F.O.B. (Friends of Baal)
by
Thomas A. Droleskey
“‘Nevertheless send now, and gather unto me all Israel, unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, who eat at Jezebel’s table.’
“Achab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered together the prophets unto Mount Carmel.
“And Elias coming to all the people, said: ‘How long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, follow him.’ And the people did not answer him a word.
“And Elias said again to the people: ‘I only remain a prophet of the Lord: but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men. Let two bullocks be given us, and let them choose one bullock and cut it in pieces and lay it upon wood, but put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. Call ye the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord; and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God.’ And all of the people answering said: ‘A very good proposal.’
“Then Elias said to the prophets of Baal: ‘Choose you one bullock and dress it first, because you are many; and call on the names of your gods, but put no fire under.’
“And they took the bullock which he gave them, and dressed it; and they called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying: ‘O Baal, hear us.’ But there was no voice, nor any that answered: and they leaped over the altar that they had made.
“And when it was now noon, Elias jested at them, saying: ‘Cry with a louder voice: for he is a God, and perhaps he is talking, or he is in an inn, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awaked.’
“So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were covered with blood. And after midday was past, and while they were prophesying, the time was come of offering sacrifice, and there was no voice heard, nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed: Elias said to the people: ‘Come ye unto me.’ And the people coming near unto him, he repaired the altar of the Lord, that was broken down:
“And he took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying: ‘Israel shall be thy name.’ And he built with the stones an altar to the name of the Lord: and he made a trench for water, of the breadth of two furrows round about the altar. And he laid the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it upon the wood.
“And he said: “Fill four buckets with water, and pour it upon the burnt offering, and upon the wood.’ And again he said: ‘Do the same the second time.’ And when they had done it the second time, he said: ‘Do the same also the third time.’ And they did so the third time. And the water run about the altar, and the trench was filled with water.
“And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias the prophet came near and said: ‘O Lord God of Abraham and Isaac, and Israel, show this day that thou art the God of Israel, and I thy servant, and that according to they commandment I have done all these things. Hear me, O Lord, hear me: that this people may learn, that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart again.’
“Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: ‘The Lord he is God, the Lord he is God.’ And Elias said to them: ‘Take the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape.’ And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent Cison, and killed them there” (3 Kings 18:19-40)
Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy at St. Stanislaus Kostka in Chicago
Each part of the icon has meaning, even the body positioning of Mary. She’s sculpted in a pose of exhale with her arms out and extended. It evokes a sense of release, calm when looking at her because she’s in a relaxed pose and makes it easier to pray, said Bus, in an interview prior to the unveiling. Marian Scripture is inscribed upon Mary’s clothes and other symbolism is worked in to the design.(Catholic New World - Our Lady of the Sign unveiled: St. Stanislaus.)
The word "lotus" is not used in this news article from the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Catholic New World, nor does the word "lotus" appear in any official description on the website on which this grotesque image was found. There is no doubt, however, that the monstrous "monstrance" pictured above does indeed blaspheme the Mother of God by showing her in the "lotus" prayer position of Buddhism and Hinduism. This hideous "monstrance" was installed by Francis "Cardinal" George, the conciliar "archbishop" of Chicago on May 31, 2008, a date each year on which the Feast of the Visitation is simulated in Novus Ordo liturgical calendar, at Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church in Chicago, Illinois. The representation of Our Lady is blasphemous, attempting to make her appear as a syncretist "bridge" between Catholicism and Eastern "mysticism" or "spiritualities," each of which is from the devil himself. That a conciliar "cardinal" considers such an outrage to be an acceptable representation of the Mother of God and a fitting dwelling place for what he believes, albeit falsely, is the Real Presence of her Divine Son in the Most Blessed Eucharist speaks volumes about the utter loss of the Catholic Faith in the highest reaches of the counterfeit church of conciliarism.
The evil practice of "yoga," which has been practiced in many conciliar religious communities of both men and women, involves the "emptying" of oneself in what is said to be "meditation." This process of "emptying" is produced by exhaling and other efforts to attain the "relaxation" of the body, arriving, it is alleged, in a state of "nirvana," of peace and tranquility. What's wrong with this? Oh, everything, starting with the fact that a Catholic is meant to be filled with Sanctifying Grace and to be conscious of the necessity of making an effort to become more and more like Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ with every beat of his heart, consecrated as he should be to the Divine Master's Most Sacred Heart through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of His Most Blessed Mother, Mary our Immaculate Queen. To empty oneself of thoughts is to extend an open invitation to the devil to enter into one's soul and to take possession of it over the course of time. Catholic self-denial is not the same thing as Eastern self-abnegation.
Eastern "mysticism" is indeed diabolical. It is pantheistic, founded in the belief that God and His creation are one, that we can become Him if we empty ourselves of distractions and "meditate" upon His unity with all of creation. This is what leads many Catholics in the conciliar structures to believe that God is present in a blade of grass just as He is present in every particle of a validly consecrated Host. Yes, it is true that Our Lord is not present in most hosts that are attempted to consecrated in the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service. What is being referred to here, however, is the belief of Catholic syncretists that a truly consecrated Host contains no more of God than does a blade of grass or than does a cow. Eastern "mysticism" is thus yet another form of self-redemption, of semi-Pelagianism, if you will.
What does this matter to the conciliarists? Nothing. Oh, sure, Joseph "Cardinal" Ratzinger himself issued a decent instruction on October 15, 1989, of some problems for Catholics to be found in these Eastern "spiritualities" when he was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, leaving open, however, a little bit of room for different forms of Eastern "spirituality" to be used by "modern man" as a means to "relax" before he enters into prayer:
Some physical exercises automatically produce a feeling of quiet and relaxation, pleasing sensations, perhaps even phenomena of light and of warmth, which resemble spiritual well-being. To take such feelings for the authentic consolations of the Holy Spirit would be a totally erroneous way of conceiving the spiritual life. Giving them a symbolic significance typical of the mystical experience, when the moral condition of the person concerned does not correspond to such an experience, would represent a kind of mental schizophrenia which could also lead to psychic disturbance and, at times, to moral deviations.
That does not mean that genuine practices of meditation which come from the Christian East and from the great non-Christian religions, which prove attractive to the man of today who is divided and disoriented, cannot constitute a suitable means of helping the person who prays to come before God with an interior peace, even in the midst of external pressures.
It should, however, be remembered that habitual union with God, namely that attitude of interior vigilance and appeal to the divine assistance which in the New Testament is called "continuous prayer," is not necessarily interrupted when one devotes oneself also, according to the will of God, to work and to the care of one's neighbor. "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God," the Apostle tells us (1 Cor 10:31). In fact, genuine prayer, as the great spiritual masters teach, stirs up in the person who prays an ardent charity which moves him to collaborate in the mission of the Church and to serve his brothers for the greater glory of God. (Some Aspects of Christian Meditation.)
What has been the effect of this 1989 instruction? Has there been any discouragement of the practice of Eastern "prayer methods" used so widely in conciliar religious communities? Indeed, there was, at least as late as eight years ago, a "zen meditation" room at Inisfada (the Gaelic word for Long Island), the retreat house of the Society of Jesus, now in conciliar captivity, in Searington, Long Island, New York. A former associate and benefactor of ours who visited that retreat house in February of 2000 placed a Miraculous Medal in that room. And what exactly has happened to Monsignor Luciano Gomes Paulo Guerra, the Rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal who permitted Hindu "priests" to offer their demonic "worship" to their false "goddess" on May 5, 2004, in the Chapel of the Apparitions that is built on the very ground on which Our Lady herself appeared to Jacinta and Francisco Marto and Lucia dos Santos? Nothing. Nothing.
Take a look at how the Rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima is at the present time:
Monsignor Luciano Gomes Paulo Guerra,
Rector
Monsignor Guerra said the following on the occasion of this act of utter sacrilege against the Mother of God and the Catholic Faith in which the Bishop of Fatima-Leira,
D. Serafim de Sousa Ferreira e Silva, played a critical role as well:
“It is obvious” says Rector Guerra, “that these civilizations and religions are quite different. But I think that there is a common background to all religions. There is a common background that, how can I put it, is born from the common humanity we all possess. And it is very important that we recognize this common background, because, due to the clashes of the differences, we sometimes forget our equality. These meetings give us that occasion.” (Fatima Shrine, Hindu Ceremony photo report by John Vennari.)
Then again, the man of contradiction and paradox who issued the 1989 instruction on certain aspects of Christian meditation, Joseph Ratzinger, has led the way in demonstrating his esteem for the symbols of false religions and their representatives. It was he, as Benedict XVI, who termed Mount Hiei in Japan, upon which the Tendei sect of Buddhism practices its evil worship, as "sacred" in August of last year:
I am glad to greet you and all the religious leaders gathered on the occasion of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Religious Summit Meeting on Mount Hiei. I wish also to convey my best wishes to Venerable Eshin Watanabe, and to recall your distinguished predecessor as Supreme Head of the Tendai Buddhist Denomination, Venerable Etai Yamada. It was he who, having participated in the Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi on that memorable day of 27 October 1986, initiated the “Religious Summit Meeting” on Mount Hiei in Kyoto in order to keep the flame of the spirit of Assisi burning. I am also happy that Cardinal Paul Poupard, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, is able to take part in this meeting.
From the supernatural perspective we come to understand that peace is both a gift from God and an obligation for every individual. Indeed the world’s cry for peace, echoed by families and communities throughout the globe, is at once both a prayer to God and an appeal to every brother and sister of our human family. As you assemble on the sacred Mount Hiei, representing different religions, I assure you of my spiritual closeness. May your prayers and cooperation fill you with God’s peace and strengthen your resolve to witness to the reason of peace which overcomes the irrationality of violence!
Upon you all I invoke an abundance of divine blessings of inspiration, harmony and joy.” Benedict XVI sends message to interreligious meeting in Japan
Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI is forever speaking about the ability of the "religions of the world" to produce "peace," something that places him quite at odds once again with Catholic truth. There is no point in the entire fifty-six year priesthood of Joseph Ratzinger that he has spoken of peace in the terms spoken of by Pope Pius XI in Ubi Arcano Dei Consilio, December 23, 1922:
Since the Church is the safe and sure guide to conscience, for to her safe-keeping alone there has been confided the doctrines and the promise of the assistance of Christ, she is able not only to bring about at the present hour a peace that is truly the peace of Christ, but can, better than any other agency which We know of, contribute greatly to the securing of the same peace for the future, to the making impossible of war in the future. For the Church teaches (she alone has been given by God the mandate and the right to teach with authority) that not only our acts as individuals but also as groups and as nations must conform to the eternal law of God. In fact, it is much more important that the acts of a nation follow God's law, since on the nation rests a much greater responsibility for the consequences of its acts than on the individual.
When, therefore, governments and nations follow in all their activities, whether they be national or international, the dictates of conscience grounded in the teachings, precepts, and example of Jesus Christ, and which are binding on each and every individual, then only can we have faith in one another's word and trust in the peaceful solution of the difficulties and controversies which may grow out of differences in point of view or from clash of interests. An attempt in this direction has already and is now being made; its results, however, are almost negligible and, especially so, as far as they can be said to affect those major questions which divide seriously and serve to arouse nations one against the other. No merely human institution of today can be as successful in devising a set of international laws which will be in harmony with world conditions as the Middle Ages were in the possession of that true League of Nations, Christianity. It cannot be denied that in the Middle Ages this law was often violated; still it always existed as an ideal, according to which one might judge the acts of nations, and a beacon light calling those who had lost their way back to the safe road.
There exists an institution able to safeguard the sanctity of the law of nations. This institution is a part of every nation; at the same time it is above all nations. She enjoys, too, the highest authority, the fullness of the teaching power of the Apostles. Such an institution is the Church of Christ. She alone is adapted to do this great work, for she is not only divinely commissioned to lead mankind, but moreover, because of her very make-up and the constitution which she possesses, by reason of her age-old traditions and her great prestige, which has not been lessened but has been greatly increased since the close of the War, cannot but succeed in such a venture where others assuredly will fail.
It is apparent from these considerations that true peace, the peace of Christ, is impossible unless we are willing and ready to accept the fundamental principles of Christianity, unless we are willing to observe the teachings and obey the law of Christ, both in public and private life. If this were done, then society being placed at last on a sound foundation, the Church would be able, in the exercise of its divinely given ministry and by means of the teaching authority which results therefrom, to protect all the rights of God over men and nations.
It is possible to sum up all We have said in one word, "the Kingdom of Christ." For Jesus Christ reigns over the minds of individuals by His teachings, in their hearts by His love, in each one's life by the living according to His law and the imitating of His example. Jesus reigns over the family when it, modeled after the holy ideals of the sacrament of matrimony instituted by Christ, maintains unspotted its true character of sanctuary. In such a sanctuary of love, parental authority is fashioned after the authority of God, the Father, from Whom, as a matter of fact, it originates and after which even it is named. (Ephesians iii, 15) The obedience of the children imitates that of the Divine Child of Nazareth, and the whole family life is inspired by the sacred ideals of the Holy Family. Finally, Jesus Christ reigns over society when men recognize and reverence the sovereignty of Christ, when they accept the divine origin and control over all social forces, a recognition which is the basis of the right to command for those in authority and of the duty to obey for those who are subjects, a duty which cannot but ennoble all who live up to its demands. Christ reigns where the position in society which He Himself has assigned to His Church is recognized, for He bestowed on the Church the status and the constitution of a society which, by reason of the perfect ends which it is called upon to attain, must be held to be supreme in its own sphere; He also made her the depository and interpreter of His divine teachings, and, by consequence, the teacher and guide of every other society whatsoever, not of course in the sense that she should abstract in the least from their authority, each in its own sphere supreme, but that she should really perfect their authority, just as divine grace perfects human nature, and should give to them the assistance necessary for men to attain their true final end, eternal happiness, and by that very fact make them the more deserving and certain promoters of their happiness here below.
It is, therefore, a fact which cannot be questioned that the true peace of Christ can only exist in the Kingdom of Christ -- "the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ." It is no less unquestionable that, in doing all we can to bring about the re-establishment of Christ's kingdom, we will be working most effectively toward a lasting world peace.
Joseph Ratzinger believes that the Catholic Church must "coexist" with other religions, working with them for "world peace" while engaging in the forbidden practices of "inter-religious dialogue" and "inter-religious prayer." The One World Church of conciliarism will not insist at all times and in all places with all people that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the one and only path to true peace, that of the soul, and that we must go to Him through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as she explained to herself in the Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal, ninety-one years ago now. False religions are hated by God, Who wants the Catholic Church to seek with urgency the unconditional conversion of the adherents of such religions to her maternal bosom, outside of which there is no salvation.
What I wrote about nine months ago has relevance once again:
Furthermore, conciliarism does not believe that God hates--that is correct, hates--all false religions. Yes, God hates each and every false religion. He wants those false religions to be eradicated by the conversion of their adherents to the true Faith and by the utter destruction of their places of false worship, which are nothing other than dens of the devil himself. Places of false worship are not "sacred," as Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI wrote of Mount Hiei in Japan on August 4, 2007, the Feast of Saint Dominic, mind you, who was given the Holy Rosary by Our Lady herself to eradicate the Albigenses heresy from the face of this earth.
Ratzinger does not believe that God hates false religions. He does not believe that God wants the destruction of their places of false worship, stating in God and the World, which was published in the year 2000, that there were "in fact Christian hotheads and fanatics who destroyed temples, who were unable to see paganism as anything more than idolatry that had to be radically eliminated.”
As there are many articles on this site and it is easy to forget various quotations and in which article they can be found, permit me to illustrate once more how Catholic missionaries did indeed seek to "radically eliminate" paganism, showing that Catholics have a view of idolatry that is, shall we say, slightly different from that possessed by a man who esteems the symbols of false religions, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI.
The great Saint Benedict of Nursia, who lived on Mount Subiaco before he established his monastery at Monte Cassino, after whom Ratzinger has taken his "papal" name, mind you, must have been one of those "hotheads" who did not consider pagan idols to be sacred. Pope Pius XII, writing in Fulgens Radiatur, March 21, 1947, explained in the most admiring of terms how Saint Benedict himself burned a temple of Apollo to the ground!
But while things started very favorably, as We said, and yielded rich and salutary results, promising still greater in the future, Our saint with the greatest grief of soul, saw a storm breaking over the growing harvest, which an envious spirit had provoked and desires of earthly gain had stirred up. Since Benedict was prompted by divine and not human counsel, and feared lest the envy which had been aroused mainly against himself should wrongfully recoil on his followers, "he let envy take its course, and after he had disposed of the oratories and other buildings -- leaving in them a competent number of brethren with superiors -- he took with him a few monks and went to another place". Trusting in God and relying on His ever present help, he went south and arrived at a fort "called Cassino situated on the side of a high mountain . . .; on this stood an old temple where Apollo was worshipped by the foolish country people, according to the custom of the ancient heathens. Around it likewise grew groves, in which even till that time the mad multitude of infidels used to offer their idolatrous sacrifices. The man of God coming to that place broke the idol, overthrew the altar, burned the groves, and of the temple of Apollo made a chapel of St. Martin. Where the profane altar had stood he built a chapel of St. John; and by continual preaching he converted many of the people thereabout".
Saint Boniface, the great apostle to the German people, showed the same kind of "respect" for a pagan symbol about two centuries after Saint Benedict:
A bold deed which he [Saint Benedict] performed at this time greatly increased his prestige and led to numerous conversions. At Geismar, near Fritzlar, there was a gigantic oak, called the "Tree of Thor," which the pagans of the whole country regarded with the deepest veneration. Mighty as the God of the Christians was, over the oak of Geismar, so they boasted, He had no power, and none of His followers would are destroy it. This tree the Christians advised Boniface to cut down, assuring him that its fall would shake the faith of the pagans in the power of their gods. Boniface consented, and on the appointed day undertook to lay the ax to the tree with his own hands. A vast crowd of pagans stood around, intently watching to see some dire misfortune overwhelm the desecrator of their shrine. But when the mighty tree fell to the ground under the strokes of the Bishop's ax, they with one accord praised the God of the Christians and asked to be received among the number of His followers. Boniface baptized them, and out of the wood of the tree built a little oratory, which he dedicated to St. Peter. (Father John Laux, Church History, published originally by Benziger Brothers, in 1930, republished by TAN Books and Publishers, 1980, p. 149.)
Not very ecumenical of Saint Boniface, now was it?
Saint Francis Xavier must have been another one of those "hotheads," a missionary who believed that it was necessary to spend himself tirelessly in the baptizing of the heathens and in the utter destruction of everything to do with the false religions from which they were converted. Although a little over one thousand years separated Saint Benedict and Saint Francis Xavier, both were driven by the same, immutable sensus Catholicus that understands God's own revulsion of false religions and His desire to rescue people from them by means of their unconditional conversion to the Catholic Church, His own true Church:
As to the numbers who become Christians, you may understand them from this, that it often happens to me to be hardly able to use my hands from the fatigue of baptizing: often in a single day I have baptized whole villages. Sometimes I have lost my voice and strength altogether with repeating again and again the Credo and the other forms. The fruit that is reaped by the baptism of infants, as well as by the instruction of children and others, is quite incredible. These children, I trust heartily, by the grace of God, will be much better than their fathers. They show an ardent love for the Divine law, and an extraordinary zeal for learning our holy religion and imparting it to others. Their hatred for idolatry is marvellous. They get into feuds with the heathen about it, and whenever their own parents practise it, they reproach them and come off to tell me at once. Whenever I hear of any act of idolatrous worship, I go to the place with a large band of these children, who very soon load the devil with a greater amount of insult and abuse than he has lately received of honor and worship from their parents, relations, and acquaintances. The children run at the idols, upset them, dash them down, break them to pieces, spit on them, trample on them, kick them about, and in short heap on them every possible outrage. (St. Francis Xavier: Letter from India, to the Society of Jesus at Rome, 1543.)
Saint Francis Xavier went on to explain that the Brahmins in India were people of malice and cunning, not people to be admired:
We have in these parts a class of men among the pagans who are called Brahmins. They keep up the worship of the gods, the superstitious rites of religion, frequenting the temples and taking care of the idols. They are as perverse and wicked a set as can anywhere be found, and I always apply to them the words of holy David, "from an unholy race and a wicked and crafty man deliver me, O Lord." They are liars and cheats to the very backbone. Their whole study is, how to deceive most cunningly the simplicity and ignorance of the people. They give out publicly that the gods command certain offerings to be made to their temples, which offerings are simply the things that the Brahmins themselves wish for, for their own maintenance and that of their wives, children, and servants. Thus they make the poor folk believe that the images of their gods eat and drink, dine and sup like men, and some devout persons are found who really offer to the idol twice a day, before dinner and supper, a certain sum of money. The Brahmins eat sumptuous meals to the sound of drums, and make the ignorant believe that the gods are banqueting. When they are in need of any supplies, and even before, they give out to the people that the gods are angry because the things they have asked for have not been sent, and that if the people do not take care, the gods will punish them by slaughter, disease, and the assaults of the devils. And the poor ignorant creatures, with the fear of the gods before them, obey them implicitly. These Brahmins have barely a tincture of literature, but they make up for their poverty in learning by cunning and malice. Those who belong to these parts are very indignant with me for exposing their tricks. Whenever they talk to me with no one by to hear them they acknowledge that they have no other patrimony but the idols, by their lies about which they procure their support from the people. They say that I, poor creature as I am, know more than all of them put together.
They often send me a civil message and presents, and make a great complaint when I send them all back again. Their object is to bribe me to connive at their evil deeds. So they declare that they are convinced that there is only one God, and that they will pray to Him for me. And I, to return the favor, answer whatever occurs to me, and then lay bare, as far as I can, to the ignorant people whose blind superstitions have made them their slaves, their imposture and tricks, and this has induced many to leave the worship of the false gods, and eagerly become Christians. If it were not for the opposition of the Brahmins, we should have them all embracing the religion of Jesus Christ. (St. Francis Xavier: Letter from India, to the Society of Jesus at Rome, 1543.)
Saint Francis Xavier wrote a letter to Saint Ignatius of Loyola in 1549 about the effects of paganism on the character of the Indian people:
My own and only Father in the Heart of Christ, I think that the many letters from this place which have lately been sent to Rome will inform you how prosperously the affairs of religion go on in these parts, through your prayers and the good bounty of God. But there seem to be certain things which I ought myself to speak about to you; so I will just touch on a few points relating to these parts of the world which are so distant from Rome. In the first place, the whole race of the Indians, as far as I have been able to see, is very barbarous; and it does not like to listen to anything that is not agreeable to its own manners and customs, which, as I say, are barbarous. It troubles itself very little to learn anything about divine things and things which concern salvation. Most of the Indians are of vicious disposition, and are adverse to virtue. Their instability, levity, and inconstancy of mind are incredible; they have hardly any honesty, so inveterate are their habits of sin and cheating. We have hard work here, both in keeping the Christians up to the mark and in converting the heathen. And, as we are your children, it is fair that on this account you should take great care of us and help us continually by your prayers to God. You know very well what a hard business it is to teach people who neither have any knowledge of God nor follow reason, but think it a strange and intolerable thing to be told to give up their habits of sin, which have now gained all the force of nature by long possession. Saint Francis Xavier, Letter on the Missions, to St. Ignatius de Loyola, 1549.)
Conciliarism does not speak thus of barbarians and their false religions, many of whose evil practices have been incorporated into the context of the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service in the name of of the slogan of the "inculturation of the Gospel." Conciliarism speaks of "elements of truth" that are possessed by false religions, leaving several billion people around the world to fend for themselves throughout their lives without knowing the wonders of the true God as He has revealed Himself exclusively through the Catholic Church, without knowing how to order themselves and their societies by submitting themselves in a spirit of humility and docility to the Deposit of Fa th that God has entrusted to that Catholic Church, and without having belief in, access to or cooperation with Sanctifying Grace. "All people go to Heaven" is a commonly-held belief now amongst ordinary Catholics, including many, although not all, conciliar "bishops" and the lion's share of conciliar "priests."
How can anyone be upset with Francis George in Chicago when all he is doing is what the last two conciliar "pontiffs" have done with aplomb (and with a steady chorus of support from many "conservative" Catholics, who have been joined in the past year by some Catholics who are at least somewhat favorably disposed to the Immemorial Mass of Tradition) over and over and over again, offending God repeatedly and harming the souls for whom He shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross? Forty years of such blasphemies and sacrileges and outrages and abominations, starting with the the liturgical abomination par excellence, the Novus Ordo itself, have desensitized most Catholics as to what exactly constitute the honor and glory and majesty God. Indeed, a steady diet of such blasphemies and sacrileges and outrages and abominations have robbed most Catholics of any genuine knowledge as to Who God is and that he is not a Judeo-Masonic-naturalistic-pantheistic projection of the human mind Who accepts with equanimity and joy every novelty and invocation contrary to His Deposit of Faith because it makes people in false religions "feel good" and "tolerated" by Catholics as their "equals" before Him.
This is the time in salvation history in which God has chosen for us to live. The graces He won for us by the shedding of every single drop of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross and that flow into our hearts and souls through the loving hands of Our Lady, the Mediatrix of All Graces, are sufficient for us to carry the crosses of this present moment. This is the worst time of apostasy and betrayal in the history of the Catholic Church. Some of the outrages and abominations taking places under the auspices of the counterfeit church of conciliarism would have shocked the sensibilities of some of the worst heretics of the past, including the Arians. This is, however, the time that God has chosen for us to live, which means that there is work for us to do as the consecrated slaves of His Most Blessed Mother's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.
We must remember that each one of our sins, no matter how seemingly trivial to us, has wounded Our Lord once in time and wounded His Mystical Body, the Church Militant on earth. This means that we have reparation to do for our sins and those of the whole world. While we must be concerned about the apostasies that have come forth from the counterfeit church of conciliarism as we resolve most firmly with the help of God's graces never to have anything to do with its false sect ever again, we must, of course, concentrate on getting home to Heaven as members of the true Church.
Although believing Catholics know that they must strive for Heaven with every beat of their hearts, consecrated as those hearts must be to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, it is good to be reminded that this is the goal upon which we must focus our efforts. God will take care of His Holy Church in His good time. While we must make sure to cleave to true bishops and true priests in the Catholic catacombs who make no concessions to conciliarism or to the nonexistent legitimacy of its false shepherds, we must also understand that the extent to which our work here on earth will help souls, including our own, depends upon the extent to which we seek to grow in virtue as we pursue sanctity, seeking to immerse ourselves in First and Last Things at all times so as to avoid the plagues of worldliness and naturalism into which Catholics across the vast expanse of the ecclesiastical divide succumb to most readily.
In this regard, therefore, one must remember that the beginning of the season of summer does not that there can be any relaxation in our efforts to make reparation for our own sins and for the offenses committed by the conciliarists as they engage in syncretist actions such as what took place in Chicago three weeks ago today. There are some simple Catholic measures we can take to help keep ourselves focused on our Last End: the possession of the glory of the Beatific Vision of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for all eternity:
1) Assisting at the daily offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered by true bishops and true priests who make no concessions to conciliarism or to its false shepherds. Realizing that this may not be possible for people who live in areas where the true Mass is not offered by these bishops and priests, it is especially incumbent upon those who do live reasonably nearby chapels administered by the modern-day Saint Athanasiuses to make whatever sacrifices they need to make to get to daily Mass without fail. Not possible for working fathers to do every day? All right. Mothers and their children can organize their schedules to go every day. This is not impossible. This is a matter of the will. Do we want to spend all eternity in Heaven? Really? Then isn't it a good idea to be present at the pathway to Heaven, the very unbloody re-presentation of the very Sacrifice of the Son to the Father in Spirit on Truth that was effected on the wood of the Holy Cross. And those who are encumbered only by attachments to a particular place and familiar surroundings (and not obligations of work or family) must detach themselves from the dust of this earth and move to where they can worship God every day at Mass and to have their immortal souls nourished by the worthy reception of His very Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Most Blessed Sacrament in Holy Communion.
2) Eucharistic piety. We must spend time in prayer with Our Beloved in His Real Presence. No one prays "alone" before the Blessed Sacrament. Our Lady, Saint Joseph and all of the angels and saints are with those who may have no other living human being on earth with them as they kneel in front of a tabernacle where Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is truly present in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
3) The daily Rosary. Each of us should make the effort to pray as many Rosaries each day as our states-in-life permit. The Rosary is the weapon given by Our Lady to Saint Dominic de Guzman to fight heresy. Shouldn't we consider it our privilege now to pray it well--and many times--each day, imitating the love exhibited by little Francisco Marto, who prayed Rosary after Rosary to console the good God? And one of those Rosaries must be the family Rosary prayed on our knees.
4) True Devotion to Mary. Total Consecration to Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through His Blessed Mother's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart is path to liberate us from attachment even to whatever merit we earn from our prayers and indulgenced works and sufferings and sacrifices and penances and mortifications and humiliations.
5) The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. We must wear our Brown Scapulars (after making sure that we have been enrolled properly in this mantle of Our Lady) and fulfill the conditions associated with being clothed in the garment of the Mother of God herself.
6) Home Enthronement to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Entrusting our homes to these Twin Hearts of matchless love helps us to be loving and patient and meek and humble with the very people with whom we live and with whom we want to share the glories of Heaven for all eternity, helping to replicate the Social Reign of Christ the King in our own homes.
7) Scriptural reading and Spiritual reading. We should make it a point to read from Holy Writ at last fifteen to twenty mintues a day, making time also to do so good spiritual reading, especially before going to sleep and before we make our Nightly Examination of Conscience. Dom Prosper Gueranger's The Liturgical Year is a particularly good reading for a family to do every day/
8) Weekly Confession. We bathe our bodies frequently. We must bathe our souls in the live-giving streams of the Most Precious Blood of the Divine Redeemer, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as they are poured out over us in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance.
9) Distributing blessed Miraculous Medals and Green Scapulars to those whom God's Holy Providence places in our paths each day. We never meet anyone by "accident" or "coincidence." You might be the only person who can help a wayward soul get home to Heaven. We must never be afraid of "offending" anyone by giving them sacramentals that Our Lady herself wants distributed to help bring people to her Divine Son through the true Church that He created upon the rock of Peter, the Pope. The Miraculous Medal was given by the Jewish convert Theodore Ratisbonne to his Catholic-hating brother, Alphonse, to whom Our Lady herself appeared in the Church of San Andrea delle Fratte on January 20, 1842, in Rome, Italy. Don't think that these sacramentals are not meant to be given to non-Catholics or to fallen away Catholics.
10) Keeping the Nine First Fridays and the Five First Saturdays. Our Lord told Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque about the promises associated with the nine First Fridays. Our Lady revealed the request for the First Saturdays, first to each of the children of Fatima and then the specific request to honor her Immaculate Heart on five First Saturdays to Lucia dos Santos on December 10, 1925:
Have compassion on the heart of your most holy Mother, covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation. Look, my daughter, at my heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me."
There are five specific offenses against the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary for which the Five First Saturdays devotion was instituted, explained by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Himself to Sister Lucia on Ascension Thursday, May 29, 1930:
- Attacks upon Mary's Immaculate Conception
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Attacks against her Perpetual Virginity
- Attacks upon her Divine Maternity and the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all mankind
- For those who try to publicly implant in children's hearts indifference, contempt and even hatred of this Immaculate Mother
- For those who insult her directly in her sacred images.
11) Accepting the Will of God each day and in each circumstance with joy and love and gratitude. We must remember that there is nothing that can happen to us in this life that is the equal of what one of our least Venial Sins caused Our Lord to suffer in His Sacred Humanity during His Passion and Death and that caused His Most Blessed Mother's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart to be thrust through and through with Seven Swords of Sorrow. We must thank God for each cross we have been given. Each cross has been fashioned for us from all eternity by His very hands. Who are we to complain? The cross is the path of our sanctification and our salvation. We must have total Faith in God, the Faith of Abraham and the Faith of Our Lady herself when she gave her perfect fiat to His Holy Will. Total Faith, total confidence in God as He has revealed Himself to us exclusively through His true Church. There is never any cause to question God. He is Who is. He answers each of our prayers, although they may be with a resounding "NO!" at times for His greater honor and glory and for our own sanctification.
We do not need to know "why" this or that happens in our lives. All we need to know is that all things happen in God's Holy Providence and that while He does not will evil to be done, He permits it to be done so that good may be drawn out of it, so that we might see in some injustice done to us or calumny spoken about us the injustices and calumnies we have committed by means of our sins against His greater honor and glory and majesty, how we we have scandalized others and given such bad example time and time again. We must love God as He has revealed Himself through His true Church with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength, never deceiving ourselves that there is some naturalistic way to "resolve" social problems. We must be champions of Christ the King and Mary our Immaculate Queen, not agents of naturalistic politicians or seek to subordinate the truths of the Faith to appease the enemies of God responsible for the blasphemies of conciliarism.
The F.O.B. (Friends of Baal) predominate in the world at present. Their day will be ended sooner or later. May it be our privilege as the consecrated slaves of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary to plant at least a few seeds for their vanquishing as the fruit of the Triumph of that same Immaculate Heart and thus the restoration of the Social Reign of Christ the King and her, Our Immaculate Queen.
Viva Cristo Rey!
Our Lady of the Rosary, us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.
Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.
Saint John the Evangelist, 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 Aloysius Gonzaga, pray for us.
See also: A Litany of Saints
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