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Sunday 13 January 2013

Great Demonstrations in France, Praise God for Common Sense

http://www.france24.com/en/20130113-huge-crowds-rally-paris-against-gay-marriage


Tens of thousands of people opposed to President François Hollande’s plan to legalise gay marriage have taken to the streets of Paris in a bid to organise one of the French capital’s biggest protest rallies in years.

Go to link for the rest of the story.


Perfection, again, and the Holy Trinity

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a theme of this blog. If more priests and catechists talked about this, we would all be happier and more in tune with our call to perfection and holiness.

The Blessed Virgin Mary was the first person to experience the Holy Trinity dwelling within, from the moment of her conception, the Immaculate Conception.

We, too, from baptism, have that great gift. But, this gift is lost and squandered by sin.

Mortal sin, meaning deadly sin, kills the life of God in the soul.

Why?

Because, simply, we have decided that something or someone else is God instead of God.

Fornication and adultery make another person and sex into gods, supplanting the Holy Trinity within us.

Homosexual sin is also idolatry.

So, too, are pride, greed, gluttony, avarice, deceit and all the Seven Deadly Sins, which I have tags on to other posts I have made on this subject.

Do not kid yourselves. You cannot see God if you have separated yourself from Him. You cannot see God unless you serve Him in purity of heart. How hard this must be for the pagan, as it is so hard for us who have grace.

Free Will is a tremendous gift.

Usually, a sexual sin causes youth to skip Mass. Then, they tumble into the habits of sin and staying away from the very sacraments which will give them clarity of mind and life.

A vicious and deadly circle....denying sin leads to death of the soul.

The Church did not make up these sins, God did. The Ten Commandments are still in effect.

Most people sin by putting their desires, wants, needs, will first and God's second or third.

To say we will what God Wills means dying to our own self, over and over and over.

The self-willed cannot see God, either out of their own selves or in their own selves.

The self-willed only see ME, and maybe, just maybe, a you, but only if the you serves the purposes of the ME. Such is sin.

The self-willed make the world into their own image and likeness.

To begin the road to perfection, one must be purified of sin, even venial sins. The great saints vary on whether a person can ever be free of venial sin, but every imperfection keeps us from God's Will for our lives.

Believe me, as I have experienced this. To be on the road to perfection is the only thing to do in life---see my quotation from Leon Bloy on the side.

I repost it here for you.

"The only tragedy in life is not to become a saint." 

Why a tragedy? Because eternity is a very long time.

Remember, one must be in sanctifying grace to receive merit for good.  God is merciful, of course, but to take His Mercy for granted is the sin of presumption. 

See all the other posts on perfection....more to come. This is just a reminder.


To find the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity is a great gift. One must be willing to give up everything which fills one's heart instead of God.

Not just things, for example, but the desire for things. Not just fame, but the desire for people to think well of you. 

Today, on EWTN's website, this quotation fit perfectly my thoughts for the day.

Such is the synchronicity of the Spirit of God.


The man who burns with the fire of divine love is a son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and wherever he goes, he enkindles that flame; he desires and works with all his strength to inflame all men with the fire of God's love. Nothing deters him: he rejoices in poverty; he labours strenuously; he welcomes hardships; he laughs off false accusations; he rejoices in anguish. He thinks only of how he might follow Jesus Christ and imitate him by his prayers, his labours, his sufferings, and by caring always and only for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

-- St Anthony Mary Claret


This is what I desire. And, to be joined in the Cross of Christ and share in His Sufferings is part of the deal. A priest in Confession told me today that we cannot avoid the Cross, and that Christ has gone before me in all my suffering.

Nice.....real......necessary.





Excellent Sermon on the Feast of the Second Epiphany of Christ

A good Jesuit priest gave an excellent sermon today for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Today, one of the three Epiphanies of Christ, the other two being the Feast of the Three Kings, and the other the Wedding Feast at Cana, ends the Christmas Season. So, you could have been feasting all last week as well, folks.

The main idea of the sermon was that our baptism marks us with the indelible mark as an heir of heaven and son or daughter of God.

Many Catholics, sadly, no longer believe in the necessity for baptism, which, sadly, makes them heretics.

To deny the need and efficacy of the sacrament of baptism denies the reason for the Incarnation. Christ came to free us from the results of Original Sin, which include damnation, give us life in Him, which we call sanctifying grace.

We ONLY get sanctifying grace in the sacraments.

To deny baptism is to deny Original Sin and its effects: concupiscence,  illness and death, clouding of the intellect, loss on innocence, separation from God. In the Creed, we say we believe that Christ descended to the dead-which is the Harrowing of Hell. Either one is  a Christian and believes in the Creed, or one is not.

The people redeemed from hell included SS. Adam and Eve.

The Council of Trent clarified, after the confusion of Luther, that baptism, indeed, took away Original Sin.

To not believe in Original Sin is one of the most common heresies today, along with Universal Salvation, which is the belief that all people go to heaven.

The priest today reminded all of us that it is our baptismal duty to evangelize. I have written on this many, many times.

The ideas of evolution have confused people, as they think their original parents were less than human, and not the perfect Adam and Eve.

See what false teaching can lead to---the denial of the very reason for Christianity: Christ's Redemptive Act on the Cross.

In my Monastic Diurnal, the Three Epiphanies are highlighted in the prayers from January 6th to today.

The old collects, in my opinion, are better than the new ones.

Because to be human is to have a sense of humour....


Now, the Masons can be blamed for many errors, but soccer?


"Fatwa By Saudi Sheikh: Soccer Players Are Infidels," from MEMRI a la Spencer:

On several sites.....
Tell this to fans in Argentina, Brazil, Spain, England.................
On December 5, 2012, Saudi sheikh Suleiman Al-'Alwan, a popular Salafi-jihadi cleric, was released after being imprisoned without a trial for nine years.[1] Al-'Alwan's trial began only recently; he is accused of having ties to Al-Qaeda and issuing fatwas permitting terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia and targeting Western interests in the world and in the Saudi kingdom.[2]
Since his release, Al-'Alwan has received many visitors, including sheikhs and former students, and has been asked to give his opinion on religious questions. On December 23, 2012, in response to a question posed by a Saudi youth, Al-'Alwan said that soccer was a form of heresy: "Soccer is a Masonic game meant to distance Muslims from their religion and faith, and most of the public that follows [soccer games] is loyal to the infidels." Al-'Alwan called soccer players criminals and infidels: "[When] a man watches a [soccer] game, God forbid, he is watching deviant criminals and sinful infidels, even if they are Muslims." He added: "There is a serious problem with [soccer] games, which is the refereeing, which follows manmade laws, not Allah's laws."[3]
It should be mentioned that shortly after his release, Al-'Alwan also accused Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi of heresy for failing to implement shari'a law in Egypt, and condemned Egypt's new constitution because it guarantees religious freedom and treats Christians as equal to Muslims. In addition, he held Mursi responsible for causing the deaths of Salafis in Sinai.[4]
Al-'Alwan's fatwa was harshly criticized by Saudi columnist Muhammad bin 'Abd Al-Latif Aal Al-Sheikh, who wrote in the Saudi government daily Al-Jazirah that Al-'Alwan reminds him of Taliban sheikhs....



There is no true religious experience without....

St. Bernadette of Lourdes

I have been pondering a few dilemmas. When discussing religion with good people, I find confusions regarding religious experience. False ecumenism has ruined the ability of good people to think rationally about the Faith. A few points.

1) There is no true religious experience without complete orthodoxy. Without complete orthodoxy, there can be no true holiness.

2) There is no true religious experience without doctrine. Experience must go hand in hand with the Revelation of the Church and the Tradition of the Church. There is no such thing as "pastoral" experience separate from doctrine.

3) Not all the writings of saints have been approved doctrinally. Some have. I have more on this on other postings. There are levels of writings. A person's holiness does not dictate that ALL their writings are without  error or interpretation.

4) There is a huge difference between personal meditation and divine revelations. The Church is clear on this. One must make sure one is not believing something is infallible which is merely the meditations of a good person, and, therefore, limited. Only papal statements from the Chair of Peter are infallible. And, as I have noted before, the various congregations in the Vatican, have authority over us, if approved and signed by the correct authorities.

5) There is no true religion experience outside a life of sanctifying grace. The Deceitful One can mock God with false experiences. The great saints warn us of this.

6) There is no true religious experience which is from God from other, arcane sources. Clairvoyants, for example, get their knowledge from demons, not God. There is no mocking God regarding seeking religious experiences outside the mainstream of the Church's teaching.

7) There is no true religious experience outside of Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. If someone denies the Trinity, the experiences must be seen as suspect.

8) The Church has the duty and right to teach and guide us regarding religious experience. If some experience is condemned, one must avoid those books, readings, sites on line on pain of losing one's immortal soul.  Following false seers is one of the most serious of sins. Obedience is key.

9) There is no true religious experience is someone is making money from such. This should be obvious.
If there are charges for talks, books, DVDs, CDs, etc., smell a rat.  Sorry, but what is freely given is free.
Industries have been made from modern religious experiences which have not been approved by the Church.  To me, this is common sense....

10) There is no true religious experience without extreme humility...........and personal holiness.