Devotion to Mary

In venerating and loving and praising Thee [Mary], I make willing obeisance to the flower of creation, to the crown of God’s ineffable works and wonders. Were I to refuse Thee the tribute of my love and piety, I should have to refuse it to every being that was not God, to the very heart of the woman who bore me in her womb.

Hypocrites those who, boasting of the Christian name, reject the veneration which Catholicism of every age has rendered Thee [Mary]; a veneration which is but a pale reflection of that homage which Thou didst receive from God’s own Messenger [Archangel Gabriel]! Will it not be lawful for the children of men to do what God Himself commanded to be done by the Hierarchy of Heaven?

For thirty years the Word Incarnate had no other manifest occupation than that of obeying with absolute unreserved His Blessed Mother. Now, there is no form of devotion, veneration, and love, no manifestation of piety, more deep and true than the loving submission of a child or a youth to his mother. And that, precisely, is the devotion and piety chosen by Jesus for the space of thirty years.

The Church in every age, and now more than ever, has professed such devotion to Mary that Protestants rabidly accuse Her of Mariolatry, as though we Catholics venerated the Blessed Mother of Jesus as God. It is gross calumny; for in this, as in everything pertaining to piety, we know that the Holy Spirit comes to the aid of Christ’s Bride, safeguarding Her from all error.

Papal Primacy and Supremacy

“There is not, and there never was on this earth, a work of human policy so well deserving of examination as the Roman Catholic Church. The history of that Church joins together the two great ages of human civilization. No other institution is left standing which carries the mind back to the times when the smoke of sacrifice rose from the Pantheon, and when camelopards and tigers bounded in the Flavian amphitheater..."

"...The proudest royal houses are but of yesterday when compared to the line of the Supreme Pontiffs. That line we trace back in an unbroken series from the Pope who crowned Napoleon in the nineteenth century to the Pope who crowned Pepin in the eighth; and far beyond the time of Pepin the august dynasty extends, till it is lost in the twilight of fable. The republic of Venice came next in antiquity. But the republic of Venice was modern when compared with the Papacy; and the republic of Venice is gone, and the Papacy remains. The Papacy remains, not in decay, not a mere antique, but full of life and useful vigor..."

"...The Catholic Church is still sending forth to the farthest ends of the world missionaries as zealous as those who landed in Kent with Augustine, and still confronting hostile kings with the same spirit with which she confronted Attila. The number of her children is greater than in any former age. Her acquisitions in the New World have more than compensated for what she has lost in the Old. Her spiritual ascendancy extends over the vast countries which lie between the plains of the Missouri and Cape Horn, countries which, a century hence, may not improbably contain a population as large as that which now inhabits Europe..."

"...The members of her communion are certainly not fewer than a hundred and fifty millions; and it will be difficult to show that all other Christian sects united amount to a hundred and twenty millions. Nor do we see any sign which indicates that the term of her long dominion is approaching. She saw the commencement of all the governments and of all the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world; and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of them all..."

"...She was great and respected before the Saxon had set foot on Britain, before the Frank had passed the Rhine, when Grecian eloquence still flourished in Antioch, when idols were still worshipped in the temple of Mecca. And she may still exist in undiminished vigor when some traveler from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul’s.”

~ Macaulay (Protestant) on Ranke’s “History of the Popes”

"We therefore teach and declare that, according to the testimony of the Gospel, the primacy of jurisdiction over the universal Church of God was immediately and directly promised and given to Blessed Peter the Apostle by Christ the Lord…. And it was upon Simon alone that Jesus, after His resurrection, bestowed the jurisdiction of Chief Pastor and Ruler over His fold in the words, “Feed My lambs, feed My sheep. …If anyone, therefore, shall say that Blessed Peter the Apostle was not appointed the Prince of the Apostles and the visible head of the whole Church Militant, or that the same directly and immediately received from the same our Lord Jesus Christ a primacy of honor only, and not of true and proper jurisdiction; let him be anathema."

Dogmatic Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent and Vatican I

Purity of Intention - ~Fr. Eugenio Escribano

Good works, by themselves, are valueless in the eyes of God. What imparts real value to them, supernatural value, is our right intention informed by diving grace. Therefore, the soul of every virtue is the intention. The divinest act with a perfect intention will be most pure; with an indifferent intention, indifferent; with a wicked intention, abominable.

For example, a kiss imprinted on Christ’s brow. When the lips were those of His Mother Mary, burning with motherly and divine love, it was the sublimest act of religion and devotion, the blending and fusing of all the highest acts of human love into the adoration of the Son of God; when the kiss came from the lips of some woman in the Nazareth neighbourhood who, not knowing Who Jesus was, kissed Him simply because He was a comely and winsome child, the act was morally an indifferent one; from the lips of Judas in the Garden, it was the most monstrous crime that ever defiled the race of Adam.

This doctrine is applicable to every free-willed act of my life. Scrutinising my deepest intention, God judges me accordingly.

The light which lights up your good works, rendering them visible and either acceptable or displeasing to God, is your intention; so, if your intention is resplendent with clarity, rectitude, and holiness, all your works bask in splendour; if your intention is crooked, obscure, and evil, your works are darkness itself, because the very principle of light, your good intention, is extinguished.

There is no truly human work that cannot become worthy of God and which God cannot claim for Himself, provided it keeps within the limits imposed by the divine commandments; even eating, drinking, and sleeping. To eat or drink from a motive that is not virtuous, is unreasonable, or which does not enter into the supernatural order, would be something unworthy of the Christian. To practice the smallest work of virtue just because we take the notion, without any reference to God, would be unpleasing to Him and of no value.

With the light of faith and reason I shall enter resolutely into the murky chasms of my intentions, and I shall try to discover at least the measure and quality of these intentions as they inform each of my actions. No doubt I shall find, with no small shock to my pride, that there has been such a swarm of vile little passions and worldly interests, each clamouring for and obtaining with no great difficulty its own particular share of satisfaction, in all my duties, that God, the only rightful Claimant, has been left empty-handed or with only a meagre portion, and a portion certainly not the most presentable.

If this be so, I shall have to confess I have wasted my time, and that I can hope for no further reward. Amen dico vobis, recepístis mercédem vestram (Matt. 6:16).

Ave Roma Immortális -- St. John Lateran

*†* Sacrosancta Lateranénsis ecclésia ómnium urbis et orbis ecclesiárum mater et caput *†*

*†* Sacrosancta Lateranénsis ecclésia ómnium urbis et orbis ecclesiárum mater et caput *†*

Daily Meditations

REMEMBER, O Christian soul, that thou hast this day and every day of thy life: God to glorify-- Jesus to imitate-- the Angels and Saints to invoke-- a soul to save-- a body to mortify-- sins to expiate-- virtues to acquire-- Hell to avoid-- Heaven to gain-- Eternity to prepare for-- time to profit by-- neighbors to edify-- the world to despise-- devils to combat-- passions to subdue-- death perhaps to suffer-- Judgment to undergo.

Christ made my soul beautiful with the jewels of grace and virtue. I belong to Him Whom the angels serve. ~Saint Agnes

No one heals himself by wounding another. ~Saint Ambrose

God in his omnipotence could not give more, in His wisdom He knew not how to give more, in His riches He had not more to give, than the Eucharist. ~Saint Augustine

Conquer thyrself and the world lies at thy feet. ~Saint Augustine

A Tree (Mary) is known by Its Fruit (Jesus). ~St. Louis de Montfort

If there is anything divine among man's possessions which might excite the envy of the citizens of heaven -could they ever be swayed by such a passion-, this is undoubtedly the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by means of which men, having before their eyes, and taking into their hands the very Creator of Heaven and earth, experience, while still on earth, a certain anticipation of Heaven. ~Pope Urban VII

Dies Iræ

1. Dies iræ! dies illa

Solvet sæclum in favilla

Teste David cum Sibylla!

2. Quantus tremor est futurus,

quando judex est venturus,

cuncta stricte discussurus!

3. Tuba mirum spargens sonum

per sepulchra regionum,

coget omnes ante thronum.

4. Mors stupebit et natura,

cum resurget creatura,

judicanti responsura.

5. Liber scriptus proferetur,

in quo totum continetur,

unde mundus judicetur.

6. Judex ergo cum sedebit,

quidquid latet apparebit:

nil inultum remanebit.

7. Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?

Quem patronum rogaturus,

cum vix justus sit securus?

8. Rex tremendæ majestatis,

qui salvandos salvas gratis,

salva me, fons pietatis.

9. Recordare, Jesu pie,

quod sum causa tuæ viæ:

ne me perdas illa die.

10. Quærens me, sedisti lassus:
redemisti Crucem passus:
tantus labor non sit cassus.

11. Juste judex ultionis,

donum fac remissionis

ante diem rationis.

12. Ingemisco, tamquam reus:

culpa rubet vultus meus:

supplicanti parce, Deus.

13. Qui Mariam absolvisti,

et latronem exaudisti,

mihi quoque spem dedisti.

14. Preces meæ non sunt dignæ:

sed tu bonus fac benigne,

ne perenni cremer igne.

15. Inter oves locum præsta,

et ab hædis me sequestra,

statuens in parte dextra.

16. Confutatis maledictis,

flammis acribus addictis:

voca me cum benedictis.

17. Oro supplex et acclinis,

cor contritum quasi cinis:

gere curam mei finis.

18. Lacrimosa dies illa,

qua resurget ex favilla

judicandus homo reus.

Huic ergo parce, Deus!

19. Pie Jesu Domine,

dona eis requiem. Amen.

Invocation of Saints

Q. What is the doctrine and practice of the Catholic Church with regard to the invocation of Angels and Saints?
A. We hold it to be pious and profitable to apply ourselves to them in the way of desiring them to pray to God for us; but not so as to address ourselves to them as if they were the authors or disposers of pardon, grace or salvation; or as if they had any power to help us independently of God's good will and pleasure.

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Q. But in some of the addresses made to the Saints or Angels, I find petitions of mercy, aid of defence; what do you say to that?

A. The meaning of those addresses, so far as they are authorized by the Church, is no other than to beg mercy of the Saints in this sense -- that they would pity and compassionate our misery, and would pray for us. In like manner, when we beg their aid and defence, we mean to beg the aid and defence of their prayers, and that the Angels, to whom God has given charge over us, would assist us and defend us against the angels of darkness. This is no more than what the Protestant Church asks in the collect for Michaelmass day, praying that, “as the Holy Angels always serve God in Heaven, so, by His appointments, they may succor and defend us upon earth."

Q. Have you any reason to believe that it is pious and profitable to beg the prayers of the Saints and Angels?
A. We have the same reason to desire the Saints and Angels to pray for us, and to believe it profitable to do so, as we have to desire the prayers of God’s servers here upon earth; or as St. Paul had to desire so often the prayers of the faithful, to whom he wrote his epistles. For if it is pious and profitable to desire the prayers of sinners here upon earth, how can it be otherwise than pious and profitable to desire the prayers of the Saints and Angels in Heaven? Have the Saints and Angels in Heaven less charity for us than the faithful upon earth? This cannot be since "Charity never faileth" (1 Cor. 13:8); and, instead of being diminished, is increased in Heaven.

Q. But is it not an injury to the mediatorship of Christ to desire the intercession of the Angels and Saints?
A. No more than we desire the intercession of God’s servers here (on earth); because we desire no more of the Saints than we do of our brethren upon earth; that is, we only desire of them to pray for us, and with us, to Him Who is both our Lord and their Lord, by the merits of His Son, Jesus Christ, Who is both our Mediator and their Mediator.

Q. Have you anything else to add in favor of the Catholic doctrine and practice of the invocation of Saints?
A. Yes:
1) That it is agreeable to the Communion of Saints, which we process in the Creed and of which the Apostles speaks (Heb. 12:12-24). “You are come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of Angels, and to the Church of the first-born, who are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the Just, made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament.”

2) That it is agreeable to the doctrine and practice of the ancient fathers, Saints and Doctors of the Church; and this by the confession even of our adversaries. “I confess,” says Mr. Fulk in his Rejoinder to Bristow, p. 5, “that Ambrose, Augustine and Hierome held invocation of the Saints to be lawful;…”

3) This stands upon the same foundation as all other Christian truths, viz., upon the authority of the Church of Christ, which the Scripture commands us to hear, with which both Christ and His Holy Spirit will remain forever, and against the gates of hell cannot prevail.

Q. What do you think of making addresses to the Angels or Saints upon our knees? Is not this giving them divine worship?
A. No more than when we desire the blessing of our fathers or mothers upon our knees; which is, indeed, the very case, since what we ask of our parents when we desire their blessings is that they would pray to God for us; and this same we ask of the Angels and Saints.

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~The Glories of the Catholic Church, Vol. I

Low Mass by a Prelate

Last Saturday, there was a Mass in Santiago, Chile in memory of Bl. Charles of Austria. It was a Low Mass celebrated by His Eminence Cardinal Medina according to the traditional Order of the Mass. His Eminence was invited by the Knights of Malta to say this Mass.

†

The Prelate on his way to get ready to say the Mass

The reading of the Introit

Communion of the Celebrant

Thanksgiving immediately after Mass


Veneration of a relic of Bl. Charles

The relic was brought by the granddaughter of Bl. Charles (Alexandra)

*******

I am not sure how many were present at the event, but from what the M.C. there told me, the whole event was a little of a last minute surprise and there was not enough time to make the proper announcements for such an event. In spite of that, the M.C. says that Mass was "hermosísima!"

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For more information on this event, go to http://www.scholaacolitorumspv.blogspot.com/

Cardinal Mindszenty

A video of people marching outside of St. Peter's Basilica to protest (with the Pope) the arrest of Cardinal Mindszenty.

Protesting the arrest of Card. Mindszenty

~The History of Jesus Christ, 1965

"No one is so innocent that he does not merit death as a sinner."

"If ever a man has need of an advocate, a champion to justify him, especially in his own eyes, it is at the moment of his death."

"It is a constant principle in the affairs of this world that one must wait until one's adversary is hard pressed by hunger, poverty, or necessity, to force him to kneel and accept injustice. This is an abominable system... It is here that man becomes the wolf of man."

"A man's vocation is in fact the instrument of his crucifixion. Verbum crucis."

"... it is high time to tell science that it extrapolates, that it exaggerates, that it exasperates, that it is in our service and not we in its service and that, even if it is as big as Goliath, we do not recognize its right to make us bow down and worship it."

"There is in every man and in every Christian an inalienable part of himself that is related only to God, and that infinitely precious part is to be governed only by God."

"Modern intellect has severed the umbilical cord that once attached it to the divine design, it has deliberately rejected its royal function and all ambition for true wisdom. Since Descartes, philosophy has determinedly sought the keys to the universe within the universe; now philosophy knows that the universe will not give up its secret, perhaps because it has no secret but is only presenting charades."

"I have seen the Indians in Mexico performing their devotions in the basilica at Guadalupe: they probably did not know how to read or write and very likely did not get enough to eat, but they had the faith of the centurion, the authenticity of which blazed out with a clarity so strong that it put superstition to shame..."

"Come on, comrade Communists, you who deafen us with your assertions that religion is an opium that prevents the coming of that radiant and fraternal city 'where the free development of each is the condition of the free development of all.' Come and consider honestly for once this religion [Christianity] in which one cannot harm the poor, the weak, the humble without offending God Himself and His Christ, in which honor and service rendered to the poor, the weak, and the humble redounds to God Himself. We on our side are quite willing to admit that sometimes Christians are bad practitioners of their religion and that they often store up for themselves a terrible awakening on the Day of Judgment, but do you on your side have the gerenosity to acknowledge that this religion threatens no one. Make us ashamed of not being worthy of it, but do not blaspheme it: you cannot touch it without threatening the lives and the honor of the poor, the weak, and the humble."

"Science can do much good and has done so at its level. It can do much evil, for unlike religion it is purely utilitarian, it does not concern itself with final ends... Science is neither salvation nor apocalypse, it is no more than a (barely) domesticated animal, which should always be kept on a tight leash."