Sunday, December 31, 2017

Thanksgiving Prayer for Another Year


O God, the beginning and the end of all things, Who art always the same, and Whose years fail not, we now, at the close of another year, kneel in adoration before Thee, and offer Thee our deepest thanks for the fatherly care with which Thou has watched over us during the past, for the many times Thou hast protected us from evils of soul and body, and for the numberless blessings, both temporal and spiritual, which Thou hast showered upon us. May it please Thee to accept the homage of our grateful hearts which we offer Thee in union with the infinite thanksgiving of Thy divine Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who with Thee liveth and reigneth forever and ever. Amen.


Saturday, December 23, 2017

What signal do you want to send?



«Women have a power. By the way we dress and by the way we behave, we can invite a man either to be a gentleman or an animal.

«Then, if a woman wants a man to appreciate her intelligence and personality, she will probably do better if she does not distract him with the piercing in her navel.

«The question I have to ask myself is: What do I really want? Is it more exciting to be truly loved by a man or to attract the gaping glances of many? For those who have the audacity to prefer a man's love, modesty is a tacit invitation to boys to be men enough to win our hearts. It is an invitation to them to consider that there is much more in us than just our bodies. That is why modesty is called the "guardian of love". Without having to say a single word, it sets the standard of respect.»

-Crystalina Evert

Source : La Dama Católica

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Do you really strive to achieve it?


He who gives his will to God, gives Him everything. He who gives his goods in alms, his blood in scourgings, his food in fasting, gives God what he has. But he who gives God his will, gives himself, gives everything he is.

Such a one can say:

“Though I am poor, Lord, I give thee all I possess; but when I say I give thee my will, I have nothing left to give thee.” This is just what God does require of us: “My son, give me thy heart.” St. Augustine’s comment is: “There is nothing more pleasing we can offer God than to say to him: ‘Possess thyself of us’.’’ We cannot offer God anything more pleasing than to say: Take us, Lord, we give thee our entire will. Only let us know thy will and we will carry it out.

If we would completely rejoice the heart of God, let us strive in all things to conform ourselves to his divine will. Let us not only strive to conform ourselves, but also to unite ourselves to whatever dispositions God makes of us. Conformity signifies that we join our wills to the will of God. Conformity means more -- it means that we make one will of God’s will and ours, so that we will only what God wills; that God’s will alone, is our will.

This is the summit of perfection and to it we should always aspire; this should be the goal of all our works, desires, meditations and prayers. To this end we should always invoke the aid of our holy patrons, our guardian angels, and above all, of our mother Mary, the most perfect of all the saints because she most perfectly embraced the divine will.

Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
From the book Conformity to the will of God

Friday, December 15, 2017

The Nativity Scene, a Very Catholic Tradition

It is a beautiful tradition that we must preserve, or in some cases, acquire. It has great meaning to prepare our hearts for the birth of God. It also leaves an indelible mark on the children and is a visual catechesis for the soul of what Catholics celebrate during this time.

Saint Francis and the first Nativity scene


“It started with a man named John who lived in the town of Greccio, Italy. St. Francis was very fond of John, who had a good reputation, and lived an honorable and holy life. Fifteen days before Christmas St. Francis told John to go with haste and meticulously prepare the things St. Francis requested because he wanted to recreate the events that took place that special evening in Bethlehem. He wanted others to know the inconveniences of the baby Jesus. How he lay in a manger surrounded by oxen and asses laying on hay…”

When Francis arrived in Greccio, he found himself in a new Bethlehem and felt that all who participated in the scene had been taken back to the time of Christ’s birth. Men, women and children gathered together with open hearts bringing with them candles and torches to light the night like the gleaming star. Francis felt that he was honoring the simplicity, poverty, and humility of that historic and momentous night in which Christ was born.

The saint of God wore garments of a deacon, for he was a deacon, and he sang the Gospel in the most beautiful voice. Then he preached on the Nativity and the poor child king in the little town of Bethlehem.

God’s blessings multiplied that night, and a miraculous vision was given to a virtuous man. He saw the baby Jesus lying in the manger lifeless, and he saw St. Francis try and wake the baby from a deep sound slumber. This vision was a true representation of the deep sleeping baby Jesus, who was forgotten in the hearts of so many. By the Grace of God, he was brought back to life again by St. Francis, who reawakened their memory.”

Thomas of Celano (1190-1260) Saint Francis and Saint Clara’s biographer. Vita Prima.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

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

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Preparation to Receive the Saviour of Mankind

Advent, Time of Waiting


Beloved, now is the acceptable time spoken of by the Holy Ghost, the day of salvation, peace and reconciliation: the great season of Advent. This is the time eagerly awaited by the patriarchs and prophets, the time that holy Simeon rejoiced at last to see. This is the season that the Church has always celebrated with special solemnity. We too should always observe it with faith and love, offering praise and thanksgiving to the Father for the mercy and love he has shown us in this mystery. In his infinite love for us, though we were sinners, he sent his only Son to free us from the tyranny of Satan, to summon us to heaven, to welcome us into its innermost recesses, to show us truth itself, to train us in right conduct, to plant within us the seeds of virtue, to enrich us with the treasures of his grace, and to make us children of God and heirs of eternal life.

Each year, as the Church recalls this mystery, she urges us to renew the memory of the great love God has shown us. This holy season teaches us that Christ's coming was not only for the benefit of his contemporaries; his power has still to be communicated to us all. We shall share his power, if, through holy faith and the sacraments, we willingly accept the grace Christ earned for us, and live by that grace and in obedience to Christ.

The Church asks us to understand that Christ, who came once in the flesh, is prepared to come again. When we remove all obstacles to his presence he will come, at any hour and moment, to dwell spiritually in our hearts, bringing with him the riches of his grace.

In her concern for our salvation, our loving mother the Church uses this holy season to teach us through hymns, canticles and other forms of expression, of voice or ritual, used by the Holy Ghost. She shows us how grateful we should be for so great a blessing, and how to gain its benefit: our hearts should be as much prepared for the coming of Christ as if He were still to come into this world. The same lesson is given us for our imitation by the words and example of the holy men of the Old Testament.

From a pastoral letter by St Charles Borromeo, bishop (Acta Ecclesiae Mediolanensis, t. 2, Lugduni, 1683, 916-917)

Sunday, December 3, 2017

The First Christians Prayed Like This to the Virgin Mary



Edgar Lobel, an expert in Papyrology at the University of Oxford, dedicated his life to the study of the papyrus found in Egypt. As it is known, the extremely dry climate of most of Egypt has preserved many fragments of ancient papyrus, with texts from millennia ago, in Greek and Coptic. Many of these texts had been lost. In other cases, the papyrus serve to confirm the antiquity of texts that had been preserved through successive copies or translations.

One of these papyrus, discovered in the vicinity of the ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, contained a prayer to Our Lady. And not any prayer, but one that we continue to pray today called Sub tuum praesidium. The Latin version is:

Sub tuum praesidium
confugimus,
Sancta Dei Genitrix.
Nostras deprecationes ne despicias
in necessitatibus nostris,
sed a periculis cunctis
libera nos semper,
Virgo gloriosa et benedicta.
English version:

Beneath thy protection
we seek refuge,
Holy Mother of God;
despise not our petitions
in our needs,
but from all dangers
deliver us always,
Virgin Glorious and Blessed .

And the classic Greek version, which is precisely the one found in the papyrus. Just look carefully at the picture of the papyrus to recognize the original Greek words:

Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν,
καταφεύγομεν, Θεοτόκε.
Τὰς ἡμῶν ἱκεσίας,
μὴ παρίδῃς ἐν περιστάσει,
ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ κινδύνων λύτρωσαι ἡμᾶς,
μόνη Ἁγνή, μόνη εὐλογημένη.
Note the presence of the term Theotokos (in this case, Theotoke), that is, "Mother of God."

Two centuries later, at the Council of Ephesus, it was solemnly recognized that this title was suitable for the Virgin Mary, against the advice of Nestorius.

This means that in Ephesus, the Tradition of the Church was defended against those who preferred their own reasoning to the usual teaching of the Church.

It is quite impressive for us to say this prayer, knowing that the early Christians prayed it already in 250 AD, which is the date on which Edgar Lobel dated the papyrus the prayer was found in (although some believe that it dates back to the previous century).

We have not received it from archaeologists, but from the tradition of the Church, through Latin, in the case of the Latin Church, or from Greek and ancient Slavonic in the East.

It is nice, however, that archeology shows us once again that Tradition is not something invented, but that it truly transmits to us the inheritance that the first Christians received from Christ and from the Apostles.

Theotokos, the Mother of God

The prayer Sub tuum praesidium is an endearing testimony, probably the oldest and the most important around the devotion to Our Lady. It is a troparion (Byzantine hymn) full of youthfulness. It is perhaps the oldest text in which Our Lady is called Theotokos, and unquestionably it is the first time that this term appears in a sentence and invocative context.

G. Giamberardini, a specialist in Egyptian primitive Christianity, in a documented study has shown the presence of the troparion in the most diverse rites and its different variants found even in the Latin liturgy.

The universality of this antiphon suggests that already in the mid-third century it was usual to invoke Our Lady as Theotokos, and that theologians, like Origen, began to pay attention to it, precisely because of the importance it acquired in popular piety. This invocation would have been simultaneously introduced in the Liturgy.

In the Roman rite, it appears in the Liber Responsalis, attributed to Saint Gregory the Great, and it is copied in the ninth century in the following form: "Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix". Some manuscripts of the tenth and eleventh centuries present some interesting variations of this prayer, keeping the expression Sancta Dei Genitrix intact, in strict fidelity to the Theotokos of the Greek text.

These are very faithful translations of the Greek text, as it appears in the Byzantine rite, in which the Greek word eysplagknían is used to refer to the merciful entrails of the Mother of God.

The consideration of the immense capacity of the maternal entrails of the Mother of God is at the core of the popular piety that gave so much importance to the title Theotokos to designate the Mother of Jesus.

And perhaps the most important thing is the fact that the testimony of the Sub tuum praesidium raises the suspicion that the title Theotokos originated in the mid-third century in popular piety as an invocation to the maternal entrails of the one that carried God in her womb. This time, perhaps, popular piety was ahead of Theology. At least, it is very plausible that it was so.

The faithful who, with simplicity, say this prayer to the Sancta Dei Genitrix, the Theotokos, the Mother of God, because they have received it from the hands of the Church, are closest to what the first Christians transmitted and, therefore, so much closer to Christ.

The Latin version of this prayer has been immortalized in music especially by Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
SOURCES:
Lucas F. Mateo-Seco,  La devoción mariana en la primitiva Iglesia
Cfr G. Giamberardini, Il “Sub tuum praesidium” e il titolo Theotokos nella tradizione egiziana, en “Marianum” 31 (1969) 350-351; A.M. Malo, La plus ancienne prière à notre Dame, en De primordis cultus mariani, cit., t. 2, 475-485.

Friday, December 1, 2017

The Power of the Antichrist


The Antichrist will not materially possess a horrifying figure as represented here. On the contrary, he will possess a very attractive personality and will seem full of qualities and virtues. And if those days were not abbreviated, nobody would be saved; but because of the chosen ones those days will be shortened.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

In Islamabad, Muslims Marched to Demand the Death of Asia Bibi

More than a thousand Muslims have taken to the streets to impel the Government to execute her


November 16, La Gaceta.- In 2009, Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Catholic, knelt to drink water from a well. Seeing her quench her thirst, a group of Muslim women accused her of having polluted, by virtue of her Christian condition, that water that had hitherto been pure. Bibi replied to this with unspeakable courage: 'I believe in my religion and in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of humanity. What did your prophet Muhammad do to save mankind?

Accused of blasphemy against the Koran for this assertion, a court sentenced Bibi to death, who, from then on, would live a true legal calvary. Minority Minister Shabahz Bhatti and Punjab Governor Saalman Taser (both assassinated in terrorist attacks), worked hard to free her from an illegitimate sentence, but social pressure went the other way: it demanded the strictest application of the blasphemy law, which, based on the Sharia, is responsible for more than 1,000 convictions in Pakistan.

In October 2016, as a result of the refusal of a judge to participate in it, the definitive trial for the release - or final execution - of this Catholic mother was postponed without a date. Since then, the international pressure to save Bibi has vigorously continued and hope remains unscathed.

Recently, the case of Asia Bibi has drawn renewed interest. That is why, more than a thousand Muslims have taken to the streets of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, in order to impel both the Government and the Supreme Court to execute the faithful Catholic. The protesters, who belong to various Islamic fundamentalist groups, have also called for the release of imprisoned Muslim religious leaders and the dismissal of Justice Minister Zahid Amid.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Polish Bishops Reaffirm the Traditional Doctrine of the Church and Say “No” to Allowing Communion to the Divorced and Remarried

No to Communion to the divorced and “remarried”

The cardinals refuse the possibility of allowing Communion for couples living more uxorio, that is without being united by the Sacrament of Marriage.

The Polish Episcopal Conference, which met in plenary session in Lublin with the assistance of the Nuncio, has pronounced a resounding 'no' to giving Communion to the divorced and remarried, according to Nuova Bussola Quotidiana.

The central theme of the meeting was, precisely, to discuss the text with which to define the application of the Papal Exhortation Amoris Laetitia to the Polish Church, and although the final text has not yet been made public, Nuova Bussola has obtained from an "optimal source” its basic guidelines in which the cardinals reject the possibility of giving access to Communion to couples who live 'more uxorio' – as husband and wife - without being united by the Sacrament of Marriage.

It goes without saying that the same applies to cohabitating couples. They cannot receive sacramental Communion, nor spiritual communion as long as they are in a situation of open contradiction with the Eucharist, which represents the conjugal bond of our Lord with His faithful Church, a bond that is indissoluble and fecund.

The Pontiff himself, after the publication of the exhortation, left the bishops free to interpret with evangelical discernment its application according to the concrete practice of their regions, something that the Polish bishops seem to have taken advantage of to decide their own, which it is based on what has been the constant practice of the Church for centuries.

Why is this news important? In the first place, because it denies (as if it was necessary) the 'official line' unleashed against the critics of the exhortation and the cardinals signatories of the Dubia in the sense that the ambiguity of the text breaks Catholicity, by making, in a crucial matter for three sacraments and for the very concept of sin, lawful what is unlawful, and what is unlawful, lawful and permitted according to the each diocese.

In fact, we have already mentioned some regions where the chosen interpretation is diametrically opposed to the one decided by the Polish Episcopal Conference, as is the case of Germany.

But the decision of the bishops gathered in Lublin is no less crucial in the sense that it is opposed - there is no other way to say it - to what the Pope himself, in a private letter that was published by L'Osservatore Romano, described as "the only possible interpretation" of the pontifical text.

Indeed, Francis, in a letter addressed to the president of the Episcopal Conference of his country of origin, Argentina, congratulates his colleagues in the episcopate for the chosen application, "the only possible one" among the interpretations of the exhortation. And precisely in the Argentine dioceses it has been decided to allow, according to the discernment of the priest, (the sacrilege of*) giving Communion to divorced people who are "married" again.

The issue is thorny. Taking into account the aforementioned letter, the decision of the Poles could be understood as a challenge to the Pontiff, and even provide a vague ball of oxygen to the signers of the 'Correctio Filialis'.

But, on the other hand, the Polish episcopate is doing nothing but embrace the interpretative freedom opened by Francis himself, which is almost forced by the same ambiguity of the wording in the points relating to this question (and proclaim the infallible doctrine that always and everywhere has been taught by the Catholic Church for two thousand years*).

Source: Infovaticana, Article from Carlos Esteban

* Parentheses: Notes of Catholicityblog.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

The Balance of Judgment (story)


There was a woman who was such a devout and fervent Catholic that amazed the most austere religious of the Church of God with her holy life.

She wanted to talk to Saint Dominic. She went to Confession with him, and the saint gave her as penance only one Rosary, and he advised her to pray it every day. She excused herself by saying that she was wearing a cilice, that she scourged herself several times a week, that she fasted almost every day, and countless other penances. Saint Dominic urged her repeatedly to follow his advice, but she did not want to listen; she retired extremely shocked by the behavior of her new director, who wanted to persuade her to a devotion that did not please her.

One day, while being in prayer, and caught up in ecstasy, she saw her soul forced to appear before the Supreme Judge. Saint Michael raised the scales, put her penances and other prayers on one plate, and on the other her sins and imperfections; the plate of good works could not counteract the other; alarmed, she asked for mercy; she addressed the Blessed Virgin Mary, her lawyer, who put on the plate of good works the only Rosary that she had prayed as penance; and its weight was such that it counteracted that of her sins; the Blessed Virgin rebuked her at the same time for not having followed the advice of her server Saint Dominic to pray the Holy Rosary every day. When she regained consciousness, she went to throw herself at the feet of Saint Dominic, and told him what had happened, asked for his forgiveness for her disbelief and promised to pray the Rosary every day. By this means, she came to Christian perfection, and later to eternal glory.


Friday, November 10, 2017

The Protestant Boy and the Virgin Mary


A six-year-old Protestant boy had often heard his fellow Catholics pray the Hail Mary. He liked it so much that he memorized it and prayed it every day. "Look, mommy, what a beautiful prayer," he told his mother one day.

"Do not say it again," replied the mother. "It is a superstitious prayer of Catholics who worship idols and think that Mary is a goddess. She is a woman like any other. Come on. Take this Bible and read it. It contains everything we have to do.” From that day on, the boy stopped praying his Hail Mary every day and spent more time reading the Bible.

One day, while reading the Gospel, he saw the passage on the Annunciation of the Angel to the Virgin. Full of joy, the boy ran to his mother and said: "Mommy, I found the Hail Mary in the Bible: ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women’. Why do you call it a superstitious prayer?" She did not answer. On another occasion, he found the scene of Elizabeth's salutation to the Virgin Mary and the beautiful canticle of the Magnificat, in which Mary announced: 'from now on all generations shall call me blessed'. He did not say anything to his mother and began to pray the Hail Mary every day again, as he used to do. He felt pleasure in telling those beautiful words to the Mother of Jesus, Our Savior.

When he turned fourteen, one day he heard his family discussing about Our Lady. They all said that Mary was an ordinary woman. The boy, after hearing their erroneous reasoning, could not take it anymore and, full of indignation, he interrupted them saying: "Mary is not like any other son of Adam, stained with sin. No! The Angel called her FULL OF GRACE AND BLESSED AMONG WOMEN. Mary is the Mother of Jesus and consequently, the Mother of God. There is no greater dignity to which a creature can aspire. The Gospel says that all generations shall call her blessed, while you try to despise her. Your spirit is not the spirit of the Gospel or the Bible you claim is the foundation of the Christian religion."

The impression made by the boy's words on his mother was so deep that she often wept inconsolably: "Oh, God, I fear that this son of mine will one day join the Catholic religion, the religion of the Popes!" And indeed, a short time later, the son was convinced that the Catholic religion was the only authentic one, he embraced it and became one of his most ardent apostles.

A few years after his conversion, the protagonist of our story found his sister already married. He wanted to greet her and hug her, but she rejected him and said indignantly: "You have no idea how much I love my children. If one of them wanted to become Catholic, I would first bury a dagger in their heart than allow them to embrace the religion of the Popes."

Her anger and temper were as furious as those of St. Paul before his conversion. However, she would soon change her mind, as happened to St. Paul on his way to Damascus. It happened that one of her children fell seriously ill. The doctors gave no hope for his recovery. As soon as her brother found out, he looked for her in the hospital and spoke to her with affection, saying: "Dear sister, you naturally want your child to be cured. Very well, then do what I'm going to ask you. Let us pray together a Hail Mary and promise God, that if your child recovers, you will study the Catholic doctrine. And in case you come to the conclusion that Catholicism is the only true religion, you will embrace it no matter what sacrifices this implies."

His sister was initially reluctant, but she wanted her son to recover, so she accepted his brother's proposal and prayed with him a Hail Mary. The next day, her son was completely healed. The mother fulfilled her promise and began studying the Catholic doctrine. After intense preparation, she received Baptism in the Catholic Church along with her entire family. How much she thanked her brother that he had been an apostle to her.

This story was told by Father Francis Tuckwell in one of his homilies. "Brothers," he concluded, "the Protestant boy who became a Catholic and converted his sister to Catholicism, devoted his whole life to the service of God. He is the priest who speaks to you now. How much I owe to the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady! You too, my dear brothers, dedicate yourselves completely to serving Our Lady and do not let a single day pass without saying the beautiful prayer of the Hail Mary as well as your Rosary. Ask her to enlighten the minds of Protestants who are separated from the true Church of Christ founded on the Rock (Peter) and against which 'the gates of hell will never prevail'."

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

The Height of Absurdity: The Vatican Commemorates 500 Years of the Lutheran Heresy with a Postage Stamp

  • THEY CELEBRATE AND HONOR A REPROBATE THAT CAUSED SO MANY TO ABANDON AND BETRAY THEIR CATHOLIC FAITH.
  • THEY PLACE HIM ALONG WITH CHRIST CRUCIFIED USURPING THE PLACE OF THE MOTHER OF GOD.
  • BEHIND THE SCENE, THE CITY OF WITTENBERG IS OBSERVED WHERE HIS REBELLION BEGAN AGAINST THE CHURCH FOUNDED BY CHRIST.




Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The Catholic Church remembers and venerates, on this day, all the Saints who are in Heaven


The purpose of this celebration is to thank God for the grace He has granted to His chosen ones and move us to imitate their virtues and to follow their example, or to implore Divine Mercy through the intercession of such powerful lawyers.

All who are in the presence of the Lord are holy. Some in the altars, others anonymous, but not less close to the heart of the Eternal Father.

The "Feast of All Saints" began to be celebrated in the East. It can be found in the West on different dates as early as the 8th century. The Roman Martyrology praises Pope Gregory IV (827 - 844) for having extended it to all Christendom; it seems, however, that Pope Gregory III (731-744) had preceded him in this decision.

On the other hand, in Rome, on May 13, the dedication of the Basilica of Santa Maria and all the martyrs was already celebrated; that is to say, the Pantheon, Temple of Agrippa, dedicated to all the gods of paganism, to which Pope Boniface IV had moved numerous bones from the catacombs. This explains why so many texts of today's Mass have been taken from the liturgy of the martyrs. Pope Gregory VII moved the anniversary of this feast to November 1.

The Church, which in the course of the year celebrates the feasts of its saints one by one, gathers them all today in a common celebration. In addition to those she can call by their names, she evokes in a great vision a whole countless crowd of Saints "of all nations, tribes, peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes and with palms in hand ", who acclaim the one who with His Blood rescued them.

A Group of Faithful Praying the Rosary in the Cathedral of Brussels Interrupted the Blasphemous Commemoration of Luther’s Apostasy

Bélgica: fieles interrumpen conmemoración de la «Reforma» en catedral católica rezando el Rosario
THEY WERE EVICTED BY THE POLICE

Belgium: a group of faithful interrupted the commemoration of the «Reformation» in a Catholic Cathedral by praying the Rosary

The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, hosted on Saturday a joint Catholic-Protestant commemoration of the "Reform" initiated by the heresiarch Luther. When the Protestant pastor began speaking, a group of young Catholics began to pray the Rosary.

(InfoCatólica) The preaching during the ecumenical act (Editorial Note: about false ecumenism) was given by the pastor Steven Fuite. Cardinal Jozef De Kesel, archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, participated in the ceremony with other religious and lay leaders.
As the pastor began to speak, young Catholics, faithful to the Lord and His Mother, began to pray the Rosary out loud, which caused Steven Fuite not to continue his preaching.
Little by little, police officers approached and ordered the Catholic faithful to end their prayer, which they ignored. Forty minutes later, the police took out the group of people, one by one, of the temple while they continued praying.
Note: Similar events have occurred before in Mexico and Argentina. These young Catholics by praying the Holy Rosary are showing the greatness of our Catholic faith. They are teaching us that, at their young age, they follow the teachings of Christ. They follow the Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church of two thousand years. They know the difference between a Catholic and a Protestant, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. They are calling us to find the way to salvation of our souls through the grace Our Lord always gives us. May god bless them for defending the honor of the House of God.

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Luther Lost His Faith Because of His Heresies


Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches:

“A heretic who disbelieves even one article of faith does not have faith, either formed or unformed. The reason of this is that the species of every habit depends on the formal aspect of the object, without which the species of the habit cannot remain. Now the formal object of faith is the First Truth, as manifested in Sacred Scripture and the teaching of the Church. Consequently, whoever does not adhere, as to an infallible and Divine rule, to the teaching of the Church, which proceeds from the First Truth manifested in Sacred Scripture, has not the habit of faith, but holds the other articles of faith by a mode other than faith. Like someone who holds in his mind a conclusion without knowing how that conclusion is demonstrated; it is evident that he does not have scientific knowledge, but merely an opinion about it.

"So likewise, it is evident that he who adheres to the teachings of the Church, as to an infallible rule, assents to whatever the Church teaches; otherwise, if, of the things taught by the Church, he holds what he chooses to hold, and rejects what he chooses to reject, he no longer adheres to the teachings of the Church as to an infallible rule, but to his own will. Hence it is evident that a heretic who obstinately disbelieves even one article of faith, is not prepared to follow the teaching of the Church in all things (but if he is not obstinate, he is not a heretic but only erring). Therefore, it is clear that such a heretic with regard to one article has no faith in the other articles, but only a kind of opinion in accordance with his own will."