Here We Go Again: Fifty Years of Bowing Down to the Talmudists

Being unable to respond with alacrity to every twist and turn that takes place in the twisted, demon-infested world of Jorge Mario Bergoglio gives one the advantage of providing those relatively few people who access this site with a perspective on the fact that nothing of substance, putting aside psychedelic “light shows” designed by a man who takes psychedelic substances to put him in touch with the “deities,” that emanates from the Vatican in its conciliar captivity is “new.” That which appears to be “new” even though it is not is designed to agitate believing Catholics while reaffirming a vast assortment of blaspheming heretics, unrepentant sinners and blaspheming infidels that there will never be a “turning back” to the “bad old days” of Catholic “triumphalism.”

Such is what happened four days ago with the release of yet (yawn) another document from the conciliar Vatican reaffirming its commitment to the pursuit of “dialogue” with the false religion of Talmudism that calls itself Judaism. All manner of people have gone into apoplexy over the fact that The Gifts and the Calling of God Are Irrevocable, which was issued by Kurt “Cardinal” Koch in behalf of “Pontifical” Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, contained another conciliar reiteration of the heresy that the Old Testament has not been revoked and yet another statement that what is said to be the Catholic Church has no missionary activity with respect to the Jews.

Why the apoplexy?

This is standard, boilerplate conciliar “orthodoxy,” which I will now endeavor to demonstrate as such, starting with the assertion that there is a “highly complex theological of how Christian belief in the universal salvific significance of Jesus Christ can be combined in a coherent way with the equally clear statement of faith in the never-revoked covenant of God with Israel”:

37. Another focus for Catholics must continue to be the highly complex theological question of how Christian belief in the universal salvific significance of Jesus Christ can be combined in a coherent way with the equally clear statement of faith in the never-revoked covenant of God with Israel. It is the belief of the Church that Christ is the Saviour for all. There cannot be two ways of salvation, therefore, since Christ is also the Redeemer of the Jews in addition to the Gentiles. Here we confront the mystery of God’s work, which is not a matter of missionary efforts to convert Jews, but rather the expectation that the Lord will bring about the hour when we will all be united, "when all peoples will call on God with one voice and ‘serve him shoulder to shoulder’ " ("Nostra aetate", No.4).

38. The Declaration of the Second Vatican Council on Judaism, that is the fourth article of "Nostra aetate", is located within a decidedly theological framework regarding the universality of salvation in Jesus Christ and God’s unrevoked covenant with Israel. That does not mean that all theological questions which arise in the relationship of Christianity and Judaism were resolved in the text. These questions were introduced in the Declaration, but require further theological reflection. Of course, there had been earlier magisterial texts which focussed on Judaism, but "Nostra aetate" (No.4) provides the first theological overview of the relationship of the Catholic Church to the Jews. (The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29) - A reflection on theological questions pertaining to Conciliar-Jewish relations, 10 December 2015.)

What utter heresy.

There is no “mystery” to “clarify” as Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ made it abundantly clear throughout the course of His Public Ministry that He was the promised Messias, and that no one could come to the Father except through Him. He was hated by the Pharisees precisely because they knew He was Who He claimed to be when He said the following:

[51] Amen, amen I say to you: If any man keep my word, he shall not see death for ever. [52] The Jews therefore said: Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest: If any man keep my word, he shall not taste death for ever. [53] Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? and the prophets are dead. Whom dost thou make thyself? [54] Jesus answered: If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father that glorifieth me, of whom you say that he is your God. [55] And you have not known him, but I know him. And if I shall say that I know him not, I shall be like to you, a liar. But I do know him, and do keep his word.

[56] Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it, and was glad. [57] The Jews therefore said to him: Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? [58] Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am. (John 8: 51-56.)

[11] I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. [12] But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flieth: and the wolf catcheth, and scattereth the sheep: [13] And the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling: and he hath no care for the sheep. [14] I am the good shepherd; and I know mine, and mine know me. [15] As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep.

[16] And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. [17] Therefore doth the Father love me: because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. [18] No man taketh it away from me: but I lay it down of myself, and I have power to lay it down: and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received of my Father. [19] A dissension rose again among the Jews for these words. [20] And many of them said: He hath a devil, and is mad: why hear you him?

[21] Others said: These are not the words of one that hath a devil: Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? [22] And it was the feast of the dedication at Jerusalem: and it was winter. [23] And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon' s porch. [24] The Jews therefore came round about him, and said to him: How long dost thou hold our souls in suspense? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. [25] Jesus answered them: I speak to you, and you believe not: the works that I do in the name of my Father, they give testimony of me.

[26] But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep. [27] My sheep hear my voice: and I know them, and they follow me. [28] And I give them life everlasting; and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand. [29] That which my Father hath given me, is greater than all: and no one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father. [30] I and the Father are one.

[31] The Jews then took up stones to stone him. [32] Jesus answered them: Many good works I have shewed you from my Father; for which of these works do you stone me? [33] The Jews answered him: For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, maketh thyself God. [34] Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law: I said you are gods? [35] If he called them gods, to whom the word of God was spoken, and the scripture cannot be broken;

[36] Do you say of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world: Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God? [37] If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. [38] But if I do, though you will not believe me, believe the works: that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. (John 10: 16-38.)

There is no mystery to “clarify.”

Our Lord has spoken decisively.

Yet it is that the conciliar revolutionaries, ever eager to do the bidding of the Talmudic masters, have long sought to shroud in a “mystery” of their own making the very fact that Judaism is a dead, superseded religion that has the power to save no one. There are not two “parallel” paths to salvation.

Similarly, there is no “mystery” about the fact that the Old Testament has been superseded by the New and Eternal Covenant that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ instituted at the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday and ratified by the shedding of every single drop of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross on Good Friday.

The relevant passages of the new document with its rehashed heresies masking as “truth” make it clear that Karol Joseph Wojtyla/John Paul II, not the text of Nostra Aetate, as bad as that document was upon its release fifty years ago, who was the first one to state affirmatively that the Old Testament was not revoked, a heresy so astounding that I, for one, am shame-faced for not facing as such at the time when still in the thrall of the Polish Phenomenologist and New Theologian in November of 1980:

39. Because it was such a theological breakthrough, the Conciliar text is not infrequently over–interpreted, and things are read into it which it does not in fact contain. An important example of over–interpretation would be the following: that the covenant that God made with his people Israel perdures and is never invalidated. Although this statement is true, it cannot be explicitly read into "Nostra aetate" (No.4). This statement was instead first made with full clarity by Saint Pope John Paul II when he said during a meeting with Jewish representatives in Mainz on 17 November 1980 that the Old Covenant had never been revoked by God: "The first dimension of this dialogue, that is, the meeting between the people of God of the Old Covenant, never revoked by God … and that of the New Covenant, is at the same time a dialogue within our Church, that is to say, between the first and the second part of her Bible" (No.3). The same conviction is stated also in the Catechism of the Church in 1993: "The Old Covenant has never been revoked" (121).

Here are the ready antidotes, much used on this site, of course, to this heresy:

It [the Holy Roman Church] firmly believes, professes, and teaches that the matter pertaining to the law of the Old Testament, of the Mosaic law, which are divided into ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments, because they were established to signify something in the future, although they were suited to the divine worship at that time, after our Lord's coming had been signified by them, ceased, and the sacraments of the New Testament began; and that whoever, even after the passion, placed hope in these matters of the law and submitted himself to them as necessary for salvation, as if faith in Christ could not save without them, sinned mortally. Yet it does not deny that after the passion of Christ up to the promulgation of the Gospel they could have been observed until they were believed to be in no way necessary for salvation; but after the promulgation of the Gospel it asserts that they cannot be observed without the loss of eternal salvation. All, therefore, who after that time observe circumcision and the Sabbath and the other requirements of the law, it declares alien to the Christian faith and not in the least fit to participate in eternal salvation, unless someday they recover from these errors. Therefore, it commands all who glory in the name of Christian, at whatever time, before or after baptism, to cease entirely from circumcision, since, whether or not one places hope in it, it cannot be observed at all without the loss of eternal salvation. Regarding children, indeed, because of danger of death, which can often take place, when no help can be brought to them by another remedy than through the sacrament of baptism, through which they are snatched from the domination of the Devil and adopted among the sons of God, it advises that holy baptism ought not to be deferred for forty or eighty days, or any time according to the observance of certain people, but it should be conferred as soon as it can be done conveniently, but so ,that, when danger of death is imminent, they be baptized in the form of the Church, early without delay, even by a layman or woman, if a priest should be lacking, just as is contained more fully in the decree of the Armenians. . . .

It firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that those not living within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics cannot become participants in eternal life, but will depart "into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels" [Matt. 25:41], unless before the end of life the same have been added to the flock; and that the unity of the ecclesiastical body is so strong that only to those remaining in it are the sacraments of the Church of benefit for salvation, and do fastings, almsgiving, and other functions of piety and exercises of Christian service produce eternal reward, and that no one, whatever almsgiving he has practiced, even if he has shed blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he has remained in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church. (Pope Eugene IV, Cantate Domino, Council of Florence, February 4, 1442.)

28.That He completed His work on the gibbet of the Cross is the unanimous teaching of the holy Fathers who assert that the Church was born from the side of our Savior on the Cross like a new Eve, mother of all the living. [28] "And it is now," says the great St. Ambrose, speaking of the pierced side of Christ, "that it is built, it is now that it is formed, it is now that is .... molded, it is now that it is created . . . Now it is that arises a spiritual house, a holy priesthood." [29] One who reverently examines this venerable teaching will easily discover the reasons on which it is based.

29.And first of all, by the death of our Redeemer, the New Testament took the place of the Old Law which had been abolished; then the Law of Christ together with its mysteries, enactments, institutions, and sacred rites was ratified for the whole world in the blood of Jesus Christ. For, while our Divine Savior was preaching in a restricted area -- He was not sent but to the sheep that were lost of the house of Israel [30] -the Law and the Gospel were together in force; [31] but on the gibbet of his death Jesus made void the Law with its decrees, [32] fastened the handwriting of the Old Testament to the Cross, [33] establishing the New Testament in His blood shed for the whole human race. [34] "To such an extent, then," says St. Leo the Great, speaking of the Cross of our Lord, "was there effected a transfer from the Law to the Gospel, from the Synagogue to the Church, from many sacrifices to one Victim, that, as our Lord expired, that mystical veil which shut off the innermost part of the temple and its sacred secret was rent violently from top to bottom." [35]

30. On the Cross then the Old Law died, soon to be buried and to be a bearer of death, [36] in order to give way to the New Testament of which Christ had chosen the Apostles as qualified ministers; [37] and although He had been constituted the Head of the whole human family in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, it is by the power of the Cross that our Savior exercises fully the office itself of Head in His Church. "For it was through His triumph on the Cross," according to the teaching of the Angelic and Common Doctor, "that He won power and dominion over the gentiles"; [38] by that same victory He increased the immense treasure of graces, which, as He reigns in glory in heaven, He lavishes continually on His mortal members it was by His blood shed on the Cross that God's anger was averted and that all the heavenly gifts, especially the spiritual graces of the New and Eternal Testament, could then flow from the fountains of our Savior for the salvation of men, of the faithful above all; it was on the tree of the Cross, finally, that He entered into possession of His Church, that is, of all the members of His Mystical Body; for they would not have been united to this Mystical Body. (Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, June 29, 1943.)

Night and day, ladies and gentlemen. The night of the matter comes from the adversary and is promoted by the counterfeit church at the behest of its Talmudic masters. The light and truth of the matter is from Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, He Who is the very Light of the world.

The Old Covenant has been superseded. It has the power to save no one. Anyone who contends that it does is a heretic. There are not two “parallel paths” to salvation.

Yawn.

Here is a reminder of how widespread this heresy has been in the conciliar structures for so long a time now.

To wit, John Joseph “ Cardinal O’Connor, who was the conciliar "archbishop" of New York from March 19, 1984 to May 3, 2000, a man who protected moral perverts within his clergy, told a the Masonic B'Nai Brith organization in March of 1998 that "Catholicism and Judaism were meant to coexist side by side until the end of time. This is not what I teach. This is what my boss, Pope John Paul II, teaches, and I work for my boss." Jewish rabbis were amazed at what they heard. Here is an account offered by a "papal" knight, the late Rabbi Leon Klenicki, a pro-abortion rabbi who was present at that Anti-Defamation League dinner in 1998:

Once we invited him [John "Cardinal O'Connor] to talk at one of the Anti-Defamation League dinners. He was there to help present a booklet we had put out. During his speech, he told a story about how he once went to a Reform synagogue and he was the only one there with a yarmulke. Several Reform rabbis who were there looked at each others--I think they couldn't believe it--but everybody was laughing. The Cardinal had a serious point, too. Later that night, he said that he was in pain because there are Jews who do not want to exercise their Judaism because of assimilation or other reasons. It is their duty to practice their faith, he said, to prove that God exists and to refute the Holocaust. He sounded very much like a rabbi when he spoke. The crowd was all around him afterwards, shaking his hand and embracing him. I told him if he ever needed a job I knew a congregation that could use him. (Page 148 of Full of Grace: An Oral Biography of John Cardinal O'Connor.)

Yes, the events of World War II, as horrible as they were, have been exaggerated and exploited by the Talmudists to shame Catholics into feeling guilty about crimes for which they were not responsible. Indeed, it was the Talmudic exploitation of the Protestant Revolution’s overthrow of the Social Reign of Christ the King that led directly to the rise and subsequent godless “philosophies” and “ideologies” of Bolshevism and Nazism, which were just two sides of the same socialist coin. Jewish bankers and industrialists were very much responsible for helping to create the religiously indifferentist civil state in Europe.

Adolph Hitler was merely the end-product of what had been championed by the Freemason Otto von Bismarck sixty years previously. Bismarck started a Kulturkampf against the Holy Faith. Hitler’s own quasi-religion, Nazism, was simply result of four hundred years of revolution against the Divine Plan to effect man’s return to Him through His Catholic Church, a revolution that was aided and abetted by Talmudists at every turn.

It is thus reprehensible that the conciliar revolutionaries still continue to invoke the “Shoah” in order to justify their false religious sect’s “new relationship with the faith of Israel,” which was described by the “restorer of Tradition,” Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, as follows in his infamous Christmas address to the conciliar curia on December 22, 2005:

Thirdly, linked more generally to this was the problem of religious tolerance - a question that required a new definition of the relationship between the Christian faith and the world religions. In particular, before the recent crimes of the Nazi regime and, in general, with a retrospective look at a long and difficult history, it was necessary to evaluate and define in a new way the relationship between the Church and the faith of Israel.  (Christmas greetings to the Members of the Roman Curia and Prelature, December 22, 2005)

No event of secular history can cause the Catholic Church to breathe new life into a false religion that is hated by God.

The events of World War II have been used by various adherents of the Talmud to demonstrate their deeply held belief that the spilling of Jewish blood is more horrible a crime than the spilling of the blood of others. Indeed, the Zionists in Israel have treated the Palestinians, who were thrown out of their own homes and had their property seized from them in 1948 and have been subjected to all manner of degrading conditions since that time, as the same sort of subhumans as the Jews and others, especially the Poles, were treated by the Nazis. The exploitation of the crimes of the Nazis during World War II has resulted in an endless effort to impose "guilt" on anyone and everyone who dares to proclaim the Holy Name of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in public, no less hold to everything that He has revealed to us in the Sacred Deposit of Faith and has entrusted to the infallible teaching authority of His Catholic Church for Its explication and eternal safekeeping.

The final passage of the “new” document to be explored will make up the bulk of this commentary as I try to serve as an “institutional memory” to keep readers from rending their garments and gnashing their teeth over old heresies:

40. It is easy to understand that the so–called ‘mission to the Jews’ is a very delicate and sensitive matter for Jews because, in their eyes, it involves the very existence of the Jewish people. This question also proves to be awkward for Christians, because for them the universal salvific significance of Jesus Christ and consequently the universal mission of the Church are of fundamental importance. The Church is therefore obliged to view evangelisation to Jews, who believe in the one God, in a different manner from that to people of other religions and world views. In concrete terms this means that the Catholic Church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews. While there is a principled rejection of an institutional Jewish mission, Christians are nonetheless called to bear witness to their faith in Jesus Christ also to Jews, although they should do so in a humble and sensitive manner, acknowledging that Jews are bearers of God’s Word, and particularly in view of the great tragedy of the Shoah. The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29) - A reflection on theological questions pertaining to Catholic-Jewish relations (10 December 2015)

Here we go again.

There is nothing “new” in this whatsoever.

Far from fulfilling Our Lord’s mission to the Apostles to seek the conversion of everyone in the whole world, the conciliar revolutionaries have sought to reaffirm adherents of false religions in paths that can lead them only eternal perdition, not eternal salvation.

Things have been so bad for so long that the aforementioned John Joseph “Cardinal” O’Connor even once told a young man, Stephen Dubner, that “God was smiling” on his decision to convert to Talmudism from Catholicism in order to “atone” for his parents having converted from Judaism to Catholicism decades before:

"Tell your mother that you have tried to study this, that you have prayed about it, this is not just a revolt or a rejection, this is not a dismissal of what you don't understand -- that this is where you think God wants you to be, an informed Jew." (BOOKS OF THE TIMES; Words Upon the Heart, Heard at Last.)

An “informed” decision that God wants one to be an “informed Jew.”

Oh, by the American Broadcasting Company television network’s Nightline program, hosted by Ted Koppel, was the venue in which “Cardinal” O’Connor made his “God is smiling on all of this” remark in an interview that aired as part of segment that focused specifically on Stephen Dubner’s conversion to Talmudism.

The date of that Nightline telecast?

December 25, 1998, something that was hardly a coincidence as Talmudists are always at the ready to make a mockery of the Nativity of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This egregious episode prompted me to write an article for The Wanderer, “How to Break A Mother’s Heart,” meaning, of course, Our Blessed Mother’s Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.

No, none of what was released by the conciliar Vatican’s “Pontifical” Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews” is in the least bit new. It is standard conciliar “orthodoxy” of the sort that prompted the longtime preacher to the antipapal household, Father Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M., Cap., who has been at his apostate work inside the walls of the Occupied Vatican on the West Bank of the Tiber River for thirty-five years now as this eighty-three year-old Catholic Pentecostalist has preached to Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI and Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis, to write the following in 2005:

If Jews one day come (as Paul hopes) to a more positive judgment of Jesus, this must occur through an inner process, as the end of a search of their own (something that in part is occurring). We Christians cannot be the ones who seek to convert them. We have lost the right to do so by the way in which this was done in the past. First the wounds must be healed through dialogue and reconciliation. (Zenit, September 30, 2005.)

"We have lost the right to do so by the way in which this was done in the past?"

Where in the history of the Catholic Church prior to 1958 can you find any evidence whatsoever that the mandate given by Our Lord to the Eleven on Ascension Thursday to seek to convert all men at all times until His Second Coming in glory is a mere "right" that can be "lost"?

Whose efforts to convert the Jews was Cantalamessa condemning?

Saint Peter, who said the following to the Jews on Pentecost Sunday?

And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these, that speak, Galileans? And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians: we have heard them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all astonished, and wondered, saying one to another: What meaneth this? But others mocking, said: These men are full of new wine. But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke to them: Ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you, and with your ears receive my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day:

But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass, in the last days, (saith the Lord,) I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And upon my servants indeed, and upon my handmaids will I pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will shew wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath: blood and fire, and vapour of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord come.

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him, in the midst of you, as you also know: This same being delivered up, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by the hands of wicked men have crucified and slain. Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell, as it was impossible that he should be holden by it. For David saith concerning him: I foresaw the Lord before my face: because he is at my right hand, that I may not be moved.

For this my heart hath been glad, and any tongue hath rejoiced: moreover my flesh also shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life: thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Ye men, brethren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch David; that he died, and was buried; and his sepulchre is with us to this present day. Whereas therefore he was a prophet, and knew that God hath sworn to him with an oath, that of the fruit of his loins one should sit upon his throne.

Foreseeing this, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ. For neither was he left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised again, whereof all we are witnesses. Being exalted therefore by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath poured forth this which you see and hear. For David ascended not into heaven; but he himself said: The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy enemies thy footstool.

Therefore let all the house of Israel know most certainly, that God hath made both Lord and Christ, this same Jesus, whom you have crucified. Now when they had heard these things, they had compunction in their heart, and said to Peter, and to the rest of the apostles: What shall we do, men and brethren? But Peter said to them: Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are far off, whomsoever the Lord our God shall call. And with very many other words did he testify and exhort them, saying: Save yourselves from this perverse generation.

They therefore that received his word, were baptized; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls. And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: many wonders also and signs were done by the apostles in Jerusalem, and there was great fear in all. And all they that believed, were together, and had all things common. Their possessions and goods they sold, and divided them to all, according as every one had need.

And continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they took their meat with gladness and simplicity of heart; Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord increased daily together such as should be saved.  (Acts 2: 1-47)

The first pope, Saint Peter, spoke a little differently than did Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II in 1986 when he visited a synagogue in Rome. He spoke a little differently than did Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI when he spoke in a synagogue in Cologne, Germany, on Friday, August 19, 2005, or in the City of New York, New York, on Friday, April 18, 2008, and acted a little differently than Jorge Mario Bergoglio has done by reading prayers from the blasphemous Talmud and writing formally in Evangelii Gaudium, November 25, 2013, that the Old Covenant was still valid, and by hiding his pectoral cross under his fascia as he met with two rabbis in Jerusalem on May 31, 2014, one of several occasions that he has done so.

Serving once again as your "institutional memory," it is important to point out that the frail Antipope Emeritus, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, has cast doubt on the the fact that Saint Peter, our first pope, actually spoke the words on Pentecost Sunday that were attributed to him by Saint Luke in the Acts of the Apostles:

From a theological understanding of the empty tomb, a passage from Saint Peter's Pentecost sermon strikes me as important, when Peter for the first time openly proclaims Jesus' Resurrection to the assembled crowds. He communicates it, not in his own words, but by quoting Psalm 16:8-10 as follows: "... my flesh will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my son to Hades, nor let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life" (Acts 2:26-28). Peter quotes the psalm text using the version found in the Greek Bible. The Hebrew text is slightly different: "You do not give me up to Sheol, or let your godly one see the Pit. You show me the path of life" (Ps. 16:10-11). In the Hebrew version the psalmist speaks in the certainty that God will protect him, even in the threatening situation in which he evidently finds himself, that God will shield him from death and that he may dwell securely: he will not see the grave. The version Peter quotes is different: here the psalmist is confident that he will not remain in the underworld, that he will not see corruption.

Peter takes it for granted that it was David who originally prayed this psalm, and he goes on to state that this hope was not fulfilled in David: "He both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day" (Acts 2:29). The tomb containing his corpse is the proof of his not having risen. Yet the psalm text is still true: it applies to the definitive David. Indeed, Jesus is revealed here as the true David, precisely because in him this promise is fulfilled: "You will not let your Holy One see corruption."

We need not go into the question here of whether this address goes back to Peter and, if not, who else may have redacted it and precisely when and where it originated. Whatever the answer may be, we are dealing here with a primitive form of Resurrection proclamation, whose high authority in the early Church is clear from the fact that it was attributed to Saint Peter himself and was regarded as the original proclamation of the Resurrection. (Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, pp. 255-256.)

Left unaddressed in this classic piece of Modernist deconstruction of Sacred Scripture that is a blasphemous affront to God the Holy Ghost and to Saint Peter was the little matter that three thousand Jews from all over the Mediterranean converted because of the stirring words delivered by our first pope moments after he had received the Seven Gifts and Twelve Fruits of God the Holy Ghost, being blessed at that moment with the charism of infallibility of doctrine. Ratzinger/Benedict had to place into question, no matter how subtly by way of refusing to address the question that he raises, the fact that Saint Peter delivered this sermon, thereby leaving the reader with a doubt, however slight, that the first pope actually spoke in the manner that he did on Pentecost Sunday.

Moreover, as we know that Saint Peter did deliver this sermon and that the Acts of the Apostles was written by Saint Luke under the inspiration of God the Holy Ghost, to assert that Saint Peter was wrong about the authorship of Psalm 16, attributing it "incorrectly" to King David, is to mock the papal infallibility with which our first pope had just been clothed by the same God the Holy Ghost. 

Consider this fact, my friends. Consider it if only for a moment.

Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, that "master" of true Scripture exegesis who believed his insights were superior to those of Holy Mother Church's Fathers and Doctors, including the Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas Aquinas, identified the first "papal error" for us, committed moments after Saint Peter received the Gifts and Fruits of God the Holy Ghost. If only Saint Peter had had the benefit of Ratzinger/Benedict's training with all of its "access" to sources not known to the fisherman from Galilee, he would not have made such a blunder.

Then again, Ratzinger/Benedict had to put into doubt the actual fact of Saint Peter's Pentecost sermon as to believe that the first pope did speak as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles shows that his vaunted "hermeneutic of continuity" was all about trying to prove that discontinuities between conciliarism and Catholicism are numberless, and they include the matter of Saint Peter's Penteocst Sunday sermon to the Jews, whom the conciliar "popes" do not believe they must exhort to convert to the true Faith in order to save their immortal souls.

Indeed, it was to Rabbi David Rosen that Walter "Cardinal" Kasper, then the President of the "Pontifical" Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the head of Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, wrote a letter on February 13, 2008, to assure him, Rosen, that Ratzinger/Benedict's "revision" of the Good Friday prayer for the Jews in the modernized Missal of 1962 did not signify that the Catholic Church had any mission from God to "take Israel's salvation in our hands" before the end of time. Remember that letter?

Chief Rabbi David Rosen
Chairman
IJCIC
165 East 56th Street
New York, NY 10022 USA

Dear Rabbi Rosen,

Upon my return to Rome, I found your letter of 10 February 2008 regarding the prayer formulated for the extraordinary rite of the Good Friday liturgy. I well understand the sensitivities of some of the more traditional Jewish circles. However, if one reads exactly what is said in the reformulated prayer one sees nothing is withdrawn from Nostra Aetate; indeed, this text remains totally valid and fundamental for our Jewish-Christian relations. It is absolutely not the intention of anyone in the Roman Curia to step back and interrupt our fruitful dialogue, which for us is irreversible.

Yet we must not lose sight of the fact that this dialogue presupposes that both Jews and Christians maintain their identities and remain free to express their respective faiths. From the very beginning of our dialogue it was and it remains clear that notwithstanding all that we have in common there is a fundamental difference in Christology which is constitutive for both your Jewish and our own Christian identity. To give witness of our Christian faith, as is expressed in the reformulated prayer, is therefore in no way a return to the language of contempt but an expression of mutual respect in our respective otherness.

In reformulating the prayer of the now extraordinary liturgy, the Pope wanted to avoid formulations which were perceived by many Jews to be offensive, but he wanted at the same time to remain in line with the intrinsic linguistic and stylistic structure of this liturgy and therefore not simply replace the prayer for the prayer in the ordinary liturgy, which we must not forget is used by the vast majority of Catholic communities.

The reformulated text no longer speaks about the conversion of the Jews as some Jewish critics wrongly affirm. The text is a prayer inspired by Saint Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 11, which is the very text that speaks also of the unbroken covenant. It takes up Paul's eschatological hope that in the end of time all Israel will be saved. As a prayer the text lays all in the hands of God and not in ours. It says nothing about the how and when. Therefore there is nothing about missionary activities by which we may take Israel's salvation in our hands.

I cannot see why this prayer should present any reason to interrupt our dialogue. On the contrary, it is an opportunity and a challenge to continue the dialogue on what we have in common and what differentiates us in our Messianic hope.

I am happy that after some perplexities we now hear more and more voices from the Jewish world seeing things in a realistic way, and I do hope that this letter can be a contribution to overcome the misunderstandings and grievances.

Yours sincerely,

Walter Cardinal Kasper
President (Cardinal Kasper's Letter to Rabbi Rosen) 

I contended at the time that "Cardinal" Kasper would never have acted unilaterally, that is, without a consultation with the ecumenist and Talmudic sycophant, Ratzinger/Benedict, before sending that letter to Rosen. Others shot back by saying that such a conclusion was a "rash judgment," an interesting accusation as Kasper repeated, almost word-for-word, what he wrote to Rosen in an article published in a German newspaper before it was republished in the semi-official newspaper of the Vatican, L'Osservatore Romano in March of 2008. As far as I know, and perhaps I have missed a few things, the views Kasper expressed in his letter to the vegetarian David Rosen and in his article about the Good Friday prayer were never repudiated by Ratzinger/Benedict, and the new document issued by Kasper's successor, Kurt Koch, reiterated the exact same message. Those seeking to condemn Jorge Mario Bergoglio's Talmudic ways must also condemn Ratzinger's own Talmudic ways as the two are joined at the hip in matters of substance, including relations with the "faith of Israel.

The insistence on the lakc of a "missionary strategy of conversion" of the Jews on the part of the counterfeit church of conciliarism was confirmed also in April of 2008 when "Archbishop" Gianfranco Ravasi and Rabbi Jacob Neusner, who was to Ratzinger/Benedict what Abraham Skorka is to Jorge Mario Beroglio, that is, his favorite Talmudic rabbi (one who shared the German apostate's supposedly intellectual interests), wrote in "La Civiltà Cattolica" after a "line-by-line scrutiny by the Vatican secretariat of state, Ratzinger/Benedict's great friend, Tarcisio "Cardinal" Bertone, S.D.B.:

We repeat: this is the Christian vision, and it is the hope of the Church that prays. It is not a programmatic proposal of theoretical adherence, nor is it a missionary strategy of conversion. It is the attitude characteristic of the prayerful invocation according to which one hopes also for the persons considered near to oneself, those dear and important, a reality that one maintains is precious and salvific. An important exponent of French culture in the 20th century, Julien Green, wrote that "it is always beautiful and legitimate to wish for the other what is for you a good or a joy: if you think you are offering a true gift, do not hold back your hand." Of course, this must always take place in respect for freedom and for the different paths that the other adopts. But it is an expression of affection to wish for your brother what you consider a horizon of light and life. ("Archbishop" Gianfranco Ravasi, A Bishop and a Rabbi Defend the Prayer for the Salvation of the Jews.)

Make no mistake about it, good and few readers, "Pope" Benedict XVI taught those things himself, having gone so far as to blaspheme God by saying that Christians and Jews "pray to the same Lord." He has cited, as "Pope" Benedict XVI, his own Preface to The Jewish People and Their Scriptures in the Christian Bible the conclusions reached by the belief that a "Jewish reading of the Bible is a possible one:"

5. Many lessons may be learned from our common heritage derived from the Law and the Prophets.  I would like to recall some of them: first of all, the solidarity which binds the Church to the Jewish people “at the level of their spiritual identity”, which offers Christians the opportunity to promote “a renewed respect for the Jewish interpretation of the Old Testament” (cf. Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Jewish people and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible, 2001, pp.12 and 55); the centrality of the Decalogue as a common ethical message of permanent value for Israel, for the Church, for non-believers and for all of humanity; the task of preparing or ushering in the Kingdom of the Most High in the “care for creation” entrusted by God to man for him to cultivate and to care for responsibly (cf. Gen 2:15). (Ratzinger at Rome synagogue: ‘May these wounds be healed forever!’ )

The former conciliar "Petrine Minister" spoke as he did seventy-one months ago now as "Pope" Benedict XVI because he believed then what he had believed as "Cardinal" Ratzinger, which he why he cited the following Preface in his talk at the Rome synagogue on January 17, 2010:

In its work, the Biblical Commission could not ignore the contemporary context, where the shock of the Shoah has put the whole question under a new light. Two main problems are posed: Can Christians, after all that has happened, still claim in good conscience to be the legitimate heirs of Israel's Bible? Have they the right to propose a Christian interpretation of this Bible, or should they not instead, respectfully and humbly, renounce any claim that, in the light of what has happened, must look like a usurpation? The second question follows from the first: In its presentation of the Jews and the Jewish people, has not the New Testament itself contributed to creating a hostility towards the Jewish people that provided a support for the ideology of those who wished to destroy Israel? The Commission set about addressing those two questions. It is clear that a Christian rejection of the Old Testament would not only put an end to Christianity itself as indicated above, but, in addition, would prevent the fostering of positive relations between Christians and Jews, precisely because they would lack common ground. In the light of what has happened, what ought to emerge now is a new respect for the Jewish interpretation of the Old Testament. On this subject, the Document says two things. First it declares that “the Jewish reading of the Bible is a possible one, in continuity with the Jewish Scriptures of the Second Temple period, a reading analogous to the Christian reading, which developed in parallel fashion” (no. 22). It adds that Christians can learn a great deal from a Jewish exegesis practised for more than 2000 years; in return, Christians may hope that Jews can profit from Christian exegetical research (ibid.). I think this analysis will prove useful for the pursuit of Judeo-Christian dialogue, as well as for the interior formation of Christian consciousness. (Joseph Ratzinger, Preface to The Jewish People and Their Scriptures in the Christian Bible.) 

Apostasy.

The "Jewish interpretation of the Old Testament" is blasphemous in that it denies that God the Holy Ghost, who inspired the words of Sacred Scripture, including the Old Testament, directed the human authors to write the books of the Old Testament with clarity so that they pointed unequivocally to the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity in Our Lady's Virginal and Immaculate Womb by His own power. And what in the world is "Israel"? The country? A way of referring to Talmudic Judaism? If it is the latter, Ratzinger/Benedict once again reaffirmed the validity of a false religion that is hateful in the eyes of God and that has the power to sanctify or save not one human being on the face of this earth.

Walter Kasper reiterated all of this in his lecture at Liverpool Hope University on May 24, 2010:

In the past Israel was often collectively described as an accursed people cast off by God. This position since Nostra aetate is totally overcome. According to Saint Paul Israel is the divinely chosen and beloved people of the covenant, which was never revoked or terminated (Rom 9:4; 11.29). That is why it cannot be said that the covenant with Israel has been replaced by the New Covenant. The New Covenant for Christians is not the replacement (substitution), but the fulfilment of the Old Covenant. Both stand with each other in a relationship of promise or anticipation, and fulfilment. This relationship must be understood in the context of the whole history of the covenant. The whole history of God with his people takes place in a sequence of various covenants with Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Ezra; in the end, the prophet Jeremiah promises a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31). Each of these covenants takes up the previous covenant and at the same time reinterprets it anew. Thus for us the New Covenant is the final reinterpretation promised by the prophets of the Old Covenant. It is the definitive yes and amen to all of God’s promises (2 Cor 1:20), but not their suspension or abolition.

The problem is not only the relationship of the Old and New Covenant, but the different problem of the relationship of the church and post–biblical Rabbinic and Talmudic Judaism, which arose only after the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70. The canons and structures of both were formed in parallel. Therefore the New Testament can give us no clear and above all no uniform answer to this question.

After the destruction of the Second Temple, a Rabbinic Jewish and a Christian interpretation of the Old Testament developed in parallel and in interaction, both based on their respective religious presuppositions. The document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible (2001), however, explicitly notes that both are possible interpretations of the Old Testament text (§22). In this regard, the statement of Nostra aetate receives its full weight, that the Jews, according to the testimony of the Apostle, “are still beloved of God for their fathers’ sake, for his gifts of grace are irrevocable.” So our Christian relationship to the Jews is for us – as Pope John Paul II put it on his visit to the Synagogue of Rome in 1986 – not only an external reality but belongs in a certain sense to the inner reality of our religion. We share a important common heritage. The Jews are “our elder brothers in the faith of Abraham”.

After the destruction of the Second Temple, a Rabbinic Jewish and a Christian interpretation of the Old Testament developed in parallel and in interaction, both based on their respective religious presuppositions. The document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible (2001), however, explicitly notes that both are possible interpretations of the Old Testament text (§22). In this regard, the statement of Nostra aetate receives its full weight, that the Jews, according to the testimony of the Apostle, “are still beloved of God for their fathers’ sake, for his gifts of grace are irrevocable.” So our Christian relationship to the Jews is for us – as Pope John Paul II put it on his visit to the Synagogue of Rome in 1986 – not only an external reality but belongs in a certain sense to the inner reality of our religion. We share a important common heritage. The Jews are “our elder brothers in the faith of Abraham”.  (Clicking on this link, Text of Kasper Address, will result in your having to download the text into your computer in order to view it. You can't view it otherwise. Won't it be great to have to your own personal copy of a Walter Kasper talk in your computer? The numbers of the readers of this site may be relatively small. I do go to such extra lengths, however, to try to bring to smile, if not a laugh, to you.)

Walter Kasper expressed the mind of his fellow countryman, Ratzinger/Benedict perfectly, and that mind is the same as Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Kurt Kioch. Unfortunately for them, however, that mind is not a Catholic one.

"The New Testament can give us no clear and above all uniform answer to the question concerning the "relationship" between Talmudic Judaism and Christianity?"

The New Testament is clear, and we have Apostolic Tradition, which has been preserved intact by Holy Mother Church, to us it meaning. The Old Covenant has indeed been superseded.

For Kasper to have been  correct, therefore, Holy Mother Church, guided infallibly by God the Holy Ghost, got it "wrong" when pronouncing the words from Cantate Domino? Similarly, Pope Pius XII got it wrong when writing about the Old Covenant's having been supplanted by the New and Eternal Covenant that Our Lord institued at the Last Supper and ratified by His Passion and Death the next day, Good Friday.

Pope Saint Pius X had to have been "wrong" when he specifically used the word "superseded" when speaking with the founder of international Zionism, Theodore Herzl, on January 25, 1904:

HERZL: [I said that we based our movement solely on the sufferings of the Jews, and wished to put aside all religious issues]. 

POPE: Yes, but we, but I as the head of the Catholic Church, cannot do this. One of two things will likely happen. Either the Jews will retain their ancient faith and continue to await the Messiah whom we believe has already appeared—in which case they are denying the divinity of Jesus and we cannot assist them. Or else they will go there with no religion whatever, and then we can have nothing at all to do with them. The Jewish faith was the foundation of our own, but it has been superceded by the teachings of Christ, and we cannot admit that it still enjoys any validity. The Jews who should have been the first to acknowledge Jesus Christ have not done so to this day. (Marvin Lowenthal, Diaries of Theodore Herzl, pp. 427- 430.)

Kasper's repeated contention that canon of the New Testament and the customs that grew up within what he termed "post-Biblical" Judaism proceeded along the same paths at the same time. This is utter blasphemy against the Most Holy Trinity. Each of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament was inspired by God the Holy Ghost, Who did not give "part" of His spirit of truth to the Jews. Catholicism is true. Judaism is false, The conciliarists are simply incapable of making this statement as they do believe this is the case, demonstrating yet again that they have defected from the Catholic Faith. It is God the Holy Ghost Who guided Holy Mother Church's interpretation of the Old Testament just He guided her approval of the books of the New Testament.

To assert that we have just "discovered" the "true" meaning of Saint Paul's chapters in his Epistle to the Romans on the Jews is to blaspheme God and to spit on the Fathers of the Church who understood those passages perfectly.

The conciliar revolutionaries are, of course, faithful to the precepts of conciliarism, demonstrating that they are unalterably committed to the false belief that the Jews somehow please God by their belief in the Old Covenant and that they "pray to "the same Lord" as do Christians, giving no indication at all that their immortal souls are in any jeopardy of being lost for all eternity as they engage in devil worship in their synagogues. 

Here is what Ratzinger/Benedict wrote in Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection concerning the conversion of the Jews:

In this regard, the question of Israel's mission has always been present in the background. We realize today with horror how many misunderstandings with grave consequences have weighed down our history. Yet a new reflection can acknowledge that the beginnings of a correct understanding have always been there, waiting to be rediscovered, however deep in the shadows. (Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection. San Francisco, California: Ignatius Press, 2011, p. 44.) 

Ratzinger/Benedict was saying here, whether or not he realized it, that the Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, God the Holy Ghost kept a "correct understanding" of "Israel's mission" deep in the shadows as he pats himself on the back for being one of the "enlightened" Catholics to have "rediscovered" this "true meaning" in order to bring to the world's attention.

So much for my having made a "rash judgment" in February of 2008 when Walter Kasper wrote to Rabbi David Rosen to express apostate views that he shared entirely with Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI.

By saying that the counterfeit church of conciliarism has no organized missionary activity to covert the Jews, the conciliar "popes" and their functionaries have shown themselves to be the most ardent anti-Semites on the face of this earth as they are content to let those who hate the very mention of the Holy Name of Jesus and deny His Sacred Divinity with a fierceness that is diabolically inspired die in their unbelief and thus be sent to Hell for all eternity. 

No "organized missionary activity to convert the Jews"?

So much for the witness of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr to his fellow Jews:

And Stephen, full of grace and fortitude, did great wonders and signs among the people. Now there arose some of that which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them that were of Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit that spoke.

Then they suborned men to say, they had heard him speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the ancients, and the scribes; and running together, they took him, and brought him to the council. And they set up false witnesses, who said: This man ceaseth not to speak words against the holy place and the law. For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the traditions which Moses delivered unto us. And all that sat in the council, looking on him, saw his face as if it had been the face of an angel

Then the high priest said: Are these things so? Who said: Ye men, brethren, and fathers, hear. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charan. And said to him: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. Then he went out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charan. And from thence, after his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein you now dwell. And he gave him no inheritance in it; no, not the pace of a foot: but he promised to give it him in possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.

And God said to him: That his seed should sojourn in a strange country, and that they should bring them under bondage, and treat them evil four hundred years. And the nation which they shall serve will I judge, said the Lord; and after these things they shall go out, and shall serve me in this place. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so he begot Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob; and Jacob the twelve patriarchs. And the patriarchs, through envy, sold Joseph into Egypt; and God was with him, And delivered him out of all his tribulations: and he gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharao, the king of Egypt; and he appointed him governor over Egypt, and over all his house.

Now there came a famine upon all Egypt and Chanaan, and great tribulation; and our fathers found no food. But when Jacob had heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent our fathers first: And at the second time, Joseph was known by his brethren, and his kindred was made known to Pharao. And Joseph sending, called thither Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, seventy-five souls. So Jacob went down into Egypt; and he died, and our fathers.

And they were translated into Sichem, and were laid in the sepulchre, that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Hemor, the son of Sichem. And when the time of the promise drew near, which God had promised to Abraham, the people increased, and were multiplied in Egypt, Till another king arose in Egypt, who knew not Joseph. This same dealing craftily with our race, afflicted our fathers, that they should expose their children, to the end they might not be kept alive. At the same time was Moses born, and he was acceptable to God: who was nourished three months in his father's house.

And when he was exposed, Pharao's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and in his deeds. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And when he had seen one of them suffer wrong, he defended him; and striking the Egyptian, he avenged him who suffered the injury. And he thought that his brethren understood that God by his hand would save them; but they understood it not.

And the day following, he shewed himself to them when they were at strife; and would have reconciled them in peace, saying: Men, ye are brethren; why hurt you one another? But he that did the injury to his neighbour thrust him away, saying: Who hath appointed thee prince and judge over us? What, wilt thou kill me, as thou didst yesterday kill the Egyptian? And Moses fled upon this word, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begot two sons. And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the desert of mount Sina, an angel in a flame of fire in a bush.

And Moses seeing it, wondered at the sight. And as he drew near to view it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying: I am the God of thy fathers; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses being terrified, durst not behold. And the Lord said to him: Loose the shoes from thy feet, for the place wherein thou standest, is holy ground. Seeing I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, and I will send thee into Egypt. This Moses, whom they refused, saying: Who hath appointed thee prince and judge? him God sent to be prince and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

He brought them out, doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the desert forty years. This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel: A prophet shall God raise up to you of your own brethren, as myself: him shall you hear. This is he that was in the church in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on mount Sina, and with our fathers; who received the words of life to give unto us. Whom our fathers would not obey; but thrust him away, and in their hearts turned back into Egypt, Saying to Aaron: Make us gods to go before us. For as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.

And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. And God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the books of the prophets: Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me for forty years, in the desert, O house of Israel? And you took unto you the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rempham, figures which you made to adore them. And I will carry you away beyond Babylon. The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the desert, as God ordained for them, speaking to Moses, that he should make it according to the form which he had seen. Which also our fathers receiving, brought in with Jesus, into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David.

Who found grace before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him a house. Yet the most High dwelleth not in houses made by hands, as the prophet saith: Heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool. What house will you build me? saith the Lord; or what is the place of my resting? Hath not my hand made all these things?

You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you also. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them who foretold of the coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers: Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. Now hearing these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed with their teeth at him. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly to heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

And they crying out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and with one accord ran violently upon him. And casting him forth without the city, they stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, invoking, and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord. And Saul was consenting to his death. (Acts 6: 8-15; 7: 1-59)

Saint Stephen certainly had a program for the conversion of the Jews. Was he acting on his own? Was he doing the work that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ had appointed for His Holy Church each day until the end of time?

Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Himself showed that Saint Stephen's prayers for his persecutors had been answered when He directly sought the conversion of Saul of Tarsus as he was making his way on the road to Damascus to persecute yet more Catholics:

And Saul, as yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, And asked of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues: that if he found any men and women of this way, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. And as he went on his journey, it came to pass that he drew nigh to Damascus; and suddenly a light from heaven shined round about him. And falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who said: Who art thou, Lord? And he: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.

And he trembling and astonished, said: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said to him: Arise, and go into the city, and there it shall be told thee what thou must do. Now the men who went in company with him, stood amazed, hearing indeed a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the ground; and when his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. But they leading him by the hands, brought him to Damascus. And he was there three days, without sight, and he did neither eat nor drink. Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision: Ananias. And he said: Behold I am here, Lord.

And the Lord said to him: Arise, and go into the street that is called Stait, and seek in the house of Judas, one named Saul of Tarsus. For behold he prayeth.(And he saw a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hands upon him, that he might receive his sight.) But Ananias answered: Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints in Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that invoke thy name. And the Lord said to him: Go thy way; for this man is to me a vessel of election, to carry my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.

For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house. And laying his hands upon him, he said: Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus hath sent me, he that appeared to thee in the way as thou camest; that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight; and rising up, he was baptized. And when he had taken meat, he was strengthened. And he was with the disciples that were at Damascus, for some days. And immediately he preached Jesus in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. (Acts 9: 1-20.)

No program for conversion?

Let's get serious about the truth rather than subordinating the truth to the exigencies of a false pope who desires to promote false ecumenism and the falsehoods of religious liberty and separation of Church and State at every turn, ad nauseam, at infinitum.  

Saint Vincent Ferrer, O.P., certainly had a program to convert the Jews--and the Mohammedans--of the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the Fourteenth and the beginning of the Fifteenth Centuries:

He exposed the perfidy of the Jews, and refuted the false doctrines of the Saracens, but with so much earnestness and success, that he brought a great number of infidels to the faith of Christ, and converted many thousand Christians from sin to repentance, and from vice to virtue. God had chosen him to teach the way of salvation to all nations, and tribes, and tongues; as also to warn men of the coming of the last and dread day of judgment, He so preached, that he struck terror into the minds of all his hearers, and turned them from earthly affections to the love of God. (From The Roman Breviary, quoted in Dom Prosper Gueranger's The Liturgical Year.) 

The Mother of God had a program to convert the Jews--and all others--by means of her Miraculous Medal and Green Scapular, given, respectively to two different Sisters of the Daughters of Charity, Saint Catherine Laboure and Sister Justine Bisqueyburo, confirming the use of the Miraculous Medal to convert the notorious Catholic-hating Jew by the name of Alphonse Ratisbonne as she appeared to him on January 20, 1842, in the Church of San Andrea delle Fratte in the image by which she appears on the Miraculous Medal that he had be given to wear by his brother Theodore. Pope Pius IX approved the the program conceived by Father Alphonse Ratisbonne to go to the Holy Land to seek the conversion of the Jews. His brother, Father Theodore Ratisbonne, who had written a beautiful biography of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, had been given permission by Pope Gregory XVI to seek the conversion of the Jews.

Prefaced by the words of none other than the great servant of the City of Mary Immaculate, the inimitable Father Maximilian Kolbe, who was imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz because he opposed all forms of false religions and naturalism, including Nazism and Bolshevism as he sought the conversion of all men to the Catholic Faith, including Jews, the appendix below contains Father Maria-Alphonse Ratisbonne's own testimony of his conversion to the Catholic Faith by means of Our Lady's appearing to him as she does on the Miraculous Medal. The except immediately below explains Ratisbonne's desire to be baptized immediately after seeing Our Lady, citing the fact that the Jews converted on Pentecost Sunday:

"All I can say of myself comes down to this: that in an instant a veil fell from my eyes; or rather not a single veil, but many of the veils which surrounded me were dissipated one after the other, like snow, mud and ice under the burning rays of the sun. I felt as though I were emerging from a tomb, from a dark grave; that I was beginning to be a living being, enjoying a real life. And yet I wept. I could see into the depths of my frightful misery, from which infinite mercy had liberated me. My whole being shivered at the sight of my transgressions; I was shaken, overcome by amazement and gratitude. I thought of my brother with indescribable joy; and to my tears of love there were joined tears of compassion. How many persons in this world, alas, are going down unknowingly into the abyss, their eyes shut by pride and indifference!They are being swallowed up alive by those horrifying shadows; and among them are my family, my fiancee, my poor sisters. What a bitter thought! My mind turned to you, whom I love so much; for you I offered my first prayers. Will you some day raise your eyes towards the Savior of the world, whose blood washed away original sin? How monstrous is the stain of that sin, because of which man no longer bears the resemblance to God!

"They asked me now I had come to know these truths, since they all knew that I had never so much as opened a book dealing with religion, head not even read a single page of the Bible, while the dogma of original sin, entirely forgotten or denied by modern Jews, had never occupied my mind for a single instant. I am no sure that I had even heard its name. So how had I come to know these truths? I cannot tell' all I know is that when I entered the church, I was ignorant of all this, whereas when I left I could see it all with blinding clarity. I cannot explain this change except by comparing myself to a man who suddenly awakens from deep sleep or to someone born blind who suddenly acquires sight. He sees, even though he cannot describe his sensations or pinpoint what enlightens him and makes it possible for him to admire the things around him. If we cannot adequately explain natural light, how can we describe a light the substance of which is truth itself? I think I am expressing myself correctly when I say that I did not have any verbal knowledge, but had come to possess the meaning and spirit of the dogmas, to feel rather than see these things, to experience them with the help of the inexpressible power which was at work within me.

"The love of God had taken the place of all other loves, to such an extent that I loved even my fiancee, but in a different way. I loved her like someone whom God held in his hands, like a precious gift which inspires an even greater love for the giver."

(As they wanted to delay his Baptism, Ratisbonne pleaded.)

"What? The Jews who heard the preaching of the apostles were baptized at once; and you wish to delay Baptism for me who have heard the Queen of the apostles?"

"My emotion, my ardent desires and my prayers finally induced these good men to fix a date for my Baptism. I awaited the appointed day with impatience, because I realized how displeasing I was in the eyes of God.

(Finally the 31st of January came. He described his Baptism.)

"Immediately after Baptism I felt myself filled with sentiments of veneration and filial love for the Holy Father; I considered myself fortunate when I was told that I would be granted an audience with the Pontiff, accompanied by the General of the Jesuits. In spite of all this I was quite nervous, because I had never frequented the important people of this world; although these important people seemed to me too insignificant when compared to true grandeur. I must confess that I included among these great ones of the world the one who on this earth holds God's highest power, i.e., the pope, the successor of Jesus Christ himself, whose indestructible chair he occupies.

"Never will I forget my trepidation and the beatings of my heart when I entered the vatican and traversed the spacious courtyards and majestic halls leading to the sacred premises where the pope resides. When I beheld him, though, my nervousness suddenly gave way to amazement. He was so simple, humble and paternal. This was no monarch, but a father who with unrestrained love treated me like a cherished son.

"O good God! Will it be thus when I appear before you to give you an account of the graces I hare received? Awe fills me at the mere thought of God's greatness, and I tremble before his justice; but at the sight of his mercy my confidence revives, and with confidence so will my love and unbounded gratitude.

"Yes, gratitude will from now on be my law and my life . I cannot express it in words; so I shall strive to do so in deeds. The letters received from my family give me full liberty; I wish to consecrate this liberty to God, and I offer it to him from this very moment, along with my whole life, to serve the Church and my brothers under the protection of the most Blessed Virgin Mary." (Father Anselm W. Romb, OFM Conv., Commentator and Editor, The Writings of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv.: The Kolbe Reader, pp. 22-31.)

The machinations of the Modernists in the counterfeit church of conciliarism will continue until there is the triumph of Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. While it may be important to note these machinations and to try to explain them for what they are for those who are willing to look at the truth of our situation objectively, there is no need for Catholics who are trying to save their souls in the catacombs under the direction of true bishops and true priests to be agitated by them. No, we must recognize that each of these machinations are from the devil and that they have nothing to do with the Catholic Church whatsoever.

Our Lady was splattered with the Most Precious Blood of her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as He redeemed us on the wood of the Holy Cross on Good Friday, which will be upon us in just six days. Father Frederick Faber, writing in The Precious Blood, explained that the Most Precious Blood of the Divine Redeemer, unlike the machinations of the conciliarists, is without change:

The life of God is very vast. This is the thought which comes to me when I put before myself the empire of the Precious Blood. the life of God is blessedness in his own self. It is the joy of his unity, the fact of his simplicity. Once he was without creatures; and the calm jubilee of his immutable life went on. There could be no impulses in that which had had no beginning. His life started from no point, and reached to no point; therefore it could have no momentum: that is a created idea. He was imperturbable bliss. What can be more self-collected than immensity? His infinite tenderness comes from his being imperturbable, though at first sight there seems to be contradictions between the two. When he was without creatures, they were not a want to him. His unbeginning life was unspeakable centred in himself, and so went on. He became, what he had not been before, a Creator. But no change passed upon him. All his acts had been in himself before: now he acted outside himself. But no change passed upon him. Hitherto all his acts, which were the Generation of the Son and the Procession of the Holy Ghost, had been necessary: now his creative acts were free. Still no change passed upon him. Still the calm jubilee of the unbeginning life went on. As it was before creation, so it was after it, a jubilant life of unutterable simplicity. These are things  we can only learn by loving. Without love they are merely hard words. God worked, and then God rested. Yet creation had been no interruption of his everlasting rest. Nevertheless, that Sabbath of God, of which Scripture tells us, is a wonderful mystery, and one full of repose to toiling, seeking, straining creatures. What was that seventh day's rest? To the untoiling Creator preservation is as much an effort as creation, and quite as great a mystery. But even creation, the evoking of being out of nothing, was not suspended. Human souls are forever being created, created out of nothing. Perhaps new species of animals may be so also. What then was his rest? Perhaps it is only another name for that expansive love, which as it were attested itself to bless its beautiful creation out of its extreme contentment and ineffable complacency.

Still the vast life of God goes on. He was free to create; and Perhaps those two things have much to do with each other. He made himself an empire outside himself, and crowned himself over it, the kingliest of kings. God is very royal. Royalty is the seal which is set on all his perfections, and by which we see how they are one. He enfranchised his empire, and then began to reign. Still there was no change. His free people dethroned him. Oftentimes now in the depths of prayer the love of his saints beholds him sitting in dust and ashes as an uncrowned king, as it were piteously. But all this is embraced within his vast life without a shadow of change. It was part of the external idea of creation, that one of the Divine Persons should assume a created nature. The Second Person did so. He has carried it to heaven, and placed it in the bosom of the Holy Trinity for endless worship. This has displaced nothing. The vast life goes on. No pulse beats in it. No succession belongs to it. No novelty happens to it. The Precious Blood of the Son's Human Nature would have been a pure beauty, a pure treasure of God, an unimaginable created life, if there had been no sins. But there was sin, and the destiny of the Precious Blood was changed. But there was no change in the divine life. The Precious Blood became the ransom for sin. The Precious Blood had to conquer back to God his revolted empire. It had to crown him again, and to be his imperial viceregent. What stupendous mutabilities are these! Yet there is no change in the vast life of God. Its very vastness makes it incapable of change. It has no experiences. It goes through nothing. It cannot begin, or end, or suffer. It works while it rests, and it rests while it works; and it neither works nor rests, but simply lives, simply is. O adorable life of God! blessed a thousand times be thou in the darkness of thy glory, in the incomprehensible sweetness of thy majesty!

To us the Precious Blood is inseparable from the life of God. It is the Blood of the Creator, the agent of redemption, the power of sanctification. Moreover, to our eyes it is a token of something which we should call a change in God, if we did not know that there could not be change in him. It seems to give God a past, to recover for him something which he had lost, to be a second thought, to remedy a failure, to be a new ornament in the Divinity, a created joy in the very centre of the uncreated jubilee. The empire of the Precious Blood is due to its position in the history and economy of creation, or, in other words, to its relation to the adorable life of God. It seems to explain the eternity before creation, inasmuch as it reveals to us the eternal thoughts of God, his compassionate designs, his primal decrees, and his merciful persistence in carrying out his designs of love. It makes visible much that in its own nature was invisible. It casts a light backward, even upon the uttermost recesses of that old eternity. Just as some actions disclose more of a man's character than other actions, so the Precious Blood is in itself a most extensive and peculiarly vivid revelation of the character of God. The fact of his redeeming us, and still more, the way in which he has redeemed us, and, still more, the way in which he had redeemed us, discloses to us his reason for creating us; and when we get some view, however transient and indistinct, of his reason for creating us, we seem to look into the life he leads as God. The light is so light that it is darkness; but the darkness is knowledge, and the knowledge, love. (Father Frederick Faber, The Precious Blood, published originally in 1860, republished by TAN Books and Publishers, pp. 82-84.) 

No novelty happens in the life of God. No novelty can happen in the life of His Holy Church. It is way, way past time for those who keep thinking that what emanates from the conciliar Vatican is the work of the Catholic Church to take seriously these words of Pope Pius XI in Quas Primas, December 11, 1925:

Not least among the blessings which have resulted from the public and legitimate honor paid to the Blessed Virgin and the saints is the perfect and perpetual immunity of the Church from error and heresy. (Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas, December 11, 1925.)

The Catholic Church is incapable of being touched by any kind of error, no less heresy, yes, even in her Universal Ordinary Magisterium. Wake up, fence-sitters. The hour is late. Persistence in the belief that the Catholic Church can be led by apostate "popes" and that a steady regimen of heresy can be issued from its officials is offensive to God and quite injurious for all eternity the souls of those who continue to resist the simple truth that the counterfeit church of conciliarism is not the Catholic Church. Period.

Although one can see a touch of false ecumenism at work in the passage below, written in the 1950s, the editor of an article about the life of Saint Ambrose explained that this great Bishop of Milan and Doctor of Holy Mother Church, whose feast was celebrated one week ago today, that is, on Monday, December 14, 2015, was indeed wholly in the right when he opposed a scheme to rebuild a Talmudic synagogue in Mesoptomia that had been destroyed by Christians, a scheme that was supported by Emperor Theodosius. Having a spirit far different than that of the conciliar revolutionaries, Saint Ambrose refused to give any quarter to false worship:

Conflicts between Ambrose and Theodosius were soon to arise. In the first of these the right does not seem to have been wholly on the bishop’s side. [Droleskey interjection: The right was entirely on Saint Ambroses’s side!] At Kallinicum in Mesopotamia, some Christians had pulled down the Jewish synagogue. Theodosius had ordered the local bishop, who was said to be implicated [in the destruction of the synagogue], to rebuild the synagogue. The bishop appealed to Ambrose, who in turn wrote to Theodosius to say that no Christian bishop should pay for the erection of a building to be used for false worship. Ambrose preached against Theodosius to his face; a discussion took place between them in church, and Ambrose refused to go to the altar to sing Masss until he had obtained a promise of pardon for the bishop. (As found in Lives of Saints: With Excerpts from Their Writings, edited by Father Joseph Van with an introduction by Father Thomas Plassman, O.F.M., J. J. Crawley and Sons in 1954, pp. 68-69.)

To be anti-Jewish is not be an anti-Semite.

To be anti-Jewish is to pray for the conversion of Jews to the true Faith before they die and to accord no kind of "validity" to Talmudism and to engage in none of their false worship. This is Catholicism, and that is not what is contained in the text of Nostra Aetate or The Gifts and the Calling of God Are Irrevocable or in the statements of the conciliar "popes."

We must pray to Our Lady during these last eleven days of Advent, including the penitential Ember Days that occur this week, especially by means of  praying the Joyful Mysteries of her Most Holy Rosary fervor so that we can welcome the Baby Jesus into our hearts and souls at Holy Communion on Christmas Day with souls that are purified of the stain of our own sins and eager always to lay down our very lives in defense of the truths of the Catholic Faith.

Our Lord became Man in Our Lady's Virginal and Immaculate Womb to be born for us in anonymity in Bethlehem so as to die in ignominy on the wood of the Holy Cross in order to redeem us by paying back in His Sacred Humanity  the debt of our own sins. May the final eleven days of Advent be filled with prayer, sacramental confession and, if possible, time in prayer before Our Lord's Real Presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament, to help us to be unspotted by the world and from any taint of contact with that which is simply a means to deceive souls and to give offense to God by a perverse ape of the Catholic Church, an entity that is replete with error and heresy.

Our Lady's Immaculate Heart will triumph in the end. May our own prayers and sacrifices we offered through her to the throne of the Most Blessed Trinity help in some small way to make that triumph a reality sooner rather later.

Vivat Christus Rex! Vivat Maria Regina Immaculata!

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

Saint Lucy, pray for us.

Apppendix

From The Kolbe Reader:

The Conversion of Alphonse Ratsibonne by Our Lady's Miraculous Medal

Once again it happened on a train, on April 6, 1924. To tell the truth, that is a place where one can easily meet persons with the most varied ideas. On the train I was relating the story of Ratisbonne's conversion, when a gentleman--one of those who are always ready to pronounce without proofs--observed ironically, "It's so nice to hear you tell all this, Father!" I replied that I could show him documentary proofs of the story, because just some days before I had received from Rome a collection of these, printed in 1892.

Therefore I wish to publish some extracts from these documents. To begin with, I shall give you same passages of a letter written by Ratisbonne himself to a parish priest, the Director of an Archconfraternity founded to pray for the conversion of sinners.

(After describing his family background, his wealth, his engagement and the trip he made to the Orient before the marriage--during which he stopped in Rome, despite the aversion he felt for Catholic Rome--Ratisbonne described the efforts of Baron de Bussieres, a zealous Catholic convert from Protestantism, to bring him into the Church. This nettled Ratisbonne. here is how he relates the visit he paid to Baron de Bussieres.)

"On entering M. de Bussieres' house I met with a first disappointment, because the maid, instead of simply taking my visiting card, immediately brought me into the parlor. As far as I could, I tried to dissimulate my ennui behind a feigned smile, and I sat down next to Baroness de Bussieres, near whom her two little daughters were playing. The conversation began with the usual insignificant topics, but soon I was displaying the passionate dislike with which I described the impressions I had received in Rome. In a condescending sort of way I considered Baron de Bussieres a devout person. Consequently, because this was a favorable opportunity for me, I did not refrain from some rather cutting remarks about the situation of the Jews in Rome, which relieved my feelings somewhat. However, it was these complaints of mine that brought the conversation around to religion. He spoke to me of the greatness of Catholicism. But I answered sarcastically with objections that I myself had read or that I had heard from others. However, I restrained my impious assertions somewhat, so as not to shock the faith of the little girls playing near us. Finally M. de Bussieres said to me: 'Well, inasmuch as you condemn all prejudices and profess such liberal principles, and because yours is such an enlightened and advanced mind, would you be brave enough to submit yourself to a harmless experiment?'

"What experiment?"

"'To carry about with you an object that I will give you. Here, take this image of the most Blessed Virgin. That sounds ridiculous to you, doesn't it? However, I consider it very effective.'

"I must admit that I had never expected such a proposition. At first I felt like bursting out laughing and shrugging my shoulders. But then I thought, 'What a splendid story this scene will make in the account of my trip!' So I accepted the medal which was placed around my neck. When I rested on my breast I laughed aloud and said, 'Well, well! Now I am a Catholic! . . . Apostolic . . . and Roman!'

"M. de Bussieres was genially triumphant over the victory he had won, but wanting to exploit it to the full, he said, '"Now, to complete the test, you must recite, morning and evening, the Memorare, a very short, but very efficacious prayer to the most Blessed Virgin, composed by St. Bernard.'

"But what on earth is this Memorare?" I exclaimed. Let's have done with all this mummery!

"At that moment I felt a great surge of vexation. The name of St. Bernard made me remember my brother, who had written the life of this saint. I had never been willing to take the book in my hands. But his souvenir awakened my rage against proselytism, against the Jesuits and against those whom I called hypocrites and apostates.

"So I begged M. de Bussieres to let it go at that, and making a joke of the affair, I told him I was sorry that I could not offer him even a single Hebrew prayer in return and that consequently I would have to remain in his debt. The fact was that I did not know any prayers at all. However, my adversary insisted that if I refused to say this short prayer, the whole test would fail, and thus I would prove that I was only an obstinate unbeliever. Since I attached no importance whatever to the matter I finally promised to recite the prayer. He went to get a copy of it right way and asked me to write it out. I agreed, but on the condition that he would give me the original and keep my handwritten copy. What I wanted to do in fact was to add to my notebook the new 'pledge of justice.'

So we finally came to an agreement. At the end we parted, and I spent the rest of the evening at the theater, forgetting all about the medal and the prayer. When I returned to my lodgings, however, I found a visiting card from M. de Bussieres, who had come to return my visit. He invited me to stop at his house again before leaving Rome. since I had to give the prayer back to him, after packing my valises in view of my departure the next day, I sat down and copied the prayer. It ran: 'Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known hat anyone who fled to thy patronage, sought thy aid, or implored thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my Mother; to thee I come, before I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O mother of the Incarnate Word, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.'

"I wrote out the words of St. Bernard without paying any attention to them. It was late; I was tired and was about to fall asleep standing up.

"Next day, January 16th, I got everything ready for my departure. But as I went about I found myself constantly repeating the words of that prayer. My God, how had they taken such possession of my imagination?

(Ratisbonne goes on to relate how M. de Bussieres persuaded him to delay leaving so as to have a chance to see the Pope, Gregory XVI. In the meantime he brought his guest to visit some of the Christian antiquities, which gave him a chance ot discuss religious topics.)

"Everything our eyes beheld--monuments, paintings, the local customs--became topics of conversation. All this led on to various religious questions. M. de Bussieres brought them up so simply and spoke of them so enthusiastically that sometimes in the depths of my heart I thought 'If anything can turn a man aside from religion, it is certainly the persistence some people show in trying to convert him!' My natural irreverence led me to make fun even of most serious things. To my barbed remarks I added an infernal fire of blasphemies, which I no longer have the courage even to think of today. In spite of all this, however, M. de Bussieres, while expressing his disappointment, remained indulgent and calm. Once he even went so far as to say, 'In spite of your irritation, I am sure that sooner or later you will become a Catholic, because deep in your nature there resides a naturally straightforward judgment, and this tells me that you will let God enlighten you, even if he has to send an angel from heaven to do it.'

"All right," I replied jokingly, "but let it be when I am in a good mood; otherwise, the thing might off badly.

"As our carriage was passing near the Scala Santa, M. de Bussieres stood up and doffed his hat, exclaimed, 'Hail, O sacred stairway! Here is a sinner who will mount you on his knees some day!'

"I cannot express what I felt at the idea of paying homage to a stairway! I laughed heartily, as at something entirely unreasonable. Later, as we were passing by the lovely villas and gardens that lined the sides of Nero's aqueduct, I too raised my voice, and using the same words as he, I exclaimed, 'Hail, ye truly divine marvels! Before you one should bow his head and  not before a staircase of whatever kind!'

(Ratisbonne continues with the story of his meeting with some Protestant friends on January 20th, in a cafe where they were reading the papers.)

"As I left the cafe, I meet M. de Bussieres' carriage, and he invited me for a ride. As it was a beautiful day, I willingly accepted. When we got to the church of Saint' Andrea delle Fratte, M. de Bussieres excused himself for a moment, because he had an errand to run. He asked me to wait for him in the vehicle; but instead I preferred to get down and visit the church. Within they were preparing a catafalque for a funeral, so I asked the Baron, 'Whose funeral is it?'

"'The Count de Laferronays',' he replied, 'a good friend of mine who died suddenly. That is why you may have found me rather glum these last couple of days.'

"I did not know the count; had never seen him in fact. So the news did not make any special impression on me, beyond that produced by the information about a sudden death. M. de Bussieres left because he had to see about preparing the place where the family of the deceased would sit. 'Excuse me me for a few minutes,' he said, as he went into the monastery. 'I shall be back shortly.'

(On February 18th and 19th, in the deposition he made during the investigative process set up to make clear the circumstances of his conversion. Ratisbonne stated the following among other things.)

"When I traversed the church, I arrived at the spot where they were getting ready for the funeral. Suddenly I felt interiorly disturbed, and saw in front of me something like a veil. It seemed to me that the entire church had been swallowed up in shadow, except one chapel. It was as thought all the light was concentrated in that single place. I looked over towards this chapel whence so much light shone and above the altar I saw a living figure standing, tall, majestic, beautiful and full of mercy. It was the most Holy Virgin Mary, resembling her figure on the Miraculous Medal of the Immaculate. At this sight I fell on my knees right where I stood; several times I attempted to lift my eyes towards the Most Blessed Virgin, but respect and the blinding light forced me to lower my gaze; this, however, did not prevent me from seeing the luminosity of the apparition. I fixed my glance on her hands, and in them I could read the expression of mercy and pardon. In the presence of the most Blessed Virgin, even though she did not speak a word to me, I understood the frightful situation I was in, the heinousness of sin, the beauty of the Catholic religion . . . in a word, I understood everything.

"When he returned, M. de Bussieres found me kneeling, my head resting on the railing of the chapel where the most Blessed Virgin had appeared, and bathed in tears. I do not understand how I managed to get to the railing, because I had fallen to my knees on the other side of the nave, and the catafalque stood between me and the chapel. I must add that the feeling that accompanied my weeping was one of gratitude towards the Blessed Virgin and of pity for my family, buried in the darkness of Judaism, for heretics and for sinners. M. de Bussieres raised me up and, still weeping, I told him, 'Oh, that person must have prayed very much for me,' thinking of the deceased Count de Laferronays. [Father Kolbe note: "M. de Bussieres had in fact recommended Ratisbonne to the prayers of M. de Laferronays."]

"He asked me several questions, but I could not answer, so deeply was I moved. So he took me by the hand, led me out of the church to the carriage and helped me to get in. Then he asked me where I wanted to go.

"Take me wherever you like," I said, "after what I have seen, I will do anything you want."

"'But what did you see?' he asked me.

"I cannot tell you; but please bring me to a confessor, and I will tell him everything on my knees."

"He brought me to the church of the Gesu, to a Jesuit, Father Villefort, to whom in the presence of M. de Bussieres, I related all that had happened to me."

(In his letter he continues.)

"All I can say of myself comes down to this: that in an instant a veil fell from my eyes; or rather not a single veil, but many of the veils which surrounded me were dissipated one after the other, like snow, mud and ice under the burning rays of the sun. I felt as though I were emerging from a tomb, from a dark grave; that I was beginning to be a living being, enjoying a real life. And yet I wept. I could see into the depths of my frightful misery, from which infinite mercy had liberated me. My whole being shivered at the sight of my transgressions; I was shaken, overcome by amazement and gratitude. I thought of my brother with indescribable joy; and to my tears of love there were joined tears of compassion. How many persons in this world, alas, are going down unknowingly into the abyss, their eyes shut by pride and indifference!They are being swallowed up alive by those horrifying shadows; and among them are my family, my fiancee, my poor sisters. What a bitter thought! My mind turned to you, whom I love so much; for you I offered my first prayers. Will you some day raise your eyes towards the Savior of the world, whose blood washed away original sin? How monstrous is the stain of that sin, because of which man no longer bears the resemblance to God!

"They asked me now I had come to know these truths, since they all knew that I had never so much as opened a book dealing with religion, head not even read a single page of the Bible, while the dogma of original sin, entirely forgotten or denied by modern Jews, had never occupied my mind for a single instant. I am no sure that I had even heard its name. So how had I come to know these truths? I cannot tell' all I know is that when I entered the church, I was ignorant of all this, whereas when I left I could see it all with blinding clarity. I cannot explain this change except by comparing myself to a man who suddenly awakens from deep sleep or to someone born blind who suddenly acquires sight. He sees, even though he cannot describe his sensations or pinpoint what enlightens him and makes it possible for him to admire the things around him. If we cannot adequately explain natural light, how can we describe a light the substance of which is truth itself? I think I am expressing myself correctly when I say that I did not have any verbal knowledge, but had come to possess the meaning and spirit of the dogmas, to feel rather than see these things, to experience them with the help of the inexpressible power which was at work within me.

"The love of God had taken the place of all other loves, to such an extent that I loved even my fiancee, but in a different way. I loved her like someone whom God held in his hands, like a precious gift which inspires an even greater love for the giver."

(As they wanted to delay his Baptism, Ratisbonne pleaded.)

"What? The Jews who heard the preaching of the apostles were baptized at once; and you wish to delay Baptism for me who have heard the Queen of the apostles?"

"My emotion, my ardent desires and my prayers finally induced these good men to fix a date for my Baptism. I awaited the appointed day with impatience, because I realized how displeasing I was in the eyes of God.

(Finally the 31st of January came. He described his Baptism.)

"Immediately after Baptism I felt myself filled with sentiments of veneration and filial love for the Holy Father; I considered myself fortunate when I was told that I would be granted an audience with the Pontiff, accompanied by the General of the Jesuits. In spite of all this I was quite nervous, because I had never frequented the important people of this world; although these important people seemed to me too insignificant when compared to true grandeur. I must confess that I included among these great ones of the world the one who on this earth holds God's highest power, i.e., the pope, the successor of Jesus Christ himself, whose indestructible chair he occupies.

"Never will I forget my trepidation and the beatings of my heart when I entered the vatican and traversed the spacious courtyards and majestic halls leading to the sacred premises where the pope resides. When I beheld him, though, my nervousness suddenly gave way to amazement. He was so simple, humble and paternal. This was no monarch, but a father who with unrestrained love treated me like a cherished son.

"O good God! Will it be thus when I appear before you to give you an account of the graces I hare received? Awe fills me at the mere thought of God's greatness, and I tremble before his justice; but at the sight of his mercy my confidence revives, and with confidence so will my love and unbounded gratitude.

"Yes, gratitude will from now on be my law and my life . I cannot express it in words; so I shall strive to do so in deeds. The letters received from my family give me full liberty; I wish to consecrate this liberty to God, and I offer it to him from this very moment, along with my whole life, to serve the Church and my brothers under the protection of the most Blessed Virgin Mary." (Father Anselm W. Romb, OFM Conv., Commentator and Editor, The Writings of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv.: The Kolbe Reader, pp. 22-31.)