Author: Philothea

I love to share the sublime beauties of the Traditional Catholic Faith which is the one and only Faith founded by Jesus Christ. God is Perfect in Everything, therefore, He has willed to make His Church, His Masterpiece of Creation full of intricate, delicate, and Divine beauty and mystery. Who will ever be able to plumb it's depths and fully appreciate it? It is impossible. Those outside of Her, the Church, cannot even begin to understand what I am referring to, but it is my prayer that they will be joined to Her and experience Her before too long. In Jesus through Mary! Deus Vult!

Children of the HOLY GHOST and Children of the World

Published on by PhilotheaLeave a comment

Sermon for Whit-Sunday by St. Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney

“Know ye not that you are the temple of GOD, and that the spirit of GOD dwelleth in you?”  -1. Cor. iii. 16.

    From the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, which you, dear Christians, know commences with Advent, the holy Catholic Church has celebrated glorious festivals in honor of our divine Saviour. First of all was the holy feast of Christmas, when the faithful rejoiced that the Redeemer had come down from heaven to deliver us from sin and eternal damnation; after that we celebrated the joyful feast of the Resurrection, and we sang with the risen Saviour joyful alleluias because His bitter passion and our redemption was accomplished; and, finally, a few days ago, we saw our divine Saviour return to His heavenly Father, from henceforth to take possession of His throne of glory for all eternity. But there the same JESUS, who in this world had done so many such unutterably great things for us, was not unmindful of our soul’s salvation: He kept His work, which He had spoken to His Apostles, and also to us – the word, “I will send you another comforter,” another deliverer, “the HOLY GHOST,” and this Holy Spirit will not only rule over the holy Church founded by Him, but, according to the words of my text, He will enter into every soul and enlighten and guide them in the way of salvation; in Him we shall live, walk, and work for heaven.

But do all men who have received the HOLY GHOST cooperate with Him for heaven? In other words, are they all true children of the HOLY GHOST? Unfortunately I must say that many men, although they have received the HOLY GHOST, are not children of the HOLY GHOST, but children of the world. I consider it, therefore necessary to show you whereby we can recognize:

 I.  Who is a child of the HOLY GHOST, and

II.  Who is a child of the world.

I. Without doubt, dear brethren, that Christian is a child of the HOLY GHOST who avoids all grievous sins, for the HOLY GHOST can only dwell in a soul which is disunited from grievous sin; He is that purest Spirit in whose eyes sin is an abomination. Therefore St. Paul writes: “Grieve not,” that is to say by sin, “The Holy Spirit of GOD.” (Eph. Iv. 30.) Sin turns the abode of the HOLY GHOST into an abode of satan.  St. Gregory writes, therefore: “The sinner’s heart is the devil’s workshop, but not the dwelling of the HOLY GHOST.” It is especially the sin of impurity, whether committed by unchaste thoughts, words, or works, which drives the HOLY GHOST out of our hearts, and closes against Him the entrance to our souls. “The sensual man,” writes St. Chrysostom, “cannot receive the grace of the HOLY GHOST.” And Holy Writ says, in expressive words that on account of this sin the HOLY GHOST cannot remain in man. “My Spirit,” we read, “shall not remain in man forever, because he is flesh.” (Gen. vi. 3); in other words, because he is addicted to the lust of the flesh.

   For this reason, dear Christians, if through a sinful life you have lost the HOLY GHOST, strive by penance to purify your soul again from sin, so as to receive the HOLY GHOST into your hearts again. St. Peter exhorts us to do this in the words: “Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of JESUS CHRIST, for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the HOLY GHOST.” (Acts ii. 38.) Reflect upon what you have lost through sin, namely, that you are no longer a child of the HOLY GHOST.  Let us do penance, that we may obtain the heavenly treasure again!

   Without doubt, I say further, is the Christian a child of the HOLY GHOST if his heart is adorned with numerous virtues. As our divine Saviour in Holy Communion enters only into a virtuous heart, and that the Christian before receiving the same should excite feelings of virtue, even so the HOLY GHOST will only dwell in those souls which are adorned with these virtues; in such a soul He has an abiding dwelling place. Just as the oil keeps the light burning, and the flame is extinguished when the oil is all used, just so is the HOLY GHOST – the light and fire of the soul – preserved within us by virtue and good works.  St. Augustine, therefore, in a sermon on the feast of Pentecost, tells his listeners: “the promises of our Redeemer have been fulfilled; our LORD JESUS CHRIST is ascended into heaven, and the HOLY GHOST has come down from heaven; there remains for us, in order that this double event be fulfilled in us, to preserve within us by a virtuous life the HOLY GHOST who has descended, and by leading such life to follow JESUS CHRIST, who has ascended. And this virtuous life of ours should consist in a firm faith, in the hope of GOD’S mercy, in the love of GOD and our neighbor, in humility, in being at peace with our neighbors, and in piety and the fear of GOD, especially in purity of heart and chastity. Where these virtues are found in the souls of Christians, there we find the true children of the HOLY GHOST.

   Finally, dear Christians, I say, a sure mark of a child of the HOLY GHOST is borne by that one who is a child of prayer, especially when he often prays to GOD for the gifts of the HOLY GHOST. Our divine Saviour demands such a prayer from us when He says:  “If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke xi.13.)    The Apostles serve us with an example that the heavenly Father grants the HOLY GHOST and His gifts to those who ask Him. He promised the HOLY GHOST to them with these words: “And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you forever.” (John xiv.16.) What, therefore, did the Apostles do when they returned to Jerusalem after the ascension of JESUS into heaven from the Mount of Olives? They adjourned to an upper room where they lived, and they all united together in prayer with Mary.

   And being assembled there in the same manner, in prayer, on the feast of Pentecost, suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty wind coming: and it filled the house where they were sitting, and there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire; and it sat upon each of them; and they were all filled with the HOLY GHOST, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the HOLY GHOST gave them to speak. (Acts ii. 1,2.) Should we, dear Christians, pray less than the Apostles did for the HOLY GHOST and His gifts? Our holy Church imitates the Apostles in invoking GOD for the HOLY SPIRIT. Through the entire week of Holy Pentecost she prays by the mouth of the priests, “Come, HOLY GHOST, and visit the souls of Thy servants.” (She sings that beautiful hymn, “Veni Creator Spiritus” (“Come, Creator Spirit”), that He may descend into the souls of the faithful, and enlighten them by the word of GOD. Pious Christians have always prayed to the HOLY GHOST for His seven gifts. A pious abbot named John cried out to his listeners in a sermon: “We will beseech GOD to grant us His HOLY SPIRIT that He may fructify and refresh our hearts with the rain and dew of His grace.” Yes, we will pray frequently for his sublime grace, and with heart and voice repeat after St. Augustine those beautiful words: “Breathe perpetually, O HOLY GHOST, Thy holy work within me, that I may think upon it; move me, that I may do it; persuade me, that I may love Thee; strengthen me, that I may hold Thee fast; keep me, that I may not lose Thee!” Truly, those who pray thus possess the HOLY GHOST, and are indeed true children of the HOLY GHOST!

II. I say, dear Christians that the children of the world stand in direct contrast to the children of the HOLY GHOST.

   The children of the world, dear Christians, are manifestly those men/women to whom the world is everything, to whom the world and all that it offers is of more consequence than heaven – I might say, to whom the world IS their GOD. To them belong those who are attached with their whole hearts to transitory things; who make only the one effort to accumulate the treasures and wealth of this world, to become possessed of them. Tell me, is it conceivable that such efforts could proceed from a heart filled and animated by the HOLY GHOST? Does the HOLY GHOST not say in Holy Writ: “If riches abound, set not your heart upon them.” (Ps. lxi. II.) Can mankind, then, who has sold his/her heart wholly and entirely to the world and its treasures and possessions, say of him/herself that his/her exertions are holy and directed to heaven? Let the HOLY GHOST, dear Christians, reign in your hearts, that he/she may turn toward GOD and heaven, in heaven alone, where are true riches and treasures. “Seek first,” that is to say, more than all earthly things, “the kingdom of GOD.”

   The children of this world are manifestly those persons who only strive after the joys and pleasures of this life. GOD has created us for heaven and its joys, “to the purchasing of salvation,” as the Apostle writes. (1 Thess. v.9.)  At the same time, He has not forbidden us the en-joyment of worldly pleasures, for St. Paul says: “Rejoice with them that rejoice.” (Rom. xii. 15.) But GOD has not created us that we should enjoy solely the pleasures of the world without thinking of heavenly joys, nor strive after them, much less that we should strive for them alone. “Seek first the kingdom of GOD.” But, alas! how many people, how many Christian people, think only of joy, of pleasure, of the enjoyment of pleasures, and the lust of the world! How many seek these alone, and desire to enjoy them, without thinking of the joys of heaven, or longing for them! Worldly festivities with joyful meetings, with all the pleasures of the table; worldly pleasures with rioting and debauchery; worldly feasts with music and dancing; worldly festivities on Sundays and holy days: this is what occupies the atten-tion of so many people – their hearts desire it, without ever being satiated. Pleasures, and still more pleasures, enjoyment on enjoyment: this is what so many people are striving for. Now tell me, dear Christians, do not all these worldly pleasures and enjoyments generally bring grievous sins in their train? Do they not at least bury virtue beneath their pleasures, and are you not led thereby to eternal damnation? Can the HOLY GHOST dwell and work in the hearts of such people, who only serve the spirit of the world?

   The children of this world, I will say further, are manifestly those people who lead a tepid life, forgetful of GOD; in them the HOLY GHOST cannot be, for He is and lives only in the pious and GOD-fearing. Holy Scripture says of Simeon that he was GOD-fearing, and it adds these words: “The HOLY GHOST was in him.” (Luke ii. 25.) He was GOD-fearing; he was pious, as the Holy Scripture says of him. He came, as it says further on, “in answer to the HOLY GHOST,” and he had the grace to take into his arms the Infant JESUS, and he blessed GOD for this grace. (Luke ii. 28.) Would Simeon have had this grace if the HOLY GHOST had not dwelt in him, and if he had not led a pious, GOD-fearing life? Can we, then, say of lukewarm Christians that within them dwells the HOLY GHOST, who instills in us the virtue of the fear of GOD and piety; may we say that of the lukewarm Christian who does not fear GOD, who does not lead a pious life nor visit the temple of GOD frequently, who neglects his morning and night prayers, who receives the Holy Sacraments either not at all or only once a year? No, I reply, he/she is a child of the world, lives only for the world, feels no desire to do good for heaven, and for this reason that it cannot be said of him/her, as of the pious Simeon: “The HOLY GHOST is in him.”

   In conclusion, those are the children of the world, and not the children of the HOLY GHOST, who speak the language of the children of the world, and not the language of the HOLY GHOST. But what language does the HOLY GHOST speak? We see this in the holy Apostles. They are zealous to receive the HOLY GHOST, who came down upon them in the form of fiery tongues, that they may speak for the holy faith; they preach virtue, they exhort to charity and peace, to mercy and justice, to chastity, and to a holy Christian life. But what is the language spoken by so many children of the world, over whom the HOLY GHOST descended in the Holy Sacrament of Confirmation? I reply, they speak the language of the devil in derisive discourses on the holy faith; in unchaste conversations and stories; in curses and maledictions; in blasphemies against GOD and everything that is sacred to a Christian; in slander and seducing their neighbor to do wrong. The fiery tongue of the HOLY GHOST, I might almost say, which descended upon them as it did upon the Apostles, even if invisibly, has been exchanged for the poisonous tongue of the devil, and for this reason they only speak the language of the devil, and not the language of the HOLY GHOST.

“Breathe perpetually, O HOLY GHOST, Thy holy work within me, that I may think upon it; move me, that I may do it; persuade me, that I may love Thee; strengthen me, that I may hold Thee fast; keep me, that I may not lose Thee!” -St. Augustine

   O Christian, if your heart is so made that it only strives for the treasures and joys of the world; O Christian, if your heart is cold and lukewarm in the service of GOD; O Christian, if your tongue does not speak the language of the HOLY GHOST, but the language of the devil, ah, then, be horrified at the unhappy state of your soul – the HOLY GHOST does not live and operate in your heart! On this holy festival of the HOLY GHOST, therefore, lift up your hands to GOD and pray fervently for your soul: “O my GOD, who hast enlightened the hearts of Thy faithful through the HOLY GHOST, grant that henceforth I shall speak only in this same spirit of heavenly things, that I may pray and work only for that which is heavenly, only accumulate treasures and merits for heaven, so that I may be found worthy one day to reach there where Thou with the HOLY GHOST rules on the throne of heaven for all eternity.”    Amen.

The Followers of Christ Should Give Testimony of Him

Published on by PhilotheaLeave a comment

“And you shall give testimony, because you are with me from the beginning.”  -St. John xv. 27.

St. Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney, the Cure of Ars

    When two kingdoms are at war with one another it is easy to distinguish the soldiers of either party by their arms, their uniforms, and their flags. A violent struggle has been going on since the beginning of the world between the King of heaven and earth and the prince of darkness as to which of them the human race should belong. Christ, the Redeemer, by His death and resurrection, has won the victory over hell. Before He entered gloriously into heaven as a conqueror, leading with Him the souls of the just of the old law, as the first-born of His victory, He founded His Church upon earth as His kingdom, in which we should continue to combat against hell, and by His power we should and could complete the victory. Therefore He says to His Apostles, the generals of His kingdom, “You will give testimony of me,” and Holy Writ says of them, “With great power did the Apostles give testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord.” (Acts iv. 33.) The words of Christ apply also to us. We are all obliged to give testimony of Him, not by sermons and miracles, as the Apostles did, but by our life, by the imitation of Jesus; for as we have all become members of His body, and have received from Christ the name of “Christians,” we are obliged to lead a life worthy of this Chief, not to bring disgrace upon His Holy Name, but so to live that in our life the Christian can be distinguished from the non-Christian. This is our testimony of Christ. I will now speak on this subject. In the Canticle of Canticles, the divine Bridegroom says to the soul that loves Him: (Cant. viii. 6): “Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm.” We bear this seal of Christ when we imitate Him:

  1. In our will.
  2. In our words.
  3. In our works.

I. 1. David expresses what the will of our Redeemer was in these words, which the Holy Ghost permits Him to speak (Ps. xxxix. 8-9): “In the head of the book it is written of me that I should do thy will: O my God, I have desired it, and thy law in the midst of my heart.” But Christ says of Himself (John vi. 38), “Because I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me,” and (John iv. 34) “My food is to do the will of him that sent me”; and the Apostle extols Him, saying (Phil. Ii. 8): “He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” When He descended from the glory of heaven and earth He sacrificed Himself to the will of His Father. “Thou willest, O my God,” He said, as it were with complete resignation, “that I should be born in a desolated stable; that I should shed my blood at the circumcision; that I should flee before Herod; that I should bear the burdens and the troubles of this earthly life for three and thirty years. Thou willest that I should be betrayed, despised, spit upon, buffeted upon the cheeks and scourged, crowned with thorns, nailed to the cross, and suffer the most cruel of deaths. My God, I will it also. I am ready to suffer these and still greater afflictions.”

2. Now, dear Christian, behold and act according to this model in thy dispositions. When a thousand disappointments beset you, say, too, “My God, I will it!” When poverty afflicts you, when the calumniator’s tongue wounds you, when false friends deceive you, when sickness visits you, when bodily pains torment you, with invincible patience imitate Christ and say, “My God, I will it!” You must have these dispositions, this will; then the life of Christ is your model and you give testimony of Him.

3. How have you acted up to the present? Examine yourself and acknowledge how different your dispositions have often been to those of the Lord. Ah, how many ambitious people there are whose whole thoughts and actions are directed toward the acquisition of honor, recognition, offices, and dignities! How many avaricious people who ponder night and day how to increase their mammon! How many worldlings who think continually of their pleasures! How many revengeful souls who will not forget the insults they have endured! Is this giving testimony of Christ? Do not the heathens do likewise, who give testimony of Satan?

II. 1. Of what kind are the words of Christ the Lord? Peter once said (John vi. 69), “Thou hast the words of eternal life,” for all His words were directed to the honor of God, the extirpation of sin, the growth of virtue, and the salvation of souls. Consider this in the seven last sacred words which He spoke from the cross in the midst of His death-agony. First He prayed to the heavenly Father, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke xxiii. 34) These are words of mercy and reconciliation. To the penitent thief He said, “This day thou shaly be with me in paradise” (Luke xxiii. 43) – words of blessed promise. He addresses these words to His Blessed Mother, “Woman, behold thy son!” and to His disciple, “Behold thy mother!” (John xix. 26.) What consoling words! In the moment of abandonment He cries out, with entire submission and confidence in God, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. xxxvi. 46.) His desire to suffer still more and in the highest degree for the sake of our salvation is proved to us by His cry, “I thirst” (John xix. 28), “It is comsumated” (John xix. 30). He says, full of joy, that He has completed our redemption, and He recommends His soul with resignation into the hands of His Father: “Into thy hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke xxiii. 46.) Now, dear Christians, look at this model and act accordingly in thy words. Whatever you speak must be to the honor of God, and to thine own and thy neighbor’s salvation. Speech is given to us, as a servant of God says, to praise God, to the edification of our neighbor.

  2. Have your conversations been of this description, dear Christian? Ah, how different have they often been from the Lord’s! If we go into the houses and palaces of the rich and powerful, what talk, what conversations are there in vogue? What words do we hear in the halls of learning, in the assembly of the leaders of the people? In the streets we meet the indications of sensual pleasures, in the stores it is vanity; at home, in the workshops, too often, unfortunately, it is unbelief and blasphemy. Where is the place in which reputations are not blasted, slanders, blasphemies, oaths, and especially where improper conversations have not found a home, in our days? Even family life is no longer pure, and words are dropped into the ears of innocent children that poison their souls. Dear Christians, is this giving testimony of Christ? Do not the heathen do likewise, who give testimony of Satan?

III. 1. Let us consider, in conclusion, the works of the Lord. St. Bernard describes them to us thus: “Under the name of Jesus I picture to myself a man humble and meek of heart, kind, temperate, chaste, merciful – in short, distinguished in every virtue and holiness.” Our Lord’s own teaching is witness that He was perfect in the practice of all the works which He taught. He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” and from His birth in the stable until His death upon the cross He was Himself the poorest, “for He had not where to lay His head.” “Blessed are the meek,” He says, and He forgives not only the wrong done to Him, but he rewards it with the richest benefits. “Blessed are the sorrowful;” He expiated our sins by His whole body, and wept over them tears of blood. “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after justice;” but His food was to do the will of His Father. “Blessed are the merciful;” He heaped good deeds upon His enemies. “Blessed are the peacemakers;” He made peace between God and man. “Blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice sake;” He bears hatred and persecution on account of His teaching until His death.

2. But how do we perform our works? Do you not love your body and your comfort inordinately, and adhere so obstinately to the maxims of the world that you are almost ashamed to be a Christian? Or you love sin, allow your vices to become habits, and have even laid aside all feelings of shame therefore, or you only think of that which is earthly, and live on like the unreasoning animal, constantly pursuing pleasures and sensuality. Unhappy Christian, is this the way to give testimony of Christ? Do not the heathen do the same, who give testimony of Satan? Is it any wonder that heretics and unbelievers are not converted when they see that Catholics and Christians are worse than they are?

3. Therefore, my Christians, behold, and behave according to the model that is shown to you. It is your duty to imitate the teaching and the example of the Redeemer and to practice diligently Christian perfection. You must serve God and reflect night and day upon His laws; you must crucify your flesh with its wicked desires; you must not be overcome by adversity, nor dazzled by happiness. It is your duty so to practice the Christian virtues that even unbelievers shall admire them, and say that they are not able to reach to such a high perfection. If this could be said of all Christians, surely the whole world would soon be Christian!

Do not delay, dear Christian, to conform your life to the life of Jesus Christ, and thereby to give testimony of Him. Hear how the Apostle exhorts you (II Cor. iv. 10): “Always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus: that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies.” By mortification you must make your life a copy of His life. Your eyes should not be overcurious, nor your mouth without shame, nor your sensual desires ungovernable, as the heathens are; your conduct must not correspond with the life of the rich glutton. On the contrary, all those who see your retirement and your modesty must acknowledge that you are not only in name, but in deed and truth, a Christian, a follower of the Crucified One, and an heir of the kingdom of heaven. Amen.

I have been through fire and blood and come back again through the mercy of God

Published on by PhilotheaLeave a comment

My Friends,

The year (2018) was a trying time for my Faith; quite possibly, I went through the hardest trial I have ever had to face. After this experience, I had resolved to share what I had discovered through my research, but I became overwhelmed with the vastness of the material I would have to go over to show you, the reader, what I had seen. So I put it off for a while and began to wonder whether I would publish this at all… Well, I made a few decisions. Each person who truly wants the Truth will come to discover what God is leading them to, and so I will only be a voice – a testimony – of one whom God was pleased to show mercy and love to in this regard among many others. I pray that by reading my testimony, it will inspire you to look deeper and listen to the God’s Voice in your heart. 
What follows is what I began to write last year with a few edits.

I have been studying my Faith a lot recently; especially around the Salvation issue, and with God’s Grace, I am finally ready to share what I have discovered. I am not saying this as a theologian, but more as a testimony of my belief for my peace of mind, and so that my friends may understand where I stand and why. Also, for the benefit of others who may be trapped in this mindset which I myself fell into, but which I am gratefully free from, now, purely through God’s Goodness and Mercy which I was not worthy of.

For a little background, I will share an email with an acquaintance I had been having extensive discussions with concerning this issue and who had helped me to reject the true Catholic teaching and embrace error/heresy. This email is what I sent him once I discovered the Truth. It follows:

Hi XXX,
I have some serious news to tell you… Over the weekend around the first of September, I went home. What an intense weekend that was! I have been through fire and blood and come back out again through the ineffable Mercy of GOD! Not through my own merits.
  My parents had been studying the Baptism issue very hard and deeply from all angles over the past week or two prior to that and they were bound and determined to show me everything they had discovered. I am only strong in Christ Who gives me strength, but I knew that if I closed my mind to Christ, His strength would leave me. Therefore, as they were talking to me, explaining based on the research and in humbly submitting to the Church, that Baptism of Desire and Blood was an impossible teaching when compared to the actual documents and decrees from Holy Mother Church, I was loath to ignore the words of Holy Mother Church, but I insisted on reading the actual documents for myself to see if they could mean otherwise than how my family had interpreted it. I discovered a few things on observation:

  1. All the support for BOD and BOB were from fallible documents – even the Code of Canon Law and the Catechism of the Council of Trent are fallible based on the teachings of what is infallible. 
  2. All the documents which mentioned Baptism and the necessity of the Sacrament of Baptism never mentioned BOD and BOB or ‘some other way of attaining Heaven’, in fact, they Always spoke against that idea. 
  3. And the saints and Fathers of the Church were in fact Not unanimous in their belief of Baptism of Desire and Blood which would have been a requirement for this teaching to be a dogma coming from Ordinary Magisterium – such as the fact Mary only had one Son. 

[The website you shared with me] contains a large list of Saints and Fathers of the Church who were oftentimes in contradiction in the way they believed in salvation without the Sacrament of Baptism – some saying only martyrdom was viable and others saying desire was viable in this way, and others that way. And then, as an example, St. Gregory of Nazianzen was quoted incorrectly because in a different place (Oration 40), he pretty much slams Baptism of Desire as being a possibility. Finally, in conscience, faced with these facts, and faced with the warning from one of the popes teaching not to look into the dogmas “for a deeper understanding” (or something like that) contained in the dogmatic decrees, I couldn’t dismiss all this as being some group’s “personal interpretation” of Holy Mother Church, but as in fact, the teachings of Holy Mother Church.  In confusion among the teachers of the Faith, one must with humility and trust in God, look to where Christ has preserved His True Teachings in the infallible decrees and pronouncements of the Church. It is not up to man to pick and choose through the decrees and teachings of the Fathers which agree with his own point of view – this would be prideful and a sin when it is seen as different from what the True Teachings of the Church actually are. …I do not pretend to be a theologian, but in these times, when we have false teachers abounding all around us, we must use the means God has given us (internet, for one) to find what the Church has really taught so that we can humbly submit to it.
I said earlier that that weekend was really intense; it was perhaps the most intense weekend – or more specifically Friday night – of my entire life. After they gave me their arguments, they asked me what I had to say about it. I couldn’t answer – I was confused and didn’t know where to turn. So I turned to prayer and being alone with God and Mary. It was in the evening, but I excused myself to be alone, pray, and process everything I had learned on both sides. …Under the stars, I begged God and Our Lady not to turn away from me. I begged them to not blind me in my desires of the flesh or in a false doctrine whichever way that meant. I prayed the whole Rosary out there in the moonlight. I stayed out there in prayer – begging over and over again to know the Truth – for at least 5 hours. You can well believe me when I say it was the most intense, stressful, and perhaps even prayerful moment in my life. When I felt the Spirit move me, I went back into the house. The boys had already gone to bed, but Dad and Mom were awake. In fact, …Dad was searching for me outside though I didn’t realize it when I first felt it was time to go back home. I met him outside and we walked in together. I was hoping to have the answer, but I didn’t have it yet, though I had a feeling. It was the next day after seeing some more material that I just had to submit to God. If I had resisted any longer, I would have sinned against the Holy Ghost by “Resisting the Known Truth.” When Mom found out that I had had a change of heart, Mom revealed to me that she had been wearing a black penitential ring for me, but that that very day, she had lost it.
XXX, this one thing I beg you, please be open to the Voice of God in your heart. Please pray over this. …I care about you, and I will pray that you will see the Real Truth. Baptism is a Three in One Sacrament – but that is it; it is a Three-in-One-Sacrament, which has form, matter, and substance.
The Bishops of today are not infallible – they are not the Ordinary Magisterium. Men can make mistakes. We have to turn in loving trust and confidence to God and the Chair of Peter.
May God Bless you,
me

Facts:

  1. Outside the Catholic Church there is no Salvation.
  2. The Sacraments are absolutely necessary for Salvation though “each person need not receive them all.” (Vatican Council I – see link below)
  3. The Church teaches infallibly from the Ordinary and Solemn Magisterium of the Church.
  4. The requirements for Papal Infallibility according to the First Vatican Council: “the Roman pontiff speaks EX CATHEDRA, when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole church; he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals. Therefore, such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the church, irreformable.” (Taken almost word-for-word from http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Councils/ecum20.htm)
  5. Additionally, whatever is in Tradition or interpreted from Sacred Scripture with the unanimous consent of the fathers must also be held as infallible/dogmatic/Divinely Revealed.
  6. AND the Fathers of the Church HAVE NOT BEEN UNANIMOUS IN BELIEF CONCERNING WHETHER BOD AND BOB ARE POSSIBLE SUBSTITUTES FOR THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. I’m sorry, but they just AREN’T. 
  7. And Finally, there is not one infallible proclamation which clearly teaches that one can be saved without the water of Baptism which is integrally needed for the Sacrament with is absolutely necessary for Salvation. The opposite is taught instead:  
    1. Pope Paul III, The Council of Trent, Can. 5 on the Sacrament of Baptism, Sess. 7, 1547, ex cathedra: “If anyone says that baptism [the sacrament] is optional, that is, not necessary for salvation (cf. Jn. 3:5): let him be anathema.”
    2. Pope Paul III, The Council of Trent, Can. 2 on the Sacrament of Baptism, Sess. 7, 1547, ex cathedra:  “If anyone shall say that real and natural water is not necessary for baptism, and on that account those words of Our Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit’ [John 3:5], are distorted into some sort of metaphor: let him be anathema.” 

I believe the best source to consult to answer any questions one may have concerning this dogma is Bro. Peter’s book, Outside the Catholic Church There is Absolutely No Salvation (link). He goes in depth to demonstrate the Catholic Church’s position in the face of all the facts. All the arguments are brought to the table, and all the arguments against this dogma are dismantled one-by-one. Bro.’s Michael and Peter also have many videos on the topic which one can find on their YT channel here.
The important thing to remember is that no matter the supposed “good intentions” of the people from whom this error originated and grew, Truth is Truth no matter what, and God’s Truth will overcome all the lies contradicting it.
May God bless you and grant that you may be of goodwill in your search for the Truth.

“The spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three are one.” (1 Jn. 5:8).”

“The sons of God… Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn. 1:12;13)

Holy Passion

Published on by PhilotheaLeave a comment

Passion Sunday is coming soon. All of Lent we have been meditating on Christ and His most holy Passion, but this Sunday we commemorate how the upcoming Passion of Our Lord filled His Sacred Mind. Out of His great Love, He longed to sacrifice Himself for sinners, but in His Humanity, He feared the grievous and horrendous tortures which awaited Him in His Passion.

Is it any coincidence that the word, “passion” has the meaning today of drive, or devotion for some particular activity, or even the beloved activity itself? Consider that… Christ suffering and dying for us, shedding His blood, being insulted and blasphemed, loaded with contempt, was HIS Passion. He loved the Cross, longed for it and embraced it, because it would lead to our unification with Him in Heaven; that is, if only we respond to the graces He has obtained for us through His Most Holy Life, Sufferings, and Resurrection. All we have to do is follow Him, carrying our daily crosses, obeying all His Commandments, and following His inspirations out of love and gratitude for Him.

So as we continue on this journey of the Cross with Him, let us remember the love, devotion, and drive with which Our Lord embraced His sufferings on our behalf. Let us count ourselves blessed that He accepts every effort we make to sacrifice ourselves for Him, even though we can’t help but realize our puny efforts cannot in any way compare to His, or appear as an adequate repayment of the debt of love and gratitude which we owe Our Lord. Let us be courageous and continue to fight sin and imperfections in our lives. But let us remember that we must pray all the time for His Strength, without which we shall surely fall. Ejaculations such as, “All for Thee, O my Jesus, All for Thee!” and “Jesus, Son of David, Have mercy on me!” are great ways of praying throughout the day. I would be remiss if I failed to mention the importance of the Holy Rosary in honoring God, fighting our evil passions, and obtaining all manor of graces in our lives and for the lives of our loved ones as well. Pray the 15 decades everyday and Our Lady will not fail to take you under her special protection.

May God bless you and grant you a holy and blessed Lent.

Of the Advantage of Adversity

Published on by PhilotheaLeave a comment

Of the Advantage of Adversity

The Following of Christ

 Book 1, Chapter 12

   It is good for us now and then to have some troubles and adversities; for oftentimes they make a man to enter into himself, that he nay know that he is an exile, and place not his hopes in anything of the world.
   It is good for us sometimes to suffer contradictions, and to allow people to think ill and slightingly of us, even when we do and mean well. These are often helps to humility, and rid us of vain glory. For then we more earnestly seek God to be witness of what passes within us, when outwardly we are slighted by men, and incur their discredit.
2. Therefore ought a man so firmly to establish himself in God, as to have no need of seeking many human consolations.
   When a man of good will is troubled, tempted, or afflicted with evil thoughts, then he best understandeth what need he hath of God, and that without Him he is incapable of any good.
   Then also is he sorrowful; he sigheth and prayeth by reason of the miseries he suffereth.
   Then is he weary of longer life; and wisheth death to come, that he may be dissolved, and be with Christ.
   Then also he well perceiveth, that perfect security and full peace cannot be realized in this world.

PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS

We should regard contradictions as the trials by which God would prove and purify our charity. If all persons had the consideration and regard for us which our self-love desires, and which it often induces us to believe we deserve, we should entertain only a natural regard for our neighbor, subject to the caprices of humor, a species of gratitude purely human, and  a secret complacency in ourselves. But God would have us everywhere meet with and suffer contradictions, disappointments, and opposition to our designs, from those with whom we live, that so we may love them solely for His sake, and because He so ordained. Happy the soul which tribulation tries, and temptation purifies, as gold is tried and purified in the fire! It thus becomes worthy of acceptance with God, for it is after God’s own heart.

PRAYER

Support me, O Lord, under all the troubles and contradictions which Thou permittest to befall me and willest I should suffer that they may not weaken my charity for my neighbor, nor my fidelity towards Thee, Grant that temptations, far from separating me from Thee, may unite me more closely to Thee, by obliging me to experience a continual and pressing need of Thy powerful assistance. Amen. 

First Saturday Devotions in Honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Published on by PhilotheaLeave a comment

The observance of the First Saturdays in honor of the Immaculate Virgin Mary had been approved by the Church a number of years before the apparitions at Fatima. The Holy See had granted on the 13th of June, 1912, a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, to all who on the first Saturday of any month perform special exercises of devotion in honor of the Immaculate Virgin Mary in reparation for the blasphemies against her name and her prerogatives. (Preces et Pia, Opera No. 835– Ed. 1938)

Act of Reparation: To be recited on the First Saturdays


Most Holy Virgin and our beloved Mother, we listen with grief to the complaints of thy Immaculate Heart surrounded with thorns which ungrateful men place therein at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Moved by the ardent desire of loving thee as our Mother and of promoting a true devotion to thy Immaculate Heart, we prostrate ourselves at thy feet to prove the sorrow we feel for the grievances that men cause thee and to atone, by means of our prayers and sacrifices, for the offenses with which men return thy tender love.

Obtain for them and for us the pardon of so many sins. A word from thee will obtain grace and amendment for us all.

Hasten, O Lady, the conversion of sinners, that they may love Jesus and cease to offend the Lord.

Turn thine eyes of mercy towards us, that henceforth we may love God with all our heart while on earth and enjoy Him forever in heaven. Amen.

Act of Consecration and Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of MARY

O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, and tender Mother of men, in accordance with thy ardent wish made known at Fatima, I consecrate to thee, myself, my brethren, my country, and the whole human race.

Reign over us and teach us how to make the Heart of Jesus reign and triumph in us and around us, as It has reigned and triumphed in thee.

We want to atone for the many crimes committed against Jesus and thee. We want to call down upon our country, and the whole world, the peace of God in justice and charity.
We promise to imitate thy virtues by the practice of a Christian life without regard to human respect. We resolve to receive Holy Communion on the first Saturday of every month, and to offer thee five decades of the Rosary on this day, together with our sacrifices in the spirit of reparation and penance. Amen.

 

The Observance of the First Saturdays consists of:

1. Communion of Reparation.
2. Prayer of Reparation for grievous offenses against the Immaculate Heart.
3. Rosary.
4. A sacrifice made to console the Immaculate Heart.
Note: By this practice a Plenary Indulgence may be gained.
 

In the third apparition at Fatima Our Lady declared:

“. . . I shall ask for the consecration of the world to my Immaculate Heart, as well as Communion of reparation on the first Saturday of the month. If my requests are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be Peace . . . otherwise . . . wars and persecutions and great sufferings . . . My Immaculate Heart will finally triumph.”

The Five First Saturdays

Eight years after the apparitions at Fatima, when Lucy was a Lay-Sister in a secluded convent in Spain, Our Lady appeared to her, holding the Divine Child, on the 10th of December, 1925. The Infant Jesus, pointing to the Immaculate Heart of Mary surrounded with thorns, said:

“Have compassion on this most sweet Heart continually martyred by the ingratitude of men.”

And only eight years before, at Fatima, the Blessed Virgin revealed her promise:

“My child, behold my Heart all pierced with thorns which the blasphemies and ingratitude of men drive deeper at every moment . . . make known to men that:

“I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, the first Saturdays of five consecutive months, go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, say the Rosary, and spend a quarter of an hour with me in meditation on the fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary, with the object of making reparation to me.”

 

Before disappearing, she addressed the three children:

“Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say this prayer very often:
“O Jesus, I offer this for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for all the wrongs done to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”  
 

The observance of the Five First Saturdays is the same as on the First Saturdays with additions:

1. Confession with special fervor to console the Immaculate Heart.
2. Meditation for fifteen minutes on one or more mysteries of the Rosary.


Mary’s magnificent promise at Fatima, approved by Church authorities, should induce pious souls to make the Five First Saturdays. The confession asked by the Blessed Mother may be made a week before, or after the Communion. The Rosary may be recited at any convenient time of the day, and the fifteen-minute meditation may be made at any time of the day, either on all the mysteries as a whole or on one mystery each month. It is permissible to combine the Rosary and meditation by thinking on each mystery a few minutes before reciting the decade. A sermon for the occasion may be substituted for the meditation.


Friendship according to Christ

Published on by PhilotheaLeave a comment


“The Following of Christ” (aka Imitation of Christ)——Book 3, CHAPTER 42  BY THOMAS a KEMPIS
CHAPTER 42: THAT PEACE IS NOT TO BE PLACED IN MEN

SON, if thou placest thy peace in any person, for thine own gratification, and for the sake of his society, thou shalt be unsettled and entangled.

But if thou hast recourse to the ever-living and abiding Truth, thou wilt not be greatly grieved if a friend forsake thee or die.

In Me the love of thy friend ought to stand; and for Me is he to be loved whoever he be, that appeareth to thee good and much to be loved in this life.

Without Me, friendship can neither profit nor endure; nor is that love true and pure which I do not bind together.

Thou oughtest to be so dead towards persons beloved, as to wish, as far as thou art concerned, to be altogether without any human fellowship. So much the nearer doth man approach to GOD, as he withdraweth himself the farther from all earthly consolation.

So much the higher also doth he ascend to GOD, as he descendeth the lower into himself, and becometh the viler in his own estimation.

2. But he that attributeth anything of good to himself, hinders GOD’s grace from coming into him; for the grace of the HOLY SPIRIT ever seeketh a humble heart. 

If thou knowest perfectly how to annihilate thyself, and empty thyself of all created love, then would I flow into thee with great grace.

When thou lookest towards creatures, the sight of the Creator is withdrawn from thee.

Learn, for the sake of the Creator, to overcome thyself in all things; and then shalt thou be able to attain Divine knowledge.

How little soever it be, if anything be inordinately loved and regarded, it keepeth thee back from the sovereign good and corrupteth the soul.

PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS.
THE more we descend into the abyss of our own nothingness, the more do we become exalted before GOD. We should therefore, in the first place, be little and humble, dependent upon the Almighty, and abide only in Him; secondly, the more we experience our own weakness and misery, the more earnestly should we apply to the mercy of GOD; thirdly, the less we find of good in ourselves, the more should we debase ourselves before Him, hoping all things from His bounty; fourthly, we should never suffer our hearts to become attached to anything but GOD, our duties and salvation, love only that which we shall love forever, and thus commence in time what we may hope to continue throughout eternity. All friendship which is not in GOD and for GOD is faulty, because we should love GOD alone with our whole heart. The heart, therefore, should be kept free and disengaged from all things, that it may belong only to Him Who is the center of our hearts, and Who alone can satisfy our desires.

PRAYER.
GRANT, O GOD, that my heart, which was made for Thee alone, may be ever wholly Thine; that free from all undue affection to creatures, it may refer all to Thee, and seek, Thee alone in all things. Yes, my GOD, I know, with St. Augustine, that Thou art the center of our hearts, because Thou art their last end and sovereign good, and that they cannot rest until they rest in Thee. Grant me, therefore, what I now ask, a faithful, sovereign, and constant adherence to Thee. Amen.