I know that many of you are thinking it. That this earthquake in Norcia seems profound. Significant. Symbolic.
Now maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t, but I find myself involuntarily grasping at pattern recognition, trying to piece together this puzzle (if it in fact IS a puzzle). This is what I see so far:
St. Benedict is seen by many not just as the father of Western Monasticism, but the savior of Western Civilization. Then-Cardinal Ratzinger said:
“We need men like Benedict of Norcia, who at a time of dissipation and decadence, plunged into the most profound solitude, succeeding, after all the purifications he had to suffer, to ascend again to the light, to return and to found Montecasino, the city on the mountain that, with so many ruins, gathered together the forces from which a new world was formed.
In this way Benedict, like Abraham, became the father of many nations. The recommendations to his monks, presented at the end of his “Rule,” are guidelines that show us also the way that leads on high, beyond the crisis and the ruins.”
Norcia is the birthplace both of St. Benedict himself and of the authentic, traditional Benedictine renewal. It has been one of the bright spots in the Church, one of the few places that truly drew Catholics from all over the world and gave them hope. The monks themselves have not been harmed (deo gratias!), and speak now of rebuilding, but how can this be? How can it happen in a town that has been so thoroughly scourged by nature — nature, which may not yet be done, as each successive series of earthquakes since August has been worse than the last. Will these monks be forced to forge their work anew from the ruins like St. Benedict himself in Monte Casino? Perhaps. But for now, the people drawn to Norcia — the oblates, the visitors from abroad, the conferences of Catholic theology and culture — have been scattered.
A prominent center of Catholic renewal destroyed. The birthplace of the savior of Western civilization laid low. A symbol of the long-delayed flourishing of the Traditional Mass and sacraments all but erased during the same week that the Congregation for Divine Worship was given an infusion of progressives and a pope is travelling to Sweden to celebrate Martin Luther, which he prioritizes even over the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
This earthquake took place as morning dawned on a day that for the majority of Catholics in the world has no significance. It is, for those who will assist at Mass today in the “Ordinary Form” of the liturgy, merely the Thirty-First Sunday in “Ordinary Time”. But for Catholics attached to the Church’s ancient liturgical traditions, today is nothing but ordinary. It is the Feast of Christ the King.
One of the reasons why this feast was placed by Pope Pius XI on the final Sunday of October was likely due to the significance of this day in the Protestant world. Dr. Peter Kwasniewski writes:
“Indeed, there’s also the obvious fact, unmentioned in Quas Primas but surely in everyone’s mind, that the last Sunday in October had, for centuries, been celebrated as Reformation Sunday. A Catholic counter-feast, reminding the world not only of the comprehensive Kingship of Jesus Christ—so often denied socially and culturally by various teachings of Protestantism—but also of the worldwide kingly authority of His Church, would certainly be a reasonable application of the principle lex orandi, lex credendi.”
“In the liturgical reforms following the Second Vatican Council, its place was changed to the last Sunday of the Church year—that is, so that one week later would fall the first Sunday of Advent. This new position emphasizes rather the eschatological dimension of Christ’s kingship…”
“Though both placements are defensible, it would seem that Pius XI’s intention, consistent with the encyclical as a whole, was more to insist on the rights of Jesus Christ here and now, and the corresponding duties of men and nations on earth…”
“From this vantage, which certainly does not sound like the language of Dignitatis Humanae or the postconciliar diplomacy of the Church, it is hard to resist thinking that the eschatological perspective betrays weak knees before the challenge of modern secularization, as well as hesitation about the perceived “triumphalism” of the earlier papal social teaching. In other words, the kingship of Christ is palatable and proclaimable so long as its realization comes at the end of time, and does not impinge too much on the political and social order right now—or on the Church’s responsibility to convert the nations, invigorate their cultures, and transform their laws by the light of the Faith.”
It bears repeating: “A Catholic counter-feast, reminding the world not only of the comprehensive Kingship of Jesus Christ—so often denied socially and culturally by various teachings of Protestantism—but also of the worldwide kingly authority of His Church, would certainly be a reasonable application of the principle lex orandi, lex credendi.” This symbolism seems so much more profound on the eve of a papal trip to Lund to celebrate very much the opposite.
And what of a “kingship of Christ is palatable and proclaimable so long as its realization comes at the end of time, and does not impinge too much on the political and social order right now” at a time when the most powerful nation on earth is about to face one of the most contentious elections in its 240 year history — an election with massive potential ramifications for the ability of Catholics who live therein to practice their faith, and a certainly grim outcome for the preservation of the dignity of human life?
And all of this just two weeks since the beginning of the 100th year since the Miracle of the Sun and the last apparition at Fatima, which warned of so much calamity to come? Recall what we know about that message:
After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’
And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it’ a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the holy father’.
Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions.
Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.
Similarly, Our Lady of Akita made these warnings on October 13, 1973:
“As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests.”
“The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres…churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.
“The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them”
[…]
“Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
Is this not the reality of our age? Cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops? Cardinal Burke has said as much in some of his comments on the internal attacks on marriage within the Church on the eve of the second Synod. (See this video at 26:35 for the following quote):
If this means that cardinals will be opposed to cardinals, then we simply have to accept the fact that…that that’s the situation which we find ourselves. Certainly for my part, I don’t look for this kind of conflict, but…if in defending the truth of the faith I end up in a disagreement or a conflict with another cardinal what has to be primary to me is the truth of the faith and to, as a teacher of the faith, as a pastor of souls, to defend that truth.
The earthquake in Norcia also shook Rome this morning, as the destruction of a center of authentic Catholicism should. It shook Rome on a day when the Successor of St. Peter is preparing to go to celebrate a 500-year-old heresy and schism that has deeply wounded Our Lord’s Mystical Body and led many souls to Hell. It shook Rome on a day when the whole world, led by the pope, should be honoring Christ the King — not just King of hearts, but of our civilization.
Perhaps this is all a coincidence. Perhaps my own worries and fears and too little sleep are causing me to attempt to connect dots that don’t form a straight line.
But I can’t shake the feeling that this could be portentous. Things are not as they should be. The pope should not be going to Lund. Pray that like so many in Rome this morning who awoke to find their world literally being rocked, this will rouse him from his slumber. If not, things are only going to get worse.
PRAYER FOR THE POPE:
Almighty and Everlasting God, have mercy on Thy servant Francis, our Supreme Pontiff, and direct him, according to Thy loving kindness, in the way of eternal salvation, that with Thy help he may ever desire that which is pleasing to Thee and accomplish it with all his strength. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
A PRAYER TO SAINT GREGORY VII, POPE AND CONFESSOR:
O invincible defender of Holy Church’s freedom, Saint Gregory of great renown, by that firmness thou didst show in maintaining the Church’s rights against all her enemies, stretch forth from Heaven thy mighty arm, we beseech thee, to comfort her and defend her in the fearful battle she must ever wage with the powers of darkness. Do thou, in an especial manner, give strength in this dread conflict to the venerable Pontiff who has fallen heir not only to thy throne, but likewise to the fearlessness of thy mighty heart; obtain for him the joy of beholding his holy endeavors crowned by the triumph of the Church and the return of the lost sheep into the right path. Grant, finally, that all may understand how vain it is to strive against that faith which has always conquered and is destined always to conquer: “this is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith.” This is the prayer that we raise to thee with one accord; and we are confident, that, after thou hast heard our prayers on earth, thou wilt one day call us to stand with thee in Heaven, before the eternal High Priest, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen.
“Blow the ram’s-horn in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let everybody in the country tremble, for the Day of Yahweh is coming, yes, it is near.
Day of darkness and gloom, Day of cloud and blackness. Like the dawn, across the mountains spreads a vast and mighty people, such as has never been before, such as will never be again to the remotest ages.” Joel 2, 1-2
I’m glad I’m not the only person thinking like this. Don’t forget about lightning striking the Vatican on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary
Yep, it’s no happenstance or coincidence God is making His presence and His unhappiness felt. Remember a year or two ago the famous tower in Nepal the Dharahara? An earthquake annihilated that landmark building and there was a pagan buddha statue at the top of that tower, it had stood for 183 years.
Remember too that just days after Pope Benedict XVI’s ‘resignation’ an earthquake struck Castel Gandolfo in March 2013 shortly following Benedict’s arrival there.
Now Norcia and Benedict. Most peculiar.
Yep, Almighty God continues to warn us but the Vatican is on deaf ears
The earthquake which struck Italy, shaking the country from Venice to Rome, also opened up a crack in the Basilica of St Paul (‘outside the walls’) in Rome.
Interesting that on the eve of Pope Francis’ scandalous celebration of Martin Luther’s revolution, that St Paul’s Basilica should crack. A true missionary, St Paul, perhaps showing God’s great displeasure with the scandal of ecumenism.
One great Pope wrote that the Catholic Church is not a Christian Federation, Our church stands alone.
I am still thinking that the Church has to start again from Her Source. Why has Norcia been so badly shaken, otherwise?
It seems so unjust, from my logic, but maybe to manifest God’s Power in our weakness.
Were not Lutherans just welcomed at the Vatican on Our Lady’s Feast Day and a statue of the apostate luther presented? Did not the Vatican allow the showing of animals and such on the façade of St. Peter’s on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception last year? Just a couple of slaps against Our Lady and I doubt that pleases her Son very much.
The pagan thing’s that have been going on now in the Vatican for the past three year’s is truly heretical and insulting to the mother of God and the church Christ founded. Don’t forget the inviting of Transvestites, homosexuals, Muslims to the Vatican and this Pope kissing and washing their feet and the pope bringing back Muslims from the Middle East, holding them up in the Vatican, feeding them and finding them jobs. Is this what he’s supposed to be doing? I thought he was in the service of saving souls..!
I knew you’d have something on this when I got back from Holy Mass. And you do.
Thank you for this. Well said.
The way I see it: At this point, Catholic Prophecy is now a forecast for the next 1-10 years.
Yep
This stuff hurts me. But what hurts more is that most Catholics just don’t care about any of this. Go along to get along. I think it will get much worse before it gets better. We need to stay close to Our Lady through these times and the times ahead no matter what. And we need to pray for the Pope and the Bishops and the Priests.
Most Catholics just go through the motions but are oblivious to the rot that has set in to our Church.
I keep misreading the word Lund by Lurid
A 6.6(6) earthquake just hit the same region of Italy which had two recent smaller earthquakes. Aftershocks are suppose to be smaller.
The earthquakes hit near a church which was exhibiting a porno art show. The bishop said nothing about what was happening in the recently deconsecrated church.
The earthquakes are of similar intensity to the earthquakes which hit the porno district in the San Fernando Valley some years ago.
God is sending us warnings!!
Worse than the warning; Ultimatum.
Yes. Could 2017 be the year that the secrets of Medjugorje are revealed?
Possibly. The prophecies all lead to the same conclusion.
…omgosh, don’t bring up Medjugorje…no one cares about it anymore because it’s fake and real prophecies and warnings come from Our Lady’s REAL appearances like Fatima, Akita and La Salette.
Err… I was talking about Fatima, actually….
I agree, and I did not know that Norcia had become this kind of center. How sad to think of Catholics moving there to be closer to it and having this happen. God bless them all.
Many signs have happened, the gulls attacking the doves PF released, the lightning strikes, both on meaningful days (one within hours of BXVI retiring, or doing whatever it was he did, and even blood moons, something I know many people don’t think about. But scripture tells us there will be signs in the heavens, and I never want to be that sophisticated and say, oh that cannot be, stop imagining. Truth be told, every day I await with hope the answer from God to all this madness that encircles us. But in my own dot connecting I cannot square Norcia.
The timing is uncanny. Could this be a message to the Pope that he should remain in Rome and attend to his Church instead of busying himself with what is not his concern?
My own sentiments exactly! This guy is far from humble but loves to be in the spotlight yet he tells the priests and bishops ‘not to be airport bishops.’ Shouldn’t he be setting the example?
Well, maybe it’s not okay to be an airport bishop but okay to be an airport Pope.
Funny thought from a Pope that prefers to be called bishop of Rome.
“When the Catholic church goes, so goes the World”…….
The Parable of the Lost Sheep doesn’t ring a bell? “The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So to them he addressed this parable. ‘What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?'” (Luke 15:1-4). How would you bring the lost sheep back if not by reaching out to them? Why neither you, nor any of the “anti-pope” crowd mention e.g. what the Holy Father Francis said to children and young people of Italy upon his visit to Turin on 21 June 2015 “On this earth — and I also said this to the Salesian Family — at the end of the 19th century there were the worst conditions for young people’s development: freemasonry was in full swing, not even the Church could do anything, there were priest haters, there were also Satanists…. It was one of the worst moments and one of the worst places in the history of Italy. However, if you would like to do a nice homework assignment, go and find out how many men and women saints were born during that time. Why? Because they realized that they had to go against the tide with respect to the culture, to that lifestyle.” Why would it be that you all, the holier-than-thou anti-pope crowd, fail to hear things like that? One conclusion suggests itself. And the moving of the feast of Christ the King from it being merely a way to “minister to the need of the present day” to it being the crowning of the liturgical year makes perfect sense. Remember, the feast was still celebrated on the last Sunday of October as Pope Pius XI instituted it (the date you think made all the difference) when that did not stop “the most powerful nation on earth” from turning away from Christ to “these manifold evils in the world” against which that Pope established this feast in the first place, having witnessed, as a papal nuncio and the only foreign diplomat he did not flee to safety, the Bolshevik march on Poland (thankfully concluded by the miracle on the Vistula, when Our Lady responded to the prayers of the faithful and rescued them). Ven. Abp Sheen spoke about that “moment of blindness” in words that to this day get him, like the Popes, scorned (for speaking the truth, no less!): https://youtu.be/VNRIkhsfBiQ?t=4m42s Think about it as we approach those “most contentious elections” and before you sling another shot at the Holy Father.
Jesus went out to find the lost sheep *and bring it back.* Whatever Francis’s motives are (even if the most honourable), his actions are not having the right effect. Is there actually a great return to the Church and to the sacraments? No, not at all. None of these lost sheep actually is returning to Christ’s Church. People are being confirmed in their sins, not being brought back through repentence.
1. Moving the feast of Christ the King to the end of the liturgical year downplays the fact that Christ is King not only of Heaven, but of earth as well. In the Novus Ordo, the focus is entirely on Christ’s reign in the next life, while in the traditional rite, the propers emphasize that Christ’s kingship is to be extended to all nations of this mortal life. Additionally, it has effectively suppressed the traditional Gospel of the day, in which Christ speaks of the signs the faithful will see before He returns to establish His reign on earth.
2. I doubt you would find any of us who frequent this forum who considers himself “holier in thou”; rather, we are all aware that we are among the worst of sinners and most undeserving of the salvation Christ has given to us through His passion, death, and resurrection.
3. Yes, Christ reached out to sinners, but He never, ever allowed them to retain the false notion that they could remain in their sin and still be saved, as the Modernists within the Church (Kasper, Marx, Schoenborn) do. Taking the woman at the well for example, Christ is blunt to the point of being harsh and “unpastoral”; not only does He lead the woman to admit she is an adulteress, but He points out that “thou hast had five husbands: and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband” (i.e., He forces her to confront just how deep into sin she has fallen). Likewise with the woman taken in adultery, Christ does not forgive her and say “Now, go continue living the same life you have been living.” Rather, He bluntly tells her to “Go, and now sin no more.”
4. None of us here enjoy “slinging shots” at the Holy Father. Trust me, we don’t. But there is objective Truth, and there is falsehood. And what this pontiff is teaching—for example, that one can remain in a state of objective mortal sin and yet still be in a state of grace to the point of being able to receive Holy Communion, even when fully aware of the sinfulness of one’s actions (cf. Amoris laetitia); that there is something positive to be found in the Protestant rebellion that has cut off access to the sacraments and the Church of Christ to countless souls over the centuries—contradicts the Apostles, St. Paul, the Fathers, the Doctors, and countless of his own predecessors on the papal throne. How in the world is it “slinging shots” to remain silent and try to spin the actions of this pontiff into the realm of orthodoxy? So many of us have tried that, but it simply cannot be done without being blatantly dishonest and disingenuous.
Good stuff Steve. You have captured the portentous moment perfectly. All of what has been predicted by our Lady is coming into focus and the climax is at hand. If we are still here by the end of next year we should thank God for the time he has given us to pray for the world and the Church that we may all repent and do the His will. The two key people who need the most prayer are Pope Francis and the next President of the United States.
I’ve only had time to skim the above article but it seems to be very good indeed, at first reading. What jumped out at me, however, is the positive reference to Akita. I used to accept Akita myself, and have quoted it many times, simply because it had the label “approved” and because of the “cardinals against cardinals” etc statement. I’ve now changed my mind, for a number of reasons. I offer the following link to one explanation of why Akita is unlikely, after all to be worthy of belief.
https://www.osv.com/RSS/365DaysToMercy/TabId/2752/ArtMID/21013/ArticleID/4568/Is-Japans-Our-Lady-of-Akita-apparition-worthy-of-belief.aspx
With that reminder of the doubts surrounding Akita, I’ve posted the link to this blog article on the Catholic Truth blog, on the thread where we are discussing the Pope’s participation in the Revolting Lutheran commemoration/celebration !
If that article were from another source, I’d give it more credence. OSV, however, has time and again proven itself a simple mouthpiece for the Vatican (note I did not say Rome.) It simply repeats the “party line” and does not repeat what is necessarily true. Bishop Ito gave his approval which, technically, is all that is required by Church law for an apparition to be approved.
Besides, it’s not convenient to talk about such an apparition. Better to say it’s not approved than to try and explain it. If there is a good theological article expressing why the apparition is doubtful then I’ll gladly give that credence.
Jaffin,
I posted a thread on Akita some time ago (we’ve had more than one, fully supportive of the apparitions, always presuming that, since “approved” they would be free of error. Hence my confidence in posting a video featuring the alleged seer (or “hearer”!) Sr Agnes, without first viewing it myself, such is life in the fast lane these days! One of our bloggers posted the following comment, which alerted me to the fact that Akita may not be “worthy of belief” after all (even if allegedly
approved by the authorities – for the same reason that you are loath to trust the source I gave above!) I’ve posted a link to the video at the end of this
comment. A slightly edited version of a comment from the Catholic Truth blogger, “Athanasius” follows:
I watched the introductory video for this thread and I have to say that a few things left me a little concerned about Akita.
The first of these was Sister Agnes’ twin reference to an accompanying angel in prayer as “she”. I have never heard of an angel being referred to as “she”.
The other thing that struck me was how modernist the chapel and nuns look, and how unbecoming the image of Our Lady is. There was no hint of a restoration of
Tradition there, as I would have expected given the warnings of Our Lady about the apostasy taking place in the Church. It’s almost as if the post-conciliar
reform is not seen as the principle cause of this apostasy.
Fatima indicates the truth of things in the opening line of the text of the Third Secret: “In Portugal the dogmas of the Faith will be preserved…etc.”,
indicating that the chastisement is primarily spiritual in nature. Akita mentions apostasy but seems to focus more on a terrible material chastisement
of the world by God, to the extent that few will be left and the living will envy the dead. This seems at odds with Our Lady’s Fatima promise that in the
end her Immaculate Heart will triumph and a time of peace will be granted to the world. I’m not saying that a Third World War will not happen when there is
every likelihood at this time that such a catastrophe may well happen soon…
The fall of many consecrated Catholic souls and billions of other souls worldwide, the result of the present universal apostasy from God, is by far a greater
chastisement than any mere material annihilation. So why is emphasis placed more on material rather than spiritual loss at Akita? I was also a bit
concerned by the claim that if the sins of men continue there will be no more forgiveness. But isn’t God infinitely merciful, always desiring to forgive?
Other things that made me a little uncomfortable were 1. The local Ordinary’s apparent belief in the apparitions before his investigation even began.
Bishops normally start out with the opposite view. 2. The three different blood groups identified by scientists from three separate examinations of the tears.
3. The mark of the Cross appearing on only one hand of Sister Agnes, the left hand. This is not the usual manifestation of the stigmata. 4. Sister Agnes said
at one point that people should pay less attention to the “form” of prayers and concentrate more on content. Content is of course very important,
but the form of our Catholic prayers is also essential. We all see the bitter fruits of changes to the form of the sacred liturgy, the Church’s highest and
most perfect prayer, the Sacrifice of Our Lord.
There were one or two other anomalies that I’ll pass on right now. Suffice it to say I have been left very uncertain about Akita. The people interviewed, including Sister Agnes, seemed sincere enough…yet I have problems believing it. I have no such problems with Fatima and Quito, but Akita troubles me. I think
the Vatican should investigate Akita and give a definitive decision on it.
It is wonderful to meet such like-minded Catholics?. I too share the sentiments expressed throughout many of the comments. God will not be mocked and humanity will learn the lesson. Thank goodness for the beautiful gift of the Rosary. Our Lady is the most beautiful gift of our father and we must pray for her and each other that we will always see the Light. I send articles to ‘Catholic’ friends so that they can keep informed.
Dear Teresa, Agreed I have learn’t so much about our faith from the writers and the posters.
Yes, indeed, and everyone is invited to pray the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary!
What a good sacrifice of time & energy for our home, parish, and beyond!
Especially, for the Greater Glory of God!
The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the
recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it
is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us that cannot be solved by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves. We will sanctify ourselves. We will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls. (Words spoken by Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, to Sister Lucia).
JAMLY,
euie
Another blogger has been connecting the dots
https://nonvenipacem.com/2016/10/30/the-pace-of-events-signs-signs-everywhere-are-signs/
Regarding the date for Christ the King, it should be pointed out that Quas Primas does say something about why the data was chosen:
“We have commanded its observance on a Sunday in order
that not only the clergy may perform their duty by saying Mass and
reciting the Office, but that the laity too, free from their daily
tasks, may in a spirit of holy joy give ample testimony of their
obedience and subjection to Christ. The last Sunday of October seemed
the most convenient of all for this purpose, because it is at the end of
the liturgical year, and thus the feast of the Kingship of Christ sets
the crowning glory upon the mysteries of the life of Christ already
commemorated during the year, and, before celebrating the triumph of all
the Saints, we proclaim and extol the glory of him who triumphs in all
the Saints and in all the Elect. Make it your duty and your task,
Venerable Brethren, to see that sermons are preached to the people in
every parish to teach them the meaning and the importance of this feast,
that they may so order their lives as to be worthy of faithful and
obedient subjects of the Divine King.”
The two reasons given for the date are the desire for it to be at the end of the year as a “crowning glory” of our celebration of Christ’s life, and before All Saints’ in order to remind people of how Christ the King triumphs through the Saints. Moving the date loses the second meaning for a better expression of the first. Whether that’s a good trade is debatable, but it’s hard to see how it’s to blame for a change in meaning when the meaning it’s expressing was there from the start.
(This is not to say we haven’t lost some of the meaning of the feast, just that I don’t think it’s the fault of the changed date).
Within the past month, not long after our Priest consecrated the Parish to the Virgin Mary of Fatima we had a crucifix and candle holders stolen from the altar at one of our churches before this we have had a problem in one of the smaller churches within the diocese that has been occurring for sometime and is too grotesque to write here, I’m hoping that the person doing this has given up!
Even praying the Rosary every day has it’s moments where it’s difficult to dedicate 20 minutes to assisting our Holy Mother in the battle that is raging around us, praying with conviction has its moments too.
From Vatican Radio: Francis signed a statement with this trash in it:
“we are profoundly thankful for the spiritual and theological gifts received through the Reformation”
“Lutherans and Catholics have wounded the visible unity of the Church. Theological differences were accompanied by prejudice and conflicts, and religion was instrumentalized for political ends”
So the *dogmatic* Council of Trent, which condemned Luther and his many heresies, is ‘prejudice’ and ‘political’.
So, what Francis means is we are thankful for the destruction of Christian unity, the deprivation of countless souls of access to the sacraments (including Holy Mass and the Eucharist), and the political and social upheaval that tore what was once Christendom apart. Gee, what wonderful gifts those are. Who wouldn’t want to receive them?
Well, with Francis, that sounds about par for the course for his thinking. Dear God in Heaven . . . Our Lady . . . save us from this madness!
Steve, you must be somewhere near the truth because Mark Shea is attacking you for ‘hating’ the pope and let’s be honest, this post was very gentle on Pope Francis. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markshea/2016/10/using-a-tragedy-to-attack-the-holy-father.html
Does anyone actually care what Mark Shea has to say any longer? A greater buffoon and master of the ad hominem I cannot think of in the so-called Catholic blogosphere.
Well, it confirms that Steve is saying something that is correct, Mark is a very accurate barometer: if he attacks it and it’s Catholic then it is good (within 97% accuracy).
And if he likes it, stay the hell away.
I vote we give it a catchy name and see if it starts trending. The “Shea Syllogism”, perhaps?
He just can’t quit me.
Ask him to debate you.
You could join the long list of men he has denigrated and then refused to debate.
I though that this post was quite gentle on Pope Francis as well. I can’t really figure Mark Shea out. I’m just throwing out a few thoughts here, but I wonder if perhaps Mark Shea makes the same error as the Sedevacantists, in the he thinks that Catholic Popes cannot err in serious matters of the Faith. Of course the Sedevacanists draw a different conclusion, but they believe that a Pope cannot err, and therefore if a Pope errs, then he cannot be Pope; whereas Mark Shea seems to also believe that the Pope cannot err, and as such cannot ever teach error, but the conclusion he mistakenly seems to draw is that we are not allowed to ever accuse the Pope of teaching error. But of course our Popes are human and still subject to human weakness. There is no guarantee that the Holy Ghost is working through them, except when they declare a teaching to be infallible, which is a rare thing (at least that’s my understanding). No doubt Mark Shea would be appalled at comparing him with Sedevacantists, but I’d like to see him try refute it. It could be, instead, that some converts don’t want to consider the idea that Popes can err, because it could mean that the Church loses credibility as the One True Church as founded by Christ. Who knows?
I was reflecting this morning that St. Peter’s will soon fall, either by earthquake or by Muslim hordes and that it will be the work of the Lord. How many signs does the Lord need to give for the Holy Father, the Cardinal’s and the Bishops to repent of modernism? Pope Benedict resigns, lighting hits St. Peter’s, Pope Francis celebrates Luther on the 99th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun and lighting again strikes St. Peter’s. on the Day of Pope Francis’ trip to celebrate the greatest heretic in history Norica, the Home of St. Benedict, is devastated by another earthquake and St. Paul’s Outside the Walls façade begins to crack…
Somedays, it seems as though Christ Himself could descend from Heaven, and our leaders within the hierarchy would ignore what He has to say. Sadly, Scripture tells us we should not be surprised at this in the slightest:
And he said to him: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead. (Luke 16:31)
Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not. Will not you then fear me, saith the Lord: and will you not repent at my presence? I have set the sand a bound for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, which it shall not pass over: and the waves thereof shall toss themselves, and shall not prevail: they shall swell, and shall not pass over it. But the heart of this people is become hard of belief and provoking, they are revolted and gone away. And they have not said in their heart: let us fear the Lord our God, who giveth us the early and the latter rain in due season: who preserveth for us the fullness of the yearly harvest. Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withholden good things from you. (Jeremias 5:21–25)
I just watched the whole LWF thing on livestream… and prayed the rosary with my wife during a large chunk of the so-called “Act IV”. During the “common prayer service” it was stated bluntly that the ultimate goal of this whole endeavor is Eucharistic intercommunion. No surprise there.
Thanks for the update.
Calling Catholic Answers . . . Calling Church Militant . . . Calling Jimmy Akin . . . Anybody? Anybody? This is totally in line with Church teaching, right? Anybody . . . ?
They can’t keep up the lie forever. This guy isn’t going to mellow – it would literally take a miracle for him to become a Catholic.
The thing is that I don’t see the faith that would be in pretending this is ok and us low sheep just don’t get it. I don’t see that as faithful, although I suspect that they see it that way. Faith is to Truth, and His eventual triumph. I may not have the authority to definitively declare the Truth regarding faith and morals, but being Catholic doesn’t require one to shut off the brain and accept any grotesque lie.
Am I missing something?
I actually want the pope to go to Lund and make a fool of himself and his supporters. What?? That’s right, you read that correctly. Error has to fully come out and finally be challenged otherwise it will just keep on festering. Let’s just say that Francis decides “I’ve changed my mind, I won’t celebrate in Lund” (too late now but let just say). This wouldn’t be a good thing it would just mean that Francis continues pushing boundaries and then backing off slightly. Neo-conservatives would breath a sigh of relief and say “there you go, the pope isn’t supporting heretics” but the reality is that these modernists know how to play the game and know when to back off to avoid being confronted. I don’t want them to back off! I want them to come out as they are, show themselves and then maybe something substantial can be done. And maybe a Cardinal or two might show they have a pair (meaning faith and truth of course).
I too cannot help but think of these disturbances of nature in the context of some form of warning. When I look at this scandal involving Luther I am reminded of the encyclical of “Notre Charge Apostolique” by Pope St Pius X who warned about “great movement of apostasy being organized in every country for the establishment of a One-World Church which shall have neither dogmas, nor hierarchy, neither discipline for the mind, nor curb for the passions, and which, under the pretext of freedom and human dignity, would bring back to the world (if such a Church could overcome) the reign of legalized cunning and force, and the oppression of the weak, and of all those who toil and suffer.” I can’t help bit think that Francis is a key player, if not the key player in this drama that Pius so accuracy prophecised. No doubt such things will continue until the Consercration of Russia by the Pope in union with the bishops is done.