Author: Catholic Candle
Words to Live by – from Catholic Tradition
The Imitation of Christ:
It is God’s prerogative to give grace and to console when He wishes, as much as He wishes, and whom He wishes, as it shall please Him, and no more.
The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis, Book III, Chapter 7.
The Conciliar Church is More Anti-Catholic Than Protestant Sects
The (false) conciliar church is, in a sense, even more anti-Catholic because it is able to hide behind a trusted name: Catholic. Catholics were always instructed to obey
what they were taught in Catholic schools, heard from the pulpit on Sundays, or read in the diocesan newspaper. Why wouldn’t we believe what they tell us?
God “called” them to the religious life; they studied God’s word for many years, and they have our salvation at heart.
Recent history shows that this false sense of obedience is the main reason for so many of the world’s Catholics accepting the (anti-Catholic) conciliar church. The followers of all these churches found it was easier to go along (i.e., obey) to get along, and thus avoid controversy and criticism, and so, evade the responsibility of looking into (or resisting) what they saw going on in their church.
Decentralized Authority is at the heart of anti-Catholic churches. As church authority goes, so go the churches. As you know,
- It began at the time of Creation, when Lucifer declared, “Non serviam.”
- Luther maintained “that the pope had no more jurisdiction than the archbishop of Magdeburg or the bishop of Paris.”[1]
- The Anglicans placed the king of England as the supreme authority of their church in England.
- And now, the Second Vatican Council’s conciliar church authorities are meeting regularly in order to promote decentralization.
This deceptive tactic has the goal of having local dioceses or area bishops’ councils making decisions not properly theirs to make.
If this push for conciliar decentralization is more fully instituted, here are a few changes you will see in the conciliar church:
- married priests;
- women priests and bishops;
- acceptance of unnatural lifestyles;
- civil divorce;
5. elimination of Holy Days of Obligation; and
6. meat on all Fridays.
There will be many other destructive changes – to doctrine and morals. The conciliar hierarchy will claim that modern life is full of changes so it is only natural that religious faith has to change and keep current and relevant. Wrong, wrong! God does not change.
Most Catholics don’t want to believe the truth – that the conciliar church in Rome is anti-Catholic and is the seat of the anti-Christ, as predicted by Our Lady at Fatima. This is the same anti-Catholic conciliar church by which the liberal N-SSPX very much wants to be accepted and recognized and with which the N-SSPX is willing to compromise in whatever way is “necessary”.
It is important to understand that Christ established His Divine Mystical Body, the Catholic Church, with one infallible head (i.e., the pope) to rule for Him on earth.
This doctrine is the platform that stabilized and expanded His Church worldwide, with millions of followers.
Enemies of the Church realize that in order to eliminate the Catholic Church, they must destroy or greatly weaken God’s plan for Church authority. Currently, Rome with a weak pope, is doing just that by having synods on changing the source of Church authority to a democracy, or to decentralized decision-making.
We must hold fast in the real Resistance, and to pray daily for Russia to be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is the solution to the problems in the human element of the Catholic Church.
[1] The Catholic Dictionary and Encyclopedia of Religious Information, Addis & Arnold, The Catholic Publication Society, New York, ©1884, page 535.
The new liberal SSPX accepts the post-conciliar popes as saints
The saints are our models and we should follow the saints. The “new” liberal SSPX now recognizes the conciliar popes as saints and so joins the conciliar church in giving them to us as models.
The N-SSPX tries to soften its new position by retreating into the pseudo-conservative position that those conciliar papal saints are inferior to some saints of the past and cannot do as much as those great saints in the past. Here are the N-SSPX’s words, comparing St. Theresa of Avila to those post-conciliar, papal (false) saints:
[St. Theresa of Avila is ] a proof that one single canonized saint can do more that the myriad of saints currently being raised to the dignity of the altar after hasty and doubtful procedures. The recent canonizations of John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II are a sorry illustration of this ….[1]
You can see the N-SSPX now officially recognizes these conciliar popes as saints. Note too, the N-SSPX inconsistently admits the canonization procedures are hasty and doubtful.
Warning to N-SSPX followers: The N-SSPX is using gradualism against you and thereby is weakening you and conditioning you to be comfortable in the conciliar church. Leave the N-SSPX while you still have the strength!
[1] Quoted from: https://fsspx.news/en/news-events/news/feast-st-teresa-avila-41404
(emphasis added).
Vatican II Teaches the Heresy that Everyone Receives Grace
Catholic Candle note:
If only warned once against the principal errors of our Time, most people will lose their Faith. They must be reminded periodically about each of these errors and the opposing Catholic Truth. They will appreciate these reminders if they love the Faith, just like a man loves hearing people praise his spouse, if he loves her.
People are continually bombarded with liberalism from all sides. They will gradually and imperceptibly succumb to liberalism if they simply are not regularly warned and reminded about these errors which are foisted upon them repeatedly.
Below, is an article about the error that everyone receives grace. This article is an expanded version of an article we printed in February 2017. A few weeks before that earlier article, Bishop Richard Williamson published the error that God gives grace to all men. Here are Bishop Williamson’s words:
[T]o all men He [i.e., God] gives grace sufficient for them to know Him and love Him and so get to Heaven.[1]
The present article does not mention Bishop Williamson because he has changed his position. He now correctly refers to men “possibly” receiving sanctifying grace, showing he no longer holds that everyone receives grace. Here are his words:
And men are torn between the two from conception until death, because they receive from God their basic human nature and possibly sanctifying grace which both incline them to God, while from the Fall of Adam their nature is wounded with original sin which inclines them to Satan and to evil. Nor can any man alive avoid this conflict.[2]
Thus, to his credit, Bishop Williamson did his duty and publicly corrected his previous public error and scandal on this issue. Please pray for him that he corrects his other errors too.[3] When those errors are corrected, we will enthusiastically and gratefully welcome him and support him!
A person might be tempted to hold the feel-good belief circulating in our modernist age, that everyone receives grace. This false belief agrees with our democratic mentality that everyone deserves equal opportunity to achieve his goals. However, grace is a free, undeserved gift of God’s generosity, which He does not give to everyone.
As St. Thomas Aquinas explains, it is not unfair or unjust that God does not give all men grace because grace is not a debt that God owes in justice. Here are St. Thomas’s words, in which he contrasts debts owed in justice, to the gratuitous nature of God’s free and undeserved gift of grace:
There is a twofold giving. One belongs to justice, and occurs when we give a man his due. In this type of giving, [the sin of] respect of persons takes place [viz., fulfilling (or not fulfilling) our duty of justice based on the status of the particular person].
The other giving belongs to liberality, when one gives gratis that which is not a man’s due. Such is the bestowal of the gifts of grace, whereby sinners are chosen by God. In such giving, there is no place for respect of persons, because anyone may, without injustice, give of his own as much as he will, and to whom he will, according to Matt. 20:14 & 15: “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will? … Take what is thine, and go thy way.”[4]
Modernists (e.g., de Lubac) promote acceptance for the heresy of universal salvation by teaching that God gives grace to everyone. For, if God gave everyone grace, then it would appear to narrow the chasm between all men and salvation.
The error that everyone receives grace also promotes the heresy of naturalism. If a person (wrongly) considers grace as something given to every man simply because he is human, then this confuses the supernatural order with the natural order. That is why Pope Pius XII, as part of his condemnation of heretical naturalism, insisted that God has no obligation to call all persons to salvation (which would require Him to give them grace). Pope Pius XII condemned the modernist Henri de Lubac (who became a Cardinal after Vatican II), in these words:
Some [persons] … destroy the gratuity of the supernatural order, since God, they say, cannot create intellectual beings without ordering and calling them to the beatific vision.
Humani generis, §26 (emphasis added).[5]
This “calling them to the beatific vision” would require God to give them grace because (as St. Thomas explains) “no one can come … to the glory of the vision of God … except through grace”.[6]
Further, as St. Thomas teaches, “the very least grace is sufficient to … merit eternal life.”[7] Thus, in effect, Pope Pius XII condemned the naturalist heresy that God cannot create mankind without giving all men the grace “ordering and calling them to the beatific vision.”
Because grace and the call[8] to the beatific vision are free, undeserved gifts of God, God gives these gifts to only some men. God does no injustice to those men to whom He does not give grace.[9]
Vatican II Teaches the Error that God gives Grace to Everyone
As one of its countless errors, Vatican II teaches that God gives all men grace. For example, in Lumen Gentium, the council teaches: “Christ … communicated truth and grace to all.” Lumen Gentium, §8 (emphasis added).
As explained above, Vatican II’s error destroys the gratuitousness of God’s free, undeserved gift of grace. As shown below, one of the most obvious ways to see this error, is by considering that a baby cannot go to heaven without baptism.
Everyone Who Dies Without Baptism and Before the Use of Reason, Dies Without Grace and Cannot Save His Soul
St. Thomas explains the teaching of the Catholic Church:
[M]an is not justified from sin[10] [including original sin] except by grace … [and] the very least grace is sufficient to … merit eternal life.[11]
But babies can only receive grace through Baptism (because they cannot use their reason and so cannot have Baptism of Desire[12]). As the Summa explains:
[S]ometimes Baptism cannot be omitted without loss of eternal salvation, as in the case of children who have not come to the use of reason.[13]
Because a baby cannot get to heaven without grace and cannot obtain grace without baptism, the Church insists on prompt baptism. As St. Thomas explains:
[W]e must make a distinction and see whether those who are to be baptized are children or adults. For if they be children, Baptism should not be deferred. First, because in them we do not look for better instruction or fuller conversion. Secondly, because of the danger of death, for no other remedy is available for them besides the sacrament of Baptism.[14]
Summary of the Above Explanation
We see that God does not owe grace to anyone as a matter of justice. Rather, grace is a free, undeserved gift of God and He chooses to give it to some persons and not to others. God could choose to give baptism (and grace) to all unbaptized babies who die before the age of reason, but He does not.
It is a heresy (promoted by conciliar revolutionaries such as de Lubac) that God must call all intellectual beings to beatitude (and thus give them the grace required for this call to beatitude).
Unbaptized babies (who die before the age of reason) are obvious examples of persons to whom God never gives grace. If they received grace, no one would be in Limbo.
This suffices to show that Vatican II plainly teaches heresy[15] when it says that God gives grace to everyone.
It is Rash to Declare that God gives Grace even to All Adults.
It is rash to say that God gives grace to all adults. Such a statement ignores that grace is a free, undeserved gift of God and that God gives grace only to whom He wills. As St. Thomas explains, following St. Ambrose:
[T]he extrinsic and chief cause of devotion is God, of Whom [St.] Ambrose, commenting on Luke 9:55, says that “God calls whom He
deigns to call, and whom He wills, He makes religious; the profane
Samaritans[16], had He so willed,[17] He would have made devout.”[18]
St. Thomas Aquinas, the Greatest Doctor of the Church, follows St. Augustine, who is the Doctor of Grace, in teaching that God does not give grace to all adults. Here are St. Thomas’s words, quoting St. Augustine:
If we understand those things alone to be in a man's power, which we can do without the help of grace, then we are bound to do many things which we cannot do without the aid of healing grace, such as to love God and our neighbor, and likewise to believe the articles of faith. But with the help of grace we can do this, for this help “to whomsoever it is given from above it is mercifully given; and from whom it is withheld it is justly withheld, as a punishment of a previous, or at least of original sin,” as Augustine states.[19]
Note that St. Thomas, quoting St. Augustine, explains that God withholds grace from someone (although that person cannot obey all God’s commands without grace), either because that person has actual sins or at least because of original sin.
Prior unfaithfulness and actual sin are only further reasons (in addition to original sin) why God might never give grace to some adult, just as He also chooses to give no grace to unbaptized babies.
Summary of the Reasons so far, showing that Vatican II Teaches Heresy
The Catholic Faith teaches us that grace is a free, undeserved gift that God owes to no one and does not give to everyone.
Vatican II falsely teaches that everyone receives grace. Its teaching is false for at least five reasons:
- The council’s error means all unbaptized babies go to heaven, because those babies would receive grace (along with everyone else). But those babies cannot lose grace because they cannot commit actual sin and so unbaptized babies who die, must all go to heaven because they all die with grace. The Catholic Faith teaches the opposite, viz., that no unbaptized babies go to heaven.
- The council’s error destroys the gratuity of God’s free and undeserved gift of grace.
- The council’s error promotes the heretical naturalism condemned by Pope Pius XII.
- The council’s error promotes universal salvation, by appearing to narrow the chasm between all men and salvation.
- The council’s error rashly contradicts the great Doctors of the Church, and claims that all adults receive grace.
In teaching that God gives grace to everyone, Vatican II teaches an error about the Catholic Faith. In other words, it teaches heresy.
Another reason it is clear that not everyone receives grace
When a person receives grace, he receives the Catholic Faith because grace causes the Catholic Faith in our souls.[20] In other words, if a man has grace, he has the Catholic Faith also.[21]
It is the Catholic Faith which causes a person to become (or remain) Catholic. If the person loses grace (and charity) through mortal sin but still has the Faith, then he becomes a dead member of the Church but remains Catholic.
If it were true that everyone receives grace, then it would be true that everyone receives the Catholic Faith, because grace causes the Faith. If everyone receives the Catholic Faith, then everyone becomes a Catholic.
But it is false that everyone becomes Catholic. The Catholic Church differentiates apostates (who reject the Catholic Faith which they previously held) from other non-Catholics, e.g., Jews and pagans (who never had the Catholic Faith).[22]
Thus, it is false that everyone receives grace, because it would make them all Catholics, and make all non-Catholics into apostates when they then reject the Catholic Faith (which is caused by grace).
Does this mean that non-Catholics go to hell without their own fault?
No. We cannot get to heaven without God’s help. However, anyone who goes to hell, goes there through his own fault. God judges and blames him for the sins he committed freely, not for lacking the free gifts of grace God chose not to give him.
The Natural Law is in every man’s heart and a man goes to hell because of his sins against the Natural Law, even if he did not have knowledge of the true Catholic Faith.[23]
If it were supposed that a man would somehow live his whole life without committing any mortal sin, yet he did not have any grace (and so could not go to heaven), then he would go to a place of natural happiness, the Limbo of the Babies. The reality, though, is that, without grace, such a man commits mortal sin by his own free will and so goes to hell.
Using a Vatican Holy Office condemnation from 1690, to falsely support the error that everyone receives grace
Some people might wrongly suppose that a Vatican Holy Office condemnation from 1690, supports the error that everyone receives grace. Here is that statement condemned by the Holy Office in 1690:
Condemned:
Pagans, Jews, heretics, and others of this kind do not receive in any way any influence from Jesus Christ, and so you will rightly infer from this that in them there is a bare and weak will without any sufficient grace.[24]
To infer means to “derive as a conclusion from facts or premises”.[25] The Vatican Holy Office condemns the idea that from the bare fact that a person is not Catholic, we can rightly conclude he has not received grace. This condemnation tells us that some non-Catholics receive grace (otherwise we could rightly conclude none receive grace). Of those non-Catholics who receive grace, they either reject that grace or use it to begin a Catholic life.
Through this condemnation, we know that some non-Catholics receive grace. But this does not allow us to conclude that all non-Catholics receive grace. This is like when we know that some members of a family are female, this does not allow us to conclude that all members of the family are female.
The Jansenists were wrong when they said that no non-Catholics receive grace. Although this Jansenist statement is justly condemned, it does not pertain to the issue at hand because the truth is that grace is a gratuitous (free) gift which God gives to whom He wills, including to some non-Catholics. However, God does not give grace to everyone, as is clear from the explanation in this article and from the existence of the Limbo of the Babies; (no one would be in limbo if everyone received grace).
It is a mystery of God’s Providence what graces He does (and doesn’t) give, and to whom He gives (and doesn’t give) them, according to His Will.[26]
Conclusion
Let us thank God with all our heart for the precious gift of grace, through which the Catholic Faith, the Catholic life, and salvation are opened to us!
How much more we should be grateful for this blessing, because we see that the gift of grace is not given to everyone and that God first gave it to us as His free, undeserved gift, not because of our prior merits!
[1] January 14, 2017 Eleison Comments #496 (emphasis added; bracketed word added for clarity).
[2] April 6, 2019 Eleison Comments, #612 (emphasis added).
[3] Bishop Williams teaches errors on many subjects, e.g., he says that Traditional Catholics can go the new mass if it helps them. Read his words cited from his own source, here: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/priests/williamson-traditional-new-mass.html
[4] Summa, IIa IIae, Q.63, a.1, ad 3 (emphasis and bracketed words added; ellipsis in original).
[5] The connection between de Lubac and this condemnation, is set forth in Si Si No No issue #5, December 1993, in an article entitled They Think They’ve Won, Part three.
[6] Here is the longer quote: “the holy Fathers [of the Old Testament] were delivered from hell by being admitted to the glory of the vision of God, to which no one can come except through grace; according to Rom. 6:23: ‘The grace of God is life everlasting.’” Summa, III, Q. 52, a.7, respondeo; the quote from St. Paul is in the original.
[7] Summa, IIIa, Q.62, a.6, ad 3.
[8] Not only is the Beatific Vision itself a gratuitous gift of God but even the call itself to the beatific vision is a free, undeserved gift of God, which He does not give to all men. Our Lord teaches us that “many [not all] are called but few are chosen.” St. Matthew, 22:14 (bracketed words added).
[9] St. Thomas gives an example of men not given grace, when he teaches: “God hid [true] wisdom from the [worldly] wise by not giving them grace.” Quoted from Lectures on St. Matthew’s Gospel, St. Thomas Aquinas, ch.11, §960. St. Thomas is explaining the Gospel verse “because Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent” (bracketed words added to reflect the context).
Because grace is a free, undeserved gift of God, these worldly-wise men have no cause to claim that God was unjust by withholding His grace.
[10] i.e., so that his sins are forgiven.
[11]
Summa, III, Q.62, a.6, ad 3 (bracketed words added).
[12]
Contrary to the Feeneyite errors, the Catholic Church teaches the possibility of Baptism of Desire and Baptism of Blood. Read the explanation here: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/the-catholic-teaching-of-baptism-of-desire-and-baptism-of-blood.html
[13]
Summa Supp., Q.8, a.1, ad 2.
[14]
Summa, III, Q.68, a.3, respondeo (emphasis added).
[15] Heresy is an error about the Catholic Faith. Here is how St. Thomas Aquinas explains this truth:
We are speaking of heresy now as denoting a corruption of the Christian Faith. Now it does not imply a corruption of the Christian faith, if a man has a false opinion in matters that are not of faith, for instance, in questions of geometry and so forth, which cannot belong to the faith by any means; but only when a person has a false opinion about things belonging to the faith.
Now a thing may be of the faith in two ways, as stated above, in one way, directly and principally, e.g. the articles of faith; in another way, indirectly and secondarily, e.g. those matters, the denial of which leads to the corruption of some article of faith; and there may be heresy in either way, even as there can be faith.
Summa, IIa IIae, Q.11, a.2, respondeo (emphasis added).
[16] The Samaritans were heretics who lived between Judea and Galilee. See, St. John’s Gospel, ch.4.
[17] One might think that God gives everyone grace because God “will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:4. However, God wills all men to be saved upon a condition which was not fulfilled, viz., that there be no sin.
Because sin entered the world, God’s unconditional will is that some persons are not saved and are not even “called” through grace. For “many [not all] are called but few are chosen.” St. Matthew’s Gospel, 22:14 (bracketed words added).
Among the examples of men that God could have saved but chose not to save (or even give them any grace), are babies who die without baptism, and also “the profane Samaritans [whom], had He so willed, He would have made devout”.
[18] Summa, IIa IIae, Q.82, a.3 (emphasis added).
[19] Summa, IIa IIae, Q.2 a.5. ad 1, emphasis added, quoting St. Augustine from De Corr. et Grat. v, vi [Cf. Epistle 190; De Praed. Sanct., viii.].
[20] Here is how St. Thomas explains this important truth:
Grace causes faith not only when faith begins anew to be in a man, but also as long as faith lasts. For it has been said above (I:104:1; I-II:109:9) that God is always working man’s justification, even as the sun is always lighting up the air. Hence grace is not less effective when it comes to a believer than when it comes to an unbeliever: since it causes faith in both, in the former by confirming and perfecting it, in the latter by creating it anew.
Summa, IIa IIae, Q.4 a.4, ad 3 (emphasis added).
[21] As the First Vatican Council teaches:
[Faith is] a supernatural virtue by which, under the inspiration and the aid of the grace of God, we believe that which He has revealed to us to be true: we believe it, not because of the intrinsic truth of the things seen by the natural light of our reason, but because of the very authority of God who has revealed us these truths, Who can neither deceive nor be deceived.
Vatican I, Session 3, ch.3, Denz. 3008 (emphasis added).
[22] For example, here is St. Thomas Aquinas, distinguishing between those non-Catholics who had previously been Catholic, and other persons who had never been Catholic: St. Thomas explains:
[T]he unbelief of heretics, who confess their belief in the Gospel, and resist that faith by corrupting it, is a more grievous sin than that of the Jews, who have never accepted the Gospel faith. Since, however, they accepted the figure of that faith in the Old Law, which they corrupt by their false interpretations, their unbelief is a more grievous sin than that of the heathens, because the latter have not accepted the Gospel faith in any way at all.
Summa, IIa IIae, Q.10, a.6.
[23] The Natural Law is what we know we must do by the light of the natural reason God gave us. One example of the Natural Law is that we must never tell a lie. We naturally know this because we know that the purpose of speech is to convey the truth and so we naturally know that telling a lie is abusing the purpose of speech.
Here is how St. Thomas explains what the Natural Law is:
[L]aw, being a rule and measure, can be in a person in two ways: in one way, as in him that rules and measures; in another way, as in that which is ruled and measured, since a thing is ruled and measured, in so far as it partakes of the rule or measure. Wherefore, since all things subject to Divine Providence are ruled and measured by the eternal law, as was stated above [in Summa, Ia IIae, Q.91, a.1]; it is evident that all things partake somewhat of the eternal law, in so far as, namely, from its being imprinted on them, they derive their respective inclinations to their proper acts and ends. Now among all others, the rational creature is subject to Divine Providence in the most excellent way, in so far as it partakes of a share of providence, by being provident both for itself and for others. Wherefore it has a share of the Eternal Reason, whereby it has a natural inclination to its proper act and end: and this participation of the eternal law in the rational creature is called the natural law. Hence the Psalmist after saying (Psalm 4:6): "Offer up the sacrifice of justice," as though someone asked what the works of justice are, adds: “Many say, Who showeth us good things?”, in answer to which question he says: “The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us”: thus implying that the light of natural reason, whereby we discern what is good and what is evil, which is the function of the natural law, is nothing else than an imprint on us of the Divine light. It is therefore evident that the natural law is nothing else than the rational creature’s participation of the eternal law.
Summa, Ia IIae, Q.91, a.2, respondeo.
[24] Statement condemned in a Decree of the Holy Office, Dec. 7, 1690, 2305 Denzinger’s Enchiridion Symbolorum #1295, °5 (emphasis added).
[26] The Jansenist statement is also justly condemned for a second reason: it says that no non-Catholics “receive in any way any influence from Jesus Christ”. There are many ways Our Lord influences various non-Catholics. For example, He gives some of them grace. Some, He influences through His Church by sending missionaries to them. To some, He gives Catholic neighbors. Some, He causes to attend a Catholic school. There are countless other ways too, that Jesus Christ influences non-Catholics. However, we do not discuss this further because we have already shown above that the condemned Jansenist statement does not pertain to the issue whether everyone receives grace.
Complete Contentment Without the Mass When it is not available without compromise
Catholic Candle note: In the human element of the Catholic Church, there is now a great crisis in the Faith. The formerly traditional groups (e.g., the SSPX and the Williamson group) have compromised. One consequence is that the Mass is usually not available to most faithful and informed Catholics because they refuse to go to a Mass offered by a priest in a compromise group.
Many Catholics at various times in Church history have had to sanctify Sundays without the Mass, e.g., Japanese Catholics, for 300 years. We recommend this article to help you do that: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/sanctifying-sunday-no-mass.html
However, the article below shows us that we should not be anxious or think that God has abandoned us when we do not have the Mass and sacraments because we reject compromise. Rather, this is a glorious time to be a faithful Catholic and this crisis in the Faith is a blessing to strengthen our Faith![1] As shown in the article below, we should be perfectly content that God placed us in the present time where the uncompromising Mass is rare.
God is our goal. All other things – even very good things – are important only as means to attain and increase Divine friendship, which is the theological virtue of charity.[2]
The Mass and sacraments are usual (and wonderful) means through which God befriends a soul, infusing charity into the soul. However, God sometimes chooses to use other means instead, as he has with many Catholics over the last 2000 years.[3]
We must make ourselves indifferent to any particular means (even very good means) for arriving at our goal (viz., a continually deeper friendship with God). We must only seek any particular means – including the Mass and sacraments – to the extent God wills us to have them. No means are helpful to attain friendship with God unless God wants us to use those means in our circumstances. We should not want any means – even very good means like the Mass – which God does not want us to use in our circumstances.
Here is how St. Ignatius of Loyola explains this truth in the Spiritual Exercises that he received from Our Lady, in the cave of Manresa, Spain, in 1522:
Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. And the other things on the face of the earth are created for man that they may help him in prosecuting the end for which he is created.
From this it follows that man is to use them as much as they help him on to his end, and ought to rid himself of them so far as they hinder him as to it. For this it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things in all that is allowed to the choice of our free will and is not prohibited to it; so that, on our part, we want not health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, long rather than short life, and so in all the rest; desiring and choosing only what is most conducive for us to the end for which we are created.[4]
But we often fool ourselves that we are doing God’s will, when we are really seeking to do our own will. For example, we justify attending Mass with a compromise group because “I need my sacraments to grow closer to God”. We are discontent without the Mass because being without the Mass is not the means we choose for sanctifying our souls.
St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Doctor of the Church, calls a “childish” to worry about God-given circumstances that keep us from attending Mass or receiving the sacraments. Here are St. Alphonsus’ words:
How childish the pretense of those who protest they wish for health not to escape suffering, but to serve our Lord better by being able to observe their Rule, to serve the community, go to church, receive Communion, do penance, study, work for souls in the confessional and pulpit! Devout soul, tell me, why do you desire to do these things? To please God?[5]
Let us no longer be childish or discontent that we do not have the Mass and sacraments available to us! We should be perfectly content without them as long as God chooses that we have nowhere to attend Mass without compromise. In the circumstances in which God has lovingly placed us, it pleases Him that we do not have the Mass and sacraments!
As St. Alphonsus explains, it would displease God for us to attend Mass or receive the sacraments when God places us in the circumstances He has. Here are St. Alphonsus’ words in the context of being unable to receive the sacraments because of sickness:
Why then search any further to please God when you are sure God does not wish these prayers, Communions, penances or studies, but he does wish that you suffer patiently this sickness he sends you? Unite then your sufferings to those of our Lord.[6]
When a priest or group compromises, God does not Will the compromises as such, because they are sins. However, God does Will the effect on us, viz., that we cannot attend Mass because of those compromises. Here is the way St. Alphonsus explains this truth:
It is true, when one offends us unjustly, God does not will his sin, nor does he concur in the sinner’s bad will; but God does, in a general way, concur in the material action by which such a one strikes us, robs us or does us an injury, so that God certainly wills the offense we suffer and it comes to us from His hands. Thus, the Lord told David He would be the author of those things he would suffer at the hands of Absalom: “I will raise up evils against thee out of thy own house, and I will take thy wives before thy face and give them to thy neighbor.” Hence too, God told the Jews that in punishment for their sins, He would send the Assyrians to plunder them and spread destruction among them: “The Assyrian is the rod and staff of my anger . . . I will send him to take away the spoils.” “Assyrian wickedness served as God’s scourge for the Hebrews”, is St. Augustine’s comment on this text. And our Lord Himself told St. Peter that His sacred passion came not so much from man as from His Father: “The chalice which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?”[7]
Conclusion
It is easy to be glad to be healthy so that we can serve God better. However, we should be equally glad to be sick, if God sends us sickness. Thus, e.g., if our doctor tells us we should get a cancer screening test, we should be completely at peace while waiting for the test result. If the test shows we have cancer, this is merely God showing us the next way He wills us to serve Him (i.e., with cancer). Why would we want health if God shows us that He does not want it for us now?
Likewise, it is easy to rejoice to serve God through the Mass and sacraments. However, we should be equally happy and completely content without them if God chooses this for us. Why would we want the Mass and sacraments when God shows us that He does not want them for us now?
This is a glorious time to be Catholic! Let us be grateful to God and perfectly content with the circumstances into which He has placed us, including being without the Mass!
Priests, as well as laymen, should have this perfect contentment
Priests also, are susceptible to fear and discontent if they feel alone because of the compromises of other priests. Like laymen, they often rationalize that they must associate with compromise priests or bishops because they “need” a confessor, or they “need” holy oils and the sacrament of confirmation for their flock.
This is the same childish pretense that St. Alphonsus condemns in the context of going to church and receiving Communion. Instead, priests should give an example of a fearless and unshakeable Faith and perfect contentment without the sacraments when it is God’s Will. That is the lesson they need to teach their flock.
[1] Read this article about how the present crisis in the Church can help us strengthen our Faith: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/it-is-a-blessing-to-live-during-this-great-apostasy.html
[2] Charity is inherently Friendship with God. Here is how St. Thomas Aquinas, greatest Doctor of the Church, explains this truth:
It is written (John 15:15): “I will not now call you servants . . . but My friends.” Now this was said to them by reason of nothing else than charity. Therefore, charity is friendship. …
According to the Philosopher (Ethic. viii, 2,3) not every love has the character of friendship, but that love which is together with benevolence, when, to wit, we love someone so as to wish good to him. If, however, we do not wish good to what we love, but wish its good for ourselves, (thus we are said to love wine, or a horse, or the like), it is love not of friendship, but of a kind of concupiscence. For it would be absurd to speak of having friendship for wine or for a horse.
Yet neither does well-wishing suffice for friendship, for a certain mutual love is requisite, since friendship is between friend and friend: and this well-wishing is founded on some kind of communication.
Accordingly, since there is a communication between man and God, inasmuch as He communicates His happiness to us, some kind of friendship must needs be based on this same communication, of which it is written (1 Corinthians 1:9): “God is faithful: by Whom you are called unto the fellowship of His Son." The love which is based on this communication, is charity: wherefore it is evident that charity is the friendship of man for God.
Summa, IIa IIae, Q.23, a.1, sed contra and respondeo.
[3] For example, God used means other than the Mass and confession for 300 years with the Catholics in Japan, as well as in many other places, e.g., in France during the 1789 Masonic Revolution, and in Ecuador. Read about these periods in which God sanctified souls without the Mass and confession here: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/sanctifying-sunday-no-mass.html
[4] Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, beginning of the First Week, Principle and Foundation (emphasis added).
[5] St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Complete Uniformity to God’s Will, §5 (emphasis added). This work is available for free here: https://www.ecatholic2000.com/liguori/sal.shtml
[6] St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Complete Uniformity to God’s Will, §5 (emphasis added). This work is available for free here: https://www.ecatholic2000.com/liguori/sal.shtml
[7] St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Complete Uniformity to God’s Will, §2. This work is available for free here: https://www.ecatholic2000.com/liguori/sal.shtml
No Salvation outside the Catholic Church
Catholic Candle note:
If people are only warned once against the principal errors of our Time, most of them will not keep the Faith. They must be reminded periodically about each of these errors and the opposing Catholic Truth. They will appreciate these reminders if they love the Faith, just like a man loves hearing people mention his spouse, if he loves her.
People are continually bombarded with liberalism from all sides. They will gradually and imperceptibly succumb to liberalism if they simply are not regularly warned and reminded about these errors which are foisted upon them from all sides.
We see this happening now among the N-SSPX’s followers because that group has largely stopped preaching regularly against Vatican II[1] (as the SSPX used to do). The article below reviews a crucial Catholic dogma and the N-SSPX’s recent public doubting of this dogma.
There is No Salvation outside the Catholic Church
The Catholic Faith infallibly teaches that only Catholics go to heaven, because there is No Salvation outside the Catholic Church.
The Council of Florence and Pope Eugene IV infallibly declare:
The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the ‘eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matthew 25:41), unless before death they are joined with Her”.
Session 11.
Pope Boniface VIII infallibly declares:
With Faith urging us, we are forced to believe and to hold the one, holy, Catholic Church and that, apostolic, and we firmly believe and simply confess this (Church) outside which there is neither salvation, nor remission of sin”.
Unam Sanctam, 1302, Denz. 468.
Pope Sylvester II infallibly declares:
I believe that in Baptism all sins are forgiven, that one which was committed originally as much as those which are voluntarily committed, and I profess that outside the Catholic Church no one is saved.
Pope Sylvester II’s Profession of Faith, 991 AD.
Pope Innocent III infallibly declares:
By the heart, we believe and by the mouth we confess the one Church, not of heretics but the Holy Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church, outside which we believe that no one is saved.
Fitts exemplo, 1208, Denz. 423.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Greatest Doctor of the Church, declares:
[T]here is but one Church in which men find salvation, just as outside the Ark of Noah it was not possible for anyone to be saved.
Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed, at the article “The Holy Catholic Church”.
Saint Augustine, Doctor of the Church, declares:
He who is separated from the body of the Catholic Church, however laudable his conduct may otherwise seem, will never enjoy eternal life, and the anger of God remains on him by reason of the crime of which he is guilty in living separated from Christ.
St. Augustine’s Epistle 141.
Pope St. Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church, declares:
The Holy Catholic Church teaches that … all those who are separated from Her will not be saved.
De Moralis, bk.14, §5.
Pope Pius IX declares:
There is only one true, holy, Catholic Church, which is the Apostolic Roman Church. There is only one See founded in Peter by the word of the Lord, outside of which we cannot find either true faith or eternal salvation. He who does not have the Church for a mother cannot have God for a father, and whoever abandons the See of Peter on which the Church is established trusts falsely that he is in the Church.
Singulari Quidem, §4.
Pope Pius XI declares:
The Catholic Church alone is keeping the true worship. This is the font of truth, this is the house of faith, this is the temple of God; if any man enters not here, or if any man goes forth from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation.
Mortalium Animos, §11.
Saint Cyprian of Carthage, a Father of the Church, in writing against the heretics of his time who denied the “faith and truth of the Catholic Church”, declared that “there is no salvation out of the Church”. 3rd Century, Letter LXXII, To Jubaianus, Concerning the Baptism of Heretics, ¶¶ 20 & 21.
The Conciliar Church, the N-SSPX, and Bishop Williamson All Publicly Doubt the Dogma
The conciliar church promotes the idea of holiness and salvation outside the Catholic Church. For example, Vatican II declares that the Jews who have not converted to the Catholic Faith “remain most dear to God”.[2] Likewise, Pope John Paul II declared that Buddhists and other non-Catholics (as well as Catholics), are part of the “Church of the Living God”.[3]
As the “new” SSPX and Bishop Williamson are becoming more liberal, they are adopting more conciliar errors.[4] For example, Bishop Williamson doubts the dogma that there is No Salvation outside the Catholic Church.[5]
Recently, the N-SSPX’s superior general, Fr. Davide Pagliarani, doubted this same dogma. Here are his words:
If a soul can be saved outside the Catholic Church, it is despite the error in which it finds itself, and not thanks to it, and in any case, it is saved by Jesus Christ alone.[6]
Fr. Pagliarani here asserts the possibility that someone can be saved outside the Catholic Church. When Fr. Pagliarani says:
if a soul can be saved outside the Catholic Church … it is saved by Jesus
Christ
this is a shocking and Faith-destroying statement which suggests the impossible might be possible, leading many souls into liberalism.
Moreover, Fr Pagliarani contradicts himself. Jesus Christ saves souls by incorporating them into Himself. That is the only reason why God’s elect have their sins forgiven. The Body of Christ is the same thing as the Catholic Church. This is why Pius XI (above) described the Church as the temple of God, which was the way Jesus referred to His Body. St Paul uses both expressions to refer to his early converts and explain to them how Christ was atoning for their sin by incorporating them into Himself. See 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 1 Cor. 12:13, 27; Col. 2:11-14; John 2:19-22.
Faithful and informed Catholics would never entertain Fr. Pagliarani’s Faith-denying doubt that there might be salvation outside the Catholic Church even on the condition that salvation outside the Church was still through Jesus Christ. The statement is similar to:
if the devil can go to heaven, he is saved by Jesus Christ.
Faithful and informed Catholics would never say this about the devil even on condition! Yet the devil has as much chance of gaining heaven as does someone who dies outside the Catholic Church – that is, no chance!
Faithful and informed Catholics affirm the dogma that outside the Catholic Church “no one is saved.” Quoted from Fitts exemplo, 1208, Denz. 423 (emphasis added).
Fr. Pagliarani proves in other ways too, that he is a coward and a doctrinal weakling. In this same interview, he is directly asked if Jews must become Catholic. Here is the interviewer’s question:
Do the Jews also have to convert to the Catholic Church, as you say for Protestants?[7]
Weak Fr. Pagliarani does not answer that question which a faithful and informed Catholic could easily answer. Instead, he gives the non-answer that: 1) priests used to take the anti-modernist oath; and 2) Jews who wished to join the Catholic Church are allowed to enter. Here is his full answer to the interviewer’s question whether “the Jews also have to convert to the Catholic Church”:
Modernism is one of the most dangerous errors. Until the Second Vatican Council, the Church asked all priests to take the anti-modernist oath, which I have also taken. As for Judaism, it would be an unforgivable sin to exclude the Jewish people from the assets and the treasures of the Catholic Church. The salvific mission of the Church is universal, and she cannot leave out any people.[8]
Fr. Pagliarani and the “new” SSPX betray the Catholic Faith! They neither speak the truth freely nor defend it boldly. Thus, they betray God and the Catholic Faith. Here is how St. Thomas declares this truth:
He who does not speak the truth freely also betrays it, for it must be freely spoken; also, he who does not defend it boldly, betrays it, for it must be boldly defended.[9]
Conclusion
The conciliar church leaders betray the Faith. Beware: the traitors who are leading the N-SSPX and the Williamson group are leading their followers along the same conciliar path of modernism!
[1] For example, Fr. Daniel Cooper, SSPX, wrote regarding people who want the SSPX “to be attacking Vatican II from the pulpit. Very rarely is there a good reason to do this.” Read the longer quote here: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/priests/sspx-cooper-silent-vatican-ii.html
Fr. Cooper followed the liberal new direction of the SSPX. He has since died. The N-SSPX declared he entered heaven on the date he died. Read the quote here, taken from the SSPX’s own source: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/priests/sspx-travels-the-conciliar-path-toward-promoting-universal-salvation.html
Please pray for the repose of Fr. Cooper’s soul.
[2] Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, §16.
[3] Here is the longer quote from Pope John Paul II (before he became pope):
O God of infinite majesty! The Trappist or the Carthusian confesses this God by a whole life of silence. The Bedouin wandering in the desert turns toward him when the hour of prayer approaches. And this Buddhist monk absorbed in contemplation, who purifies his spirit in turning it towards Nirvana: but is it only towards Nirvana? … The Church of the Living God unites in her precisely these peoples who in some manner participate to [sic] this admirable and fundamental transcendence of the human spirit, because she knows that no one can appease the most profound aspirations of this spirit but He alone, the God of infinite majesty.
Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, The Sign of Contradiction, Ed. Fayard, 1979, pp. 31-32.
[4] Bishop Williamson rarely or never publicly condemns the N-SSPX’s liberalism and in fact, agrees with much of it. His only frequent criticism of the N-SSPX is its seeking a deal with modernist Rome. While such a deal will hasten the N-SSPX’s descent into ever-greater liberalism, the N-SSPX is continually becoming more liberal now.
[5] Read Bishop Williamson’s own words about non-Catholics going to heaven, quoted from his own source, in this article: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/priests/williamson-bishop-williamson-promotes-vatican-ii-heresy-that-people-can-be-saved-outside-the-catholic-church.html
[6] Words of Father Davide Pagliarani, Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, quoted from the interview he gave to the Austrian daily newspaper the Salzburger Nachrichten, and published on December 15, 2018. This interview can be found here: https://fsspx.news/en/news-events/news/it-inconceivable-church-was-mistaken-two-millennia-43158?utm_source=Society+of+Saint+Pius+X+%7C+Newsletter&utm_campaign=fb5d776750-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_12_15_11_06&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8c13eb2341-fb5d776750-203947293
(emphasis added).
[7] This interview can be found here: https://fsspx.news/en/news-events/news/it-inconceivable-church-was-mistaken-two-millennia-43158?utm_source=Society+of+Saint+Pius+X+%7C+Newsletter&utm_campaign=fb5d776750-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_12_15_11_06&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8c13eb2341-fb5d776750-203947293
[8] Words of Father Davide Pagliarani, Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, quoted from the interview he gave to the Austrian daily newspaper the Salzburger Nachrichten, and published on December 15, 2018. This interview can be found here: https://fsspx.news/en/news-events/news/it-inconceivable-church-was-mistaken-two-millennia-43158?utm_source=Society+of+Saint+Pius+X+%7C+Newsletter&utm_campaign=fb5d776750-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_12_15_11_06&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8c13eb2341-fb5d776750-203947293
(emphasis added).
[9]
St. Thomas Aquinas, The Ways of God for Meditation and Prayer, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, ©2007, p.97.
Vatican II does not teach anything infallibly
The labels which Vatican II gives to its documents
do not show that any of them teach infallibly. These labels merely show the council’s intellectual sloppiness.
There are many superficial reasons for supposing that Vatican II infallibly teaches truth and does not teach error. However, those suppositions are false. There are many proofs that Vatican II’s teachings are not infallible. For example:
- The council does not use the necessary language showing that it speaks infallibly.
- The council’s statements were deliberately made ambiguous and contradictory, whereas nothing which is ambiguous or contradictory can be infallible.
- The council’s teachings are novelties, whereas it is impossible for any novelties to be infallible.
- Even the council fathers and the popes during and after Vatican II agreed and declared that Vatican II is not infallible.
Read the full explanations of these proofs that Vatican II is not infallible, in this article: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/vatican-ii-is-not-infallible.html
Examination of another argument, viz., that certain documents of Vatican II are infallible based on their being designated as “dogmatic constitutions”.
There is another superficial argument sometimes given for supposing that Vatican II’s teachings are infallible (however much they plainly seem to contradict the truth).
According to this argument, Vatican II must teach infallibly at least in those documents which are called “dogmatic constitutions”, e.g., the council documents called Lumen Gentium and Dei Verbum. This argument supposes that those documents are infallible because Catholic dogma is infallible and the council’s label shows (supposedly) that those documents teach dogma.
But this supposition contains an unsupported assumption. Vatican II labeled these documents “dogmatic constitutions” but that label does not tell us that these documents infallibly define dogma. Those documents could be labeled “dogmatic constitutions” because they discuss dogmatic subjects without themselves infallibly defining any dogma.
On the other hand, other Vatican II documents which are not called “dogmatic constitutions” also discuss dogmas (and teach heresies against dogmas). Why aren’t those other documents also called “dogmatic constitutions”? What does that label tell us, if anything?
A prominent Protestant observer at Vatican II, Dr. Robert McAfee Brown, gave his eye-witness impression regarding the labels which the council placed on its documents:
In those early days of the Council there was much discussion about the relative degree of binding authority between, say, a ‘constitution’ and a ‘decree.’ It seemed fairly clear that a ‘constitution’ was of higher authority, and it would be a wise rule of interpretation to say that the ‘constitution’ On the Church [i.e., Lumen Gentium], for example, was the context in which to understand the ‘decree’ On Ecumenism, rather than vice versa. As it actually worked out, however, there seemed little reason by the end of the Council why The Church in the World Today [i.e., Gaudium et Spes] should be a ‘constitution’ (albeit a ‘pastoral constitution’) while the document on Missionary Activity should be a ‘decree’ or the statement on Religious Freedom a ‘declaration’.[1]
Our own research supports McAfee Brown on this historical point, viz., that there was not, and still is not, any authoritative clarity or any consistent and comprehensive rationale regarding the respective weights of the documents, based on their designated labels (viz., “dogmatic constitution”, “pastoral constitution”, “decree” or “declaration”). This lack of clarity is exemplified in Pope Paul VI calling the Declaration on Religious Liberty “one of the greatest documents of the Council”[2] even though it has what seems to be the lower status of a “declaration”.
This uncertainty fits with the revolutionary character of the council (and of the conciliar church since then), viz., that just like in other revolutions, much that occurs is unclear and in flux.[3]
All Vatican II documents are evil.[4] But regardless of whatever authority the council might be supposed to give the documents, there is no reason to suppose that their labels designate any of them as teaching infallibly, i.e., by the fact that the council teaches in a document designated as a “dogmatic constitution”.
Nothing in the conciliar church is carefully done or well thought-out.
The fruits of the conciliar church are not only evil, but are shallow. For example, the new mass is not only a sacrilege, but its inner emptiness is obvious from its banal outward manifestations, for example:
- Burlap vestments;
- Guitar-strumming folk songs;
- Childish banners;
- Sports equipment and breakfast cereal used in “bringing up the gifts”[5] (viz., at the new mass’s substitute for a real Offertory); and
- Countless other banalities.
The conciliar church is empty of meaning and is being emptied of people.
Protestant and conciliar intellectual bankruptcy
The conciliar church is merely “warmed over” Protestantism. As a consequence, it has no serious intellectual content (as the Protestants have none either). Before Vatican II, any large Catholic bookstore was replete with the riches and wisdom of 2000 years of the Church, e.g., St. Thomas Aquinas, the Imitation of Christ, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Augustine, Gregorian Chant, and so many other works from many centuries ago.
By contrast, walk into a Protestant bookstore before or after Vatican II, and you would find it is full of “bestsellers” and new, short-lived titles, because Protestantism has no serious legacy to offer from its five centuries of revolutionary existence.
The conciliar church is like Protestantism. Conciliar bookstores are full of new (post-Vatican II) offerings which are quickly replaced by the next fad-of-the-day and are forgotten. The conciliar church has no deep and penetrating theology or philosophy. Nothing conciliar is carefully done or well thought-out.
Under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, the Catholic Church has comprehensively worked out true theology and philosophy. In comparison, Protestant and conciliar thinkers are “lightweights” and amateurs (as well as revolutionaries). The edifice of Catholic intellectual patrimony, compared to Protestant and conciliar thought, is like a magnificent cathedral compared to a few sticks leaning against each other.
The haphazard way in which the documents of Vatican II were labeled, is an example of intellectual sloppiness and was a harbinger of what would come (and now exists) in the post-conciliar church.
Conclusion
The conciliar church does not have the answers any more than Protestantism does. They have nothing to add or give us except harm and evil.[6] Let us be ever grateful for the great spiritual and intellectual treasures of Catholic Tradition and enrich ourselves with them every day through study and prayer!
Catholic Candle note:
The conciliar church is Catholic in name only. A Catholic will gradually lose his Faith if he fails to understand that. When he hears the word “Catholic” outside of the context of genuine Traditional Catholicism, he should guard himself against conciliar poison by understanding that this word refers to anti-Catholicism.
Archbishop Lefebvre declared the conciliar church is a different, false church.[7] The “old” SSPX faithfully taught the same truth.[8] The “new” SSPX rejects its founder’s position and denies that the conciliar church is a separate (and false) church.[9] The N-SSPX priests and laymen will gradually lose their Faith under that delusion.
[1] Robert McAfee Brown, Ecumenical Revolution, Doubleday, Garden City, 1967 (2nd ed., 1969), p.176 (emphasis in original; bracketed words added for clarity).
[2] http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Dignitatis-Humanae,-the-dignity-of-man-in-the-encounter-between-Truth-and-conscience-26172.html.
[3] For an explanation why revolution is always wrong, read this article: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/against-sedevacantism.html#section-6
[4] E.g., regarding the hundreds of errors in Vatican II’s document, Lumen Gentium, as they are compared to the consistent teaching of the Fathers, Doctors and popes throughout the ages, read this article: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49oPuI54eEGbzRhdmQ3X0Z6RFE/view
There are about 19 errors per page in Vatican II’s document, Lumen Gentium. Read this explanation here: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/priests/sspx-the-new-sspx-claims-archbishop-lefebvre-endorsed-vatican-iis-lumen-gentium,-as-free-of-all-errors-and-ambiguities.html#fn17
See also, e.g., regarding how Vatican II’s Dignitatis Humanae, teaches religious liberty for error and contradicts what the Catholic Church has always infallibly taught, read this article: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/religious-liberty-vatican-ii.html
[5] For example, Cheerios and Chex were brought up as “gifts” during the new mass for the so-called “beatification” of Fr. Solano Casey. Watch at minute marker 1:53:40, at this link: https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=AwrBT74Jhx1aax4A8A1XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyZWVzMmpzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMzBHZ0aWQDQjQ0ODNfMQRzZWMDc2M-
[6] The conciliar church has nothing good in it. Read the explanation of this fact here: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/nothing-good-conciliar-church.html
The conciliar church’s new mass never gives grace. Read the explanation of this fact here: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/new-mass-never-grace.html
[7] To read Archbishop Lefebvre’s declarations that the conciliar church is a different, false church, and for a more complete explanation of this fact, read these articles:
- https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/archbishop-lefebvre-the-conciliar-church-is-not-the-catholic-church-nor-a-mere-mindset-but-is-a-new-church.html
- https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/priests/sspx-to-aid-a-deal-i-e-a-personal-prelature-with-pope-francis-and-the-false-conciliar-church-the-sspx-relies-on-the-big-lie.html
[8] Here are the words of the “old” SSPX (cited back to its own sources), that the conciliar church is a different and false church: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/priests/sspx-faithful-and-informed-catholics-reject-even-the-concept-of-recognition-by-modernist-rome.html
[9] Read the “new” SSPX’s own words (cited back to its own sources) in this article: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/archbishop-lefebvre-the-conciliar-church-is-not-the-catholic-church-nor-a-mere-mindset-but-is-a-new-church.html
Four Rules for remaining Traditional Catholic
Catholic Candle note: The article below is slightly adapted from a 2008 letter written by a vigilant father to his adult children. In 2008, he attended the Masses of the SSPX but left in 2015 because of its liberalism.
This man (the author) has always been Traditional Catholic and has been continually fighting liberalism since before Vatican II. He wrote these rules for his own children and has approved the slight adaption of this letter for publication.
In the article below, bracketed words are added for clarity, the parenthetical words are in the original.
Let me start by saying you all have been doing a wonderful job raising your families 100% traditional Catholic. Thank you so much. It is so satisfying for Mom and me.
But it is the future that I worry about. You see, I believe your toughest decisions lie ahead of you, i.e., as your children leave the nest, and the protected atmosphere of home schooling is no longer, the world will attack the children without mercy, and they will look to you for the “tough love” regardless of their pleas to the contrary.
I’d rather not write this letter, but I must. As your father and head of the family, it is my duty and responsibility to do all I can for you and future generations to keep the traditional Catholic Faith paramount in your lives. I don’t want to go through my personal judgment after death as someone who saw a problem and failed to do all I could to correct it.
The problem that triggered this letter, was the question of the need for conditional “re-ordaining” a priest ordained in the new rite. (For my concern about this, see Rule #1 below.) It concerns me greatly to hear followers of the SSPX using arguments defending the validity of the Novus Ordo rite of ordination which are similar to those arguments we heard 40 years ago, during parish meetings (and afterwards, from friends) trying to convince everyone to accept without question Vatican II and any “necessary” changes instituted by the pastor, bishops, and pope.
Those were the days [circa 1968] (before Michael Davies and the SSPX) that the majority of the priests and bishops were considered traditional, as we rightly consider all the priests and bishops in the Society [viz., in 2008, not in 2019]. Each parishioner had to decide for himself and his family what must be done to save his soul.
As an aside, let me say that I am much concerned [viz., in 2008] for the Society (“the fly”) when and if it reconciles with modernist Rome (“the spider”).
I know we can’t decide on our own whether the new ordination rite is certainly valid or not. The Catholic Church will officially resolve this question in the future. But in the meantime, we have to save our souls; no excuses of blind obedience will do. So, it’s time to pass on the four rules in writing that have served our family well over 40 years, keeping us 100% traditional.
Rule #1: Never, Ever Trust Anything Coming out of Modernist Rome.
Cardinal Ciappi, papal theologian to five consecutive popes, said that, in the Third Secret, the Great Apostasy in the Church begins at the top. Example: the 2007 Motu proprio. I believe the Tridentine Mass and the Novus Ordo were put on the same level to corrupt the Tridentine Mass by blending the two. I think it very possible that someday traditionalists will have to drive a good distance to find a non-blended Tridentine Mass. [Remember, this is 2008.] Even at the outset, [now-former] Pope Benedict XVI is already suggesting new Prefaces and Saints (St. John Paul II some day?) be put into the Tridentine Mass. If the pope was serious about spreading the use of the Tridentine Mass, might he not start saying it himself?
Our Lady predicted this corruption in Rome as the Abomination of Desolation and diabolic disorientation. She offered the solution: Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. Until the pope and bishops of the world renounce modernism by consecrating Russia to her Immaculate Heart, you should not trust anything coming out of modernist Rome. Rome has been under attack for many centuries, but during the [Second Vatican] Council it completely surrendered.
Rule #2: Be on Guard against Compromise and Gradualism, two of the Devil's Favorite Weapons, Plus Pride.
This especially holds true for the father, who is the head of the family and bears the greatest responsibility. It is important to be vigilant for any sign of compromise, usually followed by gradualism, (regardless of strong social pressure). Like movies, TV, music, women’s dress, and attending the indult Mass, etc. As you all know, give an “inch” in these areas and children will take a “mile,” and feel justified.
Once the compromise is established, it’s very difficult to revert back to where you started and ought to be. The next generation will then take note and take the matter further “south.” Yes, we have some responsibility for the salvation of our grandchildren’s grandchildren and will be judged accordingly. Never get on the slippery slope of go-along-to-get-along.
Rule #3: Pray, Pray and Pray some more, especially the Family Rosary Morning and Night.
I know you all do that, but I thought it best to repeat it.
Rule #4: You can’t afford to give Blind Obedience to our Priests and Bishops, even from the SSPX [prophetically written in 2008].
They are only human. In these times when the world and the Church are upside down, we must remember the costly lessons learned over the last 40 years of deterioration in the human element of the Church. Many started good and gradually went bad.
Remember, a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. And you’re either with Him or against Him.
Conclusion
The above guidelines are not new and were not intended to be. But there is value in writing them down for reference now and in the future, to be passed on to the next generation at the appropriate time.
What Gift do most People Appreciate Least, but is Worth more than a King’s Ransom?
Catholic Candle note: The article below was written by a man who has always been Traditional Catholic and who has been continually fighting liberalism since before Vatican II.
The answer to this riddle is: the gift of a Supernatural Faith.
The definition of a Supernatural Faith is:
The act of the intellect assenting to a Divine truth owing to the movement of the will, which is itself moved by the grace of God.[1]
The Catholic Encyclopedia explains further:
And just as the light of Faith is a supernatural gift bestowed upon the understanding, so also this Divine grace moving the will is, as its name implies, an equally supernatural and absolutely gratuitous gift. Neither gift is due to previous study; neither of them can be acquired by human efforts, but …. “Ask and ye shall receive.”[2]
Most receive this gift from God through their parents, at Baptism, without effort or request. It usually happens at a time when we give it little or no value. Many people gain little appreciation for this gift over the years and many people discard it without any regret. Those who keep and nurture this gift gain in virtue and understanding of what is at stake regarding earthly and eternal happiness.
The gift of Faith must be protected by an informed conscience, study, prayer, and courage to stand up against liberalism and modernism, and to stand up for Christ the King.
Two big helps to nurture your gift of Faith are humility and prayer. Humility is the first virtue, inasmuch as it removes the obstacles to Faith. Prayer inspires devotion and love for the Gift Giver.
The worst thing you can do with your precious gift of Faith is to put it in the hands of a liberal priest, or to be a follower of a liberal organization like the N-SSPX. This foolish and misplaced trust does not relieve you of the responsibility for your own salvation. I believe many follow a misguided path to salvation because they are lazy and/or cowardly; thus, they take the easy way out. St. Paul in Romans states: “You have to work out your salvation in fear and trembling.”
Your actions demonstrate what value you place on your gift of Faith. Below is a to-do list, with numbers for a grade. This will help you determine what value you place on your gift of Faith. 100 points is your goal; less than that, there is work to do.
- You set aside a regular time for a daily Holy Hour of prayer and spiritual reading. 20 points
- You go out of your way to receive the traditional sacraments and attend Mass, when available. 10 points
- You fearlessly stand up for Christ the King no matter the criticism or loss of friendship or family. 10 points
- You set a good example at all times for others to follow. 10 points
- The traditional Catholic Faith is your whole life, every day, from the morning’s first moment through the night’s last moment. 20 points
- You never compromise with liberalism, no matter how slight. 10 Points
- You join the real resistance of informed and uncompromising Catholics. 10 points
- You leave or disassociate from any compromised group or priest without hesitation. 10 points
The above should confirm and defend your decision to leave the liberal N-SSPX, if you or others previously had any doubt about this. The above points should also give you the courage to leave the liberal N-SSPX if you have failed to do so before now.
Let’s further take stock of the value you place on your gift of Faith, compared to your gift of Life from God. The gift of Life has a built-in incentive to preserve it and nurture it. Many spend much time and treasure to improve their health, no matter what the cost or distance. But few people make equal efforts and have equal enthusiasm for the gift of Faith, that they have for this gift of Life.
Many protect and nurture their gift of Life to excess, which is a sin against temperance and a distraction from their effort to nurture and protect the gift of Faith. We all have a duty to nourish and safeguard our health, but not to excess. Everything in moderation except love for God.
So, let’s all dedicate ourselves to the eight steps listed above to nurture our gift of Divine Supernatural Faith. You couldn’t make a better or more worthwhile decision.
[1] Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911, Vol. V, page 756, quoting St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa, IIa IIae, Q.4, a.2.
[2] Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911, Vol. V, page 756.
God Came to Earth to Redeem Man but Also for an additional reason
Catholic Candle note: The article below was written by a man who has always been Traditional Catholic and who has been continually fighting liberalism since before Vatican II.
After God had freely determined to save the human race, He might have done so by pardoning man’s sins without having recourse to the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. However, the Incarnation of the Word was the most fitting means for the salvation of man, and was even necessary should God claim full satisfaction for the injury done Him by sin.[1] He took upon Himself not only the nature of man – a nature capable of suffering and sickness and death – but also He became like man in every respect except sin.[2]
Now, another reason God came to earth as a man is so He could teach us for 33 years – day after day, year after year – how one must live in order to be happy on earth and in heaven. Any important and difficult subject to be mastered is best taught by demonstration of a leader. This is why a new physician does a residency and a new plumber does an apprenticeship.
Our Lord’s personal demonstration spoke much louder than words alone. Because of that, we can never say it was easy for Him to suffer this or that, or go without this or that. No, He suffered and gave up much, offering to be our earthly guide to ensure our happiness on earth and in heaven by following His selfless example.
It was all to help us break the grip the devil has on us because of the sin of our first parents, and our own sins. Without Him showing us the way for 33 long years, I doubt there would be as many wonderful saints and a history of great religious societies.
Our Catholic Faith gives us many reminders of the importance of following Our Lord’s example. For example, St. Paul urges us in these words:
Brethren, be imitators of God as very dear children and walk in love.
Epistle for 3rd Sunday of Lent (Ephesians, 5:1).
Below are the three phases of Our Lord’s Life on earth that will demonstrate for us the Way, the Truth, and the Life that we should follow for our salvation.
Phase I – Our Lord’s Hidden Life
His first examples for us started with His birth in a stable, a humble beginning. He preferred poverty and humility to show Himself a friend of the poor, at the same time showing us the best way to heaven is through humility and detachment from earthly goods.
The Holy Family lived in Nazareth, and every year they went to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. When Jesus was 12 years old, He went with them, but failed to return home with them. Instead, He went to the temple to be in the midst of the wise men there. We all know the familiar story. After a day’s journey, Mary and Joseph could not locate Jesus in the caravan and returned to Jerusalem. They found Him in the temple, and Mary said, “Behold thy father and I have been seeking Thee, sorrowing.” Jesus replied, “How is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be about My father’s business?” (Luke, 2:49)
He then meekly followed His parents to Nazareth and was subject to them. He worked hard as a simple Carpenter, with St. Joseph.
Phase II – Our Lord’s Public Life, beginning at age 30
He started by an act of great humility: being baptized by St. John. He then went to the desert to fast and pray for 40 days and nights. This teaches us to do penance and prepare ourselves to fight the devil by mortification and prayer. Jesus’ public life was to give us an example of how we should live day-to-day until our personal judgment. Words and example directly from the God-man have a greater effect in preparing souls with instructions and training necessary for salvation. He spoke in parables to help the less educated to understand. Another lesson taught many times was empathy for the sick and disabled.
Phase III Our Lord’s Passion and Death
Here again, He taught humility when He washed the feet of His Apostles at the Last Supper. After that, He instituted the Blessed Sacrament, using common bread and wine, changing them into His own Divine Body and Blood.
Jesus suffered and died for us, setting the example that no man has greater love than to give his life for another. Also, He set us the perfect example how we should endure and persevere. He suffered bitter agony of blood and sweat. He was cruelly scourged, crowned with thorns, carried His cross, and suffered the excruciating death on the cross – all in silence. He could not have set a better example for us to follow. Jesus said, “I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you also should do.” (John, 13:15)
He taught us to practice humility, penance, mortification, and perseverance before we presume to set an example and lead others.
His life on earth illustrated this. He established the perfect religion, the Catholic Religion, with none of the worthless trappings and false teachings of man-made religions.
Our Lord’s perfect lessons especially fit our needs, in the true Resistance. We must be humble and longsuffering. We must stand firm for principle when others “bend” their principles to obtain the sacraments or find acceptance in a particular “traditional” group. We must persevere without expecting that people will ever
understand us, or accept our stand for Christ.
[1] Taken from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia, article: Salvation, sub-article Salvation of the Human Race, Vol. 13, page 407.
[2]
Taken from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia, article, Incarnation, Vol. 7, page 706.
St. Paul taught this same truth in these words:
Having therefore a great high priest that hath passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God: let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest, who cannot have compassion on our infirmities: but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin.
Hebrews, 4:14-15 (emphasis added).
A Wise and Traditional Catholic Can Live a Stress-and-Worry-Free Life
Catholic Candle note: The article below was written by a man who has always been Traditional Catholic and who has been continually fighting liberalism since before Vatican II.
God created the best possible universe, which reflects His mercy and Divine virtues. And you as a Traditional Catholic can share His mercy and benevolence for a happy life free of stress and worry.
How is this possible with so many uncertainties, evils, and earthly disasters? Well, you must understand God’s plan for you and your family, and how you must live to take advantage of it. You must humbly live so that the Traditional Catholic Faith is your whole life. Every day, everything should start and end with the Traditional Catholic Faith’s laws and precepts.
However, God, out of love, sometimes sends a “cross” as a reminder that to reach your goal of heaven, you must make a change.
Let’s consider God’s plan for you and your family. In the simplest of terms, you were created to be happy with Him in heaven. And whatever happens to you on earth (except your sins) happens in order to fulfill that goal. So, if you are fired from your job, your car breaks down, or your “perfect” fiancée returns the ring[1], you must understand and thank God for each cross which is necessary so that you change course to a safe route to heaven. Think of it as a loving parent who, out of love, disciplines a child with a much-needed spanking. That is a parent who always wants the best for the child, but knows enough not to over-indulge him.
God created us out of His goodness. He doesn’t benefit from us in any way.[2] Thus, any cross He sends us is out of His goodness in order to facilitate our goal to be happy with Him in heaven. We surely need those crosses for correction. Isn’t it comforting to know that God knows what crosses we need to reach our heavenly goal?
So, thank Him for them and carry them with love and without worry or stress. Don’t think for a minute that He may forget about us or let something bad happen to us for no helpful reason.[3] If He forgot about you, you would cease to exist.[4] His love sends the “helpful” crosses we need to keep us on the straight and narrow road to and through the pearly gates. His forgiving mercy is always available, so if we fall, we shouldn’t get discouraged and give up. Start over.
God allows evil but does not will it. So if an evil would befall you, He would provide grace and necessary strength to see you through it to an (eventual) happy ending. Much like Noah and the Ark in the Great Flood, the good Lord will provide.
Have faith. He will never abandon you if you are living a Traditional Catholic Life. Worry and stress will begin again if you lose confidence in God and start to doubt Divine Providence, or question that God sends only “good” crosses to help you to heaven.
If you had your heart set on something and it is lost or doesn’t happen, you can be certain it was in God’s plan that it not take place. So, during hard times, it is oh-so-comforting to know that God’s plan and His will are always in your best interest.
Thank God that by His grace you are a Traditional Catholic. Live a stress-and worry-free life on earth, and focus on trying to attain the final reward in heaven with a loving and generous God.
People notice persons who live this way and this sets a good example for others which they will want to emulate.
Catholics-in-name-only (e.g., lax conciliar Catholics) aren’t capable of understanding and believing what is necessary to live a worry-and-stress-free life.
Thank God every day for our Traditional Catholic Faith!
[1] Later, you find out her marriage (to someone else) was a disaster and “ended” in divorce.
[2]
Our Lord teaches us: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which we ought to do.” St. Luke’s Gospel, 17:10.
[3] As St. Paul assures us: “All things work together unto the good for those who love God.” Romans, 8:28.
[4]
Our Lord taught: “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? Yea, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows.” St. Luke’s Gospel, 12:6-7.
Lessons to Teach Children during the Present Great Apostasy
We must refuse to attend the Mass of a compromise group, – even when we have no access to any other Mass. Attendance at a compromise Mass not only offends God, but it also sends the wrong message to our children.
A weak and cowardly Catholic parent rationalizes that he “has to” bring his family to the compromise group’s Mass because:
- He must give his children the example of valuing the sacraments and get his children into the habit of regularly receiving them; and
- His children have not yet formed strong adult virtues and so they need the grace of receiving the Sacraments, in order to form these virtues.
The truth is the opposite of these excuses. The great apostasy is worsening and you are teaching your children how to act when you are dead and they are adults making their own decisions while living in this great apostasy. Your refusing to attend the compromise groups is exactly what your children need to learn from you.
Like other parents who love their children, you want to prepare them now for the challenges they will face later. For example, if your children were likely to become blind, you would teach them braille ahead of time, to prepare them.
Likewise, you should prepare your children now to live in the continually-worsening great apostasy. This great apostasy is especially a crisis of Faith and there is no end in sight. After you are dead, this crisis will (apparently) continue during your children’s lives.
Your children have not yet formed a strong adult Faith and so they need the strengthening now of seeing your family standing against compromise to the Faith. You need to teach your children to value the Catholic Faith above everything. You do this by teaching them by word and example to sanctify Sundays without Mass when none is available without compromise.[1] This gets your children into the habit of avoiding liberalism and also standing strong for the Faith.
By contrast, when you attend a compromise group (e.g., the N-SSPX or the Williamson group), you teach your children that liberal doctrine and lax morals are not enough to separate you from a compromise group. You have probably told your children that the family will leave when that group gets “bad enough”. However, “bad enough” is a squishy, ill-defined standard. Your children learn from you the practical lesson that your standard is never fulfilled and you continue to stay. You ultimately have no standard at all. Learning that lesson from you, they will stay in an ever-liberalizing group when they are adults and you are dead.
If your children are young and at home, teach them now the important life-lesson of standing up for the Faith by avoiding lax and liberal groups! If your children are grown and away from home, they are less apt to learn from you but at least you can set an example for them to follow. Either way, they need this lesson.
[1] Learn one way to sanctify Sundays without the Mass by reading this article: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/sanctifying-sunday-no-mass.html
The gods of some Catholics
We must love God above all things.[1] He is a jealous God[2] and our love for Him must be exclusive. Nothing else must compete with God for our love. We must love everything else – including ourselves – for God’s sake and out of love of God.[3] We live in the world but must not be of the world.
Our happiness on earth, our holiness, and our beatitude in heaven (God-willing, we get to heaven) depend on the intensity of our Charity. This Charity, is inherently Friendship with God.[4]
Love makes sacrifice easy and great love makes it a joy.[5] A man who loves much does not “count the cost” and he sacrifices gladly for his friend.[6]
The weaker a man’s love is for his friend, the more reluctant he is to sacrifice for him. Thus, in seeking ever-greater Divine Friendship (which is life’s goal), we must root out all “false gods” which compete with this Divine Friendship. These false gods are anything we are reluctant to sacrifice for our Divine Friend.
Sinful companions, sinful amusements, sinful pleasures, and other sinful attachments, are obviously false gods.
But those “false gods” might be anything else we love to excess. For example, a person might focus too much on sports, physical fitness, a very particular dietary regimen[7], health food, natural remedies, political or social causes, money, food, entertainment, a cherished “classic” car, our bodily health, or anything else.
Here is how St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Doctor of the Church, explains this truth:
[W]hen the sinner, because of some pleasure, offends God, that pleasure becomes his god, because he makes it his ultimate aim. St. Jerome observes: “That which any one desires, if he venerates it, becomes his god; a vice in the heart is an idol upon the altar.”
And St. Thomas says, “If you love pleasures, they are called thy god.” And St. Cyprian, “Whatever man places before God, he makes a god to himself.”
When Jeroboam rebelled against God, he tried to draw the people with him into idolatry, and therefore he presented his gods unto them, and cried, “Behold thy gods, O Israel.” (l Kings xii, 28.)
Even so, does the devil present some gratification to the sinner, and say,
“What hast thou to do with God? This pleasure is thy god. This passion. Take it, and leave God.” And when the sinner consents, he in his heart adores that pleasure as a god. When the sinner dishonors God, he not only dishonors Him in His presence, but he dishonors Him to His face, because God is everywhere present. “I fill heaven and earth." (Jer. xxiii. 24.) And the sinner knows this, and for all that ceases not to provoke God, even in His presence. “A people that provoketh Me to anger continually to My face.” (Isa. Ixv. 3.)[8]
If we truly love our Divine Friend and if we worship no false “gods”, then our life would prove this, by having Him always “come first” with us in everything. We would detach ourselves from all things that are not God, and use them only to the extent they help us to increase in the love for our Divine Friend.
Here is how St. Ignatius of Loyola explains this truth in the Spiritual Exercises that he received from Our Lady, in the cave of Manresa, Spain, in 1522:
Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. And the other things on the face of the earth are created for man that they may help him in prosecuting the end for which he is created.
From this it follows that man is to use them as much as they help him on to his end, and ought to rid himself of them so far as they hinder him as to it. For this it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things in all that is allowed to the choice of our free will and is not prohibited to it; so that, on our part, we want not health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, long rather than short life, and so in all the rest; desiring and choosing only what is most conducive for us to the end for which we are created.[9]
We must attach ourselves completely and exclusively to our Divine Friend. We must have no false gods. We must be detached from all creatures.
But most people fool themselves as to how much they value creatures compared to God. To help you find the false gods in your life, here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Do I think about God more often than anything else, and keep in mind that everything I do should be serving Him?
If you think about something else more often than your Divine Friend, maybe this creature is your false god.
- Do I talk more about God (and the things of God), or do I talk more about something else?
We tend to talk about what we love. If you talk more about something else than about your Divine Friend, maybe that creature is your false god.
- What do I prefer to talk about, when I chose the topic of conversation?
Our Lord teaches: “the things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart”. St. Matthew’s Gospel, 15:18.
If you prefer to talk about your Divine Friend and often bring Him into your conversations – regardless of the original topic of conversation – that is a sign He comes first in your life.
By contrast, if your conversations often work toward whatever else is your “favorite subject”, it strongly indicates that this creature is your false god.
- What do I read when I can pick whatever topic I wish?
When we have a choice, we tend to read about what is important to us. If you usually read about topics other than the things of God, maybe those topics are your false gods.
- When I can spend a little additional time on something, what do I choose to do?
When we have a choice, we tend to spend more time with what is important to us. If you choose to spend that time on keeping your Divine Friend company (prayer), that indicates you put Him first. When you spend that time on some creature instead of God, maybe that creature is your false god.
- What people do I spend time with, when I can choose?
We tend to spend time with people who share our interests. If you identify the false gods of those you spend time with, this is probably your false god too.
- When I have a little free time to spend with any friend I choose, do I prefer to spend it with my Divine Friend (prayer)?
If our Divine Friend comes first with us, we would want to spend more time with Him instead of with our other friends.
- At my Judgment, from which creatures would I wish I had been more detached?
- Do I listen to the popular, decadent music of the world? Or do I listen to beautiful, ordered music, especially Traditional Catholic music?
- Do I indulge in television and other popular, decadent entertainments of the world? Or do I read good books of lasting value, especially daily spiritual reading?
- If I were advising a friend in my situation, to which creatures would I advise him to be less attached?
- Do I hide from my friends, my spouse, or my children, the amount of time or attention I give to (or money I spend on) a particular creature?
- Would I be displeased if someone noticed that I am “always” spending time with (or spending money on) a particular creature?
Conclusion
The entire reason God made us is to become His friends, and to grow in His friendship. We must be single-mindedly devoted to God, without any competing attachments to creatures. God must be our whole life!
We must first identify every false “god” we worship and then expel it from the temple of our heart. Let us do this now, completely and permanently!
[1] “[W]hich is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.” St. Matthew’s Gospel, 22:36-27.
[2] Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. … I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous …. Exodus, 20:3&5.
[3] Through charity we can eliminate our self-centeredness. Here is how St. John of the Cross, Mystical Doctor of the Church, explains this truth:
Charity voids and annihilates the affections and desires of the will for whatever is not God, and sets them upon Him alone ….
Dark Night of the Soul, St. John of the Cross, Bk 2, ch.21, §11 (emphasis added).
With such love of God, we then love all other things for God’s sake. Here is how St. Thomas teaches this truth by quoting what St. Augustine says (De Doctr. Christ. i, 23):
“There are four things to be loved; one which is above us,” namely God, “another, which is ourselves, a third which is nigh to us,” namely our neighbor, “and a fourth which is beneath us,” namely our own body.
Summa, IIa IIae, Q.25, a.12, sed contra.
[4] Here is how St. Thomas Aquinas, greatest Doctor of the Church, explains this truth:
It is written (John 15:15): “I will not now call you servants . . . but My friends.” Now this was said to them by reason of nothing else than charity. Therefore, charity is friendship. …
According to the Philosopher (Ethic. viii, 2,3) not every love has the character of friendship, but that love which is together with benevolence, when, to wit, we love someone so as to wish good to him. If, however, we do not wish good to what we love, but wish its good for ourselves, (thus we are said to love wine, or a horse, or the like), it is love not of friendship, but of a kind of concupiscence. For it would be absurd to speak of having friendship for wine or for a horse.
Yet neither does well-wishing suffice for friendship, for a certain mutual love is requisite, since friendship is between friend and friend: and this well-wishing is founded on some kind of communication.
Accordingly, since there is a communication between man and God, inasmuch as He communicates His happiness to us, some kind of friendship must needs be based on this same communication, of which it is written (1 Corinthians 1:9): “God is faithful: by Whom you are called unto the fellowship of His Son." The love which is based on this communication, is charity: wherefore it is evident that charity is the friendship of man for God.
Summa, IIa IIae, Q.23, a.1, sed contra and respondeo.
[5]
The traditional Catholic marriage exhortation (which the priest reads before the marriage vows) includes these beautiful words:
Sacrifice is usually difficult and irksome. Only love can make it easy; and perfect love can make it a joy. We are willing to give in proportion as we love. And when love is perfect, the sacrifice is complete.
[6]
“If a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing.” Canticle of Canticles, 8:7.
[7] Our Lord admonishes us to not be solicitous about our food: “Be not solicitous therefore, saying, What shall we eat?”. St. Matthew’s Gospel, 6:31.
[8] Preparation for Death, St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Consideration 15, point 2.
[9] Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, beginning of the First Week, Principle and Foundation (emphasis added).