THE BATTLE OF THE SIGNS

 What the soul accepts without knowing and hell celebrates in silence

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I. THE SIGN DOESN'T ASK PERMISSION

The human soul was not made for neutrality. It either adores or falls. And yet, today, modern man—so practical, so enlightened—has grown accustomed to wearing signs he doesn't understand, to repeating gestures he didn't choose, to singing words that deny what he pretends not to believe.

He wears inverted crosses as if they were ornaments. He wraps himself in festive skulls. He decorates his house with oriental idols. And he does all this while saying that "it means nothing," while his soul is soaked—drop by drop—in the content that this "nothing" truly contains.

The sign acts. Even if the conscience sleeps. Because the symbol is not just a drawing: it is a seed. It is not an accessory: it is a silent language that forms the soul, as the climate forms a landscape.

And in this civilization that claims to have transcended forms, the most subtle—and most decisive—battle is no longer fought in treaties: it is fought in signs.

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II. THE LANGUAGE OF GOD: WHEN THE INVISIBLE BECOMES VISIBLE

God speaks. But he does not do so like men. His pedagogy is ancient, but alive: He teaches with fire, with water, with bread, with blood. He does not explain: He reveals. He does not theorize: He shows Himself. And that is why His truth is not only heard, but touched, smelled, and tasted.

Christianity is the only religion where truth became flesh. And a flesh needs gestures, forms, time, and color. That is why the Church—wise mother—did not allow her faith to dissolve into abstractions, but wove it with signs: the cross, the altar, genuflection, incense, fasting, and silence.  Everything that modernity calls “superfluous” is, in reality, the alphabet of the redeemed soul.

The sacraments—effective signs instituted by Christ—contain and cause grace. Sacramentals, blessed by the Church, dispose the soul, elevate the mind, protect the body. And beyond them, there is a universe of holy signs that, without causing anything in themselves, teach, prepare, and protect.

Saint Thomas teaches it bluntly:

“Man needs the sensible to rise to the spiritual.”

And Saint Gregory the Great adds:

“What Scripture teaches with words, the liturgy proclaims with signs.”

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III. VISIBLE SHIELDS, INVISIBLE BONDS

A crucifix is ​​not a figure: it is a proclamation. The Rosary is not routine: it is resistance. The scapular is not a cloth: it is belonging. Holy water is not an ornament: it is an invisible trench.

Holy signs, when blessed and used with faith, do not contain God like the Sacrament, but they make His memory present, dispose the soul, and exercise true protection. They are moral shields. They are silent pedagogy. They are calls to conversion.

That is why the saints used them as weapons. Saint Benedict traced the cross over poison and defeated it. Saint Teresa of Jesus humbled the devil with a drop of holy water. The Curé of Ars slept among signs that the devil hated. Saint Pio of Pietrelcina discerned the blessed from the profaned like one recognizes the perfume of heaven.

Nothing was secondary to them. Because they knew that God also speaks through forms, and that whoever guards His signs guards His Kingdom.

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IV. THE SIGNS OF COUNTERRELIGION

The devil cannot create, but he knows how to imitate. And when he does, he inverts.

This is how the enemy's liturgy has infiltrated T-shirts, music videos, festivals, tattoos, fashions, and jewelry. Pentagrams, skulls, inverted crosses, occult eyes, ritual greetings, invocations disguised as design, lyrics laden with blasphemy, desecrated images. All presented as art. All consumed as entertainment. But all sown with precision.

Just look around: Santeria symbols sold as culture; band t-shirts that glorify suicide; posters that mix paganism and politics; candles with counterfeit saints; chants that repeat heresies with a party beat.

And even more subtle: Eastern idols turned into decoration; mandalas as therapy; mudras as elegant gestures; Buddha statues presiding over Catholic dining rooms; yoga postures—born as offerings to pagan deities—turned into spiritual gymnastics for souls who no longer know who redeemed them.

No, they are not neutral.  Because every sign has an owner.

And the soul that accepts a sign, even if it ignores it, enters the sphere of influence of that which that sign proclaims.

Saint Augustine, who knew the deceptions of hell, summed it up lucidly:

“The devil cannot create, but he imitates and perverts everything God made.”

And the saints acted accordingly: Saint Patrick destroyed the Druidic signs. Saint Boniface cut down Thor's tree. Saint Cyprian, who had once been a magician, confessed that the impious signs he used were real instruments of the devil. And when he came to know the cross, everything that had come before was shattered.

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V. DEMONIC INFLUENCE AND OPEN DOORS

The devil doesn't need to possess to reign. It's enough for the soul to lower its guard.

Possession is extraordinary. Influence, on the other hand, is everyday. It creeps in through gestures, habits, objects, music, symbols. It manifests itself as resistance to prayer, unfounded confusion, an allergy to silence, a repulsion toward the sacred. And often, it all began with a symbol accepted without thinking.

Because the symbol, even unintentionally, educates the soul. And when the soul grows accustomed to darkness, it ends up believing that darkness is just another form of light.

Father Amorth said it bluntly:

“The devil enters through the doors that are opened to him. And a symbol can be one of those doors.”

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VI. LIVING WRAPPED IN LIGHT

Therefore, the Catholic soul must surround itself with holy signs like one who builds a fortress.

Not out of superstition, but out of fidelity.  Not out of fear, but out of identity.

A visible crucifix. A blessed scapular. Holy water in the home. True images. Music that uplifts. Words that don't wound the sacred. Clothing that doesn't contradict the faith one professes.

It's not rigidity. It's coherence.

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, preparing the catechumens of the fourth century, said it without poetry:

"Every Christian gesture is a shield for the soul."

And the Church has always taught it: Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi. The way we pray teaches faith. And faith shapes life.

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VII. THE WAR OF SILENCE AND SIGNS

We are not in a debate: we are in a war.

And this war is no longer fought only in books, but in symbols.

It doesn't just happen in parliaments, but in closets, on bodies, in profiles, at parties, in songs.

Today the crucifix is ​​expelled and the skull is venerated. Incense is laughed at and blasphemy is applauded. The cassock is censored and nudity is celebrated.

And whoever does not consciously choose the signs of the Kingdom will end up unwittingly wearing the mark of the enemy.

Saint John Damascene said it with theological precision and fire in his blood:

“I do not worship matter, but the Creator of matter, who became matter for me.”

We say it today, in the face of the advancing shadows:

We do not worship signs. But we do not despise them.

Because whoever loses the language of holy signs will soon speak—unknowingly—the language of hell.

OMO

TAKE THIS INTO ACCOUNT

 

WHERE IS YOUR PARTNER OF SALVATION?

Personal Judgment and the Eternal Weight of Marital Love

“In the end, love will be heavy.
And only the love that saves will have the weight of eternity.”

I. THE THRESHOLD WHERE ALL MIRRORS WILL FALL

The time will come.

We know it. Even if we fill the days with words, laughter, or silence, we know it.

The time will come when everything that was appearance will fall.

When every smile, every indifference, every act and every omission will be called by its true name.

Personal Judgment.

It will not be a cold interrogation or a bureaucratic list of errors.

It will be the total revelation of who we were, of what we did with the love God entrusted to us.

And then, for the husband—and also for the wife—there will be a question that will resonate with a gravity impossible to imagine now:

"Where is your companion in salvation?"

Not:

"Where is your companion in affection?"

Nor:

"Where is your accomplice in joy?"

But:

"Where is the soul I placed in your keeping?

Where is the woman whose eternal destiny I entrusted to you?"

Because marriage, which for the world is only a contract or a story of feelings, for God is a covenant of redemption.

II. MARRIAGE: NOT COMPANIONSHIP, BUT CUSTODY OF THE SOUL

The day a man and a woman say "yes"—before the altar and under the heavens that also bear witness—they seal a covenant that knows no fashions or fleeting emotions.

They promise fidelity.

But that fidelity is not only physical companionship or emotional constancy.

It is a fidelity to the soul of the other.

“I receive you as my wife…” does not mean: “I will accompany you as long as it is easy.”

It means: “I will take custody of your soul even when love becomes a cross.”

Saint John Chrysostom said it with the strength of those who see beyond the earth:

The husband must love his wife as Christ loved the Church: to the point of sacrifice, to sanctification, to total surrender.

Saint Francis de Sales, with the gentleness possessed only by the strong, added:

True conjugal love does not seek only to make life more pleasant. It seeks to lead the other to God.

And Saint Thomas Aquinas did not speak of fleeting affections, but of mutuum adiutorium: mutual help not only in earthly matters, but in what weighs eternally: the destiny of the soul.

The great moralist Antonio Royo Marín summed it up with resounding clarity:

Seeking the salvation of one's spouse is not pious advice. It is a grave obligation.  Ignoring it is a sin of omission.

III. THE FALSE MEASURE OF LOVE: THE ELEGANT POISON OF MEDIOCRITY

Today, the world has invented false measures of love:

“I made her happy.”

“I let her be free.”

“I didn't judge her.”

These are phrases that sound mature and reasonable.

But they are often masks of fear or laziness disguised as virtue.

Love that never corrects, never exhorts, never inconveniences, never suffers… is not love. It is indifference disguised as respect.

Saint Francis de Sales warned:

There is no neutrality in marriage. Either husband and wife help each other to save themselves, or they drag each other down into lukewarmness, which is the prelude to spiritual ruin.

IV. OMISSIONS WILL WEIGH MORE THAN SINS

In that personal judgment, it will not be sins that weigh the most.

These will be the omissions:

— The times you remained silent when your wife abandoned prayer.

— The times you didn't correct her for fear of displeasing her.

— The times you preferred your comfort to the sacrifice of guiding her.

— The times you didn't pray for her because you thought “she wouldn't listen anymore.”

— The times you didn't set an example because you believed “it was too late.”

Every silence will have its weight.

Every cowardice will have its name.

Every omission will be called to the center of the tribunal.

Cardinal Robert Sarah expressed it with the gravity of one who contemplates many lost souls and some redeemed ones:

God will entrust us with the soul of the other. And he will ask us what we did with it.

V. THE GREAT QUESTION AND THE HOPE OF THOSE WHO STRUGGLE

“Where is your companion in salvation?”

It won't be a metaphor.

It will be the summary of your entire married life.

And there will be no room to say:

“Lord, I did not mean to impose.”

“Lord, I respected their freedom.”

“Lord, each one had his own path.”

Because marriage is not the coexistence of individual freedoms under the same roof.

It is a unity of destiny and mutual co-responsibility on the path to Heaven.

Pius XI firmly proclaimed this in Casti Connubii:

“God has instituted marriage not only for the propagation and education of children, but also so that spouses may help one another to attain eternal life.”

VI. WHEN THE QUESTION BECOMES MORE INTIMATE:

“DID YOU LOVE YOUR WIFE AS I LOVED MY CHURCH?”

On Judgment Day, that great question will not only be:

“Where is your companion in salvation?”

But, in the depths of the soul, another, even more fearful and luminous question will resonate:

“Did you love your wife as I loved my Church?”

It will not be a reproach.

It will be the measure by which the Christian husband is weighed.

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her” (Eph 5:25).

We will not be asked to have loved “as best we could.”

We will not be asked if we were kind or patient at times.

We will be measured by the crucified love of Christ:

— A love that was patient in the face of infidelity.

— Who corrected with charity and taught with truth.

— Who sacrificed himself without expecting a reward.

— Who forgave even when wounded.

— And who gave his life to save.

The husband who loves like this, even with human imperfection, becomes a living image of redeeming love.

VII. THE FACE THAT QUESTIONS WILL ALSO BE THE FACE THAT SMILES

But that judgment will not be only burden and fear.

The same God who will question is the one who gave sufficient grace to fulfill the mission.

And if you can say—with humility and tears—:

“Lord, here is the companion You gave me.

I wasn't perfect.

I fell many times.

But I prayed for her.

I corrected her with love when I could.

I held her in her weaknesses.

I sacrificed myself for her spiritual good.

And when I didn't know what to do, I entrusted her to You, in my prayers and in my weariness.”

Then—as Fulton Sheen taught—judgment will not be a condemnation, but a glorification.

The face that asks will also be the face that smiles.

Because the love that saves, however imperfect and struggled with, is the only love that counts when time is over.

VIII. ETERNITY IS NOT SHARED AS SPOUSES, BUT AS SOULS WHO HELPED EACH OTHER ACHIEVE IT

Christian marriage does not remain in heaven.

“In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage.”  (Mt 22:30).

The sacramental bond, like all sacraments, is a journey, not a destination.

Once its mission is accomplished, it ceases.

But the spouses who fought for each other's salvation will eternally recognize each other as the souls who collaborated with grace to bring each other to glory.

"They will not share eternity as spouses,

but they will contemplate each other in beatitude as instruments of the redemptive love that led them to God."

And that will be their supreme joy:

not having shared just one life, but having collaborated in the salvation that made them eternal.

"Where is your companion in salvation?"

May we respond with truth and hope:

"Lord, here she is.

And though the journey was difficult and I was imperfect,

I never stopped fighting for her soul."

Then we will understand that marriage was—as Christian tradition teaches—the highest form in which natural human love can participate in Christ's redemptive work.

The priesthood and consecrated virginity, which are higher in the order of grace, will have already shone forth in their heavenly fullness.

But the conjugal love that contributed to the salvation of the other will be crowned by God with a glory of its own:

having been, on this earth, an imperfect but true image of the Love that does not abandon and does not fear sacrifice.

OMO

PRAYER FOR PRIESTS

O Jesus, eternal High Priest, good Shepherd, Source of life! By the singular magnificence of Your most sweet Heart, You gave us our Priests to fulfill in us those designs of sanctification that Your grace inspires in our hearts. We beseech You to assist them with Your merciful help.

May faith, O Jesus, vivify their works; may hope be indestructible in their trials; may charity be ardent in their resolutions. May Your word, ray of eternal Wisdom, be, through continual meditation, the perennial nourishment of their interior life; may the examples of Your Life and Passion be renewed in their conduct and in their sufferings for our instruction, for light and encouragement in our hearts.

O Lord, grant that our priests, detached from all human interest and zealous only for your glory, may remain faithful to their duty, with a pure conscience, until their last breath.

And when, through the death of their bodies, they place their well-fulfilled task in your hands, may they find in you, Lord Jesus, who were their Master on earth, the eternal reward of the crown of justice in the splendor of the saints. Amen.

SCIENCE REVEALS THE TRUE FACE OF SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

Ávila, May 20, 2025. An international team of experts has reconstructed the face of Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) using cutting-edge digital technologies and historical data. This initiative, presented on March 28, 2025, the 510th anniversary of her birth, accurately recreated the original face of Saint Teresa of Avila when she was around fifty years old, according to the Spanish website Religión Digital.

The team, led by Italian anthropologist Luigi Capasso of the Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, worked with Professor Jennifer Mann of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine at Monash University in Australia.

The Italian professor was in charge of the exhumation and study of the relics of Saint Teresa of Ávila, preserved in the Monastery of the Annunciation of Our Lady in Alba de Tormes, Spain.

The facial reconstruction process was based on an exhaustive study of the saint's remains, preserved in various locations: her body, left arm, and heart in Alba de Tormes (Salamanca); her left hand in Ronda (Málaga); and her right foot in Rome.

Professor Jennifer Mann modeled "the most accurate representation" of Saint Teresa's appearance, based on data obtained in Alba de Tormes during the opening of the tomb. Researchers used advanced forensic techniques, such as X-rays, anthropomorphic measurements, and 3D facial reconstruction software.

They also drew on historical sources from the portrait painted by Friar Juan de la Miseria (1526-1616) and detailed descriptions from contemporaries, including Mother María de San José: "In her youth, she was reputed to be very beautiful, and until her later years, she remained so; her face was by no means ordinary, but extraordinary, and of a type that cannot be called round or aquiline, with equal thirds, a broad and even forehead, and very beautiful."

The resulting image shows Saint Teresa of Jesus at the age of 50, at the beginning of her reform of Carmel. Her features reveal a woman of short stature but great strength. The three moles that adorned her face have been faithfully incorporated into the reconstruction.

The study not only revealed Saint Teresa's appearance but also revealed her health and physical condition. The analyses indicate that the saint suffered from various conditions, including osteoporosis, a spinal deformity, osteoarthritis in both knees, and inflammation of the arch of the foot.  These conditions would explain her stooped posture and the mobility difficulties she suffered in the last years of her life, as reported by herself and her contemporaries. Despite these physical difficulties, Saint Teresa demonstrated an unwavering strength that allowed her to carry out her reforming work.

Sources: cath.ch/religion digital/DICI n°455 – Fsspx.Actualités. Image: DR y OM

PADRE PIO DIXIT

 

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS REGARDING THE PURITY OF THEIR CHILDREN

Parents must watch over and foster the purity of their children from a very early age, so that they acquire modesty and integrity, so that they are modest in speech, manners, and dress. It is up to parents to prevent their children from acquiring bad habits in this area, even if the children do not understand the evil of what they are doing, because later they will not be able to free themselves from the addiction.

Beware, parents, beware of children. Let's see what His Holiness says.  Pius XII: “Unfortunately, it sometimes happens that Christian parents, who are so concerned about raising a son or daughter that they are always away from dangerous pleasures and bad company, suddenly see their children, at 18 or 20 years old, victims of miserable and scandalous falls: the good seed they sowed was ruined by weeds.

Who was the enemy of man who did so much evil? What happened, the Pope continues, was that into the home itself, into that little paradise, the tempter, the cunning enemy, crept in and found there the corrupting fruit to offer it to innocent hands. A book accidentally left on the father's desk is what destroyed the son's baptismal faith; a novel abandoned on the sofa or in the bedroom by the mother is what eclipsed the purity of her first communion in the daughter.”

Weeds can enter by leafing through news magazines or newspapers found in the home;  on television, or from a TV news clip the child happened to see. Be vigilant, parents, watch over your children's souls. Keep them away from the internet, tablets, and iPads, where they can really access anything. They already see so much evil outside the home. Let them at least find purity and virtue there, following the example of their parents.

What good is it to gain the whole world if we lose our soul? What is the value of an instant, fleeting gratification that makes us lose heaven, deserve hell, and offends our Lord? Trusting in God, distrusting ourselves, with a very firm determination, let us be chaste and pure according to our state of life. Let us be an example and watch over the purity and salvation of our children's souls. Example, good advice, and care are essential for them to remain pure.

Pius XII noted that the Secret of Fatima warned of apostasy in the Church, but was ignored by his successors

A notable, though indirectly relevant, testimony is that of Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli—before becoming Pope Pius XII—when he was Secretary of State of the Vatican during the reign of Pius XI.

The future Pius XII made an astonishing prophecy about a future upheaval in the Church:

"I am troubled by the messages of the Blessed Virgin to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary in the face of the dangers that threaten the Church is a warning from Heaven against the suicide of altering the Faith in its liturgy, its theology, and its soul. (...) I hear around me innovators who want to dismantle the sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject its ornaments, and make it feel remorse for its historical past."[1]

Pope Pius XII's biographer, Monsignor Roche, noted that at this point in the conversation, Pius XII then said, in response to an objection:

"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. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp [of the Tabernacle] where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask: 'Where have they taken him?'"[2]

It is truly astonishing to note that the future Pope linked this seemingly supernatural intuition of the Church's impending devastation specifically to "the messages of the Blessed Virgin to Lucy of Fatima," and to "this persistence of Mary in the face of the dangers that threaten the Church." Such a prediction would be meaningless if it were based on the first two parts of the Great Secret, which do not mention things like "the suicide of altering the Faith in its  liturgy, its theology, and its soul," or "innovators who want to dismantle the sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, reject its ornaments, and make it feel remorse for its historical past." Nor is there any indication in the first two parts that "In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them."

How did the future Pope Pius XII know these things? It is evident that he was granted a supernatural vision, or else that he had direct knowledge that a part of the "messages of the Blessed Virgin to Lucy of Fatima," which until then had not been revealed, predicted these future events in the Church. In short, all the testimonies about the content of the Third Secret, from 1944 to at least 1984 (the date of the famous Ratzinger interview), confirm that it refers to a catastrophic loss of Faith and discipline in the Church, opening a breach for the forces long aligned against Her: the "innovators" whom  The future Pope Pius XII listened to those around him, calling for the dismantling of the sacred chapel and changes in Catholic liturgy and theology.

As we have seen, this breach began to develop in 1960, the very year in which, as Sister Lucy had insisted, the third part of the Secret was to be revealed.

[1] Roche, Pius XII Before History, pp. 52-53.

[2] Ibid.

MAY, MONTH OF MARY

 

This is the traditional name for this month dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, in which we offer our Heavenly Mother our best spiritual and material "flowers." A very simple method is to greet her with the following prayers:

My most loving Mother, in every moment of my life, remember me, a miserable sinner. Hail Mary

Aqueduct of divine graces, grant me an abundance of tears to mourn my sins. Hail Mary

Queen of heaven and earth, be my refuge and defense in the temptations of my enemies. Hail Mary

Immaculate daughter of Joachim and Anne, obtain for me from your most holy Son the graces I need for my eternal salvation. Hail Mary

Advocate and refuge of sinners, assist me in the trance of my death, and open the gates of Heaven to me. Hail Mary.

WHAT SHOULD A POPE DO, ACCORDING TO SAINT APHONSUS MARIA DE LIGUORI?

When the conclave of 1774 was about to meet, Cardinal Castelli asked Monsignor Alphonsus Maria de Liguori to write a letter on the measures the new Pope should take to reform the Church, which was afflicted by a general laxity. The main passages from Saint Alphonsus's letter are quoted.

"My friend and Lord, regarding the sentiment you desire from me regarding the current affairs of the Church and the election of the Pope, what sentiment do I, a miserable ignorant and of such little spirit, wish to express?

"I only say that prayer is needed, but much prayer; considering that, to rescue the Church from the state of laxity and confusion in which all social classes universally find themselves, not all human science and prudence can remedy it, but the almighty arm of God is necessary."

Among bishops, few have true zeal for souls.

Practically all religious communities are lax; for in religious life, in the current confusion of things, observance is lacking and obedience is lost.

In the secular clergy, the situation is even worse: a general reform is clearly necessary for all ecclesiastics, in order to remedy the great moral corruption that exists among the secularists.

It is necessary, therefore, to ask Jesus Christ to give us a Head of the Church who, more than doctrine and human prudence, is endowed with spirit and zeal for the honor of God, and is totally detached from all human parties and respect. For if ever, to our misfortune, a Pope should arise who does not have before his eyes only the glory of God, the Lord will help him little, and things, as they are in the present circumstances, will go from bad to worse.

Therefore, prayers can remedy many evils, obtaining from God that He lay His hand upon them and grant them a remedy.

[…] I would wish, above all, that the future Pope (since there are many cardinals to be provided) would choose, among those proposed to him, the most learned and zealous for the good of the Church, and would warn the Princes in advance, in the first letter in which he informs them of his exaltation, that, when they ask him for the cardinalate for some of his favorites, they should propose only subjects of proven piety and doctrine; because otherwise he cannot admit them in good conscience.

Furthermore, I would wish that he would be strong enough to deny further benefits to those who are already provided with the goods of the Church, to the extent sufficient for their maintenance, according to their status. And in this he must employ all his strength against any compromises that arise.

Furthermore, I would like luxury among prelates to be avoided, and therefore that the number of servants be determined for all (otherwise nothing would be remedied), according to what corresponds to each class of prelates: a certain number of servants and no more; a certain number of horses and no more; so that heretics can no longer speak.

Furthermore, greater diligence be exercised in conferring benefices only on those who have served the Church, and not on particular individuals.

Furthermore, every diligence should be used in the election of bishops (on whom divine worship and the salvation of souls primarily depend), and information should be obtained from various quarters about their good lives and the doctrine necessary for governing dioceses; and that even those who sit in their churches, metropolitans and others, be secretly asked to inquire about those bishops who care little for the good of their flocks.

I would also like it to be made clear everywhere that bishops who are negligent and deficient in the housing and luxury of the people in their service, or in the excessive expenditure of furniture, banquets, and similar things, will be punished by suspension or by the sending of apostolic vicars to correct their faults; and that they will set an example from time to time, as necessary.

Any example of this kind would cause all other negligent prelates to take care to moderate themselves.

[…] Above all, I wish that the Pope would universally reduce all religious to the observance of their first Institute, at least in the most important matters.

Now, I do not wish to trouble you further. We can do nothing but ask the Lord to give us a Pastor filled with His Spirit, who knows how to establish these things I have so briefly described, according to what best suits the glory of Jesus Christ.

With this, I pay you the most humble reverence, while protesting with all obsequiousness.

For Your Excellency, devoted, humble, and true servant.

Alfonso María, Bishop of Santa Águeda de los Godos.

HOW POOR UNDERSTANDING IS THAT OF THOSE WHO WANT A POPE WHO ADAPTS TO THE WINDS OF THE WORLD. LETTER FROM SAINT TERESA OF AVILA TO A PRIEST, ON THE CONCLAVE

The grace of the Holy Spirit be with you, my son in the Lord:

I read yours with tears, not of sadness, but of love and compassion, because I see how much your heart aches for the Holy Church, and how eager you are to please Her Majesty in this time that seems so dark. And if the See of Saint Peter is empty and the world seems out of control, believe, my son, that the hand of God has not been lost, even though men do not see it.

You ask me what to do in this hour when the boat seems rudderless, and everyone talks and few pray.  For I tell you in truth that the best service you can now render to the Church is to become a living prayer, a wall of supplication, a sentinel of hope.

This is not a time for much talk, but for much suffering. Not for agitation, but for recollection. And if the whole world is shaken and even the good are troubled, what shall we who love Jesus Christ do? Stand firm beside the cross, like the Most Holy Virgin and Saint John, and not move from there.

Pray, my son. Offer the Holy Sacrifice with all your soul, for with each of your Masses Heaven bows to earth. Offer every hour of your day for those who will elect the new Shepherd. And do not ask that it be according to your own taste, but according to the Heart of Christ.

You tell me that many want a Pope who adapts to the winds of the world. Oh, how weak is that understanding!  We must not love the one who pleases, but the one who guides, even if it hurts. The one who teaches, even if he rebukes. The one who is all for God, even if it costs him his blood.

And you, what must you do? Keep the faith, live in charity, do not give in on small things, do not stop praying even for a single day, even if your soul is as dry as a log. For it is in these dry times that true love is tested.

Do not be alarmed if only a few of you persevere. You know that the Lord does not look at numbers, but at faithfulness. And if the whole boat seems about to capsize, be assured that Christ is asleep in the hold, and in due time he will awaken.

Let your prayer be tireless. Let your silence be full of faith. Let your life be so holy that it can sustain many who are faltering.

And do not cease to love the Church, even if you see her wounded.  What a mother she is, and a holy mother, even though her hands are bruised by the sins of her children.

Take courage, my son, and pray.

May you, when the new Peter takes the helm, be vigilant, with your lamp lit.

May Her Majesty guard you and make you all Hers,

Teresa of Jesus, Discalced Nun of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, unworthy daughter of the Church and servant of Your Paternity.

HOW POOR UNDERSTANDING IS THAT OF THOSE WHO WANT A POPE WHO ADAPTS TO THE WINDS OF THE WORLD. LETTER FROM SAINT TERESA OF AVILA TO A PRIEST, ON THE CONCLAVE

The grace of the Holy Spirit be with you, my son in the Lord:

I read yours with tears, not of sadness, but of love and compassion, because I see how much your heart aches for the Holy Church, and how eager you are to please Her Majesty in this time that seems so dark. And if the See of Saint Peter is empty and the world seems out of control, believe, my son, that the hand of God has not been lost, even though men do not see it.

You ask me what to do in this hour when the boat seems rudderless, and everyone talks and few pray.  For I tell you in truth that the best service you can now render to the Church is to become a living prayer, a wall of supplication, a sentinel of hope.

This is not a time for much talk, but for much suffering. Not for agitation, but for recollection. And if the whole world is shaken and even the good are troubled, what shall we who love Jesus Christ do? Stand firm beside the cross, like the Most Holy Virgin and Saint John, and not move from there.

Pray, my son. Offer the Holy Sacrifice with all your soul, for with each of your Masses Heaven bows to earth. Offer every hour of your day for those who will elect the new Shepherd. And do not ask that it be according to your own taste, but according to the Heart of Christ.

You tell me that many want a Pope who adapts to the winds of the world. Oh, how weak is that understanding!  We must not love the one who pleases, but the one who guides, even if it hurts. The one who teaches, even if he rebukes. The one who is all for God, even if it costs him his blood.

And you, what must you do? Keep the faith, live in charity, do not give in on small things, do not stop praying even for a single day, even if your soul is as dry as a log. For it is in these dry times that true love is tested.

Do not be alarmed if only a few of you persevere. You know that the Lord does not look at numbers, but at faithfulness. And if the whole boat seems about to capsize, be assured that Christ is asleep in the hold, and in due time he will awaken.

Let your prayer be tireless. Let your silence be full of faith. Let your life be so holy that it can sustain many who are faltering.

And do not cease to love the Church, even if you see her wounded.  What a mother she is, and a holy mother, even though her hands are bruised by the sins of her children.

Take courage, my son, and pray.

May you, when the new Peter takes the helm, be vigilant, with your lamp lit.

May Her Majesty guard you and make you all Hers,

Teresa of Jesus, Discalced Nun of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, unworthy daughter of the Church and servant of Your Paternity.

Pope Leo XIII dixit

 

Pope Leo XIII – Satis Cognitum (1896)

> "The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authoritative magisterium."

> "There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition."

WHEN I SEE AN OLD PRIEST

"When I see an old priest, shabby in his dress and his speech, distracted like someone whose heart is elsewhere, deaf to the sounds of the earth and attentive to the voices that speak to him in dreams like those of Samuel, I think he's inviting me to sing a Te Deum, because he's a ship that has already weathered the storms of the seven seas.

When I see a young one, embarking on his voyage, impatient to sail the oceans, with too much confidence in the height of his masts, the polish of his hulls, and the grace of his canvas; who looks little to the sky to orient his course and much to the machines that men make, I fear for him.

And even more so if he's an artist; and even more so if he's eloquent; and much more so if he's naive and loves noise, and believes he lacks time and can leave this rubric today, this prayer tomorrow, this meditation later, be late for his Mass; be distracted in his  Breviary.

Oh! How many seas and how many reefs lie before its bow, and how far away the harbor!

Hugo Wast