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.

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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)

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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."

Heart of Jesus - Prayer

PRAYER

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Looking at the Heart of Jesus say:

O Heart of Jesus, drowned in sorrows for my vain joys. Heart of Jesus, loaded with heaviness for my sinful pastimes. Heart of Jesus, seized with fears for the rashness of my desires. Heart of Jesus, covered with confusion for the shame of my sins. Heart of Jesus, wounded with infinite dolors for the enormity of my crimes. O Heart of Jesus, pierced a thousand times by the number of my disorders!

O Heart of Jesus, sweet, tender, peaceful, compassionate, sincere, charitable, and faithful; O furnace of Love! O treasure of all Graces! O amiable and endless source of all the sorrows of love that ever did, do, or will enter the hearts of men, infuse into my miserable heart all that sorrow, grief, affliction, and sighing, which you fostered in the hearts of so many holy penitents.

As my heart has sinned as much as theirs, why should it not be filled with as much sorrow? May a holy contrition emanate from the heart of Jesus into mine, with dispositions to receive it. May tears, O Jesus, flow in abundance, accompanied with sorrow, shame, hatred, and love. A Savior so lovely and so loving, but so little loved, and so much offended.

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Then say to your own heart:

Oh, miserable heart of mine, all defiled with sin, filled with malice, swollen with pride, poisoned with self-love! Oh, heart filled with vices, and wholly devoid of virtues! Oh, heart all open to sentiments of nature, and wholly closed against motions of grace! So covetous and at the same time so prodigal; so sparing toward the Creator, and so lavish to the creature! Oh, heart so beloved of Jesus and loving Jesus so little!

Oh, my poor heart, foul, libertine, impious, ungrateful, envious, covetous, sensual, choleric, revengeful, slothful, negligent, miserable, earthly heart, so sensible to everything that relates to the world, and so insensible to your own disorders; so yielding to your own passions, and so hardened to all divine inspirations. Oh, wicked, treacherous heart; heart of stone, nay, harder than the very rocks, for they afford the richest fountains of water, and you, with so much difficulty, afford a few drops of tears, even at the very season when you see your Savior covered with streams of blood, shed in His agony and bloody sweat in the garden, in His unmerciful scourging, and in His crucifixion for your sake.

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Then say to the Heart of Jesus, and to your own heart:

What a difference between hearts! Between Your Heart, O Jesus, and mine! O my Jesus, grant that my heart might become like yours by grace. Let our hearts be no longer two, but one – one faithful, devout, gracious, charitable, and holy heart; this O my Savior, shall henceforth be my whole study and endeavor – to entertain nothing in my heart but what finds place in yours, namely humility, purity, patience, fortitude, charity, and love. Nothing but Jesus and His Love; my heart is no longer mine: it entirely belongs to Jesus.

~The Glories of the Catholic Church , Vol. III

Relics

Reverence to Relics and other Religious Objects

The Catholic Church teaches that the images or representations of Jesus Christ, of His Blessed Virgin Mother, and of the Saints in general, are to be honored with “due honor;” not, indeed, for what they are in themselves, but for what they represent. This honor is called relative honor, because it relates or refers to the person represented. Thus, it would be simply a token of affection toward our parents if it were to kiss the likeness of a dear father or mother. At the House of Lords, it is a customary to mark of respect to Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen [of England] to bow before her chair of state, even though it be empty. Again, men honor her Majesty by putting her portrait in a distinguished place and by bowing before it. It would be dishonoring the Queen herself to treat her portrait with any disrespect.

The reverence paid by Catholics to Holy Images does not offend against the commandment of God. It is true that the latter part of the first commandment declares: “Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing,” but this is explained by the words that follow: “Thou shalt not adore them (non adorábis ea), nor serve them” (Exodus xx. 4, 5, and Deuteronomy v. 9). The meaning, therefore, clearly is: Thou shalt not make unto thyself a graven thing or idol for the sake of adoring it as a false god or idol. The words, “bow down,” in the Protestant version, instead of “adore” are calculated unhappily to mislead unreflecting persons. This commandment cannot be taken to condemn the use of images intended to promote the honor and worship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the True Living God, or the inferior honor due to the Holy Angels and the Saints, as this is not worship of strange gods, and therefore, not idolatry.

It was thus understood by the Jews, who by the commandment of God placed two graven images of the Cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant (3 Kings vi. 23), and other images of Angels in the Temple of Solomon (2 Paralipomenon –or 2 Chronicles- iii. 10, 11). It is, in fact, thus practically understood also by those Protestants who have no scruple in making graven images, and even setting them up in their places of worship.

No Christian certainly could find in his heart to treat the Crucifix, that affecting image and appealing likeness of Our Crucified Savior, as an idol, and trample it under his foot. Christian feeling would prompt him to respect it, as he respects and reveres the precious word, the sound, the very letters, of the Holy Name of Jesus.

It would be idolatry to worship any Saint, or the image of any Saint as God, but it is not idolatry to honor the Saints for what they are, namely the faithful servants of God, and to honor pictures of them for what these pictures represent.

Josue and the ancients did not break the commandment of God when they remained a whole day prostrate before the Ark of the Covenant and the likeness of the Cherubim, as stated in the book of Josue (vii. 6) in these words: “But Josue rent his garments, and fell flat on the ground before the Ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and all the ancients of Israel.”

As to those who fear lest it be idolatrous to pay honor to relics, I would only refer them to St. Jerome, who opposing Vigilantius for pretending that the honor paid by the faithful to relics was idolatrous, argued with him in this way: “Not only do we not adore the relics of the martyrs, but we do not even adore the Angels, the Archangels, the Cherubim and Seraphim. Yet we honor the relics of the Martyrs that we may adore Him Whose martyrs they are. We honor the Servants that the honor bestowed on them may redound to their Master.”

That God wills we should bestow honor on the relics of His Saints, we gather from the marvelous virtue with which it pleases God sometimes to honor their bones and other relics. Thus, in the Fourth Book of Kings we read, “Some that were burying a man … cast the body into the sepulcher of Eliseus [Elisha]. And when it had touched the bones of Eliseus, the man came to life, and stood upon his feet” (xiii. 21).

The afflicted woman in the Gospel who, full of faith and humility, trusted for her cure in the touch of the hem of the garment of Our Lord (St. Matt. 9:20); and those who had confidence in the “shadow” of St. Peter to cure their sick (Acts 5:15); and those who confided in the “handkerchiefs” and “aprons” that had touched the body of St. Paul, and brought them to the sick (Acts 19:12) – all these were not disapproved by Our Lord nor by His Apostles, but rewarded by God, Who, by these humble means, cured them.

~The Glories of the Catholic Church, Vol. II

Devocionario Católico, 1931

El cielo

Va al cielo el que muere en gracia de Dios y no tiene deuda alguna de pena. El que tiene alguna deuda de pena va antes al purgatorio. El cielo es un lugar de suma y eterna felicidad; se ve claramente a Dios; se goza de todo bien, sin mal alguno. La gloria esencial consiste en ver claramente a Dios. Es más dicha ver a Dios por un instante, que gozar eternamente de todas las riquezas, placeres y honores que se pueden imaginar en este mundo; porque el mundo entero comparado con Dios es como nada. ¡Qué dicha será, Dios mío, veros, no por un instante, sino por toda la eternidad! Los buenos estarán eternamente en el cielo. Todos hemos sido criados para el cielo. Va al cielo todo el que quiere ir de veras, resueltamente, esto es, el que pone los medios necesarios para conseguirlo. Todos los hombres quieren ir al cielo; pero algunos tienen sólo el querer del perezoso; quieren ir al cielo y no quieren poner los medios necesario para conseguir el más precioso de todos los bienes. El cielo es el premio de valor infinito que Dios tiene reservado a los que le sirven fielmente en esta vida. Es un premio tan precioso que para conseguírnoslo, el mismo Hijo de Dios dio toda su sangre y aún la vida.

Si para dárnoslo, Dios nos exigiera pedírselo de rodillas dos horas diariamente, o que hiciéramos durante un millón de años la más rigurosa penitencia, aun así el cielo fuera como regalado. Pero Dios no nos pide tanto, sino sólo que observemos sus divinos mandamientos; cosa bien fácil de hacer con la divina gracia, que nunca falta. Lo único que nos puede hacer perder el cielo es el pecado mortal. Si los hombres para conseguir los bienes eternos, tuvieran, no digo tanto, sino la mitad del cuidado que tienen para conseguir los bienes de la tierra, todos serían santos, todos irían al cielo. Más ¡ay! Muchos hombres viven sobre la tierra como si tuvieran que permanecer en ella para siempre, sin cuidarse para nada de merecer la eterna felicidad.

En el cielo los premios son proporcionados a la cantidad y calidad de las obras buenas hechas en gracia de Dios. Quien tiene menos premio no envidia al que tiene más; como un niño contento con su vestido chico no envidia al que lo tiene grande. Cada obra buena que practicamos, estando en gracia de Dios, tiene su mérito y su premio en el cielo. El premio correspondiente a cada obra buena, aún a las más insignificantes, es superior a todos los bienes materiales de la tierra y durará eternamente. Procuremos aprovechar todos los días, y aún todos los instantes de nuestra vida, haciendo todo el bien que podamos para ir aumentando siempre nuestros méritos y premios de la gloria. Si los que están en el cielo pudieran tenernos envidia de algo, la tendrían, porque nosotros, mientras vivimos, podemos aumentar siempre el tesoro de méritos y de premios para el cielo, y ellos no.

El purgatorio

Va al purgatorio el que muere en gracia de Dios y tiene alguna deuda de pena. Esta deuda de pena puede ser: 1º- Por pecados veniales; y 2º- Por no haber hecho la debida penitencia de los pecados mortales, perdonados en cuanto a la culpa y pena eterna. Con la confesión bien hecha se perdonan siempre las culpas graves y la pena eterna, pero no siempre queda perdonada toda la pena temporal. Dios, al perdonar el pecado mortal, ordinariamente conmuta la pena eterna en una pena temporal. Esta pena temporal debe pagarse en esta vida o en el purgatorio. En esta vida se paga haciendo obras buenas, especialmente cumpliendo la penitencia impuesta por el confesor. El purgatorio es un lugar de expiación temporal. Las almas del purgatorio, cuando han satisfecho del todo por sus pecados, van al cielo. Dios, infinitamente justo, ninguna obra buena o mala deja sin premio o castigo, aunque se trate de cosas pequeñas. Los que mueren con solos pecados veniales no merecen el infierno, ni pueden ir al cielo, porque nada manchado puede entrar en él. Debe, pues, existir un lugar para que las almas se purifiquen antes de entrar en el cielo. En el purgatorio se padece la privación de la vista de Dios, el tormento del fuego y otras penas. El mayor dolor de las benditas Ánimas es no poder ver a Dios y pensar que, siendo El infinitamente bueno, le han ofendido. Las Almas benditas, al verse manchados con el pecado, con gusto se sumergen en aquellas llamas, y aun quisieran fueran más ardientes para purificarse más pronto. Aprendamos de las benditas Ánimas a aborrecer el pecado, aún leve, sobre todo mal.

Los sufragios: Podemos socorrer a las benditas Ánimas, y aún librarlas del purgatorio, con oraciones, indulgencias, limosnas y otras buenas obras, y, sobre todo, con la Santa Misa. Se llaman Sufragios las obras buenas que se hacen a favor de las benditas Animas del purgatorio. Los sufragios son sólo a manera de súplicas, que la divina justicia acepta en la medida que cree conveniente. Por esto un alma no siempre obtiene infaliblemente todos lo efectos de los sufragios aplicados a ella especialmente. La Santa Iglesia aprueba que se repitan los sufragios para un mismo difunto. Hacen muy mal los que no se acuerdan de aliviar con sufragios a las almas de los difuntos.

Algunos sólo procuran que el entierro sea muy suntuoso, y nada o muy poco hacen para el alivio del alma. El dogma de los sufragios es motivo de alegría, no sólo para los ricos, sino también para los pobres. Los ricos hacen muy bien en ordenar sufragios; éstos les abreviarán mucho las penas en el purgatorio. Los pobres tienen una madre tiernísima, que es la Santa Iglesia, la cual ruega especialmente por ellos, que son sus hijos queridísimos. La devoción a las benditas Animas del purgatorio es utilísima, porque hace practicar muchas obras buenas, causa grande gozo en el cielo y ayuda en gran manera a conseguir la salvación de quien practica esta devoción. El voto de Animas consiste en ceder para siempre a favor de las benditas Ánimas del purgatorio, toda la parte satisfactoria de nuestras buenas obras, y todos los sufragios que otros hicieren por nosotros. Seamos, pues, muy devotos de las benditas Animas del purgatorio. Procuremos socorrerlas, oyendo Misa y comulgando muy a menudo, aun diariamente, si nos es posible; recemos el Santo Rosario, el Via Crucis, etc. Esta es devoción buena y práctica, con la cual libraremos a muchas almas del purgatorio y las haremos entrar en el cielo.

Limbo de los niños

Va al limbo de los niños el que muere con el solo pecado original. El que muere antes del uso de razón sin el bautismo, muere con el solo pecado original. En el limbo no se sufre nada; se goza la felicidad natural. Dios hizo, pues, un gran beneficio a los que están en el limbo, dándoles la existencia; podría haberles dejado en la nada de donde los sacó. Los que mueren después del uso de razón van al cielo o al infierno, según que hayan o no cumplido la ley de Dios.

El infierno

Va al infierno el que muere con el pecado mortal. El infierno es el lugar en donde se padecen penas eternas. Estas penas son de daño y sentido. La pena de daño es la privación de la vista de Dios, Sumo Bien. Es la mayor pena de los condenados. Cuando el alma se separa del cuerpo se dirige hacia Dios con un ímpetu irresistible, con mucha mayor vehemencia que el pez busca el agua o el que está en el fuego procura salir de él; pero Dios rechaza eternamente al alma que está en pecado mortal. La pena de sentido es el tormento del fuego y todo mal, sin bien alguno. En el infierno los demonios son los verdugos.

Basta un solo pecado mortal para merecer el infierno. En el infierno la pena es proporcionada a la cantidad y calidad de los pecados cometidos. Es cierto que hay infierno. Nuestro Señor Jesucristo, que es Verdad infalible, lo dice muchas veces en el santo Evangelio. Dios prohíbe el mal moral y debe castigar al que lo comete. La ley, para que los hombres sean compelidos a cumplirla, debe tener señalada una pena a los transgresores. Los transgresores de la ley humana son justamente castigados; con mayor razón deben ser castigados los transgresores de la ley divina. Nadie puede quebrantar impunemente la ley de Dios. Dios es infinitamente justo; así como premia a los buenos con felicidad eterna, castiga a los malos con pena eterna. El pecado mortal es una ofensa grave a la majestad infinita de Dios; por consiguiente, merece un castigo infinito. El pecador no puede sufrir un castigo infinito en la intensidad, pero sí en la duración. Las penas del purgatorio son poco temidas porque son temporales. Dios, como sabio legislador, debía establecer un castigo, que de veras apartase del pecado mortal; tal es el castigo eterno del infierno.

El temor del infierno es una de las causas de que se cumpla la ley de Dios y las almas se salven. ¿Por un solo pecado que se comete en un momento castiga Dios con una eternidad de penas? El castigo se mide por la gravedad de la ofensa, no por el tiempo que se emplea en cometerla. Aun la justicia humana castiga con cárcel perpetua, y hasta con la muerte, el crimen que se ejecuta en un momento. Dios es Padre de misericordia para los buenos; mas, para los que mueren en pecado mortal, es juez terribilísimo. Los pecadores no deben confiar en que por ser Dios bueno y misericordioso, no los ha de condenar al infierno, pues es también infinitamente justo.

Tan bueno y misericordioso como ahora era Dios cuando de un golpe arrojó al infierno a millares de ángeles. Por ser Dios infinitamente bueno, ama infinitamente la virtud y aborrece infinitamente el pecado: por esto nadie premia o castiga tanto como Dios. Si porque Dios es bueno y misericordioso no debiera castigar con el infierno, por la misma razón no debiera permitir los males sin número que existen sobre la tierra. Dios, en el gobierno del universo, no se rige por el sentimentalismo de los hombres. En este mundo, lugar de prueba y no precisamente de premios y castigos, Dios, con sabiduría y justicia infinitas, permite catástrofes horrendas, dolores acerbísimos, que alcanzan a buenos y malos.

N. S. Jesucristo, los santos mártires, hijos queridísimos de Dios, sufrieron tormentos tan atroces que horroriza el pensarlo. ¿Qué no exigirá la divina justicia que sufra el pecador rebelde obstinado en el mal? Los que mueren en pecado mortal quedan reducidos a la misma condición que el demonio, de quien no sentimos compasión. Va al infierno quien quiere, pues Dios a todos da gracia abundante para no caer en el pecado; y a los pecadores, mientras viven, les ofrece siempre generoso perdón. Nadie se condena sino por su propia y libre voluntad, cometiendo culpa grave. Aun los salvajes que nunca han oído hablar de la religión cristiana, si se condenan es por su culpa; pues a donde no llega la voz del hombre llega la voz de Dios. ¿Quieres que no haya infierno, sino cielo para ti? Vive siempre en gracia de Dios; y si tienes la desgracia inmensa de perderla, procura recobrarla cuanto antes.

Traditional Solemn Mass

There will be a Traditional Solemn Mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel on Oct. 20th at 1pm. The church is located on East 90th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.

The occasion will be the Third Annual Symposium of Una Voce and The Roman Forum.

The day will start at 10:00am and it will go up to 4pm. In between that, at 1pm, we will have the Solemn Mass.

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The Motu Proprio and the Recovery of Christendom

Registration: In the basement of the church -- 10:00am - 10:30am

Dr. John Rao: "From a Freed Mass to a Freed Christendom" -- 10:30am - 11:30am

Christopher Ferrara: "Reassembling Deconstructed Man" -- 11:45am - 12:45pm

Traditional Solemn Mass: In the main church --1:00pm - 2:00pm

Celebrant: Fr. Talarico (Institute of Christ the King)
Deacon: Fr. Pendergraft (FSSP)
Subdeacon: (Fr. Kenneth Baker)

Luncheon: 2:00pm - 3:00pm

Panel of Diocesan Clergy, Religious, and Representatives of Priestly Societies: "Just How Do We Begin?" -- 3:00pm - 4:00pm

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$30 for entrance and luncheon for those sending checks in by Ocotber 15th.
$10 at the door for entrance alone; $40 at the door for entrance with luncheon.

Kindly make your check payable to Una Voce New York or The Roman Forum and mail it without delay to: Una Voce New York, 47-46 43rd Street, Woodside, NY 11377.

Obedience

Esteem for Obedience

The most pernicious temptation against obedience is contempt, sizing it up as something mean and unworthy of a human being, or at least as indecorous for cultured and noble minds. Submission to obedience, according to this view, requires a servile type of mind --ánima dimidiáta-- as Homer would say, if translated into Latin, a "reduced personality."

The reluctance experienced by Satan in submitting to God, which made him cry out I will not serve!; the self-elation which drove our first parents to gamble away their own and all their prosperity's inheritance by an act of rebellion against their Father and Creator; that inward struggle which takes place within the soul of every one of us when it comes to surrendering our will to the will of another; these things are not trivialities; and therefore obedience is not something to be brushed aside with a sneer; because obedience is given only at a very high price, at the cost of breaking in our natural appetites, and going through a death-like agony in the process. Call obedience what you will, but deem it not contemptible. It is not a contemptible thing to refrain the human personality from running wild through the regions of caprice and savage independence.

To obey wholeheartedly is noble, most noble; if only because no other virtue taxes us so sorely: neither the repressing of anger, nor the stern bridling of sensuality. Noble, most noble, is that which one obtains only by dint of absolute self-denial and high-mindedness; namely, to deposit into another's keeping not merely external acts of submission --any slave or beast of burden at the crack of the master's whip will do that-- but also the reins of our internal desire, sacrificing our own wishes for the sake of some great good which surpasses human fickleness and even human reasoning. Say what you will, then, about obedience, but do not hold it in contempt.

Do not despise obedience, obedience is divine, and the divine is not despicable. Divine, not only because as St. Paul says, "Authority comes from God only" (Rom. 13:1), but also because of Christ's example. The God Who became Man, possessing the human faculties of the mind and the will, was by His very Nature our only Sovereign --This title is written on his cloak, over his thigh: the King of kings, and the Lord of lords (Apoc. 19:16); He had the Eternal and inalienable right to present Himself to the High Priest in the Holy of Holies and say: "Deliver unto Me the attributes of the High-Priesthood, I am the Eternal Priest"; He could have stood before the all-powerful Roman Emperor and said to him: "Yield me that throne, it is Mine, through Me kings reign"; He had a perfect right to exercise dominion over every household in the Name of His Father "from Whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth takes its title" (Eph. 3:15); He was God, God's Equal; and yet, He forwent the privileges due to His Godhead; He hid them away, as though they did not belong to Him; He lived as a man, appeared in most of His manifestations just as a man; He lived as a slave:

"He dispossessed Himself, accepted an obedience which brought Him to death, death on a cross." --(Philip i, ii, 6-8)

This is the meaning of the Cross of Christ! There we have the great lesson of the Crucifix! So before you despise obedience, despise your crucifix, if you dare; tear it from the Altar; tear it from your heart!

My God, crucified through obedience: Thou knowest well how hard it is for me to obey; I instinctively loathe humble submission; but one thing I will never do: I will never say that obedience is something low and mean. Thou wert not low and mean, and Thou wast the great Model of all who obey.

AntiLiturgical Heresy --Dom Gueranger, Ab. of Solesmes (1805-1875)

Since the liturgical reform had for one of its principal aims the abolition of actions and formulas of mystical signification, it is a logical consequence that its authors had to vindicate the use of the vernacular in divine worship. This is in the eyes of sectarians a most important item. Cult is no secret matter. The people, they say, must understand what they sing. Hatred for the Latin language is inborn in the hearts of all the enemies of Rome. They recognize it as the bond among Catholics throughout the universe, as the arsenal of orthodoxy against all the subtleties of the sectarian spirit (. . .). The spirit of rebellion which drives them to confide the universal prayer to the idiom of each people, of each province, of each century, has for the rest produced its fruits, and the reformed themselves constantly perceive that the Catholic people, in spite of their Latin prayers, relish better and accomplish with more zeal the duties of the cult than most do the Protestant people. At every hour of the day, divine worship takes place in Catholic churches. The faithful Catholic, who assists, leaves his mother tongue at the door. Apart form the sermons; he hears nothing but mysterious words which, even so, are not heard in the most solemn moment of the Canon of the Mass. Nevertheless, this mystery charms him in such a way that he is not jealous of the lot of the Protestant, even though the ear of the latter doesn’t hear a single sound without perceiving its meaning.(...)

. . . We must admit it is a master blow of Protestantism to have declared war on the sacred language. If it should ever succeed in ever destroying it, it would be well on the way to victory. Exposed to profane gaze, like a virgin who has been violated, from that moment on the Liturgy has lost much of its sacred character, and very soon people find that it is not worthwhile putting aside one’s work or pleasure in order to go and listen to what is being said in the way one speaks on the marketplace (. . .).

Devocionario Católico: Instrucción religiosa (1931)

NOCIONES GENERALES

Para qué estamos en la tierra. Hace cien años, y aún mucho menos tiempo, no existíamos. Ahora existimos, estamos en este mundo. Dentro de algún tiempo, tal vez muy pronto, moriremos. Es muy justo y razonable, pues, que averigüemos seriamente: ¿Quién nos ha dado el ser que tenemos? ¿Para qué estamos en este mundo? ¿Qué será de nosotros después de la muerte? La razón iluminada por la fe nos dice que: Dios nos ha criado para conocerle, amarle y servirle en esta vida, y después gozarle para siempre en la otra. El fin para el cual Dios nos ha criado es tan elevado y excelente, que no puede serlo más. Los Ángeles del cielo y María Santísima no tienen otro fin más elevado. Nuestro fin es infinitamente grande. Estamos en la tierra para servir a Dios y ganar el cielo; para nada más. Por consiguiente, en esto debemos poner todo nuestro empeño y diligencia. A Dios se le sirve guardando sus mandamientos. La religión verdadera nos enseña cuáles son estos divinos mandamientos.

Religión

Religión es el conjunto de los deberes del hombre para con Dios. Debemos servir a Dios como El quiere ser servido y no como a nosotros nos agrade. La religión verdadera es la que enseña servir a Dios como El quiere ser servido. La religión verdadera nos enseña de dónde venimos, para qué estamos en la tierra y cuál será nuestro paradero después de la vida presente. El asunto de la religión es, pues, el más digno de estudio para todo hombre de sana razón.

La primera obligación que tiene todo hombre es procurar conocer y practicar la verdadera religión.

Nada teme tanto la religión verdadera como el ser ignorada; pues quien la conoce bien, no puede menos que amarla sinceramente, a no ser que tenga el corazón enteramente corrompido. La mayor parte de las personas que aborrecen la religión, la aborrecen porque no la conocen. La religión no es solamente para las mujeres, sino que es también para los hombres, pues todos tienen un alma que salvar. Jesucristo predicó a hombres y a mujeres y confió especialmente a hombres la enseñanza de su doctrina.

Indiferencia religiosa o no tener religión

El que profesa una religión, aun falsa, a lo menos demuestra el deseo de honrar de alguna manera a la divinidad, y puede ser que esté involuntariamente en el error. Pero el que no quiere tener ninguna religión, manifiesta no querer servir a Dios de ningún modo, se rebela contra Dios y le niega todo homenaje. Un hombre sin religión no merece ninguna confianza; pues no creyendo en un Dios que premia o castiga, sólo tratará de satisfacer sus propias pasiones, sin respetar derechos ajenos. Se enriquecerá, si puede, aunque sea robando; se entregará a la obscenidad, aún cometiendo las mayores infamias. La única regla de su conducta será el placer y el interés; si para conseguirlos es necesario cometer acciones indignas, las cometerá; en tal caso, su único cuidado será procurar no ser descubierto. La falta de honradez, justicia y demás buenas costumbres son efecto de la falta de religión.

Es lógico: si no hubiera más vida que la presente, nuestro supremo anhelo sería gozar, mientras vivimos, todo lo posible, valiéndonos de todos los medios a nuestro alcance. La virtud, que exige mortificación y abnegación, fuera una locura. Si todas las personas trataran de conocer y cumplir bien la santa religión, no habría ladrones, asesinos, borrachos, deshonestos, etc. La religión condena todo acto indigno, sea quien fuere el que lo cometa. Hay personas religiosas que tienen algún defecto, como mal carácter, etc. Dios lo permite para que sean humildes. Los impíos notan estas pequeñas imperfecciones de la gente religiosa, y se escandalizan grandemente; pero no sienten rubor de los muchos y gravísimos pecados que ellos mismos cometen.

Bien dice de ellos N. S. Jesucristo: “Ven la paja en el ojo ajeno, y no ven la viga que tienen en el suyo propio.”

No son buenas todas las religiones

Como hay monedas falsas, hay también religiones falsas. No pueden ser buenas todas las religiones. No es buena la religión que manda adorar a ídolos y ofrecerles sacrificios humanos. Ni aun son buenas todas las religiones que se llaman cristianas; pues una afirma lo que otra niega. Por consiguiente, una u otra de ellas está en el error. Todas las religiones están de acuerdo en algunas verdades, como por ejemplo: que existe la divinidad, que es necesario honrarla, etc. Las religiones falsas tienen siempre algo o mucho que es de la verdadera. No es, pues, falso todo lo que enseñan las religiones falsas. Hay muchas religiones, porque hombres perversos han querido modificar a su gusto la religión verdadera.

La falsedad de una religión está en aquello que se aparta de la verdadera. Para conocer cuál es la religión verdadera no es necesario conocer y examinar todas las religiones, pues esto fuera imposible. La razón natural nos dicta que debemos amar y servir a Dios, pedirle luz para conocer la verdad y seguirla prontamente al conocerla. Quien esto practica, hace todo lo que está de su parte para seguir la verdadera religión. El que hace todo lo que está de su parte, no está obligado a más. Nadie se condena por no haber practicado lo que sin culpa no conoció. El que por error involuntario profesa una religión falsa, creyendo de buena fe que es la verdadera y procura amar y servir a Dios lo mejor que puede, se salvará. Sólo Dios es el juez de las conciencias; El sabe quién está voluntaria o involuntariamente en el error. Quien se da cuenta de que su religión es falsa, debe dejarla y abrazar la verdadera. No puede seguir la religión de los padres, el que conoce que es falsa.

Doctrina cristiana

Para ser cristiano verdadero es necesario conocer y practicar la doctrina cristiana. Doctrina cristiana es la que enseñó Nuestro Señor Jesucristo. La primera y principal obligación de todo cristiano llegado al uso de razón, es aprender bien la doctrina cristiana. El cristiano que no practica la doctrina de Jesucristo, no va al cielo; y para practicarla es necesario conocerla. No basta saber el catecismo de un modo rutinario; es necesario entenderlo. El catecismo nos enseña el camino del cielo. Las demás ciencias nos enseñan los conocimientos útiles para nuestro bienestar en la tierra. El estudio del catecismo es mucho más importante que el estudio de todas las otras ciencias. El cielo y la salvación del alma valen infinitamente más que la tierra y todos los bienes temporales.

Discovery of America

For when he [Columbus] first petitioned Ferdinand and Isabella, the Sovereigns of Spain, for fear lest they should be reluctant to encourage the undertaking, he clearly explained its object: "That their glory would grow to immortality, if they resolved to carry the name and doctrine of Jesus Christ into regions so distant." And in no long time having obtained his desires, he bears witness: "That he implores of God that, through His Divine aid and grace, the Sovereigns may continue steadfast in their desire to fill these new missionary shores with the truths of the Gospel." ~Quarto Abeunte Sæculo, Leo XIII

He [Columbus] implored the Queen of Heaven to assist his efforts and direct his course; and he ordered that no sail should be hoisted until the name of the Trinity had been invoked. When he had put out to sea, and the waves were now growing tempestuous, and the sailors were filled with terror, he kept a tranquil constancy of mind, relying on God. The very names he gave to the newly discovered islands tell the purposes of the man. At each disembarkation he offered up prayers to Almighty God, nor did he take possession save "in the Name of Jesus Christ." Upon whatsoever shores he might be driven, his first act was to set upon the shore the standard of the holy Cross: and the name of the Divine Redeemer, which he had so often sung on the open sea to the sound of the murmuring waves, he conferred upon the new islands. Thus at Hispaniola he began to build from the ruins of the temple, and all popular celebrations were preceded by the most sacred ceremonies. ~Quarto Abeunte Sæculo, Leo XIII

And if he [Columbus] moved Ferdinand and Isabella to decree that only Catholic Christians should be suffered to approach the New World and trade with the natives, he brought forward as reason, "that he sought nothing from his enterprise and endeavour but the increase and glory of the Christian religion." And this was well known to Isabella, who better than any had understood the great man's mind; indeed it is evident that it had been clearly laid before that most pious, masculine-minded, and great-souled woman. For she had declared of Columbus that he would boldly thrust himself upon the vast ocean, "to achieve a most signal thing, for the sake of the Divine glory." And to Columbus himself, on his second return, she writes: "That the expenses she had incurred, and was about to incur, for the Indian expeditions, had been well bestowed; for thence would ensure a spreading of Catholicism." ~Quarto Abeunte Sæculo, Leo XIII

The Church a Divine Witness

To the Protestant, history must be a record of the past gathered from documents by criticism, fallible as the judge who applies it. To the Catholic, history, though it be of the past, is of the present also. The Church is a living history of the past. It is the page of history still existing, open before his eyes. Antiquity to the Catholic is not a thing gone by; it is here, still present. If Christianity, then, be historical, Catholicism is Christianity.

What is the Church in the mouth from those separated from Catholic unity? Is it more than a human society? Is it not the religious organization of national life? If it be not, like the schools of Athens, collected round the voice of some potent and persuasive teacher, it is, at most, like the Jewish people, an organized government of men, as in temporal matters, so in ecclesiastical. This is the idea of the Church among those separated from unity. But what do you believe when you speak of the Church of God? ... We... believe that the Holy Spirit of God presides over the Church, illuminates it, guides and keeps it; that its voice is the voice of the Holy Spirit Himself; that when the Church speaks, God speaks; that the outward and the inward are one; that the exterior and the interior authority are identified; that what the Church outwardly testifies, the Spirit inwardly teaches; that the Church is the Body of Christ, so united to Christ its Head, that He and it are one...

The Glories of the Catholic Church, Vol. II

Devout Exercise for Fridays

See, wicked sinner, what your sins have done
Your Saviour crucified, who is God and man!
Endeavor not on Jews the blame to lay,
You are a deicide as well as they.
With contrite heart your sinful life deplore,
The best sacrifice is to sin no more.
He'd rather you'd from tears and sins refrain
Than weep, though tears of blood, and sin again.
He the sufferings of his Lord bewails;
O'er whom His precepts and His life prevails;
To weep, and sin again, is but a jest,
He then weeps best, who doth now sin the least.
To weep, and moan, and sigh, and still to sin,
Is but to nail Him on the cross again;
With holy living, He's better pleased and won,
Than mixing blood with blood, and wounds anon.

The Glories of the Catholic Church, Vol III.