Author: Catholic Candle
Words to Live by – from Catholic Tradition
On the importance of continually advancing in the spiritual life
Here is the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas, greatest Doctor of the Catholic Church:
On the Road to God, not to advance is to fall back.
Lectures on St. John’s Gospel, ch.4, #690.
Lesson #16 On Death
Mary’s School of Sanctity
Lesson #16 The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius — ON DEATH [In the state of grace vs. In the state of mortal sin]
In addition to the meditation on both the pains of the senses and the horrific pain of the loss of God, we now include a meditation on death. This also was not included in St. Ignatius’s original Spiritual Exercises; however, it is so valuable for fostering man’s proper desire for God and to work for God’s glory and praise. Furthermore, if we are to acquire the holy indifference[1] that St. Ignatius wants us to have and keep, we must meditate on death, not only within the framework of the Spiritual Exercises, but also on a regular basis. In other words, he who meditates often on death will be able to prepare for death and die well.
This meditation will be set out in the style of St. Ignatius.
The preparatory prayer is the same as usual, I ask God Our Lord the grace that all my intentions, actions, and works may be directed purely to the service and praise of the Divine Majesty.
The FIRST PRELUDE is the mental representation of the place. Here it will be to see with my imagination my death bed or the scene of my death.
The SECOND PRELUDE is to ask for the grace:
1) to understand the gravity of sin now while there is still time for me; 2) to truly see that my life here on the earth is a test in which I am merely an exile; 3) to see that I must be detached from this world in order to have an intense desire for God in heaven, and 4) to be convinced that by understanding these truths, I will be preparing to die well.
The FIRST POINT is to consider what death is in itself. First, I will consider the following attributes of death.
1) Death is certain—all humans have to die.
2) Death takes everything—our possessions, our time, our body.
3) Death is painful— [the separation of the soul from the body] an instantaneous change. A person may linger and be ‘dying’ for a long period of time but the actual substantial change which occurs when the soul departs the body is one intensely painful moment.
4) Death’s circumstances are unknown. — No one knows the actual time and place in which he will die. God could reveal this to someone, but for most people He does not reveal these facts.
The SECOND POINT is to consider what will happen to me spiritually at my death, e.g., what spiritual battles will I encounter at my death?
I will also consider what my death would be like if I am in the state of grace. I will contrast this with what my death would be like if I am in the state of mortal sin.
Furthermore, I will consider what the spiritual struggle and combat at death will involve for both of these states of soul.
The COLLOQUY: the possibilities for the colloquy are numerous. I will let the Holy Ghost guide me for my colloquy. I will draw on the considerations which struck my heart the most and address myself to Our Lord, Our Lady, St. Joseph or all three. I will pour out my heart to them, now thanking them for their mercy, now petitioning for their help at my death so I can die well, etc.
Considerations for the FIRST POINT:
One can surely take many different aspects about death into consideration, but we will limit them to the following four attributes of death.
1) Death is certain—all humans have to die.
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.” Hebrews, 9:27.
In the book of Genesis, it is revealed to us that man has to die. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.” Genesis, 3:19.
Death came into the world as a consequence of Adam’s sin. Therefore, no one can escape the hand of death. There is absolutely nothing we can do to avoid death. Tradition teaches that Our Lady died even though she was conceived without original sin. Yet, death for her was a fitting imitation of her Divine Son. Enoch walked with God and was seen no more [Gen.5:24]. Elias was taken up in a fiery chariot with fiery horses into heaven in front of the prophet Eliseus [4 Kings, ch. 2]. Yet we know from the book of the Apocalypse that these two prophets will be martyred by the Antichrist. Hence, they will have to die like everybody else.
2) Death takes everything—our possessions, our time, our body. “For we brought nothing into this world: and, certainly, we can carry nothing out.” [1Timothy 6:7] Our Lord reminds us of this fact in His parable about the rich man who had plenty and thought within himself, saying, “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said: This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer.”
Our Lord continues, “But God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” St. Luke’s Gospel, 12:16-20.
At death, we will have no more time. No more time to praise, revere, and serve God. The time for merit will be over and the time to increase in our love for God will be over. Likewise, the time to offend God is over and we can do no more damage to our souls then. All is ended. All is final. No one will go with us for we go alone. Our bodies must be left behind.
Simply stated, our souls will be summoned to the tribunal. Our souls will be “naked” and we, along with our works, will undergo the scrutinizing inspection of God.
3) Death is painful— [Death is the separation of the soul from the body] an instantaneous change. This is the separation of a person’s two parts which are more intimately connected together than a person is connected with his own arm or leg – which separation is painful indeed!
A person may linger and be ‘dying’ for a long period of time, but the actual substantial change which occurs when the soul departs from the body is one intensely painful moment. We often hear people say such things as, “At least so-and-so didn’t suffer, or he/she died so peacefully and didn’t suffer much”, or “He or she passed quietly in his/her sleep”. No, we must not be fooled into thinking that because someone was non-responsive at death, that his/her death wasn’t painful. Death is THE MOST PAINFUL MOMENT OF LIFE!! No other suffering in life is as painful as death. This is because death involves acute physical suffering coupled with mental suffering. No one is exempt from this suffering, not even infants.
People talk about giving the dying person morphine so he/she will not suffer too much. We must remember that death is supposed to be painful and the pains of death are for our benefit and purification. They are meant to be offered up to God as reparation for our sins. We are intended to imitate Christ in His suffering and death. We are intended to unite our death to Christ’s Passion and death. Life is a trial to see if we will be faithful to Christ, and death is our final exam.
4) Death’s circumstances are unknown.—No one knows the actual time and place in which he will die. God could reveal this to someone but for most people He does not reveal this. In fact, St Gregory tells us that God conceals the time of our death so that we will always be prepared to die.[2]
St. Bernard says, “Since, then, death may take away life at any time and in any place, we ought, if we wish to die well and save our souls, to live always in expectation of death.”[3]
Scripture also warns us that the timing of death is unknown to us, in order for us to take the means to prepare for it: “Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day; for His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee.” Ecclesiasticus, 5:8-9.
Here is how St. Paul warned the Thessalonians to prepare for death:
But of the times and moments, brethren, you need not, that we should write to you: For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord shall so come as a thief in the night. For when they shall say: Peace and security, then shall sudden destruction come upon them, as the pains upon her that is with child, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as a thief. For all you are the children of light and children of the day: we are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep, as others do: but let us watch, and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that are drunk, are drunk in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, having on the breast plate of faith and charity and, for a helmet, the hope of salvation. Thessalonians, 5:1-8.
Here are the words of Our Lord warning us to be always ready for death:
Watch ye, therefore, because you know not what hour your Lord will come. But this know ye, that if the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Wherefore, be you also ready, because at what hour you know not, the Son of man will come. St. Matthew’s Gospel, 24:42-44, cf., St. Luke’s Gospel, 12:39.
And again:
Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. Apocalypse, 16:15.
St. Peter echoes these words:
Wherefore, dearly beloved, waiting for these things, be diligent that you may be found before Him unspotted and blameless in peace. 1 Peter, 3:14.
Likewise, Holy Mother Church warns us and prays for us in the Litany of the Saints for the Rogation Days, “From a sudden and unprovided death, deliver us, O Lord.” This invocation carries with it a 300 days indulgence which inspires us to say it often.
This fact – that we know not the hour, the moment, or the circumstances of our death – helps us to remember what St. Paul tells us to work out our salvation in all fear and trembling. With this sober thought, let us pass on to the consideration of the second point.
Considerations for the SECOND POINT:
Why is death so terrifying for us humans? Is it only because of the horrific pain of the separation of the soul and body? No, it is because of the unknown beyond. We will meet Jesus Christ our Judge and He will be all just, and the time of mercy will be over. Furthermore, there will be the formidable foe to taunt us especially at our last hours. St. Gregory reminds us with the following words what this will mean. He tells us:
Consider well how terrible is the hour of death, and how appalling the remembrance of our evil deeds will be at that time. For the spirits of darkness will recall all the harm they have done us, and remind us of the sins which we have committed at their instigation. They will not go to the deathbed of the godless only, but they will be present with the elect, striving to discover something sinful whereof to accuse them. Alas! How will it fare with us hapless mortals in that hour, and what can we say for ourselves, seeing how innumerable are the sins to be laid to our charge? What can we answer our adversaries, when they place all our sins before us, with the object of reducing us to despair?[4]
Fr. Cochem also tells us in his book The Last Four Things, “It is the opinion of many of the Fathers, that every one, when expiring, sees the evil enemy, at any rate at the moment of drawing his last breath, if not before. How appalling this sight is, and with what terror it must inspire the dying, exceeds the power of words to declare.”[5]
What will our death be like? It really depends on how we have lived.
If the tree fall to the south, or to the north, in what place soever it shall fall, there shall it be. Ecclesiasticus, 11:4.
St. Alphonsus de Liguori explains the meaning of this passage in this quote from one of his sermons about death.
If, when the tree of your life is cut down, you fall to the south, that is, if you obtain eternal life, how great shall be your joy at being able to say: I shall be saved; I have secured all; I can never lose God; I shall be happy for ever. But, if you fall to the north, that is, into eternal damnation, how great shall be your despair! Alas! You shall say, I have erred, and my error is irremediable! Arise, then, from your tepidity, and, after this sermon, make a resolution to give yourselves sincerely to God. This resolution will insure you a good death, and will make you happy for eternity.[6]
With these realities in mind let us consider the two types of death possible to a man—death in the state of grace or in the state of mortal sin.
Death in the State of Grace
“The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery: and their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace.” Wisdom, 1:1-3.
These are very consoling words of Scripture. They remind us that God will not ever abandon us. The quotes given above about the attacks of the evil one at our death are dreadful, yet we know that our heavenly helpers will be with us to defend us. Our Lady and St. Joseph will come to assist us. Also, we know that our guardian angel and patron saints will protect us.
We should work hard to foster a great love for Our Lady and St. Joseph. By being close friends with this holy couple, they become our heavenly parents, too. By speaking to them very often, this will help us to develop the habit of having recourse in prayer to them. In this way we will build our confidence in them and their special protection against the evil foes who at our death will be trying desperately to drag our thoughts to darkness and despair. Then, even when we are in the greatest weakness of our lives, that is, when we are dying – we will still be directing our thoughts and prayers to them.
Likewise, we should not forget that if we are faithful in praising, revering, and serving God in our lives, then we will look forward to finishing our course here on earth and be out of the danger of losing our souls.
How then can we be faithful in praising, revering, and serving God? We must work on being detached from earthly goods in order to put our hearts on eternal things and on our service of God. We must be zealous in His service because our entire eternity will be determined by how well we served Him.
Fr. Hurter, in his Sketches for the Exercises of an Eight Day’s Retreat, says:
“Whilst we have time let us work good.” [Gal 6:10] “Defraud not thyself of the good day, and let not the part of a good gift overpass thee.” [Eccl.,14:14] therefore spend your days in such a manner that you can say every evening what our Divine Redeemer said on the evening of His earthly life: “I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.” [John 17, 4] Then we can hope to hear the consoling words of the divine Judge: “Well done, good and faithful servant… enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” [Matt. 25:23] [7]
Therefore, death in the state of grace is a beautiful thing. When we live loving God with all our might, then we have peace with God. We accept what He deems best to send us even if we do not understand His plan. We soon build trust in His Providence and will be willing to die trusting in Him.
Now let us consider the tragedy of death in the state of mortal sin.
Death in the State of Mortal Sin
What kind of death can a person in mortal sin expect? Whether a person be a hardened sinner, a careless sinner who foolishly thinks that he will convert on his deathbed, or a worldling who doesn’t give any serious thought of death, death will come and find him unprepared. Hell awaits him. Despair seizes him. He has been living in hellish pride, no doubt, for quite some time now.
He has been living in selfishness and accustomed to giving in to sensuality. Where was God in his life? He either put God completely out of the picture or only had a little corner reserved for God and any communication with God. He talked to God only when he wanted something from God. He had no real friendship with God. He totally disregarded Our Lord’s words, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
St. Alphonsus de Liguori describes the scene:
How will the dying man, who has always lived in sin, be able, in the midst of the pains, the stupefaction, and the confusion of death, to repent sincerely of all his past iniquities? I say sincerely, because it is not enough to say and to promise with the tongue: it is necessary to promise with the heart. … What terror and confusion will seize the unhappy Christian who has led a careless life, when he finds himself overwhelmed with sins, with the fears of judgment, of hell, and of eternity! Oh! What confusion will these thoughts produce when the dying sinner will find his reason gone, his mind darkened, and his whole frame assailed by the pains of approaching death. He will make his confession; he will promise, weep, and seek mercy from God, but without understanding what he does; and in this tempest of agitation, of remorse, of pains and terrors, he will pass to the other life. The people shall be troubled, and they shall pass [Job, 34; 20].[8]
Another striking quote of St. Alphonsus is, “Having loved sin till death, he has also loved the danger of damnation. Hence the Lord will justly permit him to perish in that danger in which he has voluntarily lived till the end of his life.”[9]
St. Paul puts the situation of the unrepentant sinner aptly when he says, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall he reap corruption.” Galatians, 6:7-8.
And what of the typical worldling who has been caught up in the pleasures of the world—one who wanted all sorts of material things and comforts? When death approaches, he will finally realize that he must leave everything behind. How empty he will find his life then. He will see that he has led a very shallow life. All the pampering of his flesh and the luxuries that he wallowed in, he can have them no more.
And of course, as we have said above, the devil will torment him now, saying that it is too late to be truly sorry and it is not worth humbling himself to beg God’s mercy. The devil will try whatever trick worked the best with the poor sinner before. He can easily use the trick of despair or presumption. Certainly, the devil will try with all his might to see that this poor wretch makes it to hell and makes absolutely no attempt at true repentance.
COLLOQUY: Accordingly, now after having considered these very sobering truths, I can certainly pour out my heart to the Sacred Heart and thank him for His example of how to die. I will thank Our Lord and Our Lady for all the mercy shown to me up to this point. I will thank God for all of His insights and blessings, especially for allowing me to understand death better through considering death in all its aspects.
I will ask God for the grace of final perseverance.
I will talk to Our Lady, my Mother, to assist me in life and especially at my death.
Likewise, I will talk with St. Joseph and beg him to help me always, and especially as I draw my last breath.
In our next lesson, we will consider both the PARTICULAR JUDGMENT and the GENERAL JUDGMENT in order to keep enhancing our love for God and to foster an even greater desire in our souls to persevere in making our greatest efforts in all we do for Him.
[1] The explanation of holy indifference is given in June, 2022, Lesson #11 The Principle and Foundation Part II. https://catholiccandle.org/2022/06/27/lesson-11-the-principle-and-foundation-part-ii/
[2] This quote is taken from St. Alphonsus de Liguori’s Preparation for Death, in his consideration five, The Uncertainty of the Hour of Death.
[3] This quote is taken from St. Alphonsus de Liguori’s Preparation for Death, in his consideration five, The Uncertainty of the Hour of Death
[4] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 15.
[5] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 19.
[6] Quote from St. Alphonsus de Liguori’s Sermon XXXIII for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
[7] Quoted form Sketches for the Exercises of an Eight Day’s Retreat by Hugo Hurter, SJ., Ph.D., D.D., Professor Emeritus of Theology in the Catholic University of Innsbruck, ©1918, third edition, 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 81.
[8] This quote is taken from St. Alphonsus de Liguori’s Preparation for Death, in his consideration six, The Death of a Sinner.
[9] This quote is taken from St. Alphonsus de Liguori’s Preparation for Death, in his consideration six, The Death of a Sinner.
How to fight feminism – Part I
Catholic Candle note: The article below pertains to fighting feminism because it is the program of Our Lord’s enemies (who are our enemies too). Previously, we saw how the program of the feminists is the same program as Satan and the Marxists. https://catholiccandle.org/2022/08/26/the-feminist-program-is-the-same-as-that-of-satan-and-marx-part-vii/
How to Fight Feminism – Part 1
Feminism is a tool of Satan and the Marxists. Previously, we saw that feminism was merely an application to specific circumstances (i.e., with women as a subject rather than blacks or persons living lives of unnatural impurity) of the more general program which Satan and the Marxists use to wage war upon Western Civilization (the remnants of Christendom).
These are the circumstances in which we live. So, what should be do? Of course, the answer is that we should fight back! We are soldiers of Christ! The truth matters! The coward’s life is a failure and is contemptible! A coward dies a thousand deaths but a brave man only one![1] When a man discovers that criminals have broken into his home, he sets to work opposing them!
Just as the Council of Trent was part of a counterattack against the Protestant revolution, likewise, in our current times, where there is an on-going Marxist revolution, we must counterattack! We must counter the enemies of Christ (who are also our own enemies). So, e.g., when we see the enemy attacking our right flank, we must martial troops to meet them and push them back.
To effectively oppose these enemies, we must do what a wise military strategist does: we must study the enemies’ tactics and their methods of fighting to learn how to best defeat them. Thus, to some extent, we must study what the enemy does and fight it by doing the opposite.
The Satanic/Marxist/feminist attack on society can be framed in a variety of different ways which really “boil down” to the same eight-point Satanic/Marxist program we have already seen that they use.[2] Below is one way this attack is sometimes framed.
In 1969, the groundbreaking radical feminist leader, Kate Millett, would hold meetings with eleven of her friends in New York City during which they recited a type of litany, a feminist manifesto of sorts, or a plan of attack, that has proven to be remarkably effective. Here is an eyewitness account of one of these meetings. It opened with the chairwoman asking:
“Why are we here today?”
“To make revolution,” they answered.
“What kind of revolution?”
“The Cultural Revolution.”
“And how do we make Cultural Revolution?”
“By destroying the American family!”
“How do we destroy the family?”
“By destroying the American Patriarch.”
“And how do we destroy the American Patriarch?”
“By taking away his power!”
“How do we do that?”
“By destroying monogamy!”
“How can we destroy monogamy?”
“By promoting promiscuity, eroticism, prostitution, abortion, and homosexuality!”[3]
So, let’s take these elements of their very effective feminist plan of attack and examine them, one-by-one. This will help us to see how we can best defeat these enemies of Christ by fighting against their plan through our initiatives in exactly the opposite direction.
We must Fight The Feminists’ Cultural Revolution
In the first element of their chant, these feminist leaders say they are going to “make revolution”. It was in this time period that Kate Millett wrote from New York to her sister:
“Come to New York. We’re making revolution! Some of us are starting the National Organization of Women [N.O.W.] and you can be part of it.”[4]
So, these feminist leaders declare they are waging a war – a revolution – against us, against society, etc. We must oppose them! They are attacking us and seek to destroy us! We must fight them, counter-attacking and opposing them with all of our strength!
This feminist goal is the same as Marxist Goal #31 (of 45 total goals) as read into the U.S. Congressional Record in 1963:
31. Belittle all forms of American culture …[5]
Just as a political revolution seeks to overthrow the government of a country, so a “cultural revolution” seeks to overthrow the culture of a country. Our culture was formed and established by the Catholic Church, as She converted the heathen tribes of Europe, although it is true that this culture has been adulterated with Protestantism, which was the beginning of a descent into the so-called “Enlightenment” and further corruptions which increasingly distanced (former) Christendom from Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Nonetheless, just as the high Catholic culture of Christendom was not “built in a day”, likewise, it is not destroyed in a day either. There were the remnants of much good culture in the Western World that still remained, especially before Vatican II and before the 1960s. It has taken hundreds of years for the enemies of Christendom to degrade society to what it was in the 1960s, at the beginning of the Marxist and feminist revolution. (Of course, it has gotten much worse since then.)
So, as we see the Marxists and feminists (and Satan’s other minions) focus on promoting cultural revolution, we must fight back by focusing on promoting cultural tradition, i.e., preserving our cultural heritage. This work is the opposite of the revolution to overthrow our culture.
There are many aspects of our fight to preserve our culture. For example, we must fight to preserve good and beautiful music, e.g., Gregorian Chant and the music of Mozart. We must seek to suppress the music of the rebellion and of the cultural revolution, e.g., rock and roll, rap, etc.
Likewise, we must fight to preserve beautiful painting and other fine arts, against the attack of the cultural revolutionaries, who attack the uplifting beauty of good art. This feminist attack on beauty is the same as Marxist Goal #22 and #23 (of 45 total goals) as read into the U.S. Congressional Record in 1963:
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”.[6]
Part of the culture of each nation is to know well its past and history. This is natural and reasonable. A family has a history and should know this history well. A nation is, as it were, a family “writ large”. Thus, the feminists’ cultural revolution includes an attack on our nation’s history, as also reflected in Marxist Goal #31 (of 45 total goals) as read into the U.S. Congressional Record in 1963:
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.[7]
We see that American history is not only de-emphasized and dumbed-down but is also greatly falsified, e.g., in the leftists’ 1619 Project, falsely asserting that America was founded for the purpose to promoting slavery. The same is occurring in all of the rest of former Christendom.
The feminists and other Marxists attack good literature and replace it with debased stories and meaningless poetry.
We see many attacks on our culture’s customs, rules of etiquette, and all manner of propriety. For example, beginning in the 1960s the cultural revolutionaries promoted wearing blue jeans virtually everywhere. Although blue jeans were not invented in the 1960s, the cultural revolutionaries promoted wearing them everywhere in order to degrade our culture and destroy the idea that what we wear should be appropriate for the particular occasion. That is why, even back in the 1970s, one of the Catholic Candle Team members (who is a lifelong Traditional Catholic), did not allow his children to wear blue jeans out to parties or other events and occasions. That principle still applies today. Again, the feminists’ cultural revolution was (and is) destroying former Christendom’s customs, etiquette and propriety.
Of course, the cultural revolutionaries viciously attack virtue, especially modesty and purity. The enemies of our culture attacked true manliness and true womanliness (true femininity), along with attacking true virtue.
Against this feminist and Marxist cultural revolution, we must tirelessly promote what is traditional, godly, and according to the Natural Law, as well as according to the Catholic Faith.
We Must Fight the Feminists’ Attack On The Family
As we saw above, Kate Millett and the other founders of the National Organization of Women (N.O.W.) chanted (at their meetings) how they intend to wage their cultural revolution:
“And how do we make Cultural Revolution?”
“By destroying the American family!”
Kate Millett and her co-conspirators correctly saw how essential it is to destroy the family in order for their revolution to succeed. Satan, the Marxists, and feminists know that a revolution in the state will not succeed without destroying the family because the family is civil society’s first institution. The state is built upon families (not upon individuals) as its primary building blocks.
Thus, with satanic astuteness, the feminists promote the same evil goal (viz., destroying the family) as the Marxists do. The Marxists’ revolutionary goals #40-41 (of 45 total goals) are listed as follows, as these goals were read into the U.S. Congressional Record in 1963:
40. Discredit the family as an institution. …
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of
parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to
suppressive influence of parents.[8]
The feminists are only part of a network of evil groups which promote Satan’s work and these groups all use the same satanic/Marxist plan and promote the same evils. Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) is another example of a group which explicitly and intentionally opposes the natural, normal, God-given family.[9] Here is how BLM states its anti-family credo:
We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.[10]
In this regard, Our Lord’s enemies agree with the popes and with the Catholic Church – viz., that a successful revolution in the state requires a successful revolution in (i.e., destruction of) the family. A good, non-Marxist state requires good non-Marxist families. But when the family is destroyed, the state is in great peril and cannot survive. Here is how Pope Pius XI explains the truth that the family is the foundation of civil society and is prior to the state in nature and rights:
[T]here are three necessary societies, distinct from one another and yet harmoniously combined by God, into which man is born: two, namely the family and civil society, belong to the natural order; the third, the Church, to the supernatural order.
In the first place comes the family, instituted directly by God for its peculiar purpose, the generation and formation of offspring; for this reason, it has priority of nature and therefore of rights over civil society. Nevertheless, the family is an imperfect society, since it has not in itself all the means for its own complete development; whereas civil society is a perfect society, having in itself all the means for its peculiar end, which is the temporal well-being of the community; and so, in this respect, that is, in view of the common good, it has pre-eminence over the family, which finds its own suitable temporal perfection precisely in civil society.
The third society, into which man is born when through Baptism he reaches the divine life of grace, is the Church; a society of the supernatural order and of universal extent; a perfect society, because it has in itself all the means required for its own end, which is the eternal salvation of mankind; hence it is supreme in its own domain.
Divini Illius Magistri (On Christian Education) by Pope Pius XI, 1929, ¶¶11-13, (emphasis added).
Against this feminist and Marxist cultural revolution, we must focus our minds and our efforts upon the best ways for us to defend (and to counterattack) against the feminists’ cultural revolution. We must promote and support the family as an institution and we must defend it against attacks! We must emphasize its importance, praise it, and lead others to esteem it greatly.
We must fight against the selfish, me-first attitude of our present time in which young adults reject or unreasonably delay taking the concrete steps God Wills for them to take in order that they each find the spouse God intends and begin the life of their vocations. (This leaves aside the impurity and other sins that typically accompany this failure to respond – or delay in responding – to God’s vocational call.)
We Must Fight the Feminists’ Attack On Patriarchy
Let us see the feminists’ strategy to destroy the family. That will allow us to do our best to thwart this (and every other) element of this (evil) feminist revolution as framed by Kate Millett and her Marxist comrades.
Kate Millett and the other founders of the National Organization of Women (N.O.W.) chanted (at their meetings) the way in which they intended to wage their attack on the family:
“How do we destroy the family?”
“By destroying the American Patriarch.”[11]
Kate Millett and her co-conspirators correctly saw how essential it is to destroy the patriarch of the family in order for their revolution to succeed. The father (patriarch) is the protector and defender of the family. The family is safe when its vigilant guardian is at his post.
Satan, the Marxists, and feminists know that a revolution in the state will not succeed without destroying the family and this won’t happen if the patriarch is doing his duty.
The feminists join other Marxist groups, e.g., Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) which explicitly and intentionally opposes the natural, normal, God-given hierarchy of the family. BLM declares its opposition to what it calls “heteropatriarchial imperialism”[12] – by which BLM means the authority of a father over his family. (The misspelling of “patriarchal” is in the BLM original.)
Another example, among countless others, is the anti-patriarchal attack of the French socialist and commune leader, Benoît Malon, who declared:
What must happen is to completely abolish the authority of the father and his almost royal power in the family. In effect, equality only will be perfect if this is achieved. Aren’t the children of as great a value as the parents? By what right do the latter command the former? Enough of obedience! Enough of inequality![13]
Of course, Benoît Malon is a man, yet he is attacking the authority of men (fathers). This should not surprise the reader. Only superficial people care most about their own practical advantage. Malon cared more about destroying the authority of patriarchs because he is a tool of the devil who hates paternity. This is like the black BLM leaders praising Cuba’s (non-black) communist leaders who were oppressing black Cubans.[14]
Again, in the quote above, the socialist, Benoît Malon, declared: “Enough of obedience!” We see that this feminist/BLM/Marxist/satanic goal of destroying a father’s authority involves the obvious “stench” of Satan’s rebellion: “Non serviam!” Satan and his servants love this destruction of patriarchy because this destruction opposes God Who is the Creator both of the Natural Law, and also of the supernatural law.
In this regard, Our Lord’s enemies agree with the Catholic Church (and with sound reason) – viz., that a successful revolution in the state requires a successful revolution in (i.e., destruction of) authority in the family. A well-ordered state requires well-ordered families. But when the order in the family is destroyed, the state is in great peril and cannot survive.
That is why the Church (and sound reason) defend a father’s authority in his family. For example, St. Paul commands:
Wives, be subject to your husbands.
Colossians, 3:18.
St. Paul further teaches:
Let the woman learn in silence, with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to use authority over the man: but to be in silence.
1 Timothy, 2:11-12.
A person could wrongly think that somehow a husband’s authority over his family – which is infallibly certain – is not founded upon the Natural Law but only upon Church Law. However, the truth is that his authority is founded upon both.
Entire books can be written showing the certitude of a man’s authority over his wife and children based on the Natural Law (i.e., the natural order of things) as well as upon Church Law. However, for the present article, we include only a very few proofs showing that a man’s authority over his wife comes from nature and creation itself.
Firstly, notice that God declares that he makes Adam’s wife, Eve, to be a helpmate for him. This is a fact of nature itself and does not depend on future laws made by the Church. Here are God’s words:
And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself. And the Lord God having formed out of the ground all the beasts of the earth, and all the fowls of the air, brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: for whatsoever Adam called any living creature the same is its name. And Adam called all the beasts by their names, and all the fowls of the air, and all the cattle of the field: but for Adam there was not found a helper like himself.
Genesis, 2:18-20 (emphasis added).
It is obvious that in any context, the helper is the assistant, not the main authority in the situation. That is why, until the recent feminist revolution, a wife was traditionally[15] and commonly called her husband’s “helpmate”, because she was his inseparable helper. By contrast, the husband is not called a “helpmate” to his wife, not because he does not help her (he certainly does!) but because he is the leader of the family.
St. Paul also shows that the authority of man over woman is from nature, by appealing to the roots of this authority in creation itself. Here are St. Paul’s words, appealing to the creation itself of man and woman:
For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. For the man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man.
1 Corinthians, 11:8-9 (emphasis added).
Another way we can see from infallible Scripture that Adam had authority over his wife is that he named her – he both named her “woman”[16] when God brought her to him[17] and also gave her the proper name, “Eve”.[18] Just as parents name their children (and humans name their pets) so Adam named his wife showing he has authority over her (although, of course, this authority is not the same as a human naming a pet).
Further, Eve listened to the Devil and was deceived.[19] The sin of Adam, the Man, was far worse because he was not deceived by the Devil but chose to follow Eve, the Woman, into sin rather than to follow God. Thus, God shows that Adam’s sin was to follow the leadership of his wife, rather than to lead her. Here are God’s words:
And to Adam He said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.
Genesis, 3:17 (emphasis added).
From the above, it is clear that the revolution being waged by Satan’s tools, (including, but not limited to, the feminists), is an attack on the natural and supernatural order God created and which He intends. In our fight against these evils, we must especially fight to defend what Satan’s tools are especially attacking. We must do all that we can to uphold a father’s authority for the honor of God and for the good of society.
To be Continued
[1] Cf., Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act II, scene 2.
[2]
https://catholiccandle.org/2022/08/26/the-feminist-program-is-the-same-as-that-of-satan-and-marx-part-vii/
[3] Quoted from the eye witness account of her sister, Mallory Millett, recounted here: https://mallorymillett.com/?p=37
[5] Quoted from the Congressional Record – Appendix, pp. A34-A35, Current Communist Goals, Extension of Remarks of Hon. A. S. Herlong, Jr. of Florida in the House of Representatives, Thursday, January 10, 1963.
[6] Quoted from the Congressional Record – Appendix, pp. A34-A35, Current Communist Goals, Extension of Remarks of Hon. A. S. Herlong, Jr. of Florida in the House of Representatives, Thursday, January 10, 1963.
[7] Quoted from the Congressional Record – Appendix, pp. A34-A35, Current Communist Goals, Extension of Remarks of Hon. A. S. Herlong, Jr. of Florida in the House of Representatives, Thursday, January 10, 1963 (emphasis added).
[8] Quoted from the Congressional Record – Appendix, pp. A34-A35, Current Communist Goals, Extension of Remarks of Hon. A. S. Herlong, Jr. of Florida in the House of Representatives, Thursday, January 10, 1963.
[9] See, e.g., https://catholiccandle.org/2021/03/03/black-lives-matters-program-is-the-same-as-that-of-satan-and-marx/
[10] https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/ (emphasis added).
[11] Quoted from the eye witness account of her sister, Mallory Millett, recounted here: https://mallorymillett.com/?p=37
[12] Quoted from https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/ accessed on June 4, 2020.
Beginning in about June 2020, conservatives noticed the BLM credo and its overt Marxism. They began quoting it to warn the public about the encroaching Marxism throughout western nations. Sometime, in approximately September 2020, BLM removed this credo and substituted a more generic one in its place. Here is an archive copy of BLM’s Marxist credo we quote, here: https://web.archive.org/web/20200917194804/https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/
[13] Le socialisme intégral, Benoît Malon, (emphasis added), a translation of this from the original French, is found here: https://www.traditioninaction.org/Cultural/B009cpMen.htm
[15] See, e.g., the section called “A Wife, A Helpmate”, which is part of “Our Deportment,” a secular code of manners for refined society by John H. Young A.M., published in 1881, and found here: https://www.theepochtimes.com/gender-roles-of-husband-and-wife-in-the-home-based-on-1880s-gentlemans-etiquette-manual_4573890.html
[16] Genesis, 2:23: “And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.”
[17] Genesis, 2:22: “And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam.”
[18] Genesis, 3:20: “And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living.”
Everyone Must Die, So Let’s Review
There are three possible destinations to which you can go, immediately after your life on earth: Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. These three possibilities can motivate where you go:
1. Fear of eternal punishment in the fires of Hell, as Our Lady warned at Fatima;
2. Fear of extended punishment in the fires of Purgatory; and
3. A yearning for eternal happiness with the Beatific Vision.
Keep the above incentives in mind every day of your life to ensure a glorious and happy salvation.
Let’s review:
He who dies in mortal sin, even if only with a single mortal sin, will be sent at once to hell.
For the hope of the wicked is as dust, which is blown away with the wind, and as a thin froth which is dispersed by the storm: and a smoke that is scattered abroad by the wind: and as the remembrance of a guest of one day that passeth by ….
Book of Wisdom, 5:15.
By mortal sin a man cuts himself off from God. It is really he himself that sends himself to hell. God’s desire would be to bring him to heaven if he would have maintained his baptismal innocents and not polluted his soul with sin.[1]
What is purgatory? Purgatory is a place of temporary punishment for those who have died in the state of grace, but have not fully satisfied God’s justice for all punishment due their sins.
Purgatory is a middle state where souls destined for heaven are detained and purified. Souls in purgatory cannot help themselves, for their time for meriting is past. But they can be helped by the faithful on earth, by prayers, and other good works.[2] …
The greatness and the duration of a soul’s sufferings in Purgatory vary according to the gravity of the sins committed. One who has lived a long life of sin, but is saved from hell only by a deathbed repentance, will stay in the purging fires of Purgatory longer, and suffer there more intensely than a child, who has committed only the venial sins of an ordinary child.[3]
Now it is time to discuss your final arrangements in preparation for death. Surely you see that you must live your life making ready for your all-important Particular Judgment.
Jesus Christ is the Judge at the Particular Judgment. Before Him each soul must stand. The soul will stand in the awful presence of God the Son, to give an account of its whole life: of every thought, word, act, and omission.
Our Lord warns us:
Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment.
St. Matthew’s Gospel, 12:36.
Neither does the Father judge any man, but all judgment He has given to the Son.
St. John’s Gospel, 5:22.
A man’s whole life will be spread before him like a great picture. He will remember everything, although he might have forgotten much at the moment of death. How he will wish then that he had done only good.[4]
Another important matter to consider at this time is an old subject that has regretfully gained new acceptance in today’s pagan world: cremation. Because cremation indicates that a person doesn’t believe an article of faith (i.e., the resurrection of the body), it is incumbent on you to specify in no uncertain terms that you do not want to be cremated for any reason (although the government may call for cremation during an epidemic, for example.)
Our Lord often foretold the resurrection of the body, and emphasized its importance:
For the hour is coming is which all who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they who have done good shall come forth unto resurrection of life; but they who have done evil unto resurrection of judgment
St. John’s Gospel, 5:28-29.
Of course, it is most important to arrange for traditional prayers, as well as a Requiem High Mass, if possible, and for a grave in a Catholic cemetery.[5]
Everyone’s goal is eternal happiness with the Beatific Vision, so let’s discuss what this means and how it can inspire us to strive to achieve It. This will help us to avoid mortal – and even venial – sin.
The only means, then, of arriving at a knowledge of the Divine Essence [viz., in the Beatific Vision] is that God unite Himself in some sort to us, and after an incomprehensible manner elevate our minds to a higher degree of perfection, and thus render us capable of contemplating the beauty of His Nature. This the light of His glory will accomplish. Illumined by its splendor we shall see God, the true light, in His own light.
For the blessed always see God present and by this greatest most exalted of gifts, being made partakers of the divine nature, they enjoy true and solid happiness.[6]
Yes, everyone must die, but if you love God and avoid evil, He has prepared for you eternal happiness with the Beatific Vision. It is not that hard to live in such a way that you always keep in mind the possibilities and incentives to reach your final glorious salvation.
[1] My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha Wisconsin, ©1949, Ch. 77, p.155.
[2] My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha Wisconsin, ©1949, Ch. 77, p.156.
[3] My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha Wisconsin, ©1949, Ch. 77, p.158.
[4] My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha Wisconsin, ©1949, Ch. 77, p.154-155.
[5] We realize that Catholic graveyards are, in general, owned and operated by Catholic dioceses, and that these same dioceses are now controlled by the modernist hierarchy pushing all the evils and nonsense of the past 60 years since Vatican II. Yet, one can be buried in diocesan cemeteries which are older, and which were blessed by certainly-valid bishops before Vatican II. Thus, if the bishop was valid, the blessing was valid, and thus the cemetery ground is sacred – even though the dioceses themselves are rotten during the current great apostasy around us.
October 2022 PDF Issue
Words to Live by – from Catholic Tradition
During this month of the Holy Rosary, it is very consoling to remember the following:
Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
The Seventh Promise of the 15 Promises to those who pray the Rosary, From Saint Dominic and Blessed Alan De La Roche
Even though it seems that there are no uncompromising priests available to us in most places, we must remember that if we are faithful to the recitation of the Holy Rosary and don’t compromise in any way, Our Lady will take good care of us in this life and at our death.
Want to Make Only Your Best Decisions – And No Mistakes?
For a happy life – with no stress – make your many daily decisions by asking God what He wants you to do.
Whatever be the affair, enter with Moses into the tabernacle to ask advice of the Lord, (and) return instructed in many things present and to come.[1]
Further, we should gladly place ourselves entirely in God’s Hands:
Lord, I willingly commit all things to You, for my anxiety can profit me little. But I would that I were not so concerned about the future, and instead offered myself without hesitation to Your good pleasure.[2]
God knows what is best for you. How do you know what God wants? Well, you know He loves you very much. He suffered and died for you. Each time you ask Him what to do, remember that He knows all things and wants you to do His Will.
Of course, you must study the traditional Faith to better understand that God created you to be happy on earth and to be perfectly happy with Him in heaven. He knows the best way for you to attain this happiness.
He will tell you if only you will listen. That’s the crux of the problem: most people don’t listen because they want to follow their own will, not God’s. They know deep down that God is right yet they refuse to listen when His Will conflicts with their own. They will be sorry and unhappy for their prideful mistake. It seems they never learn.
So, start out with a deep love for God and with a firm determination that you will follow His all-knowing answer to your question (viz., what you should do). With this frame of mind, and following your strong resolution not to commit even the smallest sin, all your actions will be the right ones – for the greater honor and glory of God.
Listen here to the voice of Christ:
My Child, I am the Lord Who gives strength in the day of trouble. Come to Me when all is not well with you. Your tardiness in turning to prayer is the greatest obstacle to heavenly consolation, for before you pray earnestly to Me you first seek many comforts and take pleasure in outward things. Thus, all things are of little profit to you until you realize that I am the one Who saves those who trust in Me, and that outside of Me there is no worthwhile help, or any useful counsel or lasting remedy.[3]
Amen, amen, I say to you that if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you.[4]
Do not concern yourself about the best way to approach a loving God. Remember, talk to Him like a friend you trust, and ask “What should I do?” in this or that situation. As noted above, listen closely and follow through on what He tells you even if it is hard to do, since you know deep down that He is right.
The Holy Rosary is Increasingly Powerful and Attacked
Catholic Candle note: During this month of the Holy Rosary, it is an especially opportune time to not only appreciate the Holy Rosary more and to be more devoted to it, but also to understand better that the forces of evil are strengthening their attacks on it.
In our times of Great Apostasy, when there is no access to an uncompromising priest to provide the uncompromising sacraments (at least in most places), God wants us to be greatly devoted to those means of salvation He currently places in our hands, especially the Rosary.
We are in the time of the greater efficacy of the Holy Rosary, as Our Lady told us, through Sr. Lucy of Fatima:
God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. … Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world. As for the Holy Rosary, Father [Fuentes], in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary. This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is – be it temporal or above all spiritual ….[1]
Therefore, we should now have a greater appreciation of the power of the Rosary, and the devil knows of its greater power too. In his fight against us, the devil and his minions attack the Rosary more fiercely because they have an increased fear of its power and its role protecting and sanctifying the Church Militant during these times.
Also, it seems to us that the devil might know that his time is short before the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart by the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Thus, Satan and his minions are boldly intensifying their attacks on the Rosary. Hell’s forces are attempting to stigmatize this heaven-sent means of sanctification as a weapon of violence of “right-wing extremists”. Since no one likes being called an “extremist” or a “crackpot”, this stigma makes people embarrassed to pray the Rosary and reluctant to connect themselves with it.
For example, in August, 2022, the Atlantic magazine attacked the Rosary as part of what the magazine calls the “extremist gun culture”.[2] The Atlantic also declares that the Rosary has “been woven into a conspiratorial politics” and “radical-traditionalist … campaigns against” the acceptance of unnatural impurity in the Church. (The Atlantic’s name-calling refers to Catholics who faithfully uphold Catholic dogma on matters of purity.) The article warns about what it calls “rad-trad” Catholics who “idealize the traditional patriarchal family” (in other words, these Catholics oppose feminism).[3]
The magazine says that this is part of the “far-right” milieus including “real world terrorist attacks”.[4] The magazine asserts that:
The “battle beads” culture of spiritual warfare permits radical-traditional Catholics literally to demonize their political opponents and regard the use of armed force against them as sanctified. The sacramental rosary isn’t just a spiritual weapon but one that comes with physical ammunition.[5]
The Atlantic acknowledges that some mainstream [viz., conciliar] Catholics pray the Rosary too, but distinguishes those mainstream Catholics from “the modern radical-traditionalist Catholic movement” because that movement “generally rejects the Second Vatican Council’s reforms” and “is far outside the majority opinion in the Roman Catholic Church in America”. To show how (supposedly) extreme the “radical-traditionalist Catholic movement” is, the magazine points out that “many prominent American Catholic bishops advocate for gun control”.[6]
The take-away message from the article is that society should be wary of those “radical-traditionalist Catholics” who pray the Rosary and hold “extreme” positions on social issues. The magazine suggests that these “extremist” conservative Catholics are only a short distance away from committing “real world terrorist attacks”.[7]
The leftists’ persecution of Christ’s True Church continues to increase. They are anti-God and are showing their “true colors” more clearly!
Let us re-double our love of the Rosary and spread devotion to it, far and wide! As our Lady of Fatima assures us, “there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is – be it temporal or above all spiritual ….”[8]
[1] Words of Sister Lucy, seer at Fatima, from her December 26, 1957, interview by Fr. Augustin Fuentes, vice-postulator of the cause of beatification for Francisco and Jacinta. (Emphasis and bracketed word added.) This interview can be found at: http://radtradthomist.chojnowski.me/2019/03/is-this-interview-that-caused-her.html
[2] https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/radical-traditionalist-catholic-christian-rosary-weapon/671122/
[3] https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/radical-traditionalist-catholic-christian-rosary-weapon/671122/
[4] https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/radical-traditionalist-catholic-christian-rosary-weapon/671122/
[5] https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/radical-traditionalist-catholic-christian-rosary-weapon/671122/
[6] All of the quotes in this paragraph are from: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/radical-traditionalist-catholic-christian-rosary-weapon/671122/
[7] https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/radical-traditionalist-catholic-christian-rosary-weapon/671122/
[8] Words of Sister Lucy, seer at Fatima, from her December 26, 1957, interview by Fr. Augustin Fuentes, vice-postulator of the cause of beatification for Francisco and Jacinta. (Emphasis and bracketed word added.) This interview can be found at: http://radtradthomist.chojnowski.me/2019/03/is-this-interview-that-caused-her.html
A capital “T” was added in lieu of the small “t” in this part-sentence taken from the larger quote given above.
Lesson #15 The Second Exercise On Hell
Mary’s School of Sanctity
Lesson #15: The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius – The Second Exercise on Hell—On the Pain of Loss of God; the Worm of Conscience; and the Eternity of Hell
Meditation on the pain of the loss of God and the other moral punishments of hell is so efficacious that we wanted to add it to our series of the Spiritual Exercises. Even though the following considerations are not given by St. Ignatius, the holy writers of the Church have focused so much on them because they aid souls in increasing the soul’s desire for God and in acquiring a filial love of God. Since the highest perfection requires the filial love of God, we Catholics should aspire to obtain filial love. In fact, the part of this meditation about the loss of God should intensely move us to desire to love God ever increasingly. This meditation can and should be done often to strengthen our love of God and to help us remain faithful children to Our Heavenly Father. One crucial additional advantage to this meditation is that it helps a person have perfect contrition.
We will set this out as in the previous exercises.
The preparatory prayer is the same as usual: I ask God Our Lord the grace that all my intentions, actions, and works may be directed purely to the service and praise of the Divine Majesty.
The FIRST PRELUDE is the mental representation of the place. Here it is to see hell as we saw it in Lesson #14.
The SECOND PRELUDE is to ask for the grace to acquire true filial love of God and a great horror of sin and its malice which so displeases God Whom we should love with all our hearts, minds, and souls. THUS, WE SHOULD BEG GOD THAT WE BURN WITH SUCH GREAT LOVE FOR HIM THAT WE HAVE A GREAT FEAR OF LOSING OUR WILLINGNESS TO LOVE HIM WHICH COMES AS A CONSEQUENCE OF US HAVING BLINDING PRIDE. Hence, we beg Him to give us self-knowledge in order to foster our knowledge of Him, and the proper humility necessary in order to have a divine friendship with Him. Furthermore, we will consider an additional way to conceive a true horror for sin by trying to understand the ugly malice which is found in the mind of the damned so as to conceive a true fear of imitating such a wretched soul. Hence, we beg God to help us shun all sinful pride.
The FIRST POINT is the pain of the loss of God. Here it will be to ponder deeply about what it means to lose our most beloved Spouse of the soul, Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom Himself. I will take the sobering words of Our Lord to allow myself to feel the intense anguish of losing Him Who I was created to love and be united with for all eternity in sublime bliss. In His parable about the foolish virgins who did not care to keep the oil of sanctifying grace in the lamps of their immortal souls while they waited for the Divine Bridegroom, Our Divine Lord said, “Amen, I say I know you not.” And again, Our Lord tells His Apostles what He will say to those who did not love Him or want to obey His Commandments, “Depart from Me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels” [St. Matthew 25; 41]. I will make many more considerations to penetrate this GREAT LOSS.
The SECOND POINT is to consider the worm of conscience and its remorse.
The THIRD POINT is to consider ETERNITY. The pain of loss and remorse of conscience will never end.
The COLLOQUY: Enter into a colloquy with Our Lord speaking to Him about His mercy and thanking Him profoundly for His mercy. Also the exercitant should humbly beg God for His continued mercy on his soul. Included in this begging heart to heart talk with Our Lord is to beg for a humble and fervent love for Him in order to desire Him with all one’s heart and to want to be with Him for all eternity.
Considerations for the FIRST POINT – the Pain of the Loss of God
One can begin this meditation on the pain of the loss of God, by taking some moments to consider what loss means in general. When one loses something he owns and cares about, he grieves for its loss. Logically, the more important the object lost, the greater is his grief for having lost it. For example, if one loses his car keys, he is not pleased. Go further and consider if he loses the car itself, he would be even more distressed. Now take the example of him losing his house key and think about his reaction. Then go further and consider his house burning down from top to bottom, we would say that he suffered an enormous loss.
Still, we can go further and consider what it is like to lose a loved one, e.g., a loving spouse, or a child. How horribly grieved one is for such a loss! Now we must consider the ultimate and most crucial loss possible for man: THE LOSS OF THE ALL-GOOD GOD FOR ALL ETERNITY!!!
For this to have a profound impact upon us, we must ponder deeply Who God is. In our Lessons #10 and #11 on the Principal and Foundation, we spoke of God and His magnificent attributes. We meditated on the fact that we were created to praise, revere, and serve God, and this really means to love Him with our whole heart and mind. “Our hearts were made for Thee, O Lord, and are restless until they rest in Thee,” is the famous quote from St. Augustine. Oh, how St. Augustine captured this tremendous truth!
Think about it: to be cursed by God; to be separated from our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier!
If we were thus cursed, then this deserved curse means that we did not appreciate being created, redeemed at such an enormous price, and also that we shunned the Holy Ghost, the Divine Love, by our refusal to cooperate in His most loving assistance, to sanctify us and make us happy in this life and in eternity.
The pain of the loss of God really involves a soul realizing the lesson of what we meditated on in the Principle and Foundation. The lesson, that is, that we are creatures of God, made in His Image and likeness in order to praise, revere, and serve Him during our lifetime, and thus save our souls and be happy with Him for all eternity. The happiness that God planned for us to have is the only perfect happiness there is, seeing God in the Beatific Vision for all eternity. This means seeing God in the state of glory, which St. Thomas Aquinas explains is the only way man can see God.[1] The damned soul knows there is no possible happiness available for him.
Yet, the reprobate, whilst he was on earth did not concern himself enough or at all, with this moral obligation. He tried to be happy in his own way and not in the way that God designed. He was made for happiness and still wants the happiness that he was created to enjoy; yet because at his death his will was fixed against God, it remains fixed against God for all eternity. Nevertheless, he still wants happiness in eternity in his own way, which doesn’t include God. This constant contradiction of the truth about his happiness and his own proud designs for happiness on his own terms constitutes this horrific pain of loss. In other words, he will never get his way. In life this soul didn’t want to obey God’s way of things, namely, do God’s Will and therefore in hell, he does not want to do God’s will.
Let’s further penetrate the mindset of the damned. Because the reprobate rejected God and served himself by giving into selfish sensuality, this base selfishness naturally brought forth an excessive opinion of himself, which we usually call self-conceit. The natural result of his self-conceit is pride, which is none other than he wishing to appear above what he really is. His reason tells him what manner of man he is and that he owes all praise to God. However, because he is not consulting his reason when seeing himself, he becomes completely blind. God, in His Infinite Wisdom, allows the reprobate to remain in his blinding-pride. The reprobate lived his life on earth as the enemy of God, despising God’s precepts.
In addition to this wretched way that they lived, at their deaths these souls cared more about the punishments they deserved and their plight than they cared about the injustice their sins against God have caused. They show further false judgment and injustice to God by not thinking about His mercy. They falsely judge that their own wretchedness is greater than God’s Mercy, thus heaping a far greater insult on God. This is a sin against the Holy Ghost and is known as dying unrepentant. This sin can never be forgiven. Because they refused to acknowledge what they owed to God, He allows them to die in their self-centered self-pity and despair.
Of course, we can also well imagine the case of a completely blinded soul caught up in the pride of presumption at his death. This person shows his insulting and audacious pride by not recognizing the injustices that he committed against God, and presuming that God will take him to heaven.
Therefore, the souls in hell are punished not only for their malicious disregard for God’s commandments but also for their selfish disregard for His justice.
The unrepentant sinner sees at his particular Judgment that God is Just and He rightly condemns the sinner to eternal separation from the Infinite Good, namely, God.
So now in hell, being fixed in his blind pride, he knows that he deserves to be separated from God FOREVER! We must remember that the lost soul’s heart is fixed in evil in hell as it was found at death, and indeed, as it was in his life on the earth. As the saying goes, as we live, so we shall die. If we try to make ourselves our own god and disregard God and His Commandments, we show that we hate God. There are no repentant sinners in hell. These souls think to themselves in hell, as they did in their lifetime, and at the crucial moment of their death, that, “since I cannot have happiness on my terms, I don’t want the Author of happiness at all.” And yet they know they are miserable because they were made for God’s Way of happiness, and not their own.
They have lived according to Satan’s motto, “Non serviam,” and now they are not surprised to find that they are living that motto for all eternity. They plainly hate God and blaspheme Him and His justice. THEY HAVE BROUGHT UPON THEMSELVES THIS ETERNAL DENIAL OF TRUE HAPPINESS!!!
Our Lord calls their punishment eternal death. St. Thomas Aquinas says that before the general resurrection, the damned with suffer as if they had their bodies. And so before and after the general resurrection, their eternal death is always occurring. They will feel the awful intense pain as if they were at the moment of their souls actually separating from their bodies, namely, death. We must imagine in this meditation the concept of being forever on the point in which our souls are being separated from our bodies. This is a fitting punishment for the damned because it shows all the better the absolute malice of one trying to make himself his own god and not wanting to be humble and comply with God’s Plan.
The soul that damns itself truly has rejected God. Nevertheless, we must not think that the inability to have the happiness their human nature desires, does not give these souls the greatest pain—for truly it does!
Fr. Cochem, in his book, The Last Four Things, quotes St. Bonaventure as saying, “The most terrible penalty of the damned is being shut out forever from the blissful and joyous contemplation of the Blessed Trinity.”[2]
Likewise, Fr. Cochem follows this with the authority of St. John Chrysostom saying, “I know many persons fear hell because of its pains, but I assert that the loss of the celestial glory is a source of more bitter pain than all the torments of hell.”[3]
Fr. Cochem also informs us that:
For the vision of God is so beauteous, so blissful, so full of rapture and infinite delight, that all the joys and attractions of earth cannot compare with it in the remotest degree. In fact, all celestial happiness, how great soever it might be, would be turned to bitterness if the vision of God was wanting; and the redeemed would choose rather to be in hell, if they could there enjoy that beatific vision, than be in heaven without it. Just as the privilege of beholding the divine countenance constitutes the chief felicity of the blessed, the one without which all others would be no happiness at all, so it is the chief misery of hell, that the lost souls should forever be excluded from it. On this subject St. John Chrysostom says: “The torments of a thousand hells are nothing in comparison to the anguish of being banished from everlasting bliss and the vision of God.”[4]
Let us think about what St. Paul writes, “That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.”[1st Corinth 2:9]
Also, St. Paul writes, “We see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face.” 1st Corinth 13:12.
Here St. Paul is alluding to the wonderful Beatific Vision that awaits the Elect. Certainly the mystical saints saw visions of God and were completely in love with Him. They were so much in love that they longed extremely earnestly for heaven. We were all made for this union with God, which is the Beatific Vision.[5]
Since spiritual pains are much worse than physical ones, the damned suffer the most exquisite pain in always knowing they cannot have happiness in any way whatsoever. Now let us pass on to our second point, which we must keep in mind is ongoing in conjunction with the pain of loss.
Considerations for the SECOND POINT – the worm of conscience – “this worm that dieth not”
Fr. Cochem, in The Last Four Things, says:
All the senses of the reprobate have each their peculiar punishment: their reason, or intellect, is punished by the pain of loss – a punishment surpassing all the senses. The memory of the reprobate is tormented by “the worm that dieth not,” that is, by a most keen and constant remorse of conscience, which will give them no rest.
The lost sinner will remember how many graces and means of salvation he had during life to save his soul; how God sent him so many good instructions, how he had the grace of prayer within his power to enable him to practice the virtues of his state, to overcome temptation, to keep the commandments of God and the Church; how his pious friends exhorted him to lead a good life by their exhortations, but especially by their good example; he had so many opportunities of instructing himself in his obligations by the hearing of the word of God and the reading of good books, and of strengthening himself in the discharge of his duties by the reception of the sacraments and by the practice of devotion to the blessed Virgin![6]
The damned feel an overwhelming shame. The reprobate will see how easy it was to have saved his soul. He will see that he could have taken the means and lived completely for God. He could have made the necessary efforts to amend his life.
Yet he was too lazy and/or slothful. He was seeking comfort and ease instead. He certainly did not think about what happens to souls immediately after death, the particular Judgment. He did not meditate on the four last things. He could have kept his mind focused on his duty and pleasing God. He will see all the lost opportunities for virtue and his growth in virtue. He will constantly reproach himself and hear the reproaches of Christ and all that Christ suffered in order to help him save his soul. But now it is too late!! He can never change what he did in his life. He will feel intense despair and will wail, lamenting and gnashing his teeth. His hatred of God will ever be manifest to him and his fellow-inmates in that abode of doom.[7]
Here again we quote Fr. Cochem in The Last Four Things:
St. Thomas [Aquinas] tells us that the sins of each one will be a fully known to the others as if they could behold them with their bodily eyes. Every one can imagine what anguish this must be. For what is so painful on earth as to be put to open shame? [8]
Jeremiah 23:40, “I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame which shall never be forgotten.” [9]
Thus, as St. Ephrem says, this shame and infamy will be more insupportable than hell-fire itself, because it will keep constantly before their remembrance the sins whereby they defiled themselves on earth.[10]
Their shame is most bitter and is intensified by the fact that every soul in hell knows all of the sins of his fellow inmates. All reputations will be public. The Catholics will especially be mocked in hell because they were given the supreme benefits of the Church and they still failed to save their souls. This suffering of intense shame will be worse because of the fact that IT WILL NEVER END!!!
This brings us to the third point—the consideration of eternity.
The THIRD POINT is to consider ETERNITY.
Not only is this suffering without end, without mitigation, without interruption, but it is also without consolation.
Fr. Cochem explains why hell must be eternal:
Rather than humble himself before God, and implore His pardon, he [the reprobate] would endure yet greater tortures in hell. Therefore, because the sinner will not repent of his sins, nor ask pardon for his sins, he remains eternally in a state of sin, and because his sin is never expiated or repented of, the punishment is likewise eternal.[11]
The torments of the damned will never end, never pass away. When a thousand years have gone by, another thousand will commence and so on for evermore.[12]
One can meditate on this concept of eternity and think of how if I damn by soul I will NEVER get out of this place, I will be here FOREVER!
The damned see clearly that they will never be released from the prison that they deserve and they shriek with despair and blasphemies against their Creator and Judge for punishing them so. THEIR DESPAIR AND HATRED ARE AT THEIR HEIGHT AND WILL NEVER DIMINISH AS LONG AS GOD IS GOD – THUS, FOREVER!!!!
COLLOQUY: After considering these points, let us speak with heart-felt prayer to Our dear Lord about all He has done for us. Let us beg Him to give us a genuine sorrow for sins and fear of displeasing Him ever again in our lives. Let us desire with the mystics to be with Him in the highest contemplation. Let us beg Him to enkindle our hearts with love and gratitude for sparing our souls up to the present time and not allowing us to fall into hell. Let us tell Him of our desire to be so strongly attached to Him that we shudder at the mere thought that anyone could actually hate Him. Let us end our colloquy with begging Him to never let us fall into carelessness in our service of Him, knowing that such carelessness is the road to ruin.
It is also a good idea to speak to Our Lady and St. Joseph, begging their intercession in order to increase our love for God and our hatred of sin.
In our next lesson, we will consider DEATH both in the state of grace and in the state of mortal sin. This meditation is done with the same motivation of intensifying our love for God and our hatred for sin.
[1] St. Thomas explains that without the light of Glory, man cannot see God in His essence because God’s essence is too much for our finite minds. We cannot comprehend God completely as He understands Himself, but we can truly understand Him intellectually.
[2] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 155 (first letter of this quote was made a capital “T”).
[3] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 155-156.
[4] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page157-158.
[5] Here is how St. Thomas Aquinas, greatest Doctor of the Catholic Church, explains this truth:
It is impossible for any created good to constitute man’s happiness. For happiness is the perfect good, which lulls the appetite altogether; else it would not be the last end, if something yet remained to be desired. Now the object of the will, i.e. of man’s appetite, is the universal good; just as the object of the intellect is the universal true. Hence it is evident that naught can lull man’s will, save the universal good. This is to be found, not in any creature, but in God alone; because every creature has goodness by participation. Wherefore God alone can satisfy the will of man, according to the words of Psalm 102:5: “Who satisfieth thy desire with good things.” Therefore, God alone constitutes man’s happiness.
Summa, Ia IIae, Q.2, a.8, respondeo.
[6] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 163.
[7] St. Thomas Aquinas says that the souls of the damned hate God as their punisher but not in His essence because then they could not hate Him if they viewed Him as all-good and all-loveable.
[8] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 150.
[9] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 150.
[10] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 150-151.
[11] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 172-173.
[12] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 170.
Recalling a 1970s Climate-Change Hoax
Catholic Candle note: The article below looks back upon the global cooling and new ice age scares of the 1970s.
The purpose of this 1970s climate-change hoax and also the one which is now on-going, is a global power-grab. These climate-change hoaxes aim at destroying what remains of freedom and destroying national sovereignty in the world, to pave the way for a New World Order — i.e., global governance. Ultimately, this power-grab is anti-Catholic and anti-God.
For more analysis of these “green” frauds to achieve this global power-grab, read this article: https://catholiccandle.org/2019/12/22/the-baseless-climate-change/
Several members of the Catholic Candle Team lived through the global cooling scare of the 1970s. That manufactured “crisis” gives a person additional perspective on the present supposed “climate crisis” – a perspective which the younger generation does not have on its own, at least as fully.
During the 1970s, year after year, the liberals and mainstream media screamed out the alarm of impending environmental disaster because of global cooling. This crisis was (supposedly) certain to come very soon and was (supposedly) backed by “irrefutable” data. They constantly declared that global cooling was a “fact”. The policymakers were told that they must act immediately, before it was too late.
People were told that the new ice age was an existential crisis and that the fate of mankind would be determined during the next small number of years. People were told that mankind’s survival depended upon everyone working together to fight the global cooling emergency as their highest priority.
The mainstream media, the politicians, and liberal academics solemnly assured the public that, in the new colder climate which is (supposedly) quickly coming, the crops would fail or the crop yields would plunge and that there would be widespread famine.
The global cooling alarmism was every bit as much of a broad societal scare as is the current global warming/climate change boogeyman. One member of the Catholic Candle Team distinctly remembers that, when he was in elementary school, he read an article at school about the new ice age which (supposedly) was coming. The article included a drawing aimed at scaring children, depicting a family wearing their winter coats and hats in their living room, with icicles hanging from their noses, their exhalations of breath visible in the room because it was so cold.
Another such recollection about this global cooling scare is that academics, scientists, politicians, and media figures solemnly declared that people can expect that the new ice age “might” include year-round glaciers which descend from the north deep into the U.S. Midwestern States. They published scientific-looking maps of the U.S. which showed how far south the “data showed” people could expect the glaciers to travel.
Of course, no year’s weather is identical to any other year’s weather, nor is any century’s weather identical to any other century’s weather. Natural fluctuations have always occurred and always will occur. There are long-term cycles and short-term cycles. That is how God created the world.
So global cooling alarmism, like other frauds, is a half-truth – which, of course, means it is a lie. The “half-truth” was that, during the 1970s, the climate was going through the cooling phase of one of those natural cycles.
Here is a U.S. government graph showing the cooling phase that the climate was in then:
Get this U.S. government graph on the government’s website: https://science2017.globalchange.gov/chapter/6/
Here is another government weather graph showing the same basic point and the same natural temperature cycles which were at a low point in the 1970s, before the subsequent warming part of the cycle:
This graph is found on the U.S. government’s website here: https://science2017.globalchange.gov/chapter/6/
But in the 1970s, this cooling phase of the weather cycle was used dishonestly to perpetuate a hoax that we were entering a new ice age. From the government, the media, and academia, people heard an incessant drum beat of an alarming global cooling – just like we hear now about global warming/climate–change.
Here is an example of the global cooling alarmism published in 1971 by the Washington Post.[1] This article – and the entire climate-scare campaign occurring then – promote the opinions of “experts” and “scientists” who are government climate researchers and academics at a prestigious university, who warn about the (supposed) new ice age:
Notice the dire warning about the flooding of the world’s coastal cities (just like the alarmists predict now) and also notice the warning that “huge areas” of the earth will be covered by new glaciers. The solution the 1970s leftists promoted to respond to this “crisis” is to stop the global cooling by greatly reducing all burning of fossil fuels and also increase the government’s control over people’s lives – so that the government can force us (for our own supposed good) to live in a way contrary to the way we would choose to live.
Here is another example of the global cooling scaremongering in 1970, this time in Boston’s daily newspaper called the Boston Globe[2]:
Notice that the media (in this case, the Boston Globe), cites an “expert” and “scientist” who was a government researcher, who warns that pollution is causing this crisis, resulting in a new ice age. The “solutions” they always advocated then are the same ones that they also advocate in the present climate fraud, viz., population reduction and to have the government increasingly control people’s lives. This control forces them to live in a way that will not (supposedly) destroy the world through a climate emergency and for the government to force people to adopt (unwillingly) a “less wasteful standard of living” (as this article phrases it). Although we are currently further along on the path to a globalist totalitarian government, we were on that same path then.
Notice this “expert’s” absurd prediction that all rivers and streams in the U.S. will dry up.
Below is a “new ice age coming fast” scare from 1974, published by the well-known London daily newspaper, the Guardian[3]:
Here is another 1974 article – this one from Time magazine,[4] promoting the scare of “another ice age” and a “global climatic upheaval” with increasing thickness of arctic ice packs and other (supposedly) frightening signs.
Here is the New York Times[5] promoting a book by a government climate researcher who is explaining the “consensus of the climatological community” that the world will soon experience a global cooling crisis. This “consensus” is the same type of fraud as the current “scientific consensus” saying that we are now heading toward the opposite catastrophe (global warming) which will (supposedly) occur in the near future.
Below is another global cooling scare article from the New York Times, based on the data analyzed by an international group of scientists:[6]
Just like today regarding the global warming/climate-change scam, there were countless news articles and “scholarly” studies which declared that the “science is settled”, the “data proves”, and the “experts have reached a consensus” that global cooling is a fact and a new ice age is coming unless we make fighting it our top priority.
It is easy to ridicule all of these false and absurd predictions from the 1970s – such as that all rivers and streams in the U.S. will dry up and that we will have year-round glaciers in the U.S. Midwest (and in other “huge areas” of the world).
But for anyone who now thinks that he would have scoffed at that glacier nonsense then, here is a good test: does he scoff at the current global warming/climate–change hoax now? If a person does not discern that the present climate scare is simple nonsense even though “everyone else” believes in it, there is little chance such a person would have discerned this past global cooling scare was a hoax when “everyone else” believed it back then.
We must be thinkers, not gullible sheep following the globalist climate change alarmists!
[1] We gratefully acknowledge the investigative journalism of Tony Heller, who found this newspaper clipping and posted it at https://realclimatescience.com. Mr. Heller is the person who added the highlighting. This newspaper article can also be found at: https://web.archive.org/web/20160805020812/http:/pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/doc/148085303.html
[2] We gratefully acknowledge the investigative journalism of Tony Heller, who found this newspaper clipping and posted it at https://realclimatescience.com. Mr. Heller is the person who added the highlighting. This newspaper article can also be found at: https://www.newspapers.com/image/435402308/
[3] We gratefully acknowledge the investigative journalism of Tony Heller, who found this newspaper clipping and posted it at https://realclimatescience.com. Mr. Heller is the person who added the highlighting. This newspaper article can also be found at: https://www.newspapers.com/image/259696938/
[4] We gratefully acknowledge the investigative journalism of Tony Heller, who found this newspaper clipping and posted it at https://realclimatescience.com. Mr. Heller is the person who added the highlighting. This newspaper article can also be found at: magazinehttps://web.archive.org/web/20060812025725/http:/time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/printout/0,23657,944914,00.html
or http://time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/printout/0%2C23657%2C944914%2C00.html
[5] We gratefully acknowledge the investigative journalism of Tony Heller, who found this newspaper clipping and posted it at https://realclimatescience.com. Mr. Heller is the person who added the highlighting. This newspaper article can also be found at: https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/18/archives/the-genesis-strategy-a-chilling-prospect.html
[6] We gratefully acknowledge the investigative journalism of Tony Heller, who found this newspaper clipping and posted it at https://realclimatescience.com. Mr. Heller is the person who added the highlighting. This newspaper article can also be found at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1978/01/05/issue.html
September 2022 PDF Issue
Lesson #14 The Fifth Exercise—On Hell—the Pains of the Senses
Mary’s School of Sanctity
This meditation is on hell. Its main purpose is to strengthen our conviction that the greatest evil that exists is sin. In this Exercise, St. Ignatius is focusing on the pains in the senses. As usual, we will first set out exactly what St. Ignatius tells us, and then incorporate more considerations for the exercitant to use when actually doing the meditation.
The preparatory prayer is the same as usual, I ask God Our Lord for the grace that all my intentions, actions, and works may be directed purely to the service and praise of the Divine Majesty.
The FIRST PRELUDE: This is the mental representation of the place. Here it will be to see in imagination the length, breadth, and depth of hell.
The SECOND PRELUDE: I will ask for what I desire. Here it will be to ask for a deep awareness of the pain suffered by the damned, so that if I should forget the love of the Eternal Lord, at least the fear of punishment will help me to avoid falling into sin.
The FIRST POINT is to SEE in imagination the great fires, and the souls enveloped, as it were, in bodies of fire.
The SECOND POINT is to HEAR the wailing, the screaming, cries, and blasphemies against Christ Our Lord and all His saints.
The THIRD POINT is to SMELL the smoke, the brimstone, the corruption, and rottenness.
The FOURTH POINT is to TASTE bitter things, as tears, sadness, and remorse of conscience.
The FIFTH POINT is with the sense of TOUCH to FEEL how the flames surround and burn souls.
COLLOQUY: Enter into a colloquy with Christ Our Lord. Recall to mind the souls in hell; some are there because they did not believe in His coming, others, though they believed, did not act according to His Commandments.
I can divide these souls into three classes:
1. Those who went to hell before the coming of Christ.
2. Those who were damned during His lifetime.
3. Those condemned to hell after His life in the world.
I will now give Him thanks for not having permitted me to fall into any of these classes, thus putting an end to my life.
I will also thank Him for the great kindness and mercy He has always shown me until this present moment. Conclude with an “Our Father.”
St. Ignatius gives us a basic framework in which to meditate on hell. He has told us to ask for a fear of the physical pains of hell and that our fear should be so intense that if we should forget to fear displeasing God, at least the fear of His punishments would prevent us from committing offenses against the all-good God.
We must remember that God, Who is all-good, is also all-just. As we considered the most horrific malice of mortal sin in our last lesson [Lesson #13], we can see plainly that such malice must have a place of fitting punishment.
We, by our fallen human nature, do not like to suffer, nor do we like to think of suffering. Yet, by pondering the terrifying suffering of hell, the place of God’s just punishments, we can gain strength to resist the wicked inclinations of our fallen human nature. As it says in Ecclesiasticus, “In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.”[1] So, in meditating often on hell, we shall more certainly escape hell after death.
Father Hurter, S.J. tells us this truth in a striking way in his book Sketches for the Exercises of An Eight Days’ Retreat. He says,
This meditation shows us clearly and distinctly how God judges mortal sin, and we must form our judgment according to His. It should fill us with a holy fear. “Pierce thou”, says the Psalmist, “my flesh with thy fear, for I am afraid of thy judgment.” (Ps. 118:120) A time may come when love and fervor relax, temptations multiply, seductive occasions of sin become so enticing that only the fear of hell will keep us away from them.[2]
Let us now take an intense look at each of the senses and see their accompanying deserved pains of hell.
What do the damned see in hell?
Although there is everlasting fire, there is no light. The abyss is like an ocean of flames.
Picture to yourself a pillar of fire that reached up two miles in the sky, much like what happened in the firestorms in the bombing of Hamburg during World War II. Yet despite the fire of God’s Wrath, deep impenetrable darkness will prevail. As Our Lord warned, “bind his hands and his feet and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” [St. Matt. 22:13]
Fr. Martin von Cochem, in his book The Last Four Things, speaks of the impenetrable darkness and gloom of hell. Here are his words:
Now there is a land which is covered with the shadow of death, where no order, but an eternal horror reigns. That land is hell. An oppressive gloom weighs upon the lost; an indescribably terrible darkness prevails…
In this horrible darkness the damned lie helpless as blind men, or as those who have had their eyes cruelly put out. They see nothing, for the acrid sulphur destroys their sight.[3]
And St. John in the Apocalypse says, “To him (Satan) was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and the smoke of the pit arose as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke of the pit.” (Apoc. 9:2)
“They shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, and the smoke of their torments shall ascend up forever and ever; neither shall they have rest day and night.” (Apoc. 14:11)
However, the damned can sense the fierce demons who will be like monsters that torture the damned. To be in the dark in a place unknown is terrifying. What must it be like in hell where the reprobate is aware of thousands of demons and damned souls around him in this dark and noisome dungeon?
Let us now consider the source of all the gruesome noise.
What do the damned hear in hell?
Endless moaning, groaning, whining, weeping, screaming, howling, wailing of souls in agonies, cursing, blaspheming, laughter voices of the demons mocking the damned, the gnashing of teeth which will send a blood-curdling chill up the spines of the other damned etc. The list could go on and on. In short, every imaginable terrifying noise at the loudest pitches barely tolerable to human ears will be the constant torment of the damned for all eternity. There will be no breaks or peaceful silence.
Perhaps those who indulged in raunchy rock-n-roll so-called ‘music’ will be tormented in hell with the horrific thumping of heavy-metal bass drums like deafening thunder in their ears. Then their ears will ache with the piercing of the demonically-inspired noise which is “rock-music”, that they found no problem listening to while on earth. Thus, while they were alive, they tortured and scandalized other souls by forcing their trashy noise on the poor ears of others. Most of us have had the unfortunate experience of being in a store and hearing this demonic trash blaring over the store’s public announcement system. This demonic noise is so horrible that one’s soul actually hurts and one can get a headache. One cannot wait to get out of that place!!
There will be the noise of hissing and growling of the demons who will take the shape of the most hideous monsters. The damned will curse each other, especially the souls which were related by family ties, and associated with each other in life. They will mock one another. Catholics will especially be mocked because they were given the means to salvation and they threw their salvation away.
The damned hear resounding in their ears the severe words of the angry Judge: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” [St. Matthew 25:41]. These awful and dreadful words will echo and re-echo in their ears as the worm of conscience that dieth not. They will hear their consciences rebuking them with, “You could have changed. It was not so hard. You liked to boast and criticize others, look where your boasting has brought you! You thought you were so great and look at you now. How ugly you are, you horrible monster! You are worse than all the other trash in this place! Cursed is the day that you were conceived, and the day that you were born! What good was all the pampering of your body in your lifetime? Look where all that luxurious pampering has brought you—to this reward of pitch and darkness!! Where is your air-conditioner now? Where is the comfort of pleasant warmth in this frozen part of hell where the fire chills you to the bone? Etc.”
Yes, there will be no end to the torment of the ears; however, we will now consider the odors of hell.
What
do the damned smell in hell?
The stench of one carcass is so disgusting. Most people have some idea of what this smells like. Who has not at some point smelled perhaps a dead mouse or experienced smelling a piece of rotten meat?
One man we know told us that he came to a place where there were deer carcasses at room temperature which were set aside to feed some dogs. He said the stench was so horrid that all he knew was that he had to get out of that place because staying there was not compatible with life or sanity. What a striking thing to experience! What if we picture “hundreds of thousands [of carcasses] heaped together, the air for miles around would be so infected that it would cause the death of all in the vicinity.”[4]
Fr. Cochem has many more forceful points about the stench of hell. First of all, he tells us to remember that hell is an abyss filled with brimstone [sulfur]. He also mentions pitch, the residue from distilling tar which is hot and sticks to things.
He relates how St. Bonaventure says the body of a single reprobate would so taint the air on earth as to cause the death of all living beings coming near it. Then Fr. Cochem goes on to say that, “if one single damned body emits so horrible a stench, what can the exhalation be that rises from many millions of these wretched beings?”[5]
Fr. Cochem tells how the tyrant Maxentius used to punish a living man by binding him to a corpse, “face to face and limb to limb, until the unhappy victim fainted, or even died through contact with the dead and decomposing body.” What an inhumane punishment to give a man! Yet in hell, the bodies will be placed close to one other and this is a fitting punishment for the damned because God is all-just.
In addition to these nauseating and frightful examples, Fr. Cochem reminds us that the demons will also emit a vile stench which is much more offensive than the souls of the reprobates. He says, “We read in the life of St. Martin that the evil one appeared to him upon one occasion, and the stench that filled the room was so overwhelming that the saint said to himself, ‘If one single devil has so disgusting an odor, what can the stench be in hell, where there are thousands of devils all together?’”[6]
Of course, we all have our own ideas of the most horrible odors we have experienced—rotten food with mold, sewage, vomits, rotten eggs, etc. It is best to imagine the worst smell we have ever experienced and use that smell in this meditation. The important thing is to incorporate the most graphic scene in order for this meditation to be the most efficacious.
We live in very immoral times where people are loath to accept suffering of any kind, which includes people unwilling to have any distasteful odors anywhere. We see this is true by going into the bathroom supply aisle in a store, where we find find every kind of potpourri, aerosol fragrances, scented candles, and even perfumed oils to plug into an outlet – all of which is meant to keep everything smelling wonderful at all times. If a person finds it difficult to tolerate these odors, what is he going to do if he must endure far worse in hell for all eternity?
With this remarkable contrast in mind, let us turn to the sense of taste.
What do the damned taste in hell?
We live in very corrupt times and in very rich times, especially in more modernized countries. Every luxury seems to be available in residential areas and most definitely on the internet.
People so are obsessed with specialty foods and drinks. The food industry gears its advertising to appeal to every whim people have from fancy gourmet coffee, elaborate entrees, and so-called ‘health-food’ to the lowest ‘craving’ for sweet, salty and greasy foods. This industry is pushing more and more for us to satisfy any whim. Obesity is on the rise even in poor countries. In these apostate times man has truly forgotten God!! Food, instead, has become his sole comfort. St. Paul’s admonition fits our times well when he speaks of people “whose god is their belly”.[7]
What a contrast when comparing this to what is to be expected in hell. Hunger and thirst forever! Starvation without end! All the things we mentioned about the wretched smells in hell will pervade the taste buds as well as the nostrils of the damned.
The taste buds will be tormented with the bitter tears of remorse and the fire. The mouth and tongue will be torched and tortured with a violent thirst as Our Lord says of Dives, who wanted Father Abraham to let fall one drop of water to soothe his burning tongue. The throat will likewise be scorched and parched, never allowed to have any relief.
In the history of mankind, we can find examples of people starving in famines and wartimes. We can read about people eating the most disgusting and unclean things because they were starving—including eating human flesh!
Yet, what a stark contrast this picture is to modern men who, having indulged themselves at the slightest pang of hunger on earth, will have never-ending, intense gnawing-pain in their stomachs in hell!!
As Our Lord says, “Blessed are ye that hunger now: for you shall be filled,” and later on a few verses down He adds, “Woe to you that are filled: for you shall hunger.” St. Luke’s Gospel, 6:25.
So here in this meditation we can clearly see our dear Lord’s words fulfilled. Our Lord spoke very often about hell, but the theme that He spoke the most about when referring to hell is the everlasting fire. With this in mind, let us now consider what torments are awaiting the sense of touch.
What do the damned feel with the sense of touch in hell?
Now let us turn our attention to what is perhaps the most gripping of the physical pains in hell—the never-ending fiery flames of hell!!
Fr. Martin von Cochem has several poignant things to say about hell’s fire. We now share some of them with our fellow students in Mary’s School of Sanctity. Because we want to avoid going to this horrible abode of the reprobate, we want to make the deepest impression on our souls and be completely filled with a just fear of the Lord.
St. Bridget says in her revelations, “The heat of hell-fire is so great that if the whole world were wrapped in flames, the heat of the conflagration would be as nothing in comparison with it.”[8]
Fr. Cochem writes, “St. Augustine tells us that the most fearful fire on earth is, in comparison with the fire of hell, like a painting of fire compared to a real fire.”[9]
Fr. Cochem continues, “When thou seest a fire, call to mind the fire of hell. And since thou couldst not endure to put thy hand for a single instant into that fire, think what the heat of hell-fire must be, surpassing as it does so infinitely the small fire thou seest before thee. If thou canst not bear this, how canst thou endure the other?”[10]
Most likely, we humans have done this brief reflection at some point in our lives. Unfortunately, we most likely shrugged our shoulders and have thought within ourselves, “That’s a horrific thought. I surely cannot endure thinking about that anymore. At least, I will not think about it anymore right now.”
Here’s another powerful statement from Fr. Cochem:
“It has now been made clear that the damned will one day be cast, body and soul, into the huge and awful furnace of hell, into the immense lake of fire, where they will be surrounded by flames. There will be fire below them, fire above them, fire all round about them. Every breath will be the scorching breath of a furnace. These infernal flames will penetrate every portion of the body, so that there will be no part or member, within or without, that is not steeped in fire.”[11]
There are times when we humans suffer a slight example of this description. Take the case of someone who is in the heat of a ferocious fever, or someone who has taken some medication that causes a major vasodilation of the blood vessels, or some hormonal or other physical cause of a burning flush. In these circumstances, one feels as if he would like to take his skin off if it were possible to get a little relief or coolness. Yet, this troublesome ailment is nothing compared to the eternal internal and external intense heat of the damned.
We humans are truly frail and fickle. Again, when we think of the corrupt times we live in, we are witnesses of how most people are continuously looking for physical comforts. With the human body temperature being 98.6 degrees, we are very limited in what temperatures feel tolerable to us. Indeed, it seems that mid-seventies are our best comfortable range and if conditions be anything slightly above or below this, people start to complain.
At least in modern industrialized countries, people have air-conditioning in their homes, offices, stores, cars—just about everywhere. People indulge in swimming pools, etc., because they feel like they cannot handle the season unless they have these amenities. And again, people use “the heat” as an excuse to dress so scantily as if they were still in the Garden of Eden and original sin had not yet occurred. The same type of self-indulgence occurs in the coldest months of the year. Let’s face it, modern man wants to be comfortable all the time and not sacrifice anything. Most unfortunately, people do not realize that their attitude is a recipe for damnation.
Using the above considerations:
“In truth, hell is a place of suffering, pain, and sadness. ‘Pierce thou my flesh with thy fear: for I am afraid of thy judgments.’ [Ps. 118: 120]”[12]
The exercitant is to read through all of the material or as much as he needs to, in order to accomplish what St. Ignatius intends, namely, to acquire:
a deep awareness of the pain suffered by the damned, so that if I should forget the love of the Eternal Lord, at least the fear of punishment will help me to avoid falling into sin.
Quoted from the Second Prelude, above.
For indeed, St. Ignatius wants the exercitant to make the considerations so he has a stronger Fear of the Lord and abhorrence for sin and especially to stir up his heart and to pour out his heart to Our Lord to thank Him for the great kindness and mercy He has always shown until this present moment. [Bold text taken from the colloquy quoted above]
In our next lesson, we will consider the FIFTH Exercise (ON HELL) again but this time we will consider THE PAIN OF THE LOSS OF GOD.
[1] Ecclesiasticus,7:40.
[2] Considerations from Sketches for the Exercises of An Eight Days’ Retreat by Hugo Hurter, SJ., Ph.D., D.D., Professor Emeritus of Theology in the Catholic University of Innsbruck, ©1918, third edition, St. Louis, MO, and London, page 65.
An additional point here is that this aspect not only gives us a more sobering view of our own salvation but also of the salvation of our loved ones.
[3] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, by Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F. C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, pages, 133 and 134.
[4] This partial quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 129.
[5] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 130.
[6] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 131.
[7] St. Paul, Philippians, 3:19.
[8] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things by Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 119.
[9] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 120.
[10] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 120.
[11] This quote is taken from The Last Four Things, Fr. Martin von Cochem, O.S.F.C., ©1899, Benzinger Brothers, page 120.
[12] Considerations from Sketches for the Exercises of An Eight Days’ Retreat by Hugo Hurter, SJ., Ph.D., D.D., Professor Emeritus of Theology in the Catholic University of Innsbruck, ©1918, third edition, St. Louis, MO, and London, page 69.
The Blessed Virgin Mary: Anti-Satan, Anti-Marx, and Anti-Feminist
In August 2022, Catholic Candle concluded an examination of the striking manner in which the feminists follow the same eight-point program as Satan and Marx, and how feminism is a tool of Satan and the Marxists to corrupt society and the family. Following up this examination, we now consider a related truth, viz., Our Lady is the opposite of those evils.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is Anti-Satan, Anti-Marx, and Anti-Feminist
Reflecting back on these recent articles, we see that the feminists contrast so strongly with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Of all human persons, she is most of all God’s masterpiece. Our Lady, more than any other creature, is Anti-Satan, Anti-Marx and Anti-Feminist.
There are many ways to see that Our Lady is Anti-Satan. Here, e.g., is God’s prophesy to Satan how Our Lady will uniquely be (and now, is) anti-Satan:
I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.[1]
Because feminist leaders, especially, are tools of Satan, they hate the Blessed Virgin Mary. We would (correctly) expect this before we even knew this to be true, simply based on the fact that there is complete enmity between Our Lady and the leader of the feminists, viz., Satan.
The Blessed Virgin is the Perfect Virgin and Perfect Mother. Feminists hate her precisely for both of these perfections. She is the perfection of what they hate and oppose. Even when they don’t mention her, the feminist opposition to what she stands for, is clear. Here, for example, are the writing restrictions imposed on the writing staff at the flag ship feminist magazine, Cosmopolitan:
Sue Ellen Browder … former employee at Cosmopolitan, said that when she worked at the magazine, she regularly fabricated stories about fictional women known as the Cosmo Girl. “I could make her into anything I wanted her to be – a doctor, a lawyer, judge, even a high-priced call girl – but there were two things she could not be if she was going to be glamorous, sophisticated and cool: a virgin or a mother.”[2]
At Cosmopolitan, the “Cosmo Girl” could not be a virgin or a mother because feminists wage war on both virginity and motherhood. Feminists hate Our Lady because she is the perfection of both.
Further, we see feminist hatred, scorn, and contempt heaped upon the Blessed Virgin Mary. Feminist leaders even occasionally praise another feminist leader explicitly because she is the opposite of Mary. For example, when feminist actress and celebrity Elizabeth Taylor died in 2011, American feminist academic Camille Paglia heaped praise upon her, including praising her as the anti-Mary. Here are her greatest praises of Elizabeth Taylor:
She is Babylonian pagan woman – the goddess Ishtar, the anti-Mary! My sensibility as a culture critic and as a feminist was deeply formed by her. She was truly transcultural … and with an open sexuality in that puritanical period, it was so daring! She picked up one man after another. To me she represented the ultimate power of the sexual woman.”[3]
There are a great many other scornful statements by feminist leaders insulting Our Lady. For example, here is how religious feminist leader, Mary Daly, disparages our dear Blessed Mother:
Mary is a “pale derivative symbol disguising the conquered Goddess”, a “flaunting of the tamed Goddess”. Her role as servant in the Incarnation of God amounts to nothing other than a “rape”.[4]
Secular feminist leader, Simone de Beauvoir, called the Blessed Virgin Mary the “supreme victory of masculinity”, implying that somehow, Our Lady is some tool of a war against women, rather than the dear and compassionate Mother of mankind.[5]
It is not without reason the feminists hate the Blessed Virgin Mary. As summarized below, she is the opposite of the feminists and of their satanic, Marxist program outlined in the Catholic Candle series from February through August, 2022. For example:
1. The feminists and feminism are anti-God.
Our Lady is completely the opposite. More than anyone else, she is united to God. She is the daughter of the Eternal Father, the mother of God the Son and the spouse of the Holy Ghost. She is the one to whom the Angel Gabriel brought God’s greeting that “the Lord is with thee”. St. Luke’s Gospel, 1:28.
Further, as many feminist leaders know, Our Lady is a necessary help to us in order that we devote ourselves to God and to fighting feminism.
2. The feminists and feminism are revolutionary and are anti-authority.
Our Lady is completely the opposite. More than any other creature, she works for the reign of her Divine Son in all things. She is the Queen of Heaven. All revolutions are against her and her Divine Son. All rejection of true authority is against her universal queenship.
Whereas Satan was the first revolutionary, Our Lady is, more than any other creature, the anti-revolutionary. In the Garden of Eden, Eve joined Satan’s revolution. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the New Eve who repaired that evil.
So far was she from revolting against God’s order, she was most perfectly the servant (slave girl) of God, calling herself “the handmaid of the Lord”. St. Luke’s Gospel, 1:29.
Further, as many feminist leaders know, Our Lady is a necessary help to us in order that we are obedient and serve God, including by fighting feminism.
3. The feminists and feminism seek to divide people.
Our Lady is completely the opposite. Mary seeks to unite all men in the unity of the Catholic Church. She strives that as many people as possible be members of her Son’s one Mystical Body.
Mary is our mother and seeks to unite all of us, as her children. Mary leads us to the virtues, such as charity, mildness, longsuffering, generosity, etc. By promoting these virtues, Mary uses these virtues to unite people, and to oppose Satan, Marx, and the feminists, who seek to divide people.
Further, as many feminist leaders know, Our Lady is a necessary help to us in order that we live our lives devoted to true charity toward our neighbor, and to fighting feminism.
4. The feminists and feminism promote discontent, envy, and discord.
Our Lady is the complete opposite. She is the Comforter of the Afflicted. (Litany of Loretto). She is the Mother Most Amiable. (Litany of Loretto).
She is the Queen of Peace. (Litany of Loretto). She is the mother of the Prince of Peace. Isaiah, 9:6.
In our times, God wills that peace will come upon the world through the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Further, as many feminist leaders know, Our Lady is a necessary help to us in order that we live our lives in the peace of God, completely uniformed to God’s Will in all things, and as implacable opponents of feminism.
5. The feminists and feminism promote hatred.
Our Lady is the complete opposite. She is the Mother of Fair Love. Ecclesiasticus, 24:24.
God wills universal devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary because her heart shows the great tenderness of her love. In our times, God wills that peace will come upon the world through the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (i.e., to her loving heart).
Further, as many feminist leaders know, Our Lady is a necessary help to us in order that we live our lives as examples of, and ambassadors of, charity as well as implacable opponents of feminism.
6. The feminists and feminism are result-oriented and unprincipled, because Satan and Marx neither act according to immutable principles nor encourage their followers to do so.
Our Lady is the complete opposite. She is the greatest example of a creature obedient to God. She is the “handmaid of the Lord”. She is our model of how to serve God in all things, in the way that pleases Him most.
Mary teaches us all of the virtues and how to live according to the principles of virtue.
Further, as many feminist leaders know, Our Lady is a necessary help to us in order that we direct our lives according to the principles of the Catholic Faith and, including the imperative of being untiring enemies of feminism.
7. The feminists and feminism are full of lies.
Our Lady is the complete opposite. Our Lady’s Son is the Eternal Truth.
In Our Lady, “is all grace of the way and of the truth”. Ecclesiasticus, 24:24.
She explains that she has labored “for all that seek out the truth.” Ecclesiasticus, 24:47.
Further, as many feminist leaders know, Our Lady is a necessary help to us in order that we live our lives thirsting for the truth and abiding always in the Truth, and fighting the lies of feminism.
8. The feminists and feminism are anti-Natural Law.
Our Lady is the complete opposite. Our Lady loves and promotes the Natural Law because it was created by her Son and is a necessary help to salvation.
Purity is part of the Natural Law, in which reason tells us that we should live and act so as to shun the moral defilements which are so shamelessly promoted by Satan, Marxists, and the feminists. Our Lady is the Mother Most Pure and Mother Most Chaste, Mother Inviolate, and the Mother Undefiled. (Litany of Loretto).
The family is the necessary building block of the Church and society, according to the Natural Law. Our Lady gave us the perfect example of a wife and mother, in the Holy Family. She perfectly fulfills the Natural Law.
Satan, Marxists, and the feminists hate and seek to destroy marriage. Our Lady had the perfect marriage and is the model of all wives, fulfilling the Natural Law in every way.
These examples are only a beginning. The list is “endless” of the ways in which Our Lady practiced the Natural Law and gave us the perfect example of adherence to the Natural Law.
Further, as many feminist leaders know, Our Lady is a necessary help to us in order that we live our lives in complete conformity with the Natural Law and defend it against feminism.
Conclusion:
Our life on earth is a warfare. We are in the Church Militant! We are not in the service of Satan. There is no middle ground. Are we adopted children of Mary or have we adopted feminism?
We must choose sides! Are we on God’s side or are we on Satan’s side?
In this time in which God’s enemies are all around us, we must cling closely to our dear Mother Mary, the Anti-Satan, the Anti-Marx, and the Anti-Feminist!
[1] Genesis, 3:15.
[2] Quote from The Anti-Mary Exposed by Carrie Gress, St. Benedict Press LLC © 2019, ch. 5, https://onepeterfive.com/attack-blessed-virgin/
[3] https://catholicinsight.com/radical-feminism-and-the-anti-mary/ (emphasis added).
[4] Gyn/Ecology, by Mary Daly, (1978), found here: http://ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/mhauke_maryfem_july05.asp