Without Precedent
by
Thomas A. Droleskey
The conciliar "popes" have seen fit to destroy much of authentic Catholic tradition with various novelties and innovations that have done much to offend the honor and majesty and glory of the Most Blessed Trinity while at the same time attacking the sensus Catholicus of so many hundreds of millions of ordinary Catholics around the world. The Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service has been a singular vessel by which the falsehoods of conciliarism have been enshrined and thus communicated, thus accustoming many Catholics who are as of yet attached to the structures of the counterfeit church of conciliarism to innovation and novelty and ceaseless change as ordinary, accepted parts of Catholic life. Most Catholics today do not recoil in horror at that which our Catholic ancestors would have recognized as coming straight from the devil himself. Indeed, most Catholics today
like the novelties and innovations and changes.
Pope Saint Pius X wrote to us in Pascendi Dominici Gregis, September 8, 1907, the dangers of novelties and of the Modernist penchant to change everything about the Faith
It remains for Us now to say a few words about the Modernist as reformer. From all that has preceded, it is abundantly clear how great and how eager is the passion of such men for innovation. In all Catholicism there is absolutely nothing on which it does not fasten. . . .
To penetrate still deeper into the meaning of Modernism and to find a suitable remedy for so deep a sore, it behooves Us, Venerable Brethren, to investigate the causes which have engendered it and which foster its growth. That the proximate and immediate cause consists in an error of the mind cannot be open to doubt. We recognize that the remote causes may be reduced to two: curiosity and pride. Curiosity by itself, if not prudently regulated, suffices to account for all errors. Such is the opinion of Our predecessor, Gregory XVI, who wrote: "A lamentable spectacle is that presented by the aberrations of human reason when it yields to the spirit of novelty, when against the warning of the Apostle it seeks to know beyond what it is meant to know, and when relying too much on itself it thinks it can find the truth outside the Catholic Church wherein truth is found without the slightest shadow of error."
But it is pride which exercises an incomparably greater sway over the soul to blind it and lead it into error, and pride sits in Modernism as in its own house, finding sustenance everywhere in its doctrines and lurking in its every aspect. It is pride which fills Modernists with that self-assurance by which they consider themselves and pose as the rule for all. It is pride which puffs them up with that vainglory which allows them to regard themselves as the sole possessors of knowledge, and makes them say, elated and inflated with presumption, "We are not as the rest of men," and which, lest they should seem as other men, leads them to embrace and to devise novelties even of the most absurd kind.
Thus it is that the conciliarists have, both in a de jure and de facto manner, given us new "doctrines" (a new and, just as a matter of fact, you understand, condemned view of dogmatic truth, a new ecclesiology, false ecumenism, inter-religious dialogue and prayer services, episcopal collegiality, religious liberty, separation of Church and State), a "new 'Mass'", a "new and improved" Motu Mass replete with a new Prayer for the Jews on Good Friday and a "papal" desire for certain elements of the Novus Ordo to be incorporated therein, new rites of priestly ordination and episcopal consecration and baptism and confirmation, the renaming, at least on a practical level, of the Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation) and the abolition of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction in favor of the "Anointing of the Sick" and a new rite of exorcism, and, of course, a new Rosary. That's a lot of novelty, each of which is without precedent in the history of the Catholic Church.
The lords and the ladies of conciliarism have also given us many "newer" versions of the Way of the Cross. Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II even used meditations for a modernized Way of the Cross at the Colosseo in Rome on Good Friday in 1995, April 14, 1995, that had been composed by a Moravian "nun," that is, by a modern-day follower of the heretic John Hus, a precursor of Martin Luther by a century. Among other things, Moravianism places a stress on personal piety and false sense of Christian unity rather than on doctrinal truth. Sound familiar? Hmm.
One of the most egregious set of meditations used by conciliarists made its appeared at "World Youth Day" in Australia two years ago. This set was written so as not to offend the sensibilities of adherents of the diabolical book known as the Talmud:
Sydney, May. 29, 2008 (CWNews.com) - World Youth Day organizers in Sydney, Australia, have altered the traditional pattern for the Stations of the Cross in a bow to ecumenical and inter-religious sensibilities, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Instead of the usual 14 stations, the Stations of the Cross that will take place in Sydney on July 18 will be a shortened version, "founded entirely on passages from the New Testament," the Morning Herald says. Stations based on pious tradition, such as those recalling Christ's falling three times, and Veronica wiping his face, will not be included. The choice of an exclusively Scriptural approach is intended to appeal to other Christian groups, organizers say.
The text for the Stations of the Cross has also been chosen to avoid language that might offend Jews or inflame anti-Semitic feelings. Bishop Anthony Fisher, the chief organizer for World Youth Day in Sydney, explained: "In the choice of scriptural texts you can choose ones that are less likely to be misinterpreted by people to encourage that kind of feeling and we've chosen those texts carefully and in consultation with others." (Stations of the Cross altered for World Youth Day; see also
Learning from the Devil Himself.)
Is Holy Writ, the very written word of God Himself, capable of producing evil in the hearts of men? Is there need to "rewrite" the very word of God? Did the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity "get it wrong" when inspiring Saint John the Evangelist to write of the Jews as he did? Why is there this fear of offending the Jews when there is no fear of offending the honor and the majesty of God--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?
Not to be outdone in the rewriting of the Holy Faith are the apostates who run the so-called "Catholic Campaign for Human Development" whose support for various moral evils and for socialism itself has been documented by Catholic researcher and writer Mrs. Stephanie Block (see
Catholic Citizens) and whose activities have been the focus of a relatively new organization, "Reform CCHD Now," which was founded by well-meaning Catholics who are as of yet attached to the structures of a false church that is but an ape of the Catholic Church, she who is the spotless Mystical Bride of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and who can never give us new doctrines or liturgies that offend Our Lord in any way at all, no less are harmful to the souls redeemed by the shedding of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross. The apostates of the "Catholic Campaign for Human Development" have produced their own set of blasphemous "meditations" on the Stations of the Cross.
Although it is intellectually dishonest for anyone to claim that the conciliar "bishops" wrote or even approved of a new set of "meditations" on the Stations of the Cross that have been published by the "Catholic Campaign for Human Development" as many "conservative" conciliar 'bishops" would be rightly outraged by the scandal represented by these meditations, it is true that the "bishops" are supposed oversee the activities of the "Catholic Campaign for Human Development" and that it is the donations given by ordinary Catholics that makes such a scandal possible. Here is the report as found on the "Reform CCHD Now" website:
The Stations of the Cross is an ancient Christian devotion centered on the Passion of Jesus. Its origins date back to the fourth century. As pilgrims headed to the Holy Land, they actually retraced Jesus’ steps from Pontius Pilate’s court to the place of the Crucifixion. Various forms of the Stations of the Cross, different prayers, reflections, and contemplations, have existed throughout the ages. The focus of these prayers has always been on the Passion of Christ and the thoughtful reminder that we are all sinners in need of redemption; that is until this year.
This year, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) released its own version of this ancient devotion. This self-promotion offers a few scriptural passages relevant to each of the 14 Stations of the Cross (Jesus is Condemned to Death, Jesus Takes up His Cross, Jesus Falls the First Time, etc.), which are followed by commercial commentaries on groups receiving grant money from the CCHD. Even the prayers at the end of each station are tainted with these commercial insertions.
But the most horrifying aspect of this “prayerful reflection” is that several of the grantees that are given equal attention as Our Lord in His Dolorous Passion are involved in the promotion of abortion and/or same-sex marriage.
The Second Station – Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
The second station, which is “Jesus Takes up His Cross,” focuses on the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. OVEC’s news archive is littered with articles on various progressive agendas, including abortion and same-sex marriage. While linking to articles is not itself an endorsement, the OVEC-inserted commentary on one of the headlines is. Next to the article headline “Democratic Leaders Want party to Move Right on Abortion Choice” is the parenthetical comment from OVEC itself, which says, “Can Democratic Leaders Say ‘Coat hanger’? Oh, who cares, it’s only women.”
But that’s not all. OVEC’s newsletter “Winds of Change” from December 2007 decries candidates against abortion and homosexuality, where it said, “In the past, we have voiced concern that a large fundamentalist church could recruit a dozen members to be candidates against abortion, gays and the like.”
OVEC is also a coalition partner of the West Virginia Citizen Action Group , whose “Action Alert” from March 27, 2009, said :
The conservative movement to legislate morality never quits. This year’s mover is HB 3159, which prohibits Medicaid from offering abortion services to women who qualify for the program. I know this is a hot-button topic and we have members on both sides of this issue. However, this same piece of legislation was enacted over a decade ago and found by our WV Supreme Court to be unconstitutional. www.WVFREE.org is leading the opposition to this one.
And WV-CAG’s mention of WV FREE as the organization fighting to include abortion coverage into Medicaid is not incidental. WV FREE , whose motto reads, “freedom in education, in choice, in access,” calls itself a
[A] reproductive justice organization that works every day for West Virginia families(sic) to improve education on reproductive options, increase access to affordable birth control, and protect personal decision-making, including decisions about whether or when to have child.
WV Free was promoted by OVEC in a 2007 Action Alert , and a Free Citizen Lobbyist Training seminar sponsored by WV Free was promoted by OVEC in a 2008 Action Alert .
The CCHD’s prayer for the second Station reads, “Jesus, may the work of OVEC inspire us to support the efforts of all whose crosses become heavy due to environmental threats that affect their health and well‐being.” Given OVEC’s overt support for abortion, we fail to see how OVEC can inspire ANY good Catholic with a conscience.
The Third Station – United Workers Association
The third station is “Jesus falls the first time.” The prayer at the end of this CCHD Station of the Cross reads, “Jesus, may the work of the United Workers challenge us to support workers who ask to be treated with dignity and respect.” However, the United Workers Association challenges us to support more than just workers’ dignity. UWA is also a public supporter of same-sex marriage (through its membership in the Equality Maryland coalition) and is also a current member of the pro-abortion health-care reform coalition Health Care for America NOW.
Equality Maryland “works to secure and protect the rights of LGBT Marylanders by promoting legislative initiatives on the state, county and municipal levels.” Equality Maryland’s site lists partner organizations which “oppose any amendment to the Maryland Constitution that would ban civil marriage and its vital protections for same-sex couples.” UWA is on this list, and not by accident. To be included, an organization has to actually sign with Equality Maryland.
UWA is still listed as a member of Health Care for America NOW despite the exodus of a number of CCHD grantees back in November after HCAN took a public position in favor of abortion funding in health reform legislation.
The Seventh Station – Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
The seventh station is “Jesus Falls a Second Time.” The CCHD gives us the following prayer for this station, “Jesus, many of your children still continue to fall. May the work of Iowa CCI help us to stand with all who fall, especially poor and low income people living in rural communities.” However, Iowa CCI is also an active participant of the radically progressive Midwest Social Forum, which promotes homosexual activism.
In 2008, Iowa CCI participated and taught at the Midwest Social Forum’s “Organizing Communities Across Boundaries Teach-In.” The stated purpose of this event, according to the Midwest Social forum, was the following:
This weekend-long organizing teach-in will develop collaborative relationships and teach organizing skills, strategies, and tactics needed to break out of the “silos” that segment the social justice movement. The Teach-in is a follow-up to the United States and Midwest Social Forums for Midwest-based grassroots organizations, activists and students. The event seeks to strengthen regional organizing networks and their interconnections and to provide valuable training in certain key aspects of organizing. A primary focus will be on the challenges of building broad-based coalitions across race, gender, class, age, sexual orientation, ability, issues, and other sources of division within the movement. (http://www.mwsocialforum.org/teachin)
Notable among the workshops at this teach-in was “Building a Queer Left in the Midwest.” The syllabus for this workshop states:
Some of the questions we will discuss are: How do we define the region we live in? What are some of the key issues in our region that should be addressed? Of these issues/areas, where do we need to build our analysis? How do we connect LGBT and queer organizing with broader racial and economic justice work? Where can we build coalitions to do multi-issue, multi-racial, multi-classed organizing within and across communities? How do we “get on the map” in terms of an organized queer left movement, one that is not solely rooted in and defined by the coasts. What is our vision for a Queer Left in the Midwest?
One has to wonder what building a “queer left in the Midwest” has to do with helping the “poor and low income people living in rural communities.” Whatever the answer, it is clear that CCI’s comfort with such endeavors makes their inclusion questionable at best when being spotlighted with Our Lord on the Cross.
The Eighth Station – People Organized for Westside Renewal
The eighth station of the Cross is “Jesus Speaks to the Women of Jerusalem.” This station would have been a perfect opportunity for the CCHD to point out what Mother Theresa called the “poverty” of abortion. Instead, however, the CCHD chose to highlight a group that is a member of three coalitions that promote abortion and same-sex marriage.
POWER is a member of the group called Mobilize the Immigrant Vote. MIV is a coalition of like-minded organizations who have developed an immigrant voter mobilization strategy which goes far beyond voter registration. For the 2008 California elections, MIV produced a voter’s guide which urged voters to vote against Proposition 4 which required parental notification for minors seeking an abortion. Also included in this voter’s guide is the recommendation to vote against Proposition 8 which would amend the California Constitution to prevent homosexual marriage. In fact, MIV’s very platform (which was created with the knowledge and consent of its member organizations) specifically states :
Provide low-income immigrant women and girls with access to culturally-appropriate information necessary to make informed decisions about their reproductive health and rights. Reproductive health needs to be an integral part of our state’s safety net.
The second pro-abortion and same-sex marriage coalition POWER is a member of is California Partnership (CAP) . California Partnership states that it “is a statewide coalition of community-based groups, organizing and advocating for the programs and policies that reduce and end poverty.” Included in its advocacy is a formal, stated position on several ballot initiatives from 2008. As with MIV, CAP formally stood against Prop 4. And against Prop. 8.
And in conjunction with those two coalition memberships, POWER is also a member of the Center for Community Change. As the Reform CCHD Now Coalition has pointed out in several reports (“31 CCHD-Funded Groups Supported, Trained by Pro-Abortion, Homosexual Marriage Activists” http://www.all.org/article.php?id=12362, “Revisiting the Center for Community Change” http://bellarmineveritasministry.org/2010/02/01/revisiting-the-center-for-community-change/), the Center for Community Change is engaged in pro-abortion and pro-same-sex marriage advocacy on several levels.
CCHD’s prayer for this station says, “Jesus, may the work of POWER inspire us to take action that ensures that the rights to adequate nutrition and education are fulfilled for all.” Considering that POWER has no regard for the rights and nutrition of children in danger of being violently torn from their mothers’ wombs, we fail to see how this is appropriate.
The 12th station: New Mexico Acequia Association
The New Mexico Acequia Association has the distinction of being quite possibly the most bizarre organization to be promoted in the middle of a Catholic prayer. Aside from being a member of the pro-abortion “The Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign” and a supporter of the pro-abortion Tewa Women United organization, NMAA helped draft the “Women’s Declaration” in 2007 .
The Women’s Declaration is filled with odd spiritual references to “Mother Earth” and other forms of pagan mysticism. For instance, the preamble states, “The earth community stands at a defining moment in time. Injustices, poverty, ignorance, corruption, crime and violence have deepened and our Earth Mother is suffering.” In addition to that the beginning of the declaration makes decidedly non-Catholic theological statements, such as:
Humanity is part of a vast evolving multiverse. Earth is our home and our mother is alive with a unique community of life givers. The life givers are Women. The protection of Women, their vitality and their well-being is the sacred fluid of love.
The 32nd resolution of the declaration states, “32. Be it further resolved that we will support the work of Tewa Women United.” Tewa Women United promotes “reproductive justice” , which is progressive-speak for abortion rights. If there is any doubt about its meaning in regard to “reproductive justice,” it should be noted that Tewa is a member of the radically pro-abortion group Sister Song .
Also, NMAA is a member of the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign. In the minutes of the State of New Mexico Health Policy Commission meeting of January 14, 2005, the executive director for the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign called for “family planning” to be covered in the New Mexico Health Security Act.
The prayer offered for the 12th station is, “Jesus, move us, in the example of New Mexico Acequia Association to love, support and strengthen local communities.” Given its devotion to “Mother Earth,” and its promotion of pro-abortion legislation and Tewa Women United, it is highly inappropriate for this group to be highlighted in a devotional prayer intended to remind sinners of their own iniquities, while reflecting on the suffering of Jesus Christ.
In all, this prayer booklet put out by the CCHD is a disgrace to the Catholic Church. It turned a beautiful devotion into a commercial that minimizes Christ and promotes CCHD, while at least one-third of the groups highlighted are completely unworthy of Catholic support.
Who wrote this? Who gave it the stamp of approval? (Reform CCHD Now Web Site; this is, of course, an excellent piece of research on the "Reform CCHD Now" website.)
Who wrote this? The answer to that is very clear. The devil.
A disgrace to the Catholic Church? To be sure.
Alas, the scandal represented by these perverse "meditations" have as much to do with the Catholic Church as the false "pontiff" and his conciliar "bishops" who have given us one officially approved novelty after another that have spawned many "unapproved" novelties and innovations that remain uncorrected and sometimes receive official sanction after its propagators claim that they have become "accepted customs" and must receive the sanction of conciliar authorities in the Vatican. This is sort of a variation of the conciliarist belief, propagated by the late Fathers Walter Burghardt, S.J., and Yves Congar, O.P., and by the very much alive Father Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M., Cap., that Protestantism and its false liturgical rites have gained "legitimacy" with the passage of time. And it is all from the devil, every single bit of it, not from the Catholic Church.
Who says? Holy Mother Church herself, who teaches us that there is never any shadow of change in her teaching:
These firings, therefore, with all diligence and care having been formulated by us, we define that it be permitted to no one to bring forward, or to write, or to compose, or to think, or to teach a different faith. Whosoever shall presume to compose a different faith, or to propose, or teach, or hand to those wishing to be converted to the knowledge of the truth, from the Gentiles or Jews, or from any heresy, any different Creed; or to introduce a new voice or invention of speech to subvert these things which now have been determined by us, all these, if they be Bishops or clerics let them be deposed, the Bishops from the Episcopate, the clerics from the clergy; but if they be monks or laymen: let them be anathematized. (Sixth Ecumenical: Constantinople III).
They [the Modernists] exercise all their ingenuity in an effort to weaken the force and falsify the character of tradition, so as to rob it of all its weight and authority. But for Catholics nothing will remove the authority of the second Council of Nicea, where it condemns those "who dare, after the impious fashion of heretics, to deride the ecclesiastical traditions, to invent novelties of some kind...or endeavor by malice or craft to overthrow any one of the legitimate traditions of the Catholic Church"; nor that of the declaration of the fourth Council of Constantinople: "We therefore profess to preserve and guard the rules bequeathed to the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, by the Holy and most illustrious Apostles, by the orthodox Councils, both general and local, and by everyone of those divine interpreters, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church." Wherefore the Roman Pontiffs, Pius IV and Pius IX, ordered the insertion in the profession of faith of the following declaration: "I most firmly admit and embrace the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and other observances and constitutions of the Church.'' (Pope Saint Pius X, Pascendi Dominci Gregis, September 8, 1907.)
Serving as quite a contrast to the perverse "Catholic Campaign for Human Development" "mediations" that highlight organizations that promote sin, the very thing that caused Our Lord to take up His Holy Cross as He walked the Via Dolorosa to Mount Calvary, are these meditations contained the Venerable Mary of Agreda's The Mystical City of God, starting with a prayer that she was given to know was offered by Our Lord to His Co-Equal and Co-Eternal Father in Heaven during His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane:
393. "My eternal Father, in compliance with thy will
I gladly haste to satisfy thy justice by suffering even
unto death. Thus shall I reconcile to Thee all the children of Adam, paying their debts and opening to them
the gates of heaven which have been closed against them.
I shall seek those who have turned away and lost them
selves, so that they may be restored by the force of my
love. I shall find and gather together the lost of the house
of Jacob (Is. 56, 8), raise up the fallen, enrich the poor,
refresh the thirsty, cast down the haughty and exalt the
humble. I wish to vanquish hell and enhance the glories
of the triumph over Lucifer (I John 3, 8), and over the
vices which he has sown into the world. I wish to
raise up the standard of the Cross, beneath which virtue, and all those that put themselves under its protection, are to fight their battles. I wish to satiate my
heart with insults and affronts, which are so estimable
in thy eyes. I wish to humiliate Myself even to death
at the hands of my enemies, in order that our chosen
friends may be consoled in their tribulations and that
they may be honored by high rewards, whenever they
choose to humiliate themselves in suffering the same
persecutions. O beloved Cross! When shalt thou receive Me in thy arms ? O sweet ignominies and affronts !
When shalt thou bear Me on to overcome death through
the sufferings of my entirely guiltless flesh? Ye pains,
affronts, ignominies, scourges, thorns, torments, death,
come to Me, who wish to embrace you, yield yourselves
to my welcome, since I well understand your value. If
the world abhors you, I long for you. If the world,
in its ignorance, despises you, I, who am truth and wisdom, love and embrace you. Come then to Me, for
in welcoming you as man, I exalt you as the true God
and am ready to efface the touch of sin from you and
from all that will embrace you. Come to Me, ye pains,
and disappoint Me not; heed not my Omnipotence, for
I shall permit you to exert your full force upon my
humanity. You shall not be rejected and abhorred by
Me as you are by mortals. The deceitful fascination of
the children of Adam in vainly judging the poor and the
afflicted of this world as unhappy, shall now disappear;
for if they see their true God, their Creator, Master
and Father, suffering horrible insults, scourgings, the
ignominious torment and destitution of the Cross, they
will understand their error and esteem it as an honor
to follow their crucified God."
394. These are some of the sentiments which I have
been made to perceive in the heart of the Master of
life, our Savior. The sufferings of his Death on the
Cross show (as my words cannot express), how great
was the love with which He sought and underwent
them. Notwithstanding all this, our hearts are weighed
down by sin entangled in vanities (Ps. 4, 3). Though
we have life and truth before our eyes, we are nevertheless carried away by our pride and repelled by humility,
ravished by what is pleasurable and full of abhorrence
for what is painful. O lamentable error! To labor
much in order to avoid laboring a little, to exhaust our
selves entirely, merely in order to avoid a small inconvenience, to foolishly resolve on suffering eternal shame
and confusion, just in order to evade a slight dishonor,
or in order not to forego one hour of vain and apparent
honor! Who that claims the use of his reason, can say
that he loves himself by following such a course? No
mortal enemy of his can ever do him a greater harm
than he does himself by doing what is displeasing to
God. We hold those as our enemies who flatter and
entertain us while they have treason in their hearts;
and we would call those foolish who would allow
themselves to be betrayed by an insignificant pleasure and
delight. If we judge right in this, as we really do, what
shall we say of the judgment of those who are devotees
of the world? Who has intoxicated them? Who has
thus deprived them of their reason? O how great is the
number of fools!
395. Most holy Mary alone of all the children of
Adam adjusted her whole life according to the will and
conduct of her Son, without departing in the least from
the closest imitation of his life and fulfillment of his
doctrine. She was that most prudent Creature, full of
knowledge and wisdom, who could make up for our
ignorance and foolishness and gain for us eternal truth
in the midst of our darkness. This happened also on
the occasion of which I have spoken, for the heavenly
Lady, being the mirror of her Son s soul, saw all the
affection and love actuating his interior. Since this
was also the guide of her activity, She entirely conformed to them and with Him addressed her prayers
to the eternal Father as follows :
"Most High God and
Father of mercies, I confess thy infinite and immutable
essence. Eternally do I praise and exalt Thee, for in
this place, after Thou hadst created me, Thou hast
deigned to glorify the power of thy arm by raising me
to the dignity of Mother of thy Onlybegotten and magnified the outflowing of thy ancient mercies with me,
thy humble slave, and because thy and my Onlybegotten
in the flesh which He assumed from my substance, has
condescended to retain me in his most delightful company for thirty-three years, permitting me to enjoy his
graces, his teachings and his guidance for the enlightenment of the soul of thy handmaid. Today, my Lord
and eternal Father, I leave my country and I joyfully
follow my Son and Master in order to be present at the
sacrifice of his life and of his human existence for man
kind. There is no sorrow like unto my sorrow at see
ing the Lamb, which taketh away the sins of the world,
delivered over to bloodthirsty wolves; at seeing that
One subjected to suffering, torment, and death, who is
the living image and figure of thy substance (Heb. 1, 3) ;
who is engendered of Thee from all eternity, and equal
to Thee through all the ages; at seeing that One subjected to insult and death of the Cross, whom I have
given life in my womb, and at seeing the beauty of that
countenance obscured by filth and wounds, which is the
joy of my eyes and the delight of all the angels. O
would it were possible, that I receive the pains and sorrows which await Him, and that I might suffer death in
order to save his life ! Accept, heavenly Father, the sacrifice of my sorrowing affection, which I offer in union
with Him, in order that thy holy will and pleasure may
be fulfilled. O how quickly flee the days and hours,
which shall end in the night of my sorrow and bitterness !
It will be a fortunate day for the children of men, but
a night of affliction for my sorrow-laden heart, so soon
to be deprived of its illuminating Sun. O children of
Adam, so deeply lost in error and so forgetful of your
selves ! Awake at last from your heavy slumber and
recognize the weight of your sins in the devastation they
are about to cause in your God and Creator! See their
dire effects in my mortal sorrow and bitterness of my
soul ! Begin at last to take heed of the damage wrought
by sin!" (The Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God, Volume III: The Transfixion, pp. 377-381.)
A Catholic abhors his sins and prays to live long enough to make reparation for them before he dies, understanding that sin is what caused Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 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 pierced through and through with those Seven Swords of Sorrow. No one can claim that He loves Our Lord as he persists in unrepentant Mortal Sin, worse yet to promote candidates for public office who support evils under cover of the civil law as a human "right" and/or funds organizations that either support evil directly themselves or have ties to those that do so.
Although I have cited this quote from Silvio Cardinal Antoniano contained in Pope Pius XI's Divini Illius Magistri, December 31, 1929, many times on this site, it is worth doing so again to demonstrate how far from the Catholic are those who have composed, published and distributed those perverse "meditations" for the "Non-Catholic Campaign for Human Deformation:"
The more closely the temporal power of a nation aligns itself with the spiritual, and the more it fosters and promotes the latter, by so much the more it contributes to the conservation of the commonwealth. For it is the aim of the ecclesiastical authority by the use of spiritual means, to form good Christians in accordance with its own particular end and object; and in doing this it helps at the same time to form good citizens, and prepares them to meet their obligations as members of a civil society. This follows of necessity because in the City of God, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, a good citizen and an upright man are absolutely one and the same thing. How grave therefore is the error of those who separate things so closely united, and who think that they can produce good citizens by ways and methods other than those which make for the formation of good Christians. For, let human prudence say what it likes and reason as it pleases, it is impossible to produce true temporal peace and tranquillity by things repugnant or opposed to the peace and happiness of eternity. (Silvio Cardinal Antoniano, quoted by Pope Pius XI in Divini Illius Magistri, December 31, 1929.)
Those of us who have, yes, at long last, come to recognize that the Catholic Church is in no way responsible for the apostasies and errors and blasphemies and sacrileges and novelties and innovations, both approved and "unapproved," that have been proffered by the lords of the counterfeit church of conciliarism are, of course, no better than those attached yet to the conciliar church. People such as those who did the research on the blasphemous "meditations" for the Stations of the Cross are to be commended for their diligent research. We can and must, however, pray that they will come to reflect on the fact that the Fathers of our dogmatic councils and many of our true popes, including Pope Saint Pius X, condemned the spirit of innovation and novelty that has resulted in producing "Catholics" who could produce "meditations" such as those cited above on the "Reform CCHD Now" website.
Today is Laetare Sunday. Rejoice! Lent is half over. Easter Sunday is but three weeks away from today. The glories of Easter Sunday and the Easter Octave and the entirety of Eastertide are meant to serve as a foretaste of eternal glory in an unending Easter Sunday of glory in Paradise for those who persevere to the point of their dying breaths in a state of Sanctifying Grace as members of the Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation and without which there can be no true social order. This time of apostasy and betrayal will pass. God has known from all eternity that it would occur. He has willed that we be alive at this particular time. He has Sanctifying Grace to give us through His Most Blessed Mother's loving hands. There is the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to anticipate with such joy. Yes, rejoice! Christ the King will triumph over all who oppose Him.
May each of us, relying upon Our Lady's maternal love and intercessory power, continue to live penitentially during the remaining three weeks of Lent, offering all of our prayers and sacrifices and penances and mortifications and humiliations to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, especially by praying as many Rosaries each day as our state-in-life permits.
The Lenten season we are now observing will come to an end. The Lenten period of prayer and suffering represented by our lives will come to an end. May Our Lady and her Most Chaste Spouse, Saint Joseph, the Patron of the Universal Church and the Protector of the Faithful, help us to end this Lent and the one of our lives by lifting high the Cross of Christ the King with love and joy at every moment of our Catholic lives.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for 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.
See also: A Litany of Saints
|
