Reformation, not simply in a pragmatic way, but in the deep sense of faith in the crucified and resurrected Christ."

While the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ, true God and true man, in A.D. 33, in the day of Pentecost (Matthew 16: 18-19 and Acts 2), all the false religions that separated from her through schism and heresy were sects created by man. Such is the case of the heretical German monk, who died hating the Church from which he had separated, and dragged countless souls by creating his own sect, from which, in turn, thousands of other sects would be invented (because the Truth is ONE and only whereas error is plural).

In 1883, Blessed Sister Maria Serafina Micheli (1849-1911) had an apparition while praying: Her Guardian Angel appeared to her and said: “I want you to see where Martin Luther is in Hell and the pain he suffers as a punishment for his pride.” After these words, she saw a terrible abyss of fire where Luther was tormented. As at that time it was being celebrated in Saxony the 400th anniversary of the heresiarch’s birth, the sister thought that if people saw the dramatic scene that she had seen they would neither honor nor commemorate and celebrate such an evil character. She was convinced that Martin Luther was being punished in Hell especially for the first deadly sin of pride, which caused him to commit a mortal sin and led him to open rebellion against the Catholic Church. His behavior, his attitude towards the Church, and his preaching were crucial to encourage and bring many unwary and superficial souls to eternal ruin and wrong.

For his part, Fr. Stefano Manelli, founder of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, has remarked, in Il Settimanale di Padre Pio (January 20, 2013) that Padre Pio thought the same way about Luther being in Hell, and warned that those who think they can speak directly with God, as Luther did, were also on the way to Hell. Luther's end was horrible and frightening, Fr. Manelli writes based on what Padre Pio said, but this will also be the same history of many Christians and Catholics who believe in the teachings of Luther, he adds.

There is no reason to celebrate the separation of the false churches from the one and only Church of Christ. Is error and leading thousands and thousands outside the path of salvation a cause of joy and celebration? Are people to celebrate now, in the name of a false ecumenism that does not convert anyone, the main anniversaries and feasts of these false religions, and with that their betrayal to Christ?

With all due respect, and without judging anyone’s inner intentions, it has to be said that this event is inconceivable and unbelievable. Never, in the history of the Church, has there been a Pope who thought of accepting something so implausible.

Down below there is a chart that contains all the false sects that call themselves “Christians”. Following the logic above-mentioned, the same should be done for all the other sects so to avoid them feeling discriminated against.


Sunday, March 13, 2016

Prayer reminder for the thirteenth day of each month


We remind you that today, as every 13th day of each month, we will join together in prayer for five minutes, for the intentions that are explained in the following link: http://www.catholicityblog.com/2016/01/appeal-to-our-friendsreaders.html