Saturday, September 28, 2019

SAINT PIUS X ON “UNIVERSAL FRATERNITY”


“But stranger still, alarming and saddening at the same time, are the audacity and frivolity of men who call themselves Catholics and dream of re-shaping society under such conditions, and of establishing on earth, over and beyond the pale of the Catholic Church, "the reign of love and justice" with workers coming from everywhere, of all religions and of no religion, with or without beliefs, so long as they forego what might divide them - their religious and philosophical convictions, and so long as they share what unites them - a "generous idealism and moral forces drawn from whence they can" When we consider the forces, knowledge, and supernatural virtues which are necessary to establish the Christian City, and the sufferings of millions of martyrs, and the light given by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and the self-sacrifice of all the heroes of charity, and a powerful hierarchy ordained in heaven, and the streams of Divine Grace - the whole having been built up, bound together, and impregnated by the life and spirit of Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God, the Word made man - when we think, I say, of all this, it is frightening to behold new apostles eagerly attempting to do better by a common interchange of vague idealism and civic virtues. What are they going to produce? What is to come of this collaboration? A mere verbal and chimerical construction in which we shall see, glowing in a jumble, and in seductive confusion, the words Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Love, Equality, and human exultation, all resting upon an ILL-UNDERSTOOD HUMAN DIGNITY. It will be a TUMULTUOUS AGITATION, sterile for the end proposed, but which will benefit the less Utopian exploiters of the people.

We fear that worse is to come: the end result of this developing promiscuousness, the beneficiary of this cosmopolitan social action, can only be a Democracy which will be neither Catholic, nor Protestant, nor Jewish. It will be a religion MORE UNIVERSAL THAN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, uniting all men become brothers and comrades at last in the "Kingdom of God. We do not work for the Church, we work for mankind. And now, overwhelmed with the deepest sadness, We ask Ourselves, Venerable Brethren, what has become of the Catholicism of the Sillon? Alas! this organization which formerly afforded such promising expectations, this limpid and impetuous stream, has been harnessed in its course by the modern enemies of the Church, and is now no more than a miserable affluent of the great movement of APOSTASY being organized in every country for the ESTABLISHMENT OF A ONE-WORLD CHURCH WHICH SHALL HAVE NEITHER DOGMAS, NOR HIERARCHY neither discipline for the mind, nor curb for the passions, and which, UNDER THE PRETEXT OF FREEDOM AND HUMAN DIGNITY, would bring back to the world (if such a Church COULD overcome) the REIGN OF LEGALIZED CUNNING AND FORCE, AND THE OPPRESSION OF THE WEAK, and of all those who toil and suffer.”

(Apostolic Letter of St. Pius X to the French Archbishops and Bishops, Notre charge apostolique, Rome, August 25, 1910).
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Wednesday, September 25, 2019

PIUS XI DIXIT


“The fathers and mothers of families particularly must give an example to their children, especially when, at sunset, they gather together after the day's work, within the domestic walls, and recite the Holy Rosary on bended knees before the image of the Virgin, together fusing voice, faith and sentiment. This is a beautiful and salutary custom, from which certainly there cannot but be derived tranquillity and abundance of heavenly gifts for the household”.

Pope Pius XI
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Monday, September 23, 2019

The Smoke of Satan by Anacleto González Flores (Mexican martyr)


"Many Catholics are unaware of the seriousness and especially of the causes of the disaster, they ignore how the three great enemies, Protestantism, Freemasonry and Revolution, work tirelessly and with an alarming and well-organized program of action.

These three enemies are defeating Catholicism on all fronts, at all hours and in all possible ways. They fight in the streets, in the squares, in the press, in the workshops, in the factories, in the homes. In the case of a generalized battle, they have their sword drawn and their battalions deployed everywhere. This is a fact. Christ does not reign in the streets, in the schools, in the Parliaments, in books, in universities, in the public and social life of the countries. Who reigns there is the devil. In all those environments you can see the smoke of Satan.

And what do we do? We content ourselves with praying, going to church, practicing some works of mercy, as if that were enough "to counteract all the vast conjuration of God's enemies." We have left them everything else, the streets, the press, the teaching at various levels of education. In none of these places have they encountered serious opposition. And if sometimes we have acted, we have done it so poorly, so weakly, that it can be said that we have not fought at all. We have sung in churches but we have not announced God in schools, in squares, in Parliaments, and so, we have cornered Christ out of fear.

Reducing Catholicism to a secret prayer, to a grievous complaint, to trembling and fright before public authorities when they kill the national soul and destroy everything before everyone’s eyes, is not only cowardice and excusable disorientation, but also a religious, public and social historical crime, which deserves all execrations.

...Souls suffer from spiritual anemia. We have become beggars, renouncing ownership of our destinies. We have been evicted from everywhere, and we have abandoned everything.

So far, almost all Catholics have done nothing but ask God to do, to work, to accomplish, to do something or everything for the fate of the Church in our countries. And that's why we have only prayed, waiting for God to work. And all this under the mask of an alleged "prudence." We need the imprudence of Christian boldness.

Moreover, there are many Catholics who dare to call imprudent those who know how to assert their rights before their persecutors. It is necessary that this situation of isolation, estrangement, national dispersion, ends once and for all, and that as soon as possible we think in a serious way that we are all Catholics of our country, not a lot of particles without union, but an immense body that has one program, one head, one thought, one organizing flag to face all persecutors."

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Saturday, September 21, 2019

WHEN PRIDE DISGUISES ITSELF AS HUMILITY


Many are humble in word, but not in heart. They say: “I am worse than all: I deserve a thousand hells.” But when anyone reproves them, or says a word that displeases them, they immediately take umbrage. They are like hedgehogs, which put out their bristles as soon as they are touched. But how is it – you say you are worse than all, and yet you cannot bear a word?  “He who is truly humble,” says St. Bernard,” esteems himself good for nothing, and desires to be considered good for nothing by others as well.” 

Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, The Way of Salvation and Perfection
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Wednesday, September 18, 2019

MODERNISM WILL BE THE RELIGION OF THE ANTICHRIST


  • It maintains the outer forms of all religions, but empties them of its content.



"Modernism is the latest evolution of liberal Protestantism and is the most subtle and complex heresy that has existed and can exist, so it will undoubtedly be the religion of the Antichrist; because it reconciles in itself the two antagonistic notes with which St. Paul mysteriously describes the Man of Sin, and that until today seemed incompatible: first, he will be an adversary of all religion and worship; second, he will sit in the temple making himself worship as God. Modernism undoes all existing religion, appropriating their external forms, and emptying them of all content to finally fill them with the idolatry of Man."

Father Leonardo Castellani, Comentarios a la Suma Teológica de Santo Tomás.
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Monday, September 16, 2019

THE DEVOTION TO THE SEVEN SORROWS OF MARY


Promises of the Blessed Virgin to those who meditate on her sorrows.

THE DEVOTION:
Our Lady has always taught Christians to better love Christ. The devotion to her Seven Sorrows was developed by various private revelations.

The Blessed Virgin Mary said to Saint Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373):
“I look around at all who are on earth, to see if by chance there are any who pity me, and meditate upon my sorrows; and I find that there are very few. Therefore, my daughter, though I am forgotten by many, at least do you not forget me; consider my anguish, and imitate, as far as you can, my grief.”

Our Lady promised that she would grant seven graces to the souls who honor her and accompany her daily, praying seven Hail Marys while meditating on her anguish and sorrows:

1. I will grant peace to their families.
2. They will be enlightened about the Divine mysteries.
3. I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.
4. I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my Divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.
5. I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.
6. I will visibly help them at the moment of their death, they will see the face of their Mother.
7. I have obtained this Grace from my Divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and sorrows, will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.

In The Glories of Mary, St. Alphonsus also lists the four promises Jesus made to the devotees of His Mother’s sorrows. Alphonsus recounts the revelation made to St. Elizabeth of Hungary “that after the assumption of the Blessed Virgin into heaven, St. John the Evangelist desired to see her again. The favor was granted to him; his dear Mother appeared to him, and with her Jesus Christ also appeared; Saint John then heard Mary ask her Son to grant some special grace to all those who are devoted to her sorrow. Jesus promised her four principal ones:

1. Those who before death invoke the Divine Mother in the name of her sorrows should obtain true repentance of all their sins.
2. He will protect all who have this devotion in their tribulations, and especially at the hour of death.
3. He will impress upon their minds the remembrance of His Passion, and they will have their reward for it in heaven.
4. He will commit such devout souls to the hands of Mary, with the power to dispose of them in whatever manner she might please, and to obtain for them all the graces she might desire.”

Meditating on the Seven Sorrows of Our Blessed Mother is a way to share the deepest sufferings of her life on earth.

At the foot of the Cross, where a sword of pain pierced the heart of Mary, Jesus gave us His Mother as our Mother shortly before He died. In response to this supreme demonstration of His love for us, let's repeat every day of our lives: “Yes, She is my Mother. Jesus, I receive her and I ask You to lend Me Your Heart to love Mary as You love her.”

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Saturday, September 14, 2019

In Exaltatione Sanctae Crucis


From today's Gradual, Sancta Missa, In Exaltatione Sanctae crucis ~ II. classis:
Dulce lignum, dulces clavos, dúlcia ferens póndera: quæ sola fuísti digna sustinére Regem coelórum et Dóminum. 
Allelúia.

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Friday, September 13, 2019

H.H. PIUS XII WARNED US ABOUT THE INNOVATORS WHO WOULD TRY TO DESTROY THE CHURCH


“I am concerned about the confidences of the Virgin to the little Lucia of Fatima. This persistence of the Good Lady in face of the danger that threatens the Church is a divine warning against the suicide that the alteration of the Faith, in its liturgy, its theology, and its soul, would represent… I hear around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject her ornaments, and make her remorseful for her historical past. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God, that His Son is only a symbol, a philosophy like so many others. And in churches, Christians will search for the red lamp where Jesus awaits them, like the sinful woman crying out before the empty tomb: ‘Where have they taken Him?’.”

(Pope Pius XII, cited in Bishop Roche, Pius XII Devant l'Histoire, pp. 52-53).
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Wednesday, September 11, 2019

THE FIFTEEN PROMISES OF THE VIRGIN MARY TO THOSE WHO PRAY THE ROSARY


1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive any grace they ask me (as long as it is convenient for their souls).
2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the heart of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.
6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered and never overwhelmed by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death (unprepared for heaven). The sinner shall convert. The just shall grow in grace and become worthy of eternal life.
7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have, during their life and at their death, the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.
9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in heaven.
11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.
12. All those who propagate the holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.
14. All who recite the Rosary are my sons, and brothers of my only son Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

Tradition attributes to Blessed Alain de la Roche (ca. 1428 - 1475) of the Dominican order the origin of these promises made by the Virgin Mary. He restored the devotion to the Holy Rosary taught by Santo Domingo just a century before and forgotten after his death.

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Friday, September 6, 2019

WE ONLY INTERRUPT WHAT CAN BE CONTINUED


If killing an unborn child is called "voluntary termination of pregnancy"


Wednesday, September 4, 2019

THE DEMONS TREMBLE


“The devils not only fear but tremble at the very sound of her sacred name. As men fall prostrate with fear if a thunderbolt falls near them, so do the demons if they hear the name of Mary. The evil spirits greatly fear the Queen of Heaven, and flee at the sound of her name, as if from fire. At the very sound of the word Mary, they are cast down as if by thunder.”

Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, The Glories of Mary
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Monday, September 2, 2019

EIGHT WEEKS


This baby died at 8 weeks gestation due to natural causes, and his parents wanted to show the beauty of intrauterine human life. At this age many babies lose their lives due to abortion.

At 8 weeks a human being has the eyelids, the nose and the upper lip formed. He/she also has a heartbeat. The body measures between 12 and 17 mm. Through the translucent skin we can see the skeleton that is currently formed by cartilage. The liver is also fully functioning.

From this moment the child feeds exclusively through the umbilical cord. The wonder of the human person...

Share if you believe in the right to life of this and all children.

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