Catholic Candle note: Below is an article from a reader.  This reader describes a tool his family finds helpful and we publish his article here for the use of any other families who might choose to use this tool too.  We welcome any readers to submit articles, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

 

 

During the current Great Apostasy, we have little access to the sacraments and sacramentals.

God has not abandoned His children!  Although – for now – He has willed to take away most of the Sacraments from most faithful and informed Traditional Catholics.[1]  In God’s ineffable Providence, this is for our good.  We know infallibly that “all things work together unto the good, for those who love God.” Romans, 8:28.

So, when God takes away most sacraments, He gives us other means and gives those means greater efficacy than ever before.  So, e.g., God greatly increased the power of the Holy Rosary during our times.[2]

God understands that we cannot do the impossible, nor does He expect us to do so.  He neither expects, nor wants us to receive the Sacraments or to attend Mass when they are not available without compromise.  Compromise Masses and Sacraments don’t help us and they offend Him![3]

Our family has used up the holy water supply we had from priests who were previously uncompromising (and who we had been able to support and from whom we had been able to obtain spiritual help, including the sacraments and sacramentals).

More recently, however, those same priests have compromised and our family does not currently have any priests to help us because those who would now be available to us are compromising.  Of course, we will not seek additional holy water from priests who are now compromising, just like we would not seek the sacraments from them until such time, if ever, that they reject their compromises. 

Receiving holy water from compromising priests would be a scandal and God does not want us to spiritually-connect ourselves with those priests who are working against Him with their compromised lives and/or teaching. 

So, we are now gladly and contentedly without a priest[4] – for as long as God wills this – because this is presently His Will for us.  We know that the current unavailability of sacramentals (e.g., holy water) works for our good, if we love God. 

God will provide the means for us to use!  Because we are without holy water out of love for Him, He surely will bless us greatly without that sacramental.  It might be that God wants us to simply leave our holy water fonts dry for now, making Signs of the Cross without holy water.  That would be fine. 

On the other hand, God desires that we do what we can during these times of great apostasy.  Perhaps this also involves making and using (what our family calls) “relic water” (discussed below).  This “relic water” is named in honor of the saints we invoke, as we will explain.  This is merely our family’s attempt to do our best, to do what we can do in our present circumstances without a priest. 

We make “relic water” without any pretense that we are a priest.  (This is like our much greater reliance now, compared to the past, on making Spiritual Communions as fervently as we can.) 

In making “relic water”, we are merely doing what we can do by invoking the saints of God and using the sacramentals we do have.  Perhaps God will choose to treat this “relic water” as if it were holy water, knowing we are doing what we can in the circumstances in which He lovingly placed us.  Whatever He wants is what we want!

How to make “relic water”

Our family does not bless the “relic water”.  We ask the saints whose relics we have, to bless it.  For example, we have a first-class relic of Pope St. Pius X.  In a water-tight bag, we submerge the relic into the basin of water, praying:

Through thy holy relic, O Pope St. Pius X, please bless this water for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.

Our family has many other first-class relics (i.e., parts of the bodies) of many other saints.  One-by-one, we submerge that saint’s relic into the water, while invoking him (or her) in the manner described above.  

We do the same thing with a crucifix, St. Benedict medal, Miraculous Medal, Agnus Dei wax, a piece of blessed palm, a blessed candle, second-class relics, etc., slightly modifying the prayer.  For example, when submerging the bottom of the crucifix, we pray:

Through Thy holy crucifix, O Lord, please bless this water for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.

After finishing with all of the relics and other holy objects, we then recite the Saint Michael the Archangel prayer.

Lastly, we have some salt blessed by a priest.  We use a little of this which we sprinkle into the water in the form of a cross.  Any blessed salt could be used.  However, ours was blessed by the uncompromising Catholic priest-stigmatist, Fr. Leo McNamara, from St. Adrian’s Church in Chicago.  If anyone wants a little of this blessed salt (enough for one or two batches of “relic water”), we would gladly give him some if he mails us a self-addressed, postpaid envelope.  He could contact Catholic Candle about where to mail his request (catholiccandle@gmail.com).

The spirit behind making “relic water” – Faith, Hope, and Charity

In making “relic water”, we think that it is not essential that we use some particular holy item, such as a first-class relic.  The central point is for us to do what we can do with the holy items God has given us, and then leave the rest to Him.  He has put us sweetly in this time and He will not be outdone in generosity!

In the current Great Apostasy, the choice which uncompromising Catholics make is not between “regular” holy water and “relic water”.  Regular holy water is not an option for most faithful and informed Catholics because their supply has run out and there are no uncompromising priests (that they know of) from whom to get it.  Rather, their choice is between dry holy water fonts and doing the best they can with something such as “relic water”.  If some families think it is better to leave their holy water fonts dry, that is fine.  We are just explaining how we do what we can do.

We should be completely content without “regular” holy water, just as we should be completely content without the Mass, as long as God Wills that we have no uncompromising priest.

What if I have no relics?

We understand that not every family has first or even second-class relics.  Again, the spirit here is not one of legalism, but the spirit of Faith, Hope, and Charity.  Thus, even if you have any objects blessed in the past by good, uncompromising, and certainly-valid priests, then use them.   Even barring that, one might use a holy picture submerged in the plastic bag.  God provides.

Whether you and your family decide to use “relic water” or not, let us live with hearts full of love and gratitude that we can serve God and work out our salvation during these times in the catacombs!

 

 

 

Catholic Candle note:  Sedevacantism is wrong and is schism.  Catholic Candle is not sedevacantist.  On the contrary, we published a series of articles showing that sedevacantism is false (and also showing that former Pope Benedict is not still the pope).  Read the articles here: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/against-sedevacantism.html 

A reader would be mistaken to believe that the article below gives any support to sedevacantism.  The article simply shows that we must be careful to not cooperate with (or pray for the success of) the evil intentions of a pope or any other superior.

 

Gaining Plenary Indulgences

In our Times of Great Apostasy

We need all of the help we can get to save our souls.  One help available to Catholics is obtaining plenary indulgences (i.e., complete remission of all temporal punishment due for sins).  But to obtain plenary indulgences, we usually must pray for the intentions of the pope.  How can we do that, without compromise, when the pope has many bad intentions?

The pope’s official intentions are often evil

The Vatican publishes the monthly prayer intentions of Pope Francis and many of them are evil and they often promote political correctness.  For example, Pope Francis uses his monthly prayer intentions to promote his Politically-Correct climate-alarmism, which is a basis for his promotion of a one-world government to regulate the ecology of the world and of the oceans in particular.[1]

To ensure that his climate-alarmism stays in the news, Pope Francis published this politically-correct, ecological prayer intention for September 2019:

 

The Protection of the Oceans

That politicians, scientists, and economists work together to protect the world’s seas and oceans.[2]

Pope Francis uses his prayer intentions to promote many other evils of the conciliar church.  For example, Pope Francis published this ecumenical prayer intention promoting inter-religious dialogue, as his November 2019 prayer intention:

Dialogue and Reconciliation in the Near East

That a spirit of dialogue, encounter, and reconciliation emerge in the Near East, where diverse religious communities share their lives together.[3]

 

However, despite Pope Francis’s own bad intentions, there are some good intentions which are always included in the intentions of the pope.  Here is how The Raccolta[4] explains this:

PRAYER ACCORDING TO THE POPE’S INTENTION

The Pope’s intention always includes the following objects:

                     i.        The progress of the Faith and triumph of the Church.

                    ii.        Peace and union among Christian Princes and Rulers.

                  iii.        The conversion of sinners.

                  iv.        The uprooting of heresy.[5]

God wants us to pray for these Traditional Catholic intentions of the pope, but of course, not pray for any evil intentions.

We suggest that you make your intent explicit – for yourself and for others – by stating that you are praying for the Traditional intentions of the pope, thereby reminding yourself and others that you reject his evil and radical intentions.[6]

Further, Traditional Catholics are not sedevacantists.  Thus, we suggest you remind yourself and others of this fact by praying “for the Traditional intentions of Pope Francis” by name, rather than merely for the “intentions of the pope”.

Finally, we suggest you refer to the purpose of those prayers for the pope: “for the purpose of fulfilling a requirement for obtaining a plenary indulgence”.

 

Conclusion of this section

To gain plenary indulgences during these times of Great Apostasy, we suggest you pray an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be:

for the Traditional intentions of Pope Francis, for the purpose of gaining a plenary indulgence.

 

How can we gain a plenary indulgence without access to uncompromising priests and sacraments?

As we see above, it is a good thing to pray for the pope’s Traditional intentions in order to obtain a plenary indulgence.  But how can we gain a plenary indulgence without access to uncompromising priests and sacraments?

Should uncompromising Traditional Catholics “bother” praying for the Traditional intentions of the pope to obtain a plenary indulgence, when, in our times of Great Apostasy, there is little or no opportunity to fulfill the other usual conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence, viz., going to confession and receiving Holy Communion?

The answer is “yes”!

God has not abandoned His children!  Although He has – for now – willed to take away most of the Sacraments from most uncompromising Traditional Catholics, in God’s ineffable Providence, this is for our good.  We know infallibly that “all things work together unto the good, for those who love God.”[7]

So, when God takes away most sacraments, He gives us other means and gives those means greater efficacy.  So, e.g., God greatly increased the power of the Holy Rosary during our times.[8]

God understands that we cannot do the impossible, nor does He expect us to do it.  He does not expect, or want us to receive the Sacraments or go to Mass when it is not available without compromise.  Compromise Masses and Sacraments don’t help us and they offend Him![9]

Thus, because we know that the current unavailability of the Sacraments works for our good, if we love God, our inability to fulfill those conditions for a plenary indulgence also works for our good and does not harm us.  God will provide! 

One way that God is able to provide for us is to give us a plenary indulgence when we piously and diligently fulfill the conditions for a plenary indulgence as closely as we can.[10]  God can treat this as if it were literal compliance with the usual conditions for obtaining a plenary indulgence.  Thus,

➢  When confession is not available without compromise, then God expects us to make an Act of Contrition as perfectly as we can. 

➢  When we cannot receive Holy Communion without compromise, He expects us to make as fervent a Spiritual Communion as we can. 

Along with fulfilling these conditions as closely as we can, we also pray “for the Traditional intentions of Pope Francis”.

Conclusion to the entire article

Let us have a strong heart and complete confidence in God.  Let us always have complete confidence that God is providing perfectly for us. 

Let us continue to fulfill the conditions for obtaining plenary indulgences to the extent that we are able, knowing that God provides for us.