Words to Live by – from Catholic Tradition
The devil does not sleep, nor is the flesh yet dead; therefore, you must never cease your preparation for battle, because on the right and on the left are enemies who never rest.
The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, Book II, Chapter 9.
Objective Truth Series – reflections article #5
The last reflection was a consideration of how important it is to have a complete submission to, union with, and trust in the Divine Will.
God wants us to have trust in Him, in fact, to have complete confidence in Him. As far as we are concerned, He doesn’t want us to trust in ourselves alone. Surely, He wants us to have confidence to use the abilities that He gave us and that He expects us to use to do our duty of state. He expects us to not be slothful, having an irrational fear of the difficult. He doesn’t want us to be cowards when it comes to doing our duty.
Furthermore, God expects us to not be lazy and shirk our duties because we don’t “feel” like doing them or because we want to relax. But having confidence in the human abilities that God gave us does not mean we have abilities above our nature, or that we should think that we are using our abilities perfectly. No one should imagine he can do things that are super-human or that he is perfect in any respect.
For example, we cannot know the thoughts of others. We often guess what others are thinking, but unless another communicates his thoughts aloud or in writing, we cannot know with any certitude what another is thinking. Thus, we cannot judge the interior of another. We can only judge the external actions (fruits) of others. To judge the interior is called rash judgment. St. John Chrysostom said, “You will not easily find anyone, either the father of a family or a cloistered religious who is free from rash judgment.”[1]
This quote ought to give us pause and give us a fear and a healthy caution over our thoughts and speech.
We humans get so self-complacent, in other words, self-satisfied, and from this, conceit grows in the soul. Self-importance takes control of the soul usually in a creeping, subtle manner, and, before one knows it, he has over-confidence in himself. “Wherefore, he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall” (1st Corinthians 10; 12).
A quote like this should prick one’s conscience. Questions then bombard the mind like: Am I self-complacent? Do I say things or act as if I have all the answers, even about a single subject? Do I act over confident? Do I act as if I have been looking down on others, in any way? Do I act as if I realize that any good I have, especially the faith, or insights, has been given to me by God and that I know I do not deserve them? “What hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”[2] Do I forget this truth of which St. Paul reminds me? Do I acknowledge the gifts of God to me? If so, do I thank God for His gifts and tender mercies? Do I expect others to have received these same gifts and/or insights, and make all their decisions in the same manner that I make my decisions? And if others do not act in the same manner as I, do I look down on them as if they are big sinners or have something wrong with them?
Oh, how the conscience does prick when we realize how easily we humans get into this typical complacent frame of mind. We have to be so cautious and follow St. Paul’s advice, namely, “With fear and trembling work out your salvation” (Philippians Ch 2; 12). Likewise, we need to heed carefully Our Lord’s words, “Judge not, lest you be judged.” Here Our Lord is clearly warning against judging the interior of a person.
Nor can we forget our human roots, namely, how Eve was tempted with thinking she could become like God. The devil certainly knows how to trap us humans with this temptation and tries to puff us up. Self-complacence is one of the devil’s subtle tools to achieve this. Thus, we need to see that we need advice, and be willing to get advice. This will help us avoid self-complacence.
Our Lady explained the Rules for the Discernment of Spirits to St. Ignatius of Loyola, when giving him the Spiritual Exercises. She explained in Rule #5 in the Second Week that we must pay close attention to the course of our thoughts and look carefully at their beginning, middle, and end to see whether they are inspired by the good angel or the devil. This means a person must truly distrust himself and have a healthy mistrust of his own motive for acting. Again, Our Lady knows how the devil tricks us poor humans with self-conceit and, being Our Good Mother, she warns her children about his snares.
With all of the above in mind, perhaps our thoughts naturally will flow into something like the following:
Oh, my soul, if I have a treasure,
Am I grateful, or do I take pleasure?
Thinking this gem, is a gift self-bestowed
That it comes from God, to me, not owed?
Do I remember, my God to thank?
Am I really, with myself frank?
This gift, this talent, from where did it come?
Could I e’re pay for it, with any sum?
I am nothing, a worthless being
Whence this prize, that I am seeing?
Tis not really mine, to the Lord, belongs
Only He gets the credit, [only I do wrongs.]
God could punish, my self-conceit,
This would be fitting, would be meet.
That He could take, this gift away
And not make it last, not one more day
I must be grateful, give God His due
And rely on Him only, tis so true!
I need so much help, and advice
Each plan I make, I must think thrice
Where did it start, where does it lead?
Does it, my self-complacence, feed?
I must tremble, yea, I must quake
Do I work for me, or for God’s sake?
Dear Lord, help me ever recall
Self-complacence, is a trap for all
Help me ne’r judge, things in a flash
Help me avoid, e’er being rash
If I forget my need, of Thee, Lord
Love of self, will become a sword
Which will cut me, from what’s most dear
To displease Thee, give me healthy fear!
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Truth:
Jesus saith to him: I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me.[1]
Truth is the mind’s conformity to reality.[2]
Therefore, when a man (or society) rejects Christ and His teaching Church, he is rejecting reality.
But man is a creature of habit. He is often inconsistent and takes a while to come to see the full consequences of positions he has already accepted (or already rejected). In other words, when a man rejects reality concerning one truth, he might continue to hold other truths which are inconsistent with his new opinion and it might take him a while to reject the reality of those further, related truths.
Thus, for example, when man rejects the Catholic Church’s authority, he might continue to believe in the Bible’s authority, although the Bible’s authority comes from the Catholic Church.
Similarly, Protestants who rejected the authority of the Catholic Church, did not immediately reject a man’s authority over his wife. For a time, those Protestants only took rebellion from authority “so far”, and only gradually did their rebellion spread further, to other authority given by God and willed by Him.
But when a man rejects part of reality, he embarks on a reckless path leading to rejection of other parts of reality. That is, rejecting a part of reality inevitably leads to rejecting more of reality – the only uncertainty is how long it will take to reject additional, particular parts of reality.
Thus, the Protestants reject the reality of the Catholic Church’s authority and this leads them down the road to feminism (which is rejecting the reality of a husband’s authority) and also to rejecting the different and unique roles of the sexes.[3]
Perhaps the Protestants who had first denied the authority of the Catholic Church, had thought it absurd to deny that man is the head of (and authority over) his wife. This is because, while denying the Church’s authority, the difference between the roles of the sexes is a natural and supernatural truth which remained obvious for a time, even to Protestants.
But when man begins denying reality, the denials continue and become more unhinged from reality. Man becomes more blinded to what had previously been obvious to him. Man progressively denies even those things which are according to Nature and to common sense. For example, man comes to accept that a male can become a female simply by deciding he is a female.
Without God’s help, man does not stop and he cannot stop descending down this destructive road. Man accepts more and more false ideas he would have previously thought were absurd and impossible to accept. Just like early apostates from Catholicism would have thought feminism to be absurd, likewise people would have thought it absurd, a few decades ago, that a male would become a female simply by deciding that he is one.
This delusion is not merely a few deranged individuals fooling themselves with this crazy fantasy – like believing they are Napoléon. Society now accepts this absurdity in public[4] and now viciously attacks those who publicly deny such an obvious delusion.[5]
Similarly, society now accepts that a person can be neither male nor female if he simply decides he is neither.[6] Society calls this person “non-binary”. This delusion is a direct attack on Nature and on Sacred Scripture, because:
God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them.[7]
People accept these delusions because the rejection of Christ does not end by simply rejecting Him. He is the Truth and the Author of Truth. By rejecting Him, man is led to progressively reject more and more aspects of reality. Nor does he stop with these gender delusions.
Until man goes back to God and to His Catholic Church – which will happen only through the consecration of Russia to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart – the steady descent of (blind) society will continue.
There are many additional delusions – even more extreme and more irrational – which are ahead for blind and unrepentant mankind. What are those future delusions? Perhaps one of them is society publicly accepting the absurdity that people are cats[8], dogs[9], hippopotamuses[10] and dragons[11] when people decide that they are. Society has not yet publicly accepted these delusions but they already exist on society’s fringes – like the gender delusions existed only on the fringes until a few decades ago.
Perhaps also, society will publicly accept the delusions of people claiming that they are whatever age they choose for themselves.[12]
We might think society could never be so blind as to accept these delusions. However, who could ever have predicted a few decades ago, that society would publicly accept and tyrannically insist (as it does now) that you are whatever sex you say you are, and that you can “change” your gender whenever you choose to do so, by changing your mind.
We can glimpse the future in a survey by the Family Policy Institute in Washington which showed that many college students are ready to accept that a person is whatever gender, race or age he claims to be, no matter how absurd the claim is.[13]
This acceptance of delusion in place of reality, is part of God’s punishment for apostate man rejecting Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Truth.
Truly:
When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing; they then become capable of believing in anything![14]
Conclusion
The truth is priceless! Compromising the truth leads to blindness, delusion, and destruction!
No “advantage” – including being at peace with those around us – is worth the infinite “cost” of compromising.
Pray for the consecration of Russia to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart!
Let us thank God every day for the Traditional Catholic Faith and pray hard to keep it in all its purity!
Let us profess the Faith, whole and inviolate, until our dying breath!
[1] St. John’s Gospel, 14:6 emphasis added.
[2]
Here is how St. Thomas Aquinas, the greatest Doctor of the Church,
teaches this truth:
I answer that, As stated before, truth resides, in its primary aspect, in the intellect. Now since everything is true according as it has the form proper to its nature, the intellect, in so far as it is knowing, must be true, so far as it has the likeness of the thing known, this being its form, as knowing. For this reason, truth is defined by the conformity of intellect and thing; and hence to know this conformity is to know truth.
Summa, Ia, Q.16, a.2, respondeo, emphasis added.
[3]
For further analysis of the heresy of feminism, read these articles:
❖ https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/feminism-is-anarchy-in-the-family.html
[4] See, e.g., this news report: 6-foot, 5-inch male wins girls’ running event, named ‘Woman of the Week’, reported here: https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/6-foot-5-inch-male-wins-girls-running-event-named-woman-of-the-week?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com&utm_campaign=daade7aeac-Daily%2520Headlines%2520-%2520U.S._COPY_395&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_12387f0e3e-daade7aeac-403889765
[5] See, e.g., these news reports:
❖ Construction workers arrested, fined, fired for laughing at men dressed as women, reported here: https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/construction-workers-arrested-fined-fired-for-laughing-at-men-dressed-as-women
❖ Protest at public library shows LGBT movement won’t stop until it dominates everything, reported here: https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/feminist-argues-at-public-library-males-cant-become-female-lgbt-movement-rampages
Whatever doubts people have about such delusions are whispered behind closed doors because the public levers of society are against them. Such doubts always occur when swallowing the devil’s delusions because man has an intellect and retains a nagging doubt whenever he accepts “black as white”, i.e., any lie of the devil. This gender delusion is like many other lies accepted by society, such as the acceptance of divorce even though people understand that it breaks the couple’s vows on their wedding day that they will be faithful to each other until death.
The longer society accepts a particular lie – whether concerning divorce, changing genders or anything else, the more people will be accustomed to taking the lie for granted.
[6] Marriam-Webster Dictionary has designated the word “they” as its word of the year for 2019, in part because this word is “established in the English language” as a word now “used to refer to one person whose gender identity is nonbinary” (i.e., neither male nor female). https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-of-the-year/quid-pro-quo
[7] Genesis, 1:27 (emphasis added).
[8] Woman claims to be a cat: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/20-year-old-norwegian-cat-girl-i-was-born-the-wrong-species?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=017c947dcc-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_06_19_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0caba610ac-017c947dcc-397486141
[9] Man claims to be a dog: https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/man-argues-hes-really-a-dog-using-transgender-talking-points?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com&utm_campaign=88ea8930e7-Daily%2520Headlines%2520-%2520U.S._COPY_249&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_12387f0e3e-88ea8930e7-403889765
[10] Man claims to be a female hippopotamus: https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/man-argues-hes-really-a-dog-using-transgender-talking-points?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com&utm_campaign=88ea8930e7-Daily%2520Headlines%2520-%2520U.S._COPY_249&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_12387f0e3e-88ea8930e7-403889765
[11] Man claims to be a dragon: https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/watch-college-students-answers-on-gender-and-age-identity-show-just-how-los
[12] Sixty-nine-year-old man in court battle to get his birth certificate changed to reflect the age he “feels” himself to be. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/im-about-40-or-45.-69-year-old-cites-transgender-arguments-to-change-legal?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com&utm_campaign=25dd4829a0-Daily%2520Headlines%2520-%2520U.S._COPY_143&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_12387f0e3e-25dd4829a0-403889765
Adult man claims to be a six-year-old girl. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/transaging-father-leaves-wife-7-children-to-live-as-6-year-old-girl
[13] https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/watch-college-students-answers-on-gender-and-age-identity-show-just-how-los
Interestingly, the only idea these students had much difficulty accepting was the suggestion that the 5’9” tall interviewer was really 6’5” tall, as he told them he was. Id.
[14] Emphasis added. This quote is commonly attributed to G.K. Chesterton although we don’t know specifically where it is found in his writings. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/44015-when-men-choose-not-to-believe-in-god-they-do
Catholic Candle note: Below is an article by one of the Catholic Candle Team, which is the fourth in a series of reflections related to humility. Here are the first three in this series:
➢ https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/god-is-the-sculptor-of-souls.html
➢ https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/our-nothingness.html
Sweet submission to God’s Will leads to
Uniformity with It and complete trust in God
Objective Truth Series – reflections article #4
Who doesn’t feel the need to be safe? When there is a calamity of nature or some kind of disaster, we seek protection and to survive, and so it is with our souls. God made us this way. We do ever forget our need of Him and His wonderful Providence, yet God’s draws the soul and teaches it, little by little. He shows the entire need we have of Him, until finally, the soul is convinced, and has no doubt of its need. A little child knows for sure that he needs his Dad and Mom. The child delights even to see Mom or Dad return home and runs to embrace his parent. Oh, to please his parents is such sweetness! He understands his proper place as the subordinate to his parents. He knows his ignorance, sees what his parents have done and still do for him, and thus sees his debt and what he owes to his parents. Thus, he has such gratitude, and this all builds such loving willingness to please.
Furthermore, a child feels so safe to be in the arms of his parent, he doesn’t care if it’s hot and humid, he just wants to remain there. With such knowledge and confidence in his parents, a child also learns to have a like knowledge of God and a trustful surrender to God. Our Lord alludes to this when He says: “Unless you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.” St. Matthew, 18:3. With this trustful surrender comes such an all-embracing peace of soul that one does not doubt that God is in charge and planning what He wills to do for His friends. St. Paul reminds us of our need to submit to God and to see ourselves as little children, when he teaches: “For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named.” Ephesians, 3:14-15.
God’s Providence continually cares for and assists His friend – the soul of His adopted child. How wonderful to ponder on this objective truth that we are really adopted children of God! Now let us sincerely pray to live our true role in God’s eternal plan and lovingly trust Our Heavenly Father! Then our hearts would perhaps spill over in the following words:
To see my needs is to count without number,
I am in Thy hands, O Lord, like a child in slumber,
How can I help, grateful to be?
When I see how thou carest for me?
My biggest need of all, is that I see,
My longing to say, that I love thee,
And I give Thee, a thankful embrace,
And I thankfully fall, before Thy Face.
I thankfully rest, once safely in Thy arms,
And I’m so overwhelmed, with Thy charms,
And with Thy wonderful care,
How could I ever wish or dare.
To run away from Thee,
Now knowing Thou wouldst ne’r abandon me?
Thou hast given me, complete desire to ev’r see,
That I am lost, if I run away from Thee.
But now my heart is filled,
To ever do, what Thou hast willed,
Thy Will is my heart’s desire,
My only safety, my only fire.
Oh, for Thy Will, I ever burn,
Oh, for Thy Will, my heart will e’er yearn,
Without Thy help, where can I be?
I need Thee, there is nothing in me.
Oh, sweet submission and surrender,
I unite my will with God, so tender,
I am cared for by Him, Whom I trust,
Into His Hands, my heart I thrust.
Where rest, peace, and safety I find,
To serve, and love Him with a child-like mind,
On this true view of things so sweet,
There my happiness— my joy complete!
The Catholic Church has many unchangeable, general principles which do not contain exceptions. For example, divorced and (so-called) “re-married” Catholics are forbidden from receiving Holy Communion.
Pope Francis falsely teaches that all the Catholic Church’s general principles must be adapted to local circumstances and cultures. Here are his words:
[C]ultures are in fact quite diverse, and every general principle … needs to be inculturated[1], if it is to be respected and applied.
Quoted from Pope Francis’s apostolic constitution, Episcopalis Communio, Sept 15, 2018, §7 (ellipse is in the original; emphasis added).
[1] Inculturation is: “the adoption of the behavior patterns of the surrounding culture”. https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Inculturation
To “walk a mile” in Our Lord’s sandals, we will witness how He has suffered for over 50 years because of the crisis which the Second Vatican Council caused in His Mystical Body, the Catholic Church.
It is something like a member of your family who has lost the Faith and is now plotting against you as a Traditionalist. For the past 50-plus years Our Lord has been put through His Passion all over again, due to the evil and destructive changes of Vatican II. We will also witness how Church leadership turned against Him to implement these evil heresies. Some of these leaders are anti-Catholic Masons.
To again drive the nails in Our Lord’s hands and feet, Rome is making “saints” of these traitorous conciliar popes.
For a time, there was an archbishop and a society giving comfort to Our Lord by upholding Tradition and resisting the changes. But with the death of Archbishop Lefebvre and with the current leadership in the Society that succumbed to Modernist pressure and Liberalism, all that changed.
This weak leadership is currently willing to compromise principles and lead their followers into the conciliar church and out of the Catholic Church. They do this by making the misguided effort to be recognized by (and subject to) Rome, the seat of the anti-Christ. Much the same as the Society of St. Peter and other religious societies that made a deal with Rome.
Today, the only comfort for Our Lord is the very small remnant of uncompromising Traditional Catholics, who must stand firm, come what may, in order to comfort Our Lord.
This conciliar church is not merely a liberal way of thinking. It is a human organization (which deceptively uses the name “Catholic”).
Listed below are some of the VC II evil, destructive, anti-Catholic heresies put in place by the conciliar church. Consider each one as a painful lash of the whip, as Christ is again scourged at the pillar.
1. False doctrines (e.g., the teachings of Vatican II);
2. False and sacrilegious worship (e.g., the new mass, with the words of Consecration changed, as if Our Lord didn’t know better and second-guessed Himself);
3. Places for sacrileges (viz., the conciliar churches that were stolen from the Catholic Church;
4. False priesthood (the new concept of priesthood; doubtfully valid ordinations;
5. False laws (e.g., the bad 1983 Code of Canon Law);
6. False catechisms (e.g., the conciliar church catechism, called the “Catechism of the Catholic Church”);
7. False bibles (e.g., those replacing the Douay Rheims Bible);
8. The new politically-correct “Decalogue” (i.e., the new “Ten Commandments”) promoted by “saint” Pope John Paul II);
9. The new politically-correct “beatitudes” promoted by Pope Francis;
10. The new rosary (the so-called “luminous mysteries”);
11. New (supposed) “saints” (e.g., so-called “saint” Pope John Paul II), and the new canonization process;
12. The new (supposed) “sacraments” with conciliar names and formulae;
13. The new (supposed) “miracles” and “apparitions”;
14. The hierarchy, who serve in the Catholic Church’s hierarchy and also in the (anti-Catholic) conciliar church’s hierarchy;
15. The Amazonian Synod pushing for female priests and against priestly celibacy;
16. Corrupt Catholic religious organizations; and
17. All-but-eliminating religious clothing, thereby effectively making priests and sisters a part of the world.
This conciliar church is a different (and false) religion. It uses the power structures of the Catholic Church for its own ends, punishing (including excommunicating) those who resist this (false) conciliar church. Again, the conciliar church is a human organization, not just a mindset.
It is easy to understand how greatly Our Lord is suffering all over again in His
Passion because of the traitorous, conciliar Church leaders implementing anti-Catholic changes in the human element of the Church that He died to establish. Just consider all the souls lost – and will be lost – until Russia is consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
We were told by the leaders of Vatican II that changes must be made – first: in order to be a part of the world, and second: in order to remain relevant in an ever-changing world. These changes have resulted in the destruction of the human element in the Catholic Church.
Christ loves mankind very much to be so exceedingly patient (i.e., giving us time to repent), and for not striking a quick final blow to end this blasphemy.
The above list of heresies promoted by the conciliar church dictates a question that only the New (liberal) SSPX leadership can answer: Why – Why – would any responsible leader want to negotiate a deal with Rome that would subject its followers and clergy to the jurisdiction of the conciliar church?
So, uncompromising Traditional Catholics must continue to comfort Our Lord with
steadfast loyalty to Catholic Tradition and to Christ the King.
Words to Live by – from Catholic Tradition
No man appears in safety before the public eye unless he first relishes obscurity. No man is safe in speaking unless he loves to be silent. No man rules safely unless he is willing to be ruled. No man commands safely unless he has learned well how to obey. No man rejoices safely unless he has within him the testimony of a good conscience.
The Imitation of Christ, Book I, Chapter 20.
In Case You Missed It …
The “new”, liberal SSPX portrays
a family which fits with the world and the conciliar church
When a person wears a wedding ring, it tells people that he/she is married.
The absence of a wedding ring tells people that the person is not married.
In the August-September 2019 Regina Coeli Report, the “new” SSPX’s theme was the family (the “domestic church”). The cover photo is of a smiling family and neither parent has a wedding ring.[1]
In this same photo, the family has two children – the maximum number approved by the world.
In this photo, the boy is dressed in pink – an approved color for boys and men in our corrupt, upside-down world. Promoting pink for boys and men feminizes them, contributes to the destruction of the fathers’ leadership, and promotes to the very gender confusion so rampant today.
[1] Here is the website where this commercial photo is offered to the public: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-family-park-having-good-time-1449821645?src=wrgEBGA5n8CLyzj_atU5TQ-1-33
Here are more pictures of the same couple, some of which show the parents’ ringless fingers from other angles: https://www.shutterstock.com/g/shalunts?searchterm=adult
In Case You Missed It …
Information to Counter the Liberal Gradualism
We must Fight against Every Day
The words of the “new” liberal SSPX in Florida, in 2019:
Thursday is Ascension of the Lord. In Florida, this Thursday is not a day of obligation. The day of obligation is reported on Sunday. Nevertheless, you are of course more than invited to come to Mass and to celebrate as best as you can this ascension of the Lord ….[1]
What won’t the “new” SSPX not emphasize to accustom its followers to the lax conciliar way of living?
[1] Listen to the N-SSPX priest here: https://youtu.be/LFINZXWxzTU?t=5374 (emphasis added).
In Case You Missed It …
Important Information to Counter the Liberal Gradualism
We must Fight against Every Day
SSPX seminary rector, Fr. Yves LeRoux, wrote:
It is indeed essential for the priest to be rooted in the Church, whether through his diocese or through a religious congregation ….[1]
Fr. LeRoux promotes the local dioceses as a way to be “rooted in the Church”, even though they are all occupied by the enemy, viz., anti-Catholic conciliar church.
[1] April 12, 2019 letter to friends and benefactors, p.2 (emphasis added).
Catholic Candle note: God put us on earth to begin (and then to advance in) the spiritual life. But how do we do this? As always, the Catholic Church has the answer!
In Sacred Scripture and in the teachings of the Doctors of the Church, the Church gives us many helps and explanations. One tremendous guide to understanding how to advance in the spiritual life, is the comparison of how our spiritual life is like a happy and harmonious, good Catholic marriage.
Charity (and the whole spiritual life) are inherently Divine Friendship.[1] More specifically, the spiritual life should be a spiritual marriage between Christ and each of our souls. Because spouses should be the very best of friends, marriage is the perfect figure for this union we should have with Christ.
The Canticle of Canticles is full of this imagery of marriage and romantic interchange of lovers, as a way to teach us about the spiritual relationship we should have with Christ. This spiritual marriage is a soul’s complete surrender to Christ in all things, a total generosity which is prefigured by a happy and harmonious, good Catholic marriage.
Not only should our souls be spouses of Christ, but they should be as a bride, not as the bridegroom, in this spiritual marriage. Christ calls Himself the Bridegroom, not the bride. St. Matthew’s Gospel, 9:15.
Concerning this spiritual marriage which our souls should have with Christ, the great Mystical Doctor, St. John of the Cross, continually calls the soul Christ’s bride and “a maiden”.[2]
Fittingly, the usual word for “soul” (in Latin) is “anima”, which is in the feminine declension, showing the disposition the soul should have towards Christ. For:
Ø Just as a wife should be passive and receptive to her husband and be led by him (rather than leading him), likewise the soul should be passive and receptive to her Spouse, Christ, and be led by Him.
Ø Just as a bride joins her husband’s life, leaving behind her past life (fittingly signifying this by taking his last name) likewise the soul joins Christ’s Life, and leaves behind her past life.[3]
Conclusion
Let us strive all we can that our souls are good brides to their Spouse, Our Lord Jesus Christ! Let them be passive and receptive to Christ! Let them be led wherever Christ leads! Let them leave behind them their past lives and completely join His life!
[1] 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.
[2] See, e.g., Spiritual Canticle, St. John of the Cross, Stanza XVIII.
[3]
Concerning the role of women and the great work of their life, read
this article: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/the-role-that-god-gave-to-woman-and-the-great-work-of-her-life.html
Comparing the spiritual life to Christ’s relationship with souls – even men’s souls – does not conflict with men’s nature. Although men should be manly and not womanly, there is no contradiction with a man’s soul being as a bride of Christ in a spiritual marriage with Him, and yet still being a manly man of his wife and being the head of his home and of his wife. St. Paul shows this compatibility when he teaches that “the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church”. Ephesians, 5:23.
The Traditional Role of General Councils in the Catholic Church
A General Council of the Catholic Church is a council called by the pope.[1] The authority of a General Council apparently does not depend on the number of bishops who attended, since Catholics have never questioned the authority of a Church Council based on the small number of bishops who attended.[2]
A General Council is a rare event.[3] In approximately 2,000 years, there have been only 21 General Councils up to, and including Vatican II.[4] A General Council is generally called to address a great crisis in the Church.[5]
Holding Regular, Frequent General Councils is revolutionary and is not part of Catholic Tradition.
The idea of holding regular and frequent General Councils was a novelty that was attempted once before Vatican II (in 1417), by a valid (but in some ways, evil) General Council of the Catholic Church called the Council of Constance.[6] Among other things, this council commanded frequent future councils. Here are its words:
[B]y this perpetual law, we command that, from this time on, General Councils shall be held as follows: the first within five years immediately following the close of this present council; the second within seven years of the close of the council immediately following this present council; and ever afterwards thenceforward every ten years ….[7]
Such implementation of regular, frequent General Councils was completely revolutionary in the history of the Catholic Church.[8] It is not the way that Our Lord Jesus Christ established the Church to be governed.
After the Council of Constance, the next Church Council was scheduled for five years later, as commanded by the Council of Constance. This council was to be held at Pavia, Italy (near Milan). But almost no bishops came and a plague struck that town and broke up the little group assembled for the council.[9]
As the Council of Constance ordered, the next Council (after the failed Pavia attempt) was scheduled for seven years later – to be convened in Basel, Switzerland. Id. Although this Council did convene in Basel, it was moved to Ferrara, Italy, and then moved to Florence. Id. This Council treated various business and eventually disbanded but there is no record of when or why it disbanded and there is no final Council document. Id.
In practical terms, this was the end of the Council of Constance’s legislation that regular and frequent General Councils must be convened. Strangely, the Council of Constance’s legislation (mandating regular and frequent Councils) was never formally revoked, although it was ignored after that.
The conciliar church has done what the Council of Constance tried to do
After Vatican II, the conciliar church began the novelty of holding General Councils/synods of “bishops”[10] about every three years.[11] These synods are called by the pope, with “bishops” chosen to represent all of the other “bishops” in the world. The legislation for these synods was decreed by Pope Paul VI in 1965, who established these synods as a new, permanent Council of “bishops”.[12] This permanent General Council/synod is designed to promote collegiality[13] and Vatican II’s false teaching that the Catholic Church has two supreme authorities.[14]
After Vatican II, the conciliar church has declared itself a “synodal church”[15] to promote collegiality and decentralization[16] in the Church, despite the truth that the Catholic Church is essentially a monarchy.
In the 52 years since Vatican II, the conciliar church has held 29 councils/synods[17], compared with the Catholic Church holding 21 Councils[18] (including Vatican II) in the roughly 2000 years before that!
The synods promote the evil of ecumenism
Among the many other evils of this revolutionary post-Vatican II “synodality”, is the promotion of ecumenism with false religions. The synods include as participating but non-voting “delegates” the members of various false religions, who are called “fraternal delegates”. For example, the 2015 synod included 14 such “fraternal delegates”, including heretics from Anglicanism, the Baptists, and the so-called “Orthodox” sects.[19]
These synods bring about evil effects
Bad trees bear only bad fruit. These revolutionary synods are bad trees which predictably bear only bad fruit. For example:
➢ The Amazon Synod in October 2019 promoted the policy of ordaining married men,[20] and also promoted the ordination of women. As a step in the revolutionaries’ push for female priests, the Amazon synod specifically recommended that women be ordained to the priestly minor orders of Lector and Acolyte.[21]
➢ The Synod on the Family promoted reception of Holy Communion by divorcées who (supposedly) “remarry”.[22]
Conclusion
We live in the time of the Great Apostasy. Let us always be vigilant and stand strong against the novelties of the conciliar church!
Let us thank God every day for giving us the tremendous and completely-undeserved blessing of the fully-Traditional Catholic Faith!
[1] Historian Msgr. Philip Hughes wrote a history of the Catholic Church’s 20 general councils (before Vatican II). Here is how he stated this truth:
Ever since the popes were first articulate about the General Council, they have claimed the right to control its action and, to take their place in it (whether personally or by legates sent in their name) or by their subsequent acceptance of the council, to give or withhold an approbation of its decisions, which stamps them as the authentic teaching of the Church of Christ. Only through their summoning it, or through their consenting to take their place at it, does the assembly of bishops become a General Council.
Quoted from: THE CHURCH IN CRISIS: A History of the General Councils: 325-1870, by Msgr. Philip Hughes, Hanover House, New York, ©1961, introduction (emphasis added).
[2] Historian Msgr. Philip Hughes wrote a history of the Catholic Church’s 20 general councils (before Vatican II). Here is how he stated this truth:
Nowhere in these early centuries, in fact, do we find any member of the Church questioning the truth as the General Councils have defined it. What they teach as the truth is taken to be as true as though it were a statement of Scripture itself. The question was never raised, seemingly, that the greater or smaller number of bishops who in response to the summons attended, in any way affected the peculiar authority of the General Council.
THE CHURCH IN CRISIS: A History of the General Councils: 325-1870, by Msgr. Philip Hughes, Hanover House, New York, ©1961, introduction (emphasis added).
[3] Historian Msgr. Philip Hughes wrote a history of the Catholic Church’s 20 general councils (before Vatican II). Here is how he stated this truth:
The General Council of the teaching Church, in all the sessions of the occasions on which it has met, in the nineteen hundred years and more of the Church’s history, has sat for perhaps thirty years in all, at most. It is an exceptional phenomenon in the life of the Church, and usually it appears in connection with some great crisis of that life.
THE CHURCH IN CRISIS: A History of the General Councils: 325-1870, by Msgr. Philip Hughes, Hanover House, New York, ©1961, introduction (emphasis added).
[4] The
Church Councils are listed in chronological order in the table of contents of
this book: THE CHURCH IN CRISIS: A History of the General Councils:
325-1870, by Msgr. Philip Hughes, Hanover House, New York, ©1961. Each Council
is given its own chapter of the book.
[5] Historian Msgr. Philip Hughes wrote a history of the Catholic Church’s 20 general councils (before Vatican II). Here is how he stated this truth:
The General Council of the teaching Church, in all the sessions of the occasions on which it has met, in the nineteen hundred years and more of the Church’s history, has sat for perhaps thirty years in all, at most. It is an exceptional phenomenon in the life of the Church, and usually it appears in connection with some great crisis of that life.
THE CHURCH IN CRISIS: A History of the General Councils: 325-1870, by Msgr. Philip Hughes, Hanover House, New York, ©1961, introduction.
[6] The Council was held in the Swiss town of Constance. Though the Council of Constance was a real council of the Church, like Vatican II was, the Council of Constance taught a number of grave errors (although it did not teach those errors infallibly), just as Vatican II taught countless grave errors, but not infallibly.
For example, among other grave errors, the Council of Constance taught that a Church Council was superior to the pope and could punish the pope. Here are the words of that Council:
This holy Council of Constance … declares, in the first place, that, lawfully come together in the Holy Spirit, being a General Council and representing the Catholic Church, it holds an authority directly [derived] from Christ, which authority everyone, of whatever status or dignity, even the pope, is bound to obey in those matters concerning the faith, the extirpation of the said Schism, and the reformation of the Church in head and members. It declares, furthermore, that whoever contumeliously scorns to obey the commands and the laws of this holy council, or of any other General Council lawfully assembled [commands, etc. referring to the matters stated], he is to be duly punished, whatever his status or dignity, even though he is the pope.
Quotation from the Council document, Sacrosancta, from THE CHURCH IN CRISIS: A History of the General Councils: 325-1870, by Msgr. Philip Hughes, Hanover House, New York, ©1961, ch.16 (emphasis added; bracketed words in the original).
[7] Here is a longer part of the summary of this Council, given by historian, Msgr. Philip Hughes:
Five decrees were accordingly published on October 5, 1417. The first, and by far the most important in its consequences, is that called, from its first word, Frequens. It is a kind of practical corollary to the decree Sacrosancta already mentioned. Here is its text: "The frequent celebration of General Councils is the best of all methods for tilling the Lord’s field, and for extirpating the weeds and thorns of heresy, schisms and errors …. This it is that brings the Lord’s vineyard to the fullness of its fertility. The neglect to hold General Councils fosters and encourages all the disorders here spoken of; the history of former times and the events we ourselves are witness
to make this very evident. Therefore, by this perpetual law, we command that, from this time on, General Councils shall be held as follows: the first within five years immediately following the close of this present council; the second within seven years of the close of the council immediately following this present council; and ever afterwards thenceforward every ten years; all these councils to be held in a place which the pope is bound to announce one month before the end of the council, and with the approbation and consent of the council. Should the pope fail to do this, then the council itself is to choose the place and time. So that, in this way, by a kind of continuity, there shall always be a council in session or the expectation of a council. The term appointed for the coming council the pope may, with the consent of the cardinals, shorten, but in no case may he make it any longer."
Quoted from THE CHURCH IN CRISIS: A History of the General Councils: 325-1870, by Msgr. Philip Hughes, Hanover House, New York, ©1961, ch.16, at footnote 309.
[8] After describing the Council of Constance’s declaration that there be regular General Councils in the Catholic Church, Msgr. Hughes then adds:
There is no need to explain what a revolution in the government of the Church was thus attempted.
Quoted from THE CHURCH IN CRISIS: A History of the General Councils: 325-1870, by Msgr. Philip Hughes, Hanover House, New York, ©1961, ch.16.
[9] THE CHURCH IN CRISIS: A History of the General Councils: 325-1870, by Msgr. Philip Hughes, Hanover House, New York, ©1961, ch.17.
[10] We place the word “bishop” in quotation marks because conciliar ordinations and consecrations are inherently doubtful. For an explanation of this, read these articles:
➢ https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/new-ordination-doubtful.html
➢ https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49oPuI54eEGd2RRcTFSY29EYzg/view
➢ https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49oPuI54eEGZVF5cmFvMGdZM0U/view
However, conciliar “bishops” who are given jurisdiction (for governing) by the pope do possess this jurisdiction because this jurisdiction does not depend on the valid ordinations and consecrations of the “bishops”. A layman can wield Episcopal jurisdiction when it is given to him by the pope. For an explanation of this, read section ten of this article: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/against-sedevacantism.html
[11]
https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/philly-s-chaput-africa-s-sarah-among-15-bishops-plan-next-synod
[12] Here are Pope Paul VI’s words, in his legislation:
It was also the Ecumenical Council that gave Us the idea of permanently establishing a special Council of bishops …. We hereby erect and establish here in Rome a permanent Council of bishops for the universal Church ….
The Synod of Bishops, whereby bishops chosen from various parts of the world are to offer more effective assistance to the supreme Shepherd, is to be constituted in such a way that it is: a) a central ecclesiastical institution; b) representing the whole Catholic episcopate; c) of its nature perpetual; d) as for structure, carrying out its function for a time and when called upon.
Pope Paul VI , Apostolica Sollicitudo, Establishing The Synod Of Bishops For The Universal Church, 1965.
[13] Pope Francis described the synods as “one of the fruits of the Second Vatican Council” and “an expression of collegiality.” https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-says-structures-collaboration-collegiality-need-strengthening
Similarly, Pope John Paul II referred to the Church Synod as “a particularly fruitful expression and instrument of the collegiality of bishops”. http://www.synod.va/content/synod2018/en/the-synod-of-bishops.html
[14] Among the many revolutionary changes made by Vatican II and the subsequent conciliar church, is the promotion the errors of collegiality and that the bishops (with the pope) is a separate supreme authority in the Church. Here is Vatican II’s revolutionary teaching that the Church has two supreme authorities:
The pope’s power of primacy over all, both pastors and faithful, remains whole and intact. In virtue of his office, that is as Vicar of Christ and pastor of the whole Church, the Roman Pontiff has full, supreme and universal power over the Church. And he is always free to exercise this power. The order of bishops, which succeeds to the college of apostles and gives this apostolic body continued existence, is also the subject of supreme and full power over the universal Church, provided we understand this body together with its head the Roman Pontiff and never without this head. … The supreme power in the universal Church, which this college enjoys, is exercised in a solemn way in an ecumenical council. … [I]t is the prerogative of the Roman Pontiff to convoke these councils, to preside over them and to confirm them. This same collegiate power can be exercised together with the pope by the bishops living in all parts of the world ….
Quoted from Vatican II document, Lumen Gentium, §22 (emphasis added).
Vatican II’s fuzzy, illogical teaching here, indicates that there are dual authorities in the Church: 1) the pope singly and 2) all the bishops together. This concept – of a double supreme authority – makes no sense, any more than two spouses can each be the head of the family, since there cannot be two greatest authorities. The conciliar church’s error of two supreme authorities in the Church is thus analogous to the false and contradictory conciliar error of “mutual submission” of spouses, as both heads of the family. (Pope John Paul II sets out this error of “mutual submission” in his encyclical, Mulieris dignitatem, §24.)
To read the Catholic Church’s infallible condemnations of the error of dual supreme authority in the Church, read: Lumen Gentium Annotated, by the Editors of Quanta Cura Press, © 2013, beginning on page 187. This book is available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49oPuI54eEGbzRhdmQ3X0Z6RFE/view (free) & at Amazon.com (sold at cost).
[15]
For example, Pope Francis declared on October 17, 2015:
The journey of synodality is the journey that God wants from his [sic] church in the third millennium. A synodal church is a listening church, aware that listening is more than hearing. It is a reciprocal listening in which each one has something to learn.
Words of Pope Francis, quoted here: https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-calls-synodal-church-listens-learns-shares-mission
[16] Declaring his intent to decentralize the Catholic Church, here are the words of Pope Francis, quoted in a news report:
“In this sense, I feel the need to move ahead with a healthy decentralization,” he [viz., Pope Francis] said. [Pope] Francis also said it was “necessary and urgent to think about a conversion of the papacy”, a possibility that was first floated by the late Pope John Paul II in 1995.
https://religionnews.com/2015/10/18/pope-francis-calls-for-changes-to-papacy-and-a-more-decentralized-church/ (bracketed words added for clarity).
[18] THE CHURCH IN CRISIS: A History of the General Councils: 325-1870, by Msgr. Philip Hughes, Hanover House, New York, ©1961, See, the table of contents and introduction.
[20] https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2019/10/26/amazon-synod-document-calls-for-married-priests-and-increased-role-for-women/
[21] https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vatican-leaves-out-call-for-womens-ministries-from-english-version-of-amazon-synods-final-doc
Although the conciliar hierarchy has eliminated the traditional four minor orders in the evil novus ordo “ordination” rite (for men), it is interesting that these modernists would propose those minor orders for women as a concrete step toward women’s (supposed) ordination to the priesthood.
Objective Truth Series – reflections article #2
The first reflection spoke of the work of God on souls, namely, His forming His Elect. He has a school of sanctity. What does God teach in this school? He teaches the life of virtue, most importantly, charity, and its foundation, which is humility.
It seems that this school of sanctity happens in levels or stages. First God attracts the soul to humility. Then the soul seeks knowledge of humility. This fosters more love of this virtue and a desire for more knowledge of it. By this means God lets the soul absorb humility into the soul and humility gets into the bloodstream, as it were, and into the very marrow of the bones, so to speak. The love of humility takes a sort of hold on the soul and the soul has no desire to stop learning more about humility. On the contrary, the soul becomes more and more enamored with the quest of humility, looking to find examples of this lovely virtue everywhere.
God teaches humility in His school of sanctity to souls throughout their life. His teaching comes in all shapes and forms. It comes in the Scriptures, sermons, good books and articles, from advice of friends, and even from the comments of enemies. His teaching comes from events and circumstances. His teaching comes from crosses or things that seem like crosses. When a soul begins to seek humility and begins to seek examples of humility, then examples of humility come in abundance!! For example, when reading Scripture, the words “poor,” and “little”, stand out and represent the humble, whereas, “rich”, and “fat”, represent the proud. God trains the eye of the soul to spot the words and passages of the Scriptures that refer to the humble and likewise the words and passages that speak of the proud and the words and passages that warn about pride.
The beauty of humility becomes more and more evident as one “hunts” for examples of humility. Thus, the soul begins to love this virtue with a tender love and delights when it finds another example of humility. The soul becomes able to detect humility in actual examples of those around him as well. Lastly, and most thrilling of all, is the soul taking real notice of the Humility of Jesus Christ Himself. The Gospels take on a wonderful charm of their own when looking to see what the Good Lord Himself shows regarding humility. There seems to be no end to the examples that Our Lord shows. Our Lord says, “Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Our Lord speaks of humility so often and with such emphasis, that it is certainly clear that Our Lord desires for His Elect to have humility and that humility is absolutely necessary for salvation. When the hunt has begun, words such as these might come to mind:
O Lord that I may ever seek;
Examples that prove that I am weak;
In passages of Thy Word Divine;
May I find humility in every line.
Delight my soul with this edifying fruit;
To hinder pride from taking deeper root.
In my soul make Thy work complete;
Please make me fitting and meet.
May it be our constant prayer, dear reader, that this hunt for humility takes root in our souls and bear an abundant harvest!
First: There are the low-information Catholics who accept and obey any changes as good and worthwhile. They fail to realize their perceived faith is meaningless, with little or no value for what counts in their hope of salvation. It is based on the
feeling that you pray or go to Mass only if you really want to. (If it’s “meaningful”.) They also have a misguided understanding of obedience.
Second: Members who go-along-to-get-along. They are willing to compromise their principles and their faith, as well as to accept a liberal pastor in order to obtain the Sacraments and the Mass, no matter what the cost. Their plan is to avoid conflict, overlook gradualism, and to be highly thought of. They don’t want to give up friendships or family ties. They refuse to believe their compromises will greatly weaken their faith. They (mistakenly) believe God will understand. They take comfort in numbers for there are a great many with them on the wide, smooth path to perdition that they travel. They fail to do any research on the crisis for fear they will find they are wrong and therefore must re-think the direction they are headed.
Third: Members who are uncompromising and are devastated by the very disastrous changes caused by Vatican II and post-VC II additional and even more harmful changes. These members realize just how destructive the changes have been to a point that it seems there is no longer a recognizable Catholic Church. The conciliar hierarchy has taken the lead in seeking to destroy all worthwhile Catholic attributes and religious communities. It seems that the Catholic Church has evolved into an anti-Catholic Conciliar church. They have also eliminated the traditional Catholic Sacraments and the Tridentine Mass, founded by Christ, and replaced them with the conciliar (anti-Catholic) “sacraments” and the Novus Ordo “Mass”, which fail to give grace. It’s easy to see that the Masons’ Vatican II plan is working.
Our Blessed Mother at Fatima stated that there would be a time when we will have only her Immaculate Heart and the Rosary. It’s surely beginning to look like today is the time she was referring to. We in the true Resistance know how hard it already is to find an uncompromising Catholic priest or parish, and I can assure you it will be almost impossible to find them in the future.
It is hard to believe that, in the human element of the Church, the traditional uncompromising Catholic Faith could fall so fast and so far in such a relatively short time. Actually, it is understandable when we consider that the Conciliar church “sacraments” and “mass” fail to give grace. I attribute that to little concern regarding the manifest liberal gradualism that has been promoted by the human element in Rome and local dioceses. This liberalism started with John XXIII, the weak pope responsible for calling VC II. It also proves God will not take away one’s free will, even if it is against His Mystical Body, the Catholic Church.
The conciliar corruption spread beyond the visible Catholic Church. It has also adversely affected Culture throughout the world, education, Catholic influence, music, entertainment, the family, health, etc., etc. Yes, every aspect of life. And that’s all to be expected, considering the strong Masonic influence in Vatican II, and the implementation of their plan that followed.
Don’t despair. God is still in charge, with the correction coming in His own good time. Meanwhile, we in the real Resistance must pray every day for the consecration of Russia to Mary’s Immaculate Heart, and to stand strong and uncompromising for Christ the King. I’m sure we will receive extra graces to help us to remain confident and to succeed.