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 LoveEcclesiasticus, 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/

[4]           Gyn/Ecology, by Mary Daly, (1978), found here: http://ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/mhauke_maryfem_july05.asp

If You Want to Say the Most Effective Prayer, Say the Our Father

The Our Father is a prayer composed by Our Lord Himself for our happiness on earth and in heaven.

Because I go to the Father: and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, that will I do: that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you shall ask Me anything in My name, that I will do.[1]

Amen, amen I say to you: If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it you.[2]

The Our Father is the best of all prayers because it is the Lord’s Prayer, taught us by Jesus Christ Himself, a prayer of perfect and unselfish love.[3]

When the apostles asked Him to "teach us how to pray," He gave them a prescribed form of prayer.[4]

The following are points that may help you to pray the Our Father more efficaciously.


OUR FATHER

When we invoke the Father and when each one of us calls Him our Father, we are to understand thereby that from the privilege and gift of divine adoption, it necessarily follows that all the faithful [viz., those in the state of sanctifying grace] are brethren.[5]   


WHO ART IN HEAVEN

All who have a correct idea of God will grant that He is everywhere and in all places.[6]


HALLOWED BE THY NAME

In praying that the name of God may be hallowed (venerated), our meaning is that the sanctity and glory of the divine name may be increased.[7]


THY KINGDOM COME

Our Lord says: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you."  So great and so abundant are the heavenly gifts contained in this petition, that it includes all things necessary for the security of soul and body.[8]


THY WILL BE DONE

Whoever desires to enter into the kingdom of heaven should ask of God that His will may be done.  For Christ the Lord has said: “Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doth the will of My Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.”[9]

ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

We pray that our conformity to the will of God be regulated according to the rule observed in heaven by the blessed angels.[10]


GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

We particularly and expressly pray for the needs of soul and body.[11]


AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US

Where before we asked God not only for eternal and spiritual goods, but also for fleeting and temporal favors, we now ask for God’s forgiveness for offending Him and pledge to forgive those who have harmed us.[12]

AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

When we have earnestly sought pardon of our sins and are longing for the kingdom of heaven, then it is that the devil employs all his resources and efforts to entice us to relapse into sin, and thus become far worse than before.[13]


BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL

On the eve of Our Lord’s Passion, He prayed to His Father for the salvation of mankind. "I pray," He said, "that Thou keep them (i.e., us) from evil.!" (St. Cyprian remarks, "Nothing more remains to be asked.")[14]

Thus, it is easy to see that there is so much more packed into the Our Father than is apparent to those who mumble their way through this priceless prayer.  Hopefully, these few points above might awaken in us a greater appreciation of Christ’s beneficence in personally instructing us in this best of all prayers.  Say it very slowly and devoutly, contemplating every word.  After that, we could incorporate this mediation on the Our Father into a slow and reverent Spiritual Communion.

Lastly, we can aid our prayerful contemplation of these subjects, by using a loving picture of Our Lord (such as the one below, which was derived from the Shroud):



[1]           St. John’s Gospel, Ch. 14.

 

[2]           St. John’s Gospel, Ch. 16.

[3]           My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha Wisconsin, ©1949, Ch. 183, p. 378.


[4]           Catechism of the Council of Trent, Joseph F. Wagner, Publisher, ©1923, Part IV, p.478.

[5]           Catechism of the Council of Trent, Joseph F. Wagner, Publisher, ©1923, Part IV, p.508 (bracketed explanation to show context).

[6]               Catechism of the Council of Trent, Joseph F. Wagner, Publisher, ©1923, Part IV, p.511.


[7]               Catechism of the Council of Trent, Joseph F. Wagner, Publisher, ©1923, Part IV, p.514.


[8]               Catechism of the Council of Trent, Joseph F. Wagner, Publisher, ©1923, Part IV, p.520.


[9]               Catechism of the Council of Trent, Joseph F. Wagner, Publisher, ©1923, Part IV, p.529.


[10]             Catechism of the Council of Trent, Joseph F. Wagner, Publisher, ©1923, Part IV, p.537.


[11]             Catechism of the Council of Trent, Joseph F. Wagner, Publisher, ©1923, Part IV, p.540.


[12]             Catechism of the Council of Trent, Joseph F. Wagner, Publisher, ©1923, Part IV, pp.552-553.


[13]             Catechism of the Council of Trent, Joseph F. Wagner, Publisher, ©1923, Part IV, p.565.


[14]             Catechism of the Council of Trent, Joseph F. Wagner, Publisher, ©1923, Part IV, p.577.

CC in brief — September 2022

Catholic Candle note: Catholic Candle normally examines particular issues thoroughly, at length, using the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas and the other Doctors of the Church.  By contrast, our feature CC in brief, gives an extremely short answer to a reader’s question.  We invite any readers to submit their own questions.

 

 

CC in Brief

 

Q.        While sanctifying the Sunday at home, I recently read these words in a sermon on hell:

 

In hell, the damned exclaim with tears: “Oh!  That an hour were given to us”.  They would pay any price for an hour or for a minute, in which they might repair their eternal ruin.  But this hour or minute they never shall have. 

 

My question is: Do the damned in hell really long for a chance to repent?

 

 

A.        No.  The damned do not long for a chance to repent and to begin pleasing

God.  They could never use that chance of repentance, even if it were somehow given to them.[1]

 

Hell is not really full of repentant sinners.  In hell, the wills of the damned are fixed forever in rejecting God and hating Him.  The damned hate being in hell but would never have a change of heart and begin to love God, with sorrow for their sins, although the damned regret that they are being punished.

 

The damned hate God and don’t want to be with Him.  They hate being in hell but do not want to be with God in heaven.  They hate reality and would like to be in a (supposed) “paradise” without God (if that could be possible) and would like to be in a place of comfort and pleasure where they could continue to hate God and live a disorderly life.  But the damned do not repent of their sins and do not want to repent.

 

With man’s fallen human nature, it is so common for sinners to delay repentance and to delay amending their lives.  Throughout the ages, good priests have used various techniques to move sinners to cease delay and begin leading the Catholic life they know they should lead.

 

One method is to move sinners to repentance by raising the prospect of having waited too long and losing the chance to repent.  In this sermon, these sinners – who tell themselves they will repent later – are presented with the prospect of having waited “too long”.  Right now, in this present life, these sinners would regret having waited too long and being damned in hell forever. 

 

So, this sermon is, in effect, placing before the listener the prospect of that delay and the regret they would feel now, if they knew their continued delay would eventually cause their damnation.  That seems to be the intent of the sermon you quote.



[1]           Here is one way that St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Doctor of the Church, teaches this truth:

 

Moreover, it is just, that as long as the sinner remains in his sin, the punishment which he deserves should continue. And, therefore, as the virtue of the saints is rewarded in Heaven, because it lasts forever, so also the guilt of the damned in Hell, because it is everlasting, shall be chastised with everlasting torments. ”Quia non recipit causæ remedium,” says Eusebius Emissenus, “carebit fine supplicium.”  The cause of their perverse will continues: therefore, their chastisement will never have an end. The damned are so obstinate in their sins, that even if God offered pardon, their hatred for him would make them refuse it.

 

Quoted from St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Sermon 50, for the twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost.

Words to Live by – from Catholic Tradition

The Our Father contains all the duties we owe to God, the acts of all the virtues, and the petitions for all our spiritual and corporal needs.  …

Saint Augustine says that whenever we say the Our Father devoutly, our venial sins are forgiven.

 The Secret of the Rosary, St. Louis De Montfort, 12th Rose.

 

Lesson #13 Second Exercise on Sin; the Third and Fourth exercises

Mary’s School of Sanctity

In the second, third, and fourth exercises, we address sin in its other aspects and with a greater intensity of understanding of what exactly sin is.

The preparatory prayer is the same as the first exercise: 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 SECOND EXERCISE {personal sin}

For this exercise the usual preparatory prayer is used which is given above. 

The second exercise’s meditation is in some ways a repeat of the first exercise.  In this meditation the FIRST PRELUDE is the same mental image of seeing one’s own soul in his corruptible body as St. Ignatius says, “the mental image will consist in imagining, and considering my soul imprisoned in its corruptible body, and my entire being in this vale of tears as an exile among brute beasts.  By entire being, I mean both body and soul."       

The SECOND PRELUDE is to ask God Our Lord for what I desire.  I shall here beg for an ever increasing and intense sorrow and tears for my sins.

THE FIRST POINT is the review of my sins.  I shall recall to my mind all the sins of my life, looking at them year by year, and period by period.  Three things will help me to do this: first, I shall recall to my mind the place and house where I lived; secondly the associations I have had with others; thirdly, the positions which I have filled.

 The SECOND POINT is to weigh my sins, considering the loathsomeness and the malice that every mortal sin has in itself, even though it were not forbidden.

The THIRD POINT is to consider who I am and abase myself by these examples:

1. What am I in comparison to all men?

2. What are men in comparison with the angels and saints of heaven?

3. What is all creation in comparison with God? Then myself alone, what can I be?

4. Let me consider all my own corruption and foulness of body.

5. Let me see myself as a sore and an abscess from whence have come forth so many sins, so many evils, and the most vile poison.

The FOURTH POINT is now to consider who God is, against whom I have sinned, recalling His attributes and comparing them to their contraries in me: His wisdom to my ignorance; His omnipotence to my weakness; His justice with my iniquity; His goodness with my sinfulness.

The FIFTH POINT is to be struck with amazement and filled with a growing emotion as I consider how creatures have suffered me to live, and have sustained me in life.  How the angels, the swords of Divine Justice, tolerated me, guarded me, and prayed for me.  How the saints have interceded and prayed for me.  How the heaven, moon, and stars, and the elements; fruits, birds, fishes, and animals have all served my needs.  How the earth has not opened and swallowed me up, creating new hells that I might suffer eternal torment in them.

COLLOQUY. I will end this meditation with a colloquy directing my thoughts to God’s mercy.  I will give thanks to Him for having granted me life until now, and I will resolve with the help of His grace to amend my life for the future.  Close with an “Our Father.”

In this second exercise St. Ignatius has us take a hurried glance over our past life in order to convince ourselves of our sinfulness.  Without entering upon an exact examination of our conscience, he wants us to consider the ten, twenty, forty, or more years which we have lived thus far.  Perhaps we will not be able to find a year without some grievous sin in it.  Perhaps there are many grievous sins.

In our examination St. Ignatius would have us not forget to examine the five senses of our body and the powers of our soul which are all desecrated and withdrawn from the service of God.  For indeed, we have sinned with our eyes, our ears, our tongue, through stubbornness, self-love, self-will, willfulness, and selfishness; we have abused all our faculties.  We must bear in mind the commandments of God and His Church which we have broken.  Likewise, we must not forget our duties-of-state which we have neglected; the capital sins of which we are guilty; the graces and the sacraments which we have abused.  Let us recall the places, hidden and public, where we stayed and not forget to recall the persons against whom we have sinned, in thought, word, and deed; our parents, our superiors, our brethren, our inferiors.  We should not forget those whom we have induced to commit sin by our bad example and by the scandal we gave.

St. Ignatius knows that this short examination is very beneficial because it wakes us up from our sleep of sin because we have indeed become lethargic and are callous to sin.  This review of our lives also reminds us of our debt to God and urges us on to do penance and return like the Prodigal Son.

Because St. Ignatius wants us to be convinced of the grievousness of sin, he sets forth his points to help us see the enormity of sin.

In his Sketches for the Exercises of An Eight Days’ Retreat, Fr. Hurter, S. J. presents many good points to help us see this enormity.  He discusses the abyss of ingratitude, the abyss of misery; the abyss of malice; and the horror of sin, both mortal and venial!!!!

Let us consider his points one by one.

I) THE ABYSS OF INGRATITUDE

Sin encloses within itself an abyss of the most hateful ingratitude because of the nature of what man does when he sins.

a. He returns evil for good.  Instead of thanking God for His innumerable benefits, he offends Him and despises His holy Will.

b. But the ingratitude of the sinner is still more contemptible because he abuses the very benefits of God to offend his Benefactor.  With the eyes which God gave him; with the tongue which God loosened for him; with all the powers and abilities which God bestowed upon him.

c. This ingratitude becomes still greater because man offends God at the very moment in which God is conferring benefits upon him and is thinking of new benefits.    For the very moment in which God preserves us in being, gives us health and strength of body and soul, and protects us against the heavenly powers who are but too eager to avenge themselves on us wretched creatures for offending their Lord and God.  [Ponder also that He brings us to a better knowledge of ourselves, brings us to contrition, and to return to Him, and then, makes us partakers of eternal bliss].[1]

Fr. Hurter relates the example of St. Polycarp being asked to deny his faith saying, “It is eighty-six years since I began to serve the Lord, and never has He done anything against me:  How can I now have the heart to blaspheme my King Who has redeemed me?”  This tremendous and edifying example is something to keep in mind when we are sorely tempted.  We see that we must ever shun ingratitude to God and we must give Him what we owe Him with devotion and love.

II) THE ABYSS OF MISERY

Grievous sin contains unspeakable misery.  Here is how Fr. Hurter sets forth some of the sad consequences which grievous sin produces in the soul:

a. The soul loses its baptismal grace.  Baptismal grace is so beautiful because God’s light shines in the soul.  But through mortal sin, the soul becomes deformed and is not acceptable to God.  Therefore, the soul that departs this life in this state must hear the words, “Depart from Me, ye cursed.”[2]

b. The innocent soul in the state of grace is a child of God, a brother of Jesus Christ, a temple of the Holy Ghost; by sin he becomes a child of wrath, a slave of the evil spirit.  Can we think of a greater degradation?  The debasement of a lost son, a child well brought up, of good parents, is but a faint picture of the degradation of a human being fallen into mortal sin.[3]

c. Before the sin the innocent one was rich in graces and merits; for all the good done in this state has a golden value, meritorious for eternity, and in the days of innocence so much was done.  But all this is lost by mortal sin.  To the sinner these words may be applied: “Because thou sayest: I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing; and knowest thou not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor and blind, and naked.” (Apoc. 3:17)[4]

In addition to these consequential points, Fr. Hurter explains further,

Before sinning, the innocent man led a supernatural life, a life of grace. Sin robs him of this life. He dies, and how gruesome is his death! Death is the more disastrous, the higher the scale of life in which the creature was.[5] 

Fr. Hurter goes on to compare the life of a flower with that of an irrational animal and says that of course the death of an animal is more unpleasant because the animal is a higher form of life.  The death of an irrational animal is not as unpleasant as the death of a man[6] because man is the highest material creature. Then he says:

The corpse of a man scares us, and it takes time and self-conquest to become accustomed to the sight.  Why?  Because human life is considered more perfect.  But how much higher and more perfect is the supernatural life of grace.  Therefore, in the light of faith and in the eyes of the angels and saints, the condition of the soul that has lost this life is much more gruesome.[7]

This simple comparison really tells us the serious reality of the disaster of mortal sin.  Fr. Hurter’s words are striking when he adds:

No earthquake, no conflagration, no flood in the richest field of the earth can bring about a devastation as great as mortal sin does in the paradise of an innocent soul.  What a folly the sinner commits who at such a loss flings away the grace of God.[8]

III) THE ABYSS OF MALICE

Mortal sin contains an abyss of malice because grievous sin is an offense against God. The gravity of an offense is based upon the difference between the person offended and the offender.   The higher the dignity of the person offended, the more grievous is the offense.

This is the reason why St. Ignatius has the exercitant make the comparisons of himself with all men; men to the angels and saints in heaven; and then all creation to God. 

Fr. Hurter draws these comparisons out, as follows:

a. What is one man compared to the entire human race?  A mere cipher, a speck of dust, a drop of water compared to the ocean.  What are all men in comparison with the heavenly court? Miserable beings.  And what are all the angels when weighed against God? ‘Behold the gentiles are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance; behold the islands are as a little dust.’ (Isaias 40:15) hence what am I in comparison with God?[9]

To further illustrate the wretched malice connected with sin, Fr. Hurter addresses St. Ignatius’s FOURTH POINT here:

And to become still more penetrated with my nothingness when compared with God, let me review the perfections of God.  God is so infinitely wise, and I so ignorant; God all-powerful, who poises the universe in His fingers, I so impotent, scarcely able to move a rock from its place; God immense, and I bound to space and place; God from eternity, I but from yesterday; God infinite and perfect, and I so limited and imperfect.  And yet I, a mite, have dared to say to God: ‘I will not serve.  You have indeed forbidden, but for all that I’ll do it, I do not care for Your Will.’  What malice![10]

This description is so appalling and yet an absolutely true picture of what the mortal sinner does to God, his Creator.

Fr. Hurter adds still more sobriety in his last two sub-points:

b. To this malice is allied presumption.  Or is it not rashness to sin before His eyes, in His presence? If children wish to violate the precepts of their parents, they do so secretly, behind their backs; not so the sinner, who breaks the command of God openly, before His very eyes.[11]

c. The sinner’s demeanor is indeed very bold, because he dares to offend Him in Whose Hands he is.  On His Hands depends life and death, heaven and hell.[12]

These last two points certainly show how with unspeakable audacity we humans offend God and manifest an utter lack of the gift of the Holy Ghost, that is, fear of the Lord.  We should shudder at such boldness!

If all of the above material has not yet brought the fruit of this meditation, namely intense sorrow and tears, we should beg for spiritual help from our heavenly helpers as we dig deeper into the concept of the horror of sin.  So far, we have been focusing on mortal sins; however, we must not forget that venial sins are infinite offenses against God as well!!

Are we in earnest when we resolve to avoid mortal sin above all things?  Then we must extend our resolution also to venial sin.  Without this resolution we can hardly succeed in always avoiding mortal sin.[13]

The Church also wants us to avoid venial sin.  She shows this in the conditions She requires for obtaining a plenary indulgence.  Not only are Holy Confession and Holy Communion required, but also is the intention to not have any attachment to deliberate venial sin.

Likewise, we must remember Our Dear Lord’s words, “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me.  And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” (St, John 14:21).  We cannot fool Our Lord.  We cannot claim to care about Him if we have no regard for His commandments.

The following are some key points given by Fr. Hurter to help rouse in us a true horror of all sin.

I.  We can look at the great multitude of our venial sins.

We can take a look at our lives in a similar way in which St. Ignatius had us examine our possible mortal sins—looking at the places we have lived, the persons we have associated with, at the senses of our bodies, the powers of our soul (which we have desecrated), at the duties we have neglected, at the graces we have abused, and bad examples we have given, by word and deed.  Truly as it says in the Mass prayers, we have “innumerable sins, offences, and negligences.”

Even though our sinfulness should startle us, we should not give up in despair, but blush for shame, and learn humility.  We should strive to diminish our daily faults and weaknesses.[14]

II. We can consider the grievousness of venial sins.

These sins are offences against God Who is infinitely great.  Thus, even the least offence to infinite majesty is a very great evil.  If we are careful so as not to offend our loved ones or friends, how much more should we take the greatest care not to offend God Who is supreme goodness and Our heavenly Father?

Venial sin defiles the soul.  Because our souls have been given sanctifying grace and thus made stately in the image and likeness of God, it is a horrific thing to stain the soul with venial sin. We would be ashamed if we were to appear before the angels in a filthy condition, let alone appear before God in this soiled state.  Therefore, it is perfectly understandable that soiled souls prefer to plunge themselves into Purgatory because they know they are unworthy to appear before God.

Venial sin shows its malicious character in the fact that it paves the way to mortal sin.  Because venial sin weakens the will, it especially weakens the soul and makes the conscience callous to sin; the soul can fall when a storm of temptation to commit a mortal sin arises. “He that contemneth small things, shall fall little by little” (Eccl. 19:1).  Therefore, it is all the more crucial to make a firm resolution not to play with venial sin, so one will not fall into mortal sin.  The saints worked to keep their consciences delicate and were truly frightened away from mortal sins.[15]

The causes of venial sin and the means to become free from deliberate venial sin.  Another helpful aspect of Fr. Hurter’s treatment of sin is his accurate assessment of the causes of venial sins and the means to become entirely free from deliberate venial sins, and at least to diminish the number of our faults and failures.

He says, “The first cause is sloth.  When this vice rules us, venial sin and faults thrive luxuriantly.  The remedy for it is fervor, for experience tells us that venial sin will disappear as a fog before the sun when we are all aglow with fervor.” 

He tells us, “The second cause is a want of watchfulness and of mortification of the senses.  If we let our senses roam about freely, the spirit of the world will soon take hold of us.  All kinds of distraction will appear, and with them temptations. The spirit being already weak will be taken by surprise and yield, now to this, then to that fault.”

Then he tells us, “The third cause is conceit.  Whoever over-estimates his own powers, is overconfident in himself, takes too little heed of danger, and is less careful to avoid occasions, will soon learn from his own experience how weak he is.  And the Lord will the sooner permit him to take a false step, the more he trusts in himself and prefers himself to others.  Pride goes before a fall.”[16] 

The means to avoid deliberate venial sins are based upon St. Ignatius’s Rules for the Discernment of Spirits.  We can see by what he says below that certainly agere contra[17] is needed to combat sin.

Fr. Hurter says, “If we are in earnest when we make a resolution against grievous sin, we must take up the fight against venial sin with unshaken firmness, and consider it no small evil with which we can afford to play.  We must be zealous, watch the various occasions, not trust too much to ourselves, and be discreet and humble.  Then with the grace of God we shall avoid all deliberate venial sin and shall considerably diminish the cloud of human weakness and miseries.”[18] 

Along with the resolution to avoid deliberate venial sin, St. Ignatius’s main goal in this Exercise is for the exercitant to have true repentance.  We have asked for intense sorrow and tears.  With all of the above considerations about mortal sin and venial sin, we certainly have much to inspire compunction of heart.  Let us try to see the entire malice of sin, and by the awareness of our own sinfulness, we shall be filled with repentance.  “My eyes have sent forth springs of water: because they have not kept thy law” (Ps. 118:136).  We must tell ourselves that for no price will we commit another grievous sin (if we have had the misfortune to have committed them in the past). This is the greatest misfortune that can befall us.

Let us beg God’s Mercy and not cease to beg Him to preserve us from such a horrific calamity!

THE THIRD EXERCISE

This is a repetition of the first and second Exercises, with three colloquies.

After the preparatory prayer and the two preludes, the first and second Exercises are to be repeated.  I [the exercitant, that is] will note and dwell upon the points in which I have felt the greatest consolation or desolation, or the greatest spiritual relish.  I will then make these colloquies in the following manner:

THE FIRST COLLOQUY is with Our Lady, that she may obtain grace for me from her Son and Lord for three things:

1.  That I may have a thorough knowledge of my sins and a feeling of abhorrence for them.

2. That I may comprehend the disorder of my actions so that detesting them, I will amend my ways and put my life in order.

3. That I may know the world, and being filled with horror of it, I may put away from me worldly and vain things.

Conclude with the “Hail Mary.”

THE SECOND COLLOQUY is with the Son of God.  I will beg Him to intercede with the Father to obtain these graces for me.  Conclude with the “Anima Christi.”[19]

THE THIRD COLLOQUY is with our Eternal Father.  I will request that He Himself grant these graces to me. Conclude with the “Our Father.”

THE FOURTH EXERCISE

 This is a résumé[20] of the third exercise.

I [St. Ignatius] have called this a résumé because the intellect, without digression, is to recall and review thoroughly the matters contemplated in the previous Exercises.  The same three colloquies should then be made.

Although we have covered three exercises in this lesson, St. Ignatius intends each of them to be done separately.  As one can see, they build off of each other but are intended to be done one at a time.  The exercitant is asking for a more intense awareness of the malice of sin and to have a true sorrow for sin and an extreme horror of sin.  We cannot build a fervent love for God if we do not fear to offend Him.

In our next lesson we will do the FIFTH Exercise ON HELL–THE PAIN OF THE SENSES.[21]

 

 

 

 

 



[1]           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, 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 41.

[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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 42.

[3]           Quoted 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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 43.

[4]           Quoted 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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 43.

[5]           Quoted 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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 43.

[6]           Although man is also an animal, as clearly taught by Aristotle, St. Thomas, and many others, man is a rational animal.

[7]           Quoted 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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 43.

 

[8]           Quoted 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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 44.

[9]           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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 45.

[10]         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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 45.

[11]         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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, pages 45-46.

[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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 46.

[13]         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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 47. 

Here Fr. Hurter makes a very important distinction between the two types of venial sin.  One type is those committed:

with a full knowledge and on purpose, such as a deliberate lie told to get out of a difficulty, or self-praise to make oneself important.  Other venial sins are faults that follow rather the weakness, the haste, the thoughtlessness, the carelessness of poor human nature, as distractions in prayer, a sudden impatience and excitement because something unpleasant strikes us, or vanity because we have met with success in our undertakings. etc.

The former we can with the grace of God avoid, and to them by preference our resolution must extend.  The weaknesses we shall never avoid altogether, as the Council of Trent teaches us, without a special privilege, such as the Mother of God enjoyed.  God permits them for our mortification and humiliation, to keep us fervent and energetic.  If we cannot avoid them all, we must not therefore be unconcerned about them, but make an honest effort to reduce their number.

Hence our resolution should run thus: I shall carefully avoid all deliberate venial sins.  I shall do all I can to reduce the number of my daily faults and imperfections.

[14]         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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, pages 50-51.

[15]         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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, pages 52-53.

[16]         Quoted 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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 53.

 

[17]           Rules for the Discernment of Spirits for the Week One, Rule #12; this means to “act against” a bad inclination we that arises in our soul.

 

[18]         Quoted 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 1926, St. Louis, MO and London, page 54.

[19]         This is the Anima Christi prayer:

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.

Body of Christ, save me.

Blood of Christ, inebriate me.

Water from the side of Christ, wash me.

Passion of Christ, strengthen me.

O good Jesus, hear me;

Within Thy wounds hide me;

Suffer me not to be separated from Thee;

From the malignant enemy defend me;

In the hour of my death call me,

And bid me come to Thee,

That with Thy Saints I may praise Thee

For ever and ever.  Amen

 

[20]         A résumé is a summing up; an abridgment or summary [Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, Sixth Ed. 1949]

 

[21]         At this point of the Spiritual Exercises the exercitant prepares for a general confession as he is about to do meditations on hell and death.

Unfortunately, in this time of apostasy in which we are living and in which an uncompromising priest is not available for most people, a general confession is not possible.  In this case we must humbly trust in God and beg His Mercy by trying to make a perfect act of contrition after having done the thorough examination of conscience for confession.

This examination and preparation for a general confession would include making a sin list and telling God that if/when an uncompromising priest should become available; one is most willing to go to confession.

We must have a repentant disposition of mind.  We need heartfelt contrition for our sins.  The Council of Trent (session 14, chapter 1 and 4) explains that heartfelt sorrow for sins has at all times been necessary to obtain forgiveness of sins. 

There are two kinds of contrition: perfect and imperfect.  We should always endeavor to make perfect acts of contrition and get in the habit of making them.  We have always known that no one is guaranteed the chance to go to confession, but especially now in these times of apostasy; most of us do not have the opportunity.

Perfect contrition consists in being sorry because we have offended God the Supreme Being and Our dear loving Father, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Who is most worthy of our love. We have been so ungrateful to Him, and we must be determined never to commit sin again.  We want our love to be as perfect as possible.  Of course, we must beg God and our heavenly helpers to help us have a pure motive in our contrition.  Our contrition cannot simply be because we are afraid of punishment, for then, our contrition would be imperfect.  Perfect contrition involves filial fear and filial love, whereas, imperfect contrition involves servile fear which is simply the fear of punishment.

The effect of perfect contrition is wonderful because it blots out all of the guilt (but not necessarily all of the punishment) due to sins.

 

The Feminist Program is the same as that of Satan and Marx – Part VII

Catholic Candle note:

In February 2022, Catholic Candle began a multi-part examination of how the feminists follow the same program as Satan and Marx.  This article is entitled The Feminist Program is the same as that of Satan and Marx

Part 1 analyzes Satan’s program and begins to analyze how Marx has the same program.  Part 1 can be found here: https://catholiccandle.org/2022/02/24/the-feminist-program-is-the-same-as-that-of-satan-and-marx/

Part 2 completes the analysis showing how Marx’s program is the same as Satan’s program.  Part 2 can be found here: https://catholiccandle.org/2022/03/27/the-feminist-program-is-the-same-as-that-of-satan-and-marx-part-ii/.  

As shown in those first two parts of this article, Satan’s and Marx’s eight-point program:

1.    Is anti-God (and anti-worship of God);

2.    Promotes disobedience and opposition to the authority ordained by God;

3.    Seeks to divide people;

 

4.    Promotes discontent, envy, and discord;

 

5.    Promotes hatred;

 

6.    Is result-oriented and self-interested; Satan neither acts according to immutable principles nor encourages his followers to do so;

 

7.    Is full of lies; and

 

8.    Is against Nature and is anti-Natural Law.

Part 3 begins the study of modern feminism and feminist leaders to see how they follow this same satanic and Marxist program.  Part 3 shows how feminism and feminist leaders are anti-God and anti-worship of God.  This article can be found here: https://catholiccandle.org/2022/04/20/the-feminist-program-is-the-same-as-that-of-satan-and-marx-part-iii/.

 

Part 4 covers three additional aspects of how the feminist leaders and feminist principles follow Satan’s and Marx’s program:

A.   They promote disobedience, revolt, and opposition to the authority ordained by God;

B.   They seek to divide people; and

C.   They promote discontent, envy, and discord.

Part 4 of this article can be found here: https://catholiccandle.org/2022/05/27/the-feminist-program-is-the-same-as-that-of-satan-and-marx-2/

 

Part 5 covers the fifth and sixth aspects of how the feminist leaders and feminist principles follow Satan’s and Marx’s program:

A.   Modern feminism promotes the program of Satan and Marx by promoting hatred; and

 

B.   Feminist leaders are result-oriented and unprincipled just like Satan and Marx.

Part 5 of this article can be found here: https://catholiccandle.org/2022/06/27/the-feminist-program-is-the-same-as-that-of-satan-and-marx-part-v/

Part 6 of this article covers the second-last aspect of how the feminist leaders and feminist principles follow Satan’s and Marx’s program:

Ø  Modern feminist leaders are full of lies.

Part 6 of this article can be found here: https://catholiccandle.org/2022/07/26/the-feminist-program-is-the-same-as-that-of-satan-and-marx-part-vi/

 

Part 7:

The Feminist Program is the same as that of Satan and Marx


(Continuing where we left off last month)

This month, we cover the last aspect of the feminist program, which is also the eighth element of the eight-point program of Satan and the Marxists:

The feminists are anti-Natural Law

 

The feminist leaders seek destruction of the family.

The family is an institution of the Natural Law.  The family is the foundation of the Catholic Church as the chief source of bringing into the Church new Catholics and transmitting the true Faith and true Morality from one generation to the next.  The family is also the foundation of a good civil society, handing down to the next generation learning, discipline, morality, and culture.

For these reasons (as we saw in earlier parts of this article), Satan and Marxists hate the family.  Similarly, the feminists hate the family.

For example, secular feminist leader, Kate Millett, made it a routine part of the opening of her “women’s empowerment” meetings that they mention their goal of destroying the family.  Here is part of the chant she used to open these meetings:

“Why are we here today?” she asked.
“To make revolution,” they answered.
“What kind of revolution?” she replied.
“The Cultural Revolution,” they chanted.
“And how do we make Cultural Revolution?” she demanded.
By destroying the American family!” they answered.[1]

Similarly, here is how secular feminist leader, Linda Gordon, declared war on the family:

The nuclear family[2] must be destroyed ….  Whatever its ultimate meaning, the break-up of families now is an objectively revolutionary process.[3]

The feminist leaders promise the destruction of the state (which is an institution belonging to the Natural Law), when they succeed in destroying the family.

All authority comes from God.  The state as such, is an institution which is part of the Natural Law.  God intends that there be a state because He created man as a political animal.[4]  The state, like the Catholic Church, is necessary to complete and to aid the work of the family in achieving its own ends.[5]

It is striking how the feminist leaders even use the same expressions as the Marxists (thereby signaling the affinity between them).  The Marxists/communists promise the withering away of the state when their enemy (the bourgeois class) is destroyed.  Similarly, the feminists promise the withering away of the state when the feminists’ enemy (the patriarchal family) is destroyed. 

For example, here is one way Vladimir Lenin phrased this claim:

The state withers away insofar as there are no longer any capitalists, any classes, and, consequently, no class can be suppressed.

But the state has not yet completely withered away, since there still remains the safeguarding of “bourgeois law”, which sanctifies [sic!] actual inequality.  For the state to wither away completely, complete communism is necessary.[6]

Using this same Marxist phrasing, secular feminist leader, Germaine Greer, asserted that, after they destroy the enemy (the “patriarchal family”), the state will wither away into a Marxist paradise.  Here are her words:

Women’s liberation, if it abolishes the patriarchal family, will abolish a necessary substructure of the authoritarian state, and once that withers away Marx will have come true willy-nilly, so let’s get on with it.[7]

Again, notice that both the feminists and the Marxists (falsely) promise the end of the state (which is part of the Natural Law) after they destroy their enemy.


The feminist leaders seek destruction of marriage.

Marriage is part of the Natural Law[8] and faithful marriages are necessary for good and stable families.  Thus, the feminist leaders hate marriage.

For example, here is how secular feminist, Sheila Cronin, declared war on marriage:

Since marriage constitutes slavery for women, it is clear that the women’s movement must concentrate on attacking this institution.  Freedom for women cannot be won without the abolition of marriage.[9]


The feminist leaders seek destruction of women’s God-given maternal instincts and seek to foster in women a hostility (or at least indifference) to babies and children.

God put in women a maternal instinct to love and cherish babies and children.  This instinct is in women to help them fulfill well the great work of their lives, which is the raising of children to become well-adjusted and virtuous adults.[10]

Because feminism seeks to destroy families and marriage, obviously feminists want to entirely root out a woman’s natural inclination to love and cherish babies and children.  Here is how one secular feminist leader declared her own anti-maternal instincts:

I don’t particularly like babies. They are loud and smelly and, above all other things, demanding . . . time-sucking monsters with their constant neediness ….  Nothing will make me want a baby ….[11]


To effectively root out a woman’s natural maternal instincts and to make her a career woman, the feminist leaders strongly promote a woman murdering her unborn babies.

The extreme opposite of a woman’s natural maternal instinct is for her to murder her own babies.  This further makes a woman more like Satan, who “was a murderer from the beginning.”[12]  When a woman murders her innocent baby at the beginning of his life, she is like Satan and is, in her own way, “a murderer from the beginning”.

Marxists so strongly promote abortion that, in 1920, Communist Russia was the first country in the world to legalize abortion.[13]   Communist Russia offered abortion for free.  Id.

Communist China is the abortion capital of the of the world, with more than 400 million abortions in the forty years beginning in 1971.[14]   China’s murderous assault on innocent babies continues unabated.  Communist China’s murder of its babies is currently at a rate of more than nine million per year.[15]

As horrific as it is for a man to murder a baby, it is even more unnatural for a mother to murder her own baby.  Feminists strongly promote killing not only male babies but also female babies – showing that feminists are lying when they say that they are concerned about protecting women and girls.  In fact, feminists do not object to sex-selection abortions, which disproportionately murder baby girls.[16]


Feminists seek to destroy virtue, especially purity – and especially in women.

Vice – especially impurity – weakens a person’s will and opens wide the door of the soul to a life of further sins of all types.  As we saw earlier, Satan and Marx focused many efforts on corrupting people, especially women.  This is plainly because women are truly guardians of society through their selfless vigilance for the good of their families.  Here is one way Pope Pius XI explained this truth:

Neither this emancipation of the woman is real, nor is it the reasonable and worthy liberty convenient to the Christian and noble mission of the woman and wife.  It is the corruption of the feminine nature and maternal dignity, as well as the perversion of all the family, since the husband lacks his wife, the children their mother, and the entire family her vigilant guard.

 

Pope Pius XI, Casti connubii, #75 (emphasis added).

Following Satan’s and Marx’s program, feminists urge everyone, but especially women, to promiscuously follow any urges of their basest appetites.[17]

Secular feminist leader, Kate Millett, included this focus on promoting impurity, in the chants opening their feminist meetings:

“And how do we make Cultural Revolution?” she demanded.
“By destroying the American family!” they answered.
“How do we destroy the family?” she came back.
“By destroying the American Patriarch,” they cried exuberantly.
“And how do we destroy the American Patriarch?” she replied.
“By taking away his power!”
“How do we do that?”
“By destroying monogamy!” they shouted.
“How can we destroy monogamy?” …
By promoting promiscuity, eroticism, prostitution and homosexuality!” they resounded.[18]

Because feminists are tools of Satan and of the Marxists and because they are not really advocates for women, the feminists also promote and support deluded men who insist they are women (i.e., so-called “transgenderism”).[19]

There are so many other ways in which feminists follow Satan and Marx by being against Nature and the Natural Law.  But these examples suffice to show that truth.


Conclusion of this Entire Article

All feminists are against Nature and are anti-Natural Law.  As shown in earlier parts of this article, the feminists follow Satan’s and the Marxists’ entire evil program.  Thus, all faithful and informed Catholics (and all others who use their intellects as they should) are compelled to conclude that there is no version of feminism that can be reconciled with the Truth and the Good. 

There is no good feminism; there is no Biblical feminism; there is no Catholic feminism; there is no “good feminism.  Feminism is inherently evil because it deliberately contradicts Divine revelation and the Natural Law. 

There can be naïve feminists who are so confused that, perhaps, they are not culpable for the evil in which they participate.  This is like, perhaps, there are naïve and confused Marxists or freemasons.  God will judge their interior, subjective culpability.  However, on the objective level – the level on which we Catholics and all people using their reason – must judge, their work is evil, is anti-God, and promotes Satan.  Let us fight feminism in all of its manifestations!




[1]           https://mallorymillett.com/?p=37 (emphasis added).

[2]           A “nuclear family” is a married father and mother and their children living family life together.

[4]           A political animal is one who by Nature comes together with his fellows to organize themselves using reason, to perform joint tasks, such as self-defense, building roads, etc.

[5]           Here is how Pope Pius XI explains the necessity of the state as one of the three necessary societies:

[T]here are three necessary societies, distinct from one another and yet harmoniously combined by God, into which man is born: two [viz., of the necessary societies], namely the family and civil society, belong to the natural order; the third, the Church, to the supernatural order.

Divini Illius Magistri (On Christian Education) by Pope Pius XI, 1929, ¶¶11-13, (emphasis added; bracketed words added for clarity).

[6]           Vladimir Lenin’s The State and Revolution, section three, which can be found here: https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch05.htm (emphasis and bracketed word added).

[7]           https://www.thoughtco.com/germaine-greer-quotes-3530088 (emphasis added).

[8]           Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, Suppl., Q.67, a.1.

[9]           The words of Sheila Cronin, the leader of the feminist organization NOW (National Organization for Women), https://www.coursehero.com/file/p1sbvhs/Since-marriage-constitutes-slavery-for-women-it-is-clear-that-the-womens/

[11]          Words of secular feminist leader, Amanda Marcotte, March 2014, found here: https://theothermccain.com/2016/11/15/feminists-hate-donald-trump-the-joys-of-happy-fun-victory-week-maga/

[12]         Here are Our Lord’s words about Satan the murderer (speaking to the pharisees):

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him.  When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:  for he is a liar, and the father thereof. 

St. John ‘s Gospel, 8:44 (emphasis added).

[16]         India Has Killed 46 Million Girls in Sex-Selection Abortions, Where are the Feminists?  https://www.lifenews.com/2021/12/28/india-has-killed-46-million-girls-in-sex-selection-abortions-where-are-the-feminists/

[17]         Here, e.g., is one way in which the National Organization for Women promotes vile impurity: https://now.org/blog/issue-advisory-asexuality-sexual-empowerment-isnt-for-everyone-and-thats-okay/

[18]         Marxist Feminism’s Ruined Lives, found here: https://mallorymillett.com/?p=37 (emphasis added).

   
[19]         Here, e.g., is the National Organization for Women promoting gender delusion: 
https://now.org/issues/lgbtq-rights/

Words to Live by – from Catholic Tradition

Temptations, though troublesome and severe, are often useful to a man, for in them he is humbled, purified, and instructed.  The saints all passed through many temptations and trials to profit by them, whereas those who could not resist became reprobate and fell away.

My Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, Book 1, ch.13.                                                                      

 

The Devout Catholic Suffers Willingly, Thanking God for a Second Chance

Adam and Eve, our first parents, knew God in the Garden of Paradise.  Our first parents were perfectly happy in Paradise.  If they had not sinned, they would never have died or suffered from sickness and sorrow.  When the time came for their leaving the earth, they would have been taken body and soul to Heaven.[1]

God wanted Adam as head and representative of the human race to merit Heaven.  And so, after granting him His abiding grace, and blessing him with wonderful gifts, and giving him the Garden of Paradise to live in, He commanded him not to eat of the fruit of a certain tree.[2]

“Of every tree of Paradise, thou shalt eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat; for in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death” (Gen. 2:16, 17).  The fruit of the forbidden tree was not evil in itself, for in Paradise God did not place anything bad.  The fruit itself was not bad but the picking of the fruit was forbidden; and if Adam and Eve partook of it, they would have disobeyed God.[3]

Adam and Eve did not obey the commandment of God, but ate of the forbidden fruit.[4]

On account of their sin Adam and Eve lost sanctifying grace, the right to Heaven, and their special gifts; they became subject to death, to suffering, to a strong inclination to evil, and were driven from the Garden of Paradise.[5]

On account of the sin of Adam, we, his descendants, come into the world deprived of sanctifying grace and inherit his punishment, as we would have inherited his gifts had he been obedient to God.[6]

God punished Adam and Eve for the sin they committed.  “And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken.” (Gen. 3:23).[7]

All mankind must suffer for the sin of Adam because he was the head and representative of the whole human family.[8]

Because of original sin, heaven was closed to all men until the death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Our Lord instituted the sacrament of Baptism in order to restore to us the right to Heaven that Adam had lost.[9]

Because of Adam’s sin, we were also cast out of Paradise, deprived of complete happiness, and relegated to a life of suffering.  The mere fact that man was cast out of Paradise means suffering in a world of wars, bad weather, hard work, poor health, and death.  God was completely just in punishing the whole human race with a life of suffering.  But He is also a very loving and generous God and, in effect, gave us a second chance to earn Heaven by His coming to earth and suffering and dying for us.  So, we are given this second opportunity to earn Heaven through a life of suffering which can even be satisfying if done for the love of God.  For with God, nothing that is suffered for His sake, no matter how small, can pass without reward. 

Be prepared for the fight, then, if you wish to gain the victory.  Without struggle you cannot obtain the crown of patience, and if you refuse to suffer you are refusing the crown.  But if you desire to be crowned, fight manfully and bear up patiently.  Without labor there is no rest, and without fighting, no victory.[10]

Some believe they can avoid suffering by the use of drugs or alcohol, but this only results in more severe suffering.  We must realize our second chance to earn Heaven is through our willingness to suffer for God as He so willingly suffered for us during His life on earth and during His Passion.  He demonstrated how to suffer willingly and lovingly. 

It is important to suffer in silence as Our Lord did.  To complain about how you suffer in order to receive sympathy from others is counter-productive.  So, suffer in silence for the love of God.

I recommend you recite each day the following prayer:

O my God, from this moment forward I accept with a joyful and resigned heart, the death [and life] You will be pleased to send me, with all its pains, sufferings, and anguish.[11]



[1]           My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha, WI, ©1949, p.36.

[2]           My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha, WI, ©1949, p.37.

[3]           My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha, WI, ©1949, p.37.

[4]           My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha, WI, ©1949, p.37.

[5]           My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha, WI, ©1949, p.40.

 

[6]           My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha, WI, ©1949, pp. 40-41.

[7]           My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha, WI, ©1949, p.40.

[8]           My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha, WI, ©1949, p.41.

[9]           My Catholic Faith, Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, My Mission House, Kenosha, WI, ©1949, p.41.

[10]         Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis; Book III, Ch. 19.

[11]             How to Be Happy; How to Be Holy, by Father Paul O’Sullivan, O.P., TAN, Rockford, © 1942, p.183 (bracketed words added as a suggestion).

Do You Sometimes Wonder How You’re Going to Die?

Do You Sometimes Wonder
How You’re Going to Die?

Most of us lead busy lives and maybe don’t have much time to ponder that question.  But occasionally, we may get a reminder that our lifespan isn’t endless, and at some point, it’s going to come to a close.  For example, we might have a close brush with another driver on the highway.  For some, it might be a call from your doctor.  Or for a soldier, being sent into combat might be that reminder.  Catching the Chinese Covid might have caused some to wonder if “this is it”.  Drive-by shootings are responsible for many people meeting their ends unexpectedly in these lawless times.  And on and on.

Older people may have more of a tendency to wonder what’s in store for them because, of course, their eternity is likely much closer to them than, say, a teenager’s.

Besides considering your future death, hovering at the margins of your thoughts you might also be concern about what future years have in store for you.  Is it travel, good health, peace, comfort, enjoyment, etc.?  Or might it be bedridden years, disability, wheelchairs, heart attacks, etc.?

This is a point at which having the traditional Catholic Faith pays off big-time.  Holding on to your Faith through all these years of controversy and heresy has now armed you with the ability to see through the doubt and worry about your future, and focus on Our Lord guiding you to your life’s goal: eternal salvation.

Yes, you could still suffer affliction, distress, or adversity, but you have the certain knowledge that God has sent you only what you need to save your soul.  And if God – Who loves you and has your best interests at heart – sends these troubles to you, it can only be because you need them to get to heaven.  And how can you argue with that?

If you didn’t have this Divine assistance, the future would be quite bleak, or worrisome, or even frightening.  But the good Lord knows that we feeble humans need His help – especially toward the end of our lives, whenever that might come.  Thus, He has given us some extraordinary helps to aid us in the waning moments or the dwindling days of our lives.

St. Francis de Sales says that to wish to do the Will of God is of unspeakable merit.  He states that if a Christian (read: traditional Catholic) learns of his impending death and accepts it because it is God’s Will, he might go straight to heaven.

Pope St. Pius X seems to have had this doctrine in mind when he granted a plenary indulgence at the hour of death when this prayer is said:

 

O my God, from this moment forward I accept with a joyful and resigned heart the death You will be pleased to send me, with all its pains, sufferings, and anguish![1]



[1]           How to Be Happy, How to be Holy, Rev. Paul O’Sullivan, O.P., Tan Books, ©1942, p.183.

Catholic Candle note: The quote below from Pope Gregory XVI is a good reminder that we must fight the pernicious error of religious liberty for error.  Here is an article showing that Vatican II’s teaching of religious liberty contradicted the continual and infallible teaching of the Catholic Church: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/religious-liberty-vatican-ii.html

 

Here is an article about the SSPX’s weak and false position regarding religious liberty: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/priests/fellay-pozzo-religious-liberty.html

 

 

Words to Live by – from Catholic Tradition

 

Words of Pope Gregory XVI (1765-1846)

condemning the insanity of religious liberty

 

From this poisoned source of indifferentism springs that false and absurd maxim, better termed the insanity [deliramentum] that liberty of conscience must be obtained and guaranteed for everyone.  This is the most contagious of errors, which prepares the way for that absolute and totally unrestrained liberty of opinions which, for the ruin of Church and State, is spreading everywhere….  Here we must include that harmful and never sufficiently denounced freedom to publish any writings whatever and disseminate them to the people, which some dare to demand and promote with so great a clamor.  We are horrified to see what monstrous doctrines and prodigious errors are disseminated far and wide in countless books, pamphlets and other writings….  Some are so carried away that they contentiously assert that the flock of errors arising from them is sufficiently compensated by the publication of some book which defends religion and truth….  Is there any sane man who would say poison ought to be distributed, sold publicly, stored and even drunk, because some antidote is available and those who use it may be snatched from death again and again?

 

Pope Gregory XVI Encyclical Mirari Vos, August 15, 1832, ¶¶ 14-15.