Sunday, July 31, 2022

TRUE LOVE


"True love grows with difficulties; false love extinguishes. From experience we know that when we endure difficult tests for someone we love, love does not collapse, but it grows. Torrential waters (that is, abundant tribulations) were not able to quench charity (Cant 8, 7). And so, the saints, who endure setbacks for God, strengthen their love with it; it is like an artist, who becomes more attached to the work that costs him the most".

Saint Thomas Aquinas


Friday, July 29, 2022

TRUE DEAD FAITH


Neither Tradition nor Traditionalism is dead faith.

The word of God tells us what true dead faith is: "For even as the body without the spirit is dead: so also faith without works is dead." (James 2:26).

This is what the Word of God teaches us: Whoever does not comply with God’s commandments, even if he believes, because of mortal sin his faith is dead, and if he dies without sanctifying grace, he will perish eternally.

Tradition is not the adoration of ashes, but the PRESERVATION and passing on of the fire.

On Traditionalists, Saint Pius X says:

“The true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries, nor innovators: they are traditionalists.” So traditionalism is not what former Protestant pastor Jaroslav Pelikan said: "the dead faith of the living", and who was recently quoted in the papal trip to Canada.

The following words of Pius XII make it very clear:

“Tradition is something very different from a simple attachment to a bygone past; it is the very opposite of a reaction mistrustful of all healthy progress. Etymologically, the word is synonymous with advancement and marching forward, synonymous but not identical… Tradition also signifies a forward march, but a continuous march as well, a movement both brisk and tranquil… By virtue of tradition, the youth, enlightened and guided by the experience of the elders, moves forward with a surer step, and the elders can confidently pass on the plow to stronger hands, to continue the furrow already begun. As the word itself indicates, Tradition is a gift handed down from one generation to another; it is the torch that one runner passes to the hands of the next at each relay, without the race slowing down or coming to a halt. Tradition and progress complement each other so harmoniously that, just as Tradition without progress would be a contradiction in terms, so also progress without Tradition would be a reckless enterprise, a leap into darkness”.

(Pius XII, Speech to the Roman Nobility and Patriarchate, "L'Osservatore Romano", January 20, 1944).


Wednesday, July 27, 2022

THE TREASURES OF THE HOLY MASS


Oh, what priceless jewels of grace, and virtue! Oh, what excellent gifts does not the holy Mass obtain for us! In the first place, it obtains for us all the spiritual graces and all the goods needful for the soul; as, for example, true sorrow and repentance for sins, victory over temptations, no matter whence they come, whether from evil associations with bad companions, or from the internal promptings of our own rebellious nature. Yes, the holy Mass obtains for us all those aids of grace which we need in order to be able to arise from the slough of sin, to stand erect, and walk onward in the ways of God. It likewise obtains for us innumerable holy inspirations and internal impulses, which dispose us to skake off tepidity, and stimulate us to work out our salvation with a fervour more ardent, with will more prompt, and intention purer and more meritorious. All these aids are accompanied by an inestimable treasure; and, indeed, they are the most efficacious means of obtaining from God the grace of final perseverance, and also a moral certainty of eternal beatitude in the life to come, so far as that certainty is vouchsafed to man during his mortal pilgrimage. 

Saint Leonard of Port Maurice – The Hidden Treasure of the Holy Sacrifice of the Holy Mass


Wednesday, July 20, 2022

PERSEVERANCE AND TRUST IN PRAYER, AND GRATITUDE FOR THE BENEFITS RECEIVED THROUGH IT


I. Only after twenty years of supplications and mortifications, Saint Anne was heard. Do not be discouraged if God does not immediately grant you what you ask for: persevere in prayer; you will get what you ask for, as long as you ask for good things and ask with humility and confidence. “You delay listening, oh Lord, in order to teach us how to ask; You pretend not to hear, so that we persevere” (Saint Anselm). 

II. An angel came to announce to Saint Anne that her prayer had been accepted, and she believed without hesitation. Our Lord himself said that whatever we ask in His name, it will be granted to us (if it is convenient for your soul); and you still doubt it! God can and wants to grant you the graces that you ask for as long as they are good for you; He does not lack the power or the will for this, since He is omnipotent and wants more eagerly to give us the gift of His mercy than we ourselves want to have it. Therefore, pray, but do it with unshakeable faith; ask for what you want for the merits of Jesus Christ. Is it not true that you turn to God only after you have exhausted all worldly means?

III. Saint Anne, grateful for the favor that Heaven had granted her offered to God in the Temple her daughter that He had given her. Have you been grateful for the graces that you have received from Him? Perhaps you have forgotten them, perhaps you have misused them to offend God your benefactor? He who does not appreciate the benefits he has received, is not worthy of receiving new benefits (Saint Bernard).

IV. Pray and ask not only for you. Pray for your neighbor, for your family, for the poor, for the sick and for all those in need. Pray for the Church, for the rulers, for all the children conceived, for the souls of the faithful departed, in short, for everyone. God greatly appreciates the prayers of those who pray not only for themselves.

FRUITS:

Let’s ask as fruits of this meditation: perseverance and trust in prayer, and gratitude for the benefits received through it.

PRAYER

O God, who deigned to grant Saint Anne the grace to give the world the Mother of Your Only Begotten Son, by Your mercy, may the intercession of the one who gave birth to the Mother of our Redeemer help us obtain the fruits of this meditation. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ.


Monday, July 18, 2022

THE TEMPTATION by Saint John Mary Vianney


"It is most unfortunate for ourselves if we do not know that we are tempted in almost all our actions, at one time by pride, by vanity, by the good opinion which we think people should have of us, at another by jealousy, by hatred and by revenge. At other times, the Devil comes to us with the foulest and most impure images. You see that even in our prayers he distracts us and turns our minds this way and that. If we wish to hunt these temptations away, we must, as St. Anthony tells us, make use of the same weapons. When we are tempted by pride, we must immediately humble and abase ourselves before God. If we are tempted against the holy virtue of purity, we must try to mortify our bodies and all our senses and to be ever more vigilant of ourselves. If our temptation consists in a distaste for prayers, we must say even more prayers, with greater attention, and the more the Devil prompts us to give them up, the more we must increase their number. The temptations we must fear most are those of which we are not conscious."

Saint John Mary Vianney


Thursday, July 14, 2022

YOUR IMMORTAL SOUL IS WORTH MORE THAN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE


All the money, possessions, houses, mountains, oceans, animals, all of creation itself has much less value than’ your immortal soul, just your own immortal soul! Your immortal soul has infinite value. Nobody in the world can fully plumb the depths of the value of just ONE immortal soul.

How do we know this?   Jesus articulates this with luminous clarity: “What would it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his life in the process? What can a man give in exchange for his immortal soul? (Mk. 8:36)

St. Ignatius of Loyola launched that Biblical passage like a fiery arrow at the young, proud, and self-reliant Francis Xavier, challenging the future patron of the missions to make the Spiritual Exercises.  Xavier made the Spiritual Exercises which transformed his life.

However, it was that fiery and piercing arrow from the mouth and Sacred Heart of Jesus the Lord that broke down the resistance of Xavier— “What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul in the process?”

The angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, reiterates the same message. Aquinas affirms that everything in the created world is not equal to just one immortal soul!

For a moment enter into a natural contemplation on the beauty of nature.  The beautiful blue skies, the pure white clouds, the multi-colored leaves blooming in autumn, the white snowcapped mountains, the brilliant and bright rainbow– a beautiful arc crossing the horizon, the powerful and eternal waves crashing against the shore, the majestic eagle soaring into the heights, and the sky painted with a multitude of lights sparkling to the eyes delight—- all of these natural phenomena are a mere glimmer of the majestic beauty and greatness of one immortal soul!  One immortal soul far transcends in greatness every natural beauty that the naked eye can contemplate! For that reason, once Saint Catherine of Siena was granted a vision of one soul in the state of grace and she fell to her knees in ecstasy stunned by its glaring beauty!

Another powerful proof to capture the infinite value of one immortal soul is the apostolic zeal that motivated the saints in their work, sacrifices, sufferings, and their deaths!  Following are few examples of the saints and their insatiable hunger for salvation of immoral souls….

Why did the CURE OF ARS (St. John Marie Vianney) spend from 13-18 hours in the confessional day and night, in the cold of winter and the blistering humidity and heat of the summer confessing sinners? Why? Why? Why? For one simple reason: love for God and love for what God loves most the salvation of immortal souls! Why would he eat two or three potatoes a day, sleep three hours at night battle constantly with the devil, scourge himself to the shedding of blood and weep copious tears? One simple reason—the love of God and love for immortal souls!  The patron of Parish priests knew keenly the value of a soul reconciled to God through the Blood of Christ applied in every absolution!

Again, you tell me why PADRE PIO OF PIETRELCINA, willingly accepted the stigmata in 1918, while absorbed in prayer. His hands and feet were pierced through like his Beloved crucified Lord and Savior.  Padre Pio’s side was pierced, like that of Jesus’ pierced on Good Friday by the lance and blood and water came gushing forth.  Jesus promised this modern saint that he would bear this stigmata for fifty long years and then at the end of his life it would disappear.  Why did Padre Pio accept this excruciating pain of the stigmata? Once asked if it hurt, the saint responded dryly that it was no decoration!   Padre Pio suffered the stigmata to imitate his beloved Savior, the Crucified Lord, but also to repair for sins and for the

conversion of sinners.  In other words, St. Pio willingly bore this suffering for the salvation of immortal souls! He paid a dear price!

Still more why did the THREE LITTLE SHEPHERD OF FATIMA—Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta willingly accepted constant sacrifices that entailed great suffering, even though they were mere children?  Why? Why? Why? The response is the same: their love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus and for the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary and for love of what Jesus and Mary love most in this world— immortal souls!!!!   The list of the sacrifices that these children underwent at such a tender young age staggers the imagination and shows the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of generous souls.

JACINTA. Let us just take the sacrifices of Jacinta Marto, the youngest of the three seers at Fatima. What radically transformed the three of the children, but especially Jacinta, was the graphic vision of hell, on July 13, 1917! Seeing souls being tossed about without any equilibrium like waves at sea, hearing their desperate cries never to be relieved, seeing hideous animals transpiercing the souls(the devils) causing the souls eternal torment provoked in the little Jacinta a profound conversion of heart and life! Little Jacinta, small in stature but a giant in love for souls, was ready to offer all she had for the salvation of immortal souls!

In concrete Jacinta did the following!  She sacrificed dancing that she loved. Eating? Her favorite delight were the sweet grapes of the Portuguese hillsides, these she sacrificed and replaced with eating bitter berries and nuts. With her two cousins she wore a rough rope around her waist that caused her discomfort during the day. She would pray with her forehead to the ground, a penitential posture, repeating the prayers that the Angel taught her earlier in 1916. Rosaries? Before they would skip over the Rosary, by saying simply “Ave Maria” 50 times, so as to obey their parent’s wish. However, after the vision of Hell, the three children, but especially Jacinta, prayed the whole Rosary and many times. In fact, the little “Victim soul” never wearied of praying Rosaries.  Why? To save souls from the reality of Hell and bring them safely home to heaven!

One on occasion, on a blistering summer day, the three of the children were dying of thirst, and Lucia fetched water with a pitcher from a neighbor. But both Jacinta a Francisco implored Lucia to pour the water into the ground so that they could suffer thirst! Why? Once again for the salvation of immortal souls.

THE BLOOD OF JESUS. Finally, the Word of God teaches us most poignantly the value of souls related to the Precious Blood that Jesus shed for all of us and each one of us individually on Calvary that first Good Friday.

“Now if you invoke as Father him who judges impartially according to each one’s works, conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning, realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like gold or silver, but with the  PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST as of a spotless unblemished lamb. (I Peter 1:17-19).

In sum, your individual soul was saved by the Precious Blood that Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ shed for you on Calvary that first Good Friday. Indeed, if you were the only person created in the whole universe, Jesus would have shed every drop of His most Precious Blood for your immortal soul. How precious and valuable indeed you are and your soul is in the eyes of Almighty God!!!!

FATHER EDWARD BROOM, OMV


Friday, July 8, 2022

THE STORY OF THE DEVIL AND THE THREE MONKS


The devil appeared to three monks and said to them: “if I gave you power to change something from the past, what would you change?”

The first of them, with great apostolic fervor, replied: “I would prevent you from making Adam and Eve fall into sin so that humanity could not turn away from God.”

The second, a man full of mercy, said to him: “I would prevent you from turning away from God.”

The third of them was the simplest and, instead of responding to the tempter, he got on his knees, made the sign of the cross and prayed saying: “Lord, free me from the temptation of what could be and was not”.

The devil, giving a raucous cry and shuddering with pain, vanished.

The other two, surprised, said to him: “Brother, why have you responded like this?”

He replied: “First: we must NEVER dialogue with the devil. Second: NOBODY in the world has the power to change the past. Third: Satan’s INTEREST was not to prove our virtue, but to trap us in the PAST, so that we neglect the present, the only time in which God gives us His grace and we can cooperate with Him to fulfill His will. Of all the demons, the one that catches the most men and prevents them from being happy is that of WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN AND WAS NOT. 

The past is left to the mercy of God and the future to his Providence. Only the present is in our hands.


Monday, July 4, 2022

ADVICE TO KEEP THE FAITH


"An unfortunate time of revolt and dissension in the Church of Jesus Christ is on the way. O my children, do not let yourselves be misled by any innovations! Stay together and hold fast. Stay on the same way, the same paths as your pious ancestors. That is how you will resist the attacks, tempests and storms that are going to rise up with violence."

Saint Nicholas of Flüe.

Nicholas of Flüe, or Bruder Klaus (Brother Klaus), as he is known in his homeland, was born in Sachseln, in the Swiss canton of Obwalden, in 1417, and died in 1487. He was canonized by Pius XII in May 1947.


Saturday, July 2, 2022

LIFE BEGINS FOR THOSE WHO DIE IN SANCTIFYING GRACE


If you habitually live in the state of sanctifying grace, is expected that you will end your earthly life in this way and, for this reason, begin to live true life eternally.