Losing Everything To Gain God

by Thomas A. Droleskey

Frequent are the notes that I receive from readers explaining how much that they lost, humanly speaking, when coming to realize that the conciliar "popes" have been, to use the words that were related to me by the late Father Vincent Bowes, O.C.D., that were told to him by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Himself in 1999, "not only antipopes but antichrists" (see Bookended From Birth to Birth). Family members and friends and acquaintances have cast stones at these people, leaving them to feel all alone and abandoned even in their very own homes on many occasions. They have lost everything, humanly speaking, in order to gain favor with God by recognizing that His Holy Church is as spotless as the Blessed Virgin Mary, that Holy Mother Church cannot give us liturgical rites that an incentives to impiety or give us doctrines that are false or can in any way be said to contradict anything that she has taught in the past.

Here is just a quick review of some very basic truths concerning the nature of Holy Mother Church that are denied by "conservatives" and by many "traditionally-minded Catholics, especially those in the "resist and recognize movement," who are as yet attached to the structures of the counterfeit church of concilairism as no one can "pick and choose" what he wants from a true pope or the decrees and rites promulgated under his authority:

1. The Catholic Church brings forth the teaching that she has received from her Divine Founder and Invisible Head in precise fidelity to the spirit expressed by Pope Pius XI in Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928:

For the teaching authority of the Church, which in the divine wisdom was constituted on earth in order that revealed doctrines might remain intact for ever, and that they might be brought with ease and security to the knowledge of men, and which is daily exercised through the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops who are in communion with him, has also the office of defining, when it sees fit, any truth with solemn rites and decrees, whenever this is necessary either to oppose the errors or the attacks of heretics, or more clearly and in greater detail to stamp the minds of the faithful with the articles of sacred doctrine which have been explained. (Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928.)

 

2. Pope Pius IX condemned the belief that Catholics are not bound by all pronouncements made by a true pope or issued with his approval by the authority of the Catholic Church:

22. The obligation by which Catholic teachers and authors are strictly bound is confined to those things only which are proposed to universal belief as dogmas of faith by the infallible judgment of the Church. -- Letter to the Archbishop of Munich, "Tuas libenter," Dec. 21, 1863. (Proposition condemned by Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus of Errors, December 8, 1864.)

 

3. Pope Pius XII reiterated the Catholic truth that Catholics are bound to accept everything contained in papal encyclical letters:

Nor must it be thought that what is expounded in Encyclical Letters does not of itself demand consent, since in writing such Letters the Popes do not exercise the supreme power of their Teaching Authority. For these matters are taught with the ordinary teaching authority, of which it is true to say: "He who heareth you, heareth me"; and generally what is expounded and inculcated in Encyclical Letters already for other reasons appertains to Catholic doctrine. But if the Supreme Pontiffs in their official documents purposely pass judgment on a matter up to that time under dispute, it is obvious that that matter, according to the mind and will of the same Pontiffs, cannot be any longer considered a question open to discussion among theologians. (Pope Pius XII, Humani Generis, August 12, 1950.)

 

4. The authority of the Catholic Church can never give us liturgical rites that are false or defective or incentives to impiety:

CANON VII.--If any one saith, that the ceremonies, vestments, and outward signs, which the Catholic Church makes use of in the celebration of masses, are incentives to impiety, rather than offices of piety; let him be anathema. (Session Twenty-Two, Chapter IX, Canon VII, Council of Trent, September 17, 1562, CT022.)

 

5. No individual bishop or member of the laity can "sift" the teachings or pronouncements of a true pope:

6. The doctrine of the synod [of Pistoia] by which it professes that "it is convinced that a bishop has received from Christ all necessary rights for the good government of his diocese," just as if for the good government of each diocese higher ordinances dealing either with faith and morals, or with general discipline, are not necessary, the right of which belongs to the supreme Pontiffs and the General Councils for the universal Church,—schismatic, at least erroneous.

7. Likewise, in this, that it encourages a bishop "to pursue zealously a more perfect constitution of ecclesiastical discipline," and this "against all contrary customs, exemptions, reservations which are opposed to the good order of the diocese, for the greater glory of God and for the greater edification of the faithful"; in that it supposes that a bishop has the right by his own judgment and will to decree and decide contrary to customs, exemptions, reservations, whether they prevail in the universal Church or even in each province, without the consent or the intervention of a higher hierarchic power, by which these customs, etc., have been introduced or approved and have the force of law,—leading to schism and subversion of hierarchic rule, erroneous.

8. Likewise, in that it says it is convinced that "the rights of a bishop received from Jesus Christ for the government of the Church cannot be altered nor hindered, and, when it has happened that the exercise of these rights has been interrupted for any reason whatsoever, a bishop can always and should return to his original rights, as often as the greater good of his church demands it"; in the fact that it intimates that the exercise of episcopal rights can be hindered and coerced by no higher power, whenever a bishop shall judge that it does not further the greater good of his church,—leading to schism, and to subversion of hierarchic government, erroneous. (Pope Pius VI, Auctorem Fidei, August 28, 1794.)

 

6. To fall from the Faith in one thing is to fall from the Faith in Its entirety:

The Church, founded on these principles and mindful of her office, has done nothing with greater zeal and endeavour than she has displayed in guarding the integrity of the faith. Hence she regarded as rebels and expelled from the ranks of her children all who held beliefs on any point of doctrine different from her own. The Arians, the Montanists, the Novatians, the Quartodecimans, the Eutychians, did not certainly reject all Catholic doctrine: they abandoned only a certain portion of it. Still who does not know that they were declared heretics and banished from the bosom of the Church? In like manner were condemned all authors of heretical tenets who followed them in subsequent ages. "There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition" (Auctor Tract. de Fide Orthodoxa contra Arianos).

The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authoritative Magisterium. Epiphanius, Augustine, Theodore :, drew up a long list of the heresies of their times. St. Augustine notes that other heresies may spring up, to a single one of which, should any one give his assent, he is by the very fact cut off from Catholic unity. "No one who merely disbelieves in all (these heresies) can for that reason regard himself as a Catholic or call himself one. For there may be or may arise some other heresies, which are not set out in this work of ours, and, if any one holds to one single one of these he is not a Catholic" (S. Augustinus, De Haeresibus, n. 88).

 

To come to realize that these statements are perpetually binding, that they are true in and of themselves and are not subject to "reinterpretation" or outright contradiction in th slightest, is to make oneself a candidate for being an outcast in his own home. Some of us have been spared the divisions that have come with either taking the Faith seriously or coming to understand that we are in the midst of a betrayal the likes of which the Church Militant on earth as never seen before as she has undergone her Mystical Passion, Death, and Burial, that the conciliar church is but a counterfeit ape of the Catholic Church. Others, however, have had to suffer quite a lot as a result of this realization, which is one of the reasons I wrote Understood By God Alone eleven days ago now.

As I note very frequently on this site, God has known from all eternity that we would be living in these difficult days. Rather than rue the difficulties, however, we should thank Our Lord for giving us the opportunity to suffer for our sins and those of the whole world as His consecrated slaves through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. The divisions that have occurred as a result of the warfare made by the conciliarists upon the patrimony of the Catholic Church are meant to purify us. It is good for us to suffer, to be humiliated, to be rejected, to be calumniated and despised, especially by those closest to us and by those with whom we were once closely associated in various apostolic endeavors. It is good for us to be misunderstood, to have our very lives turned upside down in the minds of others, to be treated with disrespect and denigration.

Why is this all good? Well, over and above making reparation for our sins, this is good because we are conformed more and more to Our Crucified Saviour, Who wants us to grind down our pride and our stubbornness and our desire to have everyone around us respect us and understand us.

Our sins caused Our Lord to be despised and misunderstood.

Our sins caused Our Lord to be humiliated and rejected.

Our sins caused some of Our Lord's close kinsfolk to consider him mad, insane.

Our sins caused Our Lord to be abandoned by all but one of His Apostles as He hung on the gibbet of the Holy Cross on Good Friday.

And we dare complain because we are misunderstood because we have been given to understand the nature of the apostasy and betrayal that is upon us?

Although coming to recognize the true state of Holy Mother Church neither means that a person is any better than others or that those who do not see things clearly yet are tools of the adversary who just don't have the right information as of yet. This is a matter, of course, of the working of the graces sent to souls through the loving hands of Our Lady, she who is the Mediatrix of All Graces. We have to pray and fast and make sacrifices for our family members and friends as far as we are able as the consecrated slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, surrendering unto her our total liberty and giving unto her the merits of each prayer we say and good act we perform to be used as she decides.

It is not "argumentation" that is going to win the day. While we can give people information, it is up to them to accept it or to reject it. My policy about this site has been to let people find it on their own without any advertising or "rss" alerts at all. Those who are ready for the information will read it. Others will not. It is that simple.

No, it is the patient endurance of the trials of being rejected and misunderstood and even hated by those closest to us that, if offered up to God through the Immaculate Heart of Mary with a pure intention, will help to make the souls of others more receptive over the course of time--or, if it not be God's Holy Will for that receptivity to occur as people can throw away or reject the graces He sends to them through His Most Blessed Mother's loving hands, to help the soul of some person unknown to us (and who we might never meet until eternity) to reject conciliarism and its deceits and blasphemies and sacrileges once and for all. No prayer is ever wasted. No suffering given to God through Mary Immaculate is ever wasted. God uses it all. We must give all to Him through the Immaculata without looking for results, keeping ourselves very close to the tender mercies of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary that has been given us to as a remedy in these troubling times.

We must remember also that the path to gain God for all eternity requires us to die to self as we take up our crosses on a daily basis. The path to gain God requires that we lose any attachment to earthly honors and respect, caring not what others think about us or whether they will ever speak to us again. The only thing that matters to save one's soul as we attempt to perform the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy for others, something that we might only be able to do at a distance by means of our prayers or by dispatching our Guardian Angel to send someone who does not have the "baggage" that we might have with family members or former associates to help them both spiritually and temporally.

The path to gain God for all eternity can be lonely if one does not remember that we do indeed have a Guardian Angel who beholds the very face of the Most Blessed Trinity as he strives to get us "lovable, bumbling idiots" home to Heaven as members of the Catholic Church. The path to gain God for all eternity can be lonely if one does not remember that Saints Peter, James, and John, who had been taken by Our Lord to the top of Mount Thabor to witness the Transfiguration, fell asleep as Our Lord prayed and suffered His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. We are never truly alone, and we should consider the fact that the lack of large numbers of people who agree with us might very well be one of the indicators that we are, despite our sins and failings, on the right path after all.

To wit, I ask you to consider once again the following facts of salvation history to help you realize that being alone in your family or among your friends might not be an indication that you are crazy or schismatic or disloyal or "out of the Church" (why is it that most conciliarists consider everyone--Protestants and Jews and Mohammedans and Buddhists and Hindus-- on the path to salvation but consider those who reject the legitimacy of the conciliar "popes" to be "out" of the Church):

God permitted one hundred percent of the human race to be deceived in the Garden of Eden.

God permitted all but eight members of the human race to be deceived and deluded prior to the Great Flood.

Almost all of the Chosen People who had been led out of their bondage to the slavery of the Egyptian Pharaoh by Moses built and worshiped a molten calf whilst Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai.

All but a handful of people stood by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as He suffered and died for us on the wood of the Holy Cross on Good Friday.

All but a handful of bishops remained faithful to the Church during the Arian heresy that was fought by Saint Athanasius. Saint Jerome, of those who fought Arianism, wrote "The whole world groaned, and was astonished to find itself Arian."

All but one bishop, Saint John Fisher of Rochester, England, defected from the Faith at the time of the Protestant Revolt in England when King Henry VIII took this thoroughly Catholic country out of the Church.

All but thirty bishops defected from the Faith at the time Queen Elizabeth I took England out of the Church once again in the 1560s following the brief restoration that took place under the reign of her half-sister, Queen Mary, from 1553 to 1558.

The "mainstream" is not be followed. We need apostolic courage in these times of apostasy and betrayal. God's greater honor and glory must be defended against the against of men who have proved themselves to be precursors of the Antichrist.

God does indeed permit massive numbers of people to be deceived. His greater honor and glory are defended in most cases by a relative handful of the most unlikely souls, whom He raises up to confound the mighty and the powerful and the respected.

How do we think that we are going to recognize, no less resist and reject, the Antichrist when he comes when we are so complacent and smug in the face of the groundwork that is being laid by his conciliar minions for his coming? Will the emotionalism of sentimentality and the delusion of positivism not prevail then in the minds and hearts of most men?

 

We must always accept with serenity the Holy Will of God. The Saint we honor today, Saint Joseph, the Chaste Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the foster-father of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ did so. Why can't we?

The Venerable Mary of Agreda was given to know by Our Lady how Saint Joseph reacted to her being told by the Archangel Saint Gabriel that she had to visit her cousin Saint Elizabeth, who was bearing the precursor of the One to Whom Saint Joseph would serve as a true and loving father for the first thirty years of His life:

The humble Spouse proceeded immediately to ask the consent of saint Joseph for executing the man date of the Most High, and, in her consummate prudence, She said nothing of these happenings, but simply spoke to him these words: "My lord and spouse, by the divine light it was made known to me, that through condescension of the Most High the prayer of my cousin Elisabeth, the wife of Zacharias, has been heard ; she has conceived a son, though she was sterile. Since she has obtained this singular blessing, I hope that through God's infinite bounty, her Son will greatly please and glorify the Lord. I think that on this occasion I am under obligation to visit her and converse with her on certain things for her consolation and spiritual encouragement. If this is according to thy liking, my master, I will perform it with thy permission, for I am entirely subject to thy will and pleasure. Consider then what is best for me and command what I am to do."

195. This prudent silence of the most holy Mary, so full of humble subjection, was very agreeable to the Lord; for She showed Herself thereby worthy and capable of receiving the deposit of the great sacraments of the King (Tob. 12, 7). Therefore, and on account of the confidence in his fidelity with which She proceeded, his Majesty disposed the most pure heart of saint Joseph, giving him his divine light to act conformably to his will. This is the reward of the humble, who ask for counsel: that they will find it with certainty and security (Eccli. 32, 29). It is also the peculiar prerogative of a holy and discreet zeal to be able to give prudent advice to those that ask. Full of this holy counsel saint Joseph answered our Queen: "Thou knowest already, my Lady and Spouse, that my utmost desires are to serve Thee with all diligence and attention; for I am bound to have this confidence in thy great virtue, that Thou wilt not incline toward anything, which is not according to the greater pleasure and glory of the Most High; and this is my belief also in regard to this journey. Lest thy making this journey alone and without the company of thy husband cause surprise I will gladly go with Thee and attend to thy wants on the way. Do Thou appoint the day on which we shall depart together."

196. The most holy Mary thanked her prudent spouse Joseph for his loving solicitude and for his attentive cooperation with the will of God in whatever he knew to be for his service and honor. They both concluded to depart immediately on their visit to the house of saint Elisabeth (Luke 1, 39), and prepared without delay the provisions, which consisted merely in a little fruit, bread and a few fishes, procured by saint Joseph. In addition to these he borrowed an humble beast of burden, in order to carry their provisions and his Spouse, the Queen of all creation. Forthwith they departed from Nazareth for Judea ; the journey itself I will describe in the following chapter. On leaving their poor dwelling the great Mistress of the world knelt at the feet of her spouse Joseph and asked his blessing in order to begin the journey in the name of the Lord. The saint was abashed at the rare humility of his Spouse, with which He had already been impressed by experience on so many other occasions. He hesitated giving Her his benediction ; but the meek and sweet persistence of the most holy Mary overcame his objections and he blessed Her in the name of the Most High. The heavenly Lady raised her eyes and her heart to God, in order to direct her first steps toward the fulfillment of the divine pleasure and willingly bearing along in her womb the Onlybegotten of the Father and her own, for the sanctification of John in that of his mother Elisabeth. (The Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God, Book 2: The Incarnation; for the Instructions of the Queen, Our Lady, to Mary of Agreda, on this subject, please see the appendix below)

 

We need to pray to Saint Joseph to help us to be humble of bearing in accepting the will of God, especially humble and meek in the face of rejections and calumnies and castigations and denigrations and finger-wagging. We must accept these sufferings as great gifts given us by God to serve Him through the Immaculate Heart of Mary as did Saint Joseph, who was loved with a pure, chaste love of tender spousal devotion and obedience by that same Immaculate Heart.

Any complaints?

As we pray our Rosaries today, let us remember always to fly unto the patronage of the Mother of God and of her Most Chaste Spouse, making it a point of praying the Memorare to Saint Joseph every time we recite the Litany of Saint Joseph:

Remember, O most pure Spouse of the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph my beloved patron, that never has it been heard that anyone invoked thy patronage and sought thine aid without being comforted. Inspired by this confidence, I come to thee and fervently commend myself to thee. Ah, despise not my petition, dear Foster Father of our Redeemer, but accept it graciously. Amen.

 

The great Dominican, Saint Thomas Aquinas, teaches us to go to Saint Joseph in all of our needs:

Some Saints are privileged to extend to us their patronage with particular efficacy in certain needs, but not in others; but our holy patron St. Joseph has the power to assist us in all cases, in every necessity, in every undertaking.

 

May Saint Joseph, the head of the Holy Family, help us with our families to accept the crosses that come our way, knowing that his help will lighten the load and that he, who is so favored by her foster-Son and by his Most Chaste Spouse, will win for us all of the humility and meekness that we need to bear the burdens of each day with love and gratitude, willing to lose everything in this passing, mortal vale of tears in order gain the possession of the Beatific Vision of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost for all eternity.

Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!

Isn't it time to pray a Rosary now?

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

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.

See also: A Litany of Saints

 

Appendix: Instructions from The Queen to Venerable Mary of Agreda

My daughter, thou hast received my instruction until now in order to desire and strive after the heavenly science, which I wish thee so earnestly to acquire and which shall teach thee to understand profoundly, what decorous reverence is due to God. I remind thee once more, that this science is very hard to learn and little coveted by men on account of their ignorance ; for thence, to their great loss, it arises that, in conversing with the Most High or rendering Him service or worship, they fail to form a worthy concept of his infinite greatness, and to free themselves from the darksome images of their earthly occupations, which make them torpid and carnal, unworthy and unfit for the magnificent intercourse with the supernal Deity. And this ill-bred coarseness entails another disorder: namely, that when ever they converse with their neighbors, they do it with out order, measure or discretion, become entangled in their outward actions, and losing the memory and presence of their Creator in the excitement of their passions, are completely entangled in what is earthly.

188. I desire therefore, my dearest, that thou fly from this danger and learn the science, of the immutable being and infinite attributes of God. In such a way must thou study Him and unite thyself to Him, that no created being will come between thy soul and the true and highest Good. At all times and in all places, occupations and operations thou must keep Him in sight, without releasing Him from the intimate embrace of thy heart (Cant. 3, 4). Therefore I command thee to treat Him with a magnanimous heart, with decorum and reverence, with deepfelt fear of the soul. And whatever pertains to his divine worship, I desire that thou handle with all attention and care. Above all in order to enter into his presence by prayer and petitions, free thyself from all sensible and earthly images. And since human frailty cannot always remain constant in the force of love, nor always experience the sweet violence of its movements on account of its earthly nature, thou shouldst seek other assistance, such as will help thee toward the same end of finding thy God. Such help, for instance, is afforded by his praise in the beauty of the heavens and of the stars, in the variety of the plants, in the pleasant vista of the fields, in the forces of the elements, and especially in the exalted nature of the angels and in the glory of his saints.

189. But bear continually in mind especially this particular caution, not to seek any earthly alleviation in any event or in any labor which thou art to undergo, nor to indulge in any diversion coming from human creatures; and especially not in those coming from men, for an account of thy naturally weak and yielding character, so much adverse to giving pain, thou placest thyself in danger of exceeding and overstepping the limit of what is allowed or just, following, more than is proper for the religious spouses of my most holy Son, thy sensible likings. The risks of this negligence all the human creatures incur; for if full reins are given to frail human nature, it will not give heed to reason, not to the true light of the Spirit; but, forgetting them entirely, it will blindly follow the impulse of its passions and pleasures. Against this general danger is provided the enclosure and retirement of the souls consecrated to my Son and Lord, in order to cut off the root of those unhappy and disgraceful occasions for those religious, who would wil ingly seek them and entangle themselves in them. Thy recreations, my dearest, and those of thy sister religious, must be free from such danger and deadly poison. Seek always those, which thou shalt find in the secret of thy breast and in the chamber of thy Beloved, who is faith ful in consoling the sorrowful and in assisting the afflicted.